The Journey

Darren Lewis from FATHERING ADVENTURES features on this week's "Journey Unpacked"!

Tue, 22 May 2012 03:06:58 +0100

Hear DARREN from 9am (AEST) Weds 23rd May & re-run from 11am & 10pm (AEST) Sun 27th May!

Darren will share some of HIStory & the organisation he heads, FATHERING ADVENTURES,
now facilitating Father-Son and Dad & Daughter Adventures throughout Australia, and beyond.

“It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons.” Johann Schiller (1759-1805)

Research reveals that children with involved, loving fathers are significantly more likely to do well in school,
have healthy self-esteems, exhibit empathy and pro-social behaviour, and avoid high-risk behaviours
such as drug use, truancy, and criminal activity compared to children who have uninvolved fathers.

Sadly, research also reveals, as stated by Dr Bruce Robinson in his book “Fathering from the Fast Lane”, that
"A number of studies have shown us the awful truth of our lack of focus on our children:
on average, each child receives less than fifteen minutes of attention per day.
In fact some studies state that it is actually less than two minutes per day if a strict definition is used
(giving individual children focused attention, rather than interacting with all the children together)."

Being a father is more than genetics.
A father is a man who loves, delights in, teaches, mentors, nurtures, trains, and affirms a younger person.
His role is crucial in the younger person's physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual development.
He may be a biological father, a stepfather, an uncle, a grandfather, a mentor, a teacher, or a coach!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6y_hM88u3ag

This VIDEO CLIP gives a glimpse into what takes place during one of the great adventures available...
how the hearts of the fathers turn to their children, and how when that happens,
the hearts of the children turn to their fathers.

Please tell others, and by doing so, you'll be playing your part in influencing the fathers of this generation,
and the men, women, husbands, wives, marriages, relationships, and families in the generations to come!

FOR MORE INFO: http://www.fatheringadventures.com.au/

Home Group Notes - Jeroboam

Mon, 21 May 2012 05:37:12 +0100

Jeroboam:

The name consists of two elements very similar to Rehoboam: The last part, ‘am’ means a people ranging from mankind to a specific nation, even to a population of a town or community, it can also mean kinsmen as in a family, clan or tribe. The first part is ‘rahab’ but with a slightly different meaning due to the verb roots; this time meaning ‘much to contain, increase in multitude’. So Jeroboam could mean ‘May the people increase’, ‘Whose people are countless’ OR, ‘The people contendeth’.

This is very interesting because Jeroboam became the leader of the Northern Kingdom, the Northern Kingdom is also called 'Israel' and 'Ephraim' interchangeably in the OT - gaining rulership over the ten northern tribes after the people contended with Rehoboam, son of Solomon. Because Jeroboam was from the tribe of Ephraim, it's as though his own tribe really did increase to include ten whole tribes of Israel.

Jeroboam’s story can be found in 1 Kings chapters 11–14; 2 Chronicles chapters 10 – 13; the book of Amos and he is mentioned numerous times throughout 2^nd Kings in conjunction with other kings after him because they did evil in the sight of the Lord following the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

Jeroboam was of the tribe of Ephraim (Ephraim and Manasseh were the sons of Joseph) and Jeroboam was originally faithful to Solomon who established him as the overseer of the forced labour of the house of Joseph. So his job was to oppress his own tribe. However one day when Jeroboam was heading to Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah met him on the road; the prophet was wearing a new cloak and like many Biblical prophets, he did something physical to represent some event or circumstance that would take place. He took off his cloak and tore it into twelve pieces. Then he told Jeroboam to select ten pieces for himself and then Ahijah said in 1 Kings 11:31-40, ‘“Take for yourself ten pieces; for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and give you ten tribes, but He will have one tribe for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, because they have forsaken Me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the sons of Ammon; and they have not walked in My ways, doing what is right in My sight and observing My statutes and My ordinances as his father David did. Nevertheless I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand but I will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of My servant David whom I chose, who observed My commandments and My statutes; but I will take the kingdom from his son’s hand and give it to you, even ten tribes. But to his son I will give one tribe, that My servant David may have a lamp always before Me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to Myself to My name. I will take you, and you shall reign over whatever you desire, and you shall be king over Israel. Then it will be, that if you listen to all that I command you and walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight by observing My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build you an enduring house as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. Thus I will afflict the descendants of David for this, but not always.” (somehow Solomon found out about this encounter) Solomon sought therefore to put Jeroboam to death; but Jerobaom arose and fled to Egypt to Shishak king of Egypt, and he was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.’

When Rehoboam, Solomon's son, was about to ascend the throne, Jeroboam comes back to Israel to champion the rights of the people (the ones he used to oppress) but his motivation for doing so was not for the betterment of the people, but rather to see the nation split with him inheriting the ten northern tribes and himself sitting on a throne.

