Good afternoon. I hope you’re making this a great week. Its hard to believe Canada Day is tomorrow. I would encourage you to pray for our nation during the holiday weekend and beyond. We face many challenges these days is so many different ways as a church, people and country. We need the Lord’s hand on us in the days ahead. Let’s pray for this.
Join us on Sunday in-person or on our livestream as we start our new summer series “Hear my prayer, Lord”: Great prayers of the Bible Sunday we start our new summer series “Hear my prayer, Lord”: Great prayers of the Bible. As I mentioned on Sunday, we are going to be looking at prayer this summer. What do we mean by great prayers and what do they look like? Find out this summer! Jacob will be kicking things off as he looks at the Lord’s Prayer. Join us Sunday as we look at what is more rightly called ‘the disciple’s prayer’. Remember, you can join us as we gather in-person or you can connect through our website www.guelphbiblechapel.ca our YouTube channel as well as Facebook LIVE Thought for the day: Steps Towards a Mature Prayer Life- Ask for Forgiveness Today’s thought is a bit shorter than the others but still very important. A key element when praying is to seek forgiveness for your sins. This is not a popular topic in society and even increasingly within the church. But here’s the reality- we have all fallen short of God’s glory and sinned. When we speak out our sins and ask Him to cleanse us, we are admitting what we did wrong and that we need His mercy. Another aspect of forgiveness talked about in the Bible is speaking your sin to a fellow brother or sister in Christ, James 5:16 says, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” Along with confessing your sin to God, speak your sins to a mentor, leader in the church, or a friend who is a strong believer. When we confess our sins to one another, we are weakening sins hold on that area of our life. Confess your sins to God and to a fellow believer so that you may be healed and your prayers can be powerful! I think of John’s words to the early church in times like this: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9). Confess and watch your prayers grow. Happy Canada Day! In His grip, Pastor Chris
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“We can do that!” I loved Kevin Coghill’s update from Royal City Mission on Sunday, didn’t you? What an amazing challenge here to all of us here at GBC. I hope you will bring this into your mindset as God opens doors for you. If you missed Sunday (or any Sunday for that matter) you can always watch our services on demand on YouTube.
Mission’s Team Potluck and Prayer Time for Ukraine As a reminder, the Mission’s Team is holding their potluck and prayer time for Ukraine, on Thursday at 6pm here at GBC in the Side Aud. If you are coming, if your name starts with A-M bring a first course, if N-Z, you’re dessert. The evening will feature the opportunity to visit with several Ukrainian families now in Guelph who recently fled the war to hear their stories and pray with them and for them. There will be no Wednesday prayer time due to this event. There’s still time to be part of “Young at Heart”. Guelph Bible Conference Center has invited our seniors and those retired to the return of their Young at Heart conference. In the past a group from GBC would come for an evening meal. If anyone was interested in organizing this I would be happy to help coordinate the details. In addition, they also wanted me to share that all the seniors are welcome to come anytime to hear the speakers. Sunday – Thursday 7:00 pm. Monday – Friday 9:30am. Friday is a concert at 7:00pm. All are welcome! Young At Heart Details June 26-July 2, 2022 Evening sessions – 7:00pm Morning sessions – 9:30am Special Concert Friday evening at 7:00 Dinner 5:30 - $18.00, (Tax included) Call for reservations 519 824-2571 Thought for the day: Steps Towards a Mature Prayer Life- Listen We live in a world filled with noise. Our lives are busy and we are always doing something. During your prayer time, stop the noise and listen to what God is speaking to you. Take control of your mind and don’t let it wander. Take this time to fully focus on God. Okay, I know, that’s easier said than done! With this in mind, here are some practical tips that can help in turning away distractions: Put your phone into airplane mode (no notifications will come through then) Set an alarm for however long you’ve set to listen Put your phone out of sight (less tempting to look at) Have a notepad and pen to write down your to-do list (and record what God may say!) The last tip may seem counterintuitive. The reason behind it is because so often when I sit down to pray and listen to God, I immediately remember all the things I haven’t completed. For you it may have to do with school, family or work. Regardless, its a distraction. When these things come to mind, write them down quickly and go right back to listening in prayer. Here's another thing to keep in mind. We can easily ramble on and on in our prayers, say “Amen” and move on. Prayer is a two-way conversation. It’s important that we learn how to hear God’s voice. If you aren’t sure how to hear what God is saying to you, pray and ask God to show you. That and perhaps do some reading on prayer. We have some great books in our library on this subject, perfect for summer reading! By being quiet, we are denying our flesh the desire to always be busy and have noise. We are not only being quiet externally (no music or talking) but we are also quieting our minds and hearts as well. We are letting resting in God’s presence and giving Him our full attention. Mother Teresa said this: “God speaks in the silence of the heart. Listening is the beginning of prayer.” I really like this and it’s a great reminder for me. Time to listen in prayer! In His grip, Pastor Chris Good morning. I hope you’re making this a great week! We’ll be staring a new teaching series on prayer so my ‘thought for the day’ over the next few weeks will focus on prayer as well. I hope it gives you Good morning. I hope you’re making this a great week! We’ll be staring a new teaching series on prayer so my ‘thought for the day’ over the next few weeks will focus on prayer as well. I hope it gives you something to consider as we enter into the heat of the summer!
