Lost in Wonder…

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“I’m lost in wonder, I’m lost in love, I’m lost in praise forevermore. Because of Jesus’ unfailing love, I am forgiven, I am restored.” So goes the chorus of Martyn Layzell’s worship song ‘Lost in Wonder‘, which is also the title of this blog post.

The dictionary definition of ‘wonder‘ is either a feeling of amazement and admirations, caused by something beautiful, remarkable, or unfamiliar; or a person or thing regarded as very good, remarkable or effective.

This coming Sunday in the UK we will be celebrating ‘Bonfire Night‘ and the skies over the UK and indeed in other parts of the world where this festival is celebrated will be lit up with fireworks displays that will cause us to ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ in wonder.

We do the same when taking in the view of a breathtaking landscape, or staring at a star filled sky at night. “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” – Psalm 19:1. We are ‘lost in wonder‘ at what God has done. At what He has created.

Martyn Layzell in his song is declaring that Jesus dying on the cross is an object of wonder. We are amazed that God would love us so much to die for us. To pay for all our sins, indeed, for the sins of the whole world. “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” – 1 John 2:2. “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” – 2 Cor 5:18-19.

Wow! I’m lost in wonder.

Also, this November as film is going to be coming out in the cinemas that is called ‘Wonder‘. It is about a young boy who has undergone multiple cosmetic surgery procedures to his face in order for him to be able to hear, breathe and live; but those surgeries have left scars that make people stare at him. It is based upon a book by R.J.Palacio.

There is a song that was made to accompany the film called ‘Brand New Eyes‘. It’s about how we can be influenced by the negativity and views of those around us, and take onboard their opinions of us, but the chorus calls us to view the world with brand new eyes to see the truth about us and those around us. We too often need brand new eyes, to view the wonder of God’s creation; not just in the vast open spaces of nature and the cosmos, but in each individual life around us. To see the beauty in each other. To see God’s fingerprints on our lives and be lost in wonder.

Not only lost in the wonder that He made us; but that He considered each one of us, no-matter how damaged or broken our lives are, worth the cost of His son dying on a cross for us. Bleeding for us to pay for all our sin. All our mess. All our failure.

So this half-term, be lost in the wonder of God’s love for us.

Be blessed.

Let there be light!

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The very first words that we read that God speaks in the Bible are, ‘Let there be light‘ – ויאמר אלהים יהי אור ויהי אור׃ – Genesis 1:3. Amidst all of the darkness, emptiness and formlessness of creation God speaks light, and there was light; and it was good.

Whenever we see darkness in Bible, we must remember that with God there is light; and that light is life – “In him (Jesus) was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” – John 1:4-5.

“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” – John 8:12

Jesus is the light of the world. The source of all true light. “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him.” – John 1:9.

At Christmas we remember this. We remember Jesus coming as a baby. We remember the incarnation. Emmanuelle – God with us. God in the flesh. God with us. God here with us. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” – 1 John 1:1-3.

Wow!

At His birth Jesus was bathed in light as the star shone down to show the way to the Saviour. The angels appeared in all their brilliance to the shepherds in the fields to proclaim the birth of the Saviour of all mankind.

The light had come!

But at this time of the year, we can often forget this truth. This unassailable, unshakeable, eternal truth. Jesus is the light of the world, and the light of the world has come and overcome the darkness. Darkness cannot exist in the same place as light. Switch on a torch, light a candle, open the curtains and light floods the space you are in. The darkness has to flee.

But as Halloween comes around, we believe the lies that the darkness is strong and we should fear it. We see the creepy costumes, the frightening films, the deathly decorations and the scary snacks and we see so many people revelling in the fear, and we forget that we do not need to fear. We do not need to hide. We do not need to cower until it is all over.

We need to shine.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:14-16.

If you have believed the truth about Jesus and received Him into you life. If you are a follower of Christ, then “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” – 1 John 4:4

So this Halloween, do not fear. Do not hide. Jesus is the victorious one. Let His light in you shine for all to see.

Be blessed and shine!

