Spiritual and Emotional food for thought. Encouragements and insights to help you live!
There are so many aspects to the story of ‘Christmas’ – so many things that are heart warming, but there are also many things we can learn and apply to our own lives. It’s not just the history or beliefs of others. According to the Bible, the planning of the Christmas story started before the world even existed, and the result will last long after the world is gone. But today we are going to look at the Wise Men of the story..
CHRISTMAS is actually about a guy called JESUS. You know: born in a stable, born sin-free, lived to love, healed the sick, made the lame to walk, raised the dead? Was tortured & killed by crucifixion. Then after 3 days He rose from the dead, surprising everyone. The most amazing thing though – He did it for you & me!He didn’t have to & most of us believe He didn’t need to – but the truth is, every person that has sinned, would be in huge trouble if He hadn’t. Have you ever sinned? Told a lie? Stolen anything? Lusted? Hated anyone? Jesus said if you look with lust you are guilty of adultery, and to hate is the same as murder!We all know that these things are wrong, but normally try to justify them. The problem is, our attempts at justifying only fool us. And sin is not against other people, but against God. And the hard to accept and everyone wants to avoid truth is that God will judge every single one of us by the 10 commandments. Oh O!Religions all have the same incorrect ‘solution’ = do. Do this, do that. Do it some more, pay some money, then don’t do it again. But we all do. We are on the Titanic, heading for the ice berg…but dancing in ignorant ‘bliss’.Jesus told us a different way…trust Him. Trust that He was sent by God to pay the price for your sin. Without Him you are helpless. Trust it and He makes you a son of God! he opens your eyes & you get to *know* Jesus. wow.Follow Jesus – only He has the key to Eternal Life.
Fathers Day is the day I count as being born again – a short article on how God’s love continues to transform and help
JACK LIVES HERE: I had this sticker on my car, and in the bar. I loved Jack Daniels whiskey – like *loved* it, but didn’t know… Jack was actually dead. One day he forgot the combo to his safe… (funny that!) he got angry, kicked the safe & died from gangrene! Seriously! Jack is not alive he is dead…and you will be too one day. If you keep drinking Jacks it will likely be sooner than you expect. Maybe you’re like me & don’t care that memory loss, anger & death will result. Maybe you think that it doesn’t affect …
Lawyers who tried to prove the two main events of the Bible to discredit Christianity, find the facts actually give credit to the Bible. Follow the facts!
Proof that Jesus was more than just a baby: that Jesus’ birth, celebrated at Christmas, is relevant to YOU…
With both vehicles off the road, we were stranded. What could be an intense and stressful time was far from that…In the past, we would have had at the very least a few hours, though more likely a number of days of stress in thsi situation. Sharmini had failed to tick a box on the change of address form leading to the car being unlicensed. This would either be the end of the road for this vehicle or it would be time and money to fix – both of which are in short supply. And I had failed to check …
Part way through a hectic and problematic week, a trip to Perth turns ‘sour’ – but it is just the beginning… The good in the ‘bad’… Scripture(s): Psalm 32, 51 A day of prep for a long drive to the pro-life rally yesterday, didn’t quite go as planned… If there is one event of the year that I believe all Christians of all denominations and theological backgrounds should attend or be part of – it would be on the theme of defending the lives of precious children and standing against their mass, legal, murder. To say I was excited …
Some brief notes on a conversation and some scripture verses that can help with evangelism… Notes: Below are a number of verses that I recently printed out for an (unsaved) family member who has had a slight JW indoctrination – they can be helpful when evangelising. There is also some notes that may be helpful… Description:This family member has had contact with the JW’s and therefore has some serious flaws in his thoughts about God & salvation. I recently went through a number of things in the scriptures with him about Who Jesus is, ‘Jehovah’ and salvation. When he was …
One walks to the front, sits down…. Modern day Bible parables… Scripture(s): Luke 18:10-14 Description:Today for Jesus time I talked of two men, Timothy & Phillip. Tim was quite rich, looked nice, was polite & kind & helped people all the time. He was a ‘good christian’. He went to church & was very thankful for what God had done & who he was. Philip, the other guy, was rough & rude – and sometimes stole things. He went to church only occasionally & didn’t talk to anyone. I talked of the way they prayed and then asked the younger …
