I heard a rumour this week, and it may only be gossip, but apparently Australia has no government! Confusing times, as the battle for political supremacy continues and only God knows how things will work out. It is a reminder for us of just how important leadership is and how we need to pray for those who are willing to exercise leadership in whatever shape or form it may take. I guess it also reminds us that in life there is good leadership and bad leadership and everybody likes to be the judge of who is and who isn’t a good leader.

Today’s leaders emphasize grandiose strategies and plans with carefully thought out costings, all presented with glamorised advertising intended to convince people that they are stable and responsible leaders who can get the job done most effectively and efficiently. Jesus had an interesting style of leadership that differed greatly from the kind of leadership we see today.

He spoke of and demonstrated the importance of servanthood – the willingness to quietly and humbly serve others with no thought of recognition or reward. He had a strategy and a purpose, but it wasn’t widely promoted nor was it the centrepiece of his leadership, loving others was. Teaching and caring formed the foundation of what he did as he sought to connect with the depressed and the discouraged, the hurting and the humble. He had no inclination to connect with the top end of town; washing feet and feeding the poor was his priority and He taught His followers to do likewise.

Society places little to no value on these priorities, and sadly even the church misses this point as we struggle and strain to create a plan that will impress everyone who hears it. Any pastor presenting a New Year vision to simply “tell others about Jesus and feed the poor” would be criticised for being shallow and unimpressive as a leader. We crave for something far grander in our flashy media driven world. In reality, Christianity at its core, is neither flashy nor grandiose, and therefore disappoints many who think that life’s values are found in the loudest, the brightest and the most expensive.

Jesus revealed the opposite, teaching and demonstrating that death to self is life, the poor are the rich, and the humble are the greatest. If we applied these principles to our leaders and ourselves, I wonder how it would change our lives and the lives of those around us? It certainly would be a new kind of leadership and one that we could easily afford!

Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. ²⁶Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ²⁷and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— ²⁸just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."  Matthew 20:25-28

Over the last two years, three exploratory teams from EBC have visited the Philippines to investigate mission partnership on the island of Cebu. After much prayerful consideration and consultation, IMPACT CEBU was launched last Sunday! We communicated to the church the significant door of opportunity that God has opened for us in the Philippines; an opportunity that will allow us to potentially partner with a drug rehabilitation facility, an orphanage, community development program, pre-school children’s ministry, Sunday school outreach and a possible prison ministry. These opportunities will develop in partnership with two churches allowing us to bring the Word of God, and the love of Jesus, to a nation that is open and responsive to the gospel. 

The first short term team to be sent will leave this December for a 12 day visit to be involved in ministry and to further evaluate the opportunities before us. Our plan, the Lord willing, is to send two teams each year, one in early December and the other in March/April (yet to be finalised). There is another team booked to visit Cebu this year in late December which consists of a few of our Filipino families whom, whilst visiting family and friends in Cebu, will also be involved in ministry amongst our partners. Following our launch on Sunday a significant number of people have responded and in the coming weeks they will be contacted to discuss their specific involvement. If you have an interest in being involved in IMPACT CEBU, or require further information we ask that you speak with Julio Alejo or Wayne Burgan. Thank you for your prayerful support of what God is doing in and through us as a church.

As I write this, it is a very important time for our nation as we prepare for the Federal Election. As Christians our responsibility is to pray for our leaders and our nation. We are a land that is in desperate need of the blessings of God to rain down: the blessing of a spiritual awakening, the blessing of leaders and a people that acknowledge God, the blessing of wisdom to know how to function as a just and compassionate society, the blessing of a God fearing society who are repentant and embrace holy living, the blessing of a peaceful and prosperous society – that we might be a blessing to others – and the great blessing of strong, healthy and missional churches that are responsive to God and energised by the Holy Spirit. May God hear our prayers and answer us.

Please pray for me next week as I have a 10 minute opportunity on Life FM on Thursday at 11am to share a little of my testimony and to speak about EBC. Please also pray for those that I had the opportunity to share the gospel with this week – that their hungry souls might respond to the love and invitation of Jesus to come to Him.

