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This Week We Ponder the Presence of God and How to Open Up to God through His Word What a magnificent close up of a Dandelion. In ordinary life, Dandelions when in season can seem so commonplace we don't really notice them. But this image above captures the power of a careful and close look. It is a stunning picture of intricate beauty. Could experiencing God be likewise? You need to draw up close to discover how magnificent He really is? "Come near to God and he will come near to you..." says the apostle James (James 4:8). Who doesn't want to be close to the Living God? If He is Creator of all reality, and has drawn up close to us in the man Jesus Christ, then LET'S GO! But...er, how? Wisdom from David David wrote beautifully, from experience and wisdom gained in life under Heaven: "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you." (Ps 139:7–12) God, it appears, is here. Present to His world. Present to You and I. Present WITH us and FOR us. So before we ask how to be present to God, we can be assured, biblically speaking, that He is already present to us. He has been, and is. By nature. In short, God is here to be drawn close to. So what do I do? Work out what helps You become aware of Him, and make time to regularly practice this awareness. This is not all we can do, or are called to in the scriptures, but awareness is the first step in drawing near to anyone. Think about it; how many times have you seen a couple or family at dinner out in public, sitting next to each other but not aware of each other because they are all instead on their phones? It is, in my opinion, a very sad picture to take in, and a little too common for my liking. But this is nearness without awareness. David tells us God is here. But we need to be aware. We need to put the phone down and look directly at Him. Look at Him through... Opening up to God of His Words Jesus teaches us: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." (Mt 5:8) And lest we fret about what it takes to become pure of heart, He made a crucial statement in response to His disciples, particularly Peter, misunderstanding His teaching and example at His last supper with them before His death upon the Cross for all human sin. He taught that purity of heart is not a ritual of washing with water, but a practice of receiving His very words into our heart of hearts: You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. (Jn 15:3) So you and I can become aware of Jesus with us through the words He speaks to us (read, every verse of the Scriptures). Yes, but still...HOW? Ok, ok. Here is how I practice (increasingly, I might add) opening up to God through His words: I choose a calm, quiet, and uninterrupted space & time (as best I can). Earphones simulate this when this is near impossible for me. I choose to calm and quiet myself as best I can. And to help me do this, I choose a portion of scripture that I feel God is drawing me to through my regular scripture reading habit, or that God has pointed me to through other means (sermons, encouragements from others, reading, etc.). With this portion of scripture, I simply attend to it as closely as I need to. Sometimes it's word by word. Sometimes phrase by phrase. Sometimes line by line. Sometimes even thought by thought. Believing as I do that the Scripture is God breathed (2 Timothy 3:16) and therefore living and active (Hebrews 4:12), I allow whatever gets my attention (word, phrase, line, etc.) to capture and keep my attention. I then slowly (rushing things doesn't help you attend to God through His words just like rushing through a meal doesn't help you attend to Your loved one/s) allow these kinds of reflections to rise: What this word/phrase/line/etc. tells me about God? What this word/phrase/line/etc. tells me about me? What this word/phrase/line/etc. tells me about the world? Like Andrew noted well last week, I journal these thoughts in prayerful arrangement (addressing God personally through my journaling). Without too long passing, I find myself in the Presence of God, and hearing His Spirit bring fresh wisdom, counsel, encouragement, and challenge to me. This is my process of opening up to God through His words. As I say, there is more to drawing near to God than this practice, but not less. I share my process in order to inspire you in your own ways. This is certainly not THE way to open up to God. Just MY way, expressed to help you any way it can. God is near and willing to hear and help us. This much is clear, if we take promises like 2 Corinthians 6:1-2 seriously. It is simply true that in our modern secular world, drawing near to Him is a fight - but one worth winning by His grace and power at work within our efforts. Drawing near to the living God with You this week. Written by Ps. Rob

Common joy blockers in prayer and what we can do to overcome them. A divine appointment. Coffee with my Creator. Touching Heaven. Prayer has the potential to be the most significant, joyful and powerful activity in my day. So why do I so often feel rushed, agitated and restless when I take time to pray? In the story of the ‘woman at the well’ in John 4:1-42, we can identify three behaviours or beliefs that stop our prayer life being joyful. Under each of these is an idea to bring joy into your relationship with God. 1. Shame: When this woman initially meets Jesus, she can’t believe that Jesus would want to talk to her. Her sense of personal identity brings a shame that stands in the way of relationship. The antidote: Jesus demonstrates that there is NO cultural norm or social convention that he won’t break for the sake of love and relationship. God does not shy away from you, he is proud to be seen with you. Jesus is the safest person in your life. 2. Swirling Thoughts: When Jesus starts revealing spiritual truths to this woman, all she can think about is what is immediately in front of her - physical water. The same goes for us. We are easily overwhelmed by the noise of kids, worries and concerns that keep popping up in our minds, dirty dishes, overflowing laundry… The antidote: Get a pen and some paper, and write. Let your writing be a prayer. When concerns pop up, don’t try to ignore them, just write them down, then get back to writing your prayer. Or try praying out loud. As evangelist Dawson Trotman said: “Thoughts disentangle themselves when they pass through the lips and fingertips.” 3. Not being real and true: Jesus teaches this woman, that the kind of worshippers God is looking for are those who will worship him in Spirit and in Truth. People who bring their whole selves to God. The Antidote: God is not looking for perfection, he is just looking for you. Stop judging your own prayer life and start praying. Write out or speak out what you really think and open up your heart for God to change what he wants to change. “God, we are fragile and weak. But we can come and talk with you. You promise to listen, and you often speak. Teach us to pray in spirit and in truth. Amen.” Written by Andrew Mellor

