Kenrick Rhys Dodson Smith

Native New Zealand Tui

2009-08-06T21:41:00.004+12:00

Today standing under a lovely bright blossom, I spotted 5 NZ Native Tui's frolicking in the tree top. Took a while but got some got shots. Let me know which one is best...

Comment below on your favorite..

VMPHOTOS #2

2009-06-02T11:41:00.005+12:00

My beautiful girlfriend...

Click on images to enlarge

VMPHOTOS

2009-05-19T17:18:00.004+12:00

Malcom & Valda Graham
May you rest well

This is my first lot of photos from the Hamilton Gardens, 3 days after I got my first DSLR.
The simple and yet so elegant beauty of Gods creation astounds me contantly.

Click on images to enlarge

The Rules of Engagement...

2008-10-24T11:08:00.002+13:00

In the Military there is such a thing called "The Rules of Engagment".

Below has been condensed from http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-7273223/The-rules-of-engagement-in.html.

"The term 'rules of engagement'...can apply to the detailed plans of a military campaign which can take into account political considerations, such as setting out what may be military objectives but which should not be attacked... Once given the task by the government, senior commanders are most commonly required to draw up an operational plan to achieve it. This is likely to provide considerable detail on the administrative and other arrangements involved in the mission... During a period of occupation, however, soldiers and their commanders will seek to avoid 'engagement' with civilians... clearly defining who and what may be attacked in the context of an international armed conflict, as well as other relevant details such as the appropriate treatment of any prisoners... They may then include instructions such as the challenging of intruders to areas being guarded, whether warning shots should be fired and how anyone detained should be treated."

In a movie called the "Rules of Engagment" which I watched when I was a child, as I remember a military squaron thinking it was being fired on opened fire on a village killing many civilians. The court marshal which follow proved that they were not fired upon and therefore should not have attacke the village.

Becuase the military has a distinct set of guidelines for when in a conflict situation all the soldiers are aware and hopefully react in the same manner and this saves lives and means a more effecient military force.

I believe as Christ followers we need a similar set of guidelines, which gladly we do have in the Bible. So as christians we can all be aware of the way in which we are to act and live our lives, and even saving lives and being effecient representatives of Christ to a dark and lost world.

I have this year been reading more and more of the Psalms, I would read one a day out of duty when I was a new christian but they never really came alive until I began to really look into them and read them from my heart everyday.

Only recently have I really been focusing on the Psalms and ejoying them. I was away at a conference and I was having some serious issues with a couple of people at work. I had taken something that was said to me and had been offended by this and it was eating away at my heart. So one morning I had decided to spend time with God and "sort this out", I planned to tell God all about it and I did.

I began journalling in prayer, telling God how annoyed and hurt I was at this person and then I felt the Holy Spirit say "stop typing". I was mid sentence and thought " na" im having a good moan, and I need to tell god all about this person." But I obeyed and stoped typing. I knew why I needed to stop.

I have in the past many times told my youthgroup and leaders that when we come to God we need to put him first and a great way to do this is through praise. And that is exactly what I needed to do. I had come to God in prayer and was just moaning, asking God to change this person and sort it out and I hadn't even thought about God or what he wanted.

Below is the exact insert from my personal journal...
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"...Like me helping _____ ___ _____ ________... that just annoyed me. I have better uses for my time than to _____ _____ _____...do I not. God?

(This is where God spoke to me and I stopped)

I will thankyou first God. Praise you, and lift your name up High first, because I need perspective. I need your perspective.

Psalm 100
¹Shout triumphantly to the LORD, all the earth. ²Serve the LORD with gladness, come before Him with joyful songs. ³Acknowledge that the Lord is God. He made us, and we are His, His people, the sheep of His pasture. ⁴Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name. ⁵For the LORD is good, and His love is eternal; His faithfulness endures through all generations.

God you are good. When I read this Psalm I see that in a way the terms that we must come to you are with thanksgiving and praise. As a people needed to bring gifts to the king so he would accept them, so to do we need to come in thanksgiving to God.

So God I thankyou for who you are this morning. God I am never upset with you. You can do anything with my life. God it is your people that I struggle with. But I must love people, for if I love God and not people I am a liar and a fake. And I rufuse to live a faithless life. So I must, I must, I have no option but to love God's people. And that requires me to change.

Ha thats funny I think I said to you at the start of the conference... God do anything you need to do with me, and my Character to achieve what you need to. Dangerous stuff, effective stuff... not comfortable stuff.

God I ask that you help me to forget. God you did it for Jospeh and you can do it for me. If Joseph failed to forget/forgive he would have been unable to help his brothers and inturn his own father and that in turn his own destiny. So we can in essence, screw up own destinys by the descisions we make. If Joseph had not forgot he would have not been able to furfil his dream and would have even sabotaged his own dream.
God help me to not do the same thing.

Father God... you say in your word.

Philpians 2:1-18 ...thinking the same way, having the same love, sharing the same feelings, focusing on one goal. ³Do nothing out of rivary or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. ⁴Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others...¹⁴Do everything without grumbling and arguing... Father if I truly was a slave for Christ, I wouldn't care would I.

God I wonder how far I serve men. I will serve you all the days of my life to whatever end you desire and ask of me Father God. But it is your people who I have issues with once again.

God is holy and of course.. why would I have any issues with God. He has never wronged me and even if he did want to he could, because he is soverign and just to do what he likes. But his people..."

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See I knew, I knew what praising God would do. It gave me perspective, it gave me Gods perspective on the situation, and that was that I needed to change, that I needed to serve that person, because together we are serving one purpose and one goal, and that is the Kingdom of God.

But back on track, "The Rules of Engagment"...

Well Psalm 100, which I happened to read that day...after hearing it in church...says

Psalm 100
¹Shout triumphantly to the LORD, all the earth. ²Serve the LORD with gladness, come before Him with joyful songs. ³Acknowledge that the Lord is God. He made us, and we are His, His people, the sheep of His pasture. ⁴Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name. ⁵For the LORD is good, and His love is eternal; His faithfulness endures through all generations.

This Psalm I beleive shows us a glimps of what I believe are God's "Rules of Engagement" for coming to him.

Have a read and see what you think... and I will write more another day.

A cool quote/saying

2008-09-29T12:08:00.000+13:00

A marriage is what you create after the wedding.

Day 9, Music Fast

2008-09-23T07:35:00.000+12:00

As I thought about journaling and having my time with you this morning God, I thought
“I should listen to that intrumental song, “as the Deer” it really helped me feel close to God, actually just think about God last time...”

But did it really help. The Song is a great song and the saxaphone instrumental version is beautiful but it is really going to connect me to God or am I just wanting an easy way out. If I think about it, it is an easy way out, I type in the link to you and sit here for 3 mins and listen to it, sure I might think about God a little, or maybe I will just fell like I am thinking of God, when really I am wasting 3 minutes of my life and not actually seeking God.

All good stuff to think about. But what I did do was read the Psalm that it came from, Psalm 42

Psalm 42

42:1 As a deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, God.
42:2 I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God?

42:3 My tears have been my food day and night, while all day long people say to me, “Where is your God”?

42:4 I remember this as I pour out my heart: how I walked with many, leading the festive procession tot he house of God, with joyful and thankful shouts.

42:5 Why amI so depressed?Why this turmoil within me?Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him, my Savior and my God.

42:6 I am depply depressed;therefore I remember You from the land Jordan, and the peaks of Hermon,from mount Mizar.

42:7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and Your billows have swept me over.

42:8 The LORD will send His faithful love by day, His song will be with me in the night—a prayer to the God of my life.

42:9 I will say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me?Why must I go about in sorrow because of the enemy's opression?”
42:10 My adversaries taunt me, as if crushing my bones, while all day long they say to me, “Where is your God?”

42:11 Why am I so depressed? Why this turmoil within me? Put hope in God, for I will still praise Him, my Savior and my God.

The song only focuses on the first line, but I like to type/write out scripture cos then it goes into my head. And now you have had a chance to read it.

My sugesstion if you don't feel like having a time with God or talking to him and you are about to put music on to help you. Pause and think what other way you could help usher you into the presence of God. Considering he is always there and we can never leave his presence...the issue is with us. I have found that praise(thankfulness) to God is the best way. So you could read someone elses praise in the midst of adversity, like the Psalm this morning... or you could simply thank God for three things, write those down on paper or in your journal and it will help you focus on God and then you will be ready and more will to come into His presence. Enjoy.

Umm music fast day 6...

2008-09-19T10:33:00.001+12:00

Hey God.Its amazing how a song from nearly 10 years can come out of my brain and help me soo much. I broke the fast tho, but im back on again now, just listened to that song like 10 times. But I have had a pretty sweet week just talking to God and it has only been hard when im tired or late at night. Its been really cool too cos when ur in the car with someone you talk to them instead of just listening to music. I think it is a very valid tool for getting closer to you God, specially for people who always have music, and for also getting closer to your fellow man. Its been fun.

A cool story

2008-09-16T07:51:00.002+12:00

Two Choices

What would you do?....you make the choice. Don't look for a punch line,
there isn't one. Read it anyway. My question is: Would you have made
the same choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school
that serves children with learning
disabilities, the father of one of
the students delivered a speech that
would never be forgotten by all who
attended. After extolling the school
and its dedicated staff, he offered
a question:

'When not interfered with by
outside influences, everything nature
does, is done with perfection.

Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn
things as other children do.
He cannot understand things
as other children do.

Where is the natural order of things in my son?'

The audience was stilled by the
query.

The father continued.
'I believe that when a child like
Shay,who was mentally and physically
disabled comes into the world,
an opportunity to realize true human
nature presents itself, and it comes
in the way other people treat that child.'

Then he told the following story:

Shay and I had walked past a park
where some boys Shay knew were
playing baseball. Shay asked,
'Do you think they'll let me play?'
I knew that most of the boys would
not want someone like Shay
on their team, but as a father I
also understood that if my son were
allowed to play, it would give him a
much-needed sense of belonging and
some confidence to be accepted by
others in spite of his handicaps.

I approached one of the boys on the
field and asked (not expecting much)
if Shay could play. The boy looked
around for guidance and said, 'We're
losing by six runs and the game is in
the eighth inning. I guess he can be
on our team and we'll try to put him
in to bat in the ninth inning.'

Shay struggled over to the team's
bench and, with a broad smile, put
on a team shirt. I watched with a small
tear in my eye and warmth in my
heart. The boys saw my joy at my son
being accepted.

In the bottom of the eighth inning,
Shay's team scored a few runs but
was still behind by three.

In the top of the ninth inning,
Shay put on a glove and played in the
right field. Even though no hits came
his way, he was obviously ecstatic just
to be in the game and on the field,
grinning from ear to ear as I waved
to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning,
Shay's team scored again.

Now, with two outs and the bases
loaded, the potential winning run was
on base and Shay was scheduled
to be next at bat.

At this juncture, do they let Shay
bat and give away their chance to win
the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat.
Everyone knew that a hit was all but
impossible because Shay didn't even
know how to hold the bat properly,
much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the
plate, the pitcher, recognizing that
the other team was putting winning
aside for this moment in Shay's life,
moved in a few steps to lob the ball
in softly so Shay could at least
make contact.

The first pitch came and Shay swung
clumsily and missed.

The pitcher again took a few steps
forward to toss the ball softly towards
Shay.

As the pitch came in, Shay swung
at the ball and hit a slow ground
ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over.

The pitcher picked up the soft
grounder and could have easily
thrown the ball to the first baseman.

Shay would have been out and that
would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the
ball right over the first baseman's
head, out of reach of all team mates.

Everyone from the stands and both
teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to
first!

Run to first!'

Never in his life had Shay ever run
that far, but he made it to first base.

He scampered down the baseline,
wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, 'Run to second,
run to second!'

Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly
ran towards second, gleaming and
struggling to make it to the base.

B y the time Shay rounded towards
second base, the right fielder had the
ball . the smallest guy on their team
who now had his first chance to be the
hero for his team.

He could have thrown the ball to the
second-baseman for the tag, but he
understood the pitcher's intentions so
he, too, intentionally threw the ball
high and far over the third-baseman's
head.

Shay ran toward third base deliriously
as the runners ahead of him circled
the bases toward home.

All were screaming, 'Shay, Shay, Shay,
all the Way Shay'

Shay reached third base because the
opposing shortstop ran to help him by
turning him in the direction of third
base, and shouted, 'Run to third!

Shay, run to third!'

As Shay rounded third, the boys
from both teams, and the spectators,
were on their feet screaming, 'Shay,
run home! Run home!'

Shay ran to home, stepped on the
plate, and was cheered as the hero
who hit the grand slam and won the
game for his team

'That day', said the father softly
with tears now rolling down his face,
'the boys from both teams helped
bring a piece of true love and humanity
into this world'.

Shay didn't make it to another summer.
He died that winter, having never
forgotten being the hero
and making me so happy,
and coming home and seeing his
Mother tearfully embrace her little
hero of the day!

It's a touching story isn't it. Copy and Paste it and forward it to some people in your address book.

No Music for Two Weeks (Day 3)

2008-09-15T14:36:00.005+12:00

Today is the 3rd day of fasting from Music. It has been interesting so far. I have been praying more, often in tounges but also in normal speech to God in private environments but Specifically targeting my insequrities and issues that come up during the day. It has been good because instead of putting music on and ignoring the things that pop up I have been able to take them to God.

I have found that I am becoming more brutally honest with God in prayer and this is mostly due to the fact that I am becoming more and more aware, as I am being more and more honest that God is the safest person I can tell things to and that he loves me anyway, no matter what I have going on in my life.

This idea has come mostly from a book called The Gift of Being Yourself—The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery: By David G. Benner. It is a excellent book filled with thoughts about the inner self that we all have but often ignore. Here is the blurb from the book

"Grant, Lord, that I may know myself that I may know thee." Augustine

Much is said in Christian circles about knowing God. But Christians throughout the ages have agreed that there cannot be deep knowledge of God without deep knowledge of the self. Discerning your true self is inextricably related to discerning God's purposes for you. Paradoxically, the more you become like Christ, the more you become authentically yourself.

In this profound exploration of Christian identity, psychologist and spiritual director David G. Benner illuminates the spirituality of self-discovery. He exposes the false selves that you may hide behind and calls you to discover the true self that emerges from your uniqueness in Christ. Freeing you from illusions about yourself, Benner shows that self-understanding leads to the fulfillment of your God-given destiny and vocation.

"Christian spirituality," writes Benner, "involves a transformation of the self that occurs only when God and self are both deeply known." The self is not God, but it is the place where you meet God. Genuine self-knowledge revitalizes your spiritual life and opens the door to becoming who God has created you to be.

Rest assured, you need not try to be someone you are not.

But you will deepen your experience of God through discovering the gift of being yourself.”

What I have gained from it in short is that in order to know our true self, we must know the true God. And in getting to know God we will get to know self better. It is very good. It brings up important notions like...(my paraphrases)

God can only relate to us with the self that we give him,and so in presenting a false self we cannot expect God to relate to us as well.

That when we find out that God loves us, the real us, the sinful us, even the self that we do not even know, we can go to God in honestly and humility and this will help our relationship with God hugely.

Anyway this was supposed to be about me fasting music..wasn't it?

So it all hasn't been a bed of roses. When I have been tired or run down or just want to relax it would be nice to have some chill out music to make me feel God. But I keep coming back to the fact that I am not here to feel good but to be more like Christ and in communicating with God more freely I will be able to do this faster and more effeciently.

My epic journey of self-discovery

2008-09-14T16:16:00.006+12:00

I am about to embark on an epic jouney of self-discovery and edification I am weary and not overly happy when I consider the next two weeks. I have begun a two week fast. Until next Saturday I will not have any... music!

Ha, had ya there for a while. I have decided that I serious need to sort some stuff out in my life and I know that God is the only one that can really help me do this. I know that he created me and that he knows me better than I know me, and so when I come and talk to Him in prayer I trust that he can and will answer me with such wisdom and understanding that I only my own could never have. So this is my reason for the music fast.

Becuase of the way I have been bought up(Loving, Devoted, Christ-ian home, with two amazing parents) I have a good understanding of God and who he is and because of this I have few issues going to Him when I have a problem. All my life, even when I had turned away from God and was living a life for me, I would still pray to God for physical healing needs, like stubbed toes and headaches and such. So knowing God was there is never the issue.

But. One of the issues I do have is FOCUS. I have focus issues, actually I'm a bit of a perfectionist and so IF you can get me focused then you are set, and I will complete the task or die trying. So when I do something I am all in.

Like at work I am usually really serious and focused on that. I work at an Italian Restaurant and on Saturdays I manage the Restaurant and lately my favorite thing has been to take me cell phone and play music thru it as I do prep in the morning and afternoon. Its so cool cos I can just put my phone with loudspeaker, on the bench next to me and have Norah Jones or Nat King Cole or something chill playing and I sing along and am pretty happy.

But my issue is, I am not here on Earth for a nice time, to be pretty happy. As a Christian I live to Glorify Jesus. To me that means, that everything I have, everything I am is here to make Jesus famous and to show his character and life, through mine while I am here on Earth.

So if that I why I am here, if that is the purpose of my existence then do I really have a reason for have a lovely time at work, chopping vege tables and singing to 60's music...
Well my answer to that would be yes. I do have a reason to be there, I have many reasons to be there..

to earn money..
to furfil responsibilitys as an employee..
To show Christ to others at my work..

Those are just a few of the many reasons why I personally go to work on Saturdays. The main reason is probably the money. It is helping me save and have a little extra to spend.

But in my list I did not mention things like:

grow as a Christian..
deepen my relationship with Christ..
increase my influence in my co-workers lives..
to bless my boss with my excellent work..

Things things are the things that can be easily missed and most poeple would never think of doing during work hours.
Well as I look at it, if you have to be somewhere and the task required is not incredibly taxing, then this is what I call FREE TIME.

Free time is time that would normally be used for one things but can be utilized for many more. This is where the FOCUS thing comes in. See if my job was really intense and used all of my availible energy and intelligence and skills then I would not be writing this. However, I find that many activities that we as modern 21st Century humans engage in uses not even half of our availible facilities.

Chefing does not take a large amount of effort. There are extremly busy times and these can be very tazing but often you spend hours preparing a single item and only 1hr in concentrated service.
For example: At a restaurant I used to work at involved the regular task of making Pesto. So the young chefs would get the glorious job of cutting up more than 1kg of Parsley, a bunch about as big as someones behind, so pretty huge. The blender they had was rubbish and wouldn'
t cut and so this job would take about 2hrs to complete. Now this was the most hated job of all in the kitchen. I offered to do it one day and regreted it.

After about 20mins chopping parsley I was over this job and wanted a new one, but I had to finish. So I thought oh well I will make the most of this. So I began to sing and have a great time. I was singing everything and then I started bravely singing some worship songs. Then it dawned on me that I could pray during this boring time to help me survive. So I would sing a song thank God for the words and what they told me about him. I would pray for the other chefs and there families and whatever I wanted to pray for. This was great. I also found it was a great time to talk to other people. Most chefs are freindly bubly people and so its great times, down the back of some kitchen talking about random stuff and getting to know people more. It became my one of my favorite jobs because it meant I could spend 2 hrs thinking and talking to God, or speaking into the lives of co-workers.

So that was free time. I had to be there. I was getting paid and I was doing the job. But I was also having a sweet time with God. But that did require a little focus, however. The repetitve motion of chopping herbs took care of itself but keeping my mind, and mouth on God took a little bit more effort. It is not hard in essence but when someone comes and talks to you or theres alot of commotion around you it gets harder. This is where a choice comes in.

This might be a good time for me also to add that apart from being on Earth for God, we are here for His people next, and so they take precidence over my own self.
For example: I could pray when I was by myself down the back but as soon as someone came and chatted to me I'd find it hard. Or if someone wanted to have a chat up front and got me to do the chopping up there, I couldn't really pray or think about God tooo much. But becuase his people(anyone who is a child of God..so all humans) come first I didn't normally mind.

