Prayer Is - Brother Andrew

 It's not the preparation for battle; 

    prayer is the battle.

‑Brother Andrew

Communication - Michael Been

 Communication

How do you feel when the talks break down

How do you feel when the lines are broken

What do you say when love can't be found

What do you do when the truth's not said

What appeals to me

Can't appeal to everyone

What is real for me

Can't be real for everyone

How do you feel when the talks break down

What do you do when the door won't open

What do you say when love can't be found

How do you care when your heart grows cold

What it means to me

Is not the same For everyone

What is real for me

Can't be real for everyone

Still unforgiving, our eyes turn away

Holding us back, holding us back

What d you do when the talks break down

You against me, when it makes no sense

Stronger and harder we hold our ground

We've poised our trust now it's self defence

What it means to me

For one I can't be sure at all

I can see no difference

Between you and me at all

Life on the edge is a way of life here

Life on the edge

Privilege

How do you feel when the talks break down

How do you feel when the lines are broken

What do you say when love can't be found

What do you do when the truth's not said

What appeals to me

Can't appeal to everyone

What is real for me

Can't be real for everyone

Still unforgiving, our eyes turn away

Holding us back, Holding us back

How do you feel when the talks break down

How do you feel when the lines are broken

What do you say when love can't be found

What do you do when the truth's not said

William Barclay Quotes

William Barclay

• A man may well be condemned, not for doing something, but for doing nothing.
• But the best definition of it is to say that heaven is that state where we will always be with Jesus, and where nothing will separate us from Him any more.
• Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory. 
• For the Christian, heaven is where Jesus is. We do not need to speculate on what heaven will be like. It is enough to know that we will be for ever with Him. 
• God himself took this human flesh upon him.
• If a man fights his way through his doubts to the conviction that Jesus Christ is Lord, he has attained to a certainty that the man who unthinkingly accepts things can never reach. 
• In the time we have it is surely our duty to do all the good we can to all the people we can in all the ways we can.
• Love always involves responsibility, and love always involves sacrifice. And we do not really love Christ unless we are prepared to face His task and to take up His Cross. 
• Religion fails if it cannot speak to men as they are. 
• The awful importance of this life is that it determines eternity. 
• The tragedy of life and of the world is not that men do not know God; the tragedy is that, knowing Him, they still insist on going their own way. 
• There are two great days in a person's life - the day we are born and the day we discover why.
• We will often find compensation if we think more of what life has given us and less about what life has taken away. 
• When we believe that God is Father, we also believe that such a father's hand will never cause his child a needless tear. We may not understand life any better, but we will not resent life any longer.
• When we love anyone with our whole hearts, life begins when we are with that person; it is only in their company that we are really and truly alive. 

Change the world - The Aeronauts

 You don't change the world simply by looking at it. You change the world by the way you choose to live in it. Look up, the Sky's Open!

Felicity Jones as Amelia Wren The Aeronauts

Preaching the gospel requires us to . . . - JI Packer

In the Bible, the gospel is the entire saving plan of God, all revolving around the person, the place and power of our Savior Jesus Christ, the incarnate, crucified, risen, reigning, returning Lord.

Preaching the gospel requires us to show how Jesus Christ relates to every part of God's plan, and how every part of it relates to us who are savingly related to the living Christ through faith.

Evangelism involves explaining life in Christ as well as inviting sinners to Him. This means dealing with six main topics, as follows:

1. The Truth about God. 

The one God who made and rules everything is revealed as three persons through His plan of salvation. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit love us, and work together to save us from sin and make us holy. Jesus Christ, God the Son incarnate, is Lord over all the powers of evil. Any other view of God is idolatry.

2. The Truth about Ourselves.

We were made for God, to bear His image and be like Him in moral character, but sin controls and spoils us so that we need to be brought back to God to be forgiven and remade. Jesus Christ, who brings us back, is Himself the model of true godliness. Any other view is deception.

3. The Story of God's Kingdom.

Step by step, as Scripture tells, God has been working to establish His kingdom in this fallen world. Jesus Christ is the King, and our lives are to be His kingdom. King Jesus is also the Judge, and those who have not bowed to His kingship here will not share His joy hereafter. Trusting, loving and honoring Jesus, and serving others for His sake, is true godliness at its heart. Any other form of religion is error.

