What if you don’t make particular people your target group for your church- but make the Trinity your target group, then God will come, and bring His friends.
1) Give it a title with a number like in it, like 5. 2) Entice people to think they’ll be amazing/ productive/ attractive/ better/ slimmer/ wealthier/ better just because they read it 3) The Bomb! 4) Put a picture on it – small animals, people with coffee, anything really 5) Leave them wanting more, but probably not from you because what you just did was annoying. Oh and one more thing… Invite them to share it with all their friends, because you won’t have any now.
In Luke 5 Jesus is in a house teaching, the crowd checking him out was so large inside and out that some friends bringing a paralysed man couldn’t get into the house. No disabled access! No way in, nobody moving to make a way through. It says there was NO WAY TO DO IT. So what did they do? ‘Sorry pal, we’ll have to take you home again?’ No! There was no way so they made a way. They got creative. Dangerous even. They climbed up on the roof and kicked the roof in so they could lower their friend down on a bed in front of Jesus! This appeals to me from ex police days, where one of my favourite jobs was to be ‘Donger man’ on raids. The Donger was what we called that battering ram which provided a useful key for the majority of locked doors with 14 stone behind it. I’m terrible at DIY, but if you want something smashing, I’m your guy. What those guys did to the roof and how Mark’s account says when Jesus saw […]
I get to meet up for breakfast with him most weeks and he’s one of the people who inspires me to GO FOR IT, I don’t want you to miss out on connecting to this passionate, uncompromising and gifted man and catch that fire!
She became a Christian at the age of 12, holiday club, watching a film about Jonah and the big fish. 6 years ago her husband David suddenly died in her arms. Then a voice came ‘You have what you need.’ You never get over it but you can move on. When they first married David wouldn’t believe until he saw concrete proof. He eventually did the Alpha course, where he realised he had been asking the wrong question. He died believing in the resurrection. For many years she had her spiritual life and work life in two separate boxes, but now she sees there’s an ‘here on earth as in heaven’ aspect where the talents you are given, well used, brings great fulfillment. The Parable of the Talents She struggled with the parable! The servant who buried it suffered wrath. The pursuit of wealth isn’t the problem, it’s when that becomes the reason to be. Values and purpose are at the core of creating abundance rather than addiction. Purpose To believe in something bigger than […]
The Christian church was born into an era of emperors. You ascended the imperial throne because of seniority, heredity or military glory. Then you could do whatever you liked until unseated by a coup. Before 1949 in Germany Fuhrer just meant Leader. Since the war it doesn’t get used. It’s tainted. Similarly such leaders tainted it for the church. Also for OT – God was king, kings were something to be wary of. For NT – Jesus is only Lord. (Acts 17:7, Rom 10:9, Col 1:18) – HE is the Leader. The head of the church. Supreme. We hear ‘Lead Like Jesus’ – but if that means he’s just an example of a good leadership tip source, that won’t do. He’s no leadership guru, he’s the Lord. BUT God is working for the flourishing of creation. (Eph 1:10) Richard Bauckham ‘God’s secret purpose at work in the whole creation took visible shape in Jesus Christ.’ God’s care for creation is exercised indirectly; he chooses a part for the good of all. He chooses […]
NOTES FROM INTERVIEW AT HTB LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE 2014 NG – How do you cope when your world is rocked- as it was when Matthew died? RW – I wish we could be as unified in evangelism as we are in grief. Because there was an outpouring from the Body of Christ. Why can’t we be as unified about the mission? KW – I will grieve for my son every day until I see him again. But we have to go through it together. This could tear us apart, though divorce is never an option for us. RW – So we decided to grieve differently, together. Because the stats are against you staying together when you’ve lost a child. So, whatever you’re feeling is okay. Enter into a deeper level of grief. Easiest death? Godly old people, ready to go Then death of spouse, death of child, you’re not meant to outlive your children Then suicide Some rejoiced and laughed that their son had killed himself. What do you do? And they are public figures, so they used social media to […]
We can’t say when a person becomes a Christian. Not even at what point the apostles crossed the line. We are to make disciples He makes Christians What is discipleship? 1. Becoming more and more like Jesus 2. Letting more of Jesus abide in me It’s a response to Jesus being my Lord and Savioiur We believe in Jesus’ death, resurrection and return But what about the focus on incarnation – if we are to go as the Father sent the Son. What about his teachings? His life? That stuff is the LORD part It’s not just the Saviour piece -as sin management We are eternally destined to be confirmed to his image. Bonhoeffer – ‘Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.’ CS Lewis … the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the […]
Brad hails from Canada and teaches Gospel Studies on the faculty of Westminster Theological Centre (which I am delighted to be a trustee of and teach on). My notes from his talk last week. He talks fast so I got as much as I could!! The beautiful gospel is of a God of unfailing love. It’s not a sales pitch I have to convince people of. A presentation that prisoners and the poor say ‘YES!’ to because it’s good news to them. The gospel in itself does not need upgrading. It’s a faith once delivered to the apostles from the Lord Jesus. But we need to be careful how we tweak our presentation of it, for every generation – so they hear it. We can have approaches, but it’s not steps. He then showed us the gospel in chairs: with two chairs (one black and one white chair). How I heard the gospel first off: the version I came to Christ through – was the legal gospel. Composed by Calvin. Courtroom image. Sin is lawbreaking that must be punished. God can […]
You get no credit for looking in the mirror and knowing you’re a mess. What will you DO? You can memorise 12 great principles of successful marriage and still be instant messaging behind her back to that young girl in the office. It’s the same with money, parenting, or business. The blessing doesn’t come because I know. Or don’t.