Ever since getting facebook I have been keen to make it something exclusive where not many people are members, not many get the privilege of being a part of my facebook world. This aim of mine has lead to me being very tight on people. For instance if I haven't talked to someone for quite a while I will delete them. Once I became a Christian I became focused on making my facebook page look holy and be holy. I deleted any supposed undesirables. However today I had a change of heart.
In the past week or so a number of my slightly 'rough around the edges' old friends from my high school, Alder Grange, have been adding me and chatting to me. People who I have not seen or talked to in about three years. It has been amazing. I have decided I want to get to know these people again, my youth, my homeground and understand where they are at. Understandably the revelation I am a Christian may shock them however so far I have only had positive comments.
So far I have noticed something significant. My old friends and I have moved from a consensus personality to individual personalities. By that I mean the past three years have formed and transformed people into where they are at. So far I have about 30 people on my profile from Alder Grange and about 90 left to go. I can't wait to see what else has happened in their lives. I want to build relationships with them and see what we can do together.
Britain is full of cultures. Vastly different cultures. Our lives should represent that. We should not be just friends with the 'desirables' but with the 'undesirables' too as they are all human beings who deserve respect. So I tell you what, I do not care how many obscene words, rude jokes and ungodly talk appears on my profile so long as it can be used as a tool to bring God's hope and love in to the world. We cannot be effective Christians if we are surrounded by Christians.
Sunday, 8 February 2009
Saturday, 7 February 2009
How little we know!
Today has been a bizarre day. I have nearly broken my right wrist and my left big toe and I have also had a theological discussion about evolution which went on to discussing the probability of the existence of unicorns, dragons, the Leviathon and the Behemoth.
The Unicorn, the Leviathon and the Behemoth are all mentioned in the Bible. In Job 38 and 39 though depending on your translation it could say Ox rather than Unicorn. Unicorn is also mentioned in Numbers 23:25. For those of you who may be reading this and have no clue what I am on about google biblegateway and type in the references I mentioned. Likewise any Christians who do not know their Bibles should also, not mentioning any names but a clue is heresy bell. Only joking! Cliff College joke for those who do not go Cliff College.
Anyway what I find weird is how can an Unicorn also be called an Ox? What does a Unicorn look like? Does it exist? I think it may have done but is now extinct. But then what does the Leviathon and Behemoth look like? We have descriptions in Job but it is very hard to picture. The point of this though is how little we know.
Just this week the HMS Victory was found after a 250 year search, it was only about forty miles away from England where it's voyage began. How bad are we at knowing our world? 250 years to search 40 miles of ocean. The fact is scientists say we have only explored 5% of our oceans is shocking for what we would called the Post-modern world. We are meant to be the best and most intelligent civilisation yet which is mapping huge swathes of the galaxy this very moment yet we do not even know our own home., our own planet.
I read an article on the BBC website that said that some scientists had been messing about on google earth a while back. In the process they discovered a forest they never knew existed. They have since been and discovered many new species of plants and animals.
How bad is that? We are stewards of the earth yet we still do not know our own world. I don't know about you but that makes me just want to go wow. 75% or so of our world is water, 95% of that is unexplored. That means we have only explored a third of our planet. I wonder what wonders still await us? I can't wait and am positively excited at what our future holds. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us here on earth. Praise God for his creation, for all he has made. In Psalm 147:4,5 it says:
4 He counts the stars
and names each one.
5 Our Lord is great and very powerful.
There is no limit to what he knows.
God knows all the planets, knows all the galaxies, know all the planets and knows every detail. We know a third of one planet in one galaxy that holds about a billion stars, billions of planets and is only one of billions of galaies in our universe. I hope you feel small. You should. God has chosen Earth, God has chosen humans and God has chosen us above all of his creation. Praise God!
The Unicorn, the Leviathon and the Behemoth are all mentioned in the Bible. In Job 38 and 39 though depending on your translation it could say Ox rather than Unicorn. Unicorn is also mentioned in Numbers 23:25. For those of you who may be reading this and have no clue what I am on about google biblegateway and type in the references I mentioned. Likewise any Christians who do not know their Bibles should also, not mentioning any names but a clue is heresy bell. Only joking! Cliff College joke for those who do not go Cliff College.
Anyway what I find weird is how can an Unicorn also be called an Ox? What does a Unicorn look like? Does it exist? I think it may have done but is now extinct. But then what does the Leviathon and Behemoth look like? We have descriptions in Job but it is very hard to picture. The point of this though is how little we know.
