We have all had situations where we have been insulted on purpose or when someone who has said some to us that caused us angst. It is a part of life and living with others.

In today’s verse it talks about showing annoyance straight away or overlooking it. It even goes as far as saying a prudent person overlooks an insult.

Is this verse telling us to repress our feelings or when we are hurt to not speak up? No. I think it is telling us to filter what comes our way, take our time and then respond accordingly.

Our goal should not be to respond instinctively or irrationally. Many friendships have been damaged forever as a result of a quick or angry response. After all we may have misheard what was said!

As the Bible tells us in this verse, “A prudent person overlooks an insult”.

God Bless,

Dave

One of the best ways to ensure income in this life is to be a hard worker. I have found out over the years that if I work hard and do my best to make my employer prosperous, then I will always have a job when I need it.

Compare this to a friend of mine I once worked with. He had a great job, but always dreamed about retiring early. He always chased after the latest investment scheme and spent most of his time and energy trying get rich quick schemes.

In the end they all led nowhere and he had had little energy or enjoyment in his well paid job. He also spent most of his money on trying them.

The Bible tells us in this verse to work hard at what we do. Although it says “works his land” in this verse, we can apply it to wherever we are employed. It is about the principle here. Working hard means you will have food and the things you need to live.

Let’s all to commit to working hard and serving our employers today. It is so much better and more prosperous than chasing the fantasy of get rich quick schemes.

God Bless,

Dave

A show that my family and I have been watching lately is ABCs My Place. It is a story of an old house and the families that live in it over the years.

The story starts out in 2008 with the first family. It tells their story through the eyes of one of the children. You see their friends, school, local neighbourhood, family and you hear about what is going on in the child’s life. Each episode then goes back ten years until it reaches the 1888. The episodes are seen through the eyes of the next child, who is sometimes from the same family or a new family has moved in to the house.

The other thing that is a common thread throughout the show is a giant tree. This tree seems to be a place of solitude for the each of the children as time passes. Often they escape to the tree to be alone or to reflect on their life issues. Sometimes it is their tree only and sometimes they allow others to sit up there with them.

The thing I like about this show is that you get to see different families, of different cultures in different time frames. You see peoples attitudes, values and beliefs and how society has changed over the 100 or so years the show covers. There is also the cool and not so cool fashions, cars and furniture that go with each time period which make it interesting too.

If you don’t have anything that you watch as a family of Sunday nights at 7.30pm, I would recommend the show. It is a real glimpse of Aussie culture over the years.

If you want to check out the website that goes with the show you can find it here http://www.abc.net.au/abc3/myplace/.

God Bless,

Dave

PS. There is a teachers resource website that is coming soon. You can find that here http://www.myplace.edu.au/

Just a quick note to say that I have updated my Blogroll. This is the list of blogs I follow regularly. Here’s the list…

• Andrew Mercer
• Bruce Chant
• David de Kock
• John Finkelde
• Mark Conner
• Mark Edwards
• Mark O Wilson
• Phil Pringle
• Rodney Olsen
• Wayne Field

Most of these people are Pastors of churches and one is a radio announcer at our local Christian radio station.

I enjoy following Pastor’s blogs as I get to read what is happening in their churches and what they are learning through their Bible studies.

If you have time you can check them out.

God Bless,

Dave

This verse touches on the idea of keeping up appearances or pretending to be something that we are not. Often as humans we will try to impress others with what we own or how we live, and to keep up our “image” we will live beyond our means.

Proverbs 12:9 tells us that it is better to be humble and live within our means, rather than put on a fake show to big note how successful we are. It is about being content with yourself and your circumstances versus being flashy for the sake of others.

So how do we avoid the urge to keep up appearances? There are a few things we can do…

1. Pray and ask God to help you to be content with your circumstances and to help you to live within your means.
2. Give thanks to Him for all of the good things in your life. Tell Him how much you appreciate His blessings.
3. Ask Him to see yourself through His eyes. Once you do that then the need to impress others with what you have will slowly fall away.

God Bless,

Dave

Righteous people or people who try to live right before God have plans that are good and just. Their thoughts and intentions are fair and honest. They desire to do what is right by God and for those around them.

