United Sharing Believers, that’s the picture painted of the early Christian church in Acts 4 32-36. “All the believers were of one heart and mind, and they felt that what they owned was not their own; they shared everything they had” Acts 4:32(NLT). Our possessions are not ours, but gifts from God, and therefore we have no right to hold them back from Him if we have plenty, and others are in need. How far have we fallen from this image as 21st century believers, where in the west especially our houses are coming down with “stuff”, and we scrape together some loose change for the collection plate on a Sunday morning. How far have we fallen from the sharing church we read about here, a huge challenge to me personally, and I feel a lot of Christians today. Father help us to become a united sharing church once again, witnessing to the world your love and compassion that should dominate our thoughts and actions. Help us to be the people you want us to be, and thank you for challenging us from your word. Show us how to set about changing our lives, and witness to be truly reflective of you.

Do our prejudices over-ride our ability to love our neighbour? Are we aware of our prejudices? I found myself to be asking these questions after the youth course last night, which was looking at the area of “ministering to young people in a divided society”. Christ commands us to love our neighbour unconditionally, just as he demonstrated to us through his life and ministry. We must get alongside people and show them Christ’s love, revealing Christ to them, rather than allowing our prejudices or differences to over-ride our love for fellow human being. We are all created in Gods image, and as Christians we have experienced Gods unconditional love, grace and mercy. Likewise we should show this in our attitude to others, despite our differences. We are called to embrace firstly, not exclude, and in an attitude of love reveal Christ to others.
Do we pass on a polluted faith or a truthful faith to the next generation? A huge challenge to me personally, and I believe to the church as a whole. To do this our lives must be wholly focused on, dependant on and surrendered to Christ.

God is Good. That was my first thought this morning as I look back on what was a successful youth service and yf event last night where God really amazed us by bringing along a great crowd of youth from our area, and also from Raffrey congregation. He also was with me totally as I took the sermon-type part of the service, and I know that definitely was not done in my own strength. What an answer to prayer, and I pray that His word will have challenged those who attended, young and old in a fresh and challenging way.

Midweek last night was looking at discipleship, and the role each believer has in teaching, nurturing and guiding fellow believers in their faith, especially during the early years of faith. To do this we need to be real with each other, learning from one another’s experience, encouraging and looking out for each other, and praying specifically for one another’s needs. The pattern of Christian commitment is outlined in Acts 2: 38-47 as apostolic teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer. Sometimes while focusing on evangelism, we forget about nurturing. In seeking to convert the unsaved by pointing them to Christ, we forget the follow-up process of nurturing them and encouraging one another in our faith. To do this we have to get alongside new converts, be real with them, and share experience with one another just as Christ done while on earth.

Cochrane Corry cup match today against Carryduff Young Men, abit of a local derby. Exciting to watch I�m sure, but a real rollercoaster ride of emotions when playing in it. 1-0 down, 2-1 up, 4-2 down with about 10 minutes to go, back to 4-4 before full-time. A few chances to clinch the win, but it went to extra time, and then the dreaded penalties which we eventually won 4-3. Such a rollercoaster of emotions, but such a high when the final penalty went in. Would be nice to get a cup-run going, but we shall see how things develop.