Why do you still willingly crucify Jesus?

Now this post was triggered by something that happened yesterday, it is not a dig at anyone in particular or a personal attack but it is a heartfelt plea. In our lives we have a choice of what to do with our lives, we can choose to follow Christ or we can go and do what we want, do it our way. Doing it our way is not necessarily sinful, but when attempting to do things on our own we have neither the strength or the ability to hold out against the methods of the enemy for long. I know that we can choose to sin without the enemy being behind it, but when we weaken ourselves by excluding Christ we only make it easier for him when he does launch an inevitable attack.

When we have a choice to do things in a way that we know Christ would not have done then we are making a concious choice to sin. When we make these concious choices to sin we are turning or backs on Christ's teachings. Worse than that, we add to the suffering Christ bore for us on the cross. Christ died for all our sins, past present and future and non of us will be sinless, it is an impossible goal. But that does not allow us scope to sin when we feel like it, it does not give us carte blanc to do what we feel like when we feel like it.

We all have the capacity to sin, we are all human after all, but that also means we have the capacity, especially through Christ to choose not to sin also. Think about your life and think about the choices you make, your actions and your motivations. Are they all that they should be, or does sin enter in from time to time, is it that you are sometimes doing the right thing for the wrong reason. Even an action that looks right can be sinful if it is done with sinful and wrong motives.

If you want to live for Christ it requires a whole of life change, it is not enough to just say that you believe in Christ and want to live for Him. If that was true then you would be making the changes to live like Christ, you can't truly believe in the saving Grace and Love of Christ if you are content to remain the way that you were before you "found" Christ. Sure believing in Christ and the desire to live for Him is a good thing, but it is but one step of many steps to following Christ, taking one step towards Him is not following, following requires step after step after step, you have to walk. Just taking one step leaves the rest of your personal path with Christ unwalked and unexplored.

Each time we sin, each time we choose to go against Christ we are contributing to the suffering of our crucified Lord, we drive the nails further in we add to the weight on His heart and shoulders. When we knowingly and willingly choose to do what we know is wrong in Christ we become as much a part of the crucifixion as the centurion, Pilate or the Pharisees.

We know what Christ wants us to do, we also know our own human wants and desires, but we need to be mindful of where these desires come from and the price we pay for giving in to them. We need to ask God to help us with our weaknesses and to help us live without giving into them, but we also need to accept that help. We gain nothing from praying time and time again for help if when it comes along we choose not to accept it. Take a look at your life, look and see the places when you need it to be cleaned or even the parts that need to be cut away. Ask for help in doing this and then set to work with God's guidance.

Philippians 4:13 (KJV)

     I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.

Take up thy cross daily....

I love playing strategy games, especially Go and Chess. Both of these games are fairly simple to learn and play but require a huge amount of skill to play well which only comes from regular practice. Not only that but it requires a huge amount of thought and consideration when playing because just one wrong move can mean failure and defeat.

I have played both these games for a number of years and have got to the point where I am good, but to advance any further would require serious commitment and many many hours of game time and study. And that is just not practical or possible in my life, for ever I will have to content myself that this is possibly the best I will ever be at these games and that in all possibility I may get worse if I play less. But these are just two games, in all reality they do not mean much and are not that important in my life, they are something I enjoy doing when I have the time and opportunity to play.

However there are aspect of our life that like Chess and Go require us to put in effort, to spend many hours in "game time" practising and also study hard at. Some like Chess and Go are not that important and if there is no time for them they can happily be left by the wayside and possibly picked back up in the future. But there is one aspect of our life that we have chosen to engage in that also needs to be worked on daily and can not be left, not for one day, not even for one second.

Each and every day we all must strive and persevere to live a life that is Christlike, to live a life doing good and following His word;

Matthew16:24 (KJV)
     Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.


Luke 9:23 (NIV)
     Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.


Two of the Apostles tell us that in order to follow Christ we too must take up our cross and follow in the footsteps of Christ, of a God filled life and self sacrifice. We must take up the cross we have been assigned daily and follow Him. There are no days off, no times of rest, each and every day we must follow Him.

Matthew 16:25-26 (KJV)
     For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Luke 9:24-26 (NIV)

     For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

The Gospel writers were there, they heard it, they saw it lived out each day in front of them and they struggled. Jesus prayed to His Father to have the cup taken away, to give Him another way so that He need not take up the cross Himself. The weakness of Jesus is not one we should look at and say "well if Jesus struggled what hope do we have". Instead we should realise that as Jesus was wholly man as well as wholly God He showed us that though we are weak as humans we have it in us to be strong through the Father. We have seen that the Apostles struggled to always do what was right and good, yet they went out again and again doing the work they were sent to do. If they had not there is no way the Church would have become the size it has or have swept through the whole world. Yes there is much to do, yes we have been give a huge and difficult task, yes there will be no rest and we will likely be persecuted and laughed at in our quest. But read what Jesus said once more;

Matthew 16:25-26 (KJV)

     For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Luke 9:24-26 (NIV)

     For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

Called to tell the world

As Christians we believe that Jesus has called us to be His people, that He shone as a great light into the darkness of the world and has shown us the way. Jesus told us this;

John 14:6 (KJV)
     Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

But being a Christian is not just about following in the footsteps of Jesus in our conduct or actions. We must also follow in His footsteps in regards to telling the world about the Father. We must follow the instructions that Jesus gave us about spreading the word.

