MONDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER
Ezekiel 18.1-4, 25-32
Repent and Live
The Jews used to believe that guilt was hereditary. This is what the proverb, ‘the fathers eat sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge’ means. Because of that belief, children could be punished for the sins of their fathers! God spoke through the prophet Ezekiel to correct this wrong teaching. God pointed out that every living person belongs to God. They belong to God because He made them all and He now decrees that each person is responsible for their own sins only.
If a good person turns away from his good way of living and sins, he will have to suffer for his sins. But if a wicked person turns away from wickedness, repents and makes a new start in life, God will set him free from the punishment he deserves. He will live and not die. God’s mercy triumphs over His judgement. Every repentant, faithful sinner is completely pardoned or justified! When we repent and put all our faith in God, a real miracle takes place. God gives us a new heart and a new spirit. God takes no pleasure in the eternal death of a sinner. He loves us all so much that He wants us to share eternal life with Him. That’s why He sent Jesus to die on the cross. Jesus paid the penalty our sins deserve and released power from the cross to form the new heart and new spirit in every repentant, trusting sinner.
PRAYER: Father, thank you for making us responsible only for our own sins. We repent of all our sins and trust in you to not only take them away, but also to create in us a new heart, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
TUESDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER
Psalm 25.1-9
My eyes are ever on the Lord – He releases me
Christians who trust in the mighty power of the Lord Jesus Christ to set them free from their slavery to sin are the freest people. The truth is that we cannot stop ourselves from sinning. The more we try to stop sinning, the more we sin. This is what it means to be a slave to sin. The only hope we have got is to trust in the power released when Jesus died on the cross. Once this power begins to operate in our lives, we can be sure we will never be put to shame. Once we have accepted Jesus as Saviour and Lord, He comes alongside us as a fantastic guide. He shows us how to live and leads us onto the paths of life He wants us to travel on. He makes us feel so secure and strong. Whenever we weaken and fall back into sin, the Lord is kind and merciful. He is always ready to completely forgive us when we come to Him with a truly repentant heart.
The closer we get to Jesus by spending more time with Him in prayer every day, the more we will experience the Lord speaking to us. He confides in us and this increases our faith so much and makes us really strong. Praise the mighty name of Jesus! When we feel lonely and afflicted, He is always there for us. When the troubles of our heart multiply, He supplies enough grace to disperse them all – God is so good.
PRAYER: Father, thank you for loving me so much, setting me free from my sin and guiding my whole life. When troubles come, pour your grace down and set me free from all affliction, through Jesus our Saviour and Lord. Amen.
WEDNESDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER
Philippians 2.1-13
Become just like Jesus
It must be the goal of every Christian to become just like Jesus! This seems too much for us and something that’s absolutely impossible. The good news is that it’s not impossible. By putting our faith and trust in Jesus, we can be united with Him. Then His life and His love flow into us and we are gradually transformed into His likeness. Our union with Jesus begins in our minds. We ask Jesus to come in and take control of our minds. This leads us into a wonderful state of humility. We find ourselves doing nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit. We find ourselves wanting to build others up, considering everyone to be better than ourselves, and looking out for the interests of other people rather than our own. This becomes far more important than looking after our own interests.
We have the same attitude as Jesus! Jesus, even though He knew how important He was as God’s own Son, laid this importance aside and made Himself into our servant. He loved us so much that He went to the cross and died in our place. So we, too, must lay aside our importance to be everyone’s slave and be willing to die to self. If we let ourselves be like Jesus, then we will be exalted as Jesus was and we will bring much glory to Him.
PRAYER: Jesus, we really and truly want to be like you. Please take over our minds and fill them with your love and compassion. Make us humble servants, ever willing to die with you so we can be exalted with you when we get to heaven. Amen.
THURSDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER
Exodus 17.1-7
Water from the rock
God is the God of the impossible and the miraculous. As water came out of a rock to quench the thirst of God’s people, so the living water of the Holy Spirit flows from the presence of Jesus, who is always with us. Jesus is the Rock. As we put our faith and trust in Him, His Holy Spirit flows into us. As we drink of His Spirit, our thirst disappears. We are so wonderfully satisfied!
Being a fair-dinkum Christian is a very tough life. We are often put to the test and some of the tests are very hard, but when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Tough Christians get going because of the mighty power God gives them through the help of the Holy Spirit.
It’s so easy to take our freedom to go to church and worship God for granted. We all come from heathen origins. When heathen countries are evangelized and eventually Christianized, a costly price is paid. In the first two centuries almost all the leaders of the church and many of their followers were martyred. Today, many are being martyred in pagan lands where tough Christians are preaching the gospel and paying for it with their lives.
Let’s all be strong and courageous in our efforts to keep Australia a Christian country. Let’s be bold to witness, however much retaliation and persecution we may receive. Let’s make it our goal to help the Lord in His task to bring every nation and every power to freedom in Christ.
