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SIN AND FAITH AND MISSING THE MARK Luke 7:36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to come to his home for lunch and Jesus accepted the invitation. As they sat down to eat, a woman of the streets heard he was there and brought an exquisite flask filled with expensive perfume. Going in, she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping, with her tears falling down upon his feet; and she wiped them off with her hair and kissed them and poured the perfume on them. When Jesus' host, a Pharisee, saw what was happening and who the woman was, he said to himself, “This proves that Jesus is no prophet, for if God had really sent him, he would know what kind of woman this one is!" The Pharisees judged the woman harshly and they also judged Jesus harshly in this situation. This was bad press for Jesus – ‘Immoral sinful woman publicly kisses the feet of Jesus at a party Then Jesus spoke up and answered his thoughts. "Simon," he said to the Pharisee, "I have something to say to you." "All right, Teacher," Simon replied, "go ahead." Th

ASCENSION After Jesus descended into Hades and paradise with the keys of hell and death the Bible says he set the captives free and led them into the Heavens (Ephesians 4:8). On his upward journey he visited the earth and took upon himself his entombed body and met Mary Magdalene in the garden near the tomb and told her he had to present himself to his Father in Heaven. The angels at the tomb had told Mary and the other women to tell the disciples that Jesus would meet them later in the day at Galilee. When he had finished making the presentation of his blood to his Father for the purification of the sins of the whole earth, he returned to the earth that same day same day in a resurrected body that could never ever die again. This resurrected body was without the constraints of a limited physical body, but it could be seen and recognized as a natural body. In this spiritual yet natural body Jesus could appear anywhere and at any time. He could feel and be touched, he could breathe and eat, and walk and talk,

When Jesus gave up his Spirit to his Father he then descended in his Spirit on a mission of great purpose. Below him was a place called Paradise, and next to Paradise was a place called Hades. Jesus had spoken about these places when he told the story of the rich man and Lazarus, the beggar. The rich man who lived sumptuously in arrogant self-indulgence all of his life ended up in Hades and Lazarus who lived the life of a humble beggar at the gate of the rich man’s house ended up in Paradise, with Abraham. (Luke 16:19)  Jesus had now descended to these places. Paradise was where there were millions of souls who had been waiting for him from the beginning of time. These had lived their lives on earth in hope, many of them guided by the Commandments through Moses, but many simply by a good conscience. They were locked away from eternity till Jesus would now come to get them. Jesus would also visit Hades the prison of lost hope. The bible says that Jesus then preached to all those prisoners of time the message

CALVARY Jesus had been sentenced to death by Pontius Pilate and then tortured and flogged by the cruel guards of King Herod, and finally commanded by Pilate to carry his cross to Calvary, or Golgotha, which means ‘the place of the Skull’. Pilate told the Centurion to arrange for an escort of guards around Jesus to escort him to the windswept hill. One of the Centurion's men put the heavy beam on Jesus' bleeding shoulder as they left the yard and went into the crowded street. The already large crowd continued to grow, some of them followers and friends, others bitter enemies, and yet others who were just confused and angry. Jesus staggered and buckled under the weight of the beam but he continued to drag it behind him. It was the custom to write a description of the crime committed on a clay plate and fix it to the top of the cross. Pontius Pilate had written an inscription that read, “THE KING OF THE JEWS” An angry voice called out above the crowd “Who wrote that inscription? – it’s wrong”, and one of the te

THE PASSOVER SUPPER Passover was the busiest time of the year in Jerusalem when crowds of Jews from all over the Empire were gathering for the feast. Jesus had arrived triumphally seated on a donkey into Jerusalem earlier in the week and the crowds had welcomed him as their prophet, miracle worker and King to be, shouting Hosannah and casting palm leaves on the ground before him. People were amazed and awestruck at his commanding presence when he tipped over the tables of the greedy money changers in the temple, and all of this brought Jesus under fiercer and more intense scrutiny from the temple leaders than ever before. Questions were hurled at him to entice him into confrontation regarding moral and legal issues of their temple religion. But Jesus was not about to be baited like an animal of prey. He fielded their questions with a calm authority, and it was the tormentors who became enraged by the superior wisdom and integrity of their victim to be. Crowds of Jews looked on in expectation. Many wanted a sh

THE JONAH SYNDROME God wanted to save the great city of Nineveh in Assyria (about 755 years BC), so he sent Jonah, a prophet of Israel with a warning about the harm and destruction they were causing one another that would end up destroying them as a people unless they went through a spiritual conversion of their minds and hearts. Jonah 1:1 GOD's Word came to Jonah, son of Amittai: "Up on your feet and on your way to the big city of Nineveh! Preach to them. They're in a bad way and going from bad to worse and I can't ignore it any longer."  However, Jonah had made his own judgement about what God really needed to do with this bunch of people. Jonah was a fierce nationalist, and he could not agree with God’s appraisal of the fate of this despicable Assyrian city, and he tried to escape his responsibility by running away from it. The name Jonah in Hebrew means dove, which speaks of the Holy Spirit’s anointed message through this prophet of God. And that message was being contested by the messenger himself! Jonah

