Stephen

A KALEIDOSCOPE OF
SERMONS, MESSAGES
AND

POEMS

Copyright Stephen (2015)

The right of Stephen to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
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for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British
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ISBN 9781784555832 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781784555849 (Hardback)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2015)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.
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Printed and bound in Great Britain

Gods Tapestry
I believe that our lives are a beautiful tapestry which our
merciful God is weaving, and I believe that every stitch in this
tapestry is needful, in Gods plan for us. We are unable to
fully perceive this beautiful tapestry of our lives, until God
has completed His masterpiece.
Then God will reveal to us His true purpose for our lives,
particularly His purpose, in the forgotten and seemingly
unfinished threads of His wonderful tapestry.
God will then show us how that all of the individual
wonderful tapestries, (individual Christians lives), fit together
in unsurpassed grandeur, in His One and Only, His unique
Son, Jesus Christ.
Then we shall know Gods purpose, as we are now known by
God.

Words composed in 1996.

My Accident On My Bike When I Was

Eleven Years Old

When I was preaching for about two years at the Regency

Green Hostel, John Walker, the minister, gave me some very
sound advice. He said, lighten up and loosen up when you
preach, John. Dont preach at people, but preach to them.
Dont preach above them, but preach to their hearts. Use
humour, good jokes, funny stories from books, other peoples
lives, without putting them down, but particularly use your
stories from your own life, that are unknown to people, but
always keep to your message, that is the message from God,
to people through you. This was very sound and timely
advice.
I have always found that I was able to compose poetry more
easily than I was able to compose prose, that is, written
stories, but here goes.

My Accident On My Bike When I Was

Eleven Years Old
When I was eleven years old, I lived with my foster parents
and my foster brother Max on a farm at Belalie North, which
is twelve miles north of Jamestown, in the mid-north of South
Australia.
Max gave me a second hand bike for the recent Christmas,
and I just couldnt wait to be able to ride it. The bike was old
fashioned, very big for an eleven year old boy, who had never
ever ridden a bike before that day.
I walked up to the top of the high hill with my bike,
climbed up onto the high seat, (my feet could just reach the
pedals), then I flew down the hill, feeling as free as a bird, on
this beautiful sunny afternoon.
I could see a long grove of boxthorn berry bushes at the
bottom of the hill, but I felt safe, knowing that I had brakes on
my bike.
Suddenly I knew that I soon must apply the brakes, but,
horror of horrors, I forgot how to use them. I had two options,
jump off the bike and get hurt, or stay on the bike and get hurt.
I chose to stay on the bike. Before I realized what had
happened, I hit the boxthorn berry bush that was full of thorns
and juicy ripe red berries.
There I was, a little crying eleven-year-old boy, bleeding
from thorns and red from squashed berries. I was not a pretty
sight.
I understand now that God saved me from a possible
death, because just behind the boxthorn berry bushes was a
very steep paddock. The boxthorn berry bushes really saved
my life.

The lesson that I learned from this experience, was not to

feel sorry for myself, but pick myself up, dust myself off, and
then start all over again with God.

The Lords Prayer Give Us This Day

Our Daily Bread
Bible reading. Matthew chapter 6, verses 25-34.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
There was once a man who was walking along a dirt path that
was situated right in the middle of a very big paddock in the
country. The paddock was covered in wild flowers, weeds and
grass.
The man wasnt in a very big hurry, so he just enjoyed the
sunny day, walked very slowly, just taking his time, and
stopping now and then in order to pick some of the wild
flowers, then to smell their lovely scent.
When he reached the middle of the paddock, he stopped
walking, then he took a long well-earned rest. Eventually he
stood up, deciding that it was time that he started walking
again. Before continuing to walk across the paddock, he
thought that it would be good if he had a look behind him, in
order to see how far he had walked. At one end of the paddock
in a corner behind him, he saw something that he wished was
not in the paddock. There right at the end of the paddock
happily munching on the fresh green grass, was a very big
black bull with very long pointed horns. I just hope that I will
be able to slowly walk to the end of the paddock without the
bull seeing me, said the man to himself.
He just started to walk again, when the bull just happened
to stop munching grass, looked up to find new grass, then he
saw the man in the distance, He then started to swish his tail in
anger, then snorted through his nose, then moved his head
viciously from side to side, then charged, after kicking up the
dust with his front feet.

