Getting Along - The Family

 As family, we can carry distinctive features and traits that are passed on from parents to children.  This doesn't make us clones of our parents but it does mean we carry a family characteristic.  It is discernible and part of what defines us - people can recognise the similarities found in family.

God's sense of humour carries into family...He binds us together in our DNA and then says..."Here you go - live, learn, love, laugh and enjoy your life together...and celebrate your differences."

"Celebrate your differences"  He says.  Like it was an instruction to add chocolate topping to the ice cream so we'd appreciate the ice cream more.

Celebrate our differences?!!! Did He have any idea what that was going to look like?

We spend our lives trying to keep the peace with family as we discover our differences, tolerate our differences as best we can, avoid discussing our differences whenever we don't feel like tolerating them...and never really get our heads around "celebrating" them until we're too old to enjoy celebrating anything.

Unless of course, we spend time with God and learn from Him how wonderful family really is and how we can indeed, celebrate our differences.  And thankfully, we have DNA that keeps us connected throughout the journey.

'Getting Along' is a new series about life from a fresh perspective.  See the article at Getting Along (#2) The Family.

Note:  Interesting thing about the Cacti family...they're more impenetrable when they stick together.  We could learn something from that.

Getting Along - A New Series

God has a wicked sense of humour.  He fills a planet with people (currently 7.3 billion), giving each one the power of free will while also giving each one the gift of uniqueness.  He then says..."Off you go, have fun...but don't forget Me."  (paraphrased)  We hear the "Off you go, have fun" bit and in the vast majority of cases, forget Him.  You can just hear Him saying to Himself..."This should be interesting..."

Well, we all live our lives according to ourselves - that's the free will and uniqueness thing in full swing.  The consequences are, we struggle to get along as we passionately and determinedly pursue 'our way' of living life.

One reason God said "...but don't forget Me" was so that we could give Him opportunity to guide us and counsel us in life, in getting along with others, using His wisdom.  The proof of forgetting Him is around us everywhere, all across the planet.  Using our 'wisdom', we end up in trouble.  Remembering Him and using His wisdom we avoid trouble and can actually get along.

'Getting Along' is a new series about life from a fresh perspective.  The first article is found at Getting Along (#1) - The Lens.

Note:  Interesting thing about Cacti - if you respect them, you can get close enough to appreciate them.  If you don't approach them with respect, you'll find they have an interestingly painful defense mechanism.  Sound familiar?

Returning To Your First Love

There is a zeal and a passion when we first allow the Holy Spirit into out lives.  Nothing concerns us, nothing can take our experience away from us.  The honeymoon begins.

Life is full of growth and challenges.  Throughout the Bible man has battled and struggled with Gods perfect ways and because of our freedom God offers us we make mistakes.  We learn from them, and return to Him only to makes more mistakes.  As times go on we deal with issues on our own and tend not to call on God as much as we first did.  We still serve Him through His Grace but we tend to distant ourselves from the love we first had for Him.  God calls us to repent and return to that first love we had for Him.  Listen to the Message...

Refusing To Quit

Jesus has given us authority and power over every sickness and demon we will face.  The same way sickness and demons respond to Jesus is the same way they should respond to us as we are using His authority and power.

Jesus did not tell us to pray to the Father so He would come and fix it up but to have faith in His name and command sickness, demons and mountains to go.

Are you being bullied by sickness and demonic attacks?  Use His authority and power that is in His name to remove these mountains and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth about His wonderful name.  Freely you have received now freely give.  Listen to the Message...

Men's Breakfast & Church Together 2015

The Australia Day long weekend will see the many Christian churches from the local region combining in a 'Church Together' event on Warland Reserve on Sunday 25 January at 6.00pm. 

Hosted by the South Coast Combined Christian Churches, 'Church Together' was first held in 1999 and has since become an eagerly anticipated annual event.  With guest speakers coming from around Australia each year to be part of the event, 'Church Together' has been attracting a growing crowd each year with close to 700 people attending it in 2014.  It is also seen as an important gathering of community by leaders who attend from all levels of government (local, state and federal), educational institutions, business and other community organisations.  In the spirit of community generosity, the event is also supported in kind by the Rotary Club of Victor Harbor through the use of their Art Show tent each year.

The guest speaker for 'Church Together' 2015 is Pastor Ian Zerna who is the Senior Pastor of Impact Church, NSW.  His powerful visionary leadership has captured the hearts of thousands of people both nationally and internationally, igniting them to fulfil their God-given destiny.  Ian moves in the gift of faith and has seen God’s provision in many areas of ministry including three multi-million dollar building programs and missions programs reaching the nations. His dynamic and inspiring teaching will release faith for seeing God’s vision outworked in people's lives.

His proven apostolic ministry has seen God raise up outstanding works in both SA & NSW. He has a powerful gift to impart vision and faith into leaders and churches, with a dynamic prophetic edge.   

Pastor Zerna will also be speaking at a Men's Breakfast on Saturday 24 January, being held at the Grosvenor Hotel from 7.15am.  Entry is by pre-paid tickets which are $20 per person and can be purchased by calling Gary Clarke on 0438 818 972.

2 Timothy 3

The Apostle Paul felt that it was important for Timothy to be aware of certain things that would be evident in the last days. If they were important for Timothy then they are certainly noteworthy for us in these times.

Indeed Paul may have unknowingly been penciling Timothy’s letter for us when we observe the world that we find ourselves in.  In Chapter 3 of Second Timothy, Paul detailed different behaviours and attitudes that would be present.  We understand that if the Bible says that this is what it will be like in the last days then it WILL be, not might be.

Here we endeavour to unpack what the Apostle has catalogued to clarify how it impacts the church and what our position should be in seeking God’s order for us in this season.  Listen to the Message...