Roger Aubrey

Image of the day

Thought for the day

Should we just go in?

The continued iniquitous behaviour of the ruling military junta in Burma guarantees the death of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of ordinary helpless and needy people in that country. Ever since Cyclone Nargis struck over a week ago with devastating effects, the generals have steadfastly refused any proper and adequate international assistance and relief, which is poised ready to help.

How far can a country go before the international community, in the guise of the UN, steps in and says enough is enough? When is it right to say that a nation's sovereign rights to rule its own people are to be forfeited for the sake of the survival of its population? Does there come a time when the UN says 'we're coming in'? It seems a little clearer when it comes to war (but even then the examples of Darfur and Tibet demonstrate the weakness of the toothless tiger that is the UN). But isn't what is happening in Burma an act of war? The generals are killing their own people by wilful neglect and active ignorance. I know the ethical and political questions are massive: but people are dying when they could be saved. That just can't be right.

More wisdom

Just a reminder of the excellent weekly teaching series on Proverbs that's available for download from the All Nations Church site or as podcasts from iTunes. Recorded live, each session lasts a maximum of thirty minutes, with speakers such as Dianne Aubrey, David Shutt, Carol Jones, Rob Sherwin and me. In coming weeks there will be sessions with Terence and Beth Erlenbach, Jonathan Cooper and Lydia Power, as well as more from David Shutt and me. They are proving incredibly popular - and they're free! Be blessed.

Todd Bentley in Florida

I'm sure many of you will be familiar with Todd Bentley and the current series of meetings he is conducting in Lakewood, Florida at the moment. Here's just one clip of some testimonies of healing. There are loads more on youtube.

See things my way

One day I went into the sanctuary, O God, and I thought about the destiny of the wicked. (Psalm 73:17)

Up till the moment Asaph, who wrote this Psalm, went into the presence of God, he was a troubled man. Like many of us since he wrote these words, he was perturbed by, even envious of the wicked people who totally ignore God all their lives, yet still seem to prosper. They have everything they could possibly need or want; have no troubles, and yet they continue to ignore God, even glorying in the fact that they don't need him.

At the same time the righteous suffer, have to go without, work hard, are in pain and have difficult times with constant trouble. How can that be right?

It was only when Asaph got into the presence of God that he understood; you can read about it all in Psalm 73. He began to understand everything from God's perspective; he saw things God's way. It was this that brought him peace. The biggest thing he learned in it all was about himself: 'I realised how bitter I had become' (verse 21). Sometimes things happen - or don't happen - to teach us about ourselves. Been overlooked for a promotion that should have been yours? Did somebody else get the credit for what you did? Did your neighbour just pay cash for that car you've been saving for? Interesting what you're learning about yourself right now isn't it! Stay in the presence of God; that's all that will matter to you.

Whatever happened to Jesus?

Jesus was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. (Acts 1:8)

Today is one of the most important days in the Christian 'calendar', yet it's one of the most ignored. It's Ascension Day, when forty days after rising from the dead Jesus ascended into heaven. Most Christians never give it a thought; maybe because it's always on a Thursday, when most of us are working.

It's important because Jesus could not just rise from the dead and stay on the earth. He had to ascend so he could take his place ruling and reigning as King of Kings and Lord of Lords at the right hand of the Father. That's what he's doing in heaven right now: all his enemies are being made a footstool for his feet. He had to ascend to the heavenly realms because when we get saved we're raised up there with him too, even though we're living on the earth.

And something else. If Jesus had not ascended then he couldn't have sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, just ten days later. The coming of the Spirit is the proof that Jesus is where he said he'd be. And right now his ascended power and glory is unleashed on the earth through the Holy Spirit, living in his people.

Odious and So Touchy

I plead with Euodia and Syntyche: because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. (Philippians 4:2)

I like the way Paul dealt with these two ladies in the church at Philippi. (A friend of mine used to call them Odious and So Touchy). Obviously everybody in the church was aware of what was going on between them; and if they weren't they about to be. Paul decided to take the direct route: 'stop it!' He didn't send them for counsel or blame therapy. He appealed to who they were in Christ: 'You belong to the Lord and this is totally unacceptable behaviour for such people'. Furthermore, I like the fact that Paul dealt with them publicly: he raised the matter before the whole church. He brought the matter into the forum of the whole body because the whole body was being afftected by the sinful attitudes of two people who belonged to the body. Paul's revelation of the Body of Christ allowed him to act in such a way. The health and reputation of the Body of Christ was far more important to him than the sensitivities and reputations of two stubborn women.

Thought for the day

Your new birth launched you into a life of the supernatural.

