Comfort

My comfort in my suffering is this: 
Your promise preserves my life, O Lord.


-Psalm 119:50-

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**

Why?

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
My Savior and my God.


-Psalm 42:11-

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**

Introduction to the book of Habakuk

Why is the book of Habakuk worth to read?

When God lets you down
1. Spiritual Growth
*We need to recognize its gonna take time
*We have to study at your own time

2. Permission to be authentic
*None of us are perfect
*The Fray- 'You found me' -song about God
*Sounds blapshemous
*Habakuk 1:2: How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save?
*Habakuk 1:4: Therefore the law is paralized,
and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
*Habakuk 1:13: Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous" Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more rightous than themselves?


3. Help you go the distance
*Everytime we face trouble, we ask why is there suffering when we don't deal with it
*How can you endure suffering without losing faith
*1 Peter 1:6-7: In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

*When suffering, we run away from God
*Instead, we should run to him and push to him
*1 Thessalonians 1:6: You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.


4. Help you connect with unbelievers
*Unbelievers come with doubts and questions
*We need to be able to engage and explore with them
*One reason we are scared to share our faith is because we don't know answers to questions they ask
*The best part? We don't have to answer
*Just share the journey and ask questions by just having faith

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**

Nobody Stands Alone

Dan Harding

19 September 2010

*The richer we are, we exclude people
*We tend to want to be in the in-group that we exclude other people

Objections
1. We love people
2. We like to hang around, its a great community
*A great community does not mean we voluntarily exclude people

Patterns from exclusion to inclusion
*Because God tends to include people that we attempt to exclude

1. Deuteronomy 10:17-19: For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.

*Would you care and include people who are easily excluded?

2. City of Refuge
Joshua 20:1-6: Then the Lord said to Joshua: "Tell the Israelites to designate the cities of refuge, as I instructed you through Moses, so that anyone who kills a person accidentally and unintentionally may flee there and find protection from the avenger of blood. "When he flees to one of these cities, he is to stand in the entrance of the city gate and state his case before the elders of that city. Then they are to admit him into their city and give him a place to live with them. If the avenger of blood pursues him, they must not surrender the one accused, because he killed his neighbor unintentionally and without malice aforethought. He is to stay in that city until he has stood trial before the assembly and until the death of the high priest who is serving at that time. Then he may go back to his own home in the town from which he fled."

*Whoever wanted to avenge the blood of those who accidentally committed sin may run away to the city of refuge

3. Matthew 1:1-5: A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse.

*Tamar, Rahab and Ruth are women
*God loves women but they always put men in the role of leadership
Ruth- A Moabite, enemy of the Jews
Rahab- prostitude
Tamar- did incest, scandolous
*We don't have to be perfect to be included in God's family

Acts 11:1-18: The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them."
Peter began and explained everything to them precisely as it had happened: "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven b its four corners, and it came down to where I was. I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air. Then i heard a voice telling me, 'Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.'
"I replied, 'Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.'
"The voice spoke from heaven a second time, 'Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.'
This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.
Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man's house. He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, 'Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.'
"As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?"
When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying. "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentances unto life."

*dream
*This story is about religious people. Many think only religious people can be in the in-group
*Circumcision party that excluded people are the ones God wants
*Is it worth sharing to people that are not involve
*We might blindly exclude people
*It is not only the nice Godly thing to do but that God wants to include these people

Thing we can include people
1. Hobbies we have in common
2. All of us have homes- powerful environment to include people
3. Holidays-invite people for a week

*God longs for people to include them in His heart
*Whom is God calling you to include?
*Communion is a symbolic way to include people in God's kingdom

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**

Alone?

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!
See, I have engraved you on
the palm of my hands


-Isaiah 49:15-16-

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**

Great is He

God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 


-1 John 3:20-

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**

The Perils of Looking Back

Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."


-Luke 9:62-

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**

Then...

Jesus said, "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

-Matthew 28:20-


**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**

Troubled?

