Luke 14:27 “whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
As my placement continues may I say what a privilege it is to witness such commitment to Jesus at BH and your sister churches, in worship, in prayer, and particularly in how people (including me!) are challenged to live out the gospel in every aspect of life.
Luke 14:27 tells us you can’t be a Christian part-time. There are people today, like the crowds of Jesus’ time, who feel some attraction to Jesus but are not prepared really to follow him. So what is the cost of following Jesus? The cost is everything we are and everything we have. Our reward is salvation. Salvation – life in Christ, set free from sin. Do you remember the day when you took up your cross and followed Jesus, perhaps you wish to reaffirm that today?
True discipleship is knowing and acting on the importance of loyalty and allegiance to Jesus over all other competing loyalties, seeking to be faithful to Christ amid the challenges each day brings to us. This is the same for life’s small decisions as it is for the bigger ones. What might faithfulness to Christ mean for how you act today?

                     Masks
Since 24th July in this weird world of 2020 that we find ourselves in we’ve all been required to wear masks in shops and small enclosed spaces where people gather and although, of course, we comply I’m pretty sure most of us hate it – I know I do! 

The face covering on the left is fairly normal nowadays but the ‘mask’ on the right is actually an actor’s mask from the 1st Century A.D. and it reminds me that often I’ve chosen to wear a ‘mask’ in certain circumstances to hide what’s really going on for me... my mask might have been the smiley one that says ‘I’m fine’ or the busy one that says ‘I’m indispensable’ or the confident one that says ‘I’m right’...and I’ve used it to hide insecurity and fear of rejection. The word for an actor in the Greek is ‘hypokrites,’ and yes, we get out the word ‘hypocrite’ from it because it’s all about pretending to be something or someone we’re not. Ouch!!!

In the Bible Moses wore a face covering [a veil] in the Wilderness after he’d been speaking to God. We read about it in Exodus 34.

“When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever he entered the LORD’s presence to speak with Him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD.” 33 -35.

Moses put on the veil so that the people wouldn’t see the glory fading and think less of him. In the same way I have sometimes worn a mask so that people think well of me – I wonder what kind of mask you might wear and what it is you might want to hide from others or convey to them?
​
In the New Testament this true story about Moses and the face covering is mentioned in Paul’s 2nd letter to the Corinthian church. Paul writes something amazing and wonderful that encourages me – and I hope you – to never, ever put on a hypocritical mask again. Please spend some time thinking about and really grasping the truth of 2 Corinthians 2:17 & 18 [bold, underlined & italics are mine]
“Now the LORD is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the LORD’s glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the LORD, who is the Spirit.”
WOW!
​Chris

​From next week we will be changing the frequency of the BH Bulletin to three days per week - Monday, Wednesday and Friday. This is due to staff shortages due to holidays among other things. Those of you that send in articles for publishing please do not stop as they are very much needed and appreciated.

​:Uncertain Times
Will schools be back in September? Will there be another lockdown? Will they be able to make a vaccine? Will our services in the building be able to continue, or will a second spike mean another pause, and we go back to just doing our services online?
We don’t know the answers to any of those questions, and many of us dislike the uncertainty.
But if there’s one thing that our evening sermons on Daniel have taught us it’s that God rules the world. He is in control, of everything, all the time. He knows the future and we can trust him with it.
And in Daniel chapter 12 there’s a repeated command to Daniel which is also one for us, living in a world going through uncertain times. “Go your way” (Daniel 12:9,13) In other words, carry on with life, just like Daniel did in Chapter 8 after his disturbing vision there (Daniel 8:27 “Then I got up and went about the King’s business.”)
So in uncertain times, just carry on with life, trusting God with your future and with the future of the world. Carry on reading your bible, carry on praying and being at our services, carry on your job, carry on bringing up your children, carry on living for Jesus.
So today, tomorrow, this week, next month… “Go your way.”
​Phil

From next week we will be changing the frequency of the BH Bulletin to three days per week - Monday, Wednesday and Friday. This is due to staff shortages due to holidays among other things. Those of you that send in articles for publishing please do not stop as they are very much needed and appreciated.

​A good rule to follow
'As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord’     Joshua 24:15
 
So said dear old Joshua, that brave old saint from the days of Moses. He stood opposed to the mass opinion of his fellow Jews and along with Caleb gave a good report after their secret spying mission into the
promised land. (Numbers 13). He was courageous, strong and faithful, in leading the people of God.
 
I love Joshua and I love this verse of scripture. It used to be hanging in our hallway, but because it's become old and tatty it's been relegated to the shed - a bit like me!
 
What a great verse for the newly weds in our church, or for those planning(?) to be married soon. Equally inspiring for those who are feeling rather weary after many years of 'desert wanderings'.
 
Joshua stands against fear, complacency and faithlessness. There's a 'Promised Land' to be entered and an Almighty God to serve!
 
Phil

Over the last few weeks we have focused on Sundays on the spread of the gospel in Acts and the prophetic visions of Daniel. In both of these parts of the Bible we see glimpses of the spiritual realities behind the events going on in the world and in our lives. In response we don’t want to become people who see the devil at work in every personal inconvenience or difficulty. But nor do we want to ignore the great truth that God’s enemies, though real and powerful are no match for the Lord Almighty. The culture we live in is very different to that of ancient Babylon or 1st century Samaria but Satan, it seems, is quite capable of adapting his methods to stir up doubt, fear and chaos in the world regardless of how advanced or sophisticated humanity may appear. But his machinations pale into insignificance in comparison with the Sovereign, Creator God who stands behind and above history and walks with us through 2020 just as he did with Daniel and Philip in centuries gone by.
Jesus! the name high over all,
In hell or earth or sky;
Angels and men before it fall,
And devils fear and fly.
Jesus! the name to sinners dear,
The name to sinners giv’n;
It scatters all their guilty fear,
It turns their hell to Heav’n.
Charles Wesley1749