One thing to remember

13th December--Thought 4 the Week :
Wow, this is my last weekly email to you all (sob sob). So I think I better say something profound, so here goes… “If the world caved in around me, to You I will still hold on, cos You’re all that I believe, You’re the one that created me, Jesus because of You – I’m free!”
If I can pass anything on to you, or that you will remember one thing from the time we have been involved with Litehouse youth ministries, that would be that the one and only thing that matters in life is your relationship with God. If you have a personal relationship with Him, and are developing that each day through prayer and reading the Bible, cos you want to and love to, then absolutely everything else flows out from this. If you stand firm on that and purpose to live you life only for God, then you will know true purpose and fulfillment. My prayer is that you will all stand strong, that you won’t be distracted by stuff that doesn’t last, and that you will help each other to do the same. May God bless you as you choose the best path of a lifelong relationship with Him.
“Just live your life with God inside, and you won’t regret one moment of it.”

Extra ordinary gifts

7th December--Thought 4 the Week :
I had a big clean out at home the other day and came across a pamphlet from TEAR Fund, that I had received last year. It was entitled “Extraordinary Gifts” and displayed gifts like goats, & cows etc that I could purchase as a Xmas gift for someone in another country. This idea struck me as something quite practical and significant in another person’s life.
We have been challenged this year to look past our own community and REAL authentic in our faith by showing God’s love to those around us.
Maybe this is a way you can practically care for someone who is less fortunate than us. You know how much you hate a mosquito buzzing around your head at night? Well, you could purchase a mosquito net for $7 and a family in Cambodia who sleeps under it dramatically reduces the risk of contracting malaria. Or you could purchase safe water for a child for $5. A Bible is $20, a goat, $50, a pig $45. I have plenty of brochures, if you would like one, please just ask, or you could also visit www.tearfund.org.nz
Let’s give a gift this Xmas that counts for eternity rather than one that ends up in next year’s garage sale.

No regrets

29th November--Thought 4 the Week :

I was watching a DVD the other day called ‘The Interpreter’ and it had a story in it about an African legend. The story went a little like this…
If a member of your family was murdered by someone, on the year anniversary of the murder, the person who committed this crime would be taken to the river, a weight tied to his foot, and taken out to the middle of the river where he was let go. The family members on the bank had two options. They could watch him drown, and live with the grief all their lives, or they could swim out and safe him and be able to live the rest of their lives without bitterness and grief. It illustrated quite profoundly the power of forgiveness to me, or the opposite of hanging onto to our grievances and bitterness.
As we look back over this year, and reflect on what has happened, may I encourage you to forgive and let go of those things that are hurtful or bring grief and bitterness. Let’s head into 2006 with no regrets!

We need others

22nd November--Thought 4 the Week :

Wow, we had an awesome time on Sunday at Youth Church. It would be cool to hear how you were spoken to etc, why not comment on the website??
I was reading yesterday in Proverbs 28:13, it talks about confessing your sins, which is exactly what we did on Sunday at Youth Church. We confessed them, and asked for forgiveness. But the interesting part of the verse is that it goes onto say that we also need to give them up, leave and forsake them. It is one thing to confess them & ask God for forgiveness, but another to then stop doing what we have been that is wrong, we need each other to help us with this. On Sunday Mark Smith spoke about making a covenant with each other to help keep the fire burning, may I also encourage you to do so. Let’s not get sucked into the Kiwi way of thinking we can make it on our own, we need each other to help us walk in God’s way everyday. Let’s be REAL AUTHENTIC this week, including the way we are honest with each other and not afraid to ask for help!

Powerful Stories

15th November--Thought 4 the Week :
I watched a DVD last week of Michael Frost (pastor of Small Boat Big Sea check it out at --www.smallboatbigsea.org ) and he was talking about how powerful stories are. He made the comment that it isn't nice feelings, or lovely emotions that kept the Israelites going when times were tough, but instead it was the story of the Passover & what God had done for them, and therefore what He was going to do. And it’s the same with us. We have an awesome story of what God has done for us at the cross – the amazing sacrifice & severe pain that He went through. This is what gives us the strength to go on, and the endurance to push through. We need to be constantly telling this story and reminding ourselves and others that this is what is so important about our faith. This is the one & only central and all-important story that makes our life story worth living.
This week at Youth Church we have a chance to reflect on and celebrate this. Come ready to the hear this story again, re-told in a different way.

