Good News!

God loves you and has a good plan for your life

Many people believe in God, but disagree about what he is like. If God exists how can we know anything about him?

The only way that we as created beings can know anything about the creator who is outside of the creation we inhabit is because he has chosen to reveal himself to us. The Bible is the record of that revelation. God revealed himself to different people at different times down through history; through visions, and miracles, and through prophets (those who spoke on God's behalf). But all of these were just leading up to the ultimate revelation: God chose to become a man and show himself to us. That man was Jesus. Jesus was not just a good man, or an inspiring religious teacher, he was God made flesh. Through Jesus' life and words we have the ultimate revelation of God. If we want to know what God is like we only have to turn to Jesus.

Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father [God], and it is enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (Jn 14:8-9)

Jesus revealed that God is "Our Father," in fact the word he used to address God literally means "Daddy." He is not a far of and distant deity, unconcerned over the suffering that goes on in his world. He is a loving father - the ultimate father - who is intimately concerned for each one of his children. More than any natural father loves his children, he loves us, he only wants the best for us. He wants to see us succeed and do well.

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:11)


Through Jesus you can receive forgiveness for the things that separate you from God

But God did not just come so that we could know about him, he came that we might know him. Jesus came not just to tell us about God, not even just to show us, but to open a way for us to come into a real and living relationship with him. That we might not just know that God is our father, we can actually experience that relationship. As such Jesus came on a mission - a mission to die.

When Jesus died on the cross, many at the time saw it as a tragedy or as a defeat. Here was a man who had healed the sick, fed the multitudes, walked upon the waves of the sea, even raised the dead, but yet seemed powerless to save himself. Yet unlike the men crucified either side of him, Jesus was not paying the price for his own misdeeds... but for ours! When he hung on the cross he was dying in our place. The reason he chose to die was so that we could live. Because he has paid the price in full for every evil ever committed he can now offer us a full amnesty from the things we have done that separate us from God - the things the bible calls sin.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

Jesus is not just one of many ways to get to God. He is the only way. Shortly before he went to the cross, aware of what was ahead, Jesus prayed earnestly that if there was any other way, God would spare him from the ordeal ahead. This is the only prayer of Jesus that was unanswered. It was unanswered because there is no other way. Jesus had to go to the cross, and if we want to come to God we must come through him, and the forgiveness he offers. We cannot do it though any of our own efforts, no matter how good they be, we cannot get it though any other spiritual path no matter how well intentioned. Jesus is the only way.

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)


You can receive this new life today!

As wonderful as the cross is, it is empty tomb and not the cross that is the ultimate sign of God's victorious plan for our lives. For Jesus did not stay dead, but he rose again - still as a man, but no longer as a mortal man - he now lives forever, and so continues to offer to all men, this way back to God. He defeated death, so that those who come to him might have eternal life. Not just life after death, but a new life before death, one filled with the life and power of God.

In order to receive this new life we first have to surrender our old life. To receive forgiveness we must admit that we have done wrong. The gift of God will cost us nothing, yet demands everything. This new life cannot come as just a patch on our old way of life, it can only come as a complete replacement. This total surrender is what it means to "make Jesus Lord" of our lives. It means that we no longer live for ourselves but for him. Ironically, it is in this surrender that we find true freedom, and in giving our lives to him that we truly find them.

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 16:25)

The good news if you want to receive this new life, is that there is nothing to stop you. You can do it today, and begin a new life with God that will fulfil you in the way that nothing else can, because it is what you were made for.

All you have to do is through prayer (talking to God out loud - he will hear you) acknowledge that you need forgiveness, accept the forgiveness Jesus offers and surrender your life to him. He will then give you this new life. Then tell someone. Tell someone what you have done, that you have become a Christian - a follower of Jesus Christ.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

If you have done this, praise God! It is the best decision you have ever made, and one you will never regret, but it is only the beginning. I'd love to hear from you to help you get started. email me: chris.hhodges@lineone.net

Out of the Ark(ive)

I rediscovered a great website today that lets you go back in time! Well, not literally of course, but it will let you browse a website as it appeared at a given moment in recent history. www.archive.org is the site and the "Wayback" machine is the device; check it out!

It's particularly useful for browsing websites that no longer exist! Like our old church website www.covlifechurch.freeserve.co.uk that we had for Covenant Life Church Hinckley, before we merged with Rock of Life Church to become Living Rock. Most of the site is antiquated and no longer relevant, but it was the Preaching Notes section I was really interested in.

