Hope Restored

Good morning and welcome to worship.  This is the third Sunday in Advent: – the halfway point of our Advent season.  Have you slowed down yet?  Have you begun to let the wonder and mystery of Christmas speak to you in the midst of the “stuff” that seems to take over at this time of the year.  The Season of Advent tends to be one of growing anxiety generated by demands for time, energy and resources that may be limited.  We seem to find ourselves caught in a quandary: – trying to give time and energy to our families as well as fulfilling all of the commitments we have to the other pastimes and social engagements that keep us busy and occupied throughout the year.

This, the third Sunday in Advent is sometimes known as “Rejoice Sunday”.  To rejoice is to affirm our confidence that God is present in our lives, even when we do not see evidence of God’s presence.   Today’s Psalm (Psalm 126) calls us to rejoice all the time and to “come home with shouts of joy” (Psalm 126:6).  That may be a challenge for some of us, don’t you think?

I’ve been saying that this season of longing, waiting and hoping… is a helpful and necessary preparation for Christmas.  Take some time to read the lectionary readings for today (Psalm 126, Isaiah 61:1-4,8-11, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-26 and John 1:6-8,19-28) and you will find that they are full of JOY, encouraging us to remember the abundant grace of God.  In reflecting on ways in which we have experienced God’s abundance when all we could see was scarcity, hope is restored.  Even the secular theme for the Xmas season is one of dreams to be fulfilled and hope to be satisfied.  The challenge is one of being faith-filled – dreamers even when the world seems hopeless.

But God’s hope for the world is not isolated to fulfilling our ‘selfish whims and fantasies’.  On this third Sunday in Advent we are reminded that God calls us to be part of the healing of the world – to bring real joy.  How can we do this??  I find this to be a very challenging question.  I feel that I am a small fish in such a huge pond.  But there are ways that TOGETHER as the BODY OF CHRIST we can and do provide hope for people in many and varied ways.  I have heard it said that “The Church is the hope for the world.”  Think about that statement for a while and you will begin to see how true it is.

Thank you to those who gave gifts to those in prison for Christmas.  Beatrice collected them last Sunday and was very grateful for your generosity.  We give thanks to God for the Community Carols last week with over 400 people attending.  This Tuesday we will have our Children’s Fun Day, on Wednesday we share in a community Carols Service at Elston Lodge.  Next week there is a “Blue Christmas Service” and delivery of 40 food hampers and a Christmas Day lunch for people who are on their own at Christmas.  Our Op Shop Volunteers have their break-up this Friday.  Play group families have connected with the Church throughout the year.  How are these “hope” filled experiences?

Hope Restored….come home this Christmas with shouts of joy, come home  to The Father who loves you so much that He gave His whole life (in Jesus) for you and the world.

Take a moment to use the “contemplative/reflective” picture, Pathway Home, on the front of the bulletin to assist you in your Advent journey.

Rejoice….on you way HOME this week ………Rev. Brad Foote

Words of Comfort

Welcome to Worship today.  It’s the Second Sunday in Advent!!!   STOP AGAIN!!

Last week I asked you to put the “brakes on” our fast, busy lives.  I said, “Even if our ‘outer life’ wants to keep speeding up….I’m urging you….begging you… to SLOW DOWN your ‘inner life’ over these next four weeks, so that God can be God, and some fruit can be ‘born again’ in your Spiritual being”.

I have found it very hard to slow down this past week, both in my “outer and inner life” because there are so many things to DO!!  But, this week I have however had some moments of reflection and “pause” as Ralph Reilly and I prepare for our trip to India in January:- I have eaten Indian food, watched half a Bollywood Movie and listened to some reflective Indian music.  In one months time (4/1/12) we will be flying out from Australia.  Ralph has been diligent in making me be better prepared for this “first ever” real cultural life changing overseas experience.   The Church Council recently endorsed a request by me to visit some of the team members who live in India’s slums that Ralph is responsible for in his work with Servants to Asia’s Urban Poor.  I am very grateful to the Church Council for their approval for this request which will be part of my Continuing Education for Ministry (CEM) which the Uniting Church requires of every minister.  I want to make this a significant educational and spiritual learning opportunity. Although the trip is self funded by both Ralph and I, the three weeks away is not part of my annual leave.  I thank the Church Council for seeing the benefit of this to me and my ministry, which hopefully will also benefit you as I minister among you.

