Your Time is Limited

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“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life” – Steve Jobs

Every one of us is a unique soul with a unique personality.  You were designed to be unique!

Listen: it’s ok to have preferences – it’s not right when Christianity tries to make people into clones – the Stepford Wives church!  Everyone dresses the same, walks the same – no, we are unique individuals.  In Genesis 10, at the Tower of Babel was built with bricks.  That’s how the world builds – everyone is shaped to be the same, fit in, fit together, become a clone.  But in Exodus 20.22, we are told not to build the altar of the Lord with cut stone – use the stones as they are.  God wants to use you as you are with your personality as you are!  Some stones are more loud, some more quiet – but God does not want to change your personality for you to be part of His kingdom. 

(Now there are some sins more tempting to loud people, some are more tempting to quiet people and you have to be aware of that in terms of your disposition – but having a unique personality is not a sin!)  You are who you are! 

All our life we spend so much effort trying to fit in, but God has made you to stand out.

 

3 Kinds of People Who Leave Your Church

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Sometimes people leave your church!  Some leave quietly, suddenly skulking away; others leave with a song and a dance and with maximum drama slamming the door loudly on their way out making sure everyone and their dog knows exactly why they are leaving and why the glory has now departed from your fellowship.

Firstly, let’s establish that people leaving is not always bad.  Sending someone to plant a church would be a clear example of someone leaving and it being awesome.  But when someone who doesn’t give, spreads gossip, causes division finally decides they are going – that’s a blessing. A church of 70 with peace is better than a church of 700 with strife.

In Luke 15, Jesus tells three parables: the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son.  He is not telling the same parable three times, but talking about three people who all get lost for different reasons.  When someone leaves your church there are different reasons behind it and your response should be different based on the person.

1. The Distracted Person

Some people are like sheep – easily distracted.  Sheep get lost because they see something shiny or moving and wander over to it and lose the herd.  They wander off – going to a market one Sunday, dealing with a family crisis the next, then they just lose contact with the flock and each week they don’t go it gets harder to come back.

How to deal with people like that – go and get them back.  Go hunt them down and bring them back – they want to come back, they are just not sure how. 

2. The Offended Person

The coin was lost because the woman lost the coin.  Some people are lost because they get offended at someone else.  “That person wasn’t nice to me” – well, welcome to a church that is open to everyone, including you, including them.  It never ceases to amaze me how thin skinned Christians can be, getting offended over the songs sung, the attire of the preacher, the hair cut of the preacher – if there is a silly reason to get upset someone will.  And of course, let’s be honest sometimes things happen that are offensive – churches are populated by humans and sometimes we badly let people down.

Some people get upset and just vanish.  What to do?  Turn the house upside down, sweep the floor – find the reason and make it right with the person.  

3.  The Self-Willed Person

Some people fancy themselves as the lone wolf – they don’t need a pack; they want to do things their way, they don’t want to listen to the preached Word, just TV speakers (why?  because they can change channel if it upsets their theologies), some people don’t want to be around people they can’t control, some people want to come into the church and do church their way.  The worst thing a pastor can hear is “my last church used to…” as they immediately think “well go back there.”  

I once had a series of emails from an individual who did not want to be part of a church body.  He did not want an organized church.  I told him to find a church with less than 5 people because otherwise there needs to be organization.  Even a family with a child is organized!  He told me to be more like a certain church.  I said if he liked that church so much he should go there, he pointed out it didn’t exist anymore.  It didn’t – there was a coup and the church split every which way possible.  Not really a good model for going on!

Some people leave because they want their inheritance, they want to walk in their dreams and they know they are not.  But rather than admit they have flaws they need to work on in community, that they need the help of the church, that they need discipling, they blame you for withholding their inheritance from them, storm off, demand their way and leave.

Listen carefully: don’t go chasing people like that.  Wait until they are eating the pig food then they will come back.  If they don’t come back, you are better off without them.  If you after them, it will engender strife and waste your time.  

Let them come to their senses.  It’s a waiting game, and it’s hard, but it is the only way to deal with the self-willed.  Save your hunting energy for the lost sheep

This is Your Year!

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Today, God has given you a gift.  A gift that He has given everyone on the planet.  A gift of time.  A gift of 365 days.  Although the charismatic prophets will be telling you this is the year of this and that – breakthrough, financial release, the wealthy place, the abundant return – and the cheers will go up from the people who believe that changing calendars leads to a fresh anointing – it’s simply not the case.  This year is a gift to you and it’s up to you what it is.

