London International Christian Church

Strong in the Grace: By Tim Kernan

Admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:26:28 +0000

Acts 20:32 “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

I remember as a young disciple working the night shift as a security guard reading “What’s so amazing about grace?” by Phillip Yancy. I had not fully understood the principle God’s of grace yet and that book totally blew me away! This is the meaning of the word grace: overflow, extra, bountiful. God is full of grace and mercy but also in all things. He didn’t make one star; He made billions of stars. He didn’t make one type of food; he made millions of flavours in incredible abundance. He didn’t make one kind of flower; he made thousands of species. God is graceful in power, in wisdom, in detail, in creation, in glory, in mercy and in all ways! A good book can really open your eyes to a great principle!

A couple of months later I attended the “Pass the Torch” conference in Toronto with thousands of Canadian disciples. I remember seeing a hundred singers singing with all their hearts to a crowd of thousands by torch light in a massive darkened room at the Canadian conference centre. I remember being struck at how the unlimited power of the grace of God had saved all these souls. It didn’t just “save” them, it also brought them together in perfect harmony and joy. That was the night I got truly “got” what God is trying to do through the church and it made me zealous. Grace had attacked.
Grace is a bankrupt student finding a lottery ticket. It’s a repentant murderer being freed and given another chance. It’s a friend forgiving a betrayal. It can build you up and give you an inheritance; it can give you unlimited chances to change. When grace attacks nothing stays the same.

Strong in the Grace

2 Timothy 2: 1 “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”

Here Paul is instructing Timothy to be strong in the grace of Christ. Strong in the grace means feeling forgiven, feeling grateful, feeling like you’ve got space to breathe and nothing is coming at you too fast for God to handle. Being strong in the grace means you are rested, even when you’re busy. It’s always terrible to see disciples who are not strong in the grace. The worries of life, the stresses of change, the guilt of sin, the anger and bitterness of a lack of forgiveness make them look like death warmed over. While others are flourishing they are dying because of their reliance on their talents, ability and pride. Their independence won’t let them take advantage of God’s grace.

On the other hand, those who are strong in the grace are joyful because they trust that God is working through all things (Romans 8:28), even when there are problems. They consider it pure joy because they know that it is making them mature (James 1:2-8) and that God will give them a way out (1 Cor 10:13). They are humble, they seek advice and they ask people for help after asking God for help (Phil 4:4-7) so that they don’t get overwhelmed and they don’t drag others down either. They use the bible to do all the heavy lifting they need to do. They are disciplined in their thinking, demolishing arguments, capturing every ungodly and discouraging thought and making it obedient to Christ (1 Cor 10:5).

When plans fail

2 Peter 1: 3-9 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

“For this very reason”. One can’t ask for a better segue than that. Peter tells us that because of grace, for this very reason, we need to work on our characters. Adding to our knowledge goodness, knowledge, self control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. Its a seque with a promise: if you work on your character, you will be effective and productive as a disciple! Wow, what an awesome promise!

It’s a terrible thing when the perfect plan collapses and it falls right down on a weak character! Ouch! There have been many times whern I was putting all of my chips down on a plan and when it fell through, it collapsed right on to my character that was weak in the faith… now that’s disappointing! In fact when I’m not allowing grace to work on my character, God will actively oppose my plan: Proverbs 21:30 “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD”. 1 Peter 5:5 “Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” It doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t plan. Of course we should! Proverbs 14:22 “…those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness.” It means that our plans need to be based on discipling the character.

God wants us to be productive, fruitful and effective through our characters not only though our plans, insights, wisdom, etc. Strong plans and weak characters is the downfall of a movement! I don’t want to be the weak link and neither should you! Lets get “strong in the grace” and advance our good plans with power and character. By working on our hearts we are going to be fruitful. We will recieve the Glory and Honour (Romans 2:7) we will become the legends God wants us to be as His children. Right now are you strong in the grace or is your strength coming through only when things go your way? What about those you are discipling? Can you help them to build convictions on being strong in the Grace? Can you dedicate more time to working on their characters with them? We need people who will be strong in the grace!

Love,

Tim

Recommended further reading: Victory of Surrender, Mind Change, What’s So Amazing about Grace.

The Holy Tribe of Light II: By Tim Kernan

Admin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:21:10 +0000

Holy Tribe of Light I

About two years ago I wrote this article about how awesome it is to be part of the family of God! As I wrote in that article its so hard for us to understand the unity of the church because of the atomizing individualism of modern western society that many of us come from.

Even though its hard for us westerners to understand its true that most people in the world today are born into a working tribe or closely knit extended family. Why? Well with 30% unemployment on average in the undeveloped world you simply need a to belong to a tribe to survive. If you have a job one week out of four your happy to push your money in towards the leadership of the tribe because the weeks your not working you know some food and shelter will come your way. This shocks us as westerners but its how most people in the world survive! If you don’t know that the early Christians lived the same way understanding the bible is going to be hard!

