A few days ago we recorded a podcast...
http://web.me.com/tom.bray/Site/Podcast/
What if?
Sunday, 27 December 2009
Staying up late
I love staying up late, listening to music, getting nostalgic, becoming hopeful, thinking thoughts, sitting back, smiling, relaxing with friends, wondering about how things have changed...
http://web.me.com/tom.bray/Site/Podcast/
Monday, 21 December 2009
I like the sentiment
"If I had my life to live over again, I'd try to make more mistakes next time. I'd relax, I'd limber up, I'd be sillier than I've been this trip. I'd make more trips. I'd be crazier. I'd climb more mountains, swim more rivers, and watch more sunsets. I'd eat more ice cream and less beans! If I had to do it over again I'd go places, do things, and travel lighter. If I had my life to live over I'd start barefooted earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I'd ride on more merry-go-rounds. I'd pick more daisies."
An anonymous friar
Happiness
"trying to find happiness from this world is like trying to light up a dark room by lighting a succession of matches. You strike one, it flickers for a moment, and then it goes out. But when you find Jesus Christ, it's as though the whole room's suddenly flooded with light."
Professor Joad
Friday, 18 December 2009
Things I love about being home (no particular order)
1. Our shower.
2. The cat.
3. Mum and Dad.
4. No hills.
5. Minimal commitments.
6. People just around the corner.
7. TV.
8. Big, cumfy sofas.
9. Nostalgia.
10. Friends.
11. Warmth.
12. People from Southport.
13. Asda.
....
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
A tribute to Colin Bedford
What a man.
A pillar of our church died on friday. I got a text simply saying "Colin went home today", at first I was confused, then sad, then joyful. That is right. Colin went home.
This man has served his Lord for YEARS. He has testimony of all God has done throughout this time, in his life, in the life of his church, in the life of those around him. His stories were amazing, his networking vast, his knowledge encyclopedic and his love abounding.
There were several occasions when I was negative about Colin, but many more where I was encouraged by his words. He was always there with a welcome, a joke or a bit of knowledge of the world. I expect his funeral to be packed, mainly with people he brought to Jesus, people he served and people he encouraged. He continued to minister to the over 50s of our church for years after he retired from the ministry, bringing many to the church, taking many around the world to Israel, Toronto and other places and serving wherever he could.
He was one of God's leaders. He was a holy man. He knew Jesus, very well.
Colin leaves a big hole.
Praise God for his life!
Saturday, 12 December 2009
A GMH...
Today, I was on the London tube. I was looking at the posters as I went down the escalators and there was one on plastic surgery. Someone had placed a sticker over the womans face that read
'You don't need this. You are perfect the way you are.'
'You don't need this. You are perfect the way you are.'
THAT IS RIGHT.
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
GMH
Melissa has just introduced me to the website http://www.givesmehope.com/.
I love it. People sharing about times when they have experienced real love, real joy, real hope at the hands of other people.
Jesus gives us that.
I want to give people the real love, joy and hope that Jesus has given me.
I don't like stopping reading the Givesmehope stories. They are lovely.
I love it. People sharing about times when they have experienced real love, real joy, real hope at the hands of other people.
Jesus gives us that.
I want to give people the real love, joy and hope that Jesus has given me.
I don't like stopping reading the Givesmehope stories. They are lovely.
"I don't touch any of that crap, my body's a temple."- Pheonix Nights
Later on at the student meeting this sunday a different elder (John) brought a word from Ezekiel 47. What a passage! He read about the river from the temple, and how the river first comes into our lives like a trickle but God's love overflows and overwhelms us so we can no longer stand in it and have to swim in his living water.
Wonderful imagery of a promise God sets out for us.
I was then drawn to reading all about the temple in Ezekiel, the vision of how the temple will be, we hear about the words on each gate, the rooms for priests, rooms for sacrifices, the altar, the glory of the temple, the people who live in the temple and then how the river flows from it. It is seven chapters of detailed description of the temple of God, going into amazing depth.
