There were two rock climbers climbing up a mountain, they reach a ledge together but then the ledge starts to give way. They both look around for somewhere safe to jump to and notice two rocks that are jutting out on either side of the ledge.

The first climber sees the rock to the left, takes a good look at it and decides that it is really sturdy rock and they are sure it will support their weight so they jump to get to it. The other climber spots the rock to the right and doesn’t think it could possibly support them, but they have to make a choice so they jump.

Which climber do you think chose correctly?

Well the climber who had lots of faith in their rock found that while it seemed to support them at first, it soon gave way and they fell to their death. The climber that had only a little bit of faith in their rock though landed safely and the rock didn’t move.

The purpose of this story is to show that it is not how big our faith is that saves us, it is the choice of rock that we chose to place our faith in!

…and in case anyone is unsure of a good solid rock to chose, Jesus is a good place to start!

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.

View the entire series

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.

View the entire series

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:

1. Faith based talks from a number of churches around the world
2. Software development podcasts focussed on .NET and the web
3. 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.

View the entire series

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

http://deathisnotdying.com/eventvideo/

Don’t think about it, just do it!

When I was an athiest I thought that the Bible was a fictional book full of myths and fables and this Jesus that everyone keeps going on about was just a character in one of the stories. So it came as quiet a surprise to me when I later discovered that actually no serious historian actually doubts that he was a real man that was crucified by Pilate 2000 years ago!

So what is the evidence for this? First off there is the Jewish historian Josephus. This man was a Godly man but not a follower of Christ. However, in one of his most famous passages from The Antiquities (A.D. 93) he describes Jesus as “a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man” who was crucified and who “on the third day he appeared [to those who loved him] restored to life”. To be fair, the authenticity of some of the more supernatural references in this passage are disputed by scholars but nobody doubts that the man Josephus was writing about was Jesus.

In A.D. 115, Tacitus (the most important Roman historian of the first century) wrote about how emperor Nero had persecuted the Christians as a scapegoat. Tacitus had referred to them as followers of the Christ who had “suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurator, Pontius Pilatus”. So while this passage does not refer to Jesus by name, it does refer to a man who was crucified by Pontius Pilate, from whom a the religious movement of “Christians” was borne.

On top of these there are also references to Jesus by Pliny the Younger and Suetonius, two more Roman historians.

The fact that authors and historians that were outside of Christianity confirm that Jesus was a real man that did exist and was crucified like the Bible says was really important to me. It meant that the option of him being a totally made up character was no longer an option and what that left me was to decide who he was instead.

If you want to know more why not read these Wikipedia articles: Josephus on Jesus and Tacitus on Jesus. Or if you would rather read a book written by a respected author I highly recommend The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel.

Or if you would rather have the opportunity to discuss this with people why not find a local Alpha Course to go on where you can debate your issues with real people who probably have the exact same questions as you!

I need to put in a disclaimer before I start this series though: I am not a theologian, I have not been to Bible college and I am not a great reader. However, I do tend to be naturally sceptical and if there is something I have trouble with I will do as much investigation as I feel necessary to come up with a suitable answer.

This means that everything I write in this series is solely my opinion so if anybody wants to question of criticize anything I write please be my guest; that’s what the comments are for!

Also, if anybody has a question of their own that they find is a real sticking point with them believing Christianity or is something you ignore in you walk with God as you just can’t get your head around it please ask it and I will attempt to share my opinion (and hopefully others will share theirs!)

I am a member of Gateway Church Swindon and we have around three baptism services a year. We would love to do more but we can only baptise those that God brings our way. We even have a special baptism pool for the job!

Being baptised is a big decision though and not something we take lightly. We make sure everyone we baptised is cared for by a small group and fully understands the commitment they are making.

So if you are interested in getting baptised or just want to hear more about God why don’t you come along on a Sunday morning at 10.30 and talk to us?