Category Archives: Religion

May 20 2013
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Bible, Christianity, Church, Demons, Elijah, Evangelism, Faith, Healing, Heaven, history, Holy Spirit, Jesus, leadership, Prayer, prophecy, Religion, Theology, Worship

Fire carriers – Rachel Hickson at the Message Prayer day

rachel_hickson_800 copy

What are Fire Carriers?

People who carry presence, passion and power

Lk 3:16
We are meant to be baptised with the Holy Spirit and with fire! Fire and water mix in God’s economy.

Stay wet – monastic
And on fire – mission

When dry people carry fire it’s dangerous.

But we get wet and put our feet on Britain’s dry ground.
Isaiah 44:3
This is not just for us, it’s for our descendents.

Wet people burn!

If we are dry and we burn we get burnt out. Some people are scary for all the wrong reasons. So stay wet in the presence of God
1 Kings 18:33-38
The prophets of Baal were the new spirituality.
They set up a dry altar. Prayed to the God of fire.

Elijah says – wet it again and again. Let the water overflow. It’s seriously wet! Because you have serious challenges and God wants to put some serious fire on you. Fire that touches you touches everything around you.
Are you a fire carrier?

It’s great to touch the dry ground – but we have to be wet first.

Ps 42:2
Are you thirsty?!

Where can I go?! Ever feel that?

Acts 3:19
Change your mind and priority. Think different!
Be far more determined to be close to Jesus.

Don’t look at who you are – you can’t even preach one sermon without Him!

God has a call on you and he wants you to hit the mark. The designation on your life is different to anyone else’s.

Have a time of refreshing!

Dt 28:12
Let the rain fall – open up heaven I’ve me!

2. God wants you to be Passionate People

You will make friends, and others will hate your passion.
Nothing great was ever accomplished with Passion.

The Enemy wants to silence true passion.
Passion is irritating. It causes a response. Others get their status quo threatened and want us to calm down. Like the crowd in Mk10:48 – who tried to calm Bartimaeus’ shout.

What’s the cry in you?
The Jesus shout!

Acts 4 – here was a passionate church. And a passionate church is usually a persecuted church. History tells us this. We think miracles are all we need. But look at Acts 4:16-20

Jesus is always the name they want to shut up and spread it. But Peter & John say ‘We have a Passion for that name!’

You carry a heavenly virus
It lives on dead people
Those who have died to our name
And come alive to his name.

There will never be an innoculation that works against this virus.

Jer 20:9
There’s a fire inside you. When we yet to hold it in, we get weary. Our weariness comes because we stopped letting Jesus out. We are Jesus people.

Don’t run out of steam
Don’t lose the main thing!

3. Be Power Carriers

Isaiah 8:18
We are for signs and wonders in the land!
Let signs & wonders be the children, the twins we walk around with.

Signs and wonders are extraordinary events that make people Wonder about God!

So many people need that key of hope to unlock the gates.

Mk 16:17-18
We are to change atmospheres!
To set people free from whatever torments them.

Be people of Presence. Passion and Power to make a difference.

Apr 09 2013
Bible, Christianity, Evangelism, Faith, Jesus, Manchester, Prayer, Religion, wisdom, Worship

SOW MORE SEED – BILL HYBELS

From DVD of Willow Creek GLS last year – watched with staff team today.

Parable of talents. – Luke 8

Despite how bountifully the seed is sown (the good news of God’s love). Some people reject it- but don’t get discouraged. Some of it will land on good soil, too.

The maths of this is amazing for the seed rejection ratio – he says there’s a 75% rejection rate.

But then look at the maths of the tree that represents someone who says yes and has their life changed.  How much is produced by a transformed life.

We want to see more trees!

So – what must I do?

PLANT MORE SEED!

To overcome the rejection maths. Don’t just complain about the rejection rate!

Plant different kinds of seed.

We have to sow a lot more seed in our communities.

Alpha Course

Just Walk Across The Room

Experiment!!

You will see more trees.

Leader – this depends on you. The church takes its cues from you. One of the fundamental requirements of a leader is to learn, experiment and stay curious. So entropy will not occur on your watch.  Become incessant tinkerers. Keep thinking how to do it better.

Change your middle name to BETTER.

Become better.

You’d better!

And inspire everyone around you to get better.

Because trees are worth it!

 

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Apr 06 2013
1 Comment
Christianity, Discipleship, Evangelism, Faith, Jesus, Manchester, Prayer, Religion, Theology

Why the Great Commission has stopped me ‘Evangelising’ and ‘Discipling’ people.

Matt 28:16 So the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain Jesus had designated. When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus here is sending people out to tell people about Him. To be witnesses for him. WITNESSES. Unfortunately, this whole ‘witnessing/evangelism’ idea can become about formulas, or something that makes people feel guilty because they’re not good at. They don’t like the idea of handing out leaflets out in the street or going door to door. If that IS your thing great, but a lot of people rule themselves out because they think witnessing has been turned into processes of mithering people. Or trying to argue.

I saw a status on Facebook that read ‘”I will now become a Christian on the basis of your arguments and dogmatic presentation of key doctrines.’ Said nobody, ever.”

And I know people who’d say they follow Jesus 100% but… they don’t know enough Bible or enough answers to all the clever objections people come out with, and they don’t want people to think they’re arrogant so they think they’d better not get involved either. But that’s not how this started.  From that day on the mountain till now, it’s not what you know, it’s WHO you know.

