WHAT MORE COULD HE HAVE DONE FOR US?

(This is from last Sunday night’s talk at the Ivy AGM – Awesome Gratitude Meeting) One of my favourite author/ speakers died last year – his name was Brennan Manning. If you have ever read ‘Ragamuffin Gospel’ you’ll never forget it. I have read lots of what he’s written and listened to many of his talks, but it was only this week I heard the amazing story about how he got the name “Brennan.” Because his real name was Richard Xavier Francis Manning – a good Irish catholic name, to be sure. While growing up, his best friend was Ray. The two of them did everything together: went to school together, bought a car together as teenagers, double-dated, and so forth. They even enlisted in the Army together, went to boot camp together and fought on the frontlines together in the Korean War. One night while sitting in a foxhole, Brennan was reminiscing about the old days in Brooklyn while Ray listened and ate a chocolate bar. Suddenly a live grenade came into the trench. Ray looked at Brennan, smiled, […]

Ben Jeffery at Ivy Manchester: Noah: when your whole world changes

Stories of 3 people Friends of his throughout his life – 1) Simon – became a burglar and druggie, but then became a Christian 2) Sunny – lives in Mumbai. Abused by various family members, left for the city where she was forced into prostitution for 7 years. But she wasn’t healing 3) Mark – a ‘fired up’ Christian, who felt God saying, ‘Plant a church’ but ended up in wait mode for a long long time They say the 3 most stressful things in life; marrying, moving, changing jobs. Noah’s world changed big time didn’t it. We all know the story, especially if you were brought up in church. Forget that knowledge – imagine you never heard of him. Stage 1 – in a dark place. Starts with the world being a wicked mess, a sorry state of darkness. God regretted making humanity. But Noah defined himself not anti the crowd or with the crowd, but by walking with God. How do you bring about change? 5% – respond positively to change 20% – able to be convinced 50% […]

If You’re Going To Build A Rescue Boat, Check For Leaks #bgbg2

(Snippet from tomorrow’s talk. Will be on podcast next week) Noah was told to build a rescue boat. And that’s what the church is meant to be by the way. This week the CofE put out a report highlighting how good it was that some churches were growing. The headlines on twitter simply declared,‘Good news! Many churches are growing!’ I was really excited, but then  I looked at the actual figures in the middle and in fact since 2010 – 18% of their churches are growing, great. But 55% are plateauing and 27% declined. Later on we read that nearly half of churches have less than 5 under 16s. That’s not good news. Reporting it as such is disingenuous. Surely these figures highlight a problem? If it was a business you’d say ‘It’s change or die time.’ You have to face the bad news, before you can be good news. I’m passionate about this because I’m still convinced that the local church is the hope of the world! We have to recognize the seriousness of our time and build churches and […]

Ivy Missions feedback evening

Subject: Ivy Missions feedback evening Great night tonight; these are the main prayer points I took from these charities we are delighted to partner with.? Light – LZ7 Thousands of salvations & help with self harm & suicidal thoughts. Music & sport opportunity to start Light hubs. New office – Ludgate Hill. Down to last 4 to Be support act for Katie Perry! Witts – Dignity: told us of team leaders in Zambia whose house blew down; travelled 800 m to go to a village: Jesus had already appeared to them in visions! Ground prepared. Some of the countries he’s involved in like Namibia now you won’t see a church for 300 miles. His guys are going out and growing churches and it’s spreading. Lots of translation needed! Pressure!! These are people who act as tent makers etc, cos Africa won’t be won by crusades. Besom Has seen some growth over the last 10 years. Aims to have a simple process to help people who want to help & those who are in need. Needs a new leader for the […]

Life’s 3 Options #bgbg2

One of the things I have often been challenged about by God, and it draws close to me every day in terms of what I worry about or get concerned about, is the issue of WHO IS MY PROVIDER going to be? Who do I see as responsible for providing for what I need? Your answer to that will have you living in one of three ways. You’ll be a BEGGAR, A DIGGER, OR A GIVER. Jesus told a parable, a story with meaning, in Luke 16:1-13. It’s a bit of a weird one about a man who suddenly finds himself in financial difficulty. The major point, which it’s always safest to go with in parables, is that he thought he’d always have enough, but now the future’s closing him down fast. And the internal dialogue the guy has with himself there leads me to these three ways to live. Have a read yourself. He says ‘I’m too proud to beg, and I’m not strong enough to dig,’ so he ends up getting very creative in the area of generosity […]

Pete Hale at Ivy Manchester – Genesis 2 & 3

Matthew 20:1-16 Jesus tells the story of a generous landowner and we see here how lavish he is and that can even make people angry! In Genesis 2 he says ‘you can eat anything’ enjoy But one day the tempter came along and eventually they ate, and now they felt embarrassed. They hid away from God. What stops us from receiving all God has, is our weaknesses. Pete is a cookery teacher. He demonstrates a dish, and the kids do what he says But one day, he showed them a chilli. He warned them – these things are hot. Make sure you wash your hands. One kid didn’t listen. Him and his mate just had to rub their fingers on the chilli, then rubbed each other on the face. ‘It doesn’t hurt!’ And Pete thought ‘Wait and see.’ Argh!!!! How do I get it off?!!! It started with curiosity Then pride that you got away with it Then – ‘how do I make it stop??!!’ And then, we are embarrassed. Most of what we are tempted by we also embarrassed […]