Links to my most recent sermon...see other blog

I received this the day after delivering the 'more of my cup overflows' message of 1st October...see my Sermons blog.... then the item below it (Spurgeon) was received on 6th October. Both came by e-mail. Read them alongside the sermon. Mike

When I read the book of Acts, I see the church as an unstoppable force. Nothing could thwart what God was doing, just as Jesus foretold: “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). The church was powerful and spreading like wildfire, not because of clever planning, but by a movement of the Spirit. Riots, torture, poverty, or any other type of persecution couldn’t stop it. Isn’t that the type of church movement we all long to be a part of?
So much of what we see today is anything but unstoppable. It can easily be derailed by the resignation of a pastor or an internal church disagreement or budget cuts. Churches we build only by our own efforts and not in the strength of the Spirit will quickly collapse when we don’t push and prod them along. I spent years asking God to be a part of whatever I was doing. When I read the book of Acts, I see people privileged to play a part in what God was doing.

Recently we held a discussion about how to solve some of the evident problems in our church. One of our pastors spoke up and said, “I think we’re trying too hard.” He went on to share of the supernatural things that had taken place through his prayer life. At that point, we decided to stop talking and thinking. The next hour was spent intensely in prayer. We never got “back to business” that day.

While there is a time to brainstorm and think and act well using the gifts God has given us, far too often we never get to prayer (much less start, end, and allow it to permeate all that we do). Let’s pray that God would build his church, an unstoppable force, empowered and sustained by the Holy Spirit.
Francis Chan

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"Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall
never thirst."
-- John 4:14

He who is a believer in Jesus finds enough in his Lord to satisfy him
now, and to content him for evermore. The believer is not the man whose
days are weary for want of comfort, and whose nights are long from
absence of heart-cheering thought, for he finds in religion such a
spring of joy, such a fountain of consolation, that he is content and
happy. Put him in a dungeon and he will find good company; place him in
a barren wilderness, he will eat the bread of heaven; drive him away
from friendship, he will meet the "friend that sticketh closer than a
brother." Blast all his gourds, and he will find shadow beneath the
Rock of Ages; sap the foundation of his earthly hopes, but his heart
will still be fixed, trusting in the Lord. The heart is as insatiable
as the grave till Jesus enters it, and then it is a cup full to
overflowing. There is such a fulness in Christ that he alone is the
believer's all. The true saint is so completely satisfied with the
all-sufficiency of Jesus that he thirsts no more-except it be for
deeper draughts of the living fountain. In that sweet manner, believer,
shalt thou thirst; it shall not be a thirst of pain, but of loving
desire; thou wilt find it a sweet thing to be panting after a fuller
enjoyment of Jesus' love. One in days of yore said, "I have been
sinking my bucket down into the well full often, but now my thirst
after Jesus has become so insatiable, that I long to put the well
itself to my lips, and drink right on." Is this the feeling of thine
heart now, believer? Dost thou feel that all thy desires are satisfied
in Jesus, and that thou hast no want now, but to know more of him, and
to have closer fellowship with him? Then come continually to the
fountain, and take of the water of life freely. Jesus will never think
you take too much, but will ever welcome you, saying, "Drink, yea,
drink abundantly, O beloved."
Spurgeon

Brokenness

'The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.' PSALM 51:17"
A world that celebrates success doesn't see value in broken things. But God brings beauty out of brokenness. For a plant to rise from the soil the seed must be broken. For a baby chick to experience larger life the shell must be broken. Even a thoroughbred horse must be broken; it must learn to respond to the tug of the rein and the sound of the master's voice.
Getting the idea?
After a humbling encounter with Christ on the Damascus Road, Paul re-evaluates all the religious activity he once boasted about and calls it 'dung' (Philippians 3:8). And you don't brag about dung, you're repulsed by it.
Brokenness is the work of God by which He strips us of self-sufficiency so that the character of Christ may shine through us. Now don't misunderstand; being broken doesn't necessarily mean experiencing some tragedy. Many people suffer tragedy without drawing closer to God or even acknowledging Him. Indeed, the same sunshine that melts the butter hardens the clay. The issue in brokenness is not so much our circumstances, but our response. What is God trying to teach us? True brokenness is when He strips us of self-sufficiency to the extent that we've no strength left to fix ourselves. When God blocks every exit we try to take and we come to see that He alone is our answer, we make a life changing discovery. 'And what's that?' you ask. When God is all you have - God is all you need! Bottom line: God's power is reserved for those who have given up trying to do it in their own strength or to accomplish it for their own ends!
Paul writes: 'Now may...God...sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord' (1 Thessalonians 5:23 NAS).
This word 'sanctify' means to be 'set apart,' to be used exclusively for God's purposes. Paul describes it as 'the high calling of God' (Philippians 3:14). And it happens from the inside out! Notice, our fleshly body comes last in order of transformation for a very simple reason. The problem with a thief isn't his hands, it's in his mind or spirit, which tells him stealing is okay. His mind tells his hands what to do. So if you transform his spirit his hands will follow suit. Otherwise you can handcuff him and take him off to jail, but he's still a thief inside. Too many of us want to get victory over bodily sins without being truly transformed within. But God starts with our spirit because that's the part of our being that makes us conscious of God; that 'connects' with Him. When God sets us free in our spirit, then our emotions and our body begin to fall in line. If you're a parent you know how differently your children respond to discipline. One child will collapse in tears, whereas another will stand up and defy you. God will do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to break us of our self-sufficiency so that the life of Jesus can be demonstrated through us. And we determine how long the process takes, by our submission or resistance. Paul prayed, 'Lord, what do You want me to do?' (Acts 9:6 NKJV). Today, make that your prayer!

