Ekklesia

Time for an update :),
really i have nothing better to do, the joys of the life of a single man.

Two week ago i went to MYC (Mid year conference or Meet your companion) , and we looked at Ekklesia (Church). This is really testing my memory, here's what the conference had to say.

The End of our life is church, in the meantime we are building the church because Christ empowered us to build the church, He builds the church through us, by giving us gifts. We have many gifts from God, not for self purpose but so that we can build his church. Therefore we should not waste them rather, we should use them for the common good, for its original purpose.
We need people in whatever gifts they have to build the church. Thus is fundamental to our Christian living. The Church is eternal and it is what God is doing in the world. Therefore it is a great privilege for us to participate in building his church.
How does the kingdom of God grow? It grows by Christians using their gifts in love for the building of the church. Therefore the preaching of the Gospel must continue because the gathering of Christians listening to God’s word is what the church is about.
Some have the gift of expounding God's word, however all Christians should be ministers, to live in a way that maximizes the preaching of the Gospel. Therefore make decisions on the basis of Jesus’ Lordship not worldly materialism. Base everything to the building of the church. This is the mindset we need!

I think one of the main things that was really emphasised was the importance's of the public reading of scripture in Church. Over the past few years, i speak of the denomination I'm familiar with, Sydney Anglicans, the public reading of scripture in the church meeting has declined. The old prayer book used to start off with Psalm 95, every Sunday. Today, if you would only hear the word of God, do not harden your hearts as Israel did in the wilderness. Today, when you hear the word of God, what are you doing? what is your response to the word of God?

Theirs a lot more that was said, but that is basically the summary of it. I also went to an elective called "Working in the church" which was very good and made me rethink my future. If you imagine a triangle with three pieces in it. Purpose at the top, industry in the middle and existences at the bottom. Someone ones defined three types of works. Job, career and calling (not the biblical sense of the word). A job is what a person merely does to support their family and they are moderately happy. A career is where a person strives for nothing except advancement and they are profoundly unhappy. A calling is where the person is not interested in money or advancement but loves the job. Having a job keeps the three pieces of the triangle evenly spaced while a career minimizes purpose and existence. The dangers of uni students and careerism is that the advancements and bigger salaries become so appealing to the point where purpose gets smaller and smaller, and eventually God is out of the picture or only a small part of life. Christians should be aiming to increase the purpose in life while minimizing industry and existence. That means organising life in a way that maximises the preaching of the Gospel. What about full time paid ministry then? Well there is three main things Christians should have in teaching roles. Conviction, character and competency. trained theologically and absolutely convicted in the truths of the Gospel. Your christian living should reflex your convictions. We must be committed to living to what we preach. Last of all we should be able to teach. We need Men in public mission today to willingly sacrifice their lives to take leadership. I think this really made me think, am i fully convicted in the truths of the Gospel, is it changing my character, i know like all of us, I struggle at working on my own Godliness. Am i able to teach? Do i take lead? Am i clear? Things i defiantly need to continue working on however why do anything else in life then devote my life to the preaching of the Gospel!

Another thing i went to was an elective on mission. They made a very good point which challenged me. One of the big things missionaries face in the first year of mission work is their personal bible reading and prayer. Unlike here they don't have that constant encouragement and bible teaching from fellow Christians because they don't understand the language. So personal Godliness is very important, i know it something i have to really continue working hard on. The other things we had during MYC was seminars where we looked at the elements of church such as order and what needs to be in a church meeting. We looked at the idea of Ekklesia and the development of covenants throughout the scriptures. We also had bible studies where we wrestled with 1 John.

It was very encouraging to see so many first years come this year. It was even more encouraging to see first year being challenged by the word of God and willing to get more involved in CBM this coming semester. The classic quote, I released their just so much i don't know about God, their so much i need to continue learning. It was very encouraging to hear people say that.

Therefore MYC was a great time to share in fellowship with each other, real fellowship lol, hearing God's word together and challenging each other even during lunch, supper and even compulsory fun time :)



My ministries for the rest of this year have exponentially increased. I am now on two CBM committees, the penrith and cross-campus committee. Last week, i lead my first service at Emu plains Anglican, got some positive feedback. I was apparently too wordy, even started the service with Psalm 95. But from thinking over the questions from MYC, i was very encouraged to get feedback from people telling me i was very clear. I've also taken up to help with Sunday school. I'll be continuing in the scripture ministry. I'm down to preach on the 7th of October on John chapter 11. I'll be beginning my exegesis on Monday hopefully. Hopefully Mike can challenge me with all sorts of questions :) At CBM so far it looks like I'll be leading a biblical theology training strand on Mondays which i'm very excited about :). So I ask for prayer to be effective in those ministries, and that i might do all those ministries for the glory of the Gospel, for the glory of the kingdom.

I've ran out of places to explore Emu Plains. Some nice spots around the plains and at the foot of the mountains. Haven't done really any work over the holidays on Thesis, so i have to get back into it next week. Last semester i ended getting a HD and a D and i passed my Old Testament exam. What else? I saw the movie Amazing Grace yesterday. Was good, i would of liked it if they explored the struggles of William Wilberforce with God's word. However it was still a good movie. I've also been blessed to have some close friends nearby where i can meet up with them, and encourage each other in God's word.

Heres the latest conundrum to think about, the first question may be obvious.
The church is for the Christian, God’s gathered people listening to the word of God. This raises the question, then what about the non-Christian? 1 Corinthians 14:24 tells us that if all prophecy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship and declare that God is really among you. Therefore if we faithfully proclaim the Gospel, the power of Gospel will convict the unbeliever or outsider if it’s in God’s will.
However we should not neglect to welcome unbelievers or outsiders during and after the church meeting. In my old church, we changed some of the pews to chairs, so that the service would be much more loving to de-churched (generation who have not been bought up in church) people.

My questions is then, is there a fine-line in how much we can change our church meeting to make it more appealing to outsiders before it hinders the preaching of the Gospel. The Gospel still might be preached faithfully, but may hinder the churched people, particularly the older congregation members. And finally what is that line.

My next questions is, which in some way relates to the first, should we be using words such as fellowship, sin and service in a church meeting, When even the Christians may have a misunderstanding of these words. For example sin, should we be using sin in our meetings, when most non-Christians see sin as breaking the law, rather than rebellion against God, trying to live lives our way.

How can we then be loving and welcoming to outsiders and preaching the Gospel faithfully while not being a stumbling block to the congregation, to the church?

Till next time,
May you continue to give all glory to him who called you out of Darkness into light.
Laurence.

At Long Last, An Update!

Well i finally got around to updating my blog and write a post.
Well much has happen which is often the case after a few months.
Therefore here is the updates.


Church

One of the main things that encourage me about St Paul's Emu plains, is the people's faithfulness and willingness to grow in their knowledge of God. People are generally interested in how your week was, and especially the leaders are interested in how you can further grow and be equipped in the knowledge of God.

We have been going through the book of Exodus over the past few weeks, and the exposition of scripture that have been given are both encouraging and challenging because they are Christ centred and are faithful to the text. God's word penetrates our hearts and minds to shape our will to do God's will and that's excellent!

In terms of ministry their, I've been helping with year 5 scripture at Emu Heights. That has been going well, It is a great encouragement to see kids who want to know more about Christ even though their ideas are strange at times. Me and the assistant minister at Emu Plains Anglican have been dividing the scripture teaching up into two parts which has provided a good training aspect to teaching as well. I've also had a privilege to meet up with him and be discipled and he has encouraged me to think about how he can continue training me in ministry, and particular word ministry. Other things that i have taken up is leading singing from time to time, and generally things that come naturally as a Christian, helping packing up chairs, etc.

