Floyd McClung on the Church...

“God is busy revealing himself to the world, through the church. Not through institutions or programmes or buildings, but through simple, ordinary people, people willing to give up their broken lives in exchange for his life lived through them.”

Frustration

Often confused,
Not knowing the future.
Want to take control,
But not for the best.
Making mistakes,
And learning slowly.
Want to know more,
Want to get closer.
Situation denies,
Out of my hands.
The more I try,
The worse it gets.
Need to let go.
Release.
But I get frustrated,
I want it now.
Lose sight of the future,
What lies ahead.
Plenty of time,
Plenty to do.
Be thankful,
It could be worse!

Morning Liturgy

(Moment of silence)

Today Jesus,

May I have your eyes,
That see the world from your perspective.
May I have your ears,
That hear those who are crying out in need.
May I have your mouth,
That speaks life and truth into the situations I face.
May I have your arms,
That are willing to carry those who need support.
May I have your hands,
That are willing to serve at all times.
May I have your legs,
That stand firm in the midst of trials.
May I have your feet,
That are willing to go wherever the Spirit leads me.

(Bible reading for the day)

Today, I will wait patiently for you Lord.
I will be brave and courageous, by your grace,
And wait patiently for you.
For I am confident that I will see your goodness,
While I am here in this place.

Amen.

(The second half of the prayer is taken from Psalm 27)

Sunrise

The sun sets slowly in the sky,
Heavy like my heart,
And it will weigh much heavier still,
The longer we’re apart.

For as the darkness settles,
The fears begin to grow,
“Does she think about me?
“Am I scared to know?”

The moon and stars bring comfort,
Their light a sign of hope.
But these are only temporary,
A way for me to cope.

For when the morning breaks at dawn,
The sun will gather pace,
And once again I will be stunned,
by the beauty of her face.

And so I sit in silence,
The night my only friend,
And look forward to the sunrise,
My aching heart to mend.

Poetry

Recently, I've started writing poetry again. I've always this a great way to put my thoughts down in a way that engages my heart as well as my head.

My next few posts will be examples of poetry I have written recently...

Eugene Peterson on the Fear-of-the-Lord...

"Fear-of-the-Lord is the cultivated awareness of the 'more and other' that the presence or revelation of God introduces into our lives: I am not the centre of my existence; I am not the sum-total of what matters; I don’t know what will happen next."

Pearl S. Buck on Hope...

"None who have always been free can understand the terrible fascinating power of the hope of freedom to those who are not free."

Lin Yutang on Hope...

"Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence."

Elizabeth Gilbert on Hope...

"The inability to open up to hope is what blocks trust, and blocked trust is the reason for blighted dreams."

Hope

Hope is 'the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best'.

I've been thinking a lot about hope over the last few weeks. I've especially been looking at it in light of the Gospel and faith.

What is the Gospel without the hope that Jesus brings through his death and resurrection and what is faith without the hope that comes from knowing a loving Father who can do anything.

Indeed, the opposite of hope is hopelessness and this has to be one of the worst places to be. A place where you have resigned yourself to a position that cannot and will not change. This position is often known as a stronghold;

“Any idea or thought impregnated or full of hopelessness, that causes us to think that something is true, contrary to the word and will of God.’

To combat this we need to have a revelation of the truth found in the character of God, the example of Jesus and the working of the Holy Spirit. We need others to encourage and to speak this truth to us and live it with us.

If we, as the Church, are not sharing and modelling a message of hope to this world, then what are we?

Paul's letter to the Romans talks a lot of this hope, so check that out! Here is a snippet;

Romans 5
1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

I will also put up some quotes from people on this subject of hope.

Thomas A Kempis quote...

"The more humble a man is in himself, the more obedient toward God, the wiser will he be in all things, and the more shall his soul be at peace."

Humility in Daily Life

For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 1 John 4:20.

"It is a solemn thought that our love for God is measured by our everyday relationships with others. Except as its validity is proven in standing the test of daily life with our fellowmen, our love for God may be found to be a delusion. It is easy to think that we humble ourselves before God, but our humility toward others is the only sufficient proof that our humility before God is real. To be genuine, humility must abide in us and become our very nature.

