Swine Flu Needles - Yippee

Our whole family has now been immunised – proof I was there: 

Ten Famous Murders & Who Caused Them

This is a very blunt article (as you will see later) and in typical David Letterman style we count backwards from ten to one:

10. Jesse James: An outlaw who was wanted in the United States of American for a large variety of crimes including murder.  He was killed by his partner in crime Robert Ford.  Jesse became so infamous he is a household name today. 

9. John F Kennedy: President of the United States of American who was assasinated by Lee Harvey Oswald who was in turn assasinated by another man two days later.  JFK had previously survived another assasination attempt before being killed by a bullet. 

8. Tsar Nicholas II: King of Russia during World War One but abdicated during the rise of the Bolshevik rebellion (and communism with it.)  After his abdication he was kept prisoner with his family and later executed by the Bolsheviks.  His daughter Anastasia is thought by some to have survived.  He was canonized by the Roman Orthodox Church after this.

7. Martin Luther King Jnr: This black preacher and activist spoke out against racial inequality and in doing so stirred the convictions of many and the hatred of others.  He was assasinated by James Earl Ray and the whole world mourned his death. 

6. Yitzhak Rabin: The Prime Minister of Israel, he was murdered on a set of steps in Israel just after the signing of the Oslo Peace Accord with Yasser Arafat.  Some Israeli’s thought the peace process was moving too far to quickly.  Journalist Michael Drosnin says that his death was predicted by an ancient code hidden in the Bible, and that he tried to warn him.  He was murdered by Yigal Amir.

5. Tutankhamun: The boy Pharoah of Egypt who is suspected to have been poisoned by a public servant thousands of years ago.  He is most famous for his gold mask and tomb full of historically valuable artifacts. His murderer is suspected to have been Ay. 

4. John Lennon: This famous musician and member of the Beatles band who wrote the song Imagine could not have imagined his end.  John famously said about his band “We are more famous than Jesus.”  Shortly after this he met his maker at the hands of Mark David Chapman.

3. Abraham Lincoln: One of the earliest and most famous Presidents of the United States of American, a man who opposed slavery and led the Northern Army in the Civil War.  He was murdered during a theatre show by John Booth.  Abraham Lincoln is widely regarded as a statesman. 

2. Mahatma Gandhi: One of the most incredible people to walk the planet, Mahondas K Gandhi was a lawyer who advocated non violent resistence against social injustice.  He became famous and led India into Independance from the British and surviving 5 assasination attempts on the way.  Unfortunately the 5th attempt got him.  He fell victim to Nathuram Godse. 

1. Jesus Christ: Murdered by YOU. 

Don’t be shocked.  It is your sin (living to please yourself) which put Christ into the position that killed him. 

Basically here is the information God wants you to hear in shorthand:

Firstly you are the product of God’s creativity, along with all other humans, and God engineered humanity for his own good reasons. 

Secondly, you are a rebellious individual who doesn’t give a stuff for God and God knows it too.  He cares about you even though you don’t care back. 

Thirdly, you are not alone in your rebellion.  All of humanity has joined in this selfishness.  Even though we are a product of God’s creativity, we all act like we are our own god and we think that we get to decide what is right and wrong.

Fourthly, unfortunately God has himself chosen what is right and wrong and people everywhere ignore his rules.  (Ever heard of the ten commandments)  Because people everywhere disregard God’s rules and are liars, thieves and cheats, there are consequences.)  If you think you are an exception – then just that alone is a lie. 

Fifth, God loves us so much that he decided that instead of punishing us with the consequences – He would punish Himself instead.  So that is where Jesus comes into it.  The murder of Jesus was planned all along to be part of the consequences God would suffer in the place of humanity. 

Sixth, God now gives us the choice of accepting what He has done.  The Smart people say “Yes, we accept that you will get punished instead of us.”  The smart ones then decide to watch their behaviour from now on and do what God wants.  The “not so smart” ones say “No, I haven’t done anything wrong” (or other variations of complaining against God.” 

At this point God says, “Alright, well you will need to suffer for your own consequences.”  And sadly the “not so smart” ones inherit what we know as Hell. 

Seventh, Ultimately we have a choice to live God’s way or our own.  Those who decide to hand their lives over to God’s way will inherit his blessing.  Those who continue in their rebellion inherit the consequences. 

As you can now see – it is you and I – our rebellion which murdered Jesus Christ.

Finally, if this article has got you thinking and you wish to take this further, you may like to hand your life over to God in a formal way by talking to Him. (called a prayer)  Here is a prayer you can try:

Hello God, I’m wanting to change the way I go about things here.  My life needs some help from you and I want to turn it over to you.  From now on I want to do things your way.  I invite your involvement in my life to lead me into what You want for me to have. 

If you just prayed that prayer, or another one, please let me know so that I can keep in touch with you.  I will pray for you too and send you helpful stuff in the email from time to time that will help you out. 

Spiritual Audit - Quick Checklist

Just like we take our car in to get serviced frequently, our spiritual lives are in need of regular maintenance.  We need to be “serviced” and checked out to make sure we are in good running order. 

