Advent Retreat, Grindelwald, November 26-30, 2023

We are again holding an Advent Retreat at Grindelwald, just north of Launceston from Sunday afternoon, November 26th to Thursday morning, November 30th.

Please let us know if you would like to join us for four days of study, fellowship, meals, relaxation and sightseeing in the beautiful Tamar Valley.

There is ample accommodation at The Aspect Tamar Valley Resort, or in AirBnb or Stayz accommodation in the area.   Launceston is an easy 15 minute drive.

For more information and to book, email Phil at phil.hopwood@gci.org.au

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Tassie Retreat – Tarraleah – November 9-14, 2021

Tarraleah Village, in Tasmania’s wild and wonderful central highlands, is the destination for our Retreat this year.   It begins on Tuesday, November 9th and concludes on Sunday 14th.   Accommodation is in beautifully restored and comfortable 1940’s cottages.

Please watch the video below to see where we are meeting and learn more about our Retreat.

We are focusing on Paul and his life and teachings during our morning meetings.   Being the most bold and passionate early church teacher, pioneer and leader, Paul’s life and teachings are central to our Christian faith and understanding  who Jesus Christ is for us and all creation.

We will be spending a day visiting Queenstown and other areas along the way.  There are many other places to visit on the other afternoons.

 

Bookings are needed, and we are asking those interested to register by August 8th.   Please email phil.hopwood@gci.org.au for registration forms or with any questions.

Information Video:  Tas Retreat Tarraleah

Phillip Hopwood - July 10, 2021

2021 Tas Retreat Video

Come and join in our Retreat on the Life and Teachings of Paul at Tarraleah, Tasmania, November 9-14, 2021.

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New Study Series: “I Am” –Who is Jesus”

You are invited to watch our new series about Jesus Christ.  Who is he?  We are going through many of the “I am” statements Jesus spoke in order to learn more about who he said he was.    We start with Jesus’ question to his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” in Mark 8.   We will then work our way through many of the “I am” statements in John’s gospel.

Check back every two weeks for new studies in this series.


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Phillip Hopwood - May 29, 2020

Who Do You Say that I Am?

Who was and is Jesus Christ? In this series we explore what Jesus said about himself in a series of what are termed "I Am" statements. We start in Mark 8:27-34.

From Series: "Who is Jesus?"

More Messages Associated With "I Am Statements of Jesus"...

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Retreat – November 2-8, 2020

You are invited to attend our annual Retreat at Camp Clayton, Ulverstone on Tasmania’s stunningly beautiful northwest coast (in the hope the COVID-19 crisis and necessitated restrictions allow it).

This year our focus is on Paul the Apostle, his life and teachings. He is the outstanding character in the New Testament outside of Jesus. And it was Jesus who became the total focus of his life. How did this fiercely militant and religious Jew, self-described as a Pharisee of the Pharisees–who brutally persecuted Jesus’ work and people–become its chief champion, selfless servant and passionate proponent? Join us in this time of re-acquaintance and discovery, as well as time for worship, fellowship, food and rejuvenation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please let others know who might be interested in sharing this time with us.

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Join us in November (6-12) for our Retreat at Camp Clayton

The Bible: Written Word, Living Word

Isaiah 55:11 NIV

         so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

         It will not return to me empty,

         but will accomplish what I desire

         and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

We invite you to join us on the relaxing and beautiful North-west coast of Tasmania for a week of fellowship, rejuvenation and inspiration from Monday November 6th, to Sunday 12th, 2017.  Our retreat is being held again at Parkdown, Camp Clayton (between Ulverstone and Devonport), a comfortable and well equipped lodge with accommodation, meeting room and full catering.

Photo sourced from <http://www.campclayton.org.au/index.html with permission.This year we are going to take a fresh and revealing look at the way we read, understand and live with the Bible.  We will consider its nature and purpose–the underlying “script” of the scriptures. How is it inspired, and what it is inspired for?  Is it a manual for life? Is it an encyclopaedic source of truth on all matters of life and fact?  How do we read and interpret books like Genesis, Proverbs, Jonah and Revelation?  How did Jesus interpret the Scriptures?  What is it that God really wants us to see and hear in his Word?

Come and explore these exciting and important questions with us, and learn together how we can read, appreciate and live God’s word more authentically and effectively.

We plan an excursion later in the week with a lunch along the way.  We spend our mornings in study and worship, and the rest of the day relaxing or enjoying the surrounding area, including the beach just near our back door.

There are often cheap flights to Launceston.  Good deals on car rentals are often available. Alternatively you can fly to Devonport or come over on the Spirit of Tasmania ferry.  The average daily cost for room and all meals, including morning and afternoon teas is $90.

