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Paul sat thinking about the Isthmian Games held close to Corinth, where he had repaired tents, and wrote to encourage the church to run their race, “Run in such a way that you may obtain it.” The track was roughly two hundred meters, and the runners ran with every weight removed. Only freemen of Greece could compete—not slaves or foreigners. This all pictures our Christian life as only freemen in Christ, not slaves of the world, can run this race. And all believers are in the race. As sinners, God offered us eternal life as His free gift: Yet once we believe and possess eternal life, scripture tells us we are running for a prize. A reward often talked about by Jesus, to be granted for faithfulness, diligence, endurance, and wholehearted devotion.

Paul declared that he ran this race with purpose, embracing suffering, thirst, and hardships because he saw the value of the prize. Paul’s strategy to fulfil his calling and win the prize was simple and instructive.   “I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus”. Php 3:14 . The word Goal, often translated Mark, is the Greek word “skopos”. In the race, the “skopos” was the man at the finish line watching for the victor. The prize was given to the one who reached the mark (goal) first. That goal is Christ

Friends, to finish our race well, we too must press toward the “skopos”. Whether in a difficult patch or times of joy and releasing the kingdom, our pursuit is to close the gap between Him and us. Jesus is our mark—not ease or ministry success. Even revival and harvest are not the mark. To pursue anything above Him is to miss the goal entirely. Jesus is the One thing needed. He is the message, the mission, and the measure. Just seek Him, adore HIm, gaze on Him, listen to HIm, and obey HIm. When we live in intimacy with Him, other kingdom goals are secondary, but the fruitfulness of purpose and mission becomes inevitable.

We don’t know her name only her love. When Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him with an alabaster flask of costly fragrant oil and poured it on His head.  Set free from torment and now living with new hope, she came to pay her debt the best she could. But some disciples including Judas asked why the fragrant oil was “wasted?” GK Apoleia” Literally “ruined to perdition.” 

300 denarii was close to a year’s wage. That is extravagant worship. You can’t accurately ladle out worship, so she poured it out.  Worship is wasteful; it is always excessive, even over the top. You can only pour it out unmeasured. Extravagant worship always exposes the hard, pragmatic, selfish or merely natural mindset

Judas also asked why her passion and devotion were not used to help the poor. But worship is not about being helpful or alleviating need. Meeting a need is a good thing to do at any time but it is not worship.  Worship is given to the One who has no need - we worship because it is we who have the need to worship.

Tellingly, when Jesus was describing Judas later, as the “son of perdition”, he used the exact same word "wasted", meaning “ruined to perdition.”  When a man calls wasted a thing that God esteems, God who wishes to esteem every man's life, may call it wasted.

Friends, the extravagance of our worship and how we rejoice in extravagant worship by others, is a good indicator of our heart and our future.

My friend at the gym went on,” But do you know that only a third of the world population is Christian? I said, “It started with Jesus and only 12 men! today the impact of Christ is global and continues to grow. Jesus Christ is a Divine mystery; he was born of a woman, yet he created all women and men. He is hard to fully understand.  You can understand Mohammed.  He lived, he died and his bones are still upon the earth. We can understand Buddha. Born a man but said his father was an elephant with six trunks and that there was no way to find God. He died in 400 BC. But Jesus! This manual labourer who walked with dirty feet, calloused hands, and a rough village accent is, in fact, the Being who has existed from all eternity. He is the Holy One who hurled all the galaxies into being. Yet He came to earth.

Evidence of Messianic prophecy. The Old Testament contains over 300 predictions about the Messiah from His birth to His death and resurrection, all written centuries before Jesus arrived. The odds of one person fulfilling even eight of these is 1 in 10¹⁷. That’s like covering New Zealand in coins five metres deep, marking one, blindfolding someone, dropping them anywhere in N.Z. and expecting them to pick the marked coin on the first try.

Evidence of Jesus Christ. Jesus was God in the flesh, so He is the ultimate proof of God. He has more attested evidence than any Caesar. Jesus acted in ways only God can.  Jesus commanded demons, seas, storms and diseases to go, and they did. He commanded eyes to see, the lame to walk, and fig trees to wither.  He walks on water and raises people from the dead. Jesus made statements that only God can make. He promised forgiveness of sins and resurrection to eternal life to all who will trust in Him.  

