TWIST 2011

Posted by on July 28, 2011 Comments Off

Coming up on October 5 is the annual TWIST (The Word in Song Together) music conference. TWIST2011 is about encouraging all Christians to celebrate, share and remember the gospel in song. So this evening is for everyone, and will be packed with awesome teaching, singing and heartfelt response to the Word of Christ.

The main speaker will be Bob Kauflin – he’s the Director of Worship Development for Sovereign Grace Ministries, US. His influence in contemporary church music across the world is characterised by a deep commitment to Biblical truth and desire to see Christians sing that truth with passion. He wrote quite a few 5:17 church song favourites: “Receive the Glory, Let Your Kingdom Come etc”, and wrote a very helpful book called “Worship Matters” (highly recommended to all our muso’s).

When is it? Wednesday, 5th October (7pm – 9:30pm)
Where will it be? Creek Road Presbyterian Church (cnr Creek and Fursden Roads, Carina)
How much will it cost? $20

To register, go here

K me and BobHere’s a shameless photo of Bob, Keiyeng and I – when we were at the Worship God 09 conference at Bob’s home church (in Maryland, U.S). We had lunch with Bob and his family, and were incredibly encouraged by his love for Jesus, and his honest other-person centredness. He was a great model for me as a Christian man.

Am I ashamed of the Gospel?

Posted by on July 27, 2011 Comments Off

Sometimes I feel scared of sharing the gospel. People might think, “but you’re a pastor, it’s part of your job”. But sharing the gospel with my friends and family can be hard. I’m scared of being rejected. It is easy to think “how can my words change their lives?” I’ve always felt that I’m not a good speaker, or a clever debater.

It’s easy to think lowly of myself. I’ve always had a fairly low view of my abilities. It’s part of my family genes I think. Although I love reading Christian biographies, many of them make me feel so small, especially when I read of the amazing things that God did through people like the Apostle Paul. Paul is deservedly one of my heroes. It’s easy to put Paul up on a pedestal – thinking that he was super human. But I have found so much encouragement that Paul felt the same as me in many ways. He said in 1 Corinthians 2:3-4 – And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom.

How did Paul become such a great evangelist when he struggled with weakness and fear and much trembling? Paul answered this question in Romans 1:16 where he said, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Paul wasn’t ashamed of the gospel.

What is the gospel? – For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Why wasn’t Paul ashamed of the gospel? Because he knew that the gospel is the power of God to change human lives. The power was not in Paul. Paul’s eloquence of speech and his way of arguing did not change people’s lives. It is the gospel which is the power of God to turn hopelessness into hope. Paul knew we Christians are never called to convert people – only God can do that. But we are told to share the life-changing message of the cross. I may sometimes feel weak, fearful, trembling at the thought of evangelism. But Paul reminds me that I have no reason to be ashamed of the gospel. It changed my life. It can change others also.

A prayer for the timid gospel messenger: “Father, help me to trust in your empowering, and help me to declare your salvation to all, boldly and unashamadly, as I should. Please be strong amidst my weakness so that many may believe in your Son, the Lord Jesus, and have new hope and life. Amen”

CMS Rooftop Chillout

Posted by on July 26, 2011 Comments Off

Roof Top Chill Out! Sat Aug 6th
You haven’t been to a fundraiser like this one before! It’s kinda like a café, on the roof, in the Valley, in winter!?! The Rooftop Chillout is a fundraiser with a goal of raising $5000 to help us send Dene and Rachel Hughes to spread the good news of Jesus Christ in Japan. You can pop in at any time between 10 am to 10 pm and stay for as long as you want. A great atmosphere, with real coffee, live music, café style food and dessert, Japanese food (I promise it won’t be ‘live’). 

Video: Top 10 Tips for Welcoming

Posted by on July 20, 2011 2 comments

Following on from our front door, I just came across this video. It’s a bit cheesy, but the advice is well worth a view (especially for our welcoming team, but not exclusively so – it’s helpful for all of us at 5:17 to watch, think through, and put into action):

 

HT: Communicate Jesus

Helpful steps in reading the Bible for yourself

Posted by on July 17, 2011 Comments Off

Last Saturday, Keiyeng and I headed down to the Brisbane Chinese Alliance Church at Rochedale to lead a few BC3 training sessions on ‘how to give a kids talk’ and ‘daily time with God’. Some 5:17ers were there, which was great.

In the session I lead, included were some helpful steps to go through when doing your personal Bible reading. They’re taken from the Ministry Papers, written by Steve Cree:

Step 1: Relax. Sit down and focus on what you’re doing.

Step 2: Pray. Ask God to help you to understand His Word and ask the Spirit to help you to respond in obedience and faith to what you learn.

