Reasons why you should get a good night's sleep on Saturday nights...
And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.
Acts 20:9
Oh SNAP! Good thing we don't sit on the window sill at church.
Monday, 30 July 2007
get smart
Get Smart was one of my favourite TV Shows back in the day - absolutely hilarious stuff. So when I found out that they were gonna make a Get Smart movie - I got a bit excited. Can't wait for this to come out. Steve Carrell is totally the best guy to play Maxwell Smart too.
melbourne
Melbourne was an experience. Lots of things happened and I don't really know where to start - so the beginning seems like the logical thing to do.Before I set off for my 3 night trip (super-short) trip, I asked God to use me somehow during the trip to do His work, and I thank God that He gave me opportunities, encouragement, along the way. The trip also provided me with a nice time of sight-seeing in the CBD and some shopping along the way too. =)
Our flight to Melbourne was delayed for 2 hours and we subsequently ended up sitting in the airport lounge talking. After getting what we could for our $7.70 food vouchers (which evidently was a packet of chewies and a bottle of Mt Franklin) we sat and talked to pass the time away - there's a pic below of some of them sitting around looking bored.
The subject came up about the book - The God Delusion (a book by Richard Dawkins that says that religion is made up by man - or something along those lines) and the first opportunity came for me to talk to my work friends about God and Christianity. Thank God because I was able to explain to them that what The God Delusion was saying about Christianity, is different from what real relationship with God is - and was able to also talk about why Christians are so passionate about talking about their faith (I was able to tell them that the Bible says they are going to Hell if they don't believe in Christ as their Saviour). It was difficult, and I was nervous the whole time, but thank God for the opportunity and the words that He gave me to say too.
We then got on the plane and headed off to Melbourne and then St Kilda. When we arrived, we went out for 'dinner' at 10:30 Melbourne time, and over dinner, another opportunity came to talk about God! This time, someone had brought up the topic of Jewish Culture and was trying to explain what kosher meant. Thank God that I had been reading the Old Testament, because I was able to explain to them about what the Jews believe and why they are still doing these things today (because they believe they need to do these things for their salvation, not realising that their Saviour had already come 2000 years ago).
They then asked questions about Muslims and Mormons and thank God again, that I had recently seen read up about Mormons (there was a video on ninemsn Most Watched) on the Internet and had also recently seen a video on Islam, Judaism and Christianity - and was therefore somewhat equipped to tell them what I knew. They were all very interested and asked quite a few questions.
The last opportunity came when one of the girls asked me about relationships and I was able to explain to her why I'm not 'on the prowl' for guys like all the other single girls at work. I was able to give her a quick summary of what Josh Harris says in his books and in the end she agreed that what I had said made sense. I doubt she remembered our conversation though, because she then proceeded to get significantly intoxicated =P. And so it was for the rest of the time with my work buddies - after that, they weren't that great to talk to any more because they were either drunk or hung-over for the rest of the trip.
And so it goes on to the Melbourne part of my trip. I stayed in the Oaks Griffin Suites (which were really nice btw) and had the room to myself because one of the girls couldn't make it to the conference as she was fully sick (the bad sick, not the good sik).
I went out on Saturday night to have dinner with Shan, April and Kenny from Bethel and then Koko Black (yummy hot chocolate place) with the three of them plus Pat and Joyce. It was a really fun time of catching up and fellowship and I really enjoyed my time with them(if you guys are reading - thanks heaps!!). I was supposed to follow them to Bethel the following morning, but I slept through Shan's wake up call (which is REALLY unusual for a light sleeper like me) and got up at the time I was supposed to meet Shan and April at the City Train Station - OOPS!
I then went out on Sunday to see (and buy) Melbourne, and met with Sarah later in the day. It was good to catch up with Sarah and she really filled me with crazy ideas to buy a place in Melbourne and move over there and do the six-month-first-home-buyers thing... I am really considering it! I have even looked up places on realestate.com.au hahaha (seriously!). Her place is awesome and it's so close to the Queen Victoria Markets and CGF (Ebenezer BP's City Gospel Fellowship). I went with Sarah down to the Markets and then we went to CGF at 4pm (heheh I like the starting time for their church =]).