let's intentionally cultivate biblical joy in the last few days leading up to Christmas Day! On Sunday just gone we focused on the Carol, "Joy To The World." We talked of biblical joy, and what it means. Today, I want to simply encourage us with some ideas on how to cultivate more joy leading up to Christmas Day this coming Saturday. If you're anything like me it's helpful to have some ideas listed before you to consider what you might do for yourself. So I've written a list of 8 different ways you can cultivate more joy below: Put a playlist together of your favourite Christmas carols, and play them as you get yourself ready for Christmas in the various ways we do. Take time out to write out a list of experiences, opportunities and lessons you can thank God for from the year that has been. Set yourself a challenge - get to 10 (and then watch as you can't stop yourself). Share any of these listed experiences with your spouse, a friend, or someone else as you spend time together at dinner, at Christmas parties, or other catch-ups. Take time to imaginatively read one of the of the more well known passages of scripture that recount the birth of Jesus Christ. You will find these accounts in the first few chapters of Matthew and Luke in particular. And when I say imaginatively, read from a certain perspective within the text - read the text thinking from Mary's perspective, or Joseph's perspective. Ask yourself - what do I discover about who God is out of this imaginative reading? Add an extra gift or two onto your gift buying list - think of someone who you are thankful for, who has blessed you, but who you would not otherwise get a gift for. And just give them the joy of being appreciated and blessed. Think of someone who might find this Christmas time harder than normal, and make some time for them - take them out for lunch, or buy them a coffee, or just give them a call with some spare time to chat. Hold onto the traditions that have been handed down to you. Food traditions, gathering traditions, gift-giving traditions, carolling together traditions. Whatever they may be, practicing what we have practiced since our early years brings back fond memories, connects us to our meaningful past, and gives us a sense of history and heritage to carry forward. If you don't have traditions, start to make them - yes traditions of food and people, but also traditions of telling God's story to one another, and sharing in the joys of the birth of Christ. There you go. There's many more ways to cultivate joy, I am sure. But here's 8 different ideas to get you started or inspire you afresh to cultivate joy this week leading up to Christmas. Much love! Written by Ps. Rob.

The words that are the game changer for our human existence and future! Things fail. My phone seems to be struggling to hold an uninterrupted line with other people every time I'm on a phone call at the moment. Our vacuum cleaner head is current out of operation - due to an excessive amount of someone's hair getting caught up in the roller (and trust me, it's not mine). Plans fail. I don't have to spend much time here. Just think about the interruptions of the last 18months to some of our best laid plans. People fail. My energy levels are, for various reasons, failing me in my need to knuckle down this end of the year and get lots of things tied up. I have not been able to fulfil every commitment I made this year. Some for good reasons, some for terrible reasons, and most for mixed reasons. You've probably failed me at some point, as I've failed you at some point. Don't get me started on politics...(I'm not a political cynic as many of my peers tend to be, I just know that the political process and media world tend to create an unfortunately regular occurrence of promises failing to be delivered wherever you turn in the world). Life includes failure. At lots of different levels. This seems to be the common, and constant, experience in our world. And so, the Angels words to Mary in the passage of scripture we dived into in Sunday's sermon are so incredibly striking. Mary is troubled by an Angel visiting her and telling her incredibly far-fetched things (I'd be stuck on the Angel part myself). She will be the mother of the Son of God, but how? Luke continues below: “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” [Luke 1:35-37] Note well the Angels words at the end of the explanation here. No word. From God. Will ever fail. We have access to never failing assurance God is the source of never failing in our human existence. Where everything around us in this lifetime has the potential to fail, and will fail in some way, shape, or form, there is a never failing source of assurance. God Himself. What He has said, will not fail to ring true. What He has promised will not fail to come to pass. What He has planned for our lives in this world will not fail to be put into action. Why We Worship Jesus Jesus, the one Mary would miraculously give birth to, is our great example of God's unfailing word. The one God had promised throughout the Old Testament scriptures (Read more HERE). But even more incredibly, the Apostle Paul will declare: For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. (2 Corinthians 1:20) Jesus is the fulfiller of all God's promises. In Jesus is the fulfilment of every promise God has made. Do you need any more reason to stop and worship Him, right now? There's Only Two Proper Responses Worship Him "Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness!" [From Hark The Herald, Angels Sing] And Follow Him This week, check your steps. Are they steps made after the fulfiller of all God's promises. In step with Him, you are walking with the never failing One. There is no stronger, more assured, and more comforting place to be, now and always. Walking with you in the path Jesus has charted for us this week and beyond! Written by Ps. Rob