To book or make enquiries, contact Geoff Miller, 31 Charles St, Devonport, Tas 7310.  Phone: 03 6424 7109, Email: millergd1@bigpond.com

Whether you are a local, or from another state or country, we warmly invite you to join us!

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New Sermons added

Hello,

Thanks to our regular followers for your patience.  I have finally uploaded more sermons to our site.

Here is a list.  You can find them under Sermons.

We hope you find them helpful and encouraging.

 

ID Title Date   Series
100 Who Shall Free Me from Sin? 09 Apr 17   Lent
99 Following Jesus 05 Feb 17   Mission
98 The Source of our Beliefs 22 Jan 17   The Bible
97 Out of Egypt I Called My Son 08 Jan 17   Christmas
96 Namibia Church Visit, September 2016 13 Nov 16   Mission
87 God’s Foolishness 31 Jul 16   Misc.
95 Leadership Challenges in the African Church 24 Jul 16   Mission
94 Life in Perspective 10 Jul 16   Life with God
84 Freeing the Oppressed 26 Jun 16   Misc.
93 Until at Last the Spirit is Poured Out 15 May 16   Pentecost
92 Living Stones 08 May 16   Life with God
91 Atonement in Christ’s Death and Life 17 Apr 16   Easter
90 Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God – The Wrath and Love of the Cross 20 Mar 16   Lent
89 Jesus: Rejection at Home 07 Feb 16   Lent
88 The Good News of the Incarnation 06 Dec 15   Advent
82 Saved to Serve 22 Nov 15   Life with God
86 That You May Live Pure Blameless Lives 27 Sep 15   Misc.
83 Sexual Identity Issues: Towards Graciousness and Inclusion 23 Aug 15   Social Issues
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Pentecost Service – June 4, 2017

We are gathering in Campbell Town to celebrate Pentecost again this year.  We hope you can join us in worship and fellowship on this special day.

Time: 11am, Sunday May 15th, 2016

Lunch: We will be having lunch in the meeting room.  Please pre-order your meal if possible.

Campbell Town Hotel

Location: Meeting Room, upstairs, Campbell Town Hotel, 117 Midland Highway, Campbell Town.

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Retreat, Ulverstone, 31st October – November 6th

Ulverstone Retreat – Tasmania

 

The Tassie Retreat at Camp Clayton Ulverstone continued to be the spiritually rewarding experience that it has been for many years. Camp Clayton is comfortable and private with most members living onsite. The word “retreat” is given its full value in this delightful location.

Pastor Phillip Hopwood walked the congregation through the Parables of Jesus.  He presented the “Upside down Kingdom” that the parables reveal. How God’s Kingdom opposes everything that human kingdoms claim to be important. Revealing a King that gets down and dirty to solve all adversities that humanity labours under.

Members contributed their own observations and perspective on a parable that had touched them individually.  The presentations came in many styles. Personal, allegorical, rime and rhythm and historical.  All were insightful and encouraging, reflecting our Father’s love for diversity within unity.

Thursday was a free day and members joined in a drive through beautiful farmland to Gunn’s Plains. A light lunch at Kaydale Lodge, Nietta, was followed by walk to the rugged Leven Canyon.  This wonderful day of fellowship has become a memory maker through the years.

We are grateful and joyful toward the visitors that came from interstate, and thank them for contributing so much to this inspirational retreat.  The dates for next year are October 23rd to 20th.

Geoff Miller

A day out.
A day out.

pb037766
Leven Canyon

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Jesus: Double Agent

Christmas, the traditional day for celebrating the birth of Jesus, provides the church its focal point for gratefully acknowledging the Incarnation of the Son of God. In response to this historic event, the angels joyfully praised God (Luke 2:13) as they watched God’s master plan unfold. I believe this is significant to notice. The angels rejoiced because they knew it was God’s desire to be reconciled to his children, and that in Jesus, the children would be reconciled to their Father. The Incarnation is not only for humanity and our reconciliation to God; it is also for the Father whose purpose has always been to be reconciled to his children.

Angels Announcing Christ's Bith to the Shepherds by Govert Flinck

 Angels Announcing Christ’s Birth to the Shepherds by Govert Flinck

As fully God, Jesus acts in the role of the reconciler, and as fully human, he acts in the role of the one reconciled. Because he worked for both God and humanity, I fondly refer to Jesus as a “double agent.” But unlike other double agents, Jesus was loyal to both parties. One of my favourite secret agents, James Bond, temporarily saved the UK and the world from terror and ruin as he awaited his next assignment. But Jesus, through his one assignment, redeems and saves the whole world for eternity.

