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MEETING LIFE’S CHALLENGES  ‘Meeting life’s Challenges’ is an autobiography of Brooks Wilson’s life that invites us to meet him at four years of age and join his journey of life up until the current time of the writing of this book. We share the days of his early years as the son of Rob Wilson who was born in Mudgee NSW Australia and ‘Peg’ Wilson who was born in Massachusetts USA as Gertrude Brooks, the daughter of Clayton and Grace Brooks. And this Australian/American heritage of Brooks Wilson becomes a central feature of his life, which is grandly enhanced by his marriage in 1959 to Ann Meredith, a journalist from Springfield Ohio USA.  These early years that tell of Brook’s comprehensive education, business training and career achievements are marked by his foundational Christian upbringing which defines his philosophy of life. In the preface to his book he draws from the Apostle Paul’s teaching about loving one another and in his own words he says ‘Life is not all about ‘us’. The key is to forget ‘self’ an

THE CHURCH AND DISPUTES WITH THE WORLD It is understandable that the world will have reason to dispute with Christianity in general and with the Church in particular because the belief system of the Church is based upon a spiritual reality that is not understood by the material and non-spiritual rationality of the world. If you talk to a person of the world, you will not expect them to believe that God in Christ created the universe, and that Jesus was raised from the dead and is now Lord over the Universe and Lord over our lives.  Christians understand the material and non-spiritual rationality of the world, but they also understand a transcendent reality that comes from the revelation of God to our spirit so the Church does not have to be engaged in disputes with the world because Christians can engage in good will discussion within both kinds of realty. They can have healthy debates with all people and agree to disagree with each other on all kinds of day-to-day issues that depend solely upon observation r

CHURCH AND DISPUTES OF FAITH  Romans 14:1 Accept and receive those who are weak in the faith, though not with a view to settling disputes. Don’t criticize them for having different ideas from yours about what is right and wrong. When Paul wrote his only letter to the church in Rome he had never been there and didn’t get to go there for many years to come. The Roman church was a mixture of Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians and there were disputes between the groups about how to honour God. The Jewish Christians believed that they had to stay faithful to the Old Testament food laws about abstaining from meat and to the observance of all the Jewish Sabbaths, while the Gentile Christians were growing in a robust New Testament faith with freedom in the simplicity that was in Christ.  Each group had a differently developed conscience regarding the rights and wrongs of the practice of Christianity and harsh and unloving judgement of one another was going on between them. Paul had been among the most learned

THE BLOOD OF OUR COMMUNION Exodus 12:3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household.  Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. It is the LORD'S Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. That miraculous event was celebrated by Israel every year during their Feast of Passover to acknowledge that life was given to God’s people through the blood of the Passover Lamb while death came upon the families of Egypt. There were many such rituals that God commanded Moses to have Israel perform to the most precise detail after the

FORGIVENESS AND MERCY AND YOM KIPPUR John the Baptist was the messenger that had been sent by God to prepare the way before Jesus, preaching repentance and the forgiveness of sins that would come through Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world  Luke 7:29 When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, and were baptized with the baptism of John, but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him. One of those Pharisees who had rejected the teaching of John the Baptist that day afterwards invited Jesus to his house for a meal where there were many guests, and among them was a woman of ‘the city’ who was one of those who had repented and been baptised along with some of the other guests. Such dinners of hospitality were often open and public for the Jewish community with both local and regional guests and where many topics of the day were discussed. Luke 7:36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat

WATER INTO WINE  The first miracle believed to be performed by Jesus is the changing of the water into wine at the wedding at Cana in Galilee. Mary the mother of Jesus is an invited guest, and it is held that Mary and Jesus were actually present as family, along with other relatives and friends and some disciples of Jesus. This is supposed because Mary the mother of Jesus takes a very close familial role of responsibility in noticing that the guests were running out of wine and sees herself as being in the place to give orders to the servants, as it is the place of family to attend to the needs of the guests for the bride and bridegroom and their parents. John starts his account of the events at the wedding by saying ‘On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there (John2:1), which prompts us to go back and read what had been happening on the first and second day of whatever Jesus had been doing. It states in chapter one that John the Baptist, the cousin of Jesus who

LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD  Jesus spoke about the kingdom of Heaven in parables. The word parable’ comes from the two Greek words, para which means ‘alongside ‘and bole which means ‘to throw’, so a parable is an Illustration or symbol of a certain reality that is forcefully thrown down beside a known truth. It is more than just an approximate likeness of something because it mysteriously contains a higher truth and has the power when it is thrown beside a known truth to turn our thinking upside down and to make us rethink our perceptions of reality.  Matthew 20:1 The kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he

