I found it!

Luke 15:1- 10

1Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. 2But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."

3Then Jesus told them this parable: 4"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' 7I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

8"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins^[a] and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' 10In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

With today's passage you can see that Jesus was focused on unrighteous repenting. The way he explains this (and so many other things) in parables is just great! The second example there where the woman loses the coin, that would be about a days wages. I would be very excited about finding a days wages that I had lost too.

We often lose things, and when we find them it does cheers us up and makes us happy. Generally though, are we happier about finding our lost items, or our friends and family that are no longer "lost"? Do we actively seek to participate in the "searching and finding" of these lost people? Yes, God is the one who will bring people in and convert them, but if we are doing things for God's glory and showing His love to people, then that will be God working through us. THAT is something to rejoice about!

He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

What a way to start off again in getting daily devotionals going. I logged onto the Daily Bread website and went to todays devotion and this is the passage that they are looking at today.

Luke 14:25-35 25

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. 27And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

28"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'

31"Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

34"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

How often do we put things infront of God?...

All the time!

Our lives are just so busy, and even if they're not, we make them busy with other things. Why? because we want to live our lives our own way. In this passage when Jesus tells us to drop everything, or hate everything (find this very hard? so do I. How can I hate my wife and daughter?) to be his disciple.

Does this mean we cannot love our families or ourselves? Of course not, but we need to be following Jesus first and foremost. To do that, we need to hate the things of this world and be focused on the treasures He has in place for us. Even if that means hating our families or ourselves.

Something I have struggled with is bringing Jesus into the forefront of our family. I constantly try to get better at it, but keep failing. Leading my family's spiritual walk is something that I try and have wanted to do since we got together. There have been ups, and downs in how I have handled the spiritual walk of the family, and I think it comes back to how I am living with my faith, my godliness. And as of late, it has been pretty pathetic.

This passage is a real eye (and heart) opener for me. I need to put Jesus first. I need to do that to get back on track in my life, and as a consequence of that, start LEADing my family.

There is a cost to being a disciple of Jesus and that is that we cannot let the things of this world get in our way. Everyday, every minute we are tempted by things of the world. I find it much easier to come home after a full day of work and then TAFE (college) for 3-4 hours and sit myself down infront of the TV before bed, when what I should be doing is spending time strengthening my family.

So yes, physical costs, mental costs. There will be costs to being a disciple of Jesus. Take up your cross and follow him, and dont lose your saltiness.

Back for some more.

Well it has been more than a year.

Time to bring it back.

Starting tomorrow.

the blog of the erns will live again!

What I am trying to revive here is my daily reading which has gone way downhill. While I was doing it on here and updating it everyday it really helped me in my faith. It did make me stronger, and it was good to know there was people reading it, and keeping me accountable. After I stopped writing here, people have let me know that they miss it, and that they did enjoy it. But I think the best thing it did was keep me solid.

Since stopping I can see how the fire burning inside has been asking for more wood everyday. But, I find it hard to do so.

So this is me, putting some logs back on the fire.

I am fired up, ready to go.

Like always, if you have anything to say, please let me know...

Work Mission Update #7

Well after working one on one with "Fred" (read over previous Work Mission Updates) and chatting while working yesterday, we are now going to meet up and read the bible together, so hopefully that will go well and we can both get something out of that.

Hopefully he can start coming along to church too.

Short and to the point

Colds suck.

I have one now and it sucks

Hopefully it will be done and gone by the wedding.

Colds suck!

Things and Stuff

Logged on and I found a post that wasnt put up from a while ago so I chucked it up here, yeah I know I havent been updating as often as I said I would and I would like, no excuse, just havent...

Anyway... big woopsies last night.

I went to sleep and missed some important phone calls from a very important person...

Sorry bout that.

Things for the big day are getting done (66 days), but that big day is only the start of a huge life together, so that is something we are both looking forward to and planning for as much, if not more than the day itself.

New truck is going well, although some punk kid through an egg at it the other day, landed in the tray and smelt bad, kinda like egg! (wow, really eric, good one...). He is lucky I didnt see him do it, or I would have shown him what eggs are really for... breakfast and/or cakes/cookies!

Moving up at work, I'm now second in charge of a team, and will be taking on more and more responsibility as time goes on...

Got bible study on tonight, so that should be good, hope everyone is up for it and awake.

