Hmm...

So, how come, even though I have left. I still post on here more than anyone except James (who doesn't count 'cos he is a James)?

This is dissapointing. Tell yourselves off!

Love you all.
Ben
XD

Christmas Quiz

Ok so anyone can answer this quiz (not just youth, not just people from Sanctum etc)

Write your answers in a comment attached to this post. T/F = true or false. I will reveal the answers either Christmas Day or soon after. Hope it relieves boredom for a few minutes (rather then inducing it) - please don't explain your answers.

 1) T/F An angel told Mary that she will give birth to a son who is to be called Jesus.

2) T/F Joseph was also visited by an angel.

3) For what reason did they have to travel to Bethlehem?

4) How did they travel to Bethlehem?

5)T/F Jesus was born in a stable.

6)T/F there was a star above the stable Jesus was born in.

7) T/F Jesus was born on the 25th December.

8)T/F It was winter when Jesus was born.

9) T/F Shepherds visited Jesus at the manger.

10) T/F The wise people who came to visit Jesus did so at the manger.

11) What sex were the wise people that came to visit Jesus?

12) How may wise people where there?

Filming

Hey,

I have gone through the filming we did and have everything I need, I pieced the film together just need to add title and credits. But ill take names on Sunday (sorry some of you are faily knew so I still haven't learnt them).

Don't forget it's the Youth Christmas Social this Sunday. I think Sarah wants us all to bring £3 for food and stuff.

Keep praying, whatever it is, pray, pray and pray some more. Don't be dispointed if you don't see immediate results - amazing things are happening all the time, be joyous over these. Smile, whatever you prayed about might just be taking time, it works on God's timeline not ours and he will sort it :) It's something that I have had to realise this week.

Filming

We discussed filming the other day which will take place this Sunday.

Please check what you need to bring the list is as follows:

Kirsty (Mary) and Josh (Joseph) - just need to wear normla clothes.

Josh - camera and USB lead (please :))

Alex (Narrator) - The big hat! :)

Aaron (Gabriel) - Wear something on the more gothy side 

Shepards (Emily, Lizzie and someone else) - Tea towl on head

Lizzie - sheep thing and donkey thing please

Sheep (Becky) - Something sheepy

Wise (wo)men (vikki, and two other people) Some kind of crown or tiara 

Donkey - Something brown 

Sorry to those who I can't remember and those who's names I can't remember.

Everyone else is in the Chorus if you don't have another part (although you could be an extra wise woman or shepard if you want so come prepared for that. 

If there is anything I have missed then let me know and I will add it. 

Prayer

O dear Lord, help me today in everything I do and say. Help me follow through on everything I'm called to do. And 'though my way is tough to see, help me follow on my knees. In everything I say and do, Lord, help me follow After You. Amen By jesusroxgirl

Psalm 130

A song of ascents.

 1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;

 2 O Lord, hear my voice. 
       Let your ears be attentive 
       to my cry for mercy.

 3 If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, 
       O Lord, who could stand?

 4 But with you there is forgiveness; 
       therefore you are feared.

 5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, 
       and in his word I put my hope.

 6 My soul waits for the Lord 
       more than watchmen wait for the morning, 
       more than watchmen wait for the morning.

 7 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, 
       for with the LORD is unfailing love 
       and with him is full redemption.

 8 He himself will redeem Israel 
       from all their sins.

Hey all from the USA

Hey!

Ben here, posting from the USA. Having a great time and missing you all. Hope it is not too quiet without me. Check out the video I posted a few days ago on Facebook and my Blog.

I will try and update my blog more often and post a few more vids. We have just had an awesome conference here that blessed me a lot. 

Please keep me in your prayers.

Bless y'all

Ben

XD

Love your neighbour as yourself.

The Greatest Commandment

 28One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"

 29"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'^f31The second is this: 'Love your neighbour as yourself. 'There is no commandment greater than these."

(Mark 12:28-31 NIV)

Ok so we hear this quite a bit, we talked about it at Sanctum Youth during the first week of iChurch but I want to steal Lizzie’s idea (hope you don’t mind!) and look at another side to it then we would normally.

Specifically I want to look at this part “The second is this: 'Love your neighbour as yourself. 'There is no commandment greater than these." So this is obviously about thinking about other people and we all understand the meaning behind it, treating others well and loving them. But like I said I want to look at it from a different angle.

