Why is my brother/sister nasty to me?


"Before I answer your question, can I ask you "How about you ? Are you nasty to your brother / sister ? It is very easy for us to see the faults in others, but very hard to see the faults in ourselves. Brothers and sisters are often nasty to each other, and to understand why, we have to go back to the garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, that brought sin into the world, and spoiled everything. We are all descendants of Adam and Eve and have been born with a selfish nature that wants its own way. Children soon realise that being selfish all the time often gets them in to trouble, so they learn to control their behaviour, especially when they are outside their home environment. However, without Jesus, their selfish nature is still there. When you live with the same persons day after day ( like brothers and sisters ), this selfishness is bound to show itself from time to time, often resulting in "nastiness" to each other.

If your brother or sister is really nasty to you, there are two important things you can do. Firstly, pray that they will hear and respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and allow Him to begin to change their selfish nature. Secondly, whenever your brother / sister is nasty to you, then you be nice to them. The Bible tells us that we are to defeat evil, not with evil, but rather with good. (Romans 12.21).That can be a really hard thing to do, but if you persist in being nice to them, then usually they will start being nice to you !


Why does God allow suffering?

Because everybody goes through tough times sooner or later, we have all asked a question like this. We might ask "If God is all powerful and all loving, why does He allow suffering? Why doesn't God stop all the trouble in the world?" God's ability is usually not in doubt, but rather the question is why He does not appear to act. Surely the all-loving God as revealed in the Bible would do something?

Only God, Himself knows the complete answer to this. However, we can share some thoughts with those who are genuinely seeking answers to this problem.

1. God does not cause suffering - man does. God created people with free-will. This means we have the ability to choose to either obey or disobey our Creator. Our first ancestors chose to disobey God. This was in reality rebellion against their Creator. As a result of this rebellion (the Bible calls it sin), a curse came upon the whole earth so that everything in it was affected and began to degenerate to the state we find it in today.

Thus, man's original sin first brought trouble and suffering into God's perfect world, and our continuing sin results in continued trouble and suffering.

2. Although God does not cause trouble and suffering, He is often able to use it to get our attention.

The most important thing in life is our relationship with God who we can only know through a personal faith in Jesus Christ. However, if we all lived completely trouble-free lives, most people would never give God a second thought! As Jesus said "What would it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lost his own soul?" (Mark 8.36). It is often through trouble or suffering that God is able to gain our attention and make us aware of our need of Him. Numerous people have in fact only found a personal faith in Jesus Christ after a tragedy in their lives.

3. God is primarily concerned with our characters, that is what we are rather than what we do.

Our character can be defined as a measure of what we have overcome. Thus, as we overcome problems and difficulties, our characters are developed. A trouble-free life would, in fact, hinder this development. And whilst this life lasts for only a short time, our characters are for eternity.

It is an interesting fact that many of the men that God has used the most throughout history have been those that have suffered the most in their lives. The Apostle Paul, Martin Luther and John Bunyon (author of Pilgrim's Progress) immediately spring to mind.

4. God, being all-powerful, could stop all suffering on the earth in an instant if He chose to. But what would He actually have to stop? - People! Suffering is the result of sin, and to remove sin God would have to remove all sinners - everyone! But because He loves us, God would rather transform us than wipe us out. The good news is that through the death of His Son on the cross He has made it possible for that to actually happen.

5. God understands our suffering. He does not ask us to face suffering without having first faced it Himself. This He did on the Cross when Jesus suffered more than anyone. Through that Cross He now provides us with the grace and power to face suffering.

God then has done something about trouble and suffering. The basic problem in the world is us - self-centred people. But through a commitment to Christ, God, by His Spirit, is able to come into our lives and change us, giving us new God-centred natures. Then as individuals are transformed, the societies in which they live are changed. This is verified by reference to history. In times when large numbers of a particular community have committed themselves to Christ (this is called a revival) the crime rate in that community has fallen to almost zero. This then is God's plan for our world - to change individuals who in turn change the world in which they live.

The only real answer to suffering is to become a Christian, for then we have His unbreakable promise that all things (including our suffering) will be working together for our good (Romans 8.28).

6. The complete answer to mankind's problems and the end of all suffering is the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, God has promised, the creational order prior to man's disobedience and rebellion against God will be restored. "The desert shall blossom as the rose, the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped, the lame shall leap and the dumb shall sing. The lion shall lay down with the lamb, swords shall be turned into ploughshares, and a government of peace shall be established."

