Jesus // The Ultimate Freedom

When I first became a Christian, I thought that my life was going to be sunny skies and plain sailing until I met with Jesus in Heaven.

Man, how wrong I was.

Becoming a Christian doesn't mean that Jesus decides that you will walk a completely blissful life without ridicule or persecution. On the contrary, He said quite the opposite. In John 15:18 Jesus says

"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."

Jesus openly says that because He has chosen you to do his work of Heaven on Earth that people are going to hate you! In Acts we see the apostles put in prison for preaching, Stephen stoned and Paul and Silas nearly beaten to death. Jesus himself was killed because he was the Son of God!

There's also a lot of sacrifice in following Jesus. You tend not to see distractions in your own life, but look at a Christian friends life. How many things do they do before reading the Bible? Who do they consult before consulting Christ? How many things are distracting them from God? After looking at your friends life, look at your own. Books, films, TV - distractions are literally everywhere. And if it distracts you from God, you probably shouldn't be doing it.

With all this, you're probably asking yourself 'Why would anyone want to follow Jesus?!'

Because Jesus is so much more than any book, or film, TV show. He's so much more that persecution or ridicule. When Jesus went to the cross, He took all of your sin with him. And I mean ALL your sin. Sins you've done, you will do, sins your doing now. Every single one of them died with him on the cross. You are forgiven for every sin you've ever done or will do in your whole life - how amazing is that?!

In Galatians 5 Paul speaks about freedom through Jesus. He says

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." 

Life with Jesus is truly amazing. When you have a full life with Jesus, when you put your full trust in Jesus - you have nothing to fear. Because if God is for us, who can be against us? 

Without fear, without shame, without worry - with Jesus, we are free. 

Galatians 5:13
"You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free."

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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Forgiveness

How many times have you been upset or angered by someone's actions?

A few weeks ago, my favourite TV show Sherlock was on the TV. It was the season finale but I had to watch it on IPlayer, meaning that I was watching an hour later than all of my friends who were watching the same show. I made sure to text all my friends with strict instructions NOT to text me. And, you guessed it, somebody did.

I was so angry. I spent 10 minutes storming around my bedroom muttering to myself about how my friends couldn't listen to me and how I would never ever forgive them for ruining the plot twist. However after a few minutes, I realised how much I'd overreacted. I mean, in the grand scale of things, a TV show spoiler isn't important.

But what if it was something important? What if someone had stolen from me or said something nasty behind my back?

Jesus was killed by humanity. As people, we killed Him because we were worried about material objects and temples collapsing.

Even as Jesus was nailed to the cross, He forgave us by saying "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34, NIV)

As Christians, we should live by Jesus' example and live by this parable;

^"44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? ⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:44, NIV)

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