CG Schedule

On March 4, 2010, In Uncategorized, By keiyeng

Our 3 Community Groups (CG-South, CG-Indooroopilly, CG-St Lucia) are following this schedule for the course of this Contenders sermon series.

As 5:17’s leaders have decided, we want to make sure we’re getting a ‘balanced diet’ in our CGs – of Bible study (the staple), special prayer nights, socials to grow in depth and breadth of relationship with each other, and serving nights – to make sure we exist not merely for ourselves as a church/CGs, but to serve others with both the words and actions of God’s saving Gospel. If there’s anything you think we should be covering but aren’t, let us know!

For week starting:

  • Jan 31 – Intro / Social
  • Feb 07 – Jude review
  • Feb 14 – BS: Contenders 1
  • Feb 21 – BS: Contenders 2
  • Feb 28 – Prayer (Centrals switched Feb 21 and 28 around)
  • Mar 07 – BS: Contenders 4
  • Mar 14 – BS: Contenders 5
  • Mar 21 – Social
  • Mar 28 – BS: Contenders 7
  • Apr 04 – Service
  • Apr 11 – BS: Contenders 8
  • Apr 18 – BS: Contenders 9
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Jesus is Lord over 5:17 church!

On February 10, 2010, In Uncategorized, By steve.nation

I love seeing the gracious gifts of God used to bless His church. To help us celebrate the 1st birthday of 5:17 church, Eilen made us a cake. It was a very tasty cake. But even more important than its taste was its declaration – Jesus is Lord over 5:17 church!

Sometimes when we look at 5:17 church, we might be tempted to see us as small and insignificant. From a numerical perspective, this could be valid. But let’s not forget who we are. This is who we are: Jesus bought us at the cost of His own precious blood (Acts 20:28). We are the group of (broken yet redeemed) people through whom God is declaring His manifold wisdom to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places (Ephesians 3:10). We are the bride of Christ, cleansed by the washing of water with the Word (Ephesians 5:22), being prepared for the time when we will meet our bridegroom (our great love – Jesus) face to face (Revelation 21:2). And we aren’t alone. We are a local outcrop of the vast universal church. The universal church includes not just all Christians alive today, but all Christians past and present. Many have gone before us and are with Jesus in paradise (Luke 23:43).

The church is bigger than you think! Let’s remember that! And Jesus is Lord over it all. This is why we celebrated 5:17’s anniversary.

To the only God, our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen (Jude 25)

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Upcoming…

On January 26, 2010, In Events, By keiyeng

We’re turning our service leaders’ training session into a BC3 event – this Sunday afternoon at 2.30pm. If you’re not a service leader you don’t really need to worry about this but feel free to come if you’re interested! Otherwise please pray for it and everyone coming.

As announced, it will be 5:17 church’s 1 year anniversary in 2 weeks’ time! The big day is Feb 7 so invite your friends to our special anniversary service which will be incorporating 2 baptisms (wahoo!). Obviously there isn’t a large body of water in or outside of our church building so we are moving church that Sunday to Pastor Ben and Faith’s home at 48 Boundary Rd, Indooroopilly, and we’ll start at the special time of 5pm. PLUS we’ll be having a BBQ anniversary party after the service so that’s triple reason to invite your friends (1. anniversary 2. baptisms 3. food)!

The Women of Purpose annual Bible teaching day is fandiddlytastic and I personally think this year’s (Sat March 13) is looking like the best yet. See the City North Baptist Church website here for all the convincing details and register yourself straightaway or if you must, let me know by comment, email, or at church and I’ll add you to the group rego count. If you’re a 5:17 female you have to come!!! If money is an issue please don’t be embarassed to say so and we’ll see if we can arrange subsidies.

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5:17 excursion – Lifeline Bookfest (Jan 16)

On January 7, 2010, In Events, By steve.nation
One of Keiyeng and my favourite things is finding quality but cheap books in second hand bookstores. It’s like a treasure hunt. And there’s no better place for this than the Lifeline Bookfest (see below for all the details on the event). So, because we love you guys, love hanging out with you, and love buying cheap books, we thought we’d organise an excursion for us 5:17ers. So, let’s hit the bookfest on its opening day – January 16. We’ll meet there at 10:30am (or if you want help with transport, talk to Muz), then have lunch nearby (most likely at one of the cheap places in West End).


