aftershock.org.uk
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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 can't I follow now? I'll lay down my life for you!” Jesus knew what was going to happen, do you remember his reply? Jesus said “Really? You'll lay down your life for me? The truth is that before the rooster crows, you'll 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.

Author - Max Cross, Uncategorized | No Comments »

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.

Author - Max Cross, Uncategorized | No Comments »

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 Jesus loves you.

Father I'm 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 you've sent me and loved Suzy In the same way you've 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

Author - Max Cross, Uncategorized | No Comments »

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.

Author - Max Cross, Uncategorized | No Comments »

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 not sure what to do we can shout out to our Father God. We can shout in prayer, what should I do? Where now?

Author - Max Cross, Uncategorized | No Comments »