It can be the year of breakthrough – if you renew your mind.

It can be the year of the financial release – if you get some financial wisdom and give generously and in faith and love

It can be the year of the abundant harvest – if you sow the abundant seed

At Tree of Life Dagenham we are calling this year “The Year of Identity” – but that’s not because God is going to give us an identity in 2014.  Christ gave us all an identity as the righteousness of God when He died and rose again on the cross – He welcomed us into the family of God and now our identity is linked eternally with His.  All we are doing is choosing to focus on it, preach on it, sing about it, study it, enjoy it and watch it manifest in our lives as our souls line up with our spirits.  It’s going to be really exciting.  

In Watford we are calling this year “The Year of Healing” but that’s not because God suddenly decided – hey, I’ve got a new calendar, let’s heal some folk.  No – all healing was accomplished 2000 years ago when Christ bore our sicknesses and diseases.  It’s not by this year you were healed, it’s by His stripes you were healed.

In Guildford we are calling this year – well certainly the first half of it because we are going to nail this in less than a year – Crossing Over.  We are going from fort to castle – we are growing into what God has prepared for us.  But it’s not that God hasn’t prepared a land of promises for us – it’s just that this is the year we are going to embrace it and enjoy it by focusing on it and renewing our minds to it.

So – this is your year.  It is what you choose it to be.  It will be the harvest of the seeds you sow.  So, I want to on this first day of the new year give you five kinds of good seeds that you could sow this year and mean that you will enjoy an abundant harvest:

1.  The seed of YOUR WORDS.  Jesus said the sower sowed the WORD.  If you want a good harvest you have to learn to speak good.  This is a challenge for this year: get 10 Scriptures that sum up what you want from God – healing, finances, and so on.  Personalize them – if it says “My God shall supply all your needs” you turn it into “My God shall supply all MY needs”, if it says “By His stripes you were healed”, turn it into “By His stripes I am healed”.  Repeat them every morning and every night.  That one action alone will totally change 2014 for you.

2.Financial seed.  If you don’t tithe, start tithing this year. Not because you have to or because God is going to get to but because you believe God’s Word and it says that if you give it will be given to you pressed down shaken together running over …. and you know that you can give more generously than a dead man under law.  Try it and see the results.  In April, we are running a 90 day tithing challenge – tithe for 3 months consistently – if you are not blown away by the change then your money back.  That’s how much I believe in this.  If you do tithe, think of something outrageous to give and believe that God supplies seed to the sower.

3. The seed of time.  What you do is what you become good at doing.  Want to become better at playing the guitar – put some time in.  Want to become better at being a friend – put the time in.  Want to become better at preaching – put the time in.  Want to become better at knowing God’s Word – put some time in.  What you invest time in will flourish.  What you ignore and neglect will wither and die.  Today, choose what you want to cultivate in 2014.  You cannot do everything  – so decide what is important.  We go on and on about being well rounded, but a squash ball is well rounded but if you needed surgery you wouldn’t want the surgeon using a squash ball, you would want a blade that is not well rounded but sharp.  You have a choice in life, well rounded or sharp.  Sharp is more useful and more valuable.  Focus on what you want to do and invest time in that.

4. The seed of “NO”.  I honestly believe “no” is the single most anointed word in the world.  It has the powerful to release destiny, set you free, give you a future.  An extra doughnut is saying “eat me”.  No.  A friend wants to gossip about the pastor.  No.  A guy starts to come on to you when you are married.  No.  All sorts of negative thoughts are trying to nest in your head.  Your flesh will want to have a pity party – tell it no.  Often our lives are a mess not because of what we are not doing, but because we are doing too much and are too busy.  Churches fail because they have too many meetings, businesses fail because they are trying to do too many things.  Stop being swept away – find out your destiny and say no to everything else.

5. The seed of love.  This is the seed that often produces the quickest harvest.  Try smiling at someone – they almost always instantly smile back.  Go and take someone out to the shops and buy them some new shoes.  Go and buy someone some flowers, some shopping, a new computer game.  Go and mow someone’s lawn.  Right now phone the first single mother who comes to mind and offer to babysit one night this week and let her go out.  Pay her to babysit her child.  Let’s decide to try and outdo each other in being the most loving people on earth this year.  