Join us on Sunday in-person or on our livestream as we start our new spring series “In focus”-God’s call on this church Sunday we finish up our spring series “IN FOCUS”: God’s call for this church. We’ve been examining God’s calling for this church in 4 specific areas of ministry: outreach, small groups, prayer and our Sunday morning experience. This Sunday I will wrap up and finish the topic of prayer. What is the difference between the prayer of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Find out on Sunday morning! Remember, you can join us as we gather in-person or you can connect through our website www.guelphbiblechapel.ca our YouTube channel as well as Facebook LIVE Thought for the day: Steps Towards a Mature Prayer Life We’re going to be looking at prayer over the summer on Sundays since its been a while since we’ve spent any significant time on this crucial element of living as a triumphant disciple of Jesus. So, for the next couple of weeks I’ll be sharing some practical thoughts that I hope will help you in your personal prayer life. Even if you already have a strong prayer life, we can always go deeper in our prayer time with God which ultimately grows our relationship with Him. Here are the first thoughts: Pray Daily and give praise Praying daily will help you grow in your prayer life because you are prioritizing God each and every day. You are giving Him praise and seeking Him when you pray daily. You can set a reminder on your phone, a sticky note on your mirror, or an alarm to go off at a certain time to help you remember to pray. After a while, it will become a habit and apart of your day. Try not to think of praying daily as a chore or something to check off your to-do list. I find I pray first thing in the morning to start my day off. Regardless of when, pray because you are able and free to do so. Pray with thanksgiving in your heart. Pray because God loved you so much He sent His son to die on a cross for you. Pray out of an overflow of gratitude from your heart. When you don’t feel like praying, pray anyways. Pray and ask God to help your heart. You can make a verbal list (or better yet a written list) of all the blessings you have in your life to help you remind your heart that you are grateful. By praying daily, it helps you to remember that God is the most important part of your life. You are sitting Him on the throne in your heart. We read this in Psalm 116- “Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.” What a great reminder! So once you get in the habit of praying daily, what should you pray? How about starting with giving praise! During your prayer, take time to give praise to God. He has blessed us greatly and the least we can do is thank and praise Him for who He is. Don’t know where to start? Here are five ideas: Praise Him for Salvation (John 3:16) Praise Him for His Mercy (Psalm 86:5) Praise Him for His Love (2 Chronicles 6:14) Praise Him for Goodness (1 Timothy 4:4) Praise Him for His Kindness (Titus 3:4-6) Another idea would be to read a Scripture associated with a specific attribute of God. God is deserving of all our praise and we should be diligent about praising Him during our prayer time. Psalm 117 reminds us: Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord. Yes, let’s remember to praise the Lord as we pray to him daily, that will lead to a mature prayer life! In His grip, Pastor Chris Good morning! It was great to be part of celebrating Justin’s baptism on Sunday. Things like this show the health of our church. God is doing some great things here at GBC!
Wonderful Wednesdays in Prayer @ 7:30 PM Come join your fellow believers in praying biblical prayers for one another, for our neighbors, and for the City of Guelph. Patrick Thornton is hosting prayer at GBC every Wednesday at 7:30 PM and using Paul’s prayers as a guide for prayer. Don’t miss out on the privilege of calling upon our Heavenly Father together! Attention Seniors and those retired: Young at Heart is back! Guelph Bible Conference Center has invited our seniors and those retired to the return of their Young at Heart conference. In the past a group from GBC would come for an evening meal. If anyone was interested in organizing this I would be happy to help coordinate the details. In addition, they also wanted me to share that all the seniors are welcome to come anytime to hear the speakers. Sunday – Thursday 7:00 pm. Monday – Friday 9:30am. Friday is a concert at 7:00pm. All are welcome! Young At Heart Details June 26-July 2, 2022 Evening sessions – 7:00pm Morning sessions – 9:30am Special Concert Friday evening at 7:00 Dinner 5:30 - $18.00, (Tax included) Call for reservations 519 824-2571 Thought for the day: What is the fruitful Christian life: Pruning I’m finishing off today my thoughts on living a fruitful Christian life. We’ve looked at the fruit of our works and the fruit that comes with perseverance. I have one last thought to share: the Father prunes. I suspect this might be the least popular one! Pruning is never fun but it always has a purpose- to grow more fruit. Our heavenly Father is never nearer to us than when He is pruning us. Sometimes He cuts away the dead wood that might cause trouble, but often He cuts off the living tissue that is robbing us of spiritual vigor. Pruning does not simply mean spiritual surgery that removes what is bad. It can also mean cutting away the good and the better so that we might enjoy the best. Yes, pruning hurts, but it also helps. We may not enjoy it, but we certainly need it. At times the Father also prunes us (the branches) by allowing difficult circumstances and situations in our lives such as poor finances, poor health, misunderstanding and conflict with others, difficult relationships, etc. These trials are designed to bring us to the end of our own strength and will awaken in us a need for deeper surrender to the Lord. Remember, you’re never in better hands than when you are being pruned by the Master. Work with his pruning and watch your fruit grow. In His grip, Pastor Chris Good morning! I enjoyed our information meeting on Sunday. It was great to get together and share some thoughts and ideas of how we move forward in unity as a church family. This is one of the many things I love about GBC!
