the journey december issue

SPECIAL INTEREST:

Resisting the Beach Ball Theory

Is Jesus the Reason for the Season? Rejoice?

PAWI’s Prayer Movement

GOT Praise-A-Thon?

Have A “Mary” Christmas

Multiculturalism and Christmas

Announcements

The Christmas Doll

The Humourist

Issue No.: 2 Volume: 1 December 2012

The race is not for the swift but for those who endure…..

FAITH, HOPE & LOVE CENTRE “BIBLLICAL AT OUR CORE, CREATIVE IN OUR EXPRESSION” Email: [email protected]

Is Jesus the Reason for the Season? Rejoice?

“For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of

Peace “– Isaiah 9:6

This is the season symbolizing the most important birth in history for you and for me. It’s

the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ. He was born to save the world from sin and to

reconcile man unto Him and though He was born over 2,000 years ago, His work still

continues on through you and me. Many are mistaken and resort to decapitating

Christmas to clichés such as ‘Merry Xmas, Season’s Greetings, Happy Holidays’ and

lavish Christmas dinners and parties with family and friends but God’s truth still remains—

it’s the birthday of our King and Saviour Jesus Christ! So for the Christmas season,

remember the great price He has paid and what He’s done for you and let this be a

time of healing, renewal of strength and rejoicing as we focus on our Saviour. And lastly

to answer the question: Yes,! Jesus is the reason for the season and Yes! Rejoice!

Merry Christmas from the Marketing Department

Resisting the Beach Ball Theory By Pastor Don Hamilton

The Apostle Paul warned: “. . . the time will come when they will not endure sound

doctrine . . . but turn their ears away from the truth and shall be turned unto

fables” (2 Timothy 4:3, 4).

Today, seminars are arranged to teach the “Beach Ball theory”. They suggest that

playing with a multi-sided multi-pictured beach ball would mean that each time

someone else catches the ball, the view of their side of the ball would be different from

another’s. As a result, your subjective experience with the ball is like your subjective

experience with truth. Truth is what is created and subjectively experienced. Small

wonder, when you call some people into account to change their lifestyle and live by

what is clearly taught in the Word of God, they respond, “Well, that is how you see it.”

Let us resist the Beach Ball Theory.

The Journey Newsletter

PAWI’S PRAYER MOVEMENT Theme: Teach me Lord to Prayer So That We Can Be And Do

Corporate Prayer will be conducted every 4th Sunday and Prayer and Fasting at least once

a week. The ministry of prayer will continue until the Holy Spirit comes and revives us. At

least 15 minutes on a Sunday morning when the church meets.

PAWI is Alive and Well!

GOT Praise–A–Thon ? By Skippy Mottley—Worship Ministry Leader

Our theme for this year was “Jesus is Lord”, and we approached this in

three parts, Jesus is Love, Jesus is Saviour and Jesus is Lord. Our

purpose and prayer was fourfold:

1/ That God be praised, glorified and magnified.

2/ That the congregation be moved by the Spirit of God.

3/ That we would be bound together as one in love.

4/ That many visitors would come and be blessed.

I firmly believe that God answered all our requests in a resounding way. General feedback included

an enormous “WOW’ factor in acknowledging that indeed God was with us. People shouted, they

sang, they danced, they praised, they wept, they re-dedicated their lives to God. At least one

person was healed of a physical ailment. We experienced a word from the Lord.

Leonard set the tone at the opening with “You Make Me Happy”. We explored that old majestic

song “The Love of God” and weren’t the children gorgeous with “ Yes Jesus loves me”? We entered

a glorious phase with “Hallelujah for the Lord God Almighty Reigns” and climaxed with “Lord, lift up

your Holy Throne” and surely we could almost feel heaven’s choirs joining with us in song as we look

forward to the day when Jesus is crowned Lord of the Universe and everything is put under His feet.

The morning was ended on a reflective note with the song “When its all been said and done”.

Indeed, when all has been said and done, Jesus is Lord. May His name be praised and glorified.

Amen.




