Happy New Year everybody. Tis the season for New Year’s Resolutions. Get fit. Spend less money. Eat more healthy foods. Watch less television. Learn a new skill. Become more organised.
A post on Facebook suggested it would actually be much less depressing if we made resolutions we knew we would be able to keep. Eat too much. Don’t go to the gym. Buy more shoes. Misplace things more often. Don’t lose weight. Embrace the chaos.
This New Year is the beginning not just of a new year but of a new decade. So this morning I am going to suggest 10 eminently worthy and achievable New Year’s Resolutions for 2020 we could all adopt. I wouldn’t expect anybody to choose all 10! But you may like to choose two or three of the things I am going to suggest this morning. Even any one of them could really change your life!
But in case you are worried that this is about to be a 10 point sermon, all 10 ideas are wrapped up in one short prayer: a prayer you may well be familiar with, and a prayer which you may like to make your own and use as your prayer for every day of 2011. It’s a prayer attributed to Richard of Chichester in the 12th Century,
Thanks be to thee, my Lord Jesus Christ,
for all the benefits thou hast given me,
for all the pains and insults thou hast borne for me.
O most merciful redeemer, friend and brother,
may I know thee more clearly,
love thee more dearly,
and follow thee more nearly, day by day.
Amen.
You probably know the prayer in the more familiar form made popular in 1970s in the musical Godspell.
Day by day, dear Lord I pray:
To see you more clearly;
Love you more dearly;
Follow you more nearly
Day by Day
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Day by day, dear Lord I pray:
To see you more clearly;
Love you more dearly;
Follow you more nearly
Day by Day
TO SEE YOU MORE CLEARLY
Peter ends his second letter like this.
2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen!
There is so much to find out about God we only know the tiniest fraction and understand even less. Somebody once said, “If God is real and Christians are really God’s children, what are you doing with your Bible shut?”
1. Give more attention to Bible Reading every day.
Many Christians spend more time reading their newspapers than reading their Bibles. Most spend more time watching television than reading their Bibles. Many Christians spend more time on Facebook or surfing the internet than reading their Bibles.
2. Read at least one Christian book a month.
Books that help us understand the Bible, or understand the world around, or share our faith. Biographies that inspire us and help us to serve God and each other. Christian stories like the works of CS Lewis which are so much more wholesome than most non-Christian fiction. The table at the side has a selection of Christian books from my bookshelves which you are very welcome to borrow. I can recommend every one of them but if you want me to suggest one which would be especially suitable for you to start with just ask.
3. Look for an extra way of learning which is new to you.
If you only come to our morning services, try our evening services. If you don’t already belong to a Home Group or Bible Study, join one of our Home Groups. There are now more than nine years of sermons on the blog, more than 700 sermons in more than 70 different series based on different Bible books or following different themes. Each one takes only 5 minutes to read. You could decide to work your way through a few of those series.
But I also have an idea which might be good for everybody. Between now and Easter we are going to look at what it means to follow Jesus by working through Luke’s Gospel. On this leaflet is a plan for daily readings through Luke and each Sunday I will preach on one of the passages from the previous week. If you aren’t already following a pattern of daily Bible readings, or even if you are, you might like to try this reading plan. Each reading will take less than 5 minutes and you will discover all the benefits of reading the Bible every day.
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We have talked about ways of seeing God more clearly. It was Thomas Aquinas who said, “to love God is much greater than to know Him.”
TO LOVE YOU MORE DEARLY
Matthew 22:37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.

Eph 3 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

If we measure how much we love somebody by how much we enjoy being in their presence, or how much time we spend with them, or how much we want to talk to them, it would appear that many Christians do not love God very much.
Sometimes we forget just how much God loves us! When we realise just how much God loves us, we will want to know Him better and to love Him more. The key to loving God more and to deepening our relationship with God is of course PRAYER. Our sermon series over the next six weeks will focus on learning to pray and our Homegroups will explore prayer in more depth. But knowing about prayer is really less important than actually praying. So how about these New Year Resolutions for loving God more dearly.
4. Pray the Day by Day prayer or “The Prayer of Saint Francis” every day.
Very simple – just start the day or end the day praying one of those prayers. It soon becomes a habit!
5. Give more time to personal prayer and set aside some times for retreat.
There is something wrong when Christians spend more time talking to strangers on their mobiles or on Facebook than they do talking to God in prayer. It was that great evangelist Alan Redpath who talked about Blanket Victory in our Christian lives – the victory we need over the blankets in the morning or last thing at night when we end up sleeping instead of praying.
But as well as time for prayer each day it is very good to set aside a longer time for prayer sometimes – maybe an hour, or a morning, or a whole day. Going somewhere to meet with God where you can be quiet and listen to him. Christians call this going on retreat. As a church we will have a morning of prayer one day soon but you can just as easily meet with God by yourself. for silence and solitude, prayer and reflection and meditation. Getting to know somebody else and building a relationship takes time – so give it time! Tell an engaged couple that they can spend a whole day together and they will be delighted! Why are so many Christians scared of spending a whole day just with God?
The Christian mystic St John of the Cross said, “Seek in reading and you will find in meditation. Knock in prayer and it shall be opened to you in contemplation.”
It’s a new year! We all have new diaries with lots of empty pages. Take the opportunity to block in some days to spend with God NOW – before other less important things crowd God out!
6. Make more opportunities to pray with other Christians
We have our church prayer meetings. But there is great benefit in praying in 2s and 3s with other Christians, in prayer partnerships and prayer triplets. Find a friend you would be happy praying with, suggest a time, and start praying!

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We have thought about some valuable steps to seeing God more clearly and loving God more dearly. But then
TO FOLLOW YOU MORE NEARLY
To become more like Christ. In what ways would you like to grow to be more like Jesus in 2020?
Ephesians 4:15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
We need to discover in our everyday experience more of what it means to “grow up into Christ”
7. Rely on God more in battles against temptation – don’t give in without a fight!
1 Corinthians 10:12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
8. Seek to discover and develop your spiritual gifts in serving Christ in the church and in the world
Eph 4:11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

We all have gifts – we all have a part to play

16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

We believe in the priesthood of ALL believers – all of us share in the works of ministry. All of us have our part to play. And we need each and every part to do its work! By the way, for some folk this would be a good time to think about being baptised as a believer. For others, your next step might be to become a member of North Springfield Baptist Church.

9. Work hard at bringing others to faith in Jesus Christ
“The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost”! We are Christ’s Ambassadors. We are all witnesses to the difference Jesus makes in our lives.
So here are 9 New Year’s Resolutions which could change our lives and change our church. I don’t expect anybody will want to do all of them but everybody could try a few. Which ones will you choose to make for 2020, starting today?
TO SEE YOU MORE CLEARLY
1. Give more attention to Bible Reading every day
2. Read at least one Christian book a month.
3. Look for an extra way of learning which is new to you.

TO LOVE YOU MORE DEARLY
4. Pray the Day by Day prayer or “The Prayer of Saint Francis” every day.
5. Give more time to personal prayer and set aside some times for retreat.
6. Make more opportunities to pray with other Christians
TO FOLLOW YOU MORE NEARLY
7. Rely on God more in battles against temptation – don’t give in without a fight!
8. Seek to discover and develop your gift in serving Christ in the church and in the world
9. Work hard at bringing others to faith in Jesus Christ
But now for the 10th resolution which underlies all the others.
10. Press on to discover more of the love and the power of the Holy Spirit in your life.
Following Jesus is not about turning over a new leaf but about living a new life, not in our own strength but by God’s grace with God’s power. Our New Year’s Resolutions are simply ways of inviting God to fill us with His Holy Spirit and live more in us in the year ahead.
Day by day, dear Lord I pray:
To see you more clearly;
Love you more dearly;
Follow you more nearly
Day by Day

John 12:1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honour. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.
3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

The story of Mary anointing Jesus at Bethany is remarkable for many reasons.
Matthew and Mark tell us that Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
And so it has been. There are so many sermons in this story. I could preach on the significance of Jesus being anointed ready for burial. Or on Jesus’s words, “The poor will be with you always.” But today I want to focus on something even more important.

Are you as shocked as I am at what Mary did? It was scandalous! I’m not thinking so much of the waste of money – a whole jar of expensive ointment – a year’s wages – poured away in one lavish gesture! That was bad enough! But it’s not what Mary did with the perfume that was truly shocking. It was what she did with her hair! It was outrageous! Scandalous!

Because, of course, a woman in those days would always keep her hair tied up and usually covered up! Remember the arguments the apostle Paul had with the Corinthians about women keeping their heads covered up! A respectable woman would only let down her hair when she was alone with her husband. Jewish law at that time allowed a man to divorce his wife on the sole grounds that she had let down her hair in front of another man! Just like in conservative parts of the Islamic world today where women always wear a veil and only female hairdressers are allowed to cut women’s hair. A respectable woman would never let down her hair in public! Never in front of a man she wasn’t married or related to. And then to touch that man’s feet with her hair. That was a very intimate action. And in front of strangers! That would raise a few eyebrows even today here in England. But in those days, in the Middle East! It was a scandal! A disgrace!

In today’s liberal society it’s hard to find a comparison that would shock us quite so much. It would probably take a woman at a dinner party to strip naked in front of a houseful of special guests, to shock us as much as those guests in Bethany would have been shocked.
It was so outrageous! So “O.T.T.” So “Over The Top!”