I share this (information above) with you because this adventure of preparation for the trip to India is similar to what Advent should be for us at Christmas; a time of real preparation for something that has a real outcome.  (God with us – Emmanuel.  Jesus being born in us anew…)  So I invite you to enter into the Season of Advent and let the gift of Advent do its work in us.  Advent is a season of waiting: waiting for the hope, peace, joy, and love of God to break into our lives anew through the story of the birth of Jesus, and through acts of hope, peace, joy, and love.

We began Advent with words of longing, waiting and hoping.  Last week, Guwa Au from the Logan Multicultural Uniting Church, called us to account through the words of the Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 664:1-9) and the words of Jesus in Mark 13:24-37.  This week we will be touched with words of comfort, and words of hope for lives to be restored and sins to be forgiven.

Isaiah features again in our contemplation (Isaiah 40:1-11) and the Gospel is from Mark 1:1-8.  So pray this prayer with me: “In the midst of the chaos of life around us, O God, we seek patience to wait, to listen, and to act with integrity.  In our decision making and our actions with one another, may we seek to find your comforting peace and presence. Amen”

I hope that the “contemplative/reflective” pictures on the front of the bulletins during Advent assist you in your spiritual journey.

May Advent teach us patience and be a new beginning ….as we receive God’s words of comfort this week .……Rev. Brad Foote

Welcome to Worship today.  It’s the First Sunday in Advent!!!   STOP!!

We are putting the “brakes on” our fast, busy lives.  Even if our “outer life” wants to keep speeding up….I’m urging you….begging you… to SLOW DOWN your “inner life” over these next four weeks, so that God can be God, and some fruit can be “born again” in your Spiritual being.

Advent is a season of waiting: waiting for the hope, peace, joy, and love of God to break into our lives anew through the story of the birth of Jesus, and through acts of hope, peace, joy, and love.  In this Season of Advent our voices join with people of faith of long ago in words of longing, words of comfort, and words of hope for lives restored.

Today we will hear the voice of the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 64:1-9) where he pleads with God to demonstrate hesed  “loyalty” to the people of Judah and restore broken relationships with God’s people.  We will also hear the voice of Jesus in a passage taken from His final talk with his followers before his arrest and execution (Mark 13:24-37).  The people in Mark’s community were also waiting for a better world, and they wonder how long it would take.  Jesus reminds them that only God knows the timing.  In the meantime, he challenges them to stay awake, be alert, and live in expectation (Mark 13:35-37).

So today on this First Sunday of Advent we STOP and refocus our attention on the ONE who came to give His life for the world.  The readings today challenge us to remember how the Creator has worked in the world in the past and what God’s promises for the future hold for us.  While acknowledging our longing for signs of God’s presence, we are challenged to wait expectantly and to live with the knowledge that God’s restorative presence comes in and through people. 

As we share in the Congregational meeting today, I hope that we can celebrate the way that God has worked through people in many and various ways, in the Church Council and in the Op Shop.  Some areas of leadership in our Church are being passed on to new hands and we give THANKS TO GOD and give GLORY TO HIM for the achievements and growth that has taken place through many people reaching out, changing lives.

Now we take stock, allow the Gardner to do some pruning so that the next season of life, faith and ministry at Ashmore Uniting Church can bear “more fruit” (John 15:2) as we saw last week in John 15:1-11.  Please hear the words of Jesus from our Stewardship journey over these past four weeks: – As a Congregation we must continue to abide in the vine (Jesus) so that “much fruit” (John 15:5) can be borne.

Last week we concluded the Stewardship theme by emphasising that “Fruitfulness comes from good stewardship”.  Let’s Steward this time of Advent leading up to Christmas by giving our lives again to the ONE who became flesh, and built His house among us (John 1:14) at Christmas.  “The Word (Jesus) became a human being and lived here with us.  We saw his true glory, glory of the only Son of the Father.  From him all the kindness and all the truth of God have come down to us.” (John 1:14)

May Advent teach us patience and be a new beginning, as we long for, and wait for God……

Rev. Brad Foote (27/11/11)

Six Weeks in Papua New Guinea – From our YWAM Team

“An encounter with other cultures can lead to openness only if you can suspend the assumption of superiority, not seeing new worlds to conquer, but new worlds to respect”

Being in PNG was a humbling experience, as the quote above says, God definitely opened our eyes to a new world to respect.

Our mission in YWAM is ‘To Know God and Make Him Known’, and that was what we went to PNG six weeks ago for! To make Him known to the people and encounter Him in new ways in our own lives.

