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645 News (April 7)

END of 645news@blogspot.com
This is the final post of our blog. There have been 305 posts over 2 years. Thanks to all who have read. From next week the new 645 website goes live. All the news for our community will be found there.

FINAL WEEK of LUKE'S Gospel
We end our mammoth series in Luke this Sunday. We will reflect on Jesus' vision for life after his resurrection. Read Luke 24:36-53 in preparation. Come early. Catch up with old friends, meet new friends

THIS Sunday -Barefoot bowls!

Meet at 4pm, cost is $12
We will meet at Northmead Bowling Club on Windsor Road at 4pm, take off our shoes and bowl! We'll spend time together, have a beverage and relax. Put it in your diary now!

645 Article of the Week
This week we posted an article on the radical effects of the resurrection. It's a hard read but worth the time. Read, ponder and feel free to post your thoughts as comments to the post.

Have you missed these BLOGS?
Download LAUNCH Talks
Rev Writes: A final word from Lewis'

645 Rosters April/May

Food for thought: 645 Article of the week

The Radical Effects of the Resurrection

John Piper

Sourced from here

If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. . . . Why are we in danger every hour? 31 I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! 32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” . . . But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (1 Corinthians 15:19, 30-32, 20)

Paul ponders how he would assess his lifestyle if there were no resurrection from the dead. He says it would be ridiculous—pitiable. The resurrection guided and empowered him to do things which would be ludicrous without the hope of resurrection.

For example, Paul looks at all the dangers he willingly faces. He says they come “every hour.”

On frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers. (2 Corinthians 11:26)

Then he considers the extent of his self-denial and says, “I die every day.” This is Paul’s experience of what Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” I take this to mean that there was something pleasant that Paul had to put to death every day. No day was without the death of some desire.

. . . with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea . . . 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11:22-28)

Then he recalls that he “fought with beasts at Ephesus.” We don’t know what he is referring to. A certain kind of opponent to the gospel is called a beast in 2 Peter 1:10 and Jude 10. In any case, it was utterly disheartening.

We do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. (2 Corinthians 1:8)

So Paul concludes from his hourly danger and his daily dying and his fighting with beasts that the life he has chosen in following Jesus is foolish and pitiable if he will not be raised from the dead. “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” In other words, only the resurrection with Christ and the joys of eternity can make sense out of this suffering.

If death were the end of the matter, he says, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” This doesn’t mean: Let’s all become gluttons and drunkards. They are pitiable too—with or without the resurrection. He means: If there is no resurrection, what makes sense is middle-class moderation to maximize earthly pleasures.

But that is not what Paul chooses. He chooses suffering, because he chooses obedience. When Ananias came to him at his conversion with the words from the Lord Jesus, “I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” ( Acts 9:16), Paul accepted this as part of his calling. Suffer he must.

How could Paul do it? What was the source of this radical obedience? The answer is given in 1 Corinthians 15:20: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” In other words, Christ was raised, and I will be raised with him. Therefore, nothing suffered for Jesus is in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).

The hope of the resurrection radically changed the way Paul lived. It freed him from materialism and consumerism. It gave him the power to go without things that many people feel they must have in this life. For example, though he had the right to marry (1 Corinthians 9:5), he renounced that pleasure because he was called to bear so much suffering. This he did because of the resurrection.

This is the way Jesus said the hope of the resurrection is supposed to change our behavior. For example, he told us to invite to our homes people who cannot pay us back in this life. How are we to be motivated to do this? “You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:14).

This is a radical call for us to look hard at out present lives to see if they are shaped by the hope of the resurrection. Do we make decisions on the basis of gain in this world or gain in the next? Do we take risks for love’s sake that can only be explained as wise if there is a resurrection?

Do we lose heart when our bodies give way to the aging process, and we have to admit that we will never do certain things again. Or do we look to the resurrection and take heart?

We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. (2 Corinthians 4:16)

I pray that we will rededicate ourselves during this Easter season to a lifetime of letting the resurrection have its radical effects.



Pastor John

645 news (March 31)

Good Friday AND Easter Sunday
There is a great chance this weekend to remember Jesus. Good Friday (9am) we will be reminded of the cross, on Sunday at 6pm we will celebrate the resurrection. Read Luke 22:66-23:49 & 24:1-35 in preparation.

Sunday 11th April - barefoot bowls!

