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, in God’s family, Emmanuel is always 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.

When Israel faced the towering walls of Jericho, they believed God's words and acted boldly. It required something from them before God’s plans could continue to unfold.

Many years ago, when I was new in ministry, a minister asked me to sit in on a deliverance session. It was an education. The woman was a mature believer, with a solid marriage and a respected position in the church. She confessed to sexual activity with incubus demons. She was ashamed and exhausted, but she asked for help. That moment was one of the greatest demonstrations of courage and humility I have ever seen. She stepped into the light. And God met her there. She was wonderfully delivered, and of course, thankful.

The old hymn says, “The way of the cross leads home.” In my experience, the way of courage and humility isn’t just the way home — it’s the way forward in almost every area of the Christian life.

Successful relationships take bravery and humility. To bring up issues honestly with grace and for the other to respond without defensiveness.  If the issue isn’t resolved, it takes courage and humility to keep loving them until God brings a breakthrough.

To move into new levels of ministry takes courage and humility, because nobody gets it right the first time. To move in the gifts of the Spirit, whether on the street or in the church, also takes courage and humility. To grow and go forward, we all have to do the hard things, as did Jesus.  To fulfil His Father's purpose, He showed God-sized courage and unspeakable humility on the cross, for us.

Friends, as we step into 2025, I’m not predicting the annexation of Greenland, the rise of the Nephilim, the Ezekiel 38 war, or the removal of presidents or pastors.  But I will predict this:  We will need to grow in courage and humility, because every step forward in the Kingdom requires both. If you face a “wall”, be courageous, consider Jesus and take action because God's planned future for you is on the other side of your wall.

Be strong and courageous… for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” — Joshua 1:9

God emptied heaven to bring us back to Him by sending His Son on a mission. God said to Joseph, “Call him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” God saw the manifold sufferings of people, but He was dealing with the root of our problem, because humanity’s deepest issue is not economic, social, racial, or educational—it is sin. Today, the media pours out details of the hate between nations, neighbours, and bus riders, but they never mention the Hope: Jesus Christ, who came to save us.

When a PhD cheats on their taxes, and a school leaver pays theirs, the difference isn’t education; it’s sin. When MPs on both sides of the house commit adultery, the issue isn’t politics; it’s sin.  Both rich and poor can become depressed or suicidal, because the cause isn’t money; it’s sin. When suburbs with the greatest public amenities and services still lead in social problems, it's not the environment; it is sin.

Socialists insist our problem is financial inequity, solved by redistribution and taxes. Humanists reject the idea of sin, but, embarrassed by growing evil, blame society and its institutions. New Agers and Avatars tell us cosmic consciousness will solve our problems, but our “godness” is slow coming. Secularists place their hope in technology, but our kids are emotionally sicker. Some psychologists say people's problems come from the suppression of desires and instincts. But their solution to release those drives to be “free,” sounds dumb to me.   Atheists claim that everyone is without sin and is evolving towards utopia. I haven't noticed. They confuse capacity with choice: Though we are created for worship and love, we still choose wrong. So the Scripture is true, “All have sinned… and fallen short of God's requirement” (Romans 3:23).

Everyone has a diagnosis and a cure. But if the diagnosis is wrong, the solution is hopeless. By all means, let's help the poor, alleviate symptoms and suffering and educate all who want to learn. But until we realise the problem is not in our purse or in our parliament, but in our hearts, true change can never come. Only the blood of Christ removes the guilt of sin. Psychiatry may expose it. Psychology may help us cope with it. But only Emmanuel—God with us—can pardon it and remove it. Only Christ the Saviour can save us from the penalty and the power of our sin. Thank you, Jesus!!

Ps. Have a brilliant Christmas celebration with your family and friends. See you in 2026!

Ancient darkness whispers through ancestry, culture, and superstition. The Jews in John 8 clung to Abraham’s name, convinced their genealogy guaranteed God’s favour. But Jesus shattered their illusion: “Your father is the devil.” Pride in their past blinded them from seeing God in the flesh standing before them.

Their ancestors had wandered, been exiled, colonised, and mistreated. Survival stories became identity anchors, but identity rooted in history or offence didn't grant salvation.

Some ancient peoples worshipped the true God of Abraham. Others bowed to animist spirits dwelling in the wind and stones, or to pantheist visions of a divine creation and universe. My own Celtic forebears revered ancestors, feared curses, and read omens in shadows. Bagpipes I love; haggis, not so much. But superstition and mythical gods bound them to fear, not freedom. Even today, international recognition and adoption of indigenous knowledge is not a path into the light.

Jesus spoke to this confusion. He says: “My words are the Truth; if you follow them, you will walk in freedom.” He and His words are the measure of reality itself. And He warns: “If anyone from any age or place isn’t following me, they walk in darkness.”

