North Ryde Christian Church

In everyday life, we love a good deal. We clip coupons, hunt for promotional codes and try to earn discounts through loyalty points or spending just enough money to qualify. We can apply this same mindset to God – hoping that if we do enough good deeds, avoid enough major mistakes, and keep a clean record, we will eventually “earn” enough credit to get into heaven.

The problem with our good works is that no matter how many spiritual “coupons” we try to collect through good behavior, we can never earn our way to a holy God. Every one of us has sinned and missed God’s standard of perfection (Romans 3:23). Sin separates us from God, and no amount of self-improvement or religious effort can pay the price for it (Romans 6:23).

While we could never afford the price of admission to heaven, God offers it to us as a completely free gift – that is why it’s called the good news! The price has already been paid in full by Jesus Christ on the cross.

“God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it”
Ephesians 2:8–9

This is the ultimate free offer. You don’t need to work for this gift or try to earn a discount. You simply need to accept it:

1. Admit that you fall short and cannot save yourself.
2. Believe that Jesus Christ paid your debt through His death and resurrection.
3. Receive Him as your Lord and Savior, trusting His grace alone.

Prayer: Dear God, I admit I have fallen short and can not earn my way to heaven through my own effort. I accept your free gift of salvation made possible to me because Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again to pay for my mistakes. Thank you. Amen.

Acknowledgement: This article was sourced from Outreach Media, Sydney, Australia.
Images and text © Outreach Media 2026

Do you long to improve your physical appearance? Weight loss, muscle gain, glowing skin, whiter teeth, thicker hair, fuller lips, less wrinkles. A national survey by The Butterfly Foundation found 1 in 3 Australians are unhappy with the way they look. Cue the “glowup” phenomenon and the 19 to 25 billion dollars spent every year by Australians on their physical appearance.

Yet after our 30s biology is against us – it’s a battle we can not ultimately win. The aging process only goes one way and with it goes muscle mass, skin elasticity, hair growth and our metabolism.

As I find myself caught in this often futile struggle to hold on to physical attractiveness, I find comfort and hope in these words:
Jesus Christ will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body. Philippians 3:21

Our earthly story ends the same way for all of us: with death and decay. But Jesus offers something radically different, an eternal hope through resurrection. Jesus Christ is God who came to earth in a human body, one that aged just like ours. He came to save us not only from the decay of our bodies but also from the decay of our souls.

When I reflect on what’s truly beneath the desire to look good, deeper even than wanting compliments, confidence, or a good first impression, I find a longing to be loved and accepted.

When we accept the free gift Jesus offers, we can look forward to bodies transformed into something more glorious than anything this world can imagine. More beautiful than any model, bodybuilder, or beauty influencer. A beauty beyond our comprehension.

But even more wonderful than that, as God’s forgiven children, we can experience the deepest desire of our hearts: His perfect love and acceptance.

Do you want to receive this precious gift? Start reading the Bible. Talk to a Christian. Pray to your heavenly Father today.

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, I want to know Your perfect love and acceptance more than I want the perfect body. Please forgive me and accept me through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Give me the hope of my own resurrection and the joy of eternal life with You. Amen.

Acknowledgement: This article was sourced from Outreach Media, Sydney, Australia.
Images and text © Outreach Media 2026

Living forever – is that something that appeals to you?

Perhaps we could divide the world into the type of people who would do anything to live forever and those who couldn’t think of anything worse. The entrepreneur billionaire Bryan Johnson is in the “would do anything” camp. He has the goal of being the healthiest and longest living person on earth. In pursuit of this Bryan has created (and sells) a Don’t Die protocol. He adheres to a strict sleep, nutrition and exercise regime while constantly measuring his biological health and aging markers. It takes a great deal of money, effort and  commitment on his part but for Bryan delaying aging and death is worth the sacrifice.

Perhaps you’re in the second category, life has knocked you about so much, living forever sounds tedious if not cruel.

Eternal life, according to the Bible, is something far greater than a never ending slowed aging existence on this earth. It is a blissful, harmonious  state of being in God’s loving presence where death, suffering and decay no longer exist. Living forever with God is the perfect peace and happiness we are all so desperately longing for. And the sacrifice required to get it is not ours to make.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

The sacrifice required to secure our eternal life was far greater than a strict health regime. Indeed it was the greatest sacrifice ever made. God gave His one and only precious Son Jesus to pay the penalty for our wrong doing. Through Jesus’s great sacrifice on our behalf we can receive forgiveness and enter into God’s glorious and good presence for eternity. That is living forever!

What would you do to gain this eternal life? Will you do the only thing God requires – believe in Jesus? If so, pray to God today, declare your trust in Jesus, and you will live forever.

Prayer: Lord God, You promise eternal life to all who believe in your son Jesus. I acknowledge my wrongdoings  before you and accept Jesus’ sacrifice on my behalf. Please forgive and let me enter into the eternal life you promise to all who believe. Amen.

