Outback Christians sharing Jesus with you

In conjunction with Flinders Christian Fellowship - Quorn
We are an independant congregation who seek to be true disciples of Jesus.

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Articles on faith and Theology
What is postmodernism?
Postmodernism and the problem it presents to faith.
Click here to read above papers

What to do with Harry Potter-
Link to Berit Kjos

What we believe
Click here for statement of faith
NEW PAGE
Repent and Pray - New emphasis for Quorn Christian Fellowship

Secrets to good preaching-why do some people preach better than others HERE (imho)

Sunday School lessons HERE

Word Search Game Romans 8 HERE
Word Search Ephesians 6 HERE

Prophecy issues! Click Here
Spiritual Warfare Click Here
Listening Prayer Click Here

Links to Daily Devotional Sites
Bonnie' s Daily Scriptures

Christian Encouragement
www.mywalkwithjesus.net
Changing Lives Online - great testimonies

Christian support in the Outback
Check out Outback Patrol ministry with wings
Care Outreach helping out in tough times

Christian Links. I do not endorse all of the content on suggested links. It is up to each individual Christian to excersise discernment.
But I have found some ofthese sites useful especially when studying for my Theology degree.

NewsWithViews

Apologetics

Discernment Ministries

Christian parents

Lighthouse trails

Martin Roth Christian
Commentary

Ministry Blue -Christian
(resources, mission etc.)

Troubles, trials and testings - consider the joy?

We all have our troubles and many of us are going through terrible trials right now. No-one I know likes going through tough times, least of all me. How many of us put hand up and ask for trials in our life? Of course none of us because we all know that life on earth brings its constant share of these things our way often enough without us having to seek them out.
Sometimes i even wonder if maybe it's the other way around and that troubles seek me out. There are days when I feel like they are deliberately put in my way on purpose.

Trials and troubles are interesting things. No-one wants them, many of us go to great lenghts to avoid them and when they come we all run for cover. Whilst we are in the midst of them we groan, we suffer and often complain. I know I do! I like the Israelites of Moses' time make a good "whiner'. I must sound like my own kids in the ears of the Lord. Why me? It's not fair! Who's to blame! Sometimes I even go 'demon hunting' thinking that every woe must come from the 'enemy of the saints'. Whilst some troubles may come from this source many are just the result of living in a fallen, sin-filled world and sad to say the rest are probably of my own making.

Whilst we may not always know why they come we can be certain of the response we as christians should have, and no it is not whining or complaining or even trying to 'walk around or away from them.

Continued on page 2 CLICK HERE
Learning contentment page 3 CLICK HERE
Secrets to good preaching- ever wondered why some sermons impact for life and others are like fairy floss CLICK HERE

A friend rang the other day and told me how her daughter came home all excited about God because her teacher had shared some personal testimonies (stories) about amazing things Jesus had done in her life. My friend wanted to refresh her mind on some things I had shared with her before moving house.

It got me thinking about how our personal testimonies really can shine the light of Jesus into someones life. I was wondering if by not sharing my "God encounters" I was guilty of hiding my "light under a bushel"? So I have decided to have a special section for sharing what Jesus has done in our lives. I will share some things from my trips overseas to Africa, UK and China. I also hope to hear from some of you.

If you have a testimony to share please send it in. See contact us box.

Come back soon for more............

I have been really blessed to have been called to travel overseas by God. The first time God spoke to me about going OS I was at Bible College - Tabor. I was in my first year of my theology degree and baording at the college community house. It was in the middle of the day and I was fed up with working on my assignment.

Election and predestination were not my favourite topics at the time. I was looking for a break so I thought maybe I would go for a walk to the beach., (we only lived 2 mins away).

As I was about to leave my room a sudden, seamingly random thought came to mind. How about going overseas. This thought was so out of the blue, so far from what my mind had been on all day that I stopped dead in my tracks. Overseas, wow but who are we kidding I am a "by faith Bible student" who has more outcome than income.
It seemed to impossible so I pushed it out of my mind. Grabbed my shoes and out I went.

I didn't even make it out of the front door when the same thought came again but stronger. It came this time as more of a directive than a mere musing. You are going overseas!

Maybe my mind had flipped, the predestination essay was taking its tole, but before I finished this line of thinking this strange thought interjected - "Perhaps God is speaking to me. Maybe, He wants me to go overseas"?

Oh boy, visions of going to Asia began to come to mind. Thailand, Cambodia, Malasia somewhere exciting, somewhere for mission work. I turned around and headed for my room again. Prayer time seemed like a good idea all of a sudden. I began to pray. "Well God it seems you may be trying to say something about going overseas to serve you. If this is you and not just me playing head games can you tell me where it is you want me to go."

