VISION DAY
For those of you who were at Realife on the 12th of February, you will have heard the fresh vision statements of the church for 2017
VISION DAY: 12/02/2017
Vision Day!
For those of you who were at Realife on the 12th of February, you will have heard the fresh vision statements of the church for 2017. This isn’t just a day of learning what our leading pastors want to happen inside the building during the year. Rather, it means uniting and aligning our spirits to focus on a common goal to embody the bride of Christ. Pastor E began the morning with a great proverbial: ‘A knife cuts because it is focused.’ In other words, Vision Day is the day on which we unite in our focus to progress our relationships with God and each other. We want to be sharp, cutting through to the heart of what God wants for His people. I’m going to be pulling out a lot of rich excerpts from that sermon in this blog, so get ready for many quotation marks.
‘The world is our mission,’ and this year we are focused on bringing about the power of Jesus outside of our four walls by spreading it in all directions: Up, Out, and In.
Mission Up involves ‘develop[ing] our relationship with God by following Jesus’ example and teaching.’ It is to do with our personal relationship between us and Him, and by strengthening it we streangthen our personal ability to bring our missions field with us.
Focusing on Mission In means to ‘develop our relationship with God’s family by deliberately doing life with God’s family… [which is] the church.’ Here at Realife we try to maintain an incredibly strong concentration on connecting with our church family. It’s even declared in our overall mission statement that we aim to ‘connect people to God and one another.’ The ‘one another is very, very important, and one of the many reasons I love my church is that I genuinely feel like a welcomed member of the family, and have a connected to all of my many siblings/aunties/uncles. That’s Mission In in action.
Mission Out - our main direction for 2017 specifically - means the development of ‘our relationship with lost people by reaching out with compassion to the lost.’ This is only one beautiful facet of missionary work. It isn’t travelling to all corners of the world and handing out poorly made tracts in hopes that they will be read... It means physically entering our local (and global) community with the objective of providing people with the compassion and the love they need, and drawing them to God not only by our words, but largely by our actions.
‘If a disciple is a follower of Jesus, then discipleship is simply helping people follow Jesus, fellowship with other believers and fish for people.’ At Realife (not just in 2017, but beyond), we aim to be ‘disciples who make disciples,’ and ‘faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.’
That’s the bare skeleton description of our vision for our church. These are the areas we are focusing our hearts on. We have pamphlets and recordings (you can download the audio of the message [here]) and visuals about the entire message in our building, so I strongly urge you to get your hands or your ears on something to give you a detailed overview of who we are, what we do, and why we do it.
God bless you!
Emma J. Ware
All I Want For Christmas
All I Want for Christmas: Christmas Day 2016
What words come to mind when you think about the Christmas season? Presents? family? food? tinsel? Santa? In a Christian context, the word that stands out beyond all of the others is Love. From Love comes every facet of the ‘Christmas spirit’: giving, sharing, compassion, stillness, joy, peace, goodwill… And throughout the Bible, Jesus provides us with a flawless example of perfect Love.
At Realife this year, our Christmas service was nothing short of heartwarming. You walked in past the foyer to see very trendy, minimalistic Christmas trees peppered along the edge of the seats in the auditorium. The lights were on, the stage was set, and the atmosphere was electric and intimate.
The morning began with a stirring moment of worship, as the lights on the trees flickered and danced to the chorus of Shine on Us, originally by Bethel Music. And not only were there twirling lights on the trees, but there were also some brand new light displays bouncing off small panels above the stage which made the entire house come alive. This was not purely for show. This was to celebrate Jesus:
‘Shine, shine, shine like the sun,
You're waking us to life,
You've only begun.
Every fear, every doubt disappears
When You shine on us…’
What a way to not only declare the majesty of Christmas but also to usher in the New Year!
Next came a video following kids telling the story of Christmas in their own innocent, pure and honest way, and then, amongst more worship an enchanting spectacle was revealed off of the stage: the music team formed an intimate gathering on the floor, amongst the congregation.. and to top it off; a tree made completely of fairy lights! You can’t get more festive than anything covered in fairy lights.
Then came another moving video, and then the Word. What a Word! Pastor E shared a short, but hard-hitting and extremely moving, message. His opening question was this: ‘What would honour Jesus the most?’ In other words, what should we as Christians be doing during this Christmas season (but certainly not only in the one season) to glorify God the way that He set out for us to?
