Prodigal God

Today we kicked off our mission month under a series called ‘Prodigal God’ centred around Tim Keller’s book.

One of the amazing things about Jesus is that even though he was a righteous person he would do life with unrighteous people. The strange thing about Jesus is that even though he came from God he would spend time being with ungodly people.

In the first century people who were nothing like Jesus would want to be about Him. They wouldn’t be put off by Him; people who were not religious didn’t get offended by what he said or did. The people who would describe themselves as not good living at all would enjoy his company. The thing that gets me and sometimes frustrates me is that all over this country people will gather just like we do in the Vineyard but with very few people who look nothing like us or believe what we believe. The local Church is to be as close to Jesus as you can get. For some reason we don't have the same effect isn't that odd?

The big question is why was Jesus so attracted to people that were nothing like him and why is it that people who were nothing like Jesus, gathered sometimes in their thousands to hear him?

If we embrace this question and come to it with an open mind, wrestle with it and even bring more questions to it then we begin to shape the future of the Vineyard Church. We have to come to this point and honestly ask and answer this question; are we going to give our time to reaching people or keeping people?

The people that thought they were most like him were always put off and offended?

Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." We can almost imagine them saying: “He welcomes sinners! This kind of person never comes to our meetings. This must be because he is telling them what they want to hear.

The message of the gospel when it’s presented clear, with grace & mercy will result in broken people, sceptical people, sexually immoral people, and social outsiders, attracted to Jesus more so than the religious people. Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.” (Matt 21:31)

I want to encourage you to begin to invest and invite people that you know who as yet are not followers of Christ. Jesus sees the world like this, lost people and found people, broken relationships and people back in relationship. The challenge for you and me is this, will we become externally focused or be a Church that has the older brother syndrome; it’s all about me? The challenge for me and for you is, will we focus on what Jesus was focused on, the disconnected the disenfranchised?

We have all been lost, we all have had the broken relationship and there was a party when we came home, you and I should be catalysts’ people passionately motivated, people who would go and call those not yet convinced to come.

Have you ever lost something that was huge for you and no one helped you to find it. Frustrating right? I often wonder when God looks at us, does He look and say “do you even know how frustrating this is to look for my sheep, my coin.”

I'm here to seek and save the lost and God invites you and I to join the search. Aren’t you glad someone broke the silence with you? If what Jesus said is true we need to be doing it and getting around those not yet connected. I could spend the rest of my life without impacting non believers I could make myself busy and it would be a lot easier. I think at the end God might say great Church wrong focus.

Here’s what I want you to do today… Invest; Ask God to bring someone to the front of your mind, pray for them, email them, pick up the phone, call with them and Invite them to come with you to Church this Sunday.

We have a great Church and great people, we could be so tempted to stop. Now imagine if we could look back by this Christmas and say I was part of someone being found.

Graciously,

Jason Scott

September is the new January

I love September, to me it feels more like a new year than January, here’s an idea, maybe we could start a campaign on Facebook to change it. After coming out of summer I’m ready for routine, well at least getting the kids of to bed at a set time. I have a little more energy, probably all that Vitamin D stored up from all the sunshine we had here in Ireland over the last two months. There’s a visual and atmospheric change also about September which is another huge argument for making it the New Year; the colour in trees, the light in the day getting shorter, the crisper cooler evenings and seeing your breath on an early morning.

In September I do more evaluation of my life than I probably do in January; what do I need to change? Add? Or more often the case, get shot of? During September and October at the Vineyard we are taking a journey, a journey of spiritual renewal, looking at spiritual health. All of us have areas in our lives that we need health in. Paul said this “It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right I inevitably do what is wrong. There is something else deep within me, my lower nature, (sin nature) that is at war with my mind and wins the fight.” Rom. 7:21, 23 (LB). Sound familiar? Yesterday I was exhausted, planned an early night, ended up watching two back to back’s of Ramsey’s ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ and hitting the sack after midnight.

Read these words of Henry Thoreau and then take four minutes to watch the video below.

