Thursday, February 3, 2011

Promises of God

When Nehemiah prayed for the restoration of Jerusalem, he reminded God of his promises to the people, and held them up to God in prayer. "God you promised this, please act in accordance with your word". 
Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples; but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are under the farthest skies, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place at which I have chosen to establish my name.' They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great power and your strong hand. Nehemiah 1:8-10

I was thinking of the promises that we could call on today for God to act in establishing his reign and rule in Melbourne.

Here are a few I have come up with:
Psalm 67:7 God will bless us; And all the ends of the earth shall fear him.
Psalm 86:9 All the nations you have made shall come and bow down before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.
Psalm 22:27-28 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him. For dominion belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.
Isaiah 59:19-20 So those in the west shall fear the name of the LORD, and those in the east, his glory; for he will come like a pent-up stream that the wind of the LORD drives on. And he will come to Zion as Redeemer, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says the LORD.
Matthew 24:14 And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come.
Matthew 8:11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,
John 12:32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."
Revelation 11:15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever."

It would be good to think of some more. Let's pray these promises for Melbourne

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Persevering in prayer

I preached on Nehemiah 1 last week, and was struck with how Nehemiah, when faced with an enormous challenge, wrestled with God in prayer long and hard. The text suggests four months of weeping and fasting and praying before God about the people of God and the mercy they needed.

Then yesterday I got this great email from a member of the congregation, telling me a story about faithful persevering prayer. It went like this:

A godly guy (now 60+) at our church (in the town where I grew up) still prays through the list of kids he had in Sunday School in the 1970s. He's had trouble trying to work out how to make the list more manageable now that we have all married and had kids! The kids were really treasured in that church and encouraged to start volunteer ministry early eg. kids talks @ 14. God's grace in all that is that 8 of those kids are now theologically trained and in full time ministry. Pretty amazing for a town of 4000!
How faithful is our God!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

An Exciting Year

Very excited thinking about St Jude’s this year. We have lots of new things beginning.

Sunday Feb 13th will be the last service of St Jude’s 5 at our Carlton Site, because on Sunday February 20th, they will become St Jude’s in Parkville meeting at Ridley Melbourne at 10am and 5pm. The 5pm Congregation at St Jude’s began in 1994, and has been fairly unique in the Melbourne scene, as a place where young professional workers have gathered together to worship and serve. Now it is expanding and multiplying. We are delighted about this, as it is a clear expression of our Vision to multiply congregations in Melbourne’s inner north. Feel free to join us at either place. More information is here.

However in March there will be another new venture. The Unichurch Congregation, which meets at 7.30 is seizing the opportunity for growth as well. From February 20, they will meet at 6.30pm on the Carlton Site, so that on March 20th, they can multiply out to two congregations meeting at 5pm and 7.30pm, with the potential to reach twice as many tertiary students as before. This is a very exciting venture and we pray that God will be glorified through it.

On top of this are new staff and other new programs. We are calling people to prayer in the next week, so that we bathe all this in the presence of God. Do you want to join us in praying? Drop me a line and we can send you some prayer points.