Posted in April 2008 …

Apr 27 2008
Bible, Church, Faith, Heaven, Holy Spirit, Jesus, leadership, Prayer, Religion, Uncategorized

Focus on Jesus – and what he wants

We should focus on Jesus – and on what He wants us to do. I like how the Message put vs 17: God didn’t send me to collect a following for myself, but to preach the Message of what he has done, collecting a following for him.

It’s possible for human leaders to end up attracting followers to themselves, it’s natural that it would happen. The problem is that any human leader has feet of clay and will let us down. We have a banner which is displayed in the entrance hall where we worship in East Horsley. Some well meaning person put my photo and name on it, as well as a big message; “Welcome to L1FE.’ I really don’t like that banner. I am a leader, it’s a gift God has given me. But I don’t want to attract my own following. I have been privileged to lead some people to the Lord, but it’s the Lord who draws people. Years ago a man I didn’t know prophesied over me, “You are a reaper. God has called you to reap where you have not sown.”

It was the first time I was ever floored by the Holy Spirit, as those words were spoken, BAM! This was on a cold, hard stone floor of a church. I certainly didn’t expect (or even want) to be ‘slain in the Spirit,’ especially on a floor like that! But I knew when – eventually – I was able to get up, I was a different man. The Lord had put a new level of anointing on me. But that’s not anything I did. Since that time, I’ve seen the reality of that promise many times.

Paul told the Corinthian Christians, in effect, “I really don’t care about who baptised whom. While I was with you I was just trying to do what God told me to do—preaching the gospel. I don’t care who gets the credit; I was just following my orders.”

It gets even clearer in Chapter 3:3 in the Message: he says, ‘right now, friends, I’m completely frustrated by your unspiritual dealings with each other and with God. You’re acting like infants in relation to Christ…. as long as you grab for what makes you feel good or makes you look important, are you really much different than a babe at the breast, content only when everything’s going your way? When one of you says, “I’m on Paul’s side,” and another says, “I’m for Apollos,” aren’t you being totally infantile?

Who’s Paul anyway? Or Apollos, for that matter? Servants, both of us—servants who waited on you as you gradually learned to entrust your lives to our mutual Master…. I planted the seed, Apollos watered…but God made you grow.”

(1 min vid – take a look) -

It’s God who grows people, and grows churches. Anyone who leads, is just a servant of that ‘mutual master,’ and none of us can do what only God can do! If we remind each other of that it might stop us getting big headed personally, grabbing the glory from Jesus, or exalting one human leader above another. Reading this, you get God’s perspective and so you can see that whoever we are, we’re just servants of God. God doesn’t NEED any of us anyway! Yes, we should honour those who serve well, but from heaven’s perspective it’s ridiculous to put one human above another. It’s like saying my sunflower is growing higher than my neighbours; viewed from outer space – who cares!?

What God wants from us can really be summed up in two words: faithfulness and fruitfulness. God wants us to be faithful to him—to worship and honour him with our whole life, to be willing to joyfully follow wherever he leads and do whatever He says; without grumbling or putting it off, that’s faithfulness. (Maybe you have a better definition?)

And God wants us to be fruitful for him. You can’t be faithful without being fruitful. I believe Fruitfulness has to do with us getting the message out, telling others about Jesus. I want to be fruitful and faithful in this one short life. (Look at my entry on ‘one short life’ for that!)

The best part is, whatever comes our way, if we focus on Jesus, we will have peace; because He is our peace. If we focus on Jesus we won’t worry. If we focus on Jesus we’ll know HE is the reason we’re here – yesterday today and forever, he is the leader we all follow and serve, and I invite you to pray now, “Lord help me do what YOU want – above all else.”

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Apr 26 2008
4 Comments
angel, leadership

Focus on Jesus, not human leaders

The apostle Paul knew what a big part of the problem was with the church of Corinth. He says, Focus on Jesus – instead of people. I mean by that, human leaders. We’re to focus on God, not men. Why? Because people in that church were following ordinary people, rather than Jesus. They were aligning themselves with certain personalities, rather than God.

