Welcome back to C-Kers Online. It’s been a month since the last one, but we’re back with more vids, another story and more activities. Let’s start off with a video called Odd Jobs.

This is another parable Jesus told. Remember that a parable is a “heavenly story with an earthly meaning. Jedsus told these stories to explain important things about God. Here’s the story as Jesus told it in Matthew chapter 20 verses 1 to 16:

“The Kingdom of heaven is like this. Once there was a man who went out early in the morning to hire some men to work in his vineyard. ² He agreed to pay them the regular wage, a silver coin a day, and sent them to work in his vineyard. ³ He went out again to the marketplace at nine o’clock and saw some men standing there doing nothing, ⁴ so he told them, ‘You also go and work in the vineyard, and I will pay you a fair wage.’ ⁵ So they went. Then at twelve o’clock and again at three o’clock he did the same thing. ⁶ It was nearly five o’clock when he went to the marketplace and saw some other men still standing there. ‘Why are you wasting the whole day here doing nothing?’ he asked them. ⁷ ‘No one hired us,’ they answered. ‘Well, then, you go and work in the vineyard,’ he told them.

⁸ “When evening came, the owner told his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with those who were hired last and ending with those who were hired first.’ ⁹ The men who had begun to work at five o’clock were paid a silver coin each. ¹⁰ So when the men who were the first to be hired came to be paid, they thought they would get more; but they too were given a silver coin each. ¹¹ They took their money and started grumbling against the employer. ¹² ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘while we put up with a whole day’s work in the hot sun—yet you paid them the same as you paid us!’ ¹³ ‘Listen, friend,’ the owner answered one of them, ‘I have not cheated you. After all, you agreed to do a day’s work for one silver coin. ¹⁴ Now take your pay and go home. I want to give this man who was hired last as much as I gave you. ¹⁵ Don’t I have the right to do as I wish with my own money? Or are you jealous because I am generous?’” ¹⁶ And Jesus concluded, “So those who are last will be first, and those who are first will be last. (Good News Bible)

It didn’t seem fair. Those who were hired late in the day got the same as those who were hired earlier. Why was the owner being so generous to the people hired later in the day? Because he wanted to be! It gives us an important principle in the Bible – God wants to bless each person in the world and offer each of us to be part of His kingdom, irrespective of how good or bad we are or ever have been, and irrespective of age or anything else about us. He does this because he loves us and wants to bless each of us, whoever we are. IN the Bible this is known as grace. Here’s a little video about grace.

God offers us the opportunity to know Him, forgiveness for our sin (the things we do wrong), and to spend eternity with Him in Heaven. He doens’t offer it because we are good or bad, but He does it because He’s generous and He loves us. No-one is ever too bad to follow Jesus and become a Christian.

All this is because Jesus died on the cross for us and when we trust and follow Him, we get all the blessings God offers, because however good we are, we can never earn or deserve going to heaven or receiving God’s forgiveness. So in Jesus, God sorted it all for us so He gives it all for free! All we have to do is trust and follow Jesus! Have you done it yet? God wants to bless you today so take the opportunity to pray and follow Jesus.

Father, thank You that Jesus has died for me because You want to show me grace by offering me all Your blessings even though I don’t deserve them. Thank you that Jesus died for my sins so that I may know You now and forever. Lord Jesus, I want to follow You. I accept You into my life. Holy Spirit, give me the power to become the person You want me to be. Thank you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

THINGS TO MAKE AND DO

For our craft today, we want you to try to see if you can make a 3D bunch of grapes. You’ll need the following:

 Grape Template ( printable template
 Thin Card or cereal box
 Cotton wool balls
 Coloured tissue paper or bin liner s
 Coloured pen s / pencil s or crayon s
 Scissors
 Glue

You’ll also beed access to a printer for the instructions and the template below.

Wea lso have some colouring for you as well.

Let’s finish off today with a fun song that reminds us that to get to heaven there’s only one way, and that’s through trusting and following Jesus.

If you are interested in learning more about the work of CMJ then do visit their website at https://www.cmj.org.uk/ . The Days of Awe Prayer Guide can be both used at the present time and also throughout the years to pray for the CMJ’s ministry https://www.cmj.org.uk/days-awe-2020 . If you would like to support the work of CMJ UK financially, then do take a look here for details on how you can do that. I’m sure that they will appreciate hearing from you.

Details of the Eastern Baptist Association Week of Prayer is on the page directly below this one in the blog. The insert from the weekly sheet is here

This week would have seen the EBA Annual Gathering happening on Saturday. Like so many events this year this has had to adapt and change.

Back in May the EBA team facilitated some Zoom discussions with about 50 of our ministers entitled “What do we think God is saying” and out of those discussions have come five themes, one for each day this week. On our website you will find resources for each day which will include a Biblical reflection, prayer points and an interview to promote further thought and discussion around each of the topics.  We invite you to join us each day as together we pray into each theme.

A pdf version of the programme is here: https://www.easternbaptist.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/20-09-20-EBA-Week-of-Prayer-.pdf

EBA Prayer Zoom Meeting  Time: 9.30am

To join these Zoom Meetings use the link that was emailed with the Friday Fellowship Prayers. If you don’t receive that, then contact Mark at pastor@mrbcfelixstowe.org.uk and he will send it on to you.

