Daily Devotional Thursday 3rd March

“But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside.” - Job 23:10-11

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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

March 2: Morning

"But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock." - 1 Samuel 13:20

We are engaged in a great war with the Philistines of evil. Every weapon within our reach must be used. Preaching, teaching, praying, giving, all must be brought into action, and talents which have been thought too mean for service, must now be employed. Coulter, and axe, and mattock, may all be useful in slaying Philistines; rough tools may deal hard blows, and killing need not be elegantly done, so long as it is done effectually. Each moment of time, in season or out of season; each fragment of ability, educated or untutored; each opportunity, favourable or unfavourable, must be used, for our foes are many and our force but slender.

Most of our tools want sharpening; we need quickness of perception, tact, energy, promptness, in a word, complete adaptation for the Lord's work. Practical common sense is a very scarce thing among the conductors of Christian enterprises. We might learn from our enemies if we would, and so make the Philistines sharpen our weapons. This morning let us note enough to sharpen our zeal during this day by the aid of the Holy Spirit. See the energy of the Papists, how they compass sea and land to make one proselyte, are they to monopolize all the earnestness? Mark the heathen devotees, what tortures they endure in the service of their idols! are they alone to exhibit patience and self-sacrifice? Observe the prince of darkness, how persevering in his endeavours, how unabashed in his attempts, how daring in his plans, how thoughtful in his plots, how energetic in all! The devils are united as one man in their infamous rebellion, while we believers in Jesus are divided in our service of God, and scarcely ever work with unanimity. O that from Satan's infernal industry we may learn to go about like good Samaritans, seeking whom we may bless!

Evening

"Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." - 1 Peter 2:7

The apostle Paul felt it a great privilege to be allowed to preach the gospel. He did not look upon his calling as a drudgery, but he entered upon it with intense delight. Yet while Paul was thus thankful for his office, his success in it greatly humbled him. The fuller a vessel becomes, the deeper it sinks in the water. Idlers may indulge a fond conceit of their abilities, because they are untried; but the earnest worker soon learns his own weakness. If you seek humility, try hard work; if you would know your nothingness, attempt some great thing for Jesus. If you would feel how utterly powerless you are apart from the living God, attempt especially the great work of proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ, and you will know, as you never knew before, what a weak unworthy thing you are. Although the apostle thus knew and confessed his weakness, he was never perplexed as to the subject of his ministry. From his first sermon to his last, Paul preached Christ, and nothing but Christ. He lifted up the cross, and extolled the Son of God who bled thereon. Follow his example in all your personal efforts to spread the glad tidings of salvation, and let "Christ and him crucified" be your ever recurring theme. The Christian should be like those lovely spring flowers which, when the sun is shining, open their golden cups, as if saying, "Fill us with thy beams!" but when the sun is hidden behind a cloud, they close their cups and droop their heads. So should the Christian feel the sweet influence of Jesus; Jesus must be his sun, and he must be the flower which yields itself to the Sun of Righteousness. Oh! to speak of Christ alone, this is the subject which is both "seed for the sower, and bread for the eater." This is the live coal for the lip of the speaker, and the master-key to the heart of the hearer.

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Bartholomew

[Bärthŏl'omew] - son of tolmai.

One of the twelve, mentioned only in the lists of the apostles (Matt. 10:3,Mark 3:18; Mark 3:18; Acts 1:13). Bartholomew is really not a name but a patronymic. This apostle is identified as Nathanael.

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Today's reading: Numbers 23-25, Mark 7:14-37 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Numbers 23-25

Balaam's First Message

¹ Balaam said, "Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me." ² Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

³ Then Balaam said to Balak, "Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet with me. Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you." Then he went off to a barren height....

...read the rest on Bible Gateway

Today's New Testament reading: Mark 7:14-37

¹⁴ Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. ¹⁵ Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them."

¹⁷ After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. ¹⁸ "Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? ¹⁹ For it doesn't go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)

...read the rest on Bible Gateway

Guy Zangari and Fairfield

The ALP's replacement for Tripodi has had a dubious start. He has been challenged to correct the mistake of Tripodi and address the issue of Hamidur Rahman's untimely death and the blaming of his parents for what was apparently school negligence. However he has done nothing to address the issue.

