A MOTHERS DAY SERVICE

[John]

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Material of a Mothering Sunday or more commonly called Mothers Day Service including material produced by some mothers.

INTRODUCTION
////////////////////////////
A hundred years ago in 1913 a man with muscles, one of a team, pumped the bellows a few yards from here near where the South Foyer door to the platform is.

When we redeveloped the Chapel 10 years ago having removed the Communion Furniture to Homelands Baptist Church Walton-on-the-Naze and the Organ eventually to a Catholic Church in Bavaria, we found written on the alcove wall a list of 4 names These were of the 4 men who pumped the bellows to provide the air for the organ, one of whom was Albert Kidman. my Uncle, my mother's oldest brother.

Albert was a member of this congregation until aged about 32 he went to France where he was seriously injured during the Great War by a shell that shattered behind the lines where the soldiers should have been safe. His death and that of his brother Harry aged about 27, blown to pieces during the battle of the Somme, blanched their mothers hair white and did not make for a Happy Mother's Day that year..

Albert's widow remarried and became the mother of Eric Swan who later served this Church as a Sunday School Leader, Deacon, Church Treasurer and Lay Preacher and after years as a school teacher later served as a pastor at Wood Lane Baptist Church Dagenham. He was my mentor when I was training to be a Sunday School teacher, again as a lay preacher and again as a Deacon. One woman links these 2 men, and as my aunt, me. A mother who served quietly in the background but whose husbands and son served the Kingdom of God on a broader stage, but her role though largely unseen was as greatly significant.

Some years ago there came into my possession a pocket book published in the 19th century by a Christian author Mrs Stephen Menzies, another mother, who by the etiquette of the time was named as the wife of her husband rather than her own name. Her book was published by the British Gospel Book Association in Liverpool called “THE TRAVELLERS GUIDE from Death to Life”. 150 stories crammed with illustrations into 191 pages. It was a great tool for evangelism. It passed through 58 editions,
and this edition in my possession published in the 1920's reported that over 5 million had been circulated and it was outselling “The Pilgrim's Progress” by John Bunyan.

It was published in English, French, German. Italian. Portuguese and Spanish. In the Great War over 7 million service men and women were given copies, and when Italy joined the Allies their Government funded 100,000 for their soldiers. Many copies circulated in the mines of Australia, and amongst the farmsteads of Argentina. It cost 6 old pence [ 2½p today] a copy, plus 3 pence postage. You could get 100 for £1.Today one is on sale at Tavistock for £24, another in America for £19 and another in Australia for £8.

A simple idea then to reach people with a popular method and millions of people became Christians because of it, and went on to evangelise more.

We would now have sung from the hymn book

BAPTIST PRAISE AND WORSHIP No.76

You servants of God, your master proclaim
And publish abroad his wonderful name
The name all-victorious of Jesus extol
His kingdom is glorious and rules over all-

God rules in the height almighty to save
Though hid from our sight, his presence we have;
The great congregation his triumph shall sing
Ascribing salvation to Jesus our king

Salvation to God who sits on the throne
Let all cry aloud and honour the son
The praises of Jesus the angels proclaim
Fall down on their faces and worship the lamb

Then let us adore and give Him his right
All glory and power, all wisdom and might
All honour and blessing-- with angels above
And thanks never ceasing and infinite love.

Written by Charles Wesley

/////////////////////////////////////////
Congregational Reading
/////////////////////////////////////////

BAPTIST PRAISE & WORSHIP No 77 an 78

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God.
the creator of the ends of the Earth
He will not grow tired and weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord.
Will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
They will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not faint

This is the time to worship God:
He brings us life.
This is the time to sing His praise:
He brings us joy
This is the time to pray to him:
He brings us forgiveness and renewal
This is the time to hear his word:
He brings us guidance and hope.
This is the time to show your love for Him:
He brings us love beyond our deserving


THE LORD'S PRAYER

Our Father
who art in Heaven
hallowed be they name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil
For Thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory
For ever and ever
Amen.

