Write or email the local paper why you think abortion is wrong and a bad choice for society to adopt.

Read Deuteronomy 19:1-7

We live in a world where human life is being constantly devalued. Some would even prefer the death of a human being rather than the death of a whale or a tree. On-demand abortion is being pushed and certain professors have even promoted the idea of after birth abortion. Nobody talks about the death of a baby boy or a baby girl. No body mentions infanticide because that’s what these really are. We use euphemisms to dull the pain of what we’re really promoting.

But humanity was made in the image of God. We reflect the God who created us. That’s what makes each and every single person valuable and special. Even the baby born in the poorest and driest city in a war torn African nation is special to God. The little baby girl with hideous deformities is special to God. We need to learn to value humans, from the very moment of conception, as much as God does.

God hates the devaluation of human life. He hates murder no matter how hard we try to soften the impact by calling it euthanasia or abortion or termination or mercy killing or whatever. God hates murder.

For Israel, God provided three cities of refuge so that the person who accidently killed another person would be able to spare his life and not suffer the penalty for murder, namely the death penalty.

The church has to stand up and speak up for the value of human dignity and life. It’s time to wake up from our slumber and become proactive in protecting and valuing life. If God’s representatives can’t value life and stand up for its value, who can?

Prayer:

¥ Pray that the attempts to pass laws for on-demand abortion and for legalisation of euthanasia will be stopped and that parliament would see the foolishness of introducing such laws. Pray that Christians in parliament will be vocal on these issues. Pray that Christians around the country will stand up, make a noise and support those organisations that are working for good and positive change in these areas.

¥ Pray that we will see laws passed that are moral and just and that protect the lives of innocent people that cannot protect themselves.

Make a habit of listening to Jesus.

Read just 1 verse today and carry it with you all day, seeking to apply it and do it

Read Deuteronomy 18:15-22

The solemnity and seriousness of our worship gathering is brought out in today’s verses. As God spoke to Israel He made it clear that when He spoke to a prophet and a prophet spoke to the nation, it was as though the Lord Himself had spoken. Of course it is! God speaks through a variety of means, but mainly through His prophets.  Anyone who did not listen to the prophet would be answerable to God Himself.

Conversely, if a prophet spoke presumptuously without the Lord’s authorisation, he was to be put to death. God is serious about the transmission of His word and the reception of it.

Today a similar situation occurs. When we gather to sit under the Word, God speaks to the preacher and the speaker speaks to us. Assuming that this man has been faithful to the Word we should listen as though the Lord Himself were speaking to us. Rather than rating this man’s charisma, style and delivery methods (like a judging panel on a talent show), we should be listening to the Word of the Lord.

But the text looks forward to the coming of The Prophet that would speak uniquely in God’s Name because he is very essence of God. Looking back at the ministry of Christ Jesus, Peter in Acts 3 applies these verses directly to Jesus as does Steven in Acts 7. Jesus is The Prophet from God that we must listen to. We must listen to Him in our quiet times. We must listen to Him every time we open the Word. We must listen to Him when our brothers and sisters bring a Word to us and we must listen to Him when He speaks through the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.

Prayer:

¥ Pray for our Committee of Management to be wise and thoughtful in the way that it handles the funds and resources of this congregation. Pray that we would see them blessed with a mission heart and a desire to reach the world for Christ Jesus.

¥ Pray for our Session. Pray that we would see these men filled with God’s Spirit and given great wisdom in shepherding us and leading us.

Think about the things you like that God doesn’t.

Ring a friend and ask them to keep you accountable to change.

Read Deuteronomy 18:10-14;  Ephesians 5:1-7

As you read these verses, what do you think God thinks of the Harry Potter series? These novels are simply a glorification and adulation of witchcraft. No matter what you call it or how you dress it up, it’s still witchcraft. Would God be happy that His people are indulging in such promotion of what is essentially witchcraft? Would God be happy that His children are excited about spells and incantations and are acting out witchcraft fantasies.

