Peter: Hope for Pastors

Peter: Hope for Pastors

Love and the Inhumanity of Same-Sex Marriage

Love and the Inhumanity of Same-Sex Marriage

WORLD | John Piper on homosexuality | John Piper | April 13, 2013

WORLD | John Piper on homosexuality | John Piper | April 13, 2013

5 signs that they are really into you! Christian Dating & Marriage Part 2

5 signs that they are really into you!

Written by Joanne Klassen

It’s a really great feeling to finally meet someone you feel a connection with but does that online connection translate in person? Here are 5 principles taken from Song of Solomon (NLT 2007) that will help you know if they are really into you!

It’s Obvious

‘…it’s obvious how much he loves me’ (2:4)

Gideon had some doubts, so he used a fleece to get some clear signs and answers from God. (Judges 6:36-40) Recognising someone is into you will be plain to see and should not require constant double checking with God and testing for signs. Even if someone starts off a bit shy, it will become obvious that they are into you.

They Initiate

‘Let me see you; let me hear your voice’ (2:14)

You know he or she is really into you when they initiate and let you know they want to see and spend time with you. They will also be responding to your requests for another date and will not be waiting for you to make all the moves!

They are Curious

‘He is lovely in every way’ (5:16)

Someone who is interested will want to get to know you. They will be the kind of person that will come to know the little things about you, for example, they may notice how many sugars you put in your tea and that it is not the same amount in your coffee, or that you rarely put salt on your food. Yes, they really do want to know the little things about you!

They Watch You

‘I am overcome by one glance of your eyes’ (4:9)

He or she can’t help it but they just love watching you! It could be when you are in a crowded room or watching a movie together that you catch him or her gazing admiringly at you.

They Are Open about Dating You

‘Such, o women of Jerusalem, is my lover, my friend’ (5:16)

The one that is into you is not going to want to hide you. They will let their friends and family know and be excited to say that they found someone as fabulous as you. Even if you worry about meeting someone through an online dating site, trust that the person that is really into you will be more focused on sharing the wonderful story of how God brought you together in such an amazing way!

Read more articles on: Dating, Singleness

About Joanne Klassen

For the last eight years Joanne has been supporting women and singles with dating advice and support. She offers Personal Coaching & Counselling and runs regular Workshops and On Line Courses in dating relationship skills. Visit www.prepareandmatch.com

Gay Agenda's Intimidation Tactics Won't Stop Me From Speaking Truth

Gay Agenda's Intimidation Tactics Won't Stop Me From Speaking Truth

Are we there yet? Looking at our Journey of Faith and Adventure Part 2: A personal story

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

Part 2: A personal story

While I’ve been writing this post, I’ve been watching a fascinating programme called Penguin – Spy in the Huddle on BBC 1.  In this episode the young penguins who have only known land have to take the leap of faith and jump into the Sea, it’s somewhere they’ve never seen or been before or indeed have experience and knowledge of. What will happen, will they drown or will they survive?  Although Penguins are Birds and look they should be able to fly, and they do spend some time on land, they’re designed and created to Swim, Can you imagine if one of these penguins decided that he or she wouldn’t go into the water they try to stay on land or learn to fly or indeed they jumped into the sea and decided that they wanted the seeming safety of dry land or some other penguin turns and says to them, Swimming tried it once and didn’t like it. However all the penguins did make into the sea and swim because that’s what they’ve been created to do, indeed called to do.

What do we do, when we’re challenged by the Lord to move away from what is familiar and safe to us?  Do we opt to stay where we are happy with the Status Quo, When God speaks to us, and gives us direction and promises if we obey Him. Do we spend time in prayer asking God to speak to us and give us direction?, because we may not like what he asks us to do or when He already has given us His direction, do we look at all our options or decide to play it safe,  are we scared of moving into something new because it may not work out ?

I now live in Southport, Merseyside which is a seaside resort in the North West of England, however when you hear me speak,  you realise that I’m Welsh, so what I’m doing in the North West of England you may ask?

Before we go any further I’m going to ask you to read Genesis 12, and look again at Abraham.