Here’s some details for the Bookfest from their website:
What: The universe’s largest second-hand booksale, now in its 20th year.


Why: The Lifeline Bookfest raises much-needed funds for Lifeline Brisbane’s free 24-hour Crisis Counselling Telephone Line, free face-to-face counselling services, and support programs for women, children and families.


When: January 16-24


Where: Exhibition Halls 3 and 4 of The Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Merivale St, South Brisbane


Where the funds go: Apart from giving people the opportunity to grab a great book from as little as 20 cents, the Lifeline Bookfest also raises much-needed funds for Lifeline Brisbane’s free counselling services.
From humble beginnings, the event now brings in around one-third of Lifeline Brisbane’s self-funded income (the majority of profits coming from the sale of second-hand clothes in Lifeline Shops).
These funds help Lifeline Brisbane enhance the lives of children, families and individuals in our community by delivering relevant, accessible counselling and support programs. Some of the support services we provide are:
Telephone Counselling – 24 Hour Crisis Line, 13 11 14, Free face-to-face Counselling, School-based Counselling, Financial Counselling, Suicide Bereavement Programs, Child Therapy, Refugee support through the Refugee, Claimant Support Centre, Domestic Violence groups for women and children.


How it works:
The Lifeline Bookfest is divided into three sections – High Quality, Priced and Unpriced.
  • High Quality contains near new and quality stock, as well as rare and collectable books. All books are priced inside the cover.
  • The Priced section contains a fantastic range of books of medium quality. These books are also priced inside the cover.
  • The Unpriced section contains more of the ‘well-thumbed’ books and is where some of the best bargains can be found! The books in this section are not priced individually but will be priced at the checkouts.


Categories:
Within each section, books are divided into over 20 categories: Children’s; Australiana; History; Reference; Humour and Oddities; Biography; Literature and Classics; Textbooks; Travel; Health; Science Fiction; Hardback Fiction; Art and Music; Paperback Fiction; Cooking; Computers; Religion; Foreign Language; Vehicles and War Craft; Hobbies; Sport; Gardening; Animals; Penguins and Pelicans; Economics; Sociology; Philosophy; and Science.
In addition to books, each section carries a range of magazines, stationary, videos, CDs, cassettes and records.
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Love on Legs

On December 5, 2009, In Uncategorized, By keiyeng

Last Friday night Steve and I enjoyed a special birthday present – tickets to the Australian Outback Spectacular, given to us by friends from our parent church, SLE. We had a great time but no, I’m not going to put up a photo of us in our new cowboy hats – you can close your eyes and picture it yourselves. ;)

AOS

Anyway, I was mulling about how significant it is for us (and maybe me especially) when church friends give us gifts – this one in particular made me feel very loved and affirmed and ‘thought of’ and we were really touched when we first got the email about it. It made me remember my birthday last year when S gave me a basil plant, and the year before that when the C’s gave us both Crocs (shoes, not animals).

Now I don’t actually think that ‘Giving Gifts’ is one of my top Love Languages and yet, receiving these gifts from church friends has been very significant and memorable for me. I guess gifts are a great way to bless people in ministry given how gifts can so tangibly convey thoughtfulness or thankfulness.

So being on the receiving end of gifts as well as having conversations about this with 5:17ers has made me consider how well we actually know and love each other in our church in specific, thoughtFUL ways – such as knowing each other’s Love Languages and considering carefully how we can ’speak’ these languages to each other.

In my experience it takes a good deal of time and careful attention to get to know someone’s love language(s) – unless you directly ask which is perfectly fine too. I know that I haven’t gone around and done a survey of fellow 5:17ers though, even while it is our aim and hope that 5:17ers know we love them! (though the primary ways we are able to express this across the board are through prayer and pastoral care and conversation – which I think are forms of acts of service, quality time, and giving gifts)

It’s all made me wonder ultimately, how well we are all going at loving and showing love to our brothers and sisters. I’m encouraged that it has been happening recently as we’ve prayed together over various trials 5:17ers have experienced. But are we leaving some people and some needs and some love languages out? Can we be more careful and considerate about this as individuals and as a church family? Do we have a disposition to love without putting ‘legs’ on that love? Would outsiders look in and see by our love that we are Jesus’ disciples?

