Communion Update...

Everyone is welcome to fellowship at our Communion service planned for 11am this Sabbath, which will be held for those who wish to participate, and observers are welcome too!  There is also no obligation for anyone to participate. The time leading up is one of special preparation. If you want to read the story,  the chapters, Servant of Servants, and In Remembrance of me, in Desire of Ages cover it.  Alex and his wife have kindly offered to provide the bread and grape juice and glasses, and we look forward to hearing his message. Thanks to all who have made contact and are helping in some way, if there are any questions, don't hesitate to call. Remember, Fellowship/study time will be starting at 10am, Communion Service at 11am and lunch will be around 1:15pm and other details are at the bottom of the page.  You are also invited to a Body Building time at 3:30 in the hall on Sabbath afternoon. May our loving Father bless you as you prepare and we look forward to a special time of unity in Christ. Lets continue to pray for one another, especially Nick, Dina and Tom.

Communion Epsitle!

Fellowship was beautiful with you last Sabbath! Father drew near to us and uplifted the character of Jesus as we saw Him so clearly as a servant to our needs and heard the call to each of us to be His servants to one another. It was a beautiful preparation for this Sabbath. As many had been impressed before and individually that we should commemorate the Communion service last Sabbath, it was a further confirmation of this calling.  So in response to His invite, we invite you to join us in a special Communion fellowship together this Sabbath at 11am at the hall at Coldstream.  Also, Father has been prompting many that we respect the order and harmony of heaven in every aspect of our worship, that we operate in gospel order. "Endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace." This Sabbath particularly we can, by preparing ahead, so that no organising need be done on Sabbath or on the spur of the moment. 

"Angels work harmoniously. Perfect order characterises all their movements. The more closely we imitate the harmony and order of the angelic host, the more successful will be the efforts of these heavenly agents in our behalf.  If we see no necessity for harmonious action and are disorderly, undisciplined and disorganised in our course of action, angels who are thoroughly organised and move in perfect order cannot work for us successfully.  They turn away in grief for they are not authorised to bless confusion, distraction, and disorganisation.  All who desire the co-operation of the heavenly messengers must work together in unison with them.  Never, never will these heavenly messengers place their endorsements upon irregularity, disorganisation and disorder." 

True Gospel order, so the angels can work most effectively among us is a stand alone matter. This relates to our fellowship together. There are needs to be met as the spirit gives gifts so that the body may be fit together. These gifts are manifest as apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers and pastors, also miracles, the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, the gifts of healing, helps, governments, and different languages.  We have been very blessed to enjoy the manifestation of many of these gifts. There appears to be a need for helps and government! There is the need for a worship leader and coordinator for our praise and worship time, a time keeper to ensure everything runs on time, a program coordinator to coordinate a speaking roster for the main message and program outline for the morning and afternoon programs, someone to be in charge of the food/kitchen, a communications secretary, a 10am fellowship facilitator, a maintainance person to head the care of the grounds, the cleaning of the hall and any other necessary jobs, a person to be in charge of organising a roster to provide flowers, and deacons & deaconesses and elders to fill their Biblical roles, that we may be obedient and follow God's plan in all things, and live within his channel of blessing. 

Some have acted under the giftings that Father has gifted them with, which has brought much blessing, others may be waiting for some human prompting. There may be other issues that need to be answered in your mind. There may be other needs that you see that are not mentioned here. Ephesians teaches us that God is the one who gives gifts unto men and so there is no need to look to others for confirmation of these gifts, but we are not to act independantly of others. Father's spirit will direct and will bring unity. These gifts are given to bring the body into the unity of the faith and into perfection. If you see a need, maybe that is the spirit of the Father prompting you to meet it. For study on this subject read Ephesians 4 and 1 Cor 12. 1 Tim 3 covers the work of Bishops and deacons and the chapters Organisation and Development in Testimonies to Ministers, and Individual Responsibility. As our loving Father impresses you in the gifts He has given you, offer yourself as servant for his body that it may be healthy and be able to run in Father's purpose, or as He impresses you in the giftings you see in others, contact me so we can coordinate this Sabbath Communion at nnh@aanet.com.au or 03 5967 1582.

