The Prayer of Faith

The prayer of faith goes beyond simple prayer to the place where the desire is awakened in us to the confidence and expectation that God will answer, He will lead and make our paths straight. It is that which we need to be driven towards because prayer stabilizes me and keeps faith alive! The question we need to answer is this; how do we pray in such a way that it does not become routine, ritualistic or some kind of formula? We will discover the fullness of prayer experienced in faith.

YOU WILL SEE SUPERNATURAL ACCORDING TO YOUR FAITH

Mark 6:5 states ‘He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.’
I went to a Baptist seminary for my training and Baptists are known to be people of the Word. While there I learned about dispensationalism and the study of the different ages of the church basically being categorized in different eras, the age of the law, the age of the apostolic ministry and now the age of grace. It all fit together well sort of. When it came to gifts, it was said that the were foundational gifts that the church was built on but those gifts aren’t active today. So, there was this acceptance that God doesn’t work like that anymore…why, because we have the completed Word and those signs were used as a validation for the Word until it was complete. It sounded good, but it wasn’t biblical. It was a safe idea to not expect anything too crazy, too supernatural to happen. It is the attitude that suggests we don’t want to get our hopes up too high. I believe that today dispensationalism is a self-fulfilling prophecy. I like to call it the Nazareth prophecy….
Now the Pentecostal are known for the power, they are all about manifesting the Holy Spirit…go with the flow of the Spirit, as the Spirit leads and that can be dangerous too because sometimes God puts stuff right in front of you and He calls you to act. He already tells us to do some stuff and we don’t need to feel it all the time when we are called to obey. So, if you go with all Spirit, no Word, that can be dangerous too…
But when I came to the Alliance, I was told we walk in the middle, always keeping the tension strong being led by the Spirit and the Word
But everywhere I see God wants to break into history supernaturally. Yes, there was the age of the law but in the OT there was a ton of miracles going on from the Red Sea, to incredible victories over cities by Joshua and Gideon, to the closing of the lion’s mouth for Daniel, 3 guys safe in a blazing furnace, 1 guy hanging out in a fish for three days…God is all over the course of history.
Matthew 17:19,20
Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
God is not asking you for much…look at the mustard seed, can you pray for that kind of faith this week.
The world is catching on to this idea. Its called ‘the secret’ The idea is that if you visualize on something long enough and believe that it is yours, it will be yours. It’s the law of attraction and Rhonda Byrne is getting rich. There are 5.3 million copies already sold in the States since it came out last year and the secret is that you are the center of the universe.
One article writes:
See yourself living in abundance and you will attract it. It works every time, with every person." The appeal is obvious. Forget education, effort, performance. Everything you want—money, power, comfortable shoes—is yours simply by wanting it enough.
As self-absorbed as I already am, I loved the permission the book gave to sink deeper into a Jacuzzi of megalomania. As The Secret points out: "You are the master of the Universe. You are the heir to the kingdom. You are the perfection of Life." So, I vowed to follow Byrne's simple rules for abundance and see what happened. The book encourages one to start big: "It is as easy to manifest one dollar as it is to manifest one million dollars."
Why do so many people get what they don't want? As Byrne writes, "Imperfect thoughts are the cause of all humanity's ills, including disease, poverty, and unhappiness." Yes, according to The Secret, people don't just randomly end up being massacred, for example. They are in the wrong place because of their own lousy thinking. Cancer patients have long been victims of this school of belief. But The Secret takes it to a new and more repulsive level with its advice not just to blame people for their illness, but to shun them, lest you start being infected by their bummer thoughts, too.
The difference for Jesus followers is that God told us to welcome the sick, to pray for the sick, to believe enough that God can do miracles and that He is the one who wants us to get down and dirty into the mess of people’s lives. You know what we have discovered about Jesus and what He has come to do? Luke 4:18,19 We are to be so counter cultural, don’t get wrapped up in yourself, don’t buy these lies.
http://www.slate.com/id/2165746/

James 5:13-16

Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Let me make it very clear that prayer is not magic.
Prayer is a process where we spiritually surrender so that we might become instruments through which God can work supernaturally. It is not about us, it is not about praying the right words. When we do that, we trivialize God.
We don’t go running around either telling people they weren’t healed because they don’t have enough faith. That is the kind of stuff that gives God a bad name. When we pray in Jesus’ name, it is saying that we embody everything that His name is about.

