Monday Message

Here in New Zealand it's Father's Day. I am eternally grateful to my father for what he taught me and how he helped me to become the man I am today. Also, I'm grateful to my children because, without them, I wouldn't be a father. All in all, I've had a good upbringing and life to follow as I was fortunate enough to be from a loving home that taught me the values I needed to set out on my own way into the world. Not all people are this fortunate. For some the word 'father' carries dread, sorrow, hate or a myriad of other connotations. For them Father's Day is a day better forgotten. However, no matter our upbringing, our experiences, the fathers we had, or didn't, there is hope for us all. We all have a heavenly father who loves us. Abba, Father. God; The very creator of all we see and the One to whom we owe our very being. People will let us down. People will be flawed and have issues. I know I do! God will always love us. He is the sa...

My sister has been involved in youth ministry for quite some time now and she told me about an example she used once, which I'll relate here. In the hall, all the lights were turned off and people were standing in random places. My sister would walk around and when she came to someone she'd shine a torch in their eyes. As you can imagine, the people would throw their hands up and shy away from the bright light. Once she'd done this several times, she moved to the centre of the room and shone the torch at the ceiling. Now everyone could see the light, but no one needed to shy away. Our lives are like the torch. Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. We are cal...

Jeremiah 31:29-30 “The people will no longer quote this proverb: ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes,     but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste.’ All people will die for their own sins—those who eat the sour grapes will be the ones whose mouths will pucker. Each person will be held to account for their actions and made to pay for their choices. Sounds pretty bleak to me. If I make a misstep, then I will die. God despises sin and tells us quite plainly in Romans that the wages of sin is death. Put simply, if we sin, someone has to die. And yet this isn't the end of the plan God laid out to Jeremiah. Jeremiah 31:31-34  “The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord. “...

Luke 12:6-7 “What is the price of five sparrows—two copper coins? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows. I like to think I'm making God's job a little easier everyday. As I loose my hair, He can count a little faster and have more time for others. I know that's not how God works, but it makes me more comfortable with inevitable baldness. Bad jokes aside, sparrows were about the cheapest thing you could buy to be sacrificed at the temple. Pretty much even the poorest people could offer a sparrow or two when needed. The most basic of gifts to be given to God. A sparrow sacrificed before God was pleasing to Him. Some days it's easy to think we shouldn't present ourselves before God. We've done or said something that we're ashamed of. At the very time we most need God, we seem to be most likely to turn from Him. To th...

Psalm 128:1-6 How joyful are those who fear the Lord -  All who follow His ways! You will enjoy the fruit of your labour. How joyful and prosperous you will be! Your wife will be like a fruitful grapevine, flourishing within your home. Your children will be like vigorous young olive trees as they sit around your table. That is the Lord's blessing for those that fear Him. May the Lord continually bless you from Zion. May you see Jerusalem prosper as long as you live. May you live to enjoy your grandchildren. May Israel have peace! This psalm gives me both great peace and great worry. On the one hand, I'm promised joy and prosperity. On the other, a fruitful wife. A couple of years ago I thought along these lines: My wife would have lots of kids, who'd grow up to be full of energy, whilst becoming wealthy and living a comfortable life. If that was what I was expecting, I'd say I was disappointed. We have not had any children biologically, yet o...

This week, one of my very dear friends went through something I can only describe as shattering. His precious, 13 day old son, Zethan, died in his mother's arms. Zethan only had a few short days with his parents, but in that time he touched the hearts of an untold number of people. Although most of us only knew Zethan for 13 days, his parents knew him for the 9 months previous; Praying for him and loving him even as he was forming in his mother's womb. More than that though, God knew him from time immemorial. Psalm 139:13-16 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body     and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!     Your workmanship is marvellous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,     as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born.     Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was lai...

Fear of the unknown; Of discomfort; Of having to give up the things I enjoy. I know I'll be better off if I truly surrender to Him, but I'm a stubborn young man. I want what I have that keeps me comfortable. And I want what God has for me too! Mark 4:3-9 With last week's post , I looked at the parable of the sower, but only the last line. The focus being on hearing and listening. This week I'm going to focus on the parable itself and the explanation that followed. “Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seed. As he scattered it across his field, some of the seed fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate it. Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seed sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. But the plant soon wilted under the hot sun, and since it didn’t have deep roots, it died. Other seed fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants so they produced no grain. Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they...

