{"id":1781,"date":"2017-03-06T10:05:17","date_gmt":"2017-03-05T23:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/?p=1781"},"modified":"2018-04-11T22:48:08","modified_gmt":"2018-04-11T12:48:08","slug":"working-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/?p=1781","title":{"rendered":"Working together"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2763\" src=\"http:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/5029147286_dda298df27_z-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">Church bulletin:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">We had a blessed service last Sunday afternoon as Mwaniki, Tony, and Scott were formally set-apart to be church officers. It was great to see family and friends from other churches join us on this solemn yet joyful occasion. We now have three elders and three deacons. This has been an answer to prayer. We have long needed additions to both the eldership and diaconate. The Lord has provided men with the necessary character, gifting, and desire to undertake these responsibilities. In some ways there is a parallel with baptism. The church recognises the personal faith of an individual and so they are baptised and added to the church. Prayer has been answered and prayer must then earnestly continue. These believers have the rest of their lives walking with Christ in obedience, exercising their gifts, dying to self, resisting temptation, etc.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">In a similar way prayer has been answered in recognising and appointing these men and prayer must now earnestly continue. God willing the office bearers in our church will serve for many years to come. Prayer for them doesn\u2019t end once they take up office, it just changes focus. There will be challenges and opportunities; there will be demands of various kinds; there will be trials and temptations, and for all of these things they need your prayers and your support. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">1 Thess 5:12-13, <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">\u201cA<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">nd we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labour among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, <\/span><sup><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">13<\/span><\/sup><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">and to esteem them very highly in love for their work\u2019s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.\u201d<br \/>\n<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">Heb 13:7 &amp; 17-18, <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">\u201c<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">their<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\"> conduct\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. <\/span><sup><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">18<\/span><\/sup><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">Pray for us; for we are confident that we have a good conscience, in all things desiring to live honourably.\u201d<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">For your encouragement let me remind you\u2026\u2026\u2026..<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">* Elders and deacons are God\u2019s gifts to the church.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">* Elders and deacons undertake responsibilities that aren\u2019t always easy. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">* Elders and deacons are ordinary men with the same struggles as you. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">* Elders and deacons in particular face the schemes and temptations of the evil one.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">We, the officers of the church are appointed to serve you, the flock of Jesus Christ. And you the members are called upon to support us, encourage us, and pray for us in our responsibilities. In this way we work together for the glory of God.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">Andrew <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Church bulletin: We had a blessed service last Sunday afternoon as Mwaniki, Tony, and Scott were formally set-apart to be church officers. It was great to see family and friends &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1781"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2764,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781\/revisions\/2764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}