"He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him
and show him my salvation," says the Lord.


-Psalm 91:15-16-

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**

Separation NOT

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?..
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.


-Romans 8:35-39-

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**

How can God allow Suffering?

Mark Broadbent
12 September 2010

*Most of us have experiences that are inconvenient but not to an extent of suffering
*Most of us don't really know what it's like to suffer
*We are living in quiet a comfortable life
*We need to acknowledge this although we encounter lots of problems

1. Getting rid of God doesn't get rid of suffering
*The problem still remain
*Most people are only focusing on one part; Christianity
*They look at the problem of evil and world and asks if Christianity solves their problem
*But if we compare Christianity with Atheism, we must ask ourselves how well does Atheism solve suffering
*It's not wise to just focus on one world view but instead, think which one makes more sense
*It could be that none of the beliefs is satisfying us
*Instead, we should ask this question;
"If we get rid of god, what do we do with suffering tomorrow?"

2. How can God allow suffering?
a) God never intended for there to be suffering
*Not good for man to be alone. So God created a partner for Adam-There was no suffering involved
*God intended pure bliss, no pain, jealousy, emptiness and not a hint of suffering

Matthew 6:9-10: 
"This, then, is how you should pray:
" 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed by your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.


b) Suffering entered the world because of sin
*Adam and Eve realized they were naked and covered themselves. Thats where suffering came in.

Romans 5:12: Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.


c) God can use suffering for good
*Suffering can be use to make people stronger and contented
*Nobody has ever gone something great without undergoing suffering
*Suffering can be use for something good

Romans 12:2-8: Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let his use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.


d) Jesus suffered more than anyone
*He tasted his our medicine for us

Isaiah: 53:3-5: 
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

e) There will be no suffering in heaven
Revelation 21:3-4: And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with me, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyss. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."


*This world is the worse that life will ever get. Thats for those who put their faith in Jesus.

The Prob? THIS DOESNT ACTUALLY HELP
*For a person undergoing suffering, those explanations aren't helpful at all.

Mark 15:34: And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi Eloi, lama sabachthani"- which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"


*Our sin was placed on Jesus and God turned his back against his son
*He is God. He would know that someone has to come to be the mediator of God and men and knew that someone had to bear our sin before the world began but why did Jesus cry out "My Lord, my Lord, WHY did you forsake me?"
*Is it because suffering has no solution?
*Is is because it is our nature to ask why in the midst of suffering
*He knows how it feels
*He won't give you the answer but he has gone through the feeling of suffering

3. We are called to enter into suffering not to avoid it.
*There are people that won't serve and give because of too many worldly priorities but claim to be a Christian because he believes in God
*Commitment requires sacrifice and he would not want to go through it
*Meant to live an easy life
*People would say life would be easy with Jesus

The PROB?
*He has no idea in Christianity, this is just part of church culture
*Being a non Christian, we can invest out time, energy into anywhere we want
*We may use that to minimize suffering
*But being a Christian, we should enter into the world of suffering, to enter and experience those who are suffering together
*To be the body of Christ and fulfill the mission in this world
*Can't just read a couple pages of the gospel and be a Christian

Matthew 16:21-26: From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"

Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Stan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?


*Peter have been bought to the perception that Jesus came to let us live an easy life
*Many people have been in the church for so many years but drop out sooner or later
*Many have never take up the invitation of taking their own cross, dieing in the past life and being reborn again
*We wouldn't let our present life and enter the new life not free of suffering but of which matters to Christ, which is to enter the life of suffering and minister in the life of others.
*It is a free gift that we enter a door not to a playground but a door of suffering
*Is this something that you are having trouble with?

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**

Friends

Jesus said, "You are my friends if you do what I command... I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you."


-John 15:14-16-

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**

Here I am!

"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me," says the Lord.


-Revelation 3:20-

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**

Fruits of Labour

Blessed are all who fear the Lord,
who walk in his ways.
You will eat the fruit of your labor;
blessing and prosperity will be yours.


