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soteria Lifestyle Worth Living soteriamag.co.uk Called Different To Be In This Issue: Love Devotion Swimming Upstream Prayer Integrity And More... Feb / Mar 2011 Quick Grab Me, I’m FREE!

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We’ve gone back to basics to look at what it means to buck the trend and be ‘Christian’. How do we get by in this world of quick fixes and easy answers if we are called to be different? If you are a Christian we hope this magazine (and every issue of Soteria) encourages you to live out your faith with boldness. You can find an article by one of our new writers about “Swimming Upstream” later in the magazine. You can also read a brief profile of that writer as well! We also have an article about the importance of reading your Bible, but we’re not laying on the guilt about the times you forget. We’ve also got a “beginners guide” to praying in public too.

TRANSCRIPT

soteriaLifestyle Worth Living

soteriamag.co.uk

Called DifferentTo Be

In This Issue:

LoveDevotionSwimming UpstreamPrayerIntegrityAnd More...

Feb / Mar 2011

Quick Grab Me, I’m

FREE!

Soteria is an independent Christian Youth Lifestyle magazine with two aims.

If you are a Christian we want to help you understand the Bible by offering practical everyday Bible guided advice.

If you haven’t made a decision about Jesus, we want you to see what being a Christian is all about!

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Soteria is freely available to anyone. If you would like to subscribe to the magazine for yourself, or for a church or youth group then you can now do so writing to the address below, or on our website.

CONTACT

Write to:Soteria Magazine

TORDENEBarncoose LaneIllogan Highway

RedruthCornwall

TR15 3EL

or e-mail us:[email protected]

DONATIONS

If you would like to support us in our work, Soteria welcomes donations. You can give in cash (if you know members of the team), by cheque made payable to “Soteria Magazine” or by setting up a standing order with your bank.

If you would like banking details for Soteria please contact us at the above address.

Rob

Welcome to the new issue of Soteria Magazine. It’s an exciting time for us as we approach our 10th birthday since our relaunch. Of course the big question is “should we have a party?”

While we’re pondering that idea why don’t you get stuck into this issue. We’ve gone back to basics to look at what it means to buck the trend and be ‘Christian’. How do we get by in this world of quick fixes and easy answers if we are called to be different?

If you are a Christian we hope this magazine (and every issue of Soteria) encourages you to live out your faith with boldness. You can find an article by one of our new writers about “Swimming Upstream” later in the magazine. You can also read a brief profile of that writer as well!We also have an article about the importance of reading your Bible, but we’re not laying on the guilt about the times you forget. We’ve also got a “beginners guide” to praying in public too.

There’s loads more including reviews, competitions and puzzles too. So what should we do to celebrate our big 1-0? Drop us a line and let us know!

On many cars these days there is a cruise control setting. The idea is that when driving on a motorway or a large open road you can set the car to cruise at a particular speed without having to keep your foot on the accelerator. This is a great little bit of technology that helps those who have to drive long distances to maintain a safe speed. Another advantage is the ability to drive at the best fuel efficiency over long journeys, constantly speeding up and slowing down burns more fuel and therefore costs more money!

Cruise control is clever and very handy but there are a couple of drawbacks. Firstly it’s more likely to lead to “driver hypnosis” which is a state that means you aren’t really alert behind the wheel because you have less to manually do. This can lead to slow reactions to events on the road in front of you and possibly collisions. Another problem is that the Cruise Control takes no account of the road surface, if you suddenly hit a puddle you can aquaplane at speed and loose the ability to control the car. This would be much worse if you were to hit a patch of ice!

It is quite possible for us to use a kind of “cruise control” in our lives too. We maintain our pace in the flow of traffic around us bypassing all the little areas that seem a little bit dull. We may physically attend School / College / Work, but in reality our brain is somewhere very different speeding along and just occasionally looking out of the windows to check we’re still on course.

