Jun | 22 | Chiselled

Dream Word – PREPARE

1 Kings 6:7 And the temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built. NKJV

Chiselled

I’ve always wanted to be chiselled. You know, tough, muscular, sculptured, less than five percent body fat, a lean mean fighting machine. However, spending most of my time seated, bent over and bashing at the keys, has meant that the plastic bits holding my six pack together, burst open a long time ago and I now have a small keg instead. Chiselled indeed! Ha! The older I get, the more I resemble Winnie The Pooh and no doubt, I shall probably end up smelling like him as well.

This body of mine seems to take up an increasing amount of time with respect to daily maintenance and the more I care about it, the less my God seems to, for the terrible 'Kray Twins' of time and gravity, are slowly taking over all parts of my parish and their demands for protection money increase with every year.

Spurgeon wonderfully comments on our text for tonight by saying:-

As in the building of Solomon's temple, "there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the house," because all was brought perfectly ready for the exact spot it was to occupy—so is it with the temple which Jesus builds; the making ready is all done on earth. When we reach heaven, there will be no sanctifying us there, no squaring us with affliction, no planing us with suffering. No, we must be made meet here—all that Christ will do beforehand; and when He has done it, we shall be ferried by a loving hand across the stream of death, and brought to the heavenly Jerusalem, to abide as eternal pillars in the temple of our Lord.

"Beneath His eye and care,
The edifice shall rise,
Majestic, strong, and fair,
And shine above the skies."

How wonderful. Friends, God want us be chiselled saints as well, but in a way which is completely contrary to our desires. God is not dealing with the Kray twins today. They are not yet locked up, but rather roam all our towns terrorising and slashing, ever threatening and always following through. Now listen, for God’s love for us means that sometimes He takes care of our bodies in the healing of them. Yes, sometimes He answers our many, our oh so many prayers, for healing with a “Let it be so!” However, most of the time, He doesn’t! No, most of the time, He seems to disdain our present distress, He seems to, most of the time, never even turn His face toward our broken-down bodies. We answer this seeming offensive disdain with conclusions such as, ‘Lack of Faith,’ ‘Out of Season,’ ‘Lack of Gifting.’ ‘Lack of Anointing,’ ‘Unbelief,’ and so on and so forth. Sometimes, some of these conclusions may be applicable, but most of the time, most of the time I say, the Master Mason never even raises His eyes, nor turns His head towards the physical brokenness we bring to Him. He is saying “No” to our prayers.

In terms of priorities, may I suggest to you that these failing edifices of ours, these flesh covered tents, all falling to pieces before our very eyes, are presently some way down His bride’s ‘honeydo’ list. Yet, every day, He chisels away at us, forming our hearts, moulding our spirits, expanding our souls, making us ready for the everlasting Kingdom which all creation groans for to be revealed. I wonder if this present work of chiselling sanctification is so thorough, so precise, so exacting, that the Master Mason refuses to be distracted from His masterpiece which is You!

No doubt, like me, you shall still pester Him to come and fix a lesser work, to come and patch up a failing form and sometimes, because He loves us, He shall do this. However, most of the time, He evidently doesn’t and this is because He is involved in a far greater work in this quarry of His world.

This present and walking ruin of our bodies, is totally unfit to house His master piece. To that end then , He has prepared for us a body, a resurrected one, a chiselled masterpiece to beautifully house His present preparation. By all means then pray, but above all be patient and have faith that all the pain has purpose. Have faith in this my friends, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, turn your pain to hope. The 'Kray Twins' are not yet locked up, yes both time and gravity shall have their wicked way. But not for always. No, not forever.

Listen: - Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. Hebrews 6:1-3 NKJV.

Pray:- I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord: Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He arose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen. (The Apostles Creed)

Jun | 21 | Quiver Time

Key Word:- PATIENCE

Title:- Quiver Time

2 Kings 13:17 And he said, “Open the east window”; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot. And he said, “The arrow of the LORD's deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them.”
 
It was around 1:30am and a good 40 mile drive home in the dark. Driving down those country roads meant it took some time to get there, but the fact is, I really don't remember the journey home!

When I boxed, I had always been able to punch 'above' my weight and was always able to 'take a good punch' as well, ask my doctor! I can still remember the time I awoke out of anesthetic after having my very deviated and dislocated septum put back for the second time. The surgeon was leaning over me, peering into my eyes, his big, red-veined bulbous nose making him look like 'Rudolph the red nose reindeer' and with the remnants of the anesthesia giving his voice a booming and distant quality he said; “Well, what a bloody mess that was!” He'd fixed my snout up lovely again, but he was certainly not impressed that I could 'take a punch'.

In the last round of that particular fight at the Butlins Holiday Park in Bognor Regis, as usual, my lack of fitness was showing and as the final seconds ticked away, my coach got worried that the referee might step in and stop the bout. It had been a gruelling one and my opponent certainly was a big hitter. I remember lying back on the ropes as he piled into me, just blocking, covering up, leaning back, shaking my head and laughing at him. His home crowd hated my open disdain of their boy and booed loudly at my shenanigans. It was around midnight, the air was heavy with stale alcohol and blue cigarette smoke, but even with the booing, it was obvious that the crowd loved it. I didn't feel a thing. I could take a punch. However, I don't remember the drive home!
With literally less than 20 seconds to go, my coach threw in the towel and it was all over. I went back to my corner, a bit bewildered at what he had done (maybe a bit thankful as well) and he put his arm around my neck and said; “Well done Rob, well done. We've got our own show in two weeks and I just can't risk losing you for that.” You see if you get stopped in a fight, it goes on your card and you are not allowed to participate in competition for three weeks. The club's own annual show is usually its only real major money making event for the year and so it needs its boxers fit, ready, and approved for competition; if that means throwing in the towel now, so be it. A more important battle lies ahead.

Some of you are on the bench looking on at what is happening on the field. Some of you have been taken off the pitch and are surprised at your recall. Some of you are itching to get back into the fray. Steady now, steady, the great coach knows what He is doing. He purposes a victory for the whole team, not just you. Friend, when the time is right, He shall reach back into His quiver and find your feathers ready for flight and in instant you shall feel the tension of His mighty bow, drawing back, drawing back, back, back until the release of His sure like grip shall send you swiftly to the centre of His chosen target. Be patient friends, be patient, for God has got His own club’s show that He is saving you for!

Listen:- “………... In the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me, And made Me a polished shaft; In His quiver He has hidden Me.” Isaiah 49:2b

Pray:- Lord. Help me to make good use of Your ‘quiver time’. Amen

Jun | 21 | Dealing With The Seven Dwarfs of A Much Diminished Christianity

Dream Word – DANGER

Matthew 24:23-25 "Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. NKJV

Dealing With The Seven Dwarfs of A Much Diminished Christianity

In present day Christianity, Dwarfism in on the rise. Like some Disneyland Mickey Mouse theme park ride, the Seven Dwarfs of ‘Desperate, Dopey, Dumb, Duped, Deceived, Demonized & Destroyed’ are roaming the world selling the largest silver, foiled-covered roast turkey legs you can imagine and can you believe it, the whole world of Christianity is seemingly buying their airplane tickets putting on their mouse ears and sad tiaras and lining up like lemons to have their pips squeaked and a few more drops squeezed from their wallets. Even the very elect!

