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Neil Cole Interview

Neil ColeThis week I interviewed Neil Cole, well known author and speaker on organic Church life. Neil shared his personal journey from being a pastor in a mega-church, transitioning to a small church and finally into his current role helping the body of Christ come together and relate in an organic way.

He also shared his thoughts on the common journey many are taking out of a dependency on programs and the voices of the professional clergy/pastor to live their Christian life, the struggles of feeling isolated in the process, and the joys that are found on the other side.

Neil is a well known author who has written a lot of great books, his new book: Journeys to Significance has been officially released today and looks pretty amazing. You can check out a list of all Neil’s books here: Neil Cole’s Amazon Authors Page

Enjoy the interview! If you want to know more about Neil and his work you can also check out his website: www.cmaresources.org


Neil Cole Interview ()

Interviews, March 29, 2011
Part of the Interviews series, preached at a Web message service

Tags: Neil Cole, Organic Church

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Deceived?

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Deceived?

Although John didn’t jump at the idea of commiting his life to building Pastor Moses a candy house, Eric seems to have jumped into the vision with both feet. But, in the process of building a house made out of candy for his pastor, he has failed to see that maybe, just maybe, he is being deceived without even realising it. Possible?

(This joke was originally inspired by this funny movie clip below)

Who Is Jesus To You?

‘But what about you?’ he asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’
Matthew 16:15

Look! The finished work of JesusThe world may only see Jesus as a good moral teacher, and because of this never really see him at all. However, as the body of Christ, the Holy Spirit desires that we live with the revelation of his finished work fresh in our hearts and minds every day. As Christians, we need to see him as he truly is: the reason for all of our blessings apart from our performance, the reason for all of our provision apart from our good works and the reason we can stand in the throne room of God with freedom and confidence, free from fear of judgment and condemnation.

The world may be spiritually blind to this wonderful reality, but in Christ our eyes have been opened. It is in Christ that we receive our spiritual sight, and freely receive all of the treasures of wisdom that are found in him. We are blessed because we see the one who sets our hearts free. We see the one reflecting his glory into our lives. We see the one who gives us rest.

We are blessed to look to Jesus without limiting him to merely a moral teacher, but rather, we can see him as our loving redeemer, and rest in this great assurance. When we do this, the Holy Spirit gains free access in our lives to transform us into the likeness of Christ with ever increasing glory. The likeness of Christ is a life of joy, peace, love, goodness, patience, faith, hope, security, confidence and all other heavenly attributes of the Spirit of God that are freely given to us who have faith in Christ.

Look! The finished work of JesusIn the gospel of Mark, we read a story where Jesus himself challenged a man to not minimize who he was. The man in this story thought Jesus was a good teacher, but Jesus wouldn’t accept this man’s compliment. He knew better than anyone how powerful he was to save someone who believed he was the Son of God, and how useless he was to anyone who thought of him only as a good teacher.

As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. ‘Good teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ ‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered, ‘No one is good—except God alone.’ Mark 10:17-18

It may sound noble to call Jesus a good teacher, but the truth is he is so much more. This young man was trying to point out that he recognised Jesus’ goodness as a teacher; Jesus wanted him to recognise his goodness as God. At the end of this gospel story the young man went away sad because he did not receive the answer he was expecting from Jesus. He walked away disappointed and frustrated because he could only see him as a good teacher, and could not see the reality of who Jesus was.

The young man in this gospel account saw Jesus as a good man, the Pharisees saw him as a troublemaker, many other people saw him and made up their own minds regarding his identity. He watched as so many people came to listen to him, but they could not hear his true message, because they were filtering it through their own religious ideas.

When we allow our heavenly Father to reveal the true nature and identity of Jesus to our hearts, we begin to see him in a much more glorious light. We no longer see Jesus as a greater Moses with stricter rules we need to adhere to. Instead we start seeing the one who died in our place, so that we could live in his place. We see the one who fulfilled the old covenant that was based on religious obligations, to establish a new covenant that is eternally based on God’s grace.

