March Newsletter
Welcome to our March Newsletter. This month we take up the challenge to read through 100 Bible passages which tell its main story. We hope this information encourages you in your life as a Christian, and your service in our fellowship and wider community. Everyone counts.
Are you ready for the challenge of reading 100 key passages from the Bible and discovering that God can speak to you today?
A road map Before you get started on your journey through the Bible, it may help to have a road map. So here's a brief description of how the first of the 20 sections you’ll be reading through fit into the 'big story' — God's plan of salvation.
The Old Testament
In the beginning (Feb 28 – Mar 5) The Bible introduces us to its main character — God —in the very first sentence. God's first action is to create a beautiful and intricate world into which he places people, made 'in his own image'. Unfortunately, it doesn't take long for the first people, Adam and Eve, to do wrong and become separated from God. That sets up life's greatest dilemma: how can imperfect and sinful men and women be reconciled to a holy and perfect God?
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Mar 7 – Mar 12) Fortunately, God takes the initiative for solving the dilemma. His first step is to begin a close relationship with one group of people. The three men Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, sometimes called the Patriarchs, are chosen by God to give birth to this special group of people — the Israelites.
The story of Joseph (Mar 14 – Mar 19) The Bible spends a long time on the story of this one man and his family. At first, it appears as though God's plan to create a special nation has been derailed when Joseph is sold as a slave and imprisoned in Egypt. But, in fact, it is in Egypt that 'the chosen people' expand from a family into a nation.
Moses and the Exodus (Mar 21 – Mar 26) Eventually, the Egyptians begin to oppress the Israelites, so God chooses Moses to lead his people to freedom. In the process, God demonstrates his awesome power and teaches the people important lessons about trusting and obeying him. This rescue, known as the Exodus, also becomes a symbol of a greater freedom God was to offer to all people - freedom from the hold of sin.
The Law and the land (Mar 28 – Apr 2) Years earlier, God had promised to give Abraham's descendents a land of their own. Moses guides the people through the desert and brings them to the very edge of the Promised Land. But it is Joshua who finally leads the people across the Jordan River and into the land of Canaan. Along the way, God reveals how he wants his people to live, giving them the Ten Commandments.
E100 – Get the most from this challenge by joining our groups as they discuss these readings. You’ll find the times for these sessions, on Wednesday mornings and Thursday evenings, on the back of this sheet.
NATIONS IN TURMOIL (An editorial from the Baptist Times)
There are two ways of understanding what is happening. The first uses the tools of sociology and politics. These tell us that even the strongest and most ruthless dictator rules only by the consent of the ruled. If their situation becomes too desperate, and if they are given an alternative vision, then sooner or later their rejection reaches a critical mass, and they take to the streets. Liberty may be delayed if a tyrant is prepared to 'wade through slaughter to a throne,/ And shut the gates of mercy on mankind', but not forever.
The second way is to see with the eyes of faith. If we want to give thanks for the downfall of dictators, we are free to do so, but we should be careful. They have been kept in power by the silence and often the active connivance of the West. The guns used to massacre Libya's demonstrators have been made in the USA and the UK. Our faith leads us back to the Bible, though; and there we read of a God who has 'brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble' (Luke 1:51). God does not seem to care very much about political calculations, but he does care about justice, and everyone - corrupt Arab dictators, British prime ministers and American presidents - is judged.
When Joshua was preparing to assault Jericho, he met a man 'standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand'. 'Are you for us or for our enemies?' he asked. 'Neither,' was the answer of 'the commander of the army of the Lord' (Joshua 5:13-14).
That 'neither' is a sharp word for both East and West today.
