It’s been just over a week since we left everything in Bundaberg…house//job//car//lives//church//friends //family//networks//comfort and while my selfish nature looks back to times of comfort my spirit leaps forward with anticipation and excitement for the coming year. We believe more than anything that this is the direction God is calling us and can’t wait to get to know our new family at Eastside Church. I almost feel like an adopted child waiting eagerly to meet his new family!!

So what have we learned already? Well we arrived at 6pm tonight to find that there is no power for 3 days, it’s a humbling experience to go back to basics and notice how much we take for granted. No power for lights//phone chargers//cooking//fridge… Makes you truly count your blessings.

I’m looking forward to an amazing year at Eastside and can’t wait to unpack what God has already lined up an predestined for us. Look out Melbourne in twenty10!

Be Blessed

Not sure why i was going down that road now…

Oh yeah…One of the cool things about the intensives, is lunchtime (how intelligent do i sound right now). Every day we were exposed to a gourmet food substance of some sort…mostly the food was green…not in a moldy kind of way…but a…ummmm…healthy kind?? So i get home from one of my intensives and i walk through the whole hotel…speak to the guy at reception to tell him i didnt get my breakfast i ordered and finally head back to my room to relax. Its always an awkward feeling when you look in the mirror and see what i saw. A giant piece of that “healthy stuff” stuck right between my front teeth…but it was night time….and i ate that food at lunch time??? I had gone through half a day with green food in my teeth and nobody said a word!! Argh!!!!!

What’s the moral to this story you ask? Friend’s tell people if there is something going on that isn’t normal. If there is something going on in a friends life that isn’t right are you willing to tell them? It may risk embarrassing the person in front of you, but you can save them from humiliation in front of other people. Have you surrounded yourself with people who are willing to challenge you when it comes to the way you live or are they happy to have you walking around with ‘food in your teeth’? Don’t be the person who points out food in everyone else’s teeth to other people because chances are there is some in yours too! Develop relationships that are focused on honesty, transparency and accountability. It might hurt to be told sometimes, but in the long run it will save you from utter humiliation!

Please tell me if i have food in my teeth! 

SH

This morning i was reading through John 5:1-9 (NIV) and God brought the passage alive! Here are some of the key thoughts:

1. Wounded people attract wounded people-  1Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda, and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed

2.  Time is no limit for Jesus- 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.

3. The people we spend time with set the atmosphere for our life- 6When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time 

4. Do you want to get well? ‘Well’ means a dramatic transformation in your life- he asked him, “Do you want to get well?

5. No more excuses- 7″Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred

6. Who will help you into the pool? Who is with you?- 7While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

7. Jesus needs only to speak- 8Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. 

So i was watching a snippet from a video on YouTube this afternoon by Erwin McManus on Hell. It was fascinating and frustrating to read through the comments people had made about the video and the topic of hell. As i was reading through the comments i came across a line from a person that caught my eye in amongst a bunch of other stuff. Now i know this person may not have meant it this way, but the way it came across was very confronting for me. The person was commenting about how God isn’t just for sending people to Hell etc (not going down that track at the moment), then they made a comment “not even Hitler deserves Hell”. From what i was reading, my initial response was that ‘the person who was writing this is just assuming that Hitler is in Hell’. The truth is, for many people, this statement doesn’t sound out of place at all. I mean, imagine the worst person you can think of? Could you imagine them in Heaven after what they have done?

This post isn’t about Hell itself, but rather that statement. See there are two major pitfalls that we can fall into when we start to assume whether somebody is in Heaven or Hell. I have been asked a number of times by people close to a person who has died whether or not that person is in Heaven or Hell. Here are the pitfalls:

1. When we assume a person is in Heaven or Hell, we make ourselves God- 37“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven- Luke 6:37 (NIV)

It is God who judges, not us. We have no place to say whether or not a person is in Heaven or Hell. When we elevate ourselves to the position of God- we become judge, and when we become judge, we too will be judged. That is a scary place to be in. Often when we fall into this pitfall because we base out judgements on what we have seen or heard, and again that is a scary place to be in because while “man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” 1 Sam 16:7 (NIV).

