God the Historian

The Bible is a uniquely multi-layered document. Its layers are at once legal, mystical, psychological, spiritual, and ethical. At one of its layers it is also historical, and its historical frame-of-reference is particularly panoramic - the Bible is the history of the world from God’s perspective. It is history in its most seminal and universal sense. It is the history of man’s struggle to come to terms with the reality and implications of his createdness. In truth, throughout all of human history, there is only one story to be told, one story that has ultimate, absolute, and objective value. This is the story about how a created being - a being who like all other creations is utterly dependent, contingent, and ephemeral - the human being, was given the freedom to choose whether or not to confront the deeply unsettling fact of his being created, and how he used that freedom to either delude himself into a false sense of being or to achieve actual being by forging a bond with his Creator.

God the author

God is a best-selling author and the people of His book have had a remarkable impact on mankind; the question is, What is God’s book all about? And the answer, it seems, is that it depends who you ask. Some find in His book the roots and principles of morality and human ethics, some find poetry and drama, some find the keys to love and faith, while others see a great legal code or a map for archeologists with an interest in the ancient Near East. All of these answers are reflective of how different people with different perspectives, backgrounds, and interests relate to the Bible. But what about God? After all, He is the author. What is the Bible from God’s perspective?

Absolute Being

God's existence is absolute. The notion that God's being is absolute includes the following: He is fully complete in and of Himself. The nature of His completeness is such that he lacks nothing and needs nothing. God also has no restrictions or limitations and as such, nothing can exist "outside" of Him because if anything were able to exist in a way that was separate from His existence, then there would be some sort of a dividing line between these two existences. And all dividing lines indicate a boundary or limitation of sorts. God, the absolute being, has no bounds or limitations. Additionally, absolute being means that His existence is unchanging. God never becomes "more" or "less" in any way; He is never different.

Lastly, absolute being means that His existence is self-sufficient. Hang on to your hats for this one: To say that God has always existed and required nothing to initiate His existence, and to further say that He will always exist and needs nothing to maintain His existence is true, though somewhat inaccurate. The inaccuracy has to do with the issue of time. Since God's being exists even when time does not exist, this means that concepts like always, before, and after have no relevance to His being. So it's not that He always existed and always will exist, it's just that He is. Get it?

Can we do less?

When people around the world were worshiping thunder and wind, the Jews had but one word to say - God. When people were lionizing the Spartan and the gladiator, the Jews had but one word to say - God. When life and history called on people to revel in their basest nature, to dehumanize themselves and others, the Jews had but one word to say - God. And when, in every age, people searched for meaning, sanctity, and spirituality, the Jews had but one word to say - God.

First things first

In biblical times, the first portion of every crop was considered to be intrinsically holy and set apart for God. In fact, until the first crops were offered to God, the whole field was considered to be holy and none of it could be eaten. (Leviticus 23:14) The idea that the crops of the land are holy until an offering is made is still even practised today among traditional Africans in Uganda and Sudan. In these agrarian cultures, the fertility of animals and ability to grow crops is essential to survival, and assumed to be due to God's favour.

In biblical times the same thing applied to animals - the first male born of the mother was set apart to be given to God, out of thankfulness that He gave the ability to produce, trusting that He would bless with more later. The first products of animal and land, therefore, were considered to be great blessings, the most special offerings to give back to God. That is why in Proverbs it says,

"Honour the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. " (Proverbs 3:9-10)

If we want to apply that to our own lives, that means that we should assume that the first and best of everything that we have is a special blessing from God and something we should offer back to Him. He gave us our relationships, our family, our time, our job, and our money. Do we offer the best back to Him, or do we give him the "last fruits" of our time, our effort and our money?

A great day!

What a great day!

It is so good to spend the day with God ~ and with people who love Him ~ to share in worship together.

This morning was awesome ~ a real blessing ~ a reminder that even though we mess up God still loves us - forgives us - uses us!

This afternoon ~ a combined church service ~ different parts of the body - but one GOD ~ and we worshipped Him in unity! Hallelujah!

Do you know if you're on the right track?

Let me share with you how you can know without a shadow of doubt that you are on the right track ~ you know ~ the straight and narrow. It's quite simple really ~ it's the track that has people on both sides trying to bash the life out of you ~ they hit from above, they hit from below, they hit you from in front, they hit you from behind, they hit you all at once, they take it in turns, they are everywhere!!!!

