Category Archives: Theology

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 06 2013
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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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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 17 2013
Bible, Christianity, Church, Discipleship, Jesus, Prayer, stress., Theology, Worship

Opportunity To Rest (part 1) – from my talk at Ivy Kingsway this morning

In our Year of opportunity as a Church, I’ve called this talk, ‘Opportunity to rest,’ this is from the NT book of Hebrews, chapter 4. It says.. Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you fail to experience it. For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not add faith to hearing it. But we who believe do enter that rest.

(For) God rested on the seventh day from all His works… “Today, if you hear his voice,(are we listening) do not harden your hearts.” So… there remains a rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore make every effort – to enter that rest… 

(PRAY)

I read this week about a trip to the supermarket that ended with a high speed chase, a frantic call to the police, a border crossing, a ditch, and a man who’s lucky to be alive. Frank Lecerf left his home near the French city of Amiens and was making his weekly trip to the shops in his Renault Laguna. He was going at 60 mph when the car’s speedo jammed. He tried to brake, but instead of slowing, the car sped up – with each tap on the brake leading to more acceleration. It just got faster and faster till eventually, the car reached 125 mph – and then stuck there. For an hour.

Lecerf, called the police from his car – and they sent a convoy of police cars to help clear the traffic ahead of him and open the toll booths. “My life flashed before me,” Lecerf later said. “I just wanted to stop.”

Finally, thankfully, his car finally ran out of fuel and came to rest in a ditch. Look at the map. He’d driven from northern France, along the French coast up through Calais and Dunkirk, and eventually crossed into Belgium!

Wow. What a picture! Life’s going faster and faster – suddenly – it’s out of control. Even when you try to brake, it just speeds up. Anyone relate to that? It’s really possible for us to live so frantically that we’re living so far out in front of our own lives, and never giving the soul what it needs the most: rest.

On a scale of 1 to 10 – you’re a 10 for REST?

Anyone? – we’ve got 500 plus people here – anyone would say – you are a RESTED person, right now?

There was a Doctor called Meyer Friedman. He is famous because he developed the whole idea of the type-A personality. Someone like me. That kind of driven, anxious, easily irritated, fast-paced person. He was actually a cardiologist, and the idea came from the people he saw coming into his practice.

If you know the story in Genesis about Cain and Abel, they were brothers and Cain got jealous of Abel and Cain killed his brother. God described the cursed way he was going to live as a result, in Genesis 4:11-12. God said to Cain: Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for  God said:

…You will be ‘a fugitive and a restless wanderer on the earth.’ That’s a CURSED way to live. A restless soul. So many of people are restless. Scurrying around the planet, always busy, always searching – never finding. Interested in everything, but satisfied by nothing. Getting more and more information bombarding us but living no wiser. Inwardly the rev counter is running way high. Our RPM’s keep going faster. And we may try to find rest for our bodies, might even manage that sometimes – but how do people find rest for your soul? We’re anxious, tense, worried; our minds don’t shut down. Even when we try to lie down at night, our soul is a restless soul.

I read this week about this woman Susan Root who has had what they call a musical hallucination – a kind of tinnitus, she has had ‘how much is that doggie in the window’ in her head for three years! She says, “It’s like having a radio you just can’t turn off. It has not stopped. It’s especially bad at night, I have terrible trouble getting to sleep – it drives me to breaking-point at times.”

Pause for a moment – can I just ask you to be really, really honest. How many of you, I’m not saying you have that tune in your head (woof woof!) but you’re often wound up on the inside. Worrying, you find it difficult to calm down – in your soul? At night – your mind keeps whirring. Or you may be even be with the family or go on holiday, but you can’t shut it down, your mind and soul rarely, finds rest? How many of you would say that’s you? Be really, really honest, the restless soul. Because God doesn’t want us to live this way.

Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes really paint a good picture of this kind of restless life, Ecclesiastes 2:22-23, he asked this: “What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night, even at night his mind does not rest…”

And even though you’re sitting in the comfiest church seats in the world here at Ivy today, that doesn’t mean you get the kind of rest God designed you for.

We don’t want this to be an hour or so to ‘Do God,’ then move on the the next thing, a fast-food drive thru religious time where we carry our busyness and stop by and get what we need then move on – without any kind of deep, inner transformation. It doesn’t work like that – in case you’ve been wondering why it isn’t working like that for you here.