Questions For Discussion and Small Groups

1. What does faith ‘as small as a mustard seed’ look like for you?

2. What have you learned about prayer that has given you more confidence to enter the throne room with God?

Ancient Faith In A Postmodern World...

How can we practice an ancient faith in a postmodern world? In John 21, I see how Jesus is bridging this gap between what we say and how we feel. The more pastoral side of Jesus is coming through here in the commissioning that He gives His disciples and in particular, Peter. Jesus appeals to the emotions of Peter as He gives him his calling. It wasn’t a calling that he was supposed to think about, it was something Jesus wanted him to feel.
The beginning of the modern era began with Rene Decartes’ famous saying, “I think, therefore I am”. However, it is not so for many of us today. Now, more than ever, people are saying, “I feel, therefore I am.” So, can we feel our way to God? The answer I believe is yes because His Word tells us to seek Him with all of our heart and when we do that we will find Him! Jeremiah 29:13 The more important question we need to answer is this, “How can we feel our way to God and what does that look like?”

Doing What We Know Best…v1-5

I think it is interesting to note that 7 of the 12 disciples were fisherman by trade. They were professionals and yet there is something that speaks to their vocation because it required diligence, courage and dedication which are all qualities that Jesus was looking for. Fisherman are also known to stick with it and not quit easily, but it looks pretty obvious here that they were quitting on Jesus.

Following Jesus’ death, the disciples were left floundering and went back to what they knew best – they went fishing. When we doubt, when we fear, when we lose our way, what do we do? We go back to the familiar, we go back to what we know, we go back to our natural learned tendencies. The disciples were fishing all night and had not caught one ‘stinkin’ fish! Now to add insult to injury, someone that they didn’t recognize right away told them to throw their net on the other side of the boat.

Now what is the difference between the left side of the boat and the right side? Is there is any real difference in the water?

No difference right? You better repent! If Jesus tells you there is a difference, there is a difference, no matter how crazy it seems! And then maybe we question, who is telling us to do this? Is this God? The disciples didn’t recognize Jesus at this point, but they listened.

How often do we live by calculation or by faith? Too often we get our spreadsheets out, we listen to the voice of reason as I shared last week. It is hard to listen, it is hard to follow through especially when we think “this is ridiculous, this makes no sense”. You see we are more comfortable talking about what God did then, that is a safe place, we can exegete that very well. But what about today, what is God doing in our midst, that takes courage, that takes faith.

We need to get to the place where we acknowledge the emptiness of our own nets.

Doing What You Are Told! v6-14




How many fish did they catch?

153 fish…anything significant about that – you bet. The known nations at that time in history was…you guessed it – 153!! (Wolfgang Simson shared this in his message on house churches)
Where is the right side of the boat today?

We need to listen more and more to the voice of the Lord. You know how you go into a new mall and you can’t find what you are looking for? So, you go to the information map and it shows you all the locations, but before you can really be on your way, you have to find the ‘blessed ‘you are here’ red dot. God knows where the red dot is and He will lead us to it by revelation.

Over the course of recent history, we have had some major revolutions:

First, it was the industrial rev. with the invention of the steam engine. Then, it was the breakthrough of electricity with Thomas Edison and the light bulb. In 1941, the computer was invented, in ’71, the 1st microchip was created. Now, with the internet which came in the information revolution and we are drowning in it.

Today we are living in the inspiration revolution. People are seeking guidance and they are either being inspired from above or below. World leaders are now listening to their “spiritual advisors’. The Iranian president believes Allah is speaking to him through a prophecy from ‘Humani’ who said Israel will be wiped out.

