‘God has a university. It’s a small school. Few enroll, even fewer graduate. Very few indeed.God has this school because he does not have broken men. Instead He has several types of men. He has men who claim to be God’s authority…and aren’t; men who claim to be broken…and aren’t. And men who are God’s authority, but who are mad and unbroken. And he has regretfully, a spectroscopic mixture of everything in between. All of these He has in abundance; but broken men, hardly at all.
In God’s sacred school of submission and brokenness, why are there so few students? Because all who are in this school must suffer pain. And as you might guess, it is often the unbroken ruler (whom God sovereignly picks) who metes out the pain. David was once a student in this school, and Saul was God’s chosen way to crush David.
GENE EDWARDS, ‘A Tale of Three Kings.’
I followed a link from somewhere (maybe I heard Andy Stanley reference it?) and ended up downloading this amazing little book to my Kindle. It seems to be well known in the USA but perhaps less so here? It’s a gem. I read a lot of books this year but this one and Andrew Murray’s Absolute Surrender seem to have been the ones God really picked out for me.
If you’re a leader, or a follower – it’s a must read. If you’ve ever been hurt by people in church, especially by leaders, (people like me), read this – and pray for us, and do it better than us.
Written as a cautionary tale, the narrative style keeps on fooling one into recognising a bad guy- then seeing that it’s not him, or her, maybe it’s you!
The character studies of the ‘Three Kings’ are…
1) King David – the anointed and broken. He learned as the forgotten shepherd boy that he didn’t have to be top dog. God ‘went door to door in Israel’ looking for someone like that, who He could use, because he could trust him. But there was more breaking that needed to be done to him. He had to learn true submission. This took place through…
2) King Saul – the anointed unbroken. Gifted, charismatic, a ‘born leader.’ But he threw spears at people. As I read this I naturally thought of this leader and that I’d worked with. Then the Holy Spirit reminded me of how many times I’ve tried to pin people to the wall! ‘Kings claim the right to throw spears…‘ We do so to protect ourselves/ our position/ the truth as we see it etc. Problem? It turns you into a mad king. One can be simultaneously anointed and a mad king!
David had the opportunity to learn humility and brokenness in the school of pain under that mad king. How? By not throwing the spears back.
If you throw spears back, you’ll prove…”You are courageous. You stand for the right…You will not stand for injustice or unfair treatment. You are tough and can’t be pushed around. You are defender of the faith, keeper of the flame, detector of all heresy…all these attributes combine to prove that you are also a candidate for kingship… the Lord’s anointed. After the order of King Saul.”
But if you choose to be like David you’ll learn to dodge the spears instead. He stuck it out as long as he could; not moving on till God moved him on. If he’d not done this, he would have ended up as King Saul II! But in doing so ‘God cut king Saul out of HIS heart.’
And notice when David did leave, he didn’t try to take anyone with him. He didn’t split the kingdom. He left alone.
I think of two good friends who have confided in me similar stories of taking a ministry he took on, only to find the predecessor who invited them to the post, then refused to leave – until he had lined his own nest and badmouthed the new ‘incumbent.’ What do you do? They didn’t pick up spears, they didn’t defend themselves, and as a result they did not become Sauls but Davids, men I’m privileged to call friends. They will look back at those painful times and see that they were in ‘God’s small school’ – and did not fail the test. Now they’re prepared for greater things in the Kingdom.
The difficulty is you can’t judge whether anyone else is a Saul or a David. You can just decide for yourself, “I shall not practice the ways that cause kings to grow mad. I will not throw spears, nor will I allow hatred to grow in my heart.I will not avenge. I will not destroy the Lord’s anointed.”
Making that choice makes you a vessel God can use.
3) King Absalom.
So much to chew over in this particular character deserves a post all of its own – I’ll get back to you!
Anthony Delaney at Ivy Manchester
Knowing, Growing, Going
Filed under Christianity …
Lynn Swart- Your god is too expensive.
Let’s conspire together to act together to do some good this Christmas. Not allowing ourselves to become so enamoured with all the stuff we forget the stable. To do that, we have to spend less.
People right now are getting trapped.
Ex 32:1-4
Summary?
‘Come- make us gods…’
So they took off their jewellery and made it into an idol, and said ‘these are our saviours, and worshipped them. They corrupted themselves and invoked the wrath of the real God.
This was
1 Built on wrong inspiration.
It says ‘When the people saw…’
At the same time as Moses was hearing/listening to God.
What do you see? Genesis 3 talks about how Eve was deceived by what she saw sensually and naturally – that closed down the hearing of the supernatural voice of God. We lose the bigger picture. We stop trusting God & fashion our own. Shaped the god they wanted to accommodate them.
They were blinded by their stuff. Obsessed with the calf so they couldn’t see the cloud! God was close, but the calf blocked their view.
They said, ‘We don’t know.’
