We know that the Kingdom of Heaven is a kind of “now and not yet”. We live in a reality where the Kingdom of our God has not entirely invaded the kingdom of this world. It is His intention, and He wants it to happen, but it has not fully happened, yet...

This means that there could well be times in our lives when we suffer unexpected and seemingly unnecessary loss. But we do not live with such an expectation. We live with the reality, but not the expectation. By living with such an expectation we are blocking the channels through which God's Kingdom can invade.

This means that when I lay hands on the sick, each and every one, every dead person I lay my hands on, I must expect the fullness of the Kingdom of Heaven to invade Earth at that given moment for that given situation. Just because I may be living in a seemingly alternative reality to what I may have seen before does not change the fact that the Kingdom of Heaven wants to and can fully invade that circumstance.

If I have any doubt just because of what I have or haven't seen before means that I do not entirely believe the promises Jesus made. My circumstances do not determine the Truth of what Jesus bought for me, and what He promised me. How can they? Those past circumstances are merely reminders that this kingdom of Earth needs the Kingdom of Heaven to invade it more than ever before!

What we must learn is that this Earth has been under immense bondage and slavery since the “fall”, and it does not quite know how to handle the invasion of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is a completely different reality to what is known here on Earth.

This Earth is in a great darkness. People say God is omnipresent. He is everywhere. And while that is theoretically true, I have difficulty believing He is in the cells of cancer that are ravaging a beautiful young lady of only 25 years old giving her only weeks to live and leaving her family shattered. Or that He would be in the cells of an HIV virus weakening a young boy to the slivers of his skin and bone, leaving him but months away from his deathbed. Is God in that? Tell me!!! Is God in that? HOW CAN HE BE????

NO!!!! I am sorry, but God is NOT in that!! He is not in that cell and He is not in that virus!!!

He walked with Adam and Eve in reality. Not theoretically. When He moved them out of that garden, He placed them in a world where He was not. It was a world He had indeed created. But legally according to what they had done, He justly cursed the land and from that moment that land has been crying out and groaning ever since.

My friend, the time has come for us to stop dancing around pathetic theological ideas that pander to our Earthly circumstances and that we rise up and see that there is an alternative reality waiting to BURST into this reality. It is the Kingdom. The Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom that was before. The Kingdom of our God. My friend, the kingdoms of this world SHALL BECOME the Kingdoms of our Most High God. Through us. Because of what Jesus the Christ has done for us. Paid for us. Bought for us.

His Price was far too high to expect anything less. I for one will not allow circumstances to alter what I see promised to me by my Father in His Holy-Spirit inspired Word. For His Glory always. That the world may know.

Grace is fresh. Every day. Not just any grace, like the grace you may receive from a friend when you've wronged them. Or the grace from the tax man. Those too are great. But the Grace of God revealed in the Person and subsequent death of Christ Jesus is fresh every single day. Every minute of every hour. And I want to live there forever!

I don't know if I am different, and if I'm a little strange, but I can't get enough of understanding the deep truths and realities of God's unbelievable Grace for mankind!

This morning I was paging through some books and just "refuelling", and was reminded and reawakened to the beauties of this Glorious Gospel. Enjoy...

"For most people, it takes more unlearning than learning to understand the fullness of God's Grace and the Glories of the New Covenant!"
DR Andrew Farley

"When one misreads Scripture, it is as dangerous as the captain of a ship misreading a tide chart in shallow waters."
DR Andrew Farley

"You can listen to a whole bunch of Gospel-centred, Grace preaching. But such is the nature of the flesh that all it takes is one works-based sermon to abandon the Glorious Gospel and slip back into a faith based on works."
Joseph Prince

"Many Christians still walk in Old Covenant bondage. Regarding the law as a Divine ordinance for our direction, they consider themselves prepared and fitted by conversion to take up the fulfillment of the law as a natural duty."
Andrew Murray

"There is this kind of dangerous element about the true presentation of the doctrine of salvation."
DR Martin Lloyd-Jones

And I would like to emphatically share with you that I AM ABSOLUTELY, ENTIRELY, COMPLETELY UNASHAMED ABOUT THE TRUE GOSPEL OF CHRIST JESUS! FOR IN THIS GOSPEL, THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD (NOT MAN) IS REVEALED!!!!

I will never settle for anything less! I will never shrink back! This Glorious Gospel is too awesome!

Firstly, I would like to make it emphatically clear that my wife and I count ourselves immensely privileged to be able to travel the way we have done. We place a high value on time together as a family, and hence memory-creating vacations are important to us. Therefore when we set ourselves goals of traveling we begin saving significant portions of our income well in advance. And for this particular trip, that saving started a very long time ago. On top of that, God our Father has been incredibly gracious in providing us all we need in making this trip possible, and for that we are so thankful.

With that in mind… herewith the story of the "trip-of-a-lifetime"...

It all started a good 5 years ago or so. My wife Corinne and myself were edging closer to sweet marital bliss. And each time "honeymoon" came to mind, I pictured snowy, adrenalin-filled days in the Swiss Alps. That was until we set our wedding date, when we realized skiing wasn't good for that time of year.