2. When we assume a person is in Heaven or Hell, we question God’s mercy- There is no one righteous, not even one- Romans 3:10 (NIV)

The second pitfall we can be ensnared by is to limit God’s mercy. The truth is, there is nobody righteous but God. When we begin to limit who it is that God is able to forgive, we begin to put sin in categories. Usually those categories are based on where we are at. ‘Well anybody who is worse than me, isn’t as righteous as me’. Sin is Sin- a murderer is no less deserving of God’s grace than a liar. That person sitting in your church who has recently got out of jail or struggling with an addiction, is no less deserving to be coming into the presence of God as a child of the King than the rich business person on the other side or even the pastor!

My prayer is that i would never be a person who assumes that God’s grace and mercy is not enough to cover every person. The truth of it all is that none of us are deserving of his love and that is why Romans 5:8 is so remarkable “8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”. How amazing that God’s grace is enough even for a guy like me.

Apologies for people reading this who thought i was going to tell you whether Hitler is in Hell. That is not for me to say!

SH

6. The Master of the Banquet gets the first portion- 8Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

I wont go to far into this one because i want to elaborate on it in a separate post. But here is something i love. The first portion of the miracle that Jesus performed was taken to the “Master of the Banquet”. Surprisingly- not the bridegroom, because he tastes the wine next. When God performs a miracle in your life, he is the Master who deserves the first portion. Whether that is that he has blessed you with money or if he has healed someone. It is not just financial, but God deserves the first praise for any miracle. 

7. Never forget where the wine came from- They did so, 9and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.

Flowing on form the last point. It is so important that we never forget where the miracle comes from. Like my points from Part-1. When bad things happen we blame God, when good things happen we praise ourselves. Never forget where the wine came from. I hope that we would be people who pursue the miracle giver not just the miracles he provides. 

8. God is into the best of things- when you pray- pray for the best- Then he called the bridegroom aside 10and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

Here is what i love about Jesus when he performs the miracle. He didn’t transform the water into cheap wine. Jesus transformed the water into the ‘best’ wine. God is into the best of things. I don’t have children yet, but i do have an amazing wife who i am insanely in love with. I know that when she asks for something, my heart is not to find the cheapest second hand item on eBay to give her. My heart is that she would have the best of what i can give. If you’re praying for a car, don’t pray for Grandma’s 1950’s horse and carriage. Pray for the best. (I’m not saying God will give your a porsche! God won’t cause you to stumble). But all the more, pray for the best of things, God wants to do good things for his children. 

9. The end product of a miracle should be faith-  11This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

In 1 Kings 18- Elijah is on Mt Carmel with the prophets of Baal. Look it up! Basically Elijah calls the prophets of Baal and asks them to build an altar and call down fire from Baal. After a day of them crying out and cutting themselves with no avail, Elijah covers his altar in water, and prays to God and God sends down fire that covers the altar and laps up the water too. The bit i love the most about this is the end result in verses 38-39-

38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. 39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The LORD -he is God! The LORD -he is God!

The end result of a miracle from God, should be faith in him, and the cry “The LORD- he is God”

Be Blessed 
SH

So i was reading on friday and working my way through John 2:1-11. Here are a couple of thoughts i found working through John 2:1-11 (NIV).

1.  If you want to receive a miracle, you need to invite Jesus to the party- 1On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.

It’s funny how when things are going really  badly for us…it is always God’s fault…he was the one who turned the traffic light red on us…funnily enough though, when the traffic light is green…its is amazing ‘luck’. Or maybe your in the job interview and you don’t get the job…then its not ‘God’s Will’..but as soon as you get the job “Man I was amazing..I blitzed that interview” haha. What i love about this first short verse is that, unless Jesus was at the party, the miracle would not have taken place. Sometimes we focus too much on the miracle and not enough on the person who is behind the miracle. 

