tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17294074686152018682024-03-25T06:57:38.410-07:00Dream with JesusBill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.comBlogger308125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-77044228923965838012024-02-28T17:56:00.000-08:002024-02-28T17:56:23.536-08:00Your new life with Jesus<p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"> If you have entrusted your life to Jesus, you have begun an entirely new life. .<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">Whoever is a believer in Christ is a new creation. The old way of living has disappeared. A new way of living has come into existence. </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">2 Co 5:17 GW</span><br /><br />You are no longer the same person. You are a son or daughter of the Father in heaven. You have eternal life.<br /><br /> Your eternal life has already begun and will never end. <br /><br /> You are already a citizen of the eternal kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">1 Jn 5:12 NIV</span><b><br /></b><br />Jesus is the eternal Son of God. His life belongs to you and your life belongs to him.<br /><br /> You have an eternal love relationship with God. <br /> You are IN Christ and the Spirit of God is in you.<br /><br />Because Jesus died on the cross for your sins, you no longer have to die for your sins.<br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. </b>Ro 8:11 NIV</span><br /><br />Because you are in Christ, God will not only provide for your needs. He will also bless you with amazing gifts of love.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? </span></b><br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">Ro 8:31–32 NKJV</span><b><br /></b><br />God's abundant grace has not been given to us to be selfish like spoiled children.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #20124d;">God gives us His heavenly power, wisdom, healing and love to save the world, to bless our fellow human beings, to rescue people from darkness and hell.<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #990000;">For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">Jn 3:16 NKJV</span><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /></span><b><span style="color: #20124d;"><br />Jesus rose from the dead, but he did not remain on earth, but returned to his Father in heaven. <br /><br />Now we are his representatives on earth.<br /><br /> Jesus has no hands on earth except your hands. </span></b><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” </b></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b>Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” <br /><br />As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. </b>Mk 1:40–42 NKJV</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>What Jesus began, God wants us to continue.</b><br /></span><span style="color: #990000;"><br /><b>And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; <br /><br />... they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”</b> Mk 16:17–18 NKJV<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>Jesus' wounded feet are now healed, but you can still see the scars in the sky. Jesus is now walking on streets of gold.<br /><br />Jesus now has no feet on this earth but your feet. Will you go now to those who need eternal life?</b></span><span style="color: #990000;"><br /><br /><b>Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, <br /><br />teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. </b>Mt 28:19–20 NKJV</span><br /><br /></span><br /></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-55155012169770650462024-02-09T20:30:00.000-08:002024-02-09T22:11:21.246-08:00Gender Bias in Bible Translations<p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Different Christians read different Bible translations. Some believe that only one translation is right and condemn other translations as allegedly wrong.<br /><br />Luther and the translators of the King James Bible included John 8:1-11. They also recognised and translated Mark 16:9-20 as Scripture. <br /><br />Many modern translators claim that both passages are questionable because they are not found in the supposedly best manuscripts. In some modern translations, the two passages are included but a footnote warns readers that they are not found in some of the best manuscripts. Otherwise they may be omitted but added as footnotes.<br /><br />I am not a Bible scholar. I studied literature at university. I am interested in the thematic structure of texts.<br /><br />What are the important ideas in both of these two controversial passages?<br /><br />In both passages, women are not taken seriously by the spiritual leaders. In both passages, sexist men are rebuked by Jesus himself.<br /><br />In John 8, pious Jewish men brought to Jesus a woman they had caught committing a sexual sin. They wanted Jesus to order her stoned to death, because the Old Testament law required it.<br /><br />Jesus was outraged that these men were so unjust. Where was the man who had sinned with this woman?<br /><br />Jesus exposed this hypocritical injustice, forgave the woman, and saved her life.<br /><br />Mark 16 tells us that the first witness to Jesus' resurrection was not one of the apostles but a woman, Mary Magdalene. This was certainly no accident. God himself had chosen this woman to be a witness. <br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. <br /><br />She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. <br /><br />And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">Mk 16:9–11 NKJV</span><b><span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span></b><br />In John 8 the unrighteous leaders were religious Jews. In Mark 16, the unrighteous men were the apostles whom Jesus himself had appointed as his leaders!<br /><br />Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. Mk 16:14 NKJV<br /><br />In the first centuries after the apostles, who compiled the supposedly best manuscripts of the Bible? The scribes and church fathers. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">There may have been doubts about these passages for two reasons. One is that they may have been added to the original writings of Mark and John. This does not necessarily invalidate them. Deuteronomy was written by Moses, but the last section was added after Moses died.<br /><br />The other reason is that both passages show how male leaders made unjust judgements against women, and Jesus rebuked the men.<br /><br />The church fathers and scribes had the task of examining the manuscripts of John and Mark. They had to judge the different copies and decide which versions were authentic.<br /><br />I think it was inconceivable to some of these men that Jesus would have respected women more than male spiritual leader. That could be precisely why these two passages were omitted from some highly respected manuscripts. <br /><br />On the other hand, most of the scribes were probably men, and the passages were therefore probably included by men. Sexist distortion of Bible translations can be a problem, but not all male editors or translators twist the text. <br /><br />The sexism of the early church fathers is not hard to find. In some of the writings of the church fathers, women were openly vilified because of Eve's first sin.<br /><br />However, there is another reason to confirm the authenticity of these disputed passages, namely the thematic and literary structure of the Gospels of Mark and John. I will explain this in my next blog post.<br /><br />Luther and the King James translators accepted this passage as authentic. I am not saying that these older translations are better than modern translations in every way. There are other places in the Bible where these old translations are gender biased, but that is not the subject of this post.<br /></span><br /></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-88150297647637926512024-02-06T00:51:00.000-08:002024-02-06T00:51:03.730-08:00Unlikely Miracles in Hard Places<p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"> 1941 Paris under Nazi occupation. Jews had to wear a yellow star and were deported and murdered en masse.<br /><br />A seven-year-old Jewish boy was visiting a Christian friend, but stayed too long. There was a curfew for Jews. After 6 pm, he risked being arrested in the street. <br /><br />He turned his jacket inside out to hide the yellow star and made his way home. <br /><br />But then his nightmare got worse. A German officer in a black SS uniform approached him. <br /><br />It wasn't a dream, but then, as in a dream, the tables were turned. <br /><br />The officer hugged him lovingly and spoke to him in a friendly way, even though the boy didn't understand German. Then he showed him a photograph of a boy, perhaps his son. And it got even better. He gave the astonished boy some banknotes and sent him home with more kind words.<br /><br />The boy and his family survived the Nazi era, and they settled in Israel after the war. The boy never forgot the kind SS officer. Fascinated by the contradictions of human nature, he studied psychology.<br /><br />He became a psychologist in the Israeli army and then went to America to do his doctorate.<br /><br />He became a world-famous author and Nobel laureate.<br /><br />Are you perhaps in an inhuman situation like this SS officer? But there is a good God who has good plans for you. <br /><br />Oskar Schindler was a wealthy businessman and Nazi member. He used his position to save many Jews. <br /><br />I met a Russian woman. Her father was a communist, but her mother took the children to the church while her father was politically active.<br /><br />A German concentration camp commandant used his position to save many Jews. He helped the Jews to build hiding places in the camp so that the SS could not find them.<br /><br />As a young Christian, I was cruelly abused in an authoritarian church. I had a nervous breakdown and needed intensive psychiatric help. I spent a whole year in hospital, but God still had good plans for my life.