Hi Church,
So good to be back home after a short break to Melbourne, where we had a wonderful time being tourists with our family and friends (Paul and Monica Zanardo). Our sons, Peter and Jared, are both doing well in their streams of life and it was a joy to visit them in their respective new churches. It’s a joy to experience truth with believers from across our nation and feel we are connected as one family.
A big thank you to the team who captained the ship in my absence and especially to Randolph Kubicek who brought a great word and many were encouraged and blessed.
We certainly live in precarious times where even a quick trip to the shops or delivering a sermon in a Church just may be the last thing one does on this earth. What happened at Westfield, Bondi Junction and at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, was evil and brokenness walking hand in hand to create heartache and despair for many. Many are shocked, many are without words to even begin to describe why or how this could happen in our nation.
It just seems there is more darkness and more sin flourishing everywhere. Without Christ it would certainly seem there is no hope. But this where our faith in Jesus kicks in.
I love what it says in the Message version Bible regarding Law and Death V’s Grace and Life.
“All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.”
Romans 5:20-21 (Message version)
Other versions say “where sin increased, grace increased all the more”!
So let’s not be scared. Let’s not retreat backwards. We have a message and a hope that cannot be beaten. God’s grace, His never-ending mercy and empowering presence, is all the more available to flood headlong into every place where sin is trying to gain ground. So, let’s not wring our hands in defeat, rather let our voices rise in prayer and declare the victorious grace of God to be increased in Bondi Junction, to be increased in Wakeley, to be increased in Port Macquarie, to be increased in your workplace, to be increased in your family and to be increased across Australia. Praise You Jesus!
What’s ahead? We are blessed to have a visit from our Church Mentor, Ps Peter McHugh from Stairway Church Melbourne. This will happen on the weekend of 3rd to 5th May, so please make it a priority to be with us.
Stay tuned for our Next Sunday “More” Night in May, these have truly been powerful life changing times.
God bless you Church
Love as always Ps Greg and Amanda