When you were younger did you have any Christmas traditions in your family? Our Christmas day was always the same. Wake up (early, thanks, Sis!) open all our presents, go over the road to my aunty's, open more presents, come home, change out of our pyjamas and then go to the pub until dinner.

Every year the same until I left home. Sometimes we would pop into Gran and Taid if we had time but the pattern was the same. That was what we, as a family did. I, however, had another tradition that I did. Religiously. Every year. Always. Until I was at least 20 and I still do it every other year now.

It involved reading and it involved looking for something. If I found it, my Christmas was made. No matter how many sprouts I was forced to eat, no matter how rainy the day, no matter how early I broke my new toy. One thing was guaranteed to make me ecstatic.

What I used to do was wait until about a week before Christmas. The newspaper (always The Sun in our house, feel free to judge me I don't care) came with a bumper listings magazine for the Christmas period and I used to sit and scour the films that were on. I wasn't interested in the latest blockbuster (although I would, of course, watch them). I wasn't interested in any films my parents would want. The one I wanted was usually on early in the morning on Christmas Day or Boxing Day. It was about ninety minutes long, animated and came out in 1979.

The film was a version of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and to me, it was the greatest film in the world. It was crudely animated and the sound didn't always sync but I simply adored that film. I still do. That's why I always looked for it. I could happily sit and watch it again and again.

Nowadays, it is rarely on TV at Christmas and I am sad about that. However, it is on YouTube and I am thrilled by that. Now, I can watch it again and again and again. I watched some of it earlier today in fact.

I love Narnia. I loved Narnia before I knew Jesus. I loved Aslan before I realised that he was known in this world by a different name. I devoured the books as a child, time and time and time again. I know the stories of the Narnia Chronicles inside out and back to front.

Lewis' words captivated me as a young man. They made me feel things. I felt thrilled, I felt scared, I felt clever and I felt safe when I was reading them (apart from the dead bluebottle which confused me as a young lad from North Wales but that's another story).

As I grew older, I kept looking for the film. Then the BBC did that wonderful adaptation of four of the stories. They're available on YouTube as well! Then came the films of the last decade or so. They're not that good. They have better effects, are flashier and have higher production values but they lost something in the telling. It's great to have a lion who looks like a real lion but I wanted a lion who was like Aslan. I didn't need the backstory of a dad off at war and a troubled boy in an air-raid shelter to help me know what motivated Edmund.

As for the Hollywood adaptation of Prince Caspian with its tacking on of a love interest between Susan and Caspian! My goodness me they ruined that story. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader missed out all the important bits. I nearly left the cinema it was so bad.

You see, the crudely animated, badly synched and cheap 1979 production has enough of the right stuff. It has a beautiful musical score. It has heart and it has joy. Most of all, it has a story that's true to the original. It is redolent with the love and power of Lewis' book. It is as close to watching a book come to life as I have ever seen in a film.

That's why you'll have to excuse me, I have some popcorn, I have some drink and I have a film to watch. Catch you in ninety minutes or so ...

One of the major things that people who are not Christians think about us who do believe is that we are dour and don't like fun. They have this impression of miserable people who sit in their houses on a Sunday and do nothing other than visit church. There is still an idea that we are all strict sabbatarians who want everyone to be quiet and fun free on a Sunday.

When we read the New Testament, we see that Jesus has a lot to say about the Sabbath. He is often to be found with the poor and needy on a Sabbath and he is often criticised for "working" when he shouldn't be. You see, just as there are people now (both Christian and non-Christian) who misunderstand the nature of the Sabbath, there were people then as well. The Pharisees were dedicated to following every tiny detail. Even having a splinter in your finger would mean having to sit still for fear of transporting wood!

The Sabbath, which is part of the 10 Commandments, is meant to be a day of rest. It is meant to be a day when we re-connect with each other and with God. It is not meant to be a day when we do nothing in order to be seen doing nothing.

The Sabbath is, however, something that I believe in deeply. I am a strict follower of the Sabbath. I do the Sabbath in a different way though. A few years ago, when I came back to Jesus after a couple of years away, I wanted to be able to give Sundays to him. I wanted a day off work a week and I wanted to dedicate that day to God and to my family as it grew. I remember distinctly praying for all my work to be completed by Saturday night so that I could have the Sunday off. God, in his wonderful grace, helped me get it all complete by the Friday.

Ever since then, I have always refused to do any work for my job on Saturdays. I am happy to work on a Sunday evening but I am not going to do any work on a Saturday. That is a day for me to spend time with my wife and kids and for us to spend time with God as well. It doesn't matter what I have to do, come midnight on Friday that's me done.

This is the point where I am supposed to say that it hasn't always been easy but, you know what, it has been. I have found that whatever we give to God he will give back to us tenfold, a hundredfold and even more.

Having a sabbath means resting and recharging one's batteries. It means having a day when you can forget all the major stresses of your work week and enjoy time with the Lord. I highly recommend it.

This week has been so tiring. My lovely wife had a minor operation on Monday and I had a day off with the Kids (it was a training day so not too difficult) but she had a complication after and had to stay in overnight. I was worried but lots of prayer and ringing around friends sorted everything out.

The working week has been relentless. So much to do and so many things that kept pushing their way to the top of my "to do" list. At home, I have had to pick up more jobs too as my wife is still recovering and then on Wednesday it was time for a leaders' meeting. This was fractious and complex (as always it seems) and I was just shattered.

On top of it, our youngest has been having difficulty sleeping again. He has some problems with his tummy that make it difficult for him to sleep. Waking at half 11, half 2, half 4 and then 6 in the morning doesn't make for a good sleep for me.

Now, I am not claiming in any way that I am worse off than anyone else. Please don't think that I am. See, through all of this, there is a constant. When my tiredness hits hard and the grumpiness starts to come out there is always a little thing from God. A reminder of his presence, a smile from the kids, a song on the radio.

Every day He is with me and he never leaves me. He never leaves me and he never forsakes me. I can rest assured that Jesus himself knew what it was to be tired. He had his nights without sleep and he had his stresses. He knows what I need to do.

He told me as much when in Matthew chapter 11 he says

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I have found another great worship song which I have really enjoyed listening to. It is another Zach Williams song and has an uplifting message. Hope you enjoy

I have been getting my history fixes lately. Recently I reviewed a book by Nick Page which dealt with the history of the Reformation. Another book which I am long overdue a review of is The Popes: A History by John Julius Norwich.

Now, I have to confess, I have not actually read the book yet but rather i have listened to it as an audiobook on multiple occasions. It is over 21 hours long and takes the long path from St. Peter through to Benedict XVI.

It really is a fascinating book. It goes through church history with pace and with great scholarship. It is well written and has a good deal of information. It doesn't shy from the awfulness of some of the Popes and neither does it ignore the greatness of others.

