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Sunday Shorts 1: Everyday Mission

3 Apr

Imprint Media and me made this video. It’s available to download. Over at Vimeo

 

It’s the first in a series from Imprint called “Sunday Shorts.” We filmed this a while ago down in an empty West Kirk on a cold Friday. The photography and the whole look and feel of the video is stunning. The images of the empty church building are like a smack in the face. Anyone who has listened to me will be used to hearing this call to get out and go, faithful to Jesus’ words “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

I think there is loads in John’s gospel that we see in Jesus’ ministry that can make us better evangelists. John is so deep, there are so many things in there, but I am convinced there is a real missional edge to it.  I think the story of The Woman at The Well in Chapter 4 is a brilliant example of this. As we watch Jesus on mission we can learn how we should go too…

19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

Sunday Shorts

 

I Finally Said It…

14 Mar

We had the West Kirk AGM this week. My second since joining. It was a great night. We listened to a few people talk about the work of the congregation and then had a slap up supper… There was heaps of stuff to be happy about.

I had to close the night with a few comments… I finally said the word… I had wanted to wait till the right time… I didn’t want to say it too early, I wanted to get a sense of the congregation and a sense of the Shankill, a sense of the issues… I wanted people to know that I genuinely love them (I do) and that I genuinely love Jesus (I do)… I felt that a year and a eight months was about time… It’s been a day since I said it, and as I think about it, I’m excited… the word is REPLANT.

In my comments I outlined a bit of what that means and what it might look like for us… I will post about it over the next while…

Replanting Requirements.001

How Are You Doing?

6 Feb
How are you doing?
How You Doing1
An everyday question… Yet, it’s a great chance to REMEMBER and REJOICE in the gospel.
In the same question, there is temptation for us to grumble and complain. We can look at the junk, we can dwell on the things we can’t do, the things we used to be able to do. We could complain about the things that others do that annoy us or disappoint us, or how we have been let down….
In this whole post, I’m not talking about during the really tough times, life is full of real defeats and disappointments. I’m not encouraging dishonesty when we’re asked this question. There are times when this broken world throws us disappointment after disappointment. In those cases honesty asks sisters and brothers to weep with us. Saying that, I have been led to rejoice and remember by Christian friends as they are going through the very toughest of times… wow that is humbling, something to witness. Seeing believers in the thick of disappointments, remembering the kindness of God is awesome. So… I’m not talking about whilst we are in the thick of it…
I’m talking about our attitude in the everyday, the mundane, the hum drum, when someone comes and asks…
How are you doing?
What a great chance to think and talk about the goodness and the kindness of God.
What an opportunity to encourage or evangelize as we rejoice in the greatness and generosity of our Heavenly Father. Imagine asking this question to the writer of Psalm 40.
What might he say? The guy who wrote:
Many, O Lord my God,
are the wonders you have done.
The things you planned for us
no one can recount to you;
were I to speak and tell of them,
they would be too many to declare.
How are you sir?
Well… I am outnumbered by blessings, I’m doing too good to begin to tell you.
Think about the writer of Psalm 116, what might he say? Look how he talks to himself…
Be at rest once more, O my soul,
for the Lord has been good to you.
For you, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.
He knows God’s great salvation, and because of this, he wants to live his life remembering and rejoicing as a witness to the grace of God.
This common everyday question is an opportunity to remember the grace, the goodness, the glory, and the greatness of God that we experience every day…. but so often miss. I know someone, when he is asked the “How you doing?” question, he replies, “Better than I deserve!”
I wonder how people would respond if we resolved to answer this question in a godly way. Maybe a different answer might really make people think. I hope when I’m next asked this question, I use it as an opportunity to remember and rejoice in the Lord.
HRU
Video

Happy New Year

9 Jan

I haven’t made a new years resolution to update the blog more often… but here is a a little post…

If it reminds you of the millenium prayer… I am sorry…

I know it’s late, but Happy New Year…

22 Nov
Aside

D.E.W.

23 Oct

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 ”But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today”, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Hebrews 3:13P

 

Powerfully struck by this passage from Hebrews 3 on Sunday. I want to take these words seriously, I would love it if our church could try to do what it calls us to do… I am struck how so many of my Christian relationships are marked by… anything but this at times! Christians talk about church business before spending time in real fellowship. We could counsel and encourage one another in the word against the deceitfulness of sin, but we don’t. Too often our conversation actually distracts and discourages us. Imagine if we took this sort of thing seriously…

 

Imagine if all christians, as a normal part of their discipleship, were caught up in a web of regular Bible reading – not only digging into the Word privately, but reading it with their children before bed, with their spouse over breakfast, with a non-christian colleague at work once a week over lunch, with a new christian for follow up once a fortnight for mutual encouragement, and with a mature Christian friend once a month… it would be a chaotic web of personal relationships, prayer and bible reading, more of a movement than a program – it would be profoundly simple and within the reach of all… It’s an exciting thought…

I think it is an exciting thought. The quote above has inspired a great little book ‘One To One Bile Reading’. I took a model from this book and encouraged people to try to develop this movement of one to one bible reading amongst our congregation. I produced a quick start guide, all of which were picked up, so we’ll see how it goes…

On Sunday we saw that the passage calls us to Daily Encouragement in the Word (D.E.W.). 

Daily:  The deceitfulness of sin speaks to us in temptation and accusation every single day, so we need daily to hear God’s truth, and encourage each other in the Word. Those who fell in the wilderness were those who had experienced the power of God in Egypt through the Exodus, they sang songs to God in celebration… but in the wilderness their hearts rebelled. Living in the wilderness with nothing to sustain us, requires a daily encouragement. We need to counsel one another as often as we can. 

Encourage Each-other :  This word encourage is powerful. In it we are called to comfort, counsel, strengthen, instruct, to give courage to fellow believers as we speak about Jesus. Isn’t it funny over my Christian life I have been been driven to a personal ‘quiet time’ as if it is the only way. There is great benefit in that, but there are loads of passages like this, that tell us to read the bible in fellowship and community. We need to look for opportunities to do this from within the little groups of people that we are part of, as well as looking for new opportunities to read and share the bible with others.

Word: God’s word is fresh every day. “as the Holy Spirit says,“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion..” The Holy Spirt ‘says’ not said… God’s past word to his people is his ever present word to his church today. The Word of God is always fresh. People are surprised how easy it is to read the bible with others. God wants to speak to us, why do we make expect it to be so tough? 

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New City Catechism

19 Oct

This launched this week.

www.newcotycatecism.com

52 questions and answers over 3 sections relating to God, creation, fall and law; Christ, redemption and grace; Spirit, restoration and growing in grace.

After  a bit of a look around it looks great. (There is also a free app for the iPad as well as having all the content on the web.) It’s made up of the catechism Q&A as well as scripture texts, and an explanation videos like this:

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