Broken.

This brother, (the man) was living with reams of guilt, shame and rejection.  His emotional turmoil, his inner world through which he perceived himself and others was distorted under a huge weight of condemnation and isolation caused by his former life choices that lead to his sin and estrangement from God and his loved ones.   He saw in his life only the misery that he had brought upon himself, the pain he had caused others, and the distance he had created between himself and God.  Sensing his brokenness and helplessness, he sought relief from the depth of his lonely despair.   In this state the man had no pride or arrogance, he was not hiding behind a veil of excuses, but rather saw himself as a sinner in need of a Saviour, mournful of the pain he had caused to others, he was broken – and so ready to be restored. 

Forgiven.

It is quiet important to note that as Jesus looked upon the man, Jesus did not tell the man to rise up first, rather just met the man’s most pressing inner needs first – the need to be forgiven.   In Jesus declaring his sins forgiven, Jesus helped him to realise that God no longer regarded his sin as an obstacle to separate the him from heaven’s blessing;  but rather that his sin was absolved and now we was forgiven.   Jesus also affirmed that God accepted him and that he was favoured in the eyes of heaven, that he was a child of God created in his image.  As a result the man’s emotional burned was lifted and he felt the freedom that only salvation brings.  Describing this scene through Holy Ghost inspired perceptions, Ellen White wrote in the book Desire of Ages page 268 “…he accepted the words of Jesus as the boon of new life.  He urged no further request, but lay in blissful silence, too happy for words.  The light of heaven irradiated his countenances, and the people looked with awe upon the scene”.

Emotionally healed.

With his sins forgiven, the man experienced emotional healing.  He no longer saw himself as a reject but as a son of God.  His inner thoughts which previously were negative, self-condemning, void of faith and judgemental were now reframed and covered by an experience and attitude of Grace and Mercy.  As he experienced the restoration of his relationship with God, he experienced an emotional peace that settled his former troubled mind, thus enabling him to know the peace of God, to be at peace with God and to be at peace with others.   As a result he no longer harboured feelings of insecurity, shame, anger, bitterness or resentment, but was empowered to understand that God loved him and therefore he lovingly regarded the needs of others.   You could say that the reality of 2 Timothy 1:7 was at work now in his life.  “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”  Ultimately, in healing the man’s emotional inner world, Jesus was preparing him for what was to come next.

'I need you now' is todays song by Smokie Norful. Click on the piano to listen.

‘Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.’

There is always another side to the coin.

Have you noticed that you no longer rush to pick up the mail, like you do when it's your birthday, because you know that all there will be is brown envelopes – bills.

But wait, in some countries or places there are not even the utilities to supply the energy for those bills.

For some reason you find yourself at the ‘NHS walk-in centre.’ Not feeling too good, which is why you are there, your waiting time is over 5 hours for a 3 minutes face to face with the Doctor.

But hold on, in most countries there is no NHS (National Health Service), maybe one Doctor for the whole town and waiting times, for a face to face, up to a month.

There is always another side to the coin, except in the case of grace and mercy. They come pretty much as a pair. We have been saved through God’s grace when we clearly deserved to die. As Ephesians 2:5 states,

‘even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),’

We are at the mercy of God through His kindness and life sacrifice because he loves us. He didn’t have to do it, he chose to. Hebrews 4:16

‘Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.’

We can acknowledge that sacrifice by choosing the 2 sided coin.

The music today is one of Bryn’s choices ‘Mercy and Grace.’ Click on the picture to listen.

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended it, but this one thing I do: forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, Philippians 3:13

A story is told of a man who had decided that he was going to swim the English Channel. After months of preparation he set off with a small boat besides him to monitor him whilst in the water. With each stroke that he pulled through the water he remembered the many hours training that had gone into achieving his goal. With steely determination he battled against jelly fish, currents, splash back from liners crossing within eyesight of him. Soon his destination was in sight and he could see banners being waived by a welcoming committee comprising of family members and friends.

Then the weirdest thing happened.

He turned around and began to swim back. The crew in the boat following him was screaming in his ear ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ Still he swam. Family members waiting to welcome him were hysterical with disbelief and confusion still he swam away from back to where he had come from.