It doesn't delve too much into doctrinal issues (where it has to, such as with the filioque clause, it does so with ease and without getting too technical), rather preferring to take the narrative approach. With such a long period and with so many Popes (and antipopes) of course it necessarily needs to limit detailed examination to those Popes who stuck around long enough and who had an impact on the church. You won't find much on Urban VII (13-day reign) or Boniface VI (16 days) but you will find good and instructive passages on Gregory the Great, Urban II, Adrian VI and Boniface VIII.

It deals with the conflicts with the Holy Roman Emperors, the Crusades (nicely highlighting their barbarism and pointlessness as well as their successes) and the Byzantine Empire. The Renaissance and Reformation are dealt with extremely well and leave the reader (listener?) well informed and entertained.

There are some passages which are heavy going but I think that relates more to my own preferences as a historian. For example, I found the lengthy passage dealing with Pius IX and the creation of Italy to be tedious and overlong.

The author does an excellent job and keeps the narrative going. There are one or two diversions but they are necessary. The sections on Pope Joan and the death of Pope John-Paul I are great diversions and taught me a lot. I was very impressed.

Overall, I learned a lot from this book and I am someone who has studied a good deal of church history. My favourite fact was the name of the Papal Bull sent by Boniface VIII to King Philip the Fair of France. It was sent at a time when the Pope was incredibly angry and is called "Ausculta Fili" which means "Listen, son ..." Made me think of the Papacy as an episode of Eastenders; which I suppose, after reading this book, it has often turned out to be.

I highly recommend this book and would love to hear what others think about it.

I haven't really listened much to Hillsong worship lately. No particular reason, I guess I just forgot about them. However, here is a video of theirs that is a wonderful version fo a wonderful song

Looking for some new worship songs and I came across this one. It is a powerful piece of praise and has some deep truths.

Here is a link to the sermon I gave today. I haven't edited it yet so there's a little bit of fluff at the end but if you can ignore that please enjoy.

Isaiah 25

Remember a few years ago we had a run of adverts for Dr Pepper with the slogan "What's the worst that could happen?" following a series of (apparently) amusing situations. I was thinking about that the other day as I was reading through my Bible and came across some notes I had scribbled in the bank among the blank pages. As well as the number to text your questions to a group at Spring Harvest in 2008 (would the number still work one wonders?) I had a huge list of different Biblical characters and the things they did in situations where they must surely have worried about any answer to the question "what's the worst that could happen?"

It made me think that I hadn't ever been asked to do anything by God that would qualify me to ask that question. Sure, God has asked me to do many things and I have tried my best to do what he wanted but, as yet, none of them has been too difficult or onerous.

So what about the Bible. Sometimes people undersell the Bible in my opinion. I have heard preachers talk about miracles in a way that explains them away. Likewise, there are passages like 1 Kings 19:12

12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

This well-known verse is amazing and I truly love it. However, when it is preached on in my experience it seems inevitable that the moral will be "God doesn't do big things anymore, he will always talk in the small voice". That's hogwash. Sometimes I want to hear the still small voice of God but other times I want him to shout my name and give me a challenge that will make me think about what could happen!

The Bible is littered with examples of the men and women who took a bold step for God. Men and women who took steps that others would have laughed at them for. They were, if you like, fools for God. Let's have a look at some of them.

Noah decided to build a boat in the desert. He survived the great flood. Sarah was 990 years old when she said she was going to have a baby. She had a baby! Moses stood in front of the red sea with the army of Pharoah hot on his heels. He crossed the Red Sea. Joshua stood in front of the mighty walls of Jericho and marched round with nothing but trumpets. The walls fell.

David, the little shepherd boy, stood against the giant with nothing but a small sling and some pebbles. That giant fell. Mary sang in her beautiful song that she was going to be special. She became the most blessed of women. Peter stepped out of the boat and he walked on the water. A small boy with a couple of loaves and some fish trusted Jesus enough to share his food. Everybody was fed.

Jesus told his disciples that he would come back from the dead. He rose again on the third day and led us into the new life.

Paul and Silas sat in prison and sang songs of praise to God. They were set free and they brought more people to Christ!

You see, in all of these stories (and the others that abound in Scripture), there is one constant. God. He is forever constant, as he himself says in Malachi 3:6 "I the LORD do not change". What God commands us to do is done based on his judgement of our abilities. He knows what we are, what we could be and what we will be. He is the one who gives us all power and ability to achieve what He needs for the furtherance of his Kingdom.

One of my all-time favourite passages of scripture, and one which has sustained me on many occasions is from the book of Deuteronomy. In chapter 30, as Moses (the fool for God!) is saying goodbye, he shares this little nugget from God

11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

God never gives us more than he knows we can handle. He never gives us things to do that we cannot handle. He likes to push our limits, he likes to have us challenged but at the end he just wants us to trust him. After all, he is God and he is for us. When he asks us to do something, what's the worst that could happen?

This is the text of my sermon for tomorrow. I imagine I will make some changes on the day, I usually do but I am fairly sure that it is as complete as I can make it.

Last week, as we were preparing for the envisioning Sunday, I popped out to grab a bottle of water. I don’t know if you remember but the weather was grey and miserable and rain was on and off. As I was heading just past M and Co I heard a loud voice proclaiming into a camera “I don’t care what you’re doing, or how much time you have, you have to save up some money and come to Scotland. It’s the best place I have ever seen! Come now!”

I was a little taken aback, wondering where he had come from to make a grey and wet Sunday in Fort William into the best place he had ever been but then I remembered. I remembered my reaction when I moved up here. I remembered the scenery as we drove through Glencoe. I grew up around mountains and here I was in a place that knocked spots off where I had grown up.

Mountains are a very important part of the Bible. They are often the places where God came to meet people. The Celtic Christians used to believe that mountains were quite often one of their thin places, places where God was closer to us. I’m not sure about that but I would like to talk about a mountain that is very important in the Bible.  Please turn to the book of Isaiah and chapter 25.

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This chapter starts with a decision, one taken by Isaiah to praise God and to worship God, he says in verse 1 “I will exalt and praise your name”.

Worshipping God and praising him should be conscious decisions. When we come to church we need to take a decision to worship God. Worship just because the song is playing isn’t right. It is something that we should want to do. Praising God is the thing that brings us closer to him and we need to make conscious decisions to do it.

We should want to do it because of who God is. God is so awesome and amazing that we should be ready to worship him and thank him for all he has done every day. But, most people don’t. I try to but many times I fail. I fail because I am easily distracted and I fail because of who I am.

Often, people think they don’t need God or they try to do their own thing. This isn’t a new thing. It is as old as time itself. You see, ever since Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, we humans have been trying our best to go our own way. God has always been there for us but we have ignored him, marginalised him, got angry at him and tried to outdo him.

Back in Genesis 11 the people of the earth tried to make a tower to reach up to God! He brought it low.

We have ended up with a world where we are scattered and separated into different nations and peoples. We have built a world where the poor and the needy are trampled into nothing by the rich and greedy. We live in an awful world. There is hunger, there is greed, there is war and there is hatred.

But!

