Last weekend we had about 40 men from our congregations get away to Lee Valley just North of London for one of our Victory Weekends. It never ceases to amaze me what God does during these weekends when guys come hungry for FREEDOM and committing to building strong FOUNDATIONS and lives that are FRUITFUL for Christ. Again we have had some really great testimonies of break-thoughs in many areas, re-commitments, and great relationships formed. “Men need Men” is SO true – so come on guys, get over to a Connect Group this week or sign up for a church serving team or a mission…
And diaries our IGNITE 2010 Men’s Day for Saturday 15th May – it’s going to be an awesome day of adventure, food, action, input and loads of fun – Get it into your diaries and start inviting your mates along. We’ll open registration soon but check out preliminary details here
Yesterday in all our congregations we continued with our “Way of Life” series, and the message was “Living to change the world.” The premise for this way of life is that “Having a vision and commitment for being an agent of change for good in the world is an essential ingredient of a life well and fully lived.”
Jesus gave those who decided to follow Him a massive mandate which included “the world” – It’s challenging, but so fulfilling and rewarding! As C.S. Lewis said: ”If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity” As always you can get the downloads at www.everynation.co.uk/media.
For an example of what some of our Every Nation London world changers are up to, and what you are supporting with your finances, check out this update from Daz & Lisa Muir serving with Tim & Maz Walker at the Thembalitsha Village of Hope in Grabow, South Africa - http://themuirsatthevillageofhope.blogspot.com/
And a final thought via a quote from Theodore Roosevelt: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
A young Persian man walked in off the street into our meetings recently and has been coming to Bible School with his Farsi Bible – he’s got an amazing salvation testimony and is so passionate about Jesus!
Healing!
We had an amazing testimony by a lady who had previously had most of one kidney removed, which caused some complications with her current pregnancy. Her and her husband prayed and last week when she went for tests the medical staff were baffled when their tests showed 2 perfectly whole kidneys!
Alpha in Copenhagen!
Through an EN member working in Copenhagen a small group was started there. we resourced them with an Alpha course start-up kit and Mats & Lena Lindstrom from or Stockholm church plant are there this weekend as they launch an Alpha course – watch this space!
Way of Life Series
Our current “Way of Life” series trust is stirring things up and releasing some cool Jesus life! we’ve done “Living for a Cause” and “Living Prepared”. Coming up are “Living to Love,” “Living to change the World”, and “Living to Leave a Legacy”. Catch the downloads at www.everynation.co.uk/media…
I have just got off the phone to Geoff & Maggie Lee, who this morning packed up their home into a removal van and are about to drive from London over to Belgium today where they are relocating as part of our team to plant a church there later this year! Having both retired in the last year, they are completely selling out to serve Jesus in the next season of their lives. They are the most “retired refired” people I’ve met 0 real hero’s in our house! They have served beyond the second mile for the past ten years at Every Nation London, and many will miss them, but thats the cost and the joy of what living for a cause is all about!
They are on the left in the photo below, and on the right are Trevor & Yvette Botha who will be leading this church plant for us. They will move over to Gent in the summer. Every Nation Gent will be the 9th church/congregation we have launched from our original congregation in London since our start in 1993! (China, Dublin, Stratford, Stockholm, Slough, The 6PM, Madrid, Brentwood, Gent!)
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
This Sunday we launch our next greater London congregation in Brentwood, Essex!
Its going to be different to anything we’ve done before, starting off as a “Cafe Church” meeting on Sunday mornings at 10.30 in “The Green Bean” coffee shop. Expect Bacon Butties, great coffee, warm friendships, and a solid God encounter – Just don’t expect church as you know it! People are going to grow at the Green Bean! It will be led by my good friends Charl & Anina Chapman, together with a great team of James, Alex, Michael, Charlene, and others. Great people to do church with!
If you are in the area and looking for a church to be a part of, I can assure you that there’s no better bacon buttie in all of Essex! – And Jesus will be there in a big way too!
This past Sunday we had a great time at Every Nation London Hammersmith congregation – I preached on “stirring up your gifts” and started by saying that this is a dangerous message: If you do this, you could change the world; If you don’t, you may be facing some of the harshest words Jesus had via a parable to those who buried their talents: “You wicked & lazy servant” – now thats dangerous!
