#thisnewrepublic

[josephmwillis]

The pieces are already in place

It’s September...! Wow. This is gonna be a big year!! Here we go.

So I’ll start by being frank with you. I’m mainly a New Testament kinda guy. Some people I know are big into the Isaiah’s of the bible which is cool, but give me the gospels any day of the week.

I’ve recently been prompted to read Nehemiah though, which has thrown some gems up that I’ve previously missed!

Chapter 1 finds Nehemiah, an Israelite in Persia, who has been informed of the tragic demise of his homeland. The city he loved was in ruins and he decides that he is going to be a part of rebuilding a once breathtaking city.

What’s cool, is that if you check out Nehemiah 1:11, his prayer finishes with just one small sentence, a footnote, a statement which shows the telling nature of God all throughout this story.

‘I was cupbearer to the king.’

Now if Nehemiah had been anything else, would he have been able to have this conversation?

It certainly helped that he was good and faithful at what he did as we read on to find, but I have the distinct feeling that everything in his past had led him up to this point in time.

I say this to say, that the pieces are already in place. Nehemiah was positioned by God specifically for this purpose.

And the same is true for you.

Things may look like they are in ruins around you but the ‘cupbearer is in the palace’ so to speak.

God is good. And he is faithful, even when we aren’t. So when you look around know that he has carefully planned your future and got everything in order for what you’re about to step into.

The pieces are already in place.

[josephmwillis]

Crazy stupid love

So the World Cup is over and I don’t know about you but I’m on the 26 day countdown to the Prem starting now... Woohoo!!

So John 20 is amazing, something that really has got me thinking.

The chapter (which starts with the title The empty tomb...!!! Come on, how cool is that), in verse 24, tells of this guy called Thomas who had heard the stories of Jesus no longer being dead, but just couldn’t get his head around it. Fair enough right?!

It describes the disciples telling him - “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

So as is so often the case, Jesus rocks up to where he is and says these words - ‘“Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

What’s amazing about this act is that it’s not the ‘glamorous’ things that Jesus puts on display, but the vulnerability of what he went through.

The penny drops for Thomas and his response? “My Lord and my God!”

I think often what we qualify as the most likely to get a response from people is our ‘success’ or our ‘achievements’ but Jesus here does quite the opposite. 

What others perceive as his ‘failure’ to get himself down from the cross is actually the very thing that has changed the lives of billions of people over the ages and continues to do so at a colossal rate!

The ‘penny drop’ moments could well be the times we got knocked down but refused to stay there.

The very men with him would have naturally wanted to forget what happened to Jesus, the pain and the hurt, but his vulnerability caused them to remember the crazy stupid love that it took to do what he did.

And that crazy stupid love is directed at you and I and is available right now. It’s free but it wasn’t cheap. Why not give it a go?

[josephmwillis]

All in changes everything

So I’ve been fascinated this week with a few verses from John 20 which I have overlooked so many times before.

The scene; Jesus’ would be resting place. The characters; John and Peter. The context; Mary arriving at the tomb only to find it empty, so in desperation looks to the disciples for help.

On hearing the news, John and Peter run to the tomb, with John writing how much quicker he got there. Had Peter been comfort eating in the wake of what had happened a few days earlier? I guess we’ll never know.

Irrespective of this, when John arrives at the tomb, he waits outside, whilst Peter bombs in to see what the deal is.

Back in those days, it was customary for the Jewish people to steer clear from death due to it rendering them ‘unclean’ for 7 days, so understandably John was cautious.

But I love Peter, the guy who didn’t comply to social norms or the status quo, but lived a life that was ‘all in.’

This is where it get’s interesting.

Verse 8 says ‘finally the other disciple... also went inside. He saw and believed.’

It’s amazing how it took John to break social conformity to move into belief.

It took breaking the mould and stepping out of what was expected to change his paradigm.

For John it was the start of something extraordinary and would go on to shape life as he knew it.

Going all in isn’t easy, isn’t normal and sometimes isn’t nice. But going all in changes everything.

Are you all in? If not, what would it take? I encourage you to take that step. It’ll change everything

[josephmwillis]

Check your sources

Isn’t some of the stuff we read amazing?! We read articles on twitter, opinion on instagram or stories from our favourite tabloid paper, and take what’s written as gospel truth, without taking a second thought to check if the source is in any way credible.

I recently discovered that a great inspirational speaker I closely follow, who I had heard was Danish from I forget who now, is actually English, and has never even had any connection with the Danes!

Trivial I know, but it got me thinking, who’s voice do we listen to and regard as truth and who’s do we dismiss?

It’s amazing that often we go through life living through the filter of our past experiences of current circumstances, believing what people have said over us rather than listening to the one who created us in the first place.

If you are believing that you are anything other than exclusively picked, unconditionally loved and undeniably talented then you need to check your sources.

Check out these God inspired words about yourself for more info...!

Ephesians 2:10 : For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

John 15:15 : I no longer call you slaves, because the slave does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have revealed to you everything I heard from my Father.

1 Thessalonians 1:4 : We know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you.

And this source? It’s a credible one

[josephmwillis]

Life beyond coincidence

I’m not sure about you but for me, when people ask me why I believe in God, this ethereal, ‘pie in the sky’ made up fairy tale, I tend to think that in my life there are far too many it ‘just so happened’s’ for him to not be real.

