Reflections on faith, life, the Bible, ministry and more…
I have added a new category to my blog recently. It is an “audio” category. This will help you to find not only the text of some of my sermons, but also those that were recorded on the day.
If you are interested, you can find it here, or you can subscribe to our podcast here.
Your life without a computer: what does it look like?
Life without a computer. I could not imagine that now. I have been using a home computer since the early 1990s.
Initially it was for email, my studies and looking up a few websites, but over time it became more about ministry. I set up PASSIONAustralia.org in 1998 and it has been going ever since.
Since setting up PASSION a couple of things stand out to me…
1. Our website PASSIONAustralia.org has had tens of millions of visitors with many of them going to our salvation pages.
2. Our free discipleship booklet has been downloaded over 100,000 times and translated in to different languages.
When I was working as a Pastor I would come home after church and put my sermon text and audio online for people to read and listen to again or if they missed church that week.
Most of this has been done on my home computers I have had. More recently it has been on my iPads or my iPhone, but still I could not imagine doing ministry without a home computer.
So life without a computer, it would look very very different.
Back in 1998 when I started PASSION Australia it was a very interesting time. I had been a Christian for 9 years, had spent some time in Bible college and I was finding my place in church and ministry.
I was on the preaching roster at church and serving with the youth group, but I felt like God had more for me to do. So I went through a season of 2-3 months of deep searching and prayer just asking God for what is next.
One early morning during my prayer time I had a deep sense of God wanting to give me something. As I travailed in prayer I felt as if God birthed in me a new ministry. Over the course of several hours God downloaded something new in to me.
I had the name PASSION Australia, some outreach ideas and some of the things we were going to do. It was such a deep time of prayer and receiving that I had to ring my boss at work and say I will be in late. All I could say was God is doing something in me.
After furiously writing everything down I felt ready to leave for work. As I was driving to work I was praising God and worshipping Him as I drove. I was saying thank You for the name PASSION Australia, and thank You for the mission and vision.
Then as I drove along I asked God if the letters of PASSION could stand for something. As soon as those words left my lips, He said, “Preaching And Saving Souls In Our Nation”. I was absolutely amazed and was so overcome with emotion that I had to pull over my car and just praise Him.
The funny thing about all this is when I walked in to work a few hours late my boss just looked at me. She later said I looked like I had been with God. I do not think my face was glowing like Moses coming down from the mountain, but she could see something.
Over the next few weeks I spoke with my Pastor and explained what had happened and about the ministry ideas God had given me. He prayerfully said he thought it was in line with my gifts and calling and he arranged an Elders meeting at church.
I nervously presented my idea to the Elders and they prayerfully gave me their backing. One of the Elders was on our original board and make a huge impact in our outreach efforts. He was there to provide prayer, wisdom and energy. He was amazing.
In reflecting back I am so thankful I had the backing of my Pastor, Elders and the church. It really helped as I nervously stepped out in to the world. Knowing I had the backing of my church meant a lot.
Reflecting back some 26 years later, I am so thankful to God for the things that happened. I am thankful PASSION was birthed in prayer, for God giving me His vision and name for the ministry, and I am so thankful for the people who supported me from day one.
In the last 26 years four things stand out for me.
1. Our website PASSIONAustralia.org has had tens of millions of visitors with many of them going to our salvation pages.
2. Our free discipleship booklet has been downloaded over 100,000 times and translated in to different languages.
3. One free Jesus Film video we gave away got a whole family of five saved and the lady took it to her work at a nursing home and played it for the residents.
4. Our early boards meetings where we prayed for hours. God’s presence was always so strong and His leading was so clear.
In Matthew 9:32-37 we see Jesus has been preaching, teaching about the Kingdom and healing the sick. In verse 36 He looks upon the crowd of people and it says compassion welled up within Him. He said the people looked like lost sheep without a shepherd.
Then Jesus makes an interesting request. He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields” (v37-38).
