Pastoral Update #8

Hi, this is video pastoral update number eight, and it's Friday the 8th of May 2020.

And doing things a little bit differently today.

I thought we're still in the church, but I thought I'd give you a little behind the

scenes look at what goes on in order to prepare us for the live stream on a Sunday morning.

So as you can see, the church is still here, it's still standing.

And as we scan around the room, you can see that the music corner is still there, nobody

playing at the moment, of course, and it hasn't been for a number of weeks.

And there's one or two chairs dotted about the place.

And in the middle of the church is the camera that is used to record all the sermons and

the AV booth in the back where Ali does all his magic and gets it ready and prepared

for a Sunday morning and a Sunday evening.

And then as we go around, we see we've set up our little Reverend I am Jolly chair in

the corner where most of the pastoral updates happen.

And you'll see, of course, I've got my little friend there keeping the seat warm for me because

I'm not in it this week.

That's Stinky Joe, my teddy.

Now, I'm not going to explain where that comes from, but the kids, when they come back to

church, when the lockdown is raised and we can come back, then I'll bring Stinky Joe with

me and I'll explain a little bit about him and why he's been with me every day since

I came to Edinburgh 20 years ago.

And then round, we're back in the pulpit area and you can see we're all set up to record

the service on a Sunday morning.

And the interesting thing about that is there's a little bit of a reminder in that for us

as well that we don't know what's going on behind the scenes spiritually in a sense

with what's happening just now.

We are in the dark in some ways, but we're asked to trust the Lord who knows everything.

And we are simply asked to put our faith and trust in what He's revealed and also trust

that He is good and He will take us through this.

There's a great verse in Proverbs chapter 3, which says, Trust in the Lord with all your

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

heart, lean not on your own understanding.

Lean all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.

It's easy to want to try and lean on our own understanding, but we're asked to trust

in the Lord through this difficult time.

Now on Sunday night, I'm going to be looking at chapter 16 in Genesis, which is the passage

about Abraham and Sarah, or Abraham and Sarah and Hagar.

And it's very interesting because it's a case of them taking matters into their own

hands.

They didn't trust the Lord.

They just looked difficult for them, and they decided just to go ahead without prayer and

without trusting in Him.

And there was huge consequences for them and for lots of other people.

So please tune in on Sunday evening for that to hear God's word and also on Sunday morning

where John will be looking at Jesus calming the storm from our study in Matthew.

So I encourage you to keep trusting, even when it can be very difficult, and keep praying

and keep knowing that He knows the end from the beginning.

And He has already shown His great love and commitment to us on the cross and in His salvation.

Thanks.