Pastor's pen 26th July 2015

“The life that really matters!”

It was a real privilege to be able to host the “Open Doors” presentation on Wednesday night and while there was only few in numbers, it was so encouraging to note that six local churches were represented. But for those of us who attended, we couldn’t help but be impacted by the stark comparison between what it takes to be a follower of Jesus in many countries where persecution is real and the ease and freedom we have in this country.

But while we may feel we are the more fortunate ones in this country because of our freedoms, when it comes to living lives of authentic faith our brothers and sisters suffering persecution have an understanding or experience of the Lord that we will never know while we operate with such “cushy” margins. The essence of what we miss by not being stretched in our faith journey can be summarised by the excerpt on the back of a book at the Open Doors stall. The author of this book “tells the story of being taught by believers in persecution ‘how to follow Jesus, how to love Jesus, and how to walk with Him day by day.’ We may think that we would rather live like the world than to do the ‘insane’ things that Jesus asks of us. But are we really more joyful than those who walk the darkest, craziest paths? What does it mean if we are not? Is God truly enough?”(The Insanity of God: a True Story of Faith Resurrected).

There was also a video testimony of a father whose son had been beheaded by I.S. earlier in the year, who, with seemingly inexplicable joy, celebrated Easter; the sacrificial death of Christ and the power of the resurrection, knowing his son had joined in those same sufferings of Christ. Hearing such stories bring greater clarity and meaning to the words of 1 Peter 4:13, “…rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”

After hearing such testimonies one is left asking the question, who is really worst off out of us and them. They experience the sufferings certainly, but their experience of God is so real and their faith is so alive. It makes us consider whether all the things we call blessings are really such a blessing or could they be an impediment to us walking the faith journey God truly intends. I don’t have any definitive rulings in this regard, but it is good for us to consider what the really important things in life are, and ask, will this matter in eternity?

26th July 2015 "Battle of the Voices"

Deb Gellatly brings this message that challenges us on how we think and how we speak, with both of these affected by the condition of our heart. That heart condition will be impacted by what voice is winning the battle.

To listen follow link below. To download mp3 file right click and 'save as'...

http://k003.kiwi6.com/hotlink/2k2s7m1tbt/26-7-2015.mp3

19th July 2015 "Disciplined desires" Psalm 101

Drawing on the aspirations of the Psalmist whose heart was intent on pursuing intimate relationship with the Living God and reinforced by the practical teaching in the letter from James this message is a reminder of the discipline required by Jesus' followers to safeguard the environment of ones heart and mind.

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http://k003.kiwi6.com/hotlink/ufup60pfj8/2015-7-19.mp3

12 July 2015 "Godly desire is desiring God" Matt 13:44-46

In this weeks message we have an opportunity to reassess what's most important to us in life. The big question is what is standing in the way of us pursuing and laying hold of that which is most valuable for the redeemed child of God.

Follow the link below to listen to this message or right click and 'save as' to download mp3 file.

http://k003.kiwi6.com/hotlink/p8g5w8cp1z/12_7_2015.mp3

Pastor’s Pen: Spiritual discipline

Self-denial is a concept foreign to most modern westerners and even to followers of Jesus. Our society, and our even our church culture by association, is consumer driven with a seemingly insatiable hunger for satisfaction. The poverty that this brings to Christianity is manifest in unsatisfied church consumers that float from church to church and pass judgement on the worship, the sermon and the people of the various denominations on offer. But even we who are committed into the life of a local church can fall prey to believing God’s higher priority is satisfying my desires and that He couldn’t possibly want or expect any sort of self-denial to be part of the “Grace” filled life He has called me to.

In Leviticus 23:27, on the Day of Atonement, the Israelites were told to, “Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves and present an offering…”  Interestingly all three of these disciplines are commonly rejected by modern believers, possibly arguing the irrelevance of such calls in the Old Testament to New Testament Saints. Yet for followers of Jesus, there are some principles that can instruct us to serve/worship the Lord with an increasing depth of spirituality. A New Testament passage containing the words of Jesus adds greater weight to this topic. In Matt 16:24-25 we read, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”

If Jesus thinks self-denial is an important part of developing as one of His followers we should take stock and discern how we might be best served to exercise spiritual discipline; to make some sacrifices in order to grow in faith and spiritual maturity. Self-denial can come in many forms. But as preliminary suggestions we can go back to Leviticus 23:27 and see that being committed to taking part in the assembling together of the Saints is one, while contributing to the offering is another. Beyond this we may be led by the Spirit of God to fast from food or even TV or other pleasures for a season to prepare our hearts to worship Him. As we grow in this we may even be called to make some choices that affect our comfort level as God may lead us into spheres of service that mean we have to go without.

