It has felt like it has been a while since last time i posted, yet i write in the hope that someone is reading my blog entries and praying with me in the many challenges that living in the fallen world brings.
As Ecclesiastes 3 tells us there is a time for every matter under heaven. I realise that i often put on a smiling face and at times to cover up sadness and sorrows however there is a time to be sad and express it through weeping, it is right to do so.
I've been away at National training event and mission at nowra for the past two weeks and it has been great. It is great to be reminded of God's grace, purpose, love, judgment and to be challenge to delight to God's word.
God's word written for God's people written by his Holy Spirit about his Son. God has spoken to us through his word even though our sinful nature cannot co-exist with God's Holiness, he choice to make himself known and to call us and make us his own people. God came down to our level and spoke to us in human words, he wants us to know him by reading his word. God has spoken covenant words, powerful words, true words, perfect and eternal words, let us delight and receive his word with faith, obedience and love. It's interesting to note the relationship in the trinitarian Godhead in the revelation of the word and in our own salvation. God's word written for God's people written by his Holy Spirit about his Son. The Gospel of Jesus is the heart of the Revelation of the spirit. The father has given the son everything, the son seeks the father's glory and the spirit seeks the son's glory. This mature self-giving in the trinitarian Godhead make possible knowledge of him through his word and make possible our salvation in Jesus Christ. God's word also changes us, it conforms us into the likeness of his son, it transforms us so effectively to do God's will even without us realising. Therefore continue reading God's word the bible, delight in it, love his word, listen to his voice.
We were also encouraged to preserver. We are greatly encourage in Romans chapter 8 that we are secure, God has called us into his kingdom and nothing can snatch us away from his hands. However the warning are real in Hebrews, The Hebrew Christians were struggling in this issue of falling away. Make sure your faith is genuine. The mark of a Christian is not that you have faith now, but if you die as a Christian, therefore make sure again that you delight in God's words, love his word, listen to his voice. And as God's people, let us encourage, challenge each other to do so, let us be accountable to each other, let us prayer about it.
I've also been challenge about the doctrine of work in the bible. I did strand 4 which was using the tools learnt previously, biblical theology and systematic theology to derive doctrine and ethics from the bible. Work is our participation in God's purposes, either for creation, or in redemption. We are God's fellow workers as we see in creation, Man was created to subdue and have dominion over the earth, work was good. Now we may ask, how does the fall effect work? well we see in Chapter 3 that work is much harder, tainted by the effects of the fall. In Ecclesiastes chapter 2 that work is futile, it's vanity for there is nothing to be gained under the sun. However we need see how that fits into the full framework of the bible and when we do that we see that work is still good. The Psalms reminds us that the blessings of work is the enjoyment of the fruits of that labour and we are reminded again and again in the New Testament not to be lazy but obey our heavenly masters. Let us not also forget in John's gospel that Jesus came to do the fathers works, the father is still working. He is calling people into his rest, into his kingdom. Also in the resurrection of Christ creation is restored and the kingdom of God dawns. We see the reversal of the fall however we are in the not yet period. Therefore Ethics which starts from the resurrection of Christ may sometimes emphasize the newness, sometimes the primitiveness of the order that is there affirmed. But it will not be tempted to overthrow or deny either the name of the other. There is both continuity and discontinuity in our fallen world and the new creation to come. There will be work in the new creation, however secular work will be burnt away on the last day. Gospel work on the other has eternal consequences for God's people will be in the new creation.
It was also encouraging to talk to people and challenge the new guys in our campus Christian group during the free times at the conference. Next we went to mission at Nowra Baptist which was really good. I'm am encouraged that many took on new roles and ministry opportunity's during the mission. We helped with the primary and high school scriptures, youth group, Sunday services, door knocking and nursing home. Each ministry having its own challenges and opportunities to grow. It was also great to spend time getting to know each other on the mission team and working in partnership to proclaim the Gospel. I was also very encouraged by the host I was staying with. They were a lovely couple who offered their house freely to us and really loved God and his word.
Now back to my introduction, I’m very sad but persevering in my bad start to the holidays. Due to partly my own sinfulness and the nature of relationships, my girlfriend has decided to part ways in our journey. I hoped that things would not end this way but all things are in God's purposes, I need to trust in him. However I am really sad still and do need prayer. I also need prayer just persevering. One of the hard factors about living in a non-Christian European home that I am finding is just to negativity against Christianity. I get constant threats of cutting connections and disowning if I move into the possibility of full time ministry. This worries and scares me, and adds to me being sad, however honouring your parents includes first giving glory to God. This can be a hard. So please do prayer for me in these struggles.
1 Peter 4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
Anyways it is getting late, and my words are starting to mumble up. Do continue strong in the Lord, persevering, delighting in God's word. Not sure when I’ll post next, seems that facebook has been more popular these days.
God Bless
Laurence.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Monday, October 08, 2007
Jesus is the Life of God
Finally an update, Yes Laurence is still alive. And a lot has happened over the past 2 months.
Church:
Emu plain Anglican has really been pushing people to think mission, to think 10%, to think connect 09, after the great presidential address by Peter Jensen this past synod. If you have not read it, go and read it now.
Emu plain's Anglican has also been actively involved in telling people the Gospel, such as men's dinner event where men can invite their non-Christian friends along to hear a talk on success. They have been involved in teaching God's word and also involved in equipping people to serve.
Scripture has been going well, the kids thanked us for our lessons before the holidays, that was nice, and its amazing how much they remember from our lessons. I pray and trust God will convict them to know him.
Sunday school has been going well. It's amazing how much energy those kids have, and wow, they are amazing prayers. It’s been encouraging to see them having a heart to open God's word; they love to bring their bibles.
I've also been actively involved in the evening service. Serving in ways as prayer, bible reading, leading and i preached yesterday on John 11. I've included the sermon on the bottom of this post.
CBM (Campus Bible Ministries):
CBM has been going well. We have been quiet busy in the past 2 months with mission week and various other things. Mission week was great, we looked at the book of Ecclesiastes, Highlighting the two main ideas, Vanity and Eternity. We made crosses with those two words on them and placed them around uni. We wrote up on a big chalk board 4 chapters of Ecclesiastes. Most of all, almost everyone did walk up and we had a few good conversations with people. It was interesting to see student's views on vanity, eternity and life.
The other big thing we did was the atheist debate, which went okay. We create a website, with discussion boards and the debate downloadable here. It was a bit uncertain if the actual debate was a worth while thing to do, however it is encouraging that they continued coming to our next meeting which was a normal meeting and spent most of the afternoon talking to us. Please pray for that, as it seems like a great opportunity.
CBM has been training Christians up in our training hour looking at the Cross of Christ, Why did Jesus have to die? What actually happened at the Cross? Etc, and also the students have been trained up in apologetics. These following four weeks CBM has been encouraging student to write their own bible studies on Colossians, providing they have done the growth group course. We also have the ball coming up in the distant future as well as NTE.
Uni
Uni has been going okay. Submitted my thesis draft, got a paper published in IEEE, going to a Engineering conference to present the thesis paper. All the fun! My supervisor and parents have been pushing me to do post-grad, but I think I will decline the offer. My course work has been going okay, having put much effort into them, but seem to be doing fine.
Other Parts of My Life
Well, my exciting news! I've have a lovely girlfriend, who has a heart to grow in her knowledge of God and telling her friends about Jesus. She is a shinning light in my heart :) And i thank God that she knows Christ as Lord!
I also went to challenge conference a few weeks ago. It was a great encouragement to seek God's kingdom first. We looked at the theme of the kingdom throughout the bible, we looked at the Lord's prayers, which the kingdom should characterise our prayers, we looked at what a productive person in the Lord should be doing and we looked at the full time ministry option. It was also encouraging to have a few of my friends come along. We had great conversations over food times and night sessions. One encouragement was to encourage our local ministers, as Ministry is not an easy thing to do. So Challenge was great.
