KEEPING FRESH

Oh boy, how easy it is to get into a rut!

Our cat exemplifies this, for she has the unfortunate habit of jumping up and going to sleep on my knee, nearly every time I sit down at the computer. Unless of course, she has found somewhere else in the sun - so can't be bothered moving! It's nice to be popular occasionally - but not all the time! Don't worry, I know fully realize this is for her comfortable self interest, not because of a particular admiration or love for me!

In a week's time, she will have to find another resting-place though, as I will be hopping on an airplane, heading towards India for 4 weeks. Now, if I am in a rut, this could be viewed as just another trip away from home and family. Or, if I am fresh, as an exciting opportunity to share God's Word and vision for His end time church with hundreds of Pastors, who will in turn disseminate God's plan to thousands of their people. And many lives will be changed! Now it is obvious which attitude will be most effective in being able to be used by God to achieve His purposes!

So often in ministry, indeed in life in general, we get over tired, get stuck in a rut, and our effectiveness, and enthusiasm for life and the Word rapidly diminishes. Do you know the feeling?

One thing I have found in my walk with Jesus is that our God is a God of change - and as people, we are generally not! So sadly, those at the forefront of the last move of God are generally the most resistant to the next. Similarly, in our personal lives, we rapidly become comfortable with the revelation we have, with the person we are. We may not like where we are at, but we desire change even less.

That is a major reason why the 'Law' is still so attractive to us. Following the Law, we can order our lives in a routine way and so convince ourselves we are doing God's will. The Pharisees were expert at this and of course, as a group, were Jesus' 'pet hate'.

So what is the answer? It varies but it is the same! To remove ourselves from our routine, allowing God the opportunity to recharge the batteries of our life. After his wife Susan's inspiring funeral, my friend Graham wisely went away all by himself for a couple of days this past week. Maybe we need to do something similar, though hopefully not for the same, extremely sad reason. To take some time out from our ‘routine’ to seek God - or simply to do something completely different to normal.

when last in India, I remember well our final host taking Tony and I to an amusement park. We had a wonderful time but our 110% sold out for God, Indian pastor friend enjoyed himself even more, for it was something he had not done since he was a child. Another equally dedicated pastor friend took us to a museum that he too, hadn’t visited since childhood. A time of hospitality towards us, but an even more valuable and unanticipated one of refreshing for themselves.

So could I encourage you today to take some time out, whether it is to seek God's leading or simply to break your routine to give both brain and body a recharge. The time spent will more than repay itself with renewed freshness and effectiveness upon your return. Worth thinking about? Yes? No! Just doing!

Now I must take my own advice... but there is so much to do before I go away! Always excuses, excuses!

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FROM THE WORD

REST FOR THE WEARY
"At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:25-30)

“Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.” (Luke 11:52)

DAVID'S DOODLINGS

62. Jesus turns our human ‘LESS - ness’ into His ‘FULL - ness’.

63. From:
- restless to peaceful,
- hopeless to hopeful,
- careless to careful,
- thoughtless to merciful,
- mirthless to cheerful,
- powerless to powerful,
- humourless to gleeful,
- spineless to forceful,
- penniless to bountiful……..

201. Every time we forego excellence in favour of the average, we succeed in lowering the average.

428. Our human desire is 'to do', but God wants us 'to be'.

429. Our job is 'to be', so that God can use us 'to do'.

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FROM YOU - TO ME - TO YOU

COMMENTS ON 'GETTING THE ME OUT OF ME'
Good morning David and may God bless you,
Upon reading your opening address this week I saw shadows of my own life. I, like you, have been through the bankruptcy scene and it was painful. I, like you, tried all the things that had worked in the past but seemed to only fail more and more. I, like you, learned the hard way that when God wants to use us for His good will and pleasure, then He will lead us to the place where we ultimately accept His way is The way. It is is just a year now since my worldly goings on were finally put to rest and I am in that wonderful period of growing trust and acceptance of His good grace. I am finding more and more that as I receive and accept revelation and inspiration from Him and put it into practice, that the world's ways seem somehow to be less important, while at the same time they seem to try and impose more and more. I offer you my prayers of support as it is all I have at this stage but I believe that you are on the right path.
Keep looking up brother, you'll never see rainbows while your eyes are on the footpath.
In Christ always
Pete Bradley
Soldiers of the Cross
Geraldine NZ

Dear David
I receive your newsletter every Monday and thoroughly enjoy it. Thank you for all the effort you put into it.

