Andy B Podcasts and Stuff

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In his first video of Series 4, this is more of a special Edition Andy B video!
With all that has been happening recently, Andy B has been finding sleep rather elusive!

Afghanistan; vaccination passports; President Biden; forced Covid vaccinations for under 12s in Finland; global temperature fluctuations being used for political control and financial gain; China and Taiwan; a forced Home Education register in the UK – there is much to see around us that can easily cause us anxiety and worry.

But, as Christians what is God calling us to do?

What should our response be to these things that are currently shaking the very foundations of humanity?

Andy B takes stock and shares some encouraging words and focus for all of us.

Some people writing songs to help people find the words to describe how they feel. Some people draw and paint to literally illustrate their emotions. Andy B makes videos to encourage all who love and fear God, and call themselves Christians.

Andy B

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In his first video of Series 4, this is more of a special Edition Andy B video!
With all that has been happening recently, Andy B has been finding sleep rather elusive!

Afghanistan; vaccination passports; President Biden; forced Covid vaccinations for under 12s in Finland; global temperature fluctuations being used for political control and financial gain; China and Taiwan; a forced Home Education register in the UK – there is much to see around us that can easily cause us anxiety and worry.

But, as Christians what is God calling us to do?

What should our response be to these things that are currently shaking the very foundations of humanity?

Andy B takes stock and shares some encouraging words and focus for all of us.

Some people writing songs to help people find the words to describe how they feel. Some people draw and paint to literally illustrate their emotions. Andy B makes videos to encourage all who love and fear God, and call themselves Christians.

Andy B

Support the show

Keep in Touch with the BerryBunch
www.berrybunch.org

Support Us Online
www.berrybunch.org/supportus

Send us Fan Mail

In his first video of Series 4, this is more of a special Edition Andy B video!
With all that has been happening recently, Andy B has been finding sleep rather elusive!

Afghanistan; vaccination passports; President Biden; forced Covid vaccinations for under 12s in Finland; global temperature fluctuations being used for political control and financial gain; China and Taiwan; a forced Home Education register in the UK – there is much to see around us that can easily cause us anxiety and worry.

But, as Christians what is God calling us to do?

What should our response be to these things that are currently shaking the very foundations of humanity?

Andy B takes stock and shares some encouraging words and focus for all of us.

Some people writing songs to help people find the words to describe how they feel. Some people draw and paint to literally illustrate their emotions. Andy B makes videos to encourage all who love and fear God, and call themselves Christians.

Andy B

Support the show

Keep in Touch with the BerryBunch
www.berrybunch.org

Support Us Online
www.berrybunch.org/supportus

Send us Fan Mail

In his first video of Series 4, this is more of a special Edition Andy B video!
With all that has been happening recently, Andy B has been finding sleep rather elusive!

Afghanistan; vaccination passports; President Biden; forced Covid vaccinations for under 12s in Finland; global temperature fluctuations being used for political control and financial gain; China and Taiwan; a forced Home Education register in the UK – there is much to see around us that can easily cause us anxiety and worry.

But, as Christians what is God calling us to do?

What should our response be to these things that are currently shaking the very foundations of humanity?

Andy B takes stock and shares some encouraging words and focus for all of us.

Some people writing songs to help people find the words to describe how they feel. Some people draw and paint to literally illustrate their emotions. Andy B makes videos to encourage all who love and fear God, and call themselves Christians.

Andy B

Support the show

Keep in Touch with the BerryBunch
www.berrybunch.org

Support Us Online
www.berrybunch.org/supportus

Send us Fan Mail

In his first video of Series 4, this is more of a special Edition Andy B video!
With all that has been happening recently, Andy B has been finding sleep rather elusive!

Afghanistan; vaccination passports; President Biden; forced Covid vaccinations for under 12s in Finland; global temperature fluctuations being used for political control and financial gain; China and Taiwan; a forced Home Education register in the UK – there is much to see around us that can easily cause us anxiety and worry.

But, as Christians what is God calling us to do?

What should our response be to these things that are currently shaking the very foundations of humanity?

Andy B takes stock and shares some encouraging words and focus for all of us.

