Fireman Paul Parker was adored by the media left for telling the Prime Minister to F*** off. Then he claimed to have been “sacked” from the RFS for doing this in uniform. (He should have been, but wasn’t)
It turns out that the politician that he really admires is not anybody remotely interested in controlling the climate.
From “Eternity” comes this good news story about God’s provision in the drought.
Jarrod Amery with four of his six kidsImage supplied
It’s nine months since Eternity caught up with 37-year-old farmer from Central West NSW, Jarrod Amery. At the time, Amery was simply blown away by the “miraculous” canola crop he had planted just weeks before – after a dream that he believed to be from God.
It was a big leap of faith. In the dream, Amery was standing in the midst of lush, green canola in a paddock on his 6500-hectare farm outside Forbes. Many drought-stricken locals would simply have written off the dream as wishful thinking; canola crops were few and far between, and those that did exist were struggling. Yet Amery, convicted by his desire to be a “supernatural farmer”, went and purchased $36,000 of canola seed. Then he and his wife Emma sowed it into the dry, thirsty earth and waited on God.
“I remember praying about the crop and saying, ‘God, we’ve done all we can do, and we’re trusting you.” – Jarrod Amery
It was a leap of faith that paid off. “The crop grew and grew and it flourished better than any other crops we planted,” says Amery. “It was the best crop in the area by a mile …
“Every Sunday after church, Emma and I and our six children would intentionally drive past that crop, even though it took longer to get home, and we’d thank God for the crop. I remember one Sunday in early June, we got out of the car and I said to Emma ‘this crop has grown to a stage where it’s exactly like I saw in my dream’, and I was like, this is amazing! This is a dream in reality.”
But when this “supernatural” crop was looking its best, the rain dried up during the middle of 2019.
“Pretty much from the first of July onwards, the rain stopped,” says Amery about a common problem across drought-affected areas of Australia.
“From July 1 to the end of January 2020, we had 46 millilitres, which is virtually nothing. Last year was the driest year we’ve ever recorded.
“As the crop went on, it got thirstier and thirstier. It still looked like one of the best crops in the area, but over time it started to wilt.”
Amery began to question God, saying: “God, I thought that this dream was going to have a happy ending.”
“I remember praying about the crop and saying, ‘God, we’ve done all we can do, and we’re trusting you that whatever happens, happens because you’ve got a good plan going on.”
The Amerys’ propertyImage supplied
While other canola crops on the Amery farm withered up and died, the miracle crop continued to grow, although “not at a great rate”.
“We made a decision that we’re going to put faith in God and that the dream was from God,” Amery reflects.
“We made a choice near the end of March [2019] that we were going to sow [canola seed]. So we just started sowing 24 hours a day. We got 80 per cent of the paddock sown, but the other 20 per cent we didn’t quite get sown because it started to rain.
“We came back and sowed that last 20 per cent seven days later when the paddock dried out. That part of the paddock, that we sowed after the rain, withered up and died – it was un-harvestable.
“If we hadn’t have taken a step of faith … then we wouldn’t have had any crop at all.” – Jarrod Amery
“So if we hadn’t have taken a step of faith and started to sow the crop when God gave us the dream to sow it into dry soil, then we wouldn’t have had any crop at all.”
“That was a miracle in itself!” laughs Amery incredulously.
When the Amery family eventually cut the canola crop and sold it for hay (to be used as animal feed), they “got heaps and heaps and heaps of hay bales. More than anyone else in the district.”
“These hay bales were in great demand. Our hay was being sold from Tamworth to Guyra to Condobolin and even up near the Queensland border. It was going all over the place.
“That canola was approximately 10 per cent of our land mass, but provided us with around 80 per cent of our income in 2019.”
“We had heaps and heaps and heaps of hay bales. More than anyone else in the district,” says Jarrod Amery.Image supplied
While the farm is still running at a loss, Amery says: “If we hadn’t done what God had shown us in the dream, we wouldn’t have had any income whatsoever from that paddock. That would have probably resulted in Emma and I not being able to carry on with our agricultural business.”
“That small thing we did by just sowing in faith has enabled Emma and I to continue on during this drought, which has been ever so hard, and to come out the other side and continue to live the dream of being farmers.”
