Christmas Greetings 2023

Evolutionists TWIST Incredible New Evidence

Mary, Did You Know? - The Petersens (LIVE)

A Night at the Opera-The Marriage of Figaro

This Is How Our Society Is ACTIVELY Rejecting God

What is that to you? by Oswald Chambers

“What Is That to You?” By Oswald Chambers Peter…said to Jesus, "But Lord, what about this man?" Jesus said to him, "…what is that to you? You follow Me." —John 21:21-22 One of the hardest lessons to learn comes from our stubborn refusal to refrain from interfering in other people’s lives. It takes a long time to realize the danger of being an amateur providence, that is, interfering with God’s plan for others. You see someone suffering and say, “He will not suffer, and I will make sure that he doesn’t.” You put your hand right in front of God’s permissive will to stop it, and then God says, “What is that to you?” Is there stagnation in your spiritual life? Don’t allow it to continue, but get into God’s presence and find out the reason for it. You will possibly find it is because you have been interfering in the life of another— proposing things you had no right to propose, or advising when you had no right to advise. When you do have to give advice to another person, God will advise through you with the direct understanding of His Spirit. Your part is to maintain the right relationship with God so that His discernment can come through you continually for the purpose of blessing someone else. Most of us live only within the level of consciousness— consciously serving and consciously devoted to God. This shows immaturity and the fact that we’re not yet living the real Christian life. Maturity is produced in the life of a child of God on the unconscious level, until we become so totally surrendered to God that we are not even aware of being used by Him. When we are consciously aware of being used as broken bread and poured-out wine, we have yet another level to reach— a level where all awareness of ourselves and of what God is doing through us is completely eliminated. A saint is never consciously a saint— a saint is consciously dependent on God. share this devotional with a friend

Go to Jesus by F.C.Hunting

From the Wayside Chapel Kings Cross by Rev Jon Owen

I am supporting the YES vote in the referundum coming up soon.I have copied this from the Wayside Chapel Newsletter

Dear Inner Circle, In 2007 we packed up our entire lives, including two toddlers into our Tarago to move from Melbourne to Sydney. We had a heart full of dreams for our next season in Mount Druitt, but there were no hard plans, no accommodation arranged, and just a few phone numbers scrawled on a piece of paper. If life is a daring adventure, then we were going by the seat of our pants, the only thing we were certain of was our trajectory. Fast forward a few months and we were moving into our very own home. It was a house marked for demolition after they couldn’t find anyone who wanted to live in it, but for us it was a sign of good things to come. Doubt quickly morphed into a sense of certainty; I was convinced we were going to grow old here. Thankfully a wise mentor took me aside and set me straight, “Never be so arrogant as to think you’ll be here forever or that you hold all the answers to the questions on this community’s heart. Your only job for the first few years is to shut up, and just listen — to the cries, the pains, and the whispers of the spirit over this land. Discern the promises held for this place, and then work as hard as you can to inch those promises a little closer to fulfillment in the short time you have allotted. Know that you will not finish the task, but neither are you free to stand aside from it.” What wisdom! Life around us flourishes when we find ourselves as necessary, significant but not central to it all. There is power in that, which seems like a paradox. For over 65,000 years, the First Peoples of Australia have maintained an unbroken connection to this land, its stories, and its spirit. Yet our 122-year-old Constitution remains silent, not reflecting or recognising this ancient culture. Long before any of us called this place home there was a spirit over this land. Australia's history, while rich, carries with it painful memories and moments of deep injustice. The scars from families torn apart and policies born out of prejudice are evident. However, the present moment offers us an opportunity to amend. A simple, yet profound request stands before us: to recognise First Nations’ people by saying YES to supporting their voice in the Constitution. The invaluable insights and deep wisdom of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples will finally be used to advise on issues that impact their lives, leading to more informed government decisions. There's an unfulfilled promise in our nation's story, a gap in our shared history. Right now, we have the chance to bridge it together. This Referendum is our moment – to listen, respect, and act on the Uluru Statement from the Heart that encapsulates years of hopes and desires. It comes from the heart. Let it speak to your heart. This Saturday, I urge each of you to choose love over hate. Say a resounding YES to the recognition and inclusion of the First Nations in our Constitution. Together we can make history. Thank you for being part of our Inner Circle, Jon Rev. Jon Owen CEO & Pastor Wayside Chapel

George Aspinall-Changi Photographer-Book Review

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Coffee with the Guys.

ECG Special - Faye & Janice Rostvit

I met Helen and Faye when they came to Adelaide in 1996 at the invitation of Dr Arnold caldicott for the celebration of 150 years of the Grote St Churches of Christ Church congregation. They wwere amazing then and still are. Their voices sound exactly the same after all these years. What a blessing.