Also I'm very excited that in term 3, i might be on the preaching roster, to preach on John, so theirs something to think about for praying. It's exciting and a great privilege to continue being trained up in Word ministries and do prayer that i may do it out of service and love and not out of pride.

I've also been getting to know congregation members slowly, found it helpful to stand where the welcomer's stand each week and say hello to everyone. I noticed that some of the members work at the university, and i would love to find a time to meet up with them at uni with some of our cbm members. In particular I've been getting to know the student minister well, and he is someone i can talked to about ministry issues and tough tough questions. I am also trying to get him and me praying for each other regularly.

I also went up to Easter convention and got time to spend with him and some of his Moore collage mates. Was a brilliant time with excellent talks that were very encouraging and challenging. We looked at the issue of suffering, which is an action pack tough issue. I was also surprised that they keep a name tag for me up at katoomba when i went to visit, i deeply do miss katoomba, however i am joyful and a sense of peace come in knowing that their are faithful people their to continue proclaiming the Gospel in katoomba, please do, remember 10%

CBM

CBM (Campus Bible Ministries) has been good as usual. We have been slightly struggling this year with the finishing up of two of our staff members, and the arrival of a baby for our current staff member. My friend who started mts has really helped and has a heart to see the lost come to Christ. Mission week was great, a bunch of Moore collage students came to help us with mission apart of their mission, and we had a bunch of stuff happening throughout that week. Barbecues, loads of walk up, a band, etc. Student Leader (President) work has been tough and challenging however i decided to write too small talks to encourage both the student leaders and the staff in the ministry we do their. CBM has a great emphasis on training people up as well as training them up for evangelising. I've also been involved in Co-leading Doctrine course, to train up other Christians, that has been going well as well. It seems the past uni years, its been other's training and disciple me up however this year, its turned around. I've been meeting up one on one with a guy, and its been both very encouraging and edifying. Therefore please do continue praying for the work on campus, that many more seeds will be planted in people's hearts, and that many more young leaders will be trained. I've include at the bottom of this message, both devotions/talks.

Uni

Uni work has been challenging and i feel i should spend more time doing them. Thesis work has been tough however I've just recently finished a initial pre draft and handed in last week. A whole 30 pages, 4400 words. The most I've ever written for an engineer. The title of thesis is as such, DNA microarray image enhancement for grid ding using conditional convolution histogram equalization. Still a lot of work to do for it, so do pray that i may be diligent in my studies. It has also been good to learn about computer architecture over this semester however the work has proven difficult.

Personal Godliness

This area all ways needs growth. With the lesser travel time and the use of the car, finding time for reading the bible and praying has lessened. Please do pray i might find time, and make it a high priority to do so. It terms of the normal struggle for most christian, singleness, I've been much more appreciative of being single and using the most of my energy in ministry. Therefore my contentment defiantly has improved. It still is unnatural for us to be alone, and i still would love to have someone to encourage, train and love in Christ however I am not so worried, for ministry is first priority as a single man. I some what miss having two of my katoomba friends around who were all ways around to challenge and grow me in my understand of God. I do miss them greatly however i know we have been sent out onto different parts for the proclamation of the Gospel. One of them recently got engaged and it is a great blessing, and he has started working at cms (Church Missionary Society). The other has started collage, apparently he has a reputation of asking many questions and changeling the lectures hehe. I do continue to pray that they may continue to grow in their knowledge of God and that their desire for the proclamation of God may also continue to grow.

You would also be happy to know that i was convicted of pirated software i had, so i bought vista home premium & Office 2007 for my computer.

Other:

I have done a number of interesting things in my spare time. Built a router and wireless server. Ran 5 Operating systems at onces, and many more geeky things. I also was lent a brilliant Christian manga, which includes the Gospel. They are only available in Japan, so hopefully will get some sent over.

final note. Please do continue praying for the things above. If your a katoombaite reading this, I do miss you, and my prayers for the ministry up there are with you.

These are the two deviation/small talks i gave for our cbm committee

1 Peter 2:4-10 Tell

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Script “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” So the honour is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offence.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the Excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

What are we trying to do here at CBM?
Well you might remember at our weekend away, we came up with four different things that we as a Christian group should be doing.
Firstly, we should tell/evangelise people who Jesus is and what he has done.
Secondly, we should teach people to understand and act on God’s word.
Thirdly, we should equip/train God’s people to lovingly serve each other.
And finally, we should nurture people. This comes from teaching and equipping God’s people.
So today lets start of by looking at the first one, telling people. But before we can understand why we need to tell people, we need to understand who we are.
1 Peter 2:4-5 tells us that “you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” We are God’s building project, pictured as living stones joined to the living stone, Jesus.
Verse 9 tells us that we are God’s people, God’s nation, who are being joined and united together.
However we ourselves were not always like this. And we see this in verse 10 which tells us that once we were not a people who received mercy and because we had rejected his rule, we deserved punishment.
It is now only because of God’s mercy and grace in Christ Jesus that, verse 5, we are a holy priesthood.
So if this is who we are, why should we tell people about Jesus?
Well Jesus is our great high priest (Hebrews 5) and he has made us his go-between between him and the rest of the world. Verse 9, “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God so that you may proclaim the Excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”
This is where we get to be a part of what God is doing in the world, apart of his mission. We get to share in the proclamation of his saving message that Jesus has come, that he has lived, that he has died and that, he is risen, to save his people.
As God’s people it is our first responsibility and what a privilege it is, and even more, we can do it together.
Therefore friends, let us continue to tell people who Jesus is and what he has done.

Equipped in the Knowledge of God

You might remember that last time we had a meeting I talked about the importance of telling people about the Gospel. Well another important thing that we should also be actively doing is growing in our knowledge of God.
So we see in Ephesians 4, that we are all united in one body1 and all of us share the most important thing in common, which is life, through the death and resurrection of Jesus. However 1 Corinthians 12 tells us that God has also given each of us gifts2, which are to be used in service, and if we are going to serve one another, we need to be properly equipped. Therefore how do we get equipped to serve?

As I mentioned before, we need to grow in our knowledge of God and as we grow in our knowledge of God, so we grow in Christlike ness of character, for true knowledge of God affects our whole personalty. It not only shapes our thoughts but fires out emotions and stirs our will to do God’s will.
Therefore it is not surprising that Paul often prayed for his converts to grow in knowledge, such as the start of Ephesians 13. Nor is it suppressing that Paul prayed for knowledge, because God must be our teacher.
God teaches us through his spirit challenging and convicting us as we hear or read God’s word.

Therefore In terms of the knowledge of God, we first need to know what God’s will is with regards to our actions and attitudes in our life from day to day. This does not come naturally for us to realise that God wishes us to have a forgiving Spirit, or to be humble, or to be meek, or to be content with the things we have. We need to be taught these things and reminded again and again through God’s word.
Secondly we also need to know God’s intentions for the future; for it is through this that we find the strongest motive for Christian living. For example, knowledge of Christ’s second as judge and king provides a very strong motive for seeking first God’s kingdom.

So back in Ephesians in chapter 4, Christ has given ministers to the church, men who have received the gift of teaching for helping their fellow Christians grow in knowledge4. Indeed we all play our part in this helping one another and Christian fellowship is a vital instrument under God in helping us all to grow in knowledge of him. Therefore we must continue to meet in service, to build each other up by contributing to the fellowship.

