Evolution - Biblical?

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?

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...

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!

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

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?

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

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^th and 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.