Nativity on BBC

If you have some time and not sure what to watch on iPlayer, this is definitely worth a look, even though they may have embellished a few things, it is in my opinion a good portrayal. It fills in some of the human responses to what is happening

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00x1699/The_Nativity_Episode_1/

TFTD on Radio 4 and Richard Dawkins' Response

At this link you can listen to the broadcast
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12072115

Here's an angry response from Richard Dawkins. Of course he's got a point about the many bad things the church as an institution has done. But why so angry about sin and the Cross?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/dec/24/pope-benedict-thought-for-the-day

What have you got to sing about? Luke 1:39-55

Why do you sing? Songs express emotion. In Luke 1 we have Mary's song. She sings because she is really happy. There’s three things in particular that she is happy about:

1.       Mary Sings because she believes [verses 39-45]

Mary is told she is going to give birth to a son without a human father. He will be called Jesus. He will be great; He will be like David (descended from David and a great ruler); and He will reign forever. She hears all this and she believes, and so she sings! 

Do you believe? Does it make you happy?

2.       Mary sings because of the Saviour [verses 46-53]

Mary might still have some questions about how God will save through Jesus but she's definitely understood that He will save through Jesus. Mary grabs hold of lots of ideas from the Old Testament and says that this is the way God always saves. He's always worked by turning everything upside down, lifting up the humble and bringing down proud people who think they're so great.

Are you humble and hungry for God to save you? 

3.        Mary Sings because God Keeps His promises [verses 54,55]

God had always been with His people but now at this special moment He is keeping the promises made to Abraham in a surprising way. Mary is so happy. She believes God is saving by shaking everything upside down. She realises this is the moment God brings all His promises to fulfilment.

Do you feel like singing now?

Real Food (John 4:27-38)

A Samaritan woman drops her bucket as a sign that she now thinks that telling people about Jesus is more important. She says “come & see” and a group Samaritans from the town Sychar are heading towards Jesus. She has a new interest, new priorities. Do you?

Jesus responds to the disciples urges to eat something by telling them what really sustains and comforts Him. He says "my food is to do “the will of him who sent me.” Is it your food?

Jesus will do God’s will and finish His work. He will obey the Father all the way to the Cross and look back and be completely satisfied He has finished the work.

We are so grateful to God for the sustained obedience of Jesus but He also give us an example to follow.

One of the ways we do that is by seeing and seizing the opportunities for telling people about Jesus the Messiah. Normally the farmer sows and waits for the harvest but Jesus says the spiritual harvest is now – the time has come.

The Samaritans coming to hear about Jesus are a clear sign of the new age of the kingdom of God. Jesus’ life, death and resurrection begins a new era in world history.

The amount of opportunity may vary in God's sovereign grace in different times and places but there will in these gospel days, always be opportunities. Are you praying for this and watching out ready to take each opportunity.

The sower and the reaper have their roles, and are glad together.We can be sowers or reapers, sometimes both, but whatever our role we rejoice to be doing God's work.

To listen to sermons in the John series click here

Are Christians the new persecuted?

Some though provoking answers - definitely worth watching some of them:

http://www.4thought.tv/topics/browse/231-Are-Christians-the-new-persecuted-

Add your own thoughts. I did make a comment on the channel 4 website but I think the moderator decided it wasn't interesting enough to publish!

Not ashamed

Take a look at this. I thought it was pretty good.

http://www.notashamed.org.uk/leaflet.php

Nativity - day 1

Short Extract from Day 1 of the Nativity Puppet Show

John 4:1-26 True Worship

Jesus crosses boundaries of racial and religious divide and chooses to go through Samaria and talk with an immoral Samaritan woman. Jesus crosses all boundaries because He is Messiah for everyone, and He calls His people to do the same

Jesus ignores the political questions and makes an offer of living water. Only he can give new life and satisfaction through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus meets our deepest needs because he is the Messiah.

She was living with a man following 5 terminated marriages. Jesus knows all this about her, and more and yet he still makes an offer of life. Jesus knows all about you because He is the Messiah. He calls you to face up to who you are, so you can recognise who He is

Jesus avoids a diversion of talking about what was in the past the correct way and place to worship God. Now for her and for us it’s about Spirit (God’s life giving power) and Truth (personified in Jesus). We must worship God by trusting Jesus at the Messiah – God’s promised King.

He will completely satisfy you. Just ask and He will give.

To listen to sermons in the John series click here

Why Mission? Hmm Not Sure

So apparently we don't need to do global mission so God can save people. It's just so their lives can be better following God's way.

http://www.christianitymagazine.co.uk/asksteve/whatsthepointofmission.aspx

This doesn't sound right to me. Any comments?

Counterfeit Gods

We recommended this book on Sunday. If you want a longer introduction take a look a this video of Tim Keller speaking at Cambridge earlier this year.


http://vimeo.com/10952075

...and then buy the book.









Or have a look at his introduction on YouTube

BBC Nativity

Not making any recommendations either way about the programme or the organisation writing this review but I thought some of you might be interested in this:

http://www.cte.org.uk/Articles/231905/Churches_Together_in/News_Events/News/The_Nativity_on.aspx?redirected=1

Of course you could always go to Saltworkz Cafe and experience our own Nativity story time every Wednesday in December 2010 at 3.45pm.

