The faithfulness of God

This has been quite an extraordinary week in many respects. Earlier this week I accepted an invitation to co-lead the 11-13 age group at our Summer Mission this year. I had received an email asking me to take over from the current leaders who are stepping down but had not replied because I was reluctant to take on further responsibilities to my burgeoning ministries. But when a friend of mine asked me for my help and explained she felt called to take over the group I was inspired by her vision and passion; I immediately said yes because I felt together God would use us. I then responded to the original email explaining our plan to co-lead the group, which set a whole series of wheels in motion as I was officially welcomed to the leadership of the Mission. However, it wasn't until tonight as I was speaking to another friend at church about these new developments that God opened my eyes and really showed me His faithfulness and purposes for me.

Last year when I went to Japan I believed I got a Word from God. I believed that God had given me a parable and gave me its meaning. It was the parable of the Ten Minas; a parable about faithfulness and reward. I felt God had given me this specific parable as an answer to my searching and my prayers. I wanted guidance regarding my future and whether or not God was calling me to full time mission in Japan. Using the parable of the Ten Minas God told me "not yet". My time had not yet come for me to move to Japan and there was still a purpose and a plan for me back home in Essex. I accepted this Word of Knowledge in faith and came home from Japan with a peace. Sadly in our busy day to day lives we can forget God's higher plans for us.

Yet tonight God graciously brought my current circumstances back into focus. Tonight I again felt that same sense of peace and reassurance that God was in control and that He was faithful to His promises. Tonight God proved once again that He is faithful and I am in no doubt about the parable He gave me last year in Japan. I know and trust that all God's plans for me will come to pass in my future and I can rest in the knowledge that God is faithful as proverbs says:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5

2012 is becoming a bigger and bigger year for me (or rather God's purposes for me) and I am so grateful that I have been given this awesome privilege to be used by God here in Essex. I am a servant of my Lord and saviour Jesus Christ and know that Jesus will be glorified through my ministries. My ministries are a result of God's faithfulness and for His glory. I am so excited about making a difference in these young peoples lives this summer at the Mission and being given an amazing opportunity to share the Gospel. God is good and this year is going to be so special. I now must be faithful to my calling; I must be patient and wait on the Lord to answer my prayers and fulfill his purposes while continually being faithful to the ministries God has given me.

August Winterman

So I have returned from another Kidderminster and have returned with a heavy heart. Maybe I'm not very good at taking compliments, maybe I'm a self-deprecating kind of person... I'm not sure? If God truly is using me then that is awesome; not for my own sense of satisfaction or to boost my ego but because God is reaching out to people and helping them. However, I felt a terrible sense of loneliness. This loneliness cannot be fulfilled by a quick and simple hug. This loneliness cannot be sated through a week spent with friends. This loneliness is the longing for companionship: spiritual, emotional and physical companionship. In short, I'm searching for my soul-mate.

I'm beginning to think that leadership is an incredibly lonely vocation. As a youth leader you spend alot of time with teenagers. Teenagers can frequently try your patience; they can also truly inspire you and even surprise you with what they are capable of. I have seen all these facets to youth this week but at the end of the day, while rewarding can leave you feeling isolated. They say to give is better than to receive and while that is true in so many respects a life spent serving others can be incredibly wearisome when lived alone.

God did not fail this year and I have been humbled by the undeniable answer to prayer. God moved powerfully and faithfully throughout the week, from beginning to end. We prayed earnestly for spiritual protection and God ensured that spiritual attacks held no sway over the Kingdom and Gospel work undertaken. Young people whose lives have been extraordinarily hard experienced God's love in very real ways; teenagers who felt jaded and doubtful about Christianity were given grace afresh and were strengthened through the Holy Spirit. On Thursday evening we had a time of open testimony where the teenagers could share what was on their hearts and their collective and personal experiences. There were many testimonies given as they poured out their souls and gave glory to God for the breakthroughs in their lives as well as given encouragement by the leaders. Whether the 'Kidderminster bubble' is illusory or not, God does move in that place; not because of the place itself but for the open and contrite hearts that meet there.

