This Friday Night!!!

Throughout the centuries a battle has been waged between two great armies. On one side, the Pirates have been the scourge of the seven seas, on the other, fairies have been taking children’s teeth & helping out Peter Pan.

This Friday night, which side are you going to take?

Wyoming Anglican Youth is having their “Pirates vs Fairies” theme.

Wear a costume, pick a side & help us decide which team is in the ascendancy!

Capt’n Tim…

Call me on my mobile, or email me at Tim [Put the @ symbol here] timgoldsmith.com if you plan on bringing a friend. Cost will be $5 as usual.

Coast Youth Revolution

It was great to get out with the gang, jump into Gosford Parish's bus & head to Erina High for "Coast Youth Revolution!"

I don't know how many kids were there, but there were at least a couple of hundred, harking from a number of different churches. We were all there to hear some music & sing some music, we saw/played a big game & then we heard a great talk by Sam Hilton, about our role & God's role in Evangelism. He was speaking from the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 5 & it was a great challenge. God is all about evangelism & it is the work of His word and His spirit that convincts and convinces people of the truth, so we can be confident in sharing his word, both in the times when it goes well & the times when it doesn't knowing that He is faithful even when we don't feel like we're on top of our game...

Anyway, here are a couple more pics from the night. Thanks go to Jono & all the CCEC mob who invited us!

The Easter Olympics: Part 1

Hey there WAY peeps.

On friday night we had our Easter Olympics meet at Kincumber with the Point Clare Youth and the Kincumber youth. Even better, we were joined by a team from the Sydney Missionary Bible College (SMBC).

What an awesome time! 

We had a great dinner, with an opportunity to hear from Daniel (from SMBC) as he shared about how he became a Christian as he grew up in Pakistan.

Afterward, heading over to Kincumber Primary to play a bunch of different games was also awesome. 

The "Egg Soccer" looked like it was a blast, the river crossing & egg tossing were also pretty cool, but for mine, the "Iron Gut" was the real highlight. I'll see if I can get some photos from it later.

Afterward, we got to egg Andrew (from SMBC) and then head back to the church, where he spoke to us from John 20:24-31. Of course, I couldn't really capture how good it was with words, so I can just share the video with you instead. 

I can't get the video to embed, so here is the link to it. This is part 1. Part 2 is coming soon.

Just follow this link to the video

Enjoy!

Looking for Answers

So what is the answer?

How do we know that God really loves us?

Does he really care for us? 

How can I know that it matters for my life & my experience at all?

On Friday, we got a clear & clean picture of the answer to that question. As 1 John 4:9 says 

"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him" 

We are all looking for love, whether it is in good friends, our family, or the latest band, we're looking for those things that are meaningful & those things that will last.

And in God we have the promise of lasting love. Even better, we have the promise of lasting life! Just to top the whole deal off, God tells us whom we ought to love as well. 4:9-11 :

"Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."

When I think of the hope that I have for the WAY, the biggest picture I have in my head is that we could be a community which is shaped by love. Not the fluffy, lovey-dovey valentines day kind of stuff, but the kind of love where we go out of our way to look out for each other, to respect each other, and to welcome new "others" to our group as they come along.

Keep on keeping on!

(Picture created by Caleb & Tim at Wednesday afternoon Bible Study)

       Being a Christian is one of those weird areas where you follow a path which is very different to much of the world around you.

Where other people think of life as just a bunch of coincidences, we believe that God made us & He has a specific plan for our lives. While others think that right & wrong are just determined by whether you get caught doing something, we believe that God gave us a moral radar & we are called to act the right way, even when people aren't watching. And while the world says that the most important person in the world is you, we believe that Jesus Christ is the No.1 & we need to live lives that honour him.

It can be hard to keep on keeping on, especially when those around you are interesting in doing something completely different.

On Friday night, we had a look at 1 John 2:18-27. Here John is handing out advice to the Christians in the 1st Century church. They too had a similar problem. There were people who had come along to church, but didn't really believe that Jesus died for our sins & rose again. Like Wolves in Sheep's clothing, they did all the "churchy" things, but they didn't display any real commitment in their lives & their beliefs.

John reminds us: 

"See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us -- even eternal life." 1 John 2:24-25

Though the world wants us to follow the easy route & follow those around us, God, who is bigger than everyone, and who offers us the best possible gift, eternal life, has a better plan for us. It's not hidden, it doesn't need to be decoded, it just needs to be read!

It's a great challenge & reminder to make sure that what we have heard as Christians remains in us. That means being not only people who come along to youth group, or church, but people who hear the message there & then try & apply it to our lives!

A worthwhile challenge...

Brave New World 2

OK, so I am struggling to be able to put type in the same place as pictures successfully.

I just wrote a long post about new plans for the blog this year & then lost it all when I added the photos (below).

It is new times & I am going to work hard at posting once a week. In particular, I am going to write some thoughts on the studys that we are doing as a group. We're working through Jon Thorpe's studies on 1 John. "Living the Real Thing."

I thought it was a nice challenge tonight, not to get caught up in the temptations of the world. So much of the world we encounter. TV, Movies, even School, can be focussed on material stuff. How successful/happy you are, we get told, is determined by what you have. But in the end it wont make you happy. However, through Jesus Christ we have the promise of something far greater. As the last verse of our study tonight says.

The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

It's my hope that has we grow as a youth group (God willing, in numbers as well as in maturity) that we might be people who DESIRE to do God's will, and not desire to chase after all the things that might look shiny & interesting in the present, but promise to leave us feeling empty afterward.

Let's make sure that we are a youth group who invests in things that will last forever!

A Brave New World