Jesus has came to announce real freedom and what is amazingly fantastic is that he wants to use those who have his Holy Spirit to proclaim it too! But how do we do that?

1. Tell People the Gospel and invite them to respond.

What is the point in telling people there is a party if you don’t invite them to it? As Christians we think we know the Gospel. When asked what it is we even say; “Jesus died for our sins”, but man does that sound so cold!

It sounds like Jesus popped his clogs from old age. It sounds like Jesus was put down with a quick painless injection like a dog at the vets. It is so easy to say “Jesus died for our sins” but what does it actually mean? “Died” means a long drawn out slaughter that attacked Jesus mentally, physically… and finally spiritually. Not only did he give up his own life he gave up the deepest loving, true, relationship ever to be had on earth. His relationship with God, the Father.

Not only do we dilute death but we dilute sin making it sound like Jesus is giving us a de-worming tablet. For many “Sin” is the white lies, due a slap on the wrist. We may even go a step further defining “Sin” as an action of stealing, murder, adultery and isolate it to the south pole because “we would never do such things, it isn’t me, it can’t be me, those sins won’t ever catch me out”. No! No! No! Sin is a high treason that everybody is embroiled in! Sin is an attached nature to be our own power, go our own way, and worship ourselves instead of following God’s heart desire for our life and bowing before him. God hates sin. He doesn’t even entertain sin and if you have sin in your life he won’t entertain you, in fact he will give you what you always have wanted a life without God… in burning Hell.

We say “don’t shoot the messenger” but this runner, Jesus, was well and truly shot up so that ALL your sin is removed. You taking hold of the invite to personally know God and enter his Kingdom are made pure so that you can enter the greatest eternal party with a magnificent royal host! That is the Gospel.

2. Shout for those without a voice so that they can hear the Gospel.

Today there are many who don’t have the freedom to even hear this Gospel. The extent that Jesus went to make it possible for us to know God is the example set down before us to make it possible for these people to know it.

This year the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), linking 57 countries with majority or significant Muslim populations, will once again introduce the Defamation of Religions Resolution in the United Nations.

It allows governments the power to determine which religious views can and can’t be expressed in their country, and it gives the state the right to punish those who express ‘unacceptable’ religious views as they see fit. So, in effect, it makes persecution legal.

It aims to criminalise words or actions deemed to be against a particular religion, especially Islam. It has the effect of providing international legitimacy for national laws that punish blasphemy or otherwise ban criticism of a religion. It is due to be voted on in the UN General Assembly at the end of this year.

Incredibly, many countries have backed this resolution in the past, but some are now changing their minds. This year, there is a real possibility it could be defeated. And you can help. It’s time to draw a line in the sand. Add your signature to Open Doors’ petition and join thousands of others across the world.

Click to Sign the Petition Here

The pimpled Geordie invited me to take a magazine asking if I would read it and if they could come by again to talk about it with me. Honestly, as soon as they had introduced themselves my guard was up, but realising that they would be rejected by most people by a door in the face I decided to talk and engage them with questions. “Do you believe in Jesus? Did Jesus die for your sins?” I had asked these questions before to older JWs and had been surprised that they do agree with these things to a certain degree. Then I asked the mother of all questions “Do you believe Jesus is God?”

This started a conversation that lasted half an hour about the trinity, my personal testimony about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit (a person) being active and personal in my life. I emphasised living a life based on grace and not works along with tackling sin not in our own power but by the Holy Spirit’s help.

The Polish boy sincerely tried to give me answers fumbling about and dropping his folder every now and then because of his big bible. I discovered that they don’t believe Jesus is God and that the Holy Spirit is just a “force” rather like Star Wars. Knowing that much of their bible has been doctored to reject the Trinity I thought that I needed to be careful when they started quoting it to me. Eventually they left beaming as they had acquired an invitation to come back and talk another day. They had also aquired a copy of a book called Vintage Jesus by gruff Mark Driscoll.

