100daybiblechallenge

Day 100 - Revelation 21v1–22v21

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Mark Russell

Dear friends,

What an achievement! You've reached day 100 on your journey through the Bible, and it's a huge honour for me to write the last blog of this series. The Bible is so central to our faith, yet so many Christians have such a rudimentary knowledge of the Word of God. I've been so encouraged by this 100 day journey, as I know you'll have not only learned so much, but you'll have heard the voice of God speak through his Word directly into your life.

So today, we come to Revelation 21 and 22, the final chapters of the Bible. As I'm sure has been said throughout your study of Revelation, this is symbolic and poetic writing, as John tries to capture in words what he saw in his vision on Patmos. None of us can be sure what heaven will look like, but we can be sure it will be awesome, beyond words, and more wonderful than we can imagine.

Lets take Chapter 21 first. John tells us he saw a new heaven and earth, a new Jerusalem, a place where tears are wiped away (21:4). A place where joy replaces pain. No matter what we experience on this earth, no matter what pain we feel, this is not the final word. God has written the final chapter, as the old song goes "therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing onto Zion, and everlasting joy will be upon their head, and sorrow and mourning will flee away." what an encouragement!

From verse 10 onward we get this stunning description of heaven, and John tells us it shines with glory, is filled with jewels, and is simply breathtaking. Stunning, defying description, a place of beauty. Clearly what God showed John in his vision, totally blew every circuit in his brain!! In verses 12-14 John tells us everything is in multiples of 12 angels, 12 tribes and 12 apostles. Representing the fulfilment of Jesus' prayer of unity in John 17, the Faithful Old Testament people, and the faithful New Testament people, together under God.

In verse 27, John tells us that not everyone will be allowed into heaven, only those whose names appear in the Book of Life. Isn't it an awesome idea that your name and mine is listed in this huge book, God knows us by name. Yet the implication of this passage is clear, we need to be a missional and evangelistic people, forever calling people to turn to Christ, and make sure their names are in this Book.

Moving onto Chapter 22. John begins by telling us about the river of life giving water flowing from the throne, water that brings healing and renewal. Could this be the living water that Jesus promised the woman at the well, and which John told us about in Chapter 4 of his Gospel? Of course this picture of water flowing, and trees where the leaves bring healing, is a copy of Ezekiel 47, where the river flowed from the Temple and brought healing and life. Standing alongside this river in Revelation, verse 2 tells us the "tree of life" grows. This was the tree Adam and Eve were forbidden to touch, yet now is freely eaten from. Eden has been restored. The place where God walks with his people, free from sin.

It's interesting to pause here and note the parallels between Genesis and the Revelation vision.

Genesis. Revelation

The sun is created.                               The sun is not needed
Satan is victorious.                               Satan is defeated
Sin enters the world.                             Sin is banished
People hide from God.                          People invited to live with God forever
Tears are shed.                                     Tears are wiped away
Paradise lost.                                        Paradise regained
People doomed to death.                      Death defeated

So what do we do with all this? John tells us in verse 10 that the angel told John not to seal his vision, this is the appointed time for this vision, whereas in Daniel 12, Daniel was told to seal up his vision. Verse 12 onwards is the voice of Jesus himself, verifying what the angel told John. In verse 17, we are told to "come", to come and enjoy, to come and drink of the river of life. And that friends is our destiny, to come, to be with Jesus, to be in his company, with the angels and archangels, to come, and enjoy and be in joy. What a promise!

John finishes his Revelation, and the New Testament, and closes the whole Bible with the words from Jesus himself, he is coming soon. We need to make sure we are ready, and that we have done all we can to help others be ready. We need a sense of urgency that Jesus is returning, and that will impact both how we live and how we love.

The very last word, the word that makes it possible for us to inherit this future, the word that enables our pasts to be forgiven, the word that enables us to know Jesus, John blesses us with "grace".

"the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen"

Amen and Amen !

Revelation 19v1–20v15 - Hallelujah!

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Ben Gardner

The Movie Set

As I read today’s reading I felt as though I was on the set of a movie. I began to imagine this incredible banquet and battle taking place in the mountain ranges and forests of New Zealand with Gandalf, the hobbits, Peter, Lucy and Aslan all making a dramatic appearance! It is as though this spectacular, fiery, explosive conclusion to the Bible is a cross between Lord of the Rings and Naira: the fight between good and evil…some making it and others not.

Judgement!

