Front Page Sunday 1st October 2006

There are many things that come as a result of being a Christian. The first is that you are a member of a local church family (or should be). Secondly you are part of God’s universal church family. That means that wherever you go, locally, nationally or internationally, you have a network of other Christians to meet and to fellowship with. There are many other ‘Christian benefits’ but today I want us to think about what it means to be a member of God’s universal church.
Julie and I have had the privilege of ministering in four churches as well as being very much involved in our original church back in Tassie. What that means is that we now have a tremendous network of other Christians that we still dialog with and meet up with from time to time. Although we love ministering here and know the love of so many of you, it is good to know that when we travel or get on the internet, we so often meet up with someone or receive an email or whatever from someone in our past. Just this week Julie was invited to go to a function with a group of ladies from one of our previous churches. That sort of relationship and invitation is very special to us.
I know some of you have been here in this church formany years, while others have come from other church communities. I want to encourage you to look ‘universally’ today, remember and nurture those special relationships you have forged with others in past situations, keep your ‘network’ alive and reap the benefits of maintaining those good friendships from your past.
Being a Christian is more than just the present; relationships of the past, present and the future play an important part in our lives and I want to encourage you to thank God for all the wonderful people He has brought across your path over the years as you see the wonderful unity that is present in God’s universal Church.

God Bless
Blair

Front Page Sunday 24th September 2006

Those who put their trust in God as the provider of all things will give thanks for the many blessings He gives to us. Perhaps the greatest blessing He gives is our families. I am of the opinion that God expects us to look after what He gives to us, in particular to give special attention to our relationships with the one we love.
This concept can, at time, be difficult for some when they feel called by God to a particular ministry and the tension is that if I nurture my relationship, I can be seen to be putting God’s call second. King Solomon, who we talked about last week said these very profound words “They have made me a keeper of vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept” (Song of Solomon 1:6) Like Solomon we can so easily look after the affairs of others, giving of ourselves to the ‘ministry’ at the expense of looking after our own ‘vineyard’ The question we must ask is “if we do that, is it honouring to God? Is it looking after the precious things God has given to us?” I don’t believe so, God does expect our best, our first fruit, but our best is firstly looking after the blessings He has given to us. Without doubt our relationship with God is first and foremost because when that’s right, our earthly relationships are so much more enhanced. A good order of priority is God, Family, Work, and then Ministry.
I believe if we keep to that order, we honour what God has given to us, we still put Him first and we still fulfil the ministry He has for us.
God Bless
Blair

Front Page Sunday 17th September 2006

Ever really wonder what is really important? For most of us family, home, job, all fall into that category, and rightly so. Those things are important for our relationships, our security and for our well being. All are important for the relatively short time we here on this planet. The more successful we are, the more affluent we are determines the level of our existence and also determines in many ways how we can make difference in this world.
As I look at all of these things the thing that strikes me is that all these worldly standards, worldly measures of success and fulfilment are based on what you do and what you have, not who you are. I am reading Steve Waugh’s autobiography “Out of my comfort zone’ and what strikes me about this book, particularly in its early stages is the correlation between his success and his self worth. When he is making runs, taking wickets and being selected in teams of a higher level, he feels good about himself, conversely when he is having a bad trot, he is lacking self esteem and self worth. That worldly attitude so often spills over into our spiritual life when those things I mentioned earlier, family, home, job, success often determine how we feel about ourselves.
One thing the bible teaches is that our self worth is not based on what we do, rather on who we are, and who we are is determined for us by Jesus Christ as He came to redeem us and make it possible for us to have a personal loving relationship with the living God.
It’s the eternal that is of real importance, the temporary situations of this world only have real significance when they are seen in the overall scheme of things. That is, the most important thing is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, from that all other relationships are enhanced and enriched and take on a new and different dimension as we put God at the centre of our life. No longer is self worth based on performance or material wealth. God now sees you and I as people of great worth and of great significance. He wants the very best for each one of us. “ I have come so that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10)
To me that is what is really important
God bless
Blair