Shoutlouder

big sundays at Hope City continued…

// August 10th, 2008 // No Comments » // Inspiration, Sunday

I love Sundays – especially at the moment – as even though it’s summer and many people are away there seems to be lots of new faces around, some fresh growth and the worship and atmosphere in our meetings has been really filled with a faith-filled expectation and a real sense of God’s awesome Presence. It looks like as we head into September and we start out in our new building then we’re going to see a great season of growth and increase – that’s what I’m declaring and believing for as that’s the inheritance God has for his church!

(If you’re new in church make sure you come and say hi sometime soon as before long I’m going to lose track of who everyone is…)

Just finished Part 4 of my UNPACKED series today – and the final part… we’ve done the SOVEREIGN JESUS, the LIBERATING JESUS, the PROVIDING JESUS and today we looked at the ultimate topic of all, our SAVIOUR JESUS. I’ll be sorting some podcasting out this week so they should all soon be available to download and listen to if you’ve missed any of them.

Key verse today is from Hebrews 10:12-23 which speaks of Jesus being the amazing ONCE and for all sacrifice for us. The central understanding of God’s incredible GRACE being that he has done it all… he’s the Divine Bridge Builder who crossed the chasm between Man and Himself after centuries of Man attempting to cross an uncrossable divide. Instead God in his amazing love for His creation chose to cross it Himself.

A key theme of my UNPACKED series has been that Jesus is not for a once-in-a-lifetime moment in history when you give your life to Him but He is our Loving, Living God who is ALL we need for every day… Salvation is not something that just happened when you were 15 in a church listening to a preacher… but it is a POWERFUL act of God taking place everyday of your life as you allow His FORGIVENESS and HEALING bring constant transformation…. “being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory” (2 Cor 3:18)…

So stop allowing your past failures, insecurites, temptations, hang ups, illnesses and whatever issues clog your life… and live with the incredible power of salvation at work in your life bringing forgiveness, healing and wholeness to each and everyone of us…

I’ve really loved preaching this series – make sure you leave a comment if it’s made an impact in your life in someway!

Next week we’ve got our 0-30s Pastor – Dale Adkins preaching for the first time on a Sunday morning so that is going to be a Sunday not to be missed! Plus it’s Church Picnic weekend – so ‘Father God – please send some Sun!!’

sunday focus

// July 28th, 2008 // No Comments » // Inspiration, Sunday

It was so good to be at church on Sunday. When I miss a week I really MISS a week. There is just something so refreshing about hanging out with some of the best people in my life on a Sunday morning, worshipping God and getting stuck into something fresh from the Word.

I have moments when I find my brain stepping back and thinking about the randomness of what we do in life. Like – just think how random it is for a bunch of people to turn up at the same place week after week, sing songs to a Karaoke style screen with all but the bouncing ball, listen for 30mins to someone talking (or shouting, or being all dramatic… depending on where you go), then have coffee and go home! That may be over simplifying things – but the truth is that within all that we do here is something really healthy about living a life with a regular discipline of being at church.

I’ve particularly enjoyed the last few weeks in church as there’s a fresh buzz in the place. People seem engaged like never before. There’s an expectancy for God to move! There’s a sense of God’s presence in the worship and people are hearing and responding to the preaching of the Word. We’re within a couple of months of being in our own (and first) building in Leeds, yet it’s more than just the excitement of having a building – God has brought together a real family of people who will do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine!

I just finished a series (probably – although I may do a couple more) called UNPACKED: Unpacking who Jesus really is! You can read the intro to the series on my earlier post. But this week was part 3… unpacking Jesus who is the Bread of Life (John 6:25-35)- the great Sustainer, the staple diet of every Christian life!

I’m just really determined to see people get a fresh look at Jesus. Too many Christians build their lives on the one revelation of God that they got when they became a Christian. They hang off the words of some preacher for the rest of their lives, one altar call, one ‘light-on’ moment – and yet Jesus is so much bigger than a once in a lifetime revelation. Even Paul, who found himself on his knees on a road to Damascus being greeted by all the Glory of Christ himself, wandered off for a decade to seek to understand this Christ who had revealed Himself before launching out on any ministry.

