As you no doubt would have realized our work on Aftershock has come to an end.  I feel that I am being called into some type of full time ministry and to this end I am completing a theology degree.  As you can imagine this combined with a full time day job is to say the least a little pressurised.

I do think that there is a place for a site like Aftershock and a we still receive a large amount of downloads of the existing devs.  If you think you know someone who could take over the lead, then do have them email us at podcast@aftershock.org.uk.  In the mean time we would appreciate your prayers as we move forward.  If you want to follow my journey you can get occasional updates over at www.cross.org.uk.

Max & The Gang

Hold on a minute what’s this all about. Paul is in jail? What’s he doing worrying about other people when he is chained up in a stinking jail? There he is in the filth and disease that a jail of this would have had been, and he is saying, we always thank God for you in our prayers. Is this guy mad? I know what I would do. I would be moaning and groaning and writing letters saying get me out of here. I am pretty sure I would not be writing letters encouraging others and praying for them. But isn’t that just the way of our world today? At school, college and work, are we not looking out for what is our right? It does seem to me sometimes that I am more worried about what I deserve or what I have a right to, rather then being thankful for what I have. Come to think about I am not sure who is chained up the most Paul, in his physical chains, or me in my mental ones. Maybe a little more thanks for the blessing God has given me, and a little less moaning about what I don’t have, wouldn’t go amiss. Yep get me out of this chain gang, I’m going to be thankful rather then ungrateful. How about you?

Some people get really uptight about this passage in the Bible. But then some people get really upright about anything. We hear all sorts of claims that the Bible is saying that women are less important then men and that slavery is OK. Makes me want to shout from the rooftops, just read what it actually says. I wonder if you have ever had anyone say something about you that wasn’t true at school or college. How did it make you feel? Do you get angry, did you want to get back at the persons that had lied about you? Well the bad news is that the message from today’s reading might make you thing about what you would do again. We are told that wives should support their husbands, husbands support their wives, and so on. It is pretty straight forward really, what ever you do at school, college, work, home, church do it as though you were doing it for Jesus. Whoever you meet, treat them as though they were Jesus. By the way just because the message is straight forward, doesn’t mean it’s easy. Especially when the other person hasn’t worked out the same message yet.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In this book of the Bible is Paul writing a letter to his mates at Colosse. I guess if Paul was alive today, he would probably have emailed what he had to say. It wouldn’t have taken months to get there; it would have been there in a second. Notice how Paul starts his letter. He is overflowing with praise for his mates. He says things like “I have heard great stuff about you, you are the people of Christ.” He goes on, “I am always praying for you dudes.” What a way to greet people. Do we greet the people we know in the same way? How do you encourage your youth leader, your pastor, your parents, your mates? I love to joke and so often greet people with words like “Hello Muppet” and whilst that’s often not a problem, words do have an impact. The Bible describes our tongues like a sword. Do you greet your mates with words like “hello dumbo” or “hello fat boy?” You’ll probably get away with it most of the time, but what about that day when they have just had everything go wrong? Would it be better for us to lift their spirits? Maybe words like “Hi my man” followed by, what great things you’ve have been hearing about them, would be better. Maybe Paul’s right, maybe the first words out of mouths to people we know should make them feel better and not worse. It’s almost like God would want it that way!

We’ve come across this before in our studying the bible together. This is a large list of names and places, how can that possibly affect the way we live our lives today? I have prayed and studied this verse but can not have wisdom for you today. So what we do when God appears silent? What do you do when you have a problem at college or school and you just don’t seem to hear from God? Firstly, we have to understand that we are not alone. David, Joshua, Job and many more heroes in the Bible, seem to struggle at times with not hearing from God. Then we need to ask ourselves is there anything we are doing that would prevent God talking to us. And we have to be prepared to understand that there may not be, we may be perfectly OK with God. Lastly we must listen to God. Yes I know that’s what we are having trouble with, but keeping on keeping on, is what we must do. Remember God hasn’t moved anywhere. So, since I have not heard from God on this passage, what about you ask him to talk to you about it.

