Here is a recent post by Pastor Rick Warren:

The Church is everywhere in the world. There are villages that have little else, but they do have a church. Rick Warren

“The Church is the most magnificent concept ever created. It has survived persistent abuse, horrifying persecution, and widespread neglect. Yet despite its faults (due to our sinfulness), it is still God’s chosen instrument of blessing and has been for 2,000 years.

The Church will last for eternity, and because it is God’s instrument for ministry here on Earth, it is truly the greatest force on the face of the Earth. That’s why I believe tackling the world’s biggest problems – the giants of spiritual lostness, egocentric leadership, poverty, disease, and ignorance – can only be done through the Church.

The Church has eight distinct advantages over the efforts of business and government:

1. The Church provides for the largest participation.
Most people have no idea how many Christians there are in the world: More than 2 billion people claim to be followers of Jesus Christ. That’s one third of the world’s population! The Church has about a billion more people than the entire nation of China.

For example, about 100 million people in the United States went to church this past weekend. That’s more people than will attend sporting events in the United States throughout this year. The Church is the largest force for good in the world. Nothing else even comes close.

2. The Church provides for the widest distribution.
The Church is everywhere in the world. There are villages that have little else, but they do have a church. You could visit millions of village around the world that don’t have a school, a clinic, a hospital, a fire department, or a post office. They don’t have any businesses. But they do have a church. The Church is more widely spread – more widely distributed – than any business franchise in the world.

Consider this: The Red Cross noted that 90 percent of the meals they served to victims of Hurricane Katrina were actually cooked by Southern Baptist churches. Many churches were able to jump into action faster than the government agencies or the Red Cross. Why? The Church is literally everywhere, and Christians who could provide help to the Gulf Coast communicated with Christians in need of help so relief could be sent immediately.

3. The Church provides the longest continuation.
The Church has been around for 2,000 years. We’re not a fly-by-night operation. The Church has a track record that spans centuries: Malicious leaders have tried to destroy it, hostile groups have persecuted it, and skeptics have scoffed at it. Nevertheless, God’s Church is bigger now than ever before in history.

Why? Because it’s the Church that Jesus established, and it is indestructible. The Bible calls the Church an unshakable kingdom. In Matthew 16, Jesus says, “I will build my Church and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.” All the powers of hell – in other words, no hurricane, no earthquake, no tsunami, no famine, no pandemic, no army will ever conquer the Church established by Jesus Christ.

4. The Church provides the fastest expansion.
Did you know that every day 60,000 new people come to believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior? By the end of today, thousands of new churches will be started throughout the world, and that will happen tomorrow and the next day and the next.

In one country that is closed to traditional Christian missions, more than 60,000 house churches have been started in one province by the work of lay people, no different from the people who fill your church sanctuary every weekend.

Why is fast expansion important? If you’ve got a problem that’s growing at a rapid rate, then you need a solution that will grow even more rapidly. For instance, HIV/AIDS is growing at an incredibly fast rate in the world. Yet thank God the Church is outgrowing the disease, so more and more believers can help minister to those with HIV/AIDS.

If we’re going to tackle global giants like poverty, disease, or illiteracy, then we must be part of something that’s growing faster than the problem. The Church is doing just that!

5. The Church provides the highest motivation.
Why do any of us do what we do in ministry? It’s not to make money, not to make a name for ourselves and not for duty to our nation. We do it out of love. Jesus stated it as the Great Commandment: “Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.” We wouldn’t do the hard work required to tackle these global giants for money, for fame, or for anything else. It just wouldn’t be worth it; we’d quit before the end.

We’re motivated to keep at the hard work of ministry because we love God, and our love for God compels us to love other people. It is love that never gives up; it is love that keeps moving forward despite the appearance of impossible odds; and it is love that outlasts any problem.

6. The Church provides the strongest authorization.
God authorized the Church to take on global giants, such as spiritual lostness, egocentric leadership, poverty, disease, and ignorance. With God’s authorization, the outcome is guaranteed to be successful.

