Matthew 10:7-8

As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Matthew 10:7-8

I’m back! Starting to find my rhythm again as I re-organise my routines to include my little treasure Lucy. So let’s take a look at these powerful and challenging verses.

These are Jesus marching orders to His disciples as they prepare to go on ‘outreach’. The way Jesus says it, makes it sound like He’s asked them to run down to the corner dairy and pick up a loaf of bread. But that’s the point isn’t it? The fact that these supernatural experiences are not part and parcel of our message should cause us stop and re-examine where the problem lies. Just because we’ve ‘tried’ this a few times and it didn’t work, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t persist until we get a break through. I’ve written this more for myself than anyone else. Right now I’m living in a country where people have heard all sorts of ideas and stuff about ‘the kingdom of heaven’ but what they haven’t seen is a live demonstration of the power of God in action to validate and verify the message. This is my current pursuit as I seek to align my life and message with the Word of God and not adapt the Word to fit my experience or theology.

To listen click here!

Changes to the number of weekly podcasts

I'd like to let everyone know that my wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on Thursday Sept 24 and we've named her Lucy Emma. As you can imagine this is a fairly major change in lifestyle for us and I have not so much time to do the word2gos at present, so I will be reducing the number per week from 3 to 1 or 2.
If these podcasts are ministering to you, drop me an email some time or leave a comment as this will be a good encouragement for me also.

God bless


Wayne

Matthew 11:28-30

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Maybe you’re feeling tired, stressed and frustrated that you haven’t accomplished half the things on your to do list? Then these verses are the perfect antidote for you. Many struggle even to get enough physical rest but how to you find rest for you soul?

I can tell you from personal experience that the presence of His Holy Spirit will refresh you and lighten your load in a wonderful way, in fact I rely on this reality almost every day. Simply invite the Holy Spirit to come, enjoy His presence and let these verses take root in your heart.

To listen click here!

Ephesians 3:20-21

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

The question is not how powerful God is, because as Christians we know that His power is unlimited and the known universe testifies to this, but the real ‘eye-grabber’ in this verse is how great the power is that is at work WITHIN US! The channel for God’s power most of the time is us! We are the lightening rods for God’s power. The Him referred to here is God the Father and He is glorified through His people (the church) and through Jesus and every generation brings the Father new offerings of glory.

Remember that we don’t need to be powerful in ourselves, we just need to be the lightening rods for God’s power.

To listen click here!

Psalm 77:13-14

Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. Psalm 77:13-14

He is a holy God, a great God and his greatness can be seen in the miraculous things He does for people all over the world. Note the present tense: You ARE the God that performs miracles. It’s not something God did way back in olden times, it’s something God is doing more in our day and time than in any other time in history. Our God is a powerful God who does mighty things so that all people everywhere will acknowledge that God alone is the one true God who alone deserves all the glory and praise.

To listen click here!

1 John 2:15-16

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 1 John 2:15-16

The Bible has a tendency to make these very black and white statements with two possible alternatives and nothing in the middle and here’s another one! Obviously the ‘loving the world’ camp is not the best one to pitch your tent in, (talk to Lot – God rained hell fire and brimstone on his parade!) but what does ‘loving the world’ really mean? Because we live in the world, and we have to do business with the world. We have bills to pay, and nice things that we would like to own. I think the key is to hold ‘the world stuff’ loosely. There are definitely times in our life when in order to serve God well, we have to let go of some ‘worldly benefits’ and we do it because we know the benefits that come from serving God and putting God first will far outweigh anything the world has to offer. It’s called delayed gratification! In a nutshell enjoy the good stuff but don’t let it become your primary focus because there’s so much more to real life than the acquisition of material things or recognition from the world.

To listen click here!

Matthew 9:20-22

Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed." Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment. Matthew 22:20-22 (NIV)

This is one of these special recordings for me. I’d like to suggest a way that you can engage with this text in a fresh way. Imagine yourself in the place of the woman and imagine that you’re fighting your way through the crowd because you want to touch Jesus. You have a urgent need, perhaps it’s physical or maybe emotional, but you know that Jesus can give you what you need. Then imagine yourself touching Jesus cloak and then in faith receive what you need. Remember this woman had no special connections to Jesus, but rather it was her faith that drew forth from Jesus the power she needed for her situation. Just reach out in faith and receive.

To listen click here!