I am thankful to God for His faithfulness and have learnt much about praying in faith and expecting God to answer. God desires for us to engage in prayer for He is a God who glorifies Himself in service of His Church. God is not a god who insists on being served slavishly without any reward or answer to prayers. No, God is an Almighty and loving God who is jealous for His holy name. Yet, as my eyes are lifted gratefully to the sky and my mind searches the wonder of Heaven, my heart is troubled. I don't think I can live this life alone; I don't believe I can continue serving God for the rest of my life as a bachalor. Frustratingly my self-esteem has been damaged by my past heart-break as well as a deep hurt and anger that causes me to withdraw from people in self-sabotaging introversion. Prayer is my only hope in finding my soul-mate because I believe in and serve a God who answers prayer - the proof of which I have seen with my own eyes this week.

Take a Look in the Mirror

The world is as fragile as glass and we are a mirror of the world. When the world breaks, we shatter into a myriad of shards. The shards pierce our flesh and our hearts and we slowly have to piece ourselves together, piece by piece. But the cracks never heal and we remain an imperfect reflection of an imperfect world.

“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the Spring of Living Water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” Jeremiah 2:13

 A mirror cannot fix itself. Searching for a solution to the problem in this world when this world is the problem will ultimately leave us in a haze of disorder and confusion, like trying to reassemble the pieces of a jigsaw without the complete picture as a guide or as the Bible says trying to drink water from a broken cistern that cannot hold water. Our only hope for peace, our only hope for restoration is God.

“The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God will all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:4-5

In a chaotic world God is logic. In a world of disorder God is order. In a broken and fractured world, God is whole. In an imperfect world, God is perfection. But how do we reach God – a perfect, sinless Spirit who by very nature must be outside of the universe and our experience?

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father (God) except through me (Jesus).” John 14:6

The blood of Christ reconciles us to God and connects us to the whole again. Jesus is a conductor to God, like a lightning rod that attracts lightning to the earth. The Holy Spirit is the glue that binds the shattered pieces of our lives together again, slowly but surely healing us to become a mirror not to a broken world but to a Holy God, reflecting his perfection and glory. The Bible, God’s inspired Word is the mirror to our souls that allows us to understand the world.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7

Your heaven's a lie

Heaven, what is it? A happy thought, a care free holiday, an ideal to inspire hope or a reality? There are hundreds of thousands of words in the English language and yet English speaking people have a tendency to devalue and overuse a choice few of them! If we eat a delicious meal it is common to say “Oh that was divine” or if we find relaxation on holiday “this is heaven!” Using such language may elevate such things that we have ascribed such connotations and high praise to but it also inadvertently lowers the true essence and meaning of those words. If this is where our concept of heaven stops then we have fallen far short of the glorious reality. How then should we speak of heaven? What is appropriate? The book of Hebrews gives a wonderful description that captures beautifully the essence of this truly amazing reality:


“But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” Hebrews 12:22-24

So then what do we learn about what heaven is? Well we learn it is a place where the Living God resides. The use of the term ‘Living’ is in contrast to ‘dead’. This may sound like a strange adjective to use considering if God exists then naturally He is a living entity. But what the writer of Hebrews is drawing attention to is the contrast between the true God and the false gods found here on earth. There are many religions in the world and many smaller cults. While many of these religions may contain some truth within them, the gods that they worship or obey are not The true God that created the universe and the author of salvation. The statues around the world to various gods or avatars of gods are merely work of human craft, they are artificial imitations (and sometimes demonic distortions) of the true God. In other words they are counterfeit. So Heaven must always be thought of and understood in connection to the living God – the One true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Jesus Christ.

