Born.Again.Christian.

As Christians when we enter a new situation or meet new people it is important that we make a stand for what we believe right away. If we don't then it will be much more challenging for us to present the gospel and show the truth of Christ. Those people who know you best, such as family members, who have seen you grow up are often the hardest people to speak to about the Gospel. In comparison, contrary to what people say, preaching to a stranger is easier.  What is the reason for this? If we try to speak to somebody that we know well about the gospel, they are in a position to scrutinize us or remind us of past mistakes we have made and therefore it makes it harder to preach with any credibility. Whatever we say, people can bring up some personal mistake or character trait that we possess and use it to throw whatever we say back in our face.   Of course, unlike us, the Lord Jesus was perfect and nobody would be able to scrutinize Him based on his past or what He had done...

Romans 3:23 states "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."  Jeremiah 17:9 states " the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?" 1 John 1:8 says "if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."  We are all sinful. Jeremiah says that our hearts are desperately wicked. We do not label ourselves "desperately wicked", but that is the reality we must accept. Not only are we sinful but we enjoy sin and the gratification it provides, albeit temporary. Hebrews 11:25 states that people will "...enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." Romans 6:16 states: " 16  Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin  leading  to death, or of obedience  leading  to righteousness?" Romans 6 looks at the effect of putting your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. It...

The Lord is in control. It may not be clear to us at the time what is happening or why, but what is definite is that all things are in God's hands. There may be times when we question events, but ultimately our understanding is not enough to comprehend the ways of the Lord. Proverbs 20:24 states, "A man's steps are of the Lord, how then can a man understand his own ways?" No matter what situation arises, those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ can take comfort in the knowledge that their heavenly Father is in control. Romans 8:28 states: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose." When Jonah had been thrown overboard into the tempestuous seas, Jonah 1:17 states "Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." We have all heard the story of Jonah and the Whale and have th...

The Berlin Wall was constructed on 13 August 1961 separating East Berlin from West Berlin. The wall followed the border between Soviet Union communism and Western democracy that had come about following the end of WW2 when German occupation was split between the four allied powers. It was the physical manifestation of the term 'Iron Curtain' coined by Winston Churchill, representing the separation between the East and the West during the cold war. Between 1945 to 1961 movement of people between West and East Berlin was possible although heavily restricted, however once the decision to build the wall was passed construction began immediately without notice and barbed wire was erected overnight to stop people from defecting from the East to the West. Families were separated and the curtain closed on those living in the East.  It was still possible to move between the East and West of the city through a subway still in operation, however that too was soon bricked up and an ou...

The composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has urged churches across the country to be fitted with Wi-Fi in a bid to make them a more integral part of the community. The mail reported him saying, “I want to get every church in the country on Wi-fi. Once you do that, the church becomes the centre of the community again."  This completely misses the point of what the church is there to do and is like trying to fix a broken leg with a plaster.  A lot of churches now use social media and other online avenues to promote events and reach out to their community. Whilst this may be effective in promoting the church, installing wi-fi is not the issue that needs to be tackled. Churches do not find themselves on the fringe of society because they do not have wi-fi. For starters, wi-fi is relatively new (past 10 years?) and church numbers have been dwindling for years. The reason churches find themselves irrelevant in today's modern world is because they no longer pre...