Recently we’re been reading through the first book of the Bible — the book of Genesis — and discussing what we learn about God from it, and about our relationship with him.

What follows is a summary of some of the things we learned from Genesis ch. 1:

1. God’s word is powerful: He speaks and things happen. This theme took us to Psalm 33 and Hebrews 4. That God was speaking suggests his desire to communicate, teach and influence. There is a mixture of descriptions after God spoke:  sometimes ‘it was so’, sometimes ‘God made…’ - implications: God commands are to be obeyed and God works to create as he desires. God’s word expresses his intention and that intention becomes reality by obedience and/or his work.
2. Without God’s command stuff is formless (v2): we saw in this a strong parallel to human life without God: “vanity of vanities, all is vanity!”
3. God was ‘careful’ in his creation: We wondered if the hovering of the Spirit of God over the waters (v2) implied:
   ~ an emotional concern for the earth (cf. Deut 32:11: the eagle fluttering);
   ~ an intimate involvement with the earth (Luke 1:35: HS overshadowing Mary);
   ~ an initial deliberation on the state of the earth and what he was about to do in banishing the chaos/desolation (i.e. creation was not just a whim on God’s part). 
   God has a lasting interest in creation (he sees that it is good after he has created; he names things, implying an acknowledgement of responsibility and ownership); he works with an order; he is methodical - it doesn’t all happen in one big cosmic lighting bolt but over a period there is a preparation of the earth for a purpose. We thought God is revealed in Gen 1 more like a architect/builder/gardener than a flashy magician. We thought ahead to chapter 2 and wondered if Adam’s naming the animals and work in the garden was to give him opportunity to be like God in positive ways.

We have a Bible class on Sunday evenings (at about 5pm; Dingley Rd) and Tuesday nights (7:30pm; location varies, so best to get in touch if you’re interested to come). You’d be very welcome to join us.

Heaven is NOT the Bible’s Reward — an online version of our most recent Travelodge talk. The next talk is planned for June 2nd. More information to follow.

It’s an unusual combination: the oldest book and the future.

The Bible is the oldest book and it does hold the key to your future. It explains why God created the world and what he plans for its future. The Bible helps us to make a choice about the sort of future we want.

So, if it is so straightforward, why don’t more people get a grip on their future? The answer is that many doubt that the Bible is true. For some, its very age is a problem. They believe it is a collection of legends and folklore about mythical characters.

The reality is very different. The people and the places in the Bible are very real. You don’t have to go to Israel, Iran or Iraq to see the evidence; there is a lot to look at in London WC1. The British Museum has many inscriptions in both metal and stone, weapons of war, coins, tableware and everyday utensils that back up the Bible record.

Looking at things that have survived for thousands of years shows that the Bible is not about legends and mythical characters, but about real people and real places.

This is not the only way to test the reliability of the Bible; to get help to carry out your own reliability check on the Bible we can send you a leaflet, The Bible is True. Simply email your address to walsall@bibleawareness.co.uk

A clear, fair, impartial summary of Christadelphian belief and practice for the BBC’s Religions and Ethics site.

Our friend Richard Benson runs his own blog called “New in Christ”. In this article he discusses Paul’s “exuberant” language — how he uses words such as “full”, “all”, and “every” to emphasize the completeness of God’s generosity to us and the salvation He offers.

I’ve always felt that there’s something rather weird about the story of the Magi. The three mysterious wise men from the East; their interview with Herod; the three curious gifts; the strange star which somehow guides them to a stable in Bethlehem; and then the message from God in a dream, warning them of Herod’s intentions.

It all seems quite otherworldly; almost magical, in a way. And the most perplexing part of the whole story is the motivation for their visit.
We are told that they came from “the East”; the implication is that they were foreign. We are told that they were “wise men” (not prophets of God) who studied the stars; this confirms that they were Gentiles, for prophets of God were not normally referred to as “wise men”, and astrology was prohibited under the Law of Moses.

It has been suggested that they learned of the prophecies about Jesus through the legacy of faithful believers like Daniel and his three friends, who lived during the Babylonian captivity – or Nehemiah, who lived during the Medo-Persian captivity.

Some people think this is a bit far-fetched. But there is historical evidence that faithful Jews in Gentile lands did indeed preach to those around them. One example is an ancient book called The Testament of Judah. It was written at least a century before the birth of Christ, long after the last prophet of God had died. It was written in Greek, apparently by a Jew with a Greek background. It was not inspired by God.

