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Sunday At Grace
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Dear Prayer Champions
In
the Trenches….Anzac Day 2010
Introduction:
Who would have thought that the identity of
a nation would be forged in the trenches of
war!
ANZAC Day remains one of the most important
national occasions of both Aust and NZ.
The ANZAC Force landed at Gallipoli on 25
April, 1915, meeting fierce resistance from
the Turkish Army. It had been designed to
knock Turkey out of the war quickly. But
that campaign dragged on for 8 months and
failed in its military objectives.
Over 8,000 Aussies and 2700 new Zealanders
died. The ANZAC legend has become an
important part of the identity of both
nations. Anzac Day has continued to grow in
popularity as the younger generations
understand the cost of our freedom through
the violent conflicts of World War 1.
There have been many wars since that
campaign. The soldiers who went to war for
Australia are our heroes. We have reaped the
rewards of their sacrifices. Men and women
went to war for many reasons, but not to
die. They hoped to return.
The amazing thing is, not that thousands of
men and women went to war and died, but they
had found something in life they believed
was worth living and dying for.
They fought to keep Australia free. They
were not always brave. They were more often
terrified. They were trained to destroy the
enemy threatening the freedom of their
homeland-the very freedom of the allied
nations. They were trained to obey orders-to
look to their leader and follow him. It was
to him they had to give account.
And Aussie soldiers continue to cross
continents to fight for those who have no
strength of their own. They fight for the
freedom and for justice for those who have
no voice, for those who are shockingly
intimidated and oppressed.
The enemy is not always so visible, not so
easily defined.
The motives are very often obscure. But the
obsession for power and dominance only
accelerate.
Jesus…It was Christ who said: Blessed are
the peacemakers for they will be called the
sons of God.
2,000 years later it is not generally
believed that God’s peace has come.
Some people thrive on conflict. But there
are some who know how to nip conflict in the
bud. They have an amazing capacity for
bringing people together. They can make the
worst of enemies into the best of friends.
When we aspire to be peacemakers we are on
God’s side and He is on the side of those
who follow in His ways.
Christians have found their identity in
Christ.
As Christ followers we know that real
freedom and real peace come, not on the
geographical borders of nations, but in the
hearts of those, with many reasons to hate,
but who choose to forgive.
There are many stories in the OT about wars.
A recurring theme is large nations of pagans
marching to defeat God’s people and being
pushed back or totally wiped out by the
minority army.
Think of David when he faced the giant,
Goliath. He was just a boy. But he was a boy
who had experienced God and noone could
cause him to retreat in fear.
Who does he think he is..this uncircumsized
Philistine…to defy the armies of the living
God? (1 Sam 17:26)
He went off to King Saul to offer to fight
the giant himself.
Don’t be ridiculous. You are just a boy…said
Saul.
Undeterred, he faced the giant with a sling
shot and 5 smooth stones from the creek bed.
His challenge to the giant who was roaring
with laughter as David approached:
You come against me with sword and spear and
javelin, but I come against you in the name
of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies
of Israel, whom you have defied. This day
the Lord will hand you over to me, and I’ll
strike you down and cut off your head.
Christians at War
The Bible tells us that we have an
enemy.Ephesians 6;12
..we are not fighting against flesh and
blood but against evil rulers and
authorities of the unseen world, against
those mighty powers of darkness who rule
this world, and against wicked spirits in
heavenly realms.
Satan will take any ground you give him.
Don’t give him a toehold.
The armies who went to war for Australia
were taught strategies.
It was possible to push the enemy back and
to reclaim lost ground. It was possible to
take new ground –free others from the
oppressor, but you needed to believe that,
no matter what, and persevere. Knowing the
enemy, finding his weakness, following
orders, caring for your wounded, keeping a
tight mateship, guarding each other’s backs,
doing nothing to put a mate in danger, doing
everything to conceal your approach….and
many of them learned to pray!
But the armies we honour today cannot defeat
the enemy of our souls!
Peter writes in his first Letter to the
Jewish church, this in 1 Peter 2:11
Friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers
in the world, to abstain from sinful
desires, which war against your soul.
Live such good lives amongst the
pagans(unbelievers) that, though they accuse
you of doing wrong, they may see your good
deeds and glorify God .
