Behold.Believe.Become http://www.thelakes.org.au Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:57:10 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.thelakes.org.au/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png http://www.thelakes.org.au Behold.Believe.Become http://www.thelakes.org.au/unite-09.htm Ministry News - Youth Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:50:17 +0100 http://www.thelakes.org.au/a-call-for-biblical-discernment.htm This morning I was sitting at my work desk and couldn’t get comfortable. Something just wasn’t right. Something was niggling away and had me shifting in my seat, I couldn’t sort it out. Finally, I stood up and realised I had my car keys in my back pocket……….. Pain is the body’s way of letting us know that something isn’t right. It’s an uncomfortable feeling that hopefully makes us stop and think and investigate before we continue whatever it is we are doing. We know when something isn’t right because we aren’t usually in pain so its easy to recognise something isn’t “normal”. Hopefully…… If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished by the words of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. But have nothing to do with irreverent and silly myths. Rather, train yourself in godliness – 1 Timothy 4.6-7 Here Paul makes it absolutely clear to Timothy to be discerning and men his words need to be heard just as clearly by us. Discernment is the skill of separating truth from error. Paul urges Timothy to continue in the truths of the faith and the teaching which he has received. Why? So that he would know the difference between truth and error and have nothing to do with myths and godless ideas, or philosophies of the world. These things were creeping into the church and Paul wanted Timothy to be equipped to contend for the faith and teach others the same. He hammered Titus with the same message too (Titus 1.9). Men if we don’t know the truth of God’s Word from scripture, if our “house” isn’t built on the rock – we will be “like a child tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching” (Ephesians 4.14). When scriptural mis-interpretations and flaky doctrines are presented to us we wont know any different – wont feel uncomfortable - unless the foundational teachings of our faith are in order. Now just because you are uncomfortable about something doesn’t always mean it’s wrong – we can only measure what’s right and true when we line it up with scripture. Scripture is a “light on our path” (Psalm 119.105) it “corrects us and trains us” (2 Tim 3.16). Luke commended the men of Berea not for being ‘noddys’ – simply nodding ‘yes’ in agreement, but because they “examined the scriptures” to confirm the truth of the teaching they were hearing from Paul and Silas (Acts 17.11). Some of us can be incredibly discerning when making our footy tips each week, or when deciding where to best invest our money, or when analysing food labels or when selecting a bottle of wine. But if we neglect Biblical discernment we become susceptible to following error. Discernment and spiritual maturity go hand-in-hand. We need to be feeding on the solid food of His Word and strive to consistently grow in our spiritual maturity. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed , correctly teaching the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2.15 Proverbs 4.25-27 – “fix your gaze, consider your path, keep your feet from evil” Proverbs 14.6 - Knowledge comes easily to the discerning. Proverbs 14.33 - Wisdom resides in the heart of the discerning. Proverbs 16.21 - The wise in heart are called discerning. Proverbs 17.24 - wisdom is the focus of the perceptive. have a great week Campbell Ministry News - Men Sun, 14 Jun 2009 07:00:00 +0100 http://www.thelakes.org.au/daniel-man-of-god.htm God has been challenging me lately – how have I been travelling as the man God intended me to be? Maybe a question we could all ask ourselves every once in a while. Are we standing firm in our faith, leading our families in the ways of God, being the example to others as men of God should? We need to be men who are prepared to stand up in our faith, totally uncompromised, and live the purpose filled life that God has planned for us. We are more than confident in what we believe when asked if we like Holden or Ford. Or who we barrack for in the footy. Why do we back down and go all ‘wishy washy’ when asked or challenged about our faith, or even when we are with our non Christian friends? By not standing up for the relationship we have with God we are not only cheating ourselves of a fullness with God, but as the men of our homes, we are holding back our wives and our kids. Joshua said, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15) Notice he didn’t Ministry News - Men Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:48:23 +0100 http://www.thelakes.org.au/men-of-god.htm The edge homegroups finished an eight week study of Ephesians last night and what a truly great few weeks it has been! As we got into scripture we heard of the spiritual blessings we have as children of God, we heard of God's great mercy and grace, we learned how much He equips and enables us to do His work, and we were told how to live in the light of that