<br /><br />When I returned home, I visited other patients and encouraged them to trust in God.<br /><br />The Apostle Paul was cruelly persecuted, flogged and sometimes imprisoned, but he used his imprisonment to pray for persecuted Christians. He also wrote letters to the churches. These letters are now books of the New Testament.<br /><br />What is your situation like? Probably not ideal. Perhaps a nightmare.<br /><br />Jesus wants to rescue you from your predicament, but perhaps not overnight. <br /><br />Corrie ten Boom was a Dutch woman who ended up in a concentration camp in Germany because her family had been hiding Jews. She suffered terrible ordeals, but even in the concentration camp she served as a missionary. <br /><br />Her sister was murdered in the camp, but she was released one day because of a clerical error by German officials.<br /><br />After the war, she became a travelling evangelist, also in Germany. <br /><br /><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>Is your situation very difficult? If it's possible to escape a brutal marriage, it's probably all the better. Maternal care and the safety of the children outweigh the obligation to stay in the marriage.<br /><br />If you are being victimised in a legalistic church, you may not be allowed to leave, but such rules do not come from God.<br /><br />But even if you can't escape your situation, God can help you to be a blessing to others.<br /><br />The apostle Paul vividly describes his trust in God in the midst of adversity.</b></span><br /><b><br /><span style="color: #990000;">We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; <br />persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. <br /><br />We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">2 Co 4:8–10 NIV</span><b><span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span></b></span><b><br /></b></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-46734166625413493502024-01-25T19:09:00.000-08:002024-01-25T19:09:47.775-08:00God loves you. You can choose to respond.<p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <b><span style="color: #990000;">And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” <br />He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.</span></b><span style="color: #990000;"> Jn 12:32–33 NIV</span><br /><br />Jesus was not compelled to die on the cross. Although he was arrested, he could have escaped. However, he chose to sacrifice his life willingly to bear God's judgement for us.<br /><br />Jesus was not coerced; he acted out of love. Jesus does not want to force you and me to accept his love and forgiveness. Instead, he desires to win us over through love. <br /><br />Unlike conscripts in armies who do not obey voluntarily, Jesus does not want any involuntary slaves. He loves you and wants to win your love. True love is always voluntary.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #20124d;">God's love is always active.<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #990000;">So he told them, “My Father is working until now, and I too am working.” Jn 5:17 NET</span><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /><br />Are you feeling discouraged or stuck? Where is God?<br /><br />God is at work in your life even when you feel frustrated. If you ask where God is, it's a sign that God is whispering to your soul. Where does the thought of God come from? From God himself. <br /><br />Remember that there is a good God who wants to help you, so please don't give up.</span></b></span></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-66012137307146805402024-01-21T00:51:00.000-08:002024-01-21T00:51:14.219-08:00God is Actively Involved<p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"> In 1718, a Dutch writer described God as an all-powerful watchmaker who created the universe and then let it run by itself like clockwork.<br /><br />William Paley (1743-1805) was an Anglican clergyman looking for good sermon illustrations. He popularised the idea of God as a watchmaker. Everything in the universe runs according to scientifically predictable laws, with no ongoing involvement of the Creator.<br /><br />Science was becoming the new religion.<br /><br />God was thus understood as an absent and insignificant creator.<br />If you believe in such a God, it makes no difference to your life.<br /><br />But in the Bible, God does not appear as an absent landlord without compassion. <br /><br />God in the Bible is actively involved in this world. He intervenes again and again. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Today, these interventions are understood as supernatural miracles or are explained away by humanistic theology. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">There are even conservative Christians who claim to be Bible-believing, but who quote Bible texts that supposedly teach that God only wanted to work miracles in ancient times.<br /><br />But they still believe that God answers prayers. How do you distinguish between a miracle, which God supposedly no longer performs, and an answer to prayer, which is not supposed to be a miracle?<br /><br />They then say that the greatest miracle is the salvation of a converted soul, which is true, but they then dismiss other miracles as unimportant. <br /><br />This doctrine is full of contradictions.<br /><br />If you pray for a job and get it, that's fine, but if your daughter is dying of cancer and is supernaturally healed, you shouldn't believe it. Really?<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #20124d;">A conservative preacher prayed for a girl who was dying and God healed her. But that's not supposed to happen in his denomination because the age of miracles is thought to be long gone.<br /><br />The preacher attended a conference where he asked a charismatic preacher for a biblical explanation. He wanted to know if he was praying correctly.<br /><br />He got a completely unexpected answer:<br /><br />Why don't you ask the little girl?<br /><br />God is love. Jesus tells us that God is our loving Father. </span></b><br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. <br /><br />For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. <br /><br />“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? <br />Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? <br /><br />If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">Mt 7:7–11 NIVUK84</span></span></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-69822865534113272312024-01-20T23:59:00.000-08:002024-01-20T23:59:14.879-08:00Living in Love<p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"> God created us in love and for love. If we all loved as God wants us to, no one would be lonely.<br /><br />But even if you love and are full of love, you will sometimes suffer from the unkindness of others who are not loving.<br /><br />Jesus himself was a victim of rejection when he was brutally crucified. <br /><br />But Jesus had to endure misunderstanding and rejection all his life.<br /><br />Jesus taught that we must love everyone, even our enemies, or our friends when they misunderstand or even betray us. <br /><br />Jesus himself always loved in this way. Jesus is our example.<br /><br />We are all learning to live a life of love.<br /><br />God is love. He made you to live in love. When we do not live in God's love, we do not function properly. Our thoughts, feelings and physical health cannot be optimal.<br /><br />If you are driving a Formula One car and you put in poor quality petrol, your racing car will not work properly.<br /><br />You are meant to love and love must be the fuel of your life.<br /><br /><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>God is love itself. When we are connected to God, God's love flows in and through us like a river of living water that never runs dry.<br /><br /></b></span><span style="color: #990000;"><b>On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. <br /><br />Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” <br /><br />By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.</b> Jn 7:37–39 NIVUK84<br /></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><b><br />When you entrust your life to Jesus, you always have access to the source of life.<br /><br />But it doesn't happen automatically.<br /><br /></b></span></span></span></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><b> How do you react when your boss bullies you?</b></span></span></span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><b> What do you think when you hear the news that terrorists are taking hostages and probably torturing them?</b></span></span></span></p></li></ul><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><b> </b></span><b><span style="color: #20124d;">Jesus told us to love our enemies. How did Jesus himself react when he was slowly dying on the cross?</span><br /></b><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;"> Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">Lk 23:34 NIVUK84</span><br /><br /><b><span style="color: #20124d;">You may be appalled by a political party and its policies. How do you respond in your spirit? Like Jesus on the cross? I often don't, but we are in a learning process. </span></b></span><b><br /></b></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-58038384063863237902024-01-13T23:10:00.000-08:002024-01-13T23:10:47.043-08:00New Start, New Life<p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"> God has given you your life because he loves you. Whether you were born in loving marriage or not, you are loved by God from the bottom of His heart.<br /><br />God has given you talents and abilities because He loves you infinitely. God has built talents into your being, even if you have not developed your potential yet.<br /><br />God designed you to have loving relationships and friendships because He loves you. You may have been so hurt that you withdraw from love and friendship, but God wants to heal your broken heart.