Today is Candidate Sunday in The Salvation Army. A day to explore what God is saying to us and what God is calling us to do. We will be looking at the call of Saul found in the book of Samuel. Also, we will have two testimonies. One from Cadet James Pegg and the other from Cadet Joanna Morgan.
But first let us sing: I Am A New Creation. You are allowed to get up and dance if you so wish.
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TESTIMONY: Cadet Joanna Morgan
When I first attended The Salvation Army back in 2015, I had not set out to go to church when I left my home. At that time I was in a bad place – I was drinking heavily, massively in debt and had left home with other purposes. But if I hadn’t heard a clear voice telling me to look right, or ventured into the doors of Swindon Gorse Hill and been lovingly accepted into the corps family, I truly do not know where I would have ended up. Unaware at the time, I now know that the voice I heard was God, and it was the love of Jesus that led to my own salvation. Jesus led me here, to this place. In the Scripture used this year for Candidates Sunday, we see the humanity of Jesus in full view – he knew what he had to do, yet he had doubts. When I was called to become an officer, I can assure you that that was not my intention either. But I began the journey, and it would be true to say I still had doubts. I was sober, clear of debts, finally had a stable home and had met and married the most wonderful man, yet God was still calling me to give up all this newly found stability and follow him. But I am so glad I did. Now I am here, I am filled with such peace that can only come from saying yes to God. So if you believe you have been called, yet you have doubts, I pray that you will have the courage to find that inner peace that allows you to place your trust in him who is faithful. May God bless you all in the days and decisions ahead.
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Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel Ch 9:1-16
Samuel Anoints Saul
1 There was a Benjamite, a man of standing, whose name was Kish son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bekorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin. 2 Kish had a son named Saul, as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else. 3 Now the donkeys belonging to Saul’s father Kish were lost, and Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys.” 4 So he passed through the hill country of Ephraim and through the area around Shalisha, but they did not find them. They went on into the district of Shaalim, but the donkeys were not there. Then he passed through the territory of Benjamin, but they did not find them. 5 When they reached the district of Zuph, Saul said to the servant who was with him, “Come, let’s go back, or my father will stop thinking about the donkeys and start worrying about us.” 6 But the servant replied, “Look, in this town there is a man of God; he is highly respected, and everything he says comes true. Let’s go there now. Perhaps he will tell us what way to take.”
7 Saul said to his servant, “If we go, what can we give the man? The food in our sacks is gone. We have no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?” 8 The servant answered him again. “Look,” he said, “I have a quarter of a shekel[a] of silver. I will give it to the man of God so that he will tell us what way to take.” 9 (Formerly in Israel, if someone went to inquire of God, they would say, “Come, let us go to the seer,” because the prophet of today used to be called a seer.) 10 “Good,” Saul said to his servant. “Come, let’s go.” So they set out for the town where the man of God was. 11 As they were going up the hill to the town, they met some young women coming out to draw water, and they asked them, “Is the seer here?”
12 “He is,” they answered. “He’s ahead of you. Hurry now; he has just come to our town today, for the people have a sacrifice at the high place. 13 As soon as you enter the town, you will find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people will not begin eating until he comes, because he must bless the sacrifice; afterward, those who are invited will eat. Go up now; you should find him about this time.” 14 They went up to the town, and as they were entering it, there was Samuel, coming toward them on his way up to the high place. 15 Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed this to Samuel: 16 “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him ruler over my people Israel; he will deliver them from the hand of the Philistines. I have looked on my people, for their cry has reached me.”
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As we go into a time of Prayer let us sing: In loving-kindness Jesus came.
He came and He lifted me from sinking sand.
With tender hand He lifted me.
O Praise His name He lifted me.
Let us join together in prayer with CADET MATTHEW STONE
Father God, thank you for this new day. A day for us all to be still and to listen to your voice. Help us to hear your voice in the midst of all that surrounds us and give us the courage to obey your call. You have a role for each one of us; help us to listen to you to discern what you are calling us each to do, and help us to be willing to respond to you. As we spend some moments in prayer today, may we each hear your voice and feel your love for us.
Amen
In the stillness we pray:
· Thank you, Lord, that you still call people to follow you.
· Pray for those whom God has called and for those who are discerning that call for themselves. For cadets, for those who have offered for officership, for territorial envoys, for those called to serve God where they are and in the places they find themselves.
