South Featherstone Gospel Hall

  Joseph’s Obedience – Matthew 1:18–25 Dear Friends, imagine the moment. Joseph, a righteous man, betrothed to Mary, discovers she is pregnant. The child is not his. In that culture, betrothal was as binding as marriage. The law allowed him to divorce her quietly or expose her publicly. Either way, shame would follow. Most men would have been angry, hurt, humiliated. Joseph planned to divorce her quietly—to protect her from public disgrace while ending the engagement (v. 19). He was merciful, but still resolved to walk away. Then, in a dream, an angel of the Lord appears: “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (vv. 20–21). The angel quotes Isaiah 7:14: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means God with us). The promise of the ages is being f...

  Before we move on to the positive attributes of love, particularly as we find it in the Bible, there are 2 personal ‘negativities’ which can be mistaken for attributes of love, that we find at the start of 1 Corinthians 13. These are expressed thus in the NIV, “If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship, that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing”. Here we have two contrasting but linked activities that could be used as demonstrations of love. Another word used for love in the KJV is ‘charity’. And we talk about giving to charity when we donate to a worthy cause. When Jesus met the rich young ruler, who wanted to “inherit eternal life”, Jesus saw into his heart that he loved his riches more than he could ever love God and when he was told to give everything to the poor, he went away sorrowful.  These 2 acts could be described as penance, seeking to pay in physical terms to gain spiritual benefit. But unless that love for the Lord is upp...

  The Father and the Son – John 5:17–30 Dear Friends, the healing at Bethesda on the Sabbath has already stirred trouble. The Jews are furious—not because Jesus healed, but because He did it on the wrong day and then said something even bolder: “My Father is working until now, and I am working” (v. 17). To them, this was blasphemy. Jesus was claiming equality with God. He doesn’t back down. Instead He explains the profound unity between Himself and the Father: “The Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise” (v. 19). “The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing” (v. 20). “The Son gives life to whom he will” (v. 21). “The Father… has given all judgement to the Son” (v. 22). “Whoever does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him” (v. 23). Jesus is not a second, separate God. Nor is He merely a prophet or miracle-worker. He is the Son who shares the Fat...

  What do you think about spiritual gifts? It seemed so simple in the early church, specific spiritual gifts seemed to be readily recognised and used for the benefit of the church. Many of the gifts were very visible, e.g., tongues, prophecy and perhaps they are less visible today as the need for these gifts has perhaps lessened, particularly with the free availability of the New Testament, which is God speaking to us after the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus and bringing in the new era. However, whether recognised by the individual who has been given the gift by God or recognised by the church where those gifts are exercised, there is no doubt that God gives these gifts as necessary still to support and help the local church to grow. As servants of our Saviour, we therefore have to acknowledge that any talent we might possess is given by God and we cannot take personal pride in whatever we seek to do for our Saviour. At the best we are unprofitable servants of God and all o...

  Do You Want to Be Healed? – John 5:1–3, 5–16 Dear Friends, imagine the scene at the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem. Five covered colonnades surround a pool said to have healing powers when the water was stirred. A great multitude of the sick, blind, lame, and paralysed lie there, waiting for a chance that might never come. One man has been an invalid for thirty-eight years. Thirty-eight years of hoping, waiting, lying helpless while others push ahead. Jesus finds him lying there and asks a simple, piercing question: “Do you want to be healed?” (v. 6). The man answers not with “Yes!” but with an explanation: “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me” (v. 7). He’s been waiting so long that his answer has become a reason why it can’t happen. Jesus doesn’t wait for perfect faith or a better excuse. He says, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk” (v. 8). The man obeys. He rises, takes up his mat, and walks....

  I want to look at ‘ aspects of love’, not the play or musical or any song or any worldly idea of what love is and how it should be shown, but what the Bible teaches about love. The great exposition of love in biblical and spiritual terms is in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, and Chapter 13. If we look at the world on an individual to individual basis, love of one person for another exists. If we look at the broader political and national perspective, we find no evidence of love, but rather the opposite or a total lack of concern of one nation’s people for another nation’s people. Even within a nation, there is very little love shown in communities or larger areas of population. Love and care for the population of a nation will figure low or not exist on any political agenda despite words and statements that might indicate otherwise.  So we must turn from and reject any concept of love that might be common within the world and look at what God’s defined concept of lov...