Ignorance can lead to insecurities & then to the wrong decisions. Teenagers get into drugs
Athletes take steroids
Faith gets robbed from our hearts by fear. We want to spend as much but give less.
Their god was built around a wrong focus.
They wanted comfortable, easy to control gods, convenient. We want convenient church. Scoring the worship and the preaching. We want Jesus to do what we want. But he’s not there to be controlled.
But Paul said, ‘for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.’ We are meant to lay down our lives and say its a good cost.
We choose between control & comfort or the cost of conviction
We have to watch the revelry that they threw themselves into as well! It can have awful consequences after the Christmas party.
Aaron tried to add a bit of empty worship in with that revelry. Watch that in our lives.
Most of us tend to worship our work, work at our play and play at our worship.
Let’s not lose our focus on the real God this Christmas. Destroy false altars, images and worship.
The gods the world presents are so expensive – but the real God gave it all for us! John 3:16
God loves
He loves us
He loves people
He loves to give
He doesn’t want to take your golden earrings!
Jesus paid it all
He’s not a golden calf-
He’s the Lamb who was slain!
Carl Beech: Iron Sharpens Iron
Here’s my notes on Carl’s recent talk when we were at Soul Survivor, Watford. Great stuff and it was a sell out! Looking forward to playing at home for the ‘North’ version in January! Details of that so you can book in here (why not organise a group from your church?);
http://www.new-wine.org/events/mens-daysIron Sharpens Iron
IRON SHARPENS IRON
Life’s up and down, and often gets very hard – and we men retreat too often. Testosterone gives us ‘fight or flight’ but we run too much too soon, rather than go through the muck and mud.
Romans 5:3 says ‘We glory in our sufferings’ why – because of what it produces! If we didn’t go through this we’ll be spoilt brats who sulk when something goes wrong. 9 out of 12 apostles were killed. William Carey saw his wife die. Peter preaches and sees 3000 saved, Stephen says, ‘I’ll have a crack at that.’ And gets 3000 bricks on his head. This helps us understand why so many men are down and depressed. The measure of a man is how you hold up in those times.
When you gave your life to Jesus, you got a target on your back. Carl had a medium once say to him Christians GLOW. Those who know who they are in Christ glow more strongly!
Paul the apostle was known in hell. (The sons of Scheva weren’t).
You are known in hell, too.
But what are you known for!?
Picture of a bullfight. The bullfighter stacks everything in his favour. He has helpers who put spears into its neck, so its losing blood. And all it can do is look at the ground. That’s how our enemy works. To get us men looking down. Men with spears in them.
But the Holy Spirit keeps saying, ‘Look at me! Look up!’
The enemy wants to take you out.
You might be just clinging on. Feeling a fraud.
God says, ‘Lift up your eyes.’
1 Kings 18. Elijah and the prophets of Baal.
vs 22ff
Victory!!
But then look at the next chapter and he’s running from this woman Jezebel, fearful and suicidal.
Fight – or flight!
1 Sam 17.
David and Goliath.
What’s the difference? He focuses on God. Fight!
But he had a wandering eye. He’s a passionate man. And passionate men have a flip side. 2 Sam 11. He can’t keep his trousers on.
Samson was a chancer. Strong alright, but he had a flip side. Your testosterone will take you places you don’t want to go. So how do we stay on the narrow way? How do we not fall?
Or when we do, get up again – because we have resurrection DNA .
This is not about solo Rambo Christians. We run alongside others, and if we do – we’ll get there in the end. We need relationships that are vulnerable and to pick each other up on things and pick us up when we fall.
The more you press into enemy territory, the more pressure we’ll face. We need to be like the army, the SAS, to get close to the enemy so you can be effective – you go into ‘hard routine.’ The enemy is overrunning the church because we refuse hard routine, and instead we sulk when we get a little knock.
The Lord can extract the spears from your neck. So you can lift up your head!
Andy Hawthorne: Called to Impact!
Andy Hawthorne
When you became a Christian you weren’t called to come to church but to BE the church.
Success is not a big building for us to gather in, but when we impact the world. The real action is on the pitch, but the 15 minute break with the manager is important
Ephesians 2:10
We
- not me. Corporate promises! Not solo flight Christianity.
Are God’s masterpiece
We wow God!! He smiles over you
Created in Christ
To do good works
Prepared in advance for us to do
If I don’t do mine, the world misses out. Go to the grave having done them,
This verse doesn’t sit alone. We need its context.
It starts with the worst news ever. Very bad news.
As for you, you were dead, following the devil, an object of wrath!
That’s harsh. But without Christ, we are sinners. Dead men walking. All of us, the best of us. Thoughts, attitudes, and actions. Dark hearts. Messing the world up: and God is angry about that. Everything that spoils the world. Righteous anger. You think God doesn’t get angry at what makes us angry? When you read about Vincent Tabak, or human trafficking etc.