Zangari went with Tipodi to front Fairvale HS during a staff development day in term 4 in 2010. Usually there aren't staff development days then, but the ALP needed to be able to send its candidates into schools before the election and so the staff development days were pushed back from 2011. One guesses success of the foray will be measured in teacher support.

Election campaigners clash during Premier's Fairfield visit

NEWS

PHOTOS: Liberal and Labor supporters clashed in Fairfield yesterday during a visit by Premier Kristina Keneally.

Housing Announcement

PHOTOS

Joe Tripodi and Guy Zangari Announce Villawood Housing plan.Pictures:...

Charlie's hat in ring for Fairfield

NEWS

ASSYRIAN Sports and Cultural Club chief executive Charbel "Charlie" Saliba has been officially endorsed as the Liberal Party candidate for the state seat of Fairfield.

New Guy kicks off Fairfield Campaign

NEWS

OUTGOING Fairfield MP Joe Tripodi has given his successor, Guy Zangari, a lesson in pressing the flesh as the former school teacher kicked off his election campaign at a Fairfield shopping centre.

Labor's new Guy in Fairfield

NEWS

LABOR Party names former Patrician Brothers teacher Guy Zangari as Joe Tripodi's replacement for Fairfield.

Zangari's ALP poster doesn't have the ALP logo

The posters are outside an empty shop front. Which is just as well .. I won't shop at any place which has his posters and not Mr Saliba's (Charbel Saliba being the LIberal candidate for Fairfield)

Zangari puts multiple posters in these bankrupt shops .. a kind of metaphore for what he will do in government with ALP policy for Fairfield.

If you look closely at Fairfield Railway station you will find an ALP inspired hole in the ground.

Zangari is the face of the void

2500 new rooms for Liverpool Hopsital

23 Feb 11 | , antenatal clinics and intensive care unit already operating. Mr Khoshaba and Mr Lalich joined Fairfield Labor candidate GuyZangari to meet Premier Kristina Keneally for the formal opening of the building last week. "This new clinical services building

BLOG: POLLIE WATCH

Keneally: Tripodi won't pull strings after election

01 Mar 11 | Tripodi was playing a strong role in the election campaigns of Labor candidate for Fairfield Guy Zangariand Cabramatta MP Nick Lalich. She said concerns Mr Tripodi would continue to have an influence after the election were ''ridiculous''. ''I

NEWS - GENERAL

Electoral tsunami set to sweep ministers away

16 Feb 11 | following Paul Gibson's retirement); the Energy Minister, Paul Lynch (Liverpool); the Minister for Local Government, Barbara Perry (Auburn); and the Community Services Minister, Linda Burney (Canterbury). Among Labor Party newcomers, Guy Zangari, who

NATIONAL - GENERAL

Boards up, tempers rise

22 Feb 11 | Zangari might have his own opinions about the tactics of people defacing his posters like this one on Polding Street. No matter who takes the high road and who takes the low road between now and the March 26 election one thing is for sure, Fairfield

Keneally's Trains

Keneally is claiming credit for offering to give money back to those in her local area. But really she is fronting a party that has siphoned money from its constituents and now wants to do a three card trick to get the entire state to pay for an old ALP pork barrel. One third of trains are air conditioned. But fewer trains actually have air conditioning that works. This is the price of ALP. They have delivered 16 years of corruption.

TICKETS on sections of the rail line which includes Sydney Airport will be cheaper from next Monday, but travellers to and from the airport will still pay full fare.

NSW Premier Kristina Keneally announced on Wednesday that the government would subsidise the private company which runs the line so that commuters from Mascot and Green Square, in Sydney's southeast, pay the same amount as other rail users.

This means they will get the same MyZone fares as the rest of the CityRail network, with the price of their weekly ticket slashed from $42 to $25 - a saving of $850 a year.

"The NSW government has entered into an agreement with the Airport Rail Link that will remove the station access fee for Green Square and Mascot stations," Ms Keneally told reporters at Mascot in her seat of Heffron.

Litter on the floor and graffitti. Sometimes the litter is cans, sometimes broken glass. Sometimes fruit. Sometimes paper. The Graffitti looks like permanent marker, old gum and spray paint.

The rubbish can occasionally be dated .. sometimes to as long ago as a week before

This is an afternoon train in a weekday.

Children will be going home from school in an hour or so after these shots were taken







The dead insects in the lighting may have been there months.