Acknowledgement: This article was sourced from Outreach Media, Sydney, Australia.
Images and text © Outreach Media 2026

I woke up early yesterday, so I watched the soccer. In the world cup, the Australian socceroos played the pharaohs from Egypt. It reminded me of Moses and the Israelites verses Pharaoh and the Egyptians at the Red Sea.

Dallas Stadium was a sea of red, and Pharaoh was there in the crowd. There was an own goal and chasing the Israelites to the Red Sea was a home goal for Pharaoh. Harry Souttar was a like Moses, only Moses wouldn’t have missed that goal!

They seemed to have changed the game of soccer by adding diving! Better dives get more penalties. There were also miracles – I saw players that were mortally wounded have a rapid recovery.

The prophet

After God defeated the Egyptians at the Red Sea, the Israelites travelled to Mount Sinai where they were given the 10 commandments. They were terrified when God appeared on the mountain and asked that God speak to them through a mediator (Ex. 20:18–19). And Moses was that mediator for at least 40 years. But in Deuteronomy, Moses was about to die. That generation of Israelites had never been without Moses as their leader and as God’s voice to them. But now that he was to die, how were they to know God’s purposes?

So, Moses told the Israelites, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb [Mount Sinai] on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”
The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.
(Dt. 18:15-19NIV).

The answer was that God would raise up a prophet whenever they needed to hear from Him. It says, “I will put my words in his mouth”. Each prophet spoke words given to him by God.

So, after Moses there was a series of Jewish prophets as described in the Old Testament. They were all “like Moses”. They spoke words that came from God. That was how God communicated with the Israelites.

The ultimate prophet

The people of the first century AD were expecting a particular prophet. When asked, John the Baptist said that he wasn’t “the prophet” (Jn. 1:21).

After Jesus fed the 5,000, some people said that that He was the promised prophet (Jn. 6:14). Likewise, after He taught the people some said that that He was the promised prophet (Jn. 7:40). When Jesus came into Jerusalem as King, the crowds said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee” (Mt. 21:11).

Peter quoted Deuteronomy 18:15, 18, 19 and said that Jesus was the ultimate fulfillment of the promise (Acts 3:22-23). Paul agreed when he said, “there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). Jesus is the ultimate mediator between God and humanity. He is the go-between who resolved the conflict between God and mankind.

This Prophet is trustworthy because He is much more than a man. He is the Christ, the Son of the living God (Mt. 16:16). The people understood that this meant He was God (Jn. 5:18).

Prayer

Father God, we thank you for raising up Moses to be the leader and mediator of the old covenant (the Law). And we thank you for providing the other prophets to guide the Israelites after Moses died.

But most of all we thank you for providing Jesus as the leader and mediator of the new covenant (of God’s grace). We realise that as the divine Son of God, He is exceedingly greater than all the other prophets. And He fulfills the Old Testament roles of prophet, priest and king.

We thank you for His sacrificial death that enabled our sin to be forgiven and us to be reconciled with God. And we thank you for His resurrection back to life which was a great victory over death, sin and Satan. In Christ’s name, Amen.

G Hawke

Most of us don’t like to be surprised. Every boss hates surprises. The “no surprises” rule is a golden rule of workplace communication. It means alerting your manager of bad news before they hear about it from someone else.
This protects them from unexpected embarrassments.

Did you know that Jesus told His disciples at least three times about His death and resurrection? But they were still surprised when it happened!

The first time

After Peter said that Jesus was the Messiah, Matthew wrote, ^“From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life” (Mt. 16:21NIV).

The second time

After the transfiguration and Jesus healed a demon-possessed boy, Matthew wrote,
“When they came together in Galilee, He said to them, ‘The Son of Man [Jesus] is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill Him, and on the third day He will be raised to life’” (Mt. 17:22-23).

The third time

When Jesus was going to Jerusalem with His disciples before His crucifixion, He said, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles [the Romans] to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day He will be raised to life!” (Mt. 20:18-19).

These three messages to the disciples are mentioned in Matthew, Mark and Luke, making at least nine times in the Bible. But they weren’t remembered on Good Friday or Easter Sunday. They didn’t think that Jesus would die and His resurrection was unexpected.

Why didn’t they remember?

Even through Jesus had told them at least three times, they didn’t remember. The reasons for this could include,
– They didn’t understand what kind of a Messiah Jesus was. They were expecting someone who would overthrow the Roman occupiers, restore the political kingdom of Israel, and give them political glory. For example, just before Jesus ascended to Heaven they asked, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).
– There was no concept of a Messiah raising from the dead, or a resurrection before the end times.
– They may have thought that Jesus was speaking symbolically or in metaphors or parables, although there is no evidence of this.
– The main reason was that God kept it hidden until after the resurrection when the Holy Spirit helped them to remember. “Its meaning was hidden from them” (Lk. 9:45; 18:34). Their grief and confusion at the crucifixion showed that the resurrection wasn’t staged or expected.

The sequence of events was predictions, misunderstanding, fulfilment, and understanding. Jesus told the disciples about His death and the events that followed “so that when it does take place you may believe” (Jn. 14:29). When they understood, and believed, they helped to establish the early church.