Today, instead of joining a family and a Kingdom as the early Christians were doing, millions simply “subscribe” to an empty “Christian philosophy” of life and maintain their selfish individualism. Even as disciples failing to understand the concept of the Christian family and tribe, as many of us do, leads to tons of unnecessary pain and provides too many opportunities for Satan to divide us. Every disciple and especially every leader in the church needs to understand what we are as a family.

Lets get our footing in the Old Testament then move into the New Testament to see if we can grasp what kind of family we are supposed to be as the church.

Genesis 18:18-19
Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. 19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

When we go back to the Old Testament its clear that it was Abraham’s family that would become Gods “chosen people”. From the very beginning, as we see in this passage, God expected His tribe to stay faithful to His instructions and obey Him from generation to generation as His plan unfolded. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of the Old Testament knows that Israel was a man originally named Jacob and that the twelve tribes of Israel were simply his ten sons and the two sons of Joseph. How did you become part of Israel? You were born into it!

That being said you could also become a citizen in Israel though obedience to the law and adoption into a tribe. One famous example of this was of course Caleb who was an Edomite (Josh. 14:6) from the Kenite tribe (Gen. 36:11) that were in Midianite territory (Num 10:29, Judg. 1:16). He even ascended to being the leader of Judah and the brother of the first Judge of Israel Othaniel!

So its clear that in the Old Testament being part of the “people of God” meant that you were actually part of a tribe, you respected the authority of the tribe and you benefited from belonging to a family that would protect you and help you no matter what. In the Old Testament the deal was clear, you belong, you stand or fall together and you always remember: blood is thicker than water.

OK, lets see what we can learn now in the New Testament:

Jesus was born into the Tribe of Judah as its written in Matthew 2:6 ” ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’ ” and again in Hebrews 7:14
“For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah…” However here in Mark 3:31-35 Jesus clearly renounces whatever family ties he has and initiates his new tribe based on obedience the new covenant! Take a look at this passage:

Mark 3:31-35
31Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
33″Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.
34Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

The modern reading of this passage is “”Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. “I just love God and that’s enough.” However the actual reply of Jesus was “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” That means that as disciples we need to allow ourselves to be “adopted” as children in a new family not sitting on the fence as mere “members” of an organization! That was Jesus’ attitude! We can often struggle with submitting to the authority of leaders in the church because we still have one foot back in the individualism of the world and we have not yet given our hearts to the Christian family called the Church.

Our tribe has nothing to do with the color of your skin or where you were born. Ours is a tribe based on commitment! Paul wrote: 1 Corinthians 16:15-17 “You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints. I urge you, brothers, to submit to such as these and to everyone who joins in the work, and labors at it.” So our “family” are the committed disciples all over the world and we need to submit to those who join in the work and labour at it!

When I look around the world today I can’t see anyone more committed to making disciples of all nations, with one standard of commitment than Kip McKean and our Sold Out Movement. We’re also so lucky to be discipled and mentored by the Williamsons. Its amazing how people who are so diffrent can remain so united. The Blood of Christ is thicker than the water. As those who are so clearly “joining in the work and labouring at it” I submit to my leaders and I urge all disciples to submit to their leaders with love. I’ve seen division and discord take out so many people who didn’t understand the concept of tribe and brought democracy and individualism into the church…

For me its a great feeling when people notice my labour for the Lord and “adopt me” as an older brother just like the household of Stephanas or how I respect and submit to my leaders. They are grateful for and submit to my leadership like younger siblings. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy! It makes you feel appreciated and trusted as a leader in the family! At the same time when I’m dealing with a more prickly and individualistic customer all kinds of bad feelings can well up inside me. I’ve jumped the gun and called people “obstinate” and “prideful” a few times.

I’ve learned that if I take the time to really teach them about the “Tribe” they have come into as disciples its amazing to see their defensiveness melt away! When they really grasp what it is to belong and be loved the fear of rejection and scorn just disappear!

I would like to urge everyone to reread through your favourite Scriptures and open your eyes to the tribe you are part of as a disciple. Then I urge you to ask yourself if there are places you can be kinder and gentler to those who are “under you in the Lord” (1 Thes 5:12) in particular those who come from broken families and may be struggling to really understand how good it is to belong to a a spiritual family. I would also urge you to consider where you might not be giving those over you in the Lord a warm fuzzy feeling and where, in fact, you might be a nagging pain in the back!
Lets pull together as a family and live the life of love God wants us to live!

Your bro (little bro, big bro, father in the faith, son in the faith)

Tim

Lecture Hall of Tyrannus is Resurected!

Admin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:44:58 +0000

Acts 19:8-10 “Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.”

This is an amazing passage about Paul overcoming obsticals and opposition to preach the Word from the lecture hall of Tyrannus! Over two years the offensive and jarring message of the cross was preached to the whole province of Asia!

Today, after lots of prayer and seeking advice, I’ve started up a “cyber” lecturehalloftyrannus at www.lecturehalloftyrannus.org. Its a “wiki” website which means that selected contributors will be able to store and manage knowledge and teaching on all kinds of different topics some of the catigories so far are: Discipleship | Leadership | False Doctrines | Biblical Doctrine | Events and Calendar of the Church | Organisation and Offices of the Church | Law, Finance and Administration | Health and Safety | Marriage and Parenting | Bible Studies | Recommended Books and there will be more in the future!

