I have recently been listening to the Bible talks given at CMS Summer School by Andrew Shead, and his talk on Psalm 1 got me thinking… 

Psalm 1:1 Oh, the joys of those who do not
    follow the advice of the wicked,
    or stand around with sinners,
    or join in with mockers.

2 But they delight in the law of the Lord,
    meditating on it day and night.

As someone turns away from a life of wickedness and godlessness, they instead, head down the path of joy. This other way of life is different, and it is filled with a delight in the law of the Lord, which, for us is the Bible.

But this part right here, “delight in the law of the Lord” got me thinking: do I ‘delight’ in God’s law, his instruction, his word?

Do I love to spend time with God in his word?

“Yes, yes, yes!” is how I know I should answer the question, but sometimes my mornings sound like a bit more of a :“no, no, no, you are too busy!”

If I had two extra hours in my day, would I even consider spending them in God’s word or would I fill it with my other delights like sleep and YouTube?

I don’t know about you, but I have been through different seasons when it comes to delighting in God’s word. 

Sometimes it the favourite part of my day! But other times it can remain forgotten about, like an old zucchini in the fridge.

My point here is not to condemn us, but to help us realise that as sinful people we need help!

The path of joy is a path paved by God’s own word, because it is the means by which we can know him.

And, nobody wants us to delight in God’s word more than God himself!

So if you are reading this, and would love to delight in God’s word, spend more time the Bible, and know God more, then why don’t you ask him for help right now?

There is nobody else who can help you delight in the scriptures more than God himself! 

Thanks be to our self-revealing, heart-changing, joy-bringing God!

(Photo Credit: Aaron Burden via Unsplash)

If you could sum up with one sentence your prayers and hopes for our church ministry, then what would you write?

As I considered this myself, I recently came up with this vision: 

“That every person in our village, valley and region would know how to follow Jesus and why it matters.”

As I’ve been planning and praying for 2022, this statement has been really valuable in focusing my attention on what I think we should be doing as a church.

The first thing about this vision is that it defines who we are ministering to, namely each, individual person who lives within reach of our church, for our focus and as our responsibility.

The second thing about this vision is that it is about helping those people, “know how to follow Jesus,” regardless of whether they end up attending our church or not.

Our job is to speak the good news of Jesus in such a way that those who hear us will have no doubt about how to join us in following Jesus as Lord and saviour.

It helps sharpen our message, and it clarifies that we want believers and unbelievers alike to know how to follow Jesus, either for the first time or to continue as life-long disciples of Christ.

The third thing about this vision is that it ends by helping us make sure we tell people that following Jesus really matters.

Most importantly, we want every person to follow Jesus so that God will receive the glory as a person comes to follow Christ.

Plus, we want to make it clear to every person that the day of Judgement is coming soon, and it is only by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that they will be spared God’s anger through the death of Jesus.

Will you pray this vision statement with me as our church seeks to serve the Lord this year?

JODIE McNEILL 

Has it ever struck you as odd that Christians often speak about doubting God and his word, but very rarely think about doubting the Devil?

I think this is even more evidence of the deception that the Devil seeks to lead us in, especially when we’re feeling weak.

After all, there has never, ever been a time when our Lord God has failed to deliver on a promise.

Yet the Devil has a proven track record of lying, deceiving, and generally leading God’s people away.

I noticed this again recently when I read the third chapter of the Bible, in Genesis 3.

The Lord God has given his people a glorious place to live, and they have experienced the blessings of living an obedient life under God’s rule.

As a sign of their acceptance of his loving rule, they were told not to eat the fruit of just one tree in the entire Garden of Eden.

Yet, Satan deceived the woman, asking her “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” (Genesis 3:1).

Even with this first deception, Eve had to correct the error of the serpent, telling him that it was only one, special tree that they were to avoid.

Satan was already proven to be wrong, and yet he bowled another delivery to the woman, telling her that if they eat from that tree then they would not die.

We then read in verse six that the woman was convinced by the devil, so she ate some fruit and shared it with her husband, who went along with her sin.

The tragic results of that sin proved the utter evil and lies of the devil… and yet we are still tempted day after day to reject God’s good rule.

It should seem obvious, but remember that the devil can never be trusted.

We should faithfully doubt the devil… and faithfully obey the good and gracious word of our Lord.

JODIE McNEILL

(Credit: Aphrodite via Flickr)

It’s pretty common for people to say that this-and-that or so-and-so could never change. 

But when I hear people speak like that, I tell them that I’m in the change business!

I know that people and things do change, even though it often seems humanly impossible.

We see it most clearly when we witness a person’s conversion to Christ, when they go from being enemies with God to being friends with Jesus… and their life is turned upside down.

As they say, it doesn’t always happen overnight, but it will happen!

Some of the most dramatic life-changing experiences were seen when Jesus walked on earth, and when people came to him, they had their lives turned upside down.

One of the most famous stories was when Jesus met Zacchaeus, as recorded in Luke chapter 19.

He was the chief tax collector and had become rich through his corrupt work.

When Jesus saw him, he called him by name and said, “I must be a guest in your home today.” (Luke 19:5).

After Jesus called him by name, Zacchaeus, “took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy” (verse 6), and he told Jesus, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!” (verse 8).

When Zacchaeus met Jesus, his life was changed completely.

Jesus explained what happened, saying, “Salvation has come to this home today” (verse 9).

When it comes to dramatic life changes, never say never!

As we start a new year, it’s time for us to pray that 2022 sees many people have a dramatic change in their life as they come to know Jesus and understand how good it is to be forgiven and to have hope.

May this change be seen in the lives of many in our village, valley and region!

JODIE McNEILL

It might be a bit strange to think that conflict could be good, but healthy relationships will include good conflict, whether it’s two people in a marriage, a team of people, or even an entire church or larger organisation.

The reason is that conflict is simply any disagreement between two people or parties, which, when handled well, is a normal part of life together.

This is something I learnt in a book called ‘Five Dysfunctions of a Team’ by Patrick Lencioni, in which Fear of Conflict’ is listed as a significant problem in teams that don’t work well.

As Christians, we rightfully “make every effort to keep [ourselves] united in the Spirit, binding [ourselves] together with peace.” (Ephesians 4:3)

And, at the same time, we know that it is right for us to “speak the truth in love, (Ephesians 4:15), knowing that truth will bring conflict amongst us.

Indeed, Jesus made it clear that his message will “set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother,” (Matthew 10:35) as the call to follow him will bring conflict amongst even the closest families.

Another form of conflict comes when we tell someone to stop sinning, as we read in this week’s chapter from Matthew 18.

It’s sometimes hard to pluck up the courage to lead someone to be convicted of their sins, but “wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy. (Proverbs 27:6).

For if they listen to our rebuke, then we will be serving them in love as we seek to help them see their error and to lovingly serve them as they move towards repentance and reconciliation, as needed.

This kind of conflict is often the hardest, but it is always the most important for us to pursue, out of deep love for each other and for the church of Christ.

JODIE McNEILL