This passage is a rallying call for those who don’t want such a world. It is a passage that tells of all God has done, is doing and will do for those we have ignored.  

Look at verse 3-5 again with me. God’s stronghold, the one so much better than anything we can build,  is a refuge for the poor. It is a refuge for the needy. It is a shelter from the storm and shade from the heat. It is everything that our own efforts lack.

Moreover, God’s refuge cannot be taken by the forces arrayed outside it. They are like a storm driving against a wall and like the heat of the desert BUT, God silences the uproar and he reduces the heat with a single cloud. The song of the ruthless is stilled. That’s God’s refuge. A place where the poor and needy can find solace and rest. A place where no matter how much the world wails and shouts, their actions are meaningless.

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Where is it? Where will this refuge be? That question is answered by verses 6-8. Three small verses but absolutely jam-packed with a powerful message.

Isaiah tells us that God will build his refuge on a mountain!

It is a well known mountain. It is the mountain where Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac and where God provided a sacrifice instead. It is the mountain where Jerusalem was built. It is the Holy Mountain, Mount Zion. It is the mountain which Abraham called in Genesis 22:14

14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”


In these three verses we see that the word “all” is used 5 times. Isaiah talks about food for “all peoples”, destroying the shroud that enfolds “all peoples”, the sheet that covers “all nations”. He talks about wiping the tears from “all faces” and removing disgrace from “all the earth”.

Even though the refuge of God will be a home for the poor and the needy, it is not a limited offer. This offer is for everyone. It is for all! Everyone who wants to can come and eat at this feast. Young, old, rich, poor, Jew, Gentile, white, black fat or thin. It doesn’t matter, all are welcome. God is not a God just for the poor and lowly Jews, he is a God for every single person. His refuge is open to anyone who needs it and to anyone who looks for it.

But, it’s only available on this one mountain!

It is often said and often taught, that all religions lead to God. Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and all the other religions are all paths leading up to the top of the same mountain. This simply isn’t true.

The Bible makes it clear that Jesus is the only way to God. John 14:6 says

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

The mountain of God, the mountain of refuge has a crucified and risen Christ at the top of it.

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Among the lovely images of this chapter, one of the loveliest is where God promises his people a feast! He promises that it will have aged wine, the finest of meats and the finest of wines!

The Bible is full of feasts that God provides for his people. It is a well-known image of the fullness of his love and his provision. I would like to take you to perhaps the most well known. Come with me to Psalm 23. Look at verse 5. God prepares a table for him in the presence of the author’s enemies.

The feast that Isaiah writes about is just that, a feast and not a snack. What’s more, it is a feast that we do not have to pay for in any way. In Isaiah chapter 55 he also talks about a feast when he tells people to come and get food. You don’t need anything, it’s all free and it’s all good says the prophet.

There is another parallel with Isaiah in Psalm 23. In the Psalm, the writer tells of the table being laid out in the valley of the shadow of death. Death is also found in the middle of this feast in Isaiah as well but in a very different way. In verse 7 Isaiah says that “on this mountain, he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all people, the sheet that covers all nations”.

What is this shroud? It is death. When Christ died and came back it was death itself that was defeated.

I have a small confession to make: I love cheesy films. I love adventure films and one I really like is National Treasure and its sequel National Treasure 2! In the second one, the adventure rests on a simple clue. The clue is “the debt that all men pay” and the answer is death! This unlocks a code which leads to a treasure. It’s very good. But it is fiction, especially for us as Christians.

As St Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy to be defeated is death and in verse 55 of that chapter that death has lost its sting! We need to remember all that was left in the tomb when Jesus came back to life was his shroud!

When Jesus rose from the dead on the very first Easter Sunday he left one thing behind in the tomb; he left his shroud! We need to do the same. God has defeated death, we are no longer subject to it. We can walk out into our new life secure in the knowledge that death doesn’t have the same power over us as it used to do. The shroud has been lifted and we can walk in the new life like Jesus did. One day, we will.

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Isn’t verse 8 a beautiful verse? This verse often appears in Jewish cemeteries and gives a lot of hope to this who have lost loved ones. You see, this world isn’t how it was meant to be. God didn’t make a world this wrong. He never created a world where death had any role to play. His world wasn’t supposed to have any poor and lonely. He doesn’t want us to be suffering. When we do suffer, he wants to be there wiping our eyes and holding the hands of our loved ones.

Another film that has had a big impact on me in recent years is the film, Selma. It tells the story of Martin Luther King Junior and his work on the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965. In the film (and in reality), a young black man called Jimmy Lee Jackson was shot and killed. Dr King told his grandfather that “There are no words to soothe you Mr. Lee but I can tell you one thing for certain, God was the first to cry”.

This is a truth. God cries with us and God mourns with us and God waits to wipe the tears from every eye. He is a refuge for those in need.

These are not mere promises. This is not pie in the sky when we die. This is a fact. Something will be proven. At the end of these three verses (and what three verses they are), Isaiah uses 4 words that add a great weight to it. “The Lord has Spoken”. What Isaiah has just been talking about is fact. It is true. It is something that we can rely on.

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What a message this is. God is a mighty refuge, he will protect everyone. He offers protection and succour to everyone on his mountain. He will wipe all tears and destroy death and remove all disgrace.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of people who will not like to hear this message. This is a message that many people don’t like and many will actively fight against.

In Luke chapter 14 Jesus tells the parable of the great feast that had been prepared. The invited guests were called but they all made excuses. They all had something better to do. Instead, the man sends his servants out to call the poor and lowly from the streets of the city and the countryside.

Now, to be fair, some people have never heard about the message and it is our job as Christians to share the truth of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection as far and as wide as possible. Jesus himself gave us this command in his final message before ascending back to heaven. Go into all nations making disciples. We are the message carriers. We are the only gospels some people will come across in their life and we need to be sharing this message

Others will have heard the message and they will reject it. They will think it isn’t for them or that it is silly or that they can do things on their own. We need to show them that it is for them, that the refuge God offers is sufficient, is amazing and is free.

Still others, as the passage in Isaiah, tells us will do more than just reject or ignore the message from God. They will actively oppose it. There are those people in this world who are actively opposed to Christianity. There are people who ridicule the Lord. There are people who discriminate against Christians. There are people who persecute Christians and there are those who kill Christians for their faith. Christians are the most persecuted group on the planet. Sometimes it seems hopeless. Isaiah says that’s not the case.

There is a rather distasteful image to show what will happen to those who continue to oppose God.  It is a deliberate contrast to the peaceful and beautiful images used to describe what God will do to those who take refuge in him.

Moab will be trampled down as straw is in the manure. God will bring down those who oppose him. He will make them swim through dung and they won’t be able to rely on the cleverness of their hands. At the end of it all, God will prevail. The highest of walls will crumble, the smartest of men will fall and there will stand the stronghold of the Lord.

There is so much in this chapter to be amazed by. It is a wonderful passage of scripture and it has a lot to offer both the Christian and the non-believer.