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West Adelaide v Norwood SANFL 19/8/23 and 3 old guys at the footy

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"Chosen" a message by Geoff and Lesley Thompson at Parkroses United Church

“Chosen” Today’s message comes in the time between the last supper of Jesus and His disciples and prior to them all going to the garden of gethsemane.He had been giving instructions to the disciples and telling them what lies ahead.In this time He prays this amazing prayer in John 17 to His heavenly Father.I am now going to share some thoughts on this. Jesus had been discussing with His disciples what was going to happen to Him. That He was leaving and going back to His Father in heaven and that the Holy Spirit would come to them as their comforter and guide.It took a while for them to actually get this but they finally believed Him. We read this in John 17 17 When Jesus had finished saying all these things he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the time has come. Reveal the glory of your Son so that he can give the glory back to you. 2 For you have given him authority over every man and woman in all the earth. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him. 3 And this is the way to have eternal life—by knowing you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth! 4 I brought glory to you here on earth by doing everything you told me to. 5 And now, Father, reveal my glory as I stand in your presence, the glory we shared before the world began. 6 “I have told these men all about you. They were in the world, but then you gave them to me. Actually, they were always yours, and you gave them to me; and they have obeyed you. 7 Now they know that everything I have is a gift from you, 8 for I have passed on to them the commands you gave me; and they accepted them and know of a certainty that I came down to earth from you, and they believe you sent me. “ Jesus acknowledges the time has come for Him to go back to His Father,as he prays to Him, and asks for the ongoing care and protection for those He has chosen and given to Jesus while He was on earth. God knew and knows who will and won’t believe in Him even though everyone will be given that opportunity. God wants us all to be with Him. He’s asking His Father to show us,both the Glory of God the Father and Jesus the Son as it was in the beginning. We are God’s glory-His creation- and He intended for us to have an abundant life and beautiful relationship with Himself. But we messed it up and after the fall of man it wasn’t possible. So God had to allow Jesus His son to leave His glory with His Father and come to earth to fulfil His plan of redemption. We will sing about that now. Hymn: “God sent His Son-because He lives”. (Announce this) “Jesus goes on to plead with His Father in His prayer to keep safe in His care all those that belong to Him and also belong to Jesus so that we can all be re united with the Father and son and share in their glory. He doesn’t want anyone missing.” John 17:9-12 (show on screen) 9 “My plea is not for the world but for those you have given me because they belong to you. 10 And all of them, since they are mine, belong to you; and you have given them back to me with everything else of yours, and so they are my glory! 11 Now I am leaving the world, and leaving them behind, and coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your own care—all those you have given me—so that they will be united just as we are, with none missing. Hymn: “Now I belong to Jesus” “Jesus continues praying to His Father as He consecrates Himself to meet all our needs,not all our wants, but our need to grow in truth and holiness so that we can show others God’s amazing love and faithfulness. (show on screen) John 17 13 “And now I am coming to you. I have told them many things while I was with them so that they would be filled with my joy. 14 I have given them your commands. And the world hates them because they don’t fit in with it, just as I don’t. 15 I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from Satan’s power. 16 They are not part of this world any more than I am. 17 Make them pure and holy through teaching them your words of truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world, 19 and I consecrate myself to meet their need for growth in truth and holiness. 20 “I am not praying for these alone but also for the future believers who will come to me because of the testimony of these. 21 My prayer for all of them is that they will be of one heart and mind, just as you and I are, Father—that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me. 22 “I have given them the glory you gave me—the glorious unity of being one, as we are— 23 I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one—so that the world will know you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me.” “I have given them the glory you gave me—the glorious unity of being one, as we are” Let’s sing about that. Hymn: “Father make us one” 2v Each one of us was created and chosen by God our Father to have fellowship with Him,to speak and listen to Him,and to live with Him forever. Lesley has the following written on a piece of paper which she reminds herself all the time. I am blessed, chosen, adopted, accepted, redeemed and forgiven. This applies to us who love Jesus. We are part of God’s amazing family.And as we sing our benediction think about how we are presented faultless to God through all Jesus has done and He now reigns in Glory with His Father and we are on that journey. Romans 8 31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. 35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”* ) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. 38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,* neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. We will now sing our vespoer. "Now unto Him"

Murray in Flood books by Grant Schwartzkopf 22/23 floods

"Love one another"--from Oswald Chambers.

“Love One Another” By Oswald Chambers …add to your…brotherly kindness love. —2 Peter 1:5, 7 Love is an indefinite thing to most of us; we don’t know what we mean when we talk about love. Love is the loftiest preference of one person for another, and spiritually Jesus demands that this sovereign preference be for Himself (see Luke 14:26). Initially, when “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5), it is easy to put Jesus first. But then we must practice the things mentioned in 2 Peter 1 to see them worked out in our lives. The first thing God does is forcibly remove any insincerity, pride, and vanity from my life. And the Holy Spirit reveals to me that God loved me not because I was lovable, but because it was His nature to do so. Now He commands me to show the same love to others by saying, “…love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). He is saying, “I will bring a number of people around you whom you cannot respect, but you must exhibit My love to them, just as I have exhibited it to you.” This kind of love is not a patronizing love for the unlovable— it is His love, and it will not be evidenced in us overnight. Some of us may have tried to force it, but we were soon tired and frustrated. “The Lord…is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish…” (2 Peter 3:9). I should look within and remember how wonderfully He has dealt with me. The knowledge that God has loved me beyond all limits will compel me to go into the world to love others in the same way. I may get irritated because I have to live with an unusually difficult person. But just think how disagreeable I have been with God! Am I prepared to be identified so closely with the Lord Jesus that His life and His sweetness will be continually poured out through Me? Neither natural love nor God’s divine love will remain and grow in me unless it is nurtured. Love is spontaneous, but it has to be maintained through discipline. share this devotional with a friend

Lyrup Punt Road Floodwaters 2022

The Aussie Bible-A yarn about Zech,Libby,Joe and Mary

Red dirt and Blue Bush

The favourite colurs of my wife abd I are the Reds and blues of inland Australia. It is typified by red dirt and blue bush. Some pics of a favourite location.

