The Big Red Tractor video
February 14th 2010
Archive for the ‘Faith’ Category
A testimony worth sharing
January 24th 2010
This is the kind of testimony that really stirs something in my heart:
My foodbank story all started at the beginning of this year. I met Kellie in January and we soon got together in February, I was homeless whereas Kellie was in emergency accommodation. Our benefits were getting delayed and we were struggling to feed ourselves. A friend mentioned to us that there was a company called the foodbank that could help us out, at first it seemed to be too good to be true. We went to the law centre in town and received a voucher entitling us to 3-5 days worth of food that we couldn’t afford to pay for ourselves.
So off we went to the foodbank one day and were given around six bags of food and met some wonderful people in the process. Over the coming months we visited a few more times, during this time the council finally found me a flat, as I was homeless however I had no furniture and hardly any belongings to move in with. Richard and his wife Sandra pointed me to the furniture project that was run by a member of their church and within a few months I had everything in place that i needed.
However during this time I had to make regular visits to the foodbank to just be able to feed myself and Kellie. Whilst we were choosing the furniture we were so touched by the generosity of the people helping that we decided to attend their church as a mark of thanks and respect.
The Sunday morning we attended something struck deep within us, seeing all the people there so friendly and passionate in what they believed in. It left a lasting impression on us and we started attending more and more often, soon after we were invited to join a small group from the church to learn and gain a wider understanding of God.
On 22nd November 09 Kellie and I were baptised and in a way our story all started with a visit to the foodbank to receive help that we wouldn’t have been able to get anywhere else. In the long run we both know it was God’s plan for the both of us and we’re planning our wedding at the church early in 2010.
This is our story, I hope you enjoy it at much as we are!
For more information about Swindon Foodbank please look a their website at http://www.swindonfoodbank.co.uk
A lot of time, a lot of podcasts – Part 4: Movie reviews
January 11th 2010
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I love film. I always have and I think I always will. I watch an awful lot of films and regular readers of this site will know I review a handful of them too (followers of me on Twitter get to see my mini-reviews as well).
I keep up to date with the latest film news through a couple of film websites but I also choose to listen to two film podcasts:
Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo’s Film Review
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lvdrj
This is by far my favourite podcast out of all I listen to. It is the one I regularly look forward to every week and am sad when Dr Kermode or Dr Mayo are on holiday as it is just not the same. The way these two banter between each other is brilliant and the film reviews are always entertaining. I even got the opportunity to go to Leeds and see a live version of the show which was brilliant.
While I may not always agree with the opinions given I don’t primarily listen to find out what to watch, I listen for the pure, unadulterated wittertainment.
Cinemagogue (Mars Hill Church)
http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/cinemagogue
Pastor James Harleman of Mars Hill Church regular shows films and chats about them before and afterwards from the Christian perspective. I find him very entertaining and he highlights things in the films that I would have otherwise missed. If you are a Christian and a film lover I recommend you catch a listen.
A lot of time, a lot of podcasts – Part 2: A sackful of biblical preaching and teaching
January 3rd 2010
I’ll be honest with you; I find reading my bible difficult and unless I am willing to sit down for an extended period of time and get into to some proper study with additional books for assistance I very rarely do it. With the new year I am hoping to get into some regular study time as I know it is nothing but help but I find that listening to people talk about the bible is a lot easier.
This is where my faith-based podcasts come in. I was first introduced to some preachers from around the world when I first started getting into God properly and haven’t stopped listening since.
I have dabbled with a number of different speakers over the years but below are the ones I listen to regularly and try and keep up to date with:
Andy Stanley (North Point Community Church)
http://www.northpoint.org/messages
Andy Stanley (along with the brilliant Louie Giglio) was the first preacher I listened to from another church. He heads up one of the largest churches in America and is a very gifted speaker. He is in his 40s and is very down to Earth in the way he speaks. I find the topics he covers excellent for new Christians and even though he is usually quite light on the doctrine I still find his talks excellent to listen to.
John Piper (Desiring God)
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/
I would describe John Piper as being at the opposite end of the spectrum to Andy Stanley. I first came across him when when I was still new to the Christian world and found him to be a little heavy and hard to listen to. Coming back to him years later I find him amazing. He seems to know so much about God and the bible and this shows in his very comprehensive messages. He is currently preaching his way through the book of John and has been for well over a year now. Full of doctrine and a definite pick for anyone that wants to learn more about their bible and God.
