Terje Haakonsen stands on the tiny, pinhead summit of peak 7601 (it’s height in feet) to do something no one has ever done before – snowboard down the near vertical face of the peak in Alaska.
Avalanches are a major risk.
Broken limbs a real possibility.
Becoming stuck and unable to be rescued highly likely.

How do think he was feeling in this photo?
Does ‘fear’ sum it up well?

In Luke 8:22-40 Luke relates two incidents that show how fear can keep us from living out the kind of relationship we should have with God. In the calming of the storm event, the disciples are first afraid of the storm (logical and sensible – like Terje’s fear of 7601), but then, after Jesus calms the storm, they are still afraid, but now they’re afraid of Jesus – the man who can control nature itself!
Luke then tells us of the healing of the Geresene demoniac. A remarkable event in itself. This man was a very scary person indeed and all the people round that area lived in fear of him. Now he’s healed, they are still afraid, but of Jesus, the man who controls the spirit world.

What are you afraid of?
Is there anything in this world that holds you in it’s grip and stops you responding to Jesus and living the kind of life he wants you to? What would it take for you to trust Jesus and trust your life into his hands?

Psalm 16 is one of those powerful parts of the Old Testament that speak directly and with impact to Christians today.
It very simple.
Psalm 16:10 says: “you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.” (NIV). Initially, that would appear to apply to the author, King David. Of of course, that doesn’t make sense, because David did ’see decay’ (ie: he died), so who else could ‘your Holy One’ refer to?
Move forward in time to Acts 2, and Peter is very clear who ‘the Holy One’ is – Jesus!

Acts 2:29-31 “²⁹ “Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. ³⁰ But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. ³¹ Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay.” (NIV)

David’s words point forward. to the real Christ who was coming. Who when he came, would not be abandoned to the grave. Which in a way, if you were looking for the Christ, if you wanted to recognise him when he came, then this is the sure fire method. See what happens when he dies. See if he’s abandoned to the grave, see if he sees decay. Because if he does… he’s no Messiah.

So Peter says listen for a minute to what we’re saying about this Jesus of Nazareth. Listen for a minute to what we’re saying about this crucified rebel leader from galilee. Because the fact is, we’ve seen him back from the dead.

Acts 2:32.  “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.”

See, Peter and James and John and those guys, they’re not excited by the resurrection so much by the fact that it’s a really odd thing that they’ve witnessed some dead guy coming back again.
And they’re not even saying, “Isn’t it nice, that’s a really comforting psalm and it’s good to have hope after we die.”

I mean, that’s true and it is. But ultimately Peter is saying that Psalm 16 and the resurrection of Jesus are not talking so much about how you face your death but about how you live your life. And who the boss is.
And Psalm 16 isn’t so much a Psalm of comfort about you as it is a Psalm that gets you ready to understand how great Jesus is!

Psalm 16 is a time honoured Psalm of full of personal comfort. And we prefer it if everything is about us don’t we? Look at a group photo, it’s never about everyone else. It’s about me. And if I happened to have my eyes half closed or I’m sneezing or my tie is crooked, the whole group photo is ruined.
Don’t worry. Nobody else cares. They’re all looking at themselves!
Which is how we like to think, isn’t it? That we’re at the centre of the universe and at the centre of the meaning of the comforting words of a psalm.

Except Peter says, it was first of all about King David. But more importantly, it’s a psalm about Jesus of Nazareth, and the credentials that mark him out as king. That alone, among every King or Queen or President or Prime Minister… this one has risen from the grave. And did not see decay… which means he’s the one we’ve got to bow down to. And the thing to do is to repent.

Which in Acts chapter 2 is exactly what he goes on to say. And what a crowd of 3000 Jews goes on to do. Because this Jesus rose from the dead. Which means this Jesus really is the Holy One of God. Who now rules at God’s right hand.
It’s time to bow down. It’s time to stop living like you’re the centre of the universe… and bow down to Jesus. It’s time to stop living like your ambitions and your goals and your comfort are the purpose of all creation and that everybody exists to serve you. And instead realise that everything exists to serve Jesus.
And that it’s only in serving Jesus that the universe and your body is ever going to be set free from the bondage to decay.

The big question is: how does that work out for us at FNC?

Well, on Sunday January 17th, FNC will give over a fair amount of our time together to go a bit deeper into the Word (Psalm 16 and Acts 2) to try and nut that question out.
The result will be reported here!

One of the biggest challenges facing Jesus when he arrived on earth was helping people understand exactly who is was.

It sounds really simple for us (with the benefit of hindsight), but right from the start as a baby in a manger, Jesus had his work cut out for him.
Convincing people that you are the Son of God, in a helpful way, was vital for people to have their life with God restored and the problem of sin dealt with once and for all.

So how did Jesus do it?
We’ve been seeing how it is handled from Luke’s perspective in our ‘Is Your Jesus Plastic?’ series. But in Mark we see a different approach that also teaches us a great deal about Psalm 23, and he does it by ‘playing’ charades with the crowd in Mark 6:30-44
‘The Lord is my shepherd…‘ are some of the best known words in the English-speaking world, and most people know they are the opening words of Psalm 23. But few people understand that Jesus took those words (and the rest of the Psalm) and applied them to himself, saying ‘that was me that the Psalmist was referring to’!
Remarkable!

In the light of that, the Psalm might now read something like this:

The Lord Jesus is my shepherd,
so I will lack nothing;
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.
The Lord Jesus guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake;
and even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
for the Lord Jesus is with me,
His rod and staff are there to comfort me.
The Lord Jesus prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies;
He anoints my head with the oil of the spirit;
and my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord Jesus forever.

But, as always, we have to ask: what does this mean for us? How does it change our lives, our relationship with God?
Comments are open…

A new resource to better inform and educate us about world mission, CMS is publishing an online journal called ‘Landscape‘.

It’s here: http://www.landscape.cms.org.au/ and well worth a read…

With the summer break well and truly here and underway, a whole bunch of FNC members are doing anything but taking it easy.

Around 29 FNC people are currently (or soon will be) involved in creatively serving the Lord Jesus on Beach Missions (Scripture Union Family Mission) and camps up and down the NSW coast and inland. Some are leading whole teams (go Jono, Laura!), some leading sections, working in age-specific teams. Others are serving in SUFM kitchens, or learning the ropes in other areas.
Camps have their own structures and opportunities for gospel service.

Still others are experiencing the challenges and opportunities of short term mission trips overseas in places like Vietnam and the DRC (go Robyn, Graham and Josh!)

What a great encouragement and spurring on for all of us! (Hebrews 10:24)

Don’t forget to pray daily during this time for all of our serving members and the rest of the teams they are part of. And when they return, ask them about their time away, ask them how God was at work, and how He has worked in their life.

Praise God for so many opportunities for creative service!

We all know about the New Years Resolution that fails miserably after a few hours/days/weeks.

But one NYR that is deserving of greater commitment by Christians is the resolution to spend more time in God’s Word. It’s no coincidence that people who are growing in their relationship with God – and enjoying all the good things that come with that – are generally people who spend significant time in the Bible regularly.

So here’s a little bit of help:
2o Bible Reading plans to choose from to help you progress in an orderly way in your Bible reading. See if one fits you and report back here below.