God Given Strength by Beth Fitz

It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog, and I’m actually so thankful for Rachel for requesting one from me - it is something I rarely think about doing but gain so much from, unexpectedly! I totally recommend trying it. God does so much in our everyday lives. If we just stopped, and thought, then I think a lot of us who think that are Christians but don't think of themselves as HEARING from God, would actually be astonished - about how much he is in touch with our lives.

SO, I had no idea what to write about, and I was having a read through my previous emails, and Jez suggested doing a blog on prayer. BORING, right ahha I am kidding, but no. I think one thing that God has put on my heart recently is strength. S.T.R.E.N.G.T.H. that beastly word, often associated with body builders and weight lifters haha. At college all the gym lads talk about the numbers they are lifting, etcetc, and in the human world - they have physical, muscular strength.

But that's not the only side of the word. on the news and such we hear stories, stories of people who are STRONG in character, belief, love and so on - these people are admired! 

Often I think that it is seemed to be a trait which is unreachable; desirable; but made for only a select few. It’s what superheroes and brave, one-in-a-million people have. But, I don't know, I think that God wants to tell us something different. I think he wants us to know that every one of us, each and EVERY one of us has strength - inner strength, that's amazing, and possible of ANYTHING. In the bible, it says in Philippians’ 'we can do all things in Christ who gives us strength' - one of my personal favourite verses. it can be whipped out in all occasions; when there are people moaning about how a maths question that is IMPOSSIBLE, or even when someone just seems too low to get through a situation. However I do not think that it is used ENOUGH as it should be in our everyday lives. The Lord is out best friend, he adores us SO much and it delights his heart to see us relying on him. When we were in Romania, it was AWESOME to see his people so dependent on him - and heck, he delivered! If we let God into so much more of our lives, if we turn to him as our first port of call when the going is good, smooth AND when we hit rough waters, how can we NOT see so much more of him every single day?

We are stuck in this world, full of sin, death and sadness- Jesus knows what it's like. But we haven't been left for dead. We have a MISSION for this world, and that is not just to get through it with a smile on our face. The Lord our God is here, with us, powering us through, even if it feels like we can barely make it through the day! We can do ALL things, through Christ, who gives us strength. We just have to soak it up! We can do that by spending time with him; ask. and you shall receive. :)

 

So yeah, that's just what God has put on my heart. It should be our mantra, that we are, unstoppable. Even when we're going through turmoil - we have been given the power, the backbone the muscle of GOD behind us. Dude, this guy created the heavens and the earth. #crazy he knows the ins and outs of absolutely EVERYTHING. And he's our father? Wow! Yeah!

 

I’m going to stop now, I could go on forever in these things. I just pray that everyone can USE the amazing power we have access through. Whether it's keeping it together through a family crisis, or physically pulling yourself up a mountain expedition.

AMEN:) we have His strength.

xoxoxox

 

Adventure Overseas...

So we've just got back from Romania and I've just got time to reflect.


It was INSANE!

Haha, okay but seriously, one of the most rich and rewarding 

experiences of my life.. It opened up my eyes to the amazing magnitude of God, of the lifestyle, beliefs and cultures of people so unlike us, of the richness of God's love and people's faith for Him.. Insane. I'm just going to outline a few of my favourite experiences, and what they meant to me! One of the most amazing days for me was the day in which team B (the best team;) went to the gypsy village of Harman, and met with Florin and lead some of his church service in the evening. When we got there, we were about to set out evangelism and giving out tracks in the street when it started tipping itself down with rain- so we had to wait! As the rain began to pour we sat inside the church room and just started to play and rehearse for later on ((if you can call it that:s) and through the back door burst a whole load of little children- who had run from the park to hide from the rain! 

What amazed me was that these kids really had no-where else to go. Instead of popping home to hide from the showers, these youngsters ran to the CHURCH-this is how much it is the centre of the community! This was something that really affected me. In this poor place of trouble and hardship, it was the church, and God, that was the focus, the light that shone in the bleakness. Once the storm had cleared up a bit, we set out armed with church tracks and a few  translators to spread the Word into the village. What I think we all noticed was the receptivity of nearly all of the people we approached – whereas in Britain, I think a foreigner with no language skill in English would get ignored or turned away: but in Harman 100% of the people we spoke to were open to what we had to say. 

Whether this reflects the privacy and self-pride of the British or just how often it can happen in the streets for us I’m not sure; however there was a conceivable difference which has to be noted. When we got to the park where we’d run the kids club, we all nervously started to play some games with the children! What I think made the experience so rich for me was the feeling of being thrown into the deep end here. We were given virtually nothing beforehand as to what we were going to be doing: literally just shown the growing number of youngsters and expected to entertain them! We ended up having a ball and all of the team learnt a massive amount from that day. Florin did, thankfully, take charge and he really was the best to us in terms of translating and so on. Adzee and I were both given 30 seconds to think of short testimonies about Jesus to them all; such was the spontaneous nature of the afternoon!

The evening service at Florin’s church was not so much of a rush: Jake had been given a few hours in which to write his speech. Again the moment of worshiping, and hearing the Word of God in 2 different languages to people from 2 completely different cultures in the same room literally baffled me. I can’t even begin to unwind the wonder of the Lord I felt in that church; that God is so personal, yet huge and with so much power all across the world.

The whole week has humbled me entirely, to the magnitude of God. In this country, in our culture and in our wealth we rely so much on objects, things, services. The right we believe we have to medication, care, even to just be listened to! Time spent with people who don't think so much of themselves, don't think so much of the world and who don’t expect so MUCH makes me rethink every single moment of my life now back to normality.

I really could write a book on how much just one week in Romania, one week where the days were spent physically doing God’s work has changed my life. I’ve just outlined one of my most fantastic days; but I don’t think this blog does it justice! The ways in which the Lord moved just within our small group of believers, praying in the backyard of a house on a street in Brasov, will not be leaving me anytime soon.(: 

Englishman in Romania: God's Mission

Matthew 28:19 says “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”.

