Posts from June 2009
Movie Night – The Voyage that Shook the World
The screening of the movie “The Voyage That Shook the World” at SYPC will be on Friday 28 August 2009, 7.30pm 2009 has already proven to be a pivotal year in the creation/evolution debate. It’s the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, and the 150th anniversary1 of the…
Elijah (8) – The Exceeding Sinfulness of Sin 1 Kings 18:1-6
Have you ever seen drought-affected lands? We read about it, are very conscious that areas of our state are still gripped by drought. But have you ever seen it? Driven for mile after mile and all you see is drought stricken lands void of any crops? Many years ago I remember flying from Melbourne to…
Sin’s Madness, and God’s Mercy
Sin’s madness …. These verses tell us not only how God’s judgement had stamped it scorching trademark on the fields of Canaan and seared the lives of the people but how the people – especially the king and the court – responded to the drought. Though there is a cycle of natural events that include times of drought, no one in Israel could legitimately comfort themselves…
James (6) – The Life Cycle of Sin James 1:14-15
Last week we noted that every circumstance in our lives can be the means of a test or a temptation. That God in His sovereign providence orchestrates things, including those that challenge us and our faith at its very core, to make us more like Jesus. Just like fire purifies when appropriately…
Elijah (7) – The Character of God’s Servant 1 Kings 18:1-2
As we left chapter 17 we did so with the wonderful testimony of faith of the nameless widow who benefited from Elijah’s ministry (v.24), which reminded us of the importance of confessing with the mouth as well as believing with the heart.
Turning to chapter 18 we see that this testimony was not…
Character from the Bosom of God’s Grace
‘The Christian life is not lived to the honour of God without effort,’ writes John MacArthur on 2 Peter 1:5, “giving all diligence…”. Having described what God has done in and for us, Peter is saying that we are to give ourselves to the task of developing Christian character and maturity in Christ Jesus, and that this should be don’t with serious commitment and energy or…
Elijah (5) – God’s Ways, Our Faith (1 Kings 17: 8-16)
We don’t know how long Elijah had been waiting, but no doubt he was glad that God spoke to him again, telling him this time to leave the brook Cherith – after all the source of water so essential for life was dried up. But in so calling Elijah to move on God makes it clear that though the brook had…
“For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
Paul is talking about death, but more specifically that when we die, when we leave the body behind, we go to be with the Lord. How could Paul be so sure? Paul says that we walk by faith. We take God at His Word. Our security is not found in the things we can see and feel, but in the living God who has given His Word to us. As we return to Elijah we see that this is not…
James (3) – WISDOM N.O.W. (James 1:5-8)
JAMES HAS BEEN TELLING US that God’s glorious plan is to make us “perfect, lacking in nothing” but also that God’s methodology is one that utilises trials. That is, that we are to look on trials we face as Stepping Stones to God’s glorious future for us in Christ. That’s why we should respond to such times with joy. The joy he speaks of is a result of the realisation that…
Elijah (4) The Lesson of the Drying Brook (1 Kings 17:7)
Last week we noted that by sending Elijah to the Brook Cherith God was doing several things – He was declaring to Ahab and the nation an act of judgment, such that the Word of God which had been despised was now removed, a famine of the Word; and he was declaring to Elijah that he could fully…
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