Pete's Blog

 “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight”.  1 John 3:22 When we read the Bible, when we hear from God, we need to put it into practice . It is the concept behind the words that are important. Words can come to us in a variety of different media. We can hear them being spoken. We can listen to them on our iPod as we go jogging. We could read them printed on paper, we can read them on a Kindle or even our mobile phone. The words can come in all different shapes, sizes, colors but these words have meaning behind them and if the meaning of the words comes from God then they can have an impact on our life but they’ll only have an impact if we do what they say, otherwise, it is like God casting his pearls before swine. We are simply not throwing back the riches that we’re being offered. “Do not give dogs what is highly valued and do not throw pearls before swine, lest they trample them on the...

What God says is more important than the way we feel. What Jesus has to say to us is more important than our current emotional state. Psalm 119:16 says, “I will delight myself in your statutes: I will not forget thy word.” God’s promises are not mottos that we can hang on the wall, they are rather checks we can take to the bank. God’s promises are absolutely sure. He wouldn’t throw away a book full of pre-signed checks, God has pre-signed these checks to us. God’s promises are absolutely certain to gain remittance when we cash them. God’s promises always pay back. We should always be ready to learn more about what God has promised to us, and claim what it says in them. Remind God of what he’s promised to do.  “Happy is the man that finds wisdom, and the man that gets understanding.” Proverbs 3:13 Reading the Bible, studying it, listening the sermons, going to church and hearing the preacher and if possible, questioning the teacher afterwards, or in a small group or bible s...

 “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.’” Romans 4:7. Don’t be deceived into holding into things that are in the past. Jesus frees us from these wrong things that we have done in the past to set us free in the future. These things in the past that we have done wrong need not have hold on us now but we decide to change. We need to turn to Jesus who alone can forgive us and we need to make the decision to follow his ways and in making that decision, we are claiming the forgiveness that God offers through Jesus.  “Blessed is the one whom God corrects;   so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.”  Job 5:17 If you know that you’ve done things wrong and you haven’t asked God for his forgiveness, if you are in the habit of doing something that you know that is wrong, then it’s time to decide to change. If you’re holding on to wrong things that have bee...

"For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice..." (Zechariah 4:10) St Francis of Assisi was a man of action, impetuous and impulsive and totally committed to the Lord Jesus.  The song below with lyrics by Donovan is meant to be a reflection on the life of Francis.  It talks of simplicity and heartfelt service for the Lord.  However Francis' great achievements in preaching and teaching were gained at a rapid pace before he died at the early age of 45.  The slow pace of the song seem at odds with that.  Nevertheless I like  the idea in this song of taking care day by day of the small things and remembering the ultimate goal. If you want your dream to be,  Build it slow and surely.  Small beginnings greater ends.  Heartfelt work grows purely.  If you want to live life free,  Take your time go slowly.  Do few things but do them well.  Simple joys are holy.  Day by day, stone by sto...

In the Sunday services at Mill Hill East Church, we are featuring a series of sermons answering the question, "Jesus is Alive, what does that mean to you."  A summary of the topic and the Bible verses featured on on the slideshow on this website. Here is a poem by John of Damacus, a Syrian monk from the 8th Century AD, called: “The Day of Resurrection”. The day of resurrection? Earth, tell it out abroad; The Passover of gladness, The Passover of God. From death to life eternal, From this world to the sky, Our Christ hath brought us over With hymns of victory. Now let the heavens be joyful,  Let earth her song begin; Let the round world keep triumph, And all that is therein. Let all things seen and unseen Their notes in gladness blend, For Christ the Lord hath risen, Our Joy that hath no end.  The fact that Jesus is Alive brings great joy.

