Pastor's Post

Draw Near To Hear!

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:55:00 GMT

“Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil. Do not be rash with your mouth, And let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; Therefore let your words be few” Eccl 5:1-2

There are no lack of voices in the church today but despite all of those voices and amazing messages of God’s revealed truth we are slowly but surely losing the skill of listening. When was the last time you just sat in the presence of God and listened, really drawn near to hear rather than to seek God’s intervention in your life. Most of our time before God is spent with our predefined ideas of what we want to hear rather than an open and vulnerable heart and mind. God wants to speak into our lives His heart and passion, He wants to refine and define our lives. Life changing transformation only comes when we draw near to hear!

In Luke 10:38-42 we read the following: “Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” As familiar as we are with this passage of Scripture it’s worth revisiting the story to encounter afresh the truths it contains. Martha and Mary both welcomed the entrance of Jesus into their home and lives. After that the passage shows us two different journeys that the women took. Mary finds herself sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to His word. While Martha was “distracted with much serving”, which truth be told finds the majority of us on this journey with Martha. Martha wasn’t distracted by sin or bad things she was distracted in serving, and for so many of us we can get so busy about kingdom business we forget to sit at the Kings feet and let His word draw us into intimacy with Him. We are quick to tell God about who is doing what or what they are not doing. We are quick to run to him and elicit His support for our needs and areas we feel hard done by or are overlooked. Martha knew she could approach Jesus and obviously felt comfortable enough to do it as do many of us. But she didn’t draw near to hear!!! Martha drew near with agenda, plans, frustrations and need - not to sit and the masters feet and listen. To be drawn into intimate relationship with Jesus. The one thing that could not be taken away from her.

My cry to you dear friends is to draw near to hear - to sit at the masters feet and hear his word. To Listen not with the ears of your own dreams and agendas but with an open and willing heart.
Don’t lose the art of hearing the voice of God! Sit in his presence today - He is speaking to you!

The Power of Thanksgiving!

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 04:56:00 GMT

“It happened that as he made his way toward Jerusalem, he crossed over the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten men, all lepers, met him. They kept their distance but raised their voices, calling out, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" Taking a good look at them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." They went, and while still on their way, became clean. One of them, when he realized that he was healed, turned around and came back, shouting his gratitude, glorifying God. He knelt at Jesus' feet, so grateful. He couldn't thank him enough—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus said, "Were not ten healed? Where are the nine? Can none be found to come back and give glory to God except this outsider?" Then he said to him, "Get up. On your way. Your faith has healed and saved you.” Luke 17:11-19 (The Message)

Someone once said that “there are 86,400 seconds in every day – How many have you used to say thank you?” This amazing passage of scripture from the Gospel of Luke certainly challenges us as the reader to not stop our faith at the point of a received miracle but to let our faith continue beyond the miracle to that place of thanksgiving. The passage reveals to us that only one of the ten that received their healing from leprosy actually returned to say thank you! Not only did just one return, but he was also a Samaritan – a foreigner – one seen by the Jews as less then worthy of recognition, let alone a miracle. Where are you counted, among the 1 or among the 9? Has thanksgiving and gratitude become a part of who you are in Christ or have you not continued beyond the asking and receiving, and simply move on without any thought of returning with a heart overflowing with gratitude to the throne of God’s grace?

Many believers spend a lot of time petitioning the Lord for His Hand to move in a myriad of ways on their behalf and for their benefit. And while we are told in the Scriptures to bring our needs before God, I want to challenge you that before you pull out your shopping list of prayers – to stop and take the time to thank God for who He is, what He has done, what He continues to do and how He continues to move through your life. I am convinced that without thankfulness our faith in God soon becomes like the presumptuous expectation of a spoilt child, While the thankful heart rejoices in what they have rather than all that they don’t, it ultimately will lead to a deep and intimate relationship with the Father, in which no lack can be found.

The remarkable thing about this passage is that the man returned with only gratitude in his heart and a desire to express it to Jesus… yet he left with more… he received more than just healing Jesus says your faith has healed AND Saved you… Gratitude and thankfulness always lead to increase in the Kingdom!

Dear friends won’t you join with me in pouring out our lives in gratitude to our Heavenly Father for all that He is and has done on our behalf? Let us focus on what we have received rather than what we haven’t and may gratitude and thankfulness open the floodgates of God’s hand upon our lives in Jesus Name. Amen.