John 3:22-36

This last Sunday we were studying the next section in John's gospel. We looked at two things, firstly John the Baptist's attiude that of Jesus becoming greater and him becoming less. John is content with the role that he has been given, He says I am not the Christ, I am the messenger, I am not the bridgegroom, I am the freind who serves and waits on the bridegroom. It is Jesus who is great and I am to become less. The question I posed on Sunday was whether we were content with the roles that God has given, content with the way in which God has called us to serve or whether we were secretly hankering after a greater role, a role with greater prestige, greater standing in the community. Furthermore were were we serving for our glory or to make Jesus great. John the Baptist's example is one we should certainly follow - to be those who are content with the role God has given us and to do all things for the glory of Jesus not ourselves.

The second point we looked at was why Jesus must become greater and we noted five things (listen to the sermon to see them all!). Ultimately though we saw, that he must become greater because Jesus is the only one who can give life, Jesus is the only one who can truly testify about God because He is the only one from above. Thus John concludes with the statement "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him. Thus Jesus must become greater because it is only belief in him and him alone not John the Baptist, not us, that will grant someone eternal life. That is why we must become less and he MUST become greater. Who is it you are believing in? One who can give eternal life?

To listen to sermons in the John series click here

Do non-Christians go to hell?

Is what Steve Chalke says here correct? I agree with a lot of what he says, but look carefully at paragraph 8. Do you have to consciously acknowledge Jesus is Lord and Saviour to be saved?
http://www.christianitymagazine.co.uk/asksteve/DononChristiansgotohell.aspx


space for mp3 podcasts
Click here to listen or save
Click here to listen or save

Freedom of Private Worship or Freedom to Proclaim

What do you think about the article here from CCFON?
Is it an exaggeration to say we are losing the ability to freely proclaim?
What should be do about it?

Follow this link
http://www.christianconcern.com/our-concerns/religious-freedom/proclaiming-jesus-roof-tops

New name for HHEFC? Updated with more suggestions

We at Haywards Heath Evangelical Free Church (HHEFC) are wondering whether a new name to coincide with our new building would be helpful. To be an improvement on what we have already the new name would need to be memorable, distinctive, shorter and easier to use; and be a more generally understood definition of what we are and where we are.

It should not be misleading, arrogant (e.g Haywards Heath Real Church), or an obvious barrier to new people attending.

Below are a few suggestions for names, updated with all your suggestions so far. You are most welcome to comment favourably or otherwise, and add suggestions of your own and we'll see where this leads.

Location based

Bentswood Church

Bentswood Community Church

Bentswood Evangelical Church

Community Church of Christ

Heyworth (Community) Church

Heath Evangelical Church

Mayflower Church or Mayflower Christian Church
New England Road Church
New England Road Community Church

New England Road Evangelical

New England Community Church
New England Church

Bible theme/idea/person

(The) Pilgrim(s) Church

Cornerstone

Saltworkz (Community) Church

The Ark

Christ Church

We welcome comments in the box below. Select the pull down "comment as" menu and you can choose to comment giving a name, or you can comment anonymously if you prefer.

Graham Nicholls

John 3 For God so loved...

Nicodemus was a powerful, intelligent and religious man. He came to talk with Jesus.

Jesus tells him immediately that he had to be born again. This was almost too much for Nicodemus. He couldn't get his head around the idea of becoming a baby again. But Jesus was talking about spiritual birth. When you start again with a new life. When you wake up and see that Jesus is your Lord and Saviour.

Jesus goes on to say that he is going to be crucified so that this new life can begin.

The reason God is doing this is simple and profound. In one of the most famous verses in the Bible we're told that God loved the world. He loved a world of people who oppose him. He loved people like you and me. In fact, he loved them so much that he gave up the most precious thing - his Son.

But there's another love in John 3. The love of darkness. Most people don't want to believe in Jesus. It's not for intellectual reasons. The explanation of the Bible is pretty reasonable. The proofs that Jesus rose from the dead are convincing. People don't really reject Christianity for those reasons, but for moral reasons. It's because people will not like admitting that they are wrong and God is right and that they need to have the death of Jesus for them to make them clean and right with God.

What about you? Do you love light or darkness?

To listen to sermons in the John series click here

John 2:12-25 Who do you think you are?

Some people when they hear the things Christians claim, respond by asking "who do you  think you are?"

Do Christians have the right to make statements about what is, what should be and what will be?

It's a question of authority, and in the end it's a question of the authority of the leader of Christianity - Jesus Christ. Does he have the right to say how things are, how they should be and how they will be?

In this text the Jews were indignant when Jesus threw all the traders out of the temple. They demanded that he did a miracle to prove he had the authority to decide what should happen in the temple courts.

Jesus reply was about the fact that his bodily temple would be destroyed and three days later it would be raised. He would be killed but he would return to life. That's the ultimate proof you need that
Jesus has the authority.

That's why you need to listen to him.

To listen to sermons in the John series click here

John 2:1-11 First Sign

John, the gospel writer carefully selects 7 signs to tell us about in his book. What we might call 7 miracles.

The first sign was Jesus turning water into wine. Although of course it shows us that Jesus has the power of God, there is more to it than that. It is a signpost about his mission. The wine he creates is a sign a sign of the change to a new order – from religion, from legalism to trust in the transforming power of Jesus.

We need the Power of Jesus. He has the power to transform lives just as he can transform water to wine.

Jesus can replace religion that could never really make us clean with something so much better, like the new wine replaces the tasteless water.

He does what we have failed to do. Just like the groom failed in his duty to provide wine, we have failed to be what we should be for God. But Jesus makes up for our faults.

The consequence is that we can now celebrate, just as we do at weddings. Part of that celebration can happen now, but we wait for the great celebration when Jesus returns and ushers in the new kingdom.

