Don't quote me on this:

If i rant here i dont need to burn someone's ears off!

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Location: Leeds, Yorkshire, United Kingdom

Became a Christian on the 10/03/00 and my life hasn't been the same since... I went to Uganda, China and South Africa on short term mission, spent 4 years at Bristol University, and five working in Kent & London. I'm now enjoying working as a student pastor in Leeds, being married and learning to be a dad!

Sunday, October 24, 2004

"Come Holy Spirit"

This isn't well thought through, or a rant about anything, just something i've been getting concerned about over the past few weeks...

When I say 'let us pray' what do you expect me to do? I guess that if you're like most people i know, you'll bow your head and close your eyes and expect me to state some truths about God in religious language, and then for me to list a few things that i want God to do for me; stutter over a few words and then say Amen, tip my head back and breathe a sigh of relief? Is that not like swimming a few strokes under water, and then coming back to the surface where i can breathe? Why does is it percieved as such a big effort to pray? Why do people need 'quiet times' where they can make a big effort and pray a really long prayer? Is this the kind of relationship to God that Jesus won for us?

No! Surely not? Jesus came to give us life in abundance, he won us a place in God's family, not in a team of servants. He was comfortable talking with God, he was so intimate with his father that he did only what he saw Dad doing, and only repeated his words! Jesus came to win us a security in our relationship with God... to let us know that we are accepted and loved. He said to cast everything onto him, and take his burden instead because it releases us to experience true life in total abundance.

To worship God in song, to speak to him in prayer, to adore him in creation, to love him with our lives... these things shouldn't be a burden. They shouldn't need us to grit our teeth and cut off ourselves from our brains. They should be natural, they should be like the air we breathe... sin should be like the water that causes us to drown, not the other way round.

I can walk down the street with a t-shirt on with the rain coming down and a smile on my face because i can literally walk in his presence. It doesnt take me 5 minutes to wind up to pray, it takes me 5 minutes of not praying to get wound up! I can live like this because i have the Holy Spirit dwelling within me, not because i'm a special sort of person... The Holy Spirit lets me see God in creation, lets me know God's heart, lets me hear God's voice, lets me feel God's love: if i'm trying to do this on my own then i've missed the point!

"Come Holy Spirit"

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Jude... the spurious 66th book?

What are the requirements for a book to make the cannon of Scripture?

Either Jesus has to treat it as scripture: the Torah - which is our OT give or take...

Or someone Jesus gave authority, as an apostle, to record his teachings has to have written it: so the writings of Matthew, Peter, John are Paul are in. Mark wrote his gospel based on Peter's eye-witness account, Luke - based on the teachings of Paul. James was treated as an apostle by the church, and Acts is the continuation of Luke's story. This leaves Hebrews and Jude... the author of Hebrews is unknown, but no-one doubts its status if they've bothered to read it!!

What about Jude? He was one of Jesus brothers, no more an apostle than Joe Bloggs (v17). He quotes from dodgy sources (v9 + v14-15). The book is really short, and doesn't say anything much. No-one really knows how it got in!

I was studying Jude the other day, and God spoke to me through the book so strongly that I'll never doubt it again! It shows us how to spot Godless men... that they follow the desires of their own hearts. It talks of people who are Christians for show, so they can get respect and a nice life from the Church. It shows people who become Christians, and then take God's grace for granted and live lives of licentiousness and immorality. I think it's talking about me.

It speaks of an opposite to Godlessness that is built in faith, not understanding and works. It shows us the life we can live that can make a difference in a depraved world (v22-23), it shows us our place in maintaining our salvation (v20-21, + 24), and it speaks of the glorious nature of God (v24-25)... not bad for 25 little verses.

By being arrogant enough to think that Jude might have been a mistake, I was committing the exact sin outlined in v10!! I'm sure I've not even scratched the surface of this book... but I'm excited about what God's saying to me through it!