The Lunchtime Sermon

Evolution - Biblical?

2008-03-11T11:47:00.005Z

Something genuinely shocked me this weekend, it’s not really that easy to do, but I actually had to take a step back and say “whoa”. Whilst talking to a fellow Christian (who shall remain nameless and genderless), they said the following statement – “I believe that evolution is true, it’s what God used to grow life”, when I challenged the notion of ‘Did we come from apes?’ they responded with “yes”.

Let me be absolutely crystal clear right from the word go on this subject. This is biblically, theologically and doctrinally wrong. Right down to it being beyond wrong and go to the extent of blasphemous. Why? Because to question the 7 day creation theory, is to question the whole bible and the nature of God. The bible more than explicit about this. Genesis 1 v 1 – In the beginning, GOD CREATED the heavens and the earth. How much clearer could it be? Listen; don’t be sucked in on marrying the scientific theories with our biblical faith. It’s a popular thing to do I know, but its dangerous territory.

Lets follow this course, lets say for example, that God created the heavens and earth in not just 7 days, but 700 billion years (as the popular evolutionist theories go…), lets say that there are 100 billion years between the days as detailed in the bible. Somehow, the impact of the biblical notion of creation looses its clout somewhat. If God couldn’t do what the bible says and SPEAK the word, and had to rely nature to take its course, then are we questioning the very notion that God is all powerful? I think so. If we question that God is all powerful, then we need to throw into question the two other characteristics of God – All knowing, and all present. If he is not All powerful, then he cannot be all knowing as he would require power, and if he is not all knowing, then he isn’t all present because he would be all knowing. Right? WRONG. God is all of these things.

If you claim that the bible omits “billions” of years, then you are questioning the word of God. In by doing so, you have questioned his power, knowing and present ness, and now his word. Let me be clear, if you question one aspect of the bible, and choose to not believe it as it is written, you are questioning every word, every story, and every truth. If you are doing that, then you have missed the biblical truths and the whole point of God all together. Listen, it is not by accident that it was written exactly as it was, God created the world in 7 days, just by speaking the word. If evolution is true, and we are indeed just evolved from apes, you might as well just get out there and do what you want, because ultimately, nothing matters, death is just survival of the fittest and existence is unnecessary.

If however, you believe one word of the bible, and its good news and message – you know inside, in your soul, that this isn’t it, and then take heart. The bible’s message is clear, listen, if you have any questions about this, or anything about the Christian faith, give me an email.

In Christ’s Name, and in His Power.

Mikey

How is best to Serve God?

2008-02-22T09:20:00.001Z

I was asked by my lovely fiance to put together some pearls of wisdom for some publication that she was putting together. But i thought i would share them with you also...

8 Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, [a]
we wait for you;
your name and renown
are the desire of our hearts.

This verse is the personification of what it means to be a Christian. The 4 lines should really strike a chord with all Christians. It speaks of adhering to God’s laws, waiting for God to comeback, praising his name and speaking of the only desire to our hearts being for God. We should all take great comfort in knowing that the words of Isaiah here are what we all feel. What is being said here is the order in which God should be praised. We should be adhering to God’s rules first and foremost, without this base, the rest of praise and serving for God would not work, secondly waiting. We have all waited for God, regardless of what stage of our walks is on. God teaches us patience. But we know, thirdly, that God’s name and his works and perfect will is the desire of all of our hearts.

Use this verse as a motto for today, try and walk in its format. Obey God, wait for his action and have his Name and knowledge that he is perfect at the centre of our hearts. With this base, a holy empire will be built.

In His name - Mikey

I'm coming back...

2008-02-20T13:27:00.000Z

OK, so I had started to write some new ones and had planned on storing them up so that I could do a few series here, alas however, it wasn’t to be. Obviously something I had said wasn’t to be published simply because my work computer died and I managed to loose everything.

However, I am encouraged to see that this site is still attacting hundreds if not thousands of visitors per month and its encouraging that the words that I used some 12 months or more ago are still having an impact on peoples lives.

I’m not going to do a full sermon today, but what I will do is just leave you with a thought about the sermons coming up. I do have a series saved on my computer at home, and one which I hadn’t finished giving to Dell road church before I hurt my ankle late last year.

What would you do if everything you knew or loved just got wiped away within a couple of days? What is it that you would think if you just woke up one day and you had nothing? Not a penny, not your family, not even your health. What would you feel? Pain? Anger? Resentment? How about these feelings – Happiness? Joy? Peace? Serenity? Not too close to the top of the list are they. Over the next few days (could turn into months but we’ll see) we’ll be looking at this in a bit more detail For now, if you wanted to prepare, read Job chapter 1-4.

(i might even post the first one today... we'll see).

In Christ’s Name
Mikey

Mikey is getting married... no really!

2007-09-03T13:03:00.000+01:00

Hey everyone,

Been a little bit too long since i posted here... i will get back on it soon i promise, just a quick note to say that Nell and I are getting married! She accepted my proposal and we're very happy at the moment.

Will write more very shortly but just thought i would pop in and say!

Much love in christ to all.

Mikey.

Job - Faith Soldier

2007-08-01T13:15:00.000+01:00

I’ve started to prepare for my sermon and I’ve found myself finding so many things to say but really not wanting to go off on a tangent every point in my sermon! Its strange I really expected me to struggle with filling a 30 minute slot and I’ve found that I could probably do a 3 point sermon for every verse almost! I thank God for the fact that I’ve been trying to run a tap and I’ve suddenly had a river of thought and points!

One of the things which I had been thinking about last night was that God’s hero’s are all so much of failures of human proportions. Lets take for example Moses, he was an adopted son of a Hebrew woman bought up in the palace to such a high position, a murderer and yet look at how much God used him? That’s just one example (I’ll be using this one in my sermon so for those who are coming… you know what part of my point is!) but the more I think about these things, the more I realise that there are so many unsung hero’s in the bible that are great examples to us but seem to be very lost in our memories.

I’m going to look at one of these today and share with you why I hold this particular person in such high regard in my mind and why. Some of you who know me best know that my favourite book in the bible is Job. Not because its short and to the point, but its simply because it shows faith and love towards God through the hardest of times and the most difficult of situations that if you and I were faced with in this day and age we would have cried out to God curses and really turned your back on him, indeed, I had just a small taste of loss and I was so quick to point the finger at God and for me to turn my back and run. The fact is this, Job was a faith soldier.

Picture the scene, you’re an upright lover of God and you do all things according to his plan to his design. You’ve got a big family and plenty of land and livestock, (the equivalent to having a big house and a fancy job with a Lamborghini on the driveway), and you are blessed by God. Satan can’t stand a successful God loving and fearing person so what does he go and do. Says to God, “its your holy hand outs that’s keeping him so much in love with you God, take it all away, and he’ll surely deny” (Job 9 and 10, obviously not exactly how it is written in the scripture!)

God knew Job’s heart and knew where his love for him came from so he said to satan that he can strike down and take everything from Job but not to hurt him. As the story goes on, even this happeneds and what does Job do? Well he praises God even further and thanks him for the turmoil! How many times can we say we do that? His friends all came around him asking him what he was doing and why didn’t he just end it all, obviously God has left him to his own devices and was not blessing him any further. Again Job stands by God and defends him.

At the end of the book, it says this;

Job 42 v 12 The LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. 13 And he also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. 15 Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job's daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.

16 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. 17 And so he died, old and full of years.

So you can see that Job never gave up, he got through his tests by the Devil and came out the other end with a lot of blessings from God.

Right, here’s my point of the sermon here – Don’t give up. 3 words, as simple as that. If I could sum up how I would do my Christian walk better, its this. Never give up, never stop trying and never think you have failed. Moses murdered yet he was used by God and met him on a mountain, David was an adulterer, and God made him the greatest King in history, peter denied Christ yet used him to build the church. Can you see my pattern here. Although these people did sin and although these people did fail to attain the highest standard of God, they were used by him. So don’t give up, we are not worthless to God infact quite the opposite.

In Christ

Mikey

2 Corinthians 1 v 3-7 - How are you?

2007-07-30T22:34:00.000+01:00

Its Strange to think Of the doctors as a social meeting point. But Just a couple of Minutes or Sitting in a surgery waiting room and the notions of data protection goes out of the window. Suddenly you hear about people's medical problems and the cocktail Of drugs and their colourful Side affects! I must confess however. I find the waiting room chatter fascinating. Hearing about Mrs browns bunions and her daughter's problems with OCD.

It struck me as I sad there this morning that when we are within a certain environment we really open up to the subjects of that environment. Take for example the doctors surgery. People are going there for a specific purpose to get their illnesses assessed and to get their pills for the week. Because everyone there has something in common, that they are ill and in need of help, its easy for people to open up to each other. Whilst I sit here I think of the similarities between the waiting room and the church. When we go to church we know we share at least one common interest and that is we are there at church to learn or at least seek god.

But unlike the waiting room where older ladies who are a little hard of hearing shout about the latest illness to each other, Christians have a strange inability to talk about Christian issues. When was the last time you asked someone about their spiritual life? When was the last time you asked a fellow Christian about the Christian life they are leading. How often do the same conversations circle every Sunday? "how are you?" someone asks, "fine thank you, how are you" comes the response! And this goes on for about 3 conversations where you feel you have done your Christian duty and go home for your lunch. Does this sound familiar? It does to me. I am in no way saying that asking how people are is wrong, in fact its great, but... If we just ask it not expecting someone to say "not great, can you help me".

I suffered with depression a few times but the first time this really affected me I was confused by the responses I would get from some church goers. The usual Sunday conversation would start to kick in "hey mike how are you?" someone would ask, "not good I'm afraid" I would respond... Then silence. Sometimes a nervous laugh where the person would try and suss out if I'm joking or not 'you've broken the conversation cycle, what do I do now?' I could see them thinking.

Why do you think that this happened? Well there are of course many feasible reasons. Perhaps there is the notion that people simply don't mean to ask the question but mearly that they were being polite. Its possible but I think unlikely because I know that most Christians have a great deal of compassion towards each other. Ok then, so perhaps the question of "how are you" has become somewhat familiar, perhaps like saying "I love you" without thinking it to your brother at the end of a phone conversation because you are so used to saying it. You mean what you say, like you are genuinely interested in how someone is but are completely thrown when you don't get the usual responses. This is also very probable but I want to pose one other possible reason.

Could it be that we are scared? Scared of someone making us question our own walk with Christ? Scared that the response will be "not great" and we will have to pastoral give support when the roast potatoes are burning? Similarly are we scared that if we do not respond with "fine thank you" we will be putting someone into an awkward position and almost forcing then to talk to us about the problems we are facing. It is easier in the long run just to say "good thanks" and no one feels awkward.

The fact is this ladies and gentlemen. We are not always peachy. We are not always "fine thank you" and not always "good cheers" and as Christian brothers and sisters we should never be scared to say so. The bible says that we are supposed to be like priests to each other and to give pastoral support to one another.

2 Corinthians 1 v 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

You see what Paul is asking Christians in the church at corinth to do is to cast our trouble upon him so that we can help others to do the same thing.

The next time someone asks you how you are. Be honest, don't be scared to talk about it as god himself calls us to do. But also, the next time you ask "how are you" actually be prepared to help someone if they say that they are not fine.

In Christ

mikey

Insurance vs Christianity

2007-07-20T14:53:00.001+01:00

At last I hear some of you cry, a new sermon from Mikey Nash… or not as the case may be! Firstly thank you, thank you to all those who continue to support me and who continue to pray for me. Its overwhelming that its been over 2 weeks since my last blog and yet I am getting well over 20 hits per day from people and people giving me comments, its awesome and I thank and praise God for his provision.

So here we are, July 20^thand the rain here in England just keeps on falling! Its incredible really how much rain we’ve had, partly the reason why I’ve had no chance to update the blog or even attempt to put a message on here explaining my absence! A lot of my client’s have lost a lot of money and a lot of time from the rain and it threw into sharp relief the real reason why insurance is there. The best definition of insurance was told to me by a wise man a long time ago (ok, it was my boss about 6 years ago), it is to make sure that when something goes wrong, it can be made right again.

Its strange to think about Christianity in the same way of Insurance but there are some similarities between what we believe and what we strive to do and the insurance industry. Bear with me, these links aren’t exactly concrete but they do link, I promise you!

Number 1 – The safety net. When you take out insurance you pay a small premium and you know that if something happeneds to your car, your house or your business it is (most of the time) covered and you will be put back into the same position as when the incident took place. As Christians, we take out our religion, pay a premium of our whole lives in dedication to God and to doing his will and in return, we KNOW that when we die our eternal salvation is safe! Ok so that’s a very “blasé” way of looking at it, but it still is true.

Number 2 – Piece of mind. When your insurance company issues you with your cover notes, you can read through it and see what is covered and when and also how much excess you need to pay for the privilege. As such, you can ‘see for definite’ the cover which you have and the piece of mind this brings. As Christians we also have the same principle with the bible. We can see word for word what God has to say about situations and what God has to say about our salvation and see the plan from start to finish. To me that is an awesome privilege and something which I hold very dear.

So there you have just two examples of where insurance, and my very boring job has in common with Christianity and my very exiting religion!

I’ll try and keep on top of these lunchtime sermons, I am preaching on the 12^th August 2007 at widney evangelical church. All are welcome so if you want me to give you more detail, contact me on mikeynash@hotmail.com.

Thanks guys, in christ’s blood alone am I saved.

Mikey.

God Says "No" - Remember!

