Sunday, June 9, 2024

Weekend Words


"You chart the path ahead of me, and tell me where to stop and rest.  Every moment, you know where I am." (Psalm 139:3, LB)

As we planned our vacation each year, we made careful preparations.  After deciding where to go, a travel agency would chart our trip for us.  It supplied us with maps of the area.  Places of scenic and historical interest were marked.  Included were suggestions for motels and restaurants, everything to provide for our needs on the trip.  Having all this planned ahead made the trip easier and much more pleasant.

God has a planned path for each of us.  In Jeremiah 29:11 (Rotherham) we read, "I know the plans which I am planning for you, plans of welfare and not of calamity to give you a future and a hope."

Not only does our heavenly Father know His plans for us, but He has it charted.  "As thou goest step by step, the way shall be opened up before thee" (Proverbs 4:12, Free translation).

Being an all-wise God, He knows the importance of "rest stops" along the way.  Because He knows we may fail to take them ourselves, He includes them at the right places on our path for our benefit.

Not only does He give us rest stops to refresh us, but also to give us quiet times to think of Him and be aware of His personal love and care; to have a time of communion with Him.  After Jesus' disciples had had a busy schedule, He charted a "rest stop" for them.  "And he said unto them, come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile" (Mark 6:31).

Sometimes we feel God has forgotten all about us.  But the psalmist had learned God never forgets.  "Every moment you know where I am."

There is much instruction and encouragement in resting on God's Word.  We can be assured there is rest for us today wherever we are, whatever our situation.  This is not an outer rest of circumstances, but an inner rest of soul.  "So then, there is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath rest reserved for the [true] people of God" (Hebrews 4:9, Amplified).


"I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." - Philippians 4:11

What produces the highest degree or state of contentment in your life?  The Apostle Paul, in the cold, damp prison cell in Rome, was condemned for preaching the Gospel.  Yet he could say that he had learned to be content.  How could he write this beautiful testimony to the Philippian church when his circumstances were so discouraging?  But Paul continued writing, "I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need" (v. 12).  Paul's life had been a hard one, not a bed of roses or an easy path, but he had learned through life's experiences the source of true strength.  Strength is feeling the Solid Rock under us when trials and temptations come.  It is having faith and confidence in Jesus.  Then the test will pass and we will still stand firm in Christ who strengthens us.  True contentment is when, no matter what the circumstance, our satisfaction is unshaken in our heavenly Father, the source of true contentment.

One day I went to visit my friend Mary, a community lady who had to be in hospital for a while.  As I talked with her, she began recounting her past life with an unfaithful husband and raising her family alone.  A shadow fell across her normally expressive face as she described her trials honestly but without self-pity.  Her life had been depressing and discouraging until she began going to church and found the Lord.  As she related the change in her life, her eyes took on a new sparkle.  She laid her hand on her chest and said, "Now I's happy, I's content with Jesus in here."  She continued telling how her friends now ask her why she doesn't get another husband.  But Mary said, "I don't listen to them.  Since I have Jesus, I's content - I's satisfied now!"

Mary knew the secret of contentment, and her joy influenced my state of mind as well.


Leaving All To God

As we go through life we learn more and more to doubt our own wishing and choosing, as we see how little really comes from our own ways and plans.  We learn not to choose at all ourselves, but to let God choose for us.  No doubt we miss heavenly blessings many a time, because we have not faith to take them in their disguise of pain and grief, preferring our own way to our Father's.  Then God sometimes lets us have what in our willfulness we persist in choosing, just to teach us that our own way is not the best.  We learn at last to plead, "Bless me, my Father," not daring to indicate in what manner the blessing shall come, but preferring that it shall be as God wills.


For the joys and for the sorrows
The best and worst of times
For this moment, for tomorrow
For all that lies behind
Fears that crowd around me
For the failures of my plans
For the dreams of all I hope to be
The truth of what I am

For this I have Jesus
for this I have Jesus
For this I have Jesus, I have Jesus...