‘And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books’ (Rev 20:12)

‘Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire’ (Rev 20:15)

We cannot ignore the fact that judgment is mentioned in the Bible. Many Christians attempt to hide the fact that there will be some sort of judgement when we eventually die. We prefer to look on the brighter side of life and talk of love and grace, which is understandable in a world of uncertainty, conflicts and fracture societies.

We all need love, and Christianity is a faith that is founded on a God who LOVED and still LOVES His world so much that He gave his one and only son. However, we forget to mention the last bit of that quote:

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’ (John 3:16)

Last year, Rob Bell, Francis Chan and a number of other American Christian leaders/authors decided to write books on ‘hell’ and the end times. This obviously stirred up different opinions and thoughts on the reality of death, hell and what happens to those who believe and don’t believe. To cut a long story short, I agreed and disagreed with all of them. But to be honest, the majority of people that had the most issues with the different authors were Christians rather than those that don’t believe…this is also understandable, why should people care in something they don’t believe!

What is my view?

In my mind it’s simple…

1. There will be a day of judgement.

2. Those that God understands to have believed in Him will receive eternity with Him.

3. Those that God understands to have not believed in Him will receive eternity without Him.

There will be a number of people that disagree with me…that’s life! There will be those that will desperately search for a finite definition of the words ‘eternity’ and ‘judgement’ but to be honest, I haven’t got time or the energy for these discussions.

The problem for me is not differing views and the understanding of judgement but my issue is our (the churches) approach and reasons for seeing people come to faith.

For some, seeing people come to faith is purely so that they avoid hell (after death). For others, seeing someone come to faith is so that they experience the love and presence of God for today. But for me it is both.

I long to see people experience God’s Kingdom today. We cannot ignore that there are people in our world who are living through ‘hell’: warfare, famine, depression, illness, family breakdowns, and the list goes on. If the church are not willing to help them now, then why would people want to listen to what we have to say about something is seemingly distant!

I believe the church is called into those places of ‘living hell’. The church is called to make a difference today (practically and spiritually).

The church is called to point to Christ, demonstrate His love and then Jesus makes the call on someone’s eternity…it is not for us to judge!

Faith in Jesus

Seeing someone come to faith in Jesus is incredible. The transformation of someone living for Christ rather than self is something that is beautiful and powerful. Jesus not only transforms life for today but also transforms the eternal life.

Jesus came so that we can experience life to the max…today and for eternity.

Revelation is a book that does point to Jesus when we peal back the symbolic imagery and overall weirdness!

Conclusion

There is a thing called ‘judgement’ and the end times: the end of our lives and the death of the world (as we know it). The will be a conclusion to life.

So does it matter that we don’t fully understand everything? No!

Does it matter that we see people come to know and love Jesus? Yes!

Therefore the rest is simple…

‘Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt 28:16-20)

Revelation 4v1–7v17 - The Throne of Heaven

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Eleanor Harrison

Revelation is a book of hope, of Christ’s Victory assured for those who believe in Him and walk in His ways. It is a book full of imagery; both beautiful and baffling! And it gives us a sense of what is to come...

Whilst reading these chapters the simple message which occurred to me was – It’s all about Him. An obvious one I know, but something that is easy to reel off as a statement. It’s more than a statement. It’s a way of life. Just look at some of the verses we see here:

4 vs 8 Day and night they never stop saying ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, to come’.
4 vs 11 You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power.
5 vs 12 Worthy is the Lamb..
5 vs 13 To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honour and glory and power forever and ever!’

If it’s all about Him, we need to praise Him in our everyday comings and goings, praise Him for who He is and what He has done. Because we can trust in the hope of what is to come we should be praising Him NOW; praises which go on and on and on into eternity. After all our trials and tribulations, the meandering of our spiritual lives, our breaking down, our building up, our achievements and failings, our joy and our hurt, there is nothing else I’d rather spend eternity doing than praising my Father in heaven. We will meet with our maker, the one who has seen us through it all, our Saviour, our Protector, and all will be made right. We need to praise God in all that we do because He has won the battle and we will be with Him, our destiny is secure. Let’s remember this as we draw to the end of this amazing book of God’s word. From beginning to end all that we have read is because of Him, and all for Him.

7 vs 12 Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honour and power and strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen!!

Revelation 2v1–3v22 - Messages to the Churches

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Ben Gardner

Purpose of Revelation:

For many, including me, Revelation is a book that we tend to misunderstand, push to one side, and leave out of our on-going discipleship. This is normally due to the bizarre stories and confusing symbolic references. However, when we place this letter in context, our understanding increases and we begin to see the benefits of this incredible letter.

