Hello church,
We’ve just finished a wonderful journey through the book of Ephesians and I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have. God has shown us his very big plans and the remarkable privilege it is for us to be included in those plans. I was struck again and again how many times we’re told that this is all in Christ. It’s all centred on Jesus and who he is. It’s all about what he has done, is doing and will do. Can I encourage you to take a few minutes one day to reflect on what God has been teaching you from Ephesians and ask God to do his work by his Spirit to keep growing you in light of what you’ve learned.
This Sunday is going to be great as God keeps broadening our horizons, helping us to see the place our local church has in his global mission. Mark Peterson from the Church Missionary Society will help us see where we sit in the storyline of the Bible, in the timeline of history and in the context of God’s global church. Mark and I had a chance to chat about it over on the phone and I’m really excited to have God help us to see the big picture and teach us of the place that our church has within it.
Next week Matt Winter kicks us off in Part Three of his extended series through Genesis as we pick up from chapter 25 and follow the story of Jacob and his sons through to the end of the book.
There are three things you can do to prepare well for our time in Genesis.
1 – Make the time to read through some big chunks of Genesis and get into the story. Ideally, start at chapter 1 and see how Jacob and Joseph fit into context. Or at least start from chapter 25 and read to the end to get an overview of what we’ll be reading together in church. It’s only practical for us to read excerpts of this in church, so it’s really helpful if you’ve read the whole section to put it in context. If you’re not much of a reader, grab an audiobook version and listen to it! https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/audio/?recording=nivuk-suchet
2 – Check out this great overview of the book from The Bible Project. https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/genesis-12-50/
3 – Podcast some of Matt’s earlier sermons from Genesis. https://www.trinitybay.church/sermon-series/life-from-chaos/
Finally, our Growth Groups will be provided with studies to dig deeper into Genesis and think through some of its application to our daily lives in more personal ways than we can do on Sunday. If you’re not yet in a Growth Group and would like to be, please get in touch and we’ll connect you with one.
Our time in Genesis will be yet another chance to marvel at God’s amazing plans in Christ. Please join me in asking God to keep aligning our plans and priorities with his and to grow us in our trust in his great faithfulness to action his plans and keep his promises.
See you on Sunday,
Simon Marshman
Senior Pastor
Trinity Church Brighton
0401 387 908
www.trinity.church/brighton