By the way, that means it’s not being arrogant either, because Christians DO have knowledge that most people don’t have, but it’s a different kind of knowledge. It’s not ‘I know something you don’t know.’ It’s SOMEONE. Because of Easter Sunday, because of Jesus being ALIVE – it’s a person you’ve met. And you have the dignity to share that you know Him.

I tried to sum this up in a tweet this week and just about squeezed it into 140 characters. Because of the resurrection, evangelism isn’t convincing someone of something you know, it’s introducing someone you know wants to meet them. 

Now literally, Jesus says. ‘Therefore, GOING – make disciples…’ We have made it a command, so people feel guilty and might do it. You have to say it in a dramatic deep voice.‘Therefore GO!’

But it’s not a command. It’s the present participle to be technical, like ‘As you go…’ Like it’s the most natural thing in the world. ‘As you go, make disciples.’ That’ll be the natural spin off from people interacting with you. Because Jesus is with you always as you go. But we somehow made this natural thing a list of techniques to get stressed out about or Bible passages to memorise, to make CONVERTS. Jesus didn’t ever say make converts. He says ‘make DISCIPLES.’

What does that mean?  Disciples?

l plates

LEARNER.

That’s all it means. Whenever you see the word disciple in the Bible, you could translate it straight as ‘Learner.’ They had the L plates on.

Jesus sent them out into the world, with L plates on. What a responsibility he put in their hands! Jesus had written no books, built no organisation; there were no physical buildings they owned, no monuments left to commemorate Him. He entirely placed the future of His earthly work in the hands of His disciples. His LEARNERS. He had no other plan. He HAS no other plan!

While I’m shooting sacred cows –  I’m disturbed that the church has made DISCIPLING a new kind of industry in the last 5 years or so. Jesus came to make profound things simple and the church always does the opposite of that.

Everyone’s doing conferences or writing books with plans and formulas to ‘disciple’ people. As if it’s a verb – not a noun.

He disciples him, she disciples her – we all get in these little groups where this person knows more than this person; so I get to disciple you or to be discipled by him or her. And the extreme end of it is where someone gets to feel very important and wise for being ‘a discipler,’ while someone else – the disciplee, gets controlled.

I’ve read many of those books and been to the conferences. Of course there’s good stuff in it too, and it’s a reaction to laissez faire methods which meant people didn’t mature in faith. But something still makes me a bit uneasy. Because I don’t think lots of what they write about there, has little to do with what Jesus was talking about here.

I had a great chat the other day with someone who was asking about whether I should be their ‘covering’ – and we ended up agreeing that’s probably Jesus’ job. All authority has been given to HIM after all. He’s the head. We’re all the body.

The creeping danger is we end up becoming or gathering or making disciples of MEN rather than disciples of Jesus. Because like evangelism and a lot of other things we’ve made ‘discipling’ seem very complicated. It’s not really.

Christianity isn’t complicated! It’s not EASY, but it’s not complicated.

These notes form part of my talk for tomorrow morning at Ivy Manchester (Kingsway). I’ll be more constructive than this – promise. There’s probably just enough here to get some people annoyed enough to download the full talk which will be available on our website next week. http://www.ivymanchester.org/podcasts

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Mar 30 2013
Bible, Christianity, Cross, Discipleship, Easter, Failure, Faith, Friends, Good Friday, Grief, Heaven, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Manchester, Men, Prayer, Quotes, Religion, Theology, Worship

CROSSED OUT – Carpenter worth less than the wood and nails?

The cross was not jewellery – it was  an obscenity. 2000 years ago if someone carved up your chariot on the road to Milan, you’d not stick two fingers or one finger or any other creative hand gesture. You’d make the sign of the cross in their direction. What starts and finishes many people’s prayers, began with an obscenity.

It was devised to be the most terrible  and humiliating way to die,  so that to say your leader went to a cross was the worst possible way to start a movement. It was foolishness to the Greeks and anathema to the Jews to say, ‘Our guy was crucified, come and join us.’ We cannot imagine the ‘Yuk’ factor that would bring to the common mind of the Roman empire which applauded the strength and might of its heroes.

Crucifixion was invented by the Phoenicians but perfected by the Romans and intended to be the most stigmatising (it has links to what we get the word stigmatising from), debasing and humiliating and agonizing experience. The idea was that NOBODY would ever want to be associated with anyone who died on a cross. There were lots of pretended Messiahs around at the time, but after the cross – nobody bothered to talk about any of them.

The cross, crossed people out. They didn’t matter anymore.

It was a death that deliberately stripped all dignity. You were belittled. That means you were being, littled.

After the death sentence was passed, the condemned person was stripped and paraded naked through the streets of the city, so that his punishment would be seen by all. The Jewish Law required that executions be made outside the city walls and the Romans accommodated this custom with criminals prominently put to death on a hill outside of Jerusalem. They wanted executions near well-travelled roads so all could see what became of any who were not a friend of Caesar.

You probably know how they had beaten this carpenter turned preacher, Jesus of Nazareth.  They flogged him with a whip laced with bone or lead to flay off the skin and bare the internals – they stuck his back together with a rough purple horse blanket and mocked him as they placed a crown of thorns upon his head and beat it into place with a stick. When they were finally tired of scorning him, they ripped off the ‘robe’ and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.

Literary sources detailing the history indicate that the condemned person would carry to the execution site only the heavy crossbar (stipes). Wood was scarce and the vertical pole (patibulum) was kept stationary and used repeatedly. As he stumbled toward his execution the soldiers would follow closely behind, whipping him along the way.