Come and Have Breakfast! v12

I love this picture of Jesus who calls out to His disciples to have breakfast with Him. We are called to connect not subscribe. Jesus wants to do life with us and in the context of that encounter we hear what we He wants to say. It is always in the context of relationship.

Maybe there’s a reason why the question, “Can you hear me now?” resonates loud and clear with us. We live in a place where relationships have been traded for inanimate objects and where technology isolates us at the same time that it promises to connect us.



Look Me In The Eyes! v15-19

Some of the deepest expressions of love between people are made with the eyes. We can say so much just by the way we look eye to eye. Jesus said that the eye is the lamp of the body or the window to the soul as the Message paraphrases it in Matthew 6:22,23

Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!

Jesus is restoring Peter in this passage

In this conversation, Jesus challenges Peter to the level of the love he spoke of, a boastful love, a proud love, a love greater than the other disciples, agape love and in Peter’s response he holds back from speaking about a sacrificial love here. In fact, he responds with the love of a friend, phileo. He is not quick to jump to the estimation of his love anymore because he was completely humbled. Jesus in his third challenge even questions his ‘phileo’ love. The fact is that we love Him because He first loved us. If there is any love to be received and given, it is the love that He can place in our heart as we come to Him with our empty nets.

The most important thing that Peter can do for his lambs and his sheep is to love and feed on Jesus Himself. For those of you in leadership positions, the best thing you can offer those you lead is not your knowledge, but your heart. We can only feed what we’ve been fed.

There is also a distinction between lambs and sheep.

The eyes are the light into our soul and we often can see right into a person’s inner sanctum through their eyes if we take long enough time to look. Close your eyes and consider that Jesus is fixing his eyes on you. What message do you sense He would be communicating with you. What would flow out of you if you let Him connect with you in the innermost recesses of your being. Then, reflect on what you could pour into another person and what essence of God could come through you.

In Peter’s ‘look me in the eyes’ encounter with Jesus, he was challenged 3 times about His love and devotion for His Lord. Why does Jesus press the issue? The obvious answer is that he denied have anything to do with him in his three denials.

There are times when God communicates His love for us that are “transrational”. It is those times when encounter the love of God that goes beyond explanation. As Paul shared that encounter will fully be experienced in heaven, but still can know it in part now. We shouldn’t miss that. For many of us who grew up in the church, it was faith, fact, feelings…feelings were the caboose of the train, not to be trusted, put in the back seat, but more and more today, people long to feel their way to God and God is fully capable of being felt.

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)

John 3:8 speaks of the wind of the Spirit. It is not something that you can place your finger on. It happens unexpectedly and it can happen with strangers about whom you know practically nothing, objectively speaking. It is that subjected experience that we are all too often afraid to go to, but when it happens, it is so powerful.

Luke 24: 32They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

What About Him or Her? V20-22

When you have an encounter with the resurrected Jesus, revel in it, be in awe of it, don’t stuff it and at the same time realize that it is special, it is unique. We don’t try to explain it away, trivialize it and at the same time do we try to normalize what we experience for everybody.

We can spend so much time trying to ‘fish’ for people using our own methods, but when Jesus is leading, there is power. I continue to learn and relearn the truth that Romans 8:14 shares that those who are lead by the Spirit are the sons of God


The Takeaway

We feel our way to God as He seeks us and we seek Him in love and listen to His voice,

The promptings of the Holy Spirit often are right in front of us. He will show you the verses, He will show you the people, He will show you the way. Jesus is still speaking today.

And this goes a whole lot better when we just get quiet.


Technology reduces everything to binary codes
Religion reduces everything to moral codes
Jesus reduced everything to a one word relational code: love

It is a grande passion, not lukewarm. Jesus is calling us into all consuming experiences of life. We are not here just for faith, but a passionate faith.

