a photo from yr 11 art, the beauty of the NHS quad.
i really like the shadow :)

Do we have to go there?

It was hard on Sunday - hard to listen to hell, hard to speak on a topic like hell. 

So as some of you ask - do we really need to go there? Wouldn't it be better to start by telling people about God's love and work our way around to hell? 

One of the struggles for us this year with the God of the City series is that we're hitting some massive topics each week. This means we can't unpack all of the issues and answer all the questions before we move onto the next topic. 

It also means that we're telling a story over the whole year. This means we're not just obsessing about hell. We're placing that in a bigger picture and story of our series. So we didn't start with hell we started with the beauty and complexity of God, then the wonderful world he created, then our place in the world, then our rebellion and idolatry and then judgement. And we haven't finished there - we continue the journey of how God has pursued us in love. Season 3 of the series (in August) we'll go to town on all that Jesus has done and won for us!

So we're never just some crazy guy standing on a corner yelling at people that they're going to hell. Worshipping God in our city means we find a way to share all the beauty, complexity, love and judgement of God with our city. If we leave hell out of that story then we sell Jesus short. We're in danger of saying to people - 'you need Jesus because...he's a good guy and he loves you'. And they say 'i'm already in a relationship and i don't need anymore friends' (joke - please laugh).

So I agree we should rant and rave about hell but if we never speak of the reality then we mislead people about the future and we lose our passion to see our friends, workmates, neighbours and family meet Jesus. 

RevWrites - May 31

Taking some leave has several benefits. One is rest. It is good to rest, at least according to the Scriptures. Another benefit is recreation, meaning re-creation. A third benefit is you get away from the day-to-day issues and concerns.

The third benefit gives you time and space to think about the big picture. In the back of my mind the big picture kept niggling away. The big picture at NAC just kept popping up.

The big picture is making disciples. We spelt it out last year in the Makeover. Starting with the great commission of Jesus we want to make and grow fully devoted disciples of Jesus.

Now NAC is good at the second part of that big picture. More and more, the members of NAC are keen to help each other grow in godliness. We have developed a ministry staff to help us grow each other. Good things are happening as we learn to help each other become more effective disciples of Jesus.

But there’s another part of the big picture. We’re good at growing disciples but not as good at calling people to become disciples. We’re not as good at mission!

Have you noticed how the Bible paints both ministry and mission as the big picture? We see it in our Bible colleges. Even the name of Sydney Missionary and Bible College declares both sides of the big picture. Moore College teaches both ministry and mission.

At NAC we’re becoming much more aware of mission. Sending a team to Africa, commissioning the Berthons, preparing Team India and raising support for Indian pastors we don’t even know reveals a developing awareness of mission. Individual NACers who are involved in pastoral care and personal ministry are expressing more and more concern for mission.

Which brings me back to the niggling big picture while I was on leave. We employ people to help us develop our ministry skills at growing disciples. We call them ministers. We employ people to help our ministry side of things run smoothly. And we expect those same people to keep an eye on mission at the same time.

But the growing awareness of mission, the growing interest in mission, the growing involvement in mission makes me ask: Shouldn’t we employ people to help us with mission?

Is one reason why so many churches are good at pastoral ministry because they have ministers or pastors? Would we be better at mission if we had Mission Directors?

So, do we need to employ people to head up Mission, both local and oversees? Should we change the name of some staff member/s to reflect both sides of the big picture? Instead of Assistant Minister should we have Director of Mission?

Now you need to know that there hasn’t been a Parish Leadership Team meeting since I returned. There’s one next Tuesday. So if you see some of them looking very anxious as they read this then treat them gently.

Neil

200 words on... hell

The sermon on Sunday night was powerful. Not just because James was in a pink checked shirt ;) Not even because James is a compelling preacher – though he is and we’re blessed to have him.

 

It was powerful because we heard from God himself a terrible story. The verdict of God includes sending people to hell – a place where the terror and reality of the torment is too horrific to begin to imagine.

 

I was in my usual café in Newtown a while ago and the waiter said to me as he gave me my coffee, ‘Do you think I’m going to hell?’

 

The answer is simple. Yes. But what did I say? I did the cop out – ‘well in the Bible God says that people who don’t follow Jesus are…’ and then I hoped he would move on to the next table. What a coward I was.

 

It is love that compels us to tell people of the reality they’re facing. If I had my chance again I’d say – because I care about you I need to tell you, I think you are.

