Archive - December, 2011

January Preaching Series

At St Faith’s we begun a new 6-part summer preaching series on Christmas Eve/Day. 6 REASONS JESUS CAME DOWN TO EARTH will continue throughout January. Our hope is that it will be a good series to bring non-church going friends and family to hear.

I thought that Christmas was a good time to launch a series rather than inviting people to a new series starting the following week. Hopefully visitors will have heard the series kick-off over Christmas and their interest will have been piqued to continue finding out more reasons why Jesus came down to earth.

It’s been good to leverage the same artwork and signage from Christmas. It means our public banners (one of which was stolen!!) are relevant for 6 weeks instead of just 1 event. However, I think that the artwork is probably a little bit too Christmassy. So if we were to do it again in a year’s time, the advertising could be a bit more generic.

What’s your church preaching on throughout January?
Don’t go to a church? Consider checking one out so you can consider Jesus.
(Contact me if you need help finding one in your area.)

Top 20 Most Clicked Articles from 2011

The following are the most popular 2011 posts according to clicks on dmdc. Clicks doesn’t necessarily equate to quality. But I’ll let you be the judge. Thanks for clicking. Peaceout.

  1. The Egyptian Revolution
  2. Dear Aussie Muslims
  3. Which English Bible?
  4. Pray for Steve Chong. Now!
  5. Lecrae’s New Album – REHAB: THE OVERDOSE
  6. Grow a Goatee for the Cottage
  7. Have you made the switch to the HCSB?
  8. Mars Hill Kids Ministry Vision
  9. The Most Famous Youth Pastor in the World…
  10. The Smartest Youth Pastor in Sydney…
  11. Youth Ministry Papers: Commitment is Counter-Cultural
  12. Harbour Bridge Construction and other Amazing Sydney Photos for FREE!
  13. Michael Collings – Tracksuit Wearing Legend!
  14. The G.O.S.P.E.L.
  15. Clean Water, Dirty Water and the Dash for Cash
  16. Youth Ministry Papers: Disciples Making Disciples
  17. Resolved: Read the Word
  18. Creation Swap – Free Stuff for Church Design
  19. 4 Youth Sermons on ROMANS 8
  20. 4 Rules That Every Young Christian Leader Should Know

The Queen talks about The King

Liz weaves Jesus into her Christmas message on families, friends & communities. Brilliant.

Archbishop Peter Jensen’s Christmas Message 2011

Christmas in a Nutshell

This vid will be getting a run at 11pm tonight, 8am & 930am tomoz. It links in well with the sermon. Check out Dan Stevers website for lots of great vids to use in church. Peace.

To our weakness is no stranger

Perhaps you think or feel that God is distant and doesn’t understand our world and our struggles? Yet in Jesus, we have a God who has walked in human flesh and dwelt among people. The first Christmas reminds us that God has come. As we meet Jesus, we meet God.

Check out this line from my favourite Christmas Carol – O Holy Night“He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger”. Sometimes Christmas isn’t a joyful time for people as they reflect on the brokenness of our world. But Jesus gets it. He has been there. Check out Hebrews 4:14-16

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Christmas morning is an opportunity to hope again in our God who came into our world 2000 years ago. Keep trusting in Jesus. Or find out more. Have a read of this. Find a church.

If you’re on the Northern Beaches come along to one of St Faith’s Christmas services.

Zeitgeist 2011: Year In Review

(h/t tim stevens)

Christmas @ St Faith’s Narrabeen 2011

How to become a Christian

How do you become a Christian? What are the basics of the Christian faith? Here are 3 simple words of faith. They aren’t magical words. But saying these 3 words to God are a good first step in becoming a Christian.

SORRY + THANKS + PLEASE // LISTEN TO EPHESIANS 2:1-10 SERMON

  1. SORRY – The Reason for Faith
  2. THANKS – The Object of Faith
  3. PLEASE – The Life of Faith

Let me know if you want to chat further about having faith in Jesus.