This world is not our home.
It’s a strategy to take ground from the
enemy!
Here is another one:
Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to
every authority instituted among men:………For
it is God’s will that by doing good you
should silence the ignorant talk of foolish
men. Live as free men but do not use your
freedom as a cover up for evil, live as
servants of God…………..
And now listen to Paul’s strong appeal to
the Corinthian church as paraphrased by
Eugene Peterson in the Message:2 Corinth
10:3-6
The world is unprincipled. It’s dog eat dog
out there. The world doesn’t fight fair. But
we don’t live or fight our battles that
way.-never have and never will. The tools of
our trade are not for marketing or
manipulation, but they are for demolishing
that entire massively corrupt culture. We
use our powerful God tools for smashing
warped philosophies, tearing down barriers
erected against the truth of God, fitting
every loose thought and emotion and impulse
into the structure of life shaped by Christ.
Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the
ground of every obstruction and building
lives of obedience into maturity.
Weapons, Army greens and Strategies!
We can reclaim lost ground. In this
spiritual warfare, if you know you’ve failed
and given ground to the enemy, there is a
strategy for getting back into that free
place with God.
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins and purify us
from all unrighteousness.
You can’t get any cleaner than that!
FAITH is a weapon
1 John 5:4
Everyone born of God overcomes the world.
This is the victory that has overcome the
world, even our faith. Who is it who
overcomes the world? Only he who believes
that Jesus is the Son of God.
RESISTANCE is a strategy
James 4:7
Yell a loud ‘No!’ to the devil and watch him
scamper.TM
KEEP FIGHTING
1 Cor 10:13 TM
No test or temptation that comes your way is
beyond the course of what others have had to
face. All you need to remember is that God
will never let you down; he’ll never let you
be pushed past your limit: He’ll always be
there to help you come through it.
A FIGHT TO THE FINISH
Don’t be a deserter. It’s a fight to the
finish!
You can’t imagine a soldier giving up when
the victory is all but secured! You can’t
imagine a firefighter getting over it until
all embers are extinguished. You can’t
imagine the Police Riot squad running away
from the job.
They go in fully dressed for the
situation-fit, protected, and armed to the
hilt!
Paul warns us to be ready in a similar way:
Ephesians 6:10-20 TM
Be prepared. You’re up against far more than
you can handle on your own. Take all the
help you can get, every weapon God has
issued, so that when it’s all over but the
shouting, you’re still on your feet. Truth,
righteousness, peace, faith ,and salvation
are more than words. Learn how to apply
them. You’ll need them throughout your life.
God’s word is an indispensable weapon. In
the same way prayer is essential in this
on-going warfare.
Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers
and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each
other’s spirits up so that noone falls
behind or drops out.
Conclusion
We should never lose sight of the truth that
the Victory is Won.
When you know that Jesus defeated Satan,
Death and Sin on the cross and when he rose
again, you can also know that you can win
those battles in His strength and finish
your race.
The battles continue but the victory is won!
Pastor Di Allan
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Grace Steps
Up to join the ‘National
Church Vision’
An Undivided Heart,
Prayer and Fasting,
Community Engagement
Introduction: ‘Grace’
Church’s Unchanging
Vision:
To Know God and to Make
Him Known
That vision never changes.
Sometimes our levels of
surrender need to
Step Up.
Pastor Di, speaking to our
leaders at Get a Grip on
Leadership meeting
asked:
‘Do you know what I mean
when I speak of a ‘Holy
Discontent?
I’m not happy with the way I
am.
I want to put your minds at
ease. We are not calling on
you to work harder!
We already see your
commitment to your
church….where the 20% serves
the 80%.
We want to put it to you as
our Leadership Team to
examine your holy
discontent so together we
can take Grace
to the next level...to step
up in a number of different
ways through 2010.
We are the ones others look
to.
We are aware that, as you
measure our spiritual walk,
by what you see you, you set
your own level…so it is
challenging for us.
So we (your Pastors) invite
you to join us as we STEP
UP!’
Pastors Chris and Glenys
also shared this work of the
Holy Spirit in their lives
with the Congregation on
25th October.
In our own lives we measure
our own journeys by our
spiritual disciplines, our
connection to the family of
faith, and our community
engagement.