THE GOOD SAMARITAN Wherever Jesus walked with his disciples, crowds would follow him, and he would sometimes instruct them and sometimes pray for the people and sometimes answer their questions. On this particular occasion there were Lawyers and Pharisees in the crowd and a Lawyer asked Jesus a question. Luke 10:25 Now, a lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind’ and your neighbor as yourself.’ Jesus said, ‘You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.’ (IE. a fulfilled life, not just an existence!) But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus answered, “A man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing and wounded him and departed, leaving him half

THE SOWER AND THE SEED  Today I would like to share the parable of the Sower and the seed. Matthew 13:3 Jesus told the people many things in parables, saying, ‘A Sower went out to sow. While he sowed, some seeds fell beside the roadway, and the birds came and devoured them. But other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up because they did not have deep soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched. And because they did not take root, they withered away. Some seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. But other seeds fell into good ground and produced grain: a hundred, sixty, or thirty times as much. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.’ Jesus explained the parable of his Kingdom to his disciples, and he described the seed as the Word of the Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is the realm of the activity of God where he reorders everything to be aligned to his will and purpose for life on the earth through his Word. That living Word was

GO AND SIN NO MORE - (The power of Grace over sin) Today we will be talking about sin, and how Jesus told a person to ‘go and sin no more’. How and why can you say that to someone?   The answer goes back to how and when humanity lost its innocence when sin first began and how humanity can regain its innocence through the forgiveness and mercy of God through Jesus. I will discuss the fuller meaning of innocence in a few moments. John 8:1-11 Early in the morning Jesus came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So, what do you say?” they said this to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them

GRACE AND THE ZADOK PRIESTS  Ezekiel was a unique prophet in that he was not only a major prophet, but he was a priest after the line of Zadok who descended from the high priest Aaron. Zadok also served as a high priest during the time of King David.  The ministry of the prophet/priest Ezekiel spanned two eras of God’s dealings with Israel. The first was the era of Israel’s falling away from God which led to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple of Solomon and Israel’s exile into captivity in Babylon. The next era of Ezekiel’s ministry was his account of the work of God upon Israel as the captives came back after seventy years in Babylon to the city of Jerusalem where they rebuilt the temple and repaired the city and its walls and gates.  Ezekiel tells us that many of the Levitical priests had become unfaithful in representing God’s heart to his people and had gone after idols and become corrupt and immoral, setting a bad example to the people. God finally lifted his anointing from them and did not allo

GOD’S GRACE IN A DARK WORLD 1Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am  When Paul made that statement, he knew that what he had become through God’s grace was God’s doing, and not his doing. He also said it was not him doing the work of God, but it was the grace of Jesus working with him. That grace was God’s activity upon his soul that empowered him to respond to God in love and the surrender of his will and to know that Jesus was working through him every moment of his life. That was his faith. So what did Paul think he was before the grace of God took over his life? He thought he was a top-class man of God. Philippians 3:4 If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh (natural humanity), I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. He goes on to say in another place in Galatians 1:14 … And I w

FINDING GRACE TO HELP Hebrews 4:16 Let us then draw near with confidence (parresia) to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help (boētheia) in time of need (eukairos). I believe that Scripture summarises the experience of the previous account of the Mountain of Transfiguration where I outlined the three stages of personal transformation (transfiguration). These stages were, climbing the mountain, being on the mountain, and coming down from the mountain. What I’d like to share about today is ‘Finding grace to help’ which is the most significant aspect of stage two, about being on top of the mountain in the presence of God.   That Scripture starts off by encouraging us to ‘draw near with confidence to the throne of grace’, and that summarises the first stage of the process, of climbing up the mountain. Our drawing near is the intention of our hearts to be closer to God. This happens as we climb and as we consider the issues of our daily life down below that are now going to be given

DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAINTOP  Mark 9:2 Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him up onto a mountaintop to pray. And as he was praying, he was transfigured before them, his face began to shine, and his clothes became dazzling white and blazed with light. Then two men appeared and began talking with him—Moses and Elijah! They were splendid in appearance, glorious to see; and they were speaking of his death at Jerusalem, to be carried out in accordance with God’s plan. As Moses and Elijah were starting to leave, Peter, all confused and not even knowing what he was saying, blurted out, “Master, this is wonderful! We’ll put up three tents —one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah!” But even as he was saying this, a bright cloud formed above them; and they were in awe as it covered them. And a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” Then, as the voice died away, Jesus was there alone with his disciples. He told them not to tell anyone what they had seen until after his resurrection