Matthew 28:16-20

     Meanwhile, the eleven disciples were on their way to Galilee, headed for the mountain Jesus had set for their reunion. The moment they saw him they worshipped him. Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally.
     Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."

Now we don't have to travel far to find those who we need to be spreading the word too. Jesus said far and near, He said train everyone. There is no one who we should not be trying to reach with the word of God, there is no one Jesus considers an undesirable. All people can be made whole through Jesus, all people are beautiful in His sight. This is something I have to be aware of day after day when working with those who have been cast out by society, each day I am reminded that these people are people, that they have hopes, dreams and desires. But most of all I am reminded that Jesus not only loves them and wants them to come back to His family, but that Jesus wants me to feel the same way too. It is not always easy to love the unlovable, but Jesus showed us it can be done, and with His help we can come to love them too, and through loving them we can help them to see the light which will show them the way. 

Losing my connection

This post I have to begin with an apology, Hannah, please forgive me, I am a complete clutz. As some of you may have noticed I have made a few small changes to the site recently and included a chat function. To be honest I didn't actually think anyone would ever use the function and just added it in the hope that one day it may be of some use.

Lo and behold after only a couple of days I received my first message from Hannah (who I hope by this point in the post has forgiven me for my lack of technical grace). The thing is I have set the chat function to be linked with my lovely new netbook which I am still coming to grips with (Windows 7 and I do not agree) and I press a wrong button and lose my connection.

While I was fiddling about with the netbook to try and re-establish the connection I began thinking about our connection with God and how our actions can sometimes strain the link. Sometimes the things that we do can cause us to think we have "lost" our connection with God.

Fortunately for us, the connection with God is not like my net connection, which after its demonstration last night can only be a good thing. No matter what we have done, or how much we think we have offended God, there is nothing that can sever this connection. Jesus came to Earth, lived as a man and died for our sins to give us this connection that can not be "lost".

Romans 8:38-39 (KJV)

    For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
     Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.


So as for technical difficulties I think I have solved them, for now at least, and believe everything on the site is up and running once again. I hope that if you have time and you see the little green light on the chat box I hope you can pop in to say a quick hello.

As for God

Psalm 18:30 (NIV)

     As for God, His way is perfect:
     The LORD’s word is flawless;
     He shields all who take refuge in Him.

I would imagine that anyone who said that they had never doubted the Lord or His plans would be lying. As Humans we find it difficult to let go of what we want, of our plans and believing in ourselves. This causes us to ask questions and doubt God's plans because they do not match up with ours or they are not taking us in the direction that we want to go in.

So many times in so many different situations in the Bible we are reminded about God's perfection, the fact that His plans are flawless and in our best interests. In so many stories and parales we see that the Lord only wants the best for us and that in following His will we will recieve so much more than we could gain if we worked on our own.

Jeremiah 29:11  

    I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out-plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. 

There is nothing He has not already thought of, nothing He has not already planned for. He knows what He wants you to do, He knows what you need to do all that He asks of you. All He asks from us is that we love Him and trust in Him to be there to provide for and support us.

Acts 2:21 (KJV)  

    And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. 

Do you trust in the Lord? When you need Help do you call on His name? I know that often I have tried to do things  without Him, I have struggled on without calling on His help. Time and again I have to learn and relearn the lesson of calling on Him to help. We must remember that God is our father, He wants only the best for us and for us to grow in His image. And like a father He is always there for us when we need Him, whatever the situation.

Isaiah 41:13 (NIV)
     For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.

On those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

It is that time of the moth again, yes it is time for the linked Bible study. The linked Bible study is a partnership between my friend Caron and myself where we both post about the same Bible passage. This month the passage has been selected by Caron and the selected passage is Isaiah 9:1-7, click the link to read it online.

Although the passage is verse 1 to verse 7, I actually only really want to look at verse 2.

Isaiah 9:2 (KJV)
     The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: 
     they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. 

Isaiah 9:2 (MSG)
        The people who walked in darkness
            have seen a great light.
        For those who lived in a land of deep shadows-
            light! sunbursts of light! 

Isaiah 9:2 (NIV)
     The people walking in darkness
     have seen a great light;
     on those living in the land of deep darkness
     a light has dawned.


