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...

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...

I used to think I'd chosen to follow God. That the choice was mine initially, but I"ve been reading this verse a little lately and I think I may have it backwards. John 15:16 "You didn't choose me. I chose you.I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name." I remember when I prayed and asked Jesus to forgive me and dwell in me. On Halloween of all nights. I felt that I had made the best choice of my whole life. And I still do. I'd be lost without God. However, the more I read and pray the more I realise that I was chosen before I was even born. It just took me 23 years to realise it. I still find it so amazing that there are 7,200,000,000 people on this planet and God cares enough to specifically call me to Him. That He would love me so much that He would send His son to take my sins. I am eternally grateful that I haven't had to earn His love and forgiveness. I am chosen...

Back to the 'Love' chapter. This time it's a comparison between now and the future, when we are face to face with God. 1Corintians 13:8-12 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies,  they will cease; where there are tongues,  they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part  and we prophesy in part,   but when completeness comes,  what is in part disappears.   When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood  behind me.   For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. The differences are stark. When completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When we are in God's presence, the parts we didn't know, the things we didn't see and the understanding we didn't have will be completed.  Which b...

A passage that most people know well. 1Cor 13:4-7 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. All good things; All things we should aspire to live out. But what if I replace 'Love' with 'William'? William is patient and kind. William is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. He does not demand his own way. He is not irritable, and he keeps no record of being wronged. He does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. William never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Can I honestly say I do all these things all the time? I know I do all of them at some times, b...