God made an enormous promise to Jeroboam if Jeroboam would be faithful to God’s Word and ways (remember that Jeroboam had zero claim to royalty, he was merely a privileged commoner);

He would be king
His family line would become an enduring house
He would rule over whatever he desired

This promise wasn’t a rejection of David’s line or the covenant God made with David to bring forth Messiah, but this was a promise to Jeroboam and his family line if he would lead the ten northern tribes righteously and lead them out of the idolatry that Solomon had allowed and endorsed.

So when the northern tribes broke from the southern, the Jewish people became two separate nations geographically (not ethnically) with Israel to the north and Judah to the south.

Jeroboam knew that even though the people were entrenched in idol worship, they still held to the traditions of travelling to Jerusalem for feasts, festivals and sacrificial offerings at the Temple. To Jeroboam this was unacceptable because it might cause many of the people to want to rejoin to the house of David and see the nation reunited once again and, they might kill him for being a usurper to the throne, then he would have no throne at all. So to prevent this from happening, he first selected Shechem to be his capital and then he established two separate places for the people to visit to perform their religious sacrifices and rituals. Beth-el in the south and Dan in the north; in each place he erected a golden calf. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt”. 1 Kings 12:28-33. These are the same words spoken in the wilderness when Aaron made the original golden calf. Do you know what they called that calf? Elohim. The same name for God in Gen 1:1. The One True Living God. By erecting idols and naming them by the name of God Himself, the people could delude themselves into believing that they were worshipping God (Elohim) after all.

This also speaks to universalism today...all the world’s different religions do not worship the same God who simply goes by a different look or name, there is only one God and He will not share His glory with another.

Jeroboam also established high places of pagan worship, he established a priesthood from all the tribes not just from the Levites, he established feasts for the people to follow on the same dates as the feasts being followed by their brethren in the south, but they were to pagan gods, and he simply made up the feasts from his own imagination. He essentially devised a religious program of worship that was focused on pagan deities but mimicked the ordinances that God had specified. He even took it upon himself to perform ceremonial acts that were restricted to the priests alone. 1 Kings 12:28-33.

In fact, a man of God (prophet) from Judah travelled to Beth-el and called out against the pagan sacrifices being done there and Jeroboam stretched out his hand demanding that the prophet be seized and God made his hand shrivel up and he couldn’t withdraw it. The altar also split apart as the prophet had said would happen and Jeroboam asked him to pray to God for his healing...and God healed him! (1 Kings 13:1-6)

Jeroboam’s wickedness was extreme, but it’s even more so because he had been privileged to have real encounters with God. The prophet Ahijah gave him a direct promise from God Himself; he knew God was real and when he knew his life was in danger from Solomon, he fled to Egypt to wait. What God said would happen, actually did happen in exquisite detail. All he had to do was obey God’s instructions – which he was well aware of – and God would have blessed him and his family line for generations to come. Jeroboam knew God was real when God crippled his hand publicly and then healed it just as publicly. He could have immediately repented, removed the golden calf idols and the high places of pagan worship. The nation would have prospered and the people would have come out of their idolatry and the house of David would have endured the judgement of God and been disciplined for Solomon’s rebellion and for leading the people to sin and at the right time, the nation would have been either reunited or at least been allies.

Instead of trusting God whose Word and promise came true before his very eyes, he set in place an apostate, state sanctioned pagan religious system of his own devising and led the people that God had entrusted to him into deeper and even worse idolatry than Solomon had.

Instead of having his family line established for generations to come, God promised to cut off every male descendant and make a clean sweep of his entire house as one sweeps away dung until it’s all gone. (1 Kings 14:10) God also promised that everyone of his descendants would never be buried; anyone from his line that died in the city was to be eaten by dogs and anyone of his descendants who died in a field would be eaten by birds. Only one child named Abijah, Jeroboam’s son would be buried because God said there was some good in him, and God took him at an early age. (1 Kings 14:1-12)

Jeroboam established the worst kind of paganism in Israel and it set the tone for all the kings who followed after him. In fact, every king who ascended the throne of the northern kingdom was evil, there was not one godly, righteous king who ever sat on that throne. The Northern Kingdom lasted approximately 212 years, from 934 to 722 BC.

This was not the case for the southern kingdom, they had mostly evil kings but a number of them were godly and righteous. The Southern Kingdom lasted approximately 348 years, from 934 to 586 BC, 136 years longer than her northern brethren. It’s amazing what a difference even a handful of righteous leaders will do for a nation’s future.

All men are without excuse when it comes to being accountable to God. Romans 1:20 says, ‘For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.’

If God holds all men accountable simply by the creation alone, then Jeroboam who had heard the Word of God, had been directly spoken to by God through the prophet Ahijah, had seen God’s Word come to pass, been crippled by God and subsequently healed by God is most definitely without excuse for rejecting God.

We, who have multiple copies of God’s Word, who have heard God’s Word directly declared and proclaimed, who can look back through history and see that every Word of God has come to pass in incredible detail are even more accountable before God to obey Him. Remember that everyone and everything in the Bible is for our learning, so by looking at the life of Jeroboam, we can clearly see his sins and wickedness and how seriously God takes such things.