Here in the UK I used to regularly receive and newsletter from a guy in Sunderland who is part of Ken Gott's church. This was mostly a newsletter about renewal and revival around the year. As far as I know it is still in existence although I no longer subscribe.
However my point is that originally this was free but eventually the guy realised that the time it took etc necessitated him giving up his paid employment and therefore subscribers were charged £10 per year to subscribe. This would be the equivalent of $NZ27.15. I don't know how many subscribers you have but if most of us contributed $NZ30 per year I am sure this would help you.

Thanks again
Bernice Hopper

(Any contributions would be gratefully accepted! David)

David
I was touched by your first article in this weeks newsletter. I have been in ministry since 1994 and also find it very hard (or impossible) to ask for my needs. This might be false pride on my part or even disobedience to the Lord. My ministry and my family are supported by work for a secular employer. I receive virtually nothing for my ministry. £50 in the last year. I have reconciled this for myself by telling myself like Paul I am happy to give without charge. However there is an opposing piece of scripture which says that even the oxen that tramples the grain is entitled to a share of the crop!
(1 Corinthians 9:7 What soldier ever has to pay his own expenses in the army? What farmer does not eat the grapes from his own vineyard? What shepherd does not use the milk from his own sheep?

I don't have to limit myself to these everyday examples, because the Law says the same thing. We read in the Law of Moses, "Do not muzzle an ox when you are using it to thresh corn." Now, is God concerned about oxen? Didn't he really mean us when he said that? Of course that was written for us. The one who ploughs and the one who reaps should do their work in the hope of getting a share of the crop. We have sown spiritual seed among you. Is it too much if we reap material benefits from you?

I think the answer is that sometimes the Lord expects us to give totally without any thought of getting anything back, other times we should expect something. We need to stay attuned to the Holy Spirit to know what applies in any given situation.

Peace to you in Christ Jesus our Saviour! May your ministry continue to be blessed by the power of the Holy Spirit love from a fellow worker in the vineyard.
Simon
www.diakonia.clara.net

FURTHER COMMENTS ON 'WHEN GOD SAYS 'NO' '
Dear David,
I want to reply to Henry's comments on "Christian Lifestyle". Since only the Christian (New Testament) scriptures refer in any way to Christian lifestyles, I will use these as my response. First, is the refusal to make judgements on other people's choices. Second, most of the references to a Christian lifestyle are economic. I wonder if Henry is advocating that all Christians hold property in common, similar to Hutterite colonies and other religious communities. How does he feel or think about the current US eagerness to launch wars in places like Iraq and the "war on terrorism" when Christians are called to love their enemies? How does he feel about husbands refusing to submit in love to the needs and desires of their wives (Ephesians 3:20)? What does he say about Paul's suggestion that celibacy in singleness is the preferred option? It is very easy to pick out a choice made by someone else and make that a focus for division between the righteous and the condemned. I do not understand why homosexuals make the choices they do, and I recognize many of them, like many heterosexuals, make clearly harmful choices about expressing their sexuality. However, I have seen many of them demonstrating qualities of relationship (Faithfulness, caring, encouraging, love as described in 1 Cor. 13, etc.) that come closer to what I believe is a Christian lifestyle than many heterosexual couples. How well we love one another is a more important criterion than the gender of the person we choose to love in a particular way.
Thankyou,
Jim Kenney

Dear David:
I feel very strongly that we need to preach the whole truth of the Bible. The Bible from cover to cover is a story about God working in human lives to deliver them from the destructive consequences of choices made in human logic.
The Bible alone is to be our authority and when we resort to human reasoning apart from scripture we will always error.
There is a basic rule of interpretation that says "when the plain sense of scripture makes good sense, seek no other sense."
The Bible, being the word of God is very clear that homosexuality is wrong and it is sin. God condemns it and we as ministers of the word of God have a responsibility to preach the whole counsel of God, not just what feels good and makes people happy. This has nothing to do with "If you don't play the way I wanna play, then I won't play in your backyard!."
It has to do with proclaiming the absolute authoritative word of God almighty.
We can love people and hate the sin.
That is what Christ dying on the cross is all about.
God hated sin so much death was required to pay its penalty. He also loved man so much that He gave His only begotten son to pay this price.
We must speak out and call sin what it is-- sin. Sin is an offense to God and it should be an offense to us as well. How does Jan and others who sidestep the real issue of calling sin, sin? What do they do with Romans 1,2 and 3? What do they do with Sodom and Gomorrah? I would encourage you to stand firm and be bold enough to call sin what it is, and offense to God. When the Bible says it is wrong then we have a responsibility to do the same.
Concerned for the Truth
Pastor Steve

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FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD OF THE WEEK

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IS IT GOD OR ME?

