Have a look at a text like Isaiah 44 and see how God guarantees his own word - He will accomplish what his word has been sent to achieve! The curious point made by God is the invitation to witness him doing just that. Then turn to Romans 8 and read about God's assuring word that proclaims to each believer that you have the same Spirit in you that raised Jesus from the grave. We have resurrection power invested in us! Not only does it affirm that we are being led by the Spirit, but that we receive all that is attributed to Christ. Keep that in mind as you flip the pages over to Matthew 13; the parable of the weeds.
All the good intentions spoiled by the weeds. Jesus of course explains his own parable for us with the parallel of the good seed sown as the godly and the weeds as the godless. Notice that the disciples were keen for an action plan - 'let's pull out the weeds!' But Jesus tells them to let these two realities grow up together for the time being. When the right time presents itself, Jesus will give the angels charge to begin the cleanup job.
At church we begin every worship service with a time to confess the wrongs and rubbish accumulated in our life. That is the cleanup job that I think has a reference for us here as well. Whenever we try to get the better over our sin, it only ends in a worse situation. But, let Jesus assess the situation and we have the end result transferred to us in the present: 'your sins are forgiven!' Then the good stuff can shine without it being spoilt by the schemes of the evil one - this is what holiness is truly about: the realization that God is at work. We are all a work-under-construction. That is perhaps another definition of God's amazing grace. So be gracious to one another, because God isn't finished yet.
Rev.'D
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
02 August, 2011
Our College @ Church
Strohmeyer House will be featured through students and staff taking part at our Sunday worship service. The theme chosen by the student body is that of the feeding of the five thousand. (Trinity Lutheran College, Ashmore).
That account is a really well known as one of the highlights during Jesus' ministry where after a long day of teaching about the Kingdom of God, Jesus directs his disciples to feed the crowd. You can just imagine the reaction ... what? how? The disciples saw the crowd. They saw the problem. They saw the impossible task just asked of them. They counted up the cost and were not prepared to pay the price. Too much to ask!
Jesus showed another way of seeing what lay before them. Asking for a volunteer, a young boy came forward an offered his lunch. What took place after that has become the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand. Could the miracle have been that a small offer to help out others, created a reaction in other people to do something like that as well, resulting in the realization that there was ALREADY so much unrealized food right there!
When we offer even a small thing to God, under His blessing it creates a ripple effect. God attributes to give our actions a kind of momentum that blesses others and returns to us with far more than what we gave in the first place (just as it was the case with the young boy). I call it 'tapping into generosity,'
How much need is in the world!? We see it every day on the news channels. The need is overwhelming. But what about our own circle of influence? I would like to invite you to try out an experiment for yourself. Change what you look at, what you see, when we release a blessing under the banner of God's ability to do great things. That's kingdom of God thinking. That's seeing possibilities, rather than problems. That's seeing with the eyes of Jesus.
What can you give unto the Lord for His work within the Kingdom of God to make a difference in people's lives ... remember the wise saying: from little things, big things grow!
Rev.'D
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
That account is a really well known as one of the highlights during Jesus' ministry where after a long day of teaching about the Kingdom of God, Jesus directs his disciples to feed the crowd. You can just imagine the reaction ... what? how? The disciples saw the crowd. They saw the problem. They saw the impossible task just asked of them. They counted up the cost and were not prepared to pay the price. Too much to ask!
Jesus showed another way of seeing what lay before them. Asking for a volunteer, a young boy came forward an offered his lunch. What took place after that has become the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand. Could the miracle have been that a small offer to help out others, created a reaction in other people to do something like that as well, resulting in the realization that there was ALREADY so much unrealized food right there!
When we offer even a small thing to God, under His blessing it creates a ripple effect. God attributes to give our actions a kind of momentum that blesses others and returns to us with far more than what we gave in the first place (just as it was the case with the young boy). I call it 'tapping into generosity,'
How much need is in the world!? We see it every day on the news channels. The need is overwhelming. But what about our own circle of influence? I would like to invite you to try out an experiment for yourself. Change what you look at, what you see, when we release a blessing under the banner of God's ability to do great things. That's kingdom of God thinking. That's seeing possibilities, rather than problems. That's seeing with the eyes of Jesus.