"We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken." 2 Corinthians 4:8&9

Salvo Surfers!

So we have a Salvo Surfers now - way to go James!
I've been praying for this group - then my mate Chris Hambrecht sends me his latest cartoon - wow - it's a surfing one - so here it is for all you surfers and the newly formed Salvo Surfers.
Chris does some awesome cartoons - you can check him out at www.emdoodle.com

Harry Potter

We went and saw Harry Potter 5 Order of Phoenix today!

What got to me about this movie was the big battle scene at the end - when it's just down to Voldemort and Harry - then Harry works out the secret - the one thing he has that Voldemort doesn't - and it's the one thing that makes him stronger!! For Harry it was the relationships he had with his friends. For me it is more than that - it is the relationship I have with God.

It reminded me of 2nd Corinthians 4:6-8

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."

Contrasts!

Today I was wowed by an amazing thing that happened - quite unexpected - in one of those situations where you think 'how did I get stuck in this' and more importantly 'how do I get out of this without causing too much pain?' When out of the blue someone [never would have expected this in a million years] says something so simple, yet so profound and the situation is over - no pain, no fuss. I felt like I should bend down and pick up my bottom jaw - it was so amazing!

In contrast to that - have you ever felt really grimy and dusty - you know, you can actually taste the dust in your mouth and there doesn't seem to be any part of you that isn't dusty! You just want to rush home and jump in the shower, and its such a great feeling to be clean again! Well, I had that feeling tonight - no not physically, but spiritually, my very being felt grimy and dusty - I just needed to get out - to get clean!

A day of meetings

The first meeting today was simply the best - it was one of those meetings where the brain snaps into gear and you see all these possibilities - you get really focussed on what can happen - and how you are going to get there!

The last meeting today was simply the worst - it was going absolutely nowhere - and was doing it at a snail's pace - and all you could think about was 'get me outta here!'

What was the difference?

The first was focussed on working together to improve the community - working together to make life better for people - a case of helping others, but being helped at the same time.

The last was inward focussed - it was about control - this is the way it is going to be - toe the line.

I want no part in the last - but I will put every effort into the first!

SO many opportunities are arising - but some of them are not right! Lord, help us to know which opportunities to grab with both hands and which ones to turn our backs on!

Life is a journey

On Saturday I popped into the hall to pick up some music for Sunday - while I was there I noticed 3 messages on the answer machine so I listened to them - normally I would just record them and fix them on Monday - the first was a lady asking could we ring back as soon as we got this message - the next two were hang-ups [no message left] - my immediate response was to ring the lady - what a tragic story she had to tell - she just needed someone to share with outside the circumstances - someone to listen - not judge - just hear what she was saying.

On Sunday I felt lead by God to share some of my Dad's story - an incredible man who many years ago made an amazing commitment - which he kept until the day he died.

Yesterday a man came to the office door - he was scruffy, dirty, looked like he'd had a hard night on the tiles - he just wanted someone to listen - so we sat in the office - he poured out his heart - he was a grandpa overwhelmed by the tragedies of life - just wanting the immense pain to subside to sadness - he could cope with sadness - maybe even find hope again - it will be a long journey.

Over and over my dad's favourite song raced through my mind - my heart melted with the realization of those words - I wanted to be the one who drew near, to be the helper of men in their time of need - but more than that I wanted this man to know that "Christ is the water of life". He does!!!!

Life is a journey;
Long is the road,
And when the noontide is high
Souls that are weary
Faint 'neath their load,
Long for the waters, and cry:

The well is deep and I require
A draught of the water of life,
But none can quench
My soul's desire
For a draught of the water of life;
Till one draws near
Who the cry will heed,
Helper of men in their time of need,
And I, believing, find indeed
That Christ is the water of life.
~ Albert Orsborn

Starship Discovery

We have just completed a full week of 9 am to 3 pm school holiday program.
It has been a great week - a total of 17 children came along - we had 5 young people from the division come to lead the week with their leader Richard from DHQ.

We had music, craft, stories, memory verses, games, morning tea, lunch, work sheets, movie, walks, a visit to the fun shed, MacDonalds - it was a spaceship of activity all week.

It was a really great week - the kids were fantastic - the leaders were just awesome - it all came together fantastically - new friendships were made - new souls for the kingdom - and the possibility of our regular Kidz Klub growing to twice it's size this term.

God is good!!!