2007-07-04T13:02:00.000+01:00

I wonder how many of you have ever asked your mum or dad for something only to be told “no”. Probably 100% of you have had this experience, either being told No, or having to tell your child No. I can remember asking my mum and dad to go to the cinema with my friends once when I was about 11 or 12. We were going to see a 15 film without having any adults there. I can remember trying to justify it to them that it wasn’t that bad and we’d be in a big group. My dad very rightly said that I couldn’t go. At the time I resented him for saying it because I wanted to do it so bad, the film looked amazing and I would have been with all my mates.

It worked out however, that my mates went to the film (which I saw years later and it was terrible!) and they managed to get the police involved in the evening. In hindsight, it was the best thing for me when dad told me “no”. I wonder how many of you have ever realised that God does the same thing, and actually takes this in to account when we pray for something?

When we make plans and when we ask God for help with those plans sometimes he can say no because its not the right time, or even the right thing that works in God’s plan. We have to rememeber that God sees all, past, present, and future and as such we can have a sure and real sense of peace when approaching the future as long as we trust God in his providence.

A lot of you know my plans thus far and know what I’m thinking of doing. I’m ready for God to say no. There are some of you who would find that strange because of how far along I’ve come with the plans and with the preparation, however, God’s will must be done in my life. If its God’s plan that I complete my application and go through the stresses and strains but not to actually go, then that’s fine. I can already see what changes and things which have become more prominent through these things.

For example, had I not started the application process, there are one or two things that may not have been bought to light. One of these is Nell and my relationship with her. I didn’t realise how much she means to me until I was faced with 4 years of uncertainty with what is going on and being uprooted. Perhaps part of God’s plan here is to show me that these things are available and that I’m suited and gifted enough to do it, but not yet, he has other things to do.

I don’t know, but I’m praying that God’s will In my life is being done and that he will reveal to me the plan as I go along. Its strange because it is completely out of my hands at the moment in some respects, and I’m it feels like I’m waiting on God’s plan to made known to me. I’m having a meeting tomorrow with an Elder from the church, perhaps this could be God’s talking to me and saying “No”, but I’m prepared to answer “Ok Lord, your will be done”.

Please please please pray for me and Nell at this time, we’ve faced with some very big decisions that could shape our whole lives together. We need to have God’s peace about situations and trust in his plan.

Thanks Everyone for your support so far, I know that sometimes the blogs have been sporadic and a little bit wayward, but its now 6 months old, I for one cannot belive how quickly the time has flown by but God has been working with me throughout this whole site so far and would value your prayers for this to continue.

In God’s Will, and trusting in his path.

Mikey.

1 John 4v18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Genesis 9 v 15 - There is light ...

2007-07-03T17:01:00.000+01:00

Yet again I am reminded by people that another week has passed by and I haven’t written anything in the blog! This is because of how busy work has been with these floods and freak rain! It keeps me in a job of course but makes me very very busy! So here it is, the Teatime sermon!

Something that has been very shocking that has come out of these freak floods and storms has been certain sectors of the church who have said that this is God punishing us for being un Godly. Apart from being very freaky, it’s a little bit unbiblical also!

Take this passage for instance, which is very relevant to rains especially.

Genesis 9v15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."

I know that God is referring here to flooding the whole earth, however the fact remains that God said he would not bring his punishment upon the earth through flooding in this way again.

It seems to me that some sectors of the church have a really yo yo view of themselves and they change from one extreme to the other to try and attract people to them. They go from “Jesus loves everyone, and it doesn’t matter who you are” to “God is judging humanity and sending the flood waters to sort us out”. Don’t know about you but if I didn’t have a strong belief in what I know already and have a concrete basis of biblical principles I would think that church is a bunch of nut cases who don’t know if they are coming and going.

I’m not saying that some sectors of the church do fantastic work and are brilliant in their biblical doctrine and follow that implicitly, I find these “fickle” Christians who never call on God but in times of trouble and are so quick to blame God but so slow to acknowledge him when things are good. We’re all guilty of it. I’ve pointed the finger more times at God then I like to think about, however when he has answered my prayers, instead of praise, he gets silence from me.

Yes its raining and yes it should be summer (here in England at least) but praise God for the rains, praise God for the times of trouble so that we can reflect upon God and learn to trust him. Yes that’s right, THANK GOD FOR TRIBULATION. If we had it easy street for our whole lives, where would be the salvation and trust upon God’s provision and plan?

Little bit of a rant today, I apologies, its just meant to be a reflection that God loves us and looks out for us and wants the best things for us even when we are going through difficulties.

In Christ’s Name,

Mikey.

Update: Don't do it alone....

2007-06-26T12:10:00.001+01:00

What a week it has been, sorry about the no notice week off I took, it was and still is a pinnacle couple of weeks for me and they are also pivotal to my future! So understandably, I’ve been a little preoccupied. But I’m back on it now, I’m re energised to doing this work and I’m ready to share with you what I have found over the past few weeks.

Firstly, praise be to God. That’s a given. He has blessed me through trials and through situations where I have had to lean on him for his guidance and for his support and I’ve loved every moment of getting to know God better in that way.

I’ve now completed my application form for the Light Project (link to the bottom right of this page) and will be sending this off tonight. Its been a rough and turbulent time to come to the decision to send it off. I have had my eyes open to the fact that this does not only affect me and have an impact on me, it has an impact on all the people around me. Yes, Jesus says “leave your nets and follow me” but there are very real things that could become problems if not dealt with before I go.

I will be the first to admit if I don’t know something. I will look and search for the answere wherever I can so that I will know for future, but lets be honest how can you know the answer to the future whilst searching for it? You can’t, it comes down to the issue of time again and trusting that God will present me with the correct and most helpful situations in his own time! I’ve been quite selfish with my planning of this and to those people who are affected, (you know who you are), I am sorry.

God has presented me with this opportunity, yet God does not call me to be alone in all that I do, indeed quite the opposite. I have to engage and be involved with many many people throughout training and also throughout my life. Nell and I should be looking at this together and looking for how it will work together as apposed to me looking at it and then hoping it all just falls into place in the long run.

I praise God that my eyes have been opened today to that, and before I send my application form off I can call and discuss these things with my family and with Nell. I’m still applying but taking steps forward in conjunction with my family and with Nell to find the right and most amicable path that I can with God at the centre of it all.

My point to you is this. Do not forget that God is all you need, but God does not call us to be alone through life. God indeed calls us to be part of a fellowship of people within a church or within out family lives. Do not make the mistake that you can do it on your own and you do not need anyone. Its not God’s way.

More tomorrow on how things have been revealed to me, but just pray because in about 5 hours, the application form will be en route… pray that God would use that.

Mikey

John 8:12 - Darkness

2007-06-15T12:47:00.000+01:00

I’ve been feeling a little bit lost again today. Simply because my mind feels like its been thrown into the wilderness and things that I would normally cling onto have seemed to just disappeared! Almost like walking on a dark night and not realising that you’re really walking towards a cliff. It wasn’t until I read someone’s signature today of the following scripture when things seemed to be lit up again;

John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

It struck me when I read these words what the implications are. The obvious first inclinations are that we are walking through a world of darkness and God will shine a light so that we can see what and where we’re going, which of course is a very valid and very real and uplifting interpretation. But I want to look further into what Jesus says here.

Imagine, its about 25ad, electricity is still 1900 years off, the best invention to date is probably being able to carry light around with you. Whether that be on a big stick that burns for about 10-15 minutes but around this time there were lamps that were available that could burn for hours using the right fuel. So now that you’ve got that imagination in your head, imagine being in the temple and being poor. You can’t afford to step out into the darkness at night for fear of being robbed, beaten up or worse, you can’t afford a fancy lamp and can’t afford the fuel to go with it.

You then catch a glimpse of a man, and he says “…whoever follows me will never walk in darkness”. Great! No more getting beaten up! But you think about it further, what does it mean?

We have the benefit of knowing the full story, we know from the start, to his death, to the present day and how it all points to one thing. Jesus. But in these days, it wasn’t so clear to see. Imagine the Joy of being told that you will never have to walk the world in darkness. We take these things so much for granted; this is a very very powerful verse that should mean more than it does. We live in a world where if its dark, we only but need to turn on a switch and we have a light source. Imagine not having that.

Jesus of course does mean spiritually there but I always find it interesting to put myself in the position of the people who are around when these words were being said and imagining the impact of Jesus’ words here.

So as I imagine myself lost in the wilderness (which I will touch on more on Monday once I’ve gotten my head around), I imagine what it would be like if there was no light in the world but the sun and being told there is another way to walk in the light. I thank God for his light and for his path which he shows with that light.

Pray for me, I know I ask everyday but I really need it today.

In Christ’s name

Mikey.

Romans 12:1-3 - What more can i do?

2007-06-14T12:51:00.000+01:00

I have read today someone ask the question “what more can I do for God” which in itself is a paradoxical question. There are many ways to answer that and all of them not in itself incorrect however if we actually look at what has been asked in context of our lives we realise that its not a question we can ever ask of ourselves or of God. You see, we should never stop trying to answer our first calling from God and that is to submit all that we are and to be like Christ. The bible says this;

Romans 12 1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual^[a] act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. 3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

How can we obtain this aim, well it is possible and it should consume all of our time because of how difficult it is to do. It states in this passage not to confirm to what the world wants us to be, but how often do we find ourselves trying to obtain the latest fashions, gadgets or trends of the world? In itself that isn’t a bad thing, but we are called to be different. I’m not saying that you should put on some flares and wear a big hat with “kiss me quick, I’m Christian”, what I’m saying is that we should never look around and thing that we want to be like everyone else.

In a similar way, we shouldn’t think of ourselves better than everyone else because we are different. Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you feel superior to someone because you’re going to Heaven, or even less likely to speak to someone because of their background or creed? I know I’ve been guilty of this, and I’m ashamed of that fact but God calls us to look at ourselves before even thinking about judging or assessing someone else lives. When we have obtained perfection, then we have the right to judge others, any of you perfect?

The beginning part of this passage talks about giving our bodies as a sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This doesn’t mean that you should slaughter yourself but to sacrifice all that you are and all that you have to God. We are called to sacrifice things for him, not when it pleases us or when we feel like, it talks about ALWAYS submitting to God everything, forever. I mean its not a small price to pay for eternity but its difficult faced in this culture which we are in these days where it talks about self gratification before anything else. Look after number one and all that Jazz.

In a nutshell this small passage should shape and fashion our ever part of our lives. Pure and simple, submit everything to God, don’t follow the herd and never think yourself better than anyone else. Easy eh? Not in the slightest but the bible also talks about having help in these things.

Romans 8 26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

Do not loose heart if you cannot conform to God’s calling to you, however trying is 100% better than not trying. I know that I fail, every single day but because of God’s love and compassion I can pick myself, learn from my mistakes and keep pushing. Imagine if the first time you failed as a Christian, you just stopped and thought, “forget it”. Where would you be now? Use your own life as a testament to God’s loving and merciful grace to us.

Keep going. And in answer to the question “what can I do more for God”, everything. Pure and simple.

In Christ’s love and merciful grace, always interceding for our sin and the one who took all our mistakes and their implications on the cross.

Mikey.

1 Peter 5: 6-7 - In the door..... GO!

2007-06-13T12:53:00.000+01:00

Well today it dawned on me what it is I’m actually doing and I’m struggling with finding the courage to undertake it. I know God is saying “I’m here holding your hand through fear” but even if you know your parachute is going to open, jumping out of the plane is difficult! I keep catching myself saying, forget it, its too hard, what’s the point, why are you doing this. Don’t get me wrong I know I’m doing the right things and for God’s will as I’ve prayed many many times and feel a peace about my plans, but as the time for the jump closes in, I’m being blinded by anxiety and fear about what to expect, what I’m going to gain, what’s going to happen to my family etc.

AS I think these things however, 1 verse comes to mind that is very prominent in my mind;

1 Peter 5: 6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Going back to the skydiving analogy as I have done many times, but its very real and prominent, before you jump you have 7 hours (sometimes 2 days) worth of training for the 5 second’s from when you leave the plane until you’re floating with the parachute above your head. I feel like I’m in the door at the moment and I’m ready to jump and waiting for the jump master to shout “Go” and I know what I need to do, I know the right things and wrong things to do that could mean the difference between a good jump and bad jump.

When I did my first jump, I was thinking how easy it would be just to sit in that seat, not get up and land safely and get out of the plane and get on with my life. This is the same with my life at the moment, I have a nice job, a nice car, some money and a routine that I could follow until retirement… very easily, what would that actually achieve in the end? What could I say to God when I stand in front of him? “I had the opportunity Lord and I heard you shout, “Go” and I did nothing”. Imagine on that first jump if I hadn’t have jumped. I would have landed, I would have gotten out the plane and had to explain to people why I didn’t jump, more than likely I would berate myself because of my fear. I don’t want that to happen with this.

God has been so awesome in my life and has helped open the door, I’ve been shown it, and I’m sitting there, its almost time for the big moment… I pray for courage to take the jump and to do it in God’s time and according to his will.

I would ask that you pray today for me that this feeling of fear and anxiety is taken away and that God will shout at the right time for me to go.

In Christ’s name.

Mikey.

Luke 21:1 - Giving God Time

2007-06-12T13:05:00.000+01:00

How much do we give to our lives? Ok there are two levels you can look at this question. Number 1 is worldly and number 2 is spiritually. I bet most of you get up in the morning? Make the effort to get out of bed, have food during the day and keep yourself clean etc? Well that takes effort, which we have obviously gotten used to because we do not now notice when we do these things, they have become part of life.