I realised that I needed to go away from this experience and learn what planet these lads where coming from and gen up on the Bible’s distinction between the angels and the Son of God, as well as Jesus being God. I decided to publish my Jehovah Witnesses for Dummies…

What is the JW thinking?

In the JW’s mind he himself is a worshiper of the true God of the Bible, while sincerely believing you are a lost person who has been misled by the devil into worshipping a pagan three-headed deity. He would be sinning by entertaining such a thought as the Trinity and feel threatened by it.

Where do you start?

To encourage the JW to rethink his theology on the Trinity you need to begin with a question, such as “Is Jesus Christ really an angel?” Rather than having a “the best offence is a good defence” mentality and diving deep into the doctrine of the Trinity take things one step at a time. While we are at it, why not offer them a cup of careful hospitality?

Who do the JWs believe Jesus is?

Using 1 Thessalonians 4:16 as a basis JWs state that Jesus Christ is the archangel Michael, the following is taken from the Watchtower website:

“the Bible indicates that Michael is another name for Jesus Christ… Notice that Michael is called the archangel… Regarding the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Thessalonians 4:16 states: “The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangel’s voice.” Thus the voice of Jesus is described as being that of an archangel. This scripture therefore suggests that Jesus himself is the archangel Michael.”

This verse from 1 Thessalonians is actually saying an archangel will herald the coming of the Lord, not that the Lord is an archangel, the verse then goes on to say “…and with a trumpet of God” the conjunction basically says that the archangel is blowing the trumpet, and so he should as Jesus is coming back!

Along with Jude 9 these are the only two instances of the word “archangel”. JWs will say that Michael is only archangel but scripture doesn’t answer that as Dr Kuyper summarises. “It is possible that Michael is the archangel, that is, the only archangel, but it is also possible that that he is one of the archangels (of the seven angels that stand before God’s throne), as in Daniel 10:13 he is called one of the chief princes” (1923)

How challenge the JW on the identity of Jesus?

Begin by asking the JW to show you “the Scriptures” that say Jesus is Michael. There are none.
The Watchtower Society New World Translation (NWT) mentions Michael five times as:

1. “one of the foremost princes” (Dan. 10:13 NWT)
2. “the prince of [Daniel's] people” (Dan. 10:21 NWT)
3. “the great prince who is standing in behalf of the sons of [Daniel's] people” (Dan. 12:1 NWT)
4. “the archangel” who “had a difference with the devil and was disputing about Moses body” but “did not dare to bring a judgement against him in abusive terms” (Jude 9 NWT)
5. a participant in heavenly conflict when “Michael and his angels battled with the dragon” (Rev. 12:7 NWT).

You are now in a position to reveal the truth about Jesus using scripture that is familiar to both of you and which you being a Jesus as God loving Christian would feel comfortable sharing.

1. Jesus isn’t just a prince he is the “Lord of lords and King of kings” (Rev. 17:14, NWT)
2. Jesus isn’t a just a leader of an angelic army he is “far above every government and authority and power and lordship and every name named, not only in this system of things, but also in that to come” (Ephesians 1:21, NWT)
3. Michael actually understands his position to Jesus and leaves the rebuking of Satan to him. The NIV tells us: “But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” (Jude 1:9 NIV)
4. Jesus Christ reveals this authority over Satan when he commanded him, “Go away, Satan!” (Matthew 4:10 NWT)

How do I reaffirm the truth?

Now that you have looked at the JW’s own bible, invite him to read yours together aloud.

1. Hebrews 1 is a good starting point and reaffirms the distinction between Jesus being God’s Son and the angels being created beings, point these out as you read.
2. Then make clear that throughout the Bible that the actions of angels fit in line with what this chapter is saying. They worship God and consistently refuse worship from men. “Be careful! Do not do that! …Worship God” (Revelation 22:8,9, NWT)
3. Finally bring it back to Jesus, there isn’t a better place to end. Jesus says he is God. “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30 NWT)

Ok so you haven’t evidenced the doctrine of the Trinity just yet, you haven’t even mentioned the Holy Spirit. Rather you have laid a foundation. 1. You gave the JW evidence that Jesus Christ is not an angel and 2. he is faced with the question who Jesus is. He now also knows that the Watchtower Society has manipulated scripture to mislead.