Of course, it was a gesture of love. Mary loved Jesus. For years, Jesus had been warning his disciples that it was part of his mission to go up to Jerusalem and suffer and be killed.
But none of them had been listening, none of them understood it or believed it, except for Mary. She knew why Jesus was going to Jerusalem. Maybe she even put two and two together and realised that with Passover only a week away that Jesus had only a week left to live. So Mary wanted to take this opportunity, possibly the last opportunity she would ever have, to show Jesus just how great her love was. Not romantic love, not sexual love, but the true Christian devotion that all disciples should have for their Lord and Master. Mary loved Jesus so much! So she anointed Jesus with the most precious possession she owned, a whole bottle of expensive perfume. And Mary could have remembered to bring a towel to dry his feet. But instead she chose that most shocking and intimate gesture – she let down her hair and dried his feet with her hair.

Incredibly intimate! Shameful! Appalling! Indecent! Immoral! But that’s how deep Mary’s love for Jesus was. She probably hadn’t even thought about how other people would interpret her actions. She just wanted to show her Lord just how precious He was to her. So she went totally “Over The Top.”

Of course the critics come charging in!
4 One of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.”

Good point! Even if Judas was only interested in stealing the money rather than giving it to the poor and needy, it was a waste. The other disciples started saying the same thing. What would Jesus have to say about that?

7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. And Matthew and Mark continue the story like this. “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me.
“A beautiful thing”. No criticism. No condemnation. But appreciation. Was Jesus perhaps even grateful?
She has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. 12 When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial.
Jesus saw a spiritual significance in what Mary had done, maybe even beyond Mary’s intentions. This anointing looked ahead in prophetic symbolism to his death and his burial. There would be other opportunities to help the poor. But this was the one and only chance Mary would have to show her love for Jesus. We must all always beware of being so preoccupied with the demands of everyday service that we miss out on unique opportunities for special encounters with God.

13 I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
Told in memory of her. The spiritual significance of Mary’s action was not the most important thing. What would be remembered everywhere and forever was Mary herself –– her love, her devotion! This story is told in memory of her.

Because this is the most important point in the story. Jesus welcomed Mary’s devotion, even though Mary went completely Over The Top. Even though she got totally carried away, and did something which everybody else found outrageous and shocking and scandalous for all kinds of reasons, Jesus’s reaction is very different. “She has done a beautiful thing for me.” Everybody else there was criticising what Mary had done. Instead Jesus says “leave her alone, why are you bothering this woman”?

What this story shows us very clearly above everything else is that it is ALRIGHT to go Over The Top in our devotion for Jesus. If we get carried away in our love for Jesus – that’s OK! There were lots of people there at that dinner party just a week before Jesus died. But Mary was the only one who actually did things right! Her devotion to Jesus was so great that she couldn’t hold it in – and so she made an exhibition of herself. And that was OK! That was ALRIGHT!

When did you last go “Over The Top” for Jesus? The big problem we have is that there is not much risk of us following in Mary’s footsteps. We’re English – always reserved, stiff upper lip and all that. We English are terrified of ever going “over the top” like Mary did. We’re afraid of extremes. We act as if it is always wrong to have too much of anything, as if it’s wrong to have too much enthusiasm, or too much zeal or too much joy or too much excitement or too much holiness. We insist on moderation in everything. So there’s little risk that any of us would love Jesus so much that we would get carried away like Mary did. To be so devoted to God that we get to the point of not caring what anybody else might think of us. We would never go “Over The Top!” Even for Jesus! And that’s a problem!

So what can we learn from Mary going O.T.T. for Jesus? There are at least FOUR things.

1. EXTRAVAGANT GENEROSITY

Mary used up a whole year’s wages worth of perfume in one wild extravagant gesture of generosity. So generous she even smashed the jar so that every last drop could be used to anoint Jesus. The Bible has lots and lots to teach us about the use of wealth and possessions. In this country we tend to stick with the bits which talk about careful stewardship of the resources God has entrusted to us. We tend to gloss over the bits which talk about extravagant generosity.

But remember that greedy tax collector Zaccheus. When he realised that the grace of God extended even to a miserable sinner like him, Zaccheus really went O.T.T in extravagant generosity, giving away half his possessions to the poor, and paying back everybody he had cheated four times over! When were you last outrageously extravagantly generous?

Listen to some more words of Jesus which rarely think about and even more rarely obey.
Luke 14:12 “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbours; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

You can’t take it with you! So why do we Christians so often cling on to what we’ve got? When instead we could give it away in extravagant generosity. Take the “Rich Young ruler” test. What would you do if Jesus said to YOU, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Luke 18:22.) What would YOU do?

Extravagant generosity and
2. JOYFUL CELEBRATION

We English aren’t very good at joyful celebration. The Jews still know how to have a really good time at a party! But we don’t. We don’t have the temperament. We are too inhibited!
Mary really did let her hair down! But usually we (well us respectable Christians anyway) are too concerned about what other people will think. We don’t like to let our feelings show!

Remember that Jailer at Philippi when he heard the gospel. Acts 16:33f
he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God- he and his whole family.
When were you last filled with joy in your Christian life. I spent some time in Uganda a few years ago and I took part in services which lasted two or three hours and then led on to shared meals together which lasted most of the afternoon. These people had none or very little of all the things we take for granted. But they had joy! They really knew how to celebrate God’s goodness to them. When did you last get completely carried away in “Over the Top” joyful celebration? 

Extravagant generosity, joyful celebration and
3. INTIMATE WORSHIP

Here was striking intimacy. A woman would only normally let down her hair in the presence of her husband. Yet this is what Mary does to express her lavish devotion for her Lord. And this is something else that many of us have big problems in doing. We simply don’t know how to let go of our inhibitions and tell God how much we love Him!
The Song of Songs, the Song of Solomon is a very beautiful and in places erotic love poem. But it has always been interpreted by the Jews and by the church as representing God’s love for his chosen people and the response of love which his chosen people have for God.

Sometimes some people do go Over the Top in worship. They say things and do things in their worship and adoration of God which I find uncomfortable and embarrassing because they seem too intimate. But this story tells me not to judge others! Because Jesus did not criticise the intimacy of Mary’s love and adoration. Instead he says, “Leave her alone”, “She has done a beautiful thing to me.”

We need to learn that it’s OK for Christians to go O.T.T. for Jesus. Remember what happened on the day of Pentecost. The first Christians were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 6 When (everybody else) heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

This all sounds very Over The Top to me!! But it was God’s way of telling the world that that Holy Spirit had come! Lots of very O.T.T. things have been happening in churches around the world even in the years that I have been a minister. Spiritual gifts, prophecy and speaking in tongues, signs and wonders, the Toronto Blessing, holy tears and holy laughter, people falling down “resting in the Spirit”, the Pensacola Revival. When we hear about other Christians getting carried away in their worship, we need to make sure that we don’t rush in to condemn them.

We can so easily be like Judas – criticising and complaining, over cautious and reserved, never taking any risks. But I’m sure that God actually wants us all to be more like Mary, for some of the time at least. I’m sure God would love to see some more heartfelt enthusiasm and sincere O.T.T. passion in US sometimes! I’m sure that if we are loving God with ALL our heart and ALL our soul and ALL our strength and ALL our mind then we OUGHT TO find ourselves going Over The Top in intimate worship sometimes.

Extravagant generosity, joyful celebration, intimate worship, and to cap it all, everything was so
4. SHAMELESS and PUBLIC

When did you last show your love for God in such a shameless and public way? When did you last make an exhibition of yourself witnessing for Christ? I remember when I became a Christian as a teenager. I went totally Over The Top telling other people about Jesus. I wore a great big wooden cross at school and through university to tell the world I believed in Jesus. For very many Christians in England today, our faith has become a very private thing, something we don’t even tell our friends. Sometimes I think that Christians have started to believe what I call “the Great Lie”. There is this rumour, this myth going round so many churches, that it is somehow “not Christian” about evangelism and witnessing and telling others about our love for Christ. That’s “the Great Lie”
Perhaps it is because there are so many different religions in Britain nowadays. We can be conned into thinking that all roads lead to God. People don’t need Jesus to be their Saviour after all. That’s the Great Lie! They DO need Jesus. Jesus said, (John 14:6)
‘‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me!’’

Again, there is the idea that because our Christian faith seems to be just one ‘‘option’’ among many, we shouldn’t be forcing our opinions on others. Some people even say that it’s unloving to insist we’ve got it right and everybody else is wrong. That’s the Great Lie again. Our faith is not just a matter of opinion but of eternal truth, a matter of life and death.
Perhaps it would be unloving to spread the gospel, if it were not true. But God’s word the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ really is the only way of salvation for a lost world. So it is staying silent which shows a lack of love. If we love God and if we love our neighbours, the loving thing to do will always be to speak, to shout, to warn, to persuade, to pray so that our friends do not drift on to a lost eternity. The people who showed more love while the Titanic was sinking were the ones who handed out the lifebelts and pointed the way to the lifeboats, not the folk who kept everyone amused by playing more music and handing out more drinks.