For some people, they have never once taken time to examine themselves and see what the condition of their life is like.  Other Christians have not done so for a long time.  Here I have prepared a Spiritual Audit Checklist for anyone to complete.  This checklist will take about ten minutes but will give you a quick overview of the condition of your “engine.”  (your heart)

File Attachment: quick_spiritual_audit.pdf (51 KB)

Once you have completed the quick checklist it is then up to you how far you go after this point.  I suggest the following

1. Go down the list again and at each place you have checked be specific and write down every time you have sinned as far as you can remember.


2. Take time to specifically confess each sin to the Lord.  Do not be general by saying “God I confess all my sins.”  No, instead be specific confessing the sins one by one, just how you committed them


3. Then take time to specifically to ask for forgiveness for your sins


4. In prayer, and in faith, receive forgiveness and ask the Lord to guide your steps into His perfect will


5. Finally, stop and meditate and listen to what God is saying.  When you hear something, obey it.

Throughout this whole process, your heart will be drawn closer and closer to Christ and you will find strangely that you feel more in love with God than you have for a very long time. 

James says “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” 

Who is This Man?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who is the man circled in Da Vinci’s famous painting of the Last Supper?  It is Judas Iscariot.  You may be very faintly able to spot him holding a money bag.  Judas was the treasurer for Jesus and his crew. 

Judas was such a model disciple that even after Jesus basically declared him to be a betrayer publically, they all still thought he was a good man just going around helping the poor.  Judas had a great public perception.  And yet the Bible says in Acts that he was “a devil.”  How would you like God to say that about you – but He did about Judas. 

Inside each one of us is a Judas.  It’s a part of us that seems to be good and seems to be on our side, but in reality it works against us and is leading us away from Jesus.  It is our betrayer. 

Proverbs 14:12 says that “there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”  We are sometimes tricked into thinking and feeling that we are OK, but all along we are not OK.  Our heart tricks us because it is by nature evil and wants us to do the wrong thing.  We have a Judas within us. 

Jeremiah 17:9 says “the heart is deceitful above all things.”  The bible is saying in this verse that our feelings and thoughts trick us - they are Judas to us. 

The antidote is… the truth.  Jesus said to seek the truth – which is Him. 

 

Caught speeding only 3km an hour Over

This blog is actually about a dream I had. In my dream I was driving at night and the speed limit was 100 kilometres per hour. I was driving at 103 kilometres per hour when I noticed the speed camera parked on the side of the road.

As I looked down at my speedometer I noticed I was "only just" above the speed limit, and so didn't have any concern. Police traditionally tend to excuse people who are close to the speed limit and often give up to about ten percent extra. So it wasn't really a problem being on 103 - after all, I had up to about 110 before I had to start worrying.

As I drove past the camera, a bright flash filled the sky and I knew I had been caught speeding, and my photo had been taken. I was immediately upset. "How could they take my photo, I was only going 103?" It didn't seem fair.

The next morning when I woke up and remembered the dream I began to think about its possible meaning.

We all tend to see ourselves as being “better” than we really are.  However, we are all “lawbreakers” in God’s eyes and we excuse the “little” things we do as not being so bad because they don’t seem hugely important. 

Any judge who saw my speeding ticket would still impose a fine because evern though 103 is only 3 kilometres faster than 100, it is still breaking the law.  To break the law by a little bit is still to break the law.  However it is human nature to think that we can get away with a certain amount.

So most humans think that unless they are murderers, violent or incredibly evil, that God should not punish them because after all “I’m a good person.”  These people are guilty of breaking God’s law just the same as the murderer or criminal, but instead they have a “self justice” that says “because I only do little wrong things, Its the same as not doing anything wrong.” 

We have all broken God’s laws and we all deserve to be punished.  There is no escaping from that.  To those who come to Christ and in faith plead for mercy, determined to live and surrendur to His way of living – mercy is given and a new life begins.  We must all stop living our way and start living God’s way.  Thats the only thing with any future in it. 

What is Youth Culture?

Last week I took time during my school hours to ask 6 young people the following 5 questions. 

1. Is religion/spirituality important to you and your friends? Explain…


2. What is your greatest concern in life?


3. Who inspires you and why?


4. What is the one thing that adults really need to understand about young people?


5. What does the word “church” bring to mind?

Question 1: Of the 6 young people I asked this question to they all said religion or spirituality was meaningless to them (and young people) except one person who said “yes and no.”  When asked to explain they had difficulty explaining.  One young girl answered it best when she said “We all believe in God, but it doesn’t really mean anything to us, and you don’t have to do anything about it.”  In summary I think religion is meaningless to them because they are not aware that God requires anything of them personally. 

Question 2: Most of the answers revolved around the idea of being able to find a job when they left school.  One student found that being at school itself was a concern.  From these answers I received it seems many young people are thinking not only about problems they face now, but also about their future and have concerns about how things are going to work out when they leave school.