IN GODS WILL IN HIS TIME Ephesians 5:15 ‘See then that you walk not irresponsibly but diligently and wisely, redeeming the time, because we live in times of much corruption. Therefore, do not be thoughtless, but seek to understand what the will of the Lord is. (NKJ) The word used for ‘will of The Lord’ is thelema - God’s heart to bless us by bringing us into his will for our life.  The word for redeeming used here is exagoraz??; to rescue from loss, improve opportunity, to buy up or ransom;  The word used for ‘time’ here is kairos – God’s appointed time, not chronos – Clock time.  There are times when God brings us to a place of surrendering our will to his so that we can become the person he has truly created us to be. These are times of change for us where there comes a break from our past way of seeing things and doing things, a change of thinking – metanoia - repentance. It is an ongoing experience. That is God redeeming the time for us in his appointed timing for a new beginning for us in his will for ou

BEING IN GODS WILL  Romans 12:2 do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove (dokimaz?? - test, discern, examine) what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Today I will be discussing what it means to discern and test what is the good will of God, the acceptable will of God and the perfect will of God in our lives.  These are three measurable degrees of the will of God in the New Testament, but I will first outline the general principle of being in the will of God starting from the Old Testament. God’s will (thelema) for our lives is God’s pathway of purpose and meaning for our lives that flows from his heart to our hearts on our journey of life with him.  In the Old Testament Israel was sovereignly placed into God’s will by his choice! God took them on a journey under the leadership of Moses into the promised land of Canaan. He had rescued them from out of their slavery under the harsh rule of the Pharaohs in Egypt and He gave them the

THE EARLY CHURCH The members of the early church still saw themselves as belonging to the Jewish religion even though they now had a revelation of the life of Jesus within them through the work of the Holy Spirit. They went to the synagogue every Saturday like good churchgoers, but they could not celebrate their newness of life in the Spirit together in the formal structure and liturgy of the synagogue so they met in households where they could grow their new way of life together in an informal friendly way and in the freedom of the Spirit.                 Their style of celebrating this way of life is described in the Book of Acts. Acts 2:42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.  Apostles’ Doctrine. The early apostles spoke God’s word and trusted the Holy Spirit to teach each person how to hear from Jesus and how to live their life in partnership with him in a way that pleased the Father. That was the challenge that the apostles and

WAS BLIND BUT NOW I SEE When Jesus was ministering in Galilee, he healed three blind men.  One man was blind Bartimaeus  Mark 10:46 And so they reached Jericho. Later, as they left town, a great crowd was following. Now it happened that a blind beggar named Bartimaeus was sitting beside the road as Jesus was going by. When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus from Nazareth was near, he began to shout out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” When Jesus heard him, he stopped there in the road and said, “Tell him to come here.” So they called the blind man. “Be encouraged,” they said, “come on, he’s calling you!” Bartimaeus pulled off his old cloak and threw it aside, jumped up and came to Jesus. “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked. The blind man said, “I want to see!” And Jesus said to him, “All right, it’s done. Your faith has healed you.” And instantly the blind man could see and followed Jesus down the road!  Another man who was healed from blindness was healed by Jesus putting spit in his eyes Mark

WISDOM FROM THE FATHER notes God would walk with Adam and Eve in a beautiful garden every day and he would tell them about the wonderful creation that he had created for them. In this way he filled their hearts with knowledge about who he was and about who they were, in a perfect relationship with himself and with one another. And he told them how much they were loved. He didn’t have to teach them any rules or regulations that would instruct them in moral or ethical choices concerning their relationships to one another because that was perfect, therefore he did not have to instruct them in the relational wisdom of the Ten Commandants. He had only given them one commandment and that was to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Unfortunately, Adam and Eve disobeyed this critical commandment, and this permanently damaged their relationship with God and with one another. At that moment humanity gave entrance to the destructive forces of broken and disordered relationships. Darkness had simply te

SECRET PRAYER    Much of what Jesus taught his disciples had to do with being sincere and real. They had grown up under the influence of an external Jewish religion where there was an outward show of pretence in the prancing around of their religious observances, from giving to fasting and praying. Jesus wanted to teach them to become real in the inner faithfulness of their heart towards God, and not to be concerned with the praise of man.  Matthew 6:1 “Take care! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired, for then you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. … When you do a kindness to someone, do it secret, and your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you. At this particular time of instruction Jesus was especially interested in telling them about the need for this inner quality of the heart in regard to prayer. Matthew 6:5 “And now about prayer. When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who pretend piety by praying publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can