  The Official’s Son – John 4:43-54 Dear Friends, picture the scene: Jesus has just left Samaria, where many believed because of the woman at the well. Now He returns to Galilee, to Cana, the place of His first miracle. Word has spread. People know what He can do. An official from Capernaum—likely a royal servant or someone of importance—hears that Jesus is back. His son lies at the point of death in Capernaum, twenty miles away. Desperate, the man travels to Cana and pleads: “Sir, come down before my child dies” (v. 49). Jesus’ reply seems almost sharp: “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe” (v. 48). Yet the official persists: “Sir, come down before my child dies.” There is no argument, no demand for proof—just urgent faith in the One he believes can heal. Jesus says simply, “Go; your son will live” (v. 50). The man believes the word Jesus spoke to him and goes. On the way home, his servants meet him with the news: the fever left his son the previous day at the ve...

When our children were young, we tried to teach them their ‘p’s and ‘q’s, to say please, if they wanted something and to say, thank you, when they received anything. Not only is it politeness but it also gives the other person pleasure and makes them feel that they are appreciated. When we have the opportunity and availability to gather round the Lord’s Table, as we do pretty much every Sunday morning, our main purpose is to remember the work and person of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ and the of the two p’s and q’s, it is primarily to give thanks for our salvation and our Saviour. During the week, we might have many opportunities to thank God for his gifts to us. We can, individually, in our quiet and prayer times thank God for all that He has done, for current and past blessings and our Father hears our thanks. We are being polite but more importantly bringing pleasure to Him. Around the Table, collectively, we join in worship, thanks and praise and the bread and wine always poi...

The Man Born Blind – John 9 Dear Friends, imagine a man who has never seen the sky, a mother’s face, or the road beneath his feet. Born blind in first-century Jerusalem, he lived by begging at the temple gate. People passed him daily, some tossing coins, others stepping over him, many assuming his blindness was punishment for sin—his own or his parents’. The disciples ask Jesus the question on everyone’s mind: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (v. 2). Jesus answers neither. “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him” (v. 3). Then He does something startling: spits on the ground, makes mud, smears it on the man’s eyes, and says, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (v. 7). The man obeys. He washes. He sees. For the first time in his life, colour floods in—blue sky, green trees, the faces of strangers staring back. He returns seeing. The neighbours are stunned. “Is this not the man who used to sit ...

Over the last 2 days we have been touching on Christian love and how that should characterise our whole lives. Jesus said, ‘Everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another’. And as we were thinking yesterday, love manifests itself in actions not in words and we will be considering I Corinthians 13 next week.  So love should be uppermost in our minds in the whole of our lives, but it doesn’t come naturally, we have to have the love of God spread abroad in our hearts before we can demonstrate and live our lives in love.  We are entering or have entered the season of spring. It used to be the main season when farmers would sow seed for future crops. Now it seems that the main sowing season is autumn/winter. But whenever that seed is spread, with favourable weather it will commence growing. That is just like God’s love in our hearts, it is sown when we come to Him in repentance and faith. It needs to be fed by absorbing God’s Word and communion with Him. If th...

  The Pharisee and the Tax Collector – Luke 18:9-14 Dear Friends, picture two men going up to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee—respected, religious, meticulous in his observance. The other a tax collector—despised, collaborator with Rome, a symbol of betrayal and greed. They stand apart, as different as day and night. The Pharisee stands tall and prays with confidence: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get” (vv. 11–12). His prayer is a list of achievements, a comparison that leaves him feeling justified. But the tax collector stands far off, unwilling even to lift his eyes to heaven. He beats his breast and says, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (v. 13). Simple. Broken. Honest. No excuses, no comparisons, just a cry for mercy. Jesus’ verdict is clear: “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other” (v. 14). The one who...

