Life changing. Boldness. Deep joy.

These are some of the concluding words that come into mind about my journey with Year 13.

This year has been the best year of my life. Who would have thought that in only nine months, I would have grown so much.

I am so thankful to God for his growth in me through Year 13: theological growth, relational growth of life-long friendships and personal growth of my own faith. He is so good.

It has been a real joy to serve in our Oak Flats and Jamberoo church family.

Watching my high school Scripture kids explore Christianity, asking deep questions and regularly attending youth group has been a real encouragement.

I have also loved mentoring my youth girls and delving into controversial topics such as same-sex attraction, dating and abortion.

Thank you for the ongoing support you have shown financially and in prayer, and your partnership in our weekly ministries.

Our mission to Fiji brought deep growth. Witnessing the local people’s contentment and unwavering trust in Jesus exposed my own selfishness and need to live for him at the cost of popularity, money and comfort.

However, my greatest highlight has been my growth in boldness and theological knowledge. 

Being equipped to defend the gospel through our apologetics studies, it has given me more confidence to answer my workmates’ questions about the Bible.

As I graduated three weeks ago, I felt both joy and grief, yet I am excited for God’s plans in the future.

Please pray that I will speak boldly about Jesus at university next year, seeking to evangelise at every opportunity.

Also, that for all graduates, that God would remain at the centre of our lives.

Ultimately, may all glory be to Christ!

One of the outcomes of industrialisation and globalisation is that we tend to be sheltered from the impact of success and failure on the land.

Whether it’s a time of peak or trough, we don’t feel the full impact of the success and failure of our primary industries, because we buy most things through supermarkets with global supply chains.

Yet when we lived off the produce of the land on which we lived, we sharply felt the impact of times of abundance and of scarcity.

And this intimate connection with the land meant that we were forced to connect with nature, and behind nature, to God himself.

We were reminded of this in Elihu’s final speech to Job when he pointed to the powerful impact of the weather upon those who work the land.

For, through displays of extreme weather, God “stops all people from their labour”, “so that everyone he has made may know his work.” (Job 37:7)

Yet, even through drought and flooding rain, we know that God sustains the land. For as we read in Psalm 145:

The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. (Psalm 145:14-15)

The Lord provides! He is reliable and he delivers as he’s promised.

So, whether we get our produce from the land or from the supermarket, we can be sure that God will provide our needs. For as Jesus said:

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? (Matthew 6:25-27)

If I knew with certainty what would happen to you in the next week, then this would put me in a position of great power and authority over your life.

The ability to tell the future is something that many people claim to possess, but clearly are unable to reliably demonstrate.

If they could, then they’d be banned from owning shares, placing bets, or from any other activity that relied on speculation.

And yet, God knows the future, and he is prepared to let us know some details about what will happen.

These words of prophecy can be found in the Bible, and they tell us the promises that God has for his people and for his creation.

He promises that he will be sending Jesus back soon to judge everyone for whether they’ve followed him as their loving ruler or not.

He promises that if we ask for forgiveness and if we trust in God, then because of the death of Jesus, he will not treat us like our sins deserve.

He promises that if we are his friends that this coming day of judgement is not something we should fear.

And he promises that in the meantime, he will continue to hear our every prayer, and to be with us through our times of personal trials and sufferings.

If you rely on Jesus as your loving ruler then you can know that he holds your future safely in his hands.

Which means that no matter what fears you might have for your own life or for the world, you can be sure that he is trustworthy and full of compassion.

And that’s the best fortune telling you’ll ever experience.

It’s been said that owning your own home is the great Australian dream.

After all, people say it feels good to know they’ve got the stability and security of having full control of the roof over their head.

Yet it’s increasingly hard to afford a home, and even when a person does, there’s no guarantee that it will deliver the comfort they crave.

Plus, it doesn’t really matter how much a person owns on Earth if they don’t have Heaven sorted out.

That’s why Jesus’ famous words in John chapter 14 cut across the great Aussie dream. He said:

In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. (John 14:2-3)

The way we get a guaranteed booking in God’s house is to receive the key from Jesus, at his expense.

After all, Jesus said that he was going to that house in order to come back and take his followers to be with him.

This is the only sure-thing that we can rely upon, especially as we seek security in an ever-changing world.

In Jesus can we find the only, solid foundation for life in this world and the next.

And this will give us much more than the great Australian dream can ever promise.

For, if we don’t trust in Jesus, we won’t have the security, stability and safety of living in God’s heavenly house.

Where’s your home?

This week at the Synod meeting of the Sydney Anglican Church there was a lengthy discussion about the present debate on the redefinition of marriage.

During this discussion, we thanked the Archbishop’s Plebiscite Task Force for the work they had done in preparing a booklet to help educate people about the issue.

Whilst this booklet is still in draft format for review, it was reported on by the media, and its contents were quoted and discussed.

I am looking forward to distributing the final version of this booklet to you in the next few months.

But as a taste, here is a helpful section that tells us why that we are acting as good neighbours when we share the good and warn of the bad:

God’s plan for marriage brings positive things for children and society. Even for people who don’t believe marriage is a gift from God, the vast majority of Australians know that marriage brings good.

It’s not surprising that, if we abandon God’s good plan for marriage and define it another way, there will be consequences. And many of them may be negative. Christians have been way too silent on this. We can’t be good neighbours and stay silent on the damage that can be done if we change the meaning of marriage.

Because we’ve been largely silent until now, most Australians are simply unaware of the consequences of redefining marriage – the consequences for families and children, the consequences of removing gender difference from our societal structure and the consequences for freedom of speech.

Let’s look at those consequences and how we can talk about them with our neighbours – whether they’re believing people or not.

Let’s pray that this important discussion can be carried out with respect and love.

Let’s also pray that this discussion will glorify God and lead us to many gospel conversations.