Melbourne New Church (VIC)

SUMMARY OF MESSAGES

John 16:33

Cheerfulness and Laughter

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

This text goes to the heart of our attitudes to life and the way we deal with our difficulties. The major parts of this text are afflictions, ‘be of good cheer’ and ‘I have overcome the world’. Each of us deals with our afflictions or challenges differently. These difficulties can arise due to business or financial stress, personal problems, illness, grief and many others. All of these things can be the catalyst for a descending gloom which can overwhelm us if we are not careful. This text can also apply to our general take on life and whether we approach it with a sense of delight or drudgery.

In Genesis 18:1-15 and Genesis 21:106, we see the attitude or reaction of Sarah when she overheard angels speaking to Abraham that she would conceive in her old age, and she laughed in a cynical way. However when she did give birth to a son she named him Isaac, which means laughter, and this was out of the joy she felt.

It is easy to descend into a sense of hopelessness and despair if things overtake us. We should remember that Jesus suffered much more than we can imagine and felt despair much greater than us and yet he overcame. He was crucified and later rose. We have to learn to rise above the gloom and despair that we may feel. One way to do this is trying to alter our mood, our state, by being cheerful and laughing a lot more.

As scientists have found, laughing it releases endorphins which quickly permeate our body and improves our vitality. In recent years laughing groups have been established to encourage this and we all know how good we feel after a good laugh. In this sense we are speaking of healthy laughter, not cynical smirks or laughing at another's misfortune. This type of laughter only encourages evil forces and opens us up for attack from them. Sarah denied laughing when asked by the angels. If we can recognise what the Lord did for us, it can also lift our spirits.

The act of laughter and cheerfulness can alter our whole mood, it can bring us out of ourselves and create a better climate within us to help us continue to challenge and overcome our difficulties, and create a heavenly sphere within.

One of the greatest difficulties we face is that we focus on ourselves and continuously look at our own cares and not at others, who may well have far more difficulties and challenges than us. We need to go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to give us the strength to move beyond the sense of hopelessness. Even coming to church to worship can take us out of ourselves, so to speak.

A cheerful disposition can do wonders at an external level, but it can also transform us internally because we are opening up channels for the Lord to work with and are fending off evil influences. The last part of the text says, “I have overcome the world”. We should think of this also as ‘the world’ within us. A cheerful disposition, fun and laughter, can permeate our whole self both externally and internally. Our inner world can change with the Lord's help.

Not everyone has a natural cheerful disposition, but all of us can try and encourage it within ourselves, by re-programming ourselves to laugh and by being positive as much as we can. This world is the proving ground for heaven; it forms our mind and our way of life and our ability to overcome those things which challenge us, but we must always do it in the Lord's strength. We should turn to Him to break the cycle of gloom. Look at what we have and not what we do not have. Find ways to be thankful.

Suggested Application during the week

Try and find ways this week to be cheerful, even when perhaps it is difficult but in the knowledge that it helps our whole body, mind and soul.

Mark 2:1-12

The Paralysed Man through the Roof

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralysed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? but that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”


This is a unique event in which the man was taken on a stretcher, the roof was opened by them and the man was lowered down to the feet of the Lord, as the crowd was large and he could not go through the door. Apart from the miracle, it also has depths of meaning for us in relation to our journey with the Lord.

Our mind is like a house; it has walls, floors and various compartments. Our mind has walls; they support and maintain the way we think about things. We can call them values or principles. Principles become our boundaries, what we consider to be right and wrong. We are either inside the house or outside of it. Inside, we are comfortable, outside, we go through the roof. Our passage is about going down.

In our spiritual life within the church, the walls are our teaching, our beliefs. Different areas of our life are governed by different aspects of our teachings. Is the Lord in our house, in our mind? Is He our honoured guest or occasional visitor? Of course the Lord is always in our house, but unfortunately we are not always aware of it. Jesus went into lots of houses during his Ministry, but only if invited.

In our passage today Jesus is already in the house and in one sense, we never have to invite Him in. We are the ones outside or not close enough to Him. This can be like a situation where we suddenly see or understand something and we recognise the truth of it and we get closer to Him. The Lord was there and we did not realise it before.

He always wants to raise our thoughts into the light of heaven, but it is us that is preventing it. Sometimes we can't even think straight. We cannot access the light; we are mentally and spiritually paralysed. We may be depressed or stressed and not in our right mind. We may be beside ourselves with worry or anxiety. The real us is not functioning, like the paralysed man who could not get to the Lord.

They could not bring him to the Lord because of the crowd. Often we cannot get to the Lord because of the crowd of negative thoughts that present a barrier. Four men carried the man and Jesus saw their faith and healed the man. Just as the paralysed man needed support from his friends to enable him to reach the Lord, so we depend on friends often in life. When we cannot always seek the Lord by ourselves, we need others.