Oasis@Midweek finale tomorrow! It’s hard to believe but tomorrow will be out last Oasis@Midweek children’s gathering for the season. We will be wrapping up our look at the idea of “you are treasured” by God. We’ll experience the conclusion of our drama “Maze Games”, play some fun games and will enjoy some pizza to finish the night as we celebrate what God did this past year. Timings are still the same- we start at 6:30pm and are done at 8pm. Introducing GBC Summer CSJ employees As was mentioned on Sunday, we have had the opportunity to hire to summer staff through the Canada Summer Jobs grant program. I’m pleased to share that Caroline Lewis and Esther Timm have been selected for the positions and will be starting officially on June 27. Caroline has been involved with leading our youth ministry for the past year and is a leader in our music ministry as well. Esther is active in our youth ministry and serves in music, Oasis@Midweek and Oasis Camp also. Both will be sharing responsibilities this summer in Children’s Ministry, Oasis Camp, facility maintenance and in some other ministry projects. I would encourage you to pray for them this summer and also for our federal government who provides the funds for this. Thought for the Day: What is the fruitful Christian life? The fruit of Good Works We’ve been thinking about living a life that bears fruit lately. This really is the by-product though of discipleship and being engaged in your faith journey. Here’s another way to look at it. The good works that the believer does can also be counted as fruits. Remember our ‘faith that works’ series a while back? So, what might that look like? When you show even the simplest acts of kindness to Christians and non-Christian alike that you come in contact with, extend a helping hand to those in need or share your time and talent (or money) in support of our church ministry, you are bearing the fruit of good works. However, I want to emphasize a key biblical truth that good works do not have any bearing on our salvation. We have been saved by grace through faith alone in Jesus and this is not from ourselves. Salvation is the gift of God, not by our works so that none of us can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). Our works, therefore, flow out of God being in us through the act of salvation and through the Holy Spirit. The good works we do are fruits, then, of our salvation. In other words, they are evidence of our genuine faith, they show to us that we have received God’s gift of salvation. This is actually what James is pointing out when he said, “Faith without works is dead.” We don’t have to prove to God that our faith is genuine; He knows because He sees our hearts. But our good works will prove to others that we are truly saved and we belong to Jesus. I hope that distinction is clear and the call on our lives to do something with the gift of salvation is even clearer. Time to bear some fruit! In His grip, Pastor Chris Good morning! I hope you’re making this a great week. The family picnic last night was GREAT! Thanks to all of you who came out and made it a special evening and to Dan who did such an amazing job with the kid’s games. Praise God for opportunities like this to grow as a family.
GBC Spring Info Meeting Our next GBC family information meeting will be on Sunday June 12 after the service. We’ll be sharing an update on our pastoral search plus having a discussion we’re looking for your input on about our Sunday morning experience here at GBC. It’ll go less than an hour and is open to all who call GBC home. Hope you can make it out to hear what’s going on. For who are part of our virtual congregation, you can tune in to the meeting at the following link: Topic: GBC Information Meeting Time: Jun 12, 2022 12:15 PM America/Toronto Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85182939988?pwd=UWJwMFFsN0MzOENHMG1xVXQ1WnNHZz09 Meeting ID: 851 8293 9988 Passcode: 687555 Dial by your location Meeting ID: 851 8293 9988 Passcode: 687555 Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kwmIk9vP9 Join us on Sunday in-person or on our livestream as we start our new spring series “In focus”-God’s call on this church Sunday we return to our spring series “IN FOCUS”: God’s call for this church. We continue to examine God’s calling for this church in 4 specific areas of ministry: outreach, small groups, prayer and our Sunday morning experience. This Sunday Jacob will be continuing the topic of Sunday Morning…on Sunday morning! Remember, you can join us as we gather in-person or you can connect through our website www.guelphbiblechapel.ca our YouTube channel as well as Facebook LIVE Thought for the Day: What is the fruitful Christian life? The Fruit of His Labor Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He gave this command to His disciples: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” and He promised, “I am always with you to the end of the age.” We know this mandate was not only for the eleven disciples of Jesus but for every believer in Jesus. We are to GO. That means wherever God sends us and share our faith with others and the hope we have in God. If they respond by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior of their lives, they become our fruit but also in some ways our responsibility. For we are to MAKE DISCIPLES. That means we make sure they are connected to a good church (like GBC for instance!), they have and are reading the Bible, that they are praying and growing in God. No, it’s not our sole responsibility but we do have a part to play. When we do this we participate as part of the fruit of God’s labor. We also don’t do it alone since Jesus also promised he would be with us every step of the way. I hope that’s an encouragement to go out and bear fruit! In His grip, Pastor Chris |
Pastor Chris"At GBC we're serious about the Bible, serious about the truths that are found in it and living in Him but also like to laugh, cry and experience life together." Archives
January 2024
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