The heart of Audacity!

Take off your comfort blanket and step out in audacious faith!

http://www.freedomchurch.co.uk/index.cfm?mediaVideoViewCall&eid=3129&cid=1139

Such an incredibly inspiring and challenging preach....give it a listen!!! :D

Audacious Faith

Faith to pull off your comfort blanket, Faith to step out side the box, Faith to fly out of the nest!!... Audacious Faith!

'In the same way, faith itself without accompanied by action, is dead.' Without daring to step out away from being comfortable, faith is dead.  Audacious faith means being the one who is looked at, who stands out from the ordinary, it means being different and daring to move! Because you can have a belief, you can be a christian, but without the faith to act on it, it is dead!  'You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that- and shudder.' Even the demons think that there is one God ...that is such a strong, powerful verse.. because without putting faith into action your belief might as well be the same as that of the demons-who shudder!!

Audacious Faith!! -Don't be intimidated, be ready for God to use you! Being ordinary and staying in the comfort zone won't cost you a thing, having audacious faith will cost you... but God will pay you back in such greater ways!  Don't shy away from the potential God has in your life...

Verses taken from James 2:17&19

Visionary Love, Dream Sex

I wrote a piece called 'No sex before marriage..?' and I just wanted to post a really good series of preaches on Relationship, Love and Sex on here for any of you Christian/Non-Christians who want to know more.  This series is called 'Visionary Love, Dream Sex' it is a really great series of talks that will go deeper into the christian understanding of Relationship, Love and Sex.  There are 6 parts to the series and they were preached in Elevation Church, NC.  You can listen/download them for free as podcasts... I can't put a link on here to itunes. But go onto itunes podcasts and search 'Visionary Love, Dream Sex' and you should find them under the Elevation church podcasts.  They are really worth listening to... :D

No Sex before Marriage...?

Coming from a non-christain teenage life I had a totally different way of looking at relationships, sex and attraction.  It is still new to me and I've recently started to look more into what makes christian relationships different and why there are bible values like, no sex before marriage.  I always say that my decision to become a Christian does not mean that I now have to follow a set of rules...instead it is about having faith in Jesus and having faith that He will lead me to do things that are only for the best of me.  So I wanted to find out why 'no sex before marriage' would benefit me...

We all know what the plus sides of having sex are, and we know that being in a relationship with someone is something that most of us desire.  So when we are told not to have sex and instead wait for that Mr/Mrs Right before we enter a relationship...why is it some of us concentrate on the negative of this- giving up sex!.. staying single until the right guy/girl comes along!.. having to be patient!.. 

'God WHY!? Why do I have to wait!? When is my perfect partner going to walk by? Why can't I have that relationship now...I can see others who are together and totally in love...when will it be my turn?!  Is it really all worth giving up and waiting for....?

The answer is YES!  God doesn't want us to settle for second best, His idea of a perfect relationship is built up from friendship, its built up on love for each others personality and for the things that make each of us passionate.  God wants you to have a husband/wife that stays with you your whole life, that gives you security, that brings out the very best qualities in you... that loves you and shades all your insecurities.  So we shouldn't focus on the ticking of the clock...or look at what other people have that we don't.  No, instead we focus our minds on whats to look forward to, on the BEST.  Surely when you think of your ideal partner they are someone who loves and cares for you, someone who makes your qualities shine, someone you trust but also someone who has an attractive, incredible personality and passion.  ...Would you believe me if I said thats the person God has planned to be your husband/wife? 

It is so easy to want to put love and relationship into our own hands, it's easy not to accept that God knows who our ideal man/woman is -more than we could.  And when we see people who are attractive or someone we can have a bit of fun with... it's hard not to take it into our own hands! But God does not want second best for us!  In the world there are a lot of conditions that come with LOVE... take a non-christian relationship for example... I'm 20 now, I know what non-christian relationships were like and have many friends still in those relationships... you can be with someone you get on with really well and makes you happy, you can be with someone you trust, someone who loves you, ...but wait. theres definitely one condition to this relationship, SEX.  Some non-christians might not agree with this, and I'm not saying the condition is as a couple you have to have sex so many times a week for the relationship to work... but what I am saying is there are very few relationships now that could last longer than a few months without sex...  

I'm not saying people are committing a crime and breaking rules by having sex before marriage, but I want you to look at it from another angle.  God created sex to be celebrated and enjoyed, and this is even shown in the bible (Song of Songs) its not there to be hidden or not done! But more importantly God wants a partner for you that loves you for who you are, he doesn't want you to be with someone who loves you but wouldn't stay with you if there was no sex..  wouldn't that be amazing to know that someone loves you for who you are not what pleasures you enjoy together, but for YOU.  And then what's more amazing is for that person to love you like that, then pledge they will love you like that for the rest of your life in marriage... not only that but you then get to enjoy intimacy and sex with that person- with no insecurities on why they love you or if they will leave you or if they might find someone better....

Isn't that the love and relationship we all desire?  Thats what God wants for each of us.  So I will say again, its not rules... its not about what you give up, but about what you could have.

..So thats what I found as my answer for why 'no sex before marriage' is there to benefit me, and call me stupid or say I'm living in a fairytale.. but thats the love and relationship I want! and I know and trust that God will lead me to that.. and if this is the guideline to follow to help me get there then to me it's definitely worth it.  To me now as a christian it's not so much about staying pure from now until marriage and keeping sex special for my husband (although those are things to be valued)... its about something a lot deeper, about building the right foundations for the relationship, focusing also on friendship, and thinking about what reasons I give my partner to love me ...sex being one amazing thing to share in Love and Marriage, instead of being a reason why my partner might love me and stay with me...