Daily Devotional Wednesday 2nd March

“Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” - Psalm 73:25-26

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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

March 1: Morning

"Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out." - Song of Solomon 4:16

Anything is better than the dead calm of indifference. Our souls may wisely desire the north wind of trouble if that alone can be sanctified to the drawing forth of the perfume of our graces. So long as it cannot be said, "The Lord was not in the wind," we will not shrink from the most wintry blast that ever blew upon plants of grace. Did not the spouse in this verse humbly submit herself to the reproofs of her Beloved; only entreating him to send forth his grace in some form, and making no stipulation as to the peculiar manner in which it should come? Did she not, like ourselves, become so utterly weary of deadness and unholy calm that she sighed for any visitation which would brace her to action? Yet she desires the warm south wind of comfort, too, the smiles of divine love, the joy of the Redeemer's presence; these are often mightily effectual to arouse our sluggish life. She desires either one or the other, or both; so that she may but be able to delight her Beloved with the spices of her garden. She cannot endure to be unprofitable, nor can we. How cheering a thought that Jesus can find comfort in our poor feeble graces. Can it be? It seems far too good to be true. Well may we court trial or even death itself if we shall thereby be aided to make glad Immanuel's heart. O that our heart were crushed to atoms if only by such bruising our sweet Lord Jesus could be glorified. Graces unexercised are as sweet perfumes slumbering in the cups of the flowers: the wisdom of the great Husbandman overrules diverse and opposite causes to produce the one desired result, and makes both affliction and consolation draw forth the grateful odours of faith, love, patience, hope, resignation, joy, and the other fair flowers of the garden. May we know by sweet experience, what this means.

Evening

"He is precious." - 1 Peter 2:7

As all the rivers run into the sea, so all delights centre in our Beloved. The glances of his eyes outshine the sun: the beauties of his face are fairer than the choicest flowers: no fragrance is like the breath of his mouth. Gems of the mine, and pearls from the sea, are worthless things when measured by his preciousness. Peter tells us that Jesus is precious, but he did not and could not tell us how precious, nor could any of us compute the value of God's unspeakable gift. Words cannot set forth the preciousness of the Lord Jesus to his people, nor fully tell how essential he is to their satisfaction and happiness. Believer, have you not found in the midst of plenty a sore famine if your Lord has been absent? The sun was shining, but Christ had hidden himself, and all the world was black to you; or it was night, and since the bright and morning star was gone, no other star could yield you so much as a ray of light. What a howling wilderness is this world without our Lord! If once he hideth himself from us, withered are the flowers of our garden; our pleasant fruits decay; the birds suspend their songs, and a tempest overturns our hopes. All earth's candles cannot make daylight if the Sun of Righteousness be eclipsed. He is the soul of our soul, the light of our light, the life of our life. Dear reader, what wouldst thou do in the world without him, when thou wakest up and lookest forward to the day's battle? What wouldst thou do at night, when thou comest home jaded and weary, if there were no door of fellowship between thee and Christ? Blessed be his name, he will not suffer us to try our lot without him, for Jesus never forsakes his own. Yet, let the thought of what life would be without him enhance his preciousness.

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Ahasuerus

[Ăhăsū ē'rŭs] - king or mighty man.

1. A Persian monarch, to whom accusations against the Jews were brought, bore this name (Ezra 4:6).

2. It was also the name of a Median king, father of Darius (Dan. 9:1).

3. A Persian king who became the husband of Esther (Esther 1:2-19).

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Today's reading: Numbers 20-22, Mark 7:1-13 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Numbers 20-22

Water From the Rock

¹ In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.

² Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. ³ They quarreled with Moses and said, "If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD! ⁴ Why did you bring the LORD's community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? ⁵ Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!"

