Archive for October, 2008
Operation Christmas Child
October 24, 2008 10:15 am
Did you know there are only 62 shopping days left until Christmas!
As you sit down to write lists and make plans, let me encourage you to consider participating in the “Operation Christmas Child Shoe Box Appeal.” It’s an opportunity for us to bless those we don’t know, and display the grace and love of God to those we will never meet (except in heaven?).
Flyers are available from the “Info Point” this Sunday, so please pick one up and consider reaching out and giving in this way, to bless children much less privileged than us.
Life Discipleship (Sunday 2nd November 2008)
October 21, 2008 9:20 amSunday Night Prayer Meeting
October 17, 2008 7:00 am
This coming Sunday evening is the next Church Prayer Meeting; an opportunity for us to gather for a short while to pray for God’s grace upon us as we seek to represent him to a watching world. It’s an important aspect of our life together as a church.
To encourage your faith and to whet your appetite to join us to pray for our church and the proclamation of the gospel in our city, here are a few quotes for you to meditate on…
Wayne Grudem: “Prayer is personal communication from us to God.”
John Bunyan: “Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God has promised, or according to the Word of God, for the good of the church, with submission in faith to the will of God.”
D.A Carson: “The Bible insists that we pray, urges us to pray, gives us examples of prayer. Something has gone wrong in our reasoning if our reasoning leads us away from prayer; something is amiss in our theology if our theology becomes a disincentive to pray.”
Graeme Goldsworthy: “Prayer is not trying to persuade God to do something he otherwise would not do. It is our being caught up in the purposes of God and the expression of this privilege as his dear children who know him as Father…Prayer is not the bending of God’s will to ours, but his conforming our will to his…Prayer is a truly human response to divine revelation and action.”
R.C Sproul: “The Scriptures teach both the sovereign foreordination of God and the efficacy of prayer. The two are not inconsistent with one another, for God ordains the means as well as the ends for his divine purposes. Prayer is a means God uses to bring about His sovereign will to pass.”
Donald Whitney: “When our awareness of the greatness of God and the gospel is dim, our prayer lives will be small. The less we think of the nature and character of God, and the less we think of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross, the less we want to pray. But, when I think of what Christ has saved me from, when I recall the shame he endured so willingly for my sake, when I remember all that salvation means, prayer is not hard!”
Sunday 19th October 2008 @ Peter & June’s house. Kick-off 7pm!
Is Christianity the Only Way to God?
October 16, 2008 7:00 amLife Discipleship
October 14, 2008 6:00 pm
This coming Sunday evening is the next of our LIFE discipleship for all the 18-30’s among us. This week, we will be taking a look at the topic of apologetics, so that each of us might always be “…prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:15)
To help us in that endeavour, we want to enlist the help of Michael Ramsden.
Michael Ramsden directs the RZIM Zacharias Trust, the european branch of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. He holds a law degree from the University of Hull and a doctorate in law and economics from the University of Sheffield. As Diretor of Zacahrias Trust, Michael works as an apologist and evangelist, travelling extensively in the UK and internationally, speaking on university campuses and to church and civic organisations.
We are going to be discussing the first of his messages in a two-part series he preached at Covenant Life Church, in Maryland, USA.
In these rich messages, Ramsden demonstrates with practical examples that apologetics is not a specialist discipline for the select few, but that thorugh conversational apologetics, any and all Christians can learn to communicate the gospel of grace in all its simplicity, profundity and life-changing truth.
Please download and listen to the first part of the message by Sunday evening. It is available here.
Sunday 19th October 2008 @ John & Sarah’s house. Kick-off 8pm!
Each year we have the opportunity to take time to reflect on, and celebrate the grace and work of God through our wider church family. Over the next three Sundays we shall be celebrating our partnership in the gospel with Soveregin Grace Ministries.
This year, we are going to be showing 3 short videos that document some of the ways God has been using Sovereign Grace churches and people to see the gospel going forward in places many of us wont ever visit.
This week (Sunday 21st October) we’ll see our involvement in Germany. Then next Sunday, the gospel going forward in Ethiopia and then finally a video about the future of Sovereign Grace Ministries.