[John]

USING THE GIFTS AND SKILLS GOD HAS GIVEN US
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

THE TRAVELLERS GUIDE has many stories some several pages long some half a page but all pointing to Jesus as Saviour or to the need to tell of him to others. I am using some of them in the monthly FOUR ACRES NEWS that I edit, and in birthday cards and Christmas cards

Years ago a painter named Stenburg, stood in his studio speaking with
Father Hugo, the vicar of the rich church of St Jeremiah in Düsseldorf

To those around him he seemed a jolly prosperous man who on occasions showed shrewd business capacity but he in fact was dissatisfied with his work and his life.

To the vicar he declared “ No!” Reverend Father the sum you offer me for the task you ask of me, for so large an altar-piece would ill repay the labour involved, as there will have to be much detailed drawing of each of many figures in the scene. – The Crucifixion is not an easy subject”

Father Hugo replied “ I will not limit you to the price and the Church wont be paying anyway. It is to be a gift by a penitent” and so the painter got to his work

As the weeks passed and Spring arrived Stenburg wanted to get out into the countryside to sketch and paint foliage and blossoms

There he met a beautiful gypsy girl plaiting straw baskets and he was determined to paint her, but who would buy a picture of gypsy. Gypsies were hated in Düsseldorf

She stood up and danced before him and he halted to stand and sketch her

He decided to paint her as a Spanish dancing girl. Her name was Pepita and the bargain was struck that she would call at his house 3 times a week to be painted.

She began examining his pictures and especially this one for the Cathedral altar. She asked him “ Who is this person on the Cross?”
Stenburg answered carelessly “The Christ”
“What is being done to him ?” “He is being crucified”
“Who are those people about him with the bad looking faces”

Stenberg became impatient “Now look here, I am painting you, I cannot hold a conversation too. I need you still and quiet.

Pepita dare nor speak again

But every time she visited his studio she asked more questions and the story developed in her mind.

“Why did they crucify him? Was he bad, very bad “ Stenberg replied “No he was good.”

“If he was was good why did they do this to him? Did they let him go?

The artist was getting cross so he told her would tell her the whole story and after that she must be silent. So he told her the story of the Crucifixion.

Weeks passed and both paintings were finished and the one of the dancing girl was sold, so he paid her an extra gold crown. It was her last visit to the studio. Pepita was unmoved by her own portrait but “The Crucifixion” was something different

Pepita said to Stenburg
“You must love Him very much. Signor, He has done all that for you, do you not?”

The face she was looking at turned crimson with shame. The girl left but her words he could not forget.

ALL THAT FOR YOU

At last he could bear it no longer and went to find Father Hugo and at Confession Father Hugo questioned Stenburg

He believed all the doctrines of the Church, so the Vicar gave him absolution and told him “All is well!” The artist gave a liberal discount on the painting but he remained uneasy

He learned of things he had not paid much attention to before.

One day he saw a group of persons hastening to a house near the city walls, a poor place, and others going the other way from there who looked happy. He enquired what was going on in there but no one dare reply. So he plucked up courage and entered.

It was the house of a stranger, A Reformer, one of those despised men who appealed on every occasion to the Word of God

It was hardly respectable or even safe to associate with such men, even to know of them, but he went along all the same as he might find something worth while. Stenberg found there what he was really looking for a living faith

The Reformer lent Stenberg a New Testament but after a few weeks the Reformer hunted as he was, had to leave the city and take his book with him but the essence was left in Stenburg's heart

He felt in his soul the fire of ardent love. He wanted to share his experience with others, but he said to himself “How can I preach. I cannot speak I am a man of few words. If I were to try I would never speak it out .
It burns in my heart but I cannot express it – the love of Christ”

He began to draw with a piece of charcoal a rough sketch of a thorn crowned head. His eyes grew moist as he did so. Suddenly the thought flashed into his mind “I can paint! My brush must proclaim it” The face of Christ on the altar piece was one of indescribable agony but that was not the real truth

Christ had sacrificed his life willingly. From love unutterable, infinite compassion.

The artist fell on his knees and prayed to paint worthily and thus to speak.

The new picture of the crucifixion was a wonder – almost Divine
He gave it as a free will offering to his native city Düsseldorf. It was hung in the public gallery and citizens flocked to see it with voices hushed and hearts melting before it and the burghers returned to their homes knowing the love of God and repeating the words written beneath it

All this I did for Thee
What have you done for Me?

