So  what did you all think of Hyperfuse and The Steels? Did you have a great time - or were you asleep?

Apr 30: 2 Sam 3:22-6:11; Luke 20:27-47
May 1: 2 Sam 6:12-9:13; Luke 21:1-19
May 2: 2 Sam 10-12; Luke 21:20-38
May 3: 2 Sam 13-14; Luke 22:1-23
May 4: 2 Sam 15:1-17:14; Luke 22:24-34
May 5: 2 Sam 17:15-19:30; Luke 22:35-62
May 6: 2 Sam 19:31-22:10; Luke 22:63-23:12

Love isn’t staring into each others eyes but staring in the same direction

(from a sign post in Bolton Abbey)

Here’s a new tour that may be coming near you soon.

 It is coming to Halifax on the 20th of May. LZ7, thebandwithnoname and Blush will be there. The tickets cost £6.

Click on the picture of LZ7 for a link to the Hope Revolution site.

Adam asked a very good question about the last post - are’nt we meant to fear God? The answer is yes and no.

 Yes we are meant to fear God but not in the way you are thinking of. We are not afraid of God. We know he is for us, loves us, wants good things for us and will never harm us. But we are in fear of him because we respect and realise how massive and awesome he is. We are in fear of him because we know that it is God who can save or punish our souls. Look at this verse.

4“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. 6Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Luke 12

It seems to make no sense. One minute it says fear God and then it says do not be afraid. They are very different one is good and positive and the other is not the best for our lives. To fear God is the beginning of wisdom Proverb 9:10 and helps us live in a right way Exodus 20:20. To be afraid will cripple our affectiveness as Christians and cause us to cower in the corner. When Adam became afraid of God it spoilt a beautiful friendship Gen 3:10. We are mighty warriors and are full of strength and courage.

 2 Timothy 1:7
For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of sound mind.

The Impact Team from  Southport are here to work with the youth, in schools and on the streets. Our very own Simon is one of the lovely group. We are having a fantastic time. We are finishing it at the end of the week with an awesome gig featuring The Steels and Retrofect. 

It is so exciting to spend time on the streets talking to youth about God. There is such a buzz when you know you are telling people the truth. 

Panic Room starts tonight on BBC at 9. It is a programme all about people’s fears and phobias. What are you afraid of? Have you any phobias?

 I have been thinking a lot about fear recently. Fear is the opposite to faith. Take a look at this verse:

And He said to them, [Why are you so fearful?] Where is your faith (your trust, your confidence in Me–in My veracity and My integrity)? And they were seized with alarm and profound and reverent dread, and they marveled, saying to one another, Who then is this, that He commands even wind and sea, and they obey Him? Luke 8:25

If we fear things. people, situations we are not living in faith. We have lost our confidence in God. We might have taken our eyes off God and placed them somewhere else, we might have forgotten how powerful God is, or we might think that God doesn’t care for us enough to want to help. Let us decide now that God is all powerful, he does love us more than we could even imagine, he is a God who we can be confident in. We have nothing to fear.

Readings this week:

Apr. 23: 1 Sam 17:12-18:19; Luke 17:11-37
Apr. 24: 1 Sam 18:20-20:34; Luke 18:1-14
Apr. 25: 1 Sam 20:35-23:29; Luke 18:15-43
Apr. 26: 1 Sam 24:1-25:31; Luke 19:1-27
Apr. 27: 1 Sam 25:32-28:25; Luke 19:28-48
Apr. 28: 1 Sam 29-2 Sam 1; Luke 20:1-18
Apr. 29: 2 Sam 2:1-3:21; Luke 20:19-26

The first person who puts a comment to this post will win £10

If you believe in yourself you can achieve your dreams but if you believe in God you can achieve much better things. God helps you achieve much better things in life. Click the picture and listen to the words carefully.

This holiday I visited Poland! It’s an extremely pretty country with some amazing buildings and where ever you look there is another church building! But behind the tranquillity and beauty of Poland you can find a few places of despair.

 

Auschwitz was a concentration and death camp that was set up by the Nazis in World War II. As I walked round the old camp I felt like one of the luckiest people in the world, I was alive. The atmosphere there was so cold, it sent shivers up your spine and the temperature felt like it had dropped. The shear scale of the place was shocking, at Auschwitz Birkenau as far as the eye could see there were hundreds of barracks, which were more like stables. The silence that seamed to echo through the place was heart breaking; nobody wanted to say a word.

Some of the displays we looked at included a huge glass display case which contained human hair, the Nazis believed in wasting as little as possible they would have used this for blankets and even in the Nazis uniforms, We saw hundreds of suitcases each with names on, a different story for each person as they came caring every thing they owned and a bag of false hope. The walls were covered in pictures of hundred of prisoners, each with shaven heads and the sadist eyes, they looked broken and empty with no hope left.

At the end of Auschwitz in a corner there was a monument to remember all those who perished. It was a huge plat form covered in thousands of stones, with some monuments on top in many different languages. Our guide told us that to if you gave a minute of silence for every person who died you would be silent for two whole years. Visiting this place opened my eyes to just how awful the holocaust of the Jews was, we are so lucky to be living in a country with equal rights and freedom. 

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I’m sorry about the lack of regular posts - I am still struggling with the internet connection

Readings this week:
Apr. 16: Ruth 4:13-1 Sam 2:21; Luke 12:49-13:9
Apr. 17: 1 Sam 2:22-5:12; Luke 13:10-35
Apr. 18: 1 Sam 6-8; Luke 14:1-24
Apr. 19: 1 Sam 9-10; Luke 14:25-15:10
Apr. 20: 1 Sam 11:1-13:7; Luke 15:11-19
Apr. 21: 1 Sam 13:8-14:52; Luke 15:20-16:13
Apr. 22: 1 Sam 15:1-17:11; Luke 16:14-17:10

An atheist was walking through the woods.
“What majestic trees”!
“What powerful rivers”!
“What beautiful animals”!
He said to himself.
As he was walking alongside the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned to look. He saw a 7-foot grizzly charge towards him.
He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder & saw that the bear was closing in on him.
He looked over his shoulder again, & the bear was even closer. He tripped & fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick  himself up but saw that the bear was right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw & raising his right paw to strike him.  At that instant the Atheist cried out, “Oh my God!” (more…)