At first glance we might think that this is the way by which we get what we want in life. Well, it is … and it isn’t. Let me explain. It isn’t the way we get what we want in that we delight in the Lord, and He turns into some genie who grants our every wish. That attitude seriously misunderstands what the psalmist (Solomon) is saying, and completely misrepresents who God is to us.

Most of what I learned about ANZAC Day was first at Primary School and then later in Secondary School. The contrast between those experiences was stark.

Is suffering avoidable? Well, looking at the world in which I live, I don’t think so. It does come to all of us to a lesser or greater extent somewhere along our life journey. So, how do we handle it when it comes? Is there a purpose in suffering?

This guy scoffed. “Why bother?”, he said. “If God is so ‘almighty’ why doesn’t he directly intervene, himself, and just stop all the violence if he is so loving and merciful? Why does he need the church to pray, at all?”

The man thought he had me stumped, but God revealed something to me in that very moment, and so, I now share it with you.

God and His activity in the world cannot be measured by science – He is far beyond the grasp, or measure, or assessment of science. But He is accessible to human beings … by faith, because of the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.

That’s the miracle of Easter.

So where was Jesus? And what exactly did He do and say each day of the last week before His death? Here is the Biblical narrative gleaned from the Gospel accounts themselves and arranged chronologically for you to be reading this week, so that you might journey with the Lord and meditate on what really happened each day with Jesus, and the disciples. Walk with Jesus into Easter.

Why is it that some people are healed when we pray for them, and some are not? Is God just being arbitrary? Unfair? Is it our lack of faith?

Little seems certain anymore on so many levels … we’re all affected by it in some way in our daily lives in the wake of the COVID mess as we try to adjust and adapt to new realities.

So, is anything certain these days? Anything at all?

But here’s the thing. If Holy Spirit cannot be “at home with me”, the anointing is not released. It cannot flow. We can grieve Holy Spirit. Perhaps the main way, according to the apostle Paul, is through bitterness and everything connected to that. He writes this …

I grew up in a fairly traditional eastern suburban church where the worship, until the day I left to marry and relocate to Footscray, was pretty traditional, too. Worship of a Sunday morning consisted of a “four-hymn sandwich”…

The little girl kept talking to her dad, but I noticed that after a few minutes she had started raising her voice in order to break through the focused concentration of her dad on other, apparently more important, things. Dad remained studiously focused on his phone….

Mandela began to speak about his journey and where it had landed him. He shared many, many things about the years of imprisonment, deprivation and struggle. But one or two things, in particular, stick in my mind from that day. Mandela said, “hate is a luxury no one can afford;…

Our challenge, post-COVID, is to not just “get back on the horse” after all that has happened to buck us off these last two years, and just resume what was. NO! Our challenge, as Grady teaches, is to participate actively in what God is doing - and bring heaven to earth. When that happens…

What kind of a mission strategy is that? Pretty risky. Not much of a mission plan some would think, and it would probably be laughed down at denominational headquarters these days as lacking sophistication and common sense! Just blown where the Spirit of God would have them go – that was it. Yet, this was pure missional genius.

For some people right now, Christmas must seem a long way back in the rear vision mirror. Not for me. As I write this I am on my last day of annual leave – and some of the Christmas sounds and experiences are still fresh for me.

We’re about to land on Christmas after an almost year-long journey. The ride has been quite bumpy for the most part, and when the captain called lockdown #6 – which was expected to last about a week – it got very, very turbulent, indeed.

I want to encourage you all today to heed the words of Jesus … to acknowledge that in life troubles and heartache will come … but these do not define life. No! What defines our lives is largely determined by whether or not we choose to overcome – and how we do that.

I am very aware that I am about to tread on sensitive ground. However, I do so with much love and as much grace as I have, to discern the Body of Christ with great respect. I love the church. If it were not for the church – the people of God – I would not be a believer today, let alone be in ministry serving the King of Kings.

But here is the thing with discipline. There is no genuine discipline without delight and desire. The craftsman working with wood works with great discipline because there is a deep desire to see some new creation emerge from that piece of wood.

The issue was behaviour and attitude that not only created division and humiliation amongst the people of God, but accentuated and actively promoted it. This divisive behaviour was just so despicable and, as Paul warned, was an utter failure to discern the Body Of Christ.