Get Up! Shake Yourself! Act!

 

“You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world.” _{Matthew 5 v13-14}

 

Does the idea of Summer evangelism fill you with dread?  Does the thought of giving your testimony in a bustling tourist-filled street make you quake and tremble?

  If so then this blog post  is for you!

   I’m not quite sure what finally convinced me, after years of avoiding the decision, to go on a beach mission in 2011. Actually, when I think back, the majority of my major life decisions thus far have occurred, after weeks of non-decisive mind wrangling, by me simply saying “I’m gunna do it and see what happens.” It was a similar process which led me to end my full-time education at 16 and to spend a month in India a few years back (I dislike most hot foods and am not a fan of excessive heat!).

   Despite the slightly foolish decision making process I used, the decision nevertheless was a good one. I enjoyed (if ‘enjoyed’ is the correct word?) one of the most amazing weeks of my life. I am not a ‘people-person’ per se, and I am not great with children either (I find myself running out of energy and words pretty rapidly), my spiritual vocabulary is choc-a-bloc with clichés and my apologetic armoury is not equipped with patience or knowledge - despite these [fairly major] deficiencies I found the week an amazing blessing.

   When asked on the final night what I had most learnt over the duration of the week I saw no other option than to voice how amazed I had been to finally realise what ‘trusting God’ really meant. Like Abraham who trusted God to provide an offering when he was commanded to sacrifice Isaac, I learnt that when God commands us to proclaim the gospel to all nations he doesn’t fail to give us the strength, courage and wisdom we need. Each day, each ‘Holiday Special’, each sketch, each conversation, each open air, I felt useless and scared. This was a real and very practical lesson in trusting the Almighty. Do you remember how, in the wilderness, the Israelites were commanded to only gather enough manna for the one day- any manna not eaten would rot away over night. They learnt, through experience, to trust God daily for their provision.

 

“My strength is made perfect in weakness.” _{2 Corinthians  12 v 9} 

    “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God,
who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” _{James 1 v 5}

 

   Okay, so anyone who regularly reads their Bible cannot help but realise that the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ was designed to be spread. Agreed? Okay, just in case you don’t agree here are a few reminders:

    How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
Romans 10 (part of Paul’s timeline in a Christian’s conversion)

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28

And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”
Mark 16

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.”
Matthew 9

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures souls is wise.
Proverbs 11

  The Bible is fairly clear. Which, I admit, we often wish it wasn’t. Evangelism is hard work. Evangelism is scary. But God commands us to share the Gospel. And, by the way, how would we have become Christians if someone hadn’t shared the Gospel with us first?

  It was Spurgeon, the 18th century English preacher, who asked the question:

“If you could know the regrets at the end of your life, would not these be the regrets: that you have not served Christ better, loved him more, spoken of him oftener, given more generously to his cause and more  uniformly proved yourself to be consecrated to him?”

  So…what is stopping you doing some specific evangelistic work this summer? Perhaps you think you don’t have enough experience or would make mistakes? Take it from a pro (in the area of mistakes) its better to try and fail then never to try at all! I could tell you many stories of mistakes I made last year- trays of tea spilt over the lad’s dorm, tug-o-war chanting which went wrong, bruised thumbs during sketches, embarrassing spelling tests…. but I digress! Maybe you worry, as I have, that you don’t feel as concerned for the lost as you should do? The UBM prayer update makes this point:

“Matthew 14v14 shows the correct order: “Jesus WENT OUT… HE SAW a great multitude; and He was MOVED WITH COMPASSION for them.” Emotions follow when we seek to obey Christ’s great commission (Mark 16v15)”

  Perhaps I should add a small disclaimer at this point: nothing I have said so far in support of summer evangelism is intended IN THE SLIGHTEST to diminish from our daily, weekly, monthly responsibilities to spread the good news of Jesus Christ!

   I would like to recommend United Beach Missions, in particular, to you. I realise that there are many opportunities for gospel proclamation this summer and, perhaps, other missions are better suited to you: if so, then take them! UBM is, by no means, the exclusive summer evangelism option. But, if you want an opportunity to share Jesus then this is a great one to use!

    I knew 2 of the 20ish people on my team (and I didn’t know those 2 at all well), but I quickly felt befriended and blessed by the team I was with. They were a great bunch of Christians, from various nationalities, backgrounds and churches, but all united by the Gospel. The team Bible times and prayer times were really beneficial, and the experience and support of the leaders and older members helped me to quickly find my feet. The leaders specifically explained the organisation and timetables for the ears of first-timers and did everything to ensure that we knew what we had to do and didn’t feel swamped by the activities.

    Check out the UBM website at http://www.ubm.org.uk/ or email/comment me for any more details.

    Let me leave you with a fantastic quote to aid you in your decision making!