Questions For Discussion and Small Groups

1. Alright, who purposed listened for God’s voice this past week? Where did you go??

What does the left side of the boat look like for you?
How can you get to the place where you throw your net on the right side of the boat?
What could breakfast with Jesus look like in your home?
Jesus tells Peter to feed his lambs and then his sheep. What is the significance of that?

Loving The God Of Creation!

Matthew 6 shows us that while the main emphasis in on the teaching of keeping our focus on eternal things, we should not lose sight of the fact that God cares for and desires this His creation is cared for. I believe that this passage unfolds the story of what we need to explore in the relationship between the Creator and creation.
PAUSE - Stop long enough to pay attention v25-27
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? v25-27
The first thing we need to notice here is the emphasis on self…your life, your body, what you will wear and the all too often exercise of our personalizing tendencies…
We must stop the individualizing that has created a vacuum in the Christian church. When the all too personal becomes detriment to the whole, we have lost our way. When I’m right and everyone else is wrong, I have become the focus. Calling Jesus a ‘personal Savior’ sounds like Jesus in the same way as my personal trainer, my personal coach, my personal dental hygienist! The danger is when I make everything all about me!
In these verses Jesus is telling us that there is more to life than just chasing after your everyday needs. There is so much more worth living for than your personal portfolio, all the visible stuff for everyone else to see
REFLECT - take inventory! v28-32
What am I worrying about right now?
Are you holding back on a decision because of some future possibility?
In the movie Next, Nicolas Cage’s character has the ability to see 2 minutes into the future and one of his great lines to a terrorist was this:
I have envisioned every possible scenario and none of them end well for you.
However God has given you that ability so stop playing risk management or damage control and go where God leads you today.
What am I chasing after?
The perfect home, the perfect car, the perfect van…Chrysler is trying to sell this one really hard!
Bigger is Not Better…
Everywhere I go these days, big is in. The combo meal are super-sized, the desserts on display… can they get any bigger or more decadent. My friend laments with me that his home isn’t big enough for his wife, apparently she needs another 1000 square feet… or walk into Future Shop or Best Buy and realize there is always something more that you need for the ultimate entertainment experience. Along with our American friends we have all the opportunity in the world to be big eaters, big spenders, and even bigger wasters.

Even churches are into big, I confess and it is all too easy to get caught up into and chase after it. Like the population at large, we Christians seem to have a growing acceptance of the bigger is better credo.
But all this growth might be creating some big problems.
Our society and systems seem unable of handling the never-ceasing expansion of want and need. Landfills are full, the air is thick especially in the summer and as much as Richard Arnold tells us the tap water is good, we still go to water depot…now it is water world. In light of our growing problems, maybe the church should give small a chance.
I really have felt a stronger burden for small groups or I would like to call them small c church because Christianity is a way of life. Followers of Christ were called ‘the Way’ and one of the reasons was that they literally found the way to live. They met in homes and the church needs to become small in order to grow large. It is there that we can really know each other, pray for each other and clearly see the work of God in our brother’s and sister’s lives.
We are the ones who need to lead by example living lives that are less hectic, less cluttered, less selfish and less toxic.
What are some choices that you could make living healthier spiritually and physically for not only yourself but others?
Randy Frazee wrote the book Making Room for Life. He challenges us on asking the question of simplification, "Even though something is commonplace, do we really need it in our lives?"
He writes…
When you take off your cultural blinders, it becomes all too painfully clear how easily we can buy into culture's code of success being equated with more and more. The results of all this "more" were clutter and confusion and so we decided to simplify our lives. Removing some of the typical suburban clutter was a bit scary, but over the course of a few years, it really has begun to make room for life.
We soon discovered the joy of having fewer bills to pay, fewer trips to make, fewer calendars to juggle, and fewer agendas to manage. You may even find with your free time that you can discover that you have neighbors and maybe just maybe spend time with them!
With that question in mind, all sorts of things were up for grabs: like having to have the perfect house, the need to have another vehicle, you name it, even signing up our kids for multiple teams… The past couple of summers we have decided not to sign up our kids for sports…

ACT - Seek First The Kingdom of God v33,34 MEANS
We are talking about the KINGDOM here
1. My worldview just got a whole lot bigger!

It wasn’t always this way; the early believers understood the intimacy of community and recognizing that my decisions really do affect the whole in Acts 2. Even though we may act in independence, it still affects the whole to the degree that I spend on self will affect how much I am able to share. The picture that I have of the body is much greater than even our local body. We are part of the global body of Christ and that includes our ability to respond to the needs of brothers and sisters around the world.
Today is the day that we stop creating this narcissistic experience of a relationship with God. WHY because the gospel is not about getting something, it is about participating in something—God's work of reconciling the whole world to Himself. And yes, we do have a relationship with God which becomes personal but it is inseparable from His mission. As Brian McLaren wrote:
The missional church understands itself to be blessed not to the exclusion of the world, but for the benefit of the world. It is a church that seeks to bring benefits to its nonadherents through its adherents.
2. God’s Kingdom Includes His Creation
Reading such stories helps us see how a radical lifestyle aligns with living God's way. Now our family is asking the question of stewardship, "Will this choice make the world more like heaven or more like hell?" Our neighborhood of concern has expanded dramatically. Landfills, toxins, and making choices based on our own wants: these are the ingredients of hell. The new heaven and new earth will include none of these things, so why should we add them to this world now? When we choose concern over convenience and less over more, we are being kind to neighbors we have never met and honoring creatures God thought worthy of life.
I don't think our family is unique. We fight consumerism and selfishness and choices of convenience. However, small realizations are leading to simple questions that force important decisions in our everyday life . All of this matters not because the environment is suddenly a hot topic, but because the dots suddenly connect: when I live a gospel life I desire less stuff for myself, which frees up time and space for real community. So what does living and leading with less look like for you? What if we led by example and cut the waste down to a single bag on the street? What if we focused on community and caring for creation as Wendy Mac has inspired us. My hunch is that God would be pleased, you would find life more livable and the planet would breath a little easier.

3. The Church Has Left The Building
I think more than ever we need to start bringing the church to the people. We need to change from being a “COME” structure to a “GO” structure. As we seek first the kingdom, it will lead us to living a more missional life.
The Takeaway:
When I live a “Kingdom First” life I desire less stuff for myself, which frees up time, waste and space for real community and real life

Questions For Discussion and Small Groups:
1. What toxins is your soul most susceptible to?
2. What are some choices that you could make living healthier spiritually and physically for not only yourself but others?
3. How can we as a local church do a better job ‘leaving the building’?
4. How can ‘seeking first the Kingdom Of God’ be less about me, my personal devotions, my personal space, my own goals, my plans as good as those are?

If It Isn't Broke, Don't Fix It!

I want to start this blog by saying thank you for those who have been sharing their honest prayer requests through the offering. I want you to know that I sit down each Monday morning to pray through them and at our staff meetings as well. Thank you to those of you who have the courage to share and speak up when I challenge you on Sundays with questions. It is my desire that we look for more creative ways to create interaction and learn together in community!

There’s a time when a company gets it right and dove’s campaign for real beauty does just that. We live in a time where cosmetic surgeons are image consultants and where the picture of true worth is all too easily distorted and that is exactly what takes place here in John 8.

As I reflect on this story it reminds me that we are disconnected. What is it in people that leads them to see someone else as nothing more than an object. It happens when we strip someone of their dignity, their true worth, their true value. It happens all the time and our culture is fixated on rating people. The beginning of the problem in this story is forgetting that this woman had a name, she had a story and she had feelings. One writer said, ‘When people aren’t treated as fully humans, it’s called hell and this is where we find this woman. She is ready to be condemned and Jesus is put on the spot to make a judgment call and He does, but it isn’t at all what was expected. He is the one who connects what we see with the thoughts and very intent of our heart.

Take a step back and peel away the layers… what do you see?


