B B Q
2.00pm, Saturday 5th September
Waunfawr Park, Cross Keys
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Community Luncheon club will be held on
Thursdays 3rd and 17th September
CELEBRATION
A special service of celebration and thanksgiving will be held at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, Blackwood on Saturday, 12 September (3pm) to mark Ron Spillards’ 50 years of service as an evangelist.
MENS’ FELLOWSHIP
7.00 p.m.
Monday, 14th September
Speaker: Jacqui Maguire
PROJECT REACHES IMPORTANT FIRST MILESTONE
Tabernacle hit the local headlines last month when the Welsh Government’s Communities and Tackling Poverty Minister Lesley Griffiths announced that she had approved in principle a Community Facilities Programme grant of £498,460 towards the costs of renovating and redeveloping our large Rear Upper Schoolroom for church and wider community use.
The project, which will cost a total of £811,000, is to create a new multi-purpose hall, meeting rooms and offices along with a kitchen, showers and toilets. This will enable the church to further extend its services to the community by joining a winter “Night Shelter” scheme for the homeless, establishing a foodbank and by opening up the centre to support more training and other local initiatives to help tackle poverty and disadvantage. It will also give a major boost to our current busy programme of children and youth work.
While we thank God for enabling us to reach this important milestone in helping to finance the project, it is still only a first step because we must secure more match-funding before the work can begin. Please pray that God will open more doors for us to access this additional funding so that the work can get underway as soon as possible. In addition, please pray that God will give the officers wisdom as they deal with the complexities of this work and the challenges that lie ahead.
Speakers for Sunday Services in September
6th: a.m. Rev. Peter Cho
p.m. Rev. Priscilla Pearson
13th: a.m. Rev. Peter Cho
p.m. Mr Clive Sheridan
20th: a.m. Rev. Peter Cho
p.m. Mr John Gibby
27th: a.m. Rev. Peter Cho
p.m. Pastor David Cook
Special Events in September
Friday 4th: 4.30 p.m. Staff Meeting for High Five Club
Saturday 5th 2 p.m. BBQ at Waunfawr Park, Crosskeys
Wednesday 9th: 7 p.m. Deacons’ meeting
Thursday 10th: 7.p.m.Bible Study resumes
Friday 11th: 6 p.m. High Five Club resumes
Saturday 12th: 3 p.m. Ron Spillards’ celebration
Monday 14th: 7 p.m. Men’s Fellowship – open meeting
Tuesday 15th: 7 p.m. Church Business Meeting
Wednesday 16th: 7 p.m. David Pawson DVD
Upper Trosnant, Pontypool
Other Organisations using Tabernacle
Tuesday 1st: 2.30 p.m. Gwent Baptist Assoc. Officers’ meeting
Tuesday 2nd: 5 p.m. Newbridge Partnership meeting
Monday 21st: 1-2:30 p.m. Caerphilly Borough Mind Group
(first of 8 weekly meetings)
Wednesday 23rd: 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. Caerphilly 3rd Sector (GAVO)
Monday 28th: 1-4 p.m. Caerphilly Borough Mind Group
“THE HAND OF THE LORD MY GOD WAS UPON ME”
Ezra 7:28
The Bible is filled with stories of people who lived their lives under the influence of God. They were steadfast in their faith and willing to serve, As a result, God used them to fulfil His purposes in a mighty way.
The life of Ezra is a good example of what can happen when a person decides to seek God and allows the Lord to use him. In 457 B.C., Ezra led a group of Jews from Babylonian captivity back to Jerusalem with a clear mission to restore the people to God. The final four chapters of the book of Ezra, in particular, relate to Ezra’s arrival and the great work of restoration he achieved.
How was the hand of the Lord upon Ezra? Well, first he was allowed by the king, Artaxerxes, to go to Jerusalem and was given royal authority and provisions to help him achieve his goal. Trustworthy men were found to serve in the Temple (chapter 8) and God paved the way for him to arrive safely in Jerusalem.
Why was the hand of the Lord upon Ezra? Quite simply, he had prepared his heart to learn what God wanted him to do; to apply it to himself first and then to teach others (chapter 7: 9-10). Ezra had sought the Lord believing that God would be with and reward those who seek Him (chapter 8:22) and he asked for God’s protection through fasting and prayer.
Here was a man who stepped out in faith although he knew he would face difficult situations and challenges ahead. We too must prepare ourselves to be useful to the Master. Seek the Lord with diligence and faith. Step out in faith against the odds and face difficult issues and situations head on.
Let the example of Ezra encourage us to so live in Christ, that one day we can look back at the events in our lives and say:
“The Hand Of The Lord My God Was Upon Me!”
SUMMER BIBLE CLUB
Once again, our annual Summer Bible Club proved to be a big success with the 21-24 July club for four to nine-year-olds attracting up to 80 children and more than 30 over 10’s participating in the second session from 7-10 August.
It was a great joy for all concerned that several youngsters made a commitment to the Lord so please pray for our youth worker Jeemin as she seeks to maintain contact with them and arrange follow-up activities.
Once again, we are indebted to our friends from the Antioch church, Philadelphia who sacrificed their holidays to come to Wales to help to run the sessions and to Pastor Peter, Hyeran and everyone else who helped in any way.
UPPER TROSNANT BAPTIST CHURCH, PONTYPOOL
SERIES OF DVD’S
The first of a series of six DVD’s on ‘The Challenge of Islam to Christians’, compiled by David Pawson over 10 years, will be shown at Upper Trosnant on Wednesday 16th September (7 p.m.) Other dates are 21 Oct., 18 Nov., 20 Jan., 17 Feb. and 16 March.