Monthly Archives: November 2012

mmmm revelation 21 mmmm

Come for a delicious journey through God’s Word with a hungry Sydney Bible College student!

Do you hunger for something more filling than yumcha?

If so, read on ….

Revelation 21:1-4 (NIV 1984)

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, 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 eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

What do you look forward to?

I look forward to actually meeting God face-to-face and living with him in his city.

Imagine a place where there is no:

  • War
  • Death
  • Sickness, Cancer, Arthritis
  • Pain
  • Mourning & Crying

Our current earth is only a shadow of things to come and we are only passing through. This is not our permanent home. There is something better to look forward to.

The problems of this world only serve as a reminder not to place our hope in our own abilities.

We cannot fix man-made Climate Change. Our world is dying from pollution. We haven’t cared for our world properly and face major environmental problems – erosion, deforestation, salinity & land degradation.

There has always been conflict in some part of our world as peoples war against each other. Today it is Syria & Afghanistan. Yesterday it was Iraq, Lebanon, Vietnam, Korea, Germany. There have been mass-shootings in the USA and Norway in the last few years. Recently, an innocent woman was brutally raped and murdered while walking home, shocking the city of Melbourne in Australia.

It is obvious that as humans we fail to control our world and find a solution to our countless social problems. There is crime, domestic violence, divorce, depression, homelessness & unemployment. We try to escape our problems by turning to alcohol and drugs. But this is no solution.

Wouldn’t you feel cheated if this is all the world had to offer you?

Jesus conquered death and offers us life with him. There is hope beyond this world. Our old world and its problems will disappear. It will be replaced with a beautiful new world.

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mmmm job 28 mmmm

Come for a delicious journey through God’s Word with a hungry Sydney Bible College student!

Do you crave something more filling than yumcha?

If so, read on ….

Job 28:20-28 (NIV 1984)

Where then does wisdom come from?
Where does understanding dwell?
It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing,
concealed even from the birds of the air.
Destruction and Death say,
‘Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.’
God understands the way to it
and he alone knows where it dwells,
for he views the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
When he established the force of the wind
and measured out the waters,
when he made a decree for the rain
and a path for the thunderstorm,
then he looked at wisdom and appraised it;
he confirmed it and tested it.
And he said to man,
The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
and to shun evil is understanding.’”

The book of Job in the Old Testament is about a Man and his relationship with God.

Job experiences unexplained suffering and cries out in pain.
His friends try to offer comforting words of wisdom but are tactless and foolish.
Job wonders where true wisdom can be found.

Only God is the source of true wisdom.

Man can find wisdom in right relationship with God.
We do this by humbly approaching Him and recognising that He is the Creator (and we are not!)

He creates thunderstorms like Super Storm Sandy that devastated NE USA recently.
I love New York in the Spring – one of the great cities of the world alongside Sydney.
So to see the recent devastation is heart-breaking and humbling.

When suffering happens to us, we cry out in pain.
But instead of asking, “Why did you do this, God?”

We should ask, “How can I trust God to get me through this suffering?”

God is more important than our treasured homes that can be washed away in a storm.

God is more reliable than politicians who promise but fail to deliver.

God wants us to trust Him when everything collapses around us.

He sent Jesus to give us eternal hope so that we can weather the most powerful storm.

Who do you trust when you lose everything?

mmmm Bible mmmm