It is the busy life that will frustrate your adoration of Jesus this Christmas Think about a scenario with me, briefly. Say you're in a conversation with a friend, and you mention a mutual pal. And your friend comes back in response, "Oh, I absolutely adore him!" What is your friend saying in this short few words? I mean, sure, they could be exaggerating a bit. Or they may not be. But what is the substance of this statement, if we take it pretty much at face value? It's a strong statement of affection towards this mutual friend of yours, to be sure. But more than that, it's a statement of openness to this friendship, and carries a sense of desire to continue to build and develop the friendship wherever possible. In short, there is affection, openness, and intention to grow the relationship in these short few words. A Beautiful Christmas Carol The first Carol we sung together in our first service back on-site, "O Come All Ye Faithful", is a call to adore Jesus. The central chorus rises, "O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord." This exhortation is surely more than just to sing of Him, or sing to Him. Surely it is a call to deepen our affections for Jesus, to grow more open to Him in our lives, and to intentionally grow our relationship with Him our Lord! What gets in the way? This is all well and good, but we may not feel that strongly towards Jesus right now, or feel open to Him, or have lost our intentionality in our walk. Why is that? What gets in the way? In a word, we get busy. Busy is actually what can get in the way of our affections, our openness, even our intentionality towards Jesus growing strong and deep. We get busy and find ourselves torn between seeking Jesus and getting stuff done. This can create frustration, and before you know it we're annoyed or stressed and put off our plans to spend time with Jesus. We get busy and find ourselves so tired that we have limited energy to actually practice being open to Jesus. And so our busyness slowly closes us off to God, and soon enough, we don't really feel like being with Him at all. We get busy and slowly watch our growth goals with Jesus fall by the wayside. Sound familiar to you? I'm unfortunately writing from tried and tested experience. A question Do you think the friend you're talking with in the imaginary scenario above would be willing to diarise coffee, or a picnic, or a dinner, with your mutual friend if they offered? You bet! Your friend would make time for such opportunities, assuming they are genuine in their "adoration" of your mutual pal. So, how about with the Lord? Make time for adoration this week So, let me ask you: How do you feel towards Jesus this Christmas season? Are you affections strong for Him? How open are you to the voice, wisdom, and ways of Jesus this Christmas season? How intentionally are you growing your relationship with Jesus this Christmas season, and beyond? A few suggestions to help you as you make time for adoration of Jesus this week leading up to Christmas: Soaring worshipful renditions of well loved Christmas Carols like the one we enjoyed on Sunday are a great way to stir our affections afresh for him. Spend time worshipping Him in song. Taking time to journal before Jesus is a powerful way to express ourselves to Him, process our often mixed emotions, and find His kindness and voice to us, renewing and growing our adoration for Him in the process. Taking time, even more simply, to open the pages of scripture, particularly around the birth of Christ and the bible's anticipation of this moment throughout the Old and New Testaments. Here's a reading plan if you would like to work with a devotional: The King Is Coming | Devotional Reading Plan | YouVersion Bible As this year draws to a close, why not take some time to think over how you have gone walking with Jesus this year, and how you'd like things to develop over 2022. Think - what would a stronger, healthier, more personal walk with Jesus look like by the end of next year? There you go. A few ways to cultivate adoration of Jesus in the week ahead. Come let us adore Him together church! Written by Ps. Rob.

Advent, the celebration of the "coming" of Jesus to Earth, has begun. Are you Preparing? Early on in Luke's account of the birth of Jesus, we read of the birth of John the Baptist. John the Baptist is the prophetic figure born to the elderly priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth. He is charged by God to make the way for the birth and mission of Jesus. In particular, the angel Gabriel explains to Zechariah in a vision prior to John's birth that John: "...will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." (Luke 1:16–17) A people prepared for the Lord This phrase caught my attention as I think over Advent this year. As we think about our getting ready as a church for this coming Christmas, I want to use Luke's phrase here and ask: are we "a people prepared for the Lord?" This is the purpose of Advent. It is a practice of the church now centuries old that begins on the Sunday nearest to November 30 (Read a little more HERE). And it is all about being prepared for celebrating the birth of Jesus marked on our Western calendars on Christmas day, December 25. This Christmas, I want to help you be prepared for the Lord. Prepared for a fresh worship of Him. Prepared to behold Him in new ways this Christmas season. Prepared to hear from Him. Prepared to learn more about the character of Your Lord and Saviour, and His purposes for your life as a result. To that end, I've got 4 ways to kick us off. Here they are: Firstly, a Carol - This is a fun one, and in our upcoming December preaching series, this is the first Carol, "O Come All Ye Faithful" we are going to unpack in our preaching this coming Sunday. Secondly, a bible reading program - From The Bible Society, this is a 14 day devotional that focuses on 14 different Names of Jesus given throughout the scriptures that can form a powerful preparation of your heart to worship Jesus this Christmas. Thirdly, a reader - from NT Wright, a free PDF with a more in-depth exploration of the significance of Advent and the power of what we look forward to and celebrate as we celebrate Jesus this Christmas. Fourthly, this blog - we'll be reflecting on the birth of Jesus in this blog over the coming few weeks. This Christmas, let's prepare ourselves to be a people prepared for the Lord coming to our hearts, imaginations, and lives afresh as we celebrate the birth of our Saviour and our King. Preparing with you! Written by Ps. Rob

