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SERVICE TIMES SUNDAY SERVICES: Morning 11am Evening 5:30pm SUNDAY SCHOOL & ADULT BIBLE CLASS: 9:45am – 10:30am (SCHOOL TERMS ONLY) BIBLE STUDY / PRAYER MEETING: Wednesdays 7:00pm 1|Page Welcome to our Worship Service 2 2 d N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 4 Every Christians’ prayer: May others see less of me and more of Jesus. ♪ ♫ Gavin leads this morning’s worship Musical Prelude by Pastor ♪ ♫ Call to worship Worship Hymn: 377 He Lives Opening Prayer Announcements Worship Hymn: 412 Moment by Moment Tithes & Free will Offerings Worship Hymn: 763 Trust Him Bible Reading from Romans 3: 23-28 Worship Hymn: 297 Open My Eyes that I may See Pastoral Prayer Bible Message Closing Hymn: 164 Nothing but the Blood Closing Prayer BENEDICTION If you have been a visitor today, we hope that you will worship with us again 2|Page From the Pastor’s Desk Today our Pastor will continue through his series of messages in “The Letter to the Romans” and this evening “From now to Eternity”. Members Lord’s Supper this afternoon at 4:45pm. No Choir practice this afternoon due to the Lord’s Supper Service. Ladies Evening @ the church tomorrow evening 3rd November. Jan will bring the devotional. Prayer meeting as usual at 7pm Wednesday 5th November. Men’s Fellowship 14th November. Activity TBA. Working Bee at the church this coming Saturday 8th November. Clean up the garden, spray weeds etc. Men’s Prayer Breakfast (and boys of course) Saturday 29th November 6:30am. Eric will bring the devotional. Village Baptist Church, Havelock North, Hawke’s Bay Pastor Kerry and his wife Anne and two children Reuben 2 years and Grace 4 years are looking for accommodation in Christchurch from Saturday 3rd Jan to Saturday 17th January 2015. We are quite happy to feed animals, mow lawns, collect mail and a cooked meal and dessert put in the freezer for you when you return. If you can help and are going away and would like someone to house sit while you are away you can contact Anne on (06) 877 3949 or 021 298 3957 November Jason - 6th Noah – 12th Sophie - 21st Happy Anniversay to: Pastor Ron & Jan on the 22nd This month’s memory verse John 12:37 But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: 3|Page Song Leading Door Morning Tea Dishes Duty Crèche Cleaning Today: Next week: Gavin AM/ Eric PM Rick Jessie Jessie & Fely Eva & Kim Williamsons’s - Nov Eric AM / Johann PM Chris Krystal Krystal & Jamie Jan & Krystal Boersma’s - Dec Tithes and Offerings Tithes & Offerings Missions: Pledged to the Mortgage Re build: Other: $880.00 - News Articles "In the beginning was only Being, ONE without a second. Out of Himself He brought forth the cosmos and entered into everything in it" ("Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva," BlissofHinduism.wordpress.com). The Hindu TrinityDavid Cloud 2. In Hinduism, it is not necessary to worship God as any one thing or person. In Hinduism God can be and Shiva -- is nothing like the lovely Trinitarian God worshiped however the worshiper sees fit, whereas the God of the Bible reveals Himself precisely and revealed in Scripture. must be worshiped according to His own revelation. Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva are not three different persons but are the three different aspects of 3. The Hindu Brahma is not the Creator, because the one all-ensouling Life of the Universe. They nothing new is ever created. Hinduism does not are supposed to be the creator, preserver, and teach creation but rather emanation and evolution. Hinduism says that there is no such thing as destroyer of the universe. "creation" since nothing new can ever be made. 1. The Hindu Trimurti is not three eternal Persons in one Godhead. Instead the Hindu gods are mere "Brahman, 'Infinite Godhead,' is not a Creator, has manifestations of one impersonal, unknowable god never created anything, and can never create anything. It simply emanates Itself through Itself, who is called Brahma and other names. within Itself, and as Itself. Emanation and evolution "Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva is not three but is ONE, are realities but creation is not. And it is manifesting in three different ways at three different Brahma which is the great Evolver" ("Brahma, times. It is entirely a matter of personal choice and Vishnu, Shiva," BlissofHinduism.wordpress.com). preference as to whether an individual refers to the all-ensouling Life of the Universe as Vishnu or as "Brahma is evolutionary energy." Shiva or as Brahma. The Trimurti – the Hindu Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, 4|Page 4. The Hindu Brahma is not a knowable person who Hindus believe. Hinduism is a bewildering variety of has revealed himself as such to man. contradictory beliefs. There are no real absolutes. "Brahman is the