Our God is a great big God

8th November--Thought 4 the Week :

Last week I put the challenge out to share stories of God at work in our world. WOW! During the week, we had an awesome example of how big God is. As most of you will know, we took a proposal to the church leadership team in regards to staring a youth church. The feedback in that meeting was unanimously positive, and our YOUTH CHURCH STARTS ON NOV 20th!
I am reading through Isaiah 40-45 at the moment and its all about how big & great God is, and how small we are in comparison. I encourage you to read it, as it puts things into perspective, and all it makes you want to do is jump up & down, dance, and yell – “HOW GREAT YOU ARE GOD – YOU ROCK.”
I'm looking forward to Nov 20th, when we can turn the music up & shout that at the top of our lungs together!

A hurricane of love!

1st November--Thought 4 the Week :
Following on from last week’s challenge to spread God’s love around, both BURN & also Sunday morning’s message gave us the same realization. At BURN we were challenged to ask God for a compassionate heart for those who are hurting or lost. It is only when we feel compassion (not pity) for others that we will be compelled to do something about it. Then on Sunday morning we were challenged (if you missed it – ask me so you can borrow the DVD) to show we love God by loving others by being Jesus with flesh on. Not creating more programs & events but to be a hurricane or tsunami of God’s love to others with no thought of our own sacrifice. This is what an unbelieving world will marvel out, and for what we should be recognized for. Ask God this week to extend your borders, ask Him to give you an opportunity where you need to give of your time, money or stuff to someone less fortunate than you. I am looking forward to hearing your stories, of how you have been able to spread God’s love this week. (There’s a spot on the website where you can paste them!)
The people who had nothing because of the house fire were very thankful for what were able to take to them last week – I believe they saw God’s love in action as the community gave what they could to them. Let’s have some more stories like this to tell next week!

Simple but Hard

25th October--Thought 4 the Week :
This last weekend we made a trip up north for Jon’s great auntie’s funeral (she was 100) and his dad’s 60th bday. We traveled up with Jon’s brother and had some interesting discussions in the car. One of these discussions was about how the church has made Christianity complex, when really it is extremely simple. So simple that we came to the conclusion that it can be summed up in one word – LOVE! In fact Jesus used the same concept to sum it all up in Luke 10:27 when he tells us to love God & other people. It’s that simple, but also that hard!
The funny thing was that today the front page of the BOP Times caught my eye about a family that had nothing, & now there house has also been burnt down. My first reaction was not that of love, but I felt in my spirit a conviction that if I want to live an authentic life for Christ, I need to be spreading His love around. So I bought the paper to find out how I could help to show love to these people. I would like to give them some money and maybe some things as well. If you would like to be a part of this, and help to share God’s love around, then contact me before the end of the week, and we can make a contribution together. How will people know God cares, unless we care?

Courage

18th October -- Thought 4 the Week :
If we lived in a perfect world how God first intended, then one of the things we wouldn’t have to deal with would be fear. Fear is not from God, it is not what He intended for our lives, and if we live our life in fear of one thing or another then we are robbed of the abundant life that He has planned for us. Fear of other people’s thoughts, or actions toward us comes from our sinful nature and needs to be dealt with everyday.
While we were at camp in the holidays, we were challenged to be courageous, and step up to what God has called us to be and wants us to be. Courage is required to stand strong for God, to be different from the crowd, & to be the person He has called us to be.
There are 2 verses that come to mind when thinking about be courageous, the first is in Joshua, where God tells him to be courageous and the reason why he could be was because the Lord was with him. We can claim that promise too. The other verse is found in 2 Tim 1:7, and it tells us that God hasn't given us a spirit of fear, but instead power, love & discipline. You see being courageous goes 2 ways. Firstly God is with us and gives us the power, but we also have to be disciplined in our thoughts and actions, so God’s power can work in and through us.