Just this week the HMS Victory was found after a 250 year search, it was only about forty miles away from England where it's voyage began. How bad are we at knowing our world? 250 years to search 40 miles of ocean. The fact is scientists say we have only explored 5% of our oceans is shocking for what we would called the Post-modern world. We are meant to be the best and most intelligent civilisation yet which is mapping huge swathes of the galaxy this very moment yet we do not even know our own home., our own planet.
I read an article on the BBC website that said that some scientists had been messing about on google earth a while back. In the process they discovered a forest they never knew existed. They have since been and discovered many new species of plants and animals.
How bad is that? We are stewards of the earth yet we still do not know our own world. I don't know about you but that makes me just want to go wow. 75% or so of our world is water, 95% of that is unexplored. That means we have only explored a third of our planet. I wonder what wonders still await us? I can't wait and am positively excited at what our future holds. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us here on earth. Praise God for his creation, for all he has made. In Psalm 147:4,5 it says:
4 He counts the stars
and names each one.
5 Our Lord is great and very powerful.
There is no limit to what he knows.
God knows all the planets, knows all the galaxies, know all the planets and knows every detail. We know a third of one planet in one galaxy that holds about a billion stars, billions of planets and is only one of billions of galaies in our universe. I hope you feel small. You should. God has chosen Earth, God has chosen humans and God has chosen us above all of his creation. Praise God!
Friday, 6 February 2009
What does God want for our lives?
Today after many attempts I have produced my first blog. So what would be the next step? To write another one of course. I can't just sit here bored and rest now can I? This blog should be better as last time I did it quick as I had already deleted my last blog. What I want to talk about though is John 6:66-69:
66 After Jesus said this, many of his followers left him and stopped following him.
67 Jesus asked the twelve followers,
68 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, who would we go to? You have the words that give eternal life. 69 We believe and know that you are the Holy One from God."
Here we see the story where Jesus claimed to be the bread of life and many of his followers found it difficult to handle such a teaching. Many walked away and as I think about this I can just imagine Jesus turning to the twelve disciples as the others were walking away and saying “Are you gonna go too?” And I just imagine Peter coming forward out of the twelve and saying, “How can we? We know who you are? We can't live without your message because you are God. If we turn away from God then we will be lost.” Now Peter wasn't known for getting it right back then however in this case he did! He saw Jesus for who he was, is and is to come! Jesus is the Messiah, Son of the Living God!
I have been thinking a lot about that lately. About those few verses. About who Jesus is. About the importance of remaining true to him and about the importance of taking risks for him. After all if we won't take risks for God then who will we take risks for? In Romans 5:7-9 it says:
7 Very few people will die to save the life of someone else. Although perhaps for a good person someone might possibly die.8 But God shows his great love for us in this way: Christ died for us while we were still sinners.
9 So through Christ we will surely be saved from God's anger, because we have been made right with God by the blood of Christ's death.
That passage hits the nail on the head. We will only take risks for good people if indeed we take any risks at all yet God risked it all for all of us regardless of who we are. Regardless of how bad we are. That is a challenging thought on two levels:
1.Will God take risks for anyone? The answer is yes.
2.2. Can I repay God for the risk he has made for me? Can I repay the debt that is owed? The answer is no.
God takes risks for us out of love. The question should be what does God want for our lives? What does God want us to do with our lives? God wants us to follow him and do as he wills. If that involves taking risks then we must take them. Recently I have found myself in mixed emotions about my calling. I am happy with my calling and am glad to be taking risks for God however I know others who have taken far greater risks and are living them out right now for God and we wish I could be called to risk more. But that's just it we are not called to take risks, we are called to follow God. In Micah 6:8 we get a glimpse of what God wants. I just hope that you will seek God in prayer and ask him what your call is:
8 The Lord has told you, human, what is good;
he has told you what he wants from you:
to do what is right to other people,
love being kind to others,
and live humbly, obeying your God.
66 After Jesus said this, many of his followers left him and stopped following him.
67 Jesus asked the twelve followers,
68 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, who would we go to? You have the words that give eternal life. 69 We believe and know that you are the Holy One from God."
Here we see the story where Jesus claimed to be the bread of life and many of his followers found it difficult to handle such a teaching. Many walked away and as I think about this I can just imagine Jesus turning to the twelve disciples as the others were walking away and saying “Are you gonna go too?” And I just imagine Peter coming forward out of the twelve and saying, “How can we? We know who you are? We can't live without your message because you are God. If we turn away from God then we will be lost.” Now Peter wasn't known for getting it right back then however in this case he did! He saw Jesus for who he was, is and is to come! Jesus is the Messiah, Son of the Living God!