Faith that demands action!

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:55:00 GMT

“Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?” James 2:17 (The Message)

It’s a horrible question to be confronted with but I found myself challenged by the Lord with the following: If our church/ministry was to disappear would anyone in the community know we had gone or would only those who are connected to us realise we are gone and secondly would we be missed? Now like I said, I would rather stay away from these questions. The short answer is I believe that people would know and yes we would be missed! But, how much greater impact on our community can we as believers make and in what ways?

I believe the Lord wants us as individuals and as communities of believers to continue to engage with the world we live in ways that, convert our God talk into God actions that express and proclaim the completed works of God on behalf of His people, not just the words of God… Too often church communities have retreated behind the doors of church buildings and slammed them shut. Our engagement with the world has been one of moral pontificating and judgemental criticism, rather than a Jesus like approach of moving amongst the people, living out the Word of God, and proclaiming God through not only by God talk but by God acts – Hallelujah!!

May our faith in Almighty God propel us into action and see the church continue to significantly impact the communities in which we live. Sometimes we are stunned into inaction by the enormity of the problems we see in the world and are happy to retreat into the ark of our churches to escape being overwhelmed. Yet our faith demands action so that our beliefs cannot be fobbed off as outrageous nonsense. Maybe we could engage with the elderly in our communities by visiting nursing homes or holding small gatherings to comfort the lonely. Maybe we can visit the sick in hospital – not just the ones we know. Maybe we could involve ourselves in local schools scripture classes. Maybe we could provide essential needs to families in crisis. Maybe we could offer a place of refuge for those whose lives are in constant turmoil. Maybe we could engage with young people by involving ourselves in community youth initiatives. Maybe we could involve our churches in community events and committees so as to have an impact on the broader community… There are so many opportunities to convert our God talk into God Acts that confront individual and communities with the God Almighty.

Lets seek our Heavenly Father as to how we can better engage with our communities as we approach 2010. May you have a blessed Christmas and enjoy the richness of gathering with friends and family as we celebrate the birth of our Saviour Christ Jesus. Amen.

Keeping Our Focus on the Kingdom!

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:56:00 GMT

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” Matthew 5:6

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you” Mathew 6:33

Where is my attention focused? How far from the foundational teachings of Christ have I strayed in my journey of faith? What is consuming my time and where am I expending my energy? What am I hungering and thirsting for? What are my prayers and faith seeking? Maybe they are confronting questions and maybe I would rather not face them, but face them I must, as must you, if we are to walk in an increasing relationship with our Saviour and Lord.

How quickly our hunger and thirsting aligns itself with the value system of the world in which we will never have enough, never be satisfied or ever experience the joy of being filled. We exhaust ourselves chasing good things, and find ourselves often disappointed when what we want or believe is ours doesn’t come to pass. Even when we experience blessing it never seems enough and we continue to seek more. It’s only a small deviation but one with huge consequences for our lives – when we allow our focus to slip off God and onto God’s benefits, we quickly find ourselves wandering in the desert, never quite able to cross over into the promised land. Jesus promised that we would be filled if we hunger and thirst after Him, which allows us relationship with God Almighty. He is more than enough – Hallelujah!

Jesus makes this point again at the end of Matthew 6 where He challenges the disciple to not fall into the trap of chasing the “things” but rather seeking the kingdom of God. We have to focus on the Creator not the creations. His promise to us when we have our priorities right is simply astounding “and all these things shall be added unto you”. None of us enjoy relationships that are one sided, where the other party is only interested in you for what they can get out of you…. Please God let us not become so self-absorbed that we neglect You in the pursuit of Your benefits!

The old illustration of being just a degree out on the compass means we are a long way away from our destination over the length of our journey. It’s incredibly important that we have the basics right if we are going to fulfil God’s plans and purposes for our lives. These verses may seem to be simplistic and foundational but if we don’t build our journey on living these truths then we may find a life of empty searching rather than one of overflowing abundant filling that can only be found in the presence of the King.

Dear friends won’t you conduct a self-audit today and check up on your relationship with God – Is your prayer life one sided? Is it all about what you want God to do for you or do you find yourself lost in his presence? Let’s realign our focus; reprioritise our hunger, thirst and seeking, and encounter the filling presence of our Lord, Saviour and King in Jesus Name. May our pursuit be for His kingdom to manifest itself on earth through us, not our kingdoms of narcissistic self-interest cleverly disguised under the cloak of Christianity.

