Author: newlifenarrabri

Reflection on Mark 7:14-23

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Scripture

“It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.”

Observation

Jesus calls the crowd to join the discussion. He tells them that it is not what you eat that defiles you, but what comes from the heart.

Jesus then goes into a house to escape the crowd. The disciples ask him what he meant by this. He explains that food cannot truly defile a person, that is, make them impure, because it just passes through the body. In saying this, Mark adds, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable to God.

It is not what comes from the outside, but what comes from the heart that makes a person unclean.

It is from a person’s heart that come evil thoughts, immorality, theft, murder, and so on.

Application

Jesus wants us to understand that we are not made unclean or unholy by external things like food. It is the heart that is the source of bad things.

Jeremiah tells us that the heart is deceitful above all things.

How contrary this is to the modern day exhortation to follow your heart. If the heart is the source of the sins that hurt us and other people, then following your heart is the last thing you should do.

No, the source of good advice, good behaviour, and good outcomes is to follow the Word, that is the Bible, the written word, and Jesus, the Living Word.

It must be stressed that it is not about legalism or following the letter of the law. No, it is allowing the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts as we read God’s word, and walk in fellowship with him.

That living relationship with God will clean up our hearts so that they become transformed from the source of all evil to a fountain of life.

Listen

Lord, I am reminded right now of the psalm that says “Test my heart and see if there is any wicked thing in me.”

Keith, this process of testing is continuous. Every day, my Spirit warns you of good and evil, taming your thoughts before they run away with you.

The power of sanctification will take your entire earthly life. I will prepare all of my people for heaven, and there will be no unclean thoughts or inclination in any of them.

How can I do this? For people, this is impossible, as unrighteousness begets unrighteousness. But I am a God who makes all things new — not new and improved, but new and perfect.

Reflection on Mark 7:1-13

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Scripture

“And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own traditions. And this is only one example among many.”

Observation

Some Pharisees and teachers of the law, criticise the disciples for failing to wash their hands before eating.

The Pharisees have a rule that they must pour water over their hands before eating. They ask Jesus why His disciples don’t fellow their rules. Jesus calls them hypocrites, recalling Isaiah’s prophecy about people who honour the Lord with their lips, but their hearts are far from the Lord.

Jesus says the Pharisees side step the law. They dishonour their parents by declaring the money, they would have spent caring for them is dedicated to the Lord instead.

In this way, Jesus says, they cancel the word of God to hand down their own traditions

Application

The problem with legalism, the belief that we can become acceptable to God by following rules, is that people are so good at finding loopholes to avoid the good intentions of the law.

The Pharisees were dedicated to obeying the Law of Moses. But because they knew the requirements of the Law so well they also knew how to get around the law while being able to justify themselves.

Christians are not immune from legalism. How easily we turn a recommendation into a requirement, and then feel guilty when we let God down. It’s a great idea to read the Bible and to pray every day. When we tell people, “you must do this,” it becomes a burden, not a gift.

Listen

Lord, in what ways do I tend towards being legalistic?

Keith, you have learnt to not put expectations or burdens on people. You are very grace giving In your care for the congregation.

However, sometimes there’s just a hint of judgement and disapproval when people do not meet your expectations. You must learn to exhort and encourage people without judging them, to put up a standard without demanding it.

Mostly you do this well, but sometimes you can be a little bit hard line.

Lord I’m sorry for that. I recognise that I am disciplined and ordered in a way that most people find difficult, Please help me to build people up and not place burdens on them that they cannot carry. Amen.

Gift and Work

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I was putting on my shirt prior to going for a bike ride the other day when I noticed something that shocked me. The shirt was a commemorative shirt from a charity bike ride that I participated in along the Great Ocean Road. We rode a total of a little under 300 km from Geelong to Warrnambool over three days.

What shocked me was the date on the shirt- February 2006. It can’t possibly be ten years ago!

I have many fond memories of that ride – the beautiful scenery, iconic locations such as Bells Beach and the Twelve Apostles (now reduced to nine) at Port Campbell, and the hard slog of the final morning when the unrelenting westerly breeze made riding so difficult.

I have never been athletic or sporty in any way, so this ride in my late 50’s was a once in a lifetime event.

I felt at the time that this was a gift from God. When I saw the Facebook ad I just really felt like I wanted to do this. It seemed that the Lord was saying “You can do this.” That decision led to months of training to get my body used to riding 100 km in a day, and then the hard work of the actual ride.

I was talking to somebody recently about a business expansion he is considering. It seems a little bit crazy, but he knows that God is in this project. He has a peace that it is right to do it, but that doesn’t take away from the work of doing the evaluation and planning and then executing it.

God has given every person the gift of eternal life. It’s a free gift in the sense that you cannot earn it by your own efforts. But it comes with a price tag that you have to put Jesus first in your life decisions.

He gives us the chance of a new start, but we have to live out the new life. He shows us what to do, but we still have to do it.

The Bible says, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Take hold of that promise, and start living for God today.

Terry Somerville: A New Wind Is Blowing

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A NEW WIND IS BLOWING

A New Wineskin Is Here

Mark 2:22

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; else the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is spilled, and the skins will be destroyed: but new wine is put into fresh wineskins.”

Dear Friends,

History demonstrates that when God awakens His people in repentance and holiness,  it often leads to remarkable social transformation. 

A revival is followed by a reformation.

What begins in the Church produces changes in the community and the marketplace.

