“God is building his Church” was the theme chosen by Mr. Paul Bishop our preacher last Sunday. Sue Fox welcomed Paul to lead our morning’s worship who began with a short opening prayer. Rod Smith played the organ, and we sang “Praise Him, Praise Him! Jesus, our Blessed Redeemer”.
We had two bible readings, the first from Romans, chapter eight, read by Margaret Maxwell, and the second from Matthew, chapter 16, read by Gerry Maxwell. The first reading told of St Paul’s letter to the early church in Rome where he writes about life in the spirit. The second told the story of Jesus asking the question of his followers “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” It was Simon Peter who replied, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God”. Paul led us in prayers for others around the world and nearer home.
First Paul spoke of the sustainability of the bible describing it as the best-selling book in the world, translated into multi-languages for everyone to read in their own language, and in reply to Peter said “On this rock I will build my church” and there are very many passages of scripture using building terms to describe the building of the church of God who sent Jesus as the cornerstone and he was load-bearing as he took our sin upon himself. “That foundation is the imperative of what this is about”, said Paul. The Israelites were looking forward to someone to liberate them from the Roman occupation, but Jesus came to liberate them and us from sin. “The church is not a building” said Paul, “the church is about people and Jesus continues to build his church in this day and age”.