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Remember how I mentioned right at the start how the started with a decision to worship and praise God? That seems understated now to me. I know why he wanted to worship and praise God because he knew what God was offering. He knew that God would be his protector and that God loved him enough to stoop down and wipe the tears from the eyes of those who suffer. It’s a decision that I am glad I also made this morning.

There’s a second decision in that opening verse. It tells us of a decision made by God a long time ago. What decision? How long ago?

I remember listening to someone speaking once about how he was on holiday with his wife and two young boys. They had got to the hotel and they were all heading out to the pool. The dad was carrying all the bags and inflatables when one of the boys fell in the pool. For a split second, the dad stood there trying to decide what to do. He had a son in danger and he took the tiniest second to think what to do.

God knew that his beloved children would fall into a pool where they could drown. He didn’t take time to think what to do. He didn’t weigh up his options. He had a plan ready. He knew what we were likely to do and he let us have our free will. When we were drowning, he put plan A into action. Jesus came to earth and sacrificed his life for us. Jesus’ death wasn’t plan B. It wasn’t a contingency. It was always the plan. God knew we would mess up. He knew I would mess up. He knew you would mess up. God loved us when he made us, he loved us when we went our own way and trusted in our own strongholds and he loved us on the cross. As Paul says, in Romans 5:8

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Christ’s death was always the plan and it was that death on the cross that enabled the destruction of the shroud that Isaiah speaks of. All those years after the Lord spoke through the prophet, Jesus ascended the holy mountain, the Mountain of the Lord and went, like a sheep to the slaughter just so that you and I could be let into the feast of the Lord. It was when God decided to come down to earth that the gateway into God’s refuge was flung open as the stone was rolled away and Jesus walked into the new day.

When Jesus comes back, and he is coming back, the new heaven and the new earth will have at its centre the new Jerusalem. It will rest on the holy mountain and in it will rest “the hand of the Lord” and he will rest in the knowledge that He did what was right and what was needed and he did it because he loves us.

For the last couple of weeks, my wife's parents have been visiting. They come all the way to Scotland a couple of times a year. I enjoy their visits (who wouldn't enjoy a chance to have two house guests who do the dishes, tidy up and do their fair share of the cooking!). They are both Christians and shining examples of what it is to be a Christian at that.

It is always good for my lovely wife too. She gets to spend time with family members and she gets company in the day when I am away and our eldest is at school. We are a bigger family and we reap the benefits of this every day they're here.

Tonight, for example, the grandparents are busy playing with our youngest. He is showing bampa all his cars and telling tales! Banny is making a cup of tea and tidying up. My wife and daughter are sitting at the dining table colouring in together and I am writing this. We are all listening to some praise music and we are having a great time.

It is at times like this that I truly feel blessed. Family time like this is truly one of my thin places. God feels closest to us when we are loving and kind to each other. It is especially true when we have had a hard day up to this nice time.

Today was very hard for me. I had a very upsetting experience at work today. I won't share the details of it here, those of you who know what I do will know what it probably relates to. My job is not normally given to upsetting experiences but when it is they are truly awful. It was my turn to pick our daughter up from school today as she had youth club. As is normal in Fort William it was absolutely chucking it down with rain but I didn't mind because I enjoy picking her up. For me, being a dad, is part of my worship. It is my real job. It is what God has entrusted me with and it is the thing I enjoy most.

Having had my in-laws here has been great. I will miss them when they leave in a couple of days. Their presence has elevated our days and made our simple things a little easier. I am praying that the simple things continue when they are gone and that we keep having such a great time.

This isn't going to be a post about those who are Christian and then abandon their faith when things get tough. Rather it is a post about the recent bad weather that has been experienced over in North America and in the Far East.

There have been a number of devastating hurricanes in the west and over in the east, there have been some catastrophic floods. I have been much moved and vexed by the response of Christians to these floods.

There seem to be three different responses to the floods from Christians. Firstly you have the ridiculous idiots who proclaim that the floods are a punishment from God for allowing Gay Marriage, or abortion or whatever the sin du jour is. These people annoy me. Have they not read the Bible? The kind of capricious and mean spirited god they describe is not the God who sent his son to died on the cross. I would love to say that we can ignore them but their very loudness means they are the ones non-Christians see the most. They are a bad witness and if they are not church leaders then their pastors need to start doing their jobs properly and teaching them about compassion.

Secondly, slightly less common but no less loud, are the Christian hypocrites. Those who pretend to be Christian and then, when faced with someone in need, don't do anything about it. The biggest example this time was Joel Osteen. now, setting aside his dodgy theology, he purports to be a Christian. He says he loves people like God does. Yet, his megachurch remained shut in the initial stages of the flooding from Hurricane Harvey and only opened after the inevitable pressure on social media. Why be like this? If you are a Christian and you have something that could help thousands, don't wait until people are begging. I am reminded of the dreadful shooting in Orlando last year. There is a fast food company in America called Chick Fil A. They're famously Christian. So much so that they don't open on a Sunday. Well, after the Orlando shooting, a branch in Orlando opened and made food to give to emergency workers and people donating blood to help in the aftermath of the dreadful nightclub shooting. That's the gospel. Break your rules if it means helping the needy. Don't worry about a wet carpet Mr Osteen when you know full well there are more important things out there.

Thirdly, and much less quietly are the responses of ordinary Christians. Wading through the waters to save people, to rescue people and to help bring peace and comfort. We often don't hear about this. Neither should we. The Bible is clear that we don't do things in order to show the world what we are up to. It tells us not to brag. I know that there were people who showed the love of Christ to people without any hesitation. These are the real Christians. These are the ones of whom Jesus will say "Well done good and faithful servant" when he comes again in glory.

However, here in the UK we have spent a good deal of time hearing about and worrying about the Caribbean, Florida and TExas. A lot of people have died and much has been devastated. In India thousands have died in recent floods and it barely graces our TV screens. Why should this be? Are Indian lives less worth worrying about? Are they of less value? Is it their colour? Their religion? Most of us would say "of course not ..." to those last points but why are we not up in arms about the lack of response from our Government to help those in need out in India or Bangladesh or Nepal?

God does not discriminate. The Bible is clear. He has no favourites. The poor child in Bangladesh is worth as much to God as the rich child in Texas. God loves them all equally and commands us, as Christians, to not discriminate in our charity. Charity begins at home they say so maybe that's why we feel a closer affinity to the British citizens in the Caribbean or our American cousins. They're part of our cultural and ethnic home.

Maybe. Yet, as I have posted before, the rest of the quote is significant too. The quote finishes with "But should not end there". We need to remember that just because someone speaks a different language, lives in a different country or has a different colour skin, they are as deserving of our attention and charity as anyone else.

It is no secret that I am a big fan of books written by Nick Page. His book, The Longest Week about the final days of Jesus is moving and wonderful. His book The Wrong Messiah is similar and very eye opening. His books tracing the history of the church are brilliant. They're funny, erudite and well researched.