If you are being sucked into the sad money factory, if these Seven Dwarfs are pulling you down to their level, if their fat-headed big mouths have infected you with this curse of dreadful Dwarfism, then may I recommend a course of antibiotics for you tonight? Take some time, just a long weekend, grab some popcorn, plug in the DVD player and let ‘er rip. Make sure you have some extra rolls of toilet tissue available though, cause this stuff will purge you, and great will be the cleansing thereof.

On Friday, settle down and open up Ian Murray’s great book, ‘Revival and Revivalism, The Making and Marring of American Evangelicism 1750-1858.’ In my opinion there is no greater book to lay some concrete foundations in your mind and heart for what we have seen birthed on the American scene and exported abroad. This should take you until lunchtime Saturday. Now, take the rest of the afternoon and night to plough through the following films:

· ‘The Night of The Hunter,’ starring Robert Mitchum.
· ‘Elmer Gantry,’ starring Bert Lancaster.
· ‘Marjo,’ starring Marjo Gortner
· ‘Leap of Faith,’ starring Steve Martin.

Now on Sunday, get thee hence to a good church. Somewhere that has a good welcome, good worship and a good word. I don’t mean a talk either, I don’t mean a twenty minute recruitment infomercial, I mean a message from a man that takes his time to unpack the Word of God before you in both fear and trembling. A man of Godly hesitation, a man who has one foot on the balances of judgement and another in the fire of hell! A chef of extraordinary care who knows he’s pulled some Fugu fish from the sea of Galilee and you are there to eat his prepared delicacy. It tastes good doesn’t it? You want more don’t you? It’s interesting that good preaching will either have your tongue hanging out for more, or have you up on your feet with your fingers stuck deep into your ears begging him to stop the serving of such hot and steamy, illuminating Linguini.

I tell you, this short course of antibiotics will stop your Dwarfism in its tracks. However, such a cathartic release will have messed up your spiritual G.I. tract like never before. Don’t worry, this will pass. Rest up, grab some good audio sermons from Dr. J.Vernon McGee, A.W. Tozer, Paris Reidhead, Leonard Ravenhill, any one else whose knees knock together when they preach. Do this and thou shalt recover. Oh and may I challenge you good folks affected by such Dwarfism to do just one more hard thing? Brace yourselves now, for here it is: ‘More than anything guys, please, just grow up!’

(P.S. No actual Dwarfs were harmed in the constructing of this message, though many of you have been for the better.)

Listen: - But there were also lying prophets among the people then, just as there will be lying religious teachers among you. They'll smuggle in destructive divisions, pitting you against each other — biting the hand of the One who gave them a chance to have their lives back! They've put themselves on a fast downhill slide to destruction, 2 but not before they recruit a crowd of mixed-up followers who can't tell right from wrong. They give the way of truth a bad name. (2 Peter 2:1-3 from THE MESSAGE: by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)

Pray:- Lord, help us not to believe everything we hear, but carefully weigh and examine what people tell us. Help us to quickly spot those lying preachers loose in the world, in Jesus name we pray, amen.

Jun | 20 | Escaping Black Holes

Key Word:-OBEY


Title:- Escaping Black Holes

Jeremiah 38:6 So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the king's son, which was in the court of the prison, and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire. So Jeremiah sank in the mire.

My father would often come into my bedroom and cry "Clean this mess up! It's like the black hole of Calcutta in here!" When I joined the Royal Navy, mess deck inspection by senior NCO's would often be met with the same cry. "Clean this mess up! It's like the black hole of Calcutta in here!" I have of course removed the very colourful prefix that NCO's would often add to such commands! Whatever the 'black hole of Calcutta' was, it was not very nice, well below standards and completely unacceptable.

Whether myth or embellished fact, 'On June 20, 1756, the headquarters of the East India Company was attacked by the anti-British forces of Suraj-ud-Daula, the nawab of Bengal. For but one evening, 146 prisoners were squeezed into the tiny one-room military jail at Fort William. The room measured 18 ft. by 18 ft. so, the room temperature became very high and only a small amount of water was given to a few prisoners. .Consequently, many people died and many others who became too weak to stand, were crushed by the other swooning sufferers. In the morning only 23 prisoners were still alive. The jail became known as
The Black Hole Of Calcutta.’

Even though your Father may have sent you to Dothan, look around Joseph. Where are you now? In a brotherless pit? Look around Jeremiah, Susan, Harry, Zeb....., are you in a miry pit as well? Look around and if you can honestly say that “It’s like the black hole of Calcutta in here” then you’ve got problems! You’ve tried to get out no doubt, but kept on slipping right back in. Face it friend, you cannot get out of this pit by yourself.

The good news is, that God is in the business of delivering people from black holes. I would venture to say that only He who is the light has the power to pull us from the desperate gravitational pulls of such awful soul-consuming places. You've tried to get out no doubt and slipped right back in, so face it friend, you cannot get out by yourself and 'the Black hole of Calcutta' is a most terrible place to be.

The good news is that God is in the business of delivering people from black holes. Indeed, I would venture to say that only He who is the light, has the power to pull us from the desperate gravitational grasp of such soul sucking places.

The solution is simple.

1. Shout,
2. Wait and
3. Take any help you can get.

Shout to the Lord to come and save you, to come and get you out of where you are. Wait and look up. I say again wait and look up! For help is coming. In Jeremiah’s case, others were working on his behalf to get him out, even though he knew nothing about it! Eventually, his friends made a rope of old clothes and instructed him to put them under his armpits that they might lift him out. He took what help he could get.

So, if you are in a black and lonely brotherless pit today, just keep shouting friends and look up. Help is on the way, I have no doubt about it!

Listen:- He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps.

He has put a new song in my mouth — Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD. Psalm 40:2-3

Pray:- This pit is a present one. Please get me out! In the future Lord, whether primroses or prisons may yet await me, today, please come and get me out. In all these things, O Lord my God, never the less turn me into a living book, a powerful proclamation to that great truth, which is that the LORD truly saves. Amen!

Jun | 20 | The Mark Of the Lion

Dream Word – CONFIDENCE

1 Thessalonians 2:4 But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts. NKJV

The Mark Of The Lion

After an almost complete collapse in the sale of eggs in 1956, the British Egg Marketing Board was set up to promote this most natural of food sources by purchasing all the eggs produced in the UK, grading them to a national standard and then stamping them with a lion logo as a testimony to that high quality which would be seen by the customer, and so communicate to them that this egg was safe, that this egg was disease free, that this egg was even above the expected legal standards! Yes, this egg was approved!