Whether or not the birth of Jesus occurred on December 25 is not important; what is important is that it did occur and is a real event to be celebrated. In Christmas celebrations, Christians honour the reality of the one plan of redemption throughout history—a plan brought about by Jesus Christ, who fulfils the promise to Abraham: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:27-29 ESV). As the one true son of Israel, Jesus is the answer to and fulfilment of all of God’s promises. “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory” (2 Corinthians 1:20 ESV).

As you know, God made a covenant with Israel: “If you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6). Unfortunately, Israel as a nation was not faithful to the covenant as the prophets repeatedly warned: “They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. They have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers” (Jeremiah 11:10 ESV).

It is only in Jesus’ total obedience as a human son of Israel that the covenant is fulfilled. He is the true Israel of God. He inherits the Abrahamic promises on behalf of of all Israel. And that’s good news for all people because the eternal Son of God, through his Incarnation, became the second Adam—the representative for all humanity. Therefore we rest on his perfect obedience. As our great High Priest Jesus acts in our place and on our behalf. In this way, all who “belong to him” are included in God’s “Yes.” “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed’” (Galatians 3:7-8 ESV).

In his book, Incarnation, T. F. Torrance makes the point that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecies:

If it is the historical factuality of Jesus that is of controlling importance, then that Jesus must be presented as really embedded in history, embedded therefore in the hard stubborn history of Israel. That is precisely the case with Jesus (p. 16).

Jesus is God in the flesh. He is Israel in his humanity so that in him God and humanity are brought together in flesh and blood, in time and space, in person.

As I said before, Jesus is a true double agent—always for us, always on our side, the only one who has redeemed and saved all. And also like a double agent, not everything is transparent. Jesus’ mortal humanity concealed his divine identity. In commenting on Paul’s thoughts to the Philippians, Karl Barth says the following:

[Jesus] puts himself in a position where only he himself knows himself in the way that the Father knows him. In the unknowability into which he enters, it is now certainly the Father’s part to reveal him. But the step that brings him into that unrecognizable condition, into the incognito, is grounded entirely in himself alone… He exists in such a way that to any direct, immediate way of regarding him—e.g. to the historical and psychological approach—he does not present the picture of his proper, original, divine Being, but solely the picture of a human being (The Epistle to the Philippians, p. 63).

What becomes revealed in Jesus is that the Triune God cannot be known in a true and saving way by mere mortals. So God the Father in the person of Jesus, reveals the divinity of his Son by the Spirit. And that revelation can only come about by grace which, at the same time, reconciles and redeems us. Knowing God in Jesus the incarnate Son transforms us in every way. That is why Jesus said, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27). The early church put it this way: “Only God knows God and only God reveals God.”

Here’s a related quote I much enjoy from N. K. Gupta:

Christ by becoming a mortal, accepted slavery to those cosmological forces that lord over humanity. But, like a true “double agent” of popular espionage, he never forsook his true allegiance to God or his status as Son of God… Christ is ingeniously able to nullify their own power through the ultimate act of eschatological reversal: his own death and resurrection that is capable of being shared by others” (Horizons in Biblical Theology, 32.1, pp. 1-16).

At Christmas we rejoice along with the angels in this great reversal. We celebrate Jesus’ perfect obedience, which fulfilled the covenant on our behalf. We celebrate that Jesus is the one true son of Israel, and because we are in him, by faith we share with him in the covenant promises. We celebrate that Jesus never forsook his allegiance to God nor his allegiance to humanity. We celebrate the redemption we have in Christ our Savior. We celebrate the Incarnation.

Merry Christmas!
Joseph Tkach

PS: For a parody of the rock anthem “Bohemian Rhapsody” that powerfully recounts the Nativity story, watch the video at http://youtu.be/pW1pbuyGlQ0.

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What is Truth? Sermon series

New Sermon Series; What is truth?  

3d white people lying on a question mark

Pontius Pilate wasn’t the first or last to ask this question of the ages.  Truth impacts every aspect of life.  But we so often focus on factual truth and ignore the greater realities of life.  Ironically the truth was standing right in front of Pilate.  The truth ultimately isn’t a “what”.  The truth is a “who”.  In this message we explore Jesus’ statement, “I am the truth”, and the Christian belief that the ultimate truth and reality is God himself.

In this new sermon series, we will also look at the role of the Scriptures.  Are they the manual for life, full of truths that we can mine and utilise to live better, happier lives?  Or are we to read them for a different purpose–for a larger and more important truth?

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