The Tipping Point :Sunday Dec 7th.
November 30, 2008
The theme of our celebration this coming Sunday the seventh of December is The Tipping Point. A tipping point is the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point; the point when everyday things reach epidemic proportions.
Andy Hall is going to be exploring for us the tipping points that churches reach before major change takes place.
Lets do Christmas
November 30, 2008
Lets do Christmas
Official figures show the numbers packing the pews on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day last year rose by 7.5 per cent .The figure has risen by 37 per cent since the Millennium and many churches face turning hundreds of people away from their carol events and midnight services.With many churches planning and strategising to “do Christmas “in a big way.
The phenomenon has astonished Church leaders accustomed to declining congregations, especially as many churches also saw a rise in Christmas attendance of four per cent last year.
Many believe that an increasing number of Britons are seeking to recapture the sense of mystery and spirituality of the festival that has been stifled by for many years by growing commercialisation in society.
The Rev Lynda Barley, the head of the Church of England’s research and statistics department, said “rumours of the demise of Christmas are baseless”. “It will be standing room only at many cathedrals and churches,” she said. “The dormant desire to recapture a sense of the wonder of the Nativity, to share with others in the singing and praying, and to glimpse something of the spiritual meaning of the Christmas story draws people to churches across the country.”
There is undoubtedly a growing number of people interested in spirituality in general as good attendances are reported at mind,body and spirit fairs up and down the country with people often prepared to pay good money for the spiritual services provided..
Also this year it remains to be seen how many will be affected by gloomy economic news and prophecies of world-wide recession and therefore drawn to church.
A survey conducted among 1,000 people at special christmas events last year also suggests that Christians are using these “flagship” events to encourage friends and contacts to attend services, with more than a third of respondents saying they heard about the events from friends.
This year we need to be looking to up our game in terms of using Christmas as part of an ongoing “big event strategy”to invite as many as we can to our Christmas events at Life Church.We may well be surprised by the favourable responses.
Why do you think people are attracted to church at Christmas?
Sunday 30th November
November 30, 2008
Here is the Sunday morning message from 30th November.
Simply click the play button on the “Player” below OR use the download link to place the sermon on your PC!
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Topic: “Knowing your Song”
Preacher: William Prentice
Church Youth
November 28, 2008
Young People
@
Life Church
LIVE-LIFE-LOUD
ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS
Life Church runs many small groups throughout the
week as well as main services on a Sunday.
YOUTH LIFE (14+) meets 7.30 – 9.30pm every Friday in homes rather than in the office or a draughty hall.
We have a wide range of activities including parties & BBQ’s, we look at …
….Searching Issues, a fresh look at modern day dilemmas as well as
….Shoot from the hip, straight up Bible teaching.
….Prayer is important to the group so we spend time each week supporting each other in prayer.
….Next year we want to be community action based, so many activities will centre on social action.
Younger Youth (11 – 14) meet 2nd, 4th & 5th Sundays in The Priory – City of Lincoln Academy while the Main morning service is in full pelt.
Younger Youth is very much about what it means to be a young Christian in the 21st Century. This group is about building strong foundations for the future.
ETERNITY (YOUTH SERVICE)
ETERITY is our monthly youth service (1st Sunday of the month) in the Birchwood Community Centre (the Old Boiler House, Woodfield Avenue, Birchwood. Doors open at 6.30pm with a café and lively music before a time of worship and straight up message before the café re-opens. Although the service is run by the young people everyone is welcome to come and join in the fun.
For more information about events, times and venues e-mail Andy:
Youth Vision
November 28, 2008
Young People
@
Life Church
LIVE-LIFE-LOUD
Vision
We want young people to play an active role in the mission of our church by…
“Experiencing God through
Vibrant Expressions of Faith”
“I came so they can have real and eternal LIFE, more and better life than they could have dreamed of.”
John 10:10 (The message.)
We want to achieve this through..
LIFE changing Worship
LIFE changing Prayer
LIFE changing Word
LIFE changing Friendships
To Bring this vision to life for our young people we want to..
Make opportunities for young people to..
meet with God in a creative and contemporary ways, in bible
teaching and worship, so they can grow in relationship
with God.
Angle opportunities for evangelism
Provide oportunities for service in the
church and the wider community.
For more information contact Life Church. Please click HERE
Sunday 23rd November
November 23, 2008
Here is the Sunday morning message from 23rd November.
Simply click the play button on the “Player” below OR use the download link to place the sermon on your PC!
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Topic: “Spiritual Gifts” (Part 2)
Preacher: William Prentice
Sunday 16th November 2008
November 16, 2008
Here is the Sunday morning message from 16th November.
Simply click the play button on the “Player” below OR use the download link to place the sermon on your PC!
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Topic: “Spiritual Gifts” (Part 1)
Preacher: Andy Hicks
Five things about being filled with the spirit.