  When we were younger particularly, perhaps we saw people whom we admired and tried to model at least some part of our lives on. I remember when a totally new type of humour hit our television screens in the late 50s and early 60s, satirical humour in a program called “That was the week that was” or shortened to TW3. It was headed up by the late David Frost and looked at political events that had happened and made satirical fun out of them and sometimes society in general. It struck an instant chord with me and I can still remember some of the sketches, and I still enjoy such humour, so then I had my hair cut like David Frost’s for a while! This type of ‘hero worship’ can get out of hand and can dominate lives and lead to unnatural and even antisocial behaviour. But there is one ’hero’ that we should all aim to follow and model our lives on, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Following Him and seeking to be like Him will only bring contentment to us but benefit to others and in Ep...

  The Greatest Commandment – Mark 12:28-34 Dear Friends, picture the temple courts in Jerusalem, thick with tension. The religious leaders have been trying to trap Jesus with questions—about taxes to Caesar, about resurrection—but one scribe steps forward differently. He has been listening, perhaps with genuine curiosity rather than malice, and asks: “Which commandment is the most important of all?” (v. 28). Jesus answers without hesitation, quoting the Shema that every faithful Jew recited daily: “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (vv. 29–31) The scribe is struck. “You are right, Teacher… to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s nei...

  In our society, in general, we seem to have lost any sense of true social values. I drive a lot still and the number of times in a day I see utterly selfish drivers who seem to be possessed by what I call the “cuckoo syndrome”.  The cuckoo lays its eggs in other bird’s nests and when the fledgling hatches, it pushes the genuine fledglings out of the way when food arrives and even pushes them out of the nest until it is the only youngster left. This type of driver can’t stand someone to be in front of them and overtakes just for the sake of overtaking, because they only gain one car as the rest of the traffic blocks them until they undertake another hazardous overtaking manoeuvre. At one time in our society, people used to help one another not seek to put them down or put one over on them. In the letter that the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians, we read these words, “In lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves.” Lowliness of mind is not now regarde...

  Beelzebul or the Finger of God? – Luke 11:14-23 Dear Friends, picture the scene: a man possessed by a demon that made him mute is brought to Jesus. In one moment of sovereign authority, Jesus casts out the spirit. The man speaks. The crowd gasps. Some marvel; others mutter darkly. “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” they whisper (v. 15). Others demand a sign from heaven to test Him (v. 16). Jesus knows their thoughts. He answers not with anger, but with piercing logic and quiet power. “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste… If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?” (vv. 17–18). Then the question that cuts to the heart: “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (v. 20). The “finger of God”—the same phrase used in Exodus when God wrote the law on stone tablets. Here it is Jesus Himself, driving out darkness by divine power. Not magic, not partnership with evil...

  The book of Habakkuk is not one that I imagine gets read too often or even quoted from in sermons or ministry. But like so many of the less popular Books in the Bible, there are always little ‘nuggets and gems’ to be found in it. Like Habakkuk 3 v 18, which says, “I will joy in the God of my salvation”.  Habakkuk hadn’t seen the full salvation that God had promised yet revealed. Because he was born and died before God’s Son was born and yet what he did see of God’s work in this wicked world of ours caused him to rejoice. How much more should we rejoice in OUR salvation because we can, through the New Testament, see our Saviour and we know the eternal security that this salvation brings. So like the Apostle Paul, we can look away to the author and finisher of our faith. We don’t rejoice enough in our salvation because we let the events and troubles of this world crowd in. But we need to keep going back to the basics of our salvation, how we have been eternally redeemed from t...

  Not One Jot or Tittle – Matthew 5:17-19 Dear Friends, imagine the hillside near the Sea of Galilee, the crowd gathered close, hanging on every word. Jesus has just spoken the Beatitudes—blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful—and now He turns to address the question burning in many minds: What about the Law? The Pharisees and scribes are watching closely. Is this teacher from Nazareth about to sweep away centuries of Scripture, or water it down to suit the crowds? Jesus speaks plainly, with quiet authority: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the k...

