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Matthew 13: - Nail your flag to the mast

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 6: Sin and McDonalds

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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...

Proverbs 20:24 A man's steps are of the Lord

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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 Gospel and the Berlin Wall

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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...

Andrew Lloyd Webber on Wifi in churches

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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...

The Gospel in Isaiah 59 - 60

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Isaiah chapters 59-60 presents a perfect picture of the gospel, even though it is written approximately 600 years before Jesus came to earth. These chapters add to the weight of the Bible as the supreme Word of God and give us hope in a bleak situation. For those people at the time of writing of the book of Isaiah, the things spoken of were things to look forward to. For us today, these things have come to pass and the hope in Christ Jesus is available to us right now. Read Isaiah 59-60 and see the living breathing Word of God. The Hopeless Situation We are In: Chapter 59 Chapter 59 provides a picture of the world today and the current position for those who do not know Christ Jesus. Are you one of those people? Isaiah 59 1-3 states, " Behold, the   Lord ’s hand is not shortened,  That it cannot save;  Nor His ear heavy,  That it cannot hear. 2  But your iniquities have separated you from your God;  And your sins have hidden  His ...

The next Wall Street Crash: Shemitah

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BACChristian is designed to debunk theological nonsense, explain the Gospel and to show how the Bible is the inerrant word of God. This post, being slightly different from the others, looks at the modern financial economies and their possible connection to time cycles ordained in the Bible. It may be a post out of a conspiracy theory nut's dreams, however the information raises serious questions which all links in with the Bible. The Bible often instructs us on financial matters. It teaches general principles of money management such as to not be indebted to anybody and to tithe our earnings. In Matthew 25:14-30 Jesus speaks on the parable of the talents, whereby people are given money to invest.  However, the Bible also provides more specific instructions. Turn to Leviticus 25 . God instructs the Israelites that every seventh year is to be a year of rest - a year of rest for the farm land; a year of rest for investing; a year of repayment of debts; and a year to treat ...