His disciples put their faith in him: will you?

To listen to sermons in the John series click here

Isaiah - feel the words

We are studying Isaiah 40 to 60. You could say it's the easy bit, with lots of references to the perfect servant Jesus, but it's still pretty demanding: Long readings, emotionally demanding. Repetition. Isaiah is written in poetic style. It is full of grand sweeping dialogue and descriptions. It's meant to make us feel something. We feel the grace and feel the disgrace.

God is great and He hasn't given up on His people. His people are forgetful and ungrateful.

And by the way idols are nothing. Idols can't do anything. God can do anything.

So what are your idols?

To listen to sermons in the Isaiah series click here

Fascinating interview with Russell Brand

Definitely worth watching especially from about the 15 minute mark

'Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world' on Independent Catholic News

'Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world' on Independent Catholic News

Following Jesus (John 1:35-51)

This Sunday we were looking at the next part of John chapter 1 where John records for us the first men to start following Jesus and we noted two things:

Firstly that John the Baptist role has come to an end, he is no longer required to testify that Jesus is the Messiah. So his words recorded in John are “Look, the Lamb of God”, Andrew and another disciple (probably John the evangelist) hear him and begin following Jesus. It is only natural and logical that those who were following him should transfer their allegiance to the one he pointed too. John the Baptist’s message has always been Look at Him, You must follow and that is the same message that we are called to speak. It was what Andrew did after spending time with Jesus, he went and got his brother Simon (Peter) and said we have found the Messiah, effectively look at Him you must follow.

I wonder how often we are quick to say that to folk, look at Him, look at Jesus, you must follow? Or are we more concerned that people follow us?

The second thing we noted was that Jesus begins to say Follow me and you will see. So Jesus upon meeting Philip says “Follow me” and Philip follows. Philip then goes and fetches Nathanael saying effectively Look at Him, you must follow. Nathanael comes and as he does Jesus reveals that he saw Nathanael under the fig tree before Philip called him. Jesus’ demonstration of supernatural knowledge is enough for Nathanael to believe and he declares that Jesus is the Son of God, the King of Israel. To this Jesus says “you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that.” He then added, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” Jesus’ promise to those who follow him is that they will see great things, they will see the greatness of the Son of Man. Just as Jacob in his dream saw the gateway to heaven and saw the house of God, Genesis 28. Jesus says you who follow will see even greater things than that, you will see THE gateway to heaven, Him, and you will see THE house of God, Him, and you will see how awesome Jesus is as he dies and is risen for the sake of mankind. Have you seen how awesome Jesus is?

Are you following him?

To listen to sermons in the John series click here

Some Bible reading resources

A few Bible verses with explanation, application and prayer each day.

http://www.wordatwork.org.uk

Bible reading and commentary. You can sign up for a daily email, or read it online or there is a Smart phone application
https://www.scriptureunion.org.uk/wordlive

Another online bible with reading plan and some other useful links
http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/readingplans/

From here you can create a podcast in iTunes
http://www.dailyaudiobible.com/
Also, the DAB is a massive online community, hosting the "Windfarm" project, which is essentially round the world constant prayer. They also sell coffee... "The WindFarm Blend was exclusively roasted by Mission Coffee Roasters for the Daily Audio Bible family."

If you have a smart mobile phone then the application from this company is worth a look. As well as the whole Bible is has various reading plans.

http://www.youversion.com/


Here's an ESV one
http://www.esvonline.org/devotions/esv-study-bible/

Also worth a look

http://www.desiringgod.org/

http://www.licc.org.uk/

In the beginning... John Chapter 1

No, not more on the Genesis series!

John's book is about bringing forward evidence so that we may believe in Jesus and have eternal life, but he begins with some simple but profound statements of the nature of Jesus Christ. He begins in the beginning with the Word, the Son of God, the agent of creation, the one who came from heaven to make is possible we could become children of God.

Do you want to know God? Look at Jesus.

Then we have the witness of John the Baptist. He says I'm nothing special but there's someone who really is unique and worthy of my service. John the Baptist points Jesus out as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In other words, Jesus will be the sacrifice to pay the price for our failure to put God in His place as King. That’s for everyone. Not just Jews, not just religious or respectable people. It’s for people like you and me.

John testifies that Jesus is the Son of God and in the genius of God’s salvation plan He is also the sacrifice provided by God? No-one else could do it

And last Sunday we looked at Jesus calling the first disciples with the invitation to “come and see.” One of them, Andrew, goes and does the same thing to Nathanael. And what are they going to see? That through Jesus it's possible to have access to heaven. Well worth seeing. Well worth telling your friends

To listen to sermons in the John series click here

A more detailed analysis of Hawking's book

sorry for lack of posts

The summer rather overwhelmed our efforts to keep the blog site going, but normal service should be resumed this week.

Great John Lennox Article

Click here...

Genesis 3:14-24 -- Excluded

Is life just a random mixture of good and bad things? Is there an explanation for the bad stuff?

Genesis 3 describes Adam and Eve taking the fruit as they decided to disobey God and take charge of things. There are immediate consequences as they feel shame & fear, and want to blame anyone but themselves.

We’re all still hiding. But God seeks us out In verses 14-24 it's mostly God who does the speaking, because of course He's the only one who can say how it's going to be from now. He describes our world.

He speaks to the serpent about an epic conflict - the battle between humans and Satan, in a sense it's the battle between good and evil. It's a battle that will continue throughout history. We know evil but we can't defeat it.