knowledge. It's been exciting, challenging and humbling. In Ephesians 4 Paul urges us not to be spiritual infants tossed around by every wind of teaching . Men, let's not be spiritual babes who simply acknowledge God's existence but let us be real men who seek to know God and make Him known. All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3.16,17). God has given us His Word. Clearly, He wants us to know Him fully through His word..... The next few weeks are often the quickest and perhaps busiest of the year. Before we know it - January is nearly over! During this time make time to get into God's Word, giving the Holy Spirit opportunity to reveal God and His will to you. Dont wait for things to happen. Set your mind on things above and what the Spirit desires (Rom 8.5) that you may be men worthy of the calling God has given you. Ministry News - Men Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:54:32 +0100 http://www.thelakes.org.au/lakes-kids.htm I cannot believe the year is about to end!! I know that all the Kids leaders are praying that we end the year with a bang!! We are praying that the kids will be transformed by what they are learning at all our Kids Programmes!! It is our heart’s desire that this precious generation will discover that they are a new creation, that they have the mind of Christ and that they will begin to walk in God’s power that is at work in them!! We want transformation – not just information!! So please join us in this prayer. Many of the kids at Alien Kidz have acknowledged that they..... Ministry News - Youth Sun, 30 Nov 2008 07:00:00 +0100 http://www.thelakes.org.au/prayer-place-2.htm As the Coordinator of our prayer ministry at Centenary Lakes this year, my goal has been to encourage and increase prayer within the church community. Prayer is often a behind the scenes ministry and so we can not know the extent of the commitment and zeal of some to pray, and the impact that your prayer life has had and will have. I want to acknowledge you and thank you for your faithfulness.I also want to mention those who have had great intentions to pray faithfully this year but have fallen short. Don’t beat yourselves up. God knows your heart. And remember prayer is not about obligation, it’s about relationship. Particular highlights for me during the course of this year have been - Ministry News - Prayer Sun, 30 Nov 2008 07:00:00 +0100 http://www.thelakes.org.au/jesus-upside-down-kingdom.htm What is a Christian? Someone who believes inGod? Maybe? But even demons believe in God and shudder. (James 2:19) The simplest definition of a Christian is someone who follows Jesus. Does that mean if I believe in Jesus but I am not following him I am not a Christian? I think yes. Today I had a conversation with a young man who had been calling himself a Christian, but as we sat and talked he had the courage to confess that in fact he was not a Christian because he was not following Jesus. While I was disappointed he had come to that place I was encouraged by his honesty and remarked he may be closer to Jesus than he realises. There are a great many confessing Christians who have no intention of following Jesus. He is far closer to Jesus than any of those. Ministry News - Pastors Sun, 30 Nov 2008 07:00:00 +0100 http://www.thelakes.org.au/yzone-.trinity-bay-high-school-.faith-hope-love-organic-.backpackers.htm Wow what a year… at YZone we have seen the birth of Suburban and it has proven to go well. An opportunity for deeper relationships and deeper learning of what God has to say to us. We have started to mould One Youth more in a direction that truly shows unity amongst the churches involved, and I with 3 other associates (Good Shepherd, Presbyterian and Baptist) have made the commitment to meet regularly to build and encourage each other as we learn to encourage your children. Ministry News - Pastors Sun, 30 Nov 2008 07:00:00 +0100 http://www.thelakes.org.au/community-life.htm It takes courage to go along to a family bar-b-q where everyone seems to be part of the family and know each other and you know no-one (or at least very few) and yet that is what happened on Saturday 18th October. I was so encouraged to see the involvement of our community and very pleasantly surp rised to see people from our children’s ministries come along and get involved. We had all ages playing soccer touch football. Kids riding their skateboards, bikes scooters. We even had a couple of “skate bikes”, almost like trying to ride a unicycle, which both young and old TRIED to ride. It was a great afternoon !!!! Thank you to everyone who came along, got involved and met somebody new…….. Ministry News - Community Life Fri, 31 Oct 2008 07:00:00 +0100 http://www.thelakes.org.au/the-impact-of-a-man.htm Last Sunday at church after Rowan lead us into communion, I read what Paul wrote to his Christian brothers in Colosse - check out Colossians 1. Paul thanked God for the faith that these guys had in Christ and for their love for all the saints. He wrote of the impact of the gospel, of the hope it had given them, of the fruit and the growth that was happening as people heard and understood God's message of salvation - the Ministry News - Men Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:00:00 +0100