Stenberg used to go there too and stand at the back and watch the crowds

One day when all the rest had left a poor girl stood transfixed before it weeping. He approached her and found she was Pepita

She said to him, “Signor If He had but loved me also. I am only a poor gypsy For you is the love but not for such as I “and her despairing tears fell unrestrained

He replied “Pepita it was also all for you”

and then he explained it all to her. No longer did he weary of her questions.

He told her of that wondrous life, magnificent death and crowning glory of resurrection and also explained to her the union that that redeeming love effected.

She listened, received and believed these words. All this I did for Thee

[John]

Our next hymn was to have been from the Song Sheet from
Number 2
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
OUR CHURCH STANDS ON THE ROCK OF FAITH

This hymn was written especially for our Church by another mother, Elsie May Wright of 9 Elm Grove, in 1988, who was a member of the Women's Own Fellowship. The tune for it is “St. Fulbert “ as used for “Fill though my life O Lord my God, in every part with praise”

Our Church stands on a rock of faith
and built of hope and love
Then just a touch of the Master's hand
has blessed it from above.

We find a haven here within
a peace and comfort too,
Where Jesus waits with open arms
to bless and welcome you

With voices raised in harmony
We praise our LORD and king
and echoes of past faithful friends
join in with us and sing

We give thanks for our Church today
and friends who worship here,
But we must pray for those who lack
the faith that we hold dear.

Pray for our Church and those who serve
By teaching us Thy way
As in the past and future too
Thy will be done, each day”

YEARS AFTERWARDS:-
///////////////////////////////////
Stenberg's painting had been hung in the Gallery, when painter and gypsy girl had met in another land above, a wealthy young nobleman drove his splendid carriage into Düsseldorf, and while his horses were fed and watered he wandered into the famous gallery

He was rich, young, intelligent, the world he basked in, was bright and it's treasures were all within his grasp. He stood before Stenberg's picture in awe. He read the words.

All this I did for Thee What have you done for Me?

He read and reread the words unable to tear himself away
The message grew into his heart.

The love of Christ lay it's powerful grasp on his soul

Hours passed. The light faded

The curator had to go to the weeping nobleman and tell him it was time to close the gallery.

Night had come but for this young man it was the dawn of eternal life
His name was Count Zinzendorf

He returned to the Inn and re-entered the carriage and returned to Paris to his home.
But from that moment his life was changed and he threw his life, fortune, fame at the feet of Him who had whispered to his ear
Zinzendorf became the founder of the wonderful Moravian Missionaries and answered that question by his devoted life and welcomed death

The mission he established inspired a young British Baptist pastor who himself became known as the Father of Modern Missions, William Carey. Millions have met Christ through the work of Moravian Missionaries, and Baptist Missionaries and all the modern missions since

Stenberg's picture no longer hangs in Düsseldorf, for the gallery and all its contents were destroyed by fire.
It perished but it preached and God used it to tell of his gift of CALVARY'S SUBSTITUTE of whom St Paul said

HE LOVED ME AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME

CAN You say AND FOR ME ?

And in saying so, what more can you do for Him.

In his letter as if challenging what Paul wrote and what we subscribe to that we are justified by faith
James, the older of Jesus's younger brothers who until his assassination in AD 62 was leader of the Church at Jerusalem wrote “You are justified by works not only by faith”

In other words it is not enough to believe we have also to live the life and do the work Jesus has called us to do.

To share His truth and love with everyone around us somehow.
Using the gifts, talents, skills, entrusted to us.

[John]

“GO FORTH “
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

We then planned to sing from the Song Sheet Leaflet No 3
It was a hymn we may not have been familiar with It as it comes from a book introduced here in 1972 which we threw away in 2011 having learned barely half it's contents.


“GO FORTH “ - the Lord's command rings clearly still
Across the centuries that lie between:
In word, in deed, in offering of the will
May our response to his command be seen.

“GO FORTH “ - to sound abroad the Word of Truth,
Ambassadors for him who died for all,
To preach salvation and teach the youth -
May we who love the Lord accept his call.