The Collision of God and Sin By Oswald Chambers from My Utmost for His Highest

…who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree… —1 Peter 2:24 The Cross of Christ is the revealed truth of God’s judgment on sin. Never associate the idea of martyrdom with the Cross of Christ. It was the supreme triumph, and it shook the very foundations of hell. There is nothing in time or eternity more absolutely certain and irrefutable than what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross— He made it possible for the entire human race to be brought back into a right-standing relationship with God. He made redemption the foundation of human life; that is, He made a way for every person to have fellowship with God. The Cross was not something that happened to Jesus— He came to die; the Cross was His purpose in coming. He is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). The incarnation of Christ would have no meaning without the Cross. Beware of separating “God was manifested in the flesh…” from “…He made Him…to be sin for us…” (1 Timothy 3:16 ; 2 Corinthians 5:21). The purpose of the incarnation was redemption. God came in the flesh to take sin away, not to accomplish something for Himself. The Cross is the central event in time and eternity, and the answer to all the problems of both. The Cross is not the cross of a man, but the Cross of God, and it can never be fully comprehended through human experience. The Cross is God exhibiting His nature. It is the gate through which any and every individual can enter into oneness with God. But it is not a gate we pass right through; it is one where we abide in the life that is found there. The heart of salvation is the Cross of Christ. The reason salvation is so easy to obtain is that it cost God so much. The Cross was the place where God and sinful man merged with a tremendous collision and where the way to life was opened. But all the cost and pain of the collision was absorbed by the heart of God. share this devotional with a friend

"The Review of Reviews" by W T STEAD

Just Duck in

Is Your Ability to See God Blinded? By Oswald Chambers

Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things… —Isaiah 40:26 The people of God in Isaiah’s time had blinded their minds’ ability to see God by looking on the face of idols. But Isaiah made them look up at the heavens; that is, he made them begin to use their power to think and to visualize correctly. If we are children of God, we have a tremendous treasure in nature and will realize that it is holy and sacred. We will see God reaching out to us in every wind that blows, every sunrise and sunset, every cloud in the sky, every flower that blooms, and every leaf that fades, if we will only begin to use our blinded thinking to visualize it. The real test of spiritual focus is being able to bring your mind and thoughts under control. Is your mind focused on the face of an idol? Is the idol yourself? Is it your work? Is it your idea of what a servant should be, or maybe your experience of salvation and sanctification? If so, then your ability to see God is blinded. You will be powerless when faced with difficulties and will be forced to endure in darkness. If your power to see has been blinded, don’t look back on your own experiences, but look to God. It is God you need. Go beyond yourself and away from the faces of your idols and away from everything else that has been blinding your thinking. Wake up and accept the ridicule that Isaiah gave to his people, and deliberately turn your thoughts and your eyes to God. One of the reasons for our sense of futility in prayer is that we have lost our power to visualize. We can no longer even imagine putting ourselves deliberately before God. It is actually more important to be broken bread and poured-out wine in the area of intercession than in our personal contact with others. The power of visualization is what God gives a saint so that he can go beyond himself and be firmly placed into relationships he never before experienced.

It;s about Time. My famous ancestor and the Longitude Prize.

"All at Sea"

Some recent Flood Pics 2023-Riverland South Australia

Here are a selection of some pics taken during the current River Murray floods. See my youtube channel for morer on this.

Allowing God into the depths. From Oswald Chambers

Prayerful Inner-Searching By Oswald Chambers May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless… —1 Thessalonians 5:23 “Your whole spirit….” The great, mysterious work of the Holy Spirit is in the deep recesses of our being which we cannot reach. Read Psalm 139. The psalmist implies— “O Lord, You are the God of the early mornings, the God of the late nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the sea. But, my God, my soul has horizons further away than those of early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights of earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths than any sea in nature. You who are the God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach to the heights or to the depths; there are motives I cannot discover, dreams I cannot realize. My God, search me.” Do we believe that God can fortify and protect our thought processes far beyond where we can go? “…the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). If this verse means cleansing only on our conscious level, may God have mercy on us. The man who has been dulled by sin will say that he is not even conscious of it. But the cleansing from sin we experience will reach to the heights and depths of our spirit if we will “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7). The same Spirit that fed the life of Jesus Christ will feed the life of our spirit. It is only when we are protected by God with the miraculous sacredness of the Holy Spirit that our spirit, soul, and body can be preserved in pure uprightness until the coming of Jesus-no longer condemned in God’s sight. We should more frequently allow our minds to meditate on these great, massive truths of God.