St George’s St Stephen’s St Stephen’s Holy Trinity Sunday, 12 July 2020 PARKES PEAK HILL BINDOGUNDRA REEDY CREEK 6th Sunday aſter Pentecost Anglican Parish of Parkes – parkesanglican.org Connect - Grow - Serve and Go! Our Vision is to be a growing faith community of lives transformed by Christ. Our Mission is to be followers of Christ, who, with God’s help, encourage Spirit-filled people to share and teach God’s word. How can we live a confident life? (Romans 8.1-11) This week in our Roman’s passage we have a message of assur- ance to give us confidence. Verse 1 declares ‘there is therefore now no condemnaon for those who are in Christ Jesus’. Paul is giving us a declaraon of all God has done for us. He is assuring us that, if we are in Christ, we will not be declared guilty when we stand before God in judgement. You will noce that Paul doesn’t menon anything about us being good enough to earn our salvaon. He doesn’t encourage us to do anything to work out our salvaon. He tells us that we are assured of it because we are in Christ. In declaring this so emphacally Paul is encour- aging us to live with this confidence. He wants us to put aside a life that is filled with doubt and to know ourselves as people who will not face condemnaon. One way you can think of this assurance is to imagine the differ- ence between someone at an airport with a cket which has a confirmed seat on the flight and someone who only has a standby cket. The person with a confirmed seat can relax and wait for the plane - maybe read a paper, have a coffee – know- ing that their seat is guaranteed. The person with the standby cket has to wait anxiously unl the last minute – hang around the counter, keep checking, hoping someone doesn’t show up - to see if they make it onto the plane. If you are in Christ, you have a confirmed cket. You are not on standby waing to see if get in. Paul also assures us that Chrisans are people who live by the power of the Spirit not the flesh. Again, this is an assurance. Paul July Birthdays Elizabeth Wythes (2nd) Maddison Day (3rd) Lynne Cabban (8th) Allan Osborne (11th) Cameron Pfaff (13th) Joseph Tanswell (15th) Peter Woodlands (19th) Cliff Cowell, Alexander Pfaff, Paige Duncan (23rd) Rob Irving, Carole Corbe, Roger Gregson (30th What’s On This Week At St Georges Sunday 12 July 9:00am Communion Service On-line Services Anytime Weekly Online Service You can watch this service anytime by following the link on our Website @ parkesanglican.org or from our Facebook page. Sunday 12 July 7.30am Weekly Online Service For those who want to join with others online we will broadcast the Weekly Online Service through our online church platform at parkesanglican.online.church. Zoom Meetings Saturday 11 July 4.00pm Prayer Meeting is describing our actual state, not something we have to aim for or work towards. When we give ourselves to Je- sus, Jesus’ Spirit lives in us and we no longer have to be controlled by the flesh. We shouldn’t see ourselves as trying to win a war between two opposing parts of our own nature – our flesh and our spirit. Paul is talking here about two opposing external powers which try to control us. As Chrisans, Paul encourages us to know ourselves as people who are ruled by the Spirit of Christ. Sin will aack us, we will face temptaon. Somemes sin might even take a foothold. However, Paul assures us that when we are in Jesus, we can let the Spirit have control of our hearts and we can rely upon Him to resist these aacks and bale sin. Our part is to know this and live with this confidence. The Theologian Michael Bird tells us that ‘to resist the flesh requires discipline on what we think, do, say, run from, and run to ... In the same way that you don’t allow a doctor to operate on you if he has a degree from the “University of Kelloggs” hanging on his wall . . . don’t give into the flesh.’ This passage in Romans encourages us to live confidently with the assurance that Christ has won the victory and overcome condemnaon. And to live confidently with the knowledge that the Spirit of Christ who won this vic- tory lives in us now, guiding and protecng us. Natalie