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Archive for June, 2010

Remembering God.

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

I was totally struck this morning by an incredible passage in Isaiah (40:1-2)…

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
And proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed,
That her sin has been paid for…

You know what? No matter how long I’ve been following Jesus I am always so stoked to be comforted by God. He spoke to the Israelites as a woman, tenderly and graciously. He declared a time when all the sins of humanity would be satisfied in Jesus Christ and he would comfort us.

As I read it I remembered the moment God spoke to me when I was living totally against Him. He spoke my name when I had chosen not to listen. It brought me to tears remembering how graceful He is.

This passage is just before the one John (the Baptist) quotes in his declaration of the coming Kingdom. Jesus came and is coming again. We are living with sin for only a short time longer now before our world is renewed and those in Christ will enjoy His fruit like we never have before.

I pray that today, whatever your doing, you remember what God has done for you. And find a second wind, a passion and a renewed excitement about what’s coming for us in Christ.

Strahan.

Life is knowing Jesus.

Friday, June 25th, 2010

Over the last four weeks those of us at Edge School have been stimulated and challenged to re-think who Jesus really is, stripped of flannel board cosiness and sterile religiosity

Last night we we took another good long look at the Image of the invisible God: Jesus. Even though we can’t see him in flesh and blood, we can see him in history, in the story, clothed in normalness; and, with our imagination infused with the Holy Spirit we can really, truly see God. Maybe this is what Jesus meant when he said that it was better for him to go… maybe seeing him through the Spirit is even better than flesh and blood.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as
well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

The way isn’t a method; it’s a relationship. Truth isn’t a concept; it’s a Person. Life is knowing Jesus, not just a head-knowledge, but an all-of-life-experience-knowing. Jesus expresses EVERYTHING of who God is. He perfectly represents God. Jesus sums up God’s character in every way. Jesus is our reference point for understanding everything about God. God with us; God knowable; God who weeps; God who feasts; God the Storyteller; the Humble; the Gracious; our Defender. A God who has true feelings, who welcomes children, builds furniture, restores dignity, rides donkeys and suffers on our behalf.

Let’s keep dismantling and demolishing our plastic versions of Jesus!

Erin.

New.

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

Last week I went to Palmerston North with Greg to visit a few churches, see what he does and get a feel for the network. It was awesome.

I was praying before I left and I felt like God spoke a scripture to take with me, maybe a word for someone else, or maybe a word for me. It turned out both in the end. It was Isaiah 43:19;

“See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland”

It’s an incredible scripture, spoken to the Israelites in a moment of hopelessness after they had been over run by the Babylonians. In a barren situation where by all appearances God seemed to have deserted them, he in fact promised them something completely new. It reminds me of that Kevin Prosch song we sing here a bit ‘For he has wounded us, but he will bandage us’.

God has a way of speaking into the dark places and bringing new life. Even when it feels and looks like no good thing can come out of us or our situation, Christ brings out new streams.

On Sunday night, Greg shared that the word for “new” in the Hebrew is “chadesh”. It means to restore, to repair, and to renew. And he felt that the scripture is a word for Edge.

The chorus of the Kevin Prosch song is ‘he will come to us like rain, spring rain’. It’s hard sometimes to believe that God can create streams in the desert, and yet we the Church have Gods Holy Spirit, and we are the river God has sent into a thirsty world.

God is our spring rain, and in him we are the worlds. It’s exciting to know, that for us and for the world, God is doing a new thing.

Strahan.

Thursday Prayers.

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

“The man who would KNOW GOD must give time to Him.
He must count no time wasted which is spent in the cultivation of His acquaintance.
He must give himself to meditation and prayer hours on end.”
A.W. Tozer.

Come along if your free every Thursday 7am-7pm.

Jay.

Lets Talk Like We Used To.

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

Something has gone terribly wrong…

In John Eldridge’s book ‘Wild at Heart’ he discusses a number of pertinent issues to the modern man. He suggests that we have lost our heart. The quotes below are given to provoke and inspire the reader, yet I can’t help but wonder if he is even getting close to answering the real questions? And so we will discuss this on Monday night at EDGE.

To steal a phrase from Vodafone… “Lets talk like we used to”

EDGE Kingsland, This Monday June 21st, 7pm.

“In the heart of every man is a desperate desire for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue.”

