mystery

colossians 1:24-29

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

God is a mystery to most people. They don't know much about Him, and what they do know they either made up, or learned from someone else who didn't know much about Him. As Christians, we have had this mystery revealed to us. This should result with us talking to people about Jesus, telling them and showing them what He's like, being missionaries in our culture, trying to shed some light on the mystery of who God is and what He has done for people. You are a missionary in your family, your workplace, your circle of friends. Paul was toiling to do that, struggling with all the energy that God gave Him. How seriously do we take the task of moving people closer to Jesus?

the image of the invisible god

Colossians 1:15-23

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. ¹⁷And hold together. ¹⁸And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. ¹⁹For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by the blood of his cross. he is before all things, and in him all things making peace

 ²¹ And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²²he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, ²³ if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

A lot of people say they believe in God, but for most, the "god" they believe in is a vague higher power. This passage shows us that, if we want to see what God is like, we need to look at Jesus, He is the image of the invisible God, and the fullness of God dwells in Him. We do not worship an invisible force, we worship a person. Jesus. Paul goes onto to describe Jesus, telling us that everything was created by Him and for Him. You were created by Him and you were created for Him. He is above/before/in charge of all things - things we can see and things we can't, angels and demons, kings, governments and your boss at work. The solar system, the earth and your body are held together by Him. He is the head of the church, it doesn't belong to the church members or the minister, it belongs to Him.

We were enemies of God, alienated towards Him, but through His death on the cross, we can be reconciled to Him, restored to the relationship with Him that we were designed to have. Our evil deeds have been forgiven and we are holy and blameless before Him, not because of anything we've done but because of what He's done. We don't worship a distant, unknown God who may or may not be able to help us. We worship Jesus who has saved us.

prayer

colossians 1:9-14

 ⁹For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. ¹⁰And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully ¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. ¹³For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

My prayer life for others tends to focus on practical needs - a friend's illness, a colleague's financial situation, a family member's driving test. There's nothing wrong with praying about these things, in fact, we should be praying about these things. But if that's all we pray for, then the illness, recession and driving test will come and go and the person may be no closer to Jesus as a result. As well as the practical stuff, we need to be praying for others that they grow in knowledge, wisdom and understanding of God.

Paul prays for the Christians in Colossae that they would have more wisdom, understanding and knowledge of God, so that will affect the way they live their lives, which will increase their knowledge of God! This may seem like a circle, but it might be more helpful to think of it as a spiral of growth. The more we see and understand of God, the more we live like Him, and as we live more like Him, we see and understand more of who He is and what He's done. Our understanding of God and the way we live our lives are inseperable. There is no such thing as theoretical theology - it's all practical.

What exactly do we need to know about God? As v13-14 say, we need to understand that we were living in darkness, but He has brought us out of it, He has forgiven our sins, He has redeemed us. We were lost and we needed someone to find us. We were dying and we needed a Saviour. That's what He has done

Colossians 1 - growing

colossians 1:3-6:

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,

It's useful (and hard!) to think about whetther the gospel is growing and bearing fruit in our lives. Am I growing and maturing as a Christian? Can I see more of the fruit of the spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control - in my life? The natural conclusion is to want to try harder - "I just need to try to be more patient" etc. But that is not how any sort of fruit is produced. An apple tree doesn't have to try to produce apples. As long as it's in the right conditions (soil, light, water), it will produce apples naturally.

It's the same idea for us. As long as we are in the right conditions, the fruit will appear naturally and, according to Paul in this passage, it's all about hearing and understanding the gospel. A lack of growth and fruit in our lives might indicate that we have forgotten, are not applying, or have never fully understood the gospel. We need to be reading about who God is and what He's done in the Bible,talking about it with other people, praying and asking God to reveal more of Himself to us. The gospel isn't something that we hear and understand when we become a Christian and then move on from as we mature in our faith, understanding the gospel is how we mature in our faith.

X Factor, karma... and Jesus!

The situation with Simon Cowell and "jedward" on the X Factor has been a bit of a talking point this weekend to say the least! Loads of people are outraged and I think the reason why they feel that way is because they perceive injustice - the better singers should progress in the singing competition, which obviously didn't happen. Our natural instinct tends think that good things should happen to good people, success should go to the most talented, or the most commited or the hardest workers. That is the idea of karma - what goes around comes around.

The thing is, that's not how the world works, and we see it every day, in far more serious ways than the X Factor. Bad things happen to seemingly good people. Solomon recognised it in Ecclesiastes 7:15 when he wrote, "In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: a righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness."

