Uncategorized

FINALLY PRESSING THE RIGHT BUTTON

(December 16, 2021) Michael Ashcraft shares a good news story...

Justin Berry, 20, grew up in Ladera Heights (in LA) going to church with his mom and brother.

Going to Lighthouse Christian Academy cemented his childhood faith and it’s also where he met a certain girl named Trina.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is ma2.jpg

A rough year
He excelled in academics and sports during high school and was elated when he got accepted to his dream college: UCLA. He felt a euphoria unlike any other, but as he tried to push the ‘Accept’ button on the electronic offer letter, Justin (at right, in front of UCLA’s mascot) was held back. God had told him to attend college elsewhere.

‘Something was holding my hand back from pressing that button,’ he remembers. ‘I started crying and bawling my eyes out. I wanted to go there. This was my ticket to my career. I was trying to press this button and God wouldn’t let me do it.’

He finally pushed the button. What could go wrong? He had a beautiful girlfriend and an ideal institution of higher learning. God’s blessing was evident. Only not everything was as it seemed. Secretly, he and Trina had fallen into temptation together, and both were feeling intense conviction.

(more…)

RIPPLE IN THE POND

(December 14, 2021) Robert and Maureen McQuillan share a Christmastime reflection…

Watched yet another great Christmas-centred Hallmark movie the other night in which it was mentioned that one never knows the final effects of a pebble dropped in a pond.

Now there are many variations of how this old saying really goes or what is means… but basically it is saying that one never knows what helping someone achieves, how your attitude of doing something well affects others, even people you’ll never meet. In other words, where the subsequent rippling effect finishes.

We first realised this when ministering in northeast South Australia… enroute to Adelaide, we stayed overnight at a particular motel and in the morning noticed a lake nearby. As we viewed the splendour of the surrounding scenery, I (Robert) casually picked up a pebble and cast it into the very calm water. We were mesmerised as we watched the ripples spread across the lake, realising we’d never see exactly how far they’d go as we couldn’t see the far side of the lake.

The thought came to us that one never knows how something we do, say, or teach has ongoing meaning or results or blessings. Such as a kind word. A treat. Helping hand. Piece of advice. Warning. Blessing and kindness shown… the list goes on.

(more…)

WILLINGLY SERVING OTHERS, WHATEVER THE COST   

(November 15, 2021) Robert McQuillan reminds readers of an ongoing challenge…

Every now and then, in ministering to Christians, I feel to quote Dr Toyohiko Kagawa (1888–1960) who not only wrote and taught about the teachings of Jesus Christ but lived them out even in a troubled society and world itself, often at great personal cost.

In 1938, in The Challenge of Redemptive Love he wrote declaring that the world was full of rebellion against God, that the human race has gone morally insane: it has lost sight of standards of integrity… that evil was proclaimed as good, and wrong is right… that class morality was not the least concerned for any other class. He could have been writing about 2021! (See Geri B’s Cancel, Condemn or Cherish?).

Toyohiko Kagawa c1920

Kagawa likened this situation to that of the first century Roman Empire, adding the good news that ‘… but just the time when God, undismayed by the corruption of the human race, in order to reconcile man to himself, opened the way of redemptive love… Christ paid the price with his blood.’

He wrote much about the blindness of human corruption and rebellion against God, wanting every person to know about the one who allowed himself to be placed under the death penalty on the cross, paying the price of righteousness by a unique act of redemptive love. He would set an example by reaching out himself at great personal cost to the down and outs, to criminals, to the weary, to those shedding tears in distress, the needy around him.

And possibly this brilliant but ever so humble man of God’s greatest challenge was ‘Are you going about doing good… or just going about?’