One thing Remains

One thing Remains, by Jesus Culture

'One thing remains.. Your love never fails, never gives up, never runs out on me'

The Assassin Doubt

A talk about doubt being our assassin... will you let it take over you or will you send it away running!?

http://www.freedomchurch.co.uk/index.cfm?mediaVideoViewCall&eid=3122&cid=1135

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

'Do you not know that in a race all the runners get a prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.  Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.  No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.'

..We aren't running in an aimless race, our race has purpose and a crown to win for eternity, and we do go through strict training, sometimes its not easy but we have to keep running and God will keep us strong, he is the guide in our race, he is the finish line, he is the prize. So we keep beating our body, when it wants to give up we don't. God's given us his spirit to keep us running to give us energy to sprint. When we are sprinting we stand out, to the spectators, to the other runners- they will see God use us..they will want God to use them in the same way.. because when your watching a race, isn't it the strong sprinter in front place that everybody wants to be?..
We can all run together and help each other in this mission, not so that we are walking or jogging in the race..but sprinting! Reaching others as we are in Gods amazing strength, and we know....We will not be disqualified.

Don't jump ship!

An incredible talk, on being stuck in the middle, caught between two sides... feeling fed up like you can't see the other side, asking ARE WE THERE YET? ....
Give it a listen, its awesome!!!

http://thecity.org/media/message/the_other_side/
Preach by Judah Smith

What does your heart desire?...

The thought of surrendering our lives completely to God can be quite an unnerving thing to do for both christians and non-christians.  But why is it we are afraid?  Do we think God will make us do things that will make us unhappy?  And where does this feeling and idea come from? Because no where does it say that in any scriptures, infact it states the opposite; 'Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart' Psalm 37:4 ...Surely if our hearts desires were fulfilled we would truly be living our life to the fullest and at our most happy?  So why have so many of us lived like this is a bad thing, something we don't want?  ...For me it was the struggle of admitting that I might not know the best way to live my own life, because thats what it was -mine.  Only I should know how to live my life to the fullest...right?!
It's hard to believe or accept that Gods plans could be better than our own plans.  But what we might not think about is that many of these dreams and desires in our hearts were planted there by God Himself and He is even more eager to see them come to pass than we are.  One man put it this way, 'God will choose for you what you would choose for yourself, if you had enough sense to choose it!'  Scripture says, 'For 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' Jeremiah 29:11. 
 God wants us to know that he His plans are the greatest plans for our lives, and the more we give up to the Lord, the more we trust in him, the more we will see His plans unfold and the more we will experience the joyful, fruitful abundant life that Jesus spoke about.  So ask yourself, how much of your life you give up to God... If you haven't given Him any control in your life, maybe its time to ask yourself if you are really living your life the way your heart desires it to be lived?...Are you completely content and happy?...Or are there gaps, things missing in your life?  God has incredible plans for every single person, you just have stop resisting and instead surrender to Him -in turn He will fulfil your hearts desires.  
Sometimes we don't realise what our lives are missing, until we have it...

Single Minded

A two part preach on relationships and finding your partner for single people by Gary Snowzell...

Select the 'Single minded' series for part 1 and part 2 of the preach.
http://www.freedomchurch.co.uk/index.cfm?mediaArchiveCall

Seized with alarm. Struck with fear.

In life everyone faces disappointment, we get let down by people or by things that we did/didn't want to happen...  It can be frustrating and discouraging, especially if it happens more than once!  In the book of John (11:40) in the bible it says 'Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?', in day to day life we put our hope into things and its similar to putting all our trust in God.  Praying to Him and believing with all our heart that he will answer those prayers.  But what about when we are faced with disappointment because our prayers aren't answered the way we expected?
Hebrews 10:35 says 'Do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord, no matter what happens.  Remember the great reward it brings you!' After feeling like we've been let down it can be so easy for us to remain doubtful and discouraged in situations, but in these times we have to push ourselves to pour out more faith and more trust, because God does answer prayers it just might be in a way you don't expect.  If doubt and disappointment get the better of us we would all be left stuck in one place, instead it should be what drives us, what pushes us to go further and what makes us believe even more.  Mark 5:36 says 'Do not be seized with alarm and struck with fear, only keep on believing'.  When met with defeat the Lord says keep believing, because theres always a silver lining if you look up to see it, and theres always another path if you turn the corner to face it...

Unanswered questions..?

Believing something without seeing it is a lot easier said than done.  A lot of us seek to find proof and pick at all the details, but are any questions really answered?!  Scientists theories of evolution and the big bang theory aren't proved, theres evidence for and against.  Just like people can't prove that there is a God and Jesus is alive, there are thousands of people with testimonies and again evidence.  But we find ourselves with so many questions, How? When? Where? Why? Who? ...but maybe we should ask ourselves why we all seek to find the answers to these questions?! Why do we need to prove theories and our existence? ...Is it because there is something we are missing?...Something we long to find...We might even find the answer is as easy as taking a step of faith.  Open our hearts and minds to the possibility that...the God is the creator and the father... possibility that Jesus is alive.  You can never get a fair answer if you aren't open to both sides, so if you are reading this as someone who hasn't found their answer... what I would tell you now is open up to the possibilities. Let your heart go and believe and just see where it takes you, take that leap of faith ...because you might just land on solid ground...
Mark 5:36'Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, "Don't be afraid; just believe".' (Miracle of the dying little girl then took place)John 11:40'Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?'