I hate to be the bearer of bad news.. but Christmas is coming…fast!
To be honest, we’ve nearly finished our present buying and planning the church program, so I’m pretty chilled. But, so often, as I’m buying gifts, running church events, eating mince pies and thinking about new books, I forget to see Christmas for the opportunity it is.
As a student worker I remember the joy of reading John Stott’s ‘the Cross of Christ’ for the first time. I remember grappling with issuess surounding justice, God, wrath, forgiveness and assurance. I am so thankful especially for his chapter on ‘self-substitution‘. Having been brought up on a diet of unhelpful sermon illustrations like the unjust prison guard who kills an innocent victem, etc, I was completely confused about the cross:
-Did Jesus twist the Fathers arm?
-Did the Father force Jesus to die?
This week we reached the end of Colossians 2, but I haven’t got the audio of the sermon to put up. So, for those with enough determination, here are my notes from the sermon.
I love watching programs like Hustle,and films like Oceans 11, 12, 13 and 44. I love watching the long con. But I also love watching short cons. Ultimately they all come down to one thing: confidence. The conman, is a confidence man. You can check it out on Wikipedia! The way they work is be acting as if you should do what they say – that you should trust them. Take for example a finacial con. They will come across as financially aware and connected, and then offer to make you more money. They do that in the first instance with a small amount of money – but it comes from their own pocket. But by then… they have you. You now have confidence in them. Yet it is all fake.