11 The first lot turned up for the tribe of Benjamin with its clans. The border of the allotment went between the peoples of Judah and Joseph. 12-13 The northern border began at the Jordan, then went up to the ridge north of Jericho, ascending west into the hill country into the wilderness of Beth Aven. From there the border went around to Luz, to its southern ridge (that is, Bethel), and then down from Ataroth Addar to the mountain to the south of Lower Beth Horon. 14 There the border took a turn on the west side and swung south from the mountain to the south of Beth Horon and ended at Kiriath Baal (that is, Kiriath Jearim), a town of the people of Judah. This was the west side. 15-19 The southern border began at the edge of Kiriath Jearim on the west, then ran west until it reached the spring, the Waters of Nephtoah. It then descended to the foot of the mountain opposite the Valley of Ben Hinnom (which flanks the Valley of Rephaim to the north), descended to the Hinnom Valley, just south of the Jebusite ridge, and went on to En Rogel. From there it curved north to En Shemesh and Geliloth, opposite the Red Pass (Adummim), down to the Stone of Bohan the son of Reuben, continued toward the north flank of Beth Arabah, then plunged to the Arabah. It then followed the slope of Beth Hoglah north and came out at the northern bay of the Salt Sea—the south end of the Jordan. This was the southern border. 20 The east border was formed by the Jordan. This was the inheritance of the people of Benjamin for their clans, marked by these borders on all sides. 21-28 The cities of the tribe of Benjamin, clan by clan, were: Jericho, Beth Hoglah, Emek Keziz, Beth Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, Kephar Ammoni, Ophni, and Geba—twelve towns with their villages. Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, Mizpah, Kephirah, Mozah, Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, Zelah, Haeleph, the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath Jearim— fourteen cities with their villages. This was the inheritance for Benjamin, according to its clans.

We talked about Gods will requiring action by us before, and here Joshua even shows us how we do it. “How long are you going to wait?” He says. “Take the first step, do a survey of the land.” Sure enough, once they start they find that things start moving. How often are we paralysed with fear, when it comes to taking the first step? Maybe, it is getting to know someone at school so that we can invite them on the youth weekend away. Maybe we are too afraid of what they might think or say, to take that step of asking them. Maybe we are afraid of asking that person at college, if we can pray for their troubles. Are we too afraid to take that step of offering Gods healing through prayer? I’m not beating up you guys; the oldest and wisest of adults also suffer from fear. But God would not have us be afraid; he wants us to have the heart of a lion. The book of Romans in the Bible tells us that we have not received the spirit of fear from God. A friend once told me that the letters in the word F.E.A.R stand for False Expectations Appearing Real. That’s because more often than not, the things we are afraid of do not actually happen when we do take the first step. More often than not, those guys at school won’t say anything for you to be afraid of, when you take that step of inviting them to a youth event. The person at college is likely to be thankful when you offer to pray for them. Taking the first step is maybe just what God wants you to do and he won’t leave you alone to do it. And when Gods with you, we can know that our fears are definitely false expectations appearing real.

These people are a moany old bunch aren’t they? They get given a great opportunity to build a homeland and what’s their answer. “But it’s hard to cut down the trees and there are some mean people over there.” I’m glad Joshua told them to get on with it. God puts so many opportunities in front of us, but we do have to do something about them to reap the blessings that God wants us to have. If God just delivered the end result then we would be no more than his pets. Just like a dog waits for its owner to put down the food we would be waiting for our God to deliver our every need. Our God doesn’t deliver our every need but he does provide for our every need. He provides opportunities for us to use the talents that he us given us and then it is down to us. So maybe it’s time we just got on with it.

You can understand why some people claim the Bible is confusing and contradicts itself can’t you. How about this nice little throw away line at the end of this chapter. “They are made to do forced labour.” Hold a minute is that God saying that some people are worth less then others? Does that mean that slavery is OK? Well I am pretty sure when Jesus told us to love one another, that ruled out slavery. What we have to remember is, there were things that people did all those years ago that wound God up, just like there are today. There are great guys alive today, that live their lives on fire for God. But every now and then, they muck up. Not only that, there are something’s that they do every single day that are not part of Gods plan for them. Maybe things they know God doesn’t want them to do, or they maybe things they just find hard to avoid. It was no different back when the Bible was written either. Just because parts of the Bible record the daft things some of Gods people got up to, doesn’t mean that God wants us to do them now. Think of the Bible like an early version of YouTube. It records and puts on display all the good and bad things Gods people got up to. YouTube does the same today, there are videos of all the good and bad things that people get up to. Do you watch a video of someone doing something stupid on YouTube and then go and do it yourself? Of course you don’t, so why would you read about someone who mucked up in the Bible and think that God wants you to do it? You wouldn’t would you, you’re not that daft. We can tell the difference between God using examples of things he wants us to do and examples of things he doesn’t want us to do. How? Because we have his Holy Spirit to guide us, and because we are not stupid. Maybe the Bibles not confusing and doesn’t contradict itself after all.

