Stars and Sand: Roger Aubrey

FAQs on 'Stars and Sand'

Thanks for all the positive feedback so far on my new book, 'Stars and Sand'. I am very pleased that so many of you are looking forward to reading it. I have been asked the same questions by a number of people, so I thought I'd answer the FAQs that have arisen.

1. When is the book available? Now! You can buy it from the Book Depository or Amazon. I put the relevant links up for you in yesterday's announcement. The Book Depository seems to be offering the best deal, with free postage to many countries.

2. Will I still be able to read the original posts online? No. The original posts have now been archived. Some were slightly re-edited anyway to make them read better. I wanted to keep the spirit of the blog in the book, so each entry is accompanied by the date it originally appeared.

3. Can I buy it from my church bookstore/bookstall? Yes, if your church decides to stock it. I will also hold some stock as the demand requires. If there is enough interest from church bookstores I will try and arrange something with them.

4. How long is the book? It's 191 pages long. Most of the articles are short - just a couple of hundred words. They are pretty much as they were originally written here on the blog.

5. Will it be available as an ebook? Possibly. I will look at that option fairly soon.

My new book - Stars and Sand - is published

I am thrilled to announce the publication of my latest book: 'Stars and Sand.'

'Stars and Sand' is a compilation of articles and posts that appeared on this site from November 2004, when I first began it, up to June 2008. After much urging from many of this blog's readers, I have now collected together some of the devotions, observations, and my own personal reflections on life, re-edited them where necessary, and put them into this handy book.

I am really excited about 'Stars and Sand'. It's a book the reader can easily dip into and be blessed by. Most of the articles are short and thought-provoking, giving insight into the Word of God or commenting on what is happening in the world and the church. It's a book you can slip in your bag, keep by your bed, or read in the bath!

'Stars and Sand' is available to buy now. You can currently get it from Amazon for £8.50 ($13.99) and the Book Depository for £8.25 (with free postage to many countries).

Your Book Depository link is here.

Amazon UK link here.

Amazon North America link here.

 

Thought for the day

One of these days some simple soul will pick up the Book of God, read it and believe it. Then the rest of us will be embarrassed. (Leonard Ravenhill)

Thoughts on a non-Rapture

We are still here. Despite the well publicised claims of Harold Camping, the California based 'evangelist', Jesus did not return last Saturday. This was Camping's second attempt at predicting the date of Jesus' Second Coming: his first was back in 1994. If at first you don't succeed...

Notwithstanding the ridicule such antics and clear anti-biblical behaviour bring to the rest of us Christians, Camping has caused incalculable damage to those gullible enough to take him seriously. People left their jobs, sold homes, said goodbye to loved ones, gave all their money away, on the word of a self-proclaimed Bible expert. He is nothing of the sort. Men - and women - like Camping have plagued the church since the very early days; even the New Testament speaks of those who falsely claimed Jesus had already returned. A reading of church history reveals the countless sects, cults and individuals who wrongly predicted the end of the world; many of them had several attempts. The tragedy is that they always leave in their wake a whole raft of people who are shaken in their faith or abandon their faith altogether. Furthermore, they do nothing to enhance the reputation of Jesus, which is the biggest crime of all in this matter.

It is important we have a biblical eschatology (doctrine of the end times). The Bible is crystal clear that Jesus will return, but that nobody knows when. It goes out of its way to warn us against such charlatans and deceivers, no matter who they are or how fine sounding their reasons are. The fact that Camping was able to fool and deceive so many people illustrates all too painfully the general biblical illiteracy and ignorance that pervades large areas of the church. We accept too readily the latest fads and theories of anyone brandishing a Bible and a 'ministry' without subjecting them to proper biblical analysis with the aid of the Holy Spirit's guidance and accountability to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

It was said of the Bereans that they received Paul's word with eagerness, but also diligently searched the Scriptures every day to see if what he was teaching them was in line with what the Word said (Acts 17:10-11). If we were to adopt that same Berean attitude then people like Camping would be deprived of the oxygen that feeds their heresies and they would suffocate far quicker.

 

Thought for the day

Avoid those people who try to diminish or destroy your God-given hope.

Hope defined

Recent posts have had a lot to do with hope. I thought it might be good to give you some idea what the Bible means by hope. The kind of hope the Bible talks about is different from worldly hope. Bible hope is the certain, confident, unwavering expectation of good. Bible hope is hope in God. Hope is linked to faith (Hebrews 11:1). Hope is the coat peg of faith; you hang your faith on your hope. In fact, you cannot have faith without hope. Bible hope has no perhaps, maybe, or possibly. It is a definite, confident expectation of good.

Hope in God is to do with the future, both the imminent future and the distant future; for tomorrow and next year. Hope in God tells us that we have a future and a future that is good, because hope’s reference point, hope’s focus, hope’s source, is God – he is the God of hope (Romans 15:13). How are we able to have hope in God? Because God is the God of our future, not only of our past and present. He is a good God with good plans for us:

“I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11).

We hope in God with a certain, confident expectation that our future will be as good as, or better than, the past and the present; that everything will work out for our good. This is our certain, confident expectation, the coat peg on which he hang our faith. To hope in God is to trust him at all times, in good times and the bad. To hope in God is to trust him for the future; that the future will be good. Even if the future brings hardship and difficulties, our hope in God remains the same; it is not affected by our circumstances. When Daniel’s three friends faced the prospect of being thrown into a blazing furnace because of their refusal to worship Nebuchadnezzar, they faced it with their hope in God intact, confidently speaking out that hope:

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”  (Daniel 3:16-18)

We hope in God not only for the ultimate or distant future, but for the immediate future: for the rest of the day, for tomorrow, next week, next year, the years to come. And if we die, we die in certain hope of meeting Jesus and of the resurrection to come for all.

Hope in God involves having an unshakeable confidence, a certainty and unwavering trust in him. Hope in God is linked to faith, for faith brings the hope of the future into the present. Faith is the ‘now’ of our future hope. Hope in God means we do not depend on things, circumstances, or situations we can or cannot control for our happiness and well-being. Our well-being does not depend on circumstances, situations, or things; our hope is in God. Hope, therefore, looks to the future with unshakeable confidence and certainty because God is the same in the future as he is in the present. He is unchanging and eternal. So we anticipate what is to come with peace, joy and faith (Romans 15:13), not dread and fear. We overflow with hope!

God is the object of our hope – we hope in him and in his Word – who he is and what he says. Because God has hope for us he has a future for us. Hope looks to the future with a confidence and peace. Hope in God defines and determines how we live in the present.

Living Hope

Here is the message from All Nations Church for Easter Sunday 2011: I spoke on having a Living Hope. Because Jesus lives, our hope is alive!

http://tinyurl.com/62k7uv6

When hope is gone

Yesterday at All Nations Church I spoke on 'When hope is gone.' We looked at Psalms 42 and 43, where three times the Psalmist, who faced incredible incessant personal pressure, said:

'Why are you so downcast O my soul; why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God. I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God.'

In order to lift himself out of where he was at, the Psalmist had to do two things for himself, that nobody else could do for him:

1. He had to give himself a good talking to;

2. He had to praise the Lord.

You can listen to this message by following the link:

http://tinyurl.com/6zyonr3

Dogs and Lions

Anyone who is among the living has hope - even a live dog is better than a dead lion! (Ecclesiastes 9:4)

Road to nowhere

"Today, everything has become 'means'. There is no longer an 'end'; we don't know where we are going. We have forgotten our collective ends, and we possess great means. We set huge machines in motion in order to arrive nowhere." (Jacques Ellul)