Chris Cook talking about his relationship with Jesus Christ and the effect Jesus has had on his life. This was given at Durrington Free Church on Easter Sunday 8th April 2012... Please do leave an encouraging comment for him below... Thank you!

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Glimpses 54 - Roger and Margaret

This is the story of how God took two ordinary people in the last years of their working life, into a situation which was challenging, rewarding and exciting! You can listen to this story below!

For the next 6 months, every Sunday, Roger will be sharing with us some studies he has prepared in the early life of Jesus of Nazareth, as recorded in Luke 1-9. We have titled this series "Luke Looks Back" and it will be starting Sunday February 5th 2012. Thank you

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Testimony - Adele

Christian testimony

The story of Adele, telling her story of how God rescued her from joining the Jehovah Witnesses cult. Thanks be to God!

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God in the Tornado

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G'day and welcome to Partake Glimpses Stories. Where we see together how Jesus is alive today, working in different peoples lives in different ways. We aim to show Jesus as being relevant to the world today, some 2000 years after He walked the earth, died  on  a Roman cross, rose again to new life from physical death and ascended back to the right hand of God the Father

Today I relate to you a story told to me by a friend of mine, Charlene, about an event which happened only this week to her in the United States of America!

A great wind in the darkness!

It was Thursday night, 26^th May 2011 at 10:10pm.  I was alone sharing in prayer requests with friends on the Internet. It was a cool but blustery night, I had the doors open, letting the air circulate through the screens.  When all of a sudden, the house seemed to shake violently due to the awesome power of a mighty wind. The Rottweiler pup with me began to howl and seconds later the sirens in town went off! There was a tornado alert and the tornado was coming!

Being dark and stormy, plus surrounded by woods, I was kept from seeing any visual signs of the turmoil surrounding me. The sounds were deafening, the force caused the wind chimes to chime loudly and items to be tossed across the yard.

Silence is loud!

Shortly afterwards, the noise dissipated, and the night became calm. Both Aachen & I were OK, but she had saucer size eyes...I probably did too. Checking the weather news, there was a tornado watch alert. Whatever we received was a very mild form of what others recently have endured in Missouri and elsewhere.

Startling, yes...loud and full of power, yes...scary...no, there was peace and calm in the storm. Comfort in the midst of the winds. Praise be to our Almighty God. Next morning we found some items displaced and blown about, but only minimally.

Praise be to God!

Praising God, because just as Jesus was with the disciples in the midst of the storm in the story told in the Gospels, Jesus was here in the storms with me and protecting us! Wow!

Praise God for His loving watch care for this house, property and all that has been lovingly dedicated to God's glory and ministry. This is God's anointed place dedicated to outreach in sharing His love and Word to others. Praising God for the safety of the property and the gardens so far planted. This is a divinely inspired Women's Gardening ministry and outreach to those at risk in society. A ministry of helps and works revolving around the core of God's own Word and guidance.

If you have found this helpful, please do let us know how it has helped your own journey of faith. You can do this by leaving a comment below! Thank you.

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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G'day and welcome to Partake Glimpses Stories. Where we see together how Jesus is alive today, working in different peoples lives in different ways. We aim to show Jesus as being relevant to the world today, some 2000 years after He walked the earth, died  on  a Roman cross, rose again to new life from physical death and ascended back to the right hand of God the Father. Today, once more we take a step back to recent history, into the 20^th century, and a very brief glimpse at the Christianity of a well-known Christian.

