Wednesday, 11. November 2009, 05:14:44
reflection, bible
Scripture
Jesus replied, “Do you see these huge buildings? They will certainly be torn down. Not one stone will be left in place.”
Observation
The temple in all of its magnificence would soon be destroyed. The disciples ask for signs and times, but Jesus tells them merely to be ready for trouble.
There will be deceivers. There will be beatings and suffering. There will be opportunities to speak to rulers and kings.
But in all of the suffering, God will be with them. The Holy Spirit will speak through them. And those who endure will be saved.
Application
This passage, like all prophecies, speaks at several time scales.
Firstly there s the immediate situation. The physical temple was destroyed in 70 AD when the Roman army came into Jerusalem to quash an insurrection. The christians in Jerusalem at the time remembered the words of Jesus and fled to safety while most of those who remained in the city were brutally killed.
Jesus also speaks of the end times and the great tribulation when christians will suffer greatly before “the end comes.” The good news is that the tribulation is a part of the process of world evangelisation and so the suffering is not meaningless.
Since the death of Jesus actually brought in the end times, the passage also speaks of christians in all ages suffering for their faith. There are earthquakes and famines, war and distress, but the Spirit of God is still active and working even in the midst of the suffering.
Prayer
Father, thank you for this wonderful promise. Even when we are suffering for serving you, you are with us. Amen.
Monday, 9. November 2009, 10:28:13
reflection, bible
Hallelujah!
Sing praise to our God!
Come on church-
christians of every age-
join me in singing
Hallelujah to our Lord.
Twenty-four seven
dawn to dusk
and beyond.
Let the praises rise.
Look at the stars,
too many to number,
impossible to scan
God's glory is above all that
All the nations praise Him
He lifts up the poor,
heals the sick
rescues the nobodies
gives babies to the childless.
Hallelujah
Our God is wonderful.
Monday, 9. November 2009, 10:27:04
reflection, bible
Scripture
Eli replied, “You may go home now and I' sure the God of Israel will answer your prayer.”
Observation
This story starts in a place of sadness. Elkanah, a godly man has two wives, Peninnah and Hannah. While Peninnah has children, Hannah has none. Peninnah often reminds her of this shame, although Elkanah loves her and tries to console her.
On one occasion in the house of the Lord, Hannah prays fervently for a son, promising to dedicate him to the Lord. Eli the priest, after first thinking she is drunk, assures her that God has heard her prayer.
Some time later she has a son whom she names Samuel.
Application
Eli is a very ungodly man for a priest- a sign of how corrupt the religion was even in the early days. Eli is unable to tell the difference between fervent prayer and drunken mumblings. Perhaps he had never seen anyone pray emotionally before.
Yet the Spirit of God is able to use him to prophesy- reminding us that God's grace is much bigger than human sinfulness.
Prayer
Thank you Lord that your Spirit is more powerful than human sinfulness. In your compassion you hear the prayers of lowly people and speak even through the most corrupt of your servants. Thank you for this assurance of your power and greatness. Amen.
Sunday, 8. November 2009, 06:16:38
church, ministry, men, prayer
Our church has just completed, as a part of its 13th birthday celebrations, a weekend of prayer. The idea is that for a 36 hour period from 9 pm Friday to 9 am Sunday we have the church open and we ask people to sign up for an hour or more to come to the church and pray.
I was really blessed when it turned out that we were able to cover every hour of that period in prayer. With a few people away, I knew that it might be a challenge, but we got there.
I was really blown away when I discovered that nearly two thirds of the prayer coverage was by men. I often hear pastors say that it's hard to get men's ministry going in a church. Well my answer to that is get the men to do the ministry. Give them a challenge, an important- even heroic - role and they will rise to it. Get them to commit to coming to church at 3 am just to pray alone and you will have a men's ministry happening right there!
Part of the challenge of this weekend was to bind the spirit of lawlessness that is being manifest in our community in dozens of ways at the moment. I believe that we did that by taking on a challenging discipline and being victorious in it.
We've often said, as have dozens of visitors, that there is an anointing of peace on our building. I experienced that powerfully this morning as I was praying. At one stage as I was praying with Troy, we suddenly both became silent and sat down and we felt this wonderful blanket of peace descend. The presence of God deeply restored our spirits as we sat there and received from Him.