We think we want justice, we think we want karma, but if we got it, we'd all be in trouble. We can't even live up to the standards we think other people should follow. We are selfish and make decisions based on what is best for us. We turn our backs on God and go our own way, only looking back occasionally to complain that He hasn't done something we wanted Him to. Fortunately for us, Jesus lived the perfect life and died in our place, taking the judgement we deserve on himself , so that we can be shown God's mercy.

christian country??

"The results of a poll of over a thousand adults, published today by Theos, reveal that the overwhelming majority of people in Britain want to keep Christ in Christmas.

 

In the poll, conducted by ComRes in May 2009, 84 per cent of those interviewed disagreed with the statement that 'Christmas should be re-named to reflect our multi-cultural society'. 85% agreed that 'Christmas should be called Christmas because we are still a Christian country'.

 

Commenting on the results of the poll, Nick Spencer, Director of Studies at Theos, said: 'The results of this research underline what most people instinctively know. There remains enormous and genuine affection for both the Christian festival of Christmas and the values underpinning it.'"

 

Theos news, detailed report

the problem here is that 85% of people think that we are a christian country, probably reflecting the massive misunderstanding there is about what it actually means to be a christian

s***

"I have three things to say today. 1st: While you were sleeping last night 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. 2nd: Most of you don’t give a shit. 3rd: What’s worse is that you are more upset with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night."
Tony Campolo

2 Samuel 19 - son

Joab rebukes David for "hating those who love him and loving those who hate him", because David is overwhelmed by his grief for Absolom and says nothing to the men who have just fought for him in battle. Joab might be exagerating when he says " for today I know that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then you would be pleased." but there's probably an element of truth their. The king was more concerned over his own son than the rest of the nation, our ultimate KING sacrificied his son out of love for the entire world.

2 Samuel 18 - mercy

David's love for Absolom is not perfect (if it was, they might not have ended up in this situation in the first place), but it gives us a glimpse into God's love for us as a father. Despite everything that Absolom has done, treating his father with contempt, David still wants to show him mercy. I have treated God with contempt many times, and He still shows me mercy, when i deserve justice.



I have long withstood His grace,
Long provoked Him to His face,
Would not hearken to His calls,
Grieved Him by a thousand falls.

There for me the Savior stands,
Shows His wounds and spreads His hands.
God is love! I know, I feel;
Jesus weeps and loves me still.

Depth of Mercy, Charles Wesley

2 Samuel 17 - advice

Absolom gets conflicting advice, with Hushai deliberately trying to give bad advice. He suceeds by flatering Absolom, as Husahai's plan involves Absolom going and doing it himself, rather than relying on others. Also, there is no mention in this passage of Absolom seeking the Lord, which is a phrase has occured coutless times in 1 and 2 samuel when people have needed advice.

Do I seek God first when I don't know what to do? And am I more likely to listen to advice that flatters me rather than trying to discern God's voice?

2 Samuel 16 - words

Ziba lies to David in order to get something, to improve his position. How many times am I tempted to miss things out, manipulate the facts, or just flat out lie in order to make myself look better?

Shimei then curses David and chucks rocks at him - an example of how bitterness can take hold of someone, he's probably been gradually growing more bitter over all the years that David has been King. David's response is interesting, he doesn't want to defend himself, or even presume that God will act, but he takes it and hopes that God will show him grace. Why is it that when I am questioned (never mind cursed!) I get defensive straight away?

Absolom's sleazy act with David's concubines is a fulfilment of Nathan's prophecy after David committed adultery - at the time I bet he didn't think it would come true in a literal way!

2 Samuel 15 - David flees

David responds to Absolom's conspiracy in an interesting way. He doesn't want to take the ark (v25), he doesn't fall into the same trap as Saul, who thought that if he had the ark, he had God. David doesn't presume he is in the right, this may be God's judgement on him, this may be the consequence of his sin. He leaves it open for God to restore him... or not. He doesn't try to manipulate God, he continues to recognise his total dependance on God in good times and in bad.

2 Samuel 14 - banished

v14b But God will not take away life, and he devises means so that the banished one will not remain an outcast.

In response, David brings Absolom the outcast back into the city and eventually back into his presence, but it only seems to be partial forgiveness, partial reconciliation. Fortunately, the woman was right about God. I should be banished from God's presence because I have turned my back on him and lived my own way. I should have my life taken from me. But God devised a way so that I do not remain an outcast, through Jesus death and resurrection.

2 Samuel 13 - forgiveness?

chapter 13 is like a family situation you would hear discussed on the jeremy kyle show. Did Amnon really love Tamar? If so, why did his "love" turn immediately to hatred after he raped her? More likely it appears to be lust and then he is not willing to deal with the consequences (see v16 - Tamar now wants to stay with him, as now he has raped her, getting rid of her will consign her to a life as a "desolate woman"v20).