The commandment states that you must love your neighbour as yourself. So to be able to love your neighbour as yourself you need to love yourself. How often do you find yourself forgiving others more easily then yourself, beating yourself up for the mistakes you make? How often do you look in the mirror and struggle to love the image staring back at you? I know I do both of these things at times and I am sure that I am not the only one. How are we able to love one another as we love ourselves if we are struggling to love ourselves?

Maybe we struggle with loving ourselves because we want to be humble. Loving yourself is not about becoming self centred or believing that you are better then other people. Loving yourself is about learning who you are through Christ and learning to be comfortable with that person and to love that person and realise that you are made just how you are meant to be. We don’t have to be the best, or be like a certain person, or be who others think we should be but we should try our best to be the person that God made us and wants us to be.

Maybe sometimes we need to learn to love ourselves as we love our best friends (being able to see past the flaws and trying to find the real person within and the things that they are good at and the person they are) and then we can love our neighbours as ourselves.

Jesus could have said love everyone as your best friend but he didn’t he chose to say as yourself. That puts us in the position of having to learn to love ourselves so we are able to love our brothers. 

God the provider.

Phil 4
"19And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

At college this week we have had to collect source materials for our induction activity. We need to have them by the time we start college this afternoon. The one key thing that I needed was a realistic looking bird feather. So on the first day I bought a pack of brightly coloured feathers meant for kid’s craft, but that wasn't realistic the colours were all wrong (at least I couldn't get into trouble for taking nothing as we were originally told we needed them for the next day). Yesterday after college I saw a feather bower in a shop window and bought that, however the feathers were not quite what I was looking for and needed, and besides it had a bit of glitter on (Still better then the brightly coloured pack though). This morning I just happened to go out into the garden to do something and see the rabbit (I sometimes do this of a morning but it is by no means a daily thing) and on the floor I noticed a bird’s feather on the garden. I was like wow this is much more like it, although still not the perfect feather I had been looking for. Then I noticed another, which I thought could be useful and then another and another, until the last feather that I found in the garden. It was hidden in slightly longer grass then the rest, which was wet and wet my socks in my flip flops. However it was worth getting my feet wet as when I picked it up I realised it was the perfect feather, just what I had been looking for, the right shape, realistic bird colour and no glitter. God is a provider. He provides us with what we need. Not always what we want, but what we need.

Au Revoir

My Friends,

I just wanted to say a goodbye that you can all see before I go incase I miss any of you next sunday. I am flying on the 18th and will not be back until June next year. I love you guys so so so so much and I will miss you loads. I want to encourage you to keep praying, worshiping and supporting each other. There is an amazing, powerful and loving God up there and he deserves the best from you all, you don't deserve the best from Him but he gives it to you anyway.

I will be praying for you all while I am away and hope to hear from you regularly. You can keep up with me on my blog and email me whenever at thetictocmonkey@aol.com

Bless you all so much

Ben

XD

Church

Hey,

Sorry that the blog has slipped recently, remember that any of the youth can sign up to post just talk to me or Gareth, and if you are already signed up remember you can post. I will start up passage of the week again when I get back in a couple of weeks as I go away at the weekend. During this time there probably won't be any updates to the site but if anything should need changing urgently let Gareth know.

Anyways I read this and liked it:
“I use the word ‘church’ here with a somewhat heavy heart. I know that for many of my readers that very word will carry the overtones of large, dark buildings, pompous religious pronouncements, false solemnity, and rank hypocrisy. But there is no easy alternative. I, too, feel the weight of that negative image. I battle with it professionally all the time.

“But there is another side to it, a side which shows all the signs of the wind and fire, of the bird brooding over the waters and bringing new life. For many, ‘church’ means just the opposite of that negative image. It’s a place of welcome and laughter, of healing and hope, of friends and family and justice and new life. It’s where the homeless drop in for a bowl of soup and the elderly stop by for a chat. It’s where one group is working to help drug addicts and another is campaigning for global justice. It’s where you’ll find people learning to pray, coming to faith, struggling with temptation, finding new purpose, and getting in touch with a new power to carry that purpose out. It’s where people bring their own small faith and discover, in getting together with others to worship the one true God, that the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. No church is like this all the time. But a remarkable number of churches are partly like that for quite a lot of time.”