We have also added an evening gathering – Wednesday 8pm

Understandably this isn’t always possible so we would encourage you in your prayer times this week to reflect on these five themes.

• Monday – Discipleship is more than programmes

Who am I praying for to come to faith? How is someone I know going to come to faith?

• Tuesday – Discipleship is relational

How do I make the best of God given opportunities with my closest friends and neighbours?

What am I able to bring to   my small group?

• Wednesday– Discipleship happens where God places us

I am Jesus’s representation here and now therefore what am I doing and who do I meet Monday to Saturday?

How am I showing Jesus to these people who I spend time with?

• Thursday – Discipleship in Lockdown makes new connections

During this time who has my church made new connections with?

How can I help grow these connections and disciple these individuals?

• Friday – Discipleship means still listening to God and going deeper with God

How well am I rooted in God? What fruit for Jesus am I producing? Am I prepared to go where God is calling me?

We have also heard that the Ipswich CAP Debt Coach will soon be standing down and churches in Ipswich have been challenged as to who might pick up that role. If no-one comes forward, the centre will close. Please pray that the Lord will raise up the right person with the vision and skill to fill that role.

The video is ready to watch now. You don’t have to wait until 10-30am for it to come online.

Our special speaker this Sunday is Nick Mott who works for London City Mission in North London, being based at Silver Street Community Church in Edmonton. He brings the Good News to Turkish people and other Muslims living in this part of London. LCM were not able to send Nick as a live speaker at what is our first service back at Maidstone Road, but gave us two videos, one where Nick tells us somehting of his ministry, and the other, a sermon on the early chapters of Genesis.

If you want to know more of the work of London City Mission, they have loads of stuff on their website https://www.lcm.org.uk/. If you would like to give financially to the work of LCM, then click on the orange Donate button on the home page. Please indicate that you are from Maidstone Road Baptist Church. If you would prefer to donate over the phone LCM is contactable on 020 7407 7585 and will take card details over the phone. If you would prefer to give by cheque, their address is 175 Tower Bridge Road, London SE1 2AH.

For Reflection and Discussion

1.  Nick asked us what scriptures do we know that show Jesus is both Lord and Saviour?   Nick suggested a few references but there are many more.   Have an explore of your Bible and see what you can find.
2. Read Genesis 3.  Adam and Eve had the privilege of actually walking with God in the garden.  What do you think made them turn around and disobey Him?   Having sinned, what was their excuse?  When we don’t walk close to Jesus, what’s ours?
3. Why is it important to have a clear idea of Jesus being Creator, Judge and Saviour?  How may it affect the urgency of how we speak of Jesus to others?

Take time to pray for one another and also for Nick and the work of London City Mission.

For Reflection & Discussion

Read Genesis 14:17-22

1. In this passage, in what ways did Abram honour God after his victory over the kings?    What can we learn from it in terms of our relationship to God and others?

Read Hebrews 7

•  In what ways was, and is Jesus a priest to us?   From where does He get His authority?  (You may want to look back through the sermon).  
• As priests, how are we like Jesus, and how do we differ?

Look at Hebrews 10:19

• Take time to reflect on what we should be like as priests who “have confidence to enter into the most holy place by the blood of Jesus.”

Click on the picture below to book and receive the Zoom logon details.

Further details and sponsor forms can be obtained from Andrew Marfleet if you are from MRBC, from your local church Ride and Stride contact person if you worship elsewhere, or from the SHCT website.

This week we have a Bible Society Special with Dr Andrew Ollerton from Bible Society as our speaker. The Weekly Sheet will appear here before the service starts at 10-30am on Sunday morning. As usual the service will be available on demand afterwards.

Dr Andrew Ollerton is a theologian, pastor and writer of the well-know Bible Course which Bible Society produce. He’s got a reputation of being able to communicate complex things from God’s word in a clear and engaging way. If you want to know more about Andy or the Bible Course, then the link for it is here.

More information about Bible Society generelly can be found on their website at https://www.biblesociety.org.uk

If you would like to give to the work of Bible Society, you can do that online by logging on to their donation page where you can give as a one-off or a regular amount and specify a particular BS work you would like to give to, as well as use Gift Aid. If you want to send them a gift by post then their address is Bible Society, Stonehill Green, Westlea, Swindon, SN5 7DG

For Reflection & Discussion

Read I Peter 1:3-9 and Hebrews 6: 19-20

1.  Why is it so important to have hope in life?   Try to think of times in your life for whatever reason you felt hopeless and fearful?  What caused it and what happened that made you recover from it?
2. Look at the two passages above.   What is the nature of the hope in heaven that we have – what Andrew called “the far horizon”?   What role did Jesus play in giving us that hope?
3. Thinking of hope now – “the near horizon”- what sorts of things stop us from having the hope that fills our lives with confidence and courage?
4. Spend some time in prayer asking the Spirit to save us from focussing as the world does on a hopeless end and fill us with that endless hope that we have in Christ.

We know that many of you are looking forward to live worship again at the church. To keep everyone safe, the Government have introduced guidelines and regulations to protect us. This will mean that our experience of worship on a Sunday is going to be very different on a Sunday morning from what we left in March. The following communication will be sent out either by email or letter in the next couple of weeks, prior to the restart of Sunday morning serives. If you don’t receive it, then here it is in its entirety.