The bull ran towards the man, and the man ran for his life,
but the bull moved closer and closer, until the man could feel
the bulls breath on the back of his neck. Oh no, the bull is
going to get me for sure. What can I do? I havent been to
church for years, and I really dont believe in God, so Im sure
that He wont listen to me, if I pray to Him now. I must do
something! When I went to Sunday School I was taught
prayers to say to God, but I just cant remember any of those
prayers now. Perhaps if I could pray one of those prayers to
God now, this may act like a lucky charm, and stop the bull
from digging his horns into me. What was this prayer? I am
desperate now. The bull is right behind me! Thank goodness,
Ive just remembered this prayer. For what I am about to
receive, Oh God, I am truly thankful, in Jesus Name I pray.
Amen.
Do you think that this was the right prayer for the man to
pray at this unusual time of his life? Im sure that it wasnt the
right kind of prayer, because the man was going to receive the
long pointed ends of the bulls horns in his rear end.
God gives us everything that He knows that we need, not
necessarily everything that we want. I would like a brand new
car, lots of money, and the very latest computer, but I know
that I will never have any of these things.
I suppose that you would like a brand new car, millions of
dollars, and many other things, but wanting and receiving are
two different things.
Like the man who was chased by the angry bull, some
people only pray to God when they get into trouble, and then
they expect God to answer their prayers, even if they dont
love Him, or dont really believe in Him. Some people only
enter a church when they are hatched, matched, and
despatched, that is, when they are born, married, and buried.
Some people will do anything in order to have food,
clothes, friends, security, etc., every day.

I discovered that my father was in and out of prison, from

about 1948 until 1973 at least, maybe even longer, just
because he was a compulsive thief, and a very strong
alcoholic, and a very angry and violent man. When he was let
out of prison, he just couldnt cope with life, so he was glad to
be able to do something wrong again, so that he could get
back into the prison again, so that he could receive good food,
good clothes, and his prison friends once again. I havent seen
Dad since I was seven years old, although I searched for him
through the Red Cross organization, and through the Salvation
Army. The last that I heard of him, was that he was in a prison
in Brisbane in 1973, and that a fire destroyed all of the prison
records.
God doesnt just give us ordinary bread. He also gives us
spiritual bread. The spiritual bread that God gives us is His
One and Only, His unique Son, that is, His Only Begotten
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, whose body was broken for us,
and His blood was spilled for us, so that if we believe in Him,
accept Him as our Lord and Saviour, trust, love, honour and
obey Him right up until the end of our lives, we will have
eternal life, in His presence forever.
Bread is mentioned many times in the Bible, for instance
Genesis chapter 3 verse 19. You Adam, shall eat bread in the
sweat of your face, until you will return to dust. Genesis
chapter 41 verses 17. and Rebecca gave the savoury meat and
the bread which she had prepared, into Jacob her sons hand.
Genesis chapter 41 verse 55. And when all the land of Egypt
was in drought, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. And
Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, go to Joseph and do what he
says. Psalm chapter 102 verse 4. My heart is afflicted and
withered like grass, so that I forget to eat my bread. Psalm 132
verse 15. I, God, will bless her provision abundantly. I will
satisfy her poor people with bread. Matthew chapter 4 verse 4.
But Jesus answered and said, It is written, men and women
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds
out of Gods mouth. Matthew chapter 26 verse 26. And as the
disciples were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it,

and gave it to the disciples, and said, take, eat, this is My

body. John chapter 6 verse 35. And Jesus said to the
disciples, truly, truly I say to you, Moses did not give you
that bread from Heaven, but My Father gives you the true
Bread from Heaven. 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 23, 26,
and 27.
Verse 23. For I, Paul, have received from the Lord that
which I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus took bread, on
the same night in which He was betrayed.
Verse 26. For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this
cup, you show the Lords death until He comes.
Verse 27. Therefore whoever shall eat this bread and
drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, will be guilty of the
body and blood of the Lord.
One day while I was visiting the Arndale shopping centre,
I had to make an urgent phone call, but I couldnt find any
phone books in any of the phone booths, so I boarded the lift.
Accompanying me were two ladies with a shopping trolley
each. They were not able to press the lift button, so I said, I
will push the 1st floor button, when one of the ladies said,
But, sir, that is the only button that you can push, the next
floor would be Heaven. I thought about that ladys comment
in the lift, then I said to her, that would be an option, that
would be a choice.
This ladys comment was more true than she realized.
Many people live this life on the ground floor, that is, they are
only concerned with the things of this life. They believe that
they should eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow they will
die, and when they die, that will be the end of them forever,
but they dont realize that the next floor will be either Heaven
or hell for them, depending on whether they will accept Jesus
as their Saviour and Lord of their lives, and then love and
obey Him right up until the end of their lives, or else reject
Him.
God certainly provides for us. The Bible says in Matthew
chapter 10 verse 29. Are not two sparrows sold for a small