It was a bit disappointing to see that many of the messages were not archived; although the notes we made were terse, there were some great messages recorded there! Then it dawned on me, that since I was the webmaster of this site, I had an archive of my own of all these messages that I could make available to the world again through the medium of my blog.

So here is my very own "Wayback" machine to the Covenant Life Church Preaching notes of 2000-2001. Enjoy!

Ephesians Every Month

I'm starting a new reading plan on Monday, and I'm inviting you all to join me. It's not a substitute for your existing Bible reading devotions, but a supplement. The plan is to read through the great book of Ephesians every month. This is inspired by something Keri Jones said to us as leaders at Living Rock Church a while back; basically: "Read through Ephesians every month."

To make this easier, for those of us with the technology, I have created three RSS feeds for this reading programme. You can chose the one which corresponds to the Bible version you prefer. I have done NIV, ESV, and NLT, which should cover most bases.

For the Luddites who don't know what do do with an RSS feed, you can still follow along the old fashioned way. I am using a four week rolling programme with readings on Monday-Friday as follows:

Week 1
Monday 1:1-10, Tuesday 1:11-14, Wednesday 1:15-23, Thursday 2:1-10, Friday 2:11-18

Week 2
Monday 2:19-22, Tuesday 3:1-6, Wednesday 3:7-13, Thursday 3:14-21, Friday 4:1-6

Week 3
Monday 4:7-16, Tuesday 4:17-24, Wednesday 4:25-5:2, Thursday 5:3-7, Friday 5:8-14

Week 4
Monday 5:15-21, Tuesday 5:22-33, Wednesday 6:1-9, Thursday 6:10-20, Friday 6:21-24

To collect our thoughts, I shall be following this through with posts each day for the next four weeks. I shall probably still blog about other stuff too! May the Lord open our eyes to the wonders in his word, and may we catch his eternal purpose for his people, the Church, in Christ.

Here are the RSS feeds I promised. The first reading will arrive on Monday. Let me know if you have any difficulties.

[Update 23/03/06: You can now subscribe by email to the version of your choice. I have also included details of how many fellow readers we currently have. Those who subscribe by email are included in the figures.]

Ephesians Every Month Feeds

English Standard Version
New International Version
New Living Translation

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Our Covenant

I was clearing out my filofax today, taking the old year's stuff out, putting the new year's stuff in. One of the things I like about a filofax is that because you just take the stuff that is no longer relevant out, you can accumulate some gems over the years. Here's one such gem I found from yesteryear. Anyone remember this?


Today we gather as members of Christ's church, in the presence of Almighty God our Father, and the elect angels, to covenant together to live as God's people, holy and separate from this present evil age.

Confessing our faith in the death, resurrection, ascension, glorification and return of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in the person and work of the Holy Spirit in the church and world today. And in the triumph of the Kingdom of God, the victory of the church of Jesus Christ, and the discipling of all nations.

We covenant to walk in the obedience of faith and in love with one another, watching over and caring for one another; sharing in each others joys, bearing our own and one anothers burdens.

We covenant to meet together regularly for worship, instruction in God's word, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer.

We covenant with one heart and mind to persue the purpose of God in our generation — the establishing of the Kingdom of God and the manifestation of His glory in all the earth.

We covenant this between ourselves as a congregation of Christ's church while at the same time we readily recognise our covenant is with God and all who embrace the faith of Christ and walk in keeping with the purity of the truth.

© Covenant Ministries International

Infinite Beauty

My post on perfect numbers generated some interesting discussion, so at the risk of being labelled a geek again, I thought I would continue for one more post on the amazing beauty and infinate detail that exists in God's creation, not just in the details without (the vastness of the Cosmos) but also the infinite details within, and in particular in numbers. What's so beautiful about numbers, I hear you say? How can a number have infinate detail?

Consider the snowflake; though it is tiny, it has beautiful detail, and were you to magnify these details, you would see just as much beauty on the finer details that exist upon these details. There are details on details, and further details on these details, right the way down to the atomic level. Not quite infinate detail, but these types of shapes are known as fractals, and can be represented by mathematical equations which do indeed, theoretically at least, have infinate detail. There is as much beauty and detail, no matter how much you zoom in: infinity enclosed within a finite space. Incredible!

