The Party God

I've tried more in more than 5 ways to describe how impacting this sermon clip is to me. But I really can't, so please just watch it & learn about the God who brings freedom, love and parties. Forget what you've seen and heard from those whose religion is rules and oppresion.

Learn about the God who longs to party with hookers at 3am in the morning.

Debut Sermon

Those of you that follow me on twitter will know that I preached my first ever sermon last weekend. I preached at my small home church, the Kaniva Church of Christ. I preached on the subject of 'Money'. I selected this subject because it was topical for me, having recently lead a series of studies on it (see earlier posts!) & because I'm interested in it. As I think we all are!

It was an interesting and enjoyable experience. I'd always wanted to give preaching a go, to see if I could do it. While it's hard for me to say how it went, it seemed to go well and I recieved a lot of positive feedback. Hopefully not too much of it was politeness. I was quite nervous at first, but managed to relax a bit more as I got into it.

It took a long time to prepare, several hours for a 10-15 minute talk. But I'd definitely do it again. Hopefully God used and spoke through what I said, and hopefully he'll do it again.

It was quite a family service, with my talented wife Tiarnee doing the bible readings and kids talk, my dad leading communion, my mum playing piano/ organ & my sister running the data projector. For all you comedians out there, no we werent the only ones there....

I'll post the notes that I spoke from in the next day or two. Maybe someone else out there will find it encouraging.

Money As God - Part 1

This is a summary of the things we covered in Week 2 of our study on 'God & Money':

1. What alternatives are discussed in these verses?
Matthew 6:19-24 - There are only 2 alternatives given in these verses, there doesn't seem to be any 'middle ground'. These are:

• Serving God Vs Serving Money
• Treasures on earth Vs Treasures in Heaven

2. What does it mean to 'serve money'?
We serve money by seeking it instead of God, in this way it becomes a form of idolatry.

Romans 1:21-25
3. What ought we be spurred to do as we regard God's good creation?

• Glorify God.
• Give thanks to God.
• Worship & Serve God.

4. What do we tend to do instead?

• Our thinking becomes futile.
• Our hearts become dark.
• We exchange the truth for a lie.
• We worship & serve created things.

5. We then looked at some of the dangers of money:

• Becomming proud & as a result forgetting God. (Deut 8:6-18)
  
• Worries of this life & wealth can choke the word of God out of our lives. (Matt 13:18-23)
• It causes us unnecessary worry! (Luke 12:16-31)

6. Some attitudes towards money that we should avoid:

• Becomming proud. (Deut 8:6-18)
• Thinking that we gained our wealth by our own strength and effort. (Deut 8:6-18)
• Being overawed or jealous of those that are rich. (Psalm 49:16-20)
• 'Setting our hearts on what we eat or drink. (Matt 13:18-23)

7. Godly attitudes we should adopt

• Remembering that it is God who gives you the ability to produce wealth. (Deut 8:6-18)
• Hearing Gods word & understanding it. (Matt 13:18-23)
• Seeking God & his kingdom! (Luke 12:16-31)

That was all from last week. There is alot that we've covered so far and a lot more that we're going to cover.

God & Money & Blogs

By pure coincidence last week I came across a blog written by a Christian that looks at the issues of God & Money and the way they relate. As I'm leading a study on money at the moment I found it very cool. If you're interested in the topic as I am, check it out:

Debt Free Adventure - http://www.debtfreeadventure.com/

From the about page:

For all intents and purposes… I am a modern day freedom fighter. In our modern era, the biggest threat to true individual independence… is personal consumer debt. I aim to stand in the gap and fight that debt – at all costs.

I am 33 years old. I live in Lansing, MI. I work as an Information Technology Manager by day, and moonlight as a personal finance guru and professional blogger. I am a Christian first, a husband second, a son and brother third, and a friend and colleague forth.

God & Money

In my church small group I've started leading a series on 'Money'. I find that talk about money is all around us, I hear about it constantly at work and the media and I've also done a lot of reading about our economy & how money works in our society. So being aware of all this information, I wasn't sure what a biblical take on all this was. So I agreed to lead the study in an attempt to gain some scriptural perspective to all of this.