This time together isn’t meant to be your God part of life. It’s just part of you living like God wants you to live like all the time! God doesn’t want us to live like everyone else! Do you know that? He doesn’t want his people wandering restless on the earth like you’re under a curse. He doesn’t want all your days to be pain and labour and your mind spinning at night.

God’s people can live differently! If we do, it’ll be SO inviting and amazing to everyone else. They will want to know how. God has invited everyone here into a radically different kind of life than everyone else around you is living right now. Here it is. In Psalm 91:1 it says, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Everyone knows your body needs rest. But I’m talking today about a deeper need than even that – your soul needs to find rest as well. Or you’ll live like everyone else – as a restless soul on the earth.

So…where do we find rest for our souls? Only one place. You can keep on running and toiling, buying and trying a little while longer; some people come to the end of their lives (a lot faster than they ever planned to) before they find out… there’s just one place we find rest for our souls? Maybe that’s your REAL problem today? Looking for rest. But there’s no person, no experience, no holiday, no amount of money; NOTHING and NOBODY except God that can bring any human heart REST. In the essence of who I am.

When Jesus walked the earth, he looked around at the crowds, and said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Okay think about it, this is some of you; in your soul, but it comes out in your body… You started Lent by burning the Pancakes. Now you’re just stressed a lot of the time, you find it hard to show love to those you know you should love the most, because you’re tired but your soul is all revved up, you’re WEARY, tense;

The good news is, if that’s you – you qualify… “Come to me” Jesus says, “Come to me”, come to Jesus, come to the Son of God: WHO? Who can come? – Everyone! “…all- who are weary and burdened…” No matter what you’ve done… this promise is for you if you believe it and claim it…  Everybody, He said: “…I will give you rest.” For What? Not for your bodies, but you’ll find rest for your: “…souls.” Nothing else can do it. Your heart will be restless, till it finds its rest in Him.

John Ortberg speaks of a time when he recognised his life was getting more and more frantic, so he rang Dallas Willard – this wise older person who has written wonderful books, and said, “What do I need to do if I want to be spiritually healthy and alive and vital?”

There was a long pause, then he said, “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.” 

Then there was another long pause, then I said, “Okay, what else – because I don’t have a lot of time and I want as much wisdom as I can get out of you in these few moments.” 

Then there was another long pause, and he said, “There is nothing else.” He said, “Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. There is a difference between being busy and being hurried. Jesus was often busy, but he was never hurried. To be hurried is a disease of the soul. To be hurried means that I’m internally so preoccupied with my worries and my own little agenda that I become unable to live in the presence of my Heavenly Father who loves me, and unable to be fully present with, listen, and love and marvel at another person. Hurry will keep you from actually experiencing God’s goodness and care for you from one moment to the next.“

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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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Nov 19 2012
2 Comments
Bible, Christianity, Jesus, Men, Theology

TRUE MATURITY Colossians 2 – Ivy Grow Group Notes

We are doing a series in the evenings where I’m going through Colossians a chapter at a time and I AM LOVING IT! Why not plan to get along to Ivy Didsbury and dig into this fantastic letter further soon? If you really can’t – I bet you’d get a lot out of the podcasts which are free at www.ivymanchester.org

I’ve called the series INSIDE -OUT

Principally that’s because Paul was INSIDE, writing OUT to the church a Colosse. He was in prison. He wrote various letters while he was in prison, some to churches he founded – and this one to a church he didn’t found but it was a kind of church plant started by a man called Ephaphras who Paul led to follow Christ then sent home to start a church in his home city.

One day Ephapras visited him in prison and gave the low down on things in Colosse. The church had started out really well and grown fast. BUT there were problems. Big concerns about one or two voices in the church that were trying to drag people away from simple devotion to Jesus.

We don’t know how many of these teachers there were, it may have just been one powerful, super-spiritual, deeeeply persuasive voice that was saying to be a real Christian, you had to learn ‘the philosophy…’ – a system of inner secrets for the Deeper Life.

Read Col 2:1-5

This talks about ‘persuasive words’ that can deceive us.

Discuss: How do we go deep, without going under? What I mean is, how do you strike a healthy balance as a Christian between wanting to study and grow, without becoming super-spiritual? 

