Are We At A Crossroad In Our Lives?: Do We Want A New Life For Our Children And Our Family/Whanau And Those Around Us?

By Walter Brady

I Walter The Author And Writer Of This Book. Have Written This Book To Help Change The Lives Of Us Mum’s And Dad’s, And Our Children, Our Families/Whanau, Those Around Us, Our Communities And Nations.

Our Book Is About Us All Coming Together, And Discussing Changes To Our Old Lives, From Our Troubles, Issues And Problems From Today, Tomorrow And Forever.

And By Coming Together And Discussing Our Troubles, Is-sues And Problems, We Will Have That Brand New Life Of Joy, Happiness And Victorious.

Together With Our Lord God We Will Be Given New Life, Because Of What Our Lord Jesus Christ Did For Each One Of Us Through His Death On The Cross.

He Did What He Did For No Other Reason Than To Set Us Free From Our Struggles, Our Dark Times, Our Feeling Stuck, Feeling Discouraged, Or Not Sure How To Make The Changes In Our Lives On Our Own.

But Together, We Can And We Will Overcome The Past Which Has Brought Us To Where We Are Now.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris NZ
• Release date: Aug 9, 2023
• ISBN: 9781669880561

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Copyright © 2023 by Walter Brady.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Some or all parts of this book may be lent or reproduced either for studying, sharing, preaching, or teaching with or without the publisher’s consent in any form of binding or cover.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. [Biblica]

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Rev. date: 08/03/2023

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgement And Introduction

1. Leaving A Legacy For Our Children And Family: Together With Our Children And Whanau, We Will Be A Strong Family

2. The Cross Is Our Way To Forgiveness And Our New Eternal Life: Through The Cross And His Resurrection, We Now Have Plans For Our New Lives

3. Our Holy Spirit Is In Control Of Our New Life Of Peace And Victory: Our Lord God, Through Our Holy Spirit, Will Give Us A New Life So We Can Testify About Our Saviour

4. Being Set Free From Our Weaknesses, Issues, And Problems Through The Anointing Of Our Holy Spirit In Our Times Of Troubles

5. Our Lord Jesus Christ, Our Solid Foundation Who Gives Us Our Loving, Ongoing Relationship

6. We Are The Servants To Our Lord God, So Our Lord God Is With Us

7. Only Our Lord Jesus Christ Can Change Our Lives; No One Else Can: He Created The Universe, So He Is Higher And Greater Than Human Love

8. Being Our Lord God’s Children, We Must Be Obedient To Him Because Our Lord Reigns Over Every Area Of Our Lives

9. Forgiveness Is The Pathway To Overcome Our Struggles: All We Have To Do Is Call Out To Our Lord God Because He Is In Control

10. Being Motivated In Our Calling Makes Us Achievers And Successful And Gives Us A Life Of Greatness And Freedom

11. His Death On The Cross Accomplished Our Brand New Life Of Forgiveness, Joy, Happiness, And Victory, So Is He Number One Now

12. Need Guidance? Our Holy Spirit Is Available 24/7; Give Him A Call, And With His Help, You Will Be Ghanged

13. Our Eternal Inheritance Comes From Being Recued From Sin, So We Must Speak The Good News Of Our Lord God’s Grace, Mercy, And Compassion

14. Our New Life Of Freedom And Victory Through Our Lord Jesus Christ: Meditate And Tell All The Amazing Love Of Our Lord Jesus Christ

15. The Cross Is Our Pathway To A Life In The Presence Of Our Lord God, So We Know Our Lord Jesus Is In Us, And We Are Now Filled With Our Lord God’s Wisdom

16. Don’t Let Our Hearts Be Troubled: Trust In Our Lord God Because We Know Him And Are Known And Loved By Him Forever

17. Salvation Comes Through Our Lord Jesus Christ’s Death On The Cross And Shows Us How To Know Freedom From Our Past And In The Present

18. A Life Of Victory Comes By Following In His Footsteps: Recognise Our Lord Jesus Then Receive The Benefits Of His Victory In Our Lives

19. Growing In The Grace, Knowledge, And Wisdom Of Our Lord God: Our Lord God’s Purpose For Us Orders Our Steps In Spite Of Human Opposition

20. Our Old, Changed Life Comes Through Our Example, Our Lord Jesus Christ: Our Lord God Has A Plan For Our Future Of Freedom Through Our Lord Jesus

21. Choose The Narrow Pathway And Have A New And Victorious Life By Telling Our Story And Testimony Humbly Over And Over Again

22. His Death On The Cross Takes Away Our Heavy Burdens: Trust In Our Lord Jesus Christ

23. Nothing Is Too Hard For Our Lord God; His Every Word Will Never Fail Us: His Promises And His Covenant With Us, His People, Will Last Forever

24. We Are All Now Washed Clean By The Blood Of The Lamb: This Opens A New Pathway To Our Lord God’s Plan For Our Lives

25. We Must Love And Pray For Those Who We See As Our Enemies? Prayer Changes People And Will Change Our Future

26. Looking For Love? Come To The Cross And Be Loved Forever Because That Is How Our Lord God’s Love Is Poured Out On Us

27. Being Forgiven And Set Free To A Loving, Victorious, And Faithful Life: Now Our Lord God Will Turn Our Weakness Into Our Strength

28. The Power Of The Cross Is Forgiveness, Joy, And Victory: We Now Have A Life Of Love And Worship Found In Our Lord Jesus Christ

29. Keep Focused On Our Lord Jesus Christ And The Cross, And In Our Times Of Troubles, Look To And Call Our Lord Jesus Christ; He Is Our Saviour

30. The Finished Work Of Our Lord Jesus Christ On The Cross Allows Us To Enjoy A New Life Of Love And Freedom

31. The Darkness Is Washed Away; We Are Now The Light: We Are Now The Beacon To Others, Showing Them The Way To Our Lord God