In verse 12, He said, “Here’s what I hear is happening there: some of you are saying ‘Paul is our guy.’ Some are saying that you follow Apollos. (We know from Acts 18 that Apollos was a gifted orator, that might have had something to do with it). Some of you say you follow Peter, and some of you are even misusing the name of Jesus by splitting off from everyone else and saying the kind of thing you sometimes here in ‘emerging’ churches, ‘We don’t need any leaders at all – we follow Christ alone!’

There’s at least a 4 way spilt over personalities taking place! He doesn’t lay out the specific concerns they were disputing – he didn’t need to; they knew what they were anyway. And behind it ALL the main issue was this: division. All these groups, fighting, striving for position, labelling themselves as right and labelling others as wrong – and trying to pull off in one way or another. Nightmare!

Paul said, “This isn’t the way it’s supposed to be! Jesus died for us and we were baptised into Him, not into any mere man.” Then Paul posed 3 rhetorical questions – and the answer to all of them is no…

Is Christ divided? NO! So how can his people be?

Was Paul (or any other human leader) the Saviour, head of the church, crucified for the forgiveness of their sins? NO! Well why were they exalting mere human beings?

Do you baptise people in the name of any human being? NO! It’s not about them! It’s all about the FATHER. It’s all about the SON. It’s all about the Holy Spirit.

But here’s what had happened. These Christians were focusing too much on the people who had brought them to the Lord, instead of the Lord himself. Paul had founded the church in Corinth. Then after him Apollos took it on for some time. It seems Peter came there too. The fact is, God calls leaders for a season, then he calls them on. They are not meant to be the focal point, if that happens, something went very wrong! It’s been said the day you start church leadership is the day your ministry stops because according to and Ephesians 4 model one is meant to be an empowering enabler of others. My role therefore is not to DO ministry so much as to Discover, Develop and Deploy the Saints for their ministries!

If you were to visit my beautiful C11th church, and look at the long list of names of past ‘Rectors’ on the wall over the centuries. Any local church ends up with a variety of leaders in its history. They are called for a time, and then they are called away – or called home.

Since I was called into full time ministry I’ve never lived anywhere longer than three years, until God called us here to Horsley, over 7 years ago. It’s such a fantastic loving place for us as a family, we’ve seen God do so much in our own lives and in the lives of other people too. And one of the hardest things for me to ever do – I’ve been wrestling with God in these last few months over it – was to announce last Sunday that we’re going to be moving on in the next phase of my own call in following the Lord’s call, to go to lead Ivy Cottage Church, Manchester.

Anyone who knows me will know that this hasn’t been an easy decision, it was made with much prayer and many tears. I began to sense this might have been a call from God as the New Year turned, and God has been unsettling me for some time.

A few months ago I went up to look at the Manchester Church and came away that night, got a bit lost and ended up driving through some horrible rough streets, thinking, “No way! We left Manchester! I love Horsley. This isn’t right, we shouldn’t be going, and I don’t want to go.” So I told all of that to God in prayer and went to bed fully convinced that there was no way.

But that night I had two very clear dreams, and I’m not one who has many dreams I can remember, but I knew God was calling me, had called me – that very night. He even sent an angel to tell me in that dream, unforgettable. I must blog about those dreams actually!

 

And one of the hardest things is that nobody else in the family has had any dream or angel or really any kind of revelation about it; but we are going in faith on the basis of that call – and God is confirming it and has confirmed it – as we follow. If we have to have it all laid out before us, let’s not pretend we’re people of faith. Because if the Christian life isn’t about faith then I don’t know what it’s about, if it isn’t about trusting God then I don’t know what it’s about.

So I can trust God for my own life, as I always have done, and I can trust Him for my family, as I always have done, and I can respond to his call in obedience and trust Him for this Church as I always have done; because He is the Lord of the Church. Jesus is the head of the Church! So I said to the people here in Horsley last Sunday – ‘Focus on Jesus!’ and they are doing!

