Are we there yet? Looking at our Journey of Faith and Adventure, Part 1

Are we there yet?  Looking at our Journey of Faith and Adventure

Part 1

In the Film Shrek 2, The Character Donkey, (voiced by Eddie Murphy) keeps asking his friends Shrek and Fiona are we nearly there yet on their journey to Far Far Away Land.

In Genesis 11, Terah, Abraham’s Father takes Abram (Abraham), Abram’s wife Sarai and his grandson Lot, the son of another son called Haran from the settlement of Ur of the Chaldeans (in modern day Iraq) to the land of Canaan, (modern day Israel), we don’t know why Terah had decided to leave Ur and settle in Canaan, but for some reason, he found the settlement of Haran (in modern day Turkey) and he settled and eventually died there, see Genesis 11:27 – 32

 27 Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran; and Haran became the father of Lot. 28 Haran died [k]in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah [l]and Iscah. 30 Sarai was barren; she had no child. 31 Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out [m]together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and [n]settled there. 32 The days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.

To get from Ur of Chaldeans to Canaan, the most direct route would be in a straight line directly across the desert, ancient travellers wouldn’t have travelled this route because of the dangers of travelling in the desert, they would have travelled through a region called The Fertile Crescent, because they could have found water and pasture for themselves and their livestock.

When God calls us to do something,  He doesn’t always lead us directly from point a to point b. He takes us in a circuitous route where we can find refreshment, encouragement and blessing, however sometimes we settle in places that God hasn’t called us to settle, we settle in places that are oasis of refreshment rather than our ultimate destination  this sometimes is because of convenience or sometimes because we’re afraid to move on. If you’re on a journey of faith, adventure and obedience to the Lord don’t stay in Ur, don’t settle in Haran keep moving to Canaan.

Sometime later, the Lord spoke to Terah’s son Abram (Abraham), and said to him in Genesis 12 1 The Lord said to Abram: Leave your country, your family, and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will bless you and make your descendants into a great nation. You will become famous and be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless anyone who blesses you, but I will put a curse on anyone who puts a curse on you. Everyone on earth will be blessed because of you.[a]

Abraham could have stayed in Haran, he was settled, comfortable and at ease, life was easier staying at Home, than going on a Journey, yet there must have been something that drew him to obey the Lord.

One of the films that inspired me in 2012,  was Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit; An Unexpected Journey,  Bilbo Baggins played by Martin Freeman, a respectable Hobbit who has settled for a comfortable life and finds himself challenged by his friend the Wizard Gandalf and the company of Dwarves led by Thorin,  when Gandalf and Thorin’s company of Dwarves leave him behind because of his reluctance and desire for safety, security and comfort, he wakes up and realizes his mistake, and runs after his friends and when asked by his neighbours where he was going, he replies I’m off on an advantage and gets looks both of bemusement and confusion

How often when God challenges us to do something, we like our safety, security, comfort and easy life, it’s time like Bilbo Baggins to leave our Bagend and don’t let anything hold you back and move on with our adventure of faith, as the Lord directs and leads us forward.

See Genesis 12:4-9 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak[c] of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going towards the Negeb.

In  Hebrews 11, we see the roll call of those who obeyed God by their faith and Abraham is one of those mentioned

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore 13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city 17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

Yours by His Grace

Blair Humphreys

Southport, Merseyside

Are we living in the Past, the Present or the Future?, Part 1

Are we living in the Past, the Present or the Future?

Part 1: Living in the Past.

I often wonder what is the attraction of TV Programmes like ITV’s Downton Abbey  and  Alibi’s Murdoch Mysteries . ? Is it Nostalgia  for an earlier, seemingly more innocent age ?, perhaps with all the upheaval that we both see around us and read about that directly or indirectly affects our day to day lives, is living in or thinking  about the past some sort of safety net?

I live in Southport, Merseyside, and our local radio station Dune FM on Friday night from 7pm to 10pm plays 1980’s Music and I enjoy listening to some great and not so great songs from my younger days ! but I wouldn’t choose to travel back in time, like some Welsh version of Dr Who and try to live in those days.   I grew up in a small village in the South Wales Valleys called Melin Court, and spend time not only there but in other villages like Resolven and Clyne. Overall when I wear my rose tinted glasses I enjoyed my time growing up there, but if I could ask my teenage self the same question what would the answer be?

