Edengrove Presbyterian Church

13/09/2026

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12/09/2026

12th September 2026

Pray (ACts)

Read (Genesis 35)

Message (Scott Woodburn)

Do you always keep your word? Do you always make good on a promise? Under the Lord may our yes be yes and our no be no. May we always fulfil our vows - the Lord expects nothing less. Jacob had once fled from his brother’s wrath and had camped for the night at a place called Luz. It was there that he had an amazing dream in which he saw a glimpse of Christ, prefigured as a ladder reaching from heaven to earth.

When he awoke he promised that one day he would return to Luz and worship there. Indeed he changed the name of the place from Luz to Bethel, which means “the house of God”. Many years had passed since Jacob’s dream and much had changed. He had returned home and he had even enjoyed his brother’s unexpected forgiveness but it was now time to fulfil his promise to the Lord.

The Lord commanded Jacob to go to Bethel and do what he had promised - he was to make an altar for the Lord (v1). If we think we’ll never be seduced by the world then we should read this chapter constantly. Before setting out Jacob’s household had to get rid of the foreign “gods” that they were carrying. The Lord had been nothing but gracious to these people and still they carried with them evidence of idolatry!

Thankfully the Lord is gracious even to stiff necked sinners. He extended His hand of protection so that no one came to attack the travelling clan (v5) and when they arrived in Bethel, Jacob built the altar he promised long ago. The Lord again moved full of grace and reiterated the promises he had made previously. Jacob’s new name was Israel (v10) and the Lord would bless him with nations, kings and land (v11-12).

Yet this chapter isn’t entirely full of rejoicing. As we journey verse by verse we see the reality of life and death. Rebekeh’s nurse Deborah died and was buried under an oak at Bethel (v8). Later further tragedy struck the family when Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel died as she gave birth to Benjamin (v19). Finally as Jacob arrived with his elderly father, Isaac too was called away by death (v29) and the once warring brothers buried their beloved dad.

As I write these words I am reminded of what Paul would say many years after the troubles and trials of Jacob. “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8v31-35, 37-39)

The Lord doesn’t promise us an easy road but He will surely get us to the end of it. We may be stubborn and stiff necked along the way and we may cry all too often in graveyards but God remains constantly and consistently faithful. Honour Him in your life. Repay the vows you have made and reject idols of all kinds. No one compares to the God of Jacob, who all these years later remains the same. If He is for us (and He is) then who can be against us?

Pray (acTS)

Sing

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Q64 What is required in the fifth commandment? The fifth commandment requireth the preserving the honor, and performing the duties, belonging to every one in their several places and relations, as superiors, inferiors, or equals.

11/09/2026

Basement is starting back on 18th September!

As a team are really looking forward to this year and to seeing the young people back at the Basement.

A few changes to let you know about. To begin with we'll be meeting once a month, and we hope to build up the frequency as the year goes on. I'll keep the dates posted here so you always know what's coming up. The September Basement will be on Friday 18th September and the October Basement will be Friday 2nd October.

Juniors (P6&P7) meet from 6.30pm - 8pm and Seniors (Year 8 - 14) meet 8pm–9.30pm.

The leaders' team will be a mix of familiar faces and some new ones, and we're all looking forward to getting started.

Two things we need from you:

Registration – every young person needs to be registered before they attend, even if they've been before. It only takes a couple of minutes and gives us up-to-date contact and medical details.

Basement check-in – to make sure we have the right number of leaders for the number of young people (our safeguarding ratios), we'll send a quick check-in ahead of each Basement night. All you need to do is indicate whether your son or daughter intends to come that Friday – it's not a commitment, just a heads-up so we can plan.

Register on the link below for Juniors

Edengrove Presbyterian Church Friday night youth - Juniors Please complete one form per child. The details you provide are held securely and used only for the safe running of The Basement.

11/09/2026

Basement is starting back on 18th September!

As a team are really looking forward to this year and to seeing the young people back at the Basement.

A few changes to let you know about. To begin with we'll be meeting once a month, and we hope to build up the frequency as the year goes on. I'll keep the dates posted here so you always know what's coming up. The September Basement will be on Friday 18th September and the October Basement will be Friday 2nd October.

Juniors (P6&P7) meet from 6.30pm - 8pm and Seniors (Year 8 - 14) meet 8pm–9.30pm.

