More thinking about thinking (2) Paul Scanlon ALC 2

We have to control and manage the inner world. Parable of the weeds Matt 24. ‘All by itself’ Your heart keeps growing stuff while you’re asleep. That believing heart doesn’t sleep when your head/ brain does. ‘I slept but my heart was awake.’ The soil does its work automatically. If you go to sleep fearful/angry/restless, you’ll grow that more. The heart keeps growing whatever is in there. It’s made that way – to grow whatever you put in, ‘awake or asleep.’ Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. That’s true for everyone. That’s why some unbelievers build a better life with common sense than we do with supposed revealed wisdom. GOOD IN- GOOD OUT. Gods not choosing your input – you are. The heart is NOT a leader but a follower. It follows whatever you put in. EG it follows your treasure. It grows what you treasure. It’s not going to tell you what to sow. It’s not your heart’s job to question, ‘Are you sure we want to grow weeds?’ Above all else guard the HEART […]

Paul Scanlon ALC Network Day. ‘Thinking about thinking.’

Romans 10;10. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. We misunderstand the heart here. It means the CORE of your being. It’s not emotional or physical. The inner you. Your programming. There can be genetic predispositions, but your cells are not what governs your life. You can end up in a victim mentality if you think you are controlled like that. Your cells actually respond to YOU! How you view life. So it’s possible to say, ‘You can have a change in your life’ without even necessarily a change in your circumstances. Your belief systems are in place by the age of eight. How many things were formed in you in your most formative years? Whether you’re optimistic or stingy or funny or intense or insecure, structured, how you view other ethnicities, or authority – are determined up to age 8 – unless we challenge them. Some people come to your church first time and hate it. They let you know what they […]

Charlotte Gambill – THE BIG LIFE at ALC Network Day

Great first talk at ALC Network Day. I’m blogging live on this stuff so it’s not as tidy as I usually like…but EVERY leader needs to get hold of this! The BIG life We can be surrounded by smallness in the UK. 2 Cor 6: 1-10 (Msg) Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don’t squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us. God reminds us,    I heard your call in the nick of time;    The day you needed me, I was there to help. Well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped. Don’t put it off; don’t frustrate God’s work by showing up late, throwing a question mark over everything we’re doing. Our work as God’s servants gets validated—or not—in the details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly . . . in hard times, tough times, bad times; when we’re beaten up, jailed, and mobbed; working hard, working late, working without eating; with pure heart, clear head, steady hand; […]

Andy Hawthorne at New Wine North 2010. Acts 13

Jesus said some seed gets choked out so it doesn’t bear fruit. We are chosen & appointed to bear much fruit- nut something happens to stop that. Paul had a good & noble heart and produced fruit & wouldn’t have it! He only had this one short shot before harvest, and he was going to be a bumper harvest person. We only have this one chance to help the poor & make a difference. Notice – now it’s ‘Paul & his companions.’ he’s moved to centre stage. It takes more grace than I can tell to play the second fiddle well. Barnabas etc did that, well. V 38. John Mark deserted them. Barnabas’ cousin. A bit of a div. First sign of division in the team. But Barnabas stuck with him. Thank God he did, because later Paul describes him as useful. Time plus mistakes = maturity! ‘The Word of the Lord spread across the whole region.’ Let that be true here! The gospel seed spreads. It won’t happen without hassle, opposition and breakthrough. They were kicked out by the […]