This week is the churches together week of prayer for unity and is a week when we are supposed to be focused on unity in our churches throughout the country. As a church recently we have been focusing on community and how we can seek to serve those around us by trying to reach out and help where we can. It strikes me that the main thing missing from our community is in fact unity and the same could be said for so many other areas of life.
Our families, workplaces, communities, country and sadly also many of our churches often lack the unity that is so important and central to what they are supposed to be about. Human nature unfortunately has a tendency to put number one first before thinking about those around us.
The lyrics to the Sham 69 song which lends its title to my post for today say that if the kids are united then we'll never be divided. Now whilst this may not be the greatest song ever written its lyrics do in fact hold a great message. Any type of division that appears in our lives can almost always be traced back to a time when unity was broken in that situation.
When we are making decisions and having discussions that have the potential to upset unity I am always reminded of something I read a few years ago and have pinned on the notice board in my office. It reads something like "unless you are voting on the construction of nuclear bombs in your church cellar there are few decisions that could bring the end of the world but they could bring the end of presious friendships."
Whatever you are doing today try and keep a spirit of unity so that whatever we may fix or break today we don't mess up our relationships with each other.
Have a great day
God bless
Chris
Thursday 20 January 2011
Friday 14 January 2011
What am I worth?
Continuing on from my thoughts a few days ago about giving I was in a meeting recently when someone asked the question "what are you worth"?
As I sit here right now at a rough calculation if I sold up everything: our house, car, computer, TV and all our stuff, paid off the mortgage then took the balance in cash I would not be worth that much. I found a website earlier that claims to value me as a person in monitory terms if I was to be put up for sale. This somehow values me as a person at about $1.6 million. So the next time someone says "you look like a million dollars" I can tell them not to under value me!
But in reality when we think about what we actually have and what we can use or give to other people, the talents and skills that we have are worth so much more than our possessions. The time we spend with people, the love we share with them - open ears, open hearts, open arms and even open doors are worth so much more than any things that we could ever give.
We are designed in God's image so we are worth and loved eternally more than we could ever hope to comprehend and therefore we have so much that we can give.
In answering what am I worth, maybe it could be measured not by what I have but by how much I am willing to share with others.
Have a great day.
God bless
Chris
As I sit here right now at a rough calculation if I sold up everything: our house, car, computer, TV and all our stuff, paid off the mortgage then took the balance in cash I would not be worth that much. I found a website earlier that claims to value me as a person in monitory terms if I was to be put up for sale. This somehow values me as a person at about $1.6 million. So the next time someone says "you look like a million dollars" I can tell them not to under value me!
But in reality when we think about what we actually have and what we can use or give to other people, the talents and skills that we have are worth so much more than our possessions. The time we spend with people, the love we share with them - open ears, open hearts, open arms and even open doors are worth so much more than any things that we could ever give.
We are designed in God's image so we are worth and loved eternally more than we could ever hope to comprehend and therefore we have so much that we can give.
In answering what am I worth, maybe it could be measured not by what I have but by how much I am willing to share with others.
Have a great day.
God bless
Chris
Monday 10 January 2011
Even a cup of cold water?
So as I start to prepare for the coming weekend my mind turns to this verse in Matthew (Matt 10:42) which talks about how we give. It follows a series of verses that explain some of God's kingdom values and talks about the reward that His followers can hope to receive in heaven. Then Jesus makes this whole thought process so very simple, saying if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of his followers; just a cup of water, just that - they will receive their own reward.
This would have been such a huge revelation to the people listening who lived under such strict rules about how they could earn their way into heaven. Jesus told them to forget about the laws, forget about earning their way to heaven, forget about buying their salvation. Simply give what they can and more than giving stuff to simply give their lives to Him and the rest wouldn't matter - the rules and money and duties.
Today God is saying again loud and clear that all He is asking for from us is to give ourselves to Him - to use as He sees fit. It doesn't matter how much we can give financially - God doesn't want your money, He wants you! He looks for the giver not the gift.
What He does want however is all of you - even down to your cup of cold water.
Have a great day.
God bless
Chris
This would have been such a huge revelation to the people listening who lived under such strict rules about how they could earn their way into heaven. Jesus told them to forget about the laws, forget about earning their way to heaven, forget about buying their salvation. Simply give what they can and more than giving stuff to simply give their lives to Him and the rest wouldn't matter - the rules and money and duties.
Today God is saying again loud and clear that all He is asking for from us is to give ourselves to Him - to use as He sees fit. It doesn't matter how much we can give financially - God doesn't want your money, He wants you! He looks for the giver not the gift.
What He does want however is all of you - even down to your cup of cold water.
Have a great day.
God bless
Chris
Thursday 6 January 2011
Epiphany
This week on Thursday the day that we mark as Epiphany passed by quite quietly without much few or any kind of fan fare. I don't remember hearing it mentioned on the radio and it certainly didn't make the evening news or daily papers in any major way. I am sure that in a select number of churches it was marked, mainly by our Anglican friends, but on the whole Epiphany simply passed us by.
I think in a way this is quiet sad as Epiphany could be such a great time but other than to mark the day that your Christmas tree should come down it means very little to most. As I understand as well as marking the twelfth day of Christmas it is also celebrated as the day that the wise men, or Magi, visited the baby Jesus.