For the weakness of my body
The burdens of each day
For the nights of doubt and worry 
When sleep has fled away
Needing reassurance
And the will to start again
A steely-eyed endurance
The strength to fight and win 
(- Graham Kendrick)

Sunday, June 2, 2024

Weekend Words

From Be Still and Know...

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint." (Isaiah 40:31)

The following fable relates how the birds are supposed to have received their wings.  They were created without wings.  They had lovely plumage, they could sing, but they could not fly.  Then God made wings and placed them in front of the birds, saying, "Come, take up these burdens and bear them."  At first the birds hesitated.  Then they picked up the wings in their beaks and laid them on their shoulders.  At first they were heavy and hard to bear.  But soon, as they folded the burdens over their hearts, the wings grew to their bodies.  Their burdens had become wings by which they could fly.

Often the burdens of life press upon us so heavily we feel we cannot carry them any longer.  We ask God to remove them.  But His plan is to use them to develop wing power in our lives.

When the eagle watches a storm approaching, he waits until it strikes.  Then he faces it, spreads his wings, and rises upward through it.  As storms break upon our lives, our wing power takes us through the storm and lifts us above it.

Sufficient strength to mount up on wings as eagles comes from "waiting on the Lord".  It has been said, "Mounting wings have been fashioned for those who wait on the Lord."

The word "wait" in this Scripture verse has the meaning of "habitually trusting."  Those who wait on the Lord will keep trusting in spite of their difficulties.  When we bring our needs to Him and wait before Him, He gives strength to rise above them.  It is an exchanged strength, exchanging our human strength for His divine strength.  "For my strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9).

In our weakness we become strong.  We say, "I can't do it."  God says, "I can do it for you".

What are you waiting on today?  Things?  People?  Money?  Possessions?  Waiting on HIM gives the quiet confidence of His presence upholding us moment by moment.


From Behold the Lilies...

"For God so love the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" - John 3:16

How much did God love?  He loved so much that He gave.  God did not just say, "I love you," and then remain unmoved about our sinful condition.  Giving is the supreme test of love.  There are many ways to give.  Perhaps one of the most difficult things to give - the sacrifice that most strenuously tests our love - is time. 

Do you have time to listen?  To write?  To help?  To meditate on God and His Word?  To pray?  If we have given our bodies a living sacrifice, we will make time for these things.  We will see things from God's perspective, and He will fill us with love.  And remember, love gives.  

The devil likes to clutter our lives with varied distractions.  Giving time takes effort.  The fruit of holiness forgets self and goes on to help others.  I have yet to experience a dearth or a calamity because I spent time for someone else.

Are your relationships satisfying?  If your answer is no, perhaps you think that fulfillment in relationships is found in getting and not in giving.  Are you almost ready to cross that friend off your list and class her as unfaithful because she doesn't write?  Why not write to her once more?  Maybe she has struggles and needs encouragement.  Do you feel sorry for yourself because no one invites you to Sunday lunch?  Why don't you invite someone?  God did not wait to give, invite, or share until someone else did.

The palsied man who was let down through the roof to Jesus did not get there by himself.  He was borne there by four kind people who were moved by his weak condition.  Where love is, there is a willingness to bear the weak to God in prayer and fasting.  

Giving may require sacrifice.  Jesus sacrificed when He gave, and through that we experience untold blessings.  When God moves us to give and we act in obedience, the giver as well as the receiver will experience abundant blessings.


 From Our Daily Bread...

Holiness - Set Apart in Christ.

Holy is a word that is often misunderstood in our day, no doubt in part because it's sometimes used negatively to call someone "holier than thou" - a statement of a person's arrogance about their moral superiority.  So, setting aside that negative view, why is it important for believers in Jesus to understand holiness?

In both the Old and New Testaments, the primary word for "holy" (Hebrew, qodesh; Greek, hagios) carry the idea of being "set part for God's use".  As a result, holiness results in purity and usefulness - the byproducts of a life dedicated to God and His purposes.

