Thought Picnic: Where Everybody Shares Your Pain

Some cheers for the dawn

This morning I woke up to the playback in my mind with the refrain - Sometimes you want to go, Where everybody knows your name – and as I thought that through, the words of the song formed into a sense of existence - And they're always glad you came.

But, I really did not feel like being there, the familiarity, the catching up, the questions, the answers, the concern, the sympathy, the empathy and much else was weighing on my mind – I wanted to be present somewhere whilst being absent elsewhere.

Somewhere elsewhere

Basically, I did not want to be where everybody knows my pain, and whilst some might be glad I came, I was not ready to take the strain, even though my excuse does sound lame.

There were some things I was not ready to deal with until a more convenient time. So, I moved to another section of the song - You want to be where you can see, Our troubles are all the same; - I wanted to be in church, just not my church.

Antipodean flavours

My friend observed that the churches I seem to have an affinity for were planted by Australians, I dare say, there is something refreshing about the antipodean perspective of the same revelation that has been in Europe, gone to America to be exported round the world and emanating from Africa too with the contaminants that belie a tendency to error, levity and licence, I am persuaded of a different allegiance.

And though having attended C3 Amsterdam and now C3 London, I found myself visiting Hillsong London at the Dominion Theatre on Tottenham Court Road where I found welcoming and friendly faces unified in song and common humanity that one had to reflect on whether one was being swept away by the awesomeness of mass hysteria or a personal experience similarly expressed by others.

Words and meanings together and apart

I began to understand the need for songs if you did understand what the words meant; for in song, you invariably were chanting the affirmative in the structure of verse and chorus almost repetitively without it becoming a mantra – the accompaniment of music then engaged your whole being with some being exercised or overcome with emotion.

There is life in participating, and when the prayers are said, you being to realise that our troubles are more or less the same and we all want insight, ideas, inspiration, results and solutions to take us to a better place.

Sometimes, that is what church is all about, amongst friends and amongst strangers, the fiendish and the strangest things can find root, but we can find firmer foundations in how we believe that together we can reach for a better day.

Cheers!

Making your way in the world today 
Takes everything you've got; 
Taking a break from all your worries 
Sure would help a lot. 
Wouldn't you like to get away? 

All those night when you've got no lights, 
The check is in the mail; 
And your little angel 
Hung the cat up by it's tail; 
And your third fiance didn't show; 

Sometimes you want to go 
Where everybody knows your name, 
And they're always glad you came; 
You want to be where you can see, 
Our troubles are all the same; 
You want to be where everybody knows your name. 

Roll out of bed, Mr. Coffee's dead; 
The morning's looking bright; 
And your shrink ran off to Europe, 
And didn't even write; 
And your husband wants to be a girl; 

Be glad there's one place in the world 
Where everybody knows your name, 
And they're always glad you came; 
You want to go where people know, 
People are all the same; 
You want to go where everybody knows your name. 

Where everybody knows your name, 
And they're always glad you came; 
Where everybody knows your name, 
And they're always glad you came...

Theme song for the situation comedy TV series – Cheers, written by Gary Portnoy & Judy Hart Angelo – Where Everybody Knows Your Name.

C3 Encounters 2012 - Day 3 (Session III) - Pastor Chris Pringle

Note: Day 3 of C3 Encounters 2012 consisted of 5 sessions of teaching from 4 pastors. Pastor Chris Pringle took the first and third sessions. Pastor Pat Ancliff took the second session, Pastor Simon McIntyre the fourth and Pastor Phil Pringle closed the conference in the fifth session. I will blog about each session in separate blogs.

Pastor Chris Pringle – Extreme Love

Jesus clearly had a heart for people when He prayed in John 17:9 “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours” (NKJV)

In Proverbs 11:30 (Amplified) he who is wise captures human lives [for God, as a fisher of men—he gathers and receives them for eternity]

We are here to captivate humanity, not annihilate or alienate them.

We all know what John 3:16 says and the Amplified version of the bible expresses it well. For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten ([a]unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.

However, reading the Message – the context of John 3:16 is even made clearer in John 3:17.

This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

She then said that acts of human kindness in everyday things mean much more to people than amazing miracles.

The example of being Christ-like

Sharing a story about Mahatma Gandhi [A Must Read], who being a Hindu was quite affected by Christ’s teachings; he had this conversation with the missionary, E. Stanley Jones.

ESJ: Mr. Gandhi, though you quote the words of Christ often, why is that you appear to so adamantly reject becoming his follower?

MG: Oh, I don't reject Christ. I love Christ. It's just that so many of you Christians are so unlike Christ. If Christians would really live according to the teachings of Christ, as found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian today.

In another conversation, he said, “If Jesus came to earth again. He would disown many things that are being done in the name of Christianity.”