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">Ps 147:3</span><b><br /></b><br />God has a good life planned for you, even if you have messed up your life, or people have so mistreated you, that you have not fulfilled God's good plan until now.<br /><br />But in the Bible, I read how Jesus restored totally ruined people so that they could start again with God's love.<br /><br /><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>Jesus found a lonely woman at a well. She had been married five times and was now in a de facto relationship. <br /><br />Did Jesus see her as a sinful woman?<br /><br />How could she survive as a single woman? As a prostitute or beggar? Starving, abused and raped?<br /></b><br /></span><span style="color: #990000;"><b>The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” <br /><br />Jesus told her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.” </b>Jn 4:25–26 CSB</span><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /><br /><b>She believed that Jesus was the Saviour from God and that He could and would save her.<br /><br />She became a missionary with a whole new life. </b></span></span><b><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /></span></b></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-69850842944816271932024-01-07T21:15:00.000-08:002024-01-07T21:18:42.072-08:00God's Peace in Wartime <p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Valentin Silvestrov is a wonderful Ukrainian musician, a composer of classical music. <br /><br />Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, his family urged him to flee the country, and he reluctantly agreed. Aged 84 he escaped with his daughter and granddaughter to Poland and then to Berlin, where he settled as a refugee.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #20124d;">As he fled to safety and freedom, he heard music in his mind, but he said he was surprised that it did not reflect the fear and trauma he left behind in Ky iv. It was heavenly peaceful music, lovely setting of the Lord’s Prayer.<br /><br />Silvestrov describes Putin as a terrorist like Bin Laden but a thousand times more dangerous. Nevertheless, his music is not angry or nationalistic but rather peaceful and prayerful.<br /><br />Jesus said to his disciples:</span><br /></b><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid. </b>Jn 14:27 NIVUK84</span></span></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-59255982632326525492023-12-04T20:12:00.000-08:002023-12-04T20:15:06.072-08:00Mutual Submission<p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">As a new convert in an authoritarian cult like church, I learnt that submission to Christ meant that a Christian must have no freedom of choice, no personal preferences and no unique personality. <br /><br />The death of the self was strongly emphasised. Love for anything other than God was idolatry. <br /><br />But then I read in Genesis that God gave Adam the freedom to choose names for all the animals. God submitted to Adam's choices regarding the names of the animals. <br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">Ge 2:19 NIVUK84</span><b><span style="color: #990000;"><br /><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d;">When a husband loves his wife, he respects and honours her wisdom, gifts and abilities. The Apostle Paul writes that each of us should esteem others more highly than ourselves. </span><span style="color: #990000;"><br /><br />Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">Php 2:3 NIVUK84</span><b><span style="color: #990000;"><br /><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d;">A husband who loves his wife will submit to her in those areas where she is wiser or more capable than he is. If a wife is much more spiritually mature than her husband, which is very often the case, he should be willing to value her spiritual guidance.<br /><br />This leads my thoughts back to Ephesians 5:21.</span><span style="color: #990000;"><br /><br />Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">Eph 5:21 NIVUK84</span><b><span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span></b></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">I also learned to question the rigid hierarchical culture of some churches. <br /><br />Mutual submission means that the Senior Pastor should give children’s church leaders freedom to make decisions. </span></span></b></span></p><p><span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">A good pastor will also seek the advice of the elders, computer specialists, financial experts and prophetic people. </span></span></b></span></p><p><span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">A good pastor will also be willing to release church members into missions, and not only missions under his direction. </span></span></b></span></p><p><span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">A healthy marriage is a partnership. A healthy church is a team.<br /></span></span></b></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-39848889652868054922023-07-28T20:15:00.002-07:002023-07-28T20:15:16.768-07:00Why are we here?<p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">So many people consider themselves wise because they are sceptical. They believe in a scientifically confirmed reality. <br /><br />The achievements of modern science and technology are truly amazing. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">We know so much now that was completely unknown a hundred or two hundred years ago.<br />But there are still many mysteries that the best scientists do not understand. <br /><br />What is dark matter? There is a lot of matter in space that no instrument can identify, but scientists tell us that this invisible matter must be there because otherwise many gravitational phenomena are inexplicable.<br /><br />We know that matter is made of atoms, that atoms are composed of protons, neutrons and electrons, and many other things that I don't understand because I'm not a scientist. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">We fly from Europe to Australia in 20 hours and use laptops on the plane.<br /><br />The achievements of scientists have seduced us into thinking we are amazingly intelligent, even though we understand so little. <br /><br />Educated scientists and technicians can explain a lot. They understand how things work, but when confronted with existential fears, we are in the dark. In the end, even scientists are only mortal human beings. <br /><br />What happens when we die? Doctors can explain how our bodies shut down when we die, but what comes after that? <br /><br /><b><span style="color: #20124d;">We imagine that we understand things that we don't understand at all, but we have a kind of religious faith in the supposed omniscience of scientists. <br /><br />For many people, science is the new religion. Even if we don't understand this alleged reality, we trust our high priests, the scientists. <br /><br />Why does anything exist at all? The best scientists have no better answers than toddlers.<br /><br />Albert Einstein was led to believe in God through his studies. Without God, everything makes no sense. <br /><br />But if we understand everything as God's creation, how can we explain the existence of evil?<br /><br />How can God be good if he is the creator and allows so much evil? I can find the answer only in the Bible. <br /><br />Have you read the Bible with an open heart? I find that the Bible is the only remedy that can save us from hopelessness.<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #990000;">For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.</span></b><span style="color: #990000;"> Jn 3:16 NIV84</span></span></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-40014827951365688572023-06-20T00:42:00.000-07:002023-06-20T00:42:25.484-07:00The Touch of God<p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"> God is love. He wants to touch you with his love. His touch is gentle. He does not want to hurt you. He wants to touch every part of you with his love. <br /><br />God touches your spirit and your soul, your thoughts, and your feelings, but not only that. He also wants to touch your body. His touch is a healing touch. His love is a comforting love.<br /><br />About 50 years ago there was a stirring of the Spirit of God among all kinds of people. Traditional Catholics and Protestants experienced the touch of God. Many drug addicts and hippies had amazing experiences and became followers of Jesus. I believe we are about to see something even bigger very soon.<br /><br />At that time I was a young man and a newly converted Christian. We loved to sing this song.<br /><br />God’s not dead, He is alive. God’s not dead, He is alive. God’s not dead, He is alive. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />I feel him all over me. <br />I can feel Him in my hands<br />I can feel Him in my feet<br />I can feel Him in the Church<br />I can feel Him in the street<br />I can feel him in the air.<br />I feel him everywhere.<br /><br />It was literally true. We really did feel the Spirit of God in our bodies and all around us. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">I am now 74, and I still often feel the presence and the touch of God, but the glory has faded a little. I want a refreshing. I believe it is coming.<br /><br />Many conservative Christians are nervous about dramatic or emotional experiences of God.<br /><br />There are even many Pentecostal believers who see their bodies as something not entirely spiritual.<br /><br />According to a popular doctrine, you are a spirit, you have a soul and you live in a body.<br /><br />Many people have died, or nearly died, and come back to life. They report that they have left their bodies and had amazing experiences. Outside their bodies they could see, hear and think with even greater clarity than their natural physical senses permitted.<br /><br />We are spiritual beings. When your body dies, you don’t cease to exist. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">But is your body only an unimportant housing for your soul? <br />We can overvalue our bodies. We can be obsessed with feeling good and looking good. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">We can be obsessed with sex and sensual satisfaction.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #20124d;">But God made your body, and he loves every part of you. God wants to awaken your spiritual senses but also bless your natural human self, including your body.<br /><br />Everywhere Jesus went, he healed physical ailments and disabilities.</span><br /></b><br />In the Old Testament, the prophet David wrote.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">Ps 63:1 NKJV</span><br /><br /><b><span style="color: #20124d;">God loves you, not just your spirit. God loves you, every part of you, just as you are. </span></b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #20124d;"> </span></b>God wants to heal, refresh and bless your spirit, your mind, your soul and your body.<br /> <br /></span><br /></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-72102574600744369882023-06-18T20:38:00.004-07:002023-06-18T20:38:33.938-07:00Cancel Culture<p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"> Traditional conservatives in Western Countries want us to believe that Cancel Culture is an evil revolutionary movement invented by angry black people and left wing activists.<br /><br />Sometimes cancel culture can go too far. Some very significant men in history did very bad things. If we no longer celebrate their positive achievements, our understanding of history will suffer.<br /></span></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">King David had too many wives, and he was not always a good father.</span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">George Washington was the first president of the USA, but he owned a lot of slaves.</span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Martin Luther persecuted Jews and Anabaptists. </span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Johannes Brahms was a misogynist. </span></p></li></ul><p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">But wait a minute. Is Cancel Culture really a new thing? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">I am a lover of classical music. Over 100 years ago there were no women playing in some elite symphony orchestras. Now there are numerous wonderful composers and conductors who are women. <br /><br />I am 74, and I have loved classical music all my life, but only in recent years I have heard a lot of music by female composers, which was previously ignored. <br /><br />Very recently I heard of a woman who worked closely with Einstein. She was a genius and her ideas had a big influence on Einstein, but he got all the credit while she was forgotten. <br /><br />When Spanish conquistadors took over Mexico and South America, they systematically set out to suppress indigenous languages and culture. Cancel Culture.<br /><br />When European colonists invaded North America and Australia, they committed genocide and suppressed indigenous languages and culture. Cancel Culture. <br /><br />I once met an African preacher who migrated to Australia. He told me that dancing was not permitted for Christians. For Africans, dancing is like breathing. Cancel Culture.<br /><br />When I was a child in Australia, I went to a Church of England Grammar school. We learned about British heroes and colonial pioneers. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">We learned that Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, but we were not told that an Australian professor and a German Jewish refugee shared the Nobel Prize for penicillin, when they took Fleming’s discovery and turned it into a life-saving medicine. Cancel Culture.<br /><br />As a Christian, I had heard a lot about the Welsh Revival in 1904. <br /><br />Some years ago some Welsh preachers visited our church in Australia.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"> We learned that one of the most powerful ministries in the Welsh revival was the preaching of a 15-year-old girl. When she preached in city streets, crowds came to be blessed: politicians, business leaders, prostitutes, and everyone in between. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">She is ignored in most Christian history books. Cancel Culture.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #20124d;">Cancel Culture has been practised for centuries by conservative white Christians. <br /><br /></span><span style="color: #990000;">There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">Ga 3:28 NIVUK84</span></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-62095247217087865232023-04-01T20:40:00.003-07:002023-04-01T20:40:37.098-07:00The Never Ending Love of Jesus<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Have you been trying hard to do what God has called you to do?</span></span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Have you sacrificed your time and strength for the people you help?</span></span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Have you prayed with a sincere heart for the people God has given you to care for?</span></span></p></li></ul><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yet you feel dry inside. The heavenly music that used to encourage you no longer stirs your heart as before. You no longer feel the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit as at other times.<br /><br />You are fighting an ongoing battle with problems in your family, in your job, with your health or your finances. <br /><br />One or two problems would already be a challenge, but in so many areas of life you don't see a clear path, but messes on every side. <br /><br />As if that wasn't enough, you see a world around you that is overwhelmed by crisis after crisis. <br /><br />And you see this not only in the daily news, but also in the high prices at the petrol station, in the supermarket and in the never ending pandemic. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #20124d;">Sometimes you feel so weighed down that your fresh enthusiasm for God is compromised, though you never give up in your dedication and caring for others.<br /><br />Jesus sees your daily struggle and his compassion is still a blazing fire. Jesus loves you and his grace is new every morning. <br /><br />Jesus has a word for you today. </span><br /></b><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; <br />they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. <br /><br />“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” <br />The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">La 3:22–25 NRSV</span></span></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-50178823970677571332023-03-22T01:36:00.000-07:002023-03-22T01:36:51.140-07:00The Future will be Different<p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"> We are in a kind of no man's land, a waiting time. <br /><br />We are waiting, but we don't know what lies ahead. The future will be different from the past, but we don't know what will come and when it will come. We have promises from God. We may expect revival, but what will revival look like in the unknown future?<br /><br />The revivals of the past often appeared unexpectedly. We read history, but we know the world of yesterday is never coming back.<br /><br />We are like Abraham in the Bible who set out on a pilgrimage not knowing where God would lead him. Abraham went from his homeland to a completely different destination. We stay where we are, but the world is changing around us. <br /><br />Abraham and Sarah had to trust God for their unknown future, just like we do today. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Abraham really had to trust God because he was 75 years old when God promised to give him a son. He had to wait about 25 more years until Isaac was born. <br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">Rom 4:19 NRSV</span><br /><br />We often get tired of waiting and with many trials. I am sure that Abraham and Sarah were sometimes tired and discouraged. <br /><br />But God wants to encourage us. He gives us his word and his loving promises. <br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.<br /> <br />Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; <br /><br />but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.</span></b><span style="color: #990000;"> Isa 40:29–31 NRSV</span><br /><br />We are in an unprecedented global crisis. In such times can expect God's miraculous intervention. Millions are sick and yet millions are cowed in the shadow of death. So many are dying.<br /><br />The Second World War was also a terrible crisis. Millions died and but millions were sick, injured and traumatised. <br /><br />Shortly after the war, God was at work with great mercy. Great revivals appeared in different countries. Evangelists appeared in America and thousands of seriously ill people experienced miraculous healings.<br /><br />In Solingen in Germany, a German evangelist emerged who exercised amazing healing gifts. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hermann Zaiss was a very gifted German evangelist at the end of the war. Already in 1945 thousands and thousands from all regions of Germany and also from other countries came to his meetings. Many seriously ill people were miraculously healed, but these were not the greatest miracles. <br /><br />There was a young soldier in the British occupation force. He burned with a terrible hatred against the German people. His commander was a Canadian officer who regarded this young man with Christian compassion because his uncontrollable bitterness was poisoning his own soul. <br /><br />This young man was not a monster. As a Jewish child from Germany, he had found refuge in England, but his entire family was murdered by the Nazis.<br /><br />The Canadian officer brought the traumatised young soldier to the meeting to hear the German evangelist.<br /><br />Also in the audience was another badly injured man. He was a hard-core Nazi from the Waffen-SS, a devoted disciple of the Führer.