True humility is to be made of no reputation - as did Christ. In God's presence, humility is not a posture we assume for a time - when we think of Him or pray to Him -but the very spirit of our life.

It will manifest itself in all our bearing toward others. A lesson of deepest importance is that the only humility that is really ours is not the kind we carry with us, and carry out, in our ordinary conduct. The seemingly insignificant acts of daily life are the tests of eternity, because they prove what spirit possesses us.

It is in our most unguarded moments that we truly show who we are and what we are made of.

To know a truly humble person, you must follow that one in the common course of daily life."

Taken from Humility by Andrew Murray.

Romance

What do you think of when you hear the word romance?


My guess is that it sounds different to different people depending on their cultural background, romantic experience and/or gender.

As a Western hetrosexual male, romance has become a way of expressing love that involves taking that special woman for long walks, or having a candle lit dinner or buying them flowers. It is something that films and books have used to create an ideal scenario of the expression of love.

This in itself is not bad, but it does then leave me feeling a little uneasy when I find that God wants to romance me!

Can God love me romantically!?!

As always, I turned to the dictionary to find out the meaning of the word romance to see if that could help me in any way;

"a pleasurable feeling of excitement and wonder associated with love."

As I read this definition, I began to see how God can romance me. There are times when I don't feel excited about living for God and I have lost that sense of wonder that captures my mind and leads me to a place of worship. I can just sense that something is missing.

The important part of this sentence is that it is associated with love, and maybe this is where our western culture has created the distortion in my mind.

Love has become just a feeling. It seems to be something that changes overnight and is used for expressing our affection both for our football team as well as our loved ones. I suppose that's the problem when you only have one word that expresses many different emotions and actions.

What does the bible say about love?

1 John 3:16 says 'This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.'

The bible says a lot about love and most of it comes in the context of sacrifice. We love when we lay ourselves down for others. It's not about what we get, but about what we give.

When God romances us, he wants to give us a pleasureable feeling of excitement and wonder through the ultimate expression of love, which is the cross.

John 3:16 says 'For God so loved the world, that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.'

God's motivation for the death of His son on the cross was love. He gave himself, so that you might live. He now asks us to go and love in the same way. Giving our lives for others.

Surely, this is the greatest romance story ever told!

Allow God to romance you today as He reminds you of His love for you in the life, death and ressurrection of His son Jesus Christ.

Allow your hearts to be filled with excitement and wonder as He reveals His love for you!

Blog recommendation

I don't often do this, but I would really like to point you in the direction of a blog that my friend Charl keeps. She has recently moved to Reading and runs a coffee shop on a housing estate there. She is an everyday person like you or me, but she has said to God that she wants to make a difference and she is beginning to see the answer to that prayer.

http://adventuresofaspartan.tumblr.com/

Sabbath

As part of the discipleship course I help to run, we spend 9 months going through the bible, following it's narrative.

We call it 'God's Story' because that's what the bible is!

It's the story of who God is, how He interacts with His creation and what His plan is for the world. It's proved to be a really powerful way to read the bible as it helps prevent the bible from being that intimidating book on the shelf and uncovers the really exciting and interesting story that we now find ourselves in!

Anyway, this week we have started in Genesis (in the beginning and all that) and once again I've been struck by the importance of 'Sabbath', which is translated to mean 'Stop'.

How often do I stop?

How often do I take the time to just ask those tough questions of life?

How often do I stop and just realise I am alive?

How often do I stop and look at the stars in the sky and allow myself to get lost?

How often do I stop and just ask God how He is doing?

To Sabbath was a commandment to the Jewish people. Why? Two reasons;

1) God did (Genesis 2:1-3), which is good enough for me.

2) To remind them that they weren't slaves anymore (Deut 5:15). When the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, they worked long hours, seven days a week. By Sabbathing, they were being reminded that they were free from oppression and their identity was not in what they did or produced, but in God.

They were saved from something, for something.

I think many of us understand that we should Sabbath because God did and it's good to rest, but how many of us realise that Sabbathing is vital in understanding who we are in God.

