South Featherstone Gospel Hall

  Everything that we have considered over the past few days has been very practical as far as sound Christian doctrine is concerned. As we have seen, it does demand discipline and an increased focus on what pleases God. So having explained all that Paul has learned about Christian growth whilst pleasing God is essential in our lives and making that our first ambition above all else, is that the only blessing and benefit we receive? So, Paul gives us the full benefit of serving God faithfully, “And the God of peace will be with you”. This is a blessing that can come from no other source, Peace. This peace is not just an absence of conflict, the peace of God is a very positive blessing, to know abundant contentment in every aspect of our lives. Even the troubles and cares we experience we have put into His hands, and also the verse uses the word ‘will’. This is a promise that can never be annulled. If we don’t experience that type of peace which overflows all other feelings, then we...

  Paul closes his exhortation in Philippians 4 by a personal recommendation which perhaps is a challenge to each one of us who know the Lord Jesus as our Saviour. Having considered many aspects that our Christian walk should show, and which would improve our testimony, Paul says, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put into practice”. That is a challenge that none of us could issue, however long we have served the Lord and however close we think we are to Him. As a senior believer in our church, if I went round our congregation and asked each person, even what they have learned or received from me that has moved them onwards in their Christian life, I would be surprised if I got more than 1 or 2 flattering answers. And I couldn’t with a clear conscience, even ask about what others think about hearing or seeing my testimony for the Lord. But that should never be the case. All of the letters to the churches that we have read many times in the New Te...

  In our consideration of Philippians 4, Paul comes to the last cluster of exhortations for practical Christian life, and this concerns our thoughts, so Paul concludes this section with the words we must remember as we look at each of the exhortations, “Think about these things”.  When Paul says ‘think about these things’, he really means, to the exclusion of anything that would be the opposite of the positive exhortations! So, our minds must not dwell on the negative but exactly on the things Paul goes on to mention. So, picking up faults and mistakes, within the church at Philippi particularly, is not what Paul wants. A negative critical attitude is one which should be avoided. Following the first 3 moral qualities that we should emphasise in our Christian walk, Paul now lists three more qualities which refer which are almost artistic, mindful or sensual qualities which we should look for, those which please the senses, “Whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatsoever is ad...

  In our consideration of Philippians 4, Paul comes to the last cluster of exhortations for practical Christian life, and this concerns our thoughts, so Paul concludes this section with the words we must remember as we look at each of the exhortations, “Think about these things.”  When Paul says ‘think about these things’, he really means, to the exclusion of anything that would be the opposite of the positive exhortations! So, our minds must not dwell on the negative but exactly on the things Paul goes on to mention. So, picking up faults and mistakes, within the church at Philippi particularly, is not what Paul wants. A negative critical attitude is one which should be avoided. So, Paul first lists three qualities, 3 areas of positivity which refer, if you like, to the moral part of our walk, “Whatsoever is true, whatsoever is noble, whatsoever is right….”. In all our Christian walk, interests, and life, as a whole, these 3 qualities should be where our minds are focused. Go...

  We come now to Paul’s final words of exhortation in Philippians 4 and he begins with the word ‘finally my brothers and sisters……’ Whatever the words of rebuke or encouragement Paul wrote in his letters to the young churches he had helped to found, he still regarded the members of that church as family in the Lord Jesus Christ. Like the other apostolic letters in the Bible, who sometimes refer to their fellow believers as ‘children’, we are all part of God’s family. Brought into a true relationship with God as our Heavenly Father through the work of His Son. That family relationship exists worldwide with every true believer in Jesus Christ, which is why we unite with members of other churches to stand for the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray for those people in whatever church or country who have been brought to our attention as having a need because true prayer to the true God does not regard manmade or traditional establishments as barriers. We believe in prayer and we...

  How much do we understand about the blessings of our salvation? Yesterday we commenced looking at the ‘peace of God’ which God gives when we pass on to Him, with prayer and thanksgiving, our concerns. We don’t understand how it comes to us and Paul goes on in the passage in Philippians 4 to express his agreement to our lack of understanding, because he says, “which transcends all understanding”! If Paul, with all his great spirituality could not explain the wondrous change, we have little chance of explaining it either.  To be blessed with an on-going state of peace in our hearts was not something we imagined when we first came to know our Saviour, most of us just wanted peace with God, to get rid of the sin burden that was tormenting us. But God has plans for us and with that peace in our hearts, we are better equipped to serve him and to fulfil His will and tomorrow we will look at what that peace also does for us. Article written by Brian Preston, Elder @SFGH Church ...

Two or 3 days ago Paul told us in the final chapter of Philippians that we should not be anxious about anything. Yesterday, we thought about how that feeling of anxiousness could be removed, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.  To be in a state where we have no fears is a good state to be in, but Paul then tells us what also happens when we pass on our cares to our Heavenly Father... "And the peace of God……" will fill our hearts.  God brings us peace in two ways, as He is always thinking about our welfare. When we accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, the sin barrier which separated us from God and made us at enmity with Him was removed and we then have that state of enmity reversed and we have peace with God. That is a state that can never be reversed because it is based on God’s promise that the Lord Jesus Christ made peace by the blood of His cross. But the peace of God, which is a state of mind, can only be achieved by a faithful following of our Saviour ...