These are just a few biblical expressions of the future kingdom rule of Christ. The whole of creation is looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth. This is good news in a world of trouble and suffering.



Why do we have earthquakes?

This is a question that many New Zealanders have been asking. The city of Christchurch suffered a major earthquake in September 2010, followed by another one in February 2011 - with consequent fatalities totalling almost 200, and much property damage. Many aftershocks have also rocked the region.


I have heard many 'experts' express their opinions as to why earthquakes occur - but none of them have been really satisfactory. However, we will have a look at some of the reasons that have been proposed. I will group their opinions into three main sections.


A. Some 'experts' talk mainly about the physical causes, and leave God out of their reasoning. They point out that the crust of the earth (on which we live) sits on tectonic plates of rocks, which in turn float on very hot molten metal in the core of the earth. As these plates are slowly moving they collide with each other, producing a massive release of energy in the form of earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.


A good way of understanding this is to imagine a kettle full of water, which is being heated up. When the water gets very hot, it will release energy in the form of steam, which will usually be released through the kettle's spout. However, if the kettle had no spout, it would eventually explode. In the same way that a spout is a kettle's release valve, volcanoes and fault lines where tectonic plates collide, act as release valves and thus prevent more severe and widespread devastation. However the question "Why is the earth like this?" still needs to be answered.


1. Atheists deny the existence of God, and thus believe that the earth must have been made by random, chance processes. They, quite rightly, point out that if the earth was made in this way, it was very unlikely to have been made perfect, and thus earthquakes, etc. should not really be a surprise to us. However atheists deny the fact that EVERYTHING has to have a creator. Absolutely NOTHING can make itself.


2. Some 'experts' believe in a Creator, but say that He must have not got it quite right when He made the earth, hence its imperfections. However the Bible tells us that God is perfect, and that thus He can (and did) only make perfect things.


3. Some 'experts' say that God did make the earth in the beginning, but that He doesn't really care what happens to it. However the Bible tells us that God does care. In fact, He cares passionately about everything He has created.


B. Some 'experts' believe that God actually causes earthquakes (and other natural disasters) as punishment for people's bad behaviour or rejection of Him. They point to God's judgements in the Bible, such as Noah's flood and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. God is a God who judges sin. However, before God ever judged anyone with a disaster, He always gave the people many warnings, and provided a place of safety for those who trusted him - as He did at the time of Noah's flood. In the case of the Christchurch earthquakes, for example, no warnings seem to have been given, and no place of safety provided. Thus "Believers" suffered alongside "Unbelievers". It is inconceivable that God allowed His own people to suffer just so that He could punish the "Unbelievers".


The Bible does talk about a future Judgement that will come upon the earth. But He has already provided a place of safety for those who trust in Him - and that is through the cross of Jesus. Anyone truly trusting in Jesus, and what He did for us on the cross, will be safe. Many Christians believe in fact that "Believers" will be taken off the earth before this final judgement.


C. Some 'experts' say that although God does not cause earthquakes, He could stop them if He chose to. However, He chooses not to prevent them so that "Good" can come from them.


There is certainly some truth in this, as very often "Good" follows natural disasters. In the case of the Christchurch earthquakes, for example, much "Good" followed in two main areas.


1. Neighbours in the city became more caring, helpful and loving to each other. Also many from outside the city gave up their time, talents and money to help in the recovery process.


2. Following the earthquakes many became scared. They began to realise the uncertainty of life, and turned to God to find answers and security. Following any natural disaster there is always an immediate increase in church attendance.

This is all "Good", but the actual cause of the earthquakes remains unexplained.


WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

I am sure that all these 'experts' gave their explanations with the best of intentions. However, they have one thing in common - None of the explanations (or at least none that I have heard) have taken into account what the BIBLE actually says! Personally, I am not too interested in what people say. But I am very much interested in what the Bible says. Because what the Bible says is what God says - AND HE SHOULD KNOW!


The Bible tells us that in the beginning God made a PERFECT world. Everything was "Very good". However, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, floods, droughts, diseases, etc. are NOT "very good".


Something has obviously gone horribly wrong with God's "perfect world". And the Bible tells us what it was. The very first people, Adam and Eve, rebelled against their Creator. This rebellion was so serious that God put a curse on the earth. And EVERYTHING was affected by this - people, animals, plants. Even the earth itself. The Bible, in fact, talks about the earth "groaning" (a good description of an earthquake) until Jesus returns to make a new earth, and everything is restored to its former perfect state.


