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Over the next few days I want to draw your attention to some recent posts from members of the New Life family that have captured my attention and challenged my thinking recently. The first is a post from Liz Howeth on the subject of fear. This honest account of the ways fear has prevented her from trying some things was powerful for me as I face what has been my greatest fear.
Ever since a close friend in the UK was diagnosed with leukemia and I watched his long fight and finally saw God call him home, fear of cancer has haunted me. Walking with Sarah (my first wife) through her four-year battle with the disease, only served to amplify my fear . . . and yet Jesus tells his disciples, and therefore me, repeatedly and in every sort of situation to “fear not”
Well I got “the call”, I had no choice but to face my fear, and I am grateful to have discovered in these first few weeks of living with my greatest fear, that everything Jesus tells his disciples is true. He does walk with you; He does reassure you that He has not forgotten. He surprises you as He picks you up at the down times and brings you peace when you need it most.
So it really doesn’t matter whether your fears are large or small. Whether you choose to face them or are forced to face them by circumstances outside your control, you will discover the amazing faithfulness of God and that He does not just say ”fear not” but He walks beside you, helping you to do just that.
““Don’t over do it!” Over the past few weeks I have heard this familiar phrase from many who love and care for me. When I started thinking about it, I found myself entering one of those ‘more questions than answers’ zones!! How do I know when I am about to…”over do it”? Where is the boundary between “under” (is there such a thing?) and “over” doing it?
Last Friday I think I experienced the consequences of “over doing it”. I was looking forward to going to my friend Josh Howeth’s graduation from Seminary (Congratulations Josh!!) but found myself in considerable discomfort when I came home from the office. Maggie and I decided that it would not be wise to go. Now how do I know that I overdid it or if the cause was something entirely different? Can you only recognize this phenomenon as you look in the rear-view mirror as you travel through the uncomfortable “ I overdid it “territory?
Whatever the answer to these perplexing matters, I was reminded that, although I don’t understand the vagaries of such things, someone else does! I confess I lay in bed on Friday wondering if I should cancel the leadership seminar I was to take on Saturday and (almost unthinkably!) find a substitute preacher for Sunday. However, God clearly had other ideas and I awoke on Saturday ready to teach the seminar and I was able to play a full part in Sunday’s service.
On Sunday afternoon I wondered if I was once again approaching the “unknowable line” of over doing it, but I am just glad that even in the land of the unknowable, I am in the hands of One to whom nothing is unknown!
| I have had this call three times already, once concerning my late wife Sarah, and then in turn for each of my two sisters. However when the subject of the call is you it adds a completely new dimension to your response!
A few weeks ago I asked my doctor about a mark on my heel just to be sure that it was not connected to my Type 2 Diabetes. Following tests on this, seemingly insignificant, mark on my heel that I got “that call” to inform me that it was in fact a melanoma. The implications of that call have not been far from my mind ever since and I would be lying if I suggested to you that even now I have it sorted out in my mind. However I do want to share with you some thoughts as we walk down this path, I feel sure they will at times seem weird and muddled, but then life is rather like. The next few weeks and months will include surgery, interferon treatments and no doubt more doctors visits than I have made in my entire life to date but more of that in the days to come.
For now just two things; firstly it has been impressed on me so clearly that this did not come as any surprise to our Heavenly Father and I remain convinced that He and He alone is in control. Yes from where I sit there seems to be every reason to question that . . . but then I never questioned it three years ago when I met and fell in love with Maggie who is just the greatest gift anyone could have dreamed of.
So it seems my options are to believe that God is firmly in control whether I like, understand or consider His actions fair. Or, the alternative, which is to conclude that all to these things, are just the result of some indiscriminate and random series of coincidences. For me the latter is far more frightening and difficult to believe so I choose to trust the God who has always proved faithful through the worst as well as best of times of my life so far.
The second is a few verses that God brought to Maggie’s attention on the day of my first surgery They were repeated quite independently to us by my mother from the other side of the Atlantic. I hope you will take encouragement from them for whatever situation you are facing at this time.
But now, this is what the LORD says — he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; Isaiah 43:1-3a
I am hoping to be able to share more random thoughts with you as the time goes on but for now, just know that you are in my prayers that you will have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that God will bless you and reveal Himself to you in unexpected ways |
I am sure most of us have heard at some time or another that quote from Socrates “ “The unexamined life is not worth living” It would seem that the writer to the Hebrews was sensing the same danger when he wrote “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away”. Hebrews 2:1. The challenge there is to live an examined life, an intentional life, as we have examined this idea over the past few weeks at New Life we have seen that a good way of training ourselves to be intentional is to make a habit of regularly asking ourselves a number of questions. I promised last Sunday that I would list the questions we have identified as important incase anyone missed them
What is God saying to me? Am I being obedient?
Where am I growing in my Christian life? How is it evident?
