2/20/2020 6 Comments Be KindThursday 20th February 2020
Be Kind. I must admit I’ve never properly watched Love Island. I have a basic understanding of the premise, however after loosing large chunks of my life to Big Brother, around ten to fifteen years ago, I try to avoid all reality TV at all costs, as it’s too addictive and the behaviour of humans is just too fascinating. Due to my lack of knowledge of reality TV and celebrity, Caroline Flack is not someone I’m aware of, or would know much about. However, her story and situation is so tragic. Someone who on the surface would seem to have everything; beauty, success, fame, relationship, money and talent but didn’t believe she had anything to live for. It is a tragedy if anyone’s self-worth and mental wellbeing is built on temporal things. Sadly, when these things are removed, people can be left feeling hopeless. As Christians we believe our intrinsic worth is given to us by God, whose image we are made in, with all people being special to him. Regardless of where you’re from, what you’ve done or whatever people say about us, there are no circumstances that can change this. If you’re feeling in anyway like this, I want to say God loves you so, so, so much. You are fearfully and wonderfully made and so special. I’ve also been struck how the television and people on social media have reacted to this tragic event. In this country our media and newspapers appear to build people up and then smash them down. On social media people appear to relish putting people down. I’m often so shocked how people love denouncing and shouting at people on Facebook, often even Christians! Laura Whitmore, a Radio 5 presenter, gave an emotional tribute to her friend. You can listen to it here. The thing that she said which seems to have struck a chord with a lot of people is: "Be Kind”, which is a fundamental biblical principle. In the letter to the Corinthians the Apostle Paul was speaking into a church who’d forgotten to be kind! The church had split into factions, was following different leaders and doctrinal emphasis. If it was today, I’m almost certain they’d be shouting at each other on Facebook and Twitter. There was jealousy and quarrelling within the church. They were wrongly judging and boasting. They become professionals at condemning and rejecting unbelievers, while there was terrible sin taking place in the church. Church members were being humiliated for being poor. They were asking Paul questions about situations where they wanted yes or no religious binary answers about religious actions or activities, which they hoped, could be used to justify themselves. Relations had got so bad and tempers had got so fractious that members were taking each other to court! Clearly there was not a lot of kindness going on! I believe kindness lies at the heart of the Christian Gospel. Kindness is effectively the same as Grace (active love): giving someone something they don’t necessary deserve. Kindness is one face of the coin of love with the other side being mercy. Consider for one moment how kind God has been to you! Surely in the light of that, a Christian who regularly demonstrates unkindness towards people inside or outside the church has not grasped the heart of the Gospel. This is the Apostle Pauls response to the Corinthian church. Paul points out it doesn’t matter how righteous they think they are in what they do or say. How right they are about a subject or gifted or full of faith they may have been. How effective they may be at pointing out the sin of others in God’s word. Paul exclaims without Love it doesn’t matter, in fact it gains the church nothing, and they (the church) without love are nothing!! 1 Corinthians 13 4:7 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. How many of the elements of love and things that are not love, do you demonstrate in your life? Take them one by one. I did it and I found it a challenging and scary experience! As Christians we are people of the truth, however, truth must not be delivered unkindly as Paul demonstrates in this letter. Jesus says the greatest commandments are to Love God and Love our neighbour (everyone) as ourselves and being kind is essential to that. A church that doesn’t demonstrate love (grace and mercy, patience and kindness) is no church at all! I pray for more kindness in the world and whole heartedly support the message ‘Be Kind’ At Community Church Blackburn I pray we will be filled with the Holy Spirit more and more, with the outcome of this being we’re filled with more and more of God’s love. Leading to us being a kind and generous people just like God has been with us. So be kind. God Bless Stephen Helpful bible passages to ponder Ephesians 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Galatians 5:22-23 The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. 2 Peter 1:5-8 Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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1/30/2020 1 Comment Surprised by the Holy SpiritThursday 30th January 2020
Always surprised by Holy Spirit. This week in the Tuesday daytime group we were doing the Holy Spirit section of the Alpha course. This is the section where after watching all the videos about the Holy Spirit, you ask those involved if they would be like to receive and be filled with the Holy Spirit. I’ve lost count now, how many times I’ve done this and have had the privilege to pray for young people, old people, and messed up people. To be honest, in the flesh, my expectations are always generally low! With my general (wrong) outlook being that Jesus only moves bit by bit in people’s lives, through discussion, debate, facts, figures and robust argument etc.. But I’m never ceased to be amazed (particularly when He is asked) how the power of Holy Spirit cuts through people’s lives bringing seemingly immediate freedom, repentance, conversions, tears, joy, healing, pictures and prophecies. Lives