The answer was simple: put others before yourself. Love them the way you love you. Share and give freely and joyfully, as hard as it may be. When reading on these sorts of ideas in the Bible, we sometimes keep them in words and don’t put them into practice. However, Ps E was telling us that just as God gave us His Son, became nothing for us, made Himself empty for us and saved us from His own righteous justice, the Lord tells us to give our whole self and all of our own affections away and give them – now, here’s the important part – not to Him, but to others. That is worth far, far more than the $520 million we spend on unwanted presents.
To hear the sermon in full, which I can’t recommend more that you do (even if you’ve heard it before), you can download it from [this link].
Following the message, we had festive desserts and sweets and fellowship, and the kids had their own crafting station. Christmas music resounded in everyone’s heads and the spirit of joy swam through the crowds.
So, a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Realife Church! We know that great things are in store for your 2017 and ours, so we wish you peace and blessings and love to accompany you in this new season.
That’s all we want for Christmas.
God bless you!
Emma J. Ware
Fathers Day
Fathers Day...
Happy Fathers Day!
During this week’s Sunday morning Facebook-scroll I noticed that quite a few of my friends had posted messages to the effect of, ‘A non-Happy Father’s Day to the father who abandoned me and left me to figure out life on my own,’ and ‘I can’t say Happy Father’s Day to anyone because I never had one… Today brings me a lot of painful memories.’
I can’t quote the posts verbatim, not just out of respect to their authors but also because I’m Christian, and some of the language was not. They saddened me. I can’t personally identify with them, because my dad is still married to my mum, and loves her and me. I thank God every day for this increasingly rare blessing. But I did heavily empathize, and I just wanted to hug all of my hurting friends.
This made me reflect on what ‘fatherhood’ actually is. Any man can be a father, as they say, but it takes someone special to be a dad. The reason we know this is because God showed man how to do it. Some follow His example, and some don’t. And for the children of those who don’t, we can at least be at peace with the knowledge that to have a relationship with God means to have a relationship with the perfect dad – the one who set the benchmark for fatherhood.
This week at Realife we honoured all of the men: future fathers, current fathers, almost-fathers and grandfathers. God is the ultimate Father, so the opportunity to pay tribute was not one to be passed over.
One the first things you will have seen when you walked through the big front doors might have been a ‘Dads, you are loved’ message on the wall of the storeroom. Fathers need to hear this as often as mothers and children do. If you were a dad, you may have received a free coffee – what better method to show love! Surrounding this was a collage of the drawings our Real Kids did; a burst of colour and cuteness.
The stage was decked out in a few manly decorations: a ladder, work boots, chainsaw, golf clubs, and such. It’s amazing how visual art and décor can contribute to the atmosphere of a room, and the few additions that the creative art team made did so perfectly: it was an atmosphere of strength, hard work and support, which are traits I definitely associate with my dad.
Worship was just as powerful and inspiring as it always is. We introduced a new song, which always brings a fresh breeze into the winds of worship.
The lyrics of the new song fit really well with the day, I think. The chorus ran:
“And all I know is
Everything I have means nothing,
Jesus, if You’re not my one thing,
Everything I need right now…”
(Hillsong, One Thing)
How encouraging for those who might feel a void in their life because of a lack of a physical father. God is everything you need right now. He is literally the best dad ever.
Mr Josh Gullo himself, the worship leader of the week, was also celebrating his first official Father’s Day! How perfect!
Then, the dad of our church, Ps. E., gave a very practical and encouraging word (available for download [here]) this week. In it, he outlined his own flaws and strengths in his fatherhood journey, and passed on his own humble wisdom in a ‘don’t do what I did’ kind of way. Our church is currently in a season of new marriages and new babies, so the timing of his advice was perfect. I saw many of the younger men taking copious notes.
So…
Happy Fathers Day! We hope your afternoon was wonderful and caused the men in your life to witness the love they deserve.
Have a blessed week,
Emma J. Ware
Mothers Day
I am...
Mother’s Day Service: 8/5/16
Happy Mother’s Day! Last Sunday, Realife was all about the beautiful mothers in our church. The theme of the day was ‘I Am’: a reminder of a mother’s identity in Christ.