 

Have we become so lukewarm and apathetic and forgotten that the day is coming and will come like a thief in the night? This reality could happen anytime…

 

“Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Rev 20:14-15

good times with the ladies at equip,
thought the sets were pretty cool :)

RevWrites - May 24

Every time I go on leave things happen at NAC. Really good things! This time was no exception. But before I reflect on some of them let me thank those who prayed for us while we were away.

As I mentioned in a previous RevWrites, we were able to enjoy a break at Noosa in Queensland due to the generosity of some NAC members. Their unit is set on the edge of the Noosa River and we begin to relax immediately we arrive. The weather was very pleasant until the day we left, when “the rain came down and the floods came up.” We walked and swam and read and played some golf. We took some videos but hardly watched any.

We think it was one of the most refreshing breaks we’ve ever had. So thanks again to those who prayed for us. Please remember to thank our Heavenly Father for answering your prayers.

But while we were away some good things happened. Some of them are:

·       There was a prayer breakfast that had many more people attending than we usually have. Prayer undergirds our lives as Christians and the number attending this breakfast to pray is most encouraging.

·       Team Africa, if you can call two people a team, returned safely with some great stories. We look forward to hearing more details.

·       The Berthons were sent back to Ngukurr once again. We were really sorry to miss that event because of our links with not only the Berthon family but also the church at Ngukurr. But we hear it was a really good occasion.

·       WHAC supported the Rotary Club’s annual train fair at Winston Hills Public School. The school and Rotary appreciated our support. I hear they thought our children’s team were spectacular. We appreciate the school letting us hire their hall each Sunday. So we thank the members of WHAC, and others as well, for being part of the community is such a practical and visible way.

·       Team India put on a dinner last Sunday night that fed 150 people. I can still smell the food when I walk through the back hall! Sending a team to India shows significant growth in a church like ours. We need to thank our Father for continually growing his people.

·       On the same night our 6.45 congregation excelled themselves. They intended to raise some funds to support the Indian pastors attending the course the Team is teaching. It will cost almost $10,000 to finance the pastors, most of whom can’t afford the cost of attending. I hear that 6.45 hoped to raise about half of the required funds. I’m told they raised just over $9,000 last Sunday night. It is good that the Lord Jesus is making his people not only more mature but also more generous. Remember to thank him!

These are just some of the things that happened while we were away. Other things happened too. For example, people came to know Christ and put their trust in him while we were away.

I wonder if there’s a message here for NAC? Perhaps you should send us away much more regularly? Whatever, it’s great to be back where God continues to do his marvellous work.

Neil

200 words on… the missing link?

The way that people can enquire and discover things about our world is incredible. But I was reminded this week about the danger of placing too much faith in science.

 

I’m not a scientist, but I do believe that God gives us knowledge in many ways and science is one of them. But it only works because God made an ordered world. So science as a discipline can test and investigate theories.

 

The problem comes when science places itself above God and claims to have all the answers. They have found the skeleton of what some believe to be the missing link between apes and humans. There’s a lot of hype about it – even Google joined the party. David Attenborough thinks that this is it – we’ve proved man’s link to apes.

 

But Science tests theories. Throughout history we see that some of these theories – while commonly accepted at the time – turn out to be false. So all science can do is hypothesize about how God’s world works.

 

We need to remind our world that science only works because the world is ordered by God.  For me, the vast amount that science cannot explain, as well as the vast amount that it can, reminds me of how beautiful, creative and mighty our God is. 

Music Rosters May (Version 3) and June (Version 2)

Please let Troy or Ed know ASAP if there is a problem

so we were out one night and spotted this.
thought it was a cool photo op

RevWrites - May 17

Let’s try a little survey. What ideas come into your head when you think of worship? 

My guess is that for most of us ideas of ‘sacrifice, give up, be unselfish, miss out etc’ would come to mind. I think this comes from a secret suspicion that God doesn’t want us to enjoy life or even find pleasure in him. So we conclude worshipping God involve suppressing my dreams, my desires, my

passions. 

Another way you hear it, is in churches that are only against things - ‘we’re against homosexuals, we’re against Hillsong, we’re against the Greens, we’re against the media, we’re against...’. I want to ask them ‘are you actually for anything?’.

Don’t get me wrong we need to be firm and clear in standing for Jesus in our city. But is Jesus just about don’ts and nots? Where is the joy, the delight, the passion, even the happiness in worshipping God. You see it in Psalm 63. David knows God so he longs and thirsts for him. He even says

‘Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you’. See we’re created and wired up to worship God. So we find our deepest joy, greatest purpose, our most intense fulfilment in a life of worshipping God.