Authentic Life

27th September--Thought 4 the Week :
Okay so last week we explored the idea that people in general really do want to know what makes life worthwhile.
Why is it then that so many aren’t interested in coming to church or listening to a Gospel presentation?
I believe that the answer to this is what they don’t want to know. They don’t want to know memorized answers, or religious sayings that don’t really make sense to everyday living. They don’t want to hear about the dos and don’ts of religion. They don’t want to know what you should do when they can see that no one is doing it anyway. In fact they probably don’t want to hear anything.
What will tell others that life has a worthwhile meaning is whether or not our own life portrays and lives out meaning. Do we really live out what we believe or is it just something that we just go along with. Can I challenge us all this week to take the time to think about what we believe, and then go that little bit deeper and ask why. Because that will then cause us to be authentic in how we live.

Life Worthwhile

20th September--Thought 4 the Week :
I found this song the other day... "Everybody's looking for a one way system As if there's only one way out of this prison Everybody's looking for that one piece of wisdom As if there's just one answer to all of our problems And the biggest one way of all the one ways The central circulating poo Is m o n e y, oh why? Why oh why, oh my oh my, all mine They steal our lives and sell them back to us And palm us off with the freedom of choice The choice of a million and one lifestyles Built on a billion and one false smiles And life giving pills, philosophies, and products All of which claim to be the one for us All mine, mine, make it mine, make it worth my while Make it worth my while, and maybe then I’ll think about it Make it worth my while, and I’ll see what I can do."
Wow, this really grabbed me, because we all tend to think about the reason behind life every now & again and without God our life makes absolutely no sense. (John 14:6) And then if I fully believe this am I letting others know what makes life worthwhile? Because like this song suggests they do really want to know.
(Part Two next week -- "What they don’t want to know!")

Flap your wings

13th September--Thought 4 the Week:

For those of you that went to BURN last Friday you will recall that we were challenged to “flap our wings.” You see, if Christians were birds, most of us would think we are chickens. We live our Christian life in church (our cage) and never realize what the world out there is like. God didn’t intend for us to be chickens, He intended that we are eagles. He wants us to flap our wings, and enjoy the freedom to soar that He has given us. When we are up there soaring, we see life from a different perspective and come to realize our purposes much more than when we are cooped up in a cage thinking we are chickens. So how do we escape the cage? First we need to be prepared to take a few risks, maybe even be laughed at. The other chickens will think you are nuts for going hard for God, worshipping Him with all your heart and actually obeying His voice when you hear it. If you want to flap your wings and experience freedom & peace in your heart then don’t let others lock you up or hold power over you. Be the eagle that you were created to be, and live your life with no regrets. 1 Corinthians 15:58 is the verse to check out this week.

Good things take time

6th September --Thought 4 the Week:
We have been learning in 40 days that growing to be like Jesus doesn’t happen overnight (but it does happen!). The words that come to mind when I think of this is “patience my child.” I am not a very patient person, I love to get stuff done NOW. You see when God promised the children of Israel a land flowing with milk & honey (hmm yum!) it took about 40 years to get there. But along the way they learnt some important lessons that wouldn’t have happened if they had been tele-ported straight there. Someone once said, “Bad stuff happens to everyone – successful people deal with it.” Can I encourage you this week to not give up, but ask God what you can learn about Him & to help you on your journey to His promised land. Check out Philippians 1:6 -- it’s a great verse.

Married to Christ

30th August--Thought 4 the Week:
Two verses have caught my attention this week. The first one is found in Matthew 5: 6 which says “Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” I don’t know about you, but when I watch the news or notice things in our society that indicate that God’s righteousness isn’t being upheld, I feel hurt and sad. I long for the day when things are “right” the way God made them. It also makes you ask the question, “Is that always what I hunger and thirst for?” Will this Sat night when we watch the rugby be something that you wont miss, but when it comes to next Friday night & BURN will you think twice about going if you are tired or cant be bothered?
The second verse is found in Revelation 19:7 and it talks about Jesus coming to receive his bride (those who are Christians) “who has made herself ready.” I hadn’t really thought of this before, but do you realize it is our job to make ourselves ready for Christ’s return? When we got married, I spent hours in preparation to make myself ready for the big day. What are we doing to make ourselves ready to “marry” Christ? Can I encourage you to start by making things like BURN and our weekly bible study a priority in your life. Organize your time, so that you won’t be caught out not ready when your life on earth here is over.

