“Your house and your kingdom will continue before me for all time and your throne will be secure for ever.”
Observation
King David decides that he should build a temple, a house for the Lord. At first the prophet Nathan thinks this is fine, for the Lord is with David. But that night the Lord speaks to Nathan.
David is not to build a house for the Lord, but his son will. Better still, God will build a house for David- his kingdom will continue for ever.
Application
Sometimes we get an idea that we want to serve God. Like David, our passionate love for the Lord drives us to express itself in service.
We need to make sure that we are serving God in His way and not just doing something that we think is a good idea.
Even when God’s plans are different to what we expect, His grace is enormous. David wanted to build a house for the Lord, but God build David a house, a dynasty that culminates in Jesus.
David could not have begun to imagine what God would promise in return for a desire to serve Him.
The power of grace is seen in this- whenever we sincerely seek to obey God, we get it right, even when we get it wrong.
Prayer
How awesome you are Lord. Please help me to honour you by doing the deeds you want and not just doing good deeds. Amen.
The church is a community of Christians living as the on-the-ground expression of the supremacy of Jesus by advancing his gospel in distance and depth. As theon-the-ground expression, and since gospel advance happens in distance, the local nature of the church is indispensable. The church is the place — the here and now — of Jesus’s new creation reign in an old creation world.
As the assembly of those made new in Christ, we come together in space and time, and we make Jesus known in those blessed limitations. Advancing the gospel in distance means we cross the street, and the oceans, to tell others the good news. It means we go out there into the darkness with the light of God’s love.
Far As the Curse Is Found
But we also remember that out there isn’t the only darkness. If we know our own hearts, we know it gets dark in here, too. So not only must the gospel advance in distance, it must also advance in depth. Jesus came to make his blessings flow “far as the curse is found,” and that means both the curse out there among the highways and hedges of this world, and the curse in here among the nooks and crannies of our soul.
Every year at about this time, a bunch of religious zealots get on their high horses telling us how Christmas is a pagan festival and God has a special fire waiting for all those who dare to pollute true faith with these things.
There is, of course, some truth in these claims. Many of the traditions that have become enmeshed into Christmas do stem from different pagan cultures, but that doesn’t mean we have to forsake Christmas altogether. It doesn’t mean that those traditions cannot be redeemed.
The celebration of Christmas itself was a subversion of pagan customs. When people were celebrating the solstice and praying for the return of the sun, Christians were saying the true light of the world has come. When pagans were worshipping evergreen trees as gods because they seemed to be the only life in the depths of winter, Christians were pointing them to the true source of all life, the ever-living Father.
There are some cultural artefacts around Christmas I would like to exterminate, such as the veneration of snowmen which seems odd on a blazing hot summer day, or the character in a fur-trimmed red suit. I would like to see an end to the treadmill of Christmas parties and the drunkenness that our culture says should accompany them.
We overcome those things by showing people a better way, the way of the Kingdom of God, not by railing against practices which people think are good and pleasurable.
To the people who think Christians should withdraw completely from Christmas let me ask you some questions:
When did it become wrong to celebrate the coming into the world of the Saviour?
When did it become wrong to honour people by giving them gifts?
When did it become wrong to redeem pagan revelry by telling people about the true God?
Christians have nothing to fear from Christmas traditions, whatever their source. What matters is that we honour our Lord in everything.
Brian Zahnd, in a recent post, opens with some strong, attention-grabbing and profound claims:
You cannot be a Christian and support torture. I want to be utterly explicit on this point. There is no possibility of compromise. The support of torture is off the table for a Christian. I suppose you can be some version of a “patriot” and support the use of torture, but you cannot be any version of a Christian and support torture. So choose one: A torture-endorsing patriot or a Jesus-following Christian. But don’t lie to yourself that you can be both. You cannot.
(Clearly you do not have to be a Christian to reject the barbarism of torture, you simply need to be a humane person. But to be a Christian absolutely requires you to reject the use of torture.)
I remember when Pew Research released their findings in 2009 revealing that six out of ten white evangelicals supported the use of torture on suspected terrorists. (Patton Dodd talks about thathere.) The survey stunned me. I spoke about it from the pulpit in 2009 and have continued to do so. I said it then and I’m saying it again today: You cannot support the use of torture and claim to be a follower of Jesus.
Any thoughtful person, no matter their religion or non-religion, knows that you cannot support torturing people and still claim to be a follower of the one who commanded his disciples to love their enemies. The only way around this is to invent a false Jesus who supports the use of torture. (The Biblical term for this invented false Jesus is “antichrist.”)
Those who argue for the use of torture do so because they are convinced it is pragmatic for national security. But Christians are not called to be pragmatists or even safe. Christians are called by Jesus to imitate a God who is kind and merciful to the wicked.
“Love your enemies! Do good to them.…and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. Be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.” –Jesus (Luke 6:35, 36)
I don’t know of a greater indictment against American evangelicalism than the fact that a majority of its adherents actually admit they support the use of illegal torture on suspected terrorists!
Brian brings up the commandment to love, which some no doubt will turn around to say “to love my family or nation I must protect by use of torture,” but I would go as well to the cross. It was an expression of the hideousness of Rome’s violent powerful rulers to use force and torture in the use of crucifixion as a deterrent, as a punishment, and — what’s more — an extravagant display of its arrogant power.
Torture is the arrogance of the mighty.
