Palmwoods Baptist Church

Principals of the Mercy of God

2012-02-10T16:10:00.000-08:00

For the past two weeks Ps Simon and Jan have been away so my lovely husband Jeffrey has been preaching each week. His messages have been a two part series called ‘The Principals of the Mercy of God’. I know that this message topic has been on his heart for quite some time and it was a great blessing to listen, learn and watch from what God has taught him over the last few months. I also must add, Jeff is a very animated preacher and used lots of props, illustrations and cannot stand still for more than 2 seconds. It was a really fun and exciting two weeks!

Below is a summary of the 12 Principals of God’s Mercy that he shared and taught us about.

1. Mercy before a person sins

2. Mercy after a person has sinned

3. Mercy to give all creatures according to their need

4. Mercy so that human kind may not be distressed

5. Gracious if humankind is in distress

6. Slow to Anger

7. Plenteous in Mercy

8. Keeping Mercy Unto Thousands

9. Forgiving Iniquity

10. Forgiving Transgression

11. Forgiving Sin

12. Pardoning

He liked these to us as people and reminded us of the great Mercy that our Father in Heaven has for us and the kind of Mercy that we should have towards people in this world. He also demonstrated just how GREAT God’s mercy is for us and how difficult (if not impossible) it is for us to have Mercy the same as God’s. However we should always be trying to have Mercy like God’s and be asking Him to help us be merciful to those around us.

I’ll leave you with some photos of Jeffrey’s preaching and if you would like to listen to his two part series ‘The Principals of the Mercy of God’ than please head over to Palmwoods Baptist Church website.

Also if you visit our Home Page you will be able to listen to a song that I sang on Sunday morning by Amy Grant titled ‘Better than a Hallelujah’. Make sure you have Quicktime player to listening!

Sharing God's word

Some of his props.. yum

Illustrating the wrath of God

Writing in the sand

Never a dull moment

God's name written in Hebrew in the sand!

First Church Service of 2012

2012-02-10T15:43:00.000-08:00

Please Note: This post was written at the beginning on 2012 however I haven’t had internet access for quite some time!

It’s wonderful to be back in church and welcoming in 2012! There’s something about a New Year beginning that is refreshing and exciting! It’s great to see our page counter on the blog going up, so for all of you who keep visiting and waiting on a new post, here it is! And hopefully I’ll be able to update this blog space a little more this year! Please leave us a comment if there is anything in particular you would like to see on the blog in 2012!

This morning Ps Simon preached a message titled ‘How to be Profitable!’ Sorry folks, no handy finance tips in this message but what a great blessing it was. I especially got two very important points out of this message

1. We are not profitable to family and friends if we don’t listen to God.

2. Don’t refuse the voice of God this 2012

These are two very important points that I think we all need to be reminded of now and again, I certainly do. If you feel like your relationship with God isn’t very close or you can’t remember that last time you had a good talk with your God, than take the time now and ask God to help you draw near to Him and ask Him to forgive you. Our God is loving and forgiving and He has never left your side but sometimes we just get lost in the jungle that is life. We cannot survive this world without the amazing love and peace of our Saviour so don’t waste another second, go to God in prayer and receive the grace and love that He has for you right now!

Happy 2012 everyone, I hope this year brings you many blessings and moments you will treasure for a lifetime!

I welcomed in 2012 with my lovely husband and friends at Southbank!

Jeff worship Leading

How to be Profitable!

John playing the Accordion!

Jan singing

Simon sharing God's word!

Because of Jesus Day

2011-10-28T02:15:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we had an extra special service to celebrate our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It was called our ‘Because of Jesus Day’ and we had lots of special items rather than our usual Sunday morning service. Here are some photos I snapped of our service and I must say what a blessing it was to be part of the service singing.

If you would like to hear the testimonies and the song I sang during the service, please visit http://www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au/ and look for the audio clip on the front page of the website.

Song Service

Simon's message!

Because of Jesus!

John's Testimony!

Paul's Testimony!

Ruth Shares!

Jan Sharing!

Jeffrey's short message!

Remember it's all because of Jesus!

Creation Vs Evolution

2011-10-03T03:10:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, it’s nice to be back writing a blog post for Palmwoods Baptist Church. It’s been a while but as usual, life has been hectic.

I wanted to share with you what we’ve been studying on a Sunday evening. Before I tell you about it let me extend a warm welcome to anybody who would like to come along on Sunday evenings to studying and hear from the bible.

We meet 6pm at Palmwoods Baptist Church and anyone is welcome. Visit our website for directions http://www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au/

On Sunday evenings we have had Paul Marsman leading us through a study based on Creation Vs Evolution. I for one am thoroughly enjoying it and have learnt so much about our universe and our Creator. I’m not really into science but this has been excellent and I’m getting so much out of it! It blows my mind just how amazing our God really is, in fact I can’t comprehend it!

Paul has been taking us through some Kent Hovind seminars and seriously you should jump on youtube and check out some of his stuff. Be warned though, you may suffer from information overload because he has A LOT to share! I especially love the way he backs everything up with scripture and really lets God’s word do the teaching! After all, who better to be taught by then God Himself!

Did you know there are 6 meanings of Evolution?

1. Cosmic – Origin of time, space and matter

2. Chemical Evolution – origin of higher elements from hydrogen and helium.

3. Stellar and planetary evolution – origin of stars and planets forming

4. Organic evolution – origin of life – from non living to living

5. Macro evolution – changing from one kind of another

6. Micro evolution – variation within kinds

The only evolution that we know is possible is number 6 – Micro evolution for example dog breeds. We have the same animal but variations of breed – poodle, pug, Pomeranian etc…!

Sunday 24th July 2011

2011-08-01T02:55:00.000-07:00

I’m very aware of my lack of blog posts over the past month so my apologies. I’m extremely busy teaching at the moment but I’ve had this post in the back of my mind since Sunday 24^th July. I snapped quite a few photos so here is a photo blog post! Enjoy!

Jeff song leading this morning

Renee and her lovely family singing!

Reading from the bible

Ps Simon

How to Stay Under God's Umbrella

From the Sound desk!

A boat?

Don’t Hide From God’s Love

2011-07-05T06:26:00.000-07:00

I must apologies for the lack of blogging lately. Sometimes life gets a bit out of control with busyness! On Sunday my wonderful husband had the opportunity to preach at Palmwoods Baptist Church. His message was titled Don’t Hide from God’s Love – Check it out on our website here!

How to See Where You Are Going

2011-06-14T06:29:00.000-07:00

This week’s message can be listened to on the Palmwoods Baptist Church Website as usual!

How to See Where You Are Going by Ps Simon Moir

I’d also like to direct you to our Facebook page. Simply search for Palmwoods Baptist Church on facebook and ‘Like’ us to check out all of the brand new photos and links!!!!

Have a wonderful and blessed week!

The Eagle Message

2011-06-07T03:12:00.000-07:00

I’ve heard a lot about this message from many different people so when it was time on Sunday for Brother Case to preach it, I had high expectations on what I would learn about. Well can I tell you now that if you don’t take the time to listen to this message, you will truly be missing out on a wonderful blessing and encouragement! The Lord really was with us on Sunday morning and I’m certain that God wrote every single word of this sermon. I don’t need to say anything else but go listen now and enjoy!

The Eagle Compared with God’s People

How to Find a Solution

2011-05-30T06:15:00.000-07:00

This week’s post is simply a picture blog, so enjoy seeing some of the things involved in our Sunday Service and please visit www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au to listen to the sermon!

Worship Time

From the inside out!

Singing Hymns

Bibles ready to read!

In God's Word!

Church Service

Reading from the Word

iPhone Bible

Ps Simon talks about the axe

(Listen to the message on our website to find out about it)

What a glorious day the Lord has created for us!

God's beautiful creation

The Axe!

The IT!

Please keep your eyes on our Church Blog for many new and exciting things!

Happy Mother’s Day Sunday

2011-05-10T22:37:00.000-07:00

I must start off by apologizing for this post coming up so late but I’ve been fairly busy this week. And it’s also a welcome back after almost a month off from blogging our church services! Welcome back if you have been reading each week and welcome to all those new people reading our Palmwoods Baptist Church blog. I’d like to take the opportunity now to invite you along to our church service every Sunday morning 10am at Palmwoods Girl Guides Hut. www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au for more details and our address!

Sunday was Mother’s Day (Happy Mother’s Day to all those Mum’s out there and hope you have a wonderful day) and it was also John Gadenne’s turn to preach whilst our Pastor, Simon and his wife Jan are away in PNG.

John’s message was titled ‘Learn of Me’ and focused on how God can and will teach us if we allow Him into our lives daily. He told the stories of Moses, Elijiah, David and Saul who became Paul. It was great and very refreshing to hear more about these faithful men in our bibles! John showed us how God taught all of those men about Himself through different circumstances in their lives.

He especially focused on the verses in Matthew 11:28-30

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Lets try to remember as we go about our everyday lives that God can and will teach us if we let Him and don’t forget to turn to Him and your bible in times of need, not other worldly books. They might help but God can help more!

To Mature

2011-04-11T06:05:00.000-07:00

Another Sunday morning church service and another message to add to our ‘Bible’ series – Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. Today’s was tiled To Mature and focused on developing our relationship with God.

This is definitely a continual growth that we must work at daily and not something that will happen overnight. And you won’t be growing in the Lord because you ‘have to’ but because you want to. Ask God to help you learn and grow and He will guide your every step.

Ps Simon also reminded us about God’s amazing love. God has never forgotten us, we have always been on His mind from eternity to eternity, now just stop and think about that for a minute – incredible hey! God’s love is available to everyone and we need to share God’s love with others.

We also learnt about putting ourselves aside and helping others. Okay, not something new but good to be reminded once in a while. It might be a spiritual help and it also might be a physical help that we are used for. Stop and ask God what He wants you to do and how He wants you to share His love. You will grow in your relationship with God just through this!

I hope you will head over to our website to check out all the changes and listen to the song I sang a few weeks ago. Have a great week!