The format of the articles especially where confronting false teaching is going to be the Maxim Potapov Theological school of “asking the right questions” and “finding the right answers”. So instead of just a linguistic “lets look at the greek” approach each false doctrine will be broken down into a series of offensive questions. The combination of right questions and right answers will prayerfully really help disciples to be able to refute false doctrine and save more souls!

In keeping with the Proverb 14:23 “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” this wiki style knowledge management and teaching site will allow myself and others to cover more ground and stop going back over false teachings that we’ve dealt with in the past. Mere talk leads to poverty and so we need to be sure the website does not degrade into a mere “information” site but maintains its fruit bearing, disciple edifying capability!

Please consider becoming a contributor!

Love,

Tim

Multiply: By Tim Kernan

Admin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:52:15 +0000

Genesis 1: 26-28
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, [b] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Genesis chapter one is a great place to start any discussion on biblical principles since all powerful biblical principles can be found threaded throughout the entire bible. Here God is commanding Adam and Eve to grow numerically as the very first command He gives to mankind. Isn’t that amazing? God existed for infinity before mankind and had all the time in the world, literally, to think about His first words to mankind and those first words were to go out and increase in number! God wanted more people, more babies, and more souls to seek Him.

Gods will (John 6: 40) and Gods work (John 6:29) is that as many as possible come to Him to be unified in love forever. Are you multiplying and increasing in number or are you stagnating in your faith? As disciples we are students of a master who multiplied himself… that means we need to multiply ourselves.

How are your convictions on the biblical principle of multiplication? Its amazing how God has been asking His people to multiply since the very begining of mankind! Take a look at this history of God commanding us to grow in numbers:

After the flood, when God wiped out mankind except for the family of Noah, he gives these instructions to the survivors: (Genesis 9:7) “As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.” God has not given up on lots of children who will seek Him and His healthy, spiritual and amazing ways. In fact, once again, its the first thing he says to the freshly disembarked passengers on mount Ararat in modern Turkey. Their mission was to multiply!

Many years later, God once again begins to work through a small group of people lead by Abraham. After testing him thoroughly and beginning to draw up a covenant and a set of laws God promises to grow a chosen tribe that will again increase in number. Look at God’s dream for Abraham:

Genesis 22: 16-18
“I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring [b] all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

As God promised, the people grow in the land of Gershon in Egypt and eventually become the slaves of the Egyptians (Exodus 1:7). God sends Moses from the burning bush and Moses brings the people to the eastern side of the Jordan. Later, Joshua leads the people in the conquest of the land. They fail to take over the land (Judges 2) as they were commanded (Deut 20) and God sends a series of Judges to protect and grow His people. Finally the Judges give way to Kings and prophets (1 Samuel:12). However God who is not happy with the Kings. They were not protecting the flock or growing it… but was still dreaming of a people who will be His very own, and will increase in number!

Jeremiah 23: 1-4
“Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD. 2 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the LORD. 3 “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. 4 I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the LORD.

Of course we know that the Kings do not listen to God and as a consequence the people are pulled off into exile. As God promised He eventually brought them back to Jerusalem where under Nehemiah, Zerubabel, and Ezra (Nehemiah 4), once again, a small number of committed souls sets out to grow in number! Are you seeing a patern here?

After the prophets of that time passed away; Malachi, Haggai, etc. God sent a time of silence for 400 years…

Then, a light dawned on the sea of Galilee (Mark 1) and Jesus began once again to gather and increase. He began to gather a small number of committed disciples who would grow! He ordered a handful of students to become his “fishers of men”. It blows me away how much God has gone through to reach mankind…

In time after Jesus had trained his apostles he brought them up to a mountain where they would be able to look down and remember many of the places where they had spent time together. Once again God sent a small number to multiply!

Matthew 28:18 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Christ called every disciple to create more disciples! Also, every generation of new disciples would be called to the same standards as the apostles! There would be zero decline, degeneration or deterioration allowed.

The book of acts is full of their heroic deeds as they increased GREATLY in number!

Years later, within weeks of the death of one of the greatest apostles he wrote a letter to his young acolyte and it said:

2 Tim 2:2 “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.”

In a single phrase Paul outlines for Timothy the plan for 4 generations: Himself, Timothy, reliable men, then next generation. Do you have a plan for four generations?

I’m so proud of the disciples in London… God has truely blessed us with a multiplying group of leaders. In only two years Lianne and I are now blessed to mentor disciples, who mentor disciples… who now mentor disciples! 4 generations! Its incredible to see the leaders effectively discipling small groups of disciples who then disciple small groups of disciples in turn… The relationships are really getting richer and richer, closer and closer, and more and more effective! It hasnt been easy to get there!

As disciples each of us is called to participate in this incredible legacy and dream of God: to multiply! Do you know about it… Or do you have a conviction about it?

You’ve seen the history… but now your making the history.

Go for it!