In our text for tonight, Paul says that he and his team are lion stamped, approved eggs. The face of their sky has been seen and discerned, yes, even like five new yoke of oxen, they have been yoked and driven, pushed and pulled, and found to still plough a straight line! They have been thoroughly examined under the grading microscope of God and being found free of falseness, free of disease and free of self-seeking guile, have thus been retained in His service as a most excellent product. God so believed in them, that he entrusted the Gospel to them.

In God’s economy, before any apostolic entrusting, there comes a trying, a testing, a grading and a stamping. Much of what we see today (and it’s not new) of people who count themselves as apostles, as folk entrusted with special knowledge, even Divine favour, fire, gifts and new spiritual insight are nothing short of rotten eggs! They are ungraded, and upon examination bear no mark of the lion they say they represent, but rather they bear the odour of a deceptive and pocket-lining guile.

1. God’s school colours are black and blue, look for those colours.
2. God graduates don’t give two hoots for the favour of men and the backing of names. Look for that.
3. All of God’s approved men bear the mark of being with the Lion. So, look for the claw marks, the punctured flesh, especially around the back of the neck, the limp, indeed, look for any evidence of the heavenly damage, if you will.
4. Finally, and this is important, all of God’s approved men, have been taught by heaven just how to roar. Listen for that roar in their powerful proclamation.

If you come across any egg not bearing the stamp of the Lion, avoid it like the plague, for in the end it will be found tasteless, yokeless, poisonous.

Listen: - We never used words to butter you up. No one knows that better than you. And God knows we never used words as a smoke screen to take advantage of you. Even though we had some standing as Christ's apostles, we never threw our weight around or tried to come across as important, with you or anyone else. We weren't aloof with you. We took you just as you were. We were never patronizing, never condescending, but we cared for you the way a mother cares for her children. We loved you dearly. Not content to just pass on the Message, we wanted to give you our hearts. And we did. You remember us in those days, friends, working our fingers to the bone, up half the night, moonlighting so you wouldn't have the burden of supporting us while we proclaimed God's Message to you. You saw with your own eyes how discreet and courteous we were among you, with keen sensitivity to you as fellow believers. And God knows we weren't freeloaders! You experienced it all firsthand. With each of you we were like a father with his child, holding your hand, whispering encouragement, showing you step-by-step how to live well before God, who called us into his own kingdom, into this delightful life. (1 Thessalonians 2:5-12 -from THE MESSAGE: by Eugene H. Peterson.)

Pray:- Lord, give me a nose for bad eggs, even before they are cracked open. Lord, help me to discern the mark of the Lion on those you have approved and entrusted with Your good news. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Jun | 19 | Jam Tomorrow

Key Word:- VICTORY

Title:- Jam Tomorrow

Matthew 6:19,20 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Whilst having coffee with a friend who managed his own portfolio, I was fascinated to find out the vital need for attentive care, the spreading of risk and the daily monitoring of rise and falls in the market. One of his comments really struck me though when he remarked, “Investments have a fixed and certain return, but all of this stock market ‘stuff’ is speculation, there’s nothing certain about it at all.” He’s right of course.

Thomas Friedman (Foreign Affairs correspondent for the New York Times) in his amazing book on Globalization ‘The Lexus and the Olive Tree’ makes the same point consistently. When what happens in Taiwanese markets can the next day disastrously affect jobs in the U.S.A, this speculative and interconnected market becomes a serious taskmaster to be either mastered or bowed down to afresh, each and every day! Speculation is like that, go to any gamblers anonymous meeting and ask them. Nothing is certain in the speculative world. Absolutely Nothing!

Many years ago as a young Christian in the Royal Navy, I was always defending charges that “Christianity has no relevance in the real world, it’s all ‘Jam tomorrow’, it’s a just ‘a crutch’ for sick people.” My answer to Christ being a crutch was simple, “Jesus is more than a crutch for me, He is a wheelchair! I can have nothing without Him. Absolutely nothing!” It’s still true today of course.

To answer this charge of ‘Jam tomorrow’, you know, ‘Pie in the sky by and by’, I could and would point to a multitude of historic and present precedents in the miraculously changed lives and directions of peoples and even nations who have turned to Christ. Today however, rather than getting into verbal conflict, I just let it lie. “‘Pie in the sky?’” I reply, “‘Jam tomorrow?’ You bet yah baby! For all we see now is passing away and therefore everything, to some extent, is but a temporary impostor on the eternal stage and yes indeed then, concerning much of Christianity, it is most certainly and most absolutely, ‘Jam tomorrow!’”

I am increasingly becoming futuristic in my outlook. By faith, I have ceased to speculate but rather, for the first time maybe, I am investing in CERTAIN futures. How about you today dear freind? How about you? Do you fancy some Jam tomorrow?

Listen:- For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21

Pray:- 'Dust and air' O Lord, just 'Dust and air' and be it all ever so wonderful, it is passing away, just passing away. My Lord Jesus teach me today the true worth of Your heaven, the value of Your treasure and the timeless nature of Your reward. Keep me from trinkets I pray today. Amen.

Jun | 19 | An Open Heart, An Open House & An Open Wallet

Dream Word – COST

Nehemiah 5:14,15 From the time King Artaxerxes appointed me as their governor in the land of Judah — from the twentieth to the thirty-second year of his reign, twelve years — neither I nor my brothers used the governor's food allowance. Governors who had preceded me had oppressed the people by taxing them forty shekels of silver (about a pound) a day for food and wine while their underlings bullied the people unmercifully. But out of fear of God I did none of that. (from THE MESSAGE: by Eugene H. Peterson.)

An Open Heart, An Open House & An Open Wallet

Nehemiah the Jew, cup bearer to the King of Babylon was on a good ticket. Wiley, wealthy, healthy and settled, there was no reason he should be moved from his sumptuous and most prosperous position. Except that he was a practical man, a patriotic man and above all a prayerful man and friends, any spiritual mathematician will tell you, that the product of prayerfulness and practical patriotism, will always produce problems in the heart in which that equation unfolds itself. Go ask Cromwell.

So one day, Nehemiah receives some Jews from Jerusalem, his own home capital city, and hears the lamentable tale of the sorry state that both it and its people are in. The equation starts to unfold, and moved by this Divine and mathematical injunction, Nehemiah has the courage to gain the permission of his earthly potentate, to return home for a time (a well thought out and planned for time by the way) for the sole purpose of restoring the people of God and their capital city, to a place of protection for them, a place of prayer for them and a place of prosperity for them. The personal cost to Nehemiah was substantial.

From the superb heights of Babylonian safety, Nehemiah was returning to a blitzed city, a city of broken walls and a city of broken spirits. He was returning under suspicion from his own people and his enemies, even under attack, from his enemies and his own people, yet bringing to their beleaguered table, his wisdom, his wiliness and his wealth. It is the latter I wish to talk about this evening: Nehemiah’s wealth.