I speak to many Christians who tell me that they wish they had more time, they wish that they could put time aside to read their bible and spend time with God. It’s a common problem, especially with working Christians who work very hard. But how much do we give to our lives to make sure that we have time to relax? Watch our soaps? People say that they have so little time to give. I say to you. Give it. Check out this verse:

Luke 21:1As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.^[a] 3"I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."

On the face of it, it seems to be about how much money we give and how much the poor lady gives in comparison with the rich people. We all know the phrase “time is money” well apply the notion “money is time” here. Replace the money aspect with the time. If you have so little time to give but give it all and give it freely, then you have put in more than others.

Don’t get me wrong, people who spend hours in prayer and reading their bible, that’s awesome, but how about instead of giving just that hour out of your whole evening, why not spend the whole evening doing something for God? I’m not suggesting every evening sit there and pray with your bible, but why not go and see someone who needs help or company in God’s name? Or such like. We do not want to become like the rich guy’s at the temple giving just the 10% with a prayer and some bible reading and hope you’ve ticked all the boxes for that day!

I know it sounds like I’m telling people what to do here, but its something that God talks about, Giving everything to God, this includes time because he gives us that time! I always find that I make the excuse that I’m too tired to read or pray, but I know that every time I do, I feel energized and so much better with my whole outlook after I’ve spent time with God. Let us not be like the rich young man.

Matthew 19: 26 Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

In Christ.

Mikey.

Luke 4 - Covert Tempation

2007-06-11T12:58:00.000+01:00

I was going to do blog on satan’s power and I will touch on that but I’ve had a few things that have affected me over the weekend. In short, I had a dream on Friday night where people were questioning me and shouting things like “who are you to teach people when you do not follow his rules yourself” and “you’re pathetic, you’re not worthy of anything” and being physically attacked by these people. Its difficult to assertain where this dream came from, I first thought it was from God telling me to get my act together and break the chains that bind me to my non Christian life, but the more I thought about it and the more I talked it through, I realised that I have been attacked once again by satan.

What with my plans and what I’m hoping to do, there is no surprise that I am very vulnerable to attack at the moment. I’m looking to give my life in service to God and the best way to attack that is to say that I’m not worth it and that I’m pathetic, like I should stop trying because I’m going to fail. Its so tempting to give up and not follow what I believe is God’s calling as there is so much sacrifice and so much life change and satan knows that, he pounces on that. Jesus however was also tempted by satan in Luke 4. Here is an excerpt:

Luke 4:5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7So if you worship me, it will all be yours." 8Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'^[b]"

Do you see Jesus’ response to this particular temptation? He was shown that he can have it all, he can have authority over all things. In respect to our own lives, how many times have we shone away from doing God’s will because there is something better in it to do something else. In my case, I could very easily continue as I am at the moment, I would probably be very successful and have quite a lot of money, nice house, nice car etc, but for what price? Jesus calls us to leave everything we have to follow him.

I have been tempted to do the easy thing in this situation, but its only made me stronger and more determined to do what God’s will is for me in my life. If that means leaving my Job and money etc (which is becoming clear and plain to see) then I am willing to do that.

When we are tempted, when we are being attacked we sometimes do not spot it for what it is, we need to be vigilant against the attacks of satan as he is cunning and he is very clever. It speaks in Revelation of the beast having, knowledge, authority and an overwhelming intention for all of us to fail and to share his fate, however what he does know and is enraged about is Jesus comes with the free gift of Forgiveness, love and compassion. If we trust in that, we can never fail.

Sorry about today’s blog, it seems a little rambly but I had some points I wanted to make and its difficult to get all the in-depth thoughts down in one lunchtime, but know this:

Hebrews 15: 5b… God has said,
"Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you."^[a] 6So we say with confidence,
"The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?"

What more can I say?

In Christ.

Mikey.

John 5:44 - Seeking Praise from God

2007-06-07T13:20:00.000+01:00

With these exciting times that I am facing and with the many implications that come with these, I’ve also been looking at what attributes and what parts of human personality make a good Christian leader. There are many websites out there which claim to have the answer about what you need to be able to know that you are going to be a Christian leader, there is even one with a 100 question survey that at the end the results tell you if you are going to be good.

The bible also has a lot to say about Christian leaders and what they’re purposes are along with the implications and similarly punishments that come with being in a position of leadership, there is one passage, or even verse that stood out from all the others which I think puts into context not only our leaders, but also ourselves.

John 5:44 (New International Version) 44How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God[a]?

You see there are those Christians, and think we have all been guilty at one time or another, who outwardly seem brilliant. They have everything, they tell you that their prayer time is amazing, they tell you that their bible study is awesome and they will tell you that their relationship with God is the best ever. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that they are not experiencing all of these things, indeed, all of those apply to me at the moment, but my point is this. If people, indeed Christians, state these things in search of praise with other Christians, or anyone for that matter, but do not have it in they’re heart, they are indeed lost and have lost the true meaning of what being a Christian is all about.

There is no coincidence that Jesus picks out these “outward” Christians in his teaching. He mentions the heart many times because that is what God sees.

In the same way of course, if we try to obtain praise from the world by conforming to its sinfull ways and its practices that we know are fundamentally wrong by God and his word, and do not seek the praise from God, we are lost. Our aim in all things that we do is to seek God’s praise and his blessing. If we do that with EVERYTHING that we do, we find pretty quickly that the world’s praise is in vain, it means nothing because ultimately, it won’t save us, but God’s praise will be sustained throughout eternity.

I pray today that we are not being outward Christians and searching for that “pat on the back” and a “well done” from those around us, I pray that we are seeking to do God’s will and in so doing gain his praise.

In Christ,

Mikey.

Ephesians 1:3-5 - Pray in Praise

2007-06-06T09:17:00.000+01:00

God has been so gracious and merciful towards me, and has poured out countless blessings in my life over all of my life, but it is only really recently that I’ve stopped praying just when things are wrong and things are bad. Its one of those Chicken and the egg things, do you pray because you are in trouble or do troubles happen because we do not pray? Personally I think it is very difficult to be prayerful when we feel that we have nothing to pray for! Strange to think that praise does not often cross our minds at this time. Ephesians 1:3-5 is the start of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and of course it is part of a greeting, but lets read his words;

“3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he^[c] predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will”

Why is it that when the world views itself in times of trouble they will cry out to God saying where are you? Yet throughout days of peace and tranquility, they are constantly trying to think up new ways of pushing God out because he’s not needed. The first part of this passage states that God pours out his blessing constantly on and in our lives, and speaks of the ultimate blessing that we have received, the blessing of forgiveness through Christ, surely that’s enough to thank God for!

I don’t know if you know anyone famous or have met anyone famous, but I can’t imagine being a good friend of Tom Cruise, or someone just a famous but knowing that this famous person knows your name and knows who you are makes you feel special in someway. Imagine the God of creation knows your name, the one that was there at the start, who is there now and who will be there until the end of time, and beyond. This God who know’s everything about you and Jesus Christ is being an intercessor for your sin to God. I don’t know about you but it gives me goose pimples thinking about that. Verse 4 states that even better than that, he knew he and us before we even existed chose us to do his will as part of his plan.

I feel very special thinking about that, I feel that what do I have to fear when I have God on my side, what do I have to worry about when God has planned my life and why should I fear the evil one when I know that God has already decided his fate?

I praise God today for his infinite and wonderful blessings upon my life.

In Christ.

Mikey.

I want to share something...

2007-06-05T12:55:00.000+01:00

Hey everyone again, you've got a double post bonus today. I'm on my lunch at the moment. I've got my Ipod listening to some music that i've not heard for a while. What with the uncertainty in human terms of my future I have been obviously praying so hard about my worries when this song comes on. I've put the lyrics here. Meant a lot.

KJ-52: He is All

How long can you live your life
and act like everything is alright?
Why do you try just to only get by
when you know that you're hurting inside?
How long till you lay down your pride
you can't run from him, now where would you hide?
He's been calling you for such a long time
but it's up to you just to open your eyes and that’s why
he waiting for you with arms open wide,
waiting for you just to give him all your life.
He's your father can’t you see you’re his child
waiting for you just to come home tonight?

Do you know?
Do you really know?
He is all you need.

Can you see the thorns on his head
and every single blood drop shed?
Can you see him as he took his last breath?
Can you see him when he rose from the dead?
You're the reason why he had to face death.
I know some things that might bring your life stress.
And you’re concerned about what’s coming next,
feeling so worried ‘cause your whole life’s a mess.
I want to tell you, you can make it thought this.
He'll never fail you, that's what he promised us
and even when things don't seem to make sense
that's the time when you hang on now you just trust.

Do you know?
Do you really know?
He is all you need.

I felt God speaking to me through this song, reminding me of the fact that God is there and he is all that i need when things look uncertain.

Thank you Lord!

Just thought i'd share that.

In Christ

Mikey

The "When" Factor.

2007-06-05T09:11:00.000+01:00

When do we know to do something? I mean generally not just with the spirit. For example, when do we know when to go to the toilet? When do we know when to brush our teeth or get up in the morning (judging by today’s experience, I don’t know when to get up!). My point is, we have all had experience and learned from that experience so that we know when to do things. As most of you know at the moment, I’m planning on doing further training, specifically bible training soon and have been praying about this very thing, not that I know when to go to the toilet although that is helpful, more that I know when.

I can tell you the why, I can tell you the how and I can tell you the where, but the explanation of when escapes me. This is something, which is commonplace for us all. If we look at the scriptures, there have been many times where the characters have known the why, how and where but not known when. The whole of Isaiah is a prophecy about Jesus as the messiah, but because the Jews of the time didn’t know when, they missed him and are still waiting. I for one do not want my life to become like that, missing opportunities even when they are staring me right in the face, but because I don’t know the “when” factor, I miss them.

I think it’s a stark lesson for us all. God does not work within time. He is above time, beyond time and controls when things happen because of that. Nell and I were speaking on my drive home last night and she knows of my patience deficiency! I find myself willing things myself to happen and not to wait, as such I have found myself pushing things through that shouldn’t be pushed and not pushing things that are more important. We as Christians need to trust that God will provide all the necessary factors, the how: God will provide us through his will the means necessary. The why: God’s will cannot be bent to our own will and as such the why becomes “God’s will”. The where: God is everywhere and he knows the needs of people and ourselves, he will place us where he needs us to be. Finally, the when: stuck in time, we have no concept of God outside of this and we need to trust that God’s timing is perfect.

Its not a question of just trusting God for one or a few of these factors, its trusting God in all of them and he will show us his will unfolding. Hindsight is both a blessing and a curse. We can see where we went wrong and what we should have done, but also can see how God works in out lives and where he has provided for us. Trusting in him takes that factor away as we know that if we trust him, God will provide.

In Christ’s most Holy and infinite mercy and grace.

Mikey

Get out of the boat...

2007-06-04T16:42:00.000+01:00

Its time to resurrect this bad boy! Its amazing how circumstances and how directions can change just in 1 month! Its been exactly 1 month since my last blog and there are some things to fill you all in on. For starters, I’m still alive! Just about at least! I’ve been praying for guidance from God as to directions in which he wants me to travel and where I can do the best work for him. Its become clear that the glorification that I do in my current job is being rewarded with something new. A few things have come up which I’m investigating at the moment. One being something that I am very interested in taking.

I won’t go into too much detail right now but it can pay for my whole theology degree over 4 years and give me the ground work of working in the church for that whole period. Its something that seems absolutely perfect for me to do. Obviously there are implications on this which could potentially make things difficult but I’m yet to find an obstacle that I cannot overcome to get there!

Please pray for me that I do God’s will in this situation and its not just me looking for a way out of insurance. I know that its not because I am enjoying my work at the moment, it would be very easy for me to just stay here and I am comfortable but “If you want to walk on water, you’ve got to get out of the boat”.

Praise God for his infinite goodness to us, and to his unfailing love and care.

In Christ

Mikey.

Genesis 2 - Adam: The Start of humanity

2007-05-04T09:10:00.000+01:00

This is the first of a series I’m going to write entitled from Adam to The Lamb, where I look throughout the bible and prominent figures of the bible and at their failings and redemption. I am currently reading a book called “God’s Famous People” by Peter Lewis of Cornerstone Evangelical Church in Nottingham (England) and I promise I will only take inspiration and not content from the book!

I’ve been thinking about many people in the bible and what made them worth being in the bible in the first place and what messages they have for our future and us today. There are hundreds of different people actually mentioned in the bible, but I’m going to look at those figures who are described in some detail, and hopefully by the time we get to the end of this, we’ll have a better knowledge that Christians Fail and it is only by God’s grace and mercy and more importantly, his forgiveness that we can have any chance on those final of days.

As you may well have guessed so far, the first person I’m going to look at is Adam. The first Man, the man perfectly formed and crafted by God’s hand and one that had potential to live with God in paradise and in perfect union with God. Lets take this verse to start with;

Genesis 2 v 15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

I don’t know if you are like me in anyway but if someone tells you not to do something, you start looking for the reason why and when I was younger; I just did it to see if anything bad would actually happen. Adam shared with God a relationship on earth that we will never have until the day of redemption, he could talk to God like he was just sitting next to him and he could feel God’s perfect radiance and peace as Adam had not sinned… yet.

We know from the benefit of seeing the whole bible in it entirety and looking at the way in which the plan works to God’s benefit and unto God’s perfect justice that we cannot approach the throne of God as we are in sin. It’s only through Jesus’ sacrifice and through his love that we can be free, but imagine a time when this didn’t matter. God was there with man.

