Policy on Welfare Spending

I heard an interesting interview on the radio this morning.

Apparently, the ACT party have a policy (that may or may not be accepted) which will target welfare spending, by forcing beneficiaries to use a card system, where payments can only buy necessities and not some other things like alcohol (and possibly tobacco).

A welfare advocate gave three really good objections to this plan:

• This isn’t teaching people how to be responsible with their money;
• (I can’t quite remember his second point but I think it could be that) People will resent their loss of freedom; and
• There is a perception that all beneficiaries spend all their money on drink and this isn’t so.

(BTW, that last bullet point is called a Straw Man Argument.  This is where you put up a weak point, in order to knock it down.)

For all the merit that those arguments have, I say:

• Let them learn to be responsible, with their own money;
• When it’s my money (my taxes), then target their spending.

Thoughts?

Love is… slow to anger

Gave my first NZ sermon in 14 years (since Tane was born) at Align Church Taita on Sunday.  I have preached in South Africa since then, but I haven’t in NZ since my Elim Church Intern days.  It felt good to be at it again.  Here are my notes.

Elim Church Sunday Service

Leadership changes

• Ric Knott presiding
• Daniel & Diana Bell
• Daniel has done junior youth (Pulse) since 99
• (Daniel artist; Diana lawyer)
• Met in 2001
• Have done youth (RAZE) since 2006
• Moving into Life Groups next year
• Excited about fresh season
• Thanks for praying for young people.  Don’t stop.  Especially our teenagers.  Need us to believe in them.
• Brendan & Fipi Hastie
• Will lead youth next year.
• Wants to take youth to next level, training up the leaders
• (Fipi is a doctor; Brendan is in construction)
• Coach (Mike Knott) prayed
• John & Liz Hastie (Elders) & family prayed
• Bell family too.
• Will had over ministry of Wellington Elim in February (to Ric)
• Not retiring; moving around in ministry to other places
• Will take a sabbatical

Series Title: The Holy Spirit at work in our lives

Sermon Title: Beginnings

• How He can work through us and with us

Genesis – the book of beginnings

1. God – “Elohim” a plural intensive with a singular meaning.
2. Spirit – “Ruwach” breath
3. Hovering – “Rachaf” moving, brooding

So, what’s the Story?   The Trinity at work in redemption.

• Redemption – buying  back what was originally His.
• Two animals:
• Sacrificial lamb = Jesus
• The escape goat (Scapegoat) = Us
• Wrought = formed, fashioned, or worked.

Redemption

• The Father thought it
• The Son bought it
• The Spirit wrought it
• The devil fought it
• But I’ve got it!  (I caught it!)

Paradise Lost

• The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
• Genesis 2:7
• Related to Maori “Tihei Maoriora”
• This was the Spirit of God which Adam lost when he sinned.

People could exercise power when the Holy Spirit came upon them

• My Spirit will not contend with men forever…
• Genesis 6:3
• However, where men and women acknowledged Him…
• Samson, Samuel, David, Elisha, Deborah, Anna

Paradise Regained!

• “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the Power of the Most High will overshadow you.  So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”
• Luke 1:35
• I am going to send you what my Father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.
• Luke 24:49

Ezekiel 37:9,10

• He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath.  Prophesy, son of man.  Tell the breath, the Master, says, Come from the four winds.  Come, breath.  Breathe on these slain bodies.  Breath life!” 
• So I prophesied, just as he commanded me.  The breath entered them and they came alive!  They stood up on their feet, a huge army.

Considering the Votes

I had a friend today challenge me to consider my vote.  This was my reply.

Make disciples, don’t build the Church

Elim Service:

• Senior Pastor Ric (not Mike) Knott
• Wellington Elim
• Sunday 2 October 2011

Things haven’t changed in over 10 years:

• Wellington is like an unreached people group
• 90-95% don’t have Jesus as their personal Saviour

Scriptures

• Matthew 28:19 – Therefore go and make disciples of all nations
• Matthew 16:18 – I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Basically

• Stop hanging out with Christians so much
• Go and make lots of non-Christian friends
• Otherwise, you become a bit irrelevant to the people in the world

Focussing on connection

• How do we make disciples?
• Through life groups
• e.g. sports groups, mothers groups, PTA, ethnic Dancing (Scottish Country, Israeli, etc), Bridge, skate boarding.
• Personally: Dot Net User Group Meetings, WHEN, Facebook, office work, Grenada Village Residents Association.

Getting involved!

• Heart – Ask God to break your heart for people.
• Remember – It’s not about getting church people into cells; it’s about getting non-church people to Christ.

Life is better in Groups

• Activity groups
• Book/DVD groups
• Mission groups
• Prayer Groups
• Starting Week of 23rd October and running for 7 weeks

Phoenix and Fellowship at The Grand – Activity Group

• Welcome fellow Phoenix fans! 
• Come meet with us to cheer on the Phoenix at The Grand in Courtenay Place.
• We’ll be meeting whenever the Phoenix are playing, so times will change (location will not).  Meet others that love football as much as you do.