The leaders' team will be a mix of familiar faces and some new ones, and we're all looking forward to getting started.

Two things we need from you:

Registration – every young person needs to be registered before they attend, even if they've been before. It only takes a couple of minutes and gives us up-to-date contact and medical details.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfA_xUk4NwIsJjALtLDR6956qiM2gvwiv_y3vbi6K2Uho50ew/view-form

Basement check-in – to make sure we have the right number of leaders for the number of young people (our safeguarding ratios), we'll send a quick check-in ahead of each Basement night. All you need to do is indicate whether your son or daughter intends to come that Friday – it's not a commitment, just a heads-up so we can plan.

See you on the 18th!

Edengrove Presbyterian Church Friday night youth - Seniors, 8:00-9:30pm Please complete one form per young person. The details you provide are held securely and used only for the safe running of The Basement.

11/09/2026

11th September 2026

Pray (ACts)

Read (Romans 4:16-25)

Message (Alan Burke)

The gospel is all about grace, how God, having out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer (WSC 20). We only need to think of who Abraham was before the Lord called him to himself. Abraham was a pagan; rabbinic Jewish tradition (Midrash) teaches that he was the son of an idolater, Terah (Joshua 24:2). Before he was called Abraham was still living as a pagan. That is, until God acted out of his mere good pleasure, calling Abraham out of his paganism and giving him a promise to which he responded by faith. He never saw the fulfilment of all that God had promised; yes, he had an heir, he had a son Isaac, but the promise that in his offspring, looking to Christ, shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, he never saw (see Gen 22:18).

The promise of God was not only given to those of the law but those who are of the faith of Abraham, the father of us all. Those of the law whom Paul speaks of are not those through their obedience have earned their salvation; he’s already dismissed that possibility, but they are those who are Jews who believed in the promises of God and to the Gentiles who look to the promise of God, who look to Jesus Christ. He is the father of the faith; all who believe, who like Abraham believe, who live by faith in the promises of God, are his children. Fulfilling what the Lord promised to Abraham, when before he had an heir of the promise, said to Abraham; “…I have made you a father of many nations” (Gen 17:5).

Even though from a human perspective, for Abraham there was no hope, and Paul uses how against all hope, Abraham in hope believed. For considering Abraham’s circumstances, humanly speaking, what the LORD promised to him was impossible; it was foolishness. Look what he says, v19, that “without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.” (see Gen 15:6 and 17:5). The situation that Abraham was in when the promises were given was in a very real sense, from a human perspective, completely and utterly hopeless. Human wisdom would say that what God had promised to Abraham was impossible; they were in their senior years, older than anyone here today, but Abraham was fully persuaded that God had the power to do what he had promised.

Look again though to how v19 begins, where we are told; “Without weakening in his faith”. How can Paul say that without weakening in his faith? Well, Paul would have been all too aware of what Abraham’s failures were. He isn’t saying that Abraham never had doubts, that he never had any struggles; rather, it means that Abraham persevered. He continued on towards the promises that he had been given. He faced times of doubt, but he persevered. He faced struggles, and he persevered. For true faith perseveres to the end; it keeps on going for the LORD, he who has begun a good work in us, as Paul says in Philippians 1, that he who has begun a good work will bring it to completion (Phil 1:6). Brothers and sisters, let us look to the promises of God, knowing that we are secure because of Christ. We receive God’s grace, his unmerited favour through the work of Christ. The basis of our status before the Lord God is in what Jesus has done that is applied to us by the Spirit; we receive this benefit now, for we are justified now. When our faith is weak, we remain justified because it is Christ himself who is the basis for God’s righteous verdict.

Pray (acTS)

Sing

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Q63 Which is the fifth commandment?�A. The fifth commandment is, Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

10/09/2026

10th September 2026

Pray (ACts)

Read (Genesis 34)

Message (Scott Woodburn)

As you well know Alan and I started these devotions when Covid 19 first hit. We wanted to give you daily food for your soul and our plan was to write devotions from March to June and then reevaluate once Covid had gone away. Eighteen months later we’re still here! We trust these devotions are a blessing to you and that each day these words get you into the Word of God. With that said, today’s devotion is horrific. This is a chapter that is hard to read, hard to preach and hard to fathom the wickedness of men.

