Down Time

Hi everyone, this week, the blog wont be updated, but by next week it should be back to business as usual. I will update with all the podcasts I have then and get everything caught up.

Thanks
Paul

Question Mark- Who Do You Say I Am?

This week Brett preached on Mark 8 with this penetrating question Jesus Asks, Who Do You Say I Am?
Who do we say Jesus is?
How do we say it?
How does what we say compare to those around us?
What does it mean for today?
Get the podcast here.

You can also stream it online:


We are also supporting a girl called hope which is an organisation that has been very helpful to members our community. Please visit their website and get involved in their upcoming fundraising walk.
http://www.agirlcalledhope.org.nz/

We also have the final of 6 days here for your viewing pleasure.

Lastly, well done All Blacks, you have done us proud.

Question Mark- Where Does His Wisdom Come From?

This week we had Melissa Powell in to preach on Mark 6 and the response of the crowd in Jesus' home town.
Who is the wisest person you know?
What is wisdom?
Who does Jesus, in all his wisdom choose to carry his message to the world?
What does it mean for us today?
Get it here.

You can also stream it using the toolbar below:


Also we have the next episode of 6 days:

Question Mark -Who Is This Man?

Hey guys, sorry it is a bit late, been a busy week. This week Brett preached on Mark 4 with the disciples were in the boat with Jesus and a storm came up. What is the point of this? What is the bigger miracle, that the storm was calmed or that Jesus was there? Get it here.
Or listen online here:

Question Mark - Why Does He Eat With Sinners?

This week we start our Question Mark series where we look at the questions that Mark asks about Jesus. The first one we looked at was the question: Why Does He Eat With Sinners? Brett Jones took us through this question this week as we seek to find the answer to who Mark says Jesus is and what this means for us today.

Get it Here.
Or listen online here:


We also have the first episode of 6 days:

Get Better Work Stories– When We Work.

Key Verse: Deuteronomy 6: 4-9
How bad has your day ever been at the office? How could we better look at our jobs if we were to be with God in our workplace? What does the fact that God is One mean for us as we seek to be Whole people who are one with him?

Can Your Day be Worse Than This?

Get this weeks Podcast here.

You Can also follow along in the Work Blog with daily readings and journalling activities to keep you focussed when the 3pm fuzz descends.

Get Better Work Stories- week 3

Its the third week of our work series and today we had Brett Jones talking through Matthew 5: 13-16 and Matthew 13: 33. Brett talked through how we are to get our gleam on and bring the flavour to our workplace and lives.
Get it Here.

Also the Long awaited sequel to Adam working is here.

GET BETTER WORK STORIES: Who's the Boss?

Tonight, Brett asked who it is that we are really working for, and how should that affect how we work?

The reading was Colossians 3:17, 22-25. (NIV)

You can download the podcast here. (17MB / 48:00)

Community Life:

ITEM! This month only! Check out this series' daily online readings and activities by simply clicking once now on...

www.cessioncommunity.wordpress.com

GET BETTER WORK STORIES: Why Do We Work?

This week, the first human has a dress-down day at the office, Brett looks at the world's oldest profession and finds union activity, and everyone takes a smoko break. Including you.

Our reading is from Genesis 2: 4b-22 (NLT).

You can download the podcast here. (17MB / 42:00)

ITEM! This month only! Check out this series' daily online readings and activities by simply clicking once now on...

www.cessioncommunity.wordpress.com

Break Of Day #4 of 4: Dawn Light

This week, Mr. Hans was dedicated, Frank shared how the last are already first, and Nigel compared end times with present times, and happened upon renewal times.

The readings were from 1 Corinthians 15:12-20 and Revelation 21:1-8 & 23-25. (ESV or near enough)

You can download the podcast by clicking here. (19MB / 1:06:08)

(message and reading begin at 15:20)

Break Of Day #3 of 4: Light Bearers

This week, Brett spoke of why God places us in fragile jars of clay, instead of tough jars of diamond.

The reading was from 2 Corinthians 3:12/17-18 and 4:4-18. (NIV)

You can download the podcast by clicking here. (17MB / 47:30)

Break Of Day #2 of 4: Jesus, Light of the World

This week, Brett spoke of how darkness elicits a choice of either hope or despair. Who is Jesus, and what tangible hope does he offer?

The two readings were from Psalm 22:1-8 and John 1:1-5, 9, 12-14 / 8:12. (NIV)

You can download the podcast by clicking here. (18MB / 42:53)

Break Of Day #1 of 4: Let There Be Light

So at the start of last week's service, we set two digital audio recorders running simultaneously and, heh-heh, y'know, neither of them worked! :) Appropriate, given how the original title of Lamentations can also be roughly translated as: "What the...?!?"

