We are working through the gospel of John in our staff devotions, and in chapter one I was reminded of the cascading stories of invitation to come and see Jesus. First John says to Andrew, “look the Lamb of God”. Then Jesus invites Andrew to come and see. Andrew goes and brings his brother Simon to meet Jesus. Then Phillip invites Nathanael to come and see Jesus. I don’t think we are meant to miss the power of invitation in John 1. If you have seen The Chosen series, they have made t-shirts with this tag line from the gospel, come and see. 

There are a lot of people with questions about Jesus, and last year we heard the call to reach out to them one at a time. Coming up we have opportunities to invite people to come and see. To come to our Easter services and come to our Alpha dinner. 

The CEO of Crossover Australia, Andrew Turner, wrote in an article sent to me this week, that baptisms in 2023 were up 34% from 2022 in Australian Baptist churches. Andrew suggests that this could be a sign of the turning of the tide in our nation. He wrote: 

As Western culture increasingly becomes a spiritual desert…should we be surprised that spiritual thirst increases? Along with stories of baptisms, I’ve been inundated with stories of ‘gatecrashers’ – people (especially young adults) walking into churches that neither advertised nor invited them – and asking to be introduced to Jesus and Christianity.

Ten years ago the ‘New Atheist Movement’ held the floor among Western intellectuals, but it has died much faster than any church it mocked, and in its place we now see the ‘New Theist Movement’ – including such opinion-leaders as Jordan Peterson, Tom Holland and Ayaan Hirsi Ali (now openly a Christian). 

So are we seeing the turning of the tide?

I am not sure if my response is fuelled by the powerful week of prayer we are in, or from the increasing signs of awakening we are seeing in more and more people, but I believe the tide is turning. There is a thirst for something real, authentic and fulfilling in a time of artificial reality and empty promises. The gospel of Jesus, the love of his imperfect people in the local church shines so stunningly beautiful against this backdrop. 

Our part is simple. Come and see. Jesus work is finished. The cross is empty. 

The Holy Spirit’s work is constant. Lives are turning around. 

God bless, Marty.
 

I have experienced this so many times now that I am convinced it makes all the difference. I have arrived feeling weighed down by many concerns, but have left feeling uplifted with my faith strengthened and hope renewed. What happened in between arriving and leaving, was a prayer meeting.  

Praying with others has been a game changer in my life, family and leadership, as many others will share a similar testimony. Frank shared in an interview last Sunday, that being prayed for in person by others, caused his apprehension about his upcoming major surgery to evaporate. It’s one of the great blessings of corporate prayer, that somehow a deposit of the peace and power of God is made into the deepest parts of our souls. 

I feel very expectant about our Awaken week of prayer, that awakenings will happen in our lives and church, but also how this week is significant in how the Lord will awaken more people to himself among our families, friends, and neighbourhoods. 

Here are a few encouragements as we come to pray this week. 

Tonight, at our 5.30pm service we have a baptism of a young man whose life has been awakened to Jesus. It’s hard to kick-off the week of prayer in a better way than this! Also read Ps Henry’s report of the youth camp on page 9, as God worked so powerfully last weekend. PTL!

Coming up are opportunities to share Jesus with others through our guest artist Peter Shurley next Sunday, and then at our Easter services. These opportunities follow a powerful season and week of prayer, which means the ground has been prepared for harvest. 

I can’t think of many times in The Grove’s history when I have heard as many stories of hearts opening to Jesus, and people being awakened to him in new ways. It’s nothing of us, but purely an increase of the grace of God being poured out despite our weaknesses. 

We have loved studying the Prayer Course this term, and on Wednesday night another large group joined in the auditorium. It was a powerful night, and a few people said to me the same comment. “Each week it seems to be getting better and better”. On one hand that is the quality of the teaching, but on the other, it’s the increase of faith in the room as the result of prayer. 

God is at work, and perhaps we are on the verge of something we have longed for and prayed for many years. We can’t manufacture an awakening, but we can pray, and God loves to work through the prayer’s of his church.  

Praying with you, 

Marty.

I am about to embarrass myself. My running playlist includes Extreme Ways, the Jason Bourne theme song! When the song comes on however, it does remind me of something important… that I am not Jason Bourne! Even though for those few minutes I pretend I am. I run a faster split, but when the song finishes I seem to slow down significantly, and realise my humanity. For a while the slowdown was too much, because the song that followed was Easy by Faith no More. As that song played I just wanted to sip on a latte at the local café!

It's amazing how music can affect our moods. I can do the superhuman, or relax without a care in world in response to a song. Yet we know that it’s a momentary mood not necessarily based on dependable truths. However, there are songs that are emotive, motivating but also based on a foundation of truth. They are called Psalms. Lyrics and tunes written to real life travels. Perhaps among my favourites is Psalm 121. It’s for the seasons in life when everything seems like an uphill climb. So we play this track and are reminded of where our help comes from. 

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

I pray this song would lift your spirits if you are reading this because it's true. The Creator is our Helper. He is able to keep us from slipping. He watches over us. He keeps us from harm when the pressures on, and when our mind plays tricks on us. He watches over our coming and going now and forever. Now that’s a song worth adding to our playlist for life. 

As a church we have heard stories of God’s help come this week. 

• Frank is sharing in the service about God’s help through surgery and the power of prayer.

• Henry shared how the youth camp grew to the exact number they prayed for. 

• God provided the church with a $36,946 offering last week significantly decreasing our budget deficit. 

• God is calling more people to pray, volunteer and serve on teams, which is helping us strengthen our ministries to people. 

If you are like me, you need God’s help right now in something. I am praying God would help our pastoral team and ministries to people by calling another pastor. Maybe you need God’s provision, or to breakthrough a wall in the way of his promises. Well put on Psalm 121 this week, and I am confident you will find the words to be true in your experience. 

I find it so encouraging that while we study prayer, and more people are joining in prayer than we have seen in a long time, the help of heaven is coming in greater waves. God is

our Helper, but he loves to bring that help through a praying church. Praise God.

Marty.

You have probably heard someone say, “well, it’s a good problem to have.” What is a good problem? It’s when something you hoped for is happening, which also requires changes to manage it. We have a few good problems at the moment, due to our growth as a church. 

The first good problem is our car park is almost full at our 9.30am services. That means new people may not find a spot, and will have to navigate their way to our overflow car parking at the sports field. An initial solve of this good problem, is for some from The Grove to park next door a couple of Sundays a month. That should free up spaces every week, and serve those the Lord is bringing along.  

The second good problem is that the children coming to Grove Kids, is now greater than the size of our teams needed to lead them. What joy fills our hearts to see and hear children in our church! “Let the little children come to me”, said Jesus. To solve this good problem we are praying Jesus would call more to serve our kids, and also during this season of prayer, we are asking the Lord to reveal the person he is calling to join the pastoral team with a focus on families. 

The third good problem to have, is how more people means more help is needed to prepare and clean our venue. We are looking for people to join our Venue Team to setup chairs, and prepare spaces for ministry on a Sunday, and sometimes during the week. We also need more to join our church cleaning roster and help us keep this wonderful spiritual home sparkling. If you would like to help solve this good problem, let us know via Next Steps.

The fourth good problem relates to welcoming and hospitality. We need to increase our welcome teams for car park, the door and ushering. We also need more in our morning tea team, and available to help in the kitchen for occasional meals and events. Via our Next Steps QR code, you can find the link to serving at The Grove to express your interest. People matter to God and they matter to us. 

We praise our great God for good problems as he works among us, and more and more come to discover the love, grace and hope found in Jesus. May our good problems only increase as we let our light shine, so that people see our good deeds and praise 

our Father in Heaven (Matt 5:16).

Marty.

I had a moment in last Sunday’s thanksgiving service when I felt overwhelmed with gratitude to Jesus for our church family. While not everyone could be with us in person, those who came represented the countless acts of service across 2022. As I attempted to list the many areas where people served during the year, people placed a candle in a model of our calling to be a City on a Hill. The visual collection of many individual acts of service, created a river of light that has emanated from The Grove in 2022. We might sometimes feel we play a very small part, but each part is joined to the body of Christ, God’s chosen way to reveal Jesus’ love and glory to the communities of this world.

Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven(Matthew 5:16)

Last Sunday I had the most incredible conversation with someone that powerfully revealed how Jesus is changing lives through his church. A young adult man attended the service, which was his first time in church ever. I asked him why he came, and he told me he lives in Upper Kedron, and in October this year he felt awakened to search about Jesus. He didn’t have a Christian upbringing, knew very little, but searched online, listened to sermons, and watched church services including ours. Through this he understood the gospel and paused to receive Jesus as his Lord and Saviour. I was blown away by this, and full of praise to God. I must admit, it’s a first for me that someone is awakened to Jesus in our community, and two months later attends their first ever church service already a Christian!

I said to this young man, “you know for 15 years we have been praying that Jesus awakens people in our community to the gospel”. His reply was gold. “Well keeping praying that; it’s working!” There we have it church family, from the very mouth of someone freshly awakened – “keep praying that”. I am sure God wanted us to hear this story at the end of 2022 to know that all the service, sacrifice and prayers prayed are so worth it. Like that lyric in the song Waymaker, even when you don’t see it he’s working. Of course he is, and of course he will.

Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).

It’s time to be full of thanks and to celebrate King Jesus this Christmas. Its time to have a rest and recover our strength. Then in 2023, I believe we can be expectant about an awakening that is coming. What we heard about in one life, I am convinced will be multiplied in many lives. The Holy Spirit is stirring, and hearts are opening. The harvest is plentiful, and we pray next year the workers will be plentiful too. After all, there is great joy in bringing in a harvest after years of sowing seed.

Leanne and I are so thankful for the privilege it is to have served Jesus with you this year. We praise God for a church family that has encouraged us, and prayed for us, and recently called us again for a fourth term. We don’t deserve the grace we are given, yet sharing this grace is what we are in this calling for. The undeserved, unmerited amazing grace won by Jesus and given to all who would receive it. We are so thankful for the expression of this grace among us, seen in the love and unity that is so special, and that results in a welcoming community to all who God brings along.

Thankyou for your service, generosity, perseverance, humility, and love that covers over a multitude of sins. Thankyou for coming and worshipping; for showing up again and again so that others see familiar faces to connect with. Thankyou for growing in faith, and time in God’s word, and for seeking to become more like Jesus in mind, heart and attitude. Thankyou for praying at home, and for those who have gathered in our prayer meetings. I have attended the same Wednesday morning prayer meeting for almost 16 years now, and I am convinced it is the number one reason I am still leading today. Praying with others gives me so much strength and keeps my hope alive.

I want to say a special thankyou to our amazing staff, who pour out their lives week after week from such genuine love for Jesus and his church. They are an absolute joy to work with, and serve God’s people alongside through the joys and challenges of ministry. I am also thankful for our church council who also lead and discern Jesus voice with humility and great wisdom from God. A group of men and women, whose desire is to glorify Jesus, and to obey his word above all things.

Leanne and I wish you all a merry Christmas, and pray that God gives you the deepest of rest and refreshment. May he strengthen all who need it, and answer your prayers for restoration and help. We love you our church family. God bless you.

Marty and Leanne