Jacob has returned home and experienced the wonderful forgiveness of Esau. Yet Jacob is still acting like Jacob! He lies to Esau and fails to obey God. Jacob bought some land outside the city of Shechem and pitched his tent at that place rather than Bethel. Without realising it, Jacob had put his family in harms way.

One day Jacob’s daughter Dinah was kidnapped and r***d by a man called Shechem. He abused her and humiliated her despite the fact that it appears he had fallen in love with her (v3). Shechem decided that he wanted this young girl to be his wife and so he urged his father Hamor “get me this girl for my wife.” (v4) Needless to say, Jacob and his sons were outraged by what had happened to Dinah. They knew that such actions were a disgrace to Almighty God and understood that r**e should not be practiced in Israel (v7).

Before anything further happened either good or bad, Hamor approached Jacob and asked for Dinah’s hand in marriage for his son Shechem. Hamor told Jacob that it would be to his advantage as it would mean he could dwell and trade in the land as he saw fit. Additionally, he could name as big a price as he wanted for Dinah as his ra**st son Shechem had fallen head over heels in love with the girl.

It is said that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and it appears to be true in Jacob’s clan. His sons respond to Hamor’s offer with lies (v13). They initially tell the truth that Jacob’s family and Hamor’s should not intermarry. The people of God should not forge marriage relationships with those outside the faith. It was true in Jacob’s day and it is true in ours. Yet this truth was a means to a wicked end. The sons of Jacob urged Hamor to have all the males of the city circumcised - only then could the marriage take place.

This seemed like a good idea to Hamor and Shechem. It would mean that Shechem could have Dinah as his wife and so he and his father urged the men of the city to be circumcised. Shechem argued that it would be good for everyone, providing the men of the city with new wives from Jacob’s family and peace and prosperity (v23). So every male of the city was circumcised at Hamor and Shechem’s request (v24).

It is at this point that we see wickedness breeding wickedness and sin breeding sin. Jacob’s sons Simeon and Levi waited until the men of Shechem were sore from their circumcision and then in response to the r**e of Dinah they killed Hamor, Shechem and all the males of the city. They robbed and plundered the city, taking all the possessions they could find and even taking the women and children as spoils of war (v25-28). Jacob knew that the actions of his sons was going to lead to further trouble (v30). If the inhabitants of the land attacked then he would surely be killed. Yet his sons were deaf to their father’s protest asking Jacob “should he treat our sister like a prostitute?” (v31) Shechem’s sin was abhorrent but any revenge should have been left to the Lord.

My friends if you feel like you need to have a shower after reading such a chapter - then good. It is a brutal chapter and one that shows humanity’s depravity in all it’s bloody nastiness. A young girl is r***d. Lies are spoken. Many are butchered. The sign of the covenant had even been used as a means to murder. The whole situation is horrific.

The Lord is gracious in that He allows us a “warts and all” view in this passage, therefore we shouldn’t be surprised at the sinful lengths humanity will go to. This is a brutal world, utterly depraved and desperately wicked. What should we do? Brothers and sisters, flee from sin and be wise in your dealings in this world. Nothing and no one is neutral. Look to Christ and obey His Word - entrust your way to the Lord.

Pray (acTS)

Sing

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Q62 What are the reasons annexed to the fourth commandment? The reasons annexed to the fourth commandment are, God’s allowing us six days of the week for our own employments, his challenging a special propriety in the seventh, his own example, and his blessing the Sabbath day.

09/09/2026

9th September 2026

Pray (ACts)

Read (Romans 4:13-15)

Message (Alan Burke)

I’m sitting in my study listening to ‘The Clash’ and the song ‘I Fought the Law and the Law Won’ has just come on. Can you imagine though if there was no such thing as law in society? Of course, it would depend on many factors. I imagine that those in urban settings would face much greater consequences than those who live in a rural setting, but that’s maybe because I’ve rose-tinted glasses about living on the edge of a village. But without law, society would change dramatically; daily life would be transformed. Laws do more than punish wrongdoing; they establish shared rules, protect rights, organise daily life, etc. Paul has already made the point that Abraham’s righteousness came by faith and not the law. Now he builds on that in v14-15, for it wasn’t through the law, but the promise that Abraham was justified before God that it was credited to him as righteous.

