Ministers Desk 28th October 2012

As October draws to an end, our Live Light in 25 words campaign also draws to an end.  I hope that during October you have been able to enjoy the blessing of participating in a daily habit of bible reading.  The Gospels make it very clear that Jesus was an active reader of the bible and that he used it to shape his character and mission.  For example, in the issue of the Sabbath he said, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and those with him were hungry?” (Matthew 12:3).  In the issue of divorce and remarriage he said, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female?” (Matthew 19:4).  In the issue of true worship and praise he said, "Haven’t you ever read, ‘From the mouths of babies and infants you’ve arranged praise for yourself’?” (Matthew 21:16).  In the issue of the resurrection he said, “Haven’t you ever read in the scriptures, ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The Lord has done this, and it’s amazing in our eyes’?” (Matthew 21:42).  And to the lawyer who queried him about eternal life he said, “What is written in the Law? How do you interpret it?” (Luke 10:26).  Time after time Jesus used and quoted scripture to help his listeners understand the way of God’s kingdom and their involvement in the world. 

 

In the world that we live in there are many messages that seek to influence the lives that we live.  Most of these messages would seek to take us on a path that is away from that of God’s preferable plan and purpose for our living.  There is only one way that we can stand against the way of the world and stand for Christ.  That is through immersing ourselves in scripture.  Through scripture we are given a picture of who God is and what he has done, is doing and will do as he acts in creation, redemption and sanctification.  Most importantly we are given the picture of who we can become as we are aligned with God’s will in our lives. 

 

If you already have a pattern of daily bible readings I encourage you to continue to practice it.  If you don’t I encourage you to develop and maintain a pattern.  Don’t do this as a rod to beat your back with and weigh you down.  Do it as a means of grace that gives you a clearer insight into the power and presence of God. 

 

Included in the notice sheet this week is an out of date copy of a Scripture Union daily bible reading guide.  You may want to start using it, don’t worry about the dating.  You might find that the style of this guide does not appeal.  There are many other guides written in different styles.  Take a visit to Word Bookstore at 442 Enoggera Road, Alderley and check out there range of daily devotionals.  Another alternative is Journaling.  Through this you read a passage and then, using some standard questions, write your own reflection on what God is doing.  Check out our website for more information and a reading guide. www.emmanueluca.org.au/Journaling-pg23391.html

Ministers Desk 21 October

Five Useful Apps for your Smartphone or Tablet

 

There are now more mobile phones in Australia than people, and many are web-enabled or smart phones.  So why not put your new smart phone or tablet to good use?  Check out these apps to help with your daily Bible reading or Explore group time.  Most are also available on a PC:

 

YouVersion.  View and download dozens of different Bible translations,  use a Bible reading plan, make notes about the text, and share your thoughts via social media.  www.youversion.com

WordLive.  This is Scripture Union’s online daily Bible reading guide.  Three variants are available and provide a variety of stimuli,  including pictures, music and videos .  www.wordlive.org

 

Olive Tree.  Purchase and view a variety of Christian resources, including Bibles, commentaries, maps, study guides, etc.  www.olivetree.com

 

 

Logos.  Purchase and access a wide range of theological texts and commentaries.  www.logos.com

 

 

Read a book.  No, this is not the name of an app.  But there are heaps of great Christian e-books available via the online book providers to help you grow in your faith.

 

Check out the Church website, www.emmanueluca.org.au .  There is some information on daily Bible reading and journaling.  We are continually uploading new resources, and links to other web based resources.  You might also like to check out the Bible Society’s Live Light in 25 Words campaign site, which has a significant amount of material, including some great talks by prominent Christians.  25words.biblesociety.org.au

 

Nathan Robertson

 

 

Minsters Desk 14th October

Family Bible study

In Deuteronomy 6:5-7, parents are called to impress the hearts of their children with love for God. How can we possibly do this? God tells us to begin by talking as a family about God and His Word. Family bible study deepens and strengthens family relationships. Family bible study provides an opportunity for parents to take the lead in passing faith to their children and for the whole family together to grow as His disciples.

 

But where do you begin with family bible study? The hardest part of starting something is just that – starting! Here are some tips that might work for you:

* Discuss starting a bible study time with your family. Talk about the points below so everyone knows what is expected.

* Make this a priority in your family life and be consistent – stick with the same day and time, and start and finish at an agreed time.

* Agree together that this time is to be kept free of family complaints and arguments.

* Start small – don’t plan an hour long session with everything included! Go for a short time at first and build up according to the ages and stages of your children.

* Find a time and place that works best for your family – after dinner, first thing in the morning, or all snuggled up on the couch together.  Relax together and be natural!

* Share highs and lows with each other – ask each other “What was a high point of your day today?” then offer up a quick prayer, thanking God for all those things. Then say, “What about our lows? What were the hard parts of your day?” Again share with each other and then pray for God’s help with those difficult things.