Nehemiah was not backward in coming forward in laying out the personal cost to himself of such a radical restoration and I am glad of it, for be sure, such radical restoration is exceptionally costly. Following Nehemiah’s own practicality then, let us do the same and highlight that for twelve years, he did not take what was rightfully his. On the contrary, from his own substantial pockets, he financed and fed a multitude of projects and people. This was not an unplanned, frittering away of personal resources, but rather a well-led example of sacrifice for the purpose of focused rebuilding. Every penny was both well spent and accounted for. I think the we might consider installing Nehemiah permanently in No11 Downing Street!

The time has come in my own country of Britain to have a purposeful and focused rebuilding of the church of the living God, for all its walls are broken and breached, and for all the talk of fire, the only fire of any effect is that which has burned down all our gates. Indeed, the enemy has their storehouses in our very temple courts and the two assassins of Sanballat and Tobiah, have already unsheathed their swords among us. Today, right now, we need a multitude of Nehemiah’s, all consumed with zeal, who shall at great personal cost, give their lives in the form of their relocation, their leadership, their expertise and most practically and most especially, their wallets. Without them, Jerusalem shall not be built again in this most green and pleasant land. Are you a Nehemiah?

Listen: - I had work to do; I worked on this wall. All my men were on the job to do the work. We didn't have time to line our own pockets. I fed one hundred and fifty Jews and officials at my table in addition to those who showed up from the surrounding nations. One ox, six choice sheep, and some chickens were prepared for me daily, and every ten days a large supply of wine was delivered. Even so, I didn't use the food allowance provided for the governor — the people had it hard enough as it was. Remember in my favor, O my God, everything I've done for these people. (from Nehemiah 5:16-19, THE MESSAGE: by Eugene H. Peterson. )

Pray:- Work out Your equations in the hearts of them that can do Jerusalem good O Lord. In Jesus name we ask it, amen.

Jun | 18 | Falayta

Key Word:- PATIENCE

Title:- Falayta

1 Timothy 6:6,7 Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

Having spent many years providing excellent customer service (well I thought so!) I get particularly annoyed when I don’t receive it. I must say that nowadays, with the thorough implementation of those most inhuman button pressing or voice activated telephone systems, ‘service’ is a million times worse for the customer.

• “Please type in your 27 digit ID number.
• Press 1 if you want to rage;
• Press 2 if you want to throw stones at the managing director;
• Press 3 if you’d like to let his tires down;
• Press 4 if you….”

Well you get the picture.

Then when you finally get through to a human being, it’s obvious that it's just some spotty young bloke who still thinks he’s speaking to one of his mates and his attitude and lack of people skills, indicate he’s probably only just come into puberty! You may want to speak to a manager, but this is the best it’s going to get! So it’s “Speak to me”, the pimply prebusecent from paddooka or “Yeah, whadooyuowan" from me, the embittered dominatrix from Alabama, or “goodness gracious me, how can I be helping you today”, from the part-time belly dancer in Bangalore! Yes sir, customer service has gone global in its pathetic performance!

Oh yes, customer service has gone international and we are invisibly catered for by good folks from a different culture, country, socio-economic planet and time zone! Oh but don’t worry, ‘they will contact you within three billing cycles’ if you’re lucky. Customer service? Bah humbug! It’s outrageous and what’s worse is that we, the badly served customers, can do nothing about it!

Now my rising blood pressure over these incidents sometimes get cooled with the outward anowledgement that though it is awful service, it is never the less out of my control and I can do nothing about it. So, it’s profitable for me to examine my trading self and ask why I get so frustrated? I mean, why do I allow myself such a terrible response to such terrible but uncontrollable service? The bad service is out of my control, but my response to said bad service, is totally in my control. Oh you see what I mean?

My conclusion to my personal examination, is that my wanting to eat my headphones is partly my need for excellent customer service not being met but mostly, it’s because I am part of the ‘now generation.’ You see, I want an answer, a solution, a replacement and I want it NOW!

Columnist Craig Wilson in 'USA Today', speaks of knowing that “quintessential old lady from the depression era, who hoarded all the ‘sweet and low’ that she harvested from every restaurant she went into. It was the same old lady who at the end of every meal out, would pour the remaining bread rolls into her handbag. They were for later. Maybe for breakfast or for lunch or even for dinner. It didn’t matter when they were eaten you know because after all they were ‘falayta rolls’.” There was no waste, there was no rush with this old lady.

Once I lived next door to an old Polish man that had spent years in a Nazi concentration camp. His back yard was full to overflowing with what everyone, bar him, considered rubbish. Indeed, that’s where he got it from. His daily trip to the rubbish dump! Previous and unimaginable desperate want, had led him to value rubbish. So much so, that he couldn’t see anything wasted, I mean anything! He was like the old lady with the ‘Falayta rolls’ who perpetually planned for the future, because she remembered the want of the past.

Here it is: 'In our consumer, "Gi’me and gi’me it now" society there is a lesson here for us in these old and sometimes injured folk. Maybe even some wisdom? You can’t always get what you want, right now! But, if you prepare, plan, save and sow, if you learn the rule of reaping, whilst examining anthills, then maybe patience will become your friend and success will become your reward? Ah patience! Yes, it's certainly worth the trying and let's face it, it sure beats getting ulcers!'

Listen:- Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

Go to the ant , you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler, Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest. How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep --So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man. Prov 6:6-11 NKJV

Pray:- Naked I came into this world, and naked I shall leave it. All that is necessary for my life and service for You O Lord, You have abundantly provided. In light of these things O my God, teach me then, extravagant sensibleness, dogged preparation and quiet and patient expectancy. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Jun | 18 | Holy Helicopters! Or, Slipping The Snares Of Surrounding Sorrows

Dream Word – GOODNESS

2 Samuel 22:5-7 "When the waves of death surrounded me, the floods of ungodliness made me afraid. The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry entered His ears. NKJV

Holy Helicopters! Or, Slipping The Snares Of Surrounding Sorrows

The distress of waves, floods, surrounding sorrows and confronting snares, were, according to the personal biography of David the King in the summary of his own life, the common waters of his dire distress.

In Psalm 18 and the following verses of tonight’s text, found just beyond 2 Samuel 22:8, David depicts himself as a man washed out to sea, lost at sea even, isolated , alone, weighed down, with miles of sucking water below and ten thousand miles of empty sea around him, having nothing to cling to, his cold legs pumped to exhaustion, struggling to keep his neck above the cold and pounding waves which continually raise themselves up, to loom like mountains above his struggling head, always ready to fall upon him with all their pent up fury! Alone and drowning in a vast unfriendly sea, David can do nothing, I mean absolutely nothing, but desperately tread water, hold his nostrils above the waves, look to heaven and open his mouth in desperate cry’s of “God Help Me!”