bronze coin, and one of them will not fall on the ground
without your Father. Verse 30. But the very hairs of your head
are all numbered. God wouldnt take long to count the number
of hairs on my head.
Matthew chapter 6 verse 28. And why do you take
thought for clothes? Consider the lilies of the field how they
grow. They do not toil, neither do they spin.
Verse 29. And yet I say to you, said Jesus, that even
King Solomon in all of His glory, was not arrayed like one of
these.
God cares for sparrows, the hairs of our heads, and the
lilies of the field, so He certainly cares for us. As Christians,
God doesnt want us to worry about anything. When we worry
we show that we dont trust God, and that we dont believe
that He will answer our prayers, or that we will ever receive
from Him the things that we need day by day, in this life. God
knows everything that we need, before we ever ask Him for
them. Isnt that wonderful?
When we pray to God, He sometimes says yes, sometimes
He says no, and many times He says, wait My child. If we
continually trust Him, He will always give us the patience to
wait for these things.
I had to wait for fourteen years before God gave my
mother back to me, and I had to wait for more than forty more
years before God brought my half sister and her twin brother
into my life. I just leave my large familys conversion to
Jesus, in Gods loving hands.
Our great Three-In-One God, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, will always give us this day our daily bread, because
He is Jehovah Jireh, our provider.
May God richly bless everyone who is gathered here in
His Name today, with His love, His joy, and His peace.
Amen.

God Is Our Provider

Bible reading. Psalm 121.
In Isaiah chapter 43 verses 20 and 21, we read, Every wild
animal honours Me, even jackals and owls, said God. I
provide water in the deserts, streams in thirsty lands for My
chosen people.
I made them my own nation, so they would praise Me
1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13. You are tempted in the
same way that everyone else is tempted. But God can be
trusted not to let you be tempted too much, and He will show
you how to escape from your temptations.
Daniel chapter 6 verses 19-23. At daybreak the king got
up and ran to the pit. He was anxious and shouted. Daniel,
you were faithful and served your God. Was he able to save
you from the lions? Daniel answered, Your Majesty, I hope
you live forever! My God knew that I was innocent, and He
sent an angel to keep the lions from eating me. Your Majesty, I
have never done anything to hurt you.
The king was relieved to hear Daniels voice, and he gave
orders for him to be taken out of the pit. Daniels faith in his
God had kept him from being harmed.
God does not give us everything that we want, but He
gives us everything that He knows that we need. God provides
for the people who do not love Him, and He provides for the
people who love Him. Matthew chapter 5 verses 44 and 45.
Jesus said, But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for
anyone who mistreats you. Then you will be acting like your
Father in Heaven. He makes the sun to rise on both the good
and the bad people. He sends the rain for the ones who do
right, and for the ones who do wrong.

A long time ago, king Nebuchadnezzar who was king of a

city called Babylon, captured the city of Jerusalem, and he
took different things from the temple back to Babylon. He
also took Daniel and three of his friends.
One day the king let it be known, that if anyone prays to
any god, or who prays to any person during the next thirty
days, except to the king, they would be thrown into the lions
house and be eaten. When Daniel heard this, for three times a
day he knelt down on his knees, and prayed and gave thanks
to God.
Some of the kings men saw Daniel praying to God, then
they told the king, who then said, throw him into the lions
house, and let the lions eat him, because he doesnt pray to
me, but to his God. May his God rescue him from the lions.
A large stone was placed in front of the lions house, so
that Daniel would not be able to escape. The king then went to
bed, but he couldnt sleep very well, so, very early in the
morning, he woke up and he hurried to the lions house. Then
he very sadly called out to Daniel and he said, Daniel, servant
of the living God, has your God whom you serve all the time,
been able to rescue you from the lions?
Then Daniel said, O king, may you live forever. My God
sent His angel, and He shut the lions mouths, and they have
not hurt me, because I was innocent in Gods sight, and I
havent done anything wrong to you O majesty.
The king was very happy and he said, lift Daniel out of
the lions house. Daniel had no bite marks on him, because he
trusted God. Then the king took the men who had told lies
about Daniel, and threw them, and their wives and children,
into the lions house, and the lions ate all of them.
Daniel trusted God, and then God provided a way for him
not to be eaten by the lions.
If we trust God all of the time, He will provide a way for
us to escape from many bad things that might happen to come
our way.