More comming soon.............. Part 2 .........Click Here

Flinders Christian Fellowship contact detalils
The Church is located at 29 First street Quorn.
Snail Mail: 7 Sixth Street Quorn 5433

jackie@outbackjack.info

On hearing God speak...

I firmly believe that God still speaks to His children today. This does not mean though that I believe God gives new revelation that is extra-Biblical. This means I don't think God tells us something that in anyway changes His revealed word in the Bible, because God does not change. Why I believe God still speaks to us today is that Christianity is about relationship with Him. That is why Jesus came to earth and died on the cross - to restore our relationship with Him. To do this He had to pay our price for sin and He also had to overcome the Devil, who wishes to prevent our contact with God.

To hear from God you do not have to be a "super-saint", you do not have to perform a ritual. There is no-need for contemplative spirituality (link takes you site that explains the hazards of this) that tells you to 'empty your mind' or to meditate. Scripture clearly tells us that our means of communication is through prayer. I believe it works in Jesus name through the power of the Holy Spirit.

God has told me time and time again that it is because of His power to make Himself heard that we hear Him. He can clearly direct all those who have a heart to 'hear and obey'.

In my experience and from my understanding of scripture God can use various means to communicate with us. He can impress a scripture in our minds, He can speak through dreams and even give visions Joel 2:28ff. Sometimes He sends someone to us with just the right 'word of wisdom' (1Cor 12:8). Other times our daily reading of scripture will impact us and speak into our situation. No matter how He does it though it must be in agreement with the full meaning of scripture This means no taking scripture out of context.

I have never heard His audible voice, nor have I had a vision with eyes open appearing, so to speak in the air or on a wall. Mostly in my life it has been a strong interjection of a thought, that is not obviously of my own. Sometimes it has taken days for me to realize it is God, sometimes only moments. When I have such a thought or a persistant scripture in my mind, I pray. I talk to God about it. I ask for wisdom (James 1:5). I also check the scriptures. If I am still in doubt I seek out a mature Christian and ask for advice and thier prayers. There have been times in my life when hearing directly from God saved my life (Travel in Afica), there have also been times when hearing from God has brought about blessing and answered prayer to others.

I think above all the ability to hear God depends on two things 1 - His power. 2 - A heart of faith like James talks about. Finally I think we also need to be willing to obey the words recieved.

No Place For Rebels!
Here is a great article from D.J. Ludlow a Telstra bigblog friend

One of the biggest misconceptions about Christianity (there are a great many) is that good people get to go to Heaven and bad people go to Hell. But "good" and "bad" are not self-defining. That is, the concept of what is good and what is bad requires that someone define or declare and judge what is good and what is bad .... and what is neither.
But ask 100 people and you will most likely get 100 different answers. Actually, contrary to popular belief there is very little concensus as to what is right and what is wrong. There may be some broad agreement on some of the larger issues but it doesn't take long to find a point of disagreement. For instance nearly everybody might say it is wrong to kill somebody. But then some believe in capital punishment and some don't. Nearly everybody will consider there is some case for "justifiable homicide" but there will be an infinite variation on when it is and when it is not justified. Nearly everybody might say robbery is wrong (except perhaps robbers who obviously think it is OK to steal). But most will think "finders, keepers" is quite legitimate even though it too is a form of robbery. Most are happy to knowingly pocket the extra change given to them in error although it too is robbery.
Likewise huge price mark ups, and exorbitant profits are not seen as robbery but as good business. Then there are issues like homosexuality, religion, pornography, recreational drugs, prostitution, etc. where there is a whole range of differing views. Anyway you get the point. "Right" and "wrong", "good" and "bad" are, at best, exceedingly "rubbery" concepts in the hands of man that not only change person-to-person, but also time-to-time, nation-to-nation, culture-to-culture, religion-to-religion, etc.
Therefore who are "good" people and who are "bad" people? ..... and most importantly who gets to judge who is who??
Sadly many in the wider "Christian" community have taken it upon themselves to judge right from wrong, good from bad. They hold endless debates, write equally endless books, essays, theses, etc. about what should and should not be acceptable in the church and in their clergy, and in the general populace. They put forth reasoned arguments for and against, apply logic and "rational thinking", undertake surveys and opinion polls, call on "traditions", put it to the vote, refer to scientific research and general public / majority opinion, etc.
The trouble is they are so busy trying to be the "custodians" of human morality, the arbiters of right and wrong, the "concience" of mankind, that they forget that following Jesus is not about deciding what is good and what is bad. Following Jesus is not about who's "good" and whose "bad" ... it's about who is OBEDIENT and who is REBELLIOUS.
You see what is "good" and what is "bad", what is right and what is wrong is not MAN'S decision at all. The LORD has declared what is right and what is wrong and HIS judgement WILL stand for all eternity. To read the rest of the article goto link below Views from an Island Place

New Age infiltration of the Church - A published letter to the Editor Lutheran Magazine - J. Hancock

Lately I have become concerned about the ‘new spirituality’ that is creeping into Evangelical Christianity. Nearly every day I am coming across Christians who are delving into New Age and Eastern Mysticism and claiming that they are compatible with the Christian life. In fact some are even teaching them through their various ministries as vehicles to grow closer to God.

