What is INDEX?


What is INDEX? An index is 'a guide or pointer to facilitate reference' towards a goal. That goal is a Biblical one: "physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come" (1 Timothy 4:8). We want to guide and equip STUDENTS & YOUNG WORKERS (ages 17-30), for the physical life in this world; but more importantly to encourage your spiritual growth in Godliness so you grow up mature and closer to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

2007 and Cyrus the Great

Happy New Year! I hope your new year has started out well with a renewed vigour to pursue Christ and Christlikeness. A few more things as we all start returning to Edinburgh.

1. We WILL be meeting this Sunday night (7 Jan). So if you are back in town do come by.

2. This Sunday evening at INDEX will be a brief review of last term and then a Q & A on any of the programme from last term. If you are planning on coming, start thinking now through some questions you may have. If you cannot come, you can email them to me for a response, or for us to discuss it on Sunday night. To stir the memory we looked at God the: One who exists, Creator, Trinity, Communicator, Sustainer, Redeemer, Father, Judge, and Man.

3. If you have taken one of the M'Cheyne read through programmes I hope that you've been able to start it (if not, you can still get one when you get back and pick up where we are at). If the Bible really does all that Psalm 19 says it does (which I trust we all agree on), then our reading and studying of it can only be profitable.

If you have begun the reading, here are a few thoughts on the start of the book of Ezra. We read in chapter 1 quite a list of fantastic things king Cyrus did for God's people and for God himself: sending the exiles back to Israel, funding their journey, and fully funding the rebuilding of the temple of God. You could say that Cyrus was used mightily of God, or that God used Cyrus to do mighty things for His people and His kingdom. And yet, Cyrus was a man who did not know God in a saving way. What does that mean? For one, that the extent of how we are used by God and even for God cannot be the grounds of our salvation or even of our assurance of salvation. Cyrus was used mightily and gained no eternal benefit from it for he did not humble himself before the glorious God who created him. God is not bound to use only believers to accomplish His purposes, but He offers to us the unimaginable opportunity to be used by Him to expand His kingdom. More than this, He offers us the opportunity to know Him in a relational way through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. And yes, salvation produces works, but these works are not what saves. It is all about Christ, and not about ourselves.

What have you been learning from Genesis, Ezra, Matthew, or Acts?
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