In the Welsh Revival, for example, police forces had nothing to do, grog shops closed, and the mine horses would not obey the drivers who had stopped using profanity—they didn’t recognize clean language.

But today, we seem stuck. We experience church revival while the country perishes.

Lets look at the historic and current pattern of revival.

An Old-Time Revival

  • Prayer
  • The Spirit of God moves in a whole community
  • The Gospel is communicated in some way
  • People repent, believe, and live differently
  • The community is transformed
  • Revival transmits to another community and transforms it as well.
  • The nation is transformed — reformation

Acts 19:18–20
“Many also of those that had believed came, confessing, and declaring their deeds… So mightily grew the word of the Lord and prevailed.”

God is still moving powerfully today—but revival now seems trapped inside the four walls of the church.

That’s an OLD WINESKIN problem.
 

A Modern Western Revival

  • Prayer
  • The Spirit of God moves in a church
  • The Gospel is communicated
  • People repent, believe, and live differently
  • The local church is changed
  • The local community is largely unaffected
  • Revival mainly transmits to other churches
     

IMPLICATIONS

Modern culture is entirely different than it was even fifty years ago.

Our society is no longer formed primarily by geographical communities, though most of us live in cities. Past revival methods mostly work inside church culture.

Local revival cannot touch those who shape the conscience and conduct of a society. They now live in a different kind of “community.”

Our culture is created through copper, fiber, satellites, wireless systems, and screens.
We now live inside vast virtual communities shaped by television, the internet, mass media, the corporate marketplace, big government—and now AI-generated illusions of reality.

A global culture is saturating us.

Our new society permits a constant flow of wickedness that we often feel powerless to restrain. Most of the time, we’re just on the receiving end of a sewer pipe.

Psalm 11:3
“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

Revival does not spread the way it once did. One hundred years ago, when a community shared a common culture, revival would permeate it. This still happens in some places—parts of Africa, for example—but not here.
 

 

THE NEED FOR A NEW WINESKIN

The Church needs a new wineskin to carry the new wine and bring the Kingdom of God into this culture.

That means new authority—locally and nationally—within the areas that actually create culture.

The Lord has been preparing a gigantic Gospel net that transcends national marketing systems, media platforms, and political boundaries, and can touch the heart of a nation.

It features a return to relationships, with the power of God released in the marketplace.

The shift has been a long time coming—but it will be right on time.

Habakkuk 2:14
“For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.”


A NEW WINESKIN IS HERE


1. From Organizational to Relational

The Church is moving from an organizational way of being to a relational one.
Relationship must be recovered—even in a virtual world.

John 13:35
“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

2. From A Focus On Ministries to Jesus and His Bride

The focus is moving from ministries and organizations to Jesus Himself and being His Bride. Who we are is becoming as important as what we do.

Ephesians 5:27
“That he might present the church to himself a glorious church… holy and without blemish.”

3. From Superstars to Everyone Ministering

Ministry is shifting from a few platform superstars to everyone walking in power.

Ephesians 4:11–12
“…for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering.”
Acts 1:8
“Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you…”

4. From Buildings to Relationships

The location of ministry is moving from church buildings to personal relationships in the marketplace and social networks.

Acts 8:4
“They therefore that were scattered abroad went about preaching the word.”

5. From Skill to Presence

The power of ministry is moving from skill and charisma to the presence of God Himself, anointing everyone by the Holy Spirit.

Zechariah 4:6
“Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts.”

6. From Performance to God’s Glory

The passion of ministry is moving away from idols—platforms, positions, performance—and toward God’s glory being seen.

John 12:43
“They loved the glory that is of men more than the glory that is of God.”
1 Corinthians 10:31
“Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”

7. From Teaching to Impartation

Preparation for ministry is moving from teaching alone to impartation, from knowledge to anointing and holiness.

2 Timothy 1:6
“Stir up the gift of God which is in thee…”
Hebrews 12:14
“…the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord.”

8. From Control to Servanthood

Leadership is shifting from organizational control to servanthood and honor.

Mark 10:42–45
“Whosoever would become great among you, shall be your minister…”

9. From Corralling to Commissioning

Vision is moving from pastors safely corralling the flock to apostles leading the flock as an army.

Joel 2:7
“They run like mighty men… they break not their ranks.”

 

THE GLOBAL “FISH NET”

God is taking us into the next GLOBAL phase, new wineskin and all.

In the 1990s, God began deep character preparation. Now the culture and practice of the Church is undergoing massive change.

1 Peter 4:17
“For the time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God.”

A great—and often unpleasant—pruning has taken place over the last decade.

  • Holiness is rising
  • Mixture is being purged
  • Intimacy with God is increasing
  • Renewal is lifting religious burdens
  • Love and relationship are becoming foundational again

The prophetic is rising with authority.
Prayer is increasing—identificational repentance, spiritual mapping, and warfare prayer.

Millions of ordinary believers are ascending alongside institutions and “super ministries.”
Less emphasis on denominations. More on the whole Body of Christ.

Apostolic authority is being released to take territory for the Kingdom of God.

2 Corinthians 10:3–5
“The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds.”


A FINAL WORD

The Lord is judging man-made structures of church and ministry that are devoid of the life of God.

In the past, God forged sharp arrows—individual ministries—and fired them into strongholds.

Now, in a multicultural, multi-channel, multi-choice world, God is preparing a vast net—millions of believers casting together across the land.

Into this moment, God is releasing new strategies for our time.

New wine requires new wineskins.
And new wineskins are here.