Sunday 13 th January 2019

Transcription

1 Sunday 13 th January am Prayer Time 9.30am One Thing Jez & Sandra Taylor are leading 10.45am Refreshments in the hall 11.15am How do we finish the Christian Race well? Don Smith is preaching Reading: Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 Please note we have an induction loop installed (not in the gallery) The office Helpdesk is here to help you! Please phone ( ) or pop in Monday to Friday 10am 2pm. For more information, check out our website: or Senior Minister: Chris Short Assistant Minister: Emma McPhail Minister in Training: Bayo Babalola Eldon Road / Old Town / Eastbourne / BN21 1UE / helpdesk@victoriabaptist.org.uk

2 M: 6.00pm Girls Brigade Diary Tu: 5.00pm Under 11s football at Cavendish Sports Centre 5.45pm Under 14s football at Cavendish Sports Centre 7.15pm W: 10.00am CAMEO 10.00am 10.30am 1.00pm 5.15pm Soaking in the Spirit (Teaching Evening with Emma McPhail) Vicky Bees Prayer Time Old Town Churches leaders meeting Boys Brigade Th: 2.30pm Women s Fellowship: Speaker - Corrie Paxton F: 10.00am Vicky Bees 5.00pm Kids Club 7.00pm Xpect! Sa: Su: 9.10am Pre-Service Prayer Time 9.30am Celebration with Chris Short 11.15am 5.30pm Reflections & Communion with Chris Short Evening Service ( Praise & Testimony ) Staff Days Off : Chris Short Mon & Tues Emma McPhail Tues (college) & Wed Sandra Taylor Thurs & Fri Erik Cornelisse Thurs Bayo Babalola in on Thurs & Fri - Future Dates - 22nd January - Seekers for Men (7.15pm in the Snug) 24th January - ALPHA course starting Today s flowers in the church are given by: Colin & Chris McMahon

3 NetworX Following the notice in last week s news sheet, we are pleased to say that Jeanette Walters has agreed to be the next NetworX secretary. If anyone has a working, but no-longer-needed dehumidifier, it would be gratefully received! It would help to dry out some rather damp accommodation. I m so grateful for all the requests I get, asking for what we need. Currently, the items of furniture needed are: bedside cabinets, a book case, small wardrobes and chest of drawers/dressing table. Thank you for your concern and prayers. Anna Christmas s If you have not yet seen a copy of Ian & Ros Christmas - and you would like to do so - please let the office know & we can either you a copy (the preferable option!) or print a copy for you. Family Ministries The tea scheduled for last Sunday afternoon - for those of you involved in Sunday School/Youth work - which had to be postponed due to ill health, has been rearranged for next Sunday (20th). Please see Erik or Sandra for further details. Sound and Vision Dear Church Family, we still have a pressing need for more volunteers to join the sound and vision team, especially for someone to operate the projection equipment for one Reflections service a month and also for the 5 th Sunday service (4 services per year). Please consider whether you could serve the church in this way. This is not difficult and training can be given. If you can help please speak to Vanessa or Doug Howard, or contact the Church office. Many thanks. Living Life The charity, Living Life Eastbourne, is organising a get together for all friends and families of the Gift of Love in a Box project of Everyone is invited and those attending will be shown a video of events over the 8 days that the team was in Croatia. The event will be held here at VBC on Sat Feb 2nd, from 12noon until 4pm, and it would be very encouraging for Mick & Lynn Trott if a good number from the church was able to attend. Light refreshments will be available during the presentation. For catering purposes, please sign up on the sheets in the Welcome Centre if you are planning on coming.

4 Many, many thanks to everyone who supported the Carol Concert here on Saturday 22 December to raise money for Eastbourne Foodbank. The retiring collection (plus some subsequent donations from people who couldn t attend) raised 1, To this we were able to add 310 from a group of elderly people in Polegate who came to the 2017 concert and enjoyed it so much that they wanted to raise some money during the year which they could hand in at this year s concert! This makes a truly amazing and fantastic total of 1, as a result of the concert. In addition, we were handed a cheque for 85 from Girls Brigade, for money which they had collected and wished to donate to Foodbank. If we add it all together, 1, has been donated by VBC to the work of Eastbourne Foodbank over the Christmas period this is truly fantastic, and we are very grateful and humbled by your amazing generosity. Audrey Brown would like to thank the church family for the lovely flowers, and for the many prayers on behalf of her great grand-daughter, Emily. Your prayers were answered almost immediately and she is now back to normal. Thank you all! Peter Cosford wishes to thank the Church, and its members, for their kind gift of a plant and Christmas greetings. Joan Sasada would like to thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers, cards and fellowship following her recent stroke. We are delighted to see that she is recovering well. And Steve & Sherree Francis, our missionaries in Nepal, would like to say a big thank you to everyone at VBC for the Christmas Love Gift they received. Steve says: We'll look forward to spending it on something or somewhere that will keep us warm during the harsh Kathmandu winter! Love to you all And, whilst on the subject of missionaries, we were delighted to learn that Annet Miller gave birth to a baby son earlier this week in Uganda. Mother and baby Conrad are doing well. Please continue to pray for them - and for proud dad, Damien, and big sister, Patience, of course - as they begin to gel together as a family.