The people there were very friendly, and I was sad that I couldn't stay longer because I had to go to the airport. They meet in a townhouse in the CBD (there's a pic below of me standing outside) and the group is predominantly uni students. The service was run by young people and it was really like a little mini version of our own Sunday Worship Service in a house. Very cool indeed. Two people came up to me and the conversations went like this:
Them: So where are you from?
Me: I come from Perth and I attend BPCWA
Them: Oh... Yeah we had Pastor Ed come over for our camp! Do you know
Adrian?
[Sarah giggles]
Me: yeah I do... He's my brother!
Them:
WHOA... really?? OK then, send him my regards!
Wednesday, 25 July 2007
conference time
Well it's that time of the year again - Conference Time! Also known as free-trip-interstate-to-stay-in-a-swishy-hotel-with-most-expenses-paid-by-the-company! YAY!
This will be my second time going to the HSA Conference and I am really thankful that I get to go on this every year. Last year I stayed at Bondi Beach, and this year I will be at St Kilda! To be honest, it is not all fun and games. It's a lot of boring seminars related to work and a lot of the time, they can be a bit on the boring side, but we get to leave work before lunch tomorrow and jump on a plane, so I guess that makes up for it.
Last year the food was SOOOOOOOOO good. The location was amazing and the hotel was schmick. This hotel looks pretty good too. I will make sure I take piccies for the blog, when I get there. I am also going to try meet up with the Ebenezer City Fellowship group, but I don't know if I will be able to go there because of my flight - we'll see.
I have one prayer request though, and that is that I will have the opportunity to evangelise to my friends at work who will be going. One of the movies on the plane will be Amazing Grace - so this may provide an opportunity. We'll see...
But for now, I have to pack. OOoooooOOoooo... I'm so excited! hehe
See you all in a couple of days - don't miss me too much!
This will be my second time going to the HSA Conference and I am really thankful that I get to go on this every year. Last year I stayed at Bondi Beach, and this year I will be at St Kilda! To be honest, it is not all fun and games. It's a lot of boring seminars related to work and a lot of the time, they can be a bit on the boring side, but we get to leave work before lunch tomorrow and jump on a plane, so I guess that makes up for it.
Last year the food was SOOOOOOOOO good. The location was amazing and the hotel was schmick. This hotel looks pretty good too. I will make sure I take piccies for the blog, when I get there. I am also going to try meet up with the Ebenezer City Fellowship group, but I don't know if I will be able to go there because of my flight - we'll see.
I have one prayer request though, and that is that I will have the opportunity to evangelise to my friends at work who will be going. One of the movies on the plane will be Amazing Grace - so this may provide an opportunity. We'll see...
But for now, I have to pack. OOoooooOOoooo... I'm so excited! hehe
See you all in a couple of days - don't miss me too much!
an apology: it's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt
The Regeneration INTBRUTEBARQN (Inaugural Never To Be Repeated Unless The Event Becomes Annual Regeneration Quiz Night) was on last Friday night. It was my turn to run the program for the night, and I had to come up with something 'fun' in the space of a week - quite the challenge really...
I decided to do a Quiz Night (INTBRUTEBARQN) which was really fun to organise and (thank God) generally well received by the Regennies... But it was all fun and games until somebody got hurt - and that person was Mr Shaun Rodricks.
So I just wanted to say sorry to Shauny for organising the games which led to the demise of his ankle. Another brother, who was also running down the stairs to get an umbrella to score a measly point for his team, let's call him - Minh, saw 'the incident'. It went a little something like this...
While running down the stairs with a group of over-zealous brothers to source an umbrella from the church foyer, poor Shauny stacked it and came crashing down - falling through the white sliding doors. I believe he not only hurt his ankle, but looked up from where he had fallen to see Pastor Ed who was standing on the other side of the doors. I have been told by this other brother, who we will just identify as - Mr Ly, that... well... let's just say, Pastor Ed probably was not very impressed at the performance.