4. The Way of Salvation.

Jesus Christ, our sin‑bearer on the cross, now from His throne reaches out to rescue us who are lost in the guilt and shame of sin. He calls for faith (trust in Him as Savior) and repentance (turn to Him as Master). He sends His Holy Spirit to change us inwardly so that we hear His call as addressed to us personally and respond wholeheartedly to it. Whereupon we are forgiven and accepted (justified); received as God's children (adopted); made to rejoice at our peace with Him (assurance); and made to realize that now we are living a new life in Christ (regeneration). Any other view of salvation is deficient.

5. The Life of Fellowship.

Christians belong in the church, the family of God, sharing its worship, work, witness and warfare, and enjoying its worldwide brotherhood in Christ. Any other view of the Christian is sectarian.

6. Walking Home to Heaven.

Helped by the ministry in the church of word and sacrament, prayer and pastoral care, spiritual gifts and loving support, Christians live in our constantly hostile world as travelers, heading for a glorious destination. Led and inspired by their Savior through the Holy Spirit, they seek to do all the good they can as they go, and to battle all forms of evil that they meet. Any lesser view of the Christian life is wordly.

All this is permanently and universally true, transcending all differences of color, race, culture, age, gender, health, economic standing, social position and political background. As the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit sustain us all, so the gospel levels us all, teaching us to know ourselves as great sinners saved by God's greater grace, and to see all non‑Christians as needing that same grace themselves.

For reflection and Consideration:

1. How completely am I preaching the Gospel?

2. Which of these six Gospel topics do I need to preach more fully than I have been preaching?

3. Am I including the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in my preaching?

4. Am I properly explaining the saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ?

This Amsterdam 2000 speech text is under copyright. The author has rights protected by

international law. This text is not for reprint or republication. The message actually delivered at

Amsterdam 2000 may have differed significantly from this text.

J.I. Packer

The Content of the Gospel

Save all you can - DL Moody

"I look upon this world as a wrecked vessel. God has given me a lifeboat and said to me, 'Moody, save all you can.'" 

D.L. Moody

Gracefully Broken - Matt Redman

 

God will break you to position
He will break you to promote you
And break you to put you in your right place
But when He breaks you He doesn't hurt you, He doesn't
When He breaks you He does it with; grace
Anybody been gracefully broken?
Thank You, Lord, thank You
So Father tonight, we're broken before You
Thank You for handling us with grace
Just lift your worship right there in this moment

Take all I have in these hands
And multiply, God, all that I am
And find my heart on the altar again
Set me on fire, set me on fire
Take all I have in these hands
And multiply, God, all that I am
And find my heart on the altar again
Set me on fire, set me on fire

Here I am, God
Arms wide open
Pouring out my life
Gracefully broken

My heart stands in awe of Your name
Your mighty love stands strong to the end
You will fulfill Your purpose in me
You won't forsake me, You will be with me

Here I am, God
Arms wide open
Pouring out my life
Gracefully broken
Here I am, God
Arms wide open
Pouring out my life
Gracefully broken

All to Jesus now
All to Jesus now
I'm holding nothing back
Holding nothing back
I surrender (I surrender)
Y'all throw your hands up and sing I surrender (I surrender)
Say I surrender (I surrender)
All that I am, I surrender (I surrender)
Have Your way, use me Lord, I surrender (I surrender)
Do Your will, it's all Your way, I surrender (I surrender)
Use my life for Your glory, say I surrender all (I surrender)
You want to tell right where you are (I surrender)

(Oh) Your power at work in me
(Oh) I'm broken gracefully
(Oh) I'm strong when I am weak
(Oh, ooh-oh) I will be free
(Oh, ooh-oh) Your power at work in me
(Oh, ooh-oh) I'm broken gracefully
(Oh, ooh-oh) I'm strong when I am weak
(Oh, ooh-oh) I will be free
(Oh, ooh-oh) Your power at work in me
(Oh, ooh-oh) I'm broken gracefully
(Oh, ooh-oh) I'm strong when I am weak
(Oh, ooh-oh) I will be free
(Oh, ooh-oh) Your power at work in me
(Oh, ooh-oh) I'm broken gracefully
(Oh, ooh-oh) I'm strong, I'm strong
(Oh, ooh-oh) I will be free

Here I am, God
Arms wide open
Pouring out my life
Gracefully broken

This is your Life - the Call

 

This is your Life

This is your world, beginning to end

This is the price of heaven,—our hope,—this is the time

This is your life

The push and the pull, we give and we take, we rise and we fall, we bend and we brake the future is ours, the promise is true, this is your life

I’ve seen it before, I’ve seen it many times, an impossible task—cut down to size, we stand in the breach we fight at the front, this is your life

Yeah.