But in my current job, I have times where no one talks to me significantly and I can have time to pray. But if I put headphones on or crank up the music, my brain will struggle to do theee things, do my job, listen to music and seek God.

If we take out the, as I read recently the "soul numbing" music and leave my options open to pray, seek and listen to God then I can use this 'free time' for things like as I said before,

grow as a Christian..
deepen my relationship with Christ..
increase my influence in my co-workers lives..
to bless my boss with my excellent work..

If I make the choice to eliminate the "Soul Numbing" things in my environment then my Spirit, my soul will be free to communicate with God and to be aware of my surrounding.

But freeing up the mind and soul I can seek God about issues in my life and ask for his guidance and wisdom on these issues. But me silently(or verbally, but your work mates might think ur weird)seeking and asking and God answering my questions and thoughts I can grow in my faith in Christ and deepen my relationship with Christ.

Not only that but also if I only have my work and thinking about God, I am going to be sooo much more open to my co-workers around me. My secular job is one of the most effiecient evangelism tools for me as a Christian. It allows me firstly contact with many non-christians but also it gives me excellent time to input into there lives. As we are often together, we get to know each other very well and as a result I have had soo many great oportunitys to pray for sick people, talk about my faith and most importantly show people my faith, and what a Christian is like, cos man do the watch you ever so intently, if they know you are a Christian.

If I had music cranking or was wearing headphones I would miss out on this amazing time to connect with God for my own benifit, but also would waste vital time I have with non-christians.

These are only two reason of the reasons I am fasting. Stay tuned as I document my journey.

A Tad Old Skool, alot cool.

2008-08-21T10:29:00.003+12:00

I am currently doing a paper on Spiritual Development at Vision College and the Lecturer is a Anglican Preist in Hamilton. He bought in his book of Liturgy, which I had never seen and thought it was kinda satan. ha I know thats a very ignorant view and Im ok saying I may be ignorant in this area of churches. anyway it got me thinking and at first I shyd away from the idea of reading rope prayers.

But then on SVU last night there was a cool scene where a Catholic Policeman went to a church and prayed a prayer of confession, must have been a learned on and it intruiged me.. I found this this morning, via google.

Adapted from John Calvin's Geneva Liturgy of 1543:

Lord God, eternal and almighty Father: We acknowledge before your holy majesty that we are poor sinners, conceived and born in guilt and in corruption, prone to do evil, unable of our own power to do good. Because of our sin, we endlessly violate your holy commandments. But, O Lord, with heartfelt sorrow we repent and turn away from all our offenses. We condemn ourselves and our evil ways, with true sorrow asking that your grace will relieve our distress. Have compassion on us, most gracious God, Father of mercies, for the sake of your son Jesus Christ our Lord. And in removing our guilt, also grant us daily increase of the grace of your Holy Spirit, and produce in us the fruits of holiness and of righteousness pleasing in your sight: Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Enjoying the Journey...
RiCO

Psalm 119:9...

2008-08-18T13:06:00.001+12:00

Psalm 119 : 9(HCSB) How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping Your word.

Reading Psalm 7 this morning I saw the righteous mind of David. In the Psalm he is seeking refuge from His enemies...

Psa 7:1 CEV (Written by David. He sang this to the LORD because of Cush from the tribe of Benjamin.) You, LORD God, are my protector. Rescue me and keep me safe from all who chase me.
Psa 7:2 Or else they will rip me apart like lions attacking a victim, and no one will save me.
Psa 7:3 I am innocent, LORD God!
Psa 7:4 I have not betrayed a friend or had pity on an enemy who attacks for no reason.
Psa 7:5 If I have done any of this, then let my enemies chase and capture me. Let them stomp me to death and leave me in the dirt.

In verses 3-5 he states his innocence and righteousness(in a good way). I find it intersesting how in the Old Testament, and especially David's Psalms.. there righteousness and accordance to the Law is shown and celebrated. David here is seeking refuge in God, but says, If he has sinned or done anythign wrong then God can give let his enemies give him the smack down.
Its a diffinate contrast from where we live, under grace and mercy. I think it is cool how they had conditions for Gods help in a way. But when I actually put that into my life... I'd be dead cos of my Sin if we lived by the Law's standard. And I don't live under that standard, but under grace (Eph 2:1-10) but yet I still see that awesomeness of such people like David.

This leads me onto Psalm 119. In have begun memorizing the Psalm after I found out that the way it is written(Hebrew Acrostic) was to help commit it to memory. So thats what i'm doing. One Stanza(8 verses) a week, pretty much 1 a day. In up to Beth ב verses 9-16.
Todays verse Psalm 119 : 9(HCSB) "How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping Your word." This shows the same idea as in Psalm 7, that it is keeping the Law that will help keep us pure. I am still learning exactly what this Psalm is refering to when it mentions the Law/Commandments/ Statutes but it could be seen as being two things.

I believe to the writer(not mentioned, probably not David) it could have meant the Torah(the first 5 books) the Law, the Commandments, the Mosiac Law. And this would be fine to assume. I fancy to liken it to the whole of God's word, as I have been given and revealed by God, his entire word is useful for equiping and rebuking the saints( 2 Tim 3:16). So I take it as being both.

That would explain the view of O.T believers, becuase all they had was the Law and not grace, now we do have grace, but we cannot discount the law entirely and call it sin to live under grace(See Rom 6:1, 7:1), NO. We must embrace first grace, and then the Law for guidance and as the ultimate standard to liuve by.

Anyway.

Psalm 119 : 9(HCSB) "How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping Your word."
I love this verse. I have come across a marvelous treasure and that is "The Treasury of David by Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)”. It is fantastic. I have given you the commentray on this verse below. Its long but sooooo delicious.

“Psa_119:9
“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?” How shall he become and remain practically holy? He is but a young man, full of hot passions, and poor in knowledge and experience; how shall he get right, and keep right? Never was there a more important question for any man; never was there a fitter time for asking it than at the commencement of life. It is by no means an easy task which the prudent man sets before him. He wishes to choose a clean way, to be himself clean in it, to cleanse it of any foulness which may arise in the future, and to end by showing a clear course from the first step to the last; but, alas, his way is already unclean by actual sin which he has already committed, and he himself has within his nature a tendency towards that which defileth. Here, then, is the difficulty, first of beginning aright, next of being always able to know and choose the right, and of continuing in the right till perfection is ultimately reached' this is hard for any man, how shall a youth accomplish it? The way, or life, of the man has to be cleansed from the sins of his youth behind him, and kept clear of the sins which temptation will place before him: this is the work, this is the difficulty.
No nobler ambition can lie before a youth, none to which he is called by so sure a calling; but none in which greater difficulties can be found. Let him not, however, shrink from the glorious enterprise of living a pure and gracious life; rather let him enquire the way by which all obstacles may be overcome. Let him not think that he knows the road to easy victory, nor dream that he can keep himself by his own wisdom; he will do well to follow the Psalmist, and become an earnest enquirer asking how he may cleanse his way. Let him become a practical disciple of the holy God, who alone can teach him how to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil, that trinity of defilers by whom many a hopeful life has been spoiled. He is young and unaccustomed to the road, let him not be ashamed often to enquire his way of him who is so ready and so able to instruct him in it.
Our “way” is a subject which concerns us deeply, and it is far better to enquire about it than to speculate upon mysterious themes which rather puzzle than enlighten the mind. Among all the questions which a young man asks, and they are many, let this be the first and chief' “Wherewithal shall I cleanse my way?” This is a question suggested by common sense, and pressed home by daily occurrences; but it is not to be answered by unaided reason, nor, when answered, can the directions be carried out by unsupported human power. It is ours to ask the question, it is God's to give the answer and enable us to carry it out.
“By taking heed thereto according to thy word.” Young man, the Bible must be your chart, and you must exercise great watchfulness that your way may be according to its directions. You must take heed to your daily life, as well as study your Bible, and you must study your Bible that you may take heed to your daily life. With the greatest care a man will go astray if his map misleads him; but with the most accurate map he will still lose his road if he does not take heed to it. The narrow way was never hit upon by chance, neither did any heedless man ever lead a holy life. We can sin without thought, we have only to neglect the great salvation and ruin our souls; but to obey the Lord and walk uprightly will need all our heart and soul and mind. Let the careless remember this.
Yet the “word” is absolutely necessary; for, otherwise, care will darken into morbid anxiety, and conscientiousness may become superstition. A captain may watch from his deck all night; but if he knows nothing of the coast, and has no pilot on board, he may be carefully hastening on to shipwreck. It is not enough to desire to be right; for ignorance may make us think that we are doing God service when we are provoking him, and the fact of our ignorance will not reverse the character of our action, however much it may mitigate its criminality. Should a man carefully measure out what he believes to be a dose of useful medicine, he will die if it should turn out that he has taken up the wrong vial, and has poured out a deadly poison' the fact that he did it ignorantly will not alter the result. Even so, a young man may surround himself with ten thousand ills, by carefully using an unenlightened judgment, and refusing to receive instruction from the word of God. Wilful ignorance is in itself wilful sin, and the evil which comes of it is without excuse. Let each man, whether young or old, who desires to be holy have a holy watchfulness in his heart, and keep his Holy Bible before his open eye. There he will find every turn of the road marked down, every slough and miry place pointed out, with the way to go through unsoiled; and there, too, he will find light for his darkness, comfort for his weariness, and company for his loneliness, so that by its help he shall reach the benediction of Psa_119:1 of the Psalm, which suggested the Psalmist's enquiry, and awakened his desires.
Note how the first section of eight verses has for its first verse, “Blessed are the undefiled in the way,” and the second section runs parallel to it, with the question “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?” The blessedness which is set before us in a conditional promise should be practically sought for in the way appointed. The Lord saith, “For this will I be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them.”

Psalm 119:9 The Treasury of David by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Commiting Scripture to Memory...

2008-08-12T11:33:00.003+12:00

So after reading a lovely book on the Hebrew alphabet in Proverbs 31, I remembered that Psalm 119 is also a alphabetical Poem like Proverbs 31:10-31.

Upon investigating I realised that Indeed Psalm 119 is such a poem and it is written this way most probably to help commit it to memory. And as this Psalm is about God's word and me and a friend the other day were talking about memorising scripture I am going to give it a go.

I don't really know how I will do it but I plan to meditate on the Psalm daily, probably focusing on 8 verses a week. Now this would be a teadious process, except that is one a day and that would prove to be very quick, meaning I could probably memorize the whole 176 verses in nearly 1 Year.

I will probably blog my meditations, not to show them as 100% right, but in the hope that my thinkings might help you as a reader have a greater love for God's word. So enjoy.

Psalm 119

א Alef

¹How happy are those whose way is blameless, who live according to the law of the LORD!

²Happy are those who keep His decrees and seek Him with all their heart.

³They do nothing wrong; they follow His ways.

⁴You have commanded that Your precepts be deligently kept.

⁵If only my ways were commited to keeping Your statutes!

⁶Then I would not be ashamed when I think about Your commands.

⁷I will praise you with a sincere heart when I learn Your righteous judgements.

⁸I will keep Your statutes; never abandon me.

Verse 1 Seems to be a title to not only this group but also the general idea of the whole Psalm.

The Word of God is so powerful and is such that we cannot remain the same upon reading it.

Some practical things which come from the reading of the Word of God; “way is blameless”(v1);”keep His decrees and seek Him with all their heart”(v2); “They do nothing wrong; the follow His ways”(v3); “I will praise you with a sincere heart”(v7); “I will keep Your statutes”(v8).

All of the above actions come from reading, walking, keeping our ways/attention on the word of God. One would think that they first would need the desire to read the word, when in fact what little desire we have will be multiplied by reading/walking/obeying/holding to the word of God. It is in a way a vicious cirlce of perpetual motion. If you don't have the passion you won't read it and then won't gain more passion and insight. But if you do have some passion and read it then you will gain more. So I guess this is where habit and even some might say duty comes into play. Without the duty of Bible reading, we might not read the word,and so not be encouraged or enlightened.

I believe that it is not a duty at all, but this being said I have an intense passion and love for the Word of God. But of course there are times when I do not feel like reading the Bible, and then I do my duty. I still love God, I still want to seek Him, I still want to serve Him and so I read not nessesarily out of duty but maybe more-so out of nessesity. As I know that without God I am nothing and will soon wither away to nothing. So I read, even when I don't want to because I desire to be filled with God's spirit and knowledge and the Bible is the main way I can do this. And I trust that I will be guided to read what I need to read by the Holy Spirit and that God will reward me for seeking him.

Is God Bigger than my Questions...?

2008-07-11T10:02:00.004+12:00

This week my attention was drawn to a very interesting atheist/Agnostic blog at www.de-conversion.com. My interest was sparked when I found a list of the top 7 reasons why people had de-converted. I thought it was another crack pot hilly billy blog about how silly Christians are, or another half-witt having a go at the Bible because he simply can.

It ends up that many of the contributors, from various faiths and beliefs and unbelief are very well read, intelligent and adult about the discussions that occur. In the past I have entered into such discussions thinking
"they don't know what they are talking about and they are not even using correct ways of interpreting the Bible."

But it is the opposite, many have several Christian Degrees and various education a lot higher than mine. I have really enjoyed commenting and reading the numerous posts by different individuals.

But there has been one small side affect, I have started to question things in my mind and it has got me thinking Is God Bigger than my Questions...?

The answer to that I know. Yes of course. All my life God has been bigger than anything. This started in primary school when I would have a shouting war a someone in the playground. It would be over some trivial matter like whether my dad was stronger than Williams dad. So we would have a Shouting War... it would start off and we would say that if our dads fought, who would win...?
This of course would require reinforcements like,
Me: "Well my dad has got all my brothers and hes gonna win",

William: "But my dad has got my uncle Rangi and Unlce Bulli and they shearers and will win against your brothers"

Me: "But my dads got the New Zealand Army so there"

William: "Well my dad will get the Entire Army of the USA. so there"

Me: "Well my dad will have God and all the angels on his side, ha I win"!!!

See in my mind God has always been the biggest possible thing I know, in physical size and nowadays in Majesty and love as well.
God was my ultimate trump card. No matter what has happened in my life I pull out the Big God card and slam it into the situation. And God wins.

So in this situation currently, where I am commenting amongst a people who have de-converted( usually a very educated and well researched decision) for various reason. I cannot help but begin to ask my heart and my God the same questions they are posting so openly.

Is it wrong to question? Is it unfaithful to ask the why's of what I believe?

I think it is intelligent and required for the Christian life. Recently I talked to a lovely girl from Australia and she has been at Bible School for the last 3 years and she is about to complete a 3yr degree in theology. She said the best part was learning more about her own faith, but also the hardest part was having that same faith ripped to shreds by the lecturers.
To truly understand and be able to talk effieciently about what we believe, we need to have it tested and tried, becuase otherwise it is a weak faith and that will not stand up to the persecution and tribulation of this world.

Being a Christian is not gonna get any easier, the Bible says persecution will come and so I myslef am getting ready. Its not always fun but pruning is always good for the plant in the long run.

Have a great day, ask God something and let him answer it today.

2008-07-03T09:02:00.004+12:00

Im not about copying other peoples work at all so the following is openly copy and pasted from a daily email I get. These daily little ideas are amazing to read. So often they hit the spot where I need it. The challenge, equip and encourage for my everyday life...

The Word for Today
With Bob Gass

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
New Zealand

Having A Steadfast Purpose!

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast. - Isaiah 26:3 NIV

Knowing your purpose gives meaning to your life. This is why people try dubious methods like astrology and psychics to discover it. When your life has a steadfast purpose you can bear almost anything. Without it, nothing is bearable. Isaiah complained, "I have laboured to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing" (Isa 49:4 NIV). Job lamented, "I give up; I am tired of living. Leave me alone. My life makes no sense" (Job 7:16 GNT). Dr. Bernie Siegel found that he could predict which of his cancer patients were most likely to survive by asking, "Do you want to live to be 100?" Those with a deep sense of purpose who answered "yes", were the ones who would live.

Having a steadfast purpose simplifies life. It defines what you do and what you don't do. It becomes the standard you use to evaluate which activities are essential and which aren't. Without purpose you've no real foundation on which to base your decisions, allocate your time and use your resources. You tend to make choices based on circumstances, pressures, and your mood at that moment. When you don't know your purpose you try to do too much, and that causes stress and conflict. It's impossible to do everything people want you to do; you have just enough time to do God's will. If you can't get it all done, you're trying to do more than God intended.

A steadfast purpose makes your lifestyle simpler and your schedule saner. And it leads to peace of mind: "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast" (Isa 26:3 NIV).

If you are not reading the Word for Today then you should be. Visit Rhema Broadcastign Group NZ at http://www.rhema.co.nz/ and click on the WORD FOR TODAY page. sign up for the emails or order a hard copy. its great to put in the bathroom and read it while u are seemingly indisposed. ha. Thanks for reading

For my ONE purpose,
to Serve Jesus Christ up to everyday people.

RiCO

Another thought for Today, from the Word for Today

2008-07-01T07:10:00.002+12:00

The Word for Today With Bob Gass	Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 New Zealand
Hello Ricky Smith, here is today's "The Word for Today", brought to you by Rhema Broadcasting Group in association with The Vine - www.thevine.co.nz™ If you would like to support the work of The Word for Today, please click here to donate to Rhema Broadcasting Group - The Publishers of "The Word for Today".

Why Does It Take So Long?

Practise these things. Devote your life to them. - 1 Timothy 4:15 GWT

Why does change take so long? Because: (1) We are slow learners. How often have you failed and thought, "Not again! I thought I knew better." The history of Israel illustrates how quickly we forget the lessons God teaches us and revert to old attitudes and patterns of behaviour. That's why "We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away" (Heb 2:1 NIV).

(2) We have a lot to unlearn. We go to a counsellor with a problem that took years to develop and say, "Fix me. I've got an hour." Whoa! Your problems didn't develop overnight and they won't disappear overnight. There's no pill, prayer or principle that will instantly undo the damage of many years. It requires the hard work of removal and replacement. The Bible calls this "Taking off the old self, and putting on the new self" (Eph 4:22-23 NIV). We still have old patterns, practices and predispositions that need to be dealt with.

(3) Growth is painful. Every change involves a loss of some kind. We must let go of our old ways in order to experience the new life Christ promised. And we fear these losses, even if our old ways are self-defeating, because, like a worn-out pair of shoes, they are comfortable and familiar. (4) Habits take time to develop. Your character is the sum total of your habits. And there is only one way to develop the habits of Christ-like character: you must practise them over and over! There are no instant habits. That's why Paul urged Timothy to "Practise these things. Devote your life to them" (1 Ti 4:15 GWT).

The bit in red is huge. I guess its kinda a realization. In 3rd form I began to hide my Jesus away in my pocket and by 4th form he was just a long distant cousin. No wonder I still have some issues. the things I learnt then I have to unlearn. And that was nearly 10 years ago.

What do you have in your life that seems to be not budging? What sin or issue or feeling or insequrity are you harbouring for a later day?

Sort it out. Tell God about it and ask him to begin to do the work. If you build a tower from the foundation up, if you were to rebuild cos the foundation was dodgy you would have to first demolish it down to the foundation to then build again.

Ask God today to help u pick up that sledge hammer and begin too demolish that thing u are harbouring!

May God bless you today, and suprise the heck out of you by his goodness!

...the MINISTRY of Reconciliation

2008-06-24T08:36:00.003+12:00

So for the last two days I've been doing a lil study on some verses from 2 Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 5:17 is a great verse:

2Co 5:17 (KJVA) Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

And you should have a deep look into it, the original language is life changing...

