Coming to the end of a year, and the beginning of a new one, many of us set New Year’s resolutions, hoping to make positive life changes.
It can be helpful to reflect on what has been and to consider future plans.
In fact, according to Proverbs (3:5-6,16:3;9), the wise person sets goals and prepare for the future.

These verses are a reminder from God, telling us to give Him all our plans and worries. It’s like God is saying to us, “Trust me with your life, and I’ll take care of the rest.”
And this isn’t just about the big dreams we have, but also about the small choices we make every day.

In a world that tells us that we can do whatever we want, whenever we want, however we want, under our own strength, we should find this reminder from God a comfort.

The weight and burden people place upon themselves to succeed in everything they do can and does lead to increased worry, stress, anxiety, burnout and more.

For Christians, the idea is that we completely give our plans to God in dependence upon Him. When we commit our work to the Lord, we offer everything we do completely to Him.

When we fully depend on God in all we do and live according to His ways in complete dependence on Him, we can generally expect that He will bless our efforts.
This does not mean we will never have trouble in our lives or that God will give to us everything we want in the way we expect it!
Rather, we can expect God to fulfill His promise of Romans 8:28, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

As we embrace the possibilities of this new year, let’s hold onto the wisdom found in Proverbs, allowing it to guide our actions and intentions.

Sandee Batelic

In John’s gospel, chapter 1, Jesus called Phillip to follow him. Phillip did, then went to find his brother Nathaniel, urging him to come and see the Messiah. John reports it this way, in verses 43 to 46:

” The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.”

This gospel dynamic applies to us, in that Jesus has called us to follow him, and once we are trusting Jesus, we invite another person that we are connected with to “Come and See” Jesus the Lord and Saviour. Why? That your friend may also trust Jesus, knowing that they, like you, have “certainty for eternity”.
With the new year having started, so our church mission gains momentum- that every man, woman and child in our village, valley and region may know Jesus and why it matters.
A great resource we have right now is the “Come and See” foundation of the regional mission- Hope for the Illawarra.
That resource is in the form of the prayer pamphlet. I have plenty, and our church needs more than a handful of members to follow through with this. Rather, the whole church is called to action.
I’m a coffee, surf or phone call away from personally supporting you in this, as is Tony Galea and Josh Wales, both of whom “share my stoke” in this mission.

May your hearts be on fire !!!

STEVE BLIGH

It’s hard to work out what to write in my final news sheet article as we farewell you this weekend after our ten years serving at Jamberoo Anglican Church.

I trust the Lord will give me the right words to speak in my final sermon and in our speeches after dinner, but for now, I thought I’d take some inspiration from the closing words of the Apostle Paul as he wrote to the Christians in Philippi, from chapter 4:

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honourable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8-9)

These words beautifully sum up the sentiment of a man who sought for his flock to be focused on what matters most.

Paul wanted his church at Philippi to focus on things that are “excellent and worthy of praise.”

As we approach change and uncertainty, we can easily be distracted by worldly matters, and drift into worldly behaviour.

But instead, let us keep imitating the Apostle, who imitated Christ Jesus.

As we look to the future, let us fix our thoughts on Christ and live lives that truly follow his example, so that in doing, we will have with us the God of peace, himself.

What’s more, we will experience the peace of God, “which exceeds anything we can understand”, knowing for certain that “his peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)

JODIE McNEILL