Good Knight Newcastle

Well decided to take another adventure to the great southern city this weekend. This time in order to watch a league game the Mighty Melbourne Storm up against the high flying Newcastle Knights. Newcastle once again proved they are nothing without Joey Johns. The mighty Storm romped in scoring 52-6. You can never say that watching your team win is boring BUT honestly they should bring in a mercy rule, if only to save energy for the next week. To all my St. George mates, .  Another good reason to go is that it’s a cheap family night. All up only 43 dollars for two adults and four kids. Compare this to $30 to go watch Aerial Pingpong on ANZAC Day. Honestly there is no comparison.

 

Well I didn’t get tickets for Australia v Greece so my goal of seeing a major game live in all four football codes this year is out the window but I will be there in spirit. It was never going to happen anyway because I’m not going to an AFL game anytime soon. Might wait for either the Australia v New Zealand tri-series league match or Australia v England (Union) in June.

 

Hmmm Tough Choice.

 

What do you think and who’s with me?

Family

I ran into a stranger as he passed by,
"Oh excuse me please" was my reply.

He said, "Please excuse me too;
I wasn’t watching for you."

We were very polite, this stranger and I.
We went on our way and we said goodbye.

But at home a different story is told,
How we treat our loved ones, young and old.

Later that day, cooking the evening meal,
My son stood beside me very still.

When I turned, I nearly knocked him down.
"Move out of the way," I said with a frown.

He walked away, his little heart broken.
I didn’t realize how harshly I’d spoken.

While I lay awake in bed,
God’s still small voice came to me and said,

"While dealing with a stranger,
common courtesy you use,
but the family you love, you seem to abuse.

Go and look on the kitchen floor,
You’ll find some flowers there by the door.

Those are the flowers he brought for you.
He picked them himself: pink, yellow and blue.

He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise,
you never saw the tears that filled his little eyes."

By this time, I felt very small,
And now my tears began to fall.

I quietly went and knelt by his bed;
"Wake up, little one, wake up," I said.

"Are these the flowers you picked for me?"
He smiled, "I found ‘em, out by the tree.

I picked ‘em because they’re pretty like you.
I knew you’d like ‘em, especially the blue."

I said, "Son, I’m very sorry for the way I acted today;
I shouldn’t have yelled at you that way."
He said, "Oh, Mom, that’s okay.
I love you anyway."

I said, "Son, I love you too,
and I do like the flowers, especially the blue."

 

FAMILY
Are you aware that if we died tomorrow, the company
that we are working for could easily replace us in
a matter of days.!
But the family we left behind will feel the loss
for the rest of their lives.

And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more
into work than into our own family,
an unwise investment indeed,
don’t you think?
So what is behind the story?

Do you know what the word FAMILY means?
FAMILY = (F)ATHER (A)ND (M)OTHER (I) (L)OVE (Y)OU

My Encouragement.

Have you ever heard of Al Capone, Bonnie and Clyde and Ned Kelly? What are they famous for and what happened in the end. They were all criminals. They committed crimes and were caught and punished for their crimes. Ultimately they all died as a result of their crimes.

But what is Crime? It is going against the rules put in place by the rulers of the land in which we live. In Australia, we have parliaments that make the laws for us to live by. They set in place the rules that we must follow in order for society to function. Written into these laws are a set of punishments if someone breaks the law.

If we break a law we can be punished and the severity of the punishment depends on the crime committed. For example, if Rohan was caught driving at 170 km/h in a 60 zone he would lose his licence but if he ran someone over whilst doing 170km/h he would be sent to gaol. This will depend however on a variety of factors. From the road conditions to what the person was doing on the road in the first place. Even the mood the judge is important. Here we see the flaw in Man’s law and Man’s sentence. It is written by Man and as Man is imperfect, his law is imperfect. His judgment may be imperfect also.

But is there a perfect law? Well yes, God’s law is perfect. God’s law is a reflection of God himself and because God is perfect and pure, then so is His law. God’s law reflects His holiness and justice. But a law without consequences are just words. Words are easily broken.

To break God’s law is to sin. To sin against God is to challenge His character and authority and God has clearly shown He will punish anyone who breaks His law.

Throughout the bible there are examples of those who challenged God’s authority and were punished for it. At the very start in Genesis 3, man showed His intention to challenge God’s authority by disobeying Him and eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God had clearly warned Adam and Eve that eating from this tree would cause them to die and He was good to His word. He banished them out of the Garden. In the Garden, Adam and Eve had a perfect relationship with God; they walked and talked with God on a daily basis. But after they disobeyed God, after they had sinned against Him, that relationship was broken forever; and that pattern of behaviour was instilled in people from then on, and is still in us today.

God hates sin and it puts a barrier up to God. If we sin then we live a life that is separated from God. God, however, is always looking for a relationship with us. In Exodus and Leviticus, after God had given the Israelites the Ten Commandments, God gave them a further series of laws and regulations to follow in order to have a relationship with Him. One of these was a ritual that was to be performed to cleanse oneself from the sins that they had committed. The Israelites were required by the law to offer sacrifices to God to clean them from their sins.

Even then the Israelite’s kept on ignoring God and sinning and God kept on punishing them. Their hearts hadn’t changed towards him and they thought they if they kept offering sacrifices, then they would be ok. The deal here though was that every time they sinned they had to offer up a sacrifice. In fact, as Heb 10:3-4 reads “those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” No matter how many sacrifices the Israelites performed their sinful nature stopped them from having that relationship with God that He desired so much.

But God had a plan to put sin to death once and for all. God chose to make the ultimate sacrifice to take our sins away once and for all.

Jesus came into this world to do the one thing we weren’t prepared to do. Offer ourselves as a sacrifice to God. Jesus came into this world to do the will of God.

In v12-14 we read “But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time He waits for His enemies to be made His footstool, BECAUSE by one sacrifice He had made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”

When Christ died on the cross He took the sins of the people (past, present and future). Christ’s sacrifice put paid to any future sacrifices. There is no longer any requirement on our part to deal with our sin because it has already been dealt with. All we have to do is ask Jesus to take it off our hands.

Christ’s death was the final sacrifice and now He is the only way for us to be accepted by God. We are saved by accepting Jesus into our lives as our Lord and Saviour and then we are required to live according to His will. When Jesus rose on the third day sin was no more. When He rose to heaven, He sits at God’s right hand preparing a place for His people and using His enemies as his footstool. In Jesus’ death we see the love God and Jesus has for us. He conquered death for us to give hope beyond here.

The only decision we have to make now is whether we will trust God’s word and accept Jesus to be the Lord of our life. The only alternative is to live a life in sin and be separated from Him eternally.

Let me encourage you, trust God and make Jesus your own personal Saviour and Friend.

A Friend

A friend is someone who cares,

With whom everything you want to share,

A friend is one who makes you smile,

Even when you’re away a mile,

A friend is one who is in your heart,

Someone from whom you never want to part,

A friend is someone just like YOU,

Loving and caring, so sweet & true.