The Head of Stone

The most real thing any one has said to me in the last couple months was this: “When a father sees his child disobeying him, he notices it, isn't pleased and disciplines him. How much more does your Heavenly Father see your disobedience? Knowing this, saying grace covers all is theology from the pit of hell.”

This week has been a week of struggle and overcoming some giants in my life (I haven't said that before...). These words have been a bit of a reoccurring thought in my mind as I wrestled through some things with the Lord. They are good, sound words that need to be said more in the church, and in the world in general. To often i find myself doing things I know to be wrong, wasting time on frugal and worthless endeavours, or trying to work out thoughts and situations on my own that just won't be resolved. To pull out some lyrics from one of my favourite bands The Color Morale, “Real family and friends will always stab you in the front, and the end result is not one damn thing after another, its one damn thing over and over. We are condemned and this is how we learn.” The use of the word damn is meant in the context of being condemned. Like it's not a bunch of things that we do that seem to irk people or rub them in the wrong way, but it is usually only one thing that we do over and over that sets people off, and I find that to be the same way with our relationship with the Lord. Let me get this clear. We, apart from Jesus, stand condemned before the Lord in judgement. Romans 3:23 says “For all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.” and also Revelations 5:1-5 says that there is no one in Heaven, or on Earth or under the Earth that is worthy to open the scroll, except for the man, Jesus Christ. And there are multiple things that we have done to make us undeserving of the Grace of Jesus. What my point is is that in our lives, there are life long struggles that we will have to deal with until the day of our completion. My other point in all of this is that it is those people who are intentional with us, addressing things that they see as wrong behaviours, motives, or straight up sin in our lives that will help us out in our walk with the Lord. And it is those people that we need to be as well. Revelation 2 and 3 are chapters in the Bible where the Lord is reaming on churches about their sin and telling them to repent. How does he do it? THROUGH A MAN! Through the vision that John (the author of the book Revelation) is writing down and delivering to the churches! The Bible is filled with examples of people being intentional with sin. In Ezekiel 3:9, Ezekiel is told that he has a forehead of the hardest stone so that he can but-up against Judah, because they are a rebellious house. Paul goes as far to say that he has, and should hand certain people over to Satan to let them learn that the things they are doing are wrong (1^st Corinthians 5:3-4, 1^st Timothy 1:18-20). My friend has a saying: “Christians love people into hell” meaning that the church in general does not confront people with with their sin, but just says that they are loved, and that is good enough. They may pass it off as just planting seeds and then leave the rest up into Gods hands like the blood of the unsaved is cleared from their hands. Ezekiel 33 talks about the Lord sending the people of Israel watchmen, to tell them when they are out of line. If they do, then the peoples blood is on their own hands, but if the watchman cowards from his duty, then the peoples blood will be on his head. Another thing that the church says that if people say a prayer when they are 5 years old, go to church and youth group, start a family and bring them to church, they are saved. What a shallow Gospel. To live and receive the gospel message is a complete 180 in the way we live. Jesus in Luke 9:57-62 says this: “As they were going along the road, some one said to him, 'I will follow you wherever you go.' and Jesus said to him, 'foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.' To another he said 'follow me.' but he said 'Lord, let me go and bury my father.' And Jesus said to him 'leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.' yet another said, 'I will follow you Lord, let me first say farewell to those at my home.' Jesus said to him 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.”. This yells out that we can not be the same when we encounter Jesus Christ. To take the words of Paul Washer “When you are hit by a big semi truck, you will be changed. How much bigger is the Lord, and how much more should we be changed when we are hit by Him?” If you call yourself a christian, what sets you apart from the rest of the world? What makes you different? In Mark 5, Jesus sets a man free from demon possession ( I have heard a very sound argument that this man was possessed by something like five thousand demons). As Jesus was leaving that area, the man comes to Jesus and begs him to stay with him. But Jesus says to him “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” To often, we forget what the Lord has already done for us, and want Christ to fix our situations, or show us some grand sign that everything is going to be alright. Christ is not some formula, and more then likely, there will be no sign given. Back to the first things I said, we might have struggles, things we wrestle through, for the rest of our lives, only focusing on those struggles, and forgetting all that has already happened. For this demon possessed man, he went away rejoicing and telling others what the Lord has done for him. Is that not all we are to do? Praise the Lord for his great works and tell others about him? Revelation 12:7-12 says that we (christians) will be accused by the great deceiver, but we will overcome by the blood of the lamb, and the word of our testimony.