“We’re off to a far, far better start this year than last year,” says the ever-positive Amery. During the past week, they’ve received 115 millilitres of rain – that’s 80 per cent of the entire rainfall at the property last year.
“That water will stay in the ground until we want to plant our crops. So it’s money in the bank pretty much.”
Amery believes that the drought is starting to break, although he qualifies: “but I don’t shout it from the hilltops because some of the farmers haven’t got that rain yet.”
For farmers in his local area, the recent rain has been a “massive morale booster” and “a game changer”.
Jarrod AmeryImage supplied
Reflecting on the lessons he’s learned during this drought, Amery says: “It has been really hard at times and very challenging, but I know that God is so faithful and he’s so good. And I also know that I’ve learnt the most important lessons in life when life’s been most challenging.
“I have not wanted to waste such a difficult time by sitting around twiddling my thumbs, waiting for my environment to improve. I’ve been really consciously seeking out what can I do better on my farm; God, what do you want to show me about my heart, what skills do you what to teach me, what do you want to show me to help me to be a better farmer, a better business person, a better family man, a better community man at this particular time?”
While he doesn’t want to minimise the impact of the drought, Amery goes as far as to say that the drought is actually one of the best things that’s happened to him as a farmer.
“I reckon that this drought could be one of the greatest opportunities that I’ll have in my career.” – Jarrod Amery
“I’ve been thinking about this. The drought for some people seems like a waste of time, a waste of effort and a waste of money. But I reckon that this drought could be one of the greatest opportunities that I’ll have in my career.
“The number of things that I’ve learnt – that people have taught me, I’ve taught myself or God’s shown me – turns you into a bigger, better and wiser person.”
Amery says he’s “only on the start of this journey” of faithful living. He is currently waiting on God to direct his decisions about stock purchasing and crop planting in the next month or so.
“I’m determined not to do what I’ve always done because if I do that, I’ll get what I’ve always gotten,” he explains.
In summing up, Amery adds: “The crux of it is if you believe that God’s speaking to you, you’re better off giving it a go rather than waiting and waiting to see if it was from God.”
“Don’t just sit around, step out in faith and ask God ‘Was this really from you?’”
Scripture
You are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are still controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world?
Observation
Paul says that when he was with the people in Corinth, he could not talk to them as to spiritual people. They were too worldly.
The church was divided into factions- one group following Paul, another Apollos. This, he says, is worldliness, sinfulness. The heroes they are following are just doing the work the Lord gave to them to do. It is God’s work. One may plant a seed, and another water it, but it is God who makes the plant grow.
Application
The sin of denominationalism was present in the early church.
Wherever people gather, there is a tendency to group into cliques of similar interest. The problem arises when we allow these smaller groups to become our focus.
These people who claimed to follow Apollos or Paul were not claiming to follow Jesus. They had truly lost the plot.
Today many people take pride in the label at the door of their church building. “I am Anglican”, “I am Catholic” and so on.
If the denominational affiliation of our congregation is our focus, then we are not looking to Jesus. We will never go beyond the most basic of teaching because we are not open to the spiritual things.
Churches, pastors, leaders, and in fact every member of a church, must always remember that while denominations are a convenient tag, Jesus must always come first.
To build up “my” church at the expense of Christ is idolatry. The Church belongs to Jesus, and He will build it in His way.
I am thankful for the variety of flavours of church (worship styles, governance etc) in my town. I am thankful for the other pastors who have gifts and callings that I don’t have. I rejoice when they are blessed, and I feel their hurt when they are set back.
There is only one church. We follow Jesus.
Prayer
Thank you Lord for your church. May I always be faithful to Christ, seeking unity in the faith. Amen.
Here is my commentary on Ephesians 1:18. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site.
Ephesians 1:18
“… having the eyes of your hearts enlightened that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints.”
This is a continuation of Paul’s prayer that we receive a revelation in the knowledge of God. Being such a long sentence it is very hard to keep track of all the relationships between the various parts of the prayer.
Paul prays that we may have the eyes of our hearts enlightened The gospel is a matter of the heart. Our relationship with God is a matter of the heart.
When people try to turn faith into a matter of knowledge, they turn the gospel into religion and strip it of all its power to transform the heart. When it becomes legalistic, the outward person is changed but not the inward person. When discipleship is turned into hierarchic power structures or other forms of power, the gospel is perverted.
