Jesus, I my cross have taken

Jesus, I my cross have taken,

all to leave and follow Thee.

Destitute, despised, forsaken,

thou from hence my all shall be.

Perish every fond ambition,

all I’ve sought or hoped or known.

Yet how rich is my condition!

God and heaven are still my own.

Let the world despise and leave me,

they have left my Saviour too.

Human hearts and looks deceive me;

thou art not. like them, untrue.

O while thou dost smile upon me,

God of wisdom, love, and might.

Foes may hate and friends disown me.

Show Thy face and all is bright.

Go then earthly fame and treasure,

come disaster, scorn and pain.

In Thy service pain is pleasure,

with Thy favour, loss is gain.

I have called thee Abba Father,

I have stayed my heart on thee.

Storms may howl and clouds may gather.

All must work for good to me.

Soul then know thy full salvation,

rise o’er sin and fear and care.

Joy to find in every station,

something still to do or bear.

Think what Spirit dwells within thee.

Think what Father’s smiles are thine.

Think that Jesus died to win thee.

Child of heaven canst thou repine.

Haste thee on from grace to glory,

Armed by faith and winged by prayer.

Heaven’s eternal days before thee,

God’s own hand shall guide us there.

Soon shall close thy earthly mission.

Soon shall pass thy pilgrim days.

Hope shall change to glad fruition.

Faith to sight and prayer to praise.

What in the World am I doing?

This week is the Crosslinks SMILE gap year training conference. There are teams of Gap Year Students heading off to the Gambia, Uganda and Thailand, all on programmes where Evangelism, Service and Discipleship are key.

I popped over to give some talks on Mission. An afternoon session, broken into 3 mini-sessions from Isaiah, Luke and Acts.

We had a lot of fun, starting off by designing 'World Problem' Top Trump cards, thinking about presenting problems in the world. We then saw what God is doing in the world, in Isaiah 66, from which we were able to draw up a time-line, from when Isaiah received his revelation, through to Jesus's return, and his bringing in of the New Creation, and the eternal judgement. Then we filled in the timeline with how God achieves his mission of gathering a people from all nations to see his glory, 1) through sending a sign, the Lord Jesus, 2) through sending out people who have witnessed the sign, to declare God's glory out to the nations...

A break of light relief before looking at Luke 19, and Jesus' coming to earth to seek and to save the lost... by teams attempting to seek and save the lost (a jelly baby of course - in bowls of squirty cream)... using only their mouths... messy and hilarious! Then diving into Luke 19 thinking about Jesus' priority... proclaiming his message: good news to the rich, good news to the poor... good news to the well-fed, good news to the hungry... good news to the oppressed, good news to the oppressor... it's all about whether we see people as Jesus sees people - lost! For only two category will matter on that final day - those who submit to the Lord Jesus, and those who live as rebels and traitors to Him.

Next, groups headed outside, with a box of matches. A member of the group had to light a match, and tell their group members the gospel, before their fingers burnt... some hilarious squeals, screams and people totally crumbling under the apparent pressure of holding a lit match.

Then back together again, for a look at Acts 1 and 2, seeing how Jesus sends the disciples out to all nations (just as we were expecting from Isaiah)... and how then we today are equipped, with the Holy Spirit, and the disciples message (looking at the gospel content from the latter half of Acts 2)... to go out to all nations... while Jesus continues to work from his heavenly throne room...

Awesome time... real encouragement to see young people, eager to align themselves with God's agenda, of taking the message of repentance and forgiveness of sins, to all nations...

Recordings of talks here