May you find that place of filling today in Jesus mighty name. Lord, forgive me for my selfishness and allow me to experience afresh the joy of being in your presence. Amen.

Jeffrey

Don't Give Up

Sun, 31 May 2009 06:21:00 GMT

“When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out in to the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” But Simon answered and said to Him “Master we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net” Luke 5:4-5

This passage begins with Jesus pressed by a multitude on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and looking for a way in which he could speak God’s Word to the crowd, stepped into Simon Peter’s fishing boat. Simon and the others were busy washing their nets after a night of fishing with no return. I doubt that Simon was the first person to ever go fishing and not get a catch (It’s the story of my life too), but this was Simon’s livelihood at stake, bills would need to be paid, provision for family and friends all dependent on his ability to catch fish and sell them at market to provide for himself and his extended family. You can’t help but be moved by Simon’s story and the situation he finds himself in – for many of us we have also found ourselves squeezed by life and faith starts to be replaced by fear, negativity erodes our positive “can do attitudes” and worry starts to overwhelm us until in despair we give up!

I love this fragment of Scripture because it says to me that; “Even when I have given up – God hasn’t!” Our Father can “make a way where there seems no way” and sometimes we are so consumed by our woes and heartaches that we become entrapped washing our nets that we are not even aware that salvation is walking in our midst. When everything around us has failed, when we have come to the end of our own strength and abilities - this is when we have to lean on the merciful arms of our Heavenly Father and know that he hasn’t given up on us – Hallelujah. Don’t give up on God – because he hasn’t given up on us! God always has a plan. Even though the statement has taken on a connection with a large American Ministry – “One word from God can change your life!” For Simon, that one Word from Jesus that asked him to once more let down his nets, even though all his previous toil had yielded no results, was not only life changing for Simon but world changing!

Dear friends, if you have given up on the situations you find yourself in, don’t give up on God! If you have given up on those around, don’t give up on God! If you have given up on life and allowed the disappointments and failures to overwhelm you, don’t give up on God - Because God has not given up on you! I pray that you will find yourself able to lean on the promises of our faithful Heavenly Father and see things change in your life.

Much love and blessings to each of you our faithful and fruitful friends.
Jeffrey

The Father's Heart

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 04:52:00 GMT

“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.” Luke 15:20

This verse from the parable of the prodigal son, spoken by Jesus to the Pharisees and scribes after their persistent complaints about the company that Jesus was keeping, is incredibly revealing regarding the nature of > the Father and the foundations of the Kingdom of God. The imagery contained within this verse is astounding and incredibly challenging.

“But when he was still a long way off, his father saw him.... What a picture of faith, hope and expectation. In my mind’s eye, I have this image of that no matter where the father is, or what he is doing, his eyes are constantly returning to the path his son must travel to return home. What are we looking for? What do our eyes constantly return to? It would seem to me, that for many, our eyes are not on the lost or those made destitute by prodigal living. Our eyes are on our own selfish desires – constantly looking for a blessing, success, power, anointing and recognition – our eyes rarely stray from ourselves. The father could have allowed himself to be consumed by despair, heartache and a crushing sense of failure – and I’ve no doubt that these emotions visited him – but he still chose to watch the road knowing that his son would return! How incredible is the fathers love! For when “he was still a great way off...” - most of us make judgements about where people are at – and even make it sound spiritual by saying “They are close to the kingdom”, but the father saw his son when he was a great way off – oh, that we may have faith to see even when they are a long way off.

“His father saw him and had compassion, and ran....” The son is still a long way off, but the father saw him and had compassion. How far have we moved from that place of compassion both corporately as churches and as individuals? Do you see the world as an evil place full of sinners and retreat to your own safe place of personal salvation and righteousness that leads to judgement and fear or do you see the world through the eyes of compassion looking not with fear or condemnation but faith love, and grace, expecting the opportunity to participate in kingdom transformations with individual lives and communities? How can we have strayed so far from ambassadorship to the gatekeepers of righteousness - policemen, judges and executioners rather than advocates, servants and mediators? The father ran.... He saw, was moved with compassion and ran. What a picture of the heart of the Father!!! The father didn’t make a hesitant step forward, he didn’t think of his own position, his own heartache or his overwhelming disappointment in his son – he simply ran to him... Hallelujah!! What a Father we have!!