All three translations I have looked at for this verse start out the same, the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. It may be no coincidence that I wrote about light bulbs just the other day, but it was not planned by me. I find the analogy of light quite striking when I read it, mostly because I have spent so long studying light and its properties in the past. Light is something that we all know and make use of in our day to day lives, but actually understanding it and how it works is actually quite complex. There are a lot of physical laws that govern it and when it comes down to it we can not even be sure of the form light takes, but wave particle duality is another topic completely. I do find however that the Bible can be like this at times, easy to read the words, but often difficult to discern the full meaning without careful study.

But the description of the Messiah, Jesus, as a great light is for me amazing. Light is what we see the world by, without it we would be blind. We would be blind with little idea about the world without light, we would be unable to see and be reduced to scrabbling around in the dark. However with light we can see everything from tiny bacteria up to Galaxies and everything in between.

Jesus is the light of the world, by Him we are able to see. Not in the sense that our eyes see the world but in the sense that through Jesus we can see what is right, what is Godly and holy. Without Jesus we are just blindly following the laws and stumbling around trying our best. With Him we can see our sinful ways and are then able to do something about it. By Jesus we are no longer those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death. Instead we are born again, able to see and able to be everything that we should be.

Yes we should recognise that Jesus is the promised Messiah, we should remember what was said about Him by the prophets of old:

Isaiah 9:6 (KJV)
    For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 

He is all of these things and more, He is our God incarnate and He cam and died so that we may have everlasting life with the Father. In this time of Advent in the run up to Christmas we should celebrate His birth, we should remember the promises God made and fulfilled through Jesus. But we should also remember what we are without Him, we should remember that He is the light that illuminates all and that there is no darkness that He can not shine into, no shadow He can not chase away. Remember this Christmas time that;

Isaiah 9:2 (NIV)
     The people walking in darkness
     have seen a great light;
     on those living in the land of deep darkness
     a light has dawned.


As I mentioned at the beginning this post is linked to a corresponding post on Surrendering, please take the time to visit the site and read the post. Also if you are interested in reading the past linked blog posts either look at the tab above or follow the Linked Bible Studies link. As always feel free to leave any comments and I hope you come back again soon.

John 3:16-21

John 3:16-21 (KJV)
    For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
    He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

John's Gospel is possibly one of the best written books in the whole Bible. From the opening line of;

John 1:1 (KJV)
    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

up to the final;

John 21:25 (KJV)
    And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

every part of it tells the most amazing story in the most amazing way. I think at times we read the Bible as single verses or short passages and sometimes miss the context in which they reside. When looking at and studying the Bible we should be aware of not only the context of the settings in the surrounding passages but the context of the time in which it happened and the time when it was written.

I want to look at this passage in more depth but unfortunately don't have the time to do so right now. In the past I have done Bible studies such as the one on Job but this one is not going to be as lengthy. I do not plan on looking at John's gospel in it entirety but I will consider what the above passage means in respect to the general message of the book, the knowledge of the writer and the cultural context too. Watch this space as it should be ready in the next few days.

This is the day

This is the day, so was yesterday, and tomorrow will be too.

Psalm 118:24 (KJV)
    This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. 

Is it not amazing that God made all of this for us? Everything you can see, everything you can't see and so much more than that. While at university I had the good fortune to learn about the realities of the universe in which we live, how it is constructed and how it works. Let me tell you it is an amazing and wonderful creation. Christians should not be afraid of science, we should embrace it as a way of looking at our Lord's fantastic creation.

God designed and made everything from the finally balanced dance of an electron around an atomic nucleus, to the fusion processes that power stars. He set the galaxies spinning and He tuned the atomic forces. Everything from the tiniest quantum process up to galactic super clusters are in his design. Why should science have a monopoly on such wonders.

Can we be so closed minded as to say, "Oh no God couldn't possibly work like that!". God reminds us in Isaiah 55:

Isaiah 55:8-9
        "I don't think the way you think.
            The way you work isn't the way I work."
                God's Decree. 
        "For as the sky soars high above earth,
            so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
            and the way I think is beyond the way you think." 

We may not be able to understand God's reasoning or God's plans. We may not even be able to understand creation in the end. But God made us like Him:

Genesis 1:26-27
        God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them
            reflecting our nature
        So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,
            the birds in the air, the cattle,
        And, yes, Earth itself,
            and every animal that moves on the face of Earth." 
        God created human beings;
            he created them godlike,
        Reflecting God's nature.
            He created them male and female. 

We were made in God's image reflecting His nature.God created us Godlike reflecting His nature. Our curiosity is built in to us, we have had since Adam and Eve a thirst for knowledge, a desire to know more about the world God gave us.