Jonadab shows how it is possible to be clever/shrewd/discerning but totally sinful, when he comes up with the plan to rape Tamar when he should be telling Amnon to sort himself out.

The worst thing about this whole scenario is that David is angry but does nothing (v21). He should be angry, but he should do something. Amnon is not punished or spoken to, Tamar is not comforted or looked after by her father, she is taken in by Absolom.

The world tends to view forgiveness like David's actions here - letting people off without consequences. God's forgiveness is not letting people off with their sin. Something had to be done, justice had to be served, punishment had to be carried out. And it was. On the cross.

2 Samuel 12 - worship

Nathan rebukes David. Was he scared to do this? how would I respond if God revealed somebody's secret sin to me and told me to rebuke them? Also, how would I respond if rebuked? David gets it. "I have sinned against the Lord" (v13). He recognises his sin and repents, rather than getting defensive or justifying it. he recognises that the worst part about this is that he has sinnned against God (ref psalm 51). We might look at this and think that we've never commited adultery or murdered anyone, and that may be true, but we have turned our back on God and gone our own way, and in that respect, we are just like David. We need to repent.

David's response to his child's illness/death is interesting. He pleads with God, hoping that God will be gracious. Recognising that it would be God's grace that would restore this child's health, God didn't owe David anything. When God doesn't answer and the child dies, he goes and worships God. this might seem like the last thing we would want to do. But he is not worshipping God for what has happened, but for who God is. We might feel in or out of the mood to worship God based on our circumstances or what we perceives God has/hasn't done for us. that is idolatry, we are more concerned with getting God's stuff than we are with getting God. We worship God based on who He is and what He did on the cross, not on the basis of our own circumstances.

2 Samuel 11 - failure

In this chapter we see David go from just not going out to battle with his men like he should have, to murdering someone when his plans to cover up his adultery go wrong. He quickly spirals out of control. How can I stop spiralling out of control into sin like that. Certainly I need people around me who can pull me up on things, question me, rebuke me if needed. Did David have these people? Maybe they were out at the battle. It seems that the only people left were his servants who just did as they were told and kept their mouth shut, no matter what they saw. While it may be comfortable to be surrounded by people like that, it's not good.

David is generally recognised as a good king, but here we see vividly that he is not perfect. Jesus is our ultimate, perfect King. He will never "remain at home" leaving his men to go off and fight by themselves. He leads the battle. David was tempted when he saw Bathsheba and it led to sin. Jesus was tempted in every way we are but didn't sin, and we received that righteousness through His death on the cross. David left Uriah out on his own, hung him out to dry while the other men retreated. Jesus will never hang us out to dry. If anything, it's the exact opposite. we withdrew from Him and crucified Him. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

2 Samuel 10 - faith

v12 Be of good courage, and let us be courageous for our people, and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him. "Joab expresses both faith in God and a resolve to fight with all his strength. Faith and human effort are not incompatible with each other." ESV Study Bible

2 Samuel 9 - I am...

I am Mephibosheth. He was lame in both feet, totally helpless, totally dependent on charity, unclean when it came to worship, probably an outcast due to his disability. I am also unclean before God because of my sin, an outcast when it comes to his prescence, unable to help myself and totally dependent on his grace. The only reason I can come into God's prescence is because of Jesus. I can come confidently, not in myself and what I've done, but in who He is and what He's done.

Christianity is a crutch for the weak? If you've got a broken leg, you need a crutch. Otherwise you're just an idiot trying to walk off a broken leg. We need to recognise our wekaness and depend on His grace.

2 Samuel 8 - the lord gave

v14 - the LORD gave victory to David wherever he went.

Anything I have, any success, any good thing in my life has been given to me by God.

2 Samuel 7 - only God is great

I don't think David had a bad idea when he proposed building a temple for God. Apparantly it was common for kings to "thank" their god for giving them victory by building temples etc as a way of guaranteeing future blessing. I don't necessarily think that's what David was trying to do here, but either way, that's not how God works. We don't pay Him back for anything. We don't "purchase" future blessings. With God, it's grace on top of grace. The Lord had given David victory (v1), but He doesn't want a temple built (yet) (v5), instead He will build David a "house" (v11). David is the recipient, God is the giver of grace. It's the same with us.

David's response shows his humilty. He is the top dog in Israel - famous, powerful, popular. But he is humble before God - he recognises that he is nobody before God (v18) and that, while people may call David great... in reality only God is great (v22).