  Today we link back to yesterday’s thought, that we should be anxious about nothing because the Lord is near. But just as we would speak to someone who we knew who was near to us, then the exhortation for today, and indeed every day, comes next and builds on the last two exhortations, “But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God”. The exhortation to pray, occurs many times in the New Testament, and Jesus also encouraged us to pray. We sometimes look on prayer as a shopping list that we give to God, but it really should be communication involving confession, adoration, supplication and thanksgiving, supplication being only one of the 4 pillars of prayer. And ideally, we should allow time for God to speak to us also, not run into and then out of His presence without so much as an ‘Amen’ sometimes. There are times when prayer such as that is needed but our (hopefully) regular prayer time that we set aside each day, should allow for a...

  I was puzzled as I was thinking about today’s topic in Philippians 4, because it just said, “The Lord is near”. Whilst that is a word of encouragement in itself, knowing we always have His presence and care, it seemed to be out of context with the rest of the passage, which concerned with very practical Christian living. But then I read on to the next instruction that Paul wrote, “Be anxious for nothing”. The two statements then fit together, why should we be anxious when the Lord is near because He can calm any fear. His presence removes any need for fear or worry because He has us in His hand. The psalmist in Psalm 23 could say, ‘I will fear no evil’ because if our heart is totally given to God and all our trust is in Him, then whatever happens in our life, we know that we need not worry. Article written by Brian Preston, Elder @SFGH Church 

  Continuing thinking about Paul’s closing exhortations in Philippians 4, the next challenge Paul issues as he writes, “Let your gentleness be evident to all”. This is not an exhortation that we expected to find as it seems to have little spiritual content, but we are wrong in every respect if we think that. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, ‘Blessed are the meek’. Meekness and gentleness are very related, and our Saviour never exhibited a harsh spirit despite much temptation and enmity from some of the Jews. We only read of Him exhibiting righteous anger once when he cleared the Temple of the traders. Even at His trial, He did not lash out at His accusers and perfectly fulfilled Isaiah 53.  I feel I am particularly deficient in gentleness, and sadly, we have seen over the years many examples of harshness within the church and such an attitude, even if only momentarily exhibited, does not glorify God and has a deeply negative effect upon our Christian testimony. Even whe...

  The passage we will be looking at over the next few days is Philippians 4 and it contains the most spiritual advice in the shortest number of verses. It commences with a challenge and builds on from there. The next challenge Paul issues as he writes, “Rejoice in the Lord, again I say, rejoice”. Whenever an instruction is repeated, it is an indication that it has extra importance. Here the word is ‘rejoice’. When the Lord was ministering on earth, if he began some teaching with ‘Verily, verily… ‘ it indicated that it had double importance, and here also when ‘rejoice’ is repeated, then we should sit up and take notice. The first time I read this passage, I misread it because I thought it said, ‘Rejoice, again I say, rejoice’ and I couldn’t see how, with all life’s problems pressing in upon us, we could be asked to constantly rejoice. But the key words as in yesterday’s message are ‘In the Lord’. Without those words, we could never comply but with those words, the instruction takes...

  The passage we will be looking at over the next few days is Philippians 4 and it contains the most spiritual advice in the shortest number of verses. It commences with a challenge and builds on from there. The challenge Paul issues as he writes, “Stand firm in the Lord”. The word ‘Standing’ in the Bible can on many occasions be linked to inactivity, almost a reprimand. However, bearing in mind the teaching Paul has passed on to the church, and the warnings that he has given to all the young churches about false teachers and false doctrines, the definite thought here is not inactivity but rather resistance to anything not taught by Paul.  I have been watching pictures of flash floods in Nepal and the sheer rush of water was beyond belief and no-one could have withstood the rush which swept away everything in its path. However that is exceptional and we will never be called upon to withstand such force spiritually. Note that Paul doesn’t just say, ‘Stand firm’ but gives us the...

  The passage we will be looking at over the next few days is Philippians 4 and it contains the most spiritual advice in the shortest number of verses. It commences with a challenge and builds on from there. Paul refers to the members of the church at Philippi as “my joy and my crown”! Many of us were saved under the ministry of a preacher. Something he said was backed home mightily by the Holy Spirit and we realised our position and what Jesus had done for us and gave our hearts and lives to the Lord. The immediate aftermath was incredible joy and peace, which is still there after many years although some of the shine might have worn of due to our humanity and failure to follow the lord as he would have us to do. Sadly, many of the preachers who were instrumental in our salvation have gone to be with the Lord. But, we need to ask ourselves, if they were to come back to earth today to where we live and work, would they be able to call us, their ‘joy and crown’? How much joy to we b...

