Hey everyone (or no-one)… Long time no blog! Just figured since I was writing it for church anyway I would fire it up here for some people to read through if they want. Basically It’s a sermon on getting fresh perspective on the gospel both for Christians and non-Christians. Hope you enjoy it and get some benefit from reading it. Any questions etc just fire me a mail on facebook or something! :)

As many of you know in January I was to go on placement up in Londonderry at Altnagelvin hospital. You will also know that while I was on placement I suffered an injury to my shoulder which caused me to have to cancel said placement. At first I was pretty gutted about this (And still am because I have to redo it which is taking a sizeable chunk out of my summer holidays). It did however allow me 4 weeks off university, and I had absolutely no work to catch up on (though my lecturers might say otherwise…). This, combined with other circumstances allowed me time to meet up regularly with Jonny and Sam, sometimes just for banter and other times to do some Bible study and just chat about the things of God in general. While this was a real testimony to me of how God works all things for good it was also a real time when God spoke to me, he revealed things in my life which weren’t right and that needed to change (and I am still working on many of them), but also through our studies in John’s gospel he showed me the need to get fresh perspective on the gospel as it was perhaps at risk of becoming ‘old news’ to me. Now while we only got the chance to study the first few chapters together as Sam thankfully found work with Patrick it was enough to inspire me to consider again the good news of the gospel and to reconsider just what it means to be a Christian and all that entails. This time gave me a fresh perspective on four areas in particular which I would like to share with you today. You will need a bible handy because I will be throwing out references pretty thick and fast Also my points today will follow in an ordered and logical fashion, one linking to the next and so please try to stay with me and not allow my dulcet McIlrath tones to put you to sleep.

So the first thing that I had to re-evaluate my perspective on was the sinfulness of man in the presence of a Holy and Just God. This is the bad news if you like because it’s hard to appreciate the good news without first being in need of it!
Now I know that for most of us in this room who are saved people, who have already come before God and formally acknowledged how utterly sinful and wretched we are, are pretty aware of man’s sinful and lost position before God. But in this world we live in it is always good to be reminded of who we were so that we can deeper appreciate who we are now through the saving work of Jesus Christ. Also for those who are not saved, who do not accept that they are sinful before God, or those who maybe just don’t think it’s that big of a deal, to you I would challenge you to listen to this part as I lay out what God’s word has to say about your sin, and needless to say it is a big deal. A colossal deal in fact!

So what does the Bible say about man’s sinful condition?
Bible’s at the ready!

1. We are born in sin – Psalm 51:5

“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”

2. All men are guilty of sin – Romans 3:23

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

3. Man can do nothing of himself to change his sinful condition – Jeremiah 13:23

“Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.”

4. God has promised to Judge Sin and will do so – (as anyone who has been at the Wednesday night meetings will know from the studies in 2 Peter.) – 2 Peter 2:9

“The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgement, and especially those who indulge in the list of defiling passion and despise authority.”

- Hebrews 9:27
“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.”

So here we see that we are all born in sin, guilty of sin, in an of ourselves incapable of being free of sin and what’s more we are awaiting the judgement of our sin – which Romans 6:23 tells us is death! It’s a pretty depressing picture! But still this lingering question is left, what’s the big deal about sin? Why is it so offensive to God?
I think John Piper sums it up well in his book “The Passion Of Jesus Christ”

He says, “God’s law demanded, “You shall love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deuteronomy 6:5)
But we have loved other things more. This is what sin is – dishonouring God by preferring other things over him and acting on those preferences. Therefore the Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 6:23). We glorify what we enjoy most. And it isn’t God. Therefore sin is not small, because God is not a small sovereign. The seriousness of an insult rises with the dignity of the one insulted. The creator of the universe is infinitely worthy of respect and admiration and loyalty. Therefore failure to love him is not trivial – it is treason. It defames God and destroys human happiness.”

So to conclude this point, man is sinfull to the core, sin is an insult to God, God must judge sin, man is awaiting God’s judgement.

Now to point number two, and thank God that this talk doesn’t end after point one or we would all be leaving here today a depressed people! This is where we see the good news of the gospel! For you see while man had fallen as far as he could fall, God was not content to leave him there, God went deeper still to rescue us.
This is something that I have been really contemplating lately as a result of our studies in John’s gospel and it was triggered by the first 4 verses of John’s gospel and verse 14 of the same chapter.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men.”

And verse 14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,”

My point here is this, if you do not begin to understand what it meant for Jesus to come to save us then you will never be as grateful as you should be that he did. You will rather be like a spoilt child who doesn’t know the value of anything and so does not appreciate the things it has been given. If however we can begin this morning to grasp afresh just how incredibly awesome and important Jesus is from verses 1-4, then we will be filled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude at what we read in verse 14.

So just how important is Jesus Christ? Well we learn several things that answer that question in just these 4 short verses.

1. He is eternal.
2. He has been eternally in relationship with God.
3. He is God.
4. He was the means of creation and without him there would be no creation.
5. He is the source of life.
6. He is the source of light.

When we understand all of these attributes and ascribe them to Jesus Christ as John does then we begin to see the incredible outrage of verse 14. This eternal, life giving, light emitting, creator God, clothed himself with mortal flesh and stepped into that which he had made! Just let that sink in for a second, God became man! He was born as a baby in Bethlehem, worked as a carpenter and grew up to be a man. He experienced hunger, thirst, pain, friendship, betrayal and every other human emotion. He lived alongside his creation, he rubbed shoulders with regular men and women like you and me every day.
What an unbelievable step down, what a lesson in humility to us!

But it doesn’t end here, God did come as a man, he did live among us, but, that is not all because he also died for us.
Jesus did not come to this earth for a holiday or to identify with our emotions (although he does do this and we are grateful for it). Jesus prime purpose in life was his death. More specifically his death on the cross, his death where all the sin, shame and wrath of God was poured out upon him, the one who knew no sin.

Again, let this thought really wash over you. Jesus was innocent. Not just of the crimes which the Jews manufactured to have Pilate put him on the cross but of every sin of every man and woman that held him on the cross.

I know we can never really grasp this but just to try to get a measure of what Jesus experienced I want you to imagine the worst sin you have ever committed. Remember the embarrassment, the shame, the pain it caused. Now think of the number of people in this room, each one with a sin that caused them such shame. Now think of all the sins of all the people in the room…Vastly beyond counting. Now imagine the sins of all people on the world today and all through history. Sins so innumerable it would be impossible to even conceive of a figure. And God lays these sins on his son, his perfect son, his son, the source of all light and life and goodness in the universe. He puts our shame on him. Isaiah 53:5 says,
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

We will never fully understand the inner workings of the cross, we will never fully know what it meant for Jesus to bear away the sin of the world and take its full punishment. But when we stop to realise who we were and who Jesus Christ is then we will be inescapably awestruck and grateful that he was prepared to bare that great cost for us.

But the good news of the gospel does not end there and this brings me to my third point, Jesus did not remain dead! And again we thank God for that! For as we know on the third day he was raised to life again as a once for all sign that his work was finished, sin was paid for and we are now free when we come to faith in him!
More than this even, Christ has not only been raised but he has been glorified in heaven! Hebrews 1:3 says, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”
It is impossible to overstate the glory and majesty of Jesus Christ. God the father has set him above everything as it says in Philippians 2:9-11,
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. “

Jesus is Lord of all, he is God and he is with God in heaven. He is the most glorified being and this is the way it will be for all of eternity without change. This is something that this world hates to hear. It hates the fact that there is someone above them in authority and to whom they must answer, but the bible is clear, every knee WILL bow and every tongue WILL confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. That is whether they do it willingly in this life or through coming face to face with their creator and judge in the next.

And so to summarise my third point, Jesus Christ did not remain dead, he was raised to life again and has been seated at the right hand of God in absolute, undiminishable glory.