But I didn't even focus on that. I read 18 and it grabbed my attention instantly. There was one word that has kept me glued to this verse for a week... have a read

2Co 5:18 (KJVA) And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

What is the one word that has kept this verse on my tounge for a week and made me quite excited... ministry!

Why should I be sooooo excited about one word. Well because in context this word 'ministry' should and will change lives.

2 Corinthians 5:18 says pretty much. That God through Jesus Christ has bought us to himself, he has reconciled us to himself but not only that, he has given us the ministry of reconciliation. Obviously this term 'reconciliation' needs some illumination.

Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary of American English

Reconciliation
RECONCILIA'TION, n. [L. reconciliatio.]

1. The act of reconciling parties at variance; renewal of friendship after disagreement or enmity.

Reconciliation and friendship with God, really form the basis of all rational and true enjoyment.

2. In Scripture, the means by which sinners are reconciled and brought into a state of favor with God, after natural estrangement or enmity; the atonement; expiation.

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression and to make an end of sin, and to make reconciliation for iniquity. Dan 9. Heb 2.

3. Agreement of things seemingly opposite, different or inconsistent.
Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries
G2644
καταλλάσσω
katallassō
kat-al-las'-so
From G2596 and G236; to change mutually, that is, (figuratively) to compound a difference: - reconcile.

G2643
καταλλαγή
katallagē
kat-al-lag-ay'
From G2644; exchange (figuratively adjustment), that is, restoration to (the divine) favor: - atonement, reconciliation (-ing).
Thayer’s Greek Definitions

G2644
καταλλάσσω
katallassō
Thayer Definition:
1) to change, exchange, as coins for others of equivalent value
1a) to reconcile (those who are at variance)
1b) return to favour with, be reconciled to one
1c) to receive one into favour

RiCO's dictionary of brain

So my understanding is that reconciliation usually occurs when you have two parties/things which are seperarted by some variance/gap/distance and they are bought together.
In relation to God and the sinner, the gap is widened by our sinful state and God cannot have anything to do with us because of that sin. But God in his Love sent Christ to be the filler, as one fuel member put it on sunday, Jesus "stretched real far and connected the two". Christ is our go between. We can be reconciled/bought to God in favour by Christ.

Isn't that amazing. God has bought us into Favor with himself through Christ.

But that is not what made me get all excited and write a blog... this did

2Co 5:18 KJVA

"...and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation."

Not only have we been set free and bought into favor with God ourselves, but we have been given the ministry of reconsiliation to give to others. This word ministry got me so excited because I had an idea about what a "ministry" entails. I run a ministry called Fuel, it devours as much time as I will feed it, and its hunger is never quenched, for it is a beast, a lovely Christ centered, seething beast!

I know what it means to run a ministry and to minister to those kids the amazing love and power of God. So when Paul says that we have a ministry of Reconciliation I started paying attention.

I look severly into the means of certiain words, especially ministry.

Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries

G1248
διακονία
diakonia
dee-ak-on-ee'-ah
From G1249; attendance (as a servant, etc.); figuratively (eleemosynary) aid, (official) service (especially of the Christian teacher, or technically of the diaconate): - (ad-) minister (-ing, -tration, -try), office, relief, service (-ing).

from
G1249
διάκονος
diakonos
dee-ak'-on-os
Probably from διάκω diakō (obsolete, to run on errands; compare G1377); an attendant, that is, (generally) a waiter (at table or in other menial duties); specifically a Christian teacher and pastor (technically a deacon or deaconess): - deacon, minister, servant.
Thayer’s Greek Definitions

G1249
διάκονος
diakonos
Thayer Definition:
1) one who executes the commands of another, especially of a master, a servant, attendant, minister
1a) the servant of a king
1b) a deacon, one who, by virtue of the office assigned to him by the church, cares for the poor and has charge of and distributes the money collected for their use
1c) a waiter, one who serves food and drink
Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary of American English

Ministry
MIN'ISTRY, n. [L. ministerium.] The office, duties or functions of a subordinate agent of any kind.

1. Agency; service; aid; interposition; instrumentality.

He directs the affairs of this world by the ordinary ministry of second causes.
RiCO's dictionary of brain

Gk: diakonos
For me: Deakon, Servant, Minister (Christian)

So if we are to have a ministry of reconciliation we are to serve people the power and majesty of God through Christ. We are to be ministers of God's reconcilitaion to our fellow man.

This of course takes on a very personal and intimate nature, if the ministry of reconciliation is up to me, by the Holy Spirit out-working through me then my personalilty, experiences and knowledge all become a part of this ministry to my freinds.

Are you a minister of reconciliation in your circle of influence...?

Do you truly understand God's reconciliation for you?

If we do not understand fully what Christ has done in our hearts, how are we expected to give a proper representation to others !

Your In Christ

Kenrick Ryhs Dodson Smith

Last week...

2008-06-24T08:29:00.002+12:00

Last week was pretty much horrible for focus... but I am still alive, Jesus still loves me and I did still influence people for Christ.

Today was good tho. It was my flatmates birthday, so I got up at 550am and decorated our house with Mark my other flattie, it was cool. we woke her up with party poppers, ballons and streams, and breakfast. The best part is that I got out of bed, i had a little help but im still up and its great.

I even went to sleep at 10pm last night, its a miracle!

R

Focus...(2)

2008-06-18T09:25:00.003+12:00

The following is from the Word for Today... www.thevine.co.nz

... (3) Focused people make commitments, not excuses. A sign on the desk of an officer at the Pentagon read: "The secrecy of my job does not permit me to know what I'm doing." It's a cute joke, but not so cute when it's true. When you don't know what you're doing, you become frustrated and end up failing. That's why praying and getting direction from God, is critical for your life. "In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct Your paths" (Pr 3:6).

This sleeping in thing is getting ridiculous... Ive been to bed that last two nights at 10-10:30 but just cant seem to get out of bed. Maybe its the cold but maybe i'm just a lazy poo.

Any I was talking to a mate this morning and he is gonna ring me every morning, hahhaa till I get in a habbit. Its seems silly but thats how didicated I need to be. he offered anyway cos he is the man.

So Monday Bed10:20pm
Tuesday up 8:00 Bed 10:19
Wednesday up 8:15

Focus...

2008-06-16T12:48:00.004+12:00

The Word for Today had a series last week about Staying Focus". It is something I am going through myself right now. Staying focused on what is really important!

Stay Focused (1)

Let's keep focused...those of us who want everything God has for us. - Philippians 3:15 TM
You become effective by being selective. It's human nature to get distracted. We're like gyroscopes, spinning around at a frantic pace but not getting anywhere. Without a clear purpose you keep changing directions, jobs, relationships, churches, etc., hoping each change will settle the confusion or fill the emptiness in your heart. You think, 'This time it will be different,' but it doesn't solve your real problem - lack of focus.

The power of focusing can be seen in light. With a magnifying glass the rays of the sun can set paper on fire. But when light is focused even more as a laser beam, it can cut through steel. Nothing is as potent as a focused life. The men and women who make the greatest difference in life are the most focused. For instance, the Apostle Paul said, "I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing" (Php 3:13 TLB). Paul's obsession was to make Christ known.

So if you want your life to have impact, focus it! Stop dabbling. Stop trying to do it all. Do less. Turn away from even good activities and do only that which matters most. Never confuse activity with productivity. Poet William Matthews wrote, "One well-cultivated talent, deepened and enlarged, is worth a hundred shallow faculties. The first law of success in this day when so many things are clamouring for attention is concentration - to bend all our energies to one point, and to go directly to that point, looking neither to the right nor to the left." Does focus come easily or naturally? No, it's a discipline that must be practised every day.

I think this quote by William Matthews is awesome

"One well-cultivated talent, deepened and
enlarged, is worth a hundred shallow faculties."
In my life, I need to be more focused. I'm pretty distractable anyway but there is one thing as a Christian I cannot diviate from. And that is from spending concentrated time with God.

As a Christian my goal is to be like Christ, but I know that I am sooo screwed up that this is not an easy task. Through Christ's sacrifice on the cross I am free from the penalty of Sin(death) but it is only through the indwelling life of Christ that I will be free from the Power of Sin(giving in to temptation and fleshly things) in my life.

But it is not only that I am trying to be free of Sin, that is one of the reasons to spend time with God but it is actually my Love for God and my love for people who do not know God that is my main motivation.

I am not here on earth to muck around. As a Christian I have been given a gift from God and that is eternal life in heaven when I die. But I have many good friends who I love dearly who do not know this and have not experienced God's love before.

So this week when I get out of bed early and spend time reading the Bible, and talking to God and his Holy Spirit helping me I am doing it for 2 reasons:

To take control of my life and focus on being a chosen, approved and loved child of God and have dominion over my flesh and sinful desires
To spend time with my Savior and find out his love for the people around me that I am influencing and how he would have me be Christ to them.

So because I am not disciplined at getting out of bed I am going to publish on my blog a record of when I go to bed, when I get up and my progress.

My Goal is:

To be in Bed by 10:15 every night this week.

Then to get out of Bed at 6:30am, every week day

Then to pray the night before and that morning and ask God what he wants me to focus on that day.

Then to spend 1hr doing a Bible Study

Then to tidy my room and do a workout for 15mins

To pray for 45mins for Myslef, Non Christians, Fellow Christian and for Fuel (my ministry).

So Now you know exactly my Goal, you can see how I do.

Content?

2008-06-02T17:14:00.007+12:00

Last night my Pastor Clive talked about having a Positive NO.
He talked from Gen 39:1-10 and the story of Jospeh and Potipha's wife and how Joseph because of his earlier dreams and visions from God he didn't give in to temptation. Because his Yes-the knowledge that he was gonna be used by God helped him say no.

He gave two challenges:
1. Will you begin to see NO as a Positive statement.
No can be a positive statement when you realise that by saying NO to one thing you are inturn saying YES to another.

2. What strong Yes’ do you have in your life?

Last night I had woken up from my slumber while watching a movie at a freinds... and was dropping someone home and she was commenting that she would never find a guy and how it was stink. I said man, “your 18, your ok, I am nearly 23 and i was supposed to be married by now. I said man obviously it’s not gonna happen my way, i was supposed to be married at 18."

And I think in my relaxed state I began to say very wise things.I said something like this. As I see it you can say two things God

“I am your servant and I want to do your will, you know what’s best and do with me what you want to do. "

OR you can say

“I want my hot wife and I want it now”.

God in his grace will give you the second request, he will allow it to happen. It might not be the best thing for you but we have free will and it can happen.

The disturbing part about saying the first thing is that you have to believe it. And if you really truly believe what your saying and mean it then you have little option in what you do. If you are after God’s best then you are in his hands. In saying “God I am your servant, use me how you like” you are in a way giving God permission to begin work in your life.

Because of our free will he will not do anything that we don’t wanna do, we need to allow God to do things... thats intense. There are few times in the Bible where God intervenes into people’s free will. One example is with Saul on the Road to Damascus Road, where he is blinded by a light from Heaven (Acts 9:3).

Saul was someone who was seeming to himself seeking after God’s best interests but was shrouded in the darkness of the Law and False teaching. He was a Pharisee and was one of the greatest persecutors of Christian. He thought this was right but God knew different. His blinding experience opened his eyes to Jesus Christ and his true faith and he soon became one of Christ’s greatest advocates.

Why do I tell you this...I believe God WILL NOT interrupt our nice little lives unless we allow him, and yes it seems kinda weird that I(puny little human) need to ALLOW God(supreme creator of the universe) to work in my life but I believe that it is needed if you want to see incredible change in your life.

For example about a year ago I realised that I had some serious insecurities and I talked to my Pastor about it and he told me that insecurities are the downfall of many leaders. I couldn’t have this happening in my own life so I wanted to sort them out. He gave me some simple advice about how.

He said simply and prayer fully admit to God you have insecurities and then ask that in his time to bring them up and the reason why and help you deal with them. Then he said hang on and brace yourself for the ride. Sure enough about a month down the line a deep insecurity popped up its ugly head and me and I could work through it with God in prayer.

Now would that of come to the surface if I hadn’t asked God to help me find the foundation of those insecurities... maybe, but I think not. It probably would have come up and made some trouble in my life then burrowed deeper into my heart to surface again when I’m not aware.
The moral of the story is that if “allow” God to work in your life he will.

Anyway back to the relationship thing... So I had just told my friend this amazing truth “I am your servant and I want to do your will, you know what’s best and do with me what you want to do.” But I thought I was not living that at all. I was down and upset with God that I didn’t have a girlfriend or the wife I had promised myself at 17.

I thought of this quote by John Maxwell

"Contentment
The contented person has surrendered to a purpose that demands
his or her best; the discontented person has selfishly hoarded much, and
grasping for more, will not rest.

One man gives freely, yet gains even more.
Proverbs 11:24"

Also thinking of the words of Jesus, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matt 16:25)

One preacher puts it like this “Jesus said if you save your life you will loose it, if you loose your life for me sake and the gospel you will find it”... Jesus said if you save your life you will loose it, if you live for this world, for the praise of man, for the adoration of men, for the love of the Gods of this world you loose it, you have nothing.

My life is not my own, the Bible says that I was bought at a price.(1 Cor 6:19). By saying God do with my life as you see fit, I need to surrender to him and to the knowledge that he is in control and that he wants the best for me and will do that. Even if it doesn’t seem right to me at the time.
I’m not saying its gonna be easy, but I am saying if your gonna follow Christ 100% then you need to be secure in Christ and the fact that everything that is happening and will happen is in his wonderful control. See Matt 6:25-34 and Matt 10:29-31 for that assurance

Cioa Cioa
RiCO

Blog to be posted on another site...

2008-05-28T21:05:00.001+12:00

Hi I’m RiCO

This past weekend I had the privilege of being able to attend KIDS LIFE 08 as a guest leader, a 1 day conference for kids in years 5-6 at Life Church in Mt Eden.

I was slighty apprehensive as I drove up to Auckland, considering the conference was for kids and not even with the age group that I work with but I had heard that Rob Bradbury (Planetshakers Melbourne) was gonna be there and was keen to meet him.

When I arrived at 10am I was pleasantly surprised by the friendly staff and over 100 screaming excited kids getting dropped off by there parents. We were moved into a room where a man dressed up as Uncle Sam, was getting the kids all excited and ready to go into the auditorium. I new nothing of what to expect but was quickly amazed at the days proceedings.

I followed the kids into the Auditorium where I a full band was playing and the kids were all up the front going hard worshiping God, hands in the air, singing and loving it, its looked kinda like a mini Hillsong, but with young kids.

After about 3 song the Children’s Pastor, Stephanie Sewell got up and gave an amazing talk to encourage and excite the kids about what they can do in there world. She told storys of amazing young Christians throughout the world.

As I can remember:

Her first story was about a group of children living in a closed country where you will be put in prison for learning about Jesus, cos it is illegal. One day a group of kids climbed up into the attic and found a radio, turned it on and there was a Christian Radio show. They would sneak up into the roof and listen everyday after school, until one day he gave them the opportunity to ask Jesus into there hearts. So together they all prayed and asked Jesus into there Hearts.
A while later on the radio the man said that Jesus was the great physician and that through him people can be healed. On hearing this the kids immediately thought where are the sick people…”in the Hospital they thought” so they snuck into the hospital, and made there way to the 3^rd floor where the sick people were.
They found a man sick, hardly being able to breath seriously ill. The laid hands on him and he was healed and began to walk around the hospital floor. The continued to pray for people on the 3^rd floor and when they were finished the whole floor was well.

Another story of a young six year old Evangelist living in the slums of Indonesia who was preaching to his friends and neighbours and seeing them saved. One day he was kit by a bus as he crossed the road by his house. At the funeral the children were not aloud in due to the culture, but when the aid workers arrived the first 3 rows were full of 50 small children, they said
“what are you doing here, you are not aloud to be here!” The kids replied
“how could they not, this boy was the only one who told us about Jesus.

By this stage I was getting pretty excited myself, and wanted to sneak into Waikato Hospital and heal everyone. These stories all showed young kids standing up for Jesus in there lives and leading the way, often before adults. This is when I found out that the Conference was a LEADERSHIP conference for yr 6-7. Then I knew I was in for a treat. You can’t go wrong teaching leadership skills to young people, especially super young people.

After a quick break we had Rob Bradbury, a absolutely crazy mad Kids Pastor from Australia come and talk to us about dreams and how important they are for our lives and as Christians. His way of communicating with the kids was amazing and hilarious, doing voices and acting out silly skits and telling stories from his life. He shared his dream and one of the things was that he had a dog called RiCO. I was like yeahhhhhhhorr then he said it was a dog. But I didn’t care cos it was a great conversation starter.

After this message and lunch we came back and I saw what I really went up there for. I saw the leaders heart for kids to get connected into God and to truly experience him for themselves. Their Pastor Stephanie and Rob Bradbury began to minister to these kids and I saw the true unashamed passion for Christ which a rarely see in adults displayed in such young children.

It excites me from my head to my toes to see people getting excited about God, being filled with the Spirit, praying, seeing people healed and ministering to each other.

May it continue and increase to all the ages.
RiCO

...In the name of our Lord Jesus...

2008-05-22T13:58:00.003+12:00

This morning in a study i'm working through from New Life Church M.I, I came across an amazing passage in Colossians.

From Colossians 3:12-17(HCSB) about the Church,

12 Therefore, God's chosen ones, holy and loved, put on heartfelt compassion,
kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 accepting one another and
forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the
Lord has forgiven you, so also you must [forgive]. 14 Above all, [put on]
love—the perfect bond of unity. 15 And let the peace of the Messiah, to which
you were also called in one body, control your hearts. Be thankful. 16 Let the
message about the Messiah dwell richly among you, teaching and admonishing one
another in all wisdom, and singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with
gratitude in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do
everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father
through Him.

Last night at my Life Group we had a very intense heated but productive talk/argument about how we are to live a active Christian Lifestyle that will please God and honour his calling in our lives. The main argument was between whether we need to first read the Bible then action will com from that, or whether we need to act and Bible reading will come from that.

Anyway the reason I tell you this is because its all comes back to Jesus and us as his servants wanting to do his will and the best he has for us.

So if we look at verse 17 "And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."
Reading this I wondered what it means to "do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus".

From : John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible. Dr. John Gill (1690-1771) Courtesy of E-Sword

Col 3:17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed,.... Whether in preaching the word
of Christ, in hearing the Gospel, in singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs,
and in conference and conversation with each other; or in whatsoever action,
civil or religious throughout the whole life and conversation, in the
performance of things natural, moral, and evangelical, relating to God or man,
or one another, in the world or church:

do all in the name of the Lord Jesus;
both in the strength of Christ, without whom nothing can be well said or
done; and according to the mind and will of Christ declared in the Gospel, which
is his name; and calling upon his name for assistance in the ministration of his
word, administration of his ordinances, and in the performance of every duty,
directing all to, and having solely in view his honour and glory:

In all things, Spiritual or trivial or mundane wherever they happen to be do them in the Strength and according to the mind and will of Christ in your life.

Man if we were all doing this then how different would our world be. When Christians begin to take Jesus to work, to the pub, to bed to everywhere they are and everything they do instead of keeping Him in a nice little safe CHURCH Box then I know our world would be a different place all together.

When we make the conscious decision to allow Jesus into ALL parts of lives bearing our heart and intentions unashamed and uncovered to him he can and will begin to work an amazing change in our lives. The fact that I've learned, is that because of our free will we have to allow God to work in our lives.

If you are brave enough to say GOD USE ME, HOWEVER, WHENEVER YOU NEED TO COS YOU KNOW BEST! he will go do just that, you have just jumped on the best rollercoaster of your life. Just don't complain if the rollorcoaster gets a bit bumpy or scary.

Trust in God that he will support you, love you and care for you like you will never understand.