Wow what’s the point of that massive list of names? Here we just have a humongous list what could we possible learn from that? Well I think we can learn a fair bit from the final comment. “The people of Judah couldn’t get rid of the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem. The Jebusites stayed put, living alongside the people of Judah. They are still living there in Jerusalem.” So they are saying there all these people who we are happy to live alongside, and then this one set of people who we don’t want, there is no room for them. It’s like saying there we lived with these guys from the USA, some from England, others from Spain and we had to put up with those from Turkey. That wouldn’t have been Gods plan when Jesus says that we to love our neighbour as ourselves. What’s it like at school or college? Are you happy to live alongside the skaters and the Goths but the geeks are just too much? Or maybe you feel like you are the outcast. Either way be assured that Gods original plan was that we would all live along side each other in peace and it’s is only mankind that have mucked it all up. Get used to it, living with everyone because whoever your are Skater, American, Black, Tall, Goth, English, White, Turkish, Chinese, Big, God will welcome you to Heaven.

Caleb meets his wife and what is his first reaction. Is it “hey you are my reward for doing battle, so you will do my bidding”? Are his first thoughts about what he is due? No his very first words are “what would you like?” Now that’s an example for any marriage. Actually that’s an example for any relationship. When we meet our friends what are the thoughts in our mind? Do we think what can I do with this relationship, what can I get out of it, or do we ask the question, what can I do for you? There is a really old song which tells the story of a boy and his mother. The mother asks the boy if he would mind doing something and he says he will do it for some money. Anyway, the song then goes on to list all the things the mother does for the boy and the punch line is, no charge. That means the mother didn’t see the opportunity to serve the boy as a money making exercise, she did it because she loved him. Naturally the boy gets the message and does what his mother has asked without charge. This is obviously a key message that we must learn because Caleb isn’t the only example of this type of selfless love shown in the Bible. The Bible is littered with heroes who put other people’s needs before their own. And then of course we have the ultimate example of someone asking what can I do for these people rather then what can I get out of these people. Jesus on the cross was an expensive gift from God, but guess what, there is no charge.

Caleb is eighty five years old. That’s even old in my book; it must seem ancient for you. Not only that, he has been doing battle for God for forty five years. That’s probably longer then you have been alive, by a lot. So you can forgive Caleb for being a little weary. I mean you know how it is after you have been doing something for a little while you do get a bit fed up of it. You lose your inspiration and drive. It’s not as exciting as it was last year; basically you just get bored of it. But Caleb is on fire. He is up there shouting I’m ready for more, how did he manage that. How did he manage to live over half his life on fire, doing what he did, day in day out? Pretty simple really, Caleb had discovered what God had wanted him to do. Caleb had taken God within him; no actually Caleb had allowed God to take Caleb with God. What is it that God has put a fire in your belly about? What is it that you think about constantly? Is that what God wants’ you to do? Go do and take God with you. Better still go do it and ask God to take you with him.

Big deal some centuries years old tribes of people get given some scraps of land half way across the world. How can that relate to us today in the twenty first century? How can what God did to these people centuries ago possibly relate to us at college. What difference does it make to you at school tomorrow? Isn’t this just why people say that the Bible isn’t relevant to today’s society? Well they would be right if it wasn’t for one small thing. The God that promised to look after those people centuries ago and then delivered on his promise. The God that did just as he told them, is the same God that we worship today. The God we worship today in our schools, in our colleges and in our home is the very same God. Not only that, but we are also told and we know that he is the same yesterday as he is today as he will be tomorrow. So now that we can know that he will delivery on his promises to us to. He will do, just as he tells us in the same way he did for those tribes all those years ago. And boy does he promise some good stuff for us and our future. As we continue to hear Gods promised together in future devs, let us remember that they are not hot air, and we can know that we know that we can trust our God.

So as we return to the book of Joshua, we find an old Man, who probably thinks that his work is done. But what is God’s word to Joshua? “You’ve had a good, long life, but there is a lot of land still to be taken.” Yep Joshua you have been busy for me in your life, but there is more to be done. It seems that we will never be too old to do Gods work. Fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety, one hundred, God seems to have no limits for those who are doing his work. There is no excuse for you either because God also used young people to do his work. God used a boy to save an army from the giant Goliath, and he wants to use you to. Thirty, twenty, eighteen, sixteen, fifteen, thirteen, ten, you are never too young for Gods work. So if we are not too old and not too young for Gods work, hadn’t we better get a move on with it?