As you read these verses do you think God is pleased when His children seek guidance from clairvoyants or the cards or even from the stars in the local papers? God hates, even abhors, such things.

As you read these words do you think God is pleased with Christians who dabble in séances and those who try to mediate between the spirits? Rest assured, God hates these things too.  Now of course, one might reply that it’s just a bit of fun. But think back to Israel. When the average Joe went to the Asherah pole or high place to bow down and worship, do you think God would have accepted his plea of, ‘I was only having a bit of fun?’ When an Israelite passed his new born baby girl through the flames of the statue dedicated to Molech, do you think such a plea would appease God?

As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ we should strive to love what God loves and to hate what God hates. Part of the command to be imitators of God includes taking on His likes and His dislikes as our own personal likes and dislikes.  How can we possibly imitate God in our outward life if in our inner life we still love what God hates and hate what He loves?

Learning to love what God loves and to hate what God hates requires complete submission to the will of the Lord. It means denying yourself and taking up your cross daily to follow Jesus. It means studying his Word and applying it to our lives.  It means taking practical steps to eradicate those things that God hates from our lives and bringing in the things that he loves.

Are you up for the challenge? Will you rise to the occasion? Will you take the bull by the horns and come up victorious?

Prayer:

¥ Pray that we would see more R.I teachers involved in the local schools. Pray that every church would be sending out workers into this vast harvest field. Pray that God would bring many souls into his kingdom through this powerful ministry.

¥ Pray that God would raise up chaplains for the mining industry. Churches are finding it hard to reach these workers because of their unconventional shifts. The families they belong to are breaking down under the strain. Chaplains to the mining industry would provide invaluable in making disciples and growing them in their walk with the Lord.

¥ Pray that the Presbytery of the Darling Downs would be wise in the use of its limited resources and that it would be thinking and acting strategically in these and many other areas.  Pray that this group of ministers and elders would lead the way in reaching out in Christ’s name and in disciplining the believers.

Remember W.W.J.D?

Seek to live every moment today as Jesus would have you live.

Read Deuteronomy 18:9;   1 John 2:15-17

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  But God’s people should never seek to imitate the world or the evil practices of the world. The nation of Israel was not to glance longingly at the nations around them and their practices. The false worship they observed may have looked attractive and even exciting but it as never to be imitated.

Churches also should be very careful in their approach to the world. There are many things in the world that look exciting and may appear to draw crowds. They may be fun and offer great potential in reaching out to the world or to draw the world into our buildings.
We must be very careful not to imitate the ways of the world around us, simply because something is popular or fun or exciting. When a church seeks to run a rock concert performance on Sonday morning then maybe it’s imitating the world. When the church wants more than one God to pray to, maybe it’s imitating the world. When the church wants to make the Bible more palatable by leaving out the uncomfortable bits maybe it’s imitating the world. If a church wants its staff to drive the most modern cars and have the plushest offices and auditorium, then maybe it’s imitating the world. When a church runs witchcraft lessons or new age seminars it is definitely imitating the world.

We are told clearly and bluntly in 1 John 2:15-17 that we are not to love the world or anything in the world. The world with all of its desires and cravings and all of its achievements will simply pass away. It will be destroyed. But the one who does the will of God will live for ever.

Christ Jesus is the one we are to be imitating.  You can seek to imitate Him in everything you do today, in every meeting, in every action and even in every thought. Be a Christ imitator today.

Prayer:

¥ Pray for the work of the PIM, Presbyterian Inland Mission. Pray that God would bless our padres with a warm welcome in each town and station they visit. Pray that God would open doors for them to share the good news and to bring blessing to these farmers and their families. Pray that God would encourage them and protect them on their travels.

¥ Pray for our school chaplains. Pray that God would use these men and women powerfully to bring Christ into our schools. Pray that there would be continuous open doors to speak of Christ, to demonstrate His love and to lead many students, teachers and parents to Christ.