We have godly examples too and we can compare the Jeroboam’s of the Bible with the Daniel’s and Joseph’s and Paul’s of the Bible and see very clearly what and who God honours and what and who God condemns and judges.

Shalom

Mandy :-)

Sky Angel Cowboy

Thu, 17 May 2012 06:14:12 +0100

Check out LOGAN, THE SKY ANGEL COWBOY!
Tis a beautiful clip of a 13 year old boy sharing his message from God on U.S radio.

Thanks God for hearing us when we talk to you, for desiring a relationship with us, & understanding pain.
You loved us sooooo much! Thanks for copping it big time so we can live with you forever!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juEACGmrXC8

Home Group Notes - Rehoboam

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:56:58 +0100

Rehoboam

The name Rehoboam is a compilation of two elements; ‘rahab’ which means to be wide to indicate the dimensions of land or an object; ‘am’ meaning ‘a people’. So Rehoboam means ‘Enlarges The People’ or ‘The people are enlarged’. Ironically, his aggressive and self-indulgent behaviour had the opposite effect on the nation he ascended the throne to rule over.

Rehoboam was the son of Solomon and his wife Naamah who was an Ammonitess. (1 Kings 14:21) It’s a curious thing that out of all his wives Solomon’s successor was the son of an Ammonite, who were the ancestors of Lot, (Abraham’s nephew) so they were distant relatives. Solomon’s favourite wife was an Egyptian, daughter of Pharaoh but, it’s unlikely his royal court or the people would have approved having an Egyptian sit upon their throne considering their past history of slavery and oppression at the hand of the Egyptians.

To understand what situation Rehoboam inherited, we need to take a quick look back at Solomon; Solomon began well but became very impressed with himself and despite the gift of wisdom granted to him by God, he ignored God’s instructions to the future kings of Israel and he acquired wealth, political power and wives for himself. (Deuteronomy 17:14-17) The latter (1000 of them) did not love and believe in Yahweh, instead they continued to worship their own false gods and Solomon permitted it and eventually joined them in their pagan worship and practices. (1 Kings 11)

God told Solomon in 1 King’s 11:9-13, ‘Now the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerned this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not observe what the Lord had commanded. So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However, I will not tear away all the kingdom but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”’

Even when God is committed to disciplining His people when they rebelled, God STILL remains committed to His promises to His Word.

Solomon had not only polluted the land with foreign pagan gods and idolatrous practices, but his ambition for building a magnificent capital and grand building projects led him to implement exorbitant taxes and levies which were a heavy burden on the people as well as enforcing forced labour.

It’s amazing that when men reject God, they quickly embrace the attitude that human beings are little more than a commodity to be used for selfish aggrandisement and are expendable.

When Solomon dies, Rehoboam is called to his coronation in the city of Shechem which was situated within the territory of the ten tribes outside the district of Judah and Benjamin where Jerusalem was situated. In this the majority of the tribes in the government of the nation believed they would have a good opportunity to be heard by the new king and have their concerns taken seriously.

Most think that Rehoboam was just a teenager or in his early 20’s when he came to the throne because he favoured the counsel of the young men he had grown up with. He was in fact 41 years of age and he should have had some inkling that there was unrest among the people because of the incredibly high taxation and servitude they lived under.

Jereboam who had fled to Egypt during the reign of Solomon, came back when he heard Rehoboam was about to receive the throne and he became the mouthpiece for the majority of the people. The people’s request was a simple one....

1 Kings 12:4-5, ‘“Your father made our yoke hard; now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us and we will serve you.” Then he said to them, “Depart for three days, then return to me.” So the people departed.’

Like all good monarch’s Rehoboam sought the counsel of the court elders who had served Solomon and they said to him in verse 7, “If you will be a servant to this people today, and will serve them and grant them their petition, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.”

In all history, no king of any nation or people group has ever ruled as a servant for the betterment of the people except for Yeshua, the true King of Israel. This is the kind of servant leadership we who love Him are supposed to emulate.

But Rehoboam was raised, along with his cosseted friends, in a pampered and luxurious manner for which Solomon was world famous. If Rehoboam reduced the tax burden on the people, he would have to temper his lavish lifestyle – and so would his friends because his royal revenues would be much smaller.

The advice given to Rehoboam by his friends went like this in verse 10, ‘The young men who grew up with him spoke to him saying, “Thus you shall say to this people who spoke to you saying, “Your father made our yoke heavy, now you make it lighter for us!” But you shall speak to them, “My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins! Whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”’

A good leader needs to be strong and firm, but abuse, threats and intimidation are not qualities that endear the faithfulness of those who are expected to follow.

The result was that Jeroboam led a revolt, the people followed him when he said in verse 16, “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; to your tents O Israel! Now look after your own house David!”

