From fearless to Frail

At the church that I'm ministering in at present (The Garrison Church, Millers Point) we have a number of Commemorative services each year for various Military groups, mostly from WWII. I dont mind these at all as it is a great opertunity to proclaim the Gospel to people who are drawing to the end of their lives.

Last Sunday was another such service where we had Members of the Australian Army (2nd AIF) 9th Division. Some of their Battlefield Honours include El Alamein, New Guinea, and Borneo, but perhaps their most famous action was holding out against the Germans at the siege of Tobruk in 1941, which erned them the nickname 'Rats of Tobruk'. Click here for more info on the 9th Div.

As I saw these men sitting in church, frail and fatigued with age, then thought of the reputation that they earned as a fierce fighting force, it struck me at how fragile life can be. These Men know that as well having suffered 2,732 killed and 7,501 wounded during the war.

Whilst life will alwas be fragile, we as Christians will always have the hope of Eternal life. We have the promise and see the risen Christ as proof of what we will recive on that great day when Jesus comes again.

Whats so good about Good Friday

As a child, I clearly remember asking my mum “Why is Good Friday called Good Friday?”
After all what’s so good about it!

What is so good when a man is betrayed and abandoned by his friends?

What is so good about when an honest person is found guilty and sentenced to death for telling the truth?

What is so good about the promised king of Israel being beaten & spat upon & mocked by the heavy hand of a foreign army?

What is so good about the future hope of the world being nailed to a crude wooden cross – a device of torture and execution?

What is so good about son of man being laughed at by those he came to save and ridiculed by those beside him who are in the same situation as he?

What is so good about the son of God crying out at the top of his voice “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani” – My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Jesus – God made flesh – the one who created the universe cries out to the almighty father.

Normally in the Bible, when we hear Jesus speak it’s a great thing. A blind man receives his sight with the words “Be opened”. Another, lame from Birth is able to walk again with.
The disciples’ fears are ceased as Jesus commands the wind to stop and the waves to be stilled.
The sad and lonely are comforted as Jesus calls “Come Out!” and Lazarus walks from the tomb. When we hear Jesus speak, it is normally with power and authority about, but then, we hear the weak, pitiful cry to God. The pain; the agony; the distress; the suffering; ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’

How could a loving father permit this to happen? Why would he allow these wicked men to do this? Why?

Is Jesus not the King of Kings? Is he not the beginning and the end? Listen to these words that his cousin had to say - John 1:27 - "Behold, the Lamb of God”… What a beautiful image, a perfect, peaceful lamb. But John continued - "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”[i]

And there is the answer – sin! Jesus came into the world to take away that sin of the world!
All this pain and suffering happened so that our sin might be removed from us.

Sin you see had to be dealt with. It could not be ignored. Something had to happen. Under the old system of Jewish law, a lamb was sacrificed. The blood of a lamb however is only a temporary measure. It wasn’t the solution, but rather a reminder of the cost of our disobedience. After all, how can the life of an animal be equal that of a human?

In Jesus we find man who was without sin. He lived a life of perfect obedience to God.
And as Jesus hung there on the cross he took our sin upon himself. As Jesus blood flowed from his wounds, we can be washed clean of our sins. Jesus died so that we can be forgiven from our sins and have the opportunity to live in a perfect relationship with God.

In the words of the Prophet Isaiah, speaking 700 years before:
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. (Isa 53:4-5)

It is Friday. We hear the taunts of his own people rejecting him as if they were our own.
On that day, Jesus was crowned King the Roman soldiers placed that crown of thorns on his head. And Jesus wasn’t glorified on a thrown, but rather on that cross. And we see the creator of the universe isolated and forsaken. We hear the confession of the centurion “Surely this man was the son of God”. Darkness surrounds us as his body is laid in the tomb. But do not fear; it is all going according to plan.
On Sunday we will see the victory over death! On Sunday we will see the proof that our sin is conquered and we can be reconciled to God!
It’s Friday, but Sunday is coming![ii]

[i] Max Lucado, And the Angels Were Silent, Multnomah Press (Portland1992).