That would really have been enough, wouldn’t it? To know our sins forgiven and to see the wrath of God averted and Jesus in his rightful place at the father’s side? Indeed it would and it would be much more than we ever deserved! The good news goes further however! For you see not only has Christ been glorified but we too are glorified with him and receive all the blessings that go with such honour. To name but a few of these things we have received through the work and glorification of Christ:

1. We are new creations – 2 Corinthians 5:17
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

2. We have eternal life – John 3:16
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

3. We are children of God – John 1:12
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,”

4. We are indwelt by the spirit of God – John 14:16-17
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”

4. When we pray God hears us and answers our prayers - Mark 11:24

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

5. We have a great inheritance in heaven – 1 Peter 1:3-4
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,”

6. We have everything we need to live the Christian life on earth – Philippians 4:19
“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

This is only a very short list of the blessings that Jesus Christ has won for us through the cross and resurrection, the bible is filled with many more and I would encourage you to explore them in your own time for your own encouragement as I do not have time to go into them all this morning. Suffice to say for now with Paul in Ephesians 1:3, “Praise 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.”

And so to sum up, as Christians we must constantly reflect back on the basic principles of the gospel in case we might risk losing some of the wonder we had for them at first. We must remember who we were, the vile, sinful, judgement deserving wretches. We must realise more of the person of Jesus Christ, who he is and what he had to endure to win us back from the curse of sin and free us from God’s righteous judgement.  We would be advised to keep in mind that Jesus did not remain dead but rose again on the third day, and that he is now seated in the place of ultimate authority at the father’s right hand. And we will be blessed to consider our new position in light of the work of Christ in saving us, transforming us and bringing us into the family of God.

And if you are not a Christian today, you must realise your fallen state and its offensiveness to God, you must realise that there is a holy God who made you and will hold you to account for your actions if you continue to ignore him. You must understand that God has offered you a way back to him, a way that he spared nothing to open it but instead gave up everything he had in the person of his son Jesus. You must realise that should you not repent then Jesus has been given authority to judge you for your sins eternally but should you repent he is completely justified in removing the debt of sin, giving you his righteousness and welcoming you with open arms into the family of God. You must understand that God’s gift is for you as well, you can know all of those blessings discussed above, you can know what it is to be right with God and experience knew life and all you have to do is come and repent of your sins and accept Jesus as the head authority and guiding force of your life. Do not wait, do not put it off, no one is garaunteed tomorrow and as it says in 2 Corinthians 6:2, “now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”

I know that normally my blogs are written specifically for Christians or to address more spiritual issues and in a sense this blog will have spiritual applications for Christians but this blog is also written with everyone in mind, in particular those like myself who are affected by the issue I want to write about, image. 

P.s this is the first blog I’ve written in months so bear with me as my writing/typing/spelling skills have rusted slightly… 

So basically today I want to talk about image, mostly body image but it can apply to social image too…

So, body image and a side of things that I don’t think that is talked about enough and that is GUYS who are obsessed with appearance (in the physical sense). Do not think me a hypocrite for speaking about this because I would start by admitting that I am very much one of these guys, I spend hours in the gym and try to watch what I eat (most of the time), I always buy shirts that are tight fit and I am constantly planning my next gym session or how to get more protein in my diet to get more size. 

I don’t know if that’s you, maybe it is and you just aren’t honest enough to admit it  but for me it is a definite issue. Don’t get me wrong it is good and right to look after yourself and go to the gym and train hard etc as it is with working hard in every area of life. What I am talking about is something much less healthy and I think it is something we need to identify for what it is, an unhealthy obsession with appearances. 

From personal experience there are days that I wake up and I look in the mirror and I am seriously annoyed by what I see. I don’t show it but I look and I am constantly analyzing myself and picking out areas that ‘need work’ and as a result I go to the gym then I come home and eat say 15 egg whites fried without oil (NOT NICE) in one sitting just for a ‘protein boost’. I know that the science doesn’t back this approach but the obsession drives you to do things you know are illogical. I have also toyed with the idea of taking protein supplements  to try to increase my muscle gains even though I only have one kidney and know that it could potentially leave me on dialysis machine the rest of my life (I have never taken supplements - just felt the pressure to). I have also spoken to guys who are big guys, massive in fact but who feel they are far to small, who still buy small shirts when they really should be XXL just to try to meet some sort of social expectation of them.

So where does this obsessive need to increase(or decrease in some cases) in size come from? For me I think it is my chosen career path. I am currently studying to be a physiotherapist but also a personal trainer. It is more so the personal trainer aspect. During this course we see posters, videos, photos etc of guys who are 19/20 stone of solid muscle, who have 2/3% body fat etc. This is the image that is presented to us as the pinnacle of health and fitness and therefore to be a top fitness professional you must look like they do and if you don’t then you wont make it. Not to mention when the public hear the term personal trainer they instantly conjure up images of bodybuilders like Arnie or Ronnie Coleman ..therefore the pressure is on people like me to conform to this image if I want to ‘make it in the industry’. 

Also there is the driving force of the gym mentality, you go to the gym 4/5 times a week and therefore you must be huge, If you’re not then you mustn’t be doing something right…this is nonsense of course but again logic plays second fiddle to social pressure. 

The truth is that this world is run on image, those with a ‘good’ image get ahead and those who lack this image are left behind. This leads people to go to extreme and very often damaging measures, not always physically but psychologically. It can leave people questioning their value (I joke you not) on the measurement of their biceps. If this isn’t something you struggle with then this is probably the stupidest thing you have ever read but I know for me it is a serious issue. Size and shape also becomes a shield to hide behind socially, people would rather be known as the ‘big lad’ in a group so that people will not identify them for certain personality traits etc

I know for me personally it is a struggle I have everyday to go to sleep each night happy that I have done enough each day and to get up each morning without obsessing about what I have to ‘work on’ that day not to mention the endless struggle to put on the bigger shirt! 

Ultimately I think this issue of body conscience and image obsession especially with guys is only getting bigger, I personally think that most sporty guys or people anyways interested in fitness have to deal with it at least once if not more. I think that for girls it is seen as much more socially acceptable to be body conscious and even to obsessive degrees but with guys we refuse to talk about it and so it goes unnoticed and just gets progressively worse until you get those guys who can’t pull themselves away from the mirror…you know the type…

If like me you do suffer from this image obsession and want to chat to me about how I am currently in the process of dealing with it or for some help in getting past it yourself then fire me a private mail on facebook, as the title of this blog suggests though step one is definitely to buy a bigger shirt!

p.s To those Christians like me reading this who know this is an issue for you then you have a double duty to deal with this problem, identify it for what it is, an idol, it takes up your time, money, energy and thought, taking these things away from God. There is a spiritually healthy way to go to the gym and still workout etc but it can only be achieved by putting things in place to ensure the gym stays in its rightful place!

Peace out people! 

Lately the book I have been studying, with the aid of a dusty tome or two borrowed from my dad, is the 42 chapter book of Job! No problem at all!
Needless to say I will not be covering the book in comprehensive detail! Consider this a taster to layout some of the major themes of the book.
Now I must admit that when I first read Job on my own I didn’t know how to make heads or tails of it! Most notably was the fact that I read the debates with the friends and by the time I reached about half way I found myself thinking, those are some pretty smart guys who seem to be pretty on the money…I was in for a shock when God had his say on Job’s friends! So needless to say I needed to go back to basics and remove any preconceived notions I had about Job and look at it afresh with most notably the aid of Warren Weirsbe’s commentary ‘Be patient Job’. When I did this I found so much that has blessed me and so much encouragement. Therefore this is what I would ask you to do this morning. Come with an open mind and an open heart to hear this message and I promise you it will bless and encourage you as it has me.

Before we start I’ll give a basic outline of the book of Job.