This is your Life

This is your world, beginning to end

This is the price of heaven, our hope, this is the time

This is your life

We’ve all grown up together,

It’s a shame we grow apart.

Yeahhh

We’ve grown up together,

It’s a shame we grow apart.

Yeahhh

This is your Life,

This is your world, beginning to end

This is the price of heaven, our hope, this is the time

This is your life

It’s a world without end,

It’s a stroll through the fire,

The journey that begins, on the length of the wire

We’re rarely at ease, the pressure is high

This is your life

And so it begins we reach for the stars

Lift up your voice, freedom is ours

The spirits alive, Oh what a ride

This is your life

This is your Life

This is your world, beginning to end

This is the price of heaven, our hope, this is the time

This is your life

This is your Life

This is your world, the struggle begins

This is the price of heaven, our hope, this is your chance

This is your life'

Author: Michael Been

He is no fool - Jim Elliot

 "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Jim Elliot

doing a work for God vs. doing Gods Work

 

It seems as though God has been trying to speak to me lately just how intimately connected he is with our lives. While this is not the place to debate predestination we must determine and set before us the goal to be about the Lords work. While that seems completely obvious its not as simple as it would appear on face value. Often I find that I am doing a work for God verses doing Gods work. When I do Gods work I am seeking His agenda for my life. The more I am seeking Gods agenda the less I will be concerned and waste time worrying about the events f this life; cars, computers, health, food, food, and housing.

When I relate this to the Adopt-A-People commitment we personally must determine that we are committed to seeking Gods goals for the church. This results in a desire not only for Our church but a focus that people, Gods chosen people, have yet to hear the Gospel, respond, fellowship together, and begin to evangelise there own.

Culture Shock

 

There are generally three stages of this Phenomenon. called culture shock:

• The honeymoon stage - where everything seems wonderful and new.

• The critical stage - where you question why they can't just do things like you do in your own country you know the right way!

• Readjustment - where you settle in and become more comfortable with the cultural differences.

Ideal Country house - CS Lewis

 “Not for me” said Peter; “I’m going to explore in the house.” Everyone agreed to this and that was how the adventures began. It was the sort of house that you never seem to come to the end of, and it was full of unexpected places. The first few doors they tried led only into spare bedrooms, as everyone had expected that they would; but soon they came to a very long room full of pictures and there they found a suit of armour; and after that was a room all hung with green, with a harp in one corner; and then came three steps down and five steps up, and then a kind of little upstairs hall and a door that led out on to a balcony, and then a whole series of rooms that led into each other and were lined with books —- most of them very old books and some bigger than a Bible in a church. And shortly after that they looked into a room that was quite empty except for one big wardrobe; the sort that has a looking-glass in the door. There was nothing else in the room at all except a dead blue-bottle on the window-sill.

fighting the right way - Colonel Timothy Thomas Cyril Collins

 Would this but be what had happened, but everyone failed to honor the people.

"We go to liberate not to conquer. We will not fly our flags in their country.

We are entering Iraq to free a people and the only flag which will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Show respect for them.

There are some who are alive at this moment who will not be alive shortly. Those who do not wish to go on that journey, we will not send.

As for the others I expect you to rock their world. Wipe them out if that is what they choose. But if you are ferocious in battle remember to be magnanimous in victory.

Iraq is steeped in history. It is the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood and the birthplace of Abraham. Tread lightly there.

You will see things that no man could pay to see and you will have to go a long way to find a more decent, generous and upright people than the Iraqis.

You will be embarrassed by their hospitality even though they have nothing.

Don't treat them as refugees for they are in their own country. Their children will be poor, in years to come they will know that the light of liberation in their lives was brought by you.

If there are casualties of war then remember that when they woke up and got dressed in the morning they did not plan to die this day.

Allow them dignity in death. Bury them properly and mark their graves."

Colonel Timothy Thomas Cyril Collins OBE^[1] (born 30 April 1960)