Absolute, the Infinite, the Ultimate, the Unconditioned and Unmanifested, It is above and beyond all name, all form, all matter, all manifestation, and everything finite, conditioned, and differentiated, although at the same time everything matching this description is of course permeated with Brahman since Brahman is all there is." Historian A. L. Basham explains the background of the Trimurti as follows, noting Western interest in the idea of trinity: "Early western students of Hinduism were impressed by the parallel between the Hindu trinity and that of Christianity. In fact the parallel is not very close, and the Hindu trinity, unlike the Holy Trinity of Christianity, never really 'caught on.' All Hindu trinitarianism tended to favor one god of the three; thus, from the context it is clear that 5. The Hindu Brahma is not separate from the Kālidāsa's hymn to the Trimūrti is really addressed universe or distinct from creation. The Hindu god is to Brahmā, here looked on as the high god. The Trimūrti was in fact an artificial growth, and had little pantheistic. Brahma means the Universe itself. real influence" (Basham, The Wonder That Was India, 1954, pp. 310, 311). 6. The Hindu Brahma is not distinct from man. "Brahman is Who and What we really are, in our own Real Self and essential nature as pure eternal Spirit. The Hindu scriptures tell us, 'You are Brahman; in the highermost part of your being you are literally one and the same as this Absolute Infinite Divine Consciousness; Brahman is all and inall!'" There is no Trimurti in the Vedas composed of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. The Vedic Trimurti was composed of Surya, Agni, and Vayu. Sauram sect Hindus worship Surya (the sun) as the highest god and the Trimurti as manifestations of Surya. "Surya is Brahma in the morning, Vishnu in the afternoon and Shiva in the evening." 7. The Hindu Trimurti is not one in mind and purpose. The Hindus gods war against each other. Vaishnavism Hindus (sects of Dvaita Ramanuja, They are jealous of one another. They do not work Madhva and Chaitanya, Swaminarayan) generally together in harmony and unity of mind and purpose. do not accept the Trimurti concept. 8. The Hindu Trimurti is not one in attributes. In practice, Hindus worship god in a multitude of Braham, Vishnu, and Shiva are not omniscient, forms and any one of these is considered his or her god. How this god is associated with other gods omnipotent, immutable. differs greatly from sect to sect. The gods are worshipped for selfish purposes, chiefly for good 9. The Hindu Trimurti is not one in holy character. fortune. Laxmi is the goddess of good luck; Ganesh Braham, Vishnu, and Shiva are not all holy, morally supposedly overcomes obstacles and brings pure, and sinless. Each god has a consort: Brahma success. has Saraswati; Vishnu has Lakshmi; Shiva has Kali or Parvati, but they are not faithful. Shiva was said to have cut off the head of his own son in a jealous The Preacher rage. Shiva worship is morally filthy. The gods and goddesses commit fornication and adultery. Krishna who is also supposed to be Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, NCE UPON A TIME there was a church. It was have hundreds of "girlfriends." only a little church but they loved the Lord. The pastor preached on subjects such as repentance, 10. The Hindu Trimurti is not the compassionate commitment and holiness. It didn't bother him that Redeemer. The Hindu gods provide no redemption. the offerings were small and the seats not filled, There is no literal fall and no compassionate God because the Bible says: who works out the plan of redemption. In Hinduism, redemption is the work of each individual, who must " STRAIT IS THE GATE AND NARROW IS THE work out his own karma along the path of WAY WHICH LEADETH UNTO LIFE, AND FEW reincarnation. THERE BE THAT FIND IT" Matthew 7: 14 O The Trimurti doctrine is not an absolute doctrine of One day there were some visitors at the church. Hinduism. It has never been a teaching that all After the service, one of them went to the pastor. 5|Page "listen pastor, the sermon was great, but.. well.. those hymns are so old fashioned. If you want to attract more people to your church you have to make the music more appealing, more modern and up-to-date." He continued - "No-one wants to hear 'Blessed Assurance' anymore, and as for 'I Surrender All', you don't want to frighten people off, do you?" The pastor thought about it, and even though he wasn't entirely sure, he changed the music and die congregation enjoyed some more upbeat music the following Sunday. A few weeks later there were other visitors to the church. They enjoyed the service, but were a little uncomfortable with the message. They spoke to the pastor afterward and suggested nicely that the topics he preached on could be a little