Drifting away

One cool thing and one thought provoking thing i've just read:

'[the Old Testament] even contains the promise of a new covenant (Jeremiah 31) that would supercede the old one. Not in it's aims or provisions, but in its effects.' (The Revelation of God, Peter Jensen P78 italics mine)

Also, i was reading in last months NewFrontiers magazine about a recent plant in Accra, Ghana, and thinking how much i'd love to be there, church-planting, walking along those dusty roads.
Then, from 2 Corinthians i read Paul's take on Church planting, which involved:

danger from rivers
danger from robbers
danger from my own people
danger from Gentiles
danger in the city
danger in the wilderness
danger at sea
danger from false brothers
toil and hardship
often going without food
being cold and exposed
the daily prssure of anxiety for all my churches.

Thank God for Jesus Christ, the all surpassing gain!

Hove Actually

Take some time to visit Kath Arnold's blog, another recipient of a Bish redesign.

I don't see Kath much, a mission week in my first year, a summer mission to Bulgaria, Transform, Forum, but i still think of her as a good friend.

She's also one of the most real Christian bloggers i know, not afraid to shy away from the darkness that following God will bring us into contact with. She's also looking after two of my best mates doing Relay in her patch next year...so hopefully i'll be seeing a lot more if her then!

The Historicity of Adam

I'm not sure how long or relevant or even true this'll be. But i want to write it for a couple of reasons. Firstly, as i've said before, because i think it's important, secondly because i want to work out what i think about certain aspects about it, thirdly, it'll stop me watching Celebrity X-Factor, which really is too much! A lot of this relies heavily on the essay written by John Stott on the subject in his BST Romans book, but not all of it. I'd reckon what's true biblically speaking is John, and any nonsense in there is me.

Why does it matter?
I think there are two major reasons why the historicity of Adam matters. The first is the inerrancy of scripture. Many genealogies in the Bible trace themselves back to Adam, nowhere that i can see in Genesis is the account of Adam and Eve mentioned to be mythical, so it seems that the writer of Genesis wanted us to take it as real. If Adam was a metaphor, or an idea, the genealogies don't work, and scripture seems to be letting itself down right from the start, which leads us to the top of a very slippery postmodern slope. Secondly, because of imputation. Paul's argument in Romans 5 about the imputation of ones mans sin and another man's righteousness neccesarily depends on Adam being a real guy, just as it depends on Christ being fully human. No one is seriously doubting the existance Jesus of Nazareth, regardless of who they regard Him to be. I think Adam is just as important in this argument. I think Paul treats him (Adam) as real rather than metaphor here, as he talks about one man versus one man, not anything else. So the historicity of Adam has implication for inerracny and for imputation.

Adam means 'man' in Hebrew, so people would point out that as an early objection. I should probably make it clear here that i regard myself as an every word literalist when it comes to parts of the Bible like this (thus, i believe the earth was created in six periods of 24 hours) but i'm not really sure that it matters and i don't see any call from Genesis for dogmatism over this. I certainly wouldn't burn for it, it's just what i believe about creation. As i said earlier, i think scripture intends us to take Adam and Eve as real people. The Bible tells us that they married, and later on Paul tells the men of Athens that every person was 'made from one man'. This can be coupled with Paul's comparison and contrasting argument based around Adam and Jesus from Romans 5. So it scripture clearly intends us to believe in the existance of one man, named Adam, who's sin bought death into the world.
There appears to be little in science that contradicts this (and i'm leaning heavily on Stott's arguments here). All humans share the same anatomy, physiology and chemistry, and this points to all coming from a common ancestor: 'genetic evidence indicates that all living people are closely related and share a common recent ancestor' (Dr Christopher Stringer, Natural History Museum). This is where it starts to get exciting. How recent was that recent ancestor? Genesis 2-4 places Adam in a garden, which we can assume he looked after. During the Neolithic era, placed between 10000 and 6000 BC The New Stone Age dawned, which was marked by the appearance of gardens especially in eastern Turkey near the head of the Ephrates and Tigris rivers (Genesis 2:10 and 14) So science seems to back up what we already believe from the Bible, especially as the next chapters of Genesis have Adam, Eve and their decendants cultivating the land and working livestock.
But what about the evidence that there was some form of Homo around in parts of Africa long before Adam is placed in history. Well, for a start, if i personally had to back a winner between the Bible and fossil records, i know who i'd choose. I'd say that that Bible mentions Adam as the first human, and therefore he was, and the fossil records are wrong. Stott puts forward the view that the other types of Homo around at the time can be discounted from the Bible as we are not their decendants. They were not created in the image of God. As Stott puts it, they could be homo sapiens without being homo 'divinus', that is, in God's image. So whether God created Adam as the first in a new line with a divine image that none of the other human races at that time had and that Adam became the Federal head of those people, and their death entered the world through his sin, or whether, like me, you think it's just as likely that the other types of Homo are erroneous and that Adam was the first of any human, the problems caused by this argument do not seem very problematic.