I have come recently to read his book "A Nearly Infallible History of the Reformation" carries on in this vein. It is well researched and it is very well written. For me, it is like visiting an old friend. I have studied the Reformation many times and the book doesn't really teach me anything new (well, it has an interesting take on the Anabaptists which is somewhat new for me) but it is still well worth a read.

You see, the Reformation is much misunderstood and some people are far too familiar with it. In the same was that he reintroduces Jesus' Jewishness in The Wrong Messiah (Jesus' brother was Jacob, not James for example), Page manages to reintroduce the readers to the radical nature of the Reformation. It is Luther but most definitely warts and all. It does not shy away from the deplorable aspects of much of Luther's work but neither does it throw him away as useless. He was a man with a man's foibles.

Likewise with Zwingli (and here I will pause and say that if you read the book, just before you get to the section on Zwingli you will be treated to possibly the greatest Christian pun of all time; seriously genius) he doesn't become a hero worshipping fanboy like many are with the Swiss Wunderkind of the Reformation. He is treated well and in an adult manner.

The book is full of Page's usual humour and good natured ribbing. He does a great job of re-visiting the Reformation and has made me glad that I have taken the time to read it just before the world suddenly remembers that something special happened to a door in Wittenburg 500 years ago (or did it? You will have to read the book to find out).

Buy it here

Yesterday was tough in church. We have been trying our best to make sure that we are listening to God but, as is usual with church leaders, we are only human. We had a vision Sunday. We tried to get people to think about the vision that God has for us and how we can bring it to fruition. This wasn't easy as it really isn't something that we have done in the past. Anyway, there have been a plethora of emails this week. So many. I have found myself getting frustrated and annoyed at things. Things that people had agreed to were forgotten and ignored. Ideas I had had and that were agreed to were ignored. Why did this frustrate me? I am a grown up. More importantly, I am a Christian and I don't need this sort of stuff. I should fix my eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. Not in any religious way but when it comes to church things he is the model I should follow and not my selfish self. When we were praying and thinking yesterday, I went off to a corner of the library where we meet and knelt down. I was praying to God about what we could do to reach out the community. There were many thoughts running about inside my head. Thoughts that were selfish and mean. As I centred myself on God and asked the Spirit to help me I felt better. Then, extremely quickly the Spirit began to remind me of something. Here was I, a church leader, on his knees in prayer to find GOd's vision for the local community. good old me. But, pointed out the Spirit, there's a man behind you who isn't in the church. He isn't a member. He is cold, wet, dirty and, quite frankly, scary. He's come in for a free cuppa and some warmth. You want to get more into the community, get off your knees and talk to him. When I am selfish and think of the different things that I have missed out on or been "slighted" by, I miss out on what God wants. He doesn't want me to look inward he wants me to look upward and to see through his eyes. It doesn't matter that my latest sermon isn't on the website yet; it doesn't matter if I am doing Sunday School again this week. What matters is that God wants me to look into the community and see the need there. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, help the poor and talk to the ignored. So, it wasn't all bad at church ...

I have just updated my worship page. Didn't realise the link hadn't been published!

Recently, I have been getting back into listening to some worship music when I am on the bus into work. This helps me focus more on the Bible, when I read it, and the books I am reading. I tend to have my favourite songs and my favourite artists.

This last year has been all about the band called I Am They. Some of their work has been brilliant and has really helped me focus on God during my personal worship times. They came hot on the heels of For King and Country who, likewise, have some excellent music.

Anyway, the song that has been speaking to me most in the last couple of weeks is the on below. It is by Chris Tomlin and is called Home. It is a beautiful song that talks about no matter where we are or what we are going through, in the end it is all going to be alright. In the end the new Jerusalem will come down and we will live in a place where there will be no more sorrow and no more tears.

This year is the 500th anniversary of the beginning of Luther's protest against the Catholic Church. I won't say it is the anniversary of the Reformation as that is a little problematic. I am a reformed Christian. I firmly believe in the core doctrines of reformed theology; namely justification by faith alone, the inerrant and superior nature of scripture and the symbolic nature of communion.

I am working my way through a book about the Reformation. It is by Nick Page, an author I highly recommend (if you are looking for a book to read next Lent, I would suggest you read his book The Longest Week) and an author I enjoy greatly. His book isn't any great development in the field of Reformation scholarship but it is a great book nonetheless.

I studied the Reformation at A Level with Mr. Davies and Mr. Payne. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think that it played a part in me becoming a Christian. It was through my studies of the Reformation that I first saw the joys of a decent hard Bible Study. I first engaged with Scripture and the meaning of the words in the Bible.

I am a Christian and I am not ashamed. As we go through this anniversary year I am increasingly grateful to the Reformation for bringing me closer to the truth. I am not ashamed to state my belief and never will be. As Luther famously said (or rather didn't) "here I stand, I can do no other!"

Isn't it interesting how God can use the most mundane of things to help you complete his mission? I was at church on Sunday and was able to chat with a couple who had come all the way from New Zealand. They were on a sort of Grand Tour of Europe and had ended up in Fort William. Anyway, the mundane thing was a quiche (how very Christian!).

This couple had been walking the Camino and he, who happens to be allergic to certain things, was hungry. His wife went and bought a quiche for him, having carefully explained that certain ingredients need to be avoided. After eating the food he was taken very ill and his EpiPen wasn't working. Another couple just happened to be walking past so his wife asked if they could help. She (the female member of the new couple) turned out to be a nurse. Her partner was a doctor with a fully stocked emergency medical kit! This was the start of a very nice week of hiking and led to an agreement to visit the other couple (at least one of whom is not a Christian I should add) in Norway next week so they stopped off in the Fort this Sunday.

I happened to be preaching. I had on a crisp new shirt, nicely ironed I might say and was armed with about half a sermon. The end of it wasn't really written yet as I had no peace about it. You see, it has been a tough week (I hope to post on that later but am not sure yet really as I don't want to get too personal) and on top of that I had unexpectedly been given a sermon to write. I knew I was preaching but I already had the bones of a sermon to give when the passage I was given changed from Isaiah back to Joshua.

Thus, I ended up preaching on Joshua 24. I really felt that God was prompting me to certain things and trusted that He would lead me to the right words to say. Feedback was really positive but once i had finished preaching and praying I had to pop to the loo and ended up feeling really sick. Was it stress? Spiritual attack? Reaction to a dodgy bacon roll? I don't know but I have never felt that way about a sermon in the past.

Below is a link that should take you to the sermon if you would like to give it a listen. Comments would be appreciated but they are not necessary. Enjoy!

Joshua 24

This is becoming an increasingly censorious world. Every week it seems there is a twitter storm. Some public figure makes a statement and is forced, after outrage on twitter and in the press, to recant their words and issue an apology.

Increasingly there are certain subjects that are becoming off limits to those who wish to comment. Race, politics, medical ethics, sexuality, religion and several others are subjects where you have to tread a fine line.

