Issue No. 181

71 King Street Hamilton, Victoria

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Bulletin & News

Sabbath December 13th, 2014

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Song Service 9:40 am

Sabbath School 9:50 am

Church Service 11:15 am

We WELCOME you to our Worship Services Today

Taking the Three Angel’s Messages to the whole world...

"You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for

the coming of the Lord is at hand"

[ James 5:8, NKJV ]

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Next Prayer Meeting - December 17th at 5:30pm

Please join us each fortnight and let us always keep the communication

channels open to heaven.

Special Prayer Request - Please remember Paul and Katy Fenech in your

prayers this week as Katy is very ill and needs God’s mighty healing power to

intervene and restore her health. Katy will be having surgery on Monday and

should be able to receive visitors from Tuesday afternoon.

Please also remember Trevor Aisbett who has recently been diagnosed with

Pulmonary Fibrosis and needs the healing power of Christ also.

Business Meeting - There will be a short business meeting at 6:30pm on

Wednesday 17th after the prayer meting to discuss office positions for 2015.

Conference Announcement - We am pleased to inform you that the Pastoral

Staffing Committee of the Victorian Conference has reappointed Justin Bone to

the to the Ararat, Hamilton and Stawell churches for 2015. We wish you

Christ's richest blessings as you make plans for the future. Congratulations

Justin.

Combined Lunch - There will be a combined lunch next Sabbath, December

20th and on the 27th after the Divine Service. All are welcome to join us for

fellowship and a light meal..

Special Thanks - Thank you Mrs Novak and son Simon, for the donation of

an organ to the church after ours died. May God richly bless you both.

Grange Nursing Home - Next Sabbath December 20th, there will be a visit to

the Grange Nursing Home with Paul Glover. All are welcome to join us.

13th Sabbath - This quarter, December 27th the 13th Sabbath offering will go

to the Inter American Division. See back of lesson pamphlet for further details

of funds distribution.

Fellowship Lunch - There will be a fellowship lunch after the service. If you

would like to join us or share a plate with us, you are welcome to do so or

perhaps bring along some bread to share. Please feel free to join us as all are

welcome.

~ Upcoming Dates & Announcements ~

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Live prayerfully…

One true test of our sincerity and fervency in prayer is whether we continue with that state of mind after prayer.

[ 2 Timothy 1:13, 14 ]

~ God’s Little Book of Prayer ~

Do they not err that devise evil?

but mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good.

[ Proverbs 14:22 ]

~ Memory Verse ~

Therefore you shall be perfect,

just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

[ Matthew 5:48 (WEB) ]

~ Bible Promises ~

Lord, my patience is often lacking and my timetable often does not match Yours. Forgive me for my times of doubt, and help me to trust You more. Thank You for Your faithfulness. Some lessons of patience take a long time to learn.

~ A Moment’s Contemplation ~

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RICK WARREN AND UNITY WITH CATHOLICS

For many years popular California mega church pastor Rick Warren has been advocating ecumenical unity. After his personal visit at the Vatican recently where he made a presentation on family values, he now believes that though there are still some differences regarding worship and belief, that Christians should join together with Catholics in mission.

“We have far more in common than what divides us…,” Warren said in a video release by Catholic News Service. “We believe in the Trinity. We believe in the Bible. We believe in the resurrection, we believe salvation is through Jesus Christ. These are the big issues…”

Concerning Catholic doctrines and practices Warren said, “When you understand what they mean by what they are saying, there’s a whole lot more commonality… The most important thing is if you love Jesus, we’re on the same team.”

Concerning the social issues of marriage, Warren said, “The unity that I think we would see realistically is not a structural unity, but a unity of mission.”

To see the video, click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ha03I1JXlc

Ecumenical unity always starts with social issues. Rome has been adjusting its language describing her doctrines to make the more tolerable to Protestants and others. The popular mega church pastor is now advocating that we don’t have to concern ourselves so much with doctrine when we have so much in common. Little does he realize that the ecumenical movement is leading the churches away from biblical truth into the lowest common denominator of error.

Warren already believes in Sunday observance along with most churches. He, along with others, is joining with Rome in promoting, protecting and defending traditional family values. As they get closer to Rome, these churches will also join her in promoting, protecting and then persecuting those who keep God’s holy Sabbath. The family and the Sabbath were tied together at creation. In order to promote Sunday observance effectively, the family must become a key element of the ecumenical agenda.

“When the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the state to enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions, then Protestant America will have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably result.” The Great Controversy, page 445.

~ Keep The Faith Ministries ~

Pastor Hal Mayer

Speaker / Director

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AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT WORKING TO FUND PRIEST’S TRAINING

Jesuit-trained Christopher Pyne, the Education Minister of the Abbott coalition government in Australia is pushing for religious schools to receive government funding. Taxpayers would subsidize the training of priests, pastors, theologians, other religious workers and even Bible studies at private colleges and institutions providing religious training.

