Bunnings Sausage Sizzle for Refugee Relief

COVID has been hard on all of us but we are pleased we can solve one problem it brought! Bunning’s Sausage Sizzles are back on. Come to Morisset Bunnings tomorrow, Saturday 17th October to buy a sausage and support refugee relief. At 30 degrees, it’s the perfect day to grab some garden supplies while munching on a hot lunch and cool drink.

While we thought COVID was hard on us, it has been especially hard on people seeking asylum in other countries. Last year, some of our church members volunteered with handing out food, clothes and support to refugees in France and England.

Imagine that you have had to leave your country, family, friends, job, security, because it wasn’t safe for you there anymore. You think you've found hope when you come to Britain, but then find that you're placed in a cold and dirty military training camp, waiting for the great British government to decide what to do with you. 

Surrounded by barbed wire and high fences, the camp is totally unsuitable for vulnerable and traumatised asylum seekers who have fled terror and suffering. The camps are in poor condition and very cold, especially since these people are from warmer climates, and are headed into the freezing and wet UK winter! People are crammed into the rooms, unable to socially distance, even while the second wave of COVID-19 hits England. 

We can help make a difference to the lives of these amazing people. We will use the money raised to buy masks, toiletries, warm socks, gloves, hats, underwear, and anything else they may need. Thanks so much for your kindness, we look forward to seeing you tomorrow!

If you can’t make it but would love to contribute, here is the GoFundMe link

Image 1, 2, 3 - one of the military barracks being used to house asylum seekers. The third image shows how many beds are crammed into close quarters.

Image 4,5 - Some of the asylum seekers regularly come to bible and english lessons. It is the bright spot of their day!

Image 6 - one of the asylum seekers assisting in putting toiletry and food bags together.

Image 7 - a clothing drive happening in another part of UK in the summer. We hope to be able to do this for the asylum seekers in the military camps, so they have enough warm clothing for winter.

Image 8 - With the money raised, we hope to be able to buy everyone warm essentials such as gloves and hats, as well as socks, masks, toiletries and anything else they need.

Resolutions

So I don’t know about you but the New Year sort of came and went in a haze of bushfire worry, overeating at Christmas time and beach time. Now we are at the end of February and I already feel like I’ve sort of aimlessly wasted a whole month. My sister is a lot better at me than this, it’s New Year’s Eve and we are all eating and chilling on the beach and she’s writing a summary of her year and personal goals for this coming year. People ask me my resolutions and I never have any idea.I kind of focus on goals for our ecclesia (church)- like I come up with long term plans for camps, or open days etc …but I’m bad at taking the time for personal goals, it’s much harder to focus on yourself. So I thought I could use today to set really specific goals for our year and work out ways we can achieve them.

So, What is a goal? 



This is one person’s interpretation. But, basically a goal can be any objective that you set for yourself and push yourself to achieve. Sometimes that goal may be small (like waking up an hour earlier than you normally do) and sometimes it may be larger (like learning guitar). Even small things we don’t write out but aim for like ‘I want to read more to my child’ may seem insignificant but you are goal setting. Tonight we are going to do some more meaningful goal setting. 

A meaningful goal — one that truly inspires you to change — requires going deeper. A psychologist at Stanford University, Kelly McGonigal (not the professor from Harry Potter) says:

“Give yourself permission and time to think about what it is you want to experience in your life or what’s getting in the way,”

 Think about what you want in the coming year, and then ask yourself why you want that — three times in a row. For example, if you want to quit smoking, ask why do you want to quit? Then, if you want to quit for your health, ask why do you want good health? Then, if your answer is to be alive long enough to meet your grandchildren, ask why do you want to meet your grandchildren? 

“You get to something that just feels so obviously important to you,”

Says McGonigal. It really drives home why that goal matters, and that motivation can help you as you work toward the goal. 

Choose a goal that matters, not an easy win. So I’m going to get a little teachery on you. When I was in England, I taught year 3 and they had a crazy intense system over there where the kids books, your programs and your teaching was watched and critiqued almost everyday. But one good thing they were very focused on was writing Smart Goals. Each lesson had a smart goal, each child had smart goals for subjects and each piece of marking had to address that. I mean, it was overkill, but it was good to have specific goals and to learn this skill.