God speaks to the woman about pain in family life. What should be love and cherish becomes desire and dominate. Family life still has great joys but from now on it will also have pain - rejections; absent fathers, angry mothers, unwanted children and cruel and violent husbands.

God speaks to the man about hard work. There's a change in man's relationship to creation. Every achievement will be costly. All the paths will be uphill.

God talks to himself about excluding man from the garden (20-23).

The ultimate curse is the separation of man from God and from the blessing of God through the tree of life. Now they would die, returning to the dust from which they were created.

You are experiencing just these things every day of your short uncertain life.

But the curse was not the end of the story

Through Jesus there is victory over evil
One man descended from Eve will crush the devil and win the victory. Jesus will be that man

Through Jesus there is an end to the pain of relationships
We get a foretaste of that in the church family.

Through Jesus' sacrifice there is a way back to the presence of God
When Jesus died it's like He opens a doorway back to the presence of God. That's why the temple curtain was ripped in two. Just like God makes Adam and Eve clothes to cover their shame, God sends Jesus to deal with our shame at the cross and now we can know God without fear or shame.

Through Jesus the earth will be restored
All the imbalance - the things that cause inconvenience and devastation will be restored in the new heavens and new earth

You can listen to the Genesis series of sermons here

Misdirected Love (2 Timothy 3:1-9)

A song by Marillion had these lines

Now when you climb into your bed tonight, And when you lock and bolt the door, Just think about those out in the cold and dark, 'cause there's not enough love to go 'round, No there's not enough love to go 'round.

But Paul explains to Timothy that the reason for bad things in the world between people is not a lack of love. It’s just that love is pointing in the wrong direction.

If we direct our love away from God and towards ourselves (mostly) and just a few others (slightly), then all relationships go wrong and people are boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unforgiving, slanderous, without self control, brutal, treacherous, rash and conceited.

It all starts with misdirected love. It’s the explanation for all that’s wrong in the world. We love ourselves and pleasing ourselves more than God and that’s just not natural! I so need the gospel, because self love threatens my relationships every day. I need forgiveness for my failure to love right, and instruction how to love right.

Sadly this same attitude can creep into the church. Some leaders have a “form of godliness. They are religious but it’s just an outer coating. They don’t really believe and depend on the power of God.

Beware religious gurus – teaching and preaching for the buzz of it. Beware becoming a religious groupie. Beware becoming just religious. Maybe you talk a good religion but in your heart you the deny power so you don’t pray to express dependence and you rely too much on the strength of intellectual argument.

We need the good news of Jesus Christ to tell us who to love, how to love, how to call others to love and when we fall flat on our faces He still loves us.

You can hear the full sermon here...

Genesis 3:1-7 Falling

In Genesis 3, there was a day that changed every day in the history of the world. It is the sin that changed the world and also sets the pattern for temptation and sin in our lives. It explains our world and it explains how we follow the pattern of failure.

Satan comes in the form of the serpent.

Firstly, Satan tried to get the woman to distort the word of God. He raises questions designed to raise doubts. The woman’s reply starts well but she makes God sound more restrictive than he is and begins to water down the serious consequences if they choose to disobey.

Then comes Satan’s great lie "you will not surely die." "What are you talking about... God’s not really being serious about judgement."

It’s a lie that continues throughout history. Will you trust God’s word?

Secondly, Satan encourages them to doubt the goodness of God. He’s really saying that the forbidden fruit would actually make them better people and so really God is being unfair. We face daily challenges to our belief that God is good

Thirdly, Satan provokes a desire for the authority of God. The fruit is attractive fruit as the key to knowledge of good and evil. They are basically claiming the wisdom to discern right from wrong declaring independence from God.

And in all this Adam is there but silent. He outrageously shirks his responsibility to be a teacher and a leader to Eve.

But it's not enough to know the story of the fall as an explanation for our broken world. We so need to depend on the mercy of God. Not on our own judgment and ability. We remember that one man succeeded where Adam failed. That man was Jesus. We need Him. Do you know Him?

You can listen to the Genesis series of sermons here

Genesis 2:18-25 One Flesh

Marriage is a beautiful relationship designed for us to be happy and to be ready to serve God.

In Genesis 2, God is looking for a suitable helper for Adam in the task of ruling and subduing. The animals area great, Adam rules over them and has the fun of getting being introduced but it’s not enough.
It’s really not good for Adam to be alone, he needs a suitable helper – not inferior but complementary. So God Makes Woman (verses 21-22a). And he did a pretty good job didn’t he?

Man is not simply a lonely person needing company or a half finished person. He is those things, but the focus is on the fact he needed a companion for the task to cultivate, procreate and relate.

The woman is brought to Adam by God and we have the prototype wedding. Adam says “at last” someone like me. He names her “woman” which in Hebrew (even more than in English), sounds like the word for “man”. Adam’s saying you are so like me... you complete me.

Moses, the author, tells us this marriage sets the pattern for all marriages - a man leaves his family and joins with a woman for life – one in sexual union and in partnership to serve God. Clearly, intimacy is for the grown up and the committed.

We are social beings and marriage is the usual way to fulfil the need for friendship in the shared purpose of working and taking care of the world.

If you want to listen to the full sermon click here

Genesis 2.4-17 One Simple Rule for a Special Person

Genesis 2 is a re-run of the creating that went on in Genesis 1 but with a different focus - now we're looking at the man in his special place

Man is a Special Person. He's like all the animals, made in a similar way as a distinct species but more than just another species, man is unique:

He's made in God’s image (Ch1). God breaths life into him showing a direct intimate act of creation. God speaks to him directly directing and commanding.