Sources at Prayer Meeting tell me that the ankle has been fractured. Crap. Sorry buddy. Hope it heals really quickly and you will get back to running to get umbrellas etc really soon. =)
As for the group of 'friends' last night at Prayer Meeting who tried to make me feel 'better', when I told them that I was racked with guilt after finding out about Shauny's ankle's fate - I forgive YOU!
That is all.
I decided to do a Quiz Night (INTBRUTEBARQN) which was really fun to organise and (thank God) generally well received by the Regennies... But it was all fun and games until somebody got hurt - and that person was Mr Shaun Rodricks.
So I just wanted to say sorry to Shauny for organising the games which led to the demise of his ankle. Another brother, who was also running down the stairs to get an umbrella to score a measly point for his team, let's call him - Minh, saw 'the incident'. It went a little something like this...
While running down the stairs with a group of over-zealous brothers to source an umbrella from the church foyer, poor Shauny stacked it and came crashing down - falling through the white sliding doors. I believe he not only hurt his ankle, but looked up from where he had fallen to see Pastor Ed who was standing on the other side of the doors. I have been told by this other brother, who we will just identify as - Mr Ly, that... well... let's just say, Pastor Ed probably was not very impressed at the performance.
Sources at Prayer Meeting tell me that the ankle has been fractured. Crap. Sorry buddy. Hope it heals really quickly and you will get back to running to get umbrellas etc really soon. =)
As for the group of 'friends' last night at Prayer Meeting who tried to make me feel 'better', when I told them that I was racked with guilt after finding out about Shauny's ankle's fate - I forgive YOU!
That is all.
Monday, 23 July 2007
followup
Found a verse on follow-up that I thought would be good to share...
Paul and Barnabus didn't just convert souls, they backtracked and ensured that the new believers had received adequate encouragement through trials and that they were continuing in their faith. That's all =)
Acts 14:21-22 And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
Paul and Barnabus didn't just convert souls, they backtracked and ensured that the new believers had received adequate encouragement through trials and that they were continuing in their faith. That's all =)
funny bit in Acts
I am reading through the book of Acts at the moment, and I came across a passage that stood out to me because it had previously been shared with me by one of my Christian uni friends. It is in Acts 12 from verse 5 through to 16.
Makes me laugh when I think about what poor little Rhoda must have been thinking. She must have been confused - grownups praying for Peter to get out of jail, Peter rocks up at the door, grownups don't believe her and keep praying instead. Heheh it's funny, but I can't help but think we are like the people in the prayer meeting sometimes too. We pray for this and that, and all the while God has answered our prayers already, but we still keep praying because we don't have the faith that God will answer our prayer!
What a great little passage. My friend at uni actually pointed out this passage, because it was one of the verses that helped her come to know Jesus as her personal Saviour. While reading the Bible and trying to find reasons not to believe, she came across this passage in Acts and after reading it, she thought - why would the Bible include such detail as a young girl trying to tell everyone something and no one believing her? She concluded that the Bible must be the Word of God because if man had written it, they would have skipped that part and just written that the prayers of the church had been answered.
I thought that was a pretty good point - and I guess that's why I have always remembered that part of Acts. But the lesson of that passage is a pretty good one too - if we are going to pray for something, we have to have the faith that God will answer. As Pastor James / Ed always used to say 'if you are going to pray for rain, you better bring an umbrella'- Amen!
Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the guards before the door kept the prison.That's such a funny part of Scripture hey? Peter has been locked up in prison, and all the people in the church come together and hold an all-night-prayer-meeting to ask God to help him get out of jail. Peter walks straight out of the jail with his new Angel friends and goes to the prayer meeting. When he gets there, little Rhoda comes up to the door, hears Peter, and then excitedly tells everyone that their prayers have been answered and Peter is standing outside! Everyone doesn't believe her and instead tell her "Rhoda, it can't be Peter, he's in jail There's NO WAY it can be him, you're probably just seeing things - now quit acting crazy and telling us he's out there and pray with us!"