The Abbott government’s plan includes deregulating university fees and cutting funding by 20%, but expanding eligibility for a share of the $820 million appropriations over the next three years to private universities, TAFES and associate degree programs. The government also announced earlier in the year that it would fund a new school chaplaincy program with $244 million. The scheme would actually remove the option for schools to hire secular welfare workers. Both Labor and Greens attacked the policy. “This raises serious questions about the relationship between Church and State,” said Kim Carr, Labor spokesman. The greatest beneficiaries of the public larder will probably be Catholic and Anglican institutions. The move should be no surprise considering the fact that those framing the scheme are largely Jesuit-trained.

“Mr. Pyne has gone one step further than robbing Peter to pay Paul,” said Lee Rhiannon, Greens spokesman for higher education, “he is attempting to rob Australia’s public and secular university system to pay private, religious colleges.” When private institutions accept government money, there are always regulations and rules attached. A spokesman for Mr. Pyne said that “courses offered by private colleges would have to be approved by the independent regulator to gain access to federal funding.”

In other words, funding would be contingent on institutions offering courses that do not have content that would offend the regulator’s criteria. Would this mean that courses would have to be ecumenical in nature or “culturally sensitive” to same-sex marriage and other cultural and secular views?

“Family First Senator Bob Day said in a letter… that it is unfair that public universities receive federal funding but religious colleges and other private providers do not.” But the problem is not in equality. This will bring theological and religious training under the control of regulators who are under the guidance of the education department of Christopher Pyne.

If this Bill passes, faith-based training, teaching, theological and vocational institutions would all be included in the funding. Reducing funding for public universities would also force them to increase their fees to students, while perhaps

~ Keep The Faith Ministries ~

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ADRA CATALOG OFFERS GOATS, TOILETS, AND OTHER LIFE-CHANGING GIFTS

The Adventist relief agency appeals to donors to make a significant difference

this holiday season.

Posted December 9, 2014, By ANN and Adventist Review staff

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency has unveiled a 2014 Christmas catalog packed with goats, cows, stoves, outhouses and bicycle ambulances — holiday gifts that it says can be life-changing for recipients and provide a sustainable source of income to feed a family or send children to school.

ADRA’s Really Useful Gift Catalog features 37 items costing from $10 (Gift No. 25: protect a street child for a week) to $5,000 (Gift No. 37: prepare a community for a natural disaster).

But Natalia Lopez-Thismon, ADRA’s associate director of communication, said her

reducing fees at private institutions, making private education more attractive. The Bill did not pass the Senate, but will be reintroduced next year with some modifications. The temptation will be pretty strong for protestant educational institutions like Baptist, Presbyterian, Adventist and other denominations to go after a piece of the regulated funds.

The Bill plays right into the hands of Rome.

“Under various disguises the Jesuits worked their way into offices of state, climbing up to be the counselors of kings, and shaping the policy of nations. They became servants to act as spies upon their masters. They established colleges for the sons of princes and nobles, and schools for the common people; and the children of Protestant parents were drawn into an observance of popish rites… The liberty for which the fathers had toiled and bled was betrayed by the sons… Wherever [the Jesuits] went, there followed a revival of popery.” The Great Controversy, page 235

Source Reference

Abbott government cuts university support; funds priests’ training

Pastor Hal Mayer

Speaker / Director

~ Adventist Review ~

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favorite was Gift No. 7, which gives a cow to a blind person and costs $425. In some countries, a blind person can be a financial strain on the family, but teaching that person to care for the cow gives them purpose and a contribution, and the milk can be sold.

“It’s a gift that touches people who for so long have been marginalized in many countries,” Lopez-Thismon said. “This gift really empowers them to contribute to their family.”

Lopez-Thismon said the catalog provides an opportunity for individual donors as well as groups to make a significant difference.

“There’s a sense of community when churches, schools and groups can select another community to give to,” she said.

Among the gifts in the catalog are a $25 cookstove that promises to “transform mealtimes for an impoverished family” and a $150 latrine that comes complete with hygiene training. Perhaps one of the more unusual gifts is a $500 bicycle ambulance equipped with a bed that ADRA says has saved many lives.

“When every minute counts, such as when a woman is in labor or a serious injury occurs, this low-tech, simple solution reduces villagers’ travel time to the nearest medical center,” the catalog says.

Ashley Eisele, the author of the catalog and ADRA’s content manager, said her children especially like to give animals like goats and chickens to people in developing countries.

“Something so simple can make such a big difference for someone,” she said.

The catalog tells the story of several previous recipients, including 9-year-old Cynthia in Rwanda who received a goat (Gift No. 6, $80) that provided milk and money to keep her in school. Her family will soon have three goats, and Cynthia hopes the herd will continue to grow.

“I want to have lots of goats so we never have to worry about money,” she said in the catalog.

Kopilla in India said she was rescued from being forced into human trafficking after volunteers intercepted her at a train station. Gift No. 16 ($30) helps one girl escape human trafficking in the form of prostitution or domestic servitude.

“I never knew that we could be taken advantage of like this. If I hadn’t been intercepted, my life would have been ruined,” Kopilla said. “Thank God I was rescued and I’m safe.”

