Warsaw International Church

Mobile +48 601 331 032

Worship every Sunday at ul. Miodowa 21 (near Old Town) at 11:00 AM

Entrance from Schillera Street

Email: pastor@wic.org.pl

Website: http://www.wic.org.pl

Our News

At last Sunday’s New Year’s Day service (with the temperature at 15 degrees Centigrade in Warsaw!), we were still singing Christmas carols (the Poles actually do so throughout January). We were glad to see Sister Nelia again, who dropped in from Italy. Newcomers included Sanjay and Nikitha from India; Dominika from Poland; and Steven Koziol from the USA.

This Sunday (8 January) there will be a New Year potluck dinner in church right after the service. If you plan to attend, please bring some food or drink to share with others!

WIC’s Annual Conference will be held on 5 February. From our Treasurer, Piotr Dypczyński:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Each year, during our Fall Stewardship campaign, we invite our members and regular worshippers to make a commitment of their time and financial resources to enable WIC to do God’s work. Both contributions are important.

Self-supporting Churches, such as ours, are possible because friends and members voluntarily help and pay the bills. Some volunteers help with worship, prepare fellowship events, or serve on the Council. Volunteers are the builders of our Church community.

The Council will work on our budget for 2023 with expenses in the current range of 69,000 PLN. This is the modest budget needed to meet the operational needs of the Church as it functions now. Over the next few Sundays we will be asking you to consider the financial resources you can commit to WIC in the coming year to help us meet this budget, if not exceed it. We are proud of our unique 39-year history and feel that WIC has a lot yet to accomplish in doing God’s work.

Please consider prayerfully what you are able to commit to WIC for the year 2023. Every commitment counts. Annual pledges are deeply appreciated.

Pledge forms will be handed out during the next few Sundays and will be collected during the offering. If you cannot attend worship service in the coming weeks please contact the Treasurer Piotr Dypczyński at pledge@wic.org.pl with your pledge.

Thank you for your help in keeping WIC able to share in God’s work. Yours in Christ,

Piotr Dypczyński Church Council Treasurer

And here is the pledge form. Please pray about it, consider what you can contribute (maybe as part of your tithe), fill it in, and return it as indicated above:

WIC Pledge Form 2023

Warsaw International Church

Stewardship Commitment/ Pledge Form

As an expression of my/our love for God and support of His work

through the ministry of WIC, I/we make the following commitment to

support the work of the Church.

Currency: PLN / USD / EUR / ____

Amount: _

For the calendar year 2023

Amount: ____ every: week / month / quarter in 2023

Note to the Treasurer ___

---

Name: ___

Email: ___

Phone: ___ Signed: ____

Taxpayers may claim credit for their contributions to WIC.

We are registered in the Polish record of Churches and Religious

Associations – in position 132. Polish contributions for tax

deductions must be made by bank transfer.

Polish bank transfers to:

Warsaw International Church

ul. Willowa 1, 00-789 Warszawa

Bank account: PL 63 1090 1056 0000 0000 0600 9128

SWIFT code: WBKPPLPP

Santander Bank Polska S.A. with its registered office in Warsaw,

al. Jana Pawła II 17, 00-854 Warszawa

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Prayer

We are praying constantly for Ukraine, that this pointless and brutal war may end with the invaders stopping their invasion and withdrawing to their own country. May the Ukrainian spirit never die!

One of last Sunday’s newcomers, Steven Koziol, an American of Polish ancestry, has asked us to pray for him. He does not have long to live, due to emphysema attacking his lungs. After many failures in his life, he wants to spend this last part of it in Eastern Europe, predominantly in Ukraine, being of use to people in need during this crazy war, as best as he can. Steven is a sincere Christian and feels the Lord is guiding him to be in Ukraine. Let us keep him in our prayers and commit his work and his health to the Lord.

Last Sunday's sermon was preached by Pastor Harry:

God’s protection in an evil world (Matthew 2:1-18)

I think the beginning of a new year is just as important for the church as is Christmas. Again, today is a special Sunday, because it’s an opportunity for us, not only to look back over the past year and what we’ve achieved or failed to achieve, but also to look forward to the new year and think about what we want to achieve and how we want to change for the better.

To tell you the truth, personally I’ve never been so pessimistic and optimistic – both at the same time! I’m pessimistic about the chances of world peace, particularly about the invasion of Ukraine and its effects on the well-being of the whole world. But I’m optimistic spiritually: especially for our church, for further growth in numbers but also spiritual maturity, and for revival, when many people find faith in Jesus Christ. So in other words, evil will continue to rage in the world; but the people of God will continue to prosper in grace. I’m sure of that.

If you look at today’s readings, they are precisely about these two aspects: evil, and God’s protection of His chosen servants. In our verse for this week, Jesus doesn’t pray for God’s children to be removed from the world, but to be protected while still in it – as indeed happened to Jesus too, until He died on the cross, which was entirely His own submission to His Father’s Will. The bad guy in our Christmas story is King Herod, who sees Jesus as a threat to his own rule, because he has heard that Jesus has been proclaimed as the promised one who is the newborn “king of the Jews” – in other words, the one who is come to dethrone Herod, as Herod understands it. Dictators can never see beyond their own obsessions.

As we see in Matthew’s account, Herod does everything to ensure that this baby Jesus is eliminated. So, to find out exactly where Jesus is, he tells the wise men to report back to him, so he can “worship Jesus too”. Dictators are also born liars. And when the wise men don’t return to him, Herod goes for the total option and sends his soldiers to kill all the little boys in Bethlehem. Dictators are also extremely cruel and will resort to the most hideous brutality to get their way.

