Our lives should be all about a saviour who is all about people

This thought has been stirring in my heart for the past while. I think sometimes in the midst of life – in our pursuits and trials, in our busyness and complacency we have this tendency to drift towards complexity in our hearts. We get caught up in our own little kingdoms and what we’re about instead of His Kingdom and what’s on His heart.

Preparing for the message last Sunday, I was rocked so much by the whole parable of the prodigal son. In many ways the most surprising part of the scripture wasn’t about the foolishness of the younger brother or even the grace of the father. The most surprising part to me was the ignorance of the older brother – he was in such close proximity to the father, yet had absolutely no clue what is upon the father’s heart.

It scares me to death that sometimes even without knowing it or intending it, I become that older brother. I get busy in my field somewhere building something I think is important – and completely miss the Father’s heart. It scares me to death that it’s so easy for me to forget that in all brutal honesty, there’s not much separating me from the prodigal son – in fact, there is only one thing that does – grace.

No matter where you are at today; you have been extraordinarily, miraculously, lavishly blessed by God’s grace. Even in the greatest storms and deepest valleys of this life, we have been blessed far beyond what we deserved. Jesus, Son of God, perfect & sinless, took upon Himself the punishment that brought us peace. That thought ought to shatter and humble us every single day.

And it ought to break our hearts for the prodigal sons & daughters.

I pray with all my heart that in this coming season of evangelism, our worlds will be wrecked once again by amazing grace, and our hearts will once again be re-aligned to our Father God. Our God who loved this world so -to the point of giving the most precious sacrifice so that none shall perish, and all shall be saved.

Go on, take a few moments to think & pray about the prodigal sons & daughters in your life. Who in your world is upon the Father’s heart?

Then step out of your world into theirs and live, share the good news of Jesus Christ.

See you guys at church, don’t forget the services on the 6th & 13th of August are probably the best ones in the year to invite your unchurched friends to. Let’s all pray together for every aspect of these services and believe God that many sons & daughters will come home to His grace.

Lots of love,

Chris

dear all,

hope you’re doing well

firstly, congratulations to all you uni students who have finished exams (and those near the finish-line) – now it’s time to pray for those results.

we’ve been preparing eagerly for both WAC and Ablaze Conference over the next week. we hope and pray that even as you read this, God is preparing your heart to encounter HIm.

for me, God has been stirring my heart like never before in this season of preparation. it’s scary, exciting, intense, overwhelming & faith-inspiring all at the same time (students, share with you more at ONE!)

in the meantime, want to share with you something i read quite a while ago that still stirs my heart today.

http://www.catalystspace.com/content/read/article_francis_chan/

God bless!

chris

p.s. don’t remember we’re back at the cinema from this week onwards!

Tonight we celebrated Torch’s xxth (insert mysterious # here) birthday with some close friends over pizza. It struck me just how much God works through people in our lives to mould and shape us. I know that over the past many years, God has used someone like Torch to not only lead and pastor me, but to encourage and spur me on in so many ways. I’m so incredibly grateful for the man of God in my life.

A few years ago (I can’t quite remember when), I made a deeply personal decision to do as Jonathan’s armour bearer:

1 Samuel 14:6-8 (New International Version)

7 “Do all that you have in mind,” his armor-bearer said. “Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul.”

Go ahead, I am with you heart and soul – I just think that there is so much power in those words and in that decision. I know in my own life God has blessed me so much because I made a decision to do all that I can to lift up and support those around me.

In this season of your life, who can you be a great armour bearer to? What type of friend will you choose to be?

