NEWBeginnings version of “Be Thou My Vision”

What happens when good people do bad things? This is not an uncommon occurrence in our world, people that have done great and good things all their lives have a great fall because they make one mistake. Most people that have fallen to this problem has done so because of  either money or morals have gotten the better of them. (Not everyone who has done good falls victim to doing bad things) However, I do think that the scripture reading for today does ask us a question that we need to ask ourselves about how even when we do good works in the name of God, what happens when we make a mistake and do something wrong?

David, KIng of Israel, anointed by Samuel to lead his people, known as a man after God’s own heart, who has followed what God has wanted him to do, how could he do such a terrible thing in arranging a murder, committing adultery and abuse the position of power that he was in trusted with. The answer is the same for David as it is today for us. No matter how strong we may be, all of us have places in our lives that we are weak to the pull of sin. The biggest problem in all of this is that we say to ourselves that we do not have a problem. We blind ourselves to the reality of our own lives. In physiology this is often called a slippery slop. We let one little sin creep in and then another, and before we know it we have let in a major problem in our lives.

The bible helps us with this dilemma, David shows us that what we need to do is to repent of the sin that we have done, ask for forgiveness from God and then accept the forgiveness that has been given to us by God through all that Jesus Christ has done for us and the world. Then the biggest thing for us is not to do the same thing but to put into place practises hat will help us not of make the same mistake.

Real people in real life

When we read the Bible do we think that they are nice stories that have no grounding in reality or do you think that they are real stories of real people touched by a real God?

In todays reading we have what would be considered real life issues for today, family problems, parental issues, wayward children. So, how do you approach you bible reading. Is it able to help with real life issue that we face today. For me the answer is yes, the bible is relevant today, if you read it and apply what is being said to your life.

Here a few tips for reading your Bible to gain the most out of it.
Pray before you read the Bible, this will give you focus when you approach God’s word.
Read the Bible. Use the acronym SOAP (Scripture – Observation – Application – Prayer) when you read. Read the Bible, make observations of what it says, note down anything that speaks to you. Next take those observations, and consider how you might apply them to your life. Finally, pray and ask God to help you apply the observations to your life.

When people forget

An interesting passage of scripture that can help us today to understand the importance of passing on the message of God’s saving action for the world through Jesus Christ and how we need to pass on the reality and truth of God’s word to the next generation.

“After a while the people of Joshua’s generation died and the next generation did not know the Lord or any of the things he had for Israel.” Joshua 2:10 (CEV)

It is amazing to think that even all the way back in Joshua’s time,  just after God had brought the people out of slavery in Egypt, through the desert, they had been given the law, had made it to the promised land. However, it seemed that the great deeds of God or the commands of God had not been passed onto the next generation. They didn’t know the Lord, so they stopped worshipping God and started following what ever was around, what ever felt good.

This sounds all too familiar doesn’t it! It’s so important that we teach our next generation about God so that they may have a relationship with the living God. This is such a great reminder that we need to pass on the teachings of God. This is why we are involved in school scripture, and why we are working to make NEWBeginnings a place where children can learn about faith and the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

What happens when the boss is away?

It is amazing how human the people in the Bible are, they seem to have so many of the issues that we have as people, even today. In todays reading we see what happens when Moses is away, the people revert back to there old ways. They start worshipping a man made image, even after all they have been through. When the boss is away!!!

What do you get unto when you think that nobody is watching? At work what happens when the boss is out of the room? For many of us we try to do our own thing, it might be as simple as doing some surfing on the internet for personal stuff at work. What ever way you look at it we tend to put our own needs, wants and desires above our responsibilities. This is what happened with the Israelites when they thought that Moses was not coming back down the mountain. They put their own desires above their responsibility to God, the Lord who saved them from Pharaoh, from Egypt and was leading them to the promised land.

Top 10 List

TV talk shows tend to love the top 10 list format for what has happened in the week. There seems to be a top 10 for almost anything, generally they are having a bit of fun with it all. But I wonder what would your top ten list be for the most important way to live you life. Think on it for a moment, maybe write them down. What would they be?

The reading today shows us the top ten list that was given by God to Moses for all. The top ten list, or as we might know it better, the ten commandments.

The ten commandments give us the means by which we are able to have a right relationship (not to have barriers) with God and also with our neighbours and ourselves. The Ten Commandments show us what God really cares about in three main areas. The first four center on our relationship with God (20:2-11). The next group addresses our relationship with others (20:12-14, 16) and the third group deals with our relationship to things (20:15, 17).

I wonder if you have ever looked at yourself in light of these ten commandments and whether we measure up to them. (I know that it seems a little old school to do that but I really think that it is an important thing that we should be doing) On some of them I know that I do very well, on others I am not so certain, that I could definitely check them off.

However, it does not matter if you can check off these ten commandments, they all mean nothing if you have not accepted Jesus as Lord and saviour. If you do not have that relationship with Jesus. The ten commandment help you with that relationship, they do not make the relationship. It bis up to you to have that relationship, for as Jesus said, I stand at the door and knock, all you have to do is to open up to Jesu as Lord and saviour.

Defining Moments

Have you ever found yourself to be in a situation where you between a rock and a hard place. This is where Moses and the Israelites found themselves after they left Egypt. They were on the run from the king who had let his slaves go and he wanted them back as slaves, but they were trapped by the sea, no where to go. This is the place between a rock and hard place, or vengeful king and the ocean.

We see that Moses has one of his defining moments, and it is not that he parts the ocean, it is that he trust God. He has trusted God when all looked lost, he knew that God will help his people and not abandon them.

Have you ever been in a situation where you have trusted God?, even when it seemed an impossible task.

Spare Me from the Judgement

Another one of those troubling passages in scripture, not because God provided the means to save the Israelites, but rather because of the deaths of the first borns of those who were oppressing the Israelites and keeping them in slavery. Our modern western world we seems to think that everything is ok, as long as what I am doing doesn’t really hurt anybody, or more to the point it’s ok as long as we do not hurt anybody that I really care about. We have been highly influenced by our post-modern culture where by we reject dualities and feverishly grasp to the notion of pluralism and relativistic realities (it just depends on your view point), to the point that we start to miss the point of what the scriptures are saying.

The passover is at its core a judgment. The reality of any judgement is that there will be two sides, those whom have a favourable judgment and those who do not. What we can see is that at the heart of Christianity is the fact that there will be a judgment, those whom call upon Jesus as Lord of their life and those who do not. We all will face this time of judgment, the question for you is which side of the judgment are you will to be on, the one that leads to death or the one that leads to life?

Exodus 6:28-11:10

When I read this section of scripture I find it very hard to handle. 10 plagues, did our God whom we call loving really cause 10 terrible plagues? I said it was hard to handle. So what can we get out of this reading that may help us.

Firstly, I am always surprised as to how many of us think that God had to bend the will of Pharaoh, to make his heart hard and for him to change his mind so many times. I feel, since we are given free will, that all God had to do was to put the choice in front of Pharaoh, and he choose the ones that went against God’s will, each time.
Isn’t interesting how when ever the situation was back to normal that Pharaoh, back to the way Pharaoh liked it that he no longer felt God was important. I kind of reminds me of the way in which we live our lives. When things are not going well we want God to fix the situation but when the situation is fixed we forget that God had a hand in it and we go back to the way we were before.

God wants us to realise that he is lord over all the earth, Lord of all creation, even of you and me.

Have you ever had a time where you didn’t understand why God has done something, or let something happen?
If you have maybe now is the time to pray for understanding about God big picture, and how you fit into it!