Marching Forth!

Our family is enjoying the privilege of hosting my parents who are visiting us from the United States.  It has been great to chat at length, share delicious food, and show them around our area.  Though we have been able to stay in touch via phone calls, skype, and email over the past year we've been in Australia, there's nothing like spending time in person.  Even while I type this, I can hear my folks singing praise songs to the LORD.  That's something I haven't heard in a while! Today I went to wash my hands in the upstairs sink, the same place where my sons brush their teeth morning and night.  The sink was clean and sparkling.  I thought to myself, no doubt my mom has been here.  My boys are not slobs, but they are boys.  They still at times need to be told when sinks, toilets, and even their bodies need some attention with soap and scrubbing!  After they clean the sink, it is not long before it needs to be cleaned again of the ever-pre...

My first Christmas in Australia was memorable.  I can't remember the last time I had a fever on Christmas Eve and Christmas!  I am now feeling better after a bout of "gastro," which involved chills, fever, nausea, and overall feeling lousy.  At a point I was wondering if I would be able to deliver the Sunday message.  But I figured God had given me a message to deliver, and He wouldn't have given me the message without the strength to deliver it.  Preaching was very much an act of faith on a different level, and that's how I ought to live every day! This morning in prayer I was struck by the truth of Psalm 23:6 :  " Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever ."  God does not grant goodness and mercy to men because some are more deserving than others.  It is all through the riches of His grace.  Goodness and mercy were granted me both on a sickbed and in health.  ...

With our boys enjoying holidays from both school and sport, over the last week we have spent much more time together as a family.  One of the things we did was watch The Lord of the Rings and eat popcorn made from a old-fashioned machine Laura picked up at the Salvos.  In Tolkien's classic Sauron, the dark lord and maker of the ring, threatened to take shape and cast the world into shadow.  Gandalf went to seek counsel from the leader of his order, Saruman.  Having been corrupted by Sauron, in the movie Saruman tried to convince Gandalf it would be wise to ally himself with the evil lord Sauron.  Gandalf refused.  After a brief wizard's duel, Saruman proved more powerful than Gandalf.  As he lifted him in the air Saruman shouts, " You have elected the way of pain !"  When Gandalf eventually escaped with the aid of a giant eagle, Saruman says almost to himself:  " So you have chosen death ." Saruman's sentiment was ironic, seeing that it was...

Have you ever misplaced something in your home?  You look in all the usual places and scratch your head.  "Hmm.  Where could I have put it?"  So you check the same usual places again with greater care.  Not finding the item, you now expand your search to very unlikely places.  Finally, sheer desperation causes you to search everywhere, thoroughly examining places you know the item should not or cannot be.  It is the value placed upon the item that drives us to drop everything and search until the thing is found. Yesterday my wife and I had such a moment.  Of all things, we were looking for an important receipt.  At first Laura was the only one searching.  Before too long, I was knee-deep in the file cabinet searching carefully.  The search expanded through the office, bedrooms, closets, even the bathroom!  Finally, after looking for over thirty minutes, our search was rewarded with success.  Note to self:  avoid sta...

In Australia the term "silly season" is often used as a reference to the Christmas season, where Christmas is associated with sun-soaked beaches, family barbies (BBQ), seafood, mangoes, and drunken revelry.  With kids and adults on holiday the potential for silliness reaches new highs or lows, depending on your perspective!  It is silly to go into debt for the whole year to purchase gifts.  But I think to gloss Christmas as "silly" goes way too far.  The commercialism of Christmas should not stunt our wonder or dull the glory of Christ's coming.  There's nothing silly about my Saviour. Christmas is celebrated in different ways and for widely different reasons across the world.  Some may celebrate Christmas merely from family or cultural tradition.  It is an opportunity to gather with friends and family over special food and give gifts.  Others see it as a huge waste of time.  There are some who see it as a Christianization of a pagan holida...

When we talk about blessings from God, many times we think in temporal terms.  The material things we receive by God's grace are certainly blessings, but they cannot compare with the priceless gifts God has given all who repent and trust in Him.  Our homes, cars, food, and jobs are blessings from God.  But all of these things will pass away.  Psalm 32:1 reveals King David's perspective concerning blessings from God:  " Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered ." What a blessing it is to be free from the condemnation, guilt, shame, and damnation due to our sin!  No amount of silver or gold is enough to post bail to escape the eternal destruction that sin demands.  But God, who is rich in mercy, has sent Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of the world.  We are not forgiven because we are sorry, but because Jesus has satisfied the righteous requirements of God's justice through His shed blood.  2 Corinthians 5:17-21:...