I enjoy music, and did Cse Music in School, (I also played on one of the School Chess Teams) I had the opportunity to visit the world famous Cavern Club in Liverpool , it’s one of the places the Beatles played, it was packed and overall I enjoyed my time there, there was a live band playing cover versions of songs by The Beatles and The Who. The atmosphere was electric, but one thing struck me, here’s a young band not playing their own songs but playing the songs of a previous generation!

My time at The Cavern Club lead me to think about why we sometimes try to live in the past, we let the circumstances of  our past, the influence of others,  past hurts, past disappointments,  feelings of hurt and sometimes bitterness govern our lives. We let the things that happened 5, 10, 15 or even 20 plus years influence how we live today, perhaps the hurt of a breakdown of a relationship that has happened in the past we don’t allow ourselves due to the fear of rejection or the fear of a failure to move on to a better relationship. Sometimes we try to eat the fruit of past blessings, happiness, success which like all fruit that was picked and not eaten, has become rotten, instead of picking and eating the new fruit for today.

The Prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 43:18-19b, NivUk

“18 Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.    19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”

It’s easy to try to live in the past, but God calls us to move on and move forward to both bigger and better things.

The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 2:13-14NivUk

“ 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead,    14 I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.”

So let us turn away from our past, because it’s a new beginning, a new start and a new season for us all.

Yours in His Grace

Blair Humphreys

Southport, Merseyside

*”I have no regrets about what happened in my younger days”

Equal Marriage : Just Plain Wrong: A Christian Perspective on the Gay Marriage Debate in the UK

Equal Marriage : Just Plain Wrong: A Christian Perspective on the Gay Marriage Debate in the UK

Equal Marriage; Just Plain Wrong.

Today, both in the United Kingdom and other Countries, we face the challenge in the name of Equality and Tolerance to allow same sex marriage (the marriage of a man to another man or the marriage of a woman to another woman) the equal standing in society that marriage between a man and a woman or a woman and a man has in the 21st Century.

Yet those calling for Equality and Tolerance, only believe that their view and understanding of Equality and Tolerance is the only valid view and supersedes the understanding of both Equality and Tolerance of those Groups such as Christians that disagree with their view and understanding, rather than an open and honest debate and discussion, they have decided to demonize those who’s views and understanding of Equality and Tolerance differ from theirs, and criticize and condemn them for not showing or agreeing to both Equality and Tolerance, this is indeed a lack of Equality and Tolerance, for by calling those groups who differ from them In-tolerant etc,  they themselves have done  exactly what they accuse other groups of!

In recent days,  I have followed the on-going debate in today’s media both in favour and against same sex marriage and have examined the evidence and have researched the different perspectives and I believe that our standard and indeed our bench mark for all practices that we the Church hold,  is God’s Word  The Bible. It is quite easy to be influenced by the opinions and perspectives of others.

Romans 12:1-2 the Message

1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—you’re sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

I’m on Facebook, which I think is one of the best sources of both news and information available on-line and I subscribe to various news feeds . I read with interest and a high level of disappointment and article on Lib Dem Voice by Steve Gilbert is Liberal Democrat MP for St Austell and Newquay.  “Church Opposition to Gay Marriage is intolerant, out of touch and wrong.” 

Mr. Gilbert has quoted that societies in the past such as Ancient China and Ancient Rome allowed Gay Marriage; if we followed the example of these societies today we would still have Slavery and The Death Penalty for various Crimes.  So if we follow the Example of Ancient Rome and all that is involved in that in allowing Gay Marriage shouldn’t we also allow Slavery and turn Wembley Arena into a 21st Century version of the Coliseum at Rome!  I think not!

The Bible clearly teaches that both Homosexual Practice and Behaviour are wrong and therefore calling for Homosexual Marriage doesn’t legitimise a practice or behaviour that God clearly speaks against, if anything Homosexual Marriage waters down the blessings of Marriage.  