On the eve of his death in Gethsemane, Jesus was "greatly distressed and troubled" (Mark 14:33) and said to his disciples, "My soul is very sorrowful, even unto death" (Mark 14:34). For Jesus, death was not a great friend but a dreadful enemy, because it would separate Him from His Father. He did not face death with the composure of Socrates who met death peacefully as a friend. When confronted with the reality of death, Jesus cried to God saying: "Father, all things are possible to you; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what you will" (Mark 14:36). The Bible speaks of the decomposition of the body. When Adam and Eve sinned, they were deprived of the tree of life and hence of physical immortality (Gen. 3:22; Rom. 5:12). It is, therefore, man’s lot to return to the dust of the ground (Gen. 3:19; Ecclesiastes 12:7). Paul speaks of the earthly house of our tabernacle being “dissolved” by death (2 Cor. 5:1). The Greek term for “dissolve...

John Chrysostom was around at the turn of the 5th century AD, he  lived and died preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ. His preaching led to his posthumously assigned surname, Chrysostom: "golden mouth." The same preaching also exiled him twice, the second exile being three years under armed guard which would lead to his death.    He became known as "John the golden-mouthed" because of his anointed preaching. It was said that  Preaching improves me,” he once told his congregation. “When I begin to speak, weariness disappears; when I begin to teach, fatigue too disappears. Thus neither sickness itself nor indeed any other obstacle is able to separate me from your love... for just as you are hungry to listen to me, so too I am hungry to preach to you.” And people loved to hear him preach, historical records of his preaching say:  "As he advanced from exposition to illustration, from Scripture to practical appeals, his delivery became gradually more rapid, his...

God is great at logistics, what ever he plans to do he provides the means to do it. Jonathan was Saul’s son who became a devoted friend of David, who later be a great king of Israel.  While  the Israelites were suffering from poor planning and poor logistics with no proper weapons for war, Jonathan received a vision from God which faithfully. “Jonathan said to his young armour-bearer, “Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.” (1 Samuel 14:6 NIV) Consider Jonathan and follow his example here, when God gives you a vision step forward in faith.  If the vision is from God there will be provision of resources to carry it out. In my daily internet radio show, Daily Devotional Preaching episode 11 ,  I show how Moses was able to provide resources for 3 million people in the desert.  Whatever the vision, if it's of God, the resources...

Britain is becoming a more religious country, historian Simon Shama has said. After years being relegated to the sidelines, religion has once again become part of mainstream life, he told Radio Times. The 69 year old, whose most recent documentary was The Story of the Jews, said: "My generation grew up thinking that religion was completely marginal to British life, which, as for the rest of the world, has been proved more and more wrong. "We were arrogantly isolated from that, thinking religion was just an ornamental part of Britishness. Now look at the success of the Alpha Evangelicals, how important Christianity has been to the community of West Indians, the huge place of Islam. Britain is becoming a more religious place, not less". A few years ago I produced a short Youtube video to introduce the idea of Britain being post-Christian but I think we need to revisit this idea.

 The Bible does not teach us to ask individuals in heaven for their prayers. Why do many Catholics pray to saints in heaven and request their prayers? Catholics view these saints as "intercessors" before God. They believe that a saint, who is glorified in Heaven, has more "direct access" to God than we do. Therefore, if a saint delivers a prayer to God, it is more effective than us praying to God directly. However,  Hebrews 4:16 tells us that we, believers here on earth, can "approach the throne of grace with confidence." "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 2:5.  There is no one else that can mediate with God for us. If Jesus is the only mediator, that means that the saints cannot mediate our prayer requests to God. Further, the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ Himself is interceding for us before the Father: "Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him...

“Daily devotional” is a phrase used to describe having a daily time of Bible reading and instruction.  It could include reading a commentary or Bible notes or listening to a Bible reading and sermon on podcast . It's really important to spend time with God daily.  “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” 2 Corinthians 4:6 ).  A wise man once said “The gospel brings man to God; daily devotions keep him close to God.” Echoing the Scripture: “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:8 ).  

This week on #tgnsuk what are you "a martyr to" #martyrsyndrome and a look at a real martyr — The Good News Show (@tgnsuk) May 15, 2014 Do you know the phrase "I'm a martyr to it", it sometimes refers to bad feet or poor memory or any other ailment that's irritating.  But would you ever be a true martyr, we look a this in the Good News Internet Radio Show.

