A Different Perspective Official Podcast

We pretty much know that to reap a good harvest, we have to sow a good seed – but I’ll tell you sometimes it’s a long way between sowing and reaping – waiting, waiting, waiting….

I'm not a farmer but I've often imagined what it must be like, you know you spend the money, you buy the seed, you prepare the soil, you plant the seed and then you wait. So many things can go wrong, too much rain, not enough rain or it rains at the wrong ...

Have you ever noticed – when you take a good decision to plant some good seed in difficult soil – all of a sudden, a dirty great storm whips up.  Hey, I’m trying to do the right thing – God what’s going on?

We all like sunshine and warm weather. You know when the weather forecaster comes on and says it's going to be cold and wet tomorrow, we go, "Augh yuck," but of course without the rain we'd all be dead. It's as simple as that, a...

Sometimes, when we go through a bit of a rough patch, instead of running away (which is always our first instinct) instead, we make a good choice and decide to plant a good seed in that place. But then for a while, it feels like nothing’s happening.

Have you ever planted a seed into some dirt? There’s something that, well frankly, is unnerving about this simple transaction. You take the seed and invariably it costs you something, y...

Sometimes when you’re going through a bad patch – all you want is for it to get better. But actually, sometimes, what we need to do is to plant a good seed while we’re waiting.

Can I ask you, what do you want to get out of life? I mean when you stand back and survey the landscape called, “your life”, the highs and the lows, what are some of the things that you’d love to see there? Relationships, achievements, family, career, money,...

One of the things that nobody ever really tells you when you’re a teenager, is that the tough lessons you learn now are going to be so important later on in life. Is that really true?

There's a great film that was produced back in 1984 called, “The Karate Kid”. It's about a teenage boy who had just lost his father and who ends up studying karate under an older Japanese man called, Mr Miagi. And for the first few months, all Mr Miag...

One of the things I did when I was a teenager is that I wanted to act like a child and yet, to be treated like an adult. So what are parents looking for in their teenagers as key indicators that they’re actually growing up?

Can I ask you a question? How would you define maturity? I mean, you look at two people, similar ages, similar backgrounds and you think that one, well she definitely has it but that other one over there, he jus...

It’s an amazing thing – but God places a very high premium on children honouring their parents. And that’s not always easy. I mean for starters – what does “honour” actually mean here in the 21^st century, mm?

I asked my 16 year old daughter Melissa, the other day what she thought the word “honour” means. She immediately responded, "It means obedience." "Mmm," I said, “That's part of it but not the whole lot." "What do yo...

It seems par for the course that at some point, teenagers want to rebel. I know I did. So, why is that? What’s going on in their hearts when they get this urge to rebel?

Now I remember when I was a teenager it was a time of anger and tension and conflict with my parents. You see, I knew that I knew everything and I knew that they knew nothing; I mean they were so old fashioned.

They made me have my hair cut short when all my friend...

Growing up isn’t easy. That whole journey from being a little baby to a well-adjusted young adult is tough. So – what’s growing up all about? What happens along the way?

You know, I think that one of the hardest things in life is just growing up. You start of life as this helpless little baby; can’t do anything for yourself. And the somehow 20 or 25 years later you're supposed to be this well-balanced mature young adult capable of ...

Bringing up children can feel like such a thankless task some days. You invest, invest, sacrifice, invest some more – hoping that one day, it’ll all have a positive impact on them. Well, I want to share something with you about this investment thing that’ll just blow you away.

We've been talking, these last 3 weeks, about Building a Godly Family. And today, today I want to share a story with you that blew me away. And my prayer is,...

One of the greatest teachers of all is life itself. We learn so much just by living life. Now – here’s a thought. What if, I mean what if we shared some of the challenges and trials that we face, with our children? What if they were able to benefit from the things we’re learning?

A good many years ago now, when I was in the Information Technology industry, I used to attend I guess 3 or 4 conferences each year; the sort of thing to ...

So many people want to build a godly family. To have a family that’s not necessarily perfect, there ain’t any of those, but one that’s full of peace and joy. A safe place for children to grow. But if we want our kids to grow up to be godly – one of the things we have to do, is actually talk to them about Jesus.

We parents try to do all the things we can to help our children to grow up. We advise. We admonish. We even end up preaching at them sometimes. But it’s not what we say, it’s what we do, how we live – what they see our life to be, that has the greatest impact in shaping them as they grow up.

With all the entertainment options and gizmos available to us these days, there are so many distractions. Things that stop us from interacting and doing the things that we need to do to build a godly family.

Honour is not something that gets talked about a lot these days. But Commandment number 5 out of the top ten is to honour your father and mother. And it turns out that there’s a very good reason why it’s right up there at number 5.

They say that what marriage is all about is two becoming one. It’s a great theory but, well, as I heard someone say once, it’s the “becoming” that’s the problem. That’s where the hard work really is.

We think of men being the stronger sex and the Bible even talks about women as being the weaker sex. But some of the strongest people I know are women – and you women, your particular brand of strength can be such an amazing blessing to your families.

We men are a funny breed – we have the whole provider and protector thing going on inside us. And you know something, if we know how to live that out in a godly way, we can be such a blessing to our families.

Peace is one of those things – well, who doesn’t want peace in their lives. Freedom from conflict. But imagine, imagine what a blessing it must be, to have peace at home. A family that thrives on peace instead of being lost in conflict.