Blog Archive (Page 2)

Pastors Ponderings

Romans 8:1 says there is no condemnation for those who belong to Jesus.  Condemnation is defined as ‘very strong disapproval’ and is probably a word we can quickly associate with. I mean, who hasn’t lived with the horrid feeling of condemnation? But the bible tells us we can stand before God the Father totally free from the feeling of condemnation. How is that possible? I can tell you that I often feel condemned and I’m presuming you would feel the…

It’s only a storm

The rain was bucketing down as we drove along. Would it ever end? It’s only a storm, says Julie in her own profound way. It is still Spring… the daffodils bloomed and the trees are in blossom. I haven’t been able to forget that statement nor the amazing truth I saw as I thought about our journey with God. Jesus Christ the same… yesterday, today… forever. God’s faithfulness never ends… his mercies are new every morning! I’m sure I’m not…

Pastors Ponderings

This week the Ponderings come via Mrs Jesus Follower: The View “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-6) There is so much more in this passage but it’s these verses and this truth that I’ve been thinking about lately.…

My Rights

Romans is written to change the behaviour of the people in the church, so you would expect to be confronting and challenging and uncomfortable.  I’ve had all of those feelings as I’ve studied this letter and we are only 7 chapters into a 16-chapter letter. So, I guess there is still more to come. Knowing what I do about the author Paul, he is just getting started.  However, I’m surprised that the result of all that challenge is how exciting the gospel…

Holy Labor:

How Childbirth Shapes a Woman’s Soul By Aubry G. Smith “pains” [itsavon] means anguish not just physical pain.    It is the same word used for Adam’s curse only it’s translated as “painfully toils” with the ground.   We don’t associate physical pain with Adam in the same way as we do we Eve, why? We talk of Adam’s struggle to be fruitful, the anguish or worry whether the ground will yield its crop.  It’s possibly because we know labour can be…

Contained within the walls of God’s sovereign purpose

I’m finally getting it! After days, weeks even, of having new and exciting snippets of God’s truth seep into my dull brain, I’m finally seeing a clearer picture. I need to begin way back when I was a child growing up. All of my life I’d had the security of my parents’ love and the knowledge that they would do everything in their power to protect me. Even at school I had the discipline and boundaries of routine. But around…

Pastors Ponderings

Last Week Daniel announced that Rob Jacobs has decided not to seek re-election to his position on the Oversight Team (OT) and that we will be nominating Jeni Ward and Ben Morton to both be appointed as OT Members at the November AGM.  Daniel explained that both Jeni and Ben are already leaders in the church with Ben leading much of the work with playgroup and young adults as well as Alpha and Jeni taking on the vision for Missions…

By the rivers of Babylon

The Church is weeping. No, not for lost souls but for the loss of something that we hold dear. And, as I thought of this, these familiar words came into my mind: “By the Rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, Yea, we wept, when we remember Zion” And the more I thought about it the more likeness I could see between the Church today and the Jews back then as they wept in Babylon; captured, defeated and taken from…

Pastors Ponderings

I’ve always loved reading about Abraham and Sarah. They are the Patriarchs of the faith and they are rightly honoured for their steadfast loyalty to God. Most of you know the story. God promised that a generational line as numerous as the stars would come through them and that from Abraham’s descendants would come the means for God to bless the whole world. And even though it was physically impossible for Abraham or Sarah to have children, they believed God…

Pastors Ponderings

I loved hearing the truth of Romans 3:21-26: The righteousness of God is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this…

Being Transformed into His Image…

Mmm… I’m not sure if I agree with that… I thumb through my Bible searching for a passage I read just a few days ago that will prove my point.  Sound familiar or is that just me? The other Sunday Daniel reminded us that our focus… our desire needs to be to know God more. I don’t think I’ll ever understand how great is God’s desire for us to know him more. It keeps coming back to being all about…

Another Perspective

I hesitate…I stop and start as I try and put this together. Why? Because it’s different…I’m different. Isn’t this what Julie’s been telling us? Isn’t this what makes unity in Christ unique? Yes, I know all that but… I set my laptop aside and wander into the kitchen.  Pulling down my jar of licorice-allsorts I glance through them and suddenly notice that there are two identical ones. Well, guess what Julie, I think CBBC might even beat that! Why? Because…