April 06, 2011

EASTER AND THE MODERN FAMILY

We are currently enjoying a series of messages entitled: MODERN FAMILY...and it’s again a real privilege to be able to share parts of the journey that Michael and I have taken over the last almost thirty years of marriage…to where we find ourselves today.
Ever wondered, if you could ‘turn back time’ what your life would have looked like, had you made one or two very different choices and decisions to the ones that you actually did make?  I mean, perhaps you might have lived, worked or been somewhere so very different to the place you are at now.  We can all muse on what ‘might have been’ - and it’s not always a perfect daydream, is it? You may have come through some stuff in life that should have caused you to fail, but by the grace of God, you are flying.  That’s a similar story to ours, no matter what it looks like.  Most of us in modern families have a story to tell.
And that’s the story of REDEMPTION.
A word that people know, but often don’t understand fully.
I have been redeemed - the price paid - and I don’t deserve that new place that I am living in now, perhaps….
You have been rescued, brought ‘home’, lovingly restored…to a life that is outside that for which you once were headed!
And that’s the story of EASTER, isn’t it? That a loving God in Heaven has reached out His eternal hand to save us from ourselves.  Just like the guy who hung on the cross next to the dying Jesus…yet because of what he didn’t deserve, still ended up going to be with Jesus in Paradise.
All because he asked.
Don’t get too tied up in the ‘journey’ that you lose sight of where you are headed…Easter is a reminder that we all can live in a modern family, involved and immersed in the everyday….but this season comes around and wakes us up to the beauty and reality of how kind and gracious Jesus us….“today, you will be with me in Paradise”...though he didn’t deserve it…though we don’t either.
He loves us.
Valery and Michael

February 24, 2011

GREATER LOVE

It’s hard to not wonder what’s going on in our world with all the happenings that either are natural disasters or man made disasters, as we turn on the news on the TV each day, isn’t it?
Perhaps you are focused on your own area of the world. Certainly we in Australia have had our fair share of “natural” disasters lately.  But now, the latest news of a city devastated in New Zealand, in Christchurch, in the “cousin country” to Australia, where lives have been lost and people have seen their futures forever impacted by one of the most furious of upheavals over which we, as human beings, have no control…Earthquake.

As we rush to this nation’s aid with trained and equipped urban rescue teams, the main game is for them to pull people out of the wreckage alive, and to not get into trouble in the process themselves.  It is perhaps the most noble of pursuits - that is, to put our own lives at risk for another person’s life to be saved - and we all are both grateful and in many ways indebted to these great people who lay down their own ives for their fellow men and women. We continue to hope and also to pray for those who are still trapped and unable to be reached, that God will be their strength and their hope.

Jesus said:
’ Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”  John 15:13

But laying down my life is possible in many ways, and because I am not a member of a crack urban rescue crew doesn’t mean I can’t help my friends, I am sure we all realise.
Hopefully though, it doesn’t take a disaster, man-made or natural, for me to see the needs of those around me as something that I can do my bit about.

Do I have a lonely neighbour who can be encouraged with a kind word, not ignored because I haven’t spoken to her or him in ages…
Is there a single parent living locally to whom I can give a hand…a meal cooked, a lawn mowed, a day off while I mind the kids?
Is there a family in grief over a terminally ill person in my local hospital, that I can pray for, and reach out to with practical help?
Is there a way I can assist a family who may need a lift somewhere, particularly on a Sunday when I am comfortably on my own way to church?

YOU are actually God’s crack urban team…just where you are!
What assistance can you render to be Jesus in your community today?
How can you lay down your own life, in your very own local context?

As we do it, we are actually in a way pulling people out of situations where they may be crushed, trapped, wounded or hopeless….
Go, team!

January 28, 2011

UP AND AWAY! THE ‘ABUNDANTLY BEYOND’ LIFE

ABUNDANTLY BEYOND ALL THAT YOU CAN ASK OR THINK!
That’s what God promises us when we live the life of faith in Jesus!
Abundance - it’s a bit of a buzz word, particularly among Christians!
And yet, many of us don’t experience much of it…let alone going BEYOND abundance in our every day lives.
We talk about it, but are constantly in pursuit of the ABUNDANCE that is spoken of in the Word of God.
Here it is in the Amplified version of that verse:
Ephesians 3:20 (Amplified Bible)
Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]—

My husband often tells me that because I am a female I have many more words to use in a day than he does.  How blessed am I! That’s why I love to read the AMPLIFIED version of the Bible (above).  It actually gives me much more of a picture of what is really meant. But often we need to hear it AMPLIFIED because we hear God’s promises so often that we are not listening!
Often when I hear ‘buzz’ words they can glide past me without the impact that’s intended just because I hear them so often!
ABUNDANCE!
Does God REALLY mean me to have it in every area of my life on Earth?
Well, yes, He does…

Here’s His promise to you and me:
“I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).”
  John 10:10
Yep, Jesus actually said that!
so that means it is for YOU…

Curious?  This coming Sunday, Jan 30th, we will be starting a series on ABUNDANTLY BEYOND…
It’s not just for those Buzz Lightyears amongst us who are used to the flying high life…but for everyone who believes in Jesus.
Life ABUNDANTLY BEYOND all that YOU can ask or think…is that possible?

See you in church!
Valery