Alive with Christ

This weekend we continue our series on ‘Romans: The Heart of Truth’, with Jodie speaking on the topic ‘God’s faithfulness’ from Romans chapter 11 verses 1 to 10.

It’s the right time for us to recognise many of the needs of our missionaries, so at both our services, we will have a special update about Church Missionary Society which is our Mission of the Month.

During our 5pm Saturday service we will have our weekly question and answer time, and Jodie will be answering these questions:

1. Who are the ‘other gods’ that the Lord is compared to in Exodus 18:11?
2. Since Jesus says that God is not willing that anyone perish, how can we then say that he stops people from believing?

Our 8am Sunday service will be a Morning Prayer Sunday service.

If you’re wanting to check out our church we’d really love you to visit us on Saturday at 5pm for a contemporary service with kids’ program and dinner afterwards. Our youth group ‘Alive’ runs straight after dinner on Saturday night. Or come along on Sunday at 8am for a Prayer Book service.

If you can’t make it in person, you’re welcome to jump online to watch the service (with the same sermon and many other items) at www.oakflats.tv.

See you at 5pm this Saturday or 8am this Sunday, God willing!

CREDIT: Mitchell Joyce, via Flickr.

It is hard to claim that pyramid-shaped tea-bags have added much to the sum of human happiness.

They’re just another part of our society’s never ending quest for better and more luxurious things. The continual rise of technology has made products, once considered only for the elite, now available to everyone – the pyramid tea bag one such example! I’m not sure anyone expected that particular product to create a wave of new found happiness. But what of more sought after technologies? With the ability for more people to gain access to these goods we might have expected a steady rise in our society’s general happiness.

However as levels of wealth and technology have risen, levels of happiness have gone down. Technology was meant to bring a higher standard of living with less work. However all we have found is that the goal posts have moved. We don’t just want a higher standard of living, we want a higher standard of living than others. In other words we take for granted luxuries that were only dreamed of a generation ago, and we want more. We are now working more and are dissatisfied with what we have.

This should come as no surprise to Christians (although we too find ourselves caught up in this cycle). However what may come as a surprise is that any pursuit of happiness as an end goal, seems to lead to a decrease in happiness. The more we chase happiness, the more elusive it is. We often wish this goal for others with sentiments like ‘whatever makes you happy’, or  ‘I’m happy if you’re happy.’ However this goal in the end is simply counter-productive.

That’s because God has made us for a greater goal than happiness.

We are created to love and serve him, and to love and serve others. And a wonderful truth emerges here – the more we forget about focusing on ourselves and our own happiness, the happier we become.

SIMON CHAPLIN

This weekend’s Bible talk

This weekend we continue our series on ‘Romans: The Heart of Truth’, with Jodie speaking on the topic ‘God’s sovereign election’ from Romans chapter 9 verses 1 to 29.

Mission of the month

Church Missionary Society (CMS) is our mission of the month. Support this ministry through the ‘Mission Table’ in the Hall.

Monthly Midweek Service coming up

Our next service is this Wednesday 5th September at 11am, followed by a light lunch in the hall.

Wednesday’s HSC Study Hall

Each Wednesday from 3.30-5.30pm we want to provide a space for HSC students to get out of their bedrooms and have a fresh place to study alongside other students each week. Starting this week at the church for all of Term 3, and into exam time if desired. There will be FREE coffee and homemade afternoon tea. No fee, just an open door for some extra support in the HSC season.

Single Minded Conference Livestream

Single Minded is a conference running at Village Church, Annadale  that is about singleness… but for everyone.
Main speaker – Sam Allberry. Albion Park Presbyterian will be hosting the Livestream on  Saturday, 22nd September from 10am to 5pm. Cost: $25 (workers) or $20 (students, pensioners, etc) which includes morning tea & lunch. RSVP to Gordon Coleman on 0425 224 577.

New roster coming soon

If you’re unavailable to serve on a roster from 1st October through to 16th December please let us know via comment card, email office@jamberooanglican.com or even better go to www.jamberooanglican.net.

Giving update

Each week we need to receive $1200.00 in order to meet our commitments. In the last calendar month, our average weekly giving was $1305.00, leaving a gap of $-105.00.Up to the end of the last calendar month we needed to have received $41,400. Compared to that total we received $42,249, leaving a gap of $-849.Electronic giving is a great way to give! It helps us prayerfully plan our giving, and then the bank will help us keep that commitment, even when we may be unable to attend. To give by direct transfer then these are the details. Account name: Church of England Jamberoo. Account number: 10081274. BSB: 062562 .