Lets Get Talking Blog Post

Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. “Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?” He answered, “What’s written in God’s Law? How do you interpret it?” He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbour as well as you do yourself.” “Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.” Looking for a loophole, he asked, “And just how would you define ‘neighbour’?” Jesus answered by telling a story. “There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side.

When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory
Colossians 3:4 (New American Standard Bible) 
‘When Christ, who is our life’ - Six words that carry enormous substance, weight & strength in the life of every follower of Jesus Christ.
These words carry such rich and diverse meaning to each one of us, and to me they are uniquely central to my life of faith in Christ. Why is this? The answer is simple, Jesus is the one I seek to model my life on...

AND SUDDENLY…

It’s Genesis, the beginning of it all.

Nothingness everywhere.

Complete darkness and totally empty.

Hey Church what a Fantastic year 2009 has been in the Life of Today's Community Church. We have seen God really work through us as a Church, seeing many people step out and do things they have never done before, like serving in a team, joining a Connect Group and contributing financially into the house.

We have seen many people come to faith, then take the next step, getting baptised. It has been incredible to see.

Who loves admiring themselves in the mirror? I think the common term for this is ‘posing’ with a capital P…. Are there any self-confessing posers reading? Come on, you can unashamedly come out of the closet. Your time is up. Come clean. It’s ok, you will be accepted, not judged - oh to be free!
Have you ever met someone who constantly looks at a mirror? It’s like they are a ‘mirror addict’!  They have a driving compulsion to look in the mirror, checking out their hair, eyes, nose, teeth or whatever. Every chance they get throughout the day, they take a quick peep before the onset of ‘cold turkey’. 

Have you ever been through something that really made you the person you are today? Have you ever experienced a situation that made you stand back and wonder how you ever conquered it? The chances are that you’ve said yes to both those questions! If not, you’ve either lived a sheltered and reclusive existence or you’re dead!

I read this cool story the other day about these three courageous Christians called Radshach, Meshach and Abendego (Daniel 3). These were three guys who loved to have a drink down the local and hung out with the likes of Daniel. These guys were the original 'Three Amigos’ - but with faith! They served King Nebucanezzar who, because he was a power freak, ordered his Kingdom to worship no other God but him. They refused and King Neddy flipped! Their punishment for disobedience was death. Nebucanezzar forced them into a massive furnace and turned the heat up 3 times higher than normal… This guy was mad! You’d think that they were done for and, they probably did too...

There's an old song that talks about coming back to the heart of worship. The beginning lyrics are 'When the music fades// all is stripped away// and I simply come.' The message of the song is simply this: When you strip everything else away; when there's nothing else left; when it's just you, is God still first in your life?
In Matthew 6:33 Jesus tells us to 'Seek the Kingdom of God above else...

2 Samuel tells the story of a disastrous event in Israel's history. A lethal epidemic was spreading throughout the land and 70,000 people had already died. When God stopped the spread, the prophet Gad instructed King David to to build an altar in a field belonging to Araunah. So David went to Araunah and offered to buy his field. But Araunah said that King David could take the field and whatever else he wanted. He wouldn't say that? He was the King. But David said this:

“No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” 
2 Samuel 24:24
Wow! What a statement. Tony Harrington said in his first week of the Supermarket Sweep Series that God has not called us to live a life of convenience. He has called us to live a life of inconvenience. In our society of supermarkets, fast-food, on-demand TV, internet and everything else, this statement goes against the grain. It's easy to live a life of convenience because it's so...

Have you ever watched the Film Forrest Gump? It’s one of those film that’s an emotional rollercoaster, but a truly inspirational story. The story is about a boy called Forrest Gump who was born in Alabama. When he was born he had some disabilities that separated him from the normality of life. But Forrest made some decisions early on in his life, to push beyond limitations on him, and then built key relationships throughout his life which took him to places beyond his imagination. Now, I know the story is fictional, but it highlights the importance of building relationships...