Please Note: This will be the last of my posts for a few weeks. Jeff and I are going away for a few Sundays but please check back in May for more church updates! God Bless

To Study

2011-04-02T18:49:00.000-07:00

For something a little different for this week’s blog post, I’m writing about our service while I’m still sitting at the church having morning tea. Mainly because I thought it would be nice to write while it’s still fresh in my mind!

First of all we’d like to congratulate Paul and Jess on the birth of their baby boy Ezra last Saturday afternoon and I’d like to remind you to continue praying for the church and our members. We are ever growing and the Lord is being in lots of new and exciting times ahead for us. What a blessing it is to be in the house of God!

This morning Ps Simon shared his message ‘To Study’ and it was a heavy one this week. He jumped all around the bible (as we should when we are studying) and spoke from 2 Timonthy and Romans, just to name a few of the chapters we looked at.

We need to study the word because one day we will come face to face with our God and we definitely what to know all about Him by then. There is a lot of learning in the bible, of course not all of it is intended for us but we can learn so much about God just by reading the studying the word. Ask God to show you His will through the word.

The blood of Christ is the only thing that can cleanse our sins and we have the free will to accept that gift from Christ Jesus. We DO NOT have the free will to choose evil over the love of God.

Our Salvation is by grace and grace alone! The love of God will set us free!

To Learn

2011-03-31T22:42:00.000-07:00

Sunday was another message part of our Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth sermon series and it was titled ‘To Learn’. Ps Simon taught us that we cannot just believe in Jesus but we need to learn about and know Him. Keep reading your bible because you will learn so much about our Lord. This is a frequent message on Sunday mornings but hey in our busy lives we need to be reminded to read and pray regularly.

Our website is every changing and ever growing. Please head over to http://www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au/ to listen to the latest sermon, hear our new background song and check out all the latest church news!!!

I cannot bear this

2011-03-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

Well I’m hoping that I can write this post about Sunday’s service with great clarity because not only did I attend Sunday morning church but also the Diamond Valley Lodge Service and evening church. In total we heard 4 messages on Sunday, so hopefully I’m writing about the correct one here!

Basically Sunday mornings message was about how sometimes we just cannot bear certain things in our lives. It might be guilt, anger, frustration, sadness, it doesn’t really matter. But sometimes or perhaps I should say often, unwanted things come into our lives and cause us great grief. Have you ever faced something you cannot stand up against? I certainly have and when my strength has felt so weak because of that thing I have just felt so much worse that I couldn’t stand it. Well today’s message was great because Ps Simon affirmed with us that we don’t have to bear these things alone, in fact we don’t have to bear them at all. Take them to the cross and leave them with Jesus Christ and your burden will be lifted straight away.

Sounds simply hey? Well it is but it certainly take a lot of prayer, so make sure your relationship with our wonderful God is firm and strong because He will be your strong tower, your foundation when storms come crashing down.

Out of great affliction, comes great blessings! Who’s to say God isn’t using that difficult circumstance for a reason in your life, just pray.

We were also reminded not to judge others when they are going through difficult times, facing the storms of life. Judge lest ye be judged! If you don’t want to be judge than don’t judge others! Yes, it’s very easy to do but put a conscious effort into not doing it and God will help you follow through with the actions.

And a final thought from the message was that an obedient Christian is a happy Christian. It’s very true because if you are in the word of God and in continuous prayer with God, you will know His will for you and you will live your life out of obedience for God. Remember we live in a world of sin and God is our saviour from all of that! Keep close to Him everyday!

Have a wonderful and blessed week and make sure you pick up that bible sometime during the week, don’t let it just sit there!!!

This is the Stuff!

2011-03-16T22:18:00.000-07:00

I don’t normally write on the church blog unless it’s directly about Palmwoods Baptist Church but I think that should change! This week God has been teaching me some very valuable lessons that I really wanted to share with you because we’re all human and I’m certain everyone faces these too!

How easy is it to get discourage in this gloomy old world that we live in? Okay so it’s not really gloomy but when things aren’t going your way it sure does feel that way! I’m not talking about the big things, sometimes big bad things come our way and they really do knock us down. No, I’m talking about the small, unimportant things that make us feel like the world is coming to an end. Ever felt like that? I sure have, when the DVD player just won’t work, when I spend 20mins trying to find phone reception or when motivation is a non-existent thing in your life! These small things can really make life suck, simple as that!

I found this great song this week – well actually a friend of facebook put it up to share with everyone and it was exactly how I was feeling. So I’m guessing God was using facebook right at that moment to get this to me haha! Have a listen!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVnAyD96G3A

It’s called This is the Stuff by Francesca Battistelli – go on, have a listen!

When life gives you a kick just turn to God in prayer so that He can remind you that He is using these little knocks (and most times they are very little hardships) to teach us some valuable lessons and to build our character to be more like Him. The above song says ‘I forget how big I’m blessed’ SO TRUE, SO TRUE, SO TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are incredibly blessed and we need to remember it! God is using all of this ‘stuff’ in His own special way to help us, bless us and teach us! Also remember those who are facing the ‘big stuff’ like in Japan, New Zealand and up the North Coast of Queensland. God is using their situations too but do keep them in your prayers, God does hear them!

Have a wonderful rest of the week and I hope that this post does encourage you to pray! And hey If you’re not smiling by now you can always just imagine me trying for 20mins without success to get phone reception by standing in a very uncoordinated fashion on anything and everything around me!

Sunday 13th March – To Build

2011-03-15T20:38:00.000-07:00

I thought I’d mix it up a little bit for this week’s blog post and rather than give you a summary of the message preached by Ps Simon I thought I’d just direct you to our church website.

http://www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com/.au and follow the links to sermons. This weeks sermon was titled To Build

Let me also encourage you to continue reading your bible each week and keeping close to our God in prayer. (This is not just a reminder for you but for me too)

A short post this week but I hope that you enjoy listening to the message we heard on Sunday and I hope that the Lord speaks to your heart and mind too!

To Pray

2011-03-08T04:21:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed that there was no blog post last week, well that’s because my lovely husband and I spent a week away for his birthday in Sydney visiting family but we got back in time for Sunday’s service so I’m able to give you a blog update this week!

Ps Simon spoke to us able talking to God through prayer and how He will answer you if you continue to pray. We live in a ‘microwave generation’ where we expect to see prayer answered instantly or even before we pray it but God just doesn’t operate like that. For starters, it shouldn’t be a burden to talk to God, it’s a privilege! Just because God doesn’t answer your prayer as soon as the words have left your lips or crossed your mind, doesn’t mean He won’t and that you should just stop praying. Just look at Norah, God told him through prayer to build an arch and it took 150 years before it even rained! Have faith in God!

We also need to stay in continuous prayer so that God can draw us close to Him and show us what is true and what is false. There are so many religions out there and so many false teachings. Keep in prayer with God so that He can show you the truth! Jesus is the true vine, watch out for those false ones, they will leave a sour taste in your mouth!

Our church website is very much alive and ever changing so to listen to this message and many others, please follow the link www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au and check out everything else that our website has to offer you! This includes a new prayer request form on our contact page!!!!

God bless your week!

Knowing the Will of God

2011-02-22T13:16:00.001-08:00

Sunday morning Ps Simon headed out the Kingaroy Church to preach so it was Paul Marsman’s turn to share a message with us! He titled it ‘Knowing the Will of God’ and read from Romans 12:1-2 with most of the message focused on verse 2

Romans 12:2 - And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

He spoke firstly about our minds needing to be transformed before we can perform the will of God (which you can see in the above verse). And also that to do the will of God it must be premeditated, as in we need to have thought about what we are going to do and whether it is the will of God and why.

The next part of his message focused on the fact the God has given us free will to make choices so we are not just robots doing God’s will rather we can show Him how much we love Him by choosing to do His will. So it’s important to sit down with your bible (God’s Word) and read, study and pray over what God has written in this book as His will. For example we have the 10 commandments which are set out in the bible and show us some of God’s will in our lives. We need to search the word for more of God’s will as well.

His final point was to explain that we cannot say whether we are in or out of the will of God based on our circumstances in our lives. Whether things are going good or bad in our lives does not show whether you are in the will of God. Job is a great example of this, he had terrible things happen to him but he was still doing the will of God. Just because things are going great for you, doesn’t mean you are in the will of God, doesn’t mean you’re not too!

Read the Word, pray and know God because he will direct you and keep you within His will. Paul likened this to a relationship with your husband, wife or partner. To know them you must spend time with them, pray with them and talk to them.

Knowing God is knowing His will for you!

He finished off by reading the first verse of Romans which tells us to present ourselves as living sacrifices. This is also how you will know the will of God!

Head over to http://www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au/ for a listen!

To Know

2011-02-15T13:37:00.000-08:00

Sunday’s message was titled ‘To Know’ and I feel that it was a very important message preached by Ps Simon. He read from 1 Corinthians 2:11 - For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

I’m not going to give you a huge blog post about it because the whole message can be summed up by one simple statement which I think is very important for everyone to understand

If you don’t have and know the Spirit of God than there will be things that you won’t understand in God’s Word and prayer with God.

Make sure you know God and the Holy Spirit, strengthen your understanding and faith through reading God’s Word and through prayer with God, but make sure you know the Saviour personally!

Ps Simon also spoke on how the symbols we have of God (such as the bible) will be the light to us but to the lost they will be darkness. Have you heard people say that the bible is just a book of nice stories… now you understand why they say such things! We know the bible is truth and lessons from God

Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth!

Have a wonderful and blessed week!

Jesus Christ’s Conviction on Religion

2011-02-07T04:09:00.000-08:00

It was great to have a fair few more people at church again this morning and an absolutely lovely day to be in the house of God listening to His word and enjoying the air-conditioning that we’ve been blessed with! This week we had John Gadenne preaching a message which he titled ‘Jesus Christ’s Conviction on Religion’.

This message was very powerful and reminded each of us that we don’t need religion, we need Jesus Christ! Our faith and relationship with God is very important and we need to be careful that we are not falling into religious acts just because we know we should be doing them. For example we need to be praying continually because we are communicating and listening to God, not just because it’s something we ‘should’ be doing. The same goes for reading our bible and going to church. These things need to be alive in our lives, not just stale practices that we do each day.

