Hope you were encouraged and spurred on in your faith by our talk on spiritual gifts at Sunday @ 6 last night or at any of our services.
Do you know what your spiritual gift or gifts are? If not, be brave! Ask a Christian friend you love and trust to get their opinion - someone who will give you honest, truthful feedback. Pray to God and ask him too! And try out your gifts and you may discover you have a real passion for something (eg welcoming new people or encouraging others in their faith).
Monday, 30 July 2007
A Quick Silly Quiz!
To find out what supervillain you are, go to
http://www.thesuperheroquiz.com/villain/
Post up who you turn out as!
http://www.thesuperheroquiz.com/villain/
Post up who you turn out as!
Thursday, 26 July 2007
God and You: Being Connected
A few weeks ago in the USA, Apple introduced its new iPhone. Did you know Apple sold over 270,000 iPhones in the first 30 hours of sale - that's about two sold per second! Clearly people want to be connected to each other with a mobile phone, and they want a nice way of connecting! The iPhone is easy to use, pretty-looking and is a mulitpurpose device that seems to suit all of its users' needs.
At Senior High last Monday we looked at how we are connected to God through Jesus. We read about the image of the vine in John 15:1-20. We saw that:
- God is the gardener, or - to use iPhone talk - he is the best keeper of networks ever!
- Jesus is the only connection to God the Father
- We are in Jesus - that is, we are a branch of the vine, or like a mobile phone user connected to God's service!
- If we disconnect to God we can do nothing on our own - there is no connection or service! Our lives go dead!
- If we remain in him he will remain in us
- God chose us personally to be part of his network through Jesus
- God is not a big brother horrible God with us his slaves but a friend, a personal God (thanks for this point Ashleigh McGill)
- God asks us to love each other 'as I have loved you'
- As his disciples - connected to him and actually in him, like a branch is a living part of a vine (see picture above) - we begin to bear fruit for Jesus!
- This fruit is love for Jesus, hope in Jesus, faith, and things like
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23) - Like any good gardener, God will prune us now and then and that will hurt.
- But he does that so we will eventually bear more fruit for him.
Are you being pruned at the moment? Does it hurt? Although it is hard, know that this is for your benefit, to make you bear fruit for the living God, who personally chose you to receive the benefits of his 'kingdom network'.
Tuesday, 24 July 2007
He's Back!
This Sunday @ 6 Richard Mills returns! He'll be leading our service. And there's something different about him...see for yourself this coming Sunday night.
Catherine Laughlin is also going to speak to us about her mission trip with students from Bowral Christian High School to the Northern Territory.
Andrew will be speaking this Sunday night on the spiritual gifts we receive from God. Listen out for his 'top 10 gifts I wish I had' list...
See you there.
Catherine Laughlin is also going to speak to us about her mission trip with students from Bowral Christian High School to the Northern Territory.
Andrew will be speaking this Sunday night on the spiritual gifts we receive from God. Listen out for his 'top 10 gifts I wish I had' list...
See you there.
Saturday, 21 July 2007
This Sunday @ 6...
...Elyse Bywater will be leading our service and Andrew will be speaking on the topic of 'Are Christians Cannibals?'. It will be a discussion on the Lord's Supper and its significance in our Christian life.
A great way to be prepared for Sunday @ 6 would be to read our passage - 1 Corinthians 11:17-34.
Look forward to seeing you there.
A great way to be prepared for Sunday @ 6 would be to read our passage - 1 Corinthians 11:17-34.
Look forward to seeing you there.
Thursday, 19 July 2007
God and You: Stumbling block principle brings real results!
Over the last few weeks in our sermon series on 1 Corinthians we’ve looked at stuff like ‘the Stumbling Block Principle’ of Paul.
It’s really important for us to remember that when we use that principle, good things happen.
In Acts 15, Peter tells the Council of Jerusalem that anyone – whether a Jewish person or non-Jewish – can turn to Jesus and be saved. But some people had other ideas.
"They have to be circumcised, according to the Law of Moses", they said*.
Why did they say this? Perhaps they were a bit alarmed at the freedom non-Jewish people were exercising in their faith.
In contrast, the Jewish believers were still fresh from observing all the Jewish customs and were finding it hard to break away.
To cut a long story short – the Council decides to apply what we know as ‘the stumbling block principle’! And it has a wonderful effect on Christians everywhere!
The council sends a decree to the new Gentile Christians, saying they are pleased they are saved by grace, but asking them to voluntarily steer clear of a few things that would really truly cause offence to the Jews.
"We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are…It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. (Acts 15:11; 19-20)
In this way, the Gentiles would care for the 'weaker' Jewish Christians.
Because of applying the ‘stumbling block principle’ so that Jewish people were cared for, here’s what happened:
As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers. Acts 16:4-5
Just remember from this example in Acts: when we obey God’s word and care and build up our brothers and sisters in Christ, good things happen.
*Acts 15:1
It’s really important for us to remember that when we use that principle, good things happen.
In Acts 15, Peter tells the Council of Jerusalem that anyone – whether a Jewish person or non-Jewish – can turn to Jesus and be saved. But some people had other ideas.
"They have to be circumcised, according to the Law of Moses", they said*.
Why did they say this? Perhaps they were a bit alarmed at the freedom non-Jewish people were exercising in their faith.
In contrast, the Jewish believers were still fresh from observing all the Jewish customs and were finding it hard to break away.
To cut a long story short – the Council decides to apply what we know as ‘the stumbling block principle’! And it has a wonderful effect on Christians everywhere!
The council sends a decree to the new Gentile Christians, saying they are pleased they are saved by grace, but asking them to voluntarily steer clear of a few things that would really truly cause offence to the Jews.
"We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are…It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. (Acts 15:11; 19-20)
In this way, the Gentiles would care for the 'weaker' Jewish Christians.
Because of applying the ‘stumbling block principle’ so that Jewish people were cared for, here’s what happened:
As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers. Acts 16:4-5
Just remember from this example in Acts: when we obey God’s word and care and build up our brothers and sisters in Christ, good things happen.
*Acts 15:1
Wednesday, 18 July 2007
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