There is no one size fits all here, but rather an attitude of worship and service that is prepared to trust God and put our own desires second in order to see the power of the Holy Spirit manifest in our lives individually and among us as a community corporately. My God bless us in our spiritual disciplines as we make the conscious decision to deny ourselves and follow Him!

Year of Jubilee 5th July 2015

In this message Pastor Steve unpacks the "Year of Jubilee" discerning it's insights into God's character and how it can speak into our own lives today.

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http://k003.kiwi6.com/hotlink/k8e7hwep5d/2015-7-5.mp3

Pastor's pen 5th July 2015

Living with hope

Wow! How much things can change in a week. As I wrote last week’s Pastor’s pen, I was anticipating spending time with visiting friends on Friday evening and spending Sunday as I regularly do, preaching God’s word. Yet on Friday evening even as our guests arrived, I was rushing to hospital in Emerald. Twenty-four hours later in Rockhampton hospital a surgeon sat down next to me with a serious look on his face to tell me he had discovered a mass that he suspected was a malignant tumour. This was confirmed in the following days.

As you can imagine the last week has been quite a ride. So as I put my fingers to the keyboard this week I do so looking at life from quite a different perspective. But while the circumstances of my life may have changed somewhat, God has not changed and that is a great source of encouragement and hope. Hope is a very powerful thing. And the hope that we have as Christians means we can face today, tomorrow and eternity with a confident assurance that God is for us and with us.

Romans 12:12 puts it plainly, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”  I am guessing that those words will come to be importantly instructive for me over the coming weeks and months. But they are instructive for us all. The one thing that really comes home at times like these is there are many things that we worry about which just aren’t important. Hope is something that needs to be guarded and fostered. And it is something to be enjoyed (joyful in hope). This hope can only come through faith in what God has done and what He is going to do. Furthermore the hope we have in God to deliver us and sustain us enables us to face the fiery trial with a patient endurance. That patience will be key for us to remain faithful in prayer, not giving up when we don’t see God’s salvation immediately but holding onto hope; patiently and faithfully seeking God’s face.

In the various trials each of you may be facing as well as in the trial you see that I am facing, let us together be encouraged to hold onto hope. It will enable us to truly live life as God intended—filled with joy.

Sermon 28 June John Moon

This weeks message is by John Moon and focuses on the story of Joshua as he is called to be courageous. We can all learn and be encouraged by this story.

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Pastor's Pen 28th June 2015

Get wisdom, get understanding

It has been a great blessing for me over the last twelve years to be studying God’s word at depth, and it gives me great joy to unearth treasures in God’s Word week to week and apply them to all our lives in preaching. The reason I first went to Bible college was not to become a pastor but because I felt I needed to set apart a season of focused study of biblical truths. Not everyone has the privilege I have had and continue to have in spending considerable time studying God’s word. But just because you’re not a pastor or a preacher doesn’t mean you can’t be intentional about searching the scriptures for yourself and discovering treasures that bring illumination and change in your own lives.

We live in an era in which more versions of the Bible exist than ever before, and we are spoilt for choice in regard to books on various theological topics, yet the western church with its prolific resources is for the most part spiritually weak and many Christians, apart from some pet topics are largely biblically illiterate.

In Proverbs 4:5 it says, “Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them.”  In this scripture we see the balance of what it is to be studying God’s word. Some people study to gain knowledge in an intellectual sense without opening their hearts and minds to be taught of the Lord in regard to what impact truth should have on our lives, while others react against any studious approach to God’s word by exercising little or no discipline in bible study. But wisdom and understanding are a wonderful pursuit if we yield to the Holy Spirit’s work of revealing the life application of what we have learnt. Wisdom can be understood as “knowledge coupled with an inner quality that embodies a heart and life in conformity with the purposes and character of God.” Understanding is a “rational competence” or reasoned ability to fit biblical truths together (Renn, 2005).

So wisdom and understanding are honourable goals to have in approaching the truths of scripture. I want to bring out of the treasure house of God’s word applicable words of encouragement and direction so we can journey together toward the future God has for us as a community of faith. But Sunday sermons cannot be your only source of biblical discovery. We all need to be reading the word for ourselves. Most devotionals have a reading plan included or you could google a bible reading plan to get you started. And as you read, pray and ask God to reveal truth, having an expectation that God wants to apply His word to your life. I also like to journal my thoughts in this time to help understand what God is saying.

So come on church, let’s get wisdom and understanding! If questions arise that you can’t square away please get in touch as I would love to assist you more personally on your spiritual journey of discovery.

 Pastor Steve