Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire, 
Unuttered or expressed;
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast.


Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
The falling of a tear
The upward glancing of an eye,
When none but God is near.


Prayer is the simplest form of speech
That infant lips can try;
Prayer, the sublimest strains that reach
The Majesty on high.


Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath,
The Christian’s native air,
His watchword at the gates of death;
He enters Heav’n with prayer.


Prayer is the contrite sinner’s voice,
Returning from his ways,
While angels in their songs rejoice
And cry, “Behold, he prays!”


The saints in prayer appear as one
In word, in deed, and mind,
While with the Father and the Son
Sweet fellowship they find.


No prayer is made by man alone
The Holy Spirit pleads,
And Jesus, on th’eternal throne,
For sinners intercedes.


O Thou by Whom we come to God,
The Life, the Truth, the Way,
The path of prayer Thyself hast trod:
Lord, teach us how to pray.


James Montgomery (1771-1854)

Sentence Flow Diagram Matthew 28:18-20

18

Ἐδόθη μοι πᾶσα ἐξουσία

- ἐν οὐρανῷ
καὶ
- ἐπὶ [τῆς] γῆς

19

                            - πορευθέντες οὖν

μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη

                            - βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς

                                          - εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ 

                                             καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος,

20

                             - διδάσκοντες αὐτοὺς

                                        - τηρεῖν πάντα ὅσα ἐνετειλάμην ὑμῖν·

καὶ ἰδοὺ

ἐγὼ μεθ᾿ ὑμῶν εἰμι

                             - πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας

                                        - ἕως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος.

Key:

Red – primary verbs

Light blue – secondary verbs

Orange – participles

Green – infinitives

Blue – prepositions

Pink – 'all' words

Purple – objects which qualify the main verb

Early New Testament Church Lesson 3

Recommended reading: Blomberg pp.35-54

1. If Jesus' baptism with the Holy Spirit at the Jordan is paralleled by the church's experience at Pentecost, can the same be said of his baptism by fire?
There seems to be a partial parallel. I think we need to be careful we don't take away from the importance of Jesus' suffering. My concern with this theory is that it has the potential to encourage more man-centredness, which I think we would all agree is out of control in large areas of Christendom. Having said that, any theory can be skewed and used inappropriately.

2. What is the significance of the gift of tongues at Pentecost?

I noticed two things.

One significance was as an outward sign to the unbelieving Jews that it was God. The “rushing wind” was a symbol of God’s presence in the Old Testament

Another was the idea of reconciliation and unity. From Babel there had been a distance and separation which was instigated by God for His purposes. At Pentecost God made a sign of the beginning of His reconciliation which is that “in Christ” all are united.

3. Was there more than one Pentecost in Acts? If so, where?

I suppose there is an inference that at each stage of the spread of the gospel, there was a “pentecost” of sorts to each of the people groups mentioned in Acts 1:8. The Samaritans experienced one when the Apostles visited and it could be said there was one at the residence of Cornelius. My preference is for extensions rather than more “pentecosts” as I’ve mentioned in my answer to the next question.

4. Would it be accurate to say that there were several Pentecosts in Acts? Once the gospel leaves Jerusalem would it better to speak of repetitions of Pentecost or extensions of Pentecost?

I prefer extensions because it essentially comes down to people getting the Holy Spirit who weren’t at Pentecost; the Holy Spirit had already come to men and was now indwelling each believer as God saved them. It’s not as if He was coming again. The Holy Spirit had already made His grand entrance and was hard at work. If Pentecost continued to happen it would be as though He continued to be sent from heaven again, and again, and again. This isn’t consistent with the picture Jesus gives us in John 16.

5. How do you understand the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the lives of people today?
His indwelling is simultaneous with faith in the Lord Jesus and repentance of sin, to sanctify us into the image of God’s Son (John 16:4b-15, Romans 8:14-17). Believers in the New Testament and transitional era experienced forms of subsequence unique for the fledgling church, we now experience salvation and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit together.

Fudgy Choc Chip Cookies

Dear Readers,

I thought I would share this recipe with you as thanks for your support and friendship. I have been working on this recipe and I think I've nearly got it right! This is my own recipe and one that only my new family members have been blessed to enjoy. Tomorrow it is my turn to make morning tea for everyone at church so I think a cinnamon teacake and these cookies will go down well.  I hope you will get as much satisfaction out of it as my husband has in the past few days.