When they arrived at the place of execution, the criminal would be both nailed and tied by rope to the cross beam. Recent archaeology indicates nails only 4.5 inches long would be used, in fact re-examination of a famous crucifixion victim may indicate that just one nail driven through one heel bone would suffice to keep a man on a cross if he were then tied with ropes. We know that Jesus’ hands were pierced but still this carpenter would be worth less than the nails and the wood – they often didn’t want to use too many nails or ruin the wood with nail marks too quickly so would often use a rope to hold the upper body. The victim would slowly die of asphyxiation just the same.

The position made it progressively difficult to exhale. The word excruciating was coined from this terrible pain. His legs were bent and his feet or heels nailed near the base of the cross—so he could push his torso a few inches and gasp for breath, until the pain in his legs became unbearable and he collapsed again.

It was not uncommon for death to take two days. Whenever the authorities decided (for whatever reason) to expedite the criminal’s death, his legs would be broken so that he could no longer push himself up for breath, and he would suffocate within a matter of minutes. Jesus died before that happened to him.

Unlike medieval art depictions, the cross didn’t tower high above the crowd. The dying would experience the torment of dangling just above the ground, at eye level, so tormentors could easily spit in his face, or set the dogs on them. The word crucify literally means ‘impale on a plank.’ Throughout the history of the Roman Empire, untold thousands were executed in this fashion. In AD70 after a rebellion they crucified so many they ran out of wood and just nailed them to the walls. We only remember one cross.

But Jesus’ cross was inconsequential. The sign above his head ‘King of the Jews’ – a bitter irony. He was nothing. Crossed out. As Jesus hung there naked, beaten and bloody, they taunted him, even the thieves he was crucified together with mocked him; his enemies watching him die helpless as the soldiers gambled for his clothes alone must have made his claim seem laughable.

Leading religious figures applauded, saying, “Let this Messiah come down off the cross so that we can see it and believe in him.”

And his friends – those who had believed in him – their worlds were spinning out right of control, and everything going wrong… they’re asking ‘WHAT IS GOING ON?!’’

What was going on? The Bible tells us what at the time only heaven could see, in Philippians 2:

When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.

Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honour of God the Father.

Jesus Christ hung there – because everything hung on it.

He was there, not as the victim of circumstances beyond his control, but because he chose to lay down his life for the sake of the world. As he had said to his friends in so many ways as he predicted the detail of what would happen: I am the good shepherd….No one can take my life from me. I lay down my life voluntarily. I have the power to lay it down when I want to and also the power to take it again. (John 10)

As Jesus was arrested, he said to his disciples, “Don’t you realise that I am able right now to call to my Father, and twelve companies—more, if I want them—of fighting angels would be here, battle-ready? But if I did that, how would the Scriptures come true that say this is the way it has to be?” (Matthew 26:53)

He was saying ‘I could save myself ANY time, but if I did, how could YOU be saved?’

Jesus could have saved himself, any minute of that long Good Friday. But He could not save himself, because He wanted to save – you. Saving us, forgiving all our sins and giving us eternal life meant that he had to die on the cross to pay the price for your sins. It was not that HE was crossed out, but our sins were crossed out, forever.

And he was willing to do whatever it took, for that to happen. For the glory of his Father, and because he thinks we were worth it.

Jesus’ death on the cross is the only one that is remembered, the death symbol that brings life – because that’s what it took to bring about our reconciliation, and that was a price he was willing to pay. In the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus prayed, “If it is possible, take this cup from me” — but it was not possible. That cup could not be taken away… someone had to drink it. Him or us…

He did what it took. He took what it took. Despite all the power available to the Son of God, the King of kings, he knew he couldn’t save himself, because he wanted to save me and you.

(This is part of my notes from our Good Friday service yesterday – the talk in full will be available soon as a free podcast at www.ivymanchester.org/podcasts)

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Mar 23 2013
Bible, Christianity, Discipleship, Faith, Father God, Healing, Heaven, Jesus, Prayer, Religion, stress., Theology, Worship

‘Could You Not Watch One Hour?’ – Er… to be honest… no.

Matthew 26:36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated. 38 Then he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.”39 And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.”40 Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, “So, could you not stay awake with me one hour? 41 Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial;[e] the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 Again he went away for the second time and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43 Again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words. 45 Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

Years ago, when I was new to church – not long a Christian, our church put on a musical about Easter. It was pretty awful mostly. They had an old guy sing mournfully a hymn solo over and over… ‘Could you not watch one hour?’’

Over and over…

I’d invited someone to come with and I did pray a bit, mostly thanking God  that they hadn’t come…

But I also felt so bad… about prayer.

I felt so GUILTY about prayer! I was always so rubbish at it.  Anyone else?

Maybe it was working shifts in the Police? No!  It happened a lot at theological college too - maybe it was Taize chants or something, but I would regularly know just how Peter and the guys felt with those heavy eyes and often fall asleep in the prayer times in church. Head on pew in front. Trying to focus. Daydreaming away as we all just really prayed Lord for all the really lovely children Lord in the really lovely world Lord… on more than one occasion waking to see a pool of slobber below me…

Could you not watch one hour?? 

I was struggling to break through to five minutes.

I got a book called ‘The Hour That Changes The World,’ to help me pray an hour a day. Here’s how that says you get the breakthrough -

prayerwheel

Personal training for prayer! He shows you how to man up and push through an hour, splitting it up 5 minutes at a time.