Three big words summed up ‘The Philosophy’ – three isms in the ‘religious self improvement plan.’

These three things are very much still dangers for churches to take on…

Legalism, Asceticism and Mysticism.

Discuss – how do you define these words and how might they become a danger for Christians? 

My definitions of the three- (NB the practices themselves might not necessarily be wrong, it’s the heart intention that matters)

Legalism – do the right things. (Restrict Yourself) – included Circumcision

Asceticism – don’t do some things (Deny Yourself) – included fasting

Mysticism – (Exalt Yourself) – the way the mysticism worked at Colosse was that some wanted a few to add on learning some deep, deep things – so as to become the TRUE disciples. The spiritual masters. This would create an ‘inner circle’ within the church.

DISCUSS: 

If the Leader has time, please read my previous blog post to this – CS Lewis’ address on ‘The Inner Ring.’

How do we guard against cliques forming in church? 

Read Col 2:6-11

Paul here lists some marks of true maturity – and it’s not about some supposed spiritual experience, but about walking IN HIM.

 

Go through now down to verse 13 and notice how many times Paul uses the term IN HIM or IN CHRIST (his favourite way to describe being a Christian) in this chapter.

Underline them if you like to remind you of its importance. It seems it’s possible to be ‘In Christ’ but not maturing!

DISCUSS: What kind of thing would Paul list as evidences of truly maturing? 

Leader’s hint: I included Encouragement, Loving Unity, Keeping in Order, Steadfastness, and being Grounded, Growing and Grateful.

As NT Wright says in his brilliant book ‘Paul for everyone; Prison Letters’

Christianity isn’t simply about a way of being religious. It isn’t about a particular system for being saved here or hereafter, it’s not about a particular way to be holy…Christianity is about Jesus Christ. 

DISCUSS: Why don’t people have the right idea about Christianity? 

Assess: 

Whatever your list of ‘Marks of Maturity’ ended up pulling out, get everyone to rate themselves 1 -10 right now on them. 

Would the people who know you well say you’re becoming more like Jesus in that area now than you were a year ago? 

Pray: 

You are COMPLETE in Him! Pray that each person in your GG walks out in their every day life what this means, that Jesus is ALL of God, and He is ALL in you and he FILLS you completely with His love now. God wants what happened to Jesus to happen to you.

If you died with him (became his follower)

You will live forever with him – starting now – and that will never end. Rejoice!

Christianity isn’t prideful philosophical, theoretical knowledge to teach another about;  ‘you have to know what I know.’

It’s humble grateful relational and invitational – ‘come and meet the One who knows all about me and loves me’ – like the Samaritan woman discovered in John 4.

Commit to Pray for three people who need to come to know the One you know, that before the end of 2012, maybe at one of our Christmas events – they get to know the One we know.

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Oct 28 2012
1 Comment
Bible, Church, history, Jesus, justice, Theology

Matty Hawthorne – What’s the point of church

These notes from Matty’s talk at our new gathering at Ivy Sharston form our discussion notes for this week’s grow groups

Church is about people with a purpose
It’s not about a building

Discuss:
Why do people HATE church?

One of the worst things Christians have done is make God boring

One Internet thread Matty found described
Christians as the most judgemental people

Read James 2:14-20

Maybe it’s not about being more relevant but more real.

We talk as if we have the monopoly on love – but the world wouldn’t agree.

We talk as if we have the monopoly on generosity.

People love to do good works and give.
We should encourage and recognise that.

Read Matt 5:14-16

What does ‘shine’ mean to you?
The message version says be generous with your lives.

It’s not (just) about the money!

Discuss
What makes a church a church?

The Bible word ‘oikos’ we translate in the Bible as household is really a gathering of community, extended family. Is your grow group an oikos?

What matters? 3 things

Love one another
Get the message of Jesus out there
Depending on God’s Spirit

Matty’s definition of church – a group of people gathered around Jesus, worshipping, Discipling and missioning.

Do you agree? What’s he missing? Anything?

We know Worshipping isn’t (just) singing.
So why do we call singing in church !a time of worship ‘ instead of a time of singing. Shouldn’t we just call it singing? Discuss.

Pray for your GG
Pray for every Ivy gathering – especially the new one at Sharston
Pray for every church, large and small, in our city – wherever and however they meet: that our lights shine in generosity and servanthood.

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