...read the rest on Bible Gateway

Today's New Testament reading: Mark 7:1-13

That Which Defiles

¹ The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus ² and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. ³ (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. ⁴ When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)

...read the rest on Bible Gateway

US Campaign for Burma request

Inspire Through Art REMINDER - The voting deadline is fast approaching for our Free Burma Design Contest. Vote for your favorite Free Burma designs before the clock strikes midnight on March 2. The four designs with the highest number of "Likes" will be reproduced on campaign materials such as stickers, mugs and t-shirts. You can vote for as many designs as you want by clicking "Like" found at the bottom right of the pictures. Spread the word to your family and friends and get them to vote for their favorite Free Burma designs by midnight on March 2. Last week, Burma's Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, served as a "virtual" guest director at Brighton's 2011 Art Festival in the U.K. In her message to the artists at Brighton and around the world, she said, "We all think of Brighton Festival as a time for festivity, for diversity, for creativity, and for freedom of expression. This is especially important to us in Burma who have been deprived of this right of freedom. We look to you to use your freedom of expression to let the world know what it is like in our country." This is a plea we must take to heart. The overall response from the Free Burma Design Contest is one more example of the endearing commitment many of our artists/activists have shown towards freedom, justice, and democracy in Burma. Vote now for your favorite Free Burma Designs before it's too late! In solidarity, Nadi Hlaing Support 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and the struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma: Become a member of the U.S. Campaign for Burma. Or, make a tax-deductible donation today.

Heaven can Wait

Heaven Can Wait - The Best Ballads of Meat Loaf Vol. 1 is a 1996 compilation album by Meat Loaf. It features 12 ballads from his albums.

It was released on Smm Records in January 1996 and re-released in 2003 on EMI Gold.

Daily Devotional Tuesday 1st March

“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” - 2 Timothy 1:7

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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

February 28: Morning

"My expectation is from him." - Psalm 62:5

It is the believer's privilege to use this language. If he is looking for aught from the world, it is a poor "expectation" indeed. But if he looks to God for the supply of his wants, whether in temporal or spiritual blessings, his "expectation" will not be a vain one. Constantly he may draw from the bank of faith, and get his need supplied out of the riches of God's lovingkindness. This I know, I had rather have God for my banker than all the Rothschilds. My Lord never fails to honour his promises; and when we bring them to his throne, he never sends them back unanswered. Therefore I will wait only at his door, for he ever opens it with the hand of munificent grace. At this hour I will try him anew. But we have "expectations" beyond this life. We shall die soon; and then our "expectation is from him." Do we not expect that when we lie upon the bed of sickness he will send angels to carry us to his bosom? We believe that when the pulse is faint, and the heart heaves heavily, some angelic messenger shall stand and look with loving eyes upon us, and whisper, "Sister spirit, come away!" As we approach the heavenly gate, we expect to hear the welcome invitation, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." We are expecting harps of gold and crowns of glory; we are hoping soon to be amongst the multitude of shining ones before the throne; we are looking forward and longing for the time when we shall be like our glorious Lord--for "We shall see him as he is." Then if these be thine "expectations," O my soul, live for God; live with the desire and resolve to glorify him from whom cometh all thy supplies, and of whose grace in thy election, redemption, and calling, it is that thou hast any "expectation" of coming glory.

Evening

"The barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah." -1 Kings 17:16

See the faithfulness of divine love. You observe that this woman had daily necessities. She had herself and her son to feed in a time of famine; and now, in addition, the prophet Elijah was to be fed too. But though the need was threefold, yet the supply of meal wasted not, for she had a constant supply. Each day she made calls upon the barrel, but yet each day it remained the same. You, dear reader, have daily necessities, and because they come so frequently, you are apt to fear that the barrel of meal will one day be empty, and the cruse of oil will fail you. Rest assured that, according to the Word of God, this shall not be the case. Each day, though it bring its trouble, shall bring its help; and though you should live to outnumber the years of Methuselah, and though your needs should be as many as the sands of the seashore, yet shall God's grace and mercy last through all your necessities, and you shall never know a real lack. For three long years, in this widow's days, the heavens never saw a cloud, and the stars never wept a holy tear of dew upon the wicked earth: famine, and desolation, and death, made the land a howling wilderness, but this woman never was hungry, but always joyful in abundance. So shall it be with you. You shall see the sinner's hope perish, for he trusts his native strength; you shall see the proud Pharisee's confidence totter, for he builds his hope upon the sand; you shall see even your own schemes blasted and withered, but you yourself shall find that your place of defence shall be the munition of rocks: "Your bread shall be given you, and your water shall be sure." Better have God for your guardian, than the Bank of England for your possession. You might spend the wealth of the Indies, but the infinite riches of God you can never exhaust.

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Shemaiah

[Shĕma ī'ah] - jehovah is fame, jehovah has heard or obeys the lord.

