Mark and Helen Smith

The Silversmith

I found this posted on a Facebook forum and thought it definately merits a blog post:

Malachi 3:3 says: ‘He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.’

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. Continue Reading…

Holy Sex!

Have you every noticed that Christians are often very embarrased about anything to do with sex? The thought  of a Sunday sermon about sex just doesn’t fit, somehow. But why should that be, when all around us people are surrounded by images, adverts, suggestions and influences, primarily geared around sex? Of all the issues people face today there can be no doubt that this is the big one!

So being the brave pastors we are, Helen and I decided to face it head on and stage a seminar at our Church, called, ‘Holy Sex!’ It should be interesting, to say the least. Fascinating to see people’s reaction in the congregation when we first announced it a few weeks ago; mmmm – whisper, whisper, chat, chat, giggle, giggle!

Doing some research, it’s very encouraging how many Christians are actually talking frankly on the subject – loads of great books, forums, websites and teaching series.

We’ll be covering issues such as:

• The meaning of sex in the context of covenant and the Jewish Tabernacle

• The nature of sex – why it’s so emotive

• Sexual sin and guilt from the past

• Dealing with sexual pressures

• Sex in the context of marriage and relationships

If you’re in the Dumfries area, come and join the seminar – Friday 11th December, 7pm at the River of Life Christian Centre, by Dumfries Station.

New Wineskins for New Wine

There are three accounts in three of the four gospels, where this message from Jesus is recorded. We can assume that when most of the gospel writers cover something, it’s not just important (all of Jesus’ teaching is important), it’s vital. What we are dealing with today is of vital importance, in order for Christians to function as we are called to, and for the Church to be all we are called to be.

See Matthew 9 v 16, Mark 2 v 21-22 and Luke 5 v 36 – 39.

We’re taking Luke’s passage; it says slightly more than the other two.

³⁶He told them this parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. ³⁷And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. ³⁸No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. ³⁹And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’ “

The context is that Jesus chooses to associate with ‘Tax Collectors and sinners’. Not only that, but he actually visits the home of Levi (later called Matthew), who has called together all his tax collecting and sinning friends. Levi was probably very frowned upon by the Pharisees because, as his name suggests, he must have been of a priestly family – priest turned tax collector was a real indictment. Continue Reading…

Live life “full on” … or … Do what you do to the very best of your ability

Ecclesiastes 9: 7-10

⁷ Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favours what you do. ⁸ Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. ⁹ Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun- all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labour under the sun. ¹⁰ Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going; there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

Live life to the full.

Ephesians 6: 5-8

Serve wholeheartedly – not as slaves who have to and get no reward, but as people who honour and love God in all they do.

So much depends on our attitude to life and its challenges … whether we serve “because we have to” or “as unto God”  makes a big difference! Continue Reading…

You’re bigger than you think you are!

Mark talks about the way in which we usually run ourselves down and therby miss out on the opportunityto rise to God’s calling.

The Car that Nearly Killed Me (Holding on for dear life) – Peter Smith

Job – helps us to stay positive

The book of Job is a great inspiration when life isn’t going too well! Here are some thoughts, which may help you, if times are a bit hard.

Job 1

We see Job as a righteous man … upright before God. He was very wealthy, Godly, and cared about the right things.

v.6:  God has a conversation with Satan and is confident that Job is undergirded with the principles that make a Man of God … it’s not “stuff” or blessings alone. Satan is given leave to test him.

Total disaster befalls Job… he loses everything… all of his livelihood, his workers and his children, but he blesses the name of the Lord and doesn’t blame God.

Job 2

He loses his health … yet despite his wife’s encouragement to curse God and die, he refuses to blame Him.

So how did Job respond to these very negative situations? Continue Reading…

Keep things simple

Keeping it simple audio

It’s so easy to over-complicate things. It’s so easy to make the Christian Faith so complicated… by putting conditions, ways, rules on church, issues, things that we don’t fully understand – we wrap up in complicated discussions and arguments . We try to justify our “point of view” or our “opinion” and life gets full of head issues!Jesus kept things simple, e.g.:

Follow Me
Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you
Abide in me and I in you and you will bear much good fruit
Do to others as you would have them do to you
I am with you always – to the end of the age.

Why is it that we read in to things, motives behind what others say, or do?
God gave simple instructions in Micah 6: 8 Continue Reading…

Never forget this…

A work in progress

1 Corinthians 1:7-9 (The Message)

“Just think—you don’t need a thing, you’ve got it all! All God’s gifts are right in front of you as you wait expectantly for our Master Jesus to arrive on the scene for the Finale. And not only that, but God himself is right alongside to keep you steady and on track until things are all wrapped up by Jesus. God, who got you started in this spiritual adventure, shares with us the life of his Son and our Master Jesus. He will never give up on you. Never forget that.”
I was reading Corinthians in The Message over the weekend, just for a change, and was so struck by this short passage. I have been going over it again and again and just letting it settle in my spirit… God is going to keep me steady and on track!!! Wow! that is such a comfort to know and that He will never give up on me! I love it! All His master plans and designs for my life – He will bring to completion … Paul says it again to the Philippians in Phil.1 v 6 “There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.”
It makes me really want to allow God more access to my life to see His handiwork in me – that I might bring Him honour!

Have a “muse” on it yourself … it is a wonderfully encouraging Scripture … a work in progress – a masterpiece at that!

Have a look at some of our pictures from Bec and Emile’s wedding:

Click on the picture above to see more…