No Monday Mentions This Monday

No Monday Mentions, this Monday, as we are preparing to share the gospel with kids in our community...

Please pray for us as we run ,"Survivor Babylon" at our church, Chatswood Baptist.We are running the program this Wednesday, Thursday & Friday, from 9:30 - 12:30. The theme is to trust, pray and obey.

What about you? How are you doing trusting God? Obeying God & praying to our Heavenly Father? We hope that kids will learn from the way Daniel and his friends did more then survive in Babylon.

If you are not sure about this story, you can find it in the Bible. It's in the book of Daniel. The first six chapters tell of some of the things that happened to them while they were in Babylon.

Oh May God be glorified in all that we do in this foreign land, called earth.

For HIS Glory, we pray!

The Power of the Bible to Illuminate Christ

Here is a quote on, The Power of the Bible to Illuminate Christ.

Please read it slowly & may it provoke you to read the WORD!

"Our Christian conviction is that the Bible has both
authority and relevance - to a degree quite
extraordinary in so ancient a book - and that the
secret of both is in Jesus Christ. Indeed, we should
never think of the Christ and the Bible apart ....
This reciprocal testimony between the Living Word
and the written Word is the clue to our Christian
understanding of the Bible. For his testimony to it
assures us of its authority, and its testimony to him of
its relevance. The authority and
the relevance are his."

John R. Stott

Rector Emeritus of All Souls Church, London
The Authority and Relevance of the Bible in the
Modern World, 1979

My Salvation

If you are visiting this sight regularly, you might be thinking, is this guy serious? Why so much about the Gospel? The reason why is because, this is my hope! This is what saves mankind. This is what causes me to get up in the morning. This is why I am alive. I won't grow tired of hearing and reminding myself, what Jesus has done for me!

Read this: This is by Milton Vincent, it's called: "My Salvation"

"Now when my time came and I placed my faith in Jesus, God instantly granted me a great salvation. He forgave me of all my sins, past, present and future. He gave me the gift of the Holy Spirit, who gives me God's power, who pours out God's love within my heart, and who tenderly communicates to my spirit that I am a child of God and an heir of eternal glory in heaven.
In saving me, God freed me from slavery to any and all sins. I no longer have to sin again, for sin's mastery over me has been broken! In saving me, God also justified me, and being justified through Christ, I have a peace with God that will endure forever. In justifying me, God declared me innocent of my sins ans pronounced me righteous with the very righteousness of Jesus. God has also allowed His future and present wrath against me to be completely propitiated by Jesus, who bore it upon Himself while on the cross. Consequently, God now has only love, compassion, and deepest affection for me, and this love is without any admixture of wrath whatsoever. God always looks upon me and treats me with gracious favor, always working all things together for my ultimate and eternal good. God's grace abounds to me even through trials. Because I am a justified one, He subjugates every trail and forces it to do good unto me. When I sin, God's grace abounds to me all the more as He graciously maintains my justified status as described above. When I sin, God feels no wrath in His heart against me. His heart is filled with nothing but love for me, and He longs for me to repent and confess my sins to Him, so that He might show me the gracious and forgiving love that has been in His heart all along.
God does not require my confession before He desires to forgive me. In His heart He already has forgiven me; and when I come to Him to confess my sins to Him, He runs to me (as it were) and is repeatedly embracing and kissing me even before I get the words of my confession out of my mouth! (Read Luke 15:20-24)
God does see my sins, and He is grieved by my sins. His grief comes partly from the fact that in my moments of sin, I am not receiving the fullness of His love for me. He even sends chastisement into my life (Hebrews 12:7-9); but He does so because He is for me, and He loves me; and He disciplines me for my ultimate good. I don't deserve any of this, even on my best day; but this is my salvation, and herein I stand. Thank you Jesus!"

Is this not worth, getting up and enjoying today?

And it is ONLY, because of the cross...