So why would Jesus ask Peter if he loved him three times? Imaging the scene, Jesus says “Peter do you love me”. So peter says “Yes I love you.” Jesus says “Peter do you love me”. So Peter getting a little frustrated says “Yes I do love you.” Jesus says once more “Peter do you love me”. So Peter shouts “Yes, yes, yes , yes I do love you.” But then we must remember this is the same Peter that denied he knew Jesus three times at the Crucifixion. Do you think just maybe Jesus is showing Peter forgiveness three times? What do we take away from this? Have you been hurt by someone and found it hard to forgive them. Maybe a mate has said some horrible things about you and you have found it hard to forgive them. It’s interesting that Peter is the one in need of forgiveness here, because earlier in his life he asked Jesus questions about forgiveness. Mathew 18:21-22 says Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. Seventy seven times doesn’t mean that you give up on seventy eight, it means that you may have to forgive someone many times. It doesn’t mean that you leave yourself in a situation where someone keeps hurting you either, Jesus wouldn’t want you to do that. But remember when you think about if you want to forgive someone, just like Peter you may be the one needing forgiveness next time.

These guys were fisherman they knew how to fish, and they knew where to fish. Yet some complete stranger walks up to them and says, throw your net over the other side. If I was them I would have told him to mind his own business. I know how to surf and, I know where to surf. If some bloke paddled out to me and said you won’t catch any waves here try that break over there, I might get a bit fed up. I may even tell him to give his advice to someone else. I’m that way with Jesus to. Sometimes I am plodding along in my own life when I feel God the Holy Spirit, prompt me to do something. I might feel him say go and talk to that guy over there. I want to say, “look I know people, and I know the type of people I get on with, why would I speak to him?” Or I might feel God the Holy Spirit say to me ring up that woman at Church and tell her what a great job she is doing. I may want to shout, “look I know that area of church, and actually I don’t think she is doing a good job.” The problem is that it the stranger with the disciples wasn’t any stranger it was Jesus. And the promptings I get from God the Holy Spirit are not any thoughts they are God given thoughts. We can ignore them because we know best, but when it comes down to it do we really know better than the God who created the universe?

So the plan is unfolding and the disciples are begging to believe. All this time the disciples have walked around with Jesus they have seen the miracles he has performed, they have listened to him teach and finally they are beginning to believe. Remember Jesus told them that he would rise again, but they still seem in complete shock when the find that his body is missing. Isn’t that just like us? Often we are told by our parents or youth leaders about the stuff Jesus did. We are told that he was born, did all this amazing stuff, died and rose again, and is able to do amazing stuff. We are told that Jesus heals; we are told that Jesus can guide us; we are told that he will make a difference in our lives. But then we walk about college or school and somehow that just seems miles away and doubt creeps in. What we know in our head, what we know is written in the Bible, doesn’t seem to make a difference in our lives. We want to rush into the tomb and see the proof of an empty grave. We want to see the healings we hear about; but sometimes that is not God plan for our lives. If you have seen miracles, if you have physically seen God do stuff, then fantastic, thank him for that. But I know that often the way God shows me that he exists is through the little every day things that people miss. The change in a friend’s life when they begin to believe.

Rabboni, Professeur, Lehrer, Insegnante, Teacher. It doesn’t matter what language you say it in, we all choose people who we want to learn from. Mary looked upon Jesus as her Master and her Teacher. Up to this point Mary had spent much of her time with Jesus, because that is what we do when we want to learn from someone. You don’t choose a teacher so much as choose the people you want to hang around with. If you choose to hang around with people that play the guitar well, you will soon find that your guitar playing improves. Hang around blokes that spend their time on game consoles, and your hunger to play games will increase. Hang around people that smoke and swear and guess what, don’t be surprised if you find yourself swearing unexpectedly in other places. Mary chose to hang around Jesus and her hunger to be more like Jesus increased to the point that she felt despair when he appeared to have died. Who do we choose to hang with in our lives? Do we choose those guys who move us closer to becoming the person we want to be, or those guys who are so caught up in themselves they wouldn’t notice if we were not around. Do we choose those who move us closer to Jesus, or those who move us away from Jesus? Choosing a teacher is as easy

Years before Jesus was born Gods people were saying things about the bloke who would be the Son of God. In fact there were so many things said about who the Son of God would be, that it made it impossible for the wrong person to prove they were Christ. Heir to the throne of David, born in Bethlehem, crucified, pierced through hands and feet, born from a virgin, soldiers gambled for His clothing, and the list goes on and on. Having a faith in Jesus is more about the God the Holy Spirit guiding our hearts, but God does not ask us to remove our brains. He is up for us having questions and looking for answers that are logical. If we attack these things people predicted about Christ then we might be able to raise doubt about the odd one or two. You might say that there were lots of decedents of David, and the Messiah could have been anyone one of them. You could suggest that there were loads of people crucified. I’m sure that soldiers gambled a lot, and you could say they were just being soldiers. But if we use our brains it’s very simple to work out the truth. Whilst there may have been many people that each one of these prophesies were true about; there was only one person that they were all true about. So what does this mean to us today? It means that as we go to
school, college or work today we can walk tall, knowing that our Saviour Jesus Christ is as valid in our brains as he is in our hearts.