And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he struck Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. And the angel said unto him, Gird yourself, and bind on your sandals. And so he did. And he said unto him, Cast your garment about you, and follow me. And he went out, and followed him; and knew not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision.
When they were past the first and the second guard, they came unto the iron gate that leads unto the city; which opened to them of its own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and immediately the angel departed from him. And when Peter had come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord has sent his angel, and has delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.
And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a maid came to answer, named Rhoda. And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate.
And they said unto her, You are mad. But she continued to affirm that it was so. Then they said, It is his angel. But Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were astonished.
Makes me laugh when I think about what poor little Rhoda must have been thinking. She must have been confused - grownups praying for Peter to get out of jail, Peter rocks up at the door, grownups don't believe her and keep praying instead. Heheh it's funny, but I can't help but think we are like the people in the prayer meeting sometimes too. We pray for this and that, and all the while God has answered our prayers already, but we still keep praying because we don't have the faith that God will answer our prayer!
What a great little passage. My friend at uni actually pointed out this passage, because it was one of the verses that helped her come to know Jesus as her personal Saviour. While reading the Bible and trying to find reasons not to believe, she came across this passage in Acts and after reading it, she thought - why would the Bible include such detail as a young girl trying to tell everyone something and no one believing her? She concluded that the Bible must be the Word of God because if man had written it, they would have skipped that part and just written that the prayers of the church had been answered.
I thought that was a pretty good point - and I guess that's why I have always remembered that part of Acts. But the lesson of that passage is a pretty good one too - if we are going to pray for something, we have to have the faith that God will answer. As Pastor James / Ed always used to say 'if you are going to pray for rain, you better bring an umbrella'- Amen!
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Monday, 30 July 2007
funny bits in Acts - part 2
Reasons why you should get a good night's sleep on Saturday nights...
And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.
Acts 20:9
Oh SNAP! Good thing we don't sit on the window sill at church.
And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.
Acts 20:9
Oh SNAP! Good thing we don't sit on the window sill at church.
get smart
Get Smart was one of my favourite TV Shows back in the day - absolutely hilarious stuff. So when I found out that they were gonna make a Get Smart movie - I got a bit excited. Can't wait for this to come out. Steve Carrell is totally the best guy to play Maxwell Smart too.
melbourne
Melbourne was an experience. Lots of things happened and I don't really know where to start - so the beginning seems like the logical thing to do.Before I set off for my 3 night trip (super-short) trip, I asked God to use me somehow during the trip to do His work, and I thank God that He gave me opportunities, encouragement, along the way. The trip also provided me with a nice time of sight-seeing in the CBD and some shopping along the way too. =)
Our flight to Melbourne was delayed for 2 hours and we subsequently ended up sitting in the airport lounge talking. After getting what we could for our $7.70 food vouchers (which evidently was a packet of chewies and a bottle of Mt Franklin) we sat and talked to pass the time away - there's a pic below of some of them sitting around looking bored.
The subject came up about the book - The God Delusion (a book by Richard Dawkins that says that religion is made up by man - or something along those lines) and the first opportunity came for me to talk to my work friends about God and Christianity. Thank God because I was able to explain to them that what The God Delusion was saying about Christianity, is different from what real relationship with God is - and was able to also talk about why Christians are so passionate about talking about their faith (I was able to tell them that the Bible says they are going to Hell if they don't believe in Christ as their Saviour). It was difficult, and I was nervous the whole time, but thank God for the opportunity and the words that He gave me to say too.
We then got on the plane and headed off to Melbourne and then St Kilda. When we arrived, we went out for 'dinner' at 10:30 Melbourne time, and over dinner, another opportunity came to talk about God! This time, someone had brought up the topic of Jewish Culture and was trying to explain what kosher meant. Thank God that I had been reading the Old Testament, because I was able to explain to them about what the Jews believe and why they are still doing these things today (because they believe they need to do these things for their salvation, not realising that their Saviour had already come 2000 years ago).