Why should we be in conflict with, or afraid of science? As a scientist and a Christian I have yet to find a real conflict between the two. People talk of the age of the earth or evolution as being incompatible with Christianity. Let me point out two things, in the beginning a day would be whatever God defined it to be as a 24 hour day is a product of the spin of the Earth. 7 days in Genesis refers not to 7x24 hours but 7 distinct periods of time. And as for evolution, who are we to tell God how he can do things, who are we to dictate His methods. Look back at Isaiah 55:

        "I don't think the way you think.
            The way you work isn't the way I work."

God gave us the intelligence to see the world and learn about it, He gave us the ability to understand at least a part of it. Why can we not take this knowledge and say "What a mighty God have I" why do we insist on telling God, "No you can't do it that way".

Psalm 118:24 (KJV)

    This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. 

This is not just the day the Lord has made, it is the world and the universe that Lord has made. Look on it and be amazed, it was by the same hands that were sacrificed and bled that it was made. If we can learn even a small part about it and realise the power our God has, why fight against it. We need to get out of this point of view that science and religion are incompatible. We are taught in the Bible that God made everything and told the story of why, science is just our way of learning some of the hows. Look to science and be amazed, because we have a God who is greater than that, he designed and built it all and understood it all from the very beginning. Do not be scared or offended by science, remember that our God was the first scientist, and will be the last. For He is the alpha and the omega, the creator of it all and He will be there at the end of it all to welcome us into eternity with Him.

Challenge issued

I was at a meeting in the hostel where I work today where we had ministers and musical sections from Churches around for a fellowship service. I wont say it was the best service I have ever attended because I would be lying, but neither was it the worst. It was however not pitched at the correct audience, in my opinion anyway.

There was some good came out of it though. At the end of it I was talking to someone about God, prayer and if there is anything to it. Knowing this person quite well and knowing we would have many chances to talk on an almost daily basis I said. "Rather than debate this now, why don't we try and experiment and talk about it once completed?" I then asked how he would feel about commuting to praying and reading a Bible everyday for a month and see if it makes a difference to his life. He agreed that there was no harm in trying this and he was willing to give it a go and see if it would work. Now we who are Christians know the power of prayer and the word of God and its ability to change lives, this person does not. I know if he approaches this in the right way wondrous things may happen in his life. I ask that everyone who is willing pray for this man as he takes this step towards God, that he will use this opportunity and come to know God through Jesus. I will be praying for him everyday and ask that if it is not too much you do too. If you do not know God then I would challenge you to do the same thing spend a short amount of time each day reading the Bible and praying for 30 days. If you do know God but have a friend or family member who does not know God challenge them to try God out for 30 days and see what He can do.

So there you go, challenge issued.

Psalm 34:8 (KJV)
    O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. 

Labouring in the shadows

Hebrews 6:10 (KJV)
    For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

Everyone likes to be appreciated for the work they have done, everyone likes some thanks for a job well done. Even if it is just a pat on the back we all love being told that what we have done has been recognised and our hard work was not in vain.

What this verse is saying though is that it does not matter what appreciation or thanks you get here on Earth in this life because God see's everything we do. Not just that but He will reward us for our works that were unheard and unseen in this life. These acts that no one finds out about are the kind of actions Jesus Himself would have done, because they were needed not because He would gain from the. Let us be like Christ and labour in the shadows of this world.

Warnings from little brother

It's that time again! Yes it's time for the latest linked Bible post brought to you by Sam and Caron. Please follow the link and check out Caron's blog and read her thoughts on today's topic too. Also please check out the previous linked blog posts from both me and Caron here.

This linked post was chosen by me, so if it turns out terrible, you don't like it or disagree you now know who to blame. So for this post I decided that I would quite like to have a closer look at Jude, use it as an exercise to really get to grips with this short yet powerful book. Check here to read it online.

I love the beginning of this book, it is such a wonderful way to start a letter to anyone;

Jude 1:2   

    Relax, everything's going to be all right; rest, everything's coming together; open your hearts, love is on the way! 

Now as an opening to a letter this has to rank amongst the best. Jude is pretty much saying, "hey guys, chill, it's all going great, it's all going to be great. Oh, and Jesus is on His way!" I don't know exactly who it was written to but it appears to be an open letter to all believers of the Church. Whoever it was sent to though this is an awesome opening.

But hold on a second, lets skip back to the first verse. Here we read that this letter is from Jude who is a servant of Christ and brother to James. The use of servant here is used in other parts of the New Tetament and suggests that the author was an Apostle of Christ. Not only that but it is very possible that this man was one of Jesus brothers. Jude and Judas are both different Anglicised versions of the same Jewish name, and if we look at Matthew 15:55;

Matthew 13:55  

    But in the next breath they were cutting him down: "We've known him since he was a kid; he's the carpenter's son. We know his mother, Mary. We know his brothers James and Joseph, Simon and Judas. 

If this is the case then we are dealing with someone who knew Christ exceptionally well, someone who would have heard His teachings often and spent a lot of time with our Saviour. Jude, James and the family of Jesus would have know Him and His teachings and would, in my opinion, be worth listening too.

