A big well done to all the parents and friends and officers and boys for a really big effort making the first Christmas Fayre in over 10 years a hugh success!! From the selling of programmes by the boys, to the cake making, Father Christmas, teas, coffees, olde fashion stalls like hook-de-duck, and guess the weight of the cake. A fantastic turn out - and alot of money raised - nearly £500 towards the proposed new hall extension.
We tried not to clash with the local church fayre so we had to adjust the start time, and captain Dave was booked up for the afternoon so was unavailable - but he did do alot of preparation to make the whole day exceed all our expectations.
It was a great combination of boot fare clutter, home made preserves and cakes, raffles, and entertaining stalls to help people spend their money!! And our own cafe for the older folk to sit and relax and feel welcome in our hall.
nice one lads and lasses - same time next year!!
Sunday 11 December 2011
From sinner to psalmist ...
well done again to Adrian in his unique style of worship leading - and to Doug on the drums!! Today we got another bout of the weird and wonderful life of King David - from Commandment breaker, to major author of the Judaistic poetry - formally know as The Book of Psalms.
Tim started by taking us through 2 Samuel 12:1-20ish where Nathan the Prophet is telling David the King a parable about a rich man, a poor man and a ewe lamb. Nathan - who is he? the name Nathan appears over 40 times in the Bible but not all referring to Nathan the Prophet. But here is something interesting, the story in 2 Samuel 7: is repeated in 1 Chronicles 17 nearly word-for-word! What does this all mean!!
The two accounts of Nathan's word for David are nearly identical but with a few minor differences. Strangely the account in 2 Samuel refers to God as "Sovereign LORD", an in 1 Chronicles God is referred to as "LORD God" - but both are actually referring to the Tetragrammaton. Really helpful!! But God did think highly of Nathan and we can thank Nathan for writing it all down - see 1 Chronicles 29:29 "As for the events of King David's reign, from beginning to end, they are written in the records of Samuel the seer, the records of Nathan the prophet and the records of Gad the seer, together with the details of his reign and power, and the circumstances that surrounded him and Israel and the kingdoms of all the other lands." Seer - there's a word we don't see often. I'd like to hear what the difference between a seer and a prophet is.
Tim now takes us all by surprise with a cross reference into the Psalms - to Psalm 51 which is entitled "For the director of music. A Psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba" - who cooked up this title? This has lead to another minor Bible study and a book entitled "The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges - The Psalms Book 1 edited by A.F Kirkpatrick B.D". Useful!!
Its re-assuring to see just how far God's grace stretches - David had murder in his heart even after know the voice of God as clear as day! And God still chooses to give David an important and prominent part in His very important book aka The Bible. David knew in his heart who God was. He didn't just do things outwardly to show his commitment to "the faith", but spoke from the heart when he meditated on what he had done to offend God. The outward sacrifices of animals and birds was OK but David shows in the Psalms what is going on inside of him - the inner transformation. And this far outweighed burnt offerings.
Psalm 51 is also quoted from in Romans 3: 4 "What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: "So that you may be proven right when you speak and prevail when you judge."
We could also do a separate study on the use of the word "wisdom" eg Proverbs 9:10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy one is understanding."
Or a study on the use of the word Hyssop which we first see in the Book of Exodus 12:22 for the painting of blood onto the door frames pre "Passover". The whole of Exodus 12 has a multitude of parallels with the story of Jesus - but we'll leave that for another day!!
And finally, the comparison of Psalm 51: 17 "The sacrifice of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" and Matthew 9:13 "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" where Jesus quotes from Hosea 5:6 "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather then burnt offerings." Yet another study!!
Tim started by taking us through 2 Samuel 12:1-20ish where Nathan the Prophet is telling David the King a parable about a rich man, a poor man and a ewe lamb. Nathan - who is he? the name Nathan appears over 40 times in the Bible but not all referring to Nathan the Prophet. But here is something interesting, the story in 2 Samuel 7: is repeated in 1 Chronicles 17 nearly word-for-word! What does this all mean!!
The two accounts of Nathan's word for David are nearly identical but with a few minor differences. Strangely the account in 2 Samuel refers to God as "Sovereign LORD", an in 1 Chronicles God is referred to as "LORD God" - but both are actually referring to the Tetragrammaton. Really helpful!! But God did think highly of Nathan and we can thank Nathan for writing it all down - see 1 Chronicles 29:29 "As for the events of King David's reign, from beginning to end, they are written in the records of Samuel the seer, the records of Nathan the prophet and the records of Gad the seer, together with the details of his reign and power, and the circumstances that surrounded him and Israel and the kingdoms of all the other lands." Seer - there's a word we don't see often. I'd like to hear what the difference between a seer and a prophet is.
Tim now takes us all by surprise with a cross reference into the Psalms - to Psalm 51 which is entitled "For the director of music. A Psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba" - who cooked up this title? This has lead to another minor Bible study and a book entitled "The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges - The Psalms Book 1 edited by A.F Kirkpatrick B.D". Useful!!
Its re-assuring to see just how far God's grace stretches - David had murder in his heart even after know the voice of God as clear as day! And God still chooses to give David an important and prominent part in His very important book aka The Bible. David knew in his heart who God was. He didn't just do things outwardly to show his commitment to "the faith", but spoke from the heart when he meditated on what he had done to offend God. The outward sacrifices of animals and birds was OK but David shows in the Psalms what is going on inside of him - the inner transformation. And this far outweighed burnt offerings.
Psalm 51 is also quoted from in Romans 3: 4 "What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: "So that you may be proven right when you speak and prevail when you judge."
We could also do a separate study on the use of the word "wisdom" eg Proverbs 9:10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy one is understanding."
Or a study on the use of the word Hyssop which we first see in the Book of Exodus 12:22 for the painting of blood onto the door frames pre "Passover". The whole of Exodus 12 has a multitude of parallels with the story of Jesus - but we'll leave that for another day!!
And finally, the comparison of Psalm 51: 17 "The sacrifice of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" and Matthew 9:13 "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" where Jesus quotes from Hosea 5:6 "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather then burnt offerings." Yet another study!!
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