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it drops today! stay tuned...

This is the final 'official' post on this blog. It's been a fun ride blogging on eternal weight of glory. Thanks for reading and commenting.

I'm going to finish this blog with the words that started it:

[16] So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. [17] For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, [18] as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Cor. 4:16-18 (ESV)

I'm glad that through the death of Jesus, this life and it's afflictions are only slight and momentary compared to the glory that is to come.

Is this it then? NO!! Stay tuned for a new RSS feed, a new blog and a new adventure!

From www.abort73.com (h/t JT)

We had our last night at CCEC tonight. The plan is to be back in a year, but we'll see what happens. (See here and here for earlier reports and stay tuned for more about '08).

I've been thinking tonight about what type of legacy I want left after 10 years of youth ministry. While there are lots of positive things that I hope we've left behind, there is one thing that I hope will be a legacy that will last for generations.

It's been said by a number of different church and gospel analysts (it may have come from Phillip Jensen?) that the gospel is never far from being lost from one generation to the next.

• Step 1 - they preach the gospel (here's one clear explanation of the gospel [the goodnews of Jesus])
• Step 2 - they assume the gospel
• Step 3 - they neglect the gospel
• Step 4 - they reject/deny the gospel

Each step may be only slight, but the implications for taking each step are massive. Those that assume and neglect the gospel, may well still believe it, but the great danger is that through their assumptions and neglect the gospel is in danger of not being passed onto the next generation.

I spoke with a number of leaders this afternoon about the need to keep preaching the gospel. Obviously we aim to preach the gospel to the 40,000 Central Coast teenagers who don't know Jesus. BUT we need to preach to more people than just the lost who haven't yet heard it.

My hope is that CCECYOUTH will be known for being a Jesus-Proclaiming, Cross-Centred, Gospel-Guarding youth group where the leaders preach the gospel:

• to themselves daily
• to each other
• to the Christian teens in our program
• to teenagers who don't know Jesus

Paul in 1 Cor 15 was desperate for the Corinthian Christians to keep trusting in the gospel, that he reminded them once again what was of first importance.

Jesus died for our sins. He was buried.
Jesus rose. He appeared.

Don't forget it! Keep clinging to Jesus. Are you in danger of assuming, neglecting or denying the goodnews of Jesus? Keep proclaiming Jesus dead, buried and risen to yourself and others.

Labels: Jesus

I planned on going to watch Central Coast Mariners vs Wellington Pheonix tonight. BUT 3/5s of the crew I was going with wanted to watch it at the pub (softies!). It was easier to stay dry in the pub - and probably a bit more comfortable too. It was a fun night. Giddy up the Mariners!

At the start of this round (the final regular season round) the top 4 were all equal on goal difference. This is rare and set up for an exciting finish to the season.

Newcastle won 2-1 last night (watch the goals)
Mariners won 2-0 tonight (watch the goals)

It means that currently Mariners are leading on goal difference over Newcastle.
Sydney and Queensland both have difficult matches tomorrow night (Sunday).

If QLD wins. They will be minor premiers. Sydney have to hope that QLD draw or lose and that they win by 2 or more to beat the Mariners.

My tip: Mariners should make the top 2 (this is important). I think there's a good chance that both Syd and QLD will be pushed hard in their matches - and one of them is bound to slip up. Best scenario is Melbourne drawing or beating Sydney and Adelaide drawing or beating QLD. QLD will probably win with Mariners second.

What's your tip for the A-League minor premiership???

PS. Check out Dale's Blog. He's been ripping it to shreds with sports posts. Go leave him a comment... he's a man longing for more comments!

CCECNITECHURCH is hosting Cafe Del Freeo this Thursday (17Jan) and Friday (18Jan) night. From 7pm @ Bakehouse Cafe, Fountain Plaza, Erina.

Mike McCarthy will be playing on Thursday and a new Jazz crew on Friday. Bring ya friends!

Tim Hawkins (and others) has four elements of a good youth talk:

• The Hook - why ought people listen? The hook establishes, in the first minute or two of the talk, why the listener ought to keep listening. This is similar to what David Cook calls the Big or Dominant Question.
• The Book - what the Bible has to say about this situation.
• The Look - helping the listeners to dig deeper into the Bible and what it means.
• The Took - is the 'so what?' How this part of the Bible impacts on the life of the listener.
  

I have listened to and given many talks to teenagers during the past year. My observation is that we are strong on the book and the look. But we are weak on the hook which leads to weakness with the took.