6 sections to the book –

1. Introduction to the person of Job. (1v1-5)

2. God’s discussion with Satan in the heavenly throne room and Satan’s attacks on Job. (1v6-2v10)

3. The arrival of Job’s friends (2v10-13)

4. Job’s expression of grief (chapter 3)

5. The debates (4v1-37v24)

6. God’s intervention: Humbling Job (chpt 38-42) – Job confesses his insignificant position before God (not his sin but we’ll get to that later!) – God then vindicates Job and restores him to a higher standing than before.

Outline for today’s sermon:

3 points and 2 applications –

Points:

1. True faith leads to attack from the devil.
 (see the discussions in the throne room of heaven and Job’s friends incorrect (satanic) interpretations of Job’s sufferings)

We know this point to be fact before we even look at the book of Job, one look at our world today will show you this is true. Look at North Korea, Sudan, Eritrea; Iran…the list is endless. Believers across the globe are being persecuted and made to suffer for no other reason than their steadfast belief in the gospel. Granted Job did not have the revelation of Jesus and the good news of the gospel as we do today but he did know about God and he sought to live as closely with him as he could during his life. He was a man who we are told was upright and good and who opposed evil. He would even offer sacrifices following one of his children’s parties in case they might have sinned against God in their hearts. In summary Job was a righteous man. He was not sinless as no man is sinless but he was doing his best to live as God would want him to.
This is shown in heaven when Satan comes before God and God asks Satan if he has taken the time to look at ‘his servant’ Job for ‘there is none like him in all the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.’
High praise indeed! God himself attested to Job’s faith and how pure it was, the devil on the other hand had only one response – to attack that faith by undermining it. Essentially Satan tells God that Job only worships God because of the material benefits that it has brought him and if God would only take that away then Job’s faith would crumble.
Unbeknownst to Job God accepts Satan’s challenge and allows him to remove Jobs material possessions and his children (however note God’s sovereignty – he tells Satan how far he can go and no further).
After this the book moves from the throne room of heaven and moves back to Job who even after losing everything he had we read in chapter 1:20-22, “Job arose and tore his robe then shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshipped. “Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked I shall return. The LORD has given and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD!”
God had one this round in his debate with Satan however as long as Job’s faith remained Satan was not finished and once more he came before God and told him that Job only worships you because he has his health…take that away and he will surely curse you!
Again God accepts Satan’s challenge and yet again he sets his limits on Satan that he may remove his health but not take his life.
Satan then leaves God’s presence and inflicts Job with sores from head to toe. So hateful where the sores that Job could only find some relief through scratching himself with a piece of broken pottery!
By this point Job’s grief is deep and he goes to sit on the ash heap which is the equivalent to the city dump and sewage works combined. It is where all the local waste was disposed of – not a pleasant place at all but it adequately reflects how Job feels at this present time.
His faith however remains firm and through all of his affliction, not once does he renounce God or speak ill of him.
Now Satan changes his plan of attack, he makes things personal. In chapter 2 and verse 9 we read that Job’s wife comes to him and says, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!” Job however is having none of this! “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we accept good from God and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. (BOOM SIT DOWN!)
You see sometimes Satan can’t get at us through our situation or circumstance and so he uses what can be our greatest weakness, our loved ones. Satan uses Job’s wife to undermine his faith and attempt to turn him from God. However Job answers her with an absolute and resounding victory for faith. His answer shows that he does not understand why he is suffering but he knows that ultimately what is happening to him is happening under the eyes of almighty God and he has not forgotten him.
So we see from the book of Job that true faith always brings about the attack and rage of the devil. He hates to see true faith in God and he will do anything he can to destroy it, undermine it, cripple it and weaken it but like Job we can stand against this attack if we keep God in focus through the trials and not the trials themselves.

2. Job’s faith was built upon a love of God’s character and person and not his stuff.
(see that Job refused time and time again to give up his integrity and thus God’s integrity and invent sins to repent of purely to receive God’s material blessings)

Enter Job’s 3 friends into the equation.  We have Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shushite and Zophar the Naamathite. We can assume that they were all older men and that Eliphaz was the oldest of the group given that he speaks first.
If you are anyway familiar with the book of Job you will realise eventually that in the end Job’s 3 friends aren’t exactly the heroes of the book but rather they add quite a bit to Job’s troubles. However at first it must be noted that they did something quite honourable. When they heard about Job’s sufferings they made the long journey from their respective areas and we are told that they sat in silence for 7 days with him in the ash heap to share in his mourning. That was quite a sacrifice for men of their stature to come and sit on the local dump for 7 days simply to identify with a friend in pain. They spent 7 days in silence with Job…if only they had remained silent…How often do we wish that of ourselves!
You see at the end of the 7 days Job finally mouthed his grief in the form of a curse on the day of his birth in Job chapter 3. I want to read this for you because it shows the full extent of Job’s grief.
After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. He said:

“May the day of my birth perish,
    and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’
That day—may it turn to darkness;
    may God above not care about it;
    may no light shine on it.
May gloom and utter darkness claim it once more;
    may a cloud settle over it;
    may blackness overwhelm it.
That night—may thick darkness seize it;
    may it not be included among the days of the year
    nor be entered in any of the months.
May that night be barren;
    may no shout of joy be heard in it.
May those who curse days^[a] curse that day,
    those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.
May its morning stars become dark;
    may it wait for daylight in vain
    and not see the first rays of dawn,
for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me
    to hide trouble from my eyes.

“Why did I not perish at birth,
    and die as I came from the womb?
Why were there knees to receive me
    and breasts that I might be nursed?
For now I would be lying down in peace;
    I would be asleep and at rest
with kings and rulers of the earth,
    who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,
with princes who had gold,
    who filled their houses with silver.
Or why was I not hidden away in the ground like a stillborn child,
    like an infant who never saw the light of day?
There the wicked cease from turmoil,
    and there the weary are at rest.
Captives also enjoy their ease;
    they no longer hear the slave driver’s shout.
The small and the great are there,
    and the slaves are freed from their owners.

“Why is light given to those in misery,
    and life to the bitter of soul,
to those who long for death that does not come,
    who search for it more than for hidden treasure,
who are filled with gladness
    and rejoice when they reach the grave?
Why is life given to a man
    whose way is hidden,
    whom God has hedged in?
For sighing has become my daily food;
    my groans pour out like water.
What I feared has come upon me;
    what I dreaded has happened to me.
I have no peace, no quietness;
    I have no rest, but only turmoil.”

I’ve had some bad days in my life but I can’t say I have ever felt as bad as Job did at this time and naturally so, He had lost everything he owned in this world, his wealth, his health and his children. Note however that in expressing his grief at his losses he never once curses God, but rather the day of his birth. While Job might have lost all the material blessings God had given him he never lost his faith in God. The reason for this is that his faith was not based on God’s blessing but God’s character. We see this in the next 36 chapters as Job and his friends debate the reasons for Job’s sufferings. You see Job’s friends where essentially good old fashioned legalists. They saw God as a judge and nothing else, do good get good, do bad get bad was their theology. Therefore if Job was suffering he must have been secretly sinful and needed to repent.
Job on the other hand knew that he was not a sinful man. Note he was not a sinless man but he knew that he had not sinned such as to bring this kind of disaster upon himself.

Weirsbe suggests two reasons why his friends where so unrelenting in their dry, legalistic theology, number 1 was that it provided for them a buffer from suffering, if they could remain good then they would never have to suffer but if the good could suffer too then they had no safety! Another reason is that they were essentially parroting the devil’s message to God back to Job with a slightly different twist.
Satan said to God that Job only serves you because he does well out of it, it is not based on a love of your character but only your stuff. Likewise Job’s friends asked him to give up his own integrity (and thus God’s integrity) and invent sins to be repentant of simply to get back into God’s blessing.
Job however refuses because the reason he worships God is not because he is a God of blessings (which he is) but rather because He is a God of justice and integrity and Job knows that if he will be patient then the Lord will show his justice and vindicate Job.
You see if Job had listened to his friends arguments and admitted to sin that was not their he would have been proving the devil’s point, he would have been showing that the only reason he worships God is for the material blessings that it brings to him.
Again and again Job’s friends attack his integrity and again and again Job appeals for God to show his justice in the situation and vindicate him in the presence of his friends because Job’s faith was based absolutely on God’s character and not his blessing because even when God’s blessing was taken away he continued to worship him.