So my first application today is to those who are in the position of expounding God’s word, In particular those who give talks and sermons. These people must explain and apply God’s word so that the hearers may grow in their knowledge of God and in their Christian faith. This means that they must give time to the study of the bible and theology and in particular, they must give a reasonable amount of time in preparation of their talk.

Secondly, it is the duty of all of us as Christians that when an opportunity comes, to build up his fellow Christians and to testify to the outside. God has called us and given us each gifts for the purpose of building up God’s church. We are God’s body building project.

So let’s take the matter of equipping and growing in the knowledge of God seriously. Not only pray that God’s Spirits will teach us but also use the means God has provided. Read the bible regularly and prayerfully and be active in Christian fellowship where the word of God is preached, for this is one of God’s primary means for our growth in Christ likeness.

In Christ,

Laurence.

An Update of Laurence's World!

I've not posted in ages!! Busyness of life, and lack of interest perhaps.
However here is it! The million dollar question, Whats been happening with Laurence Because I haven't heard from him for such a long time!

Well last post was in January so let me see. Firstly our new minister at Emu Plains started his commission. Our new assistant minister has also started last week and it is exciting to have them both their to teach, equip and tell people in the parish and outside the parish about Jesus the Lord!.
I also finished my work placement for this year and that went well :).
We also had our away committee meeting for this year, where we discussed our goal's, our mission, events and our roles for the year. Lol I'm officially the student leader now yey :)
CBM has been busy but great as always to collectively proclaim the Gospel. One of my friends started MTS, and it's exciting to work with him in partnership for the Gospel!
Oh Also started helping with scripture at emu plains, and they are a very behaved school, compared to katoomba anyways.
Okay so that's the ministry side of things. In uni news, i started my Thesis on lol rather long name "DNA Image Enhancement for Microarray Griding". So far finding it hard to get motivated and to do something about it lol.

Anyways i hope things are going well for u readers (if anyone actually reads this blog), and continue keeping strong in the Lord!

Yours Faithfully
Laurence.

The Emu "Plains" is tooooo hot!!

It's been a while since my last post. So what has happen since then.
Well i'm moved to emu plains with my parents and slowly settling in. The weather is way tooo hot, like sleeping on some piles of hot rocks from a vocano. Don't know much people, except a friend who lives lol 7 houses away from my house :).
I have gone to Emu Plains Anglican in last 2 weeks. The sermon's have been excellent, great exergesis of the passages in Ephesians. I will when get more time, update you on whats been said. The people are very welcoming their and it is joyful to get to know them. Though why is their no my age? lol their is people a little older, or people a little younger, ahwell. At the moment they are without a full time minister, however a new minister is getting commisioned the end of this month. The rector from Blackheath has been filling in for the time been.
I've also started Work placement (12 weeks, 6 this year & 6 next year) at lithgow at an ISP place. They have put me into the deep end the first day i got their, and am working on a project to shape people's bandwiths on wireless. The people i work with are very nice and easy going. Please pray that i may be a good withness to them, and that i might get opptunities and takes them to tell them about the Gospel. I've also had to drive to work, lithgow trains are ridiculous, and so pray that i make the most of the oppunities i get driving to work with my friend in the car.
Summer CBM is comming up, can't wait, Bible study at last!!! lol. Anyways please pray for patients for me with settling into new church and for more friends. If your going to Men's convention, i Hope to see you their :)

Keep Strong & Rooted up in Christ!
Laurence.

The Year of The Lord AD 2007

Yes it is the start of the new year. Been a while since i last posted so here is the latest news and prayer points. Firstly i am moving to emu plains the starting of this new year, where i will be finding a new church to go to and setting in. Secondly i also went to the snowy mountains since the last post and climbed the highest mountain Mnt Kosciuszko, it was great to see God's Creation. Thirdly my Homepage seems like it is no longer, so therefore my old sermons and reviews of conferences have been wiped. The pictures can still be found on my bebo page, find the link in my links. Fifthly me and my friend went to the central coast as well to visit a friend, who we got to know well on mission.

I have been personally encourage by St Hilda's Anglican Church Katoomba over the 5 years i have been there. Their faithfulness to God, their service, their Love, and their willingness to listen to the creators and redeemers voice. It brings me grieve to part with that family, and i hope they will continue to grow in Christ. We should be prepared to Go whether God wants us to be doing whatever God wants us to do. Please pray for this new year, and the big changes i am making.
Lastly it so happens i got to preach on my last day their at all three services. And so here is the full thing :)

Jesus the Life Giver – Sermon (John 5:1-30)

It always amazes me to watch super hero movies. Take for example batman; we know fairly close to the start of the movie that Batman’s secret identity is Bruce Wayne. However to the other characters in the movie, there is a mystery surrounding Batman’s real identity. We also see at times in the movie when people almost get it. The gospels are almost like this as well. Take for example

Point 1: Context of John 5

Both in John’s and Mark’s gospel we have a statement about who Jesus is. So John 1 – In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.
At the end of gospels we have someone who gets it. In John’s gospel it’s Thomas. He answers Jesus “My Lord and God!” after witnessing Jesus’ resurrection. In Mark’s gospel it’s the centurion. He response to Jesus “Truly this man was the Son of God” after witnessing Jesus’ death.

And in between there is a confusion to who Jesus is. For example Mark 8, Jesus ask his disciples “Who do the people say I am”, they answer “some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah and others, one of the prophets”
In John 5 things get painfully clear to whom Jesus is and he show who he is through an action and through word. However before we start looking at John 5 lets begin by praying.

Thank you, Father, for making yourself know to us, showing us the way of salvation through faith in your Son. We ask you now to teach us through your word, so that we may be ready to serve you, for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Point 2: Jesus’ Power and Authority

John 5, starting from verse 2 – Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which had five roofed colonnades. In these lays a multitude of invalids – blind, lame and paralysed.

The place mentioned here is not the main focus; rather it is that there are invalids here and particularly verse 5, there is one invalid who most likely was crippled for thirty-eight years. When verse 6 – Jesus saw him lying their and knew he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” Jesus knew the man’s situation and knowing how long he had suffered he asked him “Do you want to be healed?” Now there is a number of reason’s why he could have asked this question however this question does heighten the expectation that something miraculous is going to happen.

How does this man respond? Well verse 7 – “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me” Their was a belief that only the first person who entered the water after it had been stirred would be healed. This being the case, you can imagine how many were waiting around for the water to be stirred. Due to this man’s disability, he could not get into the water and perhaps hoped that Jesus would help him into the water.

However Jesus tells this man “Get up! Take up your bed and walk” and at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Jesus reveals his glory, which you could not see by looking at him, he reveals his power and his purpose, which is to restore.
A friend once told me that even if you repair in some sense the electrical cables in your body while being crippled for a long time you would not get better. The muscles in your leg, due to being crippled, do no longer work and those muscles which have slowly developed as a child just do not grow back instantly. Therefore this man walking again was clearly the finger prints of the power of God.

It’s a cause for joy and excitement, but some people miss it, verse 9 – Now that day was the Sabbath, “It is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” The Jews which being the religious leaders of the time, all they could see was a man carrying his bed. One of the laws they had on the Sabbath was not removing furniture which meant not carrying a bed. They asked the man who was this person that healed him, verse 13 – The man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn. It’s interesting to note that there is no link between Jesus’ kind acts of healing and some sort of explicit demand so therefore you follow. He will pour out his good gift on the wicked and good, like his father does on the rain and the sunshine. He heals the man, and the man doesn’t even know his name.