Some of the things we covered in our first study were:

1. What is God's ongoing relation to his creation?

Psalm 24 ^"1 The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;"
Psalm 50:9-12 - God has no need for our own riches. He created them and they're his.
Psalm 104:24-30 - When God gives, his people & his creation is satisfied. But when he hides his face, Gods people and his creation are fear full, regardless of their wealth or surroundings.

2. How does money fit into this?

Haggai 2:8 - Our wealth is Gods!
Job 41:11 - God owes us nothing!

3. What is mankind's relation to creation, under God? What are our duties and privileges?

Gen 1: 26-28 - Mankind has dominion and rule over all the earth and all living creatures. Man is instructed to 'fill the earth and subdue it.'

Gen 2:15 - 'Work the garden & take care of it'. Work was always going to be apart of our life, even before the fall. We have a duty to work & take care of Gods creation.

4. How should we regard the things in Gods world? Including Money?

1 Timothy 4:3-5 - Everything God created is good, including money/ wealth. But it needs to be received with thanksgiving!

1 Timothy 6:17 - We need to put our hope in God and not in unstable and uncertain wealth. (Which was uncertain even in biblical times! The GFC is hardly a new problem. ) Our wealth that we do have is provided by God as a gift for our enjoyment! This is much more positive than what we (non-prosperity) Christians are usually told about money.

It was all very interesting. I've already learnt lots about this topic I didn't realise before. Posting all this makes me seem very 'Christian'. Much more Christian than I feel anyway. Whatever.

Two Groups of Friends

My wife & I (nope, still not used to saying that) have 2 groups of friends. These 2 groups are very different from each other.

One of them is my group of mates that I've known since high school. They're Christian guys (& girls) that go to church every Sunday, don't drink a whole lot, and often helpout with local youth groups etc.

The other group of friends is Tiarnee's group of friends from College. Several times this year we've been to loud obnoxious parties they've hosted, and at different times for different reasons, we've felt let down by them, as I'm sure they have felt the same way about us.

In addition to our wedding presents, both groups of friends decided to give us somthing extra upon moving into our new house. One group brought us a brand-spanking new4 burner BBQ with gas bottle to use it. We'd wanted one to go with our awesome pool and backyard, but could never have afforded one. We were very suprised, humbled and gratefull to receive it.

The other group of friends took their strange version of a joke completely too far. They trashed our house, meaning that I spent the first 2 days in my new and previously spotless house (oh yeah, that I'm renting) with my new wife cleaning.

Yep, if you've read this far, you have probably guessed what happened. The "Christian" friends trashed the house and the "non-Christian" friends brought us the BBQ.

This has raised a whole bunch of questions in my own mind, but the one that baffles me the most is this: Why is it that non-Christian binge-drinking uni students know infinitely more about 'loving thy neighbour' than those who claim to know God?

Time well spent

This is my first post in 2.5 months and I've done 4 posts since March. Not that nothing has been happening for the past 5 months, quite the opposite. You wouldn't know it from this blog but not only is the date for the big day finally set, it's only just over 2.5 months away. It's actually all a bit surreal. After going out with Tiarnee since the beginning of 2005 & being engaged since July last year it's hard to believe that it's almost here.

I've grown so much in the past few months & yet such growth only makes me painfully aware of the growth still to come. I've lost weight, through a (generally) healthier lifestyle. It seems getting paid to sit on your butt in front of your computer is healthier than doing it voluntarily at Uni. God has been teaching me an awful lot about myself. I've almost adapted to living in Adelaide, the traffic lights still annoy the you-know-what out of me. I still think it's ridiculous that it takes me 15-25 mins to travel 4.5 kms (That's right Melbournites, I can afford to live that close to the CBD) every morning& that it's no slower to ride my bike than catch the bus. The excitement & responsibility of becomming a husband both scares me to death and gives me a reason to get up in the morning. Over the last few weeks I have and am confronting issues that I've been ignoring and running from for almost half my life. I've started playing squash again. I've won 1 of my first 4 matches. This week I learnt a fair bit about Microsoft SQL Server 2005 & stored proceedures. Oh & did I mention I'm planning a wedding? Invitions are currently under construction.

It's great running through life having little idea as to what I'm doing, but knowing that God does.

My aim is to start posting fairly regularly again. There's plenty going on that I could blog about, and when I was posting regularly, there were actually people reading what I had to say. The amazing thing is that this is true inspite of the fact that I was just a bored Uni student back then.