What an example this faith is to us today! We as 21^st century Christians living this side of the cross know that we will never lose God’s blessings but we need to have a love for God that is not based on his blessings but rather his character because while the devil can never remove our blessings from us he can distort our thinking on them and make us like spoilt children only seeing the gifts and not the giver. Alternatively he can dim our view of our blessings so that we can barely see them at all and then, when we can’t see the blessings we need to have faith that is anchored in God himself if we are to have true faith that withstands any trial.

3. True faith can never be broken and ultimately will meet with great reward and vindication from God.
(see that Job never once cursed God through his suffering,)

This is my final point from the book of Job and is an evident theme not only in the book of Job but throughout the entire Bible. Job’s faith faced many trials from loss to self loathing and abandonment by his friends and family. His faith however refused to crumble. It remained resolute and steadfast. He relied on nothing other than God’s unchanging character and in the last two chapters of the book we read of how God finally speaks into the situation. Firstly to humble Job by reminding him of just who his God is and then to rebuke Job’s friends for speaking incorrectly about him. Job is then vindicated in the presence of his friends when God tells them that they were speaking wrongly of him but Job remained faithful and spoke what was true. Not only this but for their error the friends must come to Job and he must offer sacrifices on their behalf for them to be forgiven by God – I suspect that was a humbling experience for them too!
Finally we read in the last chapter of the book how Job’s fortunes where restored and his family made larger than before. A true happy ending!
This theme of true faith being unbreakable and ultimately vindicated by God is evident throughout the whole Bible from Noah, Abraham, Moses and all the great heroes of the OT through ultimately to Jesus Christ. The man who had the perfect faith, he was mocked, beaten, abused and ultimately crucified for his unshakable faith however he was so marvellously vindicated on the third day when he was raised to life and seated at the right hand of God.
So it is with us. In this life we will have suffering, Jesus himself told us this. If we follow him we will suffer. We may even die as many have across this world for owning the name of Jesus but if we will only rest of the character of God we know that there is a day coming of vindication when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and we will reign with him! On that day all those who have suffered so much will be vindicated and their fortunes restored to greater degree than they could ever imagine but most of all they will be forever in the presence of the God who they loved more than the blessings.

Application:

11.    When we suffer for our faith, do not be surprised and do not become obsessed with asking God why. Hope in suffering does not come from asking God for the reason behind the suffering but recognising more of who He is by trusting him through the suffering. This is what Job had to learn too. This is a painful lesson to learn and any time studying the book of Job will tell you this! Sometimes it takes us to be brought to the ash heap, to sit amongst the filth and the dirt of this world to realise that our hope is not based on circumstance or situation but on God who never changes. Do not mistake me we are still human and our hearts are so easily hurt, Job never denied his pain, notice that he tore his robes and shaved his head – a customary sign of abject despair – but what was his answer to this pain? He fell on his face and worshipped. What a challenge to us today, when we face trouble and hardship can we honestly say with Job “The LORD has given and the LORD has taken away, Blessed be the name of the LORD!”

22.    When we encounter believers who are suffering do not approach them with dry theology or a desire to be right. Instead come with an ear to listen to them and not a mouth to teach them. Yes teaching can help in times of suffering but only when it is accompanied by a heart of genuine sympathy and love. This is what Job’s 3 friends lacked in their approach to Job and eventually God showed their error ridden council for what it was. I’ll bet at the end of it all they wish that they had just continued to sit in silence with Job on the ash heap because often to be of help to the suffering person that is what it takes. Silence. Not wisdom, not insight and certainly not pride! It takes a warm heart, open ears and most times a closed mouth! We need to sympathise with people, hear their pain and share their burdens, we do not need to kick them while they are down or argue with them. Sometimes the best way to help a struggling Christian is simply to take a seat beside them in the ash heap and say nothing.

So that was a quick whistle stop tour of the book of Job and I hope it has inspired you to go and study it yourselves, I know that it has really challenged me deeply and encouraged me even more!

Ephesians 4:11-15

“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, that is Christ.”


This is something which has been weighing heavy on my mind of late (not least because I know how spiritually immature I am!) but also because I know that spiritual maturity is not just something that it would be nice to achieve but rather it is Jesus’ expectation that we ALL become mature in the faith. Note reading those verses that Jesus gave the church apostles, teachers etc not so that they could be mature and make up for our immaturity but rather that they would enable us to reach maturity!

I know that I am guilty of thinking that because I am not a pastor or a teacher or a preacher that I don’t really have to be spiritually mature but that is their responsibility, THIS IS NOT THE CASE! All Christians are called to mature in the faith - as we can see again from the tongue lashing dealt out in Hebrews 5:12-14 where it says:

”For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”


Here we see the writer telling his readers that they have had so much experience of the gospel and the word of God that they themselves should be teaching it! But yet they are like children. Why is this? It is because they have never built upon what they have been taught!
As I’m sure you’ll know from school, all the best teaching in the world (I should watch what I say as an ex-teacher of mine might read this) won’t help a student who is not prepared to work inside and outside of the classroom!

Likewise it is with us. When we become Christians we are like nursery school children (or kindergardners for any american readers). We barely know how to speak the truth of the gospel and in very real terms we need to be taught the basics. However no one stays in nursery forever! The aim is always to advance to primary education and on further from there. But yet as Christians so many of us are content to stay in nursery learning how to read and write but never taking it any further, never moving forward and ultimately never being of any real use to the church because we are not equipped to spread the gospel. For example no nursery school child is ever going to lecture in mathematics or the basic principles of literature. So it is with an immature Christian, they can never accurately or appropriately preach the gospel or teach correct doctrine because they have never worked to understand it first for themselves!

I know for myself that I struggle greatly with prayer and bible study, both of which are absolutely essential in reaching Christian maturity. One can’t understand the Bible without prayer that God would open his mind to do so and even if he could understand it without prayer then he would have academic knowledge about a God he has no relationship with. Likewise prayer without study of the bible will be lacking because you will be praying to a God that you do not really know or understand and you will inevitably end up praying according to your own will and not God’s because his will is laid out in his word. 

Therefore while it might be difficult it is obvious that prayer and Bible study are essential to reaching maturity which as the verses above show is not just a possible option but a command of God.

The reason this has been weighing so heavily on my mind is because I look at my own life and the lives of so many around me and I just see such lack in the pursuit of God…such half hearted attempts to know God and just a hope that God will do everything for us and some day he will just cause us to wake up mature. I also realise that I am coming 20 next year and despite the jokes I am essentially a man now (chest hair and all!) and it is time I stopped thinking and acting like a child, especially in matters of faith. The Bible makes very clear demands of men (and women) and has high expectations - especially in countries like ours where the word of God and helpful commentaries and resources are available!
Luke 12:48
”From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

We in Northern Ireland (and pretty much the west as a whole) have been given so much! I look at my shelf and see 3 bibles and about 20 books explaining the Bible but yet I’m doing well to have read 3 of those books because the truth is I am lazy and it’s about time I manned up! It’s about time we all manned up! It’s about time we started talking about this sort of thing and holding each other accountable! It’s about time we started acting like brothers and pulling each other out of nursery after what might have been our 20th year there! It’s about time we became a church with men and women and not boys and girls! A church that was a force to be reckoned with a that commanded respect - not respect on the basis of size or political correctness but respect because we are a church that is accurately reflecting Christ. A church that is full of the fruit of the spirit which Galatians 5:22-23 tells us is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 
A church full of those things would be a church that this world needs because the truth is the world doesn’t need a limp wristed church because our God is not a limp wristed God! 