In our Western consumeristic culture, it's so easy to fill our days with stuff (tv, shopping etc), or to work longer hours so we can have more free time in the future (which never seems to happen) or to just want to climb that corporate ladder, but is there are a danger that we are creeping back into slavery?

When we 'Shabbat' or stop from the day-to-day activities of life, we begin to realise that the world in not in our control. We again realise that we are not the centre of the universe and that there is so much more going on around us that is beyond us. We find enjoyment again in creation both in nature and in the people around us who are made in God's image.

Euguene Petersen put's it like this;

“Sabbath is a deliberate act of interference, an interruption of our week each week, a decree of no-work so that we are able to notice, to attend, to listen, to assimilate this comprehensive and majestic work of God, to orient our work in the work of God.”

To Sabbath is a deliberate act. It doesn't just happen!

My prayer for you is that you would rediscover the joy of Sabbathing and that you would find your true identity in it's midst.

What is your response to your Chrisitan fellowship?

"If we do not give thanks daily for the Chrisitan fellowship in which we have been placed, even where there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith, and difficulty; if on the contrary, we only keep complaining to God that everything is paltry and petty, so far from what we expected, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow according to the measure and riches which are there for us all in Jesus Christ." Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Joseph Parker on Jesus...

"Only Christ could have conceived Christ."

S.D. Gordon on Jesus...

"Jesus is God spelling Himself out in language that men can understand."

Sholem Asch on Jesus...

"Jesus Christ is to me the outstanding personality of all time, all history, both as Son of God and as Son of Man. Everything he ever said or did has value for us today and that is something you can say of no other man, dead or alive. There is no easy middle ground to stroll upon. You either accept Jesus or reject him."

C.S. Lewis on Jesus...

"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

Charles Edward Jefferson on Jesus...

"There is something so pure and frank and noble about Him that to doubt His sincerity would be like doubting the brightness of the sun."

Geza Vermes on Jesus...

"An unsurpassed master of the art of laying bare the inmost core of spiritual truth."

Einstein on Jesus...

"As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene....No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life."

J. Sidlow Baxter on Jesus...

"Fundamentally, our Lord's message was Himself. He did not come merely to preach a Gospel; He himself is that Gospel. He did not come merely to give bread; He said, "I am the bread." He did not come merely to shed light; He said, "I am the light." He did not come merely to show the door; He said, "I am the door." He did not come merely to name a shepherd; He said, "I am the shepherd." He did not come merely to point the way; He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."

James C. Hefley on Jesus...

"Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the Child of a peasant woman. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty, and then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself. He had nothing to do with this world except the naked power of His Divine manhood. While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a Cross between two thieves. His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth while He was dying—and that was His coat. When He was dead He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Such was His human life—He rises from the dead. Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone and today He is the Centerpiece of the human race and the Leader of the column of progress. I am within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever were built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that One Solitary Life."

H.G. Wells on Jesus...

"I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history."

Philip Schaff on Jesus...

"Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander the Great, Caesar, Mohammed, and Napoleon; without science and learning, he shed more light on things human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of school, he spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since, and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line, he set more pens in motion, and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art, and songs of praise than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times."

Gandhi on Jesus...

"A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act."

Napoleon on Jesus...

"I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him."

Who is Jesus Christ?

I've been challenged by this question again recently as I've being thinking about what it means to be true to Christ and to have Christ centred communities. The danger with not having a biblical answer to this question is that these phrases can become cool, throw away, catchy strap lines, with no depth, or with distortion, as we don't know fully who Jesus is and what He has done and is currently doing.

Over the summer, a few friends and I have committed to reading the Gospels again with the question 'Who is Jesus Christ?' in mind. We just want to make sure that the Jesus we claim to know, follow and put at the centre, is the Jesus of the bible and not just a figure we have created to meet our own needs.

The amazing thing about Jesus is that he continues to challenge, confuse, offend and inspire people 2,000 years after he walked the earth. It seems that most people have an opinion of him, which are mostly favourable.