When we start to follow religion over Christ we will notice that Christ is not in our lives as much. Our role as Christians is not to point out to everyone what they are doing wrong all the time rather to show the great love of Christ to other. Ask God to help you each day as you read, pray and attend church. When you’re living day by day for Christ and not for religion, you will find great joy, love and peace in all aspect of your life and you’ll notice that worry and tension leave your life!!!! It’s certainly a blessing to live for God each day!!!!

Perfect Faith is Following Christ!

How to Stay Unbound

2011-02-02T13:46:00.000-08:00

I must apologies that this post is so late in the week, it’s already Thursday!!!!! The week has flown by and I must mention the devastating Tropical Cyclone which North Queensland has just faced! At this point in time we hope that everyone would be praying for those who’ve had to face Cyclone Yasi. The Lord has shown us His mighty power with this category 5 cyclone and I urge you, don’t take God for granted because He is mighty and powerful! Pray for the Lords protection, His strength and His will in this situation and keep an eye out because I’m sure there is going to be many different ways that we can all help in some way over the next few months!

So Sunday morning we had a packed church which was a major blessing for everyone at Palmwoods Baptist Church. Lots of visitors whom we hope to see again in the weeks ahead! We had Paul Marsman preaching a message which he titled ‘How to Stay Unbound’. He spoke about how in our society today we have such extensive technology which is a great blessing but can also lead to lack of thinking. We need to protect our minds and still think for ourselves!

Mark 3:27 No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.

Paul built this message upon this verse from Mark but if you’d like to understand a little further, I encourage you to head over to http://www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au/ and have a listen to Paul’s message about how to be unbound!

Also remember that as Christians we need to be constantly checking over ourselves to make sure we are listening to God and not slipping closer into the world. It’s so easy to relax and think you are ‘alright’ but keep praying, keep asking God to guide your life and keep in the Word of God constantly!

To Search

2011-01-24T01:13:00.000-08:00

At church on Sunday we really felt the presence of God was with us. Every day God is with us, church or no church but this morning there was just something extra special happing! Church ran so smoothly and God really spoke to our hearts and kept us focused on His Word. It’s such a blessing when this happens at any time in your life!

Ps Simon started off his message by reminding us that when God sends His judgment, there won’t be any warning! After church we got chatting about a youtube video that explains this perfectly. Check it out!

To continue Ps Simon’s message, he also spoke on symbols of God in the bible and how we need to search for them. Symbols of God are things like the burning bush that Moses saw and the Christmas star that the Wisemen followed. God gives us these types of symbols because the Holy Spirit is exactly that, a spirit. We cannot see the spirit and God gives us visible things to show His will.

One of the symbols He leaves us with today is The Bible! When you read God’s word you are being given instructions and guidance from God Himself. Just like our sermon series is called ‘Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth’ – BIBLE! The bible is our food – Food for the Soul!

To Hear

2011-01-17T22:50:00.000-08:00

Sunday 16^th January saw us dive deeper into our sermon series 'Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth', preached by Ps Simon. This was the second installment and we heard all about needing to hear the word of God. We looked specifically at Luke 4 and Acts 7:51 for more wisdom from God’s word.

We need to understand that what we hear will affect our hearts and we need to be hearing the right thing. Reading all sorts of books can help increase our knowledge and understanding but we need to be wise about what we read so that our knowledge grows with the right information. Make sure you keep in the Word of God too, as it will always grow your understanding correctly.

Always remember that God actually wants us to hear from Him as hearing from God and His word will increase our faith. Be careful that your imagination is not guiding you, rather God and His word.

Last week Ps Simon talked about Matthew 7 where God tells us that it is wise to build our house on the rock and not the sand. Well by reading God’s word you are building your faith on the rock which is God. If your foundation in God is strong, than when storms in life come along you are going to be able to withstand anything.

You will have faith when you know Jesus but to increase your faith you need to actually hear from Him! Knowing and hearing from Jesus is such a huge blessing and will bring you much joy, love and hope!

Please continue praying for the church and it’s people each week and check out our ever changing website at http://www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au/ and make sure you listen to our sermons each week!

To Believe

2011-01-10T06:06:00.000-08:00

A very rainy Sunday morning but a blessing to be in the church reading the Word of God! We even had some lovely visitors which was a great blessing from our wonderful God! I hope they were are blessed by God’s word and presence as I was!

We learn a lot from John 12:46 and onwards about how Jesus was not sent to judge us rather the save us and that the Word will judge those that reject it! We also were reminded that we need to build our lives on the rock not the sand! The rock is the Word of God and it is extremely important to have a strong foundation in our lives!

The Word of God will set you free and Jesus Christ is our rock which we can safely and confidently stand upon! If you have a bible make sure you read it! We are all guilty of not reading our bibles but if you don’t read the Lords word you cannot grow properly. Also talk to God, anytime anywhere! He’s never of reception or on another call! What a blessing that is in our ever changing, technological world! The Lord loves you very much and He’s ready to take your call right now so please pray and please read His Word! I’m sure He will touch your heart and life!

On a side note please keep the big floods in South East Queensland in your prayers. So many people, places and communities have been greatly affected and we’ve even seen some lives lost due to these floods! Every channel on TV shows just a little more of the devastation that people are facing. We are so incredibly blessed that we have a God who is going to take care of us and all of these terrible events so please pray!

All if you can please donate to the Flood Appeal because ever cent counts and these people are going to need a great deal of money to re-build their lives and homes!

Work While it Is Still Day… 2011!

2011-01-03T14:44:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the first church service of 2011 and to our new theme for the year, Work While it is Still Day! This year we are going to be looking at the bible from a more practical point of view, learning scripture and using it in our day to day lives. We started this off on the right foot by praying for our community, church, country and those governing our country. I believe this needs to be constantly in our prayers as well.

Our message today by Ps Simon was focused on using the bible and knowing it. We need the Word to guide our lives along with our God. Not just on Sunday but everyday as we live and learn. It can be hard work but what we put in we will always get out. I for one hope that this year that God will guide me and teach me in His Word and through my prayer time with Him.

All are welcome at Palmwoods Baptist Church and if you want to know God, learn from God and know His Word than this is the place for you. Please drop us a line or visit our newly revamped website at www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au

2011 is the year to start living for God and helping others understand that love that the Lord has for them! Come along and be blessed, not by people but by the Lord!

Our Verse of the Week is

Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

2 Corinthians 3:3

Please Note: Our new website has been designed by Jeffrey to be accessible not just by computers and laptops but also by mobile phones! We also have a Facebook page so if you are the facebook user like myself than please 'like' us to keep up to date on church events!

Looking Ahead to 2011!

2010-12-28T02:44:00.000-08:00

Sunday 26th December was our very last service for 2010 and that is what Ps Simon focused on in his message. He spoke on how the bible is for us to learn from and how it is our

B – Basic

I – Instructions

B – Before

L – Leaving

E – Earth

He also spoke about how the bible may not have EVERYTHING in it however it has everything we need to know at the moment. After all, we can’t even remember what we have in front of us let alone more. And he also spoke about the bible not being open to interpretations. I think we are all guilty of trying to get what we want out of the bible rather than learning and understanding what God has put in it.

At Christmas time we read about the wise men following a star, well our star is the bible and 2011 at Palmwoods Baptist Church is going to be heavily focused on learning and knowing God’s word. Please remember that you are all welcome to come along 10am Sunday morning to share and learning with us at the church.

Happy 2011 everyone and God Bless!!!

Church and Carols Night

2010-12-21T07:45:00.000-08:00

We had a very busy Sunday with church in the morning, lodge church in the middle of the day and our church Christmas carols at night. Our message from Ps Simon was the very last for Christmas which he titled It’s Christmas time and talked about Jesus being our kings man and fulfilling the law for us to have eternal life. Which is exactly what we celebrate at Christmas time, and what we really need to remember when we are being bombarded with presents and santa clause.

In the evening we celebrated Christmas with a church Christmas carols night. We didn’t have a huge amount of people there but that didn’t matter in the slightest. We sang carols, told the Christmas story and Simon shared with us a slide show about Jesus’ birth. Afterwards we had some fellowship with supper and coffee. What a blessing it was to share Christmas time with our church family whilst remember the true message at Christmas time.

I encourage you to take time on Christmas day to remember why we celebrate. Gift giving is a great way to show people you care about how much you love them but just remember the biggest gift is what that little baby gave us over 2000 years ago. If you don’t know Jesus this Christmas or don’t know if you have eternal life than I encourage you to give your life to God. Take some time away from the Christmas cheer to talk to Jesus because He’s listening and He cannot

Cruising the Noosa River

2010-12-21T07:19:00.000-08:00

2 weeks ago our whole church we’re very blessed to have the day out together cruising the Noosa river on Paul and Jessica’s families BBQ boat! We were also very blessed to have beautiful weather with one small down pour during lunch! The water was warm, food yummy and the company was lovely!

I for one had a great day and was completely worn out! Definitely something I’m sure everyone would like to do again and spending time together as a church family was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon! Check out some photos from our day out and about!

The Boat

Carmy and Jeff on board!

The River

Paul and Jess in charge!

Everyone enjoying the river

Jeff and Luke

Beach

Simon on the boat!

Lunch time

The amazing water. So warm!

How to Put Christ Back in Christmas

2010-12-06T21:16:00.000-08:00

A few people pointed out to me this week that I didn’t write a blog post last Sunday. Well I did but it’s been sitting on my desktop all week… which really isn’t a great place for it haha! So I’m writing one big post about the past two weeks instead!

Lately we’ve had a lot of discussion within the church about the Christmas season and what it means for Christians. For this reason Ps Simon has started a sermon series titled ‘How to Put Christ Back in Christmas’! I for one think these messages will be very important for everyone to hear as we try to muddle our way through the festive season in a way that is Godly and shows Christ to all of those around us.

We’ve started from the beginning in Mathew from where Mary finds out she is going to have a son who is Jesus. We need to remember something very important here, God’s time is supernatural. God chose this time for Mary and He chose the time of the birth and where. I think we can put that into our everyday life because sometimes we think God needs to work in worldly time rather than His perfect time.