PRAYER: Father, pour your Holy Spirit into us and make us tough. Help us to get through all the hard times and be bold witnesses for you, whatever the person does to us, through Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord. Amen.
FRIDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER
Matthew 21.23-27
The authority of Jesus
Whenever Jesus taught, the crowds were drawn to Him, because He always spoke with tremendous authority. They didn’t realize where the authority was coming from because they didn’t realize that Jesus was God; but He was so powerful that just listening to Him brought about a tremendous transformation in the lives of the listeners.
In our reading today, we see where Jesus refused to let the scribes and Pharisees have the source of His power and authority. At His trials a bit later on, He made it quite clear that His authority came from God. The officials thought this was blasphemy and gave them cause to have Jesus handed over to be crucified. But even in His trials and crucifixion, Jesus’ authority never faltered. He was really the one who was in charge of the whole procedure. He was offering Himself as both priest and victim at the altar of the cross!
The power and authority of Jesus, which has changed the lives of so many people, was handed on by Jesus to His church. Paul recognized this. After a very successful ministry, he says, “Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in what I have said and done by the power of signs and miracles through the power of the Spirit.” (Romans 15.17-19) As we surrender our lives to Jesus and truly let Him take over, His power and His authority rest in us. We are enabled to do mighty things for God.
PRAYER: Jesus, we thank you for your great authority. Help us all to yield to you and let you have complete control of our lives and thus work through us. We can do mighty things with you working through us with your authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
SATURDAY 24TH SEPTEMBER
Matthew 21.28-32
Be fair-dinkum
There is no room for fakes and con men in God’s Kingdom. Don’t get me wrong – Jesus loves all fakes and all con men, but they can only enter His Kingdom if they repent of their deceit and leave all their conning behind.
The second son in our story was a fake. He promised to do the work he never intended to do. He said he would do it because he wanted to pretend to please his father. The other son was more fair-dinkum and honest. He admitted he didn’t want to do the work, but later on felt guilty about it and did what his father wanted him to do. If we want to be used by God so that His power and authority can work through us, we have to begin by admitting our weaknesses and our sinfulness. We must not pretend we can do what we know we cannot do. Once we openly and honestly admit our weaknesses and all our limitations, then we are ready to be used by Jesus. As we put all our faith and trust in Him, He takes over our lives and gives us the ability to do the things we couldn’t do and say the things we couldn’t say before.
As long as we remain humble and remain fair-dinkum, Jesus will be able to go on using us to do things for Him. We must never take the glory to ourselves. All we do, we must do for Him.
PRAYER: Here I am Lord – weak, sinful and not very capable. As I admit my failings, I put all my faith and trust in you. Take me, make me, and use me, but always keep me humble and always giving you all the glory for the work you do through me, through Jesus my Lord and Saviour. Amen.
SUNDAY 25TH.SEPTEMBER
THIS WEEK’S MESSAGE
What drew so many people to Jesus more than anything else was that He taught with much authority and there was so much power in His ministry. Our country, our State, our schools our business and all organizations all run the best when there is a leader with authority in charge. When the leader lacks authority they all go pear shaped.
Over the years the church has been successful in winning many people for Jesus because He has given it the same authority that He has. Jesus imparted this authority to the church leaders on Easter Day. He said to the Apostles, around Him in the Upper Room, “As the Father has sent me so I am sending you.” (John 20:21) Just before He ascended into heaven He said to all His disciples, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me therefore go and make disciples of all the nations. Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.”(Matthew 28:18,20)
We are all members of the Church. The same authority and power has been given for each and every one of us. Jesus said these amazing words, “I tell you the truth, ANYONE who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these!”
We are all ordinary people. How can we possibly use the authority and power He promises us and do greater things than He did ???????
The answer is simple: We have too become like Jesus! This is something that we cannot possibly do by ourselves. Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit to do it for us.
These are the steps we must take to allow the Holy Spirit to form Jesus Character in us. We begin by being absolutely fairdincom and sincere. We have to be honest with ourselves about our personal weaknesses and faults. Then we must be willing to empty ourselves of self as Jesus did. We must let Jesus take complete control of our minds so that we can be one in spirit and purpose with Him.
For all this to happen we have to make a surrender of our whole lives to Jesus. We must let Him have complete control.
The power He released when He shed His blood on the cross works in us to transform us into His likeness. Jesus fills us with the Holy Spirit and gives us all the authority and power that we need for the individual tasks He wants us to do.
Jesus depends on us to do His work for Him. Lets all make sure we are dependable.
PRAYER: Wonderful Jesus, thank you so much for your authority which makes us so sure that you are the only one we should follow and obey. Help us all to humble ourselves and surrender our lives to you so that you can give us your authority to do the mighty things you want us to do. Amen.
MONDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER
Ezekiel 18.1-4, 25-32
Repent and Live
The Jews used to believe that guilt was hereditary. This is what the proverb, ‘the fathers eat sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge’ means. Because of that belief, children could be punished for the sins of their fathers! God spoke through the prophet Ezekiel to correct this wrong teaching. God pointed out that every living person belongs to God. They belong to God because He made them all and He now decrees that each person is responsible for their own sins only.
If a good person turns away from his good way of living and sins, he will have to suffer for his sins. But if a wicked person turns away from wickedness, repents and makes a new start in life, God will set him free from the punishment he deserves. He will live and not die. God’s mercy triumphs over His judgement. Every repentant, faithful sinner is completely pardoned or justified! When we repent and put all our faith in God, a real miracle takes place. God gives us a new heart and a new spirit. God takes no pleasure in the eternal death of a sinner. He loves us all so much that He wants us to share eternal life with Him. That’s why He sent Jesus to die on the cross. Jesus paid the penalty our sins deserve and released power from the cross to form the new heart and new spirit in every repentant, trusting sinner.
PRAYER: Father, thank you for making us responsible only for our own sins. We repent of all our sins and trust in you to not only take them away, but also to create in us a new heart, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
TUESDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER
Psalm 25.1-9
My eyes are ever on the Lord – He releases me
Christians who trust in the mighty power of the Lord Jesus Christ to set them free from their slavery to sin are the freest people. The truth is that we cannot stop ourselves from sinning. The more we try to stop sinning, the more we sin. This is what it means to be a slave to sin. The only hope we have got is to trust in the power released when Jesus died on the cross. Once this power begins to operate in our lives, we can be sure we will never be put to shame. Once we have accepted Jesus as Saviour and Lord, He comes alongside us as a fantastic guide. He shows us how to live and leads us onto the paths of life He wants us to travel on. He makes us feel so secure and strong. Whenever we weaken and fall back into sin, the Lord is kind and merciful. He is always ready to completely forgive us when we come to Him with a truly repentant heart.
The closer we get to Jesus by spending more time with Him in prayer every day, the more we will experience the Lord speaking to us. He confides in us and this increases our faith so much and makes us really strong. Praise the mighty name of Jesus! When we feel lonely and afflicted, He is always there for us. When the troubles of our heart multiply, He supplies enough grace to disperse them all – God is so good.
PRAYER: Father, thank you for loving me so much, setting me free from my sin and guiding my whole life. When troubles come, pour your grace down and set me free from all affliction, through Jesus our Saviour and Lord. Amen.
WEDNESDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER
Philippians 2.1-13
Become just like Jesus
It must be the goal of every Christian to become just like Jesus! This seems too much for us and something that’s absolutely impossible. The good news is that it’s not impossible. By putting our faith and trust in Jesus, we can be united with Him. Then His life and His love flow into us and we are gradually transformed into His likeness. Our union with Jesus begins in our minds. We ask Jesus to come in and take control of our minds. This leads us into a wonderful state of humility. We find ourselves doing nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit. We find ourselves wanting to build others up, considering everyone to be better than ourselves, and looking out for the interests of other people rather than our own. This becomes far more important than looking after our own interests.
We have the same attitude as Jesus! Jesus, even though He knew how important He was as God’s own Son, laid this importance aside and made Himself into our servant. He loved us so much that He went to the cross and died in our place. So we, too, must lay aside our importance to be everyone’s slave and be willing to die to self. If we let ourselves be like Jesus, then we will be exalted as Jesus was and we will bring much glory to Him.
PRAYER: Jesus, we really and truly want to be like you. Please take over our minds and fill them with your love and compassion. Make us humble servants, ever willing to die with you so we can be exalted with you when we get to heaven. Amen.
THURSDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER
Exodus 17.1-7
Water from the rock
God is the God of the impossible and the miraculous. As water came out of a rock to quench the thirst of God’s people, so the living water of the Holy Spirit flows from the presence of Jesus, who is always with us. Jesus is the Rock. As we put our faith and trust in Him, His Holy Spirit flows into us. As we drink of His Spirit, our thirst disappears. We are so wonderfully satisfied!
Being a fair-dinkum Christian is a very tough life. We are often put to the test and some of the tests are very hard, but when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Tough Christians get going because of the mighty power God gives them through the help of the Holy Spirit.
It’s so easy to take our freedom to go to church and worship God for granted. We all come from heathen origins. When heathen countries are evangelized and eventually Christianized, a costly price is paid. In the first two centuries almost all the leaders of the church and many of their followers were martyred. Today, many are being martyred in pagan lands where tough Christians are preaching the gospel and paying for it with their lives.
Let’s all be strong and courageous in our efforts to keep Australia a Christian country. Let’s be bold to witness, however much retaliation and persecution we may receive. Let’s make it our goal to help the Lord in His task to bring every nation and every power to freedom in Christ.
