Yup, it's that time of the year again - the time that half of us go 'Yo ho ho' and the other half go 'bah, humbug'. I'm currently in the latter camp although I kinda switch between the two.
We've really got a lot on this Christmas. We've got some Christmas gifts to give out to a Mum's and tot's, which we're all looking forward to. A lot of the families in Thurnscoe don't always have all the support that they should, and there are some Mums (and Dads!) who are doing some amazing jobs no matter what life is throwing at them, so we decided this Christmas to be part of their solution and not part of their problem. So we're going to be giving them some Chistmas goody bags - I know that there are going to be some happy children in a weeks' time!
And apparently, Father Christmas may be making a guest appearance too!
Look out for it, December the 7th.
God Bless,
-Matt K.
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
Just Another Wednesday Morning...
Hey, I'm not sure anybody's managed to find this blog yet, so seeing as I was the one who tinkered it together, I thought I guess I'm more than qualified to make the first post!
Guys, feel free to say whatever you like on this website. It's there for you and it's there for any of the Cybersurfers (does anybody still use that term, or am I getting old?) who manage to find it tucked away in our little corner of the Yorkshire World. This is a place for testimony, to tell stories, to share tales to put a smile on others' faces, to challenge them, and simply to bless absolutely everyone who comes by. All sounds a bit 'apple pie', doesn't it? But it is what it is I guess. :)
I just thought I'd post just a couple of thoughts. I know when I preached on Sunday, I was in full 'challenge' mode - I make no apologies for that, as people who were there know - but by the same time, I don't like to live a life that is 'get into people's faces', because it's actually surprising by how people can misunderstand God if His people live like that. I mean, yes, God is always challenging, and yes, God always wants us to improve our spiritual standard of living. Of course He does. But He also wants us often to take a chill pill, kick back and enjoy the journey. Sounds awfully airy-fairy, doesn't it? But it's true! You know, part of the joy of having the Holy Spirit is that he is our 'Pedagogos', our teacher; our 'Parakletos', our comforter (for those who wonder what the heck those words are, they're Greek and are how the Holy Spirit is described in the original Greek Bible - and if you don't know who He is, stay tuned and we'll get to that in another post. :) ).
In other words, He is there to strive for us so we don't have to.
And we even have Jesus Himself, interceding... for us! He's still there, active and doing stuff in Heaven, for us! (Romans 8:34) He's praying for us, thinking about us. He thinks about you all the time. He goes crazy about you, He absolutely thinks you're great. Heck, He died for you after all (If you don't know about that, more on that later too. :) ).
The point I'm trying to make, folks, is that He often wants us to chill out. He's not against us. Tell me where in the Bible it tells us that God hates our guts and is against us. Uhm, yeah, I didn't think you could find it. It's not there. God doesn't hate us; what we do, sometimes maybe, sometimes often, yeah. But not us. He didn't hate David when he slept with Bethsheba - rather God gave that man the greatest compliment a man could have, which is 'David is a man after my own heart'! (Acts 13:22) Does that mean God approves of sin? No, never ever ever. But God does approve of us! He made us after all, right? And God ain't going to make rubbish. Simple. Yes, we're Awesome Creations Who Choose To Sin All The Time, but our choices don't mean God's original creation is flawed in any way.
You ever been in love? With a woman with smelly armpits? A bloke with snots hanging out his nose? No? Then you never been in love. Because every person we love, truly love, has something about them we don't like. Something, whether it's bad breath or leaving the toilet seat down, there's always something that could be improved. But when you're truly, truly in love, absolutely blinded by how awesome that person is... do you care? Really genuinely care whether they flossed that morning? It might irk you a bit, yeah, but you don't care 'cause you want to be around that person, tell everybody else about that person, hug that person, talk with them, eat with them, everything with them. All the time.
God exists in that state permanently about you, you know?
-Matt K,
posting on just another Wednesday morning before he goes to work - not the most eloquent first post but somebody had to make it, and here it is.
Guys, feel free to say whatever you like on this website. It's there for you and it's there for any of the Cybersurfers (does anybody still use that term, or am I getting old?) who manage to find it tucked away in our little corner of the Yorkshire World. This is a place for testimony, to tell stories, to share tales to put a smile on others' faces, to challenge them, and simply to bless absolutely everyone who comes by. All sounds a bit 'apple pie', doesn't it? But it is what it is I guess. :)
I just thought I'd post just a couple of thoughts. I know when I preached on Sunday, I was in full 'challenge' mode - I make no apologies for that, as people who were there know - but by the same time, I don't like to live a life that is 'get into people's faces', because it's actually surprising by how people can misunderstand God if His people live like that. I mean, yes, God is always challenging, and yes, God always wants us to improve our spiritual standard of living. Of course He does. But He also wants us often to take a chill pill, kick back and enjoy the journey. Sounds awfully airy-fairy, doesn't it? But it's true! You know, part of the joy of having the Holy Spirit is that he is our 'Pedagogos', our teacher; our 'Parakletos', our comforter (for those who wonder what the heck those words are, they're Greek and are how the Holy Spirit is described in the original Greek Bible - and if you don't know who He is, stay tuned and we'll get to that in another post. :) ).
In other words, He is there to strive for us so we don't have to.
And we even have Jesus Himself, interceding... for us! He's still there, active and doing stuff in Heaven, for us! (Romans 8:34) He's praying for us, thinking about us. He thinks about you all the time. He goes crazy about you, He absolutely thinks you're great. Heck, He died for you after all (If you don't know about that, more on that later too. :) ).
The point I'm trying to make, folks, is that He often wants us to chill out. He's not against us. Tell me where in the Bible it tells us that God hates our guts and is against us. Uhm, yeah, I didn't think you could find it. It's not there. God doesn't hate us; what we do, sometimes maybe, sometimes often, yeah. But not us. He didn't hate David when he slept with Bethsheba - rather God gave that man the greatest compliment a man could have, which is 'David is a man after my own heart'! (Acts 13:22) Does that mean God approves of sin? No, never ever ever. But God does approve of us! He made us after all, right? And God ain't going to make rubbish. Simple. Yes, we're Awesome Creations Who Choose To Sin All The Time, but our choices don't mean God's original creation is flawed in any way.
You ever been in love? With a woman with smelly armpits? A bloke with snots hanging out his nose? No? Then you never been in love. Because every person we love, truly love, has something about them we don't like. Something, whether it's bad breath or leaving the toilet seat down, there's always something that could be improved. But when you're truly, truly in love, absolutely blinded by how awesome that person is... do you care? Really genuinely care whether they flossed that morning? It might irk you a bit, yeah, but you don't care 'cause you want to be around that person, tell everybody else about that person, hug that person, talk with them, eat with them, everything with them. All the time.
God exists in that state permanently about you, you know?
-Matt K,
posting on just another Wednesday morning before he goes to work - not the most eloquent first post but somebody had to make it, and here it is.
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