Will the real Jesus please stand up, please stand up, please stand up…

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Last night at ‘Redefine‘, as explained in last week’s blog post, we started our teaching series looking at the person of Jesus: ‘Jesus is…‘

It was a fun night, with a great talk by our director Mr Tim Gough, as he looked at so many people around the world and throughout history have been influenced by Jesus. He also spoke about how if you google ‘Jesus‘, or look Him up on amazon etc, you can get some pretty strange results.

You’ll find things such as Jesus action figures, which include Him riding a motorbike or surfing a wave. There are bobble-head Jesus‘ for your office desk or car dashboard. T-Shirts and posters with Jesus being used to endorse things such as drugs, guns, tacos & coffee. There have been many films made of Jesus, with different actors portraying Him. He has been depicted in Art & Literature; and He has been adopted by many other faiths and ideologies.

However many of the portrayals of Jesus are far from accurate. It seems like they think the idea of having Jesus is great, but a Jesus that can be shaped to fit their needs, instead of the real Jesus; A sort of ‘have it your way’ Jesus.

He is adopted for their cause and altered to suit their ideology. This is instead of discovering for themselves who He truly is.

The real Jesus is not represented, and for many people it can be confusing to know who the real Jesus is.

Hence the title of this blog post, which is inspired by the title of Eminem’s ‘The real slim shady song’, where the chorus for the song is ‘will the real Slim Shady please stand up.’ Most of the lyrics for that song are highly offensive and I’m not endorsing the song at all, but the whole idea that it gives of a famous person being imitated and moulded to suit the needs of the person that is using their image, is one that does fit. So many people do that with Jesus. Fitting Him into their mould instead of being influenced and changed by Him.

“Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” – Romans 12.

We can be guilty of doing that with Jesus too.

We want Jesus to fit our mould and be safe and comfortable instead of coming to Him as He truly is. Coming to Him as the King of kings and Lord of lords. Coming to Him humbly and being willing to get to know the real Jesus.

When people do get a wrong picture of Jesus it’s because they move away from the source. They don’t hold onto the truth of the Jesus that we find in God’s Word; the Bible. As Christians we believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God, and that if we want to know more about God, then we need to go back to the Bible and read it.

Many other faiths and cults as I shared last week, recognise Jesus, but He is not the Jesus that you would come to read about in the pages of the Bible. They have their own ideas of who Jesus is. Not the Jesus of the Bible.

He is not God. He is not the Saviour of mankind. He does not redeem us from all our sins. He is not enough. He is often just an add on.

I remember once a pastor talking to me about other faiths and cults and how as a Christian, the best way to discern truth for error is the same as how you study to be able to discern whether money is real or counterfeit. You do not study all of the ways a currency can be counterfeited he said; you study the real money so well that you know when something isn’t genuine.

Because you are so familiar with a genuine banknote, you can spot a fake a mile off.

It is the same with Jesus.

We need to get to know the real Jesus by reading about Him in the Bible and spending time talking with Him in prayer.

 

This is why we are doing this teaching series. We want the young people to know the Jesus that we meet in the pages of the Bible, and have an opportunity to respond to Him (see Romans 10)

To finish, I’ll leave you with a video made to accompany the inspiring words of Dr. S.M. Rockridge as he waxes lyrics about his King; Jesus.

 

Be blessed!

Jesus is…

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This coming Sunday at our Sunday evening Bible Study; ‘Redefine‘, we will be starting a new teaching series as we look at who Jesus is. Hence the title of this blog post, ‘Jesus is..‘, which will be the title of the series, with us fleshing out the rest of the title for each week, to give an outline of what aspect of Jesus we will be looking at.

This Sunday we are specifically looking at the impact that Jesus has had on the world as a whole; so ‘Jesus is – the most influential person in history’. Some people might think that this is an outlandish and exaggerated claim; but as we study and look at it, I’m sure those that come to the study will see that it is not so, and that He is indeed the most influential person in history. As the Paul Oakley songs ‘Jesus lover of my soul’ says “For no one else in history is like You, and history itself belongs to You.” Or as the apostle Paul says “For in him (Jesus) all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.” – Colossians 1:16

The Bible makes a big deal of Jesus. God makes a big deal of Jesus: on the mountain of transfiguration, God the Father speaks audibly to the disciples – “While he (St. Peter) was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son (Jesus), whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!’” – Matthew 17:5

As Christians, we are followers of Jesus. We make a big deal of Jesus, because to us He is not only a big deal. He is THE big deal.

