A Work in Progress

Books that I got for Christmas 2010

2010-12-31T14:24:00.002Z

It's Not What You Think by Chris Evans

A Journey by Tony Blair

The History of Mathematics: A Reader edited by John Fauvel and Jeremy Gray

Living Faith by Dr Helen Roseveare

Travel with William Tyndale by Brian H. Edwards

Travel with John Bunyan by John Pestell

Where is the Spirit's Power? Lessons from Achan

2010-08-23T10:18:00.004+01:00

Notes from the Sunday evening service at Townhill Baptist Church 22/8/10 where Owen Batstone was preaching on Joshua 7. You can download the sermon from the Townhill Baptist website or direct here.

Where is the Spirit's Power?

God is sovereign
Man is responsible

Israel had become a merely religious people.
v2 - They act without God
v3 - They misjudge their enemies
vs4-5 - They fled in fear

Achan didn't trust God. God wasn't enough for him.

1. Christians must be the genuine article.

Am I genuine?
Is your heart like stone?
Have you stopped getting as close as you can to the Lord?
God says 'Forget your sin, it's not better than me.'
V Higham - 'If you leave the secret chamber it will show.'
One of the marks of spiritual rebellion is deviousness.

2. Christians can be a help or a hindrance to their Lord (v12)

Do you harbour grievous sin against God and then let people pray and preach on in church?
Are you getting closer to Him every day?
Would people choose to share fellowship with you?
Woe to us if our 'theology' protects us from God.
Either you deal with your sin or God will.
If you're not bowing now, you won't bow then.
Have ever met someone in church who's made you realise 'I'm here for social conversation but he's here for God.' Let us live for Christ.

3. The Lord cares about the condition of your heart.

Matthew 25:23 is said to the profitable Christian not every Christian.
Pull the veil of the law away and see the Son in all His beauty.
v13 - sanctify yourselves
Don't let Him pass you by - take hold of Him.
All the fitness He requires is that you feel your need for Him.
We are called to admire the Lord Jesus.

Acts 8: Spirit and Simon

2010-07-04T22:07:00.002+01:00

"I love the thought of coming home to you" but do we come home to God though?

There are only two spirits: the Holy Spirit and Satanic spirits
There are two forces but they are a mismatch. God is not in a battle, He is reigning.
God permits Satan to cause chaos on Earth but He is still sovereign.

1. What is this sorcery?

It's not of God but it is impressive. Satan masquerades as what he's not.
Simon was doing something impressive.

2. Was Simon a Christian?

Simon appeared to be sincere.
People can be converted to church or to good moral behaviour or to a certain theology. Are you converted to Christ?
This is counterfeit. The evidences can be found in v20 - 'perish', v22 - 'perhaps' and v23.

3. Is believing enough?

Yes and no - it depends what you mean.
Nodding in agreement to doctrines isn't enough. Satan knows who Jesus is but that doesn't save him.
You may believe in your head but you need the life of God (see Romans 3v22)
Jesus saves through faith not on the basis of faith - even faith is a gift of God and a means of saving.

4. What's it got to do with us?

Every heretic has a Bible verse.
Keep hold of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility.

Simon overvalued money.
Christians let the Devil in when they choose their darling sins all the time.
Simon wanted status and significance (v19) He was famous before he met Philip.

2 Corinthians 5v15 - we no longer live for ourselves - do we really?
Galatians 2:20 - I have been crucified with Christ - really?
You can be effective in church and yet be serving yourself.

Hebrews 5:14 - "solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil."

v24 - Simon is afraid but there's no record of him praying or repenting.
We to deal with God on our own. Simon avoids the burning issue by not repenting.

Are you repenting?

Psalm 71:3 - Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go

Don't be soft on sin and kid yourself that you're being big on grace

Just a Prayer Meeting - Acts 4: 18-31

2010-04-18T21:08:00.002+01:00

1. They acknowledge
i) God is almighty (v24)
ii) The animosity of the world towards God (vs 25-26)

2. They ask
There's no formula here - they're calling to God because they know Him.
The Greek word for witness is martyr.
v29 - they want to be good, clear witnesses
The emphasis of the New Testament is on being not doing

3. The answer came
v31 - wow!

Do you give the impression that the kingdom of God is power or just words?

You don't learn to pray as you should because you can think of a thousand other things you would rather do. You choose not to pray.

We don't really know our hearts - if we did we would pray better.

Do you love Jesus? Do you even know Him?

Here, God answers prayer in the best way - He comes.

You could spend all your time organising prayer lists and still not get to God - you need Him. We must learn to pray.

Tell God everything - don't pretend. Tell God that you feel a fraud if that's how you feel. Are you ashamed or embarrassed about your prayers? Tell Him!

Give Him time so you can learn to hear Him. Decide to learn to pray - it will be hard.

Feeling Ill at Ease with the Westminster Declaration 2010

2010-04-17T09:56:00.004+01:00

Yesterday evening I came across the Westminster Declaration 2010 after I noticed a couple Christian friends had become fans of it on Facebook. At first I hoped that this had been started up by Evangelicals making a stand on what the gospel is and campaigning for freedom to believe it. When I looked at the first few names on the list of notable signatories I realised that this was not the case.

You can go to the website linked above to read about the Declaration which is largely about Christians wanting freedom to believe certain things without being marginalised, criticised, arrested, etc.

Here are my thoughts on it:

The declaration reads as quite bullish and I can understand why parliamentary candidates would be quite put off the idea of signing it if there is no explanation of what is really important to Christians. The freedom to believe the gospel (i.e. that we are all condemned unless we are saved through the finished atonement of Christ alone) is a lot more important than the freedom to believe that marriage is just between a man and woman for example.

My point is that if those values in the declaration are the only values we go with then we will be seen to be ‘religious’, ‘old-fashioned’ and out of touch rather than liberated by the gospel, lavished with the grace and love of God and living (as good citizens) as belonging to God, not ourselves. Obviously I agree with everything written in the declaration but I wouldn’t say I got an impression of the real Christian faith from it whatsoever (even taking into consideration the initial paragraph about belief in God).

Any statement that allows nominal Christians, Protestants and Catholics to happily sign should alarm Evangelicals as being nothing to do with Christianity whatsoever. Unity under the banner of Christ must be grounded on the true gospel not on the lowest common denominator.

Brothers and sisters, let us live for Christ and be salt and light and the fragrance of God to the world around us.

I would be pleased to discuss this because I know many friends will disagree.

Hold back those staggering to the slaughter

2010-04-11T20:57:00.002+01:00

This evening my friend Owen preached in Townhill Baptist Church on Proverbs 24:11 which says:

Rescue those being led away to death;
hold back those staggering toward slaughter.

The sermon can be downloaded here. My notes can be read below. It was a very sobering message.

Two questions:

Can those who know you say 'he/she held me back'?
Do you believe the lost are staggering towards slaughter?

For all of their smiles and confidence, remember that the lost are doomed on every level. They will not have Jesus as Lord over them.

Psalms 73:18-19 - the true state of the lost

Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin.
How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!

You must stand distinct because you must hold back the lost.

Can the world see your breastplate of righteousness?

Proverbs 24:

v7 - a fool has nothing to say
v10 - A fraud falters in times of trouble
vs21-22 - Do not join in with the rebellious
v26 - Be courageous to be honest

Isaiah 58:8 & Isaiah 59:1

Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.

The lost look at us and judge the Lord.

Will they speak of you holiness and godliness at your funeral?

Psalm 73:17 - Was he useless until he came to this point?
We can do nothing without Him - stay in the sanctuary.

Is your heart after the Lord? The world will spot a fraud.
You will be useless without the sanctuary.

Blending in is dangerous.
The world hates Jesus and those who look like Him.
Are you willing to break the barriers of your natural self?
Are you willing to say trouble is coming?
The lost watch you - what are you living for?
Jude 7 - this is just a sign, the reality is worse.

The hope for the lost if that believers cherish their Saviour.

Provers 24:16 - the Lord picks us up

Work to the best of your ability and take every opportunity to speak for Jesus.

The Second Coming

2010-04-06T17:52:00.002+01:00

20 themes from the Bible concerning the Second Coming of Christ

1. Jesus promised he will come back - "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne." Matthew 25:31

2. The Old Testament prophets looked forward to it - "I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him." Daniel 7:13

3. We will see Him as He is - "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." 1 John 3:2

4. At the Lord's Supper we remind ourselves - "For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." 1 Corinthians 11:26

5. The early Christians often greeted each other with the reminder "Maranatha" (Come O Lord) 1 Corinthians 16:22

6. Before the Second Coming there will be tough times - "There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea." Luke 21:25

7. Before the Second Coming many will turn away from the faith - "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth." 1 Timothy 4:1-3

8. Before the Second Coming there will be many antichrists - "Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour." 1 John 2:18

9. Before the Second Coming false teaching will increase - "For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect." Mark 13:22

10. Noone knows when except the Father - "But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only." Matthew 24:36

11. The Second Coming will be unexpected - "Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." Matthew 24:44

12. Jesus will come like a thief - "For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." 1 Thessalonians 5:22; "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed." 2 Peter 3:10

13. The world will be unprepared - "For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man." Matthew 24:38-39

14. He will come in the same way as He ascended - "And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." Acts 1:9-11

15. He will come visibly - "Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Matthew 24:30; "Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen." Revelation 1:7; "Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is." 1 John 3:2

16. He will not come in secret - "For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man." Matthew 24:27

17. He will come in power - "Jesus said to him, "You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven."" Matthew 26:64; "Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Matthew 24:30

18. The angels will accompany Him - "For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done." Matthew 16:27; "For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."" Mark 8:38; "and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels" 2 Thessalonians 1:7

19. He will come in blazing fire - "and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels." 2 Thessalonians 1:7 (NIV)

20. We are to long for His coming - "Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing." 2 Timothy 4:8

Gems from Rees

2010-04-06T17:12:00.003+01:00

Whilst tidying my study I found some notes I made during a sermon from October '09 at Townhill. Here are the highlights:

Jesus and the message of the gospel did not end at Golgotha.
Without integrity we lose our witness.
When was the last time you clearly sought an opportunity to share the gospel?
Without following Jesus you won't live a godly life.
"If the church learned discipleship it would be transformed" - David Watson
You cannot live the Christian life without the Spirit of God
Jesus sends the Holy Spirit into the church before He sends the church out
By your life are you presenting truth as if it is fiction?
The solution is never feelings it is coming back to truth.
Eph5 - Be filled with the Spirit
Until I see that the cross was done by me, then I'll never understand what the cross does for me
The apostles were consistent, chosen, convinced and commanded. How does this describe you?

A visit to Met Tab

2010-03-28T23:12:00.002+01:00

I have enjoyed a lovely weekend in London this weekend. A nice time spent with my brother, a great stag day out for Andy Taylor (Go Ape! and Zizzi) and then a visit to the famous Metropolitan Tabernacle in Elephant & Castle this morning all made for a nice way to start the Easter holidays. I'm currently sitting watching the Australian GP so a bit of F1 without a worry of getting up for work tomorrow will do nicely thank you very much.

At Met Tab, Dr Peter Masters was preaching on Mark 16:15-20 to conclude a series of preaching on the book of Mark. I jotted down a few brief points that I wanted to remember and think about:

v15 - here are three ways that the word 'gospel' has been misused over the years:

It has been used by the Catholic Church to refer to the Sacramental practices of the church.
Since liberal theology has come in during the late 19th century it has been used to refer to the social work of the church (helping the poor, etc)
Some people refer to all preaching as 'preaching the gospel'

The gospel is the good news of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that provides full and free deliverance from the power and penalty of sin according to the grace of God alone through faith in Jesus Christ alone for all those who believe.

v16 - Believing is not just assent with a list of beliefs or doctrines. It means enough belief to lead one to repentance. Do you believe enough so that you repent? That is the real test of whether you believe.

v20 - the Lord worked with them. There is much for us to do - only the Lord can regenerate souls.

The closing hymn was one that I had never sung before: Lord in the fulness of my might. I suggest you click the link and read the challenging words.

I enjoyed my visit to Met Tab. The service is a lot more traditional in its structure, Bible version, etc than my church but the true word of God is proclaimed there faithfully, clearly and with a challenge to the believer and the gospel is proclaimed with a clear passion for evangelism. The people were friendly and welcoming; I was even invited to lunch. I hope to visit again sometime and accepted that offer!

Bunyan on Prayer

2010-03-03T06:59:00.002Z

I am currently reading a Puritan Paperback on Prayer by John Bunyan. Here is a great quote from it:

Alas! the greatest part of men make no conscience at all of the duty; and as for them that do, it is to be feared that many of them are very great strangers to a sincere, sensible and affectionate pouring out their hearts or souls to God. They content themselves with a little lip-labour and bodily exercise, mumbling over a few imaginary prayers. When the affections are indeed engaged in prayer, then the whole man is engaged, and that in such sort that the soul will spend itself, as it were, rather than go without that good desired, even communion and solace with Christ. And hence it is that the saints have spent their strength, and lost their lives, rather than go without the blessing (Ps. 69:3, 38:9-10, Gen 32:24,26)

Pour yourself out

2010-02-25T18:39:00.003Z

I just listened to a great sermon from Mark Driscoll on the Mars Hill website. I made some notes as it went along so thought I would post them here also.

Luke 4:42 – 5:11

I’m going to try and make you do anything for Jesus. Christianity is a belief system and a lifestyle. It’s getting up out of the chair, turning off the TV, reordering your budget, doing things with and for Jesus because He loves you.

1. Pour yourself out in ministry

Everything in this world is to encourage you to love, worship, idolise and adore yourself. If you don’t get what you desire you go into grief, sadness, anxiety, depression, narcissism. The way out is love of God and service of others. If your life is about you, you should be depressed and anxious because you are wasting your whole life. You need to give your life to what Jesus gave his life to: the glory of God and the good of others.

2. Rest and recover in solitude

Jesus got up early. God became a man and could only be in one place at a time and he needed to go away and get a bit of rest. So ministry is you pouring yourself out and then your tank is empty and you go to be with God to fill it.

You have no business enjoying rest and solitude unless you’ve poured yourself out it in ministry. Rest and Solitude is a gift that God gives to those who have poured themselves out in ministry. Solitude is fasting from people, crowds, hurry, worry, busy, noise, activity. It is a routine not a lifestyle. If your whole life is into silence, solitude, Sabbath, resting, refreshing - you’re lazy. “I want to make enough money to then not have to work and retire.” We are supposed to passionately serve and give our lives away until the end.

Two types of people: Contemplatives and Activists.
Contemplatives: Thinkers, feelers, ponderers, considerers, journalers, silence, all in the head
Activists: Doers – hands and feet, go get it done

Schedule, plan, protect and make times of solitude happen.

Solitude is good but isolation is bad.