So we know who is writing this letter, that he has a deep faith and the peace that comes with it, that he wants to share this faith and peace with all followers. But what is it he actually wants to say to us, what is the point of this letter?

This letter is a stark and clear warning, it pulls no punches. After a short and warm introduction it dives straight into the point of the letter. 

Jude 1:3  

    Dear friends, I've dropped everything to write you about this life of salvation that we have in common. I have to write insisting-begging!-that you fight with everything you have in you for this faith entrusted to us as a gift to guard and cherish. 

We see here that the author feels so strongly about the point of this letter that he has dropped everything. Not only that but he has been driven to insist, nay beg the readers to not just fight, but fight with all they have for their shared faith. I don't know about anyone else but as I read this passage, Jude, I get a sense of great love, love like that of an elder sibling who is desperately trying to help his younger siblings see the truth. The relationship I have with my older brother is not always great but there is one thing I know. I can always rely on, the fact he will always look out for me and my well being, that he will always give me straight, honest and good advice. That is the sense I get from this letter, it is someone older and more mature in the faith pleading with his younger faith siblings to see the truth and follow the right path.

The warning in this letter is about people. Not just any people but those who want to use the Church and the faith for their own gain. Jude is desperately trying to warn us against them. People who will look all holy and pious on the outside but are actually just using the Church for their own advancement and earthly betterment. Most of this letter is a series of references to similar cases in the past as recorded in the Bible. This is as much for the warnings and reminders of what happened in these stories as much as it is to illustrate the problem. Know your past else you will be doomed to repeat it.

Jude 1:14-19   

    Enoch, the seventh after Adam, prophesied of them: "Look! The Master comes with thousands of holy angels to bring judgment against them all, convicting each person of every defiling act of shameless sacrilege, of every dirty word they have spewed of their pious filth." These are the "grumpers," the bellyachers, grabbing for the biggest piece of the pie, talking big, saying anything they think will get them ahead. 

    But remember, dear friends, that the apostles of our Master, Jesus Christ, told us this would happen: "In the last days there will be people who don't take these things seriously anymore. They'll treat them like a joke, and make a religion of their own whims and lusts." These are the ones who split churches, thinking only of themselves. There's nothing to them, no sign of the Spirit!

This problem was foreseen and forewarned by a number of people, people including Christ! It is a tactic well used by the enemy, to infiltrate and subvert. The enemy is not above using any technique to serve his purpose and complete his self ordained mission against God. He will use anyone and everything he can to try and defeat us and to turn us against our Lord and Saviour. And because of that these warnings from Jude, echoed in 2nd Peter and also in I, II and III John, need to be heeded. If this threat was not so great why would there be so many warnings for us.

However this letter is not just a warning, it does provide us with advice on how to avoid falling into this trap, about how to prevent this from happening in our Church.

Jude 1:20-21 

    But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit, staying right at the center of God's love, keeping your arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ. This is the unending life, the real life! 

If we have accepted Christ and have the Holy Spirit within us we will be protected, if we pray always and keep ourselves within God's love then we will be kept safe. But not only that if we fail there is the knowledge that if we go to Christ we can receive mercy and be given the true life in Christ, unending life. There will be many battles, we may lose a few. But if we are firm in Christ we can sure win the war.

The next two verses are possibly my current favourite verses in the whole Bible, it is something that through experience I know to be true and something I am trying hard to work into my life. 

Jude 1:22-23   

    Go easy on those who hesitate in the faith. Go after those who take the wrong way. Be tender with sinners, but not soft on sin. The sin itself stinks to high heaven. 

The job I do brings me into close contact with many people who have sinned, some of them in the most horrendous ways. It is a daily struggle for me to act in a Christian way towards these people when I know the extent and form of these sins. But right here it gives us directions to follow, be tough on sin because the sin stinks in the most offensive way. God hates sin, he hates everything about it, but he loves us and wants us to be free of that sin. He asks that we as followers help those who have not yet found His love through Christ. We should be tender with the sinner themselves, we should try and nurture whatever good is in them and show them through our actions the life they can have through Christ if they but accept His love and follow Him. We have to remember Jesus Himself did not spend His time with those who were right with God. He went right to the people who were the worst, the least, the people society wanted nothing to do with. As followers of Christ we should be following this example and going to these outcasts and bringing them into Jesus' fold. We should be working with those the world wants nothing to do with, go love the unlovable as Christ would.

And at last that brings us to the end of the letter, Jude's doxology, his hymn of praise to our Father. It is a fantastic end that is befitting a letter with such a wonderful beginning. In my opinion it is up there amongst some of the greatest words written and I can think of no better way to finish this post. If it was good enough for Jude's letter then it is more than good enough for Sam's blog. I hope you enjoyed reading this post please leave any comments below and also check out the corresponding blog written by my friend here.

