A Message from the Baptist Church

IT was with immense sadness that the leadership team at Arundel Baptist Church accepted the resignation, through ill health, of Pastor Steve Lomas. Steve has led the church faithfully since January 2009, and the hole he leaves will be difficult to fill.

As well as being a loving and caring pastor and teacher to the church, Steve has worked tirelessly in the community; in the schools, with the Scouts and Guides, Fun Days, Festival days, Praise in the Park and much, much more. It has been more difficult in these past 18 months or so with Covid restrictions. They have been difficult times for all of us, and even now we are told it’s not over yet, there is uncertainty, fear and even anger wherever we look.

What a contrast to the message Steve sent to the church. Broken-hearted at having to resign his pastorship, nevertheless his letter to the church was full of love, and hope, and peace in Jesus, his Saviour.

When Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane he too was broken-hearted. “My soul is overwhelmed by sorrow, to the point of death” he told his friends. Sorrow at leaving his disciples, at the pain and suffering he would endure on the cross, most especially at the separation from his Father in heaven which he knew was to come.

A modern hymn called Gethsemane puts it very poignantly.

“What led Him to this wretched place, what kept Him on this road?
His love for Adam’s cursed race, for every broken soul. No sin too slight to overlook, no crime too great to carry all mingled in this poison cup, and yet he drank it all, The Saviour drank it all.”

Jesus found the strength to face His trial on His knees, praying to his Father. He knew, you see, that the only way for ‘Adam’s cursed race’ to have their sin- the sin of ignoring the creator of the universe, of despising the giver of all good things,- forgiven was for Jesus the Son, the only man who fully obeyed the Father, to die in their place. So Jesus prayed for the strength to face the cross, and received it. He paid the penalty for each one of us, He stood in our place so that we might stand in His. What a Saviour!

Jesus went to the cross on Good Friday, and was raised from the dead on the Sunday – on the third day, in accordance with the Scriptures, proving that His sacrifice had been accepted. And He is now seated at His Father’s side, interceding for us. And all who love Him, who accept Him as Saviour and Lord, will receive from His hand a crown of glory when they go to be with Him.

This is why Steve is full of hope and peace. He too prays to the Father for strength each day, safe in the knowledge that He who did not spare His own Son will graciously give us all things. Steve’s hope is in the finished work of the Lord. He is in God’s hands, and at the right time, neither too soon nor too late, God will call him home to be with the Lord forever.