RevWrites - August 2

Last week I asked to join me in praying. Did you?

Do you remember what I asked you to join me in praying about?

I asked you to join me in asking God to guide us into the next stage of life at NAC. So what happened? Well, life happened. Normal life happened this week. Many of you got caught up in it. And perhaps you really didn’t get around to asking God to guide us.

I understand how life gobbles us up. We got called to the Central Coast on Friday afternoon because Robyn’s dad had a fall and they didn’t want him left alone overnight. That used up 24 hours. On Sunday I preached three times and helped our son and daughter-in-law dig out some trees in the afternoon. On Monday we received a call that a friend’s father had died. I took the mother to the airport to fly to her family home in the country and we looked after the husband and children for a couple of days. On Wednesday we attended the funeral of Anna’s grandmother. In the end, it took up most of the day.

This morning, Thursday, I feel tired and I have headache. Little wonder! Like you, I know what life feels like.

But some of you, despite life, will have prayed along with me for the future of NAC. Some of you who prayed will have done so because you’re disciplined. Self discipline seems to have almost died out. But it hasn’t completely and some of you will have prayed as I asked.

Some of you will have prayed because you’re excited about the future of NAC. Asking questions like: Why has God built a church like NAC on the door step of the City of Parramatta? gets you going. Ideas like: We have strong families at NAC and plenty of schools in the area make you start to imagine. So you started to pray.

Please keep on asking our Father to guide us as we think about the next stage of life at NAC (that’s Northmead Anglican Churches which includes WHAC and Woodberry).

The Parish Leadership Team has begun exploring this question. We’ve begun by reviewing the Makeover. Some parts of the Makeover have gone really well. Have a look at WHAC for example! Check out 6.45!! Both 9.00 and 5.00 are growing!!! There’s been growth in discipling. Once again we’ve seen that NAC is able to change and grow. Our ability to change is a clear mark of God's presence and enabling.

We must build on the changes and growth brought about by the Makeover. The question is how? We exist to see the gospel communicated effectively to as many people who don’t know Jesus as we can. We exist to see those who know Jesus grow in their faithfulness to him. Those two things are inextricably linked.

Now we must explore how we will achieve both those things in bigger and better ways for the next few years. After all, God is giving us growth for a reason!

So, what will we look like in five years’ time? Ten years? And how will we get there?

Join with me, in spite of life, in asking our Father to guide us into the next stage of life at NAC.

200 words on... Does God bless everyone?

I met up with a friend the other day who said to me ‘God can’t exist since there are some people who are so blessed and some who are so clearly not’.

I totally get the question. Just looking at some of these news headings from today makes me really depressed about our world.

Found dead with her foetus cut out of her womb

Ex-navy sailor jailed over man's rape

Man jailed for slitting partner's throat

Two bodies found in irrigation channel

Toddler and baby found alive in rubbish bin

There were lots of things I could say to my friend. The world is messed up because of sin. Jesus deals with the problem of sin and points us to a new reality.

What I didn’t think to say is that God in reality blesses us all. He gives life to all. He gives breath to all. The fact that there is any blessing is because of him.

I’ve been reflecting on Psalm 145 this week.

 9 The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made….17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made.

Isn’t this a great thing to remind our friends?

200 words on … our passion

I was on a crusader camp last week, which was a joy to lead on and praise God for the great things he did. Our fireside topic was ‘the thing I’m most passionate about is…’. On Wednesday night we had a couple come and visit camp who are preparing to go to India to work at a Jesus Ashram. They have always loved hippies and travelers. They’ve spent the last few years going to festivals, meeting these people and loving them and seeking to share Jesus with them. They never thought they’d end up overseas but God does amazing things in life!

Their challenge to us was – what’s your passion and how can you use it to serve Jesus? They’re doing something that is unusual yet so simple. They love travelers so they’re going to a place where travelers are, who are seeking spiritual truth, and they’re going to tell them about Jesus.

I’m challenged to think about us in our city and what our passion is. How can we use that passion to serve Jesus and tell people about him? Is it coffee drinking, the live music scene, dance classes, sport… what is our passion and how can we use it for God’s kingdom?