Please pray for my Quiet times and prayer life, as usual its a rollercoaster. I think i need to plan to have a reading plan. Please also pray for my witness and perserverance with my parents.
John 11 – True Life Sermon
We all have hopes and dreams and expectations in life.
We all have a view of what life should be like.
I remember when I was growing up; I always wanted to be a scientist, because that’s what I thought life was about, I thought life was about being successful, about doing something that people might be proud of.
And I remember doing just about anything, to make that dream come true.
For example, as a 12 year old, I remember trying to make some sort of new fertilizer using a coke bottle, different types of minerals and even went into the effort of using some of the neighbour’s flowers.
Now that example might be a little childish, however where do you put your hopes and dreams and expectations into, what do you see as true life?
Well to help to us to understand what true life is and in particularly what God tells us true life is, we are going to turn to John chapter 11.
And to give you an idea about what I am going to talk about, I’ll be covering four main points in my talk.
Firstly the prologue of the Lazarus story
Then the Two meeting Jesus has
Followed by the account of the miracle itself
And then finally what does Jesus offer.
So before we being looking at John 11, let’s begin by praying.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for making yourself know to us and showing us the way of salvation through faith in your son. We ask yow now to clear our minds of any distractions and to teach us through your word, so that we can be ready to serve you, for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Point 1 – Prologue 11:1-16
Verse 1 – ‘Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.’
Verse 3 - ‘So the sisters sent word to Jesus saying “Lord, the one you love is sick.”.
We see here that a great need is portrayed by the sisters. A family circle is threatened by the possibility of a death and a desperate request is made to Jesus.
If you ever had a serious illness in your own family or even in a close friend, in these situations you do tend to get desperate.
And you can see here people, who are friends with Jesus, in fact we are told specifically in verse 5, that Jesus loved them. It was a desperate request.
Now, when you send a request to a friend, what sort of reply would you expect to receive?
Well I suppose it would depend on the seriousness of that request.
If you needed to borrow your friend’s lawnmower, would you expect them to come right away? Well not really.
However if you lived on a farm and someone in your family couldn’t breathe properly, Say you had a friend who was a doctor and only lived 10 minutes away. It would be fair to think that the friend would come immediately to help, wouldn’t it.
Now Mary and Martha had this kind of hope, they hoped that Jesus would come quickly.
However, what does Jesus do?
Verse 6 – ‘When Jesus heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was’. He deliberately delayed going to their help.
Now you can imagine how puzzling this must have been for the sisters, I’m mean, they had been terribly worried and all they can do now is watch their brother deteriorate to the brink of death.
A long, devastating day goes by and then the next day Lazarus flat-lines. Is Jesus all of a sudden being selfish and unloving? If Jesus had the power to heal Lazarus, why doesn’t he reply instantly?
Now Lazarus’ death might have taken place before the messenger reached him, or perhaps Jesus deliberately waited for Lazarus illness to be unrecoverable so that he could perform his miracle.
However, regardless of the reason, we are reminded that Jesus is not moved by external forces; he does everything in God’s time and according to God’s will.
Jesus had divine foreknowledge and wisdom in the reason why he delayed his help, even though this may not fit our human expectation or view of suffering.
However we are told in verse 4 that this whole situation with Lazarus is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified.
Therefore verse 7, Jesus announces his decision to go into Judea again.
However, the disciples in verse 8 make it quiet plain to Jesus that the Jews would not let him get away again.
We saw in the previous chapter that the Jews ever tried to stone him. You can see why the disciples were concerned.
Now the disciples were quiet ignorant of the situation and John shows their ignorance. And we can see this firstly in their misunderstanding of what Jesus meant by sleep in verse 11.
Jesus was speaking of Lazarus’ death but the disciples did not understand, they though he meant that Lazarus was just sleeping.
In the New Testament, the death of Christians is often spoken as sleep.
Now death is horrible thing and just by looking at the world around us, we can see that people fear death.
But for Christians, the mention of death as sleep reveals our hope, that death is no longer a foe we should fear. We will see why this is the case later.
Secondly, Jesus tells his disciples plainly in verse 15 that – ‘For their sake, he is glad he was not there, so that they may believe’.
Now again Jesus had divine foreknowledge of what he was going to do, he was going to perform the seventh and most climactic sign in the gospel to reveal his glory.
His joy for the disciples is that they may believe in him.
Well, let see what happens when Jesus finally arrives at Lazarus tomb, we are told in verse 17, that already four days had past and Martha in verse 39, comments that the body would have an odour by now.
Now before we see Jesus actually acting out his great miracle, we see the two meetings.
Point 2 – The Two Meetings
These meetings happen when the two women, Mary and Martha come running to meet Jesus and these two meetings help us to understand who Jesus is, and they reveal him in a remarkable way.
So verse 20 – ‘When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died”.
How did Martha feel? Well she was upset, perhaps even disappointed at Jesus.
But Jesus respond, verse 23 –‘your brother will rise again’.
Was Jesus speaking about the general resurrection at the last day as Martha thought?
Well if Jesus was merely a prophet or rabbi, he would have agreed with Martha’s word.
However let’s see what Jesus says about himself.
Verse 25 – ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’
Jesus is more than a mere prophet, he is the Son sent by the father into the world.
Jesus began with ‘I am’, this statement being the same statement God revealed to Moses in the Exodus, he is claiming to be God, and therefore he is the creator and redeemer of your life, both your spiritual life and your physical life.
Martha responds to Jesus, verse 27 - “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
What does Jesus reveal about himself to Martha? Well he reveals himself as the long-awaited deliverer, the One sent by God to accomplish his will perfectly,
He has also reveals his deity, his divine power, that he is the resurrection and the life, that he has the keys of life and death, the power to call the dead to life and that he is God.
This is what Jesus is showing us from his first meeting with Martha.
What about Mary, what happens when she meets Jesus?
Verse 31 – ‘When the Jews who had been with Mary in her house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died”’.
We see that her response is similar to Martha’s response. Indeed both the women were upset. Jesus, seeing her weeping and also the Jews weeping, is deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.
Jesus sees the family’s grief; he understands the bitterness of death and is deeply moved by the wages of sin.
Jesus has come into the world to conquer the last enemy, the sting of death. And verse 35 - “Jesus wept”.
Jesus is indignant at sin, illness and death which are the results of our fallen world, yet the world that is at enmity with God is also the object of God’s love. And therefore it is not surprising that Jesus wept.
Well the Jews respond in verse 36 saying, ‘See how he loved him’, ‘could not he who opened the eyes of a blind man have kept this man from dying?’
Well the Jews just don’t get it, all they seem to see in Jesus’ tears, is a mark of love that he bore to Lazarus.
However what does Jesus reveal about himself to Mary and the Jews around her? Does he reveal his divine power as he had revealed to Martha?
Well it’s not so much a revelation of his divine power, but a revelation of his humanity. Jesus is God in flash, and if he is God, he must have the power to do something about the grave, but he is also fully man.
Point 3 – The Account of the Miracle (11:33-44)
So Jesus gets to the tomb, he tells them to take the stone away in verse 39, we see Martha commenting that there would be an odour by now as Lazarus is truly dead.
Jesus tells the sisters “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” Jesus then lifts up his eyes to his father and says “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
I know that you always hear me, but I said this on the account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
Jesus is speaking to his father, showing the crowd around him, that he does nothing on his own accord, but does everything in accordance with his father, the one who sent him so that they may believe.
Verse 43, Jesus summoned the dead man. He cries out a loud voice, he addresses Lazarus directly by name and calls him out of the tomb. Lazarus is alive!
The only person who can speak to the dead and give them life is God. Jesus is the resurrection and the life; he is the life giver, the one who has power over the dead.
Point 4 – What Does Jesus Offer?
So what is true life? Where do you put your dreams and hopes and expectations into?
Is it success, or is it fame, or is it wealth, or is it simple just having a house, a car, being married and having kids?
