New International Version (NIV) A Living Sacrifice 12  Therefore, I urge you,  brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,  holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.   2  Do not conform  to the pattern of this world,  but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is  —his good, pleasing  and perfect will. Humble Service in the Body of Christ 3  For by the grace given me  I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.   4  For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function,  5  so in Christ we, though many, form one body,  and each member belongs to all the others.   6  We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your g

"4 So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the [a]persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan. 6 Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. 7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him. 8 Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. 9 Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev." Genesis 12:4-9 (NASB) Bible References:  Genesis 12:4-9; Hebrews 11:8-9;

Bible References:  Genesis 12:4-9; Genesis 13:4 We need to be ready.  Ready to go where and when God calls us.  Like Abram.  God called him.  He went.  Did he build a big, fancy house?  No.  He lived in a tent.  Abram was looking for not for an earthly city, but the heavenly city. Abram obeyed God.  He simply was what God called him to be.  And God blessed him for being who God made and called him to be. We need to be what God wants us to be.  Who made the nations?  God.  In Australia - we are Aussies.  That's who God wants us to be.  In Australia part of who we are is that we respect our leaders but never make them out to be 'gods'. In the past you can come to Australia from another culture and we accept YOU and you can come and live in Australia and become a part of the Australian culture.  It is saddening that this has been undermined where Australians are being subtly told they must accept the person's culture and lose own own. In this, the Age of Reason, ma

Bible References:   Hebrews 11; 2 Chronicles 20:7; Isa. 41:8; James 2:3; Romans 4:9-25; Galations 3:6-9; James 2:20-24; Genesis 11:26; Joshua 24:2-3; Genesis 12:1-3   Abraham’s faith was not made under the law.   Our righteousness does not come from the great things we do.   (Romans 4:13) It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. Romans 4:16: Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. If Abraham had no faith then he wouldn’t have went as God directed and we wouldn’t have Israel or the Messiah as foretold in the Bible. Gal 3:6-9:   Consider the experience of Abraham; as the scripture says, He believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as righteous. You

Bible references: Genesis 12:1-3; Job 1; Gal 4:21-31 Abraham:  Faithful.  Genesis 12:1-3.  Abraham was called by God to a land he didn't know.  Abraham wasn't perfect.  He made many mistakes and it took many years for him to get to the land God wanted him to go to.  But God made Abraham a promise - see Genesis 12:1-3 Joseph:  Honourable.  Joseph trusted and obeyed God through trials and temptations.  He learned to forgive those who had treated him badly. God used Joseph to save the known world at that time from famine.  Joseph was highly respected even in prison and then as Prime Minister in Egypt. Job: Righteous.  He loved God.  He wasn't perfect.  He made sacrifices on behalf of his children in case they had sinned.  But Job wasn't God and he couldn't make his children right with God.  Each person is accountable for their relationship with God. Are you in a place of bondage or freedom?  It's not about whether there is trouble in your life or