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Littleborough Methodist Circuit
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From the Minister’s Study Prayer is the key (Psalm 127) Most of my life I have had
nicknames from most of my friends. Every school I attended, I picked
nicknames, some were quite fun, but some were strange, but they all give me
the picture of how my friends perceive me. Friends have also described me
differently again expressing their perception of me. One of the shocking
descriptions I got from a long-term friend was that ‘I am a go getter’!
Initially I struggled with that but, on reflection, I started to realise that
perhaps I am. I tend to be very focused and determined in pursing what I
perceive to be the right thing. It always shocks me when I get it wrong. In
fact, lately I have discovered a very frightening thing about my perception
of life. Life to me seems to be all about doing rather than being! In
light of this, Psalm 127:1 gripped recently in my quite time. ‘Unless the
Lord build the house, they labour in vein that build it . . .’ I felt as if
the Lord was rebuking me. These words lipped into my face as I started to
focus in 2002 and what we should be doing for the Lord, I felt that I should
start by encouraging each one of us to focus on prayer, seeking the Lord’s
mind as to what He wants to do in this His circuit. As I was reflecting, I
came across the following story that seems to say it all. There
once was a man who had nothing for his family to eat…He had an old shotgun
and three bullets. So, he decided that he would go out and kill something for
dinner. As he went down the road, he saw a rabbit and he shot at the rabbit
and missed it. Then he saw a squirrel and fired a shot at the squirrel and
missed it. As he went further, he saw a wild turkey in the tree and he had
only one bullet, but a voice came to him and said, ‘Pray first, aim high
and stay focused.’ However, at the same time, he saw a deer, which was a
better kill. He brought the gun down and aimed at the deer. But, then he saw
a rattle snake between his legs about to bite him-so he naturally brought the
gun down further to shoot the rattlesnake. Still,
the voice said again to him, ‘I said "pray, aim high and stay
focused". ’ So, the man decided to listen to the voice. He prayed,
then aimed the gun high up in the tree and shot the wild turkey. The bullet
bounced off the turkey and killed the deer. The handle fell off the gun and
hit the snake in the head and killed it. And, when the gun had gone off, it
knocked him into a pond. When
he looked around, he had fish in all his pockets, a dead deer and turkey to
eat. And the snake (Satan) was dead because the man listened to God. The Bottom line: Pray first
before you do anything, aim and shoot high in your goals, and stay focused on
God. Let us have a blessed
"Mission/Vision 2002" Daniel The fear of
the Lord How does the Holy Spirit affect a
person as he enters a Christian’s life? We rightly think first of the Fruits
of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5, together with the Gifts of the Spirit, as
listed in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12. But look at this prediction about
the Holy Spirit coming to rest on Jesus. It’s from Isaiah 11:2–3. ‘The Spirit
of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the
Spirit of counsel and power, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the
Lord; and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.’ These
aspects divide neatly into three pairs, and follow the pattern of the first
commandment (Deut. 6:5) by loving God with the heart, strength and soul. It
isn’t too difficult to see Jesus in this list. After all, he did have wisdom
(Matthew 22:15–22) and understanding (Luke 2:47), and he certainly had the
most tremendous knowledge of the Lord (as displayed in most of his parables). But
the Spirit of God also gave Jesus ‘the fear of the Lord’. And more than
that, Jesus delighted in that fear! Perhaps ‘fear’ is not the best word to
use here. The meaning is more one of a reverent and awe-filled attitude
toward God. Jesus’ close relationship with his Heavenly Father certainly did
result in such a reverence for God, as was shown in the way that he was
willing to cleanse the Temple of the blasphemous practices there, and was
willing to reinterpret the commandments so that we too can have that same
reverent fear of God. So,
as we approach Lent, we need to ask a few questions: Do we have a true reverence
for God? Do we feel awe at the thought of entering his presence? In fact, do
we fear the Lord at all? Have we let the Holy Spirit change us? Anon What is prophecy? Prophecy is a gift of the Holy
Spirit (1 Corinthians 12). While prophecy is usually taken to mean
foretelling the future, it is most easily defined as speaking the words given
by God, the Holy Spirit. As it says in 1 Corinthians 2:13, ‘This is what we
speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the
Spirit.’ Prophecy
is enabled by the Holy Spirit (which is why we hear of so many prophets in
the New Testament: each of Philip’s four daughters was a prophet, see Acts
21:8–10). Indeed, when God spoke through Joel concerning the Day of
Pentecost, he specifically said, ‘I will pour our my Spirit on all peoples .
