Last night we had the budget forecast for the year ahead.  It was a great night (no seriously it was!  It was really good!!). We saw how we are planning to spend money in 2010.   The budget is growing (around $700,000 for 2010).  But as Greg pointed out, this is a good thing!  Because as the gospel grows, church budgets ought to grow.  In fact it can even be said that under God, budgets need to grow in order for the gospel to grow.

Here is a snippet from Greg’s talk…

I reckon we need to change the name of our budget. Because this isn’t boring stuff is it? This is the most exciting thing in the world! This is Jesus’ gospel growing! And we’re not looking to limit our expenditure. No, in a wise, prudent way, we’re looking to spend as much as we can. We don’t want to be stupid. We don’t want to commit ourselves to spending more than we can imagine having. But we do want to spend as much money on the gospel as we wisely can.

So our budget’s nothing like your average budget. No, this is our Gospel Proclamation Investment. Our GPI: our Gospel Proclamation Investment.

If you would like to contribute financially to the work of Hunter Bible Church all the details can be found here.

I reckon we learn and remember more of the Bible when studying it is fun.  This term our Growth Groups had to draw a manga style comic of Genesis 2.  As I wrote the studies, I thought this might be a fun way to begin to understand (exegete) the passage.

What a joy to get a photo of one of the comics from Lachlan W’s Unichurch group.  Tim A was the artist so all credit to him.  Take a look and see what great things this passage teaches us about biblical manhood and womanhood!

Still trying to figure out that bottom line though 

Check out the latest news from Rob, Jen and Miriam Alley. Hear about their recent epic trip around the Northern Territory, who they got to catch up with, some of the remote places they visited, and find out how you can be praying for them. Click here to read more…

Since becoming a Christian I’ve realised a lot of things about my heart.

Something that’s struck me recently is how protective of my heart I can be. When I invest my heart into someone, an activity or an ideal I open up an opportunity to be injured. If I don’t wrap myself (or specifically my heart) in cotton wool, I’m inevitably going to be bruised as I interact as a fallen person in a fallen world.

The lesson I’ve learnt is to remain cold, take pleasure in the little and predictable things and I’ll make it through each week without any significant pain.

But that’s not what my heart is for.

Jesus has called me to use my heart to love not only my Lord but also my neighbours. Paul urges me to mourn and rejoice with my neighbours. Jesus didn’t protect his own heart from injury at the cost of loving sinners like me.

I think I may be more challenged by the fact that Jesus loves me than that he died for me. I’d find it much, much easier to take a bullet for someone than to pray for them daily and invest my heart into them. Especially if loving them meant being regularly wounded by their sin.

Lord please help me to stop neglecting my heart. Instead help me use it for it’s real purpose - loving.

Check out the latest updates from the Boxes here. Find out about the philosophy lectures they’re going to host about the historicity of the resurrection, as well as some friends you can be praying for. It’s a great way that we can keep informed of what’s happening for our partners in ministry, and know better how to pray for them.

I’d like to raise what may be a touchy topic, but I’ve seen this type of thinking in myself, and I know how dangerous it can be.

When I was 18yrs old, it felt like I was learning something new about God every week. Every week at my Growth Group was a new revelation from God’s Word. Every Sunday sermon was a piece of the puzzle I didn’t ‘get’ before. Every time I’d read the Bible on my own I’d love the thrill of seeing how that part of scripture really did fit in with all of God’s word. Learning new things about God was a thrill!… But I was getting hooked on the thrill of the ‘new’.

This raises a danger that is subtle, but deadly. See, we can get so caught up in the thrill of learning ‘new’ things, that we become bored, or even disgruntled when we hear again the ‘basic’ things. We can even get caught into measuring our Christian growth by the number of ‘new’ things we’ve learnt.

Friends, we need to repent of that way of thinking. If we allow ourselves to think like that, we’ll get to about 4th year of Uni, and think we’re not growing as Christians because we haven’t learnt anything really ground-breaking about the Gospel all year. If we allow ourselves to think like that, we’ll really struggle to read our Bibles because, well, it feels like we’ve read it all before.

