Monthly Newsletter — September 2013

Family of Faith Christian Fellowship

London Newsletter

September 2013 / Issue 43

In this issue:

• Upcoming events

• September Letter

• Responding to God with Worship

• Things to pray for

• Quotations Worth Thinking About

Upcoming Events:

• Communion – Sunday, September 8, 2013

  Our Communion service takes place on the second Sunday of each month.

• Discipleship 101 – Sunday, September 15, 2013

  Our discipleship course takes place on the third Sunday of each month. The topic this month is “The Resurrection – Our Hope for the Future” (Chapter 29 of the booklet).

September Letter

Dear Brethren,

Our annual “Church-in-the-Park” service last month was a great success. This year we had 120 people in attendance, which was a 14% increase over the previous year. The consensus was that this was the best one to date. The new venue and the use of the sound system greatly enhanced the experience, and we look forward to continued success in future years.

With summer now over, hopefully we will be able to increase our contributions to the Foodbank once again. The need has been increasing: in July, the Foodbank had 59 visits (vs. 47 visits in June) and 77 bags of groceries were given out (vs. 67 bags in June), 9 bags of children’s clothing (7 bags in June),and $420 in cash (June’s total was $370). It is interesting to take note of how much importance God attaches to taking care of the poor in Scripture (cf. Acts 9:36; 10:41; 24:17; 2 Cor. 9:8-9; Gal. 2:10); and this is an opportunity for us to help the less fortunate in our own community in London.

This month we will be continuing our series of sermons in the book of Matthew. We will be covering the fifth and final teaching section in the book, which deals with Jesus’ teachings about the end-time. You might find the article, “What Matthew 24 tells us about the End Time,” a helpful addition to reading through Chapters 24-25 of Matthew. The article can be found at the GCI Website – see:

http://www.gci.org/prophecy/matt24

Warmest regards,

Colin and Sue

Responding to God With Worship

We respond to God with worship, because worship is simply giving God what is fitting. He is praiseworthy, not only for his power but also for his gentleness.

God is love, and all that he does is done in love. This is praiseworthy. We praise love even on a human level, don’t we? We praise people who give their lives to help others. They did not have enough power to save their own lives, but what power they had, they used to help others – and that is praiseworthy. In contrast, we criticize people who had the power to help but refused to do it. Goodness is morepraiseworthy than power, and God is both good and powerful.

Praise deepens the bond of love between us and God. God’s love for us is never diminished, but ours for him often grows weak. In praise, we rehearse his love for us and, in effect, fan the fire of love for him that the Spirit has started within us. It is good for us to remember and rehearse how wonderful God is, for that strengthens us in Christ and increases our motivation to be like him in his goodness, which increases our joy.

We were made for the purpose of praising God (1 Peter 2:9), of giving him glory and honor, and the more we are in harmony with God’s purpose for life, the greater joy will be ours. Life is simply more satisfying when we do what we were made to do: to honor God. We do that not only in worship, but also in the way we live.

Worship is a way of life. We offer our bodies and minds as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2). We worship God when we share the gospel (Romans 15:16). We worship God when we give financial offerings (Philippians 4:18). We worship God when we help other people (Hebrews 13:16). We say that he is worthy, worth our time and attention and allegiance. We praise his glory, and his humility in becoming one of us for our sakes. We praise his righteousness and his mercy. We praise him for the way he really is.

This is what we were made for, to declare his praises. It is simply right that we praise the One who created us, the One who died and rose to save us and give us life eternal, the One who works even now to help us become more like him. We owe him our allegiance, and we owe him our love.

We were made to praise God, and this is what we will do eternally. John was given a vision of our future: “I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!’” (Revelation 5:13). This is the right response: awe at the awesome, honor for the honorable, and allegiance to the trustworthy.

– Joseph Tkach

Things to Pray for:

Please pray for:

• Paul’s sister, Diane (recovery from back surgery); Lloyd Mitchell (failing eyesight); Larry Prekup (cancer); Lisa Masse (continued improvement in health); Bob Shepard and Fred Zamostny (back problems); Gabriele Hodgins (arthritis and tendonitis; loss of job); Scott Blaine (MS).

• The situation in Egypt, where the unrest and the action of Muslim extremists has led, during the month of August alone, to the burning of at least 100 churches and Christian institutions. This number does not include attacks on the private homes, shops, businesses, and vehicles of Christians.

• Our local congregation that we might fulfill God’s will for us. Pray that we might each be a light in our community, manifesting the love of God to friends, family, co-workers and neighbours.

• Opportunities to share the gospel with others, the courage to do so, and the wisdom to know how.

Quotations Worth Thinking About

“At the heart of all temptations… is the act of pushing God aside because we perceive him as secondary, if not actually superfluous and annoying, in comparison with all the apparently far more urgent matters that fill our lives.”

– Joseph Ratzinger

“The good life is not about looking good, feeling good, or having goods; its about being good and doing good.“

– Rick Warren