Love,

Tim

A Mission Worth Living For: By Tim Kernan

Admin — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:00:10 +0000

Jeremiah 50:8-10
8 “Flee out of Babylon;
leave the land of the Babylonians,
and be like the goats that lead the flock.
9 For I will stir up and bring against Babylon
an alliance of great nations from the land of the north.
They will take up their positions against her,
and from the north she will be captured.
Their arrows will be like skilled warriors
who do not return empty-handed.
10 So Babylonia [b] will be plundered;
all who plunder her will have their fill,”
declares the LORD.

Well everyone, it’s been a great month! God has blessed the church here with three powerful baptisms, a touching restoration (the movement has it’s first Oxford graduate!), and an encouraging placed membership from our mighty sister church in Syracuse! That’s how you kick off an evangelism campaign!

Throughout December, the leadership team of the church took the disciples though a very edifying “Consolidation Campaign”. We had all of the new members go through the follow up series and read both the “Lion Never Sleeps” and “Master Plan of Evangelism”. The other members who had already completed the studies went through our “Leadership Study Series” that the leaders collaborated on. The five studies were entitled: 1: Can you confront false teaching, sin and discord? 2: Can you handle the pressure? 3: Are you a leader or a dead-ender? 4: Leadership by Imitation and Example. 5: Leaders of God are Fruitful!

There was a visible change in the spirit of the church as we came of out of December fully satisfied and challenged in our bible studies and our lives. This was the best Christmas holiday we’ve ever had as a church! The bible studies and challenges had an immediate impact as three new disciples were baptised and one restored; one a week for 4 weeks!

That fruitful month took us straight into our third London Evangelism Workshop, which was entitled, “One Another”. Jacques and Jeanette preached about encouraging one another to have vision for the field that God has given us to evangelize. Ken and Ola then preached about discipling one another in order to be effective on an evangelistic level! Phil, Kim and Alex followed and preached about Spurring one another on in loving the lost. Daniel, TK and Ini preached about serving one another and using servitude to effectively evangelise! Finally, Ayeisha, our youngest disciple preached a heart-breaking sermon entitled “Why is it worth it?”. It was incredible to see these brothers and sisters, some of them very new in the faith, preaching God’s Word with passion, maturity and zeal. You can listen to them all on our streaming media page!

Saturday evening Ola gave us our quarterly financial presentation. I was close to tears as he described how much the church has sacrificed in order to grow by 50% in the last 12 months. It blew us away that even in the middle of a financial recession the church finances grew by 20%! The British bulldog tenacity, grit and determination is alive and well in the London Church!

We were all excited about he first week of the evangelism campaign! In the first week of the evangelism campaign there were 17 group sharing times on the streets of London. The disciples went after the lost with the same heart for them as God has. I am very proud of the church!

Despite all the work going on in faith over the past week many disciples took the opportunity to go see the new movie “Avatar”. It’s the best movie I’ve seen in a long time. We all enjoyed it even though the story line could have been better if it had been a story out of the bible! I was shocked however to hear that many people are coming out of the theatres and being hit by serious depression and even contemplating suicide! They yearn for the close knit family, the mission and purpose the “Na’vi” people share…

It broke my heart to hear about the loneliness and pain people were feeling. It made me consider in the past few days just how atomised and weak the western society in which we live has become. Here are a few statistics that might explain why people are feeling so depressed: (these stats are for the UK but I’m sure its the same almost everywhere)

-30 percent of kids grow up with at least one binge drinking parent. (Action on Addiction UK)
-3 out of 4 adults in the UK gamble every week. (Channel 4 News)
-40% of marriages end in divorce and nearly 100% of “cohabitant couples” end in breakup. (Channel 4 News)
-The number of single mom’s has tripled in the last 25 years. (Channel 4)
-One in ten people will live alone their whole lives. (Channel 4)
-44 percent of kids are born without a married mother and father. BBC
-In England and Wales in 2006 there was 193 700 abortions with a rise of about 5% per year. About 90 percent were paid for with tax money. (www.dh.gov.uk)
-70% of those abortions were discretionary; meaning that the main reason was not medical. (www.dh.gov.uk)
-2000 babies were aborted because they may have had a disability of some kind.
-Its possible to buy illegal abortion pills for 30$ so the real number is only known by God but it could easily be double. (BBCNEWS.COM)
-Police recorded 53,540 sexual offences in England and Wales in the year ending March 2008 (Home Office). Only 10% of abuse is reported so the real number is likely half a million cases a year. (www.advocatesforyouth.org)
-1 in 4 people have diagnosable mental health problems stemming from stressful youth and messed up families. Mental health problems cost the economy 77 Billion pounds a year in the UK alone. (www.mentalhealthequalities.org.uk)

In short, the liberal democratic dream of freedom that our parents believed in and our grandparents fought for has become a nightmare of shattered people. If you call “discretionary abortion” murder (and I certainly hope you do) the Democratic allied countries kill 7 times more people a year than Hitler killed in the whole Holocaust. Its enough to make you want to go back to pseudo christian monarchies.

