by emma | Sep 27, 2006 | Faith
“This really is the day of God’s favour… It’s just that we never thought it would feel like this, did we?”
[Red Moon Rising]
You would think by now that I would have learnt to expect the unexpected with God, wouldn’t you? That when I’m finding it hard (or easy) I wouldn’t assume that somethings wrong, or that it should be easier (harder)… because God often does things the complete opposite of how I would like or expect it. God is constantly looking out for me, regardless of how I feel at any particular point in time. Glasgow is a funny place to be. It is wonderful in oh so many ways, and yet a part of me misses home. More so misses my close friends. Building deep friendships takes time. It can’t be fast-tracked. Here goes…
by emma | Sep 20, 2006 | Faith
Keep open house, be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll promt people to be open with God, this generous Father in heaven.
[Jesus]
Read that this morning. Ran through my mind today. Finding it quite timely.
by emma | Aug 26, 2006 | Books, Faith, Words
I don’t want the “same old”, do you? We’ve got one shot at this deal, so I want to live with passion. I want to live with a sense of purpose… Wasn’t it Braveheart’s William Wallace who said, “All men die. Very few ever really live.”
What an encouraging book! I read this yesterday (it’s quite short, a lovely wee book if your looking for something to give away as a gift). Mike Breaux, who is now a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, basically just shares his story of faith, his journey in following Jesus. He talks about how he wandered as a teen, really just played at church without knowing Jesus. He shares openly about how he grew tired of his double-life, and wanted what he saw in some other people, a genuine real-ness.
When people reflect on their lives in their old age and are asked, “What would you change if you had to live all over again?” there are three common themes that come out:
- They would reflect more. Slow down, savour more sunsets, eat more ice cream, laugh more.
- They would risk more. Take more chances. Go on more adventures. Live life out on a limb.
- They would do something with their lives that would live on long after their dead and gone.
Here’s a short passage from near the end of the book, which I love:
I wonder how you get into a swimming pool. Any chance you might be a toe dipper? You stick your big toe in and you go, “Wooooo, that is cold!” And then your ankles, woooo, thats cold! Then your calves, wooo; your knees, wooo; your thighs, wooo! It’s miserable!
You know what’s really the best way to do it, don’t you? Cannonball!! You take a running start, tuck up your knees, hit the pool, and water goes flying everywhere! The ripples go out, hit the side, and come back in. They go back out and they come back in….
I think that’s what God had in mind for us. He’s saying, “Trust me – jump! Make a splash with your one and only life, and we can make ripples together. Live your life in such a way that you touch someone else’s life.
I love that passage. I think I identify with it because when I go to the beach, I play this little game I call chicken. We’ll just close our eyes and run straight into the water and keep going until the coldness stops us. None of this toe-dipping business! But what am I like when it comes to relationships? I’m 100% sure I don’t play chicken with my relationships… am I just a toe-dipper there? That’s the challenge for me.
And that’s the challenge for you, too.
by emma | Jul 29, 2006 | Faith
Some thoughts from Glenn Jordan’s seminar on Friday morning.
Key passage: Luke 11: 1-4 “Lord, teach us to pray.”
* There is an unspoken assumption that we pick up prayer naturally, but the disciples intentionally asked to be taught how to pray.
* Prayer isn’t all about the numbers at prayer meetings or how often you pray for something – if you pray for something 80 times, God doesn’t just say, ‘Sorry, I needed 82 prayers for that.’ In those instances it almost becomes like twisting God’s arm behind His back to get what we want.
* All authentic speaking and working for God first comes out of silence. If we learn the discipline of breaking silence, when we do speak it means more. That is, before we speak, we need to be in a position of listening.
* The name God reavealed to Moses, Yahweh, is made up of 3 ‘breathy’ letters (they made very ‘breathy’ sounds when you said them). This was a constant reminder that God is as close as your very breath.
* Sometimes we can hide in our prayers – if we pray for justice, for example, sometimes we have to get out there and act to bring about the answer to that prayer.
by emma | Jul 26, 2006 | Faith
Some more notes from Piper’s sermons at New Horizon…
* The universe exists to display the greatness of the glory of the grace of God.
* Rev 13:8 – Even before creation, in God’s mind there would be a slaying of the Lamb. This means that Jesus death was not Plan B!
* Rev 5:9-12 – God is not evil, to will evil, that he hates. (Struggled to get my head round this point at first… think I’m getting there.)
* Lam 3:32 – Translating the Hebrew word for ‘willingly’ literally here means ‘from His heart’. So God might ‘will’ evil, but it does not come from His heart.
* Every blessing we enjoy was bought by the cross, by His suffering. There are 7 blessings we receive through Jesus sufferings:
1) Jesus absorbed our wrath (Gal 3:13)
2) Jesus bore our sins and our guilt (1 Pet 2:24)
3) Jesus provided perfect righteousness for us (Phil 2:7-8)
4) Jesus defeated death (Heb 2:14)
5) Jesus disarmed Satan (Col 2:14)
6) Jesus purchased perfect, final healing (Isa 53:4)
7) Jesus brings us to God, which is the goal of the Gospel (1 Pet 3:18)
Summary:
1) The point was to give God glory
2) That plan came to its pinacle on Good Friday in His suffering
3) Therefore, we will praise Him forever.
by emma | Jul 25, 2006 | Faith
Some notes from John Piper’s sermon last night at New Horizon…
Key verse:
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church. (Colossians 1:24)
* Pauls life was a life of freely chosen suffering.
* 1 Cor 15:30-32; Paul only lives this way because he absolutley believes it, there is a better way if all you want is pleasure.
* In the western world we have made Christianity too domesticated… we must learn to accept risk.
* Col 1:24; The incompleteness mentioned is not that Christ’s suffering is inadequate in atonement for our salvation without our suffering, but that others observe His suffering through our suffering. M. Vincent comments that what was lacking was a “presentation of His suffering by the church.”
* Christians have the chance to suffer so they can magnify Christ in their lives. (Gal 2:20)
* During suffering, although it is sorrowful, we must also rejoice! Think of Paul in the Phillipian jail – awaiting death and yet singing in the middle of the night!
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