I'm working through a reading plan that will see me read the entire Bible in a year. It's the first time I've done this and it's been an eye opening experience. Sometimes it's a passage I've heard others mention or a saying I didn't realise was in the Bible in the first place. Today's Monday Message is based off a different connection that I occasionally see in my reading. In this case a well known phrase from the New Testament that looks to be linked to the Old Testament. Not an unusual occurrence I'm sure, but one that gone me thinking. Mark 4:9 Then He said "Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand." Matthew 13:9 Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand." Both of these verses directly follow the Parable of the Sower, just in the different Gospels. Jesus uses this phrase to indicate that the meaning is hidden in the parable. Even His disciples have to ask him it's meaning. But why the...

Again this week, I'm using one of my old sermons for the message as it has been something I've been brought back to over the last week as I dwell on the idea of grace and adoption. The audio file is available here: Download The new testament comes after 400 years of silence from God. So the start of the new testament must be full of action and drama. Surely it must! But no! Matthew starts with a list. A list! What kind of start is that after 400 years of silence. As if the old testament wasn’t full enough of lists as it is, now we start to new testament with a list. Seriously, It better be a good list. Fortunately, this isn’t just any list. This is a list of Jesus ancestors. All the way from Abraham down to Joseph and Mary. Funnily enough, most of the names on the list are men. In fact, there are only 5 women listed and today’s woman of faith is one of them. Rahab lived in the fortress city of Jericho, near the River Jordan. Despite living in a walled city, Rahab was...

Last Sunday, I presented the message at church. The topic was 'Why did Jesus die?' and the verses were Mark 8:22-33. I struggled a lot in writing the message, but in the end was able to marry the topic and the verses together. The title of the message is: Nothing, Something, Everything. I present the original version below and also provide a link to the audio of the actual delivered message as well because, as we probably all know, what we write and what we say are often a little different. Audio version hosted on West Baptist website. At the end of Monty Python's The Life of Brian, Eric Idle proclaims: "You know, you come from nothing; You're going back to nothing. What have you lost? Nothing!" Today I want to look at why that statement just isn't true! Mark 8:22-25 When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch the man and heal him. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out...

At it's most basic, covet means to desire, which isn't a bad thing. Where it turns from healthy to dangerous is when what we desire belongs to someone else. Our society demands we consume. We are bombarded by advertising designed to make us desire the latest and greatest thing available. The average expected lifespan of a modern smartphone is about 15 months. Most people wouldn't need a new phone that soon, but they'll probably want one. But why do they want a new phone when their current one still works fine? Marketing; Pure and simple. We are told that our old phone is outdated and doesn't ave the latest software with the best features. It's not just phones, but pretty much everything that we are told we need to replace at regular intervals. A capitalist society requires consumers to consume so that a few at the top, the 1%, can be fabulously wealthy. Unfortunately, if you don't have your wits about you, you'll be drawn in. But how did God...

In this the penultimate week in our series on the Ten Commandments, I'll look at our relationship with those around us; Our neighbours. But who exactly is our neighbour? Is it Jean from next door and Merv from down the street? How big is a neighbourhood and who is in it? Take a look at the video to get a small glimpse of the people in your neighbourhood. Exodus 20:16  “You must not testify falsely against your neighbour. Put simply, tell the truth. Seems easy enough when it's on the page, but how does real life stack up? I think the easiest way to look at this is to start by looking at why we might have a false testimony against our neighbour. This is not an exhaustive list, just the things I could come up with at short notice. Revenge: We feel slighted in some way and have taken it upon ourselves to exact retribution. Should we? Have a look at Romans 12:19 . Spite: They have it better than us and we want to bring them down a peg or two. Again I'll le...