When you know that God has authorized you to do something, you don’t worry about failure because God doesn’t sponsor flops. If God says we’re going to do it, it’s going to happen. It is inevitable. In fact, the Bible teaches that God will give us his power to complete the task. This is God’s way – ordinary people empowered by his Spirit.

7. The Church provides the simplest administration.
The Church is organized in such a way that we can network faster and with less bureaucracy than most governmental agencies or even well-meaning charities. For instance, the organizational structure at Saddleback, which is based on the New Testament model, holds that every member is a minister. Each person in our church family is encouraged to use his or her own S.H.A.P.E. (Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, Experiences) to do what God has called him or her to do. There is no bureaucracy or hierarchy. There isn’t a single committee, and the process doesn’t require a long list of approvals.

The old wineskin of command and control won’t work well in the 21st century. The organization of the future is the “network.” And there’s no better worldwide network than the Church, where every member is a minister and empowered to do what God wants done.

Consider it this way – tens of millions of Christians in millions of small groups that are part of churches around the world can take on the global giants with no other authority than that given from Jesus Christ. In other words, we have God’s permission and we have God’s command to do it. There is no need to seek permission from anyone else.

8. The Church provides for God’s conclusion.
Since we believe the Bible is God’s Word, we already know the end of history. Jesus said in Matthew 24: “The good news about God’s Kingdom will be preached in all the world to every nation, and then the end will come.” It is inevitable and unavoidable.

When you consider these eight advantages, think about the exponential explosion of ministry when millions upon millions of small groups in millions upon millions of churches organize in such a way that each person can do their part in attacking the five global giants.

What do you think could happen if God’s people prayed against these global giants, prepared for action against these giants, and then moved through faith to tackle these giants?

We may look at these problems and think, “These are too big! How could we possibly solve them?”

But with God, nothing is impossible – and if we all work together as his Church, we’ll see these giants falls just as Goliath fell when faced with David’s obedience to God.

Pastor, it is a great privilege and an awesome responsibility to lead a local church. God wouldn’t have placed you where you are if he didn’t believe you could handle the task before you. You play a vital role in tackling these global giants. It is my privilege to co-labor with you.”

Christmas is the perfect time to talk about hope in Jesus.

Christmas is the special time in the year.

• It is a time for family,
• a time for a holiday for many people,
• a time for BBQs on the beach,
• cricket test matches on channel 9,
• hot summer nights,
• boxing day sales,
• presents,
• Christmas trees,
• lights,
• family traditions,
• carols.

Of course, at the heart of Christmas is something much more meaningful, and something that has significance for everyone of our lives.

It is the time we remember the birth of our savior, Jesus.

The reason why the birth of this baby was so special was because it was not just the birth of a child. It was the birth of many things:

• For humanity it was the birth of hope.
• It was the birth of something so significant that it split time in two. And 2000 years later. In a post modern, the world still presses pause on the business of life to remember the birth of Jesus.

Here’s what is a really important reminder. The birth of Jesus was not just an important historical fact, or something for the world at large to remember, it has major implications to your life personally:

• For you, a second chance entered the world.
• For you, grace entered the world.
• For you, salvation entered the world.
• For you, hope entered the world.

The message of Jesus is important for you as an individual. It gives all of us hope.

Matthew 12:21 (NLT)

²¹ And his name will be the hope

of all the world.”

The Bible says hope is actually not a value, a principle, a feeling. Hope is a person.

The source of hope is knowing that there is a God that is in control. A God that loves us.

Merry Christmas to all my blog readers and friends who connect online. Have a great Christmas season!

What do we do and where do we go when life becomes overwhelming?

When we see cancer take hold of a family member, or Alzheimer’s, or a heart attack, or a bankruptcy, or a divorce, how do we find hope?

Where do we turn? Where is God at those moments?

There are no simple answers to explain why things happen in a way that can satisfy our hearts. But know this today, even when we cannot understand life – we can have Hope in God. Even in the middle of suffering we can have hope in God.