Multiculturalism and Christmas They say that Trinidad and Tobago is a multicultural society, but

Melbourne is even much more multicultural. People come from all over

the world to live here, and since the city was ranked the world’s most

liveable in 2011 and 2012, one can understand why. Melbourne is

about double the size of Trinidad, but whereas the population of T&T is

1.3 million, the population of Melbourne alone is just over 4 million. Yep, there are a lot of people here in just

this small part of Australia, and they represent many nationalities. Just in the church that I attend, “Grow

Church”, which is about the size of FHL, there were 22 nationalities represented at last count. The

congregation comprises people from different parts of Africa and Europe, from India, Fiji, the Philippines, Mal-

ta, New Zealand, China, and of course, the Caribbean (me!). Each of these nationalities speaks a differ-

ent language but when we come together the common language is English, thank God. It is normal therefore

to overhear several conversations on the train, all going on at the same time, each in a different language.

So you can be surrounded by Hindi, Mandarin, Russian, French, Spanish, Maltese, Vietnamese, and a few Afri-

can languages all at the same time and not understand a word. It pleases me to see this mix at church, be-

cause it means that we are coming together from different corners of the world worshipping the same one

true God! That is awesome.

There is a downside to this high level of multiculturalism though. Because of the effort not to show partiality

towards any one religion, no focus is placed on any. So at Christmas time the public focus (including the

songs that I hear), is on toys and bells and Santa and presents, and of course...food! If you wish to hear

about Jesus, you would have to go to church. This is sad. Let us continue to use our influence in whatever

way we can, to keep Christ in Christmas. Merry Christmas everybody! I miss you all.

By Jacquie Somerszaul, Australia

Have A " Mary" Christmas From the Prayer Ministry

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” John 3:16

As we prepare our hearts and minds to focus on this very special season, let us be reminded of the

very important reason why we celebrate.

Sovereign God had the perfect plan for humanity. The Virgin birth of Jesus Christ who was born

without sin, entered the world as our Saviour. The love of God was demonstrated to sinful humanity

through the virgin Mary who found grace, absolute favour and loving kindness with the Almighty

God. We need to be forever grateful and thankful to God that when He sent the Angel Gabriel to

Mary to announce the birth of Jesus Christ, that she humbly accepted in complete obedience and

submitted to God's plan to bring about our salvation. As we give and exchange gifts with each

other, let us not forget that God gave us His best, His perfect and most miraculous gift, His only

begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Let us praise God for sending our Saviour, our risen and triumphant Lord,

for all people.


FHLC’s Christian

Education Department

Is hosting their Annual Christmas Treat on

Saturday December 15th, 2012 at the

Church Office, at 4.00 pm.

We invite you to give a special offering to assist with

the expenses of our Annual Christmas Treat and your

donation of toys, suited to our Nursery children (up to 2

years of age) will be greatly appreciated. Please

see Carla Cournand in this regard.

Thanks much for your support in ". . . disciplining our

children [thus] strengthening our future . . . " Blessings!

SJ's Christmas Doll Posted in Sunday Guardian—Nov 25 by Sarah-Jeiel (10 years old)

YOU NEED:

1 small styrofoam ball for a head 4 toothpicks

fine tip markers to draw the face a ruler

wool for hair sparkly "pipe cleaners"

a pair of safety scissors glue

a piece of pretty cloth for clothes 1 slim lolly stick

FOLLOW THESE STEPS: 1. Hold the bunch of toothpicks together (glue them together if you wish). 2. For the doll's body, make a cross - with the lolly stick representing the arms sticking outwards and the bunch of

toothpicks representing the upper body of the doll.

3. The toothpicks should stick-out 3/4 inch above the middle of the lolly stick.

4. Wrap a pipe cleaner in X style (criss-cross) around the centre of the cross to hold the toothpicks and lolly stick in

position, and the X also represents the chest of the doll.

5. For the doll gown, cut a rectangle from the cloth (measuring 8 inches x 3 inches.)

6. Fold the rectangle in half to get a smaller rectangle (measuring 4 inches x 3inches.)

7. Cut a slit about 1/2 inch in the centre of the folded end of cloth to make a hole for the neck of the doll gown.

8. Slip the doll gown over the doll body (the cross), with the shoulders of gown resting on the arms (the lolly stick).

9. Make a sash for the waist of the doll gown by loosely tying a pipe cleaner around the doll gown about 1/2 inch

below the arms (lolly stick). Leave the ends of the pipe cleaner to hang down. Nicely arrange the gown. 10. For the doll's head, draw a face on the styrofoam ball with markers.

11. Use wool to make hair and glue to the doll's head. 12. For an angel, make a loop on one end of a pipe cleaner and stick the other end into side of the head.