<br /><br />In the last days of the war, he was hit by the explosion of an artillery shell. When he awoke from a coma, he saw a black American nurse smiling at him with Christian Mercy. He no longer understood the world. One of his legs had been torn apart and he was permanently crippled.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #20124d;">The bewildered SS officer and the bitter young Jew listened to the sermon, saw the healings and felt the presence of God with His love and mercy. Then their hearts became warm and soft. They converted to Jesus and testified of their experience. <br /><br />Then the most amazing miracle of all occurred. They became firm friends.<br /><br />In dark times we can expect amazing miracles.</span></b><br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.<br />God's love never changes. God is love. </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">1 Cor 13:7 NLT</span></span></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-91918920856476543992023-03-17T22:09:00.000-07:002023-03-17T22:09:03.175-07:00Complete Gender Equality before God<p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #990000;"> For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” </span></b><span style="color: #990000;"><span class="biblePreviewerContainer">Ro 8:15</span> NRSV</span><br /><br />If as an adult man or woman you are obliged to always fulfil the expectations of your parents, your spouse or your pastor, you are enslaved, because you are not free to follow the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit. <br /><br />In the Roman Empire, sons and daughters were by no means equal. The son was the heir of the father. The wife always had to obey her father or husband.<br /><br />In Romans 8, Paul says all believers are adopted as children and heirs of God. In Roman law, an adopted son became the heir of the adopting father, equal in status with a natural born son. <br /><br />Only sons were heirs, not daughters<br /><br /><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>In Romans and Galatians, Paul taught that as Christians we are all have the status of adopted sons and heirs, not only men but also women. It means that she is equal with the brothers in the faith. </b></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>This is not only an indication of the value of her soul, but also a clear teaching that she is equal in everything, because in Roman law, sonship was primarily a legal status.</b></span><br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. </span></b><span style="color: #990000;"><span class="biblePreviewerContainer">Ro 8:17</span> NRSV</span><br /><br /><b><span style="color: #20124d;">Being an heir does not only mean being loved and valued, but also having the legal standing of an heir, which means complete gender equality in every sense of the word.</span></b><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, <br /><br />so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. </b></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b>Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”<br /> <br />Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. </b>Ga 4:4–7 NASB95</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>Doctrines of gender based Christian hierarchy are mainly based on dubiously interpreted proof texts, verses taken out of context.<br /></b></span></span><b><br /></b></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-65973540874249902902023-01-15T22:16:00.000-08:002023-01-15T22:16:10.695-08:00Church: Caring or self destructing?<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> Two years ago I needed urgent surgery to clean out a blocked carotid artery. It was a matter of life and death. <br /><br />There are health freaks who don't fancy medication or surgery. Some thrive on a healthy diet, regular relaxation and exercise. Nevertheless, even healthy people are sometimes attacked by life-threatening diseases. <br /><br />You don't need surgery until you need surgery.<br /><br />But imagine having a family doctor who has one solution for every problem, surgery!<br /><br />Many of his patients would die.<br /><br />Once I was in a church where almost every sermon was judgemental and intimidating. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyone who had problems was to receive intensive pastoral care with two pastors. One absolutely had to obey the directions of these pastors. <br /><br />Anyone who expressed a different opinion from the pastor was excommunicated. The pastors claimed to be holy men of God. What they said was supposedly from God Himself.<br /><br />We sometimes need a surgeon. We also sometimes need evangelists and guest preachers who speak strongly of holiness and obedience. When many Christians are involved in pornography, sometimes we need a warning.<br /><br />The word pastor means shepherd. But pastors and elders need to be like good family doctors who encourage and help. A good shepherd does not punish his sheep with harsh blows. <br /><br />A preacher or leader who rules with intimidation has no right to exercise authority. <br /><br />Paul founded the church in Corinth, but later self-appointed authoritarian preachers emerged who bullied the believers. Paul said that such preachers should not be obeyed. <br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>You put up with it when someone enslaves you, takes everything you have, takes advantage of you, takes control of everything, and slaps you in the face.</b> 2 Corinthians 11:20 NLT</span><br /><br />Are we then to despise all authority and all leadership, as some headstrong Christians do?<br /><br /><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>Paul taught mutual submission.<br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;">Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">Ephesians 5:21 NRSV</span><b><br /><br />Christians should respect and take pastors seriously, but pastors must also respect and take all Christians seriously.<br /></b></span><br />What did Jesus say about this?<br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. <br />And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. <br />Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ. <br />The greatest among you will be your servant. </b>Matthew 23:8–11 NIV84<b><br /><br /><span style="color: #20124d;">Churches are often corrupted by arrogant leadership, but strife, rebellion and stubbornness are not the answer. When leaders rule with intimidation and bullying, you may leave. Just leave if you can.<br /></span><br />“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. <br />By their fruit you will recognise them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? </b>Matthew 7:15–16 NIV84<b><br /><br /><span style="color: #20124d;">Jesus warns not only against heretics with unbiblical doctrines, but also against preachers who rule without love and humility, even if their doctrine is correct. <br /><br />Christian communities need order and respect, but where there is bullying and strife, the Body of Christ becomes like a sick person with an autoimmune disease. The body consumes itself.<br /><br />As Christians and as congregations we are called to reach out to hurting and needy people, both inside the church and in the world outside. </span></b></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>When our love grows cold and we just strive to build and maintain our ministries or congregations, we are in danger of developing spiritual autoimmune disease.<br /></b></span><br /></span></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-11109517561517062472022-04-08T19:44:00.001-07:002022-04-08T19:44:57.345-07:00Political Partisanship is Dangerous<p><span style="font-size: large;"> Are you a socialist? Careful. The devil is also a socialist.<br /><br />Are you a conservative? Watch out! The devil is also conservative.<br /><br />Are you an idealist who wants to save the environment, who believes in a new world order. The devil also marches in your movement.<br /><br />Are you a nationalist who wants to save your nation through resistance. The devil also belongs to your party.<br /><br />The devil manipulates us without ceasing. He stirs up dogmatism and contention everywhere.<br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; </b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b>idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions… </b>Galatians 5:19–20 NIV84</span><br /><br />What do I see in political parties? Enmity, strife, ... discord, factionalism. <br /><br />If we look too closely at the schemes of the devil in this world, we will be tempted to join in any religious or political movement. Then we become spiritually blinded so that we can no longer clearly perceive the truth of Jesus and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. <br /><br />Many years ago my father was invited to join an anti Communist association. My father had no sympathy for communism, but he refused. Why? My father did not want to define himself by what he opposed. <br /><br /><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>I firmly believe in a government which encourages business enterprise and also actively cares for poor, sick or disadvantaged people. <br /><br />Some politicians favour the strong but neglect the weak. Others want to care for the weak, but discourage enterprise. </b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>I am looking for leadership which is fair and balanced. I am often disappointed by what I see.</b></span><br /><br />When we passionately fight for an ideology, our patriotism or idealism can become a false god without our realising it.<br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions. </b>Galatians 5:20 NIV84<b><br /></b></span><br />We see these unfortunate tendencies everywhere, unfortunately among many devout Christians.<br /><br /><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>Where do you fix your eyes, on the schemes of the Antichrist on earth, or on Jesus?<br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;">Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. <br /><br />Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">Colossians 3:1–2 NIV84</span><b><br /><br />We have an election coming next month in Australia. I am finding it extremely difficult to practise what I preach at this time. </b></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">It is so difficult to pray for national leaders when you see serious faults and corruption on both sides.</span></b></span></p><p><span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;">He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. </span></span></b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;">Micah 6:8 NIV84</span><br /></span><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Voting is a trial if you live truth, justice and mercy. I usually find I must vote for the lesser evil. That can be a difficult decision. <br /></span></b></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-38415661243692238932022-01-17T21:25:00.002-08:002022-01-17T21:25:34.659-08:00God is our Help in Trouble<p><span style="font-size: large;"> We are threatened on every side. We see the world around us spinning out of control. We want to understand the situation better, but who can we trust? We see fear and anger on the internet.<br /><br />Many hope for protection from vaccinations and other health measures. Others fight desperately against compulsory vaccination.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="color: #20124d;"><b>But what is often lurking in the back of our minds? Fear and anger.<br /></b></span><br /><b><span style="color: #20124d;">But Covid is not the only problem. When we are infected by fear and anger, we often become extremely stressed. <br /></span></b></span></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #20124d;">No wonder when we experience depression, bullying and loneliness. </span></b></span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #20124d;">No wonder when the people around us do not think clearly or communicate lovingly. </span></b></span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #20124d;">No wonder when friendly discussions become difficult.</span></b></span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #20124d;">No wonder when we find ourselves in heated debates, even with good friends and our partners.</span></b></span></p></li></ul><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><b><span style="color: #20124d;">We are all in a very trying time. Most of us are insecure.<br /><br />You may feel secure in your faith, and then life hits you hard.<br />Recently, two very good friends of mine have died.<br /><br />What is happening in your family, in your church, in your job or in your circle of friends?<br /><br />Illness, death, unemployment, burnout, arguments, bullying?<br /><br />No one can cope with this crisis on their own. <br /><br />I have been weary and emotionally drained lately.<br /><br />I desperately need help from a loving almighty God. </span></b><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. <br />He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. </b></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. </span></b></span></p><p><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. </span></b></span></p><p><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. </span></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b>Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever. </b>Psalm 23 ESV<br /><b><br /></b></span><br /></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-9932248332361354812021-09-01T01:48:00.002-07:002021-09-01T01:48:46.821-07:00God's Future Plan for Israel<p><span style="font-size: large;">The Jews, in spite of everything, remain God's chosen people.<br /><br />What does it mean that God has two peoples, the Jews and the Christians?<br />What does Jesus say?<br /><br />“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. <br />For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. <br />Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. John 3:16–18 NIV84<br /><br />Jesus died on the cross to forgive all people and give them eternal life. But this gift is not unconditional. Each person must believe in Jesus and be willing to embrace a new life with God.<br /><br />It is not enough to agree with the Bible's teachings. Nor is it enough to strive to live a virtuous life. <br /><br />You and I are invited to experience a supernatural personal relationship with the eternal Son of God.<br /><br />We are invited to be inwardly transformed by his Holy Spirit in communion with God himself.<br /><br />It makes no difference whether you are Jewish or not. It is only a matter of trusting God through his Son, who is also the promised Messiah of the Jews.<br /><br />Some then ask if the Jews as a people still have a role in God's plan. <br />Most Jews in Israel today do not believe in Jesus as the Messiah. According to Jesus, they should not expect a heavenly home without faith in God's Son.<br /><br />Are we still to recognise the modern Jewish nation as God's work and God's nation?<br />Has God Himself restored the Jewish nation in Israel in our time? And why?<br />Does this Jewish nation have a role in Bible prophecy?<br /><br />In Revelation we find a mysterious prophecy that has not yet been fulfilled.<br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;">Revelation 7:3–8 NIV84<br /><b>(A mighty angel said) “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” <br />Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel. <br />From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000, <br />from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000, <br />from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000, <br />from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.</b></span><br /><br />What do we learn from this text regarding God's future plans? It is puzzling. Many Bible teachers like to explain a simple theological system. Bible passages that do not fit into this system are ignored or superficially explained away.<br /><br />We will not understand many prophetic Bible passages accurately in this life until they are fulfilled, but we must not therefore lightly throw them overboard.<br /><br />Paul taught that the time will come when a whole Jewish nation will be visibly visited by Jesus and all the Jews who then see Jesus will repent, believe and be saved.<br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. </b>Romans 11:26 NIV84</span><br /><br />Here it is not only Israel that is being spoken of, but the descendants of Jacob, that is, the Jews. Is Paul speaking here of all the Jews who converted to Jesus in all generations? <br /><br />No.<br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day, or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labour than she gives birth to her children. </b>Isaiah 66:8 NIV84</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>In Isaiah and in other prophetic writings in the Old Testament, we see many Bible passages that tell of a future Jewish nation in Israel where the Messiah will rule Israel and the whole world. <br /><br />There are theologians who understand these passages as symbolic, who teach that God is speaking of the Church. <br /><br />I see no reason not to understand these prophecies literally. That is, clear prophecies of a future Jewish nation after the return of the Messiah. <br /><br />In this matter, Luther and Calvin misled the Christian world. </b></span></span><br /></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-81264280242076355632021-08-03T18:56:00.003-07:002021-08-03T18:56:58.719-07:00Christian Activism and Abuse Victims<p><span style="font-size: large;"> As a little girl, she firmly believed in Jesus and prayed with childlike trust in God. But then she was sexually abused. As a teenager, she was confused and sought comfort with marijuana and boys. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I am thinking of stories of not just one or two women who ended up in a brothel, a psychiatric institution or on the street.<br /><br />I think of a young man who was begging on the street in a German city in winter. He lived off donations, and he told me he sometimes spent the night with a client. <br /><br />I know women in Germany who visited brothels to help prostitutes with friendship and kindness. In one year, they uncovered four victims of trafficking and helped them return home. <br /><br /><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>In one Australian state, the government reported that 15-20% of all mentally ill patients committed suicide within 24 hours of being discharged. After that, no more statistics were published. The scandal was simply hushed up. <br /></b></span><br />Yesterday, a Christian political activist phoned me. He told me to contact the government and demand that we should have religious freedom. <br /><br />I was not impressed, and I gave him a piece of my mind. <br /><br /><b><span style="color: #20124d;">Why do these activists protest about abortion, gender mainstreaming, etc., but ignore domestic violence, homelessness and the neglect of the mentally ill and victims of abuse? <br /><br />The young activist protested that he had himself been homeless before he found Jesus in his life. He insisted that this was not a political issue, but personal evangelism was the correct response.<br /><br />Sorry, but my experience tells me that there are many homeless and mentally ill people who believe in Jesus or have believed once, but are human wrecks because of hypocrisy and abuse in Christian families or churches. <br /><br />I have talked to Christians who struggle with suicidal thoughts. I know Christians in this situation who sometimes needed government funded psychiatric care to repair the damage done to them by professing Christians, Christian families or churches.<br /><br />Inadequate government funding of services for homeless victims and mental patients is an urgent political issue and also a Christian issue.