Beginnings

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born on February 4, 1906 in Germany. He was a a Lutheran pastor and theologian and had spent time studying in the USA and pastored two churches in London, England in the early 1930s.  He returned to Germany to lead an illegal training centre for pastors during which time, he also called for more vocal and active opposition from the churches towards Hitler's treatment of Jews. Because of this, he was forbidden from preaching, teaching, and all speaking in public to gathered audiences. Dietrich was ultimately arrested and imprisoned for his part in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. What we will concentrate on in this study is how he viewed and lived Christian discipleship.  In doing so we will look at some excerpts from two of his published writings "The Cost of Discipleship" and "Letters and Papers from Prison"

Discipleship

Jesus Christ, when He talked about the cost of following Him and being His disciple said this: "If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me." (Matthew 10:38; 16v24-25)

Echoing these words, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote "When Jesus Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.  ...  Discipleship is not an offer that man makes to Jesus Christ, nor is it hero worship, but intimacy with Christ."   (The Cost of Discipleship). He knew that as a Christian, a person has to take up their own cross in following Jesus and count the cost of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Dietrich also wrote "Earthly goods are given to be used, not to be collected. ... The Christian disciple must receive his portion from God every day. If he stores it up as a permanent possession, he spoils not only the gift, but himself as well, for he sets his heart on accumulated wealth, and makes it a barrier between himself and God. Where our treasure is, there is our trust, our security, our consolation and our God. Hoarding is idolatry." (The Cost of Discipleship)

In a Sermon on 2 Corinthians 12v9, he said that "Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness and pride of power and with its plea for the weak. Christians adjusts themselves far too easily to the worship of power. Christians should give more offense and shock the world far more  than they are doing now. Christians should take a stronger stand in favour of the weak rather than considering first the possible right of the strong."

A Cost of Following Jesus

These are strong and powerful words I am sure you would agree! So did Bonhoeffer's life match his words? In one extreme example, we look at his first days in prison

"For my first night in prison I was locked up in an admission cell.  The blankets in the camp had such a foul smell that in spite of the cold it was impossible to use them. Next morning a piece of bread was thrown into my cell; I had to pick it up from the floor. The sound of the prison's staff vile abuse of the prisoners who were held for investigation penetrated into my cell for the first time; since then, I have heard it every day from morning to night.

The first night in my cell I could sleep very little because in the next cell a prisoner wept loudly for several hours. Nobody took any notice.

After twelve days the authorities got to know of my family connections. While this was of course, a great relief for me personally, from an objective point of view it was most embarrassing to see how everything changed from that moment,. I was put in a more spacious cell which was cleaned for me daily by one of the men. When the food came round I was offered larger rations, which I always refused, since they would have been at the expense of other prisoners." (Malcolm Muggeridge, The Third Testament)

So, after just twelve nights in atrocious conditions, because he had good connections on the outside of prison, he was moved to a more spacious, cleaner and quieter cell.  He probably had no choice about the cell he was given. He could have just eaten the extra food given to him there.  But he decided not to, because to eat that extra food, he would have robbed somebody else.  For him, material possessions and food were part of his Christian discipleship - part of the cost of following Jesus Christ faithfully.  Just as they are of your Christian discipleship - whether you are aware of it or not.

Speak Out!

But another facet of the cost of Dietrich Bonhoeffer following Jesus was speaking out for those who had no voice. In the case of Bonhoeffer, the Jewish race undergoing systematic persecution and extinction under Hitler and the German Nazis.

He wrote those: "We have been silent witnesses of evil deeds; we have been drenched by many storms; we have learnt the arts of equivocation and pretence; experience has made us suspicious of others and kept us from being truthful and open; ... Will our inward power of resistance be strong enough, and our honesty with ourselves remorseless enough, for us to find our way back to simplicity and straightforwardness?" Letters and Papers from Prison

He ultimately paid the price for his speaking out for those who had no voice.  His life motto could be summed up in these 2 sentences from his writings: "One act of obedience is better than one hundred sermons ... Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility," He was eventually hanged on April 9, 1945 following the failure of an assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944.  His life actions echoed his words.  How are you counting the cost of being a disciple of Jesus Christ?  What do your material possessions and consumption of necessities of food say about your being a Christian? Are you willing to speak up for those who have no voice in your local community, national community and global community?

If this has helped you in your journey of faith, please do let us know how it has helped your own journey of faith by making a comment below!. Thank you.

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God is my sufficiency!