[ii] Lyrics: Tree 63, Sunday, Sunday 2007 Inpop Records.

pumped for Good Friday

I've just finished my talk for church tomorrow - its a 7 min talk on the crucifxion of Jesus.

It really started me thinking about Easter, Good Friday and how important it is for our faith as Christians.

So yeah, i'm lookin forward to doin this talk tomorrow & keep en eye out here for it as i will probably post it sometime within the next 24 hours or so.

I'm also lookin forward to watching the John Dickson Doco on chanel 7, April 10 (Good Friday) 1 pm.

Reflections on Mission

So I've been hanging out on mission all of last week then all of a sudden its over and I've got all these thoughts & ideas running round in my head. This year was my second MTC mission and I'd be happy to say that it was the better of the 2 that I've been on. This is why:

Partnership with the church:
This year we had 2 members of the local church give up holidays and get involved with our ministry to the local community as well as a few who did things every now and then - for me, this was a great encouragement as it really felt like we were partnering with the church.

Pushed me out of my comfort zone:
Last year was fairly easy - I did a lot of school scripture and the only 'difficult' thing for me to do was a short talk at the local skate park. This year i knocked on doors of complete strangers & had people reject the Gospel in not uncertain terms.

Organising Kids group:By complete accident i volunteered to look after organising the Thursday arvo kids club. I don't think I'm gifted and certainly don't feel keen on kids ministry, yet things came together really well and the leader of the kids club thought we had done pretty well!

I cant wait to see how i will be challenged next year on MTC mission #3!

Mission Mumblings

I don't know about you, but when you say the word 'Mission' you may get all these images of running off to deepest darkest Africa, or maybe its spending a few weeks over the stinking hot summer living in a tent preaching to holidays makers.

Well, clear all these images out of your head! this week i'm on College mission - a week where the entire student body of the college head out and partner with various churchs around Sydney to proclaim the Gospel.

This week I'm out at Merrylands, joining in fellowship at church meetings, taking scripture seminars in the local Schools, door knocking, ESL classes, train station evangelism and a Mens outreach dinner 'Has God got a Beef with you' at the local leages club (the big problem is that its Chicken night).

Its a lot of hard work, but there are also great opertunities to have fun and get to know others as well. Feel free to check out the mission vodcasts created by Joel A at Fervr.

Great encouragement

the last few days have been hectic as for me with College mission and College graduation all happening. That said, its been also been a great 2 days with a lot of encouragement from God's word.

At Graduation last night we had a great talk from David Peterson about keeping our faith in God despite the hard times in life, especially in the face of the ongoing drought throughout Australia, the Qld floods and the Victorian Bushfires. he based it from Psalm 116 which is also the same passage that Richard Johnson preached on after arriving in Australia with the first fleet.

then this morning in Chapel we had a talk from an Anglican Bishop from Nigeria. it was really encouraging to be reminded of our role as ambassadors of the Gospel. it was also encouraging to be reminded that even though sometimes our words don't make an impact, that it will change someones life.

a great piece of encouragement from the talk was the idea that there is great rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents, and our 4 years in College will still be so worth it if through our life in ministry only one person comes to know Christ though our ambassadorship.

Luther - biggest impact

I'm sitting in Church History and we have just been asked to think about what has really struck us about Martin Luther's life.

Some of the things that people have said were his view of living your ordinary life as a great way to bring Glory to God, my mate Dave has been struck but Luther's time spent thinking on the toilet. Another big one was Luther's sermons, and the way that some of them were actually fairly anti-Semitic.

For me, the biggest thing that strikes me about Luther and his life is his view of the Church and his motivation. Luther was not out to bring division to the church - he was not seeking to make a name for himself as a revolutionary - he didn't want to be the names sake of a denomination of Christianity. No, Luther rather wanted to keep the Catholic church united as the physical manifestation of God's community. Luther wanted to bring the Church back to a truth based on the Bible, not bring division!