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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!

 

To the Ends of the Earth – BLT+

Posted by on June 24, 2011 Comments Off

Hello everybody!

As advertised at 5:17 church, the highly recommended BLT+ is happening again this year. It’s on August 12 to 14th at PCYC Bornhoffen (the Gold Coast hinterland). We’re hoping as many 5:17ers can make it as possible. It will be an encouraging time away, together as a church, with people from around eight other churches. And we’ll be looking at our role in bringing the love of Christ to the world around us – the title is “To the Ends of the Earth”.

BLT+ is aimed for everyone – no matter where you are at as a Christian, or how old you are. It’s on the weekend so you don’t have to miss any days from work. And church will still be on on Sunday – so you won’t have to miss any 5:17 services (phew, I hear you say!). The speaker is Sam McGeown!

Chat with me (Steve), or Keiyeng for more details, or go here for additional information. Registration can be done here.

Prices are:

Early Bird Rego (Before July 18th, 2011)

Student: $75;

Worker: $85;

Part time (Sat only): $30 (no discount for part timers)

Normal Rego (After July 18th, 2011)

Student: $85

Worker: $95

Part time (Sat only): $30

P.S. Payment is by electronic payment only either with PayPal or Electronic Funds Transfer which is on the web form when you register. Keep in mind Paypal charges some additional hidden costs (+ around $2) so we recommend you to transfer your funds electronically to save on that $2.

Praying for Japan

Posted by on June 24, 2011 1 comment

A couple of weeks ago, we launched our focus on Japan at 5:17 church. To help you in your prayers, I have put together a prayer for Japan, the Church Missionary Society (CMS), the Hughes (who we are supporting to go to Japan to work with university students) as well as us as a church. The prayer for CMS as well as other mission focused prayer can be found here. The bulk of the prayer below comes from CRASH, a network of Christian ministries responding to the disaster with Christ’s love.

Print it out, stick it next to your bed / computer / bathroom mirror etc – and pray! God knows Japan needs our prayer!

God of love, whose will it is that everyone should be saved, bless the Church Missionary Society and those who have gone out in its fellowship to preach, to teach and to heal. Guard, guide and use them; raise up more people in your worldwide church to pray and to work, to care and to understand, to give to you and to go for you, that your church may grow, your will be done, your kingdom come, and your glory be revealed: through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen

Father, we cry for mercy for Japan.

We recently heard that over 23 000 have been declared dead from the earthquake and tsunami. We mourn with Japan. And we ask your hand of comfort and peace on those who‘ve lost their loved ones.

We pray that the public shelter temporarily housing the hundreds of thousands of homeless will be a safe place for people to rest and recover.

We pray for the workers who were unable to rescue all of the people under their care. Many of them are struggling with intense feelings of guilt. We pray you to bring them peace.

We pray for the government and other relief workers who have worked so hard in the past few months, and seen horrors that no one could be prepared for. We pray for them as they deal with the emotional impact of having to respond to a disaster of this magnitude. We pray also for continued stamina and determination for relief workers, as there’s still so much work to be done.

Father, we know that suicide has been a very serious problem in Japan for years, and with the added horror of this disaster and all its repercussions, many more people in the months and years to come may attempt to end their own lives. Pray for these people, that you would intervene… and give them hope.

We also pray for wisdom and strength for those who are struggling to get the nuclear crisis under control, and for the workers who are risking their lives to prevent this situation from worsening.

Pray for the Japanese economy, for which the outlook was grim even before this disaster.

Many people’s jobs have also been put in jeopardy by the current crisis. Pray for the unemployed of Japan.

We pray for the government to renew their focus and determination to rebuild, and for petty political disputes to be abandoned in favour of helping those in need.

Prayer for the church in Japan

Father, we thank you for the growing unity in the Japanese church – that division and legalism is being broken down. We pray that this unity will continue long after the crisis has passed.

Pray for willing hearts among the Japanese, and for Christians to have the boldness to pursue witnessing opportunities.

Pray for God to provide the resources for Christians to reach out to those who are in need. Pray for compassionate hearts that actively pursue opportunities to help others.

Pray for the Japanese church to focus on making disciples, not just converts.

We pray for salvation and hope for the people of Japan, and pray that the church can do its utmost to spread hope and the love of Christ in this difficult time.

Prayer for the Hughes

We pray for the Hughes,   as they prepare to go to Japan and enter university student ministry. We praise you for the many lives that have been transformed through student ministries around the world and ask that you will continue to open doors for the gospel in the many Japanese schools and universities. We pray that you will help Dene and Rachel prepare well for Japan, to learn the language well, to be well supported by their link churches… and to get to Japan and proclaim the gospel clearly and boldly… and teach the Bible faithfully. We pray that you would strengthen and encourage them… equipping and enabling them to point students to the truth, freeing them from captivity to deceptive philosophies.

Prayer for us

Please help us be faithful, prayerful, generous and committed ministry partners with CMS.   We pray that through our prayer, giving, and going, you would transform many lives through the gospel.
We pray all this in Jesus’ merciful name, Amen.