Think about what your offering to God communicates.

Read Deuteronomy 18:1-8

Holiness and hatred cannot dwell in the same house. The man who abuses his wife shows her hatred not love. The congregation that  doesn’t give generously shows hatred not love. The teenager who disobeys his parents shows hatred not love.  Holiness and hatred cannot dwell together but love and holiness fit together like a hand in a glove.

Israel, in being holy, was to show love not hatred towards the ministers of the Lord – the Levites. They were to be provided for from the offerings and sacrifices given to the Lord. These men and their families had no inheritance of land in the Promised Land but would be blessed by the Lord through the people.

By giving sacrificially the people communicated love, not hatred. What are you communicating to those around you?

Prayer:

¥ Pray for Geoff Bullock, Family Voice Australia, who in the coming months will be making appointments to explain to Campbell Newman and his new MPs, how Family Voice operates.

¥ Geoff has encouraged us to establish and nurture a relationship with your elected member, to keep accountability at a high level.

As a church, pray how you can be pro active in building a bridge with your local MP.

Write your local member a letter telling them that you and your church are praying for them. While your at it, invite him or her to church as well.

Read Deuteronomy 17:14-20;  Matt 23:1-12

There are millions of jokes about politicians and honesty aren’t there? And rightly so. We’ve all grown sick and tired of politicians who lie and make false promises just to be elected into power. We are all sick of politicians who give themselves pay rises and use their work credit cards for family holidays and to pay for drinks at a strip club. We are sick and tired of the lies.

How comforting to know that in God’s nation, even the King was expected to be righteous and holy. He was not above the law. He was to set the example and standard of living. He was not to consider himself better than his brothers. He was not to take many wives for himself. Solomon found out how deadly this practice was.  He was not to make alliances with foreign nations. He was not to indulge in the practices of the nations. In fact, the King was to have a copy of the Torah before him and he was to meditate upon it all the days of his life.

Positions of power in God’s economy are never to be marked by self interest and self promotion. Rather the higher positions have higher levels of responsibility and attract harsher punishment from the Lord for deliberate and wilful transgression.  The Lord Jesus made it clear that climbing the ladder of leadership and greatness was parallel to climbing the ladder of servanthood.

Imagine if the voting public actually cottoned onto this truth and starting voting for leaders who actually served the people. Imagine if the people banded together and immediately voted out those leaders who abused their positions of power. What a radical transformation our nation would see overnight. What an incredible difference we’d see in our politicians.

Prayer:

¥ Spend time praying for your members of parliament locally, in your state and for the federal parliamentarians. Pray too for the Christians in parliament.

¥ Pray that God would remove the anti-Christian elements in power in those countries where Christianity is considered a threat and a crime. Pray that our brothers and sisters in these lands would continue to challenge and rebuke such leaderships. Pray for courage, strength and wisdom.

Ring up one of the leaders in your congregation and encourage them by asking them how you can be praying for them.
Pray for them too.

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Read Deuteronomy 17:1-13; James 3:1

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In chapter 13 of Deuteronomy we saw that God has a pure and holy heart and does not and will not accept the worship of other gods. God has been repeating Himself over and over again simply because the threat to Israel was greater than they could have ever imagined. They underestimated the power of sin in their lives individually and corporately. As history shows us, they fell into the very sin that God had warned them against over and over and over again.

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The judges appointed in the earlier chapter were to thoroughly investigate all charges of idolatry and they were to punish offenders accordingly.

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The judges and leaders of the nation were to send a clear and loud message to all – idolatry was not acceptable and would not be tolerated in any shape or form. Unfortunately, history again shows that it was this very leadership that led the way into idolatry not away from it. Rather than denouncing it, the leaders embraced it and encouraged the people to bow down in sinful worship of false gods.

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God proved faithful and kept His word. He eventually punished the nation by sending them into exile in Babylon. Many smaller punishments, such as the invasions and military defeats warned the people that the big one was coming but they refused to listen. God kept His word and sent the Babylonian army to decimate them. They suffered in exile for decades for their stubborn sinfulness.