Quote from Simply Christian by Tom Wright. Published in the UK by SPCK (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge) in 2006.

Facebook

There is now a Sanctum group on Facebook.  Please visit it and join!

Cheers,

Ben

Hello...

Hi, you may have noticed that I haven't posted any articles in a while. For any of you mad enough to be missing them then you can download me preaching a NEDCF on sunday on iTunes, just search for NEDCF.

God bless

Ben

Check out the events page for more information about upcoming events, including the Sanctum Youth social, Sanctum Social, Skegness and Greenbelt.

Also please note that the last Sanctum Youth before the summer break is Sunday 20th July and Sanctum Youth will resume on Sunday 14th September.

Sanctum will continue during this time.

Genesis 7:1-4 (New International Version)

1 The LORD then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven [a] of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made."

Mark's Ordination and Miriam

Mark was ordained as Deacon in Derby Cathedral on June 29th.

Miriam is leaving us to do the School of Photography II in Kona, Hawaii. During her time away she will also be going to China. She will be returning some time in October.

--
Dear Lord,

I Pray in thanks for both of these people as they embark on the next exciting chapters of thier lives, in particular the safe return of Miriam.

New Vicar

New Vicar
The Revd Petra Owen-Moore, Non-Stipendiary Minister at Derby, St. Barnabas, Diocese of Derby, has been appointed Vicar in the North Wingfield Team Ministry with responsibility for Clay Cross and Danesmoor from the 3rd of September.

Luke 6:22-23

"Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down or throws you out, every time someone smears or blackens your name to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and that that person is uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—skip like a lamb, if you like!—for even though they don't like it, I do . . . and all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company; my preachers and witnesses have always been treated like this."

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to [b] me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.
19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

Some more updates

Right we can now update the site again, which is great as the events page was out of date by about a month or more and one or two things weren't quite working properly.

If you look to your left you will notice a bookmark widget, if you noticed this before I mentioned it (10/10 for observation, it has been on the site for a month) then you may have noticed that it didn't work. This is now fixed so you can easily bookmark this site in your browser bookmarks (at least for IE anyway) and for social bookmarking platforms (It will help us to maintain our top Google position, making sure that people can find us if you do!!).

Also Snap Shots have been installed allowing you to preview an external link before clicking on it (try it out on the links page!!)

There is also a resouces page, if you have something that you think would be useful then email me.

If you have any comments on the updates feel free to throw in your two cents and if something isn't working the tell me :)

Here's another ASBO for you:

The week's passages

Just two short ones this week.

Psalm 34:18 (New International Version)

18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalm 147:3 (New International Version)

3 He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.

This week's passage

Matthew 28 (New International Version)

The Resurrection

1After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
2There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3His appearance was like lightning, and his
clothes were white as snow. 4The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
5The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."
8So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

The Guards' Report

11While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13telling them, "You are to say, 'His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.' 14If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." 15So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

The Great Commission

16Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
This was taken from http://www.biblegateway.com/

p.s this blog is becoming a bit of a one man show, it was never intended to be so. If you are already signed up please blog if you have something that is suitable (it can be anything really, an image, prayer, thought, bible study of anything else that you can think of). If you haven't signed up but would like to blog then let us know and we will get you set up (it's really really easy!!!)

The forgotten people in society are often the ones who need help the most. It's so easy to get caught up in what is happening in our own lives and the lives of our friends that we do not remember these people in our prayers. Maybe we can all spare some time to pray for people in prison, hospital, nursing homes and others who a generally forgotten by society.

Discussion on this can be found here http://asbojesus.wordpress.com/2008/03/19/414/#comments

Another thought

from our friends at ASBO Jesus (http://asbojesus.wordpress.com/)

This week's passage

Luke 11 (NIV)

Jesus' Teaching on Prayer

1One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."

2He said to them, "When you pray, say:
" 'Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
3Give us each day our daily bread.
4Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.' "

5Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.'

7"Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' 8I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

9"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

11"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

Updates

Right I just thought I'd update you on what's happening. Gareth's computer (which is used to upload changes to the site) is having some technical problems which we are/he is working on a way round so we can update the site. He has now gone on holiday so this has been put on hold until he gets back. We will get this sorted so just bare with us, no updates (apart from the blog) are possible until we get this sorted.