Yummy Thoughts on Psalm 63

2008-05-21T11:05:00.003+12:00

Psalm 63 (HCSB)

Praise God Who Satisfies

1 God, You are my God; I eagerly seek You.
I thirst for You;
my body faints for You
in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water.

The intensity and wording used here gives me such a picture of what David was like for his God. I know its poetic but still, to physically thirst for God, to faint for him is crazy. If only I had this hunger for God. Is my Life too easy? If I don't hunger for him, nothing overly bad will happen...

2 So I gaze on You in the sanctuary
to see Your strength and Your glory.

In worship and in praise David says he stares onto God, he is drawing on Gods strength and Gods glory for his physical well being. How often does the Bible use physical terms to describe our relationship with God. In Matthew 4:4 for example, "Man must not live on bread alone buit on everyword that comes from the mouth of God"... this is challenging my thoughts of God...

3 My lips will glorify You
because Your faithful love is better than life.

How many of us can say that Gods love is better than life. Would you give up coffee with a mate to thank God for his Love. I don't know anyone who would... do you? Maybe we don't know truly what is the "faithful love of God"...

4 So I will praise You as long as I live;
at Your name, I will lift up my hands.

Pastor Ray yesterday said after 22yrs of Christianity he has trained himself to praise God how ever he feels. No matter what he will raise his hands and worship God. The psalmist says here that at the Name of God he will praise God. No questions asked. Thats a lifestyle of praise!

5 You satisfy me as with rich food;
my mouth will praise You with joyful lips.

Once again, Gods praise is better than rich food(Lit= Fat or Fatness). This Psalm shows me my need for authentic encounters with God, cos where I am now I would rather have a Burger King Meal... So I need to stand on Gods word and expect God to satisfy me further and ALL things.

6 When, on my bed, I think of You,
I meditate on You during the night watches
It seems the Night watches were 3hr slots during the night in Bible times. This tells me that David not only rose early, Psalm 63:1 KJV, "early will I seek thee" but he also was up late seeking God. This showw how earnest he was.

7 because You are my help;
I will rejoice in the shadow of Your wings.
From verse 2 David found joy in Gods" strength and ...glory" and when we truly know Gods strength and glory and wonder and power we too can draw from him. Until then our huge God is going to be contained by our small minds. We need to be seeking the real God...

8 I follow close to You;
Your right hand holds on to me.

David knew the true God and trusted this powerful God for his life, over and over we see in the Psalms David praising his creator and protector. Psalm 70:5 "You are my help and my deliverer".

9 But those who seek to destroy my life
will go into the depths of the earth.

10 They will be given over to the power of the sword;
they will become the jackals' prey.

11 But the king will rejoice in God;
all who swear by Him will boast,
for the mouths of liars will be shut.

In the midst of Davids life, busy, sinful, and with huge power and decisions to be made he says "the king will rejoice in God" the man with all power and authority will rejoice in God.

Take David's advice today!

"In doing this you will both save yourself and your hearers"...

2008-05-19T16:37:00.002+12:00

So the other day I was txting a mate and they asked ... Bold is Me, Italics is my mate...

Mate: What are you up to tonight anyway...
Just reading my Bible at the moment
Mate: Oh your just trying to be Holy
Na its because I'm not Holy that Im trying to be, and any aren't we called to live "holy and Blameless lives" Eph 1:4
Mate: Ha, I was joking. But we are going to stop our movie and do a Bible study now...

Ok so that was a little txt conversation I had a while ago, it kinda annoyed me that they called me Holy but they were joking... anyway it got me thinking.

I could have just said something like "Just chillin at home" and avoided telling them I was reading my Bible but I didn't. I decided that these people were onto it Christians and so why wouldn't I be honest. The reason was cautious was cos I didn't want to be accused of being too hard core.

That is horrible when a Christian is too scared to tell his beleiveing freinds that he is reading God's word right? Well I found my own Tall Poppy Syndrome expereince. I often hear people use this term Tall Poppy Syndrome and have no Idea what it is. So I googled it...

Tall Poppy Syndrome is the belief that anyone who is successful
or even ambitious needs to be 'cut down' and brought into line with everyone
else.
Origins: In the 20th century(ish), a New
Zealand eager to move away from the English Class
System steered itself toward becoming more egalitarian. This, however,
led to a belief that successful people must have been devious to get where they
are and that they have (or will take) too much for themselves, thus creating
hostility. From http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=79477.

And quality Wikipedia

Tall Poppy Syndrome (TPS) is a pejorative term used in the
United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand to describe what is seen as a
levelling social attitude.
Someone is said to be suffering from tall poppy syndrome when his or her
assumption of a higher economic, social or political position attracts
criticism, being perceived as presumptuous, attention seeking or without merit.
Alternatively, it is seen as a societal trait in which people of genuine merit
are criticized or resented because the attention given them elevates them above
their peers.

So from my understanding Tall Poppy Syndrome happens when someone finds themselves elevated in a cultural setting due to one of many reasons and the people still at lower levels find it nessesary to attack or bring this "elevated" person down to there level.

I finally understand this idea now. In a way my freinds made me feel "elevated" due to my Bible reading. This "elevation" is not wrong, in my mind the person who reads there Bible IS more Holy than one who doesn't. Not in a 'get to heaven faster way' but more like they are partaking in a nessesary part of a relationship with God. So by reading the Bible I am making an effort to learn more about God and what being Holy means.

Anyway, I kept thinking about this in the back of my mind and the other day I heard on Bible Radio 855am Hamilton, a reading from 1 Timothy.

1 Timothy 4:12-16 (NLT)
12 No one should despise your youth; instead, you should be an example to the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until I come, give your attention to public reading, exhortation, and teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you; it was given to you through prophecy, with the laying on of hands by the council of elders. 15 Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all. 16 Be conscientious about yourself and your teaching; persevere in these things, for by doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.

When I heard this my soul was freshened. I will explain why. At the beggining of this year I have moved into a new flat and the people are great, 4 people I already new and was freinds with. It is a two story place and I have a nice spacious room on the upper level. But I have had one problem.

Last year I lived out in a small wet, cold sleepout off the garage in Cook St. This was great tho cos it was far away from others so when I woke from my slumber (usually at 6:00am last year) I could sing, put the radio on, worship, preaching or whatever as LOUD as I wanted to. But in this new flat I am aware that I will wake the other flatmates and annoy them and I want to be a good flatey and not be LOUD and annoying.

So now when I wake up(approx 6:30 on a good day, 830 on a bad, lazy day) I need to be quiet and so I can't crank the mean worship or prayer times cos im scared people will here me and make fun of me or think im extra Holy and give me crap...\

When I'm home during the day I can do it, or at night but I am still scared they will think Im trying to be extra Holy. To be honest I'm just trying to survive as a Christian and honour God with my Life and by reading the Bible I can do this.

So back to the verse...

...15 Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all.

So I don't know the exact context of 1 Timothy but I do know that Paul is talking to Timothy about what he should do as a minister/deacon/pastor/leader in the church. So for me I think this can apply to my life right now.

I think I need to step up and say, "I am gonna read my Bible and I am gonna pray and if it won't wake my flatties I will listen to worship or preaching or whatever I need to when I want". I cannot be scared of what they are gonna think cos in the end I am a follower of Christ and I am gonna change this world for Christ. And I can't do that cowering in my room like a little poppy not wanting to be cut down.

Because if I remain focused and do what I need to do and show this to my freinds, and 16 "Be conscientious about yourself and your teaching; persevere in these things, for by doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers."

Simple by me living a transpearant Christ Centered life I can influence and save people.

If we only had faith like a child...

2008-05-15T11:59:00.002+12:00

As you probably know I run the 11-13s at Eastside Apostolic Church.

Yesterday at my Boys Life Group I run we had a really good talk about many things and the boys recieved things really well and it went good as. But I was completely blown away at the end of the time, already 6:07 (Parents come at 6pm sharp) and I closed in prayer for them. As usual we always do prayer requests for anyone whos keen(all of them).

Numerous requests came from the group... but one boy asked if we cud pray that his dad didn't feel sick anymore. The dad was there so I asked him, "what up mate", he said hes had a dodgy stomach for a while. So I said lets lay hands on him, they all got up and laid hands on him and each prayed for healing, full healing, that he'd be better off than before etc.

Then we laid hands on another boy cos hes trying to bring a Christian freind along to L.G and to church. Then we laid hand on two more boys and they went home.

I was so inspired by the way they pray, I was soo happy. To see 11 and 12yr olds praying huge prayers for there mates and there dads gives me such joy. It is the faith that they have that astounds me. They pray "God heal this mans stomach", and "God make his stomach better than before" and that kinda stuff.

It got me thinking about the common saying "we should have faith like children" and I wondered about what that meant. I figured out that kids are somewhat ignorant, they don't know exactly everything about the world and about how horrible it is yet, and they havn't had too many bad expereinces and are very trusting.

So when I tell these boys that the Bible says that 'we are healed by his strips-that because of Jesus' death and suffering we can be healed' they believe me. If I tell them that the Bible shows that 'God is bigger and stronger than anything they will come up against in this world' they will take that as truth.

This got me thinking about Adults lack of Faith or disbelief in God. And I know the Bible says that without Faith we cannot do anything and "without faith it is impossible to please God" Heb 11:6. When the Bible says that we should pray for the sick and they will be healed... and then we don't isn't that kinda calling God's bluff.

Its like saying "God you are a liar". I think children have such faith becuase they do not doubt what the Bible says. The Bible is God's word, written and inspired by Him for his good purpose.

Are you willing to go against that, or to ignore certain parts? Are you willing to call God a liar...

Being "Slain in the Spirit"...

2008-05-12T19:43:00.002+12:00

A freind recently asked me whether being "slain in the Spirit" could be backed up by scripture... so I did a lil research on the net. This article was the best so far I have found.
The following lengthy but educational article is from a book which I have not read but the article seems to be unbaised and Biblically based.

See the link: http://www.truthortradition.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=607

What are your thoughts on being "slain in the Spirit"? I'd love to hear them.

A Word for today...9th May

2008-05-09T08:21:00.003+12:00

The following is a segment taken from the Word Today on the 5th of May, which I recieve by email.
Check it out on http://www.rhema.co.nz/ or http://www.thevine.co.nz/ or comment me your email address and ill add you to the email list.

Come As You Are

Follow Me, and I will make you... - Matthew 4:19

Understand this: Jesus doesn't invite us to follow Him because we believe in Him. He invites us to follow Him because He believes in us! He says, "Follow Me and I will make you" (Mt 4:19). He knows what we can become when His grace touches our lives. Matthew, a Jew, collected taxes for the Romans who enslaved his people. In their eyes he was lower than scum. Yet Jesus called him and he ended up writing the first book in the New Testament...

This really spoke to me this morning as I was sipping my coffee and eating my breaky...

The other night I invited a Missionary dude, Andy Burton from Belgium to my Mens Life Group and he was talking to us about life in Belgium and numerous things. Someone asked the question "to be effective as a Christian in NZ and Belgium what should we be doing ?"

He said something very interesting... "One of the best things you can do is find out who God says you are...and what he has given you, ask God what has he made you good at..." or something like that.

So yesterday I was asking God, "God who am I to you? What am I good at? Who did you make me to be?"... We can struggle for so long about who we are, Primary School, Highschool, University, one Career after the next and go through life not knowing who we are.

As a Christian I understand that God made me:

Deliberatly - I am not a mistake
For a purpose - If he made me then I've got a job to do
In Love - I am God's child and he cares for me as his own child
In his Image - He made me perfect, even if I have a few rugged layers to get rid of
Who I am - God made me exactly how he wanted, and different and special
Unique - How else is God supposed to reach other "special" people just like me, who enjoy crazy stuff and being weird.

But most of all as a Christian I understand that GOD CHOSE ME! Jesus chose the disciples not because of who they were-the scum of society, thieves, liar, traitors, uneducated fisherman. No he chose them because of who he was.

He says in Matt 4:19 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." And I WILL make you fishers of men... It is God's Holy Spirit, my Jesus who lives in me who does the work.

Prayer: God today may I be your Hands and Feet to a dead people. In Jesus Mighty Name AMEN.

Christ is everything...Colossians 1:15-20

2008-05-08T11:38:00.004+12:00

After Paul’s awesome greeting to the people at Colossae, he goes on to establish Christ is the centre of all things.

Col 1:15-20 (NASB)
15He is the (A)image of the (B)invisible God, the (C)firstborn of all creation.
16For (D)by Him all things were created, (E)both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether (F)thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--(G)all things have been created through Him and for Him.
17He (H)is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
18He is also (I)head of (J)the body, the church; and He is (K)the beginning, (L)the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
19For it was (M)the Father's good pleasure for all (N)the fullness to dwell in Him,
20and through Him to (O)reconcile all things to Himself, having made (P)peace through (Q)the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, (R)whether things on earth or things in heaven.
Cross references:

A)Colossians 1:15 : 2 Cor 4:4
B)Colossians 1:15 : John 1:1
C)Colossians 1:15 : Rom 8:29
D)Colossians 1:16 : Eph 1:10
E)Colossians 1:16 : Eph 1:10
F)Colossians 1:16 : Eph 1:20; Col 2:15
G)Colossians 1:16 : John 1:3; Rom 11:36; 1 Cor 8:6
H)Colossians 1:17 : John 1:1; 8:58
I)Colossians 1:18 : Eph 1:22
J)Colossians 1:18 : Eph 1:23; Col 1:24; 2:19
K)Colossians 1:18 : Rev 3:14
L)Colossians 1:18 : Acts 26:23
M)Colossians 1:19 : Eph 1:5
N)Colossians 1:19 : John 1:16
O)Colossians 1:20 : 2 Cor 5:18; Eph 2:16
P)Colossians 1:20 : Rom 5:1; Eph 2:14
Q)Colossians 1:20 : Eph 2:13
S)Colossians 1:20 : Col 1:16

Col 1:15-20 (TM)
15-18We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.
18-20He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.

Practical Application:

Jesus is not simply God’s son, but he is very God. Not a nice fix-it guy here on earth but God sent to us in a body we could understand. Sent in nothing but human flesh, he was nothing but fully God. If you struggling to understand this..GOOD! Jesus wasn’t a nice guy who was killed, he was GOD who died for me and you, it was God’s plan that he would die for sinners so that we could be bought, only by the blood of Christ, blameless and free before a Holy God, to be saved and live eternally with Him.

15He is the (A)image of the (B)invisible God, the (C)firstborn of all creation.
Jesus Christ, God’s son is the image of God, he is the God that we can see, and read about in the Gospels. He was there in the beginning and as first born of all has all rights and authority over all creation.

16For (D)by Him all things were created, (E)both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether (F)thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--(G)all things have been created through Him and for Him.
Christ was there at first creation(see John 1:1-4) and “Not one thing that exists was made without him.”(John 1:3). Paul writes here to the extent of what was created by Christ, “and so varies the statement as if to prevent the possibility of mistake”(Barnes).

17He (H)is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
The idea that even maybe the birds and the trees have a knowledge of there creator comes to mind here... But obviously the providence of God (That God provides, supports and upholds all things, for his glory and purpose) is very apparent here. Heb 1:3 says “...He sustains all things by His powerful word...”.

18He is also (I)head of (J)the body, the church; and He is (K)the beginning, (L)the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
God showed us his power by raising Christ from the dead, “...far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion... and He put everything under His feet and appointed Him as head over everything for the church,[ekklēsia] which is His body, the fullness of the One who fills all things in everyway...” Eph 1:20-23

19For it was (M)the Father's good pleasure for all (N)the fullness to dwell in Him,
Christ being fully God and perfect is pleasing to God, and he is complete and not missing of anything.

20and through Him to (O)reconcile all things to Himself, having made (P)peace through (Q)the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, (R)whether things on earth or things in heaven.
In Christ we have a passage to God(2 Cor 5:18,Heb 4:14-16)we are made right with God(Rom 3:22). Most importantly God wants us to be saved and that NO ONE would perish...
1 Tim. 2:3-4 "This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth"
2 Pet. 3:9 "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance"

One thing I know...

2008-05-06T13:26:00.003+12:00

One thing I know... is that God is so gracious and so merciful that he will always receive us in whatever state I am.

The picture I get is something of the Father receiving his prodigal wayward son, with Arms wide open.I see God as the father, ready and willing to welcome me back 100% of the time. Time and time again I have found that God is so eager to receive me that he often makes it easier for me, by giving my little hints and nudges to get me to a place where I can come back to him.

Today at staff Meeting Pastor Karen talked about Warning Signs and how so often we are given so many signs and signals but we ignore them or pass them by without taking notice. God will often use other people, scriptures and outside sources to show me where I have been wrong or need to come back to him.

I knows God's ultimate plan for us is to be close to him and to be fully known by God. We see this demonstrated in his son Jesus in Hebrews. Hebrews is an amazing book which shows that Jesus is superior to all other things and people through the whole book. Hebrews 4:14-16 is a very important scripture for me because it talks about my freedom through Christ to come back to God...

Hebrews 4:14-16 (NLT)
14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

When we begin to understand that because of Christ's sacrifice and death we have access to God, we have 24/7 access in God's presence. No matter what. Christ was the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, the final sacrifice, the sacrifice that tore the curtain of the temple in too.

Totally destroying all the mumbo jumbo of coming into God's presence which the people of old were held down to. Verse 16 shows us the freedom we have through Christ...

16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

Come BOLDY, DIRECTLY to GOD. Where he will give you everything we need, all the UNDESERVED KINDNESS, LOVE, ACCEPTANCE, FORGIVNESS and understanding we ever need.

Through Christ we are assured acceptance to God, always!

Just like a fancy new IPOD...

2008-05-05T18:43:00.001+12:00

So today I was driving through Hamilton City, at lunch time and I saw all these people going about there lives and rushing around in there own worlds, all with different stuff going on, and I thought man,

"It would be cool if all these people were Christian, all seeking after God, how cool would it be to be in a city full of Christians. I thought but thats a bit silly to try and push my beleifs on others... This seemed right after all this is a free world.

But then I thought if my Christianity is nice add on to me life, like dancing lessons, or a fancy new IPOD then I can't force that on others. But if my Christianity is something that has changed my life, something that I couldn't do without, something that I know will and needs to change others lives. If I have a faith and Christian walk like that then I will not stop until everybody in this world has heard the Good News of Christ".

And then it occurred to me, "there are soo many people in Hamilton and very few of them are Christian, what would a revival look like, it seems kinda crazy to think that a whole city could be changed for Christ. But how would this happen, obviously someone has to tell them."

S0 how important is YOUR faith?
How important is what you believe?
Is God just something you do, is He a shiny accessory to put in your bag, or keep his book on your book shelf?
Are your freinds Christians because its easier?
Do you go to church just because you fit in?

What is your story, I'd love to hear what being a Christian means to you? What is your relationship with God? What does it mean to you?

Praise Your Way Through (1)

2008-05-01T07:52:00.003+12:00

From the Word for Today, http://www.rhema.co.nz/, http://www.thevine.co.nz/ free to all who want it. I get it by email, a daily encouragement, challenge or thought. Its great.

"When they began to...praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people...who had come against Judah. - 2 Chronicles 20:22 NKJV

There's no law that says praising God is reserved for church on Sunday. It can be a lifestyle: at work, at school, at home, in the shower. Praise brings God's presence, along with His direct intervention. The Psalmist said, "I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth" (Ps 34:1). Before David was a soldier or a king, he killed Goliath with a slingshot and a stone. You don't need an army to defeat your giants, just a well-aimed Scripture backed up with a shout of praise.

Praise is an expression of faith; it's a declaration that God's in control. Praise is not something you engage in simply when you feel like it. The Bible says we're to "offer the sacrifice of praise to God" (Heb 13:15). The more it costs, the more it pays off!

