A personal Prayer of Invocation :

Lord, you have promised to meet those who seek your face. Come now and reveal your presence to me as I make myself present to you. May my worship be acceptable in your sight. In the name of Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

Greetings:

How good it is that once more on another new Sunday we gather to offer our worship to God! May He be pleased with what we offer to Him. Leading us as we do so is our Worship Leader for the morning, Ted Smith. When it comes to that time in the service when we share in the Lord’s Supper together our leader will be Trevor Purdie.

To any who are present as visitors it is our pleasure to welcome you and we trust that you will feel right at home. After the service is over you are most welcome to stay for a cuppa and a chat in our coffee shop.

Guest speaker:

With May being a five Sunday month, Grant and Helen are away for the weekend and so today it is special to have Dave and Joy Althorpe back with us. Dave is now ministering at the Hawthorn church in Adelaide as well as serving part-time as one of the Ministry Care & Development (Minister to ministers) team. As the title for his sermon today, Dave has given “Alive to Love.”

Trinity Sunday:

Today, the first Sunday after Pentecost, is known as Trinity Sunday when the focus is on the three Persons of the Godhead – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the Trinity is central to the Christian faith.

To help us try and understand how the three can be co-eternal and coequal together we have the symbol of an equilateral triangle the sides and angles of which are equal and form one figure, inside a circle which signifies divine unity and divine eternity.

As the three Persons are coequal in honour and power, so they are co-eternal, not one before the other. Any such illustration of the Trinity, verbal or visual, is at best an approximation of the truth of God’s being. We cannot grasp the nature of God with our minds. But we can accept in faith what God has revealed of himself in his Word and together with the apostle Paul exclaim in our worship of the Triune God, “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and his paths beyond tracing out!” (Romans 11:33).

Benediction :

May the power, peace, and presence of Jesus Christ uphold, sustain, direct and keep you in this week ahead. Amen.

˄GS

All are welcome to come to worship with us tomorrow.

Venue: Murray Bridge Church of Christ, 32 Seventh Street, Murray Bridge, South Australia.

Time: 10am – 11:30am followed by fellowship over cuppa after the service.

Worship leader: Ted Smith

Communion leader: Trevor Purdie

Guest speaker: David Althorpe.

Theme: “Alive to Love”

Reading: John 21: 9 – 19

We hope to see you there.

The first sale from our church mission table was banked on the 9th May 2005.

Over the last ten years, total income from sales is $15,363.65 averaging just over $1500 per year.

Just over $15,000 of this money has already been given to various mission works with the balance remaining in the fund ready for later distribution.

Thank you to everyone for your support.

Remember: when you buy from this stall you are supporting missions.

Male Superb Fairy-wren

Let everything praise the Lord

Sing from the mountain-tops and shout to the skies!
Praise God all you messengers, and cheer all you servants!
Let the birds of plain and forest praise our God;
Galah and emu, blue wren, honeyeater and jabiru.
(From “Australian Psalms” by Bruce D Prewer)

On our recent trip to visit family in Sydney we travelled through the beautiful mountains called the Great Dividing Range. In many places there are deep gorges cut by flowing creeks and rivers, towering gum trees and farm animals grazing. When we stop for a meal or a cuppa, we often pick a spot where we can enjoy the view and see some of our colourful plants and birds. It is not hard to appreciate how wonderful this great country of ours really is.

Back home we also enjoy many aspects of God’s amazing creation in our little patch of scrub. On a sunny day earlier this week I was reading my Bible on our back veranda, taking in some of the sunshine, something we haven’t always seen in recent weeks. The warmth of the sun was very soothing and it was hard to keep awake and not snooze off.

As I sat there reading I was suddenly aware of the growing chorus of birdsong in our garden. Our little family of six Superb Blue-wrens were hopping around on the ground in front of me, their lilting song delighting my ears. Not to be outdone, a small flock of tiny Thornbills feeding in the trees joined in the song of praise, followed by several Silvereyes flying overhead. It was as if they were singing a mighty chorus of praise to their Creator. I could do nothing less than join them by lifting up my heart in praise to God.

