Lee Street Church
Notes of Meeting – 23rd January 2022
Worship led by Ken Cowell
Psalm 18: 1 I love you, O Lord, my strength,
The background to this Psalm is clearly stated. Of David the servant of the Lord. He sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. This is a song of worship and gratitude to the Lord for His saving grace and victory over David’s enemies. What was the result of this salvation in David’s’ life? Why did he sing this song? It was because he loved the Lord. That must have given great joy to the Lord more than anything else.
Jesus was asked “Teacher which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.” Why have we come to church this morning? We could say I always come to church on Sunday. Why have we come to worship God this morning? We could say because it’s my duty as a Christian to do so. Would that give joy to God? What should be the answer? I’m here this morning to worship God because I love him. Maybe we can’t say that at the moment. But as we sing these next couple of songs let’s ask God to pour into our hearts a love for Him as we worship.
102 Father we love you
226 I love you Lord and I lift my voice
Psalm 18 2-3 “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock in who I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 3 I call to the Lord, who is worthy of my praise, and I am saved from my enemies.” David is giving reasons why the Lord his God is worthy of praise. He speaks of him as his strength, rock, fortress, deliverer, refuge, shield, salvation and stronghold. These aren’t just names without any meaning or practical use. Rather for David, God has shown himself having these qualities in his personal experience. He is also the God who answered his prayer and gave deliverance. We too also worship God this morning for the kind of God he is and for answering our prayer in giving us salvation.
137 God of glory, we exalt your name 617 Worthy O worthy are you Lord
Our next song speaks of the salvation through the cross that we can thank God for and of which David didn’t have the fuller knowledge of it as we have
1528 Thank you for the cross, Lord
Acts 8.32-35: 32 “The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” 34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me please who is the prophet speaking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news of Jesus.” The eunuch had obtained a scroll of Isaiah 53 and was reading it on his way home. He didn’t understand what he was reading so asked Philip what it meant. Philip gave him the perfect interpretation and told him about “the good news of Jesus.” Often when we read Isaiah 53 we mainly focus on the suffering of Jesus which of course is right but, Philip here emphasises the good news of Jesus which must mean also the resurrection of Jesus. There is no good news without the resurrection of Jesus. So as we remember his suffering on the cross for our sin let us also reflect on his glorious resurrection which assures us that the work of our salvation is finished and is eternally secure.
Breaking of Bread
Summary Notes of talk by Rev. Martin Shorey (Horley Baptist Church)
Subject: “Dealing with Conflict”
As an introduction, Martin referred to some interesting words of John Ortberg “Everyone is normal until you get to know them”. As an illustration, he reminded us of hedgehogs – when cold, they get close together to keep warm, but they then spike each other, so have to move apart again.
That’s a bit like us – we crave love, but tend to spike each other because of our quirks. God intends his people to come together in community, i.e., as a church, but we are not that good at managing conflicts which may arise.
We see conflict all around us – violent crime, road rage, knife crime, ever-increasing divorce rates. These and other conflicts give rise to jealousy, quarrelling etc..
Shortly before his crucifixion, Jesus prayed for all believers (John 14: 20 – 21)– that they may be one, in complete unity, to show why Jesus came.
It’s estimated there are 45,000 denominations in the worldwide church – many arising from disagreements and conflict within individual churches. It seems that when a number of people come together, some degree of conflict is inevitable.
We all get irritated at times by others – ref. use of car horns, frustrations in “express” check-outs at the supermarket for instance. Likewise, we all cause irritation at times to others.
Jesus was well aware of conflicts within and between his disciples.
In Matthew 18: 15 Jesus says” If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offence. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back”.
Note the seven steps outlined here.
- WHEN there is conflict – we need to acknowledge problems when they first arise.
- YOU – don’t wait around, blaming others – YOU need to get the ball rolling.
- GO – we often prefer to stay put and stew. But the instruction here is to GO – but not while we are still angry. We may need time to cool down before we take action.
- TO THE PERSON – go direct, no third parties need be involved. As Paul wrote to Euodia and Syntyche—in the church at Philippi--- “sort it out”
- IN PRIVATE – be sensitive, and calm
- DISCUSS THE PROBLEM – approach it directly, discuss the consequences.
- FOR THE PURPOSE OF RECONCILIATION – remember the aim is reconciliation, not to win points. We should raise issues with a view to making things change for the better. We need to be humble enough to listen to criticism.
Some questions to consider:
- What characterises my approach to conflict?
- What irritates me and triggers anger?
- Do we have any unresolved issues which need us to sort out?
CLOSING SONG: Make me a channel of your peace.
NOTICES
- Wednesday 7.30pm Zoom Bible study
- Next Sunday – service led by Sue Clarke and the Worship Team