1 down......?? to go

Thanks to those of you who were praying for my sermon last night on the parable of the rich fool.

It was an evangelistic sermon and most of my family was there which was very encouraging. I'm thankful to God for the opportunity to expound the Scriptures.

I guess the amount of preaching i've had to do over the last month (2 back to back judges talks, then this one) has opened my eyes to what life is like as a full-time minister of the gospel. That as a minister of the Word and of prayer, this is what a typical week can involve. Trying to find the time to meet with people, to lead a family, to do other ministry......where's the time?!!

On a separate note, we've had some missionaries from Thailand back on home assignment come to our church and speak at numerous forums/events. Each time I hear them, I'm really challenged by the question - how is my life attracting more people to Jesus?

Its made me think more about how i can be encouraging others to live lives holy, pleasing to God.

At the same time though, I think hearing about their ministry in Thailand, has made me think more about WHERE can I be serving God best.....is it here in Sydney, or overseas. Some of you would know that i have a real burden for Japan - i've studied the language at school and i've been there twice. The figures on the number of Christians is staggering and someone needs to reach them.


Finally, John shared with us that as ministers of the gospel (particularly paid ones), our intentions and our impact in ministry can be polar opposites at times. How things are perceived by others may actually differ from what we intend.

All in all, a very thought provoking, reflective sorta couple of weeks.

Keeping quiet times fresh

I know its been a while since I last posted......since then, a lots been happening (including discovering how to change colours and fonts on blogger using a Mac!)

Something that I've been meaning to post up for a while is a discussion we had at PCT training a few Fridays ago about keeping quiet times fresh. I post this not only for my own reference in the future (go soft copy!), but also for your benefit too.....i've really appreciated the importance of 'being still and knowing that God is God' in amongst a busy day - even if its ministry.

So here goes....(feel free to post and comment about your own quiet times (hard/tough/good/learning) and whether you have any other suggestions):

• Bible briefs from the Briefing (something I'm using now to go through Numbers)
• Listening to talks
• Using some resources from here
• trying to memorise verses
• speaking it out loud like you're telling children (reading for meaning)
• reading a book
• meeting with others
• sharing what you're learning with some else (eg. write letters, post on blog)
• use other devotional materials (eg. topicals)
  

Its helpful to mix it up and to use variety rather than just doing the same thing each time. By mixing it up, you'll be motiviated and excited to look at the Bible and apply it.

Basically, there are 3 reasons why we read the Bible. This will govern what approach/method we can take:

1. read for familiarity - in which case we're more interested in working through big chunks and getting through the text

2. read for enquiry - here we'd look through the details....maybe if we were doing a bible study or writing a talk

3. read meditatively - this is reading maybe just one verse and pondering, reflecting on it. Chewing over it. Psalms are great for this.

Hope this helps you all.....feel free to post away with any ideas or comments!