Now the story could of ended their, however Verse 14 – Afterwards Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” Jesus says stop sinning; cease sinning, or something more then being a cripple for 38 years will happen. By reading the gospel, as far as Jesus is concerned, far more serious and far more tragic then being disabled and crippled for 38 years is to have your sins undealt with. That is by far the most dangerous problem any of us confront, so Jesus warns this man to stop sinning.
In John’s gospel, sin is not defined so much in terms of moral character but it is our response to Jesus. Jesus himself in John 16 defines sin as “not believing in the one whom God sent”. To remain inactive and unresponsive to this great act of God in Jesus is the heart and essences of evil.

How does this man respond? Verse 15 – The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. What does this man do? He runs off and dobs on Jesus. Therefore Verse 16 – And this is why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.

The Jews at that time were very serious about breaking the Sabbath, It was one of the things that defined their people, some of the religious Jews were willing to die for this issue, and it was not a small thing to break the Sabbath in their world, Jesus response by answering Verse 17 – “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” The only person who was allowed to work regularly on the Sabbath was God. The Israelites knew as some have forgotten that God holds the universe together, he sustains it, he doesn’t just wind up an old clock and let it be, but holds it together, he works on every Sabbath day and Jesus is saying “My father is working, and I am working too.”

The Jews were quick to recognise the implications of Jesus’ response in Verse 18 – For he is calling God his own father making himself equal with God. Jesus continues to show that he is equal with God from verse 19 onwards, however we will see this in next week’s sermon. For the time been though, if Jesus is equal with God, what are the implications of this?

Point 3: Implications of Jesus being Equal with the Father

If you remember in the Old Testament, God is described as the creator. He is also described as the redeemer. In genesis 12 God made a covenant with his people and gave them the law to set them apart, for them to be a holy nation. However due to Israel’s disobedience they were sent into exile. The Jews being the religious leaders of the time of John 5 believed they could still get right with God by obeying the law and particularly keeping the Sabbath holy. However if Jesus is God, he is also the creator and redeemer and the Jews failed to notice that Jesus was setting up a new covenant, a new creation, which we see in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Therefore if Jesus is God, if he is creator and redeemer, what does he offer? Verse 21 – The son gives life to whom he will. The immediate offer is to give life, to give you life. What is Jesus’ ultimate work? V22, The ultimate work is that Jesus has been entrusted with all judgement. So why did Jesus come? Well Jesus came to give you life, not a physical life, although he gave you your physical life, no, his come to give u new life, a new life which he calls eternal life and which is unbreakable and comes to us as a gift not a trophy. Why is he serious about it? V22, He is serious because he has the job of all judgment. When we die we will all face judgment, we will meet Jesus and when we meet him, he will announce in a public way where we will go for the rest of eternity.

This week I had the privilege to go down to the snowy mountains, and climb to the top of the highest mountain in Australia, mount Kosciuszko. Since it was the middle of summer, the snow had melted and the flowers had began to blossom. I was filled with amazement of the beauty of God’s creation. However as nice as it is, it is only temporary, even when the creation falls, the issue of facing judgment still stands and it is very serious and important.

Now you see why Jesus went over to this man, it is because Jesus is the life giver. Now you see why he warns this man, it is because Jesus is the judge. He says to this man, don’t walk away from me; I want you to follow me because I am judge. Something worse then being crippled for thirty-eight years, is to end up in hell. So Jesus offers to us eternal life and the escape from judgment.

Who does Jesus call? Well John 5 is interesting because essentially Jesus is saying that he has called out, he will call out, and he does call out. He has called out in the past; he will call out in the future, and is calling out in the present. Firstly who does Jesus call out in the past? Well he has called out a man who was crippled, and who had a great need with no special reason to help. That really described the world doesn’t it? The world has a very real need, the problem of sin and death and they have no special reason to be helped. When Jesus called out this man, “Get up, take up your bed and walk’, did this call work, was it a waste of breath? No it was not waste of breath, he said get up and he got up. The man was made well when Jesus spoke. In the Old Testament, God was a God who done things by speaking let there be and then there is; Jesus is doing things by speaking as well. The man heard the word of Jesus, he responded to the call. He got up and has new physical life, this is because Jesus is the life giver; he gives the physical life and also gives the eternal life. Here we proof, that when Jesus speaks, it is worth listening to.

Secondly who does Jesus call in the future? Verse 28 – An hour is coming when all will hear his voice. One day he will call out and the whole world will stand in front of him. Just like the crippled man, Jesus is going to speak to everyone; they will hear his word and will stand face to face with him. And with perfect justice v30, he will judge and decide where people will spend eternity. There is not anyone who will not hear his call to be before him, he has called a man in the past and he will call the world in the future.

Thirdly who does Jesus call in the present? He calls everyone, verse 24 – whoever believes him who sent me has eternal life. What does Jesus want you to do? He wants you to hear his word and believe him. When does eternal life begin? Eternal life begins when you hear and believe, when does judgement get lifted off your shoulders according to Jesus? When you hear and believe. This is all possible because Jesus died for you and has risen from the dead.

Are you willing to hear and believe, are you willing to get up. If you still haven’t yet responded to Jesus’ call to get up, then let me encourage you to do so. However be warned that there is a day when all will get up and stand before the creator and redeemer, both those who believe and don’t believe will be judged. If you have all ready responded to the call, then are you willing to listen, do you pray and read your bible regularly, if not let me encourage you to do so. Do you share the news of the life giver Jesus with your non-Christian friends? Do you share it with the world? As Ray mentioned last week, the only reason why the judgment has not yet come, is so that as many people as possible would respond to Jesus’ call. So let me encourage you to share this news to the ends of the earth.

As you may know, this is my last day at St Hilda’s. And the time I have been here I have been personally encouraged by your faithfulness to God, your service and your willingness to listen to God’s voice. Let me encourage you to continue staying strong in Christ, to continue to be rooted up in Christ, to continue running the race and to continue listening to the Jesus’ voice who is creator, redeemer, judge and Lord.

Let us pray.
Heavenly father, we thank you for Jesus, we thank you that he is the life giver, the judge, the creator and the redeemer. And we thank you for working out your purpose through him so that we may have eternal life. Help us to respond to Jesus’ call, to get up and to follow him. In everything we do help us to trust and obey you by listening to your voice. We ask this through Jesus’ name. Amen.

I hope it is clear and encourages and challenges you. Please dont mind the grammar mistakes, i have not yet had time to correct my computer copy of it.

Anyways i will see you next post :). God bless and i hope you continue remaining strong in the year of the Lord AD 2007.

Laurence.

NTE was a Blast!

