Tag: Religion

From Trash to Treasure

I happened upon a link today from Fast Company’s twitter feed which is well worth a read, about three ways to make gold out of garbage. I was particularly grabbed by the third way. It’s all about someone seeing ‘worthless junk’ and reimagining it – better. Follow the link to Matt Brown’s own page and he tells us how he saw these old plastic horses in a junk store bargain bucket, repackaged and rebranded them  as “Night Horses” – like, ‘Nugget the life liver,” and “Sotirius, the silent Duke.” I love it! It’s just like what God does with us! This designer says he gives the objects a story of significance again. It’s part of a project called Significant Objects. We might feel worthless, neglected, useless or left out. But the Bible says to Christ followers that we should “think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; […]

Releasing our potential needs work

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!

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 […]

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 […]