For the church bulletin on most weeks, either Pastor Steve or myself try to write up some reflections on Christian doctrine, life and ministry. We will also post some of them as blog posts on the church website for those who weren’t able to be at church or didn’t receive a bulletin for some reason.
Incidentally, the bulletins are uploaded here each week for you to download. You can read the pastor’s desk, keep up with community news and prayer points, and also have the sermon outline to follow along as you catch up on the sermon you missed.
Anyway, here’s the pastor’s desk from last Sunday, 6th May.
From pastor ben’s desk
It was a real blessing and encouragement to be able to attend a pastor’s conference last week in Sydney. Here are some of the lessons and encouragements I took away from it:
1) In 2 Cor 7:8-13, we see that Paul loves holiness so much that he is willing to cause sorrow so that they would be a holy people. He causes a stir among the Corinthians as he calls sin for what it is. It would have been easier for Paul to just say nothing, knowing that his relationship with them was already strained (chs1-6), but he writes the letter anyway. Paul would have loved to be on good terms with the church, but he risked all that to secure something even more important and valuable to him (and God): their holiness as the people of God.
Will I risk upsetting people for the sake of their holiness? Will you?
For certain, upsetting people isn’t our goal, holiness is. There is no joy in causing sadness, but there is great joy when that sorrow leads to repentance and holiness!
2) In 1 Sam 9-15 we see a very impressive King in Saul. The overarching picture isn’t one of failure (as most of us might think). For 42 years King Saul subdued the enemies of God. On the surface, he was an impressive man and a compelling leader. The problem with Saul was what was under the surface. He was more concerned with his security and glory. At heart, he was not willing to do what God said. And for this, Saul was never a ‘man after God’s own heart’. The lesson here is that externally, our ministry for God can look impressive and effective. But what is going on underneath? That’s a big challenge for me. It doesn’t matter how well the ministry at SLE is going if what is going on in my own private, personal and spiritual life with God.
Obedience is always much much more important than sacrifice (and service and singing and …)
How are things looking for you ‘under the surface’?
3) It was quite shocking to hear about the struggles that many of the other pastors are facing in their churches. They are in tough churches where there seems to be issues on all levels: theology and teaching, ways of doing ministry, and conflicting personalities. It caused me to be very thankful for CCCBSLE! I know we’re certainly not perfect, but in many ways, I believe that God has done really great things in and amongst us. It is my prayer that we will never go backwards, that we won’t just stay where we are, but that we will always make progress in faith and godliness!
Will you thank God with me? Will you pray with me that we will keep growing and making progress?