So what is God's ultimate goal for my life and this world? This is the big question we finished the blog with last week. And it's the big question that should concern us if we're serious about our faith in Jesus. When I say concern us, I mean cause us to seek a clear enough answer to. I mean, if we're going to change in the best possible way, which this series is all about, are we not meant to be changing in the way God intends us to? This question, however, is a very big question. And big questions are always fraught. Fraught with the problem of being answered too simply. Answered without enough nuance. I believe, however, that the scriptures give us some really helpful and broad insights that go a fair way to answering this question. So let me, acknowledging this is a fraught challenge, finish this series by giving my answer. So what is God's ultimate goal for my life and this world? I would answer that God's ultimate goal for my life and this world is (1) to join Him (2) In His Kingdom Building Work (3) As New Creations in Christ (4) Being changed into the likeness of Jesus Christ as we go. Let's unpack this statement: To Join Him - We are those who were made by God to fulfil His purpose for the world (Genesis 1-2). We stuffed this up (Genesis 3), but God through Jesus has invited us back into being partners with Him in His good work in the world (Ephesians 2:1-10). In His Kingdom Building Work - The whole OT is about God being faithful in attempting to build a people who would be His Kingdom of Priests to the nations (Exodus 19:6). The Israelite's failed to live up to this, but Jesus came proclaiming that the Kingdom was now coming amongst us (Mark 1:15; Matt 3:2) and would soon be at work in our midst (Luke 17:21). And core to our praying, taught us by Jesus is this: "your Kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven." (Matthew 6:10). In other words, we are drawn into His Kingdom in order to prayerfully become Kingdom builders with Him. As New Creations in Christ - But what are we that join Him and build with Him? The New Testament declares that this Kingdom building work is a work of renewing the whole of Creation. And it starts with us (2 Corinthians 5:17). All this is made possible in us, and through us, because of Jesus. Increasingly Changing into the Image of Jesus Christ - As we Join God through Jesus in this New Creation Kingdom building work, we are being transformed to increasingly, in all things, take on the nature and passions of Jesus Christ Himself (Romans 8:29). What a glorious, breathtaking, and high calling this is. And it is ours, without discrimination, by the grace of God. Take a moment to thank God for getting to be part of this. I know I am, right now! Is this your ultimate goal? Last week I acknowledged that knowing God's big goal for us can help us with our alignment issues (read HERE). Here is my initial attempt at articulating a clear and concise sense of God's big goal for us. Does this resonate with you? Does it evoke passion in you? I know of no better way to build momentum in your life than to have clear what your overriding goal is - the goal that draws all of your other aims and ambitions into alignment with it. And no matter what you think of my answer above, having clear in your own heart what Your Creator and King aims for this world is essential to bringing this much needed alignment and momentum. So what do I do with misalignment? Misalignment between our ambitions and the God of the Universe necessarily involves prayerful reflection at His feet, seeking His clarifying wisdom and direction. I would suggest a few ways we may be misaligned include: It could be you've not really considered the question in any great depth before. Nor how it impacts what you're aiming for. Your motivations for your pursuits are out of alignment with God - James 4:1-3. Your priorities are out of order with God's - 1 Timothy 6:17. You could be experiencing the deceptive work of sin in your life - James 1:13-15. You could be being tempted by our adversary - Matthew 4:1-11. There are other possible challenges I could list. But in the end, the Lord Himself will reveal what is at play, if you are willing to come before Him to seek total alignment between yourself and Himself. If I have found nothing else in my life, I have found the Lord to abound in helping grace and mercy towards me in helping me continue to grow more aligned with Him and His grand purposes. I know He will be no less so with you. We're finishing this "Life Rebooted" series now. We'll lean into Advent from next week. I hope you've been given cause to consider how God is bringing about the best kind of change in your world through this series. And I pray it's brought you fresh faith, and empowering grace, to change in the ways God has you destined for! Pressing into this Life - rebooted - with you this week and beyond! Written by Ps. Rob

Alignment between Your goals and God's goal could be the missing ingredient in Your personal growth pursuit. We finished last week wondering how our goals work in with the change that God has and is working in us through Jesus Christ. The question is - How does my goal setting (for my fitness, career, finances, relationships, etc.) work in with the salvation plan that God is working in me and the world through Jesus Christ? We may - if you're like me - find that God has changed us "over here" whilst we have a life filled with all kinds of effortful pursuits and goals "over there". That's a life lived jumping between two tracks, but is it what God's salvation is all about? Perhaps a helpful way to move our conversation forward is to ask, "what is God's ultimate goal for all of us?" This question is helpful because it actually leads to two follow up questions: Are my goals, whatever they may be, aligned with God's ultimate goal for all of us? And where can I identify misalignment, and what is causing it? A Personal Admission I have found goal setting hard over the years. I'm great at setting the goals and plans that I want to grow in. And they are quite often elaborate, extensive, and inspiring. But what I've found over the years is there is a slow fade as live builds pace and complexity over the course of each new year. What started out as strong and passionate goal and growth focus becomes haphazard, two-steps forward and one-step backward kind of stuff. A couple of years ago I just gave up on goal setting altogether. It's not that I didn't and don't want to grow. It's just that my system wasn't working, and I'd tried a fair few. As I have continued to grow (God works His own growth plans for our lives, irrespective of what we plan to do or otherwise), I have reflected on my goal-setting challenges and aimed to learn from my many frustrating attempts at a goal setting process. And I have come to what I feel is a significant insight: I need alignment between my pursuits and God's purpose! Like a champion team can beat a team of champions... ...er what? Have you heard the saying quoted above? "That a champion team will beat a team of champions"? There are actual examples of a champion team beating a team of superstars. The wisdom of the saying is that a team of well-connected, aligned, and skillful players can beat a team of exceptionally skilled but superficially connected players. The link between my goal setting and this saying is this: My goals have tended to be a team of champions. Not well-connected. Not aligned to God's bigger picture. And yet quite