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What Life Team is Like: Brett & Robyn Riskowitz

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Thinking about – or know someone who’s thinking about – doing Cornerstone’s Life Team next year? Brett & Robyn Riskowitz led the Life Team in 2010. Here’s what it was like for them.

“Life Team was a year of dynamic spiritual growth for my us. Although it was physically and emotionally challenging at times, what we experienced surpassed any difficultly we endured. From seeing people set free from the demonic, to being healed, to people giving their lives to Jesus, it was certainly a year of God’s glorious power working in and through us.

“For anyone who is keen to develop their calling in God and experience the love of a spiritual family (the rest of the team), Life Team is most definitely the thing to do.”

 

What Life Team is Like: Gareth van der Merwe

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Thinking about – or know someone who’s thinking about – doing Cornerstone’s Life Team next year? Gareth van der Merwe was a part of the Life Team in 2009. Here’s something of what he experienced.

“For me, Life team was such a change in life style. Throughout my high school career I was unsure of what I wanted to do after school. My parents decided that studying was best for me, so I tried that for two years and dropped out due to a lack of motivation. Then I worked in a bar for two years and also grew out of that.

“I had only been saved for two months before I decided to take what I thought would be a “gap year”. Man was I wrong! Life Team allowed for no lazying around at all! Although I was one of the oldest in the team, God matured me in so many ways.

“Life team for me was a testing time mentally, physically and especially spiritually. It was one of the most significant years in my life and I loved it even though, at times, it was hard. I would recommend it to anyone that’s able to do it!”

Find out more about Life Team here.

We Plough, We Plant; God Sends the Rain

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By Ryan Peter

Psalm 65 (NET)

1 For the music director; a psalm of David, a song.
Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion.
Vows made to you are fulfilled.

2 You hear prayers;
all people approach you.

3 Our record of sins overwhelms me,
but you forgive our acts of rebellion.
4 How blessed is the one whom you choose,
and allow to live in your palace courts.

May we be satisfied with the good things of your house –
your holy palace.

5 You answer our prayers by performing awesome acts of deliverance,
O God, our saviour.
All the ends of the earth trust in you,
as well as those living across the wide seas.

6 You created the mountains by your power,
and demonstrated your strength.

7 You calm the raging seas
and their roaring waves,
as well as the commotion made by the nations.

8 Even those living in the most remote areas are awestruck by your acts;
you cause those living in the east and west to praise you.

9 You visit the earth and give it rain;
you make it rich and fertile
with overflowing streams full of water.
You provide grain for them,
for you prepare the earth to yield its crops.

10 You saturate its furrows,
and soak its ploughed ground.
With rain showers you soften its soil,
and make its crops grow.

11 You crown the year with your good blessings,
and you leave abundance in your wake.

12 The pastures in the wilderness glisten with moisture,
and the hills are clothed with joy.

13 The meadows are clothed with sheep,
and the valleys are covered with grain.
They shout joyfully, yes, they sing.

Many of us are going through tough times financially. It feels as if this has been a long season of financial strain. But through this time, God has done some amazing things in our hearts, bringing us closer to him and closer to understanding what’s really important to him and how he really works.

This weekend, God led me to this Psalm. I love the imagery in it – how, after God’s rain, the pastures glisten with moisture, the hills are clothed with joy, and all the valleys and sheep sing for joy, because God’s provision has come.

It’s quite funny that despite all of our technology and our culture which believes that we, as mankind, can really do anything we put our minds to, we’re actually hugely dependent on the earth doing what it was created to do. We still need rain to fill our dams, water our crops, and therefore provide us our food. In the city we perhaps don’t think of such things, but farmers will be thinking of such things all the time. At the most basic level, a farmer will plough the ground, plant the seed and then wait for rain to water it so that it can grow.

This principle is true in our lives of business and work as well, and even our Christian lives of holiness. With all the books and competing philosophies out there, and the general culture of human arrogance, we forget that it’s actually God who sends the rain and makes our businesses / work life grow. This isn’t a superstitious belief, it’s a simple law of nature. If God decides that tomorrow the rain won’t come, we’re in big trouble.

Sacrificing to the gods of this world

All the books and philosophies out there are bent on telling us how we must not only plough and plant when it comes to our work life, but make it rain as well. And if you can’t make it rain, if you can’t even make it grow, then you’re not smart or good enough. But even the world needs God to send rain.