Cruise control in our lives can present similar dangers to those in a car. Have you ever been daydreaming in a lesson at school and suddenly

heard the teacher say your name and you’ve no real idea why? That’s a similar experience to aquaplaning on a puddle. You have to wing-it and hope that you’re still in control at the end of it!

Perhaps there is a particular area of your life that you cruise control through, like relationships? You’ve had the fun ‘getting to know you stage’ and you switch onto cruise control because you are comfortable, but you start to suffer from driver hypnosis and you can’t see the trouble looming on the horizon. Eventually you do and you have to hit the brakes, but would you be in time to stop your relationship from becoming a car crash?

Those people who enjoy driving for pleasure know that while cruise control can be helpful, it’s only part of the experience and the fun part is having the car respond well to your inputs. That’s where the skill and the enjoyment are.

Life was never meant to be a case of floating along and not really engaging. It was meant to be something to be lived, facing the highs and the lows, sometimes speeding up and slowing down. Engaging with people, forming friendships, applying ourselves, getting a sense of satisfaction from a job well done. Living life to it’s very fullest.

Jesus said He came to give us life to it’s fullest. In a way that makes no earthly sense we get the best out of life by allowing Him to take the driving seat in our lives. Allowing Him to guide us and sometimes to slow us down or speed us up. We will never need to be on cruise control again.

Read more music, film, game, toy,

book & eventreviews online at

www.soteriamag.co.uk

There’s a lot of good Christian music in the market at the moment so we’ve picked some of our favourite releases from the last few months!

Newsboys are ‘Born Again’ with a twist of Tait.Newsboys are back with a slightly altered line-up. Peter Furler has gone and in his place is Michael Tait, formerly of DC Talk. Some people might say that this combination is no longer Newsboys, and they may have a point. Tait brings some brilliant vocals into the mix and an introspective writing style, as well as covering a DC Talk classic, Jesus Freak. There is also some very palatable worship in the form of a cover of Mighty To Save from Ben Fielding and Reuben Morgan. With 10 brand new original songs as well, this is Newsboys with a twist of Tait.

Born Again published by InPop Records. Available now. Not yet rated on Soteria

Sho Baraka, Swinging a ‘subtle sledgehammer’The cover alone is an interesting start to this album with an incredibly striking image. Aimed at the Christian market this is a challenge to people who claim to follow the faith, to stand for their beliefs and to be ‘Lions’ for the truth. The difficulty is ‘Lions’ are dying out they are becoming extinct. He encourages believers to be ‘Lions’ and

not listen to the ‘Liars’ that surround us talking down the faith we hold onto.

Each one of the 16 tracks is unique. Some of the tracks are simple powerful poems such as “I’m Black” and others have much more backing to them. There are some hard-hitting lyrics throughout and the tracks do tend to edge on the wordy side of the rap/hip-hop market and this means multiple listens to get the full meanings of many of them. You don’t notice too much though because the composition is so good, and you may be hooked by a chorus where the rest may take a little longer to

sink into the consciousness. There’s plenty of challenge here, for people to live their faith, not to be misled by commercial interest, not to stereotype by race and many other areas of life that Sho touches on with a subtle sledgehammer!

Lions & Liars published by Reach Records. Available now. Soteria Rating 9.3/10

Steve ParsonsBeautiful Broken WorldSoteria Rating 9.5/10

Amy GrantSomewhere Down the

RoadSoteria Rating 8.7/10

In our world ‘love’ surrounds us, it’s everywhere, and in the things we read, listen to and watch. Everywhere you turn your head, it’s there, even surreptitiously in adverts.

The real meaning of love has somehow been distorted and romanticised. Love is more than just the warm feeling you get inside, a candlelit meal or a lustful desire. Love adds something

that you were previously missing and is given unconditionally and should be received in the same

way.

Everyone is looking for love but they don’t always seem to know where to find it, going from relationship to relationship in the hopes of meeting the ‘right one’.

