hump day

Did you feel like it was a struggle to get over hump day today?

We sure did.

We were feeling tired after a big week so far.  People.  People.  People.  For introverts like me it's been a taxing week.  And even for the extroverts it been a draining time too.

Today was a big day with the team doing train station leafletting, primary Scripture lessons, a high school lunchtime Christian group session, Wednesday church, door knocking, jogging group and a women's event.  I wasn't sure we were going to make it, or at least I wasn't sure I was going to make it though the afternoon, but our dear heavenly Father sustained us.

All praise be to Him.

"you are the spawn of Satan"

This morning I met a lady at the train station.  She had not stepped foot inside a church for 46 years.  Each time she passed the church she shuddered.

She is a curious person, who loves asking questions.  But when she was 10 a stern Sunday School, her Sunday School teacher chastised her for this, and said, "You are the spawn of Satan."

Yikes!  How awful!!!!!  I find it incomprehensible that someone would say that to anyone, least of all a child.

But amazingly, when she got a flyer at the station this morning she came back and talked to us.  She's received a number of flyers from the church in her letterbox, and she's been thinking, "Maybe I could give it another go.  Maybe it's different."  Today she got to meet the senior minister, and found that he's not a draconian warlord, and that they even have question and answer time at the end of sermons! :-)  So she said, this Sunday's my birthday, maybe I'll make it a time for a new start, and come back to church.  Please pray that she does come.  More than that, please pray that she comes back to Jesus too.

the most important thing we'll do all week

This morning in our team devotions we read:

⁵ What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given. ⁶ I [Paul] planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. ⁷ So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ⁸ Now the one planting and the one watering are one in purpose, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. ⁹ For we are God’s coworkers.^[e] You are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3)

God give spiritual growth.  That is why the most important thing we'll do all week is what we did tonight - pray.

It was great to be able to pray together with brothers and sisters from Pennant Hills church.

Her name means 'white snow'

Today we had the pleasure of visiting the English for Life program at the church.

People come to learn English, which helps them for this life, and they also learn the Bible, which helps them for the next life.

The advanced English class put on a play today, based on the story of Jesus healing and forgiving a paralysed man (Mark 2:1-12).

They did a fantastic job!  Afterwords, Phil shared how Jesus can not only heal us on the outside, but on the inside too.

This fit really well with a conversation I had with one of the ladies.  She said, "My daughter's name means 'white snow'."  I said, "That's what Jesus' cleansing is like.  He makes us like white snow.

"it's like the United Nations here" - mission day 1

What do we need for mission?  People and food!  (am I forgetting something...?)

We certainly were blessed with good food and good company today on our first day at St Marks Pennant Hills.

I was particularly encouraged to meet brothers and sisters from various parts of the world.  One guy said, "It's like the United Nations here."

I was able to hear the testimonies of brothers and sisters who have come from the falsehood of Hinduism and Buddhism to the true and living faith in Jesus.

We are praying that God will grow His family in Pennant Hills as we go out with these brothers and sisters to tell people in the area about Jesus.  Will you join us in prayer?

textual criticism - useful?

Even though it seems annoying, textual criticism is important because the trustworthiness of the Bible is important.  We want to have a foundation for our faith.  We want to know that what we believe is true.  And in order to know the truth we need to have an authoritative source of truth.  But what if there is a question about the trustworthiness of the Bible?  Some people have concerns about the historicity of the Bible, others have concerns about its content, but textual criticism deals with issues concerning the text of the Bible.

There are “multiple copies” of the Bible so to speak.  It’s not as crazy as it first sounds, though.  In the case of the New Testament they made oodles and oodles of copies so that lots of people could read it.  But this was way before the printing press, so they made copies by hand, so you’d expect the odd ‘typo’ to get in.  Having said that, though, most of the variations in the manuscripts don’t make a difference to the overall meaning (for example, spelling errors).  So if someone says to you “you can’t trust the Bible because there are so many variations in the manuscripts”, don’t worry.  There’s not one single Christian belief which is in doubt because of a textual variant. Thank you textual critics who've gone through and checked out stuff like that!

We can trust the Bible.  God worked through people to write down the Bible.  He was in control of the writing process.  He has also continued to be sovereign as the Bible has been preserved, transmitted and translated.  And more amazingly, He teaches us the Bible from the inside.  His Spirit is inside us, helping us to understand the Bible, to remember it and to live it out. 

The creator of the universe speaks to us.  Wow.

hello neglected blog world

Hi again!

After a long absence while I was out of town, I'm now trying to get back into the swing of College and blogging.  It's a good reflective discipline for me. :-)