From Yoga and mantra meditation, to Reike, Homeopathy, Labyrinths and guided imagery visualization, acupuncture and even dream readings. Some Christians are even claiming that Jesus used some of these techniques in his healing ministry.

What has happened to the gift of discernment in Christian circles today? How have such obvious ‘occult’ practices slipped into our circles and at times even into the pulpits?

What is even more amazing is that it is becoming more acceptable to practice these things than to develop a personal relationship with our Lord. I am finding that Christians who know Jesus and know how to hear from him in their personal walk and prayer are being branded as ‘fanatics’ and even ‘oddballs’. Christians who operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit shunned, yet ‘New Age’ Christians doing yoga and Reike don’t even raise eyebrows.

It is hard to understand why Christians who have personal, direct access to the Father through our Saviour Jesus need to find ‘alternative’ methods to gain a closer walk. The Cross of Christ, His life and death, His victory over sin and the access it gives us to God is all that we need to grow ‘into Christ’. God speaks to us where we are. In the everyday things of life He speaks. He changes us as we face the challenges of life, He doesn’t require us to achieve ‘higher states of consciousness’ He doesn’t require us to ‘centre’, to empty our minds or to walk intricate twisted pathways to gain an audience with Him.

Many New Age practices require the need to gain special wisdom and insights to be functional. How is this different from Gnosticism? Can’t people see that these practices are ‘works of the flesh’ they appeal because it relies on ‘mans wisdom’ and abilities not on the all sufficiency of Christ Jesus.

We have all that we need to grow closer, to speak to Him and to hear from Him (God) in Jesus and in the scriptures. What we do need to grow is faith, an active prayer life, an attitude of listening all through our day and the belief that Jesus still works in us today through the gifts mentioned in the Bible. Remember that Jesus said ‘do not pray as the pagans do, with many words (vain repetition of words)’ , rather go into your prayer closet and speak to Him.

When are our Lutheran pastors going to address these practices? When is someone going to stand up and stop this idolatry, this ‘New Age’ Gnosticism and heresy? From the pastors and ministry leaders I have spoken to it seems never, as many do not even understand what the practices are, why they are wrong or even the responsibility that leaders have to warn and teach the congregations. Even more alarming I have found many leaders to be actively embracing these practices and sharing them around.
In the end there will be no difference between the Church and New Age religions we will become a ‘carbon copy’ as we bow to these ‘foreign gods’ and become spiritual prostitutes, replacing the power of God through Jesus with cheap and nasty imitations.
PS
If people want to follow the New Age then let them, it's their choice, but don't re-invent the church to accomodate. Let the Church belong to Jesus and those who don't agree can have their own establishments.

Do you live in the Bush and are too far away to get to a church on Sunday? Yet you still wish to have a Christian community to belong to! Well Flinders Christian Fellowship wants to support you in your walk with Jesus. You can join us online and if you have any needs please contact us
jackie@outbackjack.info
We are here for your prayer needs, christian education and visitation.

Click on this box

                  God's amazing Grace

Over nine months ago Quentin Smith who shares the pastoring of Flinders Fellowship was given only 6 months to live. He had numerous secondary cancers and was on heavy medication. Chemo and radiation therapy had been discontinued.

Quentin and his wife Marg knew it had to be God or nothing. They pushed into prayer entering into a new depth for both of them. Quentin also had some deliverance ministry. Today Quentin is looking great and is on no heavy medication. He has passed the useby date given to him by the doctors. He is back working as a builder restoring old homes and also going hammer and tongs into the pastoral support of our Fellowship members.

God's name be praised, he is keeping Quentin in peace and joy and health. We have discovered that God is true to His word in the book of James. Through confession, repentance, prayer of the Elders and above all the power of the Lord Jesus we can stand in strong Faith.

The time of trials and testings Quentin, his wife and the congregation have been going through is baring fruit. Jesus promises to walk with us through the valley of the shadow of death (psalm 27).    Has God done something in your life that you would like to share?
you can submit it to this site by using the contact details at the top of the page.

Enjoy your day it's a gift from God especially for you.   God is challenging our church go to Repent and Pray and find out how. HERE