The next day a TV crew went to his house to interview him. This had made national news. The big question everyone wanted to know. Why did you turn back? He turned his face into the camera and said these words,

“It’s simple, I got tired!”

Now whilst this story isn’t true and even may bring a smile to our faces, let’s not lose the irony. Is it right for us to spend all of our lives doing the correct things in order to meet Jesus only to give it all to the prince of this world? That’s just exactly what we do when we decide that walking the narrow path is too hard. One Christian author put it this way, three quarters of the way to heaven is all the way to hell.

Don’t let the devil take what he hasn’t earned. Let us make it our desire to stay with Jesus all the way.

The Richard Smallwood singers sing 'I have come too far.'

November 6-7 – Love lifted me

“Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 7:24b-25a NLT, second edition)

You may have heard this testimony of a Chinese Christian: “I walked through the road of life and had fallen into a great ditch. The ditch was filled with depression, discouragement, and sin. As I lay in that ditch, Mohammed came along and said, ‘It’s your fault you’re in the ditch. You offended Allah, and this is your just punishment.’ Then Marx came by and said, ‘You’re in the ditch because of class warfare. You must revolt.’ But after the government changed, I was still in my ditch. Then Buddha came along and said, ‘You’re not really in that ditch. You just think you’re there. It’s all an illusion of the mind. Be at peace, and learn to live in your ditch.’ Then Confucius came by and said, ‘Here are the 10 steps of self-attainment by which you can get out of your ditch. If you will struggle, you will climb out eventually.’ But as much as I struggled and strained, I couldn’t get out of the ditch, because it was too deep.

“Then one day, Jesus Christ came by and saw me in my ditch. Without a word, he took off his white robe and got down in the muddy ditch with me. Then he lifted me up with his strong arms and pulled me out of the ditch. Thank God that Jesus did for me what I could not do for myself.”

Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves.

To get healing in our lives we have to believe that Christ can change us. Romans 7:24-25 says, “Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord” (NLT, second edition).

The answer to our problem is a person. Who’s going to be lord of our lives? Who’s going to call the shots? Us or Jesus Christ? When we accept Him as our Master, we can master our problems. God has the power we were lacking. He’ll help us out.

“You bless all who depend on you for their strength.” (Psalm 84:5a CEV)

Are you tired? Some of us are running on steam. As I said yesterday, we are a tired lot. At the end of the day, we're worn out – energy gone - and the reason why is real simple: We're human beings.

Our strength is limited. God’s strength is unlimited. Our strength is finite. God’s strength is infinite. Our strength is exhaustible — that’s why we get exhausted! But God’s strength is inexhaustible. God never runs out of energy. God never gets tired.

Psalm 84:5 says, “You bless all who depend on you for their strength” (CEV). Do you want God’s blessing in your life? Then you need to depend on God for your strength.

One of the most famous Christians of the 19^th century was a guy named Hudson Taylor. He was a missionary to China, a spiritual giant and a brilliant man. In his old age, he lost his health and became very weak. He wrote a letter to a friend that said this: “I am so weak I can no longer work. I am so weak I can no longer study. I am so weak I can no longer read my Bible. I cannot even pray. I can only lie still in the arms of God like a little child in trust.”

It's not unlikely that at sometime in our lives we too are going to be so weak we can’t even pray, read the Bible, or go to a Bible study. We can’t work, can’t do anything. What do we do in those moments? We rest in the strength of the Lord, in his arms like a little child, and we trust.

Weakness can actually be a blessing for good in our lives if it causes us to depend on God. Paul, speaking of the thorn in his flesh says in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10, “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (NLT, second edition).

That’s the paradox of depending on God — the more we’re weak, the more we depend on God. And the more we depend on God, the stronger we get, because Jesus has taken off His white robe and got down in the muddy ditch with us. Lifted us up in His strong arms and pulled us up out of the ditch.

Acknowledgements Rick Warren.

Music today is “Love Lifted Me” - sung by Kim Hopper. To listen to this wonderful truth, click on the picture.

NOVEMBER 5 - Take a rest

"Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest" - Mark 6:31

Let’s face it, how many us know how to rest – really rest? We go to bed at night with tomorrow's list of to-do's running through our heads. Up at the crack of dawn, we hurtle through the day, go home and clean the house, wash the laundry and cook a meal. Eventually we collapse into bed....with tomorrow's list of to-do's running through our minds. No rest. No rejuvenation. And no, this is probably not what God intended. If this is how our lives are, we would be right to feel uneasy. We have filled our time with so many activities that we haven't left any space for God.