‘GIMME 5!! GIMME ANOTHER 5!  Do me an Hour! Could you not do that?’

Well isn’t half an hour okay? No! What kind of a Christian are you?

‘Could you not watch, one hour with me..’ 

But I’m busy! I have all these other things going on. How do I get 25 hours in a day? I’m rubbish at praying!

So I got more and more books about prayer, all guaranteed to help me feel worse about my struggling prayer life.

Now some of you, this is your thing. You don’t understand why every Christian doesn’t find it easy to spend hours and hours in intercession.

You need to know – nobody likes you. You make us feel bad!! You make me feel guilty.

Then over the years as I’ve gone into church ministry somehow I picked up that preparing for sermons doesn’t count as praying, that’s work, not proper praying at all… (what?!)

So I had to do a lot extra… how?

Well get up an hour earlier!  All the mighty men of God do this… get up really early, apparently.

‘Could you not watch one hour…’ 

It felt fine, once or twice… but then I started to get grumpy. With my family, With myself. Even with God if I’m honest for bothering me at that time…

‘Could you not watch…’ NO!  I want to sleep Lord! I want to snuggle up..

(This is the first part of my notes for my talk tomorrow at Ivy MCR. I’ll put the rest up in the week). 

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Mar 11 2013
Books, Christianity, Church, Death, Faith, Family, Jesus, Manchester, Religion, wisdom, Work

Multi-million best selling author GP Taylor visits Ivy MCR ahead of blockbuster Hollywood film release.

 GP Taylor visits Ivy Manchester this Sunday – as his blockbuster Hollywood movie is filmed. 

Graham_standing

I’m so excited that this Sunday Ivy Manchester will host a fantastic guest for interview at 7pm at our Didsbury site on Barlow Moor Rd, one of Britain’s best selling authors.

We recently hosted the author of The Shack, Wm Paul Young. Now it’s time for some home grown talent.

GP Taylor is the author of the best-selling novels Shadowmancer, Wormwood and Tersias. Like myself he has been a police officer and Anglican Vicar, but is also a former rock band roadie and motorcyclist. He worked in the music industry with such bands as The Stranglers, Sex Pistols and Adam and the Ants. He became involved in the occult and lived a life that was, in his own words “into all sorts of weird and wonderful things and wasn’t leading a godly life”. He goes on to say, “I was promiscuous: I was a liar, a cheat and a drunk,”

We will learn on Sunday how he then turned to Christianity. This is a great event to bring friends along to and I expect we’ll pack the event out so get there early!

Having dropped out of school himself, Graham Taylor is now passionate about the education of children, and believes we underestimate their potential. He tours the country giving talks to children. “There is nothing better,” he says. So at 4pm at the Church centre Graham will entertain families and kids with a story telling workshop with our children’s leader Dave Hill.

“Children relate to me,” GP says. “They get excited about books – what can be better than that?”

His books have been translated into forty-eight languages and are being now being turned into Hollywood films to the tune of £50 million, but he had to sell his motorbike to fund the first print run of children’s novel Shadowmancer. The book grew in popularity by word of mouth before Faber and Faber bought the rights to it, and his next ten books, for £3.5million. The rights to the production were sold for a further £2.5million!

He went on to write the Mariah Mundi series which critics hailed as ‘Hotter than Potter’  – a rival to JK Rowling’s franchise. It is now being turned into £25 million Hollywood film starring Michael Sheen, Sam Niall, Iona Gruffud and Keeley Hawes -’Mariah Mundi and the Midas Box’ is set for release later this year.

Graham is married with three children and now devotes most of his time to caring for his daughter Lydia, who has Chrohn’s Disease.

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Feb 19 2013
Bible, Church, Discipleship, Faith, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Prayer, Religion, Rest, Theology, wisdom

REST – Part 2 of my talk last Sunday at Ivy Kingsway

I want to quickly look at what the Bible says about the nature of God and the nature of the soul, to help us get these rhythms of rest.

Then I want to tell you- one word – that’ll help you remember this week, every day – maybe through Lent you can decide today to put rest rhythms in your life – take the Opportunity to Rest. Let God restore your soul- which will be SO attractive to the world they’ll come running to find out how you live so differently in the same world as them. The world God made. Because you’re not a restless soul wandering, but a rested soul, walking in God’s purposes.

We started out looking at the beginning of Genesis with Cain, but even earlier than that; Genesis, chapter 2, God laid down the pattern of this need, possibility and opportunity for us to enter His rest, which threads its way throughout the whole Bible right through to Revelation. In the middle of this beautiful picture of God making everything, all the complexity and creativity of creation, verse 2 at the end it says, “…so on the seventh day [of all this creation] he [God] rested from all his work.” In the Hebrew language, the word for work there is not so much a labourer as someone who’s an artist. So God has done ALL this stunning artwork of the universe, then it says he rests. But you notice here God doesn’t rest like we do. We have to rest – why? Because we’re tired. But the Bible says clearly He’s not like us – it says, ‘Our God does not get weary…’ God was not so worn out from creating the world that he wanted to put his feet up!

He didn’t rest for Him, he rested for US. He rested to show us something.

The first part of this verse tells us why God rested, let’s back up and look at that together. “By the seventh day God had finished the work; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.” His work hadn’t worn him out; his work was finished. God’s rest comes because it was (Literally) completely complete. What God did in creation was to provide everything we need. Now, God invites us to REST in that. Throughout the Bible and in the passage from Hebrews that I started with, God invites us into a kind of spiritual rest, HIS rest, to rest In him and LIKE Him – trusting that he has provided what we need.