So to achieve goals you need to: 

1. WRITE THEM DOWN & MAKE THEM SMART 

What are smart goals? Basically, SMART is an acronym.

‘S’ IS FOR SPECIFIC

Good goals are not ambiguous. You need to have a clear, concise goal that you can set your sights on. For example, rather than saying “I want to have a better body” you could say “I want to lose five kg this summer”. 

‘M’ IS FOR MEASURABLE

How will you know how you are going? Tracking the progress of your goal is an important part of keeping you motivated. You should be able to see if you are on track. Obviously we have to be a little careful with this one, that we don’t become like Pharisees with a checkbox of salvation, dividing up mint and cumin and thinking we can ‘earn’ salvation through ticking boxes. But, as I remember Bob Lloyd saying, you don’t earn salvation but it helps you know where you might be going wrong. It is good to keep track of where we are heading, while still understanding that salvation is still all through God’s grace (even if all our boxes are ticked every day.

Psa 119:59 I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statutes.

Lam 3:40 Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.

The Bible tells us every week to examine ourselves at church and I guess we can’t do this without tracking our progress and trying to get ourselves back on track.

‘A’ IS FOR attainable 

Lots of people fall into the trap of setting impossible goals for themselves. Whilst impossible goals may push you forward for a while, you will almost certainly end up giving up on them at some point in the future. This is why New Year resolutions often fail. Before you set a goal, make sure that you can actually envision yourself achieving it.

‘R’ IS FOR RELEVANT

Not all goals are as worthwhile as others. Make sure your goal is worth your time, make sure that achieving it will provide positive benefits to your life. We’ll be looking at quotes later to base our goals off.

‘T’ IS FOR TIME-BOUND

Effective SMART goals must have a target time attached to them. For example, rather than saying “I want to start reading more books” you could say “I want to read one book every month”.  

GODS VIEW 

So before we get into our smart goals, lets look at God and how he might view goal setting. 

James 4:13-15 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit. Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapour that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that. 

Our goals should line up with His plans for us, and they should be goals that he would approve of. All of these goals are always ‘God Willing’. We may think things will look one way, but God can change our plans to accomplish his will.

Acts 16:7-8 and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them

Rom 1:13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

Sometimes God might have different ideas, even if our goals seem really godly and what He would want for us. Surely God would want Paul to keep spreading the Gospel and visiting new Christians? 

Prov 16:9 In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORDestablishestheir steps.

Ephesians 5:15-17 Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lordis.

Proverbs 21:5 "The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty"

Proverbs 6:6–11 consider the ant and how she prepares bread and gathers harvest

Obviously you can write your own goals for developing new skills, or your career or self care etc but today we are going to set goals for mostly spiritual things or things that I think will help our spirituality. 

Rick Warren, the author of ‘A Purpose Driven Life’ (Great book) says:

“Being successful and fulfilling your life’s purpose are not at all the same thing; You can reach all your personal goals, become a raving success by the worlds standard and still miss your purpose in this life.

BIBLICAL GOAL SETTING 

Acts 15:36 GOAL= to preach

1 Chron 16:11-12 GOAL= seek gods face always

Acts 6:1-3 GOAL= Make sure widows aren’t overlooked when distributing food

Mark 16:15 GOAL: preach to all creation

Rom 8:28-32 GOAL: all things work together for good, justification and glory

Isa 11:9-10 GOAL: earth full of knowledge of God 

When we set goals, it’s easy to fixate on that magical ending when we’ve reached the goal and everything is better. But we can’t control outcomes, and we certainly can’t will them into existence. We have to inch toward them, one choice at a time.

“People often get lost thinking they have to change everything all at once,”says McGonigal. “But small changes can pave the way for bigger changes.”

Ask yourself, what is the smallest thing I can do today that helps me reach my goal? For example, if you’re shy and you want to be more outgoing, you might accept someone’s invitation to lunch or say hi to someone you usually walk past. From there, just make one small choice after another. 

 LIFESTYLE 

Ecc 3:12-13 be happy, do good, eat and drink, find satisfaction in your work.