There is little doubt that Adam's sin was real, and that we have participated in it, and that we need a Savior from it. That whatever you believe about Adam's historicity, you realise that through him sin entered the world. The we have participated in, and the sin we need to be rescued from by Jesus. The new Federal head, if only we would accept Him as Lord over us, if only we would be united with Him in His death. Paul's statement that 'sin entered the world through one man and death through sin' seems to confirm and be confirmed by Adam's real, personal existance.
Jesus was real. He existed, and He offers us freedom from the bondage that Adam sold us into. There is no doubt about His historical existence, i see little reason for there to be about Adams.

Flowerstand man

I've um...i've jumped on the bandwagon. I promised myself i wouldn't. Oh well, it'll be cool to have a whole record of the cool stuff that happens in the next 365 days of my life!

Great idea Becci.

At this velocity

I love my church. I love the fact that about ten different nationalities are represented there on a sunday, i love the fact that some of the worship songs are in Shona, which is the language spoken in Zimbabwe. I love the fact that you can go there, speak to people from Zimbabwe, have lunch with people from Kenya, and then buy stickers with people from Doncaster. I love the fact that we're all united by the cross. It's so amazing, and it's power so beyond my comprehension...it saves people from thousands of miles away! The cross is amazing.

Singing songs in Shona leads me to two conclusions:

I really want to go to Africa, like, now!
I can't wait for heaven!


The thought of leaving Fam in the not to distant future is actually really upsetting me!

Into the blinding light

This will make me smile for a long long long time.

Ant Adams spoke at RUCU tonight on Romans 6:1-14, the first part of what Dr Martin Lloyd-Jones calls the 'most liberating bit of the Bible', and it's pretty obvious to see why. Of course, as a Christian, i believe that the power of death, and sin, and the devil himself was disarmed totally by the resurection, that his reign is over, and that when Jesus returns He will dismiss him with a word. But, nonetheless, sin, and the devil, the god of this world, has some power left in this world. The devil influenced our mind, he poisons our sense of right and wrong, hurts our relationships with God and others, he lies to us, promising us joy and release, if only we listen to him. Isn't that he did with Jesus in the desert; 'worship me and all this will be yours'? He lies to us, and all too often i listen to him. But guess what, we are in Christ, IN Him. We died with Him, and we rose with Him. And this is the truth. A lot of life is dependant on that which is not absolute. Well, that Christ died on the cross and we are now dead to sin is an absolute. Thats all there is to it, it's objective truth. The gospel is not subject to our feelings, it doesn't change in the wind like we do...it is true. We are dead to sin. So when sin comes calling, as it will, ignore it. It has no right, no right at all to boss us around, to lie to us and to expect us to obey it's passions. We are in Christ. United to Him by His death and resurection. And thats the end of the matter. In Ants words, when sin calls, don't pick up. Desire God more, dwell on the gospel and the wonders of the cross, spend time with Him, read your Bible, tell your spirit that there is something better than sin. Because there is, and His name is Jesus, and He is life.