32. Our Sin Debt Is Paid Through The Shed Blood Of Our Lord Jesus: Now We Have The Gift Of Righteousness And Our Holy Spirit

33. Giving Ourselves Totally And Completely To Our Lord God, We Are Now His Ambassadors To Our Families And Our Communities

34. Our New Pathway Is Through The Sacrificial Lamb Of Our Lord God, So We Must Never Stop Thanking Our Lord God For The Sacrifice Of Our Lord Jesus

35. We Are Created By And For Our Lord God Almighty Because He Has A Purpose For Us, So We Must Pursue Our Calling

36. Our New Birth Through Our Lord God And Believing In His Every Word: Just Like A Baby Trust Its Mother, Now Grow Like A Child

37. Our Lord God Brought Us Out Of Darkness Into His Wonderful Light To Follow Our Lord Jesus Christ’s Example

38. Our Wonderful Holy Spirit Is Our Way To Forgiveness, Freedom, Fruitfulness, And Fullness

39. We Are Set Free From Our Past Because Our Sins Have Been Paid For: We Now Have Our Lord God’s Game-Changing Answers That Will Challenge Us

40. The Cross Is The Only Way To Face Our Challenging Faith In Our Lord Jesus Christ

41. Don’t Get Caught Up In The Past Again; Make Sure We Stay Free Because Confidence Is Restored In Our Lives When We Are Set Free

42. Together With Our Holy Spirit, All Day And Every Day, He Gives Us Freedom And Fills Us With Our Lord God’s Empowering Presence

43. Give All Our Struggles To Our Holy Spirit And Walk In Peace And Victory And Share The New Covenant That Gives Us All A New Life

44. Our Lord Jesus Is There With Us From The Beginging To The End, And He Gives Us Peace And Reconciliation

45. Win The Race Of Truth, Freedom, Joy, And Victory: Stay On Track And Run The Race Marked Out For Us With Perseverance

46. Pleasing And Trusting Our Lord God At All Times Gives Us A New Life That We Can Enjoy In All Its Fullness

47. Put The Kingdom Of Our Lord God Above Everything Else And Discover His Restoration And Blessings Of Worship

48. Needing Guidance? Call Our Lord God; He Will Guide And Hold Us Because He Knows Us And Will Love Us Forever

49. Being Forgiven Gives Us Our Changed And Glorious New Life, And With It Comes The Victory Of Our Lord Jesus Christ Wherever We Go

50. He Loves Us So Much He Guarantees Us A Victorious Life: Be Humble And Trust Our Lord God’s Grace And Jesus Christ’s Victory

51. Our Overwhelming Victory Sets Us Free To Have A New Life And Be Faithful And Fruitful To Our Lord God

52. Being Washed Clean By The Shed Blood Of Our Lord Jesus Christ Gives Us The Ultimate Act Of Restoring Our Friendships

53. Why We Need Our Lord Jesus Christ In Our Lives: It Is So We Can Walk In Our Lord God’s Word Faithfully

54. Contact A Local Church

The Characters

Plot

Conclusion

This book will give you, your children, your family (whanau), and those around you a step-by-step guide to a brand new life, away from your troubles, struggles, and problems—a new life of joy, happiness, and victory.

To our mums and dads, who always wanted nothing but the best for us as children, teens, and young adults. Though their experiences, mistakes, and of course their victories, we learnt to be who we grew up to be, all because they handed on to us their experiences.

And to our brothers and sisters, who like all brothers and sisters are totally different. But also, through them, we learnt a lot about living our lives together in the manner we have.

To our two beautiful daughters and two sons, whom we love so much. In their own way, they have also contributed to the pathway we, as their mum and dad, have gone down in our lives. They have in their own ways inspired us because they all have their different needs, which we would never have experienced without them being part of our lives, from babies to toddlers to children to teens to young adults and then adults. And then they provided us, their mum and dad, our beautiful, loving, giving, and caring grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

To all who contributed to where Bessie and I and our children and family and those around us are today in our Lord Jesus Christ.

To all the pastors who took us by the hand and guided and lead us; taught us all the things of our Lord God’s Word, the Bible; and guides us through what Our Lord God has called us to do.

We daily give thanks, praise, honour and glory to our Lord God Almighty, our Lord Jesus Christ, and our Holy Spirit, who is within us 24/7, and the Word of our Lord God, the Bible, and also the answers we receive from our daily prayers which have transpired in each one of us, achieving our godly understanding, our godly wisdom, and our godly knowledge through Our Lord God. This we have shared with our families; those around us; our friends; our communities; the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, the church; Aotearoa; the world; and now you, the reader of our book.

You will see that, at times, I have used the same scriptures to show you how to overcome and achieve the solution to all your issues, specifically just for you.

Dear Readers,

I am Walter Moananuiakiwa. I have written this book to help change the lives of us mums and dads and our children, our families/whanau, those around us, our communities, and our nations.

My book is about us all coming together and discussing changes to our old lives away from our troubles, issues, and problems of today, tomorrow, and forever. And by coming together and discussing our troubles, issues, and problems, we will have that brand new life of joy, happiness, and victory.

Together with our Lord God, we will be given new life because of what our Lord Jesus Christ did for each one of us through His death on the cross. He did what He did for no other reason than to set us free from our struggles, our dark times, and our feeling stuck, discouraged, or unsure how to make the changes in our lives on our own. But together, we can and we will overcome the past which has brought us to where we are now.

I would love to introduce you, the reader, to the most loving, compassionate, experienced professional Counsellor, Leader, Saviour, and Redeemer – the Foundation we have built our lives on, the Rock of all ages. He loves us so much. He cares for us so much. And He will never ever leave us or walk away from us, right from the moment we accept Him as our Lord and Saviour.

I have repeated scripture from our Lord God’s Word often in my book. The most important thing we can ever think about, talk about, read about, and pray about is what our Lord Jesus Christ’s shedding of blood and death on the cross of Calvary does for us, our children, and family. He is where it all starts. And He is the one where it all finishes with.