By: Ross Callaghan

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LAUGHING AT OURSELVES

***Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused***

*** "Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to others." ***

196. DO YOU HAVE A BC?
The story is told of a lady who was rather old fashioned, always quite delicate and elegant, especially in her language. She and her husband were planning a weeks vacation to Florida, so she wrote to a particular campground asking for a reservation. She wanted to make sure the campground was fully equipped, but didn't quite know how to ask about the toilet facilities. She just couldn't bring herself to write the word "toilet" in her letter. After much deliberation, she finally came up with the old fashioned term BATHROOM COMMODE, but when she wrote that down, she thought she was being too forward. So she started all over again, rewrote the entire letter and referred to the bathroom commode merely as the "BC". "Does the campground have its own BC?" is what she actually wrote.

Well, the campground owner wasn't old-fashioned at all and when he got the letter he just couldn't figure out what the woman was talking about. That "BC" business really stumped him. After worrying about it for awhile he showed the letter to several campers, but they couldn't figure out what the lady meant either. So the campground owner finally coming to the conclusion that the lady must be asking about the local Baptist Church, sat down and wrote the lady. Upon reading his letter, and with great shock, the lady quickly decided not to got to that campground. The letter is as follows...

"Dear Madam, I regret very much the delay in answering your letter, but I now take great pleasure in informing you that a BC is located nine miles north of the campground and is capable of seating 250 people at one time. I admit it is quite a distance away, if you are in the habit of going regularly, but no doubt you will be pleased to know that a great number of people take their lunches along and make a day of it. They usually arrive early and stay late. It is such a beautiful facility and the acoustics are marvelous; even the normal delivery sounds can be heard. The last time my wife and I went was six years ago, and it was so crowded we had to stand up the whole time we were there. It may interest you to know that right now there is a supper planned to raise money to buy more seats. They are going to hold it in the basement of the BC. I would like to say it pains me very much not being able to go more regularly, but it is surely no lack of desire on my part. As we grow older it seems to be more of an effort, particularly in cold weather. If you decide to come down to our campground, perhaps I could go with you the first time you go, sit with you, and introduce you to all the other folks (remember, this is a friendly community)."

195. ATHIEST HOLIDAY
An atheist complained to a Christian co-worker, "Christians have their special holidays, such as Christmas and Easter; and Jews celebrate their holidays, such as Passover and Yom Kippur; . EVERY religion has its holidays. But we atheists," he said, "have no recognized holidays. It's an unfair discrimination."

"What do you mean, atheists have no holidays," his friend replied, "People have been observing a special day in your honor for years."

"I don't know what you're talking about," the atheist said, "When is this special day honoring atheists?"

"April 1st."

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FACTS FOR FUN

LAST WEEKS QUESTION: How did the Adam's apple get its name?

ANSWER: The Adam's apple is a projection of the thyroid cartilage of the larynx. It gets its name from Adam, the first man. According to legend, a chunk of the forbidden fruit got stuck in Adam's throat, producing the noticeable protuberance. Very plausible too!

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: Which adult insect has the shortest life span?

Answer Next Week.

SOME FUN FACTS

906. THIS IS SMALL
Vatican City, containing less than 800 inhabitants and measuring just 0.16 mile, is half the size of the world’s next smallest country - Monaco. Vatican City, the centre of the Roman Catholic Church, is located within Rome. It became an independent country in 1929 and is ruled by the Pope. (More crosses than residents.)

907. TO SLEEP OR NOT TO SLEEP
Elephants sleep very little, a mere 2 hours a day. Cats, on the other hand, sleep for as long as 14 to 18 hours a day. (A ‘catnap’ should really be an ‘elephantdoze’.)

