Sermon Series Update

At Riverbend Bible Church, we are two weeks into a four-week sermon series entitled "God's Gracious Hand Towards Sinners".

The four passages we're covering are;

1. David's Sin (2 Samuel 11) – Done!
2. David's Rebuke (2 Samuel 12) – Done!
3. David's Confession (Psalm 51)
4. David's Lessons Learned (Psalm 32)

If you interested in listening to the sermons you can get them here: RBC Sermon Audio

TSBC E-Quipper - September 2010 Issue

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children
by Joe Fleener

When you read a verse like Ephesians 5:1 what catches your attention first? For many of us it is the command, “be imitators of God.” I would like to suggest that the command is surrounded by some profound truths, that if missed will skew our view of God and His desires for us.

1. We are told in verse 4:32 that we are forgiven people in Christ!
2. We are told in 5:1 we are beloved children!

These are wonderful, life-changing truths; truths simple enough for a child to understand and yet deep enough to soak into our souls over a lifetime.

When was the last time you consciously and deliberately reminded yourself of the gospel of Jesus Christ?

The gospel is the truth, that the eternal, holy Creator of the universe, planned before the foundation of the world to provide the means for sinful men to be reconciled to Himself by sending His Son, the second person of the Trinity – fully God, into the world as the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ, who being fully man while still fully God lived a perfect, holy life fulfilling God’s just requirements, finally submitting Himself to death on a cruel cross being judged as a sinner, though innocent, in the place of sinners, satisfying the divine wrath of God, then raising triumphantly from the dead in three days conquering sin and death for all those who put their faith in Him and Him alone for their salvation.

Have you placed your faith in Christ and Christ alone for the forgiveness of your sins? Have you acknowledged before God that you are that sinner in need of His forgiveness which is only possible in the person and finished work of Christ?

If so, listen to this – “You’re forgiven! And if that wasn’t enough, you have been made His child! You are a son/daughter of the Living God!” As a child there is nothing you can do to earn more of God’s favour and there is nothing you can do to lose God’s favour! Rather than this being a license for sin, for those who know they are forgiven sinners, this is our motivation for child-like obedience.

You have a Father who loves you with an everlasting love! He has already provided for your greatest need, in Christ. Everything else is insignificant in comparison.

Wow! Now when you read the command in Ephesians 5:1, “be imitators of God,” what comes to mind? We imitate God because we love Him as Father!

Of course, I want to imitate my Father. This isn’t drudgery, this is a joy. Imitating Him is the most natural expression of thanksgiving I can offer as a forgiven, beloved child. And when I fail, which I will, I can run to my Father who forgives and, by His grace, gives me the desire and ability to glorify Him.

Create Your Own Website - Finalweb

Sereena has become a Finalweb reseller and now has the ability to help you with creating your own website. If you're interested in designing a website for your church, ministry, family, school, or business, take a look at her website at www.redbrickhouse.co.nz

There are many templates to chose from at very affordable prices. Sereena can help you through the process and show you how to maintain your website yourself. It's easy. Click on this picture . . .

TSBC Expository Preaching Training

This past weekend at The Shepherd's Bible College we conducted one round of preaching labs for seven students who had been attending the Homiletics 1 course this term. Homiletics 1 is a preliminary course in preaching that begins the process of expository preaching training.

Each student had spent the preceding six weeks preparing their sermons which culminated in an evaluation of their sermon delivery.

Pictured below are the seven students. . .


Left to right: Michelle Ward (USA), Zohar Gonen (Israel), Gareth Cross, (Melbourne), Warren Jardine (Melbourne), Sean Hofman (Auckland), Josh Powell, (Wellington), and Reuben Pickering (Cambridge).

The men preached to a group of assembled believers on Saturday and Sunday. Michelle preached her message to a group of forty ladies this morning at Riverbend Bible Church.

What a joy to be involved in such valuable ministry training! The students will continue the training process next term. For now, we take a two week break. Please continue to pray for them.

