NHCF Blog

Yesterday afternoon, after playing with Seth in the garden for a while, we sat down and ate some chips together. This will be a moment I will always remember as there was something special about just sitting together, sharing some chips, and being in each other’s company. While snacking, I noticed Seth start leaning backwards in a relaxed manner on the step we were sitting on. This is something which I hadn’t seen him do before and I then realized that I was leaning back in the same way. My son was imitating what I was doing and this was such an amazing reminder of the fact that we imitate the ones we love or admire.But imitating the ones we love or admire is not always beneficial to us. I am an avid YouTube viewer and there are certain people that I watch on a daily/weekly basis. One day while having a conversation with a close friend, I ended up responding to something he said with words that were not my own. I used nearly the exact response of someone who is known to be controversial and I realized that I was now imitating this person to my detriment. While I didn’t say anything offensive I responded in a manner that was not normal for me (which I could tell based on my friends expression to hearing these words). In that moment I realized what had happened and later that week I unsubscribed from this person’s channel and made a concerted effort not to be influenced in the same way again.While imitating others can sometimes be detrimental there is someone who exists who is only beneficial for us to imitate and His name is Jesus. In Ephesians 5:1-2 Paul writes the following:1 Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, 2 and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.We can only find benefit from imitating Jesus as He shows us how to live in the way in which humans were designed to live. And when we strive to imitate Jesus this is also a way in which we can know that our faith in Him is authentic:3 This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commands. 4 The one who says, “I have come to know him,” and yet doesn’t keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God is made complete. This is how we know we are in him: 6 The one who says he remains in him should walk just as he walked – 1 John 2:3-6.Just as a child imitates their parents so should we be childlike in our faith and imitate our incredible God.Much love,Luke

In his letter to Timothy, a fellow Christian worker who was in a pastoral role, Paul wrote the following to urge him to oppose teachers of false doctrine in Ephesus.3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer 4 or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith. 5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. 7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.  (1 Timothy 1:3-7 NIV)It is interesting to note what Paul says is the result of such false doctrines, myths and genealogies (spiritual pedigrees) is that it promoted controversial, or meaningless and empty, speculations. Instead of making things clearer, these things caused uncertainty, more questions and arguments. In his commentary on 1 Timothy, theologian A.D. Litfin remarks that "Such speculations were to be avoided because they did not further God's plan, which is grasped and implemented not by human imagination, but by faith. By contrast, human speculations tend to lead off down endless blind tunnels which serve only to confuse and obscure God's truth." Let's be honest, there's a lot of that going on at the moment. Thanks to social media, we are bombarded by a host of opinions and declarations from random people who claim to have the truth. We know nothing of these people's character, beliefs or agendas aside from what they choose to show us. The problem of "fake news" is not merely a secular, worldly problem, so much of it comes from those who claim to be Christian, or who are in fact genuine believers but are misguided.Paul sees the job of opposing false teaching as an important one. The goal of commanding people to stop with the speculations was so that they would have love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith. I have seen how false teaching or misguided "revelations" have caused much grief and doubt in the hearts of sincere believers. Now, more than ever, we need to be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves as we go among the wolves (Matthew 10:16).We need to oppose "fake news" with the Good News of the Gospel. Let us measure every word against Scripture and where we lack the knowledge to evaluate a certain message, reach out to someone you trust, someone whose character you are sure of. Let us pray for discernment from the Holy Spirit and instead of getting caught up in the speculations and conspiracies, let us ground ourselves in simple, sincere faith, having a pure heart and good conscience before our God.God BlessGraham

I have really been enjoying spending time in the gospels and learning from what Jesus has to teach us. There is something very special about spending time focusing on the words of our Savior and looking at how He lived His life and His interactions with others. While reading two nights ago I came across these words in Mark chapter 4: 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen.” 24 And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear. By the measure you use, it will be measured to you — and more will be added to you. 25 For whoever has, more will be given to him, and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” I love how Jesus starts this section. He is pretty much saying, “Listen up! This is important!” These verses follow His parable of the sower and the different ways in which people will receive His message. And here Jesus says that we must pay attention to what He has to say because our attitude in regard to how we receive His Word determines how much more we will then receive. Hans F. Bayer writes the following on the word “measure” in the ESV Study Bible: “Measure refers to the attitude with which the word of Jesus is being received… If the hearer embraces Jesus’ message of the kingdom in a rich and powerful way, then still more will be added to you – that is, God will take up residence in that heart and give increased understanding and blessing, both in this age and in the age to come.” What I get from this text and commentary is the more we take Jesus’ Words seriously the more we will get from our relationship with Him. There are some of us who have a little more time on our hands at the moment. So why don’t we spend some time searching what Jesus has to say to us, pay attention to it while applying it, and receive all the more from our incredible Savior? More of Jesus is definitely something we can all benefit from. Much love, Luke

One of the things that I have realised this year is how much I love to hear people praying for someone. I enjoy praying for people myself, but it really lifts my heart to hear someone pray over another person. Even if I don't know the people praying or being prayed for. I experienced this while listening to a Christian radio station one afternoon while driving in my car. At that time they had a segment where a guest pastor would be in the studio and the radio host would read out a prayer request from a listener. The pastor would then pray for that person live on air. This was repeated a number of times as the pastor prayed for various people. At first I wondered why they would make a segment of this, the prayers were for a specific person, not everyone else listening in. What benefit was there to the rest of us?And yet, as I continued listening I felt a sense of joy as I heard the prayer for that person. I prayed along in agreement with the pastor, experiencing the joy of intercession. This is something that I have missed about being gathered together with other believers. I have missed sharing in times of prayer for another, hearing someone's heart as they lift someone up in prayer before the Lord. And so now I'm going to sit back and picture the Apostle Paul dictating these words of prayer to the believers at Colossae, I'm going to imagine that he is praying these words over you and I that get to stand close by, praying silently in agreement with his every word, experiencing the joy of intercession. Here is a prayer for you:9 ...We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, 10 so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. 14 In Him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:9-14)Amen!God BlessGraham