That’s right, it is a rainy December 1st night and Christmas is fast, fast, fast approaching!  But before we look to the future let’s thank God for the past…

Congratulations to every single one of you and your mates for completing 12 years of High School.  Every one of you deserve a huge round of applause for sticking through one of the biggest chapters of your life.  The way it is written will be different for each person, some might have regrets, some might be happy, some might think it is overrated… whatever the feeling let me remind you of God’s Word

Ecclesiastes 3

A Time for Everything

¹ There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:² a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

Look at the past 12 years with God’s perspective… that everything that happened, good, bad & boring happened for a specific reason.  We are really good at glossing over the surface of our experiences when God has knitted an intricate design into every fibre of time.

And on that note while I was praying for you I felt God place the word DREAMS into my heart.  Now is a time to allow God to shape and mold your dreams… have you ever stopped and really meditated on Jeremiah 29:11?

Jeremiah 29:11

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

I’ll be honest… this is one of those… easier said then done kinda scriptures.  It is easy to say “God i trust you and your plans for me!”  but when it comes to filling in that QTAC preference list, applying for jobs and deciding whether or not to take a gap year God’s plan doesn’t seem so perfect and hopeful… I know what this feels like… i know what is feels like to argue with God’s plans and tell him that they’re wrong… but Hebrews 11 says:

Hebrews 11

Faith in Action

¹ Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see

Faith… if it is about hope and assurance in what we do not see. That means its going to be scary… you’re gonna wanna turn back or just sit down and not move until you can see something… But God is about faith… without faith God doesn’t even exist to us…

So how do we allow God to mold, shape and ultimately give us His dream for our lives?

Jeremiah 29:11-13

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Prayer… talk to Him… seek Him out… call him on the telephone… write him a letter…when you know theres free slurpees on 7-11 day… you go out and seek out the closest 7-11… the same is with God… He has our plans and he wants to tell us about it, we just gotta seek Him out.

I wanna encourage you boys to dream big… dream so big that people tell you it is impossible, because it is in the impossible where God makes all things possible.

Chris has linked us to this really great worship song by Chris Tomlin.  What makes it even greater is that it’s FREE!!!!

so sign up here http://worshiptogether.com/songs/songdetail.aspx?iid=1824693 to download All To Us

1.  Legacy: Leadership that Lasts!

This year’s Church Conference is about leadership!  We know that God has called us to lead in some capacity.  It doesn’t always mean being the president, CEO, or team leader of a company or being the alpha male in a group of friends, but I believe leadership is about INFLUENCE.

There will be guest speaker Richard Green from way down south in NSW from C3 Church as well!

Registration for Church Conference close today. So register online @
www.brisbane.hope-church.com.au or with your service representative.

Church Conference (Open to All)
From 20.11.10 Evening Session (6:30pm start) to 21.11.10 Afternoon Session

Leaders Conference (For Joshua Generation Members ONLY)
From 19.11.10 Evening Session (6:30pm start) to 21.11.10 Afternoon Session

2.  Life Group!

Life Group is on this week and we can take the opportunity to celebrate together!!!!

At the moment I haven’t organised a venue yet so keep an eye out for that! but would like to lock in the time of

2:00Pm to 4:00pm  Sunday 14th of November!

3.  Ablaze Service at ELLAWAYS!

As you guys know, our venue has been a big challenge for us!  Because of exams at GU we aren’t allow to use their rooms so we have hired a auditorium at Ellaways in Underwood

Church starts same time but please check these links for directions for both a CAR and PUBLIC TRANSPORT

thanks all from me!
See yas tomorrow!

Church this week has changed from N02 Griffith university

to

M23 (The Auditorium) Griffith University Mt Gravatt campus!

This is also our last room booking for Griffith uni and we are going to be at a really nice venue on the 12th!!! SO keep an eye out for that!

The fact that we all finish our school assessment within the next 2 weeks is a really exciting thought! We must find an epic way to celebrate this epic occasion!

There are a few projects I want us as a Life Group to discuss together about being apart of during the Christmas period.  God has called us to be a salt and light in our communities.  It means using our life to bring good taste and clear vision to those around us!  Christmas has always been about receiving gifts and I can honestly say sometimes giving gifts out of obligation or expectation to receive one from that person.  But this is an opportunity for us to give freely simply to bless another person or family!

So there are 2 Christmas related projects that I want us to seriously consider being apart of together as a lifegroup.

First up

As we all know.  Christmas 4 Kids is here again and entering its 8th year!  This is our church’s premier community event organised by the community arm of our church Hands of Hope.  It gives us the opportunity to put on a free event, with free gifts for less fortunate families in Brisbane.  I realised that we didn’t hear much news about volunteering so I have asked the committee if we are still able to volunteer and they have said YES!

Christmas 4 Kids is on December 4 2010 from 10am to 10pm.  Location is still TBC

find out more at www.c4k.net.au/2010

secondly

Operation Christmas Child is organised by the Samaritan’s Purse.  They ask people to pack a shoebox full of goodies and then have them shipped out to countries all over the world where they can give them to kids.  We can even track where our box is going!  We can pack one or two shoeboxes as a lifegroup and bless a couple of kids somewhere on the otherside of the world.

