The Most Public Declaration of Love…
Through a good friend of mine, the legend Mark Davey, I came across this story that I thought was worth its own blog post alone! You could use this story as an illustration or backdrop for so many different talks, I used it for a talk I did on John 3:16 at our international cafe two weeks ago.
The story is a true story of an American man called Randy Fisher.
Now Randy had a girlfriend that he had been with for a long time and he really loved her and wanted to marry her, naturally! But he wanted to ask her to marry him in an amazing way. Now they both were huge American Football fans and so he decided that during the biggest game of the year, the Superbowl, he would propose to his girlfriend during the adverts on one of the big screens that are around the stadium. The problem was each screen to hire costs £2,500,000!
So what Randy did was he set up a website, telling people his story and hoping they would sponsor him so he could make the money he needed for his proposal. His website was called my super proposal and the heading for it was this:
Now doesn’t that story just provide the perfect backdrop for looking at what truly was the most public declaration of love in the history of mankind? I think so and think it is such a great way in to be able to illustrate how awesome God’s love in the cross of Jesus is!
You can read the full story at www.mysuperproposal.com
Cling to the Faithful God
Recently I have been reading through Joshua. It is a great book and I think when reading it is really amazing to see how God remained faithful to the Israelites despite all their grumbling in the wilderness and how He brought them safely into the promised land. The book is packed full of great verses such as these:
Thus the LORD gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. And the LORD gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the LORD had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass. Joshua 21:43-45
It is amazing to think that the promise made to Abram back in Genesis chapter 12 was fulfilled all this time later:
Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. Genesis 12:1
Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land. Genesis 12:6-7
This gives an amazing thought as to how faithful God was throughout so many years of wandering in the wilderness and all of the generations that passed by until the promise was fulfilled. God is faithful no matter how long His promises seem to go on for.
The bit that really struck me as I read today was just after all of the land has been divided amongst the remaining tribes. Joshua gives what is a great commandment for the Israelites to live by in the land that God had given them. These are also great verses for us to live by who live in the last days before Jesus returns:
And now the LORD your God has given rest to your brothers, as he promised them. Therefore turn and go to your tents in the land where your possession lies, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side of the Jordan. Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” Joshua 22:4-5
Just as God had been faithful to the Israelites, so they now were to be faithful to Him. Their constant failings to do this serves as a warning for us (1 Cor 10:11) that we may live faithfully in these last days, clinging to God and holding on to the knowledge of the perfected promised land given to us in Jesus.
Holy, Holy, Holy
In the course of our seminar at 2020 on Wednesday on Hebrews 12 we looked at some reactions different people in the Bible had when they encountered God face to face, I think they ar
e incredibly humbling and challenges my thoughts on how Holy God is and how sinful I am. Let me tell you about the one that struck me the most.
When we are introduced to Job in the Bible we are introduced to a man who, on all earthly accounts, was very saintly:
There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. Job 1:1
Even God Himself gives Job His endorsement:
And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Job 1:8
By all accounts Job was a very godly man. But after all the trials and testing that Job goes through, he encounters God… for real. Listen to this godly man’s response:
”I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:5-6
This man, who by earthly standards was a very godly man, even by God’s standards he was a good man, found that when he encountered God face to face he despised himself because of his sinfulness. Despise is such a strong word – so strong must the feeling of self loathing have been in the presence of the Holy God.
So often I find that I casually come to God with all my requests and wants – all too often with reluctant repentance or at least sometimes a feeling that what I have done isn’t really that bad. I pray that this feeling of despising myself because of my sin would become more real to me. I pray not so that I may wallow in self pity but so that I may marvel at the amazing wonder of the Cross of Christ more and more and be reminded of how God’s Holy anger must be appeased, and how it was so wonderfully. Therefore God now views ME as righteous, because I am clothed in the Lord Jesus (2 Cor 5:21). Would this help me to hate sin and to love Jesus.
Updated Gospel Page!
It had occurred to me that the page on this site that I had devoted to what the Gospel is was really inadequate and so I have decided to change it. What I now have is, in as few words as possible, what I believe life is all about, namely Jesus Christ. Here is what is on the page (do check it out!)
So whats is all about? Life, I mean. Whats life all about? I believe the answer lies below…
Christians believe that God created the world, and everything was perfect. There was no crying, no pain, no death, it was amazing, a faultless world. Something went badly wrong though. I’m sure you know the story – Adam and Eve ate from the tree that God told them not to eat from. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and so He was rightly angry and kicked them out of the Garden of Eden. Since that time every one of us has been guilty of rejecting God, each one of us continues in our lives to disobey God and live life our own way.
What this means is that God is very angry with the human race for rejecting Him, and rightly so. If I had created a people that then spat in my face and took everything good I gave them but hated me I would be pretty angry as well! This means that when we die and meet God face to face we are going to have to explain why we did this, and none of us stand a chance. We have rejected God and so He will reject us when we meet Him.
This is what would have happened to everyone in human history but for one Man – Jesus Christ. Jesus was born into the world as a baby, fully God and fully man. He remains the only person to have ever lived a sinless life; His being was never opposed to God. When Jesus was crucified it wasn’t His defeat, it was His plan. On the cross Jesus substituted Himself for us; He took the punishment of God that we deserve so that if we put our faith in Him, we will be saved from God’s anger. Jesus, in His death, saves us from Hell and offers us Heaven.
Three days after His death, Jesus rose again. The only person in history to ever have done so and He now reigns with God in Heaven, and has given His Holy Spirit to live within all people who trust in Him. Jesus is going to come back to judge every single person to ever have lived. There will then be separation. Those who have trusted Jesus will be welcomed into Heaven to enjoy a perfect life with God forever. But those who reject Jesus will be separated from Him and sent to Hell forever, where nothing good dwells, only bad.
This presents everyone to ever live with a choice, what will yours be?
Please let me know if there are any ways I can better condense this or major things that I have missed out that badly need entering!
Not long Now…
I realise that this is the first blog that I have done in a long time and actually the first that I have done since moving sites! Apologies to anybody who reads this blog – things have been manic!
Anyway it seems that its a very short time now before I head off to Australia for about a month and th
en to be a Ministry Trainee at St Andrews Kendray in Barnsley. I cannot wait!
The charity that hopefully are going to be paying my living allowance whilst I’m there are called Mr Willats Charity who are a trust who support people who wish to work for a Church. I think the job description they give me is really quite good – they sponsor me to be a ‘Poor man’s guide to eternal life’. I am also hoping to be able to get some funding from the Church that will be sending me – Bishop Hannington.
I am really looking forward to being part of a paid Ministry team where my job is going to be what I love doing most and that is proclaiming the great news of salvation to sinners who need it, of which I am one! If you would like to support me in any way during my time in Barnsley your support will be greatly valued – just e-mail me!
How to become a Legalist
Taken from Mark Driscoll at the Resurgence