Contrast this to the plans of a wicked person. They are only interested in getting what they want and do not care how they go about it. Their moral choices and decisions are questionable and often cause others pain or loss.

So how do we know if the person we are dealing with is righteous? The best way is to look for someone with demonstrated character and integrity over a long period of time. Someone who has concern for not only themselves but those around them too.

Of course this doesn’t always guarantee good or successful advice. But these things say a lot about who they are as a person and their motivations behind the advice they are offering.

God Bless,

Dave

I have set up another blog address on Blogger. It will contain all of my posts from this blog that are in the “Bible” category.

I just thought I would set it up for people who are only interested in the Bible teaching or devotional type of posts.

This one has comments available and has things like online polls ect! It also has labels/categories for the different Bible books the verses come from.

If you are interested you can find it here http://davequinn.blogspot.com.

God Bless,

Dave

Dictionary.com says wisdom is “the quality or state of being wise; knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight”.

We can see from this wisdom is about knowledge and then putting that knowledge in to practice in the right way. Wisdom therefore is something that should be sort after and something that should be admired.

Compare this to a warped mind that is despised. Dictionary.com’s definition says, “to bend or turn from the natural or true direction or course…to distort or cause to distort from the truth, fact, true meaning”.

A person with a warped mind does not think straight. Their mind has become skewed by wrong thinking and meditating on wrongs things. Because of their thinking the things they desire are not good for themselves or others.

So what is the cure for a warped mind? The best one I know is reading the Bible. The Bible helps us to renew our minds and helps us to think straight (Romans 12:2). It also helps us to line up our thinking with God’s will.

If you want wisdom that brings praise – read the Bible everyday.

God Bless,
Dave

Today I thought I would share some of the things I have enjoyed and some of the things I have found hard about country life.

Positives

• A much slower pace of life compared to city life
• You only have to drive a short distance to work, church, shops or friends places
• You always see someone you know when you go out and the people are friendly
• Beautiful countryside and wide open spaces to go bush walking in
• Peace and quiet and the ability to find space to be alone easily
• Cheaper housing. Houses are a fraction of the cost of a capital city
• Safer place for your kids to grow up and just be kids
• Very low crime rates

Negatives

• Distance from family as most of my family live in Perth/Mandurah
• Not as much variety or shops available
• Cost of living is slightly higher
• Medical facilities are not as good as a major city
• No sea breeze to cool you down at the end of a hot day

While country living has been a big change for us, it has been one I have really enjoyed. From time to time I do think that one day I will move back to a major city, but then I visit and I quickly change my mind again.

As I say to my family and friends – I think I was a country boy living in the city all those years!

God Bless,

Dave

Today I thought I would share some more advice on commitment to being a Christian parent. In the first chapter Dr Sears shares seven things that God expects from us when raising our kids as Christian parents.

1. To love God (Deuteronomy 6:5)
2. To fear Him (Deuteronomy 10:12)
3. To walk in His ways, to be an example (Deuteronomy 10:12)
4. To know Him, to have knowledge and application of His Word (Deuteronomy 10:13)
5. To teach His Word to your children (Deuteronomy 6:7, 11:19)
6. To discipline your children (Proverbs 19:18)
7. To avoid provoking your child to anger (Ephesians 6:4)

He goes on to say that before we can instruct our children we must understand God’s Word ourselves. First we must know, love and fear God ourselves and live according to His teachings. Then we can impart them on to our children.

Of course these seven points don’t talk about loving, caring for and providing for your child’s daily needs. These go without saying.

However, I think they do show us how important it is to God to pass on our faith to the next generation and they give us some good guidelines to follow as Christian parents.

God Bless,

Dave

When we hear about these major catastrophes we can sometimes wonder if God is real or if He is still in control. We might even be fearful that it might happen to us.

In times when we hear about major earthquakes, wars, famines or other major catastrophes, we need to remember that Jesus spoke about these things happening. It is no suprise to Him and He did speak about these things happening 2000 years ago.