Two other things really struck me from tonight as well...

Freedom.
When i was in Bulgaria over the summer, one guy, Todov, said he didn't want to become a Christian because he wanted to be free. There's a difference between freedom to, and freedom from though i believe. Todov, and so many others want freedom to, they want to follow their hearts desires, and they think that Christ, our wonderful risen Lord, will stop them doing that. Their hearts desires. Freedom to obey their mind. Our minds are fallen, are hearts broken and sinful. The devil pulls around our sinful nature for his own ends, he's not interested in our good, he's out for what he can get, he rors like a mortally wounded beast, ready to pounce and destroy any who he can.
Christ offers freedom from this. He offers freedom from the things that will not ever fulfill us, that will only ever make us feel emptier, more painful, more alone. I remember trying to fill the chasm in my being with any number of things i thought i wanted, that i thought i was free to do. None of them worked. I only felt more disassociated, more alone, more unfulfilled. Christ offers us freedom from those things, and freedom to persue our all in Him, to worship Him, the task for which we were created, which is therefore the only one which will fulfill us.

Presuming grace.
Paul tells us that grace abounding where sin increases is no excuse to keep sinning. And, obviously any Christian would agree, no one is ever going to come out and say that. But presuming grace is just as bad. How often i come to a point of no return with sin, where i'm about to say or do something and i know i shouldn't, but then tell myself that God is gracious and forgiving, and do it anyway. How awful is that when you think about it. What an abuse of the cross that is, what a perversion of grace that is. How often i do it. Lets not presume grace, lets live in it, stand in it and preach it, but not presume it. We are in Christ, so let us present ourselves to Him, as we should.

With the lights out its less dangerous

One thing i think is top about not having any exams, is the fact that its gone 4AM, i'm not that tired, its getting light outside, and i'm still not in bed. If i leave it any longer the dawn chorus will keep me up!

Oh our sufficient God. Though the crops and the vines fail as Habbakuk puts it, yet still i will rejoice in the God of my salvation. That we can worship Him, that we are saved by Him, that we are allowed to live at all. That He dwells in unapproachable light and yet we may aproach Him boldly. That He wants us to be part of His salvation plan through evangelism. Oh our awesome God...i wish i could describe him to you.

It's good to be reminded of those verses from Habbakuk. I don't like the times in my life where my mood is affected by my heart. I'd much rather have it affected by the gospel...to be humble, yet rejoicing at all times, regardless...that'd be cool.

Looking forward to hearing Ant Adams speak tonight at the RUCU main meeting.

*the birds are singing...it's time for bed*

Baptisms!

Some photos from Sunday's excitement...note how people around the pool are under umberellas and generally shielding themselves from the cold...yeh, the water was fun!
BUt seriously, it was a great, great day, and such an honour to be part of it. Grace...it's amazing!

Lazy days...

I got it wrong...i thought PURE was all about the gospel of grace and how great Jesus is, but it would seem that its all about 'warding off evil thoughts' ho hum. (HT: Bish)

Didn't make it to London in the end, as Dave had to work, which y'know, is fair enough on a weekday if you're not a student...but a good day nonetheless. It was cool getting up at eleven, and the going back to bed, as my housemate dave said when he got up briefly and then went back to bed...'this is just great'. Then into town, then went to Jess's to cause some general havoc (i would say i'm sorry Kat, but that would be a lie!)...its all good. At the moment we've got a slightly crazy idea to go to Milan with RyanAir...we can't even get to campus, literally a five minute walk, let alone Milan!

CEx was good again last night, y'know, just for a change. Although, since Becki got saved on sunday the dynamic has obviously changed... she was full of questions which is great...great. I think Anna was hit more with the 'my mind can't cope with the nature of the gospel, so its going to shut down' syndrome last night, but i was still pretty close, which is encouraging. I love the gospel.

I'll try and blog something useful/whatever by the end of the week, possibly on the 'Historicity of Adam', mainly bacause A) its important B) I'm just about to read John Stott on it C) Becki was asking last night C) it has implications for imputation D) i really want to!

