May 31, 2008

Nee on Service in the Local Church

Courtesy of my beautiful wife...

"Brothers and sisters, you can test yourself in the following way: If you are in a local church and your function has not been manifested, this proves that your living outwardly is not for the Lord and that your life inwardly is not yet freed from the self. This is a very specific test. I am not saying that you have a small function; I am saying that it does not seem to matter whether or not you are in the church. If your function is not manifested, you are not living for the Lord outwardly, and you are not yet broken by Him inwardly.

We must realize that in order for the Lord to preach the gospel, carry out His work, and fulfill His will on earth, He must work through His Body. The Lord’s will and way cannot be accomplished through one man. He cannot carry out His work through one man; He has to do it through the church."

(Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 2, Vol. 38, 508-510)

May 28, 2008

On Role Models

At present there seems to be much talk about the need for positive role models for teenagers and children. 'Mentoring' has become chic in our school system as teachers and government realize the huge impact, for good and bad, that role models have upon young people. I believe that the increased emphasis upon mentoring is a positive step; Kings currently provides mentors for youth in a number of local schools.

For two years I worked in an Outside School Hours Care program in local primary schools. More often than not, the misbehavior of particular children was easily understood upon meeting the unruly child's parent/s (I say that with no disrespect intended).

The lifestyle of our superiors, whether older siblings, parents or celebrities, has a massive bearing upon our attitudes and behavior.

With this in mind, when reading Judges 6:11-27 I noticed something that I found fascinating. This passage tells the story of an Angel of the Lord visiting Gideon, telling him that he will save Israel from the oppression of the Midianites.

To the optimistic angelic messenger Gideon responds with skepticism, saying "If the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles... How can I save Israel?"

"If... Why... Where... How..."

Why does Gideon respond with such doubt? I have heard many preachers take a shot at Gideon for his lack of faith; but let me take his side for a moment.

There is no doubting the influence of a father upon his son. Judges 6:11 tells us that Gideon's father's name was Joash. This name comes from two words which mean, 'Jehovah' and 'burning, fire, flaming, hot'. Strong's Concordance defines Joash as 'Jehovah fired'. Wow! What a statement Joash's name makes. Growing up, whenever Gideon called his dad's name, he declared 'Jehovah fired.'

However in Judges 6:25, the Lord said to Gideon:

"Take your father's young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image (or 'Asherah' - a Canaanite goddess) that is beside it..."

So we discover that Joash, 'Jehovah fired', has an altar to Baal and to Asherah in the back yard! Gideon has grown up in a household of confusion. Dad says that he is 'Jehovah fired' yet Baal and Asherah seem to be consuming most of his attention and affection.

Gideon's most influential role model has said one thing and shown another, and the boy is now in a state of confusion. It's little wonder that Gideon responds to the Angel with the words 'If..why...where...how?" What Gideon has heard and what he has seen are polar opposites.

I believing in speaking words of faith. However it is by our lifestyle that we create an environment of confusion or faith for those looking to us as role models. Gideon could not quickly grab the promises of God because of a poor example given to him by his father.

The application for my life is this: is my lifestyle building faith in God's word amongst those who look to me?

I don't want to be a Joash role model, declaring faith while demonstrating doubt.

May my life be free from the duplicities which cause others to doubt the word of God for their lives.

May 26, 2008

An Accurate Perception?

The importance of how we perceive God cannot be underestimated. Our perception of someone has a massive impact on the way that we relate to that person. If I perceive you to be an angry, grumpy and unpleasant person, I feel little inclination to initiate relationship with you. In short, relationship reflects perception.

In my opinion, an inaccurate perception of God is the chief reason why many people, secular and Christian, have little inclination or enthusiasm to initiate a relationship with Him.

From 2 Corinthians 3:6-11 we can pose some questions to identify if our perception of God is true and accurate to New Testament realities.

1. Is He the God who marks my wrongs, or the God who makes me right?

v9 – For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

God as revealed through the life of Jesus, delights not in condemning but in curing the sinner. To many people the idea of ‘God’ or ‘church’ conjures up thoughts of judgment and guilt, and subsequently condemnation, however this is inaccurate.

The purpose of church is not to remind a person of their wrongs, creating guilt in the heart of man. Instead, the purpose of church is to remind a person of their righteousness through faith in Jesus, creating praise and gratitude in the heart of man.

2. Is He the God who limits me, or the God who liberates me?

V6 - …for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

It is a tragedy that for many people the Bible is all about ‘the big ten’ (commandments), resulting in a perception that God has confined and curbed man’s freedom through an impersonal set of commands. What follows from this perception is a belief that ‘God = restriction, sin = freedom’. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Bible teaches that any person who commits sin is a slave to sin. In its initial stages the path of sin seems wide, promising freedom and choice. In comparison the path toward God can look narrow, requiring restriction and submission. However, if you follow each path to its end you will find that the path of sin becomes narrow and treacherous, bringing you to a place of bondage and addiction. On the other hand, the path toward God, which initially seemed narrow and restrictive, broadens to a life of freedom and choice. On this path, ‘the heart is set at liberty, and enlarged, to run the ways of God’s commandments.’ (Barnes notes on the New Testament)

3. Is He the God of the letter, or the God of love?

V6 - …for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

It is so important that we do not confuse the religion of man with the reality of God. Religion esteems it’s principles over it’s people. God esteems people over religion’s principles.

Jesus showed this. Luke 13 records an instance in which Jesus healed a woman of long-term arthritis, however He healed her on a Sabbath day, which infuriated the religious leaders. They were so focussed on the letter of God’s law that they missed the love of God, demonstrated right before their eyes.

