WHY DID JESUS PRAY?

According to Luke (the Gospel writer) Jesus prayed often.

But he [Jesus] would often withdraw to desolate places and pray.
Luke 5:16

Jesus wasn't merely praying as an example. His praying was Him entering into time and space and making a difference. His praying actually resulted in Him, at times, being strengthened (Luke 22:41-43). He told His disciples that it was a result of His praying that they would be able to continue in their relationship with God -

...but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.
Luke 22:32

There is so much detail of the life of Christ that we don't have. But we do have the repeated record that He was a man who prayed. We know what He prayed, how He prayed, when He prayed and that He prayed. But we are less clear on why He prayed.

Some teach that He prayed because He was just a man. Others teach that He prayed because, although He was God, He had relinquished His deity and was not able to use His rights as God. But neither of these positions is Biblical. While Christ became man, He never ceased being God. He as God in the flesh.

The fact that He prayed at all is very striking. The fact that He prayed as a lifestyle is even more striking. At the very least we should be motivated to pray as a lifestyle. This means praying purposefully (setting aside time to pray, even if its only a few minutes), praying silently (while about our daily routines and activities), praying through a list of requests, praying the principles of the Lord's Prayer and making the prayers of the Bible our own.

pray without ceasing,
1Th. 5:17

Amen.


Andrew.

MEDI-CARE or MEDI-KILL?

Abortion is a blight on our nation. It is a highly emotional issue for many people who in their shrill, abandon ordinary decency and plunge into irrationality. The widespread view held in the 1970s that a fetus was simply a part of a woman's body or that the embryo was not human, or that the unborn in the womb feels no pain, have all been debunked now.

Recently a Australian university banned the display of a poster on their campus which pictured an 8 week old unborn baby ("human embryo") and only had the caption- "An 8 Week Old Embryo".



Abortion is probably now the greatest social injustice in the world today. Its legacy is the trauma that thousands of women who have had an abortion (even decades ago) are now experiencing. This is one reason why we launched Hope For Women - to help some of those women who are experiencing Post-Abortion Trauma. The unborn are not the only casualties of abortion.

This Sunday in our church we will have an urgent petition regarding Medicare funding for abortion which I urge you to sign.
Senator Guy Barnett will be presenting a Bill in the Senate to withdraw Medicare funding for abortion. In an interview on ABC radio this morning, Senator Barnett noted that in up to 20% of current abortions in Australia, the child in the womb is older than 20 weeks and is actually birthed alive and left to die. "I find this galling" said Senator Barnett to ABC radio's Tim Cox.

And so should we.

If you wish to download the Petition yourself, then visit-

Download Petition

I commend this petition to you.

Dr. Andrew Corbett

BE SKEPTICAL, NOT CYNICAL

It might sound strange for a Christian minister to encourage skepticism. But I do. In fact, I don't think it's possible to live a fruitful, faith-filled, Christian life unless we are skeptical. At first glance it might appear that to encourage skepticism and faith is an irreconcilable contradiction. But I think that we can see that faith is grounded by skepticism. Let me explain...

To be skeptical is to be slow to believe. This slowness has to do with processing the proof. Any proof offered for a claim must be tested to determine whether it is sustainable (1Thess. 5:21). While Christians are commended to believe all things (1Cor. 13:7) this does not mean we should be naive in our thinking (1Cor. 14:20). It is reasonable for a Christian to wait for (testable) evidence before they believe a claim such gold-dust falling out of thin air during a worship service, dramatic healings, resurrections, or prophetic messages given supposedly by angels.

In this sense, skepticism in a Christian sense is not being "closed-minded" but rather: "open-minded". That is, the Christian is not "closed" to the idea that what is presented by some sincere (but naive) believers as "from God" may have some quite natural explanation. A Biblically grounded Christian is open-minded to both natural and supernatural answers to certain phenomena.

Yet, despite even the best attempts by mature, Biblically-literate Christians, deception is still possible. It is even more possible when the one deceiving has some credibility. For example, when the son of a highly regarded pastor dupes thousands into believing that he is dying from cancer, it is expected that his claims have been substantiated. This makes his duplicity all the more painful. It is painful for the cause of Christ. It is painful for his family, especially his dad (who deserves to be highly regarded). It is painful for the wider Body of Christ.

