05 Nov Working toward the weekend!
Happy Friday one & all!
A quick bit of business now & then on to something I find interesting.
- Zoom – You can still join us in just a few hours to look at last Sunday’s worship texts…Psalm 80 & Colossians 1:15-22…to catch-up with your Living Water family…and to share what’s going on in your world with other disciples.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83184135605
Meeting ID: 831 8413 5605
- One LAST time…We’re on-line & in-homes again this Sunday, 7th November. It looks like this is the last time officially unless the Premier moves the goalposts again. The Guide Hall is still a “vaccinated-only” venue. That’s the requirement of Guides NSW. We’ve had ample time by now to either get our shots or a medical exemption. Sandra is handling the “who & where” details this week. Give her a ring or gather a group & let her know who’s coming to your place so we don’t miss anyone. PLEASE do not sit home alone if you’re able to be with a few folks from Living Water. If in doubt ring Sandra or me…we’ll get you sorted
For those gathering in home & worshiping via Living Water’s on-line presence…For some reason, I had a rough run keeping my internet connected during the recording this week & Adam overcame several obstacles to do a masterful job of salvaging my mess into something good. We press on in Christ’s mission from the strength of the Spirit moving through our wonderful servants!
Here’s the video link… https://youtu.be/NVEg_qUUe20
NOW…the interesting bit…to me anyway…I was reading Acts 14 this morning…Paul & Barnabas are traveling on Paul’s 1st missionary journey.
In both Acts 13 & 14 Paul performs a miracle, or we read about “miracles, signs, & wonders.” But those dazzling “wonders” are never received by the crowds as definite proof of the power of Jesus. Some observers are certainly overcome by the “miracle” & drawn to faith; but on the whole, “miracles, signs, & wonders” leave the crowd divided, or completely confused. Paul & Barnabas must always share the good news of Jesus or absolutely no one comes to faith in Christ.
How many times have you wondered about the Old Testament faith ancestors, “How could they turn away after seeing the plagues, the Red Sea, manna, their God-inspired conquest of their land…etc…?” I think it was TS Eliot, or one of the other poets, who wrote, “How many miracles there are that will not save us.”
You see…we live in the age of the “spectacular.” Everything is eye-catching…heart-stopping…sensationalized to the extreme.
Just take in an evening’s newscast & you’ll see the furrowed brow seriousness of every story that’s now a crisis in process.
Even the church is in on the game. We’ve got rockstar preachers & concert-quality worship spaces & events. Mega-selling authors & life-changing podcasts aplenty. I know a consultant who tells church leaders, “Go big or go home.” And still…only about 1 in 4 Australians who identify themselves as “Christian” worship at least “once-a-month.” A larger percentage (50%) “almost never” worships. (once-a-year or less) And more than half of Australians call themselves anything-but Christian.
The lasting reality is, we’ll never dazzle the world into faith in Christ. We can’t guilt them there either…that’s been tried & found wanting. That mob of a dozen or so disciples became a movement that swept the world only because “the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went.” (Acts 4:4) At some point Paul & Barnabas must share the good news of Jesus or absolutely no one comes to faith in Christ.
That’s where we are. I think that’s exciting.
Think about that as we re-gather as a whole family beginning the 14th of November & move toward Christmas. Talk about that during in-home worship this week. There’s no better time than now to start a conversation with someone you know, work with, go to school with, live with…about the one thing that will make an eternal difference in their life: Jesus Christ.
See you soon!
John
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