Take our house for example. With £1500 in the bank, we went with what we believed was a word from heaven to ‘start looking to buy and once we found the right one the deposit would be ready.’

It just so happened that was the way it panned out.

Or the time we were told that in an operation the surgeon had to take one of Lo’s ovaries as she had a cyst that they couldn’t remove from it otherwise, so we would ‘struggle to, if ever, have children’, yet it just so happens that they found out they didn’t take it in the end and here we are with 2 of the most beautiful kids you could ever wish to meet.

Or the time when we needed a car part in France at 9pm for a Renault Espace with no money and no where open, yet from nowhere a man turns up from the bottom floor of a Peugeot garage, takes us down and it just so happened that he had the perfect part in the workshop even though they themselves would need to order that very same part for a Peugeot?!

Or the time... well you get it.

I figure there are 2 groups of people, those who live life by ‘coincidence’ and those who live life by a conviction that God is working a master plan together, and personally I’m the latter.

Living a life beyond coincidence. Believing that every day when I wake up there is purpose and meaning.

I’d encourage you to do the same!

[josephmwillis]

The pendulum swing

So it’s Thursday, the sun is shining and life is good hey!

This week I’ve had a thought.

It’s interesting that as we read an account from Saul’s life (later to be called Paul, because you know, why not change someone’s name!) that he was able to pendulum swing from crazy to crazy but in two different extremes.

Let me explain.

We find him in Acts 9 a very angry man. Killing Christians and doing everything he can to disrupt what God was doing, he was one loose cannon. 

Then one day, whilst on a road to Damascus, out of nowhere God speaks to him and he is left unable to see, so needed to be helped along to the next city and was told to wait for what was to come.

A brave guy called Ananias seeks him out on behalf of God and prays for Saul then BANG, suddenly he can see. 

He promptly gets baptised, eats dinner and then gets to work, preaching the good news about what he’s just experienced.

Amazing that a man can go from flat out crazy destructive to purely crazy about God in an instant.

I find so often if I have done some questionable things then I feel a little sheepish around God, like somehow I have to earn his trust again.

What’s amazing about Saul is that he pendulum swung from one to the other with very little thought.

Because that’s what a touch from God does. And it doesn't matter if you’re on a road, on the loo or on anything else, God can meet you where you are at and take you from the darkest places into the best of places.

Any time, anywhere. He’s available. 

Why not reach out today?

[josephmwillis]

It’s not what you thought it was

So we’ve been unlocking the power of the parables recently at Hope City Sheffield (check us out, maybe you should pop down sometime! http://hopecity.church/sheffield), and I’ve loved studying the parable of the Good Samaritan.

You know the one, where the Samaritan rescues a guys life, pays his expenses and generally saves the day. Hero!

Then Jesus says in Luke 10:37 for us to ‘Go and do likewise’

What amazes me about this story is that the most unexpected of people is able to change the world, one small act at a time.

The Samaritan, someone who ‘didn’t belong’ because he was an interbreed of races, someone who ‘didn’t fit in’ as they worshipped a mixture of religions.

The one small act of stopping, of seeing, of soothing, of serving and of going the second mile, changed the world for the man left to die.

But there’s more to the story than this, and I’m not sure if it’s what you thought it was.

Because, the next verse through to Luke 10:42, describes a scene where Jesus turns up unannounced to two of his best friends house.

And their approach to his arrival couldn’t be more different. 

Mary decides to sit with Jesus and listen to the amazing things he has to say, whilst Martha is stressing about the house, trying to get things prepared for him.

Jesus’ response?

“Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” 

What?! This is the exact opposite of what Jesus spoke about before surely? We find ourselves in a juxtaposition.

But here’s the truth - the former is an overflow of the latter.

Without time with Jesus, like Martha, activity for Jesus will exhaust you.

Jesus commended Mary because the place she would get her strength, resolve, vision and boldness was always going to be in the presence of him.

It’s so easy to do this thing called life alone. In our strength and with our gifts and talents, but sooner or later we end up exhausted and loose sight of what is really important.

How could you carve some margin into your world this week to spend with Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith?

Because I promise you if you do, you’ll be energised to go change the world!

[josephmwillis]

A bad assumption?

It’s almost April people... how on earth did that happen?!

Just a quick one today...

Seeming as Easter is around the corner, I love this passage in John 18 where Judas is about to go all time for the dumbest move in history, by leading the Priests and Pharisees to arrest Jesus.

Peter is not happy. His response? To go all Zorro on them.

v10 - Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)

Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”

This is so interesting as Peter’s assumption, like most of ours, would be self defence. Or at in least defence of the one he believed to be the messiah, the answer to all of their prayers.

But Jesus responds in quite the opposite way. 

You see Jesus knew this had to happen for God’s plan to come through, and so Peters assumption, even in good taste, was not helpful.

I think we can assume things too that aren’t helpful.

We haven’t got the dream job because ‘we didn’t work hard enough’ We haven’t got financial surplus because ‘poverty is holy’ Etc etc

But I’m so reassured by this statement from Jesus, because it says regardless of situation or assumption thereof, we are part of something much bigger; and it’s all in hand.

We may not get it and we may assume different but :  

“my thoughts are not your thoughts,    neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth,    so are my ways higher than your ways    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

(Isaiah 55:8-9)

And that makes me a happy man!