“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22,23
This weekend we celebrate 52 years of God’s faithfulness to Newcastle Fellowship Baptist Church. In every life there are joys and sorrows, times of praise and times of struggle, and so it is with the life of a church as well. There have been times of great struggle associated with great sorrow in the past, but there have also been times of great blessing and great joy! And through it all, God has been faithful, and His mercies are new every morning!
And yet, wherever God’s Word is faithfully preached, wherever God’s people are zealous for God’s glory, wherever the love of God is evident among Gods people, you can be sure of one uninvited guest at each service. Satan will be present and he will try to tear down the work of God. He will try to have members focus on the volume of the drums, or the quality of the sound system, or the timing of the powerpoint, or the clothing of the person seated nearby. He will try to set one member against another, for any number of reasons. Satan does not want you to head for home this morning with the Word of God on your mind, the praise of God on your lips, and the love of God in your heart. The enemy of our souls is real and he prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. It has been said that “Wherever God plants a church, Satan erects a chapel.” How true that is, and how vital it is that we remain close to the Captain of our souls!
May God enable us to fix our hearts and our minds on His glory and His eternal kingdom, and may He fill us with a supernatural love for one another, that sees beyond trivial differences, and genuinely seeks the best interests of others. May the God of all grace cause the generations following us, to proclaim the truth of these verses, in this place, with greater passion yet, through both the struggles and the joys; and may He use the ministry of Newcastle Fellowship Baptist Church to be a beacon in this dark world for many, many years to come!