Writer Claire Swinarski can relate. In a blog titled “How to Rest for Real,” Swinarski tells of how she chose to stay home from a prayer event at church because she was simply too tired after days of working full time, then running around at night for social commitments, church events and errands. Instead, she stayed home with her husband.

“I felt ridiculously guilty. I had the opportunity to go bond with my community, be in conversation with my Creator and rejuvenate my soul—but all I wanted to do was relax.” Why should rest, something that God did himself on the seventh day (Genesis 2:1-3) cause us so much guilt? Swinarski suggests that we are doing it wrong.

Most of us would enjoy an evening watching our favorite TV show with a bowl of popcorn balanced on our lap. Maybe you’d rather curl up on the sofa wearing footie pyjamas and immerse yourself in a good book. But these things aren’t necessarily giving us the rest we really crave. 

Swinarski writes, “Maybe part of the problem is that the things we’re choosing to relax with aren’t giving us true rest. Maybe we don’t have to always stay late after events, chatting and eating snacks and glancing at our iPhones. Maybe we don’t have to join every small group, Bible study, prayer circle, but instead need to make sure we’re making time for our relationship with the One who created time.”

Crosswalk writer Rachel Marie Stone agrees, saying we might spend our small chunk of free time in the day doing something like cleaning out our email inbox, rather than doing something that will truly rejuvenate us.

“I suspect we settle for the mindless, unhealthy snack version of leisure because we're ashamed of our own desire for rest -- afraid to ask permission to breathe,” Stone writes.

But scripture actually tells us to rest, and nowhere does the Bible say that to take a well-deserved rest is to be lazy. We’ve invented the guilt that comes with taking a break to relax and recharge.

Matthew 11:28-29 says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

If you feel like you are constantly running on a hamster wheel with no means to get off, it is time to reflect on your schedule and life.

As Swinarski writes, “Make sure your intentions are truly for God and not for your own gratification or to appease your guilt. Once your motivations are pointed in the right direction, holy leisure suddenly makes all kinds of sense.”

What is holy leisure? It is the rest that God intended. It is spending time in prayer, reading the Bible, or listening to music. It may be reading a devotional, taking a walk or listening to the birds singing in your backyard. It is what rejuvenates you and draws you closer in your relationship with Christ.

Swinarski says, “Let the Holy Spirit flow through your schedule, one day at a time, and leisure will find its true and righteous place.”

“Sitting at the Feet of Jesus” - the Gaithers is our music today. Click on the picture to listen

And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Acts 9:5

Have you ever heard of the phrase ‘tail wagging the dog?’ It is a term that mean the less important item or thing dominates the situation, when it should be the reverse.

Take Joey (not his real name) for example, eight years old and seemingly in charge of the whole classroom. This was a situation I was faced with recently. As I walked into class this was the conversation between Joey and another member of staff.

“Joey could you please come out from under the table so the lesson can begin?”

-“I hate YOU!”

What would you have done? Now there are so many ways this situation could have been dealt with bearing in mind that you have a captive audience of about 30 other children and Joey has a sharp pencil in his hand.

It reminded me of Saul’s journey on the Damascus road. Triumphant from his last Christian kill and moving onto the next mission, he must have felt invincible then… the rest we know, but if you don’t you can read it here in Acts 9. You may call him delusional but Saul really thought that he was in charge of the situation. God had to arrest his attention to make him realise that in fact He was in charge. This is how God helped me handle Joey.

“Ok class attention this way. I need someone to help me because I am new here and not sure what I am doing. I need someone I can trust. No I am not choosing anyone with their hand up! Ok since the only name I know is Joey, it has to be you. Please come here and after you have finished sharpening this pot of pencils tell me where the register goes. Thank you.”

I didn’t give him any eye contact but just pushed the pencil pot to the edge of the desk and prayed hard in my heart. Sure enough, out crawled Joey and began to sharpen the pencils and ‘help’ me the confused teacher.  It worked that time only because God was in control of the situation. It wasn’t down to me or anything clever that I did.