We share characteristics with animals but are made separately from dust, not from another animal. We are all descended from Adam (Acts 17:26)

The second thing about man is that he is to worship God in a Sacred Place (4-6; 8-15)

The earth was an uncultivated and unproductive area waiting for the arrival of man.
God plants a garden and puts man there with a command to work. It's a pattern that's repeated in the temple worship - sacred space with the presence of God and God's people worshipping him. In the garden the worship is to rule, subdue explore, work take take of the world. To extend the garden to the world. All we can do to serve and take care of creation, whether we get paid or not is a blessing, it's worship.

It's also really clear that man is not an imposter in an otherwise perfect world. Yes he does spoil things pretty soon but it's not true that by design man is an unhelpful addition to creation. Creation is lost without him. It has not purpose, no production.

Adam was to Serve in Dependence and Trust (verse 16,17).

Man lives by the breath of God and the word of God. He depends on God for the wonderful garden and a world to explore Man is dependent on God for life daily expressing this by eating from tree of life. But he also has to trust God's word. God gives a command: eat anything but this one tree. And then there's a warning: ignore me and you’ll die which means you begin to die losing access to tree of life. Our daily experience is of either dependence and trust or independence and unbelief

Which leads us to realise something has gone wrong because we're not in the garden and we all die. How do we get back to garden?

Only Jesus Fulfils the Mandate. We get back to Eden by Jesus. well that's not quite true. We actually get to somewhere better. To the new Jerusalem. Jesus perfectly fulfils the creation mandate for service, dependence and trust. Jesus made all the right choices. Jesus gives the right to eat from the tree of life

We need to be the best at serving God in working in this world in dependence and trust but we so need a Saviour for all the bad choices we've made.

We need the new Adam, Jesus Christ.

Do you know Him?


Here's a few questions for you:

1. How does the OT temple copy from the garden?

2. What does it mean that Jesus breathes on His disciples?

3. What do you think is meant by the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil"?

4. Do you think Adam and Eve were immortal before the ate the wrong fruit?

5. Have you got any other questions?!


Listen to the full sermon here...

The grace of giving

When God's old covenant people, the nation of Israel, were disobeying the law of Moses by failing to tithe, they were told through the prophet Malachi that they were in effect robbing God himself (Mal. 3:8-9).

Christians today must not feel bound by old covenant tithing regulations as they would then be living under law and not under grace, contrary to New Testament teaching. Nevertheless, there is an abiding spiritual principle in Malachi's prophecy which carries over from the old covenant into the new covenant era: it is possible for any of God's people living in any age to commit robbery by withholding from the Lord what is rightfully his.

We need to follow the way of grace. This means responding to Jesus' love for us, displayed in his sacrificial death, by applying to ourselves five principles which can be derived from Paul's teaching in 2 Corinthians 8-9:

1. Adopt the right attitude (2 Cor. 9:5-7). We should give generously and joyfully, not grudgingly.

2. Let your heart decide (2 Cor. 9:7). A heart that surrenders to God's grace in Christ resists greed and covetous desires.

3. Give in proportion to blessing received (2 Cor. 8:12, Acts 11:29, 1 Cor. 16:2). We give as the Lord prospers us.

4. Aim for Christian equality (2 Cor. 8:13-14). Our goal must be to enable every Christian to have enough in the situation assigned to him by God.

5. Follow the example of Christ (2 Cor. 8:9). Experience of the grace of Christ ought to result in the grace of giving on our part, thereby showing our love for him and for others.

You can listen to the full sermon here...

God's Long Holiday

This Sunday we were looking at Genesis 2v1-3 the day upon which God rested. It means He ceased from creating. It is not saying that he has stopped working, John 5v17 makes that clear.

Genesis 2 paints a picture of rest that is bigger than, but not less than a day off. Biblical rest is that of enjoying God by enjoying his creation. In Gen 2v4-24 we see this rest pictured, marked by a series of perfect relationships. So we see perfect relationships between God and Man: there were no barriers between them. God and Man were able to walk, talk, and just be together. Man and Woman, enjoyed marital bliss, there were no disagreements. Man and Creation worked in harmony so that the earth brings forth its fruit. All was as God had intended it. Now we learn in Genesis 3 that this was ruined by man’s disobedience and the consequence of that was these relationships were distorted. We now do not enjoy rest as it should be – in fact it is hard to describe life as restful full stop. Yet this Rest as described in Genesis 2 is still God’s purpose for us and in fact it is where the world is heading, to a time when such rest will be restored in the new creation. But how do we enjoy that rest today?

Jesus says in Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” It is through Jesus' death and resurrection and by us trusting and obeying him that we find this rest once more. Thus I am now welcomed back into the Garden of Eden or at least the restored Garden of Eden, to ultimately enjoy God by enjoying His creation. Now I fully enter into the rest upon my death or Jesus’ return but I can experience something of that rest now as well.

I can experience it by taking a day off a week from my work, setting aside a day each week to exclusively worship God. But more than that, I can enjoy this Rest each and every day. So in the midst of busyness I can pause and pray turning to my heavenly Father and enjoying His rest. Or as I praise Him in song between meetings, or in my lunch break when I turn and read a few verses from scripture. As we do these things, we begin to enjoy Him and we find ourselves being refreshed, restored because this is what we have been made for. We need to be seeking Him, the giver of true rest. But I can also enjoy this rest when I meet up with friends, spend time with my family. Or by pausing to listen to the birds sing and thus enjoy God's creation. As I do these things I will find His rest, because this was His purpose for us as seen in Genesis 2.