Pastor Chris said we must make it our responsibility to love all those that God sends our way. We are [using the Dutch words for kisses and hugs] the kusjes and knuffels of Christ to the world.

Love never fails

She then shared stories of the simplicity of meeting people, chatting to people and in the process helping people. To illustrate how people are so removed from the things of God, she prayed for a lady with chronic back pain and the lady was healed – the next day, the lady referred to the miracle as “that thing you did.”

We need a love revolution in our cities and love never fails.

Love expressed by the early church were feasts of charity – bringing friendship and kindness to our communities.

She exhorted us to pray that God opens our eyes to see those who God loves – then invite them to church, Jesus has got people everywhere. Sometime we just have to stop and respond, interact, engage and be involved.

Interest in humanity always captivates humanity.

It is simple

For instance, when Jesus met the woman at the well, all he wanted was a drink and it turned into a conversation, then a discussion about spiritual things, then she told her townspeople, they all came to listen and believed asking Jesus to stay with them for a few days.

None of that would have happened if he had prejudged her; a prostitute, someone who had had 5 husbands and was unworthy of being told about good news of the gospel. It started with thirst for a drink.

She closed with the Message version of John 1:14.

The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighbourhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes, he one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.

With love we need to move into our neighbourhoods and reflect the love, joy and peace of God – like Father, like son, like Father, like daughter – generous in spirit and in all things.

The missing link between bringing people around us to God is us.

C3 Encounters 2012 - Day 2 (Session III) - Pastor Lizby Warren

Pastor Lizby Warren, our senior pastor at C3 Amsterdam started the third session of Day 2 of C3 Encounters 2012 with a message titled, Building your life on revelation.

Revelation

She said, in life there are circumstances that test how deep our roots are. Using text from Ephesians 1:17-19, she first defined revelation as the unveiling of something and then stressed what the work of revelation by the Holy Spirit in us is.

As highlighted in bold in the excerpt below, the Holy Spirit reveals:

Ephesians 1:17-19 (NKJV) that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding[a] being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power

She then shared 5 truths about revelation with us.

Truth 1: You cannot pinch revelation from someone else.

The revelation has to be yours; it has to be in you. However, you can fight to have what you see in others then as Habakkuk was advised, write your revelation down so you can see it, remember it, recite it and meditate on it.

Truth 2: The first revelation: The Jesus revelation.

Without a revelation of Jesus is His being the Son of God who came to save the world, you cannot enter into any other revelation of God, His purpose for your life or a purposeful life.

Matthew 16:16-18 shows that the revelation of Christ comes from God and that God builds His church on revelation and the revealed word.

Truth 3: The second revelation: The hope to which we are called.

We are called, predestined and prepared for a purpose, however, revelation is progressive and in it is both the hope of salvation and the hope of glory.

The seed that God has sown in us through revelation can no more be crushed, it has grown into a tree. The word of God in us must be big and the vision we have has to be supported by the wealth of the word of God in us.

Appreciating this hope requires that we surrender and surrendering does not mean God wants to crush us; rather, He wants to extend us.

We must readily let go – let go of your personal dreams, let go of your financial security, let go of your driving ambitions and let God take us on an incredible journey of life beyond anything we have ever imagined.

Let go and by doing so, unlock your future. We are most powerful when we surrender to God, if we fight God we end up sabotaging God plan and purpose for our lives.

Truth 4: The third revelation: What you now have as a child of God.

We are filled with the fullness of God Colossians 2:9 and we can have an “I can” attitude. Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ^[a] who strengthens me.

Truth 5: The fourth revelation: His incredible power available to you.

Don´t forget the power of your own story – our seemingly ordinary lives have seeds of the extraordinary ready to be revealed.

Revelation, she said, was not just for us to hold on to personally but also for us to help build others with. We are essentially designed to live out of our spirits and spiritual beings.

That is where the revelation comes into and where it begins to change things as we begin to understand it.

C3 Encounters 2012 - Day 3 (Session I) - Pastor Chris Pringle

Note: Day 3 of C3 Encounters 2012 consisted of 5 sessions of teaching from 4 pastors. Pastor Chris Pringle took the first and third sessions. Pastor Pat Ancliff took the second session, Pastor Simon McIntyre the fourth and Pastor Phil Pringle closed the conference in the fifth session. I will blog about each session in separate blogs.

Pastor Chris Pringle – At the Scent of Water

Pastor Chris started off by saying, “We were never meant to do this journey (Christian walk) alone ever.”

Then she began to expound on the essence of a seed. Everything begins with a small seed and though we may not see it, the tree is in the seed, the complete DNA of any future situation is already contained in the seed.

The secret of the seed is to plant it and allow it to stay in the ground, it first dies and then it comes to life, sprouting then growing into a tree, with branches, bring forth fruit and so on.