Walter Moananuiakiwa

Email: [e-mail]

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND INTRODUCTION

This book is written and based on our experiences as mum and dad, grandparents, and great-grandparents. I was a part of a children’s church and formed and pastored two youth groups and then churches. And then for twenty-three years, I was available, in most cases 24/7, to dysfunctional, at-risk, chronically truant children, teens, and young adults and their families. And all my achievements came through the grace and power and love of our Lord God, our Lord Jesus Christ and our Holy Spirit.

Our Holy Spirit inspired me to write my book to help and change the lives of us all who want to change our lives and the lives of our children and our families/whanau and those around us, our communities, and our nations not only for today but also for evermore.

This all stems back to 1980, when Bessie and I gave our hearts to our Lord God. Then we realised we needed to continually look up to our Lord God Almighty and our Lord Jesus Christ because, through our Holy Spirit, who can and will take us through to the end of our everyday struggles and times of darkness and give us brand new lives, He will change our lives from struggles to joy, happiness, and victory. He will change our darkness into light, and we will live a brand new life with our children and family/whanau and those around us.

To make it happen, we must step up and allow our Lord Jesus Christ to forgive us for our every sin and come into our lives and change our lives completely from who we were yesterday to who we want to be and who He wants us to be today and forever.

So we have to daily take the time to lift in prayer ourselves, our children, our family/whanau, those around us, and those lost and struggling with addictions, violence, abuse, and anger. He will bring about the changes in all our lives and provide a happier, more joyful, and more victorious lives for us all. It’s all done by us, taking the time daily through prayer, lifting us all to our Lord God, and being totally committed to our Lord God’s Word, the Bible, 24/7.

The beginning of my calling and purpose: My calling and purpose to our Lord God started as a 7-year-old Catholic. Our whole family/whanau attended Mass on Sundays.

This one Sunday, while sitting in the children’s section of the church, the service progressed, and I had a vision/dream and saw myself travelling around and talking to my family/whanau and cousins and those around us. They all seemed to need help with their everyday life because of their struggles. Nothing happened in my life to fulfil these dreams for years.

As a 21-year-old, I met and fell in love with Bessie. And two years later, we got married, and we became mum and dad to our children. Our lives changed when we were invited to the Good News 80 meeting, and we listened to the testimonies of two people, one a male gangster, the other a female prostitute. They both shared and testified about what their old lives had been like and how, through our Lord Jesus Christ’s forgiveness and love, their lives changed to the new ones they had right then.

At the end of the meeting, they called people up to the front, and my heart was in such a massive state of grief. I grabbed Bessie’s hand and said, ‘We have to go up to the front.’ Up the front, a pastor, Bill Blessman, took us aside and guided us through a prayer, asking our Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness for our sins and then accepting Him into our hearts and lives as our Lord and Saviour. We were invited by Pastor Bill Blessman to the Assemblies of God church service the next day.

As the message was being preached, my heart broke down, and tears just kept pouring out of my eyes. At the end of the service, all were invited up to the front. I went up, and things were happening inside me that I had never ever felt before.

Suddenly, I felt and saw something like liquid gold pouring down over my head; running down over my shoulders, arms, and legs onto the floor; and then spreading out and touching others around me. At the same time, I heard (our Lord God) a voice say, ‘Go into the world and tell the lost and the hurting, your people, and others. All the things will take place in your new life. Go wherever I send you.’

At the same time, Pastor Bill prophesied over me and confirmed that he could see gold running down my head and shoulders onto the floor. My life changed from that moment. Our Lord Jesus Christ became the focus of my new life.

The second year, through the grace of our Lord God, I was asked to teach Sunday school. Bessie and I were also asked by the church leaders to start a home Bible study group. And through our Holy Spirit, I helped study, guide, and teach others the Word of our Lord God. Our Lord God increased our home group so much that we had to divide it. And eventually, we had to divide it into three home groups.

We also started a youth group which our Lord God turned into the biggest youth group in our city of Rotorua. We also did outreach all over New Zealand, Fiji, and Australia. Wherever our Lord God took us, we prayed and saw people forgiven and saved, healed and set free.

We took a group of six adults and eight children aged from 10 to 14 years to reach out to people in Australia. In Sydney, on a street, I was giving my testimony, and we were praising and worshipping. And prostitutes came to listen; we prayed for them. Some gave their hearts to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Another day on another street in Sydney, we were singing, praising, and worshipping our Lord God. A man walked out of the pub with tears pouring out of his eyes. He dropped down onto his knees on the footpath and asked our Lord Jesus Christ to forgive him. We prayed for him. He explained that he had pastored a church but had walked away from the church and gone back into the world. When he heard us from inside the pub singing, praising, and worshipping our Lord God, he was convicted. So he came out of the pub to ask our Lord God for forgiveness.

Up at Maryborough, we had a reaching-out meeting. The power, grace, love, and anointing of our Holy Spirit filled the hall. Some of us gave testimonies, and at the end of the meeting, I gave a call for people who wanted a changed life and who were sick and going through problems and issues to come to the front. We started praying for those who had come up front. Our 10-year-old daughter came up to me and said, ‘Dad, there is a witch who wants to be prayed for.’

I said, ‘Darling, you have the same Holy Spirit as me. So you all pray for her.’

Then suddenly, the lady was dancing up and down the aisle, yelling loudly in front of all, ‘I am set free! I am free! I am free!’

A dad with his son in a wheelchair came to the front. I prayed for the young boy. He was healed and stood up out of his wheelchair and walked out of the centre, pushing his wheelchair.

People were forgiven saved and set free and healed, all through the grace and love of our Lord God and all glory to Him.

