Ssshhh... New Blog

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The adventure begins.
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http://adventuresinthecev.blogspot.com/

Windows to the Soul

It seems that eyes really are the window to the soul after all. Researchers have noted a correlation between the make-up of the iris and certain personality traits.

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Read the full article.

Burma 'orders Christians to be wiped out'

Bagan - blue dawn, originally uploaded by Sara Heinrichs (awfulsara).

From the Telegraph

The military regime in Burma is intent on wiping out Christianity in the country, according to claims in a secret document believed to have been leaked from a government ministry. Entitled "Programme to destroy the Christian religion in Burma", the incendiary memo contains point by point instructions on how to drive Christians out of the state.

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Read more...

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Where is Burma?

Unless You Become...

prayer, originally uploaded by t.c.v..

Then Jesus said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven..."

Feeling all wistful...

Oh, for the good old days when people would stop Christmas shopping when they ran out of money.

Author Unknown

Evening Teaching Series - The Gospel

Our latest evening teaching series has been looking at the Gospel. You can listen to the three talks online by clicking the links below. Alternatively, to download the track onto your hard disk or iPod, just right click on the link and click "Save Target As". Enjoy.

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Who is Jesus?

Peter Mann looks at the question of the identity of Jesus. Who was he? This is the first of three talks in a series on the Gospel given on 19 November 2006.

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The Humanity of Christ

We look together at the title of Jesus as Son of Man. This is the second of three talks in a series on the Gospel given on 26 November 2006.

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The Gospel: An Overview

Brian Boggis gives an overview of the Gospel. This is the last of three talks in a series on the Gospel given on 03 December 2006.

Keynote Report Published by EA

A landmark report on the relationship between Faith and Nation has been published by the Evangelical Alliance. It takes a good hard look at the role Christian faith has played in the past in the UK and looks also at current developments such as the marginalisation of the role of faith, & the 'creep' of secularism and individualism into political decision-making.

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‘Faith and Nation’ gives 100 recommendations on areas as diverse as religious liberty, the environment, and constitutional matters, including the call for the Coronation Ceremony to retain the phrase ‘Defender of the Faith’. It's a heavy read but packed with a depth of insight into where the UK is at right now. Joel Green dares to hope that it will be a prophetic voice. Anyone with a social conscience and a desire to understand & address the nation's prophetic needs would be well-placed to give it a read. It's all available on the Web.

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Christian denominations and representatives from other faiths were also invited to contribute.

Evening Teaching Series: The Word

You can now listen to our recent evening teaching series on God's Word in Our Hands right here on the Web. Here are the links. To download the track onto your hard disk or iPod, just right click on the link and click "Save Target As". Enjoy.

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Books of the Bible

Peter Mann takes us expertly through the books of the Bible, filling in the gaps and letting us in on the story. This was the first of three talks in the series, God's Word in Our Hands, given on 22 October 2006.

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What's the Story?

In this session, I take you through some of the main themes of the Bible and try to take a look at the bigger picture. This was the second of three talks in the series, God's Word in Our Hands, given on 29 October 2006.

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Word & Spirit

Brian Boggis reminds us that we must never forget the crucial role the Spirit plays in our lives. This was the third of three talks in the series, God's Word in Our Hands, given on 05 November 2006.

Police enlist the power of prayer

Police in Lincolnshire are turning to prayer in their latest efforts to tackle crime. The force is asking churchgoers to concentrate their prayers on crimes such as burglaries and violent attacks.

The Prayer Watch scheme, a spiritual version of Neighbourhood Watch, has been proposed by members of the Lincolnshire branch of the Christian Police Association. The plan is for the police to e-mail churches and Christian groups with details of specific crimes, which worshippers can then focus on in their prayers.

Dick Holmes, a police spokesman, said the project is designed to encourage communities to keep an eye on the churches themselves. “They are prime targets for thieves and vandals and there have been well-publicised spates of trouble across the county.

“Obviously there is the spiritual element which lets communities know about specific incidents in their area so they can focus their prayers on them if they wish.”

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Report by Ruth Gledhill of Times Online

The Thames Water Barrier

The Thames Water Barrier is a massive flood defence system erected at enormous cost to prevent the city of London from flooding. Prayer raises a spiritual barrier system that prevents a tide of evil from overflowing, be that personally, in our family, community or even nation.

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Additionally barriers can hinder the overflowing work of the Holy Spirit in us. These barriers need to come down. Then the flood of God's Spirit can break through.

