Delivered By Pastor Brad Smith on 12th July 2023. "Trivia" comes from a roman god of the same name, who was very fond of sprouting random and irrelevant facts. He was named Trivia because he was the god of the intersections of three roads, and that's where he would waylay travellers with his useless knowledge. Three roads, hence the name tri-via, Latin for three roads. Thus, trivia (or trivial) has now become the label used against facts or truths that are considered unimportant or unwanted. 'Tell us something we don't know' is a more recent form of sarcasm used to imply that the line of thought or truth is now out of fashion and not to be discussed... it is implied that it has been exhausted or settled and nothing more can be learned from it. Cancel culture is a much blunter way of silencing people who they don't want to hear (often labelled as hate speech). There are many more ways used by people who simply are not honest enough to face or debate rational facts. God has had to deal with these human deceits from the beginning of creation.

The law of unintended consequences refers to the idea that actions or decisions can have unforeseen and unintended consequences, often in ways that are not immediately apparent. This can occur because complex systems often have multiple interconnected parts, and a change of one part of the system can have ripple effects that are difficult to predict. This is also true for those who reject a relationship with God.

Delivered By Pastor Brad Smith on 2nd July 2023. The human race is able to enjoy all of God's natural and Spiritual creation without charge. Everything we see and love, every person we know and care about, are all created by God as a free demonstration of who he is and what he stands for. He is the giver of life and gifts. Nothing God gives us is able to be earned; it is all a free gift for his creation. Salvation is the greatest gift of God for humanity. It gives us the chance to move away from our human greed and failings and give us eternal life... all free of charge.

There are many examples in the scriptures which identify differing relating to the bread from heaven. These notes will focus on one aspect which is clearly detailed and explained in the scriptures. We will continue from the theme "The Threshing Floor", where the concept of separation and purification is also established. One of the primary themes in John's prophecy in Mat 3:11 talks about a covenant change where Christ will make it possible for our worldliness and sins to be permanently cleansed from us.

The threshing floor in scripture is used as a strong metaphor as a place of separation and revelation. A place where God's harvest is prepared by separating the grain from the useless straw and husk (natural body and its failings)... by threshing (pressure) and the wind (the spirit of truth). The concept of threshing and separation are used to describe God's dealings with men and their future blessings.

Part 2. The human race is in desperate need of simple and effective directions... Ask the Lord to teach you His ways and to direct your steps according to His Word. Then read His Word often and follow the instructions.

The human race is in desperate need of simple and effective directions... Ask the Lord to teach you His ways and to direct your steps according to His Word. Then read His Word often and follow the instructions.

One of the victims of our age is truth. It seems that opinions are more important than facts. Life itself is a search for the truth. God is the author of truth and Jesus came to show us the truth. After he left he sent us the Holy Spirit to guide us in the truth.

Our conscience forms a reaction to ethical, moral and spiritual values and gives us directions for our thoughts and life actions. For Christians our conscience has had an extra element added to it by the input of the Holy Spirit. This not only gives us a far different perspective to life, it also adds a few unwanted confusions between natural and spiritual ideals. These are discussed in this topic.

The principles of New Testament salvation are already established in the judgements of the Old Testament. In the end, it is always up to the choices that we make and the path we choose.

Summary here

The following thoughts help us to shape ourselves so we can be more effective and recover more quickly from disappointments. God has called us to be a positive testimony of his blessings to humanity; this cannot be done if we misunderstand what is actually being offered to us as Spirit Filled people.

The apostle Peter encourages us to always have an answer of the hope within us. On the day of Pentecost, Peter was able to give an answer to the Jewish people who witnessed the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. His well constructed answer caused listeners to be "pricked in their hearts" and ask for a way forward.

Spirit-filled Christians can see, hear and learn spiritual lessons from life. The Philistines in 1Samual chapters 4 to 6, ignored the evidence of God's power and authority in the story of Israel's defeat and loss of the Ark, and learnt nothing from it at all. Israel could have done better too.

A famous saying is that we must "pass on the mantle". Few realise that it comes from the bible story of Elisha taking over the ministry from Elijah. Even fewer realise that it was a prophecy of Jesus taking over the mantle from John the Baptist, and he then passed it on to us. As Jesus' disciples, we now carry the of his ministry. Go forth and preach.

The way of the Lord was initially prepared by John the Baptist who identified Jesus and the anointing of the spirit. After the death of Jesus, it was needful that someone would prepare the way of the church and lead them into developing the powers and uses of the Holy Spirit... Paul (Saul) did theat. This talk expands those thoughts and reveals that this is your job now.

The bulk of God's complaints about the priests related to their indifference and unscriptural behaviour towards the weak, the poor, and the sinners. God often directs us to observe the actions of a good shepherd, who often has a completely different mindset than the priest. All animals are important to the shepherd. He will make real efforts to save every lamb... particularly the sick and the weak. The good shepherd also refuses to accept the loss of a lamb; he will look till he finds it. The role of the priest should be the same as the shepherd.

If God were to give professing believers a quiz on Christianity, many of us would score well. They would be able to answer "Yes, it's true" to questions as: Did Christ die for your sins? Did He rise from the dead? Is the Holy Spirit essential? Do true believers speak in tongues? Is He coming back to earth? Many of us grow up saying yes to these types of biblical doctrines. But eventually we sense that God is asking us some new questions....

The bulk of God's complaints about the priests related to their indifference and unscriptural behaviour towards the weak, the poor, and the sinners. God often directs us to observe the actions of a good shepherd, who often has a completely different mindset than the priest. All animals are important to the shepherd. He will make real efforts to save every lamb... particularly the sick and the weak. The good shepherd also refuses to accept the loss of a lamb; he will look till he finds it. The role of the priest should be the same as the shepherd.

The parable of Lazarus and the rich man contains certain scriptural truths that need to be worked out by comparing spiritual truths with the contents of the parable. The parable contains revelations the being rich is not a guarantee of success with God and being poor doesn't prevent God's great blessing. In the parable the tables are turned with the poor man Lazarus getting God's blessing. Some believe that the references to hell and torment refer to an eternal fiery torture of those who fail, but the parable does not support this view with scriptural truths. Many of the quotes are about the Pharisees beliefs, not the scriptures. It ends with the prophecy of Jesus' death and resurrection and the ongoing denial by the Pharisees of Christ and his power.