What has God asked me to do? Do I have the “holy chutzpah” (audacity, courage) to do it?
Are my eyes fixed on Jesus? Have I crossed or am I approaching the finishing line for today?
These questions will of course become all the more effective as we ask them of each other, share the answers and lovingly hold each other accountable in the effort to avoid “drifting”
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Hebrews 10:24
So do share your experiences are you asking the questions? Is it making a difference?
I continue to be challenged this quote that I used when I shared with you our vision
“The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps – we must step up the stairs”. Vance Havner
……so how do we make a start and “step up the stairs” of the vision God has given us?
Well what I believe to be step one may surprise you. I am convinced the first step in any new call from God is to make sure we do what we are already doing with excellence. Growth happens when we build on what God has taught us not alongside it. So we must greet with excellence, we set up with excellence, we will take a personal interest in making sure every guest feels welcome, we will attend to every detail of what happens at NLCF. Whatever task we have, large or small we do it to the absolute best of our ability….Why? Because we are doing it for Jesus!
Have you considered that when you greet someone at the church door on Sunday morning you do so as Jesus’ appointed representative for that morning. As you participate in preparing for our service it is because Jesus is planning to meet people there. Good enough just isn’t …. when we are doing something for Him. So let’s be sure to encourage each other towards the highest of standards because we want the very best for Him.
When we caught God’s vision for the birth of New Life six people stepped up to lead. They have given (and continue to give) their very best. They have taken risks and tried new things from carol singing, and video teaching in “ One Prayer,” to the introduction of a unique church family covenant. And the rest of us followed and did so really well! God has blessed in so many ways we have almost forgotten what it was like to be two churches. We have doubled our attendance, celebrated baptisms, and more than fifty people signed our covenant together. We have launched a brand new website and been blessed by two new staff in our office…….
But now we look to the future, God will be calling more people to step up, both to lead and to be outstanding followers. Many of us He will call to do both. He will be calling more people to participate in greeting teams, set up teams and fellowship teams. He will be calling people to run ourresource and information table, coordinate our Missions involvement and our Servant Evangelism initiatives. And that is just the beginning!
Remember this; New Life Christian Fellowship does not believe in the “warm body method”! God has given YOU gifts; He will enable YOU to do amazing things with those gifts, if you let Him! Do you know what they are? If so, I urge you to come and see me so we can seek God together as to how He wants to use them. You don’t know what your gifts are?…. Well we will seek God together and He will show us. One thing is certain when the gifts were distributed nobody was left out! (Romans 12:6)
One last thing, when God gave us a vision he gave it to us so He can fulfill it using US! Our call is to be His church not His spectators. So let’s step up the stairs together “holding our forks”* because we KNOW the best is yet to come.
*If you can’t remember this reference listen to Perry Noble’s messagewith which we finished “One Prayer”
Can you picture it?…The scene is the quad at Cal Berkley (but it could be any such institution of higher learning!) The sun is shining and the grass is littered with students working on their tans. Amongst them is group of Christians with guitars seeking to share their love of Jesus with their friends. Their plan, to use a bold act of worship (joyful singing!!) to arouse the curiosity and prompt questions from listening sunbathers ………but nobody had any questions in fact nobody was really interested .
This experience prompted one of the worshipers to observe “our bold worship had grown our faith, but it made for weak evangelism. Our fatal flaw? We came up with our evangelistic strategy while we were alone in a room together with a bunch of Christians
……..and it prompted such questions as:
What is it like for those who are lost to take steps toward Jesus?
How can we be helpful to them on the journey?
Over the next ten years, while working amongst students Intervarsity workers Don Everts and Doug Schaup asked these and other similar questions and documented their findings. The results have been published in a book entitled “I Once was Lost”. The subtitle for the book is” What postmodern skeptics taught us about their paths to Jesus” and the lessons are remarkable and illuminating.
I hope to write in more detail about their challenging findings in the future but for now just a few “appetizers
“Each individual path to faith was a unique mystery ….and their collective paths had remarkable similarities”
“ There are five significant shifts (thresholds) that go in postmodern folk as they come to faith”
1 From Distrust to Trust
2 From Complacent to Curious
3 From Closed to change to Open to change
4 From Meandering to Seeking
5 The Threshold of the Kingdom itself
“Understanding the mysterious nature of the path has freed us from activism and ushered us into a humble place of wonder and prayer
…understanding the organic nature of the path has freed us from the frustrations of “one trick” evangelism and empowered us to get involved in the specific unfolding of mysteries of our friends”
“…the great news is the better we listen the better we serve those on the journey”
I am convinced if you are serious about sharing your faith you need to read this book ……and you need to have it on your shelves to refer to regularly!
If you have been with us for the last couple of Sundays at New Life you will understand me when I say its all about “the look”! That moment when two sets of eyes lock and the communication is louder and clearer than any words could be. Jesus looked at the rich young ruler ( Mark 10:21) and loved him. Jesus locked eyes with Zaccheus (Luke 19:5) and called him down from the tree.
