He’s In Control

Mathew 17 : 24-26

24After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”

25″Yes, he does,” he replied.

When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own sons or from others?”

26″From others,” Peter answered.

“Then the sons are exempt,” Jesus said to him. 27″But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”

For morning devotion at the school I work at there re 2 teachers assigned to each class. My partner and I take turns giving sermons and leading the 15 minutes we have with our class each morning. This morning she shared about how last week she was having a problem and without knowing it my sharing was very specific advice for her.

Even now I don’t remember the sharing I gave. Quite often I go to class with little or no idea what I am going to talk about and just talk about something I have heard or learnt in the past. But God is God and He is in control !!

Why didn’t Jesus just take a coin out of His pocket and hand it to Peter to pay the tax ? Because He wanted to make the point that He is in control of everything, nature, money, every circumstance, everything !

One of my favourite experiences as a Christian is when you have the revelation or ‘re-revelation (remember) that God is working in every aspect of your life. He knit us together in our mother’s womb, He clothes the lilies in the field (Matthew 6:27-29), He commanded the waves and wind to stop, He cures disease and HE LOVES YOU AND ME !! How wonderful that is, if He is with us, who is against us ?

Lean on Him today, trust in Him, have faith in Him. They are the key words in Christianity because that is what Christianity is all about. The fact that God is God and He has a beautiful plan. Love Him, trust Him and know that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28

GBU

“Many are invited, but few are chosen.”

In the story of Lazarus and the rich man the rich man begs to be sent back to earth to tell his 5 brothers that there is a God and if they don’t change the way they are living they will end up in hell.

27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers —so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’

The answer he receives is :

29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.

In Matthew 22:14 we hear that “Many are invited, but few are chosen.” What does this mean ?

The revelation I am beginning to get is that everyone on earth is called. The bible is there, the word of God is there, His saints are preaching His message, the church doors are open. It is their choice to answer the call or not.

Then there are those who were chosen. God had predestined them. He touched them on the shoulder at some stage in their life and said “Hey, you are mine. I have work for you to do” I believe he did that with me. If you read my life testimony you will see a complete life transformation. Why? Did I get sick of the life I was leading and work hard to change direction? NO! I CAME FACE TO FACE WITH THE LIVING GOD AND HAVE NEVER BEEN THE SAME SINCE!!

I pray that you are one of the chosen. If you are it is only a matter of time. If you are one of the called, answer the call. It makes absolutely no difference if you are called or chosen as long as you answer the call.

Put your life on track to spend eternity in Heaven. If you need help with this email me – Geoffcollins1@yahoo.com.au

                                                           God Bless You, Gef

Creatures of Habit

Human beings are very habitual. Being habitual is an instinctive trait. Memory builds a list of experiences that bring desired outcomes and we tend to stick to those experiences to fill our needs. Stepping into a new experience can bring rushes of adrenaline, anticipation and even stress. Don’t believe me? Just think about the extra sense of excitement when you a try a new exotic food (and then there’s sky diving!)

The thing about habits is that they can be bad or good. A golfer practices their golf swing to build muscle memory. After a while, your body can repeat your golf swing with very little conscious effort and it will be remarkably similar time after time. So why aren’t all golfers of Tiger Woods caliber? The problem is in the programming. When building the muscle memory people build in mistakes that they then repeat over and over again. It’s the golf coach that analyzes the swing and instructs about where correction is needed. The golfer must then make a lot of effort to re-program their swing as it is easier to build a new habit than renovate an old one.

In life we have also built in bad habits or had them programmed into us by people as we have grown up. We can however, change our bad habits. We can replace bad habits with good ones and fine tune our habits so that they become beneficial for ourselves and others.

A lot of smokers are successful in giving up because they replace smoking with drinking water. When they have a craving they drink a glass of water or eat candy. Instead of eating to relieve stress you can retrain yourself to go for a walk or go to the gym. Instead of waking up slowly and unhappily, depressed about the fact that you have to get up early, you can train yourself to get out of bed earlier than normal, eat your breakfast and go for a walk.

“ Many things effect your life but none as much as you.”

Take a good long look at yourself. Don’t try to change everything overnight. Choose one thing about yourself or one habit you have that is negative and work on replacing it with a habit that is positive.

Quote from ‘My name is Earl’ : “ We tried replacing cigarettes with carrot sticks but we couldn’t get em to light”

Don’t let life get you down, build yourself and others up. Amen

I have been studying the waste management system with my English classes. When I asked the kids what they wanted to DO in the unit of learning they replied they wanted to go to the landfill and see the masses of rubbish that they learnt were thrown out in their city. (1,600 tons a day)

The landfill was closed down over 10 years ago but there are still people collecting, sorting and re-selling garbage in the area. We drove around the remains of the landfill (42 hectares) and parked at a block of land where people were sorting through garbage.