1 Tim 4:8 Obviously in the bible it says ‘bodily exercise profits a little but it shouldn’t take over our lives. We might need to exercise for mental health or to keep ourselves fit/healthy for being better able to carry out Gods will. Maybe we need to look at getting to sleep earlier or being on social media less or being less busy on non-important things. Maybe it could be simple like one night a week, choose to have a “no television” night. Read a book. Work on a craft project. Play a game. These are all good ‘lifestyle’ choices.

SPIRITUAL

Col 1:10 bear fruit, walk pleasing to god

Eph 4:23-24 We know the things we should be doing, we just need to make sure we are trying to make them happen. Jesus and David talk a lot about meditating on God all day long. Paul talks about reading the scriptures. Other verses talk about singing songs and praying always. We need to choose what goal is going to help us most this year.

ECCLESIA/OUTREACH 

Eph 4:28 use your hands for good work and give generously

James 1:27 Pure religion is to look after the widows

Heb 10:24-25 meet together and do love and good works

Most of us have things we would love to improve about our ecclesias. What’s one goal that you could have for your ecclesia that YOU can do something about? How could you personally help to make it happen? Maybe you could get to know people more and host people more regularly. Maybe its making inspirational movies or writing blog posts for your website. Maybe it is being involved with Sunday school or bringing snacks to Bible class or visiting an old/lonely person.

RELATIONSHIP 

1 Corinthians 13:4-7love is… 

We often treat our husbands/boyfriends worse than anyone or leave the least amount of time for them. When I think about how much time/effort/money etc Simon and me used to spend on our relationship to now, it’s huge. Obviously life can take over but it is still important to make time for each other. It can be simple or it can be big. Plan something nice for your upcoming anniversary. Do something small for your spouse each week that involves their love language. Book in babysitters in advance. Have a date night at home, choose to say sorry in arguments. Talk about positive/negative things from your day over a meal.

FAMILY 

Proverbs 22:6train up a child in the way

Deuteronomy 6:7speak of the way 

We looked lots at family week at how to meet your child’s love language. It was surprising when we videoed the kids, how readily most had an answer to ‘how do you wish your parents loved you?’ and most said ‘time, gave me more time’. Maybe you could make this apply to your extended family- are you visiting your parents enough, staying in contact with siblings? Should you be meeting up more with a Grandma or sending spiritual texts to an aunty etc. Choose your goal for your family.

FRIENDSHIP 

Prov 27:17 Iron sharpens iron so a friend sharpens another

A lot of time with friendships is taken up with gossiping or talking nonsense or about our mundane life. Some of this is important but I feel like when I was younger, my friendships were a lot godlier and we had time to have good chats about the bible, study weeks to spend together and motivate each other as well as energy etc to care. What are some ways we could improve our friendships and make time for each other? Is it having study nights, going to church regularly, starting regular catch ups or is it just writing back to texts?

Before we finish here’s a little video to inspire you! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQOcEDD5hR8

CONCLUSION 

Moments of failure are inevitable, but most of us abandon the goal completely when minor failures and setbacks happen. We give up on getting fit when we miss the gym, or we forget about losing weight after a night of burgers and milkshakes. 

“In that moment when you fail, often the first instinct is to push the goal away,” says McGonigal.“When detours come up, remind yourself why your goal matters to you.“

The Bible is clear that “you” don’t set your goals, God does. God wants us to define our goals for our lives through the Bible, and he wants to work his plans, purposes, and promises into us and sometimes through us. God knows where you’re going. Often, he will press you into a detour, or make you wait on what you want, simply to see whether anger and frustration or patience and goodness come out. We can make goals and ask God specifically for what we want in persistent prayer like the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8).

Remember that God has plans for us; he has goals for us to give us a future and a hope.

Knit Together

Our knitting group has been making great progress with creating lots of colourful rugs, some out of squares crocheted together and some knitted as one piece.

We have ladies knitting squares for us even if they cannot make our knitting day! We appreciate everyone’s help and support.

We have another shipment ready to go in September and they will be handed out by Agape in Action representatives to women in the widows program and any others they come across in need. Some of the women have never received a gift in their life and they are so excited when they receive their rug. We take a photo of us with their particular rug and send a note with it so they know that someone cares about them.