I’ve said it before many times. to them, “I am not the head of this Church. Jesus is the head of this church.” Some people there, I’m thrilled to say, have become Christians while I have been here – I am (to use Paul’s terminology later in 1 Corinthians) their ‘father in faith.’ For them, it will probably be more unsettling than for others. But to any extent that people end up following me or any human leaders – then that’s just not the right way for it to be, because my job as a leader is to be like John the Baptist; who pointed the people away for myself and said, BEHOLD the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! My job like his is to say, “I must decrease so that He can increase.” Focus on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

Apr 25 2008
Church, Faith, Jesus, Prayer, Religion

FOCUS ON JESUS – the reason we’re here

In this 40 Days of Community we’re doing as a church we’re remembering that churches are made up of imperfect people. The apostle Paul would have agreed! Because he had to address a lot of problems when he wrote to a very gifted, but very immature and divided church in the city of Corinth. Paul heard from Apollos that there were problems there, then he got a letter from the church itself, and finally while he was living in Ephesus, some friends visited and told him some really disturbing report about the church.

Yes they were gifted, Paul said, in fact they did not lack ANY spiritual gift… BUT there was little evidence of the fruit of the Spirit there! You know you can have gifts – without love? Paul heard about moral failures, sexually immorality, abuse of the Lord’s supper, false teaching and failure to follow through on promises to be generous with their money.

This church had divisions, nastiness, gossip, lawsuits, jealousy and envy. They were about as mixed up as any church ever got! You know why he wrote that really famous chapter 13 all about love? Because they didn’t have a clue!

So Paul wrote to them and said there were really three things that these people in the church needed to do, to get their focus right. I’m going to detail those things in my next three blogs – based on the talk I gave last Sunday, which I hope will soon be available on the www.l1fe.org website. It’s all about focus…

1. Focus on Jesus – HE is the reason we’re here. Paul knew they were fighting and quarrelling. So he says to them in verse 10, “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another (some translations put that – ‘say the same thing’) so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.”

In that one sentence, he reminds them that people in the church share a special relationship with one another. We’re related to each other because we all call Jesus our Lord. And for that reason, we ought not to fight.

When my brother and I were young, we fought like cats and dogs. (I once punched him right over the settee!). Sometimes it was his fault, rarely was it mine…. but we were both guilty at times. What was totally consistent is that my mum and dad hated it when we fought. Why? Because it’s just not right!

I’m glad to say it hardly happens, but it hurts me if my kids fall out, and it hurt my parents when I fought my brother or sister. It’s not right for people who are part of the same family to be fighting and arguing and hitting each other – it just wasn’t right. I’m really glad we grew up and grew out of it. Because, when times get tough, like when my Dad died, being family makes a big difference.

Paul said, put your focus on Jesus. “For Jesus’ sake, because of his name – you’re united in him, you ought not to be fighting among yourselves. You ought to help each other, to hang together and strengthen each other, not tear each other down.”

We’re imperfect people aren’t we? No one in their right mind argues with that, but we need to remember that the reason we’re here is because we love Jesus. He’s the one who’s brought us into the family of God. He’s the reason we’re here. We want to follow Jesus. He’s what it’s all about.

Read again verse 10: I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (that’s the ONLY name that matters), that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions (the word there is what we get schism from) among you – and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. So the Bible says let’s focus on Jesus; because after all, he’s the real reason we’re here.

Apr 21 2008
1 Comment
Bible, Church, Faith, Family, Friends, Jesus, Marriage, Prayer, Religion

The most important thing about family?

I sometimes get asked to write for a men’s magazine called Sorted. The editor, Steve Legg, contacted me a couple of weeks ago to ask if I’d write an article on the subject of Family, but the deadline was just a couple of days away. We were getting ready to go up North, for what was had been booked as a holiday yet ended up as a very busy time, which I’ll write about again.