exciting prospects on their own. It has only recently dawned on me as that is the case. As I say, I haven't abandoned growth, not at all. I've just laid down my own efforts at goal-setting and paid attention to the big goal that the Lord has had for me. But I've had the niggling frustration of this one thought - there are areas I am more or less aware of that I want to improve, grow, and develop intentionally in, and I just don't get to. Without proper focus! And this is where the alignment factor has become a new insight for me to start to work with! God + Us (A Champion Team) God and His goal for the world certainly must come first if we are serious about our salvation, and serious about pursuing this life for the glory of God. But what I realise is I need to align my hungers, passions, and pursuits with God's ultimate goal for my life and this world. And with such alignment, my pursuits cohere with His overriding goal. And what was a team of champions becomes a champion team of goal pursuits. Research + Reflect Task So what is God's ultimate goal for my life and this world? We'll explore this together next week. But why don't you do some research and reflection this week, for yourself, on what you would discern this to be? Ask some people around you that you know are serious about their pursuit of God's purpose for their lives. And further, do some reflecting. What areas of your life would you like to improve in? Grow in? Develop intentionally in? Don't judge them as aligned or misaligned before you list them. Just allow yourself to be free in your thinking and desiring. This gives you an honest self-assessment to work with. Next week, we're going to ask and answer the question we've just posed, and look at how you can work through misalignment issues to get to a place of alignment and coherence between your goals and God's utlimate goal. Pressing into this grace-empowered reboot with you. Written by Ps. Rob.

Change has definitively taken place in the grace of Jesus Christ for us who believe. Think about any goal you have had, and accomplished, or you have right now. Will you need to change, in order to achieve it? Or, did you change, in achieving it? I know I have begun to go to bed early, as a committed course of change. I have a time I'm committed to, and barring one lapse in the last fortnight, I have successfully fulfilled my commitment. Prior to this, my lights out patterns were all over the place. But have I had to change in order to fulfil this aim? You bet! My whole approach to my evenings has been reshaped accordingly. I have the goal of becoming more rested. Getting my sleeping patterns in good shape is what I have deemed as my essential first step. But the hope of being more rested has required genuine change of me. What Has Jesus Begun in Me? So whatever we look forward to in life requires change of us. Each of us, no matter what has happened this year, have things we're looking forward to ahead. Whatever these hopes and aims are, by definition they require us to change. So when we turn to our biblical faith, what resources can we find for the journey ahead? From previous weeks, we have seen that change is challenging, messy and complex, and hard to come by. But it is promised us in and through Jesus Christ. The bible, however, goes even further than declaring that change is a hope in the future. The bible, most importantly for you and I, declares that change has already definitely happened for us who believe in Jesus. Check these declarations of scripture out: "Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." [1 Corinthians 6:9–11] But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. [Titus 3:4–7] "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire." [2 Peter 1:3-4] Let's take these three powerful examples of what the Bible teaches us about our own personal change in light of God's work in us. The 1 Corinthians passage describes a change of identity that is effected by Jesus and the Spirit in a believers heart. Such that old lifestyles can be described as what the Corinthians were and used to practice - but not any longer. The Titus passage declares we have already experienced a washing and renewal of the Holy Spirit. And 2 Peter teaches us that we can participate in the divine nature of God Himself, now. These are fundamental, identity-level, and definitive changes that God works in us through Jesus Christ. We have, in our whole person, from the level of our identity up, been changed by the grace of God. And we've got the promise from God of changing to become nothing less than more like Him, in whose image we have all been originally made. Take time to meditate on any one of these passages - choose the one that most encourages you. Allow God's word to speak to you afresh of the change that has truly taken place, already, by God's grace alone, at your core. The type of life we lead, and the state of our existence, has been fundamentally shifted by Jesus loving work in us. Change HAS Happened Here We are those who have been fundamentally changed by God's grace and loving power. So is this change total, and achieved right here and right now? And how do we live this change out? To answer the first question, I cannot help but think of the Exodus narrative in the Old Testament. In Exodus, the ancient people of Israel were stuck in the condition of slavery for centuries. And then, at a time of God's merciful and loving choosing, He moves rather quickly through Moses and Aaron to liberate the people of Israel. They are shortly no longer slaves, but by the miraculous intervention of God moving out of Egypt, out of 100's of years of slavery, and moving on to the Promised Land of God's choosing. This works out well for a day or two. And then Israel starts freaking out about their new state of affairs. Feeling vulnerable, defenceless, and homesick (strange when their slavery got so bad towards the end), they pine to return to Egypt - as slaves. But God is faithful to lead them on into the Promised Land as His sons and daughters, even as they struggle to fit on this new identity that He has miraculously brought about for them. It is powerful to think - ancient Israel were always God's Sons and Daughters. They had just had such tough life experiences for generations that had formed in them a totally different way of living and thus believing. They had grown to live like slaves, and believe they were slaves. God's leadership, and mercy, was crucial for them to shift from living and believing themselves to be slaves, to them become sons. So whilst the New Testament makes wonderful declarations of how we have changed, it is a process that requires the ongoing leadership and mercy of the Lord in our lives. And the bible is also clear that