The Death of Innocence

Well after a couple of months in the blogging wilderness I'm back on the cusp of so called "Adulthood."

It's been an amazing couple of months in which so many things have happened.

The first was that I finished my Bachelor of Information Technology, so in May I'll be able to have the letters B.I.T. after my name. Exciting stuff.

After leaving Ballarat on election day I drove a truck almost non-stop (full-time +) until New-Years. This gave me some badly needed money to tide me over until I start work on the 25th of February. I wonder if O-week at work will be anything like O-week at Uni.

I also managed to spend at least half of the above earnings on a 3-day trip to Adelaide with Tiarnee. The money was spent on furniture for my flat that I was lucky enough to secure in a prime location just north of the city. It really is the perfect spot, only a 10-15 minute commute for me to work, a 5 minute (or less!) commute to see Tiarnee, and for her, is walking distance to her bus route to Uni. So because she is moving in later in the year, she wanted a say on the table and chairs, fridge, and Queen-Sized bed that I (we!) ended up purchasing. 'Discussions' were had, but the fact that we where still on talking terms for the trip home really did bode well for the future.

The last 2 weeks saw our family with an exchange student from NZ. Jacques was a Protea turned Kiwi who was really good to show around the place, and even came to Ocean Grove with us. That is where we've been for the last week. In Ocean Grove relaxing, playing tourist in Melbourne & did I mention relaxing? Oh, & cheering for Marcos Baghdatis.

In summary, those people that told me that "remember this time, school years are the best years of your life" where oh so wrong. I hated school. But I'm loving now. God is amazing to me, and I seriously sometimes wonder if it can get any better. Did I mention I'm turning 21 tomorrow?

The 1

No better time than 1:20am to try and compose a meaningful blog post.

I don't believe in 'the one' as some Christian circles would portray it. You know, where God has your perfect soul-mate already picked out and he is preparing the two of you for each other & you will meet when all his preparations are complete.

My two main objections to that 'Hollywood' version of meeting that special someone are:

1. People have this nasty habit of hurting and sabotaging relationships with one another. Whether accidentally or on purpose, it seems unlikely to me that God would punish such actions against 'The One' with eternal singleness.
   

2. I believe than any person could potentially make a marriage relationship work with many different people. I believe this because love is a choice and not an emotion. I believe a marriage works when both people choose to love each other regardless of circumstances.
   

But rather than detract from romance, I think these things add to it! With #1, people can learn from their mistakes to improve future relationships. As for #2. Well out of all the (good) guys that are out there, Tiarnee choose this one!

If anyone is worried, I'm only planning on making a marriage relationship work with 1 person.

I wonder if this will make sense in the morning....

Biblical Sarcasm

It has been said that:

Sarcasm is the lowest form of humor

But if it is good enough for God, it is good enough for me! Where does God use sarcasm I hear you ask? Probably the bible. One instance is in Job 38. I read it the other day, in particular note verse 21 in which God is quoted as saying:

Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!

As I said, if it's good enough for the almighty, it's good enough for me!

Say what?

Three Sundays ago, I arrived back here at Res after church, I'd just walked into my room and 1 of the girls advised me "I wouldn't go into the bathroom if I was you." A little unsure exactly what this meant, I said "Can I ask why?" For all I knew there could of been girls in there doing girly stuff that I don't want to know about. (See Upstairs Living #1 for further info). I was informed that people were in there doing a séance.

The next morning this was confirmed, as the table & shot-glass were still in there. I'm not really sure why they hijacked our bathroom to do it, apparently it needs to be dark & quiet or something. I wasn't really sure what to make of a séance happening just through the wall from me. I'd heard forever that they are bad & I'd always believed it. But it occurred to me that this was all 2nd hand information. What did the bible say about "séancing"?

So I did a couple of Google searches. Looking for articles/ commentary on the subject. After a couple of "it's bad because it's evil" justifications without any reasoning I came across "What does the Bible say about channeling?" on GotQuestions.com. There is a record of a seance in the bible. Not surprised? Well I was.

1 Samuel 28 is where you will find it.

1 Chronicles 10:13-14 is where Saul dies, in-part because of the séance.

So it seems to me that while seances are sometimes real, and not always fake as I'd suspected. They should not be practiced because it is turning to someone/ something other than the Holy & all-knowing God for guidance.