What do you think? Please do comment… but I hope you’ll also catch the ‘mulling bug’ and consider with me who you can show love to, by putting your love for them (and God) on legs.

love on legs

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Respectable Sins

On December 5, 2009, In Uncategorized, By keiyeng

Last Sunday’s sermon application took in a list of sins taken from Jerry Bridges’ book, Respectable Sins (see a review of it here). Steve challenged us to not tolerate in our lives the sins that Jesus died for, and Bridges’ list is a list of sins that we tend to excuse more easily than others even though they’re no less sinful.

We looked at this list again at our Community Group on Thursday night which was a really fruitful exercise, not to mention humbling, encouraging, and bonding as we basically confessed our sins to each other and prayed for each other. But of course we can’t stop there – we need to fight our sin by acknowledging it, hating it, confessing it to God, and ultimately repenting of (or turning completely away from) it, and turning towards the Christlike attitudes and actions that replace it. We’re reproducing Jerry Bridges’ list below to this end.

anxieties and frustrations
discontentment
unthankfulness
pridefulness revealed specifically in self-righteousness, even in a pursuit of theological accuracy, in prideful motives behind our achievements and revealed in a spirit of independence
selfishness with our interests, time, money and inconsiderateness
lack of self-control in eating, drinking and temperament, finances, entertainment and shopping
impatience and irritability
anger, even anger towards God, and the underlying roots of anger in resentment, bitterness, enmity, hostility and holding grudges
judgmentalism and a critical spirit over differing convictions and doctrinal disagreements
envy, jealousy, competitiveness and being controlling
the sins of the tongue like gossip, slander, lying, harsh words, sarcasm, insults and ridicule
worldliness shown financially, by our idolatry and in “vicarious immorality,” that is, the enjoyment of watching or reading the sinfulness of others.
  • ungodliness
  • anxieties and frustrations
  • discontentment
  • unthankfulness
  • pride(fulness, revealed specifically in self-righteousness, even in a pursuit of theological accuracy, in prideful motives behind our achievements and revealed in a spirit of independence)
  • selfishness (with our interests, time, money and inconsiderateness)
  • lack of self-control (in eating, drinking and temperament, finances, entertainment and shopping)
  • impatience and irritability
  • anger (even anger towards God) and
  • the weeds of anger (underlying roots of anger in resentment, bitterness, enmity, hostility and holding grudges)
  • judgmentalism (and a critical spirit over differing convictions and doctrinal disagreements)
  • envy, jealousy, competitiveness and being controlling
  • sins of the tongue (like gossip, slander, lying, harsh words, sarcasm, insults and ridicule)
  • worldliness (shown financially, by our idolatry and in “vicarious immorality,” that is, the enjoyment of watching or reading the sinfulness of others)

As we tackle our ‘respectable sins’ and seek to expose them to the light, don’t forget this wonderful promise -

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

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interactive-ity

On November 7, 2009, In Uncategorized, By keiyeng

Following on from the last post and assuming a healthy readership (!), here’s an invitation to respond with more than just a number.

If you could put in a request for what you’d like to be taught about or interact with in a sermon or a seminar, what would you ask for?

Unfortunately we can’t make any promises, but it’d be great to have your input as we plan for next year…

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for the sake of ten righteous

On November 7, 2009, In Uncategorized, By keiyeng

Remember how God promised Abraham that He would not destroy Sodom if 10 righteous men could be found there?

I’ve been wondering how many readers this blog has – and whether for the sake of 10 righteous (?!) readers we won’t destroy it. Not that we are planning to, but sometimes we wonder who’s out there.