Background to Revelation:

Written at a time when Christians were entering a time of persecution under Nero’s (not the coffee shop) reign the apostle John writes to encourage the faithful to resist the demands of emperor worship. Much of Revelation is symbolic: a final battle between God and Satan. But John’s message is simply for God’s people to stand firm, to continue pursuing God’s heart when facing the temptations of life and pressures from the ruling powers.

Why Seven Churches?

One of the distinctive features of Revelation is the frequent use of the number 7 (52 times). There are seven beatitudes, seven churches, seven spirits, seven golden lampstands, seven stars, seven seals, etc. So why was seven so important? Symbolically, the number seven stands for completeness…just like the number of days it took for the world to be completed (including the day of rest).

The Seven Churches:

In today’s passages we get an insight, a taste, a glimmer of the characteristics of various kinds of church congregations. Each church is located in Asia Minor. The general pattern in the letters to each church is commendation, complaint and correction.

Below are examples of this pattern for each church:

Ephesus – ‘You have forsaken your first love’ (2:4)

Smyrna – ‘Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer…be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life’ (2:10)

Pergamum – ‘You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam...’ (2:14)

Thyatira – ‘By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols’ (2:20b)

Sardis – ‘Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God’. (3:2)

Philadelphia – ‘Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown’ (3:11)

Laodicea – ‘Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent’ (3:19).

Correction is important:

So what can we learn from these letters and this pattern of commendation, complaint and correction?

From observation, we, the church, seem to avoid confrontation and correction. This is also true for our personal lives…we long to get things right so we don’t get the blame or are told off for getting something wrong.

In the letters to the seven churches, God is not afraid of pointing out the churches problems and correcting it so the church can grow in depth and numerically.

Correction is essential and needs to happen in our personal lives and corporate life.

Implementing correction:

There are four spaces in life: private, personal, social and public.

Public – the crowd, the Sunday gathering, 100+ people

Social – the mid-size community, cluster, 15+30 people

Personal – small group, close friendships, 5-10 people

Private – best friend, close companion, 2-3 people that you share everything with

For me correction in life is essential but it has to come from the people that I trust and will speak truth into my life. Correction normally happens in the private space: the two or three people that know me best (warts and all). I also have a mentor who has more life experience than I who I give permission to speak into life situations.

Being accountable for your life is really, really important. God holds us accountable for the things we do and say. When I became a disciple of Jesus I stepped into a relationship with Him. This relationship brings responsibility and I am answerable to Him and those that he puts in my life.

Being accountable, being honest to a select few enables correction to happen and eventually, through the pain and wrestling brings life to the full.

So get yourself accountable and ask for advice, correction and insight of how to live your life better.

‘He who has an ear let him hear’ – Listening and implementing good advice brings freedom and joy. Search for correction and listen to what God is saying.

Revelation 1v1–20 - A Voice and a Vision

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James Norris

This is the revelation of Jesus Christ. Revelation is ‘the uncovering of something hidden’. It is stacked full of things to come. And these things will take place soon. This timing is determined by God, not man, and it is certain. If your existence is infinite then the meaning of the word ‘soon’ probably takes on a different meaning to the one we think of.

Revelation is a letter. Yes, a slightly different letter than the kind of letter we would write today, and also different to the previous letters of the New Testament. It is a letter to seven churches (which are actual churches) as well as being for a larger audience too. This is a letter from God to man (and quite dissimilar to the Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip song). Imagine you get a letter from God through your door. Would you put it on the windowsill on the pile of letters addressed to previous tenants, or would you open it straight away and read it? Do you skip over Revelation because you find it a bit confusing, or do you actually engage with it and read it?

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is and who was and who is to come... I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive for evermore” Rev 1:8, 17-18

These are amazing truths that remind us at the start of this incredible book that if we are spending our earthly lives are with Jesus, our destination is with Jesus. We need not fear, because Jesus has the keys of death. Today I don’t want to ask about what happens in the end, but instead; what is happening right now in your life? Are you living a life following & loving Jesus? Rev 1:6 describes Jesus as the one “who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood”. Are we living lives that are worth Jesus dying for?