908. A 'KNOTTY' SOLUTION
A "knot," the unit of speed on water, originated during the Middle Ages when sailors would throw a log tied to a knotted line over the stern of the ship. They would then feed the line out according to how fast the ship was moving. This let them judge water speed by counting the number of knots they paid out on the line in half a minute. (‘Knot’ a lot! More rope between knots now?)

A WORD PUZZLE FOR YOU

yppah yppay yppah yppah yppah

Answer at the end of A David Musing

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SMILES FROM THE BIBLE

Q. What kind of man was Boaz before he married?
A. Ruthless.

Q. What do they call pastors in Germany?
A. German Shepherds.

Q. Who was the greatest financier in the Bible?
A. Noah. He was floating his stock while everyone else was in liquidation.

Q. What was the greatest female financier in the Bible?
A. Pharaoh's daughter. She went down to the bank of the Nile and drew out a little prophet.

Q. What kind of motor vehicles are in the Bible?
A. Jehovah drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden in a Fury. David's Triumph was heard throughout the land. Honda, because the apostles were all in one Accord.

Q. Who was the greatest comedian in the Bible?
A. Samson. He brought the house down.

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MURPHY’S LAWS OF COMPUTING

@ When computing, whatever happens, behave as though you meant it to happen.

@ When you get to the point that you really understand your computer, then it’s probably obsolete.

@ The first place to look for information is in the section of the manual where you least expect to find it.

@ When the going gets tough – upgrade.

@ For every action, there is an equal and opposite malfunction.

@ To err is human…. To blame your computer for your mistakes is even more human - it is downright natural.

@ If at first you do not succeed, blame your computer.

@ A complex system that does not work is invariably found to have evolved from a simpler system that worked perfectly.

@ The number one cause of computer problems? Computer solutions offered by family members.

@ It is amazing how often there is a problem with the interface between the chair and the keyboard.

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KEY TO THE END TIME REVIVAL

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A DAVID MUSING

THE TRIALS OF LIFE

When life is really unfair,
We fall out of our chair,
And suffer the bruises
Of life's foul ruses.

Then we face a choice
When using our voice,
To grizzle and complain of our fate,
The world and its people, now to hate.

Or to seek comfort in the joy of the Lord,
To remain on his path, with single accord.
Placing our troubles in His tender care,
As they become too much, for us to bare.

The choice is ours, as to what we become,
To be bitter and twisted is simply dumb,
For Jesus promises us rest, all of the way,
When we abide in Him, every hour of the day.

Yes, for it is all done!
Into your arms, now I run.
I place myself into your tender care,
For my sorrows, You promise to share.

Now as life moves on, with the dawn of another day,
The sun will shine - yes, we will come out to play,
For our Jesus will see us through,
It is His promise, to me and you.

His servant and yours

David Tait

TODAY'S WORD PUZZLE ANSWER: Many Happy Returns.

REPRODUCTION OF NEWSLETTER CONTENT

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ABOUT US

WALKING WITH JESUS MINISTRIES is a non-profit, non-denominational, Bible based ministry located in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand. A ministry dedicated to developing discipleship, fostering unity amongst God’s people to achieve the Great Commission, and in doing so, preparing for Christ’s return. It is securely based upon the foundational principles of the Apostles Creed while recognising the wide and rich diversity of beliefs amongst Christians in other areas. In accordance with the Lord’s direction, materials produced by the ministry are available, free of charge, to genuine enquirers upon request. The ministry is solely funded by donations, as the Lord provides. A list of materials available (plus some fun!) is obtainable and freely downloadable from our website
wwj.org.nz or by contacting us as follows.

Walking With Jesus Ministries
3 Hetley Crescent
Taradale
Napier 4001
New Zealand

Phone: (06) 8449-377 International (+64) 8449-377
Email: enquiries@wwj.org.nz
Web: wwj.org.nz

Our role is to bless and encourage those in ministry while promoting co-operation and unity of direction amongst the body of Christ, as emphasised 3 times by Jesus in His longest prayer, immediately prior to His arrest and crucifixion. "… so that they may be one as we are one." (John 17:12, 21, 23-4) Our website is currently being developed to encourage your participation one with another, to share resources, and to enable you to promote events and items of interest to the body as a whole – and have a smile while doing it!

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