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The Golden Chain of Salvation
The Golden Chain of Salvation “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” Romans 8:29-30 Romans 8:29-30 describes the sequence known as the ‘golden chain of salvation’, the unbreakable order in which God saves His people. Included in this significant passage is the stunning description of Jesus as ‘the firstborn among many brothers and sisters’ (v.29). Jesus as the only begotten Son of God is the ‘firstborn’ and rightly enjoys pre-eminence, but ‘among many brothers and sisters’! In other words, every believer in Jesus has the inestimable privilege of being adopted into his family and accorded the honour of being his
The Wisdom Pyramid
The Wisdom Pyramid Have you ever heard of the ‘Healthy Eating Pyramid’? I have vague memories of learning about it in primary school. Basically, it presents the five main food groups and how much we should be consuming from each of them. The bottom layer and foundation of a healthy diet is vegetables and fruit, followed by grains, then dairy, meat, eggs, and nuts, topped off by healthy fats. We need food from all groups, of course, but especially from the bottom layers. They are the most important and should be consumed more often. This is true not only for what we put in our mouths but also in our minds. In other words, we not only need a healthy, balanced diet of food, but also of information. It’s
Ridley Courses: Bible Training for Busy People
Ridley Courses: Bible Training for Busy People Do you ever struggle to understand the Bible? Would you like to deepen your faith? Would you like to more confidently share Jesus with others? If that’s you, I’m excited to tell you about our upcoming Ridley Courses. Starting in Term 2, we are kicking off Ridley Courses to help busy people better understand and apply the Bible. Ridley Courses are short 6-week courses that will run for 2 hours on a Wednesday or Thursday evening. There is no cost, and it is open to people of all ages. It is the perfect option for those who would like to dig into content which goes beyond the detail of a Sunday sermon, but doesn’t carry the time or financial commitment of enrolling
Praying Together
Praying Together With his mouth half-full and chocolate crumbs on his cheeks, my son mumbled to me “It’s yum, but it tastes a bit weird.” I’d made a batch of delicious (in my opinion) brownies for the kid’s afternoon tea. The secret was, they were, in fact, sweet potato brownies. Vegetables, of course, are important for my kid’s physical health, so if I can sneak extra vegetables into their diet through an innocent snack, I’ll do it! Thankfully, as adults our understanding of the importance of healthy foods in our diet means we don’t need to be tricked into eating them in a brownie slice (mind you, they really are delicious)! Similarly, prayer is incredibly important to our spiritual health. But I’m not sure we always recognise that in
Jesus Would Have Picked Up a Toilet Brush
Jesus Would Have Picked Up a Toilet Brush The toilet brush. It’s a disgusting but necessary tool in every home. No one likes to use it, but it’s a necessary part of life if you want to have a clean toilet and have visitors over! I must confess, I am a recovering ‘germaphobe’ so maybe it’s worse in my mind. I remember a good toilet brush story from when I used to work as a removalist. Most of the homes we moved were high-end homes and quite clean. But I remember one job where the house was very off-putting. Things were pretty disgusting and icky to handle. And to top it off, the client actually asked me to pack their toilet brush into the back of our truck! I
When Church and Family Collide
When Church and Family Collide A few years ago, I read a book called ‘Think Orange’ by Reggie Joiner. It’s all about the church and the family partnering together to raise kids who love and follow God. The ‘orange’ concept comes from seeing the church represented by the colour yellow (bright lights) and the family as the colour red (warm hearts). And we all know what happens when we mix red and yellow. That’s right, we get orange. In his book, Reggie shares his dreams and passion for seeing the influence of church and family working together for greater impact. He also explores this idea further and gives some practical ways we can do this. The book has 261 pages, so I’m not going to attempt to share everything
Oasis Youth is here!
Oasis Youth is here! Term 1 2022 is here, which means that Oasis Youth is kicking off next Friday (11th)! I’m excited for what the year has in store as we head into this new season as Oasis, so I thought I’d share with you a bit about what is going on. Our Friday nights will look similar to what they have in the past, as a welcoming, engaging space for youth to connect in a Jesus-focused environment. Each Friday is different, but every week there will be games, activities, space to hang out with friends, and a simple gospel message. Some weeks we have big activities or themes, others we have time in growth groups chats or have a featured guest. Check out the term card for what
Reflecting on Our New Logo
Reflecting on Our New Logo This Sunday we officially change our name to Oasis Church after a long, prayerful process that began all the way back at the end of 2019. Of course, with a new name comes a new visual identity including a new logo. I would like to share with you the thinking and the meaning behind our new logo. As you know, we have a number of different ministries and programs through which we engage our church family and also the wider community, including Kids, Youth, Men, Women, Care Ministry, and more. To clearly and consistently communicate with such a diverse and multi-faceted audience can sometimes prove difficult. For this reason, our design philosophy was to keep our branding simple and understated, so that it can
