Preaching with a purpose

Farmville in many ways is not like real farming. If you don't fence your animals in in real farming they will wander all over the crops and spoil them. In real farming you can't unwither your crops, once they have withered that's it. But some things are like real life. If you help your neighbour out he will often help you too. You can work in a co-op to get higher yields. The animals on Farmville sell at a rediculously low price. Sheep farmers would say that is true to life. I think Jesus would have used Farmville as an illustration if he was here now. He would say it's no good just helping those who help you, you must give to the ones who can't return the favour too.He might also say don't spend your life on something which is worthless, but I don't think he would be a kill-joy like that. He would see the benefits of people interacting even on the internet.The internet can be a place where we find out about Jesus by sharing our faith with one another

On the Facebook game Farmville, if you have the game bar it tells you when the harvest is ready. Jesus said that the harvest was absolutely ready now and that farm hands are needed to bring the harvest in. What did he mean? He meant that men and women were at the point where they were ready to hear his good news that God had sent him to rescue us from the bad things in our lives and bring us into a wonderful party with him and God where everything would be sorted out and peace and joy would be everywhere. Those of us who know Jesus should realise that the harvest is ready. People are hungry to hear they can be rescued by Jesus. I like to say I play Farmville so that I can relate to the young people in our churches and outside. The truth is I find it addictive. However I think it could be used to illustrate all sorts of things in a sermon to the young and not so young. So I'm going to pretend that is my reason, because I need material for my sermons as I am a trainee local preacher.

It is always hard to lose a loved one to death but for those of us with a faith in God we can gain strength from knowing that he loves us and the one we have lost. He is in control when we feel so out of control. How can you know that love of God for you. He promises to keep you in that love of his if you will put your hand in the hand of Jesus. you have to be serious about this and spend time alone getting to know Jesus, but you have his promise that if you call to him he will answer and you will find him if you look for him with every ounce of your being. That's a bit more than a gram's worth. Godd's help is really only a prayer away. If you are not sure how to pray take a look at the lens below and also at my other thoughts if you find these helpful. A prayer for every day A thought for each day(2)

Being rich is all a matter of degree. As an O.A.P on benefits many would consider me to be poor, but compared to someone in, for instance, Haiti I am rich. I am very content with my life. I have all I need plus a car, two computers, a piano, a camera and a violin. What more should I want ? If you chase after riches you can end up with ash in your mouth. If you chase after riches and climb on other people to do so you have done a bad thing. However if you are one of those rare people who can produce riches and use them to help others you will escape the drawbacks of riches. I say I am content but I am also human and I dream of a better car, or what I could do with more money, but in my heart I know this is foolishness. I have all I need and more. If I had more money, worries would come with it. I enjoy the things I have saved up for much more than I would if they came easily. Before you wish for riches think carefully, they may bring you more trouble than they are worth. Every blessing.

Tomorrow(Monday) my squidoo lens Down a Devon Lane is going to be reviewed on the Squidoo Lens Review. That's very exciting for me. Sometimes you can have a very good lens and yet no matter what you do it sinks down the pile unnoticed. It's great when someone notices it and points it out to others. It contains my own photos taken down a lane I often walk along. Here and there I have written a poem or two. I also name the wild flowers. There are also three other lenses down the lane, using photos from different times of the year. Down a Devon Lane

Do you consider yourself to be a fine upstanding citizen? I'm sure you are in many ways, but do you look down on others who have had a difficult time in life and then gone wrong? I believe, given the wrong circumstances we are all capable of going to the bad. Some people have had horrendous childhood experiences. Very true some of them have still made good despite this bad start and all credit to them. But we need to have a bit of compassion for the ones who haven't made a good go of life. Recently I heard a prison chaplain speak of his work. He confirmed my belief that many prisoners have had a shocking start to life. Would we have done any better if we had had a start like that? For more thoughts on these lines see the two links below. The Fallen Woman The Drunk

So what is a trainee local preacher doing writing poems about love and passion. Well we preachers are just ordinary folk like everyone else trying to make sense of their feelings and emotions. God would not have said,"Do not commit adultery" if we were never going to feel like doing that. Trouble is, say,"Do not walk on the grass " to a person and what do they want to do? It's the same with wet paint. We are all in this together, we human beings. All struggling to do the right thing and not always getting it right. So what did God do about our predicament? He sent Jesus to gain forgiveness for us. God knows you are going to get it wrong. He loves you. Come to him for forgiveness. My poems of love and passion

Joseph's story is now available to you, see the link below. I have been busy on Squidoo again with my Bible story characters. I love creating these pages because I believe these Bible people have a lot to teach us about life. As a child I used to think the people of the past were very different from us, but now I know that this is not so. People have always had the same desires, the same problems; Jealousy, anger, sorrow to name but a few. These people are not pale shadows but real strong people with feelings like us. They struggled to find God and were found by him. Take a look at this link to see a real human struggling against disaster. Interesting Bible People: Joseph