If we could just determine to know Jesus Christ in a fresh way each and every week or month of our life (I won’t say ‘day’ because you’d never keep that up!) then we’d still only be scratching the surface of who he really is. And yet it is the fundamental question that anyone of us can ask – “WHO DO YOU SAY HE IS?” If the answer to that question originated more than a year ago then I suggest it’s time to seek Him afresh again – cause He’s got a lot more about Himself to reveal… and it’s going to blow your socks off!

beyond words…

// July 19th, 2008 // 4 Comments » // Family, Inspiration

Here’s the obligatary ‘new dad’ post…

Last night – or is that early this morning – sometime just after 1am I found myself on my own with another woman! Of course – my dear wife was OK about it since the other woman was in fact our just born baby girl – Ania Maria Denham! Gosia had to nip off to somewhere for those things that have to be done with women not long after giving birth – and so I found myself having a beautiful moment with my lil’Annie as she snuggled into my arm.

I have to say – holding your new born baby in your arms is one of those moments that is truly beyond words… Nothing can really describe the feeling of holding a small life in your arms that somehow came from a little bit of DNA you produced, mixed with a little bit of DNA that my wife put together… and ‘hey presto’ we have a baby!

As I sat again holding her today it suddenly struck me – “I now have two amazing kids that were created through me…”

You see – in this season of unpacking who Jesus is – one of those moments of revelation in life are to realise that He’s the Creator. We’ve been made by Him and for Him… and it has to be one of the most beautiful acts of God in creation to create something that would in turn know the beauty of being a creator.

Through our children we discover a depth of understanding of God’s heart for his creation – the Father heart – because it’s only when you hold your creation in your hands that you can truly understand that love that would do anything, give anything, sacrifice anything to see this one small life flourish, live and be safe for evermore.

I have to thank Jesus tonight for giving me one of the greatest gifts He has given every single one of us – the gift of being able to partake in Creation itself…

unpacking…

// July 18th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Inspiration, Leadership

Right now I’m trying to unpack who Jesus really is in my life. Cause here’s the thing… you can get so long down the ‘Christian’ journey that before you know it you’re living off borrowed and ‘past-its-sell-by-date’ revelation. You’re experiences of God and everything that you’ve been taught start to get neatly packed away in the storage cupboard under the stairs, half-forgotten or left for a day when you’re doing some spring cleaning and suddenly remember you had it.

We often say that a key thing for any leader is to ‘keep it fresh’… but let me throw that a bit further and say that the real key to great church leadership is to ‘keep Jesus fresh’.

Matthew 16:13-16 tells of the conversation Jesus has with his disciples over ‘who’ the people say Jesus is. The answer comes back that they think he’s Elijah or one of the prophets. But Jesus doesn’t throw a wobbly and concern himself with a PR drive to make sure the people know who he really is – his real concern is with who his disciples recognise him to be – so he asks… “But who do YOU say I am?”

It’s at this point we get Peter’s great confession of faith as he declares Jesus to be the ‘Christ, the Son of the Living God’.

So WHO DO YOU SAY HE IS?

Who is Jesus right now to you? Is he the central doctrine of Christianity – or is he your personal Lord and Saviour? Is he the performer of incredible signs and wonders – or is he the one who can heal your arthritis? Is he the Kings of Kings and the Lord of Lords – or does he have the steering wheel of your life and you’re following where he’s leading…

See there is plenty of catch words and descripitive ways we can speak of Jesus – but unless there comes a transaction of revelation between heaven and your heart then they remain only adjectives of a theological faith – and not the revelation of a personal relationship with God.

So – it’s time for some unpacking – time to take Jesus out of the nice, pristine, carefully wrapped and ribboned boxes we put him in and allow him to rule and reign over our thoughts, actions and deeds.

It’s time to discover who YOU really say he is… cause right now you may need to know King Jesus, your sovereign ruler of all, or you may need to know the Prince of Peace – bringer of perfect peace in the midst of your storm. You may need to know the Healer, the Advocate, the Compassionate, the Liberator, the Saviour or the Son…

Jesus right now is your ALL in ALL… everything you ever needed, all you could ever want… so let’s not leave him between the pages of a theological dissertation or in the rhetoric of a carefully thought through message. Let’s allow the Truth himself to truly set us free! Get personal and start unpacking!