Well the preacher in the book of Ecclesiastes had experienced all his desires yet he tells us in Chapter 2 of Ecclesiastes that ‘I have become greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom has stayed with me.
I denied my self nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labour.
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun’
The preacher had it all, yet he struggles because he fails to see what the point of it all was.
We can pursue all our pleasures like he did, yet we all share a common destiny, that we are all going to die one day.
Death is the great robber of life, as we saw in Lazarus family. It brings great grief in family members.
We need to take death seriously because death in the bible has to do with judgment; it has to do with us, facing the consequences of our rebellion against God.
Well if Jesus is the God man, the life giver, the one who has power over death, what does he offer to us?
Well verse 51 – ‘Jesus came to die for the Jewish nation and not only for the nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.’
Jesus had come to die to take upon himself the penalty of our sin so that he can gather Christians, that he can gather the church.
Jesus has conquered death in his own death and resurrection and unlike Lazarus, who ended up dieing again; Jesus will raise us up from the dead to live with him forever. This is why as Christian; death is no longer a foe we should fear.
Now Jesus wasn’t just the resurrected one, but he himself was the life of God, the resurrection and the life. And when he died for our sins, nothing could hold him down, he has been raised up in the glory of God, having paid for our sins, and he is alive now.
Do you believe that Jesus is going to raise you from the dead? Do you believe he is going to give you the resurrection life that he talked about, the true life, the life of God, the life of heaven, which is eternal life?
John also tells us in 1 John 5:11 – ‘God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his son. He who has the son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.’
This is where our hope as a Christian lies, to know that we have life beyond the grave, a life with God, where God will not abandon you to the grave because the grave will not have a final say in you.
Therefore do you live for Christ, Today? Do you believe in the one whom God has sent? Well let me close with Jesus’ words.
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Well to next time, God Bless, Keeping Trusting That Jesus is Lord.
Laurence.
Church:
Emu plain Anglican has really been pushing people to think mission, to think 10%, to think connect 09, after the great presidential address by Peter Jensen this past synod. If you have not read it, go and read it now.
Emu plain's Anglican has also been actively involved in telling people the Gospel, such as men's dinner event where men can invite their non-Christian friends along to hear a talk on success. They have been involved in teaching God's word and also involved in equipping people to serve.
Scripture has been going well, the kids thanked us for our lessons before the holidays, that was nice, and its amazing how much they remember from our lessons. I pray and trust God will convict them to know him.
Sunday school has been going well. It's amazing how much energy those kids have, and wow, they are amazing prayers. It’s been encouraging to see them having a heart to open God's word; they love to bring their bibles.
I've also been actively involved in the evening service. Serving in ways as prayer, bible reading, leading and i preached yesterday on John 11. I've included the sermon on the bottom of this post.
CBM (Campus Bible Ministries):
CBM has been going well. We have been quiet busy in the past 2 months with mission week and various other things. Mission week was great, we looked at the book of Ecclesiastes, Highlighting the two main ideas, Vanity and Eternity. We made crosses with those two words on them and placed them around uni. We wrote up on a big chalk board 4 chapters of Ecclesiastes. Most of all, almost everyone did walk up and we had a few good conversations with people. It was interesting to see student's views on vanity, eternity and life.
The other big thing we did was the atheist debate, which went okay. We create a website, with discussion boards and the debate downloadable here. It was a bit uncertain if the actual debate was a worth while thing to do, however it is encouraging that they continued coming to our next meeting which was a normal meeting and spent most of the afternoon talking to us. Please pray for that, as it seems like a great opportunity.
CBM has been training Christians up in our training hour looking at the Cross of Christ, Why did Jesus have to die? What actually happened at the Cross? Etc, and also the students have been trained up in apologetics. These following four weeks CBM has been encouraging student to write their own bible studies on Colossians, providing they have done the growth group course. We also have the ball coming up in the distant future as well as NTE.
Uni
Uni has been going okay. Submitted my thesis draft, got a paper published in IEEE, going to a Engineering conference to present the thesis paper. All the fun! My supervisor and parents have been pushing me to do post-grad, but I think I will decline the offer. My course work has been going okay, having put much effort into them, but seem to be doing fine.
Other Parts of My Life
Well, my exciting news! I've have a lovely girlfriend, who has a heart to grow in her knowledge of God and telling her friends about Jesus. She is a shinning light in my heart :) And i thank God that she knows Christ as Lord!
I also went to challenge conference a few weeks ago. It was a great encouragement to seek God's kingdom first. We looked at the theme of the kingdom throughout the bible, we looked at the Lord's prayers, which the kingdom should characterise our prayers, we looked at what a productive person in the Lord should be doing and we looked at the full time ministry option. It was also encouraging to have a few of my friends come along. We had great conversations over food times and night sessions. One encouragement was to encourage our local ministers, as Ministry is not an easy thing to do. So Challenge was great.
Please pray for my Quiet times and prayer life, as usual its a rollercoaster. I think i need to plan to have a reading plan. Please also pray for my witness and perserverance with my parents.
John 11 – True Life Sermon
We all have hopes and dreams and expectations in life.
We all have a view of what life should be like.
I remember when I was growing up; I always wanted to be a scientist, because that’s what I thought life was about, I thought life was about being successful, about doing something that people might be proud of.
And I remember doing just about anything, to make that dream come true.
For example, as a 12 year old, I remember trying to make some sort of new fertilizer using a coke bottle, different types of minerals and even went into the effort of using some of the neighbour’s flowers.
Now that example might be a little childish, however where do you put your hopes and dreams and expectations into, what do you see as true life?
Well to help to us to understand what true life is and in particularly what God tells us true life is, we are going to turn to John chapter 11.
And to give you an idea about what I am going to talk about, I’ll be covering four main points in my talk.
Firstly the prologue of the Lazarus story
Then the Two meeting Jesus has
Followed by the account of the miracle itself
And then finally what does Jesus offer.
So before we being looking at John 11, let’s begin by praying.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for making yourself know to us and showing us the way of salvation through faith in your son. We ask yow now to clear our minds of any distractions and to teach us through your word, so that we can be ready to serve you, for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Point 1 – Prologue 11:1-16
Verse 1 – ‘Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.’
Verse 3 - ‘So the sisters sent word to Jesus saying “Lord, the one you love is sick.”.
We see here that a great need is portrayed by the sisters. A family circle is threatened by the possibility of a death and a desperate request is made to Jesus.
If you ever had a serious illness in your own family or even in a close friend, in these situations you do tend to get desperate.
And you can see here people, who are friends with Jesus, in fact we are told specifically in verse 5, that Jesus loved them. It was a desperate request.
Now, when you send a request to a friend, what sort of reply would you expect to receive?
Well I suppose it would depend on the seriousness of that request.
If you needed to borrow your friend’s lawnmower, would you expect them to come right away? Well not really.
However if you lived on a farm and someone in your family couldn’t breathe properly, Say you had a friend who was a doctor and only lived 10 minutes away. It would be fair to think that the friend would come immediately to help, wouldn’t it.
Now Mary and Martha had this kind of hope, they hoped that Jesus would come quickly.
However, what does Jesus do?
Verse 6 – ‘When Jesus heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was’. He deliberately delayed going to their help.
Now you can imagine how puzzling this must have been for the sisters, I’m mean, they had been terribly worried and all they can do now is watch their brother deteriorate to the brink of death.
A long, devastating day goes by and then the next day Lazarus flat-lines. Is Jesus all of a sudden being selfish and unloving? If Jesus had the power to heal Lazarus, why doesn’t he reply instantly?
Now Lazarus’ death might have taken place before the messenger reached him, or perhaps Jesus deliberately waited for Lazarus illness to be unrecoverable so that he could perform his miracle.
However, regardless of the reason, we are reminded that Jesus is not moved by external forces; he does everything in God’s time and according to God’s will.
Jesus had divine foreknowledge and wisdom in the reason why he delayed his help, even though this may not fit our human expectation or view of suffering.