Sow those seed and this will be the year of harvest.  Don’t sow them and it’s still the year of harvest.  It’s just 100 times nothing is still nothing.

10 Ways to Count Numbers in a Church

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10.  Make up a random number.  Don’t even worry if it is accurate.  I have seen this happen too many times for it to even be a “funny”.  I was once in a meeting that the preacher said had 5000 in attendance, but the venue didn’t seat more than 3000 and it couldn’t have been more than 1/2 full.  There is a church not too far from us with 400 seats that claims 1000 people in attendance every Sunday service.

9. Find out what the other churches around you have, add 10-25% and claim that as your figure, never mind if the other churches are even accurate.  If the largest church in town claims 5000, claim 6000.  Easy one!

8. Make a rough guess.  The problem with this is you always overestimate – and if you are from another church you always underestimate.  There may be 1500 people in a service, the pastor will guess 2000.  The visiting pastor will guess 1100.  It’s human nature, whether we like it or not.

7. Count seats, whether someone is in them or not.  If your church has a capacity of 1000, then you had 1000 people this Sunday if your hall looked reasonably full.  Of course, there may be only 600 people there and the hall will look full (halls look full at 60% of capacity).  But that figure sounds better.  If you are on TV you can do even better – if there are 10 million people in England with SKY boxes and you are on Sky, then quote your audience as 10 million even though 98% of them would never go anywhere near any of the Christian channels.

6. Count everyone in each service.  So, you have a week long crusade with 3-4 services a day.  That’s maybe 20 services.  So, you have 1000 people in each service… then surely that means you had 20000 people in your crusade?  That’s how a lot of churches I know count their crusade attendance.  They don’t explain that’s how they got their figure leaving you with the impression that there were 20000 people in EACH service.  It’s not honest.

5. Count arms and legs.  I am sure that is what some people must be doing! 

4. Do a little creativity with numbers.  If you have 70 people in your church, tell people it is between 5 and 600.  You are not lying because 70 is between FIVE and SIX-HUNDRED!  It’s more than 5!  It’s less than 600!  If people are misled it’s only because they were not listening properly.

3. Count the church roll or register.  In Tree of Life, in the last six months over 100 children have been in a registered Tree of Life children’s meeting.  Have we ever had 100 children in a service?  No – the most we have ever had is 36 children in one service.  Lots of churches will say they have a membership of 4000, but there are less than 1000 on any given Sunday. Some of those 4000 are deceased, some live in another nation, some are on the membership rolls of many many churches.

2. Count the highest service of the year and present that as normal.  Yes, you got 250 at Easter with the guest footballer giving his testimony and handing out 30000 invites.  But if you normally have 100, that’s not the figure you should be saying is the number of people at your church.

1. Actually, physically count the number of adults and children in each Sunday service.  The actual number of physical human beings present in the particular meeting.  Radical, I know – but it’s a figure you can work with.  And it will provoke you to work harder!

5 Ways to become more familiar with the Bible

5. Get a modern paraphrase like the Message or the NLT and read out loud a whole letter of Paul’s.  That is how they were written and that is how the original audience encountered them for the first time.

4.  Find a verse that you love, write it down and learn it by repetition… speak it over and over again.  That is essentially meditating on the Word.

3.  Take a well known verse and read the whole chapter paying attention to the structure, logic, and context of the chapter.  It may surprise you.

2.  Open the Bible at random and read 5 pages.  I know it’s not a good way to build a systematic theology, and it’s not a good way to hear God, but it’s a great way to encounter a passage you may never have deliberately turned to.

1.  Find a passage in the gospels.  Use a cross reference to find the same account in other gospels and read how the other gospel writer’s approach the same passage.  The Bible is fully divine and fully human and this is a great way to explore the Word.

10 Ways You Can Make Today Better

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10.  Buy someone a gift and give it to them anonymously

9. Smile

8. Pray in tongues

7. Make a list of your blessings

6. Phone a friend you have had in mind but haven’t spoken to for a while (not text or email – hearing the voice is important)

5. Read your favourite Scripture in a paper Bible.  Read what comes before and what comes after – it may fascinate you

4. Sit down, turn the phone off, unplug the house phone, turn all machines off and sit in silence for 5 minutes.  It’s beautiful.  You could listen to this if silence unnerves you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDxWyLlo0w0

3. Tell someone that you love them

2. Read Ephesians 1.16-23 and pray it for everyone in your church

1. Forgive anyone who has offended you

Excerpt from Rivers and Wells (Pastor Benjamin’s book on the anointing)

This passage is an excerpt from Pastor Benjamin’s book RIvers and Wells.  The book can be purchased here.