How easily we can get drawn along with the crowd. Just a few days ago these were the same people that welcomed Jesus into town as a King, shouting Hosanna and praising his name. Yet here they are, shouting for his torture and death on a cross. It’s just like the feeling you get at a football game. The emotion inside of you can get whipped up into a frenzy, and before you know it your are shouting things at the referee that you wouldn’t believe you could say. What is it that makes us want to be part of the crowd? What is it that makes us do and say things that are wrong rather than stand out from the crowd? Fear. Fear of being different; fear that if we don’t run with the crowd that they may turn on us. At school and college we may run with the crowd and gossip about friends, in the hope the crowd won’t gossip about us. We dress like the in-crowd so that we have an identity and won’t stand out. Well you have an identify, you are a Christ Follower. Your identity wasn’t created in some fashion house, where what they really want is your money. Your identity isn’t in some label, like Goff, Emo or Skater. You are not part of the crowd, you were created individual, and God has known you before you were born. You know the difference between what the crowd think is right, and what you know to be right. Part of the crowd? No, you are too good for that, God made you too individual to run with the crowd.

Pilate is having a bad day. Firstly he tells the Jews to take this problem of his hands and Judge Jesus for themselves. Then when they won’t he ask Jesus to confess and take this problem out of his hands. Finally he says, ‘”OK guys I can release one prisoner, so please take this problem of my hands.’” But still no joy. You see Jesus is persistent. Jesus knows that Gods will is for him to die on the cross for us, and that’s what is going to happen. Gods is persistent with us as well. God doesn’t give up on us just because we have made rubbish decisions in the past; no God sticks with us through thick and thin. God wanted you to hear about his Son Jesus and he was persistent with that until you stood up and took notice. Of course you can be stubborn and ignore him. But that does seem a little Pilate like. Personally I think being persistent in seeking Gods will for your life might be the better plan. What do you think?

So Peter has denied that he knows Jesus not once, not twice but three times, that’s a Strike, and he is out. Not so long ago in John 13:37-38 he said “Master, why cant I follow now? Ill lay down my life for you!” Jesus knew what was going to happen, do you remember his reply? Jesus said “Really? Youll lay down your life for me? The truth is that before the rooster crows, youll deny me three times.” And as the sound of the rooster crowing dies away we are reminded once again, that Jesus knows every bit of our heart. Of course we have never said that we won’t do something, and then gone ahead and done it have we? I know I have never said that I wouldn’t snap at someone I love, and then snapped at them because I was feeling grumpy. Hmmm well maybe I have just once or twice. But I am sure that you would never do such a thing, would you? Of course if you were to do things that you said you wouldn’t what should you do? Should you feel guilty and beat yourself up? Should you not care and just give up trying? Well it seems to me that when Jesus talked about being selfish he said things like ‘”you are forgiven, now go and be selfish no more.’” So the answer is that we shouldn’t beat ourselves up, but we should say sorry and keep on trying to not do selfish stuff. As for Peter who is probably feeling rubbish right now, well we get back to him later on.

Jesus spread the message that he was the Son of God through peace. Simon Peter completely missed the point. In Simon Peters mind he was doing right by getting his sword out and chopping the ear of the soldier off. You can imagine it can’t you ‘”I Simon Peter will save the Saviour of the World, with my sword.’” Was he then going to go around and chop off everyone else’s ear that didn’t believe? That wasn’t the way Jesus did things, we can’t go around using force to spread the fantastic news about God. Imagine going up to some guy at school or college and saying, ‘”right if you don’t accept Jesus, I’m going to thump you one.’” Even if they did say the words, they wouldn’t mean them would they? No that’s not the way Jesus did it. Jesus took care of peoples needs before he spoke to them, Jesus was an action man. Think of the feeding of the five thousand, no one is going to listen if they are hungry so he fed them. All the healings he did, after all people are distracted when they are ill. So why would the soldier accept Jesus as his saviour, if a Christian had caused him harm? Why would that person you know accept Jesus as their saviour if your bully them? No we need to be action men and women like Jesus and help people, no hurt them. Only then will they be in a position to hear about Jesus.