It is the hear that must be transformed by the Holy Spirit. Salvation is not measured by Bible knowledge or church attendance.
To be free form religion and to enter into a relationship with Christ, the eyes of our heart need to be enlightened. We need a revelation of God’s great love for us.
This is not something that we can work ourselves into. We cannot convince ourselves that God is love. The enlightening of the eyes of the heart comes as a gift of the Holy Spirit. It is a self-revelation by the Father.
Our eyes need to be opened to see what is clearly before us. Paul tells us us in Romans 1 that the majesty of God is seen in creation. Sin has closed our eyes so we are blind to this, but the Holy Spirit can open our eyes so that we are receptive to the Father’s self-revelation.
We may know all the words of faith, we may even be able to perform miracles in the name of Jesus, but if our spiritual eyes are blind none of it makes sense to us; it is all a foreign language that we are yet to learn.
The purpose of the enlightenment of the eyes of our heart is so that we can know the hope to which God has called us.
Many people live with no hope because they do not know they are called. All they see is a meaningless life that ends with death.
But those who know Jesus have a hope. They have a hope for eternity, a life that doesn’t end. Existence finds its meaning only in the light of eternity.
Our hope is this- in the gospel we are reconciled to the Father through faith in Jesus Christ His Son. If we live with Christ we will rise with Him and live for ever with Him.
This is the hope to which we have been called.
In fact, the whole of humanity has been called to this hope. Sin separates us from God and blinds us to this calling. So many people fail to respond to God’s call, and consequently will not experience joy, either in this life or in the life to come.
How tragic it is to live a life that falls short in meaning, that is apart from the knowledge of the grace of God, and then to spend eternity separated from Him.
We are all called to this hope, but we don’t all respond to the call.
The third part of this prayer is that we might know what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints.
The Passion Translation puts it this way. “The wealth of God’s glorious inheritance that He finds in us the holy ones.”
We are God’s inheritance. We are the chosen ones, the delight of the Lord.
Christians often focus on the fact that we are heirs of the kingdom. This says that it is also the other way around, that God is looking to us as His inheritance.
We are the gifts that God is seeking.
This often seems hard to understand as we can be so aware of our sin and weaknesses. All of that is covered over by the Blood of Christ. Now the Father is eagerly anticipating us as His gift to be received.
This applies to each one of us personally. I am the wealth of God’s inheritance, and so are you.
It also applies corporately. The whole church is God’s inheritance. We have a responsibility to honour the church, the collection of God’s people, as His inheritance. That is, if God sees the people who comprise the church as a valuable inheritance, then we should value it also.
Every saint is a treasure, even those we find it hard to get along with.
So we must not just honour our brothers and sisters. We must value them also.
When those saints come together in worship, what a treasure we have! Even if the musicians are not the top performers, the congregation all sing off-key and the preacher gives a mediocre message, still this is an immensely valuable treasure in the eyes of God.
Scripture
You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Observation
Moses addresses the people of Israel and offers them a choice between life and death, prosperity and disaster, blessings and curses.
If they love the Lord and worship Him alone, obeying His commandments, then they will live and multiply.
But if they refuse to listen, and instead worship and serve other gods then they will certainly be destroyed. They will not live a long, good life in the land.
Application
God gives us all the choice between blessings and curses, life and death, heaven and hell.
This is not complicated, although we do try to make it so. It is a choice- do I worship God alone and live for Him alone? Or will I serve some other god, or even myself?
The choice is obvious where false gods and idols permeate the streets, such as in India where shrines to the local idols are on nearly every corner. The presence of false gods there makes the choice so easy.
In the West, the false gods take more subtle forms such as money, pride, security and so on. Some of these seduce us with the notions of worldly wisdom. It is wise to save for a “rainy day” but when our peace comes from knowing we have money in the bank, then we are not trusting the Lord any more.
We must make a daily decision to serve the Lord in all we do, to worship Him only.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, my life’s direction is in your hands. Please hep me to trust you, to serve and worship you alone. Let my heart never be turned away to other gods. Amen,
After months of complete desiccation, the Narrabri Lake is just centimetres from overflowing. When I last looked a couple of days ago, there was just a shallow layer covering about half the total area. Since then, hundreds of megalitres have flowed in to fill the lake. And the birds have come flocking in.
