Break your heart for the people around you

Zachary James Smith recorded this letter to himself aged 17.

Zac stepped into eternity and went to be with Jesus at 3.05 pm on 16th May 2010.

It has renewed poignancy today as yet another friend is facing a difficult battle with cancer.

I don't like cancer!

Billy, don't waste a minute!

"Break your heart for people around you."

Waiting....

This past Sunday we continued our series Plan B - What do we do when God doesn't show up the way we expected him too.

My subject this week Waiting.....

• There is an undeniable relationship between crisis and hope. 
• We love the idea of following Jesus until it disrupts our plans and dream. 
• God would never make it in the travel industry because he is always leading his best clients into the wilderness. 
• The good that God aimed to do through the wilderness testing was to make the people intensely, deeply, and lastingly conscious of their total dependence on God for everything. 
• GOD CAN SPREAD A TABLE IN THE WILDERNESS? 
• God can sometimes withold his gifts but he won't withold his presence. 
• The Father turned his back on Jesus His son so he would never have to turn his back on you. 
• God will allow suffering, pain, and crisis in order to detach hope from other things and attach it to himself. 
• You’ve got to stop looking at your shattered dreams and your unmet expectations as something God is doing to you. He’s not doing something to you. But he might be doing something through you. He might be doing something in you. 
• Hope does not come only from believing God’s power, but also from accepting and trusting his timing. 
• We want his comfort. But often we don’t want his calendar. 
• Spiritual transformation doesn’t take place when we get what we want. It takes place while we’re waiting. 
• Waiting for the Lord is when we pause to pray before we act. 
• You are being transformed from the image of God into the likeness of God and nothing can frustrate the transcendent Gods’ plan and purpose in this.

This Sunday was also special as 944 people attended our services. Our biggest ever outside of Christmas & Easter.

HAVE to v WANT to

"The Gospel has done its work in us when we crave God more than we crave everything else in life. .. It changes us from being slaves who HAVE to obey God to sons and daughters who WANT to obey God." - J D Greear - The Gospel

There has been a bit of Internet space devoted to the video produced by Jefferson Bethke - Why I hate religion but love Jesus. It has even spawned some spoofs about hating religion & JESUS.

But the two words for me sum up the difference: HAVE & WANT.

HAVE TO for me sums up religion.

I have to attend church.
I have to read my bible.
I have to pray.
I have to give money.
I have to serve in my church.
I have to tell other people about Jesus.
I have to ......

However when I encounter this glorious Gospel and it takes root in my heart I HAVE to gets replaced with I WANT TO.


I want to attend church.
I want to read my bible.
I want to pray.
I want to give money.
I want to serve in my church.
I want to tell other people about Jesus.
I want to ......

We can end up doing the same thing but the motivation is different because our heart is different.

What would you do if you knew 100% that God was with you?

What would you do if you knew 100% that God was with you?

The answer to this question is very often answered with great, risky & challenging goals. With feats of great courage.

Put yourself for one moment in the shoes of Joseph:
Separated from parents
Disowned by family
Many miles from home
Totally anonymous
No expectation of good behaviour
No friends
No accountability partner
No pastor or priest
No answer to prayer
and No strings attached sex on the table.

What is the choice?

What would you do if you 100% that God was with you?
Now in the moment the answer to that question changes shape.
Our answer now defines more about who we are becoming in God than what we doing for Him. 

With no one watching, no one to call you out, run like crazy towards integrity.