God's Work on My Behalf

A day later then promised, let's reflect on how Milton Vincent understands 'God's work on our behalf'.

"However, what I could not do, God did and in doing it, He did it all, sending His own Son into the world to die on the cross for my sins, thereby showing me unfathomable love. God loved me so much that He was willing to suffer the loss of His Son, and even more amazingly, He was willing to allow His Son to suffer the loss of Him at the cross. Jesus loved me so much that He was willing to lay down His life for me. no one could ever love me more or better than Jesus. On the third day after Jesus' death, God raised Him from the dead, thereby announcing that His death was completely sufficient to atone for every sin that I have or will commit throughout my lifetime. God then exalted Christ to His own right hand, where Christ now reigns from on high, granting salvation and forgiveness to all who call on Him by faith."

This is so well put. Praise God for the understanding and giftedness of this man to put these thoughts on paper.

Brothers Milton is gifted but you should understand, these thoughts are all formed by God's Word. Again, let me provide you with verses that support and endorse all of the conclusions that Mr. Vincent has reached.

Romans 5:6; Romans 8:3; 1Peter 3:18; Romans 5:7&8; John 3:16; Romans 8:32; Mark 15:34; John 15:13; Acts 13:30, 38&39; Ephesians 1:20&21; Acts 5:31.

Reflecting on the work that God has done for me causes me to sigh. I'm free! I'm free in Christ. Not because of myself, but because of what He has done!

What a wonderful Savior!

Meg's Miscellaneous Monday Mentions

It's Monday night, and therefore a little late, but I think I still scrape in on a technicality, right?




Well, this week, I have 2 fantastic but oh-so-challenging posts to direct you to. First up is a hard hitting, sledge hammer between the eyes, no holds barred post over at Desiring God. It is a ripper of an article written by Ben Reaoch, pastor of Three Rivers Grace Church in downtown Pittsburgh, PA. The title of his post is "12 Sins We Blame on Others". Yep, I told you it was going to hit you between the eyes! I was so convicted by this post and so shocked at the truths written in just one short piece of writing.




In short, these 12 sins we blame others for, according to Ben Reaoch are: Anger, impatience, lust, anxiety, spiritual apathy, insubordination, a critical spirit, bitterness, gluttony, gossip, self-pity and selfishness.




I don't know about you, but I can unfortunately confess that I have at one time or other, blamed someone else for almost all of these sins in my own heart. Whether it be blaming my anger on another who has hurt me, or justifying my anxiety because I obviously have a lot of stress going on in my life. Just this week, I have had to apologise to my children several times for my great impatience and frustration that I have displayed to them. Excusing my sin by blaming it on their behaviours and my own exhaustion does not cut it with the Lord, but I hate to admit how often I can be guilty of this. I would strongly encourage you all to read this article and be open to the Lord if He is leading you to repent of blaming others for your own choices to sin.


And secondly, this next post has an equally hard message to swallow, one that I found very challenging and convicting again. Boundless Web zine, a Focus on the Family site, has posted a very challenging message called "Inured", regarding the issue of our choice of movies and TV.

Ahhh, I hear the sighs, the rolling of the eyes and the defences raising... but before you write it off (and me) as a conservative, narrow minded Christian who can't appreciate good art and entertainment, I would encourage you to at least read the article and pray about whether you think this is an area in which you may not be completely honouring the Lord in.



The article predominantly deals with the fact that we, as a society and even within the church, have become so desensitized to what we see and hear in movies and on TV that things are rarely as shocking as they should be to us as Christians.



Within the comments section of the article, someone has written this brilliant quote by John Piper regarding his views on his choices of movies:

He said, "My parents almost never went to movies, and I almost never go to movies. The reason is very simple: there are almost no movies that don't ask me to be entertained by attitudes, motives, and actions which Jesus died to eradicate. My heart will not allow me to be entertained by worldliness."

