Queen's Road Cell

  Lessons on Worship (part of a Nehemiah Series: Building a People of God) Nehemiah 12:27-47   27  And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres. 28  And the sons of the singers gathered together from the district surrounding Jerusalem and from the villages of the Netophathites; 29  also from Beth-gilgal and from the region of Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built for themselves villages around Jerusalem. 30  And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people and the gates and the wall. 31  Then I brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two great choirs that gave thanks. One went to the south on the wall to the Dung Gate. 32  And after them went Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah, 33...

  Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. 2 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. 3  For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with many words. 4  When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. 5  It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. 6  Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? 7  For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity; but God is the one you must fear. (Ecc 5:1-7)   1. What truths about God does Qoheleth use to encourage us to fear Him in this...

Eugene and Joyce shared stories of how people ill with advanced cancer had turned to Christ. I asked whether it was right that Christians should share the gospel with those who were physically weak and emotionally vulnerable - would this not be wrong? Our answer was that we are not told to stop sharing the gospel with people. Who knows but that it was God who granted them an illness out of loving grace, rather than out of anger and judgement, if the illness led to their salvation? We are to " be ready in season and out of season" (2 Ti 4:2) - not to say we preach and share at times inconvenient to people, but times inconvenient to us. I shared the touching Christian story of the birdcage: There once was a man named George Thomas, a pastor in a small New England town. One Easter Sunday morning he came to the Church carrying a rusty, bent, old bird cage, and set it by the pulpit. Several eyebrows were raised and, as if in response, Pastor Thomas began to speak.   "I w...