Rekindle

THAT FIRST LOVE FEELING

Recently, we started up an older girls class called Kindle, because I don’t know about you, but my faith is definitely a lot less strong and my relationship with God is a whole lot weaker than when I was younger, first baptised, going to Study Weeks and Conferences and doing mission work. That’s why lately, I’m feeling the need to try to regain my first love, to live a life that was all about serving God, to rekindle my fire. It’s one thing to say it, but how can we actually get our first love back? How can we actually get excited to serve God again? How do we develop that close relationship with God and Jesus again?

Have you ever experienced a Sunday morning when you just didn’t even really know why you were there except out of habit? That you were just going through the motions but not really taking in the significance of what you were doing when taking the bread and wine? Have you ever found yourself offering repetitive prayers for meals but not really meaning them and that being the only time you pray to God that day? Have you found yourself going months or years without reading the bible for yourself? Have you found yourself telling people that you’re a Christadelphian and knowing in your heart that the only thing that is different about you and them is that you happen to go to Church on a Sunday instead of chilling at home? Have you found yourself thinking that the Kingdom of God is some distant thing that doesn’t even feel real or a part of the life that you’re living? 

If any of these are you, know that you aren’t alone, that we all feel like this at some point in our lives. God also knows that we can sometimes get like this and there is lots of advice in the bible about how to rekindle our love for him. 

Lets start by looking at some quotes:

1.     2 Tim 1 v 6-7 Timothy’s spiritual fire had cooled and was wavering so Paul was writing to him to encourage him to rekindle the spiritual fire within him. His faith was genuine but he had allowed his struggles to affect his love and dedication for God. The best way to rekindle his faith was to stir up the gift of God within – we all have a spiritual gift and when we focus on that, it will help to rekindle our faith. 

2.     Rom 12v11-13 Message – “Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fuelled and aflame. Be alert servants of the master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.”

3.     Luke 24:32 Jesus talked to 2 men lamenting his death on the road and after the discussion their hearts were set ablaze…the thing that set it ablaze was realising that Christ was front and centre of their worship. 

4.     Jeremiah 2:2 “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown”. 

5.     Revelation 2:4 “You have lost the love you had at first. Realise how far you have fallen. Repent and do the works you did at first”

All of these quotes are firstly acknowledging that its normal to lose our first love and that we can expect our spiritual fire to have cooled or even be wavering. It’s totally 100% normal, something that God not only knows about, but gives us advice on how to overcome it. Because that’s the most important thing to take from these quotes – that even though God knows our faith will waver and our first love may fade, he expects us to rekindle it. He expects us to work out how to make him the front and centre of our lives; he wants us to turn our service to him from ‘I have to’ to ‘I want to’.

THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT

Luke 10:27, Matt 22:37, Mark 12:30, Duet 6:5, Josh 22:5

 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind”

This is the first and most important commandment from both the Law and from Jesus, there is no disputing it, it should be the thing that guides and directs our whole lives. But does it? It is actually a super scary and life altering quote that runs throughout the whole bible, it should be directing our whole lives, but in all honesty, it doesn’t describe me at the moment. This is the quote that I thought we could use as a basis for rekindling our first love as it covers all aspects of who we are. 

What are some practical ways that you can rekindle your love for God and love him with all of your heart, your soul, your strength and your mind? How can we make this quote a reality in our lives and follow this most important commandment?

HEART

How can we love God with all our heart? Our heart is the core of our being and all our emotions. So that’s the first way we are supposed to love God, with all our emotions, thoughts and yearnings that come from the very core parts of who you are inside. 

·      Showing love to others

·      Comfort boxes

·      Acts of service

·      Phone calls and conversations of love and support

·      Allowing God into our heart and letting him be part of who you are

·      Thinking like God and Jesus and showing his love to others

·      Talk to God about where you are, your fears, your doubts and anything you need to talk to him about. 

·      Do as God asks, keep his commandments. 

SOUL

How can we love God with all of our soul? Our soul is what makes us alive and fuels our passions and is a lot to do with our emotions. Love God with everything that makes us alive. 

·      Mindful readings

·      Make it part of who we are

·      Mediation

·      Hang out with people who are like Jesus

·      Spend time with God in his presence – shut the noise around you and make it a quite place to talk to God and have a relationship with him. 

·      Character – pursue holiness, godliness and purity and overcome the negative aspects of our character.