On the 9^th July, 21 people from Kings Church went to Brasov, Romania in hope of seeing God at work and experiencing more of God’s mission and purpose for their lives. We started the trip feeling nervous and excited unsure of what to expect: what we would eat, or drink, or how we would be sleeping? However Jesus said in Matthew 6:25 says “Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” So nerves were overcome by excitement and expectation for God to provide.

On our first day we got stuck in gardening and painting at the house where we were staying in. The garden was very over grown and a lot had to be done to it but the youth eagerly volunteered to clear it up. During this time, the other half of the team started emulsifying and painting the house. We then headed into Brasov for some sight seeing and shopping; the town is beautiful and we enjoyed getting to grips with Romania.

On Wednesday and Thursday the team split in two. Team A went off to a youth camp whilst Team B went to work with Florin in Harman a rural town outside of Brasov. At the youth camp we lead games, swam in the river, befriended the youth and played football in the rain. We also did a performance of “Snow white and the 7 dwarves” and helped them with their group Bible study of Matthew 6. This was fantastic and gave us a good opportunity to talk to them about Jesus. In Harman with Team B they led a church meeting where some of our youth preached, gave testimonies and led worship as well as leading a kids club with some of the children from the apartment blocks. We turned up at the park to play games and suddenly found ourselves surrounded by 70+ enthusiastic children wanting to play Duck, Duck, Goose (or Ratza, ratza geesa) and other games.

On Friday our teams were reunited and headed out to the mountains in Busteni for a cable car ride up to the peak (amusingly some of our leaders were quite terrified on the cable car ride!). Everyone went for a hike to the Cross monument at the peak of the mountain. Although this was a 3 hour round trip we thoroughly enjoyed catching up with each team’s activities and hearing about how God had been working in their groups. We then spent the evening with CCB youth group, Adzee gave a very practical preach about living supernaturally, whilst others shared prophetic words from God. It was encouraging to see the Holy Spirit working in the youth as we prayed for the Romanian youth. God was working in amazing ways.

On Saturday it was back to work. The teams separated again - Team B were off to the Youth Camp to lead a day of Olympics and games whilst Team A headed out to Harman to work with Florin and spend the afternoon with the Gypsy Villagers. We cleaned the church carpet and then headed off to the park wearing T-shirts that said “Isus te Ubeste” (Jesus loves you) and sharing the gospel with people. This was an incredible experience for all of the youth which opened their eyes to how much people rely on God. In the evening Team A joined the CCB youth group and 20’s for an evening of prayer which ended our day brilliantly, spending time with God.

For our last day we joined the CCB Church for their Sunday morning meeting where our very own Steve Blaber preached exceptionally on mission, encouraging and inspiring all who were listening to step out in faith and listen more to what God says to us. In the afternoon Dani (church leader) hosted us and cooked us a very filling and yummy BBQ before we went into town to play CCB at Volleyball. The match was close with Romania Vs England. Romania won the first match but England brought back the second match to draw 1-1. So a final game was played with the Romanians winning 25-12.... a very close game so we will be back to challenge you.

Every morning out team was up and ready for our devotionals where we prayed for each other, shared words of knowledge and encouragement and spent time worshipping our Father. This week in Romania was by far the most any of our youth had been stretched before. God called each of them to step out in faith, put reliance in Him and have faith for him to protect them. Once again God proved to be faithful and revealed things to all of us which we will remember forever and know that God will continue to grow each of us in him. We are so thankful to CCB Church for looking after us so lovingly who have been real witnesses to Jesus Christ and have encouraged us to start living more missional lives.  

      

the times they are a changin'

So I know for many of us we are a coming to an end of the season in our lives and starting to prepare for the next season. It may be that you are getting ready for GCSE’s, AS levels, A-Levels, Uni or even work!! 

Or maybe you haven’t even thought about it and just want to enjoy your summer. Well either way a new season is upon all of us and its how we prepare for our new seasons that matters! Instead of asking God 'why?!' all the time. Let's be those who ask “How can I honour you during this time”?

In Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 Solomon writes:

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under Heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die;

A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal;

A time to break down and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to tear, and a time to sew;

A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate;

A time for war, and a time for peace.”

For everything there is a season, in everything we do is during a time of a new season. Seasons can be hard and they can be easy! When we read in 1 Samuel about David, we see how he is running away from a King who is trying to kill him. He is going through a period of wilderness but God was preparing him to be King. In Genesis Joseph brothers sold him and he became a slave. The Joseph became a Governor over the land Of Egypt and his brothers came to him for grain. Joseph had to go through a season of hardship to build him up for what God had planned for him. In Exodus we read about how Moses ran away from the Pharaoh and his land and then returned to deliver the people of Israel out of Egypt. All these men that we read about in the Old Testament all faced hard times, whether it was prison, persecution, slavery or being hunted. God had bigger plans for all of these men but during those times of struggle they didn’t know what was to come. They had real faith in God and trust that he would help them through that time and trusted that it was only for a season and would get better.

In the New Testament it is very much the same story. Jesus was ridiculed, persecuted, slandered, beaten and nailed to a cross for the sake of our lives to have freedom from Sin. He endured and had strength and trusted in God’s plan. This then reflected of Peter and Paul, they were men who preached the gospel but were persecuted and eventually killed for trying to share the Gospel. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians that he “has a thorn in his side” but yet he still perseveres and makes it his ambition (Romans 15) to share the Gospel. 

 

I’m not writing to say that we will face prison, persecution, or be ridiculed or to say that every day is going to be a battle. But to say that during those hard seasons, or times when things seem to be a struggle; we should trust that God has a plan for us and that it is a good plan.  God is working within us continually, even during the hard season where we don’t understand. In Philippians Paul writes “And 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”. God will not start a work in you and then not complete his work, we aren’t sculptures that he decides not to finish and give up on but we are his children whom he wants to give strength to.

When new seasons come we need to persevere and stay focused and centred on God for he is the only one who can give us strength and endurance to face these days. If there is one thing I have learnt this year it’s that our Father is a faithful Father who meets every need, calms every storm and gives strength when strength is needed the most. During these seasons take delight in God for he is good and is worthy of being delighted in. PRAY!  

a word for the guys...