This was a knee-jerk reaction against the royal line because of what Solomon had established during his rule, it wasn’t an indication of hatred toward King David because the nation had experienced the golden era under David’s leadership, flawed as he was personally.

Only the men of Judah who were of the same tribe as the house of David remained under Rehoboam and this actually incorporated the tribe of Benjamin as well.

This sparked the separation of the nation of Israel. The Northern Kingdom retained the name Israel, which was made up of the other ten tribes and was ruled by Jeroboam who we’ll look at next week. The Southern Kingdom took the name of Judah because that was the primary tribe that remained true to the house of David.

Rehoboam did try to keep the nation from breaking apart, but when he sent Adoram, who was in charge of all those under forced labour, they stoned him to death and Rehoboam fled to Jerusalem and lost the unified nation from that time on.

Rehoboam then amassed an army of 180,000 men in a bid to crush the revolt, but God sent the prophet Shemaiah who told him not to go to war against his brethren, because it was God Himself who had ordained the separation of the nation – God had already told Solomon this punishment would come upon his son – and as a result, the proud, haughty and arrogant young man was humbled and subdued. (1 Kings 12)

It’s from this time that the nation of Israel remained separated until the north was destroyed by the Assyrians, and later the south was destroyed and taken into captivity by the Babylonians...but the nation of Israel never again ruled as one sovereign nation until May 14, 1948 when the modern State of Israel was born, fulfilling many, many prophecies and proving God’s Word to be absolutely true and proving that God is committed to keeping His promises to national Israel. Not because they deserve it, but because God is faithful to His own Word. Israel is a mere 64 years old and is stark evidence that God is real and His Word is perfectly true.

God’s promised judgement to tear the nation from Solomon because of his wilful disobedience and implementing pagan worship within the nation itself was assured and again, God’s Word proved true.

1 Kings 12:15 says, ‘So the king did not listen to the people; for it was a turn of events from the Lord, that He might establish His word, which the Lord spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.’

Every man is accountable for his deeds and actions as was Rehoboam; he knew that the taxes and work load of forced labour on his own people was wrong, and God was completely right to ensure that Rehoboam would refuse to listen to them so that He could initiate punishment on Solomon’s line for his rebellion against God’s laws. God is sovereign and He is always right and just.

God knows the hearts of all individuals and what their behaviour’s and responses will be, therefore God determines where and when each individual will be born and this ensures that every Word He says comes to pass.

The assuring and comforting thing for us to recognise again is that what God has said He will do, He will absolutely do. He will never compromise His Word and He will never break His promises, no matter who He made them to.

Shalom

Mandy

The Journey Feedback: Share Your Thoughts!

Wed, 16 May 2012 02:41:30 +0100

Here's an overview of our current regular "JOURNEY” segments, sandwiched between music & conversation.
Feedback time! Tell us your thoughts...
What would you like us to consider adding or taking away?

Talking Relationships with Family Life Australia’s Peter & Lynn Menhennit,
Mondays 5.25am (Western), 6.55am (Central), 7.25am (Eastern)

The Single Adult Maze with Wendy Boniface: Tuesdays 6.20am (Western), 7.50am (Central), 8.20am (Eastern)

Ask John Mackay: the Creation Guy (International Director Creation Research)
... listener questions answered!
Tuesdays 5.40am (Western), 7.10am (Central), 7.40am (Eastern)

Book Reviewed by Jasmine from Dynamic Life Ministries
Tuesdays 7.20am (Western), 8.50am (Central), 9.20am (Eastern)

Wednesday Requests: 5-7am (Western), 6.30-8.30am (Central), 7-9am (Eastern)

The Journey “Unpacked”, a more in-depth chat ‘unpacking’ fascinating & inspiring stories of faith!
Wednesdays from 7am (Western), 8.30am (Central), 9am (Eastern)
RE-RUN Sundays 9am & 8pm (Western), 10.30am & 9.30pm (Central), 11am & 10pm (Eastern)

Language a la Leonie, insights into the English language from our Go-Go Grammatician Leonie Edge
Thursdays 6.40am (Western), 8.10am (Central), 8.40am (Eastern)

Home Group with Mandy & Steve joining Matt & Karen in the studio
Thursdays from 7.20am (Western), 8.50am (Central), 9.20am (Eastern)

Movie Reviews with Richelle: Fridays 6.40am (Western), 8.10am (Central), 8.40am (Eastern)

The Aussie Hour, an hour of Australia’s best Christian music & conversations
with great new & known Aussie artists
Fridays from 7am (Western), 8.30am (Central), 9am (Eastern)

DAILY:

Roll Call: win a prize just for calling in: 5.05am (Western), 6.35am (Central), 7.05am (Eastern)

Beat the Toaster: 10 questions, 60 secs before the toast pops!
Win an Ultimate Prize Pack or voucher from UCB Direct: 6.05am (Western), 7.35am (Central), 8.05am (Eastern)

Today In History / Famous & Vision Listener Birthdays: 6.55am (Western), 8.25am (Central), 8.55am (Eastern)

A New Beginning (Greg Laurie): 4.05am (Western), 5.35am (Central), 6.05am (Eastern)
Set Free (Ken Legg): 4.30am (Western), 6am (Central), 6.30am (Eastern)
The Word For Today (Bob Gass):5.10am (Western), 6.40am (Central), 7.10am (Eastern)

So... what are your thoughts? What would you like us to consider adding or taking away?