Some people writing songs to help people find the words to describe how they feel. Some people draw and paint to literally illustrate their emotions. Andy B makes videos to encourage all who love and fear God, and call themselves Christians.

Andy B

Support the show

Keep in Touch with the BerryBunch
www.berrybunch.org

Support Us Online
www.berrybunch.org/supportus

Send us Fan Mail

I’ve spent most of my adult, working life, wearing a hard hat, glove and steel toe capped boots. Because I love my head and my toes and wish to keep them the way they should be. I banged my head, pretty badly, early on – because I thought hard hats were stupid and annoying and uncomfortable.

I had a very bad head for a while after that encounter! And I also discovered that standing up, underneath the main boom of a lorry mounted crane, is never sensible! I took quite a lot of insults after that, because I was never seen working on my truck without a hard hat. Lifting large, heavy, objects was – for me at least – an obvious clue that boots with steel toe caps was a must…that one I got immediately!

With a hard hat I was fit for purpose. 

Without it, I was an accident waiting to happen!

I still think hard hats are annoying and uncomfortable, but I accept that discomfort because I like my head! The name calling I relentlessly received was easily ignored, because I don’t like inflicting headaches upon myself!

Fit for purpose, doesn’t automatically equate to comfortable and easy, though, and in our Christian walk, we need to be fit for purpose too! This requires, from us, a willing heart to serve God (and a willingness to live the exciting life that follows as we let Him lead us on the paths He knows are best for us to walk on!).

If we’re fit for purpose for a lifetime serving God, we’ll be far more interested in our spiritual exercise than our physical exercise (1 Timothy 4 v8), and far more concerned with what God thinks of our actions, than those around us.

I know, personally, what it is to face mockery and ridicule from people who ‘should’ be loving and kind towards you. I’ve lived through those hurtful actions more times than I care to count. But I’ve also, always, strived to put God first, and that means putting other things second, and those things that we have to put second usually have names and don’t like ‘not being’ the most important things on our to do lists.

But if we desire to truly serve God, then being fit for purpose means pretty frequently upsetting people who have a different plan for our lives than us or God. We do need wise counsel – absolutely - and this isn’t licence to do what we want, or as an excuse to hurt people around us. It is, however, a motivation for who comes first in our lives.

Just like my bike, let’s get advice from those who know more, and as Christians we should be expecting older men and women in our church families to teach us what they have learned through their walks with Christ.

But, let’s also ensure our relationship with Jesus is not just our highest priority, but the priority of priorities, such that nothing even comes on to the same to do list as our relationship with Jesus.

When we do that, everything else will happily, and easily, fall into place.

When we put the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, everything else makes sense!

Andy B

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If you think of a spring, they’re fitted everywhere! From DVD players to cars, from bicycle derailleurs to pens and staplers, from watches to door handles!

We can find springs, in one form or another, almost everywhere. And they have a really simple job – to make something move in a predictable way.

On my bike, the part I fitted has a huge spring which forces the derailleur to be pushed away from the centre of the wheel. When you press the gear lever, it allows that spring to relax, jus a littler bit – a very set amount – and your chain is put on a lower gear.

The one I bought does exactly this. But in order to fit (the lazy way) I had to remove a couple of small bolts so I could save myself removing the chain just so I could fit the new part to my bike.

And that coiled spring, was held in a position of extreme tension so I could do that.

Unfortunately, the grip I had on it slipped, and the spring did it’s job of bringing the derailleur into it’s more natural position.

The issue came with the speed at which it did this, and the force that it carried…onto my thumb which acted as shock absorber…splitting my nail, causing me quite a bit of pain, ripping a glove – which then leaked blood until I dealt with my injury.

And this is exactly what happens in life. When we’re prevented from doing something, and haven’t been taught how to deal with coiled spring, we may well end up, as is so particularly, and tragically common, leaving home, drinking the alcohol we were always banned from having, or having sex with many people because we were never taught how to deal with the strong hormones that happen during puberty, or having some fun with a dangerous drug like cannabis – why so dangerous, because at Revd David Wilkerson repeatedly pointed out in his book “The Cross and the Switchblade” cannabis frequently leads on to much more dangerous drugs.