It is all about Jesus.

Even outside of the realm of the Christian faith, Jesus is a big deal. He is not a myth, or something made up to propel a religious movement. In his book, the Antiquities of the Jews, 1st century AD Jewish historian ‘Falvius Josephus, in books 18 & 20 of his writings, includes references to Jesus and the start of Christianity. This book was written around 93-94 A.D. Tacitus, another famous first century historians and also a Roman Senator, wrote in his ‘Annals’ (which are a history of the Roman Empire) about Christ, his execution by Pontius Pilate and the existence of early Christians in Rome. This work was written around 116 A.D. So we have historical evidence for Jesus. Living, breathing & making an impact.

Even the title A.D. or C.E. to denote the year we are living in refers back to Jesus, for A.D. stands for ‘Anno Domine’ which is Latin for ‘in the year of the Lord’ (Jesus), and C.E. (often mis-referred to as ‘Common Era’) signifies ‘Christian Era’. Jesus has influenced our world so much that we date years either A.D. or C.E for after His birth and B.C. (Before Christ) or B.C.E. (Before the Christian Era) fir before His birth.

So not only does history belong to Him; His coming to earth was of such impact that it divided history itself.

He also features prominently in other religions around the world; in Islam He is called ‘Isa’ and, though they do not believe that He is God incarnate, they recognise Him as the Messiah and one of the most important prophets in Islam after Mohammed.  Some Hindus see Him as an ‘Avatar’ (incarnation of a deity) or ‘Sadhu’ (religious ascetic and holy person). So again, even other religions are being impacted by Jesus.

He has inspired Art & Sculpture, Music, Films, Literature, Theatre, and so many other spheres of life. Famous leader and people that have impacted the world, such as Mahatma Ghandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. have spoken about Jesus. It seems that wherever you look, you can’t but help see Jesus having an influence upon the world in some form or fashion.

Indeed, He has turned the world upside down; but it is His world to do that with in the first place (See Luke 12 & John 1). And He came to change the world forever, and for good.

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.” – Colossians 1:15-20

So this Sunday evening as we start our series ‘Jesus is..‘ pray for us at Llandudno Youth for Christ; that the truth of who Jesus is will impact the young people that come to our Bible studies, and they will have the opportunity to ask questions and discover for themselves all about Him.

We also have our supporters prayer meeting at 7pm in Ty Llywelyn Community Centre, so please do come along if you want to support us in prayer at this time.

Be blessed.

Outstanding!

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In this blog post I want to commend the amazing young people that come to the events that we hold. They truly are outstanding!

Often in so many ways young people are looked down upon and disrespected by those that are supposedly older and wiser. Sometimes this does hold water, and the young people in question are not acting or behaving in a way that will earn them any respect because they are not giving any. However, this is often because they have not had the good role models and input that they need from those that have more life-experience.

Equally though, young people should never be written off because of their age. Indeed, throughout the Bible we see examples of God using young men and women who have a passion to serve and follow Him. Young people such a King David, Mary, Esther, Jeremiah, Joseph & Timothy. These are just a small sampling of such individuals within the pages of God’s Word. As Paul wrote to Timothy to encourage him “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity” – 1 Timothy 4:12.

Last night at ‘Redefine‘ our amazing young people did just that. A handful of them presented short 5 minute talks in-front of their peers. Talks about various topics, but all centred firmly around their Christian faith. They were inspirational; and it was so good to see what God is doing in their lives. In a day and age, where the young people can be written off and side-lined, it was great to see so many of them stepping up to the plate with a strong voice; declaring the truth of God and having a voice that needs to be heard. Heard by their peers at school and in the community. Heard by parents and teachers, pastors and preachers. Old and young, weak and strong. Sorry started to get a bit poetic there.

The young people are not the church of the future, they are the church of today, and have a voice that needs to be heard.

In the book of Deuternomy God commands His people regarding His laws, to “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the door-frames of your houses and on your gates,..” – Deut 11:18-20.

We have a responsibility as God’s people to guide and instruct our young people in the way of following God. At Llandudno Youth for Christ, this is our main aim, to share the gospel relevantly with the young people in Llandudno and beyond. We want to see God’s love at work transforming lives and changing hearts.

Last Sunday night at ‘Redefine‘, we had great testimonies of just that; young lives transformed by the power of the good news of Jesus.

So I not only want to applaud all of our young people, but I also want to applaud all of the parents, teachers, church leaders, church members, Sunday school teachers and friends that support the work that we do at Llandudno Youth for Christ. Upholding us in prayer. Giving much needed finances to the work that we do. Faithfully supporting us in the Reverb Saturday Cafe @ St John’s. Taking part in and volunteering at events we hold, and spreading the word about the work that we do in your churches and beyond.

Thank you.

Keep on doing what you are doing. Like our amazing young people, keep on being outstanding.

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” – Colossians 3:17

Be blessed!

Fortified!

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Have you ever looked at a packet of cereal, on some of them, they say that the cereal is ‘fortified’ with vitamins & minerals. When food is enriched or fortified; trace elements of vitamins and minerals are added to the foods. This is sometimes done to increase the appeal of the food to buyers,  but it is also done from a health standpoint; aiming at reducing dietary deficiencies in people. Making the population in an area healthier.

The dictionary definition of fortify is ‘to provide (a place) with defensive works as protection against attack,’ ‘to strengthen (someone) mentally or physically‘ or as already spoken about ‘to increase the nutritive value of (food) by adding vitamins.‘ The word comes from late Middle English; which comes from the French fortifier, which came from late Latin fortificare, which is from Latin fortis ‘strong’.

The word ‘Fort‘ comes from the same root. A Fort is a strong defensive edifice.

It is a place that is build up to proved a strong and safe shelter from attacks.

“The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” – Proverbs 18:10. There is a children’s song that is based upon this proverb called ‘Blessed be the name of the Lord‘. It’s a bit of a blast from the past; and I remember singing it at open air church meetings when I was at University in the early 1990s.

That is not the only place in the Bible where it talks about God being a strong tower; in Psalm 61, the psalmist sings about this.

The other way to look at fortified, is not only a ‘fortified‘ building, but also something or someone that has been strengthened. We get the sense of the word ‘edify‘ from this. When we ‘edify‘ – encourage one another in our faith; we are building each other up. We are fortifying each other. This is an important thing to do for each other. At our last ‘Redefine‘ we look at the fact that God never intended us to do life alone. He wants us to do life in community with Himself and with each other. Part of that is encouraging one another, edifying and fortifying each other in our faith. The apostle Paul says this to the church in Thessaalonica “He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:10-11

This coming Sunday at ‘Redefine‘ we will be having a great night where the young people will be doing just that. They will be fortifying each other with our fantastic ‘FREDtalks‘. These are our take on TEDtalks. “TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.” – excerpt taken from their website.

With our FRED talks we give the amazing young people that come to ‘Redefine‘ the opportunity to share a short talk about a topic and how it relates to their faith. These have always been well received and help to create and build community within ‘Redefine’ and also provide a platform for the young people to encourage and fortify each other in their faith.

This not only strengthens them, but also helps them with their resilience. Their ability to bounce back from some of the things that they encounter in life. A bit like with another type of castle; a bouncy castle!

So thank you for all of your prayers and financial support for the work that we are doing at Llandudno Youth for Christ; you, with God, are helping to make a difference in many young people’s lives.

Be blessed!

Sometimes you can’t make it on your own.

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Yes, it is another song reference for the blog post. This time it comes from a song by U2. It is the third track from their 2004 album ‘How to dismantle an atomic bomb’. Bono wrote the song in 2000 about his relationship with his father Bob Hewson who was at the time dying of cancer. To Bono, his father had always been a tough character, indeed the original title of the song was ‘Tough’. In his own words Bono describes his father as “A tough old boot of a guy. Irish, Dub, north side Dubliner, very cynical about the world and the people in it, but very charming and funny with it.” The song won the ‘Song of the Year’ award at the Grammy’s in 2006.