Feel free to go to the CONTACT tab on this website & click on Contact Announcers / Matt & Karen
Your feedback is appreciated!

John Mackay: THE CREATION GUY!

Mon, 14 May 2012 04:43:30 +0100

Hey, love having JOHN MACKAY: the CREATION GUY as our new regular guest on The Journey.
John features each Tuesday morning 7.40am AEST.

He kicked off as our Journey Unpacked guest a couple of weeks ago & went on to chat with us about
dinosaurs & the age of the Earth...
Tune in tomorrow morn to hear how the bible really came together, then each Tuesday morn for more
insightful information from this fantastic creation scientist!

A classic character, John! The Steve Irwin of Creation Science :)

Maybe you have a specific question for John???
Let us know so we can ASK JOHN MACKAY, the Creation Guy!

Click on the CONTACT tab, contact announcers, Matt & Karen

www.creationresearch.net

QUESTIONS that deepen relationships!

Mon, 14 May 2012 04:16:48 +0100

Okay, as promised, here are THE QUESTIONS mentioned in our chat with Peter & Lynn Menhennit
from Family Life Australia, as part of our "Family Life" Relationships segment last Monday... K :)

These Qs look fantastic for sharing ourselves with, & discovering more about, that significant other in life.
GOAL: to deepen the relationship! METHOD: No particular order!

*************************

THE QUESTIONS BOOK by Dennis and Barbara Rainey

It is important to have the right attitude as you communicate with your mate.
Here are some tips:
• Look each other in the eye as you share and talk together
• Seek above all else to understand your mate
• Rephrase your mate’s answers when appropriate
• Don’t retreat when it feels uncomfortable
• Don’t be defensive. Remember “winning” is not the goal
• Try to draw out each other’s deepest feelings

Use these questions to discover more about each other and deepen your friendship!

1. If you could keep just one memory (of some past event or period of time), which would you keep? Why?

2. What do you think have been the three most romantic times we’ve had together?
What made these times so special?
How can we keep the romantic side of our marriage alive and exciting?

3. What do you think have been the five most important milestones we’ve passed together?
Why was each so important to you? (You may want to list a lot more than five - pleasant memories are fun!)

4. In what single way would you most like to see me grow personally in the next twelve months?

5. What two or three problems, if solved, would make the most positive difference in our marriage and family?

6. What do you see as the three most important decisions we need to make in the next year?
Why are they important?
Toward what choices are you leaning in each area? What would help us most to make each decision wisely?

7. How would you describe ....
your ideal day (sunup to sundown)?
your ideal evening?
your ideal weekend?
your ideal holiday?

8. If you could spend one uninterrupted hour today with any person alive, who would it be?
What would you do or discuss? Why?

9. In what three specific ways could we improve our everyday communications?
Where are we strong in our communication? Where do we hit snags?

10. If you knew you had just six more months to live, how would you spend them? What would you do?
Where would you want to go?

11. What three needs in the world trouble you most ...the kinds of things about which you say to yourself,
“Something must be done about this”?

12. What specific part of your work responsibilities do you find most fulfilling? What part do you find most frustrating?

13. In your opinion, what three things produce the most stress in our lives? In our marriage? In our family?
What is your greatest area of stress right now? How can we overcome it?

14. What pops into your mind in each of these areas? Your best day ever...Your most cherished gift...
Your most meaningful compliment... Your best job ...Your favourite relative ...Your favourite toy as a child?

15. What dreams have your thrown away (or kept secret) because no one encouraged you to “try it” or
because you feared you would fail? If you could do anything in the world (and be certain of success),
what would you do?

16. If we became richer then either of us could imagine today, what would you like to do with the money?

17. What’s heavy on your shoulders? Where do you feel you’re “going under”? Is there any way I can help?
How can I make your life easier or better? How can I help you really “win” in life?

18. What do you see as my three greatest strengths? How do my strengths complement yours?

19. If you were suddenly removed from me by something unexpected (such as death), from what people would you
most want me to seek comfort and help? Whose counsel would you most want me to avoid? Why in each case?

20. What do you consider the three most important things we could do with each of our children in the next year?
What are the three most important values we want to teach our children before they reach adulthood?

21. In what single area do you most want to grow personally in the next year? Why? How can I help you?

22. If we were stranded alone on an island for a month, what one thing would you most like to discuss at great length?
Why? Besides necessities of food, clothing, and shelter, what would you want most to have with you?

