Pastoral Message (Page 84)

By Not Known Christianity is freedom. The truth of the gospel sets us free (Jn 8:32). Free from fear and superstition. Free from the penalty and power of sin. Free from a life enslaved by man’s rules. These precious liberties are all established by the Cross and resurrection of Jesus and his gift of the Spirit. But what is freedom for? It’s often freedom to be…

By Not Known Mid-first century Corinth was a city of runners. Paul was at Corinth when the spring games of 51AD were held at Isthmia which was about 10km away. Perhaps he went to the games on a day-of? These games required training. Athletes could not enter, let alone hope to win, unless they had put in the many days of hard discipline and effort. Winners in the Greek…

By Not Known Bullies come in many forms. They are sometimes physical, but often verbal or psychological. A parent, spouse, teacher, work colleague or even a church member can be a bully. Bullies threaten, intimidate and demoralise us from some position of real or imagined strength. Who bullies you? Hezekiah faced a bully (Is 36-37). Hezekiah was Judah’s king and his…

By Not Known People become Christians in different ways. Some believe in Jesus after a slow, gradual and barely visible process. For others, it is a faster, more dramatic and very visible process. Acts 16:22-34 tells the story of a fast conversion. As we read it, we see a jailer walk five steps to salvation. Step one – conviction. The jailer was told to guard some…

By Not Known The Bible gives enticing picture of what things will be like at the end. Paul puts it this way: … God will be all in all (1 Cor 15:28). This does not mean that creation and its people will lose their identity. The heavens, the earth and its people will still ‘be’, but will have a renewed ‘shape’. Isaiah is one of many who draws a…

By Not Known Palm Sunday was a very Jewish event at the start of a very Jewish week. The Jewish Jesus entered the capital city of the Jews at the start of the week when the Jewish Passover was to be celebrated. Matthew uses passages from the Hebrew Old Testament to interpret this (Mat 21:1-17, Zech 9:9; Ps 118:26; 8:2). Jewish religious authorities arrested Jesus and…

By Not Known A book of simple mentat experiments urges us to be self-aware of our I. Our I is unseen and indefinable, yet it shapes every thought, word, action and moment of self-consciousness. The search to know their I has driven many to existential anguish as it eludes ‘capture’ again and again. Paul has a clear sense of his I. Note the number of…

By Not Known Messages bombard us every day. Emails, SMS, IM and Face Book posts are a digital tsunami that threatens to swamp us. Let alone web sites, newspapers, government announcements, junk mail, phone chats, post-it notes, memos and even face-to-face talks. Many of these messages are spam. They have a momentary significance that passes with a digital stroke or a…

By Not Known Our spirits are often trapped by restlessness and change is our only constant. Thus we seek whatever is new or different. This may be the trivial pursuit of the latest mobile gadget, the vain pursuit of a new ‘look’ , or,the ‘green grass’ pursuit of a new job. Or perhaps our search for the new makes us wistful for a new home, a new…

By Not Known Some of us came from non-Christian families and followed another faith before our conversion. Others came from Christian families, but had a period of wandering from God before Jesus became ours in a very personal way. Others again have periods of wayward backsliding. Either way, we all have ‘baggage‘. There are things in our past of which we are…