Dependence on the Father

Life continues to be busy at York St and we are thankful for all the new things God is doing. What a joy to partner with Him in His plans for our church family and our city!

I am constantly amazed by the stamina and devotion of the ministry staff as they work hard at serving our church family with such great passion. Please pray that God will continue to give them the energy they need to serve us well. As well, pray that God will continue to bring in quality volunteers to help ease the load. How fortunate we are to work as a body together.

This segue’s well into Tim’s message from last Sunday which was “Jesus Dependence Upon the Father”. Jesus never operated solely on His own. He only did the things that the Father asked of Him. Many times before and after Jesus was found doing ministry he withdrew to be with the Father. He was often found alone praying. When you spend time with someone you really get to know their heart.

I would suggest taking some time and looking at the passages of scriptures highlighted below that prove Jesus’ deep and intimate relationship with the Father.

• Luke 5:15-16 “After Jesus heals the man with leprosy, he withdraws to a lonely place to pray”
• Mark 1:31-35 “After Jesus heals many sick and demon possessed people, he rises early in the morning to go to a solitary place”
• Luke 6:12 “Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath much to the astonishment of the Pharisees. Afterwards Jesus went up the mountainside to pray all night”
• John 6:15 “After feeding the 5000+ people, he withdrew to mountain by himself”
• Luke 9:28 Took Peter John and James to pray in the mountains and afterwards heals a boy with an evil spirit”
• Matt 14:23 “Before Jesus walks on wather he went to the mountain side to pray and be alone”
• Luke 22:39 “Withdrew to pray on Mt Olives before His crucifixion”

It is obviously so important to spend time with the Father especially when you are in ministry. Even when Jesus knew He was to die, he asked the Father to take the burden from Him, but said “not my will, but Yours be done.”

When we spend time with God our hearts align to what is on His heart.

When was the last time you withdrew yourself to spend time with the Father? I pray that you will find time today to create the same kind of dependency on Him, and are able to have an intimate relationship with Father as Jesus did.

With Blessings

JESUS AND MATTHEW (LEVI)

It has been a flurry of activity around here this past week as we’ve prepared to launch our 3rd Service at 8:45am. This service tends to be a bit more traditional in nature, and we had a wonderful turnout where many were blessed by the service.

All 3 services continued on in the series “33 Years that Changed the World” and Tim spoke on Mark 2:13-17 which is the story of the calling of Matthew (Levi) and how he threw a party for Jesus and his friends.

Matthew was a tax collector. Tax collectors were not well liked people. They would often take extra profit from their collections for themselves, and could change the amount they collected based on the people that they came across. Because of this they were often despised and disliked by the community. However, the benefits of being wealthy and powerful might have outweighed the guilt or greed they may have known.

When Jesus crossed paths with Matthew at the collectors’ booth he simply said, “Follow me!” and Matthew got up and followed him without hesitation. It wasn’t for a day, a week, or an hour – but it was a sacrifice of his life. Everything that he presently knew and valued he left behind. He must have known that despite all the benefits he gained as a tax collector that Jesus had something more to offer him.

Matthew decided to throw a party and invited Jesus and his disciples as well as all of his own "tax collecting" friends. He might have been excited to share the news of how his life changed with all his friends. The Pharisees saw this was happening and were astonished that Jesus would rub shoulders with such “sinners”!

But Jesus replied, “It is not the healthy that need the doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

I loved that Jesus spent time getting to know people who didn’t know the “truth” despite the accusations from the Pharisees.
Tim challenged us, asking if we were willing and prepared to give up whatever we needed to follow Jesus wholeheartedly as Matthew did. Sometimes in our church culture, we forget we’re all sinners and often we can be quick to condemn as the Pharisees did rather than love and care for those who aren’t yet believers.

However, Tim advised us to be wise in our dealings - to be in the world but not of it. He cautioned us not to put ourselves in a position where we might be vulnerable in getting caught up in adapting the worlds’ culture. Jesus spent time with all kinds of people, but he was also there experiencing it with his disciples - his friends and comrades.

I hope today you are able to challenge yourself to submit to God’s plan for your life. I also hope you can be used to make a difference in someone else’s life by spending time developing a friendship with them. This is how we can change the world together!

Growing in Abundant Life

Hello and Happy New Year!!!

I trust that you had a wonderful Christmas season. We are in the full swing of the New Year now, and have started up The Vine again.

One of the biggest excitements over the past year and on into this New Year is watching our church continue to grow and be active! So much so, that as of Sun 14 Feb we are launching a new service at 8:45am!!! This means we will have 3 services every Sunday.

• 8:45am will tend to be more traditional.
• 10:30am will be a family worship time with the Yorkie Kids program
• 6pm service will continue to be a service with a contemporary feel.
  

Please pray for us as we endeavour to make more space for our ever-growing family!

Other exciting news in our family is our new youth intern Mel Hill. She will be working alongside of Blake Moore to continue connecting with the youth and will help mentor, encourage, and lead them in their journeys with Christ.

On Sunday Tim spoke on the scripture John 3:1-21 – Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a man that was hungry for the truth. He was not content to just sit and let life pass him by, but he sought Jesus out to ask him some questions. He wanted to go deeper; especially with someone that he could see really lived His teachings.

Jesus taught Nicodemus that there is so much more to life than just tradition –that there is more than just “doing what you should as a follower of Christ”. He challenged Nicodemus to be born again – to start anew and bring the Holy Spirit into every part of his life - which meant no longer living for himself but living for God.

John 3:16 is perhaps the most well known scripture in the Bible, and in this context has such deep meaning. God sent His Son not to condemn us because we haven’t live the way He would want us too, but to give each and every one of us another chance at eternal life. How deep the Father’s love for us!

In Jesus wisdom, he spoke about the light and darkness – how we tend to love the darkness because it can hide our sin. But He says;

“20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

This should challenge us to look into our lives and see what is hindering us from living in truth. In what ways can we see the fruit of the Spirit displayed in our lives? This can be a true indication of where we stand. Are there things hindering us from living full and abundant lives that reflect His character?

May you experience His rich love today as you ponder these things in your heart.