Resurrection evidence. Eventually, He died on the cross to pay for our sins. The people who saw Jesus die later found His tomb empty. This tomb was impenetrable and guarded. “Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed”. John 20:8. Seeing Jesus resurrected transformed the disciples into men willing to live and die for the Truth.  The global Church remains evidence and the only religion not founded by dead men.

Personal Evidence.  The greatest evidence is the fact that many millions of people around the world, from Iran to the New Guinea highlands to the streets of New York, have met Him and been changed by him. If God is real, we should encounter Him. And we do.  I wasn’t looking for Him or expecting Him to notice me when He touched me. While camping. I met some young people who talked about a Saviour who loved me. I cried for hours in my tent.  God speaks, God heals and cynics become worshippers. I’ve seen God transform marriages, free the addicted and deliver those bound by demons.

Friends, you might argue with theories and philosophies. But you cannot argue with a God who shows up. None of this is self-help, but the power of a risen and present God. It is all totally believable, so come on, believe! The Bible says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved!” Acts 16:31 .

Recently, I spoke to a dear man facing cancer. As we talked about hope, he said, “I know the tomb was empty, but perhaps that was fake”.  I shared what I could and went home to continue my research!

If God were to speak to humanity, he wouldn’t leave a Post-it note on the Wailing Wall. He left something impossible to fake, powerful enough to outlast empires and include some miraculous evidence.

Evidence of Divine authorship.  The phrase, "The word of the Lord came to..." or "Thus says the Lord" appear over 2,000 times in the Old Testament alone. The Bible was not written by human genius or even illumination from God. The Holy Spirit caused men to write the infallible word of God without violating their personalities.

Historical Evidence:  The Bible records actual conversations, commands, covenants, and encounters with God. Abraham, Moses, and Samuel were real people who met with God.  Archaeology repeatedly confirms the Bible’s accuracy. The Tel Dan Stele verifies the “House of David.” The Pilate Stone confirms the Roman governor who sentenced Jesus. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 demonstrated that the Hebrew Scriptures have been transmitted with precision for over two thousand years.

The Evidence of theUnity of Scripture. Written by forty authors on three continents over fifteen hundred years, in different languages.  No group chat or shared Document and yet there is one storyline, one message of unfolding revelation. You can’t get three people today to agree on where to eat lunch, yet forty authors in different centuries could agree because of inspiration from an ever-living person.

Evidence of miraculous deeds and words.  Moses parted seas, Joshua parted walls. The prophets healed lepers and multiplied oil and predicted events, hundreds of years before they took place, about Egypt's judgment, Israel's dispersion, and the rise and fall of Assyria, Babylon and others.

Friend, since it was penned, the Bible has been the most loved and most hated book. Empires have banned it, burned it, and killed those who possessed it, yet it remains the most printed, translated, and influential book ever produced. It has shaped justice, inspired art, launched scientific discovery, and transformed lives. Paul, the Pharisee, went from persecuting Christians to joyfully suffering for Christ because he met the risen Jesus. As he wrote, “I know whom I have believed” (2 Tim 1:12).

To be continued..

I was sitting on the inclined shoulder press at the gym when the gym instructor was urging some women nearby to push harder in their workout. One protested, “That’s too hard.” The instructor replied, “Fine, you do you.”

I’ve heard that phrase many times, and it always struck me as a bit woke and a bit weak. But as I inwardly scoffed, I felt like God was speaking to me. “You do you.”  As I questioned Him, it suddenly clicked.

“You are a son of God and a vessel filled with Another.
You house the Spirit of your Father, you are born from above and are one Spirit with God.
You are strong in your weaknesses, constrained by His love, and have the mind of Christ.
You shine as light in darkness, and you are alive for such a time as this.  So “You do you.”  in other words: Be who I made you to be.

We've had this talk before, but I was encouraged and excited. I said, “All right, Lord — I’m ready to be me.” Almost immediately, a man walked up to me on his way to the spin cycles to talk about the Holy Spirit. I encouraged him to go deeper and reminded him that we need all the power of the Holy Spirit we can get.