For this Sabbath, there is the need for a message or a few short messages for the service, someone to lead the 10 am fellowship, and the elder women and men preferably to lead out in organising the practical aspects of the communion service before and on the day ie. baking the unleavened bread, organising glasses, the grape juice, the bowls for footwashing and the towels. Ideally, in the intrests of working in harmony, the earlier you contact me, preferably before Thursday, the better we can be organised for this Sabbath. 

As we need time to search and share God's word, and pray over coming into gospel order, we will have a Body Building afternoon meeting at 3:30pm this Sabbath.  We would encourage those who usually leave around this time, to stay. If you have something to share about gospel order, please bring it along for the Body Building session. Also, if you want to add anything on this blogspot, just click on "comment"! 

And I encourage everyone to pray for each other, to bear one another's burdens, and to provoke unto love and good works! Especially remember Nick, Deana and Tom.  May our Father bless you and may you rest in His peace this week.  Looking forward to hearing from you!

This Sabbath....

It was beautiful to enjoy your company last Sabbath as we worshipped our loving Father and His precious Son! It was great to welcome Jen and Georgina back from Kenya and to hear their passionate stories.  This week we are meeting again at the Coldstream hall at the times on the post at the bottom of the page. Look forward to seeing you. Here is an old thought in fresh language - I hope you enjoy.

In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of man to be lifted up - and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life experience.  This is how much God loved the world.  He gave his son, his one and only son.  And this is why; so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was.  He came to help, to put the world right again. John 3:15-18 The Message

Real safety

I ache to be real - to be totally authentic! Have you found a heart where you can be that? I have! My soul space, the place I am safe to be real is with Jesus.  I think it is because I have found Him to be a comforter, a helper and my older brother, my soul lover. So Jesus makes me feel safe to face the truth about myself, which is that trying to live apart from Him is hard, and joyless, doing it alone. The truth I can face safely with Him is that I need Him, and He wants me! In fact He wants me and loves me more than I have any desire for Him.  So I allow myself to be drawn to His magnetic love, I stop resisting, and find safety. In the safe place with Him,I see my need and there He swaps my guilt for His innocence, he swaps my weakness for His strength, my ignorance for His wisdom, my misery for His joy, my hate for His love and my rebellion for His submission. I swap my self defence mechanisms for His defence - so He keeps me safe!  My soul space is with Jesus!

Jesus, thanks that you loved me so passionately, so ravishingly - I'm drawn by your love, by your heart and the hope you give me and the safety to be real with you. You don't condemn me or put me down, you lift me up.  I trust you - you are the best, and I want to follow you wherever you go, because you give me peace and you really satisfy.  Thanks for the way you help me and answer me when I call, thanks for helping me  to be real, to let my barriers down in your safety. You wash me clean in your blood and cover me in your white outfit and deck me out in your armour and you guard me with your awesome angels. Talk about safe and protected! I know I'm real safe with you......

The narrow path to life...

Choices! So many choices and options we have around us - there are so many ways to go! But where do they all lead? The words in this song express this dilemna so well -

"There are so many ways that seem so right, promising all you can hope for, building dreams and idle visions of life, deep down you know, they're leading you nowhere. 

Many have claimed to know the road to life, offering freedom from sorrow, tried by time so greatly tested, but of them all one voice alone, stands worthy to follow.

Never has there been a man who spoke like this before, with words that pierce the centre of your soul, the power of his purity will melt your heart of stone, He alone can make your life whole, His words will make you whole."

I've found that this way is the way of restoration to wholeness, the way of healing and hope. I have chosen this way to go, because I'm ravished by the love of this man and I want Him to be with me on the way. His name is Jesus and he is the best friend you could ever ask for. He conquered in his life journey and knows how to help us conquer because he rose from the dead and lives to help us conquer. He has kept me on my rough and dangerous journey, he has protected and kept me safe, and I know I can trust him for the future.  He wants to be your best friend too. He is just the best! and I hope that you know him or get to know him, because he really loves you and no one else can comfort or help like he does! He is the way to life!

