LEIGH BAPTIST CHURCH “MESSENGER” APRIL 2021 EASTER
VERNON ST / CHURCH ST . LEIGH. WN7 1BH
Website : www.leighbaptistchurch.org.uk Contact: admin@leighbaptistchurch.org.uk
Pastoral Leader – Val Hulme ( Days Off Wed and Fridays)
email : pastoral.leader@leighbaptistchurch.org.uk TEL 07817142192
Check LBC website for updates and info also LBC FACEBOOK page
God’s Bridge.
As we celebrate Easter we think again of all that it means for each one of us and what we believe beyond the school holidays, Easter eggs and various types of celebration. By April 1st we will already have remembered Jesus’ Triumphal entry into Jerusalem when the crowds waved palm branches and sang Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We all enjoy singing the Palm Sunday hymns. Jesus, however, would know what was to take place that week, and that it was leading up to Gethsemane and Good Friday and His unjust and cruel death on the cross. Yes, He would know what was going to happen! He had come into this world for the purpose of fulfilling his Father’s redemption plan for His people, Israel.
Most of us will know the words in Isaiah 53: “He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” “Surely He has borne our grief and carried our sorrows.” Verse 6, which is well known as being in Handel’s ‘Messiah’, tells us why; “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, everyone to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” We find many prophecies in the Old Testament books of Isaiah and the other prophets, and also in the Psalms, but Jesus’ death is also mentioned in Daniel 9:25 & 26 NKJV where there is a calculation as to the number of years from the command to re –“build Jerusalem until Messiah, the Prince” comes. “After the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself.” The GNB says, “At the end of that time, God’s chosen leader will be killed unjustly.” According to C.E.B. Cranfield in his book, ‘The Apostles Creed’, the calculation of when this would happen fits in with the time, AD 26-36 when Pilot was governor in Judea and handed Jesus over to the Jews who were shouting, “Crucify Him”. Pilot knew that would lead to Jesus’ death.
My late husband Roy’s great grandfather was a Welsh preacher who moved with the steelworkers from South Wales to Teesside where he became a Baptist Minister. In an essay that he wrote he talked about two bridges and likened them to two bridges in Stockton-on-Tees where he lived. Just as the old bridge was replaced by the more up to date new one, so the old covenant of the law given to Moses has been replaced by the new covenant, when God, in the human form of Jesus, suffered so much for our sins to enable us to be forgiven, and to bridge the gulf that existed between us and God.
’ We cross a bridge to get to the other side of a river, ravine or gulf. I love to look at the seven bridges that, in a short distance, span the River Tyne between Newcastle and Gateshead; especially I love to see the elegant white Millennium Bridge. They are all different shapes, sizes and colours and each serves a different purpose.
In the Billy Graham Association leaflet, ‘Knowing God through His word’, there are steps to having peace with God. Steps 3 & 4 tell us that ‘God’s love bridges the gap of separation between God and humans.’ That gap is the gulf of sin. ‘When Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the grave, He paid the penalty for our sins.’ When we repent we can know that our sins are forgiven. The price has been paid. ‘We cross the bridge into God’s family when we accept the invitation to trust in Christ as our Saviour.’ John 1:12 says, “But as many as received Him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”
Roy once heard a preacher from a church in Chicago who kept repeating “WE’VE GOT A BRIDGE.” Roy wrote many years ago, “He was speaking of the one Mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, the only link between man in his sin and God in His Holiness.”
John 3;16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
That verse tells us that God’s saving grace is for all people, Jews and Gentiles, but we have to believe it, as we have already seen in John 1:12. In Word for Today, for 25th March, we read, ‘Your salvation isn’t guaranteed by your performance – but by Christ’s performance at the cross.’
The Cross is not the end. On Easter Day we celebrate Jesus rising from the grave giving us the promise of eternal life. We sing our praises to Him on that day as we rejoice in His GLORIOUS RESURRECTION. PRAISE THE LORD. “THANKS BE TO GOD WHO GIVES US THE VICTORY THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.” (1 Corinthians 15:57)
WORD FOR TODAY can be accessed on the UCB website where it is possible to see the daily readings. K.W
Dates for your diary
Sunday 4th April Easter Sunday Church at Home with Val on the church YouTube channel and Facebook page 3:15 pm.
Saturday 10th April Zoom Coffee Morning 11:00 -12:00.
Sunday 18th April Church at Home with Val on the church YouTube channel and Facebook page 3:15 pm.
Tuesday 29th April Zoom Deacons' Meeting.
Sunday 25th April Zoom Communion Service 3:00 pm.
Joint Bookclub with Wigan and Leyland Baptist Churches and Trinity URC, Wigan will resume on Thursday 15th April, 7:30 pm. This time, we will be following The Bible Course, for which there is a book/manual to read, which costs £4.99. Contact Val for further information.
All meetings and services are continuing online. The Leadership Team will continue to monitor the situation and any decision to re-open the building for worship/meetings will be taken in line with government guidelines, BU advice and local conditions.
If you would like to join us for any meetings via Zoom, but do not receive an email with the link, please contact Val by email pastoral.leader@leighbaptistchurch.org.uk
Our Pastoral Leader will be on Annual Leave from Tuesday April 6th to Monday April 12th inclusive. One of the deacons will take charge of the church phone during this time.