This goes hand in hand with our government increasing their desire to have us all hold to their notion of "British Values". In the last few months we have seen government ministers criticise Catholic schools for holding to a doctrinal position on marriage that is held by billions of people across the world. They have also said that churches need to "catch up" with modern society in the area of attitudes to sexuality.

Quite apart from the government having no right to interfere in what the churches teach, who are they to decide what "British Values" are?

What is creating the problem for me, as a Christian, is that it is becoming clear that the government would like to see us becoming a less vocal church. Having a religion is OK in private but your religious ideas should remain just that, private.

Christ doesn't give us that option though. We are not supposed to remain quiet. Where there is a cause of outrage we must speak out and we must act. Now, I realise that there are Christians who seem to see that there is only one problem in the world and speak only on that issue but we cannot silence the church merely because some of our more vocal members are a bit shouty.

Likewise, we have a duty to share the good news of salvation offered by Christ. He commanded us to do it. Staying silent means not really sharing the good news. Yes I know that we can show the love of Christ in our lives but we need to spread the Gospel vocally.

Increasingly it is becoming tough to speak openly about our faith. To say that you believe in Christ will often get you labelled an idiot. People assume you are anti-gay, believe in a 6,000 year old earth and want to remove all joy from the world. And heaven forbid you should dare say that Christ is the only way to God! If you do that you are an intolerant bigot. We should accept that all religions lead to God and that people of all faiths and none (what an annoying statement that is) have the same rights and have equally true religious beliefs.

This, of course is errant nonsense. All religions cannot be true. Their relative theologies do not allow this. Christianity has a triune God. Islam doesn't. Hinduism has many gods, Buddhism has none. How can they all be true? They can't.

Thus, I should, as a Christian, have the right to try to persuade people that they are wrong and that I am right. Likewise, so should Muslims, Jews, Hindus and all the others. I should do it gently and with due care and consideration but I must be allowed the right to defend and share my beliefs.

However, as time goes on there are more and more people being arrested for preaching the gospel. Some of them have even been told that they are not allowed to preach in churches until their cases are settled. Thankfully, the judiciary in this country have thrown out all of the cases against Christian street preachers in recent years but it has become worrying. In one recent case the defendant was found guilty of causing offence and the judge went so far as to explain which part of the Bible was against the law. A judge decided that some of Scripture was illegal and shouldn't be used for preaching. This was overturned on appeal but was a dangerous precedent nonetheless.

There has even been a case of a preacher taken to court over a sermon he gave in his own church. That's correct, his own church. Someone thought that they had the right to prosecute a preacher for comments made in his own pulpit. I will just let that sink in.

Taking a wider view, this is nothing to be worried about. We are to expect persecution and opposition after all. In the past the government has been far more firm in its suppression of good solid preaching. We are, of course, not in the state that our North Korean brothers and sisters are. We don't face the problems of Christians in Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sudan.

Despite this though we are seeing an increase in pressure on Christians and on churches. More and more churches are caving in and moving away from Scripture. There are churches where the unique nature of Christ is downplayed. There are churches (and I have sat in them and heard the preaching) where the miracles of Christ are dismissed as coincidences or given feeble explanations to avoid being seen as actually believing them to be true. I have heard preachers say that there may be more than one way into heaven.

Which brings me back to having to hold my tongue. I don't speak out on certain issues and I watch what I say on my social media platforms. This is OK because there are things that are not that important and God doesn't have a particular issue with them. These things are important to some and not important to others.

I will not, however, hold my tongue on the fundamentals of my faith. I will not deny Christ in any form. I will not deny he existed, I will not deny he died for me on the cross, I will not deny he rose again on the third day and I absolutely will not deny that he is the only way to heaven. I will not deny the authority of Scripture (even the difficult bits) and I will not deny the core doctrines of my faith; Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fides.

As a Christian, I have often come across clichés. Well, not clichés as such, more things that people say whenever there is a situation that they feel needs it. These are often trite and pithy but essentially unhelpful phrases and ideas. You know the sort of thing,
‘Whenever God closes a door he opens a window!’
‘The Lord moves in mysterious ways!’
That sort of stuff. It sounds good but isn’t necessarily helpful or even biblical. 
One of those things that I used to think was a cliché was whenever someone would say to me ‘Don’t worry, it is all part of God’s plan’ as I was suffering another setback. God’s plans for me usually seem difficult to fathom and difficult to see.
Then, earlier this year, I went to a different church where the sermon was all about God’s plan and I realised that it was far from a cliché! I had, as is my usual way, merely misunderstood what it was all about.
What follows is an outline of my notes I made that day. I hope it makes sense to anyone who reads it!

The passage was Isaiah 25

LORD, you are my God;
    I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
    you have done wonderful things,
    things planned long ago.
2 You have made the city a heap of rubble,
    the fortified town a ruin,
the foreigners’ stronghold a city no more;
    it will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore strong peoples will honour you;
    cities of ruthless nations will revere you.
4 You have been a refuge for the poor,
    a refuge for the needy in their distress,
a shelter from the storm
    and a shade from the heat.
For the breath of the ruthless
    is like a storm driving against a wall
5     and like the heat of the desert.
You silence the uproar of foreigners;
    as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud,
    so the song of the ruthless is stilled.
6 On this mountain, the LORD Almighty will prepare
    a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
    the best of meats and the finest of wines.
7 On this mountain, he will destroy
    the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
8     he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears
    from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
    from all the earth.
The LORD has spoken.
9 In that day they will say,
“Surely this is our God;
    we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the LORD, we trusted in him;
    let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”
10 The hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain;
    but Moab will be trampled in their land as straw is trampled down in the manure.
11 They will stretch out their hands in it,
    as swimmers stretch out their hands to swim.
God will bring down their pride
    despite the cleverness[a] of their hands.
12 He will bring down your high fortified walls
    and lay them low;
he will bring them down to the ground,
    to the very dust.

Right at the start, we see that God has a plan. It is a plan that he has had for a long time. Ever since the start of mankind’s journey with God we have tried to outdo him, to do things our way. However, God will bring all these cities down. They will fall. Our strongholds will not stand up to the power of God. Isaiah means Babylon as this is where the Israelites were headed but he also means Jerusalem. The City of God was anything but and the protection the Israelites thought they had there had long gone.

In verses 3-5 we see that this doesn’t matter because God makes a better refuge than any city possibly could. It is a shelter from the storm and fire and a refuge for the poor and the lost. No matter how big we build our cities, no matter how much we plan to do what we want, His plans are bigger and better than ours.

There the follows (verses 6-8) a description of where this refuge will be. It will be on the Mountain of the Lord. This is the mountain of Abraham and Isaac where God provided the sacrifice. It is the Mountain of Jesus where He provided the ultimate sacrifice. It is Mount Zion, the Holy Mountain.

In these verses, we see the word “all” repeated 5 times. This is not a limited promise. Everyone can come and everyone can eat at the banquet. Young, old, Jew, Gentile, rich, poor, black or white it doesn’t matter; all are welcome. However, it is only available on one mountain.