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Heaven help leaders who deliberately pervert the truth and lead the people astray. Heaven help those leaders who water down the Word of God or change it to make it more palatable to the world. Heaven help those who deliberately pervert true godly justice by their actions or words. God will punish them most severely but for now He is patient and gracious allowing time for repentance.

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Prayer:

¥ Pray for the Christian leadership across this nation. Pray that God would grant wisdom where needed and that leaders (ministers, councils, elders, deacons, ministry leaders etc) would be given a deep spirit of holiness and righteousness. Pray that Christian leaders would be setting a great example for the rest of us to follow.

¥ Pray that your Session and Committee of Management would be filled with men and women who love the Lord and seek first and foremost to do His will and to obey His Word. Pray that God would greatly bless these men and women.

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Prepare yourself for worship tomorrow by reading         Deuteronomy 16, by praying and committing the day to the Lord.

Read Deuteronomy 16:21-22

A married man meets a girlfriend for lunch. They laugh, joke and flirt with each other over the table. After lunch, they both ring their respective bosses and take the afternoon off so that they can have some uninterrupted time together. Then as usual, in the late afternoon the man goes home to his wife and family.

As he’s greeted at the door he kisses and hugs his wife saying, ‘Hi honey. I missed you so much today. I love you’. Freeze the frame right there!  I hope you can see something terribly wrong here. I hope you can see the injustice and the utter lie that has just been spoken. The actions of that man, even though they were secret and behind closed doors, betrayed him and showed his hypocrisy. One has to question if he did miss his wife and if he really does love her. One has to question his heart and his true intentions.

It was no coincidence that God refers to idolatry as adultery. Israel was to be pure and reserved for God alone. She was not to commit spiritual adultery by prostituting herself to other gods and statues. She was not to pray to these statues and wooden Asherah poles. She was not to worship the sun, moon and stars. She was to worship God and God alone. Her actions would betray her and show the true state of her heart. God would not accept the worship of a divided heart.

When we come together before the Lord, let us make sure that we are not also committing spiritual adultery. While I doubt that any of us would carve a statue and then bow down to worship it. I doubt that any of us would worship the sun, moon and stars. But we might read the stars and plan our day accordingly. God hates that! We might spend all our energy Monday through Friday grasping at the mighty dollar bill, hungering for it and pursuing it relentlessly. We might adore and worship our car above and beyond God. We might crave sexual fulfilment (legitimately or illegitimately) and make that our god for the week. We might be pursing fame and fortune at any expense. Maybe unforgiveness has become the  idol we’ve placed in our heart of stone. Maybe we’ve put ourselves on God’s throne and lived as though we are God. God still won’t accept the worship of a divided heart.

Israel was warned about living separate or compartmentalised lives. She was not to live for herself and then perfunctorily  appear before God, simply going through the motions. She was to live for God each and every single day. Coming before God was to be a culmination of the joy of being near God moment by moment. New Testament believers are the same. Our week is to be lived for God and in God’s presence. We are to relate to God and be intimate with God each and every moment of each and every day. The culmination of this is when we gather together in each other’s and more importantly, in God’s presence. Coming before God together is to be the highlight of our week, bringing joy, motivation and fulfilment of all that we’ve longed for.

Anything else is simply perfunctory and is NOT glorifying to God.

Prayer:

¥ Pray that God would accept our worship tomorrow because it comes from an undivided heart. Pray that God would grant repentance and change where needed and that he would continue to purify us with his Holy Spirit.

¥ Pray that our Kings Kids teachers and helpers would be energised and given great creativity to teach the kids, to enthuse them and to model true Christ-likeness to them. Pray that the children grow in their love for God, their commitment to Him and their ability to live for Him and Him alone.

Make a list of the injustices that your church could tackle. Ring around and see if anyone else is happy to fight these with you.