What follows from this simplest and purest of pleading prayers is nothing short of describing a North Sea coastguard helicopter rescue! David says that his come ‘Save My Sorry Ass’ pleas to God, were heard in the rescue control room of the temple of God and in being heard, salvation was immediately dispatched to rescue him from these same dark consuming waters. David justified his holy helicopter rescue, because of his own clean hands. He was on the right side of God you see, therefore, this is why mercy came a-running towards his desperate plea.

There is no better place to be than on the right side of God. Even when the flood of dark waters comes in upon us, it is still a strong and standing side to be found upon, a side of full expectancy. Yes, in times of flood, being on the right side of God, is a very good place be. Surely, if you keep yourself on the right side of God, then you can surely always expect a rescue?

In all your tomorrows, in conviction, confession, contrition and close communion, do keep on the right side of God, so that when the dark floods come upon you, as they most surely will, then amidst the waters you can call and look with confidence for the holy helicopter of His swift and sure deliverance.

Listen: - "He sent from above, He took me, He drew me out of many waters. 2 Samuel 22:17 NKJV.

Pray:- I will love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies. Psalms 18:1-3 NKJV

Jun | 17 | Swing Away

Key Word:- PERSEVERE

Title:- Swing Away

2 Samuel 23:9,10
And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel had retreated. He arose and attacked the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand stuck to the sword. The LORD brought about a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to plunder.

Some of you will forgive me I hope if I begin legalistically today, for the Battle of Bunker Hill was legally of course, the British fighting the British and in that sense, we the British won the day! Now let us be even more specific, in saying that in 1775, the British from Britain also won the field today in 1775! (I apologize to my American friends for this most sobering of truths). So, why then is the routing of rebellious ‘British Americans’ and such a defeat sustained by them, so remembered and so positively celebrated in America today?

Well remember that after the British victory that day at Bunker Hill, half of the regular British forces had been casualties, while a third of the defending engaging and smaller ‘rebel militia’ had been killed wounded or captured. The attacking British had sustained remarkable losses. I find Bernard Bailyns conclusions to the battle to be most helpful:- “It proved that raw, untrained American troops could fight, and fight well—but only if they had to; that success would come to the British only if they responded flexibly and imaginatively to the unorthodox demands of warfare in Colonial territories 3,000 miles from home; and finally, that if the still disunited, still legally British states of America were to fight with any hope of success, a Continental war against the greatest military power on earth, a leader of great personal force and of great military and political skill would have to be forthcoming” and the rest as they say, is history, and so is that rising General - Washington.


It took three assaults by regular forces to secure Breeds Hill from the militia (where the battle was actually fought, not Bunker Hill folks!). This was chiefly because to preserve ammunition, the militia’s General Prescott, had ordered them "Not to fire until they could see the whites of their eyes.” This had a devastating effect on the advancing scarlet-coated lines. There is probably no doubt, that if ammunition had not run out, Breeds Hill would never have been taken. My question today is, “is there a sign in this historic battle for us today?” I think so.

In the movie ‘Signs’ starring Mel Gibson, his dying wife, ‘prophetically’ passes on a message to the brother of Gibson’s character, Merril Hess. This former slugger baseball player receives the message, which when put into practice at just the right time, defeats the enemy and saves the day. The message is simple. “…Tell Merrill to swing away.”

I have found that in being a writer, really the only difference between being an amateur and a professional is perseverance. In life, often the only difference between defeat and victory is perseverance. So my message to you today then is also simple: Make sure you have enough ammunition, then wait until you see the whites of their eyes, and then swing away dear friends, just keep persevering in swinging away.

Listen:- And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Galatians 6:9-10

Pray:- Lord, help me to persevere in resistance, recovery, redemption and doing what is right. Amen

Jun | 17 | The Newer Colossus Of True Love Amidst A Lost Liberty

Dream Word – OBEY

Deuteronomy 28:15-43 “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: ...................................The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.” NKJV

The Newer Colossus Of True Love Amidst A Lost Liberty

Today in 1885, the Statue of Liberty, that most famous gift from France to the U.S.A., arrived in New York harbour onboard the French frigate, Isere. It was poet Emma Lazarus, a forerunner of Zionism who also argued for the creation of a Jewish homeland, who, in an aid to raising money for the pedestal that the statue would rise upon, wrote the sonnet, ‘The New Colossus.’ This same poem, which in 1903 was placed on a bronze tablet to the interior wall of the pedestal, intertwined itself with the spirit of Lady Liberty and has been united to her ever since:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

And so she did. Yet not today.


The high idealism and the melting-pot phenomenon that was the United States is now bubbling hot and boiling over. Britain is no different for we, the centre of the Commonwealth, opened our doors long since this day I write and most recently, Europe, gripped with Berlin Wall Falling Fever, has dropped its borders and like an half-cut drunken cook, has taken the frying pan by the handle and shaken the five bean chilli into one obnoxious mess. It is not economics, colour or race that ferments our countries stewing conflict, but rather the clash of cultures and their deep religious roots, for a man’s belief system shapes everything he touches, from artefacts to architecture, from politics to paintings and from recipes to relationships, yes even from table top to tongue! When the inviting culture is swamped and swallowed up, when the cuckoo in the nest becomes the reigning king, then it will always kill the hatchlings and steel the worm from the mothers mouth.

I wonder if the principles drawn from the nation poisoning spittle, of the great cursings of Mount Ebal, might be applied to Britain, Europe and North America today, in that we have been grossly disobedient to His known commandments and statutes, failing to serve Him with joy, gladness and thankfulness of heart, for our once golden doors of hope, have most obviously now become the broken gates of invasion.

It is not only the rising recruitment of hate crimes officers, to hundreds of hate crime units around the country that makes the future look bleak for us Bible believing Christians, but in 2008 I read that respected statistical projections for church attendees in Britain in just 40 years time is less than 900,000 people. Attendees that is not born again Christians, but overall attendees! ! Unless God visits us with true conviction of sin and real conversion to Christ the King, then I wonder if everything else that is going on in the church at present will be considered by the future remnant to be nothing but a circus sideshow, a silly distraction and even the deception of a dancing devil? I wonder.

For my brethren in Britain, I must inform you that now is the time to decide how you will live in not only a Post-Christian country but an ever increasing anti-Christian one. Concerning the nation and our church, all our gates are broken down. We are over-run, swamped, swallowed, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. The church of the living God refuses to remove its sphincter shrouded head from its own seemingly safe intestines and have its eyes washed out with eye salve. This ‘rectum oblivion,’ is nothing short of demonic. Our leaders have nothing to offer but tickets for seats at a three ring circus where howling Christians buzz like fat flies, all lying on their backs whilst kicking their legs in the air and the invitation to the ever diminishing youth of our increasingly small church nation, is to form a band and make an MP3. Our foundations are fractured beyond repair. A complete rebuild is required. Tell me, what part will you have in that?