Let’s STEP UP our
Spiritual Disciplines
A daily practice of
feeding our souls reading
the Bible
A daily ‘prayer’ walk…pray
as you go
Prayer and Fasting…a regular
habit or random reasons to
go without food and focus on
prayer
Simplicity…removing clutter
from our lives to give God
priority
Tithing our income in
obedience to God
Goals and Strategies for
Grace to STEP UP
1. The 60-60
challenge.
Set your watch or phone to
beep every waking hour for
60 days.
This will remind you to
measure your conscious
awareness of the presence of
God in your life and to
question how you are
including Him in your
thoughts, planning and
actions.
(credit to John Burke..Creating
a Come as You Are Culture)
2. Prayer and Fasting….Why?
There are Biblical accounts
of leaders calling for
prayer and fasting in times
when they needed to hear
from God.
In choosing this course we
commit ourselves in a new
way to call down the power
of God upon our Church
Community and the wider
Community.
The idea of missing a couple
of meals (fluids are fine)
so that we can concentrate
on prayer is another one of
God’s ideas. When we decide
to give it a go we
experience His power in our
lives like we never have
before.
3. Fireproofing
Marriages
Broken homes are a tragedy
anywhere but particularly in
the Church. We will
introduce an opportunity for
couples to say…
‘Yes. We are committed to
our spouse for the long haul
and we will do what it takes
to strengthen our
relationships”.
‘Fireproof’ is
a proven journey. It
includes a ‘love dare’.
4. ‘Hi 5’s’ -Sharing
lives.
We are going to encourage
everyone who comes to
Grace to be sure to
be part of a small group of
at least 5 who ‘do life
together’. This will be
about building relationships
of trust and accountability
so that we can all be
strengthened in our
Christian walk. Some will
already be in an ‘organic’
group like this. We will
encourage you to be
intentional about STEPPING
UP to a higher level.
5. STEP UP to
Train an apprentice.
We will deliberately engage
our Youth, and anyone else
who is not engaged in a
service activity, to learn a
new skill or to take some
small responsibility. Our
responsibility as Pastors is
‘to equip the saints for
ministry’-this is the way we
will ensure our church’s
future leadership and the
way we will send people out
into their world with
spiritual confidence.
6. We will STEP UP
to Membership
It is proven across churches
and community organizations
that those who make a
decision to ‘make this my
place/church’ and become
covenant members, are those
who serve best and who grow
stronger. So we will be
encouraging you to believe
that Membership Matters,
starting with our leaders.
It will start with 3 small
group sessions on what it’s
all about before those who
STEP UP are approved by the
Board and officially brought
into membership before the
church. A great time for
rejoicing.
7. New Christians will be
asked to STEP UP.
Our New Creation
studies will be offered in a
variety of settings to lay a
strong foundation of
doctrine. We will encourage
newcomers who have visited
Grace over several weeks to
consider Christianity
Explained…no strings
attached.
We can also offer a new
online course for those who
want to go deeper in their
own time.
8. We will STEP UP to
Fellowship
We don’t yet know each
other. This must change.
We will give appropriate
people the task to plan
events that bring us
together for a good
time...laughter….to engage
newcomers…and something
special for those for whom
life is really hard.
GRACE WINTER WEEKEND
in 2010 will be organized by
one of our small groups. You
will be offered the
opportunity to regularly set
aside savings for this
weekend over the first half
of the year.
9. STEP UP to
Community Engagement
This will mean taking an
audit of how our people
already do this and looking
at other opportunities to do
something together, as we
consider our gifts and time.
We want to hear from you
to know how you are
investing your time and
talent to serve our
Community.
Currently we have Mentors in
a Primary School for the
Kids Hope Program. Our
Tech Team gives its time for
significant Community
Events.
Our Worship Team members are
also active in Community
Events.
We have opened our building
for the use of approved
community groups.
Our doors are open to all to
make friends and learn new
skills on Mondays at ‘Foyer
Friends’.
We will plan to include
community focus themes as
our themes for our weekly
celebration and preaching,
e.g. National Volunteers
Day.
Tell us where you see an
opportunity for our church
to serve our Community.
10. STEP UP to
MISSIONS…….