Up until this point Jesus has done all the ministry work. He had been preaching, teaching, healing, driving out demons, raising the dead and calming storms. The disciples were following along and just watching and taking it all in.
Now the disciples were getting asked to be involved in His work. How? By praying. Jesus asked them to pray for workers to go out in to the harvest. As I reflected on this request a couple of things came to mind.
1. Prayer should always precede ministry outreach.
2. When I pray God often softens my heart and calls me to be involved.
In the start of the next chapter we see Jesus sends out the 12 disciples. We do not know how long after it was when He asked them to pray, but I suspect it was fairly soon.
Matthew 10:5-8 NLT says, “Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions: “Don’t go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, [6] but only to the people of Israel-God’s lost sheep. [7] Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. [8] Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!”
In this sending out we see Jesus gave them strict instructions. Go to these people, preach the Kingdom, heal the sick and caste out demons. It was a set of clear instructions with defined boundaries.
As I dwell on these passages from Matthew 9&10. I am reminded on our early days at PASSION Australia. Our board would have a meal together and then spend an hour or two in prayer asking God what He wanted us to do.
We would simply pray, “Lord You said the harvest field is ripe, but the workers were few. Please send us out. Let us know where to go and what to do. Lead us to the people whose hearts you have been preparing, we want to lead them to You. Amen”. Then we would wait on the Lord.
Often over the next few days God would speak to us separately and when we came together again, we would share what God had been saying to us. Most times it was exactly the same and it confirmed what we needed to do.
At first we were surprised, like the disciples when they came back from their first mission. But in time we realised that if we pray first, then God would lead us to the people who needed Him and were ready to receive.
We learned a simple lesson in the early days of PASSION. The Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 is given to us, but ultimately it is God’s mission. He wants to whole world to come to know Jesus and He uses us. But it always works best when we seek Him and pray, “What do You want us to do and where do You want us to go?”
What are you passionate about?
This is an easy one to answer. The things I am passionate about are always not far from the surface and easy to see. I have many passions, but one stands above it all.
My faith in Jesus is my number one passion. Since I came to Jesus in July of 1989, my life has never been the same. He changed everything for the better. My heart is to walk with Him all the days of my life.
Walking closely with the Lord drives everything else I do in my life. He is the reason I get up early to pray and read my Bible. He is why I want to be the best husband and father I can be. He is why I am a Chaplain. He is why I have my PASSION websites to reach out with His love.
If it was not for Jesus I do not know where I would be. Jesus has given my life meaning, purpose, strength, hope and a future. He loved me and died on the cross for me. My response is to give my life back to Him each day and to take up my cross as it says in Matthew 16:24.
What am I passionate about? Jesus!
I have added four new Bible readings plans today to our website. The plan below looks at women of the Bible.
Two Weeks on Women of the Bible
Day 1 – Genesis 2 – Eve, the first woman.
Day 2 – Genesis 18 – Sarah laughs at God’s promise.
Day 3 – Genesis 24 – Rebekah’s marriage to Isaac.
Day 4 – Genesis 27 – Rebekah, the manipulative mother
Day 5 – Judges 4 – Deborah’s leadership frees her people.
Day 6 – Ruth 1 – Ruth and Naomi’s deep friendship.
Day 7 – 1 Samuel 1 – Hannah prays for a son.
Day 8 – 1 Kings 17 – A poor widow and the prophet Elijah.
Day 9 – 1 Kings 21 – Jezebel, an emblem of wickedness.
Day 10 – Esther 2 – Esther is chosen as queen.
Day 11 – Esther 4 – Esther’s courage at the risk of death.
Day 12 – Luke 1 – Mary and Elizabeth receive great news.
Day 13 – Luke 2 – Mary gives birth to Jesus.
Day 14 – John 11 – Mary and Martha and their brother’s death.
With 2024 upon us I thought it was time for an update and makeover for my main website at PASSIONAustralia.org.
The new look website is live and online now. Over the coming weeks I will be adding more resources that were on the previous site.
If you are interested you can find it here at PASSIONAustralia.org
Blessings,
Dave