Para Vista Lutheran Church

A mobile dwelling place (Audio)

The cross of Jesus is the pivotal point in human history. Jesus’ death and resurrection redefine everything and everyone, including you. You become God’s temple, a dwelling place of Holy Spirit himself. That means you have the awesome privilege of carrying the good things of God to others, simply by being who you are in Christ.

Pastor Peter Steicke

Bible Readings Ephesians: 2:19-22 & John 1:14-18 (NRSVA)

A mobile dwelling place (Video)

The cross of Jesus is the pivotal point in human history. Jesus’ death and resurrection redefine everything and everyone, including you. You become God’s temple, a dwelling place of Holy Spirit himself. That means you have the awesome privilege of carrying the good things of God to others, simply by being who you are in Christ.

Pastor Peter Steicke

Bible Readings Ephesians: 2:19-22 & John 1:14-18 (NRSVA)

How God is Changing Lives in Vietnam (Video)

Esther Hien is a Christian, a Mission worker, an interpreter, a preacher and an evangelist.  Like many who live in Vietnam, she was Buddhist until her conversion to Christianity at the age of 18.  She is currently in Australia to represent Asia Focus Australia.  Today Esther shares how God is working in Vietnamese Christian communities.

How God is Changing Lives in Vietnam (Audio)

Esther Hien is a Christian, a Mission worker, an interpreter, a preacher and an evangelist.  Like many who live in Vietnam, she was Buddhist until her conversion to Christianity at the age of 18.  She is currently in Australia to represent Asia Focus Australia.  Today Esther shares how God is working in Vietnamese Christian communities.

Who can you trust? (Audio)

We live in a world where we are constantly confronted with the challenge of whether to trust people or not? That's often hard for us because we frequently get let down and so many people turn out to be less than trustworthy. So, who can you trust? It's not unreasonable to maintain that trust needs to be earned; that people need to prove that they're trustworthy. We can join the Psalmist in his confident assertion that God can be trusted, that we can put our hope in him, that we can look to him to help and defend us, that we can call on him in times of trouble and know that he'll be there for us. We can be confident of that because of the cross. In Jesus' loving sacrifice for us, we see God's faithful love and his total gracious commitment to us. There we see that he can be trusted. We mightn't always understand what God is doing or always be pleased with how things are working out for us on a day-to-day basis, but this we know: God loves us. He is with us, and he wants the best for us! He has proven himself trustworthy, so trust in him and lean into the embrace of his grace!

Pastor Richard Haar

Bible Reading: Psalm 62:5-8(NLT)

 

Who can you trust? (Video)

We live in a world where we are constantly confronted with the challenge of whether to trust people or not? That's often hard for us because we frequently get let down and so many people turn out to be less than trustworthy. So, who can you trust? It's not unreasonable to maintain that trust needs to be earned; that people need to prove that they're trustworthy. We can join the Psalmist in his confident assertion that God can be trusted, that we can put our hope in him, that we can look to him to help and defend us, that we can call on him in times of trouble and know that he'll be there for us. We can be confident of that because of the cross. In Jesus' loving sacrifice for us, we see God's faithful love and his total gracious commitment to us. There we see that he can be trusted. We mightn't always understand what God is doing or always be pleased with how things are working out for us on a day-to-day basis, but this we know: God loves us. He is with us, and he wants the best for us! He has proven himself trustworthy, so trust in him and lean into the embrace of his grace!

Pastor Richard Haar

Bible Reading: Psalm 62:5-8(NLT)

‘Channelling God's Care’! (Audio)

You have probably heard these words from the Prayer of St Francis - Make me a channel of your peace.
Let's change that slightly - make me a channel of your care.
We can show God’s love to the world by channelling his care. God wants to use us to channel his love and care to those around us who are hurting. That really is a vital part of our lives as Christians, to channel God’s love and care into our community and into our World.

Pastor Paul Fielke

Bible Reading: 2 Corinthians 1: 3-7 (NLT)

‘Channelling God's Care’! (Video)

You have probably heard these words from the Prayer of St Francis - Make me a channel of your peace.
Let's change that slightly - make me a channel of your care.
We can show God’s love to the world by channelling his care. God wants to use us to channel his love and care to those around us who are hurting. That really is a vital part of our lives as Christians, to channel God’s love and care into our community and into our World.

Pastor Paul Fielke

Bible Reading: 2 Corinthians 1: 3-7 (NLT)

 

 

Your Furious Love For Others (Audio)

Dominique was a Roman Catholic brother who at 54 discovered he was dying of inoperable cancer. He left his community to move into a poor neighbourhood in Paris and took a job as a nightwatchman at a factory. During the daytime he would sit on a wooden bench in a park opposite to where he lived. Hanging around in the park were marginal people, drifters, winos, dirty old men who ogled the girls passing by.

Dominique never criticised, scolded or reprimanded. He accepted the men as they were. He gave off peace and shared hospitality that led cynical young men and defeated old men to gravitate toward him. His simple witness lay in accepting others as they were without questions. He was the most nonjudgmental person you could ever meet. He loved with the heart of Jesus.

One day when the men asked him to tell them about himself, he told them that Jesus loved them tenderly, and that Jesus had come for rejects and outcasts just like themselves. His love for them and the love of Christ he spoke of gradually transformed the men.
One day he didn’t appear and later was found dead. More than 7,000 people from all over Europe gathered for this humble brother’s funeral. The last words in his diary were: “All that is not the love of God has no meaning for me. I can truthfully say that I have no interest in anything, but the love of God is in Christ Jesus.” His friend, Brennan Manning, said: “In Domonique I saw the reality of a life lived entirely for God and for others. Any spirituality that does not lead from a self-centred to an other-centred mode of existence is bankrupt.”

How are you living your life?

Pastor David Christian

Bible Reading: Ephesians 4:31- 5:2 (NLT)

Your Furious Love For Others (Video)

Dominique was a Roman Catholic brother who at 54 discovered he was dying of inoperable cancer. He left his community to move into a poor neighbourhood in Paris and took a job as a nightwatchman at a factory. During the daytime he would sit on a wooden bench in a park opposite to where he lived. Hanging around in the park were marginal people, drifters, winos, dirty old men who ogled the girls passing by.

Dominique never criticised, scolded or reprimanded. He accepted the men as they were. He gave off peace and shared hospitality that led cynical young men and defeated old men to gravitate toward him. His simple witness lay in accepting others as they were without questions. He was the most nonjudgmental person you could ever meet. He loved with the heart of Jesus.

One day when the men asked him to tell them about himself, he told them that Jesus loved them tenderly, and that Jesus had come for rejects and outcasts just like themselves. His love for them and the love of Christ he spoke of gradually transformed the men.
One day he didn’t appear and later was found dead. More than 7,000 people from all over Europe gathered for this humble brother’s funeral. The last words in his diary were: “All that is not the love of God has no meaning for me. I can truthfully say that I have no interest in anything, but the love of God is in Christ Jesus.” His friend, Brennan Manning, said: “In Domonique I saw the reality of a life lived entirely for God and for others. Any spirituality that does not lead from a self-centred to an other-centred mode of existence is bankrupt.”

How are you living your life?

Pastor David Christian

Bible Reading: Ephesians 4:31- 5:2 (NLT)