Something I Know.

I came across these verses this morning.

Psalm 27:13,14

"Iam still confident of this:

I will see the goodness of the LORD

in the land of the living.

Wait for the LORD;

be strong and take heart

and wait for the LORD.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark

Old Way Verses New Way.

My reading this morning led me through Leviticus Chapters 4 & 5.

In those chapters there is repeated 6 times that "the priest will make atonement for the man's sin, and he will be forgiven"

That was the old way, or the old covenant. Animals would be sacrificed and people's sin transferred to that animal.

Now, after Christ has come and died for sin. All the sin of repentant people is transferred to Christ - "the lamb of God".

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Who Is The Greatest?

At the very time I am sitting down here to write this blog two major figures in the Labor Party are going head to head over the leadership.

The meeting will be trying to determine "Who is the greatest?"

Once, when Jesus and His crew were travelling to Capernaum the disciples were arguing about who was the greatest among them.

Jesus asks "What were you arguing about on the road?".

The disciples, of course knew, but didn't want to say.

Jesus sits them all down and explains a very important principle for those of us who live the Christian life...

...."If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." (Mark 9:35)

TFTD: Living for God is not about being great but serving.

Have a good day,

Peter Clark.

We Can't Go Wrong...

....if we are on God's side.

Psalm 25:10

"All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful

for those who keep the demands of his covenant"

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

How Sad This Is.

In Mark 7 Jesus is having an exchange with the Pharisees. He describes them as hypocrites and says.....

"These people honour me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

They worship me in vain;

their teachings are but rules taught by men.....

...you have let go of the commands of God

and are holding on to the traditions of men."

There are many people and church traditions which do the very same.

TFTD: Let it not be us that comes under that criticism.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

The Character Of God.

In Exodus 34:6 we get an amazing description of what God is like...

"The LORD, the LORD,

the compassionate

and gracious God,

slow to anger,

abounding in love and faithfulness,

maintaining love to thousands,

and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.

Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished..."

Isn't that fantastic?

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Moses' Leadership Prayer.

This prayer of Moses popped out at me as I read this morning from Exodus 33. It is in verse 13.

"If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favour with you. Remember that this nation is your people."

Surely, this must be the prayer of every Christian leader.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Being Ashamed.

This verse is a great reminder for us......

"No one whose hope is in you (the LORD)

will ever be put to shame,

but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse." (Psalm 25:3)

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

On View!

We generally try to behave in front of other people....unless we are unbalanced.

I was reading this morning from Proverbs 5 (vs 21-23)

"For a man's ways are in full view of the LORD,

and he examines all his paths,

The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him,

the cords of his sin hold him fast.

He will die for lack of discipline,

led astray by his own great folly."

And yet in spite of this knowledge we behave badly......funny creatures aren't we?

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Nothing Can Destroy It.

Nothing can destroy the Church of God - the fair dinkim Church of God. Many Churches, being perversions of what they really should be deserve to be destroyed.

Matthew 16:18 speaks of God's Church "....so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out."

The evil one might do his best to destroy the Church, but it will never happen.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Face To Face With Righteousness.

In Mark 5 Jesus is confronted by a demon possessed man called "Legion".

Jesus cast out the demons in him, and sent them into some pigs on the hillside. They subsequently ran into the lake and drowned.

The local people saw this man, "sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid"

They realised the implications of what had just happened.......and their response?

"......(they) began to plead with Jesus to leave their region"

These people couldn't handle having "righteousness" in their midst.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

The Unforgivable Sin!

There is only one.....

As the Life Application Bible describes it....

"....deliberate, ongoing rejection of the work of the Holy Spirit is blasphemy because it is rejecting God Himself."

The reference is Mark 3:28,29

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

A Place For New Wine.

Mark 1:21-22

"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. And no one pours new wine into old wineshins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins."

Jesus did not come to patch up the old systems. He came to start something new.

A wineskin was made out of a goatskin sewed together to make it watertight. New wine, expanded as it got older, stretched the wineskin. This meant that new wine could not be put into already stretched skins. The new wine would burst the skin.

The Pharisees had become like the inflexible wineskins. They could not accept Jesus into their "system".

We need to be careful, that OUR hearts do not become like a wineskin - inflexible and rigid, being unable to accept all that the new life in Christ offers.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Not Meaning To Be Gloomy!

I really am not meaning to be gloomy, but I am rather finding life to be like a minefield at the moment with explosions all around me.

I have been accused of "not caring"! The truth is that I care too much. God has placed me in this place to grow His Kingdom.

If I didn't care, I wouldn't be putting myself through so much pain...which ultimately might be to the expense of my health - I would have thought that "not caring" would be doing nothing! This is what has happened here for far too long.

The Psalms are full of words to encourage people in difficult situations. I didn't go searching for these - they came up in my reading today...

Psalm 22:19-21

"But you, O LORD, be not far off;

O my Strength, come quickly to help me.

Deliver my life from the sword,

my precious life from the power of the dogs.

Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;

save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Praise God For Good Support.

I do praise God for the wonderful support that Heather gives me in our ministry together....

....always there....encouraging.....with ideas.....caring....helping.

