Describe one positive change you have made in your life.
By far the most positive change I have made in my life was to accept Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. Back in July of 1989 I realised something was missing in my life. I came to realise that was Jesus. Like the image above, I gave Jesus my heart and life. Since this time I have tried my best to follow Him daily.
If you are interested in finding out more accepting Jesus in to your life, please visit this page on my blog.
What makes a church a church? What sort of things should they do or believe to make them a genuine church that Jesus is building? What should we look for?
Do they believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God? If so, is it held up above all other books as God’s Word to us? Some groups have other books they add to the Bible or hold them up as equally important, this makes them cults. (2 Timothy 3:16-18, Revelation 22:18-19).
Do they hold true to the ancient creeds like the Apostles creed, the Nicene creed and the Athanasian creed? Holding firm to these means they have an orthodox christian faith that the church has held on to for centuries. You can find them on our about page.
Do they trust Jesus as the only way to salvation? Do they believe Jesus is the eternal Son of God? Do they believe Jesus died on the cross for our sin and was physically raised to life? Have they accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour? (John 14:6, Acts 4:12, Romans 10:9-10).
Do they regularly practice the Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion, the Eucharist) where we take Jesus’ body in the form of bread or a wafer, and His blood in the form of juice or wine. Jesus told us to do this in remembrance of Him and His sacrifice for us (Luke 22:18-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-25).
Do they practice baptism for new believers? Some churches may baptise with full immersion or by pouring water on the head. The main thing is to baptise in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as Jesus taught us (Mathew 28:18-20, Acts 2:38).
Do they meet together and focus on what the early church did? Acts 2:42 says, “All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching [the Bible] and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.”
Do they rely on the Holy Spirit to make them more like Jesus, to empower them to be His witnesses, to give them gifts to serve, and to display the fruit of the Spirit? (Galatians 5:22-23, Acts 1:8, Romans 8:11, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11).
These are some of the things that I think are important when deciding on which church you attend if you are a new believer or new to an area.
Most churches have websites with a statement of faith on there. I would always check it out before attending.
If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why?
I would want to be one of the earlier followers of Jesus from the Bible.
I would have liked to have been present at His miracles, His sermons and the every day conversations along the road or around the camp fire.
To be present to see Lazarus raised from the dead, the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, demons caste out and Jesus walking on the water would have been priceless.
I am so thankful we have these things recorded in the pages of the Bible, but to be there would have been amazing.
So who would I be from a book? One of Jesus’ early followers.
My wife often has worship music playing in our home. This one was on today. What a beautiful song by Jordan Feliz. Please enjoy!
Satisfied
I have stumbled through the darkest of valley’s And I have climbed upon the highest of hills All my travelling has brought me to your fountain And all I want is to come and drink my fill All I want is to come and drink my fill
My heart Your throne This life belongs to You and You alone Let there be No divide And only You may my soul be satisfied
There is beauty that can lead into temptation There are voices that will call me far away But I have found in my surrender Your salvation And in Your love I’ve come to find a resting place Yes, in Your love I’ve come to find a resting place
My heart Your throne This life belongs to You and You alone Let there be No divide And only You may my soul be satisfied
There broken, there thirsty Who long for Your mercy Can run to You only You And peace everlasting Beyond understanding In You only You
My heart Your throne This life belongs to You and You alone Let there be No divide And only You may my soul be satisfied And only You may my soul be satisfied
One of the things Bible college did was teach me to read outside my church tradition. By this I mean do not just read things that are written by people in your denomination.
The Bible college I attended had lecturers from across the Christian traditions. We had people from evangelical, pentecostal, orthodox and even catholic churches as lecturers. Most were open to tell us which tradition they came from, some would not tell us. They wanted us to try and guess during the semester.
I found this really helpful in understanding what people and various churches taught. I think it made me more open to learn and to help me solidify some of my own beliefs. It also showed me that we have way more in common than differences.
For one of my theology units we used the textbook “The Mosaic of Christian Belief” by Roger E. Olsen. It took a topic and broke it down as follows for example on creation…
Issues and polarities of christian beliefs about creation.
The consensus christian beliefs about creation.
Alternates to the christian consensus about creation.
Diverse christian beliefs about creation.
A unitive christian view on creation.
Looking at topics from this perspective gave us a broad overview of what christians believe today about an issue and positions held down through the ages.
Since finishing Bible college I have continued this habit. Last year I read a number of books from the Catholic tradition, this year I am reading more Anglican books and catechisms.
Some might think of this as not helpful or even a little bit “dangerous”, but I do it through the lens of Bible college and being well formed in my beliefs. I can eat the meat and spit out the bones as they say.
Being open to other traditions has helped me to read the early church fathers, read the catholic and anglican catechisms, read about the lives of the Saints, and about praying with the catholic rosary and anglican prayer beads.
Reading from other traditions has helped me grow in my faith. Not only do I understand different positions a little bit more, but I have learned and incorporated new things in to my personal faith.
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