Perhaps the greatest times for me are when I am around people who are passionate about Jesus Christ, and committed to the true Word of God and how that impacts their life. Without that we are quite simply damp-squibs trying to do a good job of playing Church. No different to our Men’s Prayer meeting last night at church. I thoroughly enjoyed our time together with men who are committed to making a difference for Christ in their lives, their marriages, their families, this community, and in Church Alive. The question perhaps for you to consider answering for yourself is; “Am I half-cocked or fully-loaded for Jesus”? Now this may seem like an arbitrary question for a pastor to be asking. For me, it’s the key. If you’re half-cocked for Jesus that is exactly how you will live, neither here nor there in your faith. If you are half-cocked you will very obviously be ‘lukewarm’ in your faith and often wondering why you’re doing this thing called ‘Christianity’. So why is that important Grant? Well, if you are that way inclined you may very well be told when you stand before Jesus “but I never knew you”. People have said that I am radical for Jesus and the truth that at times I am a little ‘over the top’. My response is normally “because there simply is no other way”! Listen, Jesus was 'over the top' radical for me, so who am I? Look, you’re either in or out for Jesus, his truth, and the true Word of God. It’s like a marriage that starts out lukewarm, the best it will do is idle and go nowhere slowly. Many people treat their relationship, if you can call it a relationship, with Jesus like that. They tread water with him. They never fight for him. They aren't passionate about him because he doesn't really matter to them anyway. When his Word is being misinterpreted and people are clearly being misled they never make a fuss because perhaps they have never taken the time to understand it so cannot discern what is true and what isn't. We need to decide whether we’re in or out ‘man or mouse’. If you’re in, then realise that this changes everything. It changes the way you live, the way you see things, the way you interact with people, the way you address issues pertaining to the faith, and the way you fight, truly fight for the truth as Jesus did, because only the truth will set people free. So where are you in this? Let me leave you with a couple of thoughts to ponder over. “Am I really serious about Jesus”? “Does Jesus really matter to me”? “Does the truth really matter to me”?

Look,  a spiritual alarm has sounded. In a sense, this is God's wake-up call for the church, and we need to wake up from our spiritual lethargy, laziness, and apathy to meet the urgency of the hour. The time is late, and we must prepare for the soon coming of the Lord! Our time is limited. We must do our work while we can. To the believers in the last days, Jesus said, "See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it" (Revelation 3:8). But there might be some dead weight that is slowing us down or dulling our desire to go through that door. We must persevere! (Revelation 3:10.)  Are you and your church and is Christianity as is practiced today ready? If not, make the necessary changes so that you can be counted among those who will love his appearing (2 Timothy 4:8). These are just some of the questions people are asking. There is great uncertainty in the air. In spite of breathtaking advances in science and technology, we have seen the condition of humanity only get worse and worse. In these anxious and critical days, some look to politicians, and world leaders for direction, hoping that they will lead to peace. Others turn to psychics, fortune tellers, or the latest prediction of the self-proclaimed supermarket tabloid prophets and so-called evangelists. Yet, all the while there has been someone who knows exactly what the future holds, and he tells about it in his book—the Bible. Seek him with all of your heart! For me, if you decide to do something, do it properly with every ounce of passion and commitment, and with the firm understanding that you know what you're fighting for! May you too determine to get radical for the biblical truth, and radical for Jesus, because he got really radical dying on the cross to pay your sin-debt in full, so the least we can do is reciprocate. May you refuse to 'play church' along with its man-made rules, religion, conformity, and philosophy, and sink your roots into your relationship with Jesus Christ and his undiluted Word, because only he matters!

Ever since our final call to the ministry through a vision of Ezekiel’s call (chapter two) whilst we were living in Dar es Salaam in 2006 the Book has been one of my most favoured. I was reading 37:1-14 over the weekend and scribbled down a few notes viewing its message in a 21st Century Context.

Similar to the audience to which this text is directed, those who had disobeyed the commands of YHWH, and, through their disobedience, selfishness, and without any love extended toward the marginalised among them, we too have lost our way.

If the truth be known many of our congregations and a large portion of our nation remain in exile themselves due to these issues, hopeless, spiritually and politically dead, dry bones being an apt description. These themes, often divorced from each other, are here inseparable and not dissimilar to our experience where we reside in the 21st century.