But
Because of his great love… Jesus!! Grace!! Good news!! Made alive!! The punishment taken for us! I’m glad I’m a Christian! Get passionate about that
Because passionate people change the world.
Darkness came on the earth for three hours as he took the fall. Our fall
Our substitute
The divine But in your life.
Not saved by good works
But by that good work
For good works!
If you don’t want to impact the world for good, you’re not really a Christian! You have to work out what those works are, you’ve been appointed for some good works.
The gospel works!
You are called to something! Discover it.
1) invest in relationships
And
2) invite people to church, to Alpha etc
Invest and invite = Impact!!
That’s how the early church grew exponentially.
THE CALL TO GENEROSITY – Nick Duffy at Ivy MCR
Nick Duffy at Ivy Manchester
CALLED to be Generous
2 Cor 9:7-15
You should each give what you have decided in your heart to give. You shouldn’t give if you don’t want to. You shouldn’t give because you are forced to. God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to shower all kinds of blessings on you. In all things and at all times you will have everything you need. You will do more and more good works. 9 It is written,
“They have spread their gifts around to poor people.
Their good works continue forever.” —(Psalm 112:9)
10 God supplies seed to the planter. He supplies bread for food. God will also supply and increase the amount of your seed. He will increase the results of your good works. 11 You will be made rich in every way. Then you can always give freely. We will take your many gifts to the people who need them. And they will give thanks to God.
12 Your gifts meet the needs of God’s people. And that’s not all. Your gifts also cause many people to thank God.
13 You have shown yourselves to be worthy by what you have given. So people will praise God because you obey him. That proves that you really believe the good news about Christ. They will also praise God because you share freely with them and with everyone else. 14 Their hearts will be filled with longing for you when they pray for you. God has given you grace that is better than anything.
15 Let us give thanks to God for his gift. It is so great that no one can tell how wonderful it really is!
Paul’s challenging the Corinthians to help people who are in need, that they’ll not personally benefit from. To help the suffering church. The Macedonian church had already stepped up (and they were SKINT), so should they.
Generosity is a matter of the heart, not of the head.
The head looks at the economic situation, and says, ‘What if?’
A cheerful, trusting heart says, ‘Why not?’
God sees the reason of the heart.
Generosity is second nature
Have you had that new nature yet?
Not to let your left hand know what your right hand’s doing.
Giving makes you cheerful.
It comes from knowing where it all comes from. GOD is our generous provider. Seed and Bread. Enough for you and to share. (vs 7 & 8)
We think about what we’ve not got.
Rather than that we have so much!
Luke 12:48
Much will be required of everyone who has been given much. Even more will be asked of the person who is supposed to take care of much. what we have got.
God will give you everything you need.
Anything on top of that – is to be generous with.
We get dependent on our pay cheque, rather than him. Who do you look to?
When you go shopping, ask – ‘Do I really need this, or have I already got it – in a different colour.’
Step back from consumerism – and ask, pray – ‘Do I really need to spend this – on myself? Could this go elsewhere?’
We live in a world of poor extremes – there are more obese people in the world now than starving.
A man is not determined by what he earns, or what he owns.
When we surround ourselves by stuff, we don’t see the need or the people around us. God’s given us what we need, focus on the need around us.
What lasts forever?
Only people.
People are the most precious thing on this planet.
There won’t be an updated and improved version of you – God made you unique and precious as we are.
People are the only investment that lasts for eternity. Be generous with sharing your time, treasure, your words – your faith.
God is calling us into a deeper place of ministry with the poor and vulnerable at this church, in our city. So much is already being done. We’re going to be a CAP centre. 33% of those CAP are in contact with have considered suicide. We get to practically share the love of Jesus. That glorifies God! (vs 11). They see HIS heart, in your heart.
Generosity enables more people to be reached, touched, loved, connected to HIM.
Vs 13 says if you really get the gospel, you’ll get this.
Martin Luther, ‘The last place to be converted is our wallet.’ What you spend on, shows who or what you really worship.
Vs 15 celebrates the greatest gift – Jesus on the cross. It’s really true you can’t outgive THAT! God is outrageously generous.
Once you understand John 3:16, you see God is a giver not a taker. Grab hold of the gospel and it will grab you. Giving becomes second nature, because you have that new nature. Remind yourself of what God has done for us, for free, in Jesus. Give yourself first to him – and let him transform you. Let him add to you, a harvest of righteousness!
Andy Kind on APOLOGETICS
Here’s my notes from hearing Andy speak yesterday:
Andy is a comic, and a Christian, and a communicator. He said he wasn’t a preacher, but he was preaching – so I guess that makes you a preacher?
He kept being funny too, couldn’t help himself. I thought he was very funny. But you had to be there so I’ve not put the jokes in.
APOLOGETICS
Means to give a defence – based on idea that Christian worldview makes sense. 1 Peter tells us how to do it.