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G'day and welcome to Partake Glimpses Stories. Where we see together how Jesus is alive today, working in different peoples lives in different ways. We aim to show Jesus as being relevant to the world today, some 2000 years after He walked the earth, died  on  a Roman cross, rose again to new life from physical death and ascended back to the right hand of God the Father. Today I relate to you a story told to me by a friend of mine, Lynn, about an event which happened only this week to her in the United States of America!

Here comes the storm!

The red tornado line on the TV screen went right through our neighborhood. I've lived in tornado alley for a long time and have spent my fair share of time cowering in a bathroom in the center of the house. We Midwesterners get used to it. Today, though, the meteorologists were expressing more concern than usual, they were predicting baseball size hail, the tornado was heading straight for us, and my kids were getting nervous, so I decided to seek shelter.

By the time I made the decision, the kids got ready to go, and the dogs were packed up, we had little time. Being in emergency mode, I grabbed the basics - my wallet, keys, cell phone, iPad and my Bible. I fleetingly thought that if I had time to write I might need it but, also, if our house was damaged, I wanted to make sure my study Bible was safe.

Making a decision!

As we drove away and my daughter said, "Good bye, house," it occurred to me that it wasn't just possible, but likely, that we would lose our house. I've seen news coverage of people who have lost everything they owned, and I've known a few who have. It always makes me sad and I have grieved with friends over it. But when it became my near reality, I had to decide how I would handle it. I had to let myself feel it and figure out my response. What do my house and things mean to me? What if it's all gone when I get back?

What do I really need?

Wedding pictures, baby books, senior pictures, my Mom's Bibles ... one-of-a-kind items that can't be replaced. How would my life change if I didn't have those things? I glanced at my kids, took a deep breath, relaxed, and knew that it wouldn't. It would be fine. It wouldn't be easy, but it would be okay. I don't need stuff. Nice, but needed? My true need is God, and I have Him. He can provide and handle everything else.

Jesus gives me a reminder!

As we waited in the shelter, my son asked, "What do you think is happening to our house?" I put my arm around him, smiled confidently, and said, "I don't know, but we're going to be fine." And I meant it.

Jesus Christ said in Matthew 6:31, 33: "So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?' or ‘What shall we drink?' or ‘What shall we wear?' ... But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

Help is at hand!

As it happened, Lynn and her family returned to their house and all was pretty much the same as when they left it.  They had put God first.  Lynn, asks "How much do your things mean to you?" By this true story, we see how Jesus Christ is relevant to Lynn!  He reminder her of priorities and those verses of Scripture Matthew 6! They were safe and their possession were still theirs after the storm! What storms are you facing in your life? Be assured that Jesus Christ will help you if you ask!

You can visit Lynn's blog at http://www.lynsmith.org/blog/

If you have found this helpful, please do let us know how it has helped your own journey of faith. Thank you.

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Wake Up O Sleeper!

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G'day and welcome to Partake Glimpses Stories. Where we see together how Jesus is alive today, working in peoples lives in different ways and is relevant to the world today, 2000 years after He walked the earth, died, rose again and ascended to the right hand of God the Father. I tell you today a story told to me by Jim Allis about one of his experiences!

Be Born Again!

One evening in a meeting, I was expounding John 3 concerning a question Nicodemus asked Jesus. "What does it means to be ‘born again?" Jesus had said "Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God" Jesus then explains it to him . Nicodemus doesn't understand and thinks he has to return to his mothers womb in order for it to happen.

A Christian Country?

A lady who was sitting in my congregation was dozing, not because she was bored but because dying from cancer she had drugged herself before she had left her home that night.. Pain always set in when she entered the church . When I had finished preaching I walked down the aisle close to her. As I did so she grabbed my jacket and said "What do you mean we have to become Christians and be born again, isn't this a Christian country we are living in?" I replied by asking her a question. "Well, what do you think?" She replied "I suppose the way things are, murders thieving, adulteries and child abuse this can't be a Christian country and what's more I know I am not, Please will you help me?"