Anyway, I initially figured I could squeeze the time in to write the article, along with all the other things I had to do for work. All it would take was : less helping at home, spending less time with Zoe and the kids, creating more stress for myself and everyone, putting in more time in the study – doing ‘the work of the Lord.’ I could probably even do it so they’d all feel guilty if they tried interrupting such important work, I’m a past master at it.

Then again, I nearly lost my family doing just that years ago – ended up in marriage counselling as a result – so finally I thought it better just to say to reply to Steve’s e-mail; ‘sorry mate, can’t do it.’

Now it was very hard for me, as a man, to press send on an e-mail admitting to not actually being able to do everything. It was hard to say no. It was hard to say no to a friend. It was hard to say no to more ‘work’ ( you might not class it as work, but it’s what I do!) in order to say yes to family time.

The fact is, I can quantify how many hours I put in, but I can’t quantify how well I’m doing as a Dad, or as a husband. Perhaps that’s why many blokes end up putting their all into their work, laying everything on that altar, because it all ‘counts’ somehow, whereas we never really know how well we’re doing in the area of family.

Despite the e-mail refusal, the subject of family still ticked away in the back of my mind. As we sat down together for an meal that day, I asked my son and daughter, “What do you think the most important thing about family is?”

Joel (14) said, “You should all trust each other enough to tell each other what you are thinking, whatever that is.” The fact that he said it, proved to me he does. Fantastic!

Hannah has just turned 18, and what she said was, in my opinion, really quite profound – showing what a high E.Q. she has. After a few moments thought, she volunteered, “I think the most important thing about families is that we need to remember that the other people in the family are, themselves, people – not just roles.”

I asked her to explain that a little. “Well,” she said, “it’s only been in the last couple of years that I’ve come to realise – you’re not just ‘my Dad,’ and Mum’s not just ‘my Mum,’ but you are separate people – with your own ideas, and lives, and everything.” Wow. How often have I thought of her as ‘my daughter,’ rather than ‘Hannah Delaney.’

I was reading about the time when Jesus healed a blind man and he took him away from the crowd so he could pay him individual attention, then prayed – and asked if the man could see.

He said, “I see people like trees, walking around.”

Well listen, if that was the Anthony Delaney travelling ministry healing crusade I’d have called that a result and passed the collection plate! But Jesus wasn’t satisfied. My wife sometimes calls me ‘Half a Job Joe’ because of all the part-completed projects I am surrounded by, especially DIY (which when I make things stands for – ‘Drat! Idiot! Yelling!’).

Jesus, carpenter of Nazareth, is NOT a half a job kind of guy. He wasn’t happy that the blind man only saw others as trees. Jesus wanted him to see other people – as PEOPLE! So he prayed for him again. We need that second touch from Jesus, so we can see people as people – however our family is constituted. Because sometimes, especially when I’m in a busy rush, people – even those I love most – end up being, well, camouflaged.

See people as people

I’m glad I made time to sit at the table for a meal with the family that day, instead of working away on a piece about family, so I could learn from two people I love and admire greatly, my brother and sister in Christ – Joel and Hannah Delaney.

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Apr 20 2008
Bible, Faith, history, Jesus, Prayer, Religion

Only one life

Two little lines I heard one day,Travelling along life’s busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart, And from my mind would not depart;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one, Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet, And stand before His Judgement seat;
Only one life,’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, the still small voice, Gently pleads for a better choice
Bidding me selfish aims to leave, And to God’s holy will to cleave;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, a few brief years, Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears;
Each with its clays I must fulfill, living for self or in His will;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

When this bright world would tempt me sore, When Satan would a victory score;
When self would seek to have its way, Then help me Lord with joy to say;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Give me Father, a purpose deep, In joy or sorrow Thy word to keep;
Faithful and true what e’er the strife, Pleasing Thee in my daily life;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Oh let my love with fervour burn, And from the world now let me turn;
Living for Thee, and Thee alone, Bringing Thee pleasure on Thy throne;
Only one life, “twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one, Now let me say,”Thy will be done”;
And when at last I’ll hear the call, I know I’ll say “twas worth it all”;
Only one life,’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

P H Harding

Apr 17 2008
Bible, Books, Church, Faith, Friends, Jesus, Pilgrims Progress, Prayer, Religion

Resist the lion!

