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I believe in God except I compare myself to others...

Comparison seems harmless enough! This movie is better than that movie, this cuisine beats that anyday, your footy team is rubbish compared to mine. But once comparisons begin to devalue ourselves or other people, it becomes sinful. Comparisons can so often harbour jealousy which destroys all it touches! So have a listen in or a read to discover how we can not only deal with our jealousy, but also how we can avoid the pressure of comparisons!

You can listen in here.

You can read the manuscript here.

Fervent Prayer 1: God within us

Prayer is the search we take after God... only God is not somewhere out there in the universe, but actually within us. God's nature is love and as we discover him within ourselves we realise that there are also barriers within us that prevent us form eharing whatgod might be saying to us. When we are bitter we polute our souls, when we set up idols in our lives we distract our souls and when we sin we create a blockage that stops us hearing from God. Listen in or have a read to see how you might begin to sharpen your prayer life and grow in a ferventcy of prayer.

You can listen in here.

You can read the manuscript here.

Ruth Chapter 4

Boaz was Ruth's ready, willing and able kinsman-redeemer.  Through him, Ruth and Naomi experienced a radical reversal of fortune and renewal of hope.  Jesus, our kinsman-redeemer, offers us the same.

You can listen in here. You can read the manuscript here.

Worldviews 3: A fresh look at engaging with other faiths.

When we interact with people who have placed their faith in gods other than the Christian God, it can become so easy to accuse them of being wrong, or bad. But these statemetns lead us away from teh most important question we can ask: Is it true?

So is Jesus Chrsit the only way to God? Is it arrogant for Christianity to make this claim? Even in light of it how are you to decide which religion is the true one to committ your life to? Maybe the thoughts featured in the below links can help.

You can listen here and you can read the manuscript here.

A sexy worldview

Mark Sayers, a leading voice on Young Adult culture, and a flippin' legend, just wrote a very interesting blog on 'The real reason Christian young adults are having sex outside of marriage.' He doesn't travel the traditional path, that others have, looking at the stats, the values and cultural trends, instead he pulls it back to our understanding of the world and God's action in it. All the kinds of things we've been delving into of late. It won't take long to read but for anyone who chooses it will be highliy insightful and graciously challenging. You can find it here.

Ruth Chapter 2

The book of Ruth is this amazing story of grace, love and opportunity. Have a listen in to this talk to see how the Kinsman redeemer, comes into save the day and encourage ruth into the abundance of his kingdom, much like Jesus Christ does for us!

You can listen here and you can read the manuscript here.

Worldviews 2: A fresh look at engaging with other faiths.

When we interact with people who have placed their faith in gods other than the Christian God, it can become so easy to accuse them of being wrong, or bad. But these statemetns lead us away from teh most important question we can ask: Is it true?

Jesus Christ was the only religious leader who didn't just claim what he was on about was true, but in fact claimed to be the truth. He claimed that we can know what God is like, by examining his life. An outrageous claim both then and now, but one that deserves our attention.

You can listen here and you can read the manuscript here.

Does your worldview reconcile your anxieties?

Blaise Pascall wrote of our need for truth, expressed in three central anxieties that reside within the human spirit that we each need to face and reconcile before we die:

Condemnation: that is by nature of our human existence we do things for which we feel we need forgiveness, which raises the questions: who or what becomes the giver of that forgiveness? Who or what alleviates our guilt?

Meaninglessness: that is we all want our lives to count for something more than it presently does, to have an affect on others that reaches beyond our present circumstance. Which raises the questions: who or what becomes the giver of that purpose? How and in what way are to we to discover and then fulfill what our purpose is?

Nothingness: that is within every human spirit there is a fear of one day not existing. Which raises the question: what happens after my physical life on earth ceases to exist? In what or whom do I want to entrust my eternity to?

How does your worldview reconcile these anxieties?

Some helpful questions when investigating world religions

Here are some helpful questions when wanting to investigate and weigh up the world religions:

How did they originate?

What is the influence, lifestyle, teaching and character of that religious leader?

What does that religion think God is like?

What is that religion actually offering?

What is that religion actually requiring?

Which religion best understands the human condition?

What purpose does that religion claim you are able to fulfill through them?

Worldview Summary

I was emailed this week a really helpful and fascinating link on Worldviews which I felt should share here. It's from http://visualunit.me/ and provides a very brief but comprehensive view on everything from agnostic, to theism, to existentialism, to humanism and so on. If you're wanting a richer perspective on worldviews, take a look!