Journey Together

“May the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another” 1 Thessalonians 3:12

Lonely but not Alone

“For by one Spirit we were all baptised into one body.” (1Cor 12:13) It’s strange but true that someone can feel lonely in a crowd even though they are definitely not alone. So many people in London are lonely, but many are not alone. It’s so wonderful that as part of a church we can enjoy friendship, belonging and community. Usually we can’t really find that until we not only join in with community as a whole on Sundays but as we come together in small groups and serve together in smaller groups or ministries in the church. It does involve making an effort and putting time aside to do it but it’s well worth it. We can find real friendships, learn new things, grow personally, encounter God and minister to others.

Resolve Conflict Quickly

“Do not let the sun go down on your anger” (Eph 4:26) There’s a really fun song we listened to as children that had the line “The more get together the happier we'll be, cos your friends are my friends & my friends are your friends”. Wouldn’t it be great if that was true! Unfortunately when we join small groups and connect with others conflicts of different levels and offences can sour things. “The Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth”(John 16:13) Picture this the couple are spending a lovely evening at home, suddenly the wife notices the bin has not been emptied again! She is furious and pours the bin contents all over the husbands feet and stomps off slamming the door. She doesn’t get very far as half way down the hallway the Holy Spirit says “hello, what’s going on?” She says “argh” then turns around goes back, apologises and they discuss resolutions and make up. From that day on they do not mention the incident again as it is forgotten and forgiven.

Just as with this couple we need to guard and nurture our Christian relationships by allowing the Holy Spirit to direct how we relate to each other by following a few principles. Be honest and discuss difficulties, forgive and move on. So many get offended and pull away from a relationship or even a whole church because of one incident. How sad! It’s safe to connect more closely to others if we resolve things quickly and move on. The longer you leave it the worse it gets and usually it gets way out of proportion to what it once was.

A Picture of Heaven

“A great multitude which no one could number of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues standing before the throne.” Revelation 7:9. When you walk into CCC there are so many different types of people it’s a wonderful sight! We are blessed to have so many different people and we have the opportunity to get to know them. There’s so much to learn from people who are different to us and its such fun experiencing new ways of looking at things together. It’s great to continually remind ourselves of the blessing of being able to get to know others who are from different backgrounds and to make an effort to seek out a whole range of relationships.

As we come into a new season of life groups, lets enjoy the richness of what we have together however different we may be in some ways. Let’s not let offences get in but show the world it is possible to get together and be happier than ever.

With our love and prayers,
Pastors Phil & Caroline.

Whatever the Weather

“They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.” Psalm 145:7 

Open our eyes Lord

“So teach us to number our days, That we may get us a heart of wisdom.” Psalms 90:12 If we stop and look around us we can see many reminders of the goodness of God. Perhaps it's an amazing sunset or sky filled with stars or maybe it's the smile and giggles of your child or the success of your latest project at work. Last week as we were driving home we took the time to get out of the car and go into a field. After walking a little while we all sat down to rest and lay back and looked up at the sky and started laughing. That moment simple as it was, was one the purest moments of complete happiness ever. We could have missed it if we hadn’t taken time to stop. It's so important to remember every good thing in our lives and to enjoy every stage or season. There is always something to thank God for but we can get so busy that we don't take time to stop and enjoy all our blessings and the God who loves to lavish them on us.

Simple Blessings 

“One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. They will speak of the glorious splendour of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works.” Psalms 145:4-5 Years ago we took some friends of ours on a walk in the countryside. We didn't realise that with two small children how long it would take. They stopped all the way to enjoy and explore things. Small children will stop and look at ants, pick flowers, blow on dandelions, find sticks and rocks that we as adults usually walk right past or over! They can enjoy such simple things and it seems that every moment is an adventure. How dull we can become as we get over familiar with the beauty and blessings that surround us every day. So often we allow our focus to be on our problems or the areas of lack in our lives without enjoying the what we do have.

Right Here Right Now is Good

“The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.” Psalms 145:9 A book that changed my life forever not so much the content but simply the title "Enjoying where you are on the way to where you're going". If we don't take time regularly to enjoy our blessings and the God who gave them to us what's the point really! Of course there are times when we are facing such horrible circumstances that it's hard not to be overwhelmed and to lose sight of the goodness of God. But if we have built up a catalogue of memories of all the ways God has blessed us over the years it will help us to overcome and make it through even the worst of times. 
 

Whatever the weather God is good and His goodness is all around us every day of our lives. Take time to notice and thank Him every day, you will be happier than you've ever been.

May we all find new hope, strength and happiness as we get fresh revelation and awareness of God’s goodness poured out on our lives.