Sundays@645 July/Aug/Sept Rosters

Please email or ring Troy Munns with any changes

Our Prayer Points from Sunday

• Thanks that God has saved us Through Jesus - Pray that we will listen to Jesus and have our lives shaped by him and not the world.
• James H and Emma Engaged - give thanks and pray for them.
• James D and Charlotte Engaged - give thanks and pray for them.
• Tara – Neighbour’s family.
• Rebecca – (Sudanese Family) Give thanks for the connect group that spent time with them last weekend and pray for more opportunities to love them.
• James Frank – Big exam this week.
• Club Reg Camp – Please pray for the week, especially for Sam G, Ben K, Alexis & Dan T as they speak. Ask God to change lives.
• Kate F – Please pray for her Uni friend in hospital.
• Louise James – Give thanks for her Aunty being healed. Please ask God to put people in their lives to lead them to Jesus and that they would come to follow Him.
• Kate D – Please pray for her and the rest of the Uni Evangelistic group as they seek to win people for christ on campus.
• James H – Please pray for James and the Uni Christian group as they seek to talk to the International Students on exchange about Jesus.
• Mark G – Thanks for the Kids he was able to lead on Crusader Camp last week. Please ask God to use Crusaders to bring many to follow Christ.

loving the black and white

200 words on… to climb or not to climb

I was on holidays last week in Uluru. It was incredible to see another part of God’s creation - everything is majestically beautiful.

My friend and I had an ethical dilemma while we were there watching the sunrise – do we climb the rock? Yesterday I was reading this article about how they are planning on closing the climb for good.

As a follower of Jesus I don’t believer in any spiritual significance of the rock. I believe God owns it and he put it there – so it doesn’t belong to any people first and foremost.

But I decided not to climb. It just didn’t sit right to blatantly disrespect those people. I felt to climb would say I didn’t love them. I also thought that it’s a good chance to witness to others a different reason not to climb.

The argument that it’s like people crawling over Jesus tomb (that my non-Christian friend put to me this morning) isn’t right. . The time for special spiritual places is over as we have the Spirit of Christ in us. But the age is the Spirit is about loving others. What would you have done? (I’d be interested to hear!)

RevWrites - July 12

Does God have a check list? Last week I suggested a list we could look at in order to see if we might be in danger of “falling away from the living God.” I suggested some things in your life to look at that are good warning signs.

Somebody asked me if the list was merely works and it would be good to ask if we “loved God and loved our neighbour.” It is a good question and worth some time to think about.

There’s no doubt that we’re “not saved by works, so none can boast.” We come to Christ on the basis of his saving work alone through faith alone.

Now that we belong to Christ we are to live as his disciples. We are to love God and love our neighbour. But what does that love look like? Several times I have met women who were abused by their husbands. Sometimes very badly. I was amazed that on each occasion they protested that their husband loved them.

I still struggle to see how a husband could really love his wife and beat her regularly. I don’t think that he loves her. At least, not in the way I see love.

So love must be defined. Our world defines love in many different ways. So we need to turn to the word of God for our definition. Obviously, 1 Corinthians 13 is a good place to start. There we read about the character of love, primarily God's love.

Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me you will do what I command you.” Clearly, Jesus taught that love is something that leads to action. While the world might see love in terms of emotion, Jesus sees it in terms of action. Obedience is love in action.

In that case it is wise to have a good look at what we do. Not a vague look but a good look with our Bibles in our hands. So money, generosity, listening to God, talking to God, ministry, witness, church, small group and our continuing spiritual growth are all good things to look at.

So let me ask you: Did you do the check list last week? I provided it to you in my role as a watchman, as one who must give an account (Heb. 13:17). You know what my fear is? So often in the Christian life it is those who are going OK that use things like the check list. Those who are struggling or starting to wander just simply let it go. Did you just let it go by?

Please don’t be so busy you don’t have time for a personal spiritual check. Why not ask your small group leader to go through the check-list with the whole group? Encourage each other to do it and help each other to have a hard look at how you score.

I think it’s in your small group that you will be best able to see if you’re growing spiritually. Others see us growing and notice if we don’t. Surely it’s better to know if you’ve become stagnant spiritually. It’s better to know while you have time to turn it around. After a while it’s much harder to turn around. Do the spiritual check list now.

Neil

RevWrites - July 5

I became minister of this church nearly twenty years ago. One thing I promised at my induction (terribly rainy night!) was to be a watchman. A watchman guards something. In my case, it’s people.

I try to guard you from false teaching. False teaching destroys spiritual life. False teaching disrupts and damages our effectiveness as ambassadors of Jesus. I protect you by ensuring the teaching at NAC is sound, biblical teaching.