Spiritually, the friends of our mind are the deep reserves of faith and truth that are hidden in our memory and which can be drawn upon. With help from this inner strength, we seek help in prayer. The Lord is waiting for us. We must not stay in the basement. We are lifted up by these 'friends'. Suddenly from the roof top we see the light, the tiles are lifted. There are sounds of voices, our true thoughts return. The paralysed man comes to rest at the Lord's feet back in the centre of the house with the source of life.

The Lord is always ready to receive us, may we have the wisdom and faith to seek help from our friends when it is needed, and may we recognise how to be the stretcher bearers for others in their time of need.

Suggested Application during the week

May we reflect this week on aspects of our life which seem paralysed and ask for strength from the Lord to be healed of these problems with the help of our friends and those we love.

1 Samuel 23:28, also 9-29

The Rock of Escape

Then Saul broke off his pursuit of David and went to meet the Philistines. That is why they call this place Sela Hammahlekoth.

The chapters surrounding this passage tell us of the way Saul pursued David with a view to killing him. In our passage there are two main events; one where David and his men free the people of Kielah, and the other where Saul tries to reach David in the caves in the wilderness area. When it seemed most likely that Saul would reach him, the attention of Saul was turned and he went to fight the Philistines. As a result of being spared, David called it the ‘rock of escape’.

This story tells us much about our own life and the fact that special places or events, both good and bad, are highlighted in our memory and David naming the spot memorialises the state he found himself in. All through this chapter and the pursuit, David calls on the Lord to help him as he feels threatened by Saul. At one level this speaks to us about Divine Protection. In our troubled periods in life we sometimes feel alone. Then when everything passes, do we think it is of our own making or just part of life, or do we feel that the Lord is protecting us along life's journey?

Are we prepared to acknowledge that we have not only our friends, family, church community, etc there for support, but also the angels and the Lord are watching over us? Will we be like the people of Keilah who were given deliverance by David but did not have any sense of gratitude and were prepared to betray David into the hands of Saul?

This struggle of David with Saul and David's flight into the wilderness to hide, is a picture of our own journey, both at an external and internal level. We have struggles in life which may include our job, our health, relationships, etc, which mean we feel as though we are being pursued. These aspects of our life may certainly feel, at a general level of life, like struggles but they are also testing our resolve at a spiritual level because all happenings in our life involve challenges and decisions as to conscience and right and wrong.

Note that David at all times called to the Lord for assistance in these times of trial and sought help as to what he would do and the Lord answered and gave him assurances that He would be with him. How often do we ask the Lord to support us in times of trial and difficulty?

All passages from the Word teach us lessons and give us insights at various levels; the story itself and the message behind it for our natural life, and the principles involved at a spiritual level. This struggle between Saul and David is one that is played out in our own mind. It is the battle between natural and spiritual principles. If we are not careful our natural urgings will want to overcome our higher principles and this is the inner battle that we have. We can choose to give in or we can ask the Lord to help us win the battle.

The fact that David hid in a cave symbolises the fact that much of the struggle between our higher and lower self is done internally in the sub-conscious. Hidden from general view, but nevertheless where the Lord is very much present, even if we are not aware of it or are not prepared to acknowledge it. Even at the level of accepting truth there is a battle. We can misuse Divine Truth as a pursuer of others, by judging and making it cold hard facts when in fact spiritual truth is the affection for the power within the truth which is God.

Notice that Saul was distracted and went to fight another battle. True spirituality or the compassion for others, will not end up in a fight to the end. It will emerge in freedom as David did from the rock, which he called the rock of escape, or where in some places it is called the rock of division. God is known as the Rock of Ages, our sure foundation. When we emerge from struggles we have been freed from, the division that prevailed whilst there was a struggle between our higher and lower nature.

Suggested Application during the week

Ensure that in our struggles this week, we never loose sight of the Lord protecting us from danger and that His presence is always with us.

Revelation 19:11-16

THe White Horse

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no-one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron septre.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe an don his thigh he has this name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.


It is important to recognise in all the visions of the Apocalypse that John was seeing in the spirit. What he saw was conveying spiritual reality of future events and was referring to the spirit within, not the world outside.

We all know the lengths that advertising executives will go to in creating visual images to coerce people into buying particular products and therefore that imagery is important. In this case, the imagery is to show a spiritual principle for each of us.

Horses and chariots are often used throughout the Word; the Lord rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and as a babe He was laid in a manger which is a horse trough. In ancient myths and especially in Greek mythology, the horse or winged horse feature greatly and we are aware of Pegasus.

Ancient people were very much aware that the natural world contained within it spiritual principles and truths, and the horse has very a powerful correspondence. When we think of a horse we think of it being noble, majestic, finely tuned, and intelligent. They provide transportation and carry people and burdens. All this is leading us to the spiritual symbolism of the horse, which is intelligence and understanding, and the colour of the horse represents the quality of the affection that arises from that intelligence.