Of course, telling other people about Jesus is not easy. Speaking about our faith can make us unpopular, maybe even bring us ridicule and persecution. The Great Lie lulls us into believing that God loves us too much to ask us to do something difficult. So, the Lie says, God can’t be demanding that we tell our friends and neighbours about Jesus, because we find that difficult. What rubbish! We have good news – how dare we keep it to ourselves?
Jesus never said it would be easy or comfortable to follow Him. He only said it would be worth all it cost! Mary was shameless in revealing her devotion to Jesus in such a public way. Why do so many Christians remain private and silent? Hear Jesus’s words
‘‘If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and in the glory of the Father.’’ (Luke 9:26)

Let me finish by reminding you of the story from Luke’s gospel about another woman who went “Over The Top” in her love for Jesus. One evening at another dinner party, a “woman who had lived a sinful life” (a prostitute) washed Jesus’s feet with her tears and dried them with her hair before anointing them with perfume. Their host Simon the Pharisee criticised her, so Jesus told this parable we know so well.
“Two men owed money to a certain money-lender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he cancelled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt cancelled.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. Then he turned towards the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven- for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”

He who has been forgiven little loves little. How much do you love Jesus? Mary’s love for Jesus was so great that she got completely carried away! Her story is told in memory of her. But what about us?

God gave His only Son to make a way for us to be forgiven, to be born again to a new life and even to become His beloved children. God loves you and me SO much! But how much do we love Jesus? Where is our response of extravagant generosity? How about a bit of joyful celebration sometimes? Maybe even some truly intimate worship? And when did you last make an exhibition of yourself in public shouting out your love for God so shamelessly. I think we could all afford to go Over The Top for Jesus a bit more. Don’t you agree?

Jesus called disciples. He commands His church to make disciples. Jesus is looking for Christians who are not just believers but who are His followers and His messengers.

The preacher and evangelist David Watson wrote, “If we were willing to learn the meaning of real discipleship and actually to become disciples, the church in the West would be transformed and the resultant impact on society would be staggering.”

Twelve Great Reasons for Meeting One-to-One

Disciples are learners. Through the ages disciples of Jesus Christ have learned through the teaching of the church, especially through sermons. And they have learned individually by studying the Bible and the teachings of the church, and by praying. At times disciples have also emphasised the importance of meeting in small groups, from the Benedictine and Franciscan monks and the Methodist Class Meetings, to today’s Home Groups or Cell Groups for Bible study, fellowship, encouragement and prayer. But one way in which disciples through the ages have always learned has been neglected in these self-centred days – the immense value of believers meeting together One-to-One.

Who were the people who have made the most impact on your Christian life? Who brought you to faith in the first place and who has helped you most to grow along the way? It might have been a speaker at a big event, or a memorable sermon in your local church, or the books or music of somebody you have never met. But many people would agree that for them a Minister, a Youth Leader, a Home Group Leader or close Christian friends were much more significant. And the times which have shaped our faith were not so much occasions in crowds or even in small groups, but the times which we spent with those precious individuals One-to-One.

When two or three people who regularly meet to talk about God and pray together are at roughly the same stage in their Christian experience, expressions like “Spiritual Friendships”, “Soul Friends”, “Sustaining Friends” “Prayer Buddies” or “Peer Mentoring” are appropriate. When a more mature Christian helps a younger Christian find their way, a better description might “Spiritual Direction”, “Christian Formation”, “Coaching” or “Mentoring”. Both Spiritual Friendships and Spiritual Direction are immensely helpful in the process of knowing God better and becoming disciples of Jesus Christ. Sadly in this age of individualism there are very many Christians who have never discovered the blessings of meeting with others One-to-One.

There are at least twelve excellent reasons why it is good for believers to get together One-to-One. Some of them relate more to the context of Spiritual Direction, a more mature Christian sharing the spiritual journey of a younger Christian. Others are more significant in Spiritual Friendships as two Christians at roughly the same stage share their journeys with each other. Any one of these great blessings would be reason enough for believers to begin to meet together and share their spiritual lives One-to-One.

1. Anybody can do it!

We can’t all give lots of time to lots of other people – but everybody can give time to just one or two! Even Home Groups or Cell Groups can’t be just right for everybody all the time. But meeting One-to-One will always be at just the right level for both. A meeting of just two is totally flexible – you can always get together when you want to.
Meeting with the intention and the expectation of talking about Christian things gives freedom to actually talk about Christ without awkwardness or embarrassment; because that is the very reason you are meeting. And there are things you would be prepared to share One-to-One which you would never share even in a small group. You can feel amazingly safe. Going on a journey into unknown territory it always feels better to share that adventure with somebody else than going there by yourself, especially if the other person has been there before.

2. Dialogue teaches the parts monologue can’t teach

We learn all kinds of things much better by talking about them and by doing them with other people than just by reading or by listening to a professor or a preacher talking about them. Talking things through with another person brings so many blessings – blessings for you and blessings for person you are meeting with so double the blessings! Talking helps us understand the things we have heard in sermons or read in books. It helps us think through decisions we are making and find ways through problems we face. It brings encouragement in difficult times and helps us keep going when we feel like giving up.
So often Christians only talk to another person about their faith when problems arise. The wonderful thing about meeting regularly making disciples One-to-One is that in times of trial the relationship of “sustaining friends” already exists.

3. Jesus tells us to pray together.

“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:19-20)
Here Jesus very clearly makes two promises which are tragically overlooked in our individualistic world. The second promise (in order of the saying) is that Jesus the Risen Christ is present when believers meet together in some special way in which He is not present with them when they are apart and alone. And this is linked in some way to the first promise which is that God the Father will answer the prayers of believers who come together in agreement about what they are praying for, more than if they had prayed alone and separately.
If it was not already abundantly clear from other parts of Scripture, Jesus here is specifically promising to bless Christians who meet together and pray together. And that doesn’t have to be at a church service or a prayer meeting or a Home Group. The minimum number meeting together to claim these promises is precisely two. Making disciples One-to-One. Praying together is good. Intercessions carry more power because they are united. Praying for each other is good. Praying through each other’s decisions and problems is good. And having somebody else committed to praying for your personal spiritual growth is guaranteed to be good – because God answers prayer.

4. Opening up to each other is opening up to God

If we really mean business with God we need to open up every part of our lives to Him. And an important way of doing this is to open up our lives to other people. Many Christians are afraid of doing this. I am afraid of letting other people see “the real me” because then they would realise (in the words of Michael Caine’s character in the film Educating Rita) “there is less to me than meets the eye”.
But I really do need to let somebody else in on “the real me” because only then, when I am truly being myself, only then can God really begin to change me. Thomas Merton the 20th Century mystic puts it this way. “When I meet with you, the Christ in you is able to meet the Christ in me in a way that would not have been possible had we not met.” Talking sbout Spiritual Direction, John Chryssavgis writes, “In opening up to a spiritual elder, one allows the divine Other into the whole of one’s life”
Christians need to learn to open up to each other, Sharing emotions, sadness, anger, disappointment or discouragement with each other is the same as sharing these feelings with God. When we have poured out our heart to our friend, and we know our friend understands, then we can be assured that God also has heard and understood us. British Christians especially are so practised at bottling up our emotions. It is very healthy to have a spiritual context where we can uncork the bottle!

5. Confession and absolution helps deal with sin

Especially in the battle against the world, the flesh and the devil, having a Christian friend standing with you can make all the difference. Through history the church has known the value of confession and absolution. Jesus has given to all Christians the authority to declare sins forgiven. So James 5:16 makes this invitation. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.In the process of Christian holiness, turning away from sin and being transformed into the image of Christ, every Christian would benefit from having a friend to whom he could confess his or her sins. That friend could offer the blessing of declaring those sins forgiven. More than that, the friend would be there to pray alongside against those temptations in the future. Too many Christians walk the road to holiness alone. We do not need to be alone!

6. Discipleship, like salvation, is intended to be shared

In twenty-first century Western Christianity the focus in our understanding of salvation is almost entirely individual. We are concerned about our personal relationship with God. Biblical salvation is very different. It is corporate. We are saved into the Body of Christ of which each of us is only one single part. We are part of the family of God, being built into the Temple of the Holy Spirit. We are saved together and being disciples is something we are supposed to do together. In his excellent book Invitation to a Journey M.R.Mulholland writes, “Spiritual formation should never be merely individual but social and corporate.”

Christians can be so individualistic. “It’s my faith and my life, and I can live it as I want to.” That is NOT true. That is the attitude of the footballer who hogs the ball instead of passing it around the team. It’s the attitude of the tuba player who plays in any key he chooses, any notes he wants, ignoring the conductor and the rest of the orchestra and thinks it doesn’t matter. Richard Foster has written, “None of us is supposed to live the Christian life alone. We gain help and strength from others.”

7. It is good to be in a COVENANT relationship with each other

There is a place in the Christian life for discipline. For making promises to God and to each other, and for allowing others to call us to account for those promises. In essence most spiritual promises of value are wrapped up in the promise made in many traditions at baptism, “to follow Jesus Christ all the days of my life in the fellowship of His church.” It is valuable to allow other Christians to encourage us in keeping our promises.
We know we should be more motivated and committed than we are. It’s good to pray when we feel like it – it is even better to pray when we don’t feel like it, and even in times when we feel we cannot pray at all, because we have made the commitment to God and to the other person that we will meet.