But it speaks of so much more, an epiphany is a realisation or a time when something is revealed, and when the magi visited the baby Jesus they revealed something very special. They bought along with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh the greatest of gifts - the revelation that this little baby was Christ the Son of God who had come to save the world.
They first had that amazing epiphany over 2000 years ago but the great news is that the gift God gave in his Son is still available to everyone of us today. Why not start 2011 with looking into an epiphany of your own - don't take my word for it but maybe do a little research. Open up a bible and read about this Jesus for yourself or pop along to your local church and check out what they have to say about this very special baby given as a bonus extra gift uniquely for you.
Have a great day.
May God truly bless you
Chris
If you want any further information about this special gift to you please get in touch.
I think in a way this is quiet sad as Epiphany could be such a great time but other than to mark the day that your Christmas tree should come down it means very little to most. As I understand as well as marking the twelfth day of Christmas it is also celebrated as the day that the wise men, or Magi, visited the baby Jesus.
But it speaks of so much more, an epiphany is a realisation or a time when something is revealed, and when the magi visited the baby Jesus they revealed something very special. They bought along with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh the greatest of gifts - the revelation that this little baby was Christ the Son of God who had come to save the world.
They first had that amazing epiphany over 2000 years ago but the great news is that the gift God gave in his Son is still available to everyone of us today. Why not start 2011 with looking into an epiphany of your own - don't take my word for it but maybe do a little research. Open up a bible and read about this Jesus for yourself or pop along to your local church and check out what they have to say about this very special baby given as a bonus extra gift uniquely for you.
Have a great day.
May God truly bless you
Chris
If you want any further information about this special gift to you please get in touch.
Bi-Directional Communication
When installing a printer or scanner to a computer it is often necessary to tick an option labeled enable bi-directional communication. Once ticked this allows information not just to be sent to the printer or scanner but also for the device to send information back to the computer.
I was in a very interesting meeting Wednesday night discussing in part how some of our church meetings are structured and how we approach prayer during these times. One of the main ideas that came out of that meeting is that we don't often give opportunities for our communication with God to be bi-directional. We often approach prayer as spending time talking to God and rarely give time for God to respond and talk back to us.
This is something which as a leadership team and a church body we are trying to address and take a fresh look at how we approach our prayer times. We hope to build in much greater opportunities for reflection and to give over time to God when we simply listen. God is able to speak to us in many ways; through his word in the bible, through preaching, through each other, through song words and many other form of media. But it is when God speaks to us in that still small voice, in the quiet whisper to our souls that we so often miss because there is simply too much else going on or we are too busy talking to hear.
Have a great day.
May God truly bless you today.
Chris
I was in a very interesting meeting Wednesday night discussing in part how some of our church meetings are structured and how we approach prayer during these times. One of the main ideas that came out of that meeting is that we don't often give opportunities for our communication with God to be bi-directional. We often approach prayer as spending time talking to God and rarely give time for God to respond and talk back to us.
This is something which as a leadership team and a church body we are trying to address and take a fresh look at how we approach our prayer times. We hope to build in much greater opportunities for reflection and to give over time to God when we simply listen. God is able to speak to us in many ways; through his word in the bible, through preaching, through each other, through song words and many other form of media. But it is when God speaks to us in that still small voice, in the quiet whisper to our souls that we so often miss because there is simply too much else going on or we are too busy talking to hear.
Have a great day.
May God truly bless you today.
Chris
Happy new year
As you may have noticed, this blog hasn't been updated to often and I could make a new year's resolution to try harder to do better in the future. But the sad truth is that most (some say as many as 88%) of new year's resolutions fail before the end of January.
The top ten resolutions has been compiled with the usual suspects of getting fit, loosing wait, quiting smoking
or drinking all being high on the list. It appears that every January a large number of us make an attempt to change our lives in some way for the better but most people fail to follow this through.
As a church at the moment we are focusing on the early church described in Acts 2 and trying to get to grips with ideas as to why they where so successful as a church. One of the first points that we have recognised is that they devoted themselves to prayer, the word, communion and fellowship. The key word there I think is devoted - they didn't just try something for a bit and give it a go - they devoted themselves.
As we stand looking a new year in the face whatever we want to change in life, we need to share that same sense of devotion. To simply give something a shot is never going to be good enough without we are devoted to truly seeing that change through.
As a church we are focusing on our prayer life and asking 'how we can become more devoted'? At times we all need to make changes in life, but these will never see success unless we are devoted to that change.
I pray that we will all trust in God enough to be devoted to seeing through the necessary changes in our lives.
The top ten resolutions has been compiled with the usual suspects of getting fit, loosing wait, quiting smoking
or drinking all being high on the list. It appears that every January a large number of us make an attempt to change our lives in some way for the better but most people fail to follow this through.
As a church at the moment we are focusing on the early church described in Acts 2 and trying to get to grips with ideas as to why they where so successful as a church. One of the first points that we have recognised is that they devoted themselves to prayer, the word, communion and fellowship. The key word there I think is devoted - they didn't just try something for a bit and give it a go - they devoted themselves.
As we stand looking a new year in the face whatever we want to change in life, we need to share that same sense of devotion. To simply give something a shot is never going to be good enough without we are devoted to truly seeing that change through.
As a church we are focusing on our prayer life and asking 'how we can become more devoted'? At times we all need to make changes in life, but these will never see success unless we are devoted to that change.
I pray that we will all trust in God enough to be devoted to seeing through the necessary changes in our lives.
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