A Different Perspective Official Podcast

We people are very much into surface things – things we can touch and feel. Someone dresses well or performs well or looks good – and we judge them to be successful. But God's interested in something else. Something quite different. God's interested in our hearts. I don't know if you've ever watched the Oscar's on TV. You know, the movie awards they give in Hollywood, in "Tinsel Town" each year. L...

A prophet is someone who speaks the will of God.  So let me ask you something – are there still prophets in this world today, or not?  Does God still speak prophetically through some of His people today … or not?  Well there's only one way to find out – what does His Word have to say on the subject? It's just fantastic to be with you at the beginning of another week and yes, we're continuing again...

Ever been so thirsty you think you're going to die. And then – then you have a deep drink of fresh, cool, clear, living water. Awesome. In fact Jesus talked a lot about water. I remember when I was training to be an officer in the Army we used to go out on exercises for weeks at a time, war games and we'd be fighting this imaginary army and learning, I guess, how to fight battles. Back in those da...

There's nothing worse than a hypocrite. One of the things we're called to be, if we believe in Jesus, is Ambassadors of Christ. But if how we live our lives – what we say, what we do – if our lives don't measure up – then what sort of Ambassadors are you and I going to make? When people look at us – what do they see?  An Ambassador, or a hypocrite? Let me ask you a question, if you're someone who...

Imagine having a job where you had to try to convince people of something you yourself didn't really believe. That'd be a tough gig, don't you think? And yet that's how many a Christian feels when it comes to telling others about Jesus.  Because if they themselves haven't experienced the powerful difference that He can make in their lives – on the inside – how can they possibly tell others about H...

A while back, we received a prayer request from Peter, who's been struggling with his weight – it's affecting his health, his family. It's ruining his life. Is Jesus in that place with Peter – and if He is, can He make a difference? Good day! Great that we can get together again. Well, it's Friday, and on Friday we always do something different. We look at somebody's prayer request that we have re...

If Jesus really rose from the dead all that time ago, if it really, truly happened….well, what does it mean to us today? What's the relevance? What's the point? This week on the program we are taking a bit of a look at this whole "resurrection" thing, because on the one hand it's so central to everything that Jesus talked about, and everything that Christians believe. But on the other hand, well,...

We live in a time of mass production.  Commodities are just churned out. People have become … just a commodity.  But not in God's eyes…..that's what makes you so very special. I sometimes think about the times when Jesus was training to be a carpenter in his Dad's carpenter shop. The wooden things that he made, we don't really know but probably chairs and tables and doors and door frames, even cof...

We've all been misunderstood. Hey – Jesus was misunderstood. It's not an easy thing. We have good intentions, perhaps we don't execute those intentions perfectly, but all of a sudden the world falls down on us like a ton of bricks. Now over the last weeks on the program we had a look at the fast, well ... God doesn't always do things quite the way we want him to do. Sometimes we feel like crying o...

Sometimes you can be going through a bit of a rough patch in life – a bit like a famine or a drought – and you wonder to yourself what God is up to? But sometimes, sometimes God is actually sitting there, waiting for YOU to do something. It's just fabulous to be together again at the start of a new week. Can I ask you, what do you want to get out of life? I mean when you stand back and survey the...

We all end up in tight spots at sometimes. Big or small. Just annoying – or tragic. And if God's God – well shouldn't He show up on those days? If He loves us – wouldn't He help? Every now and then, we find ourselves in a tight spot. Sometimes we've behaved our way into a problem; maybe a wrong diet or no exercise and we get diabetes. Or a neglected relationship and we end up with tension and stri...

If any sense of spirituality that we have in our lives is going to be any good – well it has to be relevant. Useful. In day to day life. Jesus can't be just a stained-glass window.  He has to be a part of life…. I don't know about your life but mine's pretty hectic: ups and downs, joys, disappointments, stresses, and strains. In a way, all our lives are different. But in another sense, well, they'...