Check out this thought provoking and helpful blog from Joel...

So I’m going to list and talk about some of the things that I think as young men of God we can find difficult at times. I’ll look at what the Bible says, how we find it difficult, and how we can improve on this in the future.


Honour
We’ve chatted a lot about honour in True recently, in Life Groups and Tris did an excellent preach on it as well, looking at the three ‘directions’ that honour can take. I think possibly the direction that we can struggle most is honouring others. The Bible says in Romans 12:10 “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honour”. I think that this is particularly relevant because we are brothers in Christ. “Outdo one another in showing honour” makes me feel so challenged to continually honour everyone, and I hope it challenges you too. Guys like to have a lot of banter, and a lot of such is mostly, good hearted fun. (Like when we all tease Jez when he loses!). This kind of fun I think also helps build good relationships – definitely a good thing. What’s important to remember though, is to keep an eye on yourself. Make sure that the teasing is not over-frequented and that it doesn’t get out of hand. It can be easy to let this banter get out of hand, and become hurtful to the recipient.

Pride and humility
As men, we are proud. We don’t need directions from anyone, we can fix or construct anything with our bare hands, and we certainly don’t need instructions when we get a new gadget! It’s easy to think that we can go alone and that we don’t need anyone’s help, especially when it comes to more difficult life issues like our walk with God. It can be difficult to admit that actually, we are struggling in our walk with Him, and that we need some encouragement. Accepting that we are struggling with something is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign that we know we are out of our depth and that we need help from others and from God. If we cry out to Him, he will not let us down. Just remember that He will do that in His own timing, I found this Psalm, which I love. Psalm 69:13 “But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me in your saving faithfulness.”


In about AD56 when Paul wrote 2 Corinthians his opponents claimed that his suffering (which can be read about in chapter 11:24-29) proved he was not an apostle. Paul simply stated that his suffering highlights his dependence on Christ. In verse 30 Paul says “If I must boast, I will boast in the things of my weakness.” Again, I think that this is a brilliant challenge to us to not hide away our weaknesses, but to “boast” in them.
 
We should also be humble about our achievements. It is crucial for our humility that every gift we have, is all from God, and not through our own doing. Proverbs 11:2 says “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom”. Who doesn’t want to be wise!? Wisdom is one of the greatest gifts that God can give, as we see with the story of King Solomon, who then goes on to write much of the book of Proverbs. I saw this quote on Facebook a while back, from a member of the youth: “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking about yourself less. It's about being Jesus focused rather than self-focused” The bit about being Jesus focussed is so key – it’s so easy to forget everything good comes from the Lord, not from ourselves.


Boldness
It’s not always something I’ve found easy. At the beginning of secondary school, I found it difficult to even mention that I was a Christian, let alone to be bold and step out in faith! In Acts 4, when Peter and John stand before the Council in Jerusalem, after healing the lame beggar in Acts 3. Peter speaks out, fuelled by the Holy Spirit, tells them that the only true and lasting salvation comes from God, through Jesus’ death on the cross. Acts 13 says “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus” So Peter managed to speak out in a very difficult situation, and the people around realised that he had been with Jesus. So, if we step out in faith to our friends and others, then that in itself is going to testify to them the amazing power and faithfulness of God. Be encouraged to follow in Peter’s footsteps! (A quick tip for you, when talking to others about God: try to listen more than speak. Draw out their thoughts rather than fill their minds. Too much of a good thing will make them sick. If you do this, you won’t actually have to say much at all!)


School/College work
Something I feel quite strongly about! I’ve always been aware of just how important school or college work is. My parents have never been forceful about my grades, but they’ve always made sure that I remember that they are important. Here’s how I see school and college work as important, in a Christian context:
One day, I would love to have a wife and children. Now, as the ‘man of the house’, I will be responsible to God for my family. It will be my job to make sure that they are fed well, have clean clothes and a house that is safe to live in etc etc. Now, while God does provide, on a practical note I see it that if I work hard at college, get into Uni and get a good job, then I will have enough money to provide these things for my family. Without a reasonable income, it may be a struggle to provide these things. I must stress that this is my take on this topic, and I shall not say anymore to allow you to reflect on what I have said.

These are things that I’ve personally struggled with at times of being a young man of God. I hope that what I say here helps you in some way. Do remember that any problems, talk to your Life Group leader or a Youth Leader or even better – God!

central & pivotal: a dead man raised

The resurrection of Christ from the dead is the reason that Christianity is in existence today. The image presented in the gospels of Jesus’ disciples at his death isn’t one of confidence and boldness. In fact it’s quite the opposite. Peter denies he ever knew Jesus and the other disciples abandon him and his cause, returning as they do to their old way of life believing that they’d ‘got it wrong’ about Jesus. Introduce the event of the resurrection and a rather unexpected weekend to the story and we discover these very same followers of Jesus are utterly transformed. They are willing to forsake every worldly pleasure and comfort for the sake of declaring the gospel. They are prepared to lay their lives down for what they’ve seen and heard, believing that Jesus Christ is king over all the Earth.

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is a theme that starts as a faint mist on the horizon and eventually consumes the New Testament landscapes. Every preacher of the gospel in the NT is convinced that it is this that gives their message authority and it is what they appeal to as the reason for Christian confidence. Jesus mentions his death and resurrection many times in the gospels and each time he does so with greater clarity. In the book of Acts Luke describes the sermons of the early church and nearly always records his preacher’s appeals to the resurrection. Peter mentions it in his letters to the church as being the means of the Christian hope. John is convinced that in Christ is eternal life that will never end, the writer to the Hebrews likewise appeals to the resurrection and Jude describes Jesus as being the one who led Israel out of slavery in Egypt, such is his understanding about the eternal life of Christ that unveiled itself in the event of the resurrection.

In this blog I shall aim to lay out Paul’s attitude toward the resurrection as revealed in Luke’s record of his preaching in Acts and also in his letters to the churches.

