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In a recent message entitled "Is There Not a Cost", Ravi Zacharias concluded with this story of the martyrdom of Saint Telemachus:
This is a story of a monk by the name of Telemachus. Telemachus was a dominionative man who lived amongst flowers and nurseries and reclusive settings.
One day the word of God came to him and told him to go to Rome. He did not want to go to Rome, he was not a city man; he despised the noise and the clanging, and the artificiality of city life. He wanted to live in his monastic reclused setting.
But God has strange ways. He raised Moses in a palace in order to use him in a desert, he raised Joseph in a desert in order to use him in a palace. He takes Telemachus out of a reclusive setting in order to use him in Rome.
Telemachus said ‘Okay God, if you want me to go, I’ll go. I don’t know why you want me to go, but I’ll go.”
As he is marching into the streets of Rome, he was quite overwhelmed by its monumental buildings, its spectacular edifices, the statues, marble sculptures and painting of man glorifying himself in self-worship. While walking into Rome he a saw huge crowd elbowing it’s way into the Colosseum. Telemechaus did not know where they were going but he was involuntarily dragged in by them and entered.To his utter credulity as he sat in the bleachers there, he looked down and saw that what would that was going to entertain these sadistic masses was blood-letting orgies of hatred and sadism, as they were going to see the gladiatorial spectacles and fights; human beings tormenting and butchering one another.
He couldn’t believe it! As soon as the first sign of that violence was shown, in that huge amphitheatrical setting, he rose to his feet and screamed out “In the name of Christ, forebear! In the name of Christ, stop this thing!”
That amphitheatre had the ability to carry even a whisper to a marvellous crescendo of sound, and as he screamed, everybody heard him. He ran down the stairs, vaulted over into the centre arena, all the while shouting “in the name of Christ, stop this thing!”
He became a kind of innocent side show, and one man yelled from the stands, “Run him through!” A muscle-bound gladiator heaved him away, took his spear and thrust it through the body of Telemachus. As he bent over, clutching himself, the blood spilling out of his body and moments away from his death, the crowd now listening carefully, he speaks audibly once more for everyone to hear: “In the name of Christ, stop this thing.”
There was silence; then one man stood up and walked out. Then two; then three; then the thousands until everybody had left the Colosseum; they were gone.
The historian writes this: “Many other factors were brought to bear, but the death of Telemachus crystallised the opposition so that never again was there a gladiatorial fight, ever fought in the Colesseum.”
The entire message by Ravi Zacharias is exceptional and is available on his weekly podcast "Let My People Think".
"What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)
Here Mark Driscoll outlines the reasons for Mars Hill's increasing use of video in Sunday services. He approaches the topic from multiple angles: theologically, historically, culturally, and practically.
The video goes for approximately 36 minutes, however it's definitely time well spent.
Mark Driscoll is the founding and preaching pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, USA. Driscoll is speaking in various locations in Australia in August, his key theme entitled 'Burning Your Plastic Jesus'.
I loved this quote from Driscoll in explanation of his message:
“In Revelation, Jesus is a prize fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up. I fear some are becoming more cultural than Christian, and without a big Jesus who has authority and hates sin as revealed in the Bible, we will have less and less Christians, and more and more confused, spiritually self-righteous blogger critics of Christianity”.
In December 2004, a massive tsunami killed more than 250,000 people around the rim of the Indian Ocean. Over the following weeks, newspapers and magazines were full of letters and articles asking "Where was God?" One reporter wrote: "If God is God, he's not good. If God is good, he's not God. You can't have it both ways, especially after the Indian Ocean catastrophe." Despite the confident assertion of the columnist, the effort to demonstrate that evil disproves the existence of God "is now acknowledged on (almost) all sides to be completely bankrupt." Why?