We all try to put our best foot forward in life. Fair enough. But eventually, we can find ourselves trying to impress people rather than being ourselves. So – should we try to impress God – or is it come as you are? One way or another, we all try and put our best foot forward. When we go for a job interview, we make sure that we're dressed well and our hair is combed and we go in with a smile and...

Any relationship needs a spark of desire to make it fire. Friendships. Marriages. Families. Work. Desire is a key ingredient of a lasting relationship. Well – what about God? Relationships, they're a funny thing – boy meets girl, courtship, romance, engagement, marriage, honeymoon – what an exciting time! This passion, this desire, they enjoy each other to the full. Then they have kids. Sleepless...

We should eat more fruit.  We know that…..but it's not until we taste the banana and smell the mandarin – that we go – oh, that's good.  It's the experience that seals the deal.  But what about God – how do we know that He's good? We've all heard that nutritionists say that we should eat more fruit. It's good for us. There's the fiber, the vitamins, the minerals and the colorful fruits have antiox...

You know how there are some people, when you hang around with them; they're just such a joy to be with. Hmmm. Wonder if God's like that? There are some people in life who can really get you down. And yet there are others you just love to get together with them. There is something about them. They get it. They understand us. They encourage us, they engage with us, you know the sort. You look forwar...

Some days, it feels as though everybody around you is cruising, but somehow we're down in the trenches. Wouldn't it be great to soar like an eagle? Have you ever been through a time in your life where, I don't know, it seems like everyone around you is doing it easy and somehow you're down in the trenches doing it tough? I remember when I was training to be an officer in the Australian Army. We'd...

Have you ever noticed that people are busy racing around looking after Number One?  Very few of them ever stop to give us a hand.  In fact, when someone does, it can be so refreshing. In this clamorous, competitive world that we live in (you know what I'm talking about), this world where everybody seems to be looking after number one as their priority one, two and three in life. In that kind of wo...

The last thing that most of us suffer from is a lack of information – the whole world is screaming for our attention.  Sometimes, the quiet assurance that comes from a bit of peace and quiet just eludes us. Sometimes, it feels like we live in our world where everything and everybody seems to be screaming for our attention. Take advertising – armies of creative people who think up new, (often), ver...

Getting some balance back in our lives is a challenge for a lot of people.  Either we're doing too much or not enough and somehow, life's out of kilter.  What we need is some refreshment for our souls. I don't know about you but one of the things that many people struggle with is getting a sense of balance in their lives. Either life's just so crazy and hectic that we seem to be burning the candle...

It's amazing how thoroughly we manage to delude ourselves about our own failings and weaknesses. We're actually pretty darned good at it. But God is a skilful surgeon capable of performing radical surgery. This week on the program, we've been looking at intimacy with God through His Spirit and His Word. And when you think about it, those are the two things of Himself that He has left here on this...

Once people get over the fact that the Bible isn't a bunch of do's and don'ts, the biggest thing that stops them from reading it is that it doesn't makes sense. One of the things that I'm really passionate about is, I guess, just being here with you today and knowing that through our time we've spent together (somehow), God's used that time to draw you closer to Him. Life's too short to live it wi...

When you think about it God's gone to amazing lengths to preserve His love letter to us down through the centuries.  You know the Bible.  Yeah – that's it – His love letter. Sadly, these days we tend to send and receive very few letters. I mean personal letters, letters of friendship, and letters of love. There's something about receiving a personal letter in the mail. It's so much better than ema...

No matter how much we want to believe that God is a God of grace, we all at some point end up living life as though He's a God of rules……the law of His Spirit and life can seem a long way off. When we talk about God, well that name "God" means so many different things to so many different people. Yesterday on the program, we looked at the notion that God is kind of a bunch of rules and sometimes p...

Sometimes we can look at God's Word – the Bible and think of it as a book of rules.  But it turns out that this notion that God is all about the letter of the law is way off the mark. Sometimes we can look at God's word, the Bible and think of it as a book of rules. But it turns out that this notion of God is all about the letter of the law is way off the mark. The law's a funny thing … some peopl...