  In all of Paul’s letters to the young churches, many of which he had helped to form by his preaching, there is a broad format, which I suppose we too adopt when writing a letter. Again, broadly speaking, the letters start with greetings, then comes the main reason(s) why he is writing the letter, which may be more than one and his solution to any problems that have arisen and then a closing section, always including farewell messages, but sometimes containing more guidance and personal Christian growth advice/requirements, always as part of the last chapter. We use those letters today as the basis of governance and practices within our churches because Paul’s ‘advice’ is timeless. One of the responsibilities of elders within the local church is to take a spiritual view of any changes to practices to ensure they are in accordance with what God, through Paul, has defined, including the reasons for change.  Having been pretty much ‘thrust’ into eldership many years ago, we had ...

  With the advent of new technology, it seems possible for someone to know where another person is by the use of a ‘Tracker’. In many ways, as far a physical life is concerned, this could be called an invasion of privacy. It may even be possible to know where someone is just because their mobile phone is on. Whilst that sort of technology could be lifesaving, like AI, it needs to be used with great caution. Imagine someone wanting to break into your house and by knowing your mobile number, they can tell whether you are in or not. As I said, it could be lifesaving if someone has an accident on a walking tour or any journey and it is necessary to locate them. As far as God is concerned we are always on His tracking service. Back in the Old Testament, Job said about God, “For He knows the way I take”. God is concerned about us because He loves us and He wants to protect us and then lead us in His way. That is the good side, but we need to be careful about what we do in our lives and c...

  Nearly all of Jesus Disciples were actually martyred, many of those who were early converts were also made to suffer and were executed. Throughout history, there has been persecution of those Christians who stood up for their faith, yet Christianity, or more correctly, followers of Jesus, those who have accepted Him as their Saviour continues to grow, in many cases in those countries and regions that would seek to wipe it out . God’s purposes and the reality of belief in Jesus bringing peace to the soul is a blessing no other belief can give. It sometimes begs the question: if adversity and hostility to the Gospel and our Saviour come to those Christians who are currently suffering for the Gospel’s sake, what is our witness for Him and are we experiencing hostility and suffering because of our beliefs? If we do not experience opposition and possibly ridicule – are we really standing up for our Saviour as we ought? The letter of the Apostle Peter in the Bible has some encouraging ...

  When I was a young boy, we always took a family holiday in the first 2 weeks in August, because those were the weeks when Ackton Hall Colliery closed and my Dad as a deputy there had to take holiday. Mum and Dad were quite adventurous for Featherstone people and holidays were always spent in the south and west of England and always involved a long train journey. Frequently, within the vicinity of the holiday location there would be a stately home and many times, while we were there, we visited and joined the escorted tour of the house. It was not unusual for Dad to somehow go missing on these tours and we would find him out of bounds having a cup of tea with the servants. He had somehow found an open door which wasn’t part of the tour and disappeared through it. Sadly, for my family, it is a trait that I too have inherited! In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John passes on messages from Jesus to 7 churches located in Asia Minor. And to one church Jesus says, “Behold, I have s...

  I’m sure we all believe that justice is a good principle. For people to be treated fairly and equally regardless of status, race, sex, beliefs and financial circumstances. Up until 1215AD in England, justice could be very arbitrary and depended upon what the local lord of the area decided, so the Magna Carta was written and became the basis of our legislation system. Our system of laws may not be absolutely perfect because people will always look for and find loopholes because that is our nature, but generally justice comes out of our legislative and judiciary system. We may believe strongly in justice within our earthly society, but we could never want justice spiritually, to have to answer to a perfectly righteous and holy God, because our sinful nature would condemn us completely to eternal separation from God and eternal punishment. This is where God stepped in and provided His own plan to give us hope. Back in the book of Jeremiah, God says, “I am merciful”. But it is imposs...

  When we read Paul’s letters to the churches, they all have a similar format, which varies in sequence depending upon the message Paul actually wants to deliver to each church. But there is always an introduction which is well worth looking at and meditating on, as the first few verses of each letter. The letter to the church in Galatia was one of the early letters and it was written because false teachers were propagating doctrines which were corrupting the church and Paul reiterates the message that faith in Jesus Christ is all that is needed for salvation. And right at the beginning, in the introduction, he reminds the church about why faith in Jesus was all that was needed. “Our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins.” Here he uses the full title of our Saviour which defines all His character, mission and status. Paul then confirms that He was willing to surrender His majesty, His dignity, even His eternal relationship with His Father for those 3 hours of darkness on...

  When Jesus came to earth and was born as a baby, there would have been barely a ripple in the local news. Yes, there were occasions when His parents realised He was what God had promised to His people through the prophets, but they could never foresee the actual mission He was going to fulfil. Even after His mission started, they of all people could never have foreseen its outcome, otherwise they, as loving parents, would surely have sought to prevent it happening.  When His mission started people must have seen a superb preacher and a healer and a worker of miracles. And His fame quickly spread and also the animosity at the radical nature of His message, which we now look back on and admire and seek to follow His teaching as being totally good for the whole nature of mankind. But there were also deep challenges in His teaching, which we believe absolutely, but find so hard to put into consistent practice. The one which I have read so many times but suddenly hit me with ev...