negative, a bit depressing (especially that one on persecuted for Jesus' sake), and that one on dying to self. Well. it really was a bit morbid, wasn't it? Maybe he could preach something a bit more.. uplifting.. they said and lent him some tapes by a wellknown televangelist. "I'm sure this is the right thing to preach" they said. "They have SO MANY people come to their meetings (and you have so few), and God just pours finances into their ministries, so they must be right, and one has a church of ten thousand people" The preacher thought about it. There was something in the back of his mind about the uncertainty of riches, but he preached the following Sunday about the blessings of God (especially in your finances – what could be better than to give to God? And if God gives you back a hundred fold, then you have more to give Him) The Sunday offering was twice as much as usual. Some of the congregation was unhappy. They had stayed despite feeling that the new music was trite, light and worldly; but they disliked the message strongly enough to leave. The pastor told himself that there were far more coming than going, so it must be the right decision. started to do his study from the modern version so as not to confuse himself when he preached. The congregation responded favourably, especially when he preached on Romans 8:1 - "There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" and Matthew 9: 13 "for I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners"' They started being much friendlier with the newer Christians who were starting to come in. They didn't want to judge poor John Smith who was still living with his girlfriend (for whom he had left his wife), or Jane Brown who still smoked, or even Billy who hadn't left his homosexual lifestyle - because they had 'made a commitment'. They had said a 'Sinner's Prayer' at one of the meetings, and besides which Romans 8: 1 says 'there is no condemnation'. The preacher was perplexed. Something was bothering him. He took out his King James Bible and looked up Romans 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH BUT AFTER THE SPIRIT" and... MATTHEW 8:13 "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners unto REPENTANCE" He was concerned and discussed this with his elders, but they assured him that his preaching was just right and surely he didn't want to be considered legalistic or a fanatic? They also suggested that what the church needed was a committee to help him with such difficult decisions. They had several men and some women in mind. Oh, and it was also high time that they appointed some female elders because 'there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free.. neither male nor female' so we must accept women in love .. and allow them to be in leadership. And we really should give Billy a position - maybe with the youth. You don't want to be thought of as narrow-minded, do you? We have to move with the times. The visitors were still there and more people came each week. Some of the newer members of the congregation enjoyed the new preaching. The new music was much more to their liking, but they still had something to say – "Listen pastor, the sermon was good, and we loved the music, but can you please try a newer version of the Bible. All the 'Thees’ and 'thous' are hard to follow, and who knows what 'propitiation' Soon the church was full to overflowing. The means anyway?" The pastor thought about it, and messages were positive and the music was decided it couldn't hurt to try it out. After all, a modern. The extensions that were soon needed Bible, is a Bible, is a Bible, isn't it? He even 6|Page were becoming expensive so the women's group decided that some fundraising needed to be done. They sold jam and cakes and pies and held a fete. The prayer meetings were cancelled because everyone was too busy with preparations and the hall was needed for the fete. The Superintendent came to the opening. He smiled and nodded and said that since they had spent $50,000 on the new extensions that maybe they could balance the budget by holding back a bit on missions giving. "The old clothes and second hand teabags we've sent should suffice for a while", he said, "anyway the prophet for our denomination has told us that God has lifted the spirit of evangelism from the church, so this missions stuff is unnecessary". He looked around a little more. The preacher was a bit concerned about what he had said, but the Superintendent patted him on the back and said, "You have so many people here now that God is obviously blessing you." were Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and New-Agers - no one was uncomfortable here anymore. After a rousing Christian song, put to the tune of a currently popular rock song, the preacher took the pulpit. With tears in his eyes he opened the meeting in