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Pastoral Notes/Blog Items

The Fruit Of The Spirit: Patience
Nigel Cunningham, 7 March 2010.

In recent pastoral notes, we’ve been exploring the fruit of the Spirit. Until now, I’ve argued that the fruit of the Spirit flow from His task of teaching us about the Saviour and the implications of what Christ has done.

Does this change when we turn our attention to the topic of patience? After all, we might ask how the work of the Saviour could possibly help us to be patient when we’re eagerly awaiting a special day or waiting for something in the mail, or sitting in a waiting room?

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Giving someone control over your life
John Westendorp, 6 March 2010.

We all know that forgiveness is essential for us as Christians. We are people who are forgiven as we come to the Lord in faith and repentance. Forgiveness is a blessing of the gospel. We need to extend the same kind of unconditional forgiveness also to others. Jesus made that abundantly clear in the parable that He told about the unforgiving servant. That servant had been forgiven a huge debt by his master. However this same servant was unwilling to forgive a fellow servant a trifling sum in comparison.

Forgiving others is essential... but forgiving others is not always easy. Over the years I have met church members who continue to hold resentments against other church members – or more commonly, against other family members. Forgiveness is necessary but it is difficult.

At a recent visit my brother reminded me of another good reason why we need to forgive and that is that our unwillingness or inability to forgive someone gives that other person control over our lives.

That needs some explaining. My brother was telling me about a man whom he had worked with and who had been guilty of embezzling his company.

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The Fruit Of The Spirit: Peace
Nigel Cunningham, 26 February 2010.

A person who lacks peace is a person who thinks their security is in some way lacking. They feel that they or someone else still need to do something more or be something better in order to make up for the defecit, and they lack confidence that the deficiency will be addressed.

The third fruit of the Spirit is peace. It is perhaps the simplest fruit to explain, especially when we remember what we saw last week – that the fruit of the Spirit arise out of the work of the Spirit of enabling us to grow in our knowledge and understanding of the gospel.

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Change
John Westendorp, 23 February 2010.

Change is difficult for most of us.  That applies to individuals as well as to communities.

At a communal level there are those who want things to change and nothing ever changes quickly enough.  There are also those who are uncomfortable with change and who prefer to maintain the status quo.  When both sides in a community dig their heels in the fireworks are sure to start. In the church we have lived with that tension for a long time.  Some want the church “to move on” and they have their own agendas as to where it ought to move on to.  Others feel that there’s nothing wrong with the way we’ve always done things so they resist change.  The challenge for leaders is to manage change so that it happens without division – and (more importantly) so that it happens in faithfulness to Biblical principles.

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Australind Blackmans Bay Blacktown Blaxland Box Hill Bray Park Campbelltown Canberra Casey Cobden Dandenong Dandenong Chinese Dee Why Elizabeth Gateway (Yangebup) Geelong (Pakington Street) Gosnells Grace Hallett Cove Hawkesbury Hobart Hope In The Hills (Tecoma) Inala Indonesian Reformed Church Kalgoorlie Kingston Langwarrin Launceston MacArthur Mansfield Mt Evelyn Narre Warren Nerang Newcastle One Way (Margate) Pathway To Life (Devonport) Penguin Perth Redlands South Barwon South Gippsland St Marys Summerleas Sutherland SWIM Base Sydney Tanilba Bay (Port Stephens) Tivoli Toowoomba Ulverstone Wamberal Wantirna Westside Willetton Wollongong Wonga Park
A Church Reforming To Reach The Lost For Christ, with congregations in and around Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart, Canberra, Northern Tasmania, Sydney and Melbourne.