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I believe the Lord has been saying that breakthrough is most certainly coming.

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But "breakthrough" means "prayed-through".

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In praying through with perseverance we will see some barriers come down and others raised. And the breakthrough we are looking for is sure to come.

The Holy Grail?

It's official - the quest for happiness has begun. The BBC has been running a series of programmes called the Happiness Formula.
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In the 19th Century a philosophy was formed called hedonism from the Greek word, hedone. It is the theory that pleasure (in the sense of the satisfaction of desires) is the highest good and proper aim of human life. Of course the BBC is not wanting to promote a hedonistic philosophy; Hedonism ultimately ended in the pursuit of sexual and liberal licence which is probably not the BBC's intention.

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You can catch some of the findings of the programme at the BBC's website at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/happiness_formula/. But the survey results have thrown up one or two interesting findings.
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The science of happiness suggests marriage is so good for your well-being that it adds an average seven years to the life of a man and something like four for a woman. To maximise happiness, it is argued that government should certainly do nothing to discourage marriage, perhaps even that it should promote it.
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The other vital ingredient to emerge as necessary for a strong sense of well being is having religious belief. Those who attend church regularly find greater significance, sense of purpose and community in a shared and personal faith in God. So God, it seems, is good for you after all.

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Thanks BBC.

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But should we be focussing on this not-so-modern day holy grail of personal happiness? Is that the chief end of humanity? We certainly do place high value on it in this consumer-driven culture. The pursuit of happiness is even enshrined as an inalienable right of humanity in the US Constitution. "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."

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In the midst of culture's search for meaning, Tom Wright has written an excellent book on the Christian faith. Wright is one of the most significant evangelical thinkers in the world today.

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The book is called Simply Christian and is published by SPCK. Using simple acccessible language, Wright brilliantly exposes humanity's search for something better and explains the Christian message. If you have a brain you want to engage then get yourself into the Mustard Seed and buy the book. I commend it to you.

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It will make you happy.

The Seven Prayer Habits of Highly Effective People

At a recent cell group meeting I spoke on the seven prayer habits of highly effective people. Several folk have asked for the notes and so I have reproduced them in shortened version below.

The seven prayer habits of highly effective people

The #1 issue facing the church today is the need for consistent and passionate prayer both corporately and personally.

Pray in right relationship to God

• The starting point of prayer is a right relationship with God (Is 1:15)
• It’s also living right before God (Is 1:16ff; Jn 14:6; Ps 6:9; Heb 4:16; Ps 34:15)
• The Disciple’s Prayer (Matt 6:9) helps us to understand this
• Our Father in the heavens
• Ecc 5:1-2
• Hallowed be your name
• Knowing God’s name means being able to pray into and out of who God is
• Jehovah Jireh – The Lord my Provider, my vision, the One I see, Gen 22:14
• Jehovah Rophe – I am who heals thee. Ex 15:26
• Jehovah Nissi – The Lord is my banner. Ex 17:15

Pray in the Spirit

• The Spirit brings us into right relationship to God (Rom 8:15)
• Praying in the Spirit is a conference in perfect agreement with the Father. Nothing can go wrong with these kinds of prayers. Nothing will be prayed that is in disagreement, disharmony, disunity or disconcordant with the will of the Father (Rom 8:26f)
• You will strike all the right chords when you speak the language of heaven. It will dovetail beautifully with the Father’s heart. He will consider your prayer, nod his head in agreement, smile and be delighted to answer your heart cries.
• When all is said and done, I want to pray prayers that God would want to answer!
• Praying in the Spirit is more than just speaking in tongues (Eph 6:18)
• Spirit searches even the deep things of God (1 Cor 2:9)
• Call unto me, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you know not (Jer 33:3)
  

Pray in the will of God

• These are guaranteed to be answered (1 John 5:14,15)
• We tune ourselves into the will of God in time spent in prayer (Mk 1:35; Lk 6:12)
• We tune ourselves into the will of God in time spent in the Word (Heb 5:12)

Pray in faith

• Everything that we receive from God, we receive by faith (Heb 11:6; Mk 11:24; Mk 9:23)
  

Pray in secret simplicity

• Beware the babbling prayers of unbelief (Mt 6:7)
• “The fewer the words, the better the prayer.” – Martin Luther
• Pray secretly to receive your reward openly (Mt 6:5)
• It’s relational. “For the Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Mt 6:8)
• Pray for your needs (Jas 5:14)
• Give us this day our daily bread (Mt 6:11)
• What you need for life for today.
  