13. For a shepherd, cut a rectangle from the cloth, place over the head and use a piece of pipe cleaner as a head

band to hold cloth in place. Attach the head to the body by carefully pushing the top end of the bunch of

toothpicks into the bottom of the head (about 1/2 inch).

14. Either attach separate pipe cleaners to each arm or use one pipe cleaner and attach each end to an arm

forming a loop. Now, you have a wonderful little Christmas Doll to use as a hanging decoration.

On December 22nd 2012

Youths let’s celebrate

the ending of a short but great year

of youth ministry with a

YearYear--End SWIM Christmas Lime! End SWIM Christmas Lime!

Lots of food, games and laughter. Older

youths, please note, there IS an age limit!

NO persons OVER the age of 20 years old…

...except the leaders of course….Lol!

Swim for yuh food!




RADIO PROGRAMMES

“empowering families”

Every 2nd & 4th Thursday

For the month of DECEMBER

Thursday 13th and 27th

at 8:30 to 9:00pm

“searching the scriptures ”

Every 3rd Sunday

For the month of DECEMBER

Sunday 21st

at 4:30 - 4:45pm

AND

THE MONTH OF DECEMBER SCHEDULETHE MONTH OF DECEMBER SCHEDULE

Remember to Listen…..

company, feeling it was time for a shake-up, hires a new CEO. This new boss is determined to rid the company of all slackers. On a tour of the facilities, the CEO

notices a guy leaning on a wall. The room is full of workers and he thinks this is his chance to show everyone he means business!

The CEO walks up to the guy and asks, "And how much money do you make a week?"

Undaunted, the young fellow looks at him and replies, "I make $200.00 a week. Why?"

The CEO then hands the guy $200 in cash and screams, "Here's a week's pay, now GET OUT and don't come back!"

Feeling pretty good about his first firing, the CEO looks around the room and asks, "Does anyone want to tell me what that slacker did here?"

With a sheepish grin, one of the other workers mutters, "He's the pizza delivery guy."


New Year’s Eve!

The Humourist The Shake Up!

The Journey Newsletter The Journey Newsletter

Announcements


CELEBRATING …….

FAITH, HOPE & LOVE

Faith that anchors, Hope that lifts and Love that heals and meets our greatest need

FAITH + HOPE + LOVE

FAITH, HOPE & LOVE CENTRE’S MINISTRIES:

PRAYER & INTERCESSORY MINISTRY

The bible declares, “But seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness: and these things shall be added to you” Matt 6:33 and it continues to Say “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with

thanksgiving let your request be made known to God” Phil 4:6 for only through humility, prayer and repentance will God continue to bless any church, institution or nation. We meet every Thursday morning at the

church office at 10:00am for prayer – Brenda Bennett, Ministry Lead - contact 466-2199

PRAISE & WORSHIP MINISTRY

…created to worship, connect through worship…

For God is Spirit, so those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth” John 4:24 we seek to praise and worship Jesus Christ and to allow the congregation to be ministered to and praise God through music

- Skippy Mottley, Ministry Lead – Contact 678-7655

WOMEN’S MINISTRY We provide essential support to the women in a spirit of love. Together we learn

who we are in Christ, the power of prayer, how to deal with everyday situations and problems and the call to witness to others the "Good News" of Jesus Christ

- Geeta Ragoonanan, Ministry Lead - Contact 781-8504

YOUTH MINISTRY Spirit & Word In Motion (S.W.I.M.) Youth Ministry seeks to reach youths from ages 12-20yrs by doing

EVERYTHING without compromise to introduce them to a relationship with Jesus Christ and cause them to grow into mature believers in Christ. We meet every other Friday afternoon from 7:00pm at the Church Office

– Jonathan & Laila Homer, Ministry Leads – Contact 302-8865/391 0646

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION DEPARTMENT . . . discipling our children, strengthening our future . . .

An opportunity to Serve & Strengthen Your Church: If you enjoy working with people in the joy of learning, opportunities are available through

Sunday School to encourage & help children to grow spiritually. * Nursery, Junior Church & Age-appropriate classes (birth to 13 years) *

HOSPITALITY MINISTRY

The Hospitality Ministry administers our Christian love, and shows our commitment to Christ Jesus throughout the Body of Christ by serving them in a cordial and cheerful manner

- Brenda Bennett, Ministry Lead - contact 466-2199

the journey december issue

Documents

christmas season

beach ball theory

saviour jesus christ

merry christmas

ministry of prayer

christmas announcements

decapitating christmas

corporate prayer