I am currently working on a new forum which will be much better and have more features. We should also be able to integrate this into the site to make it easier for people to visit. A resource list is also going to be added to the site if you would like to suggest a link for this then please email me (james@james-lock.co.uk).



I have a couple of Ideas that I am mulling for a blog entry but they need to become far more formed before I will be ready to post them so for now I will leave you with this form asbo Jesus (http://asbojesus.wordpress.com/)

Sanctum Youth Service pictures

Hey, Me and Gareth are currently experiencing some technical issues in updating the site (other then through the blog), hopefully we will have this sorted soon. So for now I will post some of the pictures from last night here. More should be coming soon when we have sorted everything out :)

Youth Service

Just a note to say well done to everyone with the youth service. The drama was very good, Becky preached really well and the worship wasn't too bad either (if I do say so m'self).

Keep going, guys, you are all amazing and mean a lot to me!

Ben
XD

The weeks passage

Romans 7:14-25 (New International Version)

14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Lets look at this: Paul is describing the persistent nature of sin, that it is sinful nature and sin living within someone that causes them to sin although in their heart and mind they know what is good and want to do good. He says how this internal struggle causes confusion and tension (7:15). Paul is not trying to escape the responsibility of sinning but is telling of the great control sin can have over peoples life (7:17). Paul also describes his own fallen nature (7:18). He does love God's law and wants to live by it, wants to fulfill every part of it and in his heart and mind this is how he wants to be. (7:22). It is another law that causes a person to act in the ways he wishes not to, the law of sin, the law that has a strong hold over his life. The body of death is the body of sin, for sin causes death, an unrescued sinner is dead whilst alive, whilst a forgiven one can be alive after death, Paul questions who will save him from this body of death and then gives the answer, Jesus Christ (7:24-25)

A related reading can be found here http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gal%205:16-26;&version=31;

As ever I copy/pasted the passage from www.biblegateway.com and I referred to the NIV Study Bible published by Zondervan (2002) for notes of the passage.

This week's bible passage

This passage follows on from the reading in the service this week (check it here if you missed it)

Ephesians 4 (NIV)
Living as Children of Light

17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
20You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

(As ever I copied the bible quote from http://www.biblegateway.com )

Bible passage of the week

Ok so I am going to start a Bible passage of the week. Most weeks it will probably be linked to the theme of the service and/or the Sanctum Youth session. Hopefully it will generate some comments and discussion, feel free to post other Bible passages, thoughts etc etc.

2 Corinthians 7:10 (The Message)
Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets.

Freedom

Well, this is partly a follow on from my last article with some thoughts I have had since as well as some new thoughs I have had. I was listening to a recording of a guy called Andrew Shearman today (he's the guy who shouts at the beginning of those Fire Fly songs) and he was talking about Jeremiah 29 (which I quoted in my last article).

We often hear that famous section from Jeremiah 29 read and it is a fantastic segment of the bible, very probably my favourite, but we rarely look at the story behind it. In Jeremiah, the Israelites have long come out of the slavery in Egypt but are now slaves inside Babylon. However, where before they were made to work to death, given no freedom, no rights, and split apart by the Egyptians, they are now in a new kind of slavery. They are allowed to own land, to keep animals and live a normal life, however they cannot rule in any way, they have no say in what happens to them. It is what Andrew Shearman calls "sophisticated slavery". 

Now today we seem to live in a very free and accepting culture. We are allowed to have our churches and practise our faith as we like. But when we try and proclaim the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, people don't want it. We are told that "all faiths are true to those who believe them" that we are arrogant if we try and call the Bible true and all other religious teachings false. Or how about the phrase "there is no such thing as absolute truth. Hmm...let's consider that one for a moment. Are you telling me that it is absolutely true that there is no such thing as absolute truth? "Well, that's true for you, but it's not true for me." Well then, is it only true for you that my faith is only true to me and not to you but not true to me? (Read that sentence a few times, I promise it makes sense.) If our faith is true then it precludes the truth of all other faiths. If the Bible says there is only one God (and if you're unsure, it does), then there cannot be any other Gods. I cannot say that another faith is right. I can respect that faith and the people who follow it. But I cannot deny that my faith teaches, and that I believe, that they are wrong and being misled by the devil.