The repetition of the predictions shows that Christ’s death and resurrection was not an accident, but part of God’s saving plan. Jesus intentionally came to earth to die for our sins. It was the ultimate purpose of His ministry.

They remembered in hindsight

After the resurrection of Jesus, the angels told the women, Remember how He told you, while He was still with you in Galilee: The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ Then they remembered His words. (Lk. 24:6-8).

It only made sense to them after they experienced Christ’s death and resurrection. They remembered in hindsight and wrote about it in the gospels.

We can also look backwards in history. But we have more than them, they didn’t have the New Testament.

Prayer

Father God, we thank you that Jesus was obedient to your plan that He must go to Jerusalem to suffer and must be killed and on the third day must be raised to life.

We thank you that this was recorded in the Bible so that we can understand it and believe it and share the good news.

Please help us to follow your revelation in the Bible and not unbiblical expectations.

We thank you for His sacrificial death that enabled our sin to be forgiven and us to be reconciled with God. And we thank you for His resurrection back to life which was a great victory over death, sin and Satan. Amen.

G Hawke

Even if you’re not a football fan, the FIFA World Cup probably captures your attention in one way or another. Held every four years, it is the most watched sporting event in the world, attracting an even larger audience than the Summer Olympics. Out of more than 200 national teams, only 48 qualify for the final tournament, and after 104 matches, one team is crowned champion.

For billions of players and fans across the globe, World Cup victory is the ultimate achievement. Certain moments have become etched into the hearts and memories of nations, such as Maradona’s “Goal of the Century” against England in 1986, or Messi’s brilliant strike against Mexico in 2022. To share in such a victory, whether as a player or a fan, is exhilarating. And if we are honest, this kind of glory and success is something we all long to experience in some way.

Yet Jesus Christ—God Himself in human form—pursued a very different kind of victory. Jesus willingly went to His death: death by crucifixion, cruel, shameful, and completely undeserved. On the night before the cross, He explained to His disciples over dinner why He chose this path:

“Then He took a cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’”
Matthew 26:27–28

Jesus took up the cup of suffering and poured out His own blood for the forgiveness of sins. His victory was not winning a trophy, but paying the price for our forgiveness. And if we choose to drink from His cup—to trust in Him—we can be fully assured that complete forgiveness has been won for us through Christ.

The World Cup comes and goes. Champions rise and fall. The cheers of the crowd eventually fade. But the victory of Jesus endures forever. Through His death and resurrection, He offers something no sporting triumph ever could: forgiveness, peace with God, and eternal life. The question is not whether Christ has won, but whether you will share His world cup victory?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for willingly giving your life so that I could be forgiven. Thank you that your victory was won through love and sacrifice. Please help me to trust in you, receive your forgiveness, and follow you each day. Amen.

Acknowledgement: This article was sourced from Outreach Media, Sydney, Australia.
Images and text © Outreach Media 2026

“Blessed are the warmakers” – this may ring true as we look at our world today. War-makers make money. War-makers gain land. War-makers dispense fear and accumulate power. Blessed are the war-makers as they shall be called the winners, the victors, our leaders.

Jesus Christ, however, challenges what we may see in the here and now, He broadens our gaze. He says,

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
Matthew 5:9

Jesus’ call to be peacemakers in this broken and corrupt world is radical. Being a peacemaker does not mean remaining quiet, going with the flow, or avoiding conflict. Peacemakers cherish and strive for reconciliation between adversaries; calling out injustice, naming inequality, speaking inconvenient truths. It is often a dangerous and lonely calling. Yet a peacemaker’s blessing is beyond earthly riches and human glory. A peacemaker’s blessing is to be personally named as God’s child. To be identified by the Almighty God, maker of heaven and earth, as one of His very own. And to therefore be the heir to His kingdom.

Being adopted as God’s child is an immeasurable blessing only made possible by the ultimate peacemaker Jesus Christ. Because our greatest problem is not the conflict around us, it is the separation between us and God. The Bible calls this sin: living apart from Him, going our own way. And this is where Jesus stands apart. He does not only call us to be peacemakers, He is our peacemaker. Through His sacrificial death, He makes peace between us and God.

As it says in Colossians 1:21–22:
“At one time you were separated from God. You were His enemies in your minds, because the evil you did was against Him. But now He has made you His friends  again. He did this by the death Christ suffered while He was in His body. He did it so that He could present you to Himself as people who are holy, blameless, and without anything that would make you guilty before Him.”

This is the good news. While we long for peace in our world, there is a greater peace we all need — peace with God. And this peace is offered to you. Turn to Jesus. Trust in Him. Ask Him to make peace between you and God and you will find a peace no conflict can take away.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I see that I have been living apart from you. Thank you for dying to bring me back to God. Please forgive me, make peace between me and God, and lead me in your way. Amen.

Acknowledgement: This article was sourced from Outreach Media, Sydney, Australia.
Images and text © Outreach Media 2026