Pray with fervency

• The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available – dynamic in its working (Jas 5:16)
• Tremendous things happen when we pray fervently
• The whole building was shaken (Ac 4:23)
• Elijah prayed under a spirit of intercession (1 Ki 18:41-46)
• “O God, you are my God, Earnestly I seek you” (Ps 63:1)
  

Pray without ceasing

• Jesus presents this spiritual principle in the story of the Persistent Widow (Lk 18:1ff)
• And the need for prevailing prayer in the Friend at Midnight (Lk 11:5)

Good News! Kember Freed

Together, originally uploaded by nmec.

It is wonderful news to hear that Norman Kember has been rescued by security forces working in Iraq. I remember taking part in an impromptu prayer meeting in the Speaker's State Apartments at Westminster with a group of concerned parliamentarians just after he was taken hostage and there was great concern. The praying was urgent and heartfelt.

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It is wonderful to hear of his rescue. Thanks Father God.

This Sunday and Calling All Journallers

On Sunday morning we have a guest speaker, Stephen Rand. So do join us for that in the morning.

You may recall how some months ago, several journals were given out to potential journallers.

Well Sunday night is the test of the journaller's mettle. We will be gathering together at 6.30pm at SHC to discuss any journal entries that our intrepid journallers would like to share.

EVERYBODY is welcome and we are going to look at what has worked and been helpful to people, what has not worked and why and any insights and edification people have gained from journalling.

So if you journal and would like to share, then please come. If you journal and would NOT like to share, then please come. If you don't journal, please come anyway.

Pray Hemel

Pray Hemel this Saturday is at South Hill Church. Join us for a great time of prayer with a whole bunch of Hemel Christians.

8.00am - 9.30am, starting with bacon butties.

Sermon Series on Philippians

As time is moving on, we decided to wrap up our series on Philippians on Sunday, 26 February 2006 by looking at Phil 3:1-21, under the title, Press on: Destination Heaven!

The flesh counts for nothing. Knowing Christ and all he has done for us is everything. So we press on into him because our destination is heaven.

1. Renew your joy in the Lord

Paul is never finished exhorting us to find our strength in God and never finished warning of that which could undermine our Christian foundation. There is a place of safety in this principle.

2. Watch out for diversions

Beware the dirty dogs, Beware those doers of darkness, Beware those darstardly disablers. We looked at what Paul was concerned about: anything that distorts the clarity of the Gospel of Christ in our lives.

3. Rid yourself of what has no value

Paul plays Top Trumps with his Jewish credentials and then writes them off as worthless when it comes to the far greater issue of laying hold of Christ in his life.

Sometimes we start up a profit and loss account with God. This is stinking thinking as far as Paul is concerned.

4. Value what has the most value

In order to gain Christ, we need to come empty-handed.

Paul just wanted to know Christ in his life and he was only prepared to put his trust in the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith in him. That's all that matters!

That was his value system. We have 86,000 seconds a day in our lives. How are we investing them? As a result of comprehending this amazing operation of grace in his life, that's the reason he wants to share in the fellowship of sharing in his suffering and somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

5. Press on towards perfection

Lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of you: literally, arrested. Our citizenship is in heaven.

Conclusion

That’s how to stand firm in the Lord.

Cheer up in God! We’ve got something to boast about and its not anything you or I could ever have done. That’s nothing. We are those who boast in Christ and what he has won for us. Our right standing through faith. That’s all that matters. Now I press on to take hold of all that this truth means by running hard after knowing Christ and somehow being found worthy of this incredible privilege. So follow my lead. Press into him and press on to heaven!

And with that, we finish in Philippians for now. There is so much more in this part of scripture, but not enough time to look at it all. But I commend the rich truths in this book to you as a foundation for your Christian faith.

Bless you.

Sermon Series on Philippians

On Sunday, 29 January 2006, we looked at Phil 2:1-12 under the title, Follow his lead in true humility.

If God has touched you then be united with one another by humbling yourselves like Jesus.

1. Has God touched you?

Have you felt the encouragement of uniting with Christ, the consolation of his love, fellowship with the Spirit, his tenderness and compassion?

