To the Cross

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We, all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was lead like a lamb to the slaughter, and as sheep before his shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression an...

Found this on Sermonillustrations.com There is a tale told of that great English actor Macready. An eminent preacher once said to him: "I wish you would explain to me something." "Well, what is it? I don't know that I can explain anything to a preacher." "What is the reason for the difference between you and me? You are appearing before crowds night after night with fiction, and the crowds come wherever you go. I am preaching the essential and unchangeable truth, and I am not getting any crowd at all." Macready's answer was this: "This is quite simple. I can tell you the difference between us. I present my fiction as though it were truth; you present your truth as though it were fiction. Don't think I need to say more!!

Many of us are very familiar with the story of the last few days of Jesus. But how might our understanding of the cross be enhanced if we literally engaged our senses to think about what Christ has done for us at the cross - 'The Greatest Expression of Love that the world has ever seen!' On Friday 21st of March (Good Friday) we are holding an event called 'Sensing the Passion of Christ' at Dalton Baptist Church, which will enable us to do exactly that. When I put this event together a few years ago, I was very wary of the need not to have just a 'touchy feely' service and even though we are using our senses - the event gives a direct explanation of the reason that Jesus had to die and makes it clear that a response (repentance and trust and belief in Jesus) is necessary for the forgiveness of our sins. God has used this event to bring a number of people into a living relationship with him through Jesus Christ. Sensing the Passion of Christ was took place last y...

I am busy putting together an Easter children's holiday club based on CS Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. Building on the work and connections we have made at Upper Whitley Infant and Junior school, in Grange Moor Huddersfield, we hope that a good number of children will come to know the deep meaning and good news of Easter as we think about Aslan, but also about the real King who came to set us free from the consequence of our sin. The two day event will have two themes: (1) Slave to Turkish Delight (2) Freed by the King. We will have games, craft and teaching based on these themes. We are very encouraged about the the school's involvement, in that they are allowing us to watch the whole of the film in class, allowing a promotional colouring competition, and an Aslan themed assembly. I for one am getting really excited about this and believe great things can happen through the message we give and the connections we make. I would value your prayers!!!

I had a conversation with a friend today who told me of a relation who is suffering from mental health issues. He believes that a major reason for this is because she has earlier in her life had an abortion. I do not wish to condemn anyone who for what ever reason has had an abortion, the guilt and suffering that those people go through must be horrendous and certainly healing can take place only through Jesus Christ (see video on my blog dated January 4th below). We in Britain can however condemn the system that allows abortion so freely! As I understand, according to British Law, the legal grounds for abortion are: (1) A risk of the pregnant woman loosing their life (2) A risk of permanent 'grave' physical harm to the pregnant woman (3) A risk of mental health to the pregnant woman if the pregnancy goes to full term (4) A risk of serious handicap (mental or physical) to the baby Never the less, the Christian Medical Fellowship report 'Higher rates of major depression ...

'The vision for Hope 08 is that the whole church goes to the whole nation for a year and beyond and that we tell our country about Jesus, with our words, because we believe in preaching the gospel of the cross of Jesus Christ, but with our lives, because we want to say that believing in Jesus changes our lives - we can't if our lives don't look different!' (Mike Pilavachi: founder of Soul Survivor)