1 John 3v11–4v21 - Love One Another

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Josh Gauton

What a meaty passage! There is so much to take in from these two chapters, with plenty of fantastic and memorable verses which I’m sure could be the subject of many a different sermon. What I’d like to focus on here though is what I think the writer is getting at through this passage, summarised in 4:21:

“Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

We are told that love has been the message “from the beginning” (3:11), so throughout the course of history the story of the human being has been centred around love, and this love is the vast, immeasurable love of God. As we have seen whilst doing this 100 Day Bible challenge, the account of God’s chosen people (first the Jews and now everyone) has been one of God consistently demonstrating great faithfulness, despite the fact that He is constantly rejected by those same people, and this faithfulness coming from an unwavering love for those He has called His people.

Ultimately, the greatest act of faithfulness and love that will ever occur was when God took our place as Jesus by dying on the cross:

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” (3:16)

This single act exemplifies to us what it means to love. Selfless, sacrificial, unquenchable and hardly deserved. That is why the writer later goes on to say that “God is love.” (4:8). However, 3:16 does not simply end with this definition of love. In full, the verse says:

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”

The message here is very clear; you cannot separate a love of God from a love of what the writer describes as ‘our brothers’. The first without the second voids the legitimacy of the first. But who are our ‘brothers’? I don’t know about you, but ‘brother’ (or ‘sister’!) conjures up images of people I’m close to, maybe those who are family or friends that I really enjoy spending time with. Jesus, however, does not use this narrow definition, and whilst teaching the crowds (as recorded in Matthew 22:37-39) says:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’”

Whilst we might interpret brother as meaning those close to us in a non-physical sense, the word neighbour indicates we are to show this love to all those around us that we come into contact with; those people are our brothers too. So not only do our brothers include those we like, it also includes those we really don’t, who may not be too keen on us either.

We are commanded, as part of loving God, to love those that hate us.

This is not easy by any means, and we cannot do it on our own. Today, find some time to name people you struggle to love whilst in prayer, asking God for his grace to enable you to love them better.

James 1v1-2v26 - Faith and Works

Chris Hardy

"A person is justified by works and not faith alone." - James 2v24

This is a massively debated verse. Here James (Jesus' brother) is telling us that we are justified by the things that we do and not just because we believe in Jesus. The reason it is such a massively debated issue is because there are verses elsewhere in the Bible which seen to imply the exact opposite. The most noteworthy one of these is Romans 3v28:

"For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law."

So James says we are justified by works and Romans (written by Paul) says that we are saved by faith. The two big questions that come out of this are:

one which is right? Are we justified by faith or by works?
two does the Bible contradict itself?

one: Faith or Works?
Both of these passages use the word "justified". Other Bible versions translate this word into "made right with God". As with everything else in the Bible it is all about one thing: Jesus! We are made right with God because Jesus died - he took our sin and gave us eternal life and a relationship with God, the best deal in all of history. We couldn't earn it or buy it, it was a free gift and you received it when you decided to give your life to Jesus.

So when this happens the Bible tells us that we got a new heart (check out Ezekiel 36:26f, it's a beautiful passage). When the Bible says heart it doesn't mean an actual organ that pumps blood etc but rather the centre of who you are. Everything that you do, like, love, think about etc all comes out of your heart. Proverbs 4:23 says: "out of the heart comes your whole life".
Out of this new heart comes new desires. We suddenly love God, we want to obey him, read our Bible, pray, get to know Jesus more, we want people who don't know Jesus to know him too, we want to do all the things that God wants us to do and stop doing the things that he doesn't want us to do. We care about things and people that we didn't before. This is what these two passages mean by works.

The simple answer to the question is that we are justified (or, made right with God) by faith (trusting in Jesus) but the result of faith is works. It is a cause and effect. When it rains, you get wet, in exactly the same way when you get saved you start doing good works (because you have a new heart). Faith comes first then the good works follow. So when James says that we are justified by works and not faith alone he is saying: "if you aren't doing good works, are you really a Christian?"

