Author: John Dunning

GIVE GOD TIME 

Inspirational Radio… 

We have launched our new online discipleship radio station…. 

Our new discipleship radio station:- “Inspirational Radio”, has hour-long Bible readings, David Pawson sermons, testimonies, and classic hymns. Just follow the website links, to https://internetchristianradio.com/

A WORD IN YOUR EAR 

Luke 15:1-32 The Father-heart of God

1-10 God’s heart for the lost.

After that the ‘tax collectors’ and the public who had given up trying to follow all the religious rules, who were called ‘sinners’, came close to hear Him speak, ²so the religious leaders criticised Him for spending time eating with ‘sinners’.

³Then He told a story with a hidden meaning.

⁴“What shepherd wouldn’t leave ninety-nine sheep to go looking for one that got lost, until he found it? ⁵And then having found it, wouldn’t he then happily carry it back on his shoulders? ⁶Then, as soon as he was home, wouldn’t he celebrate with his friends and relatives saying, ‘Be happy with me that I have found the sheep that got lost’? ⁷In the same way, those in heaven will rejoice more when one sinner turns his back on sin than over all the ninety-nine who didn’t need to. ⁸It’s also like a woman who lost one of her ten pieces of silver, who gets a light and looks for it until she finds it by cleaning the house from top to bottom. ⁹When she finds it, she invites her friends around so that they share her happiness that she found the silver piece she lost. ¹⁰In the same way, there is joy like that in heaven over one sinner that turns away from sin”.

11-32 The Prodigal son… 

¹¹And then He said to them, 

“A man had two sons. ¹²The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me now what I’ll get when you die’. And so he gave him his inheritance. ¹³Not much longer after that, he left home and went far away to another country, where he wasted his money on a playboy lifestyle. ¹⁴Just about the time when all his money had been spent, the land had a famine, so there was very little food left and he became very hungry. ¹⁵So he went and worked for a local man in that foreign country who told him to feed the pigs. ¹⁶He was still hungry even after eating the pigs food, and no-one even gave him anything to eat. ¹⁷After he had thought about his situation, he thought, “How many of my father’s staff have more than enough food to eat, when I am going hungry?

¹⁸I will go back home and say to my father, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and you, ¹⁹and I am not good enough to be called your son, so just make me one of your workers”. ²⁰So he got up and went back to his father, but as soon as his father saw him coming in the distance, his heart melted and he ran to his son, hugging him and greeting him with a kiss. ²¹The son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and you, and I am not good enough to be called your son.’

²²But the father said to his staff, ‘Get my best clothes and give them to him. Put my ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. ²³Kill the fat young cow for us to eat and be happy, ²⁴as my dead son is actually alive. Having been lost, he has been found. So, they were very happy for him’. ²⁵Just then the older brother came in from the fields and heard music and dancing, ²⁶so he asked a servant what was going on. ²⁷He replied, ‘your brother is here, and so your father is having a feast to celebrate his safe return.’ ²⁸This made him so angry that he refused to go into the house, even after his father asked him to. ²⁹Instead the brother said, ‘I worked hard for you for years, obeying everything you said. In all that time, you never even let me have a goat so I could invite my friends round for a meal, ³⁰but as soon as this son of yours comes back after wasting your money on prostitutes, you give him the best fatted young cow we had’.

³¹The father said, ‘Son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. ³²It is right that we should have a party now that your dead brother is alive, who was lost but has been found’.”

—-Summary

²¹The son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and you, and I am not good enough to be called your son.’

• Today’s Verse… Who is Jesus? 

¹⁰In the same way, there is joy like that in heaven over one sinner that turns away from sin”.

• Today’s Challenge

¹⁸I will go back home and say to my father, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and you, ¹⁹and I am not good enough to be called your son, so just make me one of your workers”. ²⁰So he got up and went back to his father, but as soon as his father saw him coming in the distance, his heart melted and he ran to his son, hugging him and greeting him with a kiss. ²¹The son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and you, and I am not good enough to be called your son.’

Prayer, Praise and Worship

“… He went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.” Matthew 14:23. 

Jesus taught His disciples what we call ‘The Lord’s Prayer’; (Luke 11).

Listen here to Albert Malotte’s ‘The Lord’s Prayer’. 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, 

thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread. 

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever;- Amen.

Prayer suggestions;-

1. The world. (ie ‘For those in authority.’)
2. The ‘suffering church.’ https://barnabasfund.org/nz/pray/daily-prayer/#previous-dates
3. Your own situation. (Suggest ‘needs’ rather than ‘wants’.)

Pray along with this hymn… Seek ye first the kingdom of God…

Inspirational Radio… 

We have launched our new online discipleship radio station…. 

