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What a privilege it was for me on Sunday, though heavy with a cold and losing my voice, to preach the final sermon in a very important series at New Life, Scunthorpe. The series, “Service with a Smile” was designed to help the church launch a volunteer revolution and to encourage newlifers understand more about themselves and feel confident in offering their service to God.

The end of the series brought the start of a new season – a season where newlifers recognise how God has knitted them together and where leaders engage with people on this journey and create opportunities for meaningful service.

You can hear this final message in the series by clicking above. The message is highly New Life specific but I hope the heart of it is clear – for the Church of Jesus to embrace this journey from servitude into servanthood releasing resource into local churches everywhere.

God bless.

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As I was leaving the venue after leading my final youth meeting as Youth Pastor, I was chased down by a young man who wanted to pray for me. Jamie layed his hands on me and prayed a passionate and powerful prayer. Jamie had Downs Syndrome but if anything, his condition allowed him to switch into the Holy Spirit’s wavelengths and speak very prophetically in very simple terms. One such example is when, during a ministry time he took the platform and said to the worshippers, “If you don’t have a dream, you can never have a dream come true”. Not original, but it was timely and poignant.

I like to think that since that time, around seven years ago, I and many of the church family around me have become more accomplished at dreaming big dreams and nurturing expansive visions. These kinds of words are now a natural part of our vocabulary and some people have witnessed their Godly dreams come to pass. Yet, many good and faithful people haven’t and have even given up on their dreams.

I was fascinated to read a newspaper article by the film director Ken Russell in which he quoted a fellow New York based director Marshall Mason. “Most people in the world have a dream”, Mason says, “But New Yorkers have the guts, drive and pizzazz to make that dream come true.” The quote of course is greatly exaggerated, but does highlight correctly the positivity and ambition of many New Yorkers as well as their tireless energy in the pursuit of their goals.

“New Yorkers have the guts, drive and pizzazz to make that dream come true.”

Now “guts”, “drive” and “pizzazz” are not the most spiritual of words but there is something about them which sits very comfortably with the encouragment of the bible for followers of Jesus to advance His kingdom. For “guts” substitute, “God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self‑discipline (2 Tim 1:7)”. For “drive” try “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me (Phil 3:12).” Finally for “pizzazz”, how about, “So I pray that God, who gives you hope, will keep you happy and full of peace as you believe in him. May you overflow with hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Rom 15:13)”

The Bible never discourages believers having “ambition”, rather warns us only against “selfish ambition”. So if you have a godly dream then be ambitious about it and add some New York flavour to your pursuit of it with a bit of guts, drive and the Holy Spirit’s pizzazz.

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The French President, Nicholas Sarkozy has called for “a blossoming of religions“. Why would he do such a thing in the face of increasing secularisation of Europe? Monsieur Sarkozy explains, “A man who believes is a man who hopes” and he clearly considers no greater form of belief than that which is held by people who are devoted to a religion.

If ever there was a people that needed belief and hope, it is the people of the U.K in this season. Things that were once deemed safe and secure have proven unreliable; property value, banks, job security. In an effort to prop up the national economy the Government is having to borrow heavily, certainly a not risk-free act in this present climate.

Followers of Jesus Christ have an antedote to the rising atmosphere of fear and uncertainty. The testimony of any Christian is based on the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus made relevant in contemporary circumstances – it is a neat package of hope and belief.

The testimony of any Christian is based on the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus made relevant in contemporary circumstances – it is a neat package of hope and belief.

Though our own politicians are fearful of bringing God into politics, let those of us who follow Jesus take inspiration from President Sarkozy and deliver our packages with prayerful confidence.

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I wonder if you have ever engaged in some act of Christian service and done so with great effort but soon found that there is no joy in it and that it seems a bit of a chore. Perhaps you’re feeling like that right now – about the acts of service your engaging in within your local church. The last thing you would call this is Service with a Smile – yet in your heart of hearts you know that serving Jesus and his church should be rewarded with joy and peace and happiness.

