The other night I was chilling and chatting with Jesus, as I was telling me Jesus about my frustrations with the world today and about the state of holiness in our generation, Jesus rudely interrupted me with a mesmerising vision.
I saw myself hanging on a rope and the sense of fear and confusion washed over me, I was literally sitting in my room scared! for some reason I couldn't control my emotions, Jesus obviously wanted me to see something. I asked him to show me more. In my vision I looked up the rope to see what it was attached to, as I looked up all I saw were dark clouds filling the entire sky. I looked down to see what would await me if i let go and saw the ocean,going absolutely crazy! It looked like it wanted to eat me. At the sight of this I decided to close my eyes and grip my piece of rope tight, as tight as I could. In the vision I had found myself in the middle of a storm, stuck in the middle between fear and confusion not knowing what was going to happen next.
While the clouds continue to gather and darken and while the seas continued to roar I saw in the horizon a glimpse of sunlight which immediately reminded me of
1 Corinthians 13:13 - And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
I asked Jesus how the verse and the vision connected and he told me that faith is believing that God holds the other side of the rope even if I cant see him. He told me that hope is the sun and the sun is a promise of a bright day to come and he told me that love is the greatest and my love for God is what kept me holding onto the rope.
We all have tough times in our life we all feel fear and confusion but no matter what happens to the world or us three things will always remain: faith, hope and love. I came around from my vision worshiping Jesus singing the lyrics
I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on,
there will be an end to these troubles but until that day comes.
Still i will praise you, still i will praise you.
p.s I forgave him for rudely interrupting my prayer.
Thursday, 23 December 2010
Thursday, 18 November 2010
I Can't Explain....
...how passionate and committed I am to building the biggest and the most powerful youth group to have ever existed on this earth!
I am gonna try explain though. Every single young person that lives in Bracknell and that comes to the Kerith does so because that is they way that God has planned it! Check out Acts 17:26 - Its strange to think that God has that much control over everything but to be honest it is stranger for me to think that God doesnt have control, otherwise he wouldnt be God. In a way it is strangely comforting. This verse tells me that I have a purpose and a reason for being at the Kerith and any young person that walks through the door also has a purpose and has walked through that door because God has said it will be so!
Now that I know that God has me here for a reason I feel empowered, excited and hungry to discover what he has instore for me. I think for me it is to rise up a generation of world changers who will be radical with their love, who will be passion about holiness and who will be deeply in love with their creator.
I am so fired up to see our youth group continue to grow both, numerically and spiritually!I want miracles to become a regular thing in the lives of young people, I want to see 1000 young people inside the Kerith on a weekly basis, I want young people to be in a real and satisfying relationship with God and I want to see young people gathering round their friends houses, not to get drunk but to pray and read their Bibles!
For the next season in my life I am comitted to this! I dont know how long that season is but as long as God has me here I will give every breath to making this dream become reality.
I am gonna try explain though. Every single young person that lives in Bracknell and that comes to the Kerith does so because that is they way that God has planned it! Check out Acts 17:26 - Its strange to think that God has that much control over everything but to be honest it is stranger for me to think that God doesnt have control, otherwise he wouldnt be God. In a way it is strangely comforting. This verse tells me that I have a purpose and a reason for being at the Kerith and any young person that walks through the door also has a purpose and has walked through that door because God has said it will be so!
Now that I know that God has me here for a reason I feel empowered, excited and hungry to discover what he has instore for me. I think for me it is to rise up a generation of world changers who will be radical with their love, who will be passion about holiness and who will be deeply in love with their creator.
I am so fired up to see our youth group continue to grow both, numerically and spiritually!I want miracles to become a regular thing in the lives of young people, I want to see 1000 young people inside the Kerith on a weekly basis, I want young people to be in a real and satisfying relationship with God and I want to see young people gathering round their friends houses, not to get drunk but to pray and read their Bibles!
For the next season in my life I am comitted to this! I dont know how long that season is but as long as God has me here I will give every breath to making this dream become reality.
Saturday, 9 October 2010
Why We Live
The lyrics from RPM's song, Why We Live, Verse 1:
Listen close to what i'm saying, it's important you listen.
Church of God its time to wake up to the things that we're missing.
Causally Praying that we wanna live like Jesus did,
Open our eyes and let us see with a heart like his.
So now we can't react the same when we turn on the news.
Can't let it just wash over us, we gotta learn from it too.