There is no third tree
I heard one preacher explain it this way. One of the results of being is a Christian is that you bear fruit. Non-Chrisitans don't. In effect someone who doesn't follow Jesus is a tree without any fruit and someone who does follow Jesus is a tree with fruit but in James' church there were people who were saying that they were a third kind of tree: a follower of Jesus but just without the fruit. James is saying that that sort of tree doesn't exist. If you love Jesus, good works follow.
The flip side of the coin is what Paul is talking about in Romans 3v28. This is more likely to be aimed at the religious types of people, the Pharisee type that Jesus went after all the time who think they are saved because they do good things and follow the rules and give loads of money but really their hearts are not for God. To them Paul is saying: "the works alone won't save you, you need to believe in Jesus and have a new heart".

two: Does the Bible contradict itself?
This bit is a tad theological but it is important.
We can see that these two passages that looked like they were in contradiction actually weren't. But what about the rest of the Bible? The answer is: No, the Bible does not contradict itself.
We read a few days ago in Timothy 3v16 that all of the Bible was breathed out by God and so it is impossible for the Bible to contradict itself because God cannot contradict himself. The esv study bible explains it this way: "because God is always perfectly truthful, it follows that his Word is completely truthful as well: He is the “God who never lies” (Titus 1:2). It would be contrary to his character to affirm anything false."
So everything that is written in the Bible is completely true…but it is not always completely clear and we won't always understand it straight away. But that is ok. That is why it is important to begin with the right view of Scripture; that it is always right. That way when we come across something that seems to contradict or that we don't understand, our starting point is knowing that the Bible is not wrong, there are no contradictions but rather that we need understanding. The answer is to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us what the confusing part means, then "with the illumination of the Spirit (2 Tim 2:7), the teaching of the Bible is clear to all who seek understanding with the goal of knowing and obeying God" (esv study bible).

quod erat demonstrandum.

A Living Hope - 1 Peter 1:1–2:12

Rosie Condrup

God is our living hope

“Praise be to God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3-5)

This really puts things into perspective! To me this verse says that whatever is going on in my life right now and whatever is going on in yours, what really matters is that Jesus gives us hope! Hope for the hopeless! And not just hope like we might say “ I hope to become a doctor” or “I hope my parents patch things up and get back together.” This is a hope that we can be completely certain of. A hope of “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.” And the Bible says we should respond to this by rejoicing and thanking God for this promise which makes the hard things in life just fall away and lose their significance. There is so much freedom in this! The more we look to Jesus the more we will share in this hope and be sure of it. It's like when Peter walked on water in Matthew 14. When Peter stopped concentrating on Jesus and got scared and freaked out by the wind (and for us the things around us which distract us and try to pull us under) he began to sink. We must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and this living hope will stay with us and we will be certain of it!

Time to shape up!

So we've heard the promise of a living hope and as well as praising Him, God also says we need to respond in other ways...

“Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given to you when Jesus Christ is revealed...be holy in all you do, for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:13,15)

We need to have the right mindsets. We need God for this big time! “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2) Not conforming to the pattern of this world sets us apart and this is one way of understanding what is is to be holy. And it is God who makes us holy. He chooses us and sets us apart. God also says we can “purify” ourselves by obeying the truth (1 Peter 1:22) and the key to this is loving each other with sincerity. And the important thing is that this is all possible because we have been born again “not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” (v.23)

God chooses you!

And what's more, God has already CHOSEN you!

“You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9)

So God has chosen you. The question now is, will you choose to be obey Him and put your hope and trust in Him?

2 Corinthians 4v1–6v2 - A New Creation in Christ

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Lauren Cochrane

No marketing strategies required:

The thing that immediately hit me at the beginning of this passage is that Paul says that our message doesn’t need ‘bigging up’ or changed. I think sometimes it can be tempting to try and make the Gospel sound a bit more appealing to our friends, you know miss out the bits that might offend people, twist the truth slightly so it doesn’t sound like we can’t just do what we want. Because that’s what the world is about – satisfying your own desires no matter what the consequences. But that’s not what our Gospel is about and so we’re never going to win people over by pretending it is. Unsurprisingly God knows what we need better than we do and so we don’t need to dress the gospel up at all...it sells itself because it’s the truth! John 8:32 says:

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

You don’t have to convince people with clever strategies that gravity is real because we experience it every day. We don’t have to use clever strategies to persuade people that the Gospel is true, we should just be inviting them into it and when they experience it they will also know that it is true. We don’t have to trick and deceive to sell the Gospel and if we did I don’t think that is a gospel that I would want to be a part of. The Gospel of Jesus sells itself because it is true and the truth sets people free.