I try also to guard you from falling away from Jesus. One of the most tragic experiences for ministers of the gospel is to see believers fall away from Christ. In my experience, no Christian ever wakes up one morning and decides to stop following Christ. It’s always a process. And the process is almost always imperceptible. No one notices until it’s too late.

So let me give you some warning signs. You owe it to yourself to check off this list fairly regularly. (Put a ü where you’re OK and a û where you’re not OK.)

q           Money. Jesus taught that how you spend your money is the best indicator of where your heart is. I wrote about this two weeks ago. Check it out.

q           Generosity. Are you generous with your money, time and energies? I wrote about this last week. Check it out.

q           Hearing God. How much are you reading your Bible?

q           Talking to God. How much are you praying?

q           Ministry. Are you involved in a regular, weekly ministry that makes a difference to the kingdom?

q           Witness. How often do you tell people about Jesus?

q           Church. We all miss church sometimes, even me! But 2 out of 4 or 3 out of 4 at church is a good indicator that things need review.

q           Small Group. Many of our small groups meet fortnightly. To miss one means you go a month without meeting with your group. To miss a few a year without really caring about it is another indicator. Does your small group help you be more accountable to Christ?

q           Are you growing as a Christian? I think this is the hard one and perhaps the most important one. You can tick all the above and still not be growing as a believer. It’s possible for ministers not to grow and they don’t have many of the life pressures that most of you have. So how do I check that I’m growing? It’s a subtle thing but for me it’s working out that I’m doing what I can to maximise my kingdom effectiveness.

This is an up-and-down thing so it needs checking periodically. Are the things I’m doing the best things I can be doing to grow Christ’s kingdom? Are there things I could stop doing to make me more effective? I’m doing this now after failing to do it for too long. So I know at the moment I haven’t stopped growing spiritually.

What are the indicators of growth in your life? All of the above are involved but you can tick them all and still not be growing. Ask you Christian friends if they think you’re growing. For if you’re not growing then you might be in real trouble. Failure to thrive in infants is very important. Failure to thrive as a believer is equally important.

If you have put a cross against any then you are probably normal. If two, then you need to take note. If three, then you might have already started the slide. Repent now! Reverse the trend.

Neil

love the mood of the photo

RevWrites: Generosity of spirit

I wrote last week about making sure you have a system for giving financially to the Lord’s work. The biblical concept of tithing didn’t simply disappear when Jesus came. After he had given his all for sinful people like us, the thrust of the New Testament is towards generosity. Generosity seems to start where tithing leaves off. So if you’re not giving at least a tithe are you being generous?

A considered and consistent approach to tithing is important. Many of us need systems to help us in this area of Christian obedience. Personally, we use direct debiting because it’s a good system.

You must remember that what we all give to NAC is not only used to pay for our own expenses. Much staff time is taken up in mission among school students and also adults. Some of our money (not enough) is directed to missionary support like the Berthons. I hope soon to be in a position to tell you about new developments in mission that we will be involved in.

A NACer wrote to me recently and mentioned that sometimes they feel like we ask for money but not for our members to give in other ways. I really hope that isn’t reality for too many NACers. If it is for you then read on.

The New Testament makes the point that all Christians are ministers of the goodness of God. The ministry staff are here to enable all NACers to be involved in ministry. Generosity of spirit isn’t limited to money but extends to all the good things our Heavenly Father pours out upon us.
We are to share our homes. We are to share our goods. We are to share our meals. We are to share our time. Just as we share our money. In all these we are to be a generous people.

Are you being generous with ministry? I love watching the men who lead and teach our teenagers on Sunday mornings. I think it’s challenging for them but they seem to get a lot out of ministering to our young people.

I’ve seen JGs leaders struggle to attend JGs after having the flu for a couple of weeks. It would be much easier to stay at home but they press on. It certainly isn’t the pay! They don’t get any. It’s the joy of being committed to an area of ministry that God blesses.

Just as we need discipline and systems for tithing, so we need discipline and systems to maximise our ministry generosity. Are you involved in a regular ministry? If not, why not? Is it because we haven’t asked you? Do you feel like you need training?

There may be many good reasons. If you feel like we ask for you to be generous with your money but not with other ministries, then please talk to your congregational leaders. If they can’t help you in this, give me a call.

Neil Macken

Sundays@645 Rosters (July/Aug Version 4)

Please email Ed or Troy if there needs to be any changes
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