Over the next few days and weeks, I'm going to post quotes from different people with their views on who Jesus is to them (http://www.tentmaker.org/Quotes/jesus-christ.htm). My hope is that they will inspire you to think about this person and to heighten your awareness of the fact that Jesus impacts and influences people, even if they wouldn't class themselves as believers and who you think he is, shapes your life.

I'd like to hear your thoughts too!

This is probably THE big question of life!

How do you treat your bible?

"You Christians look after a document containing enough dynamite to blow all civilization to pieces, turn the world upside down, and bring peace to a battle-torn planet. But you treat it as though it is nothing more than a piece of good literature." Mohandas Gandhi

Questions

I have found that most of my life as a christian has involved asking questions, be that either to God or to others. Some of my questions have been answered and others haven't. For a while I thought that questioning things was bad, as either it showed you didn't understand (when it always seemed that everyone else did) or it implied that you were backsliding in your faith. But I love to question things, especially why we do what we do!

This is why I can really relate to Jesus' disciples and am really glad that the writers of the Gospels included the questions they asked in their accounts. These guys were walking with Jesus on a day-to-day basis. They were witnessing first hand his miracles and were getting inside information on his teachings, yet they still had questions. Admittedly, these often seemed to irritate Jesus, yet deep down, I bet that he was glad they were asking them. Why, because it showed they were thinking. It showed they were engaging with what Jesus was doing. It showed they wanted to learn.

For me, being a disciple of Jesus is to be a 'constant learner' (one of the definitions of the word disciple) and to do that, we need to have questions. Not only questions from ourselves, but also of those around us. These may be head questions like "Is there a God?", "What is the Trinity about?" or "Why is there suffering", or they could be heart questions like "Why did my Dad die?" or "Why do my friends hate me?". I believe that if we want to go deeper in our faith, we need to be prepared to ask the tough questions of life to God.

The question I often find myself asking is the same as the one Judas (not Iscariot, but the other one) asks of Jesus in John 14:22;

"Lord, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us and not the world at large?"

Why did Jesus only reveal himself to a few people when he raised from the dead? Wouldn't it just be easier if he revealed himself to the whole world and then we could get this over with?

I think I'm beginning to see why Jesus has chosen to do it this way, but I am interested to hear what your thoughts are on the matter...

24-7 Prayer Euro Gathering

This October (1st-4th), 24-7 prayer will be having a gathering of people across Europe in Amsterdam to share stories about what God is doing and to unite together in prayer for what is to come! If you want to know more about the event, you can go to http://www.24-7prayer.com/eurogathering.

If you still don't believe me, here's a video to prove it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiMZxQIukE4

Hope to see you there!

Practicing what you preach

Matthew 7:24-27 (New International Version)

The Wise and Foolish Builders

24"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

I've heard these words of Jesus many times, especially as a child. I even knew a song about it once. It's a classic really. Wise man builds his house upon rock and the foolish man on sand. When the storms come, there is only one winner!

But what I hadn't noticed until recently was what Jesus was actually saying in this story.

I always thought the wise man was the person who knew Jesus and had accepted him as their personal saviour. In other words, they had become a christian. The foolish man had not. But as I read it again recently, there is a little more to it than that.

"Everyone who hears these words and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house upon the rock."

So what are 'these words'?

Well this story comes at the end of Jesus' main teaching; the Sermon on the Mount.

The Sermon on the Mount has been described as Jesus' manifesto where he describes the Kingdom and how that looks on earth when lived out. He talks amongst other things about being salt and light, controlling anger, forgiveness, loving your enemies, giving to those in need, prayer, fasting, money, judging others, bearing fruit and what it means to be a true disciple. Some pretty radical stuff!

For us to build on solid foundations is not just to read and know the teachings of Jesus, but to put them into practice, which I find really challenging.

How often do I read the teachings of Jesus (particularly the Sermon on the Mount) and put them into practice?

Do I just pick the bits I like and ignore the parts that challenge me?

It seems clear that the call of Jesus to discipleship is not conventinal and doesn't always make sense to the world (just read through the Beatitudes), but it is what we need to do to survive the storms that come.

I like the fact that faith in Jesus is an active experience and not just a passive gaining of knowledge.