Well, I am back from NTE/Mission. It was a great and life changing time like always :)

For NTE (National Training Event) we went down to Canberra. The topic this year was last things first. Both Richard Chin and Phillip Jensen spoke to us on the topic. The talks were great and faithful to God’s word. Richard’s talks came from Colossians and including the topics delivered from darkness, the pre eminent Jesus, fullness in Christ and the heavenly life. Theses talks helped us to get our minds focused back onto God and to live a heavenly life, which gives glory to God. Phillip’s talk were focused on Eschatology and his topics included living in God’s time, living BC and AD (OT & NT), living in the light of the past and living in the light of the future. These talks challenged us to remember that we are in AD (year of the risen Lord) and that our God is also a God of history, the OT does matter, and to get to us from OT we have to go through NT then to us. The talks also encouraged us to go out and proclaim God’s word boldly and faithfully because it is the year of the risen Lord and God has given a delay of the last day so that as much people as possible will come to know him. Here are some quotes from the talk that I for some reason put boxes around during the talk :P

“Gospeling is when we are telling someone about Jesus, Not the Gospel it self”
“Fruitfulness should flow from Gospel”
“God’s will is what God delights in, what he wants for his people and it is plainly seen in the Bible”
“What can we thank God for? We should thank him for dealing our greatest need, the forgiveness of sins”
“Jesus is in the image of the invisible God”
“Reconciliation means bringing out true order where Jesus is Lord!”
“Put to death early things”
“We have already been blessed, every blessing through Christ”
“These blessing are election, predestined, adoption and redemption”
“OT promises find their fulfilment in Christ”
“We are in the year of the Lord 2006. Important thing is AD not 2006. This transition between BC and AD can happen because Jesus died for you. Learn to put last things first”
“We are a creation and covenant religion, History matters”
“We put our faith in the faithfulness of God”
“Build our lives on the faithfulness of the promises of God”
“Our God is the sovereign God of History as well”
“Our task in not to interrupt the bible but to understand it’s interpretation of us”
“Reason that God promises have not reach completion is because God is holding back the judgement to give time for repentance”
“Preach the Gospel to bring his elect under his throne, use the gifts God has given you to do the work of God”
“Those given much, much will be required”

And many more, but that would require lots and lots of pages. We also had a few strand groups which looked at Biblical theology, Systematic theology & ethics. I and group of old friends did the third strand which was systematic theology. We looked at the resurrection which was a really beneficially. We looked at stuff like the resurrection of Jesus, resurrection of the dead, the return of Jesus, and much more. As soon as we thought we had it all covered, one of us would ask a questions, and we were back to the drawing board but was good.The pictures are of the findings we found, the diagrams we had come up with and also a picture of the stand group.
NTE was also a great place to get to know each other better, and after the conferences it felt like we all knew each other for years. It is very joyful to run the race together with our fellow brothers and sisters, and to be both challenged as we wrestled with God’s word.
After we got back from NTE we were off to Port Macquarie Presbyterian church. In Mission we got involved with scripture, youth group, nursing homes, church, Sunday school, walk up, door knocking and carols.

I personal got involved with scripture, Sunday school, walk up and carols so I’ll review them mostly. Scripture was great, we did 3 schools with two sessions each which were about 40 minutes each. We did a play based on Jesus rising Lazarus, had a song and a talk. I was privileged to have to do the talk at two of the schools. The talk established the link between Christmas, Easter and the story of Lazarus. That the baby born in a manger was just not a little small baby but the King, the King who defeated death by dyeing on a cross and raising up as Lord and through whom we will also be raised up. My friend did the talk at the last school, and I was encouraged from the likenesses and differences in the talk he gave. For Sunday school, I had to write another talk. I got the kids to act out the story of the little girl (Talitha) and then explained to them that we will also be raised up but unlike the little girl, we will be raised up eternal with the King who is Jesus. Walk up was great, I went out with a friend and we ran into a guy who was really interested. He was up for a holidays to get away from work. We shared two ways to live with him, and he wanted to live God’s way but never had the time to look further into it. So we encouraged him to think about it and gave him our contact details. I also managed to get along to the early church service, and the team did a wonderful job to proclaim Jesus at the church service. The sermon was really solid and encouraging as well. I also heard that the sermon at the nursing home went well, and even though some of the old people their, were really hard to talk to, they did a great job. Lastly the carols they gave me the job of setting up the sound equipment and mixing/singing. To be honest I have no idea how to set up sound equipment even though I’ve done it a number of times. Most normal professionals know what things are called and how they plug in together. However I don’t know any of the technical names, but I somehow managed to plug things together and get them working, and all the instruments working smoothly together, thank God :). The carols went well; the sermon went well even through kids running around during it. I head about 300 people came through the service, Christian and non Christian.

But other then the formal things we had to get done. We also did a lot of social things together. We had dinner all together, went to the beach. I was personally really encouraged and had bought me joy that the team was faithful to God’s word and worked together. Also for the care and love for each other, even when things seemed down or hard. Keep strong guys & girls!
The hosts I stayed with were the loveliest couple I ever met. They were a missionary couple with an outward focused. They took us in as their own children and looked after us and their prayers have encouraged me. I also stayed with a friend their and it was great, we got to sing most nights, pray together and encourage each other. The location was in the bush, on a dirt road with plenty of wild life. We saw lots of birds, kangaroos and spiders. Each night we had to fight our way through a few spider webs and spiders to get to the door, was great fun :).
Below is a photo of the team that went to mission and NTE.

On a funny note, we finally went to Telstra/Telecom tower after years of suggesting it. We boys went up at night time to the top. When we got to top, one of the leaders suggested that we just bush wack through the bush to get to the bottom. So we started heading down the bush, a little further we found a sign that told us to turn back, that the road was under repair. But since it was knocked down we choice to kindly ignore it. Anyways on the way down we had to jump a few fences, one with barb wire on it and we came up to this sign. The sign read “Caution Venomous snakes traps in progress” It has to be the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. We continued down the track and came up to a gate. The gate had about 8 pad locks on it; clearly someone didn’t want people to go through it. However right beside the gate, there was a rather large hole were people could fit through it, so we continued on. We ended up inside the CSIRO science laboratories, not sure how we could just freely enter the place, but we ended up getting through them and back to the university where we were staying.

On a sad note, two of the leaders and a few students are leaving this year, so it was great to be in partnership in the Gospel at mission. I will miss them greatly and it does grieve me that they are grieving, but they are going into something bigger. One of the leaders is going to bible collage next year, and I’m really glad to see him furthering in his knowledge of God. Anyways where ever they are, I hope they will be able to continue strong and serving God, giving him glory where ever they are.

One big thing I need prayer for is during NTE, our home got sold. Over the past two weeks I have been making a decision to if I would stay with my parents or live away from them. I have come up with conclusion that living away would be the most wise but most hard option but will be greatly beneficial to my ministry. At the moment the place doesn’t concern me too much however I would like to stay in Katoomba, my heart still lies in the ministry their, and to that family. The big prayer point I need is that my parents are doing everything they can to get me away from doing ministry, and not leaving any thoughts on my behalf to what I will be doing for the rest of my life. Although this is only a little thing, house being sold, it actually sparks off the thing of doing full time ministry. So please pray that I will have the courage and strength (in Christ strength) to tell them that I am considering full time ministry in the future, and that I would like to live away from them for a while. I’ve actually only got to Saturday to tell them, so please do pray because I am weak.

Anyways didn’t realise that I’ve already wrote 1,882 words, woops sorry guys, please do continue to pray and thank God that NTE/Mission went well. Pictures are finally up, you can find them by clicking on this link http://PapL.bebo.com. God Bless.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Laurence

NTE 2006 at long last!

Yeap Its NTE time again. I'll be heading off to it tonight. Just packing up all the cloths, so slow lol, keep getting distracted.
Should be a great time. Anyways i'll post a full review and hope to post more after NTE. For the mean time i found some youtube videos which are my favourite. so here are the links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xax2n5MRH_s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oRfpW_hduY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4DC2Zxhmgg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw_PG0WA2j4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8Vxkop2nfo

Just a collection of Final fantasy, kingdom hearts, star ocean & shadow hearts made into music videos. I've been playing through Final Fantasy XII, brilliant game, nice and long, couldnt find a good music video of that lol.
Anyways see you in two weeks.

El Shaddai is whom i Believe!
Laurence.

