Welcome to the York Street Church of Christ. We trust you have a great time with us as we worship our Awesome God.

Today we continue with the WARRIOR series as we look at our final piece of the Spiritual Armour THE SHIELD OF FAITH. The soldiers shield was large and protected you from the enemies’ spears and arrows. The Shield of Faith is our defence from the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Ephesians 6:10-18 (NIV)
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
This weekend we also say farewell to Sarah Barlow in the role of Worship Director. Sarah has served in this role here at York Street for over four years and has done an awesome job. Sarah has built a great team around her and has often done much more than the role required. Today we acknowledge her work with us and congratulate her in her new role as secondary music teacher at Ballarat Clarendon College. Sarah will continue to be involved here at York Street, in particular with the Eureka Carols. Please be praying for Sarah, Andy, Luke and Emma.

Thanks once again for worshipping with us today.

Blessings —Tim

Welcome to the York St. Church of Christ. We trust you have a great time with us as we worship our Awesome God.

Today we continue with the WARRIOR series as we look at the next piece of the Spiritual Armour. Today at all three services we put on The HELMET OF SALVATION. May we all continue to put on the Armour of God and being alert, standing firm in our faith in Jesus.

Ephesians 6:10-18 (NIV)
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints

For those who were with us last weekend, you would have been blessed to hear Tim Hawkins. Tim spoke three different messages throughout our services, and a message at the Leadership Life. To listen to these messages just log on to www.yorkst.com.au and click sermons.

Thanks once again for worshipping with us. Blessings — Tim

Tim Hawkins

Today we are blessed to have Tim Hawkins speak to us throughout all of our three services. Tim is one of Australia’s longest serving Youth Pastors and is the Youth Pastor Emeritus of St Paul’s Anglican Church, Castle Hill, NSW. Tim is also an author of numerous leadership and discipleship books that have impacted leaders all over the world.



Leadership Life – Today at 12:30pm - BYO Lunch
Also today Tim will speak at our Leadership Life. Leadership Life is an opportunity for leaders within the church to gather together and receive training, encouragement and skills to help equip them in their leadership roles. Even if you are not in any leadership roles you are welcome to join us for lunch and to stay for Tim’s input.

Thanks once again for worshipping with us,

Blessings —Tim

Yorkie Kids and State Youth Games

What an exciting day to be worshipping at York St Church of Christ. Whether you are a regular or a visitor we trust that you have a great time as you worship with us.

This morning Yorkie Kids will bring the message at the 8:45am service and lead the entire 10:30am service. All throughout this term they have been working through the story of Jonah and today they will be sharing the things they have learnt with us. I thank God for all our children involved in Yorkie Kids and for Trace Valentine and her leadership team. It is refreshing to learn from our children, and may we continue to pray for them as they grow in wisdom and knowledge of God.

Tonight we are also blessed to hear from our SYG (State Youth Games) Team. We will hear stories and how SYG has impacted our young people’s lives. We congratulate our team for coming 19 out of 72 and for doing their best. Go York St….

One last reminder regarding tomorrows nights 2010 Make it Count live Webcast. I encourage you to be here at 7pm to listen to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition leader Tony Abbott talk to us the Christians of Australia.

Blessings,

Tim

GRACE...

Hello There!

We have finally finished our “Walk Across the Room” series and have heard great stories of how God is moving through our congregation – into our work places, communities and neighbourhoods. People are craving to hear about Jesus and often it is our own fear that stands in the way of sharing Him with others. Please continue to pray for the relationships that have been started through this challenge!

This past Sunday, Tim shared about our core value: GRACE. He read from Ephesians 2:1-10 in Eugene Petereson’s “The Message” version to bring life and freshness to the scripture. It is beautifully worded and instead of paraphrasing it, I’ll post it here so you can read it too…

Ephesians 2
He Tore Down the Wall

1-6It wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.

7-10Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

How amazing His grace is… There is NOTHING you can do to receive His grace - it is a free gift. May you find peace and rest in this truth!

Blessings

CRAVE & The Power of Story

The weeks are simply flying by and once again there have been a lot of exciting things happening in the life of York St. One of the highlights for me has been the Crave young adult events that have taken place in the past week.


Last Tuesday we had a Crave worship night and it was a great time of encouragement. Thanks to Tim Drough for sharing with us a little about his life and reminding us how important it is to abide with God and encourage one another through life’s ups and downs.

