It's something that we have all done before, some more than others! Stand in front of a mirror. What do you see reflected back? Who do you see when looking in the mirror. Over time we internalise an image of ourselves, and our perception of that image becomes part of our identity. Where identity used to be established by family roots, cultural heritage and its ceremonies and rites of passage…more & more it’s by group, party, ideology, or society's value of our achievement & occupation. Even the media plays a major role in how we perceive ourselves. And sometimes that perception is a distorted image that doesn't reflect reality. We’re treating this year like the “re-set” button on an electronic device: the “on/off” switch that brings everything back to 0 – starts over. We’re asking God to re-set our lives to his will – our hearts to his way – our path to his purpose – our identity to his people and our direction to his destiny….because we trust that in every day and in every step along the way 'the Lord will reign forever and ever!
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THEME VERSE
In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed.
In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling. Exodus 15:13
REMEMBER THIS WEEK
Only when you have an accurate picture of who God really is, can you discover your true identity. It will transform the direction of your life and give you the freedom to truly live…no matter the circumstances.
FAITH TALK
1. Whose voice is loudest in your head when you look in the mirror? How does that voice shape your life?
2. If you could only share one fact or detail about yourself, what would you most want people to know?
Perspective is a lens through which we learn to see the world; it shapes what we see and the way we see it. The lens can clarify, magnify, distort or blur what we see. What lens do you have on as you look back on 2020? What filters are you putting on as you approach the year ahead? The problems occur when there is a gap in your vision…between what you experience and what you believe or know to be true; when you come to the horizon of what you can see and you can't make sense of things. Today as we launch into this new year, God wants to reset your perspective and give you a lens through which you can view every experience and every circumstance you encounter in 2021 and beyond.
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THEME VERSE
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Genesis 50:20
REMEMBER THIS WEEK
But God...that's the lens which will alter your perpsective on every circumstance. Whatever you see, experience, encounter, add the following filter...but God. But God...has a plan...has a purpose...is at work.. in my life...to achieve his purpose...to be a blessing to others.
FAITH TALK
1 How have your experiences acted as a filter through which you view God?
2 How do you see God today and how does that affect your approach to 2021?
"As 2020 closes, most of us will be pleased to say goodbye to the year, hoping to herald in a new year with expectations of a smoother, lest complicated and more normal 2021" . So began a letter recently received. "I'm glad that's over. Hope this ______ is better." But it is not just the word "year" that we use to fill in the blank is it? Perhaps you insert job or relationship, or school, or church. As we begin a new year, we get caught in the inbetween world of our fears and our longings, between staying where we are and with what we know, and being open to something new and embracing the unknown. The inbetween place is the place where epiphanies occur. That's what we discover in encounter of Herod and the Wisemen. Christmas is more than a day, it is the continuing 'yes' of Christmas that invites us into a new journey that opens our life to eternal possibilities.
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THEME VERSE:
On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Matthew 2:11
REMEMBER THIS WEEK
Christmas is more than a day to remember. It's an invitation to leave behind all your fears and longings, and to offer all of your life in worship to the one who calls you to follow him home, by another road. It's a call on your life that cannot remain unanswered. How will you respond?
The Headlines are a constant reminder to us of the darkness of this world. "Christmas travel plans in disarray after northern beaches COVID-19 cluster.” "US Coronavirus deaths soar to a new daily record." "Lawyer charged with sexual assault." "Mum accused of stabbing son." "Shock as virus rules change midflight." "Forcibly displaced people tops 80 million globally." "Over 100 million Australians rely on welfare and income support for the first time." The Christmas story in Matthew is no silent night. The world did not get cleaned up, sanitised and made presentable for Christ's birth. Christ is born into a world of darkness and into the stories of real lives where there is fear, oppression, violence, a loss of innocence, sorrow, weeping, struggle and death. But in the midst of this world – a world that seeks to disrupt, deny, displace and destroy our lives - we discover and experience the truth that Christmas is more than a silent night.
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THEME VERSE:
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” Matthew 2:13
REMEMBER THIS WEEK.
In any given year and at any given time, the headlines of the world will be repeated. Each time they will try and deny the truth that God is with us. Survival in this world is not a life on the run, but a life that lives, nurtures and grows in the presence of the Holy One who journeys with us and reveals that God is for us and with us.
Christmas = Gifts. The two are synonymous. Every child and many adults can't wait to check under the tree at Christmas for a gift nicely wrapped and tagged with their name on it. Every year, we spend hours trying to find the perfect gift for those we love. Yet the truth is, at some point you’ll look for the receipts. You’ll try it on and take it back. The kids will bring you something barely unwrapped but already broken. Christmas as the world knows it is returnable, replaceable, repairable, recyclable. Like any gift, you get to decide if it’s “just for you.” But Christmas is more than a gift of circumstance, season or convenience. Christmas is the fullness of God’s love, the abundance of God’s joy, and the overflow of God’s faithfulness for all that he has made. It is one gracious blessing after another because God in Christ has gifted himself to us to forgive our past, bless our present and ensure our eternity. So today we rejoice in the truth that Christmas is more than a gift.
