Things to expect of your MTS trainer – number 1

Expect you will be disappointed

One of the things that amazes me as an MTS trainer is that they are often surprised when I disappoint them. Our doctrine of sin and renewal ought to teach us that we ought not be surprised when our trainer lets us down but at the same time we can be hopeful to see change as you nut out your relationship with your trainer.

Susan Boyle

 

for some reason the embed doesn’t work. Just go to… HERE

Matt Chandler: Jesus wants the Rose

I have recently been impressed with Matt Chandler. The first time I ever heard him speak I thought he was conceited and arrogant… but ever since then I have been impressed. Have a listen to his recent interview with Mark Driscoll on The Resurgence.

Also have a listen to this Youtube clip.

H/T Desiring God

Recent Surf in the Harbour at Newy

It was a big day…

 

Making choices

How does this change the decisions we make about career.  A friend of mine (who has only been a Christian a year) had a choice.  A job with more money and fantastic career prospects, but that required a move or stay where he is on less money but around a church fmaily he has just settled into and  more time to get involved with his church family (and probably less liklihood of being lured away from his faith by the pursuit of a career.  An hour before he made his decision he stumbled across this passage:

⁴ I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. ⁵ I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. ⁶ I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. ⁷ I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. ⁸ I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem ^[a] as well—the delights of the heart of man. ⁹ I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

¹⁰ I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my work,
and this was the reward for all my labor.

¹¹ Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun.

He decided life was not about money and pleasure but about Jesus and he thought he could do that best for now with less money and surrounded by people who encourage him to live for Jesus.  What would you choose?

Like coffee??

An interesting piece on coffee… have a listen!

Eulogy

Conducting a funeral of a close friend tomorrow. Here is a snap shot of some of things we loved about our friend Heidi:

When Prue met up with her she would often come home with mixed emotions. Sadness at times, because things were obviously so tough for Heidi, that we could not understand fully, but at the same time there was always something to laugh about, rejoice in, be excited about, and reasons to give thanks to God for Heidi.

Her recent phase was scrabble. Everyone she hung out with in the last few weeks of her life were probably subjected to the game of scrabble. A text message from Heidi was always extravagant and conveyed love for life and people, not just facts. She loved a cup of tea, a live gig at the view factory, she loved a good movie but had no idea how to use a computer or the internet.

She loved her little house and took great delight in making it home with crazy art stuff and interesting fabrics covering the old furniture she had managed to get together from friends and family. She loved to swim at the beach. She dressed in a funky a way that reflected her personality. And all of these things were things we loved in Heidi.

Church planting movement in Australia heating up

with SGM landing on the shores of NSW and now this from Mikey Lynch (who is a blogging machine at present.  Worth reading though) at the ACTS 29 Network international connference…

We will lead an independent, Australian church planting network, with warm friendship and support from Acts 29. We are building to a launch in Melbourne and Sydney in late November 2009. We’re agreed to move ahead with it and Acts 29 are keen to give their support to us.

… it looks like exciting days ahead for the gospel.  are you praying for a national revival?  Get to it if you are not!  A be ready for persecution if you are!

Tim Chester on Spirituality

Biblical spirituality is about:

• Bible meditation, not mystical silence
• Passionate engagement, not rural retreat
• Growing together, not individual solitude

Myanmar Reflections

A few reflections on our time in Myanmar:

Cyrus (a lecturer at RBI) and his wife outside their home...

• Hope Myanmar Partnership is an organisation that is worth supporting. Check out their website for info about all the different ministries the organisation supports.  It was awesome to meet first hand the Myanmar family (Lincoln & Leah) who lead the ministry in Myanmar.  They have a great heart for the gospel to affect and change the lives of people in their nation and great integrity as they go about their work.

  Additionally, Myanmar is a country that is very closed to foreigners.  Even as a tourist your movements are recorded by the authorities.  As a result the Myanmar locals are the best people to reach the locals.  HMP is committed to supporting pastors and training indigenous pastors for the work of the gospel thorughout Myanmar.   
   

• The theoretical social gospel versus word ministry debate that takes place in Australia is a fruitless argument in their context. It makes no sense to them to be one or the other.  They have to be both, preaching the gospel and affecting the community around them with gospel works, like education, helping the poor and needy, looking after the orphans etc.  Without these works the good news of Jesus falls on deaf ears.
   
• Young men and women are committed to the gospel and seeing it bear fruit all over Myanmar from an early age. RBI (Restoration Bible Institute) is full of students in their late teens and early twenties.   They live on 2 meals a day, they sleep in small dormitory style accommodation (some of them behind a curtain at the back of the lecture hall) and most of them are looking to move to remote parts of their country to minister to and evangelise villages and towns where persecution and hardship is a common part of daily life. This devotion at a young age amazes me as I return to Australia and am again confronted with apathy in the lives of Christian people and an unwillingness to shoulder responsibility.

More thoughts later….