​1824 was a great year. It was the year that Cadbury’s was established in Birmingham by John Cadbury and from then on we’ve had Mini eggs and Crunchies, we’ve enjoyed Bourneville and Double Deckers and the world famous Cadbury’s Dairy Milk! What a great year.
Some people say that the Bible as we have it today (the biblical canon) was established in the 4th Century AD. It can create the impression that before that time, God’s people were unsure and uncertain about what was Scripture and what wasn’t, but I want to draw our eyes to two nuggets tucked away in the New Testament:

2 Peter 3:16
16 Paul writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
 
1 Timothy 5:17 – 18
17 The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honour, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. 18 For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.”
  
2 Peter 3:16 is so encouraging for us believers. On the one hand it says that even the Apostle Peter struggles to understand all of Paul’s letters! What a great comfort when we’re neck deep in Romans 7 and floundering, Peter did too!
But I want to focus on something else Peter says about Paul’s letters.
2 Peter was written around 67AD (ish) and in Chapter three verse sixteen Peter says Paul’s letters are up there with the other Scriptures. In 67AD Peter recognised that Paul’s letters were as Scriptural and God-breathed as books like 1 Samuel and Isaiah! Isn’t that super exciting?
  
Then we move on into 1 Timothy 5:17-18 and we see something equally beautiful. Written in the mid 60sAD Paul quotes two parts of Scripture. The first quote “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” is clearly taken from Deuteronomy 25:4. But the second quote, “The worker deserves his wages.” ONLY appears one other time in writings, on the lips of Jesus in Luke 10:7.
Don’t miss how brilliant this is! It means we can most likely say that by the mid 60s Paul and probably others were reading and quoting Luke’s Gospel as Scripture on a par with Deuteronomy.
Wow.
 
I’m a bit of a geek so I find that super exciting! I hope you do too!
It gives me even more reason to trust God’s Word the Bible as God’s Word. It gives me even more confidence in these Scriptures and it gives me a great love for the God who guides His people and preserves His Word through the ages.
 
Why not thank God for His Word that it is true and trustworthy today.

After a private committal, the Thanksgiving service for Penny will be at BH on Monday 17th May at 11.30am.
As we currently understand the Government regulations, the numbers allowed at the service will only be restricted by social distancing guidelines, and so we will use a booking system as we do for Sunday services. We expect the Government to make their announcement on Monday 10th May and so booking will open on Tuesday 11th May. This is good news as it means that it will be much more like a 'normal' service for Penny.
Also, we anticipate that the numbers for a wake will still be limited to 30, so that means that unfortunately if you book on or after 11th May you will not be able to stay for refreshments (close family and friends will be invited before 11th May, and will be able to stay).

​     What is a perfect picture of                                 contentment?
A BBQ and cold drink on a hot day?
Catching up with a friend at a coffee shop?
Going for a summers walk on the seafront as the sun sets?
 
Psalm 131 verse 2 gives us one of the most beautiful pictures to describe contentment…
​
But I have calmed and quietened myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content. (v2)
 
A weaned child who simply wants to sit on their mothers lap, not because they want anything, but because they simply want to sit on their mothers lap.
And the challenge of the Psalm is for us to do exactly that. Sit, not on our mother’s lap, but our heavenly Father.
 
King David, who wrote the Psalm, knows there are things too wonderful for him to know (verse 1), but that’s ok, because the thing he really wants to do is sit on his Father’s lap and so he encourages everyone to do the same (verse 3).
 
So what about you… in the hustle and bustle of life… in the busyness and age of information… what is your place of contentment? A finished to do list? Or simply sitting on your Father’s lap?
 
Why not reflect on the words of Psalm 131 today…
 
Psalm 131
A song of ascents. Of David.
1 My heart is not proud, Lord,
    my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
    or things too wonderful for me.
2 But I have calmed and quietened myself,
    I am like a weaned child with its mother;
    like a weaned child I am content.
3 Israel, put your hope in the Lord
    both now and for evermore.
Ben

Please click on the link below:
​https://mcusercontent.com/86116d136cabe9e59290da9bd/files/5a1a29eb-838c-4d8a-b963-7d0c0d1a7569/E_Newsletter_May.03.pdf

Where do you run to when life is hard? Where have you run to? Who have you turned to and called upon? 
 
In 2 Samuel, King David turns to the Lord who he describes as his “rock… fortress… deliverer… refuge… shield… horn(meaning strength) of salvation... stronghold… refuge… saviour (2 Samuel 22:1-3)

That is quite a list of words to describe our great God!   
 
2 Samuel 22 is King David’s song of praise after he has been delivered on numerous times from numerous enemies (it’s pretty much identical to Psalm 18, so perhaps what he wrote here was then turned into a public song of praise recorded in the Psalms) and he knows exactly who deserves the credit for his victories. 
 
David describes those against him as “waves of death… torrents of destruction… cords of the grave… snares of death” (v5+6).  Perhaps that is how you have found life at times recently.  Whether it’s opposition from an unbeliever, or the relentlessness of life, or the pain of being in a broken Covid 19 world, we can feel like David felt.  If that is how you are feeling, or you know someone who is then please learn from what David did.  Life was hard for him, so… 
 
7 “In my distress I called to the Lord;
    I called out to my God.
From his temple he heard my voice;
    my cry came to his ears. 
 
What then follows is a vivid picture of how God intervenes and delivers David.  Using metaphors of dramatic forces of nature David describes God’s rescue as a storm, an earthquake, even a volcano! (See vv8-16) He understands that God has been sovereignly at work to bring about David’s rescue- not just once but many times.  David is confident that… 
             
17 “He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
      he drew me out of deep waters.
18 He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
      from my foes, who were too strong for me.
19 They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
      but the Lord was my support. 
20 He brought me out into a spacious place;
                    he rescued me because he delighted in me.” 
 
Think about how the King, the Lord Jesus could say these words.  He went through the hardest of times.  He faced the worst of enemies.  He even had to face the full force of his Father’s wrath for our sin.  Yet he was trusted himself to his God and he was delivered! Like a huge thunderstorm or violent earthquake God intervened and rose Jesus from death who now reigns as King forever! As King David knew partially, Jesus knows perfectly that God is the safest of places, the one worth running to, the one who delivers from all evil.   
 
When you are in Christ, you can say these words too. David’s God is our God. Jesus’ Father is our Father. When life is hard you have someone who you can call upon and who will act.  One day, even if it’s not until Jesus’s return, you will be delivered and you will know the perfect safety of your “rock… fortress… deliverer… refuge… shield… horn(meaning strength) of salvation... stronghold… refuge… saviour (2 Samuel 22:1-3) forever!  
 
Do read the whole of chapter 22 and join David in this great song of praise.