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THEME VERSE:
From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. John 1:16
REMEMBER THIS WEEK
Christmas is more than a gift. It's the daily blessing of the Saviour who rewrites our story, renews his promises, revisions family, reorients feelings and revives our lives so that we can re-gift his presence to others.
2020. It was a new year and a new decade. It was supposed to be the perfect year. A year of perfect vision and clarity for our lives. Yet as the T-shirt aptly reflects....2020 not so perfect. What we actually encountered in 2020 was the perfect storm, the convergence of everything bad that makes everything worse. From drought, to bushfires, to floods, to a global pandemic, to economic and political fallouts, this year of perfect storm continues to affect and effect our lives on a daily basis. But whatever the circumstances of your life are right now, whatever the manger of your life holds this night, one thing is true - Christmas is here and Christmas is still good news, for you, for me, for everyone. For Christmas is more than a baby. It's more than a sweet, soft, tame nostalgia. It is the perfect answer for every lived experience. Perfect hope that breathes new possibilities. Perfect peace that calms every storm. Perfect joy that overwhelms every circumstance. Perfect love that drives away every fear. Tonight God invites you again to embrace, to hold, to receive, not just a baby, but his perfect vision for your life now and eternally.
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2020. It was a new year and a new decade. It was supposed to be the perfect year. A year of perfect vision and clarity for our lives. Yet as the T-shirt aptly reflects....2020 not so perfect. What we actually encountered in 2020 was the perfect storm, the convergence of everything bad that makes everything worse. From drought, to bushfires, to floods, to a global pandemic, to economic and political fallouts, this year of perfect storm continues to affect and effect our lives on a daily basis. But whatever the circumstances of your life are right now, whatever the manger of your life holds this night, one thing is true - Christmas is here and Christmas is still good news, for you, for me, for everyone. For Christmas is more than a baby. It's more than a sweet, soft, tame nostalgia. It is the perfect answer for every lived experience. Perfect hope that breathes new possibilities. Perfect peace that calms every storm. Perfect joy that overwhelms every circumstance. Perfect love that drives away every fear. Tonight God invites you again to embrace, to hold, to receive, not just a baby, but his perfect vision for your life now and eternally.
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It doesn’t feel like…
…Christmas, since Grandpa died, mum moved into care or the kids aren’t going to be here…
…we’re really married since she’s been on deployment since the honeymoon …
…it’s our house since we’re still have boxes everywhere…
…it’s my job since I’m still learning the ropes/cleaning up after my predecessor …
…I’ve graduated since I’m not sure what I’ll do next…
…I’m retired since I have the grandkids 3 times a week…
It doesn't feel like… We all live with a sort of internal image of how life should and ought to be. We all have some sense of what an ideal Christmas, family gathering, job, church experience, family, life…is. When the reality doesn’t line up with that image, that ideal…when it doesn't feel quite right or make sense, it's easy for us to dismiss it and move on. Joseph knows that feeling. His fiancée is pregnant and the child is not his and it doesn't make sense and the easiest thing to do is dismiss it. But in dismissing what doesn't make sense or feel right, we might just miss out on something new; the life and opportunities that God wants to birth in us and through us. So join us today as we explore and experience that Christmas is more than a feeling.
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THEME VERSE:
:Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:20-21
REMEMBER THIS WEEK
Christmas is more than a feeling. It’s a call to enter into the mystery of what we don't understand, to embrace the messy situations that don't feel right and an invitation to walk with obedience and courage into the unexpected, unexplainable life and possibilities that God offers in Jesus.
FAITH TALK
1 How do you deal with the unexplainable or unexpected in your life?
2 What things in your life have you dismissed because you struggled to make sense of them?
3 What are you most looking forward to this Christmas?
From coast to coast, the pictures said it all. Flowing tears, screams of joy and lingering hugs filled our airports as families were reunited and generations connected after months of Covid border bans and lockouts. It was an early Christmas gift for so many. For more than any other time, Christmas is when we want family around, to extend traditions, create new memories, share experiences, anchor together in unity and give a sense of belonging. It was no different for Mary when she was chosen to bear God's gift to the world. The first people she wanted to share the news with was family. But what she discovered in the process was that Christmas is so much more than a family. It's a movement of love that changes and revolutionises everything. That's what we will also explore and experience today.
#3 in series: 'Christmas is more than a...'
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THEME VERSE:
… the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. Luke 1:49-50
REMEMBER THIS WEEK
Christmas is more than a family, it's a movement of eternal love that extends from generation to generation, embracing all nations, connecting all people, and creating new moments that bring joy, life and a future that are unimaginable.
FAITH TALK
1 When you have good news, who do you want to share it with first?
2 What does family mean for you at Christmas?
3 How have the events of this year changed the way you view family?