It is often said that all religions lead to God, they are, in effect, paths up the same mountain. This isn’t true. The Mountain of God has a crucified Christ on the top and not all religions lead there.

God will provide a feast. The Bible is full of parallels. Feasts are all over the place. Feasts often come in the shadow of death (see Psalm 23 for, perhaps, the best-known example).

This feast is for everyone but there will be some people who do not want to eat at this feast. The Parable of the Wedding Feast in Luke 14 is a New Testament example of this. Remember that in the end we will be with God and there will be no more worrying or want (Revelation 21).

On this Mountain (v7) God has destroyed the shroud that covers all people. What is this shroud? It is death. When Christ died on the cross and when he came back to life it was death itself that was defeated. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, death has lost its sting. Remember where Jesus left his shroud! He left it behind him when he walked out into his new life. We too should do this when we become Christians. Paul talks about the wages of sin being death and it is possible to put the shroud back on when we continue to sin. We need to try our best not to.

This is a feast, not a snack! As Isaiah 55 points out, it’s a feast we didn’t have to pay for (Isaiah 55:1-2). As the writer of the passage puts it, “The Lord has spoken”. This is all fact.

We may still be waiting but it will come.

We need to remember that there are some who will not like this message. There are enemies of the Gospel but look what happens to them. God will trample them low, they will have their high fortified walls brought down and they will have to swim through dung. No matter what the enemies of the gospel do, the Victory has already been won, the feast has been prepared and the day of the Lord will come.


I hope that this all made sense. I may have a read and a pray about this post and edit it later but for now, that’s it. 

I gave a sermon in church today. Here is a google link which I'm hoping works. Please comment if it doesn't

Sermon on Joshua 13

Here is the rough text of a sermon I gave on Sunday. The passage was Joshua 2 and there were only one or two ad-libs which I am sure will not be missed.

Read the passage

Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there. The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.” But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut. Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. “Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—and that you will save us from death.” “Our lives for your lives!” the men assured her. “If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord gives us the land.” So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. She said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.” Now the men had said to her, “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet  in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house. If any of them go outside your house into the street, their blood will be on their own heads; we will not be responsible. As for those who are in the house with you, their blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on them. But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.” “Agreed,” she replied. “Let it be as you say.” Jos 2:1-21

I have been really looking forward to preaching on this passage. It sounds like one of the spy stories that Simon was telling us how much he enjoys last week. I love spy stories too. Whenever there was a spy movie (particularly James Bond) on the TV when I lived with my parents it was always on. It’s exciting, thrilling, sometimes difficult to see what is going to happen and invariably entertaining.

This part of the book of Joshua is where the story starts to pick up. Here are the Israelites encamped at Shittim and are waiting for the opportunity to step over the Jordan and take the land that God had promised them. Not too far from them is the fortress city of Jericho. Huge, imposing and seemingly impenetrable.

What does Joshua do? He thinks back to Moses and finds an idea. He remembers what Moses did when he sent 12 spies into the land across the Jordan. Joshua remembered his time as a spy and decides that will send spies to scout out the land ‘Especially Jericho!’.

This might seem a little difficult. After all, in the previous chapter, God has told Joshua not to worry because the land was theirs.  What’s the first thing he does after this? Seemingly doubt God and send spies to see what is actually happening.

This isn’t necessarily a case of doubting though. Joshua is being wise. We, as Christians, are told to have faith but faith does not mean presuming that God will do everything. Joshua does what we need to do. He looks at the principles found in scripture, he attempts to gather information all in order to make wise decisions and plan his moves. It is a principle that Jesus recommends in Luke chapter 14 when he talks about what a good King does when facing war.

Joshua tells the spies to consider ‘especially Jericho’. This is another admirable quality that we should consider. Taking Jericho would make the whole enterprise so much easier. It would split the enemy in two and make their defences weaker. When God has told us something that He wants us to do, we need to think about what the biggest challenges are, what are the priorities God wants us to focus on?

Joshua’s actions in the early part of this chapter are wise then. He isn’t doubting, he is behaving laudably. Even in his doing so secretly. This is not an excuse for leaders to act in secret but instead he is wisely remembering what happened last time. Last time the Spies were sent out it was in public and their report caused rebellion and discord! Numbers 13 and 14 would mean that of all those who crossed the Red Sea, all but 2 would perish before they crossed the Jordan. Joshua wasn’t being sneaky, he was trying to keep the eyes of the Israelites fixed on the promise of God not the problems of the world. It was something that Nehemiah would do later when he was trying to return the Jews to Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:4-17)

So, off the spies go and they meet, as do we, Rahab! Rahab has caused much difficulty for the church over the years. Look at her description. In the NIV she is called a prostitute. In others she is a harlot! Still others say she was an innkeeper. The church has tried to whitewash her history as she is hardly the sort of woman one should have as an ancestor of Christ. As early as the 1^st Century Josephus called her an innkeeper in order to remove the stain of Prostitute.

However, Prostitute she was. She is mentioned in Scripture on 8 occasions and in 5 of those she has that title. It is used in Joshua 2:1, Joshua 6:17 and 25 as well as Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25. We need to be careful that we don’t change what God is happy to call her!

So why did the spies end up in her place? Let me be clear, there is absolutely zero evidence that there was any impropriety in their decision. Where else could 2 strangers go though? Where else in town was full of people who had loose tongues and questionable morals? People who might be relied upon to give up valuable information. Remember that they are spies and they are looking for military information to help defeat the Canaanites and there is a long history of links between the military and brothels.

Maybe Rahab was looking for the men. As we see later, Rahab was thinking about God and knew that the men were in town.

What is important about this encounter with Rahab is not what she was but what God thinks of what she was. It shows that God is no respecter of status or job. He doesn’t care if someone is a pope or a prostitute, he will use whomever he decides to use. It also shows, as we will see shortly, that God in in control. He directs the steps of those who are serving him and he directs the steps of those who are seeking him. He brought the spies and Rahab together for their protection and for her blessing.

You see, God could have made the spies invisible. He could have made the people of Jericho blind. Instead he chose to work with three people who were prepared to walk in faith. Are we doing that in our lives? Are we waiting for God to give us miracles? Are we asking him for out of the ordinary experiences? Or are we prepared out in our normal lives trusting that God will bring us to the right place and the right people?

Rahab is more than just a prostitute though. She is an out and out heroine! Some people think that she wasn’t in much danger. We know that the ancient world put a lot of trust in the sanctity of hospitality. A person was supposed to respect their guests and this was accepted. This was especially true of women whose rooms were held in the highest of esteem. This must partially explain why the guards didn’t just kick the door in and ransack the place in their search for the men they knew were in there.

However, the situation for Rahab was dangerous. The whole city was on alert. The Guards would have been heavily armed and the men had been seen in Rahab’s house. Rahab had the guts to say no. The oldest of all ancient codes of law, that of Hammurabi said ‘If felons are banded together in an ale-wife’s (prostitutes) house and she has not haled them to the palace, that fish-wife is to be put to death’. If the men were found in her house she faced death so Rahab told a big fat lie!