Some people think Christian faith is nonsense from the start, that’s their default. Others are trying to make sense of it but have issues (often the same ones) with suffering, science, harm caused by religion in history etc. Apologetics can help, but not convert.
People say, ‘There’s no proof for God.’
But they mean evidence. Evidence is not proof. They are right that there’s no proof for God. Like you can’t prove love. You can put forward a good case for it, but can’t prove it. And I don’t refuse to marry based on my limited knowledge of that probability.
Anyway, God’s primary aim is not that we acknowledge he exists, but that we engage with him in relationship.
You can put forward a good case for atheism – but that doesn’t disprove God.
Science is about process – how things happen
The Bible is about purpose- why things happen
We don’t need to defend religion – Jesus never set himself up as starting a religion! Religion doesn’t have to be a force for good, we argue for Christ and his resurrection.
Moral argument – we all know the holocaust was wrong, there are some things we all agree are objectively not right. Where did that rightness and wrongness come from? If it’s just about biology and naturalism – where do you root morality? It’s totally subjective, home made rules that suit you now where you are – open to review at any point.
Christian faith rides or falls based on the resurrection.
New Testament scholars (who may or may not even be believers) agree there are 4 facts to deal with:
1) Jesus was buried by Joseph of Arimathea
2) Women were the first witnesses (which strengthens the historicity)
3) multiple appearances post resurrection
4) Despite every apparent reason not to believe anymore after the cross; something happened to change them so that the church started. something they were willing to die rather than renounce.
Christians aren’t perfect. We aren’t saying we are right, we aren’t even good or perfect.
But Christianity confirms & affirms what really matters about the things that really matter.
About love, beauty, hope, purpose
It speaks to all these areas.
Let’s affirm what science can and can’t do.
Side note:
At one point in the talk Andy was challenged from someone sitting in the congregation. He’d said that he didn’t believe it was necessary to believe Adam and Eve were real people and the literal Creation account rather than evolution and still be a Christian. The challenger took issue with this and there was a little back and forth on it. It’s the kind of question you could endlessly bat around and some people delight in doing so unprofitably – nobody really wants to change their minds just air their views.
Unfortunately this could be the only thing many people who went there end up remembering and talking about, rather than the rest of the talk which in my opinion was excellent, well prepared and graciously given. That’s why I think good manners should dictate one doesn’t interrupt a preacher (especially a guest) if one disagrees with them, unless they set it up as a discussion.
THE CHURCH BUILDING CYCLE. (ALC Network Day)@StephenMatthew_
Stephen Matthew has become a friend whose wisdom I appreciate greatly, he has been very generous with his time and encouragement, mentoring me individually through numerous conversations over in Bradford and also coming across to meet with some of our leaders at Ivy recently as we prayed and planned into our future. He is a surveyor by background and combines theological acumen, practical skills and a pastoral heart through 25 years of ministry to be a man with a brain worth picking for anyone who wants to build a prevailing church. Here’s my notes on his talk at the ALC Network day this week:
There are only two kinds of churches:
- The church everybody wants to build (It’s there in Acts 2, and the ideal church, it inspires us).
- The church God wants you to build.
If you try and copy the church ‘out there’ you’ll always fail.
God wants to speak to YOU about YOUR people and place. It’s always bespoke.
You work the process and start to build from scratch or reinvent what’s been built so far.
What comes next carries challenges. When people get involved. People present challenges! You hit the barriers, you get frustrated by money etc. How to sustain momentum?
One Pastor he knew, got a very excited small team around him and for two years planned to change everything. Expected eager embracing of the whole thing. It didn’t happen. Why? Well it had taken two years for him to get excited about it. It would take a while for the people to get there too!
Church building is not linear – it’s CYCLICAL.
You don’t do one bit then it’s done, then do the next bit. One thing leads to the next. There is nothing in the church building process that you change which stays the same. You have to keep spinning these plates. Every church has a building CYCLE. 8 things:
1. Communicate Clear Vision – Consistently
Tell them again and again and in various ways what kind of church you’re going to be. Through music, posters, message. Proverbs 29:18.
2. Change – in line with the Vision
This tests their trust in you. Will you DO IT? If you’ve talked about it, you have to do some things about it. It shows you’re serious about it. Appoint new ministries etc. Start something.
3. Use the Power of a Good Report
Because some will love the change and some will hate it, and if you don’t take hold of it, the negative report will always win out. Use testimony and good report – of lives being changed. Eventually the good will overwhelm the bad.
4. Model the Culture
People have to see it in me as the leader. I have to be devoted, if we’re going to ‘devote ourselves.’ If we’re going to reach the new culture I have to look like the church we’re going to build. ‘Set and example as a leader
5. Regularly call for the spirit of Agreement
This usually looks like turning up. I agree – because I’m going to sign up for that and be there to help. What triggered Nehemiah to build? What he felt. He felt what God felt for the ruins of his city. We have to call people to feel it too, then pull together. Invite this agreement.