Don’t mistake me I am not saying that this is all our work to do but God has given us a responsibility to make time to pray, to make time to read and study and to make time to serve him. He will give the words to pray, give wisdom to the study and give strength to the service but he can’t work with people who are unavailable to him.
Also you are not alone because we have the church. We have a worldwide family who are tied by something even greater than genetics, we are bonded by the Holy spirit and we can help one another, encourage one another and frankly give each
other a good boot up the backside when it’s needed! 
Hebrews 10:24-25
”And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” 
Don’t go to church to see what you can get out of it but go to see what you can give in to it!

So essentially this has been a rant mostly directed to myself but I figured that most of the time when I’m telling myself something I’m not the only one who needs to hear it so I thought I would share…maybe I am the only one but who knows. 
If this has been a challenge to you then please let me know so that we can begin to encourage one another to study more deeply, to pray more earnestly and to serve more effectively!

Hope this has helped/challenged/encouraged!
God Bless!
 

This blog is written in reply to a question posed to me this morning by a friend and indeed a question I find myself posing to myself everytime I hear a show on discovery channel starting with the line “Millions of years ago…” or a preacher stating that the world is only “6000 years old…”.

I find (or rather I should say found) myself torn between as I saw it the outlook of science and the outlook of the Bible on the matter. For some time in my childhood and indeed in the first year or so since I got saved and 16 coming 17 I believed that science said the world was approx 19 billion years old (life being 4.2 billion) and the Bible saying that the earth was approx 6000 years old (life being one week younger than that).

I thought of it as though there were two completely separate camps with two mutually exclusive messages and thus I found myself mentally switching off every time anyone mentioned a date pre 6000BC. 

I now realise however that while there are these two camps screaming these two messages and disregarding anything else as a departure from pure science or as a heresy against pure biblical teaching that there is a third party. There are those that hold that the earth is much older than 6000 years and who even dare to disagree with the literal view of a 7 day creation. It is in this group that I slot quite nicely into and feel very much at home in both scientifically and spiritually.

Now I can almost here the gasps of shock and horror from those members of the ‘conservative’ Christian fraternity who would be writing me off straight away because they will say that I am speaking against the Bible. This is however not the case and if you know me at all and I have found any respect as a follower of Jesus then please at least hear me out on the issue.

Firstly I would attempt to silence those who would condemn me as a post modern free thinker trying to save face or gain favour amongst those of the naturalist or atheist persuasion by attempting to make the Bible more palatable. That is far from what I am doing as this world view is not a new one and in fact goes back to the very early church founders, not to mention I am in some good modern theological company in sticking to it! (see Dr John Lennox, Ravi zacharias, Dr William Lane Craig to name but 3).

Secondly I would like to explain why it is that I do not hold to Genesis 1 as entirely literal in the sense of everything that was written was a completely historical account of what happened exactly as it did.

There are several reasons why I take Genesis 1 to be more poetic than historical, more song than science. It is not because I believe what they say is wrong (I believe 100% in the infallibility of the Bible) but rather I believe it is a different type of literature.
For example when someone says I died of embarrassment - they are not making a factual scientific statement about the fact that they are now deceased but rather they are making a statement about the severity of their embarrassment. They are using poetic language and we both understand and accept that what they are saying is both correct (as their embarrassment is real) but it is not scientifically accurate.

So often the Bible uses this type of language (e.g the great battle or the beasts mentioned in revelation - these are not literal things but rather accurate symbols or images of what will happen.) This is the view I take of Genesis, it is a non literal, poetic description of what actually happened. I believe it was written to praise God for his creation but not to tell us how he did it or how long it took him. As for the word used for day it is the word ‘Yom’ which can mean a 24 hour day or alternatively a vague and undetermined period of time (an age) - or it can mean time itself. 

This instantly begins to muddy the water on the issue because we now have no definite basis on which to hang our assumption of the 24 hour days we know and love.

Some might however say that it says that there was morning and evening before each day however this throws even more weight to the poetic view as here when taken literally we see a blatant scientific inaccuracy because we get morning and evening from the position of the sun in relation to the earth however the sun moon and stars are not created until the 4th day, there can be no normal earth day without the sun/moon/stars. 

Further problems arise when we look at the order of creation because water is made before the sun and we know that minus the sun the water would be frozen because the temperature on the earth would be vastly below freezing point. Also plants are created before the sun but plants need light to photosynthesise. Also man is created after plants have been made in genesis 1 but genesis 2 tells us that there were no plants on the earth for God had not yet made the man to work the land. These are but some of the rather lengthy list of things in Genesis that leave us to either reject what we understand of the universe or to follow the Bible (or to realise that maybe it is our understanding of the Bible that is at fault and not the Bible itself!).

I know that many people who have been brought up to believe in a young earth will no be saying that God doesn’t need to follow the laws of science and so he could make it work if he wanted and you are 100% correct on that however…

Romans 1:18 says:

”The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

In other words God has said that man can see and know about God from the creation. Therefore how can God create this world in one way and then change the rules without telling us? A bit of a curve ball to all those who seek God through what he has made if you ask me!

I appreciate that this is a lot to take in and I don’t want to get in anyone’s face or degrade another’s beliefs but to me it seems to make so much more sense that this world is much older than many Christians believe it to be and I believe that the evidence for a young earth is hung on some very weak threads. 

Take for example the age of the earth at 6000 years that many people believe is a Biblical figure. This is in fact the work of the 17th century Dr John lightfoot (carried on by the 17th century Bishop Ussher - who gets most of the credit). Lightfoot and Ussher after him worked out that the creation of man occurred in 4004BC by taking a date in the Bible that we know is historically accurate and then working backwards through the events and genealogies given in books like numbers, genesis etc to arrive at this figure.

However there are some serious questions to be raised about their figures and their  maths. Firstly is that they entirely disregard any view of Genesis besides the 6 literal days view which as we have seen above is not the only way to see things!
Also when working through the genealogies they have given no account for the fact that there will inevitably be gaps or missing persons because they where either not worthy of noting or they were of a shame to their family name and where thus not included. They also take no account of the fact that the word for son can mean grandson to the nth term and vice versa with father. For example Jesus is a ‘Son’ of David despite the 1000 years between them!

Not to mention the obvious point that nowhere in the Bible does it give us the age of the earth nor tell us to work it out - least of all by adding up arbitrary figures to arrive at an absolute value!

Finally I think that we need to give science it’s say - despite that I know many will be discounting me as I write this - Science in its true form is the observation of the world and if you are a Christian then that is the world that God has made (remember Romans 1:18). The Bible teaches us that it can show us more about God and his nature. I do not believe for one second that science and faith are NOM (non overlapping magesteria) as many in both camps would have you believe and I believe that God has given us a brain capable of logic. I do believe that much of ‘science’ is pure hypothesis and not much evidence but there are still things that we can take as fact.

For example I believe that we can observe that rock takes a long time to form (we can observe this by recreating pressure or blast heating sediment). I also believe that we know fossils don’t form overnight…
Admittedly there are those who would argue that that is the effects of the flood in Genesis (Noah’s ark etc) and I agree that such water/pressure effects could indeed speed things up they can’t account for everything such as fossils (for example when a fish dies and sinks to the depths of the sea it still takes a very long time to fossilise and even the fastest flowing of rapids takes many years to wear away at the rock that contains it).

So in conclusion I would like to reaffirm my belief in the 100% truth and faultlessness of the Bible as the inspired word of God (though I do not have so much faith in man’s handling thereof). I believe that God is the creator, sustainer and King of this universe, I believe that I am a sinner and that he saved me at the cross. My faith in Jesus Christ is not effected by my beliefs on Genesis 1 and those who know me will know this!