Already we have our own
missionaries. Our Annual
Missions focus will be held
this year on 1st November as
a ‘Missions
Expo’...featuring displays
and info from those
connected to Grace.
Rev Kay Fulcher (Solomon
Islands Coordinator of
Training) will be our Guest
Preacher that day.
So we will step out of
ourselves and step up
to missions in
response to the call of God
to the church to meet the
needs of the ‘other’.
This will stretch our faith
as we are asked to give a
day’s wage as a self-denial
offering.
We All Need a Break!
In all of this School
Holidays and Public Holidays
will be ‘Sabbaths’.
This means that our Teams
will have a ‘skeleton
staff’, we may ask you to
bring food for a Fellowship
Tea, Sundays will be
surprisingly different, and
you may be asked to step up
at short notice to clean up.
Christmas and
Easter will be
‘go all out’ times to engage
with a community more open
to the church in those
seasons than any other
times.
So give us your ideas to
make these times special and
put up your hand to help.
Pastors Chris and Glenys
Foley and Di Allan
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This Month's Journaling
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juLY
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1. - Is. 1-3; Tit. 3
2. - Is. 4,5; Ps. 115,116; Jude
3. - Is. 6,7; 2 Chr. 26,27; Philem.
4. - 2 Ki. 15,16; Hos. 1; Heb. 1
5. - Hos. 2-5; Heb. 2
6. - Hos. 6-9; Heb. 3
7. - Hos. 10-12; Ps. 73; Heb. 4
8. - Hos. 13,14; Ps.100,102; Heb. 5
9. - Mic. 1-4; Heb. 6
10. - Mic. 5-7; Heb. 7
11. - Is. 8-10; Heb. 8
12. - Is. 11-14; Heb. 9
13. - Is. 15-18; Heb. 10
14. - Is. 19-21; Heb. 11
15. - Is. 22-24; Heb. 12
16. - Is. 25-28; Heb. 13
17. - Is. 29-31; Jas. 1
18. - Is. 32-35; Jas. 2
19. - 2 Ki. 17; 2 Chr. 28; Ps. 46; Jas. 3
20. - 2 Chr. 29 31; Jas. 4
21. - 2 Ki. 18,19; 2 Chr. 32; Jas. 5
22. - Is. 36,37; Ps. 76; 1 Pet. 1
23. - 2 Ki. 20; Is. 38,39; Ps. 75; 1 Pet. 2
24. - Is. 40-42; 1 Pet. 3
25. - Is. 43-45; 1 Pet. 4
26. - Is. 46-49; 1 Pet. 5
27. - Is. 50-52; Ps. 92; 2 Pet. 1
28. - Is. 53-56; 2 Pet. 2
29. - Is. 57-59; Ps. 103; 2 Pet. 3
30. - Is. 60-62; Jn. 1
31. - Is. 63,64; Ps. 107; Jn. 2
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Don't forget
bring your Bible and a notebook to church
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rTop
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CAN YOU
PRAY?
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We need you to be part of our prayer team.
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The Bible tells us that prayer changes things.
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Would you like to be part of a life changing force
in our church?
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or if you have a prayer request
If so, contact
Pastor Di or call
41236050
What does God say to you?
Do you want to get to know God and His word better?
Journaling is a great way to read through the Bible and
learn what it has to say for each of us.
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You are never behind!
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Today is a great day to start.
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God gives us a new day every morning!
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HELP!
Ministries in Grace Community Church need you!
Everything from setting up chairs to running cables and preparing food,
Grace is a Team Ministry. If you feel you would like to be involved in
Grace, please see one of our Team Leaders or Pastor Chris who can direct
you to who you need to see.
Library
click here to view
library web page
Come and browse our selection of books,
dvd's
and videos at Grace Library. Also Life Journals available.
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"Christianity Explained"
see Glenys
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To download
Life Journal
files -
Self Extracting or
PDF File
The Online Bible
Download
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If you are interested
in joining a team here @ Grace....
please see any of the
team leaders or Pastor Chris for 'how to' information.
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This Month's
Journaling
click here
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We meet at The
Powerhouse,
on the corner of Kent and
Tooley Streets, Maryborough
Worship Service
starts @ 5:00pm.
Fellowship meal follows at 6:00pm
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