‘Live as children of  light … and find out what pleases the Lord’ – Part of Grant’s scripture he has chosen for this week’s service.  Grant will be looking at Unity and truth, and whether we should compromise one for the other.

Come to me all….

International day with Polish emphasis, to be held in the Crieff SDA church, Gwydyr Road, Crieff PH7 4BS.

• 10am Sabbath School (English and Polish Sabbath School classes);
• 11:15 Worship service – in Polish with English translation;
• Bring and share lunch;
• 3:00 Baptismal service.

Speaker Anna Radosh (Polish Ministries Coordinator, BUC)

Pastor Hodges the visiting speaker today, is part of the team at the British Union Conference Offices in Watford.  Alan heads up the Ministerial Association which supports the ministry with a ministerial counselling service, Internship evaluations and professional reviews of the Pastors.

Pastor Hodges will be taking Matt 14:22-33 as his text, the sermon title is ‘Walking on the water’ -  “Christ always inspires faith in the hearts of those who really know Him. He is never as happy as when men and women trust him completely”.

Patience ~ the hallmark of a Saint:

A hallmark is the  official mark that goldsmiths use to attest to the purity of their metal.  Patience is the official mark attesting to the purity of sainthood.

Four examples of impatience:

1.  King Saul chafing at the prophet Samuel’s delay performed the work of the prophet himself by offering the sacrifice for Israel’s success in battle

2.  Esau – because of his impatience surrendered his birthright for a bowl of stew

3.  The Lord had planned that Moses deliver Israel immediately from Egypt.  Moses felt that the Lord was moving too slowly so he took m aters into his own hands by killing the Egyptian.   The Lord sent him into the wilderness for forty years to learn the art of patience.

4.  When a village rejected Jesus, James and John were impatient for revenge and wanted Jesus to call fire down from heaven to destroy that village.

There are four significant ways by which we can develop patience: by learning how to wait (Psalms 37:7); Patience thrives best in the soil of affliction (Romans 5:3); 2Peter 1:5,6 – these verses are part of Peter’s ladder for the strong development of a strong spiritual life; the quality of life that will help a person to attain patience is the love of Christ in their heart (1 Cor 13:4) “Love suffereth long”.

Luke 21:19 “In your patience possess ye your souls”.

Pastor Riches’ sermon title is ‘Thick Heads!’ -  Looking at Mark 16:9-14, he explores the reaction of the disciples and other followers to the news of Jesus’ being alive – their complete disbelief and lack of faith.

The name ‘church’ holds so much meaning for many people. It is what we love and sometimes hate. It is what we want to preserve as well as change.

Our teaching about church is full of irony. The church is where the saints worship, but is full of sinners.

The service this week will explore some of the challenges that we have with ‘church’ but find how God still loves it, because he loves all those it holds within his all encompassing arms of grace.

The optician may tell you that you are a little short sighted and this could mean that you miss out on some
wonderful sights without the help of corrective glasses. However, the Apostle Peter reminds us that we can become
spiritually short sighted – which is a far more serious condition – and could mean that we miss out on a lot in our life time
and possibly even miss out on Eternal Life.

When we were created we were given the capacity to believe in God. As adults many choose to ignore their own brains and make every effort to reject God. Children are more able to accept the idea of God. Not just as a theoretical concept that wants them to behave in a moral way but as a spiritual being. Child-like faith is not naive it is pure. This Sabbath we will explore this pure child-like faith.

alex, our youth leader will be taking the service today.  His sermon title is ‘Gethsamane Garden Prayer’

A Day of Fellowship is planned in Aberdeen at Cults Academy, Quarry Road, Cults, Aberdeen AB15 9TP on Sabbath 5th June.  10:00 Sabbath School, 11:15 Divine Service with guest speaker Pr Gifford Rhamie from Newbold college.  The theme is ‘the Church Family and the Community’.  2:30 Afternoon programme.  Churches from around  Scotland will be taking part in the service.  Please bring your own packed lunch and drinks.  Large dining area available.

Salvation is a gift totally paid for by the death of Jesus on our behalf on the cross. So what are we expected to do in response to the gift? Do our good deeds count towards our salvation? This morning we will use the Bible, illustrations and a testimony to explain how Christ makes a practical difference in our lives.

The service today will be taken by Pastor Bernie Holford, and the title of his sermon is ‘What on Earth is going on!’

I believe we find our search for purpose  and meaning when we a have a common understanding of the purpose of life (the big picture or paradigm). In the service on Sabbath we will be discovering that the Great Conflict or Controversy theme runs throughout Scripture. It tells of a battle between good and evil, between Christ and the Devil. We will also discover the God’s grace is the answer to Devil’s accusations. The battle continues to be fought in our lives through faith in Jesus Christ.

The service today has changed from the planned schedule, due to Pastor Holford  being in Slovenia and unable to return in time for this morning’s service because of the cancellation of flights due to the volcanic eruptions in Iceland.

Carole Peacock, Women’s Ministries Leader, will take the service, with a Women’s Ministries sermon on prayer, with the title ‘Crumbs from the Master’s Table’.  The presentation ends with the conclusion  that ‘This is the confidence we have in approaching God; that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.’

1 John 5: 14-15

Our first CAP update of the year…

We’ll have

• updates from Albania,
• some accounting,
• more on money,
• a mystery voice from Egypt,
• some stories from Harry.

Today’s service will be led by our own church pastor, and continuing his series ‘Finding Christ in all the Great Teachings of the Bible’, today will be talking on the topic of ‘Holy Spirit Power’.