* Read a small portion of the bible – maybe just a verse, a paragraph, a section. One person could read it out loud, or take it in turns – whatever works for your family.

* Ask questions such as, “What do you think that means?” “How does that apply to our life?”

* Offer a simple prayer thanking God for His word and then finish by thanking everyone for listening and taking part.

Sometimes our children will ask a tricky question and we don’t know what to say. That’s ok– you don’t need to know all the answers. You can say, “Great question! I don’t know the answer to that one! What do you think? Let’s see if we can find out more together…”

So give family bible study a go! This is your chance to share God’s love with your family, in a way that all members can take part, understand and enjoy. Have fun as you grow as God’s disciples!

 

Ministers Desk 7th October

This week has marked the first week of our Live Light in 25 words campaign.  Live Light is a campaign that encourages us all to develop or maintain a discipline of daily bible readings.  There are people in our congregation who have for many years read their bible daily.  In doing this they have been blessed by God with peace and certainty.  They have been given guidance in how to live and have allowed the reality of God’s kingdom to grow bigger and larger in their lives.

 

For all of us who have developed this daily habit it has not come easily.  Experts say that we have to deliberately work at do something regularly for 4 to 6 weeks before it becomes an ingrained part of our lives.  The reality is that for many of us we have the best of intentions of developing a pattern of bible reading but other pressures of life (expected, but more likely unexpected) crowd in and push out our best intentions.

 

Recently, when we went to the Solomon Islands I needed to take malaria tablets.  They had to be taken for 2 days before we left Australia, all the time we were there and then 4 weeks after returning.  I don’t have a regular habit of taking tablets, so this was not going to be easy to take them every day for 6 weeks.  Whilst we were there it was easy to remember them, I was very conscious about doing a lot of things differently.  But when we returned and I went back to routine, I knew that it wouldn’t be so easy.  However, I have a routine that I follow unrelentingly.  Every morning I have breakfast, and every morning I have weet-bix for breakfast.  So I built my new tablet taking habit into my already established breakfast eating habit and put the malaria tablet box into the weet-bix box.  Before I could take the weet-bix out for breakfast, I first had to take my malaria tablet.

 

Are you able to combine a new daily bible reading habit with an existing habit?  Like me, do you put your daily bible reading guide into your cereal box and do your readings whilst you eat your breakfast?  We can combine our readings with technology and have the Live Light campaign emailed to you every day, or you can like it on Facebook of there is an app that you can download to your smartphone or tablet.  Do you establish a time that you will read the bible every day, before you leave the house, in the train on the way to work, in the afternoon before you go for a walk.  The important thing is to ensure that it becomes a daily part of your routine and not something that fits in around the other activities that you have.

 

“I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word” (Ps 119:15, 16).

 

A revamped website has a page for daily bible reading and journaling.  It contains suggestions on how to develop a pattern of daily bible reading.  There is also information on journaling and bible reading guides.  Check it out for more ideas and encouragement.

 

 

Ministers Desk 23rd September 2012

Today is a great day! I have the privilege of regularly attending all three worship services here at Emmanuel. In doing this I can honestly say that I have come to appreciate the different ways all three services help me to come before the presence of God. We are a diverse congregation so it’s no surprise there is a variety in our preference of worship styles.

It’s ok to feel more comfortable worshiping in one service over another but it’s really important that from time to time we gather together, as a whole community to worship God in one time and place. When we do this we are reminded that ultimately worship is not so much about what we do but why we do it.

In our purpose we have identified worship (Exalt) as an important part of growing as disciples of Jesus Christ. William H. Willimon is someone who I have found to be very helpful in articulating the nature and purpose of worship. Here is some of what he has to say;

The Christian faith is a matter of God’s offer of love in Christ and our response to that love. We respond to God’s love with our loving acts of service toward those in need in the church and in the world. And yet we respond to God’s love, not only by loving deeds of service to others, but also by simply doing the things we do for God because God is God and we are God’s children. We are called not simply to obey God but also to glorify God. Above all, we are called to enjoy God. We are called to worship.

Love is not love if it is simply a matter of obeying rules, running errands, and performing duties. Some things we do just because we enjoy being in the presence of our loved one. So we sing songs, write poetry, dance, clap our hands, share food, or simply prop up our feet and do nothing but enjoy being with one another. In these purposeless moments of sheer enjoyment, we come very close to what love is all about.

If someone asked a Christian, “What’s the purpose of your worship? Why do you gather on Sunday and sing songs, dress up, kneel, march in processions, clap your hands, shed tears, speak, eat, and listen?” We could only say, “Because we are in love.” (http://willimon.blogspot.com.au/2007/02/whats-point-of-worship.html)

Today is a great day because we have gathered together as one body to declare our love for God, and in doing so we affirm our unity in Christ.