Ours is a God of opportunity

For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners.” ’ Luke 7:33-35

Did you ever wonder why John the Baptist and Jesus had such different lifestyles? John lived a life of strict discipline, frugality and hardship, in contrast, Jesus’ lifestyle was far more ordinary and normal. Jesus lived how most people lived. The reason they chose the lifestyles they did would no doubt have been related to the kind of audience they were endeavouring to reach and relate to.

While John was used of God to challenge the righteousness of the religious leaders, who lived a life of excess and ease at the expense of others. Jesus identified with the common people, the ones who had drifted far from social norms in Jewish society and more importantly far from God. Jesus loved them and related to them by choosing a lifestyle that would remove unnecessary barriers.

Interestingly, both were criticised for their lifestyles, John was accused of being demon possessed, Jesus of being a drunk. The response of the religious leaders, who themselves were hypocrites, warn us that we cannot expect to be applauded for making intentional lifestyle choices to reach out to society. There will always be people who do not understand or approve of genuine attempts to share the gospel and the love of God.

In response to the lives of John and Jesus and the lifestyle choices they made to reach people, let me ask you a question. What choices are you making to reach out to others? How are you living your life to be effective at sharing Jesus with those around you?

When a person decides to be a missionary overseas they make some fairly radical lifestyle choices, and for the most part we applaud them for it, as they study a new culture, learn a new language, change their educational focus, quit their job and career, and leave family and friends behind. How many of us staying at home make anything like these kinds of radical decisions to reach out to people in our own community? Why don’t we? Is it really just those who go overseas who are missionaries called of God, called to make sacrifices in His service?

I can’t imagine life was easy for John, wearing an itchy camel hair cloak, living on nothing but locusts and honey and sleeping among rocks in the wilderness. Jesus too would have struggled with the broken humanity and sinful lifestyle choices of those He was endeavouring to reach. This teaches us that to effectively share the gospel means making sacrificial choices that are never easy. We will need to mix with those who are different, annoying, disappointing, frustrating – sinful! Perhaps that’s why we don’t make radical lifestyle choices to reach others, it’s all too hard and we lack the patience and love needed to touch people’s lives.

“If our definition of being a Christian is simply to enjoy the privileges of worship, be generous at no expense to ourselves, have a good, easy time surrounded by pleasant friends and by comfortable things, live respectably, and at the same time avoid the world’s great stress of sin and trouble – if this is our definition of Christianity, surely we are a long way from following the steps of Him who trod the way with tears of anguish for a lost humanity.” In His Steps by Charles Sheldon.

This quote rocks my world, as it stirs me to want to step out of the comforts of spiritual mediocrity to embrace pure worship and fruitful ministry amidst the harsh realties of a fallen world. God calls us to a Christianity few seem to reflect - sacrificial, selflessness, where ego has died with Christ.

Where are the men and women in our church community who want to rise above the level of mediocrity and cast off the enticing cloak of comfort? Who wants something more from life than a comfortable seat by a warm fire, with a bowl of chips and a good movie? Isn’t life with Christ meant to mean more than going through the superficial motions of church attendance once a week, surrounded by a close-knit group of friends?

Where are the Spirit-filled men and women burdened for the lost, desperate for opportunities to share Jesus? Sometimes I hear complaints that in light of the gospel seem so hollow; the service was too long, the music too loud, the sermon too long, we stood for too long. Would someone please complain that we are not passionate enough for Christ, not providing enough opportunities for individuals to share the gospel, not seeing enough people converted to Christ, not sacrificing enough for Christ. Someone will dare say I’m being negative and not uplifting but I’m not sure how uplifting it is to say, “we are involved in a terrible war, so get your kit on and move up to the front line and get bloody for the gospel - instead of hiding back there and eating all the best biscuits!”

God’s call is to death - death to self, death to the world. To be fruitful in the kingdom is to face the harsh realities of our calling and to be present at the front-line - it’s where the neediest souls are, and more importantly it’s where Jesus is! It’s not an easy place, even harder to remain for long - you’ll run the risk of being wounded, weariness a constant companion, the stench and grime of others fills your nostrils and you may even be called to lay down your life for someone else. Not too many rewards or applause, plenty of heckling by those comfortably seated a safe distance away, but the glory that goes to God is immeasurable and for no other reason its worth leaving that warm chair by the fire and casting off that heavy cloak of comfort.