totally changed by Jesus and Tuesday was such a day. Hallelujah!!! God has challenged me, on what my expectations of the power of the Holy Spirit is to change people’s lives. Am I reliant on good pastoral skills, good arguments, kindness, well planned events, and well produced videos to change people’s lives? Or am I reliant on, or expectant of the power of Holy Spirit to tear through peoples lives, just like I saw and experienced this week? We’ve been talking about the power and authority given to Jesus’s disciples in Luke’s Gospel on Sundays, but do we have a real understanding and realization what that power is? I have to apologise profusely to you, as cerebrally, I may accent to that power, but my faith and actions often don’t match up to this, even though I’ve been the one preaching. I missed or dodged so many opportunities where I should have asked the power of the Holy Spirit to come and work in someone’s life and instead either done nothing or given half-hearted platitudes to people about how Jesus is nice. As a church if we want to see God move in Blackburn, just like he did in the book of Acts and Luke we need to have a reliance on, and a realisation of the power of the Holy Spirit to tear through and change people’s lives in an unexpected, immediate and miraculous way, leading people to Him! I’d love to see the Holy Spirit move more in our Sunday meetings. I really want to witness His power through, words of knowledge, tongues, pictures, spiritual gifts and more than anything, lives changed powerfully for His Glory! Next time you’re praying for someone ask them if they would like to be filled with the Holy Spirit or ask for yourself to be filled. Then if God gives you a picture or word tell them and watch the Holy Spirt do His stuff! Let’s pray for more of His presence, more of His power to change lives for His Glory Amen. Helpful bible passages to ponder Acts 1:8 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 1 Thessalonians 1:4 For we know, brothers and sisters[b] loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. 1 Corinthians 2:2 2 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. Scripture of the week Presently I am reading through the bible in one year. You can have a look at it Here This is the bit that really hit me between the eyes this week 😊 Exodus 25 New International Version (NIV) Offerings for the Tabernacle 25 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give. In this story, the people of Israel are given instructions on how to build the Ark of the Covenant. I find it fascinating that so early on in scripture it is indicated what God is interested in through our giving, serving and worship. God makes it clear that he is not interested in people, giving, serving or worshiping under duress. God is only interested in Israel’s offering, if its prompted from the heart. God didn’t need anything from the people of Israel, he didn’t need them to build a fancy tent. He clearly could have just done it himself. But the reason he is asking them to do this is he wants the giving, service and worship to come from their heart. Which is the part He takes delight in. How do to we give, serve and worship God? Do we give to God under duress? Well God doesn’t want it!! God wants your giving to come from a place of a thankful heart. How do you serve God, under duress, grudgingly or out of obligation? Well God doesn’t want it! God wants you to serve Him joyfully from the heart. How do you worship God, under duress because you have to fit in, or this is what we do at church? God doesn’t want it!! God doesn’t care what you look like, whether you have your arms up or down (Although lifting hands in worship is biblical), whether you bounce like Tigger or stand stiff as a post. God wants you to worship Him (Which is your whole life) from the heart and often your body reflects this after. If you are doing any of these things grudgingly or under duress or in the wrong spirit. I think you should stop. God wants us to give, wants us to serve, wants us worship but only as an outpouring of love and thankfulness from our heart. Seek Jesus, spend time with Him, develop your love for Him, seek the kingdom first and then give, serve and worship from the Heart! Then you can truly please God. Books worth reading Just Mercy (Bryan Stevenson) You can get the book HERE , You can watch the film trailer HERE Last year I bought and read this book after seeing a recommendation for it by Nicky and Pippa Gumbel (of Alpha fame) I got the chance to see the film on my day off at the cinema this Monday. I would strongly, strongly recommend reading and watching both. Just Mercy tells the story of Bryan Stevenson who is a young black lawyer representing inmates on death row in Alabama. Although not a ‘Christian’ book or film, Bryans work and story is motivated by a deep Christian faith. The book and film wrestle with injustice, poverty and racism and as I watched the film, I noticed so many parallels with the book of Exodus which I’m presently reading through in the bible in one year. I was also really pleased that the film maker hadn’t stripped any of the spirituality of the story from the book out of the film. If you watch this film or read the book, you will need a box of tissues but prepare to be challenged and see a glimpse of the heart of God. To whet your appetite here is a quote from the book. “Proximity has taught me some basic and humbling truths, including this vital lesson: Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done. My work with the poor and the incarcerated has persuaded me that the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice. Finally, I’ve come to believe that the true measure of our commitment to justice, the character of our society, our commitment to the rule of law, fairness, and equality cannot be measured by how we treat the rich, the powerful, the privileged, and the respected among us. The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavoured, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned.” ― Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption Activities and situations to pray for Keep Praying for the bank. We are so nearly there Hallelujah!! And hopefully we will be back up and running next week!! 