Evidently this popular name was shared by many Bible men, and at times two of the following may be the same individual. It is not an easy matter to identify them exactly.

1. A prophet sent by God to prevent Rehoboam from warring against the house of Israel. His part in the revolution and history are clearly defined (1 Kings 12:22; 2 Chron. 11:2; 12:5, 7, 15).

2. Son of Shechaniah and father of Hattush, descendant of Zerubbabel (1 Chron. 3:22).

3. Father of Shimri, perhaps Shimei, and head of a family of Simeon (1 Chron. 4:37). See verses twenty-six and twenty-seven.

4. A son of Joel, perhaps Shema of 1 Chronicles 5:8, and head of a family of Reuben (1 Chron. 5:4).

5. A Merarite Levite dwelling in Jerusalem (1 Chron. 9:14; Neh. 11:15).

6. A Levite, father of Obadiah (1 Chron. 9:16). Called Shammua in Nehemiah 11:17.

7. Head of the Levitical Kohath clan who assisted in bringing the Ark from the house of Obed-edom (1 Chron. 15:8, 11).

8. The son of Nathaneel, a Levite, who recorded the priestly office in David's time (1 Chron. 24:6).

9. Oldest son of Obed-edom, a Korhite Levite and a gatekeeper of the Tabernacle in David's reign (1 Chron. 26:4, 6, 7).

10. A Levite, commissioned by Jehoshaphat, to teach the people in Judah (2 Chron. 17:8).

11. A son of Jeduthun who helped in the purification of the Temple under Hezekiah (2 Chron. 29:14).

12. A Levite in Hezekiah's time who was over the freewill offerings of God (2 Chron. 31:15).

13. A chief Levite in the days of Josiah (2 Chron. 35:9).

14. A son of Adonikam who returned with Ezra from exile (Ezra 8:13).

15. A chief man under Ezra sent to Iddo to ask for ministers. (Ezra 8:16).

16. A priest of the family of Harim who married a foreign wife (Ezra 10:21).

17. A person who helped to repair the wall (Neh. 3:29).

18. A son of Delaiah hired by Sanballat and Tobiah to intimidate Nehemiah (Neh. 6:10).

19. A priest, one of the twenty-four courses of priests that with Nehemiah sealed the covenant (Neh. 10:8; 12:6, 18, 34, 35).

20. A singer who took part in the dedication of the wall (Neh. 12:36).

21. Another, or perhaps the same person as the previous one, who gave thanks at the dedication (Neh. 12:42).

22. The father of Urijah the prophet who was slain by Jehoiakim for prophesying against Jerusalem and Judah (Jer. 26:20).

23. A prophet called "the Nehelamite" who in captivity was actively engaged in reproving or opposing Jeremiah (Jer. 29:24-32).

24. The father of Delaiah, a prince of the Jews to whom Baruch read the roll he had written under Jeremiah's direction (Jer. 36:12).

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Hodesh

Scripture Reference: 1 Chronicles 8:8-9

Name Meaning: New moon

This is the name of one of the wives of Shaharaim. The other wife of the Benjamite was Hushim. It will be noticed that in the pedigree of the family of Benjamin the wives of Shaharaim are said to have been Hushim and Baara; but, when the children of each of his wives are enumerated, the name of Hodesh appears instead of that of Baara. The explanation of these two names on the one person is given thus by Wilkinson-"The word Baara is derivable from baar, 'to burn,' and may thus mean 'a burning,' 'a kindling,' which is the sense of beera in Exodus 22:6; whence some suppose that it designates the same person called Hodesh, by allusion to the kindling of fires as beacons, by which it was customary among the Israelites in very ancient times, to announce the appearance of the new moon."

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Today's reading: Numbers 17-19, Mark 6:30-56 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Numbers 17-19

The Budding of Aaron's Staff

¹ The LORD said to Moses, ² "Speak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs from them, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write the name of each man on his staff.³ On the staff of Levi write Aaron's name, for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe. ⁴ Place them in the tent of meeting in front of the ark of the covenant law, where I meet with you. ⁵ The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites...."

...read the rest on Bible Gateway

Today's New Testament reading: Mark 6:30-56

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

³⁰ The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. ³¹ Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."

³² So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. ³³ But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. ³⁴When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things....

...read the rest on Bible Gateway