We looked at George Fox's journal where he gives an account of the love of God changing him. You can read his journal at

http://www.strecorsoc.org/gfox/title.html

2. Be united among yourselves

We looked at Jonathan Edwards' Resolutions. Here they are:

1. In all our conversation, concerns and dealings with our neighbours we will be honest, just and upright.
2. If we wrong others in any way we will not rest until we have made restitution.
3. We promise that we will not permit ourselves to indulge in any kind of back-biting.
4. We will be careful not to do anything to others out of a spirit of revenge.
5. When there is a difference of opinion concerning another’s rights, we will not allow private interest to influence us.
6. We will not tolerate the exercise of enmity or ill will or revenge in our hearts.
7. If we find that we have a secret grudge against another we will not gratify it but root it out.
8. We will not allow over-familiarity in our talk with others, or anything that might stir up licentious behaviour.
9. We resolve to examine ourselves on a regular basis, knowing that the heart is very deceitful.
10. We will run with perseverance the race that is set before us, working out our salvation with fear and trembling.

This covenant was made on 16 March 1742

3. Humble yourselves

It's not a “What’s in it for me” spirit or a “Look at me, am I not great” spirit. Humility is about not having the need to blow your own trumpet. Shine the spotlight on others.

4. Let this thinking be in you that was also in Christ Jesus

We looked at this profound Christian hymn, full of deep truth. We considered different photo filters which bring out different elements to it.

It looks like Jesus and Adam are being compared. Jesus does what Adam couldn't.

It looks like Jesus is being described in the language of the suffering servant in Isaiah.

It looks like Paul might have had Jesus' example of washing his followers' feet in mind.

Paul's got his eyes on Christ and is working out what it means to be united with him, identified with him, having his life in us: being like him.

A Poem by Pris

Pris recently wrote a poem, having meditated on Ps 65 at a recent Care Group meeting.

A 'PRESENT' GIFT OF GOD

Thank you Lord for your gift this day
Rain or shine, no matter what men say
We will lift our hearts in praise to You
For we know our days all depend on You.

Thanks for that, Pris.

A Thought from Dave

After a recent sermon by Brian on the Word of God, Dave was reminded of some words of George Muller, a Christian evangelist and coordinator of orphanages in Bristol, England.

The first thing I did, after having asked the Lord's blessing upon his precious Word, was, to begin to meditate on the Word of God, searching ...into every verse, to get blessing out of it; not for the sake of preaching on it, but for the sake of obtaining food for my soul. ...After a very few minutes my soul has been led to confession, or to thanksgiving, or to intercession, or to supplication; so that, though I did not, as it were, give myself to prayer, but to meditation, yet it turned almost immediately ...into prayer".

Thanks for sharing that, Dave.

A Blog on the Horizon

Great news! Please check out Councillor Neil Harden's new blog called S P Q R.

http://c21st.blogspot.com/

It is an intriguing mix of local politics, Neil's thoughts, Christian reflections and political polling.

Well done, Neil and welcome to the blogosphere.

Pressing in for a Double-Portion Anointing

The following is an outline of the sermon preached on 15th January 2006 on 2 Kings 2:1-13.

Using the example of Elisha’s journey with Elijah, we looked at the various stations they journeyed through together before Elisha arrived at the place of a double-portion impartation of anointing.

First they traveled through the place of new birth and spiritual growth at Gilgal (Josh 5:1-12).

• Gilgal was the stopping place in Canaan where the people of God first inherited the promised land. It was here that they were circumcised.
• This speaks of a putting off of the sinful nature and the taking on of God’s Spirit.
• It was at Gilgal where they learned to sow and reap. This is the place of spiritual growth. It is a comfortable place.

Many Christians get here and stop: but not those who want to receive a double-portion anointing for the call of God on their lives.

They travelled on to Bethel. This is the place of prevailing prayer and revelation (Gen 28:10-22).

• It was in Bethel that Jacob found himself under an open heaven.
• It was here that he was commissioned by the Lord and he moved into a place of worship in the area of his giving.
• This is the place of experience of the presence of God.
  

They moved on into Jericho. Jericho is the place of spiritual warfare, intercession and breakthrough (Jos 5:13-6:25).

• For the Christian this is where hard-won victories are made for the kingdom. This is where spiritual strongholds are torn down.
• This is where Joshua received and put into practice the rhema word, the heavenly strategies for breakthrough.

Finally they crossed the Jordan. This is past the place of no return (2 Ki 2:7,8).

• It is here that Elisha received the double-portion anointing. But only when he could prove to Elijah that he could keep his eyes on what matters.
• For the Christian this is the place where we keep our eyes on Jesus, no matter how much drama is happening around us.
• This is the place where we receive the first portion of God’s anointing for the call of God on our lives.
  
  

Pray Hemel

...is this month at St Mary and St Joseph, Boxmoor. Click on the link for directions.