Things that stop the kind of solitude that Jesus enjoyed:

i) The people that wouldn’t leave him alone - ‘those people’ - always needy, demanding, everything is a crisis. Are you that person?

ii) It is not planned for. Put it on your calendar. Some tips for days of solitude: http://blog.marshillchurch.org/2009/11/12/organizing-a-silence-and-solitude-day-part-1-of-5/

iii) Technology is going to kill solitude. You can go through your life and never be alone again due to technology. Connected and plugged in to the world, to the neglect of God continually. You can go the rest of your life without ever hearing the voice of God, because there is too much noise, or talking to God, because you’re too busy talking to everyone else. Turn off the phone, shut down technology, go and be alone with God.

A discipline. Jesus did it and you will die without it.

You may need a lifestyle re-orientation. You have an all consuming, ever present, continually demanding lifestyle. The myth is that it will get better in the next season but that never comes.

3. Pursue your calling not your potential (42b-44)

The people wanted Jesus to do perfectly good things but they were not the things the Father had called Him to do.

You have more things you can do than things you should do. If Satan can’t make you sin he will keep you busy not doing bad things but neglecting first things.

A sense of your calling will come in silence and solitude.

My whole life belongs to Jesus – body, time, money, days, etc.

Christians exchange busyness for fruitfulness. Be fruitful not just busy.

Four ways to live your life – from ‘Leading on Empty’ by Wayne Cordeiro

i) Reaction – there’s a need, you jump. Someone demands, you obey. Letting everyone else tell you who you are. Life is out of control.

ii) Conformity – fear of man, people pleasing, I want everyone to like me. Doing what everyone tells you. Obedient, moral, nice, ineffective.

iii) Independence – I’m not doing what anyone else tells me to do, I’m not getting involved or letting anyone into my life. I’m not going to do what I don’t like doing. I’m very smart and I have my own opinions.

iv) Intentionality – retreat from your life to focus on and organise your life and then reengage. Spend time with God and then live your live with intentionality doing what God tells you to do. Intentionally live your life to do the things that God has gifted you and called you to do.

Juliet, Naked

2010-01-16T13:56:00.002Z

Last night I finished reading Nick Hornby's latest novel Juliet, Naked. It is a book about 3 individuals. Annie who is a museum curator and long-term partner of Duncan who is an English lecturer who spends his spare time being obsessed with an American singer-songwriter Tucker Crowe who has been out of the public eye for 20 years. The majority of the novel focuses on Annie.

I have read all but one of Nick Hornby's novels. I am a big fan. I wouldn't say I was an obsessive like Duncan in Juliet, Naked but I am a fan. I read Fever Pitch on a holiday when I was 18 and I found its best qualities were that it was laugh out loud funny and nostalgic. I felt as though I could identify with almost all of it. I then later read High Fidelity which had the same qualities although this time it was about a love of music rather than a love of football. I think High Fidelity is my favourite book. The film version was great too. About A Boy came next for me. This is another excellent film as well of course. The others I didn't find quite as enjoyable as these four although I did find Slam interesting and enjoyed the non-fiction book 31 Songs.

When you read a great Nick Hornby novel you just find yourself thinking "Yes! I totally agree! I'm like that too!" There is a lot of great empathy there. Also characters in his books are often very dissatisfied with what life has brought them. Annie, in Juliet, Naked, is fed up of living with Duncan and begins to realise their relationship is one of convenience rather than love. She also lives in a little town in the North of England where nothing of interest happens or has happened for decades. I wonder whether we can all identify with this to a certain extent.

The books are also very amusing. I don't think I laughed out loud during Juliet, Naked at all but it definitely amused me and gripped me too. I read it within a week, staying up much later than I should have with work the next day due to not being able to put the book down just yet.

Hornby's books are often about passions. Music - whether its buying records, going to gigs, reviewing music etc, Football and lists. Hornby seems to love putting things into lists or at least having opinions about them. I love this aspects of his books as I love to have opinions about things and feel passionately about music, books and football.

So do read Juliet, Naked particularly if you've ever felt passionately about a little known musician or band but even if you haven't you will still identify with the real human experiences that come through in this book.

Exodus 14:14 - What a Fighter!

2009-09-06T20:37:00.004+01:00

At the Red Sea the Israelites were granted the rare privilege of seeing God at work.

Our daily battle is to turn and trust God and let Him fight for us.

There are areas of our lives that we don't want Jesus near at all.

The key to the fight is "Lord, I can't..."

"I can't fight that"

The Lord fights for you. Turn and trust. You don't have to stay as you are with your bunch of excuses.

God will fight for you if you will just turn to Him and trust.

(Listen to the sermon at http://www.townhill.org.uk/index.php?title=Sermons)

Repentance, Remorse and Regret

2009-08-30T23:31:00.002+01:00

Sermon from church this evening. Pastor Allan Rees was preaching on 2 Corinthians 7: 8-10. He also read Luke 13: 1-5. Here are my notes:

Repentance is first of all thinking right about yourself and God. It makes you return to God.
How much emphasis is there today on repentance in our churches?
John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter and Paul all preached 'Repent!'
Repentance = turning back to the One who loves you because you see things as they really are.
Repentance is not just for conversion. We're to repent daily as Christians.
Truth is vital. Unless truth is preached we're not sure who to turn to.
Worldly sorrow: Remorse/Regret which leads to death
Godly sorrow: Repentance leading to life

Luke 15:10 - the angels love it when someone repents
In 1 Samuel 15 Saul says "I'm sorry, but..." this isn't real repentance.

The counterfeit of joy in our churches is fun.

A 110m hurdler doesn't start out a race thinking I hope I only hit a few hurdles, he/she doesn't want to hit any! Similarly in the Christian life we should be seeking to avoid all setbacks, distractions and temptations.

Psalm 23 - 'He restores my soul' - think of a French polisher who when given an old table can restore it into something renewed and beautiful. The work of the French polisher is abrasive, scraping off what shouldn't be there. When your soul is restored it can be painful.

How can we be sure we'll enjoy Jesus in Heaven if we're not enjoying Him now?

Quiet Time Blessings

2009-08-17T21:53:00.002+01:00

In my quiet time today I read Genesis 38 which is about Judah and Tamar. Judah leaves his brothers and went off to the Adullamites to find a wife. He married and had three boys. The first son married Tamar but eventually he died after wickedness in the sight of God. So, as was the tradition, Tamar was then married to the second son. He too was wicked in the sight of God and he died. The third son was too young to marry Tamar so Judah told Tamar to wait as a widow until the third son was old enough. When the third son grew up Judah sinned in going back on his promise and not giving the third son to Tamar to marry. So Tamar tricked Judah into sleeping with her and making her pregnant. Eventually she had twins (and their birth was similar to that of Jacob and Esau in Genesis 25) and Judah discovered the boys were his. That's the story. The amazing thing about it all? Judah's firstborn son Perez is one of the descendents of the Lord Jesus (see Matthew 1:3). The genealogy of Jesus is a list of sinners - men and women who failed, in often massive ways, to obey God. It is a reminder again that we can never be good enough for God but He is sovereign and when we are called into the family of Christ it is not because of anything good in us but completely due to His amazing grace.

I also read Mark 8. This is a chapter where the disciples fail to completely understand what Jesus came to do and a number of stories are used to illustrate this. The big challenge is in verse 34 - 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.' I read what Don Carson had to say in For The Love of God about it:

Only for a few will this commitment entail loss of physical life; for all of us it means death to self, discipleship to Jesus. And that includes a glad confession of Jesus, and principal refusal to be ashamed of Jesus and his words in this adulterous and sinful generation.

I then read what may well be my favourite chapter in the Bible. I think I could write loads about it here but I will just focus on one aspect. That chapter is Romans 8. I was particularly struck by verses 16-18:

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

I mention these verses in particular because of the link with the verse in Mark 8 that I mentioned. In Mark 8 it talks about taking up our cross and in Romans 8 it assumes suffering for Christ as a normal part of the Christian life. It made me think about the fact that I have been bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus, and that my life is now not my own. The more I orientate my life around myself, the less I will know of God and what He has saved me for. This ties in with a lot of what I have been thinking about since Aber (I haven't posted those thoughts yet!) Life is all about Christ, not about me. As John Piper would say "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisified in Him". I couldn't agree more with that.

Colossians 1 - Facebook - Allan Rees

2009-08-17T11:34:00.003+01:00

Here are my notes from church on Sunday. Allan gave his sermon the title 'Facebook' because he was trying to get over a picture of who Christ is from the book of Colossians.

Main text v15: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

The Colossian church had a problem. We're not sure what that problem was but it was something to do with the clarity of who Jesus is.

Every point begins with the letter B

Before all things. Firstborn had rights of inheritance. Everything belongs to Jesus.

Beginning (v18) Jesus is the beginning of everything. He is the firstborn from the dead! He is the only one raised with a resurrection body so far.

Body (v22) All the fullness of God dwells in Him. He is still a man. His body was butchered for our salvation. Jesus is head of the body, the church. He loves His church.

Beyond - more than just a good person. If you've seen Jesus, you've seen God. He created everything just by speaking. The purpose of salvation (v18) is the Jesus has the preeminence in all things. It's all about Him.

Blameless (v22) One day even though I am an ugly, dirty sinner and He is absolutely holy (see Isaiah 6), I will see Him as He is and I will be like Him.

But (v23) The blessing is only for those who continue living in the faith.

James 4 vs 1-10

2009-07-26T21:33:00.003+01:00

Tonight in church Mark Cole from Libanus Evangelical Church, Morriston preached on James 4 vs 1-10. His main text was James 4 v 7: Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

1. Know the fight

TV anaesthetises our consciences.
God is letting our country do whatever it wants.
But we claim to know God
We are God's chosen battleground to defend his honour.
Satan knows that the more we take in of our culture the more we will be like it.
Giving in to temptation damages our relationships with God.
When God distances himself from us to discipline us, all the joy is sucked out of life.
There is no room for anyone else in our relationship with God.

2. Know yourself

James 1 vs 14,15: But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

We like to think that we're strong enough to fight but if we stand on our own to fight temptation we're not going to stand for long.

James 4 vs 1-3 - These verses are written to Christians!

v7: Flee and submit to God

3. Know victory

We must fix our eyes on God and keep them fixed.

James 4 v 10: Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Neglect time with God and become very easy pickings for the devil.
You are what you are when noone is around to see what you are doing.

How can you not give sin time?
Cultivate a desire for good books, cultivate a desire to spend time with Christian people, listen to/watch sermons in your free time. Fill your life with the things of God. We discussed after church whether this is the best solution for everybody. Also you can be so busy that you don't spend any time with God one-on-one which completely defeats the purpose of being busy. You must find the best way to not give sin time that suits you but remember that God couldn't be more for you in this. Ask him for help and then trust that he will help you and look for his leadings.

Learn to run from danger. Watch for Satan's ambushes and avoid those places/situations.
Living with sin on your shoulders is incredibly miserable.
We don't even need to resist much. If we resist the devil for even an instance, God is right there with us to fight for us.

Before the Throne: New Word Alive 2009 Worship Album

2009-07-05T21:43:00.003+01:00

On Saturday my copy of the New Word Alive 2009 Worship Album 'Before the throne' landed on my mat. I love it!

It contains 13 tracks from the two New Word Alive 2009 weeks where the worship was led by Stuart Townend, the Gettys and Lou Fellingham.

The whole album is fantastic but for me the stand out tracks are:

5 Hear O Israel
6 Come People Of The Risen King
10 Hear The Call Of The Kingdom
12 Loved Before The Dawn Of Time

My favourite is track 6, Come People of the Risen King, led by the Gettys. It is a fantastic, joyful song of praise and exhortation to rejoice! Here are the lyrics:

Come, people of the Risen King,
Who delight to bring Him praise;
Come all and tune your hearts to sing
To the Morning Star of grace.
From the shifting shadows of the earth
We will lift our eyes to Him,
Where steady arms of mercy reach
To gather children in.

REFRAIN
Rejoice, Rejoice! Let every tongue rejoice!
One heart, one voice; O Church of Christ, rejoice!

Come, those whose joy is morning sun,
And those weeping through the night;
Come, those who tell of battles won,
And those struggling in the fight.
For His perfect love will never change,
And His mercies never cease,
But follow us through all our days
With the certain hope of peace.

Come, young and old from every land -
Men and women of the faith;
Come, those with full or empty hands -
Find the riches of His grace.
Over all the world, His people sing -
Shore to shore we hear them call
The Truth that cries through every age:
“Our God is all in all”!
Keith & Kristyn Getty & Stuart Townend

A couple great song quotes

2009-07-02T21:57:00.002+01:00

In the car today I listened to O Sacred King by Matt Redman. I thought I would share a couple of great truths from that song:

O Sacred friend, O Holy friend
I don't take what You give lightly
Friendship instead of disgrace.

For it's the mystery of the universe
You're the God of holiness,
Yet You welcome souls like me.

Awesome stuff. I love the gospel!

Also I was reminded tonight of another of my favourite hymns (O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing - sung to the Lyngham tune preferably but I also like the Lydia Phillips tune) and these lines in particular:

He breaks the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me.

Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb,
Your loosened tongues employ;
Ye blind, behold your Savior come,
And leap, ye lame, for joy.

The whole hymn is fantastic but these lines in bold (in their verse contexts) in particular I find a real joy to sing. In fact when singing these lines with others I usually well up with joyful emotion!

Change of name!

2009-07-02T16:32:00.002+01:00

Today I have decided to change the name of my blog. So gone now is "A Pilgrim's Progress" and welcome to "A Work in Progress". I was inspired by Philippians 1v6 for this new title:

I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

My new title points to the fact that it is God who does the work in growing me. I have learned recently that I just need to give Him quality time and that work will continue.