Yet even by doing these things we only partially experience His rest now. But one day, we will live with Him for eternity, able to enjoy Him fully once more, enjoying all that He has recreated and restored. That is the wonderful picture of Revelation 21v3-4, for that describes the rest once more, the rest as it was intended in Genesis 2, the rest we have been made to enjoy. Are you?

You can listen to the Genesis series of sermons here...

The Gospel According to Pullman

The Gospel According to Pullman... | Christianity Magazine |

Genesis 1:28-31 Everybody Rules

In the post below we talked about man’s unique nature – being made in the image of God. Yesterday we thought about what Genesis 1:28-31 tells us about our unique role as image bearers.

1. Remember: It’s a good thing! The whole creation and God’s purpose are very good (v31). To be human, (God's image bearer), is to be particularly blessed. (v28). Ultimately that blessing comes through enjoying relationship with Him and all He does for us.

2. God’s image bearer’s are to be fruitful and increase in number (v28). God desires his people to be fruitful and later He will prescribe marriage as the setting for this.

3. God’s image bearers are to rule and subdue. Ruling is not repression or exploitation but loving rule, just like God (see Psalm 145). Subduing is working to enjoy, overcome, conquer and develop the created world. From agriculture to every other form of culture so long as it does not elevate the creation higher that the creator. We are to subdue to consume and enjoy. We are to subdue for need and, yes for pleasure.

4. God’s image bearers are dependent on Him v29-30. It is God who gives us this role and He decides how it should be exercised.

Of course we need to remember the fall. The earth is scarred. We need more than the creation mandate, we need a redeemer. But there is real purpose and value in exercising our role even though the world is not as it was then.

So, what are you going to do this week to explore and enjoy God’s world, and to take care of God’s world?

Listen to the full sermon here...

Genesis 1.26,27: Men – intelligent monkeys or sophisticated machines?

What are human beings? Many people might consider them just advanced animals or like a super-computer. Sadly, when we consider ourselves just animals we can justify behaving like them. Or if we think of people as just machines we can simply turn them off and throw them away if they’re not working. But we are something more complex and wonderful than that. Genesis tells us that God created human beings as the pinnacle of His creation. He made men and women equal in status and dignity. They are the image of God – meaning they resemble in some way the divine. They are not the same as God but like a mirror they reflect God. Some of the ways we do that –
• Morality: a sense a right and wrong, holiness and evil
• Spirituality: a spiritual life enabling us to relate to God in prayer, praise and service
• Immortality: that we will not cease to exist but forever be praising God or punished by Him
• Mental Faculties: we can reason, think logically; communicate in abstract language. We can imagine and thus create. We have emotions
• Relationships: a profound need for community beyond the self-interest of animals
• Physically: not that God has a body but as He sees, hears speaks and feels, so do we.
• Rule: We act on God’s behalf to rule the world

All these characteristics are corrupted by the fall but we are still image bearers. With great joy we recognise that Jesus restores the image of God, that those who trust Jesus will be transformed into His likeness and when Jesus appears we shall be like him. We are more than a small cog in a massive machine. We mean something because God made us that way. We need to get back in contact with our maker and know what it really means to delight in Him.

Listen to the full sermon here...

Genesis 1:1-25 - In the beginning

God was there in the beginning: He is outside creation

The universe had a beginning and God was there. In Genesis 1 Moses describes the creator God who had saved and led his people Israel. God is our source of information, but we need to be humble about what he does and does not tell us. He made everything we see, but the focus is not so much on the process (how God did it) but on the purpose (for His glory, yes, but for making a place where men and women can live in relationship with God).

God made everything with good purposes

We cannot be adamant about the method. Survival of the fittest and adaptation is going on all the time in our world. We need to admit that we do not know precisely how God made things so we don’t know what trace that leaves behind. Certainly there is a common designer using common materials so it is perfectly reasonable that there is a commonality between all living things. However a number of factors make the biblical God incompatible with a total evolutionary framework
• He spoke and things happened instantly. Even allowing for the poetry it does not seem to do justice to the purposeful good precise activity of God to assume he had to wait for time and chance and many failed attempts
• He made everything after its kind (species). No hint of crossing the species boundaries which evolution demands.

We cannot insist Genesis is precisely describing sequence & time periods. Nor do we know how the fall, and later the flood affected the ageing processes. So discussions about the age of the earth are not really very productive. It would seem most reasonable that creation of the basic elements of our world happened instantaneously at the beginning and then the universe we know is called to order over 6 days, but Christians do differ over how to read Genesis 1.

What we know for certain is that God was there in the beginning and more precisely that Christ was there as the agent of creation. Our best approach is to introduce people to Jesus. When they know Him as Saviour and Lord they are ready to accept His explanation about what happened in the beginning.

Listen to the full sermon here...

Philippa Stroud criticised in the Observer

Reading this article it struck me that if the secular press were to visit most evangelical churches they would probably be outraged. Most of us in church leadership wouldn't be allowed to hold significant office in any of the three main parties. I'm not saying Philippa Stroud has the right approach though.

Read the article here

Observer Article on Religious Freedom

Thoughtful article from a atheist about the new intolerance

Nick Clegg and Christian Conscience

Click here for an article about the Liberal Democrat leader's position on some Christian related issues

Worth reading. It would be useful to have some analysis of where the parties stand on social justice, equality and diversity.

Preaching or Discussion Groups: what's best?

