Windows On The Soul

1995 Back in '95, my younger brother developed a brain tumor. One day in his last weeks, his wife was beside his bed in Wesley Hospital in Brisbane. A girl friend arrived to visit and comfort my sister-in-law. At the end of the evening visiting hours, my sister-in-law said to her friend, " I'm afraid I'm not up to driving home. Would you mind driving? " " Of course dear. " said her friend. " I only bought a one-way train ticket ". At home, after a cup of tea, my sister-in-law, almost in tears, said to her friend, " I don't think I can bear being alone in this house to night. Would you mind staying over? ". " Of course! " said her friend. " I've got  nightie and toothbrush in my handbag! ".  Even angels sometimes travel by train (one way). 1939 In the 1930's a Chelsea church conducted a tent mission on the foreshore at Frankston, about 10km south, on the eastern coast of Port Philip Bay. From that missio...

In times of great despair, people will often start to question the reason for their existence. But why do we wait until we are at rock bottom to ask the most important question that every person must face up to? We have not been created to live a long, healthy, prosperous life in the pursuit of happiness, or just to be loving and kind to our fellow mankind, or even to live a holy righteous life. These may be desirable or even necessary, but they are not the essence of why we exist. The principal reason for our existence is that our lives should bring glory, honour and blessing to God ( Rev.5:13 ) . Our being or existence is different to what we do. Just as a beautiful work of art brings honour to its artist, so our existence should bring glory to our creator. But the dirt and grime of sin have tarnished, and restoration is required. It is in a state of righteousness through Jesus, restored per our creator’s original intent, that we are called to live. Then we will be able to refle...

In this past week, we have heard the trumpet call to remembrance of the Armistice and of the men and women who gave their lives in the defense of our country. Trumpets played a prominent role in Old Testament life. In rural civil life, it sounded the alarm of impending attack, calling the people together to close ranks, with a common purpose of defense. In religious life, the silver trumpet (shofar) announced special assemblies, feasts and holy days. Then in the month of ‘Tishri’ (October), a rams horn ‘shofar’ was blown to announce the ‘new year’ and to summon the nation to a week of spiritual preparation for the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). The ram’s horn was a reminder of God’s provision of the substitutionary lamb for Abraham to sacrifice instead of Isaac ( Gen.22 ). The week of preparation involves self-examination, repentance and putting-right, but it is God who provides “atonement” (wiping out of the debt). In the New Testament, the trumpet is rarely mentioned. T...

In Acts 2:41-43 , there are two types of responses recorded from those who heard and saw the Apostles and disciples of Jesus. They were amazed and in awe at the wonders and signs performed by the Apostles. But more importantly, when they saw the changed lifestyles of the disciples, they “liked what they saw” (v41, Petersen’s paraphrase “The Message”). They saw believers:- living in wonderful harmony, pooling their resources so that each person’s needs were met, following a daily discipline of worship, sharing meals together, in joyful, exuberant celebration, praising God. Was it any wonder then that “ Every day their numbers grew, as God added those who were saved” , because people “ liked what they saw ”. When God created the world, He saw that it was “good”. When we share the Good News of the gospel of ‘re-creation’ through Jesus, it's no news at all, unless the hearer can see the results of this re-creation in us and be able to say “ it is good, I like what I see ...

But what if you don't have physical sight? Certainly spiritual insight is more important, but physical sight is still our primary means of receiving God's word through reading. Whilst Australia's sight impaired have access to talking books, guide dogs, Braille literature etc. suffers are mainly the aging. But in a country like India with one tenth of the world's population, it has one third of the world's blind. Though if measured by Australia's definition of technical blindness (10% or less of normal vision), the numbers in India would double to about 20 million. Sadly, most could be prevented or even cured - causes being measles, smallpox, eye infections, and malnutrition (vitamin A deficiency). 50 million of the world's children currently suffer from trachoma, leading to blindness, for the want of tube of ointment. Worldwide blindness is on the whole a disease of poverty.  Braille books or tapes are useless if you can't afford an education let alone t...

Some Christian traditions have always associated the Church with a mother image. Although not an actual scriptural term, the Bible does however call her the “Bride of Christ” ( Rev.21:9 ). Without stretching the analogy, we can learn a lot about what a church should be like by considering motherhood. The first is the birth of new disciples. The Church’s Great Commission ( Mk.16:15 ) echoes the first biblical commandment to Adam and Eve, “ Be fruitful and multiply ” ( Gen.1:28 ). Evangelism will not be fruitful because of programs devised by man, but as a (super)natural outcome of the attractiveness of the deep love between the Church and her ‘bridegroom’, Jesus the Christ. And having born new disciples into her family, the Church’s other function is the love and nurture of her members, with special attention to the ‘new-born’. There are both spiritual and physical needs to be met. There is feeding and teaching and cleaning up after ‘accidents’. Nursing of injuries (both spirit...

" Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family " ( Pr.18:24 ) The experts tell us that in aiming for the goals we have in life, like love, friendship, success, etc. we all consciously and unconsciously have various conditions, measures or rules by which we decide whether we are moving toward or have achieved a goal. These conditions can be positive or negative, and mandatory or optional. Friendship is a goal relationship that will be very fragile when the conditions held differ widely and are poorly communicated. Some example conditions are:- frequent contact, never criticizes, shows genuine interest and concern, never breaks confidences, shares personal thoughts. A useful exercise is to divide a sheet of paper into four, and prayerfully list all the conditions you have about friendships: the ' musts ', the ' shoulds ', the ' should nots ', and the ' must nots' .  Try and be exhaustive; if you have many more positive...