God's Lavish Grace

2009-05-29T23:00:00.002+01:00

Today I started reading Terry Virgo's book 'God's Lavish Grace'. I bought it after hearing Terry do a seminar at New Word Alive. So far I have read the first three chapters and have found it very refreshing. Here are some of the hightlights so far for me:

The only way in is through [Christ's] perfect righteousness and having gained entry we must learn to stand in grace. p.14

...through receiving the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness, you reign in life through the one Christ Jesus. p.15

...the law could not impart life! The law could describe the righteousness required but could not impart the life that would make it possible. p.19

Paul was heartbroken about his contemporary Jews, that they were still trying to establish a righteousness of their own derived from the law, instead of embracing the gift of righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.... “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4)

I shall never forget the first time God spoke to me through Zechariah chapter 3. Joshua the high priest was standing before God and tragically, though he was High Priest, he was clothed in filthy garments, which thoroughly disqualified him from fulfilling his priestly role of worship. Satan was at hand to point out his failure and bring it to God's attention, something I was constantly aware of in my own experience. One can imagine Joshua wondering what his excuses might be or how he could plead his cause, but before he could say anything, God speaks, rebuking Satan and providing fresh clothing and a new mitre for his appointed priest to stand head erect in his presence. Satan's accusing mouth is closed! p.32

If you are not thoroughly persuaded that God has given you a gift of righteousness that makes you thoroughly acceptable to God, you will constantly be battling with a general sense of disqualification and guilt. p.34

If you try to resist feelings of unworthiness on the basis of your sanctification, you will never overcome the accusing finger of condemnation. God has provided you with a complete and adequate answer, which is not sanctification but justification. p.35

The Old Testament prepared us for this concept with its instruction concerning the offering of unblemished lambs for sacrifice. The lamb to be offered has to be free from disease or blemish... When the worshipper brought his lamb for offering he did not fear that the priest might notice that he himself was badly dressed, that his clothes were torn or dirty... All eyes were on the lamb. Would the priest find fault with the lamb? If the lamb was perfect, he was accepted. Praise God, he has now provided a perfect lamb for us. p.35

Day by day you must arm yourself with this “breastplate of righteousness” (Eph 6:14), guarding your emotions from the fiery darts of the Devil. p.36

Although it should always be your desire to grow in grace and perfect your sanctification, you should never fight Satan's endeavours to condemn by arguing for your present sanctification. God's answer to condemnation is justification. You cannot be condemned and justified at the same time. p.36,37

On Compassionate witnessing and Hard times ahead

2009-05-05T16:04:00.004+01:00

Today on the BBC News website I read this story: UK 'least wanted' list published
It details the list of names that the government has released of people who have been banned from entering the UK for fostering extremism or hatred.
Amongst the names on the list are members of Hamas, Jewish extremists, ex-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members, a US talk show host and an American pastor and his daughter.

The American pastor is called Fred Waldron Phelps Snr and his daughter is Shirley Phelps-Roper. They have been barred for their anti-gay comments. "Both have picketed the funerals of Aids victims and celebrated the deaths of US soldiers as "punishment" for US tolerance of homosexuality." Phelps Snr is pastor of Westboro Baptist Church, Topeka, Kansas.

The Apologetics Index (which is a website I've only discovered today and don't know anything about) describes the 'church' as a 'hate group' and a cult. That article can be found here.

The behaviour and attitude of this group, its leaders and its members, is utterly appalling and abhorrent. Hopefully I do not need to say that this group's attitude towards homosexuals in particular but other groups of people also is so far removed from the Bible that it can not be described as Christian in the slightest.

Compassionate witnessing

The best counter-example to these people is Jesus Christ and his compassion towards all people. On one occasion: "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." (Matthew 9:36)

I was thinking particularly of the story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. Jews did not associate with Samaritans. Furthermore Jewish men would not pass the time of day with Samaritan women. When the disciples returned (in verse 27) they were astonished that Jesus was doing this, but it did not concern Jesus. Jesus knew that this woman had been married 5 times and was now with a man who was not her husband but he was not righteously indignant with her, he lovingly, compassionately showed her that she was seeking fulfillment in the wrong places and could only find it in Him.

We must seek to go into the world sharing the gospel of truth in this caring, compassionate way. Jesus did not compromise the truth at all but he targeted the woman's felt needs. Her issue wasn't that she was an adulteress or that she had failed relationships, her issue was her thirst for 'living water'.

I pray that when I see the lost, be they atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Mormons, gay people, straight people, men, women, religious people, or people of any possible description, I would be as compassionate as Jesus in sharing the great news with them.

Jesus said ... "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Hard times ahead

From time to time in this country it appears that freedoms are being tightened, particularly freedom of speech. The government on many occasions has appeared to want to restrict those opinions/views that are allowable. One can see why they would want to do this. Incitement to hatred is a legitimate concern. However, I am always worried that the government will one day want to push this agenda so hard that it becomes illegal to be an Evangelical Christian. As long as there are people like Fred Waldron Phelps Snr and Shirley Phelps-Roper et al the people of this country that hate Biblical Christianity will feel they have good excuse for making the real views of Christianity illegal.

This would not be the first time of course. Already in our world there are many, many Christian people who are persecuted or even murdered every day because of their beliefs and their unwillingness to recant them. Just have a look at the Open Doors website and you will find many current examples of this. However, throughout history there has been much persecution of Christians. See the story of John Bunyan's imprisonment or the whole of Foxe's Book of Martyrs for examples such as Ridley, Latimer, Cranmer, etc. Also have a look at the Christian Institute website for current examples in our own country.

I fear that as these restrictions are made tighter over the coming years, Evangelical Christians will find their freedom to think/believe, let alone preach, the gospel message will be lessened.

The majority of the population will be pleased with this. I recently read a wonderful article in The Times interviewing ex-footballer Gavin Peacock who is now in theological training. I found it the clearest witness to Christ in the media that I have ever read. I would encourage you to read it here. But reading some of the comments afterwards was greatly depressing (so I stopped after two!) One person commented "Just what we need, another God botherer". Another said something along the lines of "Believing the Bible is the last thing that the world needs now". Sadly many people have a view of the Bible that is a distortion/perversion of the reality.

What we need is for the church to know the truth of the Bible inside out, live out a real, daily, vibrant relationship with God and share the good news in the uncompromising, compassionate manner of Jesus. Then people will sit up and take notice because of the revolutionary lives they see rather than notice the grotesque counterfeit 'Christians' that grab the government's and the media's attention.

Jonah 3 - Liam Goligher

2009-05-04T10:44:00.002+01:00

Jonah 3

One of the great, surprising works of God.
God's dealing with Jonah and with Nineveh

1. God chose Jonah

v1 - the words from the start of the book
Jonah gets a second chance.
We treat others to probation when they fail. God graciously comes to us whenever there is a new morning.
Lamentations 3 v 22 - "The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end"
God is not obliged to but he renews his words to Jonah
See the words to the following song - In Evil Long I Took Delight - John Newton:

In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopped my wild career.

I saw One hanging on a tree,
In agony and blood,
Who fixed His languid eyes on me,
As near His cross I stood.

Sure, never to my latest breath,
Can I forget that look;
It seemed to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke.

My conscience felt and owned the guilt,
And plunged me in despair,
I saw my sins His blood had spilt,
And helped to nail Him there.

A second look He gave, which said,
“I freely all forgive;
This blood is for thy ransom paid;
I die that thou mayst live.”

Thus, while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest hue,
Such is the mystery of grace,
It seals my pardon too.

2. God used Jonah

3vs1-2
God used Abraham, Moses, David, Peter even after great sin.
Evan Roberts "Lord, bend me. Bend the church and save the world."
We see ourselves as more sinful now than when first saved.

3. God saved Nineveh

God cared for the city.
Nineveh was an immorality.
God sends his prophets in the midst.
The message comes in 3:4 - "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"
The people believed God.
Proclamation of the word produced faith.
Romans - unless someone is sent, how will they hear?
At creation God speaks and it happens. God's Word accomplishes that to which He sends it even when His people reject it.
The Word we speak not only sets forth truth, it brings forth life.
The speaking of the Word becomes the instrument of God.
We're going to repent even if God doesn't be merciful. (vs6-9)
v10 - God was merciful to them
God pardoned them freely. God did not destroy them.
Does this make God arbitrary and indecisive?
God is unchanging in His being and word (see Mal 3:6 )
1 Samuel 15:11,29
Regret, relent, changes His mind.
Bible attributes humans thoughts and conditions to God.
The Bible is God's baby talk.
God doesn't have hands, feet but in the Bible He does.
God grieves over sinners, their rebellion.
Nineveh has changed, not God.
God planned in His purpose to reach those people.
God did this to us who were born objects of His wrath but are now adopted into His family.
See Jeremiah 18:7-10

Reaching the Urban Poor

2009-05-02T11:20:00.005+01:00

Here are my notes from two of Tim Chester's seminars at New Word Alive 2009.

Evangelism to the urban poor

We need an approach that is practical, concrete, oral and relational.
When we start with presenting issues we lead to a window to the heart.
Lies about God lead to slavery. The truth of God leads to freedom.
Behind every presenting issue are lies and desires that enslave but also opportunities to proclaim truth.
What do you believe about God?
What do you want more than God?
What are the lies/desires that enslave at a functional level?
Evangelism may often send people to intellectual truth without engaging with heart issues.
The urban poor are not often interested in abstract arguments.
The poor don't often hide their idolatry.

Look at John 4:4-30
1. What does Jesus offer?
2. Where is the woman currently looking for it? Is she finding it?
3. What is the solution to her problem?
4. What is the outcome of her encounter with Jesus? - Freedom from shame

Intrepreting Life

4 types of statements that we all make as people:
Creation - What I'm meant to be
Fall - My problem
Redemption - My solution
Consummation - My ultimate hope

Proclaiming freedom - good news!

1. God is great (Sovereign) - so we don't have to be in control
2. God is glorious and smiles on you - so we don't have to fear others
3. God is good and satisfying - so we don't have to look elsewhere
4. God is gracious and Christ has done it all - so we don't have to prove ourselves

Why does that matter to you?

The Church and the Urban Poor

How would you define poverty?
Poverty = exclusion - isolated, unsupported, uneducation, unwanted

There is a circle of poverty:
Lack of resources leads to vulnerability leads to powerlessness leads to isolation leads to physical weakness leads to lack of resouces

The Bible uses words like orphans and widows.

Jesus = inclusion
Jesus is a friend of sinners

See the following two pages on Tim's blog:
Communities of Performance vs Communities of Grace
and
How Communities of Performance impede mission

Jonah 1:17-2:10 - Liam Goligher

2009-04-21T16:50:00.002+01:00

Continuing my blogs from New Word Alive here are my notes from the second Bible Reading from Liam Goligher on Jonah.

Jonah 1:17-2:10

3 points:
1. The Salvation of Jonah
2. The Song of Jonah
3. The Sign of Jonah

1. The Salvation of Jonah

1:17 & 2:10 both mention a great fish. We don't know what type of fish it was but it was certainly a huge sea creature.

Salvation is always a sovereign act of God.
God is sovereign in creation.
Nothing in your life is outside of the sovereign control of God.
Jonah has no knowledge/guarantee that he will be rescued.
Jonah is disobedient and God is chasing him.
We finally see Jonah surrendering.
Jonah spent 3 days in the belly of the fish. In Hosea 6:2 we see a reference to three days.

2. The Song of Jonah

Jonah doesn't know that he isn't going to die in the fish. Therefore his thanksgiving from within the fish shows how he knows God. The fish is an indication that the Lord loves him. The fish is an indication of God's provision for him.
There is genuine thanksgiving in the song. He recognises God's hand in putting him there. Though he deserves judgement, he has received mercy.
Jonah is quoting Psalms.
He is utterly cast upon God in this moment.
God has not abandoned him.
However, there is an undercurrent of self-righteousness. There is quite a lot of "I" in the song.
v8 - Jonah's personal idol is his focus on Israel and hatred of idols. See the use of "those" and "I".
The sailors were paying regard to vain idols.
Jonah never prayers here for the pagan sailors.

We worship the opposite of what we fear. What, if taken away, would make you no longer want to live.
Jonah's identity is in his national, religious, pedigree.
1v16 - the sailors feared the Lord, offered sacrifice and made vows. Now they are no dry land whereas Jonah is in a fish.
Jonah can't see beyond himself.

3. The Sign of Jonah

Matthew 12:15-21 - Jesus the 'Servant of the Lord'. "In His Name the Gentiles will hope"
Matthew 12:38-42 - the sign of Jonah
The symbolic death and virtual resurrection of Jonah point to Jesus' real death and resurrection.

We have nothing to contribute to salvation.

I need God to be active in my life.

Helpful quote

2009-04-14T17:47:00.002+01:00

"You can nothing of any spiritual significance unless you are abiding in Jesus." John Piper 14/09/08 - The New Commandment of Christ: Love One Another As I Have Loved You

Luke 10 vs 25-37 - Don Carson

2009-04-13T11:21:00.002+01:00

Luke 10 vs 25 - 37 - The Good Samaritan - Sermon by Don Carson at New Word Alive 09

There are two dialogues going on here.
From vs 25-28 we see a pattern question, question, answer, answer
Then in vs 29-end we see the same pattern.

1st dialogue

A man stood up to test Jesus - this was a set up.
It was a bizarre question to ask because an inheritance is a gift, you don't do anything to gain it.
Jesus doesn't respond straight away.
In Mark 12 Jesus quotes the same verses as he does here:
Deuteronomy 6 vs 4-5, and
Leviticus 19 v 18.
This lawyer was expecting Jesus to say that his neighbour would be someone with his own country (see Lev 19: 9-18).
v29 "desiring to justify himself"
see Luke 16:14-15
and Luke 18:9-14
The man wanted to be justified in front of the crowd and before God - i.e. to save himself through his good works.

The question was who is my neighbour?
Jesus narrows it down and gets to the burning issue "For whom are you a neighbour?"

If the two commands in verses 27,28 are the gospel then you and I are damned but Jesus tells the man to go and do them.
Having the neighbour question inverted like that shows us how high the standard is and how far removed we are from those commands.

The context of this passage comes after Jesus has told the disciples of His coming death and He had set His face resolutely towards Jerusalem. See Luke 9 vs 44-45, 51.
In chapter 10 the disciples see the kingdom of God advancing but in Luke 10 v 17 Jesus tells them to rejoice that their name is written in heaven - even enjoyment of power doesn't compare to that! In verses 38-end we see that only one thing matters.

Three points to close.

1. Eternal life is inherited. Jesus achieved this on the cross. We are adopted into God's family. Jesus is THE Good Samaritan. He has been a neighbour to me.

2. Jesus expects His followers to act as He does. We should follow in His steps. His death has ethical implications. Genuine faith is never alone, it must be accompanied by works. Gal 6 v 10 - do good to everyone. But this moral consequence is not the ground of acceptance into Heaven.

3. It must be a function of grace - a clear understanding of what the gospel is. The gospel is what God has done.

Jonah 1

2009-04-11T17:09:00.004+01:00

With this blog entry I embark on writing up my notes from New Word Alive Week 2 2009. I had a fantastic time, learnt a lot and enjoyed great fellowship and sung worship.

Let me draw your attention to two links:
http://www.newwordalive.org/shop - Very soon you will be able to download sermons/seminars from NWA 2009 for the very reasonable price of £1 each.
http://www.gettymusic.com/ - Kristyn Getty has a beautiful voice and their songs are packed full of great truth and a joy to sing.

So to Jonah. The morning Bible readings were given by Liam Goligher, senior minister of Duke Street Church, Richmond.

Jonah 1

A prophetic narrative resembling Elijah and Elisha.
The key verse to the whole book is Jonah 2 v 9: Salvation belongs to the LORD!
75% of the book is God's dealings with Jonah - one of God's biggest 'problems' is His people.

An inconvenient word

1. Jonah running from God

From 2 Kings 14 vs 23-27 we see the kind of times Jonah was living in and we see that he was a faithful prophet of God.
Amos 3 v 7 we see that the Lord speaks through His prophets. Faith comes by hearing.