In the Old Testament when their enemies were arrayed against Judah (which means praise), Jehoshaphat their king sent the choir to the front lines ahead of the army to praise God. What a crazy strategy. But it worked! As they went forward worshipping, "the Lord set ambushes against the people...who had come against Judah," and they were defeated (see 2 Ch 20:20-22). Anybody can praise God when 'everything's comin' up roses,' but learn to praise Him when you're in the trenches and He'll defeat whatever's waging war against you. A praise-filled environment stops Satan dead in his tracks - because he knows that God lives in that kind of atmosphere! (See Ps 22:3)."

Praise is essential to Christian Life. I can promise you that if you do not Praise, you will not last long as a Christian. You will become self centered and self focused and you will totally loose sight of God working in your life. I'd put money on it. But if you DO praise and be thankful to God you will not be able to stop what God is doing in your life and your positive attitude towards life.

About a year ago I learnt about something called a Gratitude Journal, a lady called Laurel McCulloch on Radio Rhema (855am Hamms, http://www.rhema.co.nz/) who each day writes three things in her gratitude journal. Then if she has a bad day or week, she will go back and read them.

I have been doing this for nearly one year now. Not everyday and not exactly like she does. I write mine in a dairy, or on little bits of paper and keep them. I have only actually looked back once or twice so far but it helps tremendously.

I know for a fact that life is crazy, busy, hectic, stressful, fun, exciting, blessed but amongst all of this get very caught up in the things of life and often the not so good things.

For example, last night I stayed up late (playing Battlefield 1943) and this morning I was tired and need to read my Bible and pray before work. Now I have two options

I could think and worry about all I have to try and achieve today at work and stress about all the stuff I gotta do, I could think about why I stayed up late and why I'm tired and running late this morning...

OR
I could write down three things(they can be very simple) that I am thankful for. This make me think positively and take my focus of me and my busy life and onto the things I can be grateful for. But most importantly my 3 point of thanks, are directed at God.

These would be today's ones

Thankyou God for wise people, thankyou that your word continues to speak to me from many different sources.
God thankyou for the time I do have here, thankyou for the people I can influence and the lives I am changing through you using me.
Thankyou for you amazing and weird creation of soo many amazing animals. Thankyou that you created so many beautiful and different animals, seemingly for my pleasure.

See that easy. I went to the Hamilton Zoo yesterday, it was SWEET!
So if you are feeling a bit stale, a bit dry, a bit down, alot down. praise God. Thank him for what you do have. I know every single person in this whole world could be thankful for 3 things. And if you can't manage to be that thankful, start with one.

Just do it!

A Supreme Salutation...

2008-04-29T09:07:00.006+12:00

A Supreme Salutation - Col 1:9-14 (HCSB)
For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, 10 so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. 11May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. 13He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

After the initial statement of who the Writer is, we see this type of salutation or prayer in most of Paul’s Letter’s in the NT. See Romans 1:1-10, 1 Corinthians 1:4-9, 2 Corinthians 1:3-7, Galatians 1:3-5, Ephesians 1:3-23, Philippians 1:3-11, Colossians 1:9-20, 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10 and so on.

I just love it, the way Paul greets and encourages his followers and brothers with Scripture and what we would probably call doctrine. I guess this is how Paul greeted all many people, probably definitely in his letters as people may have not met him, so he would be trying to build up a rapport.

Considering that we are living lives to glorify God I would like to see more of this, going on in our Christian conduct. There is so much power and authenticity in Paul’s words and never the same (see above ref) but different according to the audience and issues going on.

I think today we live in a weak society, we definitely live in a culture that is very P.C and where we are unable to say anything that might challenge or upset someone. Do you think we need to change this, especially as Christians we should be living to a higher standard, should we not? I would love to have a culture of friends around me that knew it was ok to challenge me and to ask the hard questions and not be scared I’d get upset. But how many others are like that? Are you?

I will leave you with this verse that I came across the other day that challenged me:

Ephesians 5:15-21
15 Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise—16 making the most of the time, because the days are evil. 17 So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled with the Spirit: 19 speaking to one another in Psalms, hymns and Spiritual songs, singing and making music to the Lord in your heart, 20 giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.

Try it, today speak to a Christian freind using Scripture to encourage them, and even your non-Christian freinds, be sneaky sneaky and encourage them using the word of God, they won't even know.

Bless you all
Kenrick

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors...

2008-04-28T14:42:00.004+12:00

As I was praying the Lord's prayer as I usually do, going through each verse and applying it to my life...

I got up to Matt 6:12 "Forgive us as we forgive others" and as I was praying, God who do I need to forgive today... and in tounges... God bought to mind two different peoples, a freind who had left the church and leadership cos she got burnt out, a family I've known for years now.

When I was a teenager the mum and the dad split up after the guy was found to be having an affair. The sad part was, many years later I found out that the dude was a sunday school teacher and was screwing around on his wife. I was talking to his now ex-wife and she was really angry. She said stuff like "and he was a sunday school teacher and did that, doesn't say much for church". She was obviously pissed of with the church, or God or her ex but still It left a whole family torn apart... as adultery does.

I was thinking about this and asked God why he would bring this up when I was praying, it wasn't anything to do with me.

I think God was showing me that these people were offended, the girl at the church and the family at there "Christian" Dad. Both different but yet both involving offence.

It just reminded me(I read John Bevere's Bait of Satan about 1 year ago) about the nature of offence and what it can do to you as a person, as a Christian. It is unforgivness mascurading as offence.

What we fail to understand is that Christ's forgiveness to the Christian is conditional. The Bible explicitly says in Matthew 6:14-15.

"For if you forgive people thier wrongdoing, your heavenly Father will forgive you aswell. But if you don't forgive people, you Father will not forgive your wrongdoing."

May this be a sobering reminder to you of Jesus' command to us.

If you have unforgivness or you are holding onto a offence someone has caused you then sought it out. Ask God to help you, and ask him to bring to your heart what the real issue is.

Forgiveness isn't like a magic wand, but when we realise that we have been forgiven for evey hinous sin we have commited against God then we are able to understand and forgive God. It is hard work but essential for Christian life and may I say it salvation...

Theodore Roosevelt once said...

2008-04-28T10:17:00.003+12:00

" Far better is it to dare mighty things, to gain mighty triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than t take rank with those poor spirits whon neither gain much nor suffer much because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory or defeat."
Theodore Roosevelt

I'm scared...

2008-04-27T17:42:00.000+12:00

I was thinking just today about the idea that hopefully everyone in the world, but diffinately in NZ would know a Christian. And if they only know one then it is quite important that, that "Christian" is like Christ.

The disturbing thing is that if that "Christian" is not a good representative of Christ then we are kinda in trouble. How many people read the Bible? How many people could say that they knew Jesus, or at least knew what he stood for, knew what kind of a person he was...? probably not to many, I've been a "Christain" now for about 4 years, I only say that cos before that I didn't really give a stuff for what God wanted or who Jesus was, so I take it from the point I decided to live my life in a way that would be something close to that of Jesus'.

Just think tho, I'm no where near perfect, and no where near Jesus at all so I have a problem, because I wear a little invisible badge on me that says REPRESENTATIVE OF CHRIST. And if I am not showing people the real Jesus then we are screwed. I'm screwed cos im not doing my job as a Christian, and your screwed cos you have a messed up view of Jesus and therefore of God and therefor your eternity is at stake.Its all pretty freaky really, so much is at stake and yet we(Christians) think we can live how we like.

MY QUESTION TO YOU: You might be the only Jesus people ever met, would they go away having a good impression of Jesus?

Colossians 1:13-14

2008-04-26T14:15:00.003+12:00

13 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

I really enjoyed doing the word study the other day so I’m gonna do it again. I have included the greek word in italics too this time for fun. I helps me to understand the text. (I do wonder though how reliable the Strong’s Greek and Hebrew are???, doing church history I have found that there terms probably began to be used around 405 A.D at the creation of the Vulgate, the Latin translation. Maybe someone could tell me?)

Col 1:13-14 KJV
13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

(KWSB, Kenrick’s Word Study , haha)
13 Who hath delivered (rhuomai ; through the idea of a current, to rush or draw (for oneself),that is, rescue)
us from thepower(exousia ; force, influence, jurisdiction, strength, mastery)
of darkness(skotos ; shade, shadow, shadiness, obscurity, an adumbration)
and(kai ;copulative or cumulative force)
hath translated(methistēmi methistanō ; carry away, exchange, seduce, put out, remove, turn away)
us into the kingdom(basileia; royalty, rule, realm, reign)
of his (hautou ; of himself, of his own)
dear(agapē /agapao ; (much) love, affection, benevolence)
Son:( uiho ; child)
14 In (en; instrumentally)
whom we have(echo; to hold, possession, ability, contiguity, relation)
redemption (apolutrōsis; ransom in full, riddance, salvation, deliverance)
through(dia; after, amoung, at, by reason of, for sake, thereby)
his (autos ; the idea of a baffling wind )
blood(aima ; blood shed),
[even] the forgiveness(aphesis ; freedom, pardon, liberty, remission, lay aside, omit)
of
sins:( hamartia ; offence, to miss the mark(in relation to archery, therefore not gaining the prize), faults, trespass)

Colossians 1:13-14 (K.A.B, Kenrick’s Amplified Bible)hehehe
13 He bought us to a place of rescue, turned us away from the jurisdiction of the darkness (life of shadows) into the kingdom ruled by his His much loved Son.

14 Because of Him (Christ) we can take hold of our salvation, the ransom being already paid in full, by his blood spilled and our sins laid aside.

God is so faithfiul. But to what standard?

2008-04-25T18:10:00.004+12:00

So I was just talking to my mum and was telling her how i'm so busy at work, but I had to tell her about the amazing blessings I have had lately.

Money has been very tight for me for a while now, I pretty much suck at saving, and am great at wasting money on silly little crap, mostly food. Anyway my car warrant was due this week, and my contact lenses and my telecom bill... arrrggghhhh.

So I praying and saying to God, I need this warrant to go through without any extra costs... and I was dreeding it. So I dropped it off at the garage and said
"please ring me before you do any extra work", I had changed the tires around from front to back and they were borderline... but other than that I was praying.

About 3:50 yesterday a mate whos moving to america called me up and asked me to help him move somestuff to the salvation army, I was at church workin and wasn't too keen to stop working cos I got alot on but said yes and helped him. He was giving all this sweet stuff to the sallies so I grabbed heaps of stuff I really needed.

Sheets and Pillow Cases(mine got stolen off the line I think)
2 duvets (I had all my blankets on my bed and was still cold)
A Iron, hardly used(mine is bung as, leakes and stuff)
A mint as longsleeve thermal(it is getting cold)
A Camel Pack
A big 30ltr tramping Pack
About 6 PC games(I did need some relaxation)
2 cans of Shaving cream
A tramping mat/bed roll
A pillow
Some sweet books
3 storage stackers for my office(cos that way I cvan hide the mess, ha)

And additionally he asked to store some stuff here, so for 1 year I have access to hundreds of Christian books, loads of CD's and probably the biggest collection of 80-90's tape I've ever seen. It sumounts my parents Country collection, which is pretty solid.

And then I got back to church, thanking God and stoked as and I was like wheres my car... oh ha at the garage. So I ran over, hoping they were still open and they were. It was like 6pm and the lady hapily gave me the recipt for $50. That blew my over, I was soooo happy I paid the bill and told her how I had been praying for ages that it would be sweet, and how this car must be running on angel juice cos its such a blessing and how I had prayed for it in the first place.

So I'm telling mum all of this and she says,
"He is so faithful"and I agreed and she said
"the pslams say 'great is his faithfulness'! " I agreed again but realised that we look and compare God to us. Like I compare God to the faithfulness of other humans to me, and that I incorrect. He is totally different to us. His faithfulness compared to ours is huge. My best faithfulness will always be only a smidgen of God amazing faithfulness and grace and mercy.

In the word for today they had a sweet verse: Romans 8:32 "God did not keep back his own Son, but he gave him for us. If God did this, won't he freely give us everything else?"

This is so true. God is the giver of all things. I love Psalm 16:2 2 I said to the Lord, “You are my Master! Every good thing I have comes from You.”

God continues to show me this. Thankyou God. When I think of what so little I have done for you, and all the terrible sins I have commited, I think how can you love me. I still don't know how, but what I do know is that you do. You love me. Thankyou. I live my life to show you my thanks.

Colossians 1:11-12

2008-04-23T09:04:00.006+12:00

It continues to amaze me how God works, how when I pick up the Word for Today or my Devotions book or the Bible that I speaks to me, exactly what I need to hear that day.

This morning I was like 'im gonna study a verse in Romans' for something for my your group fuel(11-13’s at Eastside Apostolic Church)... but I realised that no I actually needed to get back into Colosssians because Jesus is still not number 1 in my life, he is kinda 1st equal, little insignificant things like emails, and Bebo and txting still make there way in front cos I allow them to and it's not good enough. So I said 'na ill do Colossians again'.

I continued on from verse 10 and boom, for what I needed to hear.

Col 1:11-12 ESV 11“May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light."

And from the KJV+(King James version with Strong’s Greek and Hebrew numbers and difinitions)
11 StrengthenedG1412 withG1722 allG3956 might,G1411 accordingG2596 to hisG846 gloriousG1391 power,G2904 untoG1519 allG3956 patienceG5281 andG2532 longsufferingG3115 withG3326 joyfulness;G5479
12 Giving thanksG2168 unto theG3588 Father,G3962 which hath made us meetG2427 G2248 to be partakersG1519 G3310 of theG3588 inheritanceG2819 of theG3588 saintsG40 inG1722 light:G5457

Working from the Greek difinitions from E-sword free Bible software I have re-written my understanding of the verse kinda like the amplified Bible...

From the KJV
11 Strengthened(enabled)
with all might(force, miraculous power, ability),
according(distributed, by manner of)
to his(God)
glorious(very apparent glory, dignity, honour)
power( vigour, might, strength) ,
unto(into, indicating the point reached or entered)
all(whole, daily, every)
patience(endurance, waiting)
and(also)
longsuffering( fortitude, determination, patience)
with(accompanied by, in participation with)
joyfulness(cheerfulness, a calm delight, gladness);
12 Giving thanks(to be greatful, express gratitude, to say grace at a meal)
unto the Father(parent),
which hath made us meet(enabled, qualified, us, our)
to be partakers(unto, into, indicating the point reached or entered, portion, share, participation)
of the inheritance(heritage, lot, part)
of the saints(Sacred, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially consecrated)
in(denoting fixed position, place, time, or state)
light(to shine, make manifest, rays, luminous, literal or figurative- Fire, light):

Wow, now ill try put that in a sentence with my own words for understanding(wonder if this is sacrilege)...

RiCO v11 May you be enabled by the mighty miraculous power of God shown by his Glory and strength so that you may have patience endurance and determination along with exceeding gladness.
RiCO v12 Giving thanks to your heavenly Father, who has qualified us to have the full share of our heritage as saints, blameless and consecrated to live in the light which God provides.

John 15:1-8

2008-04-20T16:10:00.002+12:00

I have challenged my friend James to blog about his bible reading as I have begun doing in an effort to facilitate our Bible study, in his recent blog he asked for comments that could explain "how we can get truly connected with the 'True Vine'..."

For about 6 months now I have been pondering and perusing over John 15 where Jesus says I am the true vine.

My first thoughts are this...

To get truly connected to the true vine:

We need to understand and appreciate that Jesus is in fact the "true vine".
The true change in a persons life occurs when they realise that God(triune) is everything. When we realise that God is everything our lives begin to change. Until we realise that God and his lost children are our main purpose here on earth than we will never have the intended relationship with the true vine, you cannot be connected to something you think is rubbish, cos you will always put other things before it.
It is about relationship.
If I said to you that you could marry the girl of your dreams and then never have to talk to her, never have to see her, never have to show interest in her, never have contact her and that your relatioship would be perfect ...you would slap me and tell me I was silly and that everyone knows that good relationships take effort, work and simple just contact.
So with us if we want to remain in the true vine we need to work at the relationship.
It is about dependance.
The branches of a grape vine and deeply reliant on the main vine. Everything the have and are comes from the roots of the Vine. Without the Vine they would be nothing and would die, with the Vine they have life and produce grapes.
We are the same, excpect by God's grace he gave us free will and therefore we do not have to be dependant on the "true vine to survive.
It is our purpose.
Surviving and producing a plentiful crop are very different things. We see in John 15:8 the purpose of abiding in the true vine, "By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples." We are not here to merely survive but we are here to be fruitful and have abundant life(John 10:10) that is God's plan for us.If we live for the "true vine" our goal should be to "bear much fruit" and show that we have Jesus in our hearts "and so prove to be my disciples". This passage John 15:1-8 shows us that to bear much fruit we MUST remain in him.

Reading the IVP, Introduction and Commentary of John this morning I learnt of this verse which I think has huge significance. It is from a large passage where Jesus explicityly explains the term "The Bread of Life" in John 6: 22-71.

From Holman Christian Standard Bible,
35 "I am the bread of life," Jesus told them...
47 "I assure you: Anyone who believes has eternal life"...
51 "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh"...
53 "So Jesus said too them, "I assure you: Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yoursleves."

From IVP: "Believers in Jesus are 'limbs' of His body and share in the life which results from sacrifice of that body on the cross."

Enought for today, good times tho!

Jesus used this true vine terminolgy/allergory because of Israel, in the past being called the "choice vine" & "wholly of pure seed" in Jer 2:21

Colossians 1:10

2008-04-17T10:57:00.002+12:00

Col 1:10 (HCSB) “so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God”.

“so that you may walk worthy of the Lord”
To us it could be said “To walk worthy of being called a Christian”.The Bible meaning could be,
- “is to walk by faith in him: to live your life by faith in Jesus
- to walk after his Spirit: to desire and follow the Holy Spirit, to listen and obey the Spirit’s leading in your everyday life.
- and according to his word, and in his ordinances: to live by God’s word, living your life as close to what the Bible teaches and to value the word above all things, except God himself.
- worthy of that calling wherewith the saints are called by grace to the obtaining of his kingdom and glory: That if you say you are a Christian and belief your are saved by Christ and by the grace of God that you live like it, you live to prove it, you live to show that you have Christ in you. ( from John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible. Dr. John Gill, 1690-1771)

“fully pleasing to Him”
That you live your life to please God . What does it mean to please God, and how can we do that cos we are so sinful. Dr John Gill writes “good works being done in faith, and from a principle of love, and with a view to the glory of God, are acceptable unto him through Christ.”

If you are doing good works in God’s will, trying to please God, making sure they are being done in love for God and fellow man and so that God is made famous not you or anyone else, and with a pure heart then God will be pleased.

“bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God”
For me this is essential. Probably about a year ago I read John 15 for the first time where it takes about Jesus being the true vine. Ever since then it has always been on my mind everytime I see the word “bearing fruit” or "relationship with Christ" is mentioned. I believe it is an essential passage for living the Christian life.

John 15: 1-8 NIV
1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

I cannot really explain the intricacies of these verses and do them justice at this time, but please for you own benefit read it, study it, meditate on it and do it!
I believe it is God’s plan that we are fruitful and we are becoming more and more fruitful daily, as we get closer to Jesus. This is my prayer for me and for all believers in Christ.

Am I a Modern Day Jonah...?

2008-04-16T09:00:00.003+12:00

So I had this very cute kitten, about 8-10 weeks old now and they were born under our house. I took one of them as my own and this weekend coming I was gonna wean it off its Mum and its was going great. It was getting big and playful and starting to have personality and everything. Till yesterday...

Yesterday I went to work at 9:30 and at 145 came out and was gonna come home for lunch, when I heard a little meow, meow under my car, and I looked and out ran a little kitten, not "Chuck" my Kitten by Christina's one called "The Child". They have taken to sleeping up under the bonnet ont he engine... must be warm, so "the child" must have ridden all the way from Nixon st to church over by Ruakura, in my engine bay. He was fine.

