Living by GRACE enables us to live at a much higher standard than that which is outlined by the law.

Example, the law encourages us not to sin, but once we taste GRACE, we don’t want to sin. The law says we are to have no other gods, once GRACE comes into our lives, we don’t want any other gods.

The law is an attempt at behaviour modification, GRACE changes the desires of the heart.

Law tries to “enforce obedience”, GRACE “compels and inspires, heartfelt obedience”.

We go so much further with GRACE as our guide.

I was watching this bird the other day, as it sipped on the dregs of left over coffee, and I thought “this bird has become acustomed to something un-natural to it, that will ultimately be detrimental to the birds life.”…and then my very next thought was “just like us”.

How many of us “survive” on things that eventually kill us, or at the very least, leads to bad health, both practically and spiritually. We do this with the natural food that we eat and the spiritual food that we eat as well.

Living well means we must “be well”, for this to happen we must do the things that promote health.

Spiritually, we often get used to the shortest times of prayer, the occasional read of the bible and sometimes attending church…and while we can “survive” on this, we might find that we are not all that healthy in the long run. We might not even realise that we are slipping or drifting away, after all, we are praying, we are reading…but am I growing, am I changing, or am I simply holding ground, treading water…

DON’T GET USED TO THINGS, THAT ARE LESS THAN WHAT YOU COULD BE DOING.

DON’T GET USED TO THINGS THAT ARE ULTIMATELY DETRIMENTAL TO YOUR SPIRITUAL WELL BEING…there is always time to change, make changes TODAY, that will effect your tommorow.

This was crazy, the trains still ran along these tracks and thousands of people lived right on the tracks. We had a healthy children’s ministry on the tracks, and when the train came we would just move everything off the tracks and start again once the train had passed by.

Adults would grab smaller children, people would pull in awnings and clothes lines that were normally set up across the tracks. What a place to live, imagine trying to sleep when the train is passing by 2 feet away…

The video footage is a little bit rough, but you get the picture.

Railway Slum

DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH…

We found a muslim lady who had gotten a small puncture wound on the back of her neck, we don’t know how long she had it before Jesus took us too her, but by the time we found her it was already very, very infected, red and swollen.

We prayed, there was no obvious instant miracle, so we do the next best thing, we take her to hospital. Christine and this lady were turned away from 3 seperate hospitals, because this lady was poor, and in one case the Dr said “Why do you want to help her, she is going to die, forget her”. So here we have this seriously sick human being and no hospital will take her, no one is interested…except us and Jesus.

So, back into the slum and we just begin caring for her. Each day one of us would go and clean the wound with salt water, wash it with a Betadine skin cleanser and cover it to stop flies and dirt getting into it. We also had panadol for pain relief. Very basic…but we also had PRAYER.

Each day we would pray for her and tell her about Jesus, and she just sat there and listened day after day.

But the wound seemed to be getting worse and worse. Soon we had to wear rubber gloves so that we could milk a cup of really thick yellow puss out of the would, as it began to build up under here flesh. It stank, it hurt her when we would do that. Her neck was rotting. But we would gently get as much puss out as we could, clean it all up, put a new bandage on, come back tomorrow and do it all again. Then one day the whole back of her neck fell off, no joke, it fell off, and it is now just raw flesh. As you look at the photos, you need to remind yourself that this is a person, a lady and this shouldn’t be happening. You need to remember that there are no hospitals, no Dr’s and no medicines involved…only Grace, Mercy and Jesus.

But then it begins to heal, flesh begins to regenerate, things begin to dry up, it is absolutely amazing. It took 3 months in total…but eventually the wound was completely gone and only a thin scar remained and this muslim lady knew that Jesus was ALIVE, because she was alive because of Him.

Absolutely incredible, amazing miracle – NO LIMITS, NO BOUNDARIES, NOTHING IMPOSSIBLE WITH JESUS…

These photos have a mind of their own, for some reason they simply refuse to stay in the right order…the last eight photos should be the first eight photos…I have re-numbered them a dozen times, but they are not moving…sorry.

THE PHOTOS ARE VERY GRAPHIC – LAST WARNING

Here is a little boy, Angelo, we found him so close to death, so malnourished, dehydrated and covered in ant bites. His little body is just so limp and lethargic, he is dying. His mum was a 17yr old glue sniffer, the same as the 17yr old dad.

