I Am The Good Shepherd

February 9th, 2024

Dear church family

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?"
Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment."

Matthew 22:36-38

In January, Tom brought a word to the church that he felt the Lord was calling us into a closer relationship with him; calling us to increase our intimacy, taking time to listen for his voice and well as reading our Bibles. That word has stayed with me and I feel personally challenged to review my quiet times, just as one may review any close relationship. Have I slipped into a pattern that may have become more of a habit than I would like? Am I growing in my relationship with God or have I stagnated? Are there times when I speed through my daily devotions as a tick box exercise and how would I feel if God did the same to me? How would I feel if I was on God's 'to do' list?

The lyrics of the song 'Goodness of God' where we sing about his faithfulness to us say: 'Your goodness is running after me' and I find myself wondering why he has to run after us at all?
This made me wonder - are there ways or times that I run from him even now?

This is not a new problem, even Paul said in his letter to the Romans, 'I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.' he continues saying: 'For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing.' Our culture has us chasing our tails, rushing around to fit everything into our already too full days when the Lord is calling us to stop and be with Him. Perhaps as a church, we need to consciously decide to be counter cultural and stop; prioritise more time to 'be still and know that I am God' (Psalm 46:10)

Perhaps now is a good time to review our spiritual patterns. Are we really loving God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all of our mind? Carve out some time to listen and be guided by God. Just maybe He wants to do a new thing in your life and your relationship with Him. You won't know unless you ask and then take time to listen for the answer.

Power Hour is back this Thursday at 8pm so join us there where we will be looking at this further.

Have a blessed week

Paula x

SUNDAY GATHERING - 10:30AM Join us this Sunday as Paula continues our sermon series 'I AM - Who is Jesus?', looking at "I am the good shepherd" from John 10. For those who are unable to attend in person please join us on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vkva3kAWPc4

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LADIES MEAL OUT!
This is a shout out to ALL of the lovely ladies who are part of our church family to share a meal together and have a chance to get to know one another better! Join us at Jay's Soul Food (https://www.jayssoulfood.com/) in Ashford this Saturday, 10th February at 7pm

The cost for this will be £15 for an all-you-can-eat buffet and then you will need to purchase drinks additionally...

To sign up and book your place, please click here: https://willesboroughbaptistchurch.churchsuite.com/events/jgu1mwal

If you would like more information please contact Rachel Oliver on 07754 032449.

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FAMILY FOOD AND FUN!
In the upcoming half-term holiday, on Monday 12th February, we are continuing to partner together with churches across Ashford to provide families with opportunities to make memories as a family by providing a safe space where they can enjoy craft activities, games and a hot meal... In order for us to be able to run this, we need a large team of volunteers - to either help set up on the Sunday evening (11th - around 6pm), help during the event on the Monday by helping in the kitchen or chatting to the families, or with the logistics of the clear up and resetting the church from around 1pm... if you can help with any of the above, please let Izzy know!

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DEAF SPIRITUAL AWARENESS TRAINING
Would you like to have the confidence to communicate with the deaf community within our church context? At WBC we want our services to be accessible to all. With this in mind, we are privileged the be joined by Denise and David Flynn who are providing five sessions of Deaf Spiritual Awareness training. We would like as many of our church family to attend as possible, especially if you volunteer in any area of WBC life, including the Well Cafe and Welcome team.
The first session will be Thursday 22nd February at 7:15pm for a 7:30pm start. It would be great to see you there.