Unfortunately, this most recent deception may cause some Christians to move from naiveté to cynicism (refusing to believe despite the evidence) rather than to skepticism (which the Bible encourages). If any Christian feels tempted to become cynical because they have realised their naiveté, they firstly need to be commended for having applied the first part of 1Corinthians 13:7. They now need to apply the last part of 1Corinthians 13:7 which encourages us to endure all things which surely includes the failings of men.

This deception is going to cause a severe loss of credibility for many people who had applied 1Corinthians 13:7 to "believe all things". This is especially so for his family, and perhaps due to his high public profile, his father (who is a genuinely great bloke). One small consolation in all this is the relatively swift and transparent conduct of the ACC Executive. They are to be commended for this.

Skepticism should help us to keep our eyes on Christ and not on the shortcomings of others. This is because we have every reason to trust and believe in Jesus of Nazareth. His claims of peace and true joy through the salvation He offers can be tested and be shown to be trustworthy and reliable. For the person who has come to realise the truthfulness of Jesus Christ yet still doubts, there is an offer from God who loves to help skeptics with their doubts.

Mark 9:24 ¶ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

"Faith" to overcome doubts is described in the New Testament as a gift from God that can help transform not just skeptics, but even cynics.

Ephesians 2:8 ~ "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God"

If you are skeptical that this gift of faith from God is for you, then test this claim for yourself and ask God for it.

Andrew.

DO YOU MIND?

This week I took a day out of the office and attended a one day Theological seminar with Prof. Andrew McGowen from Scotland. He gave a series of talks on the role of the Holy Spirit. His opening question asked what did a person need to do in order to become a Christian. The simple answer to this question, according to Dr McGowen, was: believe. But he then presented us with an exposition of Romans 1 which teaches that it is simply impossible for the natural mind to receive the Gospel. According to Romans 1, the mind of an unsaved person is "darkened", "futile", "hardened", "debased", "depraved", "reprobate" (depending on your translation). The natural mind is at enmity with God and His Word (Rom. 8:7).

Dr McGowen went on to explain that the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian was the condition of their mind.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
Romans 8:5

To be a Christ-follower is to receive and develop a different mind. In Hebrew 8:10 it says that the believer has received the Laws of God written into their minds. And Titus 3:5 implies that our minds are washed and regenerated when we become believers.

What we do with our minds reflects what God has done with our minds.

Dr McGowen said that the mind of an unbeliever can only be opened to the truth by a work of the Holy Spirit. It is only then that they can receive the Gospel as "the word of truth".

because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel,
Colossians 1:5

Until this happens the unbeliever regards the Gospel as foolishness even though Romans 1 says they intuitively know that the Gospel is the truth. Despite this intuitive knowledge, the unbeliever "suppresses" this knowledge of the truth -

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
Romans 1:18

Dr McGowen then urged us to acknowledge that it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit at work through the witnessing believer and in the mind of the unbeliever that the word of truth can be received. This, he said, should encourage us to pray. We should pray that our witness is effective-

and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.
Philemon 6

And pray that the minds of those being witnessed to would have their minds opened to the truth-

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
2Corinthians 4:4

Without prayer, Prof McGowen said, our evangelism is powerless and bound to be unproductive. God has ordained prayer as the ministry aid of the Church's witness. It is our praying that opens our minds to the work of the Holy Spirit so that we can be taught the Word of Truth, and it is our praying that opens the minds of unbelievers to similarly receive the Word of Truth: the Gospel.

As we consider some of our church's outreaches, let's pray. Without prayer inviting the Holy Spirit to intervene in our church's outreaches, it will be powerless. Please pray.

Amen.

Andrew Corbett

FOCUSSING ON THE IMPORTANT RATHER THAN THE URGENT

COMING INTO FOCUS...

There are so many things that demand our attention and cause us to lose focus. We have urgent lists to complete, repairs to be made, tasks to be done, people to see, children to drop-off and pick up, deadlines to meet, and places to be. In fact, in recent times I have found the pressure to keep up with all these urgent things quite immense. As a leader I know that leadership means carrying extra responsibility which means a higher price has to be paid by a leader. Nehemiah is a fantastic example of this. He led with such diligence that when his people slept, he continued to work. When Nehemiah's people were becoming intimidated by their antagonistic neighbours, he stepped up and gave clear leadership by re-focussing them on God and His mission for them.