In the book of Acts we have many written summaries of Paul’s preaching and in almost all of his sermons and apologies for the gospel the resurrection is mentioned:

Beginning in Jerusalem following his conversion Paul embarks upon a life devoted to outworking the results of the resurrection. In Galatians 1:23 Paul remarks that following his conversion people commented that ‘he now preaches the faith he tried to destroy.’ The faith that centred around Jesus’ resurrection. In Antioch Paul preaching to a synagogue tells them that although Jesus was laid in a tomb ‘God raised him from the dead.’  Acts13:30. In Thessalonica Paul’s sermon is about the necessity of the Jesus’ death and resurrection (Acts17:2). In Athens he argues for the authority of Christ and cites the resurrection as his proof (17:31). Before the Roman governor Felix Paul explains that it is with regard ‘his views on the resurrection’ that he is under arrest (24:21) and in Acts 25 Festus lays Paul’s case before King Agrippa and explains that the dispute is over ‘a man named Jesus who was dead but whom Paul asserts to be alive.’ In fact before King Agrippa Paul speaks for himself about the resurrection (Acts 26:23) despite opposition from Festus who tells him that he is ‘out of his mind.’ Paul is doggedly committed to proclaiming the resurrection despite all and any opposition.

In the epistles (letters) Paul is committed to reiterating the truth of the resurrection and he goes to great lengths to ensure it is mentioned in every letter he writes. In Romans 4 Paul tells the church that the promises of God were “written to those who believe in the one who raised Jesus from the dead.” In Romans 6 Paul reminds the church that baptism is a celebration and identification with Christ’s resurrection. In Romans 8 the resurrection is used as the guarantee for power in this life to overcome the power of sin. He tells the church that the same Spirit who ‘raised Christ from dead, lives in you… and that he will also give life to your mortal bodies.’ (8:11). In Romans 10 we see it as part of an early statement of salvation when Paul tells the church that ‘if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.’

In 1 Corinthians 6:14 Paul tells the church that the God who ‘raised the Lord by his power, will also raise us.’ In 2 Corinthians 5:15 Paul sums up the gospel by saying that Jesus died, one man for all, so that those who live ‘might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake was raised.’ In the opening verse of Galatians Paul lays claim to his apostleship as coming from Jesus Christ and ‘God the Father who raised him from the dead.’ In Ephesians, wanting to emphasise the security of believers in Christ, Paul declares that we have been raised up with him – he has been raised to life and so have we is his inference. A similar idea is found in Colossians 3:10 where again Paul makes the link between baptism and resurrection.

9 times Paul explicitly uses the word ‘resurrection’ in the epistles and 41 times the word ‘raised’ and its derivatives is used in connection with Christ. N T Wright comments that ‘so central was the resurrection to Paul’s preaching among the Gentiles that the Athenians even misheard Paul and imagined that he was preaching two new divinities, Jesus and ‘Anastasis’. The Greek word for resurrection was so frequently on his lips that they thought she was Jesus’ consort, a kind of Isis to his Osiris.’[1]

So why was it so important to Paul? Why did he mention it as often as he could and why did he build so much of his theology around it? To answer these questions I want to take an extended look at Paul’s treatment of resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. Here Paul is writing to refute so false teaching that has crept into the church. The erroneous teaching that needs resolving is the belief that there is no resurrection from the dead and that we are hoping in Christ only for this life 1 Cor.15:12.

Firstly in answer to this teaching Paul first reminds them that he presented to them clearly the truth of Christ’s resurrection 1 Cor.15:4. His hope for the future resurrection lies in the certainty of Christ’s past resurrection. If there is no resurrection to come, he argues, then Christ has not been raised either since Paul holds that Christ’s resurrection lit the fuse for the rest of the world’s resurrection. Our resurrection is as certain as Christ’s resurrection since the two are joined together. If we are never to be raised in the future then Christ was never raised in the past and if Christ was never raised then we are still in our sins and the Christian gospel is no gospel at all 1 Cor.15:17. This is the starting point for why it is that Paul values Christ’s resurrection so supremely. It is because of Christ’s resurrection that we can have confidence that God has removed our sin from us. Romans 4:25 sums up this idea nicely where Paul writes that Jesus was ‘delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.’ Our right standing before God comes from God’s raising of Christ from the dead. In so doing he assured the world that Jesus’ payment for sin had been accepted. If there is no resurrection then there is no justification.

Secondly Paul says that if Christ has not been raised from the dead then we of all people are most to be pitied. Why? Why are we to be pitied for believing in the resurrection if indeed the resurrection has not happened? Some Christians have said that if at the end of their lives they discover that there is no God and that there is nothing beyond the grave they will not feel too sorry for themselves since the teachings of Christianity have led them to live a good life, a contented life. Paul, it seems, disagrees with that sentiment. He believes that Christians are to be pitied, mocked, laughed at and need to be rescued from their delusion. He says this with one main reason in his mind. Paul lived in a culture that was very much opposed to Christianity. He experienced hardships of many kinds because of his faith: shipwrecks, beatings, stoning and imprisonments. Paul chose the way of life he did not because of some misguided belief in a saviour or because he enjoyed pain but because of his conviction that Christ was indeed raised to life. It was Paul’s encounter with the resurrected Jesus that changed his life so dramatically. If Christ has not been raised then, Paul says, he would not have chosen a life of difficulty and hardship. Or as John Piper puts it ‘Paul made choices in his life because of the gospel that deliberately put his life in danger.’[2] The Christian life is meant to be uncomfortable and we are meant to experience much hardship before we enter glory. The reason we can be confident that our difficulty is not in vain is because of the resurrection of Christ. Remove the resurrection and we are to be pitied for living such a desperate and unattractive lifestyle.

Thirdly, and finally, Paul is adamant that Christ has been raised because Christ’s resurrection is the advance party of the new creation, or as Paul puts it here in 1 Cor.15:20 the ‘firstfruits’. New creation, restoration and recreation are central aspects of Paul’s theology. The hope of new life is inaugurated by the resurrection and is the reason we endure difficulty, count all as loss compared to Christ, can be confident of real change in this present life and be confident that death is a doorway to new life rather than the dead end of life. There is much to look forward to and there is power available to endure difficulty with joy all because we know that since Christ is raised we also shall be raised.