😊 Please pray for this Sunday. We have the Equip team coming with Alastair Murdock. Please pray that lives are changed and the power of the Holy Spirit sweeps through our church just like we’ve been talking about above. 😊 1/22/2020 6 Comments Who Is My Neigbour?Wednesday 22nd January 2020 Who is my neighbour? If Jesus was telling the story of the good Samaritan today, in our context, the Samaritan would definitely be Muslim! Last night I believe something very significant happened. A bunch of evangelical Christians in Blackburn, in a Pentecostal Church no less, got together to pray. Some were on their knees others were in tears ... for their Muslim neighbours living in this town! They asked for mercy for the racist attitudes they may have had. They asked forgiveness for assuming that Muslims didn’t need the Good News of Jesus in their life. There was sadness for the missed opportunities to show kindness and grace to people who are made in God’s image, brought about by the narrative of political correctness that had caused them to believe that people of Muslim faith may be offended! There was joy and thanksgiving expressed to God for him bringing the nations to Blackburn, particularly of Muslim heritage. God always does thing for a reason. Why and how did this happen? Last night was the RISE Blackburn Unity Movement Prayer meeting, you can have a look at it HERE. If you’ve not been, get yourself there, it’s cool! This evening's guest speaker was a guy called Andy Pratt who is a retired police officer who now acts as the Bishop of Blackburn's Interfaith Adviser. I must admit, when I realised what Andy was going to talk about and the word Interfaith was mentioned, the thoughts that came into my head were snorefest with a slight tinge of heresy! How wrong I was! Andy’s basic message was: 'Who are our neighbours?' Undeniably in Blackburn our neighbours are the Muslim community making up close to 50% of the population of our town. When we have they amazing message of God’s love and grace, why are we not sharing this with them? When was the last time the church showed hospitality to the Muslim community in Blackburn? If you have Muslim neighbours (and from my experience they are great neighbours to have) have you ever invited them for a meal? It's more likely they’ve invited you! 😊 What’s stopping us? Well, we are probably more like the Jews in Jesus’s time, in their relationship to the Samaritans, than we think!. Thoughts and sentiments prohibiting us may be as follows... 'What if we are tainted as Christians by having Muslim friends or being kind to them. People may question our faith and Christian orthodoxy. We might be tarred as being liberal Christians!' Jesus had a similar situation with a Samaritan lady at a well in the Gospel of John chapter 4. Read it and see how that went. 😊 Then what about the crusades and culture wars? What about ISIS! Churches are closing and mosques are opening! However, I would argue the biggest threat to the decline of faith and the church in this country is agnostic materialism, not the building of mosques. What about: 'I don’t feel confident talking about Jesus to them as I don’t know enough, and they might come out victorious in an argument about faith with them'. Well if we don’t speak, even with risk of messing up, who is going to tell them the wonderful Good News of Jesus? It might be I just don’t know what to do, or I might accidentally insult them. This may be true but you won’t be able to bless them unless you run the risk of actually talking, smiling and interacting with them. All these feelings we may have today, have their parallels in the relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans in Jesus’s time. Personal experience I was really challenged, encouraged and heartened by last night’s prayer meeting for many, many reasons but would love to add my personal testimony, insight and encouragement, from my own life in interaction with people with Muslim faith and backgrounds. Before I worked for Community Church Blackburn I had the unique privilege of working for the ARC project as a case worker. The ARC project (Asylum Seeker and Refugee Community) is a charity started by Christians who help, welcome, assist and build a community for people from throughout the world who are fleeing from their country due to persecution and war. My role was to help them with their many and varied problems, from the trivial i.e. paying an gas bill, to more serious situations involving family break up and deportation. In this position the majority of people I dealt with were of a Muslim background and faith so I feel well placed to make some good observations. I have to say the vast majority of people I encountered there were gracious, humble, hospitable, funny, accepting, loyal, intelligent and extremely warm. Some are still some of my best friends. At ARC God really gave me a deep love and respect for people of an Islamic faith and really broke my heart for them. One of the ways I got to share the Good News and sovereignty of Jesus over this period was through prayer. Often I would do case work for them and do the best I could through my power. But as I grew in confidence, I would always ask if they would like me to pray over the situation they were facing. I would explain that I believed that Jesus (Esa) is God and Lord over the situation and he had the power and authority to deal with it far beyond what I had. You would expect Muslim to be extremely offended by my offer due to my view of Jesus. However not one single person refused! Over my two years there I must have prayed for hundreds of people of a