The message of Jesus is not one of letters, laws and rules, but of love leading to life.

4. Is He the God of punishment, or the God of pardon?

v9 – For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

The purpose of Jesus' life and death was not to punish man for his sin, but to pardon man from his sin. John the Baptist said of Jesus “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

The phrase ‘takes away’ literally means ‘to take upon oneself and carry’. Jesus took upon himself my sin, carrying it to the cross where he received my punishment. Because of this, He offers free pardon from sin to every person who places their faith in Him.

Far from delighting in punishment, God’s greatest joy is to offer pardon to mankind.


In summary, habitual Bible study is of huge importance as it ensures that I hold a correct perception of God. It is this correct perception of God that then frees me to have an enthusiastic relationship with God.

May 19, 2008

A Great Weekend

Another great weekend in Kings!

On Saturday night hosted Pastor Al Furey for a night of miracles at the Hyatt in Coolum. Pastor Al was brilliant and a number of people were healed instantly!

On Sunday morning Josh Kelsey at Kings Noosa. With his wife Georgie, Josh leads 'Change', the young adults ministry of Christian City Church in Oxford Falls with Pastor Phil Pringle. It was great to connect with Josh - his attitude toward life and young adults ministry was inspiring.

There was a great story to come out of our Sunday night service. My parents have recently set up a house for single women who are pregnant and without accommodation. The house opened up last weekend, with the first lady coming into the house last week. The lady came to church last night, gave her life to Jesus and was hugely impacted by the whole service!

What a great cause to give your life for!

May 14, 2008

Ravi on Experiencing Jesus

I came to Him because I did not know which way to turn.
I have remained with Him because there is no other way I wish to turn.


I came to Him longing for something I did not have.
I remain with Him because I have something I will not trade.


I came to Him as a stranger.
I remain with Him in the most intimate of friendships.


I came to Him unsure about the future.
I remain with Him certain about my destiny...


Ravi Zacharias (Christian apologist; quote from 'Jesus Among Other Gods')

3 years and still influencing

"The character of Jesus has not only been the highest pattern of virtue, but the strongest incentive in its practice, and has exerted so deep an influence, that it may be truly said that the simple record of three years of active life has done more to regenerate and to soften mankind than all the disquisitions of philosophers and all the exhortations or moralists."

W. E. H. Lecky (respected scholar and famed historian); quote from 'A History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne'
- sourced from 'Jesus Among Other Gods'

May 13, 2008

Lewis on Faith

Another piece from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis - the book is exceptional!

This piece has changed by understanding regarding faith. I previously thought (rather thoughtlessly!) that reason was an enemy to faith. However faith is built upon that which my reason has accepted to be true. As Lewis explains, it is my moods that are the real enemy to my faith.

"Now Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. For moods will change, whatever view your reason takes. I know that by experience. Now that I am a Christian I do have moods in which the whole thing looks very improbable: but when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked terribly probable.

This rebellion of your moods against your real self is going to come anyway. That is why Faith is such a necessary virtue: unless you teach your moods ‘where they get off’, you can never be either a sound Christian or even a sound atheist, but just a creature dithering to and fro, with its beliefs really dependent on the weather and that state of its digestion. Consequently one must train the habit of Faith.

The first step is to recognise the fact that your moods change. The next is to make sure that, if you have once accepted Christianity, then some of its main doctrines shall be deliberately held before your mind for some time every day. That is why daily prayers and religious readings and church going are necessary parts of the Christian life. We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed. And as a matter of fact, if you examine a hundred people who had lost their faith in Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have been reasoned out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away?"

May 4, 2008

Lewis on Prudence

The honeymoon has afforded me heaps of time to catch up on reading. I've been re-reading one of my all-time favourite books, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.

I like what he writes on the topic of prudence:

Prudence means practical common sense, taking the trouble to think out what you are doing and what is likely to come of it. Nowadays most people hardly think of prudnce as one of the 'virtues'. In fact, because Christ said we could only get into His world by being like children, many Christians have the idea that, provided you are 'good', it does not matter being a fool. But that is a misunderstanding.

In the first place, most children show plenty of 'prudence' about doing the things they are really interested in, and think them out quite sensibly. In the second place, as St Paul points out, Christ never meant that we were to remain children in intelligence: on the contrary. He told us to be not only 'as harmless as doves', but also 'as wise as serpents'.

He wants a child's heart, but a grown-up's head. He wants us to be simple, single-minded, affectionate, and teachable, as good children are; but He also wants every bit of intelligence we have to be alert at its job, and in first class fighting trim.

The fact that you are giving money to a charity does not mean that you need not try to find out whether that charity is a fraud or not. The fact that what you are thinking about is God Himself (for example, when you are praying) does not mean that you can be content with the same babyish ideas which you had when you were a five-year-old...

If you are thinking of becoming a Christian, I warn you, you are embarking on something which is going to take the whole of you, brains and all. But, fortunately, it works the other way round. Anyone who is honestly trying to be a Christian will soon find his intelligence being sharpened: one of the reasons why it needs no special education to be a Christian is that Christianity is an education itself. That is why an uneducated believer like Bunyan was able to write a book that has astonished the whole world.

From Phuket

My first blog since our wedding on April 26th. Sarah and I had an amazing day and are so grateful to friends and family who were so helpful! We were blown away by the generosity of everyone involved!

We're currently honeymooning in Karon Beach in Phuket in Thailand - it's beautiful (as you can see!)


About to head to church at Phuket Christian Centre which will be fun, then heading to Bangkok on Tuesday morning for a few days of shopping, before returning home on Thursday morning. Can't wait to be home!