Grace and Peace

Harlee  Cooper

Ministers Desk 16th September 2012

This week I share with you the final insights of Gordon MacDonald on how to spot a transformed Christian.  The call to follow Christ is a journey to become ever more like him and less like the world that we live in.  “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Cor 3:18).  For this reason we need some signs or markers to help identify how we are continuing to grow.  Please prayerfully reflect on these insights as they apply in your life. 

“Appreciates that suffering is part of faithfulness to Jesus. ‘I will show him how much he will suffer for my sake,’ God says of Saul of Tarsus. ‘Count it all joy (if you suffer),’ writes James. ‘He has given you the privilege to suffer for him,’ writes Paul.”

“‘Everything I know that's important,’ a friend said to me recently, ‘I learned in suffering. Suffering comes from many sources—even our own stupid mistakes. But whatever its source, the transforming believer does not complain, does not seek pity, does not become embittered. Rather he listens; he trusts; he offers his experience for the benefit of others.”

“Is eager and ready to express the content of his faith. Allow me to differentiate between those who select times to ‘do evangelism’ and those who are more likely to express their faith in the serendipitous events and encounters of everyday life. Of course, both are valid.”

“The transformed Christ-follower seeks, even prays for, opportunities to arise in the most natural of ways to communicate one's devotion to Christ and his capacity to offer a new way of life.”

“Overflows with thankfulness. And that implies prone toward cheerfulness.  Some of us (me, for example) needed to learn the exercise of thankfulness. Our default pattern is to simply receive, to take, as if we are entitled and deserve the generosity of others.”

“But now and then comes along that unusual transforming person who literally walks through the day looking for things to be thankful for. With each expression of thanks, they press value on what someone (or God himself) has done. They believe that no human transaction is complete until it is covered with appreciation.”

“Has a passion for reconciliation. This might be the highest characteristic of maturing believers. They bring people together. They hate war, violence, contentiousness, division caused by race, economics, gender, and ideology. They believe that being peaceable and making peace trumps all other efforts in one's lifetime.”

“’Something there is that doesn't love a wall,’ Robert Frost wrote. He could have been describing the transforming Christian who is mightily stirred into action when he sees those dividing walls that separate people, each of whom was made uniquely and loved by God.”

“It is here that you see Jesus living in others. You see his eye on the one others have ignored. You see him lifting the fallen one, elevating the insignificant one. What an incredible example he is to exploitive and arrogant people who walk through every day dividing and diminishing people all about them. The transforming Christ-follower knows this natural human tendency and seeks God's power to replace it with another tendency: redeeming, healing love.”

Ministers Desk 9 September 2012

Over the past weeks I have been sharing with you some insights that Gordon MacDonald has written that help us identify the characteristics of a transformed Christian.  My intention in sharing these is to ask you to prayerfully reflect on your own life as a growing disciple and ask where you reflect the life of Christ and the areas in which you are not yet transformed.  Remembering always a Christ follower is always on a journey and in this life we never reach the destination.  Here are points seven and eight.  I encourage you to read all of the points.  If you do not have them please contact the church office, or access past copies of the notice sheet on the website.

“Is aware of personal ‘call’ and unique competencies. In other words, ‘It's not about me, but about what has been entrusted to me and what can be offered to others’. The transforming Christ-follower believes he has been given a mission. Usually, if you ask, he can put that mission into words.

“We are not speaking of pastors and missionaries only, but all of us. Part of spiritual transformation seems to include a growing sensitivity to a ‘call,’ something ‘out there’ that needs doing in the name of Jesus.

“And with the sensitivity comes a capability often called a spiritual gift. It is exhilarating to watch a young Christ-follower awaken to a power given him by the fullness of the Holy Spirit. At first there may be reluctance, even fear. There can be awkwardness, even some failure.

“And then, like a young rose exposed to sunlight, the transforming Christian begins to blossom. God's Spirit anoints with unexpected power and vision, and sometimes you hear one say, ‘I was made for this’."

 

“Is merciful and generous. The amazing Barnabas is our model. We first meet him as the church's best example of generosity.

“We see him taking risks when he welcomes Saul of Tarsus to the circle of believers in Jerusalem. It's Barnabas who observes a fledgling church (Antioch) trying out new styles of church life and refrains from squelching them. In fact he applauds.

“Barnabas mentors Saul on their first missionary campaign, yet relinquishes his leadership position when Paul is mature enough to find his own way.

“Our last sight of Barnabas? Standing up for John Mark who needs another chance to rebound from an earlier failure. How typical of this man.
I wish the larger world of our day saw in Christians a more Barnabas-like spirit of generosity, encouragement, and mercy.”