Generation ‘C’ is now Connected.

The onslaught of television and death of communities is making us more self-centred and lacking in empathy, says an American psychiatrist

Scatter Your Seed

Mark 4:3-9 “Listen to this! Behold, the Sower went out to sow seed, as he was sowing, some seed fell... This is a principle of faith called sowing and is not just about sharing the Gospel or giving money but about everything we do by faith.

The Power of Total Dependence

A current TV serial explores the concept of a world without electric power. The scenario they describe is frightening. The entire means of our survival is based around power from another source. We are more dependent than we realize upon the mechanized, motorized, electric powered world of our own creation. Yet if we realized the enormous latent power

How to Spot a Fanatic

There is something in human nature that will take a truth to its logical limits and try to set it in cement. Naturally we want everyone else to live it to the letter, (just as long as it isn’t us!) Thankfully, many of us have learned by observation that those who preach an absolute

‘i’ shop, therefore ‘i’ am

Like me you will have noted the current obsession with the ‘i’ phone, ‘i’ pad etc. That people who only a short time ago lined up throughout even cold nights to buy the iPhone 4 are now panting in anticipation of the iPhone 5, is a sad commentary on our times.

Don't Advertise Your Fears

We do have a lot of funny wee traditions as Christians. Most of them have to do with small fears and the stress of everyday living. Real maturity becomes evident when we don’t feel the need to speak out our fears in the guise of prayers.

Paul informs the superstitious Greeks that God is not far from us. “In Him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:26-28. That being so, if we have a relationship with Him, nothing should surprise us; our days should be filled with small miracles as promised in Romans 8:28 “all things work together for good.”

The walk of faith is a daily adventure and our expectations should not be limited by fear or anxiety for the outcome of things. We declare our intentions to walk close to Him every morning when we commit our day to Him. Praying and feeding in the Word can become as natural as our breakfast cereal when we expect God’s best.

I remember a youth excursion once when a person stopped us all from jumping in our cars to drive to a country location: “Let’s all pray for travelling Mercies” they said and then prayed out from their fear of accidents. That same person actually had an accident on the way and ended up in hospital. When we speak out our fears we make room for the enemy. “Don’t tell the Devil your level!” Speak out your expectation of good for the day and rest in the results.

Being the Outside Expert

Sometimes, I’ve been invited to speak in other churches. They seem to respect my advice on matters in a way that can even seem embarrassing. Afterwards, a frustrated leader or Pastor tells me they had been saying something similar for a long time, but the congregation and leadership seemed reluctant to listen. But now that they invite me to share my views, suddenly they’re interested. Most managers or leaders have experienced this from both sides and understand the frustration. Often, it really does seem that an outside expert has great persuasive powers.

But the concept is explained in the Bible. In discussing how we as Christians are to relate to others, Jesus used the illustration of salt in Matthew 5:13: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.”

Salt has the ability to ‘season’ things. In ancient days, salt was the best preservative available, and to keep meat from rotting, salt had to be rubbed in.  But one important element of salt is how different it is from the meat. To change something, you have to be different from what you’re trying to change.

After a long time within any organization, most people seem to lose their saltiness; their unique or impartial perspective and authority. Human nature being what it is, others don’t take advice as often from inside people because they seem to be like part of the problem they are trying to solve.  That’s why we are open to outside advice; it does bring a fresh perspective.

Salt changes things because it’s not like what it’s trying to change. Certainly being different in your views, will not always be appreciated, but it does mean you offer different ideas. To become ‘salty’ again we need to step outside of things and become renewed in our thinking. Holding the same old views means we have little to no impact on the way things are.

The Myth of Freedom

Ephesians 2:1-10: talks about being formally dead and living in the various and passing lusts of our mind and body. Gladly, we have been made alive in Christ, an act of grace.

 

It is true that we have sometimes as believers we have indulged the desires of the flesh and mind. We have set goals for ourselves that God did not give us. We have longed for things and when we finally achieved them they proved to be a disappointment that we could hardly admit. They fell so easily from our grasp like a child with a new plastic toy on Christmas day. But many of us have grown up in our understanding; we have realised that while we are amazingly objective and resourceful people who can achieve goals that we have desired for ourselves, we know they can hurt us.

 

All believers are called to a separated life; taking the things of God seriously without becoming overly religious. Our young need good modelling to avoid the moral confusion and shallow excitement exhibited by those who are impressed by the ‘bread and circuses’ of secular culture.

 

Jesus also had to learn to live a separated life: Hebrews 5:8 “Although he was already a mature son, he learned obedience through the things which he suffered” Jesus models the primary skill for us: Obedience. This raises the a question, do we obey God because of Hellfire or because He is always right? It is best to obey God because He is God.