Please be careful and be wise when inviting people into your home, it may be a good idea to have this conversations in a neutral place while you get to know people.

References

Reed, D . (1999). Tips on Witnessing to Jehovah’s Witnesses. Available: http://www.christiananswers.net/evangelism/beliefs/jehovahswitness.html. Last accessed 23 Aug 2010

A. Kuyper, De Engelen Gods, Kampen 1923, p 189

So at the start of our week we went out in groups after worshipping, praying and listening to God for prophetic clues (words and pictures) that would help us find the people he wanted to share his love with. My Treasure Map had Afro, Converses, Tilly, Jack, Knee Hurt, “Crunch”, Trebor Mints, Father, GameStation. Sam and Sarah had the clues Ice Cream Factory, Pizza Hut and Cherry. (Correct me if I missed anything out) It’s worth mentioning that we had other clues that we didn’t find.

We figured we must have been rather hungry while writing down our treasure maps and started our journey looking for Trebor Mints, finding them in a market sweet shop but alas the shopkeeper didn’t match any of our clues. We had spotted an ice cream stall in the street so wandered over there with Ice Cream Factory in mind. Again the stall operator wasn’t on our map however a lady approached the stall with an Afro and proceeded to purchase a cone for her small son. We said hello showed her the map but due to a language barrier we didn’t get much further in chatting. We decided to move on stopping near the library chatting to a young couple with Converses which turned out to be fake. We walked up to the main street deciding to look for Pizza Hut. On the way we bumped into a band of boys, some who were wearing Converses (genuine items) and holding GameStation bags. They looked at the maps seeing they were on the list but didn’t want to be prayed for, I believe one had an injury. By the looks on their faces they were either trying to work us out but we left them knowing we were not crackers. We side tracked to the GameStation shop but there was nothing there and continued our exploration for Pizza Hut. All the time we were on the look out for people with limps. Seeing a lady near Pizza Hut limping Sam and Sarah chased after her (which wasn’t that difficult) and then prayed for her coming back to join me. All the time I was looking for clues, but didn’t realise we were very close to the clue Cherry. Sam noticed from his map the Cherry Tree Pub right bang next to Pizza Hut. Three men were stood in the doorway, two in crutches. We explained who we were and that we were on a treasure hunt. We showed one of the gruff Yorkshiremen in cruches a map to see if he was on it. His mate in the cruches began to complain that he didn’t have a map so I offered him mine saying we had plenty to go round. Ha ha! He went down the list and spotting the names Tilly and Jack exclaimed that “This is freaky!” He explained that Jack was his son who had died and that Tilly was his daughter, he was a Father. To prove it he showed us the names tattooed on his neck and wrist. I encouraged him to see if there was anything else on the map that related to him. “I Crunch that’s the sound my leg made!” I offered to pray for his leg and he said I could. Putting my hand below his knee I prayed that the Kingdom would be revealed. I asked him if anything had changed. He said he felt pins and needles and again the word “Freaky” was used as God had met with him. By this time everyone in the doorway knew that Jack and Tilly were on our map and their eyes were wide as saucers, “how did they know”? We told them that Jesus was alive and wanted to speak to people today. We were suddenly joined by one of their friends from inside the pub and they told him what had just happened while looking at the map and tattoos. He was obviously moved and asked that we pray for his heart, he had been to church at some stage when he was younger but knew he was distant. We obliged. Having to leave we reaffirmed that God had revealed himself to them all and wanted to know them personally.

It was a wonderful time adventuring with God and stepping out of our comfort zones. What struck me was that listening to God and inviting people to take hold of his Kingdom should be done with ease like you would introduce a friend but with the added trust and expectation for God to work.