It's been a great weekend. There have been many prophecies, drawings and a song written over this time.
God is good!
Sunday, 8. November 2009, 01:34:00
sermon, mp3
The sermon for Sunday November 8th is now available for download from the New Life web-site.
In this sermon, which celebrates our church birthday, I talk about how Jesus' command to love is lived out in community together. Click here to download
Thursday, 5. November 2009, 10:06:39
Narrabri, life
Another brilliant sunset again this evening.
Thursday, 5. November 2009, 08:22:29
salvation, worship, christian, prayer
“We glorify God by working out our own salvation. God has twisted together his glory and our good. What an encouragement is this to the service of God, to think, while I am hearing and praying, I am glorifying God; while I am furthering my own glory in heaven, I am increasing God’s glory.
Would it not be an encouragement to a subject, to hear his prince say to him, You will honour and please me very much, if you will go to yonder mine of gold, and dig as much gold for yourself as you can carry away? So, for God to say, Go to the ordinances, get as much grace as you can, dig out as much salvation as you can; and the more happiness you have, the more I shall count myself glorified.”
—Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1997), 13-14
Thursday, 5. November 2009, 01:58:41
Scripture
We die only once and then we are judged.
Observation
All of the temples, sacrifices, tabernacles and so one, al of the
paraphernalia of the Jewish religious system are just copies of what
is in heaven. They are a picture, a physical representation of the
heavenly, spiritual realm
So although the physical copy is cleansed through regular sacrifices
in the temple, the real work of reconciliation takes place in heaven
through the one true sacrifice of Christ the perfect Son of God.
The sacrifice of Christ can happen only once because He is perfect
and because He can only die once.
We die once and then are judged. He died once to save us through the
judgement.
Application
Christ's death is the end of religion- it is anti-religion.
Sacrifices, vows, striving to please an unknown God, are all done
away with. The copy is no longer needed because God's own perfect
sacrifice is here.
All of our attempts to please God are exposed as feeble and
ineffective. The perfect sacrifice does away with it all.
Jesus will not save us from
judgement but He does save us through
judgement. He is our advocate, the one who guarantees that we will be
found innocent.
We die just once- there is only one life to be lived on this planet.
There is no endless cycle of karma and reincarnation- just the one
judgement and the offer of the free grace of God. In that sense Jesus
saves us from reincarnation and from the iron law of karma. God's
grace triumphs over all religion.
Prayer
Lord Jesus you have paid the price for my sin. I thank you for
setting me free through your perfect sacrifice. Amen.
Wednesday, 4. November 2009, 05:06:41
Mankind’s sentence now appealed;
From the holy God offended,
Righteousness has been revealed!
Glory to the Justifier!
Praise His great and gracious plan;
Bless the holy love of God,
Who gave His Son to ransom Man!”
- Kevin Hartnett, Mercy Triumphs over Judgement (1998)
Tuesday, 3. November 2009, 04:16:08
Without God
Life is nothing
Work is wasted
Labour lost.
Go ahead
Wed your trophy wives
raise perfect kids
build your mansion,
a city if you must,
a coproatation
or a world wide empire
Without God
it's nothing
Children are God's blessing
Noisy, lively
energy, mischief.
Rejoice while you have them-
God's gift of grace
Like arrows to a warrior
Are children to a family
Rejoice in God's gifts
Labour in God's plans.
Tuesday, 3. November 2009, 04:14:38
Scripture
Boaz married Ruth and the Lord blessed her with a son.
Observation
This is a story of God's abundant grace to Ruth and Naomi. God provides for them:
Ruth and Naomi left Moab with nothing, wholly dependent on God's grace. They became wealthy influential and ancestors to David and to Jesus,
Application
It's not always easy to see God's hand at work in our lives. When things are not going the way we expect, it is easy to question God's goodness. But it's precisely at that time that we need to hang on to God as never before
Although we have no way of seeing how things will turn out, God sees the end from the beginning and he promises to walk through it with us.
Prayer
Thank you lord for the witness of Ruth and Naomi concerning your provision. Help e to put my trust entirely in you. Amen.
Monday, 2. November 2009, 09:54:23
Narrabri, life, snakes
We have been seeing a few black snakes around our yard this spring, particularly as the creek has been drying up and the snakes have had t move further afield to find water and food. It's good to know that blacks aren't terribly venomous and they keep the more toxic browns away.