<br /><br />Jesus sharply rebuked the Pharisees for imposing a narrow religious way of thinking on others, but they did not care about poor, sick and suffering people. <br /></span></b><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Galatians 5:14 NKJV</b></span><br /><br />There is a very important word in biblical Hebrew and also in Greek. It means both righteousness and justice. In French, Spanish, Italian, German and Dutch bibles, the same wonderful word is very prominent.<br /><br />Sadly, the English language has no word to translate this word. Many Christians read the word “righteousness” and do not realise that it also includes justice and mercy.<br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. </b>Luke 11:42 NKJV<b><br /><br />Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face. </b>Psalm 89:14 NKJV</span></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-67077290525778217202021-07-12T21:50:00.000-07:002021-07-12T21:50:26.211-07:00End Time Chaos and God's Plan<p><span style="font-size: large;"> Everywhere around us, we see intensified conflict. In the USA, we see aggressive white supremacy pitted against raging </span><span style="font-size: large;">cancel culture</span><span style="font-size: large;"> and Black Lives Matter.<br /><br />In the UK, we see aggressive English nationalism in England and angry Scottish nationalism in Scotland. We see friendships and families broken on political lines. <br /><br />The immigrant community in Germany is divided between those who want to become patriotic Germans and those who want to conquer Europe in the name of their religion.<br /><br />In the Middle East, there are some Muslims who hate Christians and Jews and want to destroy Israel. <br />There are others who want to live in peace and friendship with their neighbours and respect diversity.<br /><br />In historically Christian countries, we have seen the long smouldering problem of sexual child abuse explode into public scandals. The Roman Catholic Church has been devastated and has lost its firm grip on power in the Irish Republic. <br /><br />In the last two decades, we have seen a dramatic acceleration and hotting up of all of these conflicts.<br /><br />Now we are in the middle of a terrible pandemic. Some are terrified of the Covid virus, are eager to be vaccinated, and want to cooperate with government control policies. Others are full of fear and rage against governments and vaccination programs.<br /><br />The instability around us makes us afraid. People react with panic and anger. <br /><br />If we read bible prophecies of the last days, it all fits in.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">Mt 24:3 NIV84</span><b><span style="color: #990000;"><br /><br />You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">Matthew 24:6 NIV84</span><br /><br />The wars since 1900 have been terrible. Jesus warns us not to be alarmed. The violent shaking of everything around us must not lead to panic if we trust God. <br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” <br /><br />The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. <br /><br />Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, </b>Hebrews 12:26–28 NIV84<br /><b><br /></b></span>What is the purpose of this shaking? God loves the world. It is like mining for gold. Extracting gold from sand or rocks involves shaking, crushing and often exposure to violent chemical reactions.<br />God is searching for loving human souls who will come to Him and trust him.<br /><br />Jesus likened God’s violent love to a woman in labour before childbirth.<br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. <br /><br />All these are the beginning of birth pains. </b>Matthew 24:7–8 NIV84</span><br /><br />Does this mean God is inciting people to hate, abuse and kill each other? Of course not.<br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. </b>John 10:10 NKJV<b><br /><br />Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. <br /><br />He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession. </b>James 1:17–18 NLT<br /><b><br /><span style="color: #20124d;">The violent conflict all around us is a sure sign that Jesus is coming again soon. The trouble is accelerating like a woman in labour. Her contractions become stronger and more frequent until the baby is born.<br /><br />At the same time, as the pain and trouble increases, the baby begins to be pushed out into a new life. <br /><br />If you are a believer, expect God Himself to dramatically accelerate his intervention as he delivers you from evil and sickness and answers your prayers with wonderful miracles.<br /></span></b></span><br /></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-20045251030752748142021-07-06T19:59:00.003-07:002021-07-06T19:59:39.556-07:00Misunderstood and Alone<p><span style="font-size: large;">Jesus paused at a well and spoke to a woman. This was considered very unseemly. <br /><br />Firstly, Jesus was a Jew, and she was a Samaritan woman. As a holy Jewish preacher, it was also expected of him to distance himself from women.<br /><br />The woman was surprised because normally Jews wanted nothing to do with Samaritans. <br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) </b>John 4:9 NIV84<br /></span><br />It turned out that she was a genuinely despised woman because she was in an illegitimate relationship, but Jesus did not care about outward appearances when the Father was leading Him to a person who might be open to God. <br /><br />Many preachers call this woman extremely sinful because she was married five times and divorced who knows how many times. We fall into the temptation to judge her as a slut, but Jesus understood humanity better than most Christians. <br /><br />In those days, and in many cultures today, no woman was allowed to just kick her husband out. <br />The man was in charge. She was either rejected several times or widowed over and over again. <br /><br />In many cultures today, and most likely in Samaria back then, single women are considered fair game. A woman married five times may have been innocent, but simply barren. <br /><br />There are also cultures and countries today where such a woman has to make an unsavoury choice. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">No man wanted to be the sixth husband, but alone and without a family, she would have to prostitute herself or simply be exposed as a victim for repeated rapes. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">So she lived with a man, even though it was obviously not ideal. <br /><br /><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>Shame and guilt often go together, but shame is not guilt. Jesus bore the most extreme shame when he hung stark naked on the cross, although he was totally blameless.</b></span><br /><br />A devout Christian woman who is persecuted, enslaved and raped by communists or Muslims for her faith experiences terrible shame, but in God's eyes she is completely innocent.<br /><br />Perhaps you are misunderstood. This can be a very cruel and lonely experience, and it can last a long time. <br /><br />A German poet describes these experiences with deep insight.<br /><br /><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>Strange, walking in the fog!<br />Lonely every bush and stone,<br />No tree sees another,<br />Each one is alone.<br /><br />Strange, walking in the fog!<br />Life is loneliness.<br />No one knows another,<br />Each one is alone.</b></span><br /><br />Hermann Hesse was perhaps rather depressed and the poem is very pessimistic, but he has uncovered a grain of truth. <br /><br />Dietrich Bonhoeffer explains how we must all stand alone before Jesus. <br /><br /><b><span style="color: #20124d;">Only Jesus understands you totally, and despite all your faults He loves you too, just as He loved that woman at the well. <br /></span></b><br />We can have times when we find real togetherness with someone, but these good times come and go. Jesus gave this woman new hope. <br /><br />She was very misunderstood and lonely, but Jesus gave her a new life in which she could safely find real community and also human relationships. By believing in Jesus, she became a signpost for her village. <br /><br />This loneliness, this life of misunderstanding, was never God's intention for you. <br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. </b>1 John 4:7 NIV84<b><br /></b></span><br />When we try to live our lives without God, we move away from the only source of love and understanding. <br />God wants to help you find your way back to His heart. <br /><br /><br /><br /></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-39253929997555088742021-06-27T23:30:00.000-07:002021-06-27T23:30:05.870-07:00Are your in no man's land?<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> <b><span style="color: #20124d;">Are you in no man's land?</span></b><br /><br /><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>Do you need healing? You have prayed and believed. You are making progress, but you are not well yet.<br /><br />Hold on to God's promises!</b></span><br /><br />Before the last world war, penicillin had not been invented. An English preacher had tuberculosis and prayed for healing.<br /><br />He didn't get an instant cure, but he asked God for guidance. God gave him to understand that he should pray two hours every day, and he would recover.<br /> <br />He was obedient and he made a complete recovery.<br /><br /><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>Many sick Christians pray for healing, but they are disappointed. When Jesus healed before the cross, he never failed. He healed everyone who prayed for healing without exception.<br /><br />What can we learn from Jesus? He had different methods. For example, he often healed by laying his hand on someone.<br /></b></span><br />Jesus also gave instructions to his disciples.