Weekend fun

God's masterpiece

We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to so. (Ephesians 2:10)

Several years ago my family and I had the opportunity to have a vacation in Rome. It's a fascinating city; and one trip is never enough to take in all that's there. During our stay we went to the Vatican to have a look around. There we saw what is regarded as a true masterpiece: Michelangelo 's La Pieta (pictured). Carved  from marble it looks as fine as high quality paper. My eyes just could not pull themselves away from this magnificent piece of art. Then I thought of the one who created it: Michelangelo truly was an artistic genius to make something like La Pieta.

We are God's masterpieces; magnificent works of art. That's what the word 'workmanship' means in this verse: a masterpiece. God sees us exactly like that; he created us in Christ to be like just like Christ. We truly are amazing pieces of artwork! And the point of that is so that the genius who created us will get all the credit and honour. Michelangelo received honour, wealth and glory for his creations. Just imagine the honour, wealth and glory our Heavenly Artist deserves for making something so wonderful as you.

Don't say that!

Things that Christians should never say:

'I'm only human'.
'I can forgive, but I can't forget'.
'I'm just making up the numbers'.
'No way, Lord!'
'That's my seat!'

Church alive in Zimbabwe

There was a fascinating article in Saturday's Times, about one of their journalists, Jonathan Clayton (pictured). Clayton recently spent eight days in jail in Zimbabwe after being detained while  attempting to enter the country. In a graphic account, he tells how he was interrogated and treated while in the hands of Mugabe's thugs. I found one sentence particularly moving; Clayton wrote: 'During my eight days in custody most of the only food and drink I had came from donations from local churches. Without them Zimbabwe's prisoners would have nothing to eat or drink'.

That is the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in action. Our brothers and sisters in Christ, who right now are suffering and struggling to put food on their own tables, are still blessing those in prison, even those who are not believers. In doing so they are doing it to Jesus himself; as the Lord said, For as much as you do it for the least of these, you do it to me'.

You can read Jonathan Clayton's article here.

The Father's Song

Here's a great song from Matt Redman to end the week.

Augustine on the eternity of God

“You precede all things past, because of your ever-present eternity; and you surpass all future because they are future and when they come they shall be past; ‘But you are the same and your years fail not’...Your years are one day; and your day is always Today, because your today does not give place unto tomorrow and neither does it replace yesterday. Your today is Eternity. (From the Confessions of Augustine)

Snake legs

Thanks to Stephen Davies for this item: it's about the discovery of a snake fossil with legs. Is this what they were like before God told the devil he would crawl on his belly?!

Here's your link.

Blessed by Trondheim

James and I returned home yesterday lunchtime after our trip to Kristent Fellesskap, Trondheim. It was an excellent trip: all planes on time and no bags lost (we didn't go via Heathrow's Terminal Five!).

This was one of the most encouraging trips I have been on in recent times. The church is only about 35-40 in number (it's fairly new), but the life of God there was tangible in the people. They are all under thirty years old and all of them were in attendance over the weekend, even bringing along their babies and toddlers, such was the hunger for more of the Holy Spirit and for the Word of God.

Needless to say I had a great time; so did James. I feel like I have witnessed the beginnings of a major church emerging in Norway. I pray so. Thanks to all the wonderful saints of God in Trondheim.

(For Bernt: 'I love the Romans!')

To Trondheim

Tomorrow morning I am off to Trondheim in Norway for the weekend. I will be travelling with my son James to visit the church we have there. My good friend Terje Dahle is the leader there and we're looking forward to a great time in the Spirit. The church is made up mostly of younger people; and since Dianne is unable to travel with me on this occasion, I thought it would be good for James to come along. We will have fun!

'Once more into the breach...'

The house that wisdom built

I thought you might like to take the opportunity of listening to our latest ongoing teaching series at ANC, entitled 'The House That Wisdom Built'. Based in the book of Proverbs, each session lasts thirty minutes and covers different aspects of how to live wisely. There will be twenty two sessions in total, by the time we finish in July.

Just visit the ANC site where you can subscribe (it's all free) to the podcast or you can listen on-line. Or you can just go to iTunes and find them there. Remember: it's free.

Family life is in meltdown

Let me strongly encourage you to click on this link and read an article from Saturday's UK Daily Mail. It was the front page lead and featured the remarks of one of the leading High Court judges in this country, Mr Justice Coleridge. The Judge, who is in charge of the family courts in South-West England, feels he has a duty to speak out concerning what he calls the meltdown of family life in this country and the havoc it is wreaking on our society. It makes chilling reading.

To me, this is the voice of a secular prophet.

The Unconfined Christ - 5

For our final part of this series we turn our attention to the disciples. Each of the Gospels gives various information on what happened to them from the night when Jesus was betrayed all the way through to his ascension. One thing they all had in common was this: they were in fear of their lives. They all deserted him in Gethsemane, although John was brave enough to be present at the Cross. But after Jesus died they locked themselves together in a room because they were afraid of what the Jews were going to do to them (John 20:19). They thought they were next on the hit list and their days were numbered. They were confined by their fear.

So Jesus, the unconfined Christ, just appeared in the room. He knew there was no way they would open the door, so he just ignored it and barged right into their house of fear. Mark 16:14 tells us that instead of rejoicing with them that he was alive, Jesus basically told them off because of their lack of faith and their continued stubborn refusal to believe what they had been told all day by Mary and the others: that he was alive. Jesus had no sympathy for the disciples that night; he would not let them wallow in their fear. There was no reason for it: he had told them plainly that this would be the day he would rise again. Their unbelief had locked them behind closed doors in dread and fear. Jesus had to get them out of that room: they were destined to go into all the world!

The Unconfined Christ - 4

Continuing our current theme...Today's examples are the two men on the road to Emmaus. You can read about them in Luke 24:13-35. These guys were really depressed; their faces were so downcast (verse 17). They were in such a state that they had even left the scene of the action in Jerusalem. They were walking away from where they should have been; and that was their first mistake. If they'd had any faith they would have hung around. What was worse: they'd decided to leave town even after hearing the news from the women that Jesus was alive! Why on earth were they heading in the opposite direction to where they should have been? Once bitten and twice shy, perhaps? Their clear disappointment and dashed hopes had now confined them.

But Jesus was so gracious; he went after them. Luke tells us how Jesus got alongside them and played along for awhile. It really is quite a funny story. But he came with a purpose to them: he opened up the Scriptures to them and explained everything to them. That had been their other confinement: they were ignorant of the Word of God and what it had to say. That is such a big issue today: so many Christians have little or no idea of what the Bible has to say about God, his purpose, who we are in Christ, the Kingdom. Biblical illiteracy today is staggering. I'm not talking about having a Bible; I'm talking about reading it, believing it, obeying it, living by it. If you want to be free and unconfined, then let the Word of God get to work on you.

Healed by chocolate!

I heard an amazing testimony yesterday at our Sunday meeting at All Nations. Over the Easter weekend, one of the ladies in the church, Florence, became sick with a very bad throat infection. The pain was so bad she described trying to eat and drink like swallowing razor blades.

Florence decided the best place for her to be on Easter Sunday, despite her illness, was at church, worshipping the risen Lord Jesus. During our worship, Andrew Caughey, one of my fellow elders and a prophet, began to prophesy using an Easter egg. He told how God wants us to keep breaking out and to demonstrate that he began to peel the foil off the egg, calling out things that needed to be peeled off us. Then he broke the egg up and it fell in pieces on the floor.

As people responded in faith to the prophecy the Holy Spirit told me to start throwing pieces of the chocolate out over the people, which I did. I had no idea why I had to do it; I just obeyed.

Well, at the same time as I began to throw it, dear Florence was responding to what had come in the prophecy; she wanted to be healed. Suddenly she saw a piece of chocolate flying towards her and reached out to catch it. She said to herself, 'I am claiming my healing now, and I'm going to eat this chocolate'. She slipped the chocolate into her mouth, ate it, swallowed it, and at that very moment was completely healed!

The Unconfined Christ - 3

You might be surprised at the next person who tried to confine Jesus: Mary Magdalene. Now I must admit that of all the characters involved that day Mary comes out quite well; but we'll get to that in a moment.

Mary features in all the Gospel accounts of the resurrection; she was right in the middle of the action. We have to say that at the beginning of the day she was in exactly the same position as everybody else: she had no faith that Jesus would keep his promise and rise from the dead. She had come with spices to finish off what Joseph and Nicodemus had begun. John 20:10-18 tells how she stood outside the tomb crying her eyes out in grief and mourning, not only because Jesus was dead but also that his body had been taken away. Or so she thought. She even spoke to the risen Jesus, thinking he was the gardener! She asked him if he knew where Jesus had been hidden so she could recover the body.

It was only when she heard Jesus call her name - 'Mary!' - that she realised he was alive. Her grief gave way to uncontrollable joy and she grabbed him and held on to him. Mary was not going to let Jesus go, not again. Not her Jesus; not her Lord. She had been through so much and she was going to hang on to him with all her might. She would make this moment last forever. She was confining him to her own little moment in her own little world.

Jesus' response? 'Don't cling on to me. I have things to be getting on with. Come on, get up, move on walk with me; I have things for you to do. I have work for you. Go and tell the disciples I'm alive. Stop clinging on and get up: come on, you have things to do. Move beyond yourself and your own little world.'

Now here's where Mary gets the credit. She moved beyond her own situation: she let go of Jesus and obeyed him. Boy, could that girl run! She flew like a bullet from a gun with the news that the world was waiting to hear: 'I have seen the Lord: he's alive!'