Question 3: 5 out of the 6 people surveyed said they were inspired by sportsmen, particularly footballers. (I mostly interviewed boys)  Jonathan Thurston was named.  They are inspired because it is the life they aspire to. 

Question 4: This question more than the others drew out answers and discussion.  Here are some of the answers:

• “they don’t get how we think.”


• “they don’t appreciate what we do.”


• “times change and issues are bigger now than before”


• “young people don’t want to play marbles anymore.” 


• “young people are interested in different things to adults.”

Question 5: I asked this question because I wanted to get a snapshot into the image church has in a secular youth culture.  I am a pastor working in the school and this was personally interesting for me. 

The young people I interviewed seemed very vague when asked this question, and most of them it seems have not ever attended a church service or been inside a church.  Here are a few of their answers, which are typical of all their answers?

• “big buildings with a cross”


• “jesus”


• “worshipping god”


• “lots of religious things”

I gained the impression from this question that a lot of religious imagery and mindset had been built in the minds of young people from televison and other youth but was not based one experience. 

Summary: The responses have taught me that youth culture is varied, but also has some level of consistency.  Young people are concerned about the future, but they also feel that they are not appreciated, particularly by adults.  They also have a unrealistic view of religion and church becauase of a disconnectedness from these things. 

Their responses will help me in my work with young people by giving me greater confidence in speaking about religious and spiritual things.  It will also help me to connect with them as an adult, now that I understand they feel misunderstood by adults to a certain point. 

Finally, during my travels this week I found the following newspaper clip which pertains to what we are talking about.  (clipping from The Morning Bulletin, Rockhampton, Friday Oct 23, 2009)

Truganini - Not the Last of Her Kind

Essentialist thinking is basically seeing a behaviour in a type of person and assuming that the whole group is like that.  We all do this kind of thing without realising it - we all think men or women or a certain way.  We all think arabs, greeks, turks etc are all a certain way.  We know that God has created each person uniquely and that whilst there will always be some things that individuals or groups hold in common, no two people are the same.  In the same way that no two fingerprints match, so we cannot assume that Indigenous people are all cast in the same mould. 

To avoid this kind of thinking is essential, and the best way of overcoming this is to remember not to do it.  If we are aware that each person is unique, we will look at each Indigenous person we meet as an individual and look for what qualities and problems that individual has. 

As I read the article I was most surprised to find out that Tasmanian Aboriginals DID still exist.  I have long believed that they died out a long time out.  I was also amazed to read that they take less welfare than non Indigenous people as a percentage. 

Some of their common characteristics that I will choose to remember and be mindful of in dealing with Indigenous youth in the future are these:

• Their priority on Family


• Their tendency to be poorer and less advantaged


• That there is a higher percentage of Indigenous people in prison


• That there is a high percentage of substance abuse and violence in Indigenous homes

Next time I work with an Indigenous youth I will remember that whilst there are many common characteristics of these people, and I must be mindful of them, that I cannot assume that the person I'm faced with DOES in fact have these issues. 

Each Indigenous person is an individual and precious to God and Christ came to die for them just as he did for us.  The heart of God is towards them and we should allow the Love of Christ to meet them through us. 

 

Following Christ Will Cost You Everything

Sodom and Gomorrah had no Bible

Jesus says something extraordinary in the Bible.  He had just finished visiting a town called Capernaum where He preached and did miracles but the people of that town didn’t care and it didn’t move them or change their hearts towards God.

“And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were per-formed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have re-mained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you." Matthew 11:23-24

The comparison between places was not how evil they seemed, but basically how much opportunity for good they rejected. If Jesus had gone to Sodom instead of Capernaum the results would have been very different.

Here is a thought to challenge us - What comparison is there between us who have a Bible and all the opportunities in the world to serve God, and between Sodom and Gomorrah who didn’t have a Bible?

Inspiring Talk by Archbishop Abuna Elias Chacour

Archbishop Reverend Abuna Elias Chacour is the head of the Melkite Church in Israel – he is a Christian Palestinian whose parish covers the areas where Jesus was born, died and rose again.  Archbishop Chacour was just a boy of 8 years of age when the armies of Israel swept into his village and forced them to flee for their lives.  His father was herded into a truck and they never saw him again. 

Through this all – Abuna has learned to be a peacemaker.  He has lived the Sermon on the Mount and loved those who have persecuted him.  He wrote a book called Blood Brothers which discusses how both Jews and Arabs have a common heritage in Abraham and how to make peace between them.  Both the book and the talk below will challenge your worldview and be a blessing to you. 

Archbishop Elias Chacour Unity Within Diversity: Myth or Reality? from Calvin College on Vimeo.

Funeral of Helen Smith

Tomorrow March 4^th at 2:00pm will be the funeral service for Helen Smith (from Struck Oil) held at the Rockhampton crematorium.  Helen was a precious part of our church, someone who attended regularly and who over the last few years we have gotten to know fairly well.  She was someone who was interested in fellowship with God’s people and loved to attend church events.  Sadly Helen left us on the 20th of February and will be missed.  Please join us for the service. 

Map to Find Crematorium: