Drowning

I'm writing this the morning after giving a talk to my churches youth group. I had 10 minutes whereI choose to dive into Matthew 13:44 (The parable of the hidden treasure) and explore the idea that our lives, our actions should be built upon the Gospel. It was a talk written to root home 20 odd kids from a mix of backgrounds to put Jesus at the centre of what they do. (I'll upload it as a transcript at a later date)

I spent time diving into the passage and thinking about how I could relate it back to them in preparation.

I came up with stories, illustrations to help them understand what I was getting at and how it should impact there lives.

After all that time and effort, I hoped that I would be able to do a good job.

I didn't... I stunk!

As I reflect, I'm starting to feel like I'm in the losers cafe in the apprentice! Picking it apart it became clear where I went messed up. I went on for too long, had too many ideas mixing in together. The journey wasn't clear and I lost some of the youth along my way. I did a rubbish job.

Maybe I'm a bit harsh on myself but as I begin to critique myself I can't help but feel that God could never use me in this way again. That I'd blown it!

I'm sure we all think like this from time to time. How could God use me when I've failed?

But we forget. The Bible is a book full of failures and God still uses them!

In Matthew 14:22-33, Matthew tells an account of the disciples out to sea, when they see Jesus walking on water. Not knowing that it was him at first Peter cries out “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” (verse 28) and of course Jesus replies "Come". When Peter steps out of the boat, he takes a couple of steps and then seeing the storm and the rain starts to sink.

What Jesus does next is amazing! Peter failed. He lost faith in Jesus and put his faith onto him. He was drowning. He was about to die! Jesus could have left him there and let him drown.

But he doesn't. Jesus stretches his hand and pulls him back up. Peter didn't deserve another chance yet Jesus saves him, challenges him and gets him back in the boat. Jesus wasn't done with using Peter because he stuffed up!

In whatever we do to live for Jesus, we are free to fail. Jesus won't let us drown. We will learn and be brought back to the boat to step out again.

I may not have done a good job out of my talk, however I was faithful. I stepped out of the boat and Jesus didn't let me drown! Jesus isn't done with me yet. He can still use me in whatever way he wants.

I've Failed!

I'll admit it. I'm a failure.

It's only been a few weeks into the year and I've already failed at least 2 of my goals for 2016. Last week I didn't post any blog posts at all and my tweeting everyday on both my personal and professional accounts have fallen flat.

Failed. It was going so well too.

I can put the blame on a number of things. Struggled to actually be motivated to tweet anything vaguely interesting, Writers block, lack of time, life got in the way... I can go on.

The truth is, we've all failed a long the way. I'm sure I'm not the only one who, come February looks back and realised how far they've fallen from their New year Resolutions.

Lets face it, we've all failed.

But is it because on the New Years day we ask ourselves the wrong question? We ask, what do I need to do to be better? Our soul motivation to succeed that goal is for us to become a "better me". By reaching that goal we can become happier in ourselves until we decide on the next goal. When we fail, we know that reaching the better me has gone! And we give up.

Society cries out that Failure's not an option.

You fail, and you're written off.

But should we be thinking about failure, so harshly?

As a Christian, I believe there is another way...

If ever there was a church that failed, it was the church in Corinth. It was filled with scandal! People arguing with one another, taking legal action on one another and sexual immorality. It was a mess. It was far from reflecting God's love to the world.

When Paul writes his first letter to the church, you might have expected that the church would be rebuked and told to disperse or even disassociating himself from the mess of the Corinthian church. But instead he writes this;

I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. (1 Corinthians 1:4)

This is crazy. Outrageous even! After the initial shock the Corinthians would have had that they weren't thanked by God for anything positive, the fact that Paul declares that there's more grace for them is amazing. This was a church full of mess and even that wasn't enough to kick them out of favour of God. Paul calls them out to repent and to amend their ways to show this Grace but nonetheless they were given another chance.

We've been given countless second chances, thanks to the cross.

When we fail, we are picked up and go again.

When we fail, we've not written off. We're given an outstretched arm instead.

With God, we may fail him, but he never gives up on us.

My Top 5 Christian Influencers

We're the online generation. We live in a connected society. Information is not deemed as a luxury for the reach but accessible to all.

This has made an impact on the church. A hundred years ago, the only church that we would belong to would be the one up the road. The only sermons that we would hear from, would be from the pastor of your local church. With the rise of the internet, we can listen to any  preacher we like on any subject we'd want to hear. I've recently even stumbled across news that a church is being launched solely on the internet! It can be an amazing resource!

I've benefited a lot from this over the years so I'd thought I'd identify the 5 pastors and preachers who have shaped and influenced my own spiritual growth over the years.

Before I start let me give some honorary mentions;

Honorary mentions

Mark Driscoll
Mark Driscoll. In many ways the marmite of preachers. You can either love or hate his sometimes brash approach. At times,this can represent how he preaches.
However for me, prior to his departure at Mars Hill, he had been influential in my spiritual growth. There was a point where I'd use to watch a sermon of his a day! What I appreciated about Driscoll was that he had a gift of understanding doctrine  and the bible and being able to communicate it effectively into modern society. His Doctrine series is a great example of this. For me, Driscoll opened my eyes and developed a deeper understanding of doctrine which helped to shape my reformed understanding of the bible.

Matt Chandler
"JESUS WANTS THE ROSE". That was the first video that I watched from Matt Chandler, and it was his clear passion for the Gospel and love for Jesus that kept me listening.
 Pastor of a multi-campus church in Dallas, Texas and president of Acts 29, Chandler has a clear passion for the expanse of the Gospel. He is one of the only mega church pastors that I've come across that has actually strategically shrunk, when instead of looking for new venues for one of its campus, the village church actually spun out it's campus to be a separate church.
For me, it's Matt's clear love for Jesus and his pastors heart for both Non-Christians and Christians to discover the gospel, that has really struck a cord with me and shaped my thinking.

Mike Reeves
Whilst I was at University, I was heavily involved in the Christian Union. One of my personal highlights was the annual trip to Forum, UCCFs kick off for CU's across the country.

We had some great preaches from people rallying us up for mission. My personal favourite was Mike Reeves, at the time UCCF's Theologian at large, now the President of Union School of Theology. Mike's style is refreshing. What impacted me most about his preaching was how he links the whole bible together, Luke 24:27, on the road to Emmeaus, Jesus teaches the two disciple about how the whole of scripture points to him, and when Mike preaches he does the same.
His preaching isn't dry, but full of life. I'd highly recommend Mike's books, "The Good God", "Christ our Life" and his little book on prayer "Enjoy your prayer life" just to get a taste on his approach. It sound like heavy stuff but he doesn't target our heads, but he targets the heart. To help place our gaze on to Christ.

My Top 5!

But my top 5 Christian influencer's are the 5 elders who have lead the church I've been attending for the past 8 years.

Surprised? Where you expecting a list of high hitting pastors leading large churches, written hundreds of books and are well known on the Christian blogosphere?

We live with easy access to many Christian thinkers, both dead and old, we can not put them on a higher pedestal than the leaders at our local church. Driscoll, Chandler, and Reeves, have been given great gifts of communication, but God has placed us under the care of the local church and has appointed Elders to lead us. Out of the 5, 2 of them have stepped down from leadership, due to changes in life. Nonetheless they have all been everyday living examples of what it means to live the christian life.

If you look at it with 1 Timothy 3:1-7 in mind, then they are the living example of what it means to be
hospitable, faithful to his wife etc. We don't get that from the internet. If we let it, the internet can lead
to sharpen our discernment but not on how we live our lives.

The point is this. Don't forget the local church and replace it with your favourite Pastor. God has placed them in your life for a reason.

Hot Links 22.01.16

Every Friday, I'll be posting a list of some of the best stuff that I find on the web. Hopefully (depending on what I find that week) it should be a mix of interesting and funny stuff. Well that's if you get my sense of humour! :-) 

3 Keys to Listening During Sermons
Going to church each Sunday and sitting under godly, loving, biblical, and practical preaching week in and week out should be enjoyed as a privilege by God’s people. While some people, like myself, learn best by sitting and listening, I know many people get more out of sermons by taking notes. When I’m listening to a sermon I try to always do the following three things...

Going all in on EbooksI am selling my library. At least, I think I am. I’ve made the decision. Almost. It feels just a little too final to actually say it like that. But I’ve got a big library and a small house and something has got to give......But I just don’t have space for them here at home. It seems like this must be the time to go all-in with ebooks.

Marco Rubio: Pastor in Chief?

I love the way Rubio, a Catholic Republican presidential candidate answers this question.

Why I still believe Peter wrote 2 Peter?

Didn't realize this was a debate but it's a still interesting read!

15 fun things to type into Google

Ohh Google! You've got to love them!

Food for Thought

About a year ago, I was up in London with my team from work. We were originally there for an evening meal, as part of our prize for winning the EMEA Marketing Team of the year award from one of our vendors. Whilst we were there, we decided to book a meeting room and have a team meeting in preparation for the upcoming year.

Come lunch time, our director decided that she would treat us for lunch. We ended up stumbling across this Sushi bar in the centre of London. Quite a trendy restaurant on the 38th floor, looking out across the whole of the city! Not knowing what to order, we asked the waiter to recommend some stuff for us.

3 hours later and after consuming several different items from the main menu and some really tasty puddings, we had our fill and went to settle the bill. Given the fact that we had a table booked at a classy restaurant for our prize- which we had a budget of $1000 (approximately £700) between the 7 of us- we weren't expecting to have a big meal for lunch... However when the bill came we were at a bit of a shock... £700!!! Thankfully, the bill ended up being classified as our directors expenses!

A couple of hours later - spent feeling pretty full! - we dragged ourselves to the table we had originally booked. A complete contrast to the Sushi bar, this restaurant was pretty posh! Imagine the sort of restaurant where diplomats would wine and dine and resolve political differences. The sort of place where deals would be made on who would get what oil.

After another couple of hours and being able to squeeze some exquisite food - into our rather full stomachs- the bill came. Once again we as a team had spent over £700. Making it the second meal which cost £100 per head!

On our way back to the station we all couldn't help but reflect on the days menu and putting the experience of it all into perspective. My share of both bills would have easily paid for 6 weeks of our weekly food shop.

In the midst of it all, one of my colleagues said something deeply profound:

"I don't think I can eat again. Everything else I'll eat, will be dull after today"

In John 4, Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman at a well. As part of their conversation Jesus says the following;

13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.[b] The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water."
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

In the bible, the concept of being thirsty is a metaphor of being alienated from God. The truth is that at heart we are all thirsty. Like the Samaritan women, we long to have a thirst quenched. We can either have our thirsts satisfied once and for all or we can fulfill that hole by good things that we turn into idols.

Jesus talks to the Samaritan woman about calling her husband, he's not revealing his omniscience, he's revealing to her that shes not satisfied and actually she's filling it with a lesser desire than what he can offer.

What are we seeking to satisfying the hole within our lives? Is it relationships? Pleasure? What Jesus has to offer, what the gospel gives us is so much better than anything this world has to offer! Are we placing as high a value in it as we should?

That was about a year ago and I've been hungry since and I've forgotten the taste of what I've eaten. Other things of lesser value have replaced it. Let us not lose the taste of the gospel and the delight it is.

Hot Links 15.01.2016

Every Friday, I'll be posting a list of some of the best stuff that I find on the web. Hopefully (depending on what I find that week) it should be a mix of interesting and funny stuff. Well that's if you get my sense of humour! :-)

The FAQs: Anglican Communion ‘Suspends’ Episcopal Church

For those not really sure what happened last night at the Anglican Primates, which lets be honest is a lot of us, The Gospel Coalition have written a really helpful FAQ about what was announced last night.

Why 734 Pastors Quit (and How Their Churches Could Have Kept Them)

Some really interesting stats from Lifeway Research about why hundreds of evangelical pastors leave the ministry. The big takeaway question, How are we loving our pastors? 

Leader, You Are First A Child of God

Pastoring, project managing, even mothering and being a spouse are only and ultimately roles we play that should flow from a deeper reality. Believe it or not, these functions are not essentially who we are and if we define ourselves in such ways we are not doing so based upon God's Word.

Streetlights Bible - 1 & 2 Peter
If you've not heard of them. Streetlights Bible aims to make the bible relevant for the urban community via recording whole books of the bible over a beat. They have just released 1 & 2 Peter! Check them out and the whole archive as well!

This Tortoise Could Save a Life - Ft. Alan Rickman

After yesterdays shocking news about the death of Alan Rickman, I stumbled upon this great video! Post and Share!

Robot Wars… reactivate! It’s the perfect time for a new series

I am dead excited about this!!!

My 5 Favourite Christian Hip Hop Artists

When it comes to music, I listen to a wide range. But there is one genre that I wax lyrical about. That's Christian hip hop! One of the reasons why I love this genre of music is that the artists aren’t just musicians, there fundamentally observers and theologians. These 5 and others all speak into culture and actually make some really deep observations.

For example Trip Lee – rapper with Reach and teaching pastor at Cornerstone church, Atlanta- has released a track speaking in to the Ferguson and Garner situation which is hitting the black American community (see track here). As result of their focus on the lyrics, they're also amazingly grounded in theology and the gospel. Jackie Hill Perry spoke at the Southern Baptist Ethical and Religious Liberties conference on her struggles with homosexuality. If you listen to her on the panel, it’s a purely gospel mindset which is shaping her life and her art.

I could go on, but I know with my limited knowledge about the genre that I won't be able to do it justice. So let me go through and introduce you to my current 5 favourite christian hip hop artists.

Beautiful Eulogy

When you think of Hip Hop, the first thing you'd probably think of is the heavy bass and beats. However, this trio from the Humble beast label show that it doesn't need to be the case! Based in Portland, the artists Braille, Odd Thomas and Courtland Urbano lays down more acoustic beats to create an original sound. Urbano takes inspiration from Folk, electro-hip hop, soul, and many other genres to create a unique and beautiful sound, making it a lot more accessible.

It's not just the beats that our fresh, the lyrics themselves are absolutely enriching! With Odd Thomas' background in spoken word and Brailles experience in the art, creates a listening experience which allows you to listen to clear gospels truths. The trio take great care in ensuring that their music don't just enrich the listeners ears, but their souls as well take the lyrics from Acquired in Heaven;

Your glory never fades
The lamb of God who was slain to wash away sins stain
We were ransomed by Your blood

Your loss was our gain

And You live forevermore

It's just beautiful!

Tracks to listen out for;
Beautiful Eulogy
Entitlement
Vital Lens
Acquired in Heaven.

Shai Linne

When you think of rappers, what do you imagine the source for their materials lie? Life, money, desires.... I can bet you anything that the last thing you'd think of is Wayne Grudems Systematic Theology! Shai Linne as a rapper has created the term "lyrical theology" which he defines as; "the study of God within the context of hip-hop". He takes inspiration from explaining particular doctrines of scripture - whether that's Election or the Millennium - to even expounding passages in the bible.

Not only is he brilliantly well thought out, but he's also amazingly humble. On several tracks he adds caveats on how he could be wrong and gives the passages that he uses to back up his point, and encourages the listener to go away and think about it themselves.

Tracks to listen out for;
Justified
Stories
Jesus is Alive
Theology Q&A

Propaganda
Another spoken word artist from the Humble Beast crew, I first became aware of him from watching - and loving - his G.O.S.P.E.L (God our Sins paying everyone life). 

Propaganda's focuses on a wide range of issues, from staying accountable God as well as standing up boldly for one's faith both in word and in one's life. But Propaganda's art gives a different perspective on subjects. For example , Precious Puritans - a track challenging pastors hero worship of puritan preachers - highlights that they were fallen sinners, slave ship owners etc and summarizing it by highlighting that God uses sinners for his glory. A really challenging track!

Tracks to listen out for;
Precious Puritans
Redeem
Crimson Cord
Daywalkers

Lecrae
With other artists mentioned in this list, the acknowledgements are only from the niche of the christian hip hop scene, however Grammy award winning Lecrae is also getting recognition from the secular scene.

The reason behind Lecraes success probably lies behind how real his lyrics are. Not afraid to hide anything, Lecrae opens up about his struggles and his pain. A clear example of this is "Good,Bad,Ugly" where he opens up about being sexually abused as a child and that experience shaping his view of women, and how Jesus breaks through his situation. It's Lecrae's humility which is shown through his music and his desire to let his faith shine through in a secular world.

Tracks to listen out for;
Prayin for you
Messenger
Background
God is enough

Jackie Hill Perry
With currently one record to her name, Jackie Hill Perry is one to watch! With her debut album exploring the joy than can only be found in Christ, you can tell that she’s been on a journey to get there. Her album is littered with fantastic beats with lyrics that point to Jesus in ways that challenges you and make you long for more of him. 

Tracks to listen out for;

Art of Joy
Better
Educated Fool