Author: missionspaul

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
1 John‬ ‭4:4
The stories of terror and wickedness of ISIS are not the only stories. Recently a 10 year old displaced girl who had lost everything was being filmed receiving a coat and she said “I am so thankful for my coat as I do not have anything”. Millions have seen this girl and others who through social media are forever grateful.
Evil is not having the last word.
Boots on the ground?
Strategic bombings?
No, just genuine love from a heart that is so huge.

We have been overwhelmed at the number of people and churches who have been moved to give to those persecuted in Iraq over the last 6 months. Thank you so much for your support. Because of the nature of the work and the people that are being reached, we are re-launching our IRAQ APPEAL and asking that people give to help PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS IN THE MIDDLE EAST. As ISIS gain ground in Iraq and Syria we want to stand with our Christian brothers and sisters, we want to pray with them and we want to give so that we can practically serve them and see more come to know Jesus Christ. http://elim.im/middleeastERA http://ow.ly/i/8TkmN

But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (‭1 John‬ ‭3‬:‭17-18‬ ESV)

Peter Singer a well known philosopher of our day, gives us all an interesting thought experiment to ponder on.

The Drowning Child – Peter Singer
New Internationalist, April, 1997

‘I ask my students to imagine that their route to the university takes them past a shallow pond. One morning, I say to them, you notice a child has fallen in and appears to be drowning. To wade in and pull the child out would be easy but it will mean that you get your clothes wet and muddy, and by the time you go home and change you will have missed your first class.
I then ask the students: do you have any obligation to rescue the child? Unanimously, the students say they do.
Does it make a difference, I ask, that there are other people walking past the pond who would equally be able to rescue the child but are not doing so? No, the students reply, the fact that others are not doing what they ought to do is no reason why I should not do what I ought to do.

I ask: would it make any difference if the child were far away, in another country perhaps, but similarly in danger of death, and equally within your means to save? Virtually all agree that distance and nationality make no moral difference to the situation. I then point out that we are all in that situation of the person passing the shallow pond: we can all save lives of people, who would otherwise die, and we can do so at a very small cost to us: the cost of a new CD, a shirt or a night out at a restaurant or concert, can mean the difference between life and death to more than one person somewhere in the world.’

It is such a blessing to see people being blessed. Tracy and Paul Gill, missionaries in Malawi, were able to give out seeds to farmers whose crops had been destroyed in the floods. Here are some fantastic photos of the 400 farmers who gathered for the presentation! http://elim.im/malawiseeds

An eye on the past
I am still at the beginning, it’s huge!
1 John 2

v7
Whatever new happens it is because of the old. In fact, all things new are often actually not really new, they are the old which is renewed, refreshed and is experienced as new. For example today you could fall in love with the knowledge you have a Saviour. It can feel like Jesus is saving you for the very first time such is the intensity of the moment. But of course, your Saviour was there on day one and you met him then.

v13,14
We need more fathers. Actually, we need more fathers who have known Him. Who have walked the walk. Who have gone through the years and have withstood the test of time. Who can speak of the stories of the past. Who can tell of the miracles of yesteryear.
We need fathers who know God is. They have a past knowledge of Him but it is a present reality. They talk of Him now, today, His work in the present year from a perspective of the past that strengthens not detracts.
We need fathers who have a beginning. We need fathers who were on the first page. The ones who gave us the baton.

v24
The beginning has to keep making the impact on you. Your first love is still important. Remain John says. Let the beginning remain in you. It’s not about pursuing your alpha male or being one. But it is about worshipping the God who is alpha, He is the first, the beginning and continues to be the beginning every day for someone in this world. The next time you tell someone, “God can give you a new beginning, a whole brand new start,” then realise again this is not just powerful words, this is not just amazingly true, it is everything, absolutely everything, something that must never be let go of!
Someone today, maybe you, needs to go back to the God of the beginning and stay awhile.

Don’t diss the past
1 John 1

There are a lot of conversations about the end.
The end times. The end of the world.
The Internet has colossal sites devoted to this subject.

There are a lot of dreams about the future.
People believing that their utopia is just around the corner.
Prophecies suggest that life will get better. Perfect satisfaction is about to be experienced. It is ours to reach for.

There are a lot of desires to forget the past and move on.
The old has gone the new has come, we love that verse.
We can feel failures of the past, jealous of the beginning, threatened by any sign of the beginning beginning again.

John is a guy who thinks the beginning is important. The first few words of his gospel mirror the words of Genesis, “In the beginning …” In his letter he does the same, “That which was from the beginning …”

It is in the beginning:
* that the original plans are created.
* that the calling was first given.
* that life was simpler, less was in our life, but we had more time to appreciate what we had.
* that promises were made.

