SUNDAY 19 JULY 2020 Divisional Envoy Ian McPhee
. I called in at the Quarters on Tuesday morning to finalise a few things with Cpt. Callum and Cpt. Emma and also to say an almost emotional farewell. I admit to feeling a little bit jealous, because Callum, Emma and Isla were about to embark on another exciting adventure. They were heading off to an area they are not familiar with; have new places to see, new people to meet, many hours of leisurely driving in seemingly endless traffic jams, and months of trying to find their way about Aberdeen and the North East of Scotland. It will be just the same for our new officers, Lt. Christopher, and Lt Faith Thompson. They will be experiencing the same feeling of excitement as they prepare to travel to the Western Isles. They will pass through some of the most beautiful parts of the country as they make their way to Ullapool. Then there is the ferry crossing and the spectacular cruise along Loch Broom before reaching the Minch. There is so much to see, perhaps even dolphins. Of course, life on the Island is not the same on the mainland. Most things, at least outwardly, seem to amble along at a more leisurely pace. Early sunrises, glorious beaches, friendly people, midges, and more awaits them. I can remember the many times that Mae and I moved to a new house. It was always to a different part of the country. We used to sit down for hours with a map and street directory on the floor trying to work out where to visit, and how to get there. Part of the “fun” was reaching our destination, or as close to it as possible. In 2020 it is much easier to find places. No more maps, no more street directories no more getting lost, as most cars now have a clever device called a satellite navigation system (sat-nav) fitted. A sat-nav as the name suggests uses satellites to plot a route to wherever it is you want to go. All you have to do is tap the address or postcode of your destination into the sat-nav, and it will do the rest. Most devices will allow you to choose between the shortest route, the fastest route, or the most fuel-efficient route. The sat-nav will then provide you with both onscreen and spoken directions. It is all so straightforward, well perhaps not – more about sat-nav systems later.
The Salvation Army Stornoway Corps 59 Bayhead Stornoway HS1 2DZ
“We exist to worship God, to support each other and to serve our community. ” REGISTERED CHARITY NO: 214779 AND IN SCOTLAND: SC009359
Temporary Corp Officer Divisional Envoy Ian McPhee John.McPhee@salvationarmy.org.uk
Telephone: 01851 703875 Mobile: 07493 880058
Mobile:
07493
880058 :
Something to listen to...
Sunday meetings at 11:00am and 6:00pm. Music broadcast all week. Listen online at www.fortressradio.online
I have been thinking of some words of advice for Christopher, Faith, Callum, Emma and Isla as they start this new part of their life’s journey. I have settled for the words of King Solomon of the United Monarchy of Judea and Israel contained in the book of Proverbs 3:1-8. Perhaps we should all pay attention to his words.
My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, 2 for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity. 3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.4 Then you will win favour and a good name in the sight of God and man. 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your understanding6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight..5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your understanding6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. 8 This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
Recorded as part of the Centenary Congress in 1965, this LP features a number of Salvation Army songs that have become a part of our worship. Listen here: https://www.regalzonophone .com/Albums/A-Century-ofSalvation-Song-1965
Dear Father God,
(Margaret Macaskill C.S.)
In a word where there are so many choices and so many temptations, we are thankful that we can call upon your unerring judgement to direct us along the right paths for our lives. We thank you that we can safely place our lives into your loving hands and be confident of safe shelter from every storm of life. Please draw near to those who today are facing difficulties and who have not yet sought your guiding hand and your saving grace. Enter into their hearts that they may be reassured of a trusted and safe walk with an ever-loving friend and saviour In this time of change for our Army, please bless all officers who have moved to new appointments, especially our own, Faith and Christopher. May they find joy in your service in these islands. Bless Callum and Emma too, and may they find your presence very real to them in the days ahead. We ask these things in your name., Amen SONG BOOK 285
SONG BOOK 319
1 Holy Spirit, truth divine, Dawn upon this soul of mine. Word of God and inward light, Wake my spirit, clear my sight.
1 For the mighty moving of Thy Spirit In our hearts and minds from day to day, For the gentle soothing of Thy Spirit, When our fears had filled us with dismay:
2 Holy Spirit, love divine, Glow within this heart of mine. Kindle every high desire, Purify self in Thy pure fire.
Chorus We adore thee, Heavenly Father, And we thank Thee, heavenly Father, And we praise Thee, heavenly Father, As we pray.