Jesus never came to make your Christian walk difficult, tiresome and burdensome; he came to give you rest. That rest is not given based on our performance, but on his perfect finished work upon the cross. Jesus didn’t die as a mere teacher so we could have good teaching; he died as a perfect savior so we could be united forever to our heavenly Father by the working of his grace!

Who is Jesus to us? Jesus is our savior! Our King! Our Life!

(This blog post is an excerpt from my book “Look! The finished work of Jesus”. You can download a free copy here. or order a copy on Amazon here.)

There’s More Than One Way To Be A Heretic

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There's more than one way to be a heretic

 

Pastor Moses is very quick to point out what he believes is clearly heresy. But, for some mysterious reason, he fails to notice all of the things he believes and teachers that, at the very least, could easily be used to throw him in the heresy camp too.

Well, that isn’t how Pastor Moses sees it – of course.

Senior Pastorism Logic

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Senior Pastorism Logic

 

Pastor Moses really doesn’t see anything wrong with his logic. John, on the other hand, doesn’t see anything logical about it.

My Personal Testimony – Interview

Mick MooneyThis week’s interview is one that I did with Joel Brueseke where I shared my own personal testimony, including how I came to be a Christian and how I personally experienced the transformational power of the Spirit.

I hope you enjoy the interview!

Mick Mooney's Personal Testimony ()

Interviews, March 22, 2011
Part of the Interviews series, preached at a Web message service

Tags: Mick Mooney Testimony

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The Modern Day ‘Greatness Debate’

The modern day greatness debateWhen we read Paul’s letter to the Corinthians we find that many members of the church were divided among themselves. Their division originated out of their arguments over which preacher they should follow and which one they felt was the greatest. He explained to the Corinthians that their focus was on the wrong person.

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?

Paul explained that no man, no preacher, including himself, was crucified for them, but Jesus was! He reminded them that they should not be trying to uphold the greatness of Paul, or any other leader in the body of Christ, but the greatness of Jesus. He said this because he knew that if the church was focused on the greatness of the preacher (or a ministry, or a denomination or anything else within the Christian framework) then they would always be divided, but if they focused on the greatness of Christ they would once again be united in love.

Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest.
Luke 22:24

Which one of us is the greatest? This question is most probably one of the driving forces behind division in the body of Christ today. Is our denomination the greatest? Is our church the greatest? Is our preacher the greatest? Is our ministry the greatest? The problem with this perspective is that it ultimately focuses the attention on ourselves, highlighting in our own accomplishments, efforts and spiritual superiority. The result is a confidence in our works, instead of what we all should joyfully have: a confidence in the finished work of Christ.

What the disciples needed to learn, is the same lesson we also need to learn—it is not our greatness that should be our focus, it is Jesus’ greatness. Our focus is not meant to be our good works and how we are more ‘spiritual’ or more ‘on fire’ than other Christians; our focus is meant to be on Christ’s perfect finished work that he accomplished for all of us upon the cross! (And what a glorious boast that is!)

When we can take our eyes off of ourselves, and fix them once again upon Jesus, the result is glorious. We actually start having the desire to know our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ regardless of any program or particular movement. Our faith stops being about ‘the programs we are in’ and starts to be about ‘the Christ we are in’! We feel the bond of peace with all who have a love for Christ.

When Christ is our focus then our heart’s desire can finally become a reality: The body of Christ being perfectly united in love. It is our awe of Christ and seeing the fullness of who he is in our lives that brings unity, and the Holy Spirit also gives us a supernatural love for each other.

The truth is we don’t need to try to prove our greatness in the kingdom of God; rather, we can rest in the truth that from God’s perspective we are already great because we are his beloved children. Nothing could be greater than that, and, by the grace of God, that is what we are!

(This blog post is an excerpt from my book “Look! The finished work of Jesus”. You can download a free copy here. or order a copy on Amazon here.)

