Love your neighbour

"Whoever despises his neighbour is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor."
- Proverbs 14:20

I don't think any of us here would say we despise Queenslanders or people living in third world countries, but do we love them? And if we say we love them, do we show it? Do we just "pray" that God will give them what they need to rebuild their city or to send their children to school and put food on their plates, or do we try to do something about it?

I hate the "I will pray for you" cop-out. I am not denying the mighty power of prayer, or saying that we shouldn't pray for one another, because prayer is the most powerful thing in the world, but so often we use this to make us feel like we're doing something to help. If we're "praying that John will get to know Christ" or "praying that Jane will have enough money to visit her sick parents" but not reaching out to John with the gospel or giving Jane financial aid when it's well within our capability to, then what use is it? Okay, fair enough some things are out of our control. Maybe I don't have access to a helicopter to fly out to Queensland to help with the rescue efforts. But I have money. I can give dinner to a family who has lost their house and is now living at an evacuation centre. I can pay for medical supplies for a boy who's been physically hurt in the floods. I mean, in praying and not doing anything else.. that's like saying, "Oh God, help these people. But not through me.. use someone else. I NEED this new Xbox game and that new pair of jeans and.. oh, that new CD. And I have to buy dinner after church this weekend, and I have to look good when the offering bag comes around on Sunday so really, my funds are all tied up at the moment." I mean, have you ever thought that maybe you're an answer to prayer?

God has blessed us with so many things; He has met our material needs AND MORE. If God has blessed you with a job, or with generous parents, He has made you a steward of His money. It's all too easy to forget that this is God's money, not mine.

It's pretty simple: do you love your neighbour? Because if you don't love them, then you despise them. If you don't love them, you hate them.

"Then He will say to those on His left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me no food, thirsty and you gave Me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome Me, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to You, as You did not do it to one of the least of these, You did not do it to Me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
- Matthew 25:41-46

Please give generously to the victims of the Queensland floods. Don't turn Jesus away when He's lost His entire livelihood. Don't turn Him away when He's hungry and got no food. Don't turn Him away when He's sick and in need.

Proxy Post

This isn't me writing by our dear brother James ^^ ... bit annoyed at Church politics at this not being displayed so I'll jsut post it here xD

If there is one thing that NTE has impressed onto me, it is the sort of attitude we should have towards evangelism and the gospel. (For those who don’t know, NTE is a national conference for Christian university students) NTE’s theme this year was ‘Entrusted’- A word that describes the privilege and responsibilities associated our possession of the gospel. It was put to us that one attitude often taken towards gospel was similar to the servant who buries the money his master gives to him to invest (Mt 25:14-30). The question necessitated a look at my own attitude- was I burying the gospel underneath my own unwillingness to openly talk about Jesus with those I met?

My shortcoming in bringing the gospel to ‘all nations’ (Mt 28) were most likely linked to my fear of the consequences associated with publically talking about my personal Christianity. It is not like this anxiety was without merit- even without talking about serious persecution, the social hazards alone can be brutally obvious to anyone who has shared Jesus with their friends. However, throughout NTE the emphasis of the immeasurable value of the gospel forced me to look for answers on how to deal with my insecurity in sharing the gospel. Don Carson (main speaker of NTE) was left to answer my questions. Don talked about a lot of things, but what will stick with me for a long time (I suspect), is his answer to my questions.

In Don’s talks on 2 Timothy, he drew attention to Paul’s advice to Timothy to ‘fan into flame the gift of God’ (2 Tim 1:6). According to Paul, Timothy was to mark his ministry with passion and enthusiasm. To quote Paul himself, ‘For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power…’ (2 Tim 1:7)- To me, Paul’s message to Timothy carried a surety that God would cover our flaws and shortcomings, if only we would just be bold in proclaiming His name. God would give to us a measure of His power, but we have to take the initiative.