When I came home for lunch carrying the kitten, I only found one kitten left at home with mumma cat, “Sid”. I put “the child” down and had lunch, wondering where the other one was. I went back to work not really thinking much.

At 6pm last night when I got home “chuck” still wasn’t to be found, no one had seen it all day. This morning when I woke up he still wasn’t there. I think he was with “the child” and fell out onto the road or got run over or something like that. So its been two days and it seems he is dead...

This really upset me, i’m usually very rational but little animals that are my own are precious to me and I got angry. Not angry at God really, cos I know he gave me the kitten and has all the right to take it back, and maybe I just wasn’t meant to have it.

But I was really grumpy and a bit pissy with my flatmates and I didn’t like that.The whole story reminded me of the Story of Jonah and a lovely plant God gave him to teach him a lesson.

So this morning I read the story of Jonah, its only 4 short chapters and it’s a good read. It is interesting reading these “kids” stories again with a mature mindset and seeing soooo much more in them.

The story of Jonah goes kinda like this very simple:

Jonah is asked by God to go and tell the people of Ninevah that they need to repent and turn away from there sinning and turn back to God. Jonah is not keen tho, so he jumps on a ship and tries to escape God’s presence.God sends a huge storm onto the ocean and the sailors get very worries for there life, they go through the crew and see who has maybe angered there God. Its found out that Jonah has disobeyed God and so Jonah says to the men, Throw me overboard and the sea will calm down.

Jonah once in the ocean, is swallowed by a big fish and saved from dying. 3 days latter his is vomited up onto the shore. God tells him again, Go and preach to the people of Ninevah... so he does. In chapter 4, Jonah gets annoyed at God becuase he didnt kill the people of Ninevah when the repented.

He got mega angry at God and went and sat outside the city waiting to die in the heat. But God let a large plant grow to give him shade and confort, Jonah loved the plant and was happy. but in the morning God sent a worm to destroy the plant and Jonah got mega angry again. God said, do you ahve any right to be angry at this plant dying, you didnt do anything to make it or help grow? You cared about the plant. So is it wrong for me to care for the city of Ninevah which has 120,000 people in it who do not know right from left.

I think God used the kitten disapearing to show me something. I don't really know what yet but it was a similar situation.

The Sword of the Spirit

2008-04-15T07:29:00.004+12:00

This morning I was reading a devotional book, "Because" by Greg Laurie and looking at the last peice of the Armour of God, The Sword Of the Spirit from Eph 6:17.

I saw a verse I have never seen before, from Jeremiah 23:29 it goes like this

Jer 23:29 (HCSB)
"Is not my word like fire"-- the LORD's declaration--"and like a sledgehammer that pulverizes rock?"

and also Isiah 55:11(HCSB)

10 "For just as rain and snow fall from heaven, and do not return without saturating the earth, and making it germinate and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, 11 so My word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and will prosper in what I send it to do."

Lately I have been reading one verse of Psalm 119 each day, I'm up to verse 17 today and I have been blogging about them for the Fuel kids. Expaining and giving my veiws on what they can mean for us, have a read of Psalm 119 today, pick a verse that you like and write it down, keep it in your pocket for the day and read it, and read it and read it. Slowly but surely you will get it into your head.

Enjoy
Cioa Chi Cho

Colossians 1:7-9

2008-04-12T14:40:00.004+12:00

Col 1:7-9 (HCSB)
"7 You learned this from Epaphras, our much loved fellow slave. He is a faithful minister of the Messiah on your behalf, 8 and he has told us about your love in the Spirit. 9 For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven't stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,

7-8: "7 You learned this from Epaphras, our much loved fellow slave. He is a faithful minister of the Messiah on your behalf, 8 and he has told us about your love in the Spirit.

Epaphras, mentioned to be with Paul in Philemon 1:23 “Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you”, seems to be a Colossian and now the minister or deacon (gk: sundoulos; co-slave, that is, servitor or ministrant of the same master) of the church at Colossae. Whether he was the founder of the church is hard to say for sure but he definitely played an important part the leadership of the church at Colossae.
Epaphras and his knowledge of the church at Colossae would have been invaluable to Paul, as this and other letter like 1 Corinthians were written in response and to correct past issues that had happened in those cities. I suppose that Epaphras could have gone to Paul and advised him of the issues going down at Colossae and asked him to help. (Barnes, Clarke, e-sword.net)

9: “9 For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven't stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding...”
I just love the prayer and greeting you see in Paul’s letters. I make me happy to know that people are praying for me, but if a mate wrote and said “bro, i pray everyday that you would know God, that from knowing him, you would kick some butt and really crank for God” that specific prayer or power and strength would be so encouraging, and especially from the Apostle Paul.

I like this translation, its old but pretty sweet (Bible in Basic English 1965) “For this reason, we, from the day when we had word of it, keep on in prayer for you, that you may be full of the knowledge of his purpose, with all wisdom and experience of the Spirit”

“filled with the knowledge of His will"
The two known instances where the Bible says directly what the will of God is are: 1 Thessalonians 4:3 (ESV) “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;” and 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." ( 1 The 5:16-18 is part of a long passage concerning what they should do)

I don’t know about you but if the Bible says somewhere that the will of God is... then I wanna listen and do that.
For me there is such a constant search going on a Christian for what God would have me to do, what his will(purpose or determination. dictionary.com) is in my life. I want to be doing only what God would have to be doing. It is so much smarter to be doing what God would have you do than trying to go against it. As a follower of Christ I have chosen to have Jesus as my Lord(supreme, master) and do what he wants me to do.

Paul is praying this for the people of Colossae, that they would know God’s purpose and plan and will for their lives. That they would understand by God’s wisdom and understanding of the Spirit what he would have them to do.

“with all wisdom”
I believe that we can use the bible as the main source to find the wisdom of God.Psalm 119:1 (ESV)says “Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD!” The Bible is my main source of God’s wisdom, the word of God challenges me, teaches me and encourages me. Someone once said that Wisdom is applied knowledge. Reading the bible I can gain the knowledge I need to live a holy life for God.

“and experience of the Spirit(BBE) / and spiritual understanding(HCSB)”
I believe that the Holy Spirit is the main source of spiritual understanding, if the Bible is our main way of getting a knowledge of God and learning how he would have us live then we need to understand it don’t we. The Holy Spirit in John 14:17 is called “The Spirit of Truth” and this is a huge part of his ministry to me...In Romans 8:26 it says (ESV) “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” The Holy Spirit helps me to pray when I don’t know how to, and when I am reading the Bible he helps me tremendously. Because he is the Spirit of truth, it is his purpose that we would know the truth, so amongst hundreds of translations and theological issues the Holy Spirit helps me understand what I read, he perfects what I cannot.

Like today when I opened the Bible I asked God to “show me what he would have me to learn and help me to understand what I read” and he did. He showed me the two above points about the Bible being wisdom and the Holy Spirit perfecting that wisdom. I knew the principals but had not seen this directly related to this passage.

That’s enough for today, gotta go. enjoy Cioa Cioa

Colossians 1:6... Bearing Fruit !

2008-04-11T09:33:00.004+12:00

Last blog I left off at verse 5:
Colossians 1:5 “because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about [this hope] in the message of truth”

Today I will have a quick look at Col 1:6, “the gospel that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognized God's grace in the truth.”

The Gospel truly is Good News, Jesus dying on the cross for my sins, is glorious news. It has changed my life and it is bearing fruit. This should always be our Goal as Christ Followers, to bear fruit, fruit in matching the vine which we are attached to, Jesus(John 15).

The Gospel has changed the way I see myself and changed the way I see God. I know I am someone because God created me, I know he created me in his image and I know that he put my life before his own sons. That shows me how much God loves me, more than his own son even. That is a scary fact that.

My life needs to bear fruit, I don’t want to live a life calling myself a “Christian” and not having any fruit. The fruit I produce needs to be in line with the roots. As I follow Christ my life is daily being rooted in him. I am learning to go to him for my needs and not elsewhere. I am learning that I need to stay close to God, otherwise I will begin to shrivel and later on i would die, spiritually without contact with my Lord(master) God.

If I am rooted in Christ, then my branches(my life) should produce fruit that is inline with my roots. So what does that mean, I am gonna focus on the positive fruit I do have(maybe its still in Bud form, but its growing, hehee lol), to encourage me.
- I read the Bible, because I value the word of God above all things, above my Pastors teaching about the radio above anything I can learn anywhere else.
- I pray, because I know I need to spend time just hanging with God and just chatting to him. Bouncing ideas off him and sharing my heart with him. I can tell him secrets, fear and desires and he will tell me what they really are, right or wrong.
- I love people, not cos I always want to but because God loves me, and because he loves every single person, no matter what. So I must do the same.
- I belong to a church, because I believe that we must stay close to other people who will live us, and who will challenge us. I pray that my church would not be a comfortable place, but that I would be sharpened there... as Iron sharpens Iron.
- I LIVE MY LIFE FOR JESUS, and because of that my main focus is his people, and actually not the ones who know him, actually the ones who don’t know him. They are the truly important ones. My passion is to see people get fired up, and go hard for God. When I get out of bed (I struggle hard core with this) but usually it is for God. I’d stay in Bed for me but I get out of bed to do things of influence.

The varying degrees which I do the above things fluctuates but these are my Values, and I strive to do these things with excellence on a daily basis. At the moment, I’d give myself a 6-10 for completing these daily.

But that’s why I am reading Colossians, to learn how to put God first, Numaro Uno, number 1 with my running behind, trying to catch up.Must go to work now, going to pick up a shopping trolley from the dump for the Woman’s conference this weekend!

Colossians 1:1-5

2008-04-08T11:40:00.003+12:00

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will, and Timothy our brother: 2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ in Colossae. Grace to you and peace from God our Father. 3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints 5 because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about [this hope] in the message of truth, the gospel

TEXT:

v1: “1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will, and Timothy our brother:”

Timothy is mentioned here probably due to his personal relationship to the church in Colossae, is seem correct to say that Paul had not personally visited or spent time at Colossae, so in mentioning Timothy he would gain some ‘street cred’ or make himself known to them.
I have been told if you are speaking at a church that is not your own and you know someone ther tell a story about how you know them and it will help the people relate to you and fell more comfortable, this is what I believe Paul is doing.
Timothy is mentioned as a “our brother” and not a fellow apostle as the term Apostle was not a small thing to have attributed to your name.

2: “2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ in Colossae. Grace to you and peace from God our Father.”

The term “saints”, the amplified bible says “the consecrated people of God” meaning set apart for God, Righteous, consecrated/owned by God for his purpose.
General Pauline greeting. I really like it how the New Testament writers greeted their fellow believers in the letters with such love and sincerity.
The letter it seems is addressed to believers in Christ, this will no doubt prove interesting if the introduction is anything to go by, because Paul is talking to believers who are having issues, not the heathen or Pagans but believers.

v3: “3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,”

Meaning Paul and Timothy, this shows the great affection which Paul had for the church in praying for them often.
This is a letter of correction to believers, and yet he is thanking God for them, I find that weird, but I guess Paul knew the power of encouragement and he wanted them to read this letter so he couldn’t start straight into rebuking them.

v4: “4 for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints”

This “for we have heard” “shows us that Paul had recieved by Epaphras, who had informed Paul of the steadfastness of their faith and love (Col1:7-8)... It would seem that Paul had been informed that this was a character of their piety, that they had remarkable love for all who bore the Christian name”(Albert Barnes notes on the Bible 1820)

v5: “5 because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about [this hope] in the message of truth, the gospel”

Because of the faith in Christ and love for fellow believers they have a eternal hope in heaven. And this is also why Paul thanks God for them.

APPLICATION:

For me this is very much where we need to be living. We need to be living by the gospel, having love for others and faith in Christ because of out hope in God’s saving power and grace, that allows us to go to heaven.

To live by the Gospel: is to believe that the message of Christ is indeed Good News and that it is the power to save all men. Romans 1:16 (BBE) “For I have no feeling of shame about the good news, because it is the power of God giving salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first, and then to the Greek.”
Having love for others: Cannot come from ourselves, we can love some people on our own accord but God calls us to love all people and that requires his love working through you. If you truly know the love of God working in your life then loving unlovely people becomes a whole lot easier, because you know he loves you so much even though we are nowhere near perfect.
I live for God, and I live for his people here on earth. Not only for “Christians” but also and probably more so for the people who do not know Jesus, that is why I get out of bed, that is why I put in an extra effort in life and actually even why I am doing this Bible study. Because I am not here for myself, my life on Earth is going to be short and while I am here I have a job to do. But it is all for a greater glory, Heaven, and the great torment, Hell.

Colossians Day 2

2008-04-07T15:49:00.001+12:00

As promised my study into the book of Colossians...I started of with an introduction to Colossians from The Message Bible, and today I will be doing some more background work on the book and place of Colossae.

NB: As this is not a work to be published(yet) I have not extensively referenced although all effort has been made to give credit where credit is due.

Author: The Epistle* of Colossians was written along with the other prison epistles* by Paul*.

Date: During his first imprisonment (Acts 28:16, 30) around 62 A.D.*

Purpose: “Like some of his other epistles (e.g., those to Corinth), this seems to have been written in consequence of information which had somehow been conveyed to him of the internal state of the church there (Col 1:4-8). Its object was to counteract false teaching.”

Content: Chapters 1-2 cover the Doctrinal teaching, and chapters 3-4 deal with Practical application.*

*Epistle: “a letter written by the apostle Paul or other early Christian writers and included as a book of the Bible”(Encarta Dictionary, 2008)
*Prison Epistles: Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, Philemon
*Authorship Date: “Ostensibly it was written by Paul at Rome during his first imprisonment there (Acts 28:16, 30)”(Wikipedia, 08)
*Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897
* Adapted from Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897

A Story about some people a long long time ago in a land far far away...

2008-04-07T15:28:00.005+12:00

So I have decided to study some not so awesome people from the Bible in an effort to make myself more awesomeer.I will be doing a study on the Book of Colossians for the next little while, I will be blogging daily.

I have discovered that if your going through sumthing its pretty sweet to find sumone whos been through the same thing. The bible is full of screw ups and people who fall short of being awesome so i like reading the bible and the people of Colossae were a bit messed up, ha like me. You will learn...

This awesome introduction is from The Message Bible. Introduction to Colossians: By Eugene Paterson...

"Hardly anyone who hears the full story of Jesus and learns the true facts of his life and his teaching, crucifixion and resurrection, walks away with a shrug of the shoulders, dismissing him as unimportant. People ignorant of the story or misinformed about it – regularly dismiss him of course. But, with few exceptions the others know instinctively that they are dealing with a remarkable greatness. But, it is quite common for those who consider him truly important to include others who seem to be equally important in his company – Buddah, Moses, Socrates, and Mohammad for a historical start – along with some personal favorites. For these people Jesus is important, but not central; his prestige is considerable, but he is not preeminent.

The Christians in the town of Colossae, or at least some of them, seem to have been taking this line. For them, cosmic forces of one sort or another were getting equal billing with Jesus. Paul writes to them in an attempt to restore Jesus, the Messiah, to
the centre of their lives..."

When I Grow up I wanna be a?

2008-01-08T14:48:00.000+13:00

When I was a child i wanted to be a Vet when I grew up cos I loved animals, but when I found out I had to get excellent mark at School I gave up on that Idea...

Then I thought I could be a Doctor, I used to love the Middlemore TV show and I really wanted to be a Doctor. Medschool was really long, like 7 yrs, I figured out I would have a $127,000 student loan and id still need good mark, so I gave up on that Idea...

I finally decided I'd be a chef, I loved food and creating things with my hands so at 18 I enrolled in Chef School. I went there for two years and loved it...

If you want to be something then you need to train at it. Doctors can't just walk into a hospital and start chopping people open and doing surgery can they ! They need to go to Medschool and train very hard for a very long time!!

It is the same with us as "Christian's"(the word means to be "like-Christ") As Christ-Follower's we need to be following Christ and trying to become more like him everyday. A person needs to go to Medschool if they want to be a doctor, Correct? Well if we want to be like Christ then we need to go to Christ.

The main, consistent, available way we can learn about Christ is to read the text book about him...

THE BIBLE. The Bible is God's word to us about him and especially his son Jesus and what he did for us, and how we are to become like him.

So I must confess, lately I've been an absolute slacker when it comes to my bible reading and spending time with God. Today I was talking to God about what is wrong with me and he showed me that it is a issue with Alliances...

I want to be the best Christian I can be, I want to "win" as a Christian, I want to go hard or I mileswell go home. If I want to be a Christian then I need to be reading the word of God, the Bible.

God continues to show me that the Bible should be the most important thing in my life. I need to put God and his word before absolutely everything else. This is not easy at all but if we do it we can and will become more Like Christ everyday.

How are you going with this?
What are you putting before God?

Endurance Part 1 (The Story of the Sower)

2007-10-04T07:46:00.000+13:00

Derek Prince this morning on his Radio show on 855am talked about Endurance, something that I have been grappling with lately. Since I started my Job at church running the 11-13 or FUEL I have been struggling to get out of Bed and haven’t been reading my Bible or praying as much as used to, and I have suffered because of it.

Derek Prince (D.P) talked this morning from a story in Luke 8 called the Parable of the Sower. Jesus often spoke in these parables or stories to get his message across, he would use stories about Shepard’s and Farmers and occupations that people of the New Testament time would understand.

Luke 8:4-8, 11-15 (New Living Translation)
4 One day Jesus told a story in the form of a parable to a large crowd that had gathered from many towns to hear him: 5 “A farmer went out to plant his seed. As he scattered it across his field, some seed fell on a footpath, where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it. 6 Other seed fell among rocks. It began to grow, but the plant soon wilted and died for lack of moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns that grew up with it and choked out the tender plants. 8 Still other seed fell on fertile soil. This seed grew and produced a crop that was a hundred times as much as had been planted!”

Jesus in verse 11-15 interprets the Parable,

11 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is God’s word. 12 The seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved. 13 The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation. 14 The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. 15But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. (v 15, NIV)

As Christians or not we have all heard about the Bible, Jesus and God and this story is all about what happens to what we hear after we hear it. Endurance is only formed when we are tested and pushed, like an athlete has to work out harder and harder everyday to train his body for endurance so on the big day he’ll be able to run the race. Well it’s the same with people who follow God, it’s really not easy, ask any Christian and they will tell you that living a truly Christ centred life is not an easy thing to do… I’ll carry on this tomorrow

Preschool Fingerpainting Exercises

2007-10-03T09:56:00.000+13:00

So can you guys help me out a little...

I've been having trouble getting out of bed lately and when I was talking to God this morning and was asking for his help to get my lazy mule out of bed, I was reminded of this verse I had read one time that was about moving on past the simple things of Christian life and to bigger things...

I found the verse in Hebrews and it has got me thinking big time.

Here it is in a couple of versions:

Hebrews 6 ( NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION)

1Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death,^[a] and of faith in God, 2instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3And God permitting, we will do so.

Hebrews 6 (THE MESSAGE)

1-3So come on, let's leave the preschool fingerpainting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your back on "salvation by self-help" and turning in trust toward God; baptismal instructions; laying on of hands; resurrection of the dead; eternal judgment. God helping us, we'll stay true to all that. But there's so much more. Let's get on with it!

Hebrews 6 ( THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE)

1THEREFORE LET us go on and get past the elementary stage in the teachings and doctrine of Christ (the Messiah), advancing steadily toward the completeness and perfection that belong to spiritual maturity. Let us not again be laying the foundation of repentance and abandonment of dead works (dead formalism) and of the faith [by which you turned] to God,

2With teachings about purifying, the laying on of hands, the resurrection from the dead, and eternal judgment and punishment. [These are all matters of which you should have been fully aware long, long ago.]

3If indeed God permits, we will [now] proceed [to advanced teaching].

