This is the latest blurb that is published on the front of our weekly bulletin

What is Church?

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Church is my Spiritual Home.

A home where I am nurtured, loved, grown as a Christian & encouraged to serve my fellow family members. I have experienced this in abundance here at Jamberoo Anglican and I thank you for this.

In a family we all have something to contribute. Don’t hold back, find your gift and use it. Serve and be served. Be an active family member. This has been so evident in our church over the last few months of Graham’s illness.

Thank you so much for all the practical things people are doing for me.
Things like meals, taking shower screens off so Graham can be showered, dashing to hospital late at night because I needed something. Others are feeding me. Many of you are praying for me. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12 “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”

We here at Jamberoo Anglican are truly “one body”.
Each and every part doing its bit to help our body function in a spiritually healthy way. We are family.
Many members, different ages, different jobs, but all working together & supporting each other as one body.

Family members move on. Graham has moved on to his eternal home. We are sad. We are bereft. But know we will see him again when we too leave this earthly life and join all the saints in Heaven who have gone before us.

Jodie and Mandy are moving on, taking Jesus’ command in Mark 16:15 “Go into all the world and preach the gospel” literally.
We will miss them greatly, their leadership, their friendship, their love of us and the gospel but we know God is sending them out and when God sends, you go.

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
In the name of Christ. AMEN.

LESLEY ERRINGTON

God’s World Through God’s Eyes

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Last weekend, Jamberoo Anglican Youth went down to Burrill Pines for our annual youth camp.

We enjoyed eating together, relaxing in the beautiful beach and bush around our site, playing sport, chatting, and scavenger hunting. But most of all, we were challenged from the book of Jonah.

We heard 4 talks from our speakers and spent extended time in groups diving deep into the word and discussing how to apply what we’ve learned to our lives.

Something that challenged all of us was God’s compassion towards his creation that is all through Jonah but particularly stands out in Jonah 4.

Jonah 4:11 says “And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”

Ninevah was the capital of Assyria – the enemies of God and his people. They were spiritually blind and headed for destruction.

Yet God has such love and compassion for all people that he sent Jonah to warn the people of Ninevah to repent from their wickedness.

Over the weekend, the question we were asked was ‘do you view the world through God’s eyes?’

We are often tempted to view some people as beyond God’s reach. As people who would never give their life to Jesus.

This is not how God views the world. God has compassion on all his creation.

Our challenge from camp is to view God’s world through God’s eyes – a world full of people he loves who need Jesus to save them.

We were all enemies from God (Col 1:21) before we heard his word and he rescued us.

Our job is to preach Jesus to all people, even our enemies. Because that’s what our saviour did.

BRAD VIDILINI

Relief From Our Burdens

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Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care? Precious Saviour, still our refuge—take it to the Lord in prayer!

These words come from the famous hymn, ‘What a friend we have in Jesus,’ and they bring us great hope as we feel the burden of life.

The words come from Jesus’ famous ‘comfortable’ words from Matthew chapter 11, verse 28 where he says:

Matt. 11:28    Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

These words bring hope to the hopeless and help us in our helplessness, for they speak to all of us who find it impossibly hard to deal with our sins and failures.

But originally, Jesus was speaking to the lost sheep of Israel, who were overcome with the burdens of keeping hundreds of rules, regulations and traditions.

They carried the burden of keeping the law… but today we carry the burden of performance anxiety.

By nature, we all feel we need to perform well to impress God, so that we will survive judgement day.

It’s a burden that will crush us, and so Jesus offers ‘rest’.

He offers rest that is about peace with God, and we get this ‘rest’ as a gift from Jesus.

As we follow Jesus, we find rest for our souls that brings us relief from the burden of our sins.

And this is the greatest relief we could ask for from the heavy burden of guilt and sin.

JODIE McNEILL

Together in Christ’s Service

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In Australia, being a Christian is often fun. Friendships, food, answers to life’s challenges, inspiring music, encouragement, purpose. At the same time, there is a serious side- life and death.

God’s Word puts it this way: Sin pays off with death. But God’s gift is eternal life given by Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23).

You let sin rule your life- you die. Jesus rules your life- you have eternal life. This is the good news- the gospel. Yet what about those you care about- family, friends, even enemies? Life for you, death for them?

As a unified church, we are one another’s team mates, our goal being to “work together to see each person in our village, valley and region know how to follow Jesus and why it matters.” This goal is urgent and important.

Jamberoo Anglican Church is well-resourced to stir, equip and sharpen you as you play your part in seeing your loved ones have the eternal life that only Jesus gives.
Here are some of the evangelistic resources that our church provides for your ministry in seeing people repent and believe the good news.