There was no hope for Angelo, except Jesus. Due to the Grace and Mercy of God, we find him and we save him. God works though people just like you and me, ordinary people with an extraordinary God.

As you can see he has a large thing on the back of his head, then there is a photo taken 12 hours later in a public hospital, and you can see were the thing was, but it is now totally gone…Jesus took it away. The Dr had no idea what it was and no idea were it went, all the hospital had done to this point was begin to re-hydrate him via a drip.

The third photo was taken 3 months after we found Angelo and his mum…lots of love, lots of food, bit of time and they are new people.

How good is God…?

We have stepped out of our third world slum, where God awareness is everywhere, to a country where God awareness all revolves around church. This does not mean that everyone is saved or God fearing in the slum, but everyone is aware of God, most have heard of Jesus, He is in the culture, and Prayer is seen as a reasonable solution to pretty much everything, or at the very least, worth a try.

…but for the average Aussie, God is not even in their thoughts, Jesus, is seen as a childish thing for the simple people. Problems are solved by our ability to access finances or various social services, prayer would not be even considered by the average Aussie as being in anyway even slightly worth a try. Prayer is nothing at all to them…

Jesus often used the rich and the poor of this world in a comparative manner, and it was always the poor that were seen by Him as being the group that was better off…

…the poor are rich in faith, there are constant promises of divine provision for the poor and of the poor being raised up, many statements about Gods judgement on those who oppress the poor and even comments regarding Jesus becoming poor in order to help us understand and learn more about Him and become rich in Him…it goes so far as saying the poor are the chosen of God – Js 2:5…

…the rich are in a much more delicate position…how hard is it for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven, they are prone to temptations and hurtful desires, there are many warnings to the rich, comments about the rich receiving comforts in this life and discomforts in the after life…

So who is better off, in some ways neither, as both must be born again, both must repent to be born again…but the poor man’s situation definitely opens him up to greater spirituality and broadens his ideas of hope and help to include God and prayer.

The poor of this world are RICH IN FAITH, they have to be in order to survive. The wealth of the rich blinds them to the HOPE OF THE GOSPEL, because they think most of their needs can be met with money.

When the money fails, hopefully Faith will Rise.

Grace enables me to say “NO”, which allows me to walk, not under LAW, but under RIGHTEOUSNESS. Law demands that I either “do or don’t do certain things”, we are not under law, but we “are still under RIGHTEOUSNESS”. Righteousness also says there are things that “I should and should not do”. Law and Righteousness are very similar in so many ways, they walk the same path, they dictate the direction of our life and day, with one big exception – GRACE ENABLES RIGHTEOUS LIVING, whereas, the law is impossible to fulfil.

In some cases the people who are anti law and anti legalism, are simply looking for an excuse to live questionable Christian lives and are looking for ways to defend against the “perceived” judgement of other Christians, so they want all of their actions, pre-meditated or not, covered by grace (which has an element of truth (as every lie does), grace covers all our sin, but in this case, this is a manipulation of grace which has the potential to encourage sin, just as Paul described when he said “shall I continue in SIN, that grace might abound…his answer, a resounding…NO). Romans, chapters 5,6,7 and 8. Grace does not allow me to live “how I want”, it allows me to live RIGHTEOUSLY. Grace frees me from the law, and then connects me to righteousness.

It is also interesting to note, that in scripture our own hearts condemn us long before the condemnation of others – 1 John 3:16-23. I can defend myself in many ways from the condemnation of others, but there is no defence from the condemnation that comes from my own heart when I know that I have done something wrong, except repentance and hopefully, the resulting Holy Living.

We are clearly not under LAW, but we are still under RIGHTEOUSNESS, we cannot do what we want, we are to be led by the Spirit, just like Jesus was, and then He leads me in paths of Righteousness – Ps 23:3.

Just a thought – Mark

There might well be more hurting, than whole people in the world, and each one of us, hurting or not, is responsible for helping others to be whole.

Wholeness, what a great gift to give this Christmas.

Jesus approached and, breaking the silence, said to them, All authority (all power of rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.

[19] Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

[20] Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the very close and consummation of the age. Amen (so let it be).