2. Identify what it is you want Jesus to do- and be specific- 3When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

Pretty simple concept really. Have you ever had that person trying to ask you for something, and they spend the entire time beating around the bush and you never actually understand what it is that they wanted in the first place? I love Jesus’ mother. She sees what the need is and says “Jesus..they have no more wine” It really is as simple as that.
 
3. Understand that it is the heart of God to bless his children- 4″Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied, “My time has not yet come.”

The thing i love here is that even Jesus had one of those mums…you know those mum’s who nominate you for stuff.. My mum went through a design phase when i was younger and guess who got to be her model….’oh shane will do that’…thanks mum!! But despite it not being Jesus’ time the cool thing is that it is in the heart of God to bless his children!

4. When Jesus asks you to do something- DO IT!!- 5His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

I remember one time i was driving around in the backside of the countryside listening to a message by Erwin McManus. The message was called ‘Spiritual Activism’. Erwin made a point that is something that has stuck with me. He said “The one thing that separates christianity from every other religion is not that we pray more. In fact, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindu’s all pray”..(sometimes even more that Christians). He said the difference is that “When we pray, we hear the voice of God, obey and something happens”. He said that when Jesus asks us to do something its not a request! If we want to be people who see miracles, we need to be people who hear the voice of God when he speaks and do “whatever” he asks. 

5. When God asks you to do something- Don’t half do it- Fill it to the Brim!- 6Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. 7Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

Can you stop and imagine for a second what this story would have been like if the servants had only half filled the jars? What would have had the potential to hold 180 gallons of wine, would have only had 90 gallons.  When we hold back from what Jesus has asked us to do, we can actually hinder other people from receiving the miracle that God has for them. It is just like the story of Jehoash in 2 Kings 13:18 when Elisha is about to die and asks him to hit the arrows on the ground, but Jehoash only hits the ground 3 times. Elisha becomes angry at the king and says, “If you had struck it five or six times, you would completely wipe out the Syrians. Now you will defeat them only three times”.  Imagine if Jehoash had known if the passion in which he struck the ground would determine the destiny. Would he have done anything differently? When God asks us to do something. Fill it to the Brim so everybody can receive the blessing of the miracle. 

To be continued…

I guess one of the most important things to do before i begin on this journey is to explain my stance on the whole blogosphere phenomena that seems to be taking over the world slowly.

To be honest, i’ve never really been a big fan of blogs…(yeah..bad timing for that one, after i finish my beautiful new blog). Seriously, i have always seen blogs as an outlet for people to vent their opinions. I’m not a fan of opinions. Wisdom backed up with scriptural evidence and hard data, thats the information i want to hear. It’s revelation that really inspires me.

This blog is not about venting opinions or rambling nonsense…although at times im sure i will find myself in a rambling mess (apologies in advance on that one).. My heart is that this blog will inspire you to grow more intimately in your relationship with our creator. It’s my prayer that the things i learn about and post would inspire you to be continually learning and growing. I don’t claim to know everything (no way!!) but i hope the things i do learn would give you some valuable insight!

Please feel free to join in the conversation by leaving your comments and thoughts as we head off on the journey together!

Be Blessed!

SH

We live on a platform! Everything we do in this life tells a story to the people around us. It doesn’t matter who you are or the influence you have, whether great or small, your life is a stage and people are watching the way you live your life. 

Just like that horrible photograph which popped up on Facebook for all to see, if you knew a photograph was being taken of your life right now and that would one day it would be shown for all to see, how would you live your life? Romans 14:12 says that “each of us will give an account of himself to God”.Whatever you do, remember that people are watching you. Your life has influence, even to the people you least expect. 

The best part about it all is that unlike an embarrassing photo that keeps resurfacing that someone holds over you. God tears up the photo when we ask forgiveness and disperses it never to be remembered again. What amazing grace!

SH

Shane

Shane