Out of My Comfort Zone

Today, I was in Prestwich town centre in the north of Manchester singing my lungs out with other friends from my church home group to declare God's goodness to the local community and to invite people to our Easter Concert entitled, Alive!

It was a bit nippy, and there were a good few people milling about. I was nervous, like everyone was; we don't exactly make a habit of singing in public! But as we got going, people started watching us, a few approached us and thankfully, no one was rude to us. The Alive! concert we host each Easter is amazing and powerful opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and to demonstrate His love in a real and practical way.

I'm excited to see what God will do on the 24th. I am expecting the unexpected!

Fullness of Life

I find that when reading through the Old Testament, there are loads of scriptures that refer to the coming of Jesus, as well as the end times. For example, Isaiah writes:

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

(Isaiah 53:2b-5)

The more I read the Bible, the more I know that it is the true Word of God. Everything that was written in the Old Testament points to Jesus – His birth, His ministry, His life, death and His resurrection. And that He is the Christ, the Messiah.

With Christmas fast approaching, no doubt there will be numerous nativity plays in schools, movies and TV shows on offer. But more than hearing about Jesus, finding out who Jesus really is, and how He is alive today and continues to change lives is what really matters. He certainly changed mine. I don’t know what life would be like if I didn’t know Him, and I wouldn’t even want to find out. All I know is, in Him I have fullness of life.