At this time of year it’s also important to remember that God is always working within you, as He was with Mary when He put Jesus within her. Don’t lose your hope this Christmas because it’s too commercial or Santa isn’t real. Just remember that God can work through all things and that He wants you to share His love and hope this Christmas. After all, it’s a great time of year to talk to people about why we celebrate the birth of Jesus.

I’d also like to give glory to our God because last Sunday we were back in the Girl Guides hut for church with lovely new bathrooms! We've also now got a sound desk up the back for Jeffrey to live at! We are very blessed to have such a great facility to use each week and we’d love for you to come along and celebrate our God with us. Every Sunday 10am!

Staying on the Face of the Wave

2010-11-24T18:48:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed that I didn’t write a blog for Sunday 14th, we’ll that’s because we didn’t quite make it to church that morning. You can always listen on the website if you’re interested!

Sunday just gone was our last one at Simon and Jan’s house. Hopefully the hut will be all ready by Sunday coming for our church service! Our message from Ps Simon was all about ‘Staying on the Face of the Wave’ and how our salvation lifts us up above all that is happening in our lives and in the world. We need to look up and stay close to Jesus always! It was another one of those very complex messages that everyone could take something different but all the same important from so please have a listen yourself.

Head to www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au! You can listen anytime of the day or night so please head over for a listen!

God’s Authority

2010-11-07T21:24:00.000-08:00

This Sunday’s message from Ps Simon was interesting because it had a lot of thoughts in it and I believe that everyone got something a little different from it. I’ll share with you how it personally spoke to me but it would be great for you to head over to www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au to see how the Lord speaks to you.

Ps Simon used this message as an extension on last week’s message ‘Letting Go’. He spoke on 3 different forms of authority within the church and how they affect our ministry.

1. Devine Authority – God

2. Dominate Authority – The Bible

3. Delegated Authority – People in roles of responsibility within the church

It’s important to know and understand the difference so you know when the Lord is speaking to you and asking you to do something in your life. Each of these authorities are important but we need to make sure our Devine and Dominate authorizes are leading us into places or ministries, rather than Delegated.

Like I said, this message is quite complex and requires you to have a listen and find out what God is speaking to you about. Also remember, the purpose of church is to worship God!

Stay in the word this week, continue praying for one another and never forget the love that God has for you.

PS: Happy Birthday to me for Friday 

Letting God!

2010-11-03T04:18:00.000-07:00

The last day of October 2010 was our usual Sunday service, which took place again at Ps Simon and Jan’s house. We will have this coming Sunday at their house as well and after that shall be back into the hut! Can’t wait! My apologies for this being a midweek post rather than closer to Sunday. I’ve been super busy and had a few things come up this week!

Ps Simon shared with us a message which he titled Letting Go. He spoke about allowing God to lead us and not people or things of this world. How often do you find yourself following after a worldly thing without even knowing it? I sure do have that problem sometimes! Ps Simon’s advice to us was prayer. Our prayers need to reach the shores of heaven. You can talk to God anytime, anywhere so we really have no excuse (even if we try to make one up!)

Letting go might mean something different for everyone but one of the biggest ‘letting goes’ is forgiveness. Are you bitter about something? Ask God to help you let it go. In fact, just give it totally over to God. Go on, do it now! When we hold onto things like bitterness, we give satin the advantage in our lives. No one wants that.

So just let go of whatever is holding you, let go and let God lead you even if it’s in a direct you are unsure of. Please visit our website to listen to this message. Let God speak to your heart now!

Let go and let God!!!!! Have a wonderful week church folk!

Confusion to Clarity!

2010-10-25T01:56:00.000-07:00

After a whole month away from church, myself and Jeffrey are back but now as Mr and Mrs Gadenne. That’s night we’re all married now!!!! We’d like to use this blog to spend out a HUGE thank you to a few people from church. First of all to Ps Bakss up at Lighthouse Baptist Church, thank you for traveling such a long way to perform our wedding ceremony. It was such a huge blessing to have you there! Secondly we’d like to thank Ps Simon and Jan for everything they did for us on our wedding day. They both played a HUGE part in making the day go off successfully with driving, setup, music and much more. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much! You are both such great blessings to us and we are very grateful!

Church this week was held at Simon and Jan’s house whilst the church bathroom is being renovated. This is a great blessing to us as a church and it is so wonderful to have the Girl Guides hut to use every week for a small cost. It was nice and cosy having church at their house and we had a lovely morning tea afterwards. It’s starting to get very warm now though!

This week for a change, Ps Simon decided to share his testimony as the preaching and I must say it was a blessing to me and I’m sure many others. Hearing how the Lord changed and saved people is always awesome to hear! He focused a lot on Mark 8:22 spoke about how God had things in his life that were unclear but God reaveled and brought him much needed clarity. This is so true in our lives and is certainly a great lesson in faith. Just because things aren’t clear, doesn’t mean God doesn’t know what He’s doing. Keep your faith in Him so He can bring you clarity!

He also spoke on the back that once we are saved we are in a constant battle, war, with satin because he doesn’t want us to believe and trust in God. Know who your enemies are and don’t look to that person who drives you nuts because it’s not them, it’s satin!

Also remember this, God operates under the law of Grace. He has grace for us even when we don’t deserve it, which is pretty well all the time! Some really great points for you to remember this week and also don’t forget that the sermons are still being recorded so head over to www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au to have a list! Have a wonderful week and welcome back to the blog!

It’s All About Me!

2010-09-19T09:24:00.000-07:00

This morning we almost packed out the church! Not all that many empty seats which is a huge blessing and encouragement from our God! It was also a wonderful blessing to have evangelist Neil Smith and his family with us this morning, all the way from Rockhampton! We may only be a small church but we have some mighty good preaching coming out each week! The Lord really does provide and bless those that seek Him diligently!

We also had Paul song leading this morning which was a blessing to Jeffrey as he needed a rest and a blessing to the church as well!

Neil Smith shared with us this morning a message from Psalm 77 which he used to teach us a very important main point. We need to take the focus off ourselves and put it onto God! We are all very selfish people (yes, even you reading this and myself writing this post) and we need to be reminded constantly that it’s not all about us. Neil went through Psalm 77 and said that the words ‘me’ and ‘I’ where mention twice as much as ‘God and ‘Lord. And let’s face it, this is entirely true in our own lives.

He also talked about how they are staying on the coast during the holidays and have a High Definition Television in their room which is great but his wife said ‘this TV is so clear, it’s not good for females’. Neil pointed out (and girls, we all know it’s true) that females don’t like to show up their blemishes, especially on their faces, so we cover it up with makeup. Well think about this. God doesn’t focus on the blemishes in our lives! They are not in focus to Him because we ask Him to forgive us of our sins and He is true and right to take them away for us!

Don’t be so self conscious in your life, be God conscious and all those little things that bother you now just won’t be entering your mind or field of vision! Really it’s a win, win!!! Please head over to the website to listen to Neil’s message, you’ll thoroughly enjoy it!

On a side note, I’d like to inform you that this will be the last blog post for the next few weeks as I am going to be away from church a little bit and busy with wedding plans. We should be back to normal around the 24th October but please do drop by now and again and if I do get time I will update! The website will continue to be updated weekly with new sermons to listen to and notices.

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful and safe month!

Deliverance!

2010-09-12T23:55:00.000-07:00

Sunday 12th was a lovely sunny day and such a blessing to be in the house of God. We were small in numbers but big in faith as we met at 10am. It was Brother John’s turn to preach this week as Ps Simon is going to be having 5 weeks off while we have lots of guest preachers!!!

John’s message focused on deliverance by our savior God in the face of lots of different things that come up in life. He had 7 points which God can deliver us from

1. Deliverance from guilt and the penalties of sin

2. Deliverance from evil on this earth

3. Deliverance from sudden temptation

4. Deliverance from gripping fear

5. Deliverance from depression and loneliness

6. Deliverance from difficult situations

7. Deliverance from resentment and bitterness

We’ve all faced some or all of the above and therefore we all need deliverance from God. This message is for everyone on this earth and John has shown us where God promises these things in His word so please zip over to our website www.palmwoodsbaptisthchurch.com.au to listen to the message!

We also need to remember to give God the glory for all things which he delivers us from in our lives and remember that without Him we could do nothing.

The Joy that Jesus Had

2010-09-05T23:41:00.000-07:00

As you should all know, on Sunday we celebrated Father’s Day. So Happy Father’s Day for Sunday all the dads out there reading this!!! We hope you had an extra special day. Simon took the opportunity on this day that we remember fathers to talk about our Father in Heaven!

‘The Joy that Jesus Had’ was the title of his message and he spoke about the difference between happiness and joy and how people mix these two up all the time. I sure do! The Lord is our strength and when we begin to understand this, that’s when true joy will come

Also you will find true joy when you know what you are doing with your life is the will of the Father. Take the time this week to talk to God about what you are doing and make sure it’s his will for you. Sometimes we don’t always enjoy the work we are doing but if it’s God’s will than you will find His joy. Remember Jesus died on the cross for the Father’s will. I don’t image that would have been enjoyable!

Do you look up to your father as a role model, a hero or a protector? Well just remember that this is exactly what our Father in Heaven is as well. Without Him, we can do nothing!

It was also a great blessing for Jeffrey and I to be able to get up in church to sing a song we sang at his Mum's birthday party. The song is called Your Grace Still Amazes Me. A gorgeous song that you most definately should listen to on youtube. I hope His grace still amazes you. Have a wonderful week!

God the Great Engineer!

2010-08-23T02:50:00.000-07:00

Big shout out to everyone who reads the Palmwoods Baptist Church blog each week. We hope you enjoy it! We’d love to know who our current readers are so drop us a line to carmy1413@hotmail.com and let us know if you’re enjoying the blog or even what you’d like to see written about. Feel free to make requests!!!