So, in practical terms, what might being "set apart" look like?  We find the answer in Paul's words in Romans 12:1-2: "I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Notice how Paul's description presents the distinctiveness with which believers are called to live in Christ's name.  A living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, not conformed to this world, transformed, discerning God's purposes.

This is an impossibility for us to achieve in our own strength, wisdom, or power (just ask the Pharisees of the first century).  It is only as we allow God to work in our hearts through His Spirit that we can live in a way that harmonizes with the holy One who's redeemed us.

- Bill Crowder, Our Daily Bread author


Sunday, May 26, 2024

Weekend Words

 From Beside the Still Waters...

Choosing the Right Path

Read: Proverbs 4

"The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." - Proverbs 4:18

We have a bouquet of flowering blackberries on the table right now.  The blossoms look lovely, but there are thorns on the stems.  This reminds me of the pathway of life.  As with a bouquet of roses, do we see the flowers in spite of the thorns, or do we focus so keenly on the thorns that we cannot see the flowers?  A path of righteousness will always have thorns to content with, but Christ does not expect us to deal with them on our own.  He wants to go with us each step of the way.

Like anything worthwhile, it takes effort to walk in the path of righteousness.  We must resolve to pursue it to the end.  We may have moments when we think we cannot go on.  Then it is time to consider the destiny of our path rather than the present struggles.  Our path may include trials to endure and temptations to resist, but let's remember this: "He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved" (Matthew 24:13).  What a promise!

The Bible has many examples of those who stayed faithful until the end.  One of these is Moses, described as "choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season" (Hebrews 11:25).  Another example is Stephen: "and he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.  And when he had said this, he fell asleep" (Acts 7:60).  Christ gave a glorious promise to all who choose to follow the path of righteousness to the end.  "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life" (Revelation 2:10).

Fred Beachy - Crofton, KY

The path we choose will determine our destiny.

From In Green Pastures...

How To Know Christ

To some Christ is a creed and a pattern of life, but not a personal friend.  There are many who know well the "historical Christ", but to whom he is only a person who lived nearly two thousand years ago.  They read his biography as they read that of St. Paul or St. John, admiring and wondering, and ofttimes saying, in the lines of the children's hymn, - 

I wish that His hands had been placed on my head,

That his arms had been thrown around me,

And that I might have seen his kind look when he said,

'Let the little ones come unto me.'

They think of his sweet life as but a vanishing dream; or, if they realize his resurrection, he is to them an absent friend, like a dear one journeying in another land - real, loving, true, trusted, but far away.  But all such miss the sweetest blessedness of knowing Christ.  He does not belong to the past nor to the far away, but is a friend who would come into the actual daily life of each of his believing ones.  No mother was ever so much to her child as Jesus would be to us if we would let him into our life.  How can we get this blessing of personal knowledge of Christ and conscious personal friendship with him?  Trust him and obey him, and you will learn to know him and love him.

From Behold The Lilies...

"Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord." - Ephesians 5:19

When you feel weary or downcast, try singing a favorite hymn or two.  If you can't think of one from memory, take time off your work, get a hymnbook, and find a song of praise to the Lord.  Even when you feel so blue that you let out a big sigh and think, I can't sing; it just takes too much effort, take a deep breath and try it.  Before you know it, you'll be done with the first verse - and then you'll finish the song. I have found that I can change my thought patterns more effectively when I use a book than when I sing from memory.

When undesirable thoughts plague you, fill your mind with psalms and verses from Scripture.  When God seems far away, singing spiritual songs can help you feel nearer to Him.  He is not the one who moved away from us; we are the ones who drifted.  Praise can create a proper frame of mind, allowing God to fill you again.  "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you" (James 4:8

Speaking to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs is a form of worship to the Lord.  Thus we can worship the Lord even when we are all by ourselves.  with a song in our heart, we will more easily reflect the state of mind in Ephesians 5:20: "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ."

Sunday, May 19, 2024

Weekend Words

 From Be Still and Know...