But the dream of skiing with my wife on beautiful snow covered slopes never died. I had the privilege of going skiing with my family in 2005 in Canada. My first taste of true panoramic mountainside skiing since I was 6 years. Oh I had waited a long time. And the skill hadn't left me either!

Upon return from that 2005 trip I pleaded with Corinne that we go on on a skiing honeymoon, but as mentioned it didn't work out. But the dream remained.

Once mission "tropical-island" had been completed… we embarked on a new adventure. And it was to come.

My family has always been the adventurous type, and quite a traveling bunch. Especially my dad's side. And I had to get some further traveling under my belt before we "settled down" and have kids (or something like that). So we started putting the bucks aside each month and figured 2 or 3 years into our marriage and we should have enough.

We eventually settled on January 2010. We didn't have enough. How can 3 years of saving not work out? You know how it goes. But again, Dad in Heaven supplied ALL our needs. And He blessed us through people and opportunities that had Heaven's signature all over them. And it looked like we would be ok. We were.

One of my favorite testimonies is that of the flight agent. Corinne and I planned our trip, and headed to Flight Centre. The quoted price was one of those that induce heart failure. You know, the reason they're installing heart defibrillators in shopping malls. Yep, one of those.

So, choking back home, we figured it would be back to the drawing board. All until a divine coffee appointment at a local shopping mall.

Corinne, having coffee at a less-visited mall with a friend, spotted a flight agency where she knew the manager. Upon enquiring, the quoted price was close to half the price what Flight Centre quoted! Just little things like that showing God's hand in blessing His kids. We are so thankful.

We finalized our destinations: London, Bognor Regis, New York City, Seattle, Crystal Mountain ski resort (yes!), San Francisco, Redding California, Disneyland LA. Wow. Trip of a life time indeed!

Here ends part 1.

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So that's just a little insight into how the trip came into being. In the next edition I'll give a summary with some photos of the England leg of the trip.

I would love to hear your comments if you've visited and follow this travel journal.

Until then!

Adios

Have you discovered "Pure Grace"? Nothing less, nothing more. Grace is not a doctrine. Neither is it a topic that is visited at the pulpit every few months. Grace is the Person of Jesus Christ.

What a week. In fact, the last couple of months have been the most busy of my life. But as I said in a previous blog post entitled “is your faith being tested”; I knew it would. I doubt it will slow down all that much, although I look forward to stepping into more of what God has for me, and in that, I firmly believe I will be freed up to do more of that which He has called me to focus on. But all in His time. I will always serve Him, no matter what. He is too good not to serve!

Back to this week... it's been a tough one. My wife's grandfather passed away on Wednesday evening. Us South Africans often use the Afrikaans term “Oupa” for our Grandfathers, and that's who he was to most of us. He was 85. He lived a great life, and died so peacefully in his sleep in his own bed. The way most of us would like to go. Right?

It saw me doing my first memorial service as a “pastor”. It was an immense privilege. Evert de Jager, or Oupa, was an incredible man who taught me so much. My wife Corinne, myself, and my brother in law had many moments together with him praying over him, praying for him, and sharing the love of God to him. They were special moments.

So being asked to do the memorial service was an honour. He was a man who accepted Jesus' free gift of salvation, and that of course makes death so much more peaceful. Death was not the end, by no means! It was simply a passing from one life to another. A passing from this life to Real Life. (Capitals intended). So we celebrated a life well-lived, and a New Life begun. What a joy. Of course, as a family, it still remains somewhat of a shock, but there is a Peace that rests upon us in this time.

The other news that came through just this morning was that of a good friend, Jeremiah*, who passed away after months of battling with cancer. Jeremiah was a man with so much of life left to live; and at a fairly ripe middle-age he leaves 3 incredible children and a beautiful wife.

My grandfather was ready to go at the age of 85; and there of course surely isn't too much point in praying for a man who wants to enter his New Life. But in stark comparison, Jeremiah didn't deserve to go. It surely could not of been his time. We rebuked that cancer, but alas, to no avail. I believe Scripture promises that God has gifted us with 70 years on this Earth. Anything short of that is not God's will. God is good, all the time, and it is not God who takes people to be with Him before their time. It contradicts His nature!

So while we mourn the death of Jeremiah, we again celebrate the fact that he is with his true Father in Heaven. Despite his early passing, we don't question God's goodness. And neither should we question the authority we have over that which is not of God. Cancer for one.

I don't live in a fantasy world. This is real life. But I refuse to allow experiences change the Truth that has been revealed in THE Truth, God's Word. We have been every authority. Nothing should stand in our way. Nothing.

Sure, the questions remain. I'm a real guy with real questions. But I don't allow questions to change my revelation of God's Word. He is Good. More than we could ever know. Nothing, nothing, nothing! Nothing can ever change that!

Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the family of Jeremiah. We love you, and grieve with you in this deeply painful time. Rest in the truth that he is with the best Father in the Universe. The One True God. Yahweh. Wow.

One love forever in the Kingdom.

Until next time,

James