In Fiji, our Lord God, through the anointing of our Holy Spirit, let us experience His massive, compassionate love. We were invited to a home where there was a young female teen who, due to her illness, had to be daily fed, toileted, and changed and had never ever walked or been able to move any part of her body. She had to be pushed everywhere on her wheelchair. Her whole body had no tissues, no muscles. She was literally skin and bone. She had no strength or muscles to move her head up or down or turn to the left or the right.

At the home, the Holy Spirit inspired me to pray for her, which I did. And before the eyes of all present at the home meeting, her muscles started to grow. Her body tissue expanded. Flesh grew all over her body.

Our Holy Spirit inspired me to ask her mum and dad to ‘stand her up out of the bed on her feet,’ which I did. But the mum screamed, ‘No, no, no, she has never ever stood on her legs!’ But the dad and I lifted her out of the bed and placed her on her legs, and for the first time in her life, she stood on her two feet and bent her head back and looked up and looked down, all through the love and compassion of our Lord God.

We were invited to talk to the Fijian government ministers. At the meeting, our Holy Spirit inspired me to give my testimony. Then our Holy Spirit inspired me to invite certain ministers to the front one at a time. As each one stood up, I prophesied words of truth over each one about the issues taking place in their lives and the solution to overcome each. The next day, others who had heard the prophecies confirmed that they were the exact truth for each minister. And they said it could only have come from our Holy Spirit. I agreed with them, telling them that I came from New Zealand, so I could never have known what was happening in the ministers’ lives.

We were asked to go to the Nandi Catholic Church. We shared our testimonies (experiences). Our Holy Spirit inspired me to ask one of the priests present to come up to the front. I asked him if he had cataracts. He said yes. I spat on my hand and rub my hand over his eyes and prayed. Instantly, the cataracts were running like liquid to the bottom of his eyes. He said out loud, ‘I can see! I can see!’ And it all took place through the love, compassion, and grace of our Holy Spirit.

In 1989, we moved back to my home town of Matata, and I was ordained a pastor and pastored churches in Whakatane, Edgecumbe, and Matata. Our home Bible study group again increased in numbers to the point we had to move the group to a bigger home.

At the same time, our Lord God called me to do something that was way beyond my education and experience, and that was working with dysfunctional, at-risk, and chronically truant children and their families. And Bessie, my wife and loving, beautiful best friend and mate who is a qualified registered nurse, was working with the elderly. For me, working with dysfunctional, at-risk, and chronically truant children and their whanau at times devastated me because the majority of the families I worked with for twenty-three years were people of my own ethnicity, Māori, and Pacific families. The minority I worked with were of other ethnicities.

It all started in 1993; our Holy Spirit inspired to ‘go and have a discussion with John Walker, the principal of Edgecumbe College’. I asked John what the school’s biggest problem was. John informed me that the school’s biggest problem was children not attending school. We discussed a process and implemented it at Edgecumbe College for six months.

John took the process to the district principals’ meeting; other schools came on board as they were having the same issues of non-attendance, which was chronic in most schools. Over time, schools asked me to prosecute. So for six months, I became involved with a family law firm and learned how to prosecute in the family court. Through the grace of our Lord God, I was able to sit and discuss ways around the problems with every type of family in New Zealand, be they gang related, involved in drugs, alcoholics, or of violent or bullying backgrounds.

Through the grace of our Holy Spirit, to help overcome the whanau problems, I called a meeting with schools, Department of Child, Youth and Family Services (CYFS), police, drugs, alcohol, violent agencies, and Hauora. At the meetings, all the agencies working with families brought their information, and it would be placed on the table; the outcome of the discussions determined the intervention I put in place for each whanau.

After the six-week monitoring and based on the interventions in place, it determined the next decision, which was that the intervention had been achieved and worked. And together with the whanau, we had overcome the issues and were now heading down to a new life. This now brings us together with our Lord God, our lord Jesus Christ, and our Holy Spirit.

Is that every mum and dad and every person who reads our book.

Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing, loving compassion and grace, we can take His hand and walk away from the struggles, dark places, and the past that have hindered our lives, our children’s lives, and our family’s lives.

If you are struggling with your life, we pray with all our heart and soul that, through the grace of our Holy Spirit, our book will introduce and show you, your children, and your whanau a brand new life of freedom, grace, happiness, and victory. And it will happen because of what our Lord Jesus Christ went through in His life and His death on the cross at Calvary. And what He went through is for each one of us. He paid the price; He became the ransom for our every sin debt for us all.

Our past now is ‘dead and buried forever’; we are set free, we are saved, we are redeemed, and we are now a brand new person and have a brand new life and relationship forever with our Lord God.

KEEP OUR LORD GOD’S WORD CLOSE TO OUR HEARTS EVERY DAY.

1

LEAVING A LEGACY FOR OUR CHILDREN AND FAMILY: TOGETHER WITH OUR CHILDREN AND WHANAU, WE WILL BE A STRONG FAMILY

It is our responsibility to think about our future family and plan for it. With what is happening around the world today, we should be really, really concerned about our next generations. So we need to be preparing this generation with our Lord God’s Word.

18. Let This Be Written For The Future Generation,

That A People Not Yet Created May Please Our Lord God. [Our Lord Jesus Christ is the only Saviour for every generation. He is the same yesterday and today and forever.]

25. In The Beginning You Laid The Foundations Of The Earth [written in Psalms and confirmed hundreds of years later; He laid the earth’s foundations a long time ago]

And The Heavens Are The Work Of Your Hands. ‘And [He handcrafted the very heavens.]

26. They Will Perish, But You Remain [but also notice that the earth as it is will not last forever; it will eventually perish, but our Lord Jesus Christ remains forever].

They Will All Wear Out Like A Garment.

Like Clothing You Will Change Them And They Will Be Discarded. [The earthly things like TVs, pots, pans, vehicles, and clothes will eventually be thrown away.]

27. BUT YOU REMAIN THE SAME, And Your Years Will Never End. [Our Lord Jesus Christ will be here forever; year after year, He is as good as new. He will remain the same.]