How can we reach what we fear? James Baldwin an American civil rights leader once said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced”. Dear friends I believe it is time that we returned to the foundations of the Kingdom – Its time we faced our religious rhetoric, our ivory towers and our golden calves and found our hearts stirred into action by compassion, our eyes focused again on the things that our Heavenly Father deems as priority - PEOPLE! May we as Gods people emulate the father of the prodigal son and see those Christ came to redeem plucked from prodigal obscurity and restored to the Kingdom of Gods amazing love!

May 2009 be a year of Harvest for the Kingdom of God. May your family find reconciliation - May your prodigals return home and may your eyes see the world as that of the Father – in Jesus Name!

Much love and blessing to each of you our faithful and fruitful friends.

Jeffrey

Ambassadors for Christ

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:41:00 GMT

“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”(2 Cor 5:20 NKJV)

One of the themes that strongly flowed through this year’s Camp Meeting was that of our call to be ‘ambassadors for Christ, reconciling humanity to God’. The messages delivered by Ps. Tom Messer, Bishop Harry & Doreen Westcott, Rev. Dr. John Hoskin and myself, all lifted and challenged everyone who had gathered for this wonderful week of ministry to the whole family.

How quickly we become distracted from our role as ambassadors and find ourselves bogged down in church politics, religious me-ism mentalities, church programming, and a maintenance approach to church life. It’s so easy to lose your sense of appreciation that Jesus came and reconciled us to himself, so that we could become ambassadors proclaiming the goodness, compassion, mercy, peace, joy, strength and the forgiveness of God, which is only found in personal relationship with Jesus the Christ. God loves humanity! God loves the unlovable; He is a friend of sinners! God reached out from beyond the throne of heaven to engage with us on our level through Jesus. We too must step out from behind our religious piety and our walls of spiritual superiority if we are truly going to engage with the very people that Jesus gave His life for, as ambassadors of this treasured message called the Gospel of Christ.

How much of our spiritual lives are focused around our needs rather than the needs of others? How much of our proclamation of the Kingdom is done within the walls of the church? Are our lives one of testimony to the goodness of God or do they blend into the world in which we live – separated only by our religious commitment to attend Church? Hard questions I know and ones that we don’t like to confront, but my friends we live in a day when the people of the world, more than ever, need to encounter ambassadors of the Kingdom, not policemen defending a God that does not need to be defended or religious hoarders of the treasured message of the Kingdom. Our lives must shine the light of the Gospel into the darkness in which we live, not be hidden within the confines of a church building from where they shine dimly at best through shuttered and locked windows.

Won’t you step out of your comfort zone my precious friends, God’s world needs you! You were created to shine not blend in, or be buried under religious legalism. You are God’s ambassador – won’t you stand up, step out and allow God to use your life to draw many into the kingdom of his love?

Blessings to you all - Jeffrey

Lift Up Your Eyes!

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:47:00 GMT

“Do not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” John 4:35

The passage in John from which this verse has been extracted, has always challenged me because of the profound transformation, and all that it implies, that took place in the life of the Samaritan woman during a brief encounter with Jesus at Jacobs well. Yet it is the verse above that constantly confronts my own sense of containing God to a set framework of action or boxing God into a pattern of formulated responses based upon my own experience, expectation or knowledge. How often do we fall into the trap of thinking if we can just get all the pieces into the right places then God will move in mighty power and strength with amazing signs and wonders?

As Christians we stumble over this hurdle all the time. If only I prayed more, or if only I didn’t think that thought, or if only I was able to control my response to that situation, if only I read my Bible more – then God would move in my life! In our churches we can stumble over things like: if only there was unity, or if only the worship flowed, or the preacher was more charismatic in his style, if only we had a certain anointed preacher come to our church then everything would change! Can I liken it to the following: I have heard many married couples say that when they can afford to have children – they will! Yet the reality is that on paper we could probably never afford to have children, just like your families could probably not have afforded to have you! Yet you are here and you made it! We can become paralysed by our insufficiencies and our inabilities if we allow ourselves to focus on the “what ifs” or the “when that happens” or the “circumstances just aren’t right yet”. Solomon seems to say it best in Ecclesiastes 11:4 “He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.”