The creative design team’s talents are always unparalleled, and Sunday was absolutely no exception: from the moment you walked in the building you were greeted with the sight of gorgeous floral displays. The whole atmosphere was so warm and pretty, and even the most macho of the congregation were in awe!
Free coffees (the way to all of our hearts) were given to mothers and, as a sweet treat, homemade scones with jam and cream. These were a hit, so thank you so much to the catering team! Your hard work will never go unnoticed.
The service itself did not begin as usual, which is always an exciting thing. Two of our very own radiant ladies, Lisa and Tracey, opened with inspirational short skits in which their characters transformed from unconfident, weak and fearful mothers into mothers who realised their preciousness in God. I took away some beautiful one-liners, like, ‘I am more than a conqueror in Him!’ ‘I am victorious!’ ‘I am fearless!’
The worship then continued to build a powerful atmosphere that confirmed the tangible presence of Jesus in the room. The entire set was acoustic, and therefore intimate, and all the hands were raised in reverence. If you’ve never experienced an atmosphere of God before, you need to. It will utterly change your life.
Another skit, this time a monologue and performed again by Tracey, provided more inspiration and insight into what a Christian mother’s mindset needs to be. It was amazing not only for the mothers, but for every demographic in the room. We were reminded that no matter how worn out parents and guardians may feel, they are so crucial to a child’s spiritual development and are called and chosen to be amazing, confident examples of righteousness.
Then came a video further explaining the awesome identity of mothers which made so many of us women cry. I can’t speak for the other ladies who were there, but I know that whenever something on a screen makes my cry, it has metaphorically slapped me in the face and changed the way I think. I love it when that happens!
Now the message… What a message! It was phenomenal! If you weren’t there but want to hear it, which I can’t recommend highly enough, you can download it [here]. Spoken by stunning pocket rocket and new mum, Veronica Gullo, we learned what our identity as women is in God. Eve was the subject, and Veronica shared some things about the first woman that many of us hadn’t known before. Despite all of our shortcomings and self-criticisms (which women tend to specialise in), we are not failures. Our value in God’s eyes is never dependent on our actions. God loves women (and men) regardless – and this is a concept that is too quickly forgotten. So thank you, Veronica! God spoke through you to provide us with the best Mother’s Day sermon Realife has seen!
The after-the-service shenanigans were just as lovely. We had more scones and hot drinks, kids activities, and the highlight was the photobooth. Our resident experts took perfect photos of mums and their kin, capturing the magic of the family unit. It was genius.
Thanks again to all who were involved. We hope you had a beautiful day, as we did. See you next week, God bless you and yours, and remember:
You are fearless, you are blessed, you are beautiful, you are strong, you are confident, you are a conquerer, and, very importantly, you are loved.
Emma J. Ware.
Easter Sunday
I’m going to go ahead and make the open claim that March 2016 saw the most memorable and powerful Easter Sunday service in this history of our church...
Happy Easter, Realife family! I’m going to go ahead and make the open claim that March 2016 saw the most memorable and powerful Easter Sunday service in this history of our church.
You walked in the door and were instantly greeted with warmth and happiness. You inhaled the nostalgic aroma of freshly toasted hot cross buns, steaming and mingling with the warm welcome of perfect coffee. Ah, the smell of coffee. When it’s served by the friendly faces and broad smiles of our catering and coffee shop team, you know that this is the church you belong to. The sultanas and cinnamon and crunch of hot cross buns immediately put you in the Easter mood… At least, for me they do, and they certainly did on that brisk Sunday morning.
Then your gaze wandered to the amazing display at the end of the foyer – a colourful and focal masterpiece with big cardboard carrots and pastel eggs, flowers, bunnies with straw bows looking towards the auditorium. The creative team put a lot of loving hours into it, and this fact is evident. Right next to this beautiful display was our big poster saying, ‘WELCOME’ – and you certainly were.
When you walked into the auditorium the focal point was a wooden frame with a crucifix cut out of the middle. When the stage lights swivelled towards the back of it, the crucifix emitted heavenly streams which filled the place and gave the whole room an atmosphere of reverence for the divine.
You were then shown a video on the massive projector screen, which brought to life the story of that powerful weekend when Jesus was sacrificed at Calvary. The black and white animations were striking and artistic, and the narration emphasised the passion and reality of the story.
