After we finish our current Sunday Bible talks on the Letter of James, we’re going to head into the Old Testament book of Jeremiah. The series is going to be called “Beauty for Ashes”. Although ‘Beauty for Ashes’ is a quote from Isaiah 61:3, it works as a summary statement for the Book of Jeremiah for the following reasons:

• Jeremiah tells the story of people forsaking their Maker, Redeemer and First Love, and subsequently turning on each other. Jeremiah tells the story of a world in chaos.
• Jeremiah shows the effects of sin as it digs the depths of human anguish and pain, rejection, hatred, futility and foolishness.
• Jeremiah vividly portrays God’s wrath at all sin, and the fires of judgement that leaves devastating effects.
• But out of ‘the ashes’, Jeremiah shows the beauty that grace brings forth. New life is created, people are re-united – and God makes a new forgiven and renewed people for Himself, who treasure Him and find Him all-satisfying.

Here’s the outline of the sermon series (dates for each sermon will be finalised soon). Reading the passages ahead of time will help you grasp the sermons better!

18/7  - To pluck and to plant (Jeremiah 1:1-12)
25/7  - The Unheeded God (Jeremiah 7:1-29)
01/8  - Fire in the Bones (Jeremiah 20:1-18)
08/8  - The Ingathering (Jeremiah 23:1-8)
15/8  - A Fresh Start (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
22/8  - Seeking great things for yourself (Jeremiah 45:1-5)

“Beauty for Ashes” will be a roller coaster ride, but hopefully it will be a profound ride, as we further grasp the world we live in, its problem/s, the solution, and the God of justice and of grace.

Jesus is the senior pastor / the chief Shepherd / the Good Shepherd of 5:17 church (1 Peter 5:4; John 10:11). Jesus is the head of the church worldwide, including 5:17 church. He bought the church with His own blood (Acts 20:28), and He sets the agenda for who we are and what we do:

1. To love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength; and to love our neighbours as ourselves (Matt 22:37-39); and
2. To make disciples (of Jesus) in all nations (Matt 28:18-20).

How do we do this?

1. We listen to His voice and follow Him (John 10:4). This is why the Bible study, Bible reading and sermon are the heart of our Community Groups and Sunday services. All of Scripture speaks of Jesus (Luke 24:27, 44-47) – the Old Testament points to Jesus, the New Testament describes His person and work and shows us how to live in light of His life, death, resurrection, ascension and Second Coming. 5:17 gathers to hear from Jesus and to know how to know Him better and follow Him more wholeheartedly.
2. We go to Jesus for pastoral care – to cast all our anxieties on Him, and to approach His throne of grace with confidence to receive mercy and help in times of need (1 Peter 5:7; Hebrews 4:14-16)
3. We pray in His name – because there is only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus (John 14:13; 1 Timothy 2:5)
4. We serve each other as His hands and feet – the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27).

In the end, my confidence as a pastor and our confidence as a church is the promise that nothing can separate us from God’s love, and He will build His church and the gates of hell won’t prevail against it (Romans 8:38-39; Matt 16:18).

And that has made all the difference to my mentality. Hope it gives you confidence to keep moving forward too!

(I know I haven’t exhausted all the things Jesus is for us and calls us to do: feel free to add more in the comments!)

If you are ever struggling to think of something to pray for 5:17 church, here’s a great 8-second prayer that we would love you to bring to God our Father:

“Lord, cause your Word to run and be glorified in the ministries of 5:17 and the missions we support. Amen!”

You can find the source of this prayer here, reflecting on 2 Thessalonians 3:1

This Sunday, we’ll be starting a new sermon series called “Gospel OUT! Living out the gospel: sermons from the letter of James.” The purpose for this series is as follows: for the last two months or so, we’ve been looking at nine of the key Christian doctrines (“The Contenders” sermon series): the deity of Jesus, total depravity, justification by faith alone, regeneration, substitutionary atonement, the authority of Scripture etc. This was what one could call “Gospel IN” – what is the gospel, what do Bible-believing Christians believe, why we should believe it, and what we should fight and die for (and what we shouldn’t).

Following Gospel IN, the next big questions is: what does it mean to live these great truths out? That’s what Gospel OUT is all about. Following is the week by week programming of Gospel OUT. It’d be great if you could read the Bible passages before they are preached, so you get more out of the sermons.

16/5 Introducing ‘Gospel OUT’: where faith and culture meet (James 1:1)

23/5 Gospel OUT: Pursuing wholeness through trials (James 1:2-18)

30/5 Gospel OUT: Walking the Word part 1 (James 1:19-25)

6/6 Gospel OUT: Walking the Word part 2 (James 1:26-2:26)

13/6 Gospel OUT: Words and Wisdom (James 3:1-4:3, 11-12)

20/6 Gospel OUT: Taking sides (James 4:1-10)

27/6 Gospel OUT: Grasping time and eternity (James 4:13-5:11)

4/7 Gospel OUT: Final Words (James 5:12-20)

Event #1 – Teen Challenge’s “Live Free Walk”

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

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)

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.

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.