Another great Sunday morning worshiping our Lord, which was followed by the church meeting! Ps Simon titled our message ‘God the Great Engineer’ and focused on grace over law! He talked about how Jesus uses His people to do great works and that we need to be showing our faith through our acts. It’s all good and well to have faith and believe but you also need to put it into action!

We live in the age of grace and because of this we need to remember that there is a very big difference between grace and law! The bible holds all the answers and if you don’t read and understand God’s word then you are going to struggle with understanding the differences between God’s grace and the laws. If you’d like to know more about this message than please head over to http://www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au/ to listen to the sermon online.

This message was also a great lead into the church meeting where we discussed our ‘Statement of Faith’, church finances, ministries and our commitments to the church. If you’d like to pray for us than please keep these things in mind as they are needs and things that we need to discuss with the Lord.

Also if you are interested in reading our statement of faith than please email us to ask for a copy as we are always willing to share resources and material with our readers and church members. Keep praying and remember we live by the grace of God each day of our lives.

The Boldness of Nehemiah

2010-08-16T08:43:00.000-07:00

As you can see if you are a regular reading, I’ve missed out a Sunday with my blogging but I’m afraid with so much going on that I couldn’t make it to church on the 8th August. With more busy times ahead, I hope that you will forgive me if this happens again! But please catch up online with the message and continue to pray that others may visit our website http://www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au/ and be touched by the word of God.

This week at Church we were blessed to have Paul preaching whilst Ps Simon was off in Kingaroy preaching up a storm! We’ve had Paul and his wife Jessica at our church now for a couple of months and it has been such a delight to have them with us. We consider them part of the family and a breath of fresh air to the Palmwoods flock!

Paul shared his message from Nehemiah 1 and 2 and focused on the way that Nehemiah faced and resolved a problem in his life. He wept, mourned, prayed and fasted because he felt his problem was that big and important to resolve. Perhaps this is something we should think about next time a battle comes our way!

We also saw through the scripture reading, the character which Nehemiah showed in the face of conflict. He had great boldness and knew exactly what needed to be said and how. He did not beat around the bush, rather spoke clearly and with boldness. Again, something perhaps we should take on board? Have you ever been asked a question and known what you ‘should’ say but haven’t answered like this? I think we’ve all faced that. Have Nehemiah’s boldness and confidence when you know the truth and be not afraid of those who can hurt the flesh.

On a side note before I finish, next Sunday we will be having a church meeting after the service followed by lunch. Please feel welcome to come along with your ideas and thoughts with the church and the direction that it is travelling in. Have a great week and keep in the word and prayer with God!

Where Do You Invite Jesus?

2010-08-01T00:35:00.000-07:00

Welcome into August everyone and to the last month of winter!!! We had a lovely warm day on Saturday so let’s hope some more of that gorgeous weather is on its way. We’ve got a few things happening in the church at the moment with Ps Simon and Jan heading to Rockhampton straight after church today to be part of the Lighthouse Baptist Pastors Refresher Course. In September the boys will be heading off to take part in the Men and Boys Camp in the Bunya Mountains, if you’d like to come along too than please contact Ps Simon to get more info! And in October myself and Jeffrey are getting married which is of course taking up a lot of time and planning. So pace yourselves, it’s going to be a busy few months!

Today’s message was titled ‘Where Do You Invite Jesus?’ and focused on our walk and relationship with the Lord. For those of us who’ve ever felt that we are wasting our days on this earth than this message if for you! (So we should have lots of hits on this sermon as everyone needs to hear it!)

It’s a common human fault to try and bring Jesus to where we are. One of the quotes I put on the back of today’s bulletin said ‘Some people talk about finding God – as if He could get lost’. It’s true though, we try to bring God down to our level when we just need to look up to Him. Ps Simon called this ‘the vertical plain’. We try to bring God to our ‘horizontal plain’ with is when we’re going to feel far from Him and like we are wasting our lives. Another quote I used in the bulletin today said ‘If you are not as close to God as you used to be, who moved?’ Think about it!

Simply trust in God and look up to Him. Let me give you a piece of very solid wisdom and if you only get one thing from today’s sermon online or my blog then remember this. THINGS, MONEY, TRAVELS, OBJECTS, WILL NEVER FULFILL YOU, EVER! My lovely fiancé just bought the newest and greatest iphone 4 and even though he thinks its tops and can’t put it down, he knows that it cannot fulfill him and it certainly cannot save him.

By not trusting God and giving Him our all, we are robbing Him of our lives and you don’t want to be in that boat now do you? I certainly don’t. God can cleanse us from all sin and give us a fulfilling and wonderful life if we look up to Him.

Political Fever
Hands up those of you who are feeling a little confused and unsure about this impending election? I sure am as I don’t trust any of them to keep their word and think that they’d say anything (even the Christian parties) just to get my vote. But over afternoon at the Diamond Valley Lodge today we started chatting about it and hearing each other’s thoughts and views. I think that best thing that came out of this discussion was from John. It doesn’t matter who we vote for because God will have His way. Someone has got to get in and they might be good or bad for our country but just remember, all of this will one day burn up and fade away. Also remember that God is stronger and bigger and wiser than all of it. So make an informed vote but don’t dwell on it, don’t turn on the TV each night and fear for our poor country as it is not worth your worry. Hand it over to Christ

Followers
Just one more quick message before I finish. If you’d like to get email alerts whenever I update or add a new post to the Palmwoods Baptist Church Blog, than please click on the ‘Follow’ link to the right of the page and add in your details. It’s quick, easy and you’ll always know when a new post has been put up.

How Do You See It!

2010-07-24T23:51:00.000-07:00

Big welcome back to Pastor Simon and Jan this morning at church as they've just returned from PNG and also a big praise point as well as they've just moved into their new house, a little closer to the church!

I didn't have any paper with me this morning so for a change I decided that it's your job to listen to the message on our church website this week. http://www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au/and visit the sermon section.

The main point of this mornings message was taken from 1 Thessalonians 2 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

Remember always that the word of God is our light and truth, not man. We need to always turn to our bibles before other books and people. Pray without ceasing and always walk close to your Lord. Have a great and safe week!

Measure Your Days

2010-07-18T04:51:00.000-07:00

Today our church was blessed with many visitors and we also had evangelist Neil Smith preaching. It's always a great blessing to have lots of people at church but we need to remember that we didn't bring them in, rather the Lord did and He brought them for His will, not ours. It still brings us a great blessing though!

We had another great song service and learnt a scripture song from Romans and also sang In Christ Alone! We don't always sound 'beautiful' but each week the Lord keeps us faithful to Him by helping us through each song and giving us a great blessing out of it.

Neil Smith's message was titled 'Measure Your Days' and he focused on Psalm 39. This message was mainly a reminder that our days on this earth are numbered and we need to use them wisely and not take them for granted. Neil reminded us that when we don't know which way to head that we need to just keep moving along as the Lord can always change your path. He can't turn something around that's not moving.

He also taught us that we cannot go through life without God as our best effort is nothing but vanity. Ask the Lord what He wants you to do with your life and don't compare yourself to other people and what they are doing. Remember 'other's may, you may not'. Just because your not rich, have a great job, run a business, have the best car, doesn't mean you don't have a great and worthwhile life. The Lord directs what you need and do.

Matthew 6:33 - But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

During the week remember t pray for one another and also pray for Ps Simon and Jan's safe return home from PNG! We're really looking forward to having them back again! Also keep praying for the Lord's will in your life as the best place to be in close to the Lord!

Catching Up!

2010-07-13T20:31:00.000-07:00

I know, it's been ages since I updated the church blog! Three weeks ago I was sick with a cold and couldn't attend church. 2 weeks ago my computer had a meltdown and I haven't been able to use it since and last week I wasn't feeling very well and we were running late so I didn't make it to church again. Hopefully we're totally back on track now so i can continue blogging. I however do not have a working computer so I am using a macbook which Jeffrey borrowed from work, which might I add is awesome!!!!

So two weeks ago John Gaadenne was preaching at church and his message was titled 'The Happiness of the Believer'. He shared with us what true happiness is, not money, not things (like the macbook haha), not a big house. True happiness is found with God and in serving Him. Through your prayer life be sure to ask God how He wants you to serve Him each day. It might be big things but most likely it will be the small things and the way you live your life.

Last week I wasn't at church but John preached a message titled 'Jesus, the author and finisher of our Faith'. Jeff informs me this was a great message which you should certainly listen too. Head over to www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au to listen to it online.

This Sunday coming we'll have Neil Smith preaching at the church so we would love for you to come along and praise the Lord with us. Have a wonderful rest of the week.

O Worship the King

2010-06-20T20:32:00.000-07:00

Even though our worship time before the preaching each Sunday isn’t the most ‘beautiful’ sound you’ve ever heard nor is it the loudest sound either, I just love it! The commitment each week to continue praising the Lord through hymns and songs even though we most likely will make a mistake, sing ahead of the music or even just totally sing the wrong words makes it’s a very special time of the morning. I’m sure that the Lord would be looking down and smiling over Palmwoods Baptist Church and I’m also sure that the only reason our church can be so committed is because of the Lord and His strength, not our own!

I’d also like to publicly thank God for the air conditioning we have at church these days. It’s just hit winter and the little girl guides hut turns into a bitter cold igloo about this time every year. The split system air con that we now have keeps the hut nice and warm and helps us focus more on the Lord than on our shivers and blue finger tips! Thanks God!

Anyways onto the sermon and Pastor Simon continued his series on God being our help! He spoke on how things are still the same and that people these days are looking to other things to help them fill voids in their lives. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are still the way and the word of God is still our blue print! The house of God is a sanctuary to Christians (or anyone) and we do not need to turn to the world for help! It’s still by the grace of God that we do what we do each day, live the way we live and think the way we think.

This message became very relevant to me on Sunday evening on a trip to Mooloolaba to have coffee. People who have just been at church, praising our Lord, standing around in the street talking about disgusting topics, how drunk they got on the weekend and just generally acting as though they could do all. I asked which church a few of them attended and had I not I would have thought they were just night clubbers out for a ‘good night on the town’. At this point I need to note that this was not EVERYONE at Mooloolaba. Plenty of the people there were Christians simply enjoying their friends and coffee on a bitter cold night after worshiping our Lord.