“GO FORTH “ - for sick and suffering need the power
Of Christ the Healer in far distant lands;
That modern skill be there in needful hour
May we across the sea stretch loving hands.

“GO FORTH “ - to take the printed Word of God,
To satisfy the hunger of the mind:
To needs of newly-literate nations, Lord,
May we not be sensitive nor blind.

“GO FORTH “ - to build with those who till the earth,
To show God's wonders in the harvest field,
That wiser ways may prove their lasting worth
And, in due time, a fuller increase yield.

“GO FORTH “ - for all who know thee, gracious Lord,
Who in thy boundless love and care rejoice,
Must offer the their lives, in deed and word,
Must ever be obedient to they voice.

Written by Eileen D Abbott © and sung to the tune Sleeman composed by Sylvia Williams © 10 10 10 10
Number 26 in PRAISE FOR TODAY the collection of modern hymns our Church threw away in the skip in 2011.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
GOD'SOLUTION TO THE DISASTER OF HUMAN DISOBEDIENCE – SIN -
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

MY SINS DESERVE ETERNAL DEATH
YOUR SINS DESERVE ETERNAL DEATH
ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALLEN SHORT OF THE WILL OF GOD
THERE IS NOT ONE HUMAN WHO IS RIGHTEOUS

So speaks the Bible and goes on to tell us in ACTS
“There is no other Name under Heaven given amongst men by which we must be saved “ The only name is that of JESUS CHRST
who declared I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, THE LIFE
NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME


Many years ago a Dr Valpy wrote a verse of 4 lines as the longing of his heart and the confession of his faith. Later he gave the verse to his friend a Dr Marsh, author of “THE LIFE OF CAPTAIN HEDLEY VICARS “ and the verse was a blessing to him

“In peace let me resign my breath,
And Thy Salvation see;
My sins deserve eternal death,
But Jesus died for me”

Dr Marsh gave it to his friend Lord Roden who wrote the lines out and placed them above his mantle piece over his fireplace

There, yellowed by age, they hung for many years

Some time later a military gentleman, General Taylor, who had fought as a young man with the Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo visited his Lordship several times and each time he passed the mantle piece he read these words and memorised them.

Years afterwards Lord Roden told the story of the General in the house of a neighbour and a young officer heard it and scoffed at it and made a joke of it.

Some months later Lord Roden was summoned to the bedside of this young officer who was seriously ill and dying and as the Earl entered the room the young officer held out his hands to him repeating

“In peace let me resign my breath,
And Thy Salvation see;
My sins deserve eternal death,
But Jesus died for me”

and he said that “Those simple words have been God's message to me of peace and comfort to my heart in this illness”

Just as I am without one plea
But that Your blood was shed for me
And that You bid me come to You
O Lamb of God I come, I COME.

Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind.
Sight, riches, healing of the mind:
Yes, all I need, in You to find –
O Lamb of God I come, I COME

Just as I am, - You will receive
Will welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because your promise I believe –
O Lamb of God I come, I COME

Just as I am – Your love unknown
Has broken every barrier downloaded
Now to be yours, yes Yours alone
O Lamb of God I come, I COME


FRAN'S SONG

Then we were going to sing another hymn written for us in 1988 by another Mum of our congregation France Payne our organist at the time. She actually won a prize for it from the Saffron School of Music and it was sung to a tune that Frances composed “”God's Promise” which with the words we have in our archives on page 23 of the 49 page illustrated history booklet

“MISSION UNFINISHED 1550 – 1990” published by the Church Archivist John Maddams late in 1989 and available in some college libraries

No 5 on the Song Sheet.

In green pastures I see God,
By the running brook;
In the bright blue sky above,
Each kind word or look.

In the eagle's strength is He,
E'en the sparrows song.
In the thunder's clash he be;
Torrents rolling down.

In the solitudes and wilds,
In the silence tense;
In the laughter of a child,
In it's innocence.

In God's Holy Book we read
Of his wondrous care.
In His love He doth us heed,
All our burdens bear.

In my daily life is He.
Ever will I try
In all things to do, to be
Like Him 'till I die.



