The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel Youth

['Jackie Pullinger has spent her life working with the poor and destitute, triad gang members, heroin and opium addicts. She has helped thousands to come off drugs through the power of the Holy Spirit. She has seen transformation in numerous lives and has made a huge impact on the city of Hong Kong.\nJackie wrote, ‘I have spent over half my life in a dark, foul smelling place because I had a “vision” of another city ablaze with light, it was my dream. There was no more crying, no more death or pain. The sick were healed, addicts set free, the hungry filled. There were families for orphans, homes for the homeless, and new dignity for those who lived in shame. I had no idea how to bring this about but with “visionary zeal” imagined introducing the Walled City people to the one who could change it all: Jesus.’\nVision is a ‘holy discontent’ – a deep dissatisfaction with what is, combined with a clear grasp of what could be. It is a picture – ‘a mental sight’ – of the future that inspires hope.\nVision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision is a nightmare! But vision combined with action can change the world.', None]

Jackie Pullinger has spent her life working with the poor and destitute, triad gang members, heroin and opium addicts. She has helped thousands to come off drugs through the power of the Holy Spirit. She has seen transformation in numerous lives and has made a huge impact on the city of Hong Kong.

Jackie wrote, ‘I have spent over half my life in a dark, foul smelling place because I had a “vision” of another city ablaze with light, it was my dream. There was no more crying, no more death or pain. The sick were healed, addicts set free, the hungry filled. There were families for orphans, homes for the homeless, and new dignity for those who lived in shame. I had no idea how to bring this about but with “visionary zeal” imagined introducing the Walled City people to the one who could change it all: Jesus.’

Vision is a ‘holy discontent’ – a deep dissatisfaction with what is, combined with a clear grasp of what could be. It is a picture – ‘a mental sight’ – of the future that inspires hope.

Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision is a nightmare! But vision combined with action can change the world.

['Joseph Lister, the nineteenth-century medic, is known as ‘the father of antiseptic surgery’. Lister was disturbed by the high proportion of patients who died from post-operative infections.\nHe became convinced that infinitesimal microbes, invisible to the naked eye, were causing the infections. He began to develop a number of antiseptic solutions with which to treat the wounds. Sure enough, the proportion of patients dying from infections decreased.\nIn a similar way, there are evil spiritual forces at work in our world today. They cannot be seen, but they wreak havoc in people’s lives, causing them to fall into temptation, moving evil people into positions of national power, manipulating people’s emotions, tearing them apart and destroying them.\nBut just as Lister’s contemporaries dismissed his theory of destructive microbes, many people today are ignorant or dismissive of spiritual realities. Yet you have the powerful spiritual ‘antiseptic’ to use against these destructive forces. It is vital that you learn to do so.', None]

Joseph Lister, the nineteenth-century medic, is known as ‘the father of antiseptic surgery’. Lister was disturbed by the high proportion of patients who died from post-operative infections.

He became convinced that infinitesimal microbes, invisible to the naked eye, were causing the infections. He began to develop a number of antiseptic solutions with which to treat the wounds. Sure enough, the proportion of patients dying from infections decreased.

In a similar way, there are evil spiritual forces at work in our world today. They cannot be seen, but they wreak havoc in people’s lives, causing them to fall into temptation, moving evil people into positions of national power, manipulating people’s emotions, tearing them apart and destroying them.

But just as Lister’s contemporaries dismissed his theory of destructive microbes, many people today are ignorant or dismissive of spiritual realities. Yet you have the powerful spiritual ‘antiseptic’ to use against these destructive forces. It is vital that you learn to do so.

['Fellowship – it’s a wonderful word. It’s what you were made for. It satisfies the deepest longings of your heart. It is the answer to loneliness. Nothing in this life compares with it. It starts now and goes on for ever.\nThere is no greater joy in life than fellowship. John wants his readers to enjoy the same fellowship he has: ‘We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!’ (1 John 1:3, MSG).\nKoinonia, the Greek word used for fellowship, is almost untranslatable. It expresses ‘a relationship of great intimacy and depth… it even became the favourite expression for the marital relationship – the most intimate between human beings’. It is a rich word that describes a life together in which everything is shared. This is the word that John uses of our intimate relationship with God (v.3).\nIt also describes our relationship with one another. You can have deep genuine friendships and honest communication. There is no need for masks or ‘spin’ or ‘image’. You can be real before God and before others. The result is a level of authenticity, vulnerability and intimate connection with one another that is best summed up in this beautiful word, ‘fellowship’.', None]

Fellowship – it’s a wonderful word. It’s what you were made for. It satisfies the deepest longings of your heart. It is the answer to loneliness. Nothing in this life compares with it. It starts now and goes on for ever.

There is no greater joy in life than fellowship. John wants his readers to enjoy the same fellowship he has: ‘We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!’ (1 John 1:3, MSG).

Koinonia, the Greek word used for fellowship, is almost untranslatable. It expresses ‘a relationship of great intimacy and depth… it even became the favourite expression for the marital relationship – the most intimate between human beings’. It is a rich word that describes a life together in which everything is shared. This is the word that John uses of our intimate relationship with God (v.3).

It also describes our relationship with one another. You can have deep genuine friendships and honest communication. There is no need for masks or ‘spin’ or ‘image’. You can be real before God and before others. The result is a level of authenticity, vulnerability and intimate connection with one another that is best summed up in this beautiful word, ‘fellowship’.

['God has his own sense of timing: ‘With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day’ (2 Peter 3:8). He has perfect timing: never early, never late. God is never in a hurry, but he is always on time.\nWe see in today’s passages that the Lord is sovereign over the future (Daniel 4:32). ‘We are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth’ (2 Peter 3:13). God is going to vindicate his people (Psalm 135:14).\nBut what do you do while you are waiting for God to do what he has promised to do?', None]

God has his own sense of timing: ‘With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day’ (2 Peter 3:8). He has perfect timing: never early, never late. God is never in a hurry, but he is always on time.

We see in today’s passages that the Lord is sovereign over the future (Daniel 4:32). ‘We are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth’ (2 Peter 3:13). God is going to vindicate his people (Psalm 135:14).

But what do you do while you are waiting for God to do what he has promised to do?

['In successive weeks at HTB, I interviewed two people of courage and faith. One, Ben Freeth, inspired by his faith in Jesus Christ, had taken a courageous stance against the unjust regime in Zimbabwe. As a result, he was beaten, tortured and forced to watch his elderly mother-in-law and father-in-law undergo torture, from which the latter eventually died. Yet in the midst of his suffering, he chose to love and bless the torturers.\nThe second was a pastor from one of the sixty countries around the world where physical persecution of Christians still takes place. He had been imprisoned and, at one stage, sentenced to death for no other reason than his faith in Jesus Christ. Yet in the face of extreme suffering he refused to deny his faith.\nThe lives of men and women like this are hugely inspiring, challenging and motivational.', None]

In successive weeks at HTB, I interviewed two people of courage and faith. One, Ben Freeth, inspired by his faith in Jesus Christ, had taken a courageous stance against the unjust regime in Zimbabwe. As a result, he was beaten, tortured and forced to watch his elderly mother-in-law and father-in-law undergo torture, from which the latter eventually died. Yet in the midst of his suffering, he chose to love and bless the torturers.

The second was a pastor from one of the sixty countries around the world where physical persecution of Christians still takes place. He had been imprisoned and, at one stage, sentenced to death for no other reason than his faith in Jesus Christ. Yet in the face of extreme suffering he refused to deny his faith.

The lives of men and women like this are hugely inspiring, challenging and motivational.