Here are some of Stacey’s photos of Scarborough:

An ice-cream worth eating!

Fun on the beach…

Yesterday, the church organised a day trip to Scarborough. It was a lovely time, with good weather, beach games and the chance for seaside fish and chips!

The children had fun burying Stacey in the sand (and the adults too!)

More photos to follow later…

Garry asked us tonight if we had heard of Mordecai Ham. Most of us had not. All of us, however, had heard of Billy Graham, the famous American evangelist who recently died. Mordecai Ham was a Baptist evangelist whose influence on Billy Graham was profound.

We do not always see the influence we have on other people and can feel that we are insignificant and unimportant. Not all of us are kings or queens, or even mildly famous. But all of us have an influence on others – the power to affect people’s lives for good or for ill. Every parent is entrusted with a profound influence, for our children are precious gifts from God. Every person will meet many people throughout their lives – some in person, some through social media, some through other means. We have the capacity to influence many people and to affect them, being light and salt in the world. Our attitudes, our faith, our hope, our words and our actions all have the potential to influence others.

Peer pressure is a powerful thing; like Israel, we can want to be like everyone else. Their values, attitudes and influences can shape our lives. Those who spend time in the presence of God will inevitably be more influenced by God than by the world around them. We are transformed into the image of that which we worship. Let us worship God and allow His influence to influence us, so that our influence can then influence others for His glory.

Our craft activity tonight was to make pictures of good kings or bad kings (or queens).

We also had a birthday to celebrate in advance (escaping on holiday for your birthday is no excuse…)

Alan brought the epilogue to tonight’s family service. He commented on how many of the kings were a mixture of good and bad: Saul started well, prophesying and seeking God, but fell into sin because he wanted to please the people and he did not fully obey God’s commands. David committed adultery and conspired to murder, but he also led Israel bravely and was willing to repent when he did wrong. His influence remains to this day through the psalms he wrote.HIs son, Solomon, started well and his wisdom is seen in the book of Proverbs, for example, but his foreign wives led his heart astray. The subsequent division of the kingdom was bound to end in trouble, for as Jesus commented, ‘a house divided against itself cannot stand.’ (Mk 3:25)

In English history, we have had a number of good kings and bad kings, good queens and bad queens. Henry VIII is probably most famous for his six wives and it was his divorce from Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn which led to the break with the Catholic church and his establishment as head of the Church of England, the ‘defender of the faith’, a title Queen Elizabeth II still holds. For our present queen – the longest serving monarch in British history – her role as queen under God has been the guiding principle of her life.

For all of us who own Jesus Christ as Lord, we acknowledge Him as the ‘King of Kings and Lord of Lords’ (Rev 19:16), the One who deserves our whole-hearted allegiance, devotion and submission. In the words of Chris Tomlin’s song, ‘We fall down; we lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus’. (‘We Fall Down’)

Tonight’s family service looked at the kings of Israel. 1 Sam 8:4-9 makes it plain that God always intended to be the only King that Israel had, but when Samuel (prophet and judge for many years) was getting old and it was clear his sons were not following his godly example (they accepted bribes and perverted justice, being interested in dishonest gain), the people asked for a king. Rather than consulting God about their problems, they looked to the other nations and wanted to emulate them. This attitude grieved both Samuel and God, for it is never wise to search for solutions in the world around us.

The first three kings of Israel were Saul, David and Solomon. Saul started well, but ended badly because of disobedience and a fear of people more than God. David’s reign was largely seen as positive (though some of his decisions were definitely ungodly). His son, Solomon, started well and wisely, but was ultimately led into idolatry by his many foreign wives. After Solomon’s death, the kingdom was divided (the northern part being known as Israel and the southern part known as Judah). Both had 20 kings, but Israel’s kings were largely sinful, doing ‘evil in the eyes of the Lord’ and leading them astray;  Judah’s kings were more godly, but still the tendency was for idolatry and sinfulness.

How the kings were greatly affected the whole of the country, for a king could either be a positive influence for good or one who would cause the people to sin. 2 Chron 19:4 shows us that Jehoshaphat’s godliness helped to turn the people back to God, for exqample. In the same way, Jesus, the King of Kings, affected the whole world through His example and told His followers that they too could be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. (Matt 5:14-16) A tiny amount of salt has the power to bring much flavour to food; each one of us can affect other people, bringing flavour and changing the atmosphere where we are as we allow God to live through us.

We cannot necessarily know the influence we have, but God wants each one of us to influence others. The question is will we be good role models or will we allow society to influence us and lead us away from God? God’s intention is that we hold out the word of life to others and use our influence for good.