God is God no matter how we feel:

In 2 Cor. 4:13 Paul quotes Psalm 116. This Psalm is a psalm of praise; it starts with ‘I love the Lord’ and ends with ‘praise the Lord’. What’s interesting is that a lot of the rest of the Psalm is about affliction and the psalmist isn’t only praising God because He saved him from it...he was already praising God in the midst of his suffering (verse 10)

I believed, even when I spoke:
“I am greatly afflicted”

This is the verse that Paul is quoting in 2 Corinthians 4:13. The verse says we believe and therefore speak about what Christ has done. But in the context of this Psalm I think Paul is saying more than that...we don’t just speak when we feel like everything is going okay. God’s glory is not diminished by our circumstances and so our praise of him, our desire to share him with others should also not be diminished. It reminds me of the Casting Crowns song ‘praise you in this storm’ The chorus goes:

And I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
And every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

God is always God and is always worthy...maybe we need to learn to worship him beyond the hype and emotions of a 7pm gathering when life feels good. Worship is not about the song and how much we like it, it’s not about what people are doing around us, it’s not about how good we feel...it’s completely and utterly about God.

Beyond the mountains:

Paul is encouraging us to keep going, to keep focusing on Jesus instead of our present circumstances.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Cor. 4:16-18)

God’s perspective is so much bigger than ours. We’ve just got back from a weekend away with the Defined Youth Church and Dan has been speaking to us about the mountains of our life and being able to see past those mountains. It was so encouraging to see many of our young people start to let go of the circumstances that were stealing all of their energy and attention, the things that are causing them to worry, and to grasp hold of God’s perspective for their life and the freedom that he brings - to learn to trust God. Paul is encouraging the church in Corinth along the same lines - although things seem rough God is good. God never stops being good. And God can be trusted...He has what’s best for us (Jer. 29:11). If we believe that Jesus is the truth (John 14:6) then we can trust that his plans are good, we can live a life that is not in the shadows of our mountains, but a life of freedom from those worries.

And God is with us! We are never alone and he never gives us more than we can handle (1 Cor. 10:13)

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body” (2 Cor. 4:8-10)

Nowhere does it say that following Jesus is going to be easy, in fact pretty much everywhere I’ve seen promises that it will be hard. But when we see life with God’s eternal perspective it is so worth it. Our transformed lives are a testimony...the fact that we are compelled to tell others (5:14) is because we believe it is worth it. When you fall in love you can’t help but talking about that person, when you find something amazing that has impacted your life you can’t help but share it with others. When you find Jesus you share it because it is so unbelievably worth any discomfort in this world. Are we this in love with Jesus? Our praise and love of God should just flow out of us to those around us. We have found a great treasure...is your desire to share that treasure with others?

1 Corinthians 13v1–13 - The Most Excellent Way

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Simon Henry

I absolutely love the title of this section – “The Most Excellent Way”. As Ben G wrote on the Blog on Wednesday placing our relationship with God at the top of our agenda is more important than the outreach we do, the TV we watch, relationships we have or the games console we spend our time on.

It’s daunting to read through the list in this chunk:

Tongues

Prophecy

Wisdom

Faith

Generosity

Martyrdom

Yet Paul emphasises that love is above all of these things. It’s not a massive logical leap to suggest that everything we do should be from a place of Godly love. Washing up, outreach, conversations and our relationships should all start from this place:

1 John 4:19 - “We love because he first loved us.”

Not only do we read that we are encouraged to live out our lives as generous lovers in all that we do but we understand that this is the love that God has for us. This is the loves that Jesus went to the Cross with. He was patient, kind, didn’t envy, didn’t boast, wasn’t proud, wasn’t dishonourable, wasn’t self-seeking, wasn’t easily angered, didn’t keep record of wrongs, he protected, trusted, hoped and persevered.

Are you and I like that towards our Family? Our Friends? Other people within Church? Our enemies? Because that’s where God wants us to be.

According to my commentary Ancient mirrors (v.12) were made out of polished metal such as bronze and as such the reflection in them was poorer that in modern mirrors – Next time you have a spoon try it out and compare it to a mirror.

This is the state in which we live in as the Church, now and not yet. The Kingdom of God is here, we can pray for miracles, receive prophecy etc. But it is also in the future and will only be fully here when Jesus returns. In Romans Paul emphasises that even creation feels this tension (Romans 8:22-23), as individuals we are the only ones who know the state of our own heart, our deepest darkest secrets. Yet we as followers of Jesus are being transformed day by day, more and more into his likeness.

As a Church lets be honest with where we are. Be accountable to one another, focus on God daily and not just two or three hours a day for two to three days a week. I’m writing this on the first day of the Student Conference and am just so excited at all that God will do over the coming days. Not only this weekend but also in the coming months and years. But we have to become people who are better at loving, the only way we will see this happen is if we commit individually and collectively to spending time with God.

God is love.