Sunday, June 7, 2020, Telephone lockdown service, Tongham Christian Fellowship, UK.  Graham Walker said there were 18 people on the line.  He led the service, reading from Psalms 117 and 118, about praising the Lord for His loving kindness, and several people chimed in with thanksgiving prayers. It was hard to hear everything this week, because some voices kept cutting out, and there was interference as well.

There was a time of prayer for the sick, for the nation, for our leaders, and for Israel.  We heard that Carolyn, a godly woman and beloved member of our little fellowship,who has been battling cancer for years, had the results of a blood test and was pronounced clear of cancer!  So people certainly thanked the Lord for that!

Someone prayed that no one in the fellowship would get the virus.

Another person prayed that President Trump's recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank would be confirmed solidly before the election in November.

Someone prayed that the main denominations would get more powerful leadership, men who would stand firm for truth.

Someone thanked the Lord (I think, as well as I could hear) that the protests in London about ‘ Black Lives Matter’ had not turned terribly violent.

 Someone else prayed to one day see a poster saying ‘Baby Lives Matter’ with a picture of a pregnant black lady and a pregnant white lady.

Chris Roden  gave the message, citing first Amos 8:11, Amos’ prophecy  about a famine of hearing the Word of God.  With all the churches being shut now, he said this referred to both physically hearing and obediently hearing.  Israel was not obedient, and God was silent for 400 years, the silent years between the old and new testaments, broken when John the Baptist came on the scene.

He said that in those 400 years many of Daniel’s prophecies found in Chapter 11 of the book of Daniel were fulfilled.

Daniel, of course, was an exile in Babylon (Iraq), where the nation was forcibly taken for 70 years.  Chris said that when the Jews returned to the land of Israel after the 70 years, the Jewish leaders embellished the scriptures. 

He referred to Hebrews 6:13-20, and that our hope is an anchor for our souls.

He noted that our spirits are already in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6).  We already have eternal life and will enter into heaven upon death. 

He also referred to Matthew 11:29-30, where Jesus says:  ‘Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’

He said the way to do this was to humble ourselves before God.  Then we could ask things in His name, with the assurance that He would answer.

He prayed that the Lord would help us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, so that He could work out His will, His good pleasure, in us.

Note:  For readers who may be wondering, our small fellowship in southeast England, about 45 miles from London, is completely independent.  We have no pastor, but we have three elders.  No one is paid.  Our money goes to several ministries around the world, run by men we personally know in Israel, Africa, Northern Ireland and other places.   For many years some of the money used to go to an orphanage in India where children who would have been aborted were being raised, but tragically, the Hindu Indian government closed all such Christian havens and sent the children to other places.