But read the article, all I'm doing is regurgitating what it says.

Unwanted Education

I'm part of the problem,
I confess,
But I gotta get this off my chest.

Let's extinguish the anguish
for which we're to blame,
and save the world
from going down in flames.
- Down in Flames, Relient K

Until recently I didn't understand how big fights and splits could happen in churches. It seems that I've been educated. How do you resolve such differences? How does God see these differences?

I know that in my particular case, both sides of the dis-agreement prayed for resolution. As far as I'm aware, both sides even prayed for conviction if what they where saying wasn't what God would want. Yet despite this prayer and many hours of face-to-face conversation a resolution could not be found. All we managed to do was barely 'agree-to-disagree'. Agreeing to disagree is fine if discussing politics or football, but in situations that are closer to home it doesn't solve anything.

Taking a step back from the situation, clearly one or both parties are acting in a way that isn't Godly. Clearly after prayer and discussion neither party believed that it was them. This has been taking up alot of my thinking time recently. Can good come out of these situations where no-one wins?

Final Stretch

I've had the most amazing couple of weeks. I think I'm the most blessed guy going around. I can't help but wonder what the future holds, as I contemplate just how great life is at the moment. The old saying is true. No amount of money in the world could buy what God has given me.

So I've had to pull my head out of the clouds a bit, now that I'm back at Uni for my final semester. After some messing around, I've managed to get my timetable sorted out. While I can't wait to start my new job next year, there are some things about Uni that I'm going to miss. My timetable as it stands, has Fridays off & only 2 hours on Mondays & Wednesdays. I somehow don't think my 'full-time' work will only consists of 15-16 hours a week.

Saying goodbye to Tiarnee still sucked majorly. But I think it's easier to cope with knowing that the long-distance thing is going to be removed from our relationship forever in about 16 weeks.

Life Changing Love

And I'm racking my brain for a new improved way
To let you know you're more to me than what I know how to say
You're ok with the way this is going to be
Cause this is going to be the best thing we've ever seen
- Relient K

Surreal. Joyous. Anxious. Apprehensive. Happy. Tired. Blessed. Are but some of the emotions I'm feeling at the moment. Allow me to explain why:

Surreal - Because as we walked out under the Jetty at Lake Charlegrak, I felt unlike I ever had before as I spoke to her, held her hands & then dropped down onto one knee. It was incredible and amazing, I almost remember it as though I was standing there watching someone else. But it was me.
Joyous - Because of the silent moment where we realised that all the pains of a Long Distance Relationship were worth it before she smiled, and looked lovingly, and said "Yes".
Anxious - Because people may think we're "too young."
Happy - Because she liked the ring and I think it looks beautiful on her. Because all our (extended) families where together for a meal for the first time tonight. Because I've been able to see most of my close friends this afternoon. Those that I havn't seen I'll be able to catch up with over the next few days.
Tired - The emotion of telling people close to you about your life changing decision is encouraging & almost overwhelming, not to mention somewhat tiring.
Blessed - Because I'm the most blessed guy going around. God is amazing. He's given me everything. I'm engaged. To a pretty girl with a beautiful heart. She's so different from anyone that I've ever met. It is just the most amazing and wonderfull feeling in the world.

Wow.

Refueling

Wow. What a week. I returned this afternoon from the 'Fuel Youth' camp at Halls Gap. Was a great week with approx 70ppl attending, from locations as diverse as Kaniva, Serviceton, Bordertown, Keith, Murray Bridge & Adelaide. Personally, it was an incredibly encouraging week, and taking that time out to worship & learn about God with my closest friends in the picturesque Grampians was just what I needed.

The theme for the camp was 'Kingdom of God' (The wiki explanation is a really good one!). Knowing that Gods Kingdom isn't some abstract concept, but rather alive and with us now is just so uplifting. As well as Gods Kingdom, I was reminded of how refreshing & important both prayer and worship are. It's also been an important reminder that these activities draw us closer to God. God, who is always with us, waiting and wanting us to return to him.

Tiarnee is also getting confirmed this Sunday at her home church of Minimay. So that should also be a great time of praising God!

