CMS is one of the mission organisations 5:17 supports through prayer and finance, because we value what they do and how they do it.
Coming up on the CMS calendar is this event – which we’d encourage non-CG-South 5:17ers to get along to if you can – for thought-provoking help in understanding Islam and Muslims in Australia, plus a yum home-cooked dinner!
Find out more about Journey In Mission here.
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
A few events coming up…
Event #1 – Teen Challenge’s “Live Free Walk”
Registration: Early Bird registration now extended to 28 March. Early Bird Registration (includes a t-shirt) closes 28 March 2010 -
It’d be good to get a t-shirt, but we’ve only got until this Sunday to register. So, let’s get in quickly. If you do register, make sure you post a comment on this post so everyone knows who is walking.
To register, click here.
Event #2 – Homeless Connect
Here’s a short video on what this day looks like:
To volunteer for the next Homeless Connect, May 11, 2010, view the role descriptions below and fill in the application form.
Homeless Connect Application May 10
We’ll be announcing these events at church over the coming weeks. Expect me (Steve) to come and approach you personally about them. More details to come on the blogs too.
For more information on Homeless Connect and to register your interest in future events please email homeless@volqld.org.au or call 3002 7600
During the week, I noticed that a number of 5:17ers had quoted the following John Piper link in their facebook/blog accounts. I had a read and agreed – it’s a wonderful statement of what we are meant to be all about. I thought I’d cut and paste it here for your edification.
What Our Mission Is Not
Our mission at Desiring God is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. By turning a few things around, we can also see what our mission is not – and therefore more clearly what it is.
Our mission is not to create cul-de-sacs, but to spread.
Our mission is not to spread just knowledge about God. It is to spread a passion for God. Head and heart.
Our mission is not to spread a passion for the mediocrity of God or for the overlooking of God or for the assuming of God. It is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God.
Our mission is not to spread a passion for the supremacy of human beings or Western materialism or even you. It is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God.
Our mission is not to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in just a few things, or just a few parts of your life like the time you spend at church, but in all things.
We aim to do this not simply for Americans or Western Christians but for all people groups.
We aim to do this not for the boredom or gloom or sadness of all people groups, but for the joy of all people groups. “Let the nations be glad and sing for joy” (Psalm 67:4).
And we aim to do this not through our own efforts or with an ambiguous God-is-whoever-you-think-he-is God in mind, but through Jesus Christ, who died for us on the cross 2,000 years ago, rose again, ascended into heaven, sent the Holy Spirit, and will come again.
May we at 5:17 church do likewise!
I’m writing this to clear up the possible myth that our fortnightly Saturday arvo sport is just for the jocks amongst us (hrmm…). It’s actually for all of us. Of course not all of us are sporting types and that’s perfectly fine, but what Saturday arvo ’sport’ lends itself to is us getting out and about in the local community (and specifically Perrin Park), showing our faces (and our pale skin), and hopefully meeting and hanging out with people we wouldn’t normally.
Take last Saturday for example. After some odd throwing drills and some decent batting and bowling practice, 3 of us joined in on a ‘game’ of cricket being played by a father and primary-aged son from Fiji. Growing up, I never ever came close to such a scenario, but thanks to 5:17 sport, there I was bowling full tosses and wides with the best of them! :p Pity about the dead rat lurking a metre away from the bowling crease. :S
It was lovely though to be part of the local community that gathers at Perrin Park on a Saturday afternoon, and who knows what God will bring of it through our collective investment and prayers.
(We might even get fit!)
A Chinese itinerant evangelist wrote to FEBC about a visit he made to an isolated village of a hundred people. Upon his arrival, he struck up a conversation with a local resident, and soon launched into the story of creation.
It wasn’t long before the villager said, ‘We know about Jesus. We have a radio, and we’ve been listening to Christian broadcasts for a long time. We even have a church with 35 members.’
The evangelist finished his letter, ‘Thank you for your broadcasts and the work that God is doing through your ministry. I must confess that I didn’t think God could build a church through radio but clearly He can!’