We were called to clothe the hungry and feed the poor,
I want blessing but someone always needs it more.
The same twenty pounds I spend putting food in my mouth,
In the third world could put a brand new roof on a house.
And yeah, we can't all fly around the globe i know,
But we were called to reach the world outside our comfort zone.
I'm willing to pay the price because souls are expensive.
While we're living in a time of political correctness,
let's stop apologizing like our message is offensive.
People die and go to hell i think we really need to get this.
This ain't a dress rehearsal now, this isn't pretend
It's time to stop being dominated by decisions of men.
Cos we were called to be the fishers of men,
and Jesus died so we'd never be referred to as the victims again.
I'm determined to make a change cause he says that i can.
This is my generation so i'm taking a stand.
I push aside common sense this is straight from my heart.
God i refuse to leave this earth without making a mark for you.
This is why we live
Monday, 27 September 2010
Being a real Youth Pastor
Last week I received a facebook message from one of the young people that attends LIFE, this person has recently become a Christian and is totally sold out for God. They have already got involved in different areas around the church that are outside of LIFE and is a true inspiration to me and many other people.
In the facebook message the young person describe a problem that they were having and wondered if they could talk to me about it as they were really struggling and needed some advice. They asked if we could talk at LIFE but then the young person said that she understood if i couldn't meet with her or help her because she knew I would be busy.
The words in the message struck me, I am a Youth Pastor and what does a Youth Pastor do? Pastor Youth. after reading this message my mind only had one question in it....."Have I made myself to busy to be a real Youth Pastor?" My time should be filled with helping young people and pointing them closer to Jesus, in the excitement and growth of LIFE have I lost the reason why I started this.
When you look at the life of Jesus you read a story of one of the most famous man on planet, both at the time he lived and also today, however you also read a story of one of the most personal men on the planet. Jesus spent a lot of his time speaking to large crowds but he also spent time round peoples houses eating meals with them, Jesus saw some of the craziest miracles but he also sat an listened to people in need and Jesus could of made everyone fall to their knees and worship him because of the power he had but he decided to wash the feet of his followers instead.
There is nothing wrong with speaking in front of thousands or praying for the impossible however we must never lose the personal touch that Jesus demonstrated. I must make myself available for young people to talk to, I must do my best to remember the names of the young people I meet and I must be willing to serve them with whatever they need even if that means at some point I will have to wash their feet.
In the facebook message the young person describe a problem that they were having and wondered if they could talk to me about it as they were really struggling and needed some advice. They asked if we could talk at LIFE but then the young person said that she understood if i couldn't meet with her or help her because she knew I would be busy.
The words in the message struck me, I am a Youth Pastor and what does a Youth Pastor do? Pastor Youth. after reading this message my mind only had one question in it....."Have I made myself to busy to be a real Youth Pastor?" My time should be filled with helping young people and pointing them closer to Jesus, in the excitement and growth of LIFE have I lost the reason why I started this.
When you look at the life of Jesus you read a story of one of the most famous man on planet, both at the time he lived and also today, however you also read a story of one of the most personal men on the planet. Jesus spent a lot of his time speaking to large crowds but he also spent time round peoples houses eating meals with them, Jesus saw some of the craziest miracles but he also sat an listened to people in need and Jesus could of made everyone fall to their knees and worship him because of the power he had but he decided to wash the feet of his followers instead.
There is nothing wrong with speaking in front of thousands or praying for the impossible however we must never lose the personal touch that Jesus demonstrated. I must make myself available for young people to talk to, I must do my best to remember the names of the young people I meet and I must be willing to serve them with whatever they need even if that means at some point I will have to wash their feet.
Monday, 20 September 2010
Project 125
"You know your mind has been renewed when the impossible seems logical" - Bill Johnson
A problem has recently been brought to the attention of myself and about 400 young people that attend LIFE. The problem is this, that girls aged around 15 who live in Serenje, Zambia are struggling to finish their school education, in fact only 2% of them are making it through the entirety of their schooling life, which is 3 years. You may be thinking that maybe their isn't enough money for them to go to school or maybe that their families cant afford it or even that maybe there isn't enough teachers but no all these things are in place. The school is ready to have them, the teachers are ready to teach and the families have made sacrifices to ensure that the girls have some accommodation during the schooling term. The reason that 98% of girls aren't making it through school is because when they live away from their families during the school term they are beaten and raped by men living in the surrounding area. Most of the girls fall pregnant or catch HIV/aids and if neither of these things happen to them well they just run away out of fear....wouldn't you?