There are all my current thoughts on a page. Not sure that any of it actually flowed together. In summary though, we (Christians and the church) need to be more intentional in our endeavours with each other, asking the tough questions, calling people out if we see wrong, and if we are called out, take it to prayer and if there is found to be something wrong in your conduct, change. Proverbs 29:15 says “The rod and reproof gives wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.” Also though, be kind with one another. Paul writes in 2^nd Corinthians 2:7-8 talking about confronting people, and them changing, “...so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him.”

I hope that this is in some way a blessing to those who read it.
David

Take off your sandals

"When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” - Exodus 3:4-5

This is one of those passages that I have read over and over many times in my life, and brushed it aside as seemingly unimportant. This year though, I learned something. This passage isn't about the holy ground at all, nor is it about sandals. Before this last year, I would have come to take all of this quite literal, and would have been waiting for that one day when God would come to me and say "Take off your shoes, this place is holy ground." Funny thing this God fellow is though.

This last year, some one made it known to me that what was being said here was "Moses, take off the things in your past that hinder you from coming to me, for I have a great work in store for you." Have you ever gone on a hike and at the end of it look at your shoes? They shouldn't come out clean, at least not as clean as when you started your hike. They should be covered in dirt, mud, tree sap, animal droppings, but they tell a story. They tell the story of where you have been. It is the same with walking in the city. Perhaps you will step on a tack, or a piece of gum that will go with you to your next destinations. Again, your shoes will tell you where you have been. This is the same for Moses. What had Moses done up until this point in his life? He was spared at birth, grew up as part of Egyptian royalty (it is debatable to say that he was in line to be one of the Pharaohs, but I'll leave you to do that on your own study. I did), assuming that he was part of the royalty, he would have played a small part in the suffering of his people, he killed a man, tried to cover it up, and then he ran away from all his problems. This was all on his shoes at this point. But was the Lord absent in all of this? By no means! I'll get back to that. So, now we see where Moses was coming from, and God tells Moses where he is going to. God says "I have seen the suffering of my people, and I want you, Moses, to go and lead them to freedom by my hand." And even at that, Moses tries to make excuses as to why he shouldn't go. First he says "I don't know what to say." (Ex 3:13), then he says "Well, what if they won't believe that I am sent by you?" (Ex 4:1), then again, he makes another excuse "Well, I've never been able to speak very well" (Ex 4:10) then he just downright says "send some one else." (Ex 4:13). Moses was holding on to his past in the worst way, and the Bible even says that the Lords anger was burning against Moses (Ex. 4:14). All this time though, the Lord was working in Moses, and training him in the best way. The Hebrew people were slaves in Egypt, and once they were set free, they would have needed some one to lead them in all sorts of ways. Moses was educated to read and write and speak to people and execute justice being in the Egyptian nobility, and after he had fled away from Egypt he gained valuable knowledge of living in the wilderness, shepherding sheep, finding them food and water and searching out for them amongst a harsh landscape. This man Moses would go on to lead the Hebrews to freedom, execute justice on a day to day level, write down the Law of the Lord, deliver this law to the assembly, lead military wars against other peoples, and lead the Israelites around in the wilderness. But before he could do any of that, he had to take off his sandals. He had to get rid of the his past.