Mark Driscoll (Mars Hill Church)
http://www.marshillchurch.org/
Where would a list of preachers be without Mark Driscoll. A man who is still very young for a preacher in his late 30s he has an approach to God and the bible that just rubs off on any of his listeners. He is the only person I know who can bring humour and deep conviction to a message with ease. He is very tough and holds nothing back in his messages but talks with such love that you can’t help but be gripped. He has recently started a series with the aim to preach through every chapter of the book of Luke in 3 years. A stunning speaker and highly recommended to everyone.
Matt Chandler (The Village Church)
http://www.thevillagechurch.net/
I have only been listening to Matt Chandler for a little while and found him to be a very good speaker in the Mark Driscoll mould. Sadly, late last year, he was diagnosed with a brain tumour and understandingly hasn’t been speaking for a while. My thoughts and prayers go out to his wife and young family.
Mark Thornett, Nigel Howarth and Colin Thornton (Gateway Church Swindon)
http://gatewaychurchswindon.org.uk/audio/
And how can I complete a list of preaches without mentioning my own church? While I don’t listen to the online recording often as I usually listen to it first-hand I do recommend it to anyone in the Swindon area if they are interested in finding a local church or just getting an idea of what our church is like.
A lot of time, a lot of podcasts – Part 1: What is a podcast anyway?
December 20th 2009
I love walking to work. It is a great way to get some fresh air before the day starts and is so much better than sitting in traffic to clear my mind on the way home. Also, I have found some nice walks in the area around where my office is to get out a lunch on a nice day.
That can give me up to 1.5 hours per day where I am out with nothing to do. I choose to fill this time with podcasts.
Before I get into the actual podcasts I listen to I should start by explaining what a podcast is: The best comparison I can make is it is like a downloadable radio program that you can put on your mp3 player and listen to on your travels.
Getting podcasts is really simple. You find the website it is on and you download it. Then it is just a matter of transferring it to your mp3 player in the normal way. The trickier thing is to keep up to date with the latest podcasts, especially if you listen to as many as I do. This is where RSS feeds come in to it. Most podcasts will have an RSS feed available which you can subscribe to in something like Google Reader (http://reader.google.com) which will update itself automatically whenever a new episode is available and all you have to so is remember to check this one place.
As the tagline of this website suggests, I can easily break down my podcasts into three separate categories:
- Faith based talks from a number of churches around the world
- Software development podcasts focussed on .NET and the web
- A couple of film podcasts to keep me up to date with what’s out there
I’ll be focussing in on the talks I regularly listen to in each of these categories in later posts.
Why not trusting in God is just plain daft!
October 22nd 2009
A man was having trouble with the concept of tithing. One day he revealed his doubts to his minister: ‘Pastor, I just don’t see how I can give 10 per cent of my income to God’s work when I can’t even manage my bills.’
The pastor replied, ‘If I promise to make up the difference in your bills if you should fall short, do you think you could try tithing for just one month?’
After a moment’s pause, the man responded, ‘Sure, if you promise to make up any shortage, I guess I could try tithing for one month.’
‘Now, what do you think of that,’ said the pastor. ‘You say you’d be willing to put your trust in a mere man like myself, who possesses so little materially, but you couldn’t trust your heavenly Father who owns the whole universe!’ That week he gave his tithe, and has been doing so faithfully ever since!
This is an excerpt from a blog post by J John. Read the rest of the article here
Loved. Gave. Believe. Have. – As simple as that!
September 22nd 2009
Don’t you find that Christians make being a Christian more complicated than it is meant to be?
You don’t become a Christian by coming to church every Sunday without fail.
You don’t become a Christian by praying a “special prayer”.
The gospel can be summed up in one sentence. And it is in the most famous sentence in the entire bible…
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16
But what does this verse mean to us? It can be broken down into four easy to remember words:
“For God so LOVED the world” – Firstly God loved us. Before we did anything and even though we don’t deserve it He loved us unconditionally. No matter how far we wander from him and no matter how much we ignore him he loves us more than can be understood.
“That he GAVE his one and only Son” – In fact, he loved us so much that he gave us the thing that was most precious to him: His son. To restore the gulf that was between us and God he gave up his only son, he sent him into human history to live, suffer and die for nothing that he did wrong but for everything we ever did wrong.
