LEIGH BAPTIST CHURCH “MESSENGER” MARCH 2024
VERNON ST / CHURCH ST . LEIGH. WN7 1BH
Website : www.leighbaptistchurch.org.uk Contact: admin@leighbaptistchurch.org.uk
Pastoral Leader – Val Hulme ( Day Off Fridays)
email : pastoral.leader@leighbaptistchurch.org.uk TEL 07817142192
Check LBC website for updates and info also LBC FACEBOOK page
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Sunday 3rd March 10:45 am: Rev’d Neil Brighton Sunday 10th March 10:45 am: Open Service Sunday 17th March 10:45am: Worship with Church/ Congregation meeting Sunday 24th March 10:45 am: Communion Service by Val Hulme Sunday March 31st 10.45am EASTER SERVICE Rev’d Neil Brighton
Sat 2nd March Chat’n’a Brew10am-12pm Wednesdays 6/13/20/27 Mar Prayer Meeting (coffee at 9.45am)10am-11am Wed 20th March 11.15am Deacons’ Meeting Thu 21st March COFFEE+ 1pm-3.30pm Saturdays 9/16/23/30th Walking with You Group10am-12pm Thu 14th March AGLOW 7.30pm -10pm
This year's World Day of Prayer service will be on Friday 1st March, 7:00pm at Bedford Methodist Church. All are welcome. The service has been prepared by the women of Palestine - Our thoughts go to the Christian women of this country, and indeed of Israel, as they join with their brothers and sisters worldwide on March 1st
This year’s GOOD FRIDAY WALK OF WITNESS is on Fri 29th March. Meet at St Joseph’s RC church at 11am for a short service before walking to the Library Square where there will be another short service. Do join us for the walk if you are able or alternatively come for the service on Library Square estimated to start around 11.45am
We ask that you continue to pray for Leigh Baptist Church, and in particular with regard to how we structure our children's work, and for more people to volunteer to help with this.
Our Pastoral Leader Val will be at the Ministers Conference 6-9 March. Jean D will have the church phone whilst Val is away
EASTER We will be celebrating Easter at the end of March. There are various reasons why
people look forward to Easter, such as school holidays or Easter eggs. On Palm Sunday we have
palm crosses and sing about Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey as a cheering crowd, waving palm branches
hailed Him as King.
But what happened from the following Thursday and Friday onwards is ignored by many people.
What Jesus went through was horrific, as he was falsely accused, tried and sentenced to death on a
cross where he took on Himself our sins and those of the whole world. He had been beaten and mocked
by the soldiers as they put a purple cloak and a crown of thorns on Him, saluting Him as the King of
the Jews, before they struck Him with a staff and spat on Him. Nails were driven through His hands
and His feet to secure Him to the cross, and the soldiers divided His clothes amongst them. The rulers
said, “He saved others, let Him save Himself.” (Luke 23:35) Most of His disciples deserted Him.
What was Jesus response to all of this? The only words He spoke are known as the seven words
of the Cross. Each Gospel records only a few of them
1)He FORGAVE, saying, “Father, forgive them. They do not know what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
In all His pain he asked for them to be forgiven because they didn’t understand who Jesus
really was.
2) He promised ETERNAL LIFE TO THOSE WHO REPENT of their sins. St Luke 23 tells us that
one of the criminals crucified with Him mocked Him, but the other one acknowledged that Jesus had
done no wrong, but they were guilty and deserved their punishment. He asked Jesus to “remember me
when you come into your Kingdom.” Because he repented, Jesus replied. “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
John 3:16 says, ‘Whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have Eternal life.’
3) He showed LOVE AND CONSIDERATION for his mother who was standing with the other
women at the foot of the cross. John 19:25-27 says that when He also saw ‘the disciple whom He
loved standing near by’, He said to her, “Woman, behold your son, and to the disciple, “Behold your
mother.” So he ‘took her to his own home.’ It is mostly assumed that the disciple was John, the son of Zebedee,
married to Mary’s sister, Salome and therefore, Jesus’ cousin.
4) THE FEELING OF ABANDONMENT as he cried out, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?’ (Mark 15:34) Jesus had never been separated from His Father. He had said, ‘I and the Father are
one.’ (John 10:30) As He took on the sins of the whole world He knew what it was to be completely abandoned.
Sin separates us from God until we repent and believe that Jesus died to save us. We are
then reconciled to our Heavenly Father and have the promise of Eternal life. 1John 5:12 says ‘He who
has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.’
5) I THIRST. When Jesus was thirsty he was given vinegar on a hyssop stalk. Psalm 69:21 says, ‘They
gave me vinegar for my thirst.’ This is another instance of verses from the Old Testament being
quoted, as well as several from Psalm 22.
6) & 7) FINAL WORDS. John 19:30 says, ‘Jesus drank the wine and said, “It is finished”. ‘Then He
bowed His head and gave up His spirit’. It was a shout of victory for Jesus had finished the work He
had come to Earth to do. He had come to pay the penalty, or the price, for the sins which had kept
people away from God in disobedience. He had gone all the way to the cross and suffered for us all.
Luke 23:46 says, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”’ Mark 15:37 says that ‘He cried out
with a loud voice’. Matthew 27:50 said, ’He yielded up His spirit.’ The Centurion standing nearby said,
“Surely this man was the Son of God.” Through all the centuries since Jesus death and Resurrection
many people have come to know Him as their Saviour, and have committed their lives to Him.
‘This is love; not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice
for our sins.” (1John 4:10)
Kathie. Quotes from NIV & NKJV.