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour; Whom resist stedfast in the faith (1 Peter 5:8-9 KJV)

My friend actor Russ Boulter sent this to my Facebook page. He said it was worth hanging on in with – and it certainly is. Longer than most videos for blogging, I urge you to cut out 7 minutes (or at least 5) to watch this. The verse above kept coming to mind as I looked at it.

It’s so important that we stick together, remembering our fight is never against flesh and blood. It’s vital that we go out at all costs for the lost and wounded, and never give up!

I get that feeling that someone reading this today (caught between the crocs and the lions?) needs to know – We’re on the winning side!

I love reading Pilgrim’s Progress – Bunyan assures us that though the lions roar, they’re chained!

“Fear not the lions, for they are chained, and are placed there for trial of faith where it is, and for discovery of those that had none. Keep in the midst of the path, no hurt shall come unto thee…”

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Apr 04 2008
Bible, Books, Church, Faith, Jesus, Marriage, Prayer, Religion

Needs overrule the golden rule

Very often when talking to couples preparing for marriage, or those struggling through it, I recommend a book called ‘His Needs, Her Needs‘ by Willard F Harley. Dr Harley lists the emotional needs of men and women. He writes about the invisible ‘love bank’ inside all of us which needs to keep on being filled up – because life is making withdrawals all the time. I don’t agree with his lists, but the concept of emotional needs is undeniable. It’s not wrong to have needs, in fact we were all made with physical needs, spiritual needs, relational intimacy needs.

If you were to stop the average person in the street, “What was the first thing that was bad in the Bible?” most who even had pub quiz knowledge of the story would say, “It was the snake. That snake who got them to eat the forbidden fruit.”

Wrong. Phone a friend. Or use a lifeline, or better still, read Genesis 2:18

God said, “It’s not good for the man to be alone.”

So God invented marriage, where Husband and wife vow to be the primary person on earth who meets the other’s needs – for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer…. till death us do part. These public pledges are so important. Did you know it’s illegal to be married in a locked church? The idea is that anyone could walk in off the street and join in the service and hear these words being publicly proclaimed (I’ve had that on one or two occasions in conducting weddings where we were joined by gentlemen of the road!). But we prove the reality of the words in daily action and thoughts, not just on the big day – but on lots of little days.

I’d been married many years before I even discovered this concept of meeting Zoe’s needs. Until then, I’d just tried to follow the golden rule – treat her as I’d like to be treated. However that only works to a point, because she actually wanted to be treated different to me! Then we went on a marriage retreat put on by Intimate Life Ministries, as part of which we looked at our own relational needs, and compared them with each others. Guess what- we were different.

In fact in a room of over 100 people, not one couple had the same top three emotional needs!I think this list is actually a lot more helpful than Harley’s. Have a look on this link, it’s an eye-opener! Which one would you most need to have met? That’s your number 1 emotional need. If you’re married, which one would your spouse most need? If you don’t even know, how are you going to meet it?

The problems start when I try to ‘fix’ my wife with what ‘fixes’ me. For instance, my number one need might be for words of Approval (okay it is – and thanks for the positive blog comments by the way, keep them coming!). So if Zoe was feeling down I’d ‘help’ by expressing how great she is. Problem? That would make me feel better but doesn’t ring her bell at all. She’s waiting for Attention - for me to make the time it takes to enter her world and find out what’s really happening – as I fly out the door telling her she’s wonderful.