PRAYER: Father, pour your Holy Spirit into us and make us tough. Help us to get through all the hard times and be bold witnesses for you, whatever the person does to us, through Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord. Amen.
FRIDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER
Matthew 21.23-27
The authority of Jesus
Whenever Jesus taught, the crowds were drawn to Him, because He always spoke with tremendous authority. They didn’t realize where the authority was coming from because they didn’t realize that Jesus was God; but He was so powerful that just listening to Him brought about a tremendous transformation in the lives of the listeners.
In our reading today, we see where Jesus refused to let the scribes and Pharisees have the source of His power and authority. At His trials a bit later on, He made it quite clear that His authority came from God. The officials thought this was blasphemy and gave them cause to have Jesus handed over to be crucified. But even in His trials and crucifixion, Jesus’ authority never faltered. He was really the one who was in charge of the whole procedure. He was offering Himself as both priest and victim at the altar of the cross!
The power and authority of Jesus, which has changed the lives of so many people, was handed on by Jesus to His church. Paul recognized this. After a very successful ministry, he says, “Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in what I have said and done by the power of signs and miracles through the power of the Spirit.” (Romans 15.17-19) As we surrender our lives to Jesus and truly let Him take over, His power and His authority rest in us. We are enabled to do mighty things for God.
PRAYER: Jesus, we thank you for your great authority. Help us all to yield to you and let you have complete control of our lives and thus work through us. We can do mighty things with you working through us with your authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
SATURDAY 24TH SEPTEMBER
Matthew 21.28-32
Be fair-dinkum
There is no room for fakes and con men in God’s Kingdom. Don’t get me wrong – Jesus loves all fakes and all con men, but they can only enter His Kingdom if they repent of their deceit and leave all their conning behind.
The second son in our story was a fake. He promised to do the work he never intended to do. He said he would do it because he wanted to pretend to please his father. The other son was more fair-dinkum and honest. He admitted he didn’t want to do the work, but later on felt guilty about it and did what his father wanted him to do. If we want to be used by God so that His power and authority can work through us, we have to begin by admitting our weaknesses and our sinfulness. We must not pretend we can do what we know we cannot do. Once we openly and honestly admit our weaknesses and all our limitations, then we are ready to be used by Jesus. As we put all our faith and trust in Him, He takes over our lives and gives us the ability to do the things we couldn’t do and say the things we couldn’t say before.
As long as we remain humble and remain fair-dinkum, Jesus will be able to go on using us to do things for Him. We must never take the glory to ourselves. All we do, we must do for Him.
PRAYER: Here I am Lord – weak, sinful and not very capable. As I admit my failings, I put all my faith and trust in you. Take me, make me, and use me, but always keep me humble and always giving you all the glory for the work you do through me, through Jesus my Lord and Saviour. Amen.
SUNDAY 25TH.SEPTEMBER
THIS WEEK’S MESSAGE
What drew so many people to Jesus more than anything else was that He taught with much authority and there was so much power in His ministry. Our country, our State, our schools our business and all organizations all run the best when there is a leader with authority in charge. When the leader lacks authority they all go pear shaped.
Over the years the church has been successful in winning many people for Jesus because He has given it the same authority that He has. Jesus imparted this authority to the church leaders on Easter Day. He said to the Apostles, around Him in the Upper Room, “As the Father has sent me so I am sending you.” (John 20:21) Just before He ascended into heaven He said to all His disciples, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me therefore go and make disciples of all the nations. Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.”(Matthew 28:18,20)
We are all members of the Church. The same authority and power has been given for each and every one of us. Jesus said these amazing words, “I tell you the truth, ANYONE who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these!”
We are all ordinary people. How can we possibly use the authority and power He promises us and do greater things than He did ???????
The answer is simple: We have too become like Jesus! This is something that we cannot possibly do by ourselves. Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit to do it for us.
These are the steps we must take to allow the Holy Spirit to form Jesus Character in us. We begin by being absolutely fairdincom and sincere. We have to be honest with ourselves about our personal weaknesses and faults. Then we must be willing to empty ourselves of self as Jesus did. We must let Jesus take complete control of our minds so that we can be one in spirit and purpose with Him.
For all this to happen we have to make a surrender of our whole lives to Jesus. We must let Him have complete control.
The power He released when He shed His blood on the cross works in us to transform us into His likeness. Jesus fills us with the Holy Spirit and gives us all the authority and power that we need for the individual tasks He wants us to do.
Jesus depends on us to do His work for Him. Lets all make sure we are dependable.
PRAYER: Wonderful Jesus, thank you so much for your authority which makes us so sure that you are the only one we should follow and obey. Help us all to humble ourselves and surrender our lives to you so that you can give us your authority to do the mighty things you want us to do. Amen.