On Sunday afternoon Crave had a change of pace and we exchanged our bibles for balls as we took on teams from One2One, Wendouree Baptist and Ballarat City AOG in an afternoon of sport. There competition was fierce but we had a lot of fun. It was great to join together with the wider Ballarat Christian community. Thank you to Matt Johnson for pulling it all together.

During our Sunday services we continued with the Just Walk Across the Room series. This week we were challenged to think about the power of stories. In particular we were encouraged to consider two of the most important stories in our lives as Christians, God’s story and our own story of the way God has made a difference in our lives. If we were given an opportunity would we be able to clearly articulate God’s story? Our own stories are also an important tool for personal evangelism. Tim challenged us to start thinking about our own ‘before and after’ stories. People want to know why we have chosen to follow God and what difference he has made in our lives. Can you write your story in 100 words or less?

If you’d like to attempt writing your story and sharing it with the Church send or email it in. You might even like to post it here on the blog.

Just Walk Across the Room...

Hello there!


It has been awhile since I’ve written. I’m sorry we have not kept it up - As you may or may not know, I have been out of the office for awhile grieving the loss of my two precious babies – Isaiah and Tori Jane. We know that they are with Jesus but our hearts are still hurting. However, in it, God has been so faithful. We have seen Him use this experience to draw others closer to Himself. We are grateful for all that He is doing through it all. Thank you to those who extended their well wishes. We are so blessed and encouraged by our church family and community.

This week we excitedly begin a new series called “Just Walk Across the Room” by Bill Hybel. We are selling books and study guides - $25 for both or $17/book and $13/guides. Contact the office if you wish to purchase them.

The focus is to get outside of our comfort zone to connect with others around us in the hopes that we might be able to share the love of Jesus with them. It begins by extending yourself by “just walking across the room” or neighbourhood, or front yard…it’s as easy as that. We don’t have to pretend to have all the answers. People are craving connection and you will find how easy it is to show the love of Jesus to others by just spending time with them.

Here’s a prime example. This Sunday we were celebrating the launch of this new series so we decided to order pizza for after our 6pm service. During Tim’s service, the pizza guy – SAM – arrived and dropped them off. As he stood in the foyer with Blake, his attention was caught by the words that Tim was saying through the foyer speaker, and he asked if we could pray for him. We stopped the sermon to spend time praying for him. It was a great example of how easy it is to connect with someone. It is our hope that he will be able to connect with Blake again, this week.

Another example: A group of youth girls from the church decided to walk down the street and offer to rake leaves for the neighbours of the church. They met a man named Charlie who felt so blessed by the girls. Though he lost his wife recently, he exclaimed with tears in his eyes, “This is the nicest thing anyone has done for me in a really long time.” The girls look forward to connecting with Charlie again. It is not hard to “walk across the room”. You just need the courage and commitment to do it.

Maybe there is someone in your sphere (work place, community, etc) that you could connect with this week? Tim asked us to consider doing 3 things this week:
1. Look for opportunities this week to “just walk across the room”
2. Connect with the person who brought you to Christ and write them a note about how it impacted you.
3. Pray for Sam – the pizza guy

I hope you are able to find great opportunities to connect and love people in your community. I look forward to hearing great stories of what God is doing in and through you!

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.

BIRTHDAY GIFTS FOR JESUS - BAPTISM AND YOUTH SERVICE

This past Sunday there was so much to rejoice! How fitting for this Christmas season!

First off, we were able to celebrate 6 baptisms by immersion in our services - Steve Dingley, Steve Westlake, Karen Hope, Pam Hillas, Emily McKee and Debbie Harper. What a blessing to watch them profess their faith in front of God and friends and family.

Our evening service was run by the youth, and they did such a fantastic job! The worship was peppered with special items done by the youth – all of which were heartfelt and unique. One piece was even written, played, and sung by one of our own (with flute!)

Tim’s message “What Do We Buy Jesus For His Birthday?” reminded us that we don’t attend a birthday party without bringing a gift. His question for us was, what kind of gift do you think would bring Jesus joy this Christmas – on His birthday? What a fantastic example the baptisms were for this message. 6 people in our church gave Jesus a fantastic gift…their lives. What kind of gift can you give Jesus this Christmas?