In Session 3 of a recent series of talks titled, “Service with a Smile, I explain that the cause of this is all down to the type of fuel we put in at our spiritual service station. The talk causes us to take a look at our motivations and often well hidden roots of our service and highlights 3 possible areas of concern. If you like you can think of them as 3 types of fuel which are incompatible with Service with a Smile.

If we want joy and peace and happiness as a bi-product of our service then we have to discover a place where our primary motivation is love. But what happens when far too many believers have guilt or duty or favour as a catalyst for their service.

Find out by continuing to listen to this podcast and the 3rd part of the series Service with a Smile.
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This is Russ Westfield saying God bless and thanks for listening.

According to a scientific study, the funniest joke in the world has been found. Personally, I find the winning joke very funny. The chances are though that many of the people reading this newspaper would not find it funny in the slightest.

Our personal preferences are a very powerful thing and are most often revealed in our initial reactions to different experiences, e.g. whether we laugh at a joke, whether we cry at a film, whether we find a restaurant appealing.

Interestingly, some of the most influential decisions we can ever make are ones which are done contradictory to our personal preferences. These decisions are the ones which take us outside our comfort zone, challenge our mindset or require extra will-power. Millionaires have found success by being adventurous, real life heroes have changed peoples lives by performing unusual feats, I have been recently deeply affected by reading a book which I would usually steer well clear of.

I would encourage you to venture out of your comfort zone and try something new. Try it by changing a small thing in your daily routine as well as doing something which needs a bit of courage. You will be surprised at the opportunities it will bring. Why not visit a church this weekend and experience something new – it could open up a whole new world for you.

Oh, the funniest joke in the world. Here goes. Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn’t seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps, “My friend is dead! What can I do?” The operator says “Calm down. I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.” There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says “OK, now what?”

Have you ever visited a store or perhaps a restaurant where the service you received was spoiled by just one thing – the lack of a smile from those serving you. It is amazing how such a small thing can negate an otherwise satisfactory experience.

I wonder if God ever watches us going about our Christian business and longs for a smile to go along with it.

Far too many believers use their talents and gifts for God but seem to reap no joy; only discontent or frustration. Perhaps you are one of them. Trapped in a place of lifeless servitude rather than joyful servanthood.

In my message “Service with a Smile” you can discover simple ways to break through this barrier and enhance your life, resource the church and impact your community. No great leaps of faith are required – just small changes to our behaviour and mindset.

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Happy listening and God bless.

 A few years ago I was on a ministry visit to North America with a colleague. My friend was asked to give the keynote sermon in a very large church. The theme of his talk was about how God has a solution for every predicament we find ourselves in. He would say things like, “you may feel like your life is a mess and hopeless, but, God can bring order out of chaos”. The theme and his delivery were as usual, excellent. However he seemed to have forgotten that we were in North America where words can have different meanings. I must admit, I and a few hundred others tried to stifle our chuckles when he kept repeating, “No matter what you’re going through – God’s “but” is big enough”!

Have you ever felt that people just don’t understand you or what you’re going through?

The Bible tells us that, “those who call on the Name of the Lord will be saved”, and “Taste & see that the Lord is good”.

Why not take some time today to talk to God. Let Him know how you feel and what you really need. Be yourself. He understands your language.

 A well-respected preacher and theologian was visiting a church in Africa. He was invited to preach, and, wanting to be courteous, asked how he might say, “good evening,” in the local dialect. His interpreter told him what to say, and as he walked into the main church building he observed some notices on two doors, which were obviously toilets. The preacher noted down what it said on the two doors and thought he’d give an even more impressive greeting.

As he stood up to speak, he said what he thought was, “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.” There was a stunned silence, followed by giggles and then laughter. The preacher turned to his interpreter and asked, “What did I just say?” With a broad grin, the interpreter said… “Good evening, water closets and urinals!”

If you don’t understand the language you can get into all manner of scrapes. The Bible is full of ways to avoid the scrapes of life but most people haven’t got a bible in an up-to-date translation that they can understand. Pop into a bible-believing church this week and ask for one.

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