However, it is important we leave the seed in the ground for this miracle of life to happen, if we cannot wait patiently to allow that seed to dies in the ground, be watered and then sprout and grow, the seed will never fulfil the potential it has, that reality will never come to pass.

The seed is also like a dream, the Holy Spirit is sending rain upon our land to give life to the seed and life to our dreams. However, we need to Speak it, Declare it and Pray it for the dream to be realised.

She said she learnt from Pastor Phil Pringle that “You have to see it (conceive it) before your see it (receive it).”

Let them in

Then she began to talk of the role of women as partners in ministry. In her relationship, she said Pastor Phil is the Vision-caster but it is the women that give the vision colour and expression.

The men are to let their wives get involved, let them in, give them a voice, let them share and help the ministry thrive and grow.

The men are to allow their wives to be released in their expression that can enrich the ministry further.

Sow your best to God and this is what happens to the seed. John 12:24-25 “Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you'll have it forever, real and eternal.” (Message)

In sowing our best, we have to let go and let God take charge.

When you know you are in the centre of the will of God, the tree is in the seed and that seed is the seed of obedience.

Usually, it is when we are not ready that God is ready and we need to respond at that time. God sends His rain unto that seed.

We must dream big because dreams have a way of becoming reality.

Then she concluded with Job 14:7-9 (NLT)

7 “Even a tree has more hope! If it is cut down, it will sprout again and grow new branches.

8 Though its roots have grown old in the earth and its stump decays,

9 at the scent of water it will bud and sprout again like a new seedling.

C3 Encounters 2012 - Day 3 (Session II) - Pastor Pat Ancliff

Note: Day 3 of C3 Encounters 2012 consisted of 5 sessions of teaching from 4 pastors. Pastor Chris Pringle took the first and third sessions. Pastor Pat Ancliff took the second session, Pastor Simon McIntyre the fourth and Pastor Phil Pringle closed the conference in the fifth session. I will blog about each session in separate blogs.

Pastor Pat Ancliff – Discipleship

Pastor Pat said he will deliver a short bible study talk on discipleship and offered that Prophet Isaiah was a good example of a disciple.

He created the setting of introducing Isaiah [Wikipedia] as an 8^th Century B.C. prophet during the time when Assyria was the both the superpower and state sponsor of terror in that day.

Then he talk about the insights and revelations that Isaiah received concerning Jesus Christ with Isaiah 53 showing in graphic detail the suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross and what it was to achieve and in Isaiah 61 which talked of the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He then averred that Isaiah was mentioned in the Hebrews 11:37 roll of faith, he was apparently sawn in two. [The Martyrdom of Isaiah]

Using the text of Isaiah 6:5-9 Pastor Pat revealed what it takes to be a good disciple.

Conviction – “Woe is me, for I am undone!” Here, Isaiah was convicted by reason of what we learn later on, “For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.”

It is interesting to note that the presence of the Lord to Isaiah did not bring condemnation but conviction, Isaiah had a realisation of his situation and he responded to it rather than resist it and offer excuses.

A disciple must realise his imperfections and inadequacies and acknowledge such.

Confession – “I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.”

Once you have been convicted and you have realised the situation you are in, confess, bring your situation into focus by openly acknowledging it.

Confession is part of the process that presages repentance.

Cleansing – “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.”

God immediately offers cleansing to those who are convicted and confess their sins. I John 1:9-10 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”

When we confess, we receive forgiveness and cleansing from all unrighteousness, we obtain right-standing with God by His grace.

You will not hear the Lord until after you have confessed.

Call – “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” When we hear the Lord it is a call to service and it never with details of what we are supposed to do until after we have accepted that call.

Pastor Pat said God usually gets us to sign a blank contract that is filled in with the duties and responsibilities after it has been signed, sealed and delivered.

The call will come with all that is necessary to fulfil it but we have to step out in faith trusting that he that called us is able to keep us from falling fulfilling His purpose.

Consecration - “Here am I! Send me.” Once we have been called we should separate ourselves for service dedicated to the purpose for which we have been called.

It is consecration that will determine the success of discipleship and the endurance in ministry, we need to constantly reaffirm our commitment and service knowing that we cannot in and of ourselves alone succeed with the help of God and those to whom we submit and those under our care.

C3 Encounters 2012 - Day 2 (Session II) - Pastor Peter Paauwe

Day 2 at C3 Encounters 2012 was quite a busy day, I have decided to publish my reviews of each of the messages in separate parts and blogs and not in any particular order.

Pastor Peter Paauwe – Breaking through your ceiling

Pastor Paauwe began his message by saying regardless of what you might have obtained or established, you can learn from anyone.

Then developing on the message he shared yesterday about commitment, he said, “Your breakthrough is your own responsibility.” However, that is determined by how we think about the situations we are in Proverbs 23:7 As a man thinks, so he is.