I recently read John Piper's book Don't Waste Your Life and was challenged.  It is easy to go through life being busy but not necessarily with things that count for eternity.  As a Christian, I know that I am called to walk by faith.  Faith is demonstrated through obedience to God without understanding the particulars of His plan from start to finish.  Abraham was called to leave his family and country and go to the land God would show him.  Without being able to tell anyone his goal destination on this side of heaven, Abraham trusted God and went.  Because God is worthy of trust and capable to act beyond the imaginations of my limited intellect, I am called to take the next step as God directs.  It is a conscious act of relying upon the character and ability of God to do what I cannot predict.  His ways are higher than my ways, and faith releases God to do His wonders. Since Christians are called to walk by faith and absolute trust in God, the...

On Saturday my club baseball team played after a three-week hiatus.  When I slid into second base ahead of the throw, I bent my right wrist back.  I never used to be sore after playing baseball as a young person.  The only thing which experienced soreness was my throwing arm after pitching.  Now I have all sorts of lingering injuries:  knee, calf, hamstring, wrist, AND shoulder.  Getting older makes a person long for heaven! As I grimaced and moved the wrist around, the second baseman said, "Injury?"  "Just aggravated an old one," I said.  Then she said something I did not expect:  "That's because you came from apes."  While I was sorting out whether it was intended as a personal insult based upon my appearance or sharing her views of the origin of the human race, the ball was hit and I was off to third.  I found the comment disturbing because I do not believe that any human being is a descendant of apes.  I beli...

During the conference at Manly, we bought fish and chips and ate on the Corso.  The sea gulls in that region are amazingly well trained.  When the birds notice people carrying the white bags, they congregate with squawks in great numbers.  If someday you decide to sit on the concrete steps facing the surf, be warned that these birds will come up behind you and hover close over your shoulder until the second you lift the delicious chip to your mouth.  Swiftly they will swoop and snatch the chip from the hand.  I discovered that sitting at picnic tables with a person facing each other afforded protection from such thievery.  I'm sure there's a sermon in there somewhere.  True accountability is when we "have each other's backs" by remaining face to face with open communication, looking out for one another motivated by love.  But I digress! While a group of us carefully ate our dinner, I noticed a sea gull whose legs were tangled with a length of bl...

This afternoon I returned from a four-day Calvary Chapel "Envision" conference in Manly hosted at St. Matthew's Anglican Church.  It was wonderful to meet with pastors and friends from all over the world, hailing from Australia, United States, the UK, South Africa, Scotland, the Philippines, France, and no doubt other places.  As we worshiped God through songs of praise, the teaching of His Word, the fellowship of the saints, and serving one another, it was a spectacle of God's grace and love.  How good it is to see brethren dwelling together in unity! As we sang together, it occurred to me how wonderful it would be if we could stay together in Manly, day after day, night after night, praising God and ministering to all the people who wandered in.  When we lifted praise to Jesus people stopped, stared, and walked through the doors asking, "What's going on in here?"  There is no shortage of people who need Jesus Christ who walk past the open doors of St...

If we read the Bible honestly, it will confront and shock us.  God uses the truth of scripture to correct our incorrect understanding or assumptions.  Today I experienced such a moment as I opened the Word for my morning reading of a few Psalms.  David begins Psalm 10 by a vivid description of the attitudes, acts, and even the thoughts of the wicked.  There was one verse in particular which God used to correct my understanding of what wickedness looks like.  The Holy Spirit brought conviction of sin, shedding light where there was once darkness in my conscience. In the KJV Psalm 10:4 reads, " The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts ."  When I think of wickedness, I tend to think of deeds.  The works of the flesh are evident and obvious sin.  The Bible teaches that sin perverts and pollutes a man from within, and evil deeds are the result.   God is righteous, and those who ar...

I was a youth when I first saw the comedy starring James Garner called "Support Your Local Sheriff."  Garner becomes the sheriff in a rowdy western boom town and employs some unorthodox tactics to maintain order.  It wasn't long before he arrested a lawbreaker.  He had a major problem though:  the new jail still did not yet have bars or doors installed in the cells.  The quick-thinking sheriff painted a black line on the ground to delineate the boundary of the cell, and dripped a copious amount of red paint on the outside of the line.  The sheriff convinced the ruffian that if he valued his life, he'd stay in that cell without bars or a door - or he'd be like the fictitious previous prisoner who tried to cross the line and was shot for his trouble. When the family of the ruffian came to break him out, they were surprised to see the effectiveness of the cell without doors and bars.  It wasn't too long before the bars and doors arrived and were install...