Jude 1:24-25 (KJV)  

    Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. 

Wealth of wisdom

I was reading my daily bible verse as supplied by my phone today and decided to take a closer look. The verse today was;

Proverbs 20:9 (KJV)  

    Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? 

Now it is not so much the verse that I want to talk about today, rather the whole book of Proverbs and the Bible. This book is such a fantastic collection of wisdom that has been  handed down to us, but how many of us are actually aware of much that is in there? It is one of those books that I know about, I know what it is, but in reality I know next to nothing about it. I know it is a collection of sayings from Old Testament times, I know that many are thought to be written by Solomon but my knowledge ends there. 

As those who have followed this blog for a while know I am reading my way through the Street Bible and have at times mentioned it in passing. Well Proverbs was one of those books that while reading through caught my attention. I have never really paid it much attention and have never really heard anyone talk about it much. And for me that covers some big sections of the Bible, I know a little about it but just surface facts. When reading the Street Bible I realised there was much in the Bible I needed to reread in its entirety. 

I have currently a significant collection of books that I am trying to read through and this has meant I have squeezed in extra reading time into my schedule to try and get through these books quicker. There is so much that I want to know, reading and learning it is becoming a mammoth task. Even so I am going to make myself a new commitment, I will read the whole Bible, cover to cover. I know that I will not be able to start this until at least next week due to my busy weekend but it is something I feel is essential. I know parts of the Bible very well and have studied sections in detail but I have never read it as I would any other book. In the past I have dipped in and out of the Bible but never just read it as I would any other book.

So from a simple daily verse I am committing myself to yet another project that will take up a considerable part of my life for some time to come. However as with my other commitments like this blog and the Soldiers Challenge there is so much I am learning and gaining from them that they have ceased to be a burden and are now thoroughly incorporated into my life. If this is what it takes to make me find space in my life to do regular and consistent Bible study then it can only be a good thing.

Psalm 32:10

Psalm 32:10
        God-defiers are always in trouble;
            God-affirmers find themselves loved
            every time they turn around.

I am glad that I have my God. I rejoice that He loves me. I am amazed that He died for me. I am thankful that I have everything I need through Him.

Philippians 4:4 (KJV)
    Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

Modernism

There seems to be a trend in modern day Christians to want to water down Christianity to make it more palatable for non-believers. A desire to include "the best" of other religions so that it will attract more people to the fold. I don't know about anyone else but this to me seems to defeat the point. Didn't Jesus say;

John 14:6 (KJV)
    Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

But not only that God commanded us to live His way too;

Leviticus 20:8
    Do what I tell you; live the way I tell you. I am the God who makes you holy.

This was all triggered last night when I was watching a documentary about "The Hidden Story of Jesus". The presenter who claimed to be a Christian was ready to jump on anything from other religions that was even remotely close to something in Christianity and declare that they are all part of the same pan-religious theology. One of the biggest points that I thought was a misuse of the words of Jesus was;

John 10:16
    You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They'll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd.

It was claimed that this was Jesus saying that there was a truth to other religions, that these "sheep" were part of his flock too. But didn't we just see Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father, but by me." Surely anyone who is in His flock is following His way and would therefore be Christian. I am sure that Jesus was expanding on His mission to the disciples to go out into the world and gather all His sheep to His Church. Not saying that it is ok, anyone living a moral life is following a different set of my teachings.

Unfortunately I have not got the time to expand on this further now as I have to get ready and go to work, but I hope to post further on this soon. If any of you have time to watch the clip and spot similar issues with the content please let me know either by commenting or at jerrathorn@gmail.com.

No Job - sorry my bad

Revelation 22:12
Yes, I'm on my way!
I'll be there soon!

Ok guys, anyone who was anxiously waiting for Job to continue tonight I must apologise to profusely. Today has been an epic adventure and I just have not had enough hours to get everything done I wanted to. I have been unorganised and run ragged recently. In addition to this I had some bad news yesterday which has not helped my state of mind when trying to plan ahead for the next few days. I am also away from home for a little while and thus not able to be at a computer as easily or as often as I would like.

When I first arrived at my bed for tonight I had to get straight online asap to deal with my blog addiction. But first I picked up the Bible in my hosts house and it opened right at the last page. The first thing that struck me was the verse above. It sums up exactly how I feel right now, it sounds exactly like the beginning of every conversation I have recently, "Hang on, I'll be right there".

Just like in the post this morning I am often struck by how, when and where God chooses to speak to us. Even when we are so busy and have no time for anything or anyone He finds a way to speak to and comfort us when we take a moment just to be still. Just then His presence descends on us and we have perfect peace.

Lord of the Rings

Lord of the Rings in my opinion has to take the title of the best film adaptation of a book ever. With the exception of Tom Bombadil being left out there was almost nothing I was upset or disappointed by in this trilogy. There is some fantastic cinematography and images in these films, some absolutely breathtaking scenes.