Sometimes as we look at God’s instruction book the Bible together and we update the words to make them meaningful to us today. But as we look at this passage Jesus is not only praying to our Father God for his disciples but he also takes the time to pray for you and me. I don’t think the words need updating we just need to understand that Jesus is praying for us today. I am going to read his words again but I will put my name in certain places. As I put my name in put your name in it its place and hear how much JeFather Im praying not only for the disciples. But also for Suzy. Because of her and her witness about me. The goal is that she becomes one heart and mind’Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, So Suzy might be one heart and mind with us. Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me. The same glory you gave me, I gave Suzy, So Suzy will be as unified and together as we are’I in Suzy and you in me. Then Suzy will be mature in this oneness, And give the godless world evidence That youve sent me and loved Suzy In the same way youve loved me. 24-26Father, I want Suzy who you gave me to be with me, right where I am, So she can see my glory, the splendor you gave me. Amen

I am like the disciples in so any ways. They have come across a problem; they don’t understand what Jesus has said to them. So what do they do? They ask each other, what’s this all about. You want to shout out hey guys Jesus is standing next to you ask him you muppets. But hey aren’t I just like them to? Aren’t you like them to? You’r plodding along at college and you come across a problem, what do you do? I’m plodding along with my life in my own merry way and I hit a problem, what do I do? I look at the problem and ask myself, ‘”right how can I work this out?’” How can I solve this problem? I ask my mate, ‘”can you help’” with this? And then finally when we have tried every other option, some bright spark says hey how about praying? It’s at that point I want to shout to myself ‘”hey muppet pray at the beginning, not when every other option fails.’” Remember Jesus is standing alongside you and he really doesn’t mind you asking him questions.

So up to now Jesus had been babysitting the disciples, but finally it’s his time to go. Jesus lays down the truth because after he is gone they will be on their own. He says I am telling you the truth about the world because soon I am going to hang on a cross. Yep they will not be able to turn to Jesus and say where now? No, when they get stumped by a question their friends ask they will no longer be able to point to a physical Jesus and say ask him. You could say that they will become just like us. When our mates ask us why God allows suffering to happen, we can’t walk up to Jesus with them and ask him to tell them. When we have a real tough time we don’t get the option to walk up to Jesus and say where now? And that happens in other areas of our life doesn’t it? At some point we will leave our parents and get on with life. At some point we will move on from our groups and onto new areas. When we do, we will find out if our belief in Jesus is ours, or did we just go to Church because of our parents. We will find out if we have the guts to continue to follow Jesus’s teachings, or if we just liked the fun we had in our groups. Thankfully although just like the disciples we will be on our own, Jesus did not leave us alone. Jesus left us with the Holy Spirit, so when we have moments when we are

Do you have people take the mickey out of you? Do people wind you up because you say you are a Christian? Maybe worse still you get bullied because you are a Christian? Hey good news, Jesus says don’t be surprised, they hate him too. “Oh that’s OK then, phew I thought I was the only one, why didn’t you say so before, no worries.” But that’s no help really, is it? Just because we know people ridiculed and beat Jesus, it doesn’t make it any easier when they ridicule and hit us. And if these things don’t happen to us, we hear stories that they happen to other people, and then start panicking that it may happen to us. So what is the answer? Well I’m not sure I have one. I could say love Jesus and you will never have another problem again. But Jesus didn’t say that. He did say what these people are doing is because of him and not because of you. He did promise that you will party with him in Heaven if you accept him as your saviour. He did say that you will have the Holy Spirit with you, and Jesus did say that God would listen to
your prayers. So I guess we have only one example to follow, and when

Once again Jesus is talking to a bunch of people who grow their own crops and know about grapes; so he talks to
them about fruit and how their lives are like growing fruit. If he was talking directly to us today, I am sure he would
use different pictures to get his message across, but his message would be the same. Jesus might say something
like, I am the games console and my Father is the games master. Those players who ignore the games master will
lose lives; they won’t complete the levels and will lose the game. Every player that listens to the games master will
receive hints and tips from him. The games master will teach you, and whilst it may take several attempts to win a
level, eventually you will win the game. When we read and pray to God we are listening to the Farmer, we are
listening to the Games Master. Listening to God will show with the actions we take in our lives, and we will bear fruit,
we will win levels. When we listen to God and remember the ultimate cheat in game playing, we will love one another
and it will not be “game over” it will be “game on.”

