Newsletter 2017/8/27

Lord’s Day Message: Reigning of Joseph in Egypt

Reigning through suffering

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. (Gen. 41:39 )

The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; … (2 Tim. 2:11-12a)

Dealing with /Helping his brothers
Overcoming the bitterness/hatred – forgetting and recognizing God’s blessing

Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.” The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.” (Gen. 41:51-52)

Dealing with the conscience of his brothers
Full of love and wisdom
Helping them to confess their sins, to fear God and to love their brother and father (It is the work of the Spirit today)

And he put them all together in custody for three days. On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody, and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households, and bring your youngest brother to me. So your words will be verified, and you shall not die.” And they did so. Then they said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.” (Gen. 42:17-21)

And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to replace every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them. …And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his money in the mouth of his sack. He said to his brothers, “My money has been put back; here it is in the mouth of my sack!” At this their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?” (Gen. 42:25-28)

Then he commanded the steward of his house, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack, … Now Joseph said to his steward, “Up, follow after the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good? (Gen. 44:1-4)

They said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing! … Whichever of your servants is found with it shall die, and we also will be my lord’s servants.” … And he searched, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city. (Gen. 44:7-13)

And Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants; behold, we are my lord’s servants, both we and he also in whose hand the cup has been found. … as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.” (Gen. 44:16, 31-34)

And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: (Jhn. 16:8)

What Joseph has done is also for God’s promise (Israelite will become a great nation) to be accomplished

Message Next Week: Gen. 46-50

Church Meetings/Time/Place

Home Meeting/Chinese Speaking Young People:

27/8 Sun. 7:30pm, Patrick & Lily’s

28/8 Mon., 7:30pm, Richard & Flora’s, (Dinner @ 7pm)

Pursuing of Uni Students: 29/8 Tue. 7:30pm, Yulin’s

(7:00 dinner)

Sisters Meeting: 30/8 Wed. 10:00am, Hannah Dong’s

Prayer Meeting: 30/8 Wed. 7:45pm, David Tan’s

Pursuing of Words: 1/9 Fri. 8:00 pm, David Tan’s

Saturday Home Meeting：2/9 Sat. 7:30pm

Thomas & Lena’s (YP & adults)

Olsen & Likun’s (Gospel group)

Announcements:

We welcome all the new ones who are joining us today. May God bless you and lead you into this family of God.
Next Lord’s Day is the combined meeting and all brothers and sisters are welcome to have breakfast at the hall at 9am so that we can prepare our heart to worship Him and to receive His words.
For the Lord’s Day message, we will enter the Gospel of Matthew after we finish Genesis. Please pray that we can receive His abundant words and be equipped and burdened with the gospel.
For the upcoming week, the Bible reading schedule is on Gen. 46-50. May the Lord keep strengthening all the brothers and sisters to continue the group Bible reading. Please remind and encourage each other.
From the second week of September, we will have New Believers Lessons at the small group time. All new believers are welcome to join. For details please contact Brother Yulin Wang.
On 30/9 – 1/10 we will have a 2 days spring conference. We will invite Brother Peter Cheng from Indianapolis and Brother Xian-Jing Chin from ChongQing as speakers. The main topic is “The healthy church life” from Matthew 18-20. May the Lord use this chance to bless His church and help all the brothers and sisters to grow in Him.
For the visit to North America and attending the church conference in Cleveland in December, please fellowship with Brother Raymond Young if you are interested to join.

For the brothers and sisters, please come on time and bring your own Bible and hymn book for the Lord’s Day meeting.
During the meeting, please turn off your mobile phone or put the volume on silence and not to walk around or to wonder/talk too loud in the kitchen.
Please keep the play field and rooms tidy and put all equipments in place after use.
When you prepare the love feast for Lord’s Day lunch, please do not prepare any food containing nuts as someone may have food allergy.

Please refrain from bringing uncooked food for the love feast so we may lighten the work for the serving ones in the kitchen.

Intercession:

May the Lord bless the gospel friends among us that they can know how precious the Lord is and are willing to believe in Him.
Pray for the new believers (4 brothers: Vincent Tai, YuMing Liang, Zylen Liang and Frank Wang, and 7 sisters: Vanessa Lu, Li Zhou, XiaChun Li, YuRong Liu, Lili Chen, Jenny Zhu and Yun-Yue Lin). May the Lord establish them in the church life and bless their growth in life.
Pray for those year 12 young people who are taking the HSC trials. May the Lord give them wisdom and abundant grace.
Pray for the brothers and sisters or their relatives who are weak in body or spirit. May the Lord care for them and give them sufficient grace.

Serving This Week: (Aug. 27)

Message: David Tan & Yulin Wang
Breaking the Bread: Shanwon Chow & Sam Li
Serving Bread and Cup: Jason Wang & Benchu Guo
Cleaning: Raymond & Lucy Family, Thomas & Lena, Joyce & Chris, Joe & Lili Family, Michael & Mandy Family, Margaret Yang
Kitchen: Didy & WeiQiong
Children: Supervisor – Lydia & Lily

Singing – combined

Teachers – Betty & Berry

Serving Next Week: (Sep. 3)

Message: Thomas Wu & Yulin Wang
Breaking the Bread: Raymond Young & Thomas Wu
Serving Bread and Cup: Olsen Yu, Benchu Guo, Jason Wang & Chuan Ma
Cleaning: Sam & Hannah Family, Tina & Fiona Jiang, Hannah Dong & Vic, Patrick & Lily Family, Baoling Lei
Kitchen: Julie & Baoling
Children: Supervisor – Christine & Tina

Singing – Combined

Teachers – Elsa & Holly

2017 Church Activities

Church conference (Sep.30-Oct.2)
Gospel Meeting with Hymns (Dec. 3)
Attending church conference in US (YP) (Dec.)

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