When Jesus asks us to follow Him, it implies that He is going somewhere that He wants us to go with Him to! The disciples were soon to find that the place we are to follow Jesus is to the cross where we must die to self and be raised in Him so that we may 'Go' to the Nations under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit. Before going, the disciples had to wait to be baptised by the Spirit as it would be Him that would fill, lead, guide and comfort the disciples.

The Holy Spirit living through them would enable them to practice what Jesus preached!

This is the same for us today. We may look at the Sermon on the Mount and think 'that's impossible to live out' and it is when we try in our own strength, which is why we need to die to self and allow Jesus to live in and through us by His spirit. It's costly and it will bring conflict inside of us, but history has shown that those who have truely died to self and followed Jesus to the cross have been raised to life and life to the full as Jesus through his spirit puts his preaching into practice through them.

My challenge for you is to ask Jesus to show you today what it means to die to self and ask Him to fill you by His Spirit so that you may be able to put into practice what you hear Him say and therefore build your life on solid foundations.

Too Busy Not to Pray!

This week, we have another 24-7 prayer week as part of our commitment to have one a month (with regualr breaks) across Guildford over the course of the year.

While in the prayer room, the phrase 'Too busy not to pray' has come into my head a few times. As you may or may not know, this is the title of a book by an American church leader named Bill Hybels. In his book, he makes the point that rather than busyness being a reason not to pray, it is in fact a reason to pray. I know for myself, this is a busy time of year and I'm sure it is for you to, but I believe God wants us to seek Him even more in this time so that He can speak our identity over us, which is in Him and not in what we do (which doesn't mean He doesn't care about what we do or sees is as unimportant). He wants to give us His perspective as we see that He is above everything we are facing and that He has a plan and purpose for our life and that He is faithful to His promises.

A passage of scripture that has helped me in these times has been Philippians 4:6-7;"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."

Of course, we don't have to be in a prayer room to pray or to experience God's peace, but one thing I have observed from the life of Jesus, is that in His busyest times, he would retreat somewhere alone to pray (sometimes overnight). He knew the importance of getting away from the situations He was in and spending time with the Father. This is the beauty of the prayer room and my encouragement to you is to try and get away from your situations and spend some time with the Father either in a prayer room (check out www.24-7prayer.com to see how you would go about setting one up) or by the beach or in your cupboard or on a walk. It requires discipline, but it is worth it!

We don't have to spend hours alone, but I believe that God is just longing to show us His love and to speak it over us in the midst of the chaos around us.

Let's not allow the busyness of life to have rule and reign over us.

That place belongs to Jesus and Jesus alone.

Amazing stories

Following on from the previous post about the guitarist from Korn, here is the website where you can find more videos like that one.

http://iamsecond.com/#/home/

Some amazing stories!

Questions?

"Christians have tended to despise the concept of philosophy. This has been one of the weaknesses of evangelical, orthodox Christianity - we have been proud in despising philosophy, and we have been exceedingly proud in despising the intellect. Our theological seminaries hardly ever relate their theology to philosophy, and specifically to the current philosophy. Thus, students go out from the theological seminaries not knowing how to relate Christianity to the surrounding world-view. It is not that they do not know the answers. My observation is that most students graduating from our theological seminaries do not know the questions." (Francis A. Schaeffer).

Would be interested to hear your thoughts on this quote...

"I am second"

Check out this video about ex-Korn guitarist Brian "Head" Welch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf5WYigZHME

Big Day Out!

You might have already heard about this, but 24-7 prayer are joining up with Delirious? and a huge list of other friends for a one-day festival on Sunday 24th May - called the Big Church Day Out - on the incredibly beautiful Wiston House Estate, West Sussex.

From 2.30pm in the afternoon until 10pm late that night, there will be a whole variety of experiences for all the family... with worship bands and speakers, fun stuff for children and activities for young people, an acoustic cafe and other food venues, and our very own 24-7prayer chapel.