Adopt a street – Mission Group

• Come out and be a part of a weekly mission group that seeks to share the love of Christ through serving those in need.  We’ll “adopt” a different project each week and help meet the needs of our community through these service projects. 
• No experience or special skills required. 
• Wed 5:30 to 7:30pm.

James Thinks

• Interesting; can’t argue with any of that.
• Ric was uncomfortable bringing this word.  He felt he might be accused of changing course, dictating, cajoling, potentially berating.  However, he felt it was a necessary word.
• Go you good thing.

S*x Education in Schools

I’ve been asked to comment on the current controversy.  BTW, I’ve put an asterix in the title, so that your spam filters don’t block me.

I like a lot what Bob McCoskrie over at Family First has been saying about it in this article in The Herald.

Personally, this issue is just one of many reasons why we decided to Home School.  I believe that the State has got this matter entirely wrong.  Teaching the mechanics devoid of the values can only lead to an increase, not a decrease of harmful pre-marital encounters.  I agree that it is not the State’s role to teach values.  They usually get that wrong.  Therefore, they shouldn’t be teaching this subject at all.  For parents who are incapable of conversing with their own children, then the Church should fill that gap.  To that end, various groups (of which I belong to one) have devised Relationship Courses to teach this subject within the boundaries of the Bible.

Our older children have been taught, not just abstinence before marriage, but the Sliding Scale of Touch:

• Holding hands
• Embracing
• Cuddling
• Kissing

MARRIAGE

• Prolonged Kissing
• Petting
• Heavy/Mutual Petting
• …
• …
• Full intercourse

(For the full list, sign up for our relationships course: Good Mates and Hooking Up.)

Elim Service

I recognized 6 people on the worship team whom I know their full name:

• Nina Villegas, bass guitar
• Sharlene Vere-Jones, acoustic guitar
• Duncan Cowan, piano
• Ben Brunskil, lead guitar
• Sarah Powell, backing vocals (same age as Tane; both born into this church; first time on stage with the worship team today.)
• Marisa Knott (nee Soukotta), lead vocals.  She has a talent in this area.  Can’t help but be ushered into the Presence through her godly example.
• There were others, but this indicates I’ve been out of the loop for a while.

Songs:

• Undivided
• Rain Down
• Revelation Song
• Halleluyah – Our God Reigns (unplanned, prompted by Marisa).

Speaker:

• Pastor Steve Green from Whangarei Elim Church (formerly from Auckland)
• Former Youth Pastor.  Married to Rebecca.
• City of a hundred beaches
• Love – the most excellent way (1 Cor 13)

What is God’s Love Really Like?

• Testimony of hiding with a friend.  When found, his father went from despair to anger in an instant.  Steve felt he’d lost his father’s love.  Tried to earn it back by being good.
• At six, loved a girl at school; but the next day, she changed her mind.
• The different experiences we have shape our understanding of God’s love.  Steve therefore thought God’s love is:
• temporary
• conditional
• But the good news is that God’s love isn’t either of these two things!

Parable of Prodigal Son:

• You’re not loved because of what you do;
• you are loved because of who you are.
• Example: Nobody loves a new-born baby because of what it does (poos & cries).  You love him/her because of who s/he is.  S/he is your child.

You can’t go anywhere that separates you from God’s love

• It’s unconditional.
• The cross: a picture of God’s perfect love.
• John 15:13 – There is no greater love than this; to lay one’s life down for someone else.
• Romans 5:8-21 – God demonstrates His love for us in this; while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Promise Keepers Wellington 2011

I’ve been prompted (by the Holy Spirit) to get back into sharing my thoughts on Him.

This has been brought about through a confluence of events:

• Manifest Presence conference at Harbourside Church, Auckland 2 weeks ago.
• Promise Keepers conference at Upper Hutt this weekend.

Promise Keepers – Conference for Men

Helping turn good men into godly husbands and fathers.

Conference Theme – Game On (get it? – RWC).  There were two metaphors that resonated strongly with me.\

• God wanted you on His winning team.  So He paid an awesome Transfer Fee – His own Son!
• When mentoring juniors:
• Jesus = Coach
• HS = Technical Advisor
• Father = Owner
• Dads = water boys!  (We are privileged to participate in the training of our children.)

A Message for Fathers

http://blog.inspirationbygod.net/159/the-influence-of-a-father/

Manifest Conference 2011 Session 8

Venue	Harbourside Church, Takapuna, Auckland
Senior Pastor	Martin Steel

Wednesday 24 August

Session 8

Martin Steel @ 3:30pm Spirit of Sonship vs Spirit of an Orphan

Synopsis 8

Galatians 3:26 “You are all sons of God in Christ.” Regardless of gender, ethnicity or anything else. Not an orphan spirit Not just without birth parents, But also has not been adopted. What happens? They live without a sense of heritage They live without an expectation of inheritance They live without an attitude of investment Prodigal Son Not just repentance of the son But also acceptance of the father The father refused to make the restored son as a hired contractor He re-established his relationship.