Teaching Children

Because Jesus blessed the little children, we must make them a high priority.

1. We must spend time with them (13-14a).
2. We must teach them to love God (16).
3. We must learn from them (14b, 15).

Scripture reading: Mark 10:13-16

13 And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” 16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

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Announcements for the Week of May 31

Men’s Bible Study (lunch edition) will be this Wednesday at 12 PM. We will meet at Outback Steakhouse in Ratu Plaza. Come for fellowship and Bible Study.

RBI Brochures are on the back table. May 31 is the deadline to apply for the Systematic Theology class that starts August 25. If you have any questions please see Deacon Uran or Pastor Stephen.

Members and Regular Attendants, please fill out the JIBC data form for the 2009 church directory found on the welcome table in the back. Everyone over sixteen needs to complete a form, even if your spouse or parent has already completed one. We need individual information from members, associate members, and regular attendants. Please give completed forms to Dina.

Please fill out the JIBC Elder/Deacon Nomination and put the completed form in the box on the back table.

Food Gathering Next week for Street Children’s Ministry and the Ministry of our sister Indonesian Language congregation. Please come with non-perishable food items or cash donations.

There will be a ministry council meeting next week on Monday June 8 at 7 PM in the church office.

At our Special Business Meeting last Sunday, the congregation voted by a large majority to continue holding our worship service here in the Occasion for at least the next 24 months. If you have questions about this, please speak with our communications director, Elder Lars Nielsen.

Youth Sunday, May 24

“To the Lord I cry aloud, and he answers me from his holy hill.” Pslam 3:4

Thanks to the JIBC Youth group for leading the congregation in worship on May 24! Your testimony of worship was encouraging and your talents glorifying to the Lord!

Special thanks also to Mr. and Mrs John and Apolyna Suwardi and Mrs. Shienny The for their help during practice.

Weathering the Storm

Dear friends,

Floods can be devastating. Many of us watched in horror as New Orleans filled with water a few years ago. Just last March, Fargo, North Dakota (where my brother Matthew lives) was threatened with the same fate. While the people in Fargo were piling up sandbags, there was a flash flood south of our home city that unexpectedly claimed over 100 lives. Of course nothing in my memory compares to the incredible devastation of the tsunami that hit Ache in 2004.

As Jesus finished his great “Sermon on the Mount,” he tells a story about a man whose house survived a flood. It is an interesting illustration. Sometimes floods are predictable, even expected. At other times they come without any warning at all. At all times they are disruptive. This makes flooding a good illustration for what happens when life throws its storms our way, metaphorically speaking.

All of us face hardships. We lose loved ones, we are tempted to sin, we get sick, we suffer in broken relationships, and we face an uncertain future. Often we can see trouble coming for a long time. Sometimes, however, it falls on us suddenly. The Lord Jesus wants us to know how to survive the problems of life. This is why he tells the story of the man who built his house on the rock. Jesus said, “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock” (Mt. 7:25).

What was that rock? The words of Jesus! “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Mt. 7:24). If you want to be ready to weather the storms and survive the flood of trouble that is sure to come upon every life sooner or later, then you must take heed of the message of Christ. He can cause you to stand firm!

Your servant,

Stephen

Rev. Stephen St. John
Pastor/Elder

God is Love

Because God is love, we must love Him and others.

1. We must love Him.
a. We love Him because of His perfect nature.
b. We love Him because of His inexpressible gift.
c. We love Him because He first loved us.

2. We must love others.
a. We love others because we are new creatures.
b. We love others because this is how we experience God.
c. We love others because this is how we know we are Christians.

Scripture reading: 1 John 4:-7-12

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

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Announcements for the Week of May 24

Men’s Bible Study (evening edition) will be this Wednesday at 7 PM in the JIBC Office. Come for some good food, fellowship, and Bible Study.

RBI Brochures are on the back table. May 31 is the deadline to apply for the Systematic Theology class that starts August 25. If you have any questions please see Deacon Uran or Pastor Stephen.

Members and Regular Attendants, please fill out the JIBC data form for the 2009 church directory found on the welcome table in the back. Everyone over sixteen needs to complete a form, even if your spouse or parent has already completed one. We need individual information from members, associate members, and regular attendants. Please give completed forms to Dina.

Friday Youth Fellowship will meet from 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm May 29 at the Baguley’s. All youth are invited to join us for food, fellowship and bible study.

There will be a special business meeting after today’s worship service. All JIBC members are encouraged to attend.

Please fill out the JIBC Elder/Deacon Nomination and put the completed form in the box on the back table.

Lord’s Supper Next week, May 31 we will have the Lord’s supper.

Spurgeon on Psalm 119:57

Because our Church Office is closed today for a special Ascension Day Service, I am sending out this “guest edition” of the Weekly Words. Enjoy this classic devotional from Charles H. Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening. Your servant, Pastor Stephen

“Thou art my portion, O Lord” (Psalm 119:57).

Look at thy possessions, O believer, and compare thy portion with the lot of thy fellow-men. Some of them have their portion in the field; they are rich, and their harvests yield them a golden increase; but what are harvests compared with thy God, who is the God of harvests? What are bursting granaries compared with Him, who is the Husbandman, and feeds thee with the bread of heaven? Some have their portion in the city; their wealth is abundant, and flows to them in constant streams, until they become a very reservoir of gold; but what is gold compared with thy God? Thou couldst not live on it; thy spiritual life could not be sustained by it. Put it on a troubled conscience, and could it allay its pangs? Apply it to a desponding heart, and see if it could stay a solitary groan, or give one grief the less? But thou hast God, and in Him thou hast more than gold or riches ever could buy. Some have their portion in that which most men love—applause and fame; but ask thyself, is not thy God more to thee than that? What if a myriad clarions should be loud in thine applause; would this prepare thee to pass the Jordan, or cheer thee in prospect of judgment? No, there are griefs in life which wealth cannot alleviate; and there is the deep need of a dying hour, for which no riches can provide. But when thou hast God for thy portion, thou hast more than all else put together.

In Him every want is met, whether in life or in death. With God for thy portion thou art rich indeed, for He will supply thy need, comfort thy heart, assuage thy grief, guide thy steps, be with thee in the dark valley, and then take thee home, to enjoy Him as thy portion forever. “I have enough,” said Esau; this is the best thing a worldly man can say; but Jacob replies, “I have all things,” which is a note too high for carnal minds.

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