As disciples we walk out of a movie like Avatar and while we think it was a great movie, we belong to a tight-knit family with an important mission. 30 minutes after walking out of the movie I was already back and engaged in that mission. We have to have compassion for the spiritual prisoners who yearn so much for those things that they consider suicide after walking out of the movie…

As we advance in our evangelism campaign this week it’s not just an issue of getting people out to our cute little church… it’s an issue of calling spiritual slaves out of Babylon. We have to continue to build a strong conviction about how important our message is to a lost world and harbour no compromise in our hearts about how lost the world really is…

Love,

Tim

London Evangelism Workshop III: One Another

Admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 12:33:33 +0000

The “London Evangelism Workshop III: One Another” will be held in a massive private lodge, all to ourselves with kitchen, mens and womens facilities, etc., for the January 15th to 17th weekend. There are enough bedrooms for everyone and we will have lots of fun activities and classes!

The London Evangelism Workshop is a great chance to shake off the Holiday turkey slumber and get back together as a team to advance forcefully into the new year!

Food (all 6 meals plus snacks and drinks) and accomodation is 35 GBP and transport needs to be organized personally however there will be a train stop about 5 mins away. Jacques is in charge of registrations.

We will be having a church fast for evangelistic fruitfulness leading up to the conference which we will break together on friday night!

Here is the detailed schedule:

3 Day fast from Tuesday Night
2 Day fast from Wednesday Night
1 Day fast from Thursday Night

Friday 15th:

Arrive fellowship
830pm Dinner Break-Fast (North BT cleanup)
930pm (Or when everyone has arrived) Short family devotional by Tim.

Saturday 16th:

730am quiet times (with someone you don’t know very well).

830am-930am breakfast (South BT cleanup)

First Principles Test

Lesson 1: Jacques & Jeanette: But encourage one another daily
Song
Prayer
Lesson
Outdoor Activity
Q & A

Break

Lesson 2: Ola, Ken: Instruct One Another
Song
Prayer
Lesson
Outdoor Activity
Q & A

Lunch (Campus BT Clean up)

Lesson 3: Phil, Kim, Alex: Spur One Another
Song –
Prayer – Roger
Lesson – Alex: John 15:5-8 Bearing much fruit. – Kim: Overcoming sinful cowardice. 2 Timothy 1:7 – Phil :Heb 10:23-25 take responsibility for each other.
Outdoor Activity –
Q & A

Break

Lesson 4: Daniel, TK, Ini: Serve One Another
Song
Prayer
Lesson
Outdoor Activity
Q & A

Free time
Dinner (North BT Cleanup)

Financial Presentation by Ola
Movie/Free Night!
First Principles Classes for redoers
Sunday 17th:

730am QT’s
830am Breakfast (South BT Clean up)
1030am Service

Main Sermon Tim and Lianne (Annual Plan Presentation)

Lunch (Campus BT Clean up)

4pm: Leave

Antecho Porcupine: By Tim Kernan

Admin — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 12:40:50 +0000

1 Thes 5:12-15
Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.

Ninety-nine percent of all my mistakes in the ministry come from a lack of understanding of this passage. Paul makes an amazing distinction here between the idle, the timid and the weak. These three conditions are so often dealt with in the same way in sports and business that we become desensitized to the undeniable differences.

Lets take a look at each one individually. The word idle is translated from the word ataktos which also means “disorderly” or “out of ranks”. We are not to tolerate disorderly behaviour in the house of God, the church. A lot about this passage clashes with our western culture. If you encourage or help the disorderly you are using the wrong tool for the job and it can have negative results for the whole church.

Paul then instructs us to encourage the oligopsychos which can be translated as fainthearted or timid. In some ways the oligopsychos can look a lot like the ataktos however the timid don’t believe in themselves and are fearful. There comes a time for each of us ‘when the punches seem to be coming faster than we can roll with them! At one point or another we feel like we are just getting a beating. Sadly this feeling and state of mind, otherwise known as discouragement, is contagious. God sees discouragement differently than we do.

Numbers 32:6 Moses said to the Gadites and Reubenites, “Shall your countrymen go to war while you sit here? 7 Why do you discourage the Israelites from going over into the land the LORD has given them? 8 This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to look over the land. 9 After they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and viewed the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the LORD had given them. 10 The LORD’s anger was aroused that day and he swore this oath: 11 ‘Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of the men twenty years old or more who came up out of Egypt will see the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob- 12 not one except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they followed the LORD wholeheartedly.’ 13 The LORD’s anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the desert forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone.
14 “And here you are, a brood of sinners, standing in the place of your fathers and making the LORD even more angry with Israel. 15 If you turn away from following him, he will again leave all this people in the desert, and you will be the cause of their destruction.”

When God sees discouragement He sees it for what it is: a lack of faith in Him. In our corrupt generation discouragement is seen as an excuse to do almost anything. God’s commands throughout the bible is: Do not be discouraged!

Finally, Paul teaches us to antecho the weak. Antecho can be translated as “help” but the Greek is “to cleave to and hold up”. Its a powerful image of holding someone tightly and quite literally lifting them to their feet.