As we studied Jesus' reply to Nicodemus, his description of the movement of the Holy Spirit being like the invisible wind ( John 3:8 ) reminded me of the sail-board riders on Lilydale Lake. As one who likes to keep his feet firmly on terra firma , I really admire people who can stand on a wind-surfer, manipulating the sail to catch the slightest breath of wind, to send them scooting across the surface of the water. This in turn reminded me of some of Jesus' very last words before His ascension ( Acts 1: 8 ) " When the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be witnesses to me... ". But surely the disciples had been sent "witnessing" before? But this promise is additional - this is a promise of the ability to witness with confidence and power. Like the sail-board rider, it requires practice to stand up, to set the sail of our life and mind to catch the wind of the Holy Spirit, and let ourselves be driven by that invisible power source.

Traditionally, Christians have majored on caring for the outward symptoms of the sick, neglected, lonely and down-trodden of society. But when it comes to speaking up or acting against the causes of some of these situations, sadly we seem to have lost our voices. The symptoms are obvious and providing relief is fairly straight-forward. But discovering, understanding and doing something about causes requires effort, research, thought and insight. If ever the church needs people with gifts of wisdom, discernment and prophecy, it is in the sphere of social justice. When Jesus said that he had come to " preach release to the captives, the recovery of sight to the blind ", he was not talking (just) about palliative care, but of removal of the impediments causing the conditions (whether unjust laws or cataracts). In this "post Christian" age we seem to be living in, there are more situations than ever that Christians need to speak-up about. ----xxxXxxx---- Lk.4:18 ...

" Combine dry ingredients with milk and eggs. Mix well; do not beat" . So goes the recipe book, but the same instructions should apply to Christians, who are called to be the " salt of the earth ". Why are new Christians the most effective in evangelism? Partly because they still have plenty of "non-Christian" friends. How easy it is as the years pass, to make our church the focus of our social and community activities as well as for worship and spiritual growth. As important as these latter are, our spiritual growth is not for personal gain, but as the means to God's end. Just as Israel was called to be " a blessing to the nations ", we are called to be " the salt of the earth " and " the light of the world ". ----xxxXxxx---- Gen.12:2-3 "...you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" 1 Cor.7:16 ...

"A couple of weeks ago, my grandson broke out with bruising all over his body. Doctors diagnosed a rare blood disease, where the blood platelets were being destroyed. His platelet count had dropped to about 9 (instead of a normal 150), meaning that he was in imminent danger of hemorrhaging to death - his blood clotting factor was about nil. "Blood transfusion was contemplated, but considered too dangerous, and of little long term use, as the replaced platelets would be destroyed also." "A prayer chain was formed among family, friends and fellow believers. He remained in hospital under observation, but with no treatment. Within days, his platelet count had risen to 102.  A week later, it was almost back to normal." "The doctor said that he had never seen such a "spontaneous recovery" before." "All Praise and Thanks to the Lord, who does wondrous things". (A member's contribution) ---===X===--- Mal.4:2 "My savin...

Having been challenged last Sunday about seeing Jesus in the needy, it would be good to praise God for some of our quiet achievers. Thank God for:- t he bread company donations that are collected and distributed regularly by some of our ladies. the supporters of Azeline House special accommodation for girls; for financial, spiritual, moral, emotional and physical needs. the Temple Day offering, especially the ministers distribution of the Emergency Welfare Fund offering. contributors to the casserole "bank". Heathmont Inter-Church Help volunteers. Please remember the box in the foyer for donations of food. Remember too the collection box for our missionaries’ Christmas Hamper. A short list like this can only give a hint of the depth of these ministries.  If you have or know some-one with a special need, or would like to help in any way, call the office or any of the Church's pastoral carers. ----xxxXxxx---- Mat.25:40 "Inasmuch as you did it for the...

How can Christian missions reach the whole world, like China's 1,200,000,000 people?  How can the barriers of language, geography, politics and religion be crossed? Far East Broadcasting Company is a Christian radio mission aiming to reach into the homes and hearts of people with the gospel.  With 800 employees in program production and engineering around the world, 6 transmitters broadcast about 300 program hours per day in over 141 languages to potentially 2/3 of the world's population.  Its effectiveness can be judged from the 600,000+ letters received from listeners each year, like the following from central Russia:- "I accidentally found your station while scanning the shortwave band. Since then I have listened daily. Four months ago I obtained a New testament. I read it through three times. My whole life has changed. Suddenly I have a desire to do good to others, even my enemies.  I have no idea how to explain this, but one thing I know is that I believe in Go...

Did you know that the most significant reason for a Baptist minister to leave the ministry is due to conflicts with the congregation, whereas for Anglican ministers, it is conflict with denominational leaders?  If the drop-out rate found among Christian ministers was found in the teaching or medical professions, I'm sure there would be calls for a Royal Commission. What can be done for these people who have followed God's calling but now find themselves unable to continue?  Rowland Croucher has determined to do something about it through "John Mark Ministries". JMM helps through counselling the 'victims' and those still struggling. Through conferences and seminars, church leaders are made aware of the size and nature of the problem, and counselled in pastoring the pastors. Rowland's books support this ministry as well as being valuable spiritual aids in themselves. Les Scarborough has joined the JMM team in Sydney. Pray for Rowland in his continuous rounds...