However there is solution. A youth group in Bracknell. This youth group go by the name LIFE and they don't like the fact that 15 year old girls are getting raped so they are going to do something about it. This inspiring, motivating, trend setting youth group have decide to raise £125,000 to build these girls a dormitory, a safe place that they can live during term times so they can focus on their education and be free from fear of abuse and rape. They have given this task a name Project 125! The young people of Bracknell see themselves as world changers! mainly because they are and they have decided to change the world of 100's of girls in Serenje. LIFE has taken on this challenge and some say that it is impossible.....hmmmm seems logical to me.
A problem has recently been brought to the attention of myself and about 400 young people that attend LIFE. The problem is this, that girls aged around 15 who live in Serenje, Zambia are struggling to finish their school education, in fact only 2% of them are making it through the entirety of their schooling life, which is 3 years. You may be thinking that maybe their isn't enough money for them to go to school or maybe that their families cant afford it or even that maybe there isn't enough teachers but no all these things are in place. The school is ready to have them, the teachers are ready to teach and the families have made sacrifices to ensure that the girls have some accommodation during the schooling term. The reason that 98% of girls aren't making it through school is because when they live away from their families during the school term they are beaten and raped by men living in the surrounding area. Most of the girls fall pregnant or catch HIV/aids and if neither of these things happen to them well they just run away out of fear....wouldn't you?
However there is solution. A youth group in Bracknell. This youth group go by the name LIFE and they don't like the fact that 15 year old girls are getting raped so they are going to do something about it. This inspiring, motivating, trend setting youth group have decide to raise £125,000 to build these girls a dormitory, a safe place that they can live during term times so they can focus on their education and be free from fear of abuse and rape. They have given this task a name Project 125! The young people of Bracknell see themselves as world changers! mainly because they are and they have decided to change the world of 100's of girls in Serenje. LIFE has taken on this challenge and some say that it is impossible.....hmmmm seems logical to me.
Monday, 30 August 2010
George Whitefield - God's Divine Dramatist
George’s ability to deliver a powerful and passionate sermon is the first thing that draws me to him; even the President of the United States was blown away by his gifting. George didn’t have to have a lifetime of experience to acquire this gifting, in fact he was preaching to large crowds in his early 20’s. During George’s first sermon it is reported that fifteen people went mad under the conviction of their own sin. This man had power right from the word go, he didn’t wait around for an opportunity he grab any opportunity he could. He knew Jesus and he knew his identity because of Jesus.
Having an overview of George’s life helps us see the massive influence this man had. He was one of the most famous people of the 18th century and he wasn’t just known he was loved. He had influence with the working class because he showed them freedom and forgiveness, he had influence in the government because he was an expert in his field and had excelled in his gifting and he had influence with other generals because he was a pioneer and had such great fruit. George was taught and mentored by the Wesley brothers but he had such gifting and grew so fast that soon he was teaching the Wesley brothers how to preach in the open air and he also super seeded them by gathering crowds 10x the size of what they were gathering.
I pray that my life has influence. Influence through my love for Jesus, through immense gifting and through pioneering movements of the Holy Spirit. I pray that this influence wouldn’t just be with Christians but would actually be primarily with the unbeliever and would span all classes and generations reaching from the homeless man on the streets of Bracknell to the President of the United States.
Friday, 27 August 2010
Communication
Apparently around 5,000 text messages are sent in the UK every second!
We love to communicate, it is a natural instinct in humans to want to connect with other people. God actual gave us this desire so that we would be motivated to seek him out and find a relationship/ connection with him.
Being a Christian means that a big part of your life is communicating the truth of Jesus in your culture and setting. We need to learn how to do this properly and effectively To do that we need to look at the example of Jesus and how he communicates. I have listed below the main ways that Jesus communicated to people, read it and start trying to apply one of his methods into your life and see if makes you more effective at spreading the truth of Jesus:
Telling Stories - Luke 10:25-37
Repetition - Luke 15
Humour - Matt 7:3 (Apparently this is Jesus being funny, lol)
Being Visual - Matt 18:1-4
Shock Tactics - John 6:53 and Matt 23:33
Extended metaphors - John 15
Asking questions - Mark 10:19
Interestingly Jesus was asked 183 questions according to the bible and only directly answered 3 of them! with the rest he would answer back with a question which lead to Jesus asking 283 questions. Looks like he wanted to start a debate not end one.