<br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. <br /><br />They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.” </b>Mark 16:17–18 NLT</span><br /><br /><b><span style="color: #20124d;">It is curious that Jesus first emphasises deliverance from demons. When Jesus healed the sick before the cross, he often cast out demons, because sickness is often associated with demonic activity.<br /></span></b><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. </b>Acts 10:38 NLT</span><br /><br />Jesus was the Anointed One par excellence. He was always full of the Holy Spirit and ministered with unlimited power, but we need more help from the Holy Spirit.<br /><br />One important and very powerful resource is the gift of tongues.<br /><br />Some think this gift was only for the first Christians, but in Mark 16:17-18 Jesus speaks of the signs that are to follow those who believe. There is no indication in the text, that this promise is only for a limited time. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: #20124d;">To release God's miraculous power, we need to cultivate a deep relationship with God through the Holy Spirit.</span></b><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.</b> </span></span></span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Romans 8:26 NLT</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b> </b></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;">How can we enter into this deep realm? Paul gives us an important clue as to how he cultivated his close relationship with God. </span><br /><b><br />I thank God that I speak in tongues more than any of you.</b> 1 Corinthians 14:18 NLT</span><br /><br />Paul explained that he did not want to speak in languages in meetings because he rather wanted to help people through prophecy or Bible teaching. <br /><br />So when did Paul speak so much in languages? In his personal prayers.<br /><br />As we cultivate our relationship with God through the Holy Spirit, we learn to perceive the leading of the Holy Spirit. <br /><br />We can learn to follow God's specific instructions, like this English preacher who was to pray two hours every day to receive God's healing.<br /><br />God’s leading is different for each person. Please don’t think you have to pray for two hours a day. That was God’s will for that pastor. You need to ask God to show you what to do yourself.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">Romans 8:14 ESV</span><b><span style="color: #990000;"><br /><br />If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. </span></b><span style="color: #990000;">James 1:5 ESV</span><br /><br /></span></span><br /></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-59384857855851776982021-06-27T20:11:00.001-07:002021-06-27T20:11:23.444-07:00Endtime Revival. Small beginnings.<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: #20124d;">What works did Jesus do before the cross? </span></b></span></span><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: #20124d;">He worked miracles. </span></b></span></span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: #20124d;">He healed all kinds of diseases.</span></b></span></span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: #20124d;">He healed the blind and the deaf. </span></b></span></span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: #20124d;">He brought corpses back to life.</span></b></span></span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: #20124d;">He fed great crowds with a little bread.</span></b></span></span></p></li><li><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: #20124d;">He walked on water.</span></b></span></span></p></li></ul><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b>“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. <br /><br />You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father.</b> John 14:12–13 NLT<b><br /></b></span><br />You read the Bible and you believe Jesus did all that. But where do you find greater works?<br /><br />Moses struck a rock with his staff. Fresh water flowed from the rock, and two million Hebrews and their cattle had enough fresh water.<br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>As a result of the apostles’ work, sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter’s shadow might fall across some of them as he went by. <br /><br />Crowds came from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits, and they were all healed. </b>Acts 5:15–16 NLT</span><br /><br />Jesus said whoever believes in Him should continue his ministry in this way, and the apostles did, but not only the apostles. I am 72 and in my lifetime there are faithful Christians who have brought corpses back to life.<br /><br />About 55 years ago, there was a great revival in West Timor in Indonesia. Local missionaries without theological training were raising dead bodies. <br /><br />One day, two of these itinerant preachers were standing by a river that was in flood due to tropical rainstorms. They had to cross the river to preach in the village opposite, but they saw no way to get to the other side.<br /><br />God gave them the spiritual gifts of faith so that they could perform a miracle that surpassed their own faith.<br /><br />They put their feet in the river and walked on the water.<br /><br />Like many other Christians, I am expecting the end-time revival where such miracles will happen all over the world, but I don't want to be just a spectator.<br /><br />If Jesus has called us to follow in his footsteps, how can we start, right here and now?<br /><br />First, we must recognise that Jesus did not use his own divine omnipotence to perform miracles.<br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: <br />Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, </b></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b>but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. </b>Philippians 2:5–7 NIV84</span><br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Jesus renounced his divine omnipotence and omniscience so that he could be our example as a human being. <br /><br />Moses and Elijah were also human. Moses released God's great power through his faith, and so did Elijah.<br /><br />Jesus acted in the same way as the great prophets who were ordinary human beings who, with the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, released God's miraculous power through faith.<br /><br /><span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.</span></b><span style="color: #990000;"> John 5:19 NLT</span><b><br /><br />So how can we begin to function in this supernatural realm?<br /><br />If you want to climb a huge mountain, you should start with a hill.<br /><br />If you have a headache, you can put your hand on your forehead and release God's peace and healing. <br /><br />Jesus himself taught that we can start small.</b></span><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>Here is another illustration Jesus used: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. <br /><br />It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches.” </b>Matthew 13:31–32 NLT</span><br /><br /> </span></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1729407468615201868.post-6151883556995244702021-06-25T20:55:00.000-07:002021-06-25T20:55:19.941-07:00Jesus loves me, this I know ...<p><span style="font-size: large;"> A child lay on his deathbed in hospital. His mother was holding his hand, trying to hold back her tears.<br /><br />The little boy believed in Jesus. He knew that he would soon be in heaven and that his pain would be over, but he also felt insecure. <br /><br />He felt compassion for his mother, who was already grieving deeply. He could not imagine life without his beloved mother, but he knew that after his death his mother would suffer grief that would be hard to bear.<br /><br />"Mummy, please don't cry too much. I'm going to heaven, aren't I? And then you will go there too when my sister grows up."<br /><br />"I know, dear child, but I will miss you." <br /><br />"Mummy, I know I will be in heaven soon, but what will it be like there?"<br /><br />"Dear child, I have never died myself, but I am sure you will be quite safe and at home there." <br /><br />"Imagine going to sleep and waking up in the morning in your own bed at home. I won't be there, but I will come to you later. When you wake up, Grandma and Grandpa will be standing there with Jesus. They love you so much."<br /><br />This is a story, but we must never despise childlike faith.<br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them <br />and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. </b>Matthew 18:2–3 ESV</span><br /><br />But the Jewish scribes had no time for such simple ideas. Jesus was humble, but they were too arrogant to understand Jesus. <br /><br />Unfortunately, even today there are not only Jewish rabbis, but also humanistically oriented theologians and pastors who are so busy with academic theories that they do not understand Jesus.<br /><br />When Jesus spoke of faith, he meant that we should have childlike trust in God. When Jesus or Father God speaks plainly, we simply have to believe.<br /><br />Shortly before his death on the cross, Jesus spoke to his disciples at the Last Supper.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. <br /><br />In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. </span></b></span></p><p><b><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;">And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. am, there ye may be also. </span></span></b><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;">John 14:1–3 NKJV </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Many educated people think this is too childish, too simple, or too good to be true, but Jesus explained the truth.<br /><br />Someone asked Karl Barth, the famous Swiss theologian how he could sum up his theology.<br /><br />He answered briefly with a line from a children's song. <br /><br />"Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."<br /><br /><br /><br /></span></p>Bill in Australiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05694270267140105020noreply@blogger.com0