George's Email - haven't changed a word

Hi John, 
 
Got the urge to do some words for the blog if that is ok....
 
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. 
As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts - Isaiah 55 :8-9
 
You know those times when you have to cook something, you are really hungry and you fancy something really good to eat, however you are cooking for one and laziness wins the day and you end up cutting corners or ordering pizza. 
 
I think sometimes we are like that with the way we reach out to those around us. We really want the end result of a great meal, lots of people being saved, but do we really want to get all the utensils out, make the sacrifice of all that washing up, go out of our way to make that meal. 
 
Now lets imagine that we are cooking for someone we really love, we are besotted with them, in fact we cannot think of anyone else. We would do anything for this person, we get the best plates out, we put a table cloth on, we buy the best food, we spend a good few hours preparing it, a bottle of good wine, our teeth are brushed, we are excited and cannot wait to meet our love. 
 
You see that person is Christ isn't it? The person we love more than anything in the whole world? The one we go the extra mile for? Like that wonderful meal we cook, when it all happens it is no chore or hard work, it is a complete joy to do that for the one we love. Honestly, I think sometimes I give Jesus my leftovers, He knocks on the door and I tell him I forgot can we order a take away, do you mind I say? He says my ways are not like your ways...
 
Sorry, went into one there, the point I am making is this that God keeps pouring out his grace upon us. You don't have to step out and serve, you don't have to share the gospel, you don't have to cook the one you love a great meal, but when you love someone you want to don't you?
 
Outside Light tonight was one of those meals, God cooked for us tonight. He brought many ingredients together, they were expensive, he paid an enormous amount for them more than we can imagine. 
 
John set out our stall tonight, explained a bit about why we are doing what we are doing, who we are. There was so much respect in the room, they treat it as precious. Telling one another they cannot swear in here or behave badly (we've never said that). One chap has agreed to come to church on Sunday, another lad wants to meet up for a beer and talk. Another girl opened up and shared some of her hurts, another lad listened to the gospel being explained and took some information. John, Richard and George all got beaten at football, Helen almost broke the world record for Jenga height, Michelle won 4 sets of cards in a row. Isn't this what life is all about as a Christian, going out and speaking of Christ, sharing him, receiving from him. 
 
Just imagine if there was another group going out to an old folks home down the road doing the same, what if there was another group in the Working Mens club around the corner chatting and sharing, a Christian sat on the bench with the local outcast, another group popping into the shops and meeting.....................
 
I don't know what your thinking as you read this, maybe your thinking I am being self-indulgent, a dreamer, not in the real world. I don't know about you but I don't want to be in this world, my home isn't here, I want to kit out my future place with the best treasure in the whole universe - people. The reason I am going on is because it saddens me so much that there aren't more people coming outside of Church, we could reach more, we could reach so much more and our lives would be so much richer, vibrant, exciting. It is not our way, it is God's way and his way is so much higher than ours...will you cook a meal for Jesus this week?
 
Don't have to use this John? People are missing out though. 
 
Keep going, really want to share my testimony and gospel next week.
 
In Christ
George

For His Glory

How to Please God

Hi
Thought I'd share today's Scripture Union notes with you. 

I did something different yesterday and sat toward the front of the church. The dynamic was subtly different in that I felt uplifted by those singing behind me; "the noise" of the songs felt good. At the back where I usually sit, it sounds good but you don't get the same vibe. But then this passage this morning reminded me that church isn't about that. It's about what we do for Him. Church isn't just about Sunday mornings.

Pray first

Settle down and make yourself nice and comfy. Spend a moment or two in prayer with the one who can change everything in a nanosecond.

Amos 5:18–27

‘Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!’ 

Amos 5:18-27

The Day of the LORD

 ¹⁸ Woe to you who long
       for the day of the LORD!
       Why do you long for the day of the LORD ?
       That day will be darkness, not light.

 ¹⁹ It will be as though a man fled from a lion
       only to meet a bear,
       as though he entered his house
       and rested his hand on the wall
       only to have a snake bite him.

 ²⁰ Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light-
       pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?