LDR

This (according to Google) is how long my distance relationship is:

This is a visual picture of the distance:

At the moment, it really sucks. But we'll get through, just like we have for the last couple of years. But who are we kidding anyway? We wouldn't still be putting each other through this separation if it wasn't worth it at some stage. I'm done with being negative about what God has made so positive. He'll be with us all the way. We should turn to him at all times. Embrace him. Embrace his promises.

I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

-Philippians 4:13

See you in 10 days.....

A Future Beginning

"You're a white-collar worker, YOU'RE TURNING liberal!" -Tiarnee

"I can't believe you're joining the corporate world" - Sus

Only the most avid of my readers (Read: Aaron & Sus) will have noticed that back in March & April, I alluded to travelling to both Adelaide and Melbourne. I didn't however allude to the fact that these two trips were very much related. Apparently, I did well enough in the inital group (& personal) interview to warrant a second look. The second look was in Melbourne, where I was asked a series of programming questions and asked to work them through on a board. I honestly thought it went ok without being brilliant. I was told then & there that I would hear either way within 2 weeks. That was almost a month ago.

Since then, I'd all but accepted the fact that I hadn't gotten the job. That was ok, it is after all only June, which is heaps of time to find other stuff. I did however want to put the whole idea to rest in my mind, an email and 3 working days later, I get a 9am phone call from mum. I have recieved a big manilla envelope in the mail. She starts reading, I sit up in bed, no longer in the drowsy half-asleep mode I was when she rang.

I been offered a positon as a 'Graduate Software Engineer' with this company.

I found that out on Wednesday, but it's only starting to sink in now. While I type a blog on company time in my current job. I'm the most blessed guy going around I rekon. I'm in constant awe of Gods faithfullness to me, inspite of my non-faithfullness to him. He has had every step of my life planned, and never failed to silence my own doubts about his ways.

I'm going to be a 21 year-old Graduate Software Developer. It's amazing. My future is starting now, who (God) knows where it will end.

I'll leave you with this quote:

13I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:13

But then you assure me.....

It's amazing how God can assure us.

Anthony suprised me by showing up in Ballarat out of the blue on Friday night. He collaborated with another one of my good mates who is down here & we meet up under the attraction of Pizza and bowling. Which meant that instead of a weekend of dirty rooms, assignments and boredom I had a weekend of mates, movies, eating out and laughs. Despite my initial internal apprehensions, (& shock/surprise) it was the best thing that could've happened. (or second best anyway!) It interrupted the cycle of Uni, sleep, work, Uni, Assignments, Work etc. Also, instead of sitting in my room feeling guilty about now doing work of some description I was able to get away from it completely.

Sometime during the duration of the weekend I was also reminded somewhat of my (our) own self-worth. God loves me enough to give me mates that will take a weekend out for no other reason than to 'catch-up' or 'hang'. It was a huge encouragement to be reminded that with God I've got this far through Uni, and the with his help I can get through my final year. I have more Uni work now than I've ever had, but 2 years later I'm starting to learn to actually manage it. Don't get to wrapped up in the immediate stresses and work of life. Because then you lose your perspective on other areas of life. Not only that, but you become (as I did) introverted & self focused. This leads to guilt, selfishness and negativity etc. It seems that as Spiderman 3 (which we saw) showed, it's very often that the greatest battle lies within.

In Summary:

Sometimes I think that I'm not any good at all
And sometimes I wonder why, why I'm even here at all
But then you assure me

I'm a little more than useless
And when I think that I can't do this
You promise me that I'll get through this
And do something right
Do something right for once

More Than Useless - Relient K

"The rains are here....."

"Then, between the 26 & the 28th of April 2007, the worst drought in recorded history broke across Southern Australia"

At least hopefully a line like that will appear in a history book someday, and Mr Howards warning of zero irrigation in the Murray-Darling basin will never eventuate......

It's just started raining in Ballarat. But Nhill (~40km from my home) has already had an inch. Adelaide has had an inch and a half, or 40mm! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Ballarat Rainfall

Centeral Victoria Rain Radar

Praise God for his continuing blessings to us all!!!

How Deep

How Deep The Fathers Love for Us

How deep the Father's love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He would give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross
My guilt upon His shoulders
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no powr's, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

©1995 Kingsway's Thankyou Music
Words and Music by Stuart Townend

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!