Some of my students were nearly physically ill when they arrived. We walked around in the piles of garbage and talked to the people who live and work there every day. There were young children, teenage kids and their parents, generations reduced to collecting and sorting rubbish for a living. Unable to break out of the cycle of poverty as they only earn about $1-2 a day.

My students wrote reflections about the experience and I was very glad to see that they got what I was hoping to they would get out of the experience, a sense of empathy and responsibility. A few days later God gave me a sermon to share with them and here is an abbreviated version for you.

Mark 10:23And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

The Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)

19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.

23 In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ 25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ 27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ 30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ “

Are you and I like that rich person ?

The bible tells us that if we have 2 coats we should share one with those who have none. No matter how little you have there is always someone worse off you can give to.

The Widow and the Mites

Mark 12:41-44 41 And he sat down over against the treasury, and beheld how the multitude cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. 42 And there came a poor widow, and she cast in two mites, which make a farthing. 43 And he called unto him his disciples, and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, This poor widow cast in more than all they that are casting into the treasury: 44 for they all did cast in of their superfluity; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.

Give, love and take responsibility for those less fortunate than you. Remember the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30. You are expected to DO something with what you have and those who have more are expected to DO more.

Be a light…God Bless You

Another Follow Up to ‘It’s Amazing What God Will Give You If You Ask’

(I suggest you read ‘It’s Amazing What God Will Give You If You Ask’ and A Follow Up to ‘It’s Amazing What God Will Give You If You Ask’ before reading this post. They’re lower down. If you don’t I hope you get something anyway. GBU)

Not only is it not about how it feels but I also know from personal experience that God works even when we think things aren’t working. My wife’s grandfather belonged to a religion called ‘Jawi Wetan’ for most of his 70 odd years. It is similar to Buddhism in ways. He and the other people from his temple would spend the whole night meditating a few nights a week. When someone got sick or moved house or had a baby, they would meditate.

In his late 70’s he got sick and received Jesus. When he recovered he would come to church with my wife and I. Two years later, he died. I am very aware that my wife’s grandmother, who still belongs to that religion, who we convinced to come into the church instead of waiting in the car when I preached, could have been the major work God was doing on Sunday.

It happened once before, we held a retreat in 2007 and one of my wife’s cousins came to play keyboard even though he was a Muslim. He came again in 2008. After the 2008 retreat, my friend Jos and I got together to evaluate things and decided that the money we spent on the retreat could have been better spent on school fees. Long story short, then we found out that Krisma (my wife’s cousin) accepted Jesus a few days after the retreat. We are now praying and getting ready for the 2010 retreat.

Just remember it is not about you J I’ll leave you with what mother Teresa said when a reported asked her “You have had success serving so many people in India and yet there are still so many people around the world you haven’t reached, do you feel like you have failed?”

“I wasn’t called to be successful, I was called to be obedient”

2 Possibilities – 1 Response

I always used the analogy that the world was like the Titanic. It was going down and our job was to grab as many people and stick them on the ‘life boat’ as possible. Then a new train of though was presented to me and I entertained the notion that perhaps Christians will eventually work their way to the top of every area of life, politics, business, education etc.

My conclusion is that it doesn’t matter !! It doesn’t matter if the result of human greed will cause the destruction of the planet and at D-day a certain number of people will be saved and the rest will not. It doesn’t matter if eventually the entire planet will be a ‘Christian utopia’ and Jesus will descend from Heaven and thank us all for preparing the earth for His arrival.

What matters is MY response is the same :

Luke 10: 27 He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself’

I can spend the rest of my life trying my best to do those two things. Then, if the world ends tomorrow, I am safe in the knowledge that I did all I could with the time I had available. If the earth takes my lifetime to evolve into a place where all people love God and surrender their life to Jesus, I am safe in the knowledge that I did all I could to bring that about and I have a place there.

GBU

The cow ‘turds’ of my past are the compost of my future

As I rode my motorcycle to an orphanage a year or so ago I was petrified I wouldn’t have anything to say to the kid I was going to counsel. I had thoughts of listening to his story and not even understanding what he was saying as he was from Ambon and, even though my Indonesian is pretty good, I might simply not be able to understand what he was saying. Even if I managed to understand, I was filled with uncertainty about whether I would be able to be of any help to him whatsoever. Doubt tortured me and I wondered why I had volunteered myself to be an ear for these kids.

And then it happened. As the kid spoke I was filled with awe at how great God is. He shared his life story, growing up in Ambon and how his father had abandoned his family. His struggle with guilt because of the terrible model he had been for his younger brother and on and on…. It was all exactly the same or very close to the experiences I had during my childhood and teen years.

The next week I went through the exact same doubts and in a completely different context the next kid had experiences very similar to mine. And so, week after week, God sent teens for me to minister to and ironically He had prepared me to minister to them over a decade before through the experiences I went through during my childhood.