Prayer, proclamation, and the practice of sacrificial love must become once again the concrete base for the starry pedestal upon which we heavenly Zionists, erect the statue of true liberty, ‘Jerusalem above,’ which is free! Maybe if we do that, we can rightly say to all those within our broken gates:

"Come all you tired, you pitiful you poor,
You huddled and burdened masses, yearning to breathe free.
Come all ye wretched refuse upon this teeming shore,
Heaven-less and homeless, tempest-tossed before
The gates of hell,
See Christ lift His light, before His open, golden door!

Listen: - "Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever. "Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you. Deuteronomy 28:45-49 NKJV.

Pray:- Jesus, please wake Your people. Then Lord, help us to love our neighbours in passionate prayer, in truthful proclamation and in powerful practice, in Jesus name we pray, amen.

Jun | 16 | Designed for Dignity

Key Word:- INTEGRITY

Title:- Designed for Dignity

Acts 19:15 And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” .

Glasgow band ‘Deacon Blue,’ brought out an amazing song some years ago now, called ‘Dignity’.’ I wish I had the space to write out the whole of the lyrics but I haven’t, so I encourage you to go and find them on the web! However, the last few lines of the song ‘Dignity’read:

And I’m thinking about home
And I’m thinking about faith
And I’m thinking about work
And I’m thinking about how

good it would be
To be here some day
On a ship called Dignity

Dignity. More men need to grapple with this very subject. More of the people of God need to set sail on their own ship of personal Dignity.

Arthur Miller in his marvellous play, ‘The Crucible’ (based on the Salem, Massachusetts witch trials of 1692) so wonderfully presents us with the dilemma of the sinful, but honest Puritan, ‘John Proctor’. After wrongly confessing to his participation in witchcraft, he like Latimer of old, later takes back his false confession that would have saved his life, tears it up and cries out “How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name.”

In desperation the character ‘Hale’ tells Proctor that he shall hang for not confessing to the sin of witchcraft and even though they all know it will a bogus confession, he should never the less, confess! Hale says in effect “How can you indulge in sinful pride, how can you exchange your life for your name?” The writer Miller, at this point then has the character of Proctor in the crucible of his interrogation, discover the long lost gold of his personal dignity when he replies to Hale saying, “I can. And there's your first marvel, that I can. You have made your magic now, for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor. Not enough to weave a banner with, but white enough to keep it from such dogs.” Proctor then strides aboard his own ship of Dignity, regarding his own personal integrity more than his public reputation. This stand allows Proctor the redeeming of his own character just as much as his true confession, then allows God to redeem his own lost soul.

Truth and honor, Proctor’s rediscovered dress of dignity, became more important to Proctor than life itself. As John Proctor goes to his death, his wife Elizabeth weeps in acknowledgement of his rediscovery of his own lost gold, saying: “He has his goodness now. God forbid I take it away.” Yes, there is something shining, there is something good, there is something most valuable in personal dignity!

Many of us need to dig deep for this gold of personal dignity, long lost and hanging somewhere in the discarded and dark wardrobe depths of our personal being. You will never be a man without personal dignity and you will never be a beautiful woman without adorning yourself with the same.

Christian friend, what is your name today? What value has heaven and hell set by its exultation or its fall? Consider this today: Who are you? What fragrant scent follows the saying of your name? What value is it both to you and to others? Tell me, what shape is the sail of your dignity when it is unfolded upon the lips of others by the uttering of your lovely name?

Listen:- Because of the fragrance of your good ointments, Your name is ointment poured forth; Therefore the virgins love you. Song of Solomon 1:3 NKJV

The syllables of your name murmur like a meadow brook. No wonder everyone loves to say your name! Song of Solomon 1:3 (from THE MESSAGE )

A good name is better than precious ointment, Ecclesiastes 7:1

Pray:- Lord! Let courage, strength, honour and dignity mark the people You name O God; Lord today, show me more of who I am supposed to be, show me how You see me in the depths of Your heart. Jesus please, help me clothe myself in the dignity and truth, of understanding of who I truly am in You. Amen and amen!

Jun | 16 | Of Betty Crocker Brioche & Tired Sweaty Bakers

Dream Word – COST

Nehemiah 9:15 You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, and brought them water out of the rock for their thirst, and told them to go in to possess the land which You had sworn to give them. NKJV

Of Betty Crocker Brioche & Tired Sweaty Bakers

It is the infamous Marie Antoinette, Archduchess of Austria and Queen of France and Navarre, who when confronted with the poverty and starvation of her people through lack of bread, is reputed to have replied , “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” or, “Let them eat Cake!” I find this a most resonant statement, for in these strange days, one of the reasons I go to many churches is for the indulgence of cake. For other people it is good coffee or sweet overly iced donuts, but for me, it is cake! Chocolate cake, gooey cake, angel cake (always best served at charismatic churches), fruit cake, (if your going to get some of the latest 'new thing' that God is supposedly doing now, especially in North America) millionaire shortcake, (for the prosperity minded among us) indeed, any kind and combination of cake will do for me! Especially, yes especially if there is no bread! Are you listening now?

I am always amazed at what substandard fodder we Christians can become satisfied with. So much grotty grey gruel, each Sunday, simply slopped down on our empty and not so white, waiting plates. Yes, thank God for cake, because it’s the only thing that keeps me going back to church!

I am perpetually pleased though, at seeing the onset of wide eyes and open mouths on the faces of malnourished Christians when first encountering real bread, for when gruel-fed saints eventually get a taste of some real bread, some heavenly brioche, burgeoning fat with the goodness of God, they’ll change restaurants, yes, they will start a revolution and chop of the heads of all the lazy chefs who gave them grey gruel and Betty Crocker, quick served cake as a substitute for hard earned study bread.

Whenever I take on a pastorate I am always a little perplexed at the known workload that is about to come upon me once again, for I desire to be a good baker, and with good bakers that make the best of breads, there are no short cuts, yes, despite me being only 5’ 6, there are no short cooks. For me, this means rising earlier than most, to light my oven. It means maintaining my yeast at just the right temperature, and much more than this, it means finding the right fertilizer for my soil, it means digging, ploughing, sowing, reaping, milling, and God help me, it means a lot of unseen sweat, shed in lonely fields. Preparing bread is the hardest work I have ever done.

Preacher, if your folks are going to church mostly for the cake, then you’re a lazy slob and a disgrace to your baker race. You’re a Betty Crocker crook, serving up sugary rubbish that isn’t even your own and frankly, you needs must get out of the kitchen. Friend, if you are a member of a congregation and all you are going to church for is some of that gooey cake, then eventually, your teeth are going to fall out, and your paunch will grow lopping belt fat, and cover any reproductive organs you might have had. You’ll die of spiritual diabetes!