Our spirit already has the fullness of God indwelling; it is our thinking that has to change. The order to change our circumstances and see things differently, the growth has to happen in your thinking.

Your internal capacity has to grow to suit your vision, your faith and your skills. If you cannot handle small problems you are not equipped to handle larger problems.

In terms of scale, the problems are usually the same for small or large churches being able to maintain calm and peace are elements of your ability needed to handle problems and it comes with your recognising God’s commitment to you.

You stifle your growth if you think in terms of your problems; growth comes by thinking in terms of solutions, possibilities and opportunities.

Be driven by your big vision with confidence and using common-sense.

Internal ceilings and external ceilings

Don't run with the chickens; fly with the eagles.

Note: Pastor Paauwe taught in Dutch and so as he said we were at the mercy of the interpreter. I feel the use of ceiling is contextually analogous to conflict. Internal ceilings can be read to mean inner conflict and external ceilings can be read to mean external conflict.

He began to teach by saying he was going to compare and contrast two similar but also different personalities and how each reacted to situations and circumstances in their lives.

His chosen personalities were David and Saul - Saul had internal ceilings whilst David had mainly external ceilings.

How we deal with our ceilings will be determined by our Faith, our Courage and our use of Common-sense. [The Dutch word for common-sense literally translates to the way farmers do things.]

Saul and David were both were anointed and they both had prophets in their reigns Samuel for the former and Nathan latter.

Between selection and achievement

Saul was selected to be king from appearance but he had internal conflicts, he aimed to please, wanted to impress and was always seeking approval and adulation. We need to recognise that only one opinion should matter; that of God about us.

Saul had charisma and some physical presence but no character, skills or leadership ability.

David was anointed to be king with the clear distinction of not being chosen by appearance but for character and characteristics that were not immediately discernible to the eye. Then, he was still a shepherd-boy and there was where he learnt his skills.

Though it was not obvious what he could do, when the time came, the skills became not only useful, they were unveiled to the nation at a very public event.

You have to use what God has given you in talent and ability it will result in achieving something great eventually. A man’s gift makes way for him.

Seeing problems and seeing opportunity

When Saul saw Goliath he saw insurmountable problems, he did not inspire confidence and was fearful as Goliath daily threatened the armies of Israel; David even though he did not belong in the army he did not see Goliath as the looming threat, he had a different mind-set.

A man without inner conflicts always sees an opportunity and he is always ready to take on the world around him. Saul limited by the small vision of himself and very low self-esteem saw big problems around him; David’s vision was so big, he had a consuming sense of purpose and drew his strength from knowing who he was and conveyed a perspective that the armies of Israel had all the power of God to back them and lead them to victory. He did not once see Goliath as a problem.

We need to be opportunity-focused not problem-focused.

Though David’s brothers knew he was anointed to be the next king of Israel, they treated him with contempt but he refused to allow the non-recognition of his status to dissuade him from expressing the forceful truth of Goliath not being a problem.

When he was brought before Saul, Saul attempted to equip David with his armour, but David had never proved the armour, it was much bigger than him and it would have hindered him.

Be careful that you do not end up using other peoples weapons to fight your own battles, your ability to succeed can only be based on what you know, what you use and what you understand. It has to be borne of your personality and self-expression.

It is easy to be impressed with professional people but what takes you over is the size of your vision, your faith and your use of common-sense.

Be responsive

David had imperfect people, they were rough and ready but he worked with them, he embraced them, he loved them, he taught them, he encouraged them, he gave them opportunities and in the process he built his own army; he had good leadership skills.

Because Christ is in you, you can make the change you need - my heart must lead my head not the other way round.

If you enlarge your capacity to deal with issues, you will attract those with even more capacity to help you tackle bigger problems, circumstances and battles.

When Saul was challenged he always made excuses, he had no remorse, he was foolish and never quick to make amends. David however responded well to rebuke, he immediately recognised his errors, he had remorse, he repented, he quickly made amends, he was teachable, so God remained with him and he grew in stature and authority.

Externally and physically Saul looked okay, but he was a troubled man, serious conflicted, tormented by spirits, he was jealous, impulsive, obstinate, disobedient, always in pursuit of being honoured regardless of what he had done.

Stop making excuses, the revelation is within you. Enlarge the tent of your thinking. Isaiah 54:2.

Knowing where God is in the situation

David did not allow external circumstances to determine his limits.

Internal ceilings and inner conflicts are your responsibility, you have to deal with the issues, repent and readjust your perspective of things starting with your thinking.

External ceilings and external conflicts are also your responsibility; however, with a big vision, faith, confidence and common-sense those battles are easier to win.

I can feel dry but I am not dry, I have rivers of living water in me, the spirit dwells in me, the fullness of God is in me.