Meet at 4pm, cost is $12
We will meet at Northmead Bowling Club on Windsor Road at 4pm, take off our shoes and bowl! We'll spend time together, have a beverage and relax. Put it in your diary now!

645 Article of the Week
This week we posted an article by Charles Spurgeon on disobedience to the gospel. A challenging reminder of the command to believe and obey the gospel and the penalties of not doing so! Read, ponder and feel free to post your thoughts as comments to the post.

Have you missed these BLOGS?
Download LAUNCH Talks
Rev Writes: A final word from Lewis'

645 Rosters April/May

RevWrites- March 28

Today is the last Sunday for the Lewis’ at Northmead and Winston Hills Anglican Churches.

As we leave we are filled with enormous gratitude to God for all the joy and growth we’ve had among you over the last 6 years. We have learnt so much among you in that time. From our families we’ve learnt perseverance and faithfulness in the face of busy stressful lives. From our seniors we’ve learnt a genuine humility that puts the needs of others before their own. From our children and youth we’ve learnt a passion to act and change to be like Jesus. From our Young Adults we’ve learnt a delight and joy in serving Jesus together. It’s not like we weren’t aware of these things before, but seeing them displayed in your lives has given us great encouragement.

So our parting encouragement to you all is to keep on loving and serving Jesus together. I know this sounds obvious but in Sydney you (along with all other churches) will be under constant pressure not to do this.

Firstly, our culture will gently but mercilessly push you to settle for a lukewarm Christianity. We’re all so busy and stressed just doing life in Sydney that without realising we have less and less time and passion for Jesus.

Secondly, under that kind of pressure the temptation will be to circle the wagons and protect what we already have. So we work hard at maintaining ministries and structures that serve Christians but we become increasingly irrelevant in our community. They are able to do life without every seeing the need for Jesus.

These challenges require you to be bound together in prayer and service of our community. These challenges require you to take bigger risks and make more exciting mistakes than ever before. The perilous state of lost and the glory of Jesus invites and demands no less!

James, Jane, Jack and Harry

Food for Thought: 645 Article of the Week

Disobedience to the Gospel
Charles Spurgeon
Sourced from HERE

"But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, 'Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?'"(Romans 10:16)

Man is the same disobedient creature under all dispensations. We bemoan his rejection of the gospel, and so did Isaiah, who spoke in the name of the whole company of the prophets.

It is one of the greatest proofs of the depravity of man's heart that he will no more obey the gospel than the law, but disobeys his God, whether he speaks to him in love or in law.

When any receive the gospel it is a work of grace: "the arm of the Lord is revealed." But when they refuse it, it is their own sin: "they have not obeyed the gospel."

It is not optional to men to accept or refuse it at pleasure. "Now God commands all people everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30). He also commands them to repent and believe the gospel (Mark 1:15).

To refuse to believe is to incur great sin (John 16:8).

There is a death penalty attached to disobedience (Mark 16:16).

It is so put:

1. To secure the honor of God. It is not the offer of an equal to an equal, but of the great God to a condemned sinner.
2. To embolden the proclaimer of it. The minister now speaks boldly with his Master's authority.
3. To remind man of his obligations. Repentance and faith are natural duties from which the gospel does not exonerate a man, although it blesses him by bestowing them upon him.
4. To encourage the humble seeker. He must be at full liberty to believe in Jesus, since he is commanded to do so and threatened if he does not do so.
5. To suggest to men the urgent duty of seeing to their soul's welfare. Suicide, whether of the body or of the soul, is always a great crime. To neglect the great salvation is a grave offense.

The gospel is set forth as a feast, to which men are bound to come under penalty of the King's displeasure (Matt. 22:1-7).

The prodigal was right in returning to his father; and if he was right in doing so, so would each one of us be in doing the same.

645 News (March 24)

645 this SUNDAY
It is only 48 hours before Jesus will die on the cross. This week we eat the final passover with him and his disciples. Read Luke 22 in preparation. Arrive early, catch up with old friends + new friends.


Version 3 of 645 Rosters (April/May) HERE
This Sunday: NAC Farewell for James Lewis (12pm at NAC - bring your own picnic)



645 Article of the Week
This week we posted an article Sherry Williamson on forgiveness. She reflects on the situation in Uganda.Read, ponder and feel free to post your thoughts as comments to the post.

Have you missed these BLOGS?
Download LAUNCH Talks
Rev Writes on the offertory bowls
Prayer Table request (21/3)