6. Call for SPECIFIC Involvement.
Because some people will lavish words of agreement on you – but it’s all words. They need eyeballing and saying, ‘We need you – HERE. Have you ever considered being involved here?’ You have to call for involvement. Get proactive in speaking to them, calling forth that involvement. Let them know how to get involved. They should increasingly feel involved, the model is that it’s all hands on deck – ‘So how do I get involved?’ Nehemiah ended up with shopkeepers and goldsmiths and priests building with him. But they all FELT IT and made the decision to build right where they are. Put a ministry fair on, with desks and stalls – and get the healthy competition going to get more people involved in something they will love that will benefit the Kingdom.
7. Celebrate their Contribution
We only survive because of our volunteer army. Honour and celebrate the volunteers. Hybels says this positive volunteer cameraderie never happens by accident. How do you foster it? FEED them. Get them a drink. Volunteers get a sandwich. Have a volunteer party and thank and celebrate them. Depts put forward their ‘volunteer of the year.’ Usually someone hardly anyone has ever heard of.
8. Keep the Prize before their Eyes
Why are you doing this? Because it affects this... When they were building, Nehemiah had the trumpet blower at his side so if they were getting spread out they could be rallied together. Which gets you back to the top of the circle again.
When you don’t do any of this – things slow down.
What do you need to do more of in your church to keep the wheel turning?
Final observation – this needs to happen in every department of the church. For it to happen anywhere in the church it has to happen everywhere in the church. Every leader, every department. It’s not just about what comes from the platform on a Sunday.
Jim Collins – GREAT BY CHOICE. Catalyst 2011
Anyone who’s a student of Leadership will be familiar with Collins. In this talk he gave us a synopsis of his new book – GREAT BY CHOICE. Buying it was a no brainer.
Good is the enemy of Great.
Systematically, what separates the two?
He takes an empirical approach to that.
Compare those that became great, with those that didn’t – in the same field and circumstance.
Greatness is not about circumstance but discipline and choice.
Rate the world you’re in, 1 to 10.
1= Nothing can hurt you, it’s moving slow. Stable.
10 – There are consequences to messing up, things can hurt you, turbulent.
Question – why do some organisations and leaders THRIVE in the face of change and still perform very well?
You get Great by Choice.
The answer is not what happens to you, but the choices and actions that separate some from others. What have they found?
LIFE IS PEOPLE. It all begins with people. As he said in Good to Great – you need to ask Who should be on the bus, then get them in the right seats, THEN figure out where the bus should be going. The question is not WHAT but WHO. If we get the right WHO on the bus we’ll get the right what. Change every WHAT question into a WHO question. This becomes more and more important in a turbulent world. How do you prepare for what you can’t predict? What’s most important is who you’re with.
There is still leadership in this equation. What distinguishes prevailing leaders? Not charisma. Force of personality isn’t the key attribute. You could have a leader who’s weird or who hasn’t got much personality at all. It’s not about personality. The key attribute? HUMILITY. Humility of a special type – a burning ambition channelled outward into a cause bigger than yourself, combined with the WILL to do whatever it takes. (Level 5 Leadership)
They next looked then at How the mighty fall. Found a series of stages, it starts with success being connected to HUBRIS – ‘outrageous arrogance to neglect of people’ and we start to believe all our decisions are good. Bad decisions with good intentions are still bad decisions. After that comes ‘the undisciplined pursuit of more.’ Then comes denial, grasping wrong solutions… and it’s downhill from there.
Is humility and will enough? No, we need more.
Exactly 100 years ago, Oct 1911, two men set off to go to the South Pole. Captain Robert Falcon Scott and Captain Roald Amundsen set off from their respective base camps on the Antarctic coast, each trying to reach the South Pole first. Amundsen reached it on 15 December 1911 and returned to civilisation within three months. Scott and his four men arrived at the Pole 33 days later, on 17 January 1912, and faced an agonising struggle to get back to base camp. They all perished.
So Amundsen got there and back, on time – according to his journals planned in advance. Scott and his men died 11 miles from supplies. Why in such unpredictable conditions did one succeed and the others die? What they did maps perfectly the results Collins team found.
Level 5 Ambition. It begins there. They share that. But there were many differences that then become apparent.
A Fanatical Discipline.
Imagine you’d decided that you were going to walk a massive distance. And you decided that whether it was good weather or bad, up a hill or down, you’d do 20 miles a day.
Another man waits in his tent because the weathers’ bad. And they don’t do 20 miles that day. But they do 40 on a good day, and 2 on a bad day, and so on.
Principle? You need to do a 20 mile march every day – and know what your 20 mile march is. No matter what, recession or boom time. If you want to get killed in an uncertain environment, you do occasional 6 or 17, or 30.