Is preaching an outdated authoritarian form of communication which will soon be a thing of the past. I don’t think the apostle Paul anticipated that. However, he did expect there would be seasons when people didn’t really want to listen to biblical preaching but preferred being flattered. Sound familiar?

The apostle Paul is in prison. The church is about to face persecution. There are people teaching things that distort the gospel. The most important thing his lieutenant Timothy must do is to preach.

Preaching is fundamentally a proclamation much more than a discussion. Mostly in the Bible, that means one person talking to group bringing them news from God. This works best because it models and in fact it is, the way God speaks. There are other methods of communication which are helpful to embed the word in our lives but preaching will be the primary way that God speaks to us in the church. Preaching if done well is culturally and intellectually neutral. It carries the least obstacle for hearing and responding.

So expect God to speak when you hear preaching

The content of preaching must be the word of God, meaning the gospel word of truth, also called sound doctrine. When Paul says gospel, he doesn’t just mean a narrow message about sin and salvation but anything to do with the story from creation to new creation.

This preaching should be eminently practical with correcting wrong behaviour and encouraging and urging right behaviour.

So expect God to speak to you about how you respond.

This kind of preaching is urgently needed because Christ will return to judge all men. We want to be ready and we want others to be ready too.

So pray for, and demand practical gospel preachers.

This is a summary of a sermon on 2 Timothy 4:1-5.

You can listen here to the full sermon here...

Romans 16:1 to 27 – The Long Goodbye

Today at HHEFC we completed our series in the book of Romans with a look at Chapter 16 – an exceptionally long sign off but with lots to teach us about a real church.

We saw that the Church has all kinds of people (men, women, Jews, Gentiles, professional, slaves, new converts...) who were working hard out of deep commitment to the Lord and to each other, meeting in homes as extended families. We want to welcome all people and to put no obstacle in their way that is not a gospel issue. We want to use our homes for worship and evangelism.

NT churches formed networks with other churches. There was good information flow and there was a real fluidity and flexibility of people moving between the churches to serve where the work was. Are we generous and well-informed in connection with other churches?

For all the good that was going on they needed to be alert to danger that false teaching could bring division and put obstacles in the way. False teaching will also be self-serving.

As they worked they were confident in God’s grace and that Jesus had won the victory and that they were confident that God would finally be vindicated. So they work and pray that God would be glorified.

I hope that might be a way to describe our church. Let’s pray that it is.

Christian Institute Election Briefing

http://www.christian.org.uk/wp-content/downloads/electionbriefing2010.pdf
Worth a read even if you do not agree with Christian Institute on what is the right way to vote on the issues they highlight. It is fair to say these may not be the most important issues and certainly not the only ones on which you make your decision, but definitely worth asking your candidate questions on some of these. 

Would you welcome anyone to your home?

There’s been great media interest recently about gay rights competing and conflicting with religious freedom prompted by Christians who run a bed & breakfast refusing to allow a homosexual couple to rent a double room. Personally, I think they were wrong to do that, but I do think they should be free to decide in good conscience on this issue before God without state interference. I suppose it would be more consistent of them to refuse all couples in what Christians would consider sexually immoral relationships – I wonder what the law says about that?

The Bible mentions homosexuality only a few times but none of them are positive and affirming about homosexual practice. It never says, as some do, that “being in a loving committed relationship is all that matters.” God sets boundaries for sex within a life covenant between a man and woman. I trust God that He knows best.

However, Jesus welcomes, entertains, befriends, loves and cares for people who are not living now as He wants them to. He doesn’t tell them to sort their lives out then come to him. He calls them to come as they are and He will take their burdens and give them a new direction. I don’t think he would have turned anyone away at His B&B, but what a conversation there would be over breakfast!

Nicholas Soames voting record

I'm not particularly a supporter of Mr Soames or of the Conservative party but you have to admit, this is not a bad voting record...
Click here for a summary of his voting record on Christian Institute website

Westminster Declaration 2010

I am not normally a great fan of these kind of initiatives but I think this one has some merit, if only to stimulate some debate within and outside the church. So take a look and see what you think. Perhaps you might even want to sign it!

http://www.westminster2010.org.uk/

Interesting set of videos with converts from Islam

Click here

Samson - the cartoon character

Samson is a cartoon character in every sense. His exploits are extraordinary. He can rip lions apart, slay 1,000 men with a donkeys skull, lift a set of city gates and carry them for miles. Oh, and chase after whatever his eyes take a fancy to - mostly women who always caused him trouble. He's comic and tragic. Larger than life and well, just like life.

I've sometimes been half tempted to have a caricature of my face done, but my features are bad enough normal size let alone with emphasis.

Samson is like a caricature of Israel. They are unfaithful. They find satisfaction in anything and everything that leads them away from God. They are led by their eyes instead of seeing things through God's eyes.

But you know what's even more amazing. They cry out to God in their need and he hears them.

That's grace.

If you want to listen to the sermon it is available online here.

Pornography: Very frank but very helpful insights

Click here to read Mark Driscoll's online book

Tim Keller - Introduction to "Reason for God"

Praising God Together (Romans 15:6-13)

We all crave acceptance – from our parents, colleagues or friends. The great thing about the gospel is that Christ accepts us, and because of that the church must be a place of love, acceptance and welcome for all.

At our Sunday morning meeting we looked at Romans 15:6-13.

If you want to listen to the sermon it is available online here.

In Romans 15:7 Paul says accept one another – as Christ has accepted you.

Christ becomes a servant of the Jews to save the nations. He’s not just saving the Jews but fulfilling all the promises of God to the Jews by saving from all nations. The quotes from the Old Testament in verses 9 to 12 show that it’s always been the plan to bless all the nations.