3 Holy Spirit, right divine, King within my conscience reign. Be my Lord and I shall be, Firmly bound, for ever free. 4 Holy Spirit, peace divine, still this restless heart of mine. Speak to calm this tossing sea, grant me Thy tranquillity. 5 Holy Spirit, joy divine, Gladden Thou this heart of mine. In the desert ways I sing, spring, O well, for ever spring!
. 2 For the kindly chiding of thy Spirit When we thought to find an easier way, For the gracious guiding of Thy Spirit, And the strength we needed to obey:
Chorus 3 For the tender stirring of Thy Spirit Who recalled us when we went astray, The persistent spurring of Thy Spirit, When we hesitated on the way:
Chorus (John Gowans)
(Samuel Longfellow) https://www.smallchurchmusic.com/2014/MP3/MP3HarkMySoul-StBees-SBand-128-CAM.mp3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icKByOZI_vs
Something to watch‌
If you missed Lt, Christopher and Lt. Faith’s commissioning on Saturday 11th of July it can still be viewed on You Tube. Just click on the link: https://www.youtube.com/salvationarmyvideo If the blue link does not work, please cut and paste it onto the address bar of your computer.
John 14: 16-17 .In the past, people who intended to drive to a destination that they had not visited before had to study maps or street directories to find out how to get there. These days most cars are fitted with a sat-nav device. A sat nav, as the name suggests is a device that uses satellites to plan the route to wherever it is you want to go. All you have to do is tap the address or postcode of your destination, into the sat-nav, and it will do the rest. The device will then provide you with onscreen and vocal directions. My wife and I were in Glasgow a few years ago visiting old friends. Their car had all of the latest gizmos, including a sat-nav device, which they used all the time. One morning we were heading for Bellahouston Park in Glasgow using my friend’s car. As usual, before setting off he entered the journey details into the sat-nav. As he had visited the park many times before, he decided to ignore the directions coming from the sat-nav and follow a route he was more familiar with. As soon as the device recognises that you have not followed its directions, it does something about it. No, a hand does not come out of the glove-box to grab the steering wheel. Instead the sat-nav will calculate and plan a new route for you. My friend’s sat-nav expressed its annoyance by repeatedly chanting “recalculating route,” “recalculating route.” The device will continue to recalculate a new route for you, no matter how many times you disregard it. That morning we were in my friend’s car for over an hour and all we heard was “recalculating route.” over and over again. Unfortunately, we ended up in a traffic jam, but at least the sat-nav did not say, “I Told you so!” Every day throughout the world, there must be millions of disgruntled sat-nav devices all chanting the words “recalculating route,” or something similar because the driver has not followed its instructions and are were now heading in the wrong direction. As Christians, we are all on the road leading us to Heaven. There will be twists and turns along the way. Fortunately, we are not on our own. John 14: 16-17, tells us that God provides Christians with his Holy Spirit to guide us through our life.