Motto

23rd August --Thought 4 the Week:
I thought I would share with you a verse I have pinned on my wall by my bed. I see it every morning & every night and it is like a motto that guides my life. It is 1 Corinthians 15:33 -34 and in the Contemporary English Version it says: “Don't fool yourselves. Bad friends will destroy you. Be sensible and stop sinning. You should be embarrassed that some people still don't know about God.” I find it a good verse to remind me of three things in life that I need God’s perspective on. The first part of the verse reminds me about relationships and how influential my friends are. The second part of the verse talks about my behavior and how I should aim to live a life pleasing to God, and the last part of the verse reminds me of my mission here on earth – to tell others about God. Why not write this verse (or another one that you have chosen) out and pin it by your bed to remind you to look at life from God’s perspective each day.

Truth

16th August --Thought 4 the Week:
“God’s laws are not inventions. Even God does not invent right and wrong. Truth and right are founded in His own changeless being. God’s laws are merely descriptions of true reality. They tell us from His perspective what is truly right and fit and good. For example if we took at a bottle of cyanide and put a new label “Jelly beans” on it. If you ate it, you would still die instantly. But you wouldn’t know why. The label does not create what is in the bottle; it simply defines it.
God has told us what is right and good and what is stupid and wrong. We can discover this truth, do it and live; or we can reject it and be destroyed as individuals, families and nations. God is only after two things for your life –that you be happy and holy. And He knows that you cannot be really happy until you are holy.” Adapted from “Fire on the Horizon” by Winkie Pratney

ONE THING

9th August--Thought 4 the Week:
As we begin the 40 Days of Purpose, we are challenged to look at what we are here for. We have learnt that we are not just here randomly, but for a purpose, and that purpose begins with God. In fact, it is all about God. God made you and He wants you to be with him forever. Does this drive your life?
David in Psalm 27:4 tells us that his ONE desire, and ONE thing that he asks is to live in the presence of the Lord all the days of his life. Psalm 84:10 says that ONE day in the presence of the Lord is better than a thousand somewhere else.
It is so easy to live our lives just for ourselves, but there is no eternal purpose in that. Can we really say that we want our whole life to be lived with God, in relationship with Him? Is this our ONE focus in life, is this our purpose. What is the ONE THING driving you this week?

Removing stuff

2nd August--Thought 4 the Week:
“There are other ways to cut yourself off from evil, though none of them as scary as cutting off your hand or gouging out your eye. (Matt 18:8-9) Seen in the light of permanent death to our most significant body parts, what does it matter if we say goodbye to a cherished friend, habit, commitment that gets in the way of our devotion to God?

In the great days of evangelism, missions and revival 200 hundred years ago, the Church would call for repentance of five things:
1. Sin, a self-centered attitude of heart and Life
2. The Flesh, an addictive focus on emotional gratification through our 5 senses
3. The World, our lives without God at its center that demands our time & loyalty
4. The Devil, any demonic, occultic involvement
5. Our own righteousness, the ‘good’ things of our lives we have never surrendered to God.
Real trust in God involves giving up anything and everything that vies for allegiance to Christ.”
What are you prepared to part with? (Excerpt from “Fire on the Horizon” by Winkie Pratney)

Extreme

26th July--Thought 4 the Week:

“You want extreme? No one in history ever was born like Jesus, lived like Jesus, talked like Jesus and loved like Jesus. Not even His enemies could find fault with Him. He defies comparison, because there is nobody else you can put in His class. Period. He split history in half. He not only claimed to be God, but showed His kingdom every way you can ask to anyone who really wanted to see it. When you come to Jesus, He doesn’t give you options or alternatives, just a core decision: ‘Follow Me.’ If you do, you are a disciple. If you don’t, you drop off the map forever. And that, my friend, is extreme.” (Excerpt from “Fire on the Horizon” by Winkie Pratney)