On the lateral Pulldown in front of me was a man I had prayed for years before. I had forgotten his name but asked him if he was doing well, and he told me about his nail-punctured foot. I took the opportunity to pray for it.  He thanked me. Most sinners love prayer.

Over by the window was a man I had never seen. I felt the Holy Spirit gave me a word and shared that God was calling him to influence young people. He replied with a smile, “Yes and tomorrow I fly to Christchurch to start as a youth pastor. Perfect timing!

On my way out, I spotted Moko, who told me he used to play gospel songs as a kid. I went over and said, “Kua mutu taku korikori. Kei te haere au ki te kāinga. Kia pai te rā.” (I'm finished and going home). I’m learning te Reo because it’s a missionary principle — when you go to a country, learn the language. (The TV1News is helpful.)

Walking back to my car with Jesus, we smiled together. Again, “If you do you, I can do Me”.

Friends, we are all in the same family with the same Emmanuel in us and with us. You do you — because we are His hands and mouth, and when we do, people’s lives can change. When we do what He made us to do, He can do what only He can do.

Today should be a celebration of the gospel of Jesus. In all the tension around the treaty, we can forget the massive role that Christianity played. The missionaries were the strongest advocates for Māori. They pushed for British law to restrain lawless settlers. They defended Māori rights and land. They opposed the New Zealand Company’s aggressive colonisation. They urged the Crown to protect Māori from exploitation. They helped both sides understand one another, encouraging chiefs to sign because they genuinely believed it would safeguard Māori wellbeing. Missionaries were trusted by the chiefs more than the Crown itself. Hōne Heke and Tāmati Wāka Nene both cited their Christian faith as a reason for signing. After the signing, Hobson shook hands with the chiefs and said, “We are now one people,” echoing Galatians 3.28.

The Christian worldview of the missionaries shaped the framework of Te Tiriti. They believed people would value honesty and honour agreements because they feared God. The Treaty was signed by believers—Hobson, Busby, with Williams and Clarke present, and 500 Chiefs. At the time, almost half of Māori in NZ were following Christ. But things have changed. Many political leaders now reject God, refusing to honour Him or seek His help, and many Māori are returning to animism. It is unrealistic to reject God in parliament yet expect Him to hear prayers on the Treaty grounds, just as it is unrealistic to expect Maori to find peace without forgiving. The tension we feel today is that a document shaped by Christian thinking cannot be lived out by parties who no longer think Christianly. Covenant thinking requires faithfulness, honouring God, and honouring one another. When that is lost, relationships collapse into leverage and mistrust.

Obviously, what would help the Treaty to work as intended would be for all parties to return God. Reconciliation is not political and not another handout; it is relational. It looks like bowing together before Jesus, receiving God's mercy and grace, humility, listening, forgiving, and rebuilding trust. It means acknowledging pain and also the blessings that came from the arrival of Pakeha. The Treaty matters because people matter. In the meantime, believers can live as one people even when others do not. We can acknowledge progress, pursue justice without hostility, and remember that without the gospel, today’s debate is like arguing over who gets to be captain and who will have the biggest cabin, all while the boat is sinking.

In 2025, we visited Malta, specifically to see the Bay of St Paul, where Paul was swept ashore after his ship went down. We travelled for an hour to a mountain village, where the bus broke down. We waited in 40‑degree heat for the replacement, which came so late that we no longer had time to reach St Paul’s Bay. It wasn’t the day we imagined or planned!

Paul’s story carries the same shape. He thought he would sail all the way to Rome, but the ship broke apart. Acts 27–28.  Yet we know Paul still reached Rome, just not by the path he assumed. Sometimes what we think is necessary to reach our destination isn’t needed at all. God often takes us by a route we never expected to bring us His desired plan.

With rocks approaching, the sailors tried to escape in the lifeboat. Paul told them to stop and to cut the boat loose. Faith often looks like releasing the thing we were relying on and trusting God. When the ship finally shattered, the sailors reached Malta by clinging to broken planks of wood. In Scripture, wood often points us to the cross—Moses throws a tree into bitter waters, and they are healed. This time, wooden boards carry the endangered to safety. Clinging to the cross is still our strategy. It can bring us from shipwreck to shore if we hold on. Hold on and look to the One who was nailed there for you. The cross is the sure promise of His love and purpose for your life.