Sometime early in 1999… One day in my sisters community housing flat in Balga I had a group of friends over – drinking & smoking cones in my room – I never smoked any. I had become what some would call ‘paranoid’ when smoking dope… (Some names have been changed to protect identities.) I was a chronic user to start with, dealing and having cones / buckets at every stop when selling / picking up, joints along the way and then social sessions too. To put it in perspective I remember one night after standard sessions during the day and …
Sometimes following can be…The Joy of Following Yesterday we received a sales order through one of the sales websites we run. Attached to the order was a lovely note: “We have several of your Australian laminated posters, much love and thanks!!!” It is nice to get little personal notes – especially when they are as nice as this. However, within 5 minutes we received the below email from the same person: Subject: YUCK!!! you twisted sickos Message: after processing a payment for an item I WAS TOLD yebus is alive go to hell!! mat devils swarm upon you …
Are you going through a hard time? A lot are right now and might not be what you think…Trials now or later? We will have them – but when and what will you embrace? Scripture(s): James 4, Hebrews 12 I am continually talking to people at the moment and hearing stories where it seems everything is going wrong. Very wrong. We ourselves seem to be just emerging (hopefully!) from such a time. If you are going through trials I want to encourage you – Embrace the One behind the Trials! Hard times can come from a lot of different places …
What an epic 24 hours! I know that we don’t live a ‘normal’ suburban life – but the last 24 hours has been more crazy than normal… The last few weeks has really been amazing – and not what people would say in a good way. We have had drama after drama with some things happening that just seem ridiculous. Some of them have threatened the existence (forever) of our business, the completion of our house with literally more problems than could be imagines with what would seem to be simple things and sickness. But our reactions have not …
A reflection and note to self about the importance of time… Are we raising children, a house or an income? People who are depressed (and especially those who are suicidal) are so focussed on themselves, they simply can not see that they have any worth – that others would care or that they are valuable to others. This can be seen in a common theme in suicide notes “I want you to get on with life and be happy” – but they have just killed themselves when you read it – they can not see the sad effect they have …
Today we tidied a small part of the office – but a very vital one…In the small business we run, we often post items out all over Australia and the world. We have a variety of accounts with different freight companies and there are a large number variables in the method – but one thing is constant: Every single order gets a tract, message, book or gift as we feel is appropriate – what we feel God wants for that person. Sometimes, just sometimes, we put an item or gift in the package that is worth more than the total …
This guy recently shared something with me that many don’t understand… (PG)The other day I met a guy who made a passing comment about something abstract. I was genuinely interested so asked him questions until he shared the root. He had recently been accused of being a pedophile – photos of his car had been posted online with descriptions of his alleged ‘looking at children’. (He is a courier and was looking for a house number – but the reporters don’t seem to have this information). The police had made contact and then the day before i talked to him …
Yesterday, one of the boys fell 3m out of a tree…and that is just the start…
This year, we decided to go a bit further than just a meal…a midnight trek and camping out without tents! Crazy? Maybe – but fun? You bet! I mean, what would it be like to leave slavery in Egypt?
Today I got to thinking about the activities and character traits we model to our kids… We take moral training seriously for our children -in fact good morals were one of the reasons we chose to homeschool. So when we look at the motives and results of April Fools day – it raises a few issues…
There is a lot of talk about sugar and it’s addictive qualities at the moment. While I agree that there are dangers of consuming too much refined sugar, the link between sugar and slavery has another, often overlooked, and possibly more powerful link… While many hold to a relative, social based (or humanistic) moral code, we don’t have to look far to see the results of this belief. When we base our morals on what we see around us, an ‘internal check’ or social norms, many terrible things can and do occur. Slavery is a obvious example. Only a couple …
