Cornerstone North Outreach (17th Dec)

Cornerstone North had her Christmas outreach yesterday at Eastwood Heights Public School at Lincoln Street, Eastwood.

We had carol singing; a vox pop on "What is the meaning of Christmas and what does Christmas mean to you"?; followed by a Malaysian buffet dinner and a talk by Mike Wilson.

Approximately 100 people attended, out of which; approximately 75 were visitors. Out of the response slips filled out, 7 people ticked the box giving their lives to Christ, 7 more want to know more about Christianity and 4 want to know more about the church. Praise God for His faithfulness and amazing goodness.

We were really encouraged by everyone who came together to serve as a body. Thank God for the many helping hands that came together to set up; serve; pack up; clear and clean up. Some even worked tirelessly into the late hours of the night; washing up. Thanks guys, you are so selfless; humble; giving; sacrificial and loving.

Please pray for effective follow up; and also for plans to run another "Introducing God" course in the New Year.

May our hearts never grow weary in doing good and serving our glorious God and King; in whose name we do all things.

"...but because of His great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Chrsit even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us wtih him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages, he might show the comparable riches of his grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it si the gift of God-not by works, sot hat no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:4-10)

Amen!...Praise God!

Cornerstone North Outreach (17th Dec)

....and they left everything and followed Him...(Luke 5:11)

It is so easy to get discouraged when we look at ourselves and how weak and small we are in ourselves...but we serve a powerful and Almighty God; the awesome creator of the Universe who is for us and with us!......so "we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen"...

Yesterday, we met again to pray for our church plant next year. CS also shared with us the importance of ministry to overseas students. Out of the 203,890 students that were enrolled in Universities in Australia during Semester 1 this year; 54,172 of those students are in NSW!!

What an astounding figure! According to the International Student Ministry, international students are keen to enjoy the cultural experience of a local church. Many find a home where people are friendly, welcoming and accepting of them. It gives them a chance to find out about the Christian faith.

Those who do become Christians; will have great opportunities to impact and affect the market place; where they usually return to their countries of origin; securing high profile jobs and positions in society.

Past patterns indicate that 10% of those who return become Christian ministry leaders within 5-10 years; which is indicative of sending around 300 "missionaries" back to their homeland every year!! How exciting that we can be part of this very important ministry.

Please pray for Cornerstone North as we host a Christmas outreach this coming Sunday (16th Dec). One of our members has issued an invitation to 100 Chinese students from Macquarie University!! They will truly outnumber us!! Please support us in prayer for God's spirit to be moving amongst us and for the speaker (Mark Wilson) to speak faithfully and powerfully.

Hearts of Flesh

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14)

"I wil sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities...I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you, your heart of stone, and give you your heart of flesh...I will put my Spirit in you..." (Ezekiel 36: 25-27a)

It is so amazing and wonderful; that through the new covenant of God, He imparted new life through the cleansing and purification of sins; and through the giving of new hearts and new spirits. The human condition is sinful to the core, and in ourselves; we could never ever keeep the covenant laws of God perfectly.

We have an incredibly gracious and amazingly forbearing God, who made us His people; through no merit of our own. We were given new hearts, minds and the Spirit of God; that we might live for Him and be the people that He created us to be.

May we live humbly before our Lord, knowing that we are nothing without Him. "So, do not be ashamed to testify of our Lord...but join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life- not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace ......because, I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day" (2 Tim 1:8-9a; 12b)

May our desires and passions be for the gospel of Christ, and for people who are still outside of God's kingdom. May our lives be constrained by the hope of heaven, and may our lives be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father,when our Lord Jesus comes with His holy angels" (1 Thess 3;15b)

Prayer Points:

* Please pray for the Christmas outreach "The King and I" at Burwood RSL this coming Sunday (10th Dec). Pray for David Thurston our speaker
* Please pray for the trustees of the Presbyterian Church as they meet on 11th Dec, to discuss the outcome of the property at Lane Cove (which Jubilate has an interest in).
* Please continue to pray for the Chinese students who are presently attending Cornerstone North, that God's word will penetrate their hearts and minds and that the Spirit will illumine the truth of the gospelto them.
*Please pray for the Cornerstone North Christmas outreach on 17th December at Eastwood Heights Public School, Lincoln Street, Eastwood. Please also pray for Mark Wilson who is the speaker.
*Please continue to pray for God's leading of the future "structure" of Jubilate. Pray for godly wisdom and discernment in all of our planning.

God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong, He used the foolish things to shame the wise

........"God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things- and the things that are not- to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him..." (1 Corinthians 1: 27-29)

These verses are a real comfort to me as I often feel so very weak....It is also so refreshing and such a solace to be reminded of God's incredible goodness; His matchless grace; His awesome majesty; might and power. How wonderful it is, to know and to trust in such a God; and to be known by Him.

Last Sunday, we had our very first sharing and prayer session for Jubilate at Ed's place. It was edifying to hear what made each one of us thump with excitment about church/church life.

CS read from the passage of Luke 13:18 "Then Jesus asked, what is the kingdom of God like? What shall I comepare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches."

