Tag Archives: 5:17 life

Equip them, train them, support them, and set them free…

Posted by on January 10, 2012 No comments

To prepare for our church leadership meeting tomorrow night (our Engine Room), we’re reading a book by David Platt called ‘Radical Together’. It’s an excellent book about “unleashing the people of God in the church to carry out the purposes of God in the world”.  As a pastor, one paragraph stood out to me this morning:

If you are a leader in the church, think about the individuals in your care. See their faces, hear their names, and picture their lives. Consider how God has written a different story in each of their lives, filled with varied circumstances and challenges, trials and temptations, experiences and encounters. He has sovereignly led them to the life stage and situation where they now find themselves, surrounded by people you will never meet and opportunities you will never have. And you have been called by God to serve them in the accomplishment of God’s purpose for their lives. If you’re like me, the last thing you want is to sideline them to sit during a performance while you do the work or to participate in a program you have created. Instead, you want to equip them, train them, support them, and set them free to use everything God has given them to make His glory known in ways you could never design or imagine. (page 67)

This is a good reminder of my role as your pastor. Please pray for me – to equip you, train you, support you, and set you free to love and serve the Lord Jesus at church and throughout your world. And in doing so, may we fulfill the purpose God gave us in Ephesians 4:11-16

11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

The end result being: 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

 

 

Why does 5:17 church exist?

Posted by on January 7, 2012 No comments

A month or so ago, we had our Back to the Future night: giving thanks to God for the year that had passed, and sharing how we are prayerfully planning to move forward for the years to come. Below is the vision:

We’re going to try and plaster this ‘vision’ for 5:17 church everywhere – on our newsheets, on this blog, in sermons, at our Community Groups, everywhere. Why? Because we want to be intentional about church. We want to make sure that everything we do helps God receive the glory as people grow to love and follow Jesus.

So, that’s the vision. If you’re a 5:17er, please prayerfully think through how you can help us live out this vision (how you can grow as a Christian, and how you can help others grow as Christians). And if for some reason you don’t come to 5:17 church, we’d love you to come visit us.

Finally, if you pray, then please partner with us by asking God to give us humility, wisdom, grace and love – so that we live out this vision faithfully.

A year of sermons in picture: remember these?

Posted by on November 18, 2011 Comments Off

 

 

 

Myth busting

Posted by on October 11, 2011 Comments Off

This series of talks are currently happening at church in the hope that we will bust some of the myths surrounding Christianity and set the record straight. We’d love you to come listen to any or all of them, examine the Bible with us, ask questions, and hopefully get meaningful, satisfying, and even life-changing answers from God and His word.

On our part, we promise to respect where you’re coming from, and not demand anything from you. And we promise free dinners after church! We sincerely hope you’ll check us, the Bible, Jesus, and Christianity out.

09/10 – Christianity is for mindless morons
16/10 – Christianity does more harm than good
23/10 – Christianity is for wimps
30/10 – Christians hate homosexuals
06/11 – Christians are all hypocrites
13/11 – All religions are the same
20/11 – You can’t take the Bible literally
27/11 – …so what does all this mean for me?

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

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

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.

Who is praying with us and for us?

Posted by on September 27, 2010 1 comment

Yesterday at 4:30pm, our first official ‘before the service’ prayer meeting began (thanks to Grace for organising this). As Grace said in her email to the 5:17 group:

Prayer is where the real groundwork is laid, in that we realize that without Christ we can do nothing, without Christ 5:17 can do nothing. So let us gather together in prayer in full dependence in Him as we seek to grow closer with Jesus, with each other, and with our non-christian friends & community.

May I encourage as many 5:17ers as possible to join this group – for the above reasons.

But as we meet and pray, let’s remember that it’s not only us praying. Who is praying with us and for us?

Jesus Christ

Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25).

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:1-2).

Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us (Romans 8:34).

The Holy Spirit

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:26-27)