I was reminded this week of a time the Lord spoke clearly to us through a single verse of his word to King David in 1 Chronicles 17:9. One Sunday we couldn’t meet in our usual venue, the High School auditorium, so had to relocate to Q block, a smaller building. I wrote this in the newsletter that day on 6 June, 2010.

…part of prayer is asking God to speak and guide us through his word (the primary way God speaks). Then when God provides direction, we simply obey what he says…question…”but how do I know its really God who has spoken…?” I find that God will make his word clear by matching it to situations that can only be God, then affirming it through his people. 

An example: the last time we met in Q block was late last year – it was an unexpected move we weren’t prepared for. I remember feeling at the time the difficulty associated with rented premises. That week I was doing my daily devotions and this verse jumped off the page. “I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed”. The timing of that word came as a wonderful encouragement, and as I shared it with others, it was strongly affirmed that God will provide all we need for the vision he gave us.

There’s actually more to the story, because when we arrived to set up in Q block, someone had changed the locks and we couldn’t get in. So we had to scramble and setup church in a sports hall. By some miracle we did it with minutes to spare. But the really cool thing is what was written on the front of the newsletter that day affirmed 1 Chronicles 17:9 as a promise from God for us. 

Praise God for changed locks and an inconvenience that powerfully confirmed God’s word. We look back fourteen years later from the place of fulfillment - the Lord has indeed provided. Year after year, God has led The Grove by lining up his word with our circumstances. In fact, He did it again last week.  

Last Sunday night Kris Foreman, the senior Chaplain at Grace College, filled in to preach at the 5.30pm service. The sermon was from Luke 5:1-11, the same story we shared on vision Sunday about Peter’s call. It’s a big bible, so I am confident Jesus was confirming his call to put out into the deep for a catch. That we can be expectant of an immeasurably more outpouring of God’s Spirit, resulting is many coming into God’s family at The Grove. Peter needed to call for another boat for all the fish…and so do we. 

This fills me with faith at the beginning of the new financial year, and an important week in The Grove. God is calling us to make ourselves available like those boats, for immeasurably more. We do this at our members meeting as we vote on the calling of a pastor. At our TV night as we align our teams with our vision. And on commitment Sunday when we express our calling together by bringing commitments to the budget and gifts for the kitchen fit-out to Jesus as an act of faith in his word to us. 

Grove family, let’s step out in faith together, confident Jesus is leading us by his word. 

Marty.

On Vision Sunday we launched our Immeasurably More vision, about the great things God has called us to focus on in the new financial year. On that same day Pastor Henry lost his dear dad, Aron, after a sudden health complication. Sometimes a season of life can feel like a mountain top, other times like a valley floor, but the more common experience is how good and hard seasons seem to happen at the same time. 

In a way, this paradox of real life confirms our calling as a church. It was a privilege to host Aron’s Thanksgiving service on Wednesday, where volunteers from The Grove served the family and friends of the Leong’s with such beautiful love in so many different ways - through worship, tech, ushering, car parking and hospitality. In many conversations, I heard similar comments of how loved and comforted people felt by those who volunteered. 

It became so clear to me last Wednesday, how central to our calling it is to use our gifts, and the building God gave us, to serve people with the love of Christ through all seasons of life. To do this on normal days, sacred days, through celebrations and lamentations - to love our neighbour as ourselves.    

Paul expressed it so well in his letter to the church in Rome, in Romans 12:10-16. 

'Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud.

So many practical expressions of love flow out of those verses. Our call to love is through real actions to serve the people and families of our church and neighbourhood. Jesus gave us such a wonderful spiritual home as a place to serve from, which is why hospitality is such a key part of our vision this year. Something special takes place; whether on the deck or in the foyer, where people love to linger in the peaceful and loving presence of God. 

In two weeks time is commitment Sunday. It's a day to offer our lives afresh to serve Jesus for another year. We are commissiong pastors, and asking for the Holy Spirit to fill us all with his life and love for immeasurably more. It’s also a day to bring financial  commitments towards the new budget, and we are taking up a special offering towards our Kitchen fitout goal of $77,000. A fully functional kitchen will make a huge difference to our hospitality ministry in sharing the practical love of Jesus with many. 

Leanne and I look forward to all God has in store for The Grove, as we 

love our neighbours together with you all. Marty.

As we come together for Vision Sunday Ps Marty and the church council have been hard at work distilling all that God has been saying over the past twelve months and where he is leading us as a church in the future. As a small update from the Youth and Young Adults side of things, I wanted to share an encouragement, and a challenge for us as we move into this next season.

I am currently in the process of doing some backyard renovations. Small things like turf, a new bench seat and a fireplace, are all things to help us host more people in our home. Whilst we are in the middle of these renovations I can’t help but feel excited and passionate about what it will look like when Jordan and I are finished. The same can be said about the past 12 months here at The Grove. I have been so thankful for all God has done in the Youth and Young Adults. Seeing three baptisms (Armand Nel, Zoe Hanlon, and Stephen Day) and another this weekend in Riley Mansfield, I believe God is going to continue to move in the next generation. 