This morning I read about another of these “looks.” Peter so badly wanted to be a hero for Jesus and on a number of occasions this desire prompted him to open his mouth simply to make room for his foot! Each time Jesus was kind and firm in picking him up and pointing him back in the right direction. On this occasion Jesus even warns him it is about to happen but our hero is mounted firmly on his white charger! ( Luke 22:31-32) Then before he has time to think almost, the white charger throws him and our hero has denied he even knows Jesus not once, but three times. Then it comes ( Luke 22:61) “the Lord turns and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered…..” I can never read that verse without getting chills .
Three looks, each magnificent in their eloquence, but each very different. Each with a powerful message of His love, a love that would not be crushed but would not compromise, a love that when we receive, changes our lives beyond recognition, and a love that will restore even the most abject failure and use them as “the rock on which I will build my church” (Matt 16:18).
I think Jesus had to cure Peter of his “hero complex” sincere as it was. To fulfill the amazing purpose Jesus had for him, Peter had to recognize his weakness enough to become simply a tool (and a hand tool at that!!) in the Masters hands.
I know that we can’t see those eyes today, however I don’t know about you but I have felt them more then once. Each time it would be true to say “ Then Jonathan remembered…”. Isn’t it wonderful to know to know however, that Jesus is still willing to use failures, even repeated ones like me, when we remember to surrender
On of the nicest things about having Mondays off is that I can enjoy contemplating all the amazing things that God did over the weekend. Yesterday, as I recalled how much I appreciated our worship service I was challenged by another quote from Jeff Lucas in “Creating a Prodigal Friendly Church.”
“Does our preaching [or service as a whole] stimulate , irritate, confront and occasionally infuriate? Does it just take up time on Sundays or does it drive us back to our Bibles on Mondays eager – even desperate to slake the wholesome thirst that has been created …….?” [brackets mine]
As I thought about this I remembered trips to Costco! No shopping spree would be complete without visiting at least one of the multiple carts strategically placed to offer you a taste of some delicacy . Their job is not to feed shoppers (although the frequency with which some people visit the carts you wonder!!) Their purpose is to give you a taste that excites you enough to go to the shelf and place some in your cart to enjoy at home .
So how about church …….when did God last give you a “taste” of something that you were excited to take home. Something you wanted read more and/or learn more about so it would make a difference on Monday?
As I sit down to one of the most stimulating and challenging tasks of the week, sermon preparation, I try to remember our time together on Sunday mornings needs to be about transformation. It must be about “next steps” in the process by which God transforms us into the likeness of Jesus (2 Cor 3:18). I am reminded of a couple of things I read recently about sermons …..
Ajith Fernando the director of Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka is in great demand as a speaker. When on preaching visits to the West he observes that the most frequent response to his messages is “I enjoyed that sermon” he tells that this concerns him as he shares the conviction that “sermons should disturb, convict and motivate to costly obedience. I have wondered whether peoples desired result from sermons is to enjoy themselves rather than be changed into radical disciples who will turn the world upside down.”
Jeff Lucas who carries preaching responsibilities in churches on both sides of the Atlantic (yes he commutes!!) expresses similar concern in his book “Creating a Prodigal Friendly Church.” Examining the impression we might give to a prodigal returning to our church he says “For them (us!) grace simply isn’t so amazing anymore….the sermon has become something Christians endure weekly rather than eagerly anticipate. It rarely evokes the nervousness that one should feel around the ticking time bomb that is Truth”
The privilege of preaching is awesome and one I take very seriously. However I believe that transformation has more to do with our attitude and expectations than how good or bad we perceive the sermon to be. And those attitudes and expectancies will rub off on those who visit our church. Do we expect to hear from God each Sunday morning? Do we listen for the ticking time bomb that is Truth. Would we rather enjoy what we hear than be disturbed, convicted, or motivated? Have we any desire to be changed into radical disciples? What do you expect from a sermon and is it happening?
The world of blogging has opened up a whole new range od insights into the lives of tothersand I was thinking recently there a number of people whose blogs I would love to have read!
St Augustine
I am fascinated by this man who once prayed “Lord make me pure but not yet!”
Brothet Lawrence ,
His little book “The Practicie of the Presence of God” is one of the most challenging things you will ever read. He set out to do the simplest task directly for God. He makes no secret that this was not easy and I would love to have heard his musings on the subject
John Stott
He is one of the godliest men I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. He manages to distill complex theology into the most profoundly simple thoughts. (I know there are various blog type sites that use his material but I would like to hear from him!)
Oswald Chambers …..I think!
The relentless challenge he brings in his devotional “My Utmost for His Highest” might be a little scary fresh each morning. However there are few books that have been more effective in my life than this one.
And of course there are others…..but how about you whose blog would you like to read and why?
From the Zebra Bag 