The heart of the human problem is the problem with the human heart....

Ever wandered why a lie pops out of your mouth quicker than you can say european elections? Ever wandered why you cannot help looking at that image on the internet? Ever thought why you cannot help to judge that person with the new car, new hair cut, new...? Ever stopped and thought why can't I live up to my own standards let alone a perfect standard?
I went out with my sister and her family yesterday and it was great to be out with my sister, however I am sure she wont mind me saying that it was great to see her children. They are such amazing fun, especially my niece who is 2. As the day went on, her face slowly became more and more dirty, chocolate cake, yoghurt, snotty nose all made for a pretty picture. One of the things she really dislikes is having her face cleaned, she sees no problem in walking around like that.
I think we are all a little bit like my niece, actually we are all walking around with a dirty heart, people cannot see it quite as easily as the face but it comes out in our actions like telling lies, getting jealous, judging others and so on. Unlike my niece we cannot wipe it away with a cloth, the problem is within us, it is like the heart is diseased. What do surgeons do with a diseased heart? They remove it, they transplant it. That is who Jesus is, the great surgeon, he came to sacrifice himself for us, a bit like a heart donor, by dieing we could take a new heart. Can I testify that when you get this new heart you get a whole new set of desires it is awesome, I love people I never cared for, I have stopped things I never thought I would stop, I have given where I never even looked.
Jesus didn't just die to give me a clean up, he died to rescue me, because without that new heart I was going to die, in the spiritual sense, I would have been without God forever and that is something you cannot possibly want.
Please drop me a line with any questions - georgeosborn@avantiministries.com

Is there a God or isn't there?

The age old question that has been rolling down the centuries and will continue to do so for time to come. Really you have to examine the evidence and decide for yourself, one of the things however that I find shocking is people aren't willing to investigate it. If there is a God that has some massive implications, if there isn't then that is fairly big news too.
If you are anything like me though you are probably quite happy with how things are going, life has its ups and downs but generally speaking I am quite fine without a God and who really cares, church is boring and out of touch, science seems to have shown that this place is just an accident, there are so many different faiths all claiming to be the one true way, religion is the cause of so many problems and on we go...
I can only speak from my own experience but if I am totally honest I went through all the above objections and used them as a way of blocking my need to investigate any further, I reasoned that even if there was a God I am generally a good person and I would be one of the ones to make the grade when it came to crunch time.
My aim in writing this is really to try and get you over these obstacles not to try and convert you but to try and get you to look for yourself, I will give a short answer to the above objections;
Who cares - If there is a God you owe it to yourself and those you know to find out, if there is a God it has massive implications, it is not like choosing a new house this is the biggest thing of your life! We do care really, it is simply easier to put it to the back of our minds, however we never know when time is going to be called on our life...
Church is boring and out of touch - There are so many different churches, some are boring but trust me some are amazing. Some are out of touch. Church is defintely boring without God, without that belief it doesn't really make sense. A bit like the apprentice without Alan Sugar, Buckingham palace without the Queen, McDonalds without burgers. All that aside you are not being asked to go to church but to investigate God, church is really about people and not a place. Seriously don't let this aspect put you off...
Science seems to have proven this place is an accident - this is simply not true. The debate rages on in this field but there are thousands of Christian scientists which shows that Christianity is compatible with science. This deserves a proper discussion but seriously this is not an obstacle to God.
So many different faiths - This used to throw me out all the time, all these people sincerley believe different things. The bible says that we all have eternity written on our hearts, we all have this awareness that there is something more to life and God has put it there so we seek him. However we seek in other things and this includes other religions. The most amazing thing about Christianity is Jesus, according to the bible God has come to earth to show us who he is to rescue us, he came into history and can be tested, the older part of the bible written before Jesus came gives hundereds of predictions about Jesus, where he would be born, when, where he would die, how etc etc and then he comes and does all these miracles including coming back from the dead. No other religion comes close and that is partly why Christianity spreads to every people group, culture, country in the world at the rate it does. Everyone has their own truth claim even if you are not part of a organised religion, an atheist claims his own and so on. It really is about looking at all the information on offer and saying which one is the truth? I can't see how you can get away from Christianity...
Religion causes problems - I agree. Religion has been the cause of so many issues and this includes Christianity. This works both ways however and those that have no belief in God have caused untold damage in the name of science and evolution. What religion unfortunately creates is the thought that you earn your way to heaven, by being good we get into heaven, this then creates cultures of people who think they have it right and better than others, they look down on those that don't follow their way. What would solve this problem is a belief that we get to heaven through none of our effort but all of someone elses, this free gift gives rise to humility and utter dependance therefore no one is able to boast. This is what we find in Jesus, he has paid the debt we owe to God and if we turn and surrender to him he offers us this free gift. This love then catapults you to turn to every neighbour and love them...
I have not done any kind of justice to those questions, please drop me a line with your questions - georgeosborn@hotmail.com, investigate, you owe it to yourself.

Prison

I have just come back from a couple of trips and most recently visited Dartmoor Prison in the UK. What an overbearing building that is, dark, damp, grey and powerful. It was a real privilage to be in there speaking with men who have all made mistakes and been sent to prison. It is easy to explain what Christianity is to people in prison, they understand the concept of doing something wrong and facing the consquences. They understand the idea that Jesus is willing to pay the price for the wrong things they have done.
A chap I went with often talks about us all being in a prison, how true this is. Prison can be an addiction, prison can be an image problem, prison can be a lie we have told, prison can be a dead end relationship, prison can be a job...prison can take many shapes and sizes. Jesus said he had come to set men free, sin really is when we look to other things other than God, that is prison, when we look to God we are truly set free....If the Son of God sets you free you will be free indeed.