We spent the first half of our outreach in beautiful Madang Province, on the north coast. We travelled out to remote villages to encourage and disciple local churches, hold evangelistic open airs, visit schools and do youth and children’s ministry.

We lived with the people, as they live – sleeping in grass huts, using pit toilets and bathing and washing our clothes in the rivers. We also ate the staple diet of banana and sweet potato (although the locals kept blessing us with chicken – a luxury!).

Three weeks later, we traded the ocean for the mountains and landed in Mt Hagen, where our sister YWAM base is located. From there we travelled out to different villages in the Highlands.

The services we held were powerful; encouraging and lifting up the churches and evangelizing through open airs. We were told that the dramas we performed really spoke to people and the effect it had on the villages and also on us, was truly incredible. We saw hundreds of people dedicate and rededicate their lives to God, miraculous healings, and families restored.

Being in Papua New Guinea made me realize that we cannot do work like this without God at the centre. The only hope we can take is the message of who God is and what He has done for us – He is the one who speaks into people’s hearts and spirits.

God amazed us, as He gave us His strength to do what He called us to, we didn’t have to try to struggle in our own weakness. We just made ourselves available to God – He then did the rest. We were there for only a short time, but the lasting impact will be the new relationships people have found with their Saviour.

YWAM Gold Coast, DTS Outreach Team (Andy Scalas)

Wide Open for God

Good Morning and welcome to Worship.  Today we are concluding our series entitled, “The Power of a Whisper, Hearing God. Having the Guts to respond.”  This has been an inspiring and significant series of studies and messages over these past five weeks since Pentecost.

During this series we have had a number of different sources of input that has directed the development of this theme.  While I was on holidays Jim Barratt developed the aspect of how we should practice hearing God’s whispers and nudges in our lives.  Last Sunday we saw the demonstration of these practices as the YWAM (Youth With A Mission) team shared with us personal testimonies of how their lives had been transformed from the experience of God speaking into their lives and then making an impact on the wider world through the outreach phase of their Discipleship Training School (DTS).  I’m very grateful for their offer to lead the service.  As someone recently said: – “God really showed up in Church last week”. There have been many conversations this week with people who were impacted by the power of God’s message through the WYAMers ministry and the sharing of communion with God.  It is worth noting that God often starts moving us with small, innocent first steps and encouraging us to look past ourselves and to the needs of the world beyond us.  This is why our Church has been moved by the vision of “reaching out, changing lives”.  We are trying to look beyond ourselves.

Today we are extending ourselves to be “wide open for God”.  This will mean different things to different people and we will all respond as uniquely and individually as we’ve been created.  But the challenge for us is “TO RESPOND”.  To do nothing is to deny God the very gift that we’ve been created to be.  There is a tendency for many in our culture to have a tight fisted response which goes something like this:-  “I worked hard for the comforts I enjoy, God.  Isn’t there someone else you can tap on the shoulder for this role?”

It is so much better to respond with an open hand, where we say to God:- “Everything was yours to begin with, God.  Whatever I need to let go of in order to obey your whispers, I release back to you now”.   Paul urges us to be “relinquishers” rather than “clutchers”.  In the opening verses of Philippians 2, Paul says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vein conceit.  Rather in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.” In case we don’t fully comprehend what this exhortation means, Paul then offers an illustration by way of the life and legacy of Jesus Christ.  “Have the same attitude and mind that Christ Jesus had,” (Phil 2:5)  He then leads us into seven voluntary relinquishments that Jesus himself made as he responded in obedience to His Heavenly Father.   We will look at those seven “relinquishments” or “demotions” (from Philippians 2:6-8) as we “open ourselves up to God” in RESPONSE to His whispers and nudges.

I’ve found myself challenged by this invitation to be a Christ–follower who wants to learn to live with one ear perpetually tuned to heaven and then to find myself discerning how to put those whispers and nudges into my daily routine of practicing His presence and allowing heaven sent input to direct my life toward making a kingdom oriented difference to this world.