It is only silly queens that cry “Let them eat cake!” Remember that. Selah.

Listen: - In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread (Genesis 3:19 NKJV.)

Pray:- Lord, we pray for our bakers, that they would rise early to their tasks, labour long on their production, and serve us well with the bread from heaven. Lord send us workers and not shirkers, we Your hungry people pray, amen.
 

Jun | 15 |Tweety Birds or Twitchers?

Key Word:- BE

Title:- Tweety Birds or Twitchers?

Job 41:11-14 “If you lay your hands upon him, you will long remember the battle that ensues and you will never try it again! No, it's useless to try to capture him. It is frightening even to think about it! No one dares to stir him up, let alone try to conquer him. And if no one can stand before him, who can stand before me? I owe no one anything. Everything under the heaven is mine. TLB.

One morning a bird landed on our balcony and squawked provocatively at our cat. The cat’s lips and whiskers twitched in natural and menacing response. At the right time, she would pounce and nothing would stop her.

‘If I do not do, then how can I be?’

I am of course a man of my generation, of my hemisphere, country, and culture and everything that has flowed into these four things for centuries. For example, I have an overwhelming drive from a deep seated Protestant work ethic. I have a very ingrained view of work. Indeed, I feel as a man, that I must work. Like it or not, I find purpose, status, and significance in doing my job. Not that I want to be ‘the job’ but somehow without the job, any job, something inside me, ceases to be, I get sick and slowly die. Strange but true.

‘If I do not do, then how can I be?’
Over all my years walking on this planet, my journey has taken me to many places and many jobs. My hardest times have been in periods of “unemployment”. Kind and Bible-believing Christians have often quoted the verse “If a man shall not work he shall not eat” to me at those perilous times, for indeed, that is what time it is, to a man without a job, perilous! Maybe we should rather pity the unemployed Christian man and earnestly pray for him that he would gain good and profitable employment, rather than scold him? Especially if he’s in fellowship with some of those presently employed, inappropriate text-spouting, Bible-believers!

‘If I do not do, then how can I be?’
However, over the years I have also observed there is a greater peril than not having a job and that is, working in a job you hate, simply to put food on a plate, mate. Unfortunately, I have been and have had the misfortune to rub shoulders with thousands of people like this, these ‘dead men walking,’ all dutifully pounding the streets of their daily grind and dying in the process; inwardly with constant and abusive, rapacious regret. ‘If a man shall not work he shall not eat’ has become a mockery to millions of busy, fat western men, starving inside, dutifully doing something they do not want to do. Somewhere along the way, they have lost their wild ways and the wild Jesus that went with them, and church and Christianity for many of them, has become but a dutiful and boring bondage. Maybe this is one reason that less and less men are frequenting our churches, after all, ‘where’s the beef’ and of course......

‘If I do not do, then how can I be?’

You see, it is not simply enough to do anything that comes along, neither is enough simply to be! No, you must also do what you were created to be! Do you see that?
Friend, I pray today you will start 'twitching' again, that you will begin to do what you were created to be and that in the so doing, you shall be satisfied with your prey. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
One morning a bird landed on our balcony and squawked provocatively at our cat. Her lips and whiskers twitched in natural and menacing response. At the right time, she would pounce. Nothing would stop her.

Listen:- “I will not conceal his limbs, His mighty power, or his graceful proportions.” Job 41:12

Pray:-Jesus, let me be found faithful but fearless; wild like ocean’s rocks, yet steady, steadfast, sure and as beautiful as You created me to be. I ask this in Jesus mighty name, O Lord my God of joy. Amen!

Jun | 15 | The Correct Use Of Cotton Buds and Spiritual Dorection

Dream Word – OBEY

James 3:1-2 My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. NKJV

The Correct Use Of Cotton Buds and Spiritual Direction

It was reported earlier this year of my writing that a boy who had been partially deaf for nine years was suddenly cured, when a cotton wool bud popped out of his ear. Apparently aged two years of age, unbeknown to his parents, he mightily stuffed one of these right up into his right ear and broke off the end. Up until age 11 there followed some nine years of earache, partial deafness leading to some behavioural difficulties, exclusion and not doing so well at school. In addition to this were the many visits to doctors and specialists, all who had somehow missed the now wax-coated cotton bud. The boys growing body, over the years had eventually ejected the alien intruder and bam! A miracle of healing had now begun to transform his life.

Being a mentor, being a spiritual director, trying if you will to be a meta-physician, a curer of souls, carries with it a most awesome responsibility. Mostly dealing in the spiritual and the ethereal, majestically dealing with the secret and inner places of the heart, the possibility of misdiagnosis and of consequent spiritual deafness and subsequent stunted or twisted growth in others, is of a far greater possibility than with any standard medical practitioner. Yet, we still send tens of thousands of young inexperienced consultants, full of information, but still wet behind the ears, out onto the wards of our churches each and every year, and my oh my, how great is the carnage that cometh forth! Spiritual misdirection and the subsequent production of profound spiritual deafness and the bitter twistedness of most people in our churches are testimony to the fact that they are often times being fooled by their denominations and failed by their shepherds. Good grief even the shepherds themselves are leaving their posts in their droves, never to return!

In terms of spiritual discipleship, in terms of good friendship we all become the spiritual directors of someone, somewhere, sometime. May I offer then, some guidelines tonight for each us to follow in the days to come.

First, LISTEN. Be slow to speak, slow to construct a response in your own mind, even whilst the other is speaking. Make the phrases, “ ‘I don’t know,’ ‘I’m not sure, and ‘I wonder if,’” your own very best of friends. Use them much, for they are true and a whole lot more certain than much of the conclusions you might wish to hurry out of your mouth. LISTEN.

Second, SUGGEST. Suggestions are always investigative rather than declarative. The advantage of applied suggestions is a personal discovery of the problem. This personal discovery after following suggestions, is far more powerful than any declaration you could make. Make the phrases, “‘I don’t know, but...’ ‘I’m not sure, however...’ and ‘I wonder if,’” your very best of friends. SUGGEST.

 
Third, SEEK. Suggestions are mere signposts. They are clues. To go on a search following clues demands attention, demands application and most of all requires support and supply. Help people seek out the roots of their issues. SEEK.

Fourth, WATCH. People of suggestive searches often sit down, slack off, wander off in the wrong direction, find themselves lost in deep woods wandering in vast disorienting wastelands. People need watching in terms of their pursued sanctification. WATCH.

Fifth, PRAY. This cannot be underestimated. Prayer is the ‘Walkie Talkie’ connection with base. Prayer is direct contact with headquarters. Prayer is contact with the three persons who are sure to help us. God The Father, God The Son, and God The Holy Spirit. PRAY.

Sixth, PUT THEM IN THE SON. Plants and people only grow in the Son. Ask for His light to shine. Pray light upon the seeker, pray light upon the searcher, throw light upon their path. PUT THEM IN THE SON.

