Blog

Mm, in all honesty I don’t have a lot to say today. I’ve just signed in for the last time as the pastor of Chatswood Church and tomorrow’s my last day with these crazy people so really I’m just here to fare ye well.

It’s incredible to think how much God has grown both me and Chatswood Church these last six years, and I’m just so grateful I can leave in a good space. I seriously don’t think I could leave feeling more loved and appreciated, and my surprise (but not ) farewell last weekend couldn’t have more meaningful. So yes, thank you God, to say the least. And thank you Chatswood Church . . .

“When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5) Stick with Him!

Earlier this year I was talking with a friend about 25 yo – 40 somethings in the Adventist Church and somehow that conversation has emerged into a new ministry called Submerge. Last weekend we held our very first Submerge event in Sydney’s CBD and the feedback has been exciting. “My eyes have been opened,” said one person. “I want to go deeper. For real.”

The twofold purpose of this first Submerge event was to help people go deeper with God and share faith with their friends. We wanted to help people take the next step in their journey, no matter how close to or far from God they were, and we wanted to help them share Jesus with their generation.

Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that the feedback was so positive. All we did was provide a simple program with a simple agenda but I guess that’s all our generation needs. A safe place to be real. To ask questions. To share experiences. To be inspired. The presence of God.

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The sun has set here in Sydney, Australia and being a Friday evening, this is often the time I sit down to write my weekly – or not so weekly! – blog. Having been away one weekend and very busy the next, I see it’s almost three weeks since I last posted, but my thoughts are still on the topic of faith.

The last time I wrote I spoke about Joshua, a Bible character renowned for his faith, and how this man deeply inspires me as a leader. Someone who inspires me on another level however is Abraham, and tonight I simply want to share something I found while reading about Abraham’s calling in Patriarchs and Prophets (Ellen G White, p 125-131 ) that may encourage you.

“God leads His children by a way that they know not, but He does not forget or cast off those who put their trust in Him. He permitted affliction to come upon Job, but He did not forsake him. He allowed the beloved John to be exiled to lonely Patmos, but the Son of God met him there, and his vision was filled with scenes of immortal glory. God permits trials to assail His people, that by their constancy and obedience they themselves may be spiritually enriched, and that their example may be a source of strength to others. ‘I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.’ Jeremiah 29:11. The very trials that task our faith most severly and make it seem that God has forsaken us, are to lead us closer to Christ, that we may lay all our burdens at His feet and experience the peace which He will give us in exchange.”

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The other night I was laying awake, seriously wondering who I am that I am of any significance to GOD. I was trying to get my head around, not only the fact that God loves me but that He has called me to share His love with others, and I was completely overwhelmed.

Maybe that’s why Casting Crowns’ song, Who am I? has just hit the spot for me. Mark Hall says that when he started writing this song, he was initially thinking he would write about being a conqueror or a new creation, but he says God started whispering that he was a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow, and he realised that before we can understand who we are in Jesus, we need to understand who we’re not. When we start getting a picture of who we’re not, it’s then that God’s love explodes and we get a bigger picture of who He is.

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Well I’m home safe and sound thanks to Qantas and all the better for having spent three and a half weeks in Singapura! Absolutely no sign of aviophobia, praise God, and all in all rejuvenated from things like quality time with God and friends, dinners at Little India, day and night swims at the condo pool, snorkeling at Manukan Island, a visit to a shanty town in Kota Kinabalu, foot massages, almost 360 degree night views of Singapore from 70 floors up, and breakfast with the orangatans at Singapore Zoo. So why am I back?!

I’m back because I’m still walking and talking with God and I still believe this is where He wants me to be. My personal calling has not changed in the last five and a half years and over the next few months I will not only be working with the Leadership Team at my church on how we can actualise our idealised values, I will also be doing four Saturday afternoon workshops on how we come to know God. John 17:3 tells us that eternal life is knowing God, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He sent, and these workshops will help us explore how to do just that.

