Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5: 7 “we walk by faith, not by sight...” a principle that is always true for Christ’s Church. The Church is a spiritual body with a spiritual purpose which is to fulfil the Great Commission that Christ revealed prior to His ascension, a commission that encapsulates every aspect of the Church’s spiritual ministry. Therefore, her service in this world is to be governed by faith not by sight – that is, not by the visible, the earthly or the carnal. The central feature of the service of Christ’s Church is seeing His kingdom advance. Christ taught His people to pray “Thy kingdom come.” The Shorter

Catechism gives to us a clear exposition of this petition – ‘In this second petition...we pray, That Satan’s kingdom may be destroyed; and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced, ourselves and others brought into it, and kept in it; and that the kingdom of glory may be hastened’. This exposition is as challenging as it is true, because it underlines that advancing the kingdom of Christ is a work of faith. To see the devil’s kingdom destroyed and Christ’s built requires faith in our God, trusting Him to bring about these momentous results. However, He works through His people to achieve His goals. He commissions them to evangelise through preaching the Gospel. He commissions them to disciple and baptise the converts and teach them to walk with the Lord in His

ways. Therefore, this ministry requires implicit faith in the Great Commissioner. His power brings the desired results for He prefaces His commission with the words “All power is given unto Me.” Thus, we must draw from Him all of the necessary spiritual resources as we labour for Him. Shortly, we will be entering the Castlegore Mission. This is a step of faith. We go against Satan’s kingdom, endeavouring to advance Christ’s cause. We go, trusting the Lord to give a hearing and work in sinners’ hearts. Pray much for lasting fruit so that Christ and His Father will be glorified.

A Word from

our Minister

Issue 20 April 2012

THE BI-MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF BALLYMENA FREE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

On the evening of Sunday 19th February, a farewell service was held for Mr David Brown and his wife Lydia, as he prepared to take up God’s call and be ordained as minister of Larne Free Presbyterian Church. Following the singing of Hymn 740, ‘Lord of the Church, We Humbly Pray,’ Mr Tom Laverty led in the opening prayer. Rev John Greer then welcomed everyone to the service and called David and Lydia to join him in the pulpit, where tribute was paid to David and his faithfulness as a member of the church, as well as his service in the youth fellowship and as a Sunday School teacher. David was then presented with a Bible inscribed by all the members of Ballymena Free Presbyterian Church Kirk session. Mrs. Greer was then called to the pulpit, where she paid tribute to Lydia

and also presented her with a copy of God’s Word. Lydia then brought a very moving word of testimony, telling of how the Lord had worked in her life. David spoke briefly of his happy twenty-eight years in the Ballymena church and thanked the congregation for their friendship and support. He spoke of how the Lord had saved him, and he publicly thanked Mr Greer for his preaching and for his guidance. David requested prayer for the work in Larne and especially for the commencement of a children’s work. Mr Tom Laverty then brought a very striking exhortation from the pen of Robert Murray McCheyne, adapting it,

and urging prayer from the Ballymena congregation, that under David’s ministry “Poor parched Larne would become the garden of the Lord”. Following the singing of Hymn 741, ‘Pour Out thy Spirit from on High’, Mr Greer then preached from I Timothy chapter 2 v 1-7, on “The Message of the Gospel Preacher”. Our eyes were directed to Christ the

Mediator, in His person as the Godman, His position as the One between God and men, His provision as the One who gave Himself a ransom, and His proclamation that now is the time to come to Him. At the end of the meeting, all the congregation enjoyed a time of fellowship and a delicious supper prepared by the ladies. I trust that this short account of David’s farewell service will serve as a reminder to us to continue earnestly in prayer for David and Lydia, and for the work to which God has called them. May He indeed turn poor parched Larne into the garden of the Lord.