I love hearing from God. Recently I went to Huddersfield to be part of a team encouraging the Ark Church who were putting on an Alpha launch party. We got up to all sorts that week, lots of flyering, questionnaires and Treasure Hunting. Treasure Hunting is where we take time out to listen to God and then write down appearances, locations, ailments, names and even things that don’t make too much sense which we then use to help us find people the “Treasure” on the streets (See Acts 9:11 for a Biblical example of Saul and Ananias). We then share God’s love for them. After a fantastic time doing it earlier in the week we did it again. In the morning I had the clue blind. I felt God give me faith to pray for a blind person that day.

In a team with Ben & Hannah we did our hunt and found the boy who’s mum’s friend was Julie in a Chequered shirt with Asthma and Eczema opposite Wilkinson and a Charity Shop while a Policeman with a Helmet walked by (correct me if I missed anything out guys). Which was great! But no blind person. I was a little frustrated, and a little disappointed (sorry guys), that we hadn’t found a blind person during that hour. The reality was I was focused on success. I began to realise that God was after much more. Later that day I was giving out leaflets to the Alpha Course with Simon and in my own heart I told God that I didn’t want to be there just to have success but to appreciate working with him. I wanted to share who he was because I loved him. 10 – 15 minuets later a couple from South Africa took my leaflet and we got chatting with them. I quickly discovered that the gentleman had a cane and was partially blind! We offered to pray with them and they agreed. Although he wasn’t healed, God healed my thinking, sounds cheesy, but it is true. I was able to share God’s love with them with the right heart motive. It is awesome to befriend God and work alongside him. I’ll share another Treasure Hunting story in a different post, I just thought it was important to highlight the journey that you go on with God in these adventures.

I thought I would write a post on how Im really proud of how our youth group, level-x. It has been great to see them growing and maturing in the past year. They have been taking on some big projects such as leading an Easter Sunday and putting on a Fashion Show with Auction to raise money for Compassion in Haiti. It would be fair to say that they are punching above their weight.
At our last Ignite (a monthly youth service) we got them to write down their questions about any thing related to God and the Bible and they came back with loads of great questions which we aim to get answer after the easter break. Hopefully this will become a regular feature and will create a culture of asking questions to the leaders in the future. Here are some of them below…

• What happened to Judas when he died? Did God plan this?
• What made God decide that Mary and Joseph were “the ones” to have the baby Jesus as their son?
• Is Goliath a descendant of the people who had sex with the angles in Genesis?
• Did Satan fall before Adam and Eve, during or after?
• If Adam was 800 years old why do people say the oldest person was 128?
• If it cost only one rib to get Eve, what would he have been given if he gave a whole arm?
• Did Abraham really hear from God when he thought he was told to sacrifice Isaac?
• Can Jesus/God read our thoughts and can people in heaven know what we’re doing like God can?
• Can God change anything he wants whenever he wants to? Is that how he answers people’s prayers?
• Why didn’t God make everyone equal? (Poverty)
• Why does he allow babies to die?
• Does God exist on other planets?
• If God is about love, why did he demand so many wars?
• What about other religions?
• If God is real how come we have so many floods and wars?
• Predestination?
• Why did God make us so we didn’t have to learn everything but know everything?
• Why did God allow the Israelites to pass through the red sea and allow the Egyptians to die?
• Why does God allow death?

It was called “Sunrise Home”, which might have been appropriate if it weren’t for a mountain that blocked the sun for much of the day. It was a place of new opportunity for orphaned Japanese girls.

One day a mother came with her four children, the youngest a baby very sick. Her husband had been killed in an earthquake, which had also destroyed their home and all their possessions. “Sunrise Home” wasn’t really designed for families, but the missionary who ran the place, made an exception, taking in this needy bunch. It was obvious however, that the baby needed medical attention, so he was taken away to a hospital.

Over the following weeks, the baby seemed to get weaker and weaker. The doctor at the hospital wanted to reunite the child with the mother. Besides, the fresh air at the Sunrise Home would be good for the baby– but the baby also needed sunlight, and the mountain was in the way. The missionary wondered if there was any way she could get rid of that mountain.

