Join us on Friday May 30th at 7:30pm when we will meet together with guest speaker, Glenda de Jager, National Director, Mukti Australia.

Mukti was founded in 1889 in India, where it is known as Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission, after its founder Pandita Ramabai and the Marathi word ‘mukti’ which means freedom, liberation and salvation.

There will be hand made items for sale and a gold coin donation is requested for the coffee and cake dessert!  Oh…and yes, men are also very welcome 🙂

It has been reported in recent years from the UK that a student in a Religious Education class asked his teacher if he could stay behind after class and ask her a question about her Christmas lesson. (The student probably didn’t want to ask the question in class for fear of being embarrassed in front of his classmates). The question he asked was this, ‘Why would Mary and Joseph name their baby after a swear word?’

The truth that this story conveys is striking. When a student has never heard the name ‘Jesus’ apart from as a swear word, then we know for sure that general knowledge about the Bible or even about Jesus is at an all time low. It must be the greatest irony of all times. Human history is divided into two great sections – ‘BC’ (Before Christ) and ‘AD’ (Anno Domini – Latin for ‘the year of the Lord’) with Jesus Christ the very centre of it all, and yet two thousand years later, in many cases He is ignored, despised, hated and greatly misunderstood!

At Easter time, we are forced again to consider what the Bible says about Jesus. We simply cannot afford to ignore Him although many continue to do so. The great writer C.S.Lewis once summed up the situation logically like this – Jesus has to be one of three things. Either he is a liar (He deliberately went around telling people that he was the Son of God when He wasn’t) or he is a lunatic (He thought He was the Son of God but he was badly mistaken) or he is Lord (He really was and is the Son of God.)

The accounts of his life in the New Testament’s 4 Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), clearly help us know which of the above options best fit the facts that are recorded about Him.  To come to some other conclusion other than the evidence the Bible gives and the conclusion it reaches would be ludicrous! But even if we agree with who Jesus said He was, it will not be enough just to have the right idea about Him, or just to be sympathetic to Him, or be more or less in favour of Him…If He is Lord as He says, then He can be nothing less than your Lord and having Him as less than your Lord will never be good enough for Him. It’s all or nothing.

Jesus once asked his disciples this question, ‘Who do you say I am?’ (Matthew 16:15). This Easter, He is still asking us the same question.

Getting pounded by insults is one thing in life that I hope you will never ever have to face. The old saying ‘sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me’ is simply not true. Remember how poor old Charlie Brown copped a verbal barrage of ‘nyah, nyah, nyah’ one day from a girl? His response was, ‘I just hate it when those nyah, nyah, nyahs just lay there in your stomach and burn’. 

The same could be said of course for Jesus. All through his life he copped a few of them – accusations that he was a drunkard (which was not true) or that he was a friend of sinners (which was true – but was never said simply as fact). He even copped this one when he was dying, ‘If you are the Son of God, come down from there and we will believe you’ (Mark 15:32)

Why was it that Jesus refused to do what they said? Logically it was a good idea. He could have done with some more followers. But Jesus knew better than what logic suggested. He could have got down quite easily, but that would have nullified the reason He came. See, it was more than nails that held Him there.

It was more than the ropes by which He was bound to the wood. It was more than that, much much more that held Him there despite the taunts of the crowds. It was out of His love for sinners, the greatest love for sinners ever known that caused Him not to get down and caused Him to die a death and pay a debt that He did not owe. It was for the purpose of our salvation that He endured these threats and hostility.

Logic said ‘get down’. Insults taunted him to do likewise. The devil also. All would entice him down except for His strong love for sinners, like you and me. Love would not let Him give up that easily. And by staying up there and not getting down, he proved that He was who they said – the very Son of God. This Easter, seek Him.

It’s almost that time of year when chocolate eggs and Easter bunnies will be bombarding us from every side and at every opportunity!  At St John’s this year, our lead up to Easter will take us via chapters 18-21 of John’s Gospel. Join us at 10:30am every Sunday from March 30th as we explore the road that Jesus took ‘to the cross, the tomb and to glory’. (BTW our Good Friday service time is 9:30am. All are welcome!)

Our daughter Church plant, Reforming (officially, South East Bendigo Presbyterian Church), has a new home, and thanks be to God, it’s the home we’ve always wanted!  As of Sunday March 2nd, 2014 we’ll be meeting in the Performing Arts Auditorium (P3) of Bendigo South East College (BSEC) which can be found in Ellis Street, Flora Hill. Join us at 5pm each week!

Our next quarterly prayer gathering is on this Saturday, March 1st, in the Upper Room. Join us as we pray to our great God for missions and needs, local and worldwide. Just remember though, our new starting time is 10am. Come when you can, leave when you must

All are agreed that this year’s ‘Home Group Launch’ was our best ever! The groups have been decided, the leaders are ready and we are all set to kick off next week. You can see the details on our Home Groups page. Come and join us!

Home Groups are such an integral part of our church life at Bendigo (St John’s) Presbyterian. For a couple of years now we’ve met together for dinner at the start of the ‘Home Group year’ to decide upon groups and venues and leaders, as well as meet together for a meal and pray together in our Home Groups. This year’s launch will be on Wednesday night Feb 12th at the Church Hall in Forest Street from 6:30pm. (Bring a mains and a sweet!)

With the holiday season almost over and the end of January and the commencement of the school year now in sight, it won’t be long  before regular ministries get underway once again. Keep watching this space! (No you don’t have to rush out and buy a telescope!)