From Childhood to Completion

I have started a preaching series on the book of James. The sermons will be done monthly, and the first one is now available to listen to online, here on my blog.

The theme of James’ letter is maturity. He presents completion, perfection as the aim - chapter 1 verse 4 for example. What stops believers from becoming mature? Problems! Each section in the book of James contains a problem. But with each problem comes an opportunity to become mature, to become more like Christ. Finally, with each problem and opportunity comes a warning - that if the problem is not dealt with, there will be consequences.

The below table outlines the epistle, and you can hear the 30 minute introductory sermon by clicking the play button below. To download it, right click here and select ’save target as’. The MP3 file is 14Mb.

Passages	Problems	Warnings	Opportunities
1 v 2 – 18	Lack of wisdom v 5, 13	Spiritual death v 14 – 15	Spiritual maturity v 3 – 4, 12
1 v 19 – 27	Spiritual passiveness v 21 – 22	Worthless religion v 20, 26	Blessing in life v25
2 v 1 – 13	Favouritism v 1 – 3	Evil thinking v 4, 9, 10	God’s approval v 8
2 v 14 – 26	Unchanged life v 14	Useless ‘faith’ v 17	Complete faith v 22
3 v 1 – 12	Wild tongue v 2	A corrupt life v 6	Leadership and praise to God v 1, 9
3 v 13 – 18	Selfish spirit v 14, 15	Evil practice v 16	A righteous harvest v 17 – 18
4 v 1 – 17	Proud desires v 1 – 3	Hatred towards God v 4, 17	Humility v 6 – 7, 10
5 v 1 – 12	Impatience, grumbling v7, 9	Judged as guilty v 9	Blessing from God v 11
5 v 13 – 18	Practical welfare v 13, 14	Ineffective prayers v 16	Powerful prayers v 16

Sing - Choirs of angels!

Well, it is that time of year again when we send each other cards and gifts and exchange festive greetings to one another. This year my wife and I actually got round to sorting out our Christmas cards before the last Saturday before Christmas! We actually set up a scene using a set of decorative angels, took a macro shot on the camera, got loads of them printed, stuck them onto red card thereby producing our very own custom made card.

Inside the card we printed the words: ‘Sing, choirs of angels’ (from the carol - o come all ye faithful), followed by ‘Glory to God in the highest’, which is the words that the angels sang.  May this Christmas be one that brings glory to God in the highest as we remember the first ‘Christmas’ all those years ago and are struck with amazement once again at who Christ is and the wonder of the incarnation. 

 Happy Christmas and a fruitful 2008 to you all.

In Christ Alone

Earlier on this evening our youth group banded together to produce some recordings of In Christ Alone.

Classic Version:

‘Slightly more upbeat’ Version:

Please note - you may have to turn the volume on the speakers up a bit

Preaching Video

Have just added a video of the last in the Lord’s prayer series - scroll down to see and hear! (Or click on http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-6482068764584077819 to view directly from google.)

In God we doubt… confessions of a failed athiest… Reviewed.

John Humphrys on the Today show (BBC Radio 4’s flagship news broadcast) appears so unshakable, so sure and confident. His radio interviews with famous politians often make for gripping drive-to-work listening. Without doubt the magnitizing factor is his nagging ability to relentlessly press his interviewee for the hard facts, the truth, not a dismissive answer that skirts around the truth.

To a small measure, it keeps politians and public figures in check, it goes some way to establishing clear quotable, accountable, facts - straight from the horses’ mouths, so to speak. That, without doubt, is a good thing and for that the man is to be praised. But this time he has gone for the big scoop. Not a lowly junior minister, or a cabinent minister, or the prime minister or even a foreign royalty or president. No, John Humphrys has gone for God. Gone looking, that is, for God.  

He recalls that as a child he pondered life’s ‘big questions’; namely - the purpose of life and the uncertainty of death. However “my spiritual journey took me from my childish Big Questions to my ultimate failure to find any corresponding Big Answers.” Hence he became a doubter. Half a century of religious praying with no certainty that the God he was ‘praying’ to even existed (let alone was listening to him) mixed with the horrors that international journalism introduced him to led him to doubt God and try athiesm.

The problem was, that didn’t ‘click’ either. The title of his book is as good a summary of the content as you will find: In God we Doubt. Confessions of a Failed Athiest. John is an agnostic, and proud to call himself one.

Having recently read the book I must confess it has a lot going for it. I personally struggled to put it down. He captured my mind and drew me into his thought pattern. I often found myself being drawn through the same emotions that he clearly has endured. Overall, he falls neither on the side of God or the side of the athiests, which is to be expected from a agnostic viewpoint. 

Approaching the book from a Christian perspective I felt desperately sorry for the man. He tries so hard to believe, he wants to believe, but can’t bring himself to do so. His original radio series was entitled ’Humphrys in search of God’ and he can’t be faulted for not looking hard enough, but therein lies the problem. It seems to me that he has been looking too hard.

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29v13) - not all of your mind and all of your academic powers. Sure, use those to learn more about God, but to find God Himself requires heart seeking. It a nutshell it requires faith. To his credit, Humphrys sees this and acknowledges it. He even envies those who have faith.

The hard man who humbles politians can’t bring himself to believe in God with simple faith. Yet God requires it. The book of Hebrews is explicit in stating that “he who comes to God must believe that He is” - in faith. Faith is the essential prerequisite, and it is the gift of God.

