As we were thinking about the 8th Commandment: You shall not steal. We thought about the temptation of breaking copyright with dvds, music, and software. We were challenged to destroy and delete illegal copies of movies, music, and software. I confessed to the temptation to download a particular Lost episode. I am excited to hear the latest itunes announcement to put TV shows in their downloads (lo res but that is better than nothing!) When we checked it out there were four seasons of legal lost episodes to download. Yes! Itunes has saved me from temptation. So what did Sam do? He downloaded the episode we missed legally for $3 bucks. Now we own it and can watch it with a clear conscience ! YES !

Have you got any flee temptation success stories?

Lead us not into temptation... GP

Here are 14 statements from GAFCON worth reflecting on:

THE JERUSALEM DECLARATION

In the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit:

1. We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, have met in the land of Jesus' birth. We express our loyalty as disciples to the King of kings, the Lord Jesus. We joyfully embrace his command to proclaim the reality of his kingdom which he first announced in this land. The gospel of the kingdom is the good news of salvation, liberation and transformation for all. In light of the above, we agree to chart a way forward together that promotes and protects the biblical gospel and mission to the world, solemnly declaring the following tenets of orthodoxy which underpin our Anglican identity.

2. We rejoice in the gospel of God through which we have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because God first loved us, we love him and as believers bring forth fruits of love, ongoing repentance, lively hope and thanksgiving to God in all things.

3. We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God written and to contain all things necessary for salvation. The Bible is to be translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church's historic and consensual reading.

4. We uphold the four Ecumenical Councils and the three historic Creeds as expressing the rule of faith of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

5. We uphold the Thirty-nine Articles as containing the true doctrine of the Church agreeing with God's Word and as authoritative for Anglicans today.

6. We gladly proclaim and submit to the unique and universal Lordship of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, humanity's only Saviour from sin, judgement and hell, who lived the life we could not live and died the death that we deserve. By his atoning death and glorious resurrection, he secured the redemption of all who come to him in repentance and faith.

7. We rejoice in our Anglican sacramental and liturgical heritage as an expression of the gospel, and we uphold the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as a true and authoritative standard of worship and prayer, to be translated and locally adapted for each culture.

8. We recognise that God has called and gifted bishops, priests and deacons in historic succession to equip all the people of God for their ministry in the world. We uphold the classic Anglican Ordinal as an authoritative standard of clerical orders.

9. We acknowledge God's creation of humankind as male and female and the unchangeable standard of Christian marriage between one man and one woman as the proper place for sexual intimacy and the basis of the family. We repent of our failures to maintain this standard and call for a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those who are not married.

10. We gladly accept the Great Commission of the risen Lord to make disciples of all nations, to seek those who do not know Christ and to baptise, teach and bring new believers to maturity.

11. We are mindful of our responsibility to be good stewards of God's creation, to uphold and advocate justice in society, and to seek relief and empowerment of the poor and needy.

12. We are committed to the unity of all those who know and love Christ and to building authentic ecumenical relationships. We recognise the orders and jurisdiction of those Anglicans who uphold orthodox faith and practice, and we encourage them to join us in this declaration. We celebrate the God-given diversity among us which enriches our global fellowship, and we acknowledge freedom in secondary matters. We pledge to work together to seek the mind of Christ on issues that divide us.

13. We reject the authority of those churches and leaders who have denied the orthodox faith in word or deed. We pray for them and call on them to repent and return to the Lord.

14. We rejoice at the prospect of Jesus' coming again in glory, and while we await this final event of history, we praise him for the way he builds up his church through his Spirit by miraculously changing lives.

GAFCON June 29 2008

Here is an extract: "The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), which was held in Jerusalem from 22-29 June 2008, is a spiritual movement to preserve and promote the truth and power of the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ as we Anglicans have received it. The movement is global: it has mobilised Anglicans from around the world. We are Anglican: 1148 lay and clergy participants, including 291 bishops representing millions of faithful Anglican Christians. We cherish our Anglican heritage and the Anglican Communion and have no intention of departing from it. And we believe that, in God's providence, Anglicanism has a bright future in obedience to our Lord's Great Commission to make disciples of all nations and to build up the church on the foundation of biblical truth (Matthew 28:18-20; Ephesians 2:20).

GAFCON is not just a moment in time, but a movement in the Spirit, and we hereby:

• launch the GAFCON movement as a fellowship of confessing Anglicans

• publish the Jerusalem Declaration as the basis of the fellowship 
• encourage GAFCON Primates to form a Council. "

Click here for the full text

GP

This missions focus is on the plight of refugees. Last Friday, June 20th was World Refugee Day. Throughout Australia this week, there have been many events that have underlined our need as a community to welcome the strangers in our midst. In fact the theme of Refugee Week this year is "A Place to Call Home" And don't we all want this for ourselves. But how about those many millions who have fled terror and persecution. 700,000 have come to our shores in the last thirty years.

Here at St Matthew's we have tried to respond to this huge need by the formation of the St Matthew's Refugee Support Group, so ably led by Gwenyth Graham. This group is made up of over 20 volunteers, most of whom come from the community and other churches and who work as part of CARAD, that is the Coalition of Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Detainees. For the past eight years they have supported dozens of traumatised individuals and families as they have struggled in detention centres and then to get established in a new culture and country. This has involved helping to get flats, get furniture, get jobs, get medical appointments, get Medicare, get schooling, get English classes, get legal aid, and a hundred and one other things.

They like we have rejoiced that the new Government has abolished the iniquitous Temporary Protection Visas which left people in limbo for years,and that the Government has also brought to an end the so-called Pacific Solution. It has meant that all those people who St Matthew's are caring for have now gained permanent residence with the notable exception of three people who are still waiting for the letter that will tell them that they can make Australia home.

It is good for us as a church to realise that CARAD receives no Government funding whatsoever and can only continue its caring role through the goodwill gifts of those who take the plight of refugees to heart. There have been recent times when finances were almost exhausted. CARAD has had to totally support those refugees on Bridging Visas who were denied their right to work or study or claim Medicare. This has been a huge drain on resources. CARAD is currently urgently needing a Treasurer so if you have skills in this area and could help, please see me or Gwenyth afterwards.

It is good to know that many of the refugees that have been helped through the St Matthew's Refugee Support Group are moving on with their lives. Some have even bought houses, others are doing advanced study, and one young girl who came several years ago, spoke at Willetton High School as part of Refugee Week and is presently studying at Murdoch Uni.

Let us thank God for Gwenyth and Peter Graham and their band of volunteers and pray that our Government will continue to govern with compassion and care for those who come to this country for refuge from the traumas of life.
BT