It makes me sad though to see people who apparently love and trust in God not sharing the Lord’s wonderful news. And as Ps Simon said this morning, nothing has changed, that it is still our job as Christians! One of the most powerful ways of sharing the gospel is by action. People wonder what is ‘different’ about you and start asking questions. What a great way to talk to someone about God!

So the main message in this sermon was don’t move away from the old ways! Keep sharing the Lord with your friends, family, co-workers and even other Christians! Pray to God and ask for help to talk about Him and I’m sure if you are faithful there will be away!

Our God is a God of Help

2010-06-14T22:03:00.000-07:00

After a very long and busy weekend I must admit to being less than awake on Sunday morning and in capitable of taking notes. I jotted a few things down in my phone about Ps Simon’s message which focused on letting God help us! No matter what happens in our lives, we can come back to our loving Lord! He will always be waiting for us.

He also focused on our human pride and the fact that when we think we’re okay and doing well, we probably aren’t. We can’t trust in ourselves but in the Lord and we need to take this through life and remember it always. God can and will help you if you let Him! You are never alone as He is right there with you!

As you go through the week ahead please try to remember that we cannot do anything ourslves but that Lord can and will do all if you let Him into your life. Keep praying for one another and stay close to the Lord. Seeing as I haven’t got a whole lot about the message here, please head over to the website at http://www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au/ to listen to the message in full!

After church myself and Jeffrey were very blessed to celebrate our land purchase with afternoon tea on our land. A big thank you to Ps Simon and Jan who came out along with our friends to celebrate with us! What a blessing from the Lord!

He Leadeth Me

2010-06-06T04:45:00.000-07:00

He leadeth me, O blessed thought!

O words with heav’nly comfort fraught!

Whate’er I do, where’er I be

Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.

Refrain:

He leadeth me, He leadeth me,

By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful foll’wer I would be,
For by His hand He leadeth me

If you’ve never heard this beautiful hymn than you really need to jump on youtube and have a listen. The lyrics above are only the 1st verse and chorus. There are another 3 lovely verses that you should hear with so much truth in them! Our Lord does and will lead us if we let Him.

This is exactly what Ps Simon spoke on this morning. He taught us that if we keep in the word of God than we will have perfect guidance from God Himself and that the Lord’s strength gives us our strength. We need God’s guidance or we’re going to get mighty lost along the way. God is in control and nothing surprises Him. He has only plans, not problems.

Another song which I really love is called Trust in the Lord. You can find it here on youtube and it is such a beautiful version! Trust in the Lord, lean not on your own understanding!

This morning we also had the Lords Supper which is always a time to remember and reflect on all that Jesus sacrificed on the cross of Calvary for us. We welcome anyone to come along and take the Lord's supper with us and I will let you know when we are having the next one.

Have a wonderful week and remember to let the Lord lead you through everything!

Let Me Ask You This Question!

2010-06-01T07:30:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd start this post with a quick announcement! Goodshepard Baptist Church will be holding it's annual leadership conference 13th - 15th June. Check it all out here http://www.baptist.com.au/lc2010/page.cfm?cc=8&scc=0

Sunday morning Ps Simon spoke to us about the fact that people are always trying to make their sin seem straight (good). We cannot even sleep straight let along be straight. We are sinners and it is as simple as that. He touched on the fact that many people are trying to un-straighten Jesus Christ by claim the bible shows us such things as Jesus drank wine. Many people argue this point and I am certainly not going to debate it here but this sermon is defiantly worth your time to listen. Let us just remember that Jesus is straight, He is perfect - without sin!

I've taken quite extensive notes from the message but the above is really the most important part. By listening I'm sure you will learn a lot and begin to understand the wonderful characteristics of Jesus Christ our savour.

Just head to http://www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au/ click on media and sermons! Enjoy and God Bless!

This is the Lord’s Doing

2010-05-26T22:16:00.000-07:00

As usual another wonderful Sunday at church with a really good turn out with some visitors as well! When we’re short on numbers the Lord always provides a visitor or two! This week I have a few announcements before I tell you about the message.

- We’ll be having The Lord’s Supper Sunday 6th June during the service

- Pastors Refresher Conference, being held at Lighthouse Baptist Church 2nd - 5th August 2010.

- Men and Boys Camp – Stay tuned for the date

- Ps Simon and Jan will be away in Papua New Guinea, I think in July sometime.

So pop those on your calendar if you are interested in attending and please join us on the 6th June for the Lord’s Supper at church. Now let me get onto the message from Sunday morning. Ps Simon took us on more of a bible study this week with the main focus being on fearing God. Today we fear man more than we fear God. I’m sure if you thought back throughout the past month that you could think of at least once when you feared man or something man could do. We have no need too, God says so in his word and He has all the power and authority in the whole world!

What Does it Mean to Fear God?

When I first became a Christian and put my faith and trust in God, I found the whole idea of ‘fearing’ God very hard to understand so I thought I’d share with you how I understand it. To some extent it is actual fear but it is also a reverential fear of God’s authority and power. Knowing that at any time God could wipe out you, me or even the whole earth and that is His right. He created us, everything you see, hear, taste, know of and understand. There is nothing that God didn’t create! Remember when you were a young child and would play with lego, trains, dolls or whatever toy you owned. You would create a fantasy world and everything was put in place by you and all that happened was created by you. At the end of the game you would destroy your creation whenever you pleased and it was over. This is just like God, only not a game.

We are living in the age of grace and we know God loves us and wishes none to perish. We also know that God is not going to destroy us just because ‘He feels like it’ which is a great reason to praise and honour Him every single day. God gives you a free will to love Him and to follow Him. As Ps Simon said on Sunday, it would be such a blessing to see people changing their lives and building their new life on the Lord Jesus Christ. Get excited about the Lord when you’re facing the good or even when you’re facing the bad. And even if you feel far away from the Lord, praise Him because trust me, He’s very very close by you always!

Have a wonderful week and God Bless the Lord that you are here reading this now.

There is Something about Those Baskets

2010-05-16T21:40:00.000-07:00

As usual we had a great morning at church! I’d have to say there is no better way to start the week than worshiping our loving Lord and spending time with His people! I was saying to Jeffrey and Simon last week that after being at church, spending time with God it can be really difficult to step out the church door and back into ‘the world’. Has anyone ever found this? I find it almost every week!

This week’s message from Ps Simon was called ‘There is Something about those Baskets’. He spoke about how many people and churches see God as someone to entertain them. Jesus performed some amazing miracles in the bible but people today don’t see these, they just want to see God doing miracles right in front of their eyes. If you are searching for a sign from God then stop because the bible clearly says to believe by faith not by sight. That’s what faith is, believing in something that cannot be seen. Just pick up God’s word and you will see countless miracles but you will also meet with the one who performed them and understand His amazing love for you.

After morning tea we looked at some of Simon and Jan’s photos from their trip to America last month. I cannot believe how big some of the churches are over there and I must say I really do love our small church! It was very interested seeing their photos and I especially enjoyed seeing the photos of a farm where miniature cows and donkeys were bread. So very cute!! Don’t forget to continue praying as this week goes by and thank the Lord for all that you have.

Don’t miss the life you can have with Christ because it is a full and abundant life! Have a great week!

Happy Mother’s Day

2010-05-09T06:21:00.000-07:00

Yes, Sunday was Mother’s Day and so we’d like to wish all the Mums out there a very special day! Make sure you keep praying for all our Mums, they are extremely important and show us so much love each day.

We had a great morning at church and we’re very pleased to welcome home Pastor Simon and Jan from America. They told us they had a wonderful time but are very happy to be home again! We’re glad their home too! Next week they are hoping to share with us after church some photos from their trip so we hope you’ll be able to make it to share that with them.

Now I must admit that I was listening was closely on Sunday that I forgot to take notes as Pastor Simon spoke but I will try to remember exactly what he spoke about. This message was titled ‘Let God Remove the Scales’ and he shared with us from many different places in the New Testament. He taught us about salt and how when it loses its savour it is not good which is like us, we are the salt of the earth and need our savour. We are no good without it! I’m sure you know that salt is white and pure but when it loses its savour it goes brown and yucky looking. Some thought provoking ideas in that illustration.

I hope that you might visit our website at http://www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au/ to listen to this and many other sermons. Have a wonderful week and may the Lord meet with you this week!

Lighthouse Baptist Church

2010-05-03T00:34:00.000-07:00

On Sunday Jeffrey and I were in Rockhampton for the weekend so we attended Lighthouse Baptist Church. I decided this week rather than just not writing a blog that I’d write about visiting this church! First of all Lighthouse is MUCH bigger than Palmwoods, very easy to get lost amoungst that many people and there was also a youth conference on which meant many many more people at the church. In fact we had trouble finding a seat! But it’s great to see so many Christians packed into a church to worship our Lord on a Sunday morning, what a blessing!

Pastor Robert Bakss is usually up the front preaching but this week he had a visitor from America sharing the word of God with us. I didn’t catch his name but I’m pretty sure he’d consumed quite a large amount of red cordial before taking the stage. I don’t believe anyone could have dozed off during this message as he was filled with all the joy, enthusiasm and love from our Lord God! His message was shared from Mark 4:35-40 about God making the storm still and the message was titled ‘Are You Still in Wonder of God’. He spoke of some of the storms in his life which he’s faced but also how the Lord brought him through! He gave lots of examples which I really enjoyed and was extremely excited about the wonder of God and I think we should be too!

Have you stopped lately to think about the big and little things which God has or is doing in your life, in others lives and in the world? If we all stopped and really thought we to could seem to be on a major sugar high but what we’d really have is a ‘God high’! I think God wants us to be excited about Him and wants us not just to share his word but to be enthusiastic about Him. Next time someone gives you an unfriendly comment about God or because you are a Christian just let it go because our God is BIG! He is MIGHTY and He can and will face ALL!

One of the last points this preacher made which I really liked was this ‘Great rain will test your roof but great storms will test your foundation’. Before you find yourself in the middle of a storm make sure your foundation in the Lord is strong because He can withstand anything.