However, thanks to Maree's video, biblegateway.com, and Brett's written notes on his sermon, there is hope...

In fact, Lamentations 3 helps us discover hope in the darkness.

Darkness…

¹ I am the man who has seen affliction

Before there can be light we must acknowledge darkness. Before there can be hope we must acknowledge despair. Hope is not about pretending that the darkness doesn’t exist. It’s always darkest before the dawn.

Memories…

²¹ Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

²² Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
²³ They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

For most of us it comes down to a contest of memory – if you like which memory is strongest in us.

What is it that he calls to mind and which operates as a source of hope? The nature of God as the God of the new day. The memory of the compassionate God – he knows we have short memories that’s why his compassion is new every morning! Darkness is defeated when we add light. Despair is defeated when we add hope. And because we carry both darkness and light it will be the kind of hope that we hold as recent memory that will make the difference.

Waiting…

²⁵ The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
²⁶ it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.

Waiting is a part of our experience. Sometimes we wait in the dark. Hope is not about circumstances being transformed. Hope is about finding light in the darkness. And so waiting in the darkness with the light that we have from God is a part of our experience.

This is really what the poet is experiencing as his memories converge – the memory of darkness and the light of hope. He is rediscovering light but darkness is still objectively there. He is still in exile, Jerusalem is still destroyed, Israel is still experiencing great hardship. He is waiting but with hope rather than despair.

The Amazing Race #4 of 4: Leaving The Wilderness

Tonight Brett spoke about how the Christian life is the journey away from self-absorption.

Our scripture reading was from Numbers 27:12-23.

You can download the podcast by clicking here. (15MB / 0:35)

This Week's Challenge:

PITSTOP

Start your days this week with the same acknowledgment Moses made of God - the source of all breath. Tell God that you are grateful for your life and everything in it. Make a time or find a place where you can do this daily. Then become alert to the provision of God in your day and to the opportunities to live for others you come across. Maybe pause at natural pitstops in your day to remind yourself (eg. morning tea, lunch, driving home from work...)

The Amazing Race #3 of 4: Highs In The Wilderness

Snakes On A Plain

This week Brett, full of the Holy Spirit, spontaneously improvised the most astounding sermon that any preacher has ever given ever. The lame were healed, the dead were raised, and thousands committed their lives to Christ. Unfortunately, the podcast recorder stuffed-up. Sorry everyone.

However, in his own words, here are the main points again, preceded by the reading...

The Bronze Snake

They travelled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea,[a] to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!"

Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people.

The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live."

a. Or the Sea of Reeds

- Numbers 21:4-8 (NIV)

1. Slow Forward

The 2nd generation of Israelites, born after the Exodus, were impatient for the Promised Land. They began to resent their circumstances – the shortage of food and water and God’s command to travel around Edom – and to reject God’s provision for their lives.

When we resent the present, we end up rejecting the God who lives with us "in the present"… God has been in our past and he is in our future, but his presence (surprisingly) is in our present. An obsession with our circumstances banishes God from our lives.

2. Circumstances and Consequence

As a result of the people’s rebellion they become plagued with serpents. Moses prays for the people but God does not take away the snakes. He does not shorten the journey. The menu stays the same. The circumstances remain as they were.

Instead, for a lack of trust – he prescribes faith - For rebellion he prescribes obedience. And faith looks a lot like keeping their eyes on who God is and not on themselves or their own circumstances. Obedience looks a lot like, not avoiding what God has put in place in their lives, but pursuing those things he has called them to.

3. Circumstantial Evidence?

In John 3:1-16 Jesus identifies himself with the Bronze Snake that Moses lifted up. Like the Bronze Snake, Jesus is a target of faith. Jesus is a source of healing. Jesus is everlasting life with God. Jesus who entered the present, submerged himself in the physical world of circumstances - just 2 chapters back in John 1, John speaks of Jesus as becoming flesh and dwelling among us.

Which in a sense, like the Bronze Snake, was a breach of the second commandment as well. God made his own graven image. Jesus. He sculpted him from flesh. So hard for us to package God, but in Jesus we see God perfectly revealed in a human life.

Is Jesus the target of our faith? Or are our circumstances a false idol?

This Week's Challenge:

FAST FORWARD

Allow the impact of your circumstances on the presence of God in your life to become clearer this week. Take time to reflect at the end of each day - record your reflections: Where was God in your day? When did his presence seem distant? Ask for strength to be content in any circumstance:

"... I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength."

