faithbook

faithbook Luke 5: 1-7

It is the week of us moving in. When I look at the work done at the manse by carpet fitters, Dave Broughton, Ildephonse, Joyce in the garden and others I am reminded of my sad endeavours into DIY. For example, Plumbers called to fix the pipe, I had sawn through and sunk our kitchen. They fixed it with a sort of sleeve gadget which also had an integral on/off valve, a sort of back-up for when I saw through an upstairs pipe, it is good to plan ahead. My DIY triumphs are always darkened by catastrophes. Like the time I put up some really nice lights and misunderstood my father- in- laws instructions about a ring main and blacked out a whole block of houses at Three-thirty in the afternoon on cup final day. The men of that block were not happy, Police protection can be very intrusive in a semi-detached.

I should give in, but my wife has such confidence that one day, and it might only last a day, hopefully it is a winter’s day, which are nice and short. But one day I will get something right in the DIY world, and we will be able to step back to take a look, remembering to put floorboards back first, and as we step back to admire, we do not have to go through the ritual of flipping a coin to switch on a light or the water.

This is usually followed by cries of “I’m too young to fry”along with whimpering and sobbing, but my wife has seen it all before and ignores my appeals for best out of three.

So my wife persists, she makes lists, buys me idiot friendly tools, and has a hope and a faith that one day, and it is not for us to know when that day might be, but one day her man will come through. Isn’t faith a wonderful thing?

We heard from our young people on Sunday morning with their exhortations on Faith from Hebrews 11. Chris Rose made the statement that we may not need to move a mountain but we can certainly move this world, with just faith the size of a mustard seed. The previous night, Saturday the 19^th Jose and I watched a marvellous film called “The Freedom Writers” starring Hilary Swank, the point I took from this film that whilst many professional people gave up on the young students, the character portrayed by Ms Swank, taught the young people to have faith in themselves and gave them the reasons why they should and the conclusion was a lesson to the adults, never give up, always have faith even when everyone gives up on you. It was a true story and worth watching. Let us hear the message from our youth, and think about our faith and what we have faith to achieve.

We pray for our families and friends to turn to God through his son Jesus, to know the truth, to repent and make Jesus the Lord in their lives. We pray, we witness, we invite them along to events always hoping that one day they will be saved. It is understandable to give up, to abandon all hope, to just throw the towel in and move on to others who we think might listen and be saved. I remember when Jesus took the disciples out in their boat after they had been fishing all night and had caught nothing. Did he say let’s go to another lake, or a different river or did he take them straight back to where they had been fishing all night. Didn’t they protest and say forget it we have been dropping our bait all night with nothing and Jesus encouraged them, one more time, do it for me one more time, they were obedient and said OK, for you we will go one more time. Do you remember that through their obedience they found it hard to pull in their nets and the nets began to break, and the boats were so full of the catch that they began to sink?

We need to always be going to those who we care for, one more time, we are called to witness, and be obedient to that call. What a wonderful problem to have, to call on another church to help us with our catch because we are beginning to sink. That’s faith, that’s being obedient, that’s BCBC.

TO Re-read the RAC@BCBC please take a look at archived material over on the right of this page.

Once there were three, Then there were two
URGENT NEED FOR ONLY TWO MINISTRY TEAMS, now:

1. Buildings Ministry team

• Dave Broughton, Ildephonse Bakundukize, Eddie Nkuliza and Donald Chambers are the new BCBC Buildings Ministry team, they will advise me and the leadership how to go forward with the work needed at our Church

TWO TEAMS TO FIND

1. Fund Raising
2. Outreach/Mission

PLEASE THINK HOW YOU CAN BE INVOLVED.

BCBC PRAYER REQUESTS:
From Eunice Kasirye:
Please Pray for an Aunt of Eunice called Marjorie. Marjorie has sciatica and I has just been told this morning, the 22nd, that she has been admitted at Frimley Park Hospital, Surrey to undergo surgery on her back.

Eunice has also asked for prayer for her mother-in-law in Uganda. Her name is Robinah. She suffers from Osteoporosis and has severe back pain and is always in pain. Eunice spoke to Robinah on the 21st and Robinah is also to have surgery on her back. And would ask for our prayers. We all need to keep in mind in our prayers the news from Eunice that the medical facilities in Uganda are quite limited and the operation she is to undergo is a major procedure which will last for about 3 hours.

God of power and might, please be with Marjorie and Robinah during the surgery and the times before and after. Their bodies are Your creation, O Lord. Guide the surgeon’s hand that changes the work of Your hands, that they might be healed and function better, to Your great glory. Amen.”

 

TO PRAY FOR THIS WEEK:
Please Pray For our church building, and our Building Ministry Team, our dear old church is in need of attention, some TLC will need to be undertaken over our next year.

Pray for plans to be put in place.

Please Pray: For the £40,000 needed for immediate works on the building.

Please Pray for Belinda as she organises the team to put together " The Big Meet" our Olympic Project
Please Pray and give thanks for Chris Rose and the youth as they plan their next lead at church.

Please Pray for Jose as she drives home on Wednesday the 23rd from derby where she has attended the CLC conference. Pray for her energy levels, as we move the next day.

Please pray : For nominations and elections of deacons

Please continue to Pray: As Jose and I prepare to move from our home to the manse on the 24th May.

Please pray for Jose as she will be project manager for our move.

Please pray Please continue to Pray for us as prepare to move. We have lived in Bexley all of our married lives, so Our home now looks like a cardboard box warehouse, we are very excited about our move to the Manse.

TO CONTACT MARTIN:e mail: revmartinbcbc@gmail.com Tel: H:01322 430313 M:07941
092394