May you be open to God this week and “have the guts to respond” …..Rev Brad Foote

Practice, Practice, Practice
Over these past three weeks we’ve been challenged by the theme: – The Power of a Whisper. Hearing God.   Having the Guts to respond. We know that God has been communicating with His creation from the very beginning.  The Bible certainly makes it clear that God is relational and desiring intimacy with us (Genesis – Revelation).  God is both Transcendent and Immanent.  Jesus himself called God, his father, and taught his disciples that he is “Our Father” too (Matt 5:9). He wants us as His children to hear His voice. However God does not compete, nor does he contend for our undivided attention. Often he delivers nothing more than a nudge – easy to dismiss if you don’t recognise the Source. He whispers, soft undertones that invite us to bend an ear – or an entire life – until it is pressed flat against his lips.
I’ve reprinted the following story as told by Wes Howard-Brook.  Here is part of a life changing whisper that was given to Marilyn, a lady in his congregation. She heard God’s whisper and the effect flowed onto her community of faith and then the wider community as they put the prompting/nudge into practice. Like Ashmore Uniting Church, they are reaching out, changing lives.
“I know what you people are up to.”
Ryan looked up from his lunch plate and into my eyes. He said it simply, yet as if in on a conspiracy. I asked, “What do you mean?”
“For months, I’ve been coming to this lunch,” he continued, “trying to figure out who you people are and why you’re doing this.” He paused. “You’re not from a church. You don’t talk about God or the Bible. You just smile and serve all this food week after week.” He paused again. “But then I figured it out.”
I smiled back and waited to hear what mystery Ryan had solved about why we were there. We smiled and waited, as if naming it aloud would somehow take away from the truth we both knew. Finally, Ryan said, “You’re doing this because Jesus said you’d find him among the poor, and you’re looking for Jesus.”
Ryan, of course, was right. We had begun our weekly lunch at the Community Hall in our suburban town over a year ago. It started because one of our Bible study members had heard Jesus’ words, “You have the poor with you always” and, as she put it, “was convicted.” Marilyn said, “Where are the poor amidst my suburban life? Nowhere.” So, one day she brought a pot of soup and some sandwiches and set up a table outside the local food bank to see what would happen. In a few months, it had become a feast. A helpful city council member suggested we use the Hall and it became a weekly banquet. About fifty people come now: homeless folks, low income seniors, people who heard that there was a “free lunch,” volunteers who share a table with whoever is there. It is one of the joyous highlights of my week.
God’s grace often comes in the form of the sister or brother in need of a meal, a warm coat, or just an authentic smile. Ryan was right. Jesus was there, sitting at the table and serving the sandwiches.
Wes Howard-Brook teaches theology and biblical studies at Seattle University, and is the author of several books. He also shares the ministry, Abide in Me, with his wife, Sue Ferguson Johnson (www.abideinme.net).
As the Foote family is on holidays this week, it is wonderful to know that Jim Barratt is taking the responsibility of leading the service today. I pray that you will experience God’s still, small voice in worship as God’s Spirit is poured out on His Church at Ashmore.
May you “practice, practice, practice” hearing and acting on God’s whisper…this week…Rev. Brad Foote

Welcome to worship. We are in the second week of a four week series by Bill Hybels called The Power of a Whisper, Hearing God. Having the guts to respond. A number of people in the congregation have indicated that this topic and theme is of great interest to them. We are recording the sermons each week for those who may be away. If you want a copy on CD, please ask Trish in the Church Office (5597 2429) or Ralph Reilly 0437 198703.
There is small group study that is accompanying the series which we are having on Sunday afternoons from 2.30 to 4.30pm. We have already had two sessions of the series and the last two sessions will be today, 26th June and in two weeks time on 10th July. If you wish to borrow the DVD Study guide for your personal journey, please do not hesitate to ask me for a loan.
Last week we began the theme by acknowledging that God is a “Communicating God” who has taken the initiative to open and maintain a line of communication with human kind. From the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation, God’s Word speaks to us. The Bible is God’s written word, Jesus is God’s spoken word and The Holy Spirit is God’s ongoing word of guidance, reproach, comfort and advocacy. John 14:26 clarifies the activity of the Spirit in our lives. “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” We need to tune into all the facets of God’s ‘means of communication’ so that we can hear and respond to God’s leading and guidance with obedience and confidence.
I outlined the 5 filters that Bill Hybels suggested are helpful in discerning and testing the whispers and nudges from God. 1. Is the Prompting Truly from God? 2. Is it Scriptural? 3. Is it Wise? 4. Is it in Tune with Your Own Character? 5. What do the People You Most Trust Think about It? I hope that we can all use these filters to enable our relationship with God to be more intimate and responsive to God’s Whispers using these filters.
Today we will hear from people who have not only heard God’s whisper but they have taken it to heart and it has changed the course of their life and/or guided them into their lifetime directions. God has given assurances in the Bible which should assist us in living out our Christian lives with confidence, faith and power. Bill Hybels has identified three broad categories of ‘whispers’ from God that may be helpful as we unpack this experience. Firstly there are Whispers of Assurance; secondly, Whispers of admonition and thirdly, Whispers of action. This third area of Whispers of action seems to be the most common of these three categories. I will deal with them further in the sermon.
I will leave you with the poem/verse that first stirred Bill Hybels into being someone who is willing to listen to God’s Whispers in the first place. Bill was seven years of age when he asked the question about whether God would speak to a seven year old boy just like He spoke to Samuel when he was seven years of age (1 Samuel 3:1-10) .
Oh! give me Samuel’s ear,
An open ear, O Lord,
Alive and quick to hear
Each whisper of your Word;
Like him to answer to your call
And to obey you first of all.
May you find encouragement to pray this prayer for yourself this week.
Grace and Peace….Rev. Brad Foote