Our friend Mike Breen says, “On the first full day of existence for Adam and Eve, God rested. All of creation took a break. Our first full day was a day of rest. Then work began.” Too often, we’ve the mistaken idea that we spend hurried, restless days in work, work, work, work, work, work, and then we rest. But Mike says, if we look at the pattern God established for mankind, “we are to work from our rest, not rest from our work.”

In the passage I started off by reading; Hebrews 4, the writer says this about God: “…his work has been finished since the creation of the world.” The rest came out of the finished work. Then it says to us, ‘while the promise of entering his rest is still open, let us take care that none of you should fail… to reach it…’ It goes on to tell of a whole generation of people who SAID they were God’s people, but NEVER entered into His rest. It happened in the OT. The people God had brought out of Egypt where they were slaves, they wandered restlessly around in the desert and never entered the Promised land. Why? Because they didn’t have FAITH. They didn’t really believe HE could do it. That means it takes FAITH to enter into the REST that God has for us. You have to TRUST God, to REST in God. You have to trust God, if you’ve ever going to rest your soul.

Let’s look at Psalm 91 again, how we find rest in God, it said. ‘He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.’ We had that before – and the verse that follows, verse 2 – it says, “I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in Him will I trust.’” Do you see the connection? Resting and Trusting. Resting comes from Trusting.

If you can’t TRUST, you’ll never REST. 

The strongest evidence that what God created is working the way he wants it to is that there are some people on this earth who are not restless, wandering souls but they have RESTED and TRUSTED completely in him, they enter his rest. They say, ‘No matter what is going on, no matter what I have to face, no matter what the challenge or opportunity, my soul is at rest – not because I can handle it, but because HE is my refuge, my fortress, and I’m going to trust in Him.’ Now my question is – is that you and me? Is that what people would say you’re like?

Because Rest’s a lot bigger than just sitting on the sofa, having a holiday, more even than renewing ourselves. REST is an ATTITUDE of FAITH. At the deepest level, rest is worship, it’s your SOUL telling God – you trust him. It’s YOU telling your soul, ‘TRUST GOD.’ You trust Him to do what is too big for you; because nothing’s too big for him to handle – or too small for him to be bothered about.

You trust that He’ll save you, not that you’ll be good enough or even religious from now on. You say you trust that He will provide for you, so you don’t have to panic buy. You say you trust that He will be your refuge and fortress so you’re safe in Him no matter what. Waking or sleeping. Trusting. Instead of saying, ‘It’s too big and I;m too tired,’ You speak this out – ‘The great big God who made the whole universe – He’s my refuge – He is my God! I am trusting HIM!’ And you live live and act like you would – if you really believed that your God can handle it.

 

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Feb 14 2013
Atheism, Bible, Christianity, Discipleship, Father God, Funerals, Healing, Heaven, Jesus, Prayer, Religion, Worship

What To Say At A Funeral?

ImageI have been invited by my friend J.John to contribute to a few books, one of the new ones will be a collection of funeral talks. I include my submission below. I have done so many hundreds of funerals but it’s always a great privilege. I offer the below to anyone who finds themselves in the position of doing a eulogy but more particularly Ministers of Religion leading services. Names and details etc have been changed.
Notes –  I am delighted to be asked to provide a talk in this collection. I believe that the opportunity to present the love, truth and hope of Christ at funerals is so great, and so often so greatly missed. Jesus must weep again at the graves of his friends as horror stories abound of Vicars forgetting the deceased person’s name etc. Not good enough! To be asked to speak at a funeral is one of the greatest privileges of ministry or indeed life. It deserves our prayerful hard work, full attention and every skill of pastoral ministry we can muster.  My old Vicar the late Alan Buckley told me to ALWAYS start by saying ‘I am very sorry,’ sincerely, at the beginning of the address – to the family. I have never forgotten to do so and it has always been well received. People don’t care what you know until they know you care.  

These notes are from the funeral some years back of a well known local pub landlady and animal lover. I had spent some time before visiting her in the hospice and preparing her for death which came as a welcome release for someone with a deep, personal faith. I always get details of the person’s biography and intersperse something of their life story and interests within the talk. There was more of that in the original talk. It makes the event less preachy and more personal.

 

I always conclude by praying for comfort for CLOSE family (and friends if appropriate) BY NAME.

 

I also as you will see at the end pray for the person by inviting everyone present to remember them ‘as you knew her..’ and painting a little word picture. I usually ask the family beforehand, ‘If you were only allowed single words not sentences, what words would you use to describe the type of person she was?’

 

I also ask, ‘If you were to picture her at her happiest, what would she be doing?’ I make notes on all this and that forms much of the content of my prayer. In doing so I invite everyone to remember with thanks the person in prayer and in some way that memory brings the person to life again…

 

 

 

 
Once again I’d like to say to Jim and the boys how sorry I was to hear that Mrs. __________ had died. It was such a privilege to get to know her, thank you for the invitation to lead the service today.I doubt that there’s a better known passage of Scripture than the 23rd Psalm. I read it to Ruth as I prayed with her and it’s kept coming to me as I’ve talked with Jim in recent weeks too. I have read this passage so many times at so many funeral services I have given, because after the death of a loved one, people need to be reminded that God walks beside you.God knew Ruth before she was born, walked with her since she was born in ____ , and he still does now.She was a remarkable lady. Brought up a farmer’s daughter with her younger sister Ann in a small village in Cambridgeshire, encouraged to know her bible and trust God from her early childhood she said yes to Jesus’ love at the age of 6 and was baptised in a bath at 10.Now I suppose the words of the 23rd Psalm have offered more comfort, calmed more fears, and encouraged more hearts than any other poem ever written, and that’s what it is: A poem written by King David, from the perspective of a sheep. I don’t know what kind of farm it was Ruth grew up on but I can’t imagine a farm without sheep. And I always picture a sheep in this Psalm as enjoying a pretty peaceful and contented life – because the sheep has the ultimate shepherd watching.King David wrote this Psalm to convince us that God has our best interest in mind- God wants to give us a fulfilling, hope-filled life, and that even extends beyond the grave. David had learned to care for people by first learning to care for animals, something you all know was true of Ruth hey?