What Christians can do in responding to American torture is a theme I develop briefly in Kingdom Conspiracy — show to the world its worldliness for naming it as torture and by showing that the way to respond to enemies is love, grace, and forgiveness. A cycle of violence met by a cycle of love create a culture of grace and justice and peace.
The cross of Christ reveals what God thinks of torture: it is not the way of God. God turned torture into new life by resurrection and overcoming torture.
When we read in Psalm 139 “You knitted me together in my mother’s womb”, this is what it’s talking about. Awesome article from Lifesitenews
10 mind-blowing things that happen to babies before they’re born
With today’s modern technology and medical information, we have a real-time window into the womb. What happens to babies before birth – all the ways they move, grow, and change – is nothing short of amazing.
Here are just 10 things that happen to babies before birth. These 10 things demonstrate their uniqueness, value, and of course, their humanity.
What’s more, each of these 10 things happen in the first trimester – when approximately 90% of abortions in the U.S. occur!
1) “On the first day following fertilization, the human embryo is identifiable as a specific individual human being on a molecular level.”
A South Dakota legislative task force, appointed to examine the science behind unborn life, found that “the new recombinant DNA technologies indisputably prove that the unborn child is a whole human being from the moment of fertilization, that all abortions terminate the life of a living human being, and that the unborn child is a separate human patient under the care of modern medicine.”
After examining scientific resources and hearing medical testimony, the South Dakota Task Force found that “(the necessary pieces) for pain detection in the spinal cord exists at very early developmental stages.” Babies have also been documented moving away from unwanted or painful touch in their first few weeks of in utero life.
These fingerprints will be the same throughout the baby’s life. His permanent identification is already developing. Watch a video and see an unborn baby’s fingerprints here.
10) A Baby Can Suck Her Thumb and Yawn at 9 1/2 Weeks Old.
According to The Endowment for Human Development, most babies prefer their right thumb. At this age, plenty is going on. A baby’s vocal cords are forming, her bones are hardening, and her toenails and fingernails are emerging. See a video of a ten-week-old baby yawning here.
Editor’s Note: The information here has, in large part, been studied and documented by The Endowment for Human Development (“a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health science education and public health” that has cooperated with National Geographic to put out a video about prenatal development) and The South Dakota Task Force to Study Abortion.
John replied in the words of the prophet Isaiah: “I am a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Clear the way for the Lord’s coming.’”
Observation
John is preaching and baptising in the wilderness. The Jewish leaders send people to ask him who he is.
John replies that he is not the Messiah. This perplexes them. John tells them he is the one clearing the way for the Lord.
The Pharisees ask John what right does he have to baptise. John tells them that right there in their midst is one coming after him whose sandals he is not worthy to untie.
Application
John was very clear that his role was to announce the Messiah not to be the Messiah. Everything he did was to point people to Jesus.
This is the core reason for our existence on earth- to point people to Jesus.
Not many of us are called to preach and baptise in the desert, living on locusts and wild honey. But we are all called to bear witness to Jesus the Lord, Saviour and Messiah.
Prayer
Father, may all of my words and actions speak to others about the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances. This is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Observation
This section is headed “Final Exhortations” in my bible as if they are tacked on at the end of the main body of the letter. On the contrary, they are vital to christian living.
We are to rejoice, pray and give thanks at all times. This is God’s will for us.
The Holy Spirit must not be quenched nor prophecies scoffed at. Rather we must test every word and hold on to what is good.
Application
Life in the Spirit is meant to be both joyful and realistic.
The joy is not happy-clappy plastic smiles covering over a life of disappointment or tragedy. It is the steady hope that comes from faith in Jesus- even in the mists of tragedy or suffering.
The realism is that while we are supposed to be open to the Holy Spirit, Paul recognises that sometimes we get it wrong so that flesh is manifested not Spirit. When that happens we just evaluate what a person is saying. If it is from the Lord, receive it and if not then ignore it.
Whatever we do, we must not quench the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is given to draw individuals and whole congregations closer to the Father, so let’s exercise that ministry.
Prayer
Lord, grant me your joy, that confidence that knows nothing can separate me from your love, and let your Holy Spirit flow out of me to lead others to you. Amen.
A Christmas fanatic in north Queensland has taken his light display to the extreme by risking death to make it stand out.
The Townsville man is accused of disconnecting the street light in front of his Burdell home to give his Christmas light arrangement more oomph.
Ergon Energy said about 240 volts run through the lights and the man could have been seriously injured or killed by the current if he made the wrong move.
“It’s not called the silly season for sensible activity,” Mark Timmerman from Ergon Energy told ABC 612 Brisbane.
“Fiddling with electricity is a deadly game.”
It’s not called the silly season for sensible activity.
Mark Timmerman from Ergon Energy
Locals alerted Ergon Energy that the lights were out last week and electricity safety authorities were due to visit the man to consider charges, which can be in the tens of thousands of dollars.
If someone had been injured or killed because of the tampering, the man would have been charged under the Electrical Safety Act.
Following the incident there were a number of lights which were tampered with in Idalia in Townsville’s south.
Ergon crews were called to several sites in the suburb to find the security cover plates removed from street light poles.
In at least one of the instances, live wiring was left exposed by the unknown perpetrators, potentially exposing members of the public to the risk of electric shock.
“[Those who reported the incident] said they had seen school-aged children hanging out,” Mr Timmerman said.
“We certainly ask parents to remind children of the dangers of that.”
The incidents were reported to police but so far no-one had been caught.
New Life Narrabri 