I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life...to put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
~Henry David Thoreau

Crash 09/ Disciple Making

Each year the Vineyard Crash their community with faith, hope and love. The idea is to collide with our communities leaving them with this one thing; God loves you and wants a relationship with you.
This year we had a team of 22 come from our sister Church, Vineyard Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio (www.vineyardcincinnati.com) to partner with us. Each day we kicked off with a kids club, then after lunch we headed out to paint, wash cars, garden, visit nursing homes, do healing on the streets and then each evening we opened the doors in The Storehouse for teenagers. It was a great week for many reasons; people received Gods love in a practical way, kids got to have fun, we saw the power of God as we prayed for the sick and the weather stayed good (no small thing in N.Ireland). I guess you could safely say the week was a huge success. What was really cool was the fact that when we become outward focused when we go after the lost God, takes care of his children on the way

This week highlighted the fact for me again that we do our best growing in God when we go and serve those not yet in the Kingdom. I was so proud; thrilled to watch our kids hear Gods voice and encourage each other. One teenager told me how this week was the first time he heard God speak to him through someone else and how it blew him away. I’m convinced that when we go on mission God does so much in our hearts. I guess that’s what means when the ancient scriptures say "To Find Your Life You Must Lose It" Matthew 16:24-28. When we are fully committed to serving God, He does so much more in us than through us.

I totally believe in equipping followers of Jesus so that they can grow in their faith, character and love for humanity. I have watched people shout for disciple training in the context of “pour into my life”, “spend time with me”, “Teach me theology”. I mean no pastor, leader would look at these things and not come to the conclusion that they are essential to the Christian faith and walk, and they are of high importance and pivotal to every follower of Jesus Christ. Here’s the BUT, if it’s all great connection without a great commission then there is no real growth, maturity or lasting fruit.

Listen to this, this is mind blowing, if you get this everything changes from here on in for you and the people around you, The person who trusts me will not only do what I'm doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I've been doing. You can count on it. 13 From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I'll do it. That's how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. 14 Whatever you request in this way, I'll do. (The Message John 14:12-14)


Let me ask you a question; if you are follower of Jesus Christ what do you bring to your workplace, university, school, what do you bring to your community? Because of Jesus coming to earth, bringing His Kingdom and defeating death, because of the resurrection we have the opportunity to bring life. We bring right acts, joy and peace because of the Holy Spirit. You and I have the right and the responsibility to act on behalf of Jesus as His followers, bring light to darkness, beauty to brokenness.
Have you ever looked at the world and thought is Jesus Kingdom among us? Where is His rule and reign?
So many followers of Jesus have resigned themselves to the thought that nothing will ever change until Jesus returns to sort out the mess. Maybe it’s because they look around and see the mistakes and past failures of the Church and doubt that things will ever be put right here on earth, resigning to watching, waiting and often criticizing; Problem is this doesn’t fit with what we see and know of Jesus commissioning His followers. The tasks Jesus leaves us to carry out His redemption work is straight forward, though it’s straight forward and reads OK on paper it’s daunting and demanding. Our first task or command is this – You have authority - ‘so go and make disciples’

Thanks to all the Crash team who showed up, stepped out and brought beauty to brokenness. Who walked out their discipleship by advancing the Kingdom. I have no doubt that everyone grew more in faith, character and love for God and others. I guess you could say there is theology in all of this.

Keep crashing forward!

Anger

Today we continued with 'Riddle's of the Wise' looking at the practical sayings of Proverbs. I often find myself after screwing up, saying "Aw well you live and learn" wonder is it a universal saying? Though proverbs is giving an alternative to this and teaching us to learn and live, which really is a better way to go.

Proverbs 16:32 Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city. What I like about the writer is he realises the emotions we have and doesn't ignore them as if we become robots when we become followers of Christ. He also realizes the courage, strength and discipline that it takes to control them. Not easy! I find myself more often than not falling short when it comes to controlling anger.

Jesus once talked about anger "Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell." “Raca” is Aramaic for “empty-headed one”; the insult is about the same as the one that follows it, “Fool!” —.

Have you ever read scripture like this and pretend you haven’t just read what you read. I mean you block it out. Call someone a fool and off to hell you go. Gehenna is one word used for Hell. It comes from the Hebrew Gey-Hinnom, literally "valley of Hinnom." Its a real place, south of the old city of Jerusalem where the city's rubbish was burned. At one time in history, live babies were thrown crying into the fire to be sacrificed to an idol called Moloch. This place was so despised by the people after King Josiah abolished this sick practice so they made into a rubbish heap. Bodies of diseased animals and executed criminals were thrown there and burned. Listen if you continue with anger and it results in you calling and swearing at humanity with anger, the result is your life could end up like Gehenna – the rubbish dump or looking at it another way, Gehenna could end up taking over your life and making it stink.

Back to the learning to live point. It's worth checking the heart regularly to see if we are living with anger. You see when we lose it we find ourselves saying another phrase "I don't know what came over me" well it's not that it came over you, it usually comes from within. How's your heart? When someone asks for bread are you giving them a stone? Are you carrying anger into relationships? Here's one I find alot, people leaving another Church in anger. They might have a lid on it but it usually ends up in an environmental disaster with toxic leaks.