Sometimes as Christians we can get caught up in the world’s idea that masquerades as love where the focus is on being in a relationship regardless of the right time or place.

We don’t need to be in a relationship to have love because God offers us perfect love. There are three things in the Bible that are said to endure; faith, hope and love and the greatest of these is love, 1

Corinthians 13:13. God is love. He will never give up on us or let us down and He

is there for us through all the hard parts and He will never leave. God is the only one you’ll

ever need so before you get into a relationship you must realise that God is sufficient for you and

that whatever happens He will be enough.

It’s not wrong to be in a relationship but make sure it’s for the right reasons, make sure you’re not going out with someone because

they make you feel like you fit in. Or they make you feel more confident, or you want to be like the rest of your mates. Being in a relationship is a big responsibility and going out with someone when

you’re not ready can have big consequences for both you and the other person if it goes wrong, often causing heartbreak along the way.

Did you go to Soul Survivor in 2010 and make the pledge to try and read your Bible every day? Perhaps it’s your New Years Resolution? Both of these things are excellent ideas. Reading your Bible is something that is very important.

Reading God’s word is a guide to how you live your life. Of course God could speak to you individually and personally in other ways, but how are you going to know it’s Him unless you are familiar with His voice? The best way to recognise when He’s speaking to you is to read and understand what He has already said. Of course the Bible is more than just a Haynes manual for our lives, it’s also a deeply personal love letter written to all people.

We are encouraged to read our Bible every day, and that is a great habit to get into. But as anyone who has tried the New Years Resolution or Soul Survivor plans will tell you, it’s not as easy as it seems. With work, college or school and the numerous other things that make up our daily lives time can be very pressurised.

Having a daily devotional time is good idea, but it isn’t a command that must be followed otherwise you are no longer a ‘Good Christian’. There is no need to beat yourself up if you miss a day. But only reading your Bible on rare occasions can prevent you from growing in your Christian walk. It is easy to get out of the habit of reading your Bible and for some it can seem like a chore or

Try and spend some time in prayer every day. The Bible tells us to “pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” Eph 6:18

Find a time that suits you. Mornings are good because it sets you up for the day, but often the morning schedule is hectic, especially if you leave waking up to the last possible minute. Of course you could always wake up a little earlier!

Find somewhere quiet where you won’t be distracted by the TV, radio or family members.

Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a day. This can be frustrating

if you have a devotional booklet. Maybe pick one that has no set date in it so you don’t feel you are getting left behind.

Keep a pen and paper handy as something may suddenly make sense that never did before. Write it down to help you remember.

Don’t just read it, apply it to your life! Let God speak through your life and others will notice!

TOP TIPS

Balance of Devotion

it can be hard to understand.

As Christians though we should be desiring to hear God’s voice. If you’re in love then you make time to spend with the object of your affection no matter what, even if it’s only a quick phone call to hear their voice and know that you are loved.

If you find the Bible hard to understand take it slowly. Spend time thinking about the passage and ask God to show you what it means. Many people use a daily devotional reading that will give a passage to read and then go on to explain the meaning. This is also helpful if you aren’t very organised and need to stick to a plan. We need to find a healthy balance in our lives and that must mean spending time with God.

However you do it, spending time with God is really important.

Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a day. This can be frustrating

if you have a devotional booklet. Maybe pick one that has no set date in it so you don’t feel you are getting left behind.

Keep a pen and paper handy as something may suddenly make sense that never did before. Write it down to help you remember.

Don’t just read it, apply it to your life! Let God speak through your life and others will notice!

TOP TIPS

Balance of DevotionWhen I was younger there was a Christian slogan that seemed to appear everywhere. It was “Go Against The Flow” accompanied by a picture of all sorts of fish swimming one way and then a little “Christian” fish swimming in the opposite direction. It was the age of multicoloured surf T-Shirts which featured all sorts of creatures and this design fit right in. How I wanted one of those! I had other surf T-shirts but never found the Christian one!