“And I (Jesus) will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” To Christians, the Holy Spirit is like having an in-built sat-nav system, with extras. As Christians go through life, they will face the same temptations as everyone else in the world. Just like my friend disregarded his sat-nav because he thought he new best, sometimes even Christians think we know best and disregard the Holy Spirit. When this happens, we take a different route in life and in so-doing we drift further and further away from God. Fortunately. Christians are not on their own. God will never desert us. The Holy Spirit takes action when it recognises that the route we are following is distancing us from God. Galatians 16-25 tells us that the Holy Spirit uses our conscience to tell us that we should not be doing the things we are doing. The role of the Holy Spirit is to give us strength and direction in our fight against sin. I became a Christian as an 18-year-old in the late 1960s. For the first few months, I was “full of the fire,” but then I started to drift. I wanted to be with my friends and do the things they were doing. My “double life” had begun. At church, I projected the image of a perfect Christian. I was not doing anything illegal or even dangerous, but it was wrong in God’s eyes. It wasn’t long before I felt a sense of guilt because I was deceiving my fellow Christians and my friends. The constant battle in my head between knowing what I should be doing, and what I was actually doing was making me depressed. I remember saying out loud, “I wish I had never known Jesus.” Nobody else was in the room at the time, but the significance of the words flashed through my head like a bullet. Only then did I realise that something was wrong. The Holy Spirit had cranked things up in my mind. I had pushed the Holy Spirit into a corner of my mind, and he came out fighting. I remembered what life was all about. Yes, I was having fun, but I also had fun before I started to wander off like a lost sheep. That night I was reminded by Jesus that he freely gives the greatest gifts of all, love, Joy and peace. I had already accepted the gifts but was in danger of losing them because I had allowed Satan to gain a foothold in my life. I can imagine the Holy Spirit inside of me running about shouting “Recalculating route” over and over again. The role of the Holy Spirit is to give us strength and direction That night I was reminded that the Holy Spirit is God’s love personified. And God’s love allows us to fight back against Satan and his temptations. We can’t buy the Holy Spirit on-line or even in the High Street. To get the Holy Spirit you have to open your heart to Jesus - -and that’s it There are no credit or debit card details required – no hire-purchase agreements to sign, accepting Jesus is completely free and available to all. The Holy Spirit is the only power strong enough to defeat our selfish desires and Satan. If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to accept Jesus into your life. Let the Holy Spirit guide you and yourself in God’s love. Galatians 5:22-25 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gen-
tleness, self- control; against such things, there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”
CLOSING ANECDOTE - Two missionaries in Malaysia had to go to the nearest town, a considerable distance away across rough country to collect money which had come through for them to a bank there. They set off on foot early one morning, hoping to return the same day. Having arrived in the town and collected the money, they set off again on their trek across the wild and lonely country, only to find that they were too tired and too far away to reach their station that night. Committing themselves to God,they lay down on the hillside and soon fell asleep. Morning came and they, surprised that they had not been disturbed by bandits or beasts, went on their way and arrived safely at their mission station. Some weeks later a man came into the hospital for treatment. He stared at the missionary who attended him and said, “I have seen your before,” “No,” replied the missionary, “I don’t think we have met.” “Oh, yes we have,” said the man. “You were camping on the hillside at such-and-such a place a few weeks back.” “Yes, we were,” said the missionary, “how did you know? we didn’t see anyone” “I followed you with some of my companions from the town. We had seen you in the bank and knew that you had money on you. We waited till dark to creep upon you and rob you, but when we found you, we daren’t attack because of the soldiers. “Soldiers?” the missionary laughed, “There were no soldiers with us my friend.” The bandit was adamant, “There were – we counted them, there were sixteen, and they had swords.” The missionary humoured the man and dismissed it as a hallucination.” When he came home on furlough to England some time later, he was telling people about the incident at a gathering in his home town. After the meeting a man came up to him.” “What date was it that you camped out on the hillside?” “I can soon tell you that,” said the missionary as he turned to his diary. “It was on such-and-such a night.” The questioner also turned to his diary. “That night,” he said, “we had our weekly meeting for prayer; your name was brought forward by someone and,” he added, “there were sixteen of us at the meeting that night.” (from - World Cristian Digest)
WORD SEARCH TRIBES OF ISRAEL ASHER
BENJAMIN
DAN
EPHRAIM
GAD
ISSACHAR
JUDAH
LEVI
MANASSEH
NAPHTALI
REUBEN
SIMEON
ZEBULUN