Exodus 20:15 “You must not steal. Well that seems simple enough. I mean, most of us know not to steal. We live in a culture that encourages us to 'Get what you can for yourself'. A self serving attitude to life that blurs the lines of just what stealing really is. I'm sure we'd all put our hands up and say we don't steal. Although... don't look at my iTunes library; Or that folder marked 'Movies'. Other than that... I'm all good. If we were honest with ourselves, how many of us have taken stationery home from work; Or taken the credit for someone else's accomplishment? Do you always give back the extra change you get if the cashier isn't paying attention? I'm not trying to point the finger at anyone. Just trying to get us to really look at how we live our lives and where we draw the line when it comes to right and wrong. Today in church we had a guest speaker who talked about what being a christian meant to him. For him it wa...

This Monday Message is definitely the one I've spent the most time over. Not because it was long, or hard, but because I feel it touches on areas that could make me seem a little judgemental. So let me first state that my aim with these messages is not to judge, but t process the thoughts I have while reading the Bible and, hopefully, distilling them into a format others enjoy and gain insight from. Today I continue the theme of the Ten Commandments in view of relationships. This commandment focuses on the marriage relationship. Exodus 20:14 You must not commit adultery. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines adultery  as " voluntary sexual intercourse between a married man and someone other than his wife or  between a married woman and someone other than her husband ." The key part, in my opinion is the word voluntary. Adultery is not an accident. Adultery is a choice made by someone to seek physical pleasure from someone with whom they don't share a marria...

Last week had a great response. In fact, the best response I've yet had to a post. Thank you to all who took time to read and consider the post. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. I plan to take time to look into how to make the Sabbath holy in our modern times and hope to post more on my findings at some point in the future. This week we return to our series on the Ten Commandments and the relationship aspect of them. The next two commandments deal with our relationship to society. I'm going to look more closely at verse 14 next week. Exodus 20:13,15 “You must not murder. “You must not steal. All members of a society have a right to feel safe and to be safe. As we read or watch in the news nearly everyday, this safety is not something we can take for granted. Violent death is an unfortunate part of our daily news consumption. And yet this flies in the face of God's will for our lives. Murder first entered the world in Genesis 4 when Cain killed his brother A...

Today in my series on the Commandments, I'm looking at two different aspects of relationship. First is our relationship to ourselves and our time. In the daily hustle and bustle of our lives, it can be very easy to forget to stop and rest. Our phones ensure we're always contactable and, with social media, we always have something to distract us. My wife and I seem to find that we have big plans for evenings and weekends and, when they're finished, we've barely scratched the surface. It's not because we don't have time. It's because of how we spend it. For us a typical Sunday involves a bit of a sleep-in, church, lunch and then some general hanging out. Often TV in the evening then bed and a lot of reading. This sounds great and looks like a nice relaxing time. However, it seldom is. Sure, we may be trying to avoid obvious work, but we fill our time with internet pages, Facebook and, particularly in my case, mobile games on my phone. Exodus 20:8-...

Exodus 20:1-7 Then God gave the people all these instructions: “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. “You must not have any other god but me. “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. “You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name. The Ten Commandments; Those great rules that God gave His people in the wilderness. The rules that Moses carried down from the mountain to find half the p...

As I write this, I’m watching ‘The X Factor NZ’ and it occurs to me that what I’m watching on TV falls in well with my message for this Monday. On ‘The X Factor’ contestants are given a huge audience, close coaching and guidance, staging and performance help and the assurance that, should they win, they’re guaranteed anumber 1 hit for their first single. But what happens after that? And what happens for those who don’t win? Some of the contestants have great skill at what they do and they will go far. Take a look at the difference between last year’s winner, Jackie Thomas, and third place, Benny Tipene. Jackie had a hit and then I heard nothing from her until she had a guest performance on the current series. Benny, on the other hand, has had a string of popular songs including one used in a Coca Cola ad. So why am I harping on about a show that many see as contrived and too coddling of the contestants? Because I want to look at what it’s like to take the next step out fro...

When we hear the words, “he gave up the ghost,” we often understand it to be a statement of defeat. I’ve used it when a car, computer or phone stops working. It’s usually a trigger to throw it out and move on. Should it be so defeatist? John 19: 28-30 Jesus knew that His mission was now finished, and to fulfill scripture He said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to His lips. When Jesus had tasted it, He said, “It...