Hear Amazing Kenyan Story!

This Saturday the 16th of February, at 3pm come along to our Soul Space retreat at the address at the bottom of the page, to hear an amazing story of 2 missionary women, Jen and Georgina who went to Kenya to help AIDS orphans and establish an orphange, and arrived to find the country shut down due to an election gone askew, no transport, rations and everything in lockdown. For 6 weeks, they were there, determined to carry out their mission while they were confronted with malaria, parasites, massive intertribal killings similar to Rwanda, and hundreds of thousands forced to leave their homes. They are arriving home on Friday and will be sharing their story fresh from Kenya in a powerpoint presentation of their amazing experience. Check the Place to Belong details at the bottom of the page for the location.

Escape from 'stuckness'

'Midway on our life's journey, I found myself in a dark wood', begins the Divine Comedy by Dante.

Midway through my life's journey, I found myself stuck.  It seemed there was no way out, I couldn't see in any direction, just high walls all around me and all the trails I went down ended in cul de sacs.  Have you ever had that trapped feeling?  I could hardly speak it was so intense.  In desperation to express it, but unable to verbalise it, I sat down with a large paper and pastels and just drew.  What appeared on the paper out of no clear intention, was a maze of mazes, with no beginning and no end, lots of mazes all connected to each other, and in the tunnels were emotions such as hopelessness, fear and anger.  It was an image of my soul.  Although confronting, it was such a relief to see on paper visually what I was experiencing.  Somehow it affirmed my "stuckness", and eased my panic. I could look at the problem objectively now it was outside of myself and I could see it.  Clearly there was no obvious escape in my mind.  Over the next week or two I went on an internal journey of finding a way out of the maze..and I eventually found a way out - up! 

The story of who I am...

The Story

All of these lines across my face, tell you the story of who I am

So many stories of where I've been and how I got to where I am

But these stories don't mean anything when you've got no one to tell them to, it's true

You see the smile that's on my mouth, it's hiding the words that don't come out

And all of my friends who think that I'm blessed

They don't know my head is in a mess

No, they don't know who I really am

And they don't know what I've been through,

Like you do......

(By Brandi Carlile)

Soul Journey

The soul journey so far....."all of life is a journey. Which paths we take, what we look back on and forward to is up to us.  We determine our destination, what kind of road we will take to get there and how happy we are when we arrive."  For tourists the journey is often an end in itself with a collection of many mini destinations.  Thank back to the last time you travelled. Sometimes it can be as much fun getting there as arriving.  I live in the country and to get to the nearest city there is a half an hour drive.  The trip is a journey and adventure every time.  There are narrow country roads on the short cut to get to the highway.  There are little country towns scattered all along the trip.  There are straight roads where I can see the end; there are twisting and winding roads alongside the river; there are highs on the hills and lows in the valleys; some places I can't see the forest for the trees, others; an endless horizon.  Then there are the dangerous mountain roads with breathtaking views.  Our lives are journeys and everyone's has been different and what stories we have to tell, so many stories to share. What has your soul journey been like so far?

It's a new day - it's a new way!

I'm so excited at what our Father God does for us to show me how much he treasures us! A year ago we were meeting in our home, we had been doing homechurch for a few years, when God linked me up to a truely beautiful young woman, Jen. We travelled home together from a camp and in that trip we were impressed to begin meeting together, so a revolving homechurch began in Melbourne. Then Jen was given a 40 acre property where she renovated a big farm house with a beautiful hall and clinic rooms. Now we meet in our own beautiful property in a beautiful new hall at Coldstream near Lilydale in Victoria Australia. What love and what a joy it is to serve Him! Now we are awaiting Jen and Georgina's arrival back from their dangerous mission in Kenya. It's an exciting new day for us as God opens up new doors to share His love, His healing and His message of love! It's a new day - it's a new way!