Another video happened straight after, another striking one, and this time a dramatic, home-made skit. It followed the story of a man carrying depression everywhere he goes, despite everything else around him in his life seeming to look up after getting a promotion at his work. This blended seamlessly into an on-screen depiction of some of the Realife youth writing their burdens on paper, placing them into crates and stacking these crates into the form of a large cross: a powerful, artistic metaphor. As this part of the video was being shown, the same structure was being built at the front of the church, making the whole concept of being able to place your cares at the foot of the cross that much more real. On top of all of this, the whole image of salvation was put to the soundtrack of the brilliant music team performing a song called Nothing Holding Me Back, which began, ‘Thank You for the cross that You have carried…’ These images and sounds were not chosen for the sake of doing something nice for a special service. They were chosen and planned to bring to realisation a sense of the beauty and prominence of what happened during those three days and three nights long ago. Every element of worship and performance at the beginning of the service combined to create awe of what Jesus did, rather than what the church teams did.
Then we had the word, and what a profound word it was! Pastor Mauricio shared an Easter message like no other, saying that in order to live, we need to die. In other words, in order to live the full life that God has for us, we need to die to our own plans and agendas. I was heavily challenged, as was everyone I spoke to after the service. He explained it far better than I can, and you can hear this amazing preaching by clicking [here] to download the audio.
After this word, it was time for a little audience participation, and it was breathtaking. You were invited to write down your own personal burdens, and place them down at the foot of the large crate-formed cross. In laying them down, you were then able to pick up a card which had a special encouragement on it. Each encouragement was unique and seemed to be tailored exactly for its owner.
My card’s encouragement is now framed and proudly displayed on my bedside table as a reminder of the Lord’s love for me, which is something I don’t realise often enough.
After the word, there was more worship, and then fellowship over more coffee and more hot cross buns. There were craft activities for the kids (whereby even some adults relished in releasing their inner child), and the whole congregation seemed relieved of their burdens, inspired, and joyful.
Endless thanks must go to everyone who was involved in making Easter Sunday the phenomenon it was. We are a church focused on connecting, and from this service it was so evident that every member of Realife was united in heart and mind.
God bless you as you enter into a new week!
Emma W.
Multiply
Realife Church, by God’s grace is entering into a season of multiplication..
Realife Church, by God’s grace is entering into a season of multiplication. We thank God for the increase of 2015, but we are now poised for and on the threshold of, multiplication.
Multiplication is accelerated addition. Multiplication is having it sooner, arriving faster, leaping higher and understanding more quickly. Multiplication bypasses waiting, it is all at once and suddenly.
The mathematical sign for multiplication is ‘X’. This tells us by how many times the original number is multiplied. E.g. 3 x 5 = 15. However, God has promised to be the multiplication factor in our increase and enlargement. So He becomes our X-factor.
In Isaiah 54:1-5, God’s promise “to barren people who will sing and shout for joy, and get ready for increase”, is multiplication by another name. “…for your maker is your husband, the Lord God almighty is His name. The Holy One of Israel is your redeemer. He is called the God of all the earth.” (Isaiah 54:5) Therefore, instead …. X 5, it’s ….. X God!
The book of Acts introduces us to what multiplication looks like. Jesus said, “…I will build my church…” (Matthew 16:18) and indeed he is still building His church. We have the privilege to join in His mission, by the multiplication of disciples in the context of Realife church and beyond, as He opens doors of opportunity.
We are excited and looking forward to engaging with and following through on Jesus’ injunction in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Multiplication follows diligent obedience. In 2016, we welcome the adventure of faithfully following Jesus in being disciples and making disciples.
Pastor Emmanuel Gullo
The Hug and the Bow
The Hug and the Bow
This sunny Sunday at Realife, God showed up and brought breathtakingly powerful worship which shook the building and left even the musicians in awe. He then gave Ps. E yet another gem. The message was entitled ‘The Hug and the Bow,’ which you can download here.
A hug and a bow are two simple gestures, and ones that commonly crop up in the everyday. However, the Bible gives a completely different and more powerful meaning to them.
Firstly, the hug. Hugging is a symbol of love and protection. It induces emotions that make us feel wanted and appreciated. God loves us in the same way, and ten million times more so. He wraps us in His arms every time we drink a glass of clean water, or go and visit living relatives, or get the chance to have a hot meal at the end of a long working day. His sending Jesus and giving salvation is a massive, incomprehensibly gigantic hug from Him to us. And it’s His hug - His love - that leads us to repentance, according to the Bible. My favourite of the pastor’s lines on this topic: ‘His love doesn’t abound for nothing. It abounds for you, and for me!’