From
Wires
Red Bellied Black Snake
The Red Belly Black Snake ( Pseudechis porphyriacus ) is one of our best known elapid (or front fanged venomous) snakes. It is wide spread throughout the Eastern Parts of Australia, preferring to live near creeks, and fixed water sources. Their diet consists mostly of frogs, although they are known to eat the occasional lizard, and smaller snakes. Although they are venomous, and are classified as dangerously venomous, the toxicity is not considered fatally dangerous. The venom of this genus destroys muscle tissue, but does not effect the central nervous system. Few human deaths have resulted from a bite from this species, and no adults have died from a bite.
They are excessively shy creatures, who will evade humans rather then strike. Its also a fact that if you have red bellies in your yard, you are not likely to have Brown snakes! Red's actively chase Brown's away, as the Red Belly toxin kills Browns.
* Given that stat, you will be amazed to hear (according the Bureau of Statistics) that you are more likely to be struck by lightening or die of a bee sting then you are of a snake bite.
* From the same source, between 70 - 93 % of snake bites are received while trying to capture or kill a snake.
* There has only ever been one recorded death from a red bellied black snake bite, and that occurred in the 1800's on a new born infant. Their venom does not work that way.
* Red Bellied Black Snakes will actively chase and kill Eastern Brown snakes from their preferred locations. (Brown Snakes are responsible for around 65% of the deaths by snake bite in Australia) This makes Red Bellies good to have around!
Sunday, 1. November 2009, 11:36:10
I'm a big fan of Ubuntu Linux. Of all the flavours of Linux out there it's one of the most user friendly with a huge range of software and nearly everything works "straight out of the box" (except there's no box).Upgrading is a snap. Usually, you just click on the "Upgrade now" button in the Update Manager and wait for it all to download and install itself. I've done a couple of upgrades now and it's all been sweet.So I really didn't think that there would be any dramas. Just click and leave it to download while we have the wedding happen and automagically it would be no longer 9.04 but 9.10.But this time of all the hundreds of thousands who did that, I was the one with the rogue problem. The problem was quite severe- it would not recognise my password, or rather it would recognise it but wouldn't do the next thing which is to acccept it and log me on.Tim and I spent hours trying to track down the exact problem, unsuccessfully. In the end I had to use a "live CD" to boot, then use that to back up as much data as I could onto a portable hard drive before doing a complete "fresh" install. That means it is inevitable that some things have been lost but mostly I saved my data. And now I've nearly got all my settings and programs back to "normal" so it's all good.And Ubuntu 9.10 itself- brilliant! Everything just looks so darned good! Fonts are nice, colour scheme is great. Gnome is itself a great desktop. I haven't even changed the wallpaper or the colour scheme yet, which I normally do soon after any install.
The only problem I keep running into is the Ubuntu version of Open Office does not support databases, whch is a must for me. There's probably an extra package somewhere that is optional but I havne't found it. I downloaded the original version put out by openoffice.org.Anyway, now the trauma of the faulty upgrade is over, 9.10 is a great release.
Sunday, 1. November 2009, 01:57:16
The sermon for November 1st 2009 is now available for download from the New Life web-site.In this sermon, which is based on Ruth 1, I talk about the community that God wants.Click here to download it.
Tuesday, 27. October 2009, 06:46:53
reflection, bible
Scripture Jesus answered, “The most important one says: 'People of Israel, you have only one Lord and God. You must love him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.' The second most important commandment says: 'Love others as much as you love yourself.' No other commandment is more important than these.”
Observation
The man talking to Jesus really wanted to know what it is to please God and to live in His kingdom. He wasn't there to score points or to play theology He really wanted to know.
He also saw that love is more important than sacrifices and offerings. Our service to God is about a soft heart and not just about external performance.
Jesus said to him, “You aren't far from the Kingdom of God.” The kingdom of God was right there- this was the heart of Jesus' message. This man took the gospel on board and realised what it was about.
Application
In the end the message is still the same: love God and love people.
This is not to say that theology or doctrine does not matter. It is vital that we know the God we are commanded to love, for in the end everyone becomes like what they most love.
But most of the stuff that Christians argue about is not important to loving God. Most of he demands that churches make of people who want to love God are not important.
It is our love for God and each other that is important.