8. Being accountable is a good thing

Being accountable helps us keep learning and praying and it helps you stand firm against temptation. Accountability means we can’t cheat ourselves, or God. Richard Foster commends this idea of “loving accountability”. He says, “I need others to ask hard questions about my prayer experiences, temptations and struggles, and plans for spiritual growth.” Any Christian who is serious about being a disciple of Jesus should not be afraid of searching questions. “How is it with your soul?” “How are you experiencing God this week?”
Christians have the right and the obligation to “watch over each other” and support each other in Christian life. If we see a brother falling into sin, all Christians, and especially those in leadership are obliged to try to rescue them (Acts 20:28; James 5:19-20; 1 John 5:16). And every Christian is obliged to allow others to help us on the road to holiness.

9. Seeing Christ in each other

Imprisoned for his faith and tortured for Christ, Romanian pastor Richard Wurmbrand saw the suffering of his fellow prisoners and asked, “If that were Christ, would you give Him your blanket?” The parable of the Sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25:31-46 reminds us that when we love and serve our neighbour we are loving and serving Christ Himself. Somebody once asked Mother Teresa of Calcutta how she could work with the untouchables and the sick and the dying? Her answer was that she sees Jesus in each one of the people she helps. So as she serves and cares for those who are dying she is serving and caring for Christ Himself. The best way to learn to see Christ in others is to develop a close relationship with a fellow Christian. Meeting with Christ in another person is a wonderful way of experiencing the presence of Christ in ordinary everyday life.

–
10. Things “better caught than taught”

There are many things in life which we learn by watching others. The piano teacher, the driving instructor, the personal trainer and the life coach all show us HOW TO do what we want to do. The best way to learn to speak French is to spend time with a Frenchman. So also in the Christian life there are individuals who inspire and encourage us by their passion in prayer, their boldness in evangelism, their commitment to holiness and their complete devotion to God. From their examples we learn skills, attitudes character. We learn hospitality, patterns of prayer and devotional reading. We learn how to cope with life. We seek to imitate their work/life/church balance. We are fired by their wisdom, zeal and love. They are our role models. We catch their faith. And as other people share their lives with us, we learn from them how to share our own life with other people. And the best place for this kind of Christian learning and growing is One-to-One.

11. Exercising Spiritual Gifts

The safety of a One-to-One relationship is the perfect context for learning to recognise God’s voice and deliver God’s messages. The Bible teaches the prophet-hood of all believers. Every Christian has received that Holy Spirit who inspired the prophets so potentially all may exercise prophetic gifts (Acts 2:17-18; 38-39). Where better than meeting One-to-One to begin to explore spiritual gifts especially prophecy?

12. God gives us other Christians so we can practise His kind of love.

A very good way to learn to love your enemies is to practise by loving your friends! God gives us other Christians so we can learn to love and accept and forgive. The challenge of just making space for somebody else in our busy lives is good. Learning to really listen to them so that we will better at listening to others. Practising helping others – learning to be Jesus to other people. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. (1 John 4:20)
Then many of us find it incredibly difficult to talk to other people about Jesus. Sharing our story One-to-One is good practice for sharing with Home Group, then with other friends, then with strangers.

With so many great reasons for meeting together One-to-One, it is hard to think of any excuses why every Christians should not be meeting regularly with a Spiritual Friend.

This sermon appears in my book “Making Disciples One-to-One” – more details at books.pbthomas.com

After a distinguished career as a performer, one famous virtuoso violinist became a professor of music. Somebody asked him what had prompted his change of career. The violinist replied: “Violin playing is a perishable art. It must be passed on as a personal skill; otherwise it is lost.” We can’t learn to live the Christian life just by reading books or even by watching others. We need instruction in the “perishable art” of Christian living. We need discipleship One-to-One.

We have been thinking about following Jesus – what it means to be a true disciple.

And we have thought about the different NEXT STEPS which God may have for us to take in our walk with him.

Growing in our relationship with God
Growing in knowledge and understanding
Growing in witness and service
Growing in the image of Christ
Growing by deeper fellowship
Growing in victory
Growing in passion

10 Ways God wants to bless us

Growing by meeting together
1. All together in CHURCH
2. All together in HOME GROUPS
3. All together in SPECIAL EVENTS

Growing in 2s and 3s
4. 2s and 3s for NEW CHRISTIANS
5. 2s and 3s for ALL CHRISTIANS
6. 2s and 3s in FAN THE FLAME

Growing as Individuals
7. Individuals – PQR Time
8. Individuals – Workshops and Courses
9. INDIVIDUAL STUDY PLANS

Growing by being equipped
10. Equipped by the Pastor-Teacher

There’s an old expression – to “put yourself in the way of blessing.” It means to make a decision to be in places where God can bless you! The 10 ways “God wants to bless you” are simply ways we can “put ourselves in the way of blessing” – channels through which God’s blessing can come to us.

The “10 Ways God wants to bless us” can help us to grow in many areas
Growing in knowledge and understanding
Growing in witness and service
Growing by deeper fellowship

But the eagle-eyed amongst you will have spotted that there are some aspects of Christian life and growth where the 10 ways are only the first step! They only open the door to blessing – they are ways we can seek God’s blessing, but they don’t guarantee that blessing.

I’m thinking about Growing in the image of Christ – Growing in Christian Character – growing more holy – more like Christ
I’m thinking about Growing in victory – just having more strength to live life from day to day – experiencing more joy and peace
I’m thinking about Growing in passion and zeal and spiritual fervour – There is a difference between being a believer and being a spiritually infectious enthusiast!
I’m thinking about growing in our relationship with God – knowing God better!

The “10 ways God wants to bless us” help us in all these aspects of Christian growth. A regular diet of sermons and Homegroups and personal prayer and reading and study and meeting in 2s and 3s is essential for healthy Christian life and growth. But in many areas of Christian living the reality is that we don’t so much grow slowly and gradually. Most Christians would say that our experience has been that we grow in things like victory and joy and peace and passion and zeal in occasional big jumps. We can look back over our Christian lives and recognise that certain occasions and experiences have been absolutely central to our growth in grace.

Like for me the time in Borrowdale a month or so before I became a Christian when I looked up to beauty of the stars and realised for the first time that God existed. Or the night I actually invited God into my life when I prayed “God change me”. Or the evening meeting at the Keswick convention when I first recognised the demands that Jesus the Lord makes on my life of absolute surrender and obedience, and the sense of joy and peace which filled my life for weeks afterwards. Or the day that God miraculously healed my back of a sporting injury. Or the evening in my own PQR time when I was reading Isaiah 43 and was totally overwhelmed by the love God has for me. Or the evening service which began at 6.30 and ended at 10 where Jackie Pullinger was speaking and I first began speaking in tongues. I could go on.

The point is that as well as the continual growth in grace which comes from the regular blessings, God has times when he wants to meet us in special ways. Times he wants to lift us up higher, to speak to us more clearly, to touch our lives with especial power. Those times may come to us in sermons or worship times. They may come at special events like Spring Harvest or Leading Edge or the Keswick Convention. They may come in Home Groups or in 2s or 3s or in meetings with our minister. They may come when we are praying and reading and seeking God alone. Or sometimes God may break into our lives when we least expect it – while we are in the middle of our work, or in the bath, or asleep.

Whenever God does want to meet us to bless us in special ways we still have a choice. To accept the blessing, or reject it. The apostle Paul says this to the Galatians:
25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
Keep in step with the Spirit. Paul is talking about our ordinary everyday lives of faith and obedience. But I also believe that means being open to those special times of blessing. Ready and longing for God to surprise us and take us on and lift us higher. Longing especially for God to draw us closer to himself. Because of course blessings like joy and peace and passion and zeal and victory don’t come to us by themselves. They are gifts which only come as grow to know the Giver. If we are just seeking these blessings we will only ever be disappointed. Because these blessings only come as we grow to know the One who blesses. What we are really seeking is God Himself. Seeking the Father who loves us – the Son who died for us – the Holy Spirit who lives inside us to make all the blessings of salvation real to us.

Keep in step with the Spirit. Part of what that means for many of us is that the next step for us will be to take the Next Step God has planned for us in our experience of Person and Work of the Holy Spirit. To allow God to break into our lives in new ways and move us on in our Christian lives.

What would it mean to take the next step with the Holy Spirit? It will be different for each of us.

2 Tim 1:6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
7 For the Spirit that God has given us does not make us afraid; instead, his Spirit fills us with power, love, and self-control. (GNB)

A Spirit of POWER –
For some people taking the next step with the Holy Spirit will mean opening our lives to the awesome power of Almighty God! It will mean inviting God to even work miracles in our lives. Our God is a supernatural God! So often we only expect Him to work in “natural” ways.
God is able, and indeed longs `to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.’ (Ephesians 3:20).
`He longs to do much more than our faith has yet allowed,
To thrill us and surprise us with His sovereign power.’
For some Christians in the last 30 years of charismatic renewal, signs and wonders and what was called “the Toronto blessing” experiencing that Spirit of Power has been a completely overwhelming experience!

A Spirit of LOVE –
For some people taking the next step with the Holy Spirit will mean opening our lives to the Holy Spirit who comes to make us like Christ. To allow the Holy Spirit to give us a fresh experience, maybe an absolutely overwhelming experience of God’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.

A Spirit of SELF -CONTROL
For some people taking the next step with the Holy Spirit will mean allowing God to break into our lives and make us holy – to set us free from all with the sins which keep us away from God.
19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
All our human effort in repentance will not set us free from these or any other of the sins we may indulge in! We need the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, the power of Christ which saves from the gutter-most to the uttermost!