Welcome to Worship today as we begin this four week series called The Power of a Whisper, Hearing God. Having the guts to respond by Bill Hybels.
I plan to preach on this topic over the next four weeks and there is a study series available for people to use in a small group setting or you can read Bill’s book and develop you own spiritual study opportunities. I have two (2) copies of the video teaching that comes with the series. Please contact me if you want to borrow them along the way. Our Sunday afternoon group (2.30-4.30) will be meeting this afternoon and you are welcome to join today. Andrew Rowland hopes to be conducting the studies on a Wednesday evening. It doesn’t matter how we approach the series but I hope that all of us will get better at hearing from God and get bolder about obeying what he asks us to do. That’s a pretty good goal, don’t you think?
As a starting point, I’d like us to know that our God is a communicating God. We serve a God of Words. Throughout scripture God created with a word, he healed with a word, he encouraged with a word, he rebuked with a word, he guided with a word, he prophesied with a word, he assured with a word and he comforted with a word. Throughout all of history, God has communicated, and he is still communicating today. The issue isn’t whether or not God is speaking; it’s whether we will have ears to hear what he says. John 14:26 reminds us of our Pentecost experience last week were it says “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
So without further ado, lets clean out our ears and do some fine tuning over this next month. Let’s tune into the frequency that gets us on the same wavelength that God is using to communicate with the world and everyone and everything in it. Now this may raise some questions for us, and I hope that it does. We will not be the first people to find that hearing from God and responding appropriately is a difficult and challenging business. There’s a lot of competition out there vying for our attention. Bill Hybels outlines five filters that I’d like to put in print for you to reflect on this week.
“Over the years I have compiled a short list of 5 filters that help me ’test every whisper’ I receive. If a whisper fails to make it through one of these five, I question whether the whisper is really from God. At the very least, I move slowly to confirm the whisper’s validity . At other times, a whisper makes it through with no problem. In this case, no matter how confusing, challenging or unsettling a prompting may be, I attempt to obey it.” (Bill Hybels Page 98) The five filters are:- 1. Is the Prompting Truly from God? 2. Is it Scriptural? 3. Is it Wise? 4.I s it in Tune with Your Own Character? 5. What do the People You Most Trust Think about It?”
Having those five filters at the ready helps tremendously when you’re trying to make sense of a whisper from God. We will touch on them today in worship but they will be elaborated further in the study materials and video presentations.
I hope that this series continues to develop the theme that we began at Easter of exploring what it is the be a Witness to the life changing Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Christ is Risen…..He is Risen indeed!!
Be Still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10)…….this week………Rev. Brad Foote

