Am I a hard core disciple or just a flake?  I loved reading this passage because I can see myself in Simon Peter.  There are times in my life where I feel like I am like a marine for Jesus and I will do anything for Him. I am eager tell everyone I see about my relationship with Jesus.  Then there are the other times in my day to day life where I actually get asked what I do for a living by someone who isn’t a Christian and I think to myself, “Quick make up something other than I work for Church, they are going to hate me.” 

 In the passage for today we read about how Jesus was betrayed by Judas and handed over to Roman soldiers and temple guards.   Jesus is fully ready to fulfil what the Father has given him, and is prepared to go with the Roman officers.  Then all of sudden Peter pulls out his sword and cuts the ear of the high priest’s slave.  At this point as I’m reading I’m thinking wow that is hard core dedication to Jesus.  I would hope Ben Gardner would do the same for me if I got jumped by football* (soccer) hooligans on the streets.  Anyways, Peter and the other disciple (most probably John) followed Jesus.  The other disciple knew the high priest and was let into the courtyard and Peter had to stand outside the gate.  Then a woman asks Peter, “You’re not one of that man’s disciples, are you? “ Peter answers, “Nope.”  Then the people outside the gate asked Peter again two more times if he was one of Jesus’ disciples.  Again he completely denied Jesus!  Jesus even gave Peter a heads up about this at the last supper when he said “you will deny me three times that you even know me.”  What a turnaround for Peter. 

 If I had to have a favourite disciple I would pick Peter.  He is always the first one to open his mouth or do something without thinking.  He is my favourite because he reminds me of myself. So, is Peter hard core or just a flake? In my opinion he is neither.  Peter is a normal human being that falls into sin.  We all get it wrong from time to time and sometimes find it hard to obey God.  We fall away from what God has planned for us. That’s why we need to repent to Jesus and move on.  If we keep at our relationship with Jesus, then we can do some incredible things through Him. Even though Peter does get it wrong, he doesn’t give up or throw in the towel.  On Monday 30^th you will read in Acts 2 that he preaches and 3,000 are baptized.  So I guess we aren’t flakes after all, we’re just human and subject to sin in our lives.  But if we are willing to keep following Jesus then he can use us to do some incredible things.

“Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, have on me, oh God!”  As I read this beautiful Psalm all I can think about is Nick Law’s amazing song called none other than Psalm 51(Have Mercy)!  If you don’t know it, you should.  It’s one of my favorite worship songs with that southern rock feel.  Alright enough with the shameless plug. But seriously go buy the album.

Context
Let’s look at what David’s going on about in this Psalm.  If you are up to date with your Bible readings, unlike  me,  you will remember that on day 36 we looked at 2 Samuel 11:1-12:25.  This is from the story of David with Bathsheba. This Psalm came to David after the prophet Nathan came to him about the sins David had committed. He sinned by sleeping with Bathsheba and also murdered her husband to cover it up.  This Psalm is David’s cry out for mercy, to be forgiven, and to be clean once again from sin.

God wants to be close to us!
God wants to be in our presence but sin puts blockage between us and God.  David realized that when he sinned and was confronted by Nathan that he put a barrier between himself and God. God always wants to live and be intimate with his people, but He can not be somewhere that is unholy.  David wept, “restore to me the joy of your salvation.”  Unconfessed sin will leave a barrier between God and us, but Christ died so that when we repent He can remove these barriers. This is also one best examples in all of the Bible of how to repent.

Repent and Believe!  
Now you might think David is going on and on a bit, but this is the kind of repentance is what God truly wants.  God doesn’t want some have half hearted response to sin because that is what we are told to do.  He wants you to want to change and to obey Him because He loves you and wants a relationship with you! God always knows what is best for us!

Words of wisdom
Alice Cooper once said “Drinking beer is easy. Trashing your hotel room is easy. But being a Christian, that’s a tough call. That’s rebellion.” It is easy to see what the world says as acceptable behavior, and think that is how we are supposed to live our lives. But it only leads to pain and destruction for our selves. We can live healthy, joyful lives by simply obeying God. We are called to be salt and light to the world! That means to preserve what God created and bring hope to hopeless people.  We only know God is so good because he has forgiven and restored us.  We should be helping others to know the same forgiveness and reconciliation.  I personally do what I do because I was full of sin while I was at University.  Then I found my relationship with God and He removed my sin. It was only because others kept pointing me in the right direction. Now I want other’s to experience the same hope and joy that I discovered.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls welcome to tonight’s main event! In the right corner: standing at 9 1/2ft tall, with armor weighing 57kg, having a spear head weighing 6.8kg, the champion of the Philistine army, Goliath! And in the left corner: all the way from Bethlehem, the eighth son of Jesse, shepherd boy, and runt of the family….David?!?
“For forty days, every morning and evening, the Philistine champion strutted in front of the Israelite army.” Goliath had the Israelite army shaking in their boots. Until now! It’s all on the line folks the winner of tonight fight will take home the other nation as it’s own slaves. Go big or go home. Round 1 ding! Goliath comes out just sneering at this poor boy. Yelling, “Am I a dog that you come at me with a stick?” “Come over here, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals! Ouch, but wait David counters, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies-the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defiled. Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals.” The heat is really on folks! Both sides seem to be very confident. Lets’ see how this one plays out! Goliath moves in fast! David is quick and runs out. They are now face to waist! Looks like David might have bit off more than he could chew! But wait, he is pulling something out of his shepherd’s bag!?! David is pulling out what looks like a stone. He quickly loads into his sling and hurls it at Goliath. He hit him right between the eyes! The big man is down and out for the count! David grabs victory immediately with hardly any effort! Let’s see that again in slow motion reply! What a great upset! Let’s go down and speak to the champion David. What was your strategy in tonight’s match:

I just want to first just give thanks to the God the creator of the universe. The victory belongs to the Lord! When I was first given normal armor I knew I didn’t have a chance. I couldn’t fight him at his own way. I was too weighted down. I just went with what I know. That I could count on God and my old shepherd’s sling. Other’s looked at Goliath and thought he’s too big to fight. I looked at him and thought he’s too big to miss! You know what they say, the bigger they are the harder they fall!