A NEW ORDER notes When God created the Universe he began with an order of material being or existence, and then created human life with a much higher order of life with moral responsibility for relationships and loving responses. We are going to look a the ongoing work of God in the reordering of that relational order of our lives to bring us closer and closer to him. We start with God as Uncreated Being creating the material universe in the presence of his already created angelic spirit beings. The material universe was an order of created being which reflected his creative genius of design in observable Laws, such as the laws of mathematics and physics and chemistry, and the observable beauty of light and colour and the harmony of movement and sound and the forms of life and energy and growth. All of these laws and forms of the new order of created being were created out of emptiness and darkness and chaos and disorder.  Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was with

TIMES OF REFRESHING OF GOD’S PRESENCE Acts 3:19 Now change your mind and heart towards God and turn to him so he can cleanse away your sins and send you the appointed times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. The appointed times (Kairos) of refreshing (anapsyxis; a recovery of breath, revival) from the presence of the Lord speak to us firstly about the sovereign outpourings of the Holy Spirit as seen throughout the history of the Church, and they also speak to us about our practice of personally abiding in the presence of the Holy Spirit through our faith.  The sovereign outpourings of the Holy Spirit for the Church began with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, and they have continued in the many revivals in different times and in different places throughout history including those moves of God that have occurred in living memory over the last couple of generations.  The personal times of refreshing for us is the practice of abiding by our faith in the presence of the Holy Spi

NEVER TOO OLD - The wisdom of God for a balanced life  Proverbs 30:7-9 Two things I ask of you; do not deny them to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane (tapas – manipulate) the name of my God. This powerful prayer is one that we are never too old or too young to pray. In this prayer we are praying for the wisdom for some of the wisest choices we can make for the rest of our lives. And while ever we are alive we can still say the phrase ‘before I die’. This prayer contains a twofold request on behalf of all of us to God. The first request has to do with being given a heart of truth in two special areas in our lives and the second request is being given the integrity to be content in all circumstances whether in times of scarcity or abundance. When we pray about truth, we are asking for two different aspects of untr

THE BURNING BUSH One day God intervened supernaturally in the life of Moses, speaking to him from a burning bush that stayed alight until Moses received and understood God’s message to him. Exodus 3:1 One day as Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, out at the edge of the desert near Horeb, the mountain of God, suddenly the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Then th

OUTSIDE THE GATES There is a story in the Old Testament (2Kings 7) about how the unseen world of spiritual light and spiritual darkness operates. It is the story of Elisha and the four lepers of Samaria. This story demonstrates how limited the power of darkness is when it faces up to the power and purpose of God and his goodness. The spiritual world is an unseen world – the real world of God’s activity – the world dominated by light and God’s goodness and faith, and with faith we can withstand and overthrow the spiritual darkness in that unseen realm with its fear and deception. The story begins with Israel under siege and with the Syrian army camped in the hills nearby and God’s people starving to death inside the walls of the city of Samaria, which had become the temporary capital of the Northern tribes of Israel.  It was reported that people were paying fifty dollars for the head of a donkey to eat, and the king of Israel was blaming Elisha for causing this situation to come about. That was because Elisha

THE HUNGER OF THE SOUL In John Chapter four when Jesus sat by the well and asked a woman for a drink of water and then offered her the wellspring of everlasting life he gave her healing for the emotional thirst of her soul and an understanding of the Father’s love for her. She had entered a new life of hope and faith that was to last forever. Then his disciples arrived with food for them all to share.  John 4:27 The disciples were surprised to find Jesus talking to a woman, but none of them asked him why, or what they had been discussing. Then the woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village and told everyone, "Come and meet a man who told me everything I ever did! Can this be the Christ?"  So the people came streaming from the village wanting to see him. Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus to eat. "No," he said, "I have some food you know nothing about." "Who brought it to him?" the disciples asked each other. Then Jesus explained: "My food comes from doing the will of God who

THE THIRST OF THE SOUL John 4:1 When Jesus left Judea and returned to Cana in Galilee he had to go through Samaria on the way, and around noon as he approached the village of Sychar, he came to Jacob's Well, located on the parcel of ground Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jesus was tired from the long walk in the hot sun and sat wearily beside the well. Jesus was travelling purposefully through Samaria on his way from Jerusalem to Cana which was unusual for a Jew because Jews always took the longer journey on the flat terrain along the western side of the Jordan river instead of going over the steep area of Mount Gerizim through Samaria. They did this because they always avoided associating with the Samaritans whom they regarded as gentiles. However, Jesus was being led by the Holy Spirit and waiting for whatever purpose his Father had in mind for him in Samaria. Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus asked her for a drink. He was alone at the time as his disciples had gone into the village to buy