In the beginning God created us in His image. We are image-bearers and then He gave us gender in male and female and gave life meaning. Since the fall we have become disconnected from God, disconnected from the true value of life and have subjected ourselves to a system that rates and assesses value to life. The sad truth is that people have believed the lies that others have told them.

The church is meant to display the new humanity, the real beauty, the new life that Jesus longed for us to experience. When we stand up for those who are being mistreated, abused, neglected, we stand up for God. When we respect the image of God in others, we respect the image that is at the very core of who we are.

The Pharisees saw a prostitute, Jesus saw a broken woman.

One of the most powerful things I saw was when I walked in a Christian youth center not too long ago was the pictures on the wall.

They had images of youth that read:

Some see a vandal, we see an artist
Some see a gang member, we see a pastor
Some see a rebel, we see a leader

It is the God sized ability to see hope and potential in everyone that we meet.

It is the very way that people can commit crimes against humanity. It is when they look at someone from another race or culture, background, with a handicap and see them as less than real humans and that is what the concentration camps did and forced labour camps do…they strip people of their humanity Rob Bell

Imagine this woman’s story v1-6
- but for the grace of God go I.

Historically, Christians have divided sin into two categories, sins of the flesh and sins of the spirit.
The flesh includes appetites that usually get out of control, laziness, lust, greed, drunkenness and these sins or idols often lead to other ones, deceit, betrayal.
The second category is sins of the spirit that have more to do with our soul than with our bodies like arrogance, judgmentalism, self righteousness. They usually don’t provoke as much gossip though
Often in the NT we read the story of Jesus confronting sinners of the flesh and sinners of the spirit. The sinners of the flesh knew they were in big trouble, but in all these stories there is also a person guilty of pride and arrogance and Jesus called them blind. They thought they were the classic example of a Christian, keeping themselves unstained by the world, yet Jesus saves his harshest words for them. They thought they were the mature Christians when actually there pride in avoiding the sins of the flesh crippled their ability to love. He clearly laid out that the sins of the spirit were the most destructive and dangerous of them all.
We see a clear picture of this in Luke 18

9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men–robbers, evildoers, adulterers–or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
13“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
And, really, when these teachers of the law first signed up, it probably started out well I’m sure they were motivated by love, but somewhere along the way, all their study of Scripture had filled them with pride and their giftedness had made them impatient with the weaker ones.
What is so insidious about the sins of the spirit is that the carriers usually have no clue. When you sin in the flesh, you know you have messed up. With the sins of the spirit, you just continue to walk through life with it growing inside of you.

· Judgmental thoughts
· Superior attitude
· Impatient words
· Bitter resentments
· Little room for love

And people are being weighed down all around us in brokenness and pain with guilt and fear. We need to stand up and take notice and be moved by their condition.

Who Do You Identify With Most… v7-11
Do I see myself more as the tax collector or the Pharisee?

Are we Pharisees at heart?

Do we find it all to easy to point the finger at others?
Do we like sending people on guilt trips?
Do we require things of others that we don’t of ourselves?
Do we impose self made rules that are not written in Scripture?
Do we practice guilty by association?
Do we take ourselves too seriously?
Do we judge by outward appearance?
Are we more comfortable talking about how God worked in the past than today?
Are we more interested in people’s opinions that God’s?
Do we make ourselves feel better by comparing ourselves to others?
Do we create our own loopholes when it comes to obeying God?
Do we tell others that we are more in tune with God than they are?

These statement come from an unbroken life, a life that isn’t ready to be fixed…
So, I have been in the church for as long as I can remember and why is it that we can produce so much pride and judgment? We have forgotten what we are all about, we have to laugh, we’ve lost our joy. What happened here is that these men had forgotten what they were all about, they had forgotten where they had come from.


So what does Jesus do? He bends down and starts writing in the sand and then he straightens up and says, to them, “If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.