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The story is told of a little hen – red or white or unspecified, depending on who’s telling the story – that lived in Yellowstone National Park or Nigeria or at no fixed address – again, depending on who’s telling the story. You might know the story I’m talking about? The one about the hen and the forest fire, or was it a farmhouse fire or a henhouse fire?

Whatever the kind of fire, this little hen was found by forest rangers or a farmer or a Nigerian boy, and seeing the bird petrified in ashes or as a burned lump on the ground or a heap of charred feathers, the person who found this hen knocked the bird over with a stick or kicked her off the trail with his boot or bent down to pick her up with his hands, and to his surprise, out ran three or four or seven chirping baby chicks! Now do you recognise the story?

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As Christians across the globe pause to reflect on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ this weekend, I want to share a gallery of words with you that each give insight into the final scenes of Christ’s life. Or course I don’t want to leave it there however. I am praying that this picture, as painted by word artist Ty Gibson (Shades of Grace), will enable you to experience the love of God in a new and meaningful way and if this is the first time you are meeting Jesus, it’s important you know He did all this for you! — “I have come that (you) may have life, and (you) may have it abundantly.” (Jesus Christ, John 10:10)

To read this story in full, check out John 18-20 at www.biblegateway.com. To learn more in person, come join us for our Easter Service – this Saturday on the corner of Johnson and Devonshire Sts, Chatswood. Happy Easter! — Sue

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I don’t know if you believe God answers prayer but I have had some very cool experiences of late. Just last Tuesday week back I was thinking about all I had to do that week and the impossibility of preparing a sermon on top of everything else, so I got on my knees and asked God if He might please provide for me and no sooner had I said amen than the phone started ringing. Not even thinking that this would be the answer to my prayer I simply answered the call as I would any call and couldn’t believe it when the person on the other end asked if they might do a presentation at Chatswood Adventist Church and when I asked them if they could come that Saturday they said yes!

This experience isn’t dissimilar to one I had a month or two back. Someone had called me on a Monday to ask if I could do a cremation committal the next day and having never even been to a cremation committal before I was rather nervous but said yes. Well the next morning, being the morning of the cremation, I started to panic because I didn’t know if what I had prepared was appropriate or not so I got on my knees and asked God to help me and I kid you not, at that moment which was 8.00 o’clock in the morning, a hospital chaplain called and told me he had been thinking about me and thought he needed to call and see how I was doing! Who calls at 8.00am?! And of all the people in the world, who knows more about cremation committals than hospital chaplains!

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This week I have an inspiring/challenging quote to share with you. It’s from p 46 of Henry Blackaby’s book, Experiencing God.

“When you believe that nothing significant can happen through you, you have said more about your belief in God than you have said about yourself. You have said that God is not capable of doing anything significant through you. The truth is, He is able to do anything He pleases with one ordinary person fully consecrated to Him.”

It’s true! Think on these things.

A couple of weeks ago I spoke about a recent survey on spiritual growth and the importance of reflecting on the Scriptures if we want to know Jesus and become like Him. Unfortunately reading the Bible or studying, meditating or memorising Scripture doesn’t always come easy, so I thought I would share some ideas that might help you . . .

• Small Group – join or initiate a group that meets for Bible study each week
• Diving Deep Group – join or initiate a group that takes a paragraph of Scripture each week and observes, interprets and applies it to their lives
• Growth Group – join or initiate a group of 2-3 people of the same gender and meet with them each week for mutual encouragement
• Accountability Partner – find a buddy who wants to read what you’re reading or simply shares your commitment to reading the Bible and check in with them each week for mutual encouragement
• Bible Book Club – form or join a Bible Book Club that encourages consistent contact either in person or online
• Bible Reading Plan – find and commit to a plan that will ensure you don’t get stuck at trying to decide what to read and will see you reading a variety of Bible books in a given period of time

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