Hear, Say, Do....

I have noticed recently, a tendency which we all seem to have to some degree, to hear something explained to us, repeat that something in a slightly different way and then act on that something in a different way again.  Let me explain.....

An immediately obvious example of this is love.  We hear it said that we should love everyone!  Jesus taught it, it is taught from the pulpit of churches today and you even hear it said in other places too.

Let all that you do be done in Love.  1 Corinthians 16:14

So we are taught to love others.  Then when it comes to us talking about loving people, there seems to be a hesitation and at times a refusal to love certain people.  "I love people but I definitely couldn't love so and so...."  You hear it said all the time don't you.  How can you love terrorists, or murderers?  How can you love cheats and liars?  How can you love people who disagree with you or fight against your beliefs?  When we talk about love however, there is a generally sense that we do love people, even if it is just the our nearest and dearest and perhaps even anyone who hasn't 'wronged' us yet!

But then we look at the way we act.  Does the way in which we act towards people show love?  Does losing our temper with or refusing to listen to the people closest to us show love?  Does getting ratty with the people walking really slowly down the high street that we are stuck behind show love?  Does getting cross because the car in front of us is in our way show love?  Does crossing over to the other side of the road when we see people we don't like the look of show love?

On the whole, in today's society there is a generally sense that everyone just puts themselves first.  I think this, I want to do that, I want to be there, I should be first....  We know we should love others, we say we love some people, we act in a way which only shows love for ourselves.

Other examples include forgiveness-  We are taught to 'forgive others as Christ have forgiven us.'  We say that we forgive people, except if they have done something really bad or they have specifically wronged us or one of our family.  Then we often treat people as if we haven't forgiven them, we hold grudges or are 'off' with people.  Often this is something which works out over time, but is this because we have forgotten the hurt or have we actually forgiven them?

But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will the Father forgive your trespasses.  Matthew 6:15

Faith-  We are taught to have absolute faith in Jesus, no questions asked.  Then we talk to people about our faith and it is often not overly convincing....  Do we have total faith, without a shadow of a doubt?  How about the way we act, when we are getting cross about our life not going where we want it to go or looking how we want it to look?  When bad stuff happens, when people get ill.  How do we show total and unwavering faith through whatever life throws in our direction?

Then we think about Christmas.  We celebrate Christmas because of Jesus.  Because Jesus was born to be our Saviour.  This is what we are taught, this is what we believe.  And then we talk about Christmas, and we talk about what presents we want and what food we want and when we are going to do all the things that we want to do.  When are we putting our tree up, do we have our advent calendars.....

For God so loved the world, that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16

Then it gets to Christmas- a day which is all about getting presents, giving presents, eating as much as we can and probably drinking a fair bit too.  Do we go out to church in the morning?  Do we have time?  How long will the service be?  What time will I get home for my lunch?  What about my family, they wont want to go to church....

We need to become more like the people we know we should be, more like the people we are taught to be and we need to talk in a way and act in a way which represents this to all those around us.

Tis the Season

Last time I posted I talked about focusing on what is important.  This is something which has very much been on my mind over the last few weeks, it is all to easy to get swept away with 'life' isn't it.  Society around you, tv and media, other people, yourself...  All these things can get in the way of what this life on earth is really all about, if we let them.

Tomorrow afternoon I am taking my last assembly in school before the Christmas break and the message which I really want to get over to the children is to focus on exactly what Christmas is all about.

Look around you, do you see what Christmas is all about?  You see trees and decorations, you see advent calendars and stockings.  The shops are full of food and alcohol, not to mention all the Christmas gifts which have taken over the shelves.  Children are getting dressed up for their school performances, others are waiting in anticipation for the Christmas TV guide to hit the shelves.

We're planning what we are going to eat, what we are going to watch, who we are going to see and what we are going to give them.  We are hoping that we are going to be given the things that we have asked for, or have hinted towards!  Christmas jumpers and hats are back in fashion and the Christmas DVD collection has been retrieved from the attic.  Have you seen Father Christmas yet, or booked your pantomime tickets?  Are you planning on going carol singing or are you thinking about locking the front door and turning the hallway lights off, just in case any carol singers are heading your way?

In the assembly which I am leading tomorrow, I am going to start off with the baby Jesus in his crib.  Then I am going to call up some children to represent Mary and Joseph, the Wise Men, the Shepherds.  Perhaps I will have some animals represented and will bring along a tree and some decorations.  Maybe we will throw some food in there and a pile of presents.  Then we'll get other children up to represent family and friends and some carol singers too.  Other things may be thrown into the mix as well, depending on what I think of at the time.

The point is, that with all of these people and things up the front, there is no chance you will be able to see Jesus in amongst it all.  A true representation perhaps, of how we treat Christmas today.  Where is the real reason we are celebrating this time of year- in fact, the only reason that we have this celebration at this time of year.  How high up on your list of festive priorities is Jesus?