Then I thought about how we are the temple of God, how he is dwelling inside us and Ian Portwine pointed 1 Corinthians 3:16 to me where we read that we are God's temple, and I realised that we are described that intricately by the Lord, he goes into that much depth (like in Ezekiel) about how wonderful we are, how precise we are made to be; this made me joyful.
Then I was drawn to John 7:37 (the verse our student meeting is named after - "737"), and read about how Jesus tells those who are thirsty to come and drink. I then read on as he says - "Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."
Streams of living water flowing out of the temple as we believe in Jesus. We are not just overwhelmed by the water that God gives to us, by his love and joy, but we are where his love and joy flow from. We have streams of living water flowing from inside us, we are temples of God.
Quality.
We need to acknowledge this and treat ourselves in this way. We are a wonderful beautiful temple, we need to treat sin and dirt as if it has no rite to be anywhere near us (it doesn't have any rite) and we need to remember that we are home to the holiest of holies, this makes us holy and this makes us pure.
Wonderful imagery of a promise God sets out for us.
I was then drawn to reading all about the temple in Ezekiel, the vision of how the temple will be, we hear about the words on each gate, the rooms for priests, rooms for sacrifices, the altar, the glory of the temple, the people who live in the temple and then how the river flows from it. It is seven chapters of detailed description of the temple of God, going into amazing depth.
Then I thought about how we are the temple of God, how he is dwelling inside us and Ian Portwine pointed 1 Corinthians 3:16 to me where we read that we are God's temple, and I realised that we are described that intricately by the Lord, he goes into that much depth (like in Ezekiel) about how wonderful we are, how precise we are made to be; this made me joyful.
Then I was drawn to John 7:37 (the verse our student meeting is named after - "737"), and read about how Jesus tells those who are thirsty to come and drink. I then read on as he says - "Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."
Streams of living water flowing out of the temple as we believe in Jesus. We are not just overwhelmed by the water that God gives to us, by his love and joy, but we are where his love and joy flow from. We have streams of living water flowing from inside us, we are temples of God.
Quality.
We need to acknowledge this and treat ourselves in this way. We are a wonderful beautiful temple, we need to treat sin and dirt as if it has no rite to be anywhere near us (it doesn't have any rite) and we need to remember that we are home to the holiest of holies, this makes us holy and this makes us pure.
The sharpest suit you will ever wear
The student meeting at church this week was a lovely time. We worshipped the whole way through for about an hour and a half, different people brought different words, prayers or thoughts through the evening. One of the elders (Alan) said something about who we are, why we are free to worship, why we can meet with God. One phrase that he said resounded in my head and heart, he told us all that we are now clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. He said a lot more, but I only really took that in.
My thoughts went into overdrive, I was reminded of baptism and particular baptism at church at home. Those who are baptised walk into the water, are dunked, and walk out, amazing symbolism of death to our old lives and the start of the walk in our new lives, exciting. After they get out they are wrapped by someone they love in a bright white dressing gown (it is grey now after a few years! Someone get some Daz!) and walk away to dry off and then worship the Lord.
This picture was speaking to me about being clothed in the righteousness of Jesus.
We approach God's throne as unworthy sinners, we should be trembling in his sight, we do not deserve to be near God, but while we are still far away from the throneroom we meet Jesus who wraps us tightly in a beautiful, bright dressing gown that is his righteousness and brings us through to the father presenting us perfect and holy in his sight. The father sees us and Jesus, he smiles at his children and can do nothing but love.
Jesus died so we can come to the father like this, so we can approach his throne with confidence, so we are free from our old lives, from condemnation, from fear, from embarrassment and so that we are dressed in the finest, tailor made Italien suit this world will never see...
My thoughts went into overdrive, I was reminded of baptism and particular baptism at church at home. Those who are baptised walk into the water, are dunked, and walk out, amazing symbolism of death to our old lives and the start of the walk in our new lives, exciting. After they get out they are wrapped by someone they love in a bright white dressing gown (it is grey now after a few years! Someone get some Daz!) and walk away to dry off and then worship the Lord.
