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By the time you read this, we may have a new Victorian government, or a re-elected one. One person once said, “Democracy is a stupid idea until you consider the alternatives”. We are blessed to exist in a country with freedom to exercise our right to vote. Not all are so lucky, and through our own history, Australia has regrettable not always made wise choices in these matters.  This election many monetary promises were made, it will be interesting to see how many are followed through. This election many changes to cultural norms have been made, it will be interesting to see how many are followed through. The point we all acknowledge is Governments are fallible. This month we recognise the birth of Jesus. The prophet Isaiah tells us, (NLT)  "For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders.”- (Isa 9:6a) To the nation of Israel, who had a despotic Federal government in the Romans, and a complicit local governm

We cannot tell how we are being used by God. One act on our part, insignificant from our point of view may have eternal consequences from God’s perspective. Mary brings Oil to anoint Jesus, John 12:3 (NLT) "Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance." This act is remembered through the ages as one of love, and humility. How did this lift Jesus and prepare his body and soul for the upcoming trial he was to face? Oswald Chambers says “ I f we believe in Jesus, it is not what we gain, but what He pours through us that counts. It is not that God makes us beautifully rounded grapes, but that He squeezes the sweetness out of us. Spiritually, we cannot measure our life by success, but only by what God pours through us, and we cannot measure that at all."    We can spend time judging ourselves by the world’s

Those who have a shared affinity should desire to be together. To gather in some format or another. In pubs, for those who wish to share a drink, in sporting events for those who wish to support their favoured team, and in Christian communities for those who follow Christ. We know these Christian communities as "church", but the image of a small steepled property can be very misleading. The building itself is not important, those who gather are. It may be at a regular meeting in someone's house. Before a work engagement, prayer may be had. Bible study one evening. Regardless of its format, a few things need to take place. Worship of the carpenter.- We meet to worship our God, all else falls under this, but worship must be seen as the whole gamut of the body meeting. Accountability- One needs in the pressures of this world to be willing to be held accountable by other like-minded believers. Mutual support- All will face trials, and in these times having the suppo

Proverbs 27:10 (ESV) Do not forsake your friend and your father's friend, and do not go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbour who is near than a brother who is far away. The Carpenter found that during his earthly existence his family of half-brothers and sisters choose not to believe in who he revealed himself to be. It was only after his resurrection we find James and Jude coming to the position of belief. During his ministry, Jesus himself calls those who believe in him, his family. Matthew 12:48-50 (NLT) Jesus asked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 49 Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. 50 Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!” Thus we should realise that the family of God given to us in the ecclesia, the Church, is the one which we should turn to for help when it is needed. When the body of believers functions correct

God's word tells us many things about his character. Two are his Holiness and his Goodness. Jesus claimed that "no-one is good except God alone" (Luke 18:19). God set the definition of what "Good" is. His character defines it, his character reveals it. In his goodness, he witnesses to a fallen world, unwilling to condemn it the judgement it deserves without first offering it a way out from its fate. In his goodness, he shows that he is "just" by dealing with the consequence of humanities sin and rebellion, by Jesus death on the cross. In his goodness, he applies the Holiness of his character to those who would repent and allows us to be righteous in his sight, for he sees us in the risen Christ.

God who is, Present, Pure, Powerful and who Provides, Pardons and Protects You surround me oh God. In waking and sleeping, your words whisper to me. They tell of your goodness, and your desire to see the pure prosper. Nothing is beyond your eye or hand. You decree and it is done. I find all I need in your shade, from food and shelter to friends and family. My many sins and failings are not counted when a contrite heart is shown to you. You declare me clean. I walk safe in my future, assured that you will cover me in all things.

The Bible tells us to put on the Armour of God. I think we need to get used to wearing it far more than the normal follower of the carpenter seems to indicate. Roman soldiers lived in their armour, it was about them all the time. It was their second skin, and without it they were ineffective. Like most things, when initially worn it hurts, rubs, and chafes, but this process needs to be endured for it to become part of who we are. Most of us today don't wear armour, but we can experience the same process with a new pair of shoes. It's not just the wearing of the item, it's becoming used to the purpose of it. Training with a sword means when it comes time to use it in battle it is second nature. Using your shield gives you confidence that it will withstand a blow when you need it to. Finally, working with a shield brother (or sister) lets you build the sense of unity need to protect and trust one another. All of this means spending time with one another, apprec