· Pray that people may pay attention to what God is calling them to do and to be, for ears to listen and hearts willing to say yes.
· Pray for yourself and the part you play in the building of the Kingdom of God, whatever age you are.
· Pray that we will each be willing to be used by God for his glory.
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A Prayer for Israel
Dear Heavenly Father, as I watch the events in Israel unfold in the news, I am at a loss for words. So much violence, so much hurting, so much fear I imagine those in Israel and in Palestine must be experiencing right now. I pray that you protect those who are in the midst of this escalation of violence right now. Please shelter people from harm, get families to safety, and shield them with your peace and protection. God, although I do not know what will happen in Israel in the next few days, I do know that you are the God of all hope and we lift up the land of Israel to you and trust that you will set everything right with your righteous hand (Isaiah 41:10). Amen.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you. “May peace be within your walls, And prosperity within your palaces.” For the sake of my brothers and my friends, I will now say, “May peace be within you.” For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good. (Psalm 122:6-9)
Let us share in the Lord's prayer together:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Announcements
If you have a question, please join with us tonight on the Yorkshire South With Humber Facebook Page @7.30pm
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Please keep praying for Elsie Camm. I had the opportunity to see her yesterday.
Elsie is at the end of her life and the nurses are caring well for her. The family let me have quality time with her and we prayed and read Scripture. As well as praying for Elsie, can we pray for her daughter and all the family at this very sad time. We thank God for her life and her example.
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TESTIMONY: Cadet James Pegg
Hello, my name is James, and I am a cadet of the Messengers of Grace Session here at the William Booth College, currently in my second and final year of training. In a few months I will be commissioned as a Salvation Army officer and will be sent to the community to which I have been appointed. All of this is great, but it is nothing that I boast of nor take credit for. This is God’s work and his will and his purpose for my life. A part of my story to how I got to this place comes from a time in my life when I needed to purposefully search for what God wanted me to do – the question of ‘What am I on this planet for?’ As a young man I was certain – almost convinced – as to where I thought my life was going. Or at least I thought I did. But a moment came when that certainty of what I thought I wanted was no longer as assured as it once was, and I had to navigate myself through a time of searching and questioning. I realise now that this was preparation for God’s will in my life to be revealed. It came to a point during prayer and a time of searching that I prayed something along the lines of, ‘God, if you call me to something, I will do it.’ I look back at this point in my life as a moment of surrender, a moment when I effectively said, ‘Not my will but yours, God.’ In the days, weeks and months following that moment, things started to fall into place: a word from Scripture, a lyric from a song, a conversation with someone from the corps, all of it pointing towards spiritual leadership as a Salvation Army officer. It was God’s calling in my life, an undeniable calling. This calling on my life is the work of God, and he continues to call me to go deeper into relationship with him. I pray as I journey into Salvation Army officership that I will continue to have those moments when I hear God prompting me to surrender my will and listen to his, and in some beautiful way his will becomes mine. All glory to God!
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Before we go to the word let us unite together and sing: As The Deer.
Does your soul long after God? Is he calling you into a deeper relationship with Him?
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God Calls Saul
Are you following the Call of God in your life? Are you realizing the potential of the purpose for which you were created? These are questions that spark interest and intrigue in almost everyone’s mind because we want to be part of something bigger than we are and something that really matters. Each of us is unique and created for a purpose. It is also true that God desires to use you to make a dramatic difference. God is looking for people to use. He is looking for people whom he can call to do a special task and fulfil a special mission. He is looking for someone who he can use in a powerful way for His purposes. Is that person you? Are you following the Call of God in your life? Are you realizing the potential of the purpose for which you were created?
Let’s look at God calling Saul in 1 Samuel Ch 9 and how it relates to us today.
Chapter 9 begins to unfold in verses 1-7, we are told that Saul was the son of Kish, a Benjamite. Saul’s father had sent him on a task to recover donkeys that had wandered away from home. It was during the journey to find the lost donkeys that God intervenes into the everyday mundane things of life in order to call Saul to something extraordinary. God uses ordinary people, and He calls them to extraordinary things.