I hope this has been some help or even encouragement for those stuck as I was between what I thought the Bible said and what my mind was telling me. I appreciate this is not everyone’s perspective on things and I do not want to run anyone’s beliefs down but I thought it was important to say that this issue is not black and white - SCIENCE V FAITH - but rather there is room for both and the two can even support one another!

God Bless!  

In beginning this blog I feel that I should say just how unworthy I feel to write it given that I am a teenage lad who is tempted by all of the above on a near minutely basis (minus adultery given that I am not married - but I reckon when I do get married it will be a temptation that will no doubt have a go at me!)
But still I felt it was a subject that I ought to write about for the very same reason that I felt that I was not the right person to write it. I am a teenage lad seeking to live a life that honours God in a world that not only accepts the above things but glorifies them as both a good way of life and a ‘normal’ life. It is a world that rejects the idea of sexual purity as presented in the Bible as wrong and worthy of ridicule.

In this blog I just want to talk to guys my age and younger (and maybe much older) and just give my honest opinion on sexual purity and the need and value thereof in a world that I know will have a good laugh at it.

So firstly what are some basic principals of sexual purity?

1. As a Christian you are not your own for God has bought you with a price (the cross) and so your bodies belong to him too.

“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” - 1 Corinthians 6-18-20

This verse shows us that God considers sexual sin as a sin against the body which God has bought at the cross and therefore we are sinning against God’s property which is thus a sin against God.

2. God has a purpose and a plan for sex and that is that it should be kept as the most sacred and intimate relationship between two human beings. It should not have it’s value diminished by using it as a pass time or as a ‘fun’ way to end a night of drinking.

“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” Hebrews 13:4

Sex within marriage is to be honoured as it is by God, it is to be enjoyed and given its right place. God is not against sex but he has given it its correct context and outside of that it is sin.

These are just two basic principals - I could give many more to explain the Bible’s teaching on sexual purity but I suspect I would be flogging a dead horse.

So next I want to talk about why is sexual purity important? For example I often get asked why it is that I refuse to have sex before I’m married. Often this is in the form of a joke or banter but very often people simply can’t understand it - so allow me to try to explain my reasoning.

You see as well as the reasons given above it is a deeply personal issue. For me sex is the ultimate in human experience, it is a close as two people can possibly be, both physically and emotionally. I do not want to experience that with anyone else but the one person who I intend to experience the whole of my life with. For me sex is not an ice breaker or a way to get to know someone but rather it is something exclusively for the person who will know every detail there is to know about me and who loves me for them and vice versa.

I do not see sex as anything less than the closest two humans can become and in fact the Bible teaches that when people have sex they become “one flesh” - that is something I only want to say of the women I marry.

People also ask me about questions like “What if you know you’re going to marry someone.” Quite frankly i’ve seen relationships I thought were as strong as rock go south from a poorly worded text let alone in the year or so an engagement and wedding planning takes! ~

To summarise this part sex to me is the most valuable gift I have to give my wife, it is not to be thrown around and it is not to be wasted or cheapened by jumping from bed to bed. I want it to be something that my wife and I have only ever experienced together and I want it to be ‘ours’.

I’m aware that to many guys reading this words like ‘GAY!’ or ‘SOFTIE!’ will come to mind (or knowing my mates much stronger terms) but frankly I don’t care. Anyone who thinks my outlook is soft, easy or for wimps should try living it out! It takes some serious will power and a constant reliance on God for strength! But I know that my wife will be glad that I stuck at it and my marriage will be better for it! 

So yeh, pretty much the same goes for pornography, it isn’t easy but for me it’s a no. I screw up don’t get me wrong but it is my absolute and firm belief that watching porn is just as bad in God’s books as adultery as backed up by Jesus where he says:

Matthew 5:28
”But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Now fair enough if you can watch porn without lustful intent but I suspect you’re in a minority of 1!

So that’s my musings on the issue. It’s tough and it’s never going to get any easier to live a life of sexual purity - especially not if the media has anything to say about it! 
BUT!
There is hope!
We are not alone in this struggle! God is with us every step of the way - we have his word to teach us, his spirit to guide us and his strength to empower us not to fail.
And when we do fail we can come back to the cross time and time again and ask for that forgiveness that only he can give. I leave you with this final verse and pray that if you have read this and you realise that you have not been giving sexual purity its right place that you will get back in the fight - it is worth it! If you read this and you are fighting hard then keep fighting and be encouraged that you are not alone!

Hebrews 4:15-16
”For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” 

We do not need to live a life weighed down with guilt when we mess up, we are human and we make mistakes but when we come to God in genuine repentance asking for forgiveness he can and will forgive those sins! Don’t confuse me it is never good to let sin run off you like water off a ducks back but don’t beat yourself to a spiritual pulp every time you mess up - God knew exactly who you would be and what you would do but he sent Jesus to die for you anyways!  He loves you and he understands that you will let him down but he will always be there to pick you up, dust you off and send you out again!

This blog is being written as a result of a study I had to prepare for Sports Plus camp. In this study we were asked to look at the passage of John 19:28-35 which reads:

“ After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said ( to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness— his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth— that you also may believe. 

This passage is obviously taken from Jesus time on the cross when he is hanging by the nails in his hands and his feet. It is the lowest point in John’s gospel and for a moment it seems that evil has won the day. In light of this darkness (no pun intended) it can be easy to miss something that is vitally important to fully understand what is taking place on the cross.  Note the start of the passage “ After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished…”

2 things worth considering in light of that short sentence, firstly, Jesus KNEW that all was completed - he knew that his work was done and that he had finished paying the debt for the sin of the entire world. Jesus was NOT a victim at the cross. This situation was NOT out of his control and as we see from how he goes on to fulfil one final prophecy in asking for a drink he was in fact in complete control of the situation - not to mention when he says that “it is finished” it does not say that ‘he died’ but rather that he “gave up his spirit”.

Secondly it is worth noting that Jesus knew that there were certain things that during his life (and death) he would have to complete. He knew that his time on earth had a strict plan and that God had made promises in times before of what his son would do when he arrived on earth. 

This is very evident when we look at various aspects of his life, from his birth, ministry, through his death, resurrection and ascension to God’s right hand in heaven and compare them with what was written in the OT concerning Jesus. We begin to see that Jesus place and nature of birth, his miracles, his encounters with people, his death and his resurrections were not random or isolated incidents that Jesus did as and when he pleased in order to win the popularity of the people but rather they are a direct fulfilment of promises and hints that God had given up to 1000 years beforehand through his prophets. 

It is when we see this direct correlation between the promises of God in the OT and the actions of Jesus in the NT that we can’t help but see that Jesus was indeed God’s chosen son who would be sacrificed to save this sinful world.

A list of references for the prophecies concerning Jesus (and the approx date they were written) and the NT fulfilment can be seen in the link below - This text would be monumental if I typed them all out so please take some time to look them up for yourself and I promise you will be both encouraged, challenged and amazed!

http://www.askapastor.org/proph.html 

If you were prepared to do the leg work there and get really stuck into those prophecies and NT fulfilments then surely like myself you will agree that the OT is filled with Jesus, it creates a profile of the coming king or a mould and Jesus fits it perfectly.  

Jesus was not just some random guy who appeared on the scene with a nice message of love and some magic tricks to back up his message. Rather he was God incarnate, fully God and fully man. He was the one promised from 1000 years before his birth and the one and only saviour planned in the mind of God from eternity past.

In summary we learn two things from prophecy/fulfilment. First we learn that Jesus is who he said he was, he was the real deal and he was the promised one of God. Secondly we learn that we can trust God’s promises. For 1000 years in some cases people had waited for the coming of the saviour and i’m sure some began to doubt if he would ever come and do those things that God had said he would. But we see in Jesus that everything God had said was fulfilled. When God makes a promise we know that he will keep it. Not always in the time frame that we want but rather in his perfect and sovereign timing. And so when God tells you that you are saved from sin you can rest firm in that knowledge. When God tells you that you will live eternally with him you can live in that reality today. When God tells you that he will work all things for the good of those who love him then you can be sure that his hand is at work even in the most horrific of circumstances. 

