Malcolm Gladwell, whose books I love and who I heard speak this year at Catalyst 09, reminds us in this short video (click here to view) that releasing your potential is not about genes, talents or ability but about capitalisation. That means hard work! It’s getting up and paying the price, rather than resting before you even get tired! Attitude is everything. Reminds me of the story Jesus told: A man had two sons. He went up to the first and said, ‘Son, go out for the day and work in the vineyard.’ “The son answered, ‘I don’t want to.’ Later on he thought better of it and went. The father gave the same command to the second son. He answered, ‘Sure, glad to.’ But he never went. “Which of the two sons did what the father asked?” It’s no good just saying you will do something, or thinking it’s a good idea. Ideation without perspiration is constipation!
Tag: Bible
Andy Hawthorne – Five types of blessing
Sketchy notes from a fantastic recent talk I heard Andy give at the Message offices Acts 9. Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord. 5 types of blessing there! (Count them for yourself) Healthy things grow. Sometimes there’s pruning for growth. If it ain’t growing, do something! Emerging church is okay, as long as it emerges! Because if we all sit around theologising while the world goes to hell… if we don’t proclaim this gospel – who else will? How did that fivefold blessing come? Paul hit the ground running. Vs 19 – he went from someone who hated the church, to someone who loved the church. Then, ‘at once’ we was preaching Jesus is Son of God, to the world. So often new Christians are the best – don’t let anyone dampen the fire! Have we lost our first love? All who heard him were astonished. Paul’s still a baby Christian – but […]
FAITH in God is reasonable. Faith in atheism is not. (John Lennox)
Notes from lecture at RZIM by John Lennox Reasonable Faith. When he started at Cambridge – someone said to him, ‘Oh you’re Irish, you all believe in God, and fight about him.’ He started to engage more with non believers. Has done so in unusual places. Eg communist atheism. Russia. More recently debating eg. Hitchens and Dawkins. Comes from the conviction that Christian faith is not only helpful, but TRUE. And if we do not stand up, secularism or atheism will appear to win. 1 Peter 3.13 Can anyone really harm you for being eager to do good deeds? Even if you have to suffer for doing good things, God will bless you. So stop being afraid and don’t worry about what people might do. Honor Christ and let him be the Lord of your life. Always be ready to give an answer when someone asks you about your hope. Give a kind and respectful answer and keep your conscience clear. This way you will make people ashamed for saying bad things about your good conduct as a follower of […]
Christian faith is not a state of mind, but a state of existence!
Christian faith is not a state of mind, but a state of existence!
Doug Addison on Prophetic Evangelism
What a great night at Ivy Manchester! As promised – here are my notes from Doug’s teaching tonight. The talk will be up on the church website for download in a couple of days. People say ‘I’m spiritual, not religious’ The world has changed, evangelism hasn’t caught up. This is an addition to the toolkit: Prophetic Evangelism. 2 scary words! He’s been PRACTISING this for years. If we have a good product, with eternal benefits – but people don’t want it, we need a marketing meeting! We have had good intentions – but that’s not enough. We have to become missionaries to the UK. What do missionaries do? Figure out what people already believe. Study the language and the culture – fit the message into where people are. Not changing the message, just changing the way you share it. Most people are open to Jesus, and to the power of God. We have to come up with ways to connect with people. Today, if people are spiritual, that’s half way home – cos God is spiritual – and he’s in […]
One thing leads to another
When things occur in our generation that previous generations would have been appalled at, watch out!
A way in the desert
There are a lot of desert experiences, in life and in the Bible. Jesus himself went through it. In fact Mark’s gospel says the Holy Spirit ‘threw’ him there! It’s natural for us to complain about being in the desert. It’s a bit of a Christian catchphrase – when you want to moan about God, but sound holy about doing it. “I’m going through a bit of a desert experience at the moment.” What do you do in the desert? There’s no map (you could try a piece of sandpaper I suppose). You don’t know where you’re going, how you got there or when you’re getting out. Can I make a couple of suggestions? 1) Listen to God. You’re in that season for a reason. It’s a test – but you’ll be blessed! God wants to teach you something – are you learning the lesson? The desert is where he breaks us of self sufficiency, or the need for self promotion. The desert is the place he teaches discipline and dependence on him. But our God makes a way in […]
Daniel Fast : Consistency Counts
When you pray, when you worship – do you go for GOD?! Surely we want to encounter GOD!? We don’t just want answers – we want the One who is the Answer. We want His face not just his hand. We don’t just pray to meditate and think things through ourselves . Of course we want understanding and revelation and strength and wisdom and answered prayer– but not for their own sake!
Daniel Fast day one: Entering the King’s service!
We’re going through a series on Bible heroes at the moment on Sundays. Yesterday’s focus was on Daniel. If we were going to look for longevity in consistent wisdom in the Bible, I’d probably want to make a case for Daniel. Lots of other guys started out well and finished badly. Or they had a very chequered past and came through at the end. But Daniel had the kind of testimony sometimes people underplay – they feel they have to leave the church maybe and get into drugs or something so they come back having made good, then they’ll really have a testimony. I often counsel teens in church – YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THAT! You can have a story that says, “God has been faithful to me all my life, and he’s helped me live faithfully too.” That is a powerful story! He was just a human being like us, but Daniel’s exemplary character leave him as one of very few people in the Bible who gets 5 stars all the way through his life, one of a […]
Where are you going?
the challenge to our church to see 1000 new people come to Christ in the next two years. Sounds like quite a tall order, but 3000 were added at Pentecost in a day and here in Manchester really it just needs everyone we presently have coming to be praying, witnessing and inviting more!