Secondly, we learn that Heaven is a place where Angels in joyful assembly live. Heaven is a supernatural place. It is not found here on earth. That does not mean there is nothing good or beautiful or awe-inspiring about this world; in Genesis it says that God saw that what He had created was ‘very good’ (Genesis 1:31). But Heaven is not found on earth. Heaven is another reality altogether and we have only got glimpses and visions into that reality. As the Bible says: for now we see a reflection as through a mirror but then we shall see face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12). Just because we can’t touch something or even fully comprehend something doesn’t make it unreal or imaginary. Also Heaven will be a place of joy. Angels live in joyful assembly. Heaven is a place of unparalleled and unbridled joy. Why are the Angels joyful? The Angels are joyful because they are in the presence of the glory and majesty of the Living God; a God who is Just (the Judge of all). Just as light engulfs darkness, so too being in the presence of God eradicates sorrow and misery. God is Light. God is Love. God is Justice. In God there is Joy.

Moreover, we learn that those considered righteous and worthy of a place in heaven are perfected therein. Heaven is a place of perfection. There is no evil, war, suffering, violence or pain in heaven. This is cause for tremendous celebration, even if we will never fully experience it in this life and should give us hope to continue persevering through our current circumstances. God is perfection; there is nothing imperfect about God, neither can God tolerate imperfection. The two are completely incompatible. You cannot have a perfect being living in an imperfect environment. This teaches us another important truth about Heaven: it is very far removed from our experiences because our world is not perfect. Even when there are times when we feel like we’ve experienced a perfect moment it is not true perfection because we live in a fallen, sinful world.

So we have established that Heaven is a place so far removed from our experiences and our comprehension – it is a place where there is no deceit or untruth (the city of the Living God), a place of pure joy with Angelic beings and it is a place of true perfection. How then can anyone dare to hope that we could one day live in such a place? The passage from Hebrews gives us the answer – through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ as he is described in Hebrews is the mediator of a new covenant. What does that mean? It means only through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection for the forgiveness of our sin can we be justified in the eyes of God (the Judge of all) and find acceptance by this perfect, incorruptible being. Jesus is the means by which God saves sinful people. There is no other way given in the whole of the New Testament. This is the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ that we can have salvation and forgiveness from our sin; that we will one day be restored to a state of perfection abiding in the presence of the Living God enjoying Him forever along with the assembly of Angels. Now that is Heaven!

2011 the year of the UFC

Earlier in the year I wrote a blog about the positive state of professional wrestling, namely in connection with TNA and the WWE, midway through 2011. My intention was to write a second blog with my thoughts and analysis of the progress both promotions had made by the end of 2011. However, things change and I’ve decided to write instead about the phenomenal year of the UFC – a phenomena in its own right.

               

For anyone who follows my blog regularly I attended my first ever UFC event a couple of months ago at UFC 138 in Birmingham. It was a thoroughly enjoyable and engrossing event, one which I hope to repeat in 2012 if (or when) the UFC return to the UK. 2011 certainly has been the year of the UFC. 2011 saw the UFC return to Brazil the ‘home’ of MMA in the fastest selling UFC event in its history, where Anderson Silva – the most successful UFC Middle Weight of all time – defended his belt against Japanese challenger Yushin Okami. 2011 also saw the UFC break new ground in signing a television deal with Fox in America to broadcast four UFC events a year. The inaugural UFC on Fox event saw Junior Dos Santos become heavyweight champion in just 64 seconds as he beat Cain Velasquez by TKO. The agreement with Fox is huge for the future of the UFC in its goal to become a fully accepted mainstream sport.

                 

2011 also saw the UFC parent company Zuffa buy out rival promotion StrikeForce. Currently StrikeForce remains a separate promotion but already many of its best fighters have made the transition to the UFC: Nick Diaz former StrikeForce Welterweight Champion gave up his title to sign for the UFC to fight UFC Welterweight king GSP as well as heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem. With former StrikeForce champions now on their roster the UFC has strengthened its claim to be the most elite MMA promotion in the world. But it wasn’t just individual talent that the UFC incorporated into its already impressive roster. The UFC also absorbed the former WEC lightweight divisions including Bantamweight and Featherweight and most recently expanded to include Flyweight. The addition of the smaller weight divisions has enriched the UFC’s booking and PPV events dramatically. The UFC really can boast the most exciting, competitive and talented roster in the MMA world.