The responsibility is mine to read the bible, to meditate and to begin to see things the way God sees things about you.

God never moves ahead of you, God only takes steps as you take them, I always have to take those steps for God to move. This is the case with Joshua.

If he had not with the children of Israel marched round the walls of Jericho, the walls will still stand.

As long as you have limitations, you cannot make progress.

Keep in your rightful place for your protection

When Jonathan struck a covenant with David, he was already aware he will not succeed his father Saul to the throne, that David will be the next king of Israel. As long as Jonathan stayed with David, he was safe in the protection of God’s purpose and would have easily be honoured in the company of David.

However, Jonathan returned to fight alongside his father who had been rejected of God, he perished with his father in battle.

C3 Encounters 2012 Conference: Day 1

How it began

We kicked off our C3 Encounters 2012 conference in Amsterdam to much funfare and activity with a great praise and worship session that soon moved into a time of prayer for Europe led by Pastors Simon and Valerie McIntyre who are the C3 Directors for Europe.

Pastors from sister churches around Europe were called to pray in their native tongues and we were given historical perspectives of German influence on European Christianity that gave birth to the Reformation movement through Martin Luther, the Swiss and Calvinism, the Dutch and the New Zealanders who feature strongly in our movement through Abel Janszoon Tasman and much more.

We heard prayers in German, then in French – In fact, I have never heard anyone pray in French, it was moving, I was overcome and then in Bulgarian for the Balkans, for Scandinavia and for all other European nations.

Making disciples – Pastor Simon McIntyre

The first session then had Pastor Simon McIntyre preach from the text of Matthew 28:18-20 where he stressed that disciples were made and not found, highlighting the fact that the seeds for church growth were in the local church itself but they had to be developed. We were to look for what was within and amongst us using that to grow our local churches.

He then extended the command to baptise through immersion to immersing people in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, immersing people in the word of God, immersing them into our lives through modelling the word and thereby being an example to others.

Disciples are chosen

Disciples, he said are chosen by reason of leaders identifying faithfulness or giftedness, it is usually incidental and it involves building on that identified potential.

There is a tough love aspect of making disciples, it is direct, strong, loving and confronting – good disciples respond well to rebuke and it works best when passed from generation to generation.

The lesson to take away from this message was the goal of a good leader is to see potential in others and work on making new leaders by example, deed, lifestyle and conduct.

The extraordinary in the ordinary – Pastor Steve Warren

The host pastor, Pastor Steve Warren took on the second session with a message titled – Recovering the extraordinary in the ordinary.

He exhorted us to have a childlike expectation of the extraordinary in the ordinary, working on text from the Acts of Apostles 2:38-47. A case of ordinary people who being empowered by the Holy Spirit sent to them on Pentecost suddenly performed the extraordinary; speaking in different tongues and adding 3000 followers at the first event.

He illustrated the concept better when narrating the tale of Syrophoenician woman who came to Jesus seeking healing for her daughter. She was at first ignored, then told He only came to save the Jews and went on to tell her it was not right to toss the children’s bread to dogs to which she responded the dogs do get to eat the children’s crumbs under the table – with that she got what she wanted.

Crumbs are as good as the loaf

However, the context was that she did not see the ordinariness of the crumbs but was able to rationalise that whatever was in the crumbs also came from the loaf of bread and therefore was just as good as having the loaf.

He said, “The level of your hunger will determine the level of the extraordinary that will happen in your life.”

Praise, he said opens the gates of heaven to the extraordinary and he exhorted us to give thanks in everything according to I Thessalonians 5:18. Other text references he used in his sermon in relation to the usefulness and efficacy of praise and thanksgiving in creating the extraordinary from ordinary circumstances included Psalms 100:4; Psalms 95:2, Ephesians 5:20 & Psalms 34:1.

The Power of Commitment – Pastor Peter Paauwe

Pastor Peter Paauwe, a guest preacher continued from where Pastor Steve Warren left off with a message titled "The Power of Commitment."

He started by saying that problems and challenges are our stepping stones to breakthroughs.

Then he based his text on the narrative in I Samuel 30:1-15, the story being, David returned home to find that his city had been raided and razed with families of both himself and his men taken captive, though they were unsure of what had befallen them.

Pastor Peter made a number of assertions that prayer does not move God but that God is constant, unchanging and is always committed to us. However, prayer can allow us to change our perspectives radically to see and appreciate God’s cause for us.

As David and his men realised what had happened, the story says these mighty warriors wept sore until they had no strength and got to the point where they laid the blame of their predicament on David and were ready to stone him.

We were to reflect on the number of times were we met with adversity and looking for people, issues, situations and even God to blame for deserting us in our time of need.