Last Sunday night I shared with the church some of the ways I am representing our church and advancing our vision to be a dynamic growing church for all the family reaching our community and beyond. Some of these things include managing 12 websites, managing the Finding Truth Matters teaching ministry, leading LeganaMEDIA, producing radio-ready 1-minute biographies of great Christian leaders, serving as President of ICI Theological College, lobbying politicians on family and moral issues, lecturing for Tabor College, contributing to an upcoming abortion-recovery information campaign (Hope For Women), pioneering an eBay outreach ministry, running a YouTube evangelism and apologetic ministry, setting up and chairing a round table forum of community, business, and church leaders to pool resources and talents to achieve the Great Commission in Tasmania, called Believe In Tasmania and in recent times have been invited to become an executive member of the Australian Christian Churches in Tasmania. Added to this is my involvement in the community as a volunteer junior tennis coach at the Legana Tennis Club where I have been building bridges with many families. With all of these to keep me busy I have learned that it is easy to lose focus if the urgent becomes prioritised over the important.

It is important for the important things to be done before the urgent ones.
Added to these "beyond" responsibilies of leadership on behalf of our church are the ongoing responsibilities of pastoring our church family through teaching, writing and preaching. My pastoral goal is to help equip everyone in our church to be a Biblically-literate ambassador for Christ, ready to give an answer for the hope we have within us. The only way I can keep up with this is to constantly try to ensure that the important is not swamped by the urgent.

I pray that we as a church we will ever keep the important before the urgent. For us as a church we to prioritise our daily devotion and quiet time with the Lord in prayer and His Word. Together we need to prioritise our worship together, our devotion to the teaching of God's Word together (Heb. 10:24-25), and our commitment to our families as our primary witness (1Tim 5:8).

While Winter is always a frustrating time for trying to get the whole church together (sickness, holidays, darkness) it is also a great time for us as a church to re-focus on the important. It is important for us to be prayerful for our church and our witness. Please pray that we will be a good witness for the Lord in our community, neighbourhood and Valley. Please pray that God will show you how you can serve Him within our church and to give you the strength to do it. Please commit to discipleship- being a disciple and discipling. If everyone in our church had a goal -to reach one ~ teach one- we would become increasingly focussed on the important commission that Christ has given us (Matt. 28:18-19).

I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.”
PHILIPPIANS 3:14 NLT

Amen.

Andrew Corbett

BEING A FAITHFUL WITNESS...

When Christ comes into your heart He changes everything! Two Theologians were recently debating in a public forum what it meant to be saved. One Theologian was arguing for an Arminian view and the other from the Reformed view. The Aminian Theologian said that salvation was like a chair that God was offering people to sit in. He went on to say that people must choose to sit in the chair - because if they don't they'll be damned for eternity.
The other Theologian picked up on the chair analogy and said that God provides a chair that most people cannot see because the room is pitch dark. Even if they wanted to sit in it they couldn't - but the reality is they don't have any desire to sit in the chair because they don't even know it's there. He went on to say that God then turns the light on the room and the person becomes aware of several things. Firstly, they see themselves as tired and worn-out. Secondly they realise that it is not safe to sit anywhere- and then they see the most magnificent sight they have ever seen! They see an infinitely beautiful chair! It is gorgeous! They are drawn to its beauty and then ponder how perfectly comfortable it looks. The chair almost seems to be inviting them to sit in it and rest. Before they know it they are seated in the chair. This Theologian said, the saved don't sit in the chair because they fear being damned if they don't, they sit in the chair because they've seen their true condition in the light of God and seen their only solution as sitting in the chair which has become to them the most beautiful, magnificent, attractive person they could ever see.
When this Theologian, John Piper, sat down, his colleague (RC Sproul) leaned across to whisper to him- I believe the chair is beautiful John!
The Chair is beautiful. The Chair is Jesus.

"I'm asking GOD for one thing,
only one thing:
To live with him in his house
my whole life long.
I'll contemplate his beauty;
I'll study at his feet.
Psalm 27:4 THE MESSAGE

Being a "witness" means that we are sitting in the Chair. When people ask us why? are we sitting in this Chair, we know how to answer. This is what a witness does. A witness is called upon for their testimony. Our testimony is Christ-saturated. Our witness becomes the light of God in a dark and dying world. We don't coerce people to sit in the Chair. We don't drag people to the Chair. We simply witness.

Being a witness is our mission - converting sinners to the Chair is God's business. I pray that as a Church we will be a good witness, both individually and together.
Amen.
Dr. Andrew Corbett