Ladies Coffee morning will be on this Friday from 10-12pm! Contact Rebs Song for more details.
Mission Prayer is on this Friday, 21 May.
36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Matthew 9:36-38
Here is the outline for the evening so that you can get an idea of what it will look like.
730 - Dinner (Pizza!) ($5 - bring on the night)
800 - worship
815 - SG connect update and Richie to teach on how to run Christianity Explored
845 - prayer
930 - finish
Introducing the new Sovereign Grace Journal. A publication of original theological, practical, and devotional articles written by and for the pastors and members of Sovereign Grace Churches to strengthen your soul. The Sovereign Grace Journal will also include book reviews, resources, and more.
I am very please to write to you and commend this new resource produced by our family of churches, Sovereign Grace. They have resurrected their theological journal to help serve our churches to be theologically informed for loving Christ more in our world today. Click here to read it online.
Below a post from Mark Prater, our Executive Director, introducing it:
“On behalf of the Sovereign Grace Leadership Team, I want to invite you to read the first edition of the “Sovereign Grace Churches Journal.” The journal is not a new idea, for our Founder, C.J. Mahaney led in the publishing of a journal that served our family of churches years ago. We thought this was a good time to resurrect his idea with the aim of fulfilling the same purpose he had, which is to serve the pastors and members of our churches in Sovereign Grace. With that purpose in view, the articles in the journal are written in a way to equip our pastors, strengthen the members of our churches, and to help us celebrate the gospel values that we share. Our hope is that the journal will help us to know Christ more, love Christ more, and fortify the gospel partnership that Christ has given us.
The theme of this first edition is, “Christ Our Treasure.” We chose this theme because we, who were once alienated from God because of our many sins, have now been reconciled to God through the death of Christ on our behalf on the cross. In response to this great salvation, we want to be a people who obey Christ, serve Christ, love Christ and treasure Christ. Our desire is that Christ would be preeminent in all that we do. The articles in this journal, written by Sovereign Grace pastors throughout the world, are intended to help you to do just that, make much of Jesus Christ.
I want to thank each of the pastors who are contributing articles to this first edition of our journal. I also want to thank our Executive Editor, Jeff Purswell, and our General Editor, Jared Mellinger. Jared has done the bulk of the work in assembling this journal, and I thank God for him and his labors on your behalf.
As you read through this journal, my prayer is that every article would help you treasure Jesus Christ with all of your heart, mind and soul.
Treasuring Christ with you.”
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
This year we had big plans to go away with our sister church, Sovereign Grace Church Wahroonga. Our hopes was to have an awesome combined weekend away in Collaroy, with worship, sermons, fellowship, and meals all together. But unfortunately due to coronavirus we have had to postpone our original plans.
We’re still hopeful to see if we can run with something together later in the year, and so maybe October, November time, but please note that nothing is planned in at this point. With the COVID-19 situation, things are still quite difficult to book and plan for just at this time. Please be praying!
We’ll let you know if and when this changes.
Dear Church!
Thank you so much for those of you who have committed to giving to our 2021 Go Forward Fund! Your generosity has far exceeded our expectations and I am glad to announce, now that it is all finalised and settled, that as a church we have given just over $60,000 to the fund! This is an outstanding expression of your love for the Saviour and your generous hearts! I cannot wait to start sending this money out! As we said in the lead up, we will be distributing these funds into four key areas:
Future Leaders (e.g. training up men like Richard Song)
Sovereign Grace Churches Global (planting and partnering in new and existing church plants)
Sovereign Grace Australia - Regional Pastor’s College (our hope is to implement this for Emerging Nations leaders in the future)
International Care Ministries - Transform Project in the Philippines.
There is a big smile on my face as I send this out, THANK YOU!
Your LG leaders will let you know all the details!
What an awesome Sunday we had celebrating the role and calling of Motherhood! A massive 'Thank you’ to the events team for putting on such a lovely morning! The flowers, food, video, and gifts were just awesome! I am so glad that we have such a generous, creative, and hospitable church!
If you’d like to re-watch the video, here it is: https://youtu.be/G2k2dYvNsmc
The sermon will be up soon! If you’d like to read the article from Caroyln Mahaney, here it is: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/my-biggest-mistake-as-a-mother
The message was targeted to mums to TRUST GOD and DO GOOD! But really, this is true for us all isn’t it! How prone we all are to put the doing before the trusting and as a result end up guilt dogged and fear stalked! Here is a section from the article!
“What’s a weary, guilt-dogged, fear-stalked mom to do? We must do what Isaac Watts did: fly to God. We must trust God in our doing good. Trusting God doesn’t nullify doing good; rather, it empowers every good work. Trusting God douses our fears and turns our self-effort on its head. Trusting God infuses our doing good with peace, joy, and energizing hope. ” Carolyn Mahaney.
Isn’t that wonderful, but how easy it is to forget. As mum’s, the answer to your fears and guilt is NOT to stop trying and to stop doing the good things God has called you to, instead, it is do the good with trust and faith in God, so that you’re doing is carried by the power of faith and trust in God.
The one main hope of the message is for you mum’s to see that:
Trusting God infuses our mothering with peace, joy, and energizing hope for the task.
Point 1: Trusting God with your Motherly Love
Point 2: Trusting God with your Motherly Example
Point 3: Trusting God with your Motherly Discipline.