However we are told in verse 4 that this whole situation with Lazarus is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified.
Therefore verse 7, Jesus announces his decision to go into Judea again.
However, the disciples in verse 8 make it quiet plain to Jesus that the Jews would not let him get away again.
We saw in the previous chapter that the Jews ever tried to stone him. You can see why the disciples were concerned.
Now the disciples were quiet ignorant of the situation and John shows their ignorance. And we can see this firstly in their misunderstanding of what Jesus meant by sleep in verse 11.
Jesus was speaking of Lazarus’ death but the disciples did not understand, they though he meant that Lazarus was just sleeping.
In the New Testament, the death of Christians is often spoken as sleep.
Now death is horrible thing and just by looking at the world around us, we can see that people fear death.
But for Christians, the mention of death as sleep reveals our hope, that death is no longer a foe we should fear. We will see why this is the case later.
Secondly, Jesus tells his disciples plainly in verse 15 that – ‘For their sake, he is glad he was not there, so that they may believe’.
Now again Jesus had divine foreknowledge of what he was going to do, he was going to perform the seventh and most climactic sign in the gospel to reveal his glory.
His joy for the disciples is that they may believe in him.
Well, let see what happens when Jesus finally arrives at Lazarus tomb, we are told in verse 17, that already four days had past and Martha in verse 39, comments that the body would have an odour by now.
Now before we see Jesus actually acting out his great miracle, we see the two meetings.
Point 2 – The Two Meetings
These meetings happen when the two women, Mary and Martha come running to meet Jesus and these two meetings help us to understand who Jesus is, and they reveal him in a remarkable way.
So verse 20 – ‘When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died”.
How did Martha feel? Well she was upset, perhaps even disappointed at Jesus.
But Jesus respond, verse 23 –‘your brother will rise again’.
Was Jesus speaking about the general resurrection at the last day as Martha thought?
Well if Jesus was merely a prophet or rabbi, he would have agreed with Martha’s word.
However let’s see what Jesus says about himself.
Verse 25 – ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’
Jesus is more than a mere prophet, he is the Son sent by the father into the world.
Jesus began with ‘I am’, this statement being the same statement God revealed to Moses in the Exodus, he is claiming to be God, and therefore he is the creator and redeemer of your life, both your spiritual life and your physical life.
Martha responds to Jesus, verse 27 - “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
What does Jesus reveal about himself to Martha? Well he reveals himself as the long-awaited deliverer, the One sent by God to accomplish his will perfectly,
He has also reveals his deity, his divine power, that he is the resurrection and the life, that he has the keys of life and death, the power to call the dead to life and that he is God.
This is what Jesus is showing us from his first meeting with Martha.
What about Mary, what happens when she meets Jesus?
Verse 31 – ‘When the Jews who had been with Mary in her house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died”’.
We see that her response is similar to Martha’s response. Indeed both the women were upset. Jesus, seeing her weeping and also the Jews weeping, is deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.
Jesus sees the family’s grief; he understands the bitterness of death and is deeply moved by the wages of sin.
Jesus has come into the world to conquer the last enemy, the sting of death. And verse 35 - “Jesus wept”.
Jesus is indignant at sin, illness and death which are the results of our fallen world, yet the world that is at enmity with God is also the object of God’s love. And therefore it is not surprising that Jesus wept.
Well the Jews respond in verse 36 saying, ‘See how he loved him’, ‘could not he who opened the eyes of a blind man have kept this man from dying?’
Well the Jews just don’t get it, all they seem to see in Jesus’ tears, is a mark of love that he bore to Lazarus.
However what does Jesus reveal about himself to Mary and the Jews around her? Does he reveal his divine power as he had revealed to Martha?
Well it’s not so much a revelation of his divine power, but a revelation of his humanity. Jesus is God in flash, and if he is God, he must have the power to do something about the grave, but he is also fully man.
Point 3 – The Account of the Miracle (11:33-44)
So Jesus gets to the tomb, he tells them to take the stone away in verse 39, we see Martha commenting that there would be an odour by now as Lazarus is truly dead.
Jesus tells the sisters “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” Jesus then lifts up his eyes to his father and says “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
I know that you always hear me, but I said this on the account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
Jesus is speaking to his father, showing the crowd around him, that he does nothing on his own accord, but does everything in accordance with his father, the one who sent him so that they may believe.
Verse 43, Jesus summoned the dead man. He cries out a loud voice, he addresses Lazarus directly by name and calls him out of the tomb. Lazarus is alive!
The only person who can speak to the dead and give them life is God. Jesus is the resurrection and the life; he is the life giver, the one who has power over the dead.
Point 4 – What Does Jesus Offer?
So what is true life? Where do you put your dreams and hopes and expectations into?
Is it success, or is it fame, or is it wealth, or is it simple just having a house, a car, being married and having kids?
Well the preacher in the book of Ecclesiastes had experienced all his desires yet he tells us in Chapter 2 of Ecclesiastes that ‘I have become greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom has stayed with me.
I denied my self nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labour.
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun’
The preacher had it all, yet he struggles because he fails to see what the point of it all was.
We can pursue all our pleasures like he did, yet we all share a common destiny, that we are all going to die one day.
Death is the great robber of life, as we saw in Lazarus family. It brings great grief in family members.
We need to take death seriously because death in the bible has to do with judgment; it has to do with us, facing the consequences of our rebellion against God.
Well if Jesus is the God man, the life giver, the one who has power over death, what does he offer to us?
Well verse 51 – ‘Jesus came to die for the Jewish nation and not only for the nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.’
Jesus had come to die to take upon himself the penalty of our sin so that he can gather Christians, that he can gather the church.
Jesus has conquered death in his own death and resurrection and unlike Lazarus, who ended up dieing again; Jesus will raise us up from the dead to live with him forever. This is why as Christian; death is no longer a foe we should fear.
Now Jesus wasn’t just the resurrected one, but he himself was the life of God, the resurrection and the life. And when he died for our sins, nothing could hold him down, he has been raised up in the glory of God, having paid for our sins, and he is alive now.
Do you believe that Jesus is going to raise you from the dead? Do you believe he is going to give you the resurrection life that he talked about, the true life, the life of God, the life of heaven, which is eternal life?
John also tells us in 1 John 5:11 – ‘God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his son. He who has the son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.’
This is where our hope as a Christian lies, to know that we have life beyond the grave, a life with God, where God will not abandon you to the grave because the grave will not have a final say in you.
Therefore do you live for Christ, Today? Do you believe in the one whom God has sent? Well let me close with Jesus’ words.
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Well to next time, God Bless, Keeping Trusting That Jesus is Lord.
Laurence.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
I will Rejoice in the Lord!
'Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer's;
he makes me tread on my high places.' - Habakkuk 3:17-19
This week has been a difficult and good week for me. The constant struggles of the flesh, the feelings of failures in ministries and the laziness to remain productive in work. However, I find utmost joy, that we can be part of God's work in the world, the building of the church under the Lordship of Christ. I thank God, most utterly, Its such a encouragement to see him working in people's lives, growing them in Christ likeness of Character as they actively have a zeal for growing in their knowledge of God. It's even more of a Joy, when God's elect is called out, God reconciling them back into relationship with him. I thank God for the strong friends i have, that have encouraged me so much, you know who you are!
Anyways (Thanks Jase), I have been reminded of Habakkuk 3:17-19, No matter what happens, where i end up in life, The Lord is our strength, in him do we rejoice!
Laurence.
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer's;
he makes me tread on my high places.' - Habakkuk 3:17-19
This week has been a difficult and good week for me. The constant struggles of the flesh, the feelings of failures in ministries and the laziness to remain productive in work. However, I find utmost joy, that we can be part of God's work in the world, the building of the church under the Lordship of Christ. I thank God, most utterly, Its such a encouragement to see him working in people's lives, growing them in Christ likeness of Character as they actively have a zeal for growing in their knowledge of God. It's even more of a Joy, when God's elect is called out, God reconciling them back into relationship with him. I thank God for the strong friends i have, that have encouraged me so much, you know who you are!