Adam (in conjunction with his wife, Eve) then decided that they could obtain something better than this. That they could ascribe better knowledge and have the ultimate in Godliness right there in the garden, with God watching on! The serpent spun his web of temptation and Adam and Eve took of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and realized one or two things, which changed everything forever.

Ok you’re not stupid, you know the story, that isn’t my point today, and my point is this. God didn’t give up on us because of our sin and our lust for knowledge beyond God. God sent his son into the world; he took on human form, his own creation to walk among us again and to ultimately take upon himself the Sin, which our ancestors, Adam and Eve had created. Imagine that. God, this ultimate being and this perfect person, cared so much for his creation that he took upon HIMSELF the pain, torment and death that we deserved.

If there’s nothing worth thanking him for today, then this is surely what we should be praising God for now.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, [a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

This verse has somewhat become washed and eroded in Christian’s lives, we should hold onto and really realise what this verse is all about.

In Christ.

Mikey.

I'm Still Here!

2007-04-24T12:34:00.000+01:00

Its been a little while since I “blogged” but I’m still here. I’ve been taking a small break to get my relationship with God strong and to talk to people and God about my future. The situation as it is now is that me and God are strong and I am (trying to) serve God in all that I do, of course I fail but with every set back I try that much harder to succeed! Its awesome.

I’m going to pick up on what I left off in a couple of Days and continue my near daily blog, and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued prayers and for your continued support in the last few months. Its been so amazing seeing God answer my prayers and that is no coincidence that people from 5 continents were praying for me and I thank you all so much for that.

God answers prayers and hears us.

1 Jn 5:14-15 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

We can take great confort in that and want to encourage you to cast all of your cares upon him.

Thank you again, and hope I can continue to strengthen and encourage you.

In Christ,

Mikey.

Further Prayer Request!

2007-04-03T12:36:00.000+01:00

Hey everyone, just a quick note to ask for some prayer. I had a meeting with one of my company directors and he said (with not so many words admittedly) that I've either got to commit to the company or stop wasting their time. I know that God is calling me elsewhere, but I am not sure if this is the opportunity that I've been asking for or not. I do not want people to think that I am giving up and just going but at the same time, i do not want to go against God's perfect plan.

I have a lot fear about what the implications would be if I left, for example there are still bills that need to be paid and there are still commitments financially that I need to fulfill. There is also the question of Brazil in October to think about.

Please pray that I will know God's plan for me and what the right path is for me to take and where he wants me to be. I know that he will not steer me wrong, but I don't want to make the wrong decision based on my own human thoughts and feelings which are of course fallible.

I'd appreciate knowing that you are praying with me through this time. I love God and I will go anywhere he wants me to be but I need to know God's will in this time of uncertainty.

Thanks again for your support!

Mikey

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD

forever.

Matthew 3 - Part 1 - Living Trees

2007-04-02T13:53:00.000+01:00

I don’t know if you’ve ever heard a really awesome speaker, I have, some of my most memorable sermons were the ones where I was transfixed from the moment they opened their mouths to the last Amen! Some times I’ve listened and I’ve been like “yeah, this guy is striking a chord in my heart” and its those speakers who I feel have real authority from God.

Imagine the scene, you’re sitting on the side of the river, probably eating your bread that was made at home, it’s a hot day and you’re dipping your toes in the water to cool off. Along comes a crowd of people following a guy wearing camel hair clothes and a leather belt, eating some locus and honey. I bet you’d be thinking, “I’m going to be killed by a crazy man here…”. They guy stops and turns to the crowd and says the following;

Matthew 3 v 7 - "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

If we didn’t know it was John the Baptist, I can imagine myself at least thinking, “eh?”. But if we actually take apart what he’s saying here, we suddenly realize this is a very real and very scary warning which John gives. The first part for example talks about coming wrath! I know that there are people on the street corners talking about the end of the world and its coming soon etc, but John spoke with authority and power. "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” I’d be scared!

John then goes on to speak about something which some Christians are guilty of and in some respects, all of us are guilty of. The right to do what you want because you are a Christian, well I say to you, “And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham”. You have no divine right on this world because you are a Christian (or in this instance Jewish of Abraham descendants). You can’t just expect to say that you love God and that you follow Jesus and do nothing! It defeats the object and is a grave contradiction in terms. Christian = Like Christ, did Christ do nothing? Of course not he gave his life so that we might live.

If that wasn’t enough to make these people want to dive in there and get baptized, john drives the point home. “The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” Hang on? What did he just say? We need to produce fruit? What does that mean? Well its simple, when you become a Christian, you are sewn into the ground, you spring forth and its only by your fruits that you are shown how strong you actually are.

John is saying here something that I would want you to take with you. If we do nothing for Christ, if we produce no fruit for God, we are dead plants, only fit to be cut down and thrown into the fire. Take encouragement, and warning from this passage. Be not only “sayers” but “doers”, I’ve said before that there are Christians who acknowledge Christ with their lips and deny him with their lifestyle. Do not be dead tree’s, be fruitful and healthy trees. But also, remember that God recognizes those fruits and rewards us for it. If we are working for God, and laying all our problems and cares upon him, we can be strong. Its not by our own strength that we carry on being Christians day by day. With attacks from the enemy, with temptations, but it is by our faithful God that we can do this.

In Christ Alone.

Mikey.

John 16:32 - Trying to Hide?

2007-03-26T12:28:00.000+01:00

Where to start really. I’ve been struggling of late with my own conscience and with my own walk because of 2 main factors really. Sin and also the most important factor – myself. I’ve been worrying so much about what God thinks of me I’ve been scared to do anything for him in case for some strange reason I do it wrong or I offend him by what I think or say. Because of that I’ve been doing to opposite, pretty much nothing in God’s name and I could feel myself drifting away from Him which is really horrible.

It wasn’t until very recently that I realised that I’d not properly prayed or properly read his word and found all manner of excuses not to do this blog because I felt wrong doing it. But here I am, how did I get to this point from there you may ask, well that brings me to the scripture of which I wish to turn to today.

John 16:32 "But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

Firstly I know this isn’t Matthew, but this really meant something to me over the last few weeks really. It both scares me and feels me with Joy. Firstly, the reason it scares me witless is the last sentence about never being alone and always having God watching me. I do things and say things and also think things that I would feel ashamed if anyone else knew what they were and it’s the same fore EVERY person, anyone who says otherwise either is in denial, or very lost.

As Christians we know that God is there through all that we do and he knows all. That includes what we say, what we do and the most scary part is what we think. Personally, there are times when I think ‘ah, who’d know’ Its just me here… but then remembering that God is there always makes me so afraid and I will try and hide from God. Remember in Genesis after Adam and Eve sinned, they tried to hide from their God.

Think about it, how ridiculous that we could think of anywhere that God doesn’t see us! And for this reason also, I am filled with Joy and peace that I have a God that doesn’t sleep and watches over me wherever and whenever I am. Its scary to think that God knows us properly, he knows us better than we know ourselves and yet, through all that, he loves us and forgives us. How amazing is that? We are the wretched humans that sin every day, yet God sent Jesus to save us.

I don’t know about you, but that means more to me that anything. And for that reason, I prayed last night, for forgiveness for peace and for him to guide me. I felt the strength to be able to come here and share this with you as a encouragement to all of you that we are being watched yes, but we are also being watched in love and forgiveness.

Thank you so much for all your patience over the past few weeks. Thank you for your prayers, I guess I just needed to pray also.

In Christ.

Mikey.

In contrast... Great Joy and Praise!

2007-03-20T12:04:00.000Z

I know that a lot of you prayed for me last week and I think you so much for your prayers, they were needed and nessasry and because of those prayers I have been strengthened beyond all measure.

Yesterday Nell and I recieved a letter from the inland revenue with a cheque for quite a considerable amount of money and I just want to shout from the roof tops my praise and thanks for God's provision.

I am going to get back on track with Matthew, hopefully tomorrow but today, I'm going to just smile and thank God for everything that he has done for me. Praise be to the almighty.

In christ alone.

Mikey.

Real Prayer Needed...

2007-03-15T08:33:00.000Z

As i'm sure you regulars would have noted already, i've not blogged for about a week now. Its not because I've been to busy and it isn't because I can't be bothered, I am going through a spiritual and physical battle at the moment. I have felt like I'm reading the bible but the words aren't sticking, that when I pray, it feels like I'm mumbling about anything just to be heard at the moment. In short, i'm really struggling.

I would value your prayers at the moment, I would value you taking the time to lift me to the Lord and ask him to refresh me. Its the 15th March today, and I feel like I don't know what has happened between the beginning of the year and now. Its all been a whirlwind and I feel that I am too stuck in the routine of life. I've had 1 day's holiday this year, and I feel jaded, confused and a little bit alone.

I've read the whole of my blog over and over, and i've read countless passages of scripture and I feel like nothing is staying in my brain and it is all just words. I need some refreshment both in my spiritual life and also, in my physical life, but I can't see where that is going to come from.

I am working twice as hard as I should at work, and feeling trapped because the harder I work, the less likely I am to take time off because I don't want to loose track of my work.

Just pray that God gives me the strength to pick myself up, and that I am given the opportunity to be refreshed.

Thank you all so much for your love and support. It means so much to me.

Mikey.

Matthew 2 part 1 - Feeling Threatened?

2007-03-08T12:53:00.000Z

It’s a proven fact that people are scared of what they do not know. I’ve already said here that I’m scared of storms because I have absolutely no control over what happens to me in these situations. But as Christians, people can persecute us because they are scared about what they do not know about. They have a perception of Christians that we all wear sandals, have beards and carry around a bit print bible around with us telling everyone they are sinners.

When Jesus was born, there were people who knew the scriptures and there were people who knew that a messiah for the Jews was going to present itself at some point, but there were people who had heard of Jesus and what had been said about him even when he had just been born and were afraid of the implications. One of which, and most famously was Herod.

Matthew 2: When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
6" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.

Herod was obviously a smart bloke, he knew about the old testament teaching (although they were the teachings, and not called the old testament at the time) and he knew that someone was going to come one day to free the Jews, and more importantly the whole world, but the one thing that he was most scared about was loosing his crown as Jesus was going to be the “King of the Jews” and for a King that was the worst thing that could happen because he would have to leave his lavish lifestyle.

There are people around today that are scared of the same thing, but not in exactly the same way, they are scared of loosing their lifestyles because they know that it goes against God. As I’m sure a lot of you already know, its easier to follow the devil who promises so much but never delivers, then it is to follow God who promises very little but very important promises and delivers every time.

I know myself that one of the biggest things that was holding me back from coming back to God was that I was happy, superficially but I was happy. I had many things, I used to enjoy the world and all that it had to offer, and I was scared of loosing those things to follow some guy who lived 2000 years ago. The things which I have gained from following Christ has been better than what the world has to offer a million times over.

As Christians we get tempted and we get swayed into thinking that Jesus some how threatens our happiness because his teachings are against what the world offers, but we need to remember how much we have gained from having a life with God and having a walking relationship with Jesus, and how can we justify throwing all that away to go back to what the world offers? We can’t.

God really doesn’t want us to be governed by masses of rules and streams of regulations, we can be so much happier knowing that we are working for the true and living God, and that our ultimate gain is that not of superficial happiness but of eternal forgiveness and a everlasting life with God. How amazing is that? We shouldn’t feel threatened by God because as a father, he wants the best for us and the things that the world offers are not always the best for us at that time. We need to trust in God’s provision as well as his plan.

I pray that we do not feel that we are missing out because we don’t have enough of the world’s offerings, but we feel that we are being filled up with Jesus and his offerings, which are immeasurable and everlasting.

In Christ I stand.

Mikey.

Matthew 1 (Part B) - Hearing God

2007-03-07T08:45:00.000Z

I don't know what you think about God talking to you, I don't know if you struggle to hear him or you are just so busy you don't take time to listen to him. But much in the same way, there are characters in the bible that have had the full spectrum of God talking to them.

There are times that God will speak to people in an audible voice and there will be times when God speaks in the smallest whisper, there are times when God has spoken with actions and with direction, and there are times when God has used prophets to speak to his people. I could go on and on about the ways in which God speaks to us, but I’m going to concentrate on God speaking to us, almost unexpectedly.

Matthew 1:20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

Just before the angel appeared to Joseph, he had been considering divorcing Mary, and also he was probably feeling pretty down and low about things at the moment. I can imagine he was very untrusting of Mary at this time as well, I mean think about it, if your wife was to say to you “I’m pregnant, but I’m still a virgin” you’d be thinking… ‘yeah right, whatever love…’ and its pretty certain that Joseph was thinking these things.

I would think that Joseph was in quite an angry state and probably didn’t want to pray to God asking for his guidance or asking him for his peace about the situation, so for God to speak to him was both important and very necessary.

The dream itself is not to dissimilar to dreams that many people in the bible have had, an appearance of a heavenly spirit, or being in front of them speaking to them very implicitly about a situation that they are going through. In this instance it is an unnamed angel who spoke to him, and spoke some pretty strange and scary words.

Imagine waking up from that dream! You’d think that you were crazy, an angel said that the child that was within your wife’s stomach, was going to save people from their sins. I don’t know about you, but I’d be freaking out by this point, but Joseph did exactly what the angel said.

The point I’m trying to make is this, God still speaks to us when we’re angry and don’t want to listen, and also when we are in despair and we forget that we can cry out to God and he will hear our prayer.

