Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Reckless Ones - Love your enemies

This past Sunday I had the honour of continuing our teaching series at MKCC - Reckless Ones.

We looked at Matthew 5:

You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbour, and hate your enemy." But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. – Matthew 5:43-48

This is probably one of the most outrageous things Jesus said in the whole of his ministry. love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you. This is abnormal!

Watch the video to find out what we discovered.


Monday, July 25, 2016

Trusting enough to love a enemy?

"When Jesus calls a man to love those who do not love him, He is not calling for heroes who, by sheer will to self surrender, act for the good of others. He is calling for insecure and self indulgent children to trust their father and thus find the security and gladness which will enable them to take patiently whatever pain or humiliation may come from loving their enemies." - John Piper (Love your enemies book) #recklessones #mkcc 

Monday, July 18, 2016

The steadfast love of God

You know that, in a wheel there is one portion that never turns round, that stands steadfast; and that is the axle. So in God's Providence, there is an axle which never moves. Christian, here is a sweet thought for thee! Thy state is ever changing; sometimes thou art exalted, and sometimes depressed; yet there is an unmoving point in thy state. What is that axle? What is the pivot upon which all the machinery revolves? It is the axle of God's everlasting love toward his covenant people. The exterior of the wheel is changing, but the center stands forever fixed. Other things may move; but God's love never moves: it is the axle of the wheel - C H Spurgeon (God's Providence)

Friday, July 08, 2016

Reckless Ones - Above All Else

This past Sunday I had the honour of launching our new teaching series at MKCC - Reckless Ones. In the early history of the church a group of Christians gained the nickname, "Parabalani" the reckless ones.

At a time plagues were wiping out whole communities at the first sign of an infection in a town the rulers, priests and medical people would leave. They knew what was coming. Into this background the early christians would move in to care for the sick and give any assistance they could even at risk to their own lives. They were reckless with their love. That is the essence of our teaching series, lets be reckless with love.

You can watch the first message below:

Thursday, July 07, 2016

Longing for the perfection of transformation

"Christians today will understand that biblically authentic Christianity is never merely a matter of rules and regulations, of public liturgy and private morality. Biblical Christianity results in transformed men and women - men and women who, because of the power of the Spirit of God, enjoy regenerated natures. We want to please God, we want to be holy, we want to confess Jesus is Lord. In short, because of the grace secured by Christ's cross, we ourselves experience something of a transforming moral imperative: the sins we once loved we Lear to fear and hate, the obedience and holiness we once disposed we now hunger for. God help us, we are woefully inconsistent in all this, but we have already tasted enough of the powers of the age to come that we know what a transforming moral imperative feels like in our lives, and we long for its perfection at the final triumph of Christ."


Dr D A Carson, Scandalous: The ironies of the cross. Pages 31-32