Grace has become a theological abstract that we argue about. Grace is basically the generosity of God wanting to bless you. Don’t live in the kingdom of grace AND fear. ‘God has to love me, but really I deserve to be punished.’ Sin is nothing compared to the power of grace. The vast majority of us though are not perfect. So what do we do with those who mess up? One act of grace deals with it all! So you really ARE forgiven. And if we really got that – we’d be a lot easier on ourselves and everyone else. If we get the abundance of grace, then we can REIGN in life. When sin abounds, grace hyper-abounds. Sin is like dog poo on your shoe! No point ignoring it, it will start to stink and everyone around you will notice. Imagine you have that shoe under Victoria Falls. That’s hyper abounding grace. So because of that – we are FREE! When we say to ourselves we are not worthy it’s because we have an idol not God. Because the […]
Author: Anthony Delaney
I speak, I write, I lead.
Dream Of A Coming Revival
Anyone who knows my wife Zoe well will know over the years she has a great prophetic gift in dreams, really insightful and occasionally scary! The wonderful thing is how they come true in detail. It’s no exaggeration to say that every major move in our life has been foretold in a dream she’s documented. So the other night she had a dream – about a move of GOD that’s coming our way. This ties in with an increasing excitement I have been feeling, many reporting a palpable sense of the presence of God last Sunday in our service at Kingsway, a number of miraculous answers to prayer here at Ivy recently; and reports from various sites I’m connected to of outpourings in various churches. It seems the spiritual temperature is being turned up! Here’s Zoe’s dream, from her notes. The bits in brackets are my explanatory notes. I was with a few others (women friends/prayer partners) were in an upstairs room – when a storm was coming up outside. I told someone there how bad it looked but they […]
Bill Hybels – Muddle Of The Middle
Bill Hybels – GLS: The Muddle Of The Middle He has talked before about Moving People from Here to There You’re a leader to move people toward a preferred future. Don’t just focus on THERE FIRST build the reasons why we can’t stay HERE Then people are ready to move THERE. So, along the journey from here to there – when is the vision most vulnerable? In the MIDDLE. When you’re half way there, that’s when you can get real problems. You haven’t got the impetus of the start off, and you can’t see the finish line. God has to carry us through the tough times in the middle. So – be very careful in the middle. The middle of your ministry life is the toughest part. Don’t you want to finish? To finish as strong as can be? To leave everything stronger than when you started. Remember what a privilege it is to be a leader. Yes there’s a price to pay. BUT… We are among the privileged few in all the world. Thanks be to God. It is […]
Successful Succession
Bill Hybels on Succession The person who helped him think through the tough questions around this asked – Do you ever see yourself dying? The death rate is 100% Do you see yourself being Senior Pastor till your last day? Or when you’re walking slow and drooling? PLANNING PHASE Every important matter to do with this needs to be asked. Who decides? How long will they have approximately What role will the pastor have afterwards How will their contribution be honoured? PHASE 2 Is there an internal successor? Give this a time frame. If not.. PHASE 3 External successor PHASE 4 18 months transition to new person. This is a GOOD process! It gives security to the church. But it’s tough on the pastor and needs to be handled with great sensitivity. Don’t assign a person with low Emotional Intelligence to handle it! Some senior pastors hang on too long. Leave a great legacy! Trust God to guide you on the journey. Set the church up to be stronger as you go.
David Shearman at Ivy Manchester
The mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. Let your mind be controlled – Not by your mind Not by your emotions Not by your body By the Spirit Cultivate the presence of God in your life. Be filled with Him. Recognise that each of us was born to be a presence carrier. You are incomplete without that. How do we engage in prayer? For our families? There are some great prayers in the Bible. Prayer is a conversation But it’s also about listening Prophecy comes from listening It comes from what you hear. If you stand long enough you’ll see more, if you listen long enough you’ll hear more. Otherwise you just give people out of your intellect. When was the last time when something swept over you and you knew that you were loved? Prayer is about knowing and being known. God is committed to making this life better and easier with Him than without Him. The word is near you – in your mouth. 2 Kings – Elisha The road to anointing: Gilgal – where […]
The most tragic verse in the Bible?
I believe that this Saturday, God is going to do something supernatural in the lives of the men who come to the Diamond Geezers Day here in Manchester, releasing our potential for supernatural greatness. If you’ll come along to the Message building and connect to God’s presence there, hearing His Word and doing what He says, I believe that God is going to raise up from the day some spiritual leaders to make a massive difference in this world. And the reality is that this is so important because there’s a huge shortage of godly men in our nation. In the church men too many men have relegated themselves into passivity, or fallen to compromise and shame. One of the most tragic verses in the Bible is Ezekiel 22:30: I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it… God said: I looked for a man like that… How many did He find? The Bible tells us: […]
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 […]
The Great Commission is fulfilled by the Great Commandment. Alan Taylor at Ivy MCR
We love to see growth. Watch a toddler getting more words, more movement. And it’s great to see people grow more open to go from ‘no gods’ to ‘Yes to God.’ We want to grow Spiritual growth Matt 28 Context – Matthew is about Jesus’ life and ministry – his call to follow went out as he brought the Kingdom near. And he has given us this Great commission – to continue his ministry. Ivy Fallowfield went out for 40 days between 11pm through to 1am! 40 days of blessing. Handed out promises of God to students. One said ‘I received one already and disagree with it.’ Why? Because my life has no purpose or meaning. What’s your purpose? Look at Jesus’ last words This is his will It’s a living will – what Jesus wants to do with his body! What is a disciple? A learner. Someone learning to do what Jesus does. Our educational system doesn’t set us up well for that kind of learning. We revise and do exams, we try to pass. But this isn’t about […]
Why the Great Commission has stopped me ‘Evangelising’ and ‘Discipling’ people.
I’m disturbed that the church has made DISCIPLING a new kind of industry in the last 5 years or so. Everyone’s doing conferences or writing books with plans and formulas to ‘disciple’ people. As if it’s a verb – not a noun.
CROSSED OUT – Carpenter worth less than the wood and nails?
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. Jesus’ cross was inconsequential. The sign above his head ‘King of the Jews’ – a bitter irony. He was nothing. Crossed out.