SummerTime?

I love Thames Water. Today, as Reading slipped into its third day of nonstop rain, we got a letter from them saying 'information about the drought'. Note that, not a drought, not in case of drought, but the drought. Eh?

So anyway no more exams! Which is good. Off to London tomorrow to see Dave Thomas, then Karl Kenneday is playing at our union on Friday...thats going to be very cool...! I've got all these plans for what i'll do between now and graduation, mainly, buy books and read them! I might og and buy books now...how exciting!

timnicolaannahannah

You know, sometimes, i just want to listen to The Smiths, and i figure thats ok...'cos The Smiths are really good.

We had Front Edge weekend as part of the New Frontiers family of churches this weekend. This involved a day of training in Catford on saturday, which i didn't go to, and then today, Mark Landreth-Smith off of Camberly came to Reading and spoke on Jesus the gate, which was very good, and Scott went to Chelmsford and saw people healed and saved...YESSS! There were 222 people saved today across the New Frontiers South East network...thats very cool.

Today also saw the baptism of four students at Fam, hence the rather confused title of this post. Tim, Nicola, Anna and Hannah. Now, i love baptisms, and i love students, so it was a pretty good day for me really...especially as i got to baptise them! Man, it was amazing...i still can't really believe it. I'm pleases that i've just read the first 5 chapters of Romans s l o w l y in my personal study, with Paul talking about the Jews needing to have no confidence in their religious standing and heritage. I love my church, and i loved baptising people, and praying for people at the end, and i know that i am a tool in the hands of the Almighty, and this week has taught me more about grace in action than most other weeks ever! And thats good. I don't really know what i'm trying to say...i want my confidence to be in Jesus, and Him crucified, not in one doing stuff at church...but i love the doing.

But these four are great, and have blessed me loads and loads...whether its by going out with one of my best friends, and looking after her, or their mind bending testimonues they've shared on CEx, or by just being really real and really passionate for Jesus at cell, i've been blessed to know them, and i thank God for them, and what He's doing in their lives.

AND Becki off of CEx got saved...woo!

I apologise for the confused nature of this!

John Stott on love

From 'The Message of Romans,' P144

'In order to grasp this (the death of Christ showing God's love for us) we need to remember that the essence of love is giving, for God so loved the world that He gave His only son... (John 3:16) the Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me' (Gal 2:20). Moreover the degree of love is measured partly by the costliness of the gift to the giver, and partly by the worthiness or unworthiness of the beneficiary. The more the gift costs the giver, and the less the recipient deserves it, the greater the love is seen to be. Measured by these standards, God's love in Christ is absolutely unique. For in sending His Son to die for sinners, he was giving everything, His very self, to those who deserved nothing except fom Him except His judgement'

Wow! Feeling very loved right now!

Why i love the doctrine of imputation

But the free gift is not like the trespass.
For is many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.
And the free gift is not like the result of that one mans sin.
For the judgement following one trespass bought condemnation, but the free gift following man trespasses bought justification.
Romans 6:15-16

I've recently read 'Counted righteous in Christ' by John Piper. A tremendous, but difficult book. If you consider that a normal Piper book contains a meal on every page, when you factor in a lot of NT greek, it's easier to understand what a challenge trying to read this book is. It seems that it was inspired by a debate going on in America about the doctrine of imputation, that is, whether we are 'just' forgiven, or whether we are also made right with God, whether in other words, Christ's perfect obidience and life is somehow counted to us, seen in us by God. Now, i really, really believe in imputation. I really believe that all those whoa re saved are made right with God by God, and that by the imputation of Christ's perfect righteousness. I don't think this waters down how amazing forgiveness is, being forgiven is amazing, but i believe it speaks hugely of God's grace, and magnifies His glory. I think its great because, in much the same way as election, its got none of me in it. Romans 5 was also preached on at RUCU on thursday, and lot of this comes from that.