Pray Hemel is a great opportunity to get together with other Christians in the town. Unity is not just a sign to unbelievers it also is a sign in the heavenlies. I commend you to come (oh and you generally get a bacon buttie too!).

It starts at 8am and finishes at 9.30am latest.

Shock Defeat over Religious Hatred Bill

Labour's Chief Whip made key errors in calculation and the proposal was lost by the PM's failure to vote.

Praise God! The government have been defeated over proposals to end the principle of free speech with regard to religion. The media are stunned, with the BBC reporting that in one division, the government lost by just one vote after the Prime Minister failed to walk through the divison lobby on a second ballot.

This is Tony Blair's second only defeat since 1997. The Chief Whip told him it was pointless voting in the second ballot. However several Labour rebels had wandered off to get a drink and the majority of the rebellion had almost been lost. The Tories meanwhile turned up in massive numbers to scupper the bill.

Still, the nature of this strategic loss has embarrassed the Labour hierarchy. An official said: “The PM will make sure he does vote in future on important votes. This was a one-off.” He agreed that the whole episode was a “cock-up”.

It is shocking to think that this government were so intent on pushing such an iniquitous and badly thought out bill through Parliament and that our ancient religious freedoms have been protected by just 1 vote in the Commons and by the earlier intervention of unelected godly and wise elders in the House of Lords.

But the unusual nature of this turnaround is evidence that the Lord has heard the prayers of his people. Let us continue to be prayerful in these times.

Lord Chan Goes to Glory

Thank you very much for all your love and prayers.

Michael Chan went to be with the Lord at 21:25 hours GMT, Saturday 21st January 2006. He passed away peacefully surrounded by his family reading his favourite Bible passages and singing his favourite hymns.

We praise and thank God for loaning him to us for all these years. He has run the race, he has fought the fight, and now he receives his crown of glory.

Praise the Lord.

Irene, Ruth and Stephen would value your continued prayers for the coming weeks.

1 Thessalonians 4:13,14. Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.

Mayor visits Dinner Date

The Worshipful Mayor of the Borough of Dacorum, Jane Hogg Cllr dined with the men & women of Dinner Date on Thursday. She spoke of how God’s grace was evident in miraculously protecting the public in the timing of the Buncefield explosion and the firemen from falling down open manholes hidden by foam. There were no significant injuries suffered by the emergency services throughout the incident, which was remarkable.

She also commended Dinner Date and all those who do so much in the community. She pointed out that each of us have a part to play to do our bit for the town.

It was an honour to have her come and share with us.

Pray Hemel

The first prayer meeting of 2006 took place on Sat 7th January at Maranatha Church. Around 50 representatives from the 35 or so churches in Hemel met to worship together and pray for the town. This remarkable show of unity and fellowship in Hemel was started by Penny Crosswell and has now been running for several years.

Starting with bacon butties and a hot drink, it is a precious hour or so on the first Saturday of the month to seek the Lord together. Physically turning up is something that makes a spiritual statement in the heavenly realms. I commend it to you.

Dates and venues are given below. Click on the name of the church for directions.

Sat 3rd Dec 2005 Holy Trinity, Leverstock Green
Sat 7th Jan 2006 Maranatha Christian Church
Sat 4th Feb 2006 St Mary and St Joseph
Sat 4th March 2006 South Hill Church
Sat 1st April 2006 St Barnabas
Sat 6th May 2006 Jubilee Christian Fellowship
Sat 3rd June 2006 Nash Mills Methodist Church
Sat 1st July 2006 St Alban's CofE Church

Selwyn Hughes goes to Glory

Selwyn Hughes died on 9 January 2006 ending a ministry that spanned more than four decades, in which he uniquely combined the roles of writer, pastor, counsellor and teacher. He also founded CWR (Crusade for World Revival), an international organisation that has spearheaded the training of Christian counsellors, leaders and workers in this country and abroad and that continues to produce Christian resources, including the bestselling dated devotional Every Day with Jesus.

Born on April 27, 1928, during the period of post-war depression, Selwyn Hughes was inspired by the faith of his family. Many of his relatives had been influenced by the great Welsh Revival of 1904 and, at the age of 16, he professed his own Christian faith.

Following ministerial training and ordination as an Assemblies of God minister, he served a number of churches in Cornwall, South Wales, Yorkshire, Essex and Central London.

In 1965 he initiated a series of short daily Bible-reading guides, written on blank postcards, for the benefit of friends and church members. Demand rapidly exceeded supply and soon these guides became a bimonthly publication. Now Every Day with Jesus is read daily by nearly a million people in 130 countries around the world.