In the song Bono is crying out to his father to share relationship with his son, for Bono to be able to help his father through this tough battle he was having with cancer. The chorus of ‘sometimes you can’t make it on your own‘ is all the more poignant with the knowledge of what Bono & Bob were going through.

Last Sunday night at Redefine we had the last in our ‘We Believe’ series, looking at ‘You can’t do life alone’. As Christians we are called to live in community with other believers and with God. We are called to ‘bear one another’s burdens‘, to ‘not give up meeting together‘, to practice hospitality, and serve one another.

We were never meant to go through life isolated. Indeed, right at the beginning God said it was not good for man to be alone.

One way to ensure that we do not do life alone is to engage in community with a local church. Now, many people have negative viewpoints of church, due to many different reasons, most involving being hurt in some way or another by churches and the people in them. However, we are all imperfect, broken people, that are being healed and made whole by God, and as a result, hurt and offence does occur. Does this mean we should give up on church? Should we stop doing life with other believers because of past issues and hurts?

No.

Not at all.

Jesus told us offences would come, but we need to forgive and move forward. Continue to do life together. As the Jack Johnson song says ‘it’s always better when we’re together‘. This goes for doing life with each other, and its especially true of doing life in relationship with God. Life is definitely better with Jesus.

The Third Day song ‘When the rain comes‘ talks about how when we go through bad and difficult times, it is better to go through them with God, even if we still go through the tough times; God is with us, holding us.

So I encourage you, as we encouraged the young people last Sunday night. Don’t do life alone. You were never designed that way. God wants you to live life with Him and with each other.

Be blessed!

Mezzamorphis!

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As with soooo many of the titles for my blog posts; today’s post has a music theme. It is in fact the title of a Delirious? Album. The album was released in 199 and it was their second studio album, following on from ‘King of Fools‘. Mezzamorphis was a great album for me and brings back so many memories.

Stu G (the band’s guitarist) states about the album, specifically when talking about the track ‘Metamorphis’, that “the fact that out in the world, although everybody wants to be their own selves, we’re pulled this way and that. Everyone you meet wants you to be something or another. The song asks God to help us to be our own true selves, as God sees us, not the way folk pressure us to be what they want us to be.” In-fact the title for the album as a whole is taken from the track ‘Metamorphis‘ and the first track on the album ‘Mezzanine Floor‘, which is about how they as a band were moving towards new directions musically, but had not yet reached where they were wanting to go.

This idea of aiming towards a goal, and knowing that you are heading in a direction that God intends for you, but that you are not already there yet makes me think of the apostle Paul when he says “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:12-14

There is a sense of journey, of growth, of change in what Delirious and St. Paul are saying. Hence the title of this blog post ‘Mezzamorhpis’: change in transition.

All of our lives are filled with changes and trasitions, and sometimes it feels like we are stuck on a mezzanine floor in our transformation. We are not where we used to be, but we have not reached our destination yet.

This is especially true in our walk with God.

If we have decided to follow Christ, we are no-longer walking blindly in ignorance and alienated from God, but are now citizens of heaven, adopted sons and daughters of the King of kings and co-heirs with Chris. ‘Heaven is our home’ as Martin Smith so aptly sings, but we are still here on earth. Waiting for the fulfilment of all that God has planned for us.

But do we just sit and wait idly by?…

No, we live, we learn, we grow, we change.

In fact the 3rd week of our ‘We believe’ series at Redefine was ‘Growing people change’.

Which is so very true.

If something is alive and thriving, then it will naturally be changing. Even Jesus ‘grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.’

As did people like the apostles Peter & Paul. You can read about the change and growth that happened in their lives from encounters they had with the risen Jesus. Read their before (Mark 14:66-72, John 21:15-19 and Acts 7:54-60, Acts 8:1-3 & Acts 9:1-31) and after stories in the Bible.

I also used the title from the album ‘Mezzamorphis’ as I listened to it quite extensively in 1999 & 2000 whilst I was living and studying in Australia. I was going to Bible college there, and there was so much change and growth going on in my life, that this album helped me keep my perspective on what was happening and where God was leading me.

 

In your walk with God, I want to encourage you to keep learning, keep changing and keep developing as He transforms you into His likeness.

Be blessed!