God’s amazing provision for our lives can only be found as we move through the journey of our lives. If we wait until we have everything we think we will need for it all to come together, we would never get to our destination. And even if we thought we had every base covered something would still pop up that we had not prepared for. When did everything change, when did it become all about us rather than all about God? Do we think we are so important that we can hold up the plans of God for His creation? When God wants to move – He will. If He wants to speak - He will use a donkey, If He wants to destroy a giant - He can use a shepherd boy. The illustrations go on and on. Nothing so starkly illustrates to me that God’s redemptive plan is based upon God’s timetable, not my spiritual perfection, than the birth, death and resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ. The conditions were not right for revival, the religious leaders where corrupt and power hungry, the Roman oppressors arrogant and hedonistic, the common Jew burdened by law and guilt, and yet God said the time is perfect for my Son Jesus to fulfil my redemptive plan.

Do not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Stop looking at the timeframe and the conditions. Stop saying why it can’t happen now. Stop saying, when this happens then it will be time, and do what Jesus said: Lift Up Your Eyes! When are eyes are focused on ourselves and the circumstance of life everything, including our own failings, will stop us from ever attempting, let alone expecting God to move through us in the miraculous power of His Holy Spirit. The enemy is skilled at making us aware of all our faults and all our insufficiencies. The enemy is an expert at restraining us by using our past to tie our lives up in the knots of guilt and shame. The enemy is accomplished in making us question our own place in the kingdom of God. So it’s time we stopped looking down where he can focus our attention on the negatives of life and lift up our eyes and see all that the Almighty God has done through the sacrificial life of His Son Jesus and the indwelling gift of the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Lift up your eyes and see what God has done already, what God can provide, and that the harvest is ready. Friends I would rather be a donkey through whom the voice of God can talk than a man paralysed by my own human failings. I would rather be a humble shepherd boy than a mighty warrior in the army of Israel, afraid of failure. Now is the day of Salvation! Now is the day of Victory! Now is the day of harvest! Precious friends don’t let this day drift into the past without seizing the moment with all of your weaknesses and allow God to be the strength that you need.

When we stop trying to work it out and just surrender our lives to Jesus – His grace will be sufficient, His gift of faith enough, the guidance of His spirit comforting and His strength prevalent in our weakness. Let’s stop looking at all the reasons why it isn’t happening or why it can’t happen and start seeing all that Christ can do when we stop saying, No - I can’t and start saying Yes – He Can!

It’s no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me – Hallelujah!!

Jeffrey

To Seek and To Save

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:56:00 GMT

“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” Luke 19:10

I am constantly challenged to not lose sight of the purpose of Christ’s encounter with humanity. Scriptures like the one quoted above seem to clearly and implicitly portray the mission of Jesus. Yet for those of us who follow, we get blindsided, more often than not by the mechanisms of a religious lifestyle and the attached accessories, resulting in a religion that is predominantly about us and far from Christ’s mission.

It’s all too easy to get trapped into a church mentality, where our lives tend to revolve around what happens within the 4 walls of a church, resulting in a narrowing introspective viewpoint. This is the scenario we see in the preceding verses of Luke 19. The religious of the day had a preconceived understanding about what could and couldn’t be done. The religious leaders of the day were particularly put out by Jesus and his willingness to associate himself with the less than acceptable among the community. For Jesus to sit with a sinner, as a guest in his house, left complaining judgmental rumblings on the lips of the religious community. Yet that encounter with Zacchaeus caused a transformation in his life and family. It took a radical approach by Jesus, it went against the grain of religious expectations, yet it resulted in Salvation!

Jesus didn’t allow himself to get bogged down in the politics and the judgmental pressures of the religious He didn’t sink himself into the task of arguing His case. He simply went about making a difference to all He encountered on his redemptive journey. He didn’t stay within the confines of the synagogue or church, He went out into the community touching people where they were. His message was never one of judgement or rejection because of the way people lived. His message was one of freedom, life, faith, mercy, grace, forgiveness, wholeness, love and acceptance. The religious community on the other hand built distinct and definitive walls that rejected, repressed, condemned and ultimately allowed the religious to not even see those that so desperately needed the touch of God in their lives.