In Matthew chapter 24 there is a passage that is headed “Sings of the End of the Age” in the NIV Bible. It talks about these sort of things happening before Jesus returns to earth. In verses 6-8 it says…

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.

Jesus Himself told us these things will happen and not to be alarmed. As tragic as they are, they are signs that we live in a finite world. Much like contractions are a sign a baby is on the way, these events remind us that one day Jesus is coming back for us.

So when you hear of these things, don’t be alarmed or afraid. God is still in control. He has a plan for us and this world we live in. It is just a matter of time before His great plan comes to pass fully.

In the meantime, let’s pray for the people of Chile and Haiti and help in whatever way we can.

God Bless,

Dave

Dictionary.com describes disgraceful as “Bringing or warranting disgrace; shameful”. It also uses words like “shameful, shocking and scandalous” in its description. It gives us a nice picture of what the verse is saying.

As we can imagine the moral character of a man’s wife effects her husbands enjoyment of life. If a woman is out gossiping, lying, stealing, cares only for herself, constantly nags him or speaks badly of her husband in public, it can really wear on him and make him feel like his bones are decaying.

Compare this to the wife who is her husbands crown. It she loves and supports him, cares for her family and others, acts with integrity and chooses never to speak negatively about her husband in public, he will feel blessed and loved.

I am a blessed man to say my wife fits into the “crown” category. My wife loves and supports me in all I do, loves and cares for our kids, she looks after our home wonderfully well and is always supportive of me publicly. My wife is such a blessing to me and I thank God for the day we met.

Let’s all commit to being supportive of our spouses regardless of if we are husbands or wives. Let’s all try to be our partners crown today.

God Bless,

Dave

This verse tells us that we need build our lives on righteousness or living right before God. It says we cannot truly establish a good life if we are doing it the wrong way.

Some people think that the means justify the ends. They will do anything to achieve their goals or to make money. They will sell drugs, steal, murder or rule with fear to get what they want.

Solomon (the one who wrote most of the Proverbs) tells us that their lives will not be established through their wickedness. In the end they will be found out and they will not stand on the day of  judgement.

Alternately, we see that someone who builds their lives on righteousness or right living cannot be uprooted. When the storms of pressures of life come their way, they are able to stand and are not crushed.

Let’s all purpose in our hearts today to build our lives on righteousness. Let’s all decide to follow God and keep His commands (Ecclesiastes 12:13) and build lives that cannot be uprooted.

God Bless,

Dave

Two things in the book have really helped me over the years. The first one is about priorities and the second is about setting your goals as a father.

The priorities that Dr Sears talks about is ordering the things that are important in your life. He says that we need to define our priorities and make a commitment and stick to them. Dr Sears suggests that we arrange our lives as such on page 40…

1. God – our relationship with God
2. Family – our next most important responsibility
3. Work – our jobs that help us make a living
4. Church – our church/ministry responsibilities

The second helpful thing from the book is about setting the big picture goals as a father and spiritual leader of the home. These are found on page 41…

1. Love the Lord and love your neighbour as yourself
2. Fear God and keep His commandments
3. Pray for wisdom to make the spiritual decisions which lead you and your family towards your ultimate goal
4. Have a knowledge of Scripture and apply it to your life
5. Live a Christ-centred life in relationship with God as your Father

I have found these two things very helpful advice to me as a husband and a father. I have often referred back to these principles whenever life seems to be getting out of balance or I am going through a tough time. I find these things are the anchor for which I build my family life upon.

If you are a parent or will become one soon, I would encourage you to get a copy of Dr Sears book. It is a handy resource to have in your bookshelf to refer to.

God Bless,

Dave

Dictionary.com defines favour in a number of ways…

These definitions give us a good understanding of what favour is. It is about having a good standing with someone and receiving positive benefits as a result.

Today’s verse talks about having favour with God. How do we obtain it? The first part tells us that we obtain God’s favour by being a good person.

How does the Bible define a good person? Generally speaking it is someone who loves and is in relationship with God, a person who follows His decrees and someone who treats others well.

Compare this to a crafty person on Dictionary.com – “skillful in underhand or evil schemes; cunning; deceitful; sly”. When you read that definition you can see why the Lord condemns a crafty person.