Anyways (Thanks Jase), I have been reminded of Habakkuk 3:17-19, No matter what happens, where i end up in life, The Lord is our strength, in him do we rejoice!
Laurence.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Ekklesia
Time for an update :),
really i have nothing better to do, the joys of the life of a single man.
Two week ago i went to MYC (Mid year conference or Meet your companion) , and we looked at Ekklesia (Church). This is really testing my memory, here's what the conference had to say.
The End of our life is church, in the meantime we are building the church because Christ empowered us to build the church, He builds the church through us, by giving us gifts. We have many gifts from God, not for self purpose but so that we can build his church. Therefore we should not waste them rather, we should use them for the common good, for its original purpose.
We need people in whatever gifts they have to build the church. Thus is fundamental to our Christian living. The Church is eternal and it is what God is doing in the world. Therefore it is a great privilege for us to participate in building his church.
How does the kingdom of God grow? It grows by Christians using their gifts in love for the building of the church. Therefore the preaching of the Gospel must continue because the gathering of Christians listening to God’s word is what the church is about.
Some have the gift of expounding God's word, however all Christians should be ministers, to live in a way that maximizes the preaching of the Gospel. Therefore make decisions on the basis of Jesus’ Lordship not worldly materialism. Base everything to the building of the church. This is the mindset we need!
I think one of the main things that was really emphasised was the importance's of the public reading of scripture in Church. Over the past few years, i speak of the denomination I'm familiar with, Sydney Anglicans, the public reading of scripture in the church meeting has declined. The old prayer book used to start off with Psalm 95, every Sunday. Today, if you would only hear the word of God, do not harden your hearts as Israel did in the wilderness. Today, when you hear the word of God, what are you doing? what is your response to the word of God?
Theirs a lot more that was said, but that is basically the summary of it. I also went to an elective called "Working in the church" which was very good and made me rethink my future. If you imagine a triangle with three pieces in it. Purpose at the top, industry in the middle and existences at the bottom. Someone ones defined three types of works. Job, career and calling (not the biblical sense of the word). A job is what a person merely does to support their family and they are moderately happy. A career is where a person strives for nothing except advancement and they are profoundly unhappy. A calling is where the person is not interested in money or advancement but loves the job. Having a job keeps the three pieces of the triangle evenly spaced while a career minimizes purpose and existence. The dangers of uni students and careerism is that the advancements and bigger salaries become so appealing to the point where purpose gets smaller and smaller, and eventually God is out of the picture or only a small part of life. Christians should be aiming to increase the purpose in life while minimizing industry and existence. That means organising life in a way that maximises the preaching of the Gospel. What about full time paid ministry then? Well there is three main things Christians should have in teaching roles. Conviction, character and competency. trained theologically and absolutely convicted in the truths of the Gospel. Your christian living should reflex your convictions. We must be committed to living to what we preach. Last of all we should be able to teach. We need Men in public mission today to willingly sacrifice their lives to take leadership. I think this really made me think, am i fully convicted in the truths of the Gospel, is it changing my character, i know like all of us, I struggle at working on my own Godliness. Am i able to teach? Do i take lead? Am i clear? Things i defiantly need to continue working on however why do anything else in life then devote my life to the preaching of the Gospel!
Another thing i went to was an elective on mission. They made a very good point which challenged me. One of the big things missionaries face in the first year of mission work is their personal bible reading and prayer. Unlike here they don't have that constant encouragement and bible teaching from fellow Christians because they don't understand the language. So personal Godliness is very important, i know it something i have to really continue working hard on. The other things we had during MYC was seminars where we looked at the elements of church such as order and what needs to be in a church meeting. We looked at the idea of Ekklesia and the development of covenants throughout the scriptures. We also had bible studies where we wrestled with 1 John.
It was very encouraging to see so many first years come this year. It was even more encouraging to see first year being challenged by the word of God and willing to get more involved in CBM this coming semester. The classic quote, I released their just so much i don't know about God, their so much i need to continue learning. It was very encouraging to hear people say that.
Therefore MYC was a great time to share in fellowship with each other, real fellowship lol, hearing God's word together and challenging each other even during lunch, supper and even compulsory fun time :)
My ministries for the rest of this year have exponentially increased. I am now on two CBM committees, the penrith and cross-campus committee. Last week, i lead my first service at Emu plains Anglican, got some positive feedback. I was apparently too wordy, even started the service with Psalm 95. But from thinking over the questions from MYC, i was very encouraged to get feedback from people telling me i was very clear. I've also taken up to help with Sunday school. I'll be continuing in the scripture ministry. I'm down to preach on the 7th of October on John chapter 11. I'll be beginning my exegesis on Monday hopefully. Hopefully Mike can challenge me with all sorts of questions :) At CBM so far it looks like I'll be leading a biblical theology training strand on Mondays which i'm very excited about :). So I ask for prayer to be effective in those ministries, and that i might do all those ministries for the glory of the Gospel, for the glory of the kingdom.
I've ran out of places to explore Emu Plains. Some nice spots around the plains and at the foot of the mountains. Haven't done really any work over the holidays on Thesis, so i have to get back into it next week. Last semester i ended getting a HD and a D and i passed my Old Testament exam. What else? I saw the movie Amazing Grace yesterday. Was good, i would of liked it if they explored the struggles of William Wilberforce with God's word. However it was still a good movie. I've also been blessed to have some close friends nearby where i can meet up with them, and encourage each other in God's word.
Heres the latest conundrum to think about, the first question may be obvious.
The church is for the Christian, God’s gathered people listening to the word of God. This raises the question, then what about the non-Christian? 1 Corinthians 14:24 tells us that if all prophecy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship and declare that God is really among you. Therefore if we faithfully proclaim the Gospel, the power of Gospel will convict the unbeliever or outsider if it’s in God’s will.
However we should not neglect to welcome unbelievers or outsiders during and after the church meeting. In my old church, we changed some of the pews to chairs, so that the service would be much more loving to de-churched (generation who have not been bought up in church) people.
My questions is then, is there a fine-line in how much we can change our church meeting to make it more appealing to outsiders before it hinders the preaching of the Gospel. The Gospel still might be preached faithfully, but may hinder the churched people, particularly the older congregation members. And finally what is that line.
My next questions is, which in some way relates to the first, should we be using words such as fellowship, sin and service in a church meeting, When even the Christians may have a misunderstanding of these words. For example sin, should we be using sin in our meetings, when most non-Christians see sin as breaking the law, rather than rebellion against God, trying to live lives our way.
How can we then be loving and welcoming to outsiders and preaching the Gospel faithfully while not being a stumbling block to the congregation, to the church?
Till next time,
May you continue to give all glory to him who called you out of Darkness into light.
Laurence.
really i have nothing better to do, the joys of the life of a single man.
Two week ago i went to MYC (Mid year conference or Meet your companion) , and we looked at Ekklesia (Church). This is really testing my memory, here's what the conference had to say.
The End of our life is church, in the meantime we are building the church because Christ empowered us to build the church, He builds the church through us, by giving us gifts. We have many gifts from God, not for self purpose but so that we can build his church. Therefore we should not waste them rather, we should use them for the common good, for its original purpose.
We need people in whatever gifts they have to build the church. Thus is fundamental to our Christian living. The Church is eternal and it is what God is doing in the world. Therefore it is a great privilege for us to participate in building his church.
How does the kingdom of God grow? It grows by Christians using their gifts in love for the building of the church. Therefore the preaching of the Gospel must continue because the gathering of Christians listening to God’s word is what the church is about.
Some have the gift of expounding God's word, however all Christians should be ministers, to live in a way that maximizes the preaching of the Gospel. Therefore make decisions on the basis of Jesus’ Lordship not worldly materialism. Base everything to the building of the church. This is the mindset we need!