Lastly and most importantly he lived it. Jesus lived out what he believed and that is the real key to communication. If we say we believe something we have to live it out. If you say you believe in Jesus you must show how it affects your life otherwise people will see no reason why it would/should affect theirs.
John 13 :1
We love to communicate, it is a natural instinct in humans to want to connect with other people. God actual gave us this desire so that we would be motivated to seek him out and find a relationship/ connection with him.
Being a Christian means that a big part of your life is communicating the truth of Jesus in your culture and setting. We need to learn how to do this properly and effectively To do that we need to look at the example of Jesus and how he communicates. I have listed below the main ways that Jesus communicated to people, read it and start trying to apply one of his methods into your life and see if makes you more effective at spreading the truth of Jesus:
Telling Stories - Luke 10:25-37
Repetition - Luke 15
Humour - Matt 7:3 (Apparently this is Jesus being funny, lol)
Being Visual - Matt 18:1-4
Shock Tactics - John 6:53 and Matt 23:33
Extended metaphors - John 15
Asking questions - Mark 10:19
Interestingly Jesus was asked 183 questions according to the bible and only directly answered 3 of them! with the rest he would answer back with a question which lead to Jesus asking 283 questions. Looks like he wanted to start a debate not end one.
Lastly and most importantly he lived it. Jesus lived out what he believed and that is the real key to communication. If we say we believe something we have to live it out. If you say you believe in Jesus you must show how it affects your life otherwise people will see no reason why it would/should affect theirs.
John 13 :1
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
Oh how he loves us
Last week was Rocknations. I went to Rocknations praying for two things: money and a prophecy randomly given to me by someone.
During the first meeting I prayed and prayed for these two things believing that God could get them sorted in the first night but nothing happened, I was a little disappointed but I still had faith because we still had another four days. On the second day I went to check my bank account hoping that God had given me some money, I even promised to buy someone lunch knowing full well that i had no money but I thought who needs money when you have faith! Checked bank account it said £3.19.... Oh, looks like I would have to disappoint someone. I began to think to myself during the evening meeting and came to the logical conclusion that because i hadn't tithed this month maybe God was withholding his blessings from me and also maybe I wasn't getting a prophecy because I wasn't spending enough time with him one on one.
Third day. I knew what I had to do. I got alone before God and repeated the line "Speak to me" about 50 times, then went to the meetings that day full of faith that I had done the right thing. Nothing! Over the whole day not one prophecy and I had to ask people to borrow some money because I was completely broke, I was really getting discouraged now. I never blamed God because God is good but i started to blame myself, saying things like "you should of tithed" "you cant expect God to just give you what you ask" all these types of negative things.
On the last day I had given up. I had come to the logical conclusion that I don't deserve his blessings. I was doing my duty as leader and making sure everyone was ready to go home and I was in the last few seconds of my Rocknations experience when a girl in the youth group told me she had a prophecy but didn't know who for, she had written it down on a piece of paper I opened it up and it was so accurate for me! I would explain but that would take up another blog! Just know that what was writted down only God could have told her. I was buzzing, God had spoken to me in the last seconds before Rocknations ended howver still no money.
We get back to church and at the end of the evening meeting a dad from a fantastic church family comes to me and says that during the past week God had told him to give me some money! So he did! I was buzzing. I went home so happy and realised on the drive home that Gods love for me has nothing to do with me. If I don't tithe he still loves me, if I do tithe he still loves me, if I choose to spend my time reading the bible or getting drunk it doesn't affect the love that he has for me and not only that but because I am his child he wants to bless me and he will do so regardless of my behaviour. I got home after having an amazing prayer sess in my car and walk in and found an envelope on the table by the door with my name on it...... more money! Then my dad walks in and says I have transferred you even more money without me even asking!
Oh how he loves us!
During the first meeting I prayed and prayed for these two things believing that God could get them sorted in the first night but nothing happened, I was a little disappointed but I still had faith because we still had another four days. On the second day I went to check my bank account hoping that God had given me some money, I even promised to buy someone lunch knowing full well that i had no money but I thought who needs money when you have faith! Checked bank account it said £3.19.... Oh, looks like I would have to disappoint someone. I began to think to myself during the evening meeting and came to the logical conclusion that because i hadn't tithed this month maybe God was withholding his blessings from me and also maybe I wasn't getting a prophecy because I wasn't spending enough time with him one on one.