Take confidence from Joseph that despite going through bad times and times where the only way out seems to be to give up, God still works through those particular scenarios and makes a way for something so much better, and he still talks to us comforting us through these times.

I pray that if you are going through times of decision or times of trouble that you will ask God for his help and that you quiet your heart to listen to his will.

More later!

Mikey.

Matthew 1 (Part A) - I didn't pray for this, but I am thankful.

2007-03-05T12:44:00.000Z

Well I’m back after a short break, I feel refreshed and ready to do God’s will and ready to talk more about his amazing gift through Jesus Christ. So many things have challenged me over the past week, its difficult to know what part of the scripture to start from. I had said that I would start a study in Job, and I still intend to do so, but I think from a young(ish) Christian that I am, its good to go through the life that made my forgiveness and freedom possible. I am therefore going to go through the book of Matthew and look at Jesus’ life.

To do this I need to make one or two things perfectly clear. The build up to Jesus’ life is one of many millennia of prophecy that can be viewed throughout the Old Testament, I do not have the time or the space to write about that just yet but I will dip into the Old Testament from time to time to drive home certain points.

I am going to post excerpts from the passages that I will look at but I would urge you to read the whole chapter either on your own at some point to see what I am referring to.

The start of Matthew 1, gives a genealogy of Jesus Christ, and its amazing to look at, it gives an account of Jesus’ family tree from Abraham all the way through to Jesus himself. I don’t know about you but I don’t know if I could go back even 3 or 4 generations. It serves the point that Jesus was the “Lion of the clan of Judah” who featured in the story of Joseph (made famous by Andrew Lloyd Webber).

The conception of Jesus was something of a miracle itself. I know that you are all very familiar with the story, but sometimes its good to look at these things with fresh eyes to enable us to actually take what happened not on face value, or for granted, but for what it was, an amazing miracle.

Matthew 1 v 18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.

God gave Jesus to Mary and she was a virgin. In human terms this is a physical impossibility. But that’s my point; God is the God of impossibility. We should take strength from the conception of Jesus because if God can enable a virgin to conceive and doing the absolute impossible, why should we worry when we are faced with impossible tasks? We have a living God at the head of our lives, and this God can do all things.

Its interesting to see that Mary hadn’t asked for this happen, she didn’t pray for a child and she certainly didn’t pray for God to perform a miracle in her life, yet God blessed her with the most awesome of tasks, to bring God’s son into the world! Again, we should take enormous encouragement from that, because through God’s plan, things can change and things can come our way that we didn’t ask for or expect but they are such a blessing to us! We should trust in God’s unfailing plan.

Things looked to get a little bit difficult because of the culture of that time, Joseph had in mind to divorce Mary and their agreement to marry. I can imagine Joseph seeing this act as the worst thing to happen to him at the time. But as we know, this was a very amazing blessing, and again, we should view our own situations in the same way, things that seem to be bad, and things that look like our lives are crumbling God uses to bring amazing blessing to us.

So already, we can see that God can bless when we don’t expect it, and also when we feel our lives are falling apart.

I pray that you will fully trust God’s plan and trust in his unfailing love and protection for us through all situations. There is no need to fear, there is no need to be stressed about situations as we have the creator of the world working in our lives and helping us.

I hope this will help you with your own walk; tomorrow I am going to look at the peculiar circumstances of Jesus’ birth. In preparation of which, I would suggest you read the whole of Matthew 1.

I am free in Christ alone.

Mikey.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: Mikey is taking a short break.

2007-03-02T13:37:00.000Z

Hey everyone,

Firstly, Thank you so much for all your support so far, its been running for a month and i'm greatfull for all the support that you've given me both in my christian work and also in prayer.

I'm taking a very short break untill Monday 5th March from doing the Blogs as i'm feeling very tired at the moment both physically and spiritually and need to take time with God as to what I'm going to do next.

I'm planning on doing a series on Job when I start again.

Thanks again for helping me.

Mikey.

Yesterday...

2007-03-01T08:45:00.000Z

All my troubles seemed so far away... sounds like a song to me!

I just thought I'd post to apologies for the lack of post yesterday, had been extremely busy with work and didn't find the time to write anything.

I'll do a blog that is doubly as good today.

Thank you for your continuing support.

Mikey.

Proverbs 3 v 5 - Trust is a two way street...

2007-02-27T14:11:00.000Z

Firstly, I would like to thank a good friend of mine, Neil, for providing me with the leg up and the boost that I required to write this today. I’ve been beaten with the wind and the rain that I spoke about yesterday, and in testament to that I’ve stood strong in the face of it all. I’ve been struggling with my own work situation and not feeling settled there. Ever since I have come back to Christ, my work has been seen to be immoral to a point and the pressures that are involved are not the pressures that I would want as a Christian.

I have been searching for a way out and been getting myself more and more stressed with the situation. Coupled with the situation that is still manifesting with regards to Brazil, there is a lot more pressure that I could really cope with for a time. Neil very kindly provided me with the following;

Proverbs 3v5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;

Ok, so you may be asking yourself, how has that helped Mike? Well lets actually look at the situations which I’m being faced with and the stress that is on me. This is my own doing in some respects as because we are Christians, we should trust in the lord with all of our heart and we should not worry. I had to read back over my own words to drive the point home about this.

Trust in the lord with all our heart, how many of us can actually say that we do this? How many of us are faced with situations where we do not get worried or stressed about them? And ultimately, how many of us fail to trust him at all.

“and lean not on your own understanding”, we can interpret this in the bible saying that we shouldn’t trust our own understanding about situations or indeed even the world as we have no need to understand why God does things, he has never steered us wrongly he has never failed us, we have only failed ourselves by understanding situations and reading them for what they seem to be and not for what is planned.

Again I ask you, how many times have you had the instinct to do something yet God was pulling you in another direction and in order to stop you from following your own intuition, has put barriers to stop you from doing what is against his will? I know I have, I know I have recognized the barriers and just driven straight through them.

When we want something so badly, or when we think something is the best thing for us, we can become blinded to God’s will and to God’s plan and think we are doing God’s will by pushing against his barriers. It is important to remember that God does things for a reason, not just to stop you having fun or to stop you from doing what you want, he does it for our own protection.

So if you feel that your plans are not coming to fruition, you’ve got to pray. Pray that you know God’s will, pray that he will lead you to where he wants you to be, either in your work or home life.

Trusting in God once again,

Mikey.

Matthew 7: 24 -27 Foundations.

2007-02-26T12:51:00.000Z

Following a very good and fruitful weekend, I’ve come back to work this morning and its easy to forget what I have learned and what I have seen because of being within an environment that doesn’t work for God. The basis of my life and my thoughts should be deeply rooted in God’s word and what I have learned so that when difficult times come my way I stand fast in the face of the winds and storms of the world. When I think about this, I think of one of the more famous parables that Jesus taught.

Matthew 7:24"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."

Through all things God provides a foundation of rock for us to build our lives on. When we do things in the name of God and we focus on building our lives on his sure and stable ground, we are protected from the rains and the floods.

There are very many layers to this parable and many things that you can take from it. But today, I am going to draw from the location of where we build our lives, and give a warning to Christians and non Christians alike.

There are Christians who will build their lives for God and can build a huge tower but not really build it in the right context of frame of mind without the intention of glorifying God. This can be construed as building your life in the sand. If the things that you do are not fully and whole heartedly in his name, you have no base, and you have no foundation. Its true to say that your faith is tested fully when you are faced with difficulties and faced with the rain that will beat down. And without the foundation of God in your life, your construction that you have built will collapse and fall and will become nothing.

Therefore, be sure that with all that you do and all that you build in your own life in God’s name, it is built solidly on God’s foundation on the rocks. It is obvious that building on rocks can take a lot longer but these constructions will last longer and when the rain of life’s trouble comes along, you are strong and steadfast in God’s foundations.

With this in mind, I pray that God’s work is always done with the foundation that God has given to us and commissioned us to do. His plan is unchanging and is perfect, and we should remember that it has been written that being a Christian is not the easy option, the easiest option is to build your life up quickly with the foundation of sand, but we should strive to make every effort to make sure the basis of all our works are strong.

The decisions that we are making at the moment, and the ideas that we are making need to be assessed to make sure they are being done for the right reasons and with God’s foundation for our lives.

I cannot stress enough to Christians that troubles and life’s “Rain” WILL come your way, as a Christian we are in the direct firing line of Satan and you will be tested, as long as your foundations of your life are in God, you cannot be shaken, be sure that you make every effort to make each decision prayerfully and with God at the forefront of your mind, he will give you the direction, however difficult it may seem.

I pray then today that whatever comes your way, you are doing all things in God’s name, and that all the decisions you make are with God as a partner in these.

In his most precious Grace,

Mikey.

1 Thessalonians 5 v 11 - Encourangement

2007-02-23T12:48:00.000Z

As in contrast with yesterday’s desperation that I was feeling toward what I was doing and where I was going and feeling disillusioned, so today, in God’s grace, I feel the exact opposite. I feel encouraged by the spirit and I feel confidence in God’s unfailing plan and that whatever is thrown my way it is within his will.

I had all my work checked by my boss this morning. He sat with me for a couple of hours going through all my outstanding work and asking me what position I was in. Its strange, when this has happened before I thought he was picking on me to make me look stupid or just to pick holes in my work, but in fact it is quite the opposite. He was encouraging me and helping me with any problems. We as Christians should do the same thing, take this scripture for example –

1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Quite explicit really, its states that we are to encourage one another in what we are doing and we are to almost assess each other’s situation to be able to give advice based on our own experiences. The bible is literally full of encouragements. In fact 59 references are “Encourage” its self.

Being a Christian can seem lonely sometimes and can definitely feel like its you against the rest of the world which is why it is so important to go to a church, not only to hear God’s word preached, but also to be around other Christians and be encouraged with your walk. We should never assume that we will be fine. When we are alone is when we’re easy pickings for Satan to pick us off.

How often has your conversation gone as follows – “Hi (insert your name), how are you?”, you reply almost instinctively “I’m fine thank you how are you”, they reply “fine thank you…” and the conversation continues about football or computer games (well my conversations do). We should not be afraid to answer, “not so good, I am struggling”. Its one of the fantastic parts of being a Christian and belonging to a Christian community being able to talk to other Christians about God.

Similarly, we shouldn’t just assume that when someone tells us they are fine, we take it as red and carry on. As well as asking for help, we should also be offering that help, whether that be practical help or spiritual encouragement, as Christians, we have a duty to each other to make sure we are being prayed for, that if someone is struggling, they are helped.

I cannot stress enough the importance of being caring towards each other. I know from experience that an unexpected email when you are feeling low with some words of encouragement works absolute wonders in confidence!

I pray that you are being encouraged and that you are giving encouragement in abundance. Take time think about someone you know is struggling and send them an SMS or an email or call them just to let them know they are being prayed for and ask if they need any encouragement or help.

Encouraged by God’s Holy Graces,

Mikey.

2 Samuel 22 v 3 - Refuge.

2007-02-22T12:44:00.000Z

I am struggling today. I’m not above admitting when I am feeling distressed and helpless in my life and I am not above asking for help from God for help and deliverance from problems that I am facing. There are people in my job that I feel Satan is using to make me feel disillusioned and lost and feel that God is very far away from me and certain situations such as these have manifested in different ways today.

I had planned on writing about God’s love for the world and how we should do his work as evangelists, but I prayed about what to write about today and I was drawn to the following verse.

2 Samuel 22: 3 my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation.
He is my stronghold, my refuge and my saviour—
from violent men you save me.

When I read this the first time I thought about God being there for me and it really warmed my heart to think that all I need do is pray and he hears me, but the more I read it over and over, it struck me, that as well as God being there for me, he is also actively protecting me and helping me, even before I pray to him.

I felt my disillusionment disappear and I just broke down and prayed that I continue to do his will and that the things that are standing in my way will be broken down in accordance to his will.

As Christians we are taught to face adversity and meet it head on because we have a God that protects us and will deliver us from all evil, but sometimes, in our human frailty and in our weakness we have times when we feel like the way that I felt this morning, and God not only provides protection, but also he provides a refuge and a stronghold to retreat to and regroup our thoughts and strengths.

It is not weakness to seek God’s help when we are struggling, in fact I would go as far as to say there is strength in that because we will be acknowledging out own inability to things our way and alone, but that we are trusting in God to do things that may seem impossible. Instead of feeling that Satan is in our way, we should be thinking, God is infinitely more powerful that anything Satan can throw in our way and we should take blessing from all situations.

God cares for us. He is watching over us and he is providing strength and protection to those who ask of it, but also, he provides a safe place to go and get our thoughts and feelings together without having fear of being attacked.

I pray today that God provides you with your strength and your protection to do all things in his name and to actively work to do His unchanging will.

To God be the glory, the power, and the wisdom.

Mikey.

Hebrews 7 v 27 - Giving God everything

2007-02-21T12:32:00.000Z

As I’m sure you are mostly aware, today is the first day of lent for some Christian denominations, where some Christians either take up or sacrifice something within their own lives to honour the sacrifice that God gave by giving up his only son as a sacrifice for all of our sins. I don’t know if any of you have given something up, whether it be chocolate or something more significant, but lets actually look at that sacrifice for a couple of moments. The scripture has many references to different sacrifices but today I’m going to look at the following:

Hebrews 7:27.

27Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.