You may have seen a movie with this scene. The hero is facing a beast, in this case, a dragon, they have one shot with their weapon of choice, a bow. The hero nocks the arrow to the bow and waits, sighting the best moment to release the shot to allow it to do its job, to slay the beast. This scene can be found in many movies, sometimes it's bow and arrow, sometimes it's a ballista. In the modern version, it is a sniper's rife, and the dragon is the evil mastermind who desires to take over the world. In any iteration of this, the audience is watching the hero and keeping a wary eye on the target. The projectile itself is not the focus of attention. No one is concerned about the arrow, except that it hit the target. One arrow is pretty much the same as another, it's the skill of the one who fires it that matters. Which is fine, assuming you are not the arrow! But what if you are? What if you are the instrument being used by the wielder, how do you react? Wai

In God's book, an unknown disciple of the carpenter wrote a letter known as "Hebrews", in part of it is recorded,  "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it."(Heb 13:2) The Author continues the chapter with practical advice for living in a manner which will bring glory to the name of Jesus. Through its pages, those who follow the carpenter are instructed with behaving as a blessing to all in this world, regardless of whether these strangers believe in Jesus as Lord and Messiah. I believe in real angels, and take the verse to mean how it reads, that at times we could entertain mystical beings which are God's messengers, but I don't think that it's most important message. That is conveyed in the understanding that all are made in the image of God, and when you reach into this world of the unknown person, you will find some who need to be reminded of who God c

Joshua chapter 6 tells the account of the fall of the walls of Jericho. A new nation was planning to enter the promised land from the one which had left Egypt. Bar Joshua and Caleb, all males over twenty years old who had left Egypt were now dead. A new group of adults had to fight for the God they had come to know. For many, the crossing of the red sea was a history lesson. A fierce enemy, the Egyptian army had been wiped out via an act of God. How was God going to fight for his chosen people at this point in their lives? They had witnessed the miracle of crossing into the promised land, when the Jordan river had stopped flowing (Joshua 4), and this must have inspired hope. God keeps his promises, as they walked around the walls of Jericho their voices silent, only the horns proclaiming God were heard. Finally, at the last moment, the people joined in a massive shout, their faith joining with God's promise to see the walls of the enemy nation come tumbling down. The hope

Rafting Exodus 14:10-14 (NLT) As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the Lord, 11 and they said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? 12 Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, ‘Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!’” 13 But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. 14 The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.” I watched a video of a person on a roller coaster, they realised soon after starting that it was a mistake to be on the ride. Their reaction were as you would expect faced with the inescapable terror that was to come.

To be open and honest about how you are travelling in life is a great encouragement to others who look towards you for hope and example. In a "facebook" world, we can see often, only the positive sides of living revealed. It's a world we don't actually exist in, we exist in a world of fights, depression, failures and disappointments. It's not that positive things don't happen, of course, they do, but to show only one side is sort of falling into the "airbrush mentality" of the magazines. How we cope with the negative things of life, reveals, who we are, and what or who we look towards for walking through these moments. To the outsider, we can seem perfect, when in fact we have just relied upon a heavenly word or revelation, to get us past the latest tragedy that life has thrown our way. To the believer in Jesus the carpenter, we can often reveal the gospel by speaking of our failures more than our success, because in this it points towards th

At points in my life, I have been a member of a Gym. With that membership, I had the right of access to all the equipment at the place. The right of access and ability to use are two different things. I had authority to go on any machine, but for many, I had no knowledge of how to use the machine, and while often ignorance can be bliss, in some cases it could be downright dangerous with the danger of putting an unfit body into situations which cause excess strain and stress to muscles unused to such activity. If I was to increase my ability to use the machines so my activity upon them would help my body I needed help. It wasn't far away, like all Gym's, resident trainers are available for quick consultations, or longer-term planning and help with getting the body into shape. In younger days I availed myself of this and was surprised to find most of the technical equipment ignored in favour of basic actions repeated under controlled conditions. It was the challenge and encour

The appointment of King Saul is perplexing. God uses divine intervention to anoint Saul, telling the prophet Samuel who to choose, but demonstrating to the people by using random lots! (1 Sam 10:20) Saul demonstrates his quality by saving the people of God, yet, Samuel then shows how the people sinned in asking for a king, and demonstrates the truth of his words via divine intervention. (1 Sam 12:16ff) I understand that God is responding to the people's request. I can't always understand why he does! It's not just their story that worries me, what about our own! Does the end justify the means? Is the outcome proof God was happy with the process? We live in a success-driven society, it's easy to fall into "worldly metrics", we often judge not according to God's economy. The Pharisee's lived a privileged life, and felt they were in God's will, Jesus challenged that assumption and pointed the way to make the truth real. We need to allow ou

When I write, I am forever being told by my grammer program that I write in the "passive voice". I assume it wants me to be more assertive! It may be right!, Tozer writes  "By moral action, we mean a voluntary response to the Christian message: not merely the acceptance of Christ as our personal Savior but a submission to the obligation implicit in the doctrine of the Lordship of Jesus. We must free ourselves from the inadequate concept of the gospel as being only 'good news,' and accept the total meaning of the Christian message centering in the cross of Christ. We must restore again to the church the idea that the offer of salvation by faith in Christ carries with it the condition that there must be also a surrender of the life to God in complete obedience. Anything less than this puts the whole thing in the passive voice. A lifetime of passive listening to the truth without responding to it paralyzes the will and causes a fatty degeneration of the heart.&

