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.