STRENGTH

How can we love God with all of our strength? It means that we express our love for God via our physical body and use it to worship him. Clap our hands, bow down in worship, lift up our hands and praise his name with dancing. Physically express how much we love God – we kneel before him, lie prostrate before him and lift our hands in worship. 

·      Fight sin

·      Physically help others; working bees, cleaning

·      Visiting people in need

MIND

How can we love God with all of our mind? Our mind is our intellect, our ability to process information and derive meaning from it. It’s about knowledge, wisdom, truth and how to communicate that. So loving God with our mind means that we speak about him in speech and actions. 

·      Mediation

·      Thoughts focused on God

·      Fighting sin

·      Photos of motivational quotes on phones/screen

·      Prayer

·      Study the bible

·      Preaching

SUMMARY

God knows that sometimes our love for him fades; we get distracted with life and sometimes forget how big God should be in our lives. But he asks us to rekindle our fire for him, to get back the love that we once had, to develop a crazy, life altering, God serving, Jesus following version of ourselves. He has directed us to love him with all of our Heart, Soul, Strength and Mind and that if we can do this, if we can love him because he first loved us, then we will be saved and be able to be part of something a whole lot bigger than ourselves – the amazing kingdom. So put into action at least one thing from each of the 4 areas of ourselves and serve him and love him with all of our being. 

In The Good Times

So, there’s been a lot of sport on recently. We’ve had 4 weeks of the World Cup overlapping with 2 weeks of Wimbledon. Ironically, of course, the more sport there is on telly the less exercise I get because I am sat there glued to the screen.

One thing I have noticed over all my years of experience in watching other people run about is that there are two types of celebration that stand out for me. One is the arrogant, I-have-just-done-something-amazing, you-all-wish-you-were- me celebration done by people like Ronaldo and Usain Bolt. Now they are, arguably, the best two athletes the world has ever seen but everyone knows that they would be a nightmare to manage and just super annoying to be acquainted with.

The other is the type of player and celebration is the ones who acknowledge God when they score a goal or win a match. Some of them will point to the heavens, some will cross themselves, some will get on their knees and kiss the ground. The first thing that Djokovic did when he won the Men’s Singles Final at Wimbledon was to raise two hands and point to the sky in obvious acknowledgment of God. Having done this, they then hug their team mates or their coaching staff. They then acknowledge the crowd. The overall sense you have is that these players know how fortunate they are and that they couldn’t be where they are without outside support.

I am always impressed with these athletes. Despite having the world’s praise lavished upon them, despite having millions of dollars thrown at them, despite achieving the most celebrated prizes that everybody else can only dream about, they have the conviction to remember a higher power even though they have just achieved an incredible personal goal.

When talking about our relationship with God we tend to focus on how we should rely on God when we are at rock bottom. How we should stay strong and keep the faith when things are going badly. Maybe we don’t often focus on what our relationship with God should be if and when we are at the top of our game, when everything’s going better than expected.

In Luke 17: 11-19 we have the ten lepers and only one came back praising God in a loud voice.

We can be that one leper. Being a follower of Christ does not make us physically any better than anyone else but our attitude to life is changed because we know what we used to be. We also know what we would still be were it not for Jesus Christ and his sacrifice.

Whatever situation in life we are in, whether we are riding high and all things are going great or we feel low and despondent that life is not working out. We all have one thing to be grateful for and that is that we have been called to be children of God.

James 5:13...Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.

Psa 34:1-4 I will praise the Lord no matter what happens. I will constantly speak of his glories and grace. I will boast of all his kindness to me. Let all who are discouraged take heart. Let us praise the Lord together and exalt his name. For I cried to him and he answered me! He freed me from all my fears.

Israel Bible Exhibition

Why should we be interested in Israel? Visit us and find out! Come and walk through a Bible timeline from Ancient History to Modern times with displays, historic artefacts, replicas and short videos. There will also be some Israeli snacks to try, espresso coffee and some colouring activities for children (yes we have a playroom!)

The state of Israel was formed 70 years ago, but the History of the Jews in the land goes back to around 2000BC starting with Abraham.

Through the holocaust, anti-Semitism and international condemnation, Israel has not only survived, but thrived as an economic, influential and militarily strong nation.  

As Bible believers we see God's hand at work in all that has happened in Israel these past 70 years, and the Bible also shows us what is yet to come.