It struck me, as a parent, that Christmas is a bit like watching everyone else celebrate your child's birthday, giving little, if any consideration to who your child actually is, who's birthday it actually is.

Strip all of this away, or at least tone it down a little and right at the heart of everything that's going on is Jesus, the Son of God.  A gift, for everyone.  A gift that can bring you peace and comfort, joy and blessing, a gift that can healing, the only gift that can bring you eternal life.

Just spare a thought, as you rush around to get ready for this Christmas time, for the actual reason why all of this is happening.  None of this stuff that we all get wrapped up in (excuse the pun) at Christmas time is bad but don't let it get in the way of what it is really about.

Focus on what's important

It's incredibly easy to go about our everyday life, swaying in different directions, feeling different emotions and holding different opinions, solely based on what is happening at any given moment.  The way in which we live our lives, the jobs we do, the people we spend time with, the news we read, the things we watch, all have a huge effect on us and can all too easily take our focus off what is really important in life.

This last weekend, I spent a couple of days near Swindon on a conference for youth workers.  The theme of this year's conference was 'Follow the Leader'.  One of the 'strap-lines' on the opening page of the programme read 'This weekend is time set apart to focus on Jesus.'

On reflecting upon this weekend I was drawn back to a talk which I gave a few weeks ago at my church which brought out three key points which should help us to concentrate on what is really important in our lives and hopefully ensure that we waste less of our time being pushed backwards and forwards each day, by our work, by people and by the media.

The first point is that 'we have got to make room'.
This may seem like an obvious point but if you really think about it, how much room do you really give to the important things in your life on a daily basis?  How much room do you give to your children, or with your husband/wife.  How much room do you give to your favourite hobby or your best friend?  For Christians like myself, how much room do we give Jesus in our daily lives and how much room to we give to serving Him?

I used the analogy of being like a boat in the talk that I gave and how if nothing is in control of the boat, or if the wrong thing is in control of the boat, it'll end up as a shipwreck.  We will end up as a shipwreck if we don't allow our lives to be piloted by the things that really matter to us, the important stuff!

It us all too easy for things to take up our time, take away our time even.  This weekend helped me to realise this, returning home with a bottle of wine and a bunch of flowers for my wife and refocusing my role within the church on one that is focused solely on the cross and nothing else!

The second point is that 'we have to get uncomfortable'.
Devoted our lives to the things that are really important to us is never going to be easy.  Life will try and distract us from these things, society will try and distract us from these things, the devil will try and distract us from these things.

When I talk about being uncomfortable, I don't mean that we should remove the mattress from our bed or sell our sofas, what I mean is that we must become uncomfortable with those things around us which are taking us away from what is important.  We need to stand up for what we believe in and we need to stand up for who we believe in, both of which will inevitably bring you to a place where you will encounter some resistance.

As Christians, persecution is talking about in the Bible- standing up for your faith, sticking with Jesus, goes totally against the grain of today's society and the way in which people live their lives.  Sometimes this results in a peaceful agreement to disagree but sometimes this results in arguments, persecution, mocking- I'm thankful that at present, we live in a country in which you wont get killed for standing up for what you believe in.

Something that will stick with me forever was the incredible outpouring of pain by several hundred young people at Soul Survivor two years ago.  Prayer was offered for any young people dealing with self-harm or suicidal thoughts and hundreds went forward.  As a follower of Jesus, as someone who is called to love others, to quote my Facebook status on this day in question, 'I am incredibly uncomfortable with the way in which we live our lives and the devastating effect this is having on the children and young people we are raising.'

Life and society will try and throw things my way in an attempt to distract me from my call to love people- it's these things that I have got to be uncomfortable with, what is it for you?

The third and final point was that we need to 'hold on'.
In our 'throw away' society where things don't get fixed, they just get replaced, we need to hold on tight to those things that mean everything to us.  Sometimes life is easy and sometimes it is not but through it all, we must cling on to what is really important to us.

Throughout the gospel of Jesus we see miracles taking place, because people held on to Jesus.  People had faith in Jesus, people trusted Jesus and people followed Jesus.  Miracles still take place today in and through the lives of people who put Jesus first.

What is the most important thing in your life?  Make room for it, get uncomfortable with the things that distract you from it and above all, hold onto it for dear life.

'Although my faith may stumble and falter, though troubles find me, here I will stay.  The past that held me, has lost it's power and death has lost it's sting.  Hold on, I'll hold on to the cross.  Love so amazing, so divine, hold on, I'll hold on to the cross.'

'.... they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.'

So it’s been a while since I ‘blogged’ but I have been incredibly challenged recently in a number of different ways and feel the need to document this challenge, for my own benefit if nothing else!

God recently gave us a fresh vision at my church and the heading of this is ‘Loving, Reaching, Building.  Jesus: God’s Answer for our Community.’  Over the last few months we have been working through this vision during our services, exploring what the Bible teaches on the different areas of this vision from God.