Preaching Series

I am preaching a series of sermons at Riverbend Bible Church over the next four Sundays. The series is entitled "God's Gracious Hand Towards Sinners" and will focus on how the Lord treats his chosen people with undeserved grace even when they fail Him.

The four sermons trace God's grace toward David as seen after David sinned against Bathsheba and her husband Uriah. The first two Sundays will provide the historical background to the narrative and the last two Sundays will outline the nature of genuine confession. The four passages we'll cover are;

1. David's Sin (2 Samuel 11)
2. David's Rebuke (2 Samuel 12)
3. David's Confession (Psalm 51)
4. David's Lessons Learned (Psalm 32)

Please pray that God will be glorified in the exposition of His Word and that His grace would be magnified in our understanding.

Short Term Mission Trip

I just returned from a week of teaching in South East Asia. Grant Watson and I were teaching a group of 30 pastors who had gathered to hone their skill in expository preaching.

What a joy to encourage these men by walking them through the four Gospels explaining their significance in knowing Christ, the gospel, and tracing the events that led up to Christ's death at Calvary. We focussed on each of the four gospelists' purposes for writing to their given audiences, the features of each gospel, and the circumstances that surrounded each gospel record. Then we walked through each book highlighting the significant themes.


The men responded with such joy and encouragement. We were very blessed.

The days were difficult as we taught in very hot and very humid conditions. We consumed a lot of water. My teaching notes now have sweat stains all over them.

Thanks to everyone who prayed for us. We stayed healthy and were able to get through everything we had planned. Our translator seemed to cope with our Kiwi accents. We have made some new friends with whom we will share eternity. Our families back here in New Zealand also seemed to manage without us.

God has been gracious to us.

Riverbend Bible Church - Satellite Photo

Google Maps have recently updated their satellite photo of Riverbend Bible Church. If you click on the photo below it will become enlarged – then look carefully – you can even tell which event was happening at the time when the photo was taken. Can you tell?





. . . Yes, it is Sports Camp 2009.

Sports Camp 2010

At Riverbend Bible Church we are eagerly anticipating our annual Sports Camp which is held over Labour Day Weekend (22-25 October). The weekend is primarily designed as an evangelistic ministry event centred around sport. Teams gather from around the North Island to compete against each other in sports such as rugby, soccer, netball, basketball, hockey, cycling, athletics, kayaking, softball, volleyball, beach volleyball, longball, cross country, and more.

The aims of Sports Camp are:
• to glorify and honour God in everything we do at Sports Camp (1 Cor 10:31; Rom 15:5-6).
• to evangelise the unsaved represented at camp (including both campers and referees) (Matt 28:18-20).
• to challenge and mature the Christian young people in the teams so they can grow in their walk with the Lord and be a witness to the unsaved in their team and in other teams (Eph 4:12-15; 1 Peter 3:15).
• to come alongside team leaders to encourage and support them in their youth leadership roles (Heb 10:24-25).
• to provide a safe sporting environment where, sportsmanship and participation is encouraged.

These aims are achieved by:
• faithfully preaching the gospel using the living and active Word of God.
corporately worshipping God through music and songs that glorify Him both in content and delivery.
• encouraging team leaders in God’s Word and in prayer, in order to promote a unified goal and purpose.
• providing opportunities for Riverbend Bible Church to interact with campers and share the gospel one-on-one.
• providing opportunities for Riverbend Bible Church and other helpers to serve during Sports Camp, thereby modelling a servant heart.
• maintaining a Christlike testimony in all aspects of planning and hosting Sports Camp.

The speaker this year is Mike Penberthy, a former Los Angeles Laker. Here is his bio:
At 6'3" (1.90 m), the NAIA powerhouse guard played for The Master's College in California where he gained much attention. Mike broke numerous school records (including most career points), and was later inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2005. Penberthy played 56 games for the Los Angeles Lakers over two years and was part of the 2000-01 championship winning team. After the Lakers, Mike played basketball professionally in Italy for eight years.

Mike attends Placerita Baptist Church, California – the same church that sent us last year's Sports Camp speaker, John Richard.

Here is some video footage of Mike's basketball days, if you're interested. . .