As the Church of Scotland in Bellshill we extend a warm welcome to any of our activities. People have been coming to this building to worship God for over a hundred years. While our town has journeyed through many changes over those years, the constancy of the witness of the “Church at 346 Main Street” has remained uninterrupted. The mission of any Church is to reflect through its presence, its music, its fellowship and its beauty the greatness of God, and we seek to do that here in all that we share.
We hope that everyone who enters these doors will find an encouraging, friendly group of people. While we are far from perfect, we are regularly discovering truths that are changing us individually and enriching our lives as a church community. As we worship together, learn from the Bible, and pray for one another, we are strengthened in our commitment to Jesus Christ as well as to each other. If this is your first time here, we welcome you, and invite you to share the joy that we have found.
3 # Short Commentary and Lesson from Psalm 10.16-18
God is the only everlasting ruler, and his kind intentions will finally come about in the new creation that he had planned (see Revelation 21 and 22). now, human disobedience is the cause of the widespread suffering we hear about and sometimes even experience ourselves. Often we can’t see God’s answer to these situations, but that does not mean that he is ignoring human suffering. God works according to his timetable, not ours. The answer will come in time, and our sad and difficult times will be gone forever. In the meantime, God does give us hope based on his past faithfulness to his people.
2 # Short Commentary and Lesson from Psalm 6.4-10 Have you ever felt this kind of intense pain – pain so deep that it physically wears you out? Has a situation broken you physically or distressed you mentally, making you cry out for relief?
Take heart, for God, is with you. He hears your cry and he will come to your rescue. You may not be completely released from your suffering, but you will become an example to those around you of God’s sustaining power.
The love of a friendship, a romance, or a marriage has to contain a strong element of respect. Let the respect disappear from one of these love relationships, and it will cool and disappear. When we love God, our respect for him is different from our respect for anyone else. His power, his holiness, and his endless compassion produce a respect that has to be called reverence. We must admire God’s mercy, power, glory, and holiness. Don’t let anything in your life cause you to lose your reverence for the love God has shown you. Lose the reverence, and in time you will lose your love for God.
We’ve now shared all 150 Psalms from God’s Holy Word, over the past months.
To continue over this month of November we’ll share some thoughts on the psalms for you, before we enter Advent with another biblical series.
The book of Psalms is the longest book in the Bible. Psalms are poems that can either be sung as songs or spoken as prayers by individuals or groups. There are 150 psalms in this book, and many of them list King David as their author. They were collected over a long period of time and became a very important part of the worship of the people of Israel
Some of the psalms tell the music leader what instruments should be used and what tunes should be followed, for example, look at Psalm 4 and Psalm 45.
Many of the Bible’s main ideas are echoed in the Psalms: praise, thankfulness, faith, hope, sorrow for sin, God’s loyalty and help. And at the heart of all the Psalms, there is a deep trust in God. The writers of the psalms always express their true feelings, whether they are praising God for his blessings or complaining in times of trouble.
In ancient Israel, the psalms were used in several different ways: (1) to praise God, as in Psalm 105; (2) to express sorrow, as in Psalm 13; (3) to teach, as in Psalm 1; (4) to honor Israel’s king and pray for fairness in his rule, as in Psalm 72; (5) to tell of God’s power over all creation, as in Psalm 47; (6) to show love for Jerusalem, as in Psalm 122; and (7) to celebrate festivals, as in Psalm 126. Of course, many of the Psalms could be used for more than one purpose.
Jesus used the psalms when he preached and taught, and they were often quited by the writers of the New Testament. The easliest Christians also used the psalms in worship, teaching, and telling others the good news about what God has done through Jesus Christ. A verse from Psalm 118, for example, is directly referred to six times in the New Testament:
The stone that the builders tossed aside has now become the most important stone. (118.22)
BELLSHILL: CENTRAL PARISH CHURCH OF SCOTLAND 