_My parents taught me about Jesus, and when I got a bit older, told me that I had to make the decision to make Him my King myself. I began to realize that I wasn’t right with God, that there was a wall between myself and God because of all the wrong I had committed in my life, and that I wasn’t friends with God because of this. And so one day, sitting in my lounge room with my parents when I was 9, I decided to believe that Jesus had died for my sins and taken my punishment away and to live with Him as my King. I decided to make Jesus real in my life, and not to rely on my parents anymore. Looking back, I now fully realize how much grace and love Jesus showed to me.

Having Christ as my Lord and Savior has helped me enormously through my teenage years. During this time I felt a huge pressure from those around me and the media to reach impossible standards and to be better or different to what I was. The need to conform to the patterns of mainstream society seemed overwhelming at times. But I knew that my worth, value and identity was found in Jesus and not the world, and this was a huge comfort to me. Making Jesus as my King every day of my life also included completely trusting Jesus in every aspect of my life, which I confess I have struggled with sometimes in my walk so far. Because of this, my life verse has become Proverbs 3:5-6, which says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Every time I feel like I’ve got this whole life thing sorted out myself, I remind myself of this verse and that God actually has my life in His hands and wants good things for my life if only I would trust Him!

As the saying goes, life is short…this one anyway. I know I have eternity with Christ to look forward to now I have given my life to Him, and that is what motivates me to get out of bed every morning now. I hope that Jesus becomes what motivates your life everyday until your last.

Anna Loiterton, a part of the NTE mission team from Newcastle

_Why was spending a short 5 days at Barneys such a great encouragement? Seeing and living an example of a church that is making disciples that also make disciples is a good reminder that the leader of the church should not be doing all of the work, but rather provide direction and training so that the members of the church can work alongside him, so that Jesus’ name may become more known and loved throughout the Church, the local community and even further afield.

Serving alongside the church has been an encouragement and a learning experience. Barneys is based on the message we have of Jesus, the risen king who saves his people. In helping Barneys to convey this message, we first had to think about the content of the message, as well as the God from whom this message comes. We were then sent into the community to spread this message. We spent time at Ingleburn station, time visiting people’s houses, and half a time with other aspects of the Church’s ministry.

The time was all too short, but the lessons learned and relationships formed will have an impact that lasts beyond the end of this short life. I want to thank Barneys for the hospitality and generosity you all have shown us, in letting us come and serve alongside you. Many thanks are due especially to all who opened their houses to us for the brief time, loving us as your own sons and daughters.

I do not pretend that this was easy for you to host us, taking time out of your schedules, disrupting your routines to accommodate and train us. It has been much appreciated and all that I ask is that if you love the lord Jesus, than pray for your leaders, and get alongside them in working for the fame of Jesus’ name.

-Joel Wong, a part of the NTE mission team from Newcastle

(Other team members: Angela Ricardo, Anna Loiterton, Cyril Bland, Jess Jonas, Jill Zhu, Lisa Gerrand, Rachel Choi, Rodney Nohra, Yohan Oh)

The music was great, electric guitar, drums and keyboard, played by some amazing muscians, gave a new life to some classic hymns.

I was encouraged by Phillip Jensen as he talked on Gods mission and our responsibility as christian men in light of His mission.

One point that stood out to me was responsibility. As men we should be taking, not only responsibility for our actions, but also taking responsibility for the people God has put in our life.

As men we will be held accountable for our family and it is our job to lead our family to coming to know Jesus as their Lord and savior.  church was another place where we need to step up and encourage those in the congregation.

Prayer is a big part of the role of a man, and we should not shy away from such an awesome opportunity to bring every thing to our Lord and to encourage our brothers and sisters to do the same.

It was definitely a worthwhile day and am looking forward to next year. if you didn't make it this year make sure you come next year.

Written by Jason Craig

The Bible repeatedly warns about having firm foundations - not of our buildings but of our
spiritual lives. In fact the Bible warns that unless our foundations both as individual Christians
and as the Church are set firmly in place the kind of disaster my friend experienced in her flat
will happen to us spiritually.

The good news is God has not left us in the dark about what the sure foundations are and how
to make sure we are building on them. In Corinth the church were fighting over who was the
best leader. Paul responds: “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants,
through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the
seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is
anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters
have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are Godʼs
fellow workers; you are Godʼs field, Godʼs building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a
foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be
careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which
is Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:6-11)

Jesus is the sure foundation. There is no other way to know God, there is no other way to be
right with God, there is no other way to God. His death and resurrection has paved the way,
paying for our sins. We heard at Jim Gilbertʼs funeral Jesusʼ words, “I am the way, the truth and
the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:7)

In other words, the true foundation of a life that is lived for God, is something another has done
for us. Although the accusation might be made that we do not emphasize good works, they are
important - but not as the foundation! They are building not the foundation and we must not
confuse the two. Salvation is by faith alone but true saving faith always results living for God by
obediently seeking to know and obey the Scriptures.

Jesus explained this when he told the story of two owner-builders: “Therefore everyone who
hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on
the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that
house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears
these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his
house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against
that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7:24-27)

This is what we mean in our St Barnabas prayer when we ask God to help us lay the
foundations of living for God in our own lives and the lives of those we reach out to. The sure
foundation is Jesus but we need to learn to serve our great God and Saviour, Jesus.

So how much do we really know about the people who live around us?
With access to internet and the ability to travel far distances and just plain globalization means that we have access to more people then ever before, does this mean were leaving those that are closest to home out of the picture? Is there no longer a need to get out there and talk to the peo-ple who live right next door, or down the street?