Don't keep a lid on it, deal with anger, get shot of it as quick as possible.

Happiness is an attitude

I'm just back at to work this week from a fantastic two week break at the North Coast of N.Ireland, thanks to the generosity of friends who let us use their holiday home. When we arrived at our destination we discovered that our bike rack pulled our boot (trunk) off line, which caused the car battery to go and then the alternator went; £300 and 5 days later we had our car back. Given my Pentecostal roots it was time to blame the devil and see this as an attack from the enemy. Michelle became a Calvinist saying “God was in it and working through it”

Happiness is an attitude and a choice, the reality was we where staying in one of the most beautiful parts in the world, the sun shone even though the forecast predicted rain, we had great friends who gave us their car and we reconnected with friends that we hadn’t seen for a while.

In two weeks, friendships, family and creation cried out God is BIG and He is GOOD all the time. Happiness isn’t so much about what happens, it’s more about a life well lived and as followers of Christ we are called to a life that is filled with opportunity and joy.

“Joy is a rare thing, you don’t find it everywhere it’s different thing from happiness” Bono

The Apprentice

The Apprentice:

It is interesting that the word “Christian” hardly appears in the New Testament. We use the word all the time, but the word “Christian” only appears in the New Testament, get this - 3 times. Compare that to how the ancient scriptures describe a follower of Jesus Christ. Nearly 300 times they are called “disciples.”

We reserve the word “disciple” for people, who are really, really serious about their faith, saints, people who are really holy, however we scale that. Here’s the crazy part, somewhere along the way we have come up with the idea that you can be a Christian in the Church but not a disciple. You graduate to become a disciple I guess through knowing more of the Bible? Going to Church? Tithing?

When Jesus walked on a beach one day beside the Sea of Galilee he begins to call the first two disciples, and because these guys were working in the family business meant they weren’t following another Rabbi, these guys are not the best of the best. The beauty of what Jesus calls us to is not made up of scholars alone, but of working class, young, old, rich, poor, educated and so called drop outs. What I truley love about being a disciple is that it is a movement for everyone.

Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"?
- 1 Cor 1:26 – 30 The Message;

We have no problem believing in God, no problem believing in Jesus? The stumbling block for many followers of Jesus and I guess the reason why we have added the label Christian to followers of Jesus is because we struggle with the idea that God believes in us. His call to become a follower, a disciple an apprentice means because of His authority you and I can take action, bring beauty to brokenness, and become peddlers of hope. You and I can live like Jesus and do what he did; the bible says yes even greater things. He believes in you and entrusts you with the pear of great price; The Kingdom


The question that remains is, ‘Will we accept His call and commission?’
Jesus came and told his disciples, "I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations.

Once Upon a Time

Ivan Illich brilliantly said, “Neither revolution nor reformation can ultimately change a society, rather you must tell a new powerful tale, one so persuasive that it sweeps away the old myths and becomes the preferred story, one so inclusive that it gathers all the bits of our past and our present into a coherent whole, one that even shines some light into the future so that we can take the next step forward. If you want to change a society, then you have to tell an alternative story.”

Over the last three weeks we have invited people to come and tell their story, each week people have been inspired, encouraged and I pray awakened to write their own story this side of eternity. We are all part of a once upon a time moment…a true story… that's directed by God the father, every one's story is connected to His story or put this way, ‘for everything absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him - The Message Col 1:16

Many followers of Christ and not yet followers forget or don't realize that they are the story.
Paul said, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. " (eph 2:10)
Sounds a little heavy right? I mean you could pick up from reading this ancient text that this Christianity is all do, do, do. The fact is within this text we miss something living and life giving. The word workmanship comes from the Greek word poiema word poem. It is only used twice in Scripture yet conveys meaning that is almost breathtaking, and of great importance.
The word poiema is used here first to describe God's work of creation in Romans ; For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (rom 1:20 NIV)

Get this, with all our mistakes, selfishness and pride amongst other stuff, we are doubly a divine story in the penmanship of Our Sovereign God, when we give our lives to Him! How special is that! We are first a divine poem, art, story, part of His wonderful creation; but when we allowed sin to enter the world back in the garden , God wrote another divine story, that of the story of sweet redemption. Through Christ he rewrites us, recreates us all over again. Get this, It’s not about works it’s a love story of boundless grace and you and I become the story.