The Children Of Your Servants Will Live In Your Presence.

THEIR DESCENDANTS WILL BE ESTABLISHED BEFORE YOU. (Psalm 102:18, 25–28)

The psalm ends beautifully with hope for our next generation. His servants’ children and family will have a good place to live, and their children will be at home with our Lord Jesus Christ. This is like a prayer of hope because we are all responsible for our own lives.

And notice that through all our reading of our Lord God’s Word, we are all treated like our Lord God’s whanau. And because of that, we can pray and believe that our children, our grandchildren, and our great-grandchildren and the generations to come will live in our Lord Jesus Christ’s presence and be established before Him.

Give thanks to our Lord God for our children, our families, and those around us as we all live in our Lord Jesus Christ’s presence. And pray that our children and whanau and those around us will grow up to know, love, serve, and be established before Him.

How do we welcome everyone who comes to our home? Do we say ‘welcome in’? Do we show them a loving welcome?

5. After I Go Through Macedonia, I Will Come To You, For I Will Be Going Through Macedonia. [Paul just loves his Christian brothers and sisters and loves being with them, his family.]

6. Perhaps I Will Stay With You For A While, Or Even Spend The Winter, So That You Can Help Me On My Journey, Wherever I Go. [Paul knows they will be there for him and help him. Paul wants to stay with them for long periods, ‘if our Lord God permits it’. He loves them so much that he is continually concerned about them.]

10. When Timothy Comes, See That He Has Nothing To Fear While He Is With You, For He Is Carrying On The Work Of Our Lord, Just As I Am. [Never ever forget that the church is the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the family of our Lord God. Our Lord God is our heavenly Father. Paul writes to the Corinthians, ‘If timothy shows up, take good care of him. Make him feel completely at home among you.’ It didn’t matter where our Lord God took us in regard to outreach in different countries. We were always welcomed and invited to stay at Christian believers’ homes.]

13. Be On Your Guard. Stand Firm In The Faith. Be Courageous. Be Strong.

14. Do Everything In Love. [Paul was a man who practised what he preached through his love and care for them.]

15. You Know That The Household Of Stephanas Were The First Converted In Achaia, And They Devoted Themselves To The Service Of Our Lord’s People.

I Urge You, Brothers And Sisters, To Submit To Such People And To Everyone Who Joins In The Work And Labour At It. [Paul sees the whole church as his whanau. He calls the Christian believers his brothers and sisters.]

It Seems Back Then, That It Was Normal For Whole Families/Whanau To Be Saved And Forgiven And Baptised Together.

And That Is Very Common With Māori And Pacifica Families/Whanau.

19. The Churches In The Province Of Asia Sends You Greetings.

Aquila And Priscilla Greet You Warmly In Our Lord God, And So Does The Church That Meets At Your House. [We also see here that married couples do ministry together. Aquila and Priscilla ran their church in their own home.]

All The Brothers And Sisters Send You Greetings. [Grab hold of what is said here about the New Testament church being a home. We know that the early Christian believers did not have church buildings; they met at one another’s homes. We had home group Bible studies, and at each one, our Holy Spirit continually poured down on us all His mercy, His love, and His compassion to the point we continually had to divide the groups. When we look at our churches, the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, we see single people, like Paul. We see married couples like Aquila and Priscilla and whole families like Stephanas’s. So together, we all make up the family of our Lord God.] (1 Corinthians 16:5–6, 10, 13–16,19–20a)

Paul also wrote this to us all. Keep your eyes open. Hold tight to your beliefs. Give it all you’ve got. Be honest and loving without stopping. Give thanks to our Lord God to give a love for one another so that we will all experience the riches and refreshment of being part of our Lord God’s whanau.

‘A Good Person Leaves What They Own [inheritance] For Their Children And Grand Children’ (Proverbs 13:22). So the kind of life we live determines the legacy we leave behind for our children, grandchildren, and our family.

6. I Am Already Being Poured Out Like A Drink Offering.

The Time When I Will Leave (My Death) Is Near.

7. I Have Fought The Good Fight. I Have Finished The Race. And I Have Kept The Faith. (2 Timothy 4:6–7)

Paul wanted us to understand that he knew his time on the earth was very short. So he offered and gave his whole life to our Lord God. Paul never ever gave up; regardless of what was going on in his life, he never gave up. He ran the race to the finish line, and above all, he remained faithful. He led a good life, and all he wanted for us to do was to do what he did, and that is for us to live a good life and leave a good legacy of faithfulness for our children and our family to remember.

Paul, towards the end, said, ‘I Fought The Good Fight – I Finished The Race – I Kept The Faith.’ Paul’s statements, because it will affect our whanau for generations to come, were ‘Let’s fight the good fight, let’s finish the race, and keep our faith.’

Be prepared because the moment we make that decision, the devil will target us and try with all his power and might to weaken our faith, and for us to continue in our sinful lives, he won’t stop there either; he will target our children and our family and those around us.

So we have to make sure we continue our absolute obedience and commitment daily to our Lord God because he said, ‘Trust in me with all your heart and I will direct your path.’

And in Ephesians 6:12, it says, ‘Our Fighting Is Not Against Human Beings. It Is Against the rulers, the authorities and powers of this dark world. It is against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly world.’ So the more we are committed and focused in walking in our Lord God’s ways through our Holy Spirit, we have more godly power and authority to fight the devil with.

‘We Speak The Truth. We Serve In The Power Of Our Lord God. We Hold The Weapons Of Godliness In The Right Hand And The Left’ (2 Corinthians 6:7). So we must make sure we are 120 per cent obedient to the teaching, the truth, and walking in the ways of our Lord God’s Word, and this does give us His power and authority that is working in us.

Never forget that Israel had to fight big time to gain and keep the inheritance that had been promised to them; it was their inheritance, their legacy, but they had to fight for it. We are no different. We have to make sure our life is totally committed to being obedient to our Lord God’s Word and following in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with that comes the faith to believe His every word.