2 Samuel 6 - holiness

This is a strange chapter with a lot of things that we don't understand and that make us feel uncomfortable. This is a good reason why we can be sure that the bible is not man made. If this was a man made religion, the story about Uzzah would have been removed because it seems so unfair and doesn't make God look nice!

The story about Uzzah reminds me how holy God is. He is not a domesticated pet, he is perfect, holy and powerful and I am not. They should not have been transporting the ark on a cart and Uzzah should not have touched it. Sin lead to death. The amazing thing here is not that God killed Uzzah for his sin, but that I am still here. I have sinned against God today and he did not wipe me out. That's amazing. That's his love and mercy and if I forget the holiness and wrath of God towards sin, I can't understand His love.

On the second attempt to bring the ark back. David displays worship that apparently makes him look foolish. but he recognises who the worship is for... God (v21). He is more concerned with his attitude before God than what it looks like to other people. I need to let that challenge me. I want to worship God and look cool at the same time. Sometimes (not often!) that might happen, but I need to be solely concerned with the attitude of my heart in worship and obedience to God.

2 Samuel 5 - finally...

This is it. The start of this chapter is the fulfilment of the promise that God made to David a long time ago that he would be king. It seemed a long way off when David was on the run, hiding in caves with a load of rogues. It still seemed frustraing when he reigned over 1 tribe, at war with the rest of the nation for 7 years. But now it has happened and David is king.

This ultimately relfects Jesus as the ultimate King. God's plan of salvation seems a long way off throughout the new testament, where the people probably doubted if the prophesied Messiah would ever come. But then Jesus came. And even though some are rejecting His reign at the moment, the day is coming when every knee will bow to Him.

The tribes of Israel appeal to David as King in three ways:

• They are his bone and flesh - in the same way, we are made in God's image and Jesus became bone and flesh in order to save us
• he led out and brought in Israel in the past - similarly, God has directed our path since before the foundation of the earth
• the Lord had promised to David, "You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel" - in the same way, Jesus is described as the (only truly) good shepherd, the prince of peace and the ultimate King over all his people
  

2 Samuel 4 - power

Again, we see two people, Rechab and Baanah, trying to make a bit of a power play. They were from Saul's own tribe but thought that they could get themselves in with David by knocking off Ishbosheth. They didn't, David had them killed. When we come before God, we don't manipulate him (I went to church every week last year God, so you've got to do this...), bribe him (If I give this money away God, will you give me...) or even try to please him with what we've done (I didn't tell a lie this week God, do you love me?). The only way we come before God is through Jesus death on the cross.

2 Samuel 2&3 - ambition

What can we learn from the character of Abner and Joab? Abner quotes the fact that God has promised the kingdom to David (3v9) so why has he faught on the side of Saul all these years? It seems like he is just quoting God's word when it suits him. He appears to be going over to David not because God has told him to, but because it offers him the best chance of success.

Why does Joab kill Abner? Either it is revenge for killing his brother in ch2 but David doesn't seem to think that is fair. Abner killed Joabs brother in battle after repeated warnings (ch2), where as Joab kills Abner on the sly. It could be that Joab doesn't want Abner coming in and taking his position.

Either way, I don't want to be using God's word as a means to find my own personal "success", I want to follow it when it's "in season and out of season". Also, I need to make sure that my "power" and "position" does not become something that leads my to disobey God. He has given me anything that I've got, and he could take it away in an instant.

2 samuel 2 - king?

At the start of this chapter, David becomes king of one tribe. God has promised that he will be king over all of Israel, he's spent years on the run from Saul, now Saul is dead and it seems like this will be the time for it all to happen for David. But it doesn't. He's king over one tribe and that's going to be the case for quite a while. Is this more of God's character refinement, so that when David is king over the whole kingdom, he is the king that God wants. How do I react in times when it seems like nothing's happening. Am I going to get frustrated or let God do what he is doing?

2 samuel 1 - grief

Is the Amalekite flat out lying about killing Saul? Or did he finish off Saul's attempts to kill himself (see 1 Sam 31)? Either way, he thinks that it will impress David. It doesn't. Despite all the stuff Saul has done, David views him as God's king and sees it as God's responsibility to remove him, unlike the Amalekite who thinks he can accelerate God's plan and get a nice little reward out of it himself. Am I satisfied to let God do things in his time, or do I want to move things on at my own pace?