Seventh, STICK WITH THEM. Oh the relief we feel when all our problem people leave. Oh how we are so thankful when the difficulties depart, Oh how we are relieved that we do not have to stick with them. True discipleship however, true shepherding is mostly marked by stickability, so, STICK WITH THEM.

It goes almost without saying, that a Chief Executive Officer Senior Pastor cannot do this. Jesus had twelve disciples. We do not consider anyone worth following or listening to unless they have 12,000. With this strange and most unbiblical ratio, healing, wholeness and true holiness, can never ever come. I say, it can never come. Many people go missing in the mega. Remember that.

Listen: - For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. James 3:2 NKJV.

Pray:- Oh Lord, keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. (Psalms 19:13-14 NKJV)

Jun | 14 | Warnings & Wellness

Key Word:- HOPE

Title:- Warnings & Wellness

Job 33:15,16 In a dream, in a vision of the night, When deep sleep falls upon men, While slumbering on their beds, Then He opens the ears of men, And seals their instruction.

You will forgive my often stated premise that “All poems of true love are in the end applicable to Jesus.” To this end then, let me now quote the opening and closing stanzas from the Victorian poet, Matthew Arnold, and his poem entitled, ‘Longing.’

Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again!
For then the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.

If you are fortunate to sleep say seven hours a day and live for 70 years, then 178,360 hours will be spent asleep. That’s 7,432 days, 1,061 weeks, or just over 20 years! If you are overcome with panic at this point, don’t go rushing to set your alarm clock earlier, for sleep is important for a multitude of physical, intellectual and psychological reasons. It’s also important for spiritual reasons! I wonder then sometimes, if sleep is the only way that God gets time alone with some of us and gets His opportunity to speak to us?

Of course I’m talking about dreams. I know, I know, that dreams can be brought on by worry, or the subconscious working of the mind, or environment, or medication and sometimes even food and drink, however, God also speaks in dreams and maybe more often than we care to acknowledge. The Scriptures and excellent spiritual guidance from other saints, are the key to rightly guiding people in the interpreting and understanding of these things. Through the Holy Sprit and prayer we have the goods to do just this. It is one of my intentions, to at some point turn up at a psychic New Age fair and open up my own stall, inviting people to come and have their dreams interpreted. It’s not new, indeed, I heard Dr Mark Stibbe some years ago report at a conference, that he knew of Christians doing just that, even finding that God had gone before them in terms of 'prophetic evangelism' and had already been speaking to people in their dreams and so had set up the way for them to speak about Jesus! Interesting eh?

Me thinks that in dreams, God is interested in communication and especially in two primary forms of communication, those being: Warnings and Wellness.

It is evident that in the quiet of the night God often, when He has our fullest attention, warns of impending disaster and routes of escape. In addition to this, the Holy Spirit pursues His work of sanctification and under the blanket of sleep, raises problems of both the past and the present, bringing them to the surface of our muddled minds, either defusing the unexploded bombs, or cleaning up the mess of those that have already gone off and devastated our being. Maybe Arnold’s poem, can become our nightly prayer?

Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again!
For then the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.

Listen:- And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it.” So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”

Pray:- Jesus, please be my dream maker, Holy Spirit my dream catcher and Great Father, my dream interpreter. Come to me in my dreams, and then, by day I shall be well again! For then the night will more than pay the hopeless longing of the day. Amen!

Jun | 14 | Oh Aberystwyth! Bring Back The Old, Old Thing.

Dream Word – RESPECT

Jeremiah 6:16 Thus says the Lord: "Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.' NKJV

Oh Aberystwyth! Bring Back The Old, Old Thing.

I wish God would stop doing new things. What with Toronto, Brownsville, Lakeland, Brompton, and many other unnamed places, God seems to never tire of doing new things. Surely, if Christ has not yet returned, then in the future, together with no doubt many other new locations, the ever growing and even now, monumental list of ‘God doing New Things,’ will have grown substantially. Yes, I wish God would stop doing new things and start doing some old ones again, actually just one old thing. I wish He would save and sanctify people like He used to do in all the days gone by.

June is the traditional time for the trooping of the colour. I watched it today and Horse Guards Parade in London was again decked in magnificence!It was very moving to observe the five foot guard regiments troop the chosen regimental colours of the year past Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, each guardsman having his chest puffed out, bags of swank, eyes peering directly into the eyes of the monarch, with the mounted cavalry bands changing the tune of the quick march to match those songs long associated with the each regiment then passing in front of the watching Royalty. All rousing tunes they were as well, tunes such as, ‘The British Grenadiers,’ ‘Milanollo,’ ‘Hielan Laddie,’ ‘St Patricks Day’ and ‘The Rising of The Lark.’

It was during the rest of the preparatory slow and quick marches that my heart was arrested by the music, in particular, Les Huguenots and Aberystwyth, those two magnificent tunes, the former a Waltz, musically inter-dispersed with ‘A Mighty Fortress is our God’ and the latter, the tune to which the old hymn, ‘Jesus Lover of My Soul’ used to be sung. I remember a time when the musical connectivity of such tunes would bring the associated words into a national remembrance; tunes that would bring with them an awe, a thankfulness toward God, a testimony of His grace toward us and of our dependence upon Him. Now they are just forgotten and disconnected tunes. Even in the church now, they are mostly just forgotten and disconnected tunes.

My God! We need a musical renaissance and a noteworthy revival! We need some old tunes, or better still, some new tunes with an old theme of people saved from sin and sanctified to Him!

Yes, I wish tonight with all my heart, that God would troop His colour and stop doing new things and do His old thing once again, even saving and sanctifying His people.

Listen: -

A mighty Fortress is our God, a Bulwark never failing;
Our Helper He amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God's own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo! his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God's truth abideth still,
His Kingdom is forever.

(Martin Luther)

Pray:-Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to Thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high.
Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, till the storm of life is past;
Safe into the haven guide; O receive my soul at last.

Other refuge have I none, hangs my helpless soul on Thee;
Leave, ah! leave me not alone, still support and comfort me.
All my trust on Thee is stayed, all my help from Thee I bring;
Cover my defenseless head with the shadow of Thy wing.

Wilt Thou not regard my call? Wilt Thou not accept my prayer?
Lo! I sink, I faint, I fall—Lo! on Thee I cast my care;
Reach me out Thy gracious hand! While I of Thy strength receive,
Hoping against hope I stand, dying, and behold, I live.

Thou, O Christ, art all I want, more than all in Thee I find;
Raise the fallen, cheer the faint, heal the sick, and lead the blind.
Just and holy is Thy Name, I am all unrighteousness;
False and full of sin I am; Thou art full of truth and grace.

Plenteous grace with Thee is found, grace to cover all my sin;
Let the healing streams abound; make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the fountain art, freely let me take of Thee;
Spring Thou up within my heart; rise to all eternity.

(Charles Wesley)