Amundsen was a fanatic about this. He would do 15- 20 miles a day.That’s what he planned, it’s what he did.
Scott, however, would say, ‘It’s terrible today, let’s stay in, boys.’
On a good day, Amundsen would not over reach. When the pole was close, and they didn’t know where Scott was, they didn’t ever do one giant burst – even in perfect conditions. Despite the pressure. They could have got there if they’d done 45 miles. They did 17.
Empirical Creativity.
There’s a certain humility you need to say, “I’m going to figure out what works and use that.’ Scott’s engine blocks cracked on his motor sledges. So much for the high tech solution of the day. Then his ponies froze! They had to man-haul their sleds.
Amundsen knew he couldn’t figure it out for himself, so – he went and lived with Eskimos, to learn. Eskimos said, ‘Dogs are better.’ Amundsen did everything based on empirical sense, he read all the data from other explorer’s journals as to where to set up base.
Fire bullets, then cannon balls.
That’s what you do in an uncertain environment to TEST. Imagine you fire all your cannon balls and miss a moving target. Instead, fire the bullets – look where you hit. Then, get the cannon balls out.
Productive Paranoia.
Be prepared for what you can’t predict. Always ask, what if? But don’t just get sacred by it – channel the anxiety into action.
Amundsen calculated how much supplies were needed and put three times more than he needed. Scott had just enough. (He thought).
Scott put one flag on his supply depots, Amundsen put black marks 10 miles around it.
cf. Herb Kelleher – ‘We predicted 11 of the last 3 recessions.’ And they’re still going great at South West.
The only mistakes you learn from are the ones you survive!
We are here to do something great – aren’t we?
The signature of mediocracy is not an unwillingness to change or innovate, or the unwillingness to grow. The signature of mediocracy is CHRONIC INCONSISTENCY.
So, what can we hang on to – no matter what?
Our VALUES.
Only values endure, no matter what.
So, preserve the core, but innovate, and have BHAGS.
We must understand the differences between practices and values. Change the practices but keep the values. We do things different, but honour that which endures.
TEN POINT TO DO LIST
Run your Good to Great diagnostic on your enterprise and on you and your team.
Answer the Question – How many seats do you have and what will you do to get 100% of the right people in the right seats in the next year? What you’re doing is too important to have the wrong people, in the wrong seats.
Who will you allow to Mentor you? Build a personal board of Directors.
Get your personal Hedgehog right; Intersection of your passion, your genetic encoding (what you were made to do) and the place where you are making an udeniable contribution of value to others – never let go of that hedgehog.
Set a 20 mile March and stick to it. (I will spend x amount of time for this, and x amount for that, on these things that matter). What’s your march? Your churches?
Fire bullets. Test things. Fire 6 bullets by the end of the year. Then when eh bullets hit, fire a cannon ball.
Turn off your electronic gadgets for two days every two weeks. You can’t be present, disciplined and calm in the face of chaos and the gadgets rob us of that. One day a wek – no gadgets.
Have a Stop Doing List. What do you NOT do? Some people have to put that on our to do list. (By the way I wrote a book on this! Go to the book page and find out how to order it, thanks for the plug, Jim!)
Double your reach to people half your age – by changing practices without changing the core. (Preserve the core, stimulate progress).
Set a BHAG that makes you really useful. (At 65, Peter Drucker had only written a third of his books). Drucker said to him once, ‘You will probably be alive, and be successful. Why not go out and make yourself useful?’
Jon Hancock – @jonhancock_tv at Ivy MCR – Micaiah 1 Kings 22
Here are my notes on Jon’s talk tonight, Ivy MCR Grow Groups are welcome to use them for your meetings too.
Jon Hancock is a BBC TV producer who has been at Ivy about a year, the family moved up with the Beeb move to Media City etc.
Jon talked about our journey as a church recently and the symbolism of that:
Meeting at Gorton Monastery, reclaiming that place.
Then the Trafford Centre where so many ‘worship’ every day.
NOW we’re off to the Vue Cinema near Media City: We’re moving all over the city worshipping Jesus in these strategic and symbolic places!
Please pray for this next move!! Can you provide lifts etc – contact the office please.
Study: 1 Kings 22
Micaiah
Looking at it from a TV producer point of view – this is a very interesting story…
There’s a ‘OH NO!” – Fist in mouth – ‘I can’t believe he did that’ moment in this story – look out for it.
Characters:
King Jehosophat – at heart, one of the good guys. Wanted to restore the nation back to God, but a bit weak willed
King Ahab (booo!!!). Loved to go to war a bit too much. married to Jezebel, a very bad sort.
Micaiah – this is the only time we hear of him in scripture.
1 For three years there was no war between Aram and Israel. 2 But in the third year Jehoshaphat king of Judah went down to see the king of Israel. 3 The king of Israel had said to his officials, “Don’t you know that Ramoth Gilead belongs to us and yet we are doing nothing to retake it from the king of Aram?”