. . your daughters will
prophesy, and your young men will dream
dreams (Joel 2:28, and Acts 2:17). In
some instances in the Bible, a prophet—someone given this gift of God—speaks
words from God almost unwillingly. For example, see Balaam in Number 24 or
the people sent by King Saul to kill David in 1 Samuel 19:19–24. But
most prophecy is given by God to teach His people, for example, by giving
them instructions for doing His work (Nehemiah 9:20), for help in times of
trouble and persecution (Luke 12:12). The Holy Spirit was also given to
remind the disciples of everything that Jesus had said (John 14:26). Whatever
the specific reason may be, this gift of words is given for the common
good of the Church (see Ephesians 4:11; 1 Corinthians 14:26). St
Paul speaks extensively of how prophecy is to be exercised within Church
meetings. He was worried about order and propriety in worship so, for
example, he says that no more than one prophet should speak at once (1 Cor
14:29,31). And, as self control is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23),
prophets are enabled to exercise some control over when they speak (1
Corinthians 14:32). And after a prophet has spoken, several people
(presumably elders) should wait on God, praying to see whether the message
was indeed from Him (1 Corinthians 14:29). Finally,
we are reminded from St Paul, ‘Eagerly desire the greater gifts’ (1
Corinthians 12:30; and remember that prophecy is one of the greatest 1
Corinthians 14:39. St Valentine Valentine’s Day originates from
the ancient Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia, which was celebrated on
15 February in honour of the gods Lupercus and Faunus, as well as the
legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. During the festival, young men
would draw the names of women from a box, and each couple would be paired
until next year’s celebration. Often they fell in love and married. At
around 270 ad, when Rome was facing battles and civil uprising, many young
men refused to join the army, so Claudius II the emperor cancelled all
marriages and engagements, thereby removing an excuse for potential soldiers
to remain at home. Two priests, Valentine and Marius, disobeyed this decree
and secretly performed marriage ceremonies. Valentine was caught on 14
February and dragged to jail, where he was he was clubbed to death and
beheaded. It
is said that, before his execution, Valentine himself had fallen in love with
the jailer's daughter. He is said to have signed his final note to her with
the words, ‘From your Valentine.’ The
fertility festival was celebrated until 496 ad when Pope Gelasius replaced it
with a similar celebration. For a patron saint of the celebration, he chose
the lovers’ saint, St Valentine. He also moved the date of the celebration
from the 15 February to the date of St Valentine's death, 14 February. Did You Know? The
word ‘canon’ is derived front the Greek word Kanon, signifying a
measuring rod. Thus, when we say a book or writing entered the ‘Canon of
Scripture,’ we mean that it had been measured by the standard or test of
divine inspiration and authority. It became the collection of books or
writings accepted by the apostles and leadership of the early Christian
church as a basis for Christian belief. It is the standard by which all
Christians throughout the ages live and worship. For
writers in antiquity, the opening paragraph (even the first sentence)
performed much the same purpose as the blurb on the back of a book’s dust
jacket, title page and list of contents. The opening words of a literary work
were therefore vital in alerting a potential reader of what was contained in
the book. While
we tend to think of St Paul as prolific because he wrote so many epistles in
our New Testament, in fact St Luke the Evangelist wrote more pages of the new
Testament that St Paul, with his Gospel and The Acts of the Apostles. That’s the spirit! The wise old Mother Superior lay
dying. The grieving nuns gathered around her bed, trying to make her
comfortable. They
gave her some warm milk to drink, but she refused it. Then one nun took the
glass back to the kitchen. Remembering a bottle of whisky received as a gift from
the previous Christmas, she opened it and poured a rather generous measure
into the warm milk. Back
at Mother Superior’s bed, she held the glass to her lips. Mother drank a
little, then a little more then, before they knew it, she had drunk the whole
glass down to the last drop. ‘Mother,
Mother,’ the nuns cried, ‘Give us some wisdom before you die!’ The old woman
raised herself up in bed and, with a pious look on her face, pointed out of