Sometimes God allows us to hit the bottom in order to discover that He's the rock at the bottom. Gideon faced an army of 135,000 troops with just 32,000 men. And 22,000 of them left the battlefield and went home when he offered them the chance. Do the maths. Gideon's thinking, 'There's no way we can win!' Then God explains: 'The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, 'My own power has delivered me' (Judges 7:2 NAS). There it is again, the age-old battle of ego that we all fight daily. It's why the Lord's Prayer ends with: 'Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen' (Matthew 6:13). Where does our power come from? God! Who should the glory for our accomplishments go to? God! How long does this arrangement last? Forever! God had to break Jacob of self-sufficiency so the 'Israel' within him could come out. Sometimes God has to take you down before He can raise you up. Moses was called the meekest man on earth. But it took forty years of living as a shepherd in the wilderness to detoxify him of pride and get him submitted to God. Only then was he ready to stand before Pharaoh and perform miracles that demonstrated God's power - and vindicated Moses! Brokenness doesn't mean being a wimp, suffering from an inferiority complex or having a case of low self-esteem. No, brokenness means praying, 'Lord, if this job is going to get done, and done right, You're going to have to do it through me. So my trust is in You.'

We don't always know the reason for our trials, but God revealed to Paul the reason for his 'thorn in the flesh.' It was to keep him from being 'exalted' (See 2 Corinthians 12:7). Success can be intoxicating, and intoxicated people aren't known for being too bright or trustworthy! What happens when you get a thorn in your flesh? It hurts. And you'll let everything else go while you focus on removing it. Three times Paul prayed for God to remove the thorn, but God had another plan. You see, God is at His strongest in us when we are at our weakest. When Paul discovered that God's power in his life was tied to the thorn that afflicted him, he responded, 'I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities...For whenever I am weak, then I am strong' (2 Corinthians 12:10 NRS). In other words, 'If it's for my good, bring it on, Lord!' If you've a thorny person in your life from whom you've prayed to be delivered and it hasn't happened, maybe God wants you to experience His grace and power through dealing with that person. But you won't experience this until you move from pain to praise.
The Bible speaks about 'the sacrifice of praise to God' (Hebrews 13:15). A sacrifice means that something has to die on somebody's altar. So if you want to experience God's grace and power in your life, you must be willing to die to self-interest, ego, and independence.
There's nothing wrong with asking God to remove your thorn. But when your prayer for deliverance turns to praise, you're on your way to power, because God is giving you grace.
Word for Today © 2009: This devotional is produced by UCB, free of charge available for the UK and Republic of Ireland at UCB Operations Centre, Westport Road, Burslem, Stoke on Trent, ST6 4JF. .

The Power of Negative Thinking

Roger Johnson writes:

I remember that back in the 1970s, many Christians were reading Norman Vincent Peale’s book “The Power of Positive Thinking”. Vincent Peale claimed to be a Christian but some critics suggested his book was strong on motivational psychology but weak on theology. However, there was a real need in those days to find something positive to say and think about life. There were many books written about spiritual depression and it seemed as though some Christians were struggling to cope.

I don’t think the situation has changed much since then and it may even have got worse as we square up to the realities of life with global warming, the credit crunch and many other depressing issues in the world. But do we realise what a powerful and crippling force is contained within our minds when we are beset by negative thinking?

It is not only Christians who suffer from negative thinking. A whole church fellowship can adopt a negative disposition, especially when numbers are declining to the extent that the fellowship is no longer viable. But is the remedy simply to adopt a new positive mindset or is that too simplistic an approach?

