Colossians 1:18

From Sharon...

Morning Saints,

I want to bring very simple yet powerful truth. Colossians 1:18 reads:

'And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.'

If we choose, Christ can be supreme in all areas of our lives. Every weakness, thought, feeling, desire, accomplishment, strength, the frustrations, the minute worries that we think aren't even worth uttering (something i can struggle with), every relationship or what we perceive as lack of relationship, every job, every choice, every song, anything creative...the list goes on. I believe this translation includes 'might' because he won't override our freewill so in something things, he needs to be invited to be supreme.

Let's make a choice and invite him to sit on the throne in our lives becaus he is the head of the church; the head of us who make up his body. Let's not glorify our weaknesses or strengths or anything more than we need to. Instead let's allow him to have all glory in every area of our lives.

God bless
Sharon

Philippians

From Johnny....

As we are reading Philippians together lets look at some scripture b4 friday...

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, ¹⁹for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.^d]">[d] ²⁰I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. ²¹For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. ²²If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! ²³I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; ²⁴but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. ²⁵Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, ²⁶so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.

A few ways this passage spks to me......

'Yes, and i will continue to rejoice' - rejoicing is a choice and a choice that needs to be made everyday.

'through your prayers' - reason why its so important for us to intercede for each other

'Christ will be exalted in my body + to live is Christ and to die is gain' - Matt 5:14-16 comes to mind

¹⁴"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. We are not living for ourselves anymore but for Christ. Choosing to love instead of hate, choosing to forgive instead of holding grudges.....freedom will come guys and we will be different and Jesus will shine through us and He will be glorified. living everyday to glorify him.

'I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far' which is better by far - Paul has an amazing revelation of what he and we have to come. When things get hard we need to keep our eyes on what we have to come......our momentary troubles dont compare to what we have ahead of us.

If you get the chance have a read over and see how God spks to you. Also if any of you, as you are reading Philippians, want to share a verse etc with the rest of us please do.

J

Awesome connect group

Hey Guys,

We had an awesome time on Friday!!
For those of you that didn’t get a chance to make it, we listened to a teaching from Beth Moore that was very inspiring and imparted a lot of wisdom.

Here are some of the key points that really stood out to me (feel free to add to these!!):

1. On how to pray…

• Get a head-start on the day by getting up a few mins early and spending some time before God
• Start off with Praise- be thankful, sing praises, tell him how much u love him and let him respond
• Pour out: pour out your concerns and confessions (sins) etc. empty yourself
• Pour in: after we’ve emptied ourselves, ask the Holy Spirit to enter in and just pour into you. Ask for him to fill every single aspect of our being! Every nook and cranny!
• Pour forth: God pours in so that we can pour out what he has given us into our world….”out of our bellies shall rivers of living water”; “he blesses us to be a blessing”!

2. She also spoke about the fruit of the Spirit: Gala 5: 22. (think this session is the intro to that teaching- it was awesome!)

You guys are a real source of blessing and encouragement to me…and I must say how much I look forward to Friday nights! J

Let me know if you can make it to prayer on Tuesday (we’ve been having an awesome time on our Tuesday night prayer!). If not, I’m looking forward to seeing you guys on Friday!

Ria
xx

Hillsong sisterhood!

Just passing on a message for Hillsong sisterhood:

This is just a reminder that we're looking for girls who love baking to contribute to the next Sisterhood Saturday (coming up on 7th March) by bringing in home made cookies. What fun!

So, if you know anyone who would love to get involved with this, pls forward this email on and ask them to email Pam Thompson (pamtompson@yahoo.com) to let her know how many cookies they will be bringing. We can provide the recipe or the girls can use their own.

Also, if you have not yet registered, you can do so on the My Church site: http://www.hillsongmychurch.co.uk/index.php/connect-me/hillsong-sisterhood This will be a great opportunity to bring a new person along and help them to get connected, so lets get the word out this week!

ok, i'm in :D

Back from India & Nepal!!

If India was amazing, Nepal was unbelievable!

God is building his church and the gates of hell shall not prevail.

Taking part in this mission trip was amazing on many fronts:

1. Seeing the apostolic ministry at work as we worked with church pastors in Nepal to set up churches in the villages. The opportunity to be a part of it and take back the vision to my ‘world’ is also very exciting!
2. To see the impact that the Kingdom of God has on the human life and spirit when it is established- some people are really broken and vulnerable. The church has the answer- are we telling them?? Are we being that ‘city on a hill that cannot be hidden’? Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes (Romans 1:16, NIV).
3. We can all make a difference! We all have work to do to establish the Kingdom of God, and we have been appropriately equipped for our calling. My gifting might not be the ‘jazziest’, but I have it to help establish the Kingdom of God. “We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.” (Romans 12:6, NIV)
4. We don’t need that much to get by! Ladies…I survived without an in-door bathroom…need I say more???

:)
xxx

Hey

Hey Johnny and Ria,

How are you guys? How Hot is India? You guys missed we had 30 inches of snow! it was Awosome!!! we missed Hitting snow balls at you!

We have started a prayer chain for you guys while u are out there it was Sharons Great idea!

we know you will be doing amazing things out there with the one who lives in you...you guys are such a blessing let us know how you are doing...

Be blessed in everyway

Love H xoxo