One scene in particular has always jumped out at me. In fact it is not really the scene as it appears in the film, but a slight modification. This refers back to about 6 years ago before I "left" the Church and tried to make it on my own. While spending time at a Christian residential I experienced the closest thing to a vision I have ever had. One night while sat in a prayer meeting I saw as if I was part of it the scene from the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring where the combined forces of Men and Elves are fighting Sauron's armies. It was at this point it changed from what is shown in the film. Instead of the great evil, dark form of Sauron entering the battle, I saw a figure standing gleaming white. The light coming from the white figure was so bright it was impossible to see the source other than it was human shaped. Yet even though the light was too bright to see what was at the centre it was not painful to look at. The white figure then proceeded to attack the evil enemy in huge numbers, each swing of his sword.

Now I am not one inclined to visions, and my scientific mind can provide lots of explanations for such occurrences. However the fact that this was during one of the hardest and darkest moments of my life I feel it was not a freak or chance occurrence.

Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17
        "In the Last Days," God says,
        "I will pour out my Spirit
            on every kind of people:
        Your sons will prophesy,
            also your daughters;
        Your young men will see visions,
            your old men dream dreams.

I think on subjects like this we should be wary about visions and their meanings. God is not the only one who uses visions, God is not the only one who talks to us. We can be under attack from the enemy so easily, and he is a formidable force. The only way to fight back is using the help of God. However attacks form the enemy can be seen to be such, nothing from the enemy can lift you like help from God. The enemy does not have it in him to be good, kind or nice. We should remember that God is the greatest, He is the strongest, He was the first and will be the last.

Revelations 1:8 (KJV)
    I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

A vision as simple as showing the greatness of God, showing God fighting against the enemy is not likely to come from the enemy. He does not want us to think he can be defeated. He does not want us to realise that using God's power we can send him packing with his tail between his legs.

Matthew 8:28-29
    They landed in the country of the Gadarenes and were met by two madmen, victims of demons, coming out of the cemetery. The men had terrorized the region for so long that no one considered it safe to walk down that stretch of road anymore. Seeing Jesus, the madmen screamed out, "What business do you have giving us a hard time? You're the Son of God! You weren't supposed to show up here yet!"

Jesus had power and authority over any and all daemons. They knew who He was and they were afraid of His power, because of this they obeyed His commands. Jesus passed on this authority to His believers, He gave us the power over daemons when using His name.

Acts 16:18
    She did this for a number of days until Paul, finally fed up with her, turned and commanded the spirit that possessed her, "Out! In the name of Jesus Christ, get out of her!" And it was gone, just like that.

Mark 16:17 (KJV)

    And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

In my life I have not been blessed with many very close encounters with God. Yet the few I have been blessed enough to experience have been awe inspiring and powerful, at least to me. I may not be a person who sees visions and can hear the voice of God regularly. I struggle to see signs and directions from God most of the time. But even though this is the case I know God is there talking to me all the time, in all situations, in all things. What I need to do is learn to listen to him, I need to quieten my mind to the world in order to hear more clearly. I need to learn to see with eyes that are not clouded by the distractions of this world. I am not naive enough to think I can get to a point where all my conversations with God are as clear as talking to another person but it is a good target to aim for. If I actively work on my relationship with God, spend time alone with Him looking and listening then hopefully I can learn to better hear and see Him.

Christian friends

I have some amazing friends, I haven't always. Until I began attending my Church I had a lot of friends, but no one I could rely on. I thought I had good friends, but time and again I would be let down or left short on something. It has come as quite a shock to me that I have managed to acquire such good friends over such a short period of time. These friends have been there when I have needed them most, they have helped me get through some tough times. Even without knowing it they have done so much for me and asked for nothing in return. It has helped my spiritual growth so much to have Christian friends, it has made fixing my problems and issues much easier than if I had been doing it alone.

Jesus never intended us to be in this spiritual journey alone;

Matthew 18:20
    And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I'll be there."

Jesus could just have as easily said that "whenever anyone is worshipping my name or doing good in my name, I'll be there". But we are not supposed to be alone in this, we are supposed to be part of His Church, we are supposed to gather and work together.

Matthew 18:19
    When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action.

This does not mean that God will not answer our individual prayers, but it is a clear sign that both God and Jesus intended us to work together. As the Church we are the body of Christ, and we have all heard the story about how each part of the body must do their job and by working together as a whole the work gets done. Very often in Churches because they are made up of humans we have disagreements and arguments. This will always happen and does not make you a bad Christian. However the way we act in these situations does say a lot about our faith.

Matthew 5:9 (KJV)
    Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

From time to time there will be situations where we do not agree with the path our Church is taking, or someone's actions within out Church. Jesus is not saying we should just accept the situation and "lose". He is instructing us to do what is necessary to solve the problem but with as little friction as possible, leaving the best impression of being Christlike.