Muslim faith in the name of Jesus. I was always thanked and it was appreciated. In fact it caused a bit of a good problem for me in that people only wanted to see me at the ARC project as they got their case work done and also got a blessing from a Holy Man! To illustrate this, there was a lady who attended our office, dressed in a full Islamic burka, so I couldn’t see her face. I completed her case work and was a little bit nervous about offering her prayer, particularly as she took her faith so seriously. However the Holy Spirit prevailed, gave me faith and I offered to pray for her in the name of Jesus and she accepted! The next day she came into the office with a big plate of home-made cakes to say thank you as God had resolved her situation. What I am saying? Well I am encouraging you to be open to praying for people of Muslim faith in the name of Jesus. If done tactfully I’m pretty sure in most cases it will be accepted and be welcome 😊 I also realised people of Muslim faith are basically closet Anglicans! Their world view is much, much nearer to Christianity than your average white agnostic western, materialistic European. Take for example the standard Islamic Arabic greeting “As-Salaam-Alaikum” with a response of “Wa-Alaikum-Salaam”. It basically means “May the Peace of God be with you” and the response being “and also with you”. This almost reads straight out of the Anglican prayer book!! The next thing they would say to each other would be “kayf halik” which means “how are you?” with the response being “Alhamdulillah” which means “I am good thanks to God” or “I am blessed by God!!” Finally I would say, people of Muslim faith are so close to understanding and experiencing the Gospel they are just missing Grace of God. I am sad they don’t know the good news of Jesus. In our church I would say around a third of our present church congregation come from an Islamic background. It is striking, when I have asked them why they renounced their Islamic faith. The reason they give isn’t to do with clever arguments, or strident anti-Islamic preaching that has moved them or caught their interest. It is often the unmerited favour and kindness, shown to them by Christians, so strikingly missing from Islam and it's God, that has impressed them so much and caused them to question their faith and be drawn to Jesus. Maybe there is a wider learning in that for the church in general in Blackburn and the UK. So pray for our neighbours in Blackburn of Islamic faith. Pray for dreams and visions of Jesus. Pray for underground churches to start in Mosques, pray for that community to be blessed and pray for Gods favour. Pray for opportunities for the church to show grace, hospitality kindness, mercy and the goodness of Jesus and the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Pray against racism, impatience and misunderstanding in our communities in Blackburn and pray for revival in our Islamic communities because who said the coming revival in the UK is going to be white middle class? Come Lord Jesus, Come Lord Jesus Amen!! God Bless Stephen Helpful bible passages to ponder Luke 10:25-37 New International Version (NIV) 25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” 29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” ste37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” John 4 New International Version (NIV) (Jesus has a theological discussion about place of worship not dissimilar to what you make have with someone of Islamic faith!) 4 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptising more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptised, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. 4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a]) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” 16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17 “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” 19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” 25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” Scripture of the week Presently I am reading through the bible in one year. You can have a look at it Here This bit that really hit me between the eyes this week is this 😊 Exodus Chapter 3 v 11 – 12 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 And God said, “I will be with you. I always love and am encouraged by the way, so many of the great Heroes in the bible get it so wrong and ask dim questions and how God answers or doesn’t answer the question by either ignoring it because it’s stupid or states the obvious! This bit of the bible is just like this. Moses is standing in the presence of the Almighty God of the universe who created the stars. He has just been asked by God to go ask the Egyptian pharaoh to let His people go. Moses then says to God. Who am I?? God tactfully side steps and just lovingly says “I will be with you” What Moses misunderstood is it didn’t depend on Him. It all depended on God and his willingness to be with Moses. In Lancashire dialect God is saying “It not dependent on you dummy, what more do you need if I am with you? What have you got to worry about?” How this is a message that I need to hear and understand 😊 and probably most of you guys are the same. Books worth reading The Life You Never Expected by Andrew Wilson You can get it HERE I had the privilege of attending the Catalyst leadership training led by Andrew Wilson who is the author of this book and he is an incredible, if slightly crazy teacher. Some of you will know him due to him speaking at Devoted and Newday. He is also one of my favourite authors of Christian books. I have read and recommend all of them. They are always well written, succinct, punchy, funny, biblical and profound and this book is no exception. This book is all about what happens when life does not go quite as you expect it and comes out of Andrew and Rachel his wife, experience of having two autistic children. It’s real, raw and honest. It