Welcome to our service today. It is great to have you here and we would love to invite you to stay after the service and join us for tea and coffee.It seems that every time I open my Bible at the moment I am reading about repentance, turning away from it and turning to God. This of course is the key to explaining the gospel to people....John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus by preaching repentance. The apostles' message of salvation also included the call to repentance - acknowledging personal sin and turning away from it. Many people want the benefits of being identified with Christ without admitting their own disobedience and turning from sin. The key to forgiveness is confessing our sin and turning away from it.When we repent, God promises not only to wipe out our sins, but to bring spiritual refreshment (Acts 4:19). Repentance may at first seem painful because it is hard to give up certain sins but God has promised us He will help us and give us a better way. As Hosea promised, "Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge Him. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth".With love & blessings, Sandra

Welcome to our service today. It is great to have you here and we would love to invite you to stay after the service and join us for tea and coffee.God cares about everyone. We are all important to Him.Societies that have been deeply influenced by the Bible have a high view of the preciousness of every individual person because they understand what God is like. No one is unimportant in God’s eyes. He knows each one of us as individuals and cares deeply for us. In Psalm 139 David wrote, “O Lord, You have searched me and You know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways. For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. How precious are Your thoughts concerning me, O God! How vast the sum of them!”During His ministry many people came to Jesus for help and healing. Jesus never met an unimportant person and never turned anyone away. He welcomed people who were outcasts in their society and taught that there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. His love changed people and gave them new hope.With love & blessings,Sandra

Welcome to our service today. It is great to have you here and we would love to invite you to stay after the service and join us for tea and coffee.Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12Jesus is the only way to God the Father - He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. When Jesus ascended to Heaven, God sent His Holy Spirit to guide us, lead us, encourage us and empower us. It is in the Holy Spirit's power and in the name of Jesus that we boldly go to those around us and speak the truth in love and grace of the fact that we are all sinners, saved by grace, who can be, if we choose to ask, forgiven and set free because of what Jesus did on the cross for each one of us leading to eternal life.As Tony said last week - the Good news is still the good news! This is what we are called to do - to go and make disciples - the world behind us, the cross before us, no turning back! Where is God leading you today and to who is He leading you? Go boldly knowing that the Holy Spirit will empower you to speak the right words at the right time - today is the day of Salvation!With love & blessings, Sandra

Welcome to our service today. It is great to have you here and we would love to invite you to stay after the service and join us for tea and coffee.This scripture has been on my mind and I felt to write it today as we gather again in person after so many weeks physically apart. I could dwell on how good it is to be together again and indeed it is......but today I want us to read this passage in reference to the passing of Bryan and to honour him.Bryan was a member of Beckenham Baptist Church long before we came here over 10 years ago. He has been part of the leadership team for a number of years too. We honour him as a loyal, faithful, hardworking, wise, caring and diligent member and friend of our church family who will be sadly missed. On one hand I say "It is with sadness....." but on the other hand I say "we rejoice Bryan is now with Jesus...". Isn't this one of our sayings here at BBC - it's the both/and. We will miss him at our services, leadership team and of course Cheesy Tuesday - he did love a good cheese scone! But how wonderful the hope as Christians we have that when it is our time to leave this earth we will be reunited again in the presence of our Lord.Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NLT)For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance.......With love & blessings, Sandra