Launching “Your Big Questions” series…

This Sunday we launch a new series entitled “Your Big Questions” which will run throughout April in our London congregations.

The idea: We have been asking many of our friends / colleagues / and anyone we meet what their “Big Question” is about life, God, the universe, or anything else for that matter. We are collating all of these questions, and during April in our Sunday services & Connect Groups we will try to give a Biblical worldview response to the most popular questions received.

 This Sunday we share some thoughts which will hopefully help us to apply this challenging instruction given in 1 Peter 3:15:

“Therefore in your heart set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer/ defence to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have in you. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience…”

Remember:

• The Big Question is often not the real question, so make sure you don’t end end answering a question which isn’t being asked. Learn to ask questions about the question, and peel away the layers of assumptions and worldviews which hide the real question.
• We don’t need  to have answers to every question. Accept that there are mysteries. God gave us all we need in order to believe, but not all we want.
• Christians are not the only ones who need to answer for what they believe. Everyone does.

Do you have a Big Question of your own? Post it as a comment below, and we’ll add it to the list. Otherwise, check out our dedicated YourBigQuestions blog here.

Easter adventure in Dublin…

Over six years ago Ray & Claudine Shiels sat in our lounge in London sharing their dream to plant a church in Dublin Ireland, and soon after they were sent out from our church on this adventure. They have faced every imaginable opposition on this journey, but this weekend as Ali & I visited the Dublin church we witnessed once again what an amazing thing it is when individuals answer Gods call and against all odds persevere to see God do what He promised. I had the privilege of preaching some “Resurrection Truth” in the Easter Sunday morning service, where a congregation of nearly 100 people gathered, passionately worshipping and faithfully serving a church through which many had obviously encountered a brand new life of faith in Christ.  The weekend before on St Patrick’s Day the church took part in ”Arise Dublin”, a prayer gathering of 1,000 Christians which Ray had been instrumental in birthing with a group of other pastors in Dublin. Watch this space!

Despite Ray’s cancer history disqualifying him from getting life insurance and therefore a mortgage to buy a home, this weekend we sat in the lounge of their new home and listened once again to the story of God’s faithfulness and miraculous provision.

I can report that without a doubt Jesus is building His church in Dublin!

(Oh, and by the way, we had our own little family Easter adventure in Dublin, with the airline loosing our luggage, and it only getting to us ten minutes before we left back for London! We arrived back in London with unopened luggage and wearing the same clothes as when we left – but truly grateful for the privilege to have been a small part of a great work God is doing in that great city…)

Our ig:nite men’s & in:spire women’s weekends

This weekend we have 150 women away on “in:spire ‘08″, and in February we had 100 men doing the same at “ig:nite ‘08″. The venue is on the outskirts of Henley-upon-Thames, a beautiful quaint village and home of English rowing.  The men had an awesome time with many stories of real life-change being shared afterwards. On the Saturday evening one man told me: “This was the best day of my life!” 

I know that our women will have an equally good time. We came up with an idea to surprise them with a mass delivery of fresh Crispy Cream Doughnuts for morning tea on Saturday, courtesy of all the Every Nation London men. We’re hoping it will simply say that we men really appreciate all of our amazing EN London ladies/women/girls. For those ladies who couldn’t make the weekend (It was fully booked), the guys will have a surprise for you on Sunday morning…

 They say that the best gift is “an unexpected gift at an unexpected time” – If any of our girls read this, we men are dying to know: did it say what we wanted it to say?

I’m really focussed on FREEDOM lately…

“It was for freedom that Christ has set us free. BEWARE then that you dont get entangled/caught up in a yoke of slavery again.” (Galatians 5:1)

Its so awesome to experience freedom from all sorts of stuff through faith in Jesus Christ. To experience forgiveness and the release from purposeless and dead-religious-efforts-to-get-a-nod-from-God is an amazing thing.  Equally amazing is how we so easily allow stuff back in and on us which just ties us up again to be slaves to all sorts of things. Getting free is one thing, but staying and living free is quite another.  

So I’m doing this short series on freedom: Getting free and staying free. Part one last week was about freedom from guilt, shame, condemnation, & regret – all about how Jesus-denying Peter went from “weeping bitterly” to declaring “Repent, that your sins may be forgiven, and times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” (Acts 3:19). Coming up in Part two I’ll speak about getting free from some of the many “weights” that so many of us pick up as we go through life: weights of worry, dead works, why?, when?, etc.

Jesus said to take His yoke on us, and that He would teach us to live “freely & lightly”. Note, He didn’t promise that following Him would be easy, but it would be light – it would be the most free way this life could ever be lived. it is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Whatever you do in the rest of 2008, GET FREE AND STAY FREE!

Download the series here