Bulletin Announcements – 12 July 2015
- Faith Promise Giving 2015/16 – Let us continue to give thanks for the return slips handed in so far (113 return slips received with a total of $136,915). Please be praying that through God’s grace we will be closer to the $170,000 target. You can continue to place your Faith Promise Giving return slips into the offering bags up to the last Sunday in July.
- Sunday school will have holiday program for today, designed for Year 4 children and younger. We encourage our Year 5 and 6 children to join their parents in our 9am English service. Term 3 will start on 14 July for Play Group and 19 July for Sunday school. Please don’t be late. We are eager to see you all again.
- Following the acceptance of Kian Holik as a local missionary of the church, we will hold a commissioning service to affirm and send him on his ministry of the gospel to students at Macquarie University. Please join us for this service at 1:30pm, Sunday July 19 at WSCCC Strathfield, followed by afternoon tea.
- Notice from Diaconate: With thanks to God for his blessing, we welcome Rev Dominic Ku as a minister of our church as of July 1. He has moved from Malaysia and joins the pastoral team with primary full-time oversight of the Strathfield Mandarin ministry. Please welcome him, get to know him and pray for him and his family as they settle into Sydney and our church.
- 2015-16 Budget: We thank God for his gracious provisions to our church in the past Financial Years. During the services this Sunday (or next Sunday for S9 Strathfield English), we will take the opportunity to briefly explain the Budget for the 2015-16 Financial Year of our church. The highlights of this budget will include increasing the General Fund offering to $1,153,916 ($21,772 per week) in order to support the ministry and the general operations of our church. Please pray that God may enable us to continue supporting the ministry with willing and cheerful hearts.
Ariel writes – a weekly Scriptural devotion:
No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. (Joshua 1:5 NIV)
God says this to Joshua as he takes on the responsibility of leading God’s people into the promised land which is also a hostile land. There will be fighting involved so God promises him victory and his ever-present almighty self. What more could Joshua want? And I’m sure he didn’t miss the subtle reminder of Moses’ own commissioning in these words too. We tend to forget; “I will be with you” was first spoken to Moses the great when he wasn’t so great (Exodus 3:12). In fact, when God first called Moses, he was a self doubting, backward looking, excuse making, ask Tom not me sort of guy. We need to remember that it was God who turned Moses the doubter into Moses the great. Joshua was being reminded of this, and it’s a good reminder to us as well for God’s presence and victory is ours in Jesus; “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:57). Therefore, like Moses and Joshua we too have no reason to doubt.
from Pastor Ariel