Grace Community Church  
a Wesleyan Methodist Church
 
 Prayer Champions
 

 

                                      Sunday At Grace
Grace Steps Up to join the ‘National Church Vision’

An Undivided Heart, Prayer and Fasting, Community Engagement
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Mozambique Matters
 
with Sue Allport
Graduation from Bible College
 
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Dear Prayer Champions

Angels’ Assignments

Introduction:
There’s a lot of interest in angels in the secular world. Shops sell angel products, there are websites on angels, and there a thousands of books published on angels. When Billy Graham published his book in the 1970’s it sold over a million copies, and continues to sell.
Why is there so much interest? There’s a fascination, a mystery about supernatural heroes, therefore it’s a popular theme for movies, Rage DVD’s and sitcoms.
When God plans to intersect history with a new plan or person, He usually uses angels to introduce His person to mankind.
The miraculous conception and birth of Jesus are supernatural events which can’t be explained by human logic or reasoning. God sends his angels in times like these to reveal the significance of events in God’s plan for us.
To be a believer you have to take a few risks.. You have to hold in balance what seem to be contradictory truths. In other words we practice paradox. For example when we refer to God we say He is 3 in one.(Have you read ‘The Shack?) But we also say ‘God is One’. Christ is divine and human.
We follow a Saviour who was executed. We have a Redeemer who was a victim of politics and religion. We serve a king whose kingdom has the opposite values to the ‘kingdoms’ of the world. And, maybe strangest of all, we have to die to find life.
Death gives birth to life.
Our Christian faith contains truths beyond our human logic. There was something remarkable about Jesus in his birth, his life, his death, his resurrection. So, it seems, God chose messengers direct from heaven, Angels, sent to announce the wonderful plan He had for the salvation of men.
How excited and how amazed heaven must have been when the secret was out and the time came to tell the world!
And if you think heaven was amazed , what heart stopping news it must have been for mere mortals.
The angel appeared to Mary, and the Shepherds, and Joseph. Their lives were interrupted as they went about their ordinary tasks. God sent His angel to these humble folk to reveal God’s plan and their part in it.
Each was told the same story. It wasn’t just ‘what does this mean for me?’ ‘Will anyone believe me anyway?’
It was like a “You too? Moment.’
God was surely in this and they need not be afraid.
God had a plan to make Himself visible amongst men!
Colossians 1:16&17
The Aussie Bible calls it ‘God’s great idea’ –Jesus. (John’s gospel, chapter 1)

Profile of an angel
An angel is a living being with an intellect, emotions and will, but without a physical body. However angels can appear as physical beings to meet God’s assignments.
They are powerful but they don’t have unlimited power like God.
They are wise but they don’t share God’s knowledge of everything.
They probably all have names but only 3 are named in scripture. Gabriel, perhaps the most familiar, means Man of God. Then there are Michael and Lucifer. (Lucifer had ambition to take over God’s job; so he was cast out of heaven with his henchmen)
Colossians 1:16-17 tells us that angels are created beings as part of God’s original creation week. No more angels will be added to heaven; so, contrary to popular opinion, people who die do not become angels.
Angels remain unseen until they choose to appear in some physical form.
Humans are prone to take idols; so if they were visible we’d be inclined to the temptation to worship them as a response to their supernatural powers.
It offends God that we collect images and display them. They become idols taking the place in our hearts exclusively reserved for the King of Kings.
Angels are not female and angels do not have wings; there is no scriptural evidence for this.so I don’t know how the church personified them that way. (Isaiah 6 describes The cherubim and seraphim, winged creatures, which are not angels, but a different order of heavenly beings.
They have the task of guarding God’s holiness around His throne.

What do angels do?
Hebrews 1:13 tells us that angels serve God and serve the heirs of salvation at God’s command.
They work for the safety of the saints in the purpose of God for us.
Angels protect the physical aspect of our lives, whereas the Holy Spirit protects the spiritual aspect of our lives.
Hebrews 13:2 says not to forget to entertain strangers as we could be entertaining angels ‘unawares’. We could miss cooperating with God in His work!