When I was nine years old, my mother and father couldnt

look after me, or my three brothers and two sisters, so I had to
live in a home with many boys, and my brothers and sisters
had to live in a home with many other boys and girls.
God then provided a way for me to escape from this
horrible situation. He sent me far away from the boys home.
He sent me far away into the country, to a farm at Belalie
North, which was twelve miles north of Jamestown in the
mid-north of South Australia.
God sent me to be cared for by a man and a lady, who
were old enough to be my grandparents. God then provided a
place for me to work in the Post Office, for thirty five years,
and He provided my wife Pauline, and our two children.
God provided something far better than the things that He
provided for me. He provided His One and Only Son, Jesus
Christ, to come to our Earth, live for about thirty three years,
then for Him to die on a cruel cross for everybody, then to go
back to God in Heaven, and to save all people who continually
believe, obey, follow, love, honour, and serve Jesus, right up
until their last days on this Earth, so that they will live in
Heaven forever.
During 1991 I composed a poem and Christian song
entitled We Will Be Safe With God, saying that the
Christians life is not very smooth, because there are trials
along the way, but if we trust in Jesus Christ our Saviour, we
will conquer sin each day.

We Will Be Safe With God

1. The Christians life is not very smooth,
there are trials along the way,
but we who trust in Christ our Saviour,
will conquer sin each day.
We are the children of God, and so
we will be safe with Him,
Hell guard and guide us our whole life through,
then take us home with Him.
2. O please now live the Christian life,
take Jesus as your Lord,
youre safe with Him, if you trust in Him,
so now daily read His Word.
Take Jesus Christ as your Saviour now,
confess to Him your sin,
youll reign with Him forevermore,
forevermore with Him.
Youll reign with Him forevermore,
forevermore with Him.
God is Jehovah Jireh, our provider, and He is also our
Shepherd. If we are continually believing in Jesus,
following Him and obeying Him, He will continue to
lead us throughout our lives, through our good times
and our bad times Then we will go to Heaven, to be
with God our Father, Jesus Christ, God the Son, and
God the Holy Spirit forever.
Amen.

Jesus Our Pioneer, That Is, Our

Captain, and Our Liberator
Hebrews chapter 2 verses 5-18.
What is the work of a pioneer?
The head of a clan, a hero, and it could also mean a founder of
a school of thought, for instance the Jehovahs Witnesses.
A pioneer could also be the originator of a plan of action, for
instance the implementation of a crime prevention scheme, by
the Neighbourhood Watch organization.
What is a liberator?
A person who delivers another person, or a group of people,
from an inhuman tyrant, or an oppressive organization, for
instance, the Ron Hubbard brainwashing Dianetics
organization in America, or from materialistic communism
etc.
Let us now read Hebrews chapter 2 verses 5 to 18, then
we will look more deeply into these verses. Here the unknown
author of the book of Hebrews returns to his main thought,
and that is the destiny of Jesus in the world to come, but now
the intimate or close involvement through His being born as a
man, that is, His Incarnation, is brought forward.
When the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered at Qumran,
which is at almost the top of the Western end of the Dead Sea,
in Israel, it was discovered that the members of the Qumran
religious sect, believed that the coming Age would be marked
by the dominion or rule of the Archangel Michael, who was
the leader of the good and truly pure angels, who never chose
to rebel against God, unlike the other proud and conceited

angels, and their leader, Satan, the devil, who definitely chose
the path of rebellion against God. The writer of Hebrews very
strongly opposes this view. He said, not to angels, but to
people, verse 5, will be given this dominion in the world to
come. The world to come is the totally new world order, that
has already begun in Jesus Christ, that is, it is the new age, the
period of salvation. It has not been entirely reserved for the
future, but all true Christians, all true believers in Jesus, have
already entered Gods wonderful future.
This God-centered new world order biblical concept, is
absolutely opposite to the man-centered new age new world
order concept, of the modern contemporary New Age
Movement.
The Hebrews writer then quotes part of Psalm chapter 8 verses
4-6.
Verse 6.
What is man, that You are mindful of him, the son of man that
You care for Him?
Verse 7
You made him a little lower than the angels; You crowned him
with glory and honour.
Verse 8.
and put everything under his feet. Is everything under
mankinds feet, at this time in earths history?