Its this final command, “help the weak” that I want to focus on in this article. How does one become weak? Weakness can come from the nature of our frail bodies (Mark 14:38, Romans 6:9), by the consequences of sin even if we have repented of it (Romans 8:3), by compromised doctrine (Romans 14:2), weakened by failure (Romans 15:1), weakened by dishonour and mocking (1 Cor 4:10)., by a wounded conscience (1 Cor 8:12), weakened by temptation (2 Cor 11:29), weakened by hardships, persecutions, and difficulties (2 Cor 12:10), weakened by empty religiosity (Galatians 4:9), weakened by evil desires (2 Timothy 3:6), weakened by ignorance and loneliness (Heb 5:2), and weak by comparison to others(1 Peter 3-7).

Satan works very hard to make weak people feel hypocritical for preaching the standards of discipleship and the Kingdom. This can become an unbearable weight. When people feel like hypocrites Satan works to make them feel VULNERABLE. They feel like a turtle on their back… with circling vultures flying over them. When people are vulnerable they can resort to defensive behaviour in order to protect themselves. One thing we have seen is that vulnerable, defensive and people who feel like they are hypocrites will often to change their doctrine to meet where they are at.

Over the years it has amazed me to see how many good brothers and sisters have given in to the darkness and literally begun to teach doctrines that contradict the bible because of fear. Their fear gives them energy that can even make them seem strong! At this point a person who is weak can degrade themselves into being a powerful false teacher and a persecuter of the church…

If we don’t want to see these types of people multiply around us we are going to need to be very skilled at helping the weak. It takes humility on both sides. I would say the most frequent mistake on my side is encouraging the weak. However “encouragement” of the weak turns quickly into pestering the weak when they don’t respond to it. This can lead to resentment on both sides. Its usually at this point that the weak disciple starts to change their doctrine to get reprieve from the pestering. “Do I really need to share my faith every day?” “Do I really need to be in touch with the disciples daily?” “I’m too busy to be a disciple right now”. “There are some people who can’t be disciples… but they are still saved…” They don’t just think it; because of their insecurity they begin to teach it.

My father-in-law had a great saying: “hug the porcupine”. Weak and vulnerable people, even when they’ve become quite prickly, need love. We still need to “command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer” (1 Tim 1:3) but they are less likely to react defensively to it when we are “Antechoing” to them, cleaving to them and holding them up.

This can be especially hard when the weak disciple is someone whom you think should be a partner, helping you. When they don’t help, it can cause you to feel abandoned at a critical moment and can lead to lots of hurt that can blind you to the truth and the real way to proceed. Sometimes even leaders need someone to take them out evangelizing, have quiet times together in cool spots in the city, and bring them in on group discipleship times so they are not overwhelmed with discipling too many people.

Let’s take some time to consider if some of the porcupines in our lives need a hug. Soon they will get back up on their feet and be the partners they need to be… and you will become more like Christ.

Love,

Tim

A Fool Proof Way to Turn Around Any Ministry: by Tim Kernan

Admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:03:22 +0000

Luke 12: 27-34
27″Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
32″Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

This is one of those passages that everyone knows about. Jesus is instructing his worried disciples on faith and teaching them how to deal with hard times. Some of the most meaningful times in our lives and some of the times where we grow the most, are hard times. If God takes very good care of the lilies of the field and knows that we need food and drink, why worry? Instead of running after worldly things Christ instructs us to seek the Kingdom first.

That’s all well and good, but when you have: a bible talk that’s not fruitful, your ministry looks like its going to fall apart any minute, you’ve had some fall aways, your boss is on your case because you’re preoccupied and it’s affecting your work, your wife/roommates is/are not happy and you’re the reason why and the finances are getting tighter and tighter by the minute… lilies and running pagans don’t seem all that relevant. Instead of fighting our way out of our corner, we find ourselves pushed deeper and deeper into it.

Jesus found himself in a very similar situation. He was a poor man, unattractive, humble in spirit and familiar with sadness. He was also living in a war-torn and underdeveloped country, surrounded by illiterate poor people being ruled by a corrupt and armed religious opposition.

The modern equivalent would most likely be to start a ministry in a place like Afghanistan or Somalia. Jesus’ ministry is the ultimate excuse breaker. Jesus starts his ministry in a corner; so how does he fight his way out of it?

Step 1: Fast and Pray

Matthew 4:1-11
1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

The people didn’t know it, his disciples didn’t know it, but Jesus was about to commence a one man onslaught that was going to change the world and he had no chance of failure at all. He was condemned to victory because he was building on rock solid principles. The first thing he does is get baptised, then pray and fast for forty days! When his hunger reached its zenith he was attacked by Satan and put him down like a bad habit (not that Jesus had bad habits) with the Scriptures. Fasting, prayer, powerful bible study. That’s what you call coming out of your corner punching!

How is your devotional life? If you can’t convince yourself to get radical how are you going to convince anyone else? You can do this. Take the bull by the horns.

Step 2: Focus on the Few

Mark 3:13-19
13 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14He appointed twelve—designating them apostles[b]—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15and to have authority to drive out demons.

The next thing Jesus does is carefully pick out a small number of guys that he could work with. This was his group: he had former tax collectors, former tax collector killers, villagers and fishermen. However, from all the gospels one thing is clear: they were reliable and they were teachable (all except one). The passage in Luke 11 where the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray is heartbreaking in its simplicity. Grown Jewish men who ask someone to teach them to pray are very very humble.