Bre sings the Christmas Hits

Click here is you can’t see the above vid.

(h/t doug fields)

The Christmas Story

Click here if you can’t see the vid

Jesus and Santa

Click here if you can’t see the video

(h/t ed sowden)

A River With No End // Ghost Ship

Ghost Ship are a rootsy/bluesy band from Mars Hill Church. I’ve had their recent EP on repeat for the last few weeks. I dig the opening track – One God – with its call to turn from idols and serve the True and Living God. My favourite track is The Revelation of Jesus Christ – it’s more or less straight from Revelation 21 with an accompanying banjo to boot.

You can listen to the whole EP for free on Bandcamp. You can also get free copies of lyrics and chord charts etc. I listened to it lots of times before purchasing it. Because I really liked it, I paid $6 instead of the asking price of $3. Generous, I know.

Check it. Let me know what you think.

Sunrise Story on Kirkplace + RICE

Three friends were featured on Sunrise on 7 this morning (Sam Mak, Steve Chong & Adrian Tam). It was part of a feature on Kirkplace Presbyterian Church and the RICE Movement.

Praise God for opportunities like this! // Click here if you can’t see the above vid.

(h/t Kirkplace web)

How did our lives become so plastic?

One of my mates from high school recently spoke at the TEDx event in Newcastle. Check out Tim Silverwood’s presentation, How did our lives become so plastic? -

I’ve been really challenged over the past year as I’ve followed along with some of Tim’s environmental work to be more deliberate in caring for creation.

In John Stott’s final book, The Radical Disciple, he has a chapter on Creation-Care. As well as Tim’s practical example, I found Stott’s challenge in this chapter to be a firm rebuke for a lack of creation care on my behalf.

Stott has this quote from Chris White with a vision for Christians to take their environmental responsibility seriously:

They choose sustainable forms of energy where possible. They switch off unneeded appliances. They buy food, goods and services as far as possible from companies with ethically sound environmental policies. They join conservation societies. They avoid over-consumption and unnecessary waste and recycle as much as possible.

Here is Stott’s conclusion:

It seems quite inexplicable to me that there are some Christians who claim to love and worship God, to be disciples of Jesus, and yet have no concern for the earth that bears his stamp of ownership. They do not care about the abuse of the earth and indeed, by their wasteful and over-consumptive life-styles, they collude in it.

God intends… our care of the creation to reflect our love for the Creator.

To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it (Deuteronomy 10:14).

Check out the Evangelical Declaration on the Care of Creation, a foundational statement for those engaged in the ministry of creation care.

What are some practical ways that you are seeking to take care of creation?

No More Tumbleweed

The December blog drought is about to end with a barrage of posts ready to be unleashed on the interwebs. We’ve been away on holidays for the past week. A pic from Kiama Carols:

Stay tuned for the following blogposts:

  • Compassion Christmas/New Year Fundraising Project
  • How to become a Christian
  • Music Reviews
  • Best of 2011
  • App Reviews
  • Christmas Sermon Preview
  • Bus Stop News
  • Year 12 Youth Ministry Strategy

3 Tips on How To Die Well from Abraham

I preached up at Coast Evangelical Church this past weekend. Reading Genesis 23-25, Abraham seems to be deliberate in his actions as he nears the end of his life. He dies well.

GENESIS 23-25 Sermon- Dave Miers (right-click etc to download)

Here’s the outline:

  1. Abraham trusts God will keep his promise
  2. Abraham works to continue to see God’s promises continue in his family
  3. Abraham looked forward to his home to come

Pinch + Punch // December 2011

This might well be the final Pinch + Punch. I always seem to back date it!! Today is 8th December, but I’m pretending it’s the 1st. Here’s a Desktop wallpaper from smashing mag:

New reader of DMDC? These posts were the most clicked for November 2011:

Hanno un grande Dicembre!