tackles often untouched topics of lament, grief and worship, struggle and hope. As well as reflecting on the specific challenges of raising children with special needs, it speaks into broader questions as well: the problem of suffering, building a marriage under pressure, fighting for joy and trusting in the goodness of God. I cannot recommend this book enough and if you read it, you will be brought closer to God and more equipped to walk with Jesus. Activities and situations to pray for Again please pray for the ongoing situation with the Bank account at CCB. Progress is being made and Gina and I are getting more and more excited as we think we’re nearly there, God willing!! Keep, praying😊 Also a big thank you to members of the congregation who have helped us pay some of the urgent bills we have needed to pay. You chaps are amazing ... you know who you are! Alpha course was awesome last week. Thank you all for all your prayers and thank God for what he is doing. Also a shout out for Dan and Mim who made lovely, lovey food. High five chaps!! Can I encourage you to attend the Church family meeting on the 16th Feb (a Sunday evening). This is an opportunity to question the leadership team and me about what is going on and what we and God is up to. Also we just want to share what is going on, through God and your support, prayers and finance. Please don’t miss it. Finally I hope you enjoyed Soroush last Sunday. I believe it was a significant morning in the life of CCB where the Holy Spirit was moving and changing hearts. God was moulding and building the church at CCB. Making it glorify Him by containing many tribes, tounges and nations!! If you missed it due to you serving or were away please can I encourage you to listen to it HERE. 1/15/2020 2 Comments Eat, Walk, PlayWednesday 15th January 2020
Eat, Walk, Play When I look out at you guys on Sunday morning, it’s just fantastic 😊 I love how at CCB you’re all shapes and sizes!! All different backgrounds and nationality, different outlooks on life, different temperaments, different ways of dealing with life, different ways of expressing love for Jesus. I have the unique privilege and opportunity of having the time to get to know you all and I have to say I find you all fascinating! Do you know that there are people in our church who lived in the Jungle with baboons!! As we found out last week there is a person who swam across a mighty river and nearly drowned, but trusted in God and got there!!. There are people who have jumped out of aeroplanes and are prize winning boxers! There are church family members who escaped a Volcano! There are individuals in our church who are running their own dining experience blog on Instagram and regular gives out prizes!! There is, in our church a person who regularly drives around with convicted murders!! People who went to ‘naughty school’ and people who went to boarding school. People who can build jet planes, who teach children, who understand building planning law. There are people in our congregation who pioneered amazing Christian surgeries both as nurses and doctors in Blackburn. We have published authors and successful business entrepreneurs and inventors. We have folk singer, ex rock singers, mods and rockers, midwives, even pop stars. People who have got scholarships to go to Africa to study. We have youth workers and people who help to support the elderly. We have people in our church who saw the Beatles in real life!! (This is one of my favourites). We have a Brian Adams fan who used to make Heinz Baked beans!!! People who have smuggled bibles behind the iron curtain in the 90’s. We have scousers, who some say, may come from Newcastle!! We have Japanese missionaries, previous millionaire’s and contractors! People who lived in a setting like the British Raj! People who have lived through war. We have a person who is training in disaster management! We have real life Romeo and Juliet’s who married from opposing tribes or clans and this got them into a lot of trouble. So many amazing wonder interesting people and stories, too many to mention here. Go see if you can find them all!! I particularly love listening to the many, varied and different ways that Jesus had worked in your life and we caught a snippet of that during our share time last Sunday . I loved it! 😊 However often I forget that you guys don’t know each other. You have no idea how cool and wonderful each other are and that’s what I feel we need to build on over the next season of church life at CCB. Community Church Blackburn has grown at a fast pace over the last 12 months and this is wonderful and amazing!! Numerical growth of a congregation is brilliant! However if you read through the New Testament, particularly the letters of Paul and Peter, in their advice they don’t seem to spend a lot of time or consideration on numerical growth of the church (although don’t get me wrong, they do encourage this and evangelism). Most of the letters seem to be encouraging the church to persevere through difficulty, suffering and continue to grow in love and relationship for each other and God. One of the primary pictures of the church is a family or household. Please note not a business, an organisation or a school, although these elements do play a part. If a family is healthy it will be constantly building and growing in relationship with each other and with God. How can we grow in family, relationship and love unless we know who each other are? Due to this we are aiming to facilitate a few things over the next 12 months. Taken from what a healthy family does and what Jesus liked doing!! Eat Jesus properly, properly loved eating! He’s always eating with Pharisees, with his followers, in massive crowds 4000, 5000. He liked barbecued fish. One of the last and most significant things the Jesus did in the Gospels was share a meal with His disciples. In fact at the end of the bible when Jesus comes back there