They then asked questions about Muslims and Mormons and thank God again, that I had recently seen read up about Mormons (there was a video on ninemsn Most Watched) on the Internet and had also recently seen a video on Islam, Judaism and Christianity - and was therefore somewhat equipped to tell them what I knew. They were all very interested and asked quite a few questions.
The last opportunity came when one of the girls asked me about relationships and I was able to explain to her why I'm not 'on the prowl' for guys like all the other single girls at work. I was able to give her a quick summary of what Josh Harris says in his books and in the end she agreed that what I had said made sense. I doubt she remembered our conversation though, because she then proceeded to get significantly intoxicated =P. And so it was for the rest of the time with my work buddies - after that, they weren't that great to talk to any more because they were either drunk or hung-over for the rest of the trip.
And so it goes on to the Melbourne part of my trip. I stayed in the Oaks Griffin Suites (which were really nice btw) and had the room to myself because one of the girls couldn't make it to the conference as she was fully sick (the bad sick, not the good sik).
I went out on Saturday night to have dinner with Shan, April and Kenny from Bethel and then Koko Black (yummy hot chocolate place) with the three of them plus Pat and Joyce. It was a really fun time of catching up and fellowship and I really enjoyed my time with them(if you guys are reading - thanks heaps!!). I was supposed to follow them to Bethel the following morning, but I slept through Shan's wake up call (which is REALLY unusual for a light sleeper like me) and got up at the time I was supposed to meet Shan and April at the City Train Station - OOPS!
I then went out on Sunday to see (and buy) Melbourne, and met with Sarah later in the day. It was good to catch up with Sarah and she really filled me with crazy ideas to buy a place in Melbourne and move over there and do the six-month-first-home-buyers thing... I am really considering it! I have even looked up places on realestate.com.au hahaha (seriously!). Her place is awesome and it's so close to the Queen Victoria Markets and CGF (Ebenezer BP's City Gospel Fellowship). I went with Sarah down to the Markets and then we went to CGF at 4pm (heheh I like the starting time for their church =]).
The people there were very friendly, and I was sad that I couldn't stay longer because I had to go to the airport. They meet in a townhouse in the CBD (there's a pic below of me standing outside) and the group is predominantly uni students. The service was run by young people and it was really like a little mini version of our own Sunday Worship Service in a house. Very cool indeed. Two people came up to me and the conversations went like this:
Them: So where are you from?
Me: I come from Perth and I attend BPCWA
Them: Oh... Yeah we had Pastor Ed come over for our camp! Do you know
Adrian?
[Sarah giggles]
Me: yeah I do... He's my brother!
Them:
WHOA... really?? OK then, send him my regards!
Wednesday, 25 July 2007
conference time
Well it's that time of the year again - Conference Time! Also known as free-trip-interstate-to-stay-in-a-swishy-hotel-with-most-expenses-paid-by-the-company! YAY!
This will be my second time going to the HSA Conference and I am really thankful that I get to go on this every year. Last year I stayed at Bondi Beach, and this year I will be at St Kilda! To be honest, it is not all fun and games. It's a lot of boring seminars related to work and a lot of the time, they can be a bit on the boring side, but we get to leave work before lunch tomorrow and jump on a plane, so I guess that makes up for it.
Last year the food was SOOOOOOOOO good. The location was amazing and the hotel was schmick. This hotel looks pretty good too. I will make sure I take piccies for the blog, when I get there. I am also going to try meet up with the Ebenezer City Fellowship group, but I don't know if I will be able to go there because of my flight - we'll see.
I have one prayer request though, and that is that I will have the opportunity to evangelise to my friends at work who will be going. One of the movies on the plane will be Amazing Grace - so this may provide an opportunity. We'll see...