 ²¹ "I hate, I despise your religious feasts;
       I cannot stand your assemblies.

 ²² Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
       I will not accept them.
       Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
       I will have no regard for them.

 ²³ Away with the noise of your songs!
       I will not listen to the music of your harps.

 ²⁴ But let justice roll on like a river,
       righteousness like a never-failing stream!

 ²⁵ "Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
       forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?

 ²⁶ You have lifted up the shrine of your king,
       the pedestal of your idols,
       the star of your god -
       which you made for yourselves.

 ²⁷ Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,"
       says the LORD, whose name is God Almighty.

Pomp or circumstance?

The service was amazing.

The church was clean and bright, the flowers were fresh and perfectly arranged, and the musicians gave their all and raised the roof. The preacher spoke from the heart and the people listened. The prayers were said and the collection plates were heaving.

But God wasn’t having any of it.

Brennan Manning, author and priest, puts it another way: ‘The great single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyles. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.’

Honest worship

‘But let justice roll on like a river,’ Amos cries, ‘righteousness like a never-failing stream’ (v 24). He’s not talking about a one-off pledge or an occasional donation on a Sunday. He’s calling us to a different and radical existence.

In Romans 12:1, Paul defines our spiritual act of worship as the offering of ourselves – our bodies – as living sacrifices. It’s the living, breathing, walking, talking parts of ourselves that need to show our adoration for the Father. And this worship will always be pleasing to God.

What does this mean for you, right now?

Jude Adam (adapted from Daily Bread JM09) 

___________

Please don't think I'm preaching here. I wouldn't dare; I've plenty in my life to feel sorry for. BUT, I do pray that everyone of us who goes along to church of a Sunday, realises that Sacrifice is for Life, Not Just for Sundays. 

Much love

Johnny D

25 and Rising

Monday was another great night with numbers up from 17 to 25! All of these young people get on really well together and appear to enjoy each other's company. A few have started asking why we're doing this, so next week we'll probably start off with a couple of minutes' talk. It'll also give us the chance to tell them about the possibility of The Vyne opening soon, which will be a bigger venue in case the numbers continue to rise. This is being sponsored by Knaphill Residents' Association who have no problems with us talking about God. We're likely to have one of us inside of the facility, with the others outside - although using The Vyne as a base to return to if there are no kids outside (if they're all in The Vyne, in other words.) A highlight of Monday was George praying for an 18-year old lad, and the lad giving George a big hug before leaving. You just don't see that every day.

Tonight I had a call from Mary, because Chill and Chat, which normally attracts 7 or 8 young people, had 20 or so turn up, so there weren't enough adults to cope. Of course the extra kids were the 'usual suspects' who appear to have become really comfortable in The King's House. We're blessed that we have the coffee shop and Eric's support, because as a result of a regular booking, The Vyne will be opening only 3 out of 4 Mondays in the month, so it's likely that we'll open the 4th at The King's House, I suspect.

We need to pray for the 10-year old, a lad we know, who allegedly helped set fire to the derelict house in The Broadway and whose mates allegedly locked him in so that he had to be rescued and taken to hospital. We don't know the full story but we know he's recovered.

Pray too for the ongoing building of good relationships with these great kids. One of them came up to me this evening and chatted for a good 20 minutes about school, life and stuff like that. I felt really privileged. I tend not often to approach the kids in case they think I'm a bit old to chat to them, I'm happy pottering around and serving; but it's cool that they're happy to chat to me and I suspect that as we see each other's faces more often, there will be other occasions when we'll be able to chat. Please pray for that too.

Much love

John

Better in than out?

Photo King's House last night, with faces blobbed-out for Child Protection reasons

What else can I say but it never ceases to amaze me how good God is. Again last night we arrived at The King's House and there was a crowd outside, (they were a quarter hour early again), and they waited another 15 minutes while we set up and prayed. The point is, I guess, that this is surefire evidence that they long for something do do. This isn't the hopeless crowd that many adults would brand them. Neither are they perfect little angels. They're just KIDS, some of whom find relationship with adults a little challenging.