But here we come to one of the most inexplicable aspects of God’s actions in the world: why does He allow some people to suffer the full force of evil, and yet protects others? We don’t know. All the parents of all the little boys in the Bethlehem area saw their children being murdered – there must have been no end to their suffering and grieving. God could have stopped the massacre at any time – but He didn’t. The Bible realistically reflects how things are in the world. In the theatre of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, up to 1,000 people were sheltering – mainly women and children. The Ukrainians wrote the word “children” in Russian in huge letters on either side of the theatre, so that the Russians wouldn’t bomb it. But the Russians bombed it deliberately – and at least 600 people were killed. God didn’t stop that evil from happening. That’s one reason why many people don’t believe in God: because He allows cruelty to happen.

But dear Friends, that does not mean that God isn’t powerful. God is powerful, as well as being sovereign. He protects certain people, at certain times, in certain ways. We have to accept that. He protected Jesus, by warning the wise men, in a dream, not to return to Herod. He protected Jesus, Mary and Joseph, by warning Joseph in a dream to flee to Egypt and stay there till Herod’s death.

God still protects His people today. The evil powers in many countries will do everything to stop their citizens from reading the Bible or hearing about Jesus. They will threaten their citizens with death. In 90% of the cases, this could work – and people won’t even hear about Jesus. But in 10%, God will ensure that His message gets through – whether by word of mouth, or through the Internet, or by dreams and visions.

I don’t know about you, but when I look – not only at today’s Bible passages, but also reflecting on my own life – I see nothing but God’s grace and protection, right up to today. It’s got nothing to do with goodness. I’ve done some horrible things, which I’m ashamed of. Mary and Joseph were good – but there were probably other couples around who were just as good. The Jews weren’t an outstandingly good nation – they were just the same as any other nation. But God chose them, in order to reveal Himself through them. He chose Mary and Joseph, in order to be born as a man, into their family. And He chooses the people of this world – maybe He chooses all of us, I don’t know. He chooses us, to make us a temple of His Holy Spirit. He chooses us, to give us faith: “not by good works, that any man may boast” – but entirely by the grace of God.

This leads me to my New Year message. It’s a different message to those who have received Christ and those of us who haven’t. Firstly, to those who are not yet believers, my message is simple: turn to the Lord! Isaiah 45 verse 22 is one of the clearest verses in the whole Bible: “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other”. No more comment needed!

And for those of us who are believers, I’ve chosen two verses: firstly, the last part of Jeremiah 23 verse 24: “‘Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?’, declares the Lord”. That verse assures us that God is always present, everywhere: not just during Communion, which we’ll celebrate in a moment – but all the time. He is present, here and now – and in this new year, let us become especially aware of that fact. Whatever you do, and wherever you are, God is with you, and sees and knows everything. We need to “practise the presence of God”, every day. It’s not easy, because of distractions. But we need to do it as much as possible. And secondly, I’ve chosen Luke 19 verse 46, where Jesus quotes from the Old Testament: “My house shall be a house of prayer”. We can even add: “a house of prayer and fasting”.

Yes – we are that house of prayer! We are God’s temple – where He dwells in His Spirit. This year, we need to spend more time in prayer and fasting: for healing, salvation and revival – in ourselves, our family and friends, and in our church. That’s what we are called to do, as born-again Christians. And God will protect us, and bless us – no matter what evil there is around us. He is in charge. He is sovereign. And He will protect His children. Amen. gift to Jesus. Amen.

Verse for the week: “While we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6, NASB).

Readings for 8 January

First Gospel reading: Luke 2:25-35 (NLT): At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying, “Sovereign Lord, now let Your servant die in peace, as You have promised. I have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared for all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and He is the glory of Your people Israel!” Jesus’ parents were amazed at what was being said about Him. Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose Him. As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.”

Second Gospel reading: Matthew 13:18-23 (NLT):

“Now listen to the explanation of the parable about the farmer planting seeds: The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts. The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word. The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced. The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”

Food of the Spirit

What gift could you give to Jesus?

How about going against the current of our crazed culture and giving the gift of spending some quiet time with Jesus as your First Love.

“Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10) is the Word of God to us.

Jesus Himself prayed in quiet solitude regularly. “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:6). And He invites us to join Him, to be still in prayer with Him: “Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest” (Mark 6:31).

Jesus enjoys being with you! Do you enjoy being with Him? Perhaps you feel antsy or jittery about being still? Maybe when you’re quiet your mind races with thoughts of things you need to do?

Little by little, as we practice getting alone with Jesus to be quiet and still, we can get beyond our restlessness and racing thoughts. If we train with Jesus we can learn to settle into the peace of the Lord that is beyond our comprehension and guards our hearts (Philippians 4:6).

As we rest with our Good Shepherd in His green pastures of grace and beside His still waters, we discover that it’s really true: “He restores my soul” (Psalm 23:1-3).

Most of our ways of celebrating Christmas today are noisy and busy. But in many ways the first Christmas was celebrated in quiet and stillness. How about giving Jesus a present of spending some time just being with Him in quiet prayer?

Bill Gaultiere

Please be informed that your Data Administrator within the meaning of Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation, ”GDPR”), is Warsaw International Church with its registered office in Warsaw (00-789) at ul. Willowa 1.