The story of the birth of Jesus told with the help of Bohemian Rhapsody!
Bethlehemian Rhapsody
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This Is Church
What is church? Is it just a building that we visit on a Sunday or is there more to it than that? This video below answers the question for you.
Interview with The Machine Gun Preacher Sam Childers
Those of you who have seen the film The Machine Gun Preacher will have undoubtably left the cinema with questions in your mind concerning what you have just watched. For anyone who has not seen it, the film is based on the life of Sam Childers, a former drug addict and gang member who becomes a Christian and establishes orphanages for children in Sudan. However Sam Childers has a unique way of working in Sudan. He rescues children by leading raids against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) – armed raids!
In this fascinating 20 minute interview with Premier Radio, Sam Childers answers questions on what parts of the film are true and what parts have been exaggerated by Hollywood. He also discusses his philosophy of how he will do “whatever it takes” to rescue children from the LRA. Please click below for the interview.
Run to Glory The Story of Eric Liddell by Ellen Caughey
This book tells the fascinating life story of Eric Liddell, Olympic gold medallist in the 400 metres at the 1924 Paris Olympics. This feat was of course immortalised in the award winning film “Chariots of Fire”.
The book however paints a much broader picture of Eric Liddell, the athlete and evangelist. It describes how Eric turned his back on athletics to respond to God’s call. The book details some of the trials and triumphs of working as an evangelist amongst the poor rural communities in China. In this setting “Uncle Eric” as he is known is recognised as much for his work amongst the local children as for his prowess on the athletic track.
Eric Liddell can truly be said to have “ran the race that was set before him” but, in doing so, he turned his back on the fame and adulation that he had known as an athlete. This short book is certainly worth reading and raises the perennial question of what might we be prepared to “give up” in order to respond obediently to God’s call on our life?
I Can Only Imagine – Mercy Me
Mercy Me sing about the joy and wonder of meeting Jesus.
Bible Reading Quotes
The following Bible reading quotes from KJV-Asia hopefully will challenge and inspire you:
Moody testifies, “One week I read Ephesians 93 TIMES THROUGH (13 times daily for a week) and on Sunday preached without notes under the strongest anointing I ever felt in a single service in my life.”
Dr. Gray longed for many years to be filled with the Word of God, but failed to see the way. One day at a conference he met a layman overflowing in the power of the Word and asked him, “How did this happen to you?” The layman answered “BY READING BOOKS OF THE BIBLE OVER AND OVER.” The great preacher was humbled by learning a lesson from a layman he had never discovered in his own ministry. Note the power in reading a whole book of the Bible!
George Muller read the bible through every 90 days (3 months) or 4 times a year for 25 years, and said, “I am a happy, happy, happy man.” In his writings he tells of some problems that came up in early morning prayer hours. He decided TO READ THE BIBLE FIRST each day – his regular prayer time followed and the problems vanished!
Ravenhill, in his book “Meat For Men” tells of Dr. Sung who was placed in the state hospital in White Plaines, New York. He requested a Bible AND READ IT THROUGH 40 TIMES IN 6 MONTHS, and received a working knowledge of all 1189 chapters in the Bible – EVERY 4-1/2 DAYS FOR HALF A YEAR. He was dismissed, completely recovered, from the hospital!
Campbell Morgan told an audience the entire Bible could be read through in 80 hours at the SLOW READING RATE pastors use in the pulpit. A lawyer challenged him, admitting that he had never read the Bible through. Morgan told him to read the Bible through before presenting a public challenge. The lawyer read the Bible through IN LESS THAN 80 HOURS!
Scrooge – The Musical
Last Saturday I went to see Scrooge – The Musical in Woking starring Tommy Steele in the lead role. Scrooge is of course the main character in Charles Dickens book Christmas Carol. I have seen and enjoyed many different film versions of Christmas Carol over the years and it is one of my favourite stories that has been taken to the screen. I had not realised there was a musical though so I was intrigued to see what it would be like. Musicals can be very good but I did not know any of the songs so was unsure what to expect.
I am pleased to say that I was not disappointed. Tommy Steele was excellent as Scrooge and received a standing ovation at the end of the show. He portrayed both sides of Scrooge very well. There were many other strong performances from the cast. Also despite the limitations of a stage the scenery, props and special effects were excellent too and added to a very good production.
Scrooge is of course a very well known character and I still enjoy seeing him change after he encounters the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. What a wonderful change from a horrid man who only thought of himself and how much money he could get to a man who was deeply concerned with other people, especially those who were worse off than him.
As I ponder this story I’m reminded of a man called Zacchaeus. He like Scrooge loved money and it dominated his life too. Zacchaeus also had his life completely turned round. However unlike Scrooge he did not meet the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. Zacchaeus met Jesus the Son of God and was completely changed. Have you met Jesus?
This is Discipling
I wonder what might happen if we took up the discipleship model from this video and used it instead of our current program?
The Parable of the Talents
Yesterday our vicar preached on the parable of the talents from Matthew 25. This is a very familar parable to many of us but he made some good points which I have mentioned briefly below.
Interestingly at the start of the parable we are told that each person was given a different number of talents. However what is important in this parable is not the number of talents that they had been given but how they used them. It is better to use a few talents wisely then to be given many talents and not use them.
So why did the person not use the one talent that they had been given? Or maybe more relevantly why do we not use the talents that God has given us? Fear, laziness, apathy and disobedience can be reasons that stop us using our talents. If we don’t use the gift God has given us we let Him down and also other people as well. How many people will miss being blessed because we have not used our talents wisely?
Imagine that after you died your headstone said, “He nearly did that.” That would be so sad to see. So much that we could or might have done but the opportunity would be lost for ever, a wasted life.
It does take courage to obey God. Faith involves risk! Life is what we do with God’s gift and we should be willing to step out, take risks and undertake acts of courage.
We must use our talents to honour God and bless others. We may lose our talents if they are not used – use it or lose it!
Lest We Forget
Today we remember all those who paid the ultimate sacrifice during various wars.