Last night, through the Lord's provision, we had five adults, plus Eric on hand if we'd needed him. George was with us, talking about God, Richard and Michelle playing Jenga with some young lads, and Mary thrashing them at cards as well as lots of snooker/air-hockey and table football. We didn't have pizza last night as a general offering so the kids brought in their own chips and the like. Naturally we had drinks for them. 

This is such a simple thing to organise and do - and it's much more fun than moaning about the way that young people 'aren't what they used to be'. I was young once and can certainly testify to that last statement - my knees are far from what they used to be.

Pray for next week please, as Eileen, Knaphill Residents' one-(wo)man mover and shaker, has organised a meeting at The Vyne to discuss moving forward using that larger facility in a way that's similar to what we've been doing for the past few weeks. 

If numbers continue to grow at the same rate as we've experienced since opening only three weeks ago then we'll need the extra space that The Vyne has to offer. However, and there's a big however, The Vyne will only work IF there are enough volunteers to cope with large numbers. That's where prayer is needed. We know the young people benefit from the provision of facilities; they wait outside in the cold for half an hour, which is proof enough - and this despite knowing that someone is likely to talk 'God' with them. BUT, if there aren't enough volunteers to help run The Vyne, then that facility won't be able to function and KRA could be left with having to limit the numbers of kids - which misses the point, unless of course, we've already peaked at 17. Please do pray.

Outside Light has committed to have one person inside The Vyne each week whick leaves other OL volunteers to go out still and walk the streets - to see who is out there and try to get them back to The Vyne. Hopefully there will be secular volunteers based at The Vyne as well, but we'd love for some of our Christian brothers and sisters to come along too and help out. 

Young people are the future of our country. It's time we adults realised that. It's something that I tried to remember last night when our closing time 9pm had passed and they were reluctant to leave. After praying, we didn't get away until 10.15 :o)

Lots of love

John

0 to 60 in 11 months

Yes folks, this is the 60th post on this blog since we started in April last year. In that time we've seen a lot of progress - 

i) we've registered as a company [reason: so that Outside Light could become a resource for any number of churches who think that young people (the outsiders) deserve a break and an opportunity to chat about their spiritual side]. 

ii) we've formed numerous policies ensuring child-safety, volunteer training, health and safety, food hygiene etc etc etc - which are available to churches to share if and when they're interested in undertaking similar work.

iii) we've defined our Aims and Objects and so on, for the eventual registration of Outside Light with the Charity Commission - we need £5,000 of giving before they will register us.

iv) but all of the above pales in comparison to the privilege we all felt this evening to have arrived on time at The King's House and found 11 young people waiting outside for us. According to Eric, they'd been there almost a quarter of an hour because we'd said last week that they would be welcome to come in and use the church coffee shop and the various games facilities that the Trustees/Chill & Chat (Thursday's group) have built up there. No way did we think there would be this number who would turn up, and there was a great atmosphere that continued as other kids joined us later. We had intended closing up at 9 but they really weren't that keen to go. This was a very successful evening in terms of a) young people being somewhere safe instead of out on the streets, b) Christians being able to demonstrate the love of Jesus in a practical way. They know who we are and Jesus' importance to us but they still turned up :o)

The kids all said they were looking forward to coming back next week - so are we.

Last Tuesday I turned up at Old Woking 20 minutes late. I really don't know how that happened, I was watching something on the box and time flew. Anyway, I arrived and found much the same had happened there. Three 17-year old lads had turned up - and they were making pancakes and kicking a ball around with Nancy, Nick and Phil. The thing is, these are the types of kid who get stereotyped into being thought of as tough, streetwise thugs, when the reality is that they're nothing of the sort. Wouldn't it be great if human beings were capable of looking at each other without making judgements about who we're looking at?

There's a real need now for more volunteer leaders. Taking this evening as an example, ideally there would be at least two of us out on the streets, as well as leaders back at The King's House. Please, if anyone is thinking about joining us, call me on 01483 474737 or drop me an email, jndurrant@gmail.com. You could come out with us and see whether or not its for you. If you're waiting for God to tell you to GO, He's done that already!

Lots of love

John