Interestingly, I have been rereading the Psalms in recent weeks. Oh how the writers of the Psalms, especially David, knew how to praise the Lord. As we worship today may we also lift up our hearts and voices in praise to our God.

Praise the LORD, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103

˄TH

HYMNFEST

Murray Bridge Uniting Church

Pentecost Sunday 24th May 2015 @ 2.00pm

ALL WELCOME

Pentecost Weekend Breakfast

Saturday 23rd May @ 32 Seventh Street

Combined Churches Pentecost Weekend Breakfast

Featuring – Dr David. d’Lima Family Voice Australia

ALL WELCOME $10.00 per head

RSVP: 20th May 2015 to Grant Spangenberg, Murray Bridge Church of Christ

• All Week : Christian Bookshop 9am – 5pm
• Monday 18th May
  • 7:30pm Hampel’s Home Group
• Tuesday 19th May
  • 9am Pastoral Care Group
  • 9:30am Men’s Bible Study
  • 2pm Murraylands Homes service
• Wednesday 20th – 22nd May
  • Coffee Shop 10am – 2pm
  • NO Daytime Bible Study (this week only)
  • 10am Craft Group “Let’s Get Together”
  • 7:30pm Various Home Groups
• Thursday 21st May
  • 10:30am Lerwin Nursing Home service
• Saturday 23rd May
  • 7:30am Combined Pentecost Breakfast (NO Men’s Bible Study)
• Sunday 24th May
  • 10am Worship Service
  • 2pm Hymnfest at the Uniting Church

˄TH

The Lord reigns, let the nations tremble; …Great is the Lord in Zion; he is exalted over all the nations. ..Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy. ..Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy (Psalm 99:1,5,8-9).

What a great reminder of God who, as our heavenly Father, loves each and every one of us! May He be pleased with the worship which we will be offering to Him this morning. And may we, each one, know the joy of the Lord in our hearts as we do this.

Leading us in our worship this morning is Trevor Hampel. When it comes to that time in the service when we share in the Lord’s Supper together our leader will be Steve Bown.
If you happen to be reading this as a visitor please feel most welcome. We are pleased to have your presence with us. After the service is over you are most welcome to stay for a cuppa and a chat in our coffee shop.

When it is time for us to hear from God’s Word our Pastor, Grant Spangenberg, will bring to us the penultimate sermon in his series on the Spiritual Disciplines, the title of today’s message on the subject of Corporate Guidance being, “Finding God in all Things.”

The inspiring Christian writer, Andrew Murray, in his book, God’s Plans For You states,

“The work of every believer is to build up the body in love. What is needed is that in every believer Jesus Christ be so formed, and so dwells in the heart, that His life in us will be the inspiration of our love toward the whole body and our life for it. When Jesus lives in us, it will be easy and natural and pleasing to live completely for the body of Christ. As readily and naturally as the thumb and fingers respond to the will and movement of the head will the members of Christ’s body respond to the Head as the body grows up into Him, and from Him makes itself increase.”

Let us be excited about the work that Jesus is doing in our community of faith.

Benediction : Come, gracious Spirit, heavenly Dove, With light and comfort from above; Be thou our guardian, thou our guide, O’er every thought and step preside. (Simon Browne)

˄GS

It is Sunday again tomorrow and time to gather again to worship our heavenly Father, thanking him for our wonderful saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Trevor Hampel, one of our elders, will be our worship leader during the service.

An important part of every worship service in our church is the observance of the Lord’s Supper (communion). Leading us around the table of remembrance will be deacon Steve Bown.

Pastor Grant Spangenberg will again be our speaker and his topic will be “Finding God in All Things.”

The Bible readings for this Sunday will be:

• Proverbs 3: 1 – 6
• Acts 15: 22 – 35

Come along for a great time of praise and worship and all are welcome. You are also invited to stay for a while after the service and have cuppa with us in the Coffee Shop.

˄TH