Friend, your life may not have unfolded the way you thought it would, but God can still bring you to His desired destination. In our shipwrecks, understanding God is optional, but trusting God is essential. Perhaps you feel like you are the broken thing? Being broken doesn’t deter Him. If you’ve failed, He can restore you. And if you are not right, you can call on the Name that is always right. The storm may rage, and the plans you thought would work may be sunk, but God’s promise stands. God fulfilled His plan for Paul, and He can do it for you.

The other night we saw the movie “What About Bob? a man trapped in unreality, plagued by compulsive behaviours who believed he had many illnesses despite no medical evidence. While Bob lives in unreality, he mirrors our spiritual state before we met Christ.

In Mark 5:15 Jesus met and delivered the insane man from the tombs, who then sat listening at Jesus' feet, clothed, and with a sane mind. He was free of demonic thoughts and ready to follow and witness for Jesus. That is sanity!  Scripture teaches that without Jesus, we are literally insane—our minds darkened, our perceptions distorted, our fears unchecked, but when we are born again, God gives us a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind.  (sōphroneō: saved and sane 2 Timothy 1:7)

Every person, including PhDs, politicians, parents and preachers who reject Christ, are biblically insane, believing things about the universe that are not real. Atheists who have no access to the spiritual realm brazenly claim that God does not exist. Marxists believe joy comes from the state controlling all things. Materialists believe happiness is owning more. Modernists trust only science or themselves.  Pantheists believe they can meet god by touching their hair to a branch of a tree. Woke believe that the “marginalised” are always right, and postmoderns tell themselves that deconstructed relationships are better than marriage, when even recent secular research says different: “Adults who are married report being far happier than those in any other relationship status, according to a Gallup Poll published Friday. 9 Feb 2024. Married couples report higher trust and satisfaction in their relationships compared to unmarried cohabitating partners, according to the Pew analysis. 21 Apr 2024. Couples who are merely cohabiting might be less willing to invest in their relationship and associated social networks as compared to couples with the relational stability that comes with marriage. Statistically, cohabiting men are four times more likely to cheat than husbands, and cohabiting women are eight times more likely to cheat than wives.” Blekesaune, 27 Mar 2021.

 Yet, people choose to live in unreality and self-selected echo chambers, education and media reinforce their delusions. Unbelievers live in a frightening world—without God, hope, or help. And sadly, for some people, it is literally traumatic. For them, denial can become a comforting defence, but it cannot deliver.

So, friend, how is your sanity? Are you seated at Jesus’ feet, clothed in His love, filled with gratitude, and ready to tell of His goodness? Yes? Great! People so need to meet Jesus, because until they do, they’re just nuts.

In 2016, we were running late and trying to get to the airport in Portugal. On the motorway, the GPS was slow to refresh and appeared to say to turn right. We did and ended up on one of the longest bridges in the world. We couldn't turn around for 20 kilometres! There are moments in life when it feels like you’ve taken a wrong turn and ended up on a bridge you never wanted to cross. Maybe it’s a financial burden, a health crisis, a broken relationship, or a spiritual dry spell. We didn’t plan it, but here we are.

David returned to Ziklag to find everything gone—his city burned, his family taken, and his men ready to stone him. David had every reason to collapse under the weight of grief, fear, and exhaustion. But in that moment, when no one stood with him, David did something powerful: “But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.” 1 Samuel 30:6. He didn’t have answers. He didn’t have support. But he had a history with God. Kings need to know how to stand alone. It was only a short time after that, that he was crowned King.

Encouraging yourself in God doesn’t mean pretending everything’s fine. It means remembering who He is, what He’s done, and what He’s promised. It means choosing to believe that God who blessed your going out is still with you in your coming in—even over a bridge you hate.

Friend, your bridge isn’t forever and God isn’t finished yet. So look up and go ahead. Encourage yourself that God is still good, still present, and still in control. Because crowns come to those who are faithful in trials. And by the way, we just made it to the check-in, and they opened the bag drop again, just for our bags!