One of the simplest of these mathematical equations (Z_n+1 = Z_n² + C) is also one of the most beautiful. It's called the Mandelbot Set, after its discoverer, but the infinate beauty of this equation was crafted by God, just waiting for man to discover it.

Here's another Java Applet I wrote so you can try it out for yourself:





To explore the infinite (within the limits of the computer's arithmetic) detail in this fractal, drag a box around the area you wish to explore and then click in this box. You can repeat this as often as you like, increasing the magnification each time. When the screen stays blank, your computer has run out of decimal places to perform the calculations . Press the 'Reset' button and start again!

Blood, Fire and Billows of Smoke

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
" `In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'"
(Acts 2:14-21)

I mentioned in a previous post that the imagery of "Blood, Fire and Billows of Smoke" in Joel 2 / Acts 2 fascinates me. It's one of those places in scripture, where you just know there is great revelation to be unlocked if only you could get a handle on it. I have often stopped to chew it over when I have read it, but it has only been recently in the light of conversations had on this blog, revisiting scriptures relating to baptism in the spirit, and re-reading Jordan's book, that the pieces of the puzzle finally seem to be fitting together. I'm not claiming I have the definitive exegesis, or that what everyone else says is wrong, but for me, this seems to satisfy in a way that other explanations haven't. I certainly think at least there is some mileage in it, or I wouldn't be sharing it. Anyway, read on and see what you think.

Signs on the Earth

Jordan points out in "Through New Eyes" that this scripture is a Chiasm ["A chiasm is a literary device in which parallel ideas or terms are presented in a sandwich form instead of normal parallelism"]

 (A) I will show wonders in the heaven above
    (B) and signs on the earth below
    (B) blood and fire and billows of smoke
 (A) The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood

This helps, because is shows that "Blood, fire and billows of smoke" are related to "Signs of the Earth Below". Jordan suggests that the imagery of Blood fire and smoke are to do with war, and links this to the darkening of the heavenly bodies representing human authority and rule. Whilst this is certainly plausible, I don't find it very satisfying. The scripture uses many symbolisms for war, but never "blood, fire and billows of smoke", what is more these symbols are very powerful scriptural pictures that are used elsewhere, and not in the context of war. The darkening of the sun and moon does not have to represent the fall of a human government either. They are there to govern time and seasons, so they could equally be pointing to the end of an age in some other way than just geo-political. Couple this to the fact that Peter includes these verses in the fulfilment of what happened at Pentecost and the explanation of war seems even less satisfying.

Blood + Fire-and-Billows-of-Smoke

Since "Blood, fire and billows of smoke" only occur together in Joel 2 and Acts 2, we must de-couple at least one of these symbols to examine where the other two are used together. The most fruitful approach I have found is in separating "blood" from "fire and billows of smoke." This seems a good way to proceed, because Joel 2 is a prophecy about the baptism in the Spirit, and we have already come across the column of fire and smoke in relation to baptism in the Spirit pictured in the Old Testament, described as baptised in the cloud. (1Co 10:2)

Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over all the glory will be a canopy. (Isa 4:5)


Fire and billows of smoke is also the language of Sinai, and represents the awesome presence of God that none but Moses could approach.

Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently (Ex 19:18)

It is also repeated in the description of the altar of incense, when the priest would go behind the curtain on the day of atonement. Here again it represents the awesome holy presence of God, that only the high priest could enter.

He is to take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the LORD and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense and take them behind the curtain.He is to put the incense on the fire before the LORD, and the smoke of the incense will conceal the atonement cover above the Testimony, so that he will not die. (Lev 16:12-13)

The way in changed forever

This second image of fire and billows of smoke is particularly useful as we are told in Hebrews about this event: But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. (Heb 9:7) So now we have all three elements re-united again: blood, fire, and billows of smoke. If this is the event they are referring to, then they represent the means by which sinful man is permitted to come into the presence of almighty God.

So we have signs on the earth relating to the way man comes before God, and signs in the heavens relating to the end of an age. Is it beyond the realms of reason to assume that these are both connected, and relate to Pentecost? Could it be that they represent the end of an age of how man comes into the presence of God! Before it was exclusive to the high priest, but now it is inclusive of "all flesh"; before man had to come into the presence, but now the presence is poured out; before it was limited to once a year, but now we have an abiding presence of God within us that will never leave us nor forsake us.

So where's the blood and smoke?