Back at Sunrise Home, she told the other children the problem, and they wanted to help. “I know what we can do”, one said. “We can take away the mountain ourselves, one shovelful of dirt at a time.” So everyone pitched in. But their little shovels hardly dented the mountain. It seemed as huge as ever.

One day the missionary was asked to travel to another city to meet with the head of the mission. The children said they would continue shoveling in her absence. Almost as an afterthought, the missionary suggested they pray about the mountain before she left. Some of the prayer were discouraging, and then one girl prayed, “Lord Jesus, last Sunday we heard in Sunday school that if we had faith as a grain of mustard seed, we could remove mountains. Lord, help us remove our mountain.” Another prayed, “Dear Lord, you said we could move a mountain into the sea. Here the sea is just across the road. Will you please take our mountain and put it into the sea?”

When the missionary returned, they said “We have a wonderful surprise for you.” They led her in the back way and told her to close her eyes. Then they brought her to the front yard and said, “Look!” She looked. The mountain was gone; it was nowhere in sight. She couldn’t believe it. “What happened?” she asked.

The children were so excited that their word tumbled on top of one another. The preceding week, a truck filled with workers had come up the hill. Without a word, the workers swarmed over the mountain with pickaxes and shovels, loading the dirt onto the truck. Truckload after truckload was carted away. Finally one of the assistant at Sunrise Home asked what was going on, and the supervisor explained that they need to fill in some land to make a children’s playground where the sea had receded, so this “mountain” was being used for fill.

“The Lord really did answer our prayers”, explained one little girl to her teacher. As so often happens, God provided even more. Not only did the Lord move the mountain, as the girls requested, but he also provided them with a playground. And the following week, the little baby was reunited with his mother in the sunbathed Sunrise Home.

Huddersfield is a unique blend of rural and urban due to the industrial revolution of the late 18th and 19th centuries. Large cotton mill architecture is still very prominent along with towering chimneys. Today shops and the up and coming university are the main magnets. The cities Leeds and Manchester are easily accessible from the town making Huddersfield an ideal place to live if you like the Yorkshire country side and are willing to commute to work.

The older people desire to hold on to past history which frequently comes into conflict with seeing something new come out of the area. Although the university does keep old mill architecture, there does to appear to be a struggle for visual identity in Huddersfield. Despite some valuing the cosmopolitan vibe the community is divided down ethnic lines. A Church that gathers the various ethnicity’s and ages together in Huddersfield will be so vital in bringing visible transformation to the area.

The favourite place of most people we asked was the landmark “Castle Hill”, a tower built on an old iron age fort situated just outside Huddersfield Town overlooking the area. This tower was constructed to mark Queen Victoria’s 60th Jubilee Year and in its opening attracted thousands of people.

A big thank you to the friendly Pape and Bunce families for showing us round, we couldn’t have done it without you! Thinking of joining this loverly bunch? Ill let Steve Hurd have the final word.

Steve Hurd. Huddersfield from Box-head* on Vimeo.

The Psalms are all about, personal “on my heart” prayers of repentance, thankfulness and seeking. Singing songs about God is great but it can put him at an arms length in peoples minds. Looking at the songs that bring me closer and experience joy in God they tend to have lyrics that speak to Jesus personally. It’s been suggested we need a good diet of “About” and “To” songs.

Recently I was put on to a song sung by Whitney Houston called “I Look to You” written by R. Kelly. Though published through popular culture I can just imagine King David singing it, the lyrics are just so honest and can be used to honor God.

Road Map

Phase 1 – Event Info & Top 20 Questions. A decent site explaining what the event is all about and which collects the top 20 questions, which will then be answered by a panel, filmed and published for Phase 2.

Phase 2 – Guide & Directory. Will be a guide on setting up a Grill a Christian events as well as a public directory of events where you can go and ask your questions.

Phase 3 – Social Questioning. Ideally we want people to be able to send their questions in over the web in advance or via their mobile phone at the actual event. People can join their event group ask questions directly and see what everyone else is asking.