All this is not a history lesson but it means that you as a Christian believer whatever your “way in” can be accepted and should be accepting and welcoming of other believers. How wrong to reject someone accepted by Christ.

Paul continues in verse 7 accept one another – to bring praise to God.

The goal of salvation is the glory and praise of God and the goal of our unity is that God will be praised. So it’s all about God’s glory but the great thing is that it’s also about our blessing. The whole section is about nations joyfully praising God and Paul ends with a prayer that they would know in their experience, peace hope and joy.

Tolerance is a gospel issue (Romans 14)

At our Sunday morning meeting we looked at Romans 14:1-15:6. We learnt from there how we should accept brothers and sisters in Christ even though we may have differences about how we practise our faith. If you want to listen to the sermon it is available online here.

Paul is not talking about compromising over the truth about Christ or the authority of the Bible, or tolerating immorality, as though God doesn’t care about these things. His focus is more on personal behaviour from Christians carefully considering how they should behave in relationship to their Lord.

In the Roman church the majority would have been gentiles (non-Jews), who did not mind what they ate or drank or about special days. The Jews would have grown up being very careful about the food they ate and had sacred days, especially the Sabbath. It would be easy for the Jewish Christians to condemn the gentiles, and for the gentile Christians to despise and look down on the Jews. However, Paul calls them to mutual acceptance and love.

He says first: do not condemn. Recognise that your Christian brother or sister is accepted by God, responsible to Him and that ultimately God will judge their actions, not you. Secondly he says: do not despise. Looking down on your brother and carrying on with your behaviour regardless of their feelings could be a stumbling block causing them distress, or destroying their faith and the witness of the church.

As our example Paul says look at Christ who endured the disdain of men. He saw a higher purpose to his mission and Christians need to look at the cross of Jesus and then work out what that means for serving our brothers and sisters in the church, not having to stand up for our rights.

Finally Paul said: make unity your goal. We need to work and pray for unity, because this is a powerful witness to a watching world.

There are many applications on this in relationships within and between churches. We talked in the sermon about the issue of total abstinence from alcohol and Sunday being thought of as the Sabbath to illustrate the kind of issues that may divide us.

Any comments or questions are most welcome.

Execution Jewelry

Do you set the x-ray machine off at the airport with all your jewellery? Some of us love wearing it. Many of us wear a cross or crucifix. The cross was the one of the cruellest means of killing criminals used by the Romans. So wearing one seems weird really. Decorating yourself with a means of execution. But for a Christian the cross is a story of the love of God shown by allowing his Son to be executed on behalf of people who didn’t even care about him. So when they look at the cross it’s sad but it’s also a celebration. At Easter we remember the cross. Jesus Christ was killed so that people like us could be given new life, a new start, a new relationship with God. Find out more at a Christian meeting this Easter.

Who am I?

Here I stand around 6ft tall. I live for a few years, make my mark and then I’m gone. Compared to the earth I’m pretty small. Compared to the universe I am ridiculously insignificant. We now know that our home galaxy, the Milky Way, contains about 100 billion stars. And there are another 100 billion galaxies each of 100 billion stars! The numbers are impossible to imagine.

But exciting new discoveries in the last few years have shown that the earth is unique. It has everything you need for life. Even scientists who don’t believe in God have had to admit when they look at many of the biological and chemical processes it just seems like it was specially designed.

Recently it was realised that if the constants of nature, like the gravitational pull, the angle of the earth on its axis, the thickness of the atmosphere, were minutely different, life as we know it could not have begun. The earth seems to have a very special place in the universe.


And life on earth seems pretty special too. One amazing example is the flagellum motor on a bacteria. You need a magnification of 50,000 times to see this amazing device. It’s just like an outboard motor on a boat. It can spin at 100,000 RPM in one direction then stop within a quarter turn and spin the other way. The paddle allows the bacteria to swim through liquids like a miniature submarine. Do submarines exist in the sea by accident? Of course not – there’s a designer. You couldn’t imagine a submarine evolving from spare parts. Can we seriously believe life on earth is the result of an accident.


So perhaps I am not so insignificant after all. Perhaps I was made with a purpose. With all that evidence we’re expected to ask, “So who was the designer?” Wouldn’t you like to meet him?

Miracle Baby

Every baby is one in a million: A unique combination of the looks and character of its parents. From the moment of conception this person develops from a tiny cell a tenth of a millimetre big to a complete human body you can hold in your arms. The journey from tiny cell to baby is breathtaking. Nine weeks after conception the baby can bend his fingers round an object in the palm of his hand. At eleven weeks the foetus can produce complex facial expressions and even smile and suck his thumb. In response to a touch on the sole of his foot he will curl his toes or bend his hips and knees. By the end of the twelfth week the baby measures almost 90mm and weighs 45g and has all the major organs. By sixteen weeks the heart is pumping 30 litres of blood a day. He can hear everything going on inside the body of the mother and loud noises from outside the uterus such as the slamming of a door or music. Tests using different types of music indicate that the baby even appears to have preferences – rock, pop or classical!


And then that moment comes when the baby says let me out of here and emerges and takes his first breath of fresh air. This is a wonderful process to produce a unique person who we should honour and love.


Jesus was all of those things. He developed in the womb like every other baby. His senses, his muscles, his brain, his heart all like ours. But there was something even more special about this baby. He was more than a human – he was at the same time God with us. It’s hard to believe or understand. Jesus was God come to earth on a rescue mission. He really was a miracle birth.