Christmas

Hey Guys,

Due to Christmas events going on at Uni I am not going to make it to church therefore there will be no more posts until after Christmas so I just want to say:

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

See you next year


Amy x

Money

Hello,

Went to last CU central before Christmas tonight and the talk was about money, so I am going to start of with talking about how I feel about money. I feel that many people find money way too important, it's a big deal when really it isn't. You also spend too much of it and it's not that important nor does it make you happy.

The speaker started with asking the question what should money mean to Christians?

1 Timothy 6:5-11

"They think that religion is a way to become rich. Well, religion does make a person very rich, if he is satisfied with what he has. What did we bring into the world? Nothing! What can we take out of the world? Nothing! So then, if we have food and clothes, that should be enough for us. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and are caught in the trap of many foolish and harmful desires, which pulled them down to ruin the destruction. For the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil. Some have been so eager to have it that they have wandered away from the faith and have broken their hearts with many sorrows."

This suggests that money is not the root to evil, however this is not true but it is part of whats wrong in the world due to greed but it is not evil.

John Wesley

The 3 points about money are

1. Earn all you can
2. Save all you can
3. Give all you can

One

There is nothing wrong with earning money as long as it is not at the expense of your coincidence, your health, your neighbour health and your neighbour's soul. The only real with money is if you love it more than you love God, basically there is an issue if you love anything more than God.

Two

When talking about saving money Wesley meant that you only use money for what you need but not putting money away for a rainy day although that is a good idea. Don't waste your money.

Three

There is always an opportunity to give. Why don't give away what you don't need, it doesn't have to be loads. When talking about giving it doesn't have to be money, could be cooking someone a meal or giving up some of the time and helping someone who needs it. Jesus said in the Bible that we are more 'blessed to give than to receive'.

Before the talk we sang 'Blessed be your name' which relates well to the talk as some of the words are about giving and taking away and we are all blessed by God.

Amy x

Baptism

Hello,

I know it's been a while but haven't made it to church since was ill, but back now.

Today was a Baptism service which was different, unusual and amazing. It had a wonderful energy to it. Before the service began they played the song 'Christ is Enough' which was inspiring and felt close to my heart that lets you know that God is with us.

Before the Baptism happen the people involved spoken about there experience which was inspiring. Both these stories were of abuse and addiction which they behind and found a new life in God.

Matthew 6:34

"So do not worry about tomorrow; it will have enough worries of its own. There is no need to add  to the troubles each day brings."

I feel that this quote is saying focus on today and have faith in God that tomorrow will be ok.

Luke 23:40-43

"Don't you fear God? You the same sentence he did. ours, however, is only right, because we are getting what we deserve for what we did; but he has done no wrong.' And he said to Jesus, 'Remember me, Jesus, when you come as King!' Jesus said to him, 'I promise you that today you will be in Paradise with me."

These verses give the message 'Lord take away my fear, I may be fearful of life itself''. These verses also show that we want a truly intimate relationship with God.

2 Kings Naaman

A great man (Naaman) of power, wealth and influence but he had an illness (leprosy) which meant he was living with a death sentence so he traveled to a prophet of the Lord and hope to be cured. The guy took a letter from the King and his riches (wealth) with him to offer.

This can be applied to our relationship with God because sometime we bring what we can offer to God but what we think (imagine) bringing something to God may not be the way he would offer help, guidance. We need to stop depending on yourself but to have faith in God.

The prophet told the man to go wash in the river 7 times and once he did (7 times) he was cleansed from his illness. To wash himself he had to strip down to simple, poor clothing.

Therefore, we need to strip ourselves of everything and be made new (a new creation in Christ). This story demonstrates that Jesus came to save everyone not just the wealthy and healthy. Jesus washes away our sins like washing away his illness (leprosy).

"Bless it be the poor in spirit, they will inherit the kingdom of God." This links with the story because those that have stripped away everything and put the faith in God.


Amy x

This is Amazing Grace

Hello,

So basically since I have been in Plymouth this has been played more then I can count, so much that i know all the words when I hadn't even heard of before I arrived in Plymouth.

So I felt like I should share 'This is Amazing Grace' as it is a wonderful song.


Amy x

Faithfulness of God

Hello,

Today was the first week after the church surf with the Christian Union at Plymouth University and I decided to go to Plymouth Christian Centre with Erin.

