The fine art of friendship

 

We humans are communal by nature and that means we all crave friendships. Healthy friendships are vital to a satisfying life. When our friendships are going well we are usually going well. When our friendships are fragile and conflicted, we are usually fragile and conflicted.

 

Given friendship is a universal need of the human race you would think that we would know how to make friendships work. Yet, as our lives often reflect, finding and maintaining healthy relationships is not easy. It can seem more like a fine art we have to finesse than something we can strategically implement in our lives.

 

The book of Proverbs in the Bible speaks a lot about friendship. While there are never any guarantees when it comes to how people will respond to us, Proverbs gives us some very helpful insights into what makes us a good friend.

 

Not surprisingly Proverbs says, ‘A friend loves at all times.’ (Proverbs17:17) Love is not just a word we say, but it is something we show through our actions. Love is the basis of all good friendships. This is not a syrupy sentimental love, but a love that continues in the tough times. Proverbs goes on to say that a real friend is loyal (18:24), forgiving (17:9) and honest (24:26).

 

Our friendships also shape the person we become. ‘As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend’ (Proverbs 27:17). When this Proverb was written the only way to sharpen an iron blade was to rub it up against another piece of iron to smooth over all the rough sections and sharpen the edge. Good friendship will sharpen us as people. As we interact with our friends sharing love, loyalty, forgiveness and honesty, we become better people. The opposite is also true if we have bad friends. Our interaction with bad friends can negatively shape us. In saying that, difficult friends can teach us a lot about loving when it is not easy, and also patience.

 

Given friendship can profoundly shape us it is important to choose our friends well. The friendship that has the greatest potential to shape us in a positive way is our friendship with Jesus. In Jesus we experience the ultimate in friendship and it is through Jesus’ friendship that we are transformed to be more like him. Jesus shapes us to be more like him so we can be better friends with each other.

 

Jesus’ offer of friendship is to everyone. Have you received Jesus as your friend? If not, why not ask him today?

 

Pastor Noel

 

This Sunday at Good Shepherd

This week’s message will be ‘The approval trap’ as we continue our series ‘The Barriers to Spiritual Growth’ Podcasts of the message are available at www.paravista.org.au

 

Bible Readings: Proverbs 29:25; Luke 12:4-12

 

 

Kingdom Kids:

Kingdom Kids is currently on school holidays until the 20th October. We would like to invite you to continue worshipping as a family during this time and look forward to an exciting and fun final term.

 

2013 Celebration Service:

We are excited!!! Kingdom Kids will be hosting an all age worship service on Sunday the 1st December and already plans are being made to pull this event together. We will kick off our preparations on Sunday 20th October and will spend the entire term rehearsing, learning songs, making costumes and props and so much more in preparation for this special event. Please keep the date free and get ready to be blown away once again by the kids and their incredible creativity and love for Jesus. Please contact Laura Carson if your child is interested in being involved in the drama team that will rehearse during the week during this time.

 

Playgroup:

Playgroup is currently on holidays until the start of term 4. Wednesday the 16th October will be our first week back and the launch of our Christmas program ‘The Things We Love About Christmas’. 9:30am-11:30am in the church hall. $2 per child or $3 per family. Please bring a piece of fruit to share. All welcome.

Please contact Beth Einthal for more info 0438 233 671.

Prayer requests

Prayer requests are not included in the weekly news. If you would like to view the current requests refer to the email that alerted you to this weekly news. If you have a prayer request please email churchequiries@paravista.org.au with your request.

 

The confirmation program at Good Shepherd is called Transform. Transform is a yearlong discipleship program for people in Years 9 and 10. It is about taking the next step and deciding to commit a year to learning more about self, others and God. Expressions of interest are being taken for 2014. For more information please contact Sophie sgerrrie@paravista.org.au

 

Reformation Sunday Celebration Lunch

Sunday 27th October after the 10:30am Service in the Church Hall

Invite your friends and neighbours to join you as we celebrate together with German Fare; bratwurst, schnitzels, sauerkraut, metwurst and dill cucumbers.

A gold coin donation will be appreciated to offset costs.

 

Cebu Fundraising

 

Plant Stall

The Plant Stall will be held on Sundays 13^th and Sunday 20^th October after both morning services. If you have potted up plants to sell, please name your plants and also if they flower, put what colour they will be. We will be setting up the Plant Stall in the Hall, on Saturday 12^th October from 10.30am - 12.30pm, so please bring your plants between those times or prior to the service that you will be attending.

 

Notice Board

 

Craft fair

Saturday 26^th October from 9:00am - 3:00pm

Handmade Gifts, Plants, Devonshire Tea and Sausage Sizzle

 

Tea Tree Gully Uniting

600 Milne Road, Banksia Park

www.ttguc.org.au

 

Bells required for Central Australia - Finke River Mission

The bells can be big or small. Small hand-rung bells are required for home devotions and other larger bells are required for future church buildings. Please bring donated bells in to Kate Hampel at the SA/NT District Office, 137 Archer Street, North Adelaide.