It reminds me of what we know from ancient times – farmers would sacrifice to the necessary gods to send rain. Baal was one of these gods (and you’ll see that Baal pops up quite often in the Old Testament). In modern times, our little sacrifices to the systems of this world to make it rain and see our businesses or careers grow are much the same. We work longer hours than is probably necessary; we spend less time with our family; we spend less time with our  church; we’re spending much less time in the presence of God that we can actually really afford to; we’re answering emails at midnight from our phones; we’re reading some new article on how to be a success; and we’re constantly going back to our fields and ploughing and planting again, in case maybe we did it wrong, because God has still not sent the rain.

Not that working hard or even working late (when appropriate) is all that bad. But, if most of us are honest, we often do such things out of fear that the rain won’t  come. God isn’t sending the rain and what if he never does? So maybe if I sacrifice a little to some other god, just a little, I’ll be able to cover all my bases.

We do the same with our Christian lives as well, transforming what was a gospel of freedom into a gospel of works. Making our disciplines in the Christian life the formula that will bring fruitfulness, rather than realising it’s the Spirit who produces fruitfulness (Galatians 5) and our disciplines are nothing more than ways to get us to walk in the Spirit.

When it’s God’s provision, there is joy, as the Psalm shows us. When God produces the fruit, there is abundance. There is peace. The trouble is that all these little sacrifices to the so-called gods of provision send drizzles now and then. It works, kind-of. We’ll take the little drizzles though, because that seems better than nothing. But things don’t grow as they’re supposed to and all we do is tire ourselves out.

“Unless the Lord builds the house the labourers labour in vain.” (Psalm 127). “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord in Zecheriah 4:6. It’s not a matter of us just waiting patiently for the Lord to send the rain, but it’s a matter of us entering into worship so that we will live by the Spirit and then the Lord will send the rain. As counter-productive as that may seem. We can’t rely on human wisdom to see fruitfulness in our businesses, careers or Christian walk. We need the wisdom from the Lord. As crazy as it may seem, an hour in the Lord’s presence will bring real rain and fruitfulness, rather than us using the time we should be spending unto the Lord to answer that “important” email or work on that new proposal. The email can wait, we need the Spirit to go about our work every day in a fruitful way. Time spent in the Lord’s presence is never a waste, although the world will disagree. After all, its gods and the sacrifices to its gods are much more easier to manage – you don’t have to walk in a relationship, listen to the Spirit, and action what God says in obedience. You just need to follow the formula.

Blessing for all

In this time, God has challenged me to get into his presence and find that he will send the rain – both on my own financial struggles and the fruitfulness in my Christian character, life and holiness. This Psalm has been a great encouragement for me to remember that God will send the rain, by His Spirit, in the right season, and the result will be joy -“You crown the year with good blessings and leave abundance in your wake.”

Taking the last few verses of this Psalm into mind, when God sends his rain (and He will), our businesses will glisten with moisture, there will be enough provision, and all will shout for joy. The great thing about the imagery here is the rain is not just for us, but for all. God sends his rain down and blesses all. When he blesses us, we are to bless others, so that all may shout with joy and glorify God. And joy can be ours now, in Christ, as we worship Him and make Him our all in all, our number one treasure, and not our bank accounts, possessions, our status, or even our ability to provide.

Feedback on Lance and Tanya’s Trip to Portugal

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by Lance de Ruig

Tanya and I went to Portugal from 24 July to 4 August to visit Mark and Nattie Bouffe in Porto. Mark and Nattie were elders at Cornerstone Church for many years and took over the church in Porto seven years ago.

The church has grown by 60 people in the last six years and is currently at 90 people. Portugal is battling incredibly financially; the church is full of educated, unemployed people. There are qualified architects, graphic designers, teachers, people involved in commerce, psychologists and many others who simply cannot find work. But through this difficult situation the Gospel is being preached and people’s lives are being changed.

The week before we arrived they had a baptism meeting and baptised a number of people, including a 12 year old and a 92 year old. The church is seeing regular salvations, baptisms, and the growth of leaders. Tanya and I had the privilege of ministry in the church on two Sundays as well as running a youth camp for them for a week.

It was a wonderful time of the continued building of our relationships and encouraging the church!

Nelspruit Trip – A Report-Back from Hennie Keyter

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Last week, Hennie and Rita Keyter and Andrew and Jill Mildenhall spent time with the leaders in Nelspruit that partner with NCMI. Here is a report-back from Hennie on how things went:

There was a Lowveld Connect on the Friday evening. We’ve been going to Nelspruit fairly often and it’s exciting to see how the Connect times there have more than doubled. On Saturday night there was a men’s evening and more than 150 men arrived. It was great to see the men coming through.