There was a large group of people who’d gathered from all over the world, from different countries. And had come to that one place in Jerusalem. There were religious leaders, there were people of great philosophical learning and they all heard the disciples of Jesus getting up and appearing to be drunk early in the morning, 9am in fact. That’s first thing. They accused the disciples of this. Of just being drunk. And Peter replied to them, ‘men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem. Let this be known to you and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk as you suppose since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered to the prophet Joel.’ Then he went on, to quote from the prophet Joel. The prophet from our old testament and he applied this prophesy of Joel to what was happening right then. In fact, he applied it to what had happened to them that made them appear drunk. This was what he quoted: ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,...

The Good News at its heart is a declaration that Jesus Christ is in charge, he is Lord of all.  The resurrection of Jesus was a vindication of his claims to have "all authority" and that he had a special relationship to God the Father (I and the Father are one).  Jesus's death was in obedience to God the Father and in it he accomplished his great victor over sin and death.  The Good News is that Jesus in in charge, the Good News is also that Jesus in his death has wind for us the victory over sin and death.  This latter victory means that those who recognise him as Lord and choose to follow him get to receive the blessing of eternal life that he brings.  This receiving of eternal life as a free victory gift  from Jesus is also called being "born again".  This is all so well known even Wiki gets it right, as we discussed on The Good News Show recently.  But it needs to be appropriated personally to be effective, that is, each person needs to not o...

The interview with Baliva, the Gospel rapper, was popular but blighted by a high pitched whine. Before you ask, the whine was not the voice of the interviewer! This background noise has been removed digitally, so listen again or for the first time without distraction. This interview was a special episode of the show with Peter Cooper interviewing Baliva about his musical and Spiritual routes. There is also a discussion of how Hiphop culture relates to church culture. A fascinating insight into  the life and work of a Christian creative artist.

Article by George Cross in 1967 In 1967 George Cross predicted that in the 21st Century Ice Hockey games would no longer have boards round them to prevent the puck going out of bounds.  Rather, he surmised that the game would be surrounded by a force field. This is rather a prosaic use of the futuristic concept of force-fields. However, lasers are used for life changing surgery on eyes and to improve self esteem in plastic surgery. They are not used that often as the weapon so beloved in Sci Fi stories of old. You never know what the future may hold. One thing that George Cross did not predict was that Ice Hockey would not be around.  There were certain things he assumed would remain constant.  But with the culture around us changing at a dizzying pace there is little that we can assume will remain constant.  This is unsettling.  However we can be confident that the Lord Jesus Christ will be here , the same Lord, Saviour and friend.  He will be wit...

At Christmas, Jesus was born. At Christmas, God became a human being to rescue us. This human being who came to rescue us was born in a stable in Bethlehem and laid in a Manger, he is Jesus Christ. All of us need to receive Jesus Christ, to receive him in the same way as we receive the King or President of our country when they come to stay. We need to invite him in and give him the run of the price. Without Jesus Christ, we "perish," as John 3:16   makes plain "...that whosoever believes in him should not perish..." T he word "perish" means just what it implies and the only way to avoid this is to receive God’s grace by faith—his grace displayed in Jesus.   Without him, we are "lost" a terrible thing to contemplate—though millions of people today never give it a thought. I n Acts 4:12 we are told: "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be save...

An article that appeared in USA Today had this title: “Psychologists now know what makes you happy.” And the writer discovered a not-so-surprising fact, forgiveness is most strongly linked to happiness and the Bible closely links forgiveness with healing. "Forgiveness is the trait most strongly linked to happiness", said University of Michigan psychologist Christopher Peterson. T he Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, in removing revenge from the agenda, brought, to a certain extent, forgiveness and healing to the country.  There are reported to be still deep divisions in the country of South Africa.   However, the situation would have been far worse, most political commentators agree, if revenge had been left to take it's course. Truth is  important, but so is reconciliation. At a personal level forgiveness also has a profound effect.   The psychologists are right on this one. Happiness is closely linked to forgiveness.  The truth is t...