               

The success of 2011 for the UFC has in part come from its inclusion of more weight divisions and expanding into new territories garnering greater media exposure, but it has fundamentally come from the strength of its booking. There have been some incredible fights this year and almost every UFC PPV card has boasted world class main event calibre. This year has seen the rubber match between Lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and arch nemesis Grey Maynard, which ended in a thrilling fourth round TKO for Edgar. It has seen Dominic Cruz successfully defend his Bantamweight title against Urijah ‘California Kid’ Faber; and it has seen the meteoric rise of Light-heavyweight Champion Jon ‘Bones’ Jones who has beaten no less than three former champions in Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson and Lyoto ‘the Dragon’ Machida – the latter earning fight of the night. There have also been many ‘dream’ fights this year including, BJ Penn v Nick Diaz, Dan Henderson v Shogun Rua in a 5 round battle for the ages and to end the year Alistair Overeem v Brock Lesnar. The ever controversial ‘pound for pound greatest’ argument, so often referred to by UFC president Dana White has been bolstered this year by UFC champions Anderson Silva, GSP, Frankie Edgar, Jose Aldo and Jon Jones, much to the chagrin of Middleweight contender Chael Sonnen it should be added.

             

 It is to the aforementioned fight between Overeem and Lesnar that I wish to indulge some thoughts and analysis on. On paper this was a classic striker v grappler match up – Overeem being a supreme Kickboxer and former K1, Dream and StrikeForce champion and Lesnar being a wrestling powerhouse and former NCAA Division I and UFC champion. However, the cards seemed stacked in Overeem’s favour; despite being one of the greatest strikers in MMA 19 of his wins came via submission. Overeem is a seasoned veteran of the ring/cage with over 40 pro fights to his name, whereas Brock by contrast going into the fight had only fought 7 times and two of those were losses. Brock had also suffered from the debilitating disease Diverticulitis, which had seen him require surgery and an extended period of time away from MMA. Lastly, Brock’s Achilles heel had proven to be powerful strikers, barely surviving the first round beating by Shane Carwin and losing his title to Cain Velasquez by first round TKO.

               

Strategically in many ways Brock was doomed if he did and doomed if he didn’t. His tactic against Velasquez had been to storm in and get the takedown early where he would have the advantage in top control and negate Velasquez’s superior striking ability. That tactic had failed in his title fight and he subsequently lost in emphatic fashion. Against Overeem, arguably an even better striker than Velasquez, Brock needed to take the fight to the ground once again but this time he was hesitant not to make the same mistake as before. This reluctance to utilise his best weapon – the takedown, meant that the fight was left standing where there was only one real winner: Overeem! Sure enough midway through the first round after some devastating knees inside the clinch Overeem caught Lesnar with a body kick that crumpled the former champion, quickly followed by a flurry of punches causing Lesnar to assume the by now familiar position of ‘turtling’ up waiting for the ref to step in and stop the fight. In his post-fight interview Brock announced that he was retiring from MMA and would not fight in the Octagon again.

                

 In some ways Brock was the architect of his own destruction. Due to his size, strength and wrestling pedigree Brock quickly overpowered many of his opponents in the early stages of his career leading him to become only the second man after Randy Couture to win the heavyweight title on only his fourth professional fight. But as the calibre of Brock’s opponents increased in talent and experience the gulf began to widen. Brock had been fast-tracked to the title and in the end his lack of experience and lack of all-round ability as a mixed martial artist became a stumbling block. I recognise that his own personal problems with Diverticulitis may have played a part in preventing him from fulfilling his potential but Brock was a proverbial example of power over technique. Once he came up against stronger and more technical fighters than himself his advantage was negated.