 

Leviticus 20:22-27:  ‘You are therefore to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to live will not spew you out.  Moreover, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I will drive out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I have abhorred them. ²⁴ Hence I have said to you, “You are to possess their land, and I myself will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples.”

 

Even the land cannot tolerate Canaanite practices that reflected total depravity. As long as we set our own standards of human behaviour and make our foolish laws, we descend into the same level of Depravity that invited annihilation such as Canaanites suffered. The progress has begun and while we may bring restraint to society as believers, we cannot ultimately stop it.

 

In every issue we face there is right and wrong but things are only right because God says they are right. Ecclesiastes 10:2: “A wise man’s heart directs him toward (what is) right, but the foolish man’s heart directs him toward (what is)left.” Society has clearly rejected Gods concept of right and wrong. Society’s notions of ‘good and right’ are due to what has become “a cultural memory of good” based on how we understood things 120 years ago. (Darwin etc and so-called ‘enlightenment ‘came and existential humanism arose ) Expressing ‘cultural memory’ a different way, we could say that fruit does not wither immediately once the branch has been cut-off. The fact is that 120 years ago we cut the tree down so new fruit will not grow in human society outside of the Church. Our Jails are full, crime of every sort and destruction is increasing at a furious pace.

 

Yet strangely despite all of these facts, the notion and concept of ‘freedom’ is espoused as if this were the means to mankind’s salvation. It requires an acceptance of total selfishness. “One must throw-off every constraint until total autonomy is achieved.” In the words of worldly philosophers: “To be totally free you must see yourself as no more important than a blade of grass.” One ‘existentialist’ philosopher wrote that “falsehood, bondage and irrationality are essential truths of freedom.” He advocated schizophrenia as a way to achieve this state of human bliss and oblivion. He probably became one.

 

This philosophy has infected humankind to the degree that people have a continuous sense of futility and hopelessness. Everything is temporary and short term. People are now fooled by shallow imitations that will crumble to dust in a few years. ‘Leadless solder’ will guarantee we need to replace electronic devices within 6-8 years. Nothing can be trusted yet people are enamoured with a shallow culture of temporary benefits.

 

The only constant during the last 2000 years in Human Society has been individual believers meeting in simple groups to fight for and maintain the truths we now have. Their worship and attitude has been like most bible-believing Christians today. They like you and I, have found true freedom in submission to Jesus Christ as our Lord.  John 8:36
“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”

 

Where does the Church go from here? Throughout the Churches history, wrong concepts of leadership have driven believers into following populist views and submitting to the demands of loyalty to manmade organizations. Yet many believers have recognized the failures of existing movements and have ultimately created yet more movements out of reaction. It is as though we are searching for the right way to worship and the right environment and style of ‘message.’
I believe that in the near future we are going to have to simplify. Big churches will become dangerous. This week Obama has outlawed bibles and any other Christian religious items in USA military hospitals. Our weak politicians tow the American line now. What’s next? Watch this space. 
 

Where is the Church at Now?

The history of the Church is very subjective and influenced by our own religious experiences and prejudices.  However, it is a means for us to see where we have come from. Where we are going is a different matter because church history demonstrates that God Himself has intervened in the affairs of mankind from time to time in sovereign ways. (Consider Genesis 11:4-7 the tower of Babel) These interruptions have added great

Continue in The Faith

Acts 14:22: “Strengthening the souls of the disciples; encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying: “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”

Despite many demonically inspired global strategies targeting the Church and direct attacks by Satan, the Church has continued. To the present time, History has displayed the “many tribulations” yet the Church emerges.

What is the Purpose of the Church?

The Church is primarily a training facility. It is neither a first-aid station nor an entertainment centre though many may see it that way from time to time, maturity changes that.

Destined To Lead

Moses was born to lead. It seems that way when we read Exodus chapters 1 and 2.  Are all leaders born to lead? Are there significant aspects of some Heavenly selection program or does God simply take advantage of the circumstances some find themselves in? I believe we are required again to balance the matter of Gods sovereignty with human responsibility and this takes faith.

Just Passing Through

Our thirst for experience will take us to sometimes weird and wonderful places. Here's one: The St Louis Arch in St Louis Missouri USA: Incredibly there is a small 4 seat

Walk by Faith and not by Sight

Mark 5:36    “...Do not be afraid, ONLY BELIEVE.”

Newsletter 22^nd July 2102

Walking by faith and not by sight is actually much easier than most Christians think.  You are probably sitting down right now reading this article.  It is my assumption that you are sitting on a chair that you probably sit on regularly?  Did you approach that chair cautiously, crawl under it and check out the legs, then the structure and angle of the seat and back rest to make sure that it would hold your weight?  I don’t think so because  you believed that the chair was NOT going to collapse under you as you sat down. 