Step 3: Read the Bible passage.

Step 4: Re-read it – make sure you don’t read too much at a time.

Step 5: Think about what it means: what’s the flow of thought? What’s the main idea, encouragement, challenge etc? What does it tell you about Jesus and living with Him as Lord?

Step 6: (if you are so inclined) Record. Write notes about what you learned and how it applies to you.

Step 7: Take one thought, verse or idea from the passage – and think about it for the rest of the day (or until the next Bible reading session occurs). Try to live out the implications of that thought / verse.

Step 8: Praise and prayer. Give thanks to God for what you learnt, confess your struggle in the issue learnt (if you struggle in this issue), and ask for help to trust in Jesus and follow Him as Lord in this area.

The above steps aren’t to put a straight-jacket on your Bible reading. They shouldn’t be seen as laws – because God hasn’t told us exactly how much we should read each day, when we should read it or rules for how one must do their daily time with God. But the above steps are there to help us get the most out of our reading.

(for why we read the Bible, click on our resources page, and read the top two articles.)

Happy reading!

Are we at 5:17 church intolerant?

Posted by on July 15, 2011 Comments Off

Tolerance: this must be one of our society’s most valued catch-phrases. It’s thrown around on the TV, in the newspapers, by our friends and at our universities. Tolerance seems to be at the forefront of many political and social discussions. But what does tolerance mean?

Does it mean that if we disagree with someone else, then we’re intolerant? Does it mean that we must accept all people’s opinions and the subsequent outworking of their opinion? If this is what is meant by tolerance, then the world is an intolerant place, and I have to say – so it should be (and so should I be). If we were to accept all people’s views, then we’d have to accept the acts of terrorists who kill innocent people as OK. We’d have to accept the actions of Hitler, and Chairman Mao. But this is not true tolerance. This form of tolerance does not and cannot work. True tolerance, can never accept evil to reign.

The world wants Christians to be tolerant, but we need to figure out what true tolerance is. Reading my 50 year-old Oxford Dictionary, the classic definition of true tolerance is to be able to disagree with another person, but still be able to love/relate to them in a peaceful/positive way.

As Christians, we believe that we have the truth, not because we are special in and of ourselves, but because we believe that God has spoken in His Word, the Bible. If God, the all-knowing God, had never spoken, then we would not know Him, and we would not know truth or have any right to say we have absolute truth. But He has spoken: Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2). We know God, and we know that His message is a message of love and hope (John 3:16). Because of this, our message to the world can never be one of shouting from the rooftops that we’re right and you’re wrong, but instead needs to be a communication of the love of God for His world.

Yes, as Christians, we disagree with other religions; yes we disagree with many of today’s society norms, and yes, we hate the evil atrocities of this world (e.g. 9/11, the Rwanda Genocide). We are not to be blindly intolerant. But we are to be people of love, as our King and Saviour is love (1 John 4:8). It is love that should be seen as our defining characteristic (even amongst our disagreements).

Are you a person of love? Do people see you as a person of love, especially when you disagree with them? Or are you rude or arrogant? This is a good prayer I’ve learnt to pray; maybe you might like to pray it with me: “Lord, help me to be a person who holds fast to your truth, and speaks and lives your truth in love. Amen.”

Who do you serve?

Posted by on July 13, 2011 Comments Off

Last Sunday at 5:17, we looked at Proverbs 30:7-9, and the topic of wealth. We also looked at Jesus’ strong words in Matthew 6:24 – “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

It’s a simple saying. It’s like saying that you are either married or you are not married. Or that you have a job or don’t have a job – there are two options and only one can be true. It’s a simple statement that Jesus is making: you cannot serve both God and money. It’s one or the other – not both!

No one can serve two masters! You cannot serve both God and money! It says no one … you cannot, and I cannot. There’s no exception to the rule.

The ANZ Bank commercial a few years ago said “you need more money.” We are often inundated with pressure to get good marks at school, so we can get into a good uni course, so we can get a great job, so that we can make money and prosper, and ensure ourselves a secure future. None of these things are wrong in themselves. Money is good – I need it to provide for my family, for food and shelter, to help God’s Kingdom grow. But money is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Yet the pressure is to make it the end – like another bank ad once said: “he who dies with the most wins!”

But Jesus says that you cannot serve both God and money! Either our goal is God – that we use the money we’ve been given for Him and His kingdom (to share the love of Jesus through word and deed); or we use the money we’ve been given to serve money by wanting more and more. We need to make a choice. If we say we’re a Christian, we need to serve God with ‘His’ money.