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HAMILTON CHURCH WEBSITE

Website: http://hamilton.adventist.org.au/

Church Email: Hamilton.sda.church@gmail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hamiltonsdachurch.victoria

Israel's Invisible King

Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments. Nehemiah 9:13. {AG 43.1}

All through the pages of sacred history, where the dealings of God with His chosen people are recorded, there are burning traces of the great I AM. Never has He given to the sons of men more open manifestations of His power and glory than when He alone was acknowledged as Israel's ruler, and gave the law to His people. Here was a scepter swayed by no human hand; and the stately goings forth of Israel's invisible King were unspeakably grand and awful. {AG 43.2}

In all these revelations of the divine presence, the glory of God was manifested through Christ. Not alone at the Saviour's advent, but through all the ages after the Fall and the promise of redemption, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself" (2 Corinthians 5:19). Christ was the foundation and center of the sacrificial system in both the patriarchal and the Jewish age. Since the sin of our first parents, there has been no direct communication between God and man. The Father has given the world into the hands of Christ, that through His mediatorial work He may redeem man and vindicate the authority and holiness of the law of God. All the communion between heaven and the fallen race has been through Christ. It was the Son of God that gave to our first parents the promise of redemption. It was He who revealed Himself to the patriarchs. . . . It was He who gave the law to Israel. Amid the awful glory of Sinai, Christ declared in the hearing of all the people the ten precepts of His Father's law. It was He who gave to Moses the law engraved upon the tables of stone. . . . {AG 43.3}

Jesus was the light of His people--the light of the world--before He came to earth in the form of humanity. The first gleam of light that pierced the gloom in which sin had wrapped the world, came from Christ. And from Him has come every ray of heaven's brightness that has fallen upon the inhabitants of the earth. In the plan of redemption Christ is the Alpha and the Omega--the First and the Last. {AG 43.4}

~ From the Spirit of Prophecy - Think About: ~

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~ Bulletin Crossword Puzzle No. 89 ~ Topic: Spirit Of Prophecy

1 2 3

4 5

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8 9

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12 13

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15 16

17 18

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www.CrosswordWeaver.com

All the words and clues

are from the King James

Version of the Bible.

Puzzle created by Shaun Keast © 2014

ACROSS

4 Place of worship 6 Gods heavenly servants 7 Audible and visible indications. 9 The hour of His _______ is come. 12 Great final battle 15 God's scrolls, collection of pages 16 Statue, idol, reflection, picture 17 End of time. 19 Kingdom or Creature 20 Last book of the Bible.

DOWN

1 Small portion or remaining few 2 Redemptive event, Rapture 3 Impressed to write the scriptures. 5 old Testament Prophet 8 The Comforter 10 Prediction of future events 11 They testify of Me. 13 Modern day Prophetess 14 Times, _____, and dividing of time 18 Indications of events

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~ For The Kids ~

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Qualifications of Heavenly Citizenship

Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the

tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

Revelation 22:14

"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Galatians 6:7). I want to

sow for time and eternity. My heart hungers and thirsts after righteousness. I

want my life hid in Christ Jesus, that my sowing shall bring me the right kind of

a harvest. I feel deeply in regard to my own self, for every day, in words or in

actions, I am sowing either tares or wheat. I want to sow for time or eternity. I

have lived nearly the period of my allotted time, and what shall the harvest be? I

want a quiet and unwavering trust in the Most High. I have experienced His pro-

tecting care in a remarkable manner when following the path of duty. I want to

go down to the grave as a shock of corn fully ripe. I want no complaining in my

heart; only gratitude should abide there. God's mercy and His loving-kindness

are to be kept, not as a thing out of mind, but as something so precious as never

to be forgotten. As eyewitnesses of His majesty we may exalt and praise His

holy name. We are with Him in the holy mount.

Every moment of time is precious and weighty with eternal consequences. We

are in a world of appearances which mock and deceive like the apples of Sod-

om. O how the Lord looks upon the double-dealing and the duplicity which is in

our world! If we could not get a glimpse above and beyond the clouds to the

bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness we might well be downcast, but Jesus

lives. . . .

The discipline in the school of Christ will cause the church to lean upon the arm

of her Beloved. The redeemed of the Lord shall at last come to Zion with songs

and everlasting joy upon their heads, in victorious triumph. All the angelic hosts

will rejoice over them with singing. But what are the qualifications of our citi-

zenship? "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right

to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."

(That I May Know Him – Ellen G White - page 353)

~ Weekly Devotional ~

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~ Sabbath Services ~

Service This Week Next Week

December 13th December 20th

Divine Service Justin Bone Paul Glover

Sabbath School Justin Bone Dan Derksen

- Contact Details - Pastor Justin Bone 04 3973 4368

~ Church Website ~ Website : http://hamilton.adventist.org.au/

Email : Hamilton.sda.church@gmail.com

~ Sunset Times ~ Sunset Sabbath (Tonight) 8:48 pm (DST)

Sunset Next Friday 8:52 pm (DST)

~ Church Offering ~ This Week: Conference New Church Buildings

Next Week: Local Church Budget

~ Church Cleaning ~ December 7th - December 20th Tung Family

December 21st - January 3rd Amber Morris

~ Garden Maintenance ~ December 7th - December 20th Peter Tung

December 21st - January 3rd Volunteer Needed