LEIGH BAPTIST CHURCH “MESSENGER” AUGUST 2022
VERNON ST / CHURCH ST . LEIGH. WN7 1BH
Website : www.leighbaptistchurch.org.uk Contact: admin@leighbaptistchurch.org.uk
Pastoral Leader – Val Hulme ( Day Off Fridays)
email : pastoral.leader@leighbaptistchurch.org.uk TEL 07817142192
Check LBC website for updates and info also LBC FACEBOOK page
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DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Sunday 7th August 10:45 am All-age worship
Sunday 14th August 10:45 am Deacons and Mr. David Ward
Sunday 21st August 10:45 am Deacons
Sunday 28th August 10:45 am Val Hulme
Thursday 25th August Coffee+ 1:00 - 3:00 pm
Wednesdays 3rd and 17th August Support Group using our premises 12:15 - 2:00pm
Friday 19th August Pensioners' Link using our premises 12:15 - 2:30pm
Our Pastoral Leader will be on annual leave from Sunday 14th August - Saturday 27th August (inclusive)
Harvest Supper
We will be holding a Harvest Supper and Social on Saturday 1st October from 6:00 - 9:00 pm (roughly), cost £5.00. We will start at 6:00pm with a hotpot supper, followed by a quiz and games. Please let Jean know if you are hoping to join us, so that we know whether to have homemade hotpot or order from a shop.
SAMUEL
Last month I wrote about Daniel, a faithful servant of the God of Israel when many nations worshipped man-made idols.
Another servant of God was Samuel, who from a young age helped Eli, the Priest, in the Temple at Jerusalem, and then became God’s prophet in Israel and therefore the leader of the Israelites.
Time and again he needed to warn them not to worship false God’s, but to turn back to the
Lord their God. He reminded them of all that God had done for them in leading them out
of Egypt and helping them to settle in the Promised Land, Canaan, a land ‘flowing with
milk and honey’.
They were constantly being invaded by neighbouring countries and many times God guided them through Samuel so that the enemy was defeated, sometimes by fighting amongst themselves. When the Philistines were going to attack Israel at Mizpah the people asked Samuel to pray for them, that they would be saved from the Philistines. 1Samuel 7:10 says, “That day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites.” Verse 13 tells us that throughout Samuel’s lifetime “the Hand of the Lord was against the Philistines.” Even though the Lord had saved the Israelites from the Philistines many times, Samuel had constantly had to warn them about falling away from worshipping the Lord their God. Many times they admitted they had sinned and promised to serve only the God of Heaven. At those times God delivered them from their enemies.
Even so, they were not satisfied. When Samuel was getting older they asked him to appoint a King to lead them. When Samuel asked the Lord about this, God told him, “It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.” (chapter 8;7). In verses 10-19 Samuel was told by God to warn the people of the kind of things a king might do which they might not like, “but the people refused to listen to Samuel.” God then gave him instructions to meet with a man who was from the tribe of Benjamin named Saul. He was “a young man without equal among the Israelites – a head taller than any of the others.” He was to be the King of Israel that God had chosen and so, when Samuel met him, Saul was anointed as king and therefore the leader of the people. As long as he obeyed the Lord he knew God’s guidance and battles were won, but if either he or the people sinned, God withdrew his support.
Samuel continued to do God’s bidding, but Saul disobeyed the Lord. In chapter 15:26-28 we read that Samuel told him, “You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel.” ---- “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbours – to one who is better than you.” God sent Samuel to the home of Jesse in Bethlehem to offer a sacrifice to the Lord with those who gathered there, and to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king. When Samuel saw the first son he thought that he must be the one, but the Lord said that he wasn’t the one who had been chosen, for “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Seven of Jesse’s sons were rejected, but there was one more, David. He was out in the fields tending the sheep. He was sent for and when he arrived the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; he is the one.” David was anointed and “from that day the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power.” (16:6-13)
As a prophet called by God to speak the word of the Lord to the people in Old Testament times, Samuel had to be willing to ‘stand alone’ and to speak out when the Israelites were going astray and turning away from the Lord their God. This was true of all the prophets as they tried to warn the people and tell them to repent and worship only God who was always with them to lead them in the best way for them.
It is not always the majority who are right, but often it is those who are not afraid to be in the minority. As Christians we need to pray about decisions to be made, trust in the Lord to guide us through the Holy Spirit, and obey Him. We have a wonderful Saviour, who is with us all the time. We just have to turn to Him and trust Him. (Bible references: NIV)
God be with you, Kathie
CARE ABOUT OTHERS: “Love Cares More for Others than for Self” 1 Corinthians 13:5
Paul writes: “If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate...If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love” Bottom line: first you must care about others. © UCB Word for Today 2022