John was saying it was in the beginning:
* when we first heard of Jesus.
* when we first saw Jesus.
* when we first touched Jesus.
It was in the beginning:
* when we first encountered Jesus, when we experienced Him for ourselves, when we gained a voice to speak of Him.

The key is to be able to mine your past, to get to the beginning and draw everything there is to draw for your future. Above all to draw on Him who is from the beginning. Who was there at your beginning and who is with you now.

The Christians swinging from the chandeliers of constant victory after victory don’t understand it.
The people who do it all, they tick the boxes, they meticulously have accomplished everything and more, they don’t get this.
The unteachable because they know all there is to know, they don’t get this either.
The caretakers of Christianity, the ghostbusters of God, sniffing out sin and beating the living daylights out of the sinner are a million miles from understanding,
2 Peter 3
What is this? God’s amazing grace which we need to grow into.
How can our lives ever stand up next to a holy, perfect, sinless God?
How could we ever feel God has called us to do anything?
The answer is GRACE.
You need more of it.

The cameramen never fell …
2 Peter 2
BUT v1
False prophets, false teachers, heresies, disrepute, greed, exploitative, arrogance, blasphemy, brutal, harmful, predatory, directionless, crazy, loudmouths, boastful, enticing, false promises, it’s vomit and a pile of pig-muck.
Basically that’s what Peter at the end of his life was saying.

Last night I saw a clip on facebook of a church service in Nigeria.
It was entitled abracadabra v the power of the Holy Ghost. 3.4 million people have viewed the clip, 9,700 liked it and there 8,100 comments. The clip showed the Pastor walk around the stage making throwing gestures at the congregation (numbering thousands), as he threw his arm whole sections of people would fall down. He even went for long throws and way back in the upper gallery the cameraman had managed to film all of them falling backwards. If the point of this part of the service was to get people on the floor then this preacher was good. No one was able to stand in front of one of the throws…. Except the cameramen. One Nigerian commenter said “The cameramen never fell … I’ve been wondering why”. That set off a tirade of comments.

As an aside, last night I also saw a tv advert of a new programme where the hypnotist will get people to do crazy things. Maybe the UK have bought the franchise of the Nigerian programme?

Is it the power of the Holy Ghost? If it is then this multitude of people on the floor are going to get up and travel from the Christian south to the north of Nigeria to be missionaries for sure. The power of the Holy Ghost was only given for such missionary activity.
Is it abracadabra? I really hope so. Having never been hypnotised I’m not sure on its effect upon a person. However if it wasn’t abracadabra then that means this vast crowd all came to Church and faked it like some pantomime. All except the cameramen, who never fell, thankfully …

You can purchase the dvd in the foyer on your way out!

Godliness
2 Peter 1
What is godliness?

1. Godliness is addition, v5
Adam was perfect but then became the Adam man.
The Adam man is a hypocrite: different in reality from what he appears to be.
The Adam man deceives even himself: they appear to be like Christ and think they are, but they are not.
The Adam man cannot cure his own heart: some create a conversion of the mind and of lifestyle and have certain changes to show for it.
BUT WE ARE NOT IN ADAM … WE ARE IN CHRIST!!!

2. Godliness is always seen in its involvement with people, v5-8
Peter uses the word ‘Philadelphia’, we use the words ‘brotherly kindness’. It is only the New Testament where this word has been used outside the context of a home. Then he uses ‘agape’ for love. It means sacrificial live. What was Peter saying?
If you are godly then you will treat the church as your family. In our world you can spot the godly by the way they speak and act towards people.

3. Godliness has a list, v12-21
This list is the conversion of the heart into a godly heart.
a. Step down: it’s never about you. Jesus stepped down in the incarnation and in the footwashing. We need to learn this.
b. Suffer faithfully: it is part of God’s process to make us more like Christ.
c. Speak up: we need to be messengers who are not dumb because of fear or desire to be popular.
d, Be Spirit-filled: it is not our own strength but the enabling that comes from God.

A word to leaders
1 Peter 5

1. Lead even when it is tough.
Everyone wants to be a leader when the world is a great place.
But when the Church is going through suffering then maybe the uptake for leadership is not as strong. When life is difficult and becomes unbearable that can be the time when leaders don’t want to be leaders, v2 “not because you must, but because you are willing”.

2. Lead even when you feel you deserve more.
Often leadership will make you feel it’s one-way traffic, you are the giver and everyone else receives. “What about me? The ministry owes me. No one knows what I have given to this place.” v2 “not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve”

3. Lead don’t dictate.
Every leader needs to battle with power. The power to rule, to be heard, to be respected, to be someone, but “not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock”, v3

Just a short word to leaders.