- Philippians 4:11b-13 (NIV)

Take this with you into your week and place it in a prominent place.

The Amazing Race #2 of 4: Lows In The Wilderness

Tonight Brett spoke about the (potentially literal) tension between the promises of God and our expectations of God.

Our scripture reading was from Numbers 20:1-13.

You can download the podcast by clicking here. (15MB / 0:52)

(reading and sermon begin at 24:00)

This Week's Challenge:

ROAD BLOCK

Live each day in the immediacy and urgency of the presence and will of God. Start each day by praying that God's will would be done in and through you... If you are going through circumstances that test your trust in God, pray Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane.

"My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."

- Matthew 26:39 (NIV)

Take this with you into your week and place it in a prominent place.

The Amazing Race #1 of 4: Entry Into The Wilderness

Tonight Brett spoke about fear. Brr.

Our abridged reading was from Numbers 13-14.

You can download the podcast by clicking here. (18MB / 0:39)

This Week's Challenge:

DETOUR

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgement: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4:16b-18)

Keep this close to you this week - in your wallet, on the car dashboard, your computer, the bathroom - somewhere you can read it every day. Ask God daily to show you what you are afraid of and ask him to show you what His love looks like in that place.

The Politically Incorrect Guide To Relationships #4 of 4: Manipulation

Tonight, Brett spoke about manipulation, with help from the Rt Hon Sir Jeremy Smythe MP, author of his best-selling exposés Where The Other Candidates Went Wrong, Some More of the Other Candidates’ Greatest Mistakes, and Who Are These Other Candidates Anyway?

Our reading was from 1 Kings 1:5-18 & 22-26.

The scenario on the Scruples card read:

"You arrive home late after a night out with friends only to discover your flatmate, partner, mother waiting for you. The problem? Someone ate the last piece of cheesecake and you are the prime suspect. What's more you are being accused of a whole list of things you didn't do. You know it wasn't you, in fact you are pretty sure it was Keith. But the really annoying thing is that your food is constantly going missing and your accuser is the likely culprit. You try to put it off till morning but there's no stopping the discussion. What do you do?"

You can download the podcast by clicking here. (14.5MB / 0:50)

To summarise Brett's conclusions:

1. Take control of not being in control.

2. Practice listening to the values and preferences of others.

3. Get a better agenda.

The Politically Incorrect Guide To Relationships #3 of 4

Tonight, Brett spoke about isolation, with paradoxical help from Bruce Jenkins, author of My Home, My Castle and It's Not Assault If It's Home Defence.

Our scripture reading was a story from 2 Samuel 13. (read the full text online here)

The scenario on the Scruples card was:

"You are enjoying yourself at a dinner party, when somewhere between main and dessert, another guest makes a comment about your dress sense. Do you (a) make a sarcastic jibe in return (b) find a reason to go home early (c) laugh it off with an innocent comment (d) wait for your moment and comment on their weight?"

You can download the podcast by clicking here. (14 MB / 48:55)

To summarise Brett's conclusions:

1. Cultivate a lack of restraint for the interests of others.

2. Deal with the impulse toward celebrity.

3. Lean away from isolation.

Take care of yourselves, and each other. (ῧ)

The Politically Incorrect Guide To Relationships #2 of 4: Assumptions

Tonight, Rob spoke about good assumptions and bad assumptions. At least, that's what I presuppose.

The reading was 1 Samuel 17:22-27; 31-40; 18:5-9. (read it online here)

The scenario on the Scruples card read:

"On a regular basis, you witness your coworker drinking on the job. This person is a high wage earner for the company and his drinking hasn't affected his performance. He also has a family and four small children. The company has a strict policy on drinking on the job - immediate dismissal. You have approached him personally but he tells you to mind your own business. What do you do - alert your boss or stay silent?"

You can download the podcast by clicking here. (16MB / 0:57)

Hi everyone, Im really sorry for the length of time this has been down. We are working to get new podcasts up and try and make this happen again.

Thanks

Paul

The Politically Incorrect Guide To Relationships #1 of 4

Brett Jones speaks on the whole David / Bathsheba / Uriah triangle (2 Samuel 11:1-26), with assistance from Dr. Neil Latté, author of I'm OK - You're A Bad Parent.

Get the podcast here. (13MB / 0:33)

Neighbours: Thinking Missionally - The Incarnation Principle

Tonight, Brett interviewed Paul and Sara about their work in the community, while Frank spoke on seeing our neighbours as ourselves.

The reading was Philippians 2:1-8.

You can download the podcast here. (16MB / 45:00)

You can also stream it online:


Sketch: