Marching Forth!

Tomorrow I am flying down to Melbourne, Australia.  God willing I will be preaching at Calvary Chapel Melbourne and I look forward to holding forth God's Word.  I've been very blessed by the time of preparation and I have no doubt that God will prepare all our hearts to hear from Him. The messages have come out of Hebrews 11:32-34 :  " And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: [33] who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, [34] quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens ."  I find it ironic that most of the men of faith mentioned here are typically used as examples of what not to do.  If God sees these as men of faith, then instead of dwelling on faults and shortcomings i...

I came across a flask on the ground the other day.  It was a empty water bottle in the shape of a flask by a Lake Tahoe company called " Liquid Salvation ."  The company slogan grabbed my attention:  "Pure Water for an Impure World."  On the bottle was a "she-devil" or succubus, a female demon.  When an order is placed for water online, you can choose between the "horns" or "halo" packaging to suit your taste.  The whole thing is in bad taste if you ask me, and is a further sign of the moral erosion and perversion of what is good. The devil loves nothing more than cheapening the goodness and grace of God.  He will stop at nothing to pervert the straight way of the LORD, and the world loves it!  Halo or horns, it doesn't matter!  But I am confident that the horns are much more popular.  These are the days when wickedness is called good the prophet Isaiah spoke about. Isaiah 5:20 say s, " Woe to those who call evil good, and go...

Have you ever had to deliver an uncomfortable message?  I remember the time I was asked by a friend to serve a mate with divorce papers.  Uncomfortable and awkward is how I would describe that interaction.  Many times when I worked at a church I would approach transient people in various stages of sobriety and volatility and ask them to leave the property.  There have been times in preaching when I have been led by the LORD to touch on a sensitive subject or confront an issue.  It is always hard, and my flesh tends to resist.  If I said it always feels rewarding to deliver God's messages it would be a lie.  There is nothing more rewarding than walking in obedience to God delivering His messages, but it is not easy, simple, or fun for the flesh.  Sometimes it is grievous, gut-wrenching, and painfully hard to say what is right. As children of God, we are tasked to deliver His message to the world.  Praise Him we are not alone in this joyful d...

Recently I attended one of the larger churches in the Brisbane region.  The church building has all the amenities of a modern, lavish fellowship in the States.  For a price lunch could be purchased after the service in the church's outdoor food court.  The building was bustling with activity:  Sunday school for the children, a large information desk with several attendants, greeters, ushers, and on.  It was the kind of place it would be easy to keep to yourself, show up late, leave early, and keep a low-profile. From the moment the service began, it was flash and dash, razzle-dazzle.  About twenty people filled the stage as lights flashed above and behind them.  Cameras would shoot close-ups of the half-dozen people towards the front of the stage who danced as they sang, and the image simultaneously projected on enormous screens.  I couldn't help but notice the strikingly similar style of them all.  They were all young, energetic, attractiv...

Tonight I had an unplanned adventure.  This evening at dusk, I decided to take a run past the bridge on Illaweena Street.  Once I reached the bridge, I decided to crawl under the fence and run a trail along the motorway that I have been theorizing loops to the top of my street.  Crows croaked to each other overhead, and animals rustled through the dead sticks and leaves on my right.  Early on I decided that I was committed to finishing the loop, dark or not.  Though I was running uphill, my pace quickened.  On my left was a fence separating me from the oncoming cars on the motorway and to my right was a thickly wooded forest as I ran down the rocky path, wide enough to accommodate a full-size truck. I had not run far before I ran through a single strand of spider web to the face the thickness of dental floss.  Great, I thought to myself, knowing that the path eventually narrowed ahead.  As I ran I quickly took inventory of my shirt, making sure ...

" By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going ." Hebrews 11:8 There is a common assumption among Christians today that we need to have all the answers before we can interact properly with skeptics of faith.  Many will intentionally avoid discussing their faith because of their lack of knowledge.  The fact remains that if you have Christ you can share Christ.  We live in a day when education and knowledge are glorified like never before.  The trouble is, the Christian walk is does not hinge upon knowledge, but faith.  Our faith is according to knowledge, but true faith trumps facts every time. Abraham is a case in point:  by faith he obeyed God.  The scriptures say in Genesis 12:1, " Now the Lord had said to Abram:  "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you ."  Abra...

For a little change of pace, I put together a video about spare ribs, a Landman specialty.  The taste of South Africa in Australia!  Dinner was a special treat, and there were "Ribs for All!"  I thank God for the Landman family and for his remarkable provision.