It wasn’t that Paul promised Timothy that his ministry would be met with success at every instance. During our following mission to Maitland, I told more than one person that I was glad that the salvation of those I managed to talk to during our doorknocking was not dependent on my fractured efforts. Nor did it mean that the uneasiness I got every time before we knocked on a stranger’s door ever completely went away. But in the knowledge of the importance of my message, of what I wanted people to know about Jesus, the uncertainties which I had previously thought to be so impossible to overcome over time became background considerations.

Towards the end of one of his talks, Don said that the best method to preserve the gospel was to give it away. I am not so arrogant to think that my problems are by everyone (even you, appreciated reader). But if what you have just read has made question your own attitude towards the gospel, I ask- Are you burying the gospel?

James Kwan

In dark times

Yesterday during my devotion time I was reading about the ressurection (John 19) and it got me thinking about what the disciples must have been thinking for the 3 days before this point. I would say that this would easily be their lowest point. They had devoted such a large chunk of time and energy into this ministry, they had pinned all their hopes on it. Now that dream seemed shattered beyond recovery. Surely this was their darkest hour. So imagine their joy at the ressurection and the realization that everything had gone according the plan, even if that plan wasn't the same as their plan.

I felt like I could relate to this feeling, even if not to the same extent. I too have had things I've invested a lot of time and energy into and sometimes those things seem to start to crumble. But I know that I can continue with hope because I know it is all still part of God's plan. Now I don't know how long I'll have to wait for this "ressurection", maybe it might never come. But because I believe in THE ressurection, I know that as long as a continue to seek God's will not a single moment of my effort will be considered wasted.

perhaps unoriginal, but hopefully still noteworthy.

First ever blog post! =) yay!

Well this is about something which I'm sure we've all noticed/thought of/tried to do something about, but I think it's rather important, and I have definitely been a little lax of late myself regarding this.

The point in question here is an aspect of fellowship.

DC said this a few nights ago, at Sherman's house after the NTE talk, and it wouldn't be a new thought to most of us - that we throw the term 'fellowship' around very loosely.

We use it to describe, and sometimes maybe even justify, basically anything we do together, whether it be a meal, a movie, sport, or just hanging out in general.

Of course all of these are great - we're having fun, building up friendships, etc.

I don't think anyone would suggest that we stop doing any of these things.

But there is one thing that I certainly tend to forget,

that at the heart of all Christian fellowship is God.

Perhaps the word forget is a little strong here, and overlook might be more accurate.

When we meet outside of church, (e.g. crashing Seb's house... heh)

How often do we stop and thank God that we are able to be there?

How often do we pray to Him together before/during/after?

Personally, I think that I'm falling down rather badly here.

When we're at church, there is the constant reminder of the presence of God.

But elsewhere, I struggle a lot to keep Him in my thoughts all the time. It's just so easy to get carried away in the things of this world, to accidentally lose our focus.

But God is our God at all times and in all places.

Whether our activity is Bible study or soccer, whether it's Mawson outreach or watching a movie,

surely acknowledging Him, keeping Him in mind, giving thanks and praying are equally important for each.

For Christians, fellowship gives us the opportunity to build each other up in our faith, to reaffirm and strengthen each other in Christ.

Well that's about all I can think of at the moment... zzzzzzzz...

The main reason I wanted to write this was just to get us thinking a bit, and so that there is one more mention of it than there was before =)

At the (free) talk the other night, there was something about people not being able to recall everything they hear, but remembering best the things which are brought up most often.

Also, it's holidays!! Which means we will probably have a lot more time to spend in various forms of fellowship! =]

So perhaps this could be a little challenge for this long holiday - to always keep God right at the heart of our fellowship.

As Sherman said last week: Emmanuel - God is with us.

p.s. I just found this, and started reading through it, it seems pretty good, although a lot of it we would have already heard in sermons - http://bible.org/article/christian-fellowship

the old saying might apply here - patience is a virtue. ><>