But for now, I have to pack. OOoooooOOoooo... I'm so excited! hehe
See you all in a couple of days - don't miss me too much!
This will be my second time going to the HSA Conference and I am really thankful that I get to go on this every year. Last year I stayed at Bondi Beach, and this year I will be at St Kilda! To be honest, it is not all fun and games. It's a lot of boring seminars related to work and a lot of the time, they can be a bit on the boring side, but we get to leave work before lunch tomorrow and jump on a plane, so I guess that makes up for it.
Last year the food was SOOOOOOOOO good. The location was amazing and the hotel was schmick. This hotel looks pretty good too. I will make sure I take piccies for the blog, when I get there. I am also going to try meet up with the Ebenezer City Fellowship group, but I don't know if I will be able to go there because of my flight - we'll see.
I have one prayer request though, and that is that I will have the opportunity to evangelise to my friends at work who will be going. One of the movies on the plane will be Amazing Grace - so this may provide an opportunity. We'll see...
But for now, I have to pack. OOoooooOOoooo... I'm so excited! hehe
See you all in a couple of days - don't miss me too much!
an apology: it's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt
The Regeneration INTBRUTEBARQN (Inaugural Never To Be Repeated Unless The Event Becomes Annual Regeneration Quiz Night) was on last Friday night. It was my turn to run the program for the night, and I had to come up with something 'fun' in the space of a week - quite the challenge really...
I decided to do a Quiz Night (INTBRUTEBARQN) which was really fun to organise and (thank God) generally well received by the Regennies... But it was all fun and games until somebody got hurt - and that person was Mr Shaun Rodricks.
So I just wanted to say sorry to Shauny for organising the games which led to the demise of his ankle. Another brother, who was also running down the stairs to get an umbrella to score a measly point for his team, let's call him - Minh, saw 'the incident'. It went a little something like this...
While running down the stairs with a group of over-zealous brothers to source an umbrella from the church foyer, poor Shauny stacked it and came crashing down - falling through the white sliding doors. I believe he not only hurt his ankle, but looked up from where he had fallen to see Pastor Ed who was standing on the other side of the doors. I have been told by this other brother, who we will just identify as - Mr Ly, that... well... let's just say, Pastor Ed probably was not very impressed at the performance.
Sources at Prayer Meeting tell me that the ankle has been fractured. Crap. Sorry buddy. Hope it heals really quickly and you will get back to running to get umbrellas etc really soon. =)
As for the group of 'friends' last night at Prayer Meeting who tried to make me feel 'better', when I told them that I was racked with guilt after finding out about Shauny's ankle's fate - I forgive YOU!
That is all.
I decided to do a Quiz Night (INTBRUTEBARQN) which was really fun to organise and (thank God) generally well received by the Regennies... But it was all fun and games until somebody got hurt - and that person was Mr Shaun Rodricks.
So I just wanted to say sorry to Shauny for organising the games which led to the demise of his ankle. Another brother, who was also running down the stairs to get an umbrella to score a measly point for his team, let's call him - Minh, saw 'the incident'. It went a little something like this...
While running down the stairs with a group of over-zealous brothers to source an umbrella from the church foyer, poor Shauny stacked it and came crashing down - falling through the white sliding doors. I believe he not only hurt his ankle, but looked up from where he had fallen to see Pastor Ed who was standing on the other side of the doors. I have been told by this other brother, who we will just identify as - Mr Ly, that... well... let's just say, Pastor Ed probably was not very impressed at the performance.
Sources at Prayer Meeting tell me that the ankle has been fractured. Crap. Sorry buddy. Hope it heals really quickly and you will get back to running to get umbrellas etc really soon. =)
As for the group of 'friends' last night at Prayer Meeting who tried to make me feel 'better', when I told them that I was racked with guilt after finding out about Shauny's ankle's fate - I forgive YOU!
That is all.
Monday, 23 July 2007
followup
Found a verse on follow-up that I thought would be good to share...