this change will not be fully realised in this lifetime. For example, in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul helps the Corinthian believers understand what will happen as we finally enter into eternity: "I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed." [1 Cor. 15:50–52] So whilst we have been definitively changed by the grace available to us in Jesus Christ, we are still going to be finally and completely changed at the time of the "last trumpet" - when Jesus returns to usher in eternal life for all who have trusted in and followed Him in this life. So what to do? Answering the second question, based in what we've talked about above, here are three important things you and I can do to walk out the change God is working in us: Have yourself in right perspective - everything starts with understanding who we are. Israel lived and believed for some time after their slavery as slaves. But they were, in God's eyes, His Sons and Daughters. The difference comes when we see ourselves in right perspective. And there is no more accurate perspective on our lives, and our identities, than God's. So how strong are you in your God-given identity? What exercises in scriptural reflection and prayer can you begin today to build even greater strength at the level of you self-understanding and perception in light of God's truth about you? Check who is lead - For Israel, change was tied to the ongoing lead of the Lord out of slavery and into their Promised Land. Likewise for us, it is no less the case. Are you following the active leading of the Lord in your days and weeks? How do you know? Do you have trusted voices in your life who also clearly follow the Lord who you check-in with regularly to make sure you are on the Lord's track, and not going down your own rabbit trail? Build strength in the grace of God - Paul reminds the much younger Timothy: "You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." (2 Timothy 2:1) Why? At the end of the day, we have been changed, we change, and we will be surely changed by God's grace alone. How do you build strength here? Practice "lifting" the grace of God. You build muscular strength in a gym. You build grace strength in everyday life by regularly "lifting" it up as your reliance: in the boardroom, in the kitchen, in the personal, relational, and professional opportunities of your life. Lift grace. As we continue to move into the season of life we're in now, post-lockdown, let's get moving in the grace of God that has effected change in us, will continue to effect change in us, and will one day soon fully and completely finish that change in us. All by the grace of God in the end. Next week, we'll connect the change God is working in us with the changes that we see we need to or could make in our lives. How does God's wonderful work in Jesus Christ relate to the change initiatives we have in mind? Pressing on in this change journey with you. Written by Ps. Rob.

What are some of the factors that influence change and make it hard? 80% of New Years resolutions fail. This is the stat that is bandied around the internet. Interestingly enough, this stat tends to be a "they say" number that is linked endlessly back to no official study anywhere. Despite the scepticism around the statistics, I know New Years resolutions are rife around this annual calendar moment, and they don't tend to translate well into successful behaviour change. Change is a strange process. Personally, I have found myself changing in ways that I would never have anticipated as life has developed. I never used to care too much about tidiness. Or bed making for that matter. Even as a young married couple, it used to trouble Beth that I couldn't see the problem with my spreading ways or that the bed never seemed to be made by me. Fast forward to having a little human spreading things everywhere, and the bed in your background for any online meeting, and I often make the bed and I am quite strongly committed to keeping our house neat and tidy these days. Who would have thought!!! But one thing is for sure - change has most certainly taken place for me. How about your experience? We've begun a series exploring how we change as humans from a biblical and psychological perspective, drawing upon a very useful resource I'm reading. I think it's highly relevant to us right now as we're coming out of lock-down in Sydney and considering the ways we want and need to do things differently in our lives moving forward. So what is the change "secret sauce"? Well, it appears that there is no secret sauce or silver bullet. And further, that human change is complex and hard to come by. This is what J. G. Millar argues in his work "Changed Into His Likeness". This much has certainly be true for my life. It's not impossible to change, but it is far more challenging, messy, and stranger than our simple and often spontaneous New Years resolutions tend to make it out to be. So do you REALLY want to change? Perhaps the place to start is with some way to check if we're really ready to change. And whilst I am aware of models that define stages of change we tend to go through as humans - like Prochaska & DiClemente's "Stages of Change" modelling (read more HERE) - I'm looking for something a bit different. I'm looking for the conditions that tend to trigger change or prevent change from moving through all the well considered stages identified in "Stages of Change" modelling like Prochaska & DiClemente's. Here's where J. G. Miller identifies the often "triggered" nature of personal change and the complex and it's complex and messy reality. The Checklists Change, according to Millar's analysis of the Psychology literature, tends to come: Around a major life transition (marriage, parenthood, loss of a loved one, midlife, etc.). From a sense of boredom or dissatisfaction with life. From a recognition that something is broken and needs to be fixed. From a desire for the 'rewards' that come with change. And/or, From a crisis/shock that produces motivation for action. Here's your checklist. Are any of these real for you? You may be right in the middle of an opportunity for personal change. As Millar notes, any of these experiences can bring out the desire for change in us, and even more so, make the decision to not change painful and therefore not an option. Even more helpful is Millar's collating of reasons why change doesn't always to last for us: We lack the will to continue - our willpower is limited and our routine neural wiring tends to be hard to shift. Our goals may be unrealistic or ill-judged. Our beliefs may be dysfunctional, inhibiting change. We may slip into blaming others or our circumstances rather than taking responsibility to change. The benefits