How words change lives

Posted by on June 23, 2011 3 comments

I’ve been reading through Proverbs 10:11-21 in preparation for this Sunday’s sermon. It’s an amazing passage – so relevant to our lives today, but so tough to live out. You see, it’s all about the power of the spoken word – for good or for harm. Two things that really strike me are: what we say matters to the person who is listening; but equally importantly, how we speak also matters. Here’s the passage. Notice the positive and negative effects of our speech:

Proverbs 10:11 The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

12Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.

13On the lips of him who has understanding, wisdom is found, but a rod is for the back of him who lacks sense.

14The wise lay up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool brings ruin near.

17Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray.

18The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever utters slander is a fool.

19 When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

20The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; the heart of the wicked is of little worth.

21The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of sense.

Here are a few thoughts the passage has brought to my mind:

  • What sorts of things do I speak about – at church, work, home, with friends?
  • Am I conscious of the power of my words – either for people’s good or harm?
  • Do I have adequate self-control in the way I use words? For illustration: in a golf car, there’s what’s called a ‘governor’ – a little device that stops the car from going past (say) 30km/hr. It physically prevents the car from going too fast and thus getting in danger. Do I have an internal ‘governor’ that stops me from saying harmful things in harmful ways? How do I get this? (more on this this Sunday)
  • Am I conscious, not just of what I say, but how I say things? Are my words nullified by immature or unloving actions?
  • What sort of listener am I? Do I listen to and take on correction and guidance, or do I ignore it and keep going in my folly? A few months ago, a friend subtly rebuked me for what was obviously a poor attitude of mine. I heard what he said, and thought he was talking about someone else. Later, Keiyeng said that my friend was obviously talking about me, and that I wasn’t listening properly. SNAP! It took Keiyeng to re-emphasise by poor attitude, but it finally got through my thick skull. And hearing and heeding the (much needed) correction has helped my attitude enormously. If only I am quicker to hear what people are saying to me!

Proverbs is a great book – and as all Scripture does, it leads us to Jesus (Luke 24:27) – who spoke the truth perfectly, and backed it up with His consistently right actions. He took all our sins (word, thought and deed) and nailed them to the cross (Colossians 2:13-14). He gave His people the Holy Spirit, who is making us like Jesus, in our words and deeds (Galatians 5:22-25). As we look at Proverbs, and as we seek to grow in wisdom, we are to be reminded that Jesus is the one who gives us wisdom and righteousness (1 Cor 1:30).

And through the Holy Spirit who inspired the Word of God (the Bible), we are taught to be like Jesus, in “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). To be Christians means to be loving in the way we speak. Speaking the truth (God’s Word) as well as avoiding gossip, lies and rumours etc, in love, is a powerful tool in the hands of God’s children. As Christians, we’re to be people who know God’s truth, who speak God’s truth, who say it in love, and get in on God’s work of transforming the lives of people around us.

So come to 5:17 church on Sunday, as we seek to know these truths more, and grow in our words and actions, to the glory of King Jesus.


 

Wisdom for Living – the Book of Proverbs

Posted by on June 22, 2011 Comments Off

As mentioned last Sunday, we’ve just begun a new series on the Book of Proverbs called “Wisdom for Living”. Here is the series:

  • Jun 19  Trust (Proverbs 3:5-6)
  • June 26 Words (Proverbs 10:11-21)
  • Jul 3  Friends (Proverbs 27:6-17)
  • Jul 10  Money (Proverbs 30:7-9)

It’d be good if you could read ahead. The Book of Proverbs is a great read – it teaches us Biblical wisdom, which shows us how to live well in God’s world. As you read Proverbs (consider using the Proverbs Bible reading plan here), remember the following:

The appeal of Proverbs lies in its practical concerns and its apparently direct applicability to our lives… Two inseparable but distinct characteristics of wisdom are to be seen: it is both the gift of God and a responsible task for us.

From Graeme Goldsworthy’s Gospel and Wisdom (p.409)

That is: Proverbs is God’s revelation of how to live well in His world, but that revelation is only half the picture of wisdom. Wisdom is not just knowledge, but putting that knowledge into action. Therefore, we must not just read Proverbs, but be disciplined in our efforts to apply it.

But as we read Proverbs, it is sometimes easy to think, these ‘truths’ don’t always happen in real life. For instance, I’ve seen parents do Proverbs 22:6 – training up a child in the way he or she should go, but when they are old, they haven’t kept to the godly path, but instead they have departed from (rejected) the faith. What does this mean for our reading of Proverbs? How do we harmonise the teaching of Proverbs with our experiences? I’ve found the following helpful from ’Grasping God’s Word’ by J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays (p281-282).

Perhaps the most critical thing to remember when interpreting and applying the book of Proverbs is that the individual proverbs reflect general nuggets of wisdom and not universal truths. To interpret the proverbs as absolute promises from God is to misunderstand the intent of the author. Proverbs gives guidance for life, addressing situations that are normally true.

For example, consider Proverbs 10:4 - Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.

This proverb is generally true. If you work hard, you will most likely prosper… [But] in our current world of e-commerce and stock trading, millionaires can be made overnight, and while hard work often plays a role, it is not always the major ingredient.

OK, with that in mind, I’ll leave it there for now. So happy reading, and may God bless you with His wisdom for living well in His world!