  How good is your hearing? Mine is steadily deteriorating and I haven’t learned sign language yet! But that is just a physical thing. I miss some sounds, particularly those at the higher end of the scale but I will continue to get by I think. Let me ask another related question, how good is your listening? It looks as though I am asking the same thing but there is a world of difference. Our brains mechanically process sound, almost unconsciously, we hear noise BUT we need to apply consciously our brain to understand what we are hearing.  So many times we use the word ‘pardon’ and ask someone to repeat what they have said because our brain is occupied with other thoughts and we have heard the noise of speech, but it hasn’t penetrated below the surface. Sadly, we can approach the Bible in exactly the same way, we can hear speakers talking from the Bible and yet our understanding is switched off. The Bible is described as God’s Word and to scan/read it without seeking God’s illu...

  Forgiven Much, Forgive Much – Matthew 18:21-35 Dear Friends, picture Peter stepping forward with a question he thinks is generous. “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” In the culture of the day, three times was considered gracious; seven felt extravagantly merciful. Peter must have expected a nod of approval. Jesus doesn’t hesitate: “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times” (or seventy times seven, depending on the translation). Then He tells a story that cuts deeper than any number. A king settles accounts with his servants. One man owes him ten thousand talents—an astronomical sum, millions in today’s money, impossible to repay. The servant falls on his face, begging for time. The king, moved with compassion, does far more than grant an extension: he cancels the entire debt. Forgiven. Free. The weight lifted in an instant. But that same servant goes out and finds a fellow servant who owes him a hundred den...

  We are blessed in our age, and have been since the 1400’s, when an English version of the Bible was first produced, that we can freely obtain and read this wonderful book. Our Protestant ancestors particularly fought and even died to make the English Bible available to all and in the early 1600’s, king James 1 endorsed the King James Version, which is still in wide use today. Perhaps we don’t value this spiritual guidebook enough, the labour of scholars, the sacrifices of time and even lives to give us an invaluable guide to serving our God and Saviour. But even if we were to set aside the labours of man to produce it, we can never set aside the fact that as Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God”, literally God-breathed.  We may experience difficulty interpreting some parts of scripture, but when approached in a prayerful, humble and open-minded attitude, asking God, the Author, to reveal His truth to us, those scriptures frequently open u...

Rejected in His Hometown – Luke 4:24-30 Dear Friends, picture the synagogue in Nazareth on that Sabbath morning. The air is thick with familiarity and expectation. Jesus, the carpenter’s son, the boy they watched grow up, has returned home after His ministry has begun to stir Galilee. He reads from Isaiah, declares the Scripture fulfilled in their hearing, and the people marvel at His gracious words. But then He speaks plainly, and everything shifts. “Truly, I say to you,” He says, “no prophet is acceptable in his hometown” (v. 24). The room stills. Then He presses the point with two stories from their own Scriptures: In the days of Elijah, when famine gripped Israel for three and a half years, God sent the prophet not to any of the many widows in Israel, but to a widow in Zarephath in Sidon—a Gentile outsider. And in Elisha’s time, though many lepers lived in Israel, none were cleansed except Naaman the Syrian, another foreigner (vv. 25–27). The words land like a stone in still water....

  When Jesus was in the Upper Room with His Disciples on that Passover night, there was very little ceremony after the celebration of the Passover itself, just 12 men and Jesus with some very simple materials around a table, or at least I imagine a table, because it says in the Bible that the room was ‘furnished’. There was bread, probably unleavened bread, and rough simple wine, yet this has become a key and essential service within our church. We try to keep the trappings of the service to a minimum because as we have seen above when Jesus first instituted this remembrance ordinance, there would have been very little pomp or ceremony. But we do hopefully enhance the service by our individual and collective worship because I believe that would have been in the Disciples hearts towards Jesus, if not verbalised. The actual core of the service is simple but it gives us the essential opportunity for opening our hearts and pouring out a sacrifice of praise. The bread and wine are still...

Living Water – John 4:5-42 Dear Friends, Jesus is tired. He’s walked miles under a hot Samaritan sun, and now He sits beside Jacob’s well, alone, thirsty. A woman comes at midday—odd time to draw water, but she’s avoided the morning crowd for good reason. She’s got a past that follows her like dust. Five husbands gone, and the man she’s with now won’t even give her his name. She arrives expecting silence. Jesus asks for a drink. The conversation that follows is one of the most astonishing in all Scripture. He speaks past her defences: “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” She deflects. “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.” He keeps going: “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water wellin...