“That whoever BELIEVES in him” – And all we have to do is believe. No special prayer. No clever ritual. Just believe. Put aside the issues we have created against God. Lay down our pride and our self-importance. Just believe that Jesus was who he said he was and that he died for us.
“Shall not perish but HAVE eternal life” – Then for that tiny step of faith we get to live forever in a place of absolute joy where all the negatives of this world are but a distant memory: Heaven.
Simple!
Then why do so many of us resist? Why do so many of us choose to ignore this simple invitation?
Each of us have our reasons (I did). I just hope and pray that your reasons are worth the risk you are taking. What if you ignore God’s invitation your entire life and then you miss the opportunity?
Have a chat to God tonight. Find a bible in your loft and dust it off. Look into this amazing invitation before it is too late.
It’s a decision I made even though it went against my better judgement but I don’t regret that decision for a second.
This was based on a message from Nothpoint Ministries‘ Go Fish! sermon series.
How a leaking roof changed everything
September 18th 2009
Ever since I started to come to Gateway Church Swindon (then it was called Swindon Family Church) over three years ago I have been serving.
Within a few months of attending I was asked if I would lead the projection team and take over the running of the IT requirements as the current tech-master was heading off to New Zealand. I felt like this would be a good thing to do so I said yes.
Over the years I have continued to say yes to things and in the end I was not only leading the projection team and heading up IT I was also in charge of the church website, producing the CDs and creating the podcast of the Sunday morning message (and any other recordings we did), running a monthly film night, fixing any computer problems that people had and leading an Alpha discussion group.
Then about three months ago I was asked I would take on the role of Alpha administrator which would mean taking control of all the things that was needed to be done to get the Alpha course going. I prayed about it for a while and didn’t feel like God was telling me not to do it so I said yes.
Then about two months later my kitchen ceiling started to leak.
Then I cracked.
But God was right there with me. The day before He had brought a bible verse to the mind of a very good friend of mine. They thought it was for me but it didn’t seem to fit. That was until I told them about my leaking ceiling. Here it is…
If a man is lazy, the rafters sag; if his hands are idle, the house leaks. – Ecclesiastes 10:18
At first they thought that I am neither lazy nor is my house leaking so they ignored it but once I told them about my latest house disaster they decided to share it with me.
It really hit me. While to the outside world I was anything but lazy actually I was. I was so busy all the time that I never did the things that really mattered like being a good steward of the things that God has blessed me with like a home and a family.
That weekend I was going to visit my brother and my mum. I had originally planned to quickly pop up for the day as I needed to get back to do the 100 things that needed doing. In the end I stayed for the weekend.
In the pursuit of doing lots for God I have ended up being an incredibly bad witness. My family only ever saw someone who was always busy. How appealing must that have been to them: “Come and know God and say goodbye to your free time!”
It was time for a change.
I met up with one of the elders of my church, told them how I felt and said I needed to give up everything I was doing.
So I am now on a mission to give up everything I am doing by Christmas and then sit back and spend some time with my family, my house and, most importantly, God.
Already my house is clean and tidy and a much nicer place to live in. I feel less stressed and am on the way to having time for people instead of doing things all the time.
God knows what is best for us and while we may think we know what God wants from us (lots of service, to live by rules) actually all God really wants is for us to love and spend time with Him and each other. The more we do stuff the less time we have to do these things that really matter.
C S Lewis hits the nail on the head
August 31st 2009
I read this quote from C S Lewis and was amazed at how well it described how I am…
During my afternoon “meditations,”—which I at least attempt quite regularly now—I have found out ludicrous and terrible things about my own character. Sitting by, watching the rising thoughts to break their necks as they pop up, one learns to know the sort of thoughts that do come.
And, will you believe it, one out of every three is the thought of self-admiration: when everything else fails, having had its neck broken, up comes the thought “what an admirable fellow I am to have broken their necks!” I catch myself posturing before the mirror, so to speak, all day long. I pretend I am carefully thinking out what to say to the next pupil (for his good, of course) and then suddenly realize I am really thinking how frightfully clever I’m going to be and how he will admire me…
And then when you force yourself to stop it, you admire yourself for doing that. It is like fighting the hydra… There seems to be no end to it. Depth under depths of self-love and self-admiration.
(quoted in The Narnian by Alan Jacobs, 133)