Weekly Contact

Thanks for the great turn out at church yesterday morning. Being Father's Day we did things a bit differently by starting off with an Audio Visual thanking fathers for being fathers; then we went into the message for the morning, followed by another Audio Visual encouraging fathers to remember that their children are watching them. We then went into an awesome time of worship before communion and before closing.

 

The message I brought was "The Three Fathers". We looked at Adam, the first father, who was placed, by God, at the head of creation and at the head of his home, but he let both of them down by not being the father and the leader that God had expected. We looked at Abraham whose descendants were like the stars of the heavens and like the sand of the seashore. The stars represent Abraham's spiritual or heavenly seed, whereas the sand represents his natural or his earthly descendants, showing that God would impact the world through Abraham at both the spiritual and the natural levels. It is still God's intention to impact the world at both the spiritual and the natural levels, but to do so through the church. The third father we looked at is God himself; our father who is in heaven. We looked at the fact that the son of God became the son of man, that we the sons of men might become the sons of God.

 

The main purpose of this message was to challenge and encourage fathers to be fathers, husbands to be husbands, sons to be sons, and men to be men. Thanks to all of those who step up to the mark. We have some great fathers, husbands, sons and men at New Life City Church, but let's not leave it to some; let's each of us step up and step into God's destiny designed for us.

 

The day finished with several coming to the house to watch Brazil thrash Drogba and the Ivory Coast! Thanks also to those ladies who made the tea and coffee and ate Kevin's Aero!

 

Drop In: "ASPIRE". We had our first meeting today to discuss the way forward. Fourteen turned up for this first meeting. One of these is a girl from Twinbrook and one from Highfield, besides others who have recently been attending New Life, and some who are seasoned "New Lifers". Others have said they will be coming along both to attend and to volunteer. There was a great sense of excitement as we discussed the way forward. James Scott has taken the bull by the horns and is leading this outreach. In fact his work place is actually supporting him in this so that he is able to develop this as part of his employment in working with "Faith Based Organisations".

 

James came up with the name "Aspire". He explained that aspiration is the willingness to achieve; spiritually to get closer to God; naturally to get closer to people. We encouraged all those present not to permit this to be an end in itself, but to get alongside other things within the church. We encouraged those men present to get along to FIST and the women to get along to GLOW etc.

 

After quite a healthy discussion it was agreed to run Aspire every Monday from 10 am - 12 noon, and every Friday from 2 pm - 4 pm. The next meeting of Aspire is therefore this coming Friday at 2 pm.

 

New Life Mural. We made a great start on this today. Drive around the corner from City LIFE Centre and see it for yourself. Thanks to Carole Morrison for taking the lead on this. Les came up with an amazing idea!!! (I know, strange, isn't it?). His idea is that during the summer to have a table round at the mural with free drinks and literature from the church to give out to passers by. While we were there, there were loads of cars, buses and taxis that came around as we were painting. This will be a great opportunity to evangelise. Colin Morrison might stay for another 40 Day Cross Vigil if I did one!

 

WEEKEND OF PRAYER. As announced last weekend, I am calling for a special focus on prayer this coming weekend as follows: Friday night 10 pm - 12 midnight; Saturday morning 10 am - 12 noon, in the main hall.

 

SPECIAL WORSHIP EVENT. This coming Sunday night at 7 pm with Ryan Griffith and team. Please do all you can to get along to this event. Ryan will be selling his newly released Worship CD. An offering will be taken on the night for missions in Africa.

 

When New Life was first launched on 4 July 1993, God clearly gave us a verse that was to be the foundation of all we do. That verse is Isa.60:18 where God said, "You will call your walls salvation, and your gates praise". Salvation equals evangelism; Praise equals worship. These are the two pillars of the church, evangelism and worship. "The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost" (Luke 19:10), that's evangelism; "the Father seeks those who will worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24), that's worship. To focus on one without the other would cause an imbalance within the church.

 

Thanks again to everyone who works hard for the development and advancement of New Life City Church.

 

Have a great week. Stay focused; stay strong; and keep being a God-influence.

Pastor Jack