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On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given,because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7.37-39, NKJV)

Incidentally, I much prefer the King James rendering of the phrase as “rivers of living waters.” Some modern translations use the phrase “streams of living waters”. I prefer the imagery of rivers of water flowing out of me, rather than streams. It just seems more powerful. The Greek gives the idea of water with a current – water that is flowing to a destination. Incidentally the King James translates a few phrases a bit better than the more modern versions. In Ephesians 6 the King James Version tells us to take up the shield of faith because of the fiery darts of the enemy. The New International Version tells us the enemy has flaming missiles. I do not know about you, but I would rather be facing fiery darts than flaming missiles!

So, by comparing these passages we can see that in John 4 Jesus is talking about the new birth and says that at the new birth a well of gushing water is placed inside you. In John 7, Jesus is not referring to the new birth but rather the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and he says the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not like a well inside you, but like rivers that flow out of you. These rivers flowing out of you are your ministry to others: laying hands on the sick, casting out demons, speaking the Word to people. This ministry is not just for the full-time ministers but should be part and parcel of the life of every Christian. Jesus said that whoever believed in Him would do the works He did (John 14.12). I know a lot of people talk about the end of that verse (“greater works”) and many theological people have argued about what greater works means. I simply do not care what greater works means. I do not. I am staying on the first part of the verse: I will do the works Jesus did. When I am doing them fully, then I will find out what the greater works are.

It makes me laugh when I hear theologians discuss and argue about what the greater works are when they have never even done the works Jesus did in the first place. You, Christian, should be doing the works of Jesus. That is the power of God that has been placed inside you: rivers of living water. Not just one river, but many rivers. So you can flow in the power of God and minister life and healing to those around you. Mark 16 tells us that those who believe will lay hands on the sick and the sick will recover. It does not mention apostles and prophets and pastors! It says those who believe. The highest calling and anointing for any Christian is the anointing and calling to be a believer. There are many people who would call themselves (and it is them calling themselves, because God certainly has not done it) apostles and prophets, and yet they have never even once functioned in the anointing of the believer. They have never laid their hands on the sick and seen them recover! It is time the body of Christ stopped arguing over titles and pre-eminence, got over our jealousy of one another and started doing the works that Jesus did.

Every Christian should be casting out demons, healing the sick, ministering life and love to the world and doing good. This is the most important issue when it comes to the anointing, not the prophetic and apostolic anointings. These are real, and Christians need to know how to relate to these anointings, but there is far too much emphasis on them within the charismatic move today. Let us focus on the main issues: every Christian should be ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit and have rivers of life flowing out of them changing their worlds. The church is so far removed from this. There are so many Christians who do not know that the power of God is inside them, that the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives inside them, that they can do the works of Jesus, that they can place their hands on a sick person and the person will be healed. And yet, the church is arguing about who is a prophet and who is this, and who is that. Who cares?

The fact is most of the world needs a church that is filled with faith and glory. God’s desire is for the whole church to be doing the works of Jesus and extending the kingdom and rescuing people from hell. We have made church a spectator sport, like a theatre show. You pay your money and you put your backside on a chair so the pastor can boast how many backsides are on chairs, but you are not expected to do the works of Jesus.

You know you are destined for more than a bottom on a seat. You were designed by God for dominion, for destiny, to rule and reign over fear and over sickness. To change lives and demonstrate the kingdom of God. You know that rivers of living water will flow out of you.

Say this out loud: No more am I merely a bottom on a seat. I am a child of God. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is in me. The greater One lives in me. I have an anointing from the Holy One. In me is a well of water, out of me flow rivers of living water.

You need to keep saying this out loud until you start getting excited about this. You need to be so confident of this that when you walk out your house and see someone sick you offer to lay your hands on them. You offer to minister life to them. When you see someone sad, you are going to cast the devil out of them. You are going to do the works that Jesus did. You are going to believe the Word of God.

