Since Jesus is returning soon to judge the world, is it right for us to just sit around and enjoy a holiday?

Well, when we hold to the truth that God is sovereign over everything, then it means that it’s OK to stop and enjoy a break.

This is why God originally created a Sabbath day, so that his people might recognise that he runs the world, not us.

Plus, it’s worth reflecting that God designed us to spend a third of our lifetime sleeping, so that whilst our eyes are closed, we can show that we know that God is still ruling from his throne.

God also instructed his people to enjoy special holidays, when they would remember God’s actions in history.

With this in mind, we should demonstrate our dependence on God’s loving rule by enjoying holidays, and by taking a day off each week to remember that he is god, not us!

Even as we rest, we should naturally make the most of every opportunity to talk about the most important person in the universe.

In fact, holidays can be wonderful times to enjoy chatting with friends and family about the joy of knowing Jesus.

Plus, it can also be a great time to spend sharing your faith with others on a ‘Beach Mission’ or holiday camp.

God created this world to enjoy, and because we believe in his loving rule over every, single aspect of his universe, we can rest and relax in peace.

And as we rest and relax in his creation, we should naturally express our gratitude to God with the people we’re around.

And, God willing, he will use our words of genuine thankfulness to show the beauty of knowing Jesus to those we are with, so that they might be saved when he returns.

Jodie.

This week my kids joined me in watching the 1993 movie, ‘Groundhog Day.’

It was released a year after Mandy and I were married, and it’s probably been decades since we saw it.

The premise of the movie is that Phil (played by Bill Murray) gets trapped in the 2nd of February, where he lives that same day over and over again.

After his initial shock, he starts to experiment with different outcomes, based on how he conducts his life.

Initially he spends his ‘days’ seeking pleasure, but eventually his frustration leads him to take his life, which only returns him to the start of the same day.

Finally, he devotes his energy to improving his skills, and showing acts of love and kindness.

Over the countless repeats of this day, Phil grows as a person, and he shows how in one day, he can make a significant impact on the lives of many people through his good works.

If it wasn’t for Phil’s bizarre time loop, he may have continued through life, racing from day to day and year to year, without any reflection.

This is the trap we can all fall into as we naturally surrender to the recurring cycle of days and weeks and months and years.

It reminds me of the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, which starkly recognises that “what has been will be again, what has been done will be done again;” (1:9)

Yet, its conclusion is that we should remember our creator (12:1), and that we should “fear God and keep his commandments,” (12:13.)

As 2018 has now dawned, “may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17)

Jodie McNeill

I’m not much one for new year’s resolutions. If I happen to find the bit of paper at the end of the year it reads more like a catalogue of things I haven’t done than a list of achievements with ticks next to it.

A chirpy radio announcer was broadcasting what a wonderful time it is to not just make a plan for 2018, but to get out those 10 year plans and visions we have and tweak and adjust them for the year ahead. I must have lost that bit of paper too!

Although ever an optimist, even I have learnt from the experience of un-met expectations that perhaps it’s better simply not to set yourself up for failure. Deep down we all know that come the 1st of January we don’t magically become new people – this year we will be pretty much the same people as last year.

But I have an exception. There is one goal it’s always good to have on a list somewhere. No matter how many times we might have failed. It’s good to keep plugging away at it. So here it is:

News Years Resolution 2018
# Read the Bible more

There are lots of reasons why this is a good goal, but one compelling reason is simply the thought of not having it as a goal. What happens if we just gave up on this one, if we gave in to those fears of failure, those “it’s better not to try” thoughts? We might say, “Well I tried that last year and my devotions with God didn’t get any better.” But here is the thing: imagine if we hadn’t tried at all. We might not have gotten any better, but if we don’t care anymore, we will definitely get a lot worse!

But I am sure you do care. So why don’t you ask God to help you this year get to know him better through the reading of his Word. And that’s a prayer God couldn’t be happier to answer for you!

Simon Chaplin

“Jesus is _____.”  What goes in the blank?

This is a really good question for any time of the year, but especially at Christmas.

Christmas is a time when Jesus is spoken of more than normal in our society, but the answers people give are often far from the truth.

That’s one of the reasons we’re running a special campaign next March when we’re teaming up with Anglican churches from Ulladulla up to Sutherland, and from the Southern Highlands and Campbelltown across to the Illawarra.

We’ll be helping people consider the most important question facing the world: who is Jesus?

The churches of our wider region will be joined by all the students of Moore College, as well as receiving support from Anglicare.

Jesus himself once asked those around, “Who do you say I am?” (Mark 8:29), and so we want to help people with their answers to Jesus’ identity.

In our own, immediate area, we’re going to be running three days’ of public meetings at the new Shellharbour Civic Centre, at both 11am and 7pm on the 20th, 21st and 22nd of March 2018.

Our special speaker will be Ben Pfahlert, and over those three days he will be challenging the people from Dapto down to Gerringong and out to Albion Park and Jamberoo about who Jesus really is.

We’re also going to have three special training and prayer nights in the lead up, on Tuesday nights at 7pm in the Civic Centre, on the 30th January, the 13th of February and the 13th March, and we’d really love you be there to join with Anglicans from our region to pray that we’d be fired up to talk about Jesus.

So, put the dates in your diary, and start praying for great conversations with people who need to know Jesus.

And as we join together for this campaign, we pray that we’ll help many people know how to finish the sentence, “Jesus is _____.”

Jodie McNeill

Do you take the time to say “thank you” to God?

At times of relief from danger, we thank God a lot.

But what about at the normal times of life when things can be fairly mundane?

If we are not thankful to God for what he has done, then perhaps it is because we don’t fully appreciate how much he has done for us?

In the letter to the Colossians, Paul outlines what the life ‘worthy of the Lord’ looks like.

He uses four phrases, which say that Christians should be bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power, and giving joyful thanks (Colossians 1:10-12)

Thankfulness is at the heart of being a Christian.

But what should our thankfulness be like?

Verse 12 says that it should be “joyful”.

Show me a person who lives a life worthy of the Lord, and I’ll show you a person who joyfully gives thanks to the Father.

Do you say thanks to God at dinner time?

Well, the well-known poet G. K. Chesterton thinks we shouldn’t stop there.

You say grace before meals.

All right.

But I say grace before the play and the opera,

And grace before the concert and pantomime,

And grace before I open a book,

And grace before sketching, painting,

Swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing;

And grace before I dip the pen in the ink.

How will you thank God, this week?

Jodie McNeill