Fan into flame THE GIFT OF GOD –
For some people taking the next step with the Holy Spirit will mean fanning into flame the gift of God. Opening our lives to the Holy Spirit in Spiritual Gifts. It will mean opening our mouths to speak God’s messages in the gift of prophecy. Or it will mean reviving or even exercising for the first time the gift of speaking in tongues as a personal prayer language.

If all this talk of power and holiness and spiritual gifts is scary – it should not be. As Paul says, we have not received a spirit of timidity, a spirit which makes us afraid. We need never be afraid of the Spirit who is Love.

Keep in step with the Spirit. Take the next step with the Spirit.

It was the great evangelist Moody who said “I am filled with the spirit, but I leak” – we all need our spiritual batteries recharging sometimes. We all need to be filled afresh with the Spirit of God. We all need to fan the flame of the Spirit in our lives. So how can we open ourselves to taking the Next Step in the Spirit? First of all, we have to WANT to move on with God in such ways.

“Before we can be filled with the Spirit, the desire to be filled must be all-consuming. It must be for the time the biggest thing in the life, so acute, so intrusive as to crowd out everything else. The degree of fullness in any life accords perfectly with the intensity of true desire. We have as much of God as we actually want.” A. W. Tozer (1897–1963)

Whenever opportunities come along for God to bless us, to take us the Next Step in the Spirit, we will always have a choice. To accept the blessing. Or to resist it.

Somebody has said that the rain of God’s blessing starts to fall we each have an umbrella – and we each have a choice. We can hold the umbrella over our heads so the rain of God’s blessing doesn’t land on us. Or we can hold the umbrella upside down to catch as much of the blessing as possible! Which way up is your umbrella?

As I said, we can put ourselves in the way of blessing by using “the 10 Ways God wants to bless us!” But then there are specific things we can do to open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit.

You may have seen the film, Castaway, with Tom Hanks as a kind of modern Robinson Crusoe, stranded alone on a desert island in the middle of the ocean. Fairly early on he makes himself a boat out of trees and tries desperately to paddle out to sea. But the island is surrounded by a coral reef and however hard he tries to row, the waves over the reef push him back, until in the end the boat turns over and he is badly injured on the coral. Many attempts to row out to sea end in disaster.

But then one day a piece of wreckage comes to shore and the castaway sees how he can use it. He changes the design of his boat. He rows out to the reef again but instead of trying to row against the waves he hoists the wreckage as a sail. The wind catches the sail and blows the boat past the waves out to sea and eventual rescue. At the end of the film the castaway is telling his story to a friend. “I was trapped on the island,” he says, “until one day God gave me a sail.”

Many Christians spend all their lives rowing hard trying to go somewhere new with God. But all the time the waves of life push them back. Sometimes they even fall overboard and the coral hurts! But God has given us a sail – or a number of sails. What we need to do is hoist the sails and let the wind of the Spirit carry us where God wants us to go.

And what are these sails that will open our lives to the wind of the Spirit? Nothing new here, no surprises. Just simple things. The sail of obedience. Conscientiously doing what God has already told us he wants us to do. The sail of faith. Trusting God to work in our lives, stepping out in faith and inviting God to surprise us. Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus – but to trust and obey. Then there is the sail of worship. Offering God the first and the best in our worship to Him and inviting Him to break in and surprise us.
And finally there is the sail of prayer. Not a shopping list of asking prayers but time spent seeking God’s face in listening prayer. If we want God to surprise us, we need to spend time seeking Him in prayer.

The God of surprises is longing to surprise us. We need to stop rowing frantically to battle the waves and instead to just hoist the sails – sails of obedience and faith and worship. Above all the sail of prayer.
`He longs to do much more than our faith has yet allowed,
To thrill us and surprise us with His sovereign power.’

God longs to do much more than we ask for or even imagine. May God help each and every one of us to be ready to take the Next Step with the Holy Spirit!

“Phrase from world of education – continuing the learning journey”
God wants us to grow as Christians
Last week I pointed to SEVEN areas, any one of which might be the area where you might be wanting to grow as a Christian.

1 GROWING IN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

? Knowing God better? Prayer and worship becoming more real?

Eph 1: 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

2 GROWING IN OUR KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

? Understanding the Bible better? Finding answers to life’s deep questions?

Disciples are learners. A lifetime of learning !!!

3 GROWING IN OUR WITNESS AND SERVICE

? Serving God in new ways in the church or in the community? Sharing your faith with others more effectively?

4 GROWING IN THE IMAGE OF CHRIST

? Growing in holiness and Christian character?

5 GROWING BY DEEPER FELLOWSHIP

? Closer Christian friendships?

Growing close to God implies growing closer to each other. This isn’t about more meetings! It’s about deeper friendships!!

6 GROWING IN VICTORY

? More strength to live your day to day life? More joy, greater peace, greater victory in your Christian life?

7. Growing in PASSION

There is a difference between being a believer and being an enthusiast!

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord. (Rom 12:11)

Growing in our relationship with God
Growing in knowledge and understanding
Growing in witness and service
Growing in the image of Christ
Growing by deeper fellowship
Growing in victory
Growing in passion

ANY OF THESE might be an area where you might want to grow in your Christian life!

But HOW can we grow? What practical steps can we each be taking? This week I want to look at 10 ways God wants to bless us. Let me say again what I emphasised last week. THE NEXT STEP is not about what you can do for God, but what God will do for you. This is not about extra responsibilities to burden you – but extra opportunities for God to bless you! THE NEXT STEP is not meant to be a challenge. It is an invitation!

GROWING BY MEETING TOGETHER

24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds.
25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. HEBREWS 10:19-25

1. ALL TOGETHER IN CHURCH

We grow through our Sunday worship by worshipping together and praying together and learning together.

Evening Services – WHY WE BELIEVE WHAT WE BELIEVE
A series of Evening sermons through to November based on the Nicene Creed. We have already thought about what God is really like? Then we thought about just how God created the world. What does it mean, “in seven days”? What do Christians believe about creation and evolution? Last week Rebekah helped us think about the problem of unanswered prayer. If you missed them all those sermons are on the blog. Tonight we think about a tricky question – how could Jesus really be God and man at the same time? In two weeks – How does the Cross bring us salvation? Then, other important questions. Is the Holy Spirit really a Person? We believe in One church – one baptism. But Which church? Which baptism?

2. ALL TOGETHER IN HOME GROUPS

Our midweek Home Groups meet on Tuesday morning, Tuesday evening and Friday evening. At the moment we are studying Bible Characters – Nicodemus who came to see Jesus in secret, the apostle John the beloved disciple, three would-be disciples, the Rich Young Ruler, Elijah the worn out prophet, James and John sons of thunder, Doubting Thomas, Daniel, and other Bible Characters.
Home Groups also give opportunities to pray for each other and support each other, caring, sharing and bearing one another’s burdens. Home Groups aren’t meetings – but friendships. Growing Together.

3. ALL TOGETHER IN SPECIAL EVENTS

We have our regular prayer meetings after morning services on the second and other and fourth Sundays every month. But we also had our Saturday “Discovering Prayer” together back in June. Every month a number of churches get together for “Celebrate”, a Wednesday evening of worship, teaching and ministry. And we will have other special events in the months to come to help us grow together in our faith.

GROWING IN TWOS AND THREES
19 “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” MATTHEW 18:19-20
SPECIAL BLESSINGS of meeting together in 2s and 3s.
To me this is such an important way to grow as Christians that a few years ago I wrote a book, Making Disciples One-to-One. I will talk much more about this in three weeks time when I give you 12 Good Reasons for meeting together one to one. But today let me just whet your appetites by suggesting three different aspects of growing in twos and threes.
4. TWOS OR THREES – FOR NEW CHRISTIANS

An opportunity for New Christians to be encouraged by Spiritual Aunts and Uncles – meeting One-to-One in an 8 week course.

1. A new life has begun!
2. Being sure of our salvation
3. Getting to know God in Bible study and prayer
4. Belonging to God’s family, the church
5. Playing your part
6. Tug of war – the battle against temptation
7. Go and tell – the challenge of being Christ’s witnesses
8. The Holy Spirit – the Helper

It may be that you are new to the Christian faith and this course for New Christians would be right for you. It could be that you have been a Christian for a while and feel ready to help somebody else in their faith.

5. TWOS AND THREES – FOR ALL CHRISTIANS

Praying in Pairs and Triplets – Prayer partnerships, Prayer Triplets, Spiritual Friendships, What could we do? I will explain much more about this is a few weeks but you could begin to be praying now and asking God if there is another Christian you could meet with together regularly to help you both to grow.

6. TWOS AND THREES – FAN THE FLAME

For the mature and committed Christian, a course of personal study and prayer assisted by a Guide you have a conversation with every week or two. Fan the Flame looks at five themes:
1. Knowing God Better
2. Becoming like Jesus
3. Living in Christ’s Body
4. Becoming a Servant
5. Be filled with the Spirit
With its meetings with a Guide, Fan the Flame gives a first taste of the practice called Spiritual Direction. A number of you have already enjoyed Fan the Flame. You may like to pray about whether Fan the Flame would be the right NEXT STEP for you in Following Jesus.