For now, here’s a brief trailer to whet the appetite…
7 Steps for Making the Most of Our Guest Sunday
October 8, 2008 9:00 am
As our Guest Sunday approaches we want to position ourselves to serve our guests effectively, “…making the best use of the time.” (Col 4:5). We want our guests to experience the grace of Jesus Christ when they are with us. We want them to hear the gospel and experience the gospel. We want them to be surprised by the grace of God in the people they meet and the words they hear. We want them to feel welcomed so that their hearts are open wide to hear and receive the truth.
So here’s 7 ways we can all serve and make the most of the opportunity…
1. Come with your friends on Sunday.
If you’ve invited someone and they’ve expressed interest, try and arrnage to pick them up and come together. It’s a great way to help them settle in. People are often put off by going in to strange places by themselves, so be alongside them if you can.
2. Wait for your guests in the lobby area.
If you can’t arrive together, make sure you get there early to save seats and then wait in the lobby area to meet your friends, os you can be there to show them around and point them in the right direction.
3. Think of yourself as part of the greeting team.
Guests can find it frightening and overwhelming to enter a new building, especially one that hosts a church. Arrive early (after all, now there’s coffee/donuts to take advantage of!). Be ready to greet folks. A warm smile, a nice greeting, and a helpful posture goes a long way in making our guests feel welcome. (Please make sure your kids don’t scar off the guests, by playing around/being loud, encourage them to greet/serve alongside you.)
4. Introduce your guests to other Grace Church people.
Introduce them t people they might know, or people in your homegroup, or people in your row, or one of the pastors. This is a great way you can help them feel welcomed and not some much of an outsider.
5. Help them in anyway you can!
Help them drop their kids off (if they have any) at Sunday school. Show them where the loo is. Help them get a coffee and donut. Do it willingly, joyfully and sacrificially!
6. Borrow a Bible from the “Info Point”
Most guests will probably not have a bible with them. Make sure you get them a bible from our new “Info Point”. Position them to beneft form the preaching that morning.
7. Move to your seats early and prepare to worship God.
Our example here is going to help our guests get seated and ready to worship God. Your initiative will also make it easier for our guests to find a place to sit. Fill up the rows from the front first please! If you see someone on their own offer to sit with them, even if it means you have to move to sit next to them.
Reason for God Guest Sunday… A Reason to Invite!
October 7, 2008 4:17 pm
This coming Sunday (12th October 2008) is our first “Reason for God” Guest Sunday, designed for us to invite our friends to church so that they might hear the gospel as we tackle issues and questions that nag them. This week, we’re attempting to answer the question: “There can’t just be one true religion, can there?”
In a recent book I was reading, the author claims that 82% percent of unchurched people are “somewhat likely” to attend church if they are invited. Now we know (according to the old Guinness TV ad) that 81% (or was it 59%) of statistics are made up on the spot, but nevertheless, if this stat is true, then it should encourage us to ask our friends to come on Sunday.
If we just ask them, how could they respond? “I’d love to!”, “Sure!”, “Maybe?”, “Not this time, thanks.” or “No!” What is the real risk here? What are we afraid of? They probably wont punch you, yell or call the police, or the men in white coats to whisk you away. They might avoid us, but Jesus tells us not to be surprised that people hate us for His name’s sake (Matt 5:11 & Mark 13:13).
This hatred shouldn’t be because you’ve been offensive in how you’ve approached or related to them, but rather, because of the offense of the gospel.
The real risk in not asking people to come on Sunday, is that we might miss those who were “somewhat likely” to attend and they don’t get a chance to hear the life-changing truth and reality of the gospel. Let’s take the plunge this week. Pray for opportunities, for open doors for the gospel (Colossians 4:2-6) and be ready to seize those opportunities to share the gospel and invite them on Sunday.
After all, they get a free lunch too!
Parenting Conference
October 1, 2008 6:29 pm
Hear Tedd Tripp speak about his 2 books: “Shepherding a Child’s Heart” and “Instructing a Child’s Heart“, and hear previous seminar attendees talk of their experiences, by watching new video content at www.TeddTripp.org
While you’re there go ahead and register for the parenting conference next March!