What did Jesus write? John doesn’t tell us. Some have thought the 10 commandments, another idea more popular, dating back to the 5th century, was that Jesus was writing down the sins of the men in the group. He confronts these men with a decision. If you are going to condemn her, first take a good, hard look at yourself. When sinful people start passing judgment on others, they pass judgment on themselves.
And then, it starts, with the elders of the group, the wise ones, they drop their stones and walk away.

Do you have any stones that you need to let go of?

Paul said that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus Romans 8:1. On Jesus’ team we don’t need to condemn people who stand condemned already. The question is what are we going to do about it? How are we going to love them back into relationship.

How will we let go of judgmentalism that has become so deeply rooted in us.

What have you been holding on to that you need to let go of?


It starts when we identify ourselves more with the tax collector and woman caught in her sin in today’s passage…
Do you throw yourself at the Lord’s mercy? Do you come with your arms open wide? Do you come before Him in humility and grace? Are you broken? That is the real question. More often than not we don’t, really we don’t. We come with a sense of self assurance, but not self awareness. The point of this story is that Jesus can’t fix you unless you are first broken and continually broken. It is in brokenness that we find healing and forgiveness, restoration and a burning flame. A burning flame that burn away the self righteousness, self assurance and shame and refines us and makes us new.

What are we all about? GRACE, accept people and TRUTH, bring freedom!

No as we close, notice that Jesus doesn’t stop there, He tells her to go, now and leave your life of sin. He was the only one who had the right to condemn her, but He doesn’t. Go and sin no more…These words fill her with pain because of her past, but they fill her with hope because the future looks bright, someone’s believes in her!

He doesn’t approve of her behavior, but He wants her to be free! Galatians 5:1 It was for freedom… True forgiveness is treating the person as if the offence never happened in the first place and you can’t muster that kind of love on your own, no matter how many times you tell yourself, its is calling on the one to enable you to love, the one who has loved us with an everlasting love.

You cannot offer acceptance and withhold forgiveness.

We are in the life saving business, radical acceptance and forgiveness produce what judmentalism and condemnation cannot, a transformed life. We walk through their sin or failure and give them hope, courage and strength to overcome.

Let’s be authentic and share our struggles and in doing so give others to freedom to share and realize, hey, we don’t have it all together. We are just humbled by God’s grace and forgiveness in our lives.

v11 What it means to go and sin no more…

When you realized that you’ve sinned, go immediately to God. Go the first time you feel convicted. Be very specific about your sin and be very broken about its severity. Turn to Him in sincere repentance, and you’ll see God’s hand reaching down into the water and pulling you back to the surface with forgiveness, mercy and grace.
James MacDonald
The Takeaway

Only the broken can be fixed… that is to know true freedom, love and forgiveness


I was at a wedding on Friday night and one of the most beautiful things that I saw were some of the workers from community assisted living dancing to none other than 'Dancing Queen' with the physically and mentally challenged. They were not only affirming worth but experiencing it in their own lives as well.


Questions For Discussion and Small Groups:

Who do you most easily identify with in this story and why?
In what ways have you tried to ‘fix yourself’?
How do we fight back, fight fair in a world obsessed with external beauty?
How do you experience God’s true worth in your own life?
Have you been broken by God? What did that look like for you?

How To Be Rich and Still Be A Christian???

Jesus went out of his way to minister to the people that others went out of their way to avoid. He ministered to the down and outs, those left for dead. He shared the good news with the poor.
Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? James 2:5 It is those who realize that they are poor. Spiritually we are bankrupt without Jesus
Take this one step further in Luke 4:18-20

18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

Do you see Him anointing you to proclaim the good news…He has! Luke 10:1 He appoints, He anoints, He commissions. Matthew 28:19,20 He has given you the authority and the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:8

The wonderful extension of this is realized in the realization that too whom much is given, much is required. Luke 12:48


Jesus came to bring freedom from the prison house of sin, freedom from evil spirits, freedom from slavery to sin

Do you just see Him as the one who has made you free – free from the prison house of sin and selfish tendancies?
Do you see him as the one who has given you “spiritual eyes” eyes to see things from His perspective?
It has been 150 years since slavery was abolished but did you know that modern day slavery is a real issue. Slavery today in its various forms from bonded slavery to the sex slave trade is a 32 billion dollar industry. There is an estimated 27 million slaves worldwide. The worst forms of child labor affects an estimated 126 million children around the world in work that is harmful to their health and welfare.


check out notforsalecampaign.org

Are you ready to make a difference for those caught in slavery, prisoners to injustice?