I can hear you now. “Hold on a minute first I understand God the Father that you described to me. Then Jesus comes along and you describe God the Son. Now you’re telling me that Jesus left a friend behind called God the Holy Spirit. What’s this all about? Do we believe in three different gods?” Man I can see that it would be confusing,but no our God is one god and is all three parts Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Think of God as water. Water can be in different states. Water can be flowing water. Water can be frozen ice. Water can be steam. At any time did what water was made up of change? No it didn’t, it was still made up of the chemicals that make water, but it did look different didn’t it? Now I know that that doesn’t really answer your questions but it’s does help us see that an everyday item can appear to be different, but still be the same thing. Now lets look at the Sun. No not Son the big shiny thing in the sky, the Sun. Many years ago people use to believe that the Sun circled around our planet. We now know that the Earth circles the Sun. Did the facts change? No they didn’t it’s just that we have learned the truth, and before the truth was beyond our understanding. Is it possible that the truth is, God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, it just that we don’t have the ability to fully understand this? Thank God for his Bible because in his instruction manual he says very clearly, that God is God the Father (Isaiah 45:18), Jesus is God the Son (John 8:58), God the Holy Spirit is God (Acts 5:3-4) but there is only one God (Isaiah 43:10). When we don’t fully understand, at least we can rely on God’s word.

And Jesus said “be nice, don’t hurt anyone and you will go to Heaven.” Wouldn’t that have been so much easier if Jesus had actually said that? Or he could have said, “It doesn’t matter what God you believe in, we will all meet up in Heaven.” But the problem is he didn’t. Typical Jesus he didn’t mess around he laid the truth out plain and simple. In other translations it says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” So the only way to get to God is through Jesus. If we truly believe that the only way to party forever in heaven is to accept that Jesus came to this earth and died for our selfish acts, then what should we do? Well for one thing we should realise that everyone needs to know Jesus, the good, the bad and the ugly. The good need to accept Jesus, because he didn’t say be good and you will go to heaven. The bad need to know him, because Jesus did not say if you have done bad stuff you can’t get into heaven. The ugly? Well there is no ugly person in Gods eyes. But those who feel ugly, those who feel they don’t deserve to be forgiven, they need to accept that Jesus died for them as well. In short Jesus dies for us all, Jesus died for the good, the bad and the ugly. Jesus is the one way to God our Father in heaven.

Well that’s simple enough isn’t it? Jesus gave us one last commandment, “Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another.” So all we have to do is be kind, and we are doing what Jesus wants us to do. All we have to do is go to school and ask nice questions like, “how you doing,” and then we have been just like Jesus. It’s an easy life, if we go to college and smile at our mates, then we are doing just what Jesus wants us to do. Hmmm, not entirely what Jesus said is it! Jesus said “Love one another. In the same way I loved you.” Now the problem is, that Jesus loved us, beyond the way anyone on this world loved before. Let’s check out a quick whistle stop tour of the way Jesus loved people. Firstly, he, the God Man, came to Earth when he could have stayed in heaven. Then he hung around with the down and outs and taught them about Gods love. He gave up everything, to be a humble teacher, do you not think, the creator of the world, could have been a successful business man instead? Finally, he gave his life for us on the cross. Sorry guys, but to love the same way Jesus did, is not an easy life. It’s means giving up stuff for others. It means, helping those who the rest of the world, turn away from. It means, taking action, when you see injustice. It means, giving your entire life over to God. Not such an easy life, after all.

God built us in a funny way, because he built us with a need for friendship. Some of us love to have lots of friends, others of us only need one friend, but most of us, need friendship. The problem with friendship is, it’s a risky business. It’s risky, because you have to put your trust in a person, in order for them to be your friend. There also seems to be some sort of connection between the amount of trust you put in someone and the depth of friendship you have with them. Some friends at your school or college are just passing acquaintances and you put little trust in them, whilst you may have other friends who know you much better and whom your trust much more. Jesus was the same, he had hundreds of friends and followers, but he trusted the twelve, much more, and even within the twelve, there one or two he, trusted even more. Jesus also knew the danger of trusting people, because he knew all too well that people stuff up and betray our trust. Jesus was ultimately betrayed by one of his close friends, Judas, and not only that, he knew Judas would betray him ahead of time. So the next time a friend stuffs up and tells others something that you wanted kept quiet, you can know that you are in good company. Jesus knew the pain of betrayal just like you do, but Jesus was also able to forgive people. That’s the best example for us. We too, should forgive people that hurt us. That doesn’t mean that we are not careful about what we say to them in the future, because trust, must be earned. But it does mean, that we understand that everyone makes mistakes, and we give them another chance. Because, with Jesus as our example, we can be strong enough to forgive.