Most recently we have started a series on Reaching and have been looked at the book of Acts, looking specifically at how God used the apostles and others to spread the Word.  Last Sunday morning we read from Acts 8 where it talks about Philip proclaiming Christ in Samaria and performing ‘miraculous signs.’  

Verse 7: ‘With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed.’

On Sunday evening we read from Acts 10 and 11 and looked at Reaching with Risks, specifically in relation to Peter and his revelation of ‘how true it is that God does not show favouritism,’ (10:34).  Peter went against ‘religious traditions’ as, and I quote the speaker from Sunday evening, Clive Bennett, “When God wants us to reach out, obedience trumps religion!”

This coming Sunday I am preaching from Acts 11:19 onwards, exploring the ‘Unknown Christians at Antioch.’  All of this, as well as a conversation which I had on Sunday morning with a chap which the Holy Spirit had led to my church with a clear message from the Lord, has got me thinking and really challenged me about healing and about how we ‘do church’.

If you read through the book of Acts, as we read about the Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost, the birth of ‘the church’ and the mission of the Apostles and others to spread the Word, we constantly see recounts of the Holy Spirit coming on those who were hearing the message, God anointing people with ‘power’, people being baptised and healed through miraculous signs.

How much of this is present in the way which we ‘do church’ today?  Are we ‘doing church’ as God intended or are we doing it for ourselves, the way which we want to do it?  How much ‘control’ does the Holy Spirit have over the way which we ‘do church’, in fact, how much control does the Holy Spirit have over the way which we ‘do Christianity?’

If you ask many Christians today about healing, as I have done, the answer you invariably receive is that God will heal ‘if it His will.’  Well, if you explore Scripture, we quite clearly see that it IS God’s will that everyone may be healed.  

We believe that God can heal but we are not sure it is always His will.  ‘My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge,’ Hosea 4:6.

We believe in Jesus right?  Jesus, God’s Son is ‘the exact representation of his (God’s) being….’ Hebrews 1:3.  Jesus ‘healed all the sick,’ Matthew 8:16.  When Jesus healed the sick, he never prayed about whether it was God’s will or not for one simple reason, he knew it was God’s will!  Nowhere in the Bible do we see Jesus refuse to heal anyone and we know that Jesus always did the will of God (John 5:19).  Jesus healed everyone who came to him, no question about whether his Father wanted him to or not!

We then look at the ‘Great Commission.’  We often, as Christians acknowledge the command to ‘Go into all the world and preach good news to all creation,’ whether we actually do or not is for another time.  But do we follow through the Great Commission in Mark’s Gospel to the end, where it says ‘they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well,’ (16:18b).  Note, it doesn’t say they might get well, it says they WILL!

It’s important at this stage to acknowledge the fact that it was the sick people who had the desire to seek Jesus and to touch him.  Jesus never did and never will force healing on anyone.

Hebrews 13:8 says, ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever.’  What Jesus did when he was on earth, he will do today and tomorrow and next week and forever!

God speaks to us in mysterious ways!

I could go on and on with different Scripture references and examples, but how can you argue with what has already been said?  It clearly is God’s will that people be healed, God hates sickness, we hate sickness so why don’t we step up and through Jesus, in line with God’s will, heal people!  I was very challenged by many things which the man that the Holy Spirit sent to us on Sunday morning was saying but one thing in particular spoke to me and as I was organising the church sanctuary this morning I was reminded- why do Christians sit in church with tissues up their sleeves?  You could apply this logic to any ailment that Christians sit in church with from tissues up their sleeves, crutches by their chairs, depression, medication in their handbags, even people sitting in wheelchairs.

Where is our faith that God wants to heal us?  I am preaching to myself too, as a sufferer of anxiety as well as psoriasis, when did we start to doubt that it is God’s will to heal?

We read a minute ago that Jesus Christ has never and will never change, the verse before that in Hebrews chapter 13 says ‘Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you.  Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.’  Remember those people I alluded to at the beginning of this blog, the people who spread the word in Acts?  Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:16, ‘Therefore I urge you to imitate me.’  

Ephesians 5:1, ‘Be imitators of God.’

God’s perfect will is to heal His children.  Jesus came to earth and carried out the will of his Father.  The Apostles followed and others still do today.  We see healings in the town centre of Bognor Regis on a Saturday, we see healings at Soul Survivor, we see healings online and through films (The Holy Ghost- highly recommended!).  Do we see healings in our churches?  Do we see healings in our lives?

The question we have to ask ourselves is not, ‘is it God’s will,’ the question we need to ask ourselves is ‘do we have the faith in God’s perfect will, that we can be healed and that we can heal those people that God sends our way?’

Remember this, ‘I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.’  John 5:19.  Have you seen the Father heal people?  ‘Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.  Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.  And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.’  

That is you and I brothers and sisters and it’s about time we believed it!