Mum’s, trust him and do good!
***Update: if you would like to go the dinner but the cost is prohibitive, there is a donor who would like to buy you a ticket! Please let Arbie know and it will be organised!
Every year we partner with ICM (International Care Ministries) to help support their work with the Ultra-Poor in the Philippines. One way we can stay up to date and connected with their ministry is to go to their annual dinner.
It promises to be a great night with a fun auction and heart warming stories. It is an opportunity to hear how ICM innovated, adapted, and continued to help those in ultra-poverty throughout the past year.
Arbie and Lavinia Magno will be going along and are organising a table with our sister church at Wahroonga! Please contact Arbie to book a table!
You can watch a video of their recent work here: https://vimeo.com/527176258
When: 4th of June
Time: 7:00 PM till late
Where: Aqua Luna Waterfront Dining
Cost: $120 pp or $960 for a table of 8
Dress Code: Cocktail & Business attire
I am excited for Sunday as it is a great opportunity to honour and celebrate mum’s and motherhood!
A few notes to help us do that well given the new restrictions in Sydney (see: https://www.nsw.gov.au/media-releases/covid-19-restrictions-update-6-may):
1) We are going to have the service outside (weather permitting), so that we can sing publicly. Masks are not required for outdoor services, though you are free to wear one!
2) Please bring a mask with you. Anytime you go indoors, you need a mask on. And it will become clear on Sunday why everyone still needs a mask!
3) Be mindful of social distancing
4) Be proactive with signing in.
5) Kids will be joining us for the singing and notices time, so Dad’s in particular please be proactive and take care of your kids during that time, so that the mum’s can enjoy the singing. Also everyone in the congregation, please help serve any families you know well!
Also, if Mother’s Day is a hard day for you due to your season, circumstance, or history, please reach out and ask for grace, ask people to walk with you in it. As a church we’re always in the tension of the already and not yet, celebrating and lamenting, rejoicing and grieving.
Last Sunday Riley preached from Matthew 9:18-38 and helped us see that at the heart of Christian mission is having the heart of the healer.
Riley’s two points were:
1. See His Heart - come to Him
2. Sync Your Heart - become like Him
You can listen to the message here:
Also, here is the excerpt he read at the end of his message, from Amy Carmichael’s “Things as they are”
The tom-toms thumped straight on all night, and the darkness shuddered round me like a living, feeling thing. I could not go to sleep, so I lay awake and looked; and I saw, as it seemed, this:
I stood on a grassy sward, and at my feet a precipice broke sheer down into infinite space. I looked, but saw no bottom; only cloud shapes, black and furiously coiled, and great shadow-shrouded hollows, and unfathomable depths. Back I drew, dizzy at the depth. Then I saw forms of people moving single file along the grass. They were making for the edge.
There was a woman with a baby in her arms and another little child holding on to her dress. She was on the very verge. Then I saw that she was blind. She lifted her foot for the next step . . . it trod air. She was over, and the children with her. Oh, the cry as they went over!
Then I saw more streams of people flowing from all quarters. All were blind, stone blind; all made straight for the precipice edge. There were shrieks as they suddenly knew themselves falling, and a tossing up of helpless arms, catching, clutching at empty air. But some went over quietly, and fell without a sound.
Then I wondered, with a wonder that was simply agony, why no one stopped them at the edge. I could not. I was glued to the ground, and I could not call; though I strained and tried, only a whisper would come out.
Then I saw that along the edge there were sentries set at intervals. But the intervals were far too great; there were wide, unguarded gaps between. And over these gaps the people fell in their blindness, quite unwarned; and the green grass seemed blood-red to me, and the gulf yawned like the mouth of hell.
Then I saw, like a little picture of peace, a group of people under some trees with their backs turned towards the gulf. They were making daisy chains. Sometimes when a piercing shriek cut the quiet air and reached them it disturbed them, and they thought it a rather vulgar noise. And if one of their number started up and wanted to go and do something to help, then all the others would pull that one down. “Why should you get so excited about it? You must wait for a definite call to go! You haven’t finished your daisy chains yet. It would be really selfish,” they said, “to leave us to finish the work alone.”
There was another group. It was made up of people whose great desire was to get more sentries out; but they found that very few wanted to go, and sometimes there were no sentries for miles and miles of the edge.
Once a girl stood alone in her place, waving the people back; but her mother and other relations called, and reminded her that her furlough was due; she must not break the rules. And being tired and needing a change, she had to go and rest for awhile; but no one was sent to guard her gap, and over and over the people fell, like a waterfall of souls.
Once a child caught at a tuft of grass that grew at the very brink of the gulf; it clung convulsively, and it called—but nobody seemed to hear. Then the roots of the grass gave way, and with a cry the child went over, its two little hands still holding tight to the torn-off bunch of grass.
And the girl who longed to be back in her gap thought she heard the little one cry, and she sprang up and wanted to go; at which they reproved her, reminding her that no one is necessary anywhere; the gap would be well taken care of, they knew.
And then they sang a hymn. Then through the hymn came another sound like the pain of a million broken hearts wrung out in one full drop, one sob. And a horror of great darkness was upon me, for I knew what it was—The Cry of the Blood. Then thundered a Voice, the Voice of the Lord: “And He said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground.”