Good to be back!

14 May Good to be back!

Happy Tuesday night everyone! (or Wednesday morning if you don’t see this until then)

We are well & truly back from our trip overseas & absolutely delighted to find most things in as good or better shape than when we left.

Huge “Thank You!” to everyone who picked up some of the loose ends while we were away…and as I mentioned Sunday…what a joy to hear how y’all kept an eye on each other & lent a hand & your hearts where it was needed most. Well done! That’s how the church is supposed to operate. We are at our best when we do that. Folks know we are Christ’s disciples…how? By our love for one another!

Let’s get a few details marked in our diaries…

1. Zoom Bible Study Catch-up (we’re back in the swing here as well…Galatians 6:1-16)

Friday – May 17^th @ 1:00 p.m.

Join Zoom Meeting  —  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83006349720  —  Meeting ID: 830 0634 9720

2. Living Water Fellowship Prayer Time

Saturday – May 18^th @ 10:00 a.m.

7 Gidgee Place, Glenfield Park

I’ll have the coffee pot going & the kettle boiling & we’ll spend an hour together in prayer…if we need, we can go longer…but we plan on an hour.

3. Pentecost Worship

Sunday – May 19^th @ 10:00 a.m. (oh…wear something red if you can…makes for great photos!)

We’ve got a baptism scheduled & lots of guests coming from out of town so Morning Tea is going to look more like an extended light lunch! Should be a great morning!

4. Bonfire @ High Valley…details are being put in place but save the date!

Saturday – June 1^st

5. Biggest Morning Tea & Giving Beyond Ourselves for the Cancer Council

Sunday – June 2^nd

What a full schedule we have for the next few weeks…what a great opportunity to invite someone to join you!

One of the great things about holidays is there always seems to be time scattered in the days to do some reading. So I have two recommendations for you.

• Living Like Monks, Praying Like Fools (Tyler Staton)
• The Air We Breathe (Glen Scrivener)

I also spent a good deal of time reading the Bible…I was pleased that I could sit in my niece’s back yard most days, while everyone else slept in a bit, and do my morning devotions under the brightening Texas sky. One piece of 1 Samuel really stuck with me…it somehow seemed relevant to today’s circumstances.

The early chapters of 1 Samuel recount the period of Israel’s history where they are still without a king, but are led by Samuel, who functions in a priestly/judge role. As we know from the book of Judges, during this time, the Israelites act unfaithfully and God disciplines them by allowing foreign nations to attack wreaking havoc on them as a people. God then raises up a leader who defeats their enemies in battle & in repentance they return to faithfulness for a brief period until the process repeats itself again.

1 Samuel 7 describes just such a moment in time. The Philistines won a great victory against the Israelites & captured the Ark of the Covenant. But God plagued the Philistines & in fear for their lives they sent the Ark back to Israel. 1 Samuel 7:1-2 – So the men of Kiriath-jearim came to get the Ark of the Lord. They took it to the hillside home of Abinadab and ordained Eleazar, his son, to be in charge of it. The Ark remained in Kiriath-jearim for a long time—twenty years in all. During that time all Israel mourned because it seemed the Lord had abandoned them.

Now that last sentence struck me…The Philistines are afraid for their lives & returned the Ark to Israel all by God’s doing…the Israelite armies have not had to fight another battle & it seems the land is at peace, but they’re mourning because they feel abandoned by God. It almost makes no sense; until you read on…vs 2-4…Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you want to return to the Lord with all your hearts, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtoreth. Turn your hearts to the Lord and obey him alone; then he will rescue you from the Philistines.” And there it is…The Israelites are worshipping other gods & mourning that Yahweh seems to have left them. Well…if you give your heart to another “thing” God’s going to let you have that “thing.” Romans 1:24, 26 & 28 describes this equally well. But it hit me…How often do we turn our hearts to something other than God’s gift of life for us in Jesus, & then wonder why our lives are troubled & our hearts heavy? How often do we keep choosing paths in life that have never produced good, but still we go there expecting this time it’ll be different?

We noted Sunday that sometimes bad things happen for no apparent reason…but as often as not, You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. –  (Galatians 6:7b-8)  The Israelites discovered that devotion to other gods not only didn’t satisfy or fulfil their lives, it made them more aware of how far away from God they had allowed themselves to wander. Sometimes that sadness, emptiness, or chaos & heart-sick feeling is a call from God to turn your life back toward him. What comes next?

So the Israelites got rid of their images of Baal and Ashtoreth and worshiped only the Lord. Then Samuel told them, “Gather all of Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.” So they gathered at Mizpah and, in a great ceremony, drew water from a well and poured it out before the Lord. They also went without food all day and confessed that they had sinned against the Lord. They throw aside their idolatry, surrender their lives back to Yahweh & gather for worship. They fast & pray & confess their sin. And while they’re gathered for worship, the Philistines attack, hoping to catch them off guard.

But while they are still in worship, and the attack against them is about to begin, The Lord spoke with a mighty voice of thunder from heaven that day, and the Philistines were thrown into such confusion that the Israelites defeated them. The men of Israel chased them from Mizpah to a place below Beth-car, slaughtering them all along the way. Before the Israelites can muster and army, God has turned the tide of battle in their favour.

I take great encouragement from that…God is always predisposed to blessing us & bringing his grace & favour to us and he is always looking for that moment when our hearts are open to him so that he can fill us with the abundance of his gifts. If I’ve turned my back on God, that blessing stays out of my reach. If I’ve got my fists clenched around that which I won’t relinquish, God can’t fill my hands with what he knows I need.

God comes to us through Jesus Christ & dwells within us by the Spirit. He looks for opportunities to bless us and he looks at us with delight. He daily acts to protect & sustain us & bring the fullness of wellbeing to us. This is his heart for you. Rejoice in that this week.

See you Sunday!

John