The Rapture?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13482584

So a US-based group has spoken. After spending lots of time researching the Bible they know the hour!


6pm (which time-zone???) on Saturday 21st May 2011.


This would be very sad for me as my joint birthday party with my sisters is at 7 tonight!


But seriously, when these guys researched the Bible, did they miss these bits?


Matthew 24:35-37 
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

Mark 13:32 

But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

Enjoy your evening readers, and don't worry. Because this guy declaring he knows the hour, means he is certainly wrong.

Of course, Jesus IS coming, and I would encourage those who don't know Him to see out His wonderful reality. It changed my life, and it can change yours too! :-)

Encouraging Courage

Thanks to Tim Middleton for sharing this on Facebook today :-)

"Courage is defined by mission, it is to be called to something

To be couragous doesn't mean I am not afraid. I will always look couragous if I draw more upon my Father's resoures than the strength of man.

I would be justified in being fearfull if God was not sufficient for every problem. But He is... so there's no excuse :) "

Extracts from Loritts courage sermon

Happy Birthday to Me!

Is it vain to have a photo of myself on this post???

So it is my 23rd birthday!!

Today I have been able to reflect on my life and my over-riding feeling is thankfulness.

Thankful for 23 years, and the 5 1/4 wonderful years of knowing Jesus!

Thankful for a wonderful family.

Thankful for my bestest!

Thankful for amazing friends.

Thankful for the job and opportunities.

Thankful for experiences.

Thankful for good health.

Thankful for His Love, Grace, Faithfulness, Providence & Power!

Thank you GOD for everything you have been to me :D I am not ashamed to say I love you and I trust you!

I've begun reading the Bible from start to finish again and it is incredible to see how God provides all the way through scripture. He provided breath at the start for Adam & Eve, the whole world around us. He provided a sacrifice for Abraham instead of his son Issac. He provided ways out of disaster for Joseph. He provided a way out of Egypt for the Israelites. I am reminded of how He has always provided in my life. This is a very comforting thought in this season of exams :-)

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Shadows

Absolutely love this song! A friend of mine gave me a CD with it on which I forgot about but rediscovered it this weekend. Not only is it a major encouragement to remember Who we can turn to in times of doubt, despair and trouble, but it is also a great reminder of a totally amazing weekend :-)

So whether you are stuck in revision, having a hard time over something or just a bit miserable right now check this song out and REMEMBER who He is!

F.A.I.T.H = Forsaking All, I Trust Him.

God is bigger than any problem you have!

The Grace of God

I had a thought today and I want to share it...

Maybe if we appreciated how truly amazing God's Grace is...we would be able to see where His Grace fits in to other people's lives...

We are sinners, God would be fair to never look at us again! But, instead, He chose to make a way for us through Christ.

This isn't just a nice thought, it isn't just a Bible teaching, this is a truth that can change the whole world, change your life.

God is Merciful, God is Graceful! Praise the Lord!! :-D

Misconceptions - 7. A Loving God would not send people to Hell?

'If God Loved me so much why would He send me to hell'

This is a statement I hear fairly often and it is an interesting point. The Bible makes out that God Loves us so much that He would even be willing to die for us. So why would He send us to hell?

God is perfect in Love, but He is also perfect in Justice.

When you are wronged, you are usually quite passionate about seeing that 'justice' is done and it is indeed the same with God, except God hates all wrong. God hates murder, rape, lies, theft...He hates all He considers wrong (and this is how we know if there is wrong, because God said so...How else do we know? There is no acceptable standard other than one set by a Higher being than ourselves...otherwise it is human opinion vs human opinion and how do you work out who is right? Rant over haha) and He will punish wrong to make it right again.

If someone you loved was raped and murdered, you would be desperate to see those responsible brought to justice and rightly so.

Now I am not accusing us all of being rapists and murderers, but we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and we deserve to be punished for this. As God is such a Holy God and only perfection can stand in His Presence, we cannot go to Heaven. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23) and this death means spiritual death, in that we cannot be in relationship with God.

I began this post by pointing out that the Bible states that God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to die for us (John 3:16). This is where it turns around...God wants us in Heaven and He has made a way through Christ.

Romans 10:9
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.


God loves us so much that He died to pay the wages of our sin, so that we can go to Heaven. If we fail to take heed of this, is it any fault other than our own?

For debate...

On Facebook today a friend of mine posted this question - 'Why don't we see more people saved in the Church?'

For what it's worth, here is a thought.

I think one of the problems (and God will solve these problems and bring many more to repentance too!) is that we constantly fail to meet people where they are at.

Two things often happen during witnessing and have happened to me many times, don't worry I'm just as much as a fool as the rest of us!

The first is, the Christian fails to glorify Jesus. Basically, the Christian goes too far in going down to someones level and becomes like them, doing the same things of them to the point where if you watched for a few hours and had to point out the Christian, you would have no idea who to pick!

The second is, the Christian fails to get down to the level of the person they are witnessing too. Often this is manifested in a judgmental attitude and a failure to understand why somebody says and does the things they do. If you can understand why somebody is who they are, you are making progress in understanding why they don't know or want to know Jesus and knowing how to remove those barriers.

When we start loving others like Jesus did (i.e self sacrificially, becoming like a servant) I truly believe we will see incredible things happen as people begin to open their eyes to the reality, presence and beauty of God and let Him into their lives.

Of course, we can only do these amazing things through the power of God. So let's be confident because we have a God who gives us what we need and gives abundantly.

Please feel welcome to post any thoughts and comments you have might have on this issue in the comments box below :)

Philippians 2:6-8


 Who (Jesus), being in very nature God, 
   did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 
rather, he made himself nothing 
   by taking the very nature of a servant, 
   being made in human likeness. 
And being found in appearance as a man, 
   he humbled himself 
   by becoming obedient to death— 
      even death on a cross!

Mark 12:30-32 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

1st May, a infamous day

I was thinking about posting yesterday about the 17th anniversary of the untimely death one of my favourite all time F1 drivers, Ayrton Senna, but decided against it.

Since then, we have probably all heard the news about the death of Osama Bin Laden. What is strange is that both his and Hitler's death were announced on 1st May, 66 years apart (although Hitler actually died on the 30th April).

When I first heard the news I was shocked but pleased, as we all knew what an evil man he was and there is a strong feeling that he deserved it for what he did. I saw the pictures of the Americans celebrating in New York and Washington and understood.

But then a great friend of mine (who I just realised in getting the link, didn't blog once in April :P) posted this on Facebook and I have changed my stance:-

Proverbs 24:17
"Do not gloat when your enemy falls;
when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice,"


We cannot rejoice in this as the Lord has commanded otherwise. I believe it is because we should not focus our mind on celebrating death. Let's make it a challenge of ours today not to celebrate death but to celebrate the good things we have in our lives, let's celebrate life and remember how blessed we are to be alive. Let's thank God for such things :)


Some will say that justice or revenge has been done and we should celebrate that. But revenge is never something to be celebrated as we are just going down to their level, and justice hasn't been done and never will be done for the people on this earth for those who died that terrible day on 11/09/01. Justice WILL be done however when Bin Laden and those responsible met God and had to account for their actions. God punishes people justly for what they have done (unless you are in Christ and your sin is paid for already :D). God is so passionate about justice that He sent His Son Christ to die so that we can go to Heaven. 


If all you want to say to God to account for life is, 'I messed up tonnes but Christ paid for it all' then let Jesus into your life today :)



Romans 14:12
It is written:
   “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
   every tongue will acknowledge God.’”
So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.