Hebrews 6:18-19 (NLT)

Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. ¹⁹ This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.

I love the language used here to describe hope. It is described as the anchor of life.

What is an anchor?

It is a heavy object that is lowered from a boat into the water. It catches on the floor of the ocean, and holds the ship.  It is an iron hook that grapples rocks and prevents shipwrecks.

The author of Hebrews had been in major storms. Even shipwrecks. He knew the value of having an anchor when things got rough. He now uses it as a picture to describe hope.

Hidden

One of the interesting things about an anchor is you don’t see it when it is in action. It lies beneath the surface.

It can be a storm above the ocean. On the surface the wind can be howling around the ship, the timbers creaking, the  mast shaking, but deep down there is an anchor that is keeping the ship stable.

Let me speak to your heart today and say in the middle of your suffering there is an anchor you can have in life. Nobody else will see it. Things might be going wrong all around you, but there is an anchor deep in your life. That anchor is hope in God.

A time will come when you need this anchor. When your whole life is shaken to the core it is only the anchor that will enable you to survive the storm.

The anchor holds us from drifting away from the most important things in life.

Stabilizes

Even when the anchor is on the ship and has not been dropped, its weight helps stabilize.

The person who is anchored in his life has a much more stable core. There is a certain quality of balance, consistency, and quiet strength in their life that sets them apart.

On the flip side, a person with no anchor is all over the place.

In fact many people are anchorless. They lose hope. They have nothing to hold their soul during hardship.

Remember that no matter what you are facing today, there is an anchor for your soul that is available. That anchor is hope in God.

Know someone who would enjoy this? Just share this blog post with them. Enjoy

www.lifeplace.com.au

Sometimes as people it is easy for us to put our hope in the wrong places. There can be any number of reasons why, it can be out of desperation or maybe even fear that we create these false hopes.

Here are some of the most common things we tend to put our hope in (lets call these four hope receivers, ‘Pillars of Hope’):

1. Circumstances
   Circumstances can change, they are inconsistent and out of our control

1. The Future
   The future isn’t guaranteed and it can be very unpredictable

2. Other People
   A boss we are hoping for a job promotion from or a family member we depended on. Even a lucky break where we might meet the right person. But still people can let us down.

3. Money
   With the Global Financial Crises all around the world we have seen our hope in money be shattered. It’s not as foolproof as we thought.

Now the problem with these four pillars is we set ourselves up by using them. What happens when one of these doesn’t turn out the way we thought? The pillar starts to crumble. Our entire stability in life gets thrown.

What I am proposing is that we too often direct hope at the wrong things in life and that the only true place to rest our hope is in God.

Psalm 31:24 (NLT)
So be strong and courageous, all you who put your hope in the Lord!

He is a good God, He has made us great promises, He loves us, He is all-powerful, He can empathize with us, and He has made a way.

He is Hope.

An optimist sees the glass half full.

A pessimist sees the glass half empty.

A person of hope sees the glass in the hand of God.

Bible concept of hope – God is in control.

Hope is one of the 3 pillars of the Christian way of life (faith, hope, love). In the Bible hope is the expectation of a favorable future under God’s direction.

A biblical definition of hope could therefore be considered as this:

God is in control.

But is hope something always related to the future? Or can we have it now?

Think of it this way. No matter how dark life may get, no matter if everything around you seems bleak. No matter if you feel that you are walking in a dry wilderness or in an ocean of deep despair. No matter where you are at right now: the light of God’s hope is available to you.

Here are 3 keys to a foundation in hope for life:

1. Hope is not the absence of troubles. In actually originates in trouble. Without trouble there is no need for hope.

1. Hope can never fully be realised in this world.

1. Hope in God is life changing. You can become the most optimistic, resilient, encouraging person you know through faith in God.

No matter what situation you are in. No matter how bleak the horizon looks. No matter how impossible circumstances are, there is Hope in God. There is hope in the God that overcame – He has victory.

Take heart today. Even in the most hopeless situation, we can find hope in God. Hope in our creator.