This picture was speaking to me about being clothed in the righteousness of Jesus.
We approach God's throne as unworthy sinners, we should be trembling in his sight, we do not deserve to be near God, but while we are still far away from the throneroom we meet Jesus who wraps us tightly in a beautiful, bright dressing gown that is his righteousness and brings us through to the father presenting us perfect and holy in his sight. The father sees us and Jesus, he smiles at his children and can do nothing but love.
Jesus died so we can come to the father like this, so we can approach his throne with confidence, so we are free from our old lives, from condemnation, from fear, from embarrassment and so that we are dressed in the finest, tailor made Italien suit this world will never see...
Friday, 4 December 2009
Battle
A few of us prayed today. It didn't seem easy to actually find somewhere to pray. We had planned to meet in the library, I had forgotten my campus card. I had booked a room in the library, but they wouldn't let me have the room because I had no card. It seemed very petty. We then tried to go to a little room in the engineering department that we thought we could use, we couldn't get in, so we went into a lecture theatre, sat down and prayed. It was a short but lovely time of prayer for the science site, for durham and for our lives. Thinking about what Sean Feucht had said over us students all those months back, when the weather was hot and we were on fire for more of God.
However, I couldn't help but think someone didn't want to it happen.
Maybe that is encouraging.
The weather changed, I think we are still on fire.
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
The price to pay
Small group is consistantly a blessing to me. I love the people there, I feel I learn every week. I feel loved, encouraged and needed. A lovely place to be.
Recently at church we have had preaching on forgiveness, on repentance, on the cross. I missed one week because I was out with the young people. This week we were discussing the sermon and looking deeper at forgiveness, the small group filled me in about the sermon, about Philemon and the wonderful story and difficult time he went through.
It was an excellent summary! I got a lot from the group filling in the gaps.
Then, we began to discuss forgiveness. The general consensus was that we must forgive like Jesus did for us (I was fine with that, spot on) but people must still be punished for doing wrong (I couldn't believe what I was hearing, we are not punished for sin).
It seemed to be that this was all wrong, 'No, surely we need to forgive as Jesus did, without consequence, we sinned, we hurt our Lord but still we are free to be in a relationship with him, surely this is how we must live' I thought.
My understanding was... even if something horrific happens to you, you still must forgive and love as if it had not happened, this horrific thing should not happen again but you were safe in the knowledge the perpetrator had been forgiven, there need not be any consequence for the sin or crime because there was no consequence for our sin or crime from the Lord.
I then had a bit of a brainwave (I might credit this one to God speaking to me).
Of course there was consequence for our sin. Jesus was that consequence. He paid a HUGE price for each and every one of us on the cross. He took that incredible weight of sin on his shoulders and died in our place. The price was so high there was nothing any of us could do without Jesus, without his love on the cross.
So does forgiveness come with consequences? Of course it does.
"Should we keep on sinning so he can keep on forgiving? Of course not!" After forgiveness pain, suffering and sin must stop.
If sin does not stop, if we do not have repentance, if we continue to be wicked there must be consequence, a serial killer, a long term abuser, a professional theif must stop committing crime, and in this world they must pay the price. In the kingdom, Jesus paid the price, hence we must accept this and turn away from our sin.
We need to repent. If not then there may be consequence (I say may, there will, but see last post...!)
I haven't really got this across very well.
Recently at church we have had preaching on forgiveness, on repentance, on the cross. I missed one week because I was out with the young people. This week we were discussing the sermon and looking deeper at forgiveness, the small group filled me in about the sermon, about Philemon and the wonderful story and difficult time he went through.
It was an excellent summary! I got a lot from the group filling in the gaps.
Then, we began to discuss forgiveness. The general consensus was that we must forgive like Jesus did for us (I was fine with that, spot on) but people must still be punished for doing wrong (I couldn't believe what I was hearing, we are not punished for sin).
It seemed to be that this was all wrong, 'No, surely we need to forgive as Jesus did, without consequence, we sinned, we hurt our Lord but still we are free to be in a relationship with him, surely this is how we must live' I thought.