In September the Bible Society is running an ad campaign (TV, billboards etc) called ‘Jesus, all about life’ telling people that real full life is found in Jesus. Life is all about Jesus. Our friends, neighbours, workmates, family will see them. How can we, how can you share something (a thought, a story, an example, a question) of our joy and delight in Jesus? Start thinking and praying now about the people in your networks and what you could share. 

Do you see it? 

It’s not having passions, desires, dreams, hopes, that are wrong. It’s that we’re passionate about, desire, dream about, hope for the wrong things. We worry about our future and security. We accumulate stuff and chase prestige. We let guilt and shame rob us of joy. We do all this when Jesus already holds our security in his hands as forgiven children of God. We fool around with money, work, comfort, making our own little kingdom when infinite joy is offered to us in worshipping Jesus!

So has your worship of God become a small thing full of ‘nots’ and ‘don’ts’? Do you find yourself always against things?

What’s one thing you will do this week to express and live the joy of worshipping Jesus?

James

200 words on... idolatry

645 on Sunday was a great night. It was great to get a fresh perspective on idolatry. It was great to have our eyes opened to the sin and idolatry in our city.

I was on a bus on Saturday and overheard a conversation about someone’s OS travels. 

‘London was awesome, so fun. I was drunk the whole time – but that’s a prerequisite’. 

It was also Buddha’s birthday. How ironic it was to see hundreds of people crowded around these idols and seeing them as a tourist attraction. You could, for a donation, get your photo taken so it looked like you were Buddha! It was a celebration of idolatry.

Our city is full of idols: the obvious like Buddha, and the more subtle…

But I feel like I need to turn my eyes inward. Did you notice all the items on the stage Sunday night? Car, house, clothes, magazines, DVDs, computers… It made me think of how my life is crowded full with potential idols.

It’s not just our city that worships idols. It’s me. I need to come before God and repent of the utter stupidity it is to place anything in front of him –my diary, my wallet, myself… 

autumn weather + going outside = good times
take a look around, it's so beautiful!

Where are you?

Where are you?

That was the question God left ringing in our ears from Genesis 3 on Sunday night. So before we get into some of the questions from the cards...Our generation is big on discussion and convictions but low on action. So I’ve enclosed the prayer of repentance and change from Sunday night. You may find it helpful to use it as you work through where you are with Jesus. 

Heavenly Father,

We praise you that you are a good and generous God

We praise you that you have made us

To enjoy you, to enjoy your world, to enjoy each other

But so often we live as if we were god

We doubt your goodness,

We toy with temptation

We are proud and foolish

We think we can hide from you

And yet you pursue us in gracious love

Thank you for Jesus' death for our sin

Please forgive us and change us

So that we would serve Jesus in everything

And impact our city for his glory

AMEN

Now to the discussion around Genesis 3.

Some people had some questions about the place and role of the serpent. It’s a little hard for us because at the end of Genesis 2 we have this wonderful picture of a paradise – man and woman walk in harmony with each other and stewarding the creation under God. Then Genesis 3:1 the serpent suddenly appears and begins to tempt and challenge this good order. As we read on in our Bibles it becomes clear that he’s the devil, satan. We need to be clear that he is not an equal rival to God. The universe is not like Star Wars with good and evil in constant struggle back and forth. It’s not like eternity hangs in the balance and it’s unclear if good or evil will win. No God is the Creator and Lord of the universe. Genesis 3:1 says the serpent is a created being, just one of the creatures ‘the Lord God made’.

So now we  ask ‘Why did God make him? What’s he doing in this paradise? Why would God allow this to happen?’. We're simply not told in Genesis 3. One idea is that the serpent was a fallen angel who challenged God (a kind of preview of the man and woman eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) and fell from heaven. This is hard to see from Genesis 3 but some people go to Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. The texts give some support to the 'fallen angel' (have a look) but the problem is that both of them explicitly speak against the cities of Babylon and Tyre. They do it in 'heavenly' language, which makes people think that it's speaking of the devil. But my problem is that you kind of have to read the fall of the devil into the text because we have a prior question about where the devil came from (not because Isaiah and Ezekiel require that) So it's difficult for us to say where and why the devil came into the garden. When we hit these tricky mind bending questions, it's important that we read carefully the following passages - Deuteronomy 29:29, Romans 11:33-36 and 1 Peter 1:17-21. They all remind us that God is bigger than us and has plans that are bigger than us. Remember it's not all about us! 

