Year: 2009

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Don’t call me baby – part 4

Dear blog reader. My guess is that some of you probably have a cute and cuddly Christmas view of Jesus. Yes, Jesus was once a cuddly little baby. But he’s much more!

don't call me baby

Jesus is the SAVIOUR of the World; he came to save people like you. Jesus is GOD WITH US; our need for a Saviour was so great that only God could come and be that Saviour.

Stop thinking of Jesus as a baby! My hope for you this Christmas is that you’d see the real Jesus. A good place to start would be to read one of Jesus’ biographies. Start here.

LISTEN TO “DON’T CALL ME BABY” MP3

“Don’t Call Me Baby” – Sermon from Youth Carols Event

Contact me if you want to catch up and chat about Jesus further (or if you are from a far away land, I can put you in contact with someone nearby).

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Don’t call me baby – part 3

Your view of Jesus will shape your response to Jesus. If Jesus was just a baby and nothing more, it would be okay to pack him away with all the decorations after Christmas is over. But he’s more than just a baby, in fact he came to save people from their sins. More than that, Jesus isn’t just a man, he is God!

don't pack me away with the decorations...

Check this “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23). This sentence reveals even more to us about the identity of Jesus. He is God with us. When you meet Jesus you are actually meeting God, the creator of the universe!!

This is good news. Incredible news. God has come near. God knows our need. God has done something about it. God has become one of us, so that he can save people from their sins. When you view Jesus like this, you can’t keep treating him as a cute and cuddly Christmas Jesus.

How should we treat this SAVIOUR-GOD Baby Jesus?? Stay tuned for part 4…

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Don’t call me baby – part 2

Your view of Jesus will shape your response to Jesus. Jesus isn’t your homeboy, a ninja or just a baby. Jesus is Saviour. That’s what the name Jesus means, “God saves”. In Matthew’s biography of Jesus it says: “Mary will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21). Why did Jesus come as a Saviour? Because people needed to be saved from their sins.

pic from http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotopakismo/2254730576/

The Bible and human experience make it clear that all people have sinned. Sin is when we disobey God, in effect we live as if there is no God. The presence of sin means that our greatest need is to be saved from sin and the penalty for sin.

That’s where baby Jesus steps onto the scene. The extraordinary thing about Jesus is that he is the one person in history to not sin, he always lived in obedience to his Father. And so he didn’t just come to be cute and cuddly Christmas Jesus, but he came on a unique rescue mission to save people from their sin.

He does this by dying on the cross 33 years later. When Jesus died, he took upon himself the penalty that people deserve for their sin. It’s only by trusting in Jesus as your Saviour that you can be forgiven of your sin.

When you understand that Jesus is Saviour, the best way to respond to him is recognising that you need to be saved.

Jesus is more than just a cute little baby – find out more in part 3…

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Don’t call me baby – part 1

Your view of Jesus will shape your response to Jesus. If Jesus is just your homeboy (check the t-shirt); then you’ll treat him like you treat any other buddy or mate. If you view Jesus as a Cyborg Pirate Ninja (check this); then you’ll probably live in constant fear that he is going to sneak up on you and break your neck!

what ewe looking at sheep??? (pic from http://www.sxc.hu/photo/939787)

If you “like the Christmas Jesus best” (check this vid); then you’ll keep him wrapped up as a cute little baby in a manger, packed away with the Christmas decorations for the rest of the year.

Here’s the deal. Just like you and me, Jesus was once just a little baby. He cried. He crawled. He crapped. His birthday party, Christmas, is coming up soon. Two questions:

  1. Why do we celebrate the birth of a baby from 2000 years ago?
  2. What will cause you to think about Jesus more than just at Christmas?

Jesus is more than just a cute little baby – find out more in part 2…

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Tiger Woods, Sexual Sin and Choosing Heroes

Tiger Woods has fallen. I have no intention of having a pot shot at him or removing my sponsorship dollars. Here are two things I’ve been reflecting on amidst the media storm:

tiger woods

  1. Sexual sin is costly. Do you travel* alone for sport, business, preaching, holidays or the like? Count the cost of sexual sin, don’t put yourself in stupid situations and establish accountable relationships. (*This applies even if you’ve never left your home town).
  2. Choose your heroes carefully. Don’t put too much hope in people. Even heroes fall. I remember as a teenager being crushed when some of my heroes were exposed for their shadiness. I’m no longer surprised when a public figure or even a personal friend is exposed. My hope is in the One Man who will never be exposed for corruption or deceit. Trust Jesus – he won’t let you down.
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YMC09 Top 5 Videos

My favourite youth ministry conference is the Youthworks YMC. Unfortunately, I missed the conference this year as I was travelling back from overseas. So because I couldn’t be there in the flesh, I recorded my segment before I left, to be shown each session.

see below for the vids

See below for the videos. I haven’t actually watched them yet (currently sitting in a cafe with basic internet). I think they went down okay. If you watch only one, the one on youth group meals was the most fun. They can also be found on fervr.net

Continue reading “YMC09 Top 5 Videos”

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Jesus is Nambawan!

I like soccer. I love Jesus. It used to be the other way around. While in Vanuatu, it was fun to combine soccer (football) and Jesus. The Nivans are football crazy. So we ran a bunch of football games with the locals. Find a field. Start kicking a ball. People turn up. At each game, I gave a short talk. It was interesting to think through how and what to say in a short period of time to a group of people who aren’t all English-speakers.

Jesus is numbawan!

After interacting with local kids in the schools and at the football games, the common message became “Jesus is nambawan!” (“Jesus is number one!”). Football? It’s number two, because Jesus is number one! I shared from the most famous verse in the Bible on what Jesus has done and how “faith” is having Jesus as number one: “God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die” (John 3:16). We also prayed together that God would help us to have Jesus as number one.

High-fives were replaced with high-ones and “Jesus is nambawan!” was often heard from the windows of our buses! I think it was an effective message. Vanuatu is a country where the majority of people are living with Jesus as number one. So most of the kids who played football are already Christian. Hopefully we were an encouragement to them to keep living with Jesus as their king. One day, they might look back fondly at those crazy white guys who were crazy about Jesus. Not crazy about Jesus? Check this out…

With all this talk of Jesus as number one, I’m reminded of the following video. It’s probably the pinnacle of my film-making career (below the jump):

Continue reading “Jesus is Nambawan!”