Count your blessings

David however took a different tack, he strengthen himself by encouraging himself in the Lord, that is, he recognised the many times God had been good to him – in modern parlance, he counted his blessings reassuring himself of God’s commitment to his cause.

II Chronicles 16:9 says, “The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”

The context of commitment suggests a heart at rest, a heart at peace and a heart confident in God rather than in panic, frustration and turmoil. We have to be fully trusting in God.

He said, “Our problems say nothing about how God is committed to us.”

The text goes on to say David enquired of the Lord if he should go after those who raided his city and he was told to go and he would without fail recover all.

Act decisively and promptly

The pastor then said God does not speak in long sentences and the opportunity to take advantage of a word from God is only there for a season.

Case in point was when the Israelites were refused to step forward to take the Promised land at the first opportunity and judgement was visited upon them that they roamed the wilderness for 40 years before a new opportunity to possess the land.

In essence, we need to be decisive, prompt to act, maintain a spirit of compassion for within our doing right and doing good might lay the solution to the once insurmountable problem.

A fleeting moment of opportunity

They found an Egyptian who for three days and three nights had not taken food nor drink and he had been left for dead because he took ill and as it transpired when he was brought to David, he was fed and watered. On recovery and interrogation, it was discovered he was a servant to the people who raided the city, he knew what they had done and where they had gone.

The lesson here was that God’s keys to our solutions usually appear weak, for instance, another day of waiting, grieving or being inconsiderate would have had the Egyptian die with David and his men none the wiser as to how to obtain a fulfilment of God’s promise that they will recover all.

He averred that, “All the power of God is displayed in the weakest things.”

We need to be committed to compassion, committed to people and committed to recognising God’s commitment to us and it is in making that a lifestyle that we can obtain our breakthrough.

The offertory – Pastor Thierry Moehr

Before the evening message, Pastor Thierry Moehr from C3 Lausanne shared from Isaiah 54:2 for the offertory.

“Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.”

He said we have an invitation from God to live a big life, we are all extendable but God can only take the space we give Him.

We need to give God the chance to be a big God in our lives and that can only come about when we decrease ourselves to let God increase. It is about stretching, extending, sacrifice and letting go, all that allows for God to do what he is good at – being God.

Forgiveness and healing – Pastor Phil Pringle

The final session of the day came with Pastor Phil Pringle, the leader and founder of the C3 organisation preaching from Luke 5:17.

“Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.”

He preached the gospel of grace signifying who and what we are in Christ is not as a result of what we have done but by reason of our taking on what Christ had done for us.

Conversely, the learned scholars of the law could not comprehend the essence of Colossians 1:21-22 “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight.”

It is accepting the sacrifice of Christ that allows us to be presented holy, blameless, and above reproach in the sight of God.

Achievement is the work of many

Then using the passage of Luke 5:17-26 he expatiated on how the power of God to heal was of no benefit to the scholars who had crowded out the place such that those who believed the power of God might help their paralytic friend had to find alternative ways to get to Jesus.

He assigned roles to the four friends of the paralytic; Leader (Had the idea that Jesus could heal his friend and proposed all the strategies to get to Jesus.), Helper (Joined in to follow the leader in what he had to do.), Intercessor (Arranged for the bed to convey their friend.) and Evangelist (Persuaded their friend to get in the bed to be carried to where Jesus was.)

In setting out this scenario, he said no one could achieve their full potential without the help of others stressing that unity is the place of power and the fulfilment of any destiny in the church is done in the context of connections and relationships with others.

Forgiveness presages healing

Having found they could gain no access to Jesus they let the man down through the rooftop having removed the tiles and the story says, Jesus saw their faith and then addressed the man that his sins were forgiven and thereby he was healed. [Note that it is the faith of the four friends Jesus saw in ministering to the paralytic - sometimes we need a helping hand to access the free mercies of God.]

As the scholars questioned what Jesus had done reasoning with their hearts about how he could forgive sin, the man who had believed with his heart that his sins were forgiven picked up his bed and walked.

One notable statement Pastor Phil made was that, “People are attracted to a non-judgemental environment.”

He developed this by saying, “Unforgiveness lies at the root of many people’s illnesses,” and that “forgiveness and healing almost always go together.”

As he shared a story of forgiveness and healing he said there are three main blockages to forgiveness.

• Not accepting forgiveness from God.
• Not accepting forgiveness from others.
• Not forgiving oneself.

He closed by calling people forward to be prayed for.

Conclusion

It was a very busy day, well organised and everything seemed to work as planned, I am sure most attendees were mightily blessed and all this was just on the first day of the conference. There is excitement in the air.

C3 Encounters 2012 is on a roll.

C3 Encounters 2012: God is manifested in who you are

Easy on the ears

Later this week for three full days our church will have a conference bringing together members from all around Europe to Amsterdam.