I think one of the main things that was really emphasised was the importance's of the public reading of scripture in Church. Over the past few years, i speak of the denomination I'm familiar with, Sydney Anglicans, the public reading of scripture in the church meeting has declined. The old prayer book used to start off with Psalm 95, every Sunday. Today, if you would only hear the word of God, do not harden your hearts as Israel did in the wilderness. Today, when you hear the word of God, what are you doing? what is your response to the word of God?
Theirs a lot more that was said, but that is basically the summary of it. I also went to an elective called "Working in the church" which was very good and made me rethink my future. If you imagine a triangle with three pieces in it. Purpose at the top, industry in the middle and existences at the bottom. Someone ones defined three types of works. Job, career and calling (not the biblical sense of the word). A job is what a person merely does to support their family and they are moderately happy. A career is where a person strives for nothing except advancement and they are profoundly unhappy. A calling is where the person is not interested in money or advancement but loves the job. Having a job keeps the three pieces of the triangle evenly spaced while a career minimizes purpose and existence. The dangers of uni students and careerism is that the advancements and bigger salaries become so appealing to the point where purpose gets smaller and smaller, and eventually God is out of the picture or only a small part of life. Christians should be aiming to increase the purpose in life while minimizing industry and existence. That means organising life in a way that maximises the preaching of the Gospel. What about full time paid ministry then? Well there is three main things Christians should have in teaching roles. Conviction, character and competency. trained theologically and absolutely convicted in the truths of the Gospel. Your christian living should reflex your convictions. We must be committed to living to what we preach. Last of all we should be able to teach. We need Men in public mission today to willingly sacrifice their lives to take leadership. I think this really made me think, am i fully convicted in the truths of the Gospel, is it changing my character, i know like all of us, I struggle at working on my own Godliness. Am i able to teach? Do i take lead? Am i clear? Things i defiantly need to continue working on however why do anything else in life then devote my life to the preaching of the Gospel!
Another thing i went to was an elective on mission. They made a very good point which challenged me. One of the big things missionaries face in the first year of mission work is their personal bible reading and prayer. Unlike here they don't have that constant encouragement and bible teaching from fellow Christians because they don't understand the language. So personal Godliness is very important, i know it something i have to really continue working hard on. The other things we had during MYC was seminars where we looked at the elements of church such as order and what needs to be in a church meeting. We looked at the idea of Ekklesia and the development of covenants throughout the scriptures. We also had bible studies where we wrestled with 1 John.
It was very encouraging to see so many first years come this year. It was even more encouraging to see first year being challenged by the word of God and willing to get more involved in CBM this coming semester. The classic quote, I released their just so much i don't know about God, their so much i need to continue learning. It was very encouraging to hear people say that.
Therefore MYC was a great time to share in fellowship with each other, real fellowship lol, hearing God's word together and challenging each other even during lunch, supper and even compulsory fun time :)
My ministries for the rest of this year have exponentially increased. I am now on two CBM committees, the penrith and cross-campus committee. Last week, i lead my first service at Emu plains Anglican, got some positive feedback. I was apparently too wordy, even started the service with Psalm 95. But from thinking over the questions from MYC, i was very encouraged to get feedback from people telling me i was very clear. I've also taken up to help with Sunday school. I'll be continuing in the scripture ministry. I'm down to preach on the 7th of October on John chapter 11. I'll be beginning my exegesis on Monday hopefully. Hopefully Mike can challenge me with all sorts of questions :) At CBM so far it looks like I'll be leading a biblical theology training strand on Mondays which i'm very excited about :). So I ask for prayer to be effective in those ministries, and that i might do all those ministries for the glory of the Gospel, for the glory of the kingdom.
I've ran out of places to explore Emu Plains. Some nice spots around the plains and at the foot of the mountains. Haven't done really any work over the holidays on Thesis, so i have to get back into it next week. Last semester i ended getting a HD and a D and i passed my Old Testament exam. What else? I saw the movie Amazing Grace yesterday. Was good, i would of liked it if they explored the struggles of William Wilberforce with God's word. However it was still a good movie. I've also been blessed to have some close friends nearby where i can meet up with them, and encourage each other in God's word.
Heres the latest conundrum to think about, the first question may be obvious.
The church is for the Christian, God’s gathered people listening to the word of God. This raises the question, then what about the non-Christian? 1 Corinthians 14:24 tells us that if all prophecy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship and declare that God is really among you. Therefore if we faithfully proclaim the Gospel, the power of Gospel will convict the unbeliever or outsider if it’s in God’s will.
However we should not neglect to welcome unbelievers or outsiders during and after the church meeting. In my old church, we changed some of the pews to chairs, so that the service would be much more loving to de-churched (generation who have not been bought up in church) people.
My questions is then, is there a fine-line in how much we can change our church meeting to make it more appealing to outsiders before it hinders the preaching of the Gospel. The Gospel still might be preached faithfully, but may hinder the churched people, particularly the older congregation members. And finally what is that line.
My next questions is, which in some way relates to the first, should we be using words such as fellowship, sin and service in a church meeting, When even the Christians may have a misunderstanding of these words. For example sin, should we be using sin in our meetings, when most non-Christians see sin as breaking the law, rather than rebellion against God, trying to live lives our way.
How can we then be loving and welcoming to outsiders and preaching the Gospel faithfully while not being a stumbling block to the congregation, to the church?
Till next time,
May you continue to give all glory to him who called you out of Darkness into light.
Laurence.
Monday, May 21, 2007
At Long Last, An Update!
Well i finally got around to updating my blog and write a post.
Well much has happen which is often the case after a few months.
Therefore here is the updates.
Church
Well much has happen which is often the case after a few months.
Therefore here is the updates.
Church
One of the main things that encourage me about St Paul's Emu plains, is the people's faithfulness and willingness to grow in their knowledge of God. People are generally interested in how your week was, and especially the leaders are interested in how you can further grow and be equipped in the knowledge of God.
We have been going through the book of Exodus over the past few weeks, and the exposition of scripture that have been given are both encouraging and challenging because they are Christ centred and are faithful to the text. God's word penetrates our hearts and minds to shape our will to do God's will and that's excellent!
In terms of ministry their, I've been helping with year 5 scripture at Emu Heights. That has been going well, It is a great encouragement to see kids who want to know more about Christ even though their ideas are strange at times. Me and the assistant minister at Emu Plains Anglican have been dividing the scripture teaching up into two parts which has provided a good training aspect to teaching as well. I've also had a privilege to meet up with him and be discipled and he has encouraged me to think about how he can continue training me in ministry, and particular word ministry. Other things that i have taken up is leading singing from time to time, and generally things that come naturally as a Christian, helping packing up chairs, etc.
Also I'm very excited that in term 3, i might be on the preaching roster, to preach on John, so theirs something to think about for praying. It's exciting and a great privilege to continue being trained up in Word ministries and do prayer that i may do it out of service and love and not out of pride.
I've also been getting to know congregation members slowly, found it helpful to stand where the welcomer's stand each week and say hello to everyone. I noticed that some of the members work at the university, and i would love to find a time to meet up with them at uni with some of our cbm members. In particular I've been getting to know the student minister well, and he is someone i can talked to about ministry issues and tough tough questions. I am also trying to get him and me praying for each other regularly.