So if you want favour with God, live your life in the way God intends. Love Him, follow His decrees and treat others well.

God Bless,

Dave

Today I looked at verse one of chapter 12. It says, “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid”.

I believe one of the keys for our personal growth is the ability to receive advice or correction when we need it. If we want to learn and grow, we need to be open to the advice and correction from those around us.

Of course it depends who the correction comes from and how it is delivered. That is why it is important to have a core group of people around you whom you trust and you know that their advice/correction is for your absolute best.

How we receive correction and discipline says a lot about us as people. Like a stubborn horse refuses to be led by the bit in its mouth and goes it own way, we can have that same attitude and not listen to those around us.

All of us have to realise that we don’t know it all and we need the help of others at times. We were never meant to live this life alone and God has placed certain people in our lives for our own good. Giving correction is part of their role at times.

Let’s all purpose in our hearts to be open to the advice and correction from those around us whom we trust. Remember “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid”.

God Bless,

Dave

Today I read Proverbs 12:25. It says, “An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up”. It is a short and simple verse, but it has a great reminder.

If someone is anxious about something or not feeling the best, a kind word can cheer them up. It is simple, practical advice that can make a difference to someone’s day!

How about you? Who can you cheer up today? Why not look around as you go about your day and see if someone needs a kind word. Let them know you appreciate them or something good they do. It might just make the world of difference.

God Bless,

Dave

One of the geat things I love about the internet is there are lots of free programs you can download and use. This initially is one of the reasons why the internet was set up, so it is good to see it still exists.

Anyway, here are some of my favourite freebies that I use for my work with PASSION and church…

OpenOffice – this is like a free version of Microsoft Office. It includes a word processor, a spreadsheet program, a presentation program like powerpoint and more. It also has a built in PDF converter which comes in handy. I have loaded this on my kids computers to save buying extra copies of Office.

PrimoPDF – this is a free PDF converter. You can create PDFs from lots of different source documents including all of the Microsoft programs. Very handy if you put stuff on the web or you email documents to friends who may not have the same programs as you.

CoffeeCup FTP – this is useful for uploading files to the internet. These days as people have blogs with built in content management systems they are not used as much. But for us web desingers a good FTP program is vital.

EasiSlides – this is the one we use for our church presentations. All the words to the songs are loaded in and it projects it on the screen. You can also load the Bible readings and video presentations into it. It comes with about 1000 songs/hymns preloaded.

e-Sword – this is one of my free Bible programs I use. It comes with a number of free Bible translations and you can download free commentaries, Bible dictionaries and more. One of the cool features is it has a number of copy and paste options. This makes pasting Bible text into your documents a lot quicker and they need less formatting.

MailWasher – this is the program I use before I download my emails. You can look at what emails you are going to receive on the server before you download them. If you notice there is a spam email (or a lot of them) you can delete them and mark them as spam. It saves heaps of time and downloads.

As with all programs that you download from the internet always remember to scan them with your virus software before you instal them. There are so many free programs that people give away with good intentions, but there are some who give things away with sinister intentions. So scan, scan, scan!

Let me know if you find any of these programs useful.

God Bless,

Dave

As many people might not know what Lent is about, I thought I would share something I read recently on the Uniting Church website.

What is Lent?

Lent, which comes from an old English word meaning Spring, is the 40 days (excluding Sundays) from Ash Wednesday to Maundy Thursday.

Some people find a parallel with the story of Jesus’ temptation for 40 days after his baptism. It is also seen as a recapitulation of the 40 years of wilderness wanderings after Israel left Egypt in the Exodus before they entered the Promised Land.

Centuries ago, people fasted in Lent to prepare for the high point of the Christian Year, the marking of Holy Week and the celebration of Easter. Some Christians continue this practice today, although often people give up something small like coffee as a symbolic fast.

Early Christians often used this period to prepare people to join the Church. They would be instructed and prepared spiritually for baptism on Holy Saturday after which they would participate in their first sharing of Holy Communion or Eucharist. During this time, they would be taught the Lord’s Prayer, for example.

