How strong is your heart?

We seem to hear of more and more of people who suffer heart attacks at quite a young age. At 54 I'm sure that I am not alone in having contemporaries who had endured heart problems. It is never nice to see people of any age suffer in this way, but it is 'heartbreaking' to see children and young people suffer from the effects of having a weakness in their heart. It can affect the whole course of their lives, their opportunities and their potential if not treated effectively.

A strong heart is essential for a fully active life and whilst you can work around heart problems and 'limp on through' it would certainly not be anyone's first choice of lifestyle.

When Paul writes to the Thessalonian Christians he prays that they would experience (and by implication seek) God strengthening their hearts the spiritual equivalents of having a strong physical heart. When our heart is weak in the spiritual realm then our life in that realm is similarly weakened and poverty stricken. 

As in the physical, the spiritual impact of an untreated heart condition can be devastating, reducing the vitality of our walk with God, reducing of active participation with Him, causing us to 'disengage' at critical points in our journey because we simply have not got the heart for it!

Paul outlines a crucial area that is the first to weaken when the heart is not strong:

Holiness.

Yes, we are made holy by Jesus death for us, but the out working of this, the practical holiness, without which we will struggle to even see God, let alone follow Him and be co-workers with Him will be a very poor reflection of what Jesus has won for us. The quality of our lives will suffer, the vitality of our walk will suffer, the brightness of our witness will dim, our feelings of distance from God will deepen.... We will become a weak hearted follower, which will leave us with a broken hearted Father.

But, this need not be any cause for despair provided we realise that Paul isn't saying that we have to fix this, or perform some kind of spiritual open heart surgery, he is simply saying that we. We'd to seek God work on and in our weak heart. 

Approach Him with an admission of our need, identify that need - Lord , I need You to strengthen my heart, then step out in faith and live in the reality of God having done what you asked. In these kinds of areas that's how our faith and His faithfulness work together to a His glory and our benefit.

'May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.' (1 Thessalonians 3:13 NIV)

Are you part of it?

Being 'part of something' and feeling part of something can be very different......

You can play for a football team and you are part of it. You can be part of the larger squad or the huge back office support team, staff, actively involved, and you are part of it. You may be one of the faithful volunteers who turns up rain or shine to sell programmes and you are part of it. You may be a fan who pays out £600 for a season ticket - you're part of it, but not quite in the same way. You may make the effort to watch every match on TV or invested in a satellite subscription, you are part of it. 

It may be that the extent of your involvement is in naming a particular team when someone asks who you support.... Are you still part of it, or is that answer just a way of 'feeling part of it' rather than actually getting involved?

There are different levels of being 'part of something' and any may lead you deeper so are not to be discouraged however there is a very significant difference between being on the team, or the staff, and being a season ticket holder and even greater difference between these and sitting on the couch with a beer watching the match on Sky!

So, being part of it is great, but the reality is that there are only a limited number of people can be part of it in a fully engaged and participative way. The problem is that we so often carry what is 'reality' or 'truth' in one area, into a different area where it is not the reality or the truth - but we still act as though it is! 

What do I mean? In God's Kingdom everyone not only can 'be on the team' and play a full and active part, It is a requirement...and a privelege. But, the recent history of the church in the west would seem to indicate that many have settled for merely 'feeling part of it' by being a season ticket holder who turns up and watches. Obviously when asked who they support they answer 'team Jesus' !

Are we a part of it or apart from it?

When the procession comes into view

There is something about processions - whether it's a carnival procession, a Rememberence Day procession, the procession of runners at the Great North Run or London Marathon, the victory procession when England has won a world class sporting competition or the procession at an occasion of state. 

To watch them on TV, slightly 'arms length', is probably the best many of us can hope for, and while it can certainly be very good, it can never be the same as actually being there. There is an excitement, a frisson an expectation as people line the roadside awaiting the procession. The atmosphere, the buzz, the smells and noises, it all adds up to something special. 

I have been fortunate to have been present at most of the types of processions I have mentioned.  They have all been great but two stand out for very different  reasons. The first was the victory procession by the English rugby team when we won the World Cup - waiting in Trafalgar Square for the team bus was incredible, the atmosphere electric, the hours slid by like minutes, and the noise as even rumours of the impending appearance of the team open top bus - incredible. Needless to say, when it arrived there was total, utter, deafening and glorious commotion...

I was in London on July 7, 2005. 'The London bombings' I had friends on trains that were bombed, and it was a desperate and sad day.

One year later, July 7 2006' I was there for the remembrance procession of those same bombings. Standing near Euston Station awaiting the procession. The atmosphere, hard to describe, the buzz, very different,but certainly real, the noise - there wasn't any! 

Tens of thousands of people and you really could have heard a pin drop. There was expectancy as the procession appeared, but still no noise, other than the occasional sound of tears. There was a correct feeling of 'pride' from people who were part of a community that dealt with the atrocity with grace and courage. Two very different and very powerful processions.

There is another procession, a procession of eternal and ultimate importance that, depending upon our personal vantage point can be like either on of those I have described. My question is 'Have you seen this procession come into view'? If you have it will have changed your life, if you have not,yet, you are invited.

The Psalmist said: "Your procession, God, has come into view, the procession of my God and King into the sanctuary." (Psalm 68:24)

God and His team have been and continue to process through history, grand and glorious, sombre and serious - have you seen, have you experienced this procession? 

Is this the procession you are actually waiting for as you realise that life has got to be about more than you are living at the moment?