Paul said, ‘We Are Not Fighting Against Flesh And Blood, But Against spiritual evil rulers.’ So if we want to fight the good fight, we must continue on and finish the race, which means we are continually doing the hard work of reading and studying the Word Of God daily, being in contact with our Lord God daily through prayer, following in the footsteps of Our Lord Jesus Christ 24/7, and knowing that at times we will struggle but will never give up because our Holy Spirit is with us 24/7, who guides us through everything.

Again, don’t give up the good race. Galatians 5:7 says, ‘You Were Running A Good Race. Who Has Kept You From Obeying The Truth?’ So we must be aware of things the devil uses, like distraction, worldly things, wrong things, discouragement, failure, arguments, ‘it’s all about me’, and ‘I want this, and I want that’. So what is holding us back?

Hebrews 12:1 states, ‘A Huge Cloud Of Witnesses Is All Around Us. So Let Us Throw Off Every Thing That Stands In Our Way. Let Us Throw Off Any sin That Holds Us So Tightly. And Let Us Keep On Running The Race Marked Out For Us.’ This is telling us that whatever we may be going through, we have our Lord God wrapped around us, our family, and those around us. Let’s run with the power of our Holy Spirit and fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith. We all know that keep means ‘to manage’, ‘to guard’, ‘to keep our eyes focused on the race which is our calling and purpose set before us by our Lord God’.

Remember, we are doing this because we want to leave a legacy for someone more loving and massive than ourselves, and that is our children and our family and those around us. We can’t fight the good fight and finish the race and keep the faith unless we are following in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through our Holy Spirit, He will guide us and take us by the hand and lead us.

Paul had exactly the same issues. Galatians 2:20 says, ‘I Have Been Crucified With Our Lord Jesus Christ. I Don’t Live Any Longer. But Our Lord Jesus Christ Lives In Me. Now I Live My Life In My Body By Faith In The Son Of Our Lord God. He Loves Me And Gave Himself For Me.’ So we need to really understand how much Our Lord Jesus Christ loves us because He gave His life for us, so let’s ask ourselves this question. Is our Lord Jesus Christ, who loves us and gave Himself for us, living in us, and have we really, really made up our minds to finish the race?

We need to ask ourselves now, ‘Have we asked our Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness and to be our Saviour?’ For that is the beginning of the race; the race will be hard, and sometimes the course is long and bumpy and the way narrow. But we will finish the race because He said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ We may know that our flesh does not want us to finish the race because it does not want us to leave a legacy for our family.

We must really understand Acts 17:28. ‘In Our Lord Jesus Christ We Live And Move And Exist, - WE ARE HIS CHILDREN [his offspring].’ We are His offspring because He has left us His legacy. So through Him, we live, and we can leave a legacy for our children, our whanau.

Right now is the time to choose to live a life committed to our Lord Jesus Christ and to leave a legacy and to say to our children and our family/whanau, ‘I will fight the good fight, I will finish the race, I will keep the faith.’

Now we know that through confessing our sins, our Lord God’s only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, lives in us through our Holy Spirit and that we can and will leave a legacy for our children and our family.

We, as good grandparents, will leave an inheritance (legacy) to our children and grandchildren. Bessie and I are at an age where we have discussed a legacy for our children and our grandchildren. So we have made our last will and testament. Today legacies are not very common, but for us, they will be a special gift from us to our children and our whanau and our generations to come.

It’s not until you move on in age that leaving a legacy comes to the forefront. I mean, what have I got that I could leave as a legacy for my children and family? Money, business, cars, utes, land? Above all those things, an eternal inheritance from our Lord God is number one priority.

When I gave my heart to our Lord Jesus Christ in 1980, I realised the greatest legacy I could leave for our children and family is being forgiven and saved, being part of and having a relationship with our Lord God, and being redeemed through the death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ and obeying his every Word, which is what our children and whanau must see in us. That is our total focus, doing the things we have been called to do through the Word of our Lord God and by praying to Him every day.

John 17:1 states, ‘After Our Lord Jesus Christ Said This, He Looked Towards Heaven And Prayed. He Said ‘Father, The Time Has Come. Bring Glory To Your Son. Then Your Son Will Bring Glory To You.’ Notice our Lord Jesus Christ’s prayer wasn’t to glorify Himself but to glorify our heavenly Father. The same applies to us by glorifying our Lord God by what we do and what we say. Our Lord Jesus Christ glorified the Father by obeying Him and being totally focused on what He was called to do.

He said in John 17:6, ‘I Have Shown You To The Disciples You Gave Me Out Of This World. They Were Yours. You Gave Them To Me. And They Have Obeyed Your Word.’ Our Lord God took us out of the world and forgave us our sins and then gave us all to our Lord Jesus Christ, and through it all, He gave us, our children, and our family our legacy. And it is all done through the legacy our Lord Jesus Christ left behind through His life and the example of His life that He left for us to copy.

The legacy of glory for Him was because of His being obedient to the Father, which qualified Him to have His glory given back and restored to Him. His adult life on the earth was of scorn, abuse, and humiliation, but through it all, He was still obedient to the Father. It was a legacy our Lord Jesus Christ knew was worth living and dying for. Our heavenly Father loves our lord Jesus Christ and us so much that He gave His only Son to die for us and to save us, our children, our families, those close and around us, our community, Aotearoa, and the world.

Over the years, I have experienced the outcome of being disobedient but most of all being obedient to our Lord Jesus Christ. And through the legacy He left for us, we have experienced the massive, big impact it has had on our children and our family and others. We will leave our legacy to all those who chose to live a life of obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Bessie and I went to her sister’s seventieth birthday in 2020, and at the birthday, two people came up to us individually at different times. One said, ‘Thank you for saving my life.’

