Sermon summary 9th January
Isaiah 43:18-19 Do not remember (dwell on) the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
These powerful verses remind us in the new year that we need to perceive our circumstances through God’s eyes rather than idolize what we want and what we don’t have. We should avoid lingering on the thoughts that lead us away from God. The first 2 commandments deal with idolatry so if it is that important to God, then it is important to us. Therefore, don’t let your circumstances dictate your faith in 2011.
This year, which is our 10th Anniversary of the Dongshin English Service holds lots of promise with the fulltime appointment of Andy Gilman as Pastor who has been consistently serving the church for many years in a leadership capacity. He will be available at the main church building on the 4th floor (Tuesday – Saturday from 9-5pm) as well as his usual duties on Sunday. We pray that God will increase Andy’s wisdom and vision for our English Service as well as the wider Daegu community.
As part of the vision, we will be having sign-ups next week for small groups that will be held after the Sunday service and this is an essential part for developing relationships and deepening your knowledge of the bible. We have some quality leaders to guide and encourage you in the small groups and be prepared to make a 6 month commitment to the group.
Also, we will be running a Foundations class which is a 6 week course for any church member to investigate what Dongshin Church stands for in terms of biblical and spiritual direction. The course is an excellent opportunity to examine God’s word in more detail to have a clear understanding of what it means to be a christian. It has a maximum enrollment of 20 people so we will have sign-ups next week for that as well.
Finally, the end of 2010 was enjoyed with a unique sofa sermon and the Annual Christmas party that involved games and a gift exchange.The sofa sermon was an interview with 4 people and they discussed how they celebrated Christmas and the way that Jesus was incorporated into that day. Also, the question was posed about spiritual gifts and all were encouraged to seek the Lord about it by using the bible (Matthew 6:33), what people said about what we are good at, what we felt compelled to do and what we liked to do.
After that, we played Bible ‘catchphrase’ by one person asking their team members to guess a common phrase from the bible without saying any of the words in the phrase. It was well fought and even at the end of the regular session. We had to go onto the advanced version having phrases like ‘you shall love your neighbour as yourself’ and ‘They shall mount up with wings like eagles’. Afterwards, we had a fun time exchanging gifts and it could be changed 3 times before it was safe in 1 person’s arms. Poor SJ and Gloria had their gifts taken at least 6 times!
God bless everyone in 2011