23. Of all the people you’ve known in your life, which three do you most admire? Why?

24. Who are your three closest personal friends? What do you enjoy most about each one?

25. If our house caught on fire, (and everyone was safely out), what three things would you most want to save? Why?

26. In your deepest heart of hearts, what questions would you most like me to ask you? What would you like most to ask me?

27. Why do you think we are still happily married when so many people around us are unhappily married or divorced?

28. What do you enjoy most about our sex life? How can I improve? What do you wish I would or wouldn’t do?
What key to “turning you on” might I have been missing? What have I been getting A’s in?

29. When you pray, how do you imagine God? How do you imagine heaven? What is your view of the Bible’s value to our lives?

30. What would you want said about you at your funeral? How would you want most to be remembered?
What impression would you like people to have about your life’s contribution? Your character? Your family?

31. Describe what you want your life to be like at age 70 (or, if you’re already 70, then 80 or 90).
What do you want our life together to be like at that time? What steps could we take today to get there?

*******************************
WOW!!!!!!!!!!
More info, go to www.familylifeaustralia.com

The Coal Basket Bible

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 03:09:05 +0100

The was an old man who lived on a farm in the mountains of Kentucky with his young grandson.
Each morning, Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading from his old worn out Bible.
His grandson, who wanted to be just like him, tried to imitate him in any way he could.
One day the grandson asked, “Papa, I try to read the Bible just like you but I don’t understand it and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book.
What good does reading the Bible do?”

The grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and said, “Take this coal basket down to the river and bring back a basket of water.”
The boy did as he was told, even though all the water leaked out before he got back to the house.
The grandfather laughed and said, “You will have to move a little faster than that next time!” and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again.
This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home.
Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket and went to get a bucket insteadThe old man said,
“I don’t want a bucket of water. I want a basket of water. You can do this. You’re just not trying hard enough.” And he went out the door to watch the boy try again.

At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got too far at all.
The boy scooped the water and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather, the basket was again empty.
Out of breath, he said, “See Papa! It’s useless!”
“So you think it is useless,” the old man said. “Look at the basket."
The boy looked at the basket and for the first time realised that the basket looked different. Instead of a dirty, old coal basket, it was clean.

“Son, that’s what happens when you read the Bible.
You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, it will change you from the inside out.”

That is the work of God in our lives...
To change us from the inside out and to slowly transform us into the image of His Son!

Take time to read a portion of God’s Word each day..

Home Group Notes - Solomon

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 06:11:21 +0100

Solomon: The name Solomon comes from the root word ‘shalem’ and is a derivative of the word ‘shalom’. Shalem means ‘complete and sound’ and the word shalom means peace in its broadest sense. So the combination of shalem and shalom means ‘Recompense, or fair penalty’.

When Solomon was born, his father David named him Jedidiah after the prophet Nathan had came to him and told him that this child (Solomon) was loved by God, and the name Jedidiah means ‘Beloved of Yahweh’ or ‘Beloved of the Lord’. (2 Samuel 12:25) No reason is given for why the name Jedidiah wasn’t used or why the name Solomon was used instead.

Looking at Solomon’s life from his attaining the throne with regard to his ability to dispense justice, he was unbelievably wise and dispensed justice in such a way that it stunned the masses and his fame spread throughout the then known world.

Solomon was the 2^nd son to David and Bathsheba, almost everything we know about Solomon comes from the Biblical record. What’s really stunning is that archaeology confirms the Biblical record confirming its accuracy and trustworthiness.

There are 5 things about Solomon that he is famous or infamous for.

His wives and concubines
His wisdom beyond human capacity
His wealth and power beyond measure
The building of the Holy Temple
His apostasy in his elder years

You can read about the life of Solomon in 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles

His ascent to the throne was pretty shaky, David had promised Bathsheba that Solomon would succeed him, but before David died of old age, his son Adonijah declared himself king. Adonijah was David’s 4^th son and he claimed to be the rightful heir to the throne. When news was brought to David that Adonijah was usurping him and making a public declaration of taking the throne and declaring himself king, David ordered the priests to anoint Solomon as king at the Gihon Spring thus making Solomon the ruling monarch of Israel. Not the usual practice...usually, a king had to be dead before the successor was crowned. By making this move, David himself was declaring publicly and before God with the blessing of the priests that Solomon – not Adonijah – was the heir to the throne.

Once king, Solomon still had some opposition from within the military and the priesthood and from Adonijah himself, there was some subterfuge which Solomon very quickly put down. He also dealt with 2 long time enemies of king David.

The first – Joab – who had been very loyal to David, but wrongfully killed two men (Abner & Amasa) out of his own vengeful heart, he also killed David’s son Absalom after David repeatedly said he was to be kept alive, and he also sided with Adonijah’s bid for the throne...you see if Adonijah had became king and then died, Joab would have apparently been his successor. Joab didn’t know that David had already decided that Solomon would succeed to the throne after him.

