SCAPEGOAT HILL BAPTIST CHURCH – AUGUST 2024 NEWSLETTER

Dear Friends,

It’s hard to believe that we are already in the eighth month of the year! Thankfully, we have finally enjoyed some days of warmth and sunshine, helping us to realise that we are actually having a summer.  The wet and cold weather seemed to linger on far too long, but it does help us to appreciate the good days when they come.  A time to enjoy the beautiful part of the world that we are fortunate enough to live in.

Sadly, much of the world that we see and hear about every day, does not seem to be in a state to be enjoyed.  There seems to be so much greed and anger, causing pain and suffering in so many countries around the world.  Even the Olympic Games, an event that is supposed to bring people together, has been plagued with problems and disputes.  It is not surprising that people are losing hope in the future, and becoming depressed with the constant ‘bad’ news filling the media and press every day.  

Thankfully, Scripture tells us that we do not need to feel like that. In Romans 5 we read: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ……. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.  

Keeping our eyes fixed on the Lord means that we see beyond what the world is throwing at us, focussing on the future hope that only he can give.

Our best option in these trying times is to keep praying – not just for ourselves, but for all who do not have that precious hope that only the Saviour brings.

I would just like to finish with a quote from Corrie Ten Boom:  “The wonderful thing about praying is that you leave a world of not being able to do something, and enter God’s realm where everything is possible. He specialises in the impossible. Nothing is too great for His Almighty power. Nothing is too small for his love.”

Every blessing, Frances.