Pheiffers in Oz

Click here to view them

Click on Great Snap Shots to view pretty incredible pictures

Ciao

Great photos of insurance headaches for farmers - Look in the photo album “Great Snap Shots”

Belated happy birthday wished to Cathy Pheiffer. We had a wonderful time at a Tai restaurant in Newtown, Sydney. The food was incredible!! May you step into the promises of God this year 2008.

Lots of love

Hope, Faith and Love

Psalms 25:22 (NIV)
May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you.

Psalms 33:19 (NIV)
But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,

Psalms 147:12 (NIV)
the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.

Psalms 62:6 (NIV)
Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.

Psalms 119:115 (NIV)
You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.

Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

John 14:12 (NIV)
I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

These verses of scipture are speaking of the hope that we have in the Lord. Living your life with integrity and right standing in God offers you protection from your enemies when you hope and take refuge in the Lord.

In Psalm 33 and 147 the Word reveals what we must hope in, and that is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 depicts that out of faith, hope and love the greatest is love. Unfailing Love is what we set our eyes on and since God is love we look to Him in our hope. Obtaining love and loving God with all you heart mind soul and strength is so important; even if you have faith that can move mountains, but have not love you are nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2). Loving your neighbour as yourself is the second most important commandment - if you can’t forgive others, God cannot forgive you. Hand in hand with love come faith and “without faith it is impossible to please God”.

Hebrews 11:1 describes faith as the necessary element to afirm what we are hoping for. Psalm 62 is encouraging because whilst hoping in the Lord’s love through faith, He gives us the hope we need so that our mind, will and emotions might have peace knowing that by having faith in Christ’s death and resurrection we have received grace and righteousness (Romans 5:1-2).

How then do we obtain faith? “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17 (NIV)). What is an indicator that we have faith - John 14:12 - Faith without works is dead.

The measure of faith we have not only applies directly to our relationship with God, but has implications for our practical, every day lives also. Romans 14:2 (NIV) says, “One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.”

How then can we strengthen our faith? The answer lies in 1 Thessalonians 3:2 - through the gospel of Christ. Reading through the gospels of Matthew, Mark Luke and John it becomes evident that Jesus’ focus was on the kingdom of God. The whole reason for Jesus’ death on the cross was to provide a means through His love for us to attain righteousness so that we could repent and enter the kingdom, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near”. Increasing our elementary faith from believing in Christ’s death and resurrection to believing the fullness of the kingdom of God is encouraged by Paul in Hebrews 3:1-3. Therefore by becoming ever more righteous (in right standing with God and His kingdom government principles) through faith which is strengthened by the Gospel of Christ, our faith can be increased.

“The righteous shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17)

1 Timothy 6:11 encourages us to pursue righteousness, faith and love as well as godliness, endurance and gentleness. Pursuing faith should not be motivated by receiving earthly treasure, although Jesus assured us in Matthew that our Father in heaven knows that we are in need of food and clothes and will give us these things. “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you”. Pursuing things without pursuing God is a dangerous attitude described in Luke 12:21.

James 2:5 compares our prosperity between the worldly perspective and that of the kingdom. Why should you worry about pursuing earthly riches, when you can inherit the kingdom of God by loving the Lord who has the authority to give you those riches in the first place. Even if you have received those earthly riches through the blessing of giving or by gaining knowledge (my people perish for a lack of knowledge, which incidently does not only apply to riches), the ‘parable of the shrewd manager’ highlights the importance of being a good steward of those riches (Luke 16).

Thus faith, hope and love are linked - one cannot do without the other. Loving God and others are the two greatest commandments, without faith it is impossible to please God and hope is the link between faith and love.

Wynand Pheiffer

Congratulations!!! We are so happy for you guys…Hope to see ya soon.

Have posted pictures of the wonderful day in the Photo Album “Maryka and Natie’s Wedding”

Matthew 6:33 (NIV)
But seek first His (Jesus) kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

This is an amazing scripture because it shows that the Kingdom of God is a government under-which laws we can choose to live and reap the benefits from living righteously (in right standing with Jesus Christ). Importantly though, we must not seek after the benefits the Kingdom of God provides to its citizens, but seek the Kingdom itself first.

GROSE FUN AT THE RIVER

“The Grose River has its catchment in the northern section of Blue Mountains National Park and flows into the Nepean River at Yarramundi, near Richmond” (www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au).

“The Grose River and its tributaries have eroded an extensive labyrinth of gorges and canyons through the Hawkesbury (upper) and Narrabeen (lower) group sandstones, exposing cliffs of commonly over 200 metres and up to 510 metres in height” (www.colongwilderness.org.au).

So this is where we visit regularly for a bit of afternoon leisurly fun - a great alternative to the beach which is more than an hour away. There is a convenient extensive sand bank for the littly’s to play on and what great fun it is to swing into the water from a rope hung on a tree!
The sand bank wasn’t always there and has been caused by clearing, urban expansion, changed fire frequency and the roads built around the river catchment.

We taught the dogs to dive under water after sticks - the photos speak for themselves (look in the ‘having a great time’ album link).

Lynda and Natalie have finally arrived in Australia - WELCOME and we are looking forward to the many laughs and conversations to be had.