He Lives // My Favourite Verse

In the last chapter of John verses 1-14 (John 21:1-14 ) we read about Jesus' last encounter with humans before he ascended to Heaven.
In these few verses we see that these seven men decide to go out to fish one night. They spend the whole night out in the boat fishing and catch absolutely nothing.
Then, early the next morning Jesus was standing on the shore next to a small fire he built for the breakfast and asked the men "Friends, haven't you any fish?"

Now, I'm no Bible expert, but I think that Jesus, the son of God would have known that these men hadn't caught any fish. Jesus must have been there for quite some time anyway to have had enough time to build a small fire and get some bread and fish to cook on it. So my best guess is that Jesus knew that these men hadn't caught any fish - the reason why he asked them is clear in the next few verses.

The men reply with a simple no, then Jesus tells them to throw their nets over the right side of the boat.
Some of these men were disciples, some were fishermen, all of them were rubbish. These seven men spent all night in a boat trying to catch some fish and can't even catch one. Also, notice that none of them recognise Jesus straight away - it takes a miracle for them to realise it's Jesus talking to them.

The men throw their nets over the right side of the boat, with no questions asked and immediately their net is filled with 153 fish. It's full of so much fish in fact that the seven men on the boat don't have enough strength to pull the boat ashore.

The men row the boat back to shore to meet Jesus (who they finally recognise) and arrive to see that Jesus is standing there with a fire cooking some bread and fish. As soon as Jesus sees them he says "come and have breakfast."
These seven men spent all night not being able to catch any fish, then Jesus turns up, shows them the right way to fish. They catch 153 fish and Jesus brings his own fish just in case 153 wasn't enough!

This is one of my favourite passages of the Gospels.
These seven men had been fishing all night, then in the early hours of the morning Jesus performs his last miracle and gives them enough food to feed an army (or a small youth group).
Then, just as the sun was rising over the sea they all ate breakfast that Jesus cooked them, on the beach!
The Bible doesn't say what they talked about but I'm pretty sure whatever they talked about would have been amazing. When I was reading these verses three main things stuck out to me.
1) The men on the boat - like everyone else who's ever been alive - were rubbish.
2) Jesus was awesome.
3) I would have loved to have been on this beach eating breakfast and talking with Jesus just before the ascension.

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Faith // What is a 'Christian'?

What does the word Christian mean to you? What makes a Christian?

Maybe a Christian is someone who;

• Reads their Bible 
• Owns a Bible 
• Believes in God 
• Goes to Church
• Knows all the songs in Church 
• Always reads and quotes the Bible 

Actually, these things don't make you a Christian. 

Being a Christian is a lot more courageous than people think. There's this Christian preacher called Francis Chan who once described what he felt being a Christian was. He said, 

"If I had a small balloon and a BB gun, how many of you would be confident that I could shoot the balloon from 3 feet away?" When he said this, nearly everyone there raised their hand and believed that he could. 

Then he said "If I asked you to come here and hold the balloon at arms length while I shoot it, how many of you would do it?" Less people raised their hands. 

Then he asked "If I asked you to come here and hold the balloon between your teeth while I shoot it, how many of you would have faith I could do it?" Two people raised their hands. 

Those two people who raised their hands and believed that he could shoot the balloon were like Christians. If you speak the word of God to a group of people, everyone listens. Everyone has the ability to believe in God. Less people are willing to believe when they have something to loose, and even less people are willing to completely devote their lives to Jesus instead of doing things on their own.

In Luke 8:4-8 Jesus tells the parable of the farmer and the sower.

"While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 'A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among the thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.

And in Luke 8:11-15 Jesus explains what the parable meant.

"This is the meaning of the parable: the seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not be saved. Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for awhile, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce crop.

Now if you're reading this and you're thinking "Oh my goodness that's me! I'm one of the seeds that have heard God's word but don't listen to it anymore!"

Maybe you've gone through trouble, lost a loved one, or just grown away from God. There are things we can do to re-affirm our faith. We can;

• Pray about it - Prayer is 100% effective. Jesus prayed all the time - and he lived an utterly sinless life and is the Son of God. Think how much we, as silly humans, need to pray! 
• Pray with others - Grab a friend and ask them to pray with you. Pray for each other. Grab some more friends and have a prayer meeting. Go to your Church's prayer meeting - Prayer is good. 
• Ask Jesus for help - I think some people still think that prayer is only for the times that you feel good. You Pray when you're angry, pray when you're upset, pray when you feel like you can't go on - as well as when you feel good. Jesus wants to get to know you - good and bad parts. In Mark 2:17 Jesus said that 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but those who are ill. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'

I end today with Proverbs 3:5-6 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and he will make your paths straight."

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Jesus // His Power

In Acts 3:6-10, we see Peter heal a disabled man so that he's able to walk and praise The Lord.

When you first read this story, it's all a bit overwhelming. A completely lame man, who's probably been disabled from birth, able to walk and talk and praise God in the space of a few minutes! Pretty cool right?

But Peter didn't heal that man.

Peter was just human. He was a man who walked with Jesus, but still just a man. He doesn't have the superhuman power to heal people. Peter heals the man "in the name of Jesus".

Acts 3:16 says that "By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see"

Jesus' was so powerful and awesome (literally!) that even his name could heal!

These few verses really reminded me that we can do anything. We can pass exams, climb the highest mountains, conquer fears - all in Jesus' name. All we have to do is ask!

Matthew 7:7

'Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.'

Jesus // The Boy in The Temple

The book of Luke is the only place in the Gospels where we get a little glimpse of what the early years of Jesus' life were like. Everywhere else we don't see what Jesus gets up to for the first 30 years of his life.
In Luke 2:41-52 Mary, Joseph and a twelve year old Jesus go to Jerusalem for the Passover feast and then, when it finishes, Mary and Joseph leave without Jesus - because they think he is with them - and they take three whole days to find him again.

I assume that anyone who reads this will have been 12 years old, is twelve years old, or will be twelve years old very soon. What were you doing at the age of 12?
Playing computer games?
Watching TV?
Playing with your friends?
Waiting to finally become a teenager?

I think I can safely say probably no other twelve year old has spent 3 whole days straight at their nearest temple or chapel listening and asking questions about God.

Something that really struck me when I read this the first time was that Jesus had to learn. These verses don't say that Jesus was teaching the other people, he was being taught. He even asked them questions!

When Mary and Joseph finally find Jesus sitting in the temple learning his mother says "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you." To this Jesus replies "Why were you searching for me? Didn't you know I'd be in my Fathers House?"

Notice that Jesus is quick to make a comparison between his earthly and Heavenly Father. Mary says "Your Father and I have been searching for you" and Jesus says "Didn't you know I'd be in my Fathers house?"
From an early age Jesus realised, just like we should realise, he had an earthly and Heavenly Father.

Another thing that struck me was that these are the first words of Jesus ever recorded in the Gospels.

"Why were you searching for me?"

Why are you here? Why are you reading this blog post? Why are you searching for Jesus?

Are you searching for Jesus? 

The last thing I'll mention, and it's something that when I worked out I just sat back in awe. Everything in the Bible points in some way to Jesus and the cross and Resurrection. 

It took Mary and Joseph 3 days to find Jesus. Jesus, as a twelve year old boy was lost for 3 days. 33 years later Jesus died and 3 days after that he came back to life!

Jesus saw the importance of asking questions about God and his faith from the very young age of 12, if you have any questions you would like to ask us please feel free to email us at christianunion.blog@gmail.com. 

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