scotlandneedsthegospel.org.uk

Over the course of this week around 36,000 leaflets will be distributed around the wider Dunfermline area including Rosyth, Dalgety Bay, Inverkeithing, North Queensferry, High Valleyfield and other areas within the postcode area.

These leaflets are being issued in association with the Christians who meet at the Gospel Hall, Hospital Hill, Dunfermline who are planning to hold a special series of Gospel meetings starting Sunday 23 April and thereafter each night Sunday to Thursday until 7th May. On Sunday nights the meetings will start at 8.00pm and through the week at 7.30pm. All meetings will last for 45 minutes and the subject being dealt with is “Is There a God?”

There will also be a special Drive-In service held in the Halbeath Park and Ride car park on Sunday 14 May at 8.00pm.

Please join us if you can!

Thought for the week April 12 Central Fife Times

This coming Easter Sunday marks the anniversary of the day when the Son of God rose from the dead. The Lord Jesus predicted He would be crucified and rise again on the third day. Ancient bible prophesies foretold He would be stripped, sold for silver, whipped, His hands and feet pierced, and He would die for the sins of the human race. They also foretold that He would defeat death in rising again. The disciples simply did not believe this. They thought their world had come to an end when Christ died. The angels at His empty burial tomb said, “why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here for He is risen”. The testimony of those who heard the angels speak was not believed. But as the Lord Jesus revealed Himself alive to Mary and Peter, ate with disciples, walked with a couple on the road, and spoke to 500 at one time, suddenly their whole world was utterly changed, and as they believed their lives were transformed. A few fishermen were empowered to preach the gospel and Jerusalem was turned inside out. People who had seen a risen Christ were willing to do anything for Him. Caesar burnt them to death in Rome and all they had to say was ‘Caesar is Lord’ to escape, but they said instead, ‘Christos Kurios’ (Christ is Lord). Christianity spread rapidly throughout the world and many millions have heard and believed – thankfully, it came to the shores of Scotland. Christianity, uniquely, is not slavishly following a dead hero but a living personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ who died for our sins and now lives eternally. Easter Sunday gives hope and eternal life to all who will believe in Him: for He is risen. Happy Easter!

Article as published in the Central Fife Times on 5 April 2017

This coming Sunday is special. On Palm Sunday, the Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem for the last time. As He rode upon a donkey the crowd shouted “Hosannah” (Save now!) and children tore down branches of palm trees and threw them before Him to provide a pavement for their King, the Messiah. A few days later when the religious leaders felt their power threatened, they manipulated the same crowd to shout “Crucify Him”. After a mock trial where even Pilate the Roman Governor said he ‘could find no fault in Him’, they took Him outside the city of Jerusalem and nailed the Son of God to a cross. On the cross, as they gambled for His clothes and abused the Saviour, He prayed loudly and with compassion, “Father forgive them”. These incredible events would remind us of human fickleness and how affected we are by popularity, and not truth or evidence. It also reinforces the dire consequences of religious hatred, so prevalent today. More fundamentally, however, it would show how Jesus Christ came into the world to bring love and forgiveness to those that had broken His commandments and rejected Him. On the cross He took upon Himself the sins of the whole human race, and His death and resurrection is God’s great plan of salvation for everyone. It was foretold in the Bible 1000 years before Palm Sunday happened. That was why His name was called Jesus – ‘for He shall save his people from their sins’. Out of the darkness of those days comes the light of the divine plan to us today, giving joy, hope, and forgiveness to all who are willing to repent of sin and trust Him as Saviour and Lord.

There used to be a fairly common line from stand-up comics in sending up the stupid questions asked at job interviews. You will know the sort of thing, “if you were a Lego character, which would you be?” Personally, I’ve never experienced that sort of question, I suspect that they were only ever the preserve of some of the more arty corporates – ad agencies, media companies and the like. 

One long standing reliable that I have been asked though is “what would you say is your greatest achievement?” It can be very revealing what someone prioritises as their ‘greatest’ achievement, although I suspect the answers given are often somewhat less than honest. I mean, even if you can play the guitar using only your teeth while spinning on your head, are you really going to tell that to the head of HR at a future employer?

In an achievement driven world where most of the top rated shows on TV are ‘talent’ shows of one kind or another, what we have achieved in life really does seem to matter to people. It has never really been any different. I’ve been reading Mary Beard’s book SPQR on the history of the Roman Empire and it is laughable to read of the lengths a mature Roman general would go to in order to be granted a ‘triumph’ through the streets of Rome.

At around about the same sort of period in history one of the most famous men in history was languishing in a prison cell in Rome and reviewed his CV. He had been born into one of the most religiously observant Jewish families, he could trace his family history back thousands of years, he had been educated by the foremost religious scholar of the time at Jerusalem, the heart of the Jewish world and he had joined the most diligently observant Jewish sect, the Pharisees. So much so that he could claim that no-one could have faulted him in any respect on his pursuit of Jewish law, and there was a lot of it! For a Jewish scholar and religious zealot his CV was perfect. So why did he then say, “but those things that were considered assets to me I have regarded them as losses”? Indeed, he goes on to say, “I consider them as rubbish to be thrown out.” Why such a change? He used to value them very highly indeed. The prisoner in question was Saul of Tarsus, better known to the religious world as Saint Paul, the author of much of the New Testament. He tells us exactly what changed, he got to know Christ. Or as he puts it, he exchanged it for “the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.”

