For Sunday 3rd August - 11.00am

This Sunday Divine Service will begin at 11.00am. I'll be preaching on the feeding of the 5,000 from Matthew 14. We'll particularly be considering how the Lord takes our meagre offerings and uses them to bless others as He supplies their needs for this life and the next. When our eyes see only what we lack, Jesus invites us to give with confidence in His blessed abundance.

Our monthly lunch will follow the service - ALL WELCOME! After lunch we'll gather together once again as we begin to brainstorm ways in which we can engage and serve our local community. Please make this important meeting a priority - we need to hear your thoughts.

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

PS see below for some great news!

Art work courtesy of www.jesusmafa.com

SUCCESS!!

I have received some wonderful news that I'm sure our members and friends will be delighted to hear. As many of you are aware, we have been assisting our brother Moses in applying for his orphaned siblings to join him here in Australia. After many months the Australian High Commission in Nairobi contacted me to advise they've approved the application! Praise God!

It's now only a matter of weeks before this dear family will be reunited after many years of hardship. Thank you for your prayers and support throughout this process. I look forward to posting some photos of the reunion when the children touch down in Melbourne.

We've also had similar fantastic news for Bahati and his family. Two of his children who were separated from him many years ago have also been approved for migration! God willing these children will also be here in the coming weeks. We thank God for His protection of these children and pray for a blessed reunion with their Baba.

I'll keep you posted as things develop.

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good!

Pastor Matt

For Sunday 27th July - 8.30am

My apologies for not updating the blog earlier this week.

Service this Sunday (27th July) will begin at 8.30am.

For your preparation, here are the readings:

Genesis 29:15-28 Jacob works 14 years to marry Rachel
Romans 8:26-39 Nothing can separate us from the love of God
Matthew 13:31-33,44-52 Parables of the kingdom

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 20th July - 11.00am

Many people are surprised when they discover that the church on earth is not a place of perfection. The existence of apparently good and bad people, side by side in the pews, causes some to scratch their heads. To the cynics among us this might even be seen as a sign of God's powerlessness in the face of evil.

Jesus challenges this notion in the parable of the wheat and the tares that we will be hearing this Sunday. The fact that God allows both "good" and "bad" to co-exist in His church is actually a sign of His grace as He continues to offer forgiveness and life in Jesus' name. His love for us impels Him to wait for judgment, longing for more and more to receive the gift of forgiveness and salvation.

Divine Service will begin at 11.00am this Sunday.

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 13th July - 8.30am

This Sunday we will be hearing the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13). The temptation with this parable is to focus on the different soil types that are mentioned, and to make all kinds of rash assumptions about mission and the success of it based on the 'type' of people we are reaching out to. But to focus on this is to miss the point.

The Parable of the Sower reveals to us how lavishly God sows the seed of His word. With complete abandon He spreads this life giving seed without concern for the cost, looking forward to reaping the harvest that grows. I think the artwork by James Tissot captures this extravagant sowing quite nicely.

Service will begin at 8.30am.

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 6th July - 11.00am

Life, it seems, is all too often little more than a series of burdens that we must try to endure and make the most out of. In this age of self sufficiency we are often left to our own devices to cope and encouraged to look within to find the strength to get through it all. Trouble is there are some burdens we just can't do anything about. Try as we might, they continue to 'haunt' us to the point of despair.

St Paul knew this well when he said, " I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." He was, of course, speaking very specifically about the burden of his continued struggle with sin - a burden that saw him failing to resist sin as he truly desired. A burden he was powerless to overcome.

Into our burdensome existence the Lord Jesus speaks and says, 'Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.' This Sunday we will be focusing on how this rest Jesus offers us can transform our burdened lives.

Divine Service will begin at 11.00am.

God's peace,
Pastor Matt