God says "Go!" to Jonah. He sends Jonah to Nineveh. Here God is doing something out of the ordinary. He is sending His prophet to speak to another nation, i.e. not to Israel.
Jonah knew that there was a possibility that the people of Nineveh would repent (see Jonah 4v2).
God's Word is a device which identifies the hidden fault lines in us. These fault lines are the limits of our willingness to obey God.
Jonah was running from the presence of God.
His problem wasn't intellectual. It wasn't that he was afraid. His problem was moral and spiritual.

2. Jonah ran into God

It looked like Jonah had got away with his running from God. His disobedience was going very well for him. He managed to get onto a boat and sail in totally the opposite direction. Perhaps he thought God was blessing him because it was going so well.
The easy way is not always the right way.
If you have a will to disobey God there will be an opportunity for you to do it.
The ease of his disobedience was no excuse for it, it was a test for him.
In v4 God gets involved.
There is nowhere to go to avoid God.
Verse 3 shows Jonah's only moment of independence in the whole book.

Jonah's disobedience put others at risk.
The Word now comes to him from a pagan sailor.
Sometimes the world has to wake up the church to say something.

God was pursuing Jonah.
You may run but you can't hide.

'Women do the dishes'

2009-03-29T23:05:00.002+01:00

A sermon from Allan Rees at Townhill Baptist Church in the evening service on Sunday 29th March 2009. Text: 1 Timothy 2: 8-15

Both men and women are made in the image of God. They are equal but have different roles.
There is nothing in the whole Bible to suggest that men and women aren't equal.

In Genesis, Woman was created out of Man. Eve was created as Adam's helper. Why is this so? Because God desired it to be this way. Even though both had sinned in taking the fruit, and indeed Eve had taken the fruit first, in Genesis 3 God calls out to Adam "Where are you". In Romans we are told that all sinned in Adam.

In 1 Timothy the Holy Spirit is, through Paul, addressing people living in Ephesus where many worship a sex goddess so some of the comments about braided hair and apparell would be related to that. God is more interested in personal holiness than what people are wearing. God looks at the heart, the motive. It's about personal holiness not actions (see v8 for example).

Your authority in life comes from one of only two places:
Either
1. 'God says', or
2. 'I think'

Paul refers to the creation order and not to culture to explain.
We often don't like certain things and so we go for what we think instead of obeying the authority of God in the whole of His Word.
God has total authority over you and your life.
Do we accept and obey just because Jesus says?
His truth has all the authority of heaven behind it.
What a huge different it would make if you acknowledge all the authority of God in your life.
All of our talk, study and prayer is a waste of time unless we obey.
Seth Joshua preached "Surrender to God"
Seth Joshua and others were spiritual giants only because they were delighted to submit to God even when they didn't understand God's ways.
God always acts for the sake of His Name and Glory. It is all about Him.

The Brawn Supremacy*

2009-03-29T22:33:00.006+01:00

The Australian Grand Prix, the first Grand Prix of the 2009 season, Sunday 29th March 2009, Albert Park, Melbourne.

What a great Grand Prix!

I have been excited about the start of the Grand Prix season for a couple of weeks now. I was getting especially excited when I heard that the new Brawn GP team were doing so amazingly well. This is a real fairytale story. Only a few months ago there was no Brawn team, Button and Barrichello did not have teams to race with and it looked bleak. There were rumours about potential buyers but then finally Ross Brawn and co managed to get together a buy out of the old Honda team and save the day. I was so pleased for Jenson and Rubens that I wanted my friends Boja and Plip to name their new baby Ross as a tribute :) So they had a team, which was great news, but it also turns out they had an amazing new car! And now they've outclassed the rest of the field in Melbourne to take first and second places in the Grand Prix. Absolutely fantastic stuff!

So I was very pleased for Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. I was also chuffed to bits for Lewis Hamilton. Lewis had a dismal qualifying session and it looks like McLaren are going to struggle for pace for a while. Hamilton qualified in 15th position but then was knocked pack to 18th because he had to change his gear box and therefore suffer a penalty. So he started in 18th but he managed to finish 3rd! It was an incredible piece of driving and it shows just how good Lewis Hamilton is when he has a car that isn't competitive and yet he still manages to gain 6 points from 18th on the grid.

I was disappointed for Sebastien Vettel. I like Vettel. He is a great up and coming young driver and seems like a really decent chap as well. At the start of the race he managed to jump up into 2nd place and proceeded to follow Jenson Button quite closely for the rest of the race. Well, up until 3 laps from the end that is, when he was being caught by Robert Kubica in a corner and tried to defend his position. His unwillingness to give up the place caused him and Kubica to collide and put them both out of the race. That was a shame. The other big shame for me was Heikki Kovalainen going out on the first lap.

It was a good race for the only F1 debutant this year Sebastien Buemi. Buemi managed to finish 7th and therefore pick up 2 points for his Toro Rosso team.

I just want to finish by pointing out that Ferrari scored no points. I must admit that this brings a smile to my face. I've no idea really why I feel this way towards Ferrari, I have no reason to, and yet I find that I do. I like them about as much as I like Liverpool Football Club.

Here's to the next race in Malaysia on the weekend and more success for Brawn!

*I confess I stole this rather witty title from the BBC Formula 1 website!

Haik Hovsepian Mehr

2009-03-18T21:51:00.002Z

Tonight in church we watched a documentary film called A Cry From Iran. It is about a Christian martyr called Haik Hovsepian Mehr who was the Chairman of the Council of Protestant Ministers of Iran. Haik spoke up for the rights of Christians in Iran. The film tells his story as well as referring to the stories of other Christian leaders in Iran who were killed for their faith. I would urge you to read any articles that you can find about Haik. Here are a few that I found:
Open Doors
The Independent
The Hovsepian Ministries Website

The video caused me to ask one question of myself: What am I doing? I am here for one purpose - the glory of Jesus Christ - yet my life is full of a mountain of clutter.

May I love the Lord Jesus like Haik Hovsepian Mehr loved Jesus.

How much more...

2009-03-15T21:12:00.003Z

Romans 5: 8 - 11

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Two points from this morning's sermon:

If Jesus loved us while we were His enemies, while we hated Him, enough to go to the cross and save us, how much more will He love us now that we are reconciled to Him?!
If Jesus, whilst at His absolute weakest (i.e. dead!), was able to save us completely, how much more is He able to do great things (and to them in, for and through us!) whilst He is now alive and reigning in glory?!

These two things have blessed me greatly today.

A Day at Duke Street

2009-03-11T21:12:00.003Z

My notes from the morning and evening services at Duke Street on Sunday 8th March 2009. Both sermons were preached by their Senior Minister, Dr Liam Goligher.

Morning - Our Great Redeemer - Isaiah 59

Background found in Isaiah 58v3. God's people are complaining about having no sense of God's power or interest in spite of everything they're doing.
In chapter 59 God speaks to His people.Nee
God promises a redeemer - a close relative who comes when you need help.

We see that God's people need (vs1-8), want (vs9-15) and have (vs15b-end) a redeemer.

Need

Their prayers were not being heard because of their iniquities (v2).
We still need a redeemer even as His people - the fallen life and nature is still there and can be seen in our actions, word, thoughts and motivations (vs7-8) - see Romans 3v23.
We can see 2 doctrines from this:

Common grace - God restrains evil most of the time. We sometimes see glimpses of just how evil us humans can be but generally this is restrained.
Total depravity - sin is in everybody.

Want

Isaiah57v19 - comfort for the people who feel sorry for their sin.
Matthew 5v4

Isaiah 59:9-15
The only hope is in confession - we cannot help ourselves (10-onwards)

Have

Their iniquities displeased the Lord and He saw that there was no one to get in between.
So God did it for them! (v16)
God acts as a warrior avenger for His people
v20 - these people can look forward to a redeemer - those who turn from, grieve and mourn over their sin.
v21 - an intra-trinitarian conversation
God does this because of His love for His Son.

Evening - A Near Death Experience - Revelation 3 vs 1-13

Sardis

Never judge by appearances.
Sardis looked alive but was dead.
The 7 spirits refer to the perfect operation, energies and ministries of the Holy Spirit.
The 7 stars are the angel representatives of the churches.
Persecution is not mentioned here.
The Devil doesn't have to persecute a dead church.
It is still a church so there must have been a minority alive but the majority are dead. Jesus was not real to their daily life. Compare with the fig tree in Matthew 21 - the tree had leaves but bore no fruit.
The letter is similar to the one to Ephesus.
The work of the Spirit is fuelled by people with living, vibrant relationships with Jesus through Him.
The people of the church idolised the things that the world idolises. There was nothing distinct about them.
Are we different?
People are brought to life by the Word of Jesus.
See Jesus' promises in vs4,5

Philadelphia

v8 - They had little power but were commended.
Where it counted the church was strong.
Keys - see Isaiah 22
They were being assaulted by the Jews - persecuting them and excluding them from the community. These Jews are liars - see Romans 2:28-29
Jesus promises (v8) an open door - that many will come seeking the way of salvation.
vs11-12 if they hold fast they will be a pillar.

The key is relationship to Jesus Christ. Do you have a living, personal relationship?

Am I so enmeshed in the world that no one knows the difference?
If you have been rejected by family, friends, colleagues, others because of Jesus - Jesus knows about this.

A long preamble followed by short study on hate

2009-02-28T22:29:00.004Z

Firstly, what prompted this post?

Two incidents involving very funny comedians.

1) Jimmy Carr on QI a couple of weeks ago. Stephen Fry had asked the question "How many commandments did Moses receive from God on Mount Sinai?" (or something along those lines) Being QI, it was referring to the fact that the commandments aren't listed as 10 separate, numbered statements, there are actually more than 10, etc. Jimmy Carr's answer was "That's easy. None - because it never happened." The response from the crowd was rapturous applause and cheering.

2) Ross Noble, last night at the Princess Royal Theatre in Port Talbot, finished his show with an opportunity to ask questions. One person asked "Who would win in a fight, Jesus or Gandalf?" Noble's reply was "Gandalf, because Jesus doesn't exist" which again was received with rapturous applause and cheering.

Here are two things that this post is not about:

I admit that as a Christian (and as explained in a previous blog post) I am super sensitive whenever anyone is talking about Jesus. I love Him and get very upset and offended whenever He is being misrepresented or blasphemed. However, that is not what I want this particular post to be about.
I can see why both of the above jokes are funny. Both also contained a disdain for Christianity. I am not arguing that people should not be free to say such things. Of course I believe in freedom of speech and, in that sense (and that sense alone), freedom for blasphemy (although I would strongly advise anyone against it because of the holiness of the God they're blaspheming).

So what is this post about?

The crowd's reaction in both incidents. Both reactions caused me instantly to inhale in sheer alarm. As a fan of comedy I am used to a crowd's reaction to a variety of jokes. In my experience it is quite rare that a crowd cheers and rapturously applauds their approval to a joke. Of course crowds often clap loudly and laugh uncontrollably but a cheer is rare, especially one so unanimous. Again I add that my own sensitivity may be playing its part here but I don't think I am being too melodramatic.

My assertion is that the average man or woman hates God.

Most Christians know this from their own personal experience as, through spiritual growth, their eyes are opened to what they were before conversion. They may also know this from their daily experience of living out the Christian life in what they do day by day. 'Religion' along with politics is something that should never be discussed after all and the real, genuine saltiness of some godly believers may leave certain people in the world around them quite bitter.

I have been pondering why, socially, people hate God. In a moment I intend to share the titular short Bible study on hate but what social reasons are there for hatred of God and a communal delight in that hatred? Many people have had a bad experience of church. Perhaps as children they were made to sit through boring services that were full of completely irrelevant and bizarre rituals and vocabulary. Perhaps for some people thoughts of Christianity evoke memories of certain individuals who have been self-righteous, holier-than-thou, hypocritical, ungenerous, harsh, etc. For some, Christianity may be synonymous with Creationism. Richard Dawkins is perhaps the most famous hater of Christianity for such reasons. Others may see any form of organised religion as a vehicle for brain-washing, indoctrination and offensive propaganda including intolerance towards other religions, etc. Perhaps it is these reasons, and many others, that the majority hate God.

It is true that the church is to blame for many of these things. I am sure that in my naive zeal in the past I have come across as harsh, offensive and intolerant. It is sadly true that leading atheists receive hate mail from so called Christians (see Proverbs 9 v 8 for some wisdom on that subject).

However, any thinking person would realise that counterfeit and twisted 'Christianity' exists in our world just as much as the existence of a person's own twisted morality. So all of these reasons for hating Christianity are really just the outward expression of something deeper.

Here are three quotes of Jesus speaking to His disciples in the gospel accounts.

John 3 v 20: ...everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

John 15 v 18: If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.

Matthew 10 v 22: you will be hated by all for My name’s sake.

Jesus always knew very well that people hated Him and always had done and always would. He knew this so clearly that he warned His disciples about it. The verse from Matthew 10 comes from a passage that predicts times of persecution that have been known down the centuries all over the world, including on many occasions in the history of the UK (e.g. the Imprisonment of John Bunyan). Such things are happening now in many parts of the world today. See the work of Open Doors amongst other Christian organisations working to support the persecuted church worldwide.

The words of Luke 6 v 22 should be a great encouragement to Christians: "Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake." Helen Roseveare, the British missionary to the Congo in the 1950s-70s, experienced great comfort from the Lord when she realised that God was telling her "They are not attacking you. They are attacking me." (Please read more of her incredible story at challies.com)

Looking through the concordance to my study Bible there are many references in scripture which are basically instructions for the Christian to hate wickedness/evil and love good (see Ps 45v7, 97v10, Amos 5v15, Luke 6v27, etc) and, indeed, to respond to wickedness with kindness.

A verse on hate to finish with:

Psalm 5 v 5: you hate all evildoers

In this Psalm, David is groaning and crying out to God and comforting himself with great truths about God. One of these great truths is that God hates all evildoers. We hear so often today that God is love and that He loves everyone no matter what they've done or who they are. However, that is not the whole picture. Everyone agrees that they do things wrong in their life (and therefore they're evildoers). God hates all who do wrong but, wonderfully, He does not delight in the death of the wicked but rather that they turn and be saved (see Ezekiel 33).

Bible Study Magazine

2009-02-24T23:45:00.001Z

Bible Study Magazine and Mars Hill are giving away 20 copies of Mark Driscoll’s new book, Vintage Church. Not only that, but they are also giving away five subscriptions to Bible Study Magazine and a copy of their Bible Study Library software! Enter to win on the Bible Study Magazine Mark Driscoll page, then take a look at all the cool tools they have to take your Bible study to the next level!