It is for these three reasons that Paul fights for the truth of Jesus’ resurrection to be upheld in the church. Paul is desperate that the church in Corinth and indeed everywhere understands the significance of Jesus’ resurrection.

By examining this text and by considering all of the passages mentioned in this extended blog we can see just how central Jesus’ resurrection is to Paul’s life and mission. It is of the upmost importance to him and we ought to ‘keep it in our closed hand’ to borrow Mark Driscoll’s expression. For Paul belief in the resurrection of Christ is as central a doctrine as they come, lose this and we lose Christianity.

---

[1] NT Wright: The resurrection of the son of God p453

[2] Passion Conference 2005 main message

Exams and revision stressing you out?

You need a daily dose of calmness, peace and rest!!

“Not at a time like this” I hear you say? But this is exactly the time when we need to feel peaceful about what’s going on!

It’s safe to say that exams though important, are without a doubt just horrible. We don’t enjoy them, we spend ages worrying about the exam until once we have finished, we forgot what the worry was about and it’s all over and you don’t care what happens. Luckily for us, we aren’t an exam and God doesn’t just deal with our problems and forgets about us!

So during exams and revision what are the things going through your head? Fear. Worry, anxiety, thoughts of failing or just giving up. We all feel this way but luckily for us we are all in it together which for me always made me feel better knowing I wasn’t the only one feeling this way! So what do we do about all of these feelings? We pray about them, we give them to God. We ask God for peace in our hearts and for us not to worry anymore. Whatever happens in your exams know that in Jeremiah 29:11 it says “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope”. When you worry and panic about exams and start thinking but I won’t get into Uni unless I get this grade, or I am letting this person down or I have to pass or my life will be over.

I would say breathe and remember that God already knows the outcome of all your exams, he has a plan for your life and whatever happens in these exams won’t change what God has in store for your life.

How exciting is that thought? Knowing that there is a loving God who has a plan for your life, cares about you so much so that we wants to give us a hope and future that is good. Feelings or nervousness are natural but fears and worry over exams aren’t good for us and we need to know how to deal with these feelings. Some helpful passages are:

Matthew 8:6 “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith”?

Luke 12:22

Joshua 1:9

Psalm 29:11

Romans 5:1

Matthew 6:25-34

Matthew 6:34 “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own”.

God knew that we would worry, that’s why he put it in the bible. But he wants to reassure us not to but to seek him and call upon his name when you do. Exams can seem out of our control but actually we are in control of them, we revise and work hard for it says “Whatever you do, work with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” Colossians 3:23.

You may be busy but you are never too busy to pray, whether walking to school or college, getting ready in the mornings... anytime where it is just you there is always time to pray! Seek God and lift all your fears and worries to him, have faith, work hard and trust in his plan for you!

Praying for you all J

Nothing But Silence...

A lot of us know the story of David (he killed Goliath) but do we know what went on before he was King? 

David was a mere shepherd boy but God had bigger plans for him. 


1 Samuel tells us about the time when David was on the run from Saul (the current king of Israel) who was trying to kill him. Chapter 23 tells about the time that Saul was closing in on David fast. They were running up the mountain, David took one path and Saul took another path. They were both convinced that their path was the only way to the top of the mountain. Don’t we all feel like that sometimes, that there's only one way - our way?

There is a lot to get out of this chapter and I highly recommend reading it... During this time David was on the run, feeling frustrated, tired and probably felt God wasn’t on his side. David was in a season of his life where he was in the ‘wilderness’, and that’s what I want to talk about today, those times of confusion and 'dryness'. David was on the run and didn’t know where he was going or where this season would end, but God knew. God was preparing him for his destiny and even though David didn’t understand he trusted in God. God was building David up so he was ready to the call, it took him a while and went through many seasons but God prepared him to be King. We can feel like this, we are in the ‘wilderness’ and don’t understand this new season we are in but God knows and has planned it and knows when the season will end. Some seasons are good and some are hard but the ones we struggle in are the times when God wants us to respond!

When things aren’t going our way it doesn’t mean that God isn’t with us just that he has different plans for us and wants the best from us. He wants us to be Christ like and sometimes going through the ‘wilderness’ is needed. So how do we respond to this season? The questions we ask are: when will this season end? And God why am I going through this? But these are al the wrong questions, God doesn’t want us to moan at him but he knows our weaknesses and that’s ok! The question we should ask is: what are you going to do about the wilderness?

So how do we do this.... how do we respond? Don’t get stuck in this season but persevere!

Psalm 62:8 “People - trust God all the time.” 

This is a command and even when we don’t know what the future holds and we don’t know why we are in this season, we turn to God and trust in him.

Joshua 1:6 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

Be strong and be courageous, glorify God through your wilderness. Take heart and don’t be frightened, for God is with you all the time. He won’t leave you nor forsake you! God is with you always so why fear, God has it sorted so trust in him and take heart!

Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!” Amen

James 1:2-3  “My brothers and sisters, when you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy, because you know that these troubles test your faith and this will give you patience." 

Persevere and keep going, don’t yield to low levels of faith but build up your faith in God.

In wilderness, in times of times of silence we pray, we persevere; we thank God and rejoice in him. We trust in him and know he has it under control. There will be harder days but that’s when we cling to God and feel his presence. 

Psalm 34: 15-19 “The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. Face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the broken-hearted and saves the crushed in spirit.  Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all”.

Who We Want To Be : A People of Honour

Last Thursday, Tris spoke on Honour and opened our eyes to the kind of people we want to be. Take a look if you weren't there or if you want refreshing...

Honour is an odd Word which really means recognising value, giving respect, the opposite of what is honourable is what is worthless.

1)HONOUR GOD (Honour UP)

Romans 1v21 For although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Scripture goes on to say how instead of Worshipping God people gave glory to things he has made and become impure and dishonour themselves. The Bible describes idols as worthless – Pursuing other things than God is Destructive. An ancient Chinese vase used as an umbrella stand by an elderly couple for 50 years has turned out to be worth up to £500,000 - more than the value of their house, in the same way we miss out on God when we don’t realise His value.