"And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea.  Peace, be still.  And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm." (Mark 4:39)

While Jesus and His disciples were out on the Sea of Galilee, a violent storm suddenly overtook them.  As it broke in fury upon them, the disciples realized their danger.

Turning to Jesus for help, they found Him asleep, undisturbed by the storm.  Frantically they aroused him, crying, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?"  The storm didn't waken Him, but the cry of His children brought immediate aid.  Jesus arose, rebuked the storm, saying, "Peace be still."  The miracle was the immediate calming of the sea.  Jesus said, "Why are ye so fearful?  How is it that ye have no faith?"  Perplexed, they said, "What manner of man is this that even the wind and the waves obey Him?"

Storms can break suddenly in our lives, bringing winds of adversity and waves of trouble.  Lack of faith results in fear.  We may cry, "Carest thou not that we perish?"  We are only a cry away from Him.  As He looks at the storm in our life, He replies, "Peace, be still."  This does not mean the outward circumstances may subside immediately, but He does calm the storm in our heart.

Need we fear when he is the pilot of our lives?  We are safer in the storm with Him than in the calm without Him.  When the Titanic was built, it was called "the unsinkable ship."  Yet the world soon learned that this was not true when it sank after hitting an iceberg.

With Him as our pilot, no matter how severe the storm, we are "unsinkable" when He is in control.

Is He saying to us today as He did to His disciples, "Why are you timid and fearful?  How is it that you have no faith - no firmly, relying trust?" (Mark 4:40, Amplified).  Why are you afraid today?  No faith?  Faith is the answer to fear.  Regardless of the fierceness of the storm, faith in Him is the answer for our fears.

Fear sees the storm, faith sees God in the storm.

From Beside the Still Waters...

The Lord Knoweth How - Read: 2 Peter 2

"Building up yourself on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God." - Jude 20-21

Darkness deepens around the world.  Ungodly men seek one-world commerce and government; they seek interconnectedness by physical and metaphysical means.  The Satanic world system - the Bible calls it Babylon - rears its ugly head even higher against God and His decrees for men's welfare.  Godly people may become weary and despair that righteousness will survive.

But through the darkness pierces the everlasting Word of God: "The Lord knoweth them that are his" (2 Timothy 2:19).  We may wonder, "How shall my family depart from iniquity when it pursues us through more and more corrupt inventions, increasingly deviant lifestyles, and ever worsening anti-Christian influences in the workplace?  How can we get away?"

Our heavenly Father knew that we would face these perilous times.  He planned a marvelous reassurance in today's Bible reading, pointing out some of His sovereign moves in the past and showing that even if we don't know how to escape advancing evils, "the Lord knoweth how"!  After all, when some angels left their first estate and sank into wickedness, God was able to handle such an unheavenly thing.  He knows how to separate sin from righteousness and how to commit the sinning angels to doom.

God knew how to flood the wicked world and keep a tiny righteous minority safe inside the ark.  He could quickly turn Sodom and nearby cities into ashes and save a few alive.  God still know how to separate good from evil, and He tells us our part.  In Revelation 18:4 He said, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partaker of her sins."  Sever dangerous connections.  Discard threatening inventions.  Choose godly simplicity.

Jay R. Martin - Castorland, NY

From In Green Pastures...

The Secret of Peace.

Perfect loyalty to Christ brings perfect peace into the heart.  The secret of Christ's own peace was his absolute devotion to his Father's will.  We can find peace in no other way.  Any resistance to God's will, any disobedience of his law, any wrenching of our lives out of his hand, must break the peace of our hearts.  No lesson that he gives ever mars our peace if we receive it with willing, teachable spirit and strive to learn it just as he has written it out for us.  If we take the lessons just as our Master gives them to us, we shall make our life all music, and we shall find peace.

Sunday, May 12, 2024

Weekend Words

From Beside the Still Waters...

The Christian's Warfare

Read: Ephesians 6:10-24

"Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." - Ephesians 6:10

As Christians, we face a life-or-death conflict with the forces of evil.  God is counting on us to enter the conflict and confront our spiritual enemies.  Satan is out to deceive and destroy us with his wiles of lies, schemes, cunning devices, and sinister powers.  But Jesus clearly taught that to receive eternal life, we must deny Satan, sin, and self.  These three are our enemies - always!

