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I have a pill
If I were to tell you I had a pill that could fill that hole in your soul, that loneliness, that need for something more,
Would you take it?
Well, I don't have a pill, I have something far better and more able to fully love and accept you as you are. More able to forgive you for all your wrongs. More able to help you to forgive others. More able to live in a new life, a new chance.
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Have you heard of Jesus?
He was a man, a real man. He was
also God, the One real God. He was both of these things. -
A bit like a superhero
with super powers, coming to
fight the baddie, foiling his plan that everyone on earth will die once and for all!He didn't fight like normal superhero, he didn't fight from the ‘real man’ part of him, He fought from the real God part of Himself - even though the man part of Him could feel the pain of the battle, He did it anyway.
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Superpower
His Superpower was Love.
That was His weapon, and while he was on earth, he used his superpower to help people.
Show them a new way to live. A way to live that doesn't look like the normal way we live.
A way where there is hope, a way that isn’t frightening, a way that is peaceful, a way that is loving and forgiving and accepting...
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'a place like Slough'
He didn't wear his pants over his tights like Superman.
He wore sandals - but that's because it was hot where he lived and that's what the people wore then in Nazareth.Nazareth, the place where Jesus came from, wasn't a very nice place. It was a bit like saying he came froma place like Slough (no offence Slough)
If Jesus had come today in 2023, he’d probably come from Slough
and wear trainers... -
Anyway, I'm getting off track...
So this bloke-God fella called Jesus started doing amazing superpower
type stuff.Healing people, like proper healing not just the little things. He made a blind man see again, made a dead bloke alive.
Not only that He knocked
about with all the grotty folk. The folk no one wanted to be friends with, the crooks, the prostitutes, the thieves.He forgave people and just by being who He was (well, probably that real God bit of him) and being with Him, His
presence made people want to live better, be kinder and learn more about Him.Not bad, hey!
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And, if that wasn’t enough, He made enemies from the people in charge. Not by doing anything bad to them, but by doing all the stuff I just told you about.
The people in charge didn’t like how he didn’t stick to the rules. You see, far from being a stickler for the rules, Jesus was a rebel to the way the world wanted to live. He was radical, totally rad.
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So, not only was He fighting the big baddie, he needed to fight the leaders and people in charge. They felt threatened by His ways
and his real God part of him.Instead of wanting to learn more about Him they wanted Him killed.
So that’s what they did.
I’m really cutting a lot of the story out here, but the people in charge wanted to execute him in the most gruesome way they could.
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When we see a cross, it’s usually silver or gold, it’s often covered in gem stones and worn as a decorative item. But in reality
it’s like wearing an electric chair or a guillotine around your neck, although a cross is an even worse way to die than that.
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It involved being beaten, made to carry that heavy wooden cross all the way up a long and winding street of a steep hill.
It meant being
humiliated and striped
of all His clothes, being shouted at, spat on, having things thrown at Him.
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And finally it involved have very long nails being hammered through his hands and feet, and as that cross was lifted from the ground to it’s erect position, every bone and sinew in his body was stretched and broke as his full weight was taken on those very long nails.
There was a lot of blood.
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Then he was left to die.
A slow, agonising death.
This was that superhero you remember. That hero who made ill people well again, raised dead men from the grave, accepted and included the people that no one wanted to be friends with.
Folk like you and me.
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And do you know what’s even more amazing, he did it for those people and for you and me. He did it for everyone! Even for those people that cheered and heckled him on his way up that hill.
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By dying, you see, this super hero, tore the curtain that had been hanging in front of God. The curtain that stopped us
being able to really see and feel how much God loved us and wanted to be with
us.And when that curtain got torn in half that baddie (remember him)
lost the battle
and his evil plan to stop us from getting close to God by killing us was foiled.
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All we have to do is
step forward
through that torn curtain and accept Jesus as our hero, our Lord our saviour, our messiah.
And still there's more...
as if being tortured, dying and tearing the curtain, He only went and got up from the grave 3 days later!
Yes, you heard me right. He rose from the grave.
This final act we celebrate at Easter secured our future, our eternity, yours and mine. A promised eternity in heaven with God, with Him, the 1 who died 4 u.
Meet JC
The best way to learn Jesus is through prayer and reading the Bible. In the Bible you’ll find the real story, the historical story of what He did for us. Prayer may seem daunting at first, but prayer doesn't have to be poetic or complicated.
Praying is a conversation, a thank you note, a chance to ask questions, a time for seeking, learning and getting to know Him more.
One thing I can guarantee, once you start talking to Jesus He will answer you. Learning to hear His answers is often the bit that takes practise but take heart, every Christian has been on the same journey of learning to hear Him.
One good way to learn about Jesus and His life is to find a good Christian Community or Church.
Churches come in all shapes, sizes, styles and flavours.
The best way to find the right one for you is to try a few out. Visit some and see which one suits you best. It'll feel like home when you find the right one for you.
Click below to find a local community near you
UR2DieFor beginnings
UR2DieFor started life as a tiny idea to produce a set of graffitti stickers to add to the display on lamp posts in Ely, as the practical part of my Theology and Mission assignment.
It only stayed in that tiny form for a bout 3 hours, when
I realised graffiti stickers are illegal in the UK
and
A friend and mentor stepped in having seen my design, and encouraged me to think bigger!
Within 24 hours
I had three designs, each with seven products and the beginings of this website.
Through prayer and talking with other creative Christians I realised that not-for-profit was where and how God was takign me. Use my skills for mission, so that all profits can be used to expand this UR2DieFor Tent
So, the UR2DieFor logo is where it all started just 5 days ago, as I type this.