Digging into Isaiah

If our series in Isaiah over the last 6 weeks has got your wanting to dig further into the treasures of this precious Bible book - here are a couple of resources that you might find help as you do so:

Isaiah by the Day. An unsual and really helpful book - it's a 'devotional translation' of Isaiah by Alec Motyer - who has made the book of Isaiah his life's work.

The message of Isaiah. A surprisingly accessible commentary on the book of Isaiah by Barry Webb.

Why we should fear the LORD?

Our series in Isaiah has kept calling us to fear the LORD and to see this as a good thing. Why? German pastor, theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer helps us:

...the first command of the gospel. "Fear God and you will have nothing less to fear." Don't fear other people. Don't fear violence and power, even when it comes to you personally and can rob you of your life. Don't fear the high and mighty in the world. Don't fear yourself. Don't fear your sins. All these fears will die. From all these fears you will be set free. For they are no longer there. But fear God and him alone. For he has the power over all the powers of this world. The whole world is in fear of God. He has the power to give us life or to destroy us. All other powers are a mere game. God alone is real, seriously real. Fear God seriously and "give him the glory." 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Christmas Sermons, p.111.

Everyday Discipleship

Jesus has called us to follow him everyday - and with everything. All in response to everything that he has already done for us.

But we really struggle to do this and so during March we will be seeking to help each other in three particular everyday contexts where we often fail to follow him most. In:

• Understanding our Bibles
• Helping the needy
• Using our money 

Over four Thursday evenings (7.45pm for 8-9.30pm on 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th March) we will be running three courses to encourage and equip each other in our everyday discipleship in these particular areas. We'd like everyone across the Emmanuel church families to consider signing up for one of these four-week options.

For further details - and to sign up - please keep reading:

1) How to read the Bible for all it is worth

The Bible is God’s sweet gift to all His people, but many of us are missing out because we feel ill-equipped to open it up and read it. The aim of this course is to give us confidence that, with the help of the Holy Spirit and with some simple tips on what to look out for, we can all enjoy feasting on God’s Word for ourselves. 

This course will be taking place at the Church of Good Shepherd BS7 8NA.

2) Helping without Hurting

Thinking together about questions like - How should we as churches respond to the social needs of our city? What does the Bible say about ‘social action’? What kinds of charities should we support? What is the best way to help alleviate poverty? Should I give money to people who ask me for it on the street? 

This course will be running at the Emmanuel Meeting House BS1 2NN.

3) The CAP Money Course 

Will teach you budgeting skills and a simple, cash-based system that works. Whether you feel pretty organised or whether it's like a lucky dip every time you try to withdraw cash from your account, the CAP Money Course will help you take complete control of your finances so you can budget, save and prevent debt.

This course will also be taking place at the Meeting House BS1 2NN.

Sign up for one these courses here.

Thursday's Reflection

Read Isaiah 7:13-16. "Immanuel" is (in the first instance) the faithful remnant of people that Jerusalem gives birth. It is as the Lord promised: there will be a remnant. How does the fact of the remnant help you to trust the Lord this week?

A Better Story - An Evening with Glynn Harrison (22nd February)

The last few decades have witnessed a radical and far reaching transformation of western attitudes to sex, marriage, and gender. 

Caught off-guard, Christians often react defensively, rather than offering a compelling vision of their own.

Emmanuel Westbury church family member Glynn Harrison's most recent book seeks to remind us that we have a better story. It aims to help Christians recover their confidence in the biblical vision for flourishing in the sphere of sex and relationships. How can we revitalize a vision capable of winning the hearts and minds of a new generation? And what will that better story look like?

On Wednesday 22nd February Glynn will be giving us an evening to introduce us to this better story - and answer our questions.

This event will be taking place in the new Emmanuel Meeting House (Lewins Mead BS1 2NN) - doors open and tea and coffee available at 7.45pm for an 8pm start. We will have finished by 9.30pm. Do join us.

NB: Parking is only available at local multi-story car parks or on a few streets nearby. But we have plenty of cycle racks and public transport links are good.

Glynn Harrison was formerly Professor and Head of the Department of Psychiatry, University of Bristol, where he was also a practising Consultant Psychiatrist. 

He now speaks widely on issues at the interface between Christian  faith and psychology, neuroscience and psychiatry.

Don't waste your life

"If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all..." Isaiah 7:9

Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty...

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted,seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King,the Lord Almighty.”

Isaiah chapter 6 verses 1-5

Getting your head round Isaiah

You may find this video helpful as we continue our preaching series in Isaiah 1-12 this week -

No, I'm not "fine thanks"

If you ask me at church over coffee how I am doing, I will probably tell you that I am “fine.”

If there is acute suffering, then I will tell you. If I have a toothache, I will tell you. If you had asked when my friend had just died, I would have told you I was not fine, and I would have told you why.

But otherwise… “I’m fine thanks”.

Except, what if I’m not? Nothing is “majorly wrong” but I’m just a bit, well… disappointed? How do I tell you that I am disappointed in my work, my family life, my church; in myself, and maybe even in God? You know the feeling. That creeping sense of dissatisfaction. A joyless weariness that colours each day. There are no words for it, no quick ones anyway. So, yeah, I’m fine...

Read on here.

A flavour of Life Explored

If you’re planning on inviting someone along to the Westbury/Bishopston Life Explored Course over the next few days I thought it might be useful to know the question we’ll be discussing together at the beginning of each session.

Sharing some of these questions with your friend might help them decide whether the course is for them of not!

Week 1:               What’s the best gift God could give you?

Week 2:               What’s your current view of God and how did you reach that viewpoint?

Week 3:               What keeps you going in difficult situations?

Week 4:               Often we feel our lives would be happier “if only” we had someone or something.  What’s your “if only”?

Week 5:               What are you hoping will bring you fulfilment in life?

Week 6:               What, if you lost it, would make you feel that life wasn’t worth living?

For more information and to see an introductory video go here

For a fuller lowdown on Life Explored go here