Extreme? Maybe. Or maybe it's that we have become so numb to the sin in our own hearts that we are no longer shocked when we see others acting out that same sin that Jesus died for on the Cross, on the TV screen. I pray that the Lord would lead you in wisdom and Godliness as you seek to lead your families in making wise choices for your entertainment and recreation.

Our Sin Against God

I was at a dinner the other night where a man boldly and proudly stated: "I don't see a need in my life for Jesus, so why should I give Him my life?" Many a man don't understand what their sin is against God. Let me borrow these words from Milton Vincent who explains very well what 'our sin against God' is...

"Yet I could not have failed this great God more miserably than I have. Instead of giving thanks to Him and humbly submitting to His rule over my life, I have rebelled against Him and have actually sought to exalt myself above Him. Going my own way and living according to my own wisdom, I have broken countless times either the letter of the spirit of every one of God's Ten Commandments. Thinking myself to be wise, I have shown myself to be a fool; and because of my arrogance, God has every right to damn me to the everlasting experience of His terrifying wrath in the Lake of Fire. So as for myself, apart from Christ I am bound by the guilt of my sins and also bound by the power of sin, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures. Apart from Christ, I am also utterly deserving of and destined for eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire, completely unable to save myself or even to make one iota of a contribution to my own salvation."

Here are some verses that support all that has been said by Milton Vincent.

Romans 1:21-25; Romans 3:23, Exodus 20:3-17; Colossians 3:5; Matthew 5:27-28; 1 John 3:15; Romans 6:23; Romans 21:8; Ephesians 2:3; Romans 3:19; James 2:10; Titus 3:3; Romans 5:6

Tomorrow, Lord willing, I will tell you of God's work on our behalf...

The Glory of God

"My God is immense beyond imagination. He measured the entire universe with merely the span of His hand.
He is unimaginably awesome in all of His perfections, absolutely righteous, holy, and just in all of His ways.
He has also been unbelievably good and merciful to me as the Creator and Sustainer of my life.
Every breath, every heartbeat, every function of every organ in my body is a gift from Him.
Every legitimate pleasure I experience is a gift from His loving hand to me.
All that I am and all that I have I owe to Him and to His goodness.
My life in every way is, and will continue to be, utterly dependent upon Him in whom I live and move and have my being.
This wonderful God is the most supremely worthy Object of admiration, honor, and delight in all of the universe;
Ad He has created me with the intention that I might glorify Him by finding my soul's delight in Him and by living in joyful obedience to Him in all of my ways."

by Milton Vincent


These words have been expressed so well. I need not change them, but provide you with them...

Meg's Miscellaneous Monday Mentions

Doing a quick trip around the blogosphere this week has led me to many and varied interesting, challenging, convicting and thought provoking posts by several authors. What has stood out most to me this week have been the awful amount of stories about newborn or young babies dying.

I have read way too many heart breaking stories this week of parents suffering the loss of their babies. It has led me to weep for people I will most likely never meet this side of eternity. It has also led me to give thanks to the Lord who has so graciously spared our family from such tragedy. Above all, it has caused me to praise God for His amazing grace upon these families lives who have surely brought much glory to their Lord and Saviour by the way in which they have responded to such pain and suffering.

The amazing thing is that each one of these parents, or grandparents, writing about their loss, have openly bared their rawest of wounds as they grieve the loss of their precious children, and yet they have more so declared the goodness of their Almighty Heavenly Father. Amidst their tears and sorrow and agony, they have still lifted up praise to their King, even as He has ushered their babies into His magnificent presence. I have been amazed at such faith and have been forced to wonder whether I would give such an amazing testimony if I were in their shoes. I greatly fear that I would not.

Here are just 3 of the families I have read about recently. I pray that the following posts will move you to pray for these dear brothers and sisters in Christ. I pray that it may cause you to hold your kids, grand kids, nephews or nieces a little longer, a little closer and be thankful that they are still within reach of precious hugs and kisses. I also pray that you would be able to testify to the goodness of Jesus in their lives and yours, for He is truly good in all things.

