LEIGH BAPTIST CHURCH “MESSENGER” AUGUST 2023
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
First of all, a correction:
In the July Messenger I was incorrect when I wrote that Nicodemus wanted to ask Jesus how to have Eternal Life. I have since altered that to: ‘---- Nicodemus, who went to find Jesus at night because he wanted to find out more about Him and who He really was. As a Pharisee and a teacher in the synagogue, Nicodemus would be highly respected and would be expected to know everything pertaining to the Jewish religion. But he obviously didn’t know where Jesus really came from.’
God’s Servants in the O.T.
Since I wrote about sin in the world I have been amazed how many times I have read something referring to the same topic, or have heard sermons or talks on the subject, and God’s answer to it. Since Jesus came to Earth to die to save us, we need to remind ourselves of Romans 3:23 AV, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” We can then know Him by confessing our sin, asking for forgiveness and for Him to live within us as we dedicate ourselves to Him. We then have the promise of the Holy Spirit to guide us. God also communicated with people in the time before Jesus as we can read about in the Old Testament.
Moses, we know, was in constant touch with God to receive instructions about rescuing the Children of Israel from slavery in Egypt and leading them for forty years through the wilderness towards the Promised Land of Canaan. God first called to him, “Moses, Moses” from the burning bush which was not consumed by the fire. God told him, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” (Exodus 3:1& 10) Moses followed all God’s instructions. From Exodus 19 onwards we can read of the times that Moses went up Mt Sinai for God to give him His commandments and laws for the Children of Israel to follow and obey. At the end of the Wilderness wanderings Moses was allowed to see Canaan before he died on Mt. Nebo, but he never entered the Promised Land.
That was left to Moses’ assistant, Joshua, the son of Nun. We read in Joshua 1:1, After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, -------, you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give them.” God told Joshua to be “strong and very courageous” and to obey the Law of the Lord that was given to Moses and to “meditate in it day and night.” (vs 7&8), and in v9, to be “strong and of a good courage: do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” So Joshua led the people over the Jordan. From then on he followed God’s instructions and encouraged the people to do the same. Battles, such as the Battle of Jericho when its walls fell down, were won by following instructions from the Lord their God given to them through Joshua. Just before he died he gathered the people together and reminded them of all that God had done for them, then he said, “Choose you this day whom you will serve. ----As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (“24:15) In v 24 we read that the people said,” The Lord our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey.”
Another servant of the Lord was King Hezekiah who reigned in Jerusalem for 29 years and knew what it was to trust in the Lord his God and to obey the Law of the Lord as in 2 Chronicles 31 and 32. We read in 31v20-21 that he “did what was good and right and true before the Lord his God. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, ----, to seek his God, he did with all his heart. So he prospered.” One example of that in chapter 32 was when he heard that the king of Assyria was planning to attack Jerusalem. He made plans and had work carried out to try to stop the attack, then he gathered together the military leaders and we read in verses 7-8 that he said to them, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the King of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us fight our battles.” The king of Assyria, Sennacherib, sent servants to mock Hezekiah and his people in Jerusalem, telling them how great he was and that no nation could stand up against him and no other god had been able to save those nations from attacks by the Assyrians, so why should Israel’s God be any different? Verse 20 tells us that “Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, cried out in prayer to Heaven” about this. And the Lord sent an angel who annihilated all the fighting men and leaders and officers in the camp of the Assyrian king. Sennacherib himself was killed with the sword by his own sons in the temple of the idolatrous god he worshipped. V22 tells us that “Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib, king of Assyria and from the hand of all others, and guided them on every side.”
It is clear that the answer to sin in the world is for people to acknowledge Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, to trust in Him and be guided by Him to the end of their lives on Earth. Those who do so can then claim the promise in 1John 2:17:
“The world and its desires will pass away, but he who does the will of God lives for ever.” Kathie W.
DIARY DATES:
Sunday August 6th 10:45 am Val Hulme
Sunday August 13th 10:45am: Open Service (bring along a Bible reading/reflection/hymn to share)
Sunday August 20th 10:45am: Sunday Bible Study
Sunday August 27th 10:45am: Communion Service Val Hulme
Wednesdays 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th August Prayer Meeting 10:00 - 11:00 am Meet at 9:45am for tea/coffee/chat
Wednesday 16th August Deacons' Meeting 11:30 am
Saturdays 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th August English Conversation Group 10:00 am - 12:00 noon
Other groups using our building:
Tuesday 8th August 11:30 - 2:30 Leigh Ladies' Luncheon Club
Wednesdays 2nd and 23rd August All Singers Great and Small Community Choir
Thursdays in August 10:00 - 12:00 Atherton and Leigh Foodbank
Thursday August 10th 7:30 - 9:30 pm Aglow
Friday August 11th Pensioners' Link 12:45 - 2:30pm
Advance dates for your diary All Singers Great and Small will be performing their latest concert, "The Street 2023" in church on Saturday 9th September, 730pm. Tickets - £5.00, will be available later this month, or pay on the door.
Our next Church and Congregation Meeting will be on Sunday September 10th. It will be a Worship Service with Church and Congregation Meeting, all starting at 10:45 am.
Our Pastoral Leader will be on annual leave from Saturday 2nd September to Friday 8th September inclusive.