Dean Sandham reviews his time as a City North Intern

At our AGM in November the church affirmed Jonny Lush into the role of elder. We are very excited to see what the Lord might do in and through him as he serves in this role.

Last week in our evening series, Sexual Healing, we looked at the topic of sexual assault. I wish this was a topic we did not have to address, but the reality is we are sinners living in a sinful world and many Australians are sexually assaulted each year.

Are you satisfied with God? Is Christ your treasure? Do you praise Him out of duty, or is your praise the natural outburst of a heart that is thrilled to know and love Him?

Our culture makes a lot of the concept of “falling in love”! In movies, songs, books and celebrity gossip magazines the big quest in romantic relationships is always the search for a soul mate. However, when the Bible speaks of marriage it rarely speaks in terms of the kind of “romantic love” that our popular media portrays… rather it speaks in terms of “covenant love”.

When we come face to face with the reality that God exercises complete control over all things, that He holds the universe in the palm of His hand, we are understandably a little taken back. The sovereignty of God tells us that we are radically smaller than we like to think and that God is radically bigger than we like to think; all this can make us incredibly uncomfortable.

For two thousand years the life, death and resurrection of Jesus have created controversy. Millions of martyrs have died for their faith during that time. But the one that continues to baffle and intrigue people is Jesus of Nazareth, also known as Jesus Christ…

Having just completed our own teaching series on the book of Job  the question of suffering is fresh in our minds. I recently came across this video of Matt Chandler, Pastor of the Village Church (in the states) sharing some encouraging lessons from his own experience with suffering. This talk was recorded in February 2001 at [...]

As we continue to look at sharing Jesus in our daily lives this year it is important that we settle an issue in our own hearts first. It is easy to sit in church each week and sing and share about our hope in God but I wonder what the people we work with would say we are hoping in? A life that truly hopes in Christ is so radically different to this world that it will be a cause for confusion, discussion and most importantly questions.

2011 is now up and running with all the regular ministries of the church now in action. I wonder what God will do among us this year?