Friends, culture is a gift. Language, food, family, and traditions should be celebrated. But culture cannot save. Genealogy cannot redeem. The Jews were culturally awakened but spiritually blind. Embrace what Christ redeems in culture, reject what enslaves, and remember: Jesus alone reveals the Father. He is the Truth, the measure of all knowledge, the light that shatters ancient darkness.

God told a prophet to go down to the potter’s house. “Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel.” Jeremiah 18:3. He saw a pot being shaped on the wheel—spinning, turning, pressed and reformed. It’s not a dramatic scene. It’s not loud or flashy. It’s slow. To the pot, it's repetitive, even monotonous. But to the Potter, it is a moment to create beauty. He doesn’t rush. He doesn’t skip steps. He uses time and repetition to mold the clay into something beautiful.
And that is the way it is. We would like instant transformation, but God also works through process. Through seasons. Through time on the wheel.
Monotony is not your enemy—it’s your maker. Without it, you won’t stay married. You won’t stay employed. You cannot have a new wife, a new house, a new job or a new church each month. We think we’re ready to be with people for eternity, but some of us can’t even last ten years in a marriage or three years in a job. We want character and stability, but society tells us repetition is boring. Yet it’s in the repetition that character is formed.
So don’t despise the wheel. You may feel like nothing is changing, but if the wheel is turning, the Potter is working. Thank God for time. And remember, time is also God’s way of making sure all of life’s character-forming troubles don’t hit us in one day. It spreads the weight. It gives us space. It allows us to grow. And in His time, God makes all things beautiful. It has to take time because He is not just preparing you for today—He’s preparing your character and heart for eternity.

The Syrian army was threatening Israel, so King Ahab asked King Jehoshaphat of Judah to help fight them. Ahab hatched a cunning plan. He said to King Jehosaphat, “I will disguise myself in the battle…but you put on your kingly robes.” So during the fight, the Syrians mistook Jehoshaphat for Ahab and pursued him—until they realised he wasn’t the king of Israel. Ahab thought his disguise worked, but then a random arrow from the Syrians struck the galloping Ahab between the joints of his armour, and he died. 1 Kings 22. The decision not to dress like a king cost him his life. The enemy abandoned the one wearing royal robes and killed the one who wasn’t. The enemy still targets believers who won’t wear their kingly spiritual garments.

Last year, I met my cousin and her husband, Michael Rose, for coffee in Devonport. He’s a knighted military general, highly decorated, and once served as the Queen's aide-de-camp, but in casual clothes, he was anonymous in the café. He didn’t look like he had commanded armies in England, the Falklands and Bosnia. No one recognised the authority he carried—because he wasn’t wearing his uniform.

That’s how we can live too. We’ve been given spiritual authority. Clothed with Christ. Endued with the Spirit. But if we don’t put it on our spiritual garments, people may not be helped; they may or may not even sense it, but the devil will.

Friends, let’s not live like we’re empty.  Before we leave the house, let's get ready. Dress like sons and daughters of the Highest, because the world is waiting, both heaven and hell are watching, and our Father is calling us to wear Him into the battle.

Yesterday, marchers for Palestine filled the streets, and cries of genocide filled the media. Today, both sides rejoice, the rubble remains, and we think, “Did Israel need Gaza that badly and why?

Believers’ views can swing between either denouncing or deifying the modern state of Israel.  Of course, the land and people of Israel are deeply significant but we shouldn’t confuse covenants of promise with nationalism. God’s covenant with Abraham was never tribal or nationalistic—it was global: “Through you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). This promise can only find its fulfilment in Christ, Abraham’s true seed (Galatians 3:16). The idea that Christians must support every political action or territorial claim of Israel to avoid divine curses is not rooted in Scripture, but in commentary—especially the Schofield Reference Bible which interpreted Genesis 12:3 as a geopolitical mandate, equating the establishment of God’s covenant with political Zionism. The promise of blessing was to Abraham personally, not to every decision of a future nation-state. The promise of everlasting possession of land was to Abraham and his seed, which ultimately is Christ.  National land promises were conditional on faith and obedience. Israel was exiled to Babylon for disobedience, and in the New Testament, after the believing Jews became the church, the gospel went to the Gentiles. Eventually, under duress, the Jewish people were dispersed throughout the world.

Of course, nations have the right to defend themselves, but the New Testament never commands believers to support every expansionist war or every political decision made by Israel, America or other nations.

Does God love the Jewish people? Absolutely. He still weeps over Jerusalem. But their inheritance is now found in Jesus, not geography. We pray for peace for Jerusalem, salvation for Jews, for an end to all wars and that world leaders can maintain peace. To me, 2-state, 1-state, or 3-state is not an issue. If God meant for Jewish faithful to live in the land forever, forever begins when Jesus returns. Then all God’s redeemed, Jews and gentiles (Palestinians, Kiwis and others), will inherit not only the land of Israel, but the whole earth too.