God intends this procession to come to a halt as it reaches you and take the time to invite you aboard, to stop being 'just  an onlooker' and to become part of the life changing procession that will roll on through history and into eternity. Glorious, expectant, powerful , gracious and loving, poignant and heart healing. Is this the procession you have been waiting for? It is victorious, but not triumphalistic. It is celebratory but not frivolous. It is lasting not simply a 'moment in time' 

Have you heard, have you seen, have you joined in?

Power and love

I do not even come close to understanding many things about the faith I hold - and never will. 

There are parts of the bible that seem absurd, others that appear to be unjust or plain vindictive, there are sections that appear to be, or simply are, contradictory and I could go on. There is teaching that, on this journey of faith, has taken on new meaning, or lost some of its old meaning. 

There are teachings we seem to hold dear to and others we appear to be happy letting go of and then there is us, ourselves..... full of logic and irrationalism, living side by side. Undoubted passion and zeal for Jesus, alongside an apparent willingness to ignore Him and follow other 'passions' when it suits us.... This is our journey, this is our pilgrimage.

So what keeps me going? What helps me deal with the fact that I can't deal with the facts? What propels me to continue to seek, continue to limp along a path that contains so many  steeps hills and almost unbearable drops? What helps me deal with the fact of me, full of love but unreliable in relationship, wanting to fly on eagles wings but more often than not hobbling along at snails pace.....

What keeps me going is the sure and unshakeable knowledge that there is a God, THE God, the creator, my creator, in whom alone rests both total power and absolute love. 

I don't know how it is possible for those two things to sit side by side...but I thank Him that they do and that He is utterly trustworthy. There is a God who really does care for us as individuals, even when that seems not to be the case, a God who is able, in all circumstances to break through with love, because He possesses the power to do so....and He does it time & time again. 

What keeps me going is the experience that God has not remained an academic exercise, is not merely an item of interest or study, but has made himself known through relationship, as Jesus. 

Jesus only Jesus, the reason for the journey, the enabler along the way, life's destination, friend, saviour, healer, guide, light and life.

One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard: 

‘Power belongs to you, God, 

and with you, Lord, is unfailing love’’ 

(Psalm 62:11, 12 NIV)

A larger place

He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. 

(Psalm 18:19 NIVUK)

This scripture has always found an easy place in my heart and imagination, ever since I heard Wiley Beveridge sing his song 'A Larger Place' based on Psalm 18.

For me it evokes a whole range of possibilities, opportunities and a great sense of belonging.

I suppose if your are agoraphobic the image may not be quite as helpful, although, even then, once we make the leap from the awful literal and 'fact' based view of a text that so often stifles to the richness of the imagery and the truth it contains we can perhaps see how it is particularly applicable.

I am sometimes dismayed at how often I find myself locked into a small, constraining and often dark place, a prison, usually of my own making. However, when by his grace I turn to His word I see His intent is to throw open the gates, to lead me to a place that is open and free, a place that fills me with hope and vision and beauty, then I hunger for the larger place.

Whenever I struggle to see beyond the immediate, struggle to think further than the short term challenges and simply cannot see beyond the limited horizons of my own shortcomings or my  inadequate ability and gifting, the larger place is where God allows and enables me to see a broad, deep and compelling vista. I see the view that becomes a destination,a vision that instills passion and a space that gives opportunities and options. 

God takes me by the hand and guides me around the next corner, or up the next incline or through the arid stretch of desert and presents me with a place of awesome beauty, where His presence is once again the very substance of everything I am aware of. There, in a larger place, I am once again renewed. A renewed commitment to faithfulness, a renewed direction of travel, a renewed and revitalised heart, mind and Spirit. I am refocused to move forward, towards and beyond the horizon, to step into His plan for me.

Rescued from the place of limited vision, of lacklustre expectation and from spiritual myopia. 

And why does God do all of this, so regularly, for one who so consistently let's Him down?

Because, the Psalmist says, "He delights in me". 

Now why on earth would He do that?

On postmodern architecture

Ravi Zacharias on Postmodern Architecture at Ohio State

From an address by Ravi Zacharias:

I remember lecturing at Ohio State University, one of the largest universities in this country. I was minutes away from beginning my lecture, and my host was driving me past a new building called the Wexner Center for the Performing Arts.

He said, “This is America’s first postmodern building.”

I was startled for a moment and I said, “What is a postmodern building?”

He said, “Well, the architect said that he designed this building with no design in mind. When the architect was asked, ‘Why?’ he said, ‘If life itself is capricious, why should our buildings have any design and any meaning?’ So he has pillars that have no purpose. He has stairways that go nowhere. He has a senseless building built and somebody has paid for it.”

I said, “So his argument was that if life has no purpose and design, why should the building have any design?”

He said, “That is correct.”

I said, “Did he do the same with the foundation?”

All of a sudden there was silence.

You see, you and I can fool with the infrastructure as much as we would like, but we dare not fool with the foundation because it will call our bluff in a hurry.

Truths to fuel change

Acts 10: 1-8
Pastor Brian Brookins
2/17/2013 

Conversion is the way that the church grows; but it is also a way that we continue to grow in our walk with Christ. 

Romans 9: 21-22

7 Truths that we see worked out in this scripture: 

1. Someone has to be first. Sometimes that will be me. I won't enter into heaven and say "well, everybody else was doing that, that way". 

2. Repentance is the LIFESTYLE of the Christian. There are aspects of my life that need to change. I just don't know what they are yet

3. The gospel plus the Holy Spirt brings change. 

4. You probably need to change your thinking about good works. God has called me to a life of good works. 

5. Good works are avenues to experience and know God. (Ephesians 2: 10)

6. Good works are fueled by prayer. 

7. Good works are a way that we let the light of God shine in our lives.