Jesus Knocks!

This was a cry from her heart. I was convinced of that. . A day or so later I called on her and gave her a book called "By Searching" by Isabel Khun, a godly missionary. It included an account of how she became a Christian. As I left the house Mrs D said "I am not there yet. I cannot call Jesus Lord of my life." I said I would pray for her.  A few days later her daughter rang me to say her mum had been rushed into hospital and it was 50/50 whether she would recover from the operation to remove the cancer.

Born Again Now!

The day I visited the hospital I will never forget, Earlier I had read God's word for encouragement and prayed for Mrs D feeling very inadequate to know what I would say to her to comfort her in her extreme condition. Entering the ward I found her sitting in a chair beside her bed looking very pale. However there was a huge smile on her face. Excitedly she said "It's happened" she explained. "I can now call Jesus My Lord! I was reading the preface of this book you gave me and the writer explained how she was going through a deep mist but as it cleared she began to understand Jesus purpose in coming into this world". Mrs D now could understood about sin, forgiveness and her need of a righteousness not her own to cover her. Mrs D was full of joy and we praised God together.

Taken Home!

The next time I visited the hospital she was in a coma after the operation. I prayed for her aware from experience that my words would be heard in her spirit even though she couldn't respond. She went to heaven shortly afterwards. How loving and wonderful, full of mercy and compassionate our Lord is. How determined He was to quicken her through His Word before she died. "She must be born again" and she was, and she died in peace

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A Father's Plea!

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G'day and welcome to Partake Glimpses Stories. Where we see together how Jesus is alive today, working in peoples lives in different ways and is relevant to the world today, 2000 years after He walked the earth, died, rose again and ascended to the right hand of God the Father. I tell you today a story told to me by Jim Allis about one of his experiences!

Help Me!

A man who we will call "G" had told me that his daughter just had to get saved and healed. He then asked me to go and see her. He added "She intends going to a spiritualist; please stop her." I sought the Lord in prayer that morning and I received an assurance in my heart that He was going to heal her, but first she must hear the gospel and become a Christian.

Telling the story

Arriving at her front door she readily invited me in . I said "I know your Dad has told you the way to God; may I have ten minutes to do the same?" She agreed and listened attentively as I went to Genesis 3 and explained how sin came into the world. I moved on to the prophecies in Isaiah concerning the Messiah, and then the fulfilled prophecies in the Gospels, especially dealing with Isaiah 53 in relation to the cross and Jesus purpose in coming into the world. All this I explained is unveiled in the gospels and showed her the relevant passages.

What must I do?

She listened carefully and then said "Can I ask Him now into my heart ?" The Holy Spirit had prepared her, and she prayed and simply, sought forgiveness and asked Jesus into her heart. Then I said "I believe the Lord wants to heal you, what is wrong with you? She said "Well, it's very painful, tennis elbow" I was ignorant regarding this problem but others tell me it is extremely painful. I prayed with her and our Lord drew near and touched her and she was healed. Praise the Lord!  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever!

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Amazing Scenes at Oxford!

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G'day and welcome to Partake Glimpses Stories. Where we see together how Jesus is alive today, working in peoples lives in different ways and is relevant to the world today, 2000 years after He walked the earth, died, rose again and ascended to the right hand of God the Father. Today we welcome back once more, Jim Allis, an experienced pastor, relating to us a situation where God undoubtedly helped people and shows His relevancy to them. So over to you - Jim!

Stand up

Oxford is a wonderful city and famous for it's University and a certain athletic track "Iffley Road". Do you remember what happened there in the month of May 1954? The famous Roger Bannister broke the first four minute mile there, helped by Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher. I was a very keen athlete in my distant youth and was going to emulate Sir Roger Bannister as he is now officially known. A joke of course! However running became a god to me and God was given a very small place in my life, until my wonderful conversion in 1963. My life was really turned around. A number of years later in my capacity as an evangelist training churches in personal evangelism, I was invited to Oxford not to a running track but to an evangelical free church

My mission was to encourage this church and lead them in reaching out into their neighbourhood with the gospel. I was asked to speak to the church on a Sunday afternoon, to address those interested in this venture who belonged to this church.