 

Friends of Lutheran Archives meeting

Topic: 175 Years of Lutheran Theology in Australia. Speakers: Drs Dean Zweck, Erich Renner,
Vic Pfitzner and Jeff Silcock. A discussion of significant theological issues in our 175 year history. At Bethlehem House, Sudholz Place, Adelaide, on Monday 21^st October at 7.30 pm.

(NOTE: AGM at 7pm) Supper. Gold coin donation.

 

 

“A true friend is a gift from God and one who points us back to Him”

 

 

Words that bless or mess? 

 

The words of the reckless pierce like swords,

but the tongue of the wise brings healing. (Proverbs 12:18 NIV)

 

Our words can mess or bless, hurt or heal, tear down or build up.

 

Ways people can hurt others with reckless words?

·         Name calling, swearing, shouting, screaming, insults, put downs, sarcasm.

·         Keep pointing out past mistakes or failures, ridicule, mocking.

·         Spreading gossip about others that is private or confidential.

·         Assassinating people’s character or reputation through malicious gossip.

 

When people are reckless with their words to us, how does it feel?

·         The words of the reckless pierce like swords…

·         Inside, we feel like we’re being cut to pieces, or stabbed, or beaten up.

·         We end up wounded and hurting inside. We get upset. We feel damaged.

·         Sometimes that damage can last for years or even decades.

 

I don’t know ANYONE who likes being the target of reckless words!

 

Ways our words can bring healing?

·         Pleasant words are a honey comb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

(Proverbs 16:24 NIV)

·         A gentle answer quiets anger. But harsh ones stir it up. (Proverbs 15:1 GN)

·         …an encouraging word cheers a person up. (Proverbs 12:25b NLT)  

 

What sort of words do you like other people using towards you? 

What sort of words do you use at home, work or play?

 

Does Jesus want our words to tear people down or build people up?

The good news is that Jesus wants to help us. Our words flow out of what is in our hearts.  People with hurting hearts hurt others. We need Jesus to heal our hearts and make us whole.  As our hearts are made clean and filled with Jesus’ love, we will use words to bless and build people up.

 

Pr Rolly Stahl

 

 

This Sunday at Good Shepherd

This week’s message will be ‘Religious pretending’ as we continue our series ‘The Barriers to Spiritual Growth’ Podcasts of the message are available at www.paravista.org.au

 

Bible Readings: Isaiah 58:1-12 and Matthew 6:1-4

 

 

Kingdom Kids:

Kingdom Kids is currently on school holidays until the 20th October. We would like to invite you to continue worshipping as a family during this time and look forward to an exciting and fun final term. Baby Zone will run this Sunday 29^th September but will be on break during the school holidays. Please feel free to make use of the parenting room during services.

 

2013 Celebration Service:

We are excited!!! Kingdom Kids will be hosting an all age worship service on Sunday the 1st December and already plans are being made to pull this event together. We will kick off our preparations on Sunday 20th October and will spend the entire term rehearsing, learning songs, making costumes and props and so much more in preparation for this special event. Please keep the date free and get ready to be blown away once again by the kids and their incredible creativity and love for Jesus. Please contact Laura Carson if your child is interested in being involved in the drama team that will rehearse during the week during this time.

 

Playgroup:

Playgroup will now be on holidays until the start of term 4. Wednesday the 16th October will be our first week back and the launch of our Christmas program ‘The Things We Love About Christmas’. 9:30am-11:30am in the church hall. $2 per child or $3 per family. Please bring a piece of fruit to share. All welcome.

 

Please contact Beth Einthal for more info 0438 233 671.

 

C & F Ministry Volunteers Dinner:

Children and Family Ministry volunteers, you and your family are invited to a celebration to thank YOU for your time and efforts volunteering in C & F ministry this year.

 

Please keep Saturday 16th November, 4pm-7:30pm free. Invites with all the info have just been sent…we hope to see you all there!

 

Laura Carson

Children and Family Team Leader

 

Prayer Request:

Prayer requests are not included in the weekly news. If you would like to view the current requests refer to the email that alerted you to this weekly news. If you have a prayer request please email churchequiries@paravista.org.au with your request.