Imputed not infused.
I don't want to confuse imputation, and infusion. Righteousness was 'counted' to Abraham in Genesis 15:6, it doesn't say that 'Abraham believed in God, and he became righteous because of it'...it says counted. I believe that i am counted righteous in Christ, a bold statement if ever there was one from a sinner like me, counted righteous because of the work of Christ in life, death, resurection, election and imputation, this doesn't mean that i think that somehow i am righteous like Christ. My faith does not give me the ability to make myself right with God. No. For that i need Christ, and Christ's righteousness imputed, counted to me. I can't do it myself. Christ's righteousness is not the car that starts me on the road to being right with God. It is the car, the road, the journey, the destinstion, the petrol...you get the idea!

Adam and Christ.
We say that Christians are 'born into sin', now that obviously causes problems when those who have not had the chance to repent die...all i want to say about that is that God is just, more just than we can conceive, and leave it at that. I think thats enough. When Adam sinned, humanity fell. Not just Adam and Eve, but all of us. When that apple as pulled from the tree, we were all for it. Adam is a real person. He lived like we live, saw sunsets, sunrises, felt grass against his bare feet. He's not a metaphor, or a picture. He can't be. Adam in Eden was our representative, he was the head of mankind. It is his sin in the garden imputed to us, that causes us to be born into sin, that causes us to, by nature want to sin, and ignore the clearly obvious attributes of God. Adam, 6:14 tells us, was a type of one who was to come. He was a type of head, of representative. He was a type of Jesus. And it is this flipside that gives me my confidence on the doctribe of imputation. Paul follows up that sentance with the verses quoted above...many died due to the trespass, many more will live due to the free gift, the work of Christ on the cross. As when we are born we are born into sin, hopelessly condemned by Adam, and then ourselves, so when we are reborn, we a reborn into righteousness...we makes us desire what is right, which means we are forgiven, and right with God. He can not look upon that which is not right with Him, so He has to do something about it, and that something, is imputed the righteousness of Christ into us.

Imputation is all of God.
Imputation, like election, is all of God. I can not impute Christ's righteousness into myself, neither can i become righteous by myself. I can not earn it, neither can i deserve it. But all the work is Christs. He dies, He rises He imputes. This is drenched in grace. It's all about Him...none of me, all of Him. This can only be good news!

It magnifies God's glory.
Simple as that. It makes Him look glorious, because He's in charge. If i can claim credit for even 1% of my salvation, God is no longer soveriegn, and therefore no longer God. And i want God to be in charge, because He is amazing. God is gracious, and merciful, and just. We can not save ourselves, and we can not live by ourselves.

It maximises human security.
In much the same way as election, it maxises our security. We can not damage the righteousness of Christ, because, as Bunyan says joyfully, 'He is safe in heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father. He depends neither on my good moods or my bad. And He is my righteousness'. We are saved by grace, imputation shows us that so clearly, and grace will not let us go, neither will our right-ness with God change, because Jesus is in Heaven.

It attacks human pride.
None of me. None of you. None of them. All of Christ. My heart is a shipwreck, a car crash, you don't have to know me that well to know that. And the more of God's glory in the face of Christ that is graciously revealed to me, the more i realise this, and the more humbled i hope i am, and the more i realise how utterly dependant i am on Christ.

*Better than Holyoaks*

Just listened to it: For God's sake let grace be grace.

I deserve nothing good
No shelter
No clothing
No food
No water
No joy
No happiness
No relationship

Certainly no favour from The Almighty...but oh grace, oh for grace, thank God for grace.
If you're not a Christian do not say 'i may not be chosen' but say 'since all God's choosing is by grace alone, on the basis of nothing in me, therefore there is no reason to believe i am excluded.'