It was during the mundane, non-glamorous task of donkey duty that God invaded Saul’s life and set him on a path of divine design. The same is or will be true for you. It will be during the regular everyday living that you will be called to undertake a God ordained calling. Therefore, do not become discouraged if you are in the midst of what you might consider donkey duty, but seek God in the middle of your present tasks for his direction and leading.
In verse 5, Saul was ready to give up the search and return home. It was then that the servant who was with Saul suggested that before they quit, they ask for God’s direction. What great advice for us all and may I encourage you to do the same? What is God asking of you? Seek God’s council and respond to his call upon your life. When you feel like quitting, step back and talk to God. Remember that God is your strength, provider, and defender. Your path may not be straightforward, but God will take you to new places where you will experience him in ways you have never dreamed possible. How do we know that this is true? Because God is working for you and with you. He is moving ahead of us, setting the stage, preparing the way.
In verse 15 of chapter 9, we are told that the day before Saul was to meet Samuel the Prophet, the Lord had spoken to Samuel and revealed his plan concerning Saul. In the same way, God is working even now with you in mind. It could be that an answer to prayer has not arrived because the time is not yet right, or the pieces of the divine puzzle have not yet been fully assembled. God’s timing is always perfect – never early and never late. So many times, in my own life as I have looked back, I’ve been able to trace the hand of God in it. Our real need is to walk by faith and trust God for the details, and the doors to open in His perfect timing.
The question then for us is, will we embrace the call or recoil from it? I don’t know about you, but when God placed the call to officership on my heart, my initial thoughts were, surely not me, why me, unworthy me. God knows what he is doing, and it is by grace that we are chosen. I love the definition of grace that Rick Warren gives: “Grace is God, knowing every stupid thing I’ve ever done, and every stupid thing I will ever do, but He chose me anyway.” God will speak personally to you as he did me. God does not want you to miss hearing him or knowing him personally. Therefore, he will do whatever is necessary to communicate to you. It is also important to understand that when God wants something accomplished or pursued, he doesn’t call a committee or group, but he speaks to that one person. He places his calling upon their heart.
Is God speaking to you? What is he calling you to? Is he calling you to deeper ministry? Is he calling you to pray more? Or is he calling you to simply trust him and accept him as the Lord of your life? His desire is that you will embrace that call, follow his lead and share the dream. In turn, He will open new doors and confirm His call to you.
Let me also say this, when God calls, he will also confirm that call in order for you to be encouraged. Think of all those in scripture that God called and then continued to encourage them in that call. Moses, Jeremiah, David, Mary, the Disciples, and Paul. With each of them God reaffirmed their call and He brought others alongside them to stand with them and encourage them in their call. God will anoint you to fulfil his call. I don’t believe for one minute that in fulfilling the call that God has placed upon you is based upon your ability, gifts or talents, but it based on the Holy Spirit working in you and through you as you obey the call he has placed upon you.
For us to be effective for God’s service, we must be changed. That change only comes from God’s touch on our lives. This is what took place with Saul in verse 9. It is important to also note that sometimes it will take time for the full promise of God to be realised. Saul was instructed in verse 8 to wait even though the promise was given. We too need to hold onto the dream while patiently waiting for the doors to open and the timing to be right. Even though Abraham was promised a child, he had to wait and hold onto the promise of a child and believed God would be faithful even during overwhelming odds.
Let me also say this, there will be opposition to the Call. Despite the working of God in Saul’s life, there was opposition to the call on his life, just as there will be for us too. Whenever a light is turned on in the dark, we have to remember that bugs are also drawn to the light. As Saul was swept along by the Spirit, scoffers ridiculed his transformation. When this happens, we must take ownership of that call. The feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness will overwhelm you and you may run from your call. But hold fast. Wait for God’s timing just as the disciples waited for the promise of the Holy Spirit. Hold fast, seek God’s guidance and you will be amazed at the doors God will open and the opportunities that will become available.
Leave the baggage of your past that weighs you down behind. It is a new day and the old you is gone. You are where you are for such a time as this, so learn from your past and move ahead with confidence in God’s forgiveness, power and provision. Go “ALL” out in following the call for no one can answer that call but you. Amen.
That one choice will change everything.
Respond to the call that God has placed upon your heart.
Come to him and declare, I will Offer Up My Heart
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The Lord bless thee and keep thee
The Lord make His face to shine upon thee
And be gracious unto thee
The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee
And give thee peace.
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