Holidays at long last

Yeap, I finally finished my exams. They went well i think. I always find it difficult to know for certain if i passed them, but i think i did okay.
I got Final Fantasy XII yesterday and boy is it great :). Its taken 4 years to complete, but it was worth the wait. The story is magnificent, graphics are the best for ps2, battles are new and take a while to get use to but it is great. Also got Dragon quest III to finish as well. But best of all their is two weeks to NTE. NTE is a national Christian training event, where we look at God's word, and be challenged and trained to proclaim Jesus as Lord. Hooray :). And then go on mission after wards to Port Maquire and proclaim the Gospel :)
Anyways see you next post.

The Lord is the king who rules over all things, the universe is in his power and there is no one who can oppose him. He has made heaven and earth and he is Lord of all. (Esther 13:9-11)

Laurence

For what we proclaim is Jesus Christ as Lord!

Ahh, finally i have time to post. This week was the busiest uni week ever. 2 Major assignments due, one worth 60%. And a bunch of laboratories.
I got to lead our cbm main meeting on thursday, it was nice. We even had a song and ate cake :). It's finally the day of our ball, which is tonight. I decided i will bring a suit :P. It isen't me to ware a suit lol.
Anyways During the week i red through the Archbishop's presidential Address. It was on leadership, and has some good interesting points, for good old unchangeable anglican's lol. Here is some interesting things he said.

"The fourth policy of the Mission calls upon us 'To reform the Life of the Dioceses (including our culture, ordinances, customs, use of resources, and depolyment of ministry) to encourage and enable the fulfilment of the fundamental aim.' We have made reforms; so far we have not gone far enough in the changes we need to make. Much of what we do is still shaped by the nineteenth and twentieth century experience of church life. We are functioning well for a 1970s social context. We are ready to fight the last war. How do we so advance as to meet our missionary challenge, while remaining firmly committed to the gospel and the scriptures? The key to fruitful change is godly leadership and trained mission partners. I know that i am calling for something that is very demanding. It is especially difficult to lead in times of challenge and change. It is harder to be a Moses tehn a Solomon. The life of the people in Egypt was unpleasant. They groaned under their harsh servitud; they were the victims of a genocidal plan; their hopes were eaten up by the fears. Under God, Moses became their saviour. He defeated Pharaoh. He led them across the Read Sea. He brought them virtually to the Promised Land. And yet, again and again, the same people became unwilling and rebellious; again and again they contrasted their present plight with their days in Egypt, and they said that they longed to go back. 'We remeber the fish we ate in Egyot at no cost - also the cucumbers, meolons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!' (Num 11:5,6) The condition of the people in slavery was intolerable; and yet some of the people preferred to tolerate the intolerable rather than to dare the unknown. The challenge for Moses throughout his long ministry both before and after Sinai was a twofold one.
He had to get the people to accept and live by the word of God. He had to ensure that the word of God was believed and preserved. Indeed it was only because they had the word that they saw themselves as a people. Change that is worth accomplishing has within it the unchanging core of who we are, what we stand for, what we purpose to do with persistence and endurance. We must say, as the people did, 'We will do everything the Lord has said' (Ex 19:8). 'Sydney-anglicans' must allways be a Bible people, a gospel people. That's our inner corse."

"Without abandoning any of the five cheif features of our churches - conversion, preaching, training, fellowship and reform, we also need a leadership which will help to turn outward, to re-engage with the world in which we find ourselves - to study and be committed to the community onces again. I am not suggesting a huge problem. Just to ask about the missing men may be a good start. This time, however, it is not that we see the parish as a mission field made up of dormant Christians, but rather as a mission field of those for whom faith itself is a vague memory, who knows little or nothing about Christ and his kingdom. We need to ask ourselves, In God's name and for the sake of the Lord who died for us, and for his sheep scattered in all the world - how are we going to reach these people for Christ and his gospel?
That of course, is the real point behind the 10% goal. It is not a 10% increase in congregations but 10% of the population. It is intended to makue us look outward, to take responsibility not merely for our church, but for our community, our parish and indeed the world beyond."

You can read the full presidential address here

Anyways i must get ready for the ball :P.
Christ Jesus, triumphant King and our only hope: grant to us and to those for whom we pray, forgivness of our sins, deliverance from all that afflicts us, and entrance into your enternal kingdom; that we may praise you with the Father and the Holy Spirit now and for ever. Amen.

Laurence.

Sacrificial Obedient Love

Another day, another post, yesterday (Saturday) was interesting because I went to a friend’s engagement party. It was a taste of good old bush dance. Totally embracing and uncomfortable lol, but I it was good. I was especially encourage during the speeches to see that my friend, in that companionship, quiet early into it, established that Christ should be the focus of it. It was also good to get the 4 CBM presidents together, Ironical how we were all their.
I Love church, church was awesome, because it is built up and rooted in Christ!
My friend spoke on treasures that we might gain on earth. They are worthless & seem to hurt us more then the gain. So do not peruse worldly treasures, but peruse God’s Kingdom, the true treasure, Christ living within us, and do this with Love.
Exercise this love with a sacrificial obedient love, in loving God with all your heart, mind, sole and strength. Also show this love to one another in the way we do relate to one another, and in our evangelism.
My Friend from uni which came up to bush dance, I managed to get him to come along to the church service. And afterwards went down to echo point.
I also met up with a friend of mine, who I’ve been going through mark with him. I am very encouraged that he has a great zeal to know more and more about God. And I am happy to see that he is really improving in his reading, and reading the bible. Please pray that he might continue to grow in Christ and be bold in telling his friends about Jesus as Lord As well.
Anyways continue praying for my loneliness, for me to be content and trust in the sovereignty of God. I hope someone actually reads this blog lol.

Martin Luther - “O how great a thing, how marvellous, a godly Christian’s prayer is! How powerful with God; that a poor human creature should speak with God’s high Majesty in heaven, and not be affrighted, but on the contrary, know that God smiles upon him for Christ sake, his clearly beloved Son.”

Laurence.

The Implications of the Trinity

Onces again, i am posting lol. This is short talk i did for our committee meeting today, which went well by the way. Here it is:

The trinity, God himself is an awesome subject. God is the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity and whose name is holy. The doctrine of the trinity is the glory of the Christian faith. It is drawn entirely from revelation. And it depends on the absolute truth of the sentences through which the scriptures teach us about God and his nature, his character, his purpose, his actions and promises. It was also believe by the Christians church from the beginning, for from the beginning believers acknowledge Jesus as their Lord and their God and prayed to him, though he had prayer to the father. Perhaps Matthew 28:19 best sums up the doctrine of the trinity. Go therefore and make disciple of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit.
The name of the Lord remains one name, yet now God is to be known as father, Son and Holy Spirit, Being distinct, personal and equal.
Now what are the implications of this in our personal relationship?
Well firstly personal relationship in ultimately reality and the basic requirement for establishment and maintenance of true personal relationship is other-person-centeredness. That is a genuine interest in the other person and his or hers welfare and the forwarding of that welfare by every appropriate means at one’s disposal. We see this in the trinity; God’s other-person-centeredness is complete, and active in conferring benefits on the other person all the time.
For example the father always gives the son everything, the son responds to the father; his response springs from his other-person-centeredness. The spirit too, is also other-person-centeredness within the trinity. He does not glorify himself but glorifies the son, just as the son does not seek his own glory but the fathers. This complete other-person-centeredness and mutual self-giving one to the other makes personal knowledge to each other possible.
Thus God’s centre of his activity is in the welfare of the other. It is also not just confined to the relations between the persons of trinity, but being basic to his nature of relationships, it also extends to his creation as we read in Psalm 145:9, “The lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all that he has made”.
This absolute other-person-centeredness is also the ground of our salvation, as we read Romans 5:8, “God commended his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Therefore it is a great assurance to know that God is infinitely concerned with our welfare and with advancing it. His whole infinite being is absolutely and always centred on each of us, and he is always engaged in advancing our benefit.
Now since God is in personal relationships within himself it follows that true personal relationships is blissful and is the basis of happiness. This truth is confirmed in human experience. We find enjoyment is deepened when it is shared. We are to imitate God in being absolutely other-person-centeredness or another way of saying this, is LOVE, love in its biblical meaning.
While preparing this talk, personally it has rebuked me, and I grieve of my own sinfulness to be self-centred. But Friends lets make sure we are other-person-centred. And while this being the ground for our salvation; let’s make sure we show this love to our non-Christian friends.
Well, stayed tuned for our next exciting episode of the implications of the trinity in our next meeting.