We have enjoyed uncharacteristically wet weather in Sydney for the past several days.  Sydney has been shrouded with thick grey clouds and a steady, light drizzle, a complete shift from the last weeks of warm temperatures and rising humidity.  The seasons seem a little confused. When I opened the Word this morning, I read Psalm 4:8 :  " I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety ."  In the United States, Thanksgiving is being celebrated across the country.  How many things do we take for granted God has given us, even something like peaceful sleep!  Did you ever thank God for a restful night of sleep?  It is God who enables us to sleep soundly and wake up refreshed. There have been well-documented cases of celebrities whose deaths have been linked to desperate attempts to simply sleep in peace.  Marylin Monroe, Heath Ledger, and Michael Jackson are tragic cases numbered among them.  I suppose ...

" I will declare the decree: the LORD has said to Me, 'You are My Son, today I have begotten You. 8 Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. ' " Psalm 2:7-9 The heading in my Bible for Psalm 2 is, " The reign of God's anointed ."  The term "anointed" is a reference to the Jewish Messiah, who has been revealed as Jesus the Christ.  He was not only the Messiah to the Jews, but to all who repent and trust in Him.  Previously when I read Psalm 2, I looked at it only in this context.  Jesus is the only begotten of the Father ( John 3:16 ) who died for the sins of the world, rose again, and will someday return to set up His rule upon earth.  There is a prophetic glimpse of Christ returning in power and glory in Revelation 19:11-16.  Revelation 19:15 reads, " Now out ...

The church will only be the loving, vibrant, fruitful body God designed after we have laid hold of His grace.  If we think that the work of God depends on us, our talents, gifts, or aspirations, we will be impotent to step out in faith and obedience.  A common trap which ensnares Christians is to look at ourselves, consider what our gifts are, and then only seek to use those gifts.  Consequently our actions and lifestyle will only reflect what we perceive in ourselves.  This kind of insular thinking has the potential to paralyze us and limit what we are willing to do for God - consciously limiting what we consider to be a reasonable scope of work - and therefore limit His effectiveness to work in and through us.  But there is much beyond our perception that God wants to do! If we agree that all gifts we have been given us by God's grace, let us consider another view.  Instead of looking at my gifts, deeming them worthy, and then offering them, how about I...

The other night we had an interesting occurrence at the dinner table.  Everyone in our family had nectarines with dinner.  It's not an oddity to eat fruit in our house, but what happened next was a first for me.  I was assured that the nectarines had been washed just after being purchased.  But being the avid fruit and vegetable washer that I am, I still examined it carefully.  Where the stem used to be there was a little grey fuzz, nothing scary.  I poked a knife into the hole and suddenly a tiny stick poked out a couple centimeters away.  I removed the knife and held it up in the light to see better.  Funny, I couldn't see the stick.  Again, I cut into the nectarine and suddenly the stick appeared again.  Wait a second, I thought.  Something weird is going on...it was one of those strange moments when the brain is a little slow to process. Upon further examination, I could see the stick bending ever so slightly.  I stabbed ...

One blessing about living in Australia is the benefit of living in close proximity to natural wildlife.  When the boys arrived home from school today they shouted in excitement, "We found a tawny frogmouth!"  My favorite bird is the tawny frogmouth, followed very closely by the kookaburra.  Tawny's have very expressive faces and have an amazing defense behaviour that imitates a tree branch (very convincing!).  They also can be quite tame and allow you to pet them as they flash their bright yellow eyes.  The boys led Laura and me down the street and showed us a juvenile bird. When we first approached the bird, he acted like he didn't see us.  But when we came nearer, he opened his eyes and showed us his very large, red mouth.  He almost looked like a fuzzy bird version of a triceratops when he puffed himself up! Many people in Australia volunteer to look after injured native wildlife and lost birds like this one.  If you find one of these birds...