Third day. I knew what I had to do. I got alone before God and repeated the line "Speak to me" about 50 times, then went to the meetings that day full of faith that I had done the right thing. Nothing! Over the whole day not one prophecy and I had to ask people to borrow some money because I was completely broke, I was really getting discouraged now. I never blamed God because God is good but i started to blame myself, saying things like "you should of tithed" "you cant expect God to just give you what you ask" all these types of negative things.
On the last day I had given up. I had come to the logical conclusion that I don't deserve his blessings. I was doing my duty as leader and making sure everyone was ready to go home and I was in the last few seconds of my Rocknations experience when a girl in the youth group told me she had a prophecy but didn't know who for, she had written it down on a piece of paper I opened it up and it was so accurate for me! I would explain but that would take up another blog! Just know that what was writted down only God could have told her. I was buzzing, God had spoken to me in the last seconds before Rocknations ended howver still no money.
We get back to church and at the end of the evening meeting a dad from a fantastic church family comes to me and says that during the past week God had told him to give me some money! So he did! I was buzzing. I went home so happy and realised on the drive home that Gods love for me has nothing to do with me. If I don't tithe he still loves me, if I do tithe he still loves me, if I choose to spend my time reading the bible or getting drunk it doesn't affect the love that he has for me and not only that but because I am his child he wants to bless me and he will do so regardless of my behaviour. I got home after having an amazing prayer sess in my car and walk in and found an envelope on the table by the door with my name on it...... more money! Then my dad walks in and says I have transferred you even more money without me even asking!
Oh how he loves us!
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Lifegroup
Every other Tuesday I have the honor and the privilege to lead a lifegroup for young people. This group is made up of 8 fascinating people! Every other week we meet up and read the Bible, Pray, talk about life, eat food, laugh and grow as individuals.
One of the perks of my job is that i spend my time with people, a lot of time and I realised that my jobs success doesn't rely on how much money i can make. It relies on whether i am helping, supporting, loving and leading people well. What i have learnt by leading this lifegroup is that unlike normal business's i can never tick off my goals, as people we will always need support, love and help throughout the whole of lives.
I have seen this group of young people grow so much over the last year or so and I have to say I am so impressed by the people they are growing up to be. They have such a passion to learn more about Jesus and grow as Christian that it makes me want to learn and grow myself. They are so supportive of each other and when we meet together they are quick to share encouraging words and build each other up. Finally I love the fact that this group are so much fun! fun is so important in life and tonight for the last hour we told funny and humiliating stories of our lives and we didn't stop laughing.... I don't know about you but i want people in my life that make me laugh!
If i could say one thing to this lifegroup it would be...Love!
Simple i know but it is the answer.
Love God - Build a relationship with him, follow his teachings and take hold of his promises
Love Yourself - You are a creation of the God, you are unique and you have a purpose of this earth
Love Everyone else - You pass the love on because that is the only way to change the world and when you pass it on it grows even more inside of you.
One of the perks of my job is that i spend my time with people, a lot of time and I realised that my jobs success doesn't rely on how much money i can make. It relies on whether i am helping, supporting, loving and leading people well. What i have learnt by leading this lifegroup is that unlike normal business's i can never tick off my goals, as people we will always need support, love and help throughout the whole of lives.
I have seen this group of young people grow so much over the last year or so and I have to say I am so impressed by the people they are growing up to be. They have such a passion to learn more about Jesus and grow as Christian that it makes me want to learn and grow myself. They are so supportive of each other and when we meet together they are quick to share encouraging words and build each other up. Finally I love the fact that this group are so much fun! fun is so important in life and tonight for the last hour we told funny and humiliating stories of our lives and we didn't stop laughing.... I don't know about you but i want people in my life that make me laugh!
If i could say one thing to this lifegroup it would be...Love!
Simple i know but it is the answer.
Love God - Build a relationship with him, follow his teachings and take hold of his promises
Love Yourself - You are a creation of the God, you are unique and you have a purpose of this earth
Love Everyone else - You pass the love on because that is the only way to change the world and when you pass it on it grows even more inside of you.