Sometimes we just have to recognise who God is and remember that he is moulding us, we’re not moulding him.

The 'song' selection today is very unusual. ‘Change’ by Jon Jorgensen. 

‘The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, but the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness.’ Proverbs 15:2

The Portuguese football manager Jose Mourinho moved to Chelsea Football club in June 2004 becoming one of the highest managers back then with a reported salary of £4.2 million. He announced himself as the ‘special one’. In his spell there he won many titles including the Premier league title twice before leaving in 2007 to manage Inter Milan in Italy and Real Madrid in Spain where he won the Champions League title with both clubs. Touted as one of the best and sometimes most controversial football managers in history he returned to England to manage Chelsea for a second time in 2013. A season later he had again guided the club to the league title.

This season however has been a totally different story. He has played 11 games and lost 6. He has never lost more than 6 games in a season with any club. From being the special one he has now been re-labelled the ‘grumpy one’. The English press are having a field day as this is the first time in his career that he has been put under serious pressure. There has even been talk about him getting the sack. Bearing in mind that he is currently managing the Premier League champions, this is almost unthinkable.

I believe the mistake he made was one of over confidence. He regularly scoffed at his rivals calling them names like ‘failure specialists’ and accused another manager of playing football from ‘out of the dark ages.’ All these comments are coming back to bite him.

You see once those words have left your lips you cannot take them back. They will find themselves back at you doorstep.

Where is the lesson for us all? Learn to hold your tongue.

'Unworthy' by Commissioned is today's song. Click on the picture to listen.

TO BE SCARED OF WITCHES, OR TO FOCUS ON THE LIGHT

30-31st October 2015

“Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble” – James 2:19 KJV.

I got confused driving home Monday evening. It wasn't the traffic – but a technology programme on the radio sharing stories of people who had found doppelgängers – people who looked exactly like them – on the internet. What does it feel like to look into someone's face and see yourself? Spooky! It then interviewed a man who had found people with the same name as him – and how he had connected with them. They suggested a Google or Facebook search – so when I got home, I did. After all, there can't be that many Victor Hulberts in the world!

There aren't. On Facebook there are only three! Me, a retired pilot in Kerrville, Texas who seems to have a liking for playing Texas holdem and, more interestingly, a 42-year-old African-American in Zachary, Louisiana, who is happily married and dotes on his two children. For instance, he writes, "Is there such a thing, where one parent has a favourite child over the other? We should love both the same no matter what. 'Love', a strong word thrown around a lot, but never put to the test when it comes to our kids. Just something that was on my mind. Don't just say it. Show it!"

I couldn't agree with him more. I'm almost, but not quite, tempted to ask to become his friend. Two Victor Hulberts becoming friends whose only connection is a common name. I wonder how that would work out?

Google was less helpful. After a couple of pages highlighting various pieces of my work, written, TV, public presentations – and a number of things I'd even forgotten I'd done, the only namesakes I found were dead:

New Zealand WWI veteran Leslie Victor Hulbert who died 21 October 1916, age 29, a casualty of the Battle of the Somme in Northern France.

Bernard Victor Hulbert, an Australian gunner who again served in WWI – but with better fortunes, he only died in 1964. And finally, a three-year-old Victor Hulbert in the 1901 census – his birth registered in Rochford, Essex.

If you are a John Smith or Joe Brown you may be used to meeting people with the same name. I've never met another Victor Hulbert – in fact, outside my own family I've only met one other Hulbert, the Provost of Perth and Kinross Council – John Hulbert. An interesting man himself, I mentioned to him that I'd seen a grave of a missionary, also named Hulbert, on the remote Scottish island of Iona. "That's my father", he told me. A man who had been a missionary in India and then in the Americas and who had finished his days serving in the Iona Christian community. Another random connection – with my parents having been missionaries, not in India, but West Africa.

Of course, there can be a scary side to doppelgängers ‒ fiction loves it. Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Hitchcock's Vertigo, ‒ or even hark back to Charles Dickens', A Tale of Two Cities – but is there an even older story?

Isaiah paints a picture of Satan as one trying to be a doppelgänger of God: "I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." [Isaiah 14:14] He's been playing that game ever since – and will be playing it this weekend.