Because this blog is open to the public, it is possible people may read this blog without knowing me personally.  This blog serves several functions:  to glorify God, as a vehicle to express truths God impresses upon me, to communicate thoughts, and to bless others.  As a pastor I am always looking to relate and apply biblical truth through common things.  Though I am called to be a pastor, I also have the privilege to be a Christian, husband, dad, brother, teammate, and gaming enthusiast.  I am a regular human being, not some self-proclaimed spiritual master.  Sometimes a story is a descriptive way to introduce people to yourself.  Well, here goes. As a kid, I played baseball for about six seasons.  My best years playing ball stretched from age 12 to 14.  Pretty depressing that my best days were over by 14!  I was known around the league for my pitching, relying heavily upon a devastating overhand curve that gave people fits.  I ...

What passes for preaching these days can be easily confused with modern motivational speakers.  I watched for a minute or two this morning before heading off to church.  What I saw was a highlight reel of well-known preachers camping on the theme of self-empowerment.  Every sound bite was uttered to bolster my self-worth.  There was never even an attempt to reference scripture.  The highlight reel was designed to stir my emotions as various preachers delivered messages with sensational gravity and profound pauses.  One of the pastors informed me and many others that the devil is scared out of his wits because of my power.  The problem is, there was no theology and little truth in anything I heard.  This humanistic distortion has permeated much of the preaching people are exposed to on television.  A tiny shred of truth is a whole lie. The primary danger the modern church faces is one of the most ancient:  the departure from preaching G...

I have always had a deep interest and appreciation for science.  Scientific discovery has led to improvements in nearly every facet of daily life.  Technology, medicine, media, agriculture, manufacturing, and recreation have all benefited greatly from scientific study.  But science, even in its modern glory, is not able to adequately answer all the questions we pose as curious human beings.  Science often proves up to the task of answering "how," but rarely answers "why?"  Science is unable to answer definitively the question of how the world came into being.  No one today can make that claim scientifically.  It is not able to answer the deeper questions either, like "Why did the world come into being?" When I went to university, I remember a lecture given by my geology professor that went something like this:  "Just imagine:  billions of years ago, there was an incredible amount of energy and matter.  At some point the 'big bang' occu...

The Bible starts with the sentence, " In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth ."  As amazing as that is, I am still amazed that three pages later sin entered into the world through Adam's rebellion, and death through sin.  One only needs to turn to page 6 in my Bible before we read this horrible indictment against man:  Genesis 6:5, 11-12 reads, " Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually... 11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth ."  The corruption of mankind through sin is a self-imposed tragedy. More than anything, man desires to be in control.  He naturally clutches for power, authority, money, privilege, and seniority.  Right from the start, Eve was tempted to be like God by eat...

Last night our family enjoyed the special treat of eating out at a local restaurant.  Our server was polite and had an American accent, always a good conversation starter!  It turns out he came over from the United States to go to Bible college at a local church.  In the midst of the discussion he said something I found interesting.  He invited us to visit his church and said, "Sunday nights are some of the best services.  It is always very creative - if anything creative is going to happen, that's the service for it." I realize I have led a sheltered life in many respects, having worshiped the LORD for a majority of my life at one Bible-teaching church.  Never, in all that time, have I heard "creativity" as a draw card for someone to attend.  There is nothing wrong with creativity.  But I can't say that I would prefer one service over another because one seemed more "creative."  It left me with the question which all Christians must answer...

Most mornings after breakfast our family reads " Keys for Kids ," a daily devotional by CBH Ministries .  Today's story was about a girl who was tasked with a class project studying addictions.  She discovered that not only there are addictions which enslave and destroy, but also wholesome and beneficial addictions.  The dad in the story suggested a verse which I have always found thought provoking.  The KJV of 1 Corinthians 16:15-16 reads, "I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,) 16 that ye submit yourselves unto such, and to every one that helpeth with us, and laboureth . "  In the NKJV, instead of "addicted" the word "devoted" is used to translate from the original Greek. In modern culture, the term "addiction" often has a negative connotation.  Addiction carries with it an aspect of compulsion and ...

This morning I read Job 28 and was greatly blessed by the practical insight.  Job describes how veins of gold, silver, iron, and precious stones are found through mining.  Then he makes a spiritual contrast in Job 28:12-15:  " But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? 13 Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living. 14 The deep says, ' It is not in me'; and the sea says, ' It is not with me.' 15 It cannot be purchased for gold, nor can silver be weighed for its price ."  True wisdom is not found by digging in the ground, space exploration, deep-sea diving, nor is it for sale.  The wisdom of God is not obtained through any effort of man, but by the grace of God. Some believe that wisdom is obtained through life experience or by acquiring degrees as prestigious universities.  There is a kind of wisdom that is found on earth, but it is a false substitute for what God calls wisdom.  Jam...