Tomorrow I have been invited to speak at a wedding.
The young couple in question are a very special couple indeed.
Rory is an amazing guy, his life is a mission. He worked alongside Jackie Pullinger in her mission in the forbidden City in Hong Kong.
It changed him completely.
Susie is one of those girls who is beautiful inside and out and shines Jesus. She is a bright feisty Irish girl who always amazes me with her focussed spirit.
They've given me a bit of a challenge in the scriptures they have selected. Isaiah 58 being one, Colossians 2:6-10 being the other.
Preparing my talk, I was touched by the breathtaking words of Isaiah 58. I've read it thousands of times but for whatever reason, the tears began to flow.
I read how God is just not bothered with bland religion. You know, going through the motions, people saying they are following God while living out a completely different lifestyle to what following God is all about.
I read those gorgeous but challenging words
"Is this not the kind of fasting I have chosen; to loose the chains of injustice and untie the chords of the yoke. To set the oppressed free, and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter. When you see the naked to clothe him. "(Isaiah 58: 6-7)
As I read these words the fire in my being rose by a thousand degrees.
Sheer fire.
I thought of Rory, how it comes naturally to him at such a young age to live out his life loosing the chains of injustice on anyone that needs it. I remember the night he gave his expensive arctic sleeping bag to a homeless guy who was freezing in the centre of Durham. I remember the naturalness of that selfless act. How Rory educated at Eton, with seemingly everything to live a privileged life, dreams of setting the oppressed free. sharing food with the hungry, and giving shelter and clothes to those who have nothing.
yeah.
Sheer fire.
Yesterday at Sanctuary West London, it was only our third day open.
It was an awesome day.
Dawn and I on our knees, crying out to God to send us to the broken and bring the broken and wounded to us.
And.
As if I needed reminding what prayer does, they start to come.
In just one encounter, I met Petr, a polish man trapped in the grip of alcohol addiction. Pain on his face, listlessness in his eyes, sadness and a horrible resignation oozing in his character. He sat opposite with me and said nothing as he ate some soup. he had no money. he hadn't eaten for a few days.
Thinking about this encounter now this morning, with the mission fire in my heart, I feel Gods heart speaking through Isaiah to the generations.
And.
Maybe its a timely reminder for someone today.
Don't waste your missional heart on mundane church matters or draining arguments or ritualistic God following. Don't be a Godly church person in front of the right people on a sunday morning and then be Godless the rest of the time. Don't focus just on self when there are millions who need to be set free.
God wants to stoke the fire of pure unblemished and extravagant love to those who are desperately in need of salvation.
By sharing food with the hungry, clothing the naked and sheltering the wanderer, stuff like that.
Fire.
Fire from God, fire in us, fire to others.
exciting stuff.
Stuff that will change someones life not to mention our own.
What kind of fasting have you chosen?
The second scripture Rory and susie have chosen for their wedding is one that I feel compelled to finish with as a direct piece of sound advice straight from Gods word. And it beautifully sets down the way forward to a life of reaching out to the poor and the needy, the broken and the lost.
Maybe this is for you.
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. (Colossians 2: 6-10)
The young couple in question are a very special couple indeed.
Rory is an amazing guy, his life is a mission. He worked alongside Jackie Pullinger in her mission in the forbidden City in Hong Kong.
It changed him completely.
Susie is one of those girls who is beautiful inside and out and shines Jesus. She is a bright feisty Irish girl who always amazes me with her focussed spirit.
They've given me a bit of a challenge in the scriptures they have selected. Isaiah 58 being one, Colossians 2:6-10 being the other.
Preparing my talk, I was touched by the breathtaking words of Isaiah 58. I've read it thousands of times but for whatever reason, the tears began to flow.
I read how God is just not bothered with bland religion. You know, going through the motions, people saying they are following God while living out a completely different lifestyle to what following God is all about.
I read those gorgeous but challenging words
"Is this not the kind of fasting I have chosen; to loose the chains of injustice and untie the chords of the yoke. To set the oppressed free, and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter. When you see the naked to clothe him. "(Isaiah 58: 6-7)
As I read these words the fire in my being rose by a thousand degrees.
Sheer fire.
I thought of Rory, how it comes naturally to him at such a young age to live out his life loosing the chains of injustice on anyone that needs it. I remember the night he gave his expensive arctic sleeping bag to a homeless guy who was freezing in the centre of Durham. I remember the naturalness of that selfless act. How Rory educated at Eton, with seemingly everything to live a privileged life, dreams of setting the oppressed free. sharing food with the hungry, and giving shelter and clothes to those who have nothing.
yeah.
Sheer fire.
Yesterday at Sanctuary West London, it was only our third day open.
It was an awesome day.
Dawn and I on our knees, crying out to God to send us to the broken and bring the broken and wounded to us.
And.
As if I needed reminding what prayer does, they start to come.
In just one encounter, I met Petr, a polish man trapped in the grip of alcohol addiction. Pain on his face, listlessness in his eyes, sadness and a horrible resignation oozing in his character. He sat opposite with me and said nothing as he ate some soup. he had no money. he hadn't eaten for a few days.
Thinking about this encounter now this morning, with the mission fire in my heart, I feel Gods heart speaking through Isaiah to the generations.
And.
Maybe its a timely reminder for someone today.
Don't waste your missional heart on mundane church matters or draining arguments or ritualistic God following. Don't be a Godly church person in front of the right people on a sunday morning and then be Godless the rest of the time. Don't focus just on self when there are millions who need to be set free.
God wants to stoke the fire of pure unblemished and extravagant love to those who are desperately in need of salvation.
By sharing food with the hungry, clothing the naked and sheltering the wanderer, stuff like that.
Fire.
Fire from God, fire in us, fire to others.
exciting stuff.
Stuff that will change someones life not to mention our own.
What kind of fasting have you chosen?
The second scripture Rory and susie have chosen for their wedding is one that I feel compelled to finish with as a direct piece of sound advice straight from Gods word. And it beautifully sets down the way forward to a life of reaching out to the poor and the needy, the broken and the lost.
Maybe this is for you.
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. (Colossians 2: 6-10)