When we become so self absorbed in what we are doing that we no longer see the needs of others, that is tragic. It happens so easily and it is one of the greatest obstacles that we have to overcome if we are going to reach out and sit with sinners, seeing their lives transformed by the power of God, manifest through the presence of the Holy Spirit. If we become consumed with trying to get our Christianity right rather than accepting the gift of Christ and His righteousness, we will quickly lose sight of the mission of Christ and take our hand off the plough of taking the gift of His Salvation to those who so desperately need a Jesus touch.

Dear friends won’t you look around you today? Look at your family your friends, your neighbours and your community and stop seeing the sin and the problems and start seeing the opportunities. Start to see a Zacchaeus that can be transformed. Remember the “...Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost...”

May you see with new eyes and be compelled by Christ’s heart that none should perish - in Jesus Name.

Jeffrey

History Repeating Itself?

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 05:05:00 GMT

“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.”(Acts 7:51 - NKJV)

This verse enclosed among Stephen’s concluding remarks to the Sanhedrin, prior to his martyrdom, continues to sound an alarm to every successive generation: learn from the past and don’t repeat the same mistakes. As your fathers did, so do you! How often has history repeated itself in our lives? We make the same mistakes as those that have journeyed before us and we ourselves keep making the same mistakes over and over again. I don’t want to dwell on our personal reoccurring histories, rather I want to confront the reasons why we find ourselves on this merry-go-round of religious justification, in the hope that we can stop history repeating itself in our lives and start a new history of intimate relationship with our God and Saviour.

Stephen himself states that the reason for history repeating is: “always resisting the Holy Spirit”, the NRSV says; “forever opposing the Holy Spirit”, Peterson in “The Message” says it this way; “deliberately ignoring the Holy Spirit”. Most of us would never put our hand up and say that we resist, oppose or deliberately ignore the Spirit of God yet the reality is many of us do! We find ourselves resisting because of our stubbornness (stiffnecked) and our uncircumcised hearts and ears.

Stubbornness could be described as “entrenched self-righteousness”. This is where we refuse to give ground because we know we are right; it’s all about what we want. Stubbornness has often been referred to as a good quality to have in life, but stubbornness is birthed out of me-ism, it is selfish and always self justifiable. We need to become tenacious in faith rather than stubborn in defending what we want, what suits us or what we believe! Stubbornness can affect our ability to forgive and receive forgiveness, to ask for help and receive help, to see the needs of others and particularly our own, to be compassionate on others rather than judgemental, to be interdependent (Body of Christ minded) because we are so independent. Stubbornness can limit your application of God’s gift of faith, because you can do it in your own abilities. It can also stop you from being weak and allowing the strength of the Lord to gird you up and be your strength. Stubbornness will always lead us towards resistance of the Holy Spirit and therefore cause history to keep repeating itself.

“Uncircumcised hearts and ears”; is all about self deception and the deception of others. It’s all about perception rather that reality, it’s about how we are seen rather than confronting who we really are! For the Jews that Stephen was confronting during his discourse, this was a perfect illustration because the Jews took the outward act of circumcision as the key to their inclusion in God’s Kingdom. They did not judge the state of their heart, only the fulfilment of ritualistic requirements as their central obligation to God. A very wise man once gave me some wonderful encouragement as a young Christian struggling with the pressures being placed on me to reach a certain standard in the way I lived my life at the time. He said to me “the sins of a young Christian are obvious to all, a mature Christian is just better at hiding theirs under religious piety”. Just because you go to church, just because you pray, just because you read the bible, just because you hold positions of authority in the church does not mean your heart and ears are open to receive from the Spirit of God. Only God sees our heart, yet so many of us are more concerned about what everyone else sees and keeping up that appearance rather than being open to heart surgery by the great physician. How we need to be open to hear fresh mana provided from heaven daily, rather than leaning on the stale bread of our religious ritualism. May our heart condition take pre-eminence once again over our pride, our position and others perceptions so as to receive all that the Holy Spirit has for us in the richness of our relationship with the Saviour rather than opposing the Spirits work because it interferes with our sense of who we are!

Dear friends won’t you give yourself a heart check-up, step from stubbornness to tenacity and disconnect from the carousel of repeating history – so as to create a new history in Christ that is anchored in relationship, grounded in faith and where self is hidden in Christ. May our lives not be reflections of all that is wrong with religion but mirror the glorious, gracious, compassionate, forgiving redeemer – Christ Jesus.

Jeffrey