Sunday, 19 April 2015

Jesus, Creator of Worlds and Hearts

I have been pondering this verse in Hebrews 1.1-2 for a while, that Jesus is the Creator of the worlds –



God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds’.

We know and understand that Jesus made the physical world. Colossians 1.16-17 declares – ‘For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

[caption id="attachment_2046" align="alignleft" width="204"] Guess how many earths can fit inside the sun![/caption]

Think of the universe – the millions of stars out there. Or imagine our sun – it can hold 1.3M earths in it, or 64.3M moons! Or think of our heart which beats something like 2.5-3 billion times in an average lifetime. Amazing! And Jesus created all that!

And yet, that is not the greatest creation, not by a long shot! Paul writes that if ‘anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new’ (2Corinthians 5.20). Through His work at the Cross, Jesus has made me into a new creation, a new man! Now that is amazing! A sinner like me, filled with hatred, bitterness, sin; a man who rejected Jesus, laughed at Christians for their weak religion and who tried everything in the world to escape from God. And yet, here I am today - a new creation. A new man with a new life, with eternal life. How incredible is that! Because Jesus is Creator!

Have you experienced the creative power of Jesus yet? Are you a new creation in Christ? If not, what is holding you back?

Or maybe you are a believer and have already experienced the power of God when you accepted Jesus as Saviour. But what about now, or lately? When was last time you experienced the creative power of Jesus? Do you have a bitter heart? Are you downtrodden? Have life events burdened your heart? Ask Jesus to create a clean heart and to renew a right spirit in you (Ps 51.10). He who can create the universe and time and history can easily create a new heart in you, me, us. Let’s make it our prayer. Lord, create a new heart in me!

Man cannot create the tiniest midge that ever danced in the summer evening's ray; man cannot create even a single grain of dust; but Christ created all worlds, so he can make us new creatures by the wondrous power of his grace. O sinners, see what a mighty Savior has been provided for you, and never say that you cannot trust him!”   C.H. Spurgeon

Sunday, 8 March 2015

In To...Out Of...

Then He [God] brought us OUT from there [Egypt],
that He might bring us IN, to give us the land
which He swore to our fathers.


Deut 6.23 (my emphasis)


This past week, I have been going through Deuteronomy as part of my daily Bible reading and this verse really spoke to me. Msign_in_outoses was instructing the Israelites to not disobey God, because He is a good God and faithful to His word. Moses then gives them the greatest example of all – how God was faithful to not only bring them OUT of Egypt and bondage, but to also bring them IN to the land that He promised them. How awesome is that!?

I sat there for about 15 minutes just thinking about this verse and what it means to us today. Isn’t this exactly what God does for all who call upon the name of Jesus Christ? Think about how this applies to our salvation…

He brings us out of sin and in to forgiveness.
He brings us out of darkness and in to light.
He brings us out of self-righteous works and in to amazing grace.
He brings us out of the old and in to the new.
He brings us out of death and in to life.
He brings us out of fear and in to faith.
He brings us out of constant striving and in to rest.
He brings us out of turmoil and in to peace.
He brings us out of rejection and in to adoption.
He brings us out of uncertainty and in to assurance.
He brings us out of the world and in to His Kingdom.
He brings us out of Hell and in to Heaven.

And the list goes on and on and on….

Take a moment and think about what God has done for you; that He brought you out of ______ so He could bring you in to __________.  You fill in the blanks!

Wednesday, 4 February 2015

The Riverwalk - Team Phamily!

The-River---CCW-version

Pray you are all well and that 2015 has gone well for you so far.  Our church, Calvary Wellington, is co-hosting (along with Gospel for Asia) a fundraising half-marathon (21 km / 13.1 miles) walk in our local region.  The money raised will go towards Gospel for Asia’s Clean Water Initiatives in India and other parts of South Asia.  You can read more about GfA’s Clean water initiative at www.gfariverwalk.org.nz

Becky and the kids have it on their hearts to do this walk and to support the needy (the Untouchables) in India.  They want to fundraise as much as possible to support GfA in bringing the Gospel to India through serving and giving the people clean water.

So if you are able to and feel led to financially support Becky and the kids, below are the links to their individual fundraising pages.  Every dollar helps!!  And 100% of the funds raised will go to the mission field (GfA’s policy).

You can support through Paypal, even if you don’t have a Paypal account, just use a credit card.  In Europe/Germany, you can deposit directly into our German Deutsche Bank account and we can forward that onto GfA (Kontoinhaber: David Pham,  Bank: Deutsche Bank Freiburg,  Konto: 0361469,  BLZ: 680 700 24)

Becky’s fundraising page - http://www.gfariverwalk.org.nz/2015Walk/becky-pham/

Jesaiah’s fundraising page - http://www.gfariverwalk.org.nz/2015Walk/jes/

Taliah’s fundraising page - http://www.gfariverwalk.org.nz/2015Walk/liah/

Zachy’s fundraising page - http://www.gfariverwalk.org.nz/2015Walk/zac/

Dariah’s fundraising page - http://www.gfariverwalk.org.nz/2015Walk/dari/

Unfortunately I can’t do the walk this year as I am coordinating the whole event.  Thanks in advance!