REFLECTION:
1 Corinthians 12:1-11 “Spiritual Gifts”
What does it mean to be spiritual or to live by the Spirit? It means seeking to glorify God with your life, seeking to become more like Jesus, and using your spiritual gifts in the church and in the community for the good of others. In the church at Corinth, pride, jealousy, envy and factions had taken root and people let spiritual pride foster deeper divisions in the church. Paul writes to them to get their focus back on the Lord and on using their gifts for the benefit of others. Here is an outline.
Introduction: Spiritual pride & divisions in the church of Corinth.
1. What does it mean to be truly spiritual?
a) Living by the Spirit rather than by the flesh.
b) Focussing on Jesus (1-3)
c) Seeking the up-building of the Church (4-7)
2. Using our spiritual gifts for others.
a) The same Spirit gives a different gift to each person as he wishes. (4, 11)
b) Though we each have different gifts, we all form one body (12)
3. What are the spiritual gifts?
a) Wisdom, knowledge (8), faith, and healing (9),
b) Power to work miracles and the gift of speaking God’s message (10)
c) The ability to speak in tongues and the ability to explain what is said (10).
To think about:
How does God want you to use your gifts in this church today?
HYMNS
MP 367 Jesus is Lord
TIS 537 Let us talents and tongues employ
TIS 607 Make me a channel of your peace
TIS 231 At the name of Jesus
WEDNESDAY GROWTH GROUP
Will be resuming on Wednesday 5th of February. Marien will be leading some studies based on the theme of Creation in the Psalms. After these four weeks, we will begin the Hope 25 Lenten studies. Hope 25 Lenten Study Books are available from Graeme for $10.
BUILDING FUND UPDATE
You may recall that at the end of September we set as a fundraising goal the sum of $300,000 which is what we expect we will need to complete the building project. As of the 31st of December, this figure has reached $71,918. We are so grateful to all who have given and we encourage everyone to pray for God’s provision for this project with which we hope to see the main construction phase begin in February.
GARDENING AND GROUNDS WORK
We have many gardening and maintenance jobs that are piling up. We are extremely grateful to Rusty Nicholls who has taken on so much but we need more helpers. If you can spare a few hours, we would love to hear from you. Speak to Rusty or Graeme. We are particularly keen to find someone who is good at building stone walls or working with mortar. We have a lot of bluestone edging to do in the main carpark area.
CONFIRMATIONS
A reminder that we will be having a service of confirmation with Bishop Paul Barker on the 11th of May. Candidates need to do the preparation course (Alpha) which will begin in late February. Please speak to Graeme if you are interested.
SPECIAL 100TH BIRTHDAY MORNING TEA
We are delighted to be able to celebrate with Gwynne Kett her forthcoming 100th birthday. We are getting in a few days early as family are organizing other celebrations on the day. We will pray for Gwynn in our 10am service on the 26th of January and there will be a special morning tea for her in the Parish Hall following the service. Please see Margo if you can help with the morning tea.
CAN ANYONE HELP?
We are looking for volunteers to help with our vegetarian roster for Monday Meals once or twice a year. This involves cooking any vegetarian dish you choose at home to feed about 15 people. The dish can be left at church on Sunday or delivered to the hall kitchen on Monday morning. We cook rice to go with it if required. If you think you would be able to provide a dish during the year, please contact Ros Daniel (0401 507 181). Thank you.
THIS WEEK WE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR: St Mark's Camberwell; The Diocese of The Murray; Anglican Criminal Justice Ministry Chaplaincy; The Church in the Province of the West Indies; Archbishop Philip and all our Bishops in their ministry this week.
READINGS FOR NEXT SUNDAY 26th Jan: Nehemiah 8. 1-3, 5-6, 8-10; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 12.12-31; Luke 4.14-21 LAWN MOWING ROSTER: 18th Jan – Heinz & Vic THIS
WEEK WE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR: Anthony, Nisha, Mike, Cecil, Ruth, Eva, Charles, Nigel, Jen, Ted, Natasha, Patty, Melenny, Shereen, Lorraine, Rebecca, Ken, Jim, Monty, Noel, Ashleigh, Mervyn, Sophie, Ursula, Doreen & Gay.
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