7 Great Reasons Christians Can and Should Celebrate Hallowe’en

We are getting to that stage of year where Christians suddenly turn into pagans.  Not because they are dressing up, getting some free sweets, and enjoying Hallowe’en – that’s not pagan.  But because some Christians actually believe that demons get more powerful based on a day of the year!  That’s paganism, not Christianity.  Being scared of demons is utterly incompatible with being a child of the living God.

So, in honour of the season, here are 7 great reasons Christians should celebration Hallowe’en:

1.  Hallowe’en has never been about evil.  In Victorian times, children dressed up as tramps, as burglars, as pirates.  It was creativity, it was escapism, it was using our imagination.  So much of success in life depends on our imagination, and our ability to conceive a future above and beyond what we are doing right now, realizing we have a God who is above and beyond anything we have right now and can conceive naturally.  Let your children practice and rehearse using theirs!  If you are uncomfortable with them going door to door alone that is nothing to do with Hallowe’en, that’s just good parenting.  Take your children out – spend some time with them!  Enjoy “guising” with them.  Or take them to a party.  Let this day be a day you invest in your children!

2.  Don’t let the pagan past of the day bother you.  Colossians 2.16 says not to let anyone judge you on the day you keep – we are free to observe or not observe days.  Both the dates of Easter and Christmas in this country are pagan in history – so are the days of the week: Thursday is Thor’s Day, Friday is Frei Day.  They are the names of pagan gods.  January is named after a two-faced god called Janus.  So – if you feel bad about celebrating Hallowe’en because it is “pagan” then don’t give anyone a Christmas card, don’t celebrate your pagan birthday in pagan January, and certainly don’t go to church on the day named by people who worship the Sun!

3.  Get a grip on rumours and conjecture.  Here is the truth: no one actually knows what Wiccans and pagans did during the ancient festival of Samhain.  What we do know is the Pope moved All Saint’s Day to November 1st so that people had something to celebrate at this time of year.  If that sounds familiar it should – that’s how we have the current dates for Christmas. 

4.  Realize that satan has been utterly and completely and totally and irreversibly defeated.  I mean seriously – if I dress up as a dog I am eating at the table of the devil, falling into the devil’s pit and walking into the devil’s trap?  Did you forget about Calvary?  Did you forget that the devil has a squished head.  Did you forget that Jesus beat him once and for all for all eternity?  If you think the devil is so powerful that he can demonize someone for dressing up or eating candy, or bob for apples, or carving a face into a pumpkin, then you don’t have a Biblical paradigm, you have a pagan one.

5. This wonderful quote from Martin Luther: The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn.  Have a good laugh at the devil.  Here is this day that some Christians are scared of, some Christians will hate you for embracing, some Christians will not sleep at night because of the imaginary extra demon activity – you may even hear stories of witches praying and fasting – here is this scary, scary day and you are getting time with your children, you are getting free sweets, you are oblivious to him and his ridiculous fear-tactics.  Have a good laugh about now, because that’s awesome.   Don’t spend the night concerned and worried – that’s not the fruit of redemption.  Have some fun and have a laugh at the no-powered, flat-headed, wannabe that tried so hard to give you the heebie jeebies.

6. All Saint’s Day (November 1st) is a really important thing.  I know some people think that you have to be really really special to be a saint.  Nah!  Every single born again Christian is a saint – is a holy one.  You were made holy by Jesus the moment you accepted his life into yourself.  Your spirit was transformed into righteousness and your life changed so significantly Jesus called it being born again.  It’s great to take some time to remember all the saints who have influenced you, helped you, mentored you, inspired you with their books and biographies.  It’s important to remember that generation after generation the church has grown, survived and helped people and that you are currently where you are only because you are standing on the shoulders of giants.  Hallowe’en is from “Hallow’s eve” which is the night before All Hallow’s or All Saint’s day – the day of remembering the saints.

7.  Hallowe’en is a great day to smash a stereotype.  Some people think Christians are a bunch of frail-minded, superstitious fools who see a devil in every corner.  They think you are sitting under your covers rebuking the devil, warding them off with your HOLY Bible and separating yourself from people.  Get out there, smile at the neighbours as they go round the streets.  Get boxes full of sweets and hand them out.  Be the most generous giver of sweets on your street.  I would say don’t dare stick a tract in the bag unless you know that bag has the most sweets in it of anyone in your street.  Get yourself talked about – get the whole street talking about your generosity, which is spelled L O V E.   Then when someone asks why give an answer about the love and life of God inside you.