My understanding was... even if something horrific happens to you, you still must forgive and love as if it had not happened, this horrific thing should not happen again but you were safe in the knowledge the perpetrator had been forgiven, there need not be any consequence for the sin or crime because there was no consequence for our sin or crime from the Lord.
I then had a bit of a brainwave (I might credit this one to God speaking to me).
Of course there was consequence for our sin. Jesus was that consequence. He paid a HUGE price for each and every one of us on the cross. He took that incredible weight of sin on his shoulders and died in our place. The price was so high there was nothing any of us could do without Jesus, without his love on the cross.
So does forgiveness come with consequences? Of course it does.
"Should we keep on sinning so he can keep on forgiving? Of course not!" After forgiveness pain, suffering and sin must stop.
If sin does not stop, if we do not have repentance, if we continue to be wicked there must be consequence, a serial killer, a long term abuser, a professional theif must stop committing crime, and in this world they must pay the price. In the kingdom, Jesus paid the price, hence we must accept this and turn away from our sin.
We need to repent. If not then there may be consequence (I say may, there will, but see last post...!)
I haven't really got this across very well.
God 1 - Devil 0
There are some times in life when I actually start thinking about who God is, what is actually happening, and how that effects us.
This means I start asking questions.
Here is one.
I know that on the cross Jesus said "It is finished!" and I hold on to that truth. It is finished, he has done it, death is beaten. We no longer are condemned by the law, we are no longer slaves to sin, we are free, we are alive in Christ, we are living life in all its fullness and will be made perfect in his glory at the end.
But what happens to those who are not saved? We know that Jesus fought the Devil and won. When someone is not saved what is happening in them going to hell? (Do they go to hell?)
My logic (which is often dodgy) tells me that if the devil has been beaten, he has been beaten, Jesus did it, GAME OVER. But we also know that we need to be prepared for battle (armour of God), does this mean there is potential to lose?
God and the devil are not even in the same league, they are not competing, never were competing, never will be. But if someone goes to hell is God's will fulfilled? Does he not wish Salvation on all men? Is hell a time when God loses? And if people do end up in hell is that the devil becomming victorious in that individual battle?
So my question is this ... Is hell, as a necessity* (rather than a punishment), a part of the war (against the devil, against evil, against death) that the cross can never win?
I want to say no. The cross is enough. God's grace is enough, but in saying no does that mean all are saved? Please give me a kick if I am being foolishly stupid or blind. Or if I am being just foolish. Or if I am barking up the wrong tree.
*I use the word necessity as I realise that God cannot be near to sin, and my theology would say that only Jesus can wash us of sin, so hell is a necessary outlet.
This means I start asking questions.
Here is one.
I know that on the cross Jesus said "It is finished!" and I hold on to that truth. It is finished, he has done it, death is beaten. We no longer are condemned by the law, we are no longer slaves to sin, we are free, we are alive in Christ, we are living life in all its fullness and will be made perfect in his glory at the end.
But what happens to those who are not saved? We know that Jesus fought the Devil and won. When someone is not saved what is happening in them going to hell? (Do they go to hell?)
My logic (which is often dodgy) tells me that if the devil has been beaten, he has been beaten, Jesus did it, GAME OVER. But we also know that we need to be prepared for battle (armour of God), does this mean there is potential to lose?
God and the devil are not even in the same league, they are not competing, never were competing, never will be. But if someone goes to hell is God's will fulfilled? Does he not wish Salvation on all men? Is hell a time when God loses? And if people do end up in hell is that the devil becomming victorious in that individual battle?
So my question is this ... Is hell, as a necessity* (rather than a punishment), a part of the war (against the devil, against evil, against death) that the cross can never win?
I want to say no. The cross is enough. God's grace is enough, but in saying no does that mean all are saved? Please give me a kick if I am being foolishly stupid or blind. Or if I am being just foolish. Or if I am barking up the wrong tree.
*I use the word necessity as I realise that God cannot be near to sin, and my theology would say that only Jesus can wash us of sin, so hell is a necessary outlet.
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