Scripture
Jesus did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.
Observation
After breakfast, Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves Him. Exasperated by the third time, Peter says, “Lord you know everything. You know that I love you.”
Jesus commissions Peter to feed Jesus’ sheep. He goes on to say that when Peter was young he could go wherever he wanted, but when he is old he will be led by other people to places he doesn’t want to go.
John concludes the gospel by assuring us that because he testifies to these events we can know they are accurate.
Application
Jesus did so many things that the world could not contain all the books that might be written about Him.
What John is saying here is that the glory of the Lord Jesus is far greater than what can be recorded in words.
John’s gospel starts by telling us about the Word who was with God from the beginning and who is God. The gospel ends by telling us that the whole world is not big enough to contain all the words that might describe the Word.
Jesus is glorious, even more glorious than the stories told about Him. But we can only experience that glory through a personal encounter with Him.
John’s gospel points to the glorious one, hoping that we will take the step of faith to reach out and touch Him and invite Him into our hearts.
Scripture is not holy because it was written by holy people. It is holy because it draws us close to the holy one, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I see you are the glorious Word, the holy Son of God. Open my eyes so that I can see you as you really are. Amen.
Scripture
Then the disciple Jesus loved said, “It is the Lord!”
Observation
Jesus appears to a group of disciples who had gone fishing at the Sea of Galilee. They had worked all night and caught nothing.
At dawn, Jesus is standing on the beach, and He asks if they caught anything. They say, “No” at which Jesus tells them to throw the nets on the other side of the boat. They instantly have a huge catch.
John says, “It is the Lord!” Peter jumps into the water and swims ashore.
After the other return with the boat, Jesus serves them breakfast of fish and bread.
Application
They were slow to catch on, but eventually John says, “It’s the Lord!” Immediately Peter jumps off the boat to swim to shore where Jesus is.
Sometimes we can be slow to recognise Jesus in our midst. Maybe we just don’t expect Him to show up. When He does show up, He doesn’t look like we expect Him to, or act the way we think that He should.
What is more natural than for Jesus to take an interest in the activities of His followers? And then give them a miracle, and serve breakfast as well? These are all signs of the presence of God’s kingdom.
Sometimes Jesus turns up in a physical form- perhaps a homeless person or an unfamiliar stranger. When we show love to this person, we might recognise after the event that it was the Lord.
Sometimes in a worship time the Holy Spirit touches us in a powerful way- we say, “Jesus was truly here.”
We meed to pay attention to the spiritual realm as much as we do to the physical. I do not want to be like Jacob in the Old Testament who said, “Surely the Lord was in this place, but I did not know it.”
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I know that you appear to your people, and often we don’t notice. Please help me to recognise when you are at work in me, my church and my community. Amen.
Scripture
“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”
Observation
On Sunday evening of the day of the resurrection, the disciples meet behind closed doors because they are afraid.
Suddenly Jesus is with them. He sends them out and gives them the Holy Spirit.
Thomas, who had missed this meting with the Lord, declares that he will not believe it until he can touch Jesus’ wounds. The following week, Jesus again appears to the disciples, this time including Thomas. He now confesses, “My Lord and my God.”
Application
When we really know Jesus, we want to be a part of His mission.
Jesus gives the disciples the Holy Spirit to equip them and empower them. This is immediately after He tells them, “I am sending you.”
This raises two questions- where and what?
Jesus sends His followers out into the world. We are to live as His faithful followers, living in the grace of God’s kingdom. We are not to meet behind closed doors. To be “sent” means to be open to other people all the time.
We are sent into the world. For some that means being a missionary in a distant land. For most of us it means to go to the neighbourhood or the city where we live.
What is important is that we remember we are sent by Jesus.
For what purpose are we sent? To make disciples (Matthew 28:19) of all nations. We are not here for our own benefit but to serve the mission of Christ. He was sent by the Father to bring the Kingdom of God into the world, and we are to be a part of that same mission.
We need to walk each day with that sense of being a part of an apostolic (that is, “sent”) community.
Prayer
Holy Father, please help me to see who I am sent to, and how to share the Good news with them. Amen.
New Life Narrabri 