A Matter of Discretion

1Samuel 25:2-42: The Story of David and Abigail is a classic romance:

Abigail was mismatched probably by arrangement, to an unfortunate man called Nabal (means foolish) - but he was rich...

Gospel Confusion is Hiding the Truth

2 Corinthians 4:3 (NIV) “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.”

Galatians 1:6-9 (NIV) “ I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — ⁷ which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! ⁹ As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

I have just read a book by a man that teaches unless we preach the ten commandments there is little to no conviction of sin in a person; so they exhibit a shallow experience of Christ. To bolster his case he cites many dismal statistics of evangelistic campaigns etc. That produced very few converts. I must say that he quotes events that he was not present at nor was he preaching. While his argument sounds good, it is not actually working anywhere in an outstanding way that we might notice!

The Meaning of Hard Times

Our Christian Life is now free from the frantic search for pleasure or power; our life has become a conscious and unconscious search for real spirituality that brings true meaning into every aspect of our lives.

The Forgotten Holy Spirit

Most believers consider their Church open to the moving and power of the Holy Spirit. They see various evidences and manifestations of His presence in the midst and this is reassuring. Then there are periods when nothing much seems to be happening and it seems possible that they could be in danger of becoming comfortable with very little. 

Stocktaking Time

1 John 2:24  As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.

 The early Church only had one Gospel. The many divisions, factions and versions of the Church had not yet occurred. Yes there were heresies soon enough but they were like the cults that live around us today, easy to spot.

What early Christians heard in the beginning was not coloured or filtered by the branding or viewpoint of some group claiming to have a corner on the truth.

Brief Lives Need Clear Destinations

A read through the cemetery register for our graveyard is a revelation of the fragility and brevity of our lives. It is not surprising that we don’t want to think much about the inevitable. What is surprising is that we all act like we are here forever

Eggs, Chickens, Bunnies and Buns

As a secular European style nation, NZ reflects little interest in Easter other than for holiday purposes. The meaning has been diverted to small symbols aimed mostly at children and the benefits are eagerly sought by bread and confectionary manufacturers and retailers.

An Easter Dilemma

How do we portray the crucifixion? I asked myself this question while searching online for ideas to reflect Easter on our billboard. The Holy Spirit gave the words “ask Him why...” now I needed an image that amplified that challenge.

Balancing the Supernatural and the Word

So fundamental was the influence of preaching “the Word” in the New testament that Dr Luke described the church in these terms: “The Word of God kept on spreading” Acts 6:7 and “The Word of the Lord continued to grow and be multiplied” Acts 12:24 and the Word prevailed!” Acts 19:20.  Luke was not talking about the number of people or churches but about the impact of the Word of the Lord.

Going Against the Grain

Working with timber or carving the Sunday roast requires that you have to decide which way the grain of the wood or meat is running and cut across it to make a good job. It is not that simple when dealing with people.

We like to be liked so we tend to say things that others agree with. In church we are careful to say things that we know will fit with the prevailing theology.

The Law of Reciprocity

Success guru’s, Spirit Mediums, Life Coaches and even some Christians get excited about such ‘buzzy’ sounding titles that make their books and websites look informative. The (so called) ‘law of reciprocity’ simply means “what goes around comes around!” All good deeds are reciprocal. All of the world’s religions use this principle with great effect.

Emotional Maturity

Psalm 103:8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful; He is slow to anger and demonstrates great loyal love. He does not always accuse, and does not stay angry. He does not deal with us as our sins deserve; He does not repay us as our misdeeds deserve; for as the skies are high above the earth, so his loyal love towers over those who fear Him. As far as the eastern horizon is from the west, so he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on his faithful followers.  Vs.14 For he knows what we are made of; He realizes we are made of clay.

Dealing with the Demonic

A reel to reel tape recording of a disembodied demonic scream convinced me once and for all as a young believer that the demonic is real. Numerous other encounters followed, some were quite dramatic. 

Interestingly, as I continued on in faith, encounters with the demonic have became quite rare. This is because I have become aware of my authority in Jesus Christ and such creatures tend to avoid my notice. At least they stay at a distance or are much more subtle in their machinations

Possessing our Promised Land

For many people good times seem to be a temporary state of affairs; the ideal situation comes along and before long our ownership of that happy state is challenged by competitors or circumstances.

The perfect job or home or even relationship requires us to defend our ownership mostly against our own doubts, rationalising or carelessness.

There is always someone else waiting in the wings to plunder our success and take over our prized possession. Then they tend to make a much greater success of it just to spite us. There are laws at work here.