What Paul is doing is stripping away any notion that Abraham was justified before God in what he had done, whether it was circumcision or law-keeping. No, what mattered, the only thing that truly mattered, was that Abraham believed in God; he had a righteousness that came by faith that would mean that he would be heir of the world. Heir of the world, not because of what he had done but through faith. Making the point that if those who live by the law are heirs, faith has no value (v14). The reason why faith would have no value is because then our righteousness would be based on our works by observing the law; there is no need for the promise; faith would be worthless. Instead, though, of the law bringing righteousness, bringing our justification before the Lord our God, the law does something else: the law brings wrath.

And what is God’s wrath? It is His holy, righteous, just anger against sin, expressed through divine judgement. This is the only thing that our law-keeping merits. Now, I’ve come across many people who think that through their obedience, their law-keeping, they have somehow done enough, but as we are reminded of in James 2:10, “Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (Jam 2:10).

What Paul is not doing is saying that the law has no positive role in the life of the believer; of course, it does; we should desire as believers to keep the law, but it can never justify us. 1 Tim 1:8 says, “We know that the law is good if one uses it properly” (1 Ti 1:8). The law is able to guide us in holiness, in how to please our heavenly Father. Yet if we are basing our hope on our law-keeping, then what we have merited, what we have earned, what we are deserving of is God’s wrath.

What the law should do is that it should act as a mirror rather than fool anyone into a false sense of security. For it reveals that we cannot do what the Lord requires of us; the law helps us see just how many our sins are, how we have transgressed what God requires of us. Our only confidence before the Lord is in and through Jesus Christ; it is by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone we are saved. So look to Christ Jesus and know that your confidence comes not from yourself but it is found in Him; stand on Christ and His righteousness and as we do we know that we have a righteousness that comes by faith.

Pray (acTS)

Sing

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Q61 What is forbidden in the fourth commandment?�A. The fourth commandment forbiddeth the omission, or careless performance, of the duties required, and the profaning the day by idleness, or doing that which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about our worldly employments or recreations.

08/09/2026

8th September 2026

Pray (ACts)

Read (Genesis 33)

Message (Scott Woodburn)

Chapter 33 begins rapidly with Jacob lifting up his eyes and seeing his brother Esau with his four hundred men. As we have journeyed through the book of Genesis we have seen Esau’s rage over his little brother’s trickery. Finally after twenty years they reunite and a mighty battle will take place….and yet…there is no battle.

Jacob approached his older brother bowing himself to the ground seven times (v3). It was a sign of his submission to his brother and his respect. Seven is the perfect number - we speak of the seven seas and in Revelation the Holy Spirit is described as the sevenfold spirit. Jacob bowed completely without any half-heartedness, he didn’t want to fight, he came in peace.

Esau’s response was nothing short of stunning. We are told that he ran to meet Jacob and he fell upon him, kissed him and the brothers wept together (v4)! What had happened? Where had the grudge gone? Where was the fight to the death? If you expected that in chapter 33 then you’ll be sadly disappointed.

After Jacob’s wrestling match with God, he received the new name of Israel. This beautiful name means “the one who strived with God” but it also shows us something of God’s character too. He is the One who strives for His people. As Jacob approached his brother fearing the worst, the Lord had already been at work. The Lord is able to influence the righteous and the wicked alike. Esau was no giant of the faith but the Lord had softened his heart and caused him to forgive his twin brother. Indeed Esau has been so softened that Jacob almost has to force him to receive his gift (v11). The years had moved on and Esau’s wrath had been removed from him.

Unfortunately there is a little bit of the old Jacob in Jacob’s response. Esau urges his brother to come with him to his home in Seir. Jacob agrees but urges his brother to go on ahead and Jacob would follow at his own pace. Needless to say, Jacob had no intention to go to Seir and turns for Succoth instead (v17). Now, let it be said that Jacob was right for not heading to Seir - it was outside the promised land, but did he have to lie to a brother who had treated him with glorious grace? No.

Not only did Jacob lie to Esau, he was also disobedient to God. The Lord had called Jacob to return home to Bethel and instead Jacob camped at Shechem. It was close to Bethel but it wasn’t Bethel. In the midst of a chapter full of reconciliation and grace, we still see underhandedness and disobedience and before we climb onto our self-righteous horse - there but the grace of God go we.