The New Testament has much to say about positive thinking. Jesus made some incredible claims in Mark 11:23,24 when he said

"Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

We may not have too much experience of mountains cast into the sea and therefore may conclude that Jesus was speaking metaphorically. But the notion that the answer to prayer is there for the taking as long as negative thoughts don’t creep in is quite stunning. It does help, however to read the next few verses because Jesus goes on to talk about the need for forgiveness. Undoubtedly, a spirit of un-forgiveness, resentment or bitterness can cripple our souls and lead us to negative thinking.

St. Paul takes up the same theme in his letter to the Philippians. “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Phil 4:8). He then goes on to conclude that “I can do all things in him who strengthens me.” (Phil 4:13)

I believe we need to sit down quietly from time to time and analyse whether our thinking has become negative and, if so, why that is. Let’s look at the challenges which are ahead of us and ask ourselves whether we fear them or relish them – can we see the mountains standing in the way or do we see opportunities waiting to be grasped?

'my cup overflows' .....further thoughts

John Wesley in his Thoughts upon Methodism (1786): "I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist. However, I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of a religion without the power. That will undoubtedly be the case unless they holdfast to the doctrine, spirit and discipline with which they first set out."

We might have the 'doctrine', but what happened to the 'spirit' and 'discipline'?
I talked on Sunday about 'my cup overflows', Ps 23, and that we need to allow God to unblock the wells and release the flow of His Spirit once again in our lives, Church and society. This begins with allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal to us specific sins so that we may repent of them. (see link on right to my sermons)

These are the questions that you would be asked if you were in one of John Wesley’s Band groups:
What known sins have you committed since our last meeting?
What temptations have you met with?
How were you delivered?
What have you thought, said, or done, of which you doubt whether it be sin or not?
Have you nothing you desire to keep secret?
(Reference: John Wesley’s Class Meetings: a Model for Making Disciples, by D. Michael Henderson, Evangel Publishing House, 1997, pp. 118-9)

also:

John Wesley’s “Questions for Self Examination”
1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression
that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a
hypocrite?
2. Do I confidentially pass on to others what has been said to
me in confidence?
3. Can I be trusted?
4. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work or habits?
5. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
6. Did the Bible live in me today?
7. Do I give the Bible time to speak to me every day?
8. Am I enjoying prayer?
9. When did I last speak to someone else of my faith?
[ conversation starter questions ]
10. Do I pray about the money I spend?
11. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
12. Do I disobey God in anything?
13. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience
is uneasy?
14. Am I defeated in any part of my life?
15. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy or distrustful?
16. How do I spend my spare time?
17. Am I proud?
18. Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as
the Pharisees who despised the publican?
19. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a
resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about
it?
20. Do I grumble or complain constantly?
21. Is Christ real to me?

be sure your sins will find you out’

Roger Johnson writes:
We went last night to see J. B. Priestley’s excellent play, ‘An Inspector Calls’ at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham. For those who haven’t seen this, the play revolves around the shameful acts of a family being exposed by a bogus police inspector. Bit by bit the sordid tale of their seedy private lives is revealed leaving the family in a state of shock and shame. There is, of course, a nasty sting in the story’s tail as well as a sober warning to us all. I bumped into some old friends after the performance and wistfully mused, ‘be sure your sins will find you out’.

Afterwards I couldn’t help but think of the present turmoil in the House of Commons as some MPs are facing a similar agony over the way they have handled, or mis-handled, their expense claims. Today we will be casting our votes and no doubt many will be voting in reaction to what the Daily Telegraph has been exposing over the last few weeks. I have heard some MPs suggesting that what they do in their private lives has no relevance to their work as an MP. It seems now that we can all revert to pantomime mode and say emphatically, ‘OH YES IT DOES!’

But, is it true? Do our sins always ‘find us out’? The psalmist starts off by thinking not in Psalm 73:1-14. He (or she) was bemoaning the fact that he (or she) had lived a righteous life in vain. In contrast, when we read 1 Samuel 12:1-15 we find a man of some stature, King David, exposed by the prophet Nathan with regard to his adulterous affair with Bathsheba. Indeed David did suffer the consequence of his sin but had it not been for an Old Testament equivalent of the Daily Telegraph (Nathan), he may well have got away with it.

I suppose the current MPs expenses scandal raises serious questions about whether the Daily Telegraph has done us a service or disservice, bearing in mind the damage done to the country’s political reputation, but that’s for the historians to reflect upon. My hope and prayer is that those MPs who have embarked upon a political career for the right reasons will recover from this mess and that our democracy will be purified and strengthened as a result.