With our love and prayers,
Pastors Phil & Caroline.

Finding God's Greatest Treasures

When He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the labourers are few”. Matt 9:36-37

Filled with Compassion

Compassion means “to be moved inwardly”; “to yearn with tender mercy, affection, pity, and empathy”. It arises from the very depth of a person’s affections. It is the deepest movement of emotions possible, being touched with the deepest feelings possible. (Practical Word Studies) So when Jesus saw the lost multitude He yearned with tender mercy, affection, pity and empathy from the very depth of His affections. It makes me want to weep just imagining that kind of love flowing from My Saviour for me and all of us. The depth of His love is truly moving. When He saw the depravity of the human race, all the selfishness, deceit, greed, wrong motives and all their behaviour He could very easily have said “you’re all so disgusting, the way you all carry on, ” but He didn’t. He didn’t condone their current state or behaviour but said, ‘I’m going to do all I can to lead you out of this and make it possible for you to find real life.’

Love that Overflows

“For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” Philip. 2:13
Passion for God leads to Compassion for those who don’t know Him. When we get so full of how absolutely wonderful our Saviour is, His love will flow out of our lives, like a river flooding out over its banks. God is passionate about people and He can give you some of that passion also. We have the greatest privilege; we can be an influence that changes someone’s eternal destiny. It is indescribably exhilarating and fulfilling to see lives changed by Jesus.

Being led by the Spirit

“Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing” John 5:19, 20. Evangelism is a process. A lot of the time we are sowing seeds into the lives of those who have never really heard the gospel but might have tasted a form of religion or think they know all there is about Jesus. There is no pressure to get decisions that people are not ready to make. It’s important to treat each person as an individual; they are not a scalp or project. We want to build relationships and give Christians and our church a good reputation not a bad one, don’t we?

Let them Taste it first

“And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” 1 Cor. 2:4-5. The world is full of words, arguments, ideas, wisdom of man. Evangelism in the Bible involves demonstrating the reality of the supernatural, all powerful, living God. The Spirit of God is asking us, “Where is my wonderful kingdom of salvation, healing, life and deliverance being demonstrated?”

As we learn and receive during the “Living a Supernatural Lifestyle” conference this weekend may we truly see many taste and see that the Lord is good and may many lives be changed forever,

With our love and prayers,
Pastors Phil & Caroline.

The Adventure of Prayer 

"Happy is the man who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at the posts of my doors". Proverbs 8:34

Someone told us an interesting story about the power of inspiration. They came home from a long day at work and their wife ran into the house flopped onto the sofa and exclaimed “I’m so tired I can’t move!” Suddenly an advert appeared on the television for a sale at her favourite store. She leapt off the sofa “I’ll just get my keys.” It’s amazing how many get that flop on the sofa feeling when it comes to prayer. Not because they don’t love God but because prayer seems like hard work.

Worship your way out of weariness

Derek Prince the late great Bible teacher once said if you only have ten minutes to pray spend eight minutes worshipping. Praise definitely changes not only the atmosphere but it also changes us. We all have times when we come into a meeting or to our time with God feeling weary and not very spiritually upbeat but when we worship a refreshing and energizing comes. When we begin our prayer times in worship we are praying the Lord’s prayer, “Hallowed be your name” and for “For Yours is the kingdom the power and the glory”.

Praying as a child of the King

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16. There’s a lovely story about the son of one of the presidents of the US walking through security and passed all the advisors and going up and sitting on his father’s lap. We have access to the most powerful being in heaven and on earth. We are to pray boldly out our position as children of the King of the Universe. This means we are to respect Him and accept that He is able to do anything. It also means that He loves us with the love of a perfect Father so we can come to Him expecting Him to not only listen to us but to act on our behalf with our very best interests at heart.

Prophetic Prayer

I will never forget the first time I was encouraged to pray prophetically. We were about to go on a mission to Uzbekistan so after worship we sat and waited on God to see what He wanted to show us. Suddenly I got a picture of an ancient wall and a tower and we sensed that what went on in there was strategic. When we arrived we were taken to the centre of town and the most important building was a tower surrounded by a wall. We knew God had sent us and we prayed the things God had shown us beforehand about that place. That was an adventure in prayer!

Arrows of Declaration

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Matthew 6:7-8 It’s important to allow God to reveal things about what we are praying for so that we can then pray prayers of declaration of His will and His word rather than just praying out and “babbling like pagans”! Praying into situations is so exciting when we have insight from the One who sees and knows all things.

May we all have wonderful, exciting adventures in prayer and see real breakthroughs in our lives,

With our love and prayers,
Pastors Phil & Caroline.