Church bulletin for July<\/p>\n
For the second time God willing, I will travel to the land of the long white cloud; the land of hobbits and lots of sheep \u2013 New Zealand for the uninitiated. I have been graciously invited to attend a Reformed Baptist pastors\u2019 conference and also to do some preaching. The plan is to leave July 10 and return July 20. I would value your prayers for a safe and spiritually rewarding time away. I appreciate opportunities to meet new people and visit other churches, but as my mum used to say, while it\u2019s nice to go away it\u2019s even better to return home.<\/p>\n
There is something satisfying about familiar surroundings and routines \u2013 sleeping in your own bed, using your own loo, access to your belongings, people you know and who know you, books at hand, special little treats in the cupboard, etc. I think there is a parallel with church. People often ask me if I prefer to preach at Southern Districts or churches where I am the visiting preacher. It seems to be assumed that pastors would sooner preach to other congregations. Without hesitation I would rather be with my own flock. A change of scenery is refreshing, yet home is where the heart is. While I am away in NZ my thoughts won\u2019t be far from Sydney \u2013 how is the family; was everyone at church; anyone sick; any visitors? It\u2019s not that I think everything will capitulate in my absence but my concern will always be for those whom God has called me to shepherd.<\/span><\/p>\n I would like to think that such feelings are also held within the congregation. While it is great to go on holiday and refreshing to visit other churches, I hope you find it a blessing to return to the home church which God has provided for you. We live in an age where Christians seem to be increasingly caught up with new and novel ideas, and the means of grace are neglected including the local church. The local church provides stability \u2013 Luther likened the church to a mother who nurtures and protects. The local church provides familiarity \u2013 you are known and know others; there is a sense of belonging. The local church provides accountability \u2013 brethren watch over you & you watch over them; there is the expectation of godliness, commitment and involvement.<\/span><\/p>\n Christ has placed us in this church. We should love our church <\/span>\u201cjust as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her\u201d<\/i> Eph 5:25\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Church bulletin for July For the second time God willing, I will travel to the land of the long white cloud; the land of hobbits and lots of sheep \u2013 …<\/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-709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709","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=709"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":711,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709\/revisions\/711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}