Monday Spot (6 July 2009)
On Saturday the Corps held its first Family Fiesta Day, organised by YPSM Tracy Wood and the Fellowship Purpose Group.
Tracy Wood
The venue was Fort Pitt School, Chatham. Approx 70 people came to join in the fun and games. The SA Emergency canteen was there to supply drinks. There was an activity for everyone who wanted to participate from Garden Jenga to Tossing the caber, parachute games and face painting. Here are a few pictures.
The Sunday meetings were led by Majors Drew and Beverley McCombe based on the themes, in the morning, ‘God’s Soldiers and the Battle’ and, in the evening, ‘Standing Firm to the Truth’.
Drew and Beverley McCombe
It was a special day for Shirley Tye and Kirk Tranah as they were sworn in as Senior Soldiers. If you can see a resemblance between them it is because they are grandmother and grandson. Kirk’s wife, Stephanie, his parents, Rod and Theresa, and family, Luke, Daisie and Axl, are already senior and junior soldiers at Chatham. During the swearing in ceremony the band played ‘Consecration Hymn’. Shirley testified to the fact that ‘The Lord has given me strength to carry on with my walk of faith. This is where God wants me to be – in uniform working in the community.’ Kirk said ‘God led me out of the storm. I am here now and ready to lead the life God has planned for me.’
Songs chosen by Drew were SoF1607, SoF8, SA699, SA801, SA435, SA734 and Scripture readings were taken from 1 Tim 1:12-16 and Matthew 16:2-27. Music ministry was enhanced by the Singing Company‘s song ‘Hand me Down’ and the Songsters ‘With wings as eagles’. Drew in his message said ‘William Booth’s decision that ‘God shall have all there is of William Booth’ changed the course of history. We are called on to make the decision to be His, to lose our lives for God’s sake. The battle is in three parts: our hearts, minds and wills. We need to submit ourselves to God continually and be His slaves. The war is on: ‘My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in weakness.’
In the evening meeting led by Major Beverley, the songs chosen were SA755, SoF1015, SA6, SA650, Sof877, SA707 and scripture was taken from Revelation 2: 18-26. The Band‘s contribution was a modern arrangement of ‘All to Jesus (SA474) while the Songsters sang ‘Part the Waters’. A special visitor was Mark Anderton who had worked with Bandsman Greg Davis 18 years ago.
This was the first time they had met for 15 years. Mark testified and told us ’18 years ago when he was working in TSB, he was seeking significance and purpose in life. He became a heavy drinker and often invited Greg to join him and his friends socially which Greg declined to do. He got mixed up in drugs and drink and was searching for meaning in life. Greg constantly shared his testimony and scriptures with him and told him there was more to life. He left TSB and went to another bank but eventually was desperate and found Proverbs 3;5,6 which he wrote out and put up on the kitchen wall to remind him. He left England and intended to go to work on a tea plantation in Malaysia but en route went to the Philippines to meet a friend who persuaded him to stay there. Sadly, he got involved in the same things, drink and drugs, but he found people who shared God’s love with him. He gave his life to Christ and everything changed for him. He went to Bible school, met his wife and together they pioneered a church in Burauen in the Philippines. He is now involved in radio ministry, is an Alpha course advisor, led an alpha course in prison where eight men were converted, led services in the 77 villages in the mountains and recently baptized 35 people. God is faithful and wonderful. When you sow a word God is watching over that word and making it. God is the answer. He is the one who satisfies the soul. Major Beverley asked Mark to name three things for us to pray for his church. He responded: To see more fruit to abide in the church, for his family who are planning to come to England for a year on a sabbatical and for the church to be able to purchase some land to expand.
In Major Beverley’s message she said that the words in v.18 are the words of the Son of God and have to be obeyed and not taken lightly. No discussion is necessary – the church has to listen to the Son of God and do what He says. We must allow Him to shape what we think and who we are. The message was to a mature church where the Christians were becoming more and more like Jesus but even so there were still things that Jesus found to be wrong. We need to recognise the reality of sin and be on our guard against it, repent of it and put it away. God will always give opportunity for those who got it wrong to repent. We should not tolerate wrong things but should question whether we are always sure we teach the truth. We sometimes are wrong in our thinking when we think we aren’t good enough. Through the grace of Jesus we all make the grade because He shed His blood for us. We don’t understand our own value and significance in God’s eyes. We mustn’t tolerate anything less than the truth. Jesus thought you were worth dying for. Stand on the promises of God.
Thank you for logging on and may God bless you this forthcoming week.