We also had a guest speaker come in today who was a refugee from Iran, and became a Christian in villawood detention centre. It was really amazing how God work in people, in order for them to know him. He had a magnificant story which involved, going through jungles, crossing rivers of crocidiles, and converting from Islam to Christianity. It bring me Joy to see God working through people to bring about his promises, for the gospel to be proclaimed to the ends of the earth.
Also been encouraged at church on sunday. We are really blessed to have faithful men and women in sydney who faithfully proclaim the Gospel. Prayers were really good, very scriptual and Christ focused :). Sermon was on stewardship, And it reminded us to serve :).
Please continue praying for my loneliness. It something i do struggle with..

May we delight in your purpose, and work to bring all things to their true end;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Laurence.

The Battle of the Flesh

I’ve been thinking about a lot of things over the past few months. And so many things have grieved me, especially sin. The battle of the flesh, is really hard, and I don’t know if it’s me growing as a Christian, or I am just getting more sinful, but I seem to notice that I do sin a lot, and it grieves me. How I long for the day when every tear will be wiped away, and the glory of God might be revealed to its full.
Some of the things I have noticed are that I am self-centred which in other words does not love, God is completely other person centred, and we can see this in the trinity in relationship with the father, son and Holy Spirit. Sometimes I guess it is done not intentionally and other times it is, but it does grieve me that I am such and it does break relationships. I also know that I am not quick to listen but quick to speak, and this kinda does fall into the self-centeredness.

Please do pray that I can be more loving to people in everything I do.
The other thing I do struggle with is loneliness. I’m not sure if this has to do with most of my friends being married or in a relationship or if it has to do with my situation at home, lacking Christian love to one another, and my sin towards that, or if it has to do with me being alone a lot of the time. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever find someone to be other-person centeredness to in the context of companionship, and it grieves me, because every time there is hope for a relationship, I get hurt. And I guess my self-centeredness hinders friendships. If I am wrong, please do pray for a change of my heart, for contentment in my singleness. It grieves me seeing the world’s view of companionship, and how it even invades our Christian circles. How guys have to be men of fists and looks (which I am not), and how girls have to dress immodestly in the context of companionship. It breaks my hearts reading statistics of failed marriages and relationships. Men, make sure you are men of prayer and are faithful to God. Women make sure you dress modestly and love your husbands and are also faithful to God. And if you are in companionship or not, make sure the central part of your lives is Christ, who is Lord over all.

Why do I and we Christian continue fighting this good fight of faith?
Well, I just can find the words in me to explain the joy, and peace that is in Christ Jesus. To know that In Christ, we can come back into a relationship with God, and live under his rule. How great is his love, grace and mercy, that while we were sinners, He sent his son to die, so that we might have forgiveness. And it brings me great joy that Jesus has rightly dealt with the punishment that I deserve, the sinful rebellious nature that I am. And it brings me joy that God is a personal God, who loves us, which we as Christian should imitate in our interactions with one another, serving one another in Love.
I find it that every time that I have an opportunity to proclaim the gospel and serve others in love, from either something up front like preaching or even encouraging someone in the pews, it brings me joy and tears to see someone growing in Christ. We should also remember it is God, who out of his mercy and grace reveals himself to people.
And this should be our focus, pointing to Christ, in everything we do.
If this is your first time hearing about Jesus, or have not made a decision to trust and obey him, then I encourage you to please do. And visit your local church or chaplaincy and find out more. Again it is not easy, but the hope that is in Christ Jesus, out weights the struggles.

Eternal God and Father, by whose power we are created and by whose love we are redeemed: guide and strengthen us by your Spirit, that we may give ourselves to your service, and live this day in love to one another and to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Laurence.

Jézus a Úr!

A new day, a new post :). Not much to post really. Had lots of uni work, and things due in, but i managed to get them done.

Church on Sunday was interesting, had a missionary talk to us about Islam. Was good, gave a great incite into what they believe, referred to Romans 9:30-10:21 where Paul mentions Israel, and his heart goes out to them because they have zeal without Knowledge. Without knowledge that righteousness comes from faith in Jesus Christ as Lord (Jézus a Úr!) - Jesus is Lord!).

Monday, looked at Hinduism, again it was a great incite into what they believe. Had a couple who lived in India who were very nice, and gave us some incite into what Hinduism is like. Interesting how they believe that we are in a cycle of death-rebirth, and if we managed to get enough karma, we will eventually be released out of this cycle and return to a greater source, the Brahman. It is interesting contrasting it back to Christianity. The Christian faith, God takes the initiative and reaches down to us. so 1 John 1:3 - In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Through God's mercy & Love, God has given us new life, and reconciliation through his son. But looking at other Ideas of religions, It seems we have to work for our salvation, work for life, which because of our rebellious nature, we can't achieve.

From Reading Knox's book, one of chapters remind us that God's power in creation also extends to Judgement. Jesus will come back to judge the living and the dead. Peter reminds us that those who suffer righteously for God's sake should commit their cause to God, the faithful creator and the one who judges righteously, and we will be vindicated as we serve him and bring this eternal gospel to every tribe, nation, tongue and people. So lets continue to proclaim faithfully Jesus as Lord

Tomorrow we are having a talk on boy/girl relationships, which is going to be interesting. Growth groups have been going well this semester. Most groups are finishing up learning two ways to live and moving on to looking at the book of Malachi. I'm really looking forward to NTE this year, Uni gets tiring and stressful after a while, and NTE is a highlight of the year. This year we are looking at Eschatology (Looking at the end times), lol probably a hobby horse of mine for a while :). Continue praying for our uni group, that we can be bold in proclaiming Jesus as Lord & that we can continue to grow in the likeness of Jesus.

God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Laurence.

Jesus is Lord, Lord of the future, present & past

Finally my next post. This one is exciting, Below is a short talk, actually to start off our committee meeting. I was going to post it tommorrow, but its really exciting, so i decided to post it today. It is on the dominion and kingdom of God.

In the beginning, God purposed that the dominion should be given to mankind. However, since mankind has rebelled, man has lost this dominion.
In the New Testament, we see this purpose of God being fulfilled in Jesus, in the dominion that he had received through the cross and at his ascension.
So some passages such as 1 Corinthians 15, Ephesians 1 and Hebrews 2, make it clear that the narrative of Genesis 1 which also is taken up in Psalm 8, is fulfilled in Jesus. He is the one to whom all things have been subjected, and God’s purposes for mankind have been fulfilled in him and in those who are in him.
He is the image of God, and he is the one to whom dominion has been given and so the words of Genesis 1 are fulfilled. “Let us make man in our own image after our likeness and let them have dominion”.