This year we have seen so many people step up and grow in their faith and leadership in the church. Our youth team has grown to 10 leaders and around 30 youth on a Friday night and our PM service continues to be a place for all to come and experience the love and hope that Jesus offers. As I look around at our community and see all that God is doing I can’t help but feel thankful. I also know that God has so much more ahead of us and I am filled with excitement and passion about what God will continue to do. I stand here expectant that God is going to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine in our church.

I was reading on Thursday morning in Mark 2:13-17 (Entitled: Jesus calls Levi and Eats With Sinners) and I was reminded that we are called to be a place where all feel welcome. Jesus wasn’t just on earth for the religious but was intentional at making those labeled sinners and tax collectors feel loved and welcomed like children of God. I believe God is calling us to be a place for all to feel welcome, for us to continue welcoming others into our home here at The Grove. Whilst God has done amazing things I am convinced that God is not done yet. He wants to see all those in our community come and eat at the table with Jesus, to experience love, hope 

and peace. For our church to welcome anyone and everyone, no 

matter their background or history.

Regards, 

Henry

The daily devotions QB provided for churches this week have been excellent. If you haven’t had a chance to go through them, they are available on the YouVersion Bible App. Simply search for ‘Beyond Your Wildest Dreams’ in plans and you will find them. They are based on Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians and couldn’t be more timely for us as a church. 

God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

As we approach Vision Sunday, these words capture the heart of what we believe the Lord is planning to do. Immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine. I love how this is in response to prayer, which has been a focus and growth area in 2024 for The Grove. What’s coming next is all of God, but our call is to have faith in him for more…immeasurably more.

Vision seasons always give me an opportunity to read back over my journals and our history, looking for what God has said to us or promised The Grove. I came across some words given to us at the Grand Opening of our church building from Peter Sweetman, the Founding Pastor who sent us out from Bridgeman to plant The Grove in 2007. 

You have already known great measures of fruitfulness and joy in your short life as a church, but hear this…what God has already done, is going to seem tiny compared to what is coming. He has got you positioned for huge and amazing revival blessings. 

Think about those words, “he has got you positioned”. The Lord has been preparing The Grove for immeasurably more. He has strategically positioned us in our neighbourhood for this time, as a city on a hill. We can see the signs of an increased movement of God, as he awakens more people to himself…people who are just done with the empty promises of the world. Perhaps we really are on the brink of something beyond our wildest dreams. 

These are defining moments in church life when the Lord calls us to have faith in him for immeasurably more. Faith is not a passive but an active word. That's why immeasurably more is the name of our vision for the new financial year. It’s time to place our lives in Jesus hands, and courageously step out in faith. It’s what Jesus asked of the disciples when faced with a hungry crowd of more than 5000 people. You give them something to eat (Luke 9:13). They didn’t have much, but two fish and fives loaves was enough in Jesus hands to do immeasurably more. 

What do you say church family? We need to embrace the opportunities before us; to call more pastors, to complete the building, and to welcome more people into Jesus church. I am not sure we have enough strength, ability, resources or people to meet the needs. However, in Jesus hands God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power at work within us. He is the one who will make the former blessings seem tiny compared to what he is about to do. Our faith is in God. 

Marty

Last Thursday morning I attended the Lord Mayor's Prayer breakfast at City Hall. Next to me at the table was James Rossiter, the youth Pastor from Nexus. It was so good to catch up with James, who reminded me he first came to church at The Grove 15 years ago as a young adult feeling lost and searching for more. James received Jesus with a couple of our young adults at the Ferny Grove Bowls club, and said everything changed from that day. 

Two weeks ago, James was the keynote speaker at Youth Alive, a combined youth festival that our youth attended. Around 40 teenagers responded to make a decision for Jesus, including two from The Grove. Praise the Lord! I felt so encouraged as I thought about this story, and how we never know what the Lord will do in one persons life.  

This week we are praying to the one who can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine. More in each life, more in our church and more in Queensland. We are not praying this prayer alone but with all QB churches. I heard a statistic at the QB conference that there are as many Baptist churches in QLD as McDonalds stores. Thats alot of churches! And I reckon we have the potential of making a much greater difference than a Big Mac ever will!  

God is at work in our city and state. At the Prayer breakfast, the Lord Mayor himself, Adrian Schrinner, gave an address where he thanked the churches of Brisbane for making an impact in the city. He also gave a word from the bible about Gideon. He said we might sometimes seem small, but God reduced the army of Gideon to 300 hundred to defeat 10,000. The Lord Mayor of Brisbane preached that with faith in God, we can expect such a victory for the church. Wow. 

There are plenty of encouraging signs something fresh from God is happening. On the other side of the Pandemic there’s been a shift in the broader church. Some people sadly didn’t return to church when things reopened, but many who’ve found the world increasingly empty are returning to church with a great hunger to know God. When we see these signs its a clear call on those remaining true to Jesus, to get ready for a movement of God in our time. In two weeks on Vision Sunday, our AM and PM congregations are coming together, and I am looking forward to sharing visions of how The Grove is responding to the times and opportunities before us. Please come along. 

This week we pray, and we can move into prayer fully expectant that God is 

indeed able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. 

I hope you say amen to that. 

Marty