Watching

As I spoke I was conscious of one lady who didn't appear to be enjoying my talk. She looked grim and at times totally disinterested. I tried to look elsewhere for the remainder of meeting and was very encouraged by the response as I spoke about the person God uses in evangelism, a person fully yielded to Jesus Christ. I was also the appointed speaker at the evening worship service and the church was pleasantly filled.

The church had an overhead projector and a low screen on the platform which could not be raised on this occasion. So I made the decision that we would sit to sing the hymns so that all would be able to see the words on screen. I didn't want to sing solo that night!

I preached that night on the famous words of Peter and John in the book of Acts "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk"

It was well listened to and following the address I had chosen such a well known final hymn, I suggested we all stood to sing the last hymn to "Stand up for Jesus". Following the benediction I went to stand at the door to shake hands as all visiting preachers do and suddenly there appeared to be some kind of excitement!

What's it all about?" I enquired. A deacon approached me and said they had been praying for the healing of a certain lady who could not walk to church. He then said excitedly "Tonight during the service she was healed!"

Healed

I was then taken to the lady. It was the same lady who I had seen in the afternoon who had looked so bored, and so disinterested. She no longer looked bored, but a broad smile was now on her face. "It was when you preached the words from the Bible "Rise up and walk" she said. "I felt strength coming into my legs and it was wonderful and frightening. Then I heard a voice saying, "You must stand up during the last hymn" but I thought we are not standing for the hymns tonight, I am afraid. Imagine how I felt when you said we should all rise for the last hymn. But I did, and strength came into my legs and I am healed." I went to a further meeting of praise in a house that evening and I saw her getting into the minibus like a two year old.

Wonderful Jesus!

Isn't our Lord wonderful.? Yes He knew we would stand for that last hymn. I had not invited any person to the front for prayer. I had simply preached from Acts 3:6ff and in Romans 10:17; we read "Faith comes through hearing and hearing by the ‘Word ' of God" The Greek for Word is ‘Rhema' meaning "the living active Word" God's Word came alive for this lady and together with The Holy Spirit beautifully healed this lady. As we have seen God speaks to us today in a variety of situations. Our part? To listen, recognise His voice and respond for His glory and praise

If you have found this helpful, please do let us know how it has helped your own journey of faith. Thank you.

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Malcolm Muggeridge

Pursued Into the Light of Christ!

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G'day and welcome to Partake Glimpses Stories. Where we see together how Jesus is alive today, working in different peoples lives in different ways. We aim to show Jesus as being relevant to the world today, some 2000 years after He walked the earth, died  on  a Roman cross, rose again to new life from physical death and ascended back to the right hand of God the Father.

Today, once more we take a step back to recent history, into the 20^th century, and a very brief glimpse at the Christianity of a well-known Christian.  Today its Malcolm Muggeridge, who was, by his own volition and renown, a determined sceptic and vocal non-believer. We will look at some of what this man said about Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  In doing so, I will be taking short excerpts from two of his books "Conversion: A Spiritual Journey" and "Jesus Rediscovered" which should still be available to purchase.

Malcolm Muggeridge was born on in England on 24 March 1903 and died on 14 November 1990.  He was educated at Cambridge University and graduated with in Natural Sciences.   During World War II, he was a soldier and a spy. He was an English journalist, author and media personality. In is earlier years, he was renowned as a drinker, heavy smoker, and womaniser! After his conversion to Christ, he became a leader protesting against the commercial exploitation of sex and violence.

We begin with Malcolm Muggeridge asking an important question!