What do angels do?
When this building was under attack by the glass punchers, one of our men said to me: The Powerhouse is going to be ok because I have prayed for God to set his angels around it to protect it.

In 2008 Lex Akers (DS) and Dallas Thomas(Missions Director) were visiting the SI on church business. There was no fuel to take them by plane to their destination; so they had no option but to travel by boat. Now Lex is not a good sailor and those waters in the open sea are often rough. But they asked folk at home to pray for them. The seven hour trip each way was as smooth as a millpond, unprecedented in the experience of the local church leaders! God sent his angels in answer to the prayers of his people.

These examples from people whom we know can serve to demonstrate to us that God knows us and has set His angels around us to protect us when we are about His purpose on earth.

Ps. 34:7 says : The angel of the Lord encamps around all who fear him and deliver them.
Luke 16:22 tells us that Angels carry us at death into God’s presence.

Angels bring God’s messages to His people. We heard evidence of this in our readings from Luke over christmas. Angels protect His people. In Daniel 6:21 the story of Daniel in the lions’ den, Daniel explained to the king that an angel had shut the lions’ mouths.

Angels offer encouragement. An angel came to Hagar in Gen 16:7 when she was running from Sarai. The angel brought her the message that God had noticed her and that she would have more descendants than she could count through her son, Ishmael. (Reminds us of God’s message to Mary)

Angels give guidance. In Ex 14:19 an angel was guiding Gods people in the escape from Egypt through the Red Sea, as if carrying the cloud they followed.

Angels patrol the earth. (Just imagine the chaos if God were to remove His ministering spirits from the earth.)

Angels fight forces of evil. The battle for our souls is raging in the spiritual realm. You can’t see the almighty battle going on for your soul, but I have no doubt you regularly feel it!
I love the story about Elisha in 11 Kings 6:14-17:

Elisha, the prophet, upset the King of Aram who sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city and capture Elisha. When Elisha’s servant got up in the morning and went outside there were troops, horse and chariots everywhere. ‘What will we do now ?” he asked Elisha. ‘Don’t be afraid’ he said for there are more on our side than on theirs.’
Then Elisha prayed’ O Lord, open his eyes and let him see’! And the Lord opened his servant’s eyes and when he looked up he saw that the surrounding hillside was filled with horses and chariots of fire.’
God had set his angel army in place to fight the forces of evil!

Demons, (or fallen angels) are restrained enemies! In Mark 1:23 we see how the spiritual underworld recognizes Jesus as Messiah. They know He has power over them. It says that a man possessed by an evil spirit was in the synagogue and he began shouting, ‘Why are you bothering us Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are-the Holy One sent from God.’
In many cases the obsession with angels that we see, is a work of satan to distract believers and trap them into focusing on satan…a fallen angel!
The TV show ‘Touched by an angel’ has caused people to think about the supernatural. It has the potential to make people sensitive to God’s plan. There are countless similar programs disguising satan’s work.
The angel ends up getting the glory for rescuing a person in trouble.
The Bible always gives glory to God for the work of angels.