Then the bow. Bowing is a symbol of respect. It implies reverence and gratitude. When actors bow after performing in a play, they do so to tell their audience that they are grateful, and respect their attention and time after having served them. So it is, but again on a much, much larger scale, with God. His majesty is so large that we cannot help but bow in His presence.
We need a balance of both the hug (the encapsulating love of God) and the bow (the utmost reverence for Him) in our Christian walk.
But that wasn’t all! The message continued, and joy wrapped around each family member this Sunday, so make sure you download the full sermon to be inspired for yourself!
Have a lovely week, and make sure you finalise your Christmas preparations!
God bless,
Emma W.
How the lost got saved
How the lost got saved
My goodness – we packed a truckload of incredible stuff into the program this week! It was no ordinary Sunday – it was very, very special. We had amazing worship, communion, a phenomenal message, baptisms, the debut appearance of the newest little addition to the family, and the last community barbeque of the year.
It was definitely a service full of activity, and even fuller of inspiration.
Ps E.’s message was about how the lost get found, and saved. He spoke about being born again.
I remember hearing the phrase ‘born again’ tossed around when I was young, and at the time I didn’t understand it. Was it some kind of denomination? Did you get a certificate for it?
It wasn’t until I had the story of Nicodemus read to me, and schoolteachers explained the concept, that I understood, and it was the same passage, John 3, that was highlighted during the sermon on Sunday.
To hear it explained far better than I ever could in writing, since it comes directly from the Bible, click here for the download of the service.
As a practical illustration of this concept, and as a reaffirmation of commitment to God, we had three baptisms: the highlight of the entire service.
Each testimony had its own beauty, and I was on the verge of crying with joy to see one of my close friends take this step. To somebody unfamiliar with this practice, a preacher in a wetsuit stands in a wooden box filled with water and helps someone lean back into it. However, to the eyes of everyone around, it was a public declaration of love, commitment, and sacrifice to God. The water was shallow, but the meaning wasn’t!
As if this wasn’t fulfilling and joy-bringing enough, we then had our last community barbeque of 2015. It was, as always, fantastic. Thank you, again, immensely, to all those who sacrificed time and effort into putting in place everything that made this initiative possible.
Next week won’t disappoint! Hope to see you there!
God bless,
Emma W.
Missions Sunday
Missions Sunday
This week was a little bit different at Realife. It was the last Sunday of the month: Missions Sunday.
Missions Sunday is a day devoted to the evangelism and outreach efforts of our church. We are heavily involved in giving aid to the Philippines, as well as Romania, Burma, Singapore and Thailand. Church planting training, baptism and basic aid is provided with the same ‘good news’ spoken about in Mark 16:15-16:
‘He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
Rather than the usual sort of inspiring message, this week saw missions-founded testimonies and praise reports. We watched video evidence of the work Realife is doing overseas, with the words ‘thank you Realife Church’ being repeated countless times, and heard personal accounts from a couple of treasured members of this big family who had gone on missions to the Philippines earlier in the year for the very first time. It was all so moving that it made this writer resolute to follow their example next year! I can’t wait to potentially go on my very first mission trip and be a firsthand witness to what amazing and literally life-changing feats can be achieved when love is at the fore.
If you want to hear all of the inspiration for yourself, click here for the download of the service.
Our mission work doesn’t limit itself to the hot little overseas villages, however: the week’s community barbeque was a local mission in itself. I personally observed that many were encouraged and shown God’s love by each other, while snags and barbies and giggling children and sunshine surrounded them.
It was a very joyful, inspiring, motivational, encouraging day, overall, and I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that next week will be the same, whatever happens.
God bless you,
Emma W.
Being a 'doer'
Being a doer?
This week at church, God showed up like He always does and made the service phenomenal. The worship was moving and powerful, made me cry, and caused us to revel in an intense atmosphere of devotion.
The message was just as brilliant, and you can access the download [here]. Our Ps E (who has recently become a grandfather for the first time – congratulations!) explained the following parable:
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matthew 7:24 – 27.
Inspiration can be gained in abundance from this passage, because it demonstrates the importance of retaining and then doing the words of the Bible.