Revelation 5v11-14 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!" And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!" And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshipped.

Heaven has an amazing culture of honour for God because it knows and see’s clearly who God is and what He has done. The greatest way we can honour Him, is by pursuing Him above all other things! Make Him your TREASURE. Question- HOW much pressure would it take for you to stop honouring God? Praise is a way to honour God through the toughest of times, looking to Him even when we don’t understand what we are going through.

2)HONOUR YOURSELF (Honour in) God is mindful of You.

Psalm 8v3: When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

We are made in His image, like the way we care about photographs because it is our image, this is an amazing privilege to be cared for by a God who created us in His image. People say stuff unkind stuff. When I was a kid at school someone once asked me quite seriously 'Tris, why are you so ugly?' ouch, that hurt. When people have lied to us we tend to hold a dishonouring picture of ourselves. This needs to be replaced with the truth. If we honour God then we can start to believe what He says about us!

Psalm 139 v14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

The Love of God was displayed on the Cross, Christ crucified and rose from the dead on our behalf, and it’s a great honour that someone died for you. Who it was should blow your mind . He did it for you when you were His enemy! Fernando Torres cost Chelsea football club £50 million- and scored 6 goals this year- we define people’s value in what they can do or achieve.
 As Christians we are defined by what God has done for us by dying on a Cross and giving us our new identity in Christ as sons and daughters.

We need to learn who we are, learn to honour ourselves, maybe you have struggled to honour yourself in your attitude, word and actions. A good practice is to speak out Scriptures that say who you really are in Christ. 

3)HONOUR PEOPLE (Honour out)

We are called To Honour Parents, Leaders & Everyone We won’t always get on well with people we need to honour. It can be a challenge but God’s heart is for us is to be a community that honour all people. Honour values regardless of performance or our preference. There was once a school teacher who used to tip his hat to every child in the school – because he realised any one of those children could be the next prime minister. 1Thessalonians 5v11: Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. A girl at youth went up to a singer after worship to feedback to him he wasn’t very good and shouldn’t really sing- she felt guilty later when she saw him playing in front of a huge crowd as it was Martin Smith from Delirious.

 When we honour people we help build them up not tear down, fortunately Martin Smith overcame the girls' initial discouragement, but he should never have had to. It’s exciting to be part of a group of young people, who Honour God, pursue Him, honour themselves, encourage each other, fight for each other, and celebrate each other’s success. These 3 all hold together when we Honour God for who He is we can honour ourselves when we find our value in Him. Then we can love and honour other people through what He has done for us.

  How are you doing? Which way do you find it most difficult to honour - up, in or out?

For all the Girls...

Hello ladies!

Over the past couple of weeks I feel like God has been putting loads of things on my heart. One of them is about being a women of God. Papa was teaching me some things about myself
and I felt that he'd want me to share and encourage you guys.

It started off when I was paying for something in a store and in my purse I keep a bit of paper
with this verse 'I will praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made' Psalm 139v14...
God was speaking something to my heart!

Now I think this verse gets played down, we hear it so often that we can get so used to it and
not explore the full power of God's words, we lose the full weight of that revelation.

Being a women can be hard, insecurities, searching for acceptance and the strive for perfection.
I've been there, I know what it's like but not only that, sometimes I still struggle with it.

Another verse which is also so powerful is Genesis 1v27 which says 'God created man in his own
image.' How awesome is that

! All that God is... beautiful, gentle, kind, loving, tender-hearted we are also. God made us and designed us. Psalm 139v13 'For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.' He knows you better than you know yourself, he knows your
heart.

Now our heart is central to who we are, that's why God tells us to guard our hearts in Proverbs 4v23.
It is the core of who we are... feminine. It also reflects Gods own heart.

One of the main issues all women face is, the majority of the time, to do with beauty. Every woman wants to feel beautiful. That is good thing, a wonderful desire and longing to display a characteristic of God... beauty! Beauty is the essence of God!

We are needed, as women, in the world to display and unveil beauty in a Godly way. Striving for beauty speaks that your heart is not at rest. Beauty is a natural expression and manifestation of your love for God. Beauty flows from a heart at rest. Outward beauty is hollow if it was not for the beauty of the heart.

Beauty is not only peaceful and gentle but also powerful and dangerous! It is dangerous because it matters. Beauty being dangerous may seem an odd statement, somethig you've maybe never thought of before but let me explain...

You are passionately loved by the God of the universe. You are also passionately hated by his enemy. Satan fears who you are, what you are, who you might become and your beauty! Because of who you are in Chrit, because you are beautiful, because you reflect Jesus, all of that is dangerous to the devil.
You see what I mean?

I once heard a saying that said this 'A women becomes beautiful when she knows that she's truly loved.'

That love, like no other, comes from God.
To be honest, the only opinion that matters, I mean really matters, is Gods.
No matter how you feel from day to day remember this, Gods love for you is immeasurable. You cannot be seperated from it! You are made in Gods image, you display his character, all of who he is. He knows you, how you feel but truth remains. You remain.... beautiful!

In Him we Trust

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your way acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths”.

In times of struggle, in the times when things get tough most advice given to us is “trust in God”. These words seem so simple and easy yet it can be the hardest thing to do. There are many times when I have overlooked my trust in God and had trust in my own abilities and strength rather than God’s and surprisingly enough, I was wrong. Trusting in God isn’t a “one time thing” or a” when we want him for something we will trust” but a day to day, 24 hour must.

The times that we don’t trust in God are when we are feeling anxious and don’t give God our worries, when we want to be control and won’t allow God to take the lead and when we suffer we find it hard to go to a God when we are in pain. So how can we trust in God? Well in proverbs 3:5 it says that we should trust in the Lord with all our heart and not to lean on what we know. We shouldn’t trust in ourselves or experiences in the past but trust in God who knows the next step. The best illustration is when we find times in life where we are walking down a path but can’t see round the bend, we don’t know what is going to happen next. Instead of giving our worries to God and taking control we can’t get round the bend. But when we give the worries to God he lays our path out straight in front of us and the bend is no longer there. We trust in God because we know that he knows the path that is laid before us.