God wants warriors not wimps, which is why He has equipped us for war (Ephesians 6:10-20) and not with reclining theatre seats, with cup holders! Come with me and let’s sweat and cry and bleed and maybe die together for God’s glory and the salvation of precious souls.

“Something’s going on here?” That’s the feeling and thoughts I get in life when changes take place outside of my control and I can only stand back and watch. We all know the saying, “God works in mysterious ways,” which is a way of saying I don’t understand what’s happening or even why but I believe that God is at work and He will bring about an outcome that will glorify His Name and bless His people.

Often we become nervous when things happen outside of our control, we all like to be in control and be firmly seated behind the driver’s wheel - that’s why some people hate being passengers. It’s also why I’m not really thrilled about sitting on an aeroplane when I can’t see what the pilot is doing. I feel the need to be able to at least see him so that I can keep an eye on him. Maybe I can offer some advice if he gets into a bit of rough weather or if one of the engines catches fire! As ridiculous as this sounds, I think many of us operate that way when it comes to our own lives and ministries. We don’t really want God alone in the driver’s seat - we’d rather be at the controls or at least advising Him on what He should do next. When things begin to head in a direction we never planned for, that’s when we tighten our seat belts and wish we were at the controls of life.

God’s response is always the same – “Trust me, rest in me, focus on me and stop trying to wrestle the controls out of my hands. I know what is best and I know how to best achieve my purposes for your life.” Here’s an example of changing circumstances, recently Lifehouse had its principal sponsor withdraw his support; this isn’t unusual as it has been a regular occurrence over the last year as he helps us to become independent. Each time it has happened finances have all but disappeared including a time last year when we ran out of funds altogether and while some staff left, others remained and worked voluntarily to keep Lifehouse open.

What is unusual this time is that while financial support from our principal sponsor has ceased, applications from women wanting to enter the house have risen dramatically over recent weeks. For the first time Lifehouse, in the coming weeks, will have a full house of women and for the first time we will have to turn women away! It seems as though God is putting us under a different kind of pressure, lack of funds is familiar to us but an overwhelming number of applicants is not.

So while on the one hand we rejoice in the doors that God has opened in blessing Lifehouse with greater responsibility of more precious women to minister to, on the other hand we are thinking: “Lord, how will you provide funds to allow us to continue to minister?” It makes me think and feel, “something’s going on here!” I don’t quite know what it is, but God is certainly active, and is making abundant provision in one way while removing it another. All I can say is “God works in mysterious ways” to achieve His will and purposes. We can but watch and pray which probably isn’t a bad idea. I’d invite you to join me in watching and praying that God’s will is done and His Name is glorified.

This Sunday Valentines Day and Chinese New Year will be celebrated so whichever day you recognize happy Valentines Day or Happy Chinese New Year! Valentines Day has rather obscure origins but it is said to have originated as recognition of a Christian martyr. Valentinus was arrested and imprisoned because he was caught marrying Christian couples as well as supporting Christians at a time when Christians were being actively persecuted by the Emperor Claudius Gothicus.

Claudius actually took a liking to his prisoner until Valentinus tried to convert the Emperor which led to his being condemned to death. His was a horrible end when he was beaten with clubs and stoned, but this didn’t kill him so they finally beheaded Valentinus in about 270 AD. Not much to celebrate really is it? The day itself was recognized as a holy day by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD but was later developed into a romantic holiday by Geoffrey Chaucer during the Middle Ages when “the tradition of courtly love flourished.”

Strange how things get twisted and turned to suit our circumstances and culture. Many now call it Hallmark Day because of all the Valentines Day cards that are sold, not to mention the florists. Thinking about Valentinus made me wonder about living as a Christian in an anti Christian society. I think many would agree that our society is growing increasingly pagan and as someone mentioned to me on Sunday, persecution of Christians can’t be far away. 

I’m encouraged to think of Valentinus’ testimony as he supported Christians and even sort to convert the Emperor. How much more should we as Christians in a ‘pre-persecution era’ seek to encourage one another and share our faith at every opportunity? Times change and the door of freedom to so easily speak for Christ may eventually close. Let’s make the most of it while we can.

“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:25

This Sunday morning I will be speaking while Don is speaking in the evening. We have begun our journey through the gospels as we seek to identify Jesus methods of witness.

Maranatha!