The book centres on a set of intervies carried out with leading religious figures including the Archbishop of Canterbury who wasn’t sky high in my estimation before I read the book and is even lower now. His shameless dodge out when asked about the eternal plight of those who are not Christians and his effectual deniel of Jesus as the only way to Heaven is as tragic as it is erroneous. Equally profitless was the time Humphrys spent with Giles Fraser - an outspoken C of E vicar. Having heard him on radio 4’s ‘Thought for the day’ uncatagorically deny a literal 6 day creation I wasn’t holding great hopes for his contribution.

Needless to say, I wasn’t wrong. ‘Ask him if the resurrection of Jesus Christ really happened and he says: “Umm . . . dunno . . . can’t prove it.” ‘. Paul was right - if Christ is not risen then our faith is futile! Ask him about evangelical Christians and he snorts: “Evangelicals have misunderstood the Bible. They turn it into some Ikea manual.” To be honest, I’d rather Humprys read his time reading an Ikea manual, it would have done him more good than the so called Christians who he turned to for help. It is any wonder, then, that the poor man can’t accept faith? If vicars can’t - how can he? He tries to read the Bible but can’t take it literally - because that is wrong according to the ‘experts’.

Ultimately though it is the man himself who continues to wrestle with the ‘big questions’. But until he takes to heart the teaching of Jesus, he will continue to doubt. “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Mark 10v15).

The Lord’s Prayer Series

I have been preaching through the ‘Lord’s prayer’, in a mini series of five talks. They are not full blown ’sermons’ but rather devotional thoughts delivered at the weekly church prayer meeting. The talks are available to listen to directly from the site, or to download as MP3 files.

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 #1 - The Reality of Prayer, Luke 11 v 1, 26mins, October 2nd 2007
(click here to download MP3 file, 10.6Mb)

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#2 - The Recipient of Prayer, Matthew 6 v 9, 30mins, October 9th 2007
(click here to download MP3 file, 13.8Mb)

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#3 - The Root of Prayer, Matthew 6 v 10, 31 mins, October 16th 2007
(click here to download MP3 file, 14.3Mb)

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#4 - The Requests of Prayer, Matthew 6 v 11-13a, 29mins, November 6th 2007 
(click here to download MP3 file, 13.3Mb)

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#5 - The Reason of Prayer, Matthew 6 v 13b, 21mins!
Please note - the audio on this recording is ‘lower than it should be’ quality! MP3 file coming soon.

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 For more information, please email me - or leave a comment on this post below. Thanks.

The Lord’s Prayer

I have just started a 5 part series on the Lord’s prayer. The talks are designed to be devotional thoughts to lead prayer meetings, rather than full blown sermons. I will be publishing the audio up here for those who want to listen.

Life through the philosophical lens

Imagine life without God. Imagine (if you can) that Dawins is right. There is no God. Life came about by chance. So what is the purpose of life?

Watch this:

Surely, life to the athiest is just a glorified version of the above mobile phone game? One big game of survival. Eventually - game over. Fortunately there is a God and He sent Jesus so that human beings might have life - life to the full! (John 10 v 10).

I have just written this as an article fully on my evangelistic blog: www.just-curious.co.uk - click there to see it.

New blog postponed

Thanks to those of you who checked out my new blog idea last month… but I unfortunately I got nearly no take up from people I approached to contribute (which I guess is somewhat understandable!) so the project’s on hold for the time being - but watch this space… you never know!

Prove it!

The origin of the world is a debate that is stronger today than it has ever been. The theories of evolution and the so called ‘Big Bang’ are now a fundamental part of the secondary school science curriculum, and any school who dares to teach creation as an alternative can find itself on the national news and stir up controversy.

There is, however, one decisive factor in the comparison of the creation account and the theory of evolution. It is just that – the theory of evolution, compared to the account of how God created the universe and its contents in 6 literal days.

Theory is second rate to fact. Fact is provable; theory by definition is yet to be proved. When a theory is proved it ceases to become such, and is deemed to be fact.

Debate creation with an evolutionist and they are quite likely debating with you the existence of God. Having decided that there is no God, they turn to science to fill the cataclysmic problems that present themselves when He is taken out of the equation of life.

How then should the believer answer the atheist on the matter of the existence of God? Many an unwise (or ignorant) Christian has brashly claimed to be able to prove the existence of the God whom they follow. To them it is fact, and fact is provable. Therefore God’s existence must be provable, the logic suggests.

The writer to the Hebrews suggests otherwise. “He that comes to God must believe that He is” (11 v 6). Without faith, the verse teaches, it is impossible to please Him, which leads us to ask – what is the meaning of faith? “Faith is the evidence of things not seen” (v 1) This being the case, how then can we claim that the existence of God is provable?

If we could prove (show beyond all doubt) that there is God, then faith would not be needed. Faith is believing what has not been proved, so you cannot prove the existence of God.

That said, the evidence for His existence is somewhat overwhelming. The complexity of the human body, the perfect order of the cosmos, the harmony of the biblical authors and the indisputable miracles of Jesus Christ all should lead the rational mind to realise the existence of God. But for all the evidence (and the fact that fallen man has a responsibility to recognise God and believe in Him) His existence cannot be mathematically, logically proved.

But what is man’s logic? Is the divine God who inhabits eternity and whose glory fills the heavens limited to the mind of human beings? The potter is not subject to restrictions placed upon Him by the clay; God cannot be expressed in human logic, He has His own divine ‘logic’ (for want of a better word), He is beyond all knowing and His mind is not our mind.

“We understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God”, and such understanding is not the product of precise logic, but simple faith.