Jesus is the hope of the World.

Jesus is the hope of the world.

Not your church, not your denomination, not your tribe, not your strategy, not your home group and not your amazing way of getting everybody to follow you. 

Jesus is the hope of the world. Get that wrong and you are stuffed! Put your hope in anything other than the resurrected Jesus Christ and you will be disappointed. People will let you down, church will let you down, denominations will let you down, but Jesus will never let you down. 

Everything around us changes. People change, projects change, worship songs will change, that model of church will change but Jesus does not change.

Hope can be a dangerous thing when we pin it to the wrong things. Unexpected disappointments come, unfulfilled dreams and deep hurts rise because our hope was not anchored.

Now we can hope in a lot of things and sometimes those things will disappoint us but you and I can have a confident hope... indeed today we can rejoice in this confidence hope..

‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.’ 1Pet 1:3

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the HOPE of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.’ Rom 5 1-5 

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Rom 15:13 

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Romans 12:12 

So today make him your cornerstone nothing else.

I don’t preach church, I preach Christ. 

HE IS THE HOPE OF THE WORLD.

My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus' blood and righteousness

I dare not trust the sweetest frame

But wholly trust in Jesus' name

Christ alone; cornerstone

Weak made strong; in the Saviour's love

Through the storm, He is Lord

Lord of all

When Darkness seems to hide His face

I rest on His unchanging grace

In every high and stormy gale

My anchor holds within the veil

My anchor holds within the veil

A brief personal reflection on Reformation day

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10210671660044057&set=a.4868935797650.1073741825.1124988481&type=3

#reformation500 #reformation #reformationday. 

Today I will reflect upon my own personal reformation, celebrate the faith, mourn the divisions within Christianity and hope for a new reformation. 

The Reformation contributed significantly to the end of medieval Christendom and sparked reforms that are foundational to Protestant traditions and modern Catholicism. That we must all celebrate.

I have a dream; that the church may be one. That all those who know and love the Lord can share communion together. Until that day we must mourn. ‘I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one.’ John 17:22. 

‘I think that the intentions of Martin Luther were not mistaken. He was a reformer... he made a medicine for the Church.’ #PopeFrancis 

We would all do well to drink that medicine again. We should reflect upon and hammer that thesis upon our minds. 

Finally, today I will hope for a day when His church #Catholic (Universal) is filled with both the word and Spirit.

#maranatha 

#solascriptura📖 #soladeogloria #solafide #solachristus #solagratia

Amazing Iceland for the World Cup!

Thought for the day:

For a moment forget the #GAWA

Iceland became the smallest nation ever to progress to a World Cup after beating Kosovo to win their qualifying group for Russia 2018. They have a population the size of Belfast!

Yip, about 335,000ppl.

How does that happen?

Let me give 5 reasons:

They show fierce loyalty to their country with T.V viewing figures watching the national team is one of the highest percentages in the world. 

They have the shortest football season in the world. Allowing players to rest and recover.

Over 110 Icelandic schools have artificial mini-fields  , 7  having indoor pitches. (My sons primary school in Belfast didn’t even have grass to play on!)

From as young at 6 years of age the children are coached by qualified paid coaches.

They don’t play football for fun so much as play to win. They are very competitive and passionate about sport.

Let sum that up:

loyalty, avoid burnout, provide excellent facilities, invest in their young people and passionate about what they do. 

Flip! You could plant a church on those principles! 

Reflection: your church may be small numerically  (so is Iceland) but imagine what you can do if you invest in what you have.

Well done #Iceland.

Not thinking, not feeling, not doing; but being.

Many people believe that if they invest their years improving how they think, how they feel and what they do life will be better.  For the christian however,  it goes much deeper than this. It’s about who we are. Our thoughts, feelings and actions are important but they do not define us. We are defined by who we are...the reality that we are created in the image of God, broken yet reborn through amazing grace.

Once you begin new life with your identity found in Jesus Christ; perspectives change. It’s not so much about the number of years we live on the earth but how we live them in light of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Most evenings as I drift off to sleep I pray a short simple prayer and give thanks for my family. I will then pray these words ‘Lord use me or take me home.’ Those 7 words are a frightening yet potent prayer. In truth some evenings I think, if I were God I’d just bring me home! There are better people for the task than me. I’m not doing a very good job... yet each morning as I awake my spine stiffens. The Lord has kept me alive for a reason. I’m alive in Him and this truth propels me forward in confidence to finish the mission and fulfil the upward call. The very creator of the universe has answers my prayer and chosen to keep me alive for a purpose.