Fudgy Choc Chip Cookies

Preheat oven to 180C (356F) if you like fudgy OR 210C (410F) if you like harder cookies. Alternatively you can extend the cooking time to 15mins instead of raising the heat. My oven is permanently fan-forced and these are the temperatures I use.

Preparation time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins
Serves: Makes about 16 largish or 32 smallish

Ingredients
1/2cup   Self-raising flour
1cup      Plain flour (All purpose)
1/2cup   Rich cocoa powder
1/2cup   White sugar
1/2cup   Brown sugar (firmly packed into the cup measure)
1            Egg lightly whisked
150g      Butter - diced (room temperature or slightly softened)
1splash  Vanilla Essence
1cup      Choc chips of your choice (I use 1/3cup dark, 1/3cup milk and 1/3 cup white)

Directions

1. Put flour, cocoa and sugar into a mixing bowl and whisk
2. Add egg, butter and vanilla and mush with hands until blended
3. Add choc chips and continue mushing
4. Dampen hands and roll portions of mixture, place on a baking tray with paper, and flatten slightly
5. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven but leave on tray to cool. (Note: they might not get a chance to cool!) They will seem very soft and under cooked but they do firm up.

Oxygen Conference

We spent from Saturday till Thursday in Sydney with 3 other guys from church. Our main reason was to attend the Oxygen conference where John Piper and John Lennox were the main speakers. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday during the day 2000+ people met in Redfern at Technology Park for talks and electives. On Wednesday night 10,000 people gathered at the entertainment centre for the "One Night".

I don't have any pictures yet. I forgot my camera and my phone isn't fancy enough to do decent photos. I have done a bit of googling to find pictures of the places we went.

We were billeted by some of the ministry team at St Pauls, Chatswood. Follow this link to find Sunday's sermon (It is not up yet but it should be any day now). I highly recommend it, but a word of warning: it stings!

Technology Park

It's hard to know where to start. The last week has been full of amazing lessons and by 11.59pm Wednesday I though my brain would explode. Steve Jeffrey's sermon on Sunday was something I've needed to hear for a while. Judgementalism in one's heart just continues to grow like a malignant cancer, and even when you try to deal with it, very little seems to change. I'm starting to realise how pervasive it is and how much it affects one's attitude. To manifest and grow, judgementalism relies on selfish ambition and vanity. I have come to realise the judgemental thoughts I have about people only serve to temporarily make me feel better about myself. It comes with a cost: if I don't deal with judgemental thoughts when they come, my attitude towards the person/people gets effected, sometimes to the point where it's almost impossible to think well of the person. From there flows gossip and slander. Right now I'm at the point where I can see I really need to change but I feel as though I'm too far gone. My short term goal is take it one day at a time with God's grace.

The main sentence I took away from Piper's talks was "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him".

Something Lennox emphasised was if we truly believe the next world is as real as it is, we'd be preparing for it.

I feel very challenged to not waste my life and to desire God more.

Early New Testament Church: Lesson 2

I didn't dare post my answers from last week's lesson because they were so rubbish.

We had to read Luke-Acts and our lesson, then answer the questions. These are they:

1. How have you found it helpful to read Luke-Acts as one story?
2. Have you discovered any downsides, difficulties or disadvantages to this approach?
3. How would you define Luke's "theology of reversal"?
4. Can you give examples of reversal other than those given in the notes?
5. How would you explain the role of Jerusalem in the story of Luke-Acts?
6. Evaluate the claim that Luke-Acts is anti-Semitic in tone. (NT502 students only)
7. Does Luke foresee any future for the Jews as a people, especially in terms of the positive prophecies concerning Israel and Jerusalem in chapters 1-2 of his Gospel? (NT502 students only)

Only the smartypants post grad students had to do 6 and 7 but those questions were still worth a look.

For lesson 2 we had to read the lesson and a portion of our text book. We're using Pentecost to Patmos by Craig. L. Blomberg.

Answers for Lesson 2*

1. Why was the Book of Acts written?

The book of Acts was written to provide a detailed account of the early Christian Church. But the reasons for the writing of acts diversify into showing multiple aspects of God's redemptive plan and transition from Old to New Covenant. It is not only a good account of these occurrences but it is done with great literary skill and presentation of theological themes which are important to the spiritual understanding of the whole church past, present and future.