5 READ: PHILEMON vs.1-25 & COLOSSIANS 4:7-10 INTRO: Both Paul s letter to the church in Colosse and his more personal letter to Philemon were probably delivered by hand by Tychicus & Onesimus. The purpose of Paul s letter to Philemon was to encourage him to treat Onesimus as a brother in Christ, not simply as a slave, even though he had previously stolen from Philemon, his master. Paul s letter to the church (Colossians) was written to warn the church against false teachings that opposed the supremacy of Jesus Christ. Both provide an emphasis on putting Jesus First, both in our beliefs and in practice. THINK & DISCUSS: If someone had wronged you in some way (eg stolen from you) and left, but then they converted to Christ (or repented if they were already a Christian) and returned, how would you treat them? Why? What would be difficult about it? Paul describes Onesimus in v.11 as previously useless but now useful to him and Philemon. Thinking about your own experience with Jesus, what would you say has significantly changed - from how you once were to how you might be described by others now? (i.e. I once was but now I am ) What areas of grace are developing in you? STUDY: What did Paul recognise about Philemon that showed his Christian character? (vs. 5 & 7) Read vs When we are restored by God, it is often to something even better than what our original state was. How does this apply to Onesimus? How do these verses also demonstrate God s huge grace and mercy? Colossians 1:21-22, 1 Timothy 1:12-16, 1 Peter 2:9-10 What changes should we expect to see in the life of someone who has become a disciple of Jesus Christ? Colossians 1:10-12, 3:5-10 & and Ephesians 4:1-3, 5:8-11 &15-20 How could Philemon demonstrate these qualities too? Colossians 3:13, 4:1-6 APPLY: What changes in YOU show that you are seeking to put Jesus First in your own life? (Bearing in mind that we are all works in progress!) Who do you need to exercise grace and forgiveness towards? How specifically did they wrong you? If they were to repent and desire to reconcile with you, would you allow them to? Why/why not? It is ALWAYS good to forgive but it is not ALWAYS appropriate to restore/reconcile. When/what is the difference? How can you/do you refresh the hearts of the saints? (vs 7 and 20) PRAY: Pray for the grace to allow other people to change and grow. Pray especially for those who have hurt or offended you in some way that they might repent and change. Pray for the strength and grace to be merciful and forgiving towards those who have upset you. Ask the Lord to show you how you might bring refreshing to your brothers & sisters in Christ. Thank the Lord for revealing himself to you and for the changes in your own attitudes, character and behaviour. Ask for his hand in making you more Christ-like as you grow in faith.

6 CAP Money Course at VBC - a free course to help you manage your money better and learn to budget, save and spend well. Whether you feel pretty organised or whether it s like a lucky dip every time you try to withdraw money from your account, the CAP Money course will help you take complete control of your finances. Whoever you are, the CAP Money Course will be relevant to you. Maybe you could invite a family member, friend or colleague who may benefit from the course. It will be run over three Mondays, 28 th Jan, 4 th and 11 th Feb, here at the church, downstairs in the John Butcher room, from 7.30pm. Refreshments will be provided. If you are interested or want further information then please contact Karen Martin (mobile number available from the office) or by capcoachkm@gmail.com; alternatively, contact the church office. We have now come to a point where we have to say that, if you have not yet given us your details and your approval to publish your names and addresses, we will have to produce the new year book with just your name in and nothing else. We are putting a deadline on this of next Sunday (20th) and would remind you that not only will it be a case of just your name being entered but we will also not be able to give your address or phone number to anyone who asks us for it - assuming of course that we have a record of it in the office ourselves. Please see Richard Kirk for clarification. Please see the sign-up sheets in the Welcome Centre if you are interested in coming to the Alpha course - see back page for further details..

7 Prayer Diary: January 14 th 20 th Jeremiah 33:3 Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know MONDAY We pray for all our schools, and all the members of the church family that are involved with schools, teaching, supporting, and for the children that attend the schools. We pray that your word Lord will be accepted within our schools, and those in charge will allow Christian ministries to be able to gain access and support schools. TUESDAY As the government votes on the Brexit deal, let us pray that your will be done Lord. Give your wisdom to all those voting. Do not let party politics dictate those voting. We also ask for reconciliation throughout the country, and acceptance of any decision. We also pray for the countries in Europe, the European politicians and for the UK s future relationship with them. WEDNESDAY Let us pray for families in our locality. Thank you that we have such a wonderful number of children who attend our church. Please let this grow, and provide the workers to help them in their spiritual growth. THURSDAY Let us think about and pray for the charities that help the homeless and distressed this winter. We pray that all those in contact with these charities hear your word, Lord, and are transformed. FRIDAY Many war torn areas of the world have not been in the news lately. Please pray for these countries, desperate situations are there even when the world s press are not highlighting them. SATURDAY We pray for the Alpha course starting shortly. Please let your hand be on the arrangements, the people participating, leading and supporting. We ask for your spirit to be evident on all those involved. SUNDAY We thank you Lord for the privilege of coming together as a family, and for the chance to worship and praise you freely. We pray for the persecuted church that do not have our freedoms. The Prayer Ministry Team are available at the church on Tues 29th January at 7.30pm to pray with/for you. Please advise Brian Wightwick of specific prayer requests to be prayed for that evening. Can you help by playing the piano once or twice a month for a PARCHE service (1st Tues, 3rd Mon of the month)? Please see Brian for more details.

8 Venue: Kings Centre, Edison Road BN23 6PT Time: 9.30am-5pm (lunch pm) Bring packed lunch. Light refreshments on sale