REMEMBERING MUM
///////////////////////////////////

10 years ago my Mum died aged 98 and went to be with Jesus
Shortly before she died she said “You wont forget me will you?
Soon I will be gone and you can live your life”. My response was “You are my life” At that time I was her principal carer.
I cannot forget her. I have her photo in my lounge, my bedroom, my office and my wallet. And when I turn on one computer there she is looking back at me.
She taught me how to pray, to read, to give, to cook.
Her determination keeps me going.
She was the 9th child of 9 in a poor working class home.

Before she met Dad she had two other boy friends Walter and Bert.

Walter lived next door and was the adopted son of the man who would one day for many years be Chief Steward here.

Bert was the son of a local baker whose aunt paid for him to go to the Baptist College at Manchester and train for the Ministry. He remained a bachelor all his life. He had a useful ministry in Huddersfield, Foulsham and Manchester and did a lot to pioneer secondary education.

I her family home and in her marriage Mum knew abject poverty yet she taught me how to share. My parents never had enough but they found enough to put both sons through Grammar School and rejoiced when their second grandson got to University,

When the Church decided that I should apply to Bristol Baptist College to train for the Ministry Mum talked it over with the Minister. Who himself did not get to College but did the BU Exam by correspondence course, the same way I did my BU Diploma course as a preacher

She was concerned as to how it could be paid for, so Mum out of her weekly housekeeping money, the only income she had, from Dad and me, began secretly to save a few coins each week.

When I was not accepted for training as a Baptist Minister and became a Fellow of the Evangelical Preachers Association she one day took out a handkerchief from a secret hiding place and produced £50 she had saved for my training to do with it what I felt I should do.

I invested it and added to it and called it the
SYDNEY & ALICE MADDAMS MEMORIAL FUND.

We gave a similar sum to each of my nephews when they left school and started their careers and similar sums to other young men training for the Ministry, and grants to colleges and lay training schemes around the world

Whenever I went out preaching MUM would say “I'll be thinking of you” by which she meant she would be silently praying for me. She did a lot of that right up to the day she died. Which is one reason why I regard prayer to be so important and cannot understand Christians who regard the Prayer Meeting as unimportant.

Praying is not an option we can chose to accept or not, it is a sacred duty the lifeblood of the Church, of any Church.
It is work. Often hard work involving a lot of time and thought
Yet It is simple enough that we can all embrace and engage in it.
It may involve careful preparation especially if it going to be said, recited or read in public worship

But it may as equally be silent thinking and our world and our church desperately need a lot more of it

We should never be content with our Church as it is.

While a single person in Saffron Walden or Uttlesford remains a sinner outside the Church of Christ, can Jesus and the Father be satisfied and dare we be?.

[John]

Our next hymn would have been a
Prayer for our Modern World

We used it first in Junior Church in the 1960's and then it was published in PRAISE FOR TODAY the hymn book we threw away in 2011 and on Song Sheet No 4

GOD OF CONCRETE. GOD OF STEEL

God of Concrete, God of steel,
God of piston and of wheel,
God of pylon, God of steam,
God of girder and of beam
God of atom, God of mine,
All the world of power is Thine.

Lord of cable, Lord of rail,
Lord of motorway and mail,
Lord of Rocket, Lord of Flight
Lord of soaring satellite,
Lord of lightning's living line
All the world of speed is thine.

Lord of science, Lord of art,
God of map and graph and chart,
Lord of physics and research,
Word of Bible, Faith of Church,
Lord of sequence and design
All the world of truth is thine!.

God whose glory fills the earth
Gave the Universe it's birth,
Loosed the Christ with Easter's might,
Saves the world from evils blight,
Claims mankind by grace divine,
ALL THE WORLD OF LOVE IS THINE!