What can you give unto the Lord for His work within the Kingdom of God to make a difference in people's lives ... remember the wise saying: from little things, big things grow!
Rev.'D
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
22 June, 2011
The CARE syndrome
Have you ever noticed that when Jesus said that 'whoever welcomes you, welcomes me' and likewise in the negative, 'whatever they have done to you, they have done it to me,' suggests an inseparable link between Jesus and us. So connected and integrated is Christ in our life, that I call it the "CARE syndrome."
CHRIST
ACQUIRED
RESOURCE
EMPOWERMENT
Everything we have and ever will be is due to the grace and generosity of God through Christ. Everything good that we may be able to achieve or accomplish takes place through Christ's empowerment of Holy Spirit within us. Here is the remarkable truth: God working through us, God working among us, God working for us. Now that is a healthy syndrome to acquire with resources that bring blessings! This is the real antidote for all that is negative, wrong, and evil in our world and affects individual lives.
I confess I have CARE syndrome within me. What about you?
Rev.'D
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
CHRIST
ACQUIRED
RESOURCE
EMPOWERMENT
Everything we have and ever will be is due to the grace and generosity of God through Christ. Everything good that we may be able to achieve or accomplish takes place through Christ's empowerment of Holy Spirit within us. Here is the remarkable truth: God working through us, God working among us, God working for us. Now that is a healthy syndrome to acquire with resources that bring blessings! This is the real antidote for all that is negative, wrong, and evil in our world and affects individual lives.
I confess I have CARE syndrome within me. What about you?
Rev.'D
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
11 April, 2011
Speak life into the world
The last Sunday in Lent had a fascinating combination of readings from the liturgical lectionary for the church year: Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones, and the Gospel reading about raising Lazarus from the dead. In between these two readings we had this proclamation from Romans 8 ... "Christ lives in you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by the same Spirit living within you."
Why was it so important for God to give us his Spirit?
When humanity fell into sin (recall the garden of Eden account) we were warned not to eat from the fruit of a particular tree, or we will surely die. The temptation in the garden back then was: my will over and above God's will for my life. Ever since then we have this broken world and the experience of evil, dark, and deadly things. But more tragically than all of the pain and destruction around our world, is that at that very moment in paradise, our spirit died. The flesh is just playing catch up and it may take a few many decades, but we will all die. No surprise there!
Jesus entered our death and went into death for us. There in the garden of Gethsemane we see a reversal taking shape: 'not my will, but your will be done.'
What is the will of God the Father?
We pray it into our life every time we speak the words of the Lord's Prayer: "your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Just as Jesus has done to bring life and speak life into people's tragic moments, so now we have a new commission as we read in John's Gospel as Jesus met with his disciples after the resurrection, "as the Father has sent me, so now I send you! Receive the Holy Spirit ..."
Life has been breathed back into our existence - read Jn 10:10, and breathe in the Life Jesus has won for you, his abundant healing and restoring life for all.
> posted by D.WILLNER
Why was it so important for God to give us his Spirit?
When humanity fell into sin (recall the garden of Eden account) we were warned not to eat from the fruit of a particular tree, or we will surely die. The temptation in the garden back then was: my will over and above God's will for my life. Ever since then we have this broken world and the experience of evil, dark, and deadly things. But more tragically than all of the pain and destruction around our world, is that at that very moment in paradise, our spirit died. The flesh is just playing catch up and it may take a few many decades, but we will all die. No surprise there!
Jesus entered our death and went into death for us. There in the garden of Gethsemane we see a reversal taking shape: 'not my will, but your will be done.'
What is the will of God the Father?
We pray it into our life every time we speak the words of the Lord's Prayer: "your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Just as Jesus has done to bring life and speak life into people's tragic moments, so now we have a new commission as we read in John's Gospel as Jesus met with his disciples after the resurrection, "as the Father has sent me, so now I send you! Receive the Holy Spirit ..."
