| Newsletter for Church in Sydney
June 24, 2018
|
Message: Acts 8
Saul Ravages the Church
1 And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.
Philip Proclaims Christ in Samaria
4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. 5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6 And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was much joy in that city.
Simon the Magician Believes
9 But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. 10 They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” 11 And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. 12 But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.
14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” 24 And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”
25 Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.
Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.”
34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 37 And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Questions for Group Discussion
- In what context did the disciples begin to preach the word in other places? What kind of light or encouragement can this give to us?
- Simon the magician believed and was baptized as described in vv.9-24. However, what wrong did he do when he desired the spiritual power? How did Peter warn him? What kind of warning should we receive from this?
- What kind of lesson can we learn from Philip as he helped the Ethiopian eunuch to be saved?
Message Next Week: Special Topic (Combined Meeting)
Announcements:
- We welcome all the new ones who are joining us today. May God bless you and lead you into this family of God.
- Today is the forth week that the love feast is served by a small group. May all the brothers and sisters still support and encourage the serving ones in love and remember the need in finance.
If you have suggestions or want to join the food service, please fellowship with brother Ming Pan and sister Lily Li. Today after lunch all the food serving ones or anyone desiring to serve please join a meeting for fellowship and prayer.
- The new arrangement for the cleaning service is according to the discussion groups after the message. If you desire to change the group, please fellowship with brother Yulin Wang. If you have any suggestion please fellowship with brother Richard Cui or Sam Li.
- Next week will be the combined meeting. There is a breakfast in the hall after 9am. May many brothers and sisters can come earlier to prepare our heart to worship the Lord!
- The Gospel Odyssey will be from August 3 to 14 this year and there are 12 brothers and sisters coming from North America. May we all begin to prepare and pray in the spirit so that the Lord can give us the fruits of gospel.
If you can open your home for hospitality or are willing to participate the gospel work, please contact brother Thomas Wu.
Church Meetings/Time/Place
Home Meetings
Chinese Speaking Young People: 25/6 Mon. 7:00pm, Richard Cui (w/dinner)
@ Kingsgrove: 26/6 Tue. 10:30, Sanwon Chow (w/lunch)
@ Chatswood: 28/6 Thu. 8:00pm, Ming Pan
@ North Region: 30/6 Sat. 7:30pm, Patrick & Lily
Pursuing of Uni Students:
26/6 Tue. 7:00pm, Yulin (w/ dinner)
Sisters Meeting: 27/6 Wed. 10:00am, Pauline
Prayer Meeting: 27/6 Wed. 7:45pm,
Yvonne (Chatswood)
High Schooler Meeting: 29/6 Fri. 7:30pm, Yulin
Pursuing for Ministering: 29/6 Fri. 8:00pm, cancelled
Intercession:
- May the Lord bless our gospel friends that they can know how precious the Lord is and become willing to believe in Him.
Pray for Aug. 3-11 Gospel Odyssey that the power of gospel of God can be manifested among us.
- 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: (June 24)
- Message: Yulin Wang (Downstairs)
Raymond Young (Upstairs)
- Breaking the Bread: Richard Chen & Chuan Ma
- Serving Bread and Cup: Sam Li, Olsen Yu, Ming Pan, Chuan Ma
- Cleaning: English Speaking Group
- Children: Supervisor – Jessie
Singing & teaching – Angela Fiona
Serving Next Week: (July 1)
- Message: Stephen Hao (combined meeting)
- Breaking the Bread: Yulin & Raymond
- Serving Bread and Cup: Richard Cui, Peter Zhang, Sean Dong & Benchu Guo
- Cleaning: Group of David Tan & Chuan Ma
- Children: Supervisor – Hannah
Singing & teaching – Esther & Tina
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