Our own beautiful country New Zealand is also vulnerable if we do not make careful use of the precious resources. You don’t need to be paranoid to see the threats; stronger nations plunder nations that fail to be good stewards of their inheritance.

One of the reasons we know Adam was a real person is that all of the commands given to him are still working in front of our eyes. “Be fruitful, have dominion, subdue and rule responsibly over the land.” Genesis 1:28. When we let these basic requirements slip personally or as a nation, we expose ourselves to greedy eyes. God can be counted on to defend New Zealand when New Zealand honours God! It starts with you and me.

Three Dimensional Believers

Joshua 11:22   "There was none of the Anakims (giants) left in the land of the children of Israel: only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, some remained. Gaza Gath and Ashdod were locations of defeat, defiance and defilement. Undefeated giants that exist in our homes: We cruise into marriage thinking we know how everything will work. We do bring ‘giant’ baggage with us like unfulfilled expectations of romance or adventure; worse still, the “aisle, altar, hymn syndrome.” The reality of life kicks in and we wake up to find the person we married was the person we married.

 

Single people too are grooming giants that are modelled for them by parents. It is not a matter of saying “my parents are dysfunctional (or worse)” this will bind you to the problem and doom you to repeat their mistakes. It is a matter of forgiveness of parents first then repentance of the propensity.

Judges 16:20 “And she said, The Philistines are upon you, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.”

All this happened in Gaza:  “I will go out as at other times...” “he wist not...” Some believers are always talking like Samson about the things that will ultimately defeat them. They are being drained by negative stuff like TV or bad music all day. When trouble strikes they find they have no spiritual resources. They become defeated Christians living a ‘half life’ they are still around but they are “neither use nor ornament.” They are blind and bound but there is hope if they go on grinding out corn, (the Word).

1 Samuel 17:10 “And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.”

Self declared defiance; brought to you with the compliments of Gath; when defiance rules, the giants go to full size. Now we have a fully blown issue to deal with and everybody can see it. The sort of language used is: “I’m all right; don’t tell me how to live!” Trying to make it with our own resources has not worked, now there is denial and rage. The cure is drastic: A small thing will bring you down; (road rage?)You will be brought to nothing because you are exalting “King Self” above the Lord.

1 Samuel 4:21 “She named the boy Ichabod saying, “The Glory has departed from Israel”—because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. 1 Samuel 5:1 “After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.”

After a long period of grace for flagrant sinful living, the beautiful things of God have become defiled by presumption and using the presence of the Lord as a good luck charm; such people will find everything has slipped away from them and death is the only escape. This is the sin of nominal belief.

How did they get here? First they simply assumed that they could handle all of the issues of life without looking in the Owners Handbook to find how to kill of some giants. Then they became defeated; being worn down by their own choices of what they fed on. Next they became defiant, not willing to receive correction they put themselves in danger of their own unplanned reactions. Finally they relegated their belief to the occasional spasm of guilt, presuming that they will be OK they had become defiled without knowing or caring.

Where are we on this “3 strikes you’re out” scale? 

An Epidemic of Abuse

The right to smack children has been lost largely because this too often turned to abuse. Poorly educated and financially stressed parents many with abused backgrounds, have been at the centre of this new surge in abuse. Is there a cure?

Good old Kiwi Tolerance

New Zealand has a history of tolerating many imported things that have not always worked out well. From possums and stoats to gorse and other noxious plants, we have been the recipients of many bad ideas. We do seem to absorb these assaults with a degree of stoic British reserve, an “oh well!” and a hot cuppa’.

How to be "Not of this World".

John15:18-27 “If the world hates you, then become aware that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you do not belong to the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you. Remember what I told you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they obeyed my word, they will obey yours too. But they will persecute you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. But they no longer have any excuse for their sin. The one who hates me hates my Father too. If I had not performed miraculous works among them that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen the miracles and have hated both me and my Father. Now this happened to fulfil the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without reason.’ When the Helper comes, whom I will send you from the Father – the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father – he will testify about me, and you also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

The security of being in the Holy Spirit

The Evangelical Church in Western nations is finding itself drawn into a new liberalism. Led by some well known leaders of Mega-churches, the over use of bottom-line business principles and psychology has fuelled a desire for so-called progress and relevance that is simply the same old liberal stuff under a new technological guise. Their pastors are expected to be Psychologists in the pulpit and CEO’s in their office. Even the car park attendants run round with iPads keeping up with statistics.

The Point and purpose of Love from God

John 15:9 “In the same way that the Father has loved me, I have also loved you; remain in my love. If you obey my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete. My commandment is this – to love one another just as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this – that he lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because the slave does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have revealed to you everything I heard from my Father. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that remains, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. 15:17 This is my command to you – love one another.”