Written by Richard G Jones [ born 1926 ]
and sung to the tune Elsmere 7 7 7 7 7 7
composed by Gerald L Barnes [ born 1935 ]


There we would have had this

Prayer of Intercession for Commonwealth Day, March 11th :-
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Father God, in the Name of Jesus Christ, Son of God, our Saviour Name . We ask for your help;

for the victims and the godless fanatical moon god worshipping Islamic terrorists who caused the hostage massacre in Nigeria this weekend.
for the 2200 Nigerians using Bibles supplied from our Church in the last 2 years
for the victims of the civil war in Syria and the refugees sheltering in neighbouring countries. Our pre Commonwealth Empire governed Syria at one time under a League of Nations mandate.

for the newly set up nation of Southern Sudan that is seeking Commonwealth membership. another area the British ruled at one time.
For Southern Sudanese citizens trapped in the mountains of the valley of the Blue Nile in Northern Sudan trying to escape South persecuted by Islamic war planes.

For Kenya in the aftermath of this weekend's General Election
For the 1800 islanders of the Falkland Islands voting in referendum today as to whether to stay British.
For crusades in Northern parts of India, Bihar and Nepal by a team from Echoes of His Call Mission based in Chennai with over 600 churches across India, the largest democracy of the Commonwealth.

For the Christians at Nchelenge in Zambia whose Church, members of our congregation support with Bibles for the 3 island churches on Lake Mweru, and Study Bibles for 3 pastors, education fees for 10 Aids Orphans and funding transport there of equipment from Tools With A Mission for a vocational skills training programme there and for Christians in the Maxi,mum Security prison at Kabwe where we have supplied a clock, a bell, books, and Bibles.

For the orphanage in Malawi some of us support and to which we sent repairs to storm damage at the school along with Bibles for the orphans, pictures for the dormitory, maps and videos.

For our contacts in Ghana at Mangoase where we supplied a church of subsistence farm workers with an oil powered generator to supply electricity, and hymnals.

For our friends in Uganda where we have supported creation of 2 woods of 250 trees for Pigmy tribes people to live in, and assisted a mission to aids victims and a mobile dental unit.

For the 15 pastors in Northern Mozambique we supplied Study Bibles to in their language and where our friends Liz and Sergio Vilela are going with baby Chloe in May 2014 as missionaries..

For our friends in Canada who produce the Gospel magazine VIA that some of us fund and distribute in the villages of Uttlesford. AMEN

GET MY MOTHER IN
//////////////////////////////////
A well known preacher was getting ready for bed when he heard a knock at the front door Answering it he found a young girl standing in the pouring rain who asked “Are you the preacher. He replied “Yes I am” so she asked”Well wont you come down and get my mother in
The preacher answered “My dear it is hardly proper for me to come an get your mother in If she is drunk you should get a policeman”

Oh Sir, she quickly replied “My mother isn't drunk. She's at home dying and she's afraid to die. She wants to go to Heaven but does not know how. I told her I would find a preacher to get her in. So come quick sir, she's dying”

The preacher could no resist that appeal of this girl and said he would come as soon as he was dressed

The little girl led him to a slum district to and old house, up a rickety staircase, a long a dark hall, and finally to a dismal room. There the dying woman lay in a corner.

The girl said “I've got the preacher for you mother He wasn't ready to come at first but he's here. You just tell him what you want and do what he tells you and he'll get you in”

Too weary to sit up, the poor woman raised her feeble voice and asked “Can you do anything for a sinner like me?” My life has been lived in sin and now that I'm dying I feel that I am going to Hell but I don't want to go there. I want to go to Heaven. What can I do now?

Looking at her sin weary face the preacher thought What can I tell her?

I have been preaching salvation by reformation but this poor soul has gone to far to reform. I have been preaching salvation by good character but she hasn't any
I know what to do. I'll tell her what my mother used to tell me as a boy. She is dying and it cannot hurt her even if it doesn't do her any good.

So he began “My dear woman God is very gracious and kind and in His book, the Bible he says “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
The dying woman exclaimed “Oh does it say that in the Bible? My that ought to get me in. But sir, my sins, my sins?

He was amazed at the way the verses came back to him “My dear woman, he continued the Bible says that the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin”
She responded “All sin, did you say? Does it really say ALL sin? That ought to get me in”


Kneeling down beside her he said Yes, it says all sin. God's book also says This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief”. Well she said if the chief got in I can come. Pray for me sir.

The preacher bent down and prayed with the poor woman. Just as she was she came to Jesus who never turned anyone away, and she got it.