No, we dont even control the Earth, not to mention the

rest of the cosmos, that is, the universe.
The very latest scientific discovery in 2014 was that our
universe is geocentric, that is, that our sun, planets and all of
the stars revolve around the Earth, and that our Earth is
motionless at the center of our universe, and that our Earth
does not rotate, or revolve around the sun. The stars revolve
around the unmoving Earth once every 23 hours and 56
minutes, while the moon sun and planets revolve around the
unmoving Earth once every 24 hours, that is, once every day.
Verses 8b to 9.
At present we do not see everything subject to Him.
The Hebrews writer was thinking here chiefly of Jesus,
being crowned with glory and honour because He suffered
death. Jesus the One Who was crowned, was made a little
lower than the angels, for the very purpose of dying, that is,
that by the grace, and favour of God, Jesus might taste death,
for every man, woman, boy, and girl in the world.
Jesus was made lower than the angels. This occurred
when Jesus was born as a human being, and He became a
man, in order to die.
Verse 10
The author, that is, the Captain of our salvation.
The word, Captain means leader, equivalent to the
English word, pioneer. Jesus is the Captain of the loyal band
of people, that is, us. Jesus didnt just come in order to share
our humanity, but to transform it. Mankind on account of sin
is not crowned. We are degraded. Creation is not subject to us,

but we are in subjection to creation, dominated by its power,

and under its control. But God has a brighter prospect for His
people. Things can be different. Within this brief verse, (verse
10), we learn about,
Gods wisdom,
mankinds destiny,
Jesus Christs perfection,
Jesus has been made perfect, through suffering. Since
Jesuss brothers and sisters, that is, all true Christians, must
suffer, so must Jesus, if He is to be the kind of Captain that
they need. By having suffered, Jesus is able to give us the help
that we need. Jesus literally feels for us. It is almost
impossible to understand another persons sorrows, and suffer
them ourselves. A person who has no nerves has no
conception of the tortures of nervousness and depression. A
person who is physically fit has no conception of the
weariness of the person who is easily tired, and also the pain
of the person for whom life is never free of pain.
It is often true that a person who is clever and who learns
easily, cant understand why someone who is slow, finds
things so difficult. A person who has never had a great sorrow,
cant understand the heart pain of the person into whose life
has come great grief.
A person who has never loved, can never understand
either the sudden glory of love, when it first comes, or the
aching loneliness in the lovers heart when it departs. Before
we can have sympathy, we must go through the same things as
the other person has gone through, and that is exactly what
Jesus did. Because Jesus sympathises with us, He can really
help us.
The verse of the Christmas carol, O Holy Night, which
reads, He knows our need, is absolutely true. Jesus has met
our temptations, and therefore He knows exactly what we
need, and He will give this help. The wonderful truth
concerning Jesus, is that because He went through things

Himself, He is able and willing to help others, who are going

through them, including us.
Verse 13.
There is a deep unity between Jesus the Son, and the many
sons and daughters, that is, all of the true Christians.
Jesus makes them holy, by His death, and those who are made
holy are of the same family. Jesus is an elder brother to us, in
the midst of a circle of younger children. He is the Captain of
our salvation, and He teaches us the lessons of faith, along the
pathway of suffering.
Verses 14-18.
Jesus our liberator.
Before we became Christians we were slaves and servants
of Satan. Since we are human, Jesus our Captain had to
become human, and die for us, in order for Him to be able to
rescue us, and by doing this, Jesus was able to destroy the
devil. The author of Hebrews didnt mean that Satan ceased to
exist or ceased to be active, but that the meaning of the word
destroy, indicates the cancelling of Satans power over the
Christians, whom Jesus redeems.
Verses 16-18
Whatever our needs or trials, our Captain, that is, Jesus,
will help us, since He ministers to Abrahams descendant, not
to angels.

Our Captain, that is, Jesus, in His role as our Priest, is able
to aid us, who are being tempted, verse 18, out of the
experience of temptation, which His own sufferings entailed.
The writer of Hebrews has suggested that Jesus our
Captain, has definitely been made perfect by God, our Father,
for His role in leading us to participate in His future glory.
Amen.