4 So he asked Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to fight against Ramoth Gilead?”
Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” 5 But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “First seek the counsel of the LORD.”
Now Ahab’s desire may or may have been the right thing, but it could have just been a rush of blood. Jehosophat wants to consult God.
Ahab then called in a non – prophet organisation (Rentaprophet) who’d say what he wanted to hear.
6 So the king of Israel brought together the prophets—about four hundred men—and asked them, “Shall I go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?”
“Go,” they answered, “for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand.”
7 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no longer a prophet of the LORD here whom we can inquire of?”
What does this remind you of?! A spoilt brat of a monarch, with people sucking up all around, like Queenie on Black Adder. Jon showed a fabulous clip.
8 The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one prophet through whom we can inquire of the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.”
“The king should not say such a thing,” Jehoshaphat replied.
9 So the king of Israel called one of his officials and said, “Bring Micaiah son of Imlah at once.”
10 Dressed in their royal robes, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting on their thrones at the threshing floor by the entrance of the gate of Samaria, with all the prophets prophesying before them. 11 Now Zedekiah son of Kenaanah had made iron horns and he declared, “This is what the LORD says: ‘With these you will gore the Arameans until they are destroyed.’”
12 All the other prophets were prophesying the same thing. “Attack Ramoth Gilead and be victorious,” they said, “for the LORD will give it into the king’s hand.”
13 The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the other prophets without exception are predicting success for the king. Let your word agree with theirs, and speak favorably.”
14 But Micaiah said, “As surely as the LORD lives, I can tell him only what the LORD tells me.”
15 When he arrived, the king asked him, “Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or not?”
“Attack and be victorious,” he answered, “for the LORD will give it into the king’s hand.” (? Was he being sarcastic?)
16 The king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?”
17 Then Micaiah answered, “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the LORD said, ‘These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.’”
18 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad?”
19 Micaiah continued, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne with all the multitudes of heaven standing around him on his right and on his left. 20 And the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?’
“One suggested this, and another that. 21 Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD and said, ‘I will entice him.’
22 “‘By what means?’ the LORD asked.
“‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said.
“‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the LORD. ‘Go and do it.’
23 “So now the LORD has put a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours. The LORD has decreed disaster for you.”
That by the way, was the ‘fist in mouth – I can’t believe he said that’ moment!
24 Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah went up and slapped Micaiah in the face. “Which way did the spirit from the LORD go when he went from me to speak to you?” he asked.
25 Micaiah replied, “You will find out on the day you go to hide in an inner room.”
26 The king of Israel then ordered, “Take Micaiah and send him back to Amon the ruler of the city and to Joash the king’s son 27 and say, ‘This is what the king says: Put this fellow in prison and give him nothing but bread and water until I return safely.’”
In other words, ‘Stuff you – I’m not bothered – I’ll do it anyway.’
Question: Are you aware of shaking off what God has said in the past – how has that worked out?
28 Micaiah declared, “If you ever return safely, the LORD has not spoken through me.” Then he added, “Mark my words, all you people!”
29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead. 30 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will enter the battle in disguise, but you wear your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.
(Gutsy! Great plan! But it didn’t work out how he thought)
31 Now the king of Aram had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders, “Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel.” 32 When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they thought, “Surely this is the king of Israel.” So they turned to attack him, but when Jehoshaphat cried out, 33 the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel and stopped pursuing him.
34 But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the sections of his armor. The king told his chariot driver, “Wheel around and get me out of the fighting. I’ve been wounded.” 35 All day long the battle raged, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. The blood from his wound ran onto the floor of the chariot, and that evening he died. 36 As the sun was setting, a cry spread through the army: “Every man to his town. Every man to his land!”
37 So the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried him there. 38 They washed the chariot at a pool in Samaria (where the prostitutes bathed), and the dogs licked up his blood, as the word of the LORD had declared.
What can we take away from this amazing story: questions to ponder and discuss:
- Do we consult God – at all? Enough?
- Do we ask the right people?
- Do we just follow the crowd like the RentaProphets?
If you have something to say – even if you’re right, there’s a way to say it and a way not to – is Micaiah somewhat too sarcastic and cutting?
Do you have to give it/ say it? Had this prophet been so negative in the past he could no longer deliver the word of the Lord because it’s not just the words but the heart – ‘grace AND truth.’
Is it your place?
Do we sit on it long enough to digest it or just spit it out without chewing it over?
Two major themes:
CONSEQUENCES & REPUTATION.
Re the Riots that have been going on – how many of those involved were only thinking of the ‘now’ moment – and not aware that there are consequences. Every decision has consequences.
There were consequences for Ahab’s choices throughout his life, despite MANY warnings. He closed his mind and heart.
There were consequences for Micaiah. Maybe he spent the rest of his life in prison!