We consider the influence and ongoing affect of the injustices of apartheid and, where those roles are now reversed, continue to have a marked impact on society, both from a spiritual and a political perspective. Dry bones. Dead? Some would say that there are still people who are convinced that their dry, dead, and disjointed nation would never live again. Although these bones seem beyond repair and renewal though, God has the final say on their restoration and ultimate resurrection.

Similar to the promise made to Israel and their land being restored as well as their covenant with God (37:14), so to do we hear echoes of this within a South African context today. This message too contains a message of hope. Although there is death all around, God carries on his work of restoring the spiritually and politically dead, bringing life to these places. This is the prophetic inspiration we seek, a prophecy that will breathe new life, realign the dry bones within our respective contexts, and ultimately enable us to reconnect the disconnected joints of our limbs.

Can these bones live? It is well and good expounding and implying theories that we assume, from our engagement with this text and exegetical task, are what could be the message for today, but it is ultimately how the audience interpret and apply it. If one considers the spiritual, unbelieving, and also loveless political condition of our world today, the question is one that is open for dialogue. Will the believing minority, who has a real burden for saving the lost souls, be able to reach out and witness to the dry bones? Could we, as Ezekiel did in 13:7 prophesy “as I was commanded”? That we believe, with every nerve and fibre of our being, that this is what we are called to do, and then act upon it?

Perhaps what is called for is imagination. Prophetic imagination. Ultimately, imagination put into action, or, rather, imagination into participation. However, in this 21st century context, it is not the prophet or their imagination that is of paramount importance but that of the audience. This audience is both a spiritual as well as a political one. It is a vision that the audience and reader which, whilst it may sound like fantasy, needs to be recognised as the place where the book of Ezekiel really wants them to be.

I recalled a book I once read today and the gist of a chapter that spoke of a changing of our focus from one of believer to that of someone who is able to ‘see’. In other words one who is able to see eternity whilst others see only history, seeing the future beyond the moment, seeing beauty whilst others see tragedy, and seeing possibilities when others see only problems.  Also; one who sees others when others only see themselves, seeing hope when others only see despair, and, importantly, seeing how everything is coming together, whilst others see only the world coming apart.

So why is this important we may ask? Well, some of us get ‘stuck in a moment’ (U2) and, quite simply, become so incensed about the issue that, irrespective of how much it is eating them up inside…they will not...cannot…and may even enjoy the space they’re in… that they fear actually letting the idea go. The song Stuck in a Moment, in fact, talks about Michael Hutchence the lead vocalist of INXS and his discussions with Bono over his intended suicide and Bono trying to wake him up out of the idea.

How many of us find ourselves in a similar place?  Perhaps we too see only our world coming apart, not how everything is coming together, or see problems where others see only possibilities? Perhaps here we will find that we misunderstand Jesus when he speaks of his upside-down kingdom. Jesus challenged all the norms and did this throughout scripture. Jesus submits a different idea of our understanding of man’s ideas, philosophies and beliefs thereby challenging this thinking and …encouraging us... to move forward…

An awesome time this morning as we celebrated Father’s Day together within the community. We spoke on the Parable of the Prodigal Son and it is the rebellious younger son who gathers his share of his inheritance, journeys off to a distant land and squanders everything by loose living that we think of here. We read of famine hitting the land and he gets really hungry! So, like many of us, after we have thought we could make it on our own, we know where we can run back to for cover…our Father.

But it is that picture of his father running toward him from a long way off that really strikes us. Really humiliating as men over the age of forty in Judaic times did not run, even more humiliating was the fact that he had to lift his robe up to run for fear of tripping up! And, as his father drew closer to him, the son could finally see his face,and,  it was not anger he saw but... instead ...his father’s face shone with absolute ...joy! With a joy that comes through years and years of waiting… your Father in heaven has been waiting for some of you for years and years! He continues to pursue you with his love, and, even if you reject his love...he pursues you still! He is familiar with rejection but is undeterred...and let me tell you...he is still pursuing you with his love!

“The rebellious son once was lost...and now has been found...so let’s... party!” Just like Christians do...we party...and celebrate God’s joy over one who repents! Have you known the Lord but, like the prodigal son have tried too make it on your own in the world! Have you become so insensed with something within the greater church that you too...have moved away to a "distant land" away from the church and have allowed bitterness to harden your heart? Perhaps it's time to return to the Father? He waits for with arms open wide ...and he longs to run down the road to embrace you!