Cant think of anything else to write now, apart from the fact that everyone (myself included) has been signing up to facebook and spending heaps of time on there. Its the latest craze.

eZor out!

Work Mission Update #6

** 3/5/07 Woops this has been sitting as a draft for a long while, no idea why i hadnt posted it...***

It is so great to have a boss who is not only a great boss and easy to work for, but a boss who shares the same beliefs as me. He says that his workplace is a mission field, he wants everyone of the guys there to come to know Jesus, and that is just awesome.

Its awesome that we can encourage each other in that too.

One of the guys we have both been talking to is going through a REALLY tough time at the moment, and just being there to be able to talk to him as he thinks through things is a humbling experience. I dont know how God works, but from what I have seen in my time at this business is that God put me here for a reason. Well as reason as anywhere, as anywhere we go we should be glorifying Him.

Tim (my boss) is just a great encouragement, not only to me but to all the boys working there. He is just so supportive of them and he goes out of his way to work around there needs when he doesnt have to. Just yesterday, I came back to the shed halfway through the day to pickup some equipment, and the guy I mentioned in that last paragraph was there chatting with Tim. Tim knowing that I had been talking to him previously invited me into the conversation and we talked for around an hour, encouraging and supporting him.

It is just a great environment...

BUT

I still pass up so many opportunities to glorify Him, and so many of those times I notice them going by. It is SO frustrating.

getting closer

the countdown is on (double digits)

things are getting done

things need to be done

very exciting

:)

Back to Basics

Myself and Helen ahce decided to go through Luke in our own time and share what we learn and get out of it together. I'm looking forward to it and it will be good for us to keep each other accountable

But I thought I would also do what I used to do (and what this blog was setup for) and keep a record of my thoughts up here for others to have a look at too.

So today, kicked off with...

Luke 1
At the start of Luke there is an introduction by Luke (duh!).

1Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been
fulfilled among us, 2just as they were handed down to us by those who from
the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3Therefore, since I
myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed
good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent
Theophilus, 4so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been
taught.

As you can see here Luke wasnt actually an eyewitness to the events and happenings of Jesus time. He was actually a follower of Paul. He was a doctor (so you could say he was smart) and he also wrote another book in the Bible - 'Acts'. It seems he wrote this so thatTheophilus could have an orderly account and to help him be certain of the things he has been taught by word of mouth passed on from person to person.

Luke is a book on Jesus life, death, and resurrection, and Acts follows on from that and move into the Acts of the Apostles after they recieve the Holy Spirit. So yeah, a bit of an intro on Luke (the man and the book).

The first chapter goes into detail about how John and Jesus came to be. Both were miraculous pregnancies, done by God, and they were done for His purpose. John to prepare the way for Jesus, and Jesus to save humanity. Both parents had a visit from the angel Gabriel before pregnancy, and both were given the names to their yet unconcieved child.

37For nothing is impossible with God.

Thats right, God is in control. He makes the impossible, possible...

These two couples trusted in God (although Zechariah doubted at first) and God gave them the children he had promised, and they grew to be what he had promised, not only to them, but to all Israel through Abraham.

God's plan is just amazing, and it is so great that we can check it out in the Bible. It always feels good to go back to the gospels. As much as you think you know, there is always more to learn and get encouraged by in the gospels.

Looking forward to going through this...

Long time no... er blog. eh

Would just like to do a huge shoutout to God, He is so amazing for everything he gives us. Most of all the gift of Jesus which we are reminded of this holiday. Its so amazing!

The other huge gift I am so greatful of is Helen. Thanks so much for bringing her into my life God. This year has been the biggest year of change for me ever, and I love everyone of them. 13 weeks today we are getting married and starting our lvies together, I (we) cannot wait.

If you've been reading Helen's blog you would be up to date with what is going on. If not, here is a quick summary.
- Got a new Truck (Nissan Navara, Dual Cab, Turbo Diesel)
- Done alot more wedding prep, including geting the suits measured, and the girls have a dress thing coming up soon.
- Got the family together again last wednesday which was awesome
- Had heaps of fun with Helen, its just great to be spending time with her.

As always, I know there is stuff I have left out, and I will leave with another promise of keeping this updated regularly, lets just hope I can do that. I would love to get back into the habit of getting my daily bible thoughts back up here...