Praying for you

Chris

it’s good to be home!!

i’m currently sitting at my desk in the church office mulling over my to-do list and emails that have piled up into a small mount over the last 3 weeks. yes, it’s good to be home

as tempting as it seems, i’m resisting the natural response to throw myself back into ‘productivity’ (see, that’s my default mode). however, i know that it would be a crying shame to do that – especially since i am on the end of one of the most life changing trips in my life.

you see, what i thought was going to be an easy going, fun-filled, relaxing (& eating holiday) turned out to be much much more. many of you have probably seen the photos of disneyland, of the inch deep pizza (where i looked sick), the aquarium and so on so forth. many of you watched our ‘fun’ (yes we use that word loosely!) and laid back video update (thank you, those of you who sms’d just to tell me how tired i looked). what the photos couldn’t show you, however, was just how much God’s presence and voice was with us over the whole trip. i know for one, my life will never be the same.

let me tell you about some of the environments where this happened:

- one of the largest and most spiritually mature churches in the western world, led by pastor Rick Warren – we had to take a shuttle bus from the car park to their auditorium – the whole place was huge and felt like disneyland!

- Erwin McManus’ church situated in the heart of downtown LA – we worshipped God and heard the bible preached in a theatre that was used other nights of the week for trendy concerts and arts. the pre-service loop was from a live DJ, and an artist painted throughout the service

- NewSong church located in Irvine – the campus was filled with thousands of Asian Americans – one of the many campuses spanning across the US, India, Bangkok, Mexico and London

- North Point Community Church & the Buckhead campus – one of the key churches we as a ministry have been learning from throughout the last few years. you’d be hard pressed to find another far away mentor who have influenced us as a leadership more than Andy Stanley.

- Louie Giglio’s new church plant – Passion City Church where Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman (amongst a few others!) are the worship leaders – through their ministry, we sing songs like “How Great is Our God”, “Heart of Worship”, “God of this City”, “You Lifted Me Out”… and the list goes on

- our sister church in LA. men and women who are across the ocean who share the same passion and vision for God’s Kingdom and renown.

in every different environment, we learnt something new and God challenged us with something. there were places where the four us went where we walked with lenses of students and learning. there were places that gave us new ministry ideas and strategies. then there were places where tears filled our eyes the moment we walked into the room and we just stood in awe of God and worshipped Him with all of our hearts.

it’s definitely been a trip filled with exciting experiences. on top of hearing some unbelievable preachers and communicators (too many to list!); personally, i’ve got to engage in one on one conversations that have encouraged and challenged me so much with men who are absolute heroes of the faith:
- the executive pastor one of the most innovative and largest churches in the US
- a couple of guys who are not only leading a large church they planted, but also a network that trains church planters (with even a church planter in brisbane!)
- one of the leading voices in missiology today who consults with some of the most influential churches in the west (they call him the obi-wan-kenobe of australia)
- a youth pastor who is my age who has done missions work in 42 countries across the world
- a church planter who was mentally retarded yet has built a student ministry of hundreds
- the founder of a campus ministry that has reached hundreds of university campuses over the last 3 decades
- and the list goes on

in all of these places and conversations, it was like God was putting together a jigsaw puzzle in my heart about His purposes. i’m so assured and confident of Jesus’ promise when He said that “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”

all those things have excited me so much, but it really does fade in comparison with the thought that the same Holy Spirit who is working across the world is alive and well in us. His gospel – Jesus saves – is changing us every single day, and outside of knowing Jesus and following Him, everything else is cheap.

out of that place, He invites us to get on board with what He is doing – since the beginning of time, through the book of Acts, through the lives of our early church Fathers, what He is doing today is so many different expression of the body of Christ around the world, what He will continue to do (with or without our help) – and what He will do in and through our lives if we believe in it, and follow Him.

i’m excited to be home in time for build Unidus because i know the privilege it is to build God’s house. i know He will do something great in and through us. le’ts partner together to do that.

can’t wait to catch up with all of you!

Have you ever seen Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous painting of The Last Supper? The one where Jesus’ hands are empty?

Just read a great story about it the other day which really resounded in my heart so much about our relationship with Jesus and this life that we live.

See, Da Vinci dedicated three whole years to this particular painting, determining in his heart that it would be his crowning work. Before the unveiling, he decided to show it to a friend – someone whose opinion he had the utmost respect for. The friend’s praise was unbounded. “The cup in Jesus’ hands,” he said, “is especially beautiful.” Disappointed and deject, at once Da Vinci began to paint out the cup. Astonished, the distinguished friend asked for an explanation. The answer resounded so deep in my heart.