For us to really gain from any book or piece of writing, we need to understand, we need to be enlightened. Therefore the ‘white’ represents intelligence and understanding of the Word from the inner sense within it. We move from confusion to openness and light, and it illuminates our understanding and then our life. This passage then is telling about a full understanding and recognition of the Word and worship of the one God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Where there is a horse, there is a rider and the rider is the Lord. As we gain understanding, so the Lord lifts us up into the affection for truth and guides our minds so that it becomes living in our life. He rides into our minds and as we are illuminated by the power of truth, it becomes a force for love in our life. The person who sat on the horse was called Faithful and True. That is what the Lord will be to us if we live by His Word. It also means that we must live with faithfulness and truth in our life.

At the end of the passage there is a description which is meant to convey spiritual principles. ‘Eyes like flames of fire’, is the Lord's love and wisdom, ‘diadems’ are truth from Him and the ‘names written’ are the interior qualities of the Word when received and used. ‘Garments dipped in blood’ is the truth that is rejected and the two edged sword represents cutting through falsity with the truth.

In essence, this passage is showing us that the Word has deeper levels which give more clarity and understanding to the embedded truth of the literal sense. It provides us with illumination and the truth that can be used in the heart to improve the quality of our life.

By having understanding in the mind and love in the heart, this can be our instrument to fight and overcome the many challenges of life. It is the means for us to live a more satisfying and meaningful life because the Lord is close at hand as we read His Word.

We should monitor our responses to life in the light of the truth we know, the love we have and the spiritual principles that are contained in the Word itself.

Suggested Application during the week

In our daily devotions, recognise the vitality of the Word and recall passages that will help us to face the challenges of the week and the joy of knowing and loving the Lord.

Exodus 3:1-12

Moses and the Burning Bush

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight – why the bush does not burn up.”

When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraam, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Eguptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey – the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now go, I am sending you to Pharoah to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.

But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”


This is perhaps one of the most powerful passages in the Word, an image of the sacred or holy ground. There is a tendency for most of us to isolate the sacred in Cathedrals, sacred sites and not think of them as being part of everyday life. We come to church and then leave it behind us to go to work or do our chores during the week. The deeper meaning of the passage shows that this should not be the case, the sacred can be part of daily life if we tune ourselves to it.

The context in which each Bible passage is placed demonstrates in every detail a lesson for us spiritually. Moses at the time of seeing the burning bush had spent 40 years in Egypt, 40 years tending sheep of his father Jethro and now was being asked by God to lead the children of Israel. He was reacting against this big task, but God was saying that to lead a truly fulfilling life we have to live what we know.

This experience was to provide Moses with the strength to go forward. It was no coincidence that the bush (bramble bush) was in a desert type place. It is often at times when we feel most deserted and our life is barren and hard, that the Lord comes to us. The burning bush, with the flame deep within, was not consumed - what a powerful image.

A bramble bush, as it is seen to be, is a small tree or scrub which goes in all directions, is prickly and can tear things apart. This is what life situations can do to us. Moses, when seeing the bush, was told to take his sandals from his feet as the place was holy ground.

Spiritual symbolism gives us great insights into what this story is telling us. Sandals are the closest thing to the ground. They symbolise our everyday, practical thoughts. If we are to see the sacred, we must leave behind the everyday clutter in our minds. The bush symbolises the little knowledge of the Lord acquired in times of trial, those things most useful to lead us deeper.

The flame within the bush is the Lord’s love and light within the Word, the powerful warmth of His love in times of trial. Normally we would expect flames to consume everything, but this story demonstrates that whilst the flame was powerful and intense, it was also tender and loving. It does not consume us, it protects and guides us.

This meeting with God who says 'I am', meaning the powerful God of all. The God whose presence is in and around us all, is the holy ground of our existence. The sacred space within each of us if we are tuned into it. The sacred is part of life, not apart from life, this is what this passage is telling us. It was helping Moses to meet the challenges that were ahead of him.

How often do we look for the sacred in our life? What are the moments that we cherish as sacred, moments that have demonstrated to us that God is near and He is in what we are doing, hidden and yet powerful? Each person has treasured moments; a first kiss, the birth of a child, friendships, a happy moment of some sort, a smile, a kind action. Many of these things can easily pass us by if we do not take off our sandals, or leave our busy practical thoughts behind, for a moment.

This passage shows us that we can make a sacred space or a sacred moment out of the normal things of life. We must integrate the sacred into our life, not set it apart. It is a matter of re-programming ourselves to the sense that God is with us at all times and is always wanting to show Himself in our life. He reveals Himself powerfully, but in subtle ways. We have to be ready for this revealing.

Suggested Application during the week

Ask the Lord to make us more aware of what is going on in our life this week, so that we can see sacred and powerful moments within our busy life.