Have you ever heard someone show off by knowing the word "antidisestablishmentarianism"? Great word! But what does it mean? Well, the establishment is the church as part of the running and ruling of this country, so DISestablishmentarianism is people who are against that (a lot of people today), thus ANTI-DISestablishmentarianism is people who are against the people who are against the church being a part of the running and ruling of this country. One of the queen's titles is "Defender of the Faith", can anyone tell me that last time you heard the queen defending our faith in this country? They don't want us to have a say in how this officially "Christian" country is run. Have your churches, practise your faith, but don't push to rule, don't push to run your own country. Does that sound familiar? It is just a Babylonian, sophisticated slavery.

I have even sometimes been into church and felt uncomfortable to freely express my faith. Sometimes we feel like we have to water down our beliefs to make people feel comfortable. Is that what Jesus did? Make people feel comfortable? No. He proclaimed the truth and a lot of people didn't like it. Did he water it down to help them feel comfortable? No. He stood firm to what he believed and the way he did it. In a society that likes its diet bland, the word of God will so often have too much Red meat for them. We do not have live in this sophisticated slavery. We have to be audacious in our faith, and stand for what is right and true whether the secular society, or even some people in the church, like it or not.

And to add something to what I said in my last article I would like to make reference to something I once read in a book by Max Lucado. If you remember I was talking about the bad times we have to go through and how it is all part of God's Big plan for our and other people's lives. Take a piece of silver jewelry or cutlery that you have and have a good look at it. The surface should be smooth and perfect without rough parts or impurities. That perfection is not easy to achieve. The silversmith has to put a lot of work in to get that finish. When he works the silver, the silversmith has to get a roaring hot furnace and plunge the silver into it. As the silver heats up it becomes malleable and the smith can work it. He takes it from the fire and works it with his hammer and tools and then has to put it back into the furnace again and take it out and hammer it again. He must repeat this process many, many times to achieve the perfect finish to the jewelry you are holding. God is like that with us. He wants us to be perfect, he wants to mould us to be just like Jesus. But we are far from perfect. He must plunge us into difficult situations, that hurt and break us like the furnace, but it is only through this that we can become ready for him to change us and mould us to be like Him. So don't despair in the tough times, see them through and keep praising God, because he is preparing you to be changed and moulded to become better and closer to that perfect finish. Free of impurities. Just like Jesus.

If you want to know more:

Some suggested listening from this article is from a conference at NEDCF with Andrew Shearman, see me if you would like a copy. And some suggested reading is "Just like Jesus" by Max Lucado, available in Christian book shops and from amazon.

Podcasts

It was great to have Ted Hanson with us last night to bring us some encouragement and words from God. If you want to hear last night's sermon and prophecies again or the other messages he gave over the weekend at North East Derbyshire Christian Fellowship then you can download them in two ways:

If you have iTunes then search for "NEDCF" in the iTunes store and download them free.

Alternatively, you can visit the NEDCF podcast here and download them (also free).

If you would like to get hold of the recordings from the last two times Ted visited clay cross then please ask me.

Lost

Firstly watch Simon talking in the video above.

When we feel lost sometimes the last thing we feel like doing or even think to do is to approach God.

Sometimes it is our actions that cause us to get lost. We may not feel that we are able to come before God as we are at that time. We may feel we are not good enough and do not deserve to come before God. Maybe we have pushed God out of our lives because we have wanted to live it the way that we want to for a while rather then the way that God wants. The truth is that none of us are good enough, and none of use deserve to be able to come before God yet his love for us allows us to. He loves us all so much that no matter what state we are in, no matter what we have done we can come before him. Not only does his love allow us to approach him he wants us to approach him, he has been calling out our name leaving the 99 other sheep to come and get us back again. It's easy to think I'll sort myself out first and then go and find God but it's not so easy to sort ourselves out without the help of God, God wants to help us and with his help we are able to get our lives back on track and not feel lost anymore.

This week I heard about a guy called Clay Crosse who is a Christian singer in America and had a very successful song over there called "I surrender all". Although to everyone else he seemed to have a pretty good life, a wife and a daughter along with a career he presumably loved, he became addicted to porn. This addiction nearly cost him his marriage, he lost his relationship with God and he nearly lost his career. As he was touring he began to find that his voice wasn't performing they way that it had been and went to see a vocal coach. The coach asked him if everything was ok with his home life and how his relationship with God was. The vocal coach prayed with Clay and Clay left knowing that his life had been changed in that session and that everything was going to get sorted out. He went back to his wife and told her everything and although it was a hard time for both of them they managed to sort out their relationship over the year that followed by asking God to help them in the situation. Although his voice hasn't returned 100% he is able to go and perform concerts.