*John Piper on the death of his granddaughter and the speech he gave at her funeral.

* Dennis Rainey (of FamilyLife) writes a beautiful account of his precious granddaughters' passing.

* The Story of Audrey Caroline is heart-wrenching blog about the love and loss of one family's precious baby girl.

Teaching Children about Priorities

Training children can be tricky. Especially when things happen that are outside of our control. However it is so important that we walk/lead our children through these times to give them the skills and understanding that they need, when facing disappointment or hurt. I find these times to be strategic for imparting wisdom.

Tonight, my eldest son has once again faced disappointment. His soccer game has been canceled for the 3rd time this season. Now he really, really, really enjoys playing sport. I think he has been so blessed by God to have been put on the team that he is. His coach is fantastic, his team members have been very accepting and welcoming. This has really been a wonderful experience for Caleb so far.

Now with all these game cancellations, there are going to be re-matches. But we have just learnt that these rematches are going to be held on Sundays. In fact the first rematch is on a Sunday Morning at 9:00 AM. But this is the time that we are at Church. So what do we do?

A very wise man once told me that "priorities precede privileges". Man I have banked that quote and I repeat it often. It is a gold nugget. Because it is so true!!!

So what are our priorities as a believer in Jesus Christ? It is the meeting together of the saints. Sure, there are exceptions and the like, but how quickly our priorities become confused. It is important to keep your priorities your priorities.

Anyway, we knew what we should do, but how do we teach and train our son, so as not to provoke and frustrate him. Instead to teach him and encourage him in godliness?

My wife and I spoke to our son and told him about the decision that we face, and asked his thoughts on the matter. He was quick to recognize the struggle but admitted the right thing to do was not play at that time.

A few days later we were on our way to soccer practice, and I asked my son what he would say to his friends when they asked if he was going to make it to the rematch games. I was so shocked I was silenced. He said, "I'm going to say that I won't make it to those games because I am a Christian and I will be at Church."

My usual sensor picks up the tone of how it is said, and the facial expression that accompany the words. To my delight, the tone was humble and passionate, and the face was serious and committed. I think I said, "Wow son, that is really awesome you feel that way."

So, back to my question, "how do you teach your children to deal with disappointment?"

Brothers, it is as simple as teaching your children what God's Word instructs us. "You, your children and grandchildren must respect the Lord your God. You must do this as long as you live. Obey all his rules and commands I give you. Then you will live a long time." (Deuteronomy 6:2)

Further down, we read, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength." Now this is not just taught orally, but by your actions along with your wife's actions.

Do you model for your children what it is to, "love the Lord God with all your heart, soul and strength?" Oh, I have struggled at doing this, but I think it is important to model for your children what it means to love the Lord your God. That means, not allowing other things to creep in and confuse your privileges over your priorities.

Now my wife and I normally let our children express their disappointment, as long as it is done with respect, and not out of a heart of grumbling against God or others. Depending on location and timming we take the opportunity to help them see the sinfulness of their hearts, and identify where we have struggled with this sin as well. We then encourage them to repent of this sin and will pray with and for them. Then after we have cried and got it all out, we focus on our hope, HEAVEN! Being in God's presence, where He is!

I hope you will walk/lead your child(ren) through their disappointments! Leading them straight to the cross of Christ!

Showing Appreciation

When my wife was away with the kids at her mums place, I racked my brain as to what I could do to bless my entire family.

So I called a good friend, who is very "gifted" creatively and asked for some ideas... His suggestion was brilliant - all it took was a phone call - and it was done.

So when my family came home, on the notice board, that we have hanging at a central location to be seen by all, I wrote in big letters, "VERY VERY VERY BIG Surprise! Be ready to leave at 9:15 AM...

Well today finally came and it was such a delight to show my children a little appreciation for the way that they have served me these past three years, as I have been studying.

Again, I am so blessed to be a husband and a father!

Here are some pic's