Now salvation comes to sinners by the acknowledgement of this dominion of Jesus. To acknowledge Jesus as Lord is the touchstone of being a Christian (Romans 10:9). Therefore in the New Testament, when it is said that salvation comes from faith in Jesus, it means faith in Jesus as Lord. Our acknowledgement of this dominion of Christ, should not only look back to the cross, though it is our basis, but it takes in its scope the present and future as well. As Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 15, Jesus is reigning and must reign until every enemy is put under his feat.
This dominion of God is also a very different sort of dominion from what we understand by the word in ordinary human relationships. We exercise dominion over one another by force, but this dominion of God is a dominion which flows from righteousness and love. This is how God exercises his dominion in Heaven, and therefore also on earth. Christ in his earthly life followed and expressed this kingdom or dominion of God. Christians also share the dominion of Christ. Therefore this reign upon the earth is a present reality, and we share in the victory that Jesus had won over sin.

So as we have heard, The Lordship of Christ is manifested not only in the past at Calvary and in the present through the victory that his servants win by suffering righteously in the world of sin, but it will also be manifested at the last day.
Consequently the acknowledgement of Jesus as Lord comprises not only the past and present, but also looks forward to the future. Our way of thinking should be an Eschatological way of thinking, which is looking to future, and this way of thinking characterised the Christians of the New Testament. They were awaiting their Lord to return, and they lived by hope, as we should too.
1 Thessalonians 1 also makes it clear that Jesus is Lord, Lord of the future, as well as the Lord of the present and the past.
Friends, I am very encouraged that you would give up your time, and go out of your way to come to this meeting, and contribute to the proclamation of the Gospel. We should remember however that Jesus will eventually return. We don’t know the date, but we do know God has delayed that day, so that as much people as possible will come to know him. We have a big mission field here, so let us continue to proclaim Jesus as Lord, and remember that, we are in it together, to Glory.

The talk is based from Knox's book, and challenge Conference. I recommend the book to anyone who hasen't red it, Doctrine is such a cool thing to discuss. Anyways please pray, that the meeting will go well tommorrow.
Church on sunday was great :). We looked at how God speaks to us. Through his word, his living and God breathed word. The spirit carried the writers, and God Breathed & inspired the words which they wrote.
Anyways Lots of uni work, lots of stress, so please continue praying, & thank God that we can pray and read his word, and out of his own mercy and grace we can be reconiled back to him :)

Glory to God; Father, Son, & Holy Spirit: as in the beginning, so now, and for ever. Amen.

Laurence.

Keep it up guys, In Christ!

Hey. My friend continuely posts on a journal, and i think they are doing a great job in proclaming Christ. It is the Australian Christian Cartoonists Community's Journal, and talented Christians are using their gifts in art to proclaim Jesus as Lord!
I've added it as a Link, or u can just simple click here
Check it out.
I've also added a link, to a quiz, which tells you what kind of Theologian you are.
This week has been long, lots of work. I have a semi assignment due on monday, and i'm struggeling with it as we speak. I'm also struggeling with other matters which are resulting in feelings of fustration and sadness, so please continue to pray for me guys :).
I must get back to work, so see you next post.

God Bless
Laurence

Doctrine of God insight by D.B Knox

Gold, Gold, Gold!, A recommended Book. Doctrine of God, selected works of D.B Knox. I've only red a few chapters, however it is really Good. Heavy, but good. So far it has explained Deity, Infallibility of Scriptures, and a touch on the Trinitarian God.
I've been really encourage and Joyful, lately, We are so privilege here in Australia, to have faithful men and women who faithfully teach the Gospel.
The Word being central to all teachings. I think sometimes we take it for granted, and we need to be praying for places where Gospel teaching is not clearly proclaimed!
We are in it together, to Glory, Keep at it, keep running the race, and continue to faithfully proclaim God's word!
In other news Uni was okay, Got some work done which was nice lol. Also put up some pictures of Challenge Conference and Bushwalking yesterday on bebo Site, Here!

Anyways Go in peace to love and serve the Lord!
Laurence

Minni Ha Ha, Delightfulness in God's creation

Today was sadly last day of KC+ (October Convention). We finally tied up everything. Be ambassadors of Christ, we are in it together to Glory. Also looked at the fall in Genesis 3, That the punishments given to us, are meaningful and not random. However, even due to the bad things that happened in the fall, God gives us hope, Eve's womb was not in curse, Descendents could go on. Just as through one man, the fall happened, one man, who was Jesus, brought Life. And this life is better then the first Eden, It even has a city :P.
Anyways after that, friends came up from Sydney, and we went bushwalking. Visited Leura Cascades and Minni Ha Ha falls in Nth Katoomba. Was good to time to catch up, we even had pizza later together :P.
Anyways Uni Tomorrow, Tired...., and lots of uni work that i'm not looking forward to and am struggling in.

Good Night, God Bless
Laurence

Delight in Prayer!

Today was a long day, preached at 2 services, did the rest of my ministries at night service, and went to October convention. However enough of me, because it’s not about Me, It’s about wanting to see Glory and Sovereignty of God proclaimed to the ends of the earth. I put it up on my website, I hope it challenges you in prayer, to bring out thoughts away from ourselves and focus on God and his promises, as much as it has challenged me. Anyways here it is:
http://dabible.webtized.com/Prayer.htm
The comments I got are that, It was great that I started off with the Sovereignty of God, and that I really wrestled with the scriptures, and remained faithful to the text. Some things I noted was that, I looked too much at notes, however having the short amount of time didn’t help, but I need to improve in this, and that my nervousness can mess up my sentences. My friend for night service, also preached faithfully and preached the Gospel :). KC++ (October convention) was good, I could only make it to the night session only. But it encouraged me that we are saved by grace and how mission is to proclaim the Gospel faithfully, and actually live in it. Have an obsession for the Gospel.
Anyways, I am off to sleep, final day of Convention tomorrow, and friends are coming up to visit :)

The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be amongst you, and remain with you always. Amen

Laurence.

Interesting Day.........

Well today was an interesting day. Finished my sermon early hours of this morning (1am). Then woke up in the morning to wait for some real estate agents. Anyways i wanted to goto october convention or as they call it now KC++, but had to wait for the real estate. Anyways i could go at 9:10, which was 10 minutes after the convention has started. So i magically made it by running lol, to the convention site at 9:35 which is 10k away lol.
Then when i got their, i went to pay, i only wanted to go today. However when i got their, they told me i didn't have to pay, because they knew me (From previous car parking). Thats was wird but cool. Then throughout the day, random people came up to me, and they knew me, i had no idea who they were, but they certainly knew me lol. I think it has to do with a prayer letter that gets sent out by one of our staff members at cbm.
Then i got fed, but KCC land keepers, friends from church. And even gave me a lift home lol. I think God wanted me to goto this conference lol.
The First talk was interesting. That God created us, and the world, so that we can play around with it. To work it. Also might seem strange, 7th day of rest, however work?, but work before fall was good work. Like a 5 year olds execitment to work. And the source of everything was from God, The rivers that flowed to Eden, flow also into all the world, Eden was like a channel for the rivers that flowed. Alot more was said, however i am tired lol.
Anyways I've finished my sermon, Please pray for me tommorrow, when i present it, that i may be clear and faithful to the text. I'm preaching at 2 services. Also pray for my friend, as he is preaching at the night service. I will also put it up tommorrow on website.

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord..Amen!
Laurence.

Precious Memories, Some in Black & White

I scanned some of our old photos onto the computer. I forgot i had them.
Anyways Have a look.
http://djlpap.bebo.com

Then click on the Laurence Photos.
In other news, i Got alot of sermon done, however still not finished yet.

God Bless
Laurence.