"Present Sir!"

I had the privilege of leading a Celtic Healing service at our church last night. The service is based around a very structured liturgy which is worked through, and includes a time of anointing anointing and praying for each individual. 

Part of my responsibilities was to anoint each congregant with oil. In my head I was thinking I need to be really concentrating when I did this. Not just so I can avoid sticking an oily finger in someone's eye! But rather because I thought somehow if I focused hard enough, the healing would be more effective! Crazy logic, I know. 

But then I had this real sense of just letting the simple be simple. I was struck by how God could use me without me having to use my intellectual self. All He needed was for me to be present. 

Now I am not sure if we brought physical healing to anyone last night. But as the band Tenth Avenue North write, the healing begins where the light meets the dark. Being light doesn't require intellectual focus. It just requires presence. And when that presence is in dark place, there is the opportunity for healing to begin. Dark places are slowly transformed by glorious light, God's light. 

So healing beings with presence. Presence in places that need healing. Will you allow this Christmas to be more about presence than about presents? Where is your presence needed now?

Go there. 

On Purpose

I want my life to count. I want to feel significant. I want to feel I made a difference. That is a lot of I's.

So I go to church. And I am told God has a purpose for my life. Great! I matter. More me. More I!. 

The preacher even quotes some verses from the bullfrog guy Jeremiah, something about Him knowing the plans He has for me, plans give me a hope and a future. 

Nice, God has a plan for me!

Sound familiar? Does it make you feel warm and fuzzy inside? That verse is from Jeremiah 29:11. And truth be told, it has played an important role in my life and calling. 

But there is this little problem. It was never meant for an individual. God was actually speaking to an entire nation called Israel. They had been conquered and forced to live away from home in a place called Babylon. They were feeling down and rejected by God (they had actually had rejected God, but that is another story). 

So God comes and says, guys and girls, trust me here. I have a plan. I do not intend for you to live in exile forever. I am going to save you from the Babylonians just like I saved you from slavery in Egypt. 

So here's the thing. God does have a plan. It just isn't for your life. Don't freak out just yet, read on. 

For thousands of years, God has been trying to bring about His purposes on earth. Trying to get the people who inhabit the earth to choose His way of life. To love Him, and to love each other. He doesn't want to force the issue, He wants them to choose this way of life. 

When people choose this way of life, it is like a little bit of Heaven comes to earth. It is like His Kingdom is established wherever people love Him and love one another. 

He has a plan. It is for all people everywhere to make love their primary objective. He wants them to love Him. He wants them to love each other. 

God does not have a plan your life, He has a plan for all of creation. He wants it be restored to the way it was always meant to be. 

You can choose to be a part of it or choose not to be a part of it. Either way, His plans continue. God doesn't want something from you. But He wants to invite you to be a part of His plan. His plan that is way bigger than you as an individual. The purpose of your life is to be a part of God's bigger plan. 

There is no greater honour. And as Rob Bell says, in the end, love wins. And we all like to back the winner, don't we?

Where the Kingdom flows...

Have you ever found yourself plodding through your faith journey waiting for God's river of life to sweep you away in a torrent of unrequited love and grace? Perhaps you once experienced a spiritual flash flood that made you into a believer. But sadly that river was at best perennial, making an appearance in season... but for the most part you felt you were living as a Christian in a dry flood plain.

I sometimes feel that way. Like I am a lonely drop waiting for God to sweep me up in the current of His Kingdom, giving me an opportunity to be a part of something big. Trouble is, I've been waiting here for far too long...  

An old school South African acoustic rock band called Peculiar People wrote a song about this. 

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Water of love - Peculiar People

Some days I’m in a strange place

I feel like I’m falling far from your love

And I do what I don’t want to

Trying to be for you who I should be

 

On my own I’m going nowhere

Not satisfied with this at all

I’ve been waiting for your river

Waiting here for far too long

 

I’ve been listening to you say

That you’ll never leave me

You’ll always be there

It’s sometimes hard to believe you

When I cannot see you

But I don’t want to doubt 

 

Take me to the river

Let me sink into your water of love

‘cause I just want to know that you are with me

As I walk through this life

 

©2001 Here We Are Music CC

Do you understand that the river flows? Sure we can sink into this water of love and grace and all that. We can even drink from it.

But at some point, we have to decide to join in the current of God's Kingdom. If we want to experience that life-giving water all year round, we have to let it move us. Let it take us. It doesn't allow you to stay where you are. You can choose to just dip into the water but hold onto the shore so it doesn't pull you along. You can choose to stay where you are. Comfortable.

But the water will soon be gone, and you will be a lonely drop quickly evaporated out of faith and purpose and life. 

So when the water comes, and it does, let it move you. Allows your life to be part of God's bigger purposes. Don't ask the question: "What is God's purpose for my life?". Ask "How can my life fit in with God's purpose for this world?". God's purpose for you is to flow in the direction of His purpose for this world. 

Go where the Kingdom flows. It will never run dry.

Songs that have inspired me: I therefore You

This song is one of the reasons I miss the sounds and thoughts of old school Tree (before the 63 got tagged on). It taught that the very fact that I exist is proof that God exists. The very fact that I have breath, means He is. And if I am living, what else should I be living for but for Him, for His glory, for His honour, for His Kingdom. 

Bruce, therefore God.

you, therefore Him. 

Breathe. Believe. 