-Psalm 128:1-2-

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**

walk walk walking in the light

Walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.


-Deuteronomy 5:33-

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**

Ablaze

When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.


-Isaiah 43:2-3-


I thank God everyday for taking care of me,
for waking me up in the morning to do my devotions before the alarm strikes,
to cover me with guidance and protect me from the rain as i walk to and back alone from uni:)

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**

Look at the Bright Side :)

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**

Joyful joyful We Adore Thee

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.


-Romans 12:12-

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**

A light at the end of the tunnel

Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."


-John 8:12-

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**

Refugees

Father's day 5 September 2010

Micheal Gilliver and Dan Harding


Rules of having a refugee

1. Well founded fear
*What documentation do we have to obtain?

2. Reasons for race, religion, nationality, membership, particular social group or political opinion
*Crime offended is not counted

3. Unable or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country

We must flee the country to be a refugee
*If you want UN protection, you have to flee

Someone from the other party has to approve whether you are fit to be a refugee
*When you get to another country, where do you go?
*To be assessed is not easy

Total number of refugees- 43.3 million
15.2 million- Legal
983000-Asylum
27.1 million-Internally displaced persons (waiting to get out of the country)

Await Resettlement
385 years to get to the cue of going out of the country
17 years guarenteed to be in a particular place only..job, logging and money is uncertain still

People Smugglers
*Refugees accepted from Indonesia 08-09
Refugees =35 people

*Total awaiting assessment and settlement
Refugees and Asylum seekers= 2878

*Some would bribe and get out instead of waiting 30 years to settle down in another country
*So we should do the right thing to accept all refugees and divide them into groups of 150 so that they would not do the wrong thing to get out

Personal Responsibility
*Trung was a refugee from South Vietnam but now is a pastor for the refugees in Brisbane
*He said we should be grateful to God that provided him everything he needed
*Thus, we should pay taxes because this land saved his life

*The Bible says: Stranger and Alien in the Old Testament
*In Hebrew, it is translated as immigrant or refugee (A non citizen without any rights)
*Thus, it says we should have the personal responsibility to love others
*Deuteronomy 10:17-19: For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.

*He is describing himself and particularly to love the alien, fatherless and the widow
*We should cater for the needy
*The greening laws teaches the people that after plowing the land, do not collect what is left behind but let the fatherless, widows and refugees take
*Pay the refugees well
*God rages the nation when they forget the refugees

*We have social security to take care but in the bible, we are suppose to individually look after the refugees
*Christians has the capacity to take care of the refugees (we are all well affordable)

Broad Responsibility
*Jesus rekindled a lot of laws
*Matthew 22:36-40 (quoting Leviticus 19:18): "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
Jesus replied: "' Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself,' All the Law and Prophets hand on these two commandments."

*Luke 10:29-37: But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring an oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him,"
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

*Neighbour-anybody you come across that needs your help whether they are of different ethnicity, background that you cannot get along is your neighbour

Metanarrative - "The BIG story"
*Exile and Return
*Psalm 46: (God is my refuge) God is our refuge and strength, and ever-present help in trouble.

*The whole point of Jesus is trying to bring us back home
*People may work hard, become sick, die but why are we frustrated with all these?- because we are not home yet?
*We are refugees. If we are lost, God says he is here and will prepare a place for us in heaven.


**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**

In times of Distress

In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me,
I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.


-Jonah 2:2-

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**

Blameless in his sight

He whose walk is blameless
and who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from his heart
and has no slander on his tongue,
who does his neighbor no wrong
and casts no slur on his fellowman,
who despises a vile man
but honors those who fear the Lord,
who keeps his oath 
even when it hurts,
who lends his money without ursury
and does not accept a bribe 
against the innocent.
He who does these things 
will never be shaken


-Psalm 15:2-5

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**

Life

Live a life worthy of the Lord... please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.


-Colossians 1:10-

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**