the window and said, ‘Don’t sell that cow.’ Which commandment? A Sunday school teacher was
discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. She
explained the commandment to ‘Honour thy father and thy mother.’ She
then paused and asked ‘Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat
our brothers and sisters?’ Without missing a second, a little boy answered,
‘Thou shall not kill.’ Lord, when we are wrong, make us willing to change; and
when we are right, make us easy to live with. Peter Marshall You do make a difference Sometimes, we can feel oh-so-small
when compared to the awesome needs in the world: hospitals with no medicines,
electric companies idle with their workers hungry, illiteracy at 95%, 1 out
of 5 infants perishing for lack of food, ongoing violence, decades of misery,
prophets of doom . . . the list can seem endless. We can feel useless and
insignificant. But we can make a difference. Listen to this: An old man was
walking along the beach and saw a little boy throwing things into the sea. He
got closer and closer, and realised there were many hundreds of starfish
littering the beach, stranded by the high tide. The man then saw that the
little boy was approaching them, one by one, and picking them up and hurling
them back into the sea. ‘Little boy,’ said
the old man, ‘this beach is many miles in length, and there are hundreds,
maybe thousands, of starfish. Do you really think you can make a
difference with a problem as big as this one?’ The boy picked up
another starfish, studied it for a moment then, without looking at the old
man, threw it back into the sea. He said, ‘Well sir, I made a difference to
that one.’ Do we look only at
the big problem? Jesus didn’t call us to minister to the masses. He called us
to reach out to individuals who would in turn reach out to others. Maybe we
can’t change a whole nation but if we change just one family of open hearts,
then we will have made a difference to them. Anon Creating trouble A group of scientists were
discussing which one of them was going to tell God they didn’t need him anymore. Finally, one volunteered and went to speak to
God. The
scientist said to God, ‘Some of us have been thinking and have come to tell
you that we really don’t need you anymore. You see, we’ve been coming up with
great theories and ideas, we’ve cloned sheep, and we're on the verge of
cloning humans. So as you can see, we really don’t need you.’ God
nods understandingly and says. ‘I see. Well, no hard feelings. But before you
go let's have a contest. What do you think?’ The
scientist says, ‘Certainly . . . what kind of contest?’ God
said, ‘A man-making contest.’ The
scientist said, ‘Sure! No problem.’ The
scientist bent down, picked up some dust and said, ‘OK, I’m ready!’ But
God replied, ‘No, no, no . . . You make your own dust.’ Notes ·Quotes · Anecdotes Jesus said: Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give
him shall never thirst; it shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life (John 4:14) Take God’s ‘comfort blanket’ of love, wrap
it snugly around you and enjoy the warmth and protection it offers Cameo Character Corner A C H S A H (Judges 1:12–15) Daughter
of Caleb Married
her cousin Othniel Caleb
gave her some South land— needing
irrigation. Achsah
asked her father for water. He gave
her the upper and lower springs Florence Men ought not to
play God before they learn to be men; and after they have learned to be men,
they will not play God. Thoughts in Solitude Thomas Merton Six o’clock thoughts on prayer Preachers on Sunday morning could easily make us feel
guilty about not praying enough. Often they might be right. Let us think about three moments when we might be praying
too much. 1. When
God requires action, and we have already prayed enough. The book of
Joshua in the Old Testament: chapter 7 tells how evil brought disaster to
God’s people. Joshua and all the circuit leaders went to the chapel, tore
strips off their clothes, lay on their faces all day and threw dust over
themselves—quite a sincere way of praying. But God told them to stop and act. This could be true for us. We may
need to repent, and deal with wrong. Or: is it pleasant to pray while
drinking a cup of coffee, sitting in a comfortable room. But God may want us
to take a flask of coffee to a public place, and be willing to talk to a
lonely person, and tell them about a special Friend. Rather than quiet
devotions over our lunch hamper, in the work’s canteen, He may wish us to sit
with our colleagues and give Christ’s answer to their questions. 2. Jesus
told his disciples not to worry about the Pharisees. Why was that?
