Make the Most of Today...

Sometimes you just need to remember to enjoy the day and do the best you can without worrying about tomorrow...

(Click on the image to enlarge)

Operation Christmas Child 2013

A record 316,323 children in 7 countries received shoeboxes from Australia and New Zealand for Christmas in 2013!














From October to December the merry band of Operation Christmas Child volunteers have been hard at work processing shoeboxes and loading them into containers.
Depending on schedules, teh containers are shipped between November and January.  On arrival, after clearing customs, they are transported to villages, often in very remote and hard to reach places.
This year OCC shipped the most ever number of shoeboxes!  It's very exciting and it's also a very big challenge.  After all, how do you transport over 316,000 of anything?
Shoeboxes travel by boat, plane, car, yak, hores, motorbike, bullock-drawn cart - and OCC have even seen them carried on top of people's heads as they make the journey to waiting boys and girls.
Transport times vary according to weather, roughness of the road or track, remoteness of the village and mode of transport but, one thing is certain, when those shoeboxes arrive, it's Christmas for these children who have most likely never received a gift in their life!

This is where the 316,323 shoeboxes from Australia and New Zealand were distributed to;

• 5,162 shoeboxes were shipped to children in Vanuatu.
• 14,843 shoeboxes were shipped to children in Samoa.
• 42,982 shoeboxes were shipped to children in Fiji.
• 43,078 shoeboxes were shipped to children in PNG.
• 73,892 shoeboxes were shipped to children in Vietnam.
• 66,520 shoeboxes were shipped to children in Thailand.
• 69,846 shoeboxes were shipped to children in Cambodia.

Click on the links to see the stories and images from each country.

A Change of Heart

God's everlasting covenant of Love, Mercy and Grace is revealed to us through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. He is our King.  In our daily lives we encounter experiences that contain proof of His love for us.  If we dare to look deep enough, we can always see Christ and His love for us in all things - we are reminded that God honours His covenant every day.

As King David did with Mephibosheth when he invited him to his table, Christ also invites us to His table through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Through the covenant that God made, we are invited to Christ's table where we, through His grace, come into His presence and receive salvation and all that He has for us...   Listen to the Message  (Sunday 9 March 2014)

Romans 8:16-17
¹⁶ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.   (NKJV)

It's Our 14th Birthday!

This Sunday, 2 March 2014, it's our 14th Birthday!  We'll be having a sausage sizzle, Birthday cake and fantastic fellowship.  Nigel Walters will be fresh back from ministering in Cambodia and will be preaching.  He's always good value and makes you laugh with his unique style.  Come along and join with us at 10.00am at 54 Hill Street, Pt Elliot.

Seizing the Moment of Uncertainty

We can be seized by uncertainty to the point of inaction…or we can seize the moment of uncertainty and discover the will of God.  We need to do all we can to work out the will of God and through faith, we can.  The Holy Spirit will lead and guide us through the journey (He’s our Helper & Comforter) as we learn that;

• God leads by His written Word.   (Psalm 119:105)
• God leads little by little.   (Exodus 23:29-30)
• God leads through the counsel of spiritual leaders.   (Hebrews 13:17)
• God leads by our own best thinking.   (Ephesians 5:15-17)
• God leads through circumstances.   (Acts 17:16-34)
• God leads by the inner witness of the Holy Spirit.   (Romans 8:16)

By bringing all these together, we find that the peace that follows brings the revelation that we know, that we know, that we know the will of God for us…   Listen to the Message (Sunday 23 February 2014)

1 Samuel 14:6-8
⁶ Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will work for us. For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few.”

⁷ So his armorbearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Go then; here I am with you, according to your heart.”  ⁸ Then Jonathan said, “Very well, let us cross over to these men, and we will show ourselves to them.  (NKJV)

God Follows Through

God follows through on His promises.  He always has and He always will.  We can be assured of that because He's the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  He has also proven time and again that He never leaves us or forsakes us.

What He's done for His children over the ages,  He can do in our lives today because He is the same God.  The Bible is full of testimonies of His Grace and provision.  We can see this at a personal level in the lives of people such as Joseph and the Apostle Paul, and then we can also see how God moves just as effectively on a much larger scale with a group of people, such as the nation of Israel (600,000 people plus dependents and livestock - Exodus 12:37-38).

So it doesn't matter to God whether it's just one person, a group of people, a church, a city, or a nation - nothing is impossible to Him (Mark 10:27).  He follows through on His promises...   Listen to the Message (Sunday 9 February 2014)

Hebrews 13:8
⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  (NKJV)

Strengthened By The Holy Spirit

Today we enjoyed the ministry of visiting A2A Pastors, Eugene and Judy Bognar.  What beautiful people!  They were a great encouragement to us all, reminding us to be looking outward and forward, to be strengthened by the Holy Spirit, and to put our trust in God.  It was a timely message.  God is so gracious in reaching out to us through people like Eugene and Judy.  What a truly wonderful and magnificent Father we have.  Thanks for your love Dad!

We're all missing Paul and Robyn; it was our first week without our beloved Pastors.  We're thinking of them and praying for them as they enter a new season in Christ.  Always in our hearts and prayers.