What I am about might not be liked by to many people but here it goes one of the problems i see within our church is that it is to heavily 21 and under focused ( i agree they are very important missions) but that’s not what Jesus commands us to focus on completely. Jesus commands us to go and make disciples of all nations, not just the youth nation. I believe as a church we need to be re-taught a lot of things like what you Pete were talking about money, our possessions are Gods and to be used for His kingdom.
Another of our problems is that we think we need to keep talks as short as possible 40 minutes no more, for crying out loud this is the word of God if the lesson we need to here takes 2 hours so be it we are there to learn more of the word together. Most people sit longer to watch The Hobbit or Test cricket, we need to love God again His words need to be something that we love to hear and share.
I would love to see us plant another church in Goonellabah, I long to see everyone living Life On Life with those in their GC and the rest of the city of Lismore.
Ok i have had my rave, I guess in the end God has his plan for Lismore but are we willing to move with it.
In saying all this I believe our leadership has it right( Vision 2014 beyond) not because they think its right but because they know this is what the word of God says they are moving with Gods commands and they are leading by doubling their giving, what encouragement to hear this and thanks for leading in this way.
I love you my brothers.
I love a song by Matta Pappa called Stay Away From Jesus here are the words below and bible verses to go with it
Matt 5:44, 6:24, 7:13-14, 10:39, 19:14, Luke 14:26, 33, 9:23, James 2:17, 4:6, Ex 15:3, Rev 3:15-16,
John 6:53, 8:32, 14:6
You won’t ever hear this song on Christian radio
Cause the Jesus that I serve is not safe
He’ll say take Your cross and die
So if you want a comfy life
Stay away from Jesus
He says narrow is the gate and hard is the way
Hate the ones you love and love the ones you hate
Eat my flesh and drink my blood
But if your works are good enough
Stay away from Jesus
O let the children come
O let the prideful run
The Lord, The Lord is His name
He has died the world to save
But to believe is to obey
So come or stay away
He says be either hot or cold, you can’t serve God and gold
Indifference is the road that leads to hell
So if you’re happy in your stuff
and if 10%’s enough
Stay away from Jesus
Bridge:
He says come follow me
lose your life and be free
you must die to believe
like a child come and see
He draws every line in love, He is good and He is just
And the words He speaks are meant to set you free
But if you think you are the Way
And in control you have to stay
Then stay away from Jesus
Hi Trev, thanks for contributing to the conversation.
I agree that there is a big focus on youth age people in our Church with youth group being such a big ministry. But there are some youth/young adults who also feel that our Church focusses too much on families. I have heard (and felt myself at times) people talk about GC being hard for youth/YA to ‘fit’ in and seems most benificial to families. It seems we need to talk about these things. And we also need to be striving to be other centred and humbly caring about others more than ourselves (Phil 2:3).
I agree on your point on the length of talks. I feel that I personally could easily listen for 1-2 hour sermons. But again this is me, what about others. I need to love others and be concerned about their abilities. Do we just do it anyway even if the don’t like it? I don’t know. But unbelievers may not like sermons that long either. We need to make sure we are welcoming to them too.
Thanks again Trev.
I am your brother in Christ and I want all the people our our Church to be passionate followers of Jesus too.
Interesting thoughts about longer sermons. Perhaps a solution is to have usual sermons of about 40 minutes with the option of returning after morning tea for a further expounding on the Word for another hour. Having once sat avidly listening to sermons extending to 3 hours or more, I well understand the hunger with many. Other aspects to consider in this though are whether or not the Pastors may recommend longer sermons or indeed, whether we have the ability to digest them.
And it’s worth a thought….
Jenny
Hey Mark thanks for your thoughts and words. I guess when we start to compartmentalize
groups of people in the church we cause greater conflict(there is more focus on that group etc). In the end the needs are still the same in that we need to speak the gospel grow disciples that grow disciples and keep doing that through life on life in the end we are a family that is Gods family.
I think with the time issue on talks I guess I see my brothers and sisters in countries were they have no freedom spend hours even days studying the word of God seeing that it is the food which sustains them. I guess i feel ashamed in my commitment to this and long for this passion.
As for GC and youth well i believe its a great opportunity to learn from those that have gone on before them see and hear the struggles that they have gone through the mistakes they have made but in the end seeing a God who pursues his people leads them back to him show his mercy on them, they are a great light of how its nothing we can do to be saved because its all ready done through God’s sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and a savoir is alive.