All "Bad" things on the earth, whether they be natural disasters, diseases, wars, murders, theft, etc., etc. can be attributed to mankind's original and ongoing rebellion (sin) against our Creator. The Good News, however, is that God still loved mankind so much, He sent his Son, Jesus, to deal with our sin problem once and for all. This Jesus did when He took our sins upon Himself on the cross. This means that we can all be reconciled to God now. And sometime in the future, the remainder of creation will also be reconciled (made new).


CONCLUSION.

The Bible tells us that this present condition of the earth will get worse and worse until Jesus returns to abolish all "Bad" things. So, until that day comes, the only safe and sensible thing people can do is to make sure that they are trusting in Jesus.


If I ask God for something , will He give it to me?

God has promised to give us everything we need (read Philippians chapter 4, verse 19) but, like any good father, hasn't promised to give us everything we want. There is a big difference! Some of the things we might need are food, clothes, homes to live in, families to look after us, joy - if we are feeling sad, peace - if we are troubled, patience - if we are waiting for something, and love - if we are finding it hard to get on with someone.

God always wants the very best for His children. However, He will never give us something that He knows would be bad for us. He loves us too much for that. So, the answer to the question is sometimes:-

"Yes" - God really wants you to have what you asked Him for.

"Wait" - God wants you to have that thing, but the time is not yet right.

"No" - God knows that the thing you asked Him for would not be good for you.

There is nothing wrong in asking God for things we want, but very often people ask God for something purely out of selfish motives, rather than thinking beforehand what might be best for others, or what God might want us to have. A better approach would be to ask God for His will to be done in your life, and then ask Him to place His desires in your heart. Then you will be able to pray for something with faith, being confident that it is also God's will that you should have whatever you ask of Him.



Can God speak to us with a voice that we can actually hear?

God can speak to us in many different ways, and these include using an audible voice that we can actually hear with our ears. But this way is not very common. The way He choses to speak to us is not important. The important thing is are we obedient to what God says? Listed below are a number of ways in which God can and does speak to people.


1. The Bible.

This is God's Word, so what the Bible says, God says. This is the main way in which God communicates with people today. Thus, if you neglect your Bible reading, you could well be preventing God from speaking to you.

Although all of the Bible is God's everlasting message to us all, He can take a part of it - perhaps even a single verse - and use it to speak into our lives, by making it 'come alive' to us, so to speak. Thus as we read this particular verse, we get excited and just 'know' that God is using it to speak to us.

God can of course bring to our mind at any time any scripture that we have memorised. Almost every Christian has experienced times when the Holy Spirit calls to mind some scripture or truth at a moment when it is needed. That is why scripture memorisation is so important for all of us.

2. An audible voice.

The Bible records a number of occasions in which God spoke to people this way, perhaps the best known being the boy Samuel. This is not God's usual way of communicating with people today, but that is not to say that He cannot or will not speak to you in an audible voice.

I have never heard God's audible voice, but I know a number of people who have. In most cases, someone's life was in danger. It was as though God had to speak to someone urgently to avert the danger. However, I once taught my children's class about God speaking to Samuel. The following week a girl came up to me and said "God spoke to me a few days ago in an audible voice, just like He spoke to Samuel. He told me to go and tell my Gran. that He loved her." I asked her if she had done it, and she replied that she had. This reminds us that the important point is not how God speaks to us, but whether we are obedient to what He says.


3. An inaudible voice.

Although you may not hear God speaking to you with your ears, if you are trusting in Jesus, God's Spirit lives in you and He can speak to you through your spirit. For example, you may get a 'little voice in your head', a strong desire or impression to do / not to do something, speak to someone, go / not go somewhere etc. The closer you grow in your relationship with God, the more clearly will you be able to recognise this 'inner voice.'

We all have ideas, and we tend to think "Oh, that idea is mine." But perhaps God placed the idea in your mind in the first place!

I once came across an eight year old girl in the school playground, crying. I asked her what was wrong, and she replied that none of the other girls ever played with her and that she had no friends. I told her that I would pray for her and ask God to give her a good friend. As I began to pray, I noticed another girl about 100 metres away begin to run towards us. She arrive just as I finished my prayer and had said 'Amen.' She looked at the girl I had been praying for and said "Will you come and play with me?" An instant answer to prayer! But why did that second girl suddenly run over to the first one and ask her to play? I don't really think that God shouted down into the playground with a loud voice "Hey Jessie, Go and ask Jodie to play with you." No, I think He just put the idea in the mind of Jessie (who interestingly was a Christian) "Why don't you play with Jodie. She's not really all that bad." Therefore, I think that Jessie had heard God's inaudible 'inner voice'. However, the important point was that she was obedient to what God said.