One thing I like about our movement is its international youthful and vibrant approach to things of Christianity that explores how people can get to live their best life.

Our conferences do not have the razzmatazz titles of a James Bond film or the thriller of a science-fiction flick with all the suspense of other-worldliness that sometimes presents from the usual Pentecostal fare, they are easy of the senses and approachable by all – the mother church in Australia held Presence just over a month ago and here in Amsterdam where our church was planted just about 12 years ago we will have Encounters 2012.

Last Sunday and this Sunday we have had sermons preached by the resident pastor Steven Warren and the C3 Europe Director Simon McIntyre encouraging us to make the best of Encounters have a life-changing encounter with God that could do wonders for who we are and where we are.

Of personalities and relationships

Pastor Simon McIntyre gave a talk on encounters based on II Samuel 22:26-27 (NLT)

²⁶ “To the faithful you show yourself faithful;
    to those with integrity you show integrity.
²⁷ To the pure you show yourself pure,
    but to the wicked you show yourself hostile.

In context, as we believe in a God that never changes the reality is God meets people at the point that they relate to him.

The first example he gave was of King David who wrote Psalm 23 which begins with “The Lord is My Shepherd.” He could well relate because David before he became king was a shepherd boy, he knew what it took to herd sheep, to corral them and protect them danger as well as the apparent dumbness of sheep which presents itself in their getting lost, falling into ravines or being prey to predators.

In the same vein, he could see God as his shepherd, protecting him from danger and even being forgiving if he had done really foolish and dumb things.

Besides, David was also a warrior and there are many Psalms that talk of war, of enemies, of defeat, of despair, of courage, of victory and of praise. The characteristics and character of David in his personality allowed him to relate to God in the context of what he knew and who he was.

Relationships by reason of who you are

Then came Moses whose defence of the Jews before he was called to lead them on the Exodus from slavery in Egypt, he was driven by a sense of justice and that sometimes drove him to task rash decisions in the pursuit of justice. He always argued his case before God many times sometimes persuading God from His wrath against the people of Israel and at other times having his arguments defeated.

The then became the law-giver and most of what represents the pursuit of justice today derives from Mosaic Law and its application to society.

With Joshua who succeeded Moses, his role was to lead the children of Israel to take the Promised Land and as the head of the army he stood to challenge anyone who came within to the camp.

He was fearless when he saw a man stood over him with his sword drawn that he asked if he was friend or foe and as the man answered that he was the captain of the hosts of the Lord, Joshua immediately the man of superior rank as he fell to his face and worship as should be expected of army hierarchies – that was how he could relate.

Connecting with the best of you

Then Pastor Simon talked about the lives of Pastor Phil Pringle the leader of the C3 movement and himself signifying that Pastor Phil came from a hippie culture where what he knew was about experience and atmosphere and his ministry has always reflected experience, presence, encounter, deliverance, relationships and leadership.

Pastor Simon is a different personality, more methodical, quite introspective, processing thoughts and ideas before he made decisions. Though, he took his time to fall in line in obedience, he was at the time that he did fully persuaded of the reasons why he made the decisions he made and that is what has been reflected in his ministry.

The essence of the message shared today was clear, we do not need to imitate other are attempt to copy the personalities of others in wanting to relate to God.

We should be ourselves and in being ourselves in the knowledge of who we are and what we know we find that our encounters with God are fulfilling and worthwhile because our being is fully connected with who made us who we are – warts and all.

God is by your makeup

To take the Message version of the text of the sermon today, this is what it boils down to.

^26-28 You stick by people who stick with you,
      you're straight with people who're straight with you,
   You're good to good people,
      you shrewdly work around the bad ones.
   You take the side of the down-and-out,
      but the stuck-up you take down a peg.

Whoever you are is what will become the conduit of your relationship with God, it good without saying that you want to express your best characteristics and virtues the more and make less of the uncomely parts of your personality that will represent God to you as hostile – not because He is hostile but because you have clogged up the conduit to God’s goodness with the wrong attitude, wickedness and lack of responsiveness to His great love.

The Encounters 2012 conference is on from Thursday the 17^th of May through the 19^th of May 2012, I am expectant and ready for a great experience, I will be a better person of me to get linked in with God’s purpose for me and this will be an encounter that will make a difference for me.

Join us, if you can – click on the link above for details to attend the whole conference or just to visit a day session.

C3 Men Conference - Deeper - Friday Night

Deeper – C3 Men Conference

My church, C3 Church organised a Men’s conference this weekend with the theme Deeper and it had as guest speakers Pastor Greg French, Pastor Nick Klinkenberg and the host Pastor Steven Warren.

Pastor Greg French heads up a ministry of interacting and ministering to men as fathers, husbands, sons, workers and ultimately Christians under the umbrella term Real Men.