The talk today was about the faithfulness of God and the idea that without faithfulness could we be happy. the meaning of this is that we focus too much on our selves through thinking that when something in our life goes wrong we might think that God has taken their ability away their truly haven't grasped the faithfulness of God.

There are 3 ways in which faithfulness is shown:

1. The Bible declares it
2. The Bible demonstrates it
3. We experience it

Psalms 119:89-90

"Your word, O Lord, will last for ever; it is eternal in heaven. Your faithfulness endures through all the ages"

This declares that the Lord's word therefore God's word is to be trusted.



2 Timothy 2:13

"If we are not faithful, he mains faithful, because he cannot be false to himself."

This shows that it doesn't depend on our perfection because God's faithfulness is unconditional like his love.




Adam and Eve made a choice not to walk in the relationship of God and many people agree about if God was all-loving his should have just forgiven them and said 'that's ok', but if there where no boundaries then Heaven would been like Earth with all this pain and suffering and there would be no place free and without fear. God doesn't give up on you and will never forget you. He will redeem you and his love will never change.

We need to have a personal relationship with God through experiencing God as he touches our lives. For example setting us free from struggles as well as through prayer. We need to remember that it is a privilege to be fathered by God who and be reminded in the dark times of his faithfulness. He is the light that will free us from the dark time. There is therefore no need to fear.

At church we sang a new song 'No longer slaves'(which inspired me and felt close to my heard delivering the message that we should not fear because God is always with us.


Amy x

Impossible

Hello,

Today we also went to an afternoon service instead of the evening as the church was holding a service at 4pm, this church was River Church that was lovely, so here's what I got from the talk.


Luke 1:35-37

How can something really be, it's impossible. 37 "for there is nothing that God cannot do". God created the world out of nothing, and mankind from dust, and women from Adam rib, therefore just because we can't see what is happening doesn't mean God is confused. He knows what he is doing and can do it so trust the Lord.

Luke 18:18-27

This is an idea that we are limited until you see that you can't heal yourself, how can Jesus help us. We cannot buy our way into Heaven, but learn to depend on God. We must learn to trust him. "What is humanly impossible is possible for God". God gave his son to us, who died on the cross for our sins so that we were saved and therefore allow God to help humanity (us), because we need God, it is not the other way round. Mary needed God to bless her with his son not God needing Mary, although someone had to be the vessel that brought Jesus into the world. Nothing is above God, nothing is impossible for him.



Act 17

God turns the world upside down, he created it and therefore can do the impossible because nothing is impossible for God. We need to do more that just pass by him (meaning going to church), we need to be overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, not because we believe but because of God and our relationship with him.

Mark 3

Jesus sent out his followers to send a message, preach, spread the word of God, the father, the son and the Holy Spirit.

John 15


This idea that God in the vine and we are his branches show that everyone has someone has a path the God chose for us, something to say, to do. But the fundamental truth is that we did not choose God, he chose us, me.







Amy x

John Baptist

Hello,

Today was the last day of the church surf with Plymouth University and we walk to the Devonport Community Baptist Church. The talk of this morning was about John Baptist and here is what we discussed.

Mark 1:1-13

John always point to Jesus and not himself, he was just the path to someone greater that would baptist you in the holy spirit and not water. Jesus turned to John  and got baptized by him which shows that this is our path as we follow Jesus. "you are my own dear son. I am pleased with you". This is like a banner in heaven to show that God in proud of us. Being Baptists is a sign of faith, salvation, repence and forgiveness.

So if your reasons for not being baptized is not your not ready or not worthy the answer to that would be that you will never be ready nor would you be worthy, but maybe it's time to listen to God's words over you and to be blessed by him and consumed by the holy spirit.

Maybe, it's time that we accept that God is there for us with what we need, forgiveness. "turn away from your sins and be baptized". Heaven is open to Jesus and therefore is open to us so we should accept him forgiveness.


Amy x

This is me

Hey,

Just thought I'd introduce myself, my name is Amy Rose Broadbent. I have recently join Plymouth University and also the Christian Union at the university. I have been going on there church surf events with my flat mate Erin which is where we have gone to two different churches every Sunday and have now finish. I found each church lovely and there were interesting talks so I felt like I should write a blog about them as I developed in my belief.


Amy x