Stephen

2009-02-18T14:30:00.002Z

Some quotes from Acts 6 and 7 and comments about Stephen:

6v1-3: he was chosen to be part of a team in charge of distribution of food among the people
6v3: he was "known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom"
6v5: he was "a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit"
6v8: "full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs"
6v10: members of the Synagogue "could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke"
6v15: whilst in custody "they saw his face was like the face of an angel" (you can read Matthew Henry's helpful comments about what this means but suffice to say that it wasn't to do with how beautiful he was!)
7vs1-50: he was well versed in Jewish history
7vs51-53: he was very brave!
v55: "full of the Holy Spirit"

Stephen's brief story is told in just two chapters but what an impression these two chapters give of the man! As you can see from above, on five occasions it is clearly stated or implied that he was full of the Holy Spirit. He was chosen to be part of a group that distributes food so that the apostles could carry on with ministering the word and not be distracted by such things. It may not have been one of the top jobs in the church at the time but they chose Stephen and six others who were filled with the Holy Spirit to do it. Now, it is true that on conversion we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, the seal and guarantee of our redemption, but from the other verses here it is clear that it means much more than that.

I think Stephen is a great example to us in the church who are not involved in a direct "ministry of the word" such as preaching, leading Bible studies, etc (although we are all involved in evangelism which is also a ministry of the word). Stephen knew his scriptures incredibly well. He didn't have notes when he was speaking to the Sanhedrin in chapter 7 but he was able to recount the history of the Jews and apply it to the priests listening. He was strong in his rebuke of the priests which again he was only able to do because he was full of the Spirit.

We must cultivate such a relationship with and dependence upon the Holy Spirit. We don't hear great stories of people like Stephen because they were great. We hear them because God is great and is able to do incredible things when lowly rescued sinners lean completely on His grace.

Feeding daily on the Gospel

2009-02-16T21:09:00.002Z

On Sunday I was browsing the Desiring God website looking for a good snippet to read out on my Radio City Sunday morning radio show. I came across a book review entitled Read Jack, which was a review of the book A Faith Worth Sharing by C. John Miller.

I found one of the paragraphs in the review particularly helpful and thought I would share it with you here:

Jack learned early on in his Christian walk that “the only way I could survive was to go over and over the gospel message until it became the central focus of my life” (28). He rehearses this principle—and sums up the main theme of the book—as he talks about the conversion of a friend named Stan.

Stan . . . became another weak person receiving grace through the promises, and his joy in the message of the cross stimulated others to seek grace too.” (96, emphasis added)

Jack’s recurring angle is that “evangelism is...one hungry beggar eagerly eating the bread and being changed by it, and then telling the other poor beggars to eat of the same bread” (98). Evangelists who don’t feed their own souls on the message of the gospel are misguided at best and hypocritical at worst. If we are to communicate the gospel to others for the feeding of their souls, we must first feed daily on the gospel ourselves.

The reason that we would want to call other beggars to eat the life-giving and life-sustaining bread of the gospel is because we’ve already tasted it—and are continuing to eat it—and we know personally how good the good news is. Preaching the gospel daily to our own souls precedes and powers preaching that gospel to others. And the more we articulate the profound truths of the gospel to ourselves and then to our believing friends, the more easily we’ll be able to articulate the message to nonbelievers.

Johann Hari's Independent articles

2009-02-13T17:18:00.004Z

I wrote these thoughts on Friday after reading these two articles:
Why Should I Respect These Oppressive Religions and Despite These Riots, I Stand By What I Wrote

"Today, whenever a religious belief is criticised, its adherents immediately
claim they are the victims of "prejudice" – and their outrage is increasingly
being backed by laws."

I am all for dialogue. I really am. I realise that if I want freedom of speech, then I have to be willing for people to be free to criticise my beliefs. I completely agree with that. What I am more concerned about as a 'fundamentalist' Christian (as the article would call me, I suppose) is almost the opposite. It seems to me that laws in our country will increasingly restrict me from holding particular beliefs and trying to share those beliefs with others.

This reminds me of the Jerry Springer The Opera furore from a few years back. If you recall, the Opera featured the Jerry Springer show where some of the guests were God, Jesus and Mary amongst others from the Bible. My Lord and Saviour whom I believe deserves total adoration, respect, reverence, honour, love and glory is depicted as a man who enjoys dressing up as a baby and fouling in his underwear. I won't go into all the details but that's not the end of it. I wrote it like that to show how shocking and horrific it is for me to accept as a Christian. However, I had to think a lot about what I felt about it at the time. Was I going to be one of the people campaigning against it? Did I just have to put up with it because of the right to free speech? How exactly should I respond to it?

In the end I came to the conclusion that although personally I was deeply upset and offended by the content of the show I didn't really have ground to complain about it solely on the basis of free speech. I did, however, feel it was acceptable to complain about it on the basis of decency and offence. Should something like this that offends so many people go by quietly in our society? If there was a show that caused deep offence to the Welsh or black people or ginger people or obese people or disabled people should it go by without comment? Perhaps we decide that such a show should go on but if lots of people are offended let's not be surprised when they raise that point!

Back to the article! The chap loses me when he states the reason he doesn't respect my beliefs is because there is no evidence for them. I don't believe in macro evolution but I acknowledge there is some (inconclusive) evidence for it. The evidence for the resurrection is overwhelming, in my opinion, but, even if you don't agree, surely you would have to say that there is at least some evidence for belief? How can you say you respect me when you call my carefully considered beliefs something which "belong[s] to the childhood of our species"?

"You have an absolute right to voice your beliefs – but the price is that I too
have a right to respond as I wish."

Mr Hari you may of course have your "indivisible human right to speak freely" but when you do, please make educated comments that understand were religious people are coming from rather than dismissing those you claim to respect with a few funny lines.

"...religious fundamentalists – of all stripes – have been progressively stripping
away the right to freely discuss their faiths. They claim religious ideas are
unique and cannot be discussed freely; instead, they must be "respected" – by
which they mean unchallenged."

Personally, as an Evangelical Christian, I couldn't disagree more with the implication that I may be involved in this statement! Please do discuss the gospel freely!

I have been watching the West Wing a lot recently and in Series 3 there is an episode called Enemies Foreign and Domestic, where the White House press secretary is drawn into voicing her personal opinion on a group of schoolgirls in Saudi Arabia who died when they were prevented from escaping a burning building by the mutaween religious police because they were not properly dressed according to religious law. In a future episode President Bartlett has a rant concerning the way Saudi Arabia applies their religious laws in this way and he and Toby Ziegler both want to see Western, liberal democracy and freedom brought to these parts of the world. I have to say that watching it I was totally caught up in it and completely agreed with them both. However, I don't think anyone could speak about Christians in that way. Christians do not impose 'religious law' on anybody.

"They do not propose to stop voicing their own heinously offensive views about
women's rights or homosexuality, but we have to shut up and take it – or we are
the ones being "insulting"."

I don't go about stating any views on women's right or homosexuality unless it comes up in conversation. You may possibly find them insulting but hopefully there would be the possibility of dialogue.

"I wrote an article defending human rights, and stating simple facts. Fanatics
want to arrest or kill me for it. Is there equivalence here?"

That's not wholly true. Let's consider some facts:
1. Some Muslims are notoriously easily offended and, when they are, they riot and bring violence
2. You said of their beloved prophet "I don't respect the idea that we should follow a "Prophet" who at the age of 53 had sex with a nine-year old girl, and ordered the murder of whole villages of Jews because they wouldn't follow him."

Now whether you were right in what you said or not (and not knowing the facts I give you the benefit of the doubt here) you can still surely see that by summing up their prophet in that particular way you would at least ruffle some feathers. I certainly wouldn't say "you were asking for it" because I have a lot of sympathy with what you were saying but I do think that that one paragraph was needlessly offensive. You could have simply said you didn't agree with the beliefs of any organised religion rather than trying to make them look childish.

I guess in all I have written, probably not intelligently in some places, I am just trying to ask why are peace-loving Christians who love the Bible lumped in with violent extremists in both articles?

Genesis 50v20 - The Good, The Bad and The Baffling

2009-02-08T22:15:00.003Z

This sermon covered the story spanning the last 8 or so chapters of Genesis (where Joseph meets his brothers again, etc).

The Good - Many lives were saved through Joseph's planning and preparing for the famine. Great joy in verses such as 45v26, 46v30, 42v7, 42v21.

The Bad - The brothers intended harm, potiphar and his wife behaved unjustly, there was no fairytale ending.

The Baffling - Joseph's dealings with his brothers. Why is Joseph not a tribe? Why did Jacob swap his hands against Joseph's will.

There is no full reconciliation without repentance.

Joseph told the brothers that what they did was wrong.

Being rebuked in church is a good thing. If you are being rightly rebuked you learn something, if you are being wrongly rebuked the other person learns something. However we need to die to self because it is never easy otherwise to take a rebuke.

The brothers don't appear to repent.

God's plan has no setback. Galatians 2:20 - "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Is that true of you?

Helen Roseveare - "Cross out the I in your life"

Grudges and lack of honesty with one another are massive problems in the church.

Is there a stolen cup in your sack still?

Are we more of an example of what the Lord can do as we grow older as Christians?

Satan's masterpiece is the professing Christian who dreams for nothing more than what they have now.

Genesis 41

2009-02-01T20:39:00.003Z

Here are my notes from a sermon on Genesis 41. You will be able to download and listen to the same sermon from www.townhill.org.uk very soon.

Pharoah is really troubled.
Joseph always ends up leading (compare that with the first dreams of Joseph)

1. Joseph is God's man

vs15-16: I can't do it but God can
Joseph doesn't take the credit or pat on the back.
You can live on the encouraging comments of other people and this is a terrible thing.
Nail your colours to the mast straight away in any new situation. I am God's!
It is a tragedy if noone in your workplace, etc knows you're a Christian.

v38 Pharoah is so impressed that he even acknowleges Joseph's God.

Atheists who heard C H Spurgeon preach would say "I don't believe it but Spurgeon clearly does!"

Joseph doesn't live on human praise. He doesn't take any of the credit.

2. God is everyone's God

Miles Kington once wrote an article where the theme basically was "I don't bother God, why should he bother me?"
Actually everyone does 'bother God' because He's everyone's God. He's the only God that's there.
It is not true that we are all His children. He is Creator, Lord and Judge of all but not Father (see John 8: 42-47).

God is God of Pharoah but not his Saviour.

God is Sovereign, governing everything.
Joseph named one of his son's Manasseh recognising that God has enabled him to forget his past.
God is always working, He never slumbers or sleeps.
God is the only free 'person' in the universe.

Who calls the shots in your life?

C S Lewis - "I let God be God"

Look at the people we have in our great worldwide family. They are not all like us - struggling and finding the world too enticing. It is a privilege to be in their family.

Some boast "we have the Word!" but all they have is facts. Joy must be in knowing the person Jesus Christ in close relationship.

We must work hard to apply the Word to ourselves personally.

Living Before God - a weekend away

2009-01-31T21:51:00.010Z

This weekend I had a very encouraging time at the Heath Church Houseparty. Rev Andrew Davies was preaching on the theme 'Living Before God' from 1 Thessalonians 5 vs 16-18. I will share my notes here below from the three sessions.

Session 1 - Friday evening - Christian Joy

Worship is the whole of our lives lived for the praise of God. Joy is at the heart of this.

Rejoicing always is only possible in the Lord (v18 says 'this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you') Joy is more important than debatable matters of corporate worship.

God is the God of joy rejoicing over Himself, His people, His creation.

Joy sets the tone for everything in our church and our personal lives.

Are you a joyful Christian?

1. What kind of joy?

2. What causes the joy?

3. Why rejoice?

1. It is not happiness which comes and goes depending on circumstances.

Our happiness tends to be self absorbed.

It is not presumptuous joy. Some have no business to rejoice (e.g. the people in the book of Hosea). Our lives must be consistent with what we confess.

It is not fanaticism which is not produced by truth or the Holy Spirit and where you just want to feel good and not think. Joy must be based on truth and reality.

It is not ecstatic joy where we feel like we can take on anything. You can't always dance and sing.
This joy is a deep sense of calm or peace. It is a conviction that whatever God does is right.

2. In Luke 10 vs 17-24 we see the joy of success, the joy of salvation (which is a greater joy) and the joy of the Saviour in His Father.

When struck down we have joy in the fact that our names are written in Heaven. Our confidence is in Him.

God Himself is the greatest reason for joy. He was once our Judge but is now our Father. We may know joy in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Though all may be catastrophic, it is true that we can rejoice.

3.
i) Joy is our strength. What can Satan offer to a joyful Christian? "Now none but Christ can satisfy"

Worldliness is whatever cools your affection for Christ.

Dependence upon drugs, alcohol, etc is a reflection of a deeply unhappy person.

Joy teaches us to say no.

ii) Encouragement to other people. Some Christians refresh, renew, reinvigorate you. There is something of the Lord in them.

iii) It attracts outsiders.

iv) Nothing glorifies God more than a joyful Christian. We have a motive, purpose and reason for existence.

Session 2 - Saturday morning - Pray without ceasing

The Christian life begins with prayer and it continues with prayer. It is a proof of having the Christian life.

Why
Prayer is moulding our will to God's will. We seek a stirring of the heart in prayer where our desires are purified.

We live in a busy, rushing and frantic world but we must take time to contemplate and meditate and reflect upon God.

What
It can't mean constantly verbalising prayer or constantly being in particular postures, places or times.

It's about a spirit of devotion and dependence.

Paul interjects prayer throughout his letters.

When
Private quiet time set aside is very valuable and a daily priority.
Corporate prayer meetings (e.g. in Acts 4) are also very important. They can be meetings with a collective great aim.
God may lay burdens and prayers on our hearts.

How - with what attitude

Reverence: disciplining and controlling distracted thoughts. "Scatter the birds" Be ready and prepared to pray always.

Come confessing your need to be forgiven.

The order is important: He promises, so we pray.

Come with believing hope and trust.

What for

Recommended book: Praying the Saviour's Way by Derek Thomas.

Use the petitions of the Lord's prayer in Matthew 6 to help you.

The discipline of prayer is the most difficult in the Christian life.

Session 3 - Sunday Evening - Giving thanks

See also Philippians 4

This is not giving thanks for everything but in everything. It is thanks for that which is rich and wonderful and it is wonderfully positive and glorious.

Joy, prayer and thankfulness - this is how Jesus lived.

Rejoice in the truth made known to us with a settled disposition of the soul.

Our relationships affect our joy (4v2)
It is very difficult not to be anxious (4v6)
We need prayer.

We cannot live the Christian life without a healthy relationship with God.

We must reflect on God's providence and give thanks.

We must give thanks for the marvellous works of the Lord in salvation and creation.

We must even give thanks in our sufferings as they can soften us, more us more fruitful, gentle, caring accepting of God's will.

God's will for us is joy, prayer and thanksgiving in fellowship with the Trinity.

On addiction to sin

2009-01-29T20:18:00.004Z

"What made you crash?"

"It's always the same. When you're an addict you can lose it any time, any place, for any reason. They haven't designed a wagon that can hold me. I'm an addict, Bro, plain and simple....Last night it was booze and beer, same tonight, same tomorrow. By the end of the week I'll be doing nastier stuff."