The image was certainly in my mind when we started thinking about this magazine. We wanted to avoid some of the cliche of that image, but our idea was the same. Then I found this quote from G.K. Chesterton.

We are called to be different, and to use a Biblical phrase that is familiar, “living sacrifices”. This may not make much sense, after all a sacrifice is something that is killed! What use is it to God once it is dead though? It was a symbol of devotion, that you were willing to part with something so costly in order to make yourself right with God. But after the ritual was complete it was just dead flesh, useful for the priests, but nothing to God.

A living sacrifice is much more useful. We give ourselves as a sign of our trust in God, but because we are alive we aren’t just a lump of flesh. We have a purpose in living, each day offering ourselves to God for the purposes that He has for us. For us now, as for the early church, that often means that we have to “go against the flow” because our living daily sacrifice means we have been “called to be different” and to make a difference!

Picture a fish swimming down the stream with the rest of fish. This is very easy for a fish to do, just “going with the flow”. It is also what a lot of people do taking whatever they’re told as truth. When you become a Christian you are called to be different, to no longer live to the world’s demands, but God’s standard. As soon as you turn around and start swimming in the opposite direction everything gets harder.

Life can be a lot like this, when you choose to follow truth it can be a lot harder than we first think, or is made out to be. Suddenly you start to realise the force that the world has. Discerning between what the world says is truth and what really is truth can be difficult!

Even if we’ve been a Christian for years and know truths they can lose there impact. We can lack motivation to pursue Christ, even in the areas that He has worked and been working in already. Sometimes we feel we need to see someone healed or for God to speak to people before we really

feel like He’s working or is even around. The truth is that God is always there whether we see His influence or not. One reason why He does these miracles is so that we would have that motivation again.

So what is the biggest cause of this lack of motivation? It is very easy to lose your goals and your focus.

Our focus should always be Christ, to see Him lifted up in everything we do.

Sometimes we only allow Him to work in part of our lives. A prime example is when you see people worshiping and suddenly they will get a text message. Some people will actually read the message, while still singing, then ten seconds later their hands are back in the air. Sometimes you even see others talking during worship like it’s a better thing to do! What is actually happening is a lack of focus, fear and understanding of the God who we are worshipping.

Do we fear going deeper with God and allowing God to challenge us and our lives? What are we afraid of? Perhaps there is fear that we will lose something in the world, we will miss out on something that the world thinks is important.

We worship the one true living God that created everything in creation and loves us so much that He died for us in the greatest form of love, which is love with sacrifice. God loved us so much that he sacrificed part of Himself, His son Jesus to die for every sin we have ever committed.

Another cause is a lack of inspiration and encouragement. It’s rare to find an inspirational person. You may say I want to be an inspirational person where I live, to the people I meet.

We all can be by doing a few things;Firstly read God’s inspired word, it’s there to encourage, motivate and inspire you. We need to grasp the truth and power in His word and run with the desire to see people know the truth in life.

Be inspired by what God has done and is doing. Don’t abuse what He’s done in your life or what He wants to do in your life.

Lastly live it out. Put Christ first in all areas of your life. Let him inspire you. Yes it’s scary and might seem completely ludicrous, but that’s when God works most and is so exciting.

Lets go back to the fish example. When it is swimming upstream the fish can find it too hard to go up against the current so it will swim to the right and left to try and find a way to fight past the strong current of water.

Applying a similar tactic can sometimes help, avoiding things that are going to cause us problems. Often we may have to face the problem straight on and that’s where the faith and the testing is.

An example is as the fish is swimming upstream theres another fish swimming down stream really fast and he can see this big fast swimming fish approaching him. The fish has two options, the easy way out, turn and get out of its way, or it continues swimming in faith.

The question to us as Christians is what do we do when there’s a problem or a test of our faith? Do we face the problem and have faith that God will get us through the other side, or do we brush it away and live our comfortable Christian lives where church is a hobby and faith is a Sunday only thing?

Do we really want a real Christ focused life? One where you lay down your pride and give everything to God and go out of your way to help and love people that need to be loved. This is the life that Christ calls us to, but some of us have lost that focus and found it’s easier to follow the current rather than swimming against it.

Below is a list of events from the years 1960 and 2010 can you correctly work out which month and year each event happened in?When you know, enter the headline number in the table underneath!

Jan Feb Mar19602010

April May June19602010

July Aug Sept19602010

Oct Nov Dec19602010

Got them all? Check your answers and find out about our 2 great competitions on page 14.

1. Travel chaos in UK as early big freeze bites.

2. France tests its first atomic bomb-in the Sahara Desert of Algeria.

3. Ellie Goulding wins BBC Sound Of Music title.

4. Mine collapses at Coalbrook, South Africa, killing 500 miners.

5. Amazon river in NE Peru drops to lowest level in 40 years.

6. Elvis Presley returns home from Germany, after being away on duty for 2 years.

7. Summer Olympic Games begin in Rome, Italy.

8. Landmark law makes education a fundamental right for children comes in India.

9. Elvis reigns in UK singles chart with Its Now or Never.

10. David Cameron appointed as UK Prime

17. Russwood Park baseball stadium, Tennessee, destroyed by fire.

18. Somali pirates release Greek cargo ship

19. New Zealand’s first television station begins broadcasting Auckland.

20. Pulitzer Prize winner To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee) published.

21. Nigeria becomes the 99th member of the United Nations.

22. Massive head of famous Egyptian pharaoh unearthed

23. Police search for gunman on the run in Gateshead.

24. The satellite Sputnik 4 launched into orbit by the Soviet Union.

Minister in coalition government.

11. Tropical storm Agatha kills 150+ people in Central America.

12. The farthing, used since 13th century, ceases to be legal tender in the UK.

13. Pakistan floods kill 800 people.

14. Burmese Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi released.

15. First televised Presidential debate for Presidential election takes place.

16. 33 miners trapped for 69 days in Chile mine rescued.

Elvis

Aung San Suu Kyi

The Rome Olympics

RECYCLED NEWS

Prayer may be an odd concept for some people, but for the Christian it is the lifeline that keeps us in touch with God! A church prayer meeting is the golden opportunity to share our problems great and small. This kind of prayer meeting gives opportunity to share with others things that may burden us or things that have really encouraged us. There should be oneness of mind, with everyone praying to the same God, expecting answers. Whether you happen to be sitting around in a circle, or standing up with people praying over you, in a small house group or at a large church gathering, prayer should not be something that the Christian finds boring or unnecessary.

If you do find it boring, unnecessary or negative in any way, it is possible that you may need to question your motives for attending, and what input

you need to make.

Whether or not you pray aloud, generally you should feel you are in agreement with the prayers being offered to God, and feel part of what is going on. Reciting the news headlines from the daily paper may be fun to listen to, but our prayers need to be relevant! If you have

read a news story that you feel particularly burdened about, it is good to pray about it. Especially when you may have mixed feelings of helplessness and empathy. We should be concerned enough about things like our liberty and freedom of speech, to want to pray about it. We are not telling God what has happened in the world, as if He doesn’t know, because He sees everything that goes on. It

is better to think of it as petitioning God, and asking for His intervention, and guidance as to how we may be able to make a difference. Listening to great long sermons sandwiched in between a Dear Lord and Amen, may not be something that you should aspire to and try to copy. Our prayers should always be

genuine and from the heart. When we feel so passionate about something, or even so desperate, that we cry out to God... even literally crying to God that He would bend his ear and listen. The main thing to remember is, our prayers should be offered to God and not to those around us. We should never try to please

others, but honour God with our words and actions. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to recall as many Bible verses or hymns as you can in a vain attempt to sound clever. Our prayers should be genuine and from the heart. Hymns and Bible verses can be helpful when trying to express ourselves, particularly in worship. They need to have purpose and not quoted for the sake of quoting.