In today's Bible reading, the "amour of God" assures our victory because it is designed by our Lord Himself.  He knows we are unable in our own strength to withstand the enemy.  The devil is limited as we rely on God's provisions.  The words "my brethren" shows that the battle is not only personal but also corporate.  Brotherhood unity in Christ is a great aid to victory.

"Loins girt about with truth" indicates that truth is like a belt holding all the spiritual armour together.  We will never prevail if we hold false doctrine.  The "breastplate of righteousness" is our righteousness by faith in Christ. It protects us from Satan's attacks upon our heart, which is the seat of our being.  The "shield of faith" helps us to gain God's perspective so we see beyond our earthly circumstances.  Faith shields us from doubts and discouragements, and it sustains our spiritual life.  Faith protects us from Satan's arrows of selfish living, pleasure, and worldliness.

The "helmet of salvation" establishes right thought patterns and keeps our minds centered on God.  The "sword of the Spirit ... the Word of God" is our only offensive weapon in the spiritual armour.  Effectively using this weapon requires Bible reading as well as daily, active, vital, persistent prayer, "with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints."

Daniel Miller - Abbotsford, WI

"The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light." - Romans 13:12

From Be Still and Know...

"I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah" (Psalm 3:4)

Throughout the Psalms we find the word "Selah."  One day I discovered a meaning that brought new appreciation and understanding of its use in Scripture.

"Selah" is a musical word, meaning in the Hebrew "rest", "pause", "a lifting up".  In the temple music there would be a rest for the singers while the instruments continued playing.  In the Amplified Bible "Selah" is translated "pause, and calmly think of that".

God put rests in David's life that he might "pause and calmly think" that - God helps, God hears, and God blesses.  David said, "Many are saying of me, there is no help for him in God" (Psalm 3:2, Amplified).  In the rest stops of his life David had learned by experience that "God has helped ME. Selah - pause and calmly think of that."

David recognized God's blessing on his life.  "Your blessing be upon Your people" (v. 8, Amplified).  He could say, "God has blessed ME - pause and calmly think of that."

What God did for David, He will do for us.  At times, we too, need to experience a "Selah" in our lives, a time when we pause and rest.  To be still and rest is good therapy for today's fast pace of living.  The heart strings may be taut, even on the verge of snapping.  Suddenly, God inserts a "Selah", a rest, that we might pause and calmly think of Him.  As we lift our souls to Him, we are refreshed.  The tension lessens, we gain a deeper view of God's goodness, and He becomes more real.

May we not miss the blessing God has for us in our "Selahs" - the times of rest and refreshing in our lives.  Someone has said, "There is no music in a rest, but there is the making of music in it."

Today we can pause and calmly think - God helps ME, God hears ME, and God blesses ME.


  

Saturday, May 11, 2024

Natasha's visit...

Here are some photos from Natasha's visit.  Seems like it just started, and it was over, but it was lovely to see her and hopefully she can visit again soon...

she borrowed my hat and backpack to do a hike :)

After lunch at the restaurant...
Natasha, Sophie, Denver, Marnie, Tom, me


Natasha, Denver, Sophie


Natasha, Marnie, Tom

In Marnie's Campfire Beanies...
sisters: Marnie and Natasha

Natasha, me, Marnie

After she left here she flew to Adelaide to visit brother Ben and family...
Ben, Hayley, Hazel (wearing Natasha's glasses), Natasha

And then on to Canberra to visit brother Jefferson and nephew Jaya...

Right now, she is winging her way back to the USA.  We loved to see her, but I'm sure Patrick and the boys are more than ready to have her back home :)

Come back soon... xx

Sunday, May 5, 2024

Weekend Words

 From Be Still and Know...

