Newsletter 2018/6/10

Newsletter for Church in Sydney   June 10, 2018

 

 

Message:

Seven Chosen to Serve

¹ Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. ² And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. ³ Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. ⁴ But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” ⁵ And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. ⁶ These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

⁷ And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

Stephen Is Seized

⁸ And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. ⁹ Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. ¹⁰ But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. ¹¹ Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” ¹² And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, ¹³ and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, ¹⁴ for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” ¹⁵ And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Questions for Group Discussion

1. The church is a group of people and inevitably there will be some kind of unfairness and complain. How did you face these conditions before? How does the message for this chapter help you to face them?
2. How did the apostles deal with the problem in this chapter? What are the special characters of those been chosen? Please share the importance of these characters.
3. When the apostles trusted the deacons to deal with problems, what are the focuses for themselves? What is the importance of those they focus on? (When they prayed and laid the hands on them, it was a beautiful picture of coordination.)

Message Next Week:      Acts 7

Announcements:

1. We welcome all the new ones who are joining us today. May God bless you and lead you into this family of God.
2. Today is the second week that the love feast is served by a small group. May all the brothers and sisters still support in live and in finance. (For the saints we suggest $5 for adults and $3 for children, but this is not compulsory.)

If you have suggestions or want to join the food service, please fellowship with brother Ming Pan and sister Lily Li.

3. The dates of the US trip for the Cleveland training: 23-28/7 (1^st week), 30/7-3/8 (2^nd week). If you plan to attend, please fellowship with Brother Yulin Wang by 17/6.
4. The Gospel Odyssey will be from August 3 to 14 this year and there are 11 brothers and sisters coming from North America. May we all begin to prepare in the spirit so that we can preach the gospel and bear fruits.

If you can open your home for hospitality or are willing to participate the gospel work, please contact brother Thomas.

Church Meetings/Time/Place

Home Meetings

Chinese Speaking Young People: 11/6 Mon. 7:00pm, cancelled

@ Panania: 12/6 Tue. 10:30am, Margret Yang (w/lunch)

@ Chatswood: 14/6 Thu. 8:00pm, Ming Pan

@ North Region: 16/6 Sat. 7:30pm, Joe & Lili

Gospel Group: 16/6 Mon. 7:00pm, Olsen & Likun

Pursuing of Uni Students:

12/6 Tue. 7:00pm, Yulin (w/ dinner)

Sisters Meeting: 13/6 Wed. 10:00am, Pauline

Prayer Meeting: 13/6 Wed. 7:45pm,

Yvonne (Chatswood), Olsen (Warrawee)

High Schooler Meeting: 15/6 Fri. 7:30pm, Yulin

Pursuing for Ministering: 15/6 Fri. 8:00pm, David Tan

Intercession:

1. May the Lord bless our gospel friends that they can know how precious the Lord is and become willing to believe in Him.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. May the Lord bless those year 12 students (Holly, Crystal and Zylen etc.), give them wisdom and guide their future steps.

 

Serving This Week: (June 10)

1. Message: Yulin Wang (Downstairs)

Thomas Wu (Upstairs)

2. Breaking the Bread: Yulin Wang & Patrick
3. Serving Bread and Cup: Sean Dong, Benchu Guo, Jason Wang & Chuan Ma
4. Cleaning: Richard & Flora Family, Lydia, Ben & Fony Family, Jane Wang, YuRong Liu, Olsen & Likun Family, Pauline Zhang
5. Kitchen: Sussan & Anne
6. Children: Supervisor – Hsin

Singing & teaching – Christine

Serving Next Week: (June 17)

1. Message: Stephen Hao & Yulin Wang (Downstairs)

Benjamin Lim (Upstairs)

2. Breaking the Bread: Richard Chen & Olsen Yu
3. Serving Bread and Cup: Sam Li, Jason Wang, Richard Cui & Ash Li
4. Cleaning: TBA
5. Kitchen: TBA
6. Children: Supervisor – Tina

Singing & teaching – Chris & Jono

 

 

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)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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