David understood from the time he served out in the Judean fields how vital a shepherd was to the well being of the sheep.

I’m a city boy, though I’ve lived and worked in various rural settings.

I’m no sheep expert, but I’ve stayed awake counting them enough, and I do know they’re not the smartest animals in the barn and they smell pretty bad. That’s about the limit of my knowledge of sheep. But David knows his stuff when he talks about being a shepherd. This is his old stomping ground, literally. He knows what it’s like. To him, all the sheep were individuals, they all had names- he cared for each one.

Year ago as part of an outreach I’d been invited to speak at I had the opportunity to stay on a farm. A real, working farm. I’d never been that close to nature and this was something of an adventure. As I went to bed I asked the farmer to wake me up in the morning. A few minutes later it seemed I heard a knock at the door. The day on the farm starts early! We were off to go and look after the animals. I walked ahead of him to a field, and saw it was full of sheep. I didn’t know what to say to them. I nodded a ‘Good morning,’ and they all ran away!

I should have known – in The New Testament, the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, said Sheep don’t follow a stranger’s voice but flee from him. Suddenly the farmer turned up, made some strange farmer noise, and all the sheep came running to him- or more precisely to the feed in his buckets.

Where do you look for comfort – on a day like today? People look for comfort in the bottom of a bottle, or in buying something new, but there’s not much comfort there. There’s some comfort from friends who love you. And there’s great comfort in the voice of the Good Shepherd.

I wonder what your favourite line is from that well known psalm? Look what it tells us -

Psalm 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.

The Hebrew word here literally means that nothing will be lacking. Where? He goes on to say: “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” In other words, God provides a place of rest for us. // For you, me, Ruth. To get sheep to rest, they must be free from fear and sickness, there must be no worry among them, they must not be aggravated by the weather conditions, and they can’t be hungry. They have to learn to trust the shepherd for all these things. Then they can lie down, because they know the shepherd.

Verse 2: “He leads me beside quiet waters.”  God is not behind us shouting ‘go on’! He goes ahead of us bidding, inviting, “Come!” He is in front, clearing the path for us, making the way straight and safe. On the night before his death, Jesus reassured his friends, ‘Don’t be worried or afraid – I am going to prepare a place for you, so that you may be where I am.”

I love verse three: “He restores my soul.” I’ve had so many people tell me time and again (whether they would describe themselves as believers or not) that they came into this church just feeling down, sad, exhausted, but something happens in this place and they walked out like a different person with a different attitude. What happened? The Good Shepherd restored your soul. With hope. He will restore your soul today if you ask him to. He is the good shepherd.

He directs; because sheep go astray. They’re needy, defenseless, they get nervous. They are easily led. Sheep on their own are soon lost. That’s why we have the picture in the New Testament of the good shepherd leaving the ninety-nine to go and get the one.

That time I was on the farm, somehow the farmer was counting all the sheep. They just looked like a dirty cloud of hooves and teeth to me. But he said, ‘One’s missing!’ Then he marched off to the far end of the field, and looking far into the distance, I saw that missing sheep too. The farmer made that funny noise again – and the sheep set off full speed toward him, and food, and safety.

Maybe that’s why there are so many comparisons to people and sheep in the Bible. Maybe that’s why God is like a Shepherd. We can all lose our way, especially when times are hard- when we need some divine intervention from the Good Shepherd to get back on track.

Now in the first three verses of Psalm 23, God is referred to as He, but in the next three verses the focus shifts his thoughts – he calls God You. At first we were you’re seeing God from a distance, but now He’s up close and personal. Why do you think that it?

Because of where he’s going; Psalm 23:4; “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

“The valley of the shadow of death” is an actual location in Palestine. A narrow pass through a mountain range. It’s four-and-a-half miles long with sidewalls over 1000 feet high in places, while it’s only ten or twelve feet wide at the bottom. Travelling through that valley is dangerous and scary. But if you stick close to the shepherd, you have nothing to fear. There is one who will protect you, who’ll walk beside you through that temporary darkness, and bring you out into the light.

Shadows can be frightening, especially the one cast by Death. Without a shepherd we’d be entirely fearful here. But it’s just a shadow. We can struggle with other enemies like pain, suffering, disease, and injury. But we can’t make it through this valley without the Shepherd leading us.

You all know Ruth was an overcomer- she achieved amazing things in this life that will echo in eternity and in a moment we’re going to remember them and her. But no amount of courage, strength, imagination, perseverance – can finally overcome death. We can’t do that ourselves!