"Do you want to?"

"No, but I know what happens"

This is a conversation between Ray and Forrest, two brothers in the book 'The Summons' by John Grisham. As you may have deduced Forrest is an addict. The previous day he learned of the death of his father and he knows the depths of his addiction that will ensue over the course of the next few days/weeks.

By nature we are all very much like Forrest. However we may not addicted to something well known for its addictive properties such as alcohol, tabacco or drugs, etc. We are addicted to pleasing ourselves.

Looking back over my life in recent times I have started to spot the kind of prompts that make me 'lose it', as Forrest puts it in the conversation. One in particular is lack of sleep. I have found recently that for me "tiredness kills" (as the motorway roadsigns warn us). I've always been the kind of person to think I can just plough on through my tiredness. I tend to think I can stay up later and watch tele when already tired or do whatever it is I may be doing because being more tired tomorrow doesn't matter that much does it?

But it turns out it does matter. It matters spiritually. I find I am more likely to actively and knowingly walk with God when I am regularly in His word and in prayer. So the obvious flip side of that is that when I regularly not reading the Bible and regularly not seeking Him in prayer I am more likely to wander off into temptation unguarded. When I am tired I do not fight temptation so vigorously. When I am tired I do not make Bible study and prayer a priority. I make 'rest' a priority.

On Saturday I went to see the mighty Swansea City defeat Premiership Portsmouth in the FA Cup on their own ground. It was a great day out, spent with some top lads in glorious January weather with fantastic football before us. But I did all the driving in one day. So obviously Sunday I was shattered. In my mind it was well worth it for such a great day out. But let's look at some facts. Did I make time for a quiet time that day? Well I got up as late as possible (6am - we were leaving Swansea at 7) and then got in exhausted at 10.15pm. Has following the Lord been normal, easier or harder since Saturday? Much harder.

I was reading a good friend's prayer letter on Wednesday and in it he talked about 'being deliberate in our discipleship'. I think for me I need to make some of those revolutionary decisions to not put 'a great day out' or a great experience or anything like that before what will most help me follow God.

Also it means making the decision to ensure I get enough sleep each day so I am awake and ready to fight the good fight of faith each and every day.

So if you see me ask me how my sleep is! Cheers

Zechariah: Rebuke & Return

2009-01-05T20:54:00.002Z

The Lord speaks to rebuke us so that we will return to Him.

The book of Zechariah takes place after the exile. The people have returned but they are now discouraged. 'Zechariah' means the Lord remembers.

Key verse: 1:3 - Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Return to Me,” says the LORD of hosts, “and I will return to you,” says the LORD of hosts.

Rebuke

1:4 - the people did not hear

2: 1-2 - What's your spiritual temperature?

7:13 - Cold hearts

14:1 - The Day of the Lord is coming

14:12 - What happens to rebels

Are we sure everything will be alright on that day?

12:10 - they will look on me whom they have pierced
Everyone will see Him

13:7 - Quoted in the NT

11:17 - a rebuke for pastors

7:5 - Was it for me you did this?

Return

We meet the Lord at the cross.

4:10 - an often misquoted verse. We want more!

4:6 - that's the key

10:1 - ask the Lord for rain

9:8 - I will defend my house

9:16 - God will save them

10:6 - 'I will strengthen them'

10:12 - They shall walk in His name

14:9 - The Lord will be King over all

14:21 - No imposters, spies, troublemakers, enemies anymore on that day

Augustine of Hippo "God waited patiently for me to return"

Sort out the big things first

13:1 - There is a fountain filled with blood

Start 2009 by pressing on!

Set the Lord before me

2009-01-04T21:30:00.002Z

Today I was reading Psalm 16. It's a great Psalm but the verse that jumped out to me the most was verse 8:

I have set the LORD always before me;
Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.

David's assurance that he was doing the right thing was that he set the Lord before him always. This is what I should be doing always. Safe and secure in the knowledge that I am in the centre of the Lord's will.

Choose Life

2007-12-27T17:23:00.001Z

In my quiet time today I came to Deuteronomy 30. It has to be one of my favourite chapters in the Bible. Moses has previously been going through the various blessings and curses that will fall on the people of Israel when they obey or disobey the Lord's commands. The beginning of chapter 30 assumes the people will turn away from the Lord and what will happen when they return to the Lord. As my Bible notes (from the Good Book Company) said:

"Even if they are scattered, if they return to God, He will gather them again and bless them again."

It's wonderful! I was so blessed by thinking about how it is never too late to turn back to God. God is so loving and merciful and faithful to His promises.

The second half of the chapter talks about a choice. Basically it is the choice to obey or disobey God. Wonderfully, it is possible and, indeed, not difficult for us to choose correctly. Look at verses 11-14:

11 “For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

and then the choice is clearly spelt out:

15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18 I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess.

and finally the choice is re-emphasised:

19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

I pray that I would love the LORD my God, walk in His ways, and keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, and the LORD my God will bless me in the land.

For His glory.

Unexpected blessing

2007-10-23T17:39:00.000+01:00

In school yesterday the Gideons were in to do an assembly for year 7 and to give every pupil a little New Testament and Psalms (I will never understand why they leave out the Old Testament!)

Later on in the day I was teaching a year 7 class and some of the pupils had their little NTs out on the table next to their books. At one point a girl in my class was flicking through it rather than working on her Maths (the odd situation where I have to tell pupils to put their Bibles away and get on with their work). Well this girl told me she had found a verse which clearly told her to hit the boy behind her (say his name was Fred, she said "look sir this verse says 'Hit Fred'". So I got my own NT out (the Gideons had given me one too!) and looked up the verse. It was Luke 3 v 6 which actually says:

'And all mankind will see God's salvation.'

It's part of a quote from Isaiah 40: 3-5 (which, even if I had known that at the time I couldn't have turned to due to the fact it was only a NT!) but as I read it to myself I just thought wow what an amazing verse. Praise God that all mankind will see God's salvation - all kinds of people from all kinds of background. And praise God too that even those who will not be saved will still see that which they've so tragically missed out on and God will be both vindicated and glorified.

Amazing verse and such an unexpected blessing in the midst of my year 7 Maths lesson!

Are Christians to be pitied?

2007-10-10T21:37:00.000+01:00

This evening I have been thinking about one of my favourite passages in Scripture. It can be found in 1 Corinthians 15:

12But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

It is a passage that is followed by one of the great 'But...' statements in the Bible:

20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Christians are definitely not to be 'pitied more than all men' because Christ has indeed been raised from the dead.

The context in which I have been thinking about this passage, however, is concerning those Christians who are not going on in their faith, i.e. not following on after Christ. What do I mean by that? I mean those Christians (and mainly myself to be honest) who are not spending that regular time, daily, meeting with God in prayer and in the Word. Surely these are the Christians who are to be pitied more than all men. They claim to believe in the Christ who has indeed been raised from the dead, they claim to believe something really great but are not doing anything with it. That is incredibly pitiful and miserable. Don't get me wrong, I am not really saying that they should just be pitied. I'm saying they should be rebuked for they are doing much damage to the cause of the gospel and that should not be taken lightly but there should be pity and much prayer for them also.

Are there people in your church who claim to be born again into so great a salvation but are living, in the secret and quiet place, just like the world. How would you know? Surely you can tell by the lack of joy, lack of anything fresh to share of the Lord, lack of distinction from the world, etc. Ungodliness is crippling our churches.

Let us resolve then to know the Lord and to:

"make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1: 10-11)

God bless + press on!

Listening to sermons

2007-08-31T20:57:00.000+01:00

There are a lot of words or phrases that Christians regularly use but sometimes we don't feel complete at ease with them. For example, a Christian might say that he/she 'enjoyed' listening to a particular sermon, but he/she will then feel the need to explain what they meant by 'enjoyed'.

Another word that might be used after listening to sermons is 'challenging'. After a particularly powerful message the Christian might say "that was challenging". But again this is an awkward expression because we don't want to just stay in the 'challenged' state; we want to be changed by the Word of God.

Recently, a word that has been commonly used is 'helpful'. The Christian may say they found the sermon 'helpful' or that it was a 'helpful' message or "there were some really helpful bits in that message". I have found using this word easier than the others because it is a blanket expression; it covers most of the things you might want to say about the 'good parts' of a sermon. If there were bits of a sermon that you found particularly challenging or that caused you to rejoice or to consider afresh some point of doctrine or the beauty or majesty or holiness of the Lord for example you could say you found it 'helpful'. Of course it would be much better to be specific and to say what was helpful or how it was helpful. This could be very profitable to both the person commenting on the sermon and the person listening.

But is that really fellowship?

I mention this because I have been to the Aberystwyth conference again this summer. I have now been to six Aber conferences (2002 -2007). At the conference and in other Christian events and circles people talk about sermons being 'helpful'. In my experience I have sadly been in attendance for some incredibly boring sermons (and believe me I take no delight in calling a sermon boring) but then I have spoken to people afterwards and they have found the same sermons helpful. Over time I grew to accept that some people might find sermons helpful that I found dreadful and, this year, stopped worrying about it as much. This acceptance has made for much more amiable conversations about sermons as together my friends and I pick out what was 'helpful' about the message.

However, I am starting to worry about this again. In church on Wednesday I can't remember exactly what prompted it but we went off on a bit of a tangent about these issues. We were wondering and discussing whether there is a greater issue/problem here. The discussion was very encouraging for me because I had been thinking about these things but was also very confused about them.

So, what is this greater issue/problem?

At the conference, the chairman will always say how blessed we have been to hear 'God speaking' to us or he will say that we 'trust that God will be speaking to us today', etc. Surely this is what we must be truly expecting. Surely this is what we want? So, if God is speaking to us - what is He saying? That is the big issue. If God is speaking to us surely we can't just come away and say "that was helpful". Looking at Scripture, when God speaks he is clearly saying something. What is God saying to the Reformed Evangelical churches in Wales today? True fellowship would be about what God is saying and not what we found 'helpful'.

It is my great fear and concern that by and large the people of God in Wales (and the UK?) are not expecting God to say anything at all. The people of God are expecting to learn something that is helpful. It is pitiful.

We need God to speak. We need to expect God to speak.

The solution to our problem starts with the individual. I need God to speak. I need to expect God to speak. But I get so disappointed and discouraged by the lack of desire in my heart and the hearts of almost every other Christian I meet for God to speak to us individually and collectively.

And very few people agree with me.

Assurance

2007-08-27T16:30:00.001+01:00

I receive a daily Christian Quote of the Day from christianquote.com and most often they are very insightful, challenging and/or helpful. The Topic for Today was Assurance and the quote was...

Whom God legally saves, He experimentally saves; whom He justifies, them He also sanctifies. Where the righteousness of Christ is imputed to an individual, a principle of holiness is imparted to him; the former can only be ascertained by the latter. It is impossible to obtain a Scriptural knowledge that the merits of Christ's finished work are reckoned to my account, except by proving that the efficacy of the Holy Spirit's work is evident in my soul.

Pink, A. W.

I have heard a lot of quotes like these and read lots of Bible passages that teach the same kind of thing recently. It's very challenging. Nobody in a backslidden state can have any assurance.

Short Term Memories

2007-08-26T22:45:00.000+01:00

Following on from my post yesterday where I had two points involving the same word...

1) I have been enjoying listening to Chris Rice's album "Short Term Memories" since I was sent it by Furious Records years ago. I listened to a lot of it again today. I have decided I am going to name my Christian radio show on Radio Tircoed after one of the tracks, "Smellin' Coffee", coz it's all about waking up to the joy of knowing God's mercies. One of my favourite songs on the album is called Clumsy. Here are the lyrics:
You think I’d have it down by now
Been practicin’ for thirty years
I should have walked a thousand miles
So what am I still doin’ here
Reachin’ out for that same old piece of forbidden fruit
I slip and fall and I knock my halo loose
Somebody tell me what’s a boy supposed to do?

I get so clumsy
I get so foolish
I get so stupid
And then I feel so useless
But You’re sayin’ You love me
And You’re still gonna hold me
And that You wanna be near me
‘Cause You’re makin’ me holy
You’re still makin’ me holy, yeah

I’m gonna get it right this time
I’ll be strong and I’ll make You proud
I’ve prayed that prayer a thousand times
But the rooster crows and my tears roll down (again)
Then You remind me You made me from the dust
And I can never, no never, be good enough
And that You’re not gonna let that come between us

I get so clumsy
I get so foolish
I get so stupid
And then I feel so useless
But You’re sayin’ You love me
And You’re still gonna hold me
And that You wanna be near me
‘Cause You’re makin’ me holy
You’re still makin’ me holy, yeah

From where I stand
Your holiness is up so high I can never reach it
My only hope is to fall on Jesus

I get so clumsy
I get so foolish
I get so stupid
And then I feel so useless
But You’re sayin’ You love me
And You’re still gonna hold me
And that You wanna be near me
‘Cause You’re makin’ me holy
You’re still makin’ me holy, yeah

It's a very positive song. I feel you can listen to it and take God's holiness very seriously and remember His great love and mercy at the same time too. Chris Rice's music is very honest and very easy to relate to.

2) Pete preached in Townhill tonight on things we must be reminded of as Christians because of our Short Term Memories. He was preaching on 2 Peter 1 vs 12-15:

So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

We must remember our status in Christ as Christians, what we have been saved from, the realities of heaven and hell and the reality of God in our lives.

Press on

Tattoo

2007-08-25T21:49:00.000+01:00

My Dad was watching the Edinburgh Tattoo on the tele today. What an impressive spectacle. I had it on in the background whilst I idled the afternoon away on facebook of course.

So why am I mentioning this? Two reasons...

1) I haven't blogged since January. And that's pants.

2) I got a tattoo in the summer and I thought I would tell you about it.

I was in Croatia for a lovely 5 day camping holiday this summer. Whilst there, my friends, Alison and Rach, and I decided that by the end of the week we would get some henna tattoos. We had seen them being done down by the seafront and thought it would be a laugh. I have included a photo of the tat for you to see (ignore the double chin, I am on a mission to remove that starting Monday). So it was a small strange flame like symbol which cost only £3 and would apparently only last a couple weeks. However, about a week and 3 days later the tattoo started to go bad. My skin decided it was not fond of henna at all. It looked disgusting. My friend Sian, a nurse, told me to keep it covered and taped with one of those square bandage things but put lots of vaseline on first. It took another week and a half before it started to scab over. My skin really does not like this henna stuff. I am now hoping that it will disappear soon. It would be nice to be able to go swimming again (especially seeing as I am on the aforementioned mission).

So if you ask me about tattoos then I will say 'the Edinburgh Tattoo? Fine. a Henna tattoo? No thank you'

Psalm 146

2007-01-08T22:18:00.000Z

Wow it has been such a long time since I last blogged! Sorry about that if you check from time to time. I have completely redecorated, furnished and moved into a new house since the last time I blogged. (I should say I didn't do it all on my own, much thanks goes to my parents, my Gran and to my friends Boja, Phil, Darren and Alison for their great help!)