Nelspruit is very exciting. The church there (Church Unlimited) has moved to two morning services and an evening service. It’s great to see the young people coming through in the evening and we had a great time with them all.

Continue to pray for Nelspruit!

Shaq and Claire Planting in Cape Town

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We’re very excited at Cornerstone to announce that the Muetheno family (Shaq and Claire) are going to be planting a church in Cape Town! In fact, it’s already got a name: Red Harbour Church. We’ll be having a farewell party for them on 11 August at 6pm at Bedfordview.

Planting a church has been on Shaq and Claire’s heart for a very long time. In fact, they were first stirred to do so eight years ago, but weren’t exactly sure what to do about it. In 2006 they went on the church planters course which they say was a real breakthrough in confirming that this is what God wanted them to do.

“Initially, we thought we were going to plant in Rosebank. In fact, we had our sights set on the same venue that Cornerstone Church Rosebank is in now,” says Shaq. But after chatting to Marcus and several members of the apostolic team, it didn’t seem as if the time was yet right to plant. They felt it was better that they spend some time in a different church to gain more experience in ministry. That’s when they joined Cornerstone.

“When we initially joined Cornerstone, we saw it as a time of transition – a time of equipping and gaining experience for our church plant, which we thought would be soon. But God had his own plans,” says Shaq.

So why Cape Town?

“We laid the idea of planting a church down but the desire was always there,” says Claire. “God started to fan it into flame again two years ago. Many might recall a prophetic word from New Frontiers about the “suddenlies” of God coming from Cape Town and Johannesburg. That prophetic word grew on Shaq’s heart.”

God spoke quite personally to the both of them, especially through 2 Samuel 3.

“He said to us that he will appoint a place and a time and he’s done just that. Through scripture and through a dream, God really confirmed this on our hearts,” Claire says.

They are very excited and have already sold their house, looking to relocate soon.

“Everyone has a story and a voice,” says Shaq. “We want to go out there and tell the story of Jesus.”

As a church we’re partnering with them in this plant – keep your ears open to ways we can support them. Also, chat to them and see what you can do to help with this plant.

Keep up to date with Red Harbour Church at redharbourchurch.co.za

Relationships

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by Marcus Herbert

We want the values of partnering, stewardship and faithfulness to be deep in our hearts. We’re going to look at these topics in 2 Timothy 1 and 2. For us to take on the bigness of what God’s called us to, where it’s going to break down is in our relationships and our misunderstanding of relationships; and too often, in the body of Christ, our abuse of relationships. But if we can sort this thing out in our great call and our common set of visions and values, we’re going to declare a future over ourselves.

2 Timothy sees Paul at the end of his ministry. He has run the race and is nearing the finish line. He realises he has been a drink poured out on the altar of God. He’s given everything and now writes to Timothy and he calls him, “My dear son.” (You can see he also uses this term of affection with Titus.) You can see a passion; a compassion and desire to want to set the next generation up for victory. That’s what it’s about – continuity and multiplication. It’s about taking on the bigness of what we’re called to together, with no misunderstanding, working our relationships out and therefore getting to do what God’s called us to do.

But we also see something tragic in this passage of scripture – two men who bombed. A whole region deserts Paul and he uses one man, Onesiphorus, to show us what it means to be faithful. In our partnering, there’s a heart of faithfulness that God looks for.

With all this in mind, let’s start to look at the passage:

2 Timothy 1: 1, 2

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,

2 To Timothy, my dear son:

“My dear son.” How many of you have wished for that? I have. My past experiences with family have been restored in my relationship with God, but there’s still one thing I’ve always longed for and that is for someone to write to me and say, “My dear son.” There’s not enough of that in the body of Christ. We don’t connect in a healthy, relational way today – but rather we connect to websites, to teachings, to philosophies and a whole lot of pseudo-nonsense. Yet God has designed it that we connect in proper relationships and in partnering and connecting we take on what he has for us.

There are too many orphaned churches and too many orphaned individuals in churches. We can be in great big local churches which have a good heart, but we’ve got to choose to be sons and daughters. It’s not that I must come to you and ask, “Will you be my son?” No, I have a heavenly Father and choose to be a son or daughter in this house.

You can see that Paul knew Timothy intimately. He knew he was a nervous and timid guy and said to him, “Have a little wine for your stomach’s sake.” (1 Timothy 5:23.) He knew details of Timothy’s life. It’s wonderful; I love it. This is the depth of relationship that God calls us to. I don’t mean that we camp in each others’ houses all the time, but I’m saying we work out these relationships properly. You know why? The relationship is not the goal, it’s the partnership we’re after – it’s about what God has called us to do together.