"God just loved me back, and every area of my life just changed. The things that I once thought were so important just began to look silly. Something as uncool as reading God’s Word began to be real cool to me and real nourishment" - Clay Crosse

Clay now uses his experience to help others fighting this addiction, God is using him and his experiences in a positive way to help others find their way back to God.

Clay's story shows us three things:
1) By praying to God about what we have done, by asking for forgiveness, asking God to help us and lead us away from what we have been doing we can stop and start to live our lives the way that we need to be.
2) God wants to take us back, for us to find him again and that when we do approach him and pray to him for help and forgiveness he will take us back.
3) Once we have sorted our lives out God is able to use our experiences to help others to change their lives and to find their way back to God.

If you are feeling lost then I encourage you to pray and maybe get someone to pray with/for you. Perhaps at Sanctum Youth you can find someone that you feel comfortable with and ask them to pray with you. I am happy to pray with and/or for people and I am sure that any of the leaders will be maybe you want to ask a friend to pray with you, whatever you feel comfortable with.

I got some of the info here: http://www.cbn.com/cbnmusic/Interviews/700club_crosses022806.aspx

Tomorrow Night

Remember that Sanctum Youth changes from tomorrow night! We are now meeting in two, smaller groups - one at Simon & Christy's house and one at Mark & Sarah's house. We will be walking round there after Sanctum finishes. Please get to St. Barnabus no later than 7.15. If you arrive earlier there is tea and coffee etc.

Also, Ted Hanson is the guest speaker at Sanctum tomorrow night so get there for 5.00 if you want to hear him. He will also be speaking at North East Derbyshire Christian Fellowship on Market Street, Clay Cross (opposite the fire station) tonight at 7.30 and in the morning at 10.30. You can visit his website here.

See you tomorrow.

God's Big Plan

So often we go through tough times and hard situations and it's hard to know that God is in control and that he has a plan when things seem so hopeless. 

In the Bible, Joseph had some more difficult times than most. He was his father's favourite son and his brother's resented him for it and so they sold him to slave traders, took his clothes, covered them in animal blood and told his father he was dead. He was then taken to Egypt and, after becoming an important servant to Potiphar and falsely accused of sleeping with his wife, thrown into jail. He helped a servant of the Pharaoh by interpreting his dream and telling him he would be set free and reinstated as butler. The butler promised to tell the King about Joseph but it took him two years to remember to do this.

It must have seemed to Joseph at times that God had forsaken him and that he had no great plan for his life but let's look a bit further back in the Bible.

Joseph's great-grandfather was Abraham, and in Genesis 17, God makes a promise to Abraham; he says, "I am making my agreement with you: I will make you father of many nations. I am changing your name from Abram to Abraham because I am making you a father of many nations. I will give you many descendants. New nations will be born from you, and kings will come from you. And I will make an agreement between me and you and all your descendants from now on: I will be your God and the God of all your descendants." - Genesis 17:4-7 (NCV)

So God had promised to make Abraham's descendants many and look after them. So think about this; if Joseph had not been sold by his brothers and thrown into jail and had not met the butler then Pharaoh's dream about the famine would not have been interpreted, food would not have been put aside, Joseph's family would not have got food from Egypt and they would have died and God's promise to Abraham would have failed there and then. 

God has a huge plan for our lives and for everyone's lives, sometimes we can't see the reasons for what is happening to us because the reason is so huge we could never work it out. God had a plan for Abraham's family and that had to involve Joseph going through some very, very hard times. God also has a plan for your life and for the lives of those around you and sometimes we have to go though hard situations because God wants to do something for them through you.

Four years ago I went though a very difficult time, I became depressed and stopped going to school and had anxiety problems. This was a horrible time of my life and still affects me today. However, because of this I moved to Shirebrook School where I met James, Kara and Emily. I invited James and Kara to Embryo and Sanctum and they became Christians. Emily and Emily and Kara's mum also became Christians. If I had not been through all the rubbish I had to go through, I would never have moved to Shirebrook and James, Kara, Emily and Jenny would not have got saved. 

