From Ben’s Desk

As I came to have my morning devotional time on Friday, I was feeling a little heavy and down because of a tough situation within our church family. I asked the Lord to encourage me and uplift my heavy heart. I was drawn to a single verse – Romans 8:32 He, who did not spare…

As we start to get life back to normal and pick up what we used to do before we were stopped in our tracks by the Covid-19 lock down, one of the things that other ministers have pointed out and that I have noted, is that some people have been slow to return to church….

Over the years I have spoken with many Christians who have struggled with unanswered prayer. From a subjective perspective, it seems that God just does not answer some prayers. That however, is not so, because in the bible, God has promised to hear every prayer, even those prayers that we find hard to express in…

Today I will be teaching from what must be one of the hardest passages to understand in the letter to the Hebrews – Chapter 6:4-12. On the surface it seems to suggest that a person who believes in Jesus, but then slips away for a period, will never be able to be restored again. If…

By God’s grace and protection, we are back to normal after what can only be described as a remarkable effort by our team of 5 million. These events we have all lived through during these last months will be recorded in the history of N.Z. in time to come. We will tell our story of…

We are living in unprecedented times. Who would have thought, just a month ago, that everybody entering our country would need to self-isolate for 2 weeks and that all large meetings would be cancelled? The Covid-19 pandemic has changed our country and the world in the last 2 months. Yet, as Christians, we are not…

I have recently been challenged once again about my prayer life. None of us pray as much as we could or should. Prayer is an aspect of our Christian lives which remains a constant struggle, but something we must persist with. Jesus clearly said we must pray and not give up. The area of prayer…

How embarrassing! After 10 years of boating and diligently remembering to put the drainage plug into the boat before launching, this week I forgot! It did not take long for my boat to start taking on water. I noticed that strangely the carpets were very wet, and then to my shock, I realised the boat…

This past Thursday our whole country enjoyed a day of rest and reflection. The big occasion that was attended by our politicians and senior leaders was the Waitangi Day gathering at the Bay of Islands. This was not the only celebration; every big city and many of the maraes around the country, marked this historic…

A new year, a new term, a new beginning! As we put aside the long summer holidays and settle into the New Year, it is time to make a fresh start, not only with our day to day activities, but also our spiritual lives. It is time to take stock and set the bar higher…