“Get up! Shake yourself! Act! Do something! Do it at once! Go on doing it! Do it with all your might! Spare no pains! Never stop any more! Read, pray, talk, sing, give! Do anything you can- everything that seems likely to make people know the truth about themselves and heaven and hell. God will help you!”

_{William Booth}

60 Seconds

 

“SOMETIMES PEOPLE THINK OF CHURCH AS BEING LIKE A GIANT HELICOPTER. THEY DON’T WANT TO GET TOO CLOSE IN CASE THEY GET SUCKED INTO THE ROTAS.

OTHERS THINK OF IT AS A WINNIE THE POOH SUIT. SAFE AND WARM, BUT THEY HOPE NO ONE SEES THEM IN IT.

AND TO SOME ITS A BASEBALL BAT. FOR MOST OF THE TIME THEY PLAY A NICE LITTLE GAME WITH THEIR FRIENDS. THEN ONCE A YEAR THEY GO OUT INTO THE HIGH STREET AND HIT SOMEONE OVER THE HEAD WITH IT.”

MILTON JONES, 60 SECOND SERMONS

The Lost City of Atlantis

 

  2,300 years ago a man told a story. Today films, books and tv all tell the same story, albeit with different slants and characters and details.

   A city, a continent, a civilisation the like of which the world has never seen. Advanced beyond the rest of the globe; an epic nation built on wealth and technology and art. The hub of the civilisation: a city built to the stars, surrounded by concentric walls and canals and roads; filled with marble temples and courts, statues and fountains. Truly a monument to human endeavour. A city like no other.

   These were no milksops. When faced by enemies they fought great wars and battles. They were a mighty naval power, or so we are told. Rival warriors, when faced by these forces, were beaten back to the very shores of their homeland- and maybe further.

    Plato, a Greek philosopher who lived around the 300BCs, wrote this,

“After the people of Atlantis became corrupt and greedy the gods decided to destroy them.”

    And if the Legend of the Lost City of Atlantis bears any truth then their demise was frightful indeed. Earthquakes shook the island/continent. But that wasn’t the worse of it.The quake was simply the beginning- shaken and disturbed, the sea rose up in anger and a great tsunami tore across the Atlantic towards the defenceless landmass of Atlantis. Waves of huge proportions struck the civilisation, and, when the storms had cleared, the mighty nation was gone.

 

    Did the City of Atlantis ever exist? Has it truly been lost? How did Plato discover the history of an extinct civilisation?

    

    I don’t know.

 

     Regardless of its truth, the legend can help us to see into the hearts of mankind. Why do scientists, geologists, historians and total weirdo's all obsess over finding the ‘lost’ city? I can think of at least 3 major films/books which picture Atlantis as a wonderful place where mankind has achieved his full potential. However when we examine the accounts of the city, it would appear to be a Babel-like place, where man worships his own works more than the God who created all things. If true, then it is a blessing that Atlantis was wiped from the face of the planet. Why do people persist in glorifying a civilisation which attempted, through the use of force, to dominate and enslave the whole of the earth?

    Maybe it is because, when man ‘does away with’ God, then mankind becomes its own God. We need something to worship. Why not worship ourselves, asks the atheist. If an ancient culture could build a vast city, reaching into the skies, then can we not create something much more lasting and glorious here, now?

   The answer, of course, is no. 

   When we read about Atlantis we cannot be sure that we are reading the truth. As a Christian, however, it is a joy to know that when I open the Bible I read only words of truth; words penned by an almighty God who loves me and detests sin. When our forefathers first attempted to build a mighty civilisation which would threaten the power of God they had a shock coming:

    And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”

  The text goes on….

    And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built.

   Yeah, a real tall tower they built. God actually had to come down from Heaven so that he could see it!

   The Lord confused the workers by giving them each a different language! They rushed to and fro and got more and more confused until they gathered into tribes and clans and scattered across the world.

   But God didn’t abandon mankind to themselves. Instead he offered them something much greater than a really really tall tower (we have such small ambitions!). He granted mankind eternal life in an eternal home! Why settle for playing in the mud when we can live in Heaven?! Why settle for worshiping fallible mankind when we can worship the Lord God who created, not a big city, but the whole universe!

     Reuters News Agency announced in 2011 that a group of scientists had discovered a possible site for Atlantis in Spain: It is amusing that the pinnacle of man’s achievement is now a patch of boggy marshland where newts and frogs spend their days! 

Righteousness

 

   I read this in a novel recently and wasn’t sure as to the truth behind it. After a bit of search-engine work I am satisfied that the Chinese ‘Alphabet’ does indeed reflect Atonement, as pictured by the Bible!

 

 

   Righteousness is depicted, as you can see, by a sheep (or elsewhere described as a ‘lamb’) over ‘me’.

