Church Blog (Page 42)

What chance does a lamb have amidst a pack of wolves? Obviously, under normal circumstances, none! But nothing about Jesus’ commands appears normal from the outside of the church looking in. Though the world might admit that churches are good for helping the vulnerable ‘lambs’ of society, they scoff at the thought that these pitiful souls be sent out to change the world. Jesus, however, did exactly that. He sent his disciples out to preach the coming of the Kingdom,…

I met a brother who said that he used to be an invisible worker in the Accounts Department of a very large firm. “But one day,” he said, “I noticed various government subsidies, that if packaged and utilised correctly, could increase profits exponentially.” When I asked him what happened next, he said, “I was immediately escorted to the general manager’s Lear jet where I became a consultant to his management team.” Surprised, I enquired as to why he gave up…

I was once invited to go on a hunting trip. Since there was equipment for at least half a dozen of us, the loading of the old Bedford Truck became a complex operation. When it became clear that we were not likely to be leaving until the early hours of the morning, I said, “Yes,” to go to a triple horror film screening at a local theatre. However, I was politely informed by our expedition leader that our expected time…

Three things were on the minds of everyone I spoke to today: Firstly, the global ramifications of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, secondly, the ongoing effects and restrictions due to Covid, and thirdly, the forced removal of the Covid mandate protesters from the New Zealand parliament grounds. But good stories broke through too. One lady beamed over the coming marriage of her granddaughter, and one man proudly told me that the name tattooed on his cheek was that of his…

With the roll of a dice (or the first-century equivalent) the only thing worth anything that Jesus owned was gambled away at the foot of his cross (John 19:23-25). A London cab driver used to appear occasionally on a podcast I used to enjoy. He was full of interesting stories of the happenings around London and was always sure to include a section on the hardships caused by the powers-that-be. The last time I heard him speak everything had changed.…

Lot lost the lot. Sodom was sin city. And where sin is bought and sold, money abounds. When Lot, the nephew of Abraham, “pitched his tent towards Sodom (Gen.13:12), he thought himself set for life. In his mind, Uncle Abraham had given him the Market Edge by letting him choose his place of business. The future was never brighter. Abraham’s three visitors told him that God was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen.18:20-21). It is likely that Lot never…

An old missionary told me of a road trip that he and his fellow missionaries went on in a foreign country in the 1960s. Youthful boredom had set in, and they started to ‘show off’ to each other. They began to pass one another while hanging out the windows of their cars, waving and yelling back and forth. He said, “This went on for a few miles, but not to be outdone, one of the guys climbed on to the…

The last thing Satan wants to do is to frighten Christians into a united force. A more effective strategy is to get Christians to become annoyed with one another over things that should not matter. It is not hard to get people to attribute bad motives to things, and sometimes a couple of irritating incidences is enough to create a petty Mexican standoff. There must be nothing more exasperating for our angelic counterparts than to listen to Christians obsess over…

David, the boy who would be king, knew no fear. “When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock,” he told King Saul, “I went out after him and attacked him…and when he rose up against me…I killed him” (1Sam.17:35-35). The desperate King Saul and his petrified commanders probably concluded that David’s courage would melt when facing Goliath and that he would run home to his sheep—no harm done. Instead, his lethal projectile that brought…

If I have ever given the impression that President Putin is anything other than a glorified Mafia thug, I have been misunderstood. May God stop Putin in his tracks as he seeks to spread his murderous influence. Snake Island is a tiny Ukrainian island in the Black Sea. Two days ago, 13 Ukrainian soldiers were ordered to surrender their base by the Russians. They chose death over tyranny. I cannot say what I would do in a similar circumstance. It…