Holy Week, the culmination of Lent, commences with ‘Palm’ (or ‘Passion’) Sunday, commemorating Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on the Sunday before he died. It includes the commemoration of the Last Supper Jesus shared with his disciples at which he instituted the Eucharist or Lord’s Supper (commonly called Holy Communion in the Uniting Church).

On this occasion, according to John’s gospel, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, a practice which is sometimes repeated during Holy Week worship.

In the recent episode they asked two groups of three people to pick up rubbish in a inner city park at lunchtime. Lots of people were sitting around eating their lunch while the people worked. The first group picked up rubbish for 30 minutes. They were paid nothing as they were asked as volunteers. The second group did the same job, but were paid 10 UK pounds to do it.

Afterwards they spoke to each group and the results were surprising. The volunteer group rated the work 8 or 9 on an enjoyment scale and said they felt they were helping the community by making the park nicer for visitors. The paid group rated the experience as a 1 0r 2 for enjoyment and would not do it again.

I found this an interesting experiment as the volunteers thought they were helping and giving back to society. While the paid group could only focus on what a horrible job it was and couldn’t wait to get out of there. It was the same job, but the way they viewed it was totally different!

As I write Colossians 3:23-24 comes to mind. It says, “ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,  since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving”.

I believe this Scripture is the key to real enjoyment and satisfaction in our jobs (both paid and volunteer). When we have the attitude that all we do is for the Lord, then we will serve wholeheartedly and get a lot more satisfaction out of all we do…whether we see it as a “good” or “bad” at the time.

God Bless,

Dave

A few interesting things jumped out at me as I read…

1. Those who are trusted with sharing God’s message must be faithful.

2. That we shouldn’t be worried about being judged by man.

3. That even though my conscience may seem clear, it doesn’t mean I am innocent in God’s eyes.

4. That we shouldn’t judge before God’s appointed time – at Christ’s return.

5. That God will bring to light the true motives of our hearts and reward us accordingly.

It is a simple passage of five verses, but it has given me some food for thought and something to mull over.

God Bless,

Dave

The course content was really positive and uplifting for three solid days. Although I had previously studied much of the psychology and leadership principles in the past it was good to hear them again in a different format. The other thing that was really great is that I got to mix with 10-11 people I had never met before. It was inspiring to hear their stories, their struggles and their deep desire to overcome.

It is amazing how three days ago I never knew any of the other members of the course. Now I have heard their stories, shared mine with them and we have inspired and encouraged each other to bigger and better things! It was three days really well spent!

God Bless,

Dave

Two things came to mind off the top of my head. I thought I would share them today.

1. He is interceding for us – Romans 8:34 tells us that Jesus is before the Father praying on our behalf. Like a lawyer pleads to the judge for his client, Jesus is pleading and praying for us before the Father. He is our heavenly representative!

2. He is preparing a place for us – John 14:1-3 says that Jesus is preparing a place for us. He tells us that there “are many rooms in His Father’s mansion” and that He is “coming back for us one”. He wants us to be where He is.

So what is Jesus doing now? He is praying for us and preparing the place we will spend eternity. That is great news…in fact I think that is awesome news!

God Bless,

Dave

As I listen to the course content and as I read through the notes, I am amazed how much of the content I have already heard in church or from my Bible college training.

It just reminds me of how important it is to have regular positive input in your life and how much I get of it at church. Many of the people in the course have not heard or been exposed to the course content. It is all new to them.

To me, this course has been a nice reminder of how much positive input I get on a weekly basis. It makes me thankful that I am a regular church goer.

If you have never been to church or you haven’t been in a while, I would encourage you to visit your local church this weekend.

God Bless,

Dave

This goes in our weekly newsletter and on our website so everyone can know who is to be prayed for. The people also get prayed for at the weekly prayer meeting in Merredin.

It is good to be a part of a praying church. It is also nice to know that at least once per year that you and your family are the focus of the churches prayer.

This week is especially good as I was doing up the church newsletter for this weekend I noticed that we are one of the families!

I have a feeling next week is going to be awesome

God Bless,

Dave