Will the 10 of you make yourselves known?! We’d love you to leave a comment, even anonymously, just to say you’re out there. You could even just number off 1 to 10, but if you wanted to say something more meaningful we wouldn’t object. ;)

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Memorising the Scriptures #2

On October 28, 2009, In Uncategorized, By steve.nation
Man Uses Photographic Memory to Recite the Bible
By Jennifer Riley
Christian Post Reporter
Wed, Sep. 02 2009 01:59 PM EDT
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A man with a photographic memory has memorized most of the Bible and uses his gift to preach as a traveling evangelist.
The Jackson Sun reported that Charles Matlock, 59, is known as the “Walking Bible of West Tennessee” and can recite entire books and chapters.
Matlock said he started to memorize the Scriptures when he was 12 years old. He recalled memorizing his homework one day and thinking to himself that he could also memorize Scripture. The first passage he memorized was John 1:1-5.
But Matlock emphasized, “I want a relationship with Jesus more than just reading and memorizing verses.”
The “Walking Bible” has spent the last four decades traveling, mostly in southern United States, to preach in churches, nursing homes and on the streets.
“He could’ve made a lot more money in his life doing something else with his talents,” commented Jim Essary, owner of a car dealership whom Matlock has visited and prayed for several times, to the Jackson Sun. “He’s very humble and survives off of the donations people give him. I’m very impressed with his knowledge of the Bible. He’s got a good spirit. It makes you feel good when he’s around.”
Source: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20090902/man-uses-photographic-memory-to-preach-the-bible/index.html
Accessed: 070909Man Uses Photographic Memory to Recite the Bible

Last month I cam across the following article in the Christian Post: “Man Uses Photographic Memory to Recite the Bible”. It fits in with our Scripture memorisation plans:

The Jackson Sun reported that Charles Matlock, 59, is known as the “Walking Bible of West Tennessee” and can recite entire books and chapters.

Matlock said he started to memorize the Scriptures when he was 12 years old. He recalled memorizing his homework one day and thinking to himself that he could also memorize Scripture. The first passage he memorized was John 1:1-5. But Matlock emphasized, “I want a relationship with Jesus more than just reading and memorizing verses.”

The “Walking Bible” has spent the last four decades traveling, mostly in southern United States, to preach in churches, nursing homes and on the streets.

“He could’ve made a lot more money in his life doing something else with his talents,” commented Jim Essary, owner of a car dealership whom Matlock has visited and prayed for several times, to the Jackson Sun. “He’s very humble and survives off of the donations people give him. I’m very impressed with his knowledge of the Bible. He’s got a good spirit. It makes you feel good when he’s around.”

This is maybe something we can aim for :)

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Principles for memorising Scripture

On October 28, 2009, In Uncategorized, By steve.nation

In last Sunday’s sermon on Ephesians 6:10-20, apart from other things, we looked at the sword of the Spirit – which is the Word of God. We found that the only weapon we have in the battle against Satan and his schemes is the Word of God. Jesus has won the victory over evil, sin, death and hell. And we need to actively live out this victory. We do this by wielding the weapon of God’s Word. One of the ways we do this is by memorising Scripture.

I’m super keen to see 5:17ers be a group of people who wield the weapon of the Word and reap the victory God promises. Thus, Scripture memorising will be on the front of our agenda for the coming weeks. We’ll start with our first memory verse this Sunday (Mark 11:22) – and below is a help from the ministry of The Navigators to aid our memorising. You’ll want to refer to these principles often in the coming weeks:

As you start to memorise a verse:

1. Read in your Bible the context of each verse you memorise.

2. Try to gain a clear understanding of what each verse actually means (you may want to read the verse in other Bible translations or paraphrases to get a better grasp of the meaning.)

3. Read the verse through several times thoughtfully, aloud or in a whisper. This will help you grasp the verse as a whole.

4. Discuss the verse with God in prayer, and continue to seek His help for success in Scripture memory.

While you are memorising Scripture:

5. Work on saying the verse aloud as much as possible.

6. If the verse has more than one phrase in it – learn the first phrase of the verse. Once you have learnt this and have repeated it several times, continue adding more phrases after you can quote correctly what you have already learned.

7. Think about how the verse applies to you and your daily circumstances.

8. Always include the Scripture reference when memorising the verse.

After you can quote correctly the reference and verse:

9. It is helpful to write the verse out. This deepens the impression in your mind.

10. Review the verse immediately after learning it, and repeat it frequently in the next few days. This is crucial for getting the verse firmly fixed in mind because of how quickly we tend to forget something recently learned.

11. Review, review, review! Repetition is the best way to engrave the verse on your memory.

(Source: The Navigators Scripture Memory Course: Topical Memory System, p15-16)

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