Soul Compass

There is a verse I didn’t use in my message on Sunday, and I certainly could have if I had the time…

It helps sum up what I was sharing in some way.

It should really sum up our attitude to our life.

And it is there as a soul compass, to help you decide how much this really applies to you.

For to me, to live is Christ

And to die is gain.

Philippians 1:21

You and I have to decide if our life is all about Jesus or not. We decide if He is truly Lord or not.

No one else can make it happen for us.

It is a choice you face when you get up, when go about your daily stuff and as you lie down each evening.

Here and plenty of other times in the new testament, you see the writers beg even for us to make ourselves this way. They encouragement us to find our identity first and foremost in Christ.

You are a Christian foremost, that is the goal.

Everything else comes second!

Jobs, sports, hobbies, relationships...everything!

That way it is simple and easy to understand even though not easy to do. But who said easy was the best way?

When you find yourself there, the picture is different just like it was for Paul. He could honestly say his life was not his own and that he recognised that he had been bought at a price.

When you are in that space, death is not your biggest concern. You know where you are going and you know it is not something to concern yourself with.

You just live for Christ and that is all that matters to you!

You have given your life away and in fact actually found a life worth living for!

So after all that challenge in a few short lines, how about wrapping this all up for yourself today?

Can I encourage you to take a few moments and pray this through? Talk to God about this verse and this ‘idea’ and see which way your soul compass is pointing.

If you need to make some changes, take some decisions, go for it!

For yourself in Christ alone...

Something to think about…

conference

After spending an amazing week at the elim national conference I am still processing all that God spoke to me during this week.

It has been awesome and just what I needed.

God spoke to me, encouraged me and ministered to me.

Instead of just sharing one idea I thought I would quickly list some of what God said to me.

Maybe one or all might be something you can grab a hold of for the rest of the week?

God wants me to not give up, especially the dream He has for my life and the people I influence with it.

God has made me promises and He will fulfill them!

I need to make sure I stay in agreement with them.

My identity is not in my country, my tastes or my friends. My identity is in Christ alone...first and foremost!

There I things I need to indentify and caste off!

I need to make sure I am focusing on my assignment not whatever confinement I might feel.

I probably have a boat in my life that is too much of a lifeboat. I need to get out of that boat. 

Walk on some water. Go after the supernatural.

I need to make sure the presence of God is a high priority. Because in the presence there is power.

And my life should be defined by His presence and His power.

20 seconds of bravery is all I need to change my world.

Hear God’s voice over everything else.

God is bigger than what I have learned so far and he always will be!

Don’t be afraid to be forceful for God’s Kingdom.

They are the people He wants and needs.

Well there you go….

Kind of bullet points of my week. There is a lot more I could say and wish I could share. Maybe another day?

Something to think about…

Mist

So here we are again.

Nearly at the end of yet another school term.

It seems as a parent your life and the indicator of what stage of the year your life is in...are predicated by the school holidays.

And if that wasn’t enough, some retailers are starting their Christmas Season displays…

Don’t panic!

I am not upset. I am just surprised once again about how fast another year has gone.

When I was a young lad on the farm I remember wishing my days away. I couldn’t wait to be this age or that age. In fact being 15 seemed a big goal.

It would mean I could finally get my drivers license and start being a big person.

My Gran would say that at her age time seemed to go by fast. I just couldn’t understand what she was talking about. For me time seemed so slow!

Now I think I understand a little more…

James 4:14 simply says this about us…

…What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

It is a great question that most of us face.

We need to understand in some way what is our life!

But the writer adds this whole mist vibe into the mix.

Mist being something that is here for a while and then gone.

It is not supposed to be discouraging but the opposite.

The challenge for all of us is to be intentional with the life gifted to us. To not wish it away, even for a moment. Because in a ‘moment’ it can be gone.

For me it encourages me to make the most of today while it is called today. To milk life for all its worth.

I want to live it well and enjoy as much of the journey as I can. That is why I seek God and make plans for it under His guidance.

I want my ‘mist’ to be a blessing...

Something to think about…

Prawn

The very first time I went to hunt for shawn the prawn at Huka Prawn Park I was pretty disappointed.

No matter what did. No matter how much I copied the others who were being successful around me…

I didn’t catch a thing!

Over a year later I went back again.

This time with a whole bunch of guys from our Church.

I got some nibbles which got me excited.

I thought I was going to get some breakthrough and break my draught.

I could even picture myself telling the story of my fishing exploits even before I had that first nibble.

But all the dreaming achieved nothing.

No prawns!

Roll on to January this year and I went again.

This time with a good friend from out of town.

My confidence my not have been high but I was willing to give it another try. And that try was worth it.

I caught a decent bunch of prawns.

Enough so that they were gratefully consumed, BBQed with lashings of butter and garlic that same day!

My point is this...

If you are going to do something for God, there is no guarantee it will ‘work’ the first time.

If will work when it will work.

God just wants us to try. And by trying we give Him opportunity to work and to glorify Himself.

Not doing something achieves that result...nothing.

When you see Peter not sure what to do with his life, what do you see him doing?

He is fishing.

He does what he can do until Jesus turns up and changes things again. Jesus fills his net. Jesus blesses his labour. Jesus changes his life!

It is not in the sitting around and hoping that things will change that a harvest comes.

It is in the faithful working away, being faithful to the task even when it appears in the natural nothing much has happened.

Because just when you are not expecting it...Jesus seems to do something amazing and change all the

circumstance around.

Don’t give up!

Keep on reaching and sowing and fishing.

Because in doing so we will be ready to reap a harvest when the full harvest time comes.

Something to think about…

Crowd

I have been thinking in the last few days about things that Jesus did and how people responded.

There is one thing in particular that stands out, especially in light of what we are doing as a Church this weekend.

It seems Jesus didn’t have trouble having a crowd!

It seems that Jesus had more trouble getting away from the crowd than attracting one...more on that another day!

Regularly Jesus would have a meal at someone’s house.

As part of the preparation for this occasion, it wasn’t just food and atmosphere that was worked on or even the most important. In fact you don’t read much about what they ate at all. But what you do see is Jesus having plenty of people around him.

Why?

Real simple…

The people who knew of him or about him, no matter how little or much, were extremely keen to invite as many other people to learn about him.

They were more interested in sharing him with others than keeping him for themselves alone.

They wanted those closest to them to have the same opportunity.

They wanted their friends and neighbours to experience him.

In one account you even see people ripping apart a roof just to give a sick friend this same opportunity.

That is dedication to both Jesus and their friend!

So in your world right now, how does this relate?

Real simple I guess...

It would seem ‘normal’ to me that we do whatever we can to always invite people to find out more about Jesus.

Inviting them to Church is one great way to do this.

How far would you go to get someone else closer to

Jesus?

Something to think about…