Because they were well-informed, educated religious people who had rejected
God’s ways in preference for their own traditions. ‘Leave them,’ says Jesus,
‘They are blind leaders of the blind’ (Matthew 15:14). These are subjects
which we are not called to pray about. 3. Sometimes
God wants us to stop interceding, and thank Him for answering our prayer.
He gives the assurance that He has said, ‘Yes.’ E. Lees ‘Faith’ in thirteen words: God
is. God is as he is in Jesus. Therefore there is hope. David Hope, Archbishop of York Argentina Argentina is a country of diverse
terrain. It is nearly 4,000 km long from the subtropical north to the
sub-Antarctic south. It encompasses part of the Andes mountain range, swamps,
the large plains of the Pampas, and a lengthy coastline. In the past
twenty-five years Argentina has had to struggle with military dictatorship, a
lost war over the Falkland Islands, and severe economic difficulties.
The
economic crisis worsened until December 2001, when popular protests against
austerity measures caused de la Rua to resign. The country is currently
defaulting on its debt payments, the currency has been devalued, and there is
political anarchy. FACT FILE: Please Pray for: ·
For
political stability, after the country had six prime ministers in six weeks.
Ask God to help the leaders of the country to make wise decisions to allow
for a better future. And thank God that Argentina no longer suffers under a
military dictatorship ·
For
economic stability in Argentina, following the collapse of their currency,
the peso, in the early Winter months ·
For
the destitute, who have lost everything during the present economic chaos;
and for those who care for those who are bankrupt, unemployed or hungry
because of the country’s debt ·
For
the international community (especially the United States and the World bank
and IMF) to look with mercy on the plight of Argentina, and write off some if
not all of their international debts ·
Thank
God for the religious revival which has swept the country since about 1983,
and has changed millions of lives. This revival has also enriched the
worldwide Church through its ministers, teachers and evangelists ·
And
pray for the minorities in Argentina: there is discrimination against the
massive Jewish population of Buenos Aires, the indigenous peoples of this
huge country, and the poor Fantasy worlds? Everywhere you look at the moment,
it’s impossible to miss the new Harry Potter But
the problem with fantasy is knowing where the boundaries lie between the
fantasy world and the real world we live in during the rest of our lives. The
tragedy is that, apparently, most people in Britain now believe that
Christianity is also a fantasy: they will say that Christianity is a world peopled
by imagined beings (God), with people using imaginary forces (prayer), with a
fairy-tale ending (heaven) in which everything
ends all right. And, like all good fantasy stories, there is one element of
the story that is not fantasy¾ ordinary people: us.
How do we get away from this
stereotype of the Christian way of life? Firstly by being real people,
and looking at things realistically. We just happen to know God and live the
way He teaches us to. People who live this way might at first be mistaken for
living in a fantasy world, because they will have to use words like ‘God,’
‘Heaven’ and ‘prayer.’ The difference between them and those who really live
in a fantasy world is that true Christianity works. This type of Christianity is not
escapism from the world: it is the truth—indeed, it is the truest and most
honest way of looking at the world, and then doing something about the way
the world has become. This is not to say that enjoying
Harry Potter and the characters inhabiting Tolkien’s ‘Middle Earth’ is
necessarily a bad thing, nor that we should seek to avoid them. But we can go
too far. When the latest Star Wars film ‘Episode I’ was released last year,
several fans asked the
director, George Lucas, for his permission to start a new
religion, one based on the Jedi knights at the heart of the story. Lucas was
so outraged that he sent them away. We must be so close to God in the
way we live that there can be no doubt that we are living the truth, and not
a fantasy. Jesus said, ‘I came to bring the truth . . . and the truth
will set you free’ (John 8:32). So let’s grasp his way of life in order to be
free, and then there’s no need to live in a fantasy world. From a Church Magazine: The
church will host an evening of fine dining, superb entertainment and gracious
hostility. Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 p.m. Prayer and medication will
follow. |
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