God our Father

God our Father

‘…Is anything too hard for me?’ Jeremiah 32:27 NIV

Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name…’ ‘Hallowed’ is a way of describing God as holy. Or blessed. Or respected. We’ve looked a little at God being our father. But what if your experience of the word ‘Dad’ isn’t great? What if the word is loaded because Dad was distant or absent or let you down? Well this word ‘Hallowed’ reminds us God is no ordinary dad. God is holy. This means He doesn’t lie or let us down. God is unchanging. This means He isn’t influenced by moods and feelings. God is love. This means He doesn’t get interested only when it’s convenient. God has us on His mind constantly. He cares about us. He loves us with perfect love. And what’s more, God is the God of overcoming the impossible (ever read that bit about mustard seeds and mountains?)

So get this: the God who parted the Red Sea is your Dad. The God who was hanging out even before the Universe was a thing is your Father. The God who scattered stars in the night, who gives scenery to the sightless, who carries the meaning of life in His back pocket, is your Daddy. Is anything too impossible for your Dad? No sir. Your Dad is all powerful God. There’s an incredible amount of safety in that.

What Now?

In today's verse God asks, 'Is anything too hard for Me?' The truth - absolutely nothing. Today, write 'nothing' on your notepad. No matter what you experience, remember it's not too hard for your Dad.

Giving is the Best Communication

Did You Know...

Did You Know...?

Did you know that there is someone greater than all us?
Someone greater.... 
than your friends, 
your teachers, 
your parents, 
and even the president.

And although you cannot see him,  
did you know....

that He can see You?!

Even....when you hide. 

The bible says, light and dark is the same to Him. 
This means that whether its morning or night, 
no matter if it's sunny or pitch black
He... can still see You?! 

Even....when you're crying inside. 

His eye sight is so perfect, 
that he can see straight through you. 

He... can read your heart.

Did you know....
that the same God, 
that made mountains,
formed light out of darkness 
created the sun, 
the moon, 
the skies, 
the seas 
and everything that you see, 

also.... made You?! 


Did you know...
that the same God, 
who can make the winds blows 
and cause the rain to fall, 
is The One,
who makes your heart beat, 
gives you life 
and cause your whole body to function?
 
Did you know that this same God,
this awesome God, 
The One you cannot see, 


loves YOU so?!

The bible says, 
for God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, 
that who ever, believes in him
should not perish, 
but have everlasting life.


One author says..
To prove his love 
like no-one else could.
God used
three nails and two pieces of wood,
and the CROSS 
said it all.   

So the next time, 
you feel alone 
and that no one loves you. 

Just remember,
God Loves....YOU!

Written by Saranga Mckenzie

HIS NEEDS, HER NEEDS – 2

[Love] keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. . . . Love will last forever! 1 Cor. 13:5-8, NLT.

F

rom a quarter century of marriage counseling Willard Harley says that the number three need he’s heard most from wives is honesty and openness. Harley tells husbands, “Your mate should know you better than anyone else in the world.“ But unless we open up our hearts, gentlemen, she’ll never know.“ A sense of security is the bright golden thread woven through all of a woman’s five basic needs. If a husband does not keep up honest and open communication with his wife, he undermines her trust and eventually destroys her security“ (p. 91).

            The number three need for husbands? An attractive spouse. That “simply means that your appearance makes someone feel good.“ Obviously beauty is more than skin-deep, but physical attraction is often what ignited the first flame. And while some husbands have emotional needs more important than their need for an attractive wife, Harley counsels: „She should resemble the woman he married“ (p. 108). Her number four need is financial support, and his is domestic support. In today’s economy most homes need two incomes, but Harley suggests that wives prefer the family budget set up on his income alone. She may choose to work, or have to work, but she looks to her husband for financial security, while it is a source of security for him when she’s the domestic manager of his life, family, house, and home. Clearly the strongest and happiest marriages are a mutually embraced partnership on every front they share.

            The wife’s number five need: family commitment. It is Harley’s ninth law of marriage: the best husband is a good father. Do it together: meals, worship, church, outings, bike rides, beach, board games, sporting events, bedtime stories, family projects, etc. Quantity edges out quality on this front. Spend time together! And the husband’s number five need? Admiration. “Biographies of great men prove it, and the lives of all men show it: A man simply thrives on a woman’s admiration“ (p. 158). Why tear him down in public or in private – he becomes what you make him. “Love one another; as I have loved you“ (John 13:34). When a man and woman pledge to love each other just as God has loved them, you have the makings of a love story that will last forever!