of remaining stuck outweigh the change as we see it currently. We may lack support from important others. Our traits or moods may work against change. We may lack the skills to manage the change process well. Here's your second checklist. Maybe you are seeking to change, but have found the change hard to embed in your life. Any of these reasons resonating with you for your personal change initiative? Isn't This All A Little Depressing Well yes and no. Yes, it is in the sense that change is quite a sensitive and hard to maintain effect in our lives. But this is a good thing for us to recognise, as it prevents us from being naive about our approach to change in ours and others lives. Even more importantly, these insights cause us to realise we need real help to change. There are multiple factors at play in seeing genuine change take place in our lives and those around us. And this causes us to recognise that the grace and presence of God is essential in co-ordinating the factors around us and in us that are necessary for real and lasting change to take place. But again, if the scripture declares to us what is true for us and all who seek to follow Jesus, change is what God is working in us, and through us, in this grace-empowered life. Remember this, from Romans 8:29: "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters." In an nutshell, we are destined for change in following Jesus, and into nothing less than His image. Wow! So whilst change is hard, messy, and complex, scripture declares to us - God wants to bring about in us the best kind! What do I do? You can't just manufacture your circumstances. Don't go out seeking a major life transition just to encourage change, for example! But you can assess where you are at, and what factors might be preventing lasting change for you. Review the two lists above, and ask: Am I in such a catalytic set of circumstances right now? If so, how exactly? If not, why not? Am I finding one or more of these issues is real for my change efforts at present? After taking an honest assessment of yourself, I'd encourage you to do two more things: Humble yourself under God and seek His help - James promises: "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." [James 4:10] Ask someone who you trust and know will encourage you - to stand with you in the change you seek, to pray for you, and to believe God with you for change into Christlikeness to occur by God's empowering grace. Having a realistic understanding of what is before us in pursuing change and growth is essential to actually seeing it come about. Next week, we will discover "Change Has Happened Here" - right at the core of who we are, because of the grace we received when we first believed. Can't wait to explore this with you all! Pressing into this transformational journey with you this week. Written by Ps. Rob

Coming out of lockdown, I want some things to change for me personally. Don't you? We're all experiencing life rebooted at the moment. Much more normal life! As we do, we've got new dynamics to navigate. I know from my own experiences there's lots of rebooting going on - rebooting our plan for Eva's care whilst Beth is at work; rebooting social life; rebooting new daily routines and habits for getting to work and back again; rebooting managing all this complexity. Not to mention the rebooting of Sydney traffic...argh! We are experiencing some semblance of normality rebooting around us, and we've got the opportunity and the challenge of working out - how do I do this well? If you are anything like me, you are thinking - there are some things I want to differently, and better, in the months ahead, and growth I really want to activate coming out of this last challenging season of lockdown. So how does God help us all here? Firstly - the CHALLENGE of Change I have recently bought a great resource exploring how humans change, biblically speaking, but integrating with insights from human psychology. It is called, Changed into His Likeness: A Biblical Theology of Personal Transformation, by J. G. Miller. It is a fascinating read as I progress, and it is highly relevant to the questions we are asking right now - especially if we are wanting to grow in the season ahead, do things differently and better, and become who God is calling us to become. This quote from the introduction of the book says it well: "People are still yearning for change. Everyone wants his or her life to be better. Everyone wants the world to be a better place. Many people even get as far as realizing that we need to change. But the desire for change and seeing it happen are not the same thing. The problem, of course, is that we look for and pursue change and growth in a world in which disorder—chaos and entropy—is always increasing. In the search for change, particularly personal change, we are always swimming against the tide." [Changed into His Likeness: A Biblical Theology of Personal Transformation, by J. G. Miller] In short, we want to grow, develop, and become more of who we're meant to be, but it's difficult in this world. Secondly - A DEFINITION of Change I find the definition of change that J. G. Millar expresses a very powerful one that captures what we hunger for when we talk about a habit, a lifestyle, or a personal growth "reboot" in any area of our lives: "personal change (or transformation) involves decisively altered behaviour, consistently modified thinking, choices and decisions and permanently reshaped character." [Changed into His Likeness: A Biblical Theology of Personal Transformation. (D. A. Carson, Ed.) (Vol. 55, p. 4)] This a compelling definition of change, if you think about. I don't want to just dabble in wishing to change my behaviour, thinking, choices and decisions. I want to be permanently reshaped by Jesus and into His likeness, more ready than ever for His purposes. This is what the Apostle Paul declares is our lifelong journey and ultimate destiny when he says: "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters." [Romans 8:29] So what is the practical next steps here for us? Next Steps Using the above definition, why don't you identify any areas of behaviour, thinking, choice or decision making you want to see change in. And then, pray. Where do I focus first Lord? I have learnt many times over (and read in any change literature I have engaged with) that focussing on too many areas of change at once is a recipe for change failure. The Lord knows, and you want Him involved in this. So, what's the focus going to be Jesus? Next Week Next week we'll continue this series, "Life Rebooted", by looking at a very helpful "Do I Really Want to Change Checklist." Let's change together for God's glory and the sake of our city! Written by Ps. Rob Waugh.