4. Your conscience.

This is one of the things that makes us different from animals. God has given to everyone who has ever been born a conscience. This is God's voice within us all that warns us - by making us feel uneasy or anxious - when we are about to do wrong. God will never take our free will away and prevent us from doing wrong, but He will always warn us when we are about to make a mistake.

We should always listen to our conscience, because if we keep ignoring this "little voice" and continue doing wrong, the voice will appear to get smaller and smaller until we can hear it no more.

5. Older Christians.

By this I mean people who have known Jesus longer than you have. They are often able to give us good advice and help guide us into what God wants us to do.

6. Circumstances.

God can use the everyday events of life to guide us. This can be likened to the opening and closing of doors. For example you may wish to get into the school Rugby team, but you are never chosen. Therefore you start playing Soccer instead - and find you have a greater ability for Soccer than you ever had for Rugby.

When certain events happen at the same time in our lives, it is very easy to just write them off as coincidences. Often it is only as we look back that we are able to see God's hand guiding us through these 'coincidences'.


7. The desires of your heart.

Psalm 37.4 says "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." Most people think this means that if you put God first, He will then give you whatever natural desires you happen to have. I interpret this verse in a slightly different way. I believe it means that if you concentrate on "delighting yourself in the Lord", He will then put His desires for you in your heart, so that they become your desires as well.

Probably the strongest motivation for doing something is that you desire to do it. So do you have a strong desire to be something, to do something, to go somewhere? It could be that God has given you these desires because that is His will for you.

8. Through Prophets.

A Prophet is essentially a Messenger. That is someone who hears from God, and takes His message to someone else. There are many Prophets in the Bible. Indeed much of the Old Testament itself is a recording of these ancient messages from God.

There are still Prophets in the Church today, and God may use one of them to bring you a message, perhaps to tell you to do something or to go somewhere. But if someone 'brings a message from God' to you, how do you know that it really is from God? The main thing to remember is that God uses Prophets to confirm what He has already spoken to you about. For example, suppose someone comes to you and says "God wants you to go to China." If your reaction is something like "What me? What a surprise! I have never thought of going to China." Then forget it, this message is not from God. However, if your reaction is more like "Oh yes, I have always been interested in China, I love the Chinese people, I always thought I would go there one day," then this message is almost certainly from God. It is God confirming what he has already spoken into your life, and perhaps enabling and encouraging you to take the next step in your preparation.

9. Through dreams and visions.

We all know what dreams are, and God can speak to us through them. Visions are often similar to the 'moving pictures' we get in dreams (or they could be just a still picture), but God gives them to you while you are awake. God spoke to many people in the Bible through dreams (e.g. Joseph and Daniel) or visions (e.g. Peter and Paul).


A few years ago, I went to a Sunday school weekend camp. The theme of the camp was 'Hearing from God.' On the Sunday afternoon the Camp Leader gave each child a notebook and pen, and told them to go out and be completely on their own for 30 minutes. They were all told to ask God to speak to them, and write down in their notebook what they thought He said. On their return, all but one or two of the thirty children claimed that God had indeed spoken to them. Many of the children said that they had seen visions, including many of Jesus on the cross.

There was one new boy to the Sunday school at that camp, and no-one knew very much about him. He shared a cabin with three other boys. On returning from their 30 minutes of isolation, these three boys all independently said that they thought God had to them "I will never leave you, I will never let you down, I will be with you always." Their cabin companion then said that that message must be for him. He revealed that his parents were in the process of divorcing, and he felt let down and was worried about what was going to happen to him in the future! Isn't God good! He doesn't speak to us so we can just say "Wow, God spoke to me." No, He speaks to us for our benefit, or for the help and encouragement of others.


How can I know if it is really God speaking to me?

There are two tests that we can apply to any message we think may be from God.

1. Does it agree with the Bible?

God never contradicts Himself. Therefore, if your message doesn't agree with God's revealed Word in the Bible, then it is definitely not from Him. For example, if you think God is telling you to tell a little lie because it will get you out of trouble, forget it! That is not from God, because the Bible says "Do not lie."

