Bulletin Announcements – 11 May 2014

Term 2 has started for Sunday school and Play Group. We are happy to see you again! As a reminder, parents, please come on time and pick up your children after the service to ensure their safety. Also please support their time learning about God by reducing the traffic around Sunday school area during the session.

Children and Youth Ministry volunteers – Safe Ministry Training will be conducted on 17 May 2014, 9am-2pm with Andrew Bardsley in Upper Hall, Strathfield. Volunteers are required to attend. Contact Andrew Bardsley or Liza Mihardja. Note: Please bring your own lunch since we only have a short lunch time break.

Ladies – Equip 14 (Why # Wise) is open for registration. Venue – Rose Hill Gardens, James Ruse Drive. You can register online http://www.equip.org.au/program/ or contact Solan for further information.

Did you know that 1 in 2 Australians will be diagnosed with cancer before the age of 85? So many of us know someone who has been touched by cancer, so on Sunday 25 May 2014 we will be holding Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea during morning tea to help raise funds for a cure. Please show your support for this great cause. All donations over $2 are tax deductible.

 

Ariel writes – a weekly Scriptural devotion:

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. (Mark 11:24 NIV)

If ever there was a verse that turned God into a wish granting genie this would be it! But of course any verse out of context has great self-serving potential. So how are we to understand this verse? In v22 Jesus began this section on prayer with these words; “Have faith in God,…” This faith is then explained in v23 to be confident and here in v24 to be certain. However, our salivating sinful hearts are instantly drawn to the word “whatever”; it’s as if we can ask for anything we like, right? Wrong! The context remember is “faith in God“. So if I say to my kids; “You can eat “whatever” for dinner tonight.”, this does not mean they can eat a shoe or my iPhone, and neither does it mean they can eat jelly beans, chips, or chocolate. “Whatever” in this context means healthy food and “whatever” in v22 means good, spiritual, God glorifying, motivated things. And it is precisely because we ask for these things that we have the confidence and certainty that we have received them.

from Pastor Ariel