    2.         If Acts is neither a Gospel nor an Epistle, what kind of literature is it?

Blomberg has noted that it has been suggested Acts is a mixture of genres: a short historical monograph, an ancient intellectual biography, an apologetic historiography and biblical history. Blomberg then finishes by suggesting Acts is best described as a theological history. I believe this definition of a theological history is a beneficial encapsulation of the book of Acts. While being a book of historical occurrences is also able to show the theological and spiritual transition and fulfilment, from the Old Testament and Israel to an “all inclusive” church with Jew and gentile alike. There are various different genres represented within the book which all play an important part in communicating the message which God conveys.

3. Describe the life of the early church in Jerusalem in the first "panel" of Acts. Was it as idyllic as it is sometimes made out to be?

Although they knew their sovereign God was in control, it was a confusing and unknown time because they were waiting for the Holy Spirit and were finding their feet. Though there was conflict and hardship, it was a great time of blessing, spiritual growth and change.

4. How do you understand the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira? Why were they dealt with so severely?

It is not severe – we are extended grace and mercy. Each of us deserves the same because we are all guilty before our holy Maker. God is under no compunction to forgive anyone who rebels against Him.  Keeping a promise made to God is very serious indeed (see Joshua 7:10-26 and Judges 11:29-40), and within their lie, Ananias and Sapphira were breaking the promise they had made to the apostles which was effectively to the Holy Spirit. It was then, and is still today, an example of the severity of God.

*I would like it to be noted that Craig is my editor-in-chief and tea-bringer.

One of those weeks. . .

Where nothing really went according to my plans but I'm sure everything was just as God had intended.

Monday: I was still battling with reading through Luke and Acts. It seemed like it was taking forever.
Tuesday: Craig was sick and took the day of work. I Skyped for Greek and I didn't get any study done.
Wednesday: All was well until about 3.30pm when I found the laundry and part of the hall way flooded.
Thursday: I finshed Acts and the lesson, then I waffled through the questions till 10.30pm.
Today: Started to feel sick too.

The second batch of towels

That patch was the wettest

Craig with the water vac

The flooded laundry was rather epic. The water was about 2 inches deep and it was so cold! I get the giggles when I think what my face must have looked like when I put my slippered foot into the laundry and it made a splosh. I "sandbagged" the hallway with towels to help control the spread of the water and dry the sodden carpet. Then I called my father-in-law and he came to fix the pipe. The pipe where water drains from the washing machine had come apart at the joint. The rubber seal inside the joint was in backwards and the trough it sits in isn't fixed to anything. All it took was someone to bump the trough and the pipe ceased to be attached to the joint. It took me over 30 mins to mop up the 3+ buckets of water from the laundry. The water seeped under the walls and into the hallway. I am very grateful the bedrooms and study were spared. Craig borrowed a water vacuum from the cleaner at work and that helped get some of the water out of the carpet.

The affects are still being felt; I haven't managed to wash even half the towels I used. I didn't realise we had so
many. 24 and counting! Useful I will admit and my linen cupboard really needed sorting. God must have killed a flock of birds with one stone. My mother-in-law brought me a basket with most of her towels after I ran out. If I'd realised it wasn't going to rain today I'd have definitely got the washing done. But then I did run out of washing powder after the second wash of towels.

I got thinking about all the reasons why God might have let this happen. I'm certain He was refining us in some way. I kept thinking of funny things. For example a train of thought while I was mopping went something like this: if I just happened to be a dodgy preacher I'd get a "comparison" out of this. Just like after the flood, when the world was beautiful and clean, so too shall my laundry floor be clean - no more mopping for another month! God is good. *Cue cheesy smile with white, shiny teeth and goofy hairstyle, looking straight into the camera* He could be good for you too. He could make your whole house clean. All you need is a dodgy plumbing job, faith as big as a mountain, an IQ as small as a mustard seed, and a check for a ridiculous amount of money in the post to me (only God knows your heart and your bank account), and God will clean your house from top to bottom and make it new like Earth after the flood.

I have no trouble amusing myself.

I feel like my stress level was permanently stuck on "heart attack waiting to happen". Wednesday I felt hopeless, Thursday I felt defeated, today I feel grateful for the week that was. Even though I can't definitely say I know what God wanted me to learn I can say I learned something. If I thought today was bad, tomorrow could be worse, but so long as I am "in Christ" my world won't end. Spiritually it will only get better and better as in this life things get worse and worse. I no longer pray for things to go well or to be easy for how would I be sanctified? I simply ask for God to get me through one day at a time with His grace and mercy.