“Nothing,” Da Vinci explained, “must distract from the figure of Christ.”

Isn’t that so true in our lives each and every single day, each and every single season? IIt is filled with good things, things that pull our attention and dare I say even beautiful things. Yet, in the words of the great artist, nothing must distract from the figure of Christ. In Him is everything we need. As it said in Paul’s letter to the church in Colossi – “it is by Him and for Him, and Christ holds everything together”. Our entire lives can be anchored, centred, and fixated on the person of Jesus Christ.

When Da Vinci removed the cup, something had to be done with the hand holding it. Jesus’ left hand was outstretched just above the table, lifting, as if to bless and to command.

The now empty right hand? Stretched out as if to invite us to come, and love Him, look on Him, trust in Him, follow Him, give Him all of our hearts and our lives.

May God flan aflame that desire in our hearts once again for Him. May nothing in this life pull our undivided focus away from the person of Jesus Christ

Success in life is about doing the basics well.

And the most important basic we can get right in life is our followership to King Jesus. This is what discipleship is all about – it’s not a class or a program, but it’s life.

How often do we stop and consider how the basics are going in our life? As we’re stepping into a time of seeking God as a church and asking the question, “how do we become true disciples?“; I want to share with you some questions i constantly revisit and ask myself in times of reflection.

Answering these questions may not be easy, especially with full honesty; but do take time to wrestle and grapple with God. We may not always like the answers (I know I don’t), but may they be the first of many steps towards living a life a fully-devoted, sold out Christ-followers.

Love you guys, see you at church!

Chris

- How is my spiritual health?

- How is my relationship with God?
- How is my love for Jesus?
- Am I still hungry for His Word?
- How is my prayer life?
- Is there any sin in my life? What am I doing about it?
- What am I dreaming about?
- If God could bless anything I do, what would I attempt?
- Am I doing what God has called me to do?

- How is my emotional health?

- What hard decision/s have I been postponing?
- How are my relationships with who God has placed in my life going?
- Who am I allowing to speak into and influence my life? What am I learning?
- What is my biggest vulnerability right now?

- How is my physical health?

- Am I glorifying God with my body?
- Am I eating, resting, exercising well?

Last week Torch (follow him on twitter here) shared an incredible message about what it means to pursue Godliness and live pure in our lives. It was something that resonated deeply within my heart. Personally, I know all too well the struggle for purity in a body and a world that pulls us in every other direction. Interestingly enough, without any prior conversation, God spoke to me the exact same phrase as what Torch shared:

Purity paves the way to intimacy

I’m not too ashamed to admit that this has been one of thoughts that have kept me on my journey to purity. Knowing that my purity today will bring me to my destiny tomorrow motivates me to continue to allow God deal with me openly and humbly. As I continue to struggle, I want to invite us all as young adults to join together in a journey of wholehearted devotion to God – clean hands, and a pure heart.

I also want to recommend a few resources that have really helped me and many others as well.’

Dating Delilah – Purity from a New Perspective
Something written by one of the great communicators of our generation, Ps Judah Smith. Here you can download his free e-book or audio book on the subject of purity.

XXX Church
This is the organisation Torch mentioned his sermon. There are helpful articles, videos, as well as a free accountability software; x3watch, to help with open conversation between accountability partners. Many of us have been and are still using this software.

Pure Intimacy
Another website that also has many great resources particularly pertaining to sexuality. On this website there are also resources dealing with sexual identity questions such as homosexuality.

Finally, I also preached something from my heart last year (the day before my birthday!) which outlines some of my own experiences and what I believe is the heart of the matter when it comes to sex. It had got to be one of the most uncomfortable things ever, but so glad it came out! You can find the audio stream here.

To all the university students, all the best for your exam preparations!

from John Mark McMillan (who wrote “How He Loves”)

John Mark McMillan – Skeleton Bones from john mark mcmillan on Vimeo.

Check out an update here. Awesome!

I think Wynnie deserves an award too, for writing the article so well! Very proud of all of them