Are you working with the committed few? Are they humble and reliable? A lot of times leaders who are discouraged are working with the wrong people. Jesus was very careful about who he discipled… you should be too.
Before you look at who you’re discipling ask yourself this question: are you teachable and reliable yourself? Are you seeking advice, are you close to and are you humble with your own discipler? If you can’t be a good disciple you can’t make good disciples.

How bad do you want to be fruitful and effective? Can you taste it? If so, start with your attitude towards discipling and then call others to the same standard.

Step 3: Preach the Word

Romans 10: 14-17
14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
16But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” 17Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

Leaders who succeed have a conviction about preaching. Here Paul puts it frankly: “Faith comes from hearing the message”. Christ preached to his guys, Paul preached to his guys, every successful evangelist and leader has preached to his guys. Then his guys get faith and they crank. Everyone who has faith is fruitful. (John 15: 5).

Are you preaching to your guys or just dealing with their problems as they come? Are you having family devos? Do people see you as someone who is inspired by the bible? Let’s be frank: anyone who finds the words of the Almighty God boring doesn’t deserve to live much less be fruitful.

With these three steps you can’t fail to advance your bible talk or ministry. The time for wallowing in self pity and discouragement is over. Lets advance! GO GO GO!

Love,

Tim

Cult of the Individual: By Tim Kernan

Admin — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 14:46:51 +0000

Life is the great indulgence – death, the great abstinence. Therefore, make the most of life – HERE AND NOW! … “Why continue to think of these desires as shameful and something to be repressed, if you now admit they are natural?” (Satanic Bible)

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? 26If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” (Luke 9) Jesus Christ, the Lord

The contrast between the passages above is amazing. The first passage is from the Satanic bible; which is now widely available online. It takes a predictably Satanic view that life literally IS the “great indulgence” and death the abstinence. It then emphatically, and somewhat bizarrely, calls the reader to live in the here and now, focusing on the indulgence in the present.

I have to admit after perusing the “Satanic bible” myself I was somewhat surprised that it wasn’t just a book of witches potions using ingredients like rats tails and bats wings. Instead, I was shocked and a little spooked to see that it was a lucid and well argued case for… selfishness.

It contrasted for me so clearly the difference between Satan’s and Jesus’ teachings; Jesus’ teaching is about self denial and sacrifice. Contrast really does make a difference because I could immediately see areas in my life where my perspective was more Satanic than Christlike. Where Christ teaches that a disciple must daily take up the battle against the self and face persecution Satan teaches his adherents to blindly plunge their faces into the trough of selfish pleasure.

Once I had understood the concept of self denial better, my eyes were clear to see how much Satan has “evangelized” the world in our generation. The photo at the top of the page is a picture I took within five meters of entering my local grocery store. Its message, in bold text and placed at a child’s eye level, is staggering in its brazenness: BE SELFISH.

This message of indulgence has literally created a culture of individualism so strong that the term “Cult of the Individual” could sadly not be more fitting. Of course this term was originally used by Marx with regard to tyrannical dictators however it is fitting in this context as well because today we are faced with something even more dangerous than a single tyrannical dictator. Today we have created a whole society of autonomous individuals each with their own tyrannical dictator, their oppressive focus on themselves.

As Paul wrote: “There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5having a form of godliness but godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. ” (2 Tim 3: 1-5)

Those last days are today and as disciples we need to gird ourselves for battle.

In a society that propagates indulgence we proclaim Christ’s sacrifice
In a society that propagates wealth we proclaim Christ’s giving
In a society that propagates pride we proclaim Christ’s humility
In a society that propagates abuse we proclaim Christ’s kindness
In a society that propagates slander we proclaim Christ’s grace
In a society that propagates feral young people we teach them Christ’s self control
In a society that propagates self reliance we proclaim Christ’s plan that each person be taught to obey. (Matt 28:20)

It will not be long before splashy London headlines and persecutors show their hate for God by attacking you. Like Paul your leaders will be accused of being “ring leaders of the Nazarene sect” Acts 24:5 and once again it will be said of the Christians “people everywhere are talking against this sect.” Acts 28:22

Although we prefer to multiply in peace and quiet we will hold to the example of our first century brothers and sisters who multiplied in strife and trouble. Are you ready to take on the Cult of the Individual? Are you ready to be the salt that stings and cleans the wounds of the world? This is a serious call with big stakes. As our bible talks multiply and disciples begin to share their faith in more and more places in the city, God’s way and Satan’s way will inevitably have a showdown. While it may be daunting, we all know how the story ends. Let’s keep encouraging one another with that fact as we approach the holiday season!