ANZAC Sunday

2010-04-27T04:13:00.000-07:00

So guys I know it’s been two weeks now since I last added a blog but last Sunday I had the flu and decided it was best not to share it with everyone and stayed home. Jeffrey and John shared with me that the message was about being ambassadors for God.

This Sunday was ANZAC Day when we remember those who have and are fighting in our wars around the world. It was also Jeffrey’s week to preach whilst Pastor Simon and Jan are away. His message was titled ‘Courage in a Spiritual War’ and he shared with us the qualities which Christians need (and which Christ has) to fight against the spiritual war that we have on this earth.

God really blessed Jeffrey with a wonderful message which also reflected what ANZAC day is all about from a Christian point of view. His main focus was letting the Word of God do all the talking and used plenty of scripture to get his message across. If you’re looking for a church that is teaching the truth than you should certainly visit us!

We were very blessed to have quite a lot of people at church this morning and Jeffrey and myself we’re also blessed to be able to attend a dawn service to mark this day of remembrance before church. As you go through your week please remember to pray for one another and for your loved ones continually. Never give up on prayer as it is very powerful and meaningful to the Lord!

Please feel free to visit http://www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au/ to download Jeffrey’s message from this week and John’s message from last week. Enjoy your week and God Bless

Are you Faithful?

2010-04-12T18:49:00.000-07:00

This was our first Sunday without Pastor Simon and Jan with us as they are in America for the next 4 weeks. Big thanks to John for setting up the church on Saturday and continue to pray that there will always be willing people to help out. The Lord has provided so far and I’m certain will continue!

We were blessed with brother Neil Smith and his family visiting the church on Sunday and had a wonderful message from the word of God from Neil as well. It’s always an encouragement to have visitors sharing the word as we learn in different ways and the Lord has a special way of teaching us through different people.

Ephesians 1:1
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus

He shared with us from Ephesians 1 about faithfulness and what it means to be faithful to the Lord. Don’t let your faithfulness fade because life gets you down because the Lord will give you peace, grace and blessings if you are faithful. I like to think practically about these things so here is a list of ways I can be faithful, maybe you’d like to make your own list or just add to mine.

- Going to church
- Praying
- Reading my bible
- Sharing the wonderful news of our God
- Obeying God and keeping His commandments
- Helping out with church ministries
- Giving God the control in your life
- Showing the love of God to others
- By my actions I can be faithful
- Listening to God in my life

I’m sure there are plenty more things that I could do to be faithful and the Lord will show me and guide me with them in the future! But Sunday’s message was a very powerful one that we need to be faithful in all areas of our life to the Lord.

Next week we will have brother John Gadenne preaching so keep him in your prayers as he prepares! Continue to pray for Simon and Jan as they travel America – pray for America too!!! And take the time this week to think about the wonderful blessings the Lord has given us, I bet you can’t count them on all your fingers or even your toes because He has blessed us so GREATLY!

Have a wonderful week and God bless!

Easter Sunday. Let’s celebrate the resurrection of Jesus!

2010-04-05T15:40:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful blessing church was on Sunday morning. We had many visitors with us to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus! We had our normal song service of hymns along with Jeffrey and John singing a wonderful song called ‘Were You There’ and I also sang a song called ‘This is my Desire’.

Pastor Simon shared with us a message called ‘What does the resurrection do?’ which was a great message to hear on Easter Sunday. The Lord really blessed us with this message on Sunday and I’m certain He was present with us as we honoured Him.

After the service everyone stayed to share a BBQ lunch and have some fellowship together. We had stacks of delicious food and really enjoyed getting to know one another a lot better. We’re even praying that some of our visitors might like to come back to Palmwoods Baptist Church next week to worship God!

In the mean time if you’d like to continue praying for the church and it’s people we would really appreciate it. For the next four Sundays we will have different people preaching as Pastor Simon and Jan have gone to America for four weeks. We’ve got Neil Smith, John Gadenne and Jeffrey Gadenne all preaching throughout the four weeks so come along if you’d like a real blessing. Continue praying for Simon and Jan for safe travel and a wonderful time away.

Let me leave you with a piece of scripture that I put in the church bulletin this week and which Pastor Simon used in this message as well.

John 11:25-26

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Have a wonderful week and blessed be the Lord!

Bulletins with Easter Eggs

Pastor Simon starting the service

John and Jeffrey's special 'Were You There'

Opening slide of the message!

The church listening!

Lunch! YUM!!!

Pastor Simon at the BBQ

Dessert was soooo good!

Understanding the Word!

2010-03-30T03:23:00.000-07:00

Easter BBQ – Sunday 4th April

This Sunday coming is Easter so we’re having an extra special service to remember the sacrifice our Savour made for us. Please come along to praise our Lord, listen to some musical items, learn from the word of God and stay after for a free BBQ lunch and dessert!!! It is going to be a fantastic day that you won’t want to miss out on. All visitors are very welcome so please come and bring a friend!

On the Sunday just past we had a great message shared with us by John Gadenne which focused on 2 Corinthians 6. He taught us that we need to understand the word of God so that we understand what is spiritual and what is physical. It can be very easy to confuse these things.

He talked about the verse 2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

This verse is spiritual, not physical. It does not mean that you cannot be friends or spent time with someone that does not believe in God, rather is it a piece of wisdom to help you in the future with bigger decisions. It would not be wise to be in an equal partnership (marriage, finance, business etc) with someone who believes in something totally different to you. This does not mean that you are better because you are a christian, just that common sense tells you that if you join with someone that believes totally differently to you that it will be hard to agree on things.

You cannot mix light with darkness, it just doesn’t work. If you are interested in hearing the whole message preached by John then please visit the Media section followed by Sermons on our website! http://www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au/Sermons.html

May the Lord bless your week!

I Wasn't Expecting This!

2010-03-23T21:55:00.001-07:00

I’m going to give you a church update however on Sunday Jeffrey and myself had to leave halfway through the service to sign some paper work so we only got to hear a little bit of the message. So this week I’ll have to catch up on listening to the message! If you’d like to as well let me know so I can get it uploaded onto the website!

We had a great song service where the Lord was uplifted in song and we were able to think of the wonderful things He does and has done for us. As usual Jeffrey was doing a great job with the song leading and John playing the accordion. They make a great team and we are so grateful they provide us with music each week!

Pastor Simon titled this week’s message ‘I Wasn’t Expecting This’ and he used Matthew 5 to give us an insight into what the Lord wanted to teach us. He used this message to refer back to a previous message on recognising God working in our lives. We don’t always expect the Lord to do certain things in our lives so we need to keep listening and watching for Him as God will surprise you.

That’s about all we stayed for on Sunday but it was a blessing to go for that short time and be with other Christians. There are plenty of things happening within the church so stay tuned to hear about them and continue checking out the website!

Have a great week!

Stuck in a Rut

2010-03-15T22:51:00.000-07:00

On Sunday it was a great blessing to have Pastor Robert Bakss and his wife Jenny Bakss with us at church. They are both such lovely people and are always very busy with God’s work. After our usual songs and announcements, Ps Bakss preached a messaged called ‘Are you Stuck in a Rut’. He spoke about how we should inconvenience ourselves for Jesus which is the total opposite to what our culture says today. Take 10 - 10 seconds, 10 minutes, 10 hours, 10 days... whatever God wants you to take to be with Him and do this work. He used Mark 10:46-52 as an example of Jesus inconveniencing himself (and other people) to help the man on the side of the road. Love for His neighbours was far more important to Jesus than time schedules, money or His own comfort.

Ps Bakss left us with 4 points to help get out of a rut that you might find yourself in.

1. Don’t allow opposition to keep you in your rut

2. Obtain help by getting God’s attention – cry out to him.

3. Be open to God helping you through those you do not expect

4. Have Faith in God – He will hear you

Overall his message was ‘Have faith in God’ which is a message that we need to be reminded of regularly. It’s so easy to forget God, get too busy to spent time with Him or even talk about Him. But no matter what, never lose your faith that He can do anything in your life!

A quote in the church bulletin this week relates very well to the message as well – “It’s not the size of the storm but the strength of the ship that matters”. God’s strength IS strong enough to help you!

Continue to pray for one another, for loved ones, for the church and also for the families that received one of our church fliers at the beginning of the month. You never know when a seed has been planted in someone’s life and prayer will help to cultivate it.

Don’t forget to check out the church website, Jeff’s made some fantastic changes that you MUST see! http://www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au/

Diamond Valley Lodge Church Service

2010-03-08T20:58:00.000-08:00

Let me share with you one of the ministries of Palmwoods Baptist Church which myself and Jeffrey are very blessed to be involved with. Assistant Pastor John Gadenne runs a church service once a fortnight at the Diamond Valley Lodge which is a home to people with a variety of different disabilities who need some extra care.

Each service involves some Kids Church songs, hymns and a message using the flannel board to make it nice and visual for them. Each of the residence are encouraged to join in with the singing, actions and music. They really enjoy having their own church service and it is also a great blessing to all of us who help out. There are also a few people who come along to listen and support John in his work with these people after their usual Sunday church services and we gratefully thank them.

The services are always followed by a great time of fellowship with those who help run and support the church services at the lodge. It is a great outreach to the residence who cannot attend church independently on a Sunday morning and also to the staff who work very hard at the Diamond Valley Lodge. If you have a spare Sunday afternoon you are warmly welcomed to come along to watch the service or even get involved. It is always a blessing to have visitors for the service and afternoon tea. Contact us at Palmwoods Baptist Church if you would like more details on this ministry.

Jeffrey welcoming everyone to Church

Kids Church songs with actions!

Flannel message from John

Jeffrey singing Hymns

Afternoon tea and fellowship.

What Has God Done for You Lately?

2010-03-08T20:37:00.000-08:00

Sunday 7th March 2010

Another great morning at church, with an excellent message from the Lord through Pastor Simon on ‘How to recognize God Working in Your Life’. I got quite a lot out of this message and also believe it’s a very important message, especially to new Christian who have not experienced God’s hand in their life yet. Pastor Simon reminded us that searching for miracles is not necessarily how God will work in your life. A miracle will not bring you closer to God and it is by Faith that the bible teachers us, not by sight to believe in the Lord. Look for the still, quiet voice in your life and don’t always talk, listen so you will hear God.