The Unconfined Christ - 2

Today's confiners are Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus (you can read about them in Matthew 27:57-61 and John 19:38-42). Strange choices, you may think, and at one level you'd be right. After all, when all the other disciples had deserted Jesus, these two brave men were the only two left standing, so to speak. They were the ones who went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. They were the ones who took him down from the cross and buried him. And that's where they fell into the trap of confinement.

Joseph and Nicodemus were confined by their good intentions. They allowed their emotions and desire to do the right thing for Jesus to override what he had said: that he was going to rise from the dead after three days. The immediacy of what they regarded as a tragic occasion shut out the greater reality: phase one of Jesus' plan was complete. Joseph and Nicodemus failed to see that. So they covered him in seventy five pounds (thirty four kilos) of myrrh and aloes and then wrapped him up tightly in a burial cloth. You see, they had no faith expectation that Jesus would rise from the dead. They confined him to the grave. Then they rolled the heavy round stone into its rut and left him. But Jesus was not the one confined: they were.

The Unconfined Christ

While reading the four gospel accounts of Jesus' death and resurrection over Easter, I came across a pattern that I had never noticed before. Everyone who came into contact with Jesus from the moment of his death and through that first day after he rose again either tried to confine Jesus or were themselves confined by something that hindered their response to the wonderful reality that he was alive. Over the next few posts I am going to mention some of them.

Today I want to draw your attention to the religious leaders who had Jesus killed. If you read the various accounts, especially from Matthew 27:62-66, you'll see that here were men who were confined by their religious conceptions. The Pharisees were so legalistic and full of control freakery that they were terrified of anything which was outside of their ultimate control. They were proud and arrogant, just like their father the devil. The other religious group, the Sadducees, didn't believe in anything supernatural: no angels, and certainly no resurrection of the dead. Once they had Jesus in the tomb they thought they could keep him there by putting a seal over the stone and posting a guard of soldiers to stop the disciples stealing the body! How pathetic.

But that's what religion does: it tries to confine Jesus so that he becomes manageable. The seal was the sign of authority. Religion claims to represent God. Religion tries to get God to settle down, to become respectable. It attempts desperately to entomb God. Religion keeps God at arm's - or tomb's - length. There's no life in religion.

Jesus did not come to offer us religion, neither did he come to start one. He came to give us life: and life in all its fullness!

Torn Curtain

Jesus shouted again, and he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain in the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. (Matthew 27:50-51)

In the moment that Jesus died (note that he gave up his spirit, it wasn't snatched from him), about a mile away from Golgotha something incredible occurred. The curtain that separated the Most Holy Place from the rest of the world was ripped apart, but not by any human hand. This curtain was sixty feet high and over four inches thick. It was reputed that two teams of horses tied to either end could not tear it. The curtain was held by the hand of God himself and torn - from the top to the bottom!

God had insisted that curtain be installed when he designed the tabernacle in the time of Moses. It was a constant reminder to the people that they were separated from a holy God because of their sin. Once a year the High Priest would go behind the curtain into the very presence of God with shed blood to atone for the sins of the people and himself (see Leviticus chapter sixteen). But on this day at Golgotha, the Son of God, the real Great High Priest, had entered the true Most Holy Place by his own blood and dealt with the problem of our sin once and for all. That was good enough for God the Father, who reached down and tore apart the curtain, signifying that the way was now open for us to come to him (see Hebrews nine and ten). In effect God the Father was flinging his arms open wide and declaring, 'COME ON IN!!!'

What the Bible says about...

There's an interesting piece on today's BBC site about what the Bible says about homosexuality. Thanks to Dave Shutt for drawing my attention to it. Check it out here.

The body clock is ticking

Back home yesterday lunch time after an excellent visit to the USA. The weather out there was cold (although the Americans thought it was getting warmer). We saw people saved, healed, and baptised in the Holy Spirit. Praise the Lord! We were blessed by all three churches we ministered in. And it was just great to see so many good friends again; they are doing well in their life with God and were a wonderful encouragement. It was also good to meet so many people who read this site: it was especially good to meet you folks.

The brain will be back tomorrow.

Time to hit the road again

Tonight Dianne and I travel to the United States. We will be visiting the churches in Gilman, Illinois; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and St Charles, Illinois. It will be an opportunity to see many good friends again and to share the Word of God with them in demonstrations of the Holy Spirit and teaching from the Scripture. Needless to say we are looking forward to it very much. We will be back home on 17 March. If you're going to be in any of the meetings with us during the trip, we're going to have a fantastic time!

Thought I'd leave you with my favourite worship song of the moment: Alpha & Omega.

See you soon.