So I'm confused, is this verse for us...?
How many people do you know that are doing all these things...?
Do we even practice these things anymore?

I'll investigate this tomorrow and get back to you guys but your help would be amazing cos I'm stumped !!!

The Law of God

2007-09-17T12:39:00.000+12:00

So if you havn't figured it out I have a passion for The Word of God, the Bible and to see everyday people take hold out the word, read it and understand it and apply it to there life.

This morning I was reading Psalm 119, because God told me to and because it is all about the Word of God, all 176 verses.

Reading verse 22 I got the distinct feeling that the author was quite presumptious in writing this " Take insult and contempt away from me, for I have kept Your decrees" and it got me thinking, if the author is asking God to go easy on him cos he has kept to the word of God and says "for I have kept Your decrees".
Obviously he has kept to the Law, had he not ?

This and other verses rasied the question: Had the author kept the Law ?; was he just be presumptious ?; How was it for people back when this was written?
Were they less sinful?possible for him to keep the Law ?

Was there a lower/higher standard in the OT compared to now?

I went on to look at NT verses on the Law such as: Luke 16:17 ; John 1:17 ; Rom 6:14,7:12, 10:4 ; Gal 3:24,Gal 5:14 ; Heb 8:10,10:1 ; James 2:8-10 ; 1 John 3:4. These verses confirmed what I already thought was the case for the Law under the New Covenant(after the death and ressuerction of Christ) but what does this mean for the Psalms and the OT law...? Does the NT discredit the OT ? Is it still valid for reading...?

Your Thoughts...?

Galations 6:9

2007-09-06T19:35:00.000+12:00

Tuesday morning Peter Prothero a guest speaker(see Peter Prothero Post below) spoke a message to the staff of Eastside Apostolic church that was amazing. He said that God had given him that message and I believe for good reason, it was amazing so spot on for me and many others on the staff.

He spoke from Galatians 6:9 where it says (NIV) Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

I got a few great things out of this awesome message.

He pointed out that it says, become weary IN DOING good, and that for some many Christians we are doing good and not seeing results and that is when trouble comes and we become discouraged.
He went on to share how on London Underground at each stop the doors open and a very automated voice says… MIND THE GAP… MIND THE GAP, over and over and over day after day. The reason it is so important is that sometimes the train stops on corners and there is a decent GAP that you need to watch for, the Gap between the beginning and the harvest at the end. Well this is very much like the verse in Galatians. It is the Gap we have to watch out for. We all know when we start something we have huge vigor and excitement and we go hard but as that excitement wears off and we are stuck in the drag of life and trying to get so much done we can become weary. It is this Gap that is really the killer, its not the beginning that gets ya, or the end/harvest but it is the Gap in between that can swallow you up.
He mentioned that it says Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. If we can have faith in God, faith that he will keep us going and that we can get past the weariness with him, we wil push through and will reap a harvest. Christian life and Ministry is all about Harvest but so many people get caught up in the GAP as such that we don’t make it to harvest, and that is where God wants us to be living, in harvest.

Check out some video’s on YOUTUBE called Mind The Gap to hear the annoying MIND THE GAP audio and hopefully it will stay in your head, but watch out, I tried to put some on here and after publishing checked them and one was one that started with a naked dude… weird stuff, must be the English humour, I saw enough and deleted that video bar. It’s silly that you can’t pick which video’s you want to have on there.

Peter Prothero

2007-09-06T17:29:00.000+12:00

Peter Prothero, a brilliant guest speaker from England spoke at Eastside Staff meeting Tuesday morning and has been speaking to our church and Bible college over this week.

Tuesday afternoon I had the privilege of having him take my 1 Corinthians at VISION where he lead us in discussing 1 Corinthians 12-14—about spiritual gifts, it was awesome and he had some great inspiring stories to tell about Spiritual Gifts. Last night he spoke a message from Daniel, 1:1-8 talking about how Daniel made a choice in his heart not to eat the defiled food of the Babylon’s and how we need to make decisions in our hearts against the things that are going to hold us back from doing God’s work.

Today he spoke on the book of Revelation and for me who was saving it as a reward for reading the whole Bible it was a huge eye opener, and some of the stuff in there is amazing. The best message so far for me however was one that God gave him for the church staff Tuesday morning it was amazingly prophetic and was so current for many of the staff. I have shared it with you in the above blog.

The Guilt of the Gentile World

2007-09-03T12:01:00.001+12:00

Romans 1: 18-25(HCSB)
18For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteous of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20From the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse. 21For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened. 22Claiming to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals and reptiles.
24Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served something created instead of the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

How very similar to today’s culture? What lead to thier downfall, to there deliverance into evil ways? “though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude…their thinking became nonsense, and their…minds were darkened”.
How close are we to this nowadays in the world, even the christian church. How much emphasis do we put on worldly images and objects things and forget about the Glory of God and all he has done.

Important to note that God did not deliver as in made them sin, but simply give them up to there carnal cravings, he let them indulge in the behaivor they desired. Without God’s hand of protection and guidance how easily can we fall off the tracks and into sin that will harm us and the ones around us.

I find it interesting why this happened, because they did not show God the gratitude that he deserved, God allowed them to be shammed and degraded, similar to the un-repentant brother in Matt 18:15-20… “But if he doesn’t pay attention even to the church, let him be like an unbeliever [or like a Gentile] and a tax collector”. In other words ‘throw him out of the church and treat him like a sinner’ so that he might realize his sin and come back to God.

So Nessesary...

2007-09-02T21:03:00.000+12:00

I think as Christians we are obviously hugely dependant on hearing on from God. In fact I believe that we need to hear from God.

Apology

2007-09-02T20:28:00.000+12:00

I do apologise for not blogging in so long...

With the new job and extra workload I havn't had that much free time. And I have been pondering if my blogs were making me seem better than I was... so I was waiting till I had sorted an area out in my life before I wrote more on that...

Well I hate to say(simply cos I find people use the term 'Journey' as an excuse for people to not pull there weight as a Christian) it but I am on a Journey just like everyone trying follow Jesus.

So most of my blogs from now on will be more like my thoughts on certain things i'm working thru.

RiCO

What do you think of Harry Potter

2007-08-13T11:57:00.000+12:00

With the release of J.K.Rowling's latest Harry Potter book it has come to my attention the differences in opinions over the very well known Harry Potter Series. I read the first couple of books at a teenager and then stopped. I'm finding there are two school of thought over Harry Potter, those very much for and those very much against...

Which one are you?
Or do you not care?

I'd be real keen to find out what you guys think about this, and how you came to this decision?

You guys rock!

Prayer is Petition # 2

2007-08-09T10:28:00.000+12:00

From PRAYER: Key to Revival by Paul Y. Cho.

NB: All Scriptures are Holman Christian Standard Bible unless stated otherwise.

"It becomes obvious that God is willing to give to His children; however, we must participate actively in the answer to our needs by asking.
There are four conditions that must be met to get assurance that our petitions as Christians will be answered affirmatively:

We must ask in faith! Simply asking God for things will not assure you of a positive response. “I assure you: If you have faith and do not doubt…And if you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Matt 21:21-22)
We must abide in relationship with Christ! “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). When we abide in prayer, we develop spiritually so that His desires become ours; therefore, this spiritual blank check can be entrusted to us.
We must be motivated properly! “You ask and don’t receive because you ask wrongly, so that you may spend it on you desires for pleasure”(James 4:3). It is God’s desire to give us all good things, we know that. Yet, so many requests are generated by sheer selfishness. God desires that what we ask should be to the end that He may be glorified.
We must ask in accordance with the will of God! Does this mean that we should wonder whether God wants us healed before we pray for healing? No! This is why knowledge of Scripture is so important. The Bible tells us what the will of God is. So, when we ask for something that God has promised us, then we know with certainty that we are praying in God’s will: “Now this is the confidence we have before Him, whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that he hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for. (John 5:14-15)

RiCO--Try praying through these four points and declaring that you believe them(if you d0), and asking God to help you out where your struggling to believe fully it helps to add some 'boom' to your spirit and your prayers will have more fervency...

Prayer is Petition # 1

2007-08-05T16:23:00.000+12:00

I'm reading a book called PRAYER: Key to Revival by Paul Y. Cho.
Look him up, he pastors the biggest church in the world, sitting at a small 800,000 people.

In this book he descibes prayer as 3 things,

Petition
Devotion
Intersession

I'm gonna share with you guys as I read...

There is a well known scripture in Matthew 6:8 that talks about prayer. If we look at the verse before hand we see what Jesus is talking about.

"And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words."

"Therefore, repeating the same prayers ritualistically was what Jesus was referring too. He did not intend for us not to ask; but on the contrary, He intended us to ask our Father with prayer that proceed from our heart."(P.Y.Cho)

The dictionary defines petitioning as begging or pleading, or simply asking.
We are to ask God for things.
John 16:23-24 says we are to ask God, and whatever we ask for in Jesus name, God will give it to us.
Mathew 7:11 talks about what God the father will give to his children.

As I see it this is how it is. God is a God of love, he created us in love so that we would love him, BUT he does not and can not force us to love him because otherwise it would not be love. Well the same with prayer, God desires us to be awesome, he knows exactly what we need to be awesome but cannot force this on us, sometime I wish God would just force me to do the right thing but he doesn't. Therefore we need to ask God for things because then he will know we need it and as we do we need to put faith in him and by putting that faith in him we will become closer to him and stronger.

You know your a Bible Nerd when...

2007-07-31T07:51:00.000+12:00

You have a Stack of Commentary's which comment on Bible Commentary's...

You have have more Bibles than days of the Week...

When you quote scripture in your dreams...

When you tell Jokes that end in, "and that's how old Methuselah was" hahahaha ...

When you are over joyed by in depth word studies of one verse...

Oops my Bad, Guess I'm a nerd !

Here is something for you Salivation and Mastication:
Completed using e-sword Bible Software for word difinitions....

2 Chronicles 7:14

For Reference
Bold- is the original scripture
:Normal- is the original meaning from Strong's Hebrew Dictionary
;Italics- is what is can mean for today
=purple- is my own understanding thereof (see Mathew Henry's old school influence)

If my people: a congregated unit, tribe, collective ; folk, men, nation, people. Anyone who is after God's purposes. Tribes lived together cos they had something in common, there were related by blood, or race or culture.
which: used to show the connection= anyone with the same goal, or like minded people.The people who are called to do the same thing, to work together.
are called:call (for, forth, self, upon), had the charge of, concerning for, in= who has been given charge of this situation, called forth to do.
by my name: called by God and what he stands for
shall humble themselves:to bend the knee; hence to humiliate, vanquish:(to be overcome by the higher one) - bring down (low), into subjection, under, humble (self), subdue; realise our need for God in this situation and so therefore humble ourselves because it is the only way we can get this done.
and pray:to judge(bring it before God maybe, test it before him), intercede(on behalf of), pray: - entreat(request, plead, implore), judge (-ment), (make) pray (-er, -ing), make supplication(plea, entreaty). bring this before God, the true 'Judge' who knows all and ask him to sort it out, show us his plan for this situation, even ask him to do things that maybe he wasn't going to do V13&14.
and seek: to search out (by any method; specifically in worship or prayer); by implication to strive after: - ask, beg, beseech, desire, enquire, get, make inquisition, procure(obtain, secure, get hold of), (make) request, require, seek (for). The people who go hard for what they want, desire. They need to search out the will of God, search for God, the face of God(so close to God they can see his face, to really see someones face you gotta be really close) through prayer and worship. To strive for(go hard out for, do there best for, pull out all the stops, go beyond normal, endeavor( on a special venture) the things of God, the true heart of God in that situation. They need to be obliged for the face of God, so set on it they have to, they don't have an option.
my face: (have) respect (to), =show respect to God,
and turn: A primitive root; to turn back (hence, away) transitively or intransitively, literally or figuratively (not necessarily with the idea of return to the starting point); generally to retreat; often ; turn away from, and not come back. Turn away, retreat, run, don't go back to your old ways.
from their wicked: bad or (as noun) evil (naturally or morally). This includes the second (feminine) form; as adjective or noun: - adversity, affliction, bad, calamity, + displease (-ure), distress, evil ([-favouredness], man, thing), + exceedingly, X great, grief (-vous), harm, heavy, hurt (-ful), ill (favoured), properly to spoil (literally by breaking to pieces); figuratively to make (or be) good for nothing, that is, bad (physically, socially or morally). Bad or Evil things, either natural or moral still evil things, the things you have spoiled... they were once good but now they are spoiled, good for nothing. All sin, anything against God's heart.
ways:a road (as trodden); figuratively a course of life or mode of action, often adverbially: - along, away, because of, + by, conversation, custom, [east-] ward, journey, manner, passenger, through=The path of Wickedness, the path or wrong, a trodden path, well recognisable sin and ways of life; Not just one off acts but lifestyles of wickedness, sin, badness, evil, nothing good can be seen anymore.
then will I= Then God will, there is a clause there tho, then, if his people do what is before this verse.
hear:o hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc.; causatively to tell, etc.): - X attentively, call (gather) together,publish, regard, report, shew (forth), (make a) sound, X surely, tell, understand, whosoever [heareth], witness.= God will hear and do something about what he has heard, to witness, understand, call together publish and report of what was heard.; God will do something, not just hear and do nothing but will be attentive to.
from heaven: lofty; the sky (as aloft; the dual perhaps alluding to the visible arch in which the clouds move, as well as to the higher ether where the celestial bodies revolve): - air, X astrologer, heaven (-s).=From above, the heavens.
and will forgive: to forgive: - forgive, pardon, spare.=To spare, hold back wrath or judgement(Old Covenant), or punishment from them. Pardon forget, let of the hook. Nothing is past God's forgiveness, today's waywardness from God's right path even cannot keep people from his forgiveness through Christ(new Covenant).
their sin: an offence (sometimes habitual sinfulness), and its penalty, occasion, sacrifice, or expiation; also (concretely) an offender: - punishment (of sin), purifying (-fication for sin), sin (-ner, offering). = Sin and it's penalty.: God's people will be forgiven from sin, it's penalty and every single thing to do with it, hurts, wounds everything will be healed and forgotten.
and will heal:A primitive root; properly to mend (by stitching), that is, (figuratively) to cure: - cure, (cause to) heal, physician, repair, X thoroughly, make whole. =Heal or stitch like a doctor would, repair via a process.;God promises healing not a magic formula, medical healing of a wound takes time, effort, pain, suffering. But God does promise full healing.
their land.

Hope you enjoyed that, I surely did...

My Current Understanding of 2 Chronicles 7:14 is as follows
RiCO: If a common people who are after the true heart of God and have been called by God for his purpose, if they will humble themselves before God and realise that they need him and that they need his help, if they pray and ask him to come and change the situation and put the situation before him seeking his true heart for that situation and wanting to do the right thing by God and realising there sin and there lifestyle that is against God and if they turn away from these bad things; then God himself will hear there request, forgive them of there sin he will take away there burden and he will begin to help them and to heal there land of the wickedness and wrong that has been done.

My C__________l Romance

2007-07-28T20:10:00.000+12:00

Hey Guys
My fancy has been tickled by My Chemical Romance. Let me know what you think about them, I have there latest song on the Video Bar on the right side. I like there sound, what do you think?

Six Calls I Can't Forget, Call # 1

2007-07-24T16:26:00.000+12:00

Last week Jeremy Sargent gave me a bit of paper titled "Six Calls I Can't Forget",
after reading it and subconsciously placing it in my stagnant too hard basket I have retrieved it today to endeavor to unpack it and share it with you cool people and apply it to my life.
I will focus on one Call a day and share what it means to me.

I need to hear, then find the way today to:

1. Define and focus my personal call
The information explosion that summons my attention to a thousand matters of miscellany, and the social pressures that seek to redefine pastoral mission, require my review of “who and what am I – really!” Paul’s words to Timothy, “Stir up your gift” need to be heard afresh.

At first I think, what use is a personal call if I cannot properly read my bible and pray. Instantly I am reminded of Bill Hybels' comment "Vision is the fuel that leaders run on... a picture of the future that produces passion."
Without a defined and focused personal call, what am I, who am I, why would I bother doing half the stuff I am doing. I need to make the conscious effort to work on who I am, what I am and why I am.

I am Kenrick Rhys Dodson Smith, created this way by God for a reason. I am the way I am for a purpose, the bottom line is God made me the way I am, and sometimes I don't like who I am, but I need to remind myself constantly that if "If God be for us, who can be against us?"(Rom 8:31).
A verse that really stuck out to me today at Vision College was 1 Cor 1:26-31(GW)...

1Co 1:26 Brothers and sisters, consider what you were when God called you to be Christians. Not many of you were wise from a human point of view. You were not in powerful positions or in the upper social classes.
1Co 1:27 But God chose what the world considers nonsense to put wise people to shame. God chose what the world considers weak to put what is strong to shame.
1Co 1:28 God chose what the world considers ordinary and what it despises-what it considers to be nothing-in order to destroy what it considers to be something.
1Co 1:29 As a result, no one can brag in God's presence.
1Co 1:30 You are partners with Christ Jesus because of God. Jesus has become our wisdom sent from God, our righteousness, our holiness, and our ransom from sin.
1Co 1:31 As Scripture says, "Whoever brags must brag about what the Lord has done."

Lately I have had a really low view of myself and have been struggling with seeing myself. Reading this in class today and some prayer that I got on Sunday night has helped a lot.

Concerning my personal call though I believe God uses me to see things other people do not and that I is my duty to speak those things from God to help people. I believe God is using the Evangelist gift in me and I need to continually focus on developing that. I believe and it has been prophesied over my life at a young age that I will speak mighty truths into peoples lives and challenge people to take hold of God. One of the main reason I maintain this blog is to challenge people and to share something of what God is doing in my life.
As I have written this blog this evening I have begun to get a sense of the immensity of the call on my life. I believe God calls us, inspires us to a duty, or role for him but that call only begins to take shape as we nurture and put the effort into that call. I know God has called me to speak the word of God but it is really hard sometimes to do the work required... I am beginning to know that this is truly what God has me to do, for he is giving me things that are beyond myself and my own thinking and that require alot of work, I only hope and pray that I will not let him down. I'll leave you with this also from Jeremy Sargent

"God doesn't call the Qualified

He Qualifies the Called!"

Bless you all.
RiCO

Learning Leadership 102

2007-07-21T11:48:00.000+12:00

Part 2 of 2 - read 101 first to know what i'm talking about.

hey so in my last post we learnt how I got all power hungry and tried to be the man, or the big boss to me nice flatmate who was helping me.

Well it happened two more times yesterday...

My good freind wykie came into my office and asked if he could borrow some marsking tape, and I was like "THIS IS THE LAST TIME, NEXT TIME ITS COMING OUT OF YOUR BUDGET" now that would have been a good thing to say if it was the millionth time, but it was the first. I was too worried about my budget and my department when really we are all trying for the same thing and that is to grow the kingdom of God... but I got too caught up in me being the man that I was worried about a $2 roll of tape.

What did I learn from this? I AM NOT THE MAN

This also happened with James Martin, the 13-18 leader. Last week someone borrowed something out the office I use, it was an expensive item and they didn't ask the owner, this annoyed me cos if it was mine I would have been ultra annoyed. So yesterday I asked James about it, and he said it was someone else, which it was and so I said "well your in charge and that better not happen again". Once again the monster came out of his cave, and was trying to be the man. I thought about it for 5 mins then went and apoligised to him.
It is all good now and i learnt something about James and his leadership style. I already knew but he told me just what kind of culture he is trying to create and that culture would never take something without asking.

So I learnt yesterday that just cos I run a youth group im not the man, and I have to try real hard with other people. Its a 'fun' learning experience and there will be a lot more in the future.

Learning Leadership 101

2007-07-20T23:21:00.000+12:00

So today began the saga that is Leadership...