 

The confirmation program at Good Shepherd is called Transform. Transform is a yearlong discipleship program for people in Years 9 and 10. It is about taking the next step and deciding to commit a year to learning more about self, others and God. Expressions of interest are being taken for 2014. For more information please contact Sophie sgerrrie@paravista.org.au

 

 

Para Vista Lutheran Women's Fellowship    

Next Meeting on Tuesday 1^st October, 1pm in the church hall

Guest Speaker – Barry Klaer

All Welcome

 

Cebu Fundraising

 

Plant Stall

The Plant Stall will be held on Sundays 13^th and Sunday 20^th October after both morning services. If you have potted up plants to sell, please name your plants and also if they flower, put what colour they will be. We will be setting up the Plant Stall in the Hall, on Saturday 12^th October from 10.30am - 12.30pm, so please bring your plants between those times or prior to the service that you will be attending.

 

Thank you

Thank you to Jeanne Conradie and her mum Charlotte for making cupcakes and selling them last Sunday. They sold every one of them! Well done! Jeanne is doing a project for school on Fundraising for a Charity and she chose to donate the takings to Cebu Mission, the wonderful donation of $200. Thank you so much on behalf of the people of Cebu Mission Foundation.

New Members

We have recently lost a member from our Cebu Team due to ill health. We are currently in need of 1 or 2 people to join our Team. We ask that you prayerfully consider joining us, especially if you have a passion for serving and helping the poverty people. For more info, please talk to me or one of our team members or email: joanrmc@bigpond.com or phone: 8262 7429

From the Office

 

Vacancies at Good Shepherd in 2014

There could be up to 3 vacancies on the Board of Good Shepherd in 2014.

 

Purpose of the Board

The purpose of the Good Shepherd Board is to empower, resource and actively support the Pastoral Ministry Team to lead us in our mission to reach into the community with the Gospel that all may know Jesus and worship Him.

To achieve this purpose the Board has 6 key objectives:

• To provide Pastoral Care of Pastoral Ministry Team.
• To provide an empowering organisational environment for mission and ministry by ensuring staff are adequately trained, have clear position descriptions and ministry plans are reviewed regularly.
• To ensure we use up to date methods of communication and that this is effective in reaching targeted audiences.
• To provide adequate, suitable and well maintained facilities and equipment and oversee planning, funding and implementation of capital development and expansion programs.
• To maintain clear congregational policies and procedures.
• To give attentive oversight to the relevance and effectiveness of policies and procedures governing professional and ethical standards of behaviour and expected responses.
• To ensure adequate finances are available to fund our mission.

 

If you are interested in getting more information about the work of the Board or would be interested in serving on the Board contact either John Dolling or Keren Sutton.

Vacancies

 

Aged Care Lay Chaplain

LHI Glynde Residential Care Facility, SA - Full Time 

For further details go to: www.lca.org.au/employment-opportunities.html 

 

Project Manager

Australian Lutheran College is seeking to appoint a Project Manager for up to a twelve month period. Please see Church Notice Board for more details.

 

 

Notice Board

 

 

An Afternoon of Music and Entertainment

This event will be a great relaxing afternoon for your congregation to enjoy just after morning church. Tickets will be available on the day at the venue.

 

When: Sunday, 29 September starting 2.00pm

Where: Concordia College, 45 Cheltenham St Highgate

Tickets: $25 Adult; $20 Concession

Afternoon tea is provided in your ticket price.

 

This is a fundraising concert for the LCC Peachey Place Living Skills Centre in Davoren Park which offers important everyday living skills programs for residents in the Playford Area.

 

The line-up of performers span all varieties from Broadway to Pop to Classical, there will be something enjoyable for everyone.

 

 

 

“Be patient with others as God has been with you”

 

 

 

Is forgiving, forgetting?

 

After the message I preached a couple of weeks back called ‘Breaking free from bitterness’ I had a couple of people comment, “I know with God’s help I will be able to forgive, but I don’t think I can ever forget!” Without even asking I could sense the underlying question in their comments; “If I am unable to forget does that mean I haven’t forgiven them?” This question often comes as a result of a well-known cliché that says, “Forgive and forget!”

 

While the Bible tells us to forgive each other, just as God forgives us in Jesus, does this forgiveness mean we should forget? Now it is easy to conclude that we should forget because when speaking of God’s forgiveness to us, the Bible says, ‘He will remember our sins no more.’ (Hebrews 10:17) Does God remembering our sins no more mean that he forgets them? How can an all-knowing God just forget?

 

Sure an all-powerful God may be able to wipe our sins from his memory but whether he does this or not the most important thing is how God now treats us in regard to those sins he has remembered no more. It means that God will never use our past sins against us. Psalm 103:12 says, "As far as the east is from the west so far does he remove our sins from us." When we forgive someone we are choosing to never use those sins against them again. Forgetting may be the result of forgiveness, but it is never the means of forgiveness.

 

Sometimes forgiving is remembering. If the person who has hurt you has done it ten times in a row forgiving them is a different issue from not letting them do it again. Some people are toxic and dangerous and they are going to abuse, hurt and manipulate again and again. We may need to set up really strong boundaries with that person. We may be able to forgive them but part of dealing with them may mean that we cannot be in the same room with them because of what they have done. Forgiving is not forgetting. It is remembering. We will set them free. We will not have anger or malice but because of what they have done and the ongoing reality that they may do it again, we will need to put in strong boundaries to stop them hurting us again. 

 

Neither does forgiving always mean reconciling. It doesn’t necessarily mean that everything goes back to the way it was before. While forgiveness is crucial for reconciliation, given it takes two to reconcile, you may forgive someone and the relationship may still remain broken.

 

Forgiveness is one of the hardest things we are called to do as followers of Jesus. However, let’s not make it harder than it needs to be by placing the impossible expectation on ourselves that if we choose to forgive we will also forget. As hard as it is to forgive, we know that if God calls us to it we can confidently look to him each day to live out our choice to forgive.

 

Pastor Noel

 

This Sunday at Good Shepherd

This week’s message will be ‘Spiritual Consumerism’ as we continue our series ‘The Barriers to Spiritual Growth’ Podcasts of the message are available at www.paravista.org.au

 

Bible Readings: Matthew 7:13-14, 21-23.  Romans 8:5-14

 

 

Kingdom Kids:

This Sunday is our last Kingdom Kids session for the term. We will be looking at the following topics:

·         Baby Zone: I see God’s love at Church (from our Gospel Lights Baby Beginnings resource)

·         Kindy Zone: ‘King David’ 2 Samuel (from our Kids @ Church resource)

·         Kids Zone: ‘God gives victory’  Joshua  (from our Kids @ Church resource)

·         Kool Zone: Service Event - Part 8 of our 8 week discipleship program Raising up Spiritual Champions

 

Kool Zone Service Event THIS SUNDAY

This Sunday 22^nd September, Kool Zone will be serving our community after the 10:30am service by providing morning tea, giving shoulder massages and gifts of encouragement AND they will be doing the dishes. Parents of this age group, please support the group by hanging around after church. There will also be cakes and cards for sale by the Cebu Fundraising team, so sit back with a cuppa and something yummy and enjoy some time to fellowship with other members of the church family.

 

2013 Celebration Service:

We are excited!!! Kingdom Kids will be hosting an all age worship service on Sunday the 1^st December and already plans are being made to pull this event together. We will kick off our preparations on Sunday 20^th October and will spend the entire term rehearsing, learning songs, making costumes and props and so much more in preparation for this special event. Please keep the date free and get ready to be blown away once again by the kids and their incredible creativity and love for Jesus. Please contact Laura Carson if your child is interested in being involved in the drama team that will rehearse during the week during this time.

 

Playgroup:

Our theme for playgroup this term was “God makes growing things”. On Wednesday we ended the term with a bang at our 2013 Twilight Event. We had lots of fun making our own gardens, using clay and things from our real gardens at home, celebrating all the things God makes through fun games and activities. We feasted on all the yummy food provided by Little Lambs Playgroup and the members of our group, and sang and danced with Chris Jaensch, our special guest for the night.  Playgroup will now be on holidays until the start of term 4. Wednesday the 16^th October will be our first week back and the launch of our Christmas program ‘the things we love about Christmas’. 9:30am-11:30am in the church hall. $2 per child or $3 per family. Please bring a piece of fruit to share. All welcome. Please contact Beth Einthal for more info 0438 233 671.

 

 

 Laura Carson - Children and Family Team Leader

Prayer requests
Prayer requests are not included in the weekly news. If you would like to view the current requests refer to the email that alerted you to this weekly news. If you have a prayer request please email churchequiries@paravista.org.au with your request.

 

Para Vista Lutheran Women's Fellowship    

Next Meeting on Tuesday 1^st October, 1pm in the church hall

Guest Speaker – Barry Klaer

All Welcome

 

Cebu Fundraising Card and Cupcake Stalls

There will be over 500 new cards for sale including Christmas, male and female birthday, general birthday, verse cards and special birthday cards. Cupcakes will also be available for a gold coin donation.

 

 

Vacancies

 

Aged Care Lay Chaplain

LHI Glynde Residential Care Facility, SA - Full Time 

For further details go to: www.lca.org.au/employment-opportunities.html 

 

Project Manager

Australian Lutheran College is seeking to appoint a Project Manager for up to a twelve month period. Please see Church Notice Board for more details.

 

 

Notice Board

 

 

LCC Quiz Night

Raising funds for Emergency Relief services in the spirit of anti-poverty week!

When: Saturday 12th October 2013, 7:00pm

Where: Pulteney Grammar School (South Terrace, Adelaide)

Registration is per table (max 10 people)

You can register via Michelle Busto mbusto@lccare.org.au or Shaun Harris sharris@lccare.org.au  or phone 08 8269 9300

 

 

“The storms that threaten to destroy us, God will use to strengthen us”