The Christian calendar labels 31 October as 'All Hallows' Eve'. In more recent times it has come to be known as 'Reformation Day' in acknowledgment of Martin Luther choosing that date to post his 95 thesis to the church door. Yet the day is also a doppelgänger ‒ Halloween – an event taken over by the dark side – the antithesis of a Christian festival.

So what should Christians do? Ignore it? Probably not an option. Point out its dangers? There is plenty of material out there, including a recent article in Adventist Review.

How about providing an alternative? Last Sabbath I preached at the Leamington Spa Mission. During the announcements I heard about a 'light party'. While other children may be out trick and treating, these children and their friends will be celebrating light. Scripture Union is among the organisations offering these kind of alternatives. The Evangelical Alliance also tackle the issue head-on – giving some positive alternatives.

Several years back I was privileged to attend an event in Weston-Super-Mare where churches joined together to provide a Christian alternative – again focused around light rather than darkness. It was an inspiration that I've never forgotten. Another friend I know hands out 'glow-cards' to trick or treaters while yet another asks them to sing a verse of a Christmas carol before she gives them a cookie.

So how will you spend Halloween? Afraid of the doppelgänger or finding some way to use it to share the light?

"And with this Word, God created all things. Nothing was made without the Word. Everything that was created received its life from him, and his life gave light to everyone. The light keeps shining in the dark, and darkness has never put it out." [John 1:2-5 NIV]

[Victor Hulbert]

Bryn's choice of music rings of victory and freedom over darkness – David Phelps Ghost Town (Freedom) (LIVE). Click on the picture to listen.

OCTOBER 29 - Autumn years

“LORD, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God” (Psalm 90:1-2).

My childhood autumns hold precious memories—tramping through the falling leaves from the larch tree by the garden path, and the sound of the church bells echoing down the lane as the first frost cleared the air. Hot chocolate by the fire with my parents, listening to the radio, and best of all—helping to feed and groom the horses on a local farm. I loved it!

The autumn of life, like my childhood, is a strange mixture of nostalgia, blessings, and potential. It's a time of reaping some of what we’ve sown throughout life, and it braces us for colder days to come. It's a time when we are mature enough to look back and better understand the way God has led us; yet there is still work to be done—it’s a good transition time.

“Autumn” only occurs once in the Bible. In Jude 1:12 false teachers are compared to “autumn trees without fruit,” implying that autumn should be a fruitful season, the most abundant of the year. How can we take advantage of the “autumn of life”?

Seasons come and go, but God remains unchanged and unchanging. Many of the changes our world offers are, to the Christian, unwelcome changes. Moral and societal changes are thrust in our faces whenever we turn on our television or glance at a magazine. We’re painfully aware our kids are growing up in a world far different to the one we knew as children.

Then there are the personal changes—children leave home, loved ones die, and our get up and go got up and left when we weren't looking. But we can rest secure in the knowledge that despite all the changes, one thing, one Person, never changes—our eternal God. Remember this verse from “Abide with Me”?

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day; Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away; Change and decay in all around I see; O Thou who changest not, abide with me.
--Henry F. Lyte

J. I. Packer points out that God does not change. His life is always the same. His character is always dependable. His truth, ways, and purposes do not change. His Son does not change. He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

The world may fade, the stars may fall, the seasons may change, and winter may come. But the God who has been our help in ages past will remain our hope for years to come. We will enjoy His fellowship a million years from now. In Him we have permanence, stability, joy unshakable, and life unending.

Despite the setbacks along the way, we have God's promise, “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten. . . . You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God” (Joel 2:25-26).

The autumn of life is a great time to focus on God’s wonderful blessings—family, friends, strength, shelter, provision, guidance, care, fruitful ministry, opportunities to serve, more time to pray and study His Word, and eternal life still to come. Life’s autumn, brings with it a richer perspective so we can count more blessings than ever before.

Autumn is a good time for us to focus on our commitment to God. Some of the saddest words in the Bible are in Jeremiah 8:20, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” If you’ve never made a commitment to Jesus Christ, do it now, while there is still time.

If you are a follower of Christ, remember to remain close to Him during the shifting seasons of life.

During autumn, we all know that winter lies ahead, but if winter comes, can spring be far behind?

“Bread Upon the Water” is today's music. Click on the picture to listen.