GROWING AS INDIVIDUALS
9 we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. COLOSSIANS 1:9-12

7. INDIVIDUALS – PQR TIME
Between Prayer time and Reading time you get a Quiet Time
Bible study materials Daily Bread (SU) Every Day with Jesus (CWR)
8. INDIVIDUALS – WORKSHOPS AND COURSES
Events like Spring Harvest, Leading Edge. Taught Courses at Mulberry House or Pilgrims’s Hall, or organised by the Church of England at the Cathedral. Distance learning courses from London School of Theology or Spurgeon’s College.

9. INDIVIDUALS – INDIVIDUAL STUDY PLANS
Outline with key questions to consider, sermons to read and books and internet articles to look up. – Example on the Screen
HANDOUT containing a list of TITLES
Each Study Plan will be put together especially for you!

10. GROWING BY BEING EQUIPPED

11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to equip God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fulness of Christ.
EPHESIANS 4:11-13

Equipped by the Pastor-Teacher

In his book, “Evangelism as a Lifestyle” Pete Gilbert sums up true Biblical Pastoral Care brilliantly!The task of pastor-teachers is “not wiping spiritual noses but building spiritual muscles”

Paul Goodliffe – Head of Ministry Department of Baptist Union writes – God gives Ministers to the church to equip God’s people for works of service.As far as pastoral care is concerned, the role of a minister should not be that of chaplain but of spiritual director, guiding people on their spiritual journey, identifying and releasing gifts and ministries and equipping people for service. So the important pastoral tasks are nurturing and sustaining faith, creating healthy relationships and building a caring Christian community, praying for people and with people and encouraging the struggling and wandering – not just healing wounded souls. The focus should not be so much on healing as on growth, not on fire-fighting but on discipling. Building spiritual muscles!

When you join a gym you are assigned a “personal trainer”. That person doesn’t do all the exercise for you – but they guide you on the path! God gives Ministers to the church to be “spiritual trainers” to guide us on our spiritual journeys. That is a task which I am very happy to make a priority. Being a “Spiritual trainer” “nurturing and sustaining faith, creating healthy relationships and building a caring Christian community, praying for people and with people and encouraging the struggling and wandering. Not just healing wounded souls,”, but helping with Christian growth and Growth and discipleship.

10 Ways God wants to bless you – SUMMARY
1. All together in CHURCH
2. All together in HOME GROUPS
3. All together in SPECIAL EVENTS
4. 2s and 3s for NEW CHRISTIANS
5. 2s and 3s for ALL CHRISTIANS
6. 2s and 3s in FAN THE FLAME
7. Individuals – PQR Time
8. Individuals – Workshops and Courses
9. INDIVIDUAL STUDY PLANS
10. Equipped by the Pastor-Teacher
WHAT IS THE NEXT STEP FOR YOU?

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” Even over many years that dreaded question sticks in our memories from childhood, and still makes us cringe. Asked by some elderly relative, we would give some polite answer about engine drivers or air hostesses, while inside we were fuming because we knew we already were grown up!
There is this myth that there is a time in life which all youngsters long for, at which children turn overnight into “grown-ups” and thereafter are treated by everybody else as adults. In fact, the whole idea of being “grown up” is really rather misleading and suspect. It carries the dangerous implication that there could come a time in our experience when we stop growing, when we don’t need to grow any more because we’ve “arrived” already and we can’t grow any further. Even when we stop growing taller in our late teens many of us continue growing around the waistline, whether we like it or not! But hopefully we all keep growing as people too, maturing in our understanding and our personalities as long as we live.
They say you’re never too old to learn. Schools today talk about “the continuing learning journey” and “lifelong learning.” The success of the Open University and the popularity of Evening Classes and University of the Third Age show that many people want and are able to keep on learning throughout their lives. Many take up new hobbies and develop new skills later in life. My dad first started playing golf when he retired, and kept playing for 25 years!

At a dinner party one day a young graduate asked her white haired neighbour what his job was. “I devote myself to the study of physics.” “You mean you are still a student at your age?” she said scornfully. “I finished my degree a year ago!” She was very embarrassed when she discovered that her neighbour’s name was Albert Einstein.

Surely we will want to keep on growing and developing as people throughout our lives. It was Cardinal Newman who said “Growth is the only evidence of life”. This is true in our Christian life too. We can sometimes be content to stand still in our faith. We can sometimes become too comfortable, and feel that we have already arrived where God wants us to be. But surely there is always more about God to discover, more riches in the Bible to explore, more depths in prayer to enjoy. Maturity of Christian character does not develop overnight either. Our minds can keep on developing, and so too can our characters. Patience, endurance, thankfulness and cheerfulness are just a few of the qualities in which we can keep on growing, and most of us need to. None of us ever achieve the perfection Christ sets us as an example, in love and humility and obedience. We will never “arrive”! There are so many ways in which we all need to keep on growing.
When Pablo Casals reached 95, a young reported asked him: “Mr. Casals, you are 95 and the greatest cellist that ever lived. Why do you still practice six hours a day?” And Mr. Casals answered, “Because I think I’m making progress.” Our aim as Christians should be to keep on making progress every day of our lives.
This morning I want to introduce you to a new idea for to help us grow as Christians, which I want to call “THE NEXT STEP”.

Let me say at the start that THE NEXT STEP is not about what you can do for God, but what God will do for you. This is not about extra responsibilities to burden you – but extra opportunities for God to bless you! THE NEXT STEP is not meant to be a challenge. It is an invitation!

We are all different. We have different gifts, different needs. We are all at different stages in the Christian life. So how do you want to grow in your Christian life in the days ahead? What is the right next step for you? The right next step will be different for each one of us. I can think of at least SEVEN areas, any one of which might be the area where you might be wanting to grow as a Christian.

1 GROWING IN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

? Do you want to know God better?
? Do you wish your prayer and worship could be more real?

God certainly wants us to get to know Him better and better and love him more and more.
2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
Eph 1: 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Knowing God better!
Knowing more of the hope to which He has called us
Knowing and experiencing more of the riches of his glorious inheritance
Knowing and experiencing more of his incomparably great power for us who believe!

THE NEXT STEP is designed to help you know God better

2 GROWING IN OUR KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

? Do you want to understand the Bible better?
? Are you searching for answers to deep questions?

In his lifetime Jesus was a Rabbi, a teacher. His followers were called disciples, which means learners. Disciples are learners. This is why the first Christians devoted themselves to learning from the apostles as they taught about Jesus. Growth is an essential part of life as individual Christians and as a Church. To grow in our faith we all need to keep on learning.
The Early Church devoted itself to the Apostles’ teaching and that comes to us in the words of the New Testament. So as Christians more than anything else we need to learn from Scripture. We need to learn about God and His love for us and his grace towards us. We need to learn from Jesus the Son of God as He revealed God to us by His words and His actions. We need to learn about the Holy Spirit of God, the Helper, God living inside us.
Then the Bible also reveals to us the things that are pleasing to God and the things that make God angry. So we need to learn how to serve God and become more like Him in love and Holiness. So much to learn about creation and the fall, about God’s plan of salvation, about heaven and hell and the return of Christ. A lifetime of learning !!!

The NEXT STEP is designed to help you grow in your understanding

3 GROWING IN OUR WITNESS AND SERVICE

? Are you looking for a new way to serve God in the church or in the community?
? Do you long to share your faith more effectively with others?

The more mature we are in our faith, the more useful we can be in serving God and the more our Christian witness should have an impact on the lives of people around us.

THE NEXT STEP is designed to help you witness and serve God more effectively

4 GROWING IN THE IMAGE OF CHRIST

? Are there aspects of Christian character you wish you could grow in?

Colossians 1:9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might

2 Peter 1:5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.

There is a question which Africa Inland Mission ask folk who are applying to work with them as missionaries. “Over the last year, in what ways have you become more like Christ? More holy? More loving?” A challenging question!

THE NEXT STEP is designed to help you become more like Christ

5 GROWING BY DEEPER FELLOWSHIP

? Do you wish you had closer Christian friendships?

Growing close to God implies growing closer to each other.
“We must grow up in every way to Christ, who is the head. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (Ephesians 4:15-16)

This isn’t about more meetings! It’s about deeper friendships!! We need those friendships at a human level – for our social and emotional wellbeing. And we need those friendships to help us grow as Christians!

There are so many things which we need to learn as Christians but where being taught is only the beginning. Like prayer for instance. Or witnessing. Or holy living. Or trusting God. Or loving each other. Or leading worship or preaching or teaching in Family Church. The first disciples learned these kinds of things from Jesus. But they didnt just learn them from Jesus’s public sermons, or even from their private countless discussions. A Rabbi’s disciples learned by being with their Teacher, by watching the example of his life as much as by listening to his words. So according to Mark 3:14 the apostles were 12 men chosen by Jesus first and foremost “to be with him”, “to be with him” and learn from his example. We need more of that kind of discipleship in church life. Learning from older and more mature Christians, our elders in the faith, learning the things that are “better caught than taught”. We need to be discipled! We need Christian friends to not only to support us and encourage us but also to teach us and to inspire us by their example.

THE NEXT STEP is designed to help us become better friends!

6 GROWING IN VICTORY

? Do you just wish you had more strength to live your day to day life?
? Do you long for more joy, peace or victory in your Christian life?

2 Thess 1:3 We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. 4 Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.

THE NEXT STEP is designed to help us experience greater victory in our Christian lives!

Growing in PASSION

There is a difference between being a believer and being an enthusiast!