-

 To understand why Mr. Gilbert mentioned that practices of Ancient Rome and Ancient China, I decided to examine the evidence and have discovered the following on Wikipedia. (Although Wikipedia is not infallible)

“Various types of same-sex marriages have existed, [52] ranging from informal, unsanctioned relationships to highly ritualized unions.[53]

In the southern Chinese province of Fijian, through the Ming dynasty period, females would bind themselves in contracts to younger females in elaborate ceremonies.[54] Males also entered similar arrangements. This type of arrangement was also similar in ancient European history.[55]

An example of egalitarian male domestic partnership from the early Zhou Dynasty period of China is recorded in the story of Pan Zhang & Wang Zhongxian. While the relationship was clearly approved by the wider community, and was compared to heterosexual marriage, it did not involve a religious ceremony binding the couple.[56]

The first historical mention of the performance of same-sex marriages occurred during the early Roman Empire.[57] For instance, Emperor is reported to have engaged in a marriage ceremony with one of his male slaves. Emperor Elagabalus "married" a Carianslave named Hierocles.[58] It should be noted, however, that conubium existed only between a civis Romanus and a civis Romana (that is, between a male Roman citizen and a female Roman citizen), so that a so-called marriage between two Roman males (or with a slave) would have no legal standing in Roman law (apart, presumably, from the arbitrary will of the emperor in the two aforementioned cases).[59] Furthermore, "matrimonium is an institution involving a mother, mater. The idea implicit in the word is that a man takes a woman in marriage, in matrimonium ducere, so that he may have children by her."[60] Still, the lack of legal validity notwithstanding, there is a consensus among modern historians that same-sex relationships existed in ancient Rome, but the exact frequency and nature of "same-sex unions" during that period is obscure.[61] In 342 AD Christian emperors Constantius II and Constans issued a law in the Theodosian Code (C. Th. 9.7.3) prohibiting same-sex marriage in Rome and ordering execution for those so married.[62]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_marriage

So using the example that same sex marriage was common both in Ancient China and Ancient Rome and had the same legal standing that marriage between a Man and a Woman is not valid and indeed erroneous.

I said earlier that our understanding of issues and our bench mark for all practices should God’s Word the Bible, for example if The Bible supported the idea that the Marriage Union between a Man and a Man and a Woman and Woman was equal to the Marriage Union between a Man and a Woman it would say so, in the Bible there is only one definition of Marriage and that is between a Man and a Woman or a Woman and a Man.  So if we believe that the Bible is God’s Inspired Word we Christians shouldn’t support or agree to a Marriage Ceremony or Union that doesn’t involve a Man marrying a Woman or a Vice a Versa, lets us examine some scriptures on Marriage.

All Scripture Verses are from the English Stand Version unless otherwise stated.

Genesis 2:20b-24

But for Adam[g] there was not found a helper fit for him.21 so the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made[h] into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones

    and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called Woman,    because she was taken out of Man.”[i]

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Jeremiah 29:6

 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.

1 Corinthians 7:2B

, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

Ephesians 5:31-33

31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

There are of course many scriptures referring to the marriage between a Man and a Woman, which space wouldn’t allow me to add, I’m sure that the above scriptures will serve as a start to your own personal study.

Further Reading:

1.     Will Churches be forced to conduct Gay Marriage?

2.     The Archbishop of York says don't force through Gay Marriage

3.     78% of the British Public say don't force through Gay Marriage

4.     The Christian Institute

5.     Christian Concern

6.     The Coalition for Marriage

Ordinary Christians in the Hands of the Extra-Ordinary God. Part 4

Ordinary Christians in the Hands of the Extra-Ordinary God.

 

Part 4:

I Corinthians 1-12:13, 3:4-11, 3:21 – 23  New Living Translation.

12 Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter, [d]” or “I follow only Christ! …… 4 When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world? 5 After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. 6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.  11 for no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ…. 21 So don’t boast about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you— 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Peter,[g] or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

When we look at the Church today, what do we see and what do we mean by the word Church ? to some the word Church has a negative effect on the other hand, the word Church has a positive effect, to others Church should be consigned to the past, and it doesn’t have any relevance to them and society both today in the present or indeed tomorrow the future, some think of the word Church and they think of a physical building others think of the New Testament concept of God’s people or a spiritual building.

The Church today is divided into various camps or tribal groups, that more often or not have very little to do with other camps or tribal groups, sometimes different churches can be close to each in terms of a physical distance, but miles apart in so many other ways.   Is the Church somewhere we can go to or is it a body of people that we belong to, and are joined alongside each other to work alongside each other to see the Good News of the Gospel of the Kingdom preached to those without the Good News of Salvation through our Lord and Saviour Jesus.

