Life Changers » Notes

Notes from April Equip Time (Part 1)

gabe — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 13:15:41 +0000

This past Wednesday night, Wally gave us a greater perspective into being equipped for the greater things by drawing some vital truths out of Ephesians chapter 4 with special attention given to verses 10 to 13. In verse 13 it reads, “…mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ”. As we endeavour to become more and more like Christ individually and as a corporate body, and as we attempt to “father” and “mother” our community into the more that Christ has for them, let’s meditate long and hard over this verse and the vastness of it’s implications! “The whole measure?” “The fullness?” These words hint at something so incredible that my heart leaps everytime my mind rests upon them for even a moment. As DSTV say, there is So much more!

Here is some of the rest of what Wally said last week at the Equip Time:

*Reflect on the word “Image” (a mirror reflecting/a snapshot)

-Jesus said: “If you have seen me, you have seen the father!”

-We are called to reflect the Glory of who God is to the world/ to be “signs and wonders” to the world…to point them to the Father!

-Satan tries to get us to turn the mirror the other way around…back on ourselves! (“narcissism”: The name “narcissism” is derived from Greek mythology. Narcissus was a handsome Greek youth who rejected the desperate advances of the nymph Echo. As punishment, he was doomed to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. Unable to consummate his love, Narcissus pined away and changed into the flower that bears his name, the narcissus.) Delusions of self-grandeur.

John Calvin (the 16th century French theologian and pastor) once wrote, “Look to yourself and it is sure damnation!”

Nick Davis, a South African Apostolic figure now based in England, said something similar, “When I look too much within myself and the mirror of me, I get very very sick”

With all this in mind, the simple point of making sure our “mirrors” are focused on him and not on ourselves. The book of James likens God’s word to that of a mirror. Wally drew out the thought that God’s Word is a 3D mirror: 1. points out our sin and then points us to the cross 2. it tells us who we are 3. and it shows us our future hope and purpose

Corrie Ten Boom (a Dutch Christian Holocaust survivor who helped many Jews escape) famously once wrote, “When I look at the world I get depressed, when I look at myself I am unimpressed, but when I look at Christ I am very impressed!”

Which way are our ”mirrors” facing? What are we reflecting? And what are we staring at, transfixed with, captivated by?

(part 2 to follow…)

Stay connected!

gabe — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 11:12:33 +0000

Stay connected to what’s happening in and around Life Changers Church over the Easter holidays by checking our website regularly. Alternatively, become a fan of the Life Changers Church Facebook group and receive frequent updates. Our aim is to keep you linked to the very heartbeat of the church.

Happy holidays!

“Stamp my eyeballs with eternity”

gabe — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:44:04 +0000

Jonathan Edwards (October 5, 1703 – March 22, 1758) was a preacher, theologian, and missionary to Native Americans and today “is widely acknowledged to be America’s most important and original philosophical theologian,” and one of America’s greatest intellectuals. In 1741, during a period of time now commonly refered to as the Great Awakening, he famously preached a sermon entitled “Sinners in the hands of an angry God“.

Most of this sermon’s text consists of ten “considerations”, which Edwards acquires from the Word of God. They are as follows:

God may cast wicked men into hell at any given moment.
The Wicked deserve to be cast into hell. Divine justice does not prevent God destroying the Wicked at any moment.
The Wicked, at this moment, suffer under God’s condemnation to Hell.
The Wicked, on earth – at this very moment – suffer the torments of Hell. The Wicked must not think, simply because they are not physically in Hell, God (in whose Hand the Wicked now reside) is – at this very moment – as angry with them as He is with those miserable creatures He is now tormenting in hell, and who – at this very moment – do feel and bear the fierceness of His wrath.
At any moment God shall permit him, Satan stands ready to fall upon the Wicked and seize them as his own
If it were not for God’s restraints, there are, in the souls of wicked men, hellish principles reigning which, presently, would kindle and flame out into hellfire,
Simply because there are not visible means of death before them, at any given moment, the Wicked should not, therefore, feel secure.
Simply because it is natural to care for oneself or to think that others may care for them, men should not think themselves safe from God’s wrath.
All that wicked men may do to save themselves from Hell’s pains afford them nothing if they continue to reject Christ.
God has never promised to save us from Hell, except for those contained in Christ through the covenant of Grace

Pretty intense stuff hey? In this “seeker sensitive” culture that we are now living in, I would highly doubt that Jonathan Edwards (if he was alive today) would be a greatly sought after guest speaker! But what has gripped my heart (and what should take hold of all our hearts) is the reality of the eternal realm. Jonathan Edwards once prayed, “Lord stamp my eyeballs with eternity”, and that has now become an oft repeated prayer on my lips!

Charles Spurgeon, another famous theologian from centuries gone by once said,

“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for”

Oh God, make this ring true in our hearts and lives!