prayer. He prayed and asked God to forgive him for pleasing others and not his Heavenly Father, and then preached on holiness, repentance, commitment, and finished - "take up your cross and follow me." The congregation sat silent, dumbfounded. They quietly filed out after the service (those that had not walked out already). The following days, the Superintendent received many calls about the preacher. They said he was judgmental, fanatical, legalistic, unteachable, narrow-minded, behindthe-times and culturally irrelevant. The Superintendent agreed that something must be done. The preacher was sent to the mission field The committee decided that a bigger car park was - to Bolivia. now needed for all the members, so a decision was made to cut back on mission giving again, Several months later a revival broke out there, but and the last two missionaries were no longer the church was unaware of it as they no longer funded. Who has ever heard of Bolivia, and since had a Missions Board, and the Notice Board was there is only one Christian per three million too full of 'relevant information' to squeeze people, they are OBVIOUSLY all heathens and anything else onto it. would have no need of one anyway. The Superintendent appointed a new pastor. The new Youth Group leaders appointed by the Everybody was thrilled with her. The first thing committee were wonderfully accepted. Their body she did was to change the name of the church, as piercings and coloured hair made them very too many religious connotations attached to words culturally relevant among the teenagers. The male like 'church'; and then she removed the name of leader had an earring and long hair, and the Jesus so as not to offend Buddhists or Muslims female had a purple crew-cut and wore miniskirts. who are just trying to get to God their own way. When the pastor questioned this with the We don't want them to think that we are the only committee, he was told : ones with the truth.... do we? "That was Old Testament. God has moved on". "This is the nineties". It must have been the right decision, as it is now "God isn't worried about the outside, He sees the the most popular church ... er, Community Faith heart". Centre ... in the town. And numbers are "You don't want to be considered narrow-minded, everything .... right? do you?" The new Youth Leaders installed drums and a It could be a fairy tale .....except that all of these sound system, disco lighting and a smoke events have happened in various places... or are machine (that's what youth want.... isn't it?) happening NOW. Maybe it isn't a fairy tale ... it's a cautionary tale. Teenagers were soon pouring in. The preacher looked around at his congregation. There were women who looked like men, men who looked like women, and a few who could definitely be either. There was hair of many shades and colour including blue and green. Several were talking on mobile phones an one was sound asleep. There 7|Page Contact Details Pastor: 027 237 5566 Church address 9 Burwood Rd Christchurch Postal Address: , Basics for a VICTORIOUS CHRISTIAN PO Box 19971 Christchurch New Zealand Pray to God daily (Matt 6:5-6) Email: [email protected] Obey Christ in baptism (Acts 2:41) Web Address: www.chchindbaptist.co.nz Witness your faith (Acts 1:8) Service Times Enjoy and join a Bible believing church (Heb 10:25) SUNDAY SERVICES: Morning 11am Evening 5:30pm Read God’s word daily SUNDAY SCHOOL & ADULT BIBLE CLASS: 9:45am – 10:30am (SCHOOL TERMS ONLY) BIBLE STUDY / PRAYER MEETING: Wednesdays 7:00pm CHURCH-WIDE FELLOWSHIP LUCHEON & OUTREACH last Sunday of every month. · LADIES EVENING Monday evenings 7pm last Monday of every second month. · YOUNG MOTHERS MORNING Monday mornings 10am first Monday of every second month. (Psalm 119:11) , 1. RECOGNISE YOUR CONDITION “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) God’s Word says that we are ALL sinners. No one is good enough to get into Heaven. 2. REALIZE THE PENALTY FOR SIN “For the wages of sin is death...” (Romans 6:23) Just as there are wages for good , there is punishment for wrong. The penalty for our sin is eternal death in a place called Hell. 3. BELIEVE CHRIST DIED FOR YOU “But God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) Christ showed his love when he died on the cross to pay our debt. 4. TRUST CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOUR “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:3) Everlasting life is a gift purchased by the blood of Jesus and offered freely to those who can call on him by faith. Dear Lord Jesus, I realise that you died on the cross to take my punishment I deserve, please forgive me of my sins. I believe that you rose from the dead. I ask you now, Lord Jesus 8 | PChrist, a g e to save me from my sins and to be in my life. Thank you for your gift of eternal life, in Jesus Name, Amen