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...

MARY - HIGHLY FAVOURED ONE

1 Peter 2:9
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

Tim spoke this Sunday on Mary – the highly favoured one. God had found favour in Mary, and had CHOSEN her to carry His son. What an absolute honour - but what an absolute nightmare to explain to your family and friends. And I’m sure she asked “why me?”.

Imagine what kind of reaction she would have had from her community being a virgin carrying a child. Imagine what it would be like to try and explain to your friends and family that you were carrying the Saviour of the world and that you knew this because an angel had come and told you so. I know it couldn’t have been an easy road to follow – but Mary pondered all this in her heart. With the honour of fulfilling God’s plan came the difficulty of carrying it out.

The truth is we can choose NOT to fulfil God’s plan for us. If we call ourselves a Christian, that means we are “chosen by God”. And this in turn means, we have a plan to fulfil. It might not make sense to others around us. It might be hard to explain. We might not even understand it. But we must follow through with it so that God’s kingdom can come here on earth as it is heaven. Be ready!!

AND DON'T MISS THIS EVENT : THE EUREKA CAROLS 13 DEC 2009