And any advice you want to give to the young warriors watching tonight’s fight?:

Keep your trust in the Lord only! Do not be afraid of huge battles in the world. Arm your self with the armor of God! Ephesians 6:10 When we are weak, He is strong! We can often want to fight in our own human strength. But why would you want to use your own strength when God Almighty is with you and on your side! When we see things from God’s perspective we know nothing is impossible. Put your trust in Him!

It’s pretty hard to relate to a story where people get impatient with God and forget all the things He has done in their lives. Right? Wrong! We might not lose trust with God, go off and build a giant cow! But we often put our hope and trust in other things when we lose sight of God. Everybody at some point puts their hope in something else instead of God. It could be a relationship you are involved in, or maybe it is going out and buying new clothes. We see what the world has to offer and put our hope in it. Sometimes it’s easy to forget all that God has done in our lives. Someone once described God to me like a pair of hands. When they are in front of us we can see them, and we know that the hands are there. If we then put them behind our back, we know that are hands are still there. We have faith that they are there.

Here is my prescription: When we are going through a rough time and we are not sure what God is doing STOP. Take some time to remember your story of the good things God has done in your life. Start thanking God for all blessings in your life. Look to what God is doing, not to what he isn’t doing. If we take this time and start to remember all the good things in our lives and give thanks to God, it will transform our lives and keep us focused on our loving and gracious God. Hebrews 10: 35-36 “So don’t throw it all away now. You were sure of yourselves then. It’s still a sure thing! But you need to stick it out, staying with God’s plan so you’ll be there for the promised completion.

I was having a think and pray about this event and how it impacts our city. The word carnage means a widespread slaughter of people.  Some synonyms for carnage include: killing, bloodshed, bloodbath, and massacre. 

Why on earth would people want to get involved in an event that is described in this way!  This event may bring pain and problems into peoples’ lives.  I feel that it is bringing darkness into Sheffield.  Sometimes as Christians we have a fear when something like this comes to our city.  Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself” We are not to fear the darkness but to overcome it!

How do we overcome darkness?

In Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus says, “You are the light of the world like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.  No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket.  Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” 

Carnage is going to be one of the darkest nights of the year.   But we are not to fear or worry about it, because we can overcome the darkness by ‘good deeds’ and by showing the love of God to Sheffield.  

In the song Savoir of the World, Ben Cantelon writes, “Christ the Lord overcame the darkness. He’s alive; death has been defeated.”  Jesus has victory over darkness by his death and resurrection from the cross.  Now his Spirit lives in us. The same light that overcomes all evil and darkness now lives in you and in me. 

Would you join the Student team and myself in doing ‘good deeds’ and showing love to students. Together we can burn bright for Jesus. Lets’ be the change we want to see!

For more details join our Facebook Event

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.  And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.  We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.  Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of hounor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.” Hebrews 12: 1-3

I love fresh starts and new beginnings! I love it in sports that each team has a clean slate at the beginning of the new season. There are no wins, and especially none of those dreadful losses!  Each team has a chance to win it all and have the best season of their life. They get a fresh start!

New seasons and fresh starts happen in our lives all the time.  For you it could be starting at University,  a new job, moving to a new city, etc.  Each of those new starts are beginnings to a season of our life.  It’s a journey and often feels like a race!   There are twist and turns  along the way and sometimes it can feel exhausting.  In Hebrews 12 the writer tells us 3 key things on how run each race to our best!

•  Surround yourself by a huge crowd of witnesses… Running a race is really hard to do on your own.   Wind sprints when training for a sport is extremely hard on your own.  But when other people are around training with you it becomes much easier because you are doing it together.  In the same way that is why we have the church.  I’m not saying only hangout with your Christian friends, but we need community in our lives to help us in hard times.  Jesus said, when two or three are gathered I am with you.  It is essential to share our ups and downs in our life with other Christians.  Jesus did it with Peter, James, and John.  Who are you able to lean on in hard times?

•  Strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up…. If we are we going to run with strength and endurance it is extremely important that we are as light weight as possible.  A runner in a marathon tries to keep everything light.  Sometimes they even buy special trainers that weigh close to nothing.  In our lives sin can easily trip us up and slow us down, and get  in way of our relationship with God.  You may not always understand what God is doing in your life.  Be open to what Christ wants to do in your life. Let Jesus transform you from the inside out!

• Run with endurance the race God has set before us.  We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith…. Keep your eyes on the prize!  Remember why you are running.  We can stay strong and carry on if we constantly look to Christ  as our source of hope and strength.  The prophet Isaiah writes that The Lord is the everlasting God, He never grows weak or weary…..He gives power to the weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion.  But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles.  They will run and not grow weary.

Whatever you are starting in your life, give yourself the best start to the race you can by setting a healthy pace and taking breaks to recharge by spending time with Jesus.  Races are long and have many ups and downs along the way.  If you make a wrong turn along the way don’t get disheartened and give up.  Turn to Jesus and get back on the right path.  God is slow to anger and full of unfailing love.  There is nothing that you can do to make God love you more, and there is nothing you can do to make God love you any less.  

Whether it’s a short distance or long. God has a plan for you and your life.  He has given you a vision and a path for your life.  Let’s run with perseverance and win this race God has set out for us.