Life has been breathed back into our existence - read Jn 10:10, and breathe in the Life Jesus has won for you, his abundant healing and restoring life for all.
> posted by D.WILLNER
04 April, 2011
Sermon summary . 4th Sunday in Lent
Remember what it was like to be a kid, especially your first few goes on a bike? If your experience was anything like mine, you'd also recall when you came off your bike and hurt your knee, perhaps even broke some bones. What's the first thing we do, besides scream? We put our hands over the wound on the knee and hold down tight. Then Mum comes along and 'wants to see', encouraging us to let go. But that means more pain; washing out the wound, cream that stings, bandages. If we don't do that, then the wound becomes infected and the situation becomes far worse.
Healing comes by dealing with the hurt.
Now consider a flesh wound through a cut on the arm. Amazingly, the body heals itself. But if you go to the butcher, and see the cut meat there, you won't ever find that it will heal itself - it has been cut off from the body! You might rightly call it 'dead meat.'
Healing takes place by being part of the body.
The church is supposed to be known as the body of Christ; a place where healing can take place. Here we have what Luther called: people who are saints and sinners at the same time, or to put it in another way, hurt and healed at the same time. We still have to deal with issues of hurt, but we are learning to become beakers, as we experience healing. Huge amount of medical research has shown that stress related deceases are basically defined by the human emotion called: Resentment. For us to deal with that wound, Christ has taught us about forgiveness called: Release.
Learning to release people who have hurt us is the first emotional step that brings with it healing to the spirit, soul, and body.
Whatever we hold onto, will have a hold on us!
Posted by Dirk Willner
Healing comes by dealing with the hurt.
Now consider a flesh wound through a cut on the arm. Amazingly, the body heals itself. But if you go to the butcher, and see the cut meat there, you won't ever find that it will heal itself - it has been cut off from the body! You might rightly call it 'dead meat.'
Healing takes place by being part of the body.
The church is supposed to be known as the body of Christ; a place where healing can take place. Here we have what Luther called: people who are saints and sinners at the same time, or to put it in another way, hurt and healed at the same time. We still have to deal with issues of hurt, but we are learning to become beakers, as we experience healing. Huge amount of medical research has shown that stress related deceases are basically defined by the human emotion called: Resentment. For us to deal with that wound, Christ has taught us about forgiveness called: Release.
Learning to release people who have hurt us is the first emotional step that brings with it healing to the spirit, soul, and body.
Whatever we hold onto, will have a hold on us!
Posted by Dirk Willner
14 March, 2011
another way to consider LENT
Ash Wednesday marked the beginning of the church season known as Lent. These are 40 days leading up to Easter. Traditionally, lent has focused on contemplation and sacrifice. So, the usually thing has been to give something up for lent, like chocolate or coffee. Well, we are going to take a different approach this year. The inspiration behind this comes from the prophetic claim that Christ came to bring healing to the nations, that the reason for Christ's coming was to do away with sin and darkness, and retire us to life in the kingdom of light.
Beginning with this Sunday, we will be exploring the Biblical message of HEALING. Dr.Phillip Morris will be our guest speaker on Sunday, 27th of March. This coming Sunday, the message will explore John 3 - entering into a new realm of existence!
Rev.'D
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Beginning with this Sunday, we will be exploring the Biblical message of HEALING. Dr.Phillip Morris will be our guest speaker on Sunday, 27th of March. This coming Sunday, the message will explore John 3 - entering into a new realm of existence!
Rev.'D
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
10 March, 2011
Stephan House at Living Word
Invitations have gone out. Preparations have been made. It's all going to come together on Sunday when the students and staff from Stephan House (Trinity Lutheran College) will join us for our worship service. The partnership between the congregation and the college go back to the founding years. In June of this year, we will be celebrating our 30th anniversary. 15 of those years have been at the 'Trinity Centre' (the building used by the college for assemblies and used by the congregation for their worship services). Discover more about our college at: www.TLC.qld.edu.au
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)