Here’s the hope I offer you all today. Christians believe there is one person who can walk with us through death’s dark valley and bring us safely to the other side. It’s not wishful thinking, it’s historical fact that  Jesus, our Good Shepherd, experienced the cruellest death but then conquered the grave. He’s been there! And you can trust him when He says, “I’ll take you through…”

Time and again I have been at the bedside of someone who knows they haven’t got long ahead of them in this life, as I was with Ruth in the morning of her last day here. People ask me – ‘What do you say?’

Well what would you say? What do you think happens when you die? Where is your hope? Is it just for this life?

I try to remind the person… The Lord is Your Shepherd.

Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death… David writes; I will fear no evil, (WHY?) for you are – — with me.

Who you are with makes all the difference. Thank you to all the friends here today to support the family – I know they’d want me to say it makes all the difference. We need each other. In the same way, sheep need the companionship of a shepherd. The Good Shepherd who provides for our needs, protects us through the shadow of death, and finally he promises to reward us.

Psalm 23:5b, 6: “You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

“My cup overflows.” What a lovely picture of hospitality! Bedouin shepherds have an ancient tradition that when travellers are coming through they always let the visitors stay in their house. When the travellers want something to drink, they fill their cup up to the top. But after they have worn out their welcome and stayed longer than they should, the next day, their cup will be only half filled. It’s a nice way of saying, ‘Time Gentlemen Please!’

That helps me understand what the writer of this Psalm is saying. Ruth would know it too from her years of hospitality at the Ox and Plough. “My cup overflows.” The image is that when you come to the table of the Lord, just come as you are today when we pray in a minute – he welcomes you in, and says, “Stay. Stay as long as you want.”

He keeps filling the cup full. I don’t have to rush away and he has nothing and nobody he would rather be with. The cup’s not just full, it’s overflowing.

“Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

As we commit Ruth now to that person, in that place he has prepared -

Let’s pray… (here’s how I’d start to pray)

Ruth has been described by those who knew her best as a kind, funny, thoughtful lady who always had a word of encouragement and treated people like they were welcome guests, not just customers.

Maybe you’ll picture her as you pray, standing ready to greet you at the pub, or walking her dogs around the village, or as she was at their Golden wedding celebration surrounded by her kids and grandkids…

However you remember her – why don’t you offer that picture to the Lord now, the Good Shepherd…
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Feb 09 2013
Bible, Discipleship, Faith, Jesus, leadership, philosophy, politics, Religion, Theology, wisdom, Work, Worship

James White – The Christian Mind (iDisciple conference WCAUK)

James Emery White – The Christian Mind

What is the modern (non Christian) mind?

1. MULTI-TRUTH

Pluralism. God’s like a mountain, all the religions are paths up the same mountain, and the names of God are all the same summit. Go to the multiplex, or home to Netflix, all those choices. This is NEW! Peter Berger – sociologist said Religion used to provide a sacred canopy over all of culture. Now that’s replaced by millions of umbrellas to stand under.

With the increase of options comes lots of choices of truths, all equally valid.

But if everything is true – nothing is true.

‘It’s raining.’ Either it is or isn’t. There’s a match with reality.

These days comparative religion teaches what is held in common with all religions. But you can’t be a Buddhist Christian. Ask the Dalai Lama! Their truth claims are opposite. It’s two different mountains. Same with Islam etc.

So, either you say ; someone’s right

or someone’s wrong

But you can’t say they are ALL right. That’s intellectually dishonest.

  1. TRUTHINESS

Facts don’t matter. How you feel matters. You can create truth for yourself, despite the facts. If I can convince a majority of others that’s true, it is. (Follow link for more)

2. WIKIALITY

We create our own reality, and that becomes fact for us all. There is no truth outside of what the majority want it to be. If we say 2 + 2 = 5 for us, then it does.(Follow link for more/source)

3. MISTAKERS

Nobody is a sinner. nobody sins. Sociology and psychology has pushed sin out. We are just mistakers. Or in fact there’s something good about why we did it. ‘I’m sorry you got offended…’ Nothing is wrong, wicked or evil – so..

4. MORAL RELATIVISM

Anything goes. If it makes you happy, morality is a personal choice and opinion. If you’re not hurting anyone – except judgmental people of course. They are the only wrong ones. Look at Christian Smith’s work on this.

Why contrast this mind with the Christian mind?

Well this is a little disingenious. The fact is – the modern mind has BECOME the Christian mind! We are UNDISCIPLED here!

When Jesus restated the Shema (when quoting it verbatim as a Rabbi was essential) he ADDED in loving God ‘with your MIND…’

Paul was clear how change happens. Romans 12. RENEW the mind. Continually don’t let the world adjust you so much you fit into it without thinking. We are mirroring it, not challenging. This is diabolical.

Christians have to retain a prophetic voice. that has to come from a prophetic MIND.

Prov 23:7 As a man thinks in his heart – so is he.

Harry Blamires, ‘There is no longer a Christian mind.’

We have to start thinking about the big issues of our day in the light of our faith. Not having a compartmentalised mind. Where over here you have your work life, here’s your daily reading, here’s a tweet, here’s a show… and your thinking about one doesn’t link to the other things.

So you can be a Christian, but not let that reflect that in how you think about science. About films you see, social media. Do you integrate these things in terms of a Christian worldview?

Eg., where did we come from?

There are actually very few answers.

By chance (Naturalism)

We don’t exist (Hindu)

We were created

If we believe the latter, then there is meaning, and someone outside of us to whom we are accountable and from whom we derive value. Look at how MLK challenged unjust laws in his letter from a Birmingham Jail. It was based on the value of humanity based on a law above human laws.