There is Hope!

This Sunday we start a journey as a church where we discover the theme of Hope. Specifically, we will look at hope in the context of worry, crises, and needs.

The world is in desperate need of hope right now.

And, on a personal level, many of us need a fresh shot of hope. What about you today? When you think about the future, are you hopeful?

Maybe there are situations in your life that nobody else in can even comprehend.

Maybe even the people who know you best have no idea some of the pain you have had to endure.

Well I studied the word hope, reading every mention of the word in 5 different Bible translations. That is 912 references of hope I looked at!

As I searched and studied the scriptures, I made a discovery that will become the big idea of this series – God is a God of hope.

Troubles, worry, pressure, needs, sickness, finances, crises, suffering… Know this: there is Hope in God.

Over the next few weeks I am going to use the Bible to teach us about Hope. This a great series to reach out to somebody you know that could be encouraged with hope.

See you Sunday.

Our church website is http://www.lifeplace.com.au

It is our volunteers that make our church happen every week.

We have people who during the week do a very broad variety of things. Engineers, teachers, child care, students, IT, sales, business owners, mangers, tradies…

Yet despite coming from different journeys, every week this great group of people come together to form an amazing team.

You help set up for church, clean, make visitors feel welcome, lead us in worship, train our children, pray and set the atmosphere, serve food at the cafe… the list goes on. Basically you make church possible every week!

Our roster for a lot of people has been quite complicated. Many of you do different services each week, or one week you will rostered on for all 3 services, and then the next week rostered on one.

We wanted to improve this so you have a much more consistent volunteer roster.

Basically, now you will be rostered on one service every week. It will be the same service. And our phrase we are using is this – serve at one service, attend another. That means for that one service your entire goal is to serve and make church happen. But at the same time there is also a service on Sunday where you can go and have a church experience where you are able to fully participate in the worship and teaching.

There are a few reasons why we have gone with this approach:

1.     It will help us build service specific teams. That means you will develop a sense of ownership and passion over the service you are on.

2.     It serves the people better. For example, if John is a host one week and meets a visitor at our 11am service, next week they will see John again and it build relationship and consistency. Instead of them seeing a new person they have never met, John can say “Great to see you again.”

3.     Team development is accelerated. Because you will be working with the same team each week, you will start to build better team work and build lasting friendships.

4.     Sustainability. Serving in one service helps us spread the work. And 1 service is a very sustainable load. Currently, just due to the roster, some don’t get to be in a church service for weeks in a row. This improvement means you can serve diligently, but also know it is sustainable long term.

We will still have some leaders in our church that will serve in more than one service. That is totally fine. This is more an improvement for the general church and volunteers at large. In fact, our staff will continue to serve in all 3 services, and many people from worship and children will do multiple services. For Children and Worship you have a separate roster given to you by Dilys and Ants.

This is the first time we have done this roster. We know being the first time we have probably left some people off, and made some errors despite our best attempt. Please just let us know if this is the case – we will change it immediately.

Just email info@lifeplace.com.au

2010 is going to be an amazing year for us. I cannot wait to see God moving powerfully, more lives changed, and the church built to new levels.

This week we start our brand new series called Hope in God. It will be powerful.

Did you know that most miracles in the Bible came through a person? When God needed something done, He sent an individual. It was a person – at the right place at the right time – that become someone’s miracle.

So often we define a miracle as just something that is supernatural, and of course it is. But we would be surprised to learn that God so often wants to use us to be someone’s miracle.

“The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother, Simon, and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which means the Christ). Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus.” John 1:41 – 42

Simon, whose names Jesus changed to Peter (meaning Rock) only met Jesus because his brother invited him. There is something so very natural about this, a simple invitation that had profound influence on his life.

Andrew was Peter’s miracle.

There are people in your life right now that you can be a miracle for. Remember, we are supposed to be the hands and feet of Jesus. That mean going where Jesus would go. Doing what Jesus would do.

Who’s miracle are you?