We need to consider ourselves blessed not just for my our own (individuals and family’s) good, but to be a blessing to the world around me. This could mean sponsoring a Compassion child for $44 per month, or giving more to church so we can give more to the Hughes who are heading to Japan to connect Japanese uni students with Jesus; it could mean financing a 5:17er to go to BLT+ so they can be better equipped to know and tell the gospel of Jesus. It could mean many things!

How can we find out how we’re growing in generosity? Check your credit card statement – that’ll often tell you who you serve. What does yours say about who you’re serving? Far too often, mine tells me I serve myself – no, it tells me I’m serving money. I need to be better disciplined in my giving to others – because it is better to give than to receive, and God loves a (grace-motivated) cheerful giver.

And I need to keep praying the following prayer: “Lord, please help me to use your money wisely, in service to you and to build your kingdom, and to continually pray for help to resist the temptation to build my own kingdom. In Jesus’ name, Amen” Maybe that could be a helpful prayer for you too?

Adding new songs to the 5:17 church playlist

Posted by on July 13, 2011 Comments Off

We’re in the process of adding new songs to the 5:17 church Sunday service play list. Here’s a few that stand out so far. Comment if you like them:

The Saving One by Starfield

The Power of the Cross by the Getty’s

Lead me to the Cross by Brook Fraser

The Glorious Unveiling – the Book of Revelation

Posted by on July 10, 2011 Comments Off

This Sunday (July 17) we’ll be beginning our sermon series on the Book of Revelation. We’ll be calling it “The Glorious Unveiling” – because Revelation means to reveal, and what we’ll see in the Book of Revelation will be majestic and glorious.

Here is the info on the series:

Jul 17  The Glorious Unveiling (Rev 1:1-20)

Jul 24  What Jesus thinks of His Church (Rev 2:1-3:22)

Jul 31  Enter the Throne Room (Rev 4:1-5:14)

Aug 7  Groundhog Day (Rev 6:1-11:19)

Aug 14  A Glorious Gathering (Rev 7:1-17)

Aug 21  Beware of Imitations (Rev 12:1-13:18)

Aug 28  Total justice (Rev 14:1-16:21)

Sept 4  The city of man is gone! (Rev 17:1-19:10)

Sept 11 The city of God is here! (Rev 19:11-21:8)

Sept 18  Glory! (Rev 21:9-22:21)

The Introduction to Revelation which we are passing around in hard copy can be found at the bottom of our Resources page here. It was written by a good friend of Keiyeng and mine. Please have a read of the paper, but more than that, please read the Book of Revelation – it’ll greatly help your understanding of the sermons and Bible Studies.

Our front door

Posted by on June 28, 2011 2 comments

One of the great new ministries of 5:17 church has been our Welcoming Team. I thank God for Eleasa and the team, who are doing such a great job at welcoming newcomers to our church family. To see the team faithfully manning the front door, handing out newsheets and Bibles, making people feel comfortable and welcome, collecting people’s information to follow-them up and share more about our church… it’s gold!

It’s an immense privilege to welcome people to church. Jesus said, “come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28). We want people to come to Jesus, but part of people coming to Jesus means coming into His family – the church. We often have newcomers in our congregations – people who have never been to 5:17 church before (and praise God for that!).

The exciting yet challenging fact is that we have only one chance to make a first impression! First impressions count, so the initial impact we in 5:17 have on newcomers is crucial.

And let’s not leave this priceless ministry to the official welcomers team. As I said, I think we’re going well at welcoming people, but hopefully more and more people will visit us. And that means more and more regulars will need to wear a ‘welcomers hat’ too.

Have you ever been to an event where you were a bit nervous, and you entered the room and someone came up to you and said welcome, introduced you to a few people and made you feel like you were valuable? It’s a great feeling – you feel like you are part of the group. But on the other hand, have you been to an event, walked into the room and been totally ignored – everyone else seems to be having a great time getting to know one another and you are standing in the corner waiting for the event to finish so you can go home? It’s a horrible experience! I’ve experienced that in churches and never went back.

Well, the warmth and friendliness of our welcome – or our lack of welcome – will be one of the main factors influencing whether visitors return to our church or not. We at 5:17 should be a church where people feel at home. Do you think people feel at home in our church? If you see someone sitting by themselves, do you go and say hi, or do you walk over to your friends? Are we a church family that is closed to outsiders, or open to anyone? What is your contribution to people feeling welcomed?

Have a read of what God says we should be: Ephesians 4:1-6; 1 John 3:14-18; Galatians 6:10; Romans 12:9-17. Remember, all of these passages were originally written to churches, not just individuals.

Hebrews 13:2 says, “do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares”.  Are you helping newcomers come back through the front door, or do your actions show them the back door? First impressions count – so let’s (all of us) make them good ones!