No.15 23rd February 2024
As I was thinking about church members being asked to vote this weekend it was good to remember that only the Lord is omniscient, ie being all-knowing. When one event happens, he not only sees it, but also the eternal chain of effects that flow from it, and from the billions of events that are unleashed by ever other event. Wonderfully, the Lord is even able to see what would have happened if certain actions had been taken.
'for he calls things that are not as if they were' (Romans 4) - God not only knows all things that happen, but he also knows all things which would have happened under different circumstances. He knows all possible outcomes from every situation.
Of course, some husbands sitting in the passenger seat as their wife drives think they are also blessed with this 360 degree knowledge - can see all that could have, should have, would have happened...utter vanity and hubris of course - only God knows like this, across the entire universe - without a flicker. This is what it is to be God! His understanding is beyond measure (Ps147)
And this is very good news of course. Here is a God we can trust in fully.
Not only that, when God puts a call on our life he has already factored in our stupidity. This is certainly a comfort to me.
However, throughout the Bible story line there is no suggestion that God's all knowingness means we can just sit back and say, 'What will happen will happen', 'It doesn't matter what I do anyway' or worse, 'If I behaved that way it was because it was ordained'. No, we take responsibility, we use our minds, and we take part! (voted yet?!)
Don Carson wrote, 'God is absolutely sovereign, but his sovereignty never mitigates human responsibility."
Enjoy the mag.
M
Sunday 25th February, 10.30am
Rev Scott Kirkland
Reading - Romans ch4
SACRAMENT OF COMMUNION
Followed by refreshments after the service
Getting to Church: Should anyone require a lift to Belmont House School, then please do let us know. Please email office@nmnewchurch.org.
From the Manse
Dear Congregation,
I want to thank those of you who were able to remain after worship last Sunday and ask so many pertinent and varied questions of Rev Paul Clarke. I am delighted to hear how many of you found his answers helpful. I know many of you appreciate his preaching also.
It is a very exciting time for our congregation as we look to voting on Sunday about our long-term future. We have been on a journey. We have explored the Free Church and discovered not only is there a place for us as a congregation, but also a warm welcome. It has been so encouraging to get to meet and hear from some of their mature and younger ministers over these last six months.
Our elders retain the unwavering and unanimous conviction that this trajectory into the Free Church is best for the future of our congregation. Though the path to this point has not been easy, amazingly, the elders have only been encouraged at each step in this journey. We believe it is the Lord’s hand taking us forward - we would not make that statement lightly!
I have a personal prayer that I want to risk laying before you.
I pray that Sunday’s vote will not simply succeed in hitting an acceptable threshold. I pray that as each of us votes, the outcome will be a tangible and unequivocal signal of a unity of purpose and direction. I am praying that even if the Free Church is still relatively unfamiliar to some, we will have sufficient confidence in our elders to vote with their prayerful and researched recommendation.
Many have testified to a significant sense of the Lord’s presence over these last thirteen weeks as we have drawn close to one another and the Lord in worship. I completely agree. From day one I have “felt” the same. I don’t believe the Lord has taken us to this point to have us now fragment! So, I take the risk of misunderstanding as I share with you my prayer; that Sunday’s vote will give numerical evidence to what we have “felt” over these last weeks. What an encouragement I think that would be.
As previously reported, Lorna Hamilton has kindly accepted the task of being the “presiding officer”. She has agreed to make the outcome known to the elders by Monday at the latest. I believe that one hundred and twenty-four ballot papers have been issued by Lorna and will be included in the formal count. The elders will not know how each member of the congregation voted and no record of individual votes will be kept. We have been able to issue additional ballot papers to some of our regular worshippers. These will be supplementary to the formal vote. The details of the voting process are included in this magazine.
The elders will meet on Monday evening to formally record the result of the ballot and reflect on what next steps are necessary. We will make known to you the outcome as soon as possible.
Please do give this matter to continued prayer,
With warmest regards,?
Scott
Home groups this weekend
Home Groups are for everyone at church - it's not too late to be fitted into one.
Speak with Scott and find out what is possible.
A good place to deepen relationships, more time for fellowship and learn from God's Word together.
"Church membership offers the safety of the sheep pen, where Christ is shepherd. It offers the nourishment of being attached to a body, like an arm to a torso, where Christ is the head. It offers the love of a family, where Christ is the firstborn of many heirs. It offers the obligations and duties of citizenship in a holy nation, where Christ is the King."
25th February - Church Vote
The opportunity to express support for Newton Mearns New Church joining the Free Church of Scotland
The Newton Mearns New Church (NMNC) Kirk Session has recommended that we should join the denomination of the Free Church of Scotland, and this would happen at the Free Church’s General Assembly in May 2024, if supported by the NMNC congregation.