YOUR KINGDOM COME Romans 14: 16. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven is the realm of God’s authority and power and order which expresses the love and unity and agreement that exists between the Father and Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  In this Scripture the word righteousness speaks of our alignment in heart and mind with the Kingdom of God in Heaven. People living this Kingdom life in the earth experience and display the love and peace and joy that reflects the nature of the Kingdom of God in Heaven.  Paul wrote to the Church in Rome which had a great diversity of national and cultural and religious persuasions to encourage them to flow in the love and unity that reflected the nature of the Kingdom of God in Heaven. He warned them to not judge one another because of their cultural and circumstantial differences but to accept and honour the intentions of each other’s hearts to live fo

ENTERING THE KINGDOM Luke 4:42 Early the next morning Jesus departed from the people so he could be in a solitary place, but the crowds searched everywhere for him, and when they finally found him, they begged him not to leave them but to stay at Capernaum. But he replied, "I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God in other places too, for that is why I was sent." Jesus kept talking about a Kingdom, and people wanted to know what this Kingdom was, especially the religious leaders and the Pharisees – Where was it? – When would it come? – What did it look like?  Jesus’ answer to them was that His Kingdom was not in a geographical place, and you couldn’t plan its arrival with a calendar or describe its outward appearance as a visible organization. He said it was not an external system but an internal reality. He said it was in us and amongst us - something shared between us and God and us and one another. Luke17:20,21 When asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The

SEEING AND NOT SEEING This story shows us how differently we can live our lives if we see things as they truly are in the realm of the spirit and not shrouded by darkness, the darkness of the world. The story, from 2 Kings ch.6, starts off with the king of Syria trying to plot his misguided strategies of war against Israel. Every time he plans to ambush Israel’s army in a certain place, Elisha is told by God what is going on and he warns the king of Israel so that he is always ready for action. 2Kings 6:17 Once when the king of Syria was at war with Israel, he told his officers to mobilize their forces at such and such a place (naming the place). Immediately Elisha warned the king of Israel, "Don't go near such and such a place (naming the same place) for the Syrians are planning to mobilize their troops there!" The king sent a scout to see if Elisha was right, and sure enough, he had saved him from disaster. This happened several times. The king of Syria was puzzled. He called together his officers and deman

AN ERA OF HOPE AND PEACE  Forty days after Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph had to bring Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem at that prescribed time for dedication and purification according to Jewish Law.  A man named Simeon was also in the Temple, The Holy Spirit having prompted him to go to the Temple that day. The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen Jesus, God's anointed King, which was Simeon’s lifelong prayer, forever waiting and expecting the Messiah to come soon. And so when Mary and Joseph arrived to present the baby Jesus to the Lord in obedience to the law, The Spirit bore witness to Simeon that his prayer had been answered, and he greeted them, taking the child in his arms and began praising God. ‘Lord’ he said, I have seen him as you promised me I would. I have seen the Saviour you have given to the world. He is the Light that will shine upon the nations, and he will be the glory of your people Israel! now I can die in peace. (Luke 2:29) On that day th

THE CHRISTMAS STORY GOD WITH US The appointed time finally came to heal the earth. It was twisted and torn and it could not heal itself. There were many religions apart from Judaism, and all the rituals, the pomp and ceremony, had only allowed that gap between God and man to remain. God was about to give humanity the perfect answer, not a religion, but Himself. The Divine Being, Jesus God, was to make his transition from eternity into time, from heaven to earth, from pure Spirit existence to human flesh existence. Father had always planned that a new species was to be born into the earth. He had planned for his son to begin this new species of being, a Spirit species, a Spiritual species in the earth. Humanity has been known as ‘Homo Sapiens’ (Mankind +knowledge) – one who has knowledge and knows. But I believe that this new species that came into being at this time is ‘homo Divinicus’ (Mankind +God) – God with us. Now was the time for Jesus to go to earth as The Father’s Son, to become the pain of what human

PEACE ON EARTH Luke 2:8 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly angels praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, Peace on earth, goodwill toward men!”  THE SIGN – life and growth A newborn baby, born from above (John 3:8) safely wrapped and cradled, ready for life and growth. God in Heaven could now be seen on earth in human form. It was the beginning of the plan of God to join his life to humanity and to live his life through those who believe in him. Jesus would live a life of struggle and challenge conquering evil and adversity as a forerunner on behalf of us who were to follow him. His eternal oneness with his Father gave the human spirit for the first time a new perspective of ‘aboveness’ – called transcendence which is not just a consciousness of being born from above but also

The father of John the Baptist, the priest Zechariah gave this prophecy regarding the ministry of his newborn son, John. Luke 1:76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall shine from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”   John the Baptist lived within the awe of this promise of his destiny - preparing the way for the Messiah. He had drawn crowds out to where he had been living out in the desert regions on a diet of locusts and wild honey where the people listened to his preaching declaring that the Messiah was coming and that everybody had to repent.  Then at the appointed time the Holy Spirit prompted him to make his way to Jerusalem to preach about the Kingdom of Heaven and repentance of sins, and he and his di