Coming up this Easter weekend 19-21 April 2019
Easter is a very special time to be at church because it’s the time when we remember the death and resurrection of Jesus. Our services this Easter weekend are:
GOOD FRIDAY 9am: an all-age service to reflect on the death of Jesus for us.
EASTER SATURDAY 5pm: an all-age service with kids’ program, followed by dinner together.
EASTER SUNDAY 9am: a classic Anglican service followed by espresso morning tea.
On Friday, I’ll be preaching on how the death of Jesus is actually a great moment of injustice… but Jesus did it for us. It’s all about the two criminals on the crosses who died alongside Jesus from Luke chapter 23.
Then on Saturday and Sunday I’ll be preaching from John chapter 17 verses 20 to 26 where we find out what Jesus prayed for us on the night before he died, and why this changes everything.
On Saturday and Sunday we’ll include our weekly question and answer segment, and I’ll be answering these questions from last weekend:
1 What warnings does the Bible give about dreams?
2 How does God look down on everybody at the same time?
3 Is it God’s job to love us?
4 How did Jesus act under authority when he is the Father?
5 Do we believe that holy water will protect us from sickness?
6 If your relative goes to Hell, then will you feel sad?
7 Why didn’t Jesus tell Judas not to betray him?
8 Should we forgive Judas for his treachery?
9 Would you agree with Mikhail Gorbachev’s who said, “Even God didn’t create a perfect world; even God couldn’t cope with this society; I don’t think that was his plan”?
This is a very special weekend to join us for church, so we’d love to welcome you with us this Easter.
Grace and peace, Jodie McNeill.
Why won’t Folau be quiet?
Australian Rugby Union player, Israel Folau, has lost his job this week after posting a picture on social media that said “Warning: Drunks, Homosexuals, Adulterers, Liars, Fornicators, Thieves, Atheists, Idolaters: Hell awaits you. Repent!”
In the comments he said “Jesus Christ loves you and is giving you time to turn away from your sin and come to him”, as well as quoting from the Bible.
Folau clearly believes in Hell, and he wants to take every opportunity to warn people to find safety in Jesus.
The response from Rugby Australia and the media is that his comments are “homophobic” and that he has “vilified” people by how he’s expressed his religious beliefs.
To be honest, I wouldn’t post that image on Instagram, even though I agree that we need to warn people about Hell.
Yet I, too, want people to know that no matter who you are or what you’ve done, Jesus loves you so much that he died to forgive you.
Everybody is guilty of disobeying God in all sorts of ways, but no matter what you’ve done, Jesus offers unconditional forgiveness if you truly follow him.
I love Izzy’s courage and conviction, and I share his passion for people to come to Jesus and be rescued from Hell.
And I think he’s right when he says that God considers homosexual activity to be one of many things that are immoral.
But whether you agree or not, surely it’s un-Australian to sack someone for publicly saying something that’s in the Bible.
We used to think, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”, but now our society silences views that are unpopular.
Nobody likes to be told that their behaviour is wrong, yet all of us are guilty in Jesus’ sight for all we’ve done to offend him.
At the same time, all of us can enjoy forgiveness in Jesus because of his self-sacrificing death on the first Good Friday.
JODIE McNEILL
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