Remember: "...I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile." - Jeremiah 29:11-14 (NIV)

God has a plan for everything he does so don't forget God's love during the dark times. Worship him all the more and pray that his plan for you will come true. Remember that God can see the big picture, he sees how it all fits together. Trust Him, He knows what He's doing!

Ben Ramsdale

(Quotations found at www.studylight.org)

Luke 8:43-56

Related to Ben's preaching on Sunday. I found a piece of paper placed at this page in my bible from a session we did in Sunday school a while ago.

Luke 8:43-56 (The Message - taken from www.biblegateway.com)
43-45In the crowd that day there was a woman who for twelve years had been afflicted with hemorrhages. She had spent every penny she had on doctors but not one had been able to help her. She slipped in from behind and touched the edge of Jesus' robe. At that very moment her hemorrhaging stopped. Jesus said, "Who touched me?"

When no one stepped forward, Peter said, "But Master, we've got crowds of people on our hands. Dozens have touched you."

46Jesus insisted, "Someone touched me. I felt power discharging from me."

47When the woman realized that she couldn't remain hidden, she knelt trembling before him. In front of all the people, she blurted out her story—why she touched him and how at that same moment she was healed.

48Jesus said, "Daughter, you took a risk trusting me, and now you're healed and whole. Live well, live blessed!"

49While he was still talking, someone from the leader's house came up and told him, "Your daughter died. No need now to bother the Teacher."

50-51Jesus overheard and said, "Don't be upset. Just trust me and everything will be all right." Going into the house, he wouldn't let anyone enter with him except Peter, John, James, and the child's parents.

52-53Everyone was crying and carrying on over her. Jesus said, "Don't cry. She didn't die; she's sleeping." They laughed at him. They knew she was dead.

54-56Then Jesus, gripping her hand, called, "My dear child, get up." She was up in an instant, up and breathing again! He told them to give her something to eat. Her parents were ecstatic, but Jesus warned them to keep quiet. "Don't tell a soul what happened in this room."

As Ben was saying we need to approach God and ask for his help in the problems that we have, whatever these are. If we need more patience, we need to pray for more patience, if we need more grace we need to pray for more grace, for more faith we need to pray for more faith (and so on).

We need to be like the woman with hemorrhages who approached Jesus and because of doing so was healed and not like the person from the leaders house believing there is no point in approaching God because it is too late or for whatever other reason.

Whatever the problem is just approach God in prayer, ask for forgiveness for whatever you may have done and ask for His help to sort the problem out. Without God our problems can be far too daunting to deal with but with God these problems will become manageable.

Bloggers Wanted

We would like to make this web site as dynamic as possible with regular updates. It would be great to see a variety of regular articles created by members of the youth. These could include anything from a simple thought to a full Bible study. It could cover any topic - fun or serious.

If you are a member of Sanctum Youth and would like to be a regular "blogger" - then let me know and I will show you how. It can be as simple as sending an email.

See you Sunday,

Gareth

Sanctum MySpace Group

All you MySpace users out there join the Sanctum Group here.

Youth Worship on Sunday

Several members of Sanctum Youth will be part of the worship band this Sunday. Zara, April, Josh, Ben, Kara and Gareth (leader) will all be playing. Come along and join in!

Sanctum Social 30/1/2008

Here are the images from the latest Sanctum Youth Social. The Youth enjoyed takeaway from the local Chinese and took part in games and activities.

We were also treated to an impromptu musical performance from the very talented songwriters and musicians, April and Zara:

Sanctum Youth Forum

On the 13th February the Sanctum Youth Forum went live for members to sign up and start discussions. Pleas visit the forum here:

http://sanctumyouth.proboards57.com/

Move to New Building

On the 14th October 2007 Sanctum, Along with its other ventures, including sanctum youth, moved into the newly built St Barnabas Centre in Danesmoor. The first service was attended by over 150 people, including all the congregation of Sanctum, members of the local community, members of other local churches and those involved with the planning and development of the St Barnabas Centre.

For more information about the centre please visit http://www.claycross.org/

New Blog

We now have an active blog for Sanctum Youth. Check back here regularly for lots of updates and photos.

See you soon,

Gareth