The acceptable year of the Lord – not a specific year, but the realization that Jesus would usher in the new covenant. Your voice needs to be heard!

We live in a global village. The good news is not just for us, it is for our world. The truth is out there and we cannot allow ourselves to become immune to it. There is a lot of concern over the desensitization that our children are learning to graphic violence in video games and on TV. To me, what is more scary than that is the great need that is out there for even the most basic of needs…water itself.

We must never let the gospel be reduced to just words that we agree with. We enter into a new and living way, a redeemed way of looking at other people. When Christ went to preach, He went to heal as well. When He went to proclaim, He went to minister to the poor and oppressed. It is a holistic gospel that affects us right to our very core and the things that move us to respond.


I’m giving you gift giving ideas today!

Here is a challenge for this Christmas - Give as much money towards gifts for Partners, Samaritan’s Purse shoeboxes, World Relief Canada as you do spending on presents for families and friends.
This might mean that we actually may spend less on each other, but you can still wrap up presents that you give to missions with your friend’s name on it. Just make the box, really big, with lots of colourful wrapping paper!!

Do not try to justify your wealth. God saves you by His sacrifice, not yours.
Recognize that the more you give and the more you simplify your own lifestyle, the more freedom you will gain and really it will become that more easier.
As you enjoy the blessings God has given you, be sure to invite others to share in what God has given you. Open up your home, (maybe more of us need to become foster parents) treat others, pay it forward ultimately to heaven!
Each day press on towards the goal of being the kind of person who gives hope,

One pastor said it best...we need to learn to live more simply so others can simply live

High Power Hockey Camp

From July 9-13, I ran my first hockey camp and it was a blast. It was a perfect match lining up my love for hockey with a heart for God and the campers were so responsive as we talked about things that connected both parts together such as the 'Ultimate Comeback,' 'Overcoming Obstacles' and 'Defining Moments'. I got great support from Ryan Dawson from Athletes In Action and Mark Osborne who sent me video of professional hockey players and their faith journeys. To top it off, my son Jordan and Rylan participated in the camp. The guys warmed up to Rylan calling him mini-me! It was a great first year for us with road trips for roller hockey, swimming at Lake Gord and hitting The Deck!

Remembering My Dad - Rene Constant

Well, I come to Father's Day and remember a dad who was a rock in my life. I had more of a dad in 21 years than I know some have in a lifetime. His middle name is Constant and that is what he was, always a constant for me, someone I could depend upon always. We didn't have lengthy conversations, but when we did, I listened to everything he said. What do I remember? I remember seeing him kneel by his bedside at night praying, waking up each morning before six, making breakfast and lunch for us, dropping off my papers en route for me, turning my light on to get me out of bed, watching my hockey practices and games and always ready with a coke and a chocolate bar for me. I reflect on these everyday things and he was just there for me. I want to be like him with my children in that same way, faithful and one who can be counted on. He would turn off the TV after the second period and tell me don't worry son, the Leafs are going to lose anyways and send me upstairs to do my homework. He would then bring me tea and rub my back.

He certainly didn't have it easy, he almost died of malaria in a Japanese concentration camp as a boy for 4 years while growing up in the Dutch East Indies which is now Sumatra, Indonesia. My mom and dad left Holland for the dream 0f starting a new life in Canada and while he never fully realized his personal dreams of having a farm, he lived sacrificially and gave to us as his children. Even as he was dying, he never blamed God, but he continued to think of others. I thank God for my dad and the inspiration he was and is to me. Rene Constant Ninaber July 15th 1934 - August 22nd 1989