Taken from an FEBC giving / promo leaflet.
I love the work of FEBC for reasons like this story. It’s so cool to read correspondence like this and see how God is growing the mustard seed tree when no-one’s looking. And there are thousands more stories like it – some of which FEBC gets to hear about and some they don’t.
If you didn’t already know, you’ve probably gathered that FEBC does its main work of evangelism and edification by radio. They transmit Christian programs, usually by short-wave, into many countries around the world where people (missionaries) can’t get to easily (for political or other reasons), and miraculously and wonderfully, God causes people to listen and to hear and to become part of His kingdom.
We’re yet to finalise this, but FEBC will probably be one of the organisations that we support as a church this year. It’s well worth getting excited about (when was the last time you got EXCITED about converting worldly wealth into the currency of heaven?!) so do some more reading about them here!
re-visiting last Sunday’s sermon…
Jesus said: And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. (Luke 16:9)
We cannot take our possessions with us when we die. Things do not last, but people do. People go on for eternity (Ecclesiastes 3:11; Hebrews 9:27). And here in Luke 16:9, Jesus tells His followers to be money exchangers, who exchange the capital of the earth (possessions) and change it into the currency of heaven (people).
What does this mean? It means, as stewards of God’s money (Haggai 2:8), we are to be generous in providing funds for ministries that get God’s love and gospel out to the ends of the earth.
Therefore, some prayer points that might be helpful for us are:
Father, could it be that you have raised me up – with the financial assets you have entrusted to me – for such a time as this? Is it more than a coincidence that you, Lord God, have entrusted me with such resources just at the point in history when an unparalleled number of people have such great needs and there are unprecedented means and opportunities to help them?
Jesus, have I over-accumulated? Have I allowed unwise spending and the accumulating of debt to inhibit my giving? Do my spending habits mean that I don’t have enough to give?
Lord, what do I need to let go of in order to be a good manager of your resources?
Father, where in the world do you want me to go, see and participate in meeting physical and spiritual needs through Christ-centred ministries? Is it a soup kitchen? Prison ministry? Is short-term or long-term service overseas part of your exciting plan for me or my family?
(adapted from Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle, p 97-120)
So, some help with GIVING! Here are some great ministries who constantly need financial support:
Evangelism Ministries:
Compassion Ministries:
Persecuted Church Ministries:
And let’s not make this a taboo subject. Talk about money!! As fellow disciples, we need to ask, and let others ask us about money – how we’re going at giving it away.
From the master financial planner:
“I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”
I was pleasantly surprised to read the following little media clip last night taken from this website.
Survey on Jesus produces surprising results
CPX commissioned a survey to discover what Australians think about Jesus. You can read about the results in The Age here or The Sydney Morning Herald here. The survey results can be downloaded here.
The results give me courage to keep seeking ways to invite Australians (of any ethnicity) around me to church. I wonder if even today, God will give you last minute opportunities to invite people to our Good Friday BBQ or our Easter Sunday service?
Also, you might like to set your VCR (or other more technological device!) to record this documentary tomorrow afternoon (for watching once only, as per copyright laws – which we need to respect!) or of course just watch it at 1pm. The doco is produced by CPX: based in Sydney, the Centre for Public Christianity is “a research and media organisation promoting the public understanding of the Christian faith”. I believe it does this in professional, credible, articulate ways.
Life of Jesus
One-hour version airs on Channel 7 April 10 (Good Friday) 1pm
What really happened back in the first century, in Jerusalem and around the lake of Galilee, that changed the shape of world history? Who is this figure that emerges from history to have a profound impact on culture, ethics, politics and philosophy? Come with historian John Dickson on this six-episode journey through the life of Jesus, from birth to his reported resurrection. Shot on location in Israel, the Life of Jesus documentary includes 25 bonus conversations between John Dickson and Greg Clarke about the philosophical and personal issues arising from Jesus’ life and teaching.
Have a blessed Easter everyone, as we remember the incredible outpouring of God’s love for us in Jesus’ death and resurrection. (Aren’t you glad Easter is more than chocolate bunnies?!)