The second – Shimei – the forefather of Mordecai whom we learned about last week. David’s mercy upon Shimei meant that Mordecai was born and was therefore in the right place with Esther to ensure that the Jews were saved when their annihilation order was set in motion under Haman during the rule of the Persian Empire. Shimei’s treason was eventually dealt with.

Abiather the priest also sided with Adonijah and Solomon had him banished. This meant that with these potential enemies gone, Solomon was able to ensure that his reign would be smooth and without internal attempts to either dethrone or murder him.

Solomon was very young at the beginning of his rule, and in 1 Kings 3, he had a dream in which God Himself spoke to Solomon and said, “Ask what you wish Me to give you.”

Can you imagine God asking any man that question? What would most men ask for? Solomon’s response was firstly to acknowledge that God had shown great kindness to his father David, and that God had been gracious to David by giving him a son to rule after him. This wasn’t an ego trip, because Solomon went on to say, I’m the son You gave to David but I’m like a little child in comparison. I don’t know anything about ruling a nation. All I really want is for You to give me an understanding heart to rule the people well and to be able to discern between good and evil.

God was so pleased with Solomon for seeking wisdom and righteous judgement from God instead of wealth, health, long life, possessions....that God said He would give all these to Solomon anyway...along with great wisdom and discernment.

Let’s look at the main things Solomon was known for....

Wives and concubines

For all Solomon’s wisdom, he showed a major flaw in his character and in his trust of God. Solomon was undoubtedly a womaniser, but most of his wives were for political expediency. He made a habit of marrying foreign wives in order to bring about political alliances with nations that might otherwise become enemies and Solomon didn’t want war with anyone.

So instead of trusting God for the security of his nation, Solomon sought peace through marriage. But these marriages were in direct opposition to God’s instructions. We learned last week that in Deuteronomy 17, God said that future kings were not to accumulate wives. God was also very explicit that His people were not to marry foreign wives...why? Because foreign wives would entice them into idolatry, worshipping foreign gods.

Solomon accumulated 700 wives and 300 concubines. If he had dinner with a different wife every night, he would have only seen each of them once every 2 years and 7 months!!!

Wisdom beyond human capacity

There are many examples in the Scripture to demonstrate Solomon’s wisdom; one of the most extreme is the story of the 2 prostitutes who came to Solomon regarding the legal status of a baby boy. They had both had a baby each and in the night one mother rolled on top of her baby and killed it. She got up and swapped the babies over. When the other woman woke up, she realised that the baby in her bed was dead but also that it wasn’t hers.

With no DNA testing in the time of Solomon, how could the king give a righteous judgement. He shocked them and the entire court by asking for a sword...he was going to cut the baby in two and give each of the woman half. The false mother was ok with this, while the real mother, who couldn’t bear for her child to die, wept and said she would willingly surrender her baby just so long as he wasn’t killed. The heart of a real mother would sacrifice herself and her rights to protect her child and Solomon knew exactly which woman was the rightful mother of the baby boy. The news of this spread throughout the nation.

Solomon composed over 3000 proverbs and 1005 songs. He wrote the books of Song of Solomon, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.

His wisdom was so famous that the Queen of Sheba travelled from the southern region of Arabia. Arabia was rich in gold, frankincense and myrrh, among many other things that Solomon wanted to obtain, and the Queen of Sheba needed Solomon’s co-operation in marketing her country’s goods. She brought him many gifts and quizzed him with many questions and riddles and was astounded by his answers and responses.

Wealth and power beyond measure

Solomon’s national borders extended from the Euphrates River in the north to Egypt in the south. This means that in the days of Solomon, Israel’s borders reached into what is today southern Turkey, most of Syria and about a 3^rd of Iraq and probably most of what we know as modern Jordan and down into the northern part of Saudi Arabia.

He owned 12,000 horses plus the horsemen who rode them and 1400 chariots. The ruins of Solomon’s famed stables are in Tel Megiddo and the stalls could house 450 horses. I’ve walked through them. (Again, accumulating horses is something Deuteronomy 17 also prohibited) He established Israelite colonies around his provinces to look after military, administrative and commercial interests and he divided the nation into 12 districts with Judah constituting its own political unit with certain additional privileges.

The building of the Holy Temple

To build the Holy Temple Solomon began with a humungous amount of gold, silver and other materials that he’d inherited from his father. He got wood (cedar) from Lebanon, and had stone cut from quarries and once the cutting and carving was complete it was covered with pure gold.

History tells us that the temple was so magnificent that when people first saw it, it would take their breath away. When the sun rose and set, the sun would reflect off the structure and it would look like it was on fire because of the shine upon the gold.

He was also renown for other buildings as well. He spent 13 years building his own palace, the city wall, the citadel which was called the Millo, a palace for the daughter of Pharaoh who was one of his wives, obviously a favourite wife and many facilities for foreign traders. He built cities for chariots and horsemen and he build enormous storage cities. He extended Jerusalem to the north and fortified cities near the mountains of Judea and Jerusalem as well.