2. Do you have 'Peace' about the message?

Colossians 3.15 says "Let the peace of Christ rule (be the umpire) in your hearts." An umpire is the one who decides. And God has given us His Peace as our umpire, so that we may know if something is from Him or not. Thus, if you feel at peace about a message, supposedly from God, then it probably really is from Him. On the other hand, if you feel uneasy or anxious about the message, that is God removing His Peace to warn you that this is not from Him.

How can we hear more clearly from God?

If you love God, your greatest desire will to know Him better and communicate more fully with Him. How can we hear more clearly from God then? Fortunately, the answer is very simple - stay close to Him!

If I was talking in my normal voice and you were sitting close to me, you would hear me very clearly. But suppose I was still talking in the same way and you were at the other end of the room, or even outside the room. Would you hear me so clearly then? No. You may not hear me at all, and if you did, you would probably hear me incorrectly and get the message wrong.

It is exactly the same when hearing from God. If we stay close to Him, we will hear Him clearly. But if we are a long way from God, we are unlikely to hear Him. How then, can we stay close to God? There is no short cut to this. We need to ensure that we spend adequate time in His presence by reading and meditating on His Word, talking to him (prayer) and doing what we know He has already told us to do. Then we will be in the right position to hear from Him when He speaks to us.


Can I be a Christian, even if my parents aren't?

The answer is "YES". You need to understand what a Christian really is. If you ask most people what a Christian is, they will probably reply something like "A person who goes to church", or, "A person who prays a lot and reads the Bible", or, "A person who does lots of good deeds and is always kind to others". All these things are good, but none of them make a person a Christian. Rather, these are some of the things that Christians do - because they already are Christians! Real Christians do these things because they can't help themselves. They are "natural" to them because Jesus has changed them on the insides, and given them a God-given desire to do these things, which is simply an outward expression of their new love for both God and other people.

Of course non-Christians can also do some or all of the above things, but that doesn't make them Christians. Some people do these things to try and please God - because they don't understand that God's forgiveness and acceptance can never be earned, no matter how 'good' they are, or how hard they try. Others do these things to try and impress people, so that they will think well of them, or be good to them in return.

One of the best ways of understanding what a real Christian really is, is to consider the three words :- CHRIST IN PERSON. When you condense these words into one, you are left with CHRISTIAN.

Thus, CHRIST IN PERSON = CHRISTIAN.

In other words, a Christian is a person in whom Jesus Christ is living. And He can only live in you if you invite Him to do so asking Him to forgive your sins (wrongdoing) and to come and take charge of your life.

It is wonderful to have Christian parents, because they can help and encourage you in your new Christian life. But even if they are not, don't let that put you off living for Jesus, because ultimately we are each responsible to God for what we do with His gift of Jesus to us - either to accept or reject.

Why not pray and ask God to bring someone into your life who is able to teach you more about Himself?


Do all religions lead to God?

Some people think that if a person is sincere in following their religion it will eventually lead them to God - no matter which religion they are actually following. Thus they may be Christian, Jew, Moslem, Buddhist, Hindu, or something else. You can imagine God at the top of a mountain with many paths leading up to him. Although the paths start at different points, they all eventually lead to God.

Contrast this idea, however, with what Jesus said. He said "I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father, except by me. (John 14 v. 6). Note that Jesus said "I am the way" He didn't say "I am a way" He said "I am the way." Thus it is abundantly clear that Jesus claimed to be the only way to God.

What it comes down to is: Who are you going to believe? Jesus, the Son of God, or mere humans who don't know everything and often make mistakes.



What is my purpose in life?

(Much of the material shared here is taken from Norman Warren's book "The purpose driven life").

Why do I exist? Why am I here? What is my purpose? People of all cultures have always searched for purpose and meaning to life, and have asked questions like these. However, the Bible makes the answer quite clear.

It has been said that "The two greatest days in a person's life are the day they are born, and the day they find out why they were born." Everyone reading this has obviously had their first "greatest day", but maybe, for some of you, today could turn out to be your "second greatest day".

God created everything for a purpose. The fact that you are here means that God has a purpose for you. Actually, God has created all of us for FIVE special purposes.

1. God created us for Himself. So that we might enjoy God, and He might enjoy us, both now and forever. Thus, we were made to know and love God.