Remarkably, he personally wrote every issue of Every Day with Jesus, only occasionally assisted by other writers. He continued to write prolifically for over 40 years, during which time he weathered the vicissitudes of life, including the death in 1986 of his wife, the tragically premature death of their two sons in more recent years, and his own serious illness.

In June 2005 Selwyn received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Brunel University for ‘outstanding service to Christian education’. He was described by Lord Carey, President of the London School of Theology (and former Archbishop of Canterbury), as ‘a giant in the faith’.

In September 2005 the 40th Anniversary of CWR and Every Day with Jesus was celebrated at Waverley Abbey House, drawing together over a thousand supporters and friends to offer thanksgiving to God and pay tribute to Selwyn for his dedicated servanthood over four decades of ministry. In agreement with Selwyn, plans are in place for his ministry through Every Day with Jesus to continue into the future.

Steve Bradley, CWR’s Chair of Trustees, commented: ‘This is a sad day for all who knew and loved Selwyn. He touched hundreds of thousands of lives across the world, and yet his ability to engage with individuals was immediate and life-changing. We rejoice that he has now entered the presence of Jesus, whom he served faithfully and proclaimed powerfully. He was a remarkable and singular man and we trust that God will lead us on in the work Selwyn established.’

Report taken from CWR Press Release

24-7 Prayer Talks

A couple of Mondays ago, I was privileged to lead the Mayoral Church Leader's Prayer Meeting in the Mayor's Parlour. Alongside leading prayers about the recent oil explosion at Buncefield, I was asked to talk about starting a town-wide 24-7 prayer movement among all the churches.

As a result, I have now been asked to make a presentation to the main Churches Together Forum on 7th February. These are significant and strategic times for Hemel Hempstead. If something good is to happen, then it needs to be birthed in prayer. I would invite you to join with me in praying for the Lord's continued favour on these considerations, which potentially could have an explosive effect spiritually in Hemel Hempstead...

The rules of the game

The relationship between grace and law is complicated and complementary.

Grace means that even after we have sinned, the mediation of Christ can bring forgiveness when we confess to our shortcomings. But grace is so valuable yet so freely offered that it can almost seem as if sin is not so big a deal after all. What is invaluable but free can appear to be devalued.

In fact, Paul wrote that some people were suggesting that the more you sinned, the more all-encompassing grace becomes. Paul mentions this crooked thinking in Ro 6:1 ‘What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?’

So how can we properly understand this dynamic? Let's use this picture

When you play football, you must play on the field. You can play pretty much anywhere you like inside the lines. But sin is like crossing the line. You’ve played out of touch. You can’t keep on. You need to get back into the game. So you throw it back in and get playing. That’s repentance and confession. But the line is still there. That’s law. You can’t play outside the lines.

But God’s grace means that when we mess up, he gives us a way back in to the game.

A Message from Neil Harden

Please pray for Lord Chan of Oxton, a Christian Cross-bench Peer in Parliament who has been gravely ill and in hospital since 31st December. Lady Chan and daughter Ruth would be most grateful for our prayers at this time. We will try to keep you updated on any further news.

Update: News in suggests that there have been several improvements in the last little while in terms of Lord Chan fighting back against his illness and moving towards recovery. Neil asks for prayer that he will be completely restored physically and that his family members will be able to get some rest at this difficult time.

As the rain and the snow...

It is 2 degrees out today and it is snowing slightly. It is just wet snow that doesn't settle as it falls. I realised why I love it when it snows. It is because the snow falls so gently, silently and unhurriedly. There's no rush. It's a wonder to see these frozen rain drops gently ambling to their resting place on the ground.

It reminds me of a scripture in Isaiah, where the prophet speaks of a prophetic word being just like that.

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Is 55:10,11

A prophetic word goes forth and speaks to us. It falls on us, covers us, and rests upon us, taking its time. It settles. It goes through a process. It refreshes the earth. It gets absorbed. It causes growth to the seeds of talent latent within our life-purpose and destinies. Those seeds bud and flourish and push up through the soil. It's growth is painful, tender and fragile at the beginning. Eventually it produces fruit or wheat that has to be threshed and sifted. Then the wheat goes through a long process before it is ever turned into bread for the eater.

That's an encouragement to me. The prophetic word takes time to work itself through to FRUITION. But his word is true and it is real. And this is the promise that the Father speaks over us to encourage us.

'So is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.'