Monday, 21 June 2010
Mind-Blowing
The distance between the Earth and the Sun is 93,000,000 miles. This is mind-blowing stuff, I use the term mind-blowing because are minds/imagination/brain can't truly comprehend this level of greatness or magnitude so to help this information blow your mind let me put it like this. If you travel at 70mph it would take you 1,328,571 hours to reach the sun which equates to 55,357 days or 152 years! Kaboooom! (That's the noise of your mind blowing)
The sun is the closest star to Earth the next star in line is a star called "Proxima Centauri" the distance to PC is about 4.3 light years, did your mind just blow?... Nah mine neither, 4.3 light years means nothing to me, let me put it like this. If you grab a piece of paper and the thickness of that paper represents the 93,000,000 miles between earth and sun then you would need to stack up enough paper to reach 22 meters high to represent the distance between the Earth and PC! Kaboom!
The furthest star we know about is called GJ 682, this star is about 16.3 light years away from the earth. Your stack of paper would need to reach 88 meters high to represent that distance! I will let you do the math to figure out how many miles that will be.
In the Bible it says that God can measure the universe with the size of his hand! How big must God be?! Kaboooooooom!
Sunday, 20 June 2010
10 weeks - 1000 youth
On the 16th of April we started are second term of LIFE, that was 10 weeks ago, since then we have seen 1000 different young people walk through the Kerith doors on a Friday night. Numbers aren't everything but it is the best way to measure your fruit and when we really think about it, it is more then a number it represents people, 1000 people in fact. 1000 people who have now had an experience of Church, 1000 people who have heard the gospel, 1000 people who have seen miracles and 1000 people who have had a chance to get right with God.
This is simply incredible and I have never seen anything like it before in my life, I am so excited to be part of this move of God, to be part of such an incredible team that just wants to help this generation reach it's full potential and I am so excited because God is making my dream, and the dream of others, a reality.
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen"
This verse is a promise! this verse is from God and God always fulfills his promises.
This is simply incredible and I have never seen anything like it before in my life, I am so excited to be part of this move of God, to be part of such an incredible team that just wants to help this generation reach it's full potential and I am so excited because God is making my dream, and the dream of others, a reality.
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen"
This verse is a promise! this verse is from God and God always fulfills his promises.
Saturday, 19 June 2010
One Liners
Here some one liners that have inspired me at some point in my life. Some of them are from preaches i have heard, some are from close friends, some are from my own mind and some are from Jesus. If there is any that you like and would like me to write a separate blog post on then please just comment and I will do my best to write one. Here we go! Hope you enjoy!
Live for an audience of one.
Private victory leads to public victory.
If your Bible is in tatters your life wont be.
Power without purity is frustrating but purity without power is inexcusable.
The devil is out of date its time for the gospel.
If you don't know what your calling from God is, serve someone who knows theirs.
If you kneel before God you can stand up before anyone.
Lets stop reading the bible and start experiencing it.
Live your life and God will give you a wife!
Love is spelt TIME
Faith is spelt RISK
You know your mind has been renewed when the impossible seems logical.
Live for an audience of one.
Private victory leads to public victory.
If your Bible is in tatters your life wont be.
Power without purity is frustrating but purity without power is inexcusable.
The devil is out of date its time for the gospel.
If you don't know what your calling from God is, serve someone who knows theirs.
If you kneel before God you can stand up before anyone.
Lets stop reading the bible and start experiencing it.
Live your life and God will give you a wife!
Love is spelt TIME
Faith is spelt RISK
You know your mind has been renewed when the impossible seems logical.
Thursday, 6 May 2010
Anatidaephobia
Anatidaephobia is the fear that somewhere, somehow, a duck is watching you! It is a real phobia and is slowly becoming a global crisis. 198,807 facebook users suffer with this phobia and it is slowly spreading throughout the whole world. There is a facebook group dedicated to helping the sufferers of this horrific phobia, on the page you can hear stories and eye witness testimony's of how ducks are slowly taking over the world and how they are becoming a real danger to our national security.