When we express our love to God, that is called WORSHIP. We can worship God in many different ways, for example, singing a song to Him, talking to Him, admiring a beautiful sunset while giving thanks to God in our hearts, helping someone in need, obeying your parents, etc. etc. WORSHIP, in fact, is anything we do that gives God pleasure.

2. We were created to be adopted into God's family. And God's family is called the church. Everyone who puts their trust in Jesus Christ becomes a member of God's family.

The Bible likens God's family to a human body. In other words, every part of the body is important, and is dependent on all the other parts. Thus, our purpose is to work together to see the body (church) strengthen and grow. We do this by loving, praying for, encouraging, and helping each other. These activities are called FELLOWSHIP.

3. We were created to become like Christ. And to know what Jesus is like, you only have to read about Him in the Bible - Totally good, holy, loving, perfect, etc. This growth of us into the likeness of Christ is called DISCIPLESHIP. Discipleship is a lifelong job, and requires our co-operation and effort.

Galatians 5.22 lists nine "fruits of the Spirit" that God wants to see grow in our lives. These are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. God may well place us in environments where these attributes are more able to grow.

For example, if He wants to see more love in your life, He is unlikely to surround you with nice, loving, friendly people. No, you are more likely to meet a lot of annoying, unloving, unfriendly people. In these circumstances your "love" will have more opportunities to grow.

Likewise, if God wants to see more patience in your life, you are quite likely to find yourself in numerous traffic jams or Supermarket queues!

4. We were created for SERVICE, i.e. to serve God by serving others. The Bible tells us that God has actually prepared works for us to do. And if God wants you to do a particular job, He will always prepare you for it beforehand.

God has equipped us for service by giving us a SHAPE This is what makes us who we are, and everyone has their own SHAPE, which makes us unique. Each letter of the word "SHAPE" stands for something that makes us uniquely qualified for the service God has prepared for us to do.

S stands for Spiritual gifts that God has given to us as He wills for the strengthening of His family (the Church). The full list of these nine gifts can be found in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 12. These are not permanent gifts, but are given by the Holy Spirit for a particular situation at a particular time.

For example, someone might be given the gift of Prophecy. They hear God's voice, and are thus able to pass on His message to someone that it is intended for. Someone might be given the gift of Wisdom. Thus, they are suddenly able to see God's way out of a difficult situation. Another person may receive the gift of Faith. Thus, he may be praying for someone, and suddenly "know for certain" that his prayer will be answered.

H stands for your Heart. What are you passionate about? What do you really love?

Some of the passions people might have are for teaching children, helping the poor, sick, or elderly, seeing better government etc. Many people have a strong passion for helping people in a different country. Usually a poor one. These passions are given to us by God. We should concentrate on them, and find out how He would have us make a difference in this world.

A stands for Abilities, i.e. the natural abilities that you are born with. These run into the hundreds, e.g. music, sport, languages, mathematics, nursing, teaching, making friends, etc. etc. God wants you to use your natural abilities to serve others.

P stands for PERSONALITY. We are all unique. God has created each of us different, with different personalities. Probably the two best known personality types are the Extrovert and the Introvert.

It is important to remember that whatever a person's personality is, it is not a case of it being "good" or "bad". Rather, it is just the way God intended them to be. Don't try to change your personality. Just be yourself, remembering that God can use a person of one personality in one situation, and a person of a different personality in another situation.

E stands for EXPERIENCES. God allows us to go through many different types of experiences in our lives, some "good" and some "bad". But, having gone through them, we are then in an ideal position to help others who are themselves experiencing similar situations.

Types of experiences may be involving your family, your school time, your job etc. But the most helpful ones will probably be your Painful experiences. Thus, you may be able to help someone who is sick, injured, going through a family break up, having learning difficulties, struggling with a bad habit, etc.

5. We were created to reach others for God. This is called EVANGELISM or MISSION. God wants everyone to know of His love, and He has chosen His family (the church) to make this love known through both word and deed.

God wants us to help the needy, but no matter how much you do so, it is important to remember that you will only be affecting their present lives. On the other hand, Evangelism, telling people how they can receive eternal life, is FOREVER. You could effect a person's eternal destiny. And there is nothing more important than that.

Many Christians are reluctant to tell others about Jesus Christ for fear of rejection. They think "If I tell my friend about Jesus, they may not like what I say - - - - they may not like me for telling them - - - - they might stop being my friend". If you feel like that, what you should do is pray and ask God to fill you with love for your friend. That is because God promises us "Perfect love drives away fear". In other words, love and fear can't both exist at the same time. And if you are truly filled with love for a person, your greatest desire will be for them to know Jesus for themselves. Then, God is well able to direct you as to the best way to share His wonderful love with them.

In summary, our five purposes of life are :- WORSHIP, FELLOWSHIP, DISCIPLESHIP, SERVICE, and EVANGELISM.


Can Christians perform miracles?


Jesus raised the dead, healed the sick, and performed many other miracles. Many people believe that Jesus was able to do this because He was actually God. Well, He certainly is God, but He is God who became a man. When Jesus came to earth, He left his divine (Godly) qualities behind in heaven. During His 33 years on earth, Jesus was fully human, restricting Himself to do only what other humans can do.


According to the Bible, Jesus didn't perform any miracles during the first 30 years of His earthly life. However, after He was baptised in the river Jordan by John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a dove. Thereafter, Jesus began His miraculous ministry - not because He was God, but because of the continuing indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.


The exciting thing for all followers of Jesus is that this same Holy Spirit which filled Jesus is available to us! And that is why there are numerous examples today of miracles and healings being done through ordinary Christians. They are achieved through the power of the Holy Spirit.


In fact, Jesus once said "If you have faith in me, you will do even greater things than I." (John 14.12). Your first thought may be "Greater things!" Surely no human could do "Greater things" than Jesus? But a closer examination will show that even some "Greater things" have in fact been done by some Christians. I will give two examples.


1. In his 3 years of ministry, how many people did Jesus personally preach to, see them respond, and enter the Kingdom of heaven? We can only make a very rough estimate but, as the population was much less 2,000 years ago than it is today, it is unlikely to have been more than a few thousand. However there are many Evangelists, such as Billy Graham and Reinhard Bonnke, who have seen tens of thousands of people respond to Jesus and enter into the Kingdom of heaven IN ONE EVENING!


2. How many people did Jesus raise from the dead? There are 3 or 4 cases mentioned in the Bible (although there may have been a few more which were not recorded). However there are reports of Christians, such as Smith Wigglesworth, raising as many as 20 people from the dead.

These are some of the "even greater things" that Jesus talked about.


How old is the earth?

The only way that anyone could know the age of the earth would be if they were present when it was being formed. As only the Creator Himself was present, He is the only one who could tell you when He made it. Although the Bible doesn't tell us exactly when the earth was created, by a careful reading of its recorded events and time spans between them, we can conclude that the earth is about 6,000 years old. It may possibly be slightly older than this, but not by much.

Contrary to what some people believe, Science cannot tell us how old the earth is This is because scientific experiments can only be performed in the present, and not the past. Therefore, as no human was present when the earth was first formed, we cannot look to any human to give us a definitive answer.

There are, however, numerous ways in which people can try to estimate the age of the earth. (For a more detailed revue, see the Creation Ministries International web site).These estimates vary from just a few thousand years (which are close to the age derived from the Biblical record) to about five billion years! However, all these methods depend upon many assumptions, mainly that the change processes that we can presently observe happening on the earth having always occurred at the same rate. No-one can know this.

The fact that different methods of estimating the earth's age, and indeed different scientific laboratories using the same method, come up with very different answers, suggest that conditions on the earth have not always been the same and demonstrate how unreliable such findings are.

Which earth age-estimation methods a person chooses to believe will depend on their world view. Biblical Christians will obviously accept the "young earth" estimates, whereas Evolutionists will choose to accept the "old earth" estimates. That is because for evolution to be even remotely possible it would require aeons of time for all the necessary changes to take place as we evolved from chemicals to a living single cell, and then into man, not to mention all the many different life forms we find today.

Most of these methods actually conclude that the earth is "young", usually giving values of between about 5,000 to 1 million years. The only earth age-estimation methods that give answers of billions of years are the radiometric dating methods in which the rate at which one type of chemical element is changed into another is measured. For example, if we know that element A in the earth is slowly changing to element B, then by measuring the present rate of change, and the amount of A and B presently in the sample, we can calculate how long the process has been occurring, and thus how long ago it was first formed. However, apart from assuming that the rate of change has always been constant, we need to assume that there was no "B" present at the beginning, and also that no "B" was leached out of the sample over the supposed billions of years that this was taking place. This no-one can possibly know!

Does it really matter whether we believe that the earth is "young" or "old"?

I believe it does because if we doubt the accuracy of the very first part of the Bible, what justification have we foe believing other parts of it, such as when it talks about the resurrection of Jesus and the means of obtaining eternal life through Him?