And the other said, ‘Thank you for being there for me. You saved my life.’ They were two people we had introduced to our Lord Jesus Christ in around 1984. There is no glory in any of this for us. But there is massive glory for our Lord God because of His legacy He has given us and we have given to our children and whanau and those around us. Our Lord Jesus Christ is showing us that He is our legacy that we hand down to our children, our family, and those around us.

Our Lord Jesus Christ said in John 14:6, ‘Our Lord Jesus Christ Answered, I Am The Way, The Truth And The Life. No One Comes To The Father [our Lord God] Except Through Me.’ For us, our Lord Jesus paid the ransom price at Calvary by dying on the cross – He was the only one who could and would pay the ransom the price for us to get saved and come into His presence for all eternity, so everything we receive from our Lord God, our heavenly Father, comes to us through our Lord Jesus Christ. He paid the price because no one else can.

And we read John’s confirmation about our Lord God giving us life through our lord Jesus Christ, which bought us out of darkness into light. ‘Life Was In Him. And That Life Was The Light For All People’ (John 1:4). So we see the phrase ‘In Him Was Life’, which means in our Lord Jesus Christ and from nowhere else is where our life came from, but through Adam and Eve, we lost that life and ended up in darkness, so our Lord God through our Lord Jesus Christ had to do something to reinstate the darkness back into light.

‘The Life Was The Light Of Men’ means that before the Fall of Adam and Eve, our Lord Jesus Christ was the Light; there was no darkness, only light. He is the only Light and is still the Light today and will always be.

We know that through our Lord Jesus Christ’s death on the cross at Calvary, everything the devil has tried and is still trying has failed and will continue to fail because he has been overcome by the death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. This is our forgiveness, our salvation, and our legacy for our children, our family, and those around us.

2

THE CROSS IS OUR WAY TO FORGIVENESS AND OUR NEW ETERNAL LIFE: THROUGH THE CROSS AND HIS RESURRECTION, WE NOW HAVE PLANS FOR OUR NEW LIVES

Our Lord God has a massive great plan for all our lives. His plan is to prosper us and never ever harm us. His plan is to give us hope and future.

4. For The Word Of Our Lord God Is Right And True, He Is Faithful In All He Does.

5. Our Lord God Loves Righteousness And Justice, The Earth Is Full Of His Unfailing Love.

6. By The Word Of Our Lord God The Heavens Were Made, Their Starry Host By The Breath Of His Mouth. [We see that through the Word of our Lord God, our Lord Jesus Christ.]

9. For He Spoke, And It To Be, He Commanded And It Stood Firm. [The whole world came into being.]

11. The Plans Of Our Lord God Stand Firm Forever, The Purposes Of His Heart Through All Generations. [Governments and companies make plans, but there is the possibility that they can crash. But we can be confident that our Lord God’s plan for our lives stand firm forever.] (Psalm 33:4–11)

Give thanks to our Lord God because He has a massive, great plan for our lives. And give thanks to our Lord God because He is in ultimate control of our lives yesterday, today, and forever.

We know and believe that our Lord Jesus Christ did rise from the dead:

1. When The Sabbath Was Over, Mary Magdalene, Mary The Mother Of James, And Salome Bought Spices So That They Might Go To Anoint Our Lord Jesus Christ’s Body.

2. Very Early On The First Day Of The Week, Just After Sunrise, They Were On Their Way To The Tomb.

3. And They Asked Each Other, ‘Who Will Roll The Stone Away From The Entrance Of The Tomb? [When the women arrived at the tomb, they found a huge rock that covered the entrance of the tomb.]

4. But When They Looked Up, They Saw That The Stone, Which Was Very Large, had Been Rolled Away.

5. As They Entered The Tomb, They Saw A Young Man Dressed In A White Robe Sitting On The Right Side, And They Were Alarmed.

6. ‘Don’t Be Alarmed,’ He Said. ‘You Are Looking For Our Lord Jesus Christ The Nazarene, Who Was Crucified. There in the tomb was an angel of our Lord God who asked the women, ‘Are you looking for our Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified?’

He Has Risen, He Is Not Here. See The Place Where They Laid Him. [He tells them, ‘He is risen,’ which confirms to the women that our Lord Jesus Christ had been raised. He was not there; the tomb was empty.]

7. But Go, Tell His Disciples And Peter, ‘He Is Going Ahead Of You Into Galilee.

There You Will see Him, Just As He Told You.’ [We know that our Lord Jesus Christ continually treated men and woman as equals. When you look at the Word of our Lord God, you’ll see that women were the last at the cross and now first at the tomb and first to be informed and trusted with the news that our Lord Jesus Christ had risen from the dead. We also see that our Lord Jesus Christ, after His resurrection, appeared first to women. That tells us that a woman’s role is just as important. We also know the disciples had a difficult time processing and believing that our Lord Jesus Christ had risen, and the same thing applies to some today. But when they did actually see our Lord Jesus Christ after His resurrection, their lives were transformed. Their lives changed from fear to faith and to hope, which moved them to action and to their calling. And we, too, through our Lord Jesus Christ’s resurrection, can face our struggles with confidence.

14. Later Our Lord Jesus Christ Appeared To The Eleven As They Were Eating.

He Rebuked Them For Their Lack Of Faith And Their Stubborn Refusal To Believe Those Who had Seen Him After He Had Risen. [It wasn’t until they actually saw Him and witnessed His resurrection that they actually believed that it was Him. Then their lives were completely changed; their lives were transformed. They moved from unbelief and fear to being believers of faith, action, and hope, which tells us that through the resurrection we can do our calling and purpose with confidence. Because our Lord Jesus Christ is risen, our future is so much more loving and caring because, again, we now are so much more certain of our eternal life.

15. He Said To Them. ‘Go Into All The World And Preach The Gospel To All Creation. [We now have this confidence, and we are now obedient to our Lord God, so we can now go and share the Word of our Lord God with our children, our family, those around us, and our communities.