He became apostate and didn’t live according to his own wisdom and the truth of God

The saddest part of Solomon’s story is that he became apostate at the end. It hardly seems possible considering the gift of wisdom and discernment given to him by God in such great measure. In his latter years, after he had built magnificent structures, indulged his physical senses with every pleasure known to man, ate only the choicest foods and denied himself absolutely nothing, he was utterly dissatisfied. In Ecclesiastes he goes into great detail to list everything he ever did, every indulgence he granted himself and at the end of it all, he claimed it was nothing but vanity.

The real undoing of Solomon however was because of his many wives. It becomes seriously apparent why God says one wife and not a foreign wife. Without a constant loving family relationship with just one wife, each of his wives - hundreds of wives were left neglected, lonely, unloved, feeling they were nothing more than a convenience for political purposes – which is exactly what they were – feelings of jealousy between the favourites and the convenient ones, - they hardly ever saw him and it’s little wonder they wanted to continue in their pagan religions. With so many whinging wives, it’s no wonder Solomon capitulated and allowed them to establish pagan altars and shrines and places to practice their idolatry in public and when they invited him to participate with them, he willingly did so and the Bible says that it was his many foreign wives who turned the heart of Solomon to apostasy.

This is a critically important lesson in why we are not to be unequally yolked or joined together...one will always pull the other away. If you’re already married to an unbeliever, pray and seek God for your spouse and be vigilant to keep your heart close to God through the power of God the Holy Spirit and the wisdom and guidance and power of the Word.

Solomon - such a wise man – it is easily seen how a sinful human heart can be so easily corrupted. In order to gain more wealth, he imposed heavy taxes on his own people, he had the civilian population work as soldiers, officers and commanders of his chariots and cavalry. He granted special privileges to the tribe of Judah which alienated the remaining tribes and he never appears to repent in Scripture.

For all intents and purposes, Solomon knew who the True and Living God was, he wanted God’s assistance and He acknowledged God’s faithfulness to his father David, he wanted to be a good ruler who was just but absolute power corrupts absolutely. He sought the benefits and the help and assistance from God, but never sought to love and know God as his father David had. That’s the difference. Solomon knew God was good to have around...David highest goal was to know and love and worship God.

Solomon was a sensual man who lived to indulge his every whim. He denied himself nothing and in order to gain even more than he had. He eventually gave his heart to idolatry and the punishment came when his son came to the throne after him and followed in his father’s footsteps and lost the nation completely. It split in two and all his son was left with was Judah and Benjamin ruling from Jerusalem.

It just goes to show that the human heart can never be trusted no matter what gifts or blessings God gives.

Jeremiah 17:9 says, ‘The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?’

Genesis 6:5 says, ‘Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.’

Mark 7:21-23, Jesus said, ‘For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.’

So the lesson we learn from Solomon’s life is that blessing from God doesn’t mean relationship with God. Gifts from God don’t equal a relationship with God.

Here in our culture, we equate blessing, wealth, health, material possessions as being in good standing with God but it doesn’t mean that at all. In fact, having all these things can actually be a curse because they become the focus of our love and attention and desires and actually turn our heart away from God...they distract us and God becomes obsolete.

The problem is with the heart of man, we are utterly corrupt and it takes nothing less than the Spirit of God to transform us from being evil and unregenerate to being righteous and a brand new creature. When that supernatural event takes place when a person comes to a true and saving faith in Christ through repentance and faith, then the regeneration of the heart takes place and the transforming process commences.

Those who turn away – even if they appeared gifted and blessed and said and did all the right things – were never truly saved to begin with. It’s possible for people to be actively committed to a Christian ethos and church community and never really know Christ.

2 Corinthians 13:5, Paul said, ‘Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognise this about yourselves; that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you fail the test.’

A sobering end to Home Group today but so very important that we do as Paul instructed and examine ourselves to see what the condition of our heart is really like. What are our desires? What do we love? Who do we live to please? What are our goals?

Don’t measure your relationship with God by how blessed or gifted or how popular or clever you are or how busy and active you are in your local church family; Solomon was all those things and more and he failed the test. I would suggest that we measure our own lives by the life of Paul who was the greatest Christian, the greatest preacher/teacher and the greatest evangelist who ever lived...remember he even told Timothy to imitate him in 2 Timothy 3:10-12.

There is too much at stake to simply assume that our relationship with God is hunky-dory because after all...we’re under grace...it’s all under the blood. Remember, the heart is ‘deceitful’ and it will lie to you. Measure your life against the Word of God and what it says a true believer looks, thinks, talks and behaves like, not what other people tell us a believer looks, thinks, talks and behaves like.

Shalom

Mandy

Bronnie Masefau - HOME maker/interior designer

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 02:19:55 +0100

Had the beautiful Bronnie Masefau join us in the studio this morn!
An enthusiastic, interior designer who loves life, God, family & her Melbourne church!
Be inspired by her amazingly creative HOME making tips!