The hook is important in drawing the listener into hearing from the text. And the hook helps to shape the take-home cash-value 'took' throughout the talk.

What do you think makes a good hook?

For a good look - see the picture above...
(I may have lost weight - but my head's still big!)

Some 2008 blog action from some friends (mainly real + a couple of virtual).

• Dale wonders if he's gettin ripped off
• Michelle is thinking about a box
• Daniel on Radiohead playin it all for free
• Ben is scared of a cloud
• Chris is good at ranting
• Guthers should really stick it to the man
• James and Anita are going to be dancing with the pressies
• Hayley thinks Will Smith is hot
• Lisa likes colouring-in
• Sam links out to some mature content
• Liam and Liz are poly-linguists
• Steve thinks Ponting is a tool
• Nixter is back in the house
• Duke is surfing in the Blue Mountains
• Rodeo is a vampire
  
• Soph is not talking about Led Zeppelin
• Craig is on holidays!
• Josh has a new blog name to go with his new job
• Kurt says first impressions last
• Josh isn't Rose
• Lydia smashes is with this song from saturdayEV last weekend (fantastic song)
  
• Tim smashes it in his latest saturdayEV sermon
• summerfest pics
  
• 2nd best site on the internet

If you are a friend and you're not up there - it's cos you haven't blogged since last year - or I don't know your address. Leave it in the comments.

ps - 2 warm fuzzies if you can identify the location of the above sign...

EDIT: Can't make it to New York in time for church this Sunday??? Watch a New York City Sermon unfold on the blogosphere... The Invisibility of God #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15 from Moff Dogs.

Pictured: Matt, Tash, Row, Lisa, Sam and me. Good times.

HERE (mp3) is the talk I did on Wednesday (& repeated Thursday at NLEC) in the adults tent. Here are the notes.

Here is a page on our 'For Parents' website that is for promoting safe Internet use. It has some of the material from my 'MyKid on MySpace' talk in the adults tent this morning on summerfest.

Check it out. Let me know if there's any dud links... or if you have suggestions for other ones.

Secret link.

This arvo I was reading Acts 7. Stephen gives a cracker of a sermon in the court. He recounts the history of Israel and says that their forefathers were idiots for rejecting God and his prophets. He then completes the smack-down by calling them double-idiots for being doubly stupid for killing Jesus, THE Prophet.

They get cranky pants. Big time! They gnash their teeth at him and then proceed to play a massive game of stax-on with the nearest rocks they can find.

As they're stoning him, Saul (now known as Paul) is there in the thick of the action. It was at that point that I started thinking about what Stephen and Paul's relationship is like now in the presence of Jesus. Do they have some probs? Does Stephen joke about the time that he got 'stoned'? Does Paul just keep saying "I'm sooo sorry about that..."?

Then I read the next verse: Stephen prays a very Jesus-esque prayer upon death. That prayer is answered in the conversion of Saul, the chief of all sinners.

What are they both doing now? Being stoked in Jesus.

saturdayEV kicked off their January series yesterday. Each week during the TESTIFY series Tim interviews a member of their crew and then preaches a shorter sermon on one of the themes from the testimony.

Check out the Kristy Galea interview
Check out the sermon 'Got the wrong idea about God?'
Subscribe with iTunes

Kristy's interview was great and then Tim spoke against God being:

1. boring
2. uninterested
3. mean

Good stuff.

CCEC's January mission starts this week. The team arrive today. Summerfest will be launched tomorrow @ church. The program starts on Monday. Junior High program each morning @ Erina Fair Youth Centre. Senior High program each night @ EFYC.

My program: I'll be MC tomorrow at ccecnitechurch; speaking in the adults tent on "Kids and the Internet" on Wednesday; doing the same talk at the Northern Lakes sfest on Thursday; speaking at the combined youth event on Friday night; and roaming around both of the teens programs throughout the week.

The following Sunday we begin our summer series' in church. Morning: The Unique Challenge of Jesus. Nite: Wisdom for Life. saturdayEV begin a great series today called 'Testify'.

The following week nitechurch will be running Cafe Del Freeo on 17th & 18th Jan.

Good times ahead. Pray. Come. Rock on.

PS - I spoke at the Toowoon Bay Beach Mission Camper's Concert last night. They have been doing a killer job at proclaiming Jesus!

Human Tetris I

Crazy things happening on this blog in 2008... stay tuned!

Trust Jesus in 2008.

Tonight I spoke about New Year's Resolutions. The most popular NYR for Christians is to read the Bible and pray more throughout the new year. What is it that will help you to follow through with this resolution?

