We welcomed Sally Shaw from A Rocha Australia (The Rock) to bring the Word as we started the new sermon series “Stewardship” on Creation.
Sally encouraged us to
- Reach out to our neighbour countries
- Speak out and respond to injustices.
- Put money into ethical banks
- Superannuation that uses ethical companies
- MarionLife - supporting community
- Learn from our indigenous brothers and sisters
A Rocha Eco Church Scheme - worship, teaching, building structures and land.
Thank you Sally for sharing your passion and experience with us.
We welcomed Naomi Beames from Churches of Christ SA/NT Office to bring The Word - the last in the series on 'Ordinary People of an Extraordinary God'
Naomi looked at Psalm 8 and what it means for us.
God shows His glory and majesty in ways we don't expect.
We have a purpose in this word to steward the resources God has given to us - to show God's glory.
- with humility
- through Jesus
Psalm 8[a]
For the director of music. According to gittith.[b] A psalm of David.
1 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?[c]
5 You have made them[d] a little lower than the angels[e]
and crowned them[f] with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their[g] feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Come along and see : Sunday Services 10am Marion Family, and 6pm Cafe Church Alpha (only a couple of weeks to go).
Connect in with Pastor Stephen as he brought the Word on Sunday.
We are created by God by design for a purpose.
Regardless your past, God has a purpose for your future.
Over the past week’s we have looked at some ordinary people, regular everyday people, from the bible and then at the extraordinary way God worked in their lives.
• Elijah – PRAYED
• Servant Girl – LOVED HER ENEMIES
• Little Boy – GAVE HIS LUNCH
• John Mark – FAILURE (ISN’T FINAL)
• Barnabas – ENCOURAGED OTHERS
• Esther – STEPPED UP
This Sunday’s verses …
Matthew 4:18-22 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Acts 4:13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.
1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Connect in with Pastor Sonya as she spoke The Word : ORDINARY PEOPLE OF AN EXTRAORDINARY GOD of 2 incredible women who were ordinary people that God has used in extraordinary ways and both of their stories leave us with plenty to think about - FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS!
Esther 4:1-16 (New International Version)
Mordecai Persuades Esther to Help
4 “When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. 2 But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth could enter it. 3 In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
4 When Esther’s eunuchs and female attendants came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. 5 Then Esther summoned Hathak, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.
6 So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. 7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. 8 He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.
9 Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. 10 Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, 11 “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold sceptre to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”
12 When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, 13 he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”
15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”
Thanks Pastor Steve for bringing The Word on Sunday - looking at Barnabas. One of the most prominent people written about in the first book of Acts.
If you missed the sermon, connect in with Pastor Steve on You Tube and hear about we can be like Barnabas.
Acts 4: 36-37
36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.
Acts 11:19-30
19 Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. 20 Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.
22 News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.
25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
27 During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) 29 The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.
Last Sunday Pastor Steve continued in the series ‘Ordinary people of an Extraordinary God’.
Pastor Steve looks in detail at John Mark - A failed missionary and faithful friend.
In God’s economy- failure isn’t final.
God can use you where you are now.
Check out Pastor Stephen’s message and how it can relate to your life today.
The hope we have in God - and how He transforms our failures.
God doesn’t give up on us and has purpose for us and uses us in the next chapters.
Lamentations 3:21-24
Come along this Sunday to hear about Barnabas at the 10am service and join us at Alpha as we celebrate Canadian Thanskgiving.
Adrian Blenkinsop visited our church at the 10am service on Sunday - bringing The Word. If you missed his sermon or would like to catchup on the service in anyway - click on the Youtube link attached.
People look today at the church as what we are against rather than what we are for. We are people of light. Where do we fit in a culture that is more and more decisive.
John 21 - Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish
21 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee.a] It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymusb]), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3 “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
5 He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
“No,” they answered.
6 He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.c] 9 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.
10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.
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Fishing at night was a safe place for them. Away from the authorities - where they feared for their lives - they saw what happened to Jesus. But they had caught nothing. The person on the shore said throw your net in right side of boat - which is unheard of. But they did and their nets were full. This invitation from Jesus meant much more.
How do we be the people of God as our world is drastically changing?
What does it mean to do things differently?
Catch up on Pastor Stephen's sermon from last Sunday as he delves more into "Ordinary people of an extraordinary God".
Everyone is created by God. With design and for a purpose with our lives. A reason and meaning in our life.
Looking at the Bible and the people who were ordinary and how God used them.
Sometimes we find ourselves in situations that we don’t want but God can still use us in that place. In Gods hands there is always enough when we rely on God.
- Feeding of the 5000 in all 4 Gospels
- It was a sign to tell us who Jesus is - more than a man or prophet, but the son of God
- The story is about Jesus and his identity
- How Jesus did the miracle? Jesus at work
- He did it in partnership with His disciples
- God today is at work - through His people
- Bring what little we have and see what He can do.
Feeding the 5000…
- The needs are Large
- The disciples said someone else can deal with this
- Jesus goes towards the need and people with compassion
- The resources were Lacking
- Jesus already knew what He was going to do
- He wants the disciples to do the work
- Jesus starts with what they have - trust in Me
- Jesus is Lord
- God miraculously worked through this situation
- When we move in obedience to God, so much more can be achieved
How can we participate, in our church and community, to pray for Gods work to be done.
Alpha is continuing at Cafe Church until November - come along - you're invited Sundays at 6pm. Each session is a stand alone night, we have some worship, a meal, video and conversation. We are getting to know one another and enjoy growing as we learn more through ALPHA.
Hello Spring and Happy Father's Day for last Sunday.
Catchup on last Sunday’s sermon with Pastor Stephen’s new sermon series ‘Ordinary people of an extraordinary God’
Can God use me? How can I make a difference?
He takes our everyday ordinary and use for his extraordinary.
Pastor Stephen reflected on James 5:17-18
Who was Elijah? He was a regular guy.
We are created by God with design for a purpose.
What have you made me for and how can I live in it? It begins with a step, a step with God. So many little things that God can use in powerful ways.
Alpha is continuing at Cafe Church until November - come along - you're invited Sundays at 6pm. Each session is a stand alone night, we have some worship, a meal, video and conversation. We are getting to know one another and enjoy growing as we learn more through ALPHA.