Our new discipleship radio station:- “Inspirational Radio”, has hour-long Bible readings, David Pawson sermons, testimonies, and classic hymns. Just follow the website links, to https://internetchristianradio.com/

A WORD IN YOUR EAR 

Luke 14: 25-35 Commitment

¹⁶Then He replied, 

“A man put on a feast and invited many to come. ¹⁷He sent out his staff to tell the guests to come, as everything was ready. ¹⁸Then they all made different excuses why they couldn’t come. One man was more interested in looking at his property, ¹⁹another his business ²⁰ and yet another his wife. They all made excuses. ²¹Well, when the staff reported back to their boss, he was so angry that he said, ‘Invite the general public to come. Everyone you can find in the streets, including the poor, the sick, those unable to walk, and the blind. It doesn’t matter”. ²²Well, the staff reported back, ‘Lord, it is done as you said, but there is still plenty of room’.

²³So the employer told his staff, ‘Then go out into the countryside and invite them all to come. In fact, bring them back with you. Do everything to help them to come so that we will have a full house. ²⁴Make sure that there is no room left for the ones invited at first. They will not even have a taste of the supper’.”

²⁵Crowds of people followed Him and He turned and said to them, 

²⁶“If anyone wants to follow Me, you must put Me before your father, mother, wife and self, otherwise you cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ If you do not carry your cross, then you cannot be my disciple”.

 ²⁸Who would build a property before checking the cost, to see if you can finish it otherwise people will laugh at you, ³⁰saying, ‘look at him, he can’t finish what he starts’. ³¹Or what King would start a war with another King who had an army twice the size of his own army? ³²If a King finds himself up against a King like this, don’t you think he would negotiate a peace before it was too late? ³³In the same way unless you give up everything you have got, you cannot be my disciple. ³⁴Salt is good, but what use is it if it is ruined? ³⁵You can’t even use it to fertilise the land or as a cleanser on the sewage pit. It is just thrown away. If you are listening because you want to understand, then pay attention to the point I am making”.

—-Summary

³³In the same way unless you give up everything you have got, you cannot be my disciple. ³⁴Salt is good, but what use is it if it is ruined? ³⁵You can’t even use it to fertilise the land or as a cleanser on the sewage pit. It is just thrown away. If you are listening because you want to understand, then pay attention to the point I am making”.

• Today’s Verse… Who is Jesus? 

²⁶“If anyone wants to follow Me, you must put Me before your father, mother, wife and self, otherwise you cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ If you do not carry your cross, then you cannot be my disciple”.

• Today’s Challenge

³³In the same way unless you give up everything you have got, you cannot be my disciple. 

Prayer, Praise and Worship

“… He went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.” Matthew 14:23. 

Jesus taught His disciples what we call ‘The Lord’s Prayer’; (Luke 11).

Listen here to Albert Malotte’s ‘The Lord’s Prayer’. 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, 

thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread. 

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever;- Amen.

Prayer suggestions;-

1. The world. (ie ‘For those in authority.’)
2. The ‘suffering church.’ https://barnabasfund.org/nz/pray/daily-prayer/#previous-dates
3. Your own situation. (Suggest ‘needs’ rather than ‘wants’.)

Pray along with this hymn… 

GIVE GOD TIME 

Inspirational Radio… 

We have launched our new online discipleship radio station…. 

Our new discipleship radio station:- “Inspirational Radio”, has hour-long Bible readings, David Pawson sermons, testimonies, and classic hymns. Just follow the website links, to https://internetchristianradio.com/

A WORD IN YOUR EAR 

Luke 14:1-15 Serving others… 

Luke 14:1-6 ‘Working’ on the Sabbath. 

One day He was invited to eat with the head of the religious leaders on the Sabbath day in order to watch Him. ²There was a sick man there, ³so Jesus said, to the religious lawyers and leaders, 

“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath Day?” 

⁴They would not answer His question. 

He healed the man just by touching him and let him go. ⁵Then He said, 

“Who has an animal that he would not rescue from a hole it had fallen into on the Sabbath Day?” 

⁶Again, they could not answer Him.

Luke 14:7-11 Humility

 ⁷He then told a teaching story with a hidden meaning to those present, when He noticed how they chose the best places for themselves. 

⁸ “When you are invited to a wedding, do not give yourself the best seat, in case you have taken the seat of someone better than you. ⁹Then the host will say to you, ‘Give up your seat to this man’. Then you will lose your face with shame and have to go to the lowest place. ¹⁰Instead, when invited, sit in the lowest seat so that when the host who invited you, sees that you are in the lowest place, will say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher, so that you will receive more honour from those you are eating with’. ¹¹Whoever is proud will be humbled and whoever is humble will be honoured”.

