Tag: bible study

Make This Sunday’s Message RESONATE!

I’ve been a Nancy Duarte fan for years, highly recomending her books as a great investment to anyone who communicates (that’s you) and especially preachers. How fantastic to discover that one of the world’s leading authorities on getting your message across in a way people will hear it is also a Christian and passionate about THE Message that changes lives forever and the world for good. Invest 20 minutes on this video, and take notes! (I have the structure line on my office wall now together with some other prompts to help as I pull messages together).

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

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.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.

Building Life Changing Churches – Gordon MacDonald at WCAUK iDisciple

He was invited to speak at West Point. Saw that it was a place to train and qualify top people to go anywhere in the world and immediately get the job done, whatever the job is. How do you train people like that?   Do we show any interest in developing leaders? Not just the ‘anyone can come’ one. A West Point for church? The number 1 job for a Pastor = training the bext generation of leaders. It’s more important than preaching.   Heschel – We don’t need text-books but text-people.   Titus 2:1-8  Your job is to speak out on the things that make for solid doctrine. Guide older men into lives of temperance, dignity, and wisdom, into healthy faith, love, and endurance. Guide older women into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness. By looking at them, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives. We don’t want anyone looking down on God’s […]

Colossians 1 – Ivy Grow Group notes

I’m going to be kicking off a new evening series based on Paul’s letter to the Colossians tomorrow – and I’m really excited about the chance to dig in to one of my favourite books of the NT. It was written around 63 AD but it’s bang up to date for us   Read Col 1:1-8 Discuss: Here Paul lists the characteristics of an authentic, Christ-honouring church. Can you list them?    Discuss: Paul writes about fruit that is the evidence of true salvation (compare Mt 13:23). If someone is not bearing this fruit – are they still a Christian?    I’ve called our series ‘Inside Out’ because Paul is writing from prison to a church he didn’t found, but was a church plant started by one of his ‘spiritual sons,; Epaphras. Epaphras apparently had heard the Gospel of Christ from Paul at Ephesus and had taken this life-changing message back to Colosse (v. 7)   Colosse was in what today would be known as Turkey, in Paul’s day it was known as Asia Minor. Actually these days it doesn’t […]

LOOK BACK WITH WONDER – TO LOOK FORWARD IN FAITH

Notes for Ivy Grow Groups based on my talk to be given Ivy Kingsway 4th November   (Actually it’s officially MOVEMBER and I’m going for it. Will you join my team or sponsor me please at http://uk.movember.com/mospace/4760473 )   Start the night with an online memory quiz like this one http://www.allthetests.com/tests/flipmatch/puzzle.php3 (Or do it with a pack of cards?)   Or even the Christian version!  http://www.biglightgames.com/-bible-games-for-christians/21339/12-apostles-quiz-and-memory-game.html   Who’s your GG Memory champion? READ Joshua 1;6-9 DISCUSS What promises has God given you recently or in the past that you need to remember?   Read Joshua 3:14-17 Discuss: In what ways do we have to sometimes get our feet wet in faith before we see the miracle? Why does God work like that? Read Joshua 4:1-7 All the ‘Memory techniques’ I’ve ever read about all boil down to three simple steps: and I believe you can see them in what God had Joshua do so the people would remember.   1. Concentrate   You have to pay attention. Lots of the time we spend our energy trying to remember what we […]

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 […]