Charlotte Terris and her small team have been dreaming up all kinds of creative ideas to turn the 700 year-old Wiston chapel into a beautiful prayer room, based around the Lord's Prayer. It's all very exciting. Tim Jupp, from Delirious, said that the prayer room should become the focus as the day progresses... prayer for the area, and for our nation. I haven't got the time/space here to talk about the 24-7 community taking shape at Wiston, guided by Justin and Ele Blake... but it's all very exciting.

So... we'd love you to be there, if you can come. Already churches have been buying blocks of tickets and booking coaches for the day... up to 10,000 people are expected. For more information, and for tickets, you can click across to the website; http://www.thebigchurchdayout.com

Who is unclean?

Peter had been wiped out since this guy Jesus had turned up at his work and told him to quit his job and follow him a couple of years ago. He had seen some amazing things including healings, resurrections and even a new sport called 'water walking' during his time with this man. Then he went on an emotional rollarcoaster as he denied his friend in his hour of need and then received forgiveness from him when they met again. When Jesus ascended to heaven he told them to wait for a gift, which they did, for 10 days in one room. Unsure of what to expect, Peter and his friends were propelled out to the streets when the Holy Spirit came to them and after Peter gave a rousing speech to the crowd, 3,000 people said they would like to be a part of what was happening. This started a whole logistical nightmare, not to mention persecution and beatings, but Peter wouldn't have changed it for the world.

Jesus was alive and he wanted the world to know it! He also wanted a break, which was why he was now catching some rays on the roof of his friend Simon (a tanner!) in Joppa.

So, as Peter lay on the roof of the house, enjoying the sun and a cool breeze, what looked like a large blanket appeared in front of him. Slightly startled, Peter sat up and as he did, noticed that all sorts of animals, reptiles and birds started to cover the sheet. They all had one thing in common; they were unclean. Then he heard a voice saying "Get up, kill and eat." Peter was quick to protest, "I can't, they are unclean and impure under the Jewish laws." Then the voice replied "Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean." The vision was then repeated 3 times.

In a slight daze, Peter wandered what all this meant. Is it because I am hungry that I am seeing things? As he was mulling this over, he felt the Holy Spirit say there were 3 men coming to the door and that he should go with them as He had sent them. So that's what he did.

As he entered the home of Cornelius, Peter knew he was going to be in big trouble when the others found out what he was doing. Peter, a Jew, was not permitted to go into the house of a Gentile (non-Jew) as they were seen as unclean, but that vision on the rooftop had given Peter a new perspective. As he stood there speaking to this man's family about Jesus, the Holy Spirit fell in the room and Peter was reminded of that day on Pentecost. "Wow!" he thought, "this is much bigger than I thought."

Peter again was sat alone, this time in his home in Jerusalem. He had returned there to give an account of why he had visited a Gentile house and made himself unclean. After sharing his story of the vision and the dramatic experience at Cornelius' house, the rest of the Apostles were amazed and also overjoyed. A new chapter had started in the early church.

Suddenly, no one was outside of the mercy and grace of the Father through Jesus!

When I read this story in Acts 10 and 11, I am blown away by both the magnitude of it's implication for the early church, but also for us today. Up until this point, Jesus (in the early churches understanding) had come for the Jews and had given a new covenant to them. Now, with the Gentiles also believing and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, Jesus' command to preach the Gospel to all Nations now had a new weight and significance to it. I can't imagine the emotions the believers must have been feeling as well as the questions they must have had (of which we get a glimpse of in Acts 15).

So what for us today? Who do we see us unclean? Who have we, intentionally or not, disqualified from the Gospel? Maybe there is a limit to what we are willing to forgive? Maybe there is a person or community we have given up on? Maybe there is a people group we think won't understand? Maybe there are people of another religion who have made their choice and follow a different belief system?

Whatever the case may be, God made it clear to Peter that we as the church, have no right to call unclean what God has made clean. We have no right to put limits on the Gospel.

My prayer for us is that God would open our eyes to the world around us, and allow us to see people the way that he sees them. Throughout history, those that have made the greatest strides in the Kingdom of God are those who have shrugged off social norms and prejudices, and chosen to see the world that God created through His eyes and to see people made in His image.