The vital thing that God wants us to know from Genesis 3 is that the serpent is 'more crafty' than the other animals. This means his words will be slippery and misleading. So the devil's game is not to run your life. John 8 tells us that his game is to seduce, tempt and mislead us with lies and the possibility of freedom and power without God. If you look at Luke 4 you'll see this is the same game he played with Jesus. He has no power over the Christian other than which we give him by believing his lies. 

Now at this point we need to be careful that we don't end up in a shriveled frightened heap trying to destroy all our thoughts and desires just in case they're from the devil! That kind of thinking leads to hermits and cults. We need to be clear that it's not having desires, longing, hopes and dreams that are wrong. It's that so often we desire, hope, long, dream for the wrong things. So instead of always being on the back foot we ask God to transform us so that our desires, dreams, hopes, and longings are all about enjoying him and serving him. How do we see that in practice - follow, copy, obey, worship Jesus. 

Now back to where we started. The question from Sunday night 'where are you?'. 

Someone helpfully asked 'how do we know that God's question wasn't in accusation and anger', instead of grace as I suggested. The answer is that when God asks the question he already knows what the man and woman have done. He doesn't ask because he doesn't know where they are. More than that, God could have decided to kick out or destroy the man and the woman without even talking to them. Their sin and guilt was clearly established. The reason he questions them is that he is continuing to pursue the relationship with them, continuing to relate to them as their God. We find this a little hard because we're so used to thinking of grace in warm fuzzy terms and judgement in harsh terms. We find it hard to think of the judgement of the curse in Genesis 3 as grace. But the fact that God speaks to them and gives hope in Genesis 3:15 is his grace. We see in v21 he makes garments for them - he continues to provide for them. Then in vs22-24 he stops them from eating from the tree of life. I'd always kind of thought that this was God protecting his patch. But again it is grace. Imagine if man and woman had also eaten from the tree of life and lived forever with their knowledge of good and evil. Imagine living forever as we are now - fallen, struggling, sinful, frustrated etc. God is gracious to keep us from that and then send his Son Jesus to bring us into eternal life with him. 

James

RevWrites - May 10

'Where do you worship?' This is a question I've heard from more mature church goers in different parts of the Sydney Diocese. Of course, we know the neat correct Evangelical response 'Worship is not a time or place, worship is about a person - Our Lord Jesus Christ'. This the same response we often give to our more Pentecostal friends when they speak so passionately about church as a 'great worship experience'.

But I wonder have we thrown the baby out with the bath water?

Have we actually banished the word 'worship' from our understanding and experience of the Christian life. Yes we know worship captures every part of our life and not just a Sunday meeting but is this just theory and not life for us? Have we sold our walk with Jesus short?

My prayer is not just we'd be able to correct false views of worship but that we'd be captured by the reality that every part of life is an opportunity to worship Jesus - work, family dinner, walking the dog, updating your facebook profile, dropping in to see a friend, doing the weekly shop and so on. 1 Corinthians 10:13 commands us that

'whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God'.

Do you see it? Worship doesn't mean that you suddenly have to come up with a whole new schedule of pious activities. Rather we strive to see ordinary mundane life transformed to worship Jesus.

So what will you do differently in your normal week to worship God? 

James

200 words on… something truly horrific

On Sunday at 645 we heard about sin. Monday morning there was an article in the London telegraph with a horrific example of it. It was about this website… www.ashleymadison.com It claims to be the world's #1 Married Dating service specifically for ATTACHED men and women who are looking to have an Extra-marital Affair.

 

The video is an ad they wanted to show at the Super Bowl. Luckily the NFL wised up and had it banned – although this just created more publicity for the website. It’s been a hot topic of discussion (go here to see some interesting discussions on it).

 

The founder 
says that monogamy is just not in our DNA, that marriage is undergoing a sea of change. The number of people using the website has grown from 1 million to 3.6 million in the last year. Their slogan is ‘life is short. Have an affair.’

 

I hope this makes you angry!!! How have people so lost sight of the way God set relationships up to function? But if we really understand the weight of sin from Adam on, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised… and perhaps we should feel the same level of anger at all sin against our maker – our own and our culture’s… 

waiting for a lift and armed with a camera :)

the colours in the sky are great!