Richard Nicholl

Farewell for

David Brown

Friday 16th March marked an exciting

night in the history of our congregation as the church building was packed for the sending forth service of Joanne Greer. The meeting was organised by the Mission Board and was led by Rev. Ian Harris, Chairman of the Mission Board. At the commencement, Rev. Greer welcomed everyone. He spoke lovingly of Joanne and quoted Ruth 3 v 10 – “Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter;” The congregation joined in the singing of Psalm 67, and Rev. McIlveen opened in prayer. Joanne’s brothers sang, ‘The Love of God’ and ‘I will follow Thee’. John spoke affectionately of Joanne and how they have seen the Lord preparing her for missionary work for some time. They finished by singing the Aaronic Blessing. Rev. Allison, Chairman of the North American Mission Board brought greetings from the North American Presbytery and Liberia. He explained that Joanne will mainly be involved in working with the children. She will also be helping adults to learn to read and teaching music. He outlined how the Lord has led to this point from the giving out of a tract in Philadelphia seven years ago. Rev. Allison also made a presentation to Joanne on behalf of the North American Presbytery. Mr. Sampson, Clerk of Session, made presentations to Joanne on behalf of the Congregation, the Sunday School and the Session of her home congregation and spoke of her willingness to serve in the congregation in Ballymena.

Mr George McConnell, Treasurer of the Mission Board, made a presentation to Joanne on behalf of the Mission Board and he urged us not to forget Joanne in the days to come but to remember her in our prayers and giving. Joanne then addressed the congregation. She thanked everyone for coming and for the gifts presented to her. She thanked her family for their unfailing love and support and especially her parents for their testimony and godly example. She expressed appreciation to the congregation and session in Ballymena for their support in many ways but especially in prayer. She mentioned the friendship and encouragement of the young people and expressed her anticipation of them visiting in the future. Joanne spoke of how this was not her work but it was the Lord’s work. Rev. Beggs, Minister Emeritus of Ballymena recalled the early connections the Greer family had with the work in Ballymena; and that when Joanne returned to Ballymena, she won a special place in the hearts of the congregation. He talked about her shining example of what a godly young woman should be. He expressed how the church will miss her and urged the congregation to take her upon our hearts in the coming days. Mr. Palmer, one of Joanne’s friends from College testified of her vision for worldwide missions and her passion for souls. He described her as a real life missionary.

The congregation joined in the singing of ‘I Must have the Saviour with me’ while an offering was collected for a vehicle for Joanne in Liberia. Rev. Park read from God’s Word, and Rev. Johnston preached from Matthew 28 v 16-20. He spoke of the Astounding Claim of the power of God and the Authoritative Command because of this power to go into all the world and proclaim Christ. He spoke of the Abiding Comfort of God’s presence when this command is obeyed and challenged the congregation to respond to this command. Rev. Johnston was then joined in the pulpit by Joanne and the members of Session as he led the congregation in prayer for Joanne. The service was brought to a conclusion with the singing of ‘Not Far Away’ and Mr. Cange from Malvern closed the meeting in prayer.

Following the meeting, the congregation enjoyed a time of fellowship in the complex where the ladies of the congregation had prepared a fantastic supper.

Joanne Greer - Sending Forth Service Rhonda McCosh

At the beginning of March the government began its three month ‘consultation’ on its plans to redefine marriage. The consultation asks if people agree with the move to scrap the current definition of marriage, the union of one man and one woman. The aim is to allow same sex couples to hold a marriage certificate. The consultation also makes clear that the government fully intends to press forward with the controversial plans, while Deputy Prime minister Nick Clegg has pronounced his aim to achieve homosexual marriage before 2015.

Scripture teaches us in Genesis 1:27 that we were created according to God’s plan, ‘male and female created he them’, in order to complement each other and in v28 to ‘replenish the earth’. As Adam and Eve represent God’s model family, we see that Cain and Abel had a father and a mother, thus marriage union is only for a man and a woman. The Lord Jesus, when questioned about marriage by the Pharisees in New Testament times, gave the same description as given in Genesis- ‘But from the beginning of

creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife’ (Mark 10:6,7).

The law in the UK has always maintained that marriage is a union reserved exclusively for heterosexual couples. Legal disputes over same sex marriage date back as far as 1682, where the court annulled a ‘marriage’ between two women, declaring that women could not contract a valid marriage with each other. In 1866, Lord Penzance ruled when dealing with a case of polygamy that “marriage… is the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others”. In 1973, the government went so far as to put down in written legislation that a marriage will be void if ‘the parties are not respectively male and female’.

The government introduced civil partnerships in 2004 as a form of union for homosexual couples, affording them all the same legal rights as married couples, but the government has sought to make clear that these

partnerships are separate from marriage.

Even the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that same - sex marriage is not a human right, under the European Convention on Human Rights. This judgement was reiterated in March this year against a lesbian couple from France, stating that “Men and women of marriageable age have the right to marry and to found a

family”. It also stated that Governments are not legally required to “grant same-sex couples access to marriage".

