Life’s 3 Options #bgbg2

One of the things I have often been challenged about by God, and it draws close to me every day in terms of what I worry about or get concerned about, is the issue of WHO IS MY PROVIDER going to be? Who do I see as responsible for providing for what I need? Your answer to that will have you living in one of three ways. You’ll be a BEGGAR, A DIGGER, OR A GIVER. Jesus told a parable, a story with meaning, in Luke 16:1-13. It’s a bit of a weird one about a man who suddenly finds himself in financial difficulty. The major point, which it’s always safest to go with in parables, is that he thought he’d always have enough, but now the future’s closing him down fast. And the internal dialogue the guy has with himself there leads me to these three ways to live. Have a read yourself. He says ‘I’m too proud to beg, and I’m not strong enough to dig,’ so he ends up getting very creative in the area of generosity […]

Pete Hale at Ivy Manchester – Genesis 2 & 3

Matthew 20:1-16 Jesus tells the story of a generous landowner and we see here how lavish he is and that can even make people angry! In Genesis 2 he says ‘you can eat anything’ enjoy But one day the tempter came along and eventually they ate, and now they felt embarrassed. They hid away from God. What stops us from receiving all God has, is our weaknesses. Pete is a cookery teacher. He demonstrates a dish, and the kids do what he says But one day, he showed them a chilli. He warned them – these things are hot. Make sure you wash your hands. One kid didn’t listen. Him and his mate just had to rub their fingers on the chilli, then rubbed each other on the face. ‘It doesn’t hurt!’ And Pete thought ‘Wait and see.’ Argh!!!! How do I get it off?!!! It started with curiosity Then pride that you got away with it Then – ‘how do I make it stop??!!’ And then, we are embarrassed. Most of what we are tempted by we also embarrassed […]

2013 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 15,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it. Click here to see the complete report.

I’m Starting To Think Bigger!

I know that will annoy some people. Some people who know me think I already think big enough – but I don’t think God agrees. He’s been growing my vision and faith recently. Other people think small is beautiful. I agree. But bigger is beautifuller, when it comes to thinking. Some years ago I read a book called ‘The Present Future’– and I hated it. Why did I hate the book? It was like going to the Doctors and hearing that while you may look okay, just about everything is wrong with you, you’re really unhealthy and on the way toward slipping off the plate; then being told various obvious things that if you did them, would avoid that fate; but not being allowed to do them. It was like a mechanic looking at the engine, ‘Here’s what’s wrong with your car and here’s what you need to do to fix it,’ but while you really want that to happen, you know you can’t. It’s not possible. At the time I was leading an institutional church, with great people, meeting locally […]

Why God Uses Shepherds – Nativity Lessons And More

Preparing for next Sunday’s talk, which we’re filming soon, I found a great deal of interesting detail from various sources.   SHEEP IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL Large Numbers of Sheep in Bible Times From the days of Abraham right through to modern times, sheep have been abundant in the Holy Land. Arab peoples of the region have depended heavily on sheep for their livelihood. The Jews in Bible times were first shepherds and then farmers, but they never completely left the shepherd life. The sheer number of sheep is seen in examples like: Job having 14,000 sheep (Job 42:12) Solomon sacrificing 120,000 sheep at the dedication of the Temple (1 Kings 8:63) Fat-Tailed Sheep The most common type is the fat-tailed sheep. The large, fatty tail acts as a reserve of energy, much like the hump of a camel. When the animal is butchered, the tail is valuable and may be bought separately to use for frying. This kind of sheep was already in use in Bible times: “Also thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the […]