This is mirrored in the New Testament by he who would be a voice crying out in the wilderness "Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight!" (Matt 3:3) and "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matt 3:2) Aka. John the Baptist. John was saying to a crowd "Stop doing things your way, and start doing things as you would in the Kingdom. I don't care where you are from, you can change." This is also seen in foot washing. Jesus says to his disciples "I'll wash your feet." Peter says "Then wash my head and hands as well" And Jesus replies "The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet." (John 13:1-11) Feel free to disagree with me, but I have come to interpret this as saying they if you are living for and in love with Jesus, then you are already made clean, sanctified, redeemed by the blood of the lamb, bought, paid for. Your sins are forgiven and you are an ambassador, but you need still need to repent from where you have been. Again, John  the baptist says "Bear fruit in keeping with repentance" (Matthew 3:8), and the apostle Paul says "Work on your own salvation in fear and trembling." (Philippians 2:12) as Paul is talking about being the light of Christ in this world. These echo the call of Moses, take off where you have been, and put on the burden of the Lord. "For my yoke is easy. My burden is light." It is said in Isaiah 52:7 "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news.." the feet go from being this ugly past to being something that is completely beautiful! What is the good news? It is the news of Jesus Christ, and what he has done in your life and what he is doing in the world. As we serve God, he is making us beautiful, and separating us from our old selves.

This last week was one of the toughest weeks in my life spiritually. This is probably the only time you'd catch me saying that I was attacked spiritually. My biggest struggle in the past was that I struggled with lust in my heart (being sought out through pornography and masturbation). For many years, it was my master, and I did nothing to get rid of it in my life, but made a petty plea/cry to God blaming him because he had given me these desires, and again a petty plea to take them so that I would stop sinning. That wasn't the issue though. For other years, I did fight for my freedom, and until a little while ago, it was to no avail. I'd try accountability partners, but the four or five people I had asked to help me out all lost interest and after a month or so just stopped caring. This never gave me a bad sense that I couldn't really trust people with how I was feeling, or what was going on in my life because it felt like no one cared. This last year, I studied every book in the bible 5 times over, and it was the best and worst nine months of my life. Best because it was a place where I could just devote myself to studying the word of the Lord, be away from distraction here at home and spend time with some other amazing people who are passionately in love with Jesus Christ. It was the worst nine months though because being nine months away from people you love is a long time, and it just takes a toll on relationships. There is some background for you the reader. How does this all tie in though? Through those nine months, God gave me a focus in life, where he is leading me. Its given me a more focused and driven pursuit for purity and humility. In Ephesian 6:12, Paul writes "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of darkness in this world, against the spiritual wickedness in this dark place." This word in Greek is the word "Pa/lh" and it is a type of wrestle in which the victor of this fight gets to hold his opponent down by the neck and gouge his eyes out. Learning this made me realize where my focus was, and by what I was having my eyes gouged out. Back to this last week. I was (and still am) free from giving into sexual temptations but this last week, temptation came stronger then I can ever express, and it lead me into a slight depression. But hope is a good thing. When the world comes against you, take heart. "For greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world." (1st john 4:4) and God upheld me in the roughest times. In the end of it all, all God said to me was "Take off your shoes. This time that I have given you is holy, it is precious. Take heart."

God saves lives.

Sean Naus and his family are people that I met this year on the Coast, and have been an awesome encouragement to me. This happened to them and their coffee shop, as well as the Board Store where they do business. And this is the hand of God in their lives.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/video/national/watch/29503844/security-video-shows-amazing-escape/

End of the New Testament

Well, Today is the official end of all New Testament studies. The school went to the Pig&Whistle pub to celebrate. It was really nice to just go out with everyone, take our minds off of the studies, and just have fellowship with one another. We have been extremely blessed to have the leaders we do here in the Sunny Coast. This is probably the only YWAM base in the world to take the students out to a pub in celebration of a milestone. The leaders know what people need, and that is to have the option to choose for ones self how they are to act. YWAM Sunshine Coast is really what one would make of it. If people came here just for the beach, then they would only get the beach. If they came here seeking a deeper more intimate relation with Jesus, then their world will be changed.