Good morning and welcome to worship on this Transforming Sunday – Pentecost.
The focus passage from Acts 2:1-21 begins with the words, “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place”. Imagine if the whole church, across our diversity and divisions, was together in one place. This week from 5th June to 12th June we were asked as Christians Churches across the Gold Coast to pause and pray for our beautiful city – The Gold Coast. On Wednesday night we joined with The Spanish congregation and a few people from Mudgeeraba Uniting Church to do just that; to pause and pray for our city. There was a taste of Pentecost as the Good News of Jesus Christ was heard in prayer and praise, in the languages of all who attended, both Latin American and English.
Today we again will pray for our City. Please continue to pray for the city council, the police, the magistrates, social workers, town planners, schools (teachers, principals, chaplains, students & parents), hospitals, transport authorities, the directors of business-houses and all the community organisations who work for the health of our city.
This Sunday continues the story of the disciples after Jesus’ ascension (June 2nd). In Acts 1:4, Jesus had told them to wait in Jerusalem for “the promise” of God. During this time, other Jews gather in Jerusalem to commemorate the Hebrew observance of Shavout or the Feast of Weeks, also called Pentecost. Initially this was a celebration of harvest (Exodus 23:14-17). Later, the festival focused more on Jewish religious history. After the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in 70AD, the feast was transformed into an observance of the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. Pentecost literally means “fiftieth” (Deuteronomy 16:9-10).
The writer of Acts 2:1-21 describes, Pentecost as an experience where God gives His Spirit and a new community of witnesses is formed. This new community lives in covenant with God and becomes described later by Paul later as The Body of Christ (1 Corinthians12:12-31).
The church is born on this day of Pentecost. It is born in the power of the Holy Spirit. And the church lives today by that same originating power. Whenever the church becomes stuck in its ways, boring, complacent and content, the gift of the Holy Spirit promises the church divine disruption, dislocating us, empowering us and encouraging us to greater faithfulness to Christ. As followers of Jesus we need to pray and remain open to where the Spirit may blow.
As we wait, the Holy Spirit comes and speaks to each of us in a way that we can relate to. That is why next Sunday we begin the series:- The Power of a Whisper. I hope that as many people as possible will find this series an opportunity to deepen our listening skills to hear again the voice of God in our lives and in the Church.
May God bless you this week……Rev. Brad Foote

I greet you in the name of Jesus Christ today. We join together in worship as part of the body of Christ in this community, and beyond.
Today is the last Sunday of the Easter period and throughout the world many Churches observed the 2nd of June as the Ascension of Christ. Ascension Day is the 40th day after Easter and is always on a Thursday.
The story of Jesus ascending to heaven is mentioned briefly in two of the gospels, in Mark 16:9 and in Luke 24:50-51, and more completely in Acts 1:6-11 (which is one of our focus passages). In many Protestant churches today, the Ascension is not a major celebration, though some churches do hold special Ascension Day services. In parts of Europe, Ascension Day is a legal holiday and businesses are closed. I share this with you as part of the history to which we are linked through the heritage of our Christian faith.
At the time of Jesus’ Ascension, Jesus promises that the Spirit will continue to shape the disciples as the Body of Christ (Acts 1:8). Have you ever really contemplated what that might really mean and what that might look like? The answers to those questions really have implications for us individually and together as families and as a Christian Community. Jesus commissions this small community to do the work of Christ “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
As we see the story unfolding we see that it begins in Jerusalem and unfolds as the gospel (good news) message of God’s saving love spreads to Judea, Samaria, and finally to Rome. Jesus’ promise to the disciples, that they will receive the power of the Spirit for Witness (v.8), explains how this will occur. When Jesus is no longer on earth, God’s Spirit forms and commissions these fledgling followers to be His Body and to do His Work. WOW, what a responsibility!! Jesus left this task to a handful of followers who were ordinary people who were commissioned to an extraordinary task. And the amazing thing is, THEY WERE OBEDIENT to the calling, and with obedience came empowerment. That same empowerment then is available for the people of God still today.
From 5th June (today) to 12th June (Pentecost Sunday) we have responded to a call for the Christian Churches on the Gold Coast to join with One Heart for the Gold Coast City. We have been asked to “see the people of God across the Coast gather with one heart and one purpose to Exalt and Praise Jesus Christ as Lord of the Gold Coast and to pray for our city.” This call couldn’t have been more timely considering the circumstances that have confronted our Gold Coast Community over this past week, as we have been shocked by the death of the Police Officer, Damian Leeding. Our Christian Churches need to be demonstrating the Spirit of Witness in a way that is unified as “one body of Christ on the Gold Coast, lifting high the name of Jesus and seeking spiritual breakthrough for our city”.
I invite you to demonstrate this calling to express a Spirit of Witness, as we share on Wednesday night here at Ashmore Uniting Church (8th June) from 7-8.30pm. The Spanish Congregation and our Congregation will share together in leading an evening of prayer and praise for transformation of our city. “…seeking the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jeremiah 29:7).
Next week is Pentecost Sunday. We will share in a combined service with the children participating and leading us in some aspects of the service.
Be the Spirit of Witness to the name of Jesus……this week……..Rev. Brad Foote