This particular passage really does drive home the point and the amazing gift of life that God has given to us through the death of Jesus. How many of us would actually give up our lives just for one person. Its interesting when you look at songs and poems that non Christians write when they talk about dying for someone, but when the rubber hits the road, how many of these people would give their life for someone.

Lets think about that for a second, they offer their lives to someone they either love or know very well, can you imagine if they did something wrong against the writer, they wouldn’t want to die for them. However Jesus died for everyone, even people that hadn’t even been born at the time and for the billions of people who have ever lived, he gave his own life as a sacrifice to all people without fear or question to enable these people to receive redemption from the wrongs that have been done against him.

As Christians we are taught to be like Christ and live as he lived and strive to do the things that he has done. I don’t know about you but I’ve failed every day in this, I’ve sinned against God and I’ve been foolish with my decisions. Yet everyday I pray that God take my life, my whole life and all that I have to offer and use it in His will, I am effectively sacrificing my old life and asking God to use my new life for what he wants from me.

There is a paradox that Christians live with and that’s when we know God’s forgiveness and worth, yet feeling inadequate and worthless as humans before him. We need to give everything we have, even if we don’t think that is very much to God and do his will and we will be blessed in life and when we stand before God and we are told, “Enter, good and faithful servant”.

I don’t know about you but actually thinking about that makes me want to give more than I have to God who blesses us for our sacrifices of faith to him. So today, if you are giving up something for lent, think about your sacrifice and think, am I giving all that I am as a sacrifice as Jesus gave up everything to save you.

I pray that God will use your life and will make your sacrifice a act of faith and trust to God’s unfailing love and forgiveness.

By Jesus’ death I am saved.

Mikey.

Psalm 23 - God provides a way

2007-02-20T12:41:00.000Z

The theme of my life at the moment has been to trust God in all that I do, there are many uncertainties in my life and a lot of things that seem to be impossible. There is potential to get stressed and upset about things that are beyond my control or beyond my understanding. I was talking last night with a close friend about miracles that have happened in each other’s lives and situations that have from a worldly sense seemed to be impossible.

I thought about that quite a lot last night, and as I got into bed, I read the following.

Psalm 23.

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness,
for his name's sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

It is obviously one of the most famous Psalms that are in the bible, and there is no coincidence with that and this passage bringing peace to Christians across the globe.

As I spoke about yesterday with Jesus calming the storms in our lives and in our situations, this passage is also speaking to us about peace and about restoring our faith and confidence in God’s providence and God’s gifts to us.

It teaches that if we trust in Christ and trust in his unfailing faithfulness with our lives we will not want for anything but be lead by him to the places in the world where he wants us to be and where he can provide for us adequately. It talks of Christ leading us along path’s of righteousness, although these paths may lead us through bad times and bad places, (Valley of the shadow of death) we have no need to fear as long as we are following his path.

There is something extremely special for Christians to remember and only really as a Christian will you feel this, when God provides for you, you can see his hand in your life and see him providing for you the correct path.

With our situation, it seems like we’re staring up a mountain but the more I pray about it, the more I can see the path that is on the mountain winding up to the top where God wants us to be. It suddenly doesn’t become a question of how to climb the mountain, but where do I need to start to start the climb.

A wonderful analogy of this is when Moses had lead God’s people out of Egypt and was faced with a wide and unswimable sea. Moses doesn’t give up and actually parts the sea to get across. That is a wonderful act of faith that we should all aspire to, if he can part seas and calm storms, suddenly our problems seem less like mountains, but flat roads with God’s help.

Continue to pray for Nell and I as we embark on our journey to get to where we need to be. Pray that this is God’s will, and if it isn’t, this will be made apparent to us.

I pray that the mountains in your life are changed to flat roads with God’s help and his Grace and mercy be upon you all.

In Christ.

Mikey.

Matthew 8 v 24-26 - Storm? What Storm?

2007-02-19T12:40:00.000Z

I don’t like storms because one of the scariest attributes about being in a storm is the feeling of not being in control and having to submit to the elements whilst you try and keep yourself safe. I don’t know about you but I respect the awesome power of nature, and when I’m in the middle of a storm, I am afraid to go outside and tend to shut myself in and close the elements outside.

This is no different when we look at our lives and as Christians feel that we are in the middle of a spiritual storm. The bible says this;

Matthew 8:24 Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!"
26He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

This passage makes me think “wow, he has authority above those things which we cannot control”, and you might think, well duh, isn’t that the fundamental part of being a Christian, trusting that God controls all things, and you’re right, but when do we actually believe it?

We are all given situations when we feel like we are being buffeted around by the wind and waves of the world, whether that be with temptations, things that are said to us or just feeling lost. Its easy for us to panic and start thinking about giving up. Take a look at the disciples, the men that were actually there with Christ on the boat, and they actually woke Jesus who knew he was in full control of all things that he was sleeping and the disciples with panicked voices asked for Him to save them.

Jesus’ response is something that I remember in time of problems and when I feel like I’m going to drown, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” this statement comes to mind every time I’m feeling like that, almost like Jesus speaking to me, asking why I’m running around like a headless chicken when I’m despairing about things.

Why then do we fear when we are in the middle of a raging storm in our lives, why do we shout and panic that all is lost and we’re going to drown. We should remember Jesus’ words here and just trust that storms are temporary and can be calmed in an instant through God and we can become completely calm with situations.

God knows our every trouble and our every problem, and he watches over us when we feel we are in trouble and we should trust that God that he will help us. Cast your cares upon and everything seems brighter and lighter.

I pray today that if you are experiencing any spiritual storms that God will grant you peace and a sense of his hand upon you calming the waves and the wind and making the day bright again.

In Christ alone.

Mikey.

Psalm 9 v 9 - Do not Fear.

2007-02-16T13:13:00.000Z

I’ve been sitting here today, thinking about how to tell the world about God. There are those in the world that would actively seek to oppress the truth and grace of God to the world. There is a person in my office (not naming any names of course) but this person will always argue with myself and a good Christian friend of mine about God, and generally anything at all. God calls us to evangelise, and to speak his name to all people. But there are times when this is difficult.

God’s word says the following…

Psalm 9:9 The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,

a stronghold in times of trouble.

I don’t know about you but when I was younger and when I was a little bit less mature than I am now (not that much less!) I found it very difficult to talk to my friends about God or about what I belived. I’ve already touched upon this in a previous sermon but there would have been bullying and there would have been a lot of problems, but that shouldn’t have stopped me.

God says that he will protect his people from oppression. He says that anyone who calls to him, he will hear and as Christians, we shouldn’t feel fear when approaching other people with His truth. “Easier said than done” I hear you say, yes it is, it is difficult and it takes a lot of nerve and a lot of courage to do it, but ultimately, God gives us the confidence and the courage comes from him.

“What if it goes wrong and these people make my life a misery”, well as this passage says above, The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, he is a sanctuary for those being persecuted and he will give us protection. He is a stronghold in times of trouble, not just in this respect, but in ALL troubles.

As Christians we should not fear about what the devil and other people have to throw at us. We have God on our side. I challenge you, name me one battle God has ever lost to the Devil? Jesus was tempted by Satan in the desert, he won that battle. God was challenged by the Devil over Job, guess what? He lost that too… I could go on and on, but you get the point.

Take a step back today and see where God has given you opportunities to speak to friends/family and you’ve taken the easy option. Ask for forgiveness and strength that the next time the opportunity arises, you can talk about God.

In Christ alone.

Mikey.

Matthew 6 v 34 - Don't worry!

2007-02-15T12:33:00.000Z

What with making plans for the future as I am at the moment, its easy in the worldly sense to forget the here and now. There are obviously things in which myself and Nell want to partake in and making financial plans and making practical plans for a long way off in the future are starting to take over. Having though about these things I picked up my bible. I read the verse that keeps me going and further on the passage I came across this;

Matthew 6 v 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

This made me think what God was trying to say to me. I know that earlier on in the passage he is telling me that he will provide for me if I trust upon him and I am doing that with gusto at the moment, but what God is saying here is slightly different yet resoundingly the same.

God is telling me her through the words of Jesus that I need to concentrate on my day to day walk with God and making sure that is right before the plans of the future can manifest into something much more.

Again, this all boils down to trusting God’s will and God’s ultimate and unfailing plan. We all think about the future, we all have ambitions but as Christians, these ambitions should walk hand in hand with what God is telling us and with God’s own plan. Worrying about how these things are going to work out, isn’t going to make the day go any faster, and can detract from the problems in my life as a the day goes on.

Obviously, this doesn’t mean that we should forget about the future, for if we did that, then nothing would get done, but what its saying here is that we shouldn’t worry ourselves by it. That we shouldn’t forget to glorify God in our actions today.

I challenge you, take a step back from what you are doing at this very moment, forget about tomorrow and the troubles it may bring and ask God for strength to do what his will is today and having the knowledge that what you are doing is glorifying him.

I pray today that my worry’s and concerns about the future and all of my plans and ambitions are placed into his hands and his will be done, not my own.

In Christ alone.

Mikey.

Psalm 18 v 6 - Hello?

2007-02-14T12:36:00.000Z

Over the past 24 hours I have prayed more than probably my whole life. As Christians we are taught to pray and we are told that it is the right thing to do but often we can take this act for granted and just mumble a few words except when we’re really in trouble.

My passage is the following;

Psalm 18:

6 In my distress I called to the LORD;

I cried to my God for help.

From his temple he heard my voice;

my cry came before him, into his ears.

This verse means a lot to me because it actually proves that he does hear our prayers. There are over 150+ references in the bible to prayers being answered, I could probably double that with just my own experiences of prayers being forgiven.

We have to make sure we do not become complacent in our prayers, and that each day we speak to God, not just recite the same old mumbo jumbo day after day. Imagine if a friend only spoke to you properly when they needed something, you would begin to start doubting your relationship with that friend because they don’t need you when things are going swimmingly, you start to view them as a “fickle” friend. We need to try and not be “fickle” Christians.

In the same way we need to remain steady with our relationship with God, try and speak to God everyday with something new to say, someone new to pray about or just talk to him and tell him what is troubling you. In this way, we form a closer and more personal relationship with God as we are more and more honest with him.

It is my experience that the only time people cry out to God is when they need this help. When was the last time you cried out to God in Joy? Or in prayer for someone else? God allows us to be able to speak to him directly through the Holy Spirit, and isn’t that an amazing thought? We speak DIRECTLY to God.

God hears our prayers without any doubt, of course he chooses where and when to answer those prayers and we need to remain patient. This is something which I am praying for at the moment, and I’m personally struggling with quieting my heart and waiting for God to answer.

I ask for your prayers once again for the same things as I asked for yesterday, but also patience that it will be God’s will not ours.

Walk by Faith, Not by Sight.

Mikey.

Matthew 6:25-26 - God's Will

2007-02-13T12:40:00.000Z

Well today I have had good news and bad news really. The bad news is that my work have not provided me with my yearly bonus, upsetting but I’m sure there is a reason for it. The good news however is that I have been provided with some dates so that Nell and I can go to Brazil in the summer.

The obvious thing for me to worry about is the money aspect. I will cost upwards of £3000 for us both to go. It got me thinking about God’s grace and god providing for his people, the obvious verse came to mind;

Mathew 6: 25-26 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Its very difficult for people these days to actually think about life in this way, but I know that if you are trusting of God, then God will provide a way to full fill his will. This is very important to emphasise – HIS WILL, not ours. I know that if it is God’s will that we go out to Brazil in the summer with Mez, then he will provide a way for that to happen.

We as human beings want for a lot of things, whether that be possessions in a worldly sense or being in a nice house with a nice car etc, now God may want you to do something else or be somewhere else and we need to trust God through all things. How did God make Moses do his will in Egypt, he had to take drastic measures but eventually God’s will was done.

We need to learn that God will provide for his will to happen, whether that be financially or physically, there is always a way that God will do this.

I have felt extremely flat today, and I have prayed so hard all day that if this is God’s will that it will be done and he will provide a way for us to go to Brazil.

A request: I’ve not made any on here before, but I request prayer that God gives both me and Nell peace of mind and a sense of God’s will being done. At the moment I feel that God really wants us to go there as the doors are open, but the hurdles that need to be overcome seem to be mountains at the moment. God can do all things, this I know and I ask that you pray that God helps me to overcome the hurdles.

God’s Will, Not ours.

Mikey .

Apologies

2007-02-12T15:54:00.000Z

Hello everyone,

Sorry I've not been able to update this today, i was in hospital until after 1pm and haven't had chance to write a new sermon just yet. I will however do this this evening at some point so you will have an evening "Tea" sermon today! I trust you all had a good weekend and those of you in the UK enjoyed the snow... while it lasted!

God has helped my thumb heal and i ask you to pray that it will continue to get stronger!

Speak to you all later!

Mikey.

2 Samuel 11:2-4 - Tempting, but NO!

2007-02-09T13:57:00.000Z

As I have already mentioned in previous entry’s, we are all in a battle. We are in a battle between ourselves and with Satan. Its like fighting a war on 2 fronts and having the same number of troops to fight with! One of the biggest weapons Satan uses is Temptation. I think about the following section of the bible when I think about temptation –

2 Samuel 11:2-4.

One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her.

Here we see (arguably) the greatest king to sit on the Jewish thrown being dropped right in it by his own lustful and impure thoughts. When we actually take a step back and look at the situation, we actually realise how bad it was for David to give into this.

We are all faced with temptation and all of us give into that temptation, if we didn’t we wouldn’t sin and we wouldn’t have to ask for God’s forgiveness. I for one struggle with a certain temptation (between me and God before you ask) and with his help and with his mercy and love I am overcoming Satan and being blessed by God for my strength.