Courtesy of a brother, my attendance was paid for and another brother offered to give me a ride to the venue which was at Naarderbos Golf Course bordering the amazingly beautiful Gooise Meer lake.

The deep things

On Friday night, after a time of intense worship where men bonded in unity of purpose and spirit were gathered, there were prayers, exhortations and introductions.

Pastor Greg French began his message on the subject of running the Christian race and finishing well.

His first scriptural reference came from (Psa 42:7 KJV) Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.

(Psa 42:7 NKJV) Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me.

This he interpreted as the deep things of God calling on the deep things in the heart of man.

Referring the introductory exhortation, he then said David came to terms with his humanity but he needed Nathan the prophet to bring him to that realisation.

The race

The core references for the evening however came from.

(1Co 9:24 KJV) Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

Contrasting the concept of knowing with that of just being aware, we needed to know we in a race with the purpose of winning the prize and the ability to excel will only come from allowing God to do what we allow Him to do in our lives.

(1Co 9:25 GNB) Every athlete in training submits to strict discipline, in order to be crowned with a wreath that will not last; but we do it for one that will last forever.

Still on the subject of entering a race to win, there is a regimen involved in the decision to participate in a race with the crown being the people we have by reason of our Christian living are able to impact all around us.

(1Co 9:26-27 KJV) I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

Our race has to be purposeful, it has to have a goal and the example our life presents is dependent on the discipline and discipleship we subject ourselves to so that those to whom we stand as role models will see us as such - It is why we need people speaking into our lives to ensure we retain our focus.

(1Co 9:27 NKJV) But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

With this version of the last verse, the message developed towards not being disqualified from one’s purpose and how to ensure one’s purpose is fulfillied.

Disqualified from one's purpose

Pastor French when delved into how we appear to be purposeful in creating resolutions and then fail to realise our good intentions with the striking statement, “We waste our lives by making statements that we do not follow through.”

How to be resolved

With that, he used the following scriptural references to help us understand how to be resolved, resolute, run the race and win the prize.

(Heb 12:1-2 NKJV) Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

He inferred that whilst there was a great sense of security by reason of the cloud of witnesses mostly assumed to be angelic, men needed other men as witnesses, supporters, admonishers, confidants and people who enthuse in helping to run with endurance the race that is set before us.

Our persuasion

In context, he noted that Jesus decided to be bigger than the problem before him to achieve the success ahead of him and it behoves us to appreciate that we are resourced to be bigger than the problems that surround us to be to successful.

With this, he indicated we need to be focused, then used the story of a fit woman piling on weights to reflect the problems of being overweight to an almost morbidly obese person showing who unnecessary weights burdens impact a person’s ability and agility.

When you carry what you should not be carrying, it ages you.

Lay aside

The admonition to “Lay aside every weight” is made in the context that it is my choice to do the laying aside as well as understanding that when temptation comes, we do have the power to overcome temptation.

Those two verses were weighty in their import as he told a personal story about how he mistakenly donated his wife’s best clothes in a mix-up during a house move that ended in the moral - Think before you act – a good few of us could relate.

In reading the other verses, a number of points were developed.

(Heb 12:3-6 NKJV) For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: "MY SON, DO NOT DESPISE THE CHASTENING OF THE LORD, NOR BE DISCOURAGED WHEN YOU ARE REBUKED BY HIM; FOR WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE CHASTENS, AND SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES."

Lay aside – According to the Macquarie dictionary employed a definition that ran similar to – Laying aside every aside that impedes our focus and progress.

The extended lesson to thinking before acting was that “Impulsive actions can be costly.”

Consider what is to keep and what to discard.

We men have a tendency to hoard and hence keep things we do not need, giving the example of a friend who had over 20 claw hammers, this friend seemed to have a story pertaining to each hammer but for practical purposes there was no reason to have more than one claw hammer.

By hoarding the unnecessary we tend to keep the things that clutter up our lives.

The stories, anecdotes and analogies he gave wove into each other offering useful snippets of advice and admonition.

Be decisive.

We need to stop hanging on to things that are unnecessary, however, that requires we be decisive and in being decisive discipline brings results.

The thought of discipline appears to indicate hardship but he said, “Discipline brings freedom to the undisciplined.” Discipline should not be seen as a restriction but the introduction of order and structure.

We must make the right the decisions; get one principle and act upon it.

Lay aside every sin.

The longing prayer of man should be - God give me the power to act and be strengthened against the things that easily befall me.

Perseverance is linked to endurance, God strengthens us to run with endurance.

Closing

At the end of an hour long message, we closed with prayer and a moving testimony as to how a brother agonised, prayed, cried and dared in the quest for a wife and how his prayer got answered.

It was an evening that allowed for the brotherhood of Christian men to offer meaningful and strengthening messages to each other for the purpose of being real men to ourselves, our families and communities at large.