So Jesus washed the disciples feet, what difference does that make to us? Jesus took the grubbiest job and got on with. Washing your mates feet, at the end of a sweaty, dusty day would not have been nice. Actually you probably would have got your lowest servant to do it. But Jesus didn’t, actually Jesus did four things. Firstly he was observant enough to spot a way he could do something for his friends and fellow believers. Then he got on and did it. He didn’t send money, he didn’t arrange for someone else to do it. No Jesus felt it was important enough that he did it. Thirdly he wnashed everyone’s feet, even Judas who he new would betray him. He didn’t pick and choose the guys he liked; he did it to all of them. Finally he was very straightforward and said, I am doing this so you guys can use me as an example. Jesus was plain that this is how we should look after one another. There was no messing with this, and I was reminded this week of a famous old preacher guy call John Wesley who put it another way. John said “Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can.“ So as you look around at your mates, and those who go to your church or youth group that you might not like as much; can you see things that people need to be helped with? If you can’t should you be looking a bit harder? After all Jesus was very plain that him washing the disciples feet wasn’t a one off it was a way we should live our lives.

Much of my early life as a Christian was done in secret. I was just like those in the passage, who believed in Jesus but kept it quiet. I, was a secret agent. I snuck here, and I snuck there. I prayed, but only on my own, without anyone else’s knowledge. I read my Bible but only when no one else was looking. You could have looked at me, and never have known I was a Christian. Why? Maybe, because I didn’t want to get challenged about my faith. Maybe, because I felt that I couldn’t answer anyone’s questions. Maybe, because I simply was not sure myself yet. In truth, I don’t know why I was a secret agent, and I don’t know when I stopped being a secret agent. All I know is one day I simply mentioned the word Church in a conversation. Before long, I heard myself saying, that I would pray for people. Then I knew, my cover was blown. I was no longer a secret agent for God. So the question is, could God use me better when I was a secret agent, or can he use me better now? I think the answer is plain God has plenty of secret agents, but what he really desires is, for those who have the guts, to blow their cover. For the guys and girls, who have the real courage to blow their cover at school and college, to step forward. God can use you now, if you blow your cover.

Weren’t the disciples lucky they physically had Jesus with them? They could see him, touch him, ask him questions; they had his light to see by. Imagine having Jesus, actually living in your house. You could go to him and say. “Jesus, I had this problem with this guy at school, he got right on my nerves, how do I deal with him?” Or maybe. “Jesus, my parents are driving me nuts, what is it about them, that makes them think they know it all?” I’m sure Jesus would smile at you and then give you words of wisdom, or maybe tell you a parable. But in a similar way, we do have Jesus with us; we too can walk our lives by his light. If, we get into the Bible every day. If we pray, if we hang with Jesus, just by being quiet, we can walk in his light. But ,just as the disciples must have found it hard without physically being with Jesus after his Crucifixion, we too can miss him, if we don’t spend time with him. If we skip reading Gods instruction book, the Bible. If we don’t talk to God, in prayer, then his light in our lives can fade. The decisions we make at school or college, begin to reflect Jesus, less. When we hit choices to be made, our first thought, is not how would Jesus handle this. But if, we stick with Jesus, then we know that our decision will be based upon what he wants in our lives. But hey, you are listening, to Gods word, so that is the first step, now all you have to do is speak to him.

Can you imaging worshipping Jesus with such freedom that you cheer and wave palm branches as he rides a donkey into Jerusalem? Ok, let’s put it like this, your favourite football star, strolls out onto the pitch, after your team win the championship. The place goes wild with ticker tape and the whole crowd including you scream like lunatics. Or maybe you favourite film star, walks into you college canteen, do you think they might get a bit of attention from you and your mates? You see, these days there are plenty of things in our lives that we can get enthused about. There are plenty of pop stars, film stars, or so called celebrities that we can get infatuated about. We read about them in magazines, we watch them on reality TV, we listen to them at every opportunity. There is only one problem with that. They are false idols. Not only will those guys fade away, they will let you down, because they are only human. No different to you and me. Also our God has a few things to say about worshipping false idols, the least of which is don’t do it. If only we could get as enthused about worshipping Jesus, as we do about sport, film and pop stars. Maybe then we would catch a glimpse of what Jesus really wants us to see and feel.