Use your noggin’!

How often do you here ‘I’m waiting to hear from God’.  Now first off don’t take this blog as an understanding that we don’t need to pray or ask God’s guidance – however I do believe that sometimes we don’t rely enough on one of the biggest and best resources God has given us.
God created us and in that creation was a brain.  I’m fairly confident that he wants us to use it.  When we say I’m waiting to hear from God, maybe God is saying back to us ‘I’ve already told you but you’ve missed it!  In this case we should be praying for discernment so we can recognise the opportunities that come our way.
Also I believe strongly that God will grant us the desires of our heart, desires that will glorify him.  Therefore it’s not out of his plan for us that we seek out opportunities that make us happy.  Being a youth worker I find a very natural thing to do, therefore I accept that it is acceptable to God.
It’s like the ol’ joke:
A flood hit a village and everyone was in the water. Thankfully rescue services came and they were able to pull everyone out of the water – except one man.  This man stood on the roof of his house as the water level rose and told the emergency services that God was going to save him… Then another lifeboat came past and again the man said ‘God will save me’.  Finally a helicopter came but the man insisted ‘God will save me!’  Anyway the water level rose above the man’s house, he fell into the water and as he couldn’t swim, he drowned.  He found himself at the gates of heaven, in front of God and asked him ‘Why didn’t you save me?  God replied ‘Well I sent 2 boats and helicopter – what more do you want!’

On the Offensive!

I stumbled across this article today.  Have a read…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatresources/4202800/Churchs-Jesus-loves-Osama-sign-criticised.html
What are your feelings towards this?  I have to tell you that my thought process was a strange one.  I found myself thinking – cheesy and poor, until I read this bit…
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“But John Howard, the prime minister, said that the church should have chosen a less offensive way of spreading its message.
“I understand the Christian motivation of the Baptist church,” he said.
“But I hope they will understand that a lot of Australians, including many Australian Christians, will think that the prayer priority of the church on this occasion could have been elsewhere.””
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We should find a ‘less offensive way of spreading the message’ – Hmmm seems like conformity is required here – now what are Jesus/Paul’s thoughts on conforming with the world….
The church in question has stated a fact, that Jesus does love Osamo Bin Laden – the offense lies in this, that we can not understand the grace of God that it would be possible to forgive someone who has done such evil.
It seems that when Christians step out and voice the message of forgiveness they make a bit of a stir.  Also the priority of the church should be elsewhere in terms of prayer…. Again I’m not sure that Mr Howard or the Australian Christians to whom he refers quite get the pray for your enemies thing.  Yet again I reckon that Jesus knew what kind of controversy this would raise!
Well maybe we can sometimes be too apologetic about our faith or worried about what people think of us when we say we believe in Jesus.
When someone takes offense then at what we do or say, remember it’s not you personally but rather Jesus who they are offended by.  And when someone is offended by something, they tend to think about it for a while, interesting – it’s as if Jesus wanted people to think about him and his message!
While I think the Jesus loves Osama board is a little cheesy, I have no problem with the message it delivers or the controversy it has raised – It has done the job for which it was intended!

What’s in your locker?

There are many things that make me who I am.  My likes and dislikes – whether that be sport (like) or the advert for the skills centre with Tony and Gary (very much dislike).  My character – whether that be my creativity or my poor jokes (By the way, whatever happened to that Magic Tractor…).  Anyway my point is I have a different character to you, I enjoy different things and have certain skills that you may not have and vice versa.
I’ve noticed though that when it comes to engaging with our community, friends, family we turn off who we are and what we enjoy, and turn on this kind of corporate Christian identity where we must say and do certain things – has anyone else noticed this?   Why don’t we be ourselves, recognising the skills we have and how they can be used.  You don’t need to learn how to engage people about faith, just go and be a part of their life in something that you have in common.  Start discussions and conversations on subjects with people who share the same interest but may have a different viewpoint.
So what’s in your locker – what do you have to offer, what are you good at that the church and the surrounding community can benefit from?  Remember keep it simple, do things that your church already has skills for!
p.s. It went down the road and turned into a field…

Reaching out..?

The next day Jesus got up early and went to the temple.  There he sat for 9 hours while people walked past occassionaly coming in to see him.  When a crowd of people gathered Jesus would stand and deliver his message about sin and the slim prospects humanity has.  Jesus always finished his message however with the good news about himself and that if people were to put their trust in him, believe in him as the Son of God who will defeat death forever then there is hope, they will be saved.
Jesus was tired at the end of the day and his mouth was dry because of all the talking he had done, however he was looking forward to getting up early again the next day and as many days after that as he had been doing since just after his 30th birthday almost 8 months ago.
All the people put their trust in Jesus because he had told them to.  Thankfully this meant that Jesus never had to do anything or go anywhere.

Distractions

It can be easy to get distracted.  I find it way to easy – maybe because sometimes I’m glad of it – but all in all it doesn’t help me get on with what I’m supposed to.
This is true of our spiritual selves too.  We need to guard ourselves against distractions that take us away from glorifying God.  In order to do this I’m reminded of Ephesians 6 ‘The Armour of God’.  Also we must be discerning – In John 10 Jesus talks about being the Shepherd of the flock.  He talks about hearing and recognising the voice of the shepherd above that of the stranger.  Jesus tells us in verse 10 that it is the thief who comes to kill steal and destroy but him who has come to bring life in all its fullness.
Let’s not get distracted on our Christian journey, let’s discern the voice of Jesus in our life and follow it so that we can live life in all its fullness, keeping the thief (the devil) at bay and avoiding his distractions.  As Paul says in Ephesians in order to do this we must stand firm with our armour on praying at all times with all kinds of prayers and requests.Ds

Who are you?

Gideon – I can’t do it God
Moses – I can’t do it God
Jonah – I won’t do it God
Peter – I won’t deny you Lord – honest
Elijah – I can’t do it anymore God
…and just like an old washing machine advert from the early 90’s (what a target reference this is) the list goes on and on and on and on and ariston… (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaAoTA3t_yk – whatever happened to Ariston anyway?!)
Anyhoo, my point is that the Bible is full of characters that were vulnerable and scared and yet look at what they achieved:
Gideon: Defeats the Midianites with a small army
Moses: Led the Israelites from slavery
Jonah: Made Ninevah Repent
Peter: The rock on which the church is built
Elijah: Loads of stuff
What do they all have in common – altogether now: God on their side!  What’s your point John I hear you cry, we know all this – well my point is a simple one.  There are times when I feel vulnerable and scared, not sure of my path but these people I mention are all examples of God using the weak and making them strong to do the things he has planned – so why can’t he do it with you and me?  Well he can…Be confident as Paul is:
“I can do all things through him who gives me strength” Philippians 4:13
When we do this, we bring glory to God.