What God speaks over us and into our lives will come to pass.

Just like snow.

Remember!

Pray Hemel is at Maranatha Church tomorrow. Starting at 8am.

Of which I am persuaded

Want to know what I really think? Read on.

I believe in the absolute sufficiency and authority of scripture for life and conduct, being persuaded of the continued relevance of Biblical preaching into and addressing the needs of contemporary culture.

I believe in the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ alone to mediate between God and humanity to effect salvation and redemption from sin.

I believe in the continued work of one Holy Spirit in renewal of one church; and that the ongoing empowering of the Holy Spirit is necessary for all believers.

I keenly endorse the concept of the priesthood of all believers within the church. I believe in the exercise of gifts and ministries variously in the Body as the Spirit wills, within good order and peace.

I believe that entry into the gathered church is by repentance, confession of faith and believer’s baptism.

I believe the role of a minister is to lead by persuasion and consent, working in a team environment, encouraging, facilitating and mobilising every believer into full participation in pilgrim obedience.

I am persuaded that the coming of the Lord is imminent and that we must therefore be mindful, sober and vigilant and make the most of every opportunity to win souls for Christ and kingdom.

Statement of Faith

'Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.'

I wholeheartedly affirm my belief in...

1. The one true God who lives eternally in three persons—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

2. The love, grace and sovereignty of God in creating, sustaining, ruling, redeeming and judging the world.

3. The divine inspiration and supreme authority of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, which are the written Word of God—fully trustworthy for faith and conduct.

4. The dignity of all people, made male and female in God's image to love, be holy and care for creation, yet corrupted by sin, which incurs divine wrath and judgement.

5. The incarnation of God’s eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ—born of the virgin Mary, truly divine and truly human, yet without sin.

6. The atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross: dying in our place, paying the price of sin and defeating evil, so reconciling us with God.

7. The bodily resurrection of Christ, the firstfruit of our resurrection; his ascension to the Father, and his reign and mediation as the only Saviour of the world.

8. The justification of sinners solely by the grace of God through faith in Christ.

9. The ministry of God the Holy Spirit, who leads us to repentance, unites us with Christ through new birth, empowers our discipleship and enables our witness.

10. The Church, the body of Christ both local and universal, the priesthood of all believers—given life by the Spirit and endowed with the Spirit's gifts to worship God and proclaim the gospel, promoting justice and love.

11. The personal and visible return of Jesus Christ to fulfil the purposes of God, who will raise all people to judgement, bring eternal life to the redeemed and eternal condemnation to the lost, and establish a new heaven and new earth.

Do you have...

...a taped copy of any of my sermons of last year, including the two sermons so far on Philippians and one on Psalm 1? If you are *most probably* the one person who does, I would be most grateful if you could let me borrow it, so that I can make an mp3 file of the recording and put it up on the Internet.

Thank you.

Back to Work? It's Good for You!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4577392.stm

Prove Christ Exists, Judge Orders Priest

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1967413,00.html

Life Audit

This is the sort of time when it is good to reflect on the year that has just gone and the one that is to come.

Looking back over this last year, what surprises came your way? In what way have you grown and developed as a person? What challenges did you face and overcome? What has been your 'life-story' this year?

And looking towards the new year, what drives you? What is God's vision for your life? What is your vision? What passions, dreams and goals do you want to achieve this year? How are you going to achieve them?

Finally, what do you sense the Lord saying to you for the new year? Have a little listen to the Lord and ask him what is on his heart for you.

And I wish you all the best. And I am looking forward to sharing the journey with you.

Baby Boy

Warmest congratulations to Kath & Graeme on the birth of their baby boy, Jacob William, on Monday Morning, 6lb 9oz and absolutely gorgeous.

Mother, baby, father & sister doing well.

Thanks for your prayers

Some of you may have noticed a post I wrote this morning asking for prayer for my mother who had been taken in to hospital rather suddenly yesterday morning, suffering with chest pains. She has now been discharged from hospital, having been given good medication for the pain and is feeling much better all round.

Thanks to all those who prayed about the situation.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I want to wish all of you God's best for this Christmas time. And may God bring you into all the inheritance that is yours in Christ in the year 2006: the year of your destiny and God's plan for your life.

Watching and Praying for Iraq

Read these articles to keep yourself prayerfully informed about the Christian witness in Iraq and the latest update regarding the British hostage, Norman Kember.