Put aside that attitude of yours and work on your heart for the sake of the call of God. That’s partnership. We’ve got great horizons in God – enormous things he’s called us to do. We can’t do it alone, those days are over. The days of one man and his ministry and his TV channel, heading off to his preferred future, are over. It’s now the days of a nameless, faceless army of God – the biggest army of God rising, with the priesthood of all believers working together, with a healthy understanding of leadership in the whole process. See, local church is still God’s vehicle that he is using in the world today.

Let’s continue with the passage of scripture:

Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

3 I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.

Can you feel the encouragement there? Wouldn’t you like that? Someone remembering you in their prayers, night and day? That’s partnering. That’s not me and my mission, that’s not me doing my thing. This wasn’t a one-way thing where Timothy said, “I’d love to be on your team, Paul. People recommended it when you came to my home town and said I can trust you.” It was the other way as well – there was a genuine concern with Paul for Timothy. Paul had the heart of the Father, wanting to see his sons rise; it’s not just about the son making the father look good. Rather, he’s praying for this man.

Let’s continue to look at this passage:

4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.

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 the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. 8 So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.

There’s the clear call of God today – joining in suffering for the sake of this Gospel. Not a Gospel preached for our comfort or some kind of personal gain, but a Gospel we’re willing to die for. I love it – Paul calling this young man to lay his life down for this Gospel. And incidentally, history tells us that later on there was a riot in the streets of Ephesus while people were parading their idols. Timothy ran out to protest and call them to the one true God and they clubbed him to death. So this man did lay down his life for the sake of preaching the Word.

Now, from verse 9:

9 He has saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

13 What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you – guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Now Paul comes to his practical lesson, his illustration in verse 15:

15 You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.

If you’re thinking of baby names, don’t use these! These names mean “uselessness”. How would you like to meet them in heaven? They have one verse about them – they deserted Paul.

But here’s a good name for a boy:

16 May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.

When you read about this man and how he partnered with Paul, call your son Onesiphorus. Decide in your heart to call yourself Onesiphorus. Paul says that he “often refreshed” him. How’s that? I love it. When you think of those you’re in a team with, think of this: we refresh each other. That’s partnering! This is joy! Not vying for position!

17 On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. 18 May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.

This man searched hard for Paul when he was in prison. I’ve been to old Rome and I’ve seen Paul’s prison. In those days, the prison was on street level – they used to sweep up the dirt or any mess on the streets into the prisons. If you went to visit a prisoner like that they sometimes wouldn’t let you out for weeks or even months, because you were associating with a criminal and maybe you were also bad news. But Onesiphorus didn’t mind the shame of that.

Followership is “Come follow me as I follow Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1.) We have very shallow values when it comes to that. But this man was not afraid – he went and found Paul and served him in Ephesus in many ways.

2 Timothy 2: 1 – 2

1 You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people [ESV says ‘faithful’ people.] who will also be qualified [or able or fit] to teach others.”

This is the key text – it’s about faithfulness and followership; about building. So let’s back up and remember the context of this lesson – first we see two men deserted Paul but then we see how Onesiphorus was faithful. Paul is trying to give Timothy some practical handles on what it means to partner.

In our context, how are we going to go forward with what God has called us to do? Faithfulness. Reliability. These are good qualities. They’re not old fashioned; they’re not last season! These are what God is looking for today – flesh and blood relationships that develop into partnerships and are built on faithfulness.

Let’s read on:

3 Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. [Here we see more about faithfulness] 4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. 5 Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. 7 Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.

Paul is teaching his dear son about faithfulness and how he can build for the future. Paul’s a real father. He’s isn’t only interested in what’s happening now but looking to the future. And after he has finished with his lesson he says to Timothy that he should reflect on this and the Lord will provide insight. In other words, if there are heart attitudes that need to change, change them, for the sake of the future together.

We need to take this to heart. Too often the very thing God has called us to never happens because we have a break-down in our relationships. In the process of some of our transitions, nations were dropped. Doors into them were closed and those there were crying out, “When are we going to see you guys again?” What was that about? Relationships. No understanding, very little understanding, or shallow understanding of reliability. See, reliability is a quality God’s looking for.