This fear is real in my life and all started when I was aged 5 and my family decided to go on a nice walk through Dinton Pastures. My loving father gave me the job of bread carrier and I was excited to be given such responsibility at such a young age. I was excited that I would be a part of helping young ducklings grow into healthy strong ducks. I approached the waters edge and throw large amounts of bread into the water hoping that the ducks would see me as a generous giver, after a few minutes of feeding a beautiful range of birds I tied up my bag with the remaining bread still inside and turn around expecting to see my family standing there smiling at the amazing job I had done, I was surprised to find a family of ducks instead. I told the ducks that I had finished my bread giving for that section of the lake and if they wanted some they would have to go further up the lake but they refused to listen and began quacking uncontrollable at me! the force at which they quacked horrified me to my very core the ducks began to circle me and some started attacking my bread bag. I began to fear for my very life "GO AWAY" I yelled at the top of my lungs but this only made things worse as they began to jab me with their rock solid beaks, the jabs forced me to take step after step backwards until I took a step and realised that there was no longer any floor underneath my feet instead their was just water! I began to fall, I throw my arms around in the air hoping to restore some balance which would keep me on the ground and just as gave up hope and accepted my fate of getting wet my heroic father grab my arm and pulled me to safety. My father pick me up and carried me back towards the rest of the family and as my head lay on his shoulder my eyes full of tears I heard a loud and final "QUACK" which let me know that this war was not over in fact it had only just begun!.
Since then I have had some dramatic encounters with ducks. One was at my school where a group of them gathered outside the art block waiting for me to finish my lesson they stood there with pure anger in their eyes, their wings were flapping as they tried to show me how manly they are, luckily they were stopped when a group of older kids throw cans at them and chased them out of school. Another time was when a suicide duck threw itself at me when I was having a peaceful picnic with my friends in the park. This unprovoked attack was ended when a friend of mine throw an American football at the suicide duck which then ran away like a little girl duckling!
This war is serious and so far we have been winning the battles but I fear that the ducks are building a mass army which will some day be unleashed upon the unsuspecting world. Be scared and be prepared!
Monday, 3 May 2010
Bringing Worship to LIFE
Worship = The basic meaning of the word for 'worship' is to express, by words or by bowing down, profound and submissive respect or adoration.
LIFE = A Friday night youth event at Kerith Community Church where 300+ young people gather to have a laugh, meet some friends and whether they like it or not, hear about Jesus.
I want to bring these two things together. I want the young people to have such a burning desire to worship this Jesus they hear so much about. The question comes up though, How do we get to that place?
On Friday we made a fantastic start! We had a worship band play at LIFE and invited young people to worship God however we didn't really start here, to be honest we started all the way back in September. You see in September we decided as a team to always preach about Jesus every week at LIFE no matter what and this is where it all started because we can't expect people to worship God if they know nothing about him so in September we began to introduce people to Jesus.
We have been doing all we can to introduce people to Jesus for the past 7 months and on the 30th of April we gave everyone an opportunity to worship God. The band was made up of young people between the ages of 15-21 and they poured their heart into the worship, they were passionate, professional, inspiring, talented, bold, creative and they allowed the Holy Spirit to flow through them like the river Thames flows through London!
Because of the bands hard work and the grace of God I witnessed about 100 young people worshipping God that night. You might think this is a failure because there is 300 people at the event and only 100 were worshipping but I want to remind you that these are young people, the world would tell us that on a Friday night young people would be on the streets getting drunk and causing trouble, however last Friday I witnessed 100 of those young people decided they are going to worship God instead!
LIFE = A Friday night youth event at Kerith Community Church where 300+ young people gather to have a laugh, meet some friends and whether they like it or not, hear about Jesus.
I want to bring these two things together. I want the young people to have such a burning desire to worship this Jesus they hear so much about. The question comes up though, How do we get to that place?
On Friday we made a fantastic start! We had a worship band play at LIFE and invited young people to worship God however we didn't really start here, to be honest we started all the way back in September. You see in September we decided as a team to always preach about Jesus every week at LIFE no matter what and this is where it all started because we can't expect people to worship God if they know nothing about him so in September we began to introduce people to Jesus.
We have been doing all we can to introduce people to Jesus for the past 7 months and on the 30th of April we gave everyone an opportunity to worship God. The band was made up of young people between the ages of 15-21 and they poured their heart into the worship, they were passionate, professional, inspiring, talented, bold, creative and they allowed the Holy Spirit to flow through them like the river Thames flows through London!
Because of the bands hard work and the grace of God I witnessed about 100 young people worshipping God that night. You might think this is a failure because there is 300 people at the event and only 100 were worshipping but I want to remind you that these are young people, the world would tell us that on a Friday night young people would be on the streets getting drunk and causing trouble, however last Friday I witnessed 100 of those young people decided they are going to worship God instead!
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Flame On!