Here on the SBS, we have a group of 15 students and 8 leaders who are passionate about seeking God in worship and prayer while actively letting the Word of God transform their lives. I am extremely blessed to be put here amongst the other people that are here. God is melting peoples hearts and showing them their roll in the Kingdom.

I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who has, and is supporting me in this school! Your prayers and faith in God are above words. I'd like to ask any one who reads this blog to continue to pray for me as we pick up things in the Old Testament as the work load increases.

God Bless!

David

Revelation

Been in the book of Revelation this week. Not going to start giving a huge teaching on the book, but it is challenging. this book is all about comfort when going through times of great trial and persecution. Jesus tells the church in Smyrna right off the hop that they will be thrown in prison and tortured until they die.

I just keep looking at places in the world where this is reality for people, and wondering what have I done/what can I do to help? Praying for all the saints to be kept sanctified until the day is really the only thing I can do at the moment. Right now, God has me stationed in a bible school, learning the word, preparing me for what is to come. I have often gone into the community to tell people about Jesus to show them Gods love and be a light in this world. I take joy in that. Later though, am I willing to go out into a place where I will die by the sword, by being thrown in boiling oil, be crucified for whom I profess as the Saviour of my Soul? Am I willing to leave the comfort of family and friends, the comfort of a well paying, stable job to go to a place where I will be alone, stripped naked of all my belongings, sleep on freezing concrete floor, often not having any food? This is a reality that people have to face every day in areas of oppression.

Where is their comfort? where is their hope? In the Lord! They know that if they die, they will not taste death again. they will be safely under the alter of our Lord. We need to encourage these people, and also be encouraged by them as well. In the end, all who remain in Christ will have the Crown of life and will live forever in the glory of Him who called us. We need to be praying for people in hardcore situations of trial and persecution, wherever on the globe it is. If we aren't are we really supporting the rest of the body?

These are just things that I have been challenged by in this book. It isn't anything of fear, or being scared of what is to come, but out of love for the rest of the saints that need help and comfort that their Lord is in control.

Sorry. my thoughts are all over the place.

The Geltch Family

If any one who follows this blog could pray for one of the families on the base here. Mark and Mellissa Geltch (along with their children) are two very passionate missionaries who have given up pretty much everything to continue on making waves in Indonesia. This week, Marks Dad passed away. The Geltchs are in the process of moving over everything to Bali, and in two weeks time are to be living there for good. Please pray for Gods hand to move in their lives in this time.

I have only talked to Mark a few times in the time that I have been here, but every time has left me with encouragement and faithfulness. Again, please pray for them.

-David

Christmas and now...

During the Christmas season, one of my good mates down here invited me to his parents house for Christmas down in Huskisson, south of Sydney. That week, we had a really sweet barefoot bowls session, saw many beaches, kicked back on the porch and had many beers, went to the blue mountains, played aqua golf, played Cricket, played football(American), ate snaggs, ate ice cream, and went surfing. Words could not describe how blessed it was for me to be apart of the Windred family this Christmas. They took me in, treated me as their own, and supported me on my walk with the Lord. This Christmas, even though I was away from my family back home, was the best Christmas ever. I'm a poor Bible School student, yet the Lord decided to provide only in a way that he knows how to provide.

After the break was over, it was really easy getting back into the school, and all that comes with it. This last week though has just been stupidly hard on my soul. Not the work, nor is it anything in the work that is causing me such distress. I'm doing my work, and doing it well, getting high A's and having lots of time to just chill. What is causing my distress is a mixture of questions, passions, realizations and just a feeling of escape. Right now, the thing I want to do most is just take a flight to a place I have not been before, preach the word until I die, whether it be 60 years from now, or one day from now. Its not going to happen. The Harvest is ready, yet the workers are so few. This storm will pass, and I'll take joy once again, it'll just be in a little time. that's all. Just need to have patience I guess.