Like Peter, let's be open and available to God's leading, with no limits put in place as to who or where we are willing to go.

Amen.

<sup>Luke 6:27-36 says;

27</sup>"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. ³⁰Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. ³¹Do to others as you would have them do to you.

³²"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. ³³And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. ³⁴And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

I'm always cautious when I read from the bible, especially the words of Jesus, that I don't just take these words and try and fit it into my life in a convenient way so that I can convince myself that I am following the teachings. In this example, we could reduce the enormity of the word 'enemy' and make it something that we feel more comfortable with.

The word enemy means "a person who feels hatred for, fosters harmful designs against, or engages in antagonistic activities against another; an adversary or opponent."

This is a very imposing word. It suggests that an enemy is not just someone you don't get on with, or who 'gets on your nerves', but is someone who is taking an active role in making your life as hard as possible out of a feeling of hatred towards you. This is someone you either want to avoid or at least take some sort of action in retaliation.

Yet, this is the person that Jesus asks us to love!

To the Jewish people that Jesus was talking to, their enemy was the Romans. They were a oppressive empire who had taken their land, demanded taxes and who had an aggressive way of keeping law and order (dieing on a cross was not a pleasant activity). It was the Romans that the Jews would have hoped that the Messiah would free them from. They were expecting a Messiah that would be a warrior King, just like David, who would overthrow the Romans, with physical force, take back their land and restore the rightful worship of the day.

They wanted a Messiah who would wipe out their enemies and not one who would command them to actively love them.

Who are your enemies? Who are the people that make life really hard for you? Is anybody engaging in activities that cause you harm?

How do you respond to them?

As you think about this, also think about what this passage says about God's love. Verse 35 says that God "is kind to the ungrateful and wicked" and that we should be merciful just as He is.

What is this saying?

Well, God has many enemies. That doesn't mean He hates people, but many people have turned their back on him and show Him hatred. How does he respond to them?

¹⁶"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,^a]">[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

God's response to His enemies was to die for them. He loved them so much, that He was willing to give Himself for them, even though He knew that some would still ignore and hate Him.

This is the example He asks us to follow.

Are we willing to lay down our lives for our enemies? Not just our friends or those we care for, but for those who actively hate us and make our life as terrible as possible.

This is the kind of love that will change the world. This is the kind of love that the Kingdom demands.

A wonderful exponent of this love was Martin Luther King Jnr in the 1960's, when as an oppressed African American, he found justice through peaceful, loving means. Here are some quotes from his life;

"At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love."

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

"Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation."

"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."

I could go on, but the point is, this was a man who took the message of Jesus seriously and changed the world around him through facing hatred with love.

My prayer for us is that God would continue to give us the grace to love our enemies and that as we do, that we would see lives changed and His Kingdom come here on earth as it is in heaven.

Thoughts for the future

I've been thinking a lot about my future recently (as I am often guilty of just drifting without thought) and realised that, in the process, I had started to worry about it. The reason, I concluded, was that I had become the centre of my thoughts and not God. As soon as I became the focus, things started to look impossible and hopeless. I started to compare myslef with others and think thoughts like 'Have I made the right choices in the past?'. This is what the nation of Israel did very quickly after they left Egypt, and it didn't do them any favours!



One of the things that often gets me down is not having money, not so that I'm rich, but so I can use it well and give etc. I've just finished reading a book called "Daring to Live on the Edge" by Loren Cunningham, which I highly reccomend, and he talks about faith and finance, and how we all need to operate our finances in faith (especially in the current financial climate). What he reminded me is that you don't need loads of money to give, you just need money. The reason we don't give when we don't have much is that we are scared of not getting it back. We are scared that we will be the one's without, yet God promises to provide for our needs. It's a real challenge for me at the moment as God asks me to give with the little I have.



It's been a good process to come back to God and give him my future again and just say I trust Him (especially with my finances). That doesn't mean I don't have dreams and desires (it's fun to dream), but I have to choose to believe that God knows best and will work it out in his timing.



It's not always easy following God, and indeed the word passion means suffering, so I suppose it should come as no surprise that if we have a passion for Jesus, it will involve suffering at some level!