One of the many reasons I love church is this: everything it puts its hand to, inside or outside of those four walls on Freight Road, is done with a genuine desire to serve Jesus first and act upon the Word of God, not being content with only believing.
We got the opportunity to further ‘do’ the Word of God at the second weekly community barbeque after the service. The sun was again shining, the birds were again singing, and every man and his dog was welcome to participate in a lovely leisurely Sunday lunch. Thank you once again to all who helped make the day spectacular.
If you’re unsure about whether church is worth it, or have any questions, we’d be glad to help. Why not come along to one of our barbeques and observe what we like to call faith in action?!
We hope to see you next time.
God bless you and your week,
Emma W.
Two are better than one
Find out why two are better than one in this new blog!
TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE: 15/11/15
Ps. Emmanuel beautifully summed up one of the main principles of Realife this week during his sermon (click here for the download) when he declared, ‘If you are truly serving God, you’re serving people.’ Very true. The Christian faith is all about welcoming in anyone who needs looking after, physically or emotionally, and giving them whatever they need. This is family, and we stick by each other.
The essence of the message - which was once again sandwiched between remarkable worship, fellowship, friendship, discipleship and all the other life-changing ships - was that two are better than one.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 was drawn upon to emphasise the importance of unity. According to the Bible, two are better than one because true faith is lived in community. When you’re getting stuff done, when you’ve fallen down and are downtrodden, when you are left in the cold or find yourself in any kind of battle, it always helps (and is essential to faith) to have a family member to assist and unite with you.
Through personal observation, I can genuinely say that Realife is the epitome of this kind of unity. In everything, the coffee shop and catering teams, the brilliant design team who make everything in the building look its best, the worship team, the cleaners… All are considered important and loved and are built up by each other.
Then, after church, we were given the opportunity to action these values in our first ever community barbeque!
Our building adjoins parkland and tennis courts, so we’ve taken advantage of this to invite local residents to eat and be merry with us. This week was the debut, and it went swimmingly! Children were playing, people were laughing, and the smells of the classic Aussie barbie tantalised even the tiniest of tastebuds. There was no Bible-bashing, just simple community spirit. We all united to put on something that the whole area could thoroughly enjoy.
Thank you so, so much to all who were involved in making this sunshiny day as beautiful as it could ever be. You can click here to view images of the day.
The message and the barbeque reminded us of the poignant phrase: ‘A chord of three strands is not easily broken.’
What better way to live our lives than with the knowledge that someone is on our side? At church, this is a constant.
All are welcomed, all are cherished, and all are able to reach out to their brothers and sisters for the kind of support Ecclesiastes talks about.
We look forward to seeing you again for the next instalment of inspiration at Realife!
God bless,
Emma W
One more step...
One more step...
Hear about the latest experience at Realife Church!
God showed up yet again this week! After last week’s conclusion of the ‘Christianity’s Toughest Questions’ series – the entirety of which you can find here to have your inquiring mind put to peace on important existential issues – we were refreshed with a new message.
This week in Realife, God revealed Himself through the songs and the conversations and the early morning coffees prepared by our Heaven-sent baristas (one of the very, very many reasons we worship God is that caffeine exists!).Then, we were inspired by a message on obedience, entitled, ‘One More Step.’
Our stupendous Ps. Emmanuel illuminated the story of Jesus’ first ever miracle: turning jars filled with water into jars of the finest quality wine to accommodate the guests at a wedding, recounted in John 2. Such a feat seems ridiculous, and is physically impossible. The servants involved in this supernatural event must have been very sceptical when Jesus told them to fill the jars with ordinary water with no explanation of whatever was about to happen. But did they refuse? Jesus had never performed a miracle before. No one could attest to Him being able to enact wonders. But:
‘You don’t have to worry about the outcome, you don’t have to worry about the miracle, you don’t have to worry about the impossible… You have to worry about the next step: obedience. The servants… because of their obedience in the next step… experienced the miracle.’
To find out what Ps E meant by ‘the next step,’ get more context on the story and find out how we can apply it to our own lives, click here.
Capped off with another round of family conversations and very genuinely blessed hearts all around, we said goodbye to another Sunday in anticipation of an even better one next time. We hope to see you there!
Emma W
What is church like?
Get an idea of what it's like to be at Realife on a Sunday morning with this blog!