The kingdom of God grows from inconspicuous beginnings. A mustard seed is probably the smallest seed visible to the eye, however this tiny seed could yield a tree up to 8 to 10 feet. Its tremendous growth in one season from the smallest of the seeds to a shrub, the size of a small tree illustrates the growth of God's kingdom from insignificant beginnings...into a spiritual realm that will be universally acknowleged when Jesus comes again.

This parable contains the promise that God's work will come to a glorious fulfillment, no matter how small its beginnings seem to be. Just like a mustard seed grows to tree-like proportions. Likewise, even though we are small in number; we will not be discouraged or be afraid; for our God is with us. Though we are like a mustard seed; we pray that God will grow us into a large healthy shrub for His glory and praise!!!

God can use weak vessels like us to shame the strong...for He is with us and His grace is sufficient for us....for His power is made perfect in weakness..."Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insutls, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Cor 12:9-10)

Reasons for Jubilate

What on earth is Jubilate? It is a project for 2007 that Cornerstone is undertaking, to plant a new community of people; in conjunction with the existing members of Cornerstone North Some reasons for this are: *Church planting is a biblical mandate. Whenever the gospel grew in the New Testament, churches were planted *Church planting is the most powerful evangelistic tool *Church planting consolidates the growth that comes through evangelism *Church planting is particularly adapt to reach out to a new generation of people; and different target groups. *Church planting allows better unitilization of spiritual gifts Prayer points: 1. Please pray for us as we meet for the first time as a group to pray and plan. Date: 19th November 2007 Time: 2.30pm Place: Possibly Ed Yeoh's new bachelor pad (to be confirmed) Please feel free to join us to check us out, or to join us in prayer 2. Please continue to pray for God's wisdom; guidance; leading and Sovereign will in all of our planning 3. Please pray that we will be motivated by a compelling love for God and His glory, as a result of His gracious work of salvation in our lives 4. Please pray for our children (teens from the ages of 13-19); that God will empower them to step up and take up positions of "leadership" amongst the young in the church. Please pray for their willingness to go with joy and faith; as they will be without their peers from Cornerstone. 5. Please pray we will trust God fully and not rely on our own strengths and gifts

So, what exactly is Jubilate?

“Jubilate" comes from the word, Jubilee. The concept of the Jubilee is based on God’s command in the Old Testament, that His people; after they had occupied the Promised land for 50 years; were to wipe out all debts & return all lands to the original owners. During the "Jubilate" year, God’s people in effect, experienced all over again; the blessing of Redemption out of Egypt into the promised land. NB: All those who lost their share of the blessings of the Promised Land (through poverty or hardship) regained their blessings of the Promised Land. It was therefore a time to Jubilate…which means to “exult greatly on account of their redemption” This in itself, points to the New Testament; when we constantly receive from Christ through His death, the blessings of His salvation through the cross. We are to “Jubilate” in that great salvation, eternally secured for us through Christ.So, the word "Jubilate" captures the notion of a people who understand their blessing in Christ and exult greatly in God. Historically, Palm 100 is also known as the Jubilate, because of the opening verse that says “Shout for Joy to the Lord”. Traditionally translated as “Jubilate” in the Lord

Journey towards Jubilate

On that day, he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marvelled at, among all those who have believed.....with this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling , and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thess 1:10, 11) "Therefore prepare your minds for action, be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desire you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: Be holy, because I am holy" (1 Peter 1: 13-16) This year has been a big learning curve for me. Through really difficult and trying circumstances; God brought me through horrendous storms and dark days to a fuller trust in Him and a bigger understanding of who He is. My vision of God has extended immeasurably, and inversely; God has shown me how insignificant I really am in myself!! I struggled with pride in my ministries and I struggled with selfish agendas. But God broke down my pride; and tore away at my "idolatry" (putting self before God). God removed everything that I held dear in ministry....especially the youth whom I had spent several years teaching & discipling. He also showed me that people had become my "security blanket". He made me realise that I owned no one; and that my only dependance should be Him, and Him only. I had to let go.... Thus, He stripped me of the people that made me feel "loved" and "important".How foolish; wrong; proud and selfish I was. I thank God for intervening in my life; and bringing about desperate days; excruciating pain; a deep sense of repentance and remorse; many moments of despair and depression... He stripped me of my self, my pride....to bring about a cleansed and changed heart. A heart that is bent on following and trusting Him (no matter where He leads); and a heart that is passionate for the glory of God. I pray that I will no longer rob God of His glory, by losing sight of Him and exchanging it for acceptance and approval from people.God created us and redeemed us for a purpose. I believe so strongly, that; God purposed us to be a holy people who would ultimately bring Him glory in all of our lives!! Absolutely nothing in ministry should be about us!This is my very first blog entry to share my journey with you towards Jubilate. Obviously, this will extend and include more people as God continues to convict people to go. Here are some initial prayer points:Please pray: *for God to continue to prepare and equip individuals who have already decided to go*that God will convict more people to go *that God would shape and mould us to be selfless & sacrificial people and to go out on a limb for Him! *that Jubilate will truly be a congregation that does everything well for the glory of Godthat God will enlarge our vision and increase our excitement as to the big "mission field" at Macquarie University where there are 10,000 International students (95% of whom are unreached) *Also, please pray that we will continue to reach the locals and the contacts that have already been established in the community. We are grateful for your partnership with us in prayer!! Please keep posted for further developments!