   Biblically speaking, that is spot on. Righteousness is not something we can work towards. We will always fall flat on our faces (try reading the blog below about that!). Righteousness- acceptability before God’s throne- is only achieved through someone bearing our sins and taking our punishment. Jesus Christ  is the Lamb of the world. He was killed on a cross so that his people can be forgiven and can be ‘righteous’.

Having a Clean Sweep

 

    I have spent the last 3 hours or so dusting, vacuuming, disposing of and rearranging my room. It is now clean, organised, fresh and even- I would go so far to say- inspirational.

    Come back in two or three weeks time and I dare say that it will be less clean, less organised, not-so fresh and even- I would hazard a guess- a tad dull. The clear empty spaces will be filled with junk, books, clothes and other assorted artefacts.

   Jesus told a similar story. He spoke about a demon who left a house and went to some desolate places. Upon return, he found the house swept, dusted and ‘put in order’. So what did this demon do? He went and found 7  other demons (worse than himself) and crashed the newly-cleaned house, dwelling there for the foreseeable future. The later state of the house was, in fact, worse than its first state.

   True, isn’t it?

  Whenever we attempt to ‘sort our lives out’ or have a ‘fresh start’ they generally end up worse than before. The New Year is a time when may people set out to ‘begin afresh’ or ‘turn over a new leaf’. With a mind-numbing inevitability the resolutions are in the bin by early February and the cigarettes or chocolates are back on the agenda.

    But Jesus was talking about something much more serious than our diets. He was talking about our souls.

   How often do we try to set our lives towards a more moral and ‘Godly’ direction? How often do we give our minds and hearts a good clean out…?… thus leaving them empty and open to worse things

   Its not a unique thing. The vast majority of characters in the Bible attempted to please God by wooing him with their holiness or with their big sacrifices or their long, repetitive, mystical prayers. But, as a number of them discovered, they couldn’t please God with anything they could do. Why? Because their morals declined rapidly, because their sacrifices and prayers became a drudge and a chore; and because whatever they did, they couldn’t remove their pasts. Ultimately, their newly swept houses filled up with new sins.

     Have you seen a used car showroom recently? It fascinates me to see the cars lined up together on the forecourt (I think its a ‘man thing’). But what I have never quite understood is why some garages display the cars with the rear ends on show, and, specifically, with the boots open.

    I have this picture in my mind of a man examining a car boot with great care and then, without any further inspection, loudly declaring “Its perfect! I’ll take it!”

   Bringing the discussion back, for a moment, to our futile attempts at pleasing a Holy and righteous God with our puny excuses for ‘turning over a new leaf’. Can it be that we, like my imaginary car buyer, have missed the point?

   Attempting to clean out our lives and empty them of wrongdoing (like the house in our earlier story) only makes room for worse things. We are missing the point.

   So, how can we stop the demons returning in full force and moving in to the empty house? (I should probably point out that I am not talking about literal demons occupying us, but the sins and unrighteous things which demons love and God detests).

   There is only one way to keep our hearts and minds and souls pure: the expulsive power of a New Affection!

   We need to fill our hearts with the Lord Jesus Christ. He is so much greater and more wonderful than our old habits, sins, lusts and lies!  With Jesus in residence no demon would dare come near a believer.

   Why is Jesus Christ such a powerful and wonderful ‘affection’?

   Because he is the Son of God, and he, voluntarily, came down to earth and lived a perfect life. But chiefly because he then gave himself up for us. He was crucified- a brutal execution- and shed his blood, to satisfy the punishment required for our sins. Because he died, we can go free; and because he rose from the dead we know that God is pleased with Jesus and with those who have trusted in Jesus Christ!

   So, when are you going to put your house in order?

abk4u: The Great House of God

 

     “ONE THING HAVE I ASKED OF THE LORD,
THAT WILL I SEEK AFTER:

THAT I MAY DWELL IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE,
TO GAZE UPON THE BEAUTY OF THE LORD,
AND TO ENQUIRE IN HIS TEMPLE.”

PSALM 27 VERSE 4

 

    If I had to choose my favourite verse of scripture then Psalm 27 verse 4 would certainly be on the shortlist! It is the cry of my heart- when it hasn’t been distracted and concealed by the worries and cares of everyday life.

  The Great House of God, by Max Lucado, starts off  with the words of Psalm 27 verse 4. Using the imagery of a house- or to be more precise, a home- Lucado guides us through the words of the Lord’s Prayer.

“I’d like to talk with you about your house. Let’s step through the front door and walk around a bit. Every so often its wise to do a home inspection, you know- check the roof for leaks and examine the walls for bows and the foundations for cracks…..
What’s that? You think it odd that I want to look at your house? You thought this was a book on spiritual matters? It is. Forgive me, I should have been clearer. I’m not talking about your visible house of stone or sticks, wood or straw, but your invisible one of thoughts and truths and convictions and hopes.”