John Stott said our battle is ‘a battle of ideas.’

We take captive every THOUGHT to make it obedient to Christ.

OR we think like everyone else.

Thomas Cahill – ‘How the Irish saved civilisation.’ As the Roman empire fell to barbarism, the Irish took up the Labour of copying western literature. This was then taken back to Europe and they saved it! Without this Christian mind, they would also have lost the ability to think. By the way, Islam would have taken over Europe then too.

There are few Christian warriors of the mind these days. Most retreat into personal piety or good works. We follow someone who died at 33. Don’t live a life that doesn’t offend people, if we don’t live as if we don’t care if we’ll die, we will be impotent.

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Jan 12 2013
Apologetics, Atheism, Bible, Christianity, Faith, Father God, Friends, Heaven, history, Jesus, leadership, philosophy, Religion, Theology, Worship

J. John puts down Darwin the dog (humanely)

aCPuQ

 

 

I met with my friend @canonjjohn this week and was interviewed by him on my life story for UCB TV. The guy is a force of nature! Always a great encouragement.

I subscribe to regular updates in my email from him (available free from the Philo trust) and was amused, informed and challenged by this one that arrived today -

New Year, New Atheism, New Challenges
12 Jan 2013

It’s rather a scary thought that we are already over one eighth of the way through the twenty-first century. And even though year seems to follow year at an increasingly rapid rate, our culture changes even more speedily. One feature of the last decade that shows no sign of going away has been the rise of the ‘New Atheism’. It’s easy to dismiss the New Atheism as no more than a warmed-up version of old-fashioned humanism and in terms of substance there is little new. What is truly novel and troubling is the movement’s aggressive and bitter hostility to religious faith in general and Christianity in particular.

A fascinating revelation into where things are going with the New Atheism is to be found in a website www.kidswithoutgod.org, created to help children and parents live ‘a life without God’. Actually, the very existence of the site is significant. For years atheists have been saying how unfair it is of Christians to teach or – as they charmingly term it – ‘indoctrinate’ our children about God. In the past sceptics used to claim that children should be left to make their own decisions on matters of belief. Well this website suggests that such guidance is now buried: it is apparently legitimate to teach children about ultimate values.

There is actually a great deal of unintended amusement to be found on the site. So, for instance, children are introduced to a dog called Darwin. Darwin tells us that he is a ‘humanist’. At this point isn’t any smart child going to wonder why Darwin isn’t a ‘doggist’? Actually, it may simply be that Darwin the dog is stupid because reading on we are told that he only believes in things that he ‘can see in the real world, like friendship, and being nice, and learning’. Well, when I last looked friendship, niceness and knowledge were actually invisible. It’s also a little unfortunate that Darwin’s exclusion of anything ‘unseen’ prevents him from believing in such rather useful things as electricity, scent, sound waves, X-rays, infinity and gravity. This tripping up over logical shoelaces is all rather embarrassing given the New Atheism’s claim that it is seizing the intellectual high ground.

Another feature of the site is the way in which it inadvertently reveals some of the gaping problems in atheism. One of the difficulties in talking to children is that you have to use plain language and plain language allows very little scope for the sort of fancy wordplay that atheists can use to cover over difficulties. Such problems are highlighted when the site’s authors attempt to give children a moral code. Darwin the dog suggests that his young readers might like to follow his principles. (He doesn’t actually call them ‘principles’ presumably because as a dog sympathetic to modern worldviews he knows better than to try and impose his values on others; instead they are ‘things he has promised to do’.) There are seven of them:

  • “I promise to be nice to other people, just because it’s the right thing to do.”
  • “I promise to help take care of the Earth, because this is our home and we need it to stay healthy and safe.”
  • “I promise that I will think about the questions I have, and learn as much as I can about how things work.”
  • “I promise that before I say something or do something to another person, I will stop to think about how I would feel if somebody else said that or did that to me.”
  • “I promise that I will always tell the truth and take responsibility for my own actions.”
  • “I promise that I will help those who are sad or angry by being a good friend to them.”
  • “I promise to eat healthy, get plenty of sleep and exercise, and practice good personal hygiene.”

Why is ‘being nice to other people’ the ‘right thing’ to do? Says who? If the only basis for morality is evolution then why not push and shove your way to the top and, in the process, make sure that your genes get circulated as widely as possible? Why ‘be a good friend’ to those who are sad or angry? Doesn’t evolution demand that we walk over life’s losers? I could go on.

Yet beyond all the accidental amusement it provides, ‘Kids without God’ is a troubling website. You do not have to go far in it to find Christianity ridiculed and misrepresented. For all the proud claims that atheism is about truth there is no attempt at discussion, only distortion and sneering innuendo. What this website does present is a much-needed reminder that as Christians we are, like it or not, being increasingly drawn into a bitter conflict with the New Atheists. Traditionally, most Christians have adopted a bemused, live-and-let-live attitude towards atheists. That attitude was something that we had assumed was mutual. Yet it is now plain that for the New Atheists, the world has changed and tolerance is not a virtue. Christians are now clearly seen as an enemy to be fought and beaten.

At this point it is easy to shrug and say that the Church has faced such challenges before and survived them. Yes, it did, and God is greater than all the powers of this world put together, but it is worth remembering that the Church survived because Christians were prepared to pay a heavy price. The followers of Christ lived better, thought better, cared better and, quite often, died better than their opponents. Will the same be true of us?

Agapé,

Revd Canon J.John

www.philotrust.com

 

 

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