Minister’s Message – June 30, 2024

Bible reading: 2 Samuel 1:1-12, 17-27.

Message.

I was rather pleased – although I shouldn’t have been – when I was called out of our missionary conference one evening. It had been a long, hot and tiring day of discussions and reports, all in Portuguese. However this wasn’t exactly a welcome escape: I was being asked to drive to the hospital where a Christian man had died and take him back to his home village. It was about 8 o’clock at night and no bush taxis or other transport would be available until the morning.

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Minister’s Message -June 23, 2024

Bible reading was (selected from 1 Samuel 17).

Message.

One of the great classics of Christian literature is John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress”. I suspect that it’s not much read today, but generations of children were brought up on it and it became almost as well-known as the Bible itself. Many of its characters are still familiar: Obstinate, Pliable, Mr Worldly Wiseman and Valiant-for-Truth; so are some of its locations (many based on real places in Bedfordshire): the Slough of Despond, the House Beautiful, the Hill Difficulty, By-Path Meadow, Vanity Fair, the Delectable Mountains and the Celestial City.

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Minister’s Message – June 9, 2024

Bible reading: 1 Samuel 8:1-22.

When Samuel grew old, he made his sons judges in Israel. The older son was named Joel and the younger one Abijah. They did not follow their father’s example; they were interested only in making money, so they accepted bribes and did not decide cases honestly.Then all the leaders of Israel met together, went to Samuel in Ramah, and said to him, “Look, you are getting old and your sons don’t follow your example. So then, appoint a king to rule over us, so that we will have a king, as other countries have.”Samuel was displeased with their request for a king; so he prayed to the Lord who said, “Listen to everything the people say to you. You are not the one they have rejected; I am the one they have rejected as their king. Ever since I brought them out of Egypt, they have turned away from me and worshipped other gods; and now they are doing to you what they have always done to me. So then, listen to them, but give them strict warnings and explain how their kings will treat them.”Samuel told the people who were asking him for a king everything that the Lord had said to him. “This is how your king will treat you,” Samuel explained. “He will make soldiers of your sons; some of them will serve in his war chariots, others in his cavalry, and others will run before his chariots. He will make some of them officers in charge of a thousand men, and others in charge of fifty men. Your sons will have to plough his fields, harvest his crops, and make his weapons and the equipment for his chariots. Your daughters will have to make perfumes for him and work as his cooks and his bakers. He will take your best fields, vineyards, and olive groves, and give them to his officials. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your grapes for his court officers and other officials. He will take your servants and your best cattle and donkeys and make them work for him. He will take a tenth of your flocks. And you yourselves will become his slaves. When that time comes, you will complain bitterly because of your king, whom you yourselves chose, but the Lord will not listen to your complaints.”The people paid no attention to Samuel, but said, “No! We want a king, so that we will be like other nations, with our own king to rule us and to lead us out to war and to fight our battles.” Samuel listened to everything they said and then went and told it to the Lord. The Lord answered, “Do what they want and give them a king.” Then Samuel told all the men of Israel to go back home.

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Minister’s Message – June 2 2024

Bible reading: 1 Samuel 3:1-18.

In those days, when the boy Samuel was serving the Lord under the direction of Eli, there were very few messages from the Lord, and visions from him were quite rare.One night Eli, who was now almost blind, was sleeping in his own room; Samuel was sleeping in the sanctuary, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. Before dawn, while the lamp was still burning, the Lord called Samuel. He answered, “Yes, sir!” and ran to Eli saying, “You called me, and here I am.”But Eli answered, “I didn’t call you; go back to bed.” So Samuel went back to bed.The Lord called Samuel again. The boy did not know that it was the Lord, because the Lord had never spoken to him before. So he got up, went to Eli, and said, “You called me, and here I am.”But Eli answered, “My son, I didn’t call you; go back to bed.”

The Lord called Samuel a third time; he got up, went to Eli, and said, “You called me, and here I am.” Then Eli realized that it was the Lord who was calling the boy. So he said to him, “Go back to bed; and if he calls you again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed.The Lord came and stood there, and called as he had before, “Samuel! Samuel!” This time Samuel answered, “Speak; your servant is listening.”The Lord said to him, “I am going to do something to the people of Israel that is so terrible that everyone who hears about it will be stunned. On that day I will carry out all my threats against Eli’s family, from beginning to end. I have already told him that I am going to punish his family forever because his sons have spoken evil things against me. Eli knew they were doing this, but he did not stop them. So I solemnly declare to the family of Eli that no sacrifice or offering will ever be able to remove the consequences of this terrible sin.”Samuel stayed in bed until morning; then he got up and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli about the vision. Eli called him, “Samuel, my boy!”“Yes, sir,” answered Samuel.“What did the Lord tell you?” Eli asked. “Don’t keep anything from me. God will punish you severely if you don’t tell me everything he said.”So Samuel told him everything; he did not keep anything back. Eli said, “He is the Lord; he will do whatever seems best to him.”

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