Issue 135, 2nd November - 8th November 2009

Our articles this week:

1) From Our Hearts Nov 2009

2) Ps Wilson's Impartation: True Disciples Synergise

Our upcoming events..

Help raise funds for orphans in Uganda!

Watch the new Hillsong movie and help raise funds for orphans in Uganda! The "I Heart Revolution" movie documentary "We're All in This Together" will be screening for one night only on Wednesday 18th November at 6:30pm at AMC Sunnybank 8 Cinemas.
Tickets must be pre-purchased for the proceeds to go towards Watoto.
Students: $11.50, adults: $15.50.

Please contact Tina to reserve your tickets: tinie_wong@hotmail.com or 0433 449 527.

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Church Seminar:
A SYNERGISED CHURCH


21st - 22nd November 2009
Venue: Cannon Hill Anglican College
Speakers: Ps. Wilson, Ps. Wenan and Ps. Lai Ling

Registration has started!
Ask your friends or leaders for more information.

Follow us on twitter @synergisedC09!


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Christmas 4 Kids Donation Drive


Make a contribution of $25 to 'Make a Kid's Christmas' or
Buy a present for a child @ $10
Donate online @ www.handsofhope.org.au or visit our donation booth at the foyer after service.

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Oceania Convention 2010

The inaugural Oceania Convention 2010 is happening!
The theme for the Convention 2010 is “Ethos – Rediscovering our Core Values".


It will be held over the Easter Weekend (2nd – 5th April 2010), at the Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre. Super early bird registration opens on the 1st November to 25th December 2009. You can register online at http://oc2010.walkinhope.com

Follow us on twitter @OC2010Ethos!

FROM OUR HEARTS Nov 2009

This month we are privileged to have Ps. John Jacks and wife Monette as well as Ps. John Tiplady to minister to us as a church through the prophetic from 7th to 14th Nov. Do pray with us that God will speak specifically and powerfully to the various people prayed over. I believe it is an exciting time to allow God to speak to us as a church. I invite all to come for the various sessions throughout this week and to open your hearts to what the Holy Spirit may say to us during those times.

This is an opportune time for us to seek God and to seek His guidance. We encourage everyone to fast and pray at least one day in the coming week. For those who are to be prayed over, we request that you fast and pray for 3 days. It is as we open our hearts before God that we become better attuned to hearing God.

On the 21st and 22nd Nov, we will have our Synergised Church seminar. This is an important topic for us to understand the power of synergy and why that is God’s plan for us and His Church. I believe it is critical for us to appreciate the value of synergy and how we can synergise as a church and as a family of churches in order that we may fulfil God’s purposes for us. Come along and discover more and be blessed by God’s Word. I am also believing that we will encounter God in a fresh way and see many baptised in the Holy Spirit too. So come prepared!

This is also a busy time as we prepare for our annual Christmas4Kids event. This year is a bit more complicated by the fact that Inala School is not available to us due to some construction. Thus, we are planning to hold it in a nearby park. However, the process is more involved and additional costs are required as we now have to cover the costs of the park hire, stage, PA equipment and portable toilets, etc. We are looking forward to your support. Please do try to get your friends and colleagues involved as well.

Regards,
Wilson Lim

TRUE DISCIPLES SYNERGISE

True disciples are not measured only in their character but also in their perspectives. When disciples gain more and more of God’s perspectives, their thinking will be enlarged to the bigger picture. One key element of this bigger picture is the understanding about the synergy that God desires.

Not an island but a body.

The biblical picture of a true disciple is never that of an island. Segregated, independent or isolated. That is not God’s intent for believers. Hence to be a hermit tucked away from the world and fellow believers is not part of God’s plan for us. Unfortunately, there are many believers today who think they can survive independently of the support of other believers.

Rather, God’s picture is that of a body of believers. Joined, inter-dependent and integrated.

1 Corinthians 12:12 - 14 (NIV) 12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.

In other words, each believer is a part of a larger whole. A body whose head is Christ. With this analogy, God tells us that we are not to behave as if we are independent of God’s church. But rather we are to appreciate the synergy that we have being inter-dependent to one another. With this perspective, we will consider more how we interact with others and how we indeed grow together. For we recognise that we cannot accomplish God’s plan and destiny for our lives without other believers.

Recognising this is only part of the picture. The rest of our life is about discovering and learning how we may effectively synergise with our community and others to move along God’s path for us. There is so much that God desires to do in and through our lives. Sometimes, it is hindered by our lack of synergy with others. What better place to turn these lessons than in a safe place such as your life groups and in our church community.


Not a leaf but a vine.

John 15:5 - 6 (NIV) 5“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

Jesus made the point that we cannot produce any good fruit without being connected to God. Looking at it another way, we are to synergise with God. It is when we integrate our will and resources with that of God’s, that we will discover the tremendous divine live-giving power that can flow through us. When energised by God, whatever we stretch out to do suddenly becomes much more fruitful, effective and longer-lasting. For no longer are we relying on our pitifully limited resources, but tapping into God’s unlimited resources.

I have discovered over many years of serving God that I am so limited. Yet when I walk in God’s purposes, God extends His hand and His blessings flow. Obstacles turn into opportunities. Unexpected blessings come, even those I had not crystallize in prayer.

On the other hand, if we choose not to synergise with God, is not that we simply remain less fruitful. We actually wither up. Eventually, God will make an inspection of our lives and the rejects He will throw it into the fire. What a scary prospect to be found in such a state before a Holy God.

Let us determine to synergise with God and with one another. That we may grow into all that God intended. That we may experience all that God has purposed for our lives.


Synergised with Christ,
Wilson Lim