I have recently been called to question this in my own personal life. Internet dating is just one example of how our world is embracing the online community. My brother is marrying a girl in America whom he met over the net. This is both new and exciting but also raises new complica-tions to the simple act of dating.
As a society we have become accustomed to not getting out of our comfort zone and meeting new people around us. Ingleburn alive is a chance to get out there and see what the community has to offer, going to meet other people from the wider community and just having fun.

St Barnabas Ingleburn, or less formally known as Barney‘s, is welcoming to anyone and every-one. As Christians we live in a community and rely on it to support us and to help us grow into better people, following the bible‘s example. Churches are places of great community, all my life I grew up in a church and had great friendships with people from those churches. Though God may be the focus of a church it seems that where God is great relationships follow. In my opinion a community that has tight bonds between its members is a community that is ALIVE.

Let me assure you there are answers to the questions. We here at St Barnabas are per suaded that not only is God there but that he has answered all the Why God?‘ ques-tions. He has answered the critics of his existence by coming 2000 years ago in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. He has answered the questions of suffering and pain by himself going through them: in the temptations he faced, in the loss of friends, and in his own death. But his coming and his death were not just so that God could experience what he had not before.

His death was for something—for us—that he might die our death, pay for our sins, take the punishment we deserve. And we might ask if this is true ―Why God? Why would you do such a thing?‖ And the answer returns, ―For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life‖ (John 3:16).

Why would God send his Son to die for us? Because in his tender mercy he did the only thing that would save us, for we could do nothing to save ourselves—he paid the price for our sin himself. But that was not the end of the story—he rose again and has conquered death and assures those who trust him that life and forgiveness is theirs.

In this special Easter issue of The Son Herald we see the impact of this answer to ―Why God‖ in the lives of sev-eral individuals. These people have come from different backgrounds, but the remarkable truth of God‘s love in their lives unites them. They are all part of a team of people spending this week in Ingleburn, joining with our church, visiting our community to share with others the truth of God and how he can and does change lives.

I trust you enjoy reading their stories. I pray that God might answer your questions and work the same miracle in your life too.

We had a live band, and even the boys were asking to sing more songs. We did puzzles and craft and ate lots of yummy food. We used drama to teach some of Jesus’ parables. When the parents picked up their kids, some didn’t want to leave and all were telling their parents what a good time they had. One little girl told her mum that the best part was the teaching time.

Wow! The highlight for me was the prayer time when a little girl put up her hand and asked if she could pray because she wanted to be God’s friend. Before I got the chance to put my jaw back in place, she began to pray and there was absolute silence from every-one. She gave thanks that Jesus had died for her and asked to be God’s friend and that Jesus would help her change. Before we knew it, we had a number of other kids praying that God would help them change, that they would put God first and giving thanks for Jesus.

It was the most amazing time I’ve had in 10 years of children’s ministry. Most of the kids were from non-church fami-lies, but attend scripture. Praise God for the great job our scripture teachers are doing, and pray that God will continue to work in these young lives.

The course has been well attended by nine people regularly and has appealed to people for different reasons. Some people know that they aren’t Christian and want to understand what Christianity is about. Others are Christians already and just want to confirm their belief in the core issues. A few are doing the course so that they can go and do the course with people that they know who aren’t Chris-tian. Simon remarked, “It’s a great course for anyone to do because it has something to offer both Non-Christians and Christians alike”

The course is structured over six weeks and uses Mark’s gospel for most of it’s Biblical material. The first three weeks concen-trate on who is Jesus. The last three weeks then focus on how to respond to Jesus. Meanwhile attendees will have read through the whole of Mark’s account of Jesus life, and had the opportunity to ask as many questions they like about Christianity.

Christianity Explained is also presented in a non-confrontational manner. A person will never be asked to pray, read anything aloud or answer any questions in front of the group. Individuals can ask questions or decide to quietly observe. In this way it is appealing to all sorts of learning styles as well as confidence levels.

Michael Bennett is the Australian author of this course, which is now spreading around the globe. In a country like Australia where a best-selling Christian book may top 5000 copies, Christianity Explained has been purchased by over 50,000 Australian believers.

But then my relationship ended and all of a sudden I was alone. Even though I moved back home with my family I felt completely alone all the time. I knew my family loved me but felt like they were looking at me thinking, 'I told you so'. Soon after I moved home, I went to church with them and while I was there I realised that God would never say I told you so. He was the only one I could depend on no matter what had happened, But I was scared about saying sorry to him. I knew that there would be people who could not forgive some of the things I had done and I thought that meant that God would not forgive me either. But when eventually I did come to him and asked his forgive-ness he did not reject me. No matter what my sin was, no matter what the world thought about my sin, Jesus had taken the punishment for me by dying on the cross. There was nothing I could have done that it did not cover. That knowledge con-tinues to comfort me today.

Knowing Jesus and what he has done for me has given life a new focus. What matters to me now is pleasing God and helping others to meet Jesus too. I'm not claiming I'm perfect or that life is easy. What I do know is that even though I continue to do the wrong thing, through his son Jesus, God has given me more than I would ever deserve. He has given me his unconditional love and forgiveness and has promised me eternal perfection with him in heaven.

So why is being a Christian the most important thing I could tell you about myself? It's because Jesus told his disciples 'I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me'. Through Jesus I have a personal rela-tionship with the God who created the world, and one day I'll walk side by side with him. And what could possibly be more important that that?

By Kate Haggar. (Moore College Mission Team 2010)