In Mark chapter 5 we read that Jesus took time out with his disciples and they crossed the lake, only to be met by a madman in a cemetery? He was possessed by so many demons that the locals couldn’t restrain him and he was banished from society. When Jesus ordered the demons to leave the man they begged him to send them into the pigs. They knew where they would ultimately end up – in hell! As agents of Satan, their intent and work was to destroy lives, but if they couldn’t stay in this man, they would destroy the pigs. And they did, as the pigs went mad and raced over the cliff into the lake and drowned. Jesus was not the flavour of the month in the town when their livelihood had been destroyed!
But Jesus showed His love and the value he places on each life by going out of his way to deliver one man .
We read in Romans 8:38 how Paul has a very strong and warm conviction about God’s love. He says it so boldly…he leaves nothing uncovered. He first says” For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
Then he writes: None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing-nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable-absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
Don’t measure God’s love by your circumstances.
1. Are you afraid to die?
We all know we will one day die. We know that there is deep sorrow when loved ones are taken from us.
Then, why is Paul convinced that even death can’t separate us from God’s love in Christ?
Because Jesus died but he didn’t stay dead. Death couldn’t hold him down. He is risen.
Christ followers will die but live again with Him.
2. nor life (Romans 8:38) Are you afraid to live?…
Col 2:10 TM says: don’t tolerate people who try to run your life, ordering you to bow and scrape, insisting that you join their obsession with angels and that you seek out visions. They’re a lot of hot air, that’s all they are. They’re completely out of touch with the source of life, Christ, who puts us together in one piece, whose very breath and blood flow through us.
He is the Head and we are the body. We can grow up healthy in God only as he nourishes us.
Our new life is in Christ and life only makes sense in Him.
Christ alone gives life meaning.
3. Are you afraid of angels or demons?
neither angels nor demons (Romans 8:38)
The angels wouldn’t separate us from Christ because they exist to work for us.
And the demons can’t separate us from Christ even though they try.

Conclusion:
We now have the whole counsel of God in our scriptures. Nothing is to be added. We are not to pray to angels or saints because saints are just like us. We are to pray to God who will answer our prayers according to His eternal and almighty plan. Sometimes He will send angels. Sometimes He will send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit who lives in the heart of the Christian believer. We go in His power with our eyes focused on Jesus.
 

Pastor  Di Allan
 

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

This Month's Journaling
MARCH
1. - Num. 28,29; Mark 8
2. - Num. 30,31; Mark 9
3. - Num. 32,33; Mark 10
4. - Num. 34-36; Mark 11
5. - Deut. 1,2; Mark 12
6. - Deut. 3,4; Ps. 36; Mark 13
7. - Deut. 5,6; Ps. 43; Mark 14
8. - Deut. 7-9; Mark 15
9. - Deut. 10-12; Mark 16
10. - Deut. 13-15; Gal. 1
11. - Deut. 16-18; Ps. 38; Gal. 2
12. - Deut. 19-21; Gal. 3
13. - Deut. 22-24; Gal. 4
14. - Deut. 25-27; Gal. 5
15. - Deut. 28,29; Gal. 6
16. - Deut. 30,31; Ps. 40; 1 Cor. 1
17. - Deut. 32-34; 1 Cor. 2
18. - Josh. 1,2; Ps. 37; 1 Cor. 3
19. - Josh. 3-6; 1 Cor. 4
20. - Josh. 7,8; Ps. 69; 1 Cor. 5
21. - Josh. 9-11; 1 Cor. 6
22. - Josh. 12-14; 1 Cor. 7
23. - Josh. 15-17; 1 Cor. 8
24. - Josh. 18-20; 1 Cor. 9
25. - Josh. 21,22; Ps. 47; 1 Cor. 10
26. - Josh. 23,24; Ps. 44; 1 Cor. 11
27. - Judg. 1-3; 1 Cor. 12
28. - Judg. 4,5; Ps. 39,41;. 1 Cor. 13
29. - Judg. 6,7; Ps. 52; 1 Cor. 14
30. - Judg. 8; Ps. 42; 1 Cor. 15
31. - Judg. 9,10; Ps. 49; 1 Cor. 16
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  • We need you to be part of our prayer team.
  • The Bible tells us that prayer changes things.
  • Would you like to be part of a life changing force in our church?
  • 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.
  • You are never behind!
  • Today is a great day to start.
  • God gives us a new day every morning!
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
 
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Come and browse our selection of books, dvd's and videos at Grace Library. Also Life Journals available.
"Christianity Explained"
 
see Glenys
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files - Self Extracting  or  PDF File  
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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.
 
This Month's Journaling
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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

TO CONTACT PASTOR CHRIS FOLEY
CLICK  HERE

 
Associate Pastor Diana Allan
Mob. 0414277635
Fax:  07- 41221980
PO Box 114, Maryborough 4650
Email Pastor Di
 
    
 

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