"And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only." (Matthew 17:8)

On day Jesus took Peter, James and John up into a high mountain.  Suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them.  A voice said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him ... And Jesus came and touched, them and said, Arise, and be not afraid.  And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save JESUS ONLY" (Matthew 17:5, 7, 8).

Fear and frustration may fill our lives instead of the peace and joy we once knew.  We may have turned from God's will for our lives, walking in ways of our own choosing.  We may be focusing our eyes in the wrong direction.  We need to lift up our eyes and "See no man, save JESUS ONLY."  

One day a group of people were attending an auction in London.  The auctioneer brought out a dirty looking violin.  He said, "I am offering you a genuine Cremona made by Stradivarius.  It is very valuable.  What am I bid?"  The people however, examined it critically, questioning its authenticity.  Five guineas was the highest bid.

Just then a man entered the shop.  He walked over and picked up the violin.  After carefully tuning it, he placed it in position.  A murmur spread over the crowd - "The great Paganini."  As the bow touched the strings, such beautiful music filled the room the people were spellbound.  When he finished, there was a moment's hush.  Then everyone began clamoring for the violin.

Fifty guineas!  Sixty!  Seventy!  Eighty!  At last Paganini himself received it for one hundred guineas.  Whenever he played it audiences were breathless at the music that came forth under the touch of the master's hand.

Today has the song gone out of your life?  Are the tears falling?  Are you dissatisfied with your life?  Lift your eyes to Him.  Let Him fill your vision.  See JESUS ONLY.

The touch of the Master on your life can bring peace of heart and mind.  He will bring forth the beautiful melody of His life, on the chords of your life.  In turn, your life will be a blessing to others wherever you go.


From Beside the Still Waters...

Little Is Much 

Read: Mark 12:41-44, John 6:3-13

"For who has despised the day of small things?" - Zechariah 4:10

   An African pastor was once at a convenience store in New Orleans, in line behind a young father who was not able to pay for his small purchase.  The pastor handed him enough money to pay the bill, saying, "Remember, Jesus loves you."  They didn't speak any further.

Nine years later the pastor was again in New Orleans, visiting a church, when a man stood up to speak.  He said that years earlier, he and his wife had planned to commit suicide together because they had no work and almost no money.  However, they first wanted to buy a little something to feed their small child.  The little this pastor gave and said there at the store, and the church sign they saw afterwards that said, "Jesus loves you," gave them new hope.  The man and his wife changed their mind, started going to church, and started serving the Lord.

Sometimes we are so taken up with hoping for opportunities to do great things for the Lord, that we overlook the little opportunities that are in front of us in everyday life.  Or we think, "once my ship comes in" or "once my business prospers," we'll give more time and money to the Lord's work.  But God is more pleased with the little things we do today than the big things we intend to do tomorrow.

If we are able to send a large donation, or to give several years of service to church work, great!  But if we can't, let's not wait for the time when we can, but watch for and do the little, unnoticed things that God sets before us day by day.  We may never know on this side of eternity how the Lord can use our little to accomplish great things.

Paul Yoder - Gap Mills, WV

"Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water ... he shall in no wise lose his reward."  

Matthew 10:42

I Thank Thee, Lord

I thank Thee, Lord, that in Thy blood,  My guilt is washed away;

I thank Thee that my eyes behold  A bright and glorious day;

I thank Thee, Lord for faith to see  A world of endless joy in Thee.


I thank Thee for a throne of grace  Where Thou dost bend Thine ear,

And I may breathe my soul's request  When only Thou canst hear;

And hold communion sweet with Thee, When but Thine eye beholdeth me.


I thank Thee for the hope of life  That looks beyond the tomb;

I thank Thee for the light that shines  To cheer me thro' its gloom;

And Lord, for all Thy gifts to me, My loudest praise I give to Thee.

-Fanny Crosby


This morning at church the message was on being 'born again' or born from above/born anew.  I always found the term a bit confusing, so this afternoon I listened to this audio message (MP3) from dontperish.com.  It's about an hour long but divided in to three sections.  It makes the Bible teaching very clear.  And challenging.  Enjoy!!