How then should we think? Well, in Eph 3:18-19 Paul tells the Ephesian Church he’s asking God to give them the ability “to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the Love of Christ - and to know this love that surpasses knowledge“. Paul simply wants them to grasp the simple profound truth they first believed in; God’s amazing love for them in Christ. He wants them to believe the basics more and more.

I think that’s the attitude we need to cultivate in ourselves. When I go to church, I’m not necessarily going in order to learn something new! I’m going with the expectations that the prayers, songs and sermon will help me to believe what I already believe - just more so. When I read the Bible on my own, I hope that God will remind me of what he’s already taught me.

Christian maturity isn’t about knowing ‘more’ new things, its about knowing true things ‘more’ deeply.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/markedyer/

Come and be part of the team of people who read the Bible in our meetings and/or lead our congregations in Prayer.

Wed Nov 4th : Training in Public Prayer
Wed Nov 11th: Training in Bible Reading
7:30pm Dave and Julie Moore’s place,
48 seventh St, North Lambton, 2299

One of the most important things we do at our Sunday meetings is simply hearing God’s word–the Bible, and responding to him in faith by praying. Because these things are so important, we want to put appropriate effort into doing helpfully and well.

I’m running two training nights on the first two Wednesdays in November. If you’d like to serve your congregation by praying or reading the bible at the meetings, please come along and be part of the team.

Please let me know if you’re coming via the contact us page.

“Aren’t all religions just different paths to the same God?!”

This is a question/statement we hear regularly from the community. It is often said with good motives. We are sick of the bloodshed all over the world that takes place under the guise of religion. We want it all to stop and so we want all the religious leaders of the world to agree that there really is no differences among the religions.

But we just can’t all be right. For example:

If Christians are right about Jesus being God, then Muslims and Jews fail in a serious way to love God as God really is, but if Muslims and Jews are right that Jesus is not God but rather a teacher or prophet, then Christians fail in a serious way to love God as God really is. (Tim Keller, The Reason for God)

We can’t all be equally right about the nature of God. Pluralism, in the end, is false worship of God - idolatry. Worshipping a God we made up.

But this is not new.

In Ezekiel 8 we see God’s people worshpping him falsely.

Israel is shown worshipping idols:

9 And he said to me, “Go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here.” 10 So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and detestable animals and all the idols of the house of Israel. 11 In front of them stood seventy elders of the house of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.

Israel is shown worshipping creation:

16 He then brought me into the inner court of the house of the LORD, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east.

But the frightening thing about this passage is God’s response to their idolatry.

Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them.

And God does not change. The idolatry of pluralism or family, lifestyle, culture, creation etc. evokes God’s anger. I think God’s hatred of false worship ought to move our church to do anything we possibly can to make Jesus known to a city enmeshed in false worship of God so that God might be glorified as people honour his Son Jesus!

It’s often difficult finding share-housing in Newcastle at the start of the year. If you or someone you know is coming to Newcastle next year who would be keen to share-house with students then we can help!

Alternatively, if you have a room that is vacant in your house let us know the details and we’ll try to fill it.

For either of these, send an email to: unichurchaccom@gmail.com with some basic information and we will be in touch.

Note that we don’t actually look for houses or deal with property agents or landlords. We don’t make any promises but we’d love to try and help you out as best we can! Email for more information.

The internet can be used for great good, but also great harm. Most children know more about how to use the internet than their parents. It’s incredibly important that parents work hard at understanding the potential dangers and develop strategies to protect their children online.thurs 29th oct 4.30pm -6.15pm (during kids club)

new lambton community centre
front meeting room

alma rd - new lambton

guest speaker…dave miers

cost… FREE

(kids club normally costs $3… this week any guests will be free!!!)

questions?…email jen

jenshadwick@bigfoot.com