    Don’t let Max’s laid-back-so-much-that-he’s-horizontal attitude fool you: his books are full of spiritual truth, albeit chopped up into easily-digestible metaphors.  When I first started reading his books I was startled by the seemingly everyday pictures Lucado regularly uses to help his readers understand the Bible. Since then I have grown to love the use of imagery in books and stories, after all Jesus himself was a great parable teller. Macneile Dixon said:

“The human mind is not, as philosophers would have you think, a debating hall, but a  picture gallery. Around it hang our similes, our concepts…. metaphor is the essence of religion and poetry.”

    One word of caution however: there does come a time where modern day metaphors or illustrations taken from worldly things can become irreverent and self-defeating. I don’t personally think Max ever really crosses this line, but it is a danger when using illustrations as often as he does.

   The Great House of God take a look at the Lord’s Prayer and by using a ‘floorplan’ helps  us to better understand the different aspects of prayer.

• We are united as a diverse bunch of people when we gather in the Family room to meet with our Father.
• While visiting the observatory we gaze at “our Father who is in Heaven”. We see how truly amazing the recipient of our prayers is. 
• In the study we listen to the King and discover his will.
• As in any home, we spend time in the kitchen, where we are sustained and dazzled by the dishes served up.
• The walls are strong and guard us from assault
• At the end, as at the start, of our tour, we gather in the chapel where we silence our hearts in the majestic precense of our Father, the King.

We are taken for a visit all around the house of God, learning more about prayer and, indeed, the object of our prayers too.

   Sounds a tad odd?

  Well, maybe in places the metaphor is stretched slightly. But by using the image of a home, we are encouraged to pray in a real and sincere manner to our Father in Heaven.

   I recommend Max Lucado to you. Maybe long words and tough theology isn’t your scene? If so, then The Great House of God- alongside other books such as In The Grip of Grace, Traveling Light, Just Like Jesus and He Choose The Nails- will be a real blessing to you. The pictures painted by the author helped me to see Biblical truths with open eyes, and to apply them to my own life.

The Mountain Spring

 

“YOU MAKE SPRINGS GUSH FORTH IN THE VALLEYS; THEY FLOW BETWEEN THE HILLS…..”

    Imagine all of creation is a Shakespearean play.

   Act 1

   Picture the scene. Mountain peaks. The soaring ranges of the Himalayas. Snow-topped cragged triangles piercing the skyline. You spot a spring…no, wait…. many springs. Bubbling, blue brooks. Ice cold waters gushing and flowing between the fearsome peaks. Streams of surging power, gathering pace as they tumble and fall over the rocky crags- bringing water- liquid life- to the thirsty mountain dwellers.

“…..THEY GIVE DRINK TO EVERY BEAST OF THE FIELD;
THE WILD DONKEYS QUENCH THEIR THIRST.” 

    The donkeys are not alone in their mountain-fortress, they are visited by the feathered minstrels of the skies. Through the solemn, frozen Himalayan air a single bird-song faintly drifts over the crescendo of the northern winds. It is joined, in accompaniment, by others- the beautiful songs intermingle into a delightful cacophony of joy. The brooks and streams of the mountains provide life to the beasts and birds, bringing wonder and fellowship into the inhospitable heights of the hills.

“…..BESIDE THEM THE BIRDS OF THE HEAVENS DWELL;
THEY SING AMONG THE BRANCHES….” 

    Act 2

     A man visits his garden. It is his delight. He loves his garden. He made it from scratch, cultivating the land so as to bring forth trees, flowers and delights. He fed the grass, tending it so that it would be strong and nutritious to provide for his animals. In his garden are tall trees, filled with nests and noises. In his garden are vegetables such as you have never seen, vines and figs to sustain a King. The man loves his garden. He waters his garden. 

 

“…..FROM YOUR LOFTY ABODE YOU WATER THE MOUNTAINS;
THE EARTH IS SATISFIED WITH THE FRUIT OF YOUR WORK.”

 

    The Psalms are bursting with pictures and paintings of our God. I love them. Where else in the whole world could I read about someone who “waters the mountains”?! Our God is truly the almighty Lord of Heaven and of Earth. It is a little thing to the Author of Life to sustain the entire eco-system through his cosmic watering can! Like I might pour a cup of water into my hanging baskets, the Lord God makes springs burst forth, and causes mighty rivers to flow- bringing life to the mountains, valleys and plains!

    Read through Psalm 104, and the many other great Psalms of praise. Let your mind be dazzled and amazed at the wonder of our God!

 

“You make springs gush forth in the valleys
        they flow between the hills;
    they give drink to every beast of the field;
        the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
    Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell
        they sing among the branches.
    From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
        the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.”

Psalm 104, verses 10 to 13