God’s work may not always be clear and it may not always be obvious - it wasn’t for those prophets who first wrote those prophecies - but we can be sure that he knows what he is doing and some day he will reveal his masterpiece to us and we will be in eternal wonder of all that God has done!

So in closing I would make a final challenge (as much to me as you, if not more so to me) - Do you want to know Jesus more fully? To understand his mission more clearly? To see his character more deeply? Then don’t just open the second half of your bible - He is to be found woven through the entirety of scripture and only then can he and the bible be clearly understood.  

Hope this has been of some interest/encouragement/challenge to you! Any questions please don’t be afraid to mail me - God bless! 

The above statement is a bus advert paid for by the ‘New Atheist’ movement and it’s chief campaigner Richard Dawkins. 
I don’t really care to argue about their right to post such things on buses, billboards or anywhere else for that matter, freedom of speech gives them the right to do that if they choose and I don’t really mind. I also do not wish to argue about the probability of God’s existence, i’ll take that up another time. What I want to talk about tonight is this idea that by removing God from the picture we are:

A) Free to enjoy life in a way that people of ‘faith’ are not.
B) Free from a fear of death that people of ‘faith’ have. 

Starting with point A, the idea that atheists are somehow more ‘free’ to enjoy life in ways that believers in a God are not. Needless to say I find this point ridiculous given that I am a man of faith and that I absolutely love life and not just life in general but the life of a Christian. I love the church, I love my youth group, I love meeting other Christians, Bible study, engaging in worship, prayer etc. I love everything about my Christian faith and the life it brings for me. I would say quite happily that I have more joy, fulfilment and happiness than many of my atheist/agnostic friends and given that I spent 16 years without it I can clearly see that the result of my happiness is my faith in Jesus Christ.
This is the point however when I can almost here the atheist loading the gun…What about all those things you ‘can’t’ do? What about alcohol, clubs, sex, drugs etc what about all the ‘rules’ you have to live by? How can you have ‘fun’ in life when you’re trapped in a spiritual prison?
My brief response to those things would be that those people need to study their bible’s more closely (or even read one at all!). The Bible teaches me that as a Christian I have a relationship with God under Grace. I am not under a law of ‘DO THIS!’ and ‘DON’T DO THAT!’ - however as with any relationship I know that there are things that will upset the other person involved (God) and so there are things that I ‘WILL DO’ and ‘WONT DO’ - Big difference. I am not in a spiritual prison, quite the opposite in fact, I am no longer a slave to do what my body tells me on impulse but rather I now have self control and that is real freedom!
Not to mention the fact that I don’t need those things for two reasons. 1 alcohol doesn’t do me any favours, I can’t claim to be a fan of nightclubs, I don’t think I’m ready to get some girl I barely know pregnant so I’ll do without sex til I’m ready for the consequences and drugs I think we can all agree are not helpful. 
2 - I have more important and meaningful things to fill my time now such as being part of the church, helping with the youth work, reaching out to people in need, learning more of God etc. 
So to summarise A christian is not someone with nothing to enjoy in life, a Christian is someone who lives with a relationship with God, a person whose actions have purpose and eternal meaning – a person with everything to enjoy in life!

To turn the gun on the ‘new atheists’…You say that we of faith have no fun in life, where do you draw your joy?
If you are going to believe in nothing but the material world then at least be honest and brave enough to face the true reality of that belief. It is a belief with no other purpose than to pass on your genes and ultimately provide nutrients for the grass around your graveside until, at some end point, this earth spins its last and the universe dies its death.
Your actions are of as little consequence as you are, you are but a collection of atoms interacting with other collections of atoms and some day your atoms will disperse and you will be no more.
How does accepting that belief free you to enjoy life?
*Note I make no comment on whether atheism is true or false I am purely pointing out the logical end point of that worldview*

The truth of the matter is that while the atheist may find joy in this life for a short time all he does is futile. We seek to reproduce that our species may continue - continue to what you might ask - until this world can no longer sustain us and we die out. They seek joy in parties, what happens when you’re too old to party? They seek joy in ‘love’ - which surely to the pure naturalist can’t exist - what happens when your partner dies? They seek joy in money and property - What happens when the banking system collapses or the economy goes into recession or when you die?

The fact is that by removing God - be it right or wrong to do so - removes the only possible thing we have in life that can make it all worthwhile, that can make it all matter and without him we are certainly not free to enjoy life but rather only to sit around and ponder our dark, lonely and depressing existence in a universe that is on a timer and couldn’t care less about little old you on little old earth.

I paint a grim picture I know but I feel it’s something people don’t often stop to consider…

Secondly the slogan seems to suggest that God brings with him some fear of death and that by removing him from the picture this fear goes as well. 

I get what this idea is in reference to, it is the idea of God’s judgement of mankind for its sins and many people feel this is something they could definitely do with removing from their thinking. 

As a Christian however I see things very differently. I do not fear God’s judgement because I know that my sins have already been judged and paid for on the cross of Christ and so the only thing awaiting me on the other side of death is my God with open arms to take me home. Far from fear, having God in mind when I think of death brings me joy and you can have that joy too! (I am aware that atheists will then accuse me of having faith purely as a crutch to cure my fear but isn’t that exactly what they are saying atheism will do in the slogan above?).

As I went into detail about above, atheism does not offer relief from fear, It is knowing that there is a God who loves and cares for you, it is knowing that death is only the beginning that is the only cure for fear. When God is removed from the picture hope goes with him, point in life becomes absent as well and all you are left with is maybe 60/70 years to cram in as much fleeting pleasure as possible before you return to the compost you came from.  

So in conclusion I am not arguing that either atheism or Christianity is more or less probable (a debate for another time perhaps) but rather I am simply expressing my opinion that this slogan is very misleading and quite ignorant of what Christians believe of God and the reality of atheisms end game beliefs. 

I hope this has been of some help in getting people to seriously consider what they believe and where that belief leads.

God bless! 

This is my sermon for tomorrow morning in Church - I should point out this talk is basically all stolen from Sports plus 2012 - so sue me! lol - I hope it will bless you as much as it has blessed me!

Sunday 15^th July:

Running the race of life – Hebrews 12:1-3

Good morning everyone! Great to be back with you again after missing last week. First off I want to thank you all so much for your prayers while Daniel and I were away at Sports Plus Armagh.
I had an amazing week with so much to thank and praise God for including the opportunity to lead two of the Bible studies for my team.
I’m sure that everyone knows what Christians in Sport is from listening to Rachel Young who is the Northern Ireland coordinator for the organisation but for those who don’t I’ll give you a brief two minute(ish) summary.

Christians in sport is an organisation that exists to “reach the world of sport for Christ” and to see Jesus represented in every sports club across the UK and beyond by equipping sports players to “Play, Pray, Say”.
Pray – To pray for the members of their teams and for opportunities to share their faith with them.
Play – To play in a way that honours God (something I need particular help with as any civil service man will confirm!)
Say – To openly share the gospel of Jesus Christ with their team mates when such opportunities should arise.
 
I have had the privilege of working with Christians in sport in various areas including a group set up in Grosvenor during my U6th year. My main point of service however for CIS in NI is with their summer camp (or camps as it became last year with the opening of the Belfast camp). This is called sports plus and is two weeklong camps held in both Campbell college and Royal school Armagh.  The young people are given 4 hours per day of top class coaching in their chosen sport/s along with a team challenge competition that runs each day. Also throughout the week they study God’s word in 2 daily meetings with the whole camp and one meeting each night with their particular teams to delve a bit deeper.
The atmosphere during the week is incredible, sport is celebrated, talent appreciated, banter on tap and of course God is lifted up daily as the most important part of the week and our lives as a whole.
I do not exaggerate when I say it is one of the best weeks of my year if not the best.
P.S If you know any young people (under 18) who love sport then it is definitely something they will enjoy!
This year also marked my first year as a team leader as I moved from trainee to team leader two this year marking the beginning of some responsibility for teaching and looking after the young people.