By this time tomorrow morning the news will tell us what effect this sorry mess has had upon our political life. We could end up with MEPs who are completely unrepresentative of the mainstream views of the British people, simply because they have filled the moral vacuum left by the traditional parties.

So let’s leave the last, and sobering word to the psalmist – “For lo, those who are far from thee shall perish; thou dost put an end to those who are false to thee” (Psalm 73:27). I wonder how much the psalmist was adding his (or her) own emotional veneer to these words.

Our Common(s) Lot

Thanks to Nigel Hopper of LICC for this well thought out view of the matter of MPs' expenses:

'I think it is a dreadful example of the House of Commons as a whole - which as a whole is responsible for the mess we are in - trying to scapegoat one man who was trying to represent what he thought were their views on what should be done.'

Frank Dobson certainly isn't alone in detecting a whiff of hypocrisy in this week's tumultuous and historic events at Westminster, which saw Michael Martin become the first Speaker of the House of Commons in more than 300 years to be effectively forced out of office.

There is, however, another scapegoat in the current crisis over MPs' expenses, one on which everyone seems eager to lay their hands: the system. The applause that greeted Speaker Martin's later (and longer) statement to the Commons last Tuesday, in which he outlined interim changes to the parliamentary expenses claims system, is indicative of the honourable members' conviction that the system needs to change.

There is now cross-party agreement that MPs should no longer be able to claim for, among other things: mortgages that don't exist, homes they do not live in, and houses in which their ducks do.

This is tragic.
It is tragic because such things shouldn't have to be spelt out. The system, designed to ensure MPs aren't left out of pocket for legitimate expenses incurred in the course of their work, isn't the problem. The creation of such a system is good, very good. The problem is the selfishness and greed of those who abuse the system in order to fill their pockets. Justifying their actions with reference to the letter of the law, they wilfully disregard the spirit of the law.

In other words, the real problem here is what the Bible calls sin.

To cast the present scandal in terms of the words of Jesus, it is from within, out of the heart, that greedy expenses claims come (Mark 7:20-23). Making a scapegoat of the system may be to join the Pharisees in cleaning 'the outside of the cup and dish', but inside remaining 'full of greed and self-indulgence' (Matthew 23:25). The system, like the Daily Telegraph, can expose sin, but it can't do anything about it. Only Christ can do that. Ultimately, there is no solution to the scandal of MPs' expenses apart from the scandal of the cross.

Not that we should sit in judgement. The current crisis begs the question of our own integrity. Be it in regard to our own work expenses, or anything else, we must all contend with the truth that our actions betray our allegiance. As we do so, we might find we have more in common with the Commons than we thought.

Learning from Football

Without wishing to turn off all those who detest football, I have to say that I think the church can learn a great deal from the way a successful football team operates. It is fascinating to watch the post-match analysis and to see how the losing team’s defense has been torn to shreds by a well organized, well disciplined, attacking team. Defenders are left stranded in no-man’s land as attackers run into yawning gaps in the penalty area and pounce on the ball, slotting it home with precision accuracy.

Well it’s not just football teams that operate like this. Any athlete has to be focused, disciplined and in top shape if they are going to compete with their rivals. But with a team game like football, the secret is that every player knows what job they are there to do, they have trained tirelessly to perfect their particular skill and are totally focused upon the game plan for the match.

It is just as St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12 where he likens the church to a body. Each member of the body has specific gifts and each member relies on the others. The eye and the ear have different functions, as do the hand and the foot and the body simply won’t operate as a body if that were not so. The likes of Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez could not achieve their high goal-scoring records if they didn’t receive good support from their midfielders. No team would win matches if their defense was consistently weak.

Knowing your strengths
So, what does this say to the church? Again, with reference to St. Paul’s teaching, everyone in the church needs to know their strengths. They need to know what part God has called them to play in the work of the kingdom. Too often Christians look with envy at other high-profile colleagues and say, “if only I could be like them”. Take time with God and close friends to discover your own special calling.

Relying on others
We also need to learn how to rely on one another more. Too many Christian leaders suffer from stress because they take too much onto their own shoulders instead of allowing others to share that load. There are many willing volunteers in our churches who, if asked to take on a small role, would gladly agree – and probably do it far better than expected.

Having a Game Plan
Every church needs to review its mission in this rapidly changing society in which we live. If the church simply turns up on a Sunday to do the same things as it did 50 years ago, it soon loses touch with the community around it. We need to regularly look afresh at the needs of our communities, investigate mission opportunities, and to re-evaluate our strengths in terms of the people who are part of the church. I notice that a number of Fresh Expressions of Church, both in this district and further a field, have re-invented themselves. They have learnt lessons from the early years, adapted to the changing situation as new people have joined and redefined their goals accordingly. If a church remains static, it can vegetate.