... Just because you can't see or image a good reason why God might allow something to happen doesn't mean there can't be one. Against we see lurking within supposedly hard-nosed skepticism an enormous faith in one's own cognitive faculties. If our minds can't plumb the depths of the universe for good answers to suffering, well, then, there can't be any! This is blind faith of a high order.
... If you have a God great and transcendent enough to be mad at because he hasn't stopped evil and suffering in the world, then you have (at the same moment) a God great and transcendent enough to have good reasons for allowing it to continue that you can't know. Indeed, you can't have it both ways.
Excerpt from 'The Reason for God' Chapter 2 - How Could a Good God Allow Suffering?
In terms of Christian TV, thank God we're advancing.
Case in point - click here
Have you noticed that when you walk into the elaborate homes of many highly successful people you will see an office or study with a large bookcase against the wall, packed with hundreds of books.
Do you think they became successful, and then decided to buy some books with the money?
I preached yesterday at Kings Noosa on the topic of "The Perfect Problem". I think that we often tell ourselves that 'once I get through this stuff, then I'll really start progressing in God'. Little do we recognise that God has allowed the 'stuff' in our lives as the means by which we will progress. Problems aren't meant to pause our Christian growth, but instead are sent to perfect our growth. It is when the river is at it's fiercest that we progress most quickly upon it!
Here are four things we must remember in the face of problems:
1. God's Connection with My Reality
It's a trap to believe that our problems separate us from God. Hebrews 5 demonstrates that Jesus shared in all points of our human experience (except in sin). Therefore our problems don't separate us from God, but provide common ground upon which we relate. Jesus came as our 'High Priest'; fully human that He might have relativity with my situations, yet fully God that He might have authority to change my situations.
Jesus spent thirty years building relativity before embarking upon three years of ministry. The paintings of Jesus in which he is surrounded by mystical aura with blow dried locks and spotless skin are a lie! Jesus was so 'normal' that Judas had to kiss him to identify him to the Roman guards.
Because Jesus shared in the 'normality' of the human experience, I can confidently approach him in prayer knowing that he has felt what I feel.
2. God's Ability & His Sovereignty
Hebrews 5 alludes to Jesus' experience in Gethsemane. Mark 14:36 writes:
“Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
Jesus believed in the Father's ability ("Everything is possible for you"), while continuing to trust in the Father's sovereignty ("Your will be done, not mine").
I will never stop asking God for miracles with faith in His supernatural power. And if my prayers go unanswered, I will trust in His goodness and sovereignty to do what is right. Our faith must be in both God's power and His nature.
3. God's Declaration Concerning Me
Jesus is God's son, yet he still faced life's problems.
My sonship before God does not remove me from the realities of life; the realities of life do not remove me from my sonship before God.
4. God's Desire to Develop Me
Contrary to what I would love to believe, God's greatest desire for me is not my comfort; it is my development. He loves me too much to leave me.
Hebrews 5:8 tells us that Jesus learned obedience by the things he suffered. The Greek word used for 'learned' means 'to learn by use and practice'. This is not an intellectual learning, but an experiential learning.
James 1:2-4 shows us that life's trials are productive. Muscle is developed by resistance, not ease.
You never learn that God is your rock until you go through uncertainty. You never learn that God is your joy until you go through some pain. You never learn that God is your comfort until you go through some discomfort. You never learn that God is the lifter of your head until it gets knocked down!
God uses all these problematic situations to perfect and complete us. If you've got problems, that's perfect!
I believe that where we direct our money is a great indicator of what we believe to be valuable; John Wesley provides an outstanding example.
Wesley donated to mission causes by sacrificing personal comforts. Living simply, he was able to give more than $500,000 to missions in his lifetime.
When asked about this personal sacrifice, his answer was, "Gladly would I again make the floor my bed, a box my chair, a box my table, rather than that men should perish for want of the knowledge of the Saviour."
In a recent message entitled "Is There Not a Cost", Ravi Zacharias concluded with this story of the martyrdom of Saint Telemachus: 