And it contains these words:

There shall appear for you a star arising from Jacob in peace. And a man shall come forth who is my heir, like the sun of righteousness, walking amongst the sons of men in gentleness and righteousness, and there will be no sin found in him. And the heavens will rain down upon him the spirit as a blessing from the Holy One. And he will pour out the spirit of grace upon you. This is the shoot of the most high God; the water of life for all humanity. He will shine his light upon the sceptre of my kingdom, and from your root will arise the shoot, and through it will stem forth the rod of righteousness for the nations, to judge and to save all who call upon the Lord”.

This was written by someone who knew the Old Testament prophecies. It was written by someone who understood those prophecies in the same way that Christians would later do. And because of this, most scholars considered it a Christian forgery for centuries! But it is not a forgery. Nor is it our only evidence for widespread knowledge of the Messianic prophecies before the Christian era.

In the 1st Century AD, the Roman historian Suetonius wrote:

An old and well established belief was held all over the Orient, that one would arise from Judea who would establish a government over all men.

Notice Seutonius does not present this as an exclusively Jewish belief. He confirms that it was known outside Judea; outside the Jewish community. And he confirms that it was an old and established belief.

It was a belief shared by the Magi. They came to Bethlehem because they were inspired by the message of that belief – a message of peace, reconciliation, love, and joy. A message unlike any other message in any other religion which had ever existed. And God helped them to discover that message because He could see that they were looking for it.

The story of the Magi proves the truth of Jesus’ words: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you”.

The joy of the Magi was the joy of faith fulfilled in reality. It was the joy of a living hope, rewarded within their own lifetimes. They returned to their Gentile land because God instructed them to flee from Herod. But they did not return as Gentiles. They returned as believers.

Jesus’ life had already changed them, just as it has changed us.

(via Bible Truth Discussion Forum via Christadelphians in Sutton Coldfield)

I love this…

Glory be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.

(’Pied Beauty’, Gerard Manley Hopkins, 1918)

It takes some thought, and probably a trip to the dictionary. But I love its message.

It hit me the other day that the same sentiments are expressed in a more accessible way by Matt Redman:

Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name
When I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I’ll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun’s shining down on me
When the world’s ‘all as it should be’
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there’s pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I’ll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name.

(’Blessed be Your name’, Matt Redman, 2001)

(via New in Christ)

Two of of our members, Luke and Kevin, recently visited Kosovo on a short preaching trip. Here, Luke shares his experiences of his time there.

It was going to be cold, we were told. But soon after landing we were shedding layers and basking in the sunlight!

Over half-term a bunch of 5 friends and I took a trip to the Balkans to hold a series of Bible talks in the Kosovan capital, Prishtina. We were there on behalf of the Christadelphian Bible Mission, which supports preaching work all around the world.

It was my second visit to Kosovo, so it was a great treat to have a chance meeting on the very first night with some familiar faces I’d met last Feb.

The plan for the week was to hold three talks, on three consecutive evenings, about Bible topics; we advertised the talks during the day by fly-billing around the streets of the city. There seems to be a desire to discuss religion in Kosovo, which we found exciting - all three talks were well attended, with the attendance increasing each night. The three talks were: The Miracle of the Bible; The Miracle of Prophecy; The Miracle of Jesus.

Kosovo is a very young country with the majority of the population being under 30; it is also mainly a Muslim country (over 90% of the population). We had the opportunity to discuss lots of religious topics with various people throughout the week, learning lots and, hopefully, helping other people to learn about God, too.

There’s a family in Kosovo who we have grown to know over the years, so it was tops to see them again and visit their cafe for some of ‘the best coffee outside of Italy’ (as the Bradt travel guide to Kosovo puts it). If you’re ever in the area (it’s right next to the airport), way not stop by!

Friday was a day for a trip, so we got up rediculously early and set of for Macedonia to visit a member of our church from there. He’d also got up early to meet us but, dispite the lack of sleep, we had a fantastic few hours in Skopie (the person we met there was possibly the nicest person in all of the country, so I think that was infectious!) before rushing off for our flight to the UK, which we nearly didn’t make on a number of occasions because of poor time keeping, slow taxi drivers, bus loads of school children walking slowly, wrong directions, different bus routes, busy traffic, roadworks and a peeling passport!

All in all, it was a great week.

I think my very favourite part was working as a team with the 5 other people from the UK. It was so wonderful to see Romans 12:4-6 in action:

Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.