When you are a Christian you are put squarely in the firing line of Satan, its easy for him to tempt people to do things when they do not know from right and wrong and give in so easily, his most fun prey is Christians. If he can get a Christian to fall, he is laughing his head off when they are wracked with guilt and sorrow. But this is also his stumbling block as the Christian prays for forgiveness and receives it, something that Satan will never experience!

When we know we are being tempted, a simple prayer asking for God to help and support you through the situation tends to help (helps me at least) and suddenly you catch sight of what you were about to do and you think “what am I doing?!?!”

We are all tempted, and we give into temptation, however through God’s love, grace and protection we can tackle these temptations head on and overcome them.

After all, we still know David as the greatest King and he was a wretched and as sinful as the next person. Imagine what God can do with you!

Walk by Faith, not by Sight.

Mikey.

Isiah 61 v 10 - White as Snow

2007-02-08T13:02:00.000Z

As I was walking through the snow to work this morning, the whole world looked white and pure. It made me think about all the bad things in the world and how the snow can cover the darkness and clothe it in light. Being the Christian that I am, I thought of the following verse;

Isaiah 61:10.

10 I delight greatly in the LORD;

my soul rejoices in my God.

For he has clothed me with garments of salvation.

and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,

as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,

and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

It got me thinking about the dark and the bad parts of my life and where I had sinned and thought about how Jesus’ blood and washed them away to make me pure.

I love the snow, I love the way it makes the world look and the way in which is has power to strip away the worlds darkness and cover it with blinding light. God does the same thing with us. When we stand before him in the last days, we will be as snow to him if we are Christians, we will be as a blinding light as Jesus has covered us with righteousness.

If it hasn’t snowed where you are, I hope you can visualise the world covered in God’s light and God’s glory and see yourself as pure before him. We all sin, that’s a given for Christians and Non-Christians alike, however God clothes us in his white robes and makes us pure again if we ask for his forgiveness.

Take care getting home if it has snowed where you are and I trust you will be able to look at the snow and be encouraged with God’s love and graciousness.

Walk by Faith, not by sight.

Mikey.

Luke 15 v 10 - Rejoice!

2007-02-07T12:57:00.000Z

Jesus told many parables when he was on earth, I for one would have loved to be there when he spoke them. Problem is, a lot of people around didn’t understand what he was going on about, its only from the view we have of the whole bible do these things make sense fully. One of my favorites is the parable of the Prodigal Son.

I take my text from –

Luke 15:10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Jesus talks about a man who wanted more from his life and wanted everything his way. I know I have been in the same position and had the same thoughts, as I’m sure a lot of you have too. The man goes out, has his party’s and has his way with the women of the time and spent all of his money. He ends up cleaning out the Pigs, the same as doing the lowest Job you could do here and eating the pods.

He was at rock bottom but remembered his father’s home and goes back to an old man who threw his arms around his son and welcomed him back. There are many metaphors and many sermons you can do from this one story but I am going to appeal to those who are none Christians, and encouragement to those who are.

God cares about us. I touched upon this on the first sermon I wrote, but it’s a point worth driving home over and over again. God cares for us. Its hard for a human mind to comprehend that. There are currently 6 billion (odd) in the world and its been calculated that about 66 billion people who have ever lived. And yet, out of all those people, out of all those souls, he cares about yours.

The text talks about rejoicing in heaven at just 1 soul being saved. It should make us feel special to think that heaven would have a party if you were saved and you will be garenteed a seat at the biggest party ever when you die!

As Christians, we shouldn’t loose sight of this when the world throws all it can at us. We should remember that God is looking out for us. We will stray from time to time, we all do but as the Father welcomed home his son, God welcomes us back with open arms if we repent of our sins.

Jesus died for everyone, he took upon his shoulders the wrath of God for our sin and if we ask for forgiveness we will be washed clean of that sin and can present ourselves blameless before God.

Christians, rejoice that God has washed you clean, celebrate your freedom! To those who haven’t found God yet, ask him to wash you clean, give your life to him and he will pour out blessing upon blessing.

God is truly awesome.

Mikey.

1 Peter 5: 6-8 - Help in Suffering

2007-02-06T12:23:00.000Z

I was going to do a little bit about joy in Christ today, but a mate (who shall not be named) had told me of a few troubles which he is having and how he is struggling. So instead I’ve decided to do a very short bit about suffering and what God says about suffering and how not to loose faith, nor loose your way.

I take my text from the following;

1 Peter 5:6-8.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

God never said this lark would be easy. Not once does it say in the bible that a Christian walk is one that is all roses. The bible says that once we are Christians, we’re thrown into a battle. A battle between ourselves and temptation and a battle between God and Satan.

I’ve had many problems and I’ve major setbacks in my life and my Christian walk, those who know me closely know the intimate details however for those who do not know me so well, its not right for me to detail what and when things happened, just rest assured it hurt more than any other pain that I had encountered. We’ve all been at a spiritual low, and we’ve all felt emotionally and physically exhausted.

At these times we feel the furthest away from God we can do, I always imagine this like being at the bottom of a well, knowing God can hear our shouts but not being able to do anything about it. The truth of the matter is that God is with us in that well, and helping us to climb out.

In the passage, Peter is saying that we are to “Cast all your anxiety (cares, worries, problems) on him because he cares for you (us)”. Its an easy thing to type and its an easy thing to say because when you are at that low point, it seems to easy and too simple to cast your cares upon him, but if we remember that God is infinite and God hears all and he is ultimately, all powerful, we should feel comfortable in asking for God’s help.

Take heart and do not fret, God is watching over us and he cares for us, if we truly believe that, suddenly mountains are molehills, and wolves are like sheep.

Walk by Faith, not by sight.

Mikey.

Matthew 9:21 “Have Faith”

2007-02-05T13:12:00.000Z

I can remember once someone saying to me “Faith is something you’ve either got, or you don’t”. I think this is completely off the mark. If somebody didn’t have faith, they wouldn’t be able to do anything. We all put “faith” in something everyday. When you get in your car, do you not put faith in the brakes that they will stop you? When you support a football team, do you not have faith that they will win? Of course you do.

The passage I take my text from is as follows;

Matthew 9:21.

She said to her, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed." Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment.

I heard a sermon on this yesterday myself however it was only 1 of the points in the sermon, but I thought I’d bring my own interpretation on here, as it was helpful to me.

Part 1 – Faith through Seeing.

Part of today’s philosophy is “seeing is believing” and if you can touch it, it’s not real. For Christians this is a difficult concept to overcome as we’re so used to being able to see the things of the world, and you are able to touch things.

But I ask you; do you believe in the wind? “Ah yes but we can see the winds effects Mike”, yes you can, but if you look in the right places you can also see the effects of God in the world. God does things in people’s lives every day, just look around you. Think about your life and when you’ve been at your lowest points, when you have felt the most alone, if you’re reading this I bet there was a turning point and you realized that God is there, and even though you cannot see him, you can see his effects in your own life.

Seeing is believing? Well you can see God’s effects so what’s the next excuse?

Part 2 – Faith through Touching.

As I’ve already mentioned, people of the world expect to be able to touch something. How many people will actually believe that something is hard or soft just based on your say so? How many children will accept that something is hot or cold just by you telling them.

We have a natural inbuilt system that allows it to feel and touch and taste things so that our brains can store this information.

John 20:25-28 so the other disciples told him (Thomas), "We have seen the Lord!"But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."

You see, even a disciple who had been with Jesus right until the end would not believe until he touched his wounds. We shouldn’t loose heart if we find ourselves wanting to feel God and Touch God to make sure he’s real.

But I challenge you, if we could see God, and we could feel God, there would be no need for our faith and everyone would believe, as perfect as that sounds God’s love and forgiveness for us putting faith in him would become redundant and meaningless. It would just be something else that we take for granted in the world.

Part 3 – Faith through God.

If we refer back to passage of which I started with at the beginning of this blog, this woman, who is dying from internal hemorrhaging believes through faith that just 1 touch will heal her wounds, and even goes as far as to say that she believes that 1 touch of the end of his cloak would heal her.

How many of us can actually, truly say that we would believe the same things, bearing in mind this man was Jesus, and he was still alive and you wouldn’t have known a fraction about his purpose or his will at this point. This woman would have just heard rumors and little bits of information about Jesus, she wouldn’t have been able to travel very far as she was very ill and she would have had to rely on gossip.

But her faith is unshakeable, her love is unbounded and her belief that this man can heal her because he is the Messiah was unchangeable. I can imagine her waking up on the morning that Jesus was due to walk through the village, and I can imagine her making a plan in her head that she would just need to touch the fibers of his cloak whilst his back was turned and she would be healed.

We should be encouraged and we should be challenged by this woman. We should be encouraged that we are not in her position. Dying and having but 1 chance to be saved, we have had many chances and we are living in the knowledge of Jesus that these people couldn’t have even dreamed about!

Our challenge however should be that despite knowing so much about Christ, and despite hearing his words and being able to hear his word whenever we choose that we don’t loose our unquestionable faith that God will heal our sins, that he is there and that Jesus took away your sins on the cross.

Walk by Faith and not by Sight.

Mikey.

1 Timothy 6:12 - Footaball Battles

2007-02-02T12:12:00.000Z

For those of you who know me well, you know that I love my football. Its something that I will watch if any team are playing, well I draw the line at Birmingham City but always take satisfaction in watching them loose.

I also love to play football, I’ve had many injuries during my playing “career” and I am at the moment trying to type this with a broken thumb… not easy! I was struggling to think of something to write about today and had toyed with the idea of being quite heavy and talking about Jesus’ wounds when he was crucified, not the best reading for a Friday however.

Instead I take my text from:

1 Timothy 6:12 - Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Part 1 – Preparation.

When I do battle on the football field, or when I prance around to be more precise, there are a number of preparations that I have to take. I need to make sure I’m protected, so I wear my shin pads and put on my boots to protect my legs and my feet. I then need to put my colours on so that I can be distinguished from the other team and finally I need to have a good team talk from the manager to get me fired up for the game.

When we are preparing to do battle in the spiritual sense within the world, we need to do a lot of the same things.

We need to make sure we are protected; the bible speaks about protection as a suit of armour. Ephesians 6 talks of this armour being made up of 6 parts. The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the preparation of the gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and finally the sword of the spirit. I am not going to go into these at this time, you can effectively do 6 sermons on each part, and my thumb hurts as it is!

Once we’ve got our armour on, we then need to make sure we are distinguished from the other teams. I spoke yesterday about this and how we need to acknowledge Jesus by our words and our actions, this is how we show we are different to other people. Subsequently, this is like putting on a football jersey on the football field.

Once we are protected and once we look different we need to have a good team talk from our manager. We have this every time we look at the scripture or when we go to church and in some ways, I hope you get a good daily team talk from me! But the important thing to remember is that God has given us instructions for the game and for the battle, if we ignore them, we will end up being beaten.

Once we’re ready, we can go out onto the field.

Part 2 – The Battle.

God has taught us through the bible that we’re in a battle. Ultimately between good and evil but this is manifested by us and God verses Satan.

When I go and play football, it would be stupid for me to go out there without any preparation or protection, but it would be even more stupid for me to go out there if I’ve never played football or even like the game. I would be made to look like a fool and ultimately I would loose confidence in my playing and give up, or even worse get injured and never play again.

The same can be said for our Christian walk. If we had no support or protection from Satan, we would be in a very dangerous place indeed. During the battle of day-to-day life we need to make sure we still cling on to the teaching and preparation we have been given to make sure that the little skirmishes from minute to minute we face can be overcome.

I don’t know about you, but I would hazard a guess that we don’t always win these battles. I would imagine there are times when we give up the fight and just stand still just letting the war be won. We need to make sure that we carry on fighting, that we look to God for strength to overcome the temptations we battle with everyday.

Corinthians 15:57 - But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Exactly!

Part 3 – Celebration of Victory

Being a fan of Aston Villa, I’ve not had that much in the way of tasting victory, in my lifetime we’ve only won the league cup a few times… nothing to write home about really. Because of this I’ve learned to celebrate in small victories. Winning the games we weren’t expecting to win, and whenever we beat Birmingham City are always party time!

As a Christian, I’m sure there have been times when we’ve won a few major battles but not all the time and in some cases, we might not have won a major battle for a long time. Because of this, we should also celebrate in the smaller victories that we have. The times that we’ve been able to shun temptation, the times we’ve been able to make it through the weak with our faith intact and sit in church praising God and the times when we pray to God asking for his strength,

We should take heart in the minor victories and grow in strength and confidence for the major victories that we need to win. Being a Christian is a war, its not a battle, it’s a season not a match and as such we should always be looking at the hear and now so that we can stay on course to our ultimate aim, winning the war or winning the league.

God says that he can and will give us the strength to over come all things.

Ephesians 6:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.

God can and will do all things. As I said at the beginning of the week he made the world and therefore can do anything. That’s the best Goalkeeper, striker, defender and playmaker we can have on our team or any team.

Have a good weekend, I may update this again tomorrow but if not, God willing, I’ll be back on Monday.

Walk by Faith, not by sight.

Mikey

Matthew 26:75 - Who Me?

2007-02-01T11:46:00.000Z

For people in the current climate of this world, it’s not “Cool” to be a Christian, its not the “in” religion as Buddhism and being part of the Scientology movement is. I was bought up within a Christian home and from when I was born; I was within the church environment. In hindsight, I can see this a blessing that God was there in my life from my childhood.