Each one of us has been reconciled to God through faith in Christ. He has and is transforming us by the ordinary means of grace and the mighty work of the Holy Spirit and yet…the old Jacob remains in us all. We rejoice when someone forgives us and then hours later our hearts are as hard as ever. We are brought to our knees by the Word of God and then we quickly forget as something shows up on our Facebook feed. We marvel that Christ has forgiven us and yet we promise never to forgive those who have wronged us. What wretched people we are! Who will rescue us from this body of death?

Esau treated Jacob in a way that he did not deserve and thanks be to God because the Lord acts in the same way. The Gospel tells us that Christ died not for the good but for the ungodly and it is the Lord who runs to us as He takes the initiative in salvation. My brothers and sisters, forgive one another as you have been forgiven. Do not practice deceit but instead let your yes be yes and your no be no. Finally, listen to God and do what He says for we no longer walk in the dark but in the marvellous light of Christ.

Pray (acTS)

Sing

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Q60 How is the Sabbath to be sanctified? The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days; and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God’s worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy.

07/09/2026

7th September 2026

Pray (ACts)

Read (Romans 4:13)

Message (Alan Burke)

I got given a book last year to read on my holidays. It’s called ‘Incompetence, Bad is the new Good’. Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend it, but the idea is that no one can be "prejudiced from employment for reason of age, race, creed, or incompetence”. Imagine it: like I get the reason for age, race, and creed, but incompetence? Well, if that is how society worked, it would be even more of a disaster than it is. What about someone who couldn’t follow basic instructions, continued to ignore what they had been told, who failed time and again? You may not like this, but we fall into that category. The LORD is clear, and we often don’t get the basics right. We ignore what he tells us and we fail time and time again. If our status before our God was dependent on how well we did, our abilities, we’d be stuffed. Our sin is much worse than incompetence; it is high treason against a holy God.

Here, Paul once more brings us face to face with how our eternal destiny is not dependent on us, on our works, but on God’s free grace, and I, for one, am so, so, so very thankful for that. Once more, he takes us to Abraham and how “It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith”. The point that he is making is that Abraham’s righteousness did not come by what he did. There were those, though, who would have been some who pushed back at Paul’s reasoning; how he dismisses Abraham’s works and the sign of circumcision were what made him righteous before God, those who would have argued that Abraham kept the law.

Let’s think about this: who did the Lord give the law through? The Lord gave the law through Moses, 430 years after Abraham (see Gal 3:17). Abraham didn’t have the law to follow; he only had the promises of God, and God didn’t say, “Here Abraham, here’s a promise for you, but what you have to do is keep the law of Moses, what you have to do is all that it requires of you, and you’re going to be righteous. Now I know you don’t have the law of Moses, but I still expect you to keep it.” Don’t be daft. But there is one thing that I want you to notice, how Paul says “heir of the world”. If you’re familiar with the promises given to Abraham, you’ll know that God promised him many descendants (see Gen. 12:2; 13:16; 15:5; 17:4–6, 16–20; 18:18; 22:17), he promised him the land of Canaan (see 12:7; 13:14–17; 15:7, 18–21; 17:8), and that all nations would be blessed through him (see 12:3; 18:18; 22:18), it was never promised though, that Abraham would be heir of the world.

Yet Paul understands that the promises given to Abraham of how he would be a great nation (Gen 12:2), that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed (Gen 2:3), that his offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies (Gen 22:17), that in his offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed (Gen 22:18) were being fulfilled in Christ. And since Christ inherits all things, those who belong to him share in that inheritance, for Abraham was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God (Heb 11:10).

He was living by faith when he did, longing for a better country—a heavenly one (Heb 11:16). He was looking forward to God’s eternal kingdom, which he became an heir of the world through a righteousness that comes by faith, as God’s Covenant of Grace will be finally and fully realised in the new heaven and the new earth (see Rev 21&22). And for all who belong to Christ, then we are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (Gal 3:29). Thankfully, our hope isn’t based on our incompetence; it is based on the perfect righteousness of Christ in whom we are heirs according to the promise.

Pray (acTS)

Sing

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Q59 Which day of the seven hath God appointed to be the weekly Sabbath?�A. From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath; and the first day of the week, ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian Sabbath.

06/09/2026

https://www.youtube.com/live/XqnGHac8nxs?si=GyPB_NbpoQso-6KR

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