We live in a better age, Dear Reader. Before the coming of the Christ child, the law that had been given was set to allow restoration between those who had sinned unintentionally and God. "Then the  Lord  said to Moses,   2  “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. This is how you are to deal with those who sin unintentionally by doing anything that violates one of the  Lord ’s commands."- Lev 4:1 When a person realised they had transgressed, a set way of restoration was open to them. Depending on their position and financial ability a certain sacrifice was to be made. This achieved a few things. It was public, thus admitting to "a sin" within the community, even if all members were not aware of the specifics. If they realised their sin had caused financial hardship they were to offer a guilt offering and repay the damage done, plus reperations. This allowed those who acted against God and people, but later felt remorse and guilt to set the m

God is very detailed about the garments that the High priest and the other Priests were to wear. During the ministry of the Priests, many were men of integrity who discharged the duty and calling of the office with faithfulness and discernment. Others were not. Eli's sons are mentioned for their lack of integrity. All wore the same clothing. Do the garments make the priest, or does the priest make the garments? Jesus never wore any priestly garments. Was Jesus therefore not a priest because he failed to put on the robes! The Bible describes Jesus as our great high priest, in the order of Melchizedek (who also never wore the garments) The office is made by the man not the man by the office. Jesus life is what a priest should be regardless of clothing or title. In Jesus life, he often highlighted the mistake of people in attributing more worth to visible aspects than internal human characteristics of obedience to God. He called out the Pharisees when they paraded o

God tells us in his word Ex 34:7a I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. [ c ]      I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. In these words, a view of God's character is seen. He wants to forgive, he is, in fact, willing to forgive, but he doesn't JUST forgive. We need to understand that forgiveness costs. It costs someone, somewhere Justice must be maintained, and thus to forgive, someone somewhere needs to bear the brunt of the justice not delivered on the person forgiven. This is God. He chooses to maintain justice by applying it to himself. Every sin forgiven is an act of God to accept the consequences of the punishment for that sin. God's sacrifice is sufficient to deal with all of humanities sins, but it's application it only applied to those who repent. This is the effective action of God, we see this revealed in the person of Jesus and carried out on the cross on which he died. Now he waits, calling

God instructs his people to allow for a year where the ground is not worked but left to rest. “Plant and harvest your crops for six years,   11  but let the land be renewed and lie uncultivated during the seventh year. Then let the poor among you harvest whatever grows on its own. Leave the rest for wild animals to eat. The same applies to your vineyards and olive groves.-Ex 23:10 It's a big ask!  Plan to save enough in the first six years to allow you to have enough to get through the seventh year with no crops.  The lessons could be.  The land will be rested, and therefore the crops from the following six years will be more bountiful than if rest had not taken place. It is a practical demonstration of trust upon the word of God. Trust that your neighbours will help you during your fallow year, and help them during theirs! See beyond just the immediate, plan ahead We can imagine many others lessons which may be learned by those who choose to practice this instru

I have taught a lot of younger people about who I understand God to be. One of my favourite exercises is to get the students to outline God. This can be for younger students a physical representation, the more mature understand I am speaking about their perception of God's characteristics. What makes God, God? It's a great thing to try in a group who are genuinely open to seeking a higher power. In many ways, we start by reflecting God is a "better version" of ourselves.  In modern parlance, a superhuman. Marvel's dominance at the movies has increased the idea that humans can have "God-like" powers. The idea of God as just one step up from humanity is not new. For a large proportion, the facets of humanity are represented by many Gods, a pantheon. God's who mimic the aspects of our character we wish had better direction and control than we seem to exhibit by ourselves. God's of love, power, health, prosperity, and so on. The challengi

I am blessed to live with a gentle wife, one who instructs me in love. It turns out she is not as fortunate as I. She tells me the watering system in the front garden breaks.  I ask "What did you do?"  in an accusatory voice! She gently explains what took place, the hose coupling is many years old, it was its time, it broke. We move to the back garden, after some time I set the hose up to water the place, and ask her to turn the tap on, I hear a yelp, "What have you done?" I accuse. Then love happens. Wet from the tap which just gave way and covered her dress, she smiles and teaches with gentleness and respect, "I would prefer if you asked "what happened" not "what have you done"" In one moment I am instructed, admonished and taught how to be a better servant of Christ and my wife. She is entirely right and I wrong. With a change of one thoughtless phrase, I can learn to show love without accusation. I have been blessed.