A 2 day exhibition on 19-20th May, followed by a movie viewing "I Am Israel" and a short talk on Wednesday 23rd May 7pm at Eden Bible Education Centre. For those wanting further information- there is a seminar entitiled 'How Will It All End' at Warners Bay Performing Arts Centre, Saturday 26th May at 2.30 pm and 4 pm. 

Contact us for more information.

A Cheerful Giver

Last night at Bible Class we were looking at 2 Corinthians 8 & 9. There are a couple of times in Paul’s writings where it’s fairly obvious that he is being a little cheeky to get people to do the right thing. Paul uses guilt very well in order to make sure people fulfil their responsibilities. In the UK, there comes a moment in most boys young lives where they have to make a decision between going to Sunday school or joining the local soccer team who happen to have their matches on a Sunday morning. Like most Christadelphian British men, who made the right decision and chose Sunday school in their youth, their is a niggling feeling deep down that we could have made it had we chosen the other option! The way my parents made sure I made the right decision was to use Paul’s tactic in this chapter by basically saying “it’s up to you which choice you make but we know that you’ll make the right decision”.

In these chapters Paul is saying to the Corinthians, “it’s up to you which choice you make but I know that you’ll make the right decision”. The last verse of the previous chapter says “I am glad I can have complete confidence in you”. Then Paul really notches up the guilts and leaves the ecclesia little choice but to do as he suggests. Throughout these two chapters I hear massive echoes of my own parents. My impression is that Paul knows he has to guilt trip the Corinthians into being generous.

He does this quite brilliantly. He answers the first objection before it arises. Which is, that the ecclesia is too poor and couldn’t possibly afford to send money. So Paul starts off by giving a glowing account of the churches in Macedonia who, even though they were in extreme poverty, still “urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service”.

Those are vary carefully chosen words. If I was a brother or sister reading this letter and I had complaints about having to send money then hearing about these poverty stricken believers in Macedonia who desperately wanted to help would stop me in my tracks. On top of that Paul is calling it a ‘privilege’ and here am I grumbling.

Lately, we have begun to look at how we (as a church/ecclesia) can get more involved in more giving and more outreach. Sure, we have a sponsor child but it really doesn’t feel enough. Perhaps God wants us to give until it actually hurts like the widow’s mite or to give actively with our hands. Some verses that have inspired this thinking:

Luke 3:10-11 Jesus answered, He that has two coats, let him give to him that has none

Ephesians 4:28 use your hands for good work and then give generously to others in need.

Matthew 5:42 Give to everyone who asks you for something. Don’t turn anyone away who wants to borrow something from you.

1 Tim 6:18 Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share

Heb 13:16 And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Gal 6:10 As we have opportunity, let us do good to ALL people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers

James 1:27 Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows

2 Cor 9:7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

We have a few ideas for things we would love to get involved in, but we are starting small with a food collection bank. Anyone who is able to donate some canned or non-perishable goods for Coast Shelter, please let us know or bring to Eden Bible Education Centre.

Let Us Rise Up And Build

The concept of ‘rising up and building’ comes from Nehemiah 2:18. Nehemiah wanted to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the wall after the city had been burnt and broken down.

The call to ‘rise up and build’ is an encouraging rally to action. The words ‘let us’ inspire a spirit of community, working together and volunteering. I like the words ‘rise up’ best of all. It makes me think of all of us, sitting in a state of apathy, trying to motivate ourselves to do a job that has been sitting around for a while. It’s a little like trying to get off the couch when it’s late and you can’t be bothered doing the dishes.

It’s not always from within us that we get this resistance to rising up. We can get roadblocks or hindrance from others. It can be from outside the ecclesia (church) or from other Christadelphians. It can be quite hard to carry on and stay motivated and enthusiastic. We have all had times in our life when we have tried to start something positive. Sometimes you get constantly pushed back or given negative feedback or just insulted.

Nehemiah 4:1-3 When Sanballat heard that Nehemiah was rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, "What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble -- burned as they are?"

You can hear the scorn and sarcasm in these comments. Most of us get a sense of déjà vu reading this; we have all experienced this kind of attack or mocking. Nehemiah doesn’t retaliate or argue back or defend himself. He just prays to God.