Also: just read it: A Christian Response to Hell

CEx Again, Part Two

Man...so be careful what you pray for eh? Perhaps you pray that God's goodness and His presence would be manifest, and obvious with you at CEx, and then your system will go into complete shutdown mode, because you just can not compute how good God is...Thats what happened to me last night, for the second time in as many weeks.
Last night was on 'Why did Jesus die', it was powerful stuff obviously, and i think/pray it had an impact on Becki...but it certainly had an impact on me. Listening to a non-Christian explain the gospel is amazing; 'so its like, God gave us all this grace, and then we messed it up and He gave us more...' yep, that is amazing. And then again hearing Anna, and Nicola and Mandy and Hoops talk about the Gospel and it's power in their lives, and just how amazing it is, i'm loving CEx at the moment!

Anna and Nicola are both getting baptised on sunday, (woo!), and i'm so happy for them and blessed by them, its been an amazing privaledge to be a small part of their time with God recently. There's so much i want to talk about last night, about how powerfully God was moving while we were praying, how awesome it is that He's got Anna's sister to come, how great it is to see two of my friends persue Him, and grow in Him...i want to talk about all that, i want to shout about what an awesome God we worship, how much higher His ways are than ours. But there just aren't the words. There isn't a word to describe how i feel about sunday right now. There isn't a word to sum up last night, to do justice to God...just wow, just awestruck silence.

Aeropause

Paul and Bish have both redesigned their blogs...both of them looking good.

Normal, (regular) blogging on my part will probably start after the end of my exams in a week, but in the meantime i hope to blog about 'Why i (also) Love the doctrine of imputation' i'm looking forward to writing that one...

'The pharisees couldn't stop Him
Pilate couldn't find any fault in Him
The witnesses couldn't get their testimonies to agree
Herod couldnit kill Him
death couldn't handle Him
And the grave couldn't hold Him'

I wonder...do you know Him?

We listened to this in church this morning. I think it's amazing... i think Jesus is amazing!

Heaven is real

Surrounded by your glory, what will my heart feel
will i dance for you Jesus, or in awe fo you be still
will i stand in your presence, to my knees will i fall
will i sing 'hallelujah' will i be able to speak at all.

I don't know what that day will be like...but i know it will be real, i know its coming. t'll be dreadfull and awesome, and great. And real.

CEx (part two) Number One

Tonight, i was silenced by the gospel.
Anna, who's doing CEx again, having been saved last term, with a view to bringing her housemate was sharing her testimony about what had happened to her during CEx and Hope 2006 last term, and how much she was loving being a Christian, and how happy she was. And man, i nearly started crying, and then i started shivering, and then...nothing. Pretty much all the way through the discussion time i was sat in a bit of a daze, thinking about how powerful, wonderful and true the Gospel is. It was weird, but great. And also fortunate that there were four other Christians there really! But it was great, God is awesome, the Gospel is powerful and amazing!
So what of CEx this evening? It's a smaller group this time than last time, with only one unbeliever there tonight, but thats cool, God's purposes will not be thwarted by revision/sunshine. And Becki is very cool, and very open, and the Gospel is very powerful...so i am happy tonight. God's amazing, His peace is beautiful, His plan effective, His ways majestic, and far higher than ours.

Why i love the doctrine of election.

I believe in the doctrine of election because i am certain that, if God had not chosen me, i should never have chosen Him; i am sure He must have chosen me before i was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterward; He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for i never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love
Charles Spurgeon

Last week i studied Romans 9 with Bish...it was amazing to look at God's plan through election, and it got me thinking about how great, how exciting, how awesome it is, and how much it tells us of God and who He is, and who we are.

Security.
If it depends not on human exertion, but on God who has mercy (9:16), then we are totally secure in our salvation. God is immutable, He will never change, He will never cease to be God, God is God, He is who He is. The doctrine of election is great, because it means our salvation depends not on us, not on sinful, faithless, weak us...but on Holy, faithful and powerful God. How that inspires joy in us, and hope in us...our salvation us about God...not us. The Cross has happened, Jesus did rise. That is never going to change, what secured our salvation has happened, we can't change it, no one can. This is why election gives us security in our salvation. God has mercy on who He has mercy, and compassion on whom He has compassion. It's got nothing to do with us, if we are saved, we are saved, and nothing, nothing will change that. We are called, and God will not change His mind. I've never, never been able to work out why i've been saved...but i have to agree totslly with Spurgeon...it must be down to God and it must have happened before i was born. When we are saved, there is no way that we will lose that salvation...that is one reason why i love election. What an awesome God.

