Was listening to the radio today and there was a news article about an athiest in America that wanted to remove the words "in God we trust" from the coins. He argued that for him and many other athiests using coins with this inscription is akin to blasphemy. On the surface, he seems to be making a very compelling argument.

But really, the issue here is that he has a choice. He can either choose his livelihood (money) or he can choose his faith (athiesm). And the reason why he is trying to get around this choice is because he knows that what he has faith in is not worth choosing. Even if he is faithful to it, it is powerless to be faithful to him.

This little episode really reminded me of how very lucky we are. After all, when early christians (and many christians in other countries today) are often made to make this choice between life and faith. And they choose faith over even life itself because after all

"Here is a trustworthy saying:

If we died with him,
we will also live with him;
¹² if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;
¹³ if we are faithless,
he remains faithful,
for he cannot disown himself." -2 Tim

So I'm so very thankful to God that he is not only powerful, but loving and trustworthy. That no matter what choice I have to make in life, as long as I choose Him I know I will be okay.

Sherman

Unrequited love

Guy meets girl. Guy falls in love with girl, but she has a boyfriend.  (OH NOES!) They become close, at which point she realises she loves him too, but because of some quarrel or obstacle or misunderstanding, they part ways. After approximately 10 minutes of screen-time, they realise they were meant for each other and reunite while dramatic music plays [optional slow motion running]. Roll credits.

There you have the basic plot of 50% of Hollywood films.

... and the other 50% is the same, with the genders reversed.

Do any of you realise that at least part of this happens in our lives too?

God made us to live in a loving relationship with Him and each other. We wrecked that by doing that ONLY thing He told us not to do. We rebelled and we ran from Him. This is the point in the movie where you're going "FAR OUT, GIRL, WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THAT THE GUY YOU'RE WITH IS A JERK?!"

But okay. The screenwriter makes it obvious that there is something charming about the guy she's with. For some reason, she's blinded and can't see that she's meant to be with the main guy.

In the same way, we're also blinded. We live in this broken world and fall in love with the things that are ultimately going to leave us thirsting for more.

The girl continually rejects the guy she's meant to be with and clings to that other dude. Male protagonist is left heartbroken. When we run away from God, His heart breaks. When we sin against Him, His heart breaks. He loves us. HE LOVES US. But we're too busy being obsessed with the world that we don't even see God half the time. We don't see the plans He has for us, and we demand to go our own way.

So anyway, the next part of the movie is where they grow close and she goes, "Hm.. maybe I should be with this guy." But obviously, every movie has to have conflict, and somehow they part ways. Some of us are lucky enough to have heard about Jesus. In fact, I'm fairly sure Jesus has revealed Himself to everyone reading this right now. We know about God's love for us and it's exciting. For a while. Then it fades and we start pulling away. We will have moments when we're really on fire for God, and then the moments where we're once again blinded by the world and all that it offers. Satan is a master of deceit; he will never stop using the things around us to try and pull us away from God.

But let's move on with our story. After a while, the girl realises she is meant to be with the guy, and the thing I've always found strange about these movies is that he never goes, "BUT YOU WERE WITH THAT IDIOT FOR AGES AND YOU REJECTED ME EVEN THOUGH I LOVE YOU," he just accepts her; no questions asked. Hrm. Somehow I don't think it works like that in real life.. but it works with God. The second we turn back to Him, He's there with open arms, waiting to accept us back.

Each and every one of you has heard about God. He has sent His Spirit to work in your life, and it's now up to you to respond. It's like Pastor Nelson said - if someone came up to you and handed you a million dollars, you can either take it or reject it. You don't add anything to the gift, but you do have to accept it, otherwise you're going miss out.

So are you going to make your crappy eighty million dollar budget Hollywood rom com have a happy ending, or are you going to stick with the jerk?

Jesus and life

If you get this then you're a geek nerd. :P

Jesus is necessary for salvation: "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" - John 14:6

Jesus is sufficient for salvation: "But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'" - 2 Corinthians 12:9

Love your neighbour

"Whoever despises his neighbour is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor."
- Proverbs 14:20

I don't think any of us here would say we despise Queenslanders or people living in third world countries, but do we love them? And if we say we love them, do we show it? Do we just "pray" that God will give them what they need to rebuild their city or to send their children to school and put food on their plates, or do we try to do something about it?

