Text: Psalm 46
It is so good to know that in this time of uncertainty, we have a God who is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is our refuge and our fortress – our safe place in this time of trouble. He is our EVER PRESENT help. Jesus said, “I am with you always”. We need to remember that God is our saviour, our healer, our hiding place, our provider. This is who he is. He is always there, and he’s not going anywhere!
THEREFORE we can say WE WILL NOT FEAR. In this time, with the Covid-19 Virus creating fear and a health crisis in our world, we need to be wise, and adhere to the government directives for our protection and wellbeing and do the right thing. We may be in a battle and the enemy real. But God is on our side, and because he is our refuge, we can be safe in Him. He helps to not be afraid, even in the face of death.
Verse 4 speaks about a river that brings joy to God’s people. Take time in this season to rest in the river. Be refreshed. “He restores my soul”. We can trust in Him and rest in His judgements. Take this time to get to Know Him better and to pray for others. He gives us faith, hope and courage to face the enemy – he prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies. Let’s partake of that table.
Take a step back and see how God does things – he is always working on our behalf.
2 Kings 7 there is a story of a city under siege. They are in lockdown, and the enemy is at their gates. There are four lepers outside the city – between the city and the enemy, hiding out. They are starving, sick and dying. They decide to give themselves up to the enemy – and live or die, they are no worse off. When they go to the enemy camp, they find that God has already done a miracle. God was moving behind the scenes to dispel the enemy. They took their treasures and went back to tell the king what they found.
What is God saying to you at this time? Don’t let the enemy intimidate you. Go and pillage the camp. See what treasures God has provided for you, and share what you find with others. Make their day. Let’s share the results of what God is doing throughout this season. “See what the Lord has done.”
A word from the Holy Spirit is “turn off and turn on”. Let’s try to cancel out as much of the “noise” as we are able. We don’t have to be subject to all the updates and coronavirus news. We need to know what is going on, but we don’t need to be saturated with it. Turn on to the still, sweet voice of God as he reveals himself to us through this season.
“Be still and know that I am God.” Be reassured that God is with us to bring us through this time in victory and with many testimonies of the things he has done for each of us.
Please share with us how you’re doing, and we’d love to hear some of the “treasures” you have found as you “raid the enemy camp”. Check out the full story in 2 Kings chapter 7.
Our first on-line service on Sunday 2th March
Hi All,
Just a quick heads-up to let you know that this web site will be moving to a new server this week. That means that we will be offline for a short while Monday night and possibly into Tuesday. Usually these things take only two to three hours, but they can take up to 24 hours, and there is no way we can hurry it along. During that time the email addresses connected to this site (admin@ and pastor@) will also be inoperational so if you email those addresses while the site is down your email will bounce. If you need to contact Pastor Glenda or Sandie in that time, please use their personal emails.
I will have the site and emails back up and running as quickly as possible.
Hi everyone, Welcome to our first weekly news bulletin. We are hoping this will be a good way to stay in touch over the coming weeks while we are all in lockdown or self-isolation.
We have been instructed to observe “social distancing” but that doesn’t mean we can’t find creative ways to stay in touch and encourage one another through these tough times. We can’t physically visit one another in our homes or meet together in our regular services, but we can make a phone call, write a letter or drop a card in the mail. I can’t wait to see all the wonderfully creative ways we find to stay in touch and encourage one another.
We will continue live streaming our Sunday service at 10.00 am, but it will certainly take on a different look and feel. There will be some kind of worship that you can either join in and sing (if you don’t feel too awkward) or just listen to and soak or get jiggy and dance with the kids. We will make time to take communion together, so I encourage you to get some small glasses and bread ready prior to the meeting time and be ready to participate in communion together (don’t forget you can do this together as a family anytime). We will also be introducing some “armchair chats” with Steve, Barrie, Keith and myself, as well as some guest speakers. Not sure about all the technical side of this, but we ask you to be patient with us while we work out all the finer details. For those of you who are not on line, we plan to send out these bulletins every Monday so that you can keep up with what’s happening in the church community and have a transcript of the message.
Please let us know if there is something we can do for you. I encourage you to call if you want to chat, or if you are concerned about anything, have a prayer need, or even just need help with shopping. We are here – we love you and care about you, and we are going to see this challenging time through by being intentional about staying connected.
Remember Paul’s encouraging words to the Romans: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels not rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39) Keeping our Eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
God bless you, each one. Glenda and Joe, together with the elders and ministry team of MNLCC
Our service on Sunday 22nd, Pastor Glenda preaching.
This afternoon the Victorian Government announced that as of Tuesday Victoria will be in lock down, with all non-essential activities banned. Unfortunately this means that the Breaking the Chains Course will be suspended for now. When all the craziness is over we will reschedule it, and those who have been doing it will be able to either redo the whole course or just come in for the sessions they have missed.
Sorry about that, folks, but it is really out of our hands.
Our Sunday morning service on 15th March.
UNFORTUNATELY THIS EVENT IS CANCELLED DUE TO CORONAVIRUS RESTRICTIONS
Can you believe 2 months of the year have gone already? Here’s our Sunday morning service from 1st March, Ron Patterson preaching.
Jesus came with a simple message, “The kingdom of Heaven has come.” He preached the Good News, proclaiming that he was serving notice on the kingdom of darkness, and ushering in a new
regime – the kingdom of Light. (Matthew 4:16). From that time on, Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
Jesus came to bring light to a world in trouble. He called people to repent. This means to change your mind – to turn around. Jesus came to set things to right. He came to bring “Shalom”. This is wholeness, peace, completeness. God wants to establish His kingdom here on earth. He wants us to experience His wholeness and to flourish and be fruitful. Jesus came to conquer sickness, sorrow and injustice. As the King of the New Kingdom, he came to bring healing, hope and justice. So how do we respond to the Good News? We must repent! We need to learn to live and behave like the New
Creations we have become.
Jesus came to proclaim the good and acceptable year of the Lord. He came to bring freedom, healing and restoration. What good news!!!
This month, we are going to look at the teaching, preaching and ministry of Jesus. He came to bring deliverance and set the captives free. As we continue with our series on “Operation Outreach” by Leo Harris, we will discover what a New Testament church in revival looks like, and how we, as a
local church can experience and remain in sustained revival. The year of Jubilee brought freedom for just one year. But Jesus came to declare a permanent state of grace and freedom from striving to keep the law, and a new life of living in the power of the Holy Spirit.
In Luke 8:36, we see the results of Jesus healing a demon-possessed man. This is the Greek word, “sozo” which speaks of total healing, including spirit, soul and body. Jesus came as Saviour, healer, baptiser and coming King. He came to establish His kingdom here on earth – and within each of us. He is concerned with every part of us, our physical health and well-being, our mental health, and every part of our brokenness. Most of all, he came to restore our relationship with the Heavenly
Father through faith. Jesus came to establish his kingdom here, and to be the Saviour of the whole man.
Pastor Glenda