                 

What does this mean though? Firstly it means that Alistair Overeem will face JDS for the heavyweight title in 2012 – the two greatest strikers in the UFC heavyweight division. JDS dismantled all of his opponents on his way to the title through superior boxing. JDS has never been taken to the ground and so his ground game is yet untested. With Overeem’s strength lying in his kickboxing this fight could well be full of explosive fireworks and should produce a very entertaining fight. For Brock it means the fans have been denied a rubber match against Frank Mir and a potential return to the WWE. While many ardent WWE fans may relish the prospect of Lesnar gracing a WWE ring again, his credibility as a fighter has suffered with two back-to-back losses and his inability to defend combinations of strikes. His UFC career of course has no bearing on his WWE one, but nevertheless a return to the WWE may be viewed as ‘cowardly’ by some MMA fans.

                 

So 2011 is over, it has been one of the most successful, if not the most successful year in the history of the UFC and has opened many new opportunities for 2012. Expect more first class booking, greater mainstream exposure and UFC breaking more new markets, especially in Asia as the UFC goes to Japan in February 2012.

The Joy of Salvation

There are simple joys and great joys in the world. A lazy morning reading the Sunday papers in bed after a long, hard week at work or waking to a glorious day – not a cloud in the sky and the sun beaming benevolently and magnificently through your window, these are simple joys. Finding love, the blessing of parenthood and grandparenthood, earning a well-deserved promotion at work or the gratification from the triumph of a personal accomplishment in your life such as completing a marathon, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, surviving cancer or earning a black belt in a martial art are all examples of great joys. However, there is a joy that exceeds all other kinds of joy: that of the joy of salvation.

             

   Jesus said I have come to make your joy complete (John 15:11). Once you have experienced the joy of salvation it gives you a new perspective on all other forms of joy and gives you a deeper appreciation even for the smallest of the simple joys in life. Unfortunately, in a way it is inexplicable to someone who has not been touched by the Holy Spirit. But imagine that joy was like your favourite dessert. The simple joys in life are like taking a bite of your favourite dessert – delicious, scrumptious and a pick-me-up. The great joys are like eating a very generous slice or portion of your favourite dessert – a very special treat to be savoured and appreciated. Now imagine you were in the finest restaurant in the world and you order your favourite dessert to be prepared and made by the greatest chef in the world. When it comes you eat it and it is the most exquisite delicacy you’ve ever had the privilege of tasting – the flavours in your mouth are familiar but they’ve never tasted as rich or vibrant as this before, your taste buds made alive like never before. That in a way is like the joy of salvation, as the Bible says: “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:3).

               

How do you experience the joy of salvation? The answer is through repentance. Jesus said repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near (Matthew 4:17). Sometimes repentance is painful; sometimes it is the pain of recognising we are not as morally good as we thought we were; sometimes it is the pain of pride – admitting to the mistakes in our life or coming to terms with the fact that we cannot solve all of our problems by ourselves. Sometimes it is the pain of knowing that we have sinned against a Holy God and we are unworthy to come into His presence. However, that pain can produce amazing fruit: the process of painful self-reflection and repentance brings with it the desired joy of salvation.

             

 When the angel appeared to the Shepherds on the hills of Jerusalem that first Christmas it told them of news of great joy for all the people (Luke 2:10). That great joy referred to by the angel was the birth of Jesus the Christ. Jesus was not just his parents’ joy – Jesus was to be the joy of humanity. And Jesus is the only way to experience the joy of salvation, for He is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). Praise God that He so loved the world that He gave His one and only begotten Son so that humanity may experience the joy of salvation. We all have a choice – accept Jesus’ sacrifice and receive Him as our saviour or reject Him and fail to experience the joy of salvation and enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. We will still experience the simple and great joys of life but they are finite and ephemeral in nature. The joy of salvation transcends this mortal life and connects us with an eternal reality, which bears not just upon what happens when we die but also enriches this life too. God greatly desires that all humanity experience the joy of salvation (2 Peter 3:9). Jesus is God’s gift to the world. So embrace and accept the greatest gift on earth, the greatest gift possibly imaginable and find true joy.