Not long after a minister was preaching and he said “Pupuk masa laluku menjadi pupuk untuk masa depanku” (the cow ‘turds’ of my past are the compost of my future) For me it all fit together as it only can when God is the orchestrator. I saw that all the pain and problems I had experienced with my father’s suicide, leaving home at 14 years old and almost 10 years of substance abuse and wandering, were partly preparation for the ministry I love doing these days.

I resolved to take a different perception of problems and always be (at least partly) pleased when trouble strikes as I trust that God has something in store for me. Amen

If you think of your spirit or ‘spiritual man’ as a physical being, what type of person are they ?

Is your spirit man malnourished and weak ? Is your spirit man fat, greedy and lazy ? Is your spirit man well trained and an example of a well tuned machine ?

If your spirit man is malnourished, FEED HIM !! You may be living in a body that gets a big hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs, lunch of pizza and salad and a dinner of steak, potatoes, peas and carrots followed by ice cream and chocolate sauce BUT your spirit man has to starve or make do with a cold snack of bible reading, prayer or worship a couple of times a week.

If your spirit man is fat and lazy you are probably the sort of person who loves being blessed. You go to church or read the bible or pray knowing that you will get something out of it. The problem is you fail to give back (or give away). Look for opportunities to be a blessing. Take the Word of God as it is meant to be taken, literally, and feed the poor and widows.

If your spiritual man is well trained, good. Don’t loose your conditioning. The muscles of a body builder will turn to fat as soon as they stop working out. Keep growing and building in God and as you flex your spiritual muscles the Devil will be rebuked and people will see the good deeds you do and come to know your father in Heaven. Amen

Imagine you were on the spaceship in the picture above. The environment you had just been in was desolate but it was all you had ever known. You existed there and you knew how to survive, perhaps you had even found some happiness and contentment.

Then one day you realized there was another potential place to live. You set off on a journey to the place in the distance. If you looked at where you were going it would be small compared with the place you were coming from which would fill your perspective.

As you travelled you would reach the half way point and eventually the place you were going would fill more and more of your perspective. Eventually your new destination would be prominent and the place you came from would be small in the distance.

This is an analogy of our walk with God. The old environment is ourselves, our ego. We must leave it behind and take on more and more of His characteristics until the old self we once were is in the distance past and He fills all of our perspective.

God Bless You

Yearn4God Update

Some friends and I have started a ministry called Yearn4God. We have a website http://www.yearn4god.com and have been building up our missionary work. Here is an update of what we have planned for 2009. Please keep us in your prayers. GBU

Our main focus has been trying to get our legal status as a foundation solidified. We are now at the point where we have a legally registered foundation and a bank account. The final step is to complete the lawyer’s fees and the process will be complete. This will give us a much stronger status from which to work and we will be able to put assets under the control of the foundation. It also means we can hire staff and legally run a charity, school, church and other operations in Indonesia (with appropriate further paperwork)

Jos has been attending a course on fundraising strategies and we intend to hold a seminar for people associated with Y4G and other interested parties. During the seminar, Jos will share the knowledge he has gained. The seminar will hopefully be some time in March or April.

We have had 2 fellowship since the retreat in November of 2008. One of them was last week (12/3/09). We distributed the results from the spiritual gifting test we did at the retreat. The kids also shared about their dreams and goals and prayed for each other. Krisma gave his salvation testimony and a few others testified about how great God is.

Throughout the year of 2009 we hope to continue having regular fellowships for the participants of the 2007 CHARGED retreat and the 2008 JESUS POWERED retreat as well as other children from Ada Hari Esok and Rumah Sejati orphanages. We are yet to meet and evaluate the possibility of having another retreat this year. A possibility may be to use the money for school fees and hold an over night event within Surabaya.

We have a close relationship with some people who have been working for over a year to begin a school for disadvantaged children. In January, the school opened 2 branches on opposite sides of Surabaya. They have 12 and 15 kindergarten students respectively. The children come mostly from families that survive by collecting and sorting rubbish. Our hope is to provide more information about the school and all involved with the aim of supporting their ministry. There are many areas we could help, from providing education materials, food or medicine, to teacher training and family seminars.

We all have a strong desire to help children, teens and adults with education. The statistics for Indonesia are appalling ! Around 50% of people to not go above a grade 6, primary school education. Our hope is to provide school fees, books, uniforms and subsidy packages. In the medium to long term, we would also like to provide job training and micro credit for teens and adults. A relatively miniscule amount of money can transform a person’s prospects from dismal to hopeful.

I have felt a desire to reach out in a prison ministry and have made some contacts. I am yet to visit a prison but hope to do so soon. As yet I am unaware of the ministry potentials there but I pray a friendly face and perhaps a few necessities can help to spread the light of Jesus. Again, in the medium to long term it would be great to have support and training programs for those leaving prison and the families of those in prison.

All of these thoughts and plans are in our minds and hearts. God wiling, they will blossom into fruit for His kingdom.

God bless you, Y4G team