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
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