Training
Just like the top footballers, every Christian plays a specific role and needs to work hard to hone their particular skills. God has not assigned each one of us gifts on a random basis. But we will only operate at peak efficiency if we practice our skills and make the most of who we are. Ambition can be unhealthy if it is pursued at the cost of those around us. But if we are ambitious to fulfill God’s calling, then everyone profits.

So, where is your church in all of this? Are you languishing in the lower leagues, turning up on a Sunday just to play the game? Or are you always seeking to make the most of the opportunities around you and re-shaping your mission in order to meet the challenges before you?

Roger Johnson
District Evangelism Enabler
Nottingham & Derby District of the Methodist Church

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How I Caused the Credit Crunch

It was me. That's what a bright, young, Eton- and Oxford-educated former banker called Tetsuya Ishikawa, who spent seven years at the forefront of the credit markets, admits about himself. During a banking career within some of the world's major banks, he structured and sold subprime securities to global investors. Now he confesses all in the form of a novel that is taking the bestseller lists by storm.

The title of his book, How I Caused the Credit Crunch, is as intriguing as its contents. Too often during the current financial crisis the emphasis has been on technical problems of risk management, and on what technical fixes now need to be imposed. Ishikawa's book provides, in contrast, a vivid reminder that financial markets are not the workings of cold mechanical forces, but of warm flesh and blood. Reflecting human choices, they have innate moral dimensions.

What is true of financial markets holds true for the rest of the economy. The attempt to understand and to operate in markets through the suspension of moral judgement forces economics and business into a moral vacuum that eventually suffocates them. Because they are essentially about relationships, markets require sound morals to survive. The credit crunch is as much a wake up call to the destructiveness that can occur when morals go wrong as 9/11 was to the destructiveness that can occur when religion goes wrong.

But attempts to use bad morals as an excuse to eliminate moral responsibility from markets - whether through the imposition of secular worldviews or of mechanical fixes - will be as misguided and counterproductive as the attempt to use examples of bad religion as an excuse to banish religion from public. For most people in the world, religion is the magnetic field in which they set their moral compass. It is the context in which they perceive and pursue visions of the common good, stimulated by the sense of personal moral responsibility that religion tends to engender.

This is what inspired Mel Gibson to ask the camera crew of his blockbuster The Passion to film his hand as that of the centurion holding the nails that were driven through Jesus' wrists. Gibson's act reflects a mindset Ishikawa's book can help stimulate. For while his spotlight is on bankers, Ishikawa insists that 'we are all responsible in our small way' and that 'the arrogance of the [banking] industry has gone out. There is a greater sense of humility'. Were we all to embrace such humility, the green shoots of recovery would be sooner to appear.

Peter Heslam (LICC)

It was Good

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

Genesis 1:31

Good.
There can be no mistaking how God evaluates his creation. The affirmation comes six times - to make sure we don't miss it. The repetition makes it clear that each part is good, climaxing a seventh time with the statement that the sum of the parts is 'very good'. God doesn't just create the world; he creates the world good - very good.

That the word is applied to stars and seas and trees and turtles suggests that something more than moral good is in mind. Think good in the sense that Genesis 1 itself implies: a well-ordered, beneficial, fitting, beautiful, teeming-with-life, everything-in-its-place goodness - from the intricate parts to the immense parts - all of it good.

Nor is the goodness of creation to be limited to 'nature'. Human society and culture are also embraced, with the goodness of work and marriage affirmed as spheres in which we may serve God - the architect at her desk, the baker in his kitchen, the mother in her home, the teacher in his class, the husband and wife in their bed. All of it good.

Alas, things don't stay good. But the evil that comes later is not an inevitable or necessary part of the fabric of the world, or of human beings, and the Bible anticipates a time when evil will be removed. Meanwhile, we have a strong clue that salvation is not about being released from an evil body for a non-material existence. We may expect that the salvation Christ brings is not from the world but a salvation for which the world was made in the first place. A new creation no less.

For Christians, it is a reminder on the first page of the Bible that our faith is world-affirming, that we may delight in the goodness of God's created order. And it should come as no surprise when God wants to show up in areas of our lives from which he has sometimes been excluded - our careers, our friendships, our studies - since it has all been designed with our well-being in mind, as a place of blessing for us.

Much more than a claim about the process by which life came into being, a biblical perspective on creation involves a response of praise to the God on whom the whole of life depends, and who is the source of all things good.

Antony Billington(LICC)