is going to be a huge feast/party!! Therefore if Jesus liked eating. I think His people should like eating. Also it never says Jesus ate on his own, eating a mars bar from the vending machine because he was busy. Eating in the Bible is a communal intimate thing. It something that friends and family do together,taking time and enjoying it and each other. It seems to me eating is a very important thing. Over the next 12 months we’re going to try to eat together a little more, not necessarily at bring and shares lunches after the service, which are wonderful, but in different ways as well. We want to organise barbecues, and meals at houses and all sorts of different ways. If anyone has any ideas give me a shout 😊 Walk There’s a lot of walking and traveling in the Bible. The People of Israel walked and traveled in Exodus, Jesus walked with his disciples, Jesus took a walk to Emmaus. When you walk you Journey and travel with people, It helps build relationship. It’s also very good for your health! Over the next twelve month we’re going organise some walks at CCB. Let’s get out and appreciate Gods Glory in creation and Gods work in each other. There nothing better than building relations with each other while walking and chatting with each other. Also often walking can provide some of the greatest memories and comedy moments there is 😊 Play Over the last few years, I think we’ve got a little bit serious as a church. When was the last time you laughed or had fun!! A healthy family often plays or has fun together, like board games are great etc. I’d love to organise some events like quizzes or something that gets us laughing, playing and most importantly building relationship as family. Who will ever forget the Mr and Mrs game played with parents and children in the youth service which let us into the fantastic fact that Weatta’s favourite film is Rambo!!! That was very, very funny. So in faith we’d like to organise some more fun events at CCB. Events you could even invite you friends to!! If you’re interested in this helping orginise these or have any ideas again give me a shout😊 Generally, I’d really like to encourage you to get to know each other. Why don’t you try sitting next to someone you don’t know so well at the next bring and share lunch rather than people you know and feel comfortable with. Why don’t you invite someone from church you don’t know so well round for dinner after the service? Posh food or roast dinner are not needed, beans on toast is great meal!! Most people don’t care how tidy you house is! They’re just happy to be there!. Finally if you’re not already in one, why don’t you join one of our mid week groups and attend regularly You’ll soon get to know people really well and this is just one of the many benefits of attending a small midweek group. If you can’t get out or travel why not have a chat on the phone with others. I promise, promise, promise you, it will be a blessing. Lets Practice, practice, practice hospitality and grow, grow, grow in love and relationship as a church, family and a household of God!!! God Bless Stephen Helpful bible passages to ponder 1 Thessalonians 3:12 and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you; Ephesians 4:16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. Luke 24:13-35 13 That same day two of Jesus’ followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles[a] from Jerusalem. 14 As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them. Revelation 19:9 9 And the angel said[a] to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” Scripture of the week Presently I am reading through the bible in one year. You can have a look at it Here This bit that really hit me between the eyes this week is this 😊 Genesis 24 the lot This is story of about how Abrahams servant, goes and searches for a wife for his son Isaac. It really struck me how much faith was involved in the whole story and how God rewarded it. Abrahams servant was basically searching for one family, a wife, in the whole north of Iraq before, satnav, google maps, Facebook or even road signs!!! Its like saying I want you to hunt down one person from one family in the whole of Scotland!! But God led Abrahams servant to the right place, at the right time, to one well and the right people. No wonder the servant was so amazed and thanked and praised God. God led the way!. Do you know God leads the way for us, even if sometimes we’re not exactly sure where we are going. If we head off in faith, God will always lead us to the right destination and to the right people, which serve his plans. Secondly I was really amazed by Rebecca’s faith. If a total randomer from a different country came to your daughter and said I’m going to take her away to a far-off place to get married and you will never see her again what would you do? Here’s how the scripture rolls “But we (Her family) want Rebekah to stay with us at least ten days,” her brother and mother said. “Then she can go.” But he (Abrahams servant) said, “Don’t delay me. The Lord has made my mission successful; now send me back so I can return to my master.” “Well,” they said, “we’ll call Rebekah and ask her what she thinks.” So they called Rebekah. “Are you willing to go with this man?” they asked her. And she replied, “Yes, I will go.” So they said good-bye to Rebekah and sent her away with Abraham’s servant and his men. The woman who had been Rebekah’s childhood nurse went along with her. They gave her this blessing as she parted: “Our sister, may you become the mother of many millions! May your descendants be strong and conquer the cities of their enemies.” Then Rebekah and her servant girls mounted the camels and followed the man. So Abraham’s servant took Rebekah and went on his way. Let me start by saying this is not good parenting! Letting you daughter or a family member disappear with strangers to go marry another vague stanger is not something I would pastorally advise. But