Remember this lesson was written under the inspiration of the Spirit – it’s a revelation of God and through it God is teaching us about partnering. It’s not a complicated lesson. There’s one Paul and he has raised up many spiritual sons. We know he stayed in Ephesus for three years and he taught and preached the Gospel and the whole region was impacted through it. As we unpack that and mix it with a bit of church history, we know that he trained up men and women – apparently about seven, including Onesiphorus and Timothy – and he sent them out to plant churches. So Paul poured his heart into faithful men and women. He had a team that he worked with and there was a great relationship – it was intimate and he had a good knowledge of what was going on in their lives.

But did they see each other every day? No, they travelled once or twice on trips and thereafter he sent them to different regions and cities. So, with this background, we see here that his instruction to Timothy was that he spends his time with faithful men and women. See, don’t just pour yourself into anything. God is going to give you insight, not only to preach the messages that raise the crowd up, but he’s going to give you insight into who they are.

So we see the lesson – Timothy must entrust the message to reliable people, who in turn will do the same with others. There will be others. This father, Paul, is looking three generations down. Too many of us are only interested in “making it” for ourselves. But the only way we’re going to get to our futures is to partner. We need to have the right attitude, else we won’t make it. So we look to be reliable and faithful and then we won’t drop the baton.

We’ve seen over and over how the second or third generation see the baton drop and then we have to rediscover all over again what we’ve been called to. It’s reliability that enables us to hand it on. So Paul hands the baton over to Timothy who must then hand it over to others.

What is the baton? Dudley Daniel’s manuals? Tyrone’s manuals? Cornerstone’s foundation manual? No! It’s the Gospel – the King and the Kingdom. There weren’t any extra things added here. It’s simply the Gospel.

Notice that there is multiplication in this passage. I am trusting God, in our partnering together, that we’re going to see thousands saved at a time and God adding to our number daily. But we won’t see that unless we work on the background stuff – it’s the relationships that hold it together.

God needs more of us who are looking down the generation line and have a passion to see them rise – we may not even know who they are. Paul said he prayed daily for Timothy and he was setting him up.

Many people say, “Well at least Timothy had trustworthy men and women.” Or they might say, “It’s okay for you to say this in your churches – you’ve got trustworthy men and women.” But you know why Paul had trustworthy men and women? Because he was trustworthy. I will breed what I am. You can say what you want and preach what you want, but trustworthiness is something people will catch and if you don’t have it they won’t catch it.

Here are several areas that we need to be faithful in if we want to partner together well and move forward in what God has for us:

1. Faithful to God (1 Timothy: 1 – 5)

We have no future outside of our relationship with God. We constantly need to come back to being faithful to the King in everything. We need to look for his approval in our serving. We don’t serve looking for others’ approval. We live in the shadow of his grace. We need to be devoted, like was see in Acts 2:42 where it says the people devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer. It’s out of our faithfulness to the King that we’ll have the ability to do the rest.

2. Faithful to each other – our relationships (1 Timothy: 3 – 5)

Paul called Timothy his son but also his brother and faithful worker. Timothy was a partner. This had nothing to do with, “Who’s your daddy?” where the church gets divided up according to who it is you’re tucked under. That’s nonsense! We’re talking about a heart here.

Believe it or not there is a competition going on at the moment where we measure our success on how many downloads we have on our website, and so on. No, I’ll measure my success by my buddies and if we can make it through the storms. Can we make it through that fourth watch of Alan’s without killing one another on the boat? Saying to one guy, “Well, this was your idea,” and chucking him out the boat?

No, we hang in there through it. We do not relate to NCMI – we relate to the people in NCMI. It’s about relationships. The only reason why NCMI is registered is so that we can operate legally in countries. Can you name a Paul or a Timothy that you’re connected to? God is looking for us to be connected.

3. Faithful with the gift / deposit from God (1 Timothy: 6,7)

Every single one of us has a deposit of grace and we’re called to be faithful with it. Have you wrapped up your talent and hidden it away? This season is not about one man on a platform and the rest sitting there and being a good audience. It’s all of us together using our gift. That’s partnership.

4. Faithful with the Gospel (1 Timothy: 8 – 12)

We’ve got to take ownership of this. It’s my salvation, my conduct, my message. There’s no other message but the Gospel. It’s the power of God; the grace of God; it’s the calling to a holy life – we have our ministry identity in and through the Gospel. Paul could say that he was appointed as a herald, apostle and teacher of the Gospel. And I thank God for that. And then ultimately we’ll be called to pay a price for the sake of this Gospel.

5. Faithful to what God has put in us through discipleship

This is where one of the true tests of faithfulness comes in. Paul basically says to Timothy, “Guard the good deposit that I put in you, that I taught you. I spent years of connecting and teaching and raising you up.”