To God be the Glory,

Tim Kernan

Warriors Needed: By Tim Kernan

Admin — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:53:04 +0000

1 Chronicles 12: 23-38
These are the numbers of the men armed for battle who came to David at Hebron to turn Saul’s kingdom over to him, as the LORD had said:
men of Judah, carrying shield and spear-6,800 armed for battle;
men of Simeon, warriors ready for battle-7,100;
men of Levi-4,600, 27 including Jehoiada, leader of the family of Aaron, with 3,700 men, 28 and Zadok, a brave young warrior, with 22 officers from his family;
men of Benjamin, Saul’s kinsmen-3,000, most of whom had remained loyal to Saul’s house until then;
men of Ephraim, brave warriors, famous in their own clans-20,800;
men of half the tribe of Manasseh, designated by name to come and make David king-18,000;
men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do—200 chiefs, with all their relatives under their command;
men of Zebulun, experienced soldiers prepared for battle with every type of weapon, to help David with undivided loyalty-50,000;
men of Naphtali-1,000 officers, together with 37,000 men carrying shields and spears;
men of Dan, ready for battle-28,600;
men of Asher, experienced soldiers prepared for battle-40,000;
and from east of the Jordan, men of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, armed with every type of weapon-120,000.
All these were fighting men who volunteered to serve in the ranks. They came to Hebron fully determined to make David king over all Israel. All the rest of the Israelites were also of one mind to make David king.

This is an incredible passage from the book of Chronicles. After Saul’s suicide and David’s successful siege of Jerusalem, warriors came from all over Israel to make him the king. God works through these brave, loyal and dangerous men to bring about his promise that David would be king over Israel. In the following period David soundly defeats the Philistines, Moabites, and even the Arameans, setting up garrisons all the way to Damascus. This was an incredible triumph for Israel and perhaps one of the most significant conquests of Gods people.

Its amazing that God used these human warriors to accomplish His will instead of using a legions of angry angels packing into flaming chariots and flashing swords of lightning. Of course He could have if He wanted to but its an interesting foreshadowing that he used warriors instead.

In today’s era Christ is much like a David of old. Christ is the ordained King of heaven and earth (capital K). Yet his prayer that God’s “will be done on earth as it is in heaven” has not been accomplished. God has asked us to make disciples of all nations (Matt 28); dangerous spiritual warriors who’s single-minded mission is to make Jesus the King, or Lord. Are we there yet? A glance at the headlines will tell you we are not. Will we get there? Yes we will. God will raise up warriors, of that there is no doubt. The only question is: will you be one of them?

What we need:

1) Galatians 1:6 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load. A warrior needs to be able to hold down a job, pay the bills, carry his own burden and help carry the church financially. A warrior is not an administrative nightmare. He’s personal affairs are tighter than a snare drum.

2) 1 Tim 5:8 “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” A warrior needs to be a lover to his wife, a butler to his home, a hero to his kids and a priest to his family. If your weak at home your weak in the middle. If your going to get hurled at the wall of world missions do you want to be be an egg or a rock? When your 5 000 miles from the closest planted church there is no one to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

3) 2 Samuel 22: 34-35 “He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.” A warrior is physically fit. He doesn’t take days off for constant sicknesses. He doesn’t hit the snooze button because he was studying with someone until 2am. He doesn’t take Monday off because of a long weekend with the church. He’s not just strong and healthy, he is full of energy and people can see it because he is tenacious and works hard. He can go that extra mile with a Roman soldiers backpack and drop it off with a smile.

4) Deuteronomy 1:13 “Choose some wise, understanding and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will set them over you.”” A warrior is a rational thinker who emotionally initiates pro-actively based on the plan he has built “by seeking advice”; he is first to “obtain guidance”. (Proverbs 20:18). He scorns empty bravado but delights himself in wisdom, knowledge and understanding. He is a mentally sharp, positive and creative problem solver; even if the solution is just to suffer. Bravado, prideful self reliance and theories that can’t stand up to peer review are a waste of time. A warrior knows that.

5) 1 Samuel 22: 1-2 “David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there. All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.” A warrior is easy to be around and knows how to be a friend to the weak. He’s picked himself up from failure so many times that he can be a shoulder to lean on to anyone. There is no pretension or self in him to get in the way of deep friendship. He knows how to win people to God instead of alienating them with self righteousness.

I’m sure there are many other qualities of a warrior that would be well worth mentioning here but these are thing qualities that are especially in need in… myself. I wish I had Nick Bordieri’s and Michael Kirchner financial responsibility, Carlos Mahiah’s renowned marriage skills, Michael Williamson’s fitness and heart, Kip’s intellect and vision, DJ’s humility and friendship. I want them more than 50 million dollars. If Jesus becomes more the King of my life he is more of the King on earth as well.

I want to be the first new warrior in London but I want to be the first among many. We need more leaders in the London Church! More than ever we need fighters to step up to the plate and come of out of their corners punching.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

We are in a war against false doctrines and ideas that enslave people and trap them. We have a divine power to demolish the strongholds that oppress our fellow human beings but we need to use them. The famous British soldier and nobleman the Earl and Field Marshal Archibald Percival once said “my ideal infantryman has the qualities of a successful poacher, a cat burglar and a gunman,”. As a leader of a small but growing remnant group my ideal disciple has the qualities of a ticket scalper, boxing coach and party promoter. We don’t need ceremonial leaders strutting around thinking they are disciples; we need men who know how to get their hands dirty.

From the bottom of my heart I pray that God makes me into a better warrior and surrounds me with lots of others. I know he will.

Love,

Tim