You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well.

Acts 15:29

I grew up in The Salvation Army; my parents were Officers (or Pastors/Ministers), and no one does rules and regulations like the Salvos. We have rules for everything, and I remember reading the rules and regulations for officers that was written back in the 1800's, and there was even rules on how often a person should shower and even the dangers of sleeping with the window open.

I am not sure how these things would affect one's eternity, but I guess the authors had good intentions about the well being of the officers.

One of the dangers we face within our churches is that we start to influence peoples' lives with rules. We invite them to come into a relationship with Jesus, and once they have done that, we then start to tell them how Jesus wants them to live their life. And sure, we have a responsibility to guide new Christ followers in the ways of living a holy life (if that is possible), but we start to put pressure on people to DO certain things. We make people obliged to serve in certain areas, perhaps making them believe that they have to do certains things in order to make their lives better.

Let me encourage you to just let Jesus guide you in what he has in store for your life. Don't let people make the decisions for your life for you, but instead, allow God to speak to you. Let him guide you in what is right.

“Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. Everyone who believes in him is declared right with God....

Acts 13:38-39

How simple is it for us to get caught up in doing church and going about the day to day duties of church "work". We tend to do a lot of things in our lives that make us feel good about doing good deeds. Sometimes I think we do these things because we feel that we might get a bette house n heaven when we get there because we did that little bit extra "work". Maybe we might even get a house inn the same street as God if we do enough "overtime".

I feel we get so caught up in doing the "work", that we forget about the mission that Jesus called us to - to make disciples of every person in every nation. So many of us can't even be bothered to make disciples of the people we live next door to, or even family members, but if we can do something at church, then that makes us feel better, and by the way, that is much more comfortable.

Paul was in Antioch when he preached the words above. He was preaching to both Jews and Gentiles. He was preaching to people who "knew" God and those who didn't. Those who didn't know God accpeted the message of forgiveness and were made right. But those who "knew" God, were troubled by the discomfort this message caused, and they ended up running Paul and his companions out of town.

I wonder how many of us who "know" God have really accepted the fact that we are here to proclaim the forgivenss of sins to all who will hear it? There is a world full of people who don't know God who are eager to hear the message.

Don't Act; Be

Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God. But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers criticized him. “You entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them!” they said.

Acts 11:1-3

God has been challenging me lately to be doing more within the community to reach people for Jesus. It is easy and comfortable to stay within the confines of the church walls to be a Christ follower. It is easy in my position as Youth Pastor to just stay and work with the people who have already given their hearts to God, and to help them develop their own faith. It is easy to mentor and assist people to develop their leadership ability, but it is also easy to forget the great commission that Jesus gave and that was to go into the whole world and witness to the fact that Jesus can save lives. Jesus is able to heal brokeness. Jesus is able to forgive sins. He is able to help us move on in life and move beyond the hurts that others cause, and he is able to mend the torment of the past.

What strikes me about the verses above is the way that the Jewish believers criticised Peter about going into the house of Gentiles. This verse challenges me because we are very good at staying within the confines of our "homes". That we are great at witnessing to ourselves and that we are not very good at telling unbelievers about the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

So what are you going to do about this thought? Are you going to witness to your friends and family who don't believe, or are you going to keep it all to yourself? There is a whole community that you live in that doesn't know what Jesus can do for them, and if you don't tell them, they might leave this world never knowing.

The World Offers Nothing

There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.

Acts 4:12

Every now and then, I purchase magazines that young people would read to try and keep a handle on what is being offered to them around the place. Headlines like, Get the Body You Want in 5-Days, or How To Make Her Dig You, all frustrate me because there are no easy answers, and there are no quick fix solutions. God has made us to be who we are naturally, but the world keeps offering advice about how our lives can be saved from this misery (which by the way, most of us don't live in) by doing whatever the magazines and other boof heads offer advice on.

We all want to be saved from something. For some it is depression and sadness. Others it might be unhealthy living or addiction to something. Some people are work-a-holics, others far too lazy for their own good. And having worked within the funeral industry for a time, there is a longing within most people to be in touch with something spiritual.

But, salvation is only avavilable from one source, and that is God the Father through the death and ressurection of his son Jesus. We can try and save ourselves, or look for salvation through other avenues, but it will only lead to disappointment and misery.

I notice there is a lot of activity on Facebook over the last few weeks of people posting their horoscopes. These won't lead to salvation, only disappointment and empty promise.

My prayer is that for everyone of you who reads this will find salvation through Jesus Christ, and that he will become the answer to your problems in life.

Take Up The Offer

Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, (Acts 3:19-20)

There is nothing in this world that is encouraging anyone to repent of their sins. In fact, everywhere I look, all I see is encouragment to do what pleases me, and the consequences are non existent. Here in Perth, there are young people throwing rocks at cars and buses, people being set upon by gangs. Children being killed in car accidents because people have a disregard for traiffic laws and even life. Our children are being told by the media that they have so many rights (and they do) and yet teachers are restricted within the classroom, because there is nothing they can do to discipline the students, and so the students just run amok.

There seems to be so much hatred and lack of respect, and the world is crying out for refreshment. But the refreshment won't come until we return to God.

My own experience is that God gives more than refreshment, he is the one who guides us to green pasture and cool waters. He is the only God who can bring peace to our lives and healing to our hurts. He is the one who can wipe away our past and give us new life to start fresh.

My prayer is that you will be aware of this same God. The one true God. May he bring peace and healing to your life, and that times of refreshment will come to you from God.