Members will be given the opportunity to vote on this.
Full details of the VOTING PROCESS can be accessed HERE to allow you to prepare for this meeting on the 25th February.
The following Questions will outline the voting process, and answers are dealt with this in document:
Q1. Who is overseeing the voting process?
Q2. When will I get my voting paper?
Q3. When and where will the vote take place?
Q4. What will I be asked to vote on, and what responses can I choose from?
SAVE THE DATES
I invite you to an open exhibition at Hunter House Coffee Shop on Saturday the 9th March between 1-4pm.
These are paintings that I have been working on over the years.
The coffee shop will be open should you need refreshments.
The exhibition is on from the 1. February until the end of March, but it would be lovely to see you on the 9th and enjoy the occasion together.
Christy
Join us after church on Sunday, 17th of March for a fundraising lunch to hear about the work of SU Scotland and also some of these events our young people have been going to.
Jacob
B.Y.O.C.
CAN YOU HELP?
Many people have commented that having time to catch up with one another after the Sunday service over a cup of tea or coffee has been a great part of the New Church.
We are grateful to the team who look after this each week. However, it makes such a difference if people bring their own cups rather than using the disposable ones.
Calling all bakers in the NMNC!
Our youth group is gearing up for an exciting weekend away (1-3 March) filled with faith, fun, and fellowship.
To make their experience even sweeter, we're seeking your delicious homemade treats.
If baking is your passion, please consider contributing your favoUrite cookies, brownies, or cupcakes.
If you would like to contribute, get in touch with Jacob (youth@nmnewchurch.org) to organise collection/drop off.
Thank you for your support!
Wednesdays 7.15-8.15pm.
Meeting at Debbie and Sandy McDougall's.
If you need a lift please email office@nmnewchurch.org.
Why not come and join us!
Tuesdays at Newton Mearns Baptist Church - 1.30pm
Ladybird Book of New Church
The New Church logo wanted the Bible and the central message of the Cross to be the focus.
We gather round the Word in our meetings on Sunday and other times, and we hold to it as the revealed Word of God for us today.
For the next few weeks we will look at what we believe about the Bible, and why it is vital to have these views.
Andrew Wilson writes so well about this in his short book 'Unbreakable' and this will be our template...
THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE
Last week's magazine showed the Bible story in outline. We now need to go into it, a bit deeper.
At the start of the story, humanity is formed, then blessed, then sent, and then immediately tested. The snake, as we’ve just seen, goes straight for the issue of authority: ‘Did God really say…?’ Um. Ah. Well, you see, it’s … Come to think of it, he … No, perhaps he didn’t. And it does look juicy, doesn’t it? Crunch.
From now on, God says to the snake, there will be warfare between your seed and the woman’s. You’ll damage his heel, but he’ll damage your head. One day a ‘seed’ will come, born of woman, who will resist your temptations, stand firm in the face of trials, and crush you and all you stand for. Crunch.
As the Old Testament continues, we get increasing clarity about who this ‘seed’, this snake-cruncher, is going to be. He’s descended from Abraham, via Isaac, via Jacob, from the tribe of Judah, in the line of David, born of a virgin, in Bethlehem … As the story reaches its climax the seed is formed (in Mary), then blessed (at his baptism), then sent (into the wilderness), and then immediately tested. The snake is confident, seeing as Jesus hasn’t eaten for six weeks: ‘If you’re the Son of God, command these stones to turn to bread.’ But Jesus is ready. ‘It is written,’ he says, ‘man doesn’t live on just bread rolls, but on the words of God.’ Crunch.
If you’re going to quote the Bible to me, thinks the snake, then two can play at that game. ‘If you’re the Son of God, prove it. The Bible says that God will protect his chosen one – so jump off the temple, and watch the angels swoop in to catch you.’ But again, Jesus is ready. He knows Psalm 91 inside out, and he knows it doesn’t mean that. ‘It is also written: don’t test God.’ Crunch.
The snake’s final roll of the dice, then: ‘I’ll give you the kingdom, but without the suffering, if you just worship me.’ Jesus doesn’t hesitate. ‘It is written: only worship the Lord your God.’ Crunch. Game, set and match. It’s a great story, and there’s a huge amount we can learn from it, but for now, just consider the way Jesus fights. He has the resources of heaven available, yet he fights by using the authority of the Scriptures. Not as a one-off, or as a change of tactics, but each and every time. ‘It is written … it is written … it is written’ he repeatedly emphasises. His position is unequivocal: ‘You’re trying to tempt me, but the Scriptures have spoken. That’s the end of the conversation.’
Not only that, but each skirmish reveals a different aspect of Jesus’ commitment to Scripture.