BIG BRIDGE OVER A SMALL RIVER - TREE63
 
All the trees in the world
Have one purpose in mind
To try and reach the sun
And touch him from behind
 
Thunder rolls in the sky
And the stupid ask why
They think you're rolling around
Scaring them with sound
 
And I don't breath for my own sake
The choice is just not mine to make
 
I, therefore You (4x)

All the kids that lived in my street
Still live there today
Now they're as old as me
But younger somehow

I don't pretend to swing
I showed off all that noise
Dress me up in the truth
We're all your girls and boys

Why do I sleep the night away?
There's only so much time to pray…

Book review: Communicating for a change (Andy Stanley and Lane Jones)

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My rating: 5/5

Summary: This is the book every preacher should read

Links: Buy at Amazon

 

This book has transformed the way I preach and teach. I wish I had this book when I started preaching, and from now on I will recommend it to anyone exploring a calling to preach. It starts off with a creative story that gets the main learning points into your head easily. Then the second half of the book explains the theory in a bit more detail. This structure really helps to keep the book in your hands.

 

It recommends a basic structure (Me-We-God-You-We) that can be applied to nearly any talk or sermon. It espouses the one-point sermon, which was so refreshing for me. I have grown up on three-point sermons and I was relieved to have someone challenge that idea!

 

“The… problem with preaching points is that it doesn’t reflect the world we live in. We don’t live our lives by points. We live our lives by emotions. We respond to what we see, taste and feel. So there’s no compelling reason to remember points… Even the preacher knows this. That’s why he or she has to refer to their notes. They haven’t even bothered to memorise their own points.”

 

It challenged my style of preaching (basically reading from a script) by explaining the need to “internalise the message”. This has really impacted by preparation, and reminded me of the need for my sermons to first speak to me, and then to my audience.

 

When it comes to Scripture, Stanley take us out of our usual “read Scripture – preach – send them home” approach. I have always tried to make the Scriptures more interesting, but the book takes this to the next level:

 

“Make it so fascinating that they are actually tempted to go home and read it on their own.”

 

It has significantly raised the bar for my preparation. Stanley shares at the end of the book how he is usually prepared 3 weeks in advance. Not bad for a guy that preaches nearly every week!

 

“It’s our preparation and presentation that will keep people engaged”

 

“Communicating for a Change” is the essential guidebook for preachers, whether you are a rookie or an old hat.

 

 

 

Book review: Radical Together (David Platt)

My rating: 4/5

Summary: A deeply challenging book that should be read by all church leaders

Links: Chapter 1 sample (scribd.com) Buy at Amazon

 

“Radical Together” should carry a warning label: “Explicit: sure to challenge the way your church does church!” In his follow up to “Radical”, David Platt sets about challenging church leaders to rethink where their church’s time, money and other resources are focused.

 

“We realise how prone we are to exalt our work over God’s work, our dreams over God’s desires, and our plans over God’s priorities.”

 

It’s an uncomfortable book to read, because it makes us realise how far our church visions have strayed from the Great Commission. We are supposed to be making disciples of all nations, but there are still so many people groups around the world who have never even heard of Jesus.

 

I particularly enjoyed Platt’s balance between our response to poverty and our response to the unreached. He doesn’t place one as more important than the other, but challenges us to consider whether our church budgets are addressing these two issues. He also is careful to not create a sense of a works-based salvation:

 

“It’s not that acts of mercy  are a means to salvation, but they are clear evidence of salvation.” (emphasis mine)

 

But the high point for me was his understanding of what Jesus says in John 14:12 “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” (NIV). Platt suggests the following:

 

“We will do greater things, not because of the quality of the Spirit in select ones among us, but because of the quality of the Spirit spread throughout all of us”

 

Jesus did amazing things, but He put us in charge of taking His work to the ends of the earth. It is time for us to revisit where we as the Church are headed. Platt gives us a blueprint of how to go about this. And best of all, he is putting this theory into practice in his own church. This is a must read for all church leaders.

 

I only have two criticisms of the book. Firstly it looses steam near the end, the first few chapters where punchy and challenging, but the last few were a bit repetitive. And the Kindle version I was given to review was very poorly formatted, though still readable. Hopefully this will be resolved in the final version (I suggest you first check out the sample from Amazon if this is an issue for you).

 

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sacred pathways

In preparing for my sermon tomorrow on the Transfiguration, I stumbled on an excellent book by Gary Thomas  entitled "Sacred Pathways - Discover your soul's path to God". Now I found the book lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. Thomas suggests that there are many different pathways to God and ways that we experience His love. Not as in different faiths, but different ways Christians experience the Living God.

This came as a relief. My ability to be committed to a regular quiet time where I sit in my room and read the Scriptures and try to pray is weak at best. But I spend a lot of time studying His Word, reading books, listening to challenging podcasts... all of these I learnt can draw me closer to God. I also enjoy running and cycling, and often find my workouts to be an opportunity to chat informally with God. It doesn't fit into the structure of the "perfect" quiet time, but it is working for me. I don't need to feel guilty.

Thomas discusses the following spiritual temperaments which different people have, which impacts the way they experience God:

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·      Naturalists: Loving God out of doors

·      Sensates: loving God with the senses

·      Traditionalists: Loving God through ritual and symbol

·      Ascetics: Loving God in solitude and simplicity

·      Activists: Loving God through confrontation

·      Caregivers: Loving God by loving others

·      Enthusiasts: Loving God with mystery and celebration

·      Contemplatives: Loving God through adoration

·      Intellectuals: Loving God with the mind

Isn't it amazing that our God is big enough to be experienced in all these different ways?

So the challenge is to find the ones that work for you, and focus on them. But also don't be scared to experiment in new pathways, it might be that God reveals Himself to you in a new and fantastic way!

If you would like to know more, I highly recommend you get hold of a copy of Sacred Pathways, it is available on the Kindle here.