We are divided into groups or denominations that have more to do with our past, and very little to do with our present or future. We hold onto ways of both doing and being church because of our history and our responsibilities to that history, and the expectancies of others. Sometimes we're divided into seemingly rival tribal groups, because for some our revelation of being and doing church is driven by being the people of God where His Presence dwells, but on the other hand we're divided because of politics and personalties !.The Church is a movement for change and transformation but for many of us The Church has become a monument to our spiritual forefathers who were a movement for change and transformation !.

We follow men and sometimes women, we follow the traditions that were our spiritual forefather’s doctrines and their distinctiveness from other tribal groups and when someone from another tribe says let’s meet together for fellowship and to share together, we say we can't because we’re group a and your group b and our big chief said in 1920 said that we need to avoid group b because your understanding of church and Christianity is different from way he told us to be the church and to be a Christian and therefore you’re wrong, or we do meet together but in a spirit of reluctance and/or a spirit of mistrust, we’ve created theories,  doctrines, theologies and solutions how we’re to be the church and to life our Christian lives and be a Christian Witness, but many of those theories etc belong in the past, and have become hindrances and obstacles for us today.

Many of our tribes or denominations have become tied to the way we did Church, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or a 100 plus years ago, we look for structure and safety in the past.  We think that the way we do and are the Church is the right or indeed the only way to be do or be Church,  we mistake our history for our present and future and wonder why despite our best efforts, our prayers indeed our prophecies, we’re unfulfilled !

When our Lord Jesus walked the streets of his homeland,  he saw a fig tree and when he looked for fruit he found only leaves Matthew 21:18-20, 18  In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. 19  And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. 20 When the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once? 

I would say that so many of our churches are like that fig tree, yes we have life but it has gone to produce only leaves, instead of producing leaves alongside fruit, indeed later in the same chapter, Jesus spoke about the physical nation of Israel, saying that because they trusted in themselves rather than trusting in the Lord, that had lost the Kingdom of God, Matthew 21:43 43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

For many of our churches today, we’ve lost the Kingdom of God because we’ve trusted in ourselves, our systems, structures and strategies instead of trusting Him , our Lord and Saviour Jesus,  we’ve just grown leaves not fruit and God has gone and left us, even then we’ve created a theology and/or theory/or solutions around that, see Habakkuk 3:15-18 17 Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord!    I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!

However there is a message of hope, for those Churches that once proclaimed God’s Message, Haggai 1:6  6 You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes! See Haggai 1, our transformation isn’t due to our living in the luxury houses that  are our own tribal groups/denominations/churches but rather our transformation comes through being part of His Church, or the Temple or the House of the Lord. We’ve become consumed that our way of doing and being Church is also the Lord’s way of doing and being Church, but our ways are not his ways of doing and being Church see Isaiah 55:8-11

We have set in place man made structures, systems and organizations to how to do and be the Church today, we set in place committees, clerical systems and called and commissioned those He’s not called and commissioned to lead us in being the Church and we wonder why nothing is working, we’ve watered down and diluted our message to make it pliable to others, we’ve accepted things that go against Biblical Standards like Homosexual Clergy  and wonder why God isn’t moving amongst us and blessing us

Yet, there is hope for us the Church,  the old wineskins of our ways,  those beloved ways of doing and being the Church aren’t working and if we try to add His way of being and doing Church or the new wine to our old wineskins, our old wineskins are going to tear and break up, instead we need His new wineskins of doing and being the Church, his structure, systems, and Leadership* and following those He has called and commissioned to lead us forward, see Luke 5:37-39.

We notice in Scripture, there is a God Ordained indeed Organized way of being and doing Church, no longer will our man made systems cope with the things, our message should be say no, to the status quo,  We don’t need any other or more denominations or tribes, we don’t need another methodology of doing and being the Church.  We need to be a Movement and not a Monument. We need to see a restoration of Apostolic Christianity, which is a Movement for the 21st Century Church not a Monument to the 1st Century Church.  We need to see Revival through a Renewed Church.

It says in Ephesians 4:11-13* 11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.  See Ephesians 4:11-16 for context.

Yours in His Grace

Blair Humphreys

Southport, Merseyside