Dapto Anglican Church

This week I heard that the water police were going to crack down on users of Lake Illawarra. The incident that has led to the crackdown occurred recently. An unidentified sailor flipped his boat and impaled the mast into the mud. The boat was left stranded and upside down.

I have been reflecting on this situation. How does one go about un-impaling a boat? Especially if the person who needs to do it and has all the boating know how, yet impaled it in the first place! This is a situation where outside help is definitely required. For sailors there are Sailing Clubs with well equipped rescuers and rescue boats.

As we conclude our series on Galatians, we have been encouraged to get real. We are being challenged to get real with our Christian family. When we see our friends in trouble and wrestling with sin, Paul challenges us to get involved and help. The power to break through sin comes only from God through His Holy Spirit. We them to remind us to reconnect with God and draw down His power. Real Service requires us to make ourselves available to God in the situations He determines, amongst the people He brings across our path.

Stephen Semenchuk

Bulletin 26/11/06 (pdf, 635 KB)

If you try to stay the same when the whole world is changing around you, then you have changed. Your context is now different and therefore your relationship with the world for good or ill has changed. We may have become more out of touch or more relevant but we haven’t stayed the same.

Our Archbishop, Peter Jensen at Synod and our new Bishop of Wollongong, Rev. Al Stewart, have both encouraged us to be proactive in change.

They are not advocating a change to our message, rather they want us to stand up for historic Christianity and the truth of the Bible as intently as ever before. What they encourage us to do is to engage with our community and change whatever methods are getting in the way of people getting to know Jesus.

Australian Society has changed but the people still need to know Jesus.

Stephen Semenchuk

Bulletin 19/11/06 (pdf, 1.27 MB)

Most HSC students all over NSW are experiencing their first weekend of “freedom”. They are free from assessment tasks, studying, the feeling of guilt because they haven‚Äôt studied enough, the pressure of exams and school rules. However today’s freedom usually follows 12 to 13 years of school.

This freedom is also fleeting! Within months most school leavers have entered into further training or employment or both. Further, while free from school rules, this freedom does not extend to road rules or community laws or relationship responsibilities.

So when Paul says “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1); what does he mean? He means that anyone trying to justify themselves before God by what they do, is bound to obey all the laws. It is an erroneous and impossible task. He describes freedom as “faith expressing itself through love”. (Galatians 5:6) Therefore biblical freedom doesn‚Äôt nullify our response to God‚Äôs goodness. True freedom is a lifetime devoted to serving one another in love (Galatians 5:13).

Stephen Semenchuk

Bulletin 12/11/06 (pdf, 1.58 MB)

Prayer works! God promises that all our prayers are answered. The prayers which are in accord with God’s purposes are answered with a yes. The ones which ultimately are not to our benefit as being out of step with God are answered no. The ones we are not sure about will be answered in God’s time.

God chooses to work in our world through His people and their prayers. The power of God is accessed through prayer. We must be careful that when we see God work, we give Him the glory. The “power” is not in our prayers but in God’s answers to our prayers.

• Pray that God will bring many people along to hear about Jesus this Christmas.
• Pray that God will provide a fast approval for our building plans.
• Pray that our love for God and each other will grow each day.

Stephen Semenchuk

Christmas 2006 (pdf, 461KB)

Bulletin 05/11/06 (pdf, 2.29 MB)

The DAC Prayer Focus for November ‘06.
Prayer 11/06 (pdf, 218 KB)