In response to Psalm 119 it's having a heart that treasures God, His Word and obeying it more than life itself. In order to treasure God and His Word, we need to plan to spend time with him to hide his word in our hearts.

Following are some practical tools to help you: Read it, Remember it and Pray it.

READ IT

• CCEC Daily Reading notes
• McCheyne reading plan (this looks like a great resource!)
  
• Free Don Carson Devotional through email - sample - based on McCheyne plan (Row and I do one of these columns each night)
  
• Search for "Bible" in iTunes - look under "Audiobooks" to find the whole Bible for a bargain price - listen to the Bible on your iPod.
  
• Click 'listen' at the top of any passage to listen for free online - I've just started using this - it's great!
  

REMEMBER IT

• Navigators topical memory system (you can buy their cards or make your own based on their verses)
  
• Fighter Verses from John Piper
  
• Memory Verse Songs for Adults
  
• Remember whole books of the bible
• Free email-based Bible memory program

PRAY IT

• Pray in response to the verses you read
• Pray in response to the verses you remember
• Don't close your Bible when you pray, but let the priorities of the Bible shape your priorities in prayer.
• A Call to Spiritual Reformation - a good book showing Paul's priorities in prayer
  

Do you have any tools for reading and remembering God's Word?
Share them in the comments...

Dr. Andrew Davis suggests that there are numerous advantages of memorising whole books of the Bible as opposed to individual verses. One of the key things that he says is that it's easy to take verses out of context when remembering them in isolation. (I think there are verses in the Navigators system that do this.)

My memory is often elephant-like in it's ability to retain and use individual Bible verses. I'm thinking that I might have a crack at remembering a 1 or 2 books of the Bible next year. There are some that I can already recite large slabs of such as Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians that might be good ones to start with.

Can you remember entire books of the Bible? Check out the following article for some good tips on how to do it well.

An Approach to the Extended Memorization of Scripture

(direct download)

(h/t JT)

I'm preaching on Psalm 119 this Sunday @ ccecnitechurch. In it the Psalmist is deeply passionate about the word of God. Rejoice, delight, recount, obedience, praise, understanding, wonder, zeal and love are some of his responses to the word.

I've been challenged to "not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Deut 8:3 and Matt 4:4).

The following is one way that the Psalmist seeks to feed upon the word of God:

"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." Psalm 119:11

Jerry Bridges says that one of the ways that the Holy Spirit guides is by recalling to our minds scriptures that we have memorised. Maybe he said that so Navigators could sell more memory verse cards! My guess is that it's based more on Ephesians 6 and being armed with the Sword of the Spirit - which is the Word of God.

Here are 3 systems that might be helpful in arming yourself:

• Navigators Topical Memory System. I have completed the first set of these verses which is about 60 verses. There are a bunch of other sets that I haven't completed. If you don't buy their cards... just use the verses they have on the above page and make your own cards.
• Bethlehem Baptist Church (John Piper) - Fighter Verses. They do this system of over 500 verses as a church. Check the link above to find out more about how they do it, including subscribing to a Podcast with verse of the week. You can also buy the full set for super cheap from Desiring God.
• Forever Grateful Music - Scripture Memory Songs by Mark Altrogge. CraigS has started using these and says that they are gold. Check out some of their samples and then order some CD's if all goes well.

Do you know more Bible verses or quotes from your favourite movies?
Do you read the newspaper or the Bible first thing in the morning?

Delight in the Word of God. Be passionate about it. Remember it. Hide it in your heart.

Do you use a system for remembering verses? Which one? What's it like??

This is our biggest issue of J-walk ever! It's my last one as editor. To be honest... I didn't do much editing at all. I wrote the editorial. So... it's my last editorial. Alex Hartley has now begun editing j-walk. This is good... I'm excited about some of the plans for the magazine next year.

Here it is amigo...

Did you see THE game? Best ever? Relive the highlights below.
Missed it? Watch video 2 & 3 below... or video 1 for just the goals.

Central Coast Mariners V Sydney FC - Goals - 22dec07


CC Mariners V Sydney FC - 1st Half Highlights - 22dec07


CC Mariners V Sydney FC - 2nd Half Highlights - 22dec07


I think that Brosque was offside when Vukovic was deemed to handle the ball outside the penalty area, so shouldn't have been given a red card. Also I think that both keepers made errors that lead to goals. Had both teams had their first choice keepers on the field, the score would have been lower.

But no complaints from this A-League fan!