Iraqi worshippers risk their lives to celebrate Christmas in church

Iraq radio plea and prayers for British hostage

It could have been so much worse

The weather could have made the disaster much worse - a strong high pressure system gave just the right conditions to keep much of the pollution high above the ground.

One Hemel Hempstead resident said: "The explosion felt like the end of the world." Emergency services said it was "miraculous" no one died. Hertfordshire Chief Constable Frank Whiteley said: "By the grace of God it was 6am on a Sunday and not 9am on a Monday."

Hans Michels, Professor of Safety Engineering at Imperial College, London, added: "It's nothing short of a miracle so few people were hurt. If it had been the middle of the day anybody outside would have been killed."

Thanksgiving Services Held

DOZENS turned out to give thanks following the Buncefield explosion at two services in Hemel Hempstead today.

The Bishop of St Albans, Rt Rev Christopher Herbert, led the services for the business community on the Maylands estate and residents at Adeyfield School.Bishop Herbert paid tribute to the emergency services, several of whom attended the business service, and led the congregations in prayers of thanksgiving.

The Rev John Hardaker, of the Adeyfield Free Church, told the congregation: "It has given us a chance to notice each other as a community and to notice that something has changed here in Hemel Hempstead. "We are all in this together and I hope this will continue."

Report from hemelhempsteadtoday.co.uk

Narnia Screening

Today a special screening of the Narnia film took place at the Odeon, Jarman Park to a packed audience of around 290 people. Andrew gave a five minute talk commending the film and encouraging people to keep their eyes on Aslan the lion.

Thanks to all those who booked this special event and made such an effort to make it such a tremendous success.

Sun Turns to Darkness in Hemel

"It's devastating; it looks like an apocalypse sometimes." Chief Fire Officer Roy Wilsher, Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue.

Yesterday's massive gas explosion at the Buncefield Oil Depot was heard as far away as Guildford, Hastings, France and even Holland. But who would have thought that such a cataclysmic event would have happened right on our doorstep?

And I've been reflecting in recent days about whether I am close enough to the Lord that if necessary, he would speak prophetically to me of things to come. Am I trustworthy enough? Am I responsible enough in the area of the prophetic? Do I take time to listen? Do I adequately record what I sense the Lord saying? Would I have believed the Lord if He had whispered to me, "This time next week, the sun will be turned to darkness in Hemel Hempstead?"

One of two eye witnesses who ran straight to the oil depot early in the morning before the arrival of the fire engines and the police took amateur digital footage of the tanks on fire at close range. Due to the intensity of the heat, one of them was heard to observe, "It's like Satan has come to Hemel Hempstead."

But I sense the Lord saying that what the enemy has intended for harm, the Lord will turn to good. Just as Hemel Hempstead was seen around the world on CNN, Hemel Hempstead will be known for a fire of revival that will take hold in the town, and whose sound will be heard all around the world. The Lord himself will ignite the fires of revival that will act as a feeder to other key gateway cities around the nation and via the airports too. It will burn for days and even weeks, but will be contained and managed. The fallout will increase purity in the land and will particularly affect the cities. What Satan has counterfeited in the natural, the Lord will do in reality.

Father, let your fire fall in this town you love. Fulfill your prophetic call over this town. Purify us, Father. Set us alight, so that others will come and watch us burn with the zeal of your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Narnia books? Christian?

Well, as I have been taught for many years, when looking for the author's intent, you should always go to the author and see what they intended. (I love my expensive education. You can get a degree in it.)

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Here is C S Lewis' view (straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak) set out in a letter recently discovered in an archive, written in 1961 from Magdalen College, Oxford to a child fan.

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"The whole Narnian story is about Christ . . . Supposing there really was a world like Narnia . . . and supposing Christ wanted to go into that world and save it (as He did ours) what might have happened?

“The stories are my answer. Since Narnia is a world of talking beasts, I thought he would become a talking beast there as he became a man here. I pictured him becoming a lion there because a) the lion is supposed to be the king of beasts; b) Christ is called ‘the lion of Judah’ in the Bible.”

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So that settles it? Probably not.

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Disagreement exists concerning the art/science of literary interpretation. Can you just take anything out of it as some people are suggesting (a reader-response approach)? Or is an allegory able to contain an inherent meaning, which allows for one interpretation and excludes another? That's the question.

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And there's a deeper question. Is there such a thing as truth? An objective, verifiable reality? The jury's out on that one and the debate is proving fierce.

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But as for C S Lewis's intention? It would dishonour him not to allow him to speak for himself. Here we are, Jack. Here's your moment.

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"The whole Narnian story is about Christ."