Sunday sermons that clearly communicate the gospel. Bring people along.
Growth groups that explore the gospel as revealed in the Bible. Bring people along.
Training and support in friendship evangelism. Get out there, being present alongside people.
Short courses that explain the gospel for people. Bring people and sit alongside them.
Bible, tracts and books. Prayerfully give them to people.
The Illawarra evangelistic gathering in March 2025. Get alongside people in relational evangelism, bring and support them.
All these may challenge you personally, such as the investment of your time.

Amidst the fun and personal gain in being a Christian, the gospel opens our eyes to the life-giving serious side of our lives.

Steve Bligh

God’s Love in Action

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One night a little girl was woken by a storm. “Mummy, Mummy” she cried out. The rain beating against the window frightened her, the lightning and thunder terrified her. “Mummy, where are you?”
Her mother hurried into the room. She sat in the side of the bed and held her daughter tightly to comfort her, “Honey, when you are frightened like this you know that God is with you and loves you.”
“Yes Mummy, I know that” she sobbed. “But I need love with skin on.”

Jesus said, ‘A new commandment I give to you: that you love one another as I have loved you’.
We all need ‘love with skin on’ from time to time and so we need to be ‘love with skin on’ for one another.

Sometimes, pastoral care is seen as an optional extra, however, caring for one another is fundamental to our lives as Christians.
We all have different personalities, abilities and gifts, and therefore, we show our love in diverse ways.
However, at its foundation pastoral care involves caring for God’s people and walking alongside them in their Christian formation.

Pastoral care is gospel shaped, Bible nourished and prayer dependent. It is God’s love in action.

At Jamberoo Anglican, we work toward providing a ministry of support, hope and caring for one another’s – Spiritual, Emotional, Relational and Physical Wellbeing.

Our growth groups are a natural place to provide care for one another. They are the place where we develop relationships and support one another.

If you are not part of a growth group, then I would encourage you to join one of our existing groups.

Given that not everyone can be a part of a growth group, let’s each consider how we can show God’s love and care to someone different this week.

The Victory Parade

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The Paris Olympics have been the most successful ever for Australia, and when the competitors return, we can expect a grand parade of medal-wearing winners.

Throughout history there have been other victory parades, but it was not uncommon for the spoils of success to be the captives taken prisoner through a successful military campaign.

Which is what makes Ephesians chapter four so remarkable, when it says of Jesus in verse eight, “When he ascended to the heights, he led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to his people.”

In this quote from Psalm 68, it’s speaking of the captives who are paraded before the people and are given as the spoils of war.

Yet, the greatest surprise is seeing in the coming verses just what, or in fact, who are these captives.

It turns out that they are the leaders who speak the word of God, as we see in the list in verse 11.

The valuable gifts that Jesus gives to his church are actually the speakers of the word of God, namely the apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastor-teachers. 

For, as they speak the word of God, Christ builds his church, which brings unity and maturity to all who know and love Jesus.

When the Olympians return, they will be parading their gold, silver and bronze medals, as a demonstration of their victory over the athletes of the other nations.

But when Jesus rose from the dead, his victory led to him giving his word to his people, through hearing the voices of his preachers.

This is how Jesus brings us blessing: through hearing his word, which builds his church to maturity and unity.

There’s something better than Olympic medals, for the faith that comes from hearing the word of God is of greater worth than gold.

JODIE McNEILL

Celebrating Creation

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Every four years the people of our planet gather together to celebrate God’s remarkable creation, as the Olympics showcase how people are able to go faster, higher, and stronger than before.

However, as they do so, they usually celebrate humanity, rather than God.

In what could easily be an opportunity to praise the remarkable creation of God, instead his creatures worship themselves as they pursue an atheistic celebration of the breaking of the records that once confined and defined humankind.

It’s a fine line between idolatry and doxology—between worshipping humanity and giving glory to the God who made us—and at each Olympics the gap seems to grow wider.

This year the opening ceremony created controversy with the appropriation of Da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’ by a drag queen DJ in the place of Christ.

Yet, the most offensive aspect of the Games must be the lack of worship of the one who fearfully and wonderfully made the men and women who perform and compete at the myriad of events.

As we witness the extraordinary feats of the athletes, our appropriate response should  be to glorify the God who made us and who has given the remarkable gifts that enable the athletic feats splashed across screens throughout the world.

When we glorify humanity we show a contempt for the creator who made every human in his image, and who created us to glorify him as our loving Lord and Saviour.

The distortion of ‘The Last Supper’ seemed to target those who revere Jesus, and yet it is the natural ignorance of God’s hand in creating everything we see that is the most offensive act that happens almost every medal ceremony.