We need PASSION! What kinds of things are YOU passionate about? At times I’ve been passionate about playing sport. I’ve been passionate about science. I’ve been passionate about playing music. I’ve been passionate about computers. I still am passionate about my wife and my family. But what can we do to make sure that above all these important and precious and worthwhile things and people, God is our greatest passion?

I quoted this thought to you last week. “If one-tenth of what you Christians believe is true, you ought to be ten times as excited as you are.”

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord. (Rom 12:11)

Last week I quoted some words of my favourite devotional author AWTozer. “There seems to be a chilling fear of holy enthusiasm among the people of God. We try to tell how happy we are—but we remain so well-controlled that there are very few waves of glory experienced in our midst.”

Tozer’s book THE PURSUIT OF GOD is a powerful antidote if we are lacking spiritual appetite.
“The continuous and unembarrassed interchange of love and thought between God and the soul of the redeemed man is the throbbing heart of New Testament religion.”
“I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God. The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate. The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. “Do you want to see God’s glory. Do you want to hunger for him again. Pray that God will awaken your hunger for him.”

THE NEXT STEP is designed to help us to become more passionate for God – to make us enthusiasts!

Growing in our relationship with God
Growing in knowledge and understanding
Growing in witness and service
Growing in the image of Christ
Growing by deeper fellowship
Growing in victory
Growing in passion

ANY OF THESE might be an area where you might want to grow in your Christian life!

In an episode of the Peanuts cartoon strip, Snoopy sat droopy-eyed at the entrance of his doghouse. He sighed, “Yesterday I was a dog. Today I’m a dog. Tomorrow I’ll probably still be a dog. There’s such little hope for advancement.”
In the Christian life there is ALWAYS hope for advancement!

Phil 3:12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, 14 I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.

Let me say again – THE NEXT STEP is not about what you can do for God, but what God will do for you. This is not about extra responsibilities to burden you – but extra opportunities for God to bless you! THE NEXT STEP is not meant to be a challenge. It is an invitation!

That next step will be different for each one of us! But WHAT IS THE RIGHT NEXT STEP FOR YOU as a goal to aim at in the weeks and months ahead?

Growing in our relationship with God
Growing in knowledge and understanding
Growing in witness and service
Growing in the image of Christ
Growing by deeper fellowship
Growing in victory
Growing in passion
There is a monument high in the Alps built in honor of a faithful guide who perished while ascending a peak to rescue a stranded tourist. Inscribed on that memorial stone are three words: HE DIED CLIMBING. Right up to the end of life Christians should have the same kind of attitude. We have never arrived. We are still climbing. Are you ready and willing to take THE NEXT STEP God has planned for you?

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. (Matthew 4:18-20)

Jesus gives the same command to every person in every age. “Follow me.” He did not say things we might have expected, like read your Bibles more, or pray more, or worship God more, or serve God more, or tell others about me, or start a church. He said simply, “Follow me.” On twenty different occasions Jesus said, “Follow me.”

So this will be God’s way forward for every Christian. Whether we have been a believer for 50 years or 50 minutes the command is the same. “Follow me.” This shouldn’t surprise us, although perhaps it does. It sounds so basic, so simplistic. After all, many of us have been involved in the church for many years. When we think of expressing our Christian faith, we think of “church membership.” But the Bible never speaks of “church members.” Not once, ever. In fact, the Bible only uses the word “Christian” three times. And the word “believer” only comes 27 times in the New Testament and only 14 times in the Gospels and Acts. Much more often, around 100 times, the Gospels and Acts talk about people being followers of Jesus, following Jesus. So that is what God calls us to be. Followers of Jesus. People who obey that simple command, “Follow me.”

God loves us so much more than we can possibly imagine! Jesus Christ sacrificed everything so that we could be forgiven, become God’s children, share His eternal life and have the happy certainty of sharing His glory in heaven forever. If we want go on with God, if we really want to respond to God’s love and grace, we must learn to follow Jesus. We must learn more about what following Jesus means. Even more than that, we must learn HOW to follow Jesus, and put what we learn into practice in our lives so that we actually DO follow Jesus in our thoughts and words and actions. As Oswald Chambers said, “One step forward in obedience is worth years of study about it.”

And this is where we must come to grips with perhaps the most challenging word in the Bible. The most demanding word in the Bible. The word which is used over 300 times to describe those people who followed Jesus. The word which is the New Testament name for followers or believers or Christians. That word is DISCIPLE. If we want to follow Jesus, we must become His disciples.

Jesus was a Rabbi, a teacher. And those who followed him were called his disciples, those who were taught by Him. Those who learned from Him. Those whose lives were shaped by Him and became like Him. If we really mean business with God, if we really want to go on with God, we need to stop thinking of ourselves as Christians, or believers, and start thinking of ourselves as disciples. Many people claim to be Christians. Many people claim to be believers. But not all Christians and not all believers are truly disciples of Jesus Christ.
William Barclay wrote: “It’s possible to be a follower of Jesus without being a disciple; to be a camp-follower without being a soldier of the king; to be a hanger-on in some great work without pulling one’s weight. Once someone was talking to a great scholar about a younger man. He said, “So and so tells me that he was one of your students.” The teacher answered, “He may have attended my lectures, but he was not one of my students.” There is a world of difference between attending lectures and actually studying. It is one of the supreme handicaps of the Church that in the Church there are so many distant followers of Jesus and so few real disciples.”

If we really want to go on with God we need to hear the call of Jesus to “Follow me.” It is not enough to be distant followers, to play at being Christians or play at church. We each need to discover what it means to become real disciples of Jesus Christ.

Dallas Willard has written, “For at least several decades the church of the Western world have not made discipleship a condition of being a Christian. One is not required to be, or to intend to be, a disciple in order to become a Christian, and one may remain a Christian without any signs of progress toward or in discipleship. Contemporary churches in particular do not require following Christ in his example, spirit, and teachings as a condition of membership — either of entering into or continuing in fellowship of a denomination or local church. Any exception to this claim only serves to highlight its general validity and make the rule more glaring. So far as the visible Christian institutions of our day are concerned, discipleship clearly is optional.”

Dallas Willard is right! Just as an example, preparing for this morning I discovered that only three songs in our book contain the word disciple. But this is not just a modern problem. Oswald Chambers commented a century ago, “We talk about the joys and comforts of salvation; Jesus Christ talks about taking up the cross and following him.” Back in the 15th Century Thomas À Kempis recognised this problem in his book, The Imitation of Christ. “Jesus has many lovers of the heavenly kingdom, but few bearers of his cross. He has many desirous of consolation, but few of tribulation. He finds many companions of his table, but few of his abstinence. All desire to rejoice with him, few are willing to endure anything for him, or with him.”

Discipleship has never been a popular product. We live in a materialistic consumer-driven world. People expect freedom to choose. People want satisfaction guaranteed. But instead Jesus says, “Follow me”. He isn’t looking for customers. Jesus demands disciples. As the corny bumper sticker puts it, “Carpenter from Nazareth seeks joiners.” Not consumers who think they can buy when they feel like it and change brands whenever they like. But disciples. And discipleship is about commitment. It cost those fishermen Andrew, Simon, James and John everything they had to become disciples.
“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him.
Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. (Matthew 4:19-22)

For Peter and Andrew and James and John, becoming a disciple meant giving up everything else to follow Jesus. Going where Jesus led. Doing what Jesus chose, not what the disciples would have naturally chosen. The disciples were not called to learn knowledge or information, but a way of life – the Jesus way. “Follow me.” Learn from me, become like me, Jesus said. That is how it was for those first disciples. And that is how it must be for true disciples in every age. Discipleship is costly! It demands sacrifice! Salvation is free, but discipleship costs everything we have.

Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross (daily) and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)
“Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” (Matt 10:38)
“No-one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:61-62)

The way forward for followers of Jesus in every age is to become disciples. Discipleship involves three things, and the first of these things is LEARNING. Disciples are learners, but what is it that Jesus wants his disciples to learn? There are so many areas. Prayer. Worship. Understanding. Character. Lifestyle. Fellowship. Service. Witness. Discipleship is about knowing what God wants us to do. It’s about knowing why we should obey God. It’s about having conviction, the motivation to do God’s will. And it’s about learning the skills we need to serve God. Disciples are learners, they are apprentices of Jesus. In one sense we will all be learners for the whole of our lives, but in another sense there should come a time when the apprentice has learned enough to practise his trade. In church life, attenders should be becoming believers. Believers becoming members. Members becoming mature. Members becoming ministers in the sense that all Christians should be ministers serving God in the church and in the world. Atheists transformed into missionaries.

More than anything else as Christians we need to learn from Scripture. We need to learn about God and His love for us and his grace towards us. We need to learn from Jesus the Son of God as He revealed God to us by His words and His actions. We need to learn about the Holy Spirit of God, the Helper, God living inside us. But knowing ABOUT a person is not the same as knowing the person. Some people can know a lot about God without really knowing God personally or having a relationship with God at all. The Christian life is not just knowing about God – but knowing God as Father and Jesus Christ as Lord and experiencing the present reality and power of God the Holy Spirit. So we don’t only learn about God – we get to know God and develop our relationship with him.
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. (Ephesians 1:17-19)
Then the Bible also reveals to us the things that are pleasing to God and the things that make God angry. So we need to learn how to serve God and become more like Him in love and Holiness. So much to learn about creation and the fall, about God’s plan of salvation, about heaven and hell and the return of Christ. So much more to learn – a lifetime of learning.