Build faith and doubt strategically in the times ahead Things have become more complex. As lockdown restrictions have eased in Sydney, life has become that much more complex. And it's hit for me in the simplest, and yet most everyday of ways. For months on end, we were not allowed to see people outside of our own homes (or were allowed to in very limited contexts). And then suddenly, as long as we are vaccinated, we are faced with all sorts of new decisions we've not had to make in months: who do I spend time with? How do I manage to fit it all in? How much is too much? What kind of pace do I, or we, need to set coming out lockdown? How much of my lockdown rhythms do I want to keep? What do I want to give up? And this is to say nothing of the decisions we need to make around going back to work on-site, church on-site, childcare on-site, and all the other things we didn't have to think about at all during lockdown. It's exciting, it's so good, and yet it can be tiring and even overwhelming at times. I've heard it said to me many times, and I've said it as well - I want to make sure that the way out of this lockdown is well paced, and doesn't simply become "busy busy busy" all over again. It was our recent guest speaker Sam Chan who noted that the normal Sydney lifestyle, so "busy busy busy", is part of what can make us so anxious. So how do we move forward well? "By faith" has been our mantra in this blog over the weeks leading up to lockdown restrictions easing, and on into these last few weeks of new freedoms. And today is no different. Today, I want to focus on the key "by faith" resource that God promises us that is essential for navigating the complexity of our times, and any times for that matter. That resource - the wisdom of God! The Promise In the book of James we read of an inspiring and much needed promise with respect to navigating life complexity. In James 1, we read: "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do." (James 1:5–8) There is loads of helpful assurance as well as challenge packed into these few short sentences. Helpful Assurance First, the helpful assurance. God's promise of wisdom here is overflowing to those who ask. Now we'd do well to understand a little about what wisdom actually is, and how it relates to our lives, to capture the significance of this promise in James 1. A helpful place to study wisdom is the biblical book of Proverbs. Without going into the book, a great summary of what wisdom covers is given by biblical theologian John Goldingay, where he notes wisdom literature like Proverbs focusses: "..more on everyday life than history, more on the regular than the unique, more on the individual (though not outside of his social relationships) than the nation, more on personal experience than sacred tradition." Further, Proverbs asks and speaks to this question: "...what a person is like to live with, or to employ; how he manages his affairs, his time and himself." Putting these insights into the context of James 1:5, we can say that God gives generous insight in everyday life, our regular rhythms, our individual decisions, and our personal lived experiences. God gives generous understanding in order to live well with others, to manage our affairs, our time and ourselves well in His world. Now who doesn't need this? Especially right now! And the promise God makes is to give this insight and understanding generously, without finding fault! The Challenge Secondly, the challenge. The challenge is - what unlocks this gift is put plainly in James 1 - believing and not doubting. James is actually going for both sides of the faith coin. One side is believing, the other side, not doubting. Let's quickly unpack these two sides: Believing - is specific and focussed here for James. It is believing in who God is who makes this promise to us. It is not a state of emotion, it is not a worked up state of intellectual or other confidence. It is a calm assurance that God is who He says He is, and will do what He says He will do. Hebrews 11:6 is helpful here - "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Our God rewards those who diligently seek Him. Wisdom, here promised in James, is one such reward! Not doubting - so we are clear on what is meant by doubting, James gives us a word picture of waves being blown here and there by the wind. And He further describes doubting as being "double-minded" and "unstable" in one's actual lifestyle. Such insight helps us narrow down what we're talking about here when we talk about doubting. It is that specific frame of mind that is pushed and pulled everywhere, doesn't settle, decide, or rest on who God is, and constantly chops and changes and shifts mindsets. This kind of doubting is not the kind that questions in order to become convinced, clear, and decided. It is the kind of doubting that is too scared, worried, or troubled by actually having to make decisions and choose a course of action, and so constantly flits about without any direction or clear purpose. Where to? I can see that we need to respond, if we want to build our faith up and walk forward with God's wisdom, in at least two ways: Build clarity - Around who God is for you. Who God is for your specific situations, your specific complexities, your specific concerns and challenges. Which means, for example, you & I need to know that we know that we know that God is: our protector in situations of risk; our provider in situations of real or possible lack; our peace in situations that are anxious; our power in situations that can make us feel powerless. These are just examples - but each and every one is a specific understanding of God, gathered from knowing and understanding His character through His word, that counters the specific concerns of our lives and days. Doubt strategically - this may sound strange, but hear me out. Don't let doubts, and the anxieties that come with them, throw you into a tail spin. And if they do, get some help from outside of yourself to: 1) identify the doubt that is on your mind; 2) make a plan for understanding who God is in the area of doubt you're experiencing; 3) prepare to apply this understanding that you develop to prayer, and daily memorisation, to counter doubt pushing and pulling you into a indecisive and unstable path. As we continue to manage the complexity of this season of life in Sydney, we've got a generous God who's got wisdom to give us without faulting those who ask Him - believing and not doubting. I'm with you, seeking this wisdom and countering doubt with confidence in who God is! Written by Ps. Rob.