Tuesday 25th May 2021

Beside The Burn
This week we pause from our studies in the Book of James and we continue our thoughts from Sunday as we explore our relationship with the Holy Spirit and Jehovah Tsidkenu.

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Songs For Pentecost
This week some songs about the Holy Spirit for Pentecost.

Jehovah Tsidkenu - The hymn from Sunday sung in a church setting.
Holy Spirit, Living Breath Of God - Keith & Kristyn Getty
The Blessing UK - You may remember last year for Pentecost, members of lots of churches came together to record The Blessing.
Holy Spirit How I Love Thee - Stuart Townsend

Jehovah Tsidkenu
I’ve had a few requests for the words to Jehovah Tsidkenu which we sand to the tune of My Jesus I Love Thee

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
    “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
a King who will reign wisely
    and do what is just and right in the land.
In his days Judah will be saved
    and Israel will live in safety.
This is the name by which he will be called:
    The Lord Our Righteous Saviour.”
Jeremiah 23:5–6After walking with Andrew Bonar through some of the poorest neighbourhoods in Scotland, Robert Murray M’Cheyne, the early-19th century Scottish pastor, wrote these words in his diary on 3 March, 1834:
“Accompanied A.B. on one of his rounds through some of the most miserable habitations I ever beheld. Such scenes I never before dreamed of. Ah, why am I such a stranger to the poor of my native town? I have passed their doors thousands of times; I have admired the huge black piles of buildings, with their lofty chimneys breaking the sun’s rays—why have I never ventured within? How dwelleth the love of God in me? How cordial is the welcome even of the poorest and most loathsome to the voice of Christian sympathy! What imbedded masses of human beings are huddled together, unvisited by friend or minister! ‘No man careth for our souls’ is written over every forehead. Awake, my soul! Why should I give hours and days any longer to the vain world, when there is such a world of misery at my very door? Lord put thine own strength in me; confirm every good resolution; forgive my past long life of uselessness and folly.”
May the Lord put His own strength in us, that we might be used to glorify His name in Scotland’s schemes, and in poor communities across the world.


LYRICS
I once was a stranger to grace and to God,
I knew not my danger, and felt not my load;
Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree,
Jehovah Tsidkenu was nothing to me.
I oft read with pleasure, to sooth or engage,
Isaiah’s wild measure and John’s simple page;
But e’en when they pictured the blood sprinkled tree
Jehovah Tsidkenu seemed nothing to me.
Like tears from the daughters of Zion that roll,
I wept when the waters went over His soul;
Yet thought not that my sins had nailed to the tree
Jehovah Tsidkenu—’twas nothing to me.
When free grace awoke me, by light from on high,
Then legal fears shook me, I trembled to die;
No refuge, no safety in self could I see--
Jehovah Tsidkenu my Saviour must be.
My terrors all vanished before the sweet name;
My guilty fears banished, with boldness I came
To drink at the fountain, life giving and free--
Jehovah Tsidkenu is all things to me.
Jehovah Tsidkenu! My treasure and boast,
Jehovah Tsidkenu! I ne’er can be lost;
In thee I shall conquer by flood and by field,
My cable, my anchor, my breast-plate and shield!
Even treading the valley, the shadow of death,
This watchword shall rally my faltering breath;
For while from life’s fever my God sets me free,
Jehovah Tsidkenu, my death song shall be.

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Let’s Pray For Sharon Heron (deaconess, International Meeting Point)  
Pray for the new Bible Study which has started in North Belfast. Pray for a man who has recently become a Christian and for the four/five new people who are wanting to learn more about God. Pray that they too will come to faith and for others to grow in their faith.


Mountmellick & Tullamore (Co Laois and Co Offaly)  
Pray for the congregations as they enjoy meeting again in-person. Pray that they will be known in their wider communities as multi-national and welcoming churches.

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Glen Scrivener
“Reading Between The Lines” a series working through the bible looking at the well known phrases.
David & Bathsheba

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New City Catechism
Q. Are All People, Just as They Were Lost Through Adam, Saved Through Christ?
A. No, only those who are elected by God and united to Christ by faith. Nevertheless God in his mercy demonstrates common grace even to those who are not elect, by restraining the effects of sin and enabling works of culture for human well-being.​

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/new-city-catechism/are-all-people-just-as-they-were-lost-through-adam-saved-through-christ/

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7 Reasons To Reconsider Christianity
Many people assume that Christianity is simply a nice story for kids, a comforting crutch to lean on, or completely out of touch with modern life.
In this warm, honest book, Ben Shaw invites sceptical readers to think again. He outlines seven reasons why Christianity is worth considering—or reconsidering—not least because it offers some thought-provoking and rational answers to our deepest questions.
A must-read for anyone considering if there might be more to life.
The book is available here - https://thegoodbook.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?


Read an extract here - 
https://thegoodbook.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0d4025231abf6935988f461f4&id=3ff16ab183&e=52694c0eb2

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Fanning The Flame
Discover more encouragement on how we can 'Fan the Flame' on the PCI blog - https://t.co/6YpEcYQNCl

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Rico Tice
Rico Tice has written a new book - Faithful leaders. In this short video he introduces the theme of the book.
In this short, punchy, challenging and at times surprising book, Rico Tice draws on decades of experience in church leadership to call fellow pastors and others with oversight of areas of church ministry to define success biblically, fight their sin, lead themselves and serve their churches.

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5 Christian Clichés that Need to Die
These popular Christian clichés are well-meaning. They just aren’t biblical. 5 things that perhaps people have said to us that sound Christian but are not biblical.
https://t.co/ArqMoDCMGI

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Jigsaw
The times for yesterday’s Jigsaw


Jean 2:40

Play the "Strand Tuesday" puzzle!
https://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=2e2f9136890a