Paul and Barnabus didn't just convert souls, they backtracked and ensured that the new believers had received adequate encouragement through trials and that they were continuing in their faith. That's all =)
Acts 14:21-22 And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
Paul and Barnabus didn't just convert souls, they backtracked and ensured that the new believers had received adequate encouragement through trials and that they were continuing in their faith. That's all =)
funny bit in Acts
I am reading through the book of Acts at the moment, and I came across a passage that stood out to me because it had previously been shared with me by one of my Christian uni friends. It is in Acts 12 from verse 5 through to 16.
Makes me laugh when I think about what poor little Rhoda must have been thinking. She must have been confused - grownups praying for Peter to get out of jail, Peter rocks up at the door, grownups don't believe her and keep praying instead. Heheh it's funny, but I can't help but think we are like the people in the prayer meeting sometimes too. We pray for this and that, and all the while God has answered our prayers already, but we still keep praying because we don't have the faith that God will answer our prayer!
What a great little passage. My friend at uni actually pointed out this passage, because it was one of the verses that helped her come to know Jesus as her personal Saviour. While reading the Bible and trying to find reasons not to believe, she came across this passage in Acts and after reading it, she thought - why would the Bible include such detail as a young girl trying to tell everyone something and no one believing her? She concluded that the Bible must be the Word of God because if man had written it, they would have skipped that part and just written that the prayers of the church had been answered.
I thought that was a pretty good point - and I guess that's why I have always remembered that part of Acts. But the lesson of that passage is a pretty good one too - if we are going to pray for something, we have to have the faith that God will answer. As Pastor James / Ed always used to say 'if you are going to pray for rain, you better bring an umbrella'- Amen!
Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the guards before the door kept the prison.That's such a funny part of Scripture hey? Peter has been locked up in prison, and all the people in the church come together and hold an all-night-prayer-meeting to ask God to help him get out of jail. Peter walks straight out of the jail with his new Angel friends and goes to the prayer meeting. When he gets there, little Rhoda comes up to the door, hears Peter, and then excitedly tells everyone that their prayers have been answered and Peter is standing outside! Everyone doesn't believe her and instead tell her "Rhoda, it can't be Peter, he's in jail There's NO WAY it can be him, you're probably just seeing things - now quit acting crazy and telling us he's out there and pray with us!"
And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he struck Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. And the angel said unto him, Gird yourself, and bind on your sandals. And so he did. And he said unto him, Cast your garment about you, and follow me. And he went out, and followed him; and knew not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision.
When they were past the first and the second guard, they came unto the iron gate that leads unto the city; which opened to them of its own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and immediately the angel departed from him. And when Peter had come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord has sent his angel, and has delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.
And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a maid came to answer, named Rhoda. And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate.
And they said unto her, You are mad. But she continued to affirm that it was so. Then they said, It is his angel. But Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were astonished.
Makes me laugh when I think about what poor little Rhoda must have been thinking. She must have been confused - grownups praying for Peter to get out of jail, Peter rocks up at the door, grownups don't believe her and keep praying instead. Heheh it's funny, but I can't help but think we are like the people in the prayer meeting sometimes too. We pray for this and that, and all the while God has answered our prayers already, but we still keep praying because we don't have the faith that God will answer our prayer!
What a great little passage. My friend at uni actually pointed out this passage, because it was one of the verses that helped her come to know Jesus as her personal Saviour. While reading the Bible and trying to find reasons not to believe, she came across this passage in Acts and after reading it, she thought - why would the Bible include such detail as a young girl trying to tell everyone something and no one believing her? She concluded that the Bible must be the Word of God because if man had written it, they would have skipped that part and just written that the prayers of the church had been answered.
I thought that was a pretty good point - and I guess that's why I have always remembered that part of Acts. But the lesson of that passage is a pretty good one too - if we are going to pray for something, we have to have the faith that God will answer. As Pastor James / Ed always used to say 'if you are going to pray for rain, you better bring an umbrella'- Amen!
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