India Missions Evening

On Wednesday night Patrick Jonhstone spoke about his recent missionary trip to North-East India. Providing a fascinating world-wide overview of missionary work in the current global climate as well as predicting future problem areas and opportunities for growth, Patrick gave encouragement to the church to engage in mission on a wider scale. He also spoke about his trip as well as some of the people he encountered there and what his visit achieved.

There was time for us to sample some Indian food half way through the presentation. There was also opportunity to ask questions.

Thank you to all who came and to Patrick for an enjoyable and educational evening.

James, brother of Jesus - web link

In today's sermon, Keith mentioned an online resource that helped him prepare for his talk about James, the half-brother of Jesus.

If you would like to read it in more detail, or use it for your own study, click here and the link will take you to the article.

The 12 Days of Christmas

Although the big day is still just around the corner, our church had a get-together in the lovely Octavia's Cafe last Sunday where we had a 'Cafe Church' service, followed by an amazing bring-and-share lunch. The event was complete with Christmas crackers, paper hats and traditional carols.

Clive took the opportunity to talk about one of the 'silly' songs we sung and explained that the song had a deeper significance than we may first think. So why not dive into the depths of 'The 12 Days of Christmas' by clicking on the video link above?

Merry Christmas!

Robin Preaches at Church

Robin Mackenzie preaching at The King's Church, Wisbech

Robin Mackenzie has joined the ranks of others from our church congregation who have taken up the challenge to have a go at preaching during the Sunday service. Robin continued our sermon series on Hebrews where we are looking at how 'Jesus is better than' all sorts of things. Here Robin looks at how Jesus is a better High Priest, how Jesus fulfils the role as the most perfect High Priest - the mediator between us and God.

It is a very good sermon and is well worth a listen. I am sure Robin will be back again with another sermon soon.

Listen to his sermon live online by clicking here. You will be taken to our church podcast where you can find Robin's sermon and listen to it on the page.

You can even subscribe to the podcast! 

Spiritualists, Mediums and the Occult

Have you ever been involved in the use of tarot cards, ouija boards or horoscopes? Have you had your fortune told or visited a medium or a psychic? If you have, you are certainly not alone! Or are you the type of person who thinks all this is a load of hocus-pocus mumbo-jumbo? Again, you are not alone!

In Christian circles, topics like this are often avoided or side-stepped but this is a mistake! Chrisitians believe in the spiritual realm (Heaven, The Holy Spirit, Angels etc). Often the focus is rightly on the positive elements of the spiritual realms, but we ignore confronting and dealing with the darker aspects of them at our peril! The Bible tells us that:

"Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8

The whole area of consulting with mediums comes up in 1 Samuel 28 where King Saul chooses to consult with a meduim rather than with God. In Clive Butcher's sermon series about 'The Life of David' he coveres this whole subject and gives a fantastic insight and Christian perspective to what the occult is, wether it is ok to consult mediums or not and what we should do if we have done so in the past.

Two sermons about the whole subject can be heard (live-streamed) directly from our website.
 Click here to listen now.

We welcome your feedback and comments about these sermons. Please use the 'comments' option below.

Spiritual Gifts

 

Our recent sermon series all about spiritual gifts has mentioned a lot of interesting points.

You can listen again to the podcasts live on our website here: http://dynamic.church123.com/podcast/ab523103-646a-41a3-a50f-8229c1086584

One of the main emphases has been that as a Christian believer, no matter your rank, position, or title - we are ALL called to use the gifts God has given us. It is not up to the 'minister' or 'pastor/preacher' to do all the work of the ministry. We have all been equipped with power by the Holy Spirit to carry out the work of the ministry.

God gives us gifts not just for ourselves but so that we can be a blessing to others. God will take our gifts and talents and make them 'more' than they are merely on their own. His anointing will be upon your gifts and will multiply them if used for His glory and for the benefit of others.

The Bible mentions some spiritual gifts in the New Testament as well as in the Old Testament. It is helpful to think of these as examples of what kinds of spiritual gifts exist - not as an exclusive list. They do indeed include gifts of teaching and prophecy but numerous other things can be included too: hospitality, musicality, modern technology (internet skills - blogging, etc), writing, knitting (eg. someone in our church knits for poor people in Armenia), helping etc etc etc - Do not limit what God can do through you.

Be who you are. God has made you an individual, a unique person. God has given you your spiritual gifts to be used by you, in the way he has made you to use them. Don't try to follow a 'formula' or the way that someone else does things. You are unique, just be yourself and be faithful to God. Ususally those passions and desires deep within you have been hard-wired in there by God. You already have some spiritual gifts within you that ate just waiting to be anitined by God and used for the good of others - be yourself in living your life for God, obeying what he prompts you to do and you will find that he has made you and equipped you to do just that!

Some questions for you to consider

Feedback and comments on this blog are encouraged and more than welcome. Here are some things you may want to think about and comment on:

• What are your natural desires and passions? What do you love to do?
• Can you find a way where you can use these giftings you already have for God?
• What do you think your spiritual gifts are?
• Should every believer be involved in the ministry of the church or should it be left to the 'pastor/preacher' at the front?

What do you think. Over to you . . .