As parents, or simply as Christians in a church family, we have an obligation to help those younger than us to learn how to deal with coiled springs.

Because they’re everywhere, and if we do nothing more than ‘restrict’ we’ll be starting a journey of squeezing that spring. This, of course, doesn’t mean we allow or encourage experimentation with evil! We don’t let our children put their hands in a roaring fire so they can learn for themselves that it will burn them. That would be irresponsible!

If we prepare our children and young people to become independent, we can’t be surprised when they leave home and become independent!

I’ve been asked, many times, how parents can make sure their children ‘keep their faith’. And my answer is always the same, you can’t! That isn’t your job, but the work of the Holy Spirit, so help your children cultivate their own relationship with Jesus Christ.

Scripture teaches us that if we “teach your child the way to go, they won’t easily depart it”.

Andy B

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This is Part 3, of a 3-part Teaching series on Prayer and Faith.

With discussion around Fish and Chips, Sweet and Sour Sauce and Gloves hands, Andy B does his usual and takes ordinary, every day objects and situations, and helps us dig deeper into the basics of how Faith and Prayer work together.

With a very strong reminder, and warning - from the book of James - about why we need both Faith and Prayer, Andy B encourages us to all to get on our knees more, to learn to know Jesus better.

And, just like Fish and Chips or Sweet and Sour Sauce, Faith and Prayer complement each other perfectly.

Andy B

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We all have experiences in life which can be super helpful for ourselves, and the people we come into contact with.

One assembly I remember vividly contained this question – would you rather see an older doctor who was covered in blood and muck, but who was very experienced. Or a young doctor, fresh out of college, who was wall presented.

I can’t speak for my peers, but give me the doctor who has been doing it for a while!

Experience counts in so many places. But, as Christians, wisdom that comes from God trumps experience EVERY SINGLE TIME.

The thing is, we can easily become complacent and end up just going through the motions of ‘what we know’, rather than trying something new and ‘trusting God’ – this is a large reason why the established church is shrinking all round the world, because those who have the power and control over a church all too often settle for what they knew, rather than what God is saying. 

It’s even got a name – the Kodak effect.

Kodak was a market leader. Their name was THE name for film! We see it in the credits of uncountable movies.

However, when digital media started to surface as a ‘thing’ they made a cataclysmic decision for their business, and ignored digital media, sticking with the traditional strips of film they’d made their business out of.

We all know what happened to Kodak. Their gamble was that the better quality produced by strips of film, would always win…it didn’t! Digital media didn’t go away - Kodak did!

We see this mirrored in churches stuck in the 1980s syndrome. I’ve read countless articles on this specific phenomenon. 

So why are they stuck in the 1980s? Well, simply because the people running those churches grew up in the 1980s, and prefer the music and styles of worship and so on from that decade.

Twas ever thus! But here is hope – the Bride of Christ is always growing, and exponentially where we see persecution of Christians.

But as believers in Jesus Christ, we need to ‘throw off everything that hinders’. And that includes a lot of what we think of as ‘church’ which simply is not.

Andy B

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How often do we learn to become comfortable with the uncomfortable? 

Pain is a brilliantly designed tool, that God gave to us for our own protection!

It’s been said that if we didn’t feel pain when a stone got in our shoe, we’d keep going until our feet had been permanently damaged – that pain is a warning that we need to do something.

But we can, often so very slowly, become accustomed to things that we really shouldn’t accept as ok! A little like a frog in water – if it’s boiling that frog will jump out, but if we slowly raise the temperature, the frog won’t know about it until it is too late.

This is why the bible warns us to flee from immoral behaviour, to be in the world but not of it, to not be polluted by the world around us.

God loves us so much, that when Jesus died, rose again and ascended into Heaven, He left us with the Holy Spirit – the Comforter.

We might like to think of it as our conscience, but as Christians the Holy Spirit is never going to let us be at peace when we are doing things that are against His nature.

None of us ever really jump into bad lifestyle choices – they just tend to happen around us.

But we can be assured that are always danger signs and warnings.

We simply need to take heed of the Holy Spirit – in us – who will always help us understand what is good for us, or not.

Andy B

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