Bradford Baptist Church

  It was the perfect storm for church attendance.  This past Sunday we had three events all converge on one day, any one of them would affect attendance.  They were; 1. The first Sunday of the March Break.  Many families had headed south to try and find some sun and warmth.  2. We set our clocks ahead which means we lost an hour of sleep and for those who forget to do so the night before they would not make it to church in time.  3. We had what has been called the worst storm of the season the day before.  Almost 40cm of snow fell the day before and did not end until the wee hours of Sunday morning.  As a result only the few and the brave (and those who could get themselves dug out) came Sunday morning.  The message that Sunday; ‘Don’t let the Red Sea determine where you go’. We are doing a study in the book of Exodus and we had arrived at the story of the Red Sea (Exodus 13:17-14:31).  In the Red Sea story we see the nation of Israel facing a huge obstacle (which God had led them to!) and being faced with a choice.  Continue on where God wants us to go, though it looks difficult or turn around and surrender to bondage once again.  We looked at how, when we are faced with an obstacle in our lives, we often let the obstacle determine what we do. 

It appears I needed to listen to my own message.  The ‘perfect storm of attendance’ was an obstacle for that day.  When so few came it was easy to think of other things to do.  Should we cancel the service?  Should we all just go out for breakfast?   Should we go down to Tim Horton’s and have coffee (my personal favourite).  But my sense was God had the message for that day and so He must have purpose in it.  So we pushed on, going in the direction I believe God wanted us to go.  Raise the staff and part the sea as it were.  As a result two people have said how applicable the message was to their lives right at that moment.  But see God knew that (and when you consider how few were there, two is a pretty high percentage!)

What obstacle are you facing in your life right now?  Don’t let that obstacle determine where you go.  Jesus said it this way;

“I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20 (NIV)

A mountain was always an obstacle when traveling.  In ancient times when a king planned a trip workers would be dispatched to level the ground and remove any obstacles.  God says;

 ”Build up, build up, prepare the road! Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people.” Isaiah 57:14 (NIV)

Sometimes God will bring obstacles in our path to test us but ultimately His plan is to see us cross our Red Sea.  Sunday’s obstacle may seem rather insignificant compared to what you are facing but the principle is still the same, go where God wants you to go, don’t let the obstacle determine where you go.

As an aside, it is unfortunate that all those people who went south, suffering the ill effects of the sun, avoiding the snowstorm of the year, missed hearing the message.  No really, I’m not bitter!

  Welcome to the E-votional; thoughts about life, faith and spirituality. Okay, I must confess, I was a game show junkie.  I grew up with Bob Barker and ‘The Price is Right’ from which I learned valuable life lessons such as, which costs more, a can of waxed beans or a tube of toothpaste.  I always wanted to hear Bob say to me, “A new car!”

Game shows have changed a lot over the years and one of the more, how shall I say, ‘interesting’ ones is called ‘The Moment of Truth’.  On this show contestants have the chance to win up to $500,000.00 simply by answering questions truthfully.  The catch is the questions becoming increasingly more personal and embarrassing as the contestants win money.  Before the show is recorded the contestant answers all the questions while hooked up to a lie detector so the producers know before hand what are the truthful answers to each question.  Fail to answer truthfully and you lose all the money.  This week I read a review of a recent episode where a woman was asked the following questions;

Had she’d ever been fired for stealing from an employer?

If she was in love with someone else on her wedding day?

Then they brought out her former boyfriend, who asked if she’d leave her husband to be with him if he asked her to do so?

Has she ever cheated on her husband while they were married?

In order to answer truthfully and keep winning the money the contestant had to answer ‘yes’ to all the questions.  Did I mention her husband was sitting about 10 feet away.   Can you imagine having this aired on national television and now on You Tube for the entire world to see?   This got me thinking about what everyone in the world, including you and me, will need to face one day.  Consider the following;

 ”But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:36-37 (NIV)

 ”So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” Romans 14:12 (NIV)

 ”Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:13 (NIV)

 ”But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.” 1 Peter 4:5 (NIV)

Are you prepared to give just such an account? 

The interesting thing about this episode is that after all of these revealing questions which she was willing to answer truthfully the host asked her one more question;

“Do you think you are a good person?”  To which she answered, ‘yes’.  The person writing the article, which was not for a Christian publication, wrote this;

“It’s hard to imagine that a lady who just admitted she was a liar, a cheat and a thief would try to pass herself off as a good person (she’s pretty much the definition of a bad person by most criteria),…”

The result was that she had not answered that last question truthfully, that somewhere deep inside she knew she was not a good person.  She lost the money.  More tragic than that – she is in danger of losing her soul.  Let’s be honest, none of us are good and for certain none of us are good enough for heaven.  Jesus Christ is the only solution to our predicament of standing before God and giving an account of all we have done.  That’s the good news!

(watch the clip for yourself) 

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzZWqYWhdQw[/youtube]