November 11, 2008
When was the last time you fed a baby oatmeal?, Peache pure or apple sauce? .Or how about my two all time favourites baked beans , Or chocolate?. My grandson baby Alfie can’t chew chocolate all that well at present but he can give it a ferocious sucking. Regardless of what you may be serving when your baby does not want to eat his or her entire body gets engaged in the struggle. The jaws become cast iron letting nothing enter the mouth. Any food that may miraculously make it past the lips is pushed out by an iron tongue. The baby develops great eye coordination at these times ,when you want it to finish the last few bites, but he or she has had enough. At this point the spoonful headed for the mouth hits the ear instead.Or a small hand pushes the spoonful into your lap. How many of you have ever been there? .Babies need to eat. Good nutrition is important for the growth and development of every infant. However, no matter how hard we may try, and regardless of how tasty the food may be, UNLESS THE BABY IS YIELDED AND WILLING TO EAT, WE CANNOT FILL THE CHILD WITH FOOD. When that same baby is hungry or thirsty and is crying out making its desire known, then it is much easier to “fill” the baby.Similarly, the Holy Spirit does not force Himself to “FILL US.” In the same way that a baby needs to have a desire for food or drink to be willing to eat, we must also crave the presence of the Holy Sprit in our lives in order to be “filled with the Spirit.” If we are to receive the Spirit, we must submit our minds, spirits and bodies to Jesus.
Five things about being filled with the spirit.
1) Jesus is the source of the experience
John 7:37-39 37 declares
On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice,
”If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”
Also John the Baptist tells us in:
Matt 3: 11
“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
The foundational lesson to be learned here is that Jesus is the baptiser.We baptised a group of people a few weeks ago in water but only Jesus can baptise in the Holy Spirit.Whenever I pray for someone to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit I am simply seeking to be a facillitator for Jesus to move in that person’s life .
2)It is not a limited or a limiting experience
Baptise means to totally immerse and soak.It is therefore a powerful all encompassing experience.Some people refer to this as being filled with the Holy Spirit.I like to think of Baptism as the initial encounter and infilling as an ongoing activity. This is not a limited or a limiting experience. Every christian has the spirit but not every believer is filled with the spirit. When a human being becomes a christian the holy spirit comes to live in and influence that person as an individual. He or she becomes the sacred dwelling place of the Holy Spirit!. God no longer is just “out there somewhere;” God designed you and me to be his address on earth. God wants to lives in you and manifest his life through you. When you commit to God and yield to Jesus Christ, God takes up residence in your life at that very moment. The Holy Spirit comes into a life and sets in motion a transformation within us.In this way baptism in the spirit brings an added dimension that is potentially limitless.
3) It exposes us to the limitless power of Love.
When people get filled with the spirit they experienced the love and power of God. The problem with human love is that it is often conditional and with limitations .It comes with a price tag attached.For example in the following letter,
Dear John,
I have been unable to sleep since I broke off our engagement. Won’t you forgive and forget. Your absence is breaking my heart, I was a fool,nobody can take your place. I love you.I love you,I love you-Marsha
P.S.Congratulations on winning the lottery.
God wants you to know that his love is unconditional. it accepts you as you are but in order to experience in a growing way his limitless love ,we need to learn obediance,this will necessitate going on being filled with the spirit.
4) It is a sign of empowerment.
Just as baptism in water is not a condition of salvation but an outward sign of an inward change.
Baptism in the Holy Spirit is not a condition of empowerment but rather a sign of it.Baptism in the spirit is how Jesus chooses to empower us.What is the difference between someone who’s a christian and a christian who is full of the Holy Spirit? ,It’s a bit like the difference between the light from a tiny candle, and that produced by a gas lantern. The light in the tiny candle is like every Christian – all Christians have the Holy Spirit living within them. But some people are like a gas lantern – they are so full of the Spirit of God that the light they give off is bright and warm and much greater than the light from the tiny candle.One of the main purposes of being filled with the spirit is that it enables us to receive the necesary power to be Christs’ representatives or witnesses here on Earth.
5) It releases within us the power to live a productive life.
Being filled with the spirit can be reduced in our thinking to an experience when it is meant to be an ongoing process.One of the dangers in seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit is that we can emphasise the’experiential’ rather than the process which is meant to enable us to accomplish things for God. If there’s an infilling, there must be an out flowing! Every time someone in the New Testament was filled with the Holy Spirit, things happened. Amazing healings took place. They had book burnings in the town square. Idol makers and pornographers went out of business. They didn’t just celebrate in church; they took it to the streets. There must be an outflow! The first picture we have of God in the Bible is of Him in His creative role. He makes us in His image, breathes life into us, then says, ‘Go out and become productive’ (See Genesis 1:28).
Are you hoping your life will ‘just change for the better?’ Are you praying for somebody with all the answers to come along and improve your circumstances?. No, what’s inside you will change what’s outside you, if you put it to work! This is not some glib, ‘can do’ self-help programme. ‘It is God who works in you’ (Philippians 2:13 NIV). The struggle in your life right now may be over what God wants to do through you! What’s within you is greater than the trouble you’ve been through, the situation you’re in or the obstacles that lie in your path. When everything around you is saying ‘no’ but something deep within you is saying ‘yes, that’s your God-given destiny. Acknowledge it, anchor your life to it and begin to work it out. Be filled with the spirit and God’s power will work through you in the situations you face.
William
This Sunday Unwrapping Spiritual Gifts
November 11, 2008
As the season for gift giving is almost upon us we will be taking time over the next two Sundays to consider the spiritual and ministry gifts that God has given to the church.This foundational topic is highly significant as every believer needs to see that he or she can be God’s suprise package to the world around.This week Andy Hicks will be encouraging us to identify our spiritual gifts.
Life Groups this week
November 11, 2008
This week group activities continue.Life Groups are forums in which people can meet informally,to connect with one another,explore their faith together and develop vision.We are continuing our exploration of foundational topics such as being filled with the spirit.
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