Joy to the World

The Christmas story is one of the greatest events in human history. Period. Why? On that most auspicious day God became man, born as a hapless little baby. Yet that baby, born into totally unassuming circumstances, was both the fulfilment of the Messianic prophecies given to ancient Israel as well as the incarnation of God Himself! Jesus was no ordinary baby - Jesus was no ordinary human being.


Jesus was born into the family of David – Jesus was a descendant of King David, whom God had promised would have a descendant on his throne forever. But Jesus was not just another human descendant and another flawed ruler. No, Jesus was the fulfilment of the promise of new hope for Israel – He was to be the prince of peace as Isaiah foretold. Israel had great expectations for their coming Messiah. But Jesus’ purpose was not to liberate His people from political oppression. Jesus came first to bring spiritual freedom – to reunite a fallen humanity with its Divine and Just Creator. A Creator who defines what is right and wrong; whose very nature is perfection, righteousness and love. Jesus’ priority and mission was to bring freedom from slavery to sin, not emancipation from an imperialistic and dominant Empire. Jesus will return a second time, but not as a small defenceless babe – when Jesus returns He will come as the rider on the White Horse with Heaven’s army against the Satanic forces of evil in this world and vanquish the Devil for all eternity. On that day He will finally take His place on David’s throne as the conquering Lion.

Only to those who the Holy Spirit and the Host of Angels had revealed it to were able to recognise in that sweet, unpretentious child the future King of Israel on that first Christmas. However, Jesus was not just God’s anointed one – the chosen saviour of humanity. Jesus was Himself God. In Jesus the fullness of the deity dwelt. Jesus grew up to become the only sinless man, despite being tempted on numerous occasions. God created a new Covenant – an eternal covenant, just like when He created His covenant with the Patriarch Abraham and passed through the offerings alone, so too God gave of His own Son in order to meet the Just requirements of His Law. For God cannot be unfaithful – not to His Law, not to His Covenant and not to Himself. God gave His Son to die upon the Cross so that whoever believes in Jesus will not perish and suffer damnation on that Day of Judgement but have eternal life. God created that new Covenant through His own blood. It is eternally binding. What an incredible day – when God literally intervened in the course of human history! God became irrevocably and unbreakably linked to His creation through the birth of Jesus.

The Christmas story as told in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke speak to people from all walks of life, of all ages and both genders. In Matthew we are given Joseph’s perspective as a righteous man, eager to be married who must make a courageous act of faith in taking a pregnant Mary to be his wife, suffering the scorn and possible rejection by their village. Joseph’s story is one of love and loyalty in the face of persecution and discrimination – a man who embraced Jesus as his own even though biologically not his son. His is an example to fathers and step-fathers, from boyfriends to husbands of how to be a man of God and do the right thing by his wife and her child. In Luke we are given Mary’s perspective as a young woman soon to be married – a modest and humble young woman. After her visitation from the Arch Angel Gabriel she must obey God and place her total trust in God for her future knowing full well what conclusions her family and friends are going to jump to. To them she would have brought shame upon the family and could have been potentially stoned to death. Yet Mary accepts the Immaculate Conception with humility and faith finding her identity and validity as a woman in God not her peers. Hers is an example to young women to pursue God’s will for their lives and not chase after the fickle and fleeting approval of the world. God protected Mary and delivered her from being out-casted by society.

Conversely the Christmas story is not just about a young couple about to become parents under extraordinary circumstances. For from the lowliest to the influential and powerful, people from across the spectrum of human civilisation came to pay tribute to the birth of Jesus. The Shepherds – mistrusted by all in Jewish society, who watched over their flocks by night, on the cold hills surrounding Jerusalem, came to see the birth of their saviour and Magi – well educated and powerful men from the East came bearing gifts befitting a King to give to the Son of God. The Christmas story encompasses all of humanity – every person can relate to the story, for the birth of Jesus is for everyone. Jesus is the Light of the World and His birth signified a new hope for all humankind. This year connect with the Christmas story in a new way; recognise that you are a part of the story too, whether represented by the Shepherds or the Magi, Mary or Joseph. Jesus is your hope, your saviour and if you believe your Good News of Great Joy.