Was she allowed to do so? Doesn’t the Bible say we can’t lie? Yes, yes it does. In the 10 Commandments it’s clear and Paul points out in Romans 3:7 and 8 that we are not even allowed to lie in order to further God’s glory.

Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?” Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is just! Rom 3:7-8

So was Rahab right? This passage does not condone the lying. It merely reports it (this is something many opponents of Christianity don’t get, they see something distasteful in the Bible and assume that God condones it). Had she told them the spies were inside, God may have protected them but she did what she thought was best. She had faith and she acted upon it.

Rahab did what many other Christians (and others) have done through the years. Remember that this was a time of war and that the men’s lives were in danger. The situation was similar to those many ordinary people who sheltered Jews in World War 2. People like Corrie Ten Boon or Miep Gies who told lies to the Nazis to preserve the lives of the Jews.

In the middle of this passage is a remarkable declaration of faith from Rahab. Let’s look at verses 9 to 13 of the chapter.

We see that Rahab had a lot of confidence and conviction. She had confidence and conviction in God’s power. She knew what had happened at the Red Sea all those years before. She also knew what had happened to King Og and to Sihon. (Perhaps she found out about it at work from some loose lipped soldiers!). She knew that the Israelites served a powerful God. It shows that we need to be the same. We need, as Christians, to be pointing people towards God. We are his Red Sea moments! We are the only mighty works of God that some people will see. How can we do this? Going to church and not being ashamed of it is one thing. Being willing to give a testimony as Peter commands us in 1 Peter 3:15 is another. Being God’s hands and feet out in the community is another!

Rahab also had confidence and conviction in the fact that Yahweh was the 1 True God. She knew that he was more than one of the feeble gods worshipped in Jericho. She was convinced enough to give up her existing faith and move towards following Yahweh.

This is what God wants of us, he wants us to leave the other things that we may worship in order to follow him.

More than this though, she knew that God was going to bring judgement on her people and this was another reason for her to change her allegiance. She was right, just a couple of chapters later her city would fall. We might know people in this position, people who are on the edge looking for God. Maybe that’s us who are looking for God. We need to be quick and follow the leading God gives us. One day he’s coming back and it could be soon!

Rahab’s confession of faith shows her confidence and conviction but it shows a lot more besides. It shows that even in her terrified state she had others on her mind. In V 12 she asks for kindness to her family. This wasn’t easy. She was living apart from her family, it was the House of Rahab the men went to after all, not to the house of Rahab’s father. There is a good chance that her family were ashamed of her. Most people today would be if their daughter set up a brothel. She may not have had much to do with them and yet, when push came to shove she was prepared to do her best to save them.

This is part of God’s plan for our lives. He has put us in the middle of a network of friends and family that should be a top priority for us. Their finding God and salvation should be the focus of our prayer. It is great to want to pray for others far away and God loves that but we need to focus on those closest to us as well. Even if some people don’t like us (or we don’t like them), even if they’re ashamed of us for some reason, we need to be like Rahab and be prepared to ask God to save them as well!

There is an interesting part towards the end of the passage that we read. Rahab has been speaking with the Spies when the guards had gone. She had asked them to swear an oath and the did so. They promised her that as long as her family were in her house when the Israelites attacked they would be safe; if they put the scarlet cord in their window. Rahab did, at once!

This scarlet cord doesn’t seem that useful. Surely it would have given something away. However, as her house was in the city walls, it seems likely that the cord could only be seen by those outside the city.

There is a lot more to this simple piece of rope though. It has long been seen to symbolise the redeeming nature of Jesus. There is a scarlet cord that is interwoven through the Bible leading up to the death of Jesus on the cross.

The Bible is all about Jesus and all about God’s plan for him. From the very first promise of a Serpent Crusher in Genesis 3:16, through the Passover lamb, through the use of a scapegoat on the day of Atonement, through the promised offspring of a virgin in Isaiah 7, through the story of the Suffering Servant later in Isaiah, through Jonah’s time in the whale and through the death of the Shepherd in Zechariah 13:7. All of these passages (and so many more) point to the Jesus who would come into the world at the first Christmas. The very same Jesus who would be a descendant of David who was a descendant of the pagan Prostitute saved by hanging a Scarlet cord in the window of her home in hope that Yahweh would fulfil his promise.

So what does this all tell us about Rahab? Rahab was a prostitute, a liar and a traitor. She does not sound like someone who deserves to be called a hero. However she is recorded as one of the great heroes of the faith. She is in the list with Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Gideon, Barack, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets! And she goes further than most of those. She is one of the ancestors of Christ!

She knew who God was and she was earnestly seeking to know more. She knew who she was and she wanted to change. She had heard about God and she listened to what he was saying. There is a great little verse quoted in Hebrews 3:7 but I prefer the version in Psalm 95:8

Today, if only you would hear his voice, “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah Psa 95:7-8

God is speaking in this world. He speaks to people in many different ways but when he does we need to be ready to listen. Sometimes it might be hard but we mustn’t harden our hearts. There may sometimes be another voice whispering ‘not good enough, too bad for him, unlovable’. That’s the voice we need to ignore. God will never say that.

You see, God can take anyone and completely redeem them. No matter what their past God can make them clean and make them special again. God can take a prostitute and a liar and make her a princess! Rahab went on to marry a prominent Israelite and in Matthew chapter 1 we see her among the list of Jesus’ descendants. Even though many in the church have tried to hide Rahab’s true nature in order to protect God’s reputation, knowing her true story enhances the magnificence of God.

This isn’t an isolated one off type of thing though. It is something that God does daily. One of my favourite hymn is the ‘To God be the Glory’ which contains the line

The vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

What we read today opens with a secret mission. Joshua needs military information to help him capture a city. The spies leave hoping to come back with the right amount of classified information to help their people win a great victory.

Their mission is a bust though. They don’t get any other information other than ‘we are scared of you!’ They found out that the people of Jericho were terrified. Their hearts had melted and they were terrified. The problem was that this piece of information was not very helpful. They learned so little about how to get into Jericho that Joshua had to totally rely on God when the opportunity finally came.

The thing is, it wasn’t their mission. It was God’s mission. Where the spies failed, God succeeded. He had a different mission. His mission was to find a way to save the apparently un-saveable. He stooped down into the heart of an enemy city and into the life of a prostitute and a pagan. He took steps to save her. He brought himself to her attention and made it possible for her to come to him.

This has always been God's mission. Ever since the first time we sinned. He was always going to send someone to save us. He was always going to take steps to bring us back to him. It always was his mission, it is his mission and it always will be his mission. 

Sometimes it might seem that the mission God has given us isn’t going right but that doesn’t mean God’s purposes are being thwarted. Sometimes God is using us to achieve things we don’t know about. Sometimes though, just sometimes, God will guide us into the life of someone who might seem equally un-saveable. If that’s the case we need to be ready to be take tips from a former prostitute and never give up!