Too many sons just gap it. Like the prodigal, they say: “Let me go and grab my slice of the pie, if you don’t mind.”

No, we’re called to be faithful. If everything here that’s been said about partnering and faithfulness and passing down the baton to reliable people is not of God, then get out of it. But if it is then you are a steward and will be held responsible for your stewardship (1 Corinthans 4:2). You’ve been given a deposit and you need to be faithful with it.

Honesty

Honesty is what God has called us to and it’s how we partner. We can challenge each other in love. We can work out these relationships in a robust way, where iron sharpens iron.

I’d love our relationships to be defined by a refreshing, not shame, where we’re searching hard for each other and serving each other. Then, as we’ve seen in 2 Timothy 2:2, we replicate this faithfulness.

A simple challenge

Every single one of us is not called to go from a Paul and then let things drop with a Timothy. God, as he looks at you, is looking down the line at that fourth generation and he wants them raised up full of fire, so that we can take on the bigness of what we’re called to. And he wants to multiply, everywhere, everything he is about. If he is in it, it will grow.

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Photos from All Sites Celebration with Keir Tayler

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We had a great time at our All Sites Celebration with Keir Tayler last night. Baptisms, salvations, joy and the presence of God in such a wonderfully tangible way.

Keir spoke about the reality of hell and the reality of choice. We need to make a choice – do we believe in Jesus or not? If we choose not to, there are consequences that include judgement and hell. This is a big part of our message to the world and an important reminder of the urgency of the Gospel message.

You can follow our Twitter feed and scroll back to get some live-tweeting of the event and get an idea on what was preached. Even better, download the message here.

We’ve posted some photos at our Facebook page. Check them out here.

Please Pray

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by Shaun Mackay

I take nothing for granted and I don’t know where you’re at as I present two small words as the title of this message – a simple title but one that is difficult to live by – Please Pray.

Have you ever wondered what it was like for Jesus to pray the whole night? What was going on there? Was it like one of our church prayer meetings? What was he saying? Did he say one word over and over again? It doesn’t seem as if he prayed in tongues. What was happening when Jesus stood at a tomb and said only one sentence: “Lazarus, come out!”

And before that he reveals something else. He prays, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.” Then, “Lazarus, come out!” and Lazarus comes out. What was going on there?

I wonder what your prayer life is like. What happens when you stand to pray for someone? Are you concerned with your words? Worried about prayer? I wonder what it was like for Jesus – getting up early in the morning; praying the whole night. Have you prayed the whole night? I wonder how many can last for an hour – most of us pray for five minutes and it feels like an hour. (There are those seldom occasions when one hour feels like five minutes.) Although we all know that prayer is an essential part of the Christian life.

Jesus teaches some foundations in Matthew 6. I take nothing for granted – I don’t know how easy or difficult it is for you to pray. I just want to encourage you to do it for the rest of your life. And to grow in it and deepen in it and see God take you where you and all of us need to go, with prayer intact and happening.

Jesus says in Matthew 6: 4b:

“…and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

 He’s busy talking about the secret life, the things we do that no one sees. Then he says:

5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

 7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

 Then possibly his most profound statement here:

8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this…

 There are two things I notice here and three ways of praying I’d like to touch on:

1) The unseen things in the Christian life carry a lot of weight

When you listen to yourself pray it tests you to your core. I listen to the prayer requests people have and mostly it’s practical needs. There’s nothing wrong with that. But not once have I ever had anyone ask me to pray that they would be able to pray. In my ten years of ministry I’ve had four people ask me to pray that they would be able to reach the lost.

I’ve prayed for a thousand jobs and that’s okay. But the deep, hidden, spiritual things of the Christian life – it seems those things don’t matter so much these days. Wrestling with the depths of God in prayer is what’s on offer here – the deep Christian life, the satisfaction of God, the knowledge that you and God are working together; living with God, experiencing him. This is all on offer.

2) God offers reward

In parenting, I wonder if you’ve heard this idea that we shouldn’t manipulate or coerce our kids with some kind of reward. So don’t offer them sweets for good behaviour. Don’t say to them, “If you do this, I will…” But have you noticed what God does here? The Father says, “If you come and you pray, I’ll reward you.”

So badly does God want us to talk with him that he says, “If you do this, I’ll give you something for it. If you come and you sit with me and spend time with me; if you come and talk with me; I’ll give you something for it.”