Evangelism.
So what do we do with evangelism? Slip into hyper-calvinism and say that its totally down to God, and that we have no role to play in people's salvation. No no no. I think Romans 10 makes it clear how importanr human responsibility is, though i obviously believe that this in no way contradicts anything in Romans 9. So what affect does the doctrine of election have on evangelism? It gives us so much hope! God has given us the amazing privaledge of participating in His eternal salvific plan. Lets do it! We go out and we indescriminatly preach the gospel, we preach, and we share and we teach. And God will save...He will shine the light of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ into people's hearts. He will save whom He will save. So great hope there...God will save people, we need to tell them the Gospel, and he will save. But not only this, as if this wasn't enough...but think about this, what does it mean that for us practically if it is God who saves whom He saves, if our salvation relies not on human effort but on God? It means that people are saved all over the world! It means that there are people called, people elected in North Korea, in Saudi Arabia, in Libya...in places where, if it was about us, no one would have a chance of being saved. We just need to go and find them...to go there and evangelise and find the people that God has elected in those countries...because they're there...every tribe, every tongue (Rev 5:9). Election means that God has saved people everywhere. And thats great!

God's Soveriegnty.
God is sovereign. If we don't election, it's ultimatly because we don;t like that fact. What right has the clay to argue with the potter? God is soveriegn and He saves whom He saves. That's great. So there is no room for boasting, no pride, no reason, equally for worrying about our salvation. Who is stronger than God's promise, or plan, or election? No one, nothing! God is utterly soveriegn, and why is that great great great news? Because God is good. God is glorious, God is beautiful, merciful, just, righteous, Holy. So so Holy. This is who i want in charge of the universe, of my life, of my eternity, of my salvation. Not me, not anyone else, just God. Because God is great. It's amazing, because the fact that He saves people at all is amazing. Why would God save people at all? There's no reason for it at all, aside from His passion for His own glory. Election is great because it means that God saves on the basis of who He is, if it was on the basis of who we are...we'd all be in a lot of trouble. Election gives the glory, the role, the initiative, the purpose to God. Our great God, and thats why i love election, because it glorifies our awesome God, because it saves forever and ever, in total security, and gives an amazing hope in evangelism.

Isn't that great?

Never trust a Celt

Oceans

Two things are blowing my mind right now...want to know what they are?

1) Telecommunications.
When my Dad picked me up tonight to go to the England Vs Germany legends game at the Mad Stad he was on the phone, doing a conference call with: one guy in Manhattan, two in London, and one more 'above the hills of Jerusalem' (oh Jerusalem Jerusalem...the city that kills the prophets, nearly made me cry this evening that verse did) all at the same time, dialed into the same call. Technology eh?

2) Grace.
Grace is astounding, mind boggling, beyond my comprehension. I do not understand it really one little bit. But I know it's enough. I know the cross was the Lord's eternal plan, and not a plan B, so it's ok by me. I know I worship a savior who dwells in unapproachable light, who is burningly, fiercesomly holy, and yet who beckons me in, and is not ashamed to call me His brother. Me! Not ashamed! There's grace right there. I know it's grace that fills my air with lungs, it's grace that stops me being destroyed every time I sin. Those things I know...and they're enough. An d they must always be enough, I must never slip into 'paying God back' or thinking even in the back of my mind, even for a second, that my salvation is in any way because of me or initiated by me. As soon as my pride swallows me, as soon as I stop gazing in awe at the cross, I've pretty much lost my 'right' to call myself a Christian. And I don't want that to happen.

And yeh, revision sucks. But three weeks, four exams...and then I get to start preparing properly for the best job in the world. Please pray for Ceryn, I know the Lord will and is bringing Himself glory through her illness and eventual healing, but thinking about her being ill makes me sad!

*bedtime*