Join us for a Movie Night - the Case for Christ.
A true story about a person seeking to discredit the story of Christ. A great opportunity to come together and be encouraged through the journey of a journalist on his way to faith in Christ.
5.30pm Sunday 25 March 2018
This February, we are looking at the concept of Desire. Desire is understood as a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen.
Desire is a powerful forces within us – and can be found in Creator God too.
Jesus encourages us to search the scriptures to better understand His desires… ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ (Matthew 9:13). The Psalmist expresses the desire of God for us to be satisfied (145:16) and fulfilled (145:19). And proclaims God’s desire for us to live in a way that is honest (Ps 51:6) and broken (51:17).
There are many things to desire from the tangible to the intangible, and from the valuable to the sentimental. And genuine desire drives and motivates us. The bible speaks about our desires calling us to delight in the Lord and the desires of you heart (37:4). The Psalmist encourages us to pray to the Lord to grant us our desires and give us success in our plans (20:4).
How connected is God to your desires? Or better still, how does your delight in the Lord affect your desires? And what are the desires of your heart?
This February, our prayer is for the scriptures to unfold the what, who, when, how, and why we desire what we desire. It is our hope that our shared desire for God would increase, deepen, and grow – that we would take delight in the Lord. And with every desire we have, that we would move closer to serving Jesus.
Time to stop and reflect is one of the hardest disciplines for a follower of Jesus. Jesus often went out to be on His own in prayer. It is that undivided time and focus that creates space for genuine reflection on Father God, to hear from the Lord and know Him. The Psalmist said:
'Be still and know that I am God' Ps 46:10 The beauty of what the Psalmist writes is that being still before God comes with a promise - that we can really know that God is God....
But something about our culture and the access to entertainment like media and TV makes stopping so hard. Not only do we need to work long hours, but more than ever, we desire leisure time and over the last 40 years, western culture has increased its actual leisure time by 20%. But our demand for free time grows, and is higher than it has ever been. This tells us that while there is nothing wrong with leisure time, it is a thirst that cannot be quenched.
That brings us to our Sunday Series on the art of reflection. The art of reflection seems hard but it could not be simpler.
The importance of art of not so much formulas or rules or how to's, but purpose and creativity and thought and reflection - and that means stopping.
Create time and space in your life to improve your art of reflection - and experience again what it means to be still and know that God is God.
Download the Series Booklet Here
On Sunday 4 February, our Church will be having a sharing service, so please come prepared with some of your reflections to encourage and share with the Church.
As a church community, we support SMG's 'Thumbs Up' campaign to show support for School Chaplaincy. The awareness raised by the campaign will help provide support for continued School Chaplaincy funding from 2019 in the upcoming May 2018 federal budget, and possible future co-investment funding from state budgets. We support the great work of SMG and we want to help play our part in promoting awareness of the positive impact and need for SMG School Chaplaincy Services in South Australia.
A great infographic of the work School Chaplaincy does can be found here.
You can also write a letter or send an email expressing your support. This template may be helpful to you.
The below information will help you to
Hear more and follow SMG
Key MP Contact details (in order of priority):
His name will be the HOPE of the world’ is the theme for our Christmas Series this December. Together, we will explore the need, the vessels and the faithfulness of Hope, as we reflect on the incarnation of the Son of God.
The name of Jesus reflects who Jesus is, and what He has done. Whatever you and your neighbours are facing in the world, there is Hope in the name of Jesus. Let Christmas be a season of Hope, for all things and for all people.