Some years ago I decided to build my life around three purposes. They help me to focus on clear objectives each day:

1, To accelerate the mission of God.

2, To give my family the best experience possible.

3, To keep myself reasonably fit. 

Today I will set these before me once again. Remembering that what I think, feel or do does not define me or measure my success; It’s about being. I am alive in Christ Jesus. 

My pray for each of you is that you will enter into the truth and knowledge of Jesus Christ and be found in him. 

Psalm 139

1 You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. 5 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. 7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. 13 For you

The Christian Church in action

The Christian Church in action

If I had the money to fund and co-direct a movie it would be on this glorious topic. It would be an alarming contrast to the pathetic atheistic world-view that all religion is poisonous. 

Truth: The Christian church is the unsung hero again, and again and again.

This morning at 5am the first e-mail of the day arrives in my inbox. From Fire Fighters for Christ calling for a second emergency response team to Hurricane Harvey relief. These teams are formed from firefighters around the world who assist after earthquakes, hurricanes and other emergencies. By 8am I had further 2 e-mails giving updates on christian aid around the world. 

Indeed if we took time to look at the response of the church and christian mission both historically and now we would be astonished at the immense difference it makes.

The church (universal) is the biggest operation in the world. It has more ‘outlets’ that any other organisation and continues to be the major source of social services like schooling, medical care, disaster relief, food and water aid and moral and spiritual wellbeing.

It is estimated that the Christian church gives $45 billion to oversees mission and aid each year, not to mention the  local support in summer clubs, drop-in cafe’s etc. 

In the U.K even a brief look at the incredible impact and support of para-church organisations such as FOODBANK (who gave out over 1 million emergency food parcels last year) and CAP (who help over 20,000 people each year with free debt help, job clubs etc) lets us see what a remarkable community for good the church is. 

For those who feel the world would be a better place without the church: think again. The Church feeds more hungry people, cared for more orphans, frees more slaves, opens more water wells, visits more sick people than any organisation in the world.

Though chaplaincy support in prisons, universities, sport, military, schooling, emergency services etc the church offers support and wellbeing to billions; yes billions of people around the world.

Importantly we encourage, educate, mobilise and inspire a whole new generation of young people to help those in need. In our own ministry (Crown Jesus), we have inspired young people who responded by giving tens of thousands to feed the hungry, support anti-slavery, sponsor children in poverty, dig water wells, set up small business in the rural villages in India etc.

How many young Christians from Northern Ireland served communities at home and around the world in the summer months? I would suggest 10,000 and more! 

Recent research (Wilson and Csikszentmihalyi) States that on average, religious believers are more social, feel better about themselves, use their time more constructively,  engage in long term planning better that non-believers. On a moment by moment basis, they report to being more happy, active, sociable and involved. 

On a humorous note Christians tend to have more children than atheists (doesn't bode well for their evolutionary theory that the strongest survive).

Additionally in his book ‘Is faith Delusional?’, Professor Andrew Sims states ‘The advantageous effects of religious belief is one of the best-kept secrets in psychiatry and medicine generally. If the findings of the huge volume of research on this topic had gone in the opposite direction and it had been found that religion damages your health, it would have been front page news in every newspaper in the land. 

The effects of the christian church is continually correlated with well-being, happiness, life-satisfaction, hope and optimism, purpose and meaning of life, higher self-esteem, better adaption to bereavement, greater social support, less loneliness, Lower rates of depression, faster recovery from depression, lower rates of suicide, less anxiety, less psychosis, lower raters of alcohol and drug use, less delinquency and criminal activity and greater marital stability. 

That doesn't sound like lazy, self indulging, manipulative trouble makers that would be better off in the history books? 

In closing: 

Two points: 

1, The church isn't perfect: It’s made up of imperfect people who have made terrible mistakes (I’ve mentioned this in a recent post) and there is no defence. But lets be clear: The Christian church when it follows the teaching of Jesus does an immense amount of good. 

2, I didn’t become as christian to join a social revolution. I become a christian because a believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died on the cross for my sin and through believing in Him I can be born again finding meaning and purpose in life.  Almost 25 years on I am more convinced than ever that Jesus is the son of God and immensely blessed to be part of His local church. 

Truth: My faith in Jesus is not motivated by me getting from earth to heaven but bringing heaven to earth.

Jesus Christ calls the Church to action. Let’s finish the mission!