Sometimes there are paths that seem impossible to go down, when someone in the family is sick or feelings of anxiety and depression overwhelm you. It’s easy not to admit we have a problem but that leads us to pride. We are too proud to admit that there is a problem and that we need God.

Philippians 4:13 says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. We need to learn that we can’t do things in our own strength but we can do though Christ’s strength. Philippians 4:5-6 tells us that “The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God”. God is longing for us to talk to him, he is longing for us to give us our battles. He already knows what is in our hearts; he knows the struggles that we will face so we need to turn to him. God will free us from fear, anxieties, and worries if we just trust in him.

The hardest time to trust in God is when something is happening to us that we can’t control and have no understanding as to why it is happening. When negative emotions take over, when past experiences catch up with us, when past emotions keep being brought up... where is our trust in him then? Remembering that we are living in a spiritual battle and this is a battle. When we are weak the Devil loves to try and get in and put a foothold over us, weather that is anxiety, fear, insecurities or anything. When the Devil does we feel more negative and insecure and forget to pray, we forget to ask God for help and try to fix the problem ourselves. Going to God and admitting we need help is hard but is humble. We know we can’t do things in our own strength and we know that God is in control, so why don’t we let him in?

Even though we can pray and give our worries to God, it may not mean that later these worries and struggles won’t appear again. It’s important that we learn to work through these worries, having a discipler can help go through these problems. When going through the steps to freedom on the “freedom in Christ” course, there was a chapter on anxiety. It is helpful to write down all the worries and feelings that you are going through at the moment. Then in the next column write down who is in control of these fears, worries or situations. Then finally write down what you have assumed, is it the worst case scenario and have you included God in it. I found that all of my worries were assumed and actually didn’t happen therefore I should have gone to God and not worried at all.
God is there and God is listening.

God in the Small Things

A fantastic and inspirational new blog from Helen Rambaut... enjoy

All The Small Things.

I love the small things. Those moments that make you smile, the ones where you laugh nonstop about something stupid and the ones where you just feel happy spending time with someone. It is so easy to take those things for granted when life becomes stressful/difficult. It is so easy to say that there is nothing to look forward to or that nothing positive happened in the day. Did you forget when your friend made you laugh by passing notes during a lecture (yes that doesn’t change at uni!)? Did you forget when you were told you looked nice today? All these things lift my mood considerably, yet when it comes down to it, I spend so much time focussing on the criticisms and general stress of life that I forget about the small pleasures. I was reminded of that today when my flatmate and I made rice crispy cakes together. Just being in the kitchen with good music, good company and delicious food was brilliant. It is moments like that I treasure. Simple moments where the stress of life is momentarily forgotten.

My walk with God has been a similar story recently. I had spent so much time looking for a life changing, heart stopping moment that I had stopped seeing him at all. I was annoyed that he wasn’t shouting at me or skywriting something. But then I was reminded of an image from fireworks night.

I was watching the fireworks display, and there were the huge spectacular fireworks which leapt several feet into the sky, sparkling in the chilly air, splintering into a hundred directions and then fading into the darkness. Then, there were smaller fireworks, they didn’t leap as high, and my view was obscured by the silhouettes of the trees against the night sky. I began to become frustrated, I didn’t want to change position or perspective so I could see them. But once I did it was so worth it. Although they didn’t have the same height , they shone all the same, and their glow lit the skyline once again.

This is like our lives. We can spend months or even years searching for the next huge “God moment” when actually it may have been right in front of us, but because of our short sightedness and stubbornness we don’t see them. We don’t hear God. He doesn’t always move with a shout, but often with merely a whisper. So, just because you haven’t had God skywrite your name or had a heart stopping vision... it doesn’t mean he isn’t working in your life, or that he doesn’t have a plan for you. He is there in everything, whether it’s a word of encouragement or simply a talk that relates to you, God is working. He is always working. I have looked back countless times, only to realise God has always been there and I know that He will forever be there.

This is why I love Jesus: He is there, even in the small things.

Truth To Takeaway

The Bible says:

Acts 1:8

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth.”

To bear witness: testify, give evidence, confirm, support, be evidence of, bear out, speak for, display, manifest, declare

To witness: see, observe, notice, view, watch, experience
Reflections

There is no reason to think that this verse applies only to the first disciples! Throughout the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit comes on many people and all have the experience of being filled with power to witness! My own experience is that the Spirit came on me and I received a greater level of confidence in sharing my faith.

If you are a Christian who has been filled with the Spirit then you are a Spirit empowered witness of Christ. God has chosen you to speak about His Son! The heavens might display and declare God’s majesty, but it is people who speak about His Son. Not merely ‘people’ but you and your friends; the Church. No one else in all of society can be a witness like we can as the Church; like I can as a Spirit empowered individual, like you can as a Spirit saturated believer!

You are a witness, which means, firstly, that you've seen something. Someone can only witness/tell about that they know/have seen/about what they've, heard and lived out. You may not have been standing there when Jesus was crucified; you may not have placed your fingers on the nail marks on His hands; you may not have eaten with Him; spoke to Him; travelled with Him – but you are still a witness! You are a witness to the transforming, life-changing power of His love and forgiveness. You are a witness to the joy and peace that comes from knowing His presence in your life; a witness to change, and save those around you; to set people free from addiction and slavery to sin.

You are also ‘Spirit-empowered’. His spirit lives in you, has strengthened you and filled you with a new power; a power to witness, and to declare boldly, what you have seen, heard and experienced!

This is the promise that you can live in – that you need not fear or shrink back, since you have the Spirit of power inside of you.

So here are two great truths for you read out allowed:
1. My life is significant. I am a Spirit-empowered witness for the Son of God; the most glorious person in the universe.
2. I have received the Spirit and have power to witness based on God’s strength and power; not simply on my levels of energy or enthusiasm. There should be, and is, a decreasing level of fear and timidity in my life as I allow the Spirit of God to change me and fill more areas of my life.

This week live with this verse and these truths resonating in you, do not shrink back, stand, speak, witness.

What about suffering?