Also remember in that time of rebuking from the Lord that He is working in your life even if it doesn’t feel great at the time. Stop and recognize Him and find joy in what He is doing. Isn’t it just a blessing that He is working in your life, even if it’s not in the way of blessings? Well I think it is! The Lord loves you today, yesterday and tomorrow, the same always. Find joy in Him because as Pastor Simon preached, you will not find satisfaction like the Lord can give you anywhere else. Money, status, big house, career or lots of expensive jewellery is never going to satisfy you and I can say that because I have seen it in my life. Yes, these things can bring you some joy and make you happy but they are not going to satisfy you and there will always be that one more expensive ‘thing’ that you will want next.

If you do not know God as your personal Savour, your best friends than PLEASE do all that you can to meet with Him. Go to your local church (whether that be us at Palmwoods Baptist Church, or just a church near you), get yourself a bible and read it or just contact somebody who knows the Lord. You are more than welcome to email us at Palmwoods Baptist Church, we have plenty of loving people who know the Lord and would be MORE than happy to help you meet with Him too! Your life will be changed forever and just like me, you will find it difficult to wipe that smile off your face when God is in your heart!

Remember we also have a website that is growing very fast each day. Check it out, read some of my past posts, listen to some sermons and find out where we are! http://www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au/

May the Lord bless your week and life. I’ll leave you with the scripture verse from our bulletin this week.

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

Out the front!

Pastor Simon and John Gadenne!

Our weekly bulletin

Singing praises to God

We were asked to write dwon one thing that God has done for us during the week.

Church pens!

Go Forth!

2010-03-04T08:26:00.000-08:00

Thursday already and I haven’t blogged about Sunday’s church service – what a slacker!!!!!! I had to dig through my handbag just to find the notes I took!!!! Pastor Simon has been preaching a sermon series on ‘Set, Ready, Go’ and today message focused on the ‘Go’ part of the series! Go forth into the world and do what God wants you to do. Don’t let inconvenience or lack of motivation stop you from doing His work! You might even find that God will take you back to the ‘set’ stage before you are able to ‘Go’ but listen to God, He will guide you.

‘Faith is not the absence of Fear’.

We had a great morning at church which was followed by morning tea together. We then headed out to my house to celebrate the birthday of one of our members, Jeffrey (my fiancé). God is good and Jeff was very blessed by all the people who attended.

In other news on Sunday 14th March we are hoping to have Pastor Robert Bakss with us from Lighthouse Baptist Church to preach a message. You’d be very blessed to come along and listen to his preaching, so if you’re free head on over, you’ll feel very welcomed with us!

Continue praying for one another and go forth into the world sharing the good news of our Savour!!! As usual I was a shutterbug at church, so I’ll leave you with some picture from Sunday’s service!

Sunday's PowerPoint

Looking up passages during church

Go forth into the world!

New mugs for the church!

Ps Simon and Jan!

The birthday boy at his party in the afternoon!

Big Church Group!

2010-02-23T02:00:00.000-08:00

Well we had quite a full church on Sunday morning. We had visitors from two different churches to worship and fellowship with us. We had the words for our worship time back up on the big screen this morning which is always a blessing. Having the screen has made such a different to our little church. We now don’t look down at the hymn books as much and Pastor Simon is always busy making a slideshow to welcome everyone or a PowerPoint presentation to go along with his preaching.

The message that Pastor Simon shared with us this morning followed on from last week’s about being ‘Set’. This morning he gave us a little recap on last week and taught us about being ‘ready’. First we need to be set in our Faith (strong in the word and with God) and then we need to allow God to get us ready for His work. This might mean going through trials and testing. The ready stage is not always easy but if you’re set in your Faith than you will be strong enough.

In other news our church fliers went out this week to the Mooloolah area and I received one at my house! So at least we know they are getting out to the houses. Keep praying they will bring along some more people to church.

Praying you have a wonderful week and stay close with our Lord!

Sunday 14th February

2010-02-16T00:46:00.000-08:00

As most people probably realise, Sunday 14th February was Valentine’s Day and what a wonderful day to be at church praising our loving Saviour for the amazing love He has for us. After all God is Love!

Pastor Simon’s message focused on getting ourselves ‘set’ for the work that the Lord has for us to do. Also being ‘set’ in our faith! He also taught us that rather than being ‘ready, set and go’, we need to get ourselves set first otherwise we will stumble. Being ‘set’ strong in our Lord is very important throughout life’s ups and downs. We also need to be prepared to get ‘set’ over and over again, not just once in our life.

We were without John this morning, who plays the accordance for our praise and worship time however Jeff lead us in some beautiful hymns and our praises were still lifted high to God. I was especially blessed by the hymn ‘Come Thou Fount’ which is one of my favourites!

After church we fellowshipped over a delicious morning tea and celebrated the birthday of one of our wonderful church members Angela. We hope and pray she knows what a blessing it is to have her as part of our church family! We also took the opportunity to get a photo of all the ladies in the church which I’ve added below! Ladies, you’re hard work and smiles each week bring such love and great blessings into Palmwoods Baptist Church.

Praise the Lord for a great Sunday with our brothers and sisters in Christ and remember to continue praying for one another and our church ministries.

Long Time, No Blog!

2010-02-07T14:58:00.000-08:00

I haven’t posted in quite some time so I’ll give you a bit of a summary in one big blog post. Last Sunday we had John preaching again and this Sunday was back to Pastor Simon. Each week is such a blessing at church because it doesn’t matter who is preaching, the Lord is always present with us.

Pastor Simon and Jeffrey have been busy workers as they’ve been working on the church website. There is still quite a way to go but keep your eyes on this link to see the website grow and see the wonderful work our Lord is doing within the church and His people.

http://www.palmwoodsbaptistchurch.com.au/

Simon and John have also been organizing the church flyers to be posted out and have also been putting them in letterboxes themselves. We want as many people to know about Palmwoods Baptist Church so they can learn all about our wonderful Lord and meet with fellow believers. If you’d like a flyer or know someone who is looking for a church, just email us and we’ll get one out to you asap!

If you’re reading this blog we would absolutely LOVE you to visit Palmwoods Baptist Church. Each visitor and member is such a blessing from God and we warmly welcome you along to learn from the bible, worship our Saviour and fellowship with His believers.

Luke 4:4 – And Jesus answered him saying. It is written, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

Resources – We’ve also got quite a lot of resources available at the church. Each Sunday the message is recorded and available up the back along with biblical magazines and some handy books. If you’d like a CD or need some biblical information, please email us so we can arrange to get something sent out to you.

What is Your Life

2010-01-30T05:25:00.000-08:00

Sunday 24th 2010 saw John Gadenne (assistant Pastor) take the pulpit to share with us a message about life and the direction each of us are taking. He showed us the swiftness of life through God’s word, one of which can be found in James.

James 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

He then explained that even though we’ve made mistakes in the past, we need to turn from them and do all things for the glory of God. ‘Life is like a concert path, we can’t change what’s already been laid but we can change the direct in the future’. Some of the ways John showed us we can change our path are:

- Doing all things to the glory of God

- Peach the gospel

- Praise God in all we do

- Bearing fruit – love, kindness, patience etc (Galatians 5:22-23)

- Finishing the work that God intends us to do (this is different for everyone)

- Keep ourselves from evil

- Fulfil God’s will in your life (keep listening to Him)

- Rejoice in our salvation

This final question was “Are you glorifying God in all that you do?” What a wonderful message that I think we should all stop and think about. Are we truly doing EVERYTHING in our lives to the glory of our Lord? I honestly would have to say no and pray that my Father in heaven will continue to teach me and guide me in all that I do because nothing is worth doing if it’s not for our Lord. All this ‘stuff’ on our earth will be nothing one day so give your life to God and live it totally for Him, it’s worth any amount of gold or silver, in fact God’s love for you is priceless and you need Him!

Listen to sermon Click Here

Prayer Corner
If you'd like to pray for us we've got a few things that we love you to pray for.
- Our church and God's will in it
- The health of church members
- Our church website as Jeffrey builds it
- This blog - I'd like to try and keep it up to date

Palmwoods Baptist Church

2010-01-30T04:39:00.000-08:00

Let me introduce you to my lovely church – Palmwoods Baptist Church! We are situated in Palmwoods (obviously) and meet in the Girl Guides Hut each Sunday morning at 10am for a church service. We are still growing – small in numbers but BIG in our Faith which is our main focus ‘Faith in God’. Pastor Simon Moir is the pastor of the church with the assistance of John Gadenne (Jeffrey’s father).

Each Sunday morning we start with some hymns which are lead by Jeff, have some announcements and get stuck into the message and sometimes if their lucky I’ll sing an item. The teaching is highly focused on the bible which is the truth that God has left for us to learn from. This year the main focus is on ‘Being settled in your faith’ and we have been learning a lot about what the bible says about Faith. After church we also have a super yummy morning tea where we fellowship together, chat about our week, encourage one another and always learn more about our wonderful saviour!

Palmwoods is a lovely church to attend and you always feel very involved and included. Everyone is very encouraging and I can see Christ in each person that attends. We’ve recently been blessed with some major improvements to the church. We’ve now got two air conditioners, a data projector and screen and a fantastic sound system. God is really blessing us! Jeff just last week got up in the roof of the hut to hook up the wires for the data projector, so we’re all systems go!

The church supports many missionaries and also has a ministry where Jeffrey and his dad (and sometimes I help) run a church service every second Sunday at the Diamond Valley Lodge.

So if you’re currently out of church or looking for a change or somewhere to visit, drop me a line and I’ll give you all the details you need to come visit Palmwoods Baptist Church or even attend one of the Lodge church services. You truly will be blessed. We’d also love you to keep our church and ministries in your prayers. May the Lord bless you and keep you!

PS: We are getting a website up and running so once it starts I'll be incharge of blogging and updating events so keep your eyes peeled for this!