I have to go beyond the golden rule and not just treat her the way I’d want to be treated, I have to discover and then treat her the way she needs to be treated!

happy-couple.jpg

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Apr 03 2008
1 Comment
Bible, Books, Faith, Friends, history, Jesus, Marathon, Prayer, Quotes, Uncategorized

The real challenge is not winning the race

I’m sitting here with my leg up. The last few weeks have seen me increasing my mileage on my runs (no special reason, not doing the London Marathon this year, though I’m considering doing something similar later in the year). Half way round a fast – for me – 8k this morning and felt a twinge in my left calf, decided to press on. By the end it was sore!

There’s a great book I’m picking up that’s got me motivated. Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an all-night runner. Wow. It’s a kind of memoir, well written, about this crazy man who has … well, let him tell you the kind of things he does.

Reading his book kind of puts a sore calf in perspective. I have over the years done a few marathons, when I was in my late teens and twenties I even did a couple of mountain marathons and even once did 50 miles over night – ended up in hospital at the end with a busted knee! The thing which struck me about the video is Dean’s line, “The real challenge is not winning the race, it’s crossing the finish line.”

A line from the book grabs me too, though I’m not sure I agree with it right now. It came as he was three quarters of the way through his first 100 mile mountain marathon, given by a Red Indian Chief manning a water station in the wilderness. ‘Pain is weakness leaving the body.’ Hmmm….. in between Ibuprofen, I’ll try to remember that!

My friend J John told a group of us once that in his home country of Cyprus, the ancients used to run a race called the milos, where competitors had to clamber over all kinds of obstacles, carrying a flame. At the end, it was the first one to cross the line with the flame still burning that got to wear the victory wreath. It’s endurance that counts, in the long run!

1 Cor 9:24 in the Message keeps me keeping on: You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally.

Great to run with you.

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Apr 01 2008
Bible, Books, Church, Community, Faith, Friends, Jesus, Prayer, Religion

Never Walk Alone

I don’t know whether my talk last Sunday was actually recorded because we’ve been having hassle with that, but the main focus was ‘Why we need each other.’ Let me summarise it.

Our culture applauds independence. But we read in Romans 12: “Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.” That means people need people. Too often we don’t realise how much we need every other member of the church – we think independence, not interdependence.

God wired all of us in such a way that we can only fulfil his purposes for our lives in community, in relationship to each other. That’s what we’re going to be looking at as a church family for the next 40 days, 40 Days of Community.

We looked at three reasons why it’s great to be in a small group with a few other friends who you get to know on a deeper level than just casual acquaintance.

1. I need others to WALK with me. In other words, I need people to help me grow spiritually. The New Testament tells us we’re to walk in the light. We’re to walk in love, we’re to walk in obedience, we’re to walk in the Holy Spirit, we’re to walk as Jesus walked, we’re to walk in wisdom.

But one of the important things is this, (it’s not in the Bible) I’m quoting from Gerry and the Pacemakers; Never Walk Alone (great song – have a listen)

2. I need others to WORK with me. The Bible says in Ephesians 2:10, “God made us to do good works, which he planned in advance for us to live our lives doing.” God put you on earth to do certain things, but you need other people to help you do those things. Otherwise, you get tired.

The reason you’re tired is twofold: a) You try to do it all. b) You try to do it all by yourself! God never meant for you to do that! You know the acronym for Team? (Together, Everyone Achieves More!).

3. I need others to WATCH OUT for me. People who’ll protect me, stand up for me when I need somebody to stand up for me, who’ll help me stay on track, who will warn me if they see me going off. Because we all have blind spots. Things in our lives we can’t see, only other people can see.

A couple of years ago, did you read about that young guy who was an experienced climber and decided he’d go climbing by himself? He thought he could do it alone – but he slipped and fell and his arm got caught. He waited five days alone. He would’ve died there, because there was nobody else to help him. The only way he got loose was to cut off his own arm below the elbow to save his life.

I’m following through a daily reading plan in Rick Warren’s book ‘Better Together’ and really looking forward to going to look at this material tonight in more depth with my L1FEgroup. We’ve been through practically every kind of personal and family crisis you could imagine and we’ve been there for each other. It’s community – it’s God’s plan, for you…

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