Auto Pilot Mode

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Auto Pilot Mode

 

Unfortunately young Jessica is unaware that Liz has already been briefed in the leadership meeting to avoid listening to anyone’s ‘thinking’. Liz has submitted herself to the church leadership mantra: Repeat after me: Listen only to Pastor Moses. Listen only to Pastor Moses. Listen only to Pastor Moses.

But what if Pastor Moses is not thinking too?

Your Understanding Father

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Sometimes, even as Christians, we face really hard seasons in our life. Sometimes it feels like nobody could possibly understand what we are going through and what we may be suffering with. Even in times when it feels like fellow brothers and sisters in Christ might not be able to understand, we always need to remember that God understands us. Man sees the outside of a person, but God knows our hearts. God knows our struggles and our pain. When you belong to Christ and believe upon him, God is committed to being your constant help in your times of need.

There are times when you may try to explain yourself to others but they can’t understand you or the reasons for certain situations that you have found yourself in. When people misunderstand you, always remember Christ doesn’t; he always understands. You can always come before God and receive comfort. He loves you. He knows you; your weaknesses don’t scare God away. He sees the burden you are wrestling with and he wants to empower you to be free from it. He is willing to sit and cry with you. He is willing to walk slowly with you; he cares deeply for you. Look to Jesus, and to what he accomplished on the cross for you, and let him be your strength.

God loves us perfectly, not because of our performance, but because we belong to the one who is perfect in his performance. Because of what Christ has accomplished, we can have assurance that God is forever with us, he forever understands us and he is forever committed to us as his beloved children.

Because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’
Hebrews 13:5-6

Even when we are in the lowest point of our lives, we need to remember to fix our eyes once more upon the beauty of our Saviour. We need to remember that he is still with us because he has promised us that he will never leave us nor forsake us. Lift up your eyes and place them once again upon Jesus and allow God to transform your life. He sees you as perfect – even now, even in the pit, even in your weakness and humanity, even with your burden, because you believe upon the perfect finished work of your redeemer. Look to Jesus and allow God to freely give you his grace and love in your time of need.

Look! The finished work of JesusKnowing that it is Jesus who justifies us releases us from always trying to hide ourselves and the situations we find ourselves in from God. It is the fear of condemnation that pushes us further away from God. We feel fear of condemnation because of the sin and weakness in our Christian lives. Yet it was fear and condemnation that Christ came to destroy in the Christian life! He loves us perfectly; he proved his perfect love for us by dying upon the cross.

He cares for you so much that he embraces you each day to help you in your weakness and times of need. Christ loves you perfectly; this love will never fail you. It is his perfect love that drives out all fear. You can rest in assurance that by the blood of Christ and his perfect finished work of the cross, you can also be free of condemnation.

The simple gospel truth is that you have been made perfect in God’s love through your faith in Jesus, and you can live a life without fear, for God is with you and God loves you forever. As a follower of Christ you need to understand that by the work of Christ you are now completely justified in him. When you believe this, you truly begin to live in freedom. You can come before God with freedom and confidence in your weakness to ask ‘Lord, I am in need of your grace and mercy, help me in my time of need.’

When we know we are always justified, even when we are caught in sin and struggles, we can always stand in the presence of God and know that he will help us. It is only by receiving God’s grace that we can overcome sin in the first place. In theory, it seems so easy not to sin, but in reality we will always be mastered by sin if we try to overcome it in our own efforts.

Allow yourself to live under Gods grace; it is the good news for your life as a believer. God does not want you trapped in sin; he wants you trapped in his love! Allow yourself to live in God’s grace and watch God set you free from all of the things that you may have spent years trying to overcome in your own efforts. Your heavenly Father understands you, he knows you, and he loves you dearly.

(This blog post is an excerpt from my book “Look! The finished work of Jesus”. You can download a free copy here. or order a copy on Amazon here.)

The Undercover Agenda

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The Undercover Agenda

Little does John know that his conversation with Pastor Moses last week has set of a chain reaction within the leadership team, causing an intense undercover agenda to stop anymore ‘thinking’ outbreaks within the church. Eric, as always, is on hand to get the job done.

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