Are you running yourself ragged trying to earn money to keep a roof over your head and keep your wife and family happy? Do you feel caught in this rat race? May be you would be happier renting a house. If you did that you wouldn't have the worry of structural maintenance. May be you could manage with a lot less clothes and is there really any need to get the kids special designer label clothes. Me, I'm happy with curtains that don't match and they came from a charity shop. I've always rented too. It's still my home I just don't have to worry if the roof needs mending. If you are feeling trapped there are ways out. My car is 13 years old. Does that worry me? Not at all, she goes well. I get from A to B as well as someone in a Mercedes. Jesus said there is more to life than clothes or food. You ask Jesus into your life you will never be disatisfied again. God will look after you and give you all you really need. For more thoughts like these visit the lin

I'm busily writing another of my Squidoo lenses on Interesting Bible People. It's about Joseph. You can't see it yet because I haven't finished it, but I thought I would whet your appetite! Joseph as a young man had to go through many problems. His jealous brothers sold him into slavery, Then he was wrongly accused of forcing his attentions on his master's wife. For this he was thrown into prison. But Joseph always came up smelling of roses. Why? Because God was with him. He trusted God and God did not let him down. His experiences had given him vital training in organising other people and this was vital when the time came for him to save Egypt from famine. Are you going through a bad time? Put your trust in God, He will carry you through and make something good of you. to give you some background to Joseph's story look at this link about his father, Jacob Interesting Bible People:Jacob

I have a lens on Squidoo I would like you to see.(link below). Here I discuss who is nearer to Jesus, a prostitute or an archbishop. What would you think? Some archbishops are very godly men, but if they think they are nearer to God than a prostitute they could be wrong. Jesus himself said to the pharisees, the bishops of their day, that prostitutes were more likely to go into heaven. How could this be. I think you will find that a prostitute knows full well that she is a sinner. Whereas an archbishop may have gotten carried away with all the pomp and splendour of his position and begun to feel that he was somehow better than the protitute. What pleases God is humility and knowing that we have to depend on Jesus to make us acceptable to God. The Fallen Woman

Do you know the story of Naaman in the Bible? If not take a look at the link below.Naaman had leprosy. He was sent to Israel and eventually found the prophet Elisha who sent him a message to say, if he wanted to be cured he must go and wash in the river Jordan, seven times. But Naaman thought this was too easy and was furious that Elisha had not come out to heal him in a magical way. He had sensible servants with him who persuaded him to go and wash. We are like Naaman only our problem is sin. We want to make up for our sin by doing good things. We want to please God our way, but God has made the only way, Jesus. Jesus died for us, we need to put our trust in him and let go of our sin. He deals with it freely. Interesting Bible People: Naaman

My first husband and I are about to celebrate that forty years have past since we married. It doesn't bother us that there has been a divorce in between. We are celebrating a friendship which has weathered the storm. We will be going out for a meal with our children to celebrate. There is no way we would want to live together. My husband has always been a loner and I have discovered the delights of living on my own. We are content to share an occasional meal together and to go out grocery shopping together. How blest we are to have found forgiveness and understanding.

For those of you interested my sermon is coming along fine. So I have time to spend a little time with you out there in the big wide world. Isn't it amazing that a little lady from Devon, England who has only left this island once, to visit Southern Ireland, is now in a position to address the world with the thoughts gleaned over 63 years. You may be reading in Japan or the Philippines, or Australia, or America and a thousand other places. Wow what a responsibility that is. I'm not here to give you light chit-chat I'm here to tell you about Jesus. If you don't want to hear then go away. If you are troubled in your heart you will want to hear. Jesus is the answer to your heart's longings. Do you know why so many marriages fail(mine included)? It's because we expect our partners to fulfill all our dreams, we expect them to be all that we ever wanted. They can't deliver, they are human and our hearts are longing after God, only he in Jesus can give us

My thought for today is, "If I don't get on with my sermon soon I'm going to have trouble on Sunday. There will be a gaping hole in the middle of the service." Mind you, which is more important? This blog with the potential to reach a lot of people, or a sermon for fourteen people? That's a tricky one. I know I shall enjoy Sunday with those fourteen people. They are people with lives outside the church, who can influence many more people in their day to day lives. Also they know me as a real person not just some cyber, religious, agony aunt. Aha I quite like that title. I try to be open about myself here but those people on Sunday really know my background. There is no chance of me getting superior with them, and I wouldn't want to. They know the worst there is to know about me. I believe my openess, about the things I have done wrong in my life, is one of my greatest strengths. I can honestly say, I know your sins can be forgiven. I've been there and have