Sometimes we too can put great faith in our upbringing – “I was christened as a child”; we can rely on our education and intellect – “I place my reliance on scientific fact”; we can trust that our good works will give us a favourable hearing at the pearly gates. The reality of all of these things, however, is that they bring us not one step closer to God. The Bible says that “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” in the sight of God. No, the only thing that has any value before Him is to get a proper appreciation of His Son and of what He has done for us. “Whoever believes on the Son has everlasting life, whoever does not believe, the wrath of God remains upon him.”

A special series of gospel meetings is underway at Linwood Gospel Hall. Each night 8.00pm to 8.45pm Sunday to Thursday from Sunday 18th September for two weeks, Craig Munro will be preaching the gospel. For more details please have a look on the Linwood Gospel Hall Website.

Everyone is welcome to attend.

It’s funny how the most commonplace things can trigger off deeper thoughts about more important matters.

For example, in a supermarket recently I noticed the slogan on the side of one of the shopping bags they were offering for sale: “It’s what’s inside that counts”.

This is almost a quotation from the Bible! It led me to think about God’s statement to the prophet Samuel:

“The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart.” (1st Samuel 16:7)

There is great emphasis put on ‘appearance’ but we need to have our thoughts and views adjusted to those of God. After all, when the Saviour was here and was seen, “they saw no beauty in Him that they should desire Him” but God’s estimation of Christ is seen in that He has been seated at His right hand in Heaven. What do I think of Christ?

Another thought that was triggered was that of 2nd Corinthians 4:18;

“The things which are seen are temporal (passing away), but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

What about eternity? There is so much emphasis on things that will quickly pass away but very little on that which is eternal. Is Christ dwelling in your heart by faith? After all “It’s what’s inside that counts”.

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life” John 3:36

Listening to a programme on the BBC World Service this morning I was again informed by a liberal unbeliever that the Bible was never intended to be understood as a literal text and has always been, like the Koran, reinterpreted to reflect society at the time. The speaker took no position as either a Christian or as a Muslim yet felt free to pass his advice on to those who revere these texts.

It is undoubtedly the case that the Bible has been used to support all sorts of positions down through history – including some appalling acts of torture and violence. One need only consider the crusades of the middle ages; or more recently, the activities of the so-called “Lord’s Resistance Army”, to recognise that people can and do interpret the Bible in some pretty strange ways. Would my expert from this morning, I wonder, consider such interpretations valid?

What most liberal interpreters of the Bible seem to want to use it for is to support the idea that we ought to be kind to one another. They are happy to retain the teachings of the Lord Jesus such as “judge not, that you be not judged” (Matt. 7 vs1) and the charge is regularly brought against those who take a literal interpretation of Scripture that they are being ‘judgemental’. They also like the so-called ‘golden rule’ from the same chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them” (Matt. 7 vs12). And that is about it. I rarely hear them putting forward any other message from the Bible.

This is of course intellectual and theological nonsense dressed up to suit the current mores of the time! Are they seriously expecting us to swallow the idea that the sum and substance of the teachings of Christ was that we should be nice to each other? In the very section that they carefully prune these verses from, they conveniently ignore the fact that the Lord spoke about things that are ‘holy’, vs6; that He said to those who were listening to him, “you then, who are evil”, vs11; that not everyone – even those who claimed allegiance to Him – would enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, vs21. Holiness, evil and the idea of a Heavenly Kingdom where divine rule applies have never really sat comfortably with society at large. The group that the Lord Jesus referred to as ‘evil’ was not some group of murderers, rapists or child-abusers (the only contexts in which this word appears to be acceptable today) but an ordinary group of Galilean peasants. All sounds pretty judgemental to me!

No, the reality is that if we take an entirely relativist position to what it is to be moral or good or holy, or whatever word you care to use, then everything is up for grabs and your holiness is just as good as mine. In order to make the teachings of Christ support such a position you can’t just prune a few verses out – you have to abandon Him altogether. The Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14 vs15). He clearly understood there to be a defined basis for their obedience. His statement is meaningless if He just meant that in a vague sort of a way they should be nice to one another.

The reason why so much of society wants to reinterpret the Bible is that its teaching simply doesn’t fit with how many of us wish to live our lives. The verses quoted earlier from Matthew chapter 7 are from the sermon on the mount. Earlier in that discourse, speaking on sexual morality, the Lord said “everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 5 vs28). Much of the current debate around interpretation of Scripture is focussed on sexuality. The Lord Jesus did show compassion to those who failed in this way – read John 8 vs1-11, but the teaching of the Bible on this could not be clearer. It cannot be ‘interpreted’ away. We either accept that what Jesus taught represents an absolute divine standard, the laws of the Kingdom of Heaven if you like, or we think that He was simply a fallible man whose teachings only reflected the moral environment of His times. If He was the latter – then His teachings are irrelevant and not even worthy of debate. If He is, as I believe, the Son of God, then we must bow to His teaching regardless of how different society may be.