I have been thinking a lot about that lately. About those few verses. About who Jesus is. About the importance of remaining true to him and about the importance of taking risks for him. After all if we won't take risks for God then who will we take risks for? In Romans 5:7-9 it says:
7 Very few people will die to save the life of someone else. Although perhaps for a good person someone might possibly die.8 But God shows his great love for us in this way: Christ died for us while we were still sinners.
9 So through Christ we will surely be saved from God's anger, because we have been made right with God by the blood of Christ's death.
That passage hits the nail on the head. We will only take risks for good people if indeed we take any risks at all yet God risked it all for all of us regardless of who we are. Regardless of how bad we are. That is a challenging thought on two levels:
1.Will God take risks for anyone? The answer is yes.
2.2. Can I repay God for the risk he has made for me? Can I repay the debt that is owed? The answer is no.
God takes risks for us out of love. The question should be what does God want for our lives? What does God want us to do with our lives? God wants us to follow him and do as he wills. If that involves taking risks then we must take them. Recently I have found myself in mixed emotions about my calling. I am happy with my calling and am glad to be taking risks for God however I know others who have taken far greater risks and are living them out right now for God and we wish I could be called to risk more. But that's just it we are not called to take risks, we are called to follow God. In Micah 6:8 we get a glimpse of what God wants. I just hope that you will seek God in prayer and ask him what your call is:
8 The Lord has told you, human, what is good;
he has told you what he wants from you:
to do what is right to other people,
love being kind to others,
and live humbly, obeying your God.
Are the Demons trembling enough?
In James 2:19 it says: You believe there is one God. Good! But the demons believe that, too, and they tremble with fear.
Personally I believe the demons are not trembling enough! Let us make them really frightened. Let the church arise amidst this broken world with the full power envisaged of it in the Lord's Prayer. Let us give those demons something to really be scared about. Let God's kingdom be on Earth as it is in heaven. Let us shine out in the darkness because we are the light of the world, lets make those demons run away till the point that the light from us shall shine all around and they shall have nowhere left to hide. That is what we are called to do, we are called to witness Jesus in a hurting and broken world.
Let me tell you a story of how much an impact we can have on the world. When I got my first digital hearing my mum let me go exploring round the local town to discover new sounds I had never heard. As I was walking along a big issue man in a wheelchair called out to me. He gave me a free big issue because I had the digital hearing aid in my ear and he had two. He told me of how we should stick together and I sat and listened to his rant with patience and amidst the rant I could emphasize with the man. After about 15 minutes I left to go off and do some other things and I thanked him. Since that day whenever I pass him he recognizes me, calls out to me and we have a chat. That first conversation happened in June 2007. that is the impact we can have. A 15 minute conversation nearly two years ago has lead to that man never forgetting me. I did not witness Jesus unfortunately but inside I took time and listened. This is an example of one of those things we can do to help others in the world.
So as we draw to a close let me encourage you. encourage you to make the demons tremble by witnessing Jesus in this world. I encourage you to follow the mission God has given you, the mission God has given all of us.
Personally I believe the demons are not trembling enough! Let us make them really frightened. Let the church arise amidst this broken world with the full power envisaged of it in the Lord's Prayer. Let us give those demons something to really be scared about. Let God's kingdom be on Earth as it is in heaven. Let us shine out in the darkness because we are the light of the world, lets make those demons run away till the point that the light from us shall shine all around and they shall have nowhere left to hide. That is what we are called to do, we are called to witness Jesus in a hurting and broken world.
Let me tell you a story of how much an impact we can have on the world. When I got my first digital hearing my mum let me go exploring round the local town to discover new sounds I had never heard. As I was walking along a big issue man in a wheelchair called out to me. He gave me a free big issue because I had the digital hearing aid in my ear and he had two. He told me of how we should stick together and I sat and listened to his rant with patience and amidst the rant I could emphasize with the man. After about 15 minutes I left to go off and do some other things and I thanked him. Since that day whenever I pass him he recognizes me, calls out to me and we have a chat. That first conversation happened in June 2007. that is the impact we can have. A 15 minute conversation nearly two years ago has lead to that man never forgetting me. I did not witness Jesus unfortunately but inside I took time and listened. This is an example of one of those things we can do to help others in the world.
So as we draw to a close let me encourage you. encourage you to make the demons tremble by witnessing Jesus in this world. I encourage you to follow the mission God has given you, the mission God has given all of us.
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