Prayer
Father let me love you more and more each day. Show me how to grow in love for you and for other people. Amen.
Tuesday, 27. October 2009, 06:45:39
reflection, bible
Scripture But Christ was sinless, and he offered himself as an eternal and spiritual sacrifice to God
Observation
The tent of Meeting was the place where the High Priest offered the sacrifice in God's presence for the sins of the entire nation of Israel.
But our High Priest is Christ, and the place where He makes sacrifice is not a human tent but in the throne room of God.
The blood of animals was considered by God to cleanse people from sin,We have the blood of the perfect Christ who is our eternal sacrifice.
The Old Covenant sacrifices were meant to point to the perfect sacrifice of the New Covenant. The High Priest of the Old Covenant was just a sign of the perfect High Priest who was to come.
Application
Under the Old Covenant sacrifice could only cleanse a person until the next time they sinned. There was a need for a recurrent practice of sacrifices. The death of an animal had only limited efficacy for atonement.
But we have a perfect sacrifice. Because Jesus was the eternal Son of God and was without sin, His blood covers our sins for ever. He is the perfect sacrifice that cleanses us not just from the effects of sin but also from the cause of sin. He gives us a new nature, removing the old sinful nature.
Prayer
What a wonderful Saviour you are Lord Jesus. Your sacrifice covers every sin, now and for ever. Please remove from me the desire to sin so that my whole life is a testimony to your grace. Amen.
Tuesday, 27. October 2009, 06:28:30
humour, climate
Amusing poll results at Watts Up With That:
We’ve seen that man-made global warming has taken some hits in the opinion polls lately, and that its 10 minutes of fame may be over, but sharp eyed blogger Dave R. at Care2 spotted this zinger. I’ve posted the graphs and tables from the polls with highlights below.
Dave R writes:
In the United States, more people believe that houses
can be haunted by the dead than believe that the living can cause
climate change. Is this simply a scary Halloween tale or our
frightening future?
The latest Pew poll on global warming
shows a large drop in the percentage of Americans who say there is
solid evidence that global temperatures are rising, from 71% down to
only 57% in the last 18 months. And global warming due to human activity? The overall numbers have declined from 47% to 36%. To put this in perspective, a Gallup poll found that 37% of Americans believe that houses can be haunted.
Here’s the Pew poll graphics:
Pew Poll Data Table - note highlight
Monday, 26. October 2009, 07:38:57
reflection, bible
God is great!
Praise His name-
Praise His holy name!
I won't stop singing,
I won't stop shouting
I won't stop praising
the name of our Lord.
Presidents fail
Kings die
Plans and programmes
are abandoned
But our God lives for ever
and He is dependable.
Trust in Him
and you will see
He heals the sick
and captives sets free.
He cares for the weak
the poor and dispossessed.
The strong can look after themselves
but woe to those who rip off the poor.
There is no one like our God.
Shout praise to His name.
Monday, 26. October 2009, 07:37:30
reflection, bible
Scripture
“I will go where you go, I will live where you live; your people will be my people, your God will be my God.”
Observation
The story of Ruth is one of those stories where God uses famine and tragedy to test the character of people and in fact to bring out the best in them.
A man called Elimelech from Bethlehem, and his wife Naomi and their sons are forced by famine to migrate. They settle in Moab where Elimelech dies and the two sons marry and subsequently die childless.
Naomi returns to Judah, but she sends the two daughters-in-law back to their homes. At her insistence, Orpah goes but Ruth clings to her and vows to go wherever Naomi goes and to remain always faithful to her.
Application
Ruth's loyalty to her mother-in-law is unshakeable, Even though the men who had brought them together had died, Ruth felt a great kinship with Naomi.
This is the kind of strong loyalty ties that are supposed to exist within the church. Pastors should not be mere employees on a contract. People should not find it easy to change churches or move locations when relationships get a little challenging or greener pastures beckon.
Our hearts in the Christian community should be so knitted together and lives intertwined that leaving is not an easy option. That's not to say that the church should be like a cult which holds people captive. No, the commitment has to be a voluntary giving of the heart, just as Ruth and Orpah were free to follow or return home.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, let your love so flow among your people that we demonstrate the same kind of covenant loyalty that Ruth and Naomi shared. Help us to give our hearts freely to one another that the world is astounded by your love. Amen.
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