When I was a boy of about 11,  I give my life to the Lord Jesus when I realised that He died in my place for my sin on Calvary, and from that moment I became a Christian or a Disciple of Jesus and joined a Church Family in the South Wales Valleys, although I was raised in a Christian family and was raised in Biblical Values and Ethics and in a way was already part of that Church Family because my parents and grandparents where part of that Church, during this time my parents and grandparents would take myself, my two sisters on a family holiday to Ilfracombe in North Devon however now being a mature and adventurous 11 year old, I went to a Christian Youth Camp on The Gower Peninsula near Swansea for a week before joining the rest of my family in Ilfracombe. I realised there that part of being a Disciple was being involved in Mission or spreading the Good News of the Gospel in things like Evangelism.

I spent some interesting times from about 11 to 23, in a great Pentecostal Denomination mostly in the South Wales Valleys, although in the days before email and Facebook made good friends with other young people and some older people from related Churches from the UK and overseas. I spent two years in that Pentecostal Denomination’s Bible School which was about 30 miles from where I lived in Neath, (although I spent the first 17 years of my life in Melin Court, Clyne and Resolven). but when I heard the stories of both the men and women of God, the Pentecostal Pioneers who had gone before me, I was greatly challenged thinking there must be more than this, My Grandmother fuelled a lot of this desire in me, but lending me books by Arthur Wallis.

 My mind-set was established in Pentecostalism and being Welsh, I thank the Lord for my heritage and history and the friends I made there, but I realised aged 23 that the my journey of faith wasn’t with my friends I had grown up with, and reluctantly and with a heavy heart I knew God was moving me on to other pastures.

 It was during this time, The Toronto Blessing happened.  I wanted a fresh touch or anointing from the Lord so I could be refreshed and go back to the Pentecostal Church that was my spiritual home at the time and get my mind into gear,  I visited another Church in Neath and was prayed for, and for a few weeks everything was okay, but I was hungry for something different and I couldn’t find it where I was at the time, so I made a second visit to this new Church, and I asked one of the leaders, who later become one of my closest and dearest friends, a question and suddenly I asked how could I join.

When I look back over the last 20 years, I remember the challenges I’ve faced, the many times where I have felt life is an emotional rollercoaster! It was during one of these journeys on  life’s emotional rollercoaster,  I give up on Church, I remember being at my sister’s house in South Wales, and now using the technical phrase I didn’t know if I was coming or going,  I felt I needed to pray for direction, and asked the Lord where I had gone wrong.

  

  Some 10 years ago, I came here to Southport on Holiday and I felt that God was calling me and calling me to be a part of the Church family I’m now part of. I tried for several years to come here and nothing worked out, but hey I kept trying and of course kept failing, and eventually I give up and tried to forget about Southport.  I tried moving to another part of the country, and that ended badly and I give up on Church.  I was sitting on my sister’s sofa praying, and I felt I needed to send a text to a friend here, who I not spoken to for some time asking for his advice, his advice was to phone him, which I did, during our chat, he challenged me that I gone off –track and I needed to get back on track. I remember bursting into tears. It was after that call to my friend, I watched two television programmes that both mentioned Southport and realised that God was telling me something.  I arranged to visit here for a weekend in February 2011.

I remember going to Church on Sunday morning of that weekend and sitting in the back row, and when one of our elders was speaking and towards the end of his sermon, he quoted this Scripture

Numbers 10:29

English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

²⁹ And Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will do good to you,for the Lord has promised good to Israel.”

When I think of God’s grace, mercy, forgiveness and blessings, I just want to praise Him,  I tried to settle for second best, for the comforts of convenience, for an easy life of mediocrity, Yet God has been good and is being good today, kept challenging me to see the bigger picture, and to see there is more than we have experienced or seen before, although I’m from Neath in South Wales,  Southport is now my home.

The Lord says in Jeremiah 29:11 -13 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare[b] and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord.

God’s plans and purposes for our life are higher and better than our plans and purposes for our own lives, He has given our lives direction and destiny.  I’m not sure how my life would look now if I stayed in Neath and for some Neath is where God has placed and planted them and has called them to serve Him and His Church, but it wasn’t my calling and destiny, I will say that if feel your live has gone off – track and you’ve missed your calling and destiny, find your Southport or Canaan?

Yours in His Grace

Blair Humphreys

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