Regular gatherings are also an important part of Christian life. We should be meeting with other Christians often to pray, worship and eat.

Acts 2:42
    They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.

By gathering together like this, as a family, we are strengthening the bonds within our fellowship. All three activities are most enjoyable and productive when done in a group. Jesus was not a hermit or a lone wandering preacher, He surrounded Himself with His disciples. He gave us a model for the Church by his dealings with the disciples. How to act, how to follow, how to learn and teach but also in how to gather. The early Church would gather in each others houses to pray worship and eat together, why should we be any different 2000 years on.

So far I have talked about gathering in groups and Jesus wanting us to be together. But there are times in life where we need to be alone or cannot be surrounded by our Church for whatever reason. We are provided for in these situations;

John 14:16 

    I will talk to the Father, and he'll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. 

The Holy Spirit was given to us so that we would never be alone, the Spirit is our constant companion as a Christian. God promised to always be there for us and to carry us when we can not bear the load. It is through the spirit that this promise is fulfilled. The spirit is a wonderful gift and ensures we are never left alone, however it can not be seen as a replacement for the Church, there should be no such thing as a lone Christian. There are however situations where Christ instructed us to be alone, to remove ourselves from the bustle of daily life;

Matthew 6:6

    "Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. 

But this is not a commandment to become a hermit or lead a life of isolation. It is Jesus showing us that at times we require the stillness of being alone in order to fully immerse ourselves in the presence of God. After which we should return to our Church and our lives.

These are just my thoughts which have been triggered by conversations with friends recently. But I know from my experiences with Churches I have attended in the past that when only meeting on a Sunday or even less frequently, the health of a Church decline rapidly. We should not let divisions in our Churches become permanent, we should always be on the lookout for how to heal hurts and fix problems in a way that is best for everyone. A Church is a community which cannot exist in isolation, we must work together within our own Churches but also with The Church in general. This is not a new situation, in fact it has been with the Church from the beginning;

1 Corinthians 3:4-6

    When one of you says, "I'm on Paul's side," and another says, "I'm for Apollos," aren't you being totally infantile? 

    Who do you think Paul is, anyway? Or Apollos, for that matter? Servants, both of us-servants who waited on you as you gradually learned to entrust your lives to our mutual Master. We each carried out our servant assignment.  I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plants, but God made you grow.  

As I already said, disagreements and divisions are an inevitable outcome of having humans together. But at the end of the day we have to remember that we are not just humans, we are also Christians too and should act accordingly when our human nature causes problems.

Finally, Jesus left us with His promises and instructions, I would like to leave you with the one bellow as I feel it is a fitting end to what has become a slightly epic post. I apologise for the length but hope that you find it as helpful to read as I have in writing it.

Matthew 28:20

    Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."

John 1:1-14 (KJV)

    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
    There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Romans 8:38-39

    For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
           Romans 8:38-39 (KJV) 

Its only words! Right?

Does swearing really matter? Because lets face it, they are only words right? Wrong! "The simple moral fact is that words kill." Matthew 5.22. And again in Matthew 12.47 "Words are powerful; take them seriously. Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation.". Words have a significant meaning in Christianity, Jesus was the Word, John 1:1-3 (KJV) "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." God brought the entire Universe into being with a word which shows that words have a power beyond mere speech. But lets face it, we all inevitably use bad language. Even if we claim not to, we all have our personal curse words. And just because they are socially acceptable does not mean they are any better. Take 1 Corinthians 6:12, "Just because something is technically legal doesn't mean that it's spiritually appropriate. If I went around doing whatever I thought I could get by with, I'd be a slave to my whims.". We need to be careful about the way we live and our actions in this life, we are always being watched by someone. Our very actions could be the catalyst to bring someone to God, or even to drive them away. That be as it may though, at the end of the day we are all only human and as such we are victims of sin. We will always fall short and we will forever be sinners. God knows this better than we do, and he has already provided for us. Mark 3:28 "Listen to this carefully. I'm warning you. There's nothing done or said that can't be forgiven." with the same sentiments echoed in Matthew 12.31. We will sin, we will swear and we will always fall short of the life we are supposed to live. That doesn't give us the excuse not to try though. "Knowing the correct password—saying 'Master, Master,' for instance—isn't going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, 'Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.' And do you know what I am going to say? 'You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don't impress me one bit. You're out of here.' Matthew 7:21-23. We know what God wants us to do, we know how He wants us to live. It is not expected of us to be perfect, only to try and live to the guidelines set out for us and to ask for His forgiveness when we fall short. I know this post has been very heavy on the Bible quotes but this topic is something quite close to me and something I have studied frequently. I hope it speaks to you as much as it does to me, please leave your thoughts and comments on this and any other post.