Rebecca’s family must have had faith in God, to trust Him to allow Rebecca to go into Gods care. As our children grow older, as parents often we need to trust God with them. Yes parent them well however, ultimately we need to hand them over to the care of God. One day I’m praying I’m going to get to conduct lots of weddings and possibly even for my own children and I will have to trust God and release them in to the own new lives and family. Thirdly I was interested that Abrahams servant wanted to leave straight away. This sounds even more dodgy!! but the family puts the decision to Rebecca to make her own mind. Our kids, as they grow up, are their own people and sometimes its right to let them make their own mind up on things and build their own faith. Rebecca chooses to go with the servant and made her mind up quickly and the servant could have been a slaver, somebody really, really dodgy however Rebecca trusted God and left her family to follow God. Wow that was Faith without being guaranteed how it all would play out!! That really was trusting God. Sometimes, we just need to trust God, take risks, move things over to Gods hands and just like Rebecca we’ll be blessed for it. Books worth reading The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction. By Justin Whitmel EarleyYou can get it HERE I’m really fascinated how the church is reverting and rediscovering well’s of ancient biblical wisdom, from church history and reapplying them for today and this book is a great example of this. If you’re anything like me you get easily distracted and life often seems like a rush or you easily loose your focus of having a realization you are child of God. Text messages, notifications, Netflix, BBC news, Radio music, work often if not dealt with correctly can steal your peace and make you a bit frazzled! As a high powered lawyer Justin Whitmel Earley, who is a Christian, experienced a great loss of peace and connection with God and people. Due to this he searched the scripture to find out why and seek remedies to refocus on what is important i.e, God and people. From this he developed eight habits in his life that he’s found helpful and he shares them and their scriptural basis in his book. To wet your appetite these are the eight habits or principles he uses. However read the book as there some much more in it!
Its really well written, thoroughly grounded in scripture and refreshingly practical and applicable to modern day life . I thoroughly recommend it. Activities and situations to pray for Again please pray for the ongoing situation with the Bank account at CCB. I’ve spent many hours on the phone to Lloyds this week, we’ve made a little progress 😊, however it’s still ongoing. Please pray and fast, if you could as we just need God to intervene and unlock this situation, (Preferably soon) for His glory!! As I’ve used up all my expertise and all the tricks I know 😊 Keep keep praying Please pray for the Alpha course starting on the 15th Jan (As I right this, tonight!). I estimate we will have around 16 people that I’m relatively certain will be attending but there may well be more, quite a few real life non-Christians!! Please pray that lives will be changed, and the team is full of love, Grace and Mercy. Also thank you, thank you, thank you all of you who volunteered to provide food 😊 I will be in touch about dates and times, however if there is a preferred date please text me. Finally we have Soroush Sadeghzadeh coming to CCB to preach on Sunday. Soroush originally is from Iran and left as a refugee. Presently he is an Elder at Jeremy Simkins church at Teeside. It’s going to be wonderful and I’m really excited and thankful that he is coming to talk to us. God is good 😊 s
For the last two and a half years I’ve really struggled to know how to talk to you! It not been related to shyness, or because you’re mean or scary! It’s not been linked to having nothing to say, as there are many things that I wanted to say. It’s not been stopped by lack of opportunity, as I get to talk a lot, In fact sometimes you’re probably sick of hearing from me! It has been stopped by not knowing the right context or place for the things to be said and I’ve been seeking God about the right way to communicate with you for some time. Things that have been on my heart are sometimes not appropriate to be put in a sermon. As this is time, I believe, we should be committed to what God has to say in His Word! Often, you could argue, I could say these things during notice times in the service, however, again we always have limited time for worship, for testimony and Gods Word. Also notices tend project forward, its very rare there is opportunity for feedback. At the prayer meeting sometimes, I may get chance to share about what’s happening during the week and give thanks for this however, this results in things being delivered only to a small and select audience, not always the appropriate place and time and overall is a little adhoc! So, I hope you appreciate and understand the conundrum I’ve been wrestling with. So after praying, thinking and reading. God has told me to write you love letters!! Community Church Blackburn has put me in such a privileged position, as its full time employed Elder! I get to see at close quarters how God is working in the life of the church, how the Kingdom of God is advancing in Blackburn and farther afield! I get to see how God is working in your lives. It’s spectacular!! I want to tell you, as best I can, about everything that is happening, with what God is doing. I want to talk to you about the highs, the triumph and the joyful times. I want to encourage you through the difficult times. I want to tell you how wonderful you are and how proud I am of you. Sometimes as church we need correcting and are in requirement of repentance and forgiveness from God. I want to tell you in all the many, many way How good God is!! Sometimes I might need you to pray