Jay Mitchell

  Jesus was so alive and tangible to me when I first got saved I would be at home most nights and would worship and sing to God for however long hoping to experience just a little more of Him. I didn’t realise until recently the incredible importance and profound effects it had on my everyday life. I would go to work and share the Gospel unashamedly. I would talk the ears off my work mates about the good things Jesus had done for my life (and theirs) and they would listen politely. Now I say ‘politely’ because a funny thing happened one day. We were out working on a job (I was landscaping) and we had a sub contractor working for us whom none of the guys had ever met. This guy was about 6ft 8” tall and extremely built. He was an amateur MMA (mixed martial arts) fighter and looked mean as. One day he came up to me while I was on my own working and he said to me “You’re the ‘God worshipper’ right?” I was a little frightened and almost said no I am not. I responded with “what ...

“Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory” – Jesus. (Luke 9) Yup. That’s right. Jesus said that. What Jesus says before this is a true reflection of what Jesus is asking of you and you better count the cost. You need to let Him lead. You need to let Him take the drivers seat. I remember the first time I didn’t share Jesus when I should of because I was scared of what some people would think about me. Afterward I was reminded of this scripture. Jesus would be ashamed of me? But there was an intimate truth and conviction that came after that thought. This was my conviction; Jesus absolutely loves me. He went through suffering, rejection, being falsely accused, whipped, humiliated and hung on the cross, for me . That was how Jesus displayed His love for me. This is how I know God loves me. The intimate part of this truth is hard to express in words, but when I felt ashamed of not sharing Jesus’ love to somebody, ...

When Jesus made salvation plain to me when I was 21-22 years old, it was literally life changing. It was pretty intense and so real to me. But, if you asked some people that I knew, what I was like before  I encountered Jesus, they would paint a very anti God picture of me.  I went to a private Christian High School. I was made to sit through chapel every morning, I had to go to scripture classes, we even had a scripture camp in year 8. Talk about boring. My parents were not Christian, I didn't attend church, even on special occasions and I hated people walking around talking about God. I would even take my lunch break to go to Christian information sessions to argue with Christians and tell them that they were bonkers.  People persisted and were patient with me. Thank God. But the good part is when I finally turned to God, people who knew me where in shock, even the Christians who had preached the gospel to me. One high school buddy who was Chri...

I remember before I knew God, Christians used to tell me about what Jesus did for me on the cross, I would think and say to them how crazy it sounded. Why would God allow himself to be beaten, whipped and nailed to a cross? Nailed to a cross? That's crazy talk I would say to them. "If he was God, why wouldn't he just jump of the cross and destroy everyone who was trying to get rid of him?" It really is foolishness to people who don't know God, who don't understand what Jesus did. And even though at the time when people where telling me about Jesus, I argued and believed that they where nuts. I am glad that they told me. More than glad. Remembering one particular moment in my life before I knew God, I was in quite a bad place. My brother said to me "you know Jesus can help you," and I said in reply "Jesus put me here!". I thought he was crazy. God can help me in this? "The Message that points to Christ on the cross seems li...