It is also from my week away with Christians in sport that I have taken my message for this morning (By taken I of course mean stolen pretty much word for word). During our morning quiet times and in the morning meetings we were encouraged to consider Hebrews 12:1-3 which was entitled throughout the week as ‘The race of life’.  It was here that we focused on what it meant to live out the Christian life and what it meant to strive to become more like Christ. Obviously when talking to people who have sport in the brain the idea of a race really hits home because running a marathon is never easy (as I’m sure some in this room could well testify!) and neither is living out the Christian life in a way that reflects Jesus Christ.

So let’s open up the Bible at Hebrews 12:1-3 and see what the writer has to say about the ‘Race of life’.
Hebrews 12:1-3
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

When studying this passage throughout the week we broke it up into 4 sections in order to help us best understand how we are to run the race. These sections where:

1. Look around
2. Look down
3. Look up
4. Look forward

So section number 1: - Look around…
As we can see the first line of this passage is “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses…”
As ever when we see a therefore we must ask ourselves what’s the therefore there for and for that we will need to take a look back into Hebrews 11 (to save time I’ll cut in at verse 29)
“By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

³⁰ By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.

³¹ By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.^[a]

³² And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah,about David and Samuel and the prophets, ³³ who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴ quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. ³⁵ Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. ³⁶ Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.37 They were put to death by stoning;^[b] they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— ³⁸ the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

³⁹ These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised,40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. Therefore…”

We can see from reading these verses that the therefore is in reference to those people mentioned in Chapter 11. Those great heroes of the faith who by the time of writing were all long dead – they had finished the race.
They now stand as witnesses to us of God’s faithfulness and the fact that God will enable us to run and finish the race if we will perservere.
They stand as examples to us to show us what it means to run the race of life and to finish well. At camp we imagined a marathon runner or ‘Marathon Man’ which was a comedy drama that was performed at the start of each morning meeting. During this drama marathon man was being cheered on by the crowd and being encouraged to push through even when times were tough and the pace of the race was hard going. It was this encouragement that pushed him to run faster, to fight harder and to know that the race could be finished through the strength of God.
Today I would encourage you to think of those examples from your own life who have finished their race and have now reached the glorious finish. For me personally I can’t help but think of my granny Susan and how she is now in my cloud of witnesses to serve as an example and encouragement to me to run hard and also she stands as a mighty testament to God’s strength and provision to keep me going even through the worst that this world has to throw at me.

Secondly we considered – Look down…

This study was an exortation to look down at yourself. To examine your own life and to assess your current running status.
“Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.”

As was repeated so often at the camp, no serious sports player turns up to an event ill equipped for the job and certainly not a person undertaking something as physically demanding as a marathon. An example that was given was a man who ran this year’s marathon with a fridge strapped to his back. While this might be an amazing example of human endurance and a great fundraiser for charity it certainly wasn’t the best idea in respect of running a good time!
No runner will turn up for a race he hopes to win with any excess weight and so it must be for us in the race of life. This verse describes two areas in which we must lose some ‘dead weight’ so to speak. Those two areas are ‘everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.’

The second part seems rather self explanatory…we all have those sins that so easily trip us up, that get us down and that just prevent us from being of maximal effect for the kingdom of God. That part is so obvious to us that I don’t really feel the need to focus on it but rather I want to talk about those things that hinder us.
What is this section referring to? Well for me it does what it says on the tin. We need to look carefully at our lives and root out anything that takes our attention away from the race be that T.V, games, dare I even say sport!
Like any top athlete we must be 100% focused on our race because ultimately finishing the race is the only thing of any lasting significance. Don’t mistake me games, sport and banter are all great things when in their place but when they start to impact on our running of the race of life then they have to be thrown away without pause for thought.

So to summarise so far we must:

Look around - to those who have finished the race before you and tell of how God can strengthen you to complete any course your life may take. Look to the great men of faith listed in hebrews 11 and look to those you have met or heard about in your own lifetime who have finished the race in amazing fashion and take heart that with God’s strength you can do so too.

Look down - at those things in your own life, be they sins or simply things that fill your time, things that hold you back from running the race as best you can and throw them off. Jesus died to break sins hold on you, you have now, through the cross and the work of the Holy Spirit, the ability to throw off sin - Don’t keep your hold of it!

Now to point 3: - Look up:

“Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”

Our third point to consider in the race of life is that we must look up. We must lift our heads and set our eyes firmly and intently on Jesus Christ. It was Jesus who first completed the race and who has won us our admission to the race. Jesus is our coach and he is our running partner. He runs alongside us and he encourages us through every step we take in this life. When things get tough he is our example and he is our strength. When things are going well he is preparing us to face the next hill or the long hard stretch coming around the next corner. All the while perfecting our running technique and stripping away any excess baggage that is holding us back.

He is constantly calling us to move forward, to keep running and even when we fall he is there to pick us up again and again.

It is when we fix our eyes on Jesus that we realise that we are not alone in the massive challenge that is ‘the race of life’ but rather we have everything we could ever need at our disposal in Christ – we are just too often blind to that fact because our eyes are fixed on other things.
Think of Peter when Jesus came walking on the water in Matthew 14. When Peter realised who it was and set his eyes on him he was able to do the impossible and join him out on the surface of the water. However he grew scared at what was going on around him and lost that Christ centred focus and he began to sink. So it is with us, when we focus on Christ we do the impossible and live Christ like lives in a sinful world but so often we begin to lose our focus and begin to focus on what is happening around us and we begin to sink back into our old sinful lives.

Therefore let us FIX our eyes on Christ and hold that focus with intent, not letting anything distract us because it is only then that we can finish the race well as Christ intended for us to do.


Finally point 4 – Look forward:
I’m quite aware that time is running on so I’ll try to be brief with this one. We must Look forward to the finish line as Christ did as we see where it says “who for the joy set before him endured the cross…”. Like Christ we must look beyond the race itself. We must see the joy that awaits us in the end, when we reach the finish. It is here that the hard work will be over and all the work involved in the race will be rewarded. It is here that you will stand with all the other competitors and receive from Christ the ‘Winner’s medal’ if you like. Here is where there will be fullness of joy, complete and full relationship with Christ and the joy of knowing that you have made it to eternity, never to leave his presence, never to lose the wonder of who he is and never to be distracted or entangled by sin again. That is the finish line and that is what makes the race worth running!

So in closing…
If you are in the race:

Will you look around at those who have gone before you and how they ran with faith and finished through God’s freely given strength? Will you draw encouragement from the great men and women of faith who have shown you that it can be done?

Will you look down at those things in your own life, be they sins or simply things that fill your time, that hold you back from running the race as best you can and throw them off. Jesus died to break sins hold on you, you have now through the cross the ability to throw off sin - Don’t keep your hold of it!

Will you look up to Jesus Christ as he is the one who gave us our faith and who will perfect it in a day to come. Will you Fix your eyes on Jesus, our coach, running partner and voice of encouragement throughout every step of this life until we reach the finish line and the glory it will bring.

Will you look forward just as Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was to come (Glory at the fathers right hand and an eternity with those he came to win from sin) Will you look forward to the future glory that will come from running with all we have in the race of life. Let us look to the finish line and the great victory party that awaits us there that we may echo the words of paul in 2 Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

If you are not in the race, what is stopping you from running? Is it that the race seems to long? Compared with eternity our lives are but a second. Are you worried that the going will be too tough? We have a father who will supply us with everything we need for every challenge we meet along the way. Is it that you are not prepared to lose those things that will way you down? We have a saviour who can break the hold those things claim on your life. So really what there to stop you from getting in the race? It is the only way to live with purpose in this world and it is the only life that leads to a glorious finish – get running!

God bless!