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