I also went up to Easter convention and got time to spend with him and some of his Moore collage mates. Was a brilliant time with excellent talks that were very encouraging and challenging. We looked at the issue of suffering, which is an action pack tough issue. I was also surprised that they keep a name tag for me up at katoomba when i went to visit, i deeply do miss katoomba, however i am joyful and a sense of peace come in knowing that their are faithful people their to continue proclaiming the Gospel in katoomba, please do, remember 10%
CBM
CBM (Campus Bible Ministries) has been good as usual. We have been slightly struggling this year with the finishing up of two of our staff members, and the arrival of a baby for our current staff member. My friend who started mts has really helped and has a heart to see the lost come to Christ. Mission week was great, a bunch of Moore collage students came to help us with mission apart of their mission, and we had a bunch of stuff happening throughout that week. Barbecues, loads of walk up, a band, etc. Student Leader (President) work has been tough and challenging however i decided to write too small talks to encourage both the student leaders and the staff in the ministry we do their. CBM has a great emphasis on training people up as well as training them up for evangelising. I've also been involved in Co-leading Doctrine course, to train up other Christians, that has been going well as well. It seems the past uni years, its been other's training and disciple me up however this year, its turned around. I've been meeting up one on one with a guy, and its been both very encouraging and edifying. Therefore please do continue praying for the work on campus, that many more seeds will be planted in people's hearts, and that many more young leaders will be trained. I've include at the bottom of this message, both devotions/talks.
Uni
Uni work has been challenging and i feel i should spend more time doing them. Thesis work has been tough however I've just recently finished a initial pre draft and handed in last week. A whole 30 pages, 4400 words. The most I've ever written for an engineer. The title of thesis is as such, DNA microarray image enhancement for grid ding using conditional convolution histogram equalization. Still a lot of work to do for it, so do pray that i may be diligent in my studies. It has also been good to learn about computer architecture over this semester however the work has proven difficult.
Personal Godliness
This area all ways needs growth. With the lesser travel time and the use of the car, finding time for reading the bible and praying has lessened. Please do pray i might find time, and make it a high priority to do so. It terms of the normal struggle for most christian, singleness, I've been much more appreciative of being single and using the most of my energy in ministry. Therefore my contentment defiantly has improved. It still is unnatural for us to be alone, and i still would love to have someone to encourage, train and love in Christ however I am not so worried, for ministry is first priority as a single man. I some what miss having two of my katoomba friends around who were all ways around to challenge and grow me in my understand of God. I do miss them greatly however i know we have been sent out onto different parts for the proclamation of the Gospel. One of them recently got engaged and it is a great blessing, and he has started working at cms (Church Missionary Society). The other has started collage, apparently he has a reputation of asking many questions and changeling the lectures hehe. I do continue to pray that they may continue to grow in their knowledge of God and that their desire for the proclamation of God may also continue to grow.
You would also be happy to know that i was convicted of pirated software i had, so i bought vista home premium & Office 2007 for my computer.
Other:
I have done a number of interesting things in my spare time. Built a router and wireless server. Ran 5 Operating systems at onces, and many more geeky things. I also was lent a brilliant Christian manga, which includes the Gospel. They are only available in Japan, so hopefully will get some sent over.
final note. Please do continue praying for the things above. If your a katoombaite reading this, I do miss you, and my prayers for the ministry up there are with you.
These are the two deviation/small talks i gave for our cbm committee
1 Peter 2:4-10 Tell
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Script “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” So the honour is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offence.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the Excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
What are we trying to do here at CBM?
Well you might remember at our weekend away, we came up with four different things that we as a Christian group should be doing.
Firstly, we should tell/evangelise people who Jesus is and what he has done.
Secondly, we should teach people to understand and act on God’s word.
Thirdly, we should equip/train God’s people to lovingly serve each other.
And finally, we should nurture people. This comes from teaching and equipping God’s people.
So today lets start of by looking at the first one, telling people. But before we can understand why we need to tell people, we need to understand who we are.
1 Peter 2:4-5 tells us that “you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” We are God’s building project, pictured as living stones joined to the living stone, Jesus.
Verse 9 tells us that we are God’s people, God’s nation, who are being joined and united together.
However we ourselves were not always like this. And we see this in verse 10 which tells us that once we were not a people who received mercy and because we had rejected his rule, we deserved punishment.
It is now only because of God’s mercy and grace in Christ Jesus that, verse 5, we are a holy priesthood.
So if this is who we are, why should we tell people about Jesus?
Well Jesus is our great high priest (Hebrews 5) and he has made us his go-between between him and the rest of the world. Verse 9, “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God so that you may proclaim the Excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”
This is where we get to be a part of what God is doing in the world, apart of his mission. We get to share in the proclamation of his saving message that Jesus has come, that he has lived, that he has died and that, he is risen, to save his people.
As God’s people it is our first responsibility and what a privilege it is, and even more, we can do it together.
Therefore friends, let us continue to tell people who Jesus is and what he has done.
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Script “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” So the honour is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offence.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the Excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
What are we trying to do here at CBM?
Well you might remember at our weekend away, we came up with four different things that we as a Christian group should be doing.
Firstly, we should tell/evangelise people who Jesus is and what he has done.
Secondly, we should teach people to understand and act on God’s word.
Thirdly, we should equip/train God’s people to lovingly serve each other.
And finally, we should nurture people. This comes from teaching and equipping God’s people.
So today lets start of by looking at the first one, telling people. But before we can understand why we need to tell people, we need to understand who we are.
1 Peter 2:4-5 tells us that “you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” We are God’s building project, pictured as living stones joined to the living stone, Jesus.
Verse 9 tells us that we are God’s people, God’s nation, who are being joined and united together.
However we ourselves were not always like this. And we see this in verse 10 which tells us that once we were not a people who received mercy and because we had rejected his rule, we deserved punishment.
It is now only because of God’s mercy and grace in Christ Jesus that, verse 5, we are a holy priesthood.
So if this is who we are, why should we tell people about Jesus?
Well Jesus is our great high priest (Hebrews 5) and he has made us his go-between between him and the rest of the world. Verse 9, “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God so that you may proclaim the Excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”
This is where we get to be a part of what God is doing in the world, apart of his mission. We get to share in the proclamation of his saving message that Jesus has come, that he has lived, that he has died and that, he is risen, to save his people.
As God’s people it is our first responsibility and what a privilege it is, and even more, we can do it together.
Therefore friends, let us continue to tell people who Jesus is and what he has done.
Equipped in the Knowledge of God
You might remember that last time we had a meeting I talked about the importance of telling people about the Gospel. Well another important thing that we should also be actively doing is growing in our knowledge of God.
So we see in Ephesians 4, that we are all united in one body1 and all of us share the most important thing in common, which is life, through the death and resurrection of Jesus. However 1 Corinthians 12 tells us that God has also given each of us gifts2, which are to be used in service, and if we are going to serve one another, we need to be properly equipped. Therefore how do we get equipped to serve?
As I mentioned before, we need to grow in our knowledge of God and as we grow in our knowledge of God, so we grow in Christlike ness of character, for true knowledge of God affects our whole personalty. It not only shapes our thoughts but fires out emotions and stirs our will to do God’s will.
Therefore it is not surprising that Paul often prayed for his converts to grow in knowledge, such as the start of Ephesians 13. Nor is it suppressing that Paul prayed for knowledge, because God must be our teacher.
God teaches us through his spirit challenging and convicting us as we hear or read God’s word.
Therefore In terms of the knowledge of God, we first need to know what God’s will is with regards to our actions and attitudes in our life from day to day. This does not come naturally for us to realise that God wishes us to have a forgiving Spirit, or to be humble, or to be meek, or to be content with the things we have. We need to be taught these things and reminded again and again through God’s word.
Secondly we also need to know God’s intentions for the future; for it is through this that we find the strongest motive for Christian living. For example, knowledge of Christ’s second as judge and king provides a very strong motive for seeking first God’s kingdom.
So back in Ephesians in chapter 4, Christ has given ministers to the church, men who have received the gift of teaching for helping their fellow Christians grow in knowledge4. Indeed we all play our part in this helping one another and Christian fellowship is a vital instrument under God in helping us all to grow in knowledge of him. Therefore we must continue to meet in service, to build each other up by contributing to the fellowship.
So my first application today is to those who are in the position of expounding God’s word, In particular those who give talks and sermons. These people must explain and apply God’s word so that the hearers may grow in their knowledge of God and in their Christian faith. This means that they must give time to the study of the bible and theology and in particular, they must give a reasonable amount of time in preparation of their talk.
