Ladies' Dinner 2011

Monday 14th November 2011
7:15pm - Hayes Town Chapel

Announcing a dinner for girls only! ... but that's not even the best part... the best part is that the men will be serving your tables!

Helen Jones, the speaker for the evening, is a busy mum of 4 children, a part time veterinary nurse and is married to Matthew who is a full-time church worker. Helen is involved in outdoor camps for young people.

Girls, leave a comment, including your name, below if you want us to reserve you a place. Feel free to invite your mums, aunts, friends too. Be sure to include their names in the comment as well.

Your Gift to the Homeless this Winter

Update: The trip on 26th November went really well, click here to read about it. Though the trip is over, the collection for good quality warm men's clothing is still open. As soon as we have enough clothing, we'll do another trip!

Your Gift
At YouthClub we are collecting good quality men's clothing - shoes, underwear, trousers, jumpers, coats, shirts, blankets - so that we can give them to London City Mission's work for the homeless at Webber Street.

Why the gift?
Each day, Webber Street welcome 100-150 homeless to a full cooked breakfast at 9am and teach them from the Bible. The first 15 men through the door each morning are offered use of the shower facilities and a full set of clothes. This means thousands of set of mens clothes are needed each year.

The best ways to do it
If you would like to help with this work, your dad or grandad may have some good clothes they don't need and are willing to donate. But another good way is to visit local charity shops where you will find very cheap good quality mens clothing. By spending your money at these charity shops you are contributing to the charity which the shop represents and then also helping Webber Street by donating the clothing. You're helping 2 causes at once.

Collecting the clothes together
Bring any clothes that you've collected to Youth Club with you, or email me [Tim] at yc@hayestownchapel.org.uk if you'd like to do a mid-week drop to our home. Also check back here for times and dates of organised get-together collection trips and, more importantly, the delivery trip into London.

Delivering your gift
When we have a good collection of clothing, we will try to organise a trip to Webber Street, for you who have been involved, to deliver the gift and possibly the opportunity of being shown around the facility so you can see exactly where your gift will be put to use and truly understand the need.

Use the comments link below to leave any questions, comments or good tips you've found for collecting clothes etc.

"I Will Give You Rest"

Matthew 11:28

There is nothing more important for us to grasp. This is the heart of the Christian message.

Scouts march hard to achieve badges and goals. Walking up mountains with a rucksack, a tent and needed supplies. The weight of the rucksack heavy on their shoulders, feeling heavier as the march goes on. This is a good illustration of the burden of sin. Every time we've failed God in our thoughts, with our words and in our actions, we add to this burden of sin. We have all built up a debt so huge, due to our sin, that it is beyond us to remove it or to be rid of it.

We mustn't be fooled into thinking that our good will ultimately out-weigh our bad, instead we need to come to the place where we realise there is no way we can ever out-weigh or pay for our sin. Being religious, going to church, living a 'good' life - none of these things can ever make us right with God and remove the enormous weight of sin that presses down on us. Doing 'good' things doesn't help to remove the guilt of sin - this guilty feeling of having done wrong.

Jesus says "Come to me" - Jesus is the burden bearer. He alone can remove our burden of sin. We have been wounded by sin to such an extent that unless we get treatment we will die. Jesus has carried out the rescue plan. He took our sin upon Himself and bore the punishment due to us. Our place of safety is Jesus Christ - our burden bearer.

By trusting in Him, by putting our life in his hands, we can be saved from our sin and the heavy consequences it brings upon us. If we see our need, there is hope. Jesus can give you rest.

Jesus Authority To Forgive Sin

Matthew 9:1-8

There are people around us who have authority over different amounts of people or even regions and countries. But everyone is born under one authority - sin.

What is sin?
Sin is either not doing what God expects us to do or doing what God commands us not to... not just in actions but also in thought and in what we say. Can any of us say, honestly, that we have been able to live perfectly according to God even for a single day of our life? No, we are ALL under the authority of sin. Every person born from Adam, the first man to sin, is now affected by sin.

What's the consequence of sin?
The Bible says that the wages of son is death. (Romans 6:23) sin brought us separation from God because we are all facing His judgement for our sin.

Is there anything we can do about sin? 
Well, we can't live good enough to please God by ourselves and how can we ever make up for our past sin. BUT, there is one who has authority, even over sin.

Jesus is our hope. Being the Son of God Himself, He is the only one Who has ever lived a perfect life. He has the authority over sin and He died to take the punishment due to us, freeing us from the judgement of sin and therefore it's authority over us.

The man in the reading was paralysed. Jesus healed him and he was able to instantly lead a normal life, but so much more important than that, Jesus forgave his sin.

Jesus Power Over Demons

Matthew 8:28

The only person who has authority over nature is God. Jesus could command the storm to stop and it became calm. But generally, as a nation, we don't truly believe that there is a real person who is God.

The Bible teaches that there is a God and He isn't the only person that exists in the spiritual realm. These spirits are called demons and angels and though in the same realm as God, they do not have the same power as God.
We can laugh when we think of ghosts, but spirits are real and are not make believe or fantasy. And when we think of angels we probably think of people dressed in White with wings, or even babies with wings, but if we encounter either an angel or a demon, we would be struck with fear.

God created these supreme beings long before he created the earth. They roam throughout htis world unseen but have great effect upon people. We see the effects of demons and their evil upon men when we learn of people being driven to do greatly evil things. even those who don't believe in God know when they experience evil forces.

In this account in Matthew, we read of Jesus visiting an area that was not a very Godly place and two demon possessed men approached Jesus. They begged Jesus not to harm them but Jesus sent them into a herd of pigs which they quickly killed. We don't know why God let the deomns live. We don't know why Jesus doesn't get rid of all the evil in the world. We don't have the answers, but we do know that Jesus doesn't let anything happen that spoils His great purpose.

Despite the evil in the world, we don't need to fear that the world is out of control. God hasn't left the world to itself. He has a plan. His plan is being accomplished. Trough Jesus death on the cross, we all have hope of forgiveness and Salvation from eternal punishment. We mustn't miss out on the only One who can save us from the evil around us and the evil in our own hearts. We mustn't push away our only hope

Learn To Make Better Decisions

"A prudent man gives thought to his steps."
PROVERBS 14:15

If you're still making the same mistakes at fifty that you were at twenty, you need to ask God for wisdom.

"The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge; the ears of the wise seek it out"
PROVERBS 18:15

What you are in the present, was determined by the decisions you made in the past. If you want to change your future, learn to make better decisions. Be wise; let these principles guide you:

1. Never make permanent decisions based on temporary circumstances. If you do, you'll regret it.
2. Don't let your emotions blind you to reason. Pray, weigh things carefully and base your decisions on mature judgment.
3. Surround yourself with sharp people and draw on their gifts, without being intimidated by their expertise.
4. Take the time to consider all options. What looks good to you today, may not look so good tomorrow.
5. You can't fight successfully on every front, so choose your battles carefully. Simply stated: some things are not worth fighting for.
6. Take time to get all the facts; conjecture leads to crisis.
7. Consider the consequences of each action. Ask yourself, "Am I ready to handle this right now?"
8. Make sure your expectations don't exceed your potential and your resources. Be realistic. If you can't count, don't apply for a job in the finance office. If you can't sing, don't cut an album. Focus on what God gifted you to do. That's where you'll succeed.
9. Time is your most limited and valuable resource. Don't waste it.
10. Allow yourself a 10% risk of being wrong, a 50% likelihood of betrayal, and a 100% commitment to trust God, go forward and survive it all.

(The Word for Today by Bob Gass)