“A man must have a battle to fight, a great mission to his life… He must have a cause to which he is devoted even unto death. …There is something fierce in the heart of every man.”

“A man needs a much bigger orbit than a woman. He needs a mission and a life purpose. Only then is he fit for a woman, for only then does he have something to invite her into.”

“Adventure, with all its requisite danger and wildness, is a deeply spiritual longing written into the soul of a man.”

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” -Gil Bailie

Jamie.

Mission.

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supplies.
J. Hudson Taylor

We talk of the second coming, half the world has never heard of the first.
Oswald J. Smith

Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t.
John Piper

Let my heart be broken with the things that break God’s heart
Bob Pierce, World Vision founder

You can give without loving. But you cannot love without giving.
Amy Carmichael, missionary to India

Come in July to add your voice to the mix and hear what God is saying to us today beyondborders.org.nz.

Strahan.

Thursday Prayer: 7am-7pm

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Prayer is on every Thursday peeps. You can either (literally) “chill” in the chapel while Here’s My Home cranks through the system, or get all cushion-cosy in the prayer room. Musos will be jamming between 5:30-6:30pm, creating a prayerful, worship space for those who want to re-calibrate rush hour.

So come and use the chapel and prayer room!

Use me – light a candle, grab a pen
say a prayer or stand on your head
Prayer’s not a chore, but a conversation with a friend
So, take a moment to enjoy… a pause to listen
or make a request
There’s permission to complain
to rant and rave
and then to give in, give up, give over
To thank and praise and wonder
Play the music loud or whisper in a corner
Scribble your hearts desire on a wall
and maybe you’ll get an answer

Waste time with God.

Jay.

Plastic Jesus and the All Whites.

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

So I hope you are all praying that Jesus would help the All Whites win a game at the football world cup! And for the cynical among you, have faith…just remember how Jesus found you that car park when you asked him!

Okay, so maybe that Jesus is more the plastic Jesus we are trying to dismantle than the real one. Maybe Jesus has bigger things on his mind than whether the All Whites win a game. Besides which, there will be more Christians in the USA and England praying for their teams than we have people in NZ, so we won’t have a show of convincing Jesus to back our team!!

But seriously, at School we are having a great time “dismantling the plastic Jesus”. There are still two more sessions so it’s not too late to come along.

Last week Mark Donovan led us in a good discussion about why we believe Jesus was both God and man, and why it matters for our faith that it is true. In the process we looked at some of our faulty understandings about this that distort our true understanding of Jesus. You can find the notes and get involved in the discussion here.

This week we are going to look at Jesus’ time on earth. Can Jesus’ story simply be summed up by Christmas and Easter? Is there something more? What was his life really about? On the way, maybe we will dismantle a few more of our plastic ideas about Jesus.

So come and join us this Thursday, 7pm in the Edge Kingsland café for good times, good chats, good baking, and a good chance to dismantle the plastic Jesus together…we would love to see you there.

Andy D.

Fraser and Dale Hardy.

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

One of the great treats in following Jesus are the incredible people you meet along the way, who give over their lives to grow his Kingdom. Last year I had the honor of meeting Fraser and Dale for the first time. They had just planted their church in Hamilton and were sharing some of the stories of suffering, grace, and Gods presence in the community they are working in.

I was amazed at Fraser’s passion not only to see his community changed but to see other people take up the call to be God’s message to our communities. His dream is to see churches planted and established throughout New Zealand and connected through the LinkNZ community. It’s a great dream. One we are part of at Edge.

The Hardy’s will be at both services on Sunday. They will be praying in some new elders, so we are looking forward to what they have to share!

Strahan.

Growing Together – This Saturday.

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

Some of us love to talk gardening, some of us don’t – as Cindy demonstrated a few weeks ago! Those of us that do got together last month at Linda’s place for the first time to chat, eat some AMAZING baking, and have a nosey around her garden. It was great to spend time with like-minded people and share some green-fingered wisdom.

This time we are meeting at Lisa Smith’s sprawling West Auckland home for more of the same goodness. So bring your gardening tips or questions and something yummy for morning tea. If you have any seeds or anything else you want to swap or give away, bring them along too. We’ll be meeting there at 10.30am.

For details and directions on how to get to the Smith’s, contact Strahan at the Edge office.

Beks D