The Lord's Day

We were once again blessed at the Lord's Table by visiting Saints, three generations in fact from Blackburn Gospel Hall in West Lothian. Our friends Philip and Elizabeth Clough also joined us.

In the evening Douglas Rae of Leeds conducted our Gospel Meeting. He drew our attention to the words of our Lord, recorded in John 14 1-14, words of reassurance, comfort and of a certain hope. Hallelujah, what a Saviour!

The Lord's Day

We were pleased to welcome visitors from Ely, West Mersea and Leeds at the Breaking of Bread meeting. We were blessed to have as our speaker David Cartwright from the assembly at Redcar, Cleveland. He spoke from the story of Zaccheus as recorded in Luke 19 1-10 using it to stress how serious and how urgent is the matter of Salvation. The selection of hymns from Mission Praise I found particularly affecting: "One day when heaven was filled with His Praises", " I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene", "In loving kindness Jesus came, my soul in mercy to reclaim" and "Jesus my Lord will love me forever." My only caveat is that the Bible never describes sin as "black" but [in Isaiah 1 18] as "red" in the sense of a dye that is almost impossible to remove.

Sunday evening at the Gospel Hall

On Sunday 3rd April our meeting was ably led by our Brother Frank Jackson of Hull. His choice of texts was Genesis 11 26-12 3 and ch. 25 1-11. He made an interesting point about the structure of the book of Genesis and suggested the promises made to Abram to be the "fulcrum" about which the book turns. Indeed all subsequent promises made by God to his people including the promise of the Saviour are in a sense contained in the promise to Abram. He is as important a figure to Christians as he is to Jews since he is to the former the spiritual progenitor and to the latter the natural forefather. Interesting use was made of the facts of Terah's life - his willingness to follow human tradition rather than to submit to the leading of God - and the tendency among both believers and non- believers to behave in a similar way. Again, a lesson can be drawn from the family move from Ur towards Canaan but stopping in Haran. See Hebrews 10 38/39. The presence of younger brethren in the meeting was a great encouragement.

Scenes from the Parents and Tots Group [Monday a.m.]

Gospel Meeting

On Sunday 27th March Paul Frankish of Normanton led our evening meeting and spoke from John 21 1-14. He reminded us that our Saviour is always close by and looking out for our best interests at all times. He also referenced these texts: 1 Corinthians 15 12, Matthew 28 20, Joshua 1 9, Luke 22 61 and Luke 5 1. We pray for the Lord to continue His Blessing upon Paul and His family.

Gospel Meetings

We have been blessed on two consecutive weeks to have received visiting brethren from the assembly in Harrogate. On Sunday 6th March Stephen Downs presented the Gospel message by speaking about the Gospel message: what it is, its truth, its faith and its hope. [The word "Gospel" appears 60 times in the epistle to the Romans]. The main readings were Romans 1 16-21 and 1 Corinthians 1 17-21 but in his free flowing delivery Stephen also referenced Galatians 3 6, 1 John 1 7, Psalm 51, Micah 7 19, 1 Corinthians 15 54, Psalms 32, Romans 5 1, John 3 16 and 1 Thessalonians 4 13.

Today, 13th March Jason Stewart led the Meeting supported by Andrew Richardson who gave his testimony. The keyword in Jason's clear presentation was "remember", a word common to the four Bible readings: Hebrew 10 11-18, Luke 16 19-31, 23 39-46 and 24 1-8. We were reminded of the universal problem of sin and the gracious offer of God for the cancellation of sin through repentance and faith in Christ Jesus. We praise the One who completed His Work at Calvalry, died and rose again and is now seated at the right Hand of the Almighty God in Heaven making intercession on our behalf. Hallelujah!

Gospel Meeting

On Sunday 27th February Alex Collins of Ossett led our Gospel Meeting and based his message on Ephesians 2 1-10. His principal theme was "by Grace are ye saved" noting the desperate plight of the unredeemed sinner and our utter inability to save ourselves.

I heard some ministry recently in which it was noted that in all apostolic Gospel preaching and in the Ministry of our Lord Himself the need for repentance is a central theme, yet it is rarely mentioned in contemporary preaching. Is this a fair analysis? And if this is the case why is it so?