How many different types of Christians are there?

The answer is ONE. You need to understand what a Christian really is. If you ask most people what a Christian is, they will probably reply something like "A person who goes to church", or, "A person who prays a lot and reads the Bible", or, "A person who does lots of good deeds and is always kind to others". All these things are good, but none of them make a person a Christian. Rather, these are some of the things that Christians do - because they already are Christians! Real Christians do these things because they can't help themselves. They are "natural" to them because Jesus has changed them on the insides, and given them a God-given desire to do these things, which is simply an outward expression of their new love for both God and other people.

Of course non-Christians can also do some or all of the above things, but that doesn't make them Christians. Some people do these things to try and please God - because they don't understand that God's forgiveness and acceptance can never be earned, no matter how 'good' they are, or how hard they try. Others do these things to try and impress people, so that they will think well of them, or be good to them in return.

One of the best ways of understanding what a real Christian really is, is to consider the three words :- CHRIST IN PERSON. When you condense these words into one, you are left with CHRISTIAN.

Thus, CHRIST IN PERSON = CHRISTIAN.

In other words, a Christian is a person in whom Jesus Christ is living. And He can only live in you if you invite Him to do so asking Him to forgive your sins (wrongdoing) and to come and take charge of your life.

I understand why somebody could ask the above question. There are thousands of different religions in the world, the followers of some of the best known being the Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists and Jews. Even among the Christian faith, there are many different Denominations or types of church. It can all be rather confusing to the outsider.

The first thing to realise is that Christianity is not a religion. In fact, it is the opposite of religion. Religion is all about us trying to please God, to reach Him by doing good works. On the other hand, Christianity is all about God coming down to us as Jesus and meeting us where we are. All we are required to realise that it is impossible to please God by our own good deeds and to accept what Jesus has done for us on the cross. It is the difference between trying and trusting.  (See Figure below).

No matter how hard we try, we can never reach God by our own good deeds.

There are two radical differences between all religions and Christianity.

1. Religions teach that our only way to God and Heaven is through our own Good works.

2. Religions deny that Jesus is God. (Many believe that Jesus was a good man or a Prophet, but they deny His divinity).

At the centre of the Christian faith is the belief that Jesus is God, and that we can ony reach God and Heaven through Him (see John 14.6).

Different Christian churches.

There are three different types of Christian churches. They differ because of what they have as their FINAL AUTHORITY for what they believe and consequently the way they live.

1. The Roman Catholics.

Roman Catholics have as their final authority their church leaders, in other words the declarations of their Popes, past and present. They believe that the Pope is God's spokesman on earth, and that therefore what the Pope says is what God says. Also, as God is infallible, so must be the Pope's declarations.

The problem arises when one Pope may contradict what a former Pope had declared, or what is taught in the Bible.

2. The Liberal churches.

This group have as their final authority human reason. They respect the Bible and what various church leaders have said, but if this is against what their mind tells them is true, they reject it. For example, they may deny most of the miracles recorded in the Bible such as the bodily resurrection of Christ and attempt to explain them away. Unfortunately, if you remove the miraculous from the Bible, you are just left with a few interesting stories and some good moral teaching.

3. The Evangelical churches.

The Bible is their final authority. They use their human reason, and they appoint leaders, but when these contradict the Bible, they submit to the authority of the latter, believing that it is the inspired and infallible Word of God.

Even among the Evangelical group of churches, there are many different denominations, and variations in what they believe and teach. However, many of these differences are 'minor doctrines' and ultimately not important to our salvation. Such 'minor doctrines' include Water Baptism - i.e. the Baptism of infants or 'Believers', the present day operation of the gifts of the Spirit, the method of Church government, the role of women in the church and the correct interpretation of the 'End Times'.

I would suggest, however, that there are six 'Major doctrines' that Evangelical churches have in common, and around which they can have true unity. These are:-

1.The divinity of Christ.
2. The substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross for our sins.
3. The bodily resurrection of Jesus.
4. Our need to be 'Born Again'.
5. God accepts us on the basis of our faith in Jesus alone.
6. The Bible, as first given, is the divine and infallible 'Word of God'.

We should remember, however, that true Christians can be found in all these three types of churches. The type of church you attend doesn't determine whether you are a Christian or not. A true Christian (CHRIST IN PERSON) is simply someone with Christ living within them, because He has been invited to do so.