“Our prayers are offered to God...we should never try to please others but

honour God with our words and actions.”

Praying In Publicfor

Beginnersa guide for all of us!

When used in the right timing and context, our prayers can show our spiritual maturity and understanding of the Christian faith, but that should never be our main aim. Older folks or those who have been Christians for a long time, may well be polished and find the words more easily. That’s fine, because God listens to those prayers too. We shouldn’t be put off by this... they have acquired the head knowledge and, respectfully, have walked with God for a little longer.

Particularly if you are a new Christian why not pray aloud in public? The older people are likely to fall off their chairs in excitement, as they revel in your new found confidence in praying alongside them. Just a simple one liner, remembering someone is a great start. The more you pray aloud the easier it gets. If you get stuck for words half way through a prayer, don’t panic. Even if you think you’ve got it a bit wrong, don’t worry, and don’t let it deter you from praying aloud another time, you’re not praying to those around you.

Not everyone is enamoured

with shopping, and

perhaps the purpose of prayer isn’t to present God with a shopping list. Yes it is important to remember those known to us who are ill, or struggling for whatever reason. But let us not leave God this great long list. Instead, if we pray for people, we need to be willing to back our prayers with action when it is appropriate to do so. We also need to remember to praise God for answered prayers too. Talking of lists, for some people it can be too easy to pray and pray and pray... 30 minutes later... Not everything that goes through your mind needs to be said aloud. Nerves or just liking the sound of your own voice can lead to waffle. Our prayers are being offered to God, and sound waves shouldn’t just bounce off the ceiling. If this sounds like you, be aware of others around you so that you are not boring them needlessly and are allowing them opportunity to pray too. Praying aloud at a prayer meeting should not be about following set rules and regulations, even if you are thinking this article suggests otherwise. Our God is a caring God, and longs to hear our voice, and see our hands and

hearts reaching out to Him. Whatever format a prayer meeting may take, we are

speaking to and listening to Jesus. God shares the concerns that we have for people and situations because

our God is an awesome God; like a shepherd cares for his flock, so God cares for his church and for us individually!

Prayer is key to the Christian faith and you don’t have to wait for a prayer meeting to speak to God!

“Not everything that goes through your

mind needs to be said aloud...just liking the sound of your own

voice leads to waffle.”

There is plenty in the Bible about prayer, and about praying together. Here are some key verses to look up...

Matthew 6 v 5-15Matthew 18 v 18-20

Mark 11 v 2 2-26Luke 6 v 27-29

Romans 8 v 26-27Ephesians 6 v 18-19Philippians 4 v 6-7

1 Thessalonians 5 v 16-181 Timothy 2 v 1-3James 5 v 13-18

ProfileHey my names Daniel (Dan).

I was born in Cornwall and have lived here all my life. I have a brother who is slightly younger than me. My brother and I used to do loads together like, surfing, Tae Kwon Do and Rugby. We even started doing BMX racing and would go all over the country. We were very competitive always wanting to win and get better. I found that I wasn’t as good at these sports as my brother and I even became jealous that he was so good. This inspired me to train harder and persevere.

When I was younger I loved playing games, especially video games. At this time I had put on a lot of weight and was bullied a lot in school, but I would always come home and jump on the Xbox and would spend most of my day on it. This went on for about a year, then I got fed up of being in my own world and it didn’t help me anymore. So one day I just stopped playing video games for about a year. I believe this was with God’s strength, I also started reading my Bible and getting involved in church.

After that my brother and I went to a camp with church and we accepted Jesus into our lives. This was the best day of my life and I went back to school wanting to share what Jesus had done for me with everyone.

Unfortunately that didn’t happen and I found myself not living out my faith. So I went to college and did a National Diploma in Health and Social Care and this was a really amazing time for me. I learnt a lot about myself and also the truth that was in my faith and what living that out actually meant, to stand up and be counted!