Page 41 "Jesus Rediscovered" Is there a God? Well, is there? I would be very happy to answer with an emphatic negative. Temperamentally, it would suit me well enough to settle for what this world offers, and to write off as wishful thinking, or just the self-importance of the human species, any notion of a divine purpose and a divinity to entertain and execute it. I have never wanted a God, or feared a God, or felt under any necessity to invent one. Unfortunately, I am driven to the conclusion that God wants me. God comes padding after me like a Hound of Heaven. His shadow falls over all my little picnics in the sunshine, chilling the air; draining the viands of their flavour; talk of its sparkle, desire of its zest. God takes a hand as history's compère...  Under God's eye, tiny hoarded glories fall into dust - a little fame, some money ... "Oh Mr M! How wonderful you are!" There is no escape. Even so, one twists and turns.

And his story of God pursuing him continues, culminating in Malcolm Muggeridge becoming a Christian but not knowing at what specific time it occurred because for him it was a process.  One person, or light, instrumental in this conversion process was Mother Theresa of Calcutta!

Pages 14-15 "Conversion" - There was a happening when we were in Calcutta with Mother Theresa making the film Something Beautiful for God, which might well have provided an occasion for a conversion. The Home for Dying Destitutes where Mother Theresa's Missionaries of Charity, take down-and-outs from the streets of Calcutta... Mother Theresa is, in herself, a living conversion; it is impossible to be with her, to listen to her, to observe what she is doing and how she is doing it, without being in some degree converted. Her total dedication to Christ, her insistence that all our fellow human beings must be treated and helped and loved as though they were Christ, her simple presentation of the Gospel and joy in receiving the sacraments, is quite irresistible. There is no book I've ever read, or discourse I've ever heard, or service I've ever attended, no human relationship or transcendental experience, which has brought me nearer to Christ, or made me more aware of what the Incarnation signifies for us and requires of us.

And so this arch-sceptic and non-believer turns to Jesus Christ of Nazareth as God! God had indeed been pursuing him and using people such as Mother Theresa of Calcutta to bring Malcolm Muggeridge to a living faith in Jesus Christ! What was this man's view of Christianity now?

Pages 109-110  "Jesus Rediscovered" - I see Christianity as a very bright light; particularly bright now because the surrounding darkness is so deep and dense; a brightness that holds my gaze inexorably, so that even if I want to - and I do sometimes want to - I can't detach it. Christ said he was the light of the world, and told us to let our light shine before men. To partake of this light, to keep it in one's eye, is Heaven; to be cut off from it is Hell... Away from the light, one is imprisoned in the tiny, desolate dungeon of one's ego; when the light breaks in, suddenly one is liberated, reborn.

Powerful words from this convert, even with a brief glimpse at what he had to say! And what is the relevancy of this Christianity to the world today, this Christianity which Malcolm Muggeridge once cast off as nonsensical and controlling drivel?

Page 63 "Conversion" - What we continue to call the western civilisation, after all, began with Christian revelation, not the theory of evolution... Jesus of Nazareth was its founding father, not Charles Darwin; it was Paul of Tarsus who first carried its message to Europe, not Karl Marx or even Lenin. Jesus, by dying on the Cross, abolished death wishing; dying became thenceforth life's glory and fulfilment. So when Jesus called on His followers to die in order to live, He created a tidal wave of joy and hope on which they have ridden two thousand years.

This was all part of the journey of faith for Malcolm Muggeridge, former sceptic and unbeliever who turned to Christ when he realised that God was pursuing him and using lights such as Mother Theresa to bring Malcolm to faith.  Today, you go be a light to somebody's path to faith and show the relevancy of Jesus Christ to all you meet on every day you live.  And if you are not yet a believer in Jesus Christ, be assured He is also pursuing you, calling you to be in a dynamic relationship with Him. He calls you by name and no matter how much you twist and turn, you can deny Him, but you cant escape Him!  Thank you.

Muggeridge, M., Jesus Rediscovered, Collins Fount Paperbacks, London: 1982

Muggeridge, M., Conversion: A Spiritual Journey, Collins, London: 1988

If you have found this helpful, please do let us know how it has helped your own journey of faith. Thank you.

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