In the first exchange, he shows that God’s word is enough: whether you’re wandering in the wilderness for forty days or forty years, you’ll find that bread alone doesn’t satisfy, but only the words that come from God’s mouth.
In the second, faced with an attempt to distort the text’s meaning, he shows that God’s word is coherent: yes, Psalm 91 says that God protects his people, but Deuteronomy 5 tells us not to test God, and we need to hold those two things together (which certainly does not involve jumping off a building just to show off).
In the third, he shows that God’s word is authoritative: if God tells us to do something, then we do it, no matter what anyone says. Jesus, it seems, loved the word of God with his heart (being satisfied by it), his mind (understanding it), and his will (obeying it). If that was true of Jesus, I really want it to be true of me.
THE INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE
Some journalists have a reputation for asking extremely tough questions. In the last ten years or so, men like John Humphrys, Martin Bashir and Jeremy Paxman have made careers out of putting awkward questions to powerful people in interviews, sometimes reducing them to silence. Nobody in history, though, asked tougher questions than Jesus. If he decided to cross-examine you in an interview, you were in trouble.
It’s a Tuesday afternoon, and Jesus is surrounded by a group of Pharisees. ‘Whose son do you guys think the Messiah is?’ he asks.
They know the answer to that one. ‘David’s.’
‘But David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him “Lord”, doesn’t he? So how can he be his son?’
Silence. End of interview.
It’s a brilliant argument. If the Messiah is nothing more than the ‘son’ of David – a distant descendant – then David wouldn’t call him ‘lord’ or ‘master’, would he? That’s not how we tend to talk about our great-great-great-grandchildren. But here we have David, speaking by the Spirit, referring to the Messiah as his lord. So he must be more than a descendant. He must be, somehow, greater than David himself. Notice how Jesus refers to the author of the Psalm, though: ‘David, speaking by the Spirit.’ This, more clearly than anywhere else in the historical records we have, shows how Jesus understands the inspiration of Scripture: the relationship between divine and human activity in the writing of the text. It’s not invention, as if it were a question of ‘David, speaking from his own experience’, or ‘David, speaking in line with the way he viewed God at the time’. Nor, on the other hand, is it dictation: ‘God, proclaiming Hebrew words which David slavishly copied down’, or ‘God, writing words in the sky by the Spirit’. Rather, we have the divine and the human working together: ‘David, speaking by the Spirit.’ It’s inspiration.
Consider a jazz musician who can play all sorts of different instruments. Nobody, listening to Louis Armstrong, would ask whether the music was being made by Louis or his trumpet; everybody knows that the breath and the tune come from Louis, but the instrument through which the breath passes, in order to become audible, is the trumpet. The Bible writers, if you like, are the instruments of revelation – a trumpet here, an oboe there, a saxophone here – and they all make different sounds. But the musician, the skilled artist who fills them all with his breath and ensures the tune is played correctly, is the Holy Spirit. That’s kind of how inspiration works. One person who watched the brief interview with the Pharisees that Tuesday afternoon was Simon Peter. He later described biblical inspiration this way: ‘For prophecy never had its origins in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.’ Paul, who had trained as a Pharisee himself, agreed: ‘All Scripture is God-breathed.’ (It may or may not be significant that both men wrote these things at the ends of their lives; older saints are often the ones who most insist on the inspiration of the Bible.) In saying these things, they were also reflecting the way the prophets themselves saw what they were doing: ‘The word of the Lord came to …’, or simply, ‘and God said …’ ‘We aren’t making this up,’ they insisted. ‘This is being carried along and animated by someone else.’
NEXT WEEK : UNBREAKABILITY OF SCRIPTURE
Up and Coming Events
The magazine has flagged up a number of notices for events happening at Newton Mearns New Church and further afield.
See all the the details of the events below in Magazine No.10 here.
Safeguarding at Newton Mearns New Church
Safeguarding – Ensuring a Safe Church for All
If you suspect or witness harm or abuse, or it is reported to you, you must immediately report it to one of the Safeguarding Coordinators:
Sue Anderson – 07970 261429
Giving at NM New Church
There are a number of ways to support the church financially. The giving page gives details - click here
A number of people have been asking if cash or cheques can now be given. From this Sunday you will have the opportunity to leave offerings in the plate or basket on the table at the back of the church.
If you have any questions please speak to our Treasurer Sandy or email him on finance@nmnewchurch.org "
The New Church has a What's App Group for Prayer
See magazine no.4 for an outline of how this Pray Now group operates.
Speak to Margaret Boyd if you would like to be added to this group or email your details to mandmboyd@hotmail.co.uk
You need WhatsApp on your phone to get set up
We live stream our services on YouTube from our first Sunday. You can find the service here.
You can also find the service by searching on YouTube for Newton Mearns New Church.