In the Fantastic Four there is a superhero called Jonny Storm (The Human Torch) who has the ability cover his body with fire and because of the energy and power that this results in Jonny then has the ability to fly, the ability to throw fireballs in any direction and he can also harness enough power to go supernova and basically blow up whatever he likes. The really interesting thing about this power is that he can turn it on and off he doesn't have to be on fire the whole time. If Jonny did walk around on fire the whole time then he would set fire to things and burn loads of people which would make him an awful superhero.
In my first mentoring session with Sola Osunoiki, Sola challenged me on a similar problem to that of Human Torch, when to turn the fire on and off, Sola challenged me to turn the fire off sometimes (Spiritual fire not real fire). My response to this is was " are you joking you should always be on fire for God" Sola then continued for the next three hours to show me why this was a good idea, I still didn't get it! Afterwards i drove home and thought about this the whole way home i couldn't understand why you wouldn't want to constantly be on fire for God! Over the next few weeks i prayed and read my Bible trying to hear God's thoughts on the matter and a couple of weeks later I found 1 Corinthians 9:22 which reads
"To the weak I become weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some"
This struck me! but i still wasn't convinced. God then proceeded to up the game. I went on a training course the week after and I received two prophecies from two different friends of mine (they had no idea what had happened to me in the weeks before) here they are, almost exactly as they said it.
I see you on fire (lol), from head to toe and you are going round making everyone else on fire however sometimes you keep trying to set the same person on fire and actually you begin to put them out. This picture means that you are on fire for God and you are gifted at inspiring others to do the same, however if you keep applying pressure you begin to put the fire out.
I saw you as a lion and you are a really powerful and strong however some people were afraid to approach you. God is saying that sometimes you need to be as approachable as a lamb but as powerful as a lion.
After this I learnt my lesson and it is the best lesson i have ever learnt. Like the Human Torch I need to learn when it is most effective for me say Flame On!
Saturday, 24 April 2010
Cardboard Testimony
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvDDc5RB6FQ
This video shows real people in their real lives with real problems. People think that being a Christian is just about being nice and friendly and never upsetting anyone or never talking about the problems in your life. When really it is the complete opposite, in fact a big part of Jesus' revolution was the fact that he talked openly about the problems that we, as the world, had got ourselves into. Being a Christian isn't about trying to act like you know all the answer and that your life is perfect it is about saying " I haven't got my life together, I have messed up, I have hurt people and I am not perfect but i will put my trust and hope in God and not in myself because he will never leaves me and will always love me"
The truth is that Jesus is the answer to all our problems. That doesn't mean that a Christian's life is perfect and that Christians never have any problems, it means that no matter what life throws at them they will always depend on God's love.
This video shows real people in their real lives with real problems. People think that being a Christian is just about being nice and friendly and never upsetting anyone or never talking about the problems in your life. When really it is the complete opposite, in fact a big part of Jesus' revolution was the fact that he talked openly about the problems that we, as the world, had got ourselves into. Being a Christian isn't about trying to act like you know all the answer and that your life is perfect it is about saying " I haven't got my life together, I have messed up, I have hurt people and I am not perfect but i will put my trust and hope in God and not in myself because he will never leaves me and will always love me"
The truth is that Jesus is the answer to all our problems. That doesn't mean that a Christian's life is perfect and that Christians never have any problems, it means that no matter what life throws at them they will always depend on God's love.
Thursday, 15 April 2010
Forget
Forget about worry - God holds tomorrow in his hands
Forget about fear - God's love rescues
Forget all your troubles - Jesus has overcome the world
Forget about rejection - God accepts you
Forget about being perfect - Jesus is perfection for you
Forget about pride - God will lift you up
Forget about darkness - Light overcomes it
Forget about temptation - Jesus withstood all of it
Forget about sickness - Through Jesus' blood you are healed
Forget about suffering - Jesus suffered the cross
Forget all your wrongdoings - You have been forgiven
Forget about your life - Give it to Jesus
Forget about what people might think - Live for an audience of one.
Forget about fear - God's love rescues
Forget all your troubles - Jesus has overcome the world
Forget about rejection - God accepts you
Forget about being perfect - Jesus is perfection for you
Forget about pride - God will lift you up
Forget about darkness - Light overcomes it
Forget about temptation - Jesus withstood all of it
Forget about sickness - Through Jesus' blood you are healed
Forget about suffering - Jesus suffered the cross
Forget all your wrongdoings - You have been forgiven
Forget about your life - Give it to Jesus
Forget about what people might think - Live for an audience of one.
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