Photo:Alvin TRusty
The sermon for August 23rd 2015 is now available on the New Life web-site.
In this sermon, which is based on John 6:52-69, I talk about coping with the times that Jesus offends our faith.
Month: August 2015
Reflection on John 6:56-69
Scripture
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Observation
Jesus tells His followers that to receive eternal life they must eat His flesh and drink His blood. Many of the people are offended by this.
Jesus tells them that His words are spirit and life. Some of them do not believe and this is why He has told them that no one can come to Him unless the Father enables them.
Many of the disciples turn back from following Jesus. He asks the Twelve if they want to leave too. But Jesus says “Where else could we go?”
Application
Following Jesus is not always easy. Often He will challenge our thinking in order to confront the sins we love and the lies we trust.
We all have our idols, and Jesus is determined to strip them of the power they have over us.
When Jesus leads us into water too deep for us to stand, the true disciple keeps looking towards Him and trusting Him to lead us through. The ones who never really knew Him will turn away and complain that it is too hard.
Prayer
Lord Jesus please help me to trust you more, especially when things seem too hard. Amen.
Reflection on Ephesians 6:10-20
Scripture
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil on the heavenly realms.
Observation
We must put on the full armour of God to resist the devil’s evil plans. We don’t struggle against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces of evil.
The armour of God is our combat equipment that enables us to stand our ground and defeat every attack of the enemy. It consists of the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit.
We should pray in the Spirit on every occasion, with all kinds of prayers, especially for our christian brothers and sisters.
Application
Our struggle as christians is against the demonic forces not against people. For this reason, it is important to fight our battles in the heavenly realm, not in the earthly realm.
Prayer is what wins our battles for the Lord- prayer together with integrity and devotion to Christ.
God does call us to action, even to activism, but this must start and continue in prayer. There is no point fighting the battles we have not been called to fight, nor in engaging in actions which God has not initiated. These are the very things which play into the hands of the devil.
Prayer
Lord help me to discern your will for me as I step out into the battle each day. Amen.
Bushranger Saved By Grace
Reflection on John 6:51-58
Photo:Alvin Trusty
Scripture
“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”
Observation
Jesus is the living bread that came down from heaven. If we eat this bread we will live for ever.
The Jewish people begin to argue among themselves. Jesus tells them that without Him they have no life in them. The one who eats His body and drinks His blood has eternal life.
Jesus lives because of His relationship with the Father, and so the one who feeds on Him will live because of Him. This is better than the manna that their ancestors ate in the desert.
Application
In Communion we feed on the body and blood of Christ. This is not some kind of gory ritual, but a representation of the life-giving power of Jesus’ death on the cross for us.
Eating bread and drinking wine or grape juice do not give eternal life in themselves. It is only when by faith we take the spiritual meaning of the physical objects that we feast on Jesus.
It was Jesus’ union with the Father that gave Him life, and it is our union with Christ that gives us eternal life. By faith in the death and resurrection of Christ we too are raised for eternity.
Prayer
Thank you Father for the power of faith in your Son setting us free from the law of sin and death. Amen.
Child of Lesbian Parents Opposes Gay “Marriage”
From the ABC:
Ask the Bigot: Who is Katy Faust and why is the daughter of lesbian parents against gay marriage?
She became a Christian in high school and was concerned by the plight of children.
She is in Canberra to lobby the Federal Government against gay marriage and she told Lateline why. (Click here to view video)
These are her key points:
1. She loves her lesbian mother and her partner:
“While my mother was a fantastic mother and most of what I do well as a mother myself I do because that’s how she parented me, she can’t be a father. Her partner, an incredible woman — both of these women have my heart — cannot be a father either.”
2. She says children of gay parents pressured into supporting them:
“There’s several children that have contacted me even since I started writing about this, saying ‘I agree with you, but I’ll never come out and speak about this publicly because my relationship with my parent is too tenuous’.”
3. When she became Christian she struggled with Bible’s teachings on sexuality:
“Because there’s a fierce protectiveness I think that all children have for their parents, but what I was delighted to find when I read Scripture is that God has an incredible heart for the orphan and that he’s very concerned with the plight of children.”
4. She says children should not have to fit into parents’ ‘lifestyles’:
“Children have rights … the onus needs to be on adults to conform to the rights of children rather than children fitting into an adult’s lifestyle. And certainly, I don’t think that homosexuals are responsible by any means for the crisis that we face in America when it comes to family structure these days. Absolutely, heterosexuals have led the way on that charge.”
5. Her blog was originally anonymous but she was outed by a gay blogger:
“I wouldn’t be having this interview with you today, because I never intended to be involved in the legal fight, but because I was outed in the name of love and tolerance, I am talking with you today.”
Reflection on 1 Kings 3:1-15
Scripture
“I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for- both riches and honour- so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings.”
Observation
Solomon makes an alliance with the Pharaoh of Egypt. He shows his love for the Lord by obeying the statues of his father David.
He goes to Gibeon to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. While there, the Lord appears to him in a dream and tells him to ask for whatever he wants. Solomon replies that he needs a discerning heart to rule the kingdom wisely.
The Lord is pleased with Solomon and promises to give him a discerning heart which he asked for and riches and honour which he did not ask for.
Application
Solomon was already wise in acknowledging that he needed wisdom from the Lord. God granted this very selfless request and much more.
When God promises to meet our needs, He is not stingy just doling out the bare minimum to get by. He loves to grant our requests when they come from a simple humble heart. He goes far beyond what we can think to ask Him for, giving us things that we never think to request.
Jesus tells us to seek His kingdom first, then everything else will also be given to us. God’s grace is truly limitless, not bounded by what we can ask Him for.
Prayer
Teach me Lord how to pray the prayers that please you. Show me your ways and I will walk in them. Amen.
Ann Voskamp- An Honest Conversation About Abortion that Asks Us Not to Turn Away
Ann Voskamp writes powerfully about abortin and the changes needed in the attitude of the church to make life a more powerful option than death
When I get the message that Sozan wants an abortion, it feels like all the air got vacuumed out of my lungs.
But I get it.
I once sat in a doctor’s office and the atomic blast of my own pregnancy test ripped through me and I’m telling you, it was impossible to breathe through the shockwaves, the thermal heat.
I’ve sat with Sozan in Iraq, in the windowless, no-plumbing shipping container where, she, her husband, her children slept on the floor through the winter. I’d watched her rock her sick baby. I’d watched her eyes howl, heard the raw ache in her as she told me how ISIS began the blood bath genocide of her people.
Read the full article here
No Warming For 18 Years and 7 Months
The Pause draws blood – A new record Pause length: no warming for 18 years 7 months
For 223 months, since January 1997, there has been no global warming at all (Fig. 1). This month’s RSS temperature shows the Pause setting a new record at 18 years 7 months.
It is becoming ever more likely that the temperature increase that usually accompanies an El Niño will begin to shorten the Pause somewhat, just in time for the Paris climate summit, though a subsequent La Niña would be likely to bring about a resumption and perhaps even a lengthening of the Pause.
Figure 1. The least-squares linear-regression trend on the RSS satellite monthly global mean surface temperature anomaly dataset shows no global warming for 18 years 7 months since January 1997.
The hiatus period of 18 years 7 months is the farthest back one can go in the RSS satellite temperature record and still show a sub-zero trend. The start date is not cherry-picked: it is calculated. And the graph does not mean there is no such thing as global warming. Going back further shows a small warming rate.
Full story here
New Life Narrabri 