The hardest part about this, as it is for many younger Christians at school, is standing up for your faith in an oppressive world that denies Christ. Moreover, it is also difficult for older Christians in their work situation and discrimination can happen from the highest director down to the tea boy.

The reason for this is clear. People are scared about what they do not know, and a defence mechanism to this is to make themselves look better than you.

I take my text today from Matthew.

Matthew 26 v 75 - Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: "Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Peter was one of 12 disciples. I’m sure if you had asked him before Jesus was taken away to be killed, he would tell you that he was one of the best. He would be the first to answer questions that Jesus would ask and would try and look for ways to impress him. At the last supper Peter was adamant that he would deny Christ, but as we know from this passage, he did just that.

Part 1 – Confidence within a group.

When I was growing up in the church, I went to Sunday school and went to many thousands of church services. I knew all the answers and eventually I knew what to say in different situations. I was top of my class and could recite from the bible at will. Big Wow. I didn’t have God in my life really; I just knew the bible but did nothing about it. Its like a doctor who knows all the conditions yet never practices it.

At this time, I was confident about my faith within the church environment, superficially of course but confident none the less. I would tell people within the church all these stories about how strong I was but never actually put it in place outside of the walls.

Peter in some ways was the same. He had Jesus Christ as a teacher, he was in the inner circle of Christ’s followers and he also knew the answers. As we look back at the last supper, we can see that peter says the following:

“But Peter declared, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the other disciples said the same.”

That is some sentiment really; he is pledging to Jesus that he would rather die than disown his master. I would have done the same thing within the church but faced with any other situation I was completely the opposite.

Part 2 – Confidence in confrontation.

As I grew older and got a little bit more curious about the world I started to hang around with a few mates who really weren’t Christian and certainly wouldn’t go to church with me! There is one situation that sticks in my mind where I denied Jesus because I wanted to be cool.

My friend came around for tea, (I shan’t name the guy) and after messing about on the computer and generally having a right laugh, we were called down for tea. We all sat down, my mum and dad, my mate, my brother and me and the food was bought out. My mate picked up his knife and fork and started to eat. My dad said “mike’s friend, we will say grace before we eat thanking God for our food”.

Bang, this was a potential for any street cred I had to fly out the window. (Not that I had much anyway but you get the idea). Dad said grace and all through the prayer I could see my mate’s lip curling with a smirk. Nothing was said in the evening and he went home.

The next day however was a completely different story, I came into school and everyone was laughing at me, “your dad’s a priest”, “going to say grace before you eat that chewing gum” and so on and so forth. Great.

This was when my shame grew for even knowing Jesus and I started to join in the mocking of my parents, of my God and of all the standards I had been bought up to believe. I feel so ashamed of myself thinking back. I started to deny going to church and began my double life of Christian at the weekends and Rebel during the week.

Peter was also faced with criticism, and he denied Christ even when he was still alive and even though he was in the same room!

“He began to call down curses on himself, and he swore to them, "I don't know this man you're talking about."

That sentence sounds strangely familiar…

Part 3 – Forgiveness for Denial

I’m sure we’ve all been in exactly this situation. We’ve been faced with question of “Do you believe in God” or “what do you think will happen after we die”. And I’m sure a lot of us have taken the non-Christian route and glossed over it for fear of ridicule.

Peter knew he had done wrong as I knew I had done wrong at school. The difference is, I didn’t want any forgiveness because I thought that going to church every Sunday will make up for it. How wrong was I?

John 21:17

17The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."

My point is this. When we are outside of the church and outside of the group of people we associate with that, how do we act? Do we deny Christ with our actions? Are we hypocritical with our words? I think it’s extremely important to remember that God will never deny us, if we don’t deny him.

The biggest cause of atheism in the world is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips but deny him with their lifestyle – a quote from, I cannot remember where. But its true, we should remember that God has never promised that being a Christian is easy, in fact quite the opposite, but God rewards those who are faithful.

God loves us, we should love God with the same enthusiasm and we should never deny who we are. Easy to say I know but just because we deny God, doesn’t mean he’s not there watching us!

Walk by Faith, Not by Sight

Mikey

1 Timothy 6:10 - Money Money Money..

2007-01-31T12:09:00.000Z

We all need money to survive; it’s a given fact. The world expects to be paid for services rendered and expects riches to enjoy themselves. I for one couldn’t get to work without money, I couldn’t see people I love and I really couldn’t survive without food or drink.

But, I ask of you, do you need money to have a good time? Do you need money to enjoy life? Most importantly, do you need money to be close to God? Unsurprisingly, the answer to all of the questions is, no.

Right, get real Mike, if we don’t need money to do all of these things, then why do you get up and go to work everyday and why is it you still have to have money to pay for things. Well, you’re right, however, the way in which I use my money isn’t for personal gain, and isn’t to make myself feel better.

The text I’m going to draw from is as follows;

1 Timothy 6:10 (New International Version)

10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

I think its important to point out right from the start, Money is not evil. It is the love of money that is evil. Again, I’m going to look at this in 3 parts, and view this subject as a relationship, and how the world expects relationships to happen – Stage 1, Falling in Love, Stage 2, Marriage, and Stage 3 Divorce.

Stage 1 – Falling in Love.

I’m sure you know what this feeling is like. When you share with somebody everything and when all you want to do is spend time with this person. The love of money can also happen along these lines. When I started working in 2001, this was when I first fell in love with money.

My pay cheque would arrive on my desk telling me that my bank account had been replenished with funds every month. The first few months of this happening, something strange happened to me. I would go out and spend the lot, not even thinking about the implications, nor, thinking about the consequences. I was falling in love with having what I wanted, when I wanted and at any cost.

I managed to get myself into debt pretty quickly with that attitude in mind. I wanted to spend as much time and money as I could wandering around the shops or in the pub because, I could.

One of my biggest inspirations when it came to money was a guy by the name of Peter Jones. (Dragons Den). He was young successful and could afford what he wanted, but that was where my love grew for money.

God says at the start of this passage, “For the Love of money is the root of all kinds of evil”. And ultimately, my falling in love with money did this. I used to get drunk, I used it to gratify my lusts and I used it to be selfish. At the time, I thought there was nothing wrong with this, but when you actually look at the situation through Christian eyes, you realize that because the pound signs blinded me, I let my eyes be deceived.

Stage 2 – The Marriage

Obviously, once you have loved someone for some time and you have realized that you do indeed want to spend the rest of your life with him or her, you get married. (Not strictly I know but generally from a Christian point of view this is the usual course).

When you get married to money, there is no ceremony, there are no gifts. Your marriage happened when you realize, there is no way out from its grip on you. When you realize, I can’t actually quit working because you’ve made your self get into debt and the only way out is by working to get more money. At this point you find yourself asking why have I let myself get into this position, but by now it’s too late.

In the passage it says, “Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith”. This is what happened to me, and I’m sure it’s the same path that hundreds of Christians have walked before. The temptations of the world are too great for us to resist and the key to unlocking these things is money.

When you are in a marriage, God says that you are to be faithful, but money cannot be faithful to you because it won’t tell you what is right and wrong and it most certainly won’t tell you to stop spending. Banks are sending me leaflets every day telling me I can have credit cards, loans and all manner of money I would want. But ultimately, the relationship can break down and end in misery.

Stage 3 – The Divorce.

This is the stage when you hate money because you can’t get enough, the only reason you get up for work each day is to satisfy your thirst for having more money to pay off more debts and to have some left over to have fun with. Instead of you getting money, money gets you.

I’ve been in this situation and it’s not pretty. You begin to resent your Job because the only reason you can justify being there is to pay debts. Everything seems to be slowing down and everything is an effort. You don’t have any money to get drunk with, to buy things or to gratify yourself but you take it anyway and get yourself further and further into the red.

At this point. You feel helpless. And this is what the last part of the passage says – “and pierced themselves with many grief’s”. You see how the bible simplifies this, “Pierced THEMSELVES…” its not God’s doing if you love money and it turns its back on you. Its not God who allows you to get into debt, its your love for money.

Ultimately however, there is always a way out, whether that be when you hit rock bottom and the bank gives you more money and you structure your payment over a period of time, or you manage to work up enough money to pay it off. God also offers a way out for his debt.

Conclusion

What God is teaching in this passage is that money isn’t evil, money is a necessity, its something that helps when you have a bill, or when you need to eat. It is the LOVE of money that leads to your downfall. I still admire Peter Jones but I don't have the same love for money as I did have.

I have committed my life to God, I am a Christian and because of this, All that I own and all that I have is committed to given to him so that I can do his will. This includes money. I use the money I have to serve God. I use money to get to work so that I can work hard and witness to people around me with my actions, for God. I use my money to travel to see people, so that I can encourage and help them, and love them, for God. I use my money to pay off the debt from my old life so that I am free to serve God in another way, for God.

I do not love money. Money is there for God’s purposes and you can use your money to glorify him. As someone once said to me “you can’t take it with you”, that’s the truth but whilst I am here I can serve God with the money that I have.

Walk By Faith and not by sight.

Mikey.

Genesis 1 v 1 - The Beginning.

2007-01-30T12:23:00.000Z

I take my text today from the beginning… right at the beginning – Genesis 1 v 1. I will also refer to other parts of the bible through the blog entry, but for the purposes of this particular Blog entry its apt that we look at the beginning.

“In the beginning, GOD created the heavens and the earth…” Genesis 1 v 1.

Firstly, welcome. My name is Mikey Nash and I am 21 from a little town called Birmingham in England. I have a burning desire to serve and be God’s servent and eventually to preach his name to the youth as a youth pastor. But for now, I work at a broker and I go to Monyhull Evangelical Church in Birmingham.

I feel I had to let you know a little bit about me so that you can understand the reasoning behind this Blog and why I love the Lord so much.

I’m going to break this first verse into 3 parts. Difficult I know, its only 10 words long but I think 3 key points come from this verse and from what its saying.

Part 1 – “In the Beginning…”

When we’re born, our lives begin. “Obviously, Mike you muppet” I hear you cry, but actually think about that for a second. Actually take a moment to take a step back from the phrase and look at it from a new angle. Being born makes our lives begin. We are wholey dependant on others to bring us into the world and when we’re very young we don’t even think or remember anything but we’re alive, we are breathing, we’re eating, and ultimately, we’re lost.

But this verse in Genesis is a little different, the Beginning Genesis talks about isn’t a superficial beginning like our first breath, for many millennia has already happened before we live. It may be ‘our’ beginning, but ultimately, it is more the middle (or end depending on what you read into revalation. I will touch upon that another time) of time. The beginning of the world is a “Godly” beginning, or to put it another way, a “devine” beginning.

“In the beginning”, in the beginning of everything, at the start of all things we know, at the birth of the world, however you want to put it. At this point, is the start of everything. Its difficult to conceve in our brains which are so used to time and space and other physical aspects that shape this world what was before “the beginning”, but for God who is not part of our time and is not govern by the physical aspects of this world, this age of “the world” is but a grain of sand on a beach. Therefore the beginning for God is not the beginning, it is only what he has created for his glory.

Part 2 – “In the Beginning, God”

Now we have the basis of the beginning and where it fits into our world, we have to also remember that in the beginning there was God. God has always been there from the start. When Steven Hawkins was analising the big bang and was looking at how the world was formed, the only thing that he could justify before the big bang was God.

For us Christians its very hard for us to imagine anything but God being there before the beginning but for non Christian folk, its even more difficult. I can remember speaking to someone who called himself an atheist about this very subject. I asked him what he thought had made the world. His answer was the Big Bang. I asked him further, what was around before the big bang and how old is the universe, he replied he didn’t know because there was nothing before the big bang but gas. Where did the gas come from was my next question. Silence followed and the answer came, I don’t know.

Our human minds cannot cope with anything outside of the physics of the world. We can’t comprehend the infinity of the universe, more over its creation soley for God to show his awesome power, and yet on this small planet some 22,000 miles around was where God created man. Actually think about that for a moment. The universe is massive. There are millions if not billions of stars spread out over an inifinate distance, each of those stars with its own planet system. But God chose this planet and us to send his son and for his son to die for us, for our sins. God is truly awesome.

Part 3 – “Created the heavens and the earth”

I’ve already touched upon this point, however it is worth driving home. God created us, God gave us this planet and designed everything about it. We can’t think about the smallest element in our world. But God knows each and every nano atom, at what makes an atom and he knows how it works and why.

There are some groups of Christians who think that science is against God, but actually, scientific research is only trying to find out what God already knows. There is something quite comforting about that for us really, that God already knows how many hairs we have on our heads, God already knows how many planets are out there and he already knows how it all works. The persuit of science is only the persuite of proving that God exists. Contreversal I know, but to me that’s the truth.

Its no coincidence that the world is a perfect tempreture, distance from the sun and size for humans and animals to survive. By God’s design that it is this way. Amazing really when you look out the window at the weather systems and how much detail there is in just a single leaf or even when we look out ourselves. We speak, we think, we breath, we can see. The chances of this happening by chance is an infinite number to 1, but for a Christian, its not.

Conclusion

Well there we have it, a little bit wishy washy I know but I hope that my words have gone someway to encourage you and to strengthen your own love and trust for God because, In the Beginning, there was God and God Created the heavens and the earth, for us. And because he created the world there is nothing that he cannot do within this world. I have seen this on many occasions and I thank God that he is watching me and caring about me.

Walk by Faith, Not by Sight.

Mikey