| Newsletter for Church in Sydney
May 27, 2018
|
Message: Acts 5
Ananias and Sapphira
1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” 5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. 6 The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.
7 After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” 9 But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.
Many Signs and Wonders Done
12 Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. 13 None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. 14 And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, ……
The Apostles Arrested and Freed
17 But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy 18 they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20 “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” 21 And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council and all the senate of the people of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. 22 But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, 23 “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” 24 Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. 25 And someone came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” 26 Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.
27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, 28 saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
33 When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. 34 But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. 35 And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men.…… 38 So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” So they took his advice, 40 and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.
Questions for Group Discussion
- What is the reason for Ananias and Sapphira’s death? How did it influence the church afterwards? However, did the number of believers increase or decrease? What kind of warning can we learn today from this event?
- When the angel of the Lord led the apostles out of prison, what was his command? Did they obey? Please share your experience of obeying the command of the Lord.
- The apostles were beaten and warned by the Jewish council, however, what were their responses? If we were persecuted in our Christian living, how can we have the same response?
Message Next Week: Special Topics (Combined)
Church Meetings/Time/Place
Home Meetings
Chinese Speaking Young People: 28/5 Mon. 7:00pm, Richard Cui (w/ dinner)
@ Kingsgrove: 29/5 Tue. 10:30am, Shanwon Chow (w/lunch)
@ Chatswood: 31/5 Thu. 8:00pm, Ming Pan
@ North Region: 2/6 Sat. 7:30pm, Bill & Christine
Gospel Group: 2/6 Mon. 7:00pm, Olsen & Likun
Pursuing of Uni Students:
29/5 Tue. 7:00pm, Yulin (w/ dinner)
Sisters Meeting: 30/5 Wed. 10:00am, Pauline
Prayer Meeting: 30/5 Wed. 7:45pm,
Yvonne (Chatswood), Olsen (Warrawee)
High Schooler Meeting: 1/6 Fri. 7:30pm, Yulin’s
Pursuing for Ministering: 1/6 Fri. 8:00pm, cancelled
Announcements:
- We welcome all the new ones who are joining us today. May God bless you and lead you into this family of God.
We also welcome Brother Stephen Hao for visiting us. In the coming two months he will accompany us to preach the gospel and pursue the Lord. May he become the blessing for the church in Sydney.
- Next Lord’s Day (3/6) will be the combined meeting. Please come to share the breakfast after 9 am in the hall and prepare our heart to enjoy the word of life.
- There will be a big change for the food service from June. We will change from everyone bringing dishes to preparation by small groups and try this for 3 months.
The main coordinators are brother Ming Pan and sister Lily Li. There will be 4 groups to serve and the group leaders are Shanwon Chow, Lily Li, Lydia and Pauline. Each group needs about 5 other people to serve together. If anyone is willing to participate, please fellowship with the group leaders.
Today after lunch we will have another meeting to finalize the detail for food service. The fellowship on the service of breaking bread and cleaning will be delayed to next week (3/6).
- Please bring your own Bible to the Lord’s Day meeting since the newsletter may not cover all the Bible verses.
- The dates of the US trip for the Cleveland training: 23-28/7 (1st week), 30/7-3/8 (2nd week). If you are willing to attend, please fellowship with Brother Yulin Wang for details.
Intercession:
- May the Lord bless the gospel meeting next week and may the Spirit touch people, leading them to know how precious the Lord is and become willing to believe in Him.
- Pray for the new believers (4 brothers: Stephen, William, Yuan Liu and Yuan-Pei Zhao as well as 13 sisters: Lili Chen, Jenny Zhu, Yun-Yue Lin, Li-Qin Wu, Yun Zhu, Joies, Ariel Chen, Lu Gan, Lan-Xiu Zhang, Li-Fang Ge, Kelie Wei, Li-Yuan Xu and Jean Hu. May the Lord establish them in the church life and bless their growth in life.
- 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.
- May the Lord bless those year 12 students (Holly, Crystal and Zylen etc.), give them wisdom and guide their future steps.
Serving This Week: (May 27)
- Message: Patrick Li & Yulin Wang (Downstairs)
Raymond Young (Upstairs)
- Breaking the Bread: Yulin Wang & Sam Li
- Serving Bread and Cup: Chuan Ma, Ash Li, Jason Wang & Richard Cui
- Cleaning: Sam & Hannah Family, Tina & Fiona Jiang, Patrick & Lily Family, BaoLin Lei, Vanessa Lu
- Kitchen: Didy & Ling
- Children: Supervisor – David
Singing & teaching – Esther & Tina
Serving Next Week: (June 3)
- Message: Stephen Hao
- Breaking the Bread: Thomas & Raymond
- Serving Bread and Cup: Olsen Yu, Patrick Li, Peter Zhang & Jason Wang
- Cleaning: Richard & Flora Family, Lydia, Ben & Fony Family, Jane Wang, YuRong Liu, Olsen & Likun Family, Pauline Zhang
- Kitchen: Pauline & Lisa Tao
- Children: Supervisor – Joe
Singing & teaching – Sarah & Mandy
Church Activities in 2018
July 23 – Aug. 3.: Training in US Cleveland (Chinese Speaking)
Aug.3-14: Gospel Odyssey (visiting of US young people)
English speaking gospel meeting (12/8)
Oct.: Spring Conference
Dec.: Gospel Meeting with hymns
Conference in US (English Speaking)
Please check the activities,
messages, and other news
on the church web site
christiansinsydney.org
QR Code for the
church web site
Comments are closed