Pray lots.

Read Deuteronomy 16:18-20

Isn’t it fascinating that in a chapter on celebrations and feasts that the Lord had ordained we get a few verses on justice. Either the writer has limited comprehension skills and never re-read his work (which is a terrible conclusion to come to) or something deeper is going on. Let’s assume the latter.

When the Israelites entered the Promised Land there would be only one centre of worship – the tabernacle and eventually the Temple in Jerusalem. All other shrines and high places were to be completely and utterly obliterated. This could result in a situation where justice was difficult to maintain in the outlying regions. It could prove costly to travel to Jerusalem to hear minor cases before the Levites and waiting for the three high holy days to travel to the Temple could be impractical, so God brought justice out to the people by the election of judges.

Added to that, our God loves justice. See Psalm 11:7, 33:5, Isaiah 1:15-17 and Micah 6:8 and so on. God loves justice. Conversely, He hates injustice. God hates it when His people act unjustly and then come before Him to spread out hands in pleading and prayer. Isaiah makes it clear that God will not listen to such hypocritical prayers. God hates unjust measures, unjust or lying words, unjust decisions that deprive the poor and needy. God hates injustice and loves justice.

By placing these verses at the end of the ceremonies and festivals God is reminding us that appearing before the Lord is not just an isolated incident in our lives. When we come before the Lord we come before Him with our entire lives. He sees the injustice and sin in our lives. He sees the selfishness and unjust weights and measures we may have used to rip others off. He sees our greed, which is idolatry.  God wants us to lift up holy hands in prayer. He wants us to protect the rights of the poor and needy and to uphold their cause. He wants us to walk justly, to love mercy and to be humble before Him.

How will you approach your Lord this coming Lord’s Day?

Prayer:

Believers in Iran and Iraq are denied justice, simply because they believe in Christ Jesus. Pray that our God will bring justice quickly. Pray for Nadarkhani who has been on death row for alleged apostasy. Pray that justice would be done and that this pastor would be released. Pray for strength and encouragement for this pastor as he waits upon the Lord.

¥ Pray that our government would work for justice and equity. Pray that we would have men and women in parliament who would stand up for what is right and fair and just. Pray that believers in all levels of parliament would lead the charge.

Make a list of 2 ways that you can serve this Sonday at church and 3 things that you can give to God..

Of course it’ s difficult!

Read Deuteronomy 16:16-17

Throughout the Hebrew calendar year, each male was to come to Jerusalem to appear before the Lord at least three times, especially in the high holy days. And in coming to the Lord, each person was commanded NOT to appear before the Lord empty handed.

What a great contrast to our churches today where many people come looking for a spiritual fix, a refuelling of their tank and deep desire for others to serve them, to speak to them, to minister to them and to look after their needs. How many people have moved churches because it didn’t cater for their needs or didn’t scratch them where they were itching or didn’t do what they wanted…

Very few people approach church any more with the attitude of, ‘What can I give to God today?’ Or, ‘How can I serve God’s people today? When’s the last time you deliberately set out to bring something to God on the Lord’s day and to serve His people? When’s the last time you gave yourself unreservedly to the Lord in service and submission? When’s the last time you actually prayed for opportunities to give and to serve?

I wonder if we really believe that putting a few lousy dollars in the collection plate (or worse, a few coins we scrambled together out of our wallet or purse) actually fulfils our Christian duty. I wonder if we lie to ourselves, thinking we’ve done our bit by giving to God so sacrificially from the dregs of our wallets and purses.

I wonder if we need to rethink our entire attitude towards Church and each other.

Prayer:

¥ Pray that your congregation would be filled with believers who go to church to give to God first and fore most and who, secondly, go to serve and give to each other. Pray that churches across the land would be filled with givers, not takers.

¥ Pray that we would see a groundswell of committed sacrificial tithing and offering to the Lord so that as a church we can support the needy and the poor and aid those who are desperate for help.