But you can find you purpose and your place and your people, and you can fulfil the good works you were created to do in Christ Jesus, which he has prepared beforehand for you to walk in (Eph 2:10)
Here’s are two video extracts from the message on Sunday. You can download the whole audio message here, as well as the handout notes with the S.H.A.P.E.D. profile , which may be helpful if you need some help understanding “giftings” in Scripture, and how to apply them in your life.
Your are S.H.A.P.E.D. for significance…
“We are all born originals, but sadly most people will die as copies.”
Understanding your “grace gifting”
This next video clip is an illustration to understand the 7 “grace/ motivational giftings” mentioned in Romans 12:5-9. Prophesy – serving – teaching – encouraging – leading – giving – mercy: Which ones are you?
Having then gifts differing from one another, LET US USE THEM! – what will your serving story be in 2010?
At Every Nation London we begin our 24/7 week of Prayer & Fasting tomorrow (Sunday 17th Jan). basically we have people committed to pray every hour of the week, and to fast for one or more days. We do this to deeply refresh and rededicate ourselves and the church to the Lord, and seek Him for His Kingdom to advance in and through our lives 2010.
“Night and day we pray most earnestly…” – 1 Thessalonians 3:10
“When you fast… your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” – Matthew 6:16-34
Our Hope Challenge has now well exceeded its initial £7,000 goal, and has now raised over £9,500!!! The additional funds are going directly to provide some urgently needed relief to volunteer accommodation needs, as the short-, medium-, and long-term volunteers form a critical part of the Village of Hope success story. So if you are still raising cash, keep it coming in!
Listen to the audio below for the feedback Liz Lugt (Who has been leading this initiative at Every Nation London) at last Sundays church service: (Its set to a few slides because in the blog world its easier to do audio by video than on its own – strange world…)
My preaching yesterday was more “practical spiritual growth coach” than usual, because I passionately believe that “Developing your personal dynamic disciplined daily devotions (yes it’s a mouthful!)” is a key to your spiritual health & vitality in 2010 and beyond. Get this right and it will become the SOURCE OF LIFE which impacts and fuels every single area of your life and ministry. Without it, you will end up dry, empty, discouraged, religious, self-absorbed… do I need to go on?
Here are a few thoughts about devotions:
The Gospel brings you to God; Your devotions will keep you close to God.
Devotion is more than commitment, it is DESIRE (heart) + DISCIPLINE (Consistent Actions)
Desire declares “I WANT”, and when pointed in the right direction it is a powerful motivator of the human flesh and spirit – much more powerful than “I must”/duty. Desire is expressed by David in Psalm 27v8 “My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, LORD, I will seek.”
Discipline cannot be separated from discipleship. I’m sure you can see that “Discipline” and “Discipleship” are very similar words, and while we are definitely absolutely ”saved by grace through faith”, there is no real discipleship without discipline. In fact , there is no success in any area of life without discipline.
Discipline is what gets you to do the things you dont want to do, in order to achieve that which you want to achieve.
Circle the number of days per week on which you currently typically have meaningful daily devotions: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Devotions, like bread, are required “daily”, as in “give us our daily bread” (not weekly/monthly!
Lets get practical: HOW do I do it? Here are some tips from my personal experience:
Ingredients required to prepare and do:
A clear decision (Do you really want and value this as a key part to your life? as much as your daily food?)
The Time (When is best for you? Morning, midday, evening? “whenever” is only acceptable in a very few cases, like mums with tiny kids…)
How long? (Don’t make unrealistic commitments. if you’re at zero, start with 15minutes and build up from there – you’ll soon want more!)
Place (where? minimise distractions)
Habit forming steps (what do I do to get from my alarm clock to the beginning of my devotions?)
Bible (A readable version, preferably even more than one.
Tools (Journal, pen, to do list, notebook)
Devotions plan/pattern – I use the acronym “A.C.T. S.O.A.P” to guide me through a holistic devotional time. Download a planner I drew up below, and do listen to the full Coaching session online on our website at www.everynation.co.uk/media/
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