It is clear then, that society has always maintained a Biblical stance when dealing with marriage, and public opinion has not changed. A recent

survey claims that seven out of ten Britons believe marriage should remain a “life-long exclusive commitment between a man and a woman”. In addition, a petition being run by the Coalition for Marriage (www.c4m.org.uk) has obtained over 400,000 signatures to support and protect the current definition of marriage. A petition from Presbytery against any change in legislation, will be available for signing shortly.

Marriage

Redefined? Glenn Hamilton

Special Offerings

David Brown £ 4067.45 Rev Patterson £ 1125.80

Feb

Recording work £ 1911.70

Olympics £ 1476.55 Joanne Greer £ 13984.52 Missionary Gift £ 20000.00

Mar

Financial Update Internet Ministry

Audio Down loads

Video Down loads

Webcast Viewers

Feb 4951 1798 1635

Mar 5277 1814 1782

Average Weekly Offering

Home & Foreign Missions

Building & Repairs Fund

UK Fund

Feb £ 5197.32 £ 856.00 £ 1135.00 £ 229.25

Mar £ 5163.79 £ 1779.00 £ 1527.00 £ 221.40

A small gift of weekly offerings from the Junior Bible Class was

presented to Joanne for her work in Liberia.

Youth Challenge Week was from 26th - 30th March . The preacher was

Dr Alan Cairns and many young people testified to a profitable and

challenging week of messages.

The Sunday School presented money to Joanne, to purchase an accordion for her work with

the children in Liberia.

In family devotions a few weeks ago, we read Matthew 13, and v. 38 struck me – “The field is the world.” I got to thinking about that statement and realised that it is a very large part of the reason why I’m heading to Liberia . We who are saved generally agree that we have a responsibility to witness to those around us – if we have any heart for the things of God, we will have a desire to take others to heaven with us. And we should start at home. But our responsibility does not end there. The field is the world. This was brought home to me a few years ago when the Lord was dealing with me about serving Him. I was in Bible College – I knew I had gone there to prepare, although I didn’t know exactly what I was preparing for. But gradually, I realised that the command “Go ye into all the world” had been given to me, and that I personally had a responsibility to lift my eyes, not from the stalks of wheat right around me, but

beyond them to take in a vision of the whole field. When God says that the field is the world, He does not mean us to forget the home work, but simply to realise that the stalks around us are only a small part of the entire harvest. We must be willing to work in whichever part of the field He assigns to us. And so, by going to Liberia, I am simply working in another part of the field from you folks. We are all engaged in the same business of planting and watering and gathering in the harvest. And, in any part of the field, we can plant and sow; but it is only God Who can give the increase. So I covet your prayers for Liberia as well as Ballymena, that our God will send His Spirit to make the seed sown effectual and that we will have the joy of bringing home many sheaves. And I ask you to also join me in the prayer that the Lord of the Harvest will send forth labourers into every part of the field – and may each one of us be willing to be one of those labourers. “Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields . . . . The field is the world.” (John 4:35, Matt. 13:38)

Joanne Greer

www.ballymenafpc.org

Contacts

cornerstone@ballymenafpc.org

www.sermonaudio.com/ballymena j.greer@ballymenafpc.org

Church website Cornerstone email

SermonAudio website Rev. Greer email

Dates for your Diary

Sun 22nd April Castlegore Mission commences

Tue 24th April Deputation for Ballymoney Christian

School

Sat 12th May Sunday School Examination

Tue 22nd May Deputation Stephen and Helen Martin

(New Tribes Mission)

Points for Prayer

Rev David Brown and the church in Larne

Joanne as she commences her work in Liberia

Our Young People, following Youth Challenge week

A reversal of plans to change marriage legislation

The Gospel Mission in Castlegore

The new 3 acre site at Dwazone which has been purchased for

missionary houses.

Rev DiCanio, James Davis (radio announcer), Gillian, Joanne, Dr

Allison, and Pastor Richard Wesley at

Over ninety children were present for Sunday school in Paynesville on

25th March 2012

Update from

Liberia

Mrs Gillian Ferguson, who visited Joanne for two weeks, makes some

new friends

Joanne taking the Sunday School in Paynesville on her first Sunday