Recounting the story later The preacher added “ In the process while she was getting in. I got in too. We two sinners, the preacher and that poor woman entered salvation's door together that night”

We would have then sung from “BAPTIST PRAISE AND WORSHIP” No 344
IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST
written by John Bowring 1792 – 1872 based on Galatians 6 verse 14.



“In the Cross of Christ I glory,
towering o'er the wrecks of time:
all the light of sacred story
gathers round it's head sublime .

When the woes of life o'ertake me,
hopes deceive and fears annoy,
never shall the cross forsake me;
lo!. It glows with peace and joy.

When the sun of bliss is beaming
light and love upon my way,
from the cross the radiance streaming
adds more lustre to the day

Bane an blessing. Pain or pleasure,
by the cross are sanctified:;
peace is there that knows measure,
joys that through all time abide.

In the cross of Christ I glory,
towering o'er the wrecks of time;
all the light of sacred story
gathers round it's head sublime



GETTING IN

The LORD JESUS Says I am the door by Me if any man enter, he shall be saved” and again “Him who comes to me I will in no wise cast out”

The LORD JESUS is the door. He does not say a door. For there is no other door
The Church is not the door
The 10 Commandments are not the door
Reformation and good works are not the door
The blessed Mary mother of Jesus is not the door

Jesus is the only door and to enter Heaven a sinner must come through Him to have his sins forgiven and washed away

The preacher's good living or good deeds did not get him in nor did the poor woman's bad life keep her out

Both were sinners - for all have sinned
and as such they entered together through the same door to life and peace
by faith in the LORD JESUS CHRIST

Come now let us reason together says the LORD though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow,
though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool.

Is there anyone here who is not in?
Don't leave it any longer to get in.

If we are all in, then let us redouble our efforts to reach out to others who are not in, and point them to the Way in.

[John]

FINALE

Our Final hymn this afternoon would have been a well loved Evening Hymn, that I first learnt at the Boys British School as a Junior 65 years ago , and in the Sunday School here, but it was written for an evening Missionary Meeting

It was written when Britain really did still “Rule the Waves” when “wider still and wider did our bounds increase and God that made us mighty was asked to make us mightier yet”. and “the sun never set on the British Empire, when in addition to our Dominions, and colonies, our input into the USA, our role as the first industrial economy, our Fleets, diplomats and soldiers ran parts of China, and Russia. Afghanistan, Sudan. Egypt and Syria, plus Palestine, Mesopotamia – now Iran and Iraq, former lands of the Ottoman Empire and India, Burma, Malaysia etc

It was a land which some believe Jesus visited as a child or as a teenager with his uncle Joseph of Arimithea to Looe in Cornwall and where in the first century the first British Church was set up at Glastonbury and as the Celtic Church spread for 5 and a half centuries across our land before it succumbed to Roman Catholicism in the 7th century

But the hymn written by John Ellerton [ 1826 – 1893] for an evening missionary meeting, looks beyond our Empire and Commonwealth to the

Kingdom of Jesus Christ
that will be drawn out of every nation, tribe and tongue

A job as yet uncompleted.

“BAPTIST PRAISE AND WORSHIP” Number 319

“The day you gave us, Lord, is ended,
the darkness falls at your behest;
to you our morning hymns ascended,
your praise shall hallow now our rest.

We thank you that your church unsleeping ,
while Earth rolls onward into light,
through all the world her watch is keeping
and rests not now by day or night

As o'er each continent and island
the dawn leads on another day,
the voice of prayer is never silent
nor dies the strain of praise away.

The sun, that bids us rest, is waking
God's children 'neath a western sky
and hour by hour fresh lips are making
your wondrous doings heard on high.

So be it, Lord, your throne shall never
like earth's proud empires, pass away;
but stand and rule and grow for ever,
till all your creatures own your sway.

We would have closed with THE GRACE

THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.
THE LOVE OF GOD and THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
BE WITH US ALL EVERMORE AMEN

Then we would have sat down to sandwiches,cakes, tea or coffee, and conversation.



Adieu, and the LORD BLESS YOU ABUNDANTLY ALWAYS..