We conclude our biographical sketch of Tyndale’s life, covering the final edition of his New Testament, his betrayal, imprisonment and execution and his enduring impact on England and the English speaking people through his translation of the Bible into our native tongue.

Read the notes for this lesson (pp. 7-10).

The pinnacle of our Christmas series is John’s preface to his Gospel, the passage that fills out the words of Heb 1.2, ‘God … hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son…’ We consider what it means for the Son to be the Word of God and how it is that in Him alone can we truly come to know God at all – he is the full revelation of God.

Read the notes while you listen.

Our message this afternoon looks at the expressions of value in this great Psalm of God’s revelation of himself to man. The Word is valued for what it does and what it is, making it precious to the servant of God, a sure guide from the dangers of evil and towards the reward of the saints.

Read the notes as you listen.

We continue our biographical sketch of Tyndale with a brief review of last week, a few readings from his New Testament to compare it with our current versions and some discussion of the impact of both Tyndale’s Testament and his book on Christian ethics, Obedience of a Christian Man. Tyndale’s skill and commitment to God’s Word provide a great example and a great blessing to the modern church.

Read the notes as you listen (pp. 6-7 for this lesson).

Our Christmas series continues with a look at the marvelous effects of the Word as it works in the inner man of sinners – converting the soul, making wise the simple, rejoicing the heart and enlightening the eyes.

Read the notes as you listen.

Continuing our Christmas series, we look at the written word as David describes it from God’s perspective, using the six terms for the Word given here in Ps 19. The whole idea of the Word, even in OT times, was of an internalization of God’s thoughts through believing meditation on the written Word. We offer six striking NT examples of successful OT saints as an inspiration to us in our own walk with God.

NOTE: Our power was out at the beginning of this message so the first few minutes of the message are missing.

Read the notes while you listen.

In keeping with our Christmas theme, ‘the Word made flesh’, we are also looking at the life and ministry of William Tyndale. Tyndale can be considered the father of the English Bible – an exceptionally gifted and faithful man raised up by God at an opportune time.

Our first lesson takes us up to the point at which Tyndale’s first edition of the English New Testament was published.

Read the notes as you listen (pp. 1-4 of the notes for this lesson).

Our Christmas theme is ‘the Word made flesh’. Our first message looks at the word spoken to man without words, the word communicated by the glory of God seen in the heavens. This word communicates God’s Power and man’s accountability to God.

Read the notes as you listen.

Dr. Nieman gave us a comprehensive overview of the Gospel for our Thanksgiving service. He emphasized the love of God as opposed to all other gods and the wickedness and unthankfulness of men in choosing other gods over Him. It is not that God cannot be known by men, nor that He has not been known, but that men have chosen not to know Him. Yet God’s arms are outstretched still, ready to receive those who will believe.

First is the worst of the damage – our  completely destroyed storage shed:

Very little of any value was damaged in the contents of the shed. Most of what we keep in the shed is probably stuff we should have trashed long ago! (Your shed is probably the same!) Our riding lawnmower was unscathed and the push mower handle was bent. One of our men had a table saw stored in the shed (in our last work project) – it didn’t survive:

The damage was done by a stolen small excavator. The vandal spent some time playing in our back yard:

The next two photos show very minor damage to our church building, first to the railing and posts of a back exit staircase (one we want to replace anyway):

And this is on the front corner, high up, where the vandal appeared to bang the bucket of the excavator against the exterior wall. Fortunately no other damage to the main church building:

and, last, the shed from a bit further back:

The vandal also destroyed the chain link fence between us and an adjoining school yard. He eventually broke the hydraulics on the excavator and at this point someone in the neighbourhood noticed something amiss and called the police.

The damage could have been much worse. We thank the Lord for His protection in this incident. No one was hurt and really, the damage was very minor.

And in the meantime, we had great services this weekend with significant spiritual victories happening in lives. That is the main thing in all of these distresses. And Thanksgiving is next Monday! So Praise the Lord!