One of the most commonly asked questions we are asked as Christians is: How can God allow Suffering?

This is a hard question and I don’t think there can ever be an answer that satisfies us and leaves us happy with an answer. If we do have a God that allows suffering then we have a problem as to why he doesn’t stop bad things from happening. But if there isn’t a God then we have a bigger problem as people believe in justice, righteousness and well life.

People interpret suffering in different forms, whether it’s a form of mental illness, sickness, persecution etc... Each individual suffers differently and has their own level of suffering. When people ask about suffering they are really asking why are there earthquakes and why do people get cancer? In order to tackle this question we will look at the beginning! When God created Adam and Eve there was no suffering, there was no death and there was no pain. It was perfect! God told Adam that he could eat from all the trees in the Garden “but of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall truly die” (Genesis 2:17). As we know Adam did eat from the tree and sin entered the world and as a consequence of Adams sin, death entered the world also.
As a consequence from Adams sin, we live in a fallen world and this includes suffering. When we hear of miracles that people have been healed from sickness, the blind being able to see and the death hearing we can see the power of God. Healings on earth are a mere glimpse of Gods Glory in Heaven and gives a glimmer of what Heaven would be like here on earth. Our time on earth is temporary but our time with God in Heaven is eternal, there will be no sickness, or suffering, no one will be blind or death but we will also be perfect and there will be no death for it has been defeated. “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22).

The Christian message here is not that God gets us off the hook or that being a Christian exempts us from suffering. Many people suffered throughout the Bible including the Old Testament; Joseph in prison (Genesis 39:20), David running from Saul (1 Samuel 23:15), Job lost everything (Job 1-12), Jonah being swallowed by a whale (Jonah 1:17). Also in the New Testament people died for their faith; John the Baptist was beheaded (Matthew 14), James was killed (Acts 12:2) Peter was imprisoned (Acts 12:4) and many Jews were persecuted for being a Christian. However the greatest suffering of all was Jesus who was persecution, mocked, stripped, spat on, wore a crown of thorns, beaten and finally died on a cross with pierced hands and feet (Matthew 27). God placed himself “on the hook” of suffering – God is no spectator to suffering but in Jesus he suffered.

Can you think of a time when something terrible has happened and you can’t see a way out or you can’t see things getting any better. When you look back at those times are you out the other end and things are ok! Or even when something has seemed terrible at the time but in hindsight God has made it for your God (Romans 8:28). If we can see good come from terrible situations, then God must see far more than we can. If God is big enough to blame for suffering then he is big enough to use it for our good.

Therefore the Gospel offers us the only way of dealing with suffering. He is our comforter who comforts us, he knows suffering as he suffered himself. He shared our pain so we can one day share his new creation. If we choose to side with evil instead of being with a loving God in Heaven, then we condemn ourselves to a far worse suffering than here on earth.

ta ta...

How Social's Your Media?

Nearly everyone has Facebook, and lots of people have Twitter. These, and other social networking sites are great ways of keeping in touch with people, and seeing photos of what they've been up to etc. BUT, how can we as Christians use social media better??

I think there are two ways of doing this:

1) Your "Religion" on Facebook says "Christian", right?? Your "About Me" section might even have your favourite Bible verse or Christian song lyrics in it. But in your pictures, comments and likes etc match up to this?? Are your comments and likes those of a young man or woman of God?? If you don't think they are, what impression does this give about Christians to others???

2) Secondly, there are ways of encouraging other Christians, and sharing with non-Christians about the amazing news of Jesus. You can do stuff like post a Bible verse that you're read and found encouraging. You never know, by sharing a verse that you've found helpful, you could really make a difference to someone's day! You could also post a video or link that may challenge non-Christians to think about the fact that there might actually be a God. By posting stuff like this, it makes sharing the gospel seem far less intense and personal to those you're trying to share with, rather than talking face to face a lot of the time. It's a clever, more subtle way of getting your point across to either one specific person, or non-Christians in general.

I encourage you to use social media in these ways, because its another way that we can lift up the name of Jesus to those who are yet to know Him.

God Bless
Joel

A Watershed Year

Recently in a seminar I attended, a man spoke of the year 2011 being a watershed year. This meaning that in 2011 there was a dramatic change not just culturally but for the church. We keep hearing how we need to “see the lost saved” and “bring people to Jesus”. But the question is “how” and “why”? We are soo lucky to be alive now in 2012, where the world is massively changing and YES we do get to be apart of it because we already are. You are the change!!

This year there has been a 7% rise in church attendance, that’s 2.7 million more people going to church than 2010. This is the largest rise in church attendance ever and it is only the beginning, this year hopes to bring people into God’s church even more so. Jesus told his disciples to “go and make disciples of all the nations” and God told Abraham in Genesis 12:2-3
“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you;
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those you bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
And all peoples on the earth will be blessed through you”.

What an amazing call on Abraham’s life, so already in Genesis 12 God is calling Abraham bless the nations. Israel was the chosen nation and even though they didn’t deserve it God blessed them and kept his covenant with his people. Gods call was that all of Abraham’s descendents will continue this promise to bless the nations through his name and that lead to Jesus.

So how does that relate to us? What are we called to do? Well throughout the New Testament we follow Paul and Peter on their journey to spread the word of God. In Acts we hear of them going from town to town performing miracles, healing the sick and the blind, praying for all kinds of people and preaching the word of God (Acts 3, read it as it is amazing). Peter was on his way to Church and in front of him was a crippled beggar who was asking them for money for food but Peter replied “Look at us, Silver or Gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ Nazareth, walk”. The beggar then and there got up and starting praising and worshipping God in the temple.

How amazing is that, already in the New Testament we are seeing miracles that Jesus performed, the spreading of the gospel us more than just talking about God. It’s about praying for people, having the desire to pray for the sick and injured and seeing them healed. If we want this to be another Watershed year then we want to be stepping out in faith, boldness and courage. Relying on Gods strength in stead of our own and knowing that God is with us even when sometimes other people aren’t. If we want to be involved in change then we need to get involved, invite people to Alpha, pray for people, and tell them you’re praying for them! Let’s get excited about what God can do this year 