David then mourns for Saul and David, with a lament that people were supposed to learn and sing (v18). Is there a place in our church services to allow people to express grief, difficulty, pain, doubt? How can that be done?

long arms

numbers 11

v1-6 The people are moaning about the lack of (varied) food in the desert. When I read this I tend to be outraged at the fact that even though God is providing them with miraculous food on a daily basis, they're moaning that it's not a cucumber or they don't have any garlic with it! On reflection though, if I had been there I would have been doing the exact same thing. This emphaises how much I have to be thankful to God for, and I need to be regularly spending time just thanking Him. When thinking about thanking God it's easy to start thinking - thank you for my house, thank you for my car - but I need to make sure that I don't miss the obvious - thanking Him for what He did on the cross. Regardless of the manna, the Israelites had been redeemed from slavery in egypt through God's grace. Regardless of the stuff going on around me, I have been rescued from slavery to sin - not because of anything I have done but because of God's grace.

v10-15 Moses is stressed (who wouldn't be with a million or so people moaning at you) and basically says to God that he would rather God killed him than continue like this. Moses is crying out to God with brutal honesty. God can take it. God knows it anyway, I don't have to censor myself before God, clean myself up, try and make it look like I'm handling it well. I'm weak and in desperate need of God.

v16-17 God's way of helping Moses is Christian community. God has not created us to be lone rangers. The church, deep community is the place for the gospel to work out.

v18-20 The consequence of the people's sin is going to be that they get what they want until they are sick of it. We tend to think of God's wrath as a lightning bolt or having secret sin revealed. that would be God's mercy. His wrath is letting us turn our back on Him and having what we want, abusing it and making us sick.

v21-23 Moses still isn't convinced with what God is going to do and God responds with a bit of (godly) sarcasm. I imagine him kicking back with His legs up on pluto, juggling a couple of galaxies saying, "Moses, is my arm to short to reach down there and gather up all the fish in the sea or whatever it is you're going on about?" Our God does not have short arms. We worship a long-armed God for whom nothing is impossible!

the syrophoenician woman

mark 7 : 24-30

²⁴Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. ²⁵In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. ²⁶The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷"First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." ²⁸"Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." ²⁹Then he told her, "For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter." ³⁰She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

I spent too much time trying to work out what Jesus was going on about - was he simply telling the truth, being dliberately provocative, testing the woman? - that I missed the key point about the woman's response. She responds in total humility. She recognises that she deserves nothing and is just begging for the crumbs, throwing herself entirely on Jesus mercy. Do I respond in the same way? Or do I think "I'm not a dog, that's not fair, I should get some of that food"? I deserve nothing, Jesus gives me everything.

the point

John 1

The structure of John 1 seems a bit strange. As well as the complicated language, it seems to jump around all over the place. A bit about the word, a bit about John the baptist, a bit about light, more about John the baptist, back to the word again. If I had been John's editor I would have wanted all the bits about John put together, all the bits about the word in the beginning together etc.

The structure of this section actually uses symmetry of ideas to bring the focus onto the central section (v12-13). structure.... In v12-13 we see the gospel, the point of all of this stuff. That if I receive Jesus - recognise my own sin and the fact that I desperately need Him - and believe in His name - take Him as He said He is, how He has revealed Himself, not just how I want Him to be. Then I can become a child of God. That doesn't happen by blood - I am not born into Christianity - or by the flesh or human will - I don't make myself a Christian by moral behaviour - but it is all of God - it is all by His grace

the word became flesh

John 1

the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus came from the Father, became flesh and literally tabernacled/pitched his tent among us. He came on a mission to save us. He was/is a missionary and gives us the mission of making disciples. As a Christian, the question is not "am i a missionary?" but "am I doing my job as a missionary properly?". Our pattern should be the same as Jesus, it starts with being with God and then, as we live our lives among people, it overflows out of our life. My mission field is my workplace, family, friends, wherever I've got my tent pitched.

higher power

John 1

The concept of "the word" would have been familiar to most of John's readers, it was in common usage at the time but meant different things to different people. The Jews would have thought of something different to the Stoics, the followers of Philo would have something different in their mind to the Gnostics. It's a lot like the word "God" today. Lots of people say they believe in God. 80% of people in Hartlepool do. But what those 70000+ people think of when they say God will be vastly different to each other. For some, God may be the God revealed in the Bible, for some, god might be like a fairy godmother who watches out for us, or like moody policeman who might zap us if our good deeds don't outwiegh our bad deeds.

John sets out to make it clear what we need to know about "the Word":

• He was with God in the beginnning
• he was/is God
• all things were made through Him
• He is life
• He is the true light
• He became flesh
• He is the only God

Then he reveals that "the word" is Jesus. Jesus is our God. Jesus is God, was with the Father in the beginning, made all things, is the light and the life, became flesh, is the only God. As Christians, we do not worship some vague higher power who we can't really describe. We worship Jesus, serve Jesus, love Jesus. It's all about Jesus.