Then I finished college and wanted to be a Paramedic and even though I applied this year I didn’t get in. Instead I‘m spending a year doing youth work and Evangelism in the Redruth and Camborne area of Cornwall.

Biography

Daniel HarveyNew writer for Soteria

Gender: MaleLocation: Cornwall

Quick Bio:“I’ve been a Christian for around 7 years and I love Jesus because it says in the Word that He is the way, the truth and the life.”

Ever wanted to know how to fix your Starship when it goes wrong? Well this is the book for you.

This book gives plenty of technical information about the workings of the classic Star Trek vessel. There are also cutaway diagrams as well as some information about the missions

of the various incarnations from NX-01 through to NCC 1701-E. This is one book the Klingon Empire would love to get their hands on.

Thanks to Haynes Publishing we have a copy to give away.

Title: The USS Enterprise Owner’s Workshop Manual.RRP: £19.99Available: Now!

The Eye Witness series by Robert James Luedke continues to amaze me. This is the fourth graphic novel in the series which continues to tell the story of the early church. Luedke’s grasp of the narrative and sense of the dramatic in his illustrations really brings this story to life.

Book 4: The Unknown God continues to mix a modern day story with the Biblical events. Thanks to Head Press Publishing we have 2 copies of this excellent graphic novel for readers of Soteria that are signed by the author himself!

Title: Eye Witness Book 4: unknown GodRRP: £9.00Available: Now!

JanFebMar

1960426

201031822

AprMayJun

1960172419

201081011

JulAugSep

196020715

201023135

OctNovDec

196021912

201016141

RECYCLED NEWS ANSWERS

Head to our website to enter either of these competitions.

The closing dates for these competitions will be listed on the website along with our standard competition Terms and Conditions.

www.soteriamag.co.uk

We come across branding in life all the time. Huge companies are built on a believable brand. For a brand to be believable it must have some integrity, if it makes a claim then it must fulfill it’s obligation.

Sometimes you look at something and the packet looks great and it promises to be a luxury experience, so you buy it. If you get it home and it doesn’t deliver what it promised you would be upset. The company has set your expectations high and then left you disappointed. You certainly won’t buy that product again, but you would probably distrust the whole brand, and not buy their products again.

It’s not just products, but people are branded in life too. We are tagged from birth to death, from the moment you come out of the womb you’re given a label with a family name on strapped around your foot. Then there are the family and nickname tags which you get labelled with.

Do you remember going on school trips when the teacher gives a long lecture about how you should behave because you are representing the school? You’re tagged as a pupil at that school and later as a student and then into the working world, you are tagged with your career choice.

All through our lives we carry these labels that give people a suggestion of what they can expect from us. When you

become a Christian you suddenly find a whole new bunch of tags added. Some of them are great, a co-inheritor with Christ, a child of the Most High God, fantastic! We are labelled as different to the world, and those around us expect certain things of a Christian. Not all of their expectations are correct and we shouldn’t live in fear of what other people expect of our faith.

Each of us might be a different ‘product’ but we are coming from the same creator. We are branded with Christ and we are representing Him to the world. As we have the same creator we should share similar attributes, and our brand should have integrity.

On the back of a packet there are always claims about the product. What claims should Christ be able to make about you and about your integrity of

his ‘brand’?

We are Ambassadors for Christ in both our words and our actions. We need to have integrity, for both our own sake and because we might be the only representation of Jesus that some people ever get to see. This means we need to be honourable in both our words and our actions. If we say we will do, or we will not do something, then we must honour that!

TRY NEW AND IMPROVED __________________!

NOW WITH• • • •

FROM CHRIST

BRAND

Integrity!

KONNECT

ARE YOU THE CONTROLLER?

Fate or destiny, can you control it, or does it control you? God made you special and He has plans for your life. Plans to allow you to prosper and not to harm you. You can know God personally thanks to Jesus sacrifice on the cross.

with God and truly