The Psalmist opens Psalm 122, “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.'” 

May there be that same sense of excitement and joy as we make the effort each week to gather in God’s house. How appropriate then are the words of this 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 our Lord. Amen.

Money for God

Pastor Grant, in his sermon today, is looking at the issue of money, stewardship and giving, the title of what he will be saying being, “Money for God.”

In a paper prepared for Churches of Christ congregations, “When you give…” the introductory paragraph reads, “Someone has said that giving is what a person does after he or she says, “I believe.” An important part of our Christian stewardship relates to our handling of money.

The New Testament implies very clearly that we are to be responsible to God both as to our giving to Christ’s work and our management of other possessions. Giving is a basic discipline of our Christian discipleship. (Renewal Leaflet No. 6)

Harold Norris states, “Christian giving is a grace in which we need to develop and grow. Giving is not Christian giving if it only comes from the purse.” For him our giving must be done as a love response to Jesus who gave his ALL for us. The New Testament principle of offerings is that they be systematic, proportionate, and from a free will.”

Norris concludes, “In all my years as a Christian minister I am convinced that the total giving of the church increases when the members find new joy in giving.”

As we move forward into this new year may this indeed be our experience as a community of faith.

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 and worship our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ with us tomorrow morning.

Details are as follows:

Time: 10am to approx 11:30am Sunday January 31st 2016.

Venue: Murray Bridge Church of Christ, 32 Seventh Street, Murray Bridge

Worship leader: Steve Bown

Communion: David Mills

Speaker: Pastor Grant Spangenberg ‘Money for God”

Reading: Luke 16: 1 – 13

Come along for a time of worship and fellowship.

Stay for a while after the service and enjoy a cuppa in the Coffee Shop.

˄TH

This evening we welcome Wayne and Bev Stevens from Cornerstone Foundation.

The focus of the meeting will be a Uganda Evening.

The evening starts at 6pm with a shared finger food tea.

Open to the whole church.

All are welcome to come and worship our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ with us tomorrow morning.

Details are as follows:

Time: 10am to approx 11:30am Sunday January 24th 2016.

Venue: Murray Bridge Church of Christ, 32 Seventh Street, Murray Bridge

Worship leader: Pastor Grant Spangenberg

Communion: Phil Manning

Speaker: Pastor Grant Spangenberg ‘Marks of Maturity”

Reading: Colossians 1:24 – 2:10

Come along for a time of worship and fellowship.

Stay for a while after the service and enjoy a cuppa in the Coffee Shop.

˄TH

“When God gives you a vision and darkness follows, wait.

God will bring the vision He has given you to reality in your life if you will wait on His timing.

Abram went through thirteen years of silence, but in those years all of his self-sufficiency was destroyed. He grew past the point of relying on his own common sense.

Those years of silence were a time of discipline, not a period of God’s displeasure. Just wait upon God and be grounded in Him.”

–Oswald Chambers, from My Utmost for His Highest (available from our bookshop).

“God brings me into the proper relationship with himself so that I can understand His call, and then I serve Him on my own out of a motivation of absolute love. Service to God is the deliberate love-gift of a nature that has heard the call of God. The Son of God reveals himself in me, and out of devotion to Him, service becomes my everyday way of life.”

• Oswald Chambers, from My Utmost for His Highest (available from our bookshop)

Monday – Saturday:
Christian Bookshop:  our bookshop is now open again after the Christmas break.

Tuesday 19th January
9am Pastoral Care Group meeting

Wednesday – Friday 20th – 22nd January
Coffee Shop – reopening on 20th January 2016 10am – 2pm

Wednesday 20th January
7:30 pm Elders’ meeting

DATE CLAIMERS FOR YOUR CALENDAR

Friday 29th January 
Cornerstone Foundation – Wayne and Bev Stevens – Uganda evening 6pm Shared finger food tea.

Wednesday 3rd February
Movie night: “Faith like potatoes” 6pm Shared finger food tea.

Please note:

The following activities are in recess over the Christmas – New Year break. Most will recommence in February.

• Sunday School
• Young People’s Bible Study
• Home groups
• Bible Studies
• Men’s Bible Studies
• Friendship Group
• Craft Group
• Christian Women’s Fellowship
• CWCI and KYB

How good it is to meet together to worship our great God.

As we do so, may we each experience the Holy Spirit-encouraged joy of the Lord.

Frank Viola in his book Re-imagining Church states that. ‘In short, the church that’s introduced to us in scripture is a loving household, not a business. It’s a living organism, not a static organisation. It’s the corporate expression of Jesus Christ, not a religious corporation. It’s the community of the King,…’

He continues, ‘As such, when the church is functioning according to its nature, it offers:

• interdependence instead of independence
• participation instead of spectatorship
• solidarity instead of individualism
• relationship instead of programs
• enrichment instead of insecurity
• community instead of corporation
• wholeness instead of fragmentation
• connectedness instead of isolation
• spontaneity instead of institutionalisation
• servitude instead of dominance
• freedom instead of bondage
• bonding instead of detachment

In the language of the apostles, the church is composed of infants, little children, young men, brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers – the language and imagery of the family (1 Cor. 4:15, 1 Tim. 5:1-2, James 2:15, 1 John 2:13-14).’

As we ponder the future, these qualities are something for us to ponder and aim to develop with the Holy Spirit’s transforming presence at work in our lives individually, and corporately.

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

All are welcome to come and worship our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ with us tomorrow morning.

Details are as follows:

Time: 10am to approx 11:30am Sunday January 10th.

Venue: Murray Bridge Church of Christ, 32 Seventh Street, Murray Bridge

Worship leader: Ted Smith

Communion: Neil Page

Speaker: Phil Manning

Reading: TBA

Come along for a time of worship and fellowship.

Stay for a while after the service and enjoy a cuppa in the Coffee Shop.

˄TH