Secondly, it is the duty of all of us as Christians that when an opportunity comes, to build up his fellow Christians and to testify to the outside. God has called us and given us each gifts for the purpose of building up God’s church. We are God’s body building project.
So let’s take the matter of equipping and growing in the knowledge of God seriously. Not only pray that God’s Spirits will teach us but also use the means God has provided. Read the bible regularly and prayerfully and be active in Christian fellowship where the word of God is preached, for this is one of God’s primary means for our growth in Christ likeness.
So we see in Ephesians 4, that we are all united in one body1 and all of us share the most important thing in common, which is life, through the death and resurrection of Jesus. However 1 Corinthians 12 tells us that God has also given each of us gifts2, which are to be used in service, and if we are going to serve one another, we need to be properly equipped. Therefore how do we get equipped to serve?
As I mentioned before, we need to grow in our knowledge of God and as we grow in our knowledge of God, so we grow in Christlike ness of character, for true knowledge of God affects our whole personalty. It not only shapes our thoughts but fires out emotions and stirs our will to do God’s will.
Therefore it is not surprising that Paul often prayed for his converts to grow in knowledge, such as the start of Ephesians 13. Nor is it suppressing that Paul prayed for knowledge, because God must be our teacher.
God teaches us through his spirit challenging and convicting us as we hear or read God’s word.
Therefore In terms of the knowledge of God, we first need to know what God’s will is with regards to our actions and attitudes in our life from day to day. This does not come naturally for us to realise that God wishes us to have a forgiving Spirit, or to be humble, or to be meek, or to be content with the things we have. We need to be taught these things and reminded again and again through God’s word.
Secondly we also need to know God’s intentions for the future; for it is through this that we find the strongest motive for Christian living. For example, knowledge of Christ’s second as judge and king provides a very strong motive for seeking first God’s kingdom.
So back in Ephesians in chapter 4, Christ has given ministers to the church, men who have received the gift of teaching for helping their fellow Christians grow in knowledge4. Indeed we all play our part in this helping one another and Christian fellowship is a vital instrument under God in helping us all to grow in knowledge of him. Therefore we must continue to meet in service, to build each other up by contributing to the fellowship.
So my first application today is to those who are in the position of expounding God’s word, In particular those who give talks and sermons. These people must explain and apply God’s word so that the hearers may grow in their knowledge of God and in their Christian faith. This means that they must give time to the study of the bible and theology and in particular, they must give a reasonable amount of time in preparation of their talk.
Secondly, it is the duty of all of us as Christians that when an opportunity comes, to build up his fellow Christians and to testify to the outside. God has called us and given us each gifts for the purpose of building up God’s church. We are God’s body building project.
So let’s take the matter of equipping and growing in the knowledge of God seriously. Not only pray that God’s Spirits will teach us but also use the means God has provided. Read the bible regularly and prayerfully and be active in Christian fellowship where the word of God is preached, for this is one of God’s primary means for our growth in Christ likeness.
In Christ,
Laurence.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
An Update of Laurence's World!
I've not posted in ages!! Busyness of life, and lack of interest perhaps.
However here is it! The million dollar question, Whats been happening with Laurence Because I haven't heard from him for such a long time!
Well last post was in January so let me see. Firstly our new minister at Emu Plains started his commission. Our new assistant minister has also started last week and it is exciting to have them both their to teach, equip and tell people in the parish and outside the parish about Jesus the Lord!.
I also finished my work placement for this year and that went well :).
We also had our away committee meeting for this year, where we discussed our goal's, our mission, events and our roles for the year. Lol I'm officially the student leader now yey :)
CBM has been busy but great as always to collectively proclaim the Gospel. One of my friends started MTS, and it's exciting to work with him in partnership for the Gospel!
Oh Also started helping with scripture at emu plains, and they are a very behaved school, compared to katoomba anyways.
Okay so that's the ministry side of things. In uni news, i started my Thesis on lol rather long name "DNA Image Enhancement for Microarray Griding". So far finding it hard to get motivated and to do something about it lol.
Anyways i hope things are going well for u readers (if anyone actually reads this blog), and continue keeping strong in the Lord!
Yours Faithfully
Laurence.
However here is it! The million dollar question, Whats been happening with Laurence Because I haven't heard from him for such a long time!
Well last post was in January so let me see. Firstly our new minister at Emu Plains started his commission. Our new assistant minister has also started last week and it is exciting to have them both their to teach, equip and tell people in the parish and outside the parish about Jesus the Lord!.
I also finished my work placement for this year and that went well :).
We also had our away committee meeting for this year, where we discussed our goal's, our mission, events and our roles for the year. Lol I'm officially the student leader now yey :)
CBM has been busy but great as always to collectively proclaim the Gospel. One of my friends started MTS, and it's exciting to work with him in partnership for the Gospel!
Oh Also started helping with scripture at emu plains, and they are a very behaved school, compared to katoomba anyways.
Okay so that's the ministry side of things. In uni news, i started my Thesis on lol rather long name "DNA Image Enhancement for Microarray Griding". So far finding it hard to get motivated and to do something about it lol.
Anyways i hope things are going well for u readers (if anyone actually reads this blog), and continue keeping strong in the Lord!
Yours Faithfully
Laurence.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
The Emu "Plains" is tooooo hot!!
It's been a while since my last post. So what has happen since then.
Well i'm moved to emu plains with my parents and slowly settling in. The weather is way tooo hot, like sleeping on some piles of hot rocks from a vocano. Don't know much people, except a friend who lives lol 7 houses away from my house :).
I have gone to Emu Plains Anglican in last 2 weeks. The sermon's have been excellent, great exergesis of the passages in Ephesians. I will when get more time, update you on whats been said. The people are very welcoming their and it is joyful to get to know them. Though why is their no my age? lol their is people a little older, or people a little younger, ahwell. At the moment they are without a full time minister, however a new minister is getting commisioned the end of this month. The rector from Blackheath has been filling in for the time been.
I've also started Work placement (12 weeks, 6 this year & 6 next year) at lithgow at an ISP place. They have put me into the deep end the first day i got their, and am working on a project to shape people's bandwiths on wireless. The people i work with are very nice and easy going. Please pray that i may be a good withness to them, and that i might get opptunities and takes them to tell them about the Gospel. I've also had to drive to work, lithgow trains are ridiculous, and so pray that i make the most of the oppunities i get driving to work with my friend in the car.
Summer CBM is comming up, can't wait, Bible study at last!!! lol. Anyways please pray for patients for me with settling into new church and for more friends. If your going to Men's convention, i Hope to see you their :)
Keep Strong & Rooted up in Christ!
Laurence.
Well i'm moved to emu plains with my parents and slowly settling in. The weather is way tooo hot, like sleeping on some piles of hot rocks from a vocano. Don't know much people, except a friend who lives lol 7 houses away from my house :).
I have gone to Emu Plains Anglican in last 2 weeks. The sermon's have been excellent, great exergesis of the passages in Ephesians. I will when get more time, update you on whats been said. The people are very welcoming their and it is joyful to get to know them. Though why is their no my age? lol their is people a little older, or people a little younger, ahwell. At the moment they are without a full time minister, however a new minister is getting commisioned the end of this month. The rector from Blackheath has been filling in for the time been.
I've also started Work placement (12 weeks, 6 this year & 6 next year) at lithgow at an ISP place. They have put me into the deep end the first day i got their, and am working on a project to shape people's bandwiths on wireless. The people i work with are very nice and easy going. Please pray that i may be a good withness to them, and that i might get opptunities and takes them to tell them about the Gospel. I've also had to drive to work, lithgow trains are ridiculous, and so pray that i make the most of the oppunities i get driving to work with my friend in the car.
Summer CBM is comming up, can't wait, Bible study at last!!! lol. Anyways please pray for patients for me with settling into new church and for more friends. If your going to Men's convention, i Hope to see you their :)
Keep Strong & Rooted up in Christ!
Laurence.
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