Come to Life - It's Christmas!

What an action packed weekend! Many of our families were away at the Burnside Family Getaway (one even rode down on a bicycle) and part of the Eureka Carols team entertained the Ballarat City Council "Come to Life it's Christmas" party on Sturt st this past Friday night.

On Sunday morning, David J Westaway preached on an interesting angle from the Prodigal Son parable...did you know that the older brother was also prodigal? And most of all the father? Check it out in Tim Kellar's book "The Prodigal God".

Sunday night started the series of items leading up to the Eureka Carols and Christmas, and Blake delivered a hard-hitting message on justice, one of our core values. As the Ballarat City Council is saying "Come to Life"; at Yorkie, we are "All About Life"!

-S. Barlow

IRON & CLAY

Iron and Clay rocked our services this week. The morning service had a taste of what Iron and Clay did at Ballarat Christian School, Canadian Lead PS and Mt Clear during the week.

They then took over the night service. They showed that they were more than just hype, and shared testimonies and depth of faith. The over 40s packed the stage for “Celebration” and then a kids and tween mosh pit finished the night. What a wonderful ministry this group had. Thanks for coming along and stirring us up!

Overseas Missions Sunday.

Today was Overseas Missions Sunday and it was great to be able to hear of the recent travels of some of our people involved in overseas mission work. We heard from Renata Dempsey and Andy Francis about their recent work in India with Sampan and the impact that it is having on the people there. It was also fantastic to put a face to a name with Donna from EARS and hearing how her work is changing people’s lives. I was impressed that her impact doesn’t end there but she has also birthed a youth ministry in her community, reaching those young people who have never entered a church building before.The highlight of the day though was definitely the wonderful teaching by Simon Longdon of Pioneers. As an avid teacher of God’s Word myself, I was impressed with the way he simply took a passage of Scripture and made it come to life in his messages.At the 10am Service he spoke about being a great person and that in Christ we are greater than even John the Baptist and the prophets. At 6pm he unpacked teaching from Luke 9 and the different responses shown by three men to Jesus’ invitation to follow him. How often do we allow relationships, people and the pursuit of other ‘things’ to get in the way of our relationship with God? As Simon said, we must cut them out of our lives if they are getting in the way of God. I would encourage you to re-read Luke 9: 57-62 and notice the responses of these men, and how we too may not fully grasp the type of discipleship Jesus is calling us to.
Blessings,
Blake Moore.

AGM CELEBRATION!

Check out our new sound desk - thanks to those that helped put it in!

What an exciting fun-filled packed day!!! After our morning service, we were able to celebrate in the afternoon with our Annual General Meeting- and over 130 members attended. And just as exciting was the announcement that all 3 candidates nominated for eldership were accepted. Rob Petty, David J Westaway, and Adrienne Howlett (our first female elder!!) Way to go guys!

Here's an excerpt from one of our evening congregants...

Sunday night was a terrific time of celebration, worship and fellowship. The morning service and AGM set the tone for the day, celebrating the many things happening in the life of the Church and exploring further the vision for the future.

This time of celebration continued into the evening service. It was announced that Mel Hill would be taking up a youth internship in 2010 with the church working with Blake and the whole ministry team. This is an exciting prospect for the Yorkie youth.

We continued in celebration and thanksgiving as we witnessed two special events, the baptism of Drew Mah and the dedication of Tyson Mah. Congratulations to Drew, Hayley and little Tyson.

Tim had us playing with Lego as we explored the way in which each individual has a part to play in the body of Christ. Like a piece of Lego, on our own we are nothing special but when we join with others, as we are designed to do, we complete the masterpiece.

1 Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

-E. Drough

PRAYER - SIMPLY TALKING TO GOD

During our service Sunday, we continued looking at our Core Values focusing more specifically on Prayer. In the evening service, Lauren and team led us in an acoustic style worship which was really enjoyable – and I really had the sense that the congregation became more united through our praises.

Tim brought our attention to the value of prayer first by reading thru Matt 6:5-15 where Jesus teaches us to pray. He emphasized the importance of praying without ceasing – “Prayer,” he said, “is just simply talking to God.”

Tim also had us imagine the relationship we had with our family or friends right now. Based on the amount of time we spend “talking to God” each day, how deep of a relationship do we have with Him? Do we show up to our friends place demanding things right from the start? No! Our relationship is then based only on what you can get from the other person, not what you share together.

Similarly we can look at our own prayer life – and ask how we relate to God? When we pray do we simply demand things from Him? When He doesn’t answer the way we expect Him to, do we go away feeling as though He has let us down?

In John 15:7 Jesus says, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you”. This encourages us to get our hearts in line with what God wants, and as we do, we begin to long for the very things that God longs for as well.

An easy way to help us remember how to pray is using this method: A-C-T-S
A – Adoration (spend time adoring God, and placing Him where He deserves to be – Above all)
C – Confession (place things before God that get in the way of a deep relationship with Him [sin] and ask for His forgiveness)
T – Thanksgiving – (spend time praising God for what He has done in your life, and the blessings He has given)
S – Supplication (present your prayer requests before Him, now that your heart is in line with His)

As a church we practiced this method of prayer during the service. It was fantastic to be able to worship Him through prayer together as a body. At the end of the service, we spent time praying for those near us who requested it – and the worship team continued to play. I believe that this was truly a time of bonding us closer together as a family, as we offered our hearts back to Him, and I trust that God was pleased with our worship and prayer.

Looking forward to next Sunday’s Yorkie Celebration!