 Luke 14:12-15 On serving others

¹² Then He said to his host, 

“Don’t just make dinner or supper for your friends, brothers or relatives, as they will simply invite you back to their place, to pay you back. ¹³But when you make a feast, invite the poor and those without an arm or leg or are unable to walk, and the blind, ¹⁴because they cannot pay you back. Then you will be paid back at the resurrection of those belonging to God.” 

¹⁵Then when one of those eating with Him, heard Him say this, he said, ‘Blessed is he who eats in the Kingdom of God’.”

—-Summary

Luke 14:10

¹⁰Instead, when invited, sit in the lowest seat so that when the host who invited you, sees that you are in the lowest place, will say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher, so that you will receive more honour from those you are eating with’. ¹¹Whoever is proud will be humbled and whoever is humble will be honoured”.

• Today’s Verse… Who is Jesus? 

Luke 14:4 He healed the man just by touching him and let him go.

• Today’s Challenge

Luke 14:13

¹³But when you make a feast, invite the poor and those without an arm or leg or are unable to walk, and the blind, ¹⁴because they cannot pay you back.

Prayer, Praise and Worship

“… He went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.” Matthew 14:23. 

Jesus taught His disciples what we call ‘The Lord’s Prayer’; (Luke 11).

Listen here to Albert Malotte’s ‘The Lord’s Prayer’. 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, 

thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread. 

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever;- Amen.

Prayer suggestions;-

1. The world. (ie ‘For those in authority.’)
2. The ‘suffering church.’ https://barnabasfund.org/nz/pray/daily-prayer/#previous-dates
3. Your own situation. (Suggest ‘needs’ rather than ‘wants’.)

Pray along with this hymn… These are the days of Elijah

GIVE GOD TIME 

Inspirational Radio… 

We have launched our new online discipleship radio station…. 

Our new discipleship radio station:- “Inspirational Radio”, has hour-long Bible readings, David Pawson sermons, testimonies, and classic hymns. Just follow the website links, to https://internetchristianradio.com/

A WORD IN YOUR EAR 

Luke 13: 22-35 A warning against Jewish leaders, the offer to Gentiles and a diversion

Luke 13: 22-28 Warnings

²²And He taught as He went through the cities and villages as He made His way to Jerusalem.

²³Someone said to Him, 

“Lord, are many people going to be saved?”

He replied, 

²⁴ “Do everything you can to enter, through God’s way. I know that there will be many that will try to get entry using human ways, which will not get them in. ²⁵Once the master of the house has shut the door, that will be final, even if you are just outside waiting to come in, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open up.’

His reply will be, ‘I don’t know you’.

²⁶You will answer, ‘But you do know us. We ate and drank with you. You taught in our streets.’

²⁷ He will reply ‘I do not know you. Get away from me you evil doers.’ ²⁸ Then there will be both great sorrow and anger with yourselves, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the other prophets in the Kingdom of God and you are thrown away…

Luke 13: 28-30 Gentiles coming into the kingdom

²⁹…Places in the Kingdom of God will be filled by those from the North, the South, the East and the West. ³⁰Those who are seen as being the last in line will be moved up to be first”.

Luke 13: 31-35 Trying to divert Jesus…

³¹Some religious leaders came and said to Him, 

“Quickly, get out of here. Leave. Herod’s going to kill you”.

³²He replied, 

“Go and tell that fox, ‘Look, today and tomorrow I take demons out of people, and cure them, then on the third day I will be made perfect’. ³³I must walk today, tomorrow, and the next day, because a prophet is not normally killed outside Jerusalem. ³⁴O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills prophets and stones them, how often I would have taken you under my wing to protect you like a hen does, but you refused. ³⁵Now you will be deserted. I tell you now that you will not see me again until the day when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord’.”

—-Summary

Luke 13:29 Places in the Kingdom of God will be filled by those from the North, the South, the East and the West. ³⁰Those who are seen as being the last in line will be moved up to be first”.

• Today’s Verse…

Who is Jesus? 

Luke 13:35 I tell you now that you will not see me again until the day when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord’.”

• Today’s Challenge

²⁴ “Do everything you can to enter, through God’s way. I know that there will be many that will try to get entry using human ways, which will not get them in. ²⁵Once the master of the house has shut the door, that will be final, even if you are just outside waiting to come in, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open up.’

Prayer, Praise and Worship

“… He went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.” Matthew 14:23. 

Jesus taught His disciples what we call ‘The Lord’s Prayer’; (Luke 11). Listen here to Albert Malotte’s ‘The Lord’s Prayer’. 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, 

thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread. 

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever;- Amen.

Prayer suggestions;-

1. The world. (ie ‘For those in authority.’)
2. The ‘suffering church.’ https://barnabasfund.org/nz/pray/daily-prayer/#previous-dates
3. Your own situation. (Suggest ‘needs’ rather than ‘wants’.)

Pray along with this hymn… Come let us sing to Jesus our King…