aftershock.org.uk
devotional mp3 podcasts for young people

Wow, Paul is reminding us that we are now new people because of what Jesus did for us. I don’t know about you but I find it hard to live up to the expectations Paul has laid out before us. I’m not so good at not getting angry. My thoughts are not always pure. And on the odd occasions words that come out of my mouth are not the words I would want my Mum to have heard. So it seems that I can not live a Jesus like life, how about you? Can you live that way at school or college? No didn’t think so. So do we just give up and go back to our old ways of living? Well you won’t be surprised to hear me say no. We are right, we can’t live the pure life on our own, but we can pray to God to help us. And every now and then when we are tempted we can use a very simple technique to help us. When a mate winds us up and we want to get angry, we can say to ourselves; “I know I can’t stay calm by myself, but if I could stay calm what’s the first thing I would do?” And then do it. It might be leave, it might be smile, but if we do it we’re on our way. When we want to take a swig of the booze that our mates are passing around, we can say to ourselves; “I know I want to take a swig, but if I didn’t, what’s the first thing I would do?” And then do it. It might be grab a coke, it might be go home. And if we can do all these things whilst praying to Jesus, then we will be living the pure life.

Author - Max Cross, Colossians | No Comments »

I go to a Church where we like to think that the children’s and youth works top notch. I think secretly we sit there sometimes and think, our youth work is better then that other church. Now that can’t be right can it? I’ve seen other Churches who have excellent musicians and think that God accepts their worship because it’s cool. Now I’m pretty sure that God accepts all our worship, as long as we are focussed on him. Finally I have been to other Churches that do things in strict order. Stand this way, kneel that way, say these words in this order, stand on one leg. OK maybe they don’t stand on one leg but worshipping our God isn’t about rules. You and I following Jesus isn’t about doing youth work in a certain way, doing worship in a certain way or any other set of rules, it’s about following Jesus. Jesus accepts your worship as you sing to him or speak to him on your way to school, there’s no need for a Church building. God loves for you to pray to him for help, when you’re sitting at your desk, he doesn’t only listen when you are on your knees. Adults may have put lots of rules around these things but as we can see from this passage, it’s not about the rules, it’s all about following Jesus and making him part of your life at school and college.

Author - Max Cross, Colossians | No Comments »

We depart briefly from our current book of the Bible because we want to honour God. Let me explain. We at Aftershock aim to live our lives just as Paul did in this passage. We want to proclaim Gods glorious generosity to the world so that people would come to know Jesus and live their lives in line with Gods perfect plan. God has blessed us beyond what we deserve and we want to manage what time, money and skills he has given us to the very best of our ability. We want the same for you at school and college. We want you to use your skills, time and money to Gods glory in the life you lead for him. This is why at times in our lives we must take stock and ask ourselves are we doing what God wants with His resources. Aftershock is at the point now. Whilst we are blessed beyond what we deserve the opportunities to do Gods work are everywhere and we can not do everything. So we need your help, and it won’t cost you a penny. Two things. Firstly please pray and ask God for wisdom in the direction of Aftershock, and when he speaks to you lets us know, through the second thing which we need your help with. That second thing is to go to Aftershock.org.uk and complete the Urgent Survey. You won’t miss it, as it is linked to from the front page.If you have never responded before, respond now, it could change the very direction of Aftershock. We have ten questions we need you to answer, and if you want to you only have to answer five. Ask yourselves is Aftershock worth five minutes of your time? We believe that God will use both you and us to spread his word, what we need to understand now is how best we can do that.

1 Corinthians, Author - Max Cross | No Comments »

So many adults need to hear Paul’s words from today’s passage. I’m not being mean because I need to hear them as well, and so do you. I love the way that this translation tells us Schools Out now’s the time for living what you have been taught. You study at school or college, but for what? You study so that you can use that knowledge in your future life. There is no point in studying Law at college, if you intend on becoming a plumber, you will never use the knowledge you gained at college. What’s the point of practicing your guitar for hours on end if you never intend on playing it once you have learnt the basics. Goes without saying really doesn’t it, but many adults do take that attitude towards Jesus. They study Jesus, go to every seminar about him, read hundreds of books on the way he lived his life. And then what do they do? They walk past someone on the street that needs help. They gossip about people at work. They completely miss the point; they don’t use the knowledge they have. So we can sit here all pompous like and say “yer that’s right adults are like that.” Except for one thing, often we are like that too, aren’t we? So let’s make a decision today to not only learn what Jesus wants us to do, but to actually do it in our daily lives at school and college. Let’s continue to study Gods word, but let’s start taking more action to make a difference in others lives using the knowledge that we have been given from our God.

Author - Max Cross, Colossians | No Comments »

Do you know guys who do drugs? What are they looking for? What about people that sleep around, what are they searching for? How about the people that are trying desperately to be famous in sport or music, what are they searching for? There seems to be some drive in almost all the people I know. Young and old alike, people seem to be searching for something. You must know adults that pride themselves on the house and car they have, what is that saying about them? You know mates whose sole purpose in life is to get as popular as possible. What are they up to? Drug addicts, hard driven business people, film stars, promiscuous teenagers, they all search for one thing. But we can call it many things, we can call it a search for meaning, acceptance, purpose, or fulfilment. Whatever we call it is irrelevant, it is actually a search for Jesus. We are told it plain and simple in this passage, we were all created to glory Jesus and our purpose is in him. Some people describe it as a God shaped hole in our heart that we will never fill with booze, sex or ambition. I’m not so sure that is a good picture as it brings it back to what we need. The truth is that if we focus on Jesus, accept him into our lives, live a life that he would want us to live, then what we need is part of the package. So next time you seek to find your purpose in something other than Jesus, just remember, it’s only temporary, because there is only one cure to that ache in your heart. Seek Jesus instead.

Author - Max Cross, Colossians | No Comments »