Joel prophecies that the day of Pentecost will be marked by "Blood, fire and billows of smoke", but when we come to the New Testament scriptures we see that the only sign that is given is one of fire.

"I baptise you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (Mt 3:11)

They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2:3-4)

The fulfilment of the sign of fire is clear, but it begs the question: where is the blood and the billows of smoke. After pondering this question for some time I am of the opinion that this is exactly the question the scriptures want us to ask! The blood and smoke speak volumes by their absence!

The absence of blood is easy: we no longer need to come before the Lord by shedding blood, because it has been shed once for all by the atoning sacrifice of Christ. Our sins have been covered, and God's wrath fully propitiated. Christ's blood now seals an eternal covenant by which we may now enter boldly without fear of condemnation.

But the absence of smoke is not without precedent in scripture either. Consider Isaiah chapter 6; above the fiery coals of the altar, he saw not the billows of smoke that should have shielded his gaze from the holy presence, but he saw the Lord himself! It is also interesting that the first consequence of this encounter is that his lips were consecrated with this same fire, to enable him to declare the very words of God!

So this links in with the fact that the signs in the heavens reveal a change of an age. It is no longer one man who enters the presence of God, to make atonement for the people. But it is now a people who have been touched by the fire from heaven, and whose lips have been opened to declare the wonders of God, who take the presence of God with them, out to the whole word to declare to every nation tribe and tongue the good news of Christ's atoning sacrifice for sins, and that the way to God has been changed forever. It is open:

Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved!

Grain, Wine and Oil

I have been meditating on Joel chapter 2 over the last couple of days. What a great chapter of scripture it is. Like Numbers 11 (another of my favourites) it is a prophetic declaration of Pentecost and God's desire to fill all his people with an abiding anointing in the Holy Spirit.

There is plenty of other stuff in this chapter to get your teeth into too. There is the great promise of restoration: "I will restore the years the locust has eaten." And the signs in the heavens and on the earth (I'm still chewing over "blood, fire and billows of smoke" — fascinating imagery that I haven't worked out the full significance of yet. Answers on a postcard if you have any ideas — or just leave a comment below!)

But the thing that spoke to me from the chapter today was the great promise of abundant blessing: "I am sending you grain, new wine and oil, enough to satisfy you fully." Grain speaks of financial or material blessing (Lk 17:35 Lk 12:18, 2Co 9:10, 1Ti 5:18 etc) Wine speaks of the joy of life (Ps 4:7, Jer 48:33, Ecc9:7 etc) and oil speaks of the anointing of the Spirit (1Sa 16:13, Isa 61:1 etc, etc) It is thus a reflection of God's will to abundantly bless every area of our lives: materially, emotionally, and spiritually. Everything we need to be fully satisfied in life is found in God. He doesn't frustrate us (unless it is to provoke us to move on in his purpose for our lives) but he wants to satisfy us fully; to give us the desires of our hearts.

This theme of a blessing of grain, new wine and oil is one that reoccurs in scripture:

Ps 104:15 Wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart.

May you know the Lord's abundant blessings in every area of your life today! Our God is good!

Blessed are the geek...

Here's a little test. Look at the image below. If you think it is cool or amusing - you are one of us, brother!



...don't be ashamed, be proud! Blessed are the geek! This is a day when the richest man in the world is a geek. No company can survive without its own team of geeks. Geeks are now well paid and respected members of society, no longer just spotty lovelorn teenagers who never leave their bedroom.

I visited a friend's house last night and on his fridge he had spelled in fridge magnets the words: "gentoo" and "ubuntu" -- Respeccct!!

So calling all fellow geeks -- confessional time: What is the geekiest thing you have ever done? Make me proud!

Pacman

Game on! Time for a bit of fun and some healthy competition. Here is a computer game I wrote. It is a clone of the arcade classic - Pacman. The HiScore table is global, so let's see who can get the highest score.

You may need to be patient the first time it loads. If you have problems, make sure that your Browser is Java enabled. You will need to click inside the game before it will respond to keystrokes.




Controls: Use the arrow keys to move around. [P] pauses and unpauses the game. [ESC] to kill yourself off quick.

Techie Details: I originally wrote this game in the mid '90s in AMOS for the Amiga home computer. A couple of years ago, I ported it to Java so it could run inside a web browser. The hardest bit was getting the HiScore table to be persistent and universal. The security restrictions imposed on Java Applets make this quite a challenge. I finally achieved it a few days ago - so enjoy!

