No.31 - Sweeter than honey

How blessed are we to have the very words of God.

Verse of the Week

'The law of the Lord is perfect,

refreshing the soul.

The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,

making wise the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right, 

giving joy to the heart.

The commands of the Lord are radiant,

giving light to the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is pure, 

enduring forever.

The decrees of the Lord are firm,

and all of them are righteous.

They are more precious than gold,

than much pure gold;

they are sweeter than honey, 

than honey from the honeycomb.'

Psalm 19:7-10

What incredible descriptions of God's words. How blessed are we to have a God who's commands are more precious than gold, sweeter than honey. How I long, oh Lord, to see more and more of the beauty of your words. Your commands are a light to our feet. The way you have set forth for us to live brings joy to the heart. Father help our unbelief. Give us eyes to see the glory of a life lived for you. Help us to long each day to delight in your commands that our souls may be refreshed by you.

Encouragements

God has been gracious to me this week in my preparation for the talks I'm giving over the next few weeks. I have previously found I can get stressed trying to figure out how I'm going to be able to finish the talks in time. However this week, by God's grace I have been more able to trust God and enjoy working with the time I have to serve him as best as I can.

I have really enjoyed thinking more about how to understand the bible as I prepared to teach about how choosing Bible translations, understanding the emotions in a passage, and recognising repetition in a passage can help us to understand what God is saying to us.

It has also been wonderful to reflect on how God kept his promises to bless his people in 1 Kings 3&4. Isn't it wonderful that we can trust God to keep his promises, especially when he promises that we will get to be a part of the amazing new kingdom to come!

Another thing to give thanks for, after much careful thinking, praying and reflecting on the last few months, I have decided to continue pursuing full-time paid church ministry. By God's grace, I have been accepted onto the St Helens Bishopsgate Associate Ministry Training Scheme in London, and will be starting at the end of August 2025. I am very much looking forward to getting to spend more time learning how to serve the church through better understanding and sharing God's word.

A Little Update

Here are a few of the things we've been up to and some of what we've got coming up. Praise the Lord for his grace!

The Last Week

• Prepared for - 1 Kings 3&4 children's talk, Bible handling talk, Sermon prep, Bible study prep

• Wednesday - TEAM Bible Course

• Thursday - Attended our Life group meal and bible study

• Friday - Led an mid day bible study

• Sunday - Gave a children's talk before church

  
  

The Next Few Weeks

• Mid-day bible study, Life group, Cambridge bible course

• 14th May - Attending a Church Trustees meeting

• 18th May - Giving a talk on studying the bible at our teaching session before church (Joining The Dots Adults)

• 29th May-1st June - Attending the St Helen's 10am weekend away

• 8th June - Preaching at Grace Church on 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

• 10th-11th June - Attending a Presbyterian Christian Conference (Catalyst)

• 12th June - Leading sung worship at my Grandma's funeral

Prayer Requests

God has helped me to delight more in his promises over the last few days. I would love prayer that my joy in him would continue. Especially as I seek to work hard with church ministry and love my family well.

Praying for you all,

Much love :)

Joshua & Luci.

P.S. - If you want to hear more about how I've been delighted by Christ over the last week, feel free to listen to the video below. I hope you may find it encouraging :)

TEAM Study Notes

Sex gender and relationships

Reasons for the shift away from christian based views

• Technological advancements

• Decline in Church attendance

• Rise in Atheism

• Rise of individualism

• Promotion of a sexual culture

  
  

Christian Foundations

• God is good in himself

• God is good in his relation to creation

• God created male and female in his image

• The fall damages

• After the fall God’s image in us is damaged

• After the fall God’s image in us is retained

• Redemption renews the image of God in us

• We are being renewed by the spirit in us

  
  

God made sex and marriage as good gifts

Sex and marriage are meant to reflect Christ and the church

Serving the bereaved

Important to remember

• The value and dignity of every human being made in the image of God (Gen 1:26; 9:6)

• Death is awful, a deep horror (John 11)

• Death is the penalty for human sin (Gen 2:17; Rom 5:12; 6:23)

• Not just natural – it is because of sin

• Should make us fear God – it is a judgment

• There is certain and wonderful hope for those ‘in Christ’… (John 11:25-26; 1 Thess 4:13-18; 1 Cor 15 etc) Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ (John 11:25-26)

• There is no hope for the rest of mankind (1 Thess 4:13)

• Remember human sympathy (Rom 12:15)

• God is the judge of all the earth (and I am not)

• Beware encouraging false assurance

• We do not pray for the dead (Heb 9:27)

  
  

Grief

• We all grieve

• Those in Christ grieve with hope

  
  

5 Common stages of grief

1. Denial/numbness/(relief?)

2. Anger

3. Bargaining

4. Depression

5. Acceptance/moving forward

   
   

2 dangers to watch for:

• When grief is obviously suppressed – leading a busy life

• Surrendering to grief, can’t and won’t let go, not moving on

Loving the bereaved

• Remember you can’t do the impossible

• Don’t turn away

• What not to say - Never mind / time will heal / I completely understand

• What to say - I’m so sorry / I’ve wanted to see you / at the right moment talking about what they meant to you

• Listen

• Be practical

• Don’t criticise the way someone grieves

• Don’t confuse emotional stress with lack of faith

• Be a friend

• Speak of Christ

Biblical Counselling TEAM notes

Loving people as sufferers

• Express that you care

• Help them to feel heard

• Seek to understand and feel what they’re going through

• When helpful help them to see God is in control and good

Practice tips

• Let them set the conversation direction

• help them to keep on track

• Ask to clarify what they’ve said

• Summarise what they have said