17. And These Signs Will Accompany Those Who Believe.

In My Name They Will Drive Out demons, They will Speak In New Tongues. [Healing is not for any particular believer; it is for us all ‘who believe’. It is our Lord God who heals, but because He has called us, we are involved with His plans for us. What the New Testament tells us is something we can all do; it’s simple. Through the abilities of and being obedient to our Holy Spirit, we have the abilities to do exactly what our Holy Spirit tells us, and that is speak in tongues and, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, heal the sick and drive out demons.

18. They Will Place Their Hands On People Who Are Ill, And They Will Get Well.’ [I have placed my hands on heaps and heaps of people who were ill through drugs and alcohol, anger and violence, and other illnesses, and every one of them was healed. Our Lord God worked with them and confirmed His Word by the signs that accompanied them. So like the disciples, it’s not a matter of who you are or where you come from. It’s a matter of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and what He did for us on the cross. (Mark 16:1–18).

Give thanks to our Lord God that, through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, we can face the future with hope and confidence because our Lord Jesus Christ is alive in us through our Holy Spirit. And never forget our Lord God did it all through His one and only Son, who loves us so much that He cries out for us all on the cross to His heavenly Father. ‘Jesus Christ Cries Out ‘FATHER, FORGIVE THEM. THEY DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING’ (Luke 23:34). At that very moment, our Lord Jesus Christ was going through the pains. Those in charge of His crucifixion even gambled for His clothes and then laid Him on the cross and hammered nails through His hands and feet and lifted the cross and dropped it into a hole. Can we really imagine or really understand what our Lord Jesus Christ was going through at that very moment? He had just gone through being scourged and mocked at by Caiaphas, Pilate, Herod, the guards, and the people.

But regardless of the pain He was going through, it didn’t stop Him from praying to our heavenly Father for those who had just done those awful things to Him. And even before it was determined for Him to be crucified, He didn’t even stand up for Himself or get into a discussion with those in authority in His own defence of being innocent of any crime He was accused of. But while hanging on the cross, He cries out to His heavenly Father. Notice not even the amount of pain He was going through or the people who had caused it all could silence His prayer to His heavenly Father. ‘Father, Forgive Them. They Don’t Know What They Are Doing.’

That was what our loving and caring Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ, said regardless of a spear being pushed in between His ribs and nails being hammered through His skin, His tissues, His tendons, His nerves. And on top of that, every time the hammer hit the nails, it probably shook His body with stress and pain. Yet he continued to show the whole of humanity His love, compassion, and forgiveness by praying while in the situation He was in. Regardless of what was happening to us at that moment, He still prayed to His heavenly Father.

It shows every human being the relationship, commitment, and love our Lord Jesus Christ has for each one of us. So between us, let our Lord Jesus Christ’s prayer life be our example for us to learn how to pray for our children, our family, and those around us.

His disciples asked him how to pray! We, too, can ask the question ‘why did our lord Jesus Christ pray that prayer?’ And the exact answer is that He prayed because He wants us to be with Him for all eternity. And He wants us all forgiven and saved. And He wants us to follow His example and never forget that He was born human.

And He was always in contact with His heavenly Father, our Lord God. And as an adult, He took time out on His own to pray to His heavenly Father. He grew up as a child and into His teens. As an adult, He knew how children reacted at certain times. When His disciples growled at some parents, He was not happy with them and disciplined them.

13. Some People Brought Little Children To Our Lord Jesus Christ. They Wanted Him To Place His Hands On The Children And Pray For Them.

But His Disciples Told Them Not To do It.

14. Our Lord Jesus Christ Said ‘Let The Little Children Come To Me. Don’t Keep Them Away!

For The Kingdom Of Heaven Belongs To People Like Them.’ (Matthew 19:13–14)

Notice parents took their children to our Lord Jesus Christ for Him to pray and lay His hands on them; some of the children were probably sick, and some parents probably just wanted Him to lay His hands on their children and for Him to bless them. The disciples were obviously not really looking at the real situation but instead decided to growl at the parents because they thought they were just bothering our Lord Jesus Christ, but He said to them, ‘Let The Children Come To Me, DON’T STOP THEM! BECAUSE THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN BELONGS TO THOSE WHO ARE LIKE THESE CHILDREN.’

So as parents, we know when our children are at school, downtown at a friend’s, at sports, in need; we know the first people they go to is the people they trust – us, their parents. And we, as the children of our Lord God, need to be doing the same thing – trust in Him and in our times of need go to Him and talk (pray) to Him because He will answer us.

Our Lord Jesus Christ’s prayer life never stopped; He prayed with His disciples. ‘About Eight Days After Our Lord Jesus Christ Said This. He Went Up The Mountain To Pray. Took Peter, John And James With Him’ (Luke 9:28). This tells us that our Lord Jesus Christ knew how important it is to pray with others to Him.

And in Acts 1:14, it says, ‘They All Came Together Regularly To Pray. The Woman Joined Them Too. So Did Our Lord Jesus Christ’s Mother Mary And His Brothers.’ So it does tell us how important prayer is to our Lord Jesus Christ because He also knew how important it would be to pray together, united with His mother, His brothers, and others as much as possible.

He also knew how important it was to pray alone. Luke 5:16 states, ‘But Our Lord Jesus Christ Often Went Away To Be By Himself And Pray.’ So even though our Lord Jesus Christ knew how important it was to pray together, He also knew at times He needed to communicate with His heavenly Father by Himself, so He Prayed alone.

Psalm 46:10 says, ‘BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD GOD.’ So at times, we need to be still and pray to our Lord God, especially when we are going through struggles and hard times. This tells us that there is an ongoing time in our lives when we leave everything aside and take time to know and pray to our Lord God and to learn the things of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Even His disciples had to ask Him how to pray. ‘One Day Our Lord Jesus Christ Was Praying In A Certain Place. When He Finished, One Of His Disciples Spoke To