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A couple of years ago I saw a young man walking towards me wearing a t-shirt that said on the front “Done watching”. After he’d passed me I caught sight of the back of his shirt which said “Doing”. I thought this was such a powerful message that I wrote it down in my file for possible useful anecdotes.

When I came to prepare a talk about the importance of Christian believers being practictioners of God’s word rather than just hearers (or even just students) the image of this t-shirt suddenly became relevant.

If you want to know how to have a strong unshakeable faith and emerge out of any storm strong and secure with even greater blessing in store; then you need to hear the principles contained in this short talk.

Join the great family of New Life as we met together at our Sunday celebration at The House in Scunthorpe.

Thanks for listening and visiting therevster.com

 


Have you ever been in prison? OK you don’t have to bare your soul and perhaps your chequered history in the comments section, but maybe you’ve been in prison in a different way. Maybe imprisoned by fear, loneliness, trapped in a relationship or bound in a cycle of addiction. If so then then this podcast is just for you and may just help you turn the key in your prison door enough to see the first glimmer of hope and light bursting through.

“Unchained melody” is the first in a series of six talks based on the biblical letter to the Ephesians and will help you become a bigger person, big on the inside.

This was also my first sermon since the news of Michael Jackson’s death, so as a homage and to keep those who enjoy their sermons “lite” happy I have inserted over 10 of MJ’s song titles throughout my talk. See how many you can spot.

God bless you as you join the believers of New Life Church who are gathered at The House to hear this message.

 


Hi and thanks for visiting therevster.com.

I recently spent time away with some of the leaders of the church I pastor and as well as having lots of fun and enjoying each other’s company, we chewed over many of the various statements, mottos and axioms that we’ve used to describe our church. It was a helpful exercise and in the doing of it we arrived at an overarching phrase which we believe will express the whole scope of our flavour as New Life Church.

“Big God.. big people .. big church” is already becoming part of the language of New Life’s leadership. We believe in a Big God .. we build Big People .. who belong to a Big Church.

We believe in a God who is who He says He is and does what He says He does. The God who is revealed in every page of scripture. A Big God!  Only by believing in a big God can we begin to successfully raise strong disciples; big people. The followers that Jesus wants are ones who pursue wholeness, learn to live life sold out to him and therefore learn to live life large, to the full. Only then can we build and belong to a big Church. A church that Jesus celebrates not tolerates. A church that is valuable to God and invaluable to the community.

In a series of three talks, I unpack aspects of this phrase to the church for the first time. “Big God .. big people .. big church”.

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In this first talk you drop in on me talking about our need to believe in a Big God. I use visual examples of us straightjacketing God to make him more palatable to society and later I literally tear the bible apart to make the point of how subtly we learn to compromise the God of the bible. Enjoy as you join worshippers gathered at The House, the home of New Life in Scunthorpe, England.

Have you seen how expensive it is to get into Blackpool Tower? I was there a couple of weeks ago and was so stunned when I read the notice that I almost got hit by a passing tram.  Needless to say, my family didn’t go up the tower, we’ll save our money and visit Paris again to visit the real thing.

I know I’m probably being a little unfair to Blackpool Tower, but it was designed to bring a touch of the Parisian flair to our West coast even though on a somewhat smaller scale. It was modelled on the original Eiffel Tower but isn’t really in the same league. If someone asks me if I’ve seen the wonderful view from the Eiffel Tower its no use me saying “yes … in Blackpool.”

In the 2001 U.K census, 71% of the population described themselves as Christian. That’s over two thirds of the population. Interestingly most of these people would be the first to admit that they don’t know much about Christ at all, that they don’t learn life-lessons from the bible, that they don’t know what it is to be loved by God and most importantly that they don’t believe Jesus is alive has a plan for them.

I would encourage you to become the real thing. When you have experienced the life changing love of Jesus, the view is amazing.

Visit a bible-believing church this weekend and ask someone how Jesus can change your life for the better.

The streets were strangely deserted on Wednesday evening as many stayed in to watch Arsenal play Barcelona in the final of the Champions League. It was a great match to watch but ended up with the mighty Spanish side outclassing the weary and depleted London club. All the grumbling & groaning of Arsenal’s manager and players after the game and their insistence that “we was robbed by the ref”, didn’t alter the fact that everyone has known for a while that Barcelona are the best team in Europe. I guess we all know what its like to have our hopes dashed and can forgive Arsenal for their initial sour reactions.

A life without hope is a dreadful thing. Better to have your hope dashed at the end of a journey though than to never have hoped at all. Hope carried a decent English club to the biggest stage in Europe. What do you hope for? A secure future? Success?

God says in the Bible, “I have plans to prosper you & not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future”. If you place your trust in God through Jesus you can be assured of having hopes that will never be dashed. Visit a bible-believing church this weekend and ask for some of this hope.

Unlike Arsenal strikers – Jesus will never let you down

A few weeks ago we arranged for a builder to do a small job rebuilding a wall at the front of our church grounds. It only needed two or three men using simple tools a few days to complete.

The morning that the builders arrived so did a vast army of workmen along with diggers, dump trucks, pneumatic drills and tons of tarmac. By the time they had commenced work a 50 metre stretch of Ashby Road’s path had been coned off along with a diversion stopping people from accessing Brumby Wood Lane. Many passers by wondered what on earth were doing. Were we perhaps re-routing roads so they forced people into our car park. (There’s a thought).

Actually it was a coincidence. The council had decided to commence work constructing cycle paths on the same day as our rather less significant job.

The true Christian message has an uncanny parallel. Whether you are happy or not, successful or not, if you want to be absolutely assured of your eternal destiny then you need to have a relationship with Jesus. Seems hard? Not really. If you begin rebuilding your life according to His plans, He will turn up in a big way to construct you a life full of hope and purpose.

Visit a bible-believing church this weekend and ask them to point you to Jesus. Only He has the plans for your life

Whilst I was walking into a very busy Scunthorpe town centre last week a revelation hit me as I was engaging in my usual practice of studying the people. If you want to avoid being crushed in a crowd when shopping – just make sure the first things you take with you are a clipboard and pen, you are ensured a wide berth.

It’s amazing the variety of responses people have when they are approached by researchers carrying clipboards. More often than not – people just sigh & lie. They say, “I’m sorry I can’t”, when actually, they can. They say, “I’m in a rush”, when quite clearly they’re not. They say, “I’m already late”, when of course, they’re not even due anywhere.

Here’s a tip, if you really don’t want to complete a questionnaire just smile and say, “I’m sorry I don’t feel it’s the best use of my time right now”. The researcher is happy because you’ve been cheerfully polite and you are happy because you have
escaped.

A proverb in the Bible says “Worry weighs a person down; a cheery word makes them happy”.  Make Scunthorpe smile this week – be nice to someone when they’re least expecting it.