Have I got news for you? - Round 5

Time for a bit of Friday fun. Here's another caption competition. See what you make of this:



< Round 4

Have I got news for you? - Round 4

This time it's the caption competition. See who can come up with the wittiest caption for the following picture.



< Round 3

Have I got news for you? - Round 3

Because the last one was so popular (and short-lived) here is another odd-one-out round.



The next four are: Matthew Ling, Boris Johnson, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Kiefer Sutherland. See if you can work it out before James!

< Round 2

Have I got news for you? - Round 2

It's the odd-one-out round.



Today's four are: Roger Aubrey, George Cloony, Frank Abagnale Jnr., and Christopher Eccleston.

< Round 1

Have I got news for you?

If like me you kicked back on the sofa with a beer, expecting first class entertainment and political satire from the recording of "Have I got news for you?" you made last Friday; only to find that the series has ended and you've got something with Anne Robinson instead. Here's something to ease the pain.

It's the missing words round. This comes from a real headline.


Mayor uses picture of Pope for                     
 

Faith and Science

On 1 April Roger Aubrey posted an article on his Blog entitled In the Beginning on the subject of Darwin's theory of evolution. I wrote a comment to this post that caused quite a stir. Roger posted it again as In the Beginning(2).

Since then the pro/anti evolution discussion that has ensued has outgrown the original purpose of the post. Roger has moved on to other things, and has politely asked that the debate be moved elsewhere. Whilst I think we had all come to the conclusion that there was little more to be gained from further debate, this is one of those issues that just won't go away. So if there is anything futher to be added; here is the place to do it.

Harder than it looks

This is a sliding bock puzzle based on a wooden Chinese puzzle set I saw at friend's house. The object is simple: get the large red square block to the bottom row by sliding the blocks into the vacant spaces. It's harder than it looks!

To play: Click on a block to make it active. The active block may be moved into an available gap using the arrow keys.

Daniel Notes

As promised, here are my notes for the "Daniel Masterclass." If you read them, please leave a comment in this blog.

• Part 1 - Daniel 1-2 [pdf 114KB]
  
• Part 2 - Daniel 3-4 [pdf 100KB]
  
• Part 3 - Daniel 5-6 [pdf 108KB]
  
• Part 4 - Daniel 7-9 [pdf 200KB]
  
• Part 5 - Daniel 10-12 [pdf 142KB]
  

You are free to copy and redistribute them in any format under the following conditions. You attribute me as the original author. You do not use them for commercial purposes. You do not modify them or use them as the basis for another work.

Free Software

There are some great applications available for free. Here are my top tips for free software.

FireFox

The latest and greatest web-browser. If you are still using Internet Explorer, download this and see what you have been missing. Once you have used tabbed browsing, you'll never look back.

Thunderbird

If you aren't hooked on Outlook / Outlook Express, try this email client. It has automatic spam filters that learn as you move messages in or out of the Junk folder. Within a week or two you can forget all about those annoying spam messages.

AVG

Everyone knows that you need an anti-virus program to keep your computer safe, but not everyone knows that you can get a professional 100% detection automatically updated Anti-Virus program for free! (for non-commercial home users)

Agnitum Outpost

If you are on Broadband, a Firewall is a must. This award winning Firewall has a version available for free. It's great. It has loads of features and doesn't slow your machine down delivering them.

Skype

Voice communication over the Internet. Like having an extra telephone line for free. What is more, calls to other Skype users anywhere in the world are free, and worldwide calls to landlines are at local rates. My wife called her parents when they were in Singapore and had a 44min conversation for just 73p. (Requires microphone)

SharpReader

RSS aggregator. Displays the latest posts from all your favourite Blogs and other news feeds.

Trillian

If you use Instant Messaging to communicate with your friends online, you must try this. It supports AOL, MSN, ICQ, Yahoo, and IRC all simultaneously, and all without adverts. It's skinable too, so you can make it look just how you like.

Open Office

A full office suite (word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, and drawing program) all for free. It's a monster of a download though. Not to be attempted without Broadband! But definitely worth the wait.

Artificial Intelligence

If a Computer Program could think:

• Would it believe that its programmer exists?



• Would it think instead that binary data and processor logic was all that was needed to understand its universe?



• Would it wonder "Who programmed the programmer?" or "Where is his source code?"



• Would it hold that all different beliefs in the programmer were equally valid?



• Would it believe in life after reboot?