If you don't know I run a church youth group for 11-13 yr olds, its lots of fun and a lot of work and time management. It's great I love it but I'm learning it's not as easy as it seems, not at all.

I learnt a few things today, well actually one thing - I AM NOT THE MAN - this stemmed from several things that happened.

To start with I appoligise to Wykie, James and Christina again for what happened.

My awesome flat freind Christina came in to help me, which is sooooooooooooo cool of her, she also bought me lunch (BTW guys {black preferably but she is willing to give in for a fake tanned white guy} she is single, 20 and is flippin fantastic, she loves Jesus and laughs a lot, super girl really) anyway she came in and helped me and it was all good. We were printing some flyers and she went to cut them on the gilatine (the choppy thing for paper) and she cut too many at once, they tore and I overreacted and got very angry cos I wanted it to be perfect. Only like 10 but still i was like arrrrggghhhh! and trimmed them up and they were ok. She got upset (rightly) cos I acted like a silly person. We had a big fight (as we have on many occasions) and she went home very annoyed and I felt bad cos I hurt her (we are all good now though).

The moral of this long story is when someone is helping you and you would appreciate the help don't yell at them, or get upset cos it wasn't done exactly your way, cos in the end YOUR NOT THE MAN - like I got annoyed with Christina cos she didn't do it exactly how i wanted it done, and I said to her "I'm your boss, and you have to do what I say" (my first dose of power happy drugs they really aren't cool). Talking to her this evening she said that really annoyed her (fair enough cos it was real stupid and in the heat of the moment) and she was gonna walk out, but she didn't for a while, till the job was done. It wasn't even a big deal, like 10 bits of paper which we still used, but me wanting it to be perfect and thinking I was the man, flew off the handle, and said things I shouldn't have.

Most of the anger stemmed from me thinking I was a big shot youth leader, when really I'm not. I'm so blessed to be where I am and I need to thank God and Clive and Nick for the Opportunity to grow in my leadership and grow the Kingdom a little bit more. And especially Christina... as I said, she is cool and has been there as I have been growing in myself and when I have screwed up she always challenges me to do the right thing, however hard it may be for me .

So... did we learn a lesson from that kids?

The Offendatron v1.0

2007-07-20T09:18:00.000+12:00

I'm reading a couple of books at the moment...
One of them is 'The Bait of Satan' by John Bevere it is probably one of the most challenging and real book I have ever read, so useful and insightful and very biblically based it is worth reading, or if your like me, take it slow and study a chapter a day. That doesn't sound that exciting but I would say that every Christian needs to read this amazing book to truly function as a Bible believing Christian.

Here is a little something, a Gem I have picked out for you lovely people:
"There is an old proverb which states, 'Once a dog has been scalded with boiling water he will even fear cold water'. "

Any ideas about what it might mean?
Or comments about the Book?

Power !

2007-07-14T15:25:00.000+12:00

What is power, power in a literal sense is a word we use to describe electricity, a word we use to describe the flow of charged particles that make up electricity that power all our iPOD's and computers and such...

The Bible speaks about power of a different sort, the power of God. I today experienced the power of God. For the last 4 days I have been working long days helping to set up and get our church ready for our INSPIRE conference. These long days of quite physical cleaning and lifting have taken a tole on my already bad back, I crushed a vertebrae 4 yrs ago snowboarding and it gives me a lot of pain and trouble.

So today at about 3pm the pain was getting pretty bad, the session finished and I decided to lie down on one of the seats and stretch my back. Luke one of my mates came along and pretended to pray for me, like black American preacher style and I laughed and said well actually you can pray for my back.

A couple of others gathered around and began to pray, me super tired from conference was real keen to close my eyes and so I did, I relaxed and nearly immediately the hardcore pain left, they kept praying and I felt the presence of God healing my back. They finished praying and I remained there lying on the seat for a good 5 more mins kinda unable to move.
This is not a weird thing for me to do as I am very susceptible to the spirit and often find myself overcome by the spirit of God and find myself lying on the floor unable to move. I love it.
This time however I really felt the peace of God, actually the happiness of God. I had been really tired and down from all the work I had done for the conference and just not feeling happy at all. However when the stoped praying and left me there on the seat, I couldn't move but I knew i had a biog smile on my face and I felt great.

I 'awoke' and thought I'd go get a coffee and feel awake, but instead I said God you can keep me awake and feeling positive and so I came into my office and wrote this.
I feel amazing now, so refreshed and ready to take on the world again... that is what the power of God does to the human soul, it refreshes and energizes and helps us to carry on.

To be honest my back is not healed, it is still sore but it is no where near as sore as it was and i can now go and enjoy the conference. PRIASE JESUS

Old Favorites

2007-07-13T10:08:00.000+12:00

Don't you just love those verses that nearly everyone can quote, everyone knows about them, and when your in need those are the ones you get.

Yesterday I read this Word For Today on Philippians 4:8 NIV and thought oh I know that scripture, but i read on, mostly cos I hadn't read the Word For Today for a couple of weeks. I get them emailed to me, but I have been checking my emails at church for Fuel stuff and i'm always to busy, so i file them away in a folder.

The Law Of Exposure!

If anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things. - Philippians 4:8 NIV

Imagine that you were really serious about running in a major annual marathon. How likely is it that you'd go on an all-sugar diet before the big race? The fuel you put into something determines its performance. Which is why it's so ironic that in one of the most important areas of life, we disregard this basic piece of wisdom. That area involves your mind. What you feed everything else is nothing compared to what you feed your mind.

Here's a truth that will transform you - think excellent thoughts! What enters your mind repeatedly occupies it, shapes it, controls it, and in the end expresses itself in what you do and who you become. That's the law of exposure. And it's as sure as the law of gravity. Your mind will absorb and reflect whatever it's exposed to. The events you attend, the materials you read or don't read, the music you listen to, the images you expose yourself to, the conversations you hold, the thoughts you entertain, are all shaping your mind, and eventually your character and your destiny.

"So what should I do?" you ask. Do a check up from the neck up! Begin to pray: "Lord, what I want is a new mind because I'm tired of this old one. It keeps leading me down the wrong paths. In a world where the messages are so often twisted or trivial or foolish or self-absorbed or downright evil, I want the kind of mind Your Word describes: one that's filled with excellent, admirable, honorable, praiseworthy thoughts." Can you imagine what your life would be like if you constantly prayed that way?

Well yesterday I did read it and it really proved incredibly helpful this morning...
On my way to church I began thinking about some stuff that really didn't belong in my head I actually knew it was of me. Like even my male mind is under very good control these days but not this morning... anyway without giving credit to my silly brain I thought of this verse and the above suggestions, I learnt from it that if I let that thought stay there it will continue to stay there in my mind and start taking control.

Kinda like a rose thorn... ever had one in your hand or foot, a tiny rose thorn left can get very red, very sore and left will fester(that means get all pussey and gross) and infect the whole foot and if left long enough the whole body. We don't let it get that way cos we dig it out straight away. We are told by the bible to do that with our thoughts as well, get rid of the yuckey ones so that will not stay there in your mind and infect the whole body!

I refused to let a silly thought take control so I prayed in Jesus name and told it to leave and that it had no place in my head. But I also followed the above scripture and thought about something excellent or praiseworthy, so I thought my favorite worship song being sung to a full staduim of 30,000 people all praising the Lord almighty! I sung that song and continued to do so until that silly thought was gone! Big ups to Jesus and the Word For Today.

You can grab a copy from www.rbg.co.nz and clicking on the Word For Today !

Relationships...

2007-07-04T17:14:00.000+12:00

As some of you may know i have just taken on a role as a youth worker at Eastside Apostolic Church, I'm in charge of the 11-13 Intermediate aged youth and i run a crazy fun program for them on Friday Nights and Sunday Mornings. As a result I have began to be looked upon as knowing stuff... they are sadly mistaken.

I laugh cos I don't know as much at all about youth work, or even youth. I was a youth a while ago, but a lot has changed since then, now 22 I am somewhat out of touch with those 'dang youngens'.

I also run a life group for 13yr old boys, it's all good real fun and real rewarding and a lot of work but seeing those young dudes begin to crank for Jesus makes it all worth it. All the boys in my life group seem to be getting or having girlfriends(g/f). The other night we were watching a movie and one of them asked me if we could talk about g/f at life group, i said yeah sweet as. They also wanted to know what i thought right then and there.

I have been pondering a little about this lately and so I plainly said somethings like this "I dunno, I could tell you not to have g/f's to stay away from them, cos girls are evil and they will just get you into trouble... but you will just date them anyway, and no doubt get yourself in trouble anyway" so then i said "or i could tell you to go ahead and date girls, go out with girls now, be careful and learn from your mistakes like I didno doubt you will do that aswell" .

so the problem arose and I had to ask myself the question "what do you say, to a youth not at an age to marry or even think about it when they ask you for advice about dating".

I'm inclined to think that most Christian literature out there would tell 'Christian' youth to stay single and focus on God... am I right.
I myself would want to tell them this, but is it the best advice to give to young hormone filled youth who are bombarded by people(friends, school peers, magazines, TV) to date, date, date, and date some more.
Also human nature leads to young people dating too I believe, like there sheer physical makeup is propelling them towards the other sex.

So what do you tell a teenager who wants to or is dating... do you say break the mold and stay single or do you say be superman and date but stay 100% pure(more like Jesus) or what???

I need your guys help on this...
also if you read my blog but don't wanna comment often can you just comment me this time and say you read it.

RiCO

Yummy Thoughts on Prayer 1

2007-06-23T09:48:00.000+12:00

Prayer in one word prayer is partnership.

Partnership between man and God.
Partnership between two people.Partnership between a community or many people.
Partnership with the goal of love.
Partnership is a Company; Business, Firm, Corporation, Enterprise, Organization, Joint Venture- a joint venture for the purpose of Love.
Partnership is Affiliation; Association, Collaboration, Companionship, Alliance, Relationship- an alliance or relationship of two persons for the purpose of Love.

Why am I always talking about Love. Well if you have read the whole bible…yeah right, but if you understand it and have a good overview you will see that all that happens springs from Love, the utter immense love of God for Man. Look a Genesis 1: “God created heaven and earth.” Why would he go to so much trouble as to create a perfect world, because he was to create some perfect landlords to live on that earth and in his love he gave us a nice world. It’s a bit screwed up now but that is sin.
Look at Abraham (Gen 12) God sent him away and gave him a whole new land, a better, bigger land and he became the father of all humanity.
Jump forward to the ultimate display of Love, Christ, nothing more nothing less than pure love, “God loved the world this way: He gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not die but will have eternal life.” John 3:16.

God’s greatest command reiterated by Jesus in John 13:34 was “I'm giving you a new commandment: Love each other in the same way that I have loved you.” If that was God’s new commandment given by Jesus we should probably listen to that.

The Pharisees ask Jesus…
Matt 22:36 "Teacher, which commandment is the greatest in Moses' Teachings?"
Mat 22:37 Jesus answered him, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
Mat 22:38 This is the greatest and most important commandment.
Mat 22:39 The second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.'

Therefore I believe God wants us to have love for each others, and what does this have to do with prayer, well if God’s wants us to Love each other then how do we do that.We pray for them!, how does that work, well when you pray it takes effort, time, energy, and so your gonna want something out of it.Prayer produces love, how?
Mat 5:44 says “But I tell you this: Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.”

Try this, think of someone you don’t like much or don’t have love for, now ask God to help you sincerely pray for them. (ask him to help you forgive them if you need to first) If you sincerely pray for this person, and keep doing it, you will see wonders happen, you will find you have a vested interest in this person now and you will begin to love them…
Do it, I Dare ya! It has only taken me a couple of weeks to see changes, like every time the person annoys me, i just say a sneaky mind prayer for them, and now many of them I really like.

Jesus was a smart man, and had a smart dad, I believe this is true, in fact do it properly and before God and if you don’t get results in 3 months I will give you 20 bucks!
Enjoy
RiCO

In Response...

2007-06-19T11:22:00.000+12:00

In response to a post by my freind Joy, ill try and answer her questions...
breifly because i have still 3 assignments due and to study for a theology exam by tuesday!
but these are big questions so ill probly just tyr and point you in the right directuion Joy... for now.

1) if God said, "I sent my only Son, Jesus ...", why are we called "sons and daughters of God"? doesn't He mean Jesus is the only Son of His? that Jesus is the only Son He loves??
Often we need to take the bible not a face value but as a whole. So looking at this verse(John 3:16 i guess) my bible has a note about "one and only son" and says ; "Or one of a kind, or incomparible, or only begotten; the greek word can refer to someones only child such as in Lk 7:12, 8:42; 9:38. It can also refer to someone's special child as in Hebrew 11:17.
So i think it means that God gave he only son, like a man with 10 average looking sheep can give away one and not worry too much but a man with one prize winning sheep won't want to give away his one perfect sheep, it is just like that with God giving away his one perfect sheep, Jesus.

We are made in the image of God, and we all come from adam, and Christ is the new adam and by asking him into our life we are bound to him by his spirit the holy spirit. So because now we are born again in Christ( read John 3) we are sons and daughters of God, not in a physical sense but in spirit.

can anyone else help me and Joy out eith this one????

2) the Bible tells us that Jesus is the bridge of the gap between God and man, but how could that be? He washed us clean, but then we've still got our new sin burdons on us, so we're like, never clean, so how can we go to God if He's so pure and we can't help our dirtiness, do you get me? i remember Benny Hinn saying last friday that "our bodies are just a temporary 'shell', for when we die, we have nothing left'. why are humans so limited, and why do we sin every day without even knowing what we have done wrong? why did God even create us if He knew we were gonna sin, and because of that we cannot do what He desires, which is to be with Him??thanks for helping me out~!

Christ died for all of our sin, our past, present and future sin, once(where he struggles with the sin Matt 26:36-46) he took all the sin of the whole world ever on himslef. so that we wouldn't have to make sacrifices over and over and over and over and over and over and over like in the Old Testament. Christ died to take away the power fo sin so that we would not be slaves anymore to sin (Romans 7:13-8:11) but free by what Christ did for us on the cross, once and for all.
We can go to God because Christ made the sacrifice for us (Hebrews 4:14-15) and by beliving in him we are made right with God (Romans 3:22) and because of that we can go to God and recieve the mercy, grace forgiveness and marcy only he can provide(Hebrews 4:16), here it says go boldly to God, with confidence that we are made right with God by what Christ did for us.

We will never be perfect before God but that doesn't mean we can't go to him, thats why we need to go to him, his power is made full in our weakness(1 Cor 12:9). "Sin will keep you from God, but God will keep you from sin", its huge and a great question, but just remember that God is the only one to help you and he is so loving and so full of grace(undeserved kindness) that he will never turn one of his children away. Like a parent never tells a child to go away even if they have been bad but hugs them and loves them. God is like that. Just tell him exactly how your feeling cos he is big enough to handle it.

These bodies are just temporary, but they are all we have now so we are called to use them for God's glory, they are sinful because of what adam and eve did( Gen 3) and now we have to live with that, luckily we have Christ to fill in that Gap.

for that last bit check out a previous blog from 19th May on why God created us...

well better go, my internet is not working much at all so it might take me a while to reply but hope this helps.

How much do you Love Jesus?

2007-06-15T09:39:00.000+12:00

I have this written on my door in real big letters:

"YOU LOVE JESUS ONLY AS MUCH AS THE PERSON YOU LOVE THE LEAST"
It was from 'Focus on the family' off Rhema like 6 months ago, and my flatmate quoted it back to me yesterday, and don't ya hate it when your own preaching comes back and bites you in the butt!!

Ponder that today, really truly think about it. Think about how much you need the love of Christ and then think about how much you love Jesus light of that quote.

H.S.I.E.S

2007-06-14T12:23:00.000+12:00

I was thinking and asking God; at what age do we start to make decisions for ourselves? This all came about when some younger friends of mine were watching something that was a bit dodgy and I said "you guys should really turn this off" and then went home and thought; man I wouldn’t watch that. But then I thought; your 22 now Rick. They are what? 13 and 15? When I was that age I (a) didn’t know it was wrong to watch dodgy stuff, and (b) enjoyed watching it. The later never really changes, sin is fun, often enjoyable, you just learn what is good for you and what is destructive!

This was my question to God-
“Does Christianity get any easier? Do you step in one day and take over my thoughts and actions? I don’t think you do! I think we can put in more God, we can be more aware of the Holy Spirit, and that will help tremendously but Lord what do I do now?”
I got an answer that went kinda like this; ask the Holy Spirit into this situation. If the Holy spirit is in all situations and not at home on the prayer shelf then it wont be so hard. Therefore ask the Holy Spirit to come into every situation.

Now that answer is very personal to me but I think that as “Christians” we compartmentalise God/Jesus/Holy Spirit. We put God into a little box that we keep at home and at church, like this morning I didn’t pray like I normally do because I ran out of time, so I came home and really felt like I needed to pray. Praying is awesome and we all need to do it daily, but 1 Thessalonians says “Pray without ceasing”(KJV) or “Pray constantly”(HCSB, Holman Christian Standard Bible) or “never stop praying” (CEV) doesn’t it? I struggle to find time to pray for 30 mins everyday, I wouldn’t be able to work if I had to never stop praying.It doesn’t actually mean this, I believe it means to be in the attitude of prayer at all times, or in constant contact with God, constant communication with God. Well following on from yesterdays Blog about the Holy Spirit being with us all the time, and todays situation, this lil acronym I made up might help, it has for me:

H oly
S pirit
I n
E very
S ituation

Enjoy, let me know what you think, ask the Holy Spirit to come into every situation; driving, class, work, simple chats to the dairy owner… and see what happens.

Our Advocate

2007-06-13T14:23:00.000+12:00

John 14:26 says

"But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."

This verse is talking about the Holy Spirit, he is our counseller, the greek word is paraklete, which means Advocate, partner, encourager, and my favorite- the one who comes along side
This means the Holy Spirit is our freind our buddy someone who never leaves.

I absolutley love Johny Cash, he is rugged, hard nosed, honest and tells it how it is, and he loved Jesus when it mattered.

"Personal Jesus"

Your own, personal, Jesus

someone to hear your prayers,

someone who cares

Your own, personal, Jesus

someone to hear your prayers,

someone who's there

Feeling unknown and you're all alone,

flesh and bone,by the telephone,

lift up the receiver,

i'll make you a believer

Take second best,

put me to the test,

things on your chest,

you need to confess,

i will deliver,

you know i'm a forgiver

Reach out and touch faith

Your own,personal,

Jesus someone to hear your prayers,

someone who cares

Your own, personal, Jesus

someone to hear your prayers,

someone to care

Feeling unknownand you're all alone,f

lesh and bone,

by the telephone,

lift up the receiver,

i'll make you a believer

i will deliver,

you know i'm a forgiver

Reach out and touch faith

I straight away thought, yeah the Holy Spirit is like a personal Jesus, if you knew Jesus was onm your back or in your pocket or sleeping at the end of your bed you'd be a lot better off wouldn't ya. I know if i had Jesus with me I would probly be a bit better, i wouldn't sin as easily, or at all.

Well the Holy Spirit is simple that, Jesus left but he left the Spirit here for us, we need not worry about getting caught up in the world when we have Jesus with us all the time.

try it, next time your strugglin or in a hard situation be like "thankyou Holy Spirit that your my Holy Spirit and your here with me"... works wonders.

Jonah 3 Devotional

2007-06-08T09:23:00.000+12:00

Jon 3:4 And Jonah began to enter a day's journey into the city. And he cried out and said, Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overturned!
Jon 3:5 And the men of Nineveh believed in God, and they called a fast and put on sackclothes, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

(notes from my bible) It is not our hearing God's word that pleases him, but our responding obediently to it!

RiCO: The people of Ninevah were very quick to hear and respond to God, and because of this they were saved.