Taken from Chosen by Dwight Nelson

HIS NEEDS, HER NEEDS – 1

HIS NEEDS, HER NEEDS – 1

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil. 1 Cor. 13:4, 5.

K

aren and I once decided to preach a sermon together, at the end of a series on coventantal relationships (sexuality and marriage). Every preacher knows his or her spouse is taking notes whenever marriage is the theme. Someone sent me a cartoon of a pastor and his wife driving home after church. She’s jauntily gazing out the window, her arm draped over the car seat, a picture of nonchalance. He‘s clutching the steering wheel, tie loosened, glaring straight ahead, consternation all over his countenance. He speaks: “Have you stopped to consider how much more effective my sermon would have been if you hadn’t yelled ‘Ha!‘!“ That’s why I knew we had to preach that sermon together. We shared five secrets from a book that has blessed us immensely – Willard F. Harley, Jr.‘s His Needs, Her Needs: Building an Affair-proof Marriage. Consider for yourself these top five needs in the community of marriage.

Harley identifies the number one need of a wife: affection. “When a husband shows his wife affection, he sends the following messages: I’ll take care of you and protect you. You are important to me, and I don’t want anything to happen to you. I’m concerned about the problems you face, and I am with you. I think you’ve done a good job, and I’m proud of you“ (p.33). I’ve read that how a couple relates to each other in the first four minutes of the morning and the evening sets the agenda for their entire time together.

Harley’s number one need for a husband: sexual fulfillment. No surprise – men are sexual creatures. Read the Pentateuch! “When a man chooses a wife, he promises to remain faithful to her for life. This means that he believes his wife will be his only sexual partner ‘until death do us part.‘ He makes this commitment because he trusts her  to be sexually interested in him as he is in her“ (p. 43).

From years of ministry to couples, Harley identifies the number two needs as conversation for the wife and recreational companionship for the husband. Talk together, play together. It’s how we courted each other – it’s how we keep each other. It isn’t rochet science, these lists of Harley’s. It’s love in everyday clothes, celebrating God’s gift of your closest friend.

Taken from Chosen by Dwight Nelson

I Can't Remember

I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, 

and remembers your sins no more. Isaiah 43: 25, NIV

A woman was having visions of Jesus When church authorities heard of her claims, a bishop was commissioned to examine both the woman and her revelations.

'Is it true, ma'am, that you have visions of Jesus?' asked the cleric.
'Yes,' said the woman.
'Well, the next time you have a vision, I want you to ask Jesus to tell you the sins that I confessed....'

The woman was stunned.

'You actually want me to ask Jesus, to tell me the sins of your past?'
'Exactly. Please call me if anything happens.'

Ten days later the woman notified her spiritual leader.

'Please come,' she said.
'Did you do what I asked?'
'Yes, bishop..'

The bishop learned forward with anticipation. His eyes narrowed.

'What did Jesus say?'
She took his hand and gazed deep into his eyes.

'Bishop,' she said.
'These are his exact words: I CAN'T REMEMBER' (The raggamuffin Gospel, pp116, 117).

Fictitious? Perhaps. Truth? Indeed.
For a century ago these words were written, "if you give yourself to Jesus, and accept him as your Saviour, then sinful as your life may have been, for His sake you are accounted righteous....and you are accepted before God just as if you had not sinned" (Steps to Christ, p.62; italics supplied).

"I am he who remembers your sins no more." So speaks God. So speaks grace. And so we must speak and act, if we would experience genuine community. For you see, a "graceless" community is an oxymoron. For it is no community at all. A "pious fellowship," perhaps - but it is not community, genuine community. For only grace can resurrect community.

And that is why the chosen must keep returning to the foot of the cross. For the truth about grace is that I will never extend to you, fallen as you are, until I experience it in me, fallen as I am. The cross always precedes the Resurrection. I can't resurrect you until grace has restored me. "Peter, do you love me?" "Oh, Lord, you know that I love You." "Good. Now go and love the fallen back to Me."

And they will come back to him when you and I extend to them forgiveness, He has already extended to us. "I can't remember." Great news - for it is when we say the same to each other that we resurrect our brother, we resurrect our sister, and we revive our community!

Taken from
The Chosen: God's dream for you by Dwight K Nelson

"Forgiveness is the fragrance a flower leaves on the heel of the one who crushed it."

This is my Moment!

This is my Moment! by Wesley Knight

Dr. Wesley Knight shows that no matter how far or messed up our lives have become; Jesus will do all He can reach us and save us. His setting is Mark 5:1-9

Scripture: Mark 5:1-9

Click here for the sermon

Please note: Video was removed but MP3 Audio file is still available.