Mark 12:30-31 (NIV) 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

I hope that you find joy this Christmas and that you will be blessed and encouraged by His love for you.

YORK ST CHURCH OF CHRIST EUREKA CAROLS

It was a truly amazing night…

On Sunday evening the York St Church of Christ Eureka Carols were held in the North Gardens Reserve Lake Wendouree. The day started with a few spits of rain, but by late afternoon the drizzle had subsided and the cast/tech/crew pushed full steam ahead to put the final pieces together. Around 6:30pm young choirs from local schools and communities such as the Canadian Lead Primary School, the Yorkie Kids, and the Sweet Monas, sang various carols to prepare the crowd for the Eureka Carols event. By 8:30 the crowd waited in expectancy. The night began with a strong performance of “Do You Hear What I Hear?” by Carolyn Veal and Luke Tonkin. A few minutes later, Carol of the Bells began, and a bright star appeared in the crowd followed by a procession of wise men, dancers, singers and other performers from the evening. Children and adults in bright colors, carrying instruments brought the parade to life, as they ambled through the crowd following the star to the stage. This was the theme of the night – “Follow the Star”.
The Bible talks about the wise men bringing 3 gifts to Jesus which were gold, frankincense and myrrh. Throughout the night the wise men lose their gifts, but 3 explorers come across the 3 gifts and bring them back to the wise men. The production was split into 4 parts…

1. FINDING GOLD – COLOR THEME GOLD
Gold represents the King and royalty

2. FINDING FRANKINCENSE – COLOR THEME PURPLE
Frankincense represents priesthood

3. FINDING MYRRH – COLOR THEME BLUE
Myrrh represents death

4. FINDING THE STAR – COLOR THEM SILVER
The star leads us to Jesus

In each segment, lighting and costumes were changed based on the color themes. The crowd was invited to join in singing various carols that represented each theme. There was dancing, and singing from various groups such as the Jayde Calisthenics Club, and solos such as Lauren Evans and the Sweet Monas and Rachael Walters with her music team. It was a truly spectacular night as the story unfolded.
One breath taking moment was when the travelling star was placed at the foot of the stage and it “triggered” a lighting of stars to a large star on top of the stage and Tim Clark shared a heartfelt message of bringing our gifts to Jesus – the reason for Christmas.



An easy favourite of the night, was when a young teenager, James Kernick sang a beautiful rendition of “Wonderful Merciful Saviour”, backed by all the soloists who had performed earlier in the evening. The climactic moment was beautifully subdued into a reverent contemplation as we remembered the reason for Christmas with a silhouette of the manger scene and an audience sing-along of Silent Night. Frank Clark did an excellent job of MC-ing the evening and bringing it all together.

This night could not have been done without all the sponsers, leaders, sound and tech crew, costume, stage, and prop coordinators, advertising and promotion people, performers, volunteers and hours of preparation. We thank all those people that put their heart and soul into making this evening a success!!!

We have much to be thankful for! PRAISE GOD FOR ALL OF IT!

*Thanks to Sarah Clark for the photos

Here is an excerpt from Emily Drough's Blog that captures the essence and the history of the Eureka Carols:

"Last night I attended the Eureka Carols. It...has become quite a significant community event. The carols started forty years ago in my grandmother's backyard. Just a few friends around the piano for a sing-along and a simple string of lights has grown into something quite extraordinary.

I think that one of the reasons that it has not only survived for so long, but has also grown is that a sense of community has been nurtured. The church has made a conscious effort to serve the community with the event. While they maintain creative control they work hard to partner with other churches, businesses and the broader community. They have had a long partnership with 3BA radio and the carols is used to raise funds for the 3BA Christmas appeal which is in conjunction with the Salvation Army, Anglicare, UnitingCare and St Vincent de Paul.

It was a great night and it highlighted the way in which individuals, businesses, churches and other organisations can band together to have a positive impact on the community.

One of the other reasons that I had such a good time at the carols is that I love singing and I love singing traditional Christmas songs. My all time favourite is 'O Holy Night'. For me it distils the essence of my faith.

'Truly He taught us to love one another,His law is love and His gospel is peace.Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother.And in His name all oppression shall cease. '

There is nothing better then a mass of people singing 'Fall on your Knees, O hear the angels sing' at the top of their lungs.

If you close your eyes you can hear the angels...