There are consequences for those caught – in terms of reputation.
Ahab had a reputation as a tough king.
Micaiah had a rep as one who’d speak the truth, even when the truth hurt. What do you want a reputation for?
We are writing a story.
You are writing the story of your life.
You are the co-author with God of that story.
What are you writing?
Quote: ‘You can’t turn back the clock, but you can wind it up again.’
You have more chapters to write! You have not reached the end of your story!
‘Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped.’ (African proverb).
DEBRA GREEN: Nehemiah 10 – 13. The house of God.
Debra rounded off our series tonight.
She began by talking about competing voices – a time in the week when there were 2 sat navs going in the church, which one do we listen to?
God’s word to is the Bible, and Nehemiah kept having to come back to that, and call people back to what the Lord had said. 10:28 Now the rest of the people—the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the Nethinim, and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding— these joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes. At what age can a child understand and come into the things of God?
Josh 24:15 – Choose who you will serve! As for me AND MY HOUSE we will serve the Lord. That’s a mission statement – it means you will live different:
to be committed will affect your relationships. The Jewish people were told to keep their culture and lifestyle separate from those who did not have that same mission, or else it would end up deflecting them from his best for them.
It will affect your pocket: It’s making God Lord of our finances, giving back to the Lord from all he has given to us: …if the peoples of the land brought wares or any grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we would not buy it from them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day; and we would forego the seventh year’s produce and the exacting of every debt. Also we made ordinances for ourselves, to exact from ourselves yearly one-third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: or the showbread, for the regular grain offering, for the regular burnt offering of the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the set feasts; for the holy things, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the house of our God. We cast lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for bringing the wood offering into the house of our God, according to our fathers’ houses, at the appointed times year by year, to burn on the altar of the LORD our God as it is written in the Law. And we made ordinances to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, to the house of the LORD; All this is about offering it all back to God. You can’t make Jesus Lord of all except your money. You may think you can’t afford to tithe? ‘As for me and my house…’ conflicts with that! You can’t afford not to. Making a serious commitment financially is part of your discipleship.
It’s our RESPONSIBILITY – that’s a word that comes again and again here. As people who belong to the house of God, will you also look after God’s house – or do you just want him to look after yours?
They say, ‘We will not neglect the house of our God.’
Chapter 11: Now the leaders of the people dwelt at Jerusalem; the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to dwell in Jerusalem, the holy city, and nine-tenths were to dwell in other cities. And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered themselves to dwell at Jerusalem.
10% of the people volunteered to go and move back into the city, even though it was still a mess! This is incarnational ministry, like the Eden workers going into the inner city in the name of Christ -to just love and serve in the hardest and most broken places. There’s a blessing that comes when we respond to a call like that.
Let’s pray for Eden, and whether we are called to that or not, we are ALL called to live a radical life for Jesus
verse 22: Also the overseer of the Levites at Jerusalem was Uzzi the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micha, of the sons of Asaph, the singers in charge of the service of the house of God. 23 For it was the king’s command concerning them that a certain portion should be for the singers, a quota day by day. God talks about worship here: that we should give him thanks and praise.
It talks about one of Asaphs descendants; he was in charge of the worship teams, and Asaph was worship leader in David’s day; so one generation is passing something on to the next.
If you teach the laws of God unto your children you will pass on the blessings of faithfulness. There is a lot in Nehemiah about families worshipping together.
When something was achieved, many times in the Bible – there was an act of worship, celebration and purification: we see that again in Ch 12: Now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings and singing, with cymbals and stringed instruments and harps. And the sons of the singers gathered together from the countryside around Jerusalem, from the villages… I brought the leaders of Judah up on the wall, and appointed two large thanksgiving choirs.
Musicians came and stood on the walls, with 2 large choirs on them. That’s how big and strong the walls were! That’s worth singing about!
The people got the trumpets out – that’s significant; warfare instruments, that called people together. 1 Cor 15:52 – it’s associated with bringing the dead to life! God is blowing a trumpet over your sound, a clear sound that raises you. When the choirs come together, there will be a sound in the city that will be heard far and wide.
The choirs went in opposite directions round the walls, to dedicate the whole city to the Lord. People did this for 40 days around the M60 when it was completed!
vs 43- Also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and the children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off.
There is a sound that can be heard a long way off. It’s getting louder, this isn’t about volume. It’s about holiness, about people saying, ‘as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord…’ everyone could hear that.
We need to take the love of Jesus out into the streets. vs 46: For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chiefs of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God..
There had not been anything like that in 600 years – but when the people of God restored, rebuilt and they remembered the God who had done it and celebrated him, it affected generations after them.
When they celebrated his goodness and thanked him, great power was released! They often got a memorial stone and set it up as a visible reminder of a spiritual milestone. When Jacob did that, remembered that God had been with him, the name of the place – to the house of God.