So on Sunday afternoon before church I had a quiet time and I read Psalm 146. I have been using the Good Book Company's Explore notes. They are very helpful you know. I found Psalm 146 very refreshing and helpful. The Psalm is an exhortation to trust in the Lord, but in it the writer is not exhorting the people around him to trust the Lord, but rather he is exhorting himself to trust the Lord. He points out how wonderful the Lord is and therefore why he should be trusted and praised. I particularly found the passage in verses 5-10 wonderful. Please read through these verses below and count and rejoice in the many different ways in which the Lord is wonderful:

5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
6 the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them—the LORD, who remains faithful forever.
7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free,
8 the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous.
9 The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
10 The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD.

It really struck me that the Lord does these things. It's not a case of "Aw there's nice, what lovely sentiment". No! God DOES these things. God does give sight to the blind. God does set prisoners free (both of those are my story!!) God does uphold the cause of the oppressed. God does lift up those who are bowed down. I have felt so 'bowed down' for ages and I know people who have felt oppressed and so it's so encouraging and exciting to read and believe that God does these things!

Let's pray for grace to believe that the Lord is as great as the psalmist here believes and then to live praising Him for this daily. (It isn't a pipe dream - with God anything is possible)

Worship is the engine

2006-08-28T21:17:00.000+01:00

Last night in church we had a very helpful message from Mr Peter Campbell from 1 Peter 2: 4-10. Pete focused on verses 4 and 5 and the phrase "Coming to Him....you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

Pete was saying that Worship is the engine of the Christian life. Worship is how you grow as a Christian because "as you come to him....you are being built up". It was helpful to be reminded that it is in coming to the Lord that we grow. Pete spent a lot of time explaining what worship is and what it isn't. A lot of people say "Worship is my whole life" and by saying that they mean that we don't have to do anything to worship and therefore really these people aren't worshipping at all. We do need to "Come to Him", there is something we need to do.

So, if we're not worshipping God (i.e. coming to Him) then we are not growing. It sounds very simple written down here I guess but it was a very helpful and inspiring message. You should be able to download it from the Townhill website before the end of this week.

My summer

2006-08-28T20:55:00.000+01:00

It has been quite some time since I last posted. So here is a summary of things from my summer.

Firstly, I became a house owner on 4th August 2006. I am very excited about this. There is a lot more work to be done than I realised at first. Much work needs doing in the bathroom (mainly sorting out the electrics). There is painting needed throughout, new skirting needed downstairs, new carpets for all the bedrooms, landing and stairs, and new flooring in the kitchen and bathroom. There is probably more than that. I am becoming better and better at filling; it's all I seem to be doing every day!

Secondly, camp was excellent. I went on EMW Camp 6 at Quinta. I had never been to Quinta before, it's a lovely place. Ian Parry was the chaplain and his talks all week focused on the end times. Some of his themes were: Where is Jesus now?, Jesus' second coming, Heaven and Hell, Judgement, Jesus' compassion. I found the talks really helpful and moving. It was wonderful to be able to have such confidence in Christ as able to save any of the campers who would come to Him. Also it was amazing to consider the glory of the Lord from Revelation 1: 12-18. The epilogues were also great. I was asked to share my testimony on the Monday night, which was a great privilege. On the Tuesday night Katie Hadley gave her testimony and it was wonderful. I was so moved by the fact that Jesus changes lives so dramatically for the better. It was also great to meet some kids who were obviously really spoken to through the messages. It was very helpful and encouraging to see God at work!

Thirdly, I went to Aberystwyth conference. To be honest, I often find the conference discouraging and depressing on the whole and, while there were a few odd high points, it was the same this year unfortunately. I found it very disappointing that such a large number of people seemed to enjoy the lectures given by one of the speakers. It seems to me that the church of God in Wales is happy with and in fact expects a lecture on a particular aspect of doctrine rather than being exhorted to love, honour, worship and obey God more and more. It was great to hear Gwynn Williams preaching on James 1: 22-25. He was challening us to be doers rather than just hearers of the word. Other highlights for me included the missionary exhibition (as always!), Joel Beeke in Extratime - it was great to hear him being interviewed on a number of occasions, Pete Campbell and Allan Rees in Extratime, Martin Downes's seminar on Heroes and Heretics was very interesting and helpful. I also enjoyed Geoff Thomas's preaching on the Friday evening. He preached on 1 Peter 1: 8-9 and was very warm in reminding us what we have in Christ.

So now I have a week left until school starts again. A week of doing all the work I have left until now and of working on my new house!

Despair is sin

2006-06-04T22:00:00.000+01:00

For quite a long time now (as you may well know if you ever have read my blog) I have been in a pretty awful state of self-pity and despair spiritually. I actually feel really stupid writing that now. Tonight in the sermon it (finally?) hit me properly that despair is sin.

We had a sermon on 2 Samuel 12 this evening. If you remember, it is the passage where the prophet Nathan comes to King David to challenge him about his sin. The famous quote is in verse 7 where Nathan says to David "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says..."

All this time I have been thinking "oh woe is me, I'm struggling, I'm rubbish, I'm not getting anywhere and I used to be pressing on..." and really what I needed was a slap in the face like this telling me "You are the man!" (not as in "How great are you!" but as in "You are the sinner!" - check the context of the quote!!).

We also had a great quote from William Williams, Pantecelyn which consists of four lessons:
(1.) To repent without despairing; (2.) To believe without being presumptuous; (3.) To rejoice without falling into levity (4.) To be angry without sinning. (although I just read a webpage claiming that to be a Daniel Rowland quote)

The first lesson really stood out for me. I realised that it is repentance that I need, not self-pity and despair. I guess self-pity and despair are so attractive to us because they revolve around us and we naturally love ourselves. Repentance is such a wonderful thing because it means turning back to God - and what could be more positive than that?

Finally, the rest of verse 13 says:
Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die."

So even though any one sin is punishable by death, David is forgiven, his sin is taken away! (something we must rejoice in) However, there are consequences to his actions (and this is something we musn't forget).

If you have been praying for me - thank you, please continue to do so! Let's pray that when the sad occasion comes when we need a Nathan to come, God will bring him/her to us and we will be convicted, we will confess our sins and we will be restored.

Press on!

Join Me ......... in running

2006-05-21T23:10:00.000+01:00

My friend Heva today completed the Race For Life raising the princely sum of £40. Well done Hev!

But this has made me even more keen to do the Sport Relief Mile this year (yes ok a mile is nothing but it's a start aint it!). The big day is on Saturday 15th July and you can sign up for a run near where you live. You get sent a red sock to wear and everything (ok so I don't know much about it yet!). Are you up for it?

Faith Expressing Itself Through Love

2006-05-09T19:13:00.000+01:00

Galatians 4

1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
2Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading that passage this morning! But one thing kind of suprised me in a way. I think so often due to the great legacy left to us in the Reformed Church by people like Luther who rediscovered "righteousness by faith", etc we are certain in our minds that faith in Christ alone is what counts. However, when reading the passage above this morning my attention was caught by the last sentence and particularly the last four words of that sentence i.e. the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. I guess I have never thought much about this before. We know that the only thing that counts is faith but I think I would usually stop there.

Faith is not a cold, passionless thing. The object of our faith is also the lover of our souls. Faith expresses itself through love. Primarily love for God but also love for His people and for the lost. I pray that my faith would be a living, loving, praising, obedient faith!

Reach! A Lecture Musical

2006-04-21T14:14:00.000+01:00

I wanted to draw your attention to a very funny video on a site which has a number of prank videos. My favourite one is Reach! A Lecture Musical where in the middle of a lecture a guy just gets up and starts singing. You have to see it. Go to this website: http://www.prangstgrup.com/

Hope you enjoy :-)

A Memory Verse

2006-04-14T22:21:00.000+01:00

In my quiet time today I read Galatians 2. There is an incredible verse in that chapter which I have decided to commit to memory. The verse is v20: "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

This is a well known verse of course but today I was struck by the fact that this verse is fact! I have been crucified with Christ. He really does live in me. I really don't live any longer. 'I' meaning the old me. I want to start believing and living this verse out as fact. Then, whenever the old me says "let's do this" or "no don't bother doing that", I can remember that I don't have to listen to that sinful, self-centred nonsense anymore. I can trust in Christ, who lives in me, and do what is right!

Living out the Christian life has so much to do with what we are thinking and what we actively and practically believe.

A Mandate review

2006-04-06T19:43:00.000+01:00

The other day I ordered the new Mandate album from the Fierce Shop online. The Mandate is an annual men's conference held in Belfast and in the past the worship music albums released from this conference have featured Robin Mark singing on them.

This CD is a double album with Stuart Townend leading the singing on CD1 and a mixture of songs from the past 10 years of Mandate on the second.

The first CD is called O Church Arise. This is the name of a great new song from Stuart Townend and Keith Getty, much in the vein of In Christ Alone. It also has a number of other new songs by Stuart Townend and a mixture of old and new songs by other writers. I particularly like And Can It Be, O Church Arise and Be Lifted Up (which is a song by Paul Oakley).

CD2 is entitled Hymns and has 10 hymns from different years of Mandate. I love the Amazing Grace medley which is about 8 minutes long and How Great Thou Art (which only includes the verses specifcally about Christ - almost made me cry!) but really it is all excellent.

One disappointing thing about it was that I felt it was lacking female voices (I know it was a men's conference but I'm talking about the quality of the singing here). Never mind! Still rousing songs that remind you of great truths about our great God.

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,

Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;

That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,

He bled and died to take away my sin:

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee:

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Then sings my soul! my Saviour God, to Thee:

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation

And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!

Then I shall bow in humble adoration,

And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!

Joy in trusting in God

2006-03-21T20:58:00.001Z

Over the past few days I have been struck by and thinking a lot about the fact that knowing one's need to trust in God is essential for joy. It is incredible to think that when we are aware of our complete and utter dependency on the Lord we are able to experience more and more joy.

I was prompted to think about this when talking to a friend who regularly smuggles Bibles into China. He was saying that he looks forward to these occasions because they make him trust in God. Well that blew my mind in itself, but I have also been listening to John Piper a lot recently and his ministry is all about joy in Christ of course. So I began to put the two together. John Piper was also challenging his hearers in one message to build their lives more and more on the Bible (so I added that to my thoughts!)

Today I read 2 Corinthians 11. Verse 30 says "If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness." I connected it with my original thoughts about having to trust in God. Paul says the same thing! He boasts in his weaknesses because they make him trust in God! As my study Bible says:

Paul's weakness opens the way for him to experience the superabundant strength of God's grace.

Isn't that exciting?

Guess what....

2006-03-05T22:29:00.000Z

... yep you guessed it, we sang another awesome hymn in church tonight (although I have other things to say for a change too!)

The hymn is by the incredible Puritan writer Richard Baxter and it is called Lord, it belongs not to my care. Here it is (I have highlighted the parts that particularly struck me but the whole thing is wonderful):

Lord, it belongs not to my care

Whether I die or live;

To love and serve Thee is my share,

And this Thy grace must give.

If life be long, I will be glad,

That I may long obey; (wow)

If short, yet why should I be sad

To welcome endless day?

Christ leads me through no darker rooms

Than He went through before;

He that unto God’s kingdom comes

Must enter by this door.

Come, Lord, when grace hath made me meet

Thy blessèd face to see;

For if Thy work on earth be sweet

What will Thy glory be!

Then I shall end my sad complaints

And weary sinful days,

And join with the triumphant saints

That sing my Saviour’s praise.

My knowledge of that life is small,

The eye of faith is dim;

But ’tis enough that Christ knows all,

And I shall be with Him.

Outstanding, is it not?

Well I have just had a great weekend. I went to the UCCF Welsh Region's New Leaders Training Weekend at Newtown Evangelical Church. I went to help in the kitchen. My good friend and ex-housemate in Swansea Mike Chalmers was also working in the kitchen so that was nice. It was very exciting to be doing something with UCCF again. It was great to catch up with old friends and be in that atmosphere of 'student work'.

Some things challenged me this weekend from the talks and looking at the examples of Christians around me. At the moment I find people who are clearly working out their relationship with God day-by-day quite striking. It is a wonderful thing to see. I have been thinking about my own prayer life. There are times when, for example, I will be so pleased that I am actually praying today. So I ask God for grace for tomorrow that I would also spend time praying then. However, I then go through the next day not remembering that I have asked this and therefore not looking for His reply, i.e. not looking for His grace to help me to come to prayer. It is not a surprise then when I don't choose to have a quiet time that day. I need to be living in faith. It is so obvious but yet not obvious. Living in faith means believing moment-by-moment that His grace is all we can rely on (because on our own we are hopeless) and it is sufficient!

’tis enough that Christ knows all,
And I shall be with Him.

ps - I much prefer 'Thee's and Thou's' in hymns. we sang from 'Praise' at New Leaders, which doesn't have them, it didn't sit right with me. I won't work out why right now, I need to sleep!

2 Corinthians 7 & holiness

2006-02-20T21:24:00.000Z

I have been reading 2 Corinthians and yesterday I found two passages which really helped me. They were:

v1 "Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God."

and

vs 9-11 "...your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done."

The first verse is a particularly challenging verse "purify", "perfect holiness", "reverence for God" all massive things. Then the other passage spoke to me about godly sorrow and repentance. How easy it is to have worldy sorrow; to feel gutted that you've sinned because you've let yourself down and not because you've hurt God. Godly sorrow is a necessary, wonderful, positive thing because it leads to repentance which is also a wonderful, positive thing because it leads us to God.

Another great hymn

2006-02-08T23:22:00.000Z

We sang this hymn in church tonight. I just had a search for it on the internet and apparently it was the hymn that was being sung as the Titanic finally went under. But anyway the second verse is particularly helpful for a wandering heart.

Saviour, look on Thy beloved, Triumph over all my foes,
Turn to heavenly joy my mourning, Turn to gladness all my woes.
Live or die or work or suffer, Let my weary soul abide
In all changes whatsoever, Sure & steadfast by Thy side.

Nothing will preserve my goings but salvation full and free;

Nothing will my feet dishearten but my absence, Lord, from Thee.

Nothing can delay my progress, nothing can disturb my rest,

If I shall, where'er I wander, lean my spirit on Thy breast.

William Williams

(we sang it to the tune of Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken, which incidentally is also the tune for the German National Anthem)

Freedom of Speech Wins!

2006-01-31T21:26:00.000Z

Have a look at this article.

Today in Parliament "the government has suffered two shock defeats over attempts to overturn Lords changes to the controversial Racial and Religious Hatred Bill."

This is wonderful news. Praise God! This is something that was discussed and lobbied about and voted upon for quite a while before this final attempt by the government to overturn the Lords' changes. They lost! Fantastic!

The Christian Institute Website has a lot of information on this. For example, you can find out how your MP voted.