I think mostly he’ll give us himself. The deep things of the Christian life are on offer here. He’ll give us a sense of knowing that he is there and a real, personal knowledge of who he is and we’ll grow deeper in this knowledge of him. But so badly does he want this from us that he’ll reward us for it. Isn’t that a motivation? What a great motivation.

I don’t know if you’ve heard of J. John – he is a well known British preacher. He went to India and spoke to a lady there with a well known gift of the Word of Knowledge. He asked her to tell him whatever God says to her. She replied, “I have one thing to say to you. God enjoys that you spend one hour a day with him. He’d really like two.”

It didn’t hit him at that moment. But he says that his life has never been the same since. Everything has been different since then.

Getting this right

So how do we get this thing of prayer right? Not everyone finds it easy. We have ups and downs in it. But we can see in this passage that Jesus teaches us, at first, to consider very carefully who it is we’re talking with.

There are so many balances when it comes to the Lord. At times you’ll be speaking to the sovereign One who is in control of everything. And when you approach him he listens. At times you’ll be speaking to the One who is tender, with whom you can share everything on your heart – you can say to him whatever you want.

But consider who you’re talking with. If I really knew that God is actually who he says he is, I’d speak to him differently, I’d trust him differently, and I’d speak to him way more often. If I knew he really cared; if I knew he was really powerful; I’d go and talk to him. I’d consult less other voices. I would go straight there and I’d wrestle it out with him, knowing he is listening, ready to act.

Think of Psalm 18. God hears a cry and the Scriptures don’t just say, “God answered” but instead give us phenomenal picture language – he tore the heavens open; he took a burning arrow and shot it down. All to answer what was being asked. Wow. I’d ask him a few more things if I knew that would happen.

Jesus teaches in this scripture two good ways not to pray and one good way to pray. Let’s look at these:

1. In verse 5 we see prayer that is concerned with prayer

5 ‘And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others.

Our world is obviously different these days. No one stands on a street corner to pray while people listen! But what he’s teaching us is there is prayer that is concerned with prayer. We’ve all done that. And we feel the pain of it and it demoralises us. It’s when you’re worried about your words. It’s when you’re very concerned with your sentences and how they’re flowing and whether it’s all sounding good.

The teaching is so simple that sometimes we miss it. He says we should not be overly concerned with language. Jesus is saying we must simply talk to our Father. Fair enough, he’s not your average friend – he’s not your your ‘bru’. But he’s also not the Queen. You just talk to him. You just act naturally. You say what you want to say.

I wonder if you sometimes take examples of prayer from too many preaching prayers? Have you heard those? I’ve heard so many. I wonder if people are talking to God or trying to tell me something, trying to teach me something. “Please would you just pray” is my question. I wonder if you don’t have the spiritual language that seems to be required? I don’t have a clue where you are in your walk with God, but I want to encourage you to just pray nevertheless.

Sometimes we believe there are special mantras. Have you noticed this? It doesn’t really matter what you say, as long as you finish the prayer with, “in Jesus’ name”.

I’m not joking, but it seems as though some people tend to believe that this phrase carries the most power. But that’s not the idea of praying in Jesus’ name. The idea is that you pray in the name of our saviour, this redeemer, this Jesus, who comes to rescue and says, “You can now talk to the Father and I’ll take your prayers, just as you are, and you say it the way you want to say it, as best you can, and you just talk. And while you’re praying, at some point you realise, I’m the one who’s authorising your prayers and you’re praying in my name as if the Father is listening to me.” It’s as though you’re standing there with Jesus, and the Father is willing to listen to you just as he would his Son, and there you are, praying, talking in simple language.

Sometimes prayer is too concerned with prayer. Is my hand in the right place? Am I saying the right thing? I’ve said ‘be healed!’ four times instead of three, so now I don’t know if it’s going to work.

There are lots of problems we have that puts us off. But Jesus says we must get away from formulas. Please just pray.

2. Then there is prayer that’s concerned with self

Jesus says in verse 7, “Do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.” I wonder if you spend time talking with the Lord and you just feel as though you shouldn’t be there, that you don’t have a right to be heard? It’s dirty conscience prayer; anxious prayer. God will have to help us with that. He’ll have to clear our consciences and tell us that we’re able to come and talk with him.

Sometimes we also indulge in impersonal prayer. We go into a prayer mode, we blurt it out and get it over with and then afterwards ask, “Who was I talking to right there?” Or we think, “Wow, that was a really good prayer.”