about situations with me as we’re stuck! Sometimes, with their permission I may need you to pray for people who are sick and poorly and suffering hardship. I want to feedback to you what’s happened. What’ happening with healing on the streets? what’s happening on the Alpha course, what’s happening in our small groups, what’s happening in children’s work on a Sunday? Why have we done that? Who is coming to preach? Who are all these people???? What are we going to do in the future? Often God smacks me between the eyes or often, in my case, round the back of the head with a scripture!! I want to share this with you. Very often God blesses me through books I’ve read. I want to share and encourage you to read them. Overall, my primary task as your Elder is not to do all the admin at church or organise a great programe. It’s not to be the artistic director of fantastic service on Sundays that are spectacular and make you feel all warm and fuzzy. It’s not to sort out all pastoral problems and keep everyone happy. My primary Job is to keep Community Church walking closer and closer to Jesus and keep His church Glorifying him. All the previous things are important; however, this is one of the ways God has put on my heart as being good and effective. I am going to be putting aside a significant amount of time, in faith, writing these love letters to you and be praying that God takes care of the rest!! 😊 So I hope you are blessed by my love letters to you. God willing, they should come weekly and I’m excited to be starting this Journey with you in 2020 God Bless Stephen Scripture of the week Presently I am reading through the bible in one year. You can have a look at it Here If anyone is struggling finding a good bible reading plan or method come and see me. As discussed in Sunday’s service, Jesus says “Man shall not live by bread alone but by the Word of God!” If you don’t eat daily, your physical body will not thrive. If you don’t eat Gods word, through consuming scripture, daily how can you expect your spiritual life to thrive? Don’t care how much, how little, which version, how much you understand, whether you listen to it on audio, in the bath, in the car. Just consume it daily!! 😊 This bit that really hit me between the eyes this week is this 😊 Genesis 12 New International Version (NIV) The Call of Abram 12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I love how virtually the whole Christian life and purpose is set out in the first bits of the bible, in a few lines with Abram. God says I will make you a great nation and I will bless you. God blessed Abram first!! Definitely not due to his good deeds or behaviour. God poured His grace out first God then says I will make you name great. Why!! So that Abraham would be a blessing. That’s the Christian life!! God has blessed you so you can bless and serve others. You are blessed to bless!!! Sorry chaps you're going to be hearing that a lot this year 😊 Books worth reading A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society by Eugene Peterson. You can get it Here. Thoroughly enjoying this thanks to it being lent me by Angela & Geoff. Eugene Peterson was the writer of the Message Bible however before he attained famous Christian rock star status, he was a simple pastor of a relatively small, unremarkable church in North America. Eugene Peterson has a beautiful pastoral heart and a deep love and wisdom with people. This book is working through, what are called the Psalms of Ascent (Psalm 120 onwards) and is making the point that often the Christian life is not all fireworks, miracles, and fantastic stuff, which often many Christian books set out, (Although these things are great) but the Chrisitan life is a steady, but equally miraculous, daily walk or assent with Jesus through the ordinary day to day life over years. Really beautiful, profound and faithful to scripture 😊 Activities and situations to pray for Please pray for the ongoing situation with the Bank account at CCB. There’s not enough to time to explain the intricacies, however it just seems like its one step forward and then another hurdle is put in the way. Gina and myself have a phone call with Lloyds bank on Wednesday morning and we really need a miracle!! As the situation is just to complicated for us to deal with. Please pray for Jesus to some how sort it out. Also please pray for me, that I am gracious, patience and kind when dealing with Lloyds as often people suffer with road rage. However due to my past employment I suffer from large faceless corporation rage!!! Please help me be gracious and kind and remember I am a church pastor as Lloyds know this so pray for me to be a good witness 😊 Please pray for the Alpha course starting on the 15th Jan . I have absolutely no Idea who’s coming, however I know God will bring the right people and over the last Alpha course randomly God put together an amazing team (Across CCB and Re:ignite) of mighty men and women 😊. Thank you for everyone who has offered to cook. (I was really touched and proud of you all) I will send more info about delivering or me picking up the food and dates needed over the next week (Should be ready for Sunday) and if anyone wants to help please see me or Lisa. Please also pray for all the other Alpha and bible courses starting over Blackburn in other churches over the next few weeks. God is good!!! And He is moving in this town!! Finally please pray for me and the leadership team, There is still a lot of sorting, praying, organising, visiting and putting in foundations of preparation for the next year. God is doing a lot and just pray for the leadership team that everything falls into place. |
AuthorStephen Norcross is an elder, married to Lisa and living in Blackburn. Stephen works full time for Community Church Blackburn. Stephen studied music at university and uses his musical gifts leading worship. He also has a passion for bible teaching. ArchivesCategories |