I hate the "I will pray for you" cop-out. I am not denying the mighty power of prayer, or saying that we shouldn't pray for one another, because prayer is the most powerful thing in the world, but so often we use this to make us feel like we're doing something to help. If we're "praying that John will get to know Christ" or "praying that Jane will have enough money to visit her sick parents" but not reaching out to John with the gospel or giving Jane financial aid when it's well within our capability to, then what use is it? Okay, fair enough some things are out of our control. Maybe I don't have access to a helicopter to fly out to Queensland to help with the rescue efforts. But I have money. I can give dinner to a family who has lost their house and is now living at an evacuation centre. I can pay for medical supplies for a boy who's been physically hurt in the floods. I mean, in praying and not doing anything else.. that's like saying, "Oh God, help these people. But not through me.. use someone else. I NEED this new Xbox game and that new pair of jeans and.. oh, that new CD. And I have to buy dinner after church this weekend, and I have to look good when the offering bag comes around on Sunday so really, my funds are all tied up at the moment." I mean, have you ever thought that maybe you're an answer to prayer?

God has blessed us with so many things; He has met our material needs AND MORE. If God has blessed you with a job, or with generous parents, He has made you a steward of His money. It's all too easy to forget that this is God's money, not mine.

It's pretty simple: do you love your neighbour? Because if you don't love them, then you despise them. If you don't love them, you hate them.

"Then He will say to those on His left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me no food, thirsty and you gave Me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome Me, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to You, as You did not do it to one of the least of these, You did not do it to Me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
- Matthew 25:41-46

Please give generously to the victims of the Queensland floods. Don't turn Jesus away when He's lost His entire livelihood. Don't turn Him away when He's hungry and got no food. Don't turn Him away when He's sick and in need.

Idolatry

We read Psalm 23 yesterday in Bible study, and while we were reading it, I thought of these verses (but had no idea where it was in the Bible so I decided to keep my mouth shut and post it on here instead):
"But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols. My people have committed two sins: they have forsaken Me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water."
- Jeremiah 2:11,13

Do you see the difference between that and Psalm 23:1? "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want."

If God is our shepherd, we will never be lacking. He is the spring of living water; He quenches all our thirst. But if we look to earthly things, and worship other idols, it'll be like trying to fill up a tank with a hole in the bottom. If the hole is small, maybe some will hold for a while.. maybe we'll be satisfied for a while, but ultimately, we'll still be left with no water.

Suffering

Was going to write a little section on why there is suffering after yesterdays BS, but then realized I was seriously underqualified for it :P

Anyway, going to throw some ideas that have been bouncing around in my head to (hopefully) facilitate discussion. Just hope there are no hereseys in here...

-The statement "God is a loving all powerful God that allows suffering" is not illogical or self-refuting.
-All powerful = There is nothing God can't do =/= There is nothing God won't do
-God won't be untrue to his own character (loving, just, faithful)
-In love, God creates us with free will
-In justice, he brings about the consequences of sin i.e. suffering
-Only God is good, all of us have fallen short and so we can not say we do not deserve punishment, nor can we claim how much punishment we deserve.
-But bringing it back to God's sovereignty, He can use even this to create in us a more Christlike character. Examples include but are not limited to pretty much every character in the bible :P
-On the subject of people who never hear about Jesus or unborn babies, I think the bible says very little because it does not help it do what it is supposed to do, which is bring the good news to those who HAVE heard about Jesus. All it really says is that we should have faith that God judges justly on the last day and then turns our attention back to what we who have heard should do.

Yeah, I think that's pretty much it from me.

Sherman

For those who were in the psalms BS today, this answers the question "what will Jesus do when he returns"

http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/vintagejesus/what-will-jesus-do-upon-his-return

Not to advertise or anything, but the rest of the series is pretty good too and I'd recommend checking it out.

GG - God's Grace

Have a quick read of Genesis 9:6-7and you can realise how great God's grace was back then and of course onward till now.

Even after the human race was a big stuff up, God still remmebers he made man in His image.

Wasn't like Noah and co. ddi awesome on teh boat and the nGod said "Hey! You guys made it! let's party time!"

No tehy got off the boat as sinners; not as victors. They got off the boat facing a wet Earth only to be greeted by God's promises and grace. No longer faced with immeinent judgement, God has greeted them a new lease on life. And we find out later humanity still blows it lol but thats another article....

Paul steps out on teh back of persecuting Christians to only be saved by God. Peter steps out having denied Christ three times to be only saved by God. Thomas stepped out having refusing to believe Christ had risen only to be saved by God.

Likewise we step out of a baptism not because we're special or anything. not becasue we EARNED our salavation and our dunking is a symbol of our "holiness". Not at all. We step out of the baptism pool because we're sinners saved by GG... God's Grace.

"But God demostrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us"
Romans 5:8

GG guys.