Some verses that are helpful when you are trying to get on with the job of ‘rising up’ and ignoring negativity:

1. Expect negativity. People are people.

Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick

Matt 5:11-12 People will insult you and hurt you. They will lie and say all kinds of evil things about you because you follow me. But when they do, you will be happy. 

Psa 41:6 When one of them comes to see me, he speaks falsely, while his heart gathers slander; then he goes out and spreads it around.

2. Think about the end goal

Matt 5:11-12 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because you have a great reward waiting for you in heaven. People did the same evil things to the prophets who lived before you. 

3. Don’t return evil for evil

1 Pet 3:9 Don’t be hateful and insult people just because they are hateful and insult you. Instead, treat everyone with kindness. You are God’s chosen ones, and he will bless you.

4. Remember that God is the judge

Rom 14:10-12 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

5. Check your motivation

1 Pet 3:6 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behaviour in Christ may be put to shame.

6. Jesus showed us how to do it (this verse is my all time favourite!)

1 Pet 2:20-21 For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favour with God…Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.

The last part of the phrase ‘and build’ is the focus. How can we get out of the negative cycle of criticism or apathy? Just get on with it! Noah builds an ark, Solomon built a temple, Jesus built an ecclesia (church). Find something positive to do and just do it. 

You're invited....

"HOW EXCELLENT IS YOUR NAME"

Come and join us for an evening of song & praise

Saturday 21st October

5.30pm - Dinner to start

RSVP 0405 703 804 for catering purposes. Thank you!

Things I wish Jesus Never Said

It’s interesting that there are a whole bunch of movies, books and sermons out there are titled ‘Things I Wish Jesus Never Said’. I think this is because Jesus gives us a lot of very difficult commandments… love your enemies, renounce all possessions, and forgive again and again.

In addition, Jesus says, “if you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

Can we really say we keep Jesus commandments?

If we really love Jesus, we will do what he says. We will visit the widows, give our money to the poor, treat everyone equally, and tell everyone we know about him, not worry about tomorrow and spend our lives as a servant for others.

Here are some of the commandments we are given that perhaps we wish Jesus never said.

Then Jesus said to the man who had invited Him, “When you host a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or brothers or relatives or rich neighbours. Otherwise, they may invite you in return, and you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. (Luke 14:13)

If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them. (Luke 7:3-4)

But just because they are hard to take, does that mean we shouldn’t take them literally? If we don’t do these things, does it mean that we don’t love Jesus?

There was a really interesting and controversial viral video by Jefferson Bethke entitled, Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus. Here’s a section from it.

“They can’t fix their problems, and so they just mask it

Not realizing religion’s like spraying perfume on a casket

See, the problem with religion is it never gets to the core

It’s just behaviour modification, like a long list of chores

Like, “Let’s dress up the outside, make it look nice and neat”

But it’s funy that’s what they used to do to mummies while the corpse rots underneath…

Because if grace is water, then the Church should be an ocean

It’s not a museum for good people- it’s a hospital for the broken”

I find this poem really thought provoking. It’s interesting that often we don’t keep Jesus commandments, and it is obvious to people like Bethke and I worry it is obvious to others who visit us. It is the total opposite of what God intended for our religion to be. Jesus wanted our “light to shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matt 5:16).

If we did love Jesus, we wouldn’t be living how Jefferson describes ‘masking our problems’; we would be confessing our faults, not hiding them.

Confess your faults to each other (James 5:16)

We wouldn’t be worried about our outward appearance looking ‘nice and neat’ but rather focusing on becoming godlier and doing good.

Your beauty shouldn’t come from outward adornment…but from beauty within. (1 Pet 3:3-4)

Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. (Matthew 23:28)

Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. (Matthew 7:20)

We would be welcoming to the broken, not just asking the good people to join our display.

For there is no partiality with God. (Rom 2:11)

If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," doesn't this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives? (James 2:3-4)

Most of all, we wouldn’t be consumed with these petty problems and we wouldn’t be causing people to hate religion. We should be focusing on the positive.

I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. (Ecc 3:12)

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. (James 1:27)

So this week, let’s try aim to be better at taking Jesus’ commandments literally, to be more welcoming and giving, to be more forgiving and ultimately, to be more like God.