Author: Dave Dennis

This author has written 87 articles
Are we “on task” or “on purpose”?

Are we “on task” or “on purpose”?

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A couple of years ago, Caroline and I were sitting in a Church Planting workshop learning about other people’s experiences in starting new churches. As I sat there God spoke 3 words to me about Port Macquarie – “Walk every street.” God interrupted me with a thought that was injected mid-stream in my mind, loud and clear. How great that God gave me a specific instruction of something I should do as part of planting a church! It was so clear that I didn’t feel any need to ask “why”. I just figured that if God said it then I’d just get on with it and see what He does as a result.

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Follow the Way of Love

Follow the Way of Love

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“Love looks like something.” Richie Seltzer (from Imagine Church, Calgary) said this at a conference I went to earlier this year, and last week it came back to me and was bouncing around in my head a bit. As I thought about it more this passage from 1 Corinthians came to mind. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.1 Corinthians 13:13–14:1 (NIV) NIV has been my main “go to” Bible version for many years but in more recent times I’ve been looking to other translations to help dig a bit deeper. Here is the same passage in wording of the Amplified Bible: And so faith, hope, love abide [faith—conviction and belief respecting man’s relation to God and divine things; hope—joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; love—true affection for God and man, growing out of God’s love for…

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Cain and Abel – what was the difference?

Cain and Abel – what was the difference?

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Cain and Abel - perhaps the best-known brothers in history - both brought offerings to God. One was acceptable and the other not. What's that all about? I was challenged by a blog post a little while ago that began with the assertion that we often get God wrong, and went on to challenge common understandings of atonement, sacrifice and free forgiveness. It made me think more deeply on some truths that most Christians just accept, sometimes without understanding the implications... Psalm 51 expresses a deep heart cry for forgiveness and restoration. King David confronts the normal practice of forgiveness enacted through sacrifice and declares it inadequate by writing, "For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering." Later on in Israel's history, during a time of sinful rebellion, the Lord declares through the prophet Jeremiah, "When I led your ancestors out of Egypt, it was not burnt offerings and…

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Why settle for being comfortable when you can have the best?!

Why settle for being comfortable when you can have the best?!

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Good News for "comfortable" people The area in which we live is like most of middle-class Australia – most people have the appearance of being relatively comfortable and happy, at least on the surface. Perhaps our "Good News" needs an upgrade? If I focus on this surface appearance of things it seriously dulls my sense of urgency about how much people need to hear God really loves them. It’s so easy to forget most people don’t know Jesus – they haven’t heard the Best News they could ever hear! This prevalent surface comfort often hides the fears, hurts, struggles, disappointments and doubts that pretty much everyone goes through. It's like paracetamol that dulls a headache but doesn't treat the source of the pain. We all know that “creature comforts” can’t fix those deeper issues, but somehow it’s oh-so-easy to forget and carry on as if everything is alright. Even when things might be "good" there are many who are missing…

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