As well as learning the second thing discipleship involves is OBEDIENCE. A wise man has rightly observed, “Most evangelical Christians are educated beyond their obedience.” In other words, we are better at learning in our heads than we are at putting what we’ve learned into practice in our lives. We may say, “We want to learn how to pray, or become more effective witnesses, or grow in holiness, or whatever it is. Peter, preach us some inspiring sermons on prayer, or witnessing, or holiness, or whatever. Write us some exciting Home Group Studies on prayer, witness, holiness.” But the truth is most of us have enough head knowledge in these areas already. We don’t need any more learning. What we are missing out on is the obedience!

A friend of ours knows more about listening to God and interceding in prayer than anybody else I have met. I once asked him how he had learned so much about prayer. It was simple. Early in his Christian life he had devoted a whole year to finding out about prayer. He had looked up EVERY reference in the Bible on prayer. He had read as many books as he could on prayer. And he had spent as many hours a day as he could actually praying. That is how he learned about prayer! Most of the time we don’t need more learning, we just need more obedience! If we are serious about learning to pray we will just make the time and get down to praying!

We don’t need too much more teaching on holiness. We just need to obey the commandments we already know. We know we are commanded to “love one another.” (John 13:34-35) We just need to get on with the practice of caring for each other and sharing our lives together and bearing each other’s burdens! The letter of James commands us to put the truth we know into practice. Failure to do so is sin. (James 1:22, 4:17) “Most evangelical Christians are educated beyond their obedience.” But beyond learning and obedience discipleship includes one more thing. We need PASSION.

The first disciples were committed. They were enthusiastic, they were dedicated, they were passionate about God! We can be passionate about our families, our jobs, our hobbies, even our churches. But we need to make sure that above all these important and precious and worthwhile things and people, God is our greatest passion. Somebody once said of Christians, “If one-tenth of what you believe is true, you ought to be ten times as excited as you are.” Ruth and I went to a revival meeting at Lakeland in Florida in 2008 and just one sentence stuck in my mind from that evening. “A fanatic is only somebody who loves Jesus more than you do!” We need passion!

A famous conductor once dislocated his shoulder while leading an orchestra. Very few Christians are at risk of dislocating anything in our enthusiasm for God. Many never even get their ties out of place!

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord. (Romans 12:11) A.W.Tozer once wrote, “There seems to be a chilling fear of holy enthusiasm among the people of God. We try to tell how happy we are—but we remain so well-controlled that there are very few waves of glory experienced in our midst.”

Tozer wrote, “Orthodox Christianity has fallen to its present low estate from lack of spiritual desire. Among the many who profess the Christian faith, scarcely one in a thousand reveals any passionate thirst for God. We fear extremes and shy away from too much ardor in religion as if it were possible to have too much love or too much faith or too much holiness.
“Occasionally one’s heart is cheered by the dis¬covery of some insatiable saint who is willing to sacri¬fice everything for the sheer joy of experiencing God in increasing intimacy’. To such we offer this word of exhortation: – Pray on, fight on, sing on. Do not underrate anything God may have done for you before. Thank God for everything up to this point but do not stop here. Press On into the deep things of God. Insist upon tasting the profounder mysteries of redemption. Keep your feet on the ground, but let your heart soar as high as it will. Refuse to be aver¬age or to surrender to the chill of your spiritual environment. Unless you do these things you will reach at last (and unknown to you) the graveyard of orthodoxy and be doomed to live out your days in spiritual mediocrity!” (A.W.Tozer in The Root of the Righteous)

God wants every one of us to grow to Christian maturity. In honesty, over the last year, how much have each of us grown in our relationship with God our Father and into the likeness of Jesus Christ? As one preacher observed, many Christians are not growing, they are just getting fatter. It is God’s will that EVERY Christian will continually be making progress in every area of discipleship. Every Christian should be growing up into Christ. Every Christian should be closer to Jesus this year than they were last year. Praying more meaningfully. Worshipping more deeply. Serving and witnessing more effectively. Growing up into Christ.

The church today needs the kind of discipleship which will transform us into everything that God calls us to be as Christians, into the image of Jesus Christ. We need learning – not just head knowledge but heart knowledge of God our heavenly Father. We also need obedience – to put into practice the things we have learned. And above all these things we need a passion, a holy zeal that makes it natural and easy to love God with all our heart, all our soul, all our strength and all our mind.

The old prayer we chose as our theme for 2011 is the prayer of a true disciple.

Day by day, Dear Lord I pray,
To see you more clearly,
Love you more dearly,
And follow you more nearly,
Day by day. AMEN

Things I miss about teaching at SCHOOL – the excuses children make.

I was late for class because i was fighting with a kid who said that you werent the best teacher in the world
on the way to school i was feeding the ducks and my homework fell in
i made my homework into a paper plane and it was highjacked
I ate my homework because I didn’t have any ice cream, but it had all the answers on it so it made me smarter.
I was late for class because the bell rang before I got here!!
Dear School: Please ekscuse John being absent on Jan. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and also 33.
The train had a puncture

WORK EXCUSES

I cant come to work because I lost the house keys, I’m locked in.
It is against my religion to work on Mondays and Wednesdays.
I’d love to come to work today, but I got on the wrong train and I’m now in Edinburgh.
I cant come to work because the aliens are coming tonight and I’m baking cakes to give to them as peace offerings.
I am not coming in because I tried to dye my hair blonde, but it came out green!
“I am converting my calendar from Julian to Gregorian.”
“The dog ate my car keys. We’re going to hitchhike to the vet.”
I’m calling in because I am sick: sick – of work!

GENERAL EXCUSES

Id love to but… Im teaching my cat to sing.
I’d love to but… my dogs teaching me to bark.
i’d love to, but ……. i gotta go walk my turtle.
I’d love to but……..I’m migrating south for the winter.
I’d love to but… I’m trying to be less popular.
I’d love to but… None of my socks match.

Crazy excuses – but none as crazy as the excuses offered by the party guests in the story Jesus told.
16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’
19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’
20 “Still another said, ‘I have just got married, so I can’t come.’

These could sound plausible reasons for missing even a banquet until we read carefully.
17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 “But they all alike began to make excuses.
In those days people didn’t have diaries or organisers or even calendars. So when they gave a banquet, the host would do the invitations in two stages. Firstly, weeks or months ahead, he would say, “Would you like to come to my banquet?” and people would say yes please or no I can’t. Then, ON THE DAY, when the banquet was prepared, the host would send a message to those who had already accepted his invitation saying, today’s the day, the banquet is ready, come and eat!
So that’s why these excuses are so crazy. These are people who had ALREADY accepted the invitation who ON THE DAY are saying “I can’t be bothered to come!

18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’
In Jesus’s time NOBODY would buy a field without seeing it first!

19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’
Nobody would buy oxen without trying them out first!

20 “Still another said, ‘I have just got married, so I can’t come.’
In Jesus’s day, nobody would get married on short notice! When they accepted the invitation to the Banquet they would have been planning the wedding already!

Banquets
CIVIC DINNER –
SALTERS COMPANY University College – Main Hall of Durham Castle
11 / 13 courses

GOD is giving a banquet: picture of all the blessings of salvation
Wonderful food,
Wonderful companionship
Not just heaven
– not just pie in the sky when you die but cake on your plate while you wait! Eternal life which begins now and which even death cannot take away.

God’s banquet is the greatest joy anybody can experience. How crazy that people make excuses!

The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’
Field = possessions – lots of people put money and possessions before God!

Matthew 6:19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’
Oxen = work – lots of people say they haven’t time for God because they are too busy with work!

Luke 12:16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
21 “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich towards God.”

20 “Still another said, ‘I have just got married, so I can’t come.’
For lots of people, their relationships are more important to them than God is!

Luke 8:19 Now Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. 20 Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.”
21 He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.”
GOD is more important than anybody else. Knowing God is more important than any other relationships!

Lots of people have excuses about why they don’t come to church.

I don’t like going to church because the priest is too loud, the choir can’t sing, and the man behind me keeps coughing!
I don’t want to go to church because my kids don’t want to go and I can’t find a babysitter for them.
God can hear me worship from home.
They don’t sing the songs I like.
The whole service caters to young people.
The whole service is designed for old people.
The sermon is too long.
I have nothing to wear.
Church Excuse: Veni, Vidi, NoN-Velcro. (I came, I Saw, I didn’t stick around.)

Hear God’s wonderful invitation to His banquet for EVERYBODY!
Isaiah 55 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;
and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. ….
6 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

What a wonderful invitation God gives to US ALL!
your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

There are many people who like to accept the invitation God gives, but don’t turn up for the banquet! People who want God’s blessings but when the time comes can’t be bothered to turn up. People who like the idea of salvation but can’t be bothered to enjoy it! CRAZY!!

But God really wants people to enjoy the blessings of his salvation!

21 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’
22 “ ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.

Today for mother’s day many many women will have received invitations. To go for a special meal. To spend time with their children and their families. I am sure all those mothers will have accepted those invitations!

And I am very sure that when the time arrives for the meal, or somebody comes to collect them, these mothers won’t be making silly excuses. They wont be saying “I can’t be bothered to come!”

So what is our response to the invitation to God’s banquet? Are you coming to the party?