(more…)

RESOURCES

Koorong Bookstore – Ph: 03 9262 7444 / coraliec@koorong.com.au Current main features:
DVDs
VEIL OF TEARS
Veil of TearsThis gripping documentary film tells the untold story of millions of women in India who are culturally persecuted for no other reason than the fact that they are women. However, despite the centuries of oppression, there are those who are reaching out and trying to restore dignity towards women, one day at a time. (more…)

RESOURCES

The following available from Koorong Bookstore – Ph: 03 9262 7444 / coraliec@koorong.com.au

BLOOD COVENANT
Michael Franzese

Blood CovenantMob boss Michael Franzese had it all – money, power, prestige. Then, he did the unthinkable. He quit the mob. In one of the most fascinating books ever written about today’s Mafia, Michael reveals the answers to the many mysteries surrounding his incredible life. Find out how and why he did what no one else managed to do – and live. Journey with Michael through a life defined by two blood covenants – the first bound him to the mob, the second set him free.

See this month’s Impact article.
Other Michael Franzese books available by order…
MF 2

 

 

I’LL MAKE YOU AN OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE

MF 3

 

 

THE GOOD, THE BAD  AND THE FORGIVEN

 

 

Koorong Blackburn news…
Coralie Casey advises: ‘We have Ally Finlay in store October 16 and Andy Vance playing jazz keyboard on November 8 so lots of fun things in the pipeline.’

FAVOURITES THAT KOORONG STAFF LOVE…
Check this link: www.koorong.com

_____________________________________________________________________________________________
AVAILABLE FROM SOURCES INDICATED
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
Rick Marschall
Johann Sebastian Bach...
Two-and-a-half centuries after his death, the complex life of composer Johann Sebastian Bach continues to fascinate. His colourful life was anchored in his belief that ‘music has been ordered by God’s Spirit’ – so much so that he began each composition by scrawling Jesu, juva (Jesus, help me) at the top of a blank page and concluded each with SDG (short for Soli Deo Gloria, to God alone be the glory). Through the eyes of noted music and culture writer Rick Marschall, the intensely personal yet boldly public faith that earned Bach the nickname ‘The Fifth Evangelist’ takes on fresh meaning.

From a survey of Bach’s family and its deep Christian roots to a behind-the-scenes look at how he crafted his masterpieces, this book paints a picture of an astonishing figure and his relationship with his God. Rick Marschall brings Bach’s enduring music and influence to the postmodern world and to all who would draw inspiration from his relentless pursuit of divinely ordained creativity. Link: RickMarschall@gmail.com See also this month’s Opinion.

LEADING CHANGE WITHOUT LOSING IT
Carey Nieuwhof

Leading Change
Leaders try to bring about change. And change almost always elicits opposition. So how do leaders navigate change, and the opposition to it, without giving up their dream for what could and should be? Carey Nieuwhof examines five strategies that can help church leaders engineer change:
1. Determine who is for (or against) the change and why.
2. Decide where to focus your attention.
3. Develop the questions that will set your course.
4. Learn to attack problems instead of people.
5. Persevere until the critical breakthrough.

Insightful and practical, Leading Change Without Losing It offers hope and encouragement for leaders, no matter where they serve in the church. Link: careynieuwhof.com See also this month’s Leadership.

GRACE REVISITED
Jim McClure

Grace Revisited.jpg
Theologian Dr Jim McClure cuts through the jargon so beloved by theologians enabling readers to rediscover the profound significance of the unavoidability of grace in salvation and in living the Christian life. Grace Revisited takes us on a journey back to ancient Greece to unearth the origins of the word and concept of the Greek word charis. With scholarly precision, this easy-to-read book shows that the commonly accepted definition of grace as ‘The unmerited favour of God’ falls short when applied to the New Testament.

Well researched book by an insightful author, Grace Revisited reveals grace as having a strong active meaning, not something that is passively received but rather as something that has a dynamic effect on those who receive it. Jim McClure shows that grace is like a many faceted diamond out of which shines a greater understanding of the great God we worship. Normally $35 but obtainable from the author for $25 (plus postage). Link: jbmcclure@hotmail.com

See this month’s Ask Dr Jim for another of the author’s timely articles.