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[Pages:22]Ten Years (December 6, 2009)

In 1927, Rev. E.V. Keith, the Pastor of Dunellan Baptist Church, (which today is known as Greenslopes Baptist Church), bought an old Church of England hall for the sum of 12 pounds 10 shillings. This building was moved to land purchased in Yuletide Street, Holland Park.

In January 1928 ? Holland Park Baptist Church began to meet in the relocated hall. The church slowly grew until it became necessary to increase the size of the facilities and it was decided to add a church hall behind the existing building.

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On June 14th, 1952 ? the new hall was formally opened. By the late 1960's ? it became apparent that the facilities were again too small ? so plans were made to build a larger church building. The house and land next door were purchased.

Then, what had been the original church building was moved to the rear of the property. If you look at this picture, you can see that what had once been an Anglican Church hall and then the original Holland Park Baptist Church ? is now our cr?che and kitchen area. So when you sit in that cr?che realise that by 1927 ? that had already been an old Anglican hall that had outgrown its usefulness. And while building was going on ? the church services were moved to the hall. In late 1969 ? construction began on a new church building.

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This was to be a steel framed brick building significantly larger than the old church.

On the 27th of June 1970, the building was finished and services were commenced. In the early 1980's more room was needed so a wall was knocked down, an annex added and more seating was made available. In 1985 ? Holland Park Baptist Church moved out of the premises at Yuletide Street. In 1989 the facilities were sold to the Chinese Christian Church. In 1999 ? the Chinese Christian Church moved to Rochedale and we purchased the facility.

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At that time, we moved out of our facilities in Annerley.

We took ownership of the facilities in late 1999.

In December 1999 ? ten years ago ? we began to meet in the back hall while we renovated the facility.

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Ten years is a long time ? but I also want to remind you that ten years goes past incredibly quickly. Thirty years ago ? Holland Park Baptist Church met here. Twenty years ago ? The Chinese Christian Church of Brisbane met here. Ten years ago ? Grace Bible Church moved in. Let me remind you of what can happen in ten years.

These are pictures of my Christmas from ten years ago.

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It seems like yesterday ? but it is a lifetime ago. Heather has graduated high school ? Steph can drive in a year ? Lisa is fourteen going on twenty-five ? I barely recognise this blonde headed innocent or Kailani for that matter. Ten years ago we were on the verge of the new millennium. On December 31, 1999 ? the day when the world was supposed to stop because of Y2K. The church had a millennium party here in the back hall.

I look at this photo and can't believe it is ten years ago. Liz is married and a mother. Half those little kids are at university. I think Lindsay Bettinson is about the only one not to have changed. That is him in with the kids and with gold cones for ears. But as we celebrate what the Lord has done for us in the last ten years ? this leads us to the question of what the next ten years holds. Where should we be heading? In ten years many things will have changed. There are some things we expect ? other things are just a possibility. Just yesterday, David Stern, the Commissioner of the NBA ? the National Basketball Association in the US ? said in an interview with Sports Illustrated that he believes a woman could be playing professional basketball in the NBA within 10 years. LeBron James the reigning NBA MVP heard about the comments and said, "Ten years? That's, like, right around the corner." He is right ten years will pass quickly.

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I have no idea whether there will be women in the NBA within 10 years but there are changes we can expect.

Ten years for now ? Barack Obama will not be President of the United States. Put that in perspective ? ten years ago no one had even heard of Barack Obama ? yet in ten years time we will be one and possibly two Presidents past Barack Obama. Ten years from now ? we are told newspapers, magazines, books and DVDs will be largely supplanted by downloads from a superfast internet. We will read on ebook readers and newspapers will be a rarity. Ten years from now ? Virgin Galactic will have been regularly taking tourists into space for over seven years! Who knows ? my children might send me up as a space tourist one day. Ten years from now ? chances are all of my kids will have finished university ? some might be married ? who knows I might even be a grandfather. That is really scary. But:

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What about Grace Bible Church in ten years time? What will we have done for the Lord and His kingdom in ten years time? In 2019 ? what will we have done for the kingdom? What will you have done? In Matthew 6:33, Jesus reminds us to:

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. If we do that ? where will we be? I know that ultimately this is in the hands of the Lord. Proverbs 16:9:

The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps. And yet ? if we are to do anything for the Lord ? He requires us to plan ? and to be moving forward. To take some risks ? to experience some failures ? to rejoice in some successes. In Romans 15:24 Paul said:

I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain. As far as we know the Apostle never got to travel to Spain with the gospel ? but it was what he had planned to do. Most of Paul's plans were acted on ? some weren't ? but he was relentlessly looking forward.

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