Although our church sent lots of letters concerning this to our MP he voted against the Lords' Amendment.

My Christian Experience

2006-01-29T20:37:00.000Z

I wanted to write a post describing how I'm feeling at the moment but I felt that to do that properly I need to set some context...

I became a Christian c.Nov/Dec 1997. I am not completely sure in what month it happened but those are the months I look back to when working out how long I have been a Christian. So, I have now been a Christian for c.8 years.

First the first two years of my Christian life I grew very slowly. I was going to a church which can best be described as dead and long dead at that. At the time, I didn't realise that I really should have left there and sought out somewhere preaching the truth. I was saved at a Christian youth group in Hirwaun (near Aberdare) and it was here that I learned more and more about the Lord and what being a Christian was about. I started to use daily reading notes called Dayzd so that I could start reading the Bible. I had a very happy two years in Sixth Form with very limited knowledge of truth but I was certain of my own salvation (praise the Lord!) Also in the summers of 1998 and 1999 the youth group went to Soul Survivor in the Bath & West Showgrounds in Shepton Mallet. I found these events to be a massive encouragement and help in living as a Christian. However, I still wasn't very clear on the gospel even though I am certain that I was saved back then!

In September 1999 I went to Swansea University and just followed a large group of Christian first and second year students to a local church. The church did not have a pastor at the time and so it had visiting speakers every week. As a young and hungry Christian I gobbled up everything I was being taught and started to grow. I threw myself into the Christian Union at the university as well, getting involved in meetings, prayer meetings, Bible studies, houseparties, everything available in fact! Things were good! But, looking back, I still hadn't grasped the gospel properly. By the end of that first year at university I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable and frustrated with the preaching and lack of vision at the church I was attending. I decided to look for something different when I returned in September.

In my second year at university I started going to Townhill Baptist Church. In the first couple of weeks of my return I met three people who would become very significant in my Christian knowledge and experience, i.e. my pastor and my UCCF workers. I was a hall group Bible study leader at the Christian Union and because of this I attended weekly meetings with the UCCF staff. In these meetings the UCCF guys lead us through the passage we were going to then study with our groups. In the spring term we studied Amos. In the first study on Amos, I can't really remember what was said, but I can remember the eyes of my understanding opening wider and wider through the meeting and the joy just spilling out in the prayer time at the end. A penny had dropped, a light had been turned on, I was beginning to grasp the gospel! I cried out to God to thank Him for saving me with more understanding about what that meant than ever before! One particular sermon from church particularly stands out as having helped me earlier in that year too. The pastor was preaching on righteousness being like a passport for Heaven. If you haven't got it, you can't get in. Just like if you tried to go abroad without a passport you can't get into Heaven without the righteousness of Christ. This righteousness is only available in Christ! So I began to grow big time in understanding and joy. 2001 was probably the best year in my life so far. I read the whole Bible that year, making good use of the free time you get as a student! I also got baptised in June that year - something I had grappled with for a long time having already been 'christened' as a child.

This continued for quite a long time (thanks be to God!) The church was also seeming to grow in grace and expectation of God more and more. In my first year after graduation I can remember prayer meetings in church where it really was as if God was there dealing with us as we prayed. It was verging on being awesome. However, after a time, there were all sorts of things happening under the surface and behind the scenes and people started to leave. One of my best friends at the time decided she wasn't a Christian. Things seemed to be falling apart. There was a lot of mistrust during that time and people were hurt. Since then, and for a long time, I have struggled and struggled and struggled spiritually. Friendships and relationships that were hurt back then have been restored and healed but the spiritual highs are long gone.

There has been a different sort of excitement at church since those difficult times. People living in the area around and about the church have started coming in to various events and services. One or two have professed faith. Two have been baptised. It has been amazing to see God working in this way. This has continued and we are seeing more people coming in their ones and twos. It is very exciting. These people need to be saved. It is almost as if after the horrible times we went through as a church God is now bringing great blessing and we are praying that He would save these people that are comign in.

I write this because I look back to those days when we seemed to be getting somewhere in prayer and in fellowship. The days when I was reading 3 chapters of the Bible every day (almost) without fail and spending much time in prayer and fellowship with God. I'm not saying I was satisfied with myself back then, I certainly wasn't, but I was somewhere that I am not now. We seemed to have a real desire for God and personal revival. It feels like these things have gone. But they haven't gone in everyone. They have gone in my heart and in the hearts of others I have been close to.

This is my current dilemna. I know that to go on I need to take those steps in faith day by day to spend time with the Lord and trust that denying myself and following Him moment by moment is worth it. If I'm honest I am mostly looking these days to how I can enjoy myself here and now. It is painful to consider this and I really do not want to go on like this. I am despairing and fed up with myself and my attitude and laziness. I need the Lord to help me to choose Him day by day and this is my prayer. Please, if you have time to spare, make it your prayer for me too.

Psalm 42

1 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me continually, "Where is your God?" 4 These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.

5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation 6 and my God.

My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. 7 Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. 8 By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. 9 I say to God, my rock: "Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?" 10 As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me,while they say to me continually, "Where is your God?"

11 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

A new Swans hero

2006-01-10T22:13:00.000Z

This is going to be my first post to my blog that doesn't contain something exciting I've learned. But that's cool, there are no hard and fast rules to my blogging. I wanted to write about this because it's quite exciting.

My local football team, Swansea City, recently bought a new striker from Brighton & Hove Albion. In the season that Brighton got promoted he scored 27 goals. Basically it sounds like he's going to be a great player for the club. His name is Leon Knight, and tonight he scored 3 goals on his debut for Swansea City at home against MK Dons. A debut hat-trick from the new striker. What more could you ask for?!

Another 20 goals would be lovely :)

Roll on promotion!

Teams of two for revival

2005-12-30T17:40:00.000Z

I am reading an incredible book at the moment. My pastor gave me this book a few years ago. Actually, thinking about it, I think he obviously gave me the book for a reason but at the time made it seem like he just had some books to give away. Crafty! The book is called The Calvary Road - Exploring Christianity by Roy Hession. It was originally published in 1950 and I am really finding it very insightful and helpful. The chapters are very short and each take a theme based on those truths 'by which God has restored His Church to new life in the hours of her dryness and need' (quote taken from the introduction). I have read only 3 chapters so far and am already finding it amazing.

The chapter I read today was entitled 'The Way of Fellowship'. Here are some of the most striking quotes:

...it is utterly impossible for us to be walking in any degree of darkness and have fellowship with God. While we are in that condition of darkness, we cannot have true fellowship with our brother either - for we are not real with him, and no one can have fellowship with an unreal person. A wall of reserve separates him and us.

Are we willing to be in the open with our brother - and be so in word when God tells us to? That is the " armour of light " - true transparency. This may sometimes be humbling, but it will help us to a new reality with Christ, and to a new self-knowledge. We have become so used to the fact that God knows all about us that it does not seem to register with us, and we inevitably end by not knowing the truth about ourselves. But let a man begin to be absolutely honest about himself with but one other, as God guides him, and he will come to a knowledge of himself and his sins that he never had before, and he will begin to see more clearly than ever before where the redemption of Christ has got to be applied progressively to his life. This is the reason why James tells us to put ourselves under the discipline of " confessing our faults one to another."

Jesus wants you to begin walking in the light with Him in a new way today. Join with one other - your Christian friend, the person you live with, your wife, your husband. Drop the mask. God has doubtless convicted you of one thing more than another that you have got to be honest with them about. Start there. Be a team of two to work for revival amongst your circle.

The bits that I have highlighted are particularly interesting. Get this book and read it for yourself! If you click the link of the book's name above you can read it all online, which is good innit?

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it

2005-12-29T16:00:00.000Z

I seem to be quoting a lot of hymns in this blog. I am about to do so again. I was reminded of an incredible verse of a hymn in a sermon I was listening to recently. The hymn is called Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing and the verse follows:

O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I'm constrained to be!

Let thy goodness like a fetter

Bind my wandering heart to thee:

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love;

Here's my heart, O, take and seal it;

Seal it for thy courts above.

The truly wise person knows that the only joy and only freedom that we can experience in life is only found when we are following closely the Lord Jesus. Left to our own devices we will wander away from God. Therefore, again, the truly wise person will pray, or sing, that verse above to God, asking Him to bind them to Himself. I guess the unsaved person would look at a verse like that and think that Christianity is miserable and that it is all about being chained to something which really you would rather not be. The Christian knows that that verse speaks of great, great joy, as the Christian is no longer chained to sin but chained to a wonderful, loving, kind, sovereign, saving God.

Desiring God

2005-12-11T23:12:00.000Z

What a great title for an organisation that is! I have recently been thinking about 'desires' thanks to another discussion at Swansea Youth Link. We were discussing the fact that desires are sinful if they are self-focused but are great if they are God-focussed.

However, my main point of this post was to mention that I have been greatly blessed recently by listening to Podcasts from Desiring God Radio. John Piper has recently been going through a series on Joy based on a booklet he has produced. The one I listened to this evening was entitled "Irrevocable Joy". It was based on the verse John 16:22 where Jesus says to the disciples:

"So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you."

John Piper was saying that this can only be true of you if your joy is in Christ. I suppose we lose our joy as Christians when we start looking for joy elsewhere. I have been considering how much I like to experience momentary 'buzz'-es rather than knowing and believing that Christ is everything.

Oh that that was my motto in every situation in life!

To keep up the hymn quoting we sang possibly my favourite hymn today in church which has, again possibly, my favourite verse from a hymn:

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

I'm so glad that verses like that still excite me! It reminds me that even in low spiritual times I know that I am still saved!

The Importance of Fellowship

2005-12-03T23:29:00.000Z

I am learning (again!) the importance of fellowship in the life of a Christian. Fellowship, of course, is not simply Christians meeting together. It is Christians meeting together with the specific purpose of encouraging one another to go on in faith. I have found over the last 7 days the great value to a Christian of putting oneself in places where blessings are more likely to fall.

Last Saturday I went to Swansea Youth Link (YL) again. I have not been going regular for a long long time now. However, last week really encouraged me to start going again. We were discussing Titus 2. The most encouraging thing for me was just the fact that I was back in God's Word discussing it with others and seeing how it applies to our lives. It was great! Also, that morning, I went to the Saturday morning prayer meeting of Townhill Baptist Church for the first time in a very long time. On Wednesday this week I met with a friend to chat through Christian things and then this Saturday I went to the prayer meeting and YL again. Now I am not saying that going to meetings is what Christianity is about, not at all. I am saying that being where the blessing may fall is much better than not being there!

This evening's YL meeting was focused on Bible Study and Prayer. It was thrilling to be listening to someone speaking about how, when and, most importantly perhaps, why we should read the Bible. There were four points which were all very helpful. I summarise them here:

Time - if we really want to know God we will set aside time to spend in His presence - without this we could never go on with Him
Tremble - God is holy and the Bible is His Word - we can not just waltz into His presence
Trust - we must realise, therefore, that we can only come in Christ and we trust in Him as we come
Talk - not only do we read (or listen) but we also talk - our prayers should come out of what we are reading (so we turn our reading into prayer)

Hebrews 10: 22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Helpful quotes

2005-11-20T22:19:00.000Z

I haven't posted for a few days, mainly because I've got nothing new to say sadly, but I thought I would post some things I've heard or read today that I thought were noteworthy.

Firstly, this morning in church I heard an illustration concerning facing up to truth that I thought was clever. It involved the story of the Emperor's New Clothes. In the story the Emperor, of course, is deceived to ignore the fact that he is naked and think that he is clothed in beautiful new clothes. Then, the crowds are also either too embarrassed or scared or confused to mention that he is naked so they just cheer and buy into the deception also. Until a young boy points out the truth that he is actually naked and then the crowd all laugh at the Emperor. The key thing here is what is the truth? It is important to find out what is the truth. It was absolutely obvious that the Emperor was naked but he and the crowd wouldn't allow themselves to see the truth. It's the same in the world. It's absolutely obvious that there is a holy God who created everything and requires perfection, this is THE truth, but the world refuses to see it and pretends it's not true. I liked this illustration. The sermon put forth the truth of the 'one God' and the 'one mediator' between God and man, emphasising the uniqueness of the gospel.

This evening we sang a hymn that contained the lines:

Go, labour on; 'tis not for nought;

Thy earthly loss is heavenly gain;

(Horatius Bonar)

How crucial it is that we see life like this. That anything we 'lose' on earth is all for the wonderful, eternal and very real gain in glory. But not just in glory, we can have 'heavenly gain' now by living and walking in Him!

Finally I was reading the annual review of the UCCF and it contained this quote from Don Carson:

"But everywhere the fundamental needs and challenges [of UCCF] do not change: evangelise or die; live under the Bible or defy God; love brothers and sisters in Christ or disown the faith; cherish and promote the gospel or live a life of comparative worthlessness."

Wow! That is definitely something to print out and stick up in your room where you do your quiet time! I think we need to hear that kind of challenge constantly to spur us on in our walk with the Lord.

Press on!

Returning to slavery

2005-11-14T17:53:00.000Z

Well this blog is getting off to a good start because today I found one chapter in the Bible of particular help.

The chapter is Nehemiah 9. The passage that starts in verse 5 is very exciting. I shall quote the start of it here:

"Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. 6 You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you."

The verses that particularly struck me were 17 & 18:

17 They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them, 18 even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, 'This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,' or when they committed awful blasphemies.

It was the phrase I've highlighted in bold that really sunk in. It made me think that whenever I stop spending regular time with the Lord and start sinking more into self-centredness and materialism I am actually choosing to return to slavery! The non-Christian is in chains, a slave to their own sin, unable to stop sinning. As a Christian I am truly free in Christ! Free to be the person God wants me to be and truly free to choose to live for Him, which is the only real life. But I still often choose to be in slavery. It is wonderful, then, that the verse goes on to remind us that God does not desert us even in those circumstances. He did not desert the Israelites even when they created a new god to worship.

Later on in the chapter in verse 32 God is described as:

"...our God, the great, mighty and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love..."

which is spot on!

Press on

The bandwagon is jumped on

2005-11-13T22:40:00.000Z

So I finally decided to create a weblog.

I used to think weblogs only had 3 possible purposes for existence

To keep friends/family/etc up to date with news of travels or when living away
To relate to friends with a common interest things one has discovered relating to that interest
To be a form of a diary in a very introspective, navel-gazing and attention seeking sort of way

Well I have discovered a fourth which I have decided is a more positive version of purpose 3 above. I have created this blog to be a place where I can leave encouragements from the Bible, sermons, conversations, books, etc for myself in my daily walk with God (hence the title of the blog! - I am hoping that I will be making progress as a pilgrim at least partly through the helpful things I record here). Hopefully these encouragements will be helpful for anyone else who might pop by too.

I have found the going tough spiritually recently and also I have found that I spend a lot of time on the internet. So I am combining the two in a way with this blog. We shall see how it goes!