I couldn't do what I do without her.

This morning the reading was from Exodus 17, where the Amalekites come up against the Israelites.

Moses is standing on the hill and as long as he holds up his hands the Israelites win.

Whenever he lowers his hands the Amalekites win.

Obviously Moses can't do that all day - his arms get tired.

And so, Aaron and Hur hold his arms up and the Israelites succeed.

Like I said.....Praise God For Good Support.

Have a good day,

Peter Clark.

Guarding Your Heart.

Proverbs 4 and verse 23 says this.... "above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."

How do we do that?

The whole of Proverbs 4:20-27 might help us.

kMy son, be attentive to my words;

incline your ear to my sayings.

21 lLet them not escape from your sight;

mkeep them within your heart.

22 For they are nlife to those who find them,

and healing to all their1 flesh.

23 Keep your heart with all vigilance,

for ofrom it flow pthe springs of life.

24 Put away from you qcrooked speech,

and put rdevious talk far from you.

25 sLet your eyes look directly forward,

and your gaze be straight before you.

26 tPonder2 the path of your feet;

uthen all your ways will be sure.

27 vDo not swerve to the right or to the left;

turn your foot away from evil.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Let God Do His Stuff.

Are you looking for God to work in your life?

I read this today....

"Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today.....the LORD will fight for you, you need only to be still." (Exodus 14:13,14)

How good is that?

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Do You Want A Laugh?

This is one of the funniest passages of Scripture...

You really need to read it aloud to get the full impact.

Exodus 4:10 in the King James Bible...

¹⁰And Moses said unto the LORD, O my LORD, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.

Do you see the funny side of that, or is just me?

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

The Glory Of God.

Psalm 19:1-6. I love this.

The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

2 Day to day pours out speech,

and night to night reveals knowledge.

3 There is no speech, nor are there words,

whose voice is not heard.

4jTheir voice goes out through all the earth,

and their words to the end of the world.

In them he has set a tent for the sun,

5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,

and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.

6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,

and its circuit to the end of them,

and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Our Thoughts And Words.

This came up in my reading today - from Psalm 19...

"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be pleasing in your sight,

O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer." (v.14)

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Christ, Transforming Lives.

At St Mary's we have made this our motto - this is our desire for our Church - this is what we want to happen here.

CHRIST, TRANSFORMING LIVES.

I think that is great....it just sums it all up, doesn't it?

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

God Has Always Cared.

I had a reminder this morning that God never stops caring for us.

Exodus 2:23-25

"....The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them."

TFTD: Don't forget it.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

An Important Distinction To Make.

In Matthew 25 we have a picture of the final judgement.

You will remember the passage - separating the sheep from the goats.

The righteous are commended for feeding Jesus, giving Him a drink and so on.

They question that - not remembering ever doing that for Jesus.

But Jesus says in v. 40 "...if you did it for one of the least of these my brothers, you did it for me."

The righteous will inherit the kingdom not because of the compassionate works that they have done, but because their righteousness comes from transformed hearts.

This is evidenced by their compassion for the "least of these".

In caring for those in need, the righteous discover that their acts of compassion for the needy are the same as if done for Jesus Himself.

Have a good day,

Peter Clark.

Watch Out!

My Bible reading today was Matthew 25, including the Parable of the Ten Young Women waiting for their master to return - do you remember for some of them their oil ran out?

Jesus concludes that teaching with....

"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour." (Matthew 25:13)

Life is busy. There is so much on, so much activity is required to just live....

.....do not let this blur our memory that this life is but a breath.

Jesus is going to return OR we are going to go to Him (same thing in the long run)

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Lift Our Vision To The World.

I regularly pray through a number of prayer diaries. One of these is the Australian Board of Missions Prayer Diary.

Today, their focus is on Papua New Guinea. This is very appropriate because of the news items announcing the sinking of the PNG ferry and the potential loss of life of 200.

The prayer for today is for the church of PNG.

Gracious God, you ask us to put all our hopes in you and to trust in your grace. Bless the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea as it works to provide for the spiritual growth of its people, to reach out to serve the health, education and development needs of ordinary Papua New Guineans.

Give them renewed hope, faith and joy in the knowledge that in serving others they are also serving you.

This we ask in the name of your most blessed Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

To Be Put In Our Place.

Matthew 23:11,12

"The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

A Spacious Place.

In the Psalms we read a lot about being taken into a spacious place by God.

What is this "spacious place"?

Could it be.......the place for us within God's will?

Psalm 18:19

"He brought me out into a spacious place;

he rescued me because he delighted in me."

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Wisdom And Understanding.

How do we attain wisdom and understanding?

Job 28:28 is helpful.

"The fear of the LORD - that is wisdom,

and to shun evil is understanding."

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Thinking And Deciding Correctly.

There is always some good advice to be had in the Proverbs.

In today's reading this came up....

"My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment,

do not let them out of your sight;

they will be life for you,

an ornament to grace your neck.

The you will go on your way in safety,

and your foot will not stumble....." (Proverbs 3:21-23)

This made me think about the importance of being very careful and prayerful regarding what we get involved in.

TFTD: Think and decide carefully.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.