What I am about might not be liked by to many people but here it goes one of the problems i see within our church is that it is to heavily 21 and under focused ( i agree they are very important missions) but that’s not what Jesus commands us to focus on completely. Jesus commands us to go and make disciples of all nations, not just the youth nation. I believe as a church we need to be re-taught a lot of things like what you Pete were talking about money, our possessions are Gods and to be used for His kingdom.
Another of our problems is that we think we need to keep talks as short as possible 40 minutes no more, for crying out loud this is the word of God if the lesson we need to here takes 2 hours so be it we are there to learn more of the word together. Most people sit longer to watch The Hobbit or Test cricket, we need to love God again His words need to be something that we love to hear and share.
I would love to see us plant another church in Goonellabah, I long to see everyone living Life On Life with those in their GC and the rest of the city of Lismore.
Ok i have had my rave, I guess in the end God has his plan for Lismore but are we willing to move with it.
In saying all this I believe our leadership has it right( Vision 2014 beyond) not because they think its right but because they know this is what the word of God says they are moving with Gods commands and they are leading by doubling their giving, what encouragement to hear this and thanks for leading in this way.
I love you my brothers.
I love a song by Matta Pappa called Stay Away From Jesus here are the words below and bible verses to go with it
Matt 5:44, 6:24, 7:13-14, 10:39, 19:14, Luke 14:26, 33, 9:23, James 2:17, 4:6, Ex 15:3, Rev 3:15-16,
John 6:53, 8:32, 14:6
You won’t ever hear this song on Christian radio
Cause the Jesus that I serve is not safe
He’ll say take Your cross and die
So if you want a comfy life
Stay away from Jesus
He says narrow is the gate and hard is the way
Hate the ones you love and love the ones you hate
Eat my flesh and drink my blood
But if your works are good enough
Stay away from Jesus
O let the children come
O let the prideful run
The Lord, The Lord is His name
He has died the world to save
But to believe is to obey
So come or stay away
He says be either hot or cold, you can’t serve God and gold
Indifference is the road that leads to hell
So if you’re happy in your stuff
and if 10%’s enough
Stay away from Jesus
Bridge:
He says come follow me
lose your life and be free
you must die to believe
like a child come and see
He draws every line in love, He is good and He is just
And the words He speaks are meant to set you free
But if you think you are the Way
And in control you have to stay
Then stay away from Jesus
Hi Trev, thanks for contributing to the conversation.
I agree that there is a big focus on youth age people in our Church with youth group being such a big ministry. But there are some youth/young adults who also feel that our Church focusses too much on families. I have heard (and felt myself at times) people talk about GC being hard for youth/YA to ‘fit’ in and seems most benificial to families. It seems we need to talk about these things. And we also need to be striving to be other centred and humbly caring about others more than ourselves (Phil 2:3).
I agree on your point on the length of talks. I feel that I personally could easily listen for 1-2 hour sermons. But again this is me, what about others. I need to love others and be concerned about their abilities. Do we just do it anyway even if the don’t like it? I don’t know. But unbelievers may not like sermons that long either. We need to make sure we are welcoming to them too.
Thanks again Trev.
I am your brother in Christ and I want all the people our our Church to be passionate followers of Jesus too.
Interesting thoughts about longer sermons. Perhaps a solution is to have usual sermons of about 40 minutes with the option of returning after morning tea for a further expounding on the Word for another hour. Having once sat avidly listening to sermons extending to 3 hours or more, I well understand the hunger with many. Other aspects to consider in this though are whether or not the Pastors may recommend longer sermons or indeed, whether we have the ability to digest them.
And it’s worth a thought….
Jenny
Hey Mark thanks for your thoughts and words. I guess when we start to compartmentalize
groups of people in the church we cause greater conflict(there is more focus on that group etc). In the end the needs are still the same in that we need to speak the gospel grow disciples that grow disciples and keep doing that through life on life in the end we are a family that is Gods family.
I think with the time issue on talks I guess I see my brothers and sisters in countries were they have no freedom spend hours even days studying the word of God seeing that it is the food which sustains them. I guess i feel ashamed in my commitment to this and long for this passion.
As for GC and youth well i believe its a great opportunity to learn from those that have gone on before them see and hear the struggles that they have gone through the mistakes they have made but in the end seeing a God who pursues his people leads them back to him show his mercy on them, they are a great light of how its nothing we can do to be saved because its all ready done through God’s sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and a savoir is alive.
Cheers Brother
A brief history of money…
http://visualunit.me/2010/03/19/history-of-money/