As we marvel at creation, let us glorify the creator, who is worthy of all our praise.

JODIE McNEILL

Meet Jesus

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It’s always an exciting experience to meet someone who is really famous, whether they’re a politician, a performer, or another public figure.

But there’s one man who is more important than any other person… and he’s ready and waiting to meet you.

That person is Jesus: the most famous person in history, and the one who is able to change your life in a way that nobody else can.

We meet Jesus by listening to his voice, which we hear as we encounter him in the words of the Bible, whether it’s read or heard.

When we’re willing to listen to what he says, and then to obey his words, we meet Jesus by his Holy Spirit, and can come to truly know him as our loving ruler.

The reason it’s so good for us to meet Jesus is that when we follow him, he promises to bring us forgiveness from the punishment we deserve for rebelling against God, and he brings us the hope of eternity as we experience true, deep friendship with our creator.

Over the next six weeks we’re going to be carefully studying these six special events in Jesus’ life, as recorded in the New Testament book of John:

  • Meet Jesus with the World (John 1:1-18)
  • Meet Jesus with the Religious (John 3:1-21)
  • Meet Jesus with the Outsider (John 4:4-42)
  • Meet Jesus with the Grieving (John 11:1-45)
  • Meet Jesus with the Powerful (John 18:28-19:22)
  • Meet Jesus with the Sceptics (John 20:1-31)

Each week at our 9am and 4pm Sunday church services, there will be a Bible talk that will help everyone meet Jesus.

If you’ve already met Jesus, then these six weeks will bring you closer to him, as you see more of who he is and how his life has changed your life.

If you’ve not yet met Jesus, then over the next six weeks you’ll be brought face-to-face with the man who created the universe and whose life offers the only, true way to find hope and forgiveness through his love and sacrifice, for you.

JODIE McNEILL

Looking back and forward

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On the 20th of January this year, I let the world of Instagram know that I was moving on to a new adventure. 

I felt that this song from Rend Collective captured my feelings perfectly:

“You are the adventure of a lifetime, Jesus.
you take my heart and make it wild
you are the thrill my soul is seeking, Jesus
your grace has no horizon line
I’ll go anywhere, anywhere at all
As long as I’m with you, Jesus”

Church family, can you believe that I’ve been on this new adventure with you all for six months?

As I look back, I remember that I had goals I was keen to set. I was so excited (and a little nervous) to meet and know you all!

Yet, my start with you all was one of real hardship with the passing of my Dad. Looking back I can see how in such a dark time I already had you around me as my new family, even though we didn’t know each other well. 

Your care, kindness, prayers, and messages meant the absolute world to me, given that many times I couldn’t return to Sydney.

Looking back I’m so thankful to God that this is where he has placed me with you all as I get to live out my dream job alongside you every day!

I’m so excited for what the next six months and beyond will bring!

I look forward to seeing God’s will be done in the kids’ programs and in the households of our churches as we partner in making disciples of the next generation.

I’m looking forward to finding a way to keep bridging the gap to Sunday church from our Friday afternoon Spark kids’ club, where we have a few non-church kids attending.

I’m looking forward to praying a big prayer that we might have five, non-Christian families attend our kids programs! Will you join me in this prayer?

RACH BEMMER

Searching the Scriptures

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Recently at Youth Group, we looked at Acts chapter 17:1-15, as part of our series on Paul’s missionary journey in the book of Acts.

In Acts 17, there are two, very different responses to the gospel.

When Paul preaches in Thessalonica, he gets run out of town by an angry mob, but when he then moves onto a town called Berea, he gets a much more positive reception towards the good news of Jesus.

Acts 17:11b says, “they searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth,” and as a result, they put their trust in Jesus.

As the Youth Minister of this church, it is a privilege to witness our young people exhibit the same attitude towards the gospel as the Bereans.

Each Friday night, we meet to hang out, play games and build relationships, but most importantly, we search the Scriptures week after week to find the truth that God has revealed in his word to us.

In this passage we were particularly challenged by the fact that the Bereans searched the Scriptures day after day, coming back to Scripture time and time again, soaking in it, reflecting on it.

Do you search the Scriptures day after day?

We have access to the Bible like never before, both hardcopy and online, yet how often do we fill our time with other things than reading God’s word?

The young people of our church have an enthusiasm for the gospel: day after day, week after week, time after time, they encourage those of us who are older to be as excited as they are to read God’s word.

This week, why not ask a young person at church what they’ve read in the Bible recently?

Hopefully that will encourage both you and them to follow the example of the Bereans, searching the Scriptures for truth day after day.

BRAD VIDILINI