This morning we heard from Dave Harvey, who came and gave us an introduction to Elevate and the housing project they are running. To raise funds for youth work in Bendigo and the surrounding areas, Elevate are building houses and then sowing the funds from the house sales back into the area. Any volunteers who have a trade or are good at giving a hand were invited to sign up and help. Donations of both money and building supplies will also be received.
Dave also spoke about how we as Christians are called to be the light of the world. We are called to take the light into the darkness, to reach our family and friends. We are to be like a city on a hill and it is time to Arise and shine the light. This confirmed a lot of what has been coming through in the last few prayer meetings. Dave’s passion was contagious and there was a real buzz around the building after the service.

In the evenings service, we had a simple unplugged worship service, where there was no agenda, no formal preaching and no audio equipment. We were just there to worship God for who He is and all He has done.

Get ready for a big week next Sunday! I know the preacher and I’m sure we’re in for a great day!

Alan was back on the platform speaking this week, after returning from Keysborough where he ministered last week.
The point of his message was our expectations. When we come to church, what are we expecting to happen? Are we expecting the same old same old, or are we expecting God to move and our lives to be changed. Do we expect that God will work through us? When we pray, are we asking God to bless us, or to work through us?

In the evening, we joined with View Hill Fellowship where David from Emmanual Ministries was ministering. He ministered powerfully and brought great encouragement to those who attended.

Alan was ministering in Keysborough today, so we had Carol and Pauline taking the Sunday Services.

Yesterday morning, we heard from Pauline who talked about foxes from the enemy that sneak in and steal our joy. It’s not always the big things that go wrong that manage to steal our joy, steal our focus and get us upset. More often than not, it’s the little irritating things that happen or the little things that go wrong that steal our joy and keep us from worshipping God as we should. We were ecnouraged to destroy any little foxes that may be lurking around and to be on guard against anything else that might try and sneak in and steal our joy.

In the evening, we heard from Carol who used Fred Hollows, Martin Luther King and Steve Irwin as examples of people who are driven by a passion. She encouraged everyone to press into God and find their passion, begin, and continually strive, to outwork their God given passion in their lives. Carol finished her talk with an impromptu discussion on what everyone’s passion was, with the responses showing that everyone has different God given passions.

Some of our people also attended the Freedom of Speech rally on the steps of Parliament House last Tuesday. This is an important issue in our state and we encourage all members of our fellowship to write to, or phone, our local politicians to see what they are doing about the issues raised. For further information, visit Catch the Fire Ministries.