Find out more here http://www.operationchristmaschild.org.au/

Once again these are ideas and I want us to agree together to be apart of these projects so this Friday after service, let’s find sometime to get together and have a chat.

Also there will be no life group this week but once again I would like to catch up with all of ya so please try and keep some time free on sunday!

Love yas!

Jusso

Well it seems that term 4 assessment has moved into high gear with the final days of actual school counting down and exam block coming up.  I am sure each one of you has gone through a unique, challenging, exciting and amazing journey through highschool.

Don’t give up now… keep on trucking and finish the race strong!  Remember the tortoise and the hare?  It’s not about how you start, it’s about how you finish.  No Regrets!

Anthony shared how when things get busy God gets put in the backseat… don’t let that happen!  I don’t believe that we have to always be God this God that, Pray for this Pray for that to put God first.  Instead it’s about having a heart attitude that says… God in all situations you come first… your Holy spirit can speak to me whenever you want… and i trust in you before i trust in myself!

Well this Friday will be the Mansfield State High End of year music concert, and I know basically half of you are apart of it so as a lifegroup we’re gonna come and support and cheer you guys on in your final school concert!

&

This sunday we have our ONE SERVICE, 330pm at Griffith Nathan Campus, Northern Theatre 2!

Can you please make sure you try your best to make it, because Torch has an important announcement to make.
Thanks guys!

and we haven’t had an opportunity to share how our Bible readings are going so tonight you should be up to chapter 17!  We all agreed to bring back the presence of God in our lives so let’s be faithful to our word and bring God back into our life through his Word!

The Gospels are a recount of Jesus’ life through the eyes of 4 diciples… Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Although they may share similar stories, some recount certain events in more detail or have a different personality attached to their writing.  The first time I really read through the Gospels, I was fascinated by the life of Jesus and how he was treated and how he treated others.

Together we decided to read 1 Chapter a day starting last Monday and sharing one thing we’ve learnt from the weeks reading.  So by now we should be reading chapter 9 but will only share from chapters 1-7.

So please take 5 minutes of your time to leave a comment on this post sharing a verse or story that stood out to you, something the Holy Spirit spoke to you personally through the reading, or even why you didn’t feel like you learnt anything new or significant.

Looking forward to reading your insights

Torch and Lisa will be getting married this Saturday! Pretty exciting stuff right!

Well in light of studies and wedding bells we will leave this weeks Bible Study lifegroup for next week.  I would actually like to take some time to meet up with you all individually on Sunday so yea will get in contact with you .
Have a good week

J

Here are some photos from the day!

Anthony and Nick with our Roasted Pumpkin with Fetta and Ceaser Salads

Frozen in a polaroid

Aaron's Sorbet Supremo

Anthony's Brioche with Dark Chocolate Sauce

Nick's Chocolate Saucy Pudding

Justin's Cannoli and Passionfruit Curd Tart

Hanging around Southbank Tafe after seeing the HUGE line at Max Brenner and bailing

Marcus and Dom... you can decide what they're doing

Clearly Anthony's in love with my legs

Happy Birthday to ya!  Thanks for being a great friend to us all and for constantly serving passionately in the House of God.

Life Group on Sunday was something special, and once again I am really blessed to be able to have honest conversations about Church life and the struggles we have been having recently.

Across the board, there seems to be an underlying feeling that “Church is missing something…”  What that something is… is not in the water (sorry Brooke Fraser)… no one is exactly sure.  But I believe it has something to do with our attitude towards the presence of God

On Sunday we took some time to re-envision our Life Group… what should it sound like, look like and how should you feel.  We all agreed that we are a great bunch of mates, but it’s time we go beyond the surface and start to spurr each other on.  It was pretty confronting knowing that we all couldn’t say for a fact what was going on each the person’s life next to us, only speculate. God’s presence seems harder to enter and church is becoming routine or obligatory.

At no point have we failed as a life group, because I believe that the discussions we’ve had over the weekend would not have happened without the time spent at supper, coast, birthdays and sleepovers.  But it’s time to place God back in the centre of our lives and at the centre of this Life Group… it is time to Bring Back the Presence of God.

Anthony mentioned that we gotta work on our openness, to take the time out to ask someone how they are going and not just be Friday night and Sunday afternoon friends.  Marcus mentioned that we gotta find ways to share about our lives, to create an environment where no one is judged and I love what Aaron said:

Life group should be a place where we are all for each other

Over the final months of the year, I want us to come back together for Christ.  Just as Lauranne shared during worship, it’s time that we be reminded of the fear of God… that it is only by grace that we breathe each breath. I look forward to worshiping and discovering more about who God is and how God is working in each of our lives, and how God will us each of us to work in each others lives!

Hebrews 10:23-25

²³Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. ²⁵Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Let’s make this our scripture of the season!

God is for us and not against us!  God wants to see us grow and be transformed, so let’s allow him to work in our lives!

Finally

to launch our new direction we will be reading and studying through the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John) together!

Remember to follow 3 simple steps

1. Read 1 chapter a day

2. Journal, blog, highlight or write down atleast one scripture verse, thought, idea, interesting observation, fact or prayer that you have from that chapter – you can even say I didn’t learn anything… just make sure you share why

3. Come on Sunday to Life Group ready to share at least one thing you’ve journaled from the week

P.S.  MATTHEW CHAPTER 1 Starts Today

Love yas

Jusso