Or sometimes we’re very worried while we’re praying and we want to know how we can get God to answer. We think, “I don’t know how to get him to listen to me. Maybe if I cry, or maybe I’m supposed to shout now – yes, if I shout, I’ve seen other people say that that works… Or maybe if I go on my knees God will hear and see I’m serious.” It’s all this prayer that’s concerned with self. We’re asking, “What do I have to do to get this God to listen to me?” If that goes on for longer than a week you get very discouraged. Please push through it. Please pray.

3. Then there’s prayer that’s concerned with the Father

Jesus says you shut the door, you bring all your faculties together, and now you talk with your Father. Concentrate on who it is you’re talking with. Weigh your words carefully with him. It says in Ecclesiastes 5 that we should make one thing clear: God is in heaven, we’re on earth. Sometimes, a few words are enough.

“Lazarus, come out!” I want to pray a prayer like that one day. I so badly want to say those three words to someone. I’ve prayed for two people who were dead, neither of them were raised, and I was stuck in prayer worried with self and prayer worried with prayer. They didn’t get raised from the dead. I’m working on this one. Will you join me?

This is my last thought on talking with the Father: Most Christians have the biggest battle with prayer because they believe that God orders the world. And they’re right. They believe that God will do what he wants to do. And they’re right. They believe that even when you make your own plans, God will work it out his way. And they’re right. So their question is, “Why on earth should I pray?”

I’ll give you one hint that will bring these things together: God will do what he wills to do but what he will do is, along the way, reveal to you what he wants to do and he just wants to hear you ask for those things.

So the day that something is burning on your heart and you can’t stop praying because you so badly want this thing to happen – you’re trusting that God will work this thing out – the very reason you’re so desperate to ask is he wants to hear you ask. He wants to do it anyway. So no need to be worried, you just ask him. What’s on your heart? You ask. You go, you question, you trust, you talk, you be yourself, you bring him your language. Maybe the thing you want to happen so badly is the very thing he is going to do, it’s the thing he wants to do. So ask.

Romans 8 highlights one weakness in prayer. Sometimes we won’t know exactly what to ask. And that’s where you and I have to go deeper. What are we to ask? What does God need in this situation? The minute you ask the right thing he does it. That’s why we see that all of Jesus’ prayers were answered. He asked the right thing at the right time and God did exactly what he wanted to.

I want to encourage you to pray and continue in this. You may consider it infantile. I don’t at all. I know too many pastors who can’t pray for more than two minutes in a week. I know too many people who struggle with prayer. Please continue in prayer. Please will you pray.

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Music is “Creation” Too

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by Ryan Peter

This last Sunday I was commissioned to lead the music and singing for South Side and I arrived somewhat early – which was all fair and well for me as it gave me some time to reflect and enjoy the wonderful Autumn morning. I sat by a tree (pictured above) and enjoyed its yellow-orange leaves shower over me, while the sun warmed me up and the chirping of the many birds all around were my soundtrack.

This is the kind of guy I am. I love nature. Creation. Sunrises and falling leaves and blossoms and mysterious, starlit evenings. It’s moments like this when my heart lights up in gratitude and worship. When my restless body finally gets what it needs to settle down – beautiful views, sounds and smells. When my voice shuts up and a greater voice speaks.

I thought to myself, “Now, if only I could bring this creation – all this beauty – into our morning worship.”

Then it hit me. Well, music is also a part of God’s own creation! I’m doing just that!

It seems to me that I’m often distracted by the sheer business of music. Most of my music ‘career’ has been about cool bands and cool hair. Thankfully I grew out of that several years ago. But even still, getting the music right for a Sunday morning; choosing the right songs; working on the dynamics of those songs; keeping up with trends; making sure I get all the cues right… all this business of music makes me forget the beauty of music in itself, its very nature, the fact that God created this stuff. I didn’t invent this. Playing music is, indeed, God-glorifying – it works toward this end just like all of creation works toward this end.

As the heavens tell of the glory of God (Psalm 19:1) so music tells of the glory of God. That’s if we’d let it. If we would get the business of it out of the way – the preferences of style, taste, and skill.

I do believe that sometimes we rely too much on music in church to make ‘things happen’ (whatever that may mean). I do believe that the lyrical content of much of our modern church music is pretty lame and sometimes even damaging to people’s relationship with God. But I have to admit, when sounds and notes go together, the very nature of that… the very nature of music… tells the glory of God. And that makes music joyful for me again, because when eternity comes, we’re really not going to care at all about the business of music. And that’s why we fill our church meeting places with these notes and the sounds of voices that echo the many facets and many stories of a relationship with the same person, Jesus Christ.