Vice Verses

Seeing Switchfoot live at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire earlier this week was incredible – possibly one of the greatest gigs I’ve ever been to. As ‘frontmen’ go, you don’t get much better than Jon Foreman, and the musical accomplishment was second to none!

In the US, Switchfoot are quite big in the secular music stream, but over in the UK they tend to be more popular on the Christian music scene. Their lyrics are inspired – drenched in wisdom and the Spirit of God, strikingly relevant and beautifully poetic.

Their latest album, Vice Verses has some outstanding tracks – not least the title track. On Tuesday they also played a load of their older stuff – including my favourites This Is Your Life and Dare You To Move.

The song Restless is epic. It speaks of a search for God that doesn’t relent, doesn’t give up. ‘Always longing for the deeper ground’ shows the desperation.

I am restless
I am restless
I am breathless
I’m looking for you

I can hear you breathing
I can feel you leading
More than just a feeling

I can feel You reaching
Pushing through the ceiling
‘Til the final healing
Everything completing

Our experience of God is more than just a feeling. It’s real – He leads us and cares for us. He is reaching for us, desperate to take us with Him on His journey that He has marked out for us. It’s all about the final healing – when we are finally transformed into the likeness of Jesus and made complete.

Healing has always been a process – a process that we all need for various reasons. But some things will never be healed this side of heaven – the final healing. We have to trust God that He will carry us through to that point, until we are with Him for eternity.

A beautiful promise – Jesus wants us to take our burdens to Him, daily, and leave them there. He wants to give us His ‘yoke’ – which is easy and light. (Matthew 28:11).

He is longing to heal us.

Video – God You’re So Cool

Video – Royalty

Spirit Break Out

At the time of writing, Worship Central’s Spirit Break Out has just hit #14 in the UK iTunes album charts. (See my post Hear Your People Sing to read about when the album was recorded).

It’s an album full of passion, full of power and full of Jesus. It captures the essence of the Spirit of God.

Let us not forget that God can do more than we could ask or even imagine – He is always at work in us, transforming us into the likeness of Christ.

Let us pray for boldness to proclaim His love, His goodness and His grace.

Let us pray that hearts will be softened and eyes will be opened to see His face, shining through our lives.

Feel free to go ahead and buy it – a top ten hit would be amazing, but we shouldn’t be discouraged if it doesn’t get there. God is still using us to work out His perfect plan for us and His world.

Click here to buy Spirit Break Out through iTunes.

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on us…

Difference

As the people of God, we are called to a life of difference. Living differently is what sets us apart from the world and sets us apart for God.

We serve a God who is different. Often we call Him ‘Holy’ – which means ‘set apart’. Sometimes we can misunderstand the idea that we are created in His image and think of Him as a person who’s just a little bit bigger and more powerful than we are. But His holiness makes Him much more than that.

Isaiah 55:8-9 tells us:

“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.” (NIV).

I once heard this idea of holiness explained by talking about different types of brush. You may well have many different brushes – some for sweeping up leaves and other things outdoors; maybe a brush to sweep floors indoors; you might have a washing-up brush which is used to clean all kinds of different things. Each of these brushes are used for more than one job. But you may also have a toothbrush. A toothbrush is a special kind of brush, because it is ‘set apart’ for one purpose – to clean your own teeth. It is because God is set apart that He is different to us.

Serving a God who is different requires us to live differently. As followers of Christ, we must seek to be toothbrushes! Set apart for one purpose – to follow Him. This is the power of the cross – it made us holy and perfect and allowed us into the presence of God. This is seen in the symbolism of the tearing of the temple curtain at Jesus’ death – the barrier (sin) which was between God and man was destroyed. Through the death of Jesus, we are sanctified (another word for holy) and made right with God.

Paul tells us:

‘Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person…’ - Romans 12:2, NLT.

The same verse in the New International Version of the Bible uses the words ‘conform’ and ‘transform’. Notice here that people can only conform to the world – the world is what defines them. Sadly, we see this all too often in our culture today – commercial pressures tell us to follow fashions or to acquire the latest technology. However the power of God is to transform - we are changed by His power from the inside out. Transformation makes things new. Conformity makes things boring.

Not surprisingly, these ideas are already written down somewhere else – the Bible. Romans 11:33-12:2 reads:

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
“Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (NIV).

We can see three sections to Paul’s writing – firstly, he explains how God is different – he talks about ‘unsearchable’ judgements and ‘paths beyond tracing out’. Then, in one of my favourite verses from the Bible, Paul explains how we should respond – by offering all we have back to God. And finally, he instructs us to live life differently.

Do you know how great God’s mercy is? He is the God who has the power to move mountains (Matthew 17:20), to breathe stars into existence (Psalm 33:6), and to form each of us before we are born (Psalm 139:13-16). A God who has that much power doesn’t need us. But His love and mercy for us is so great that He chooses to use us, through our fears and failures, to bring His perfect Kingdom on earth. The Church is God’s action plan for the world, and He doesn’t have a ‘Plan B’.

In view of this great mercy, the least we can give is all we have. Matt Redman puts it, in his song Befriended: ”My greatest gift would be the least You’re due.”

When we begin to comprehend the greatness of the mercy of God, and begin to allow His power to transform us – by living differently for a God who is different – we can make a difference in the world. Today. 

Summer

I’ve just looked back at a post from January 31st – Waiting for the summer. In it, I basically talked about how I was looking forward to this summer.

In all honestly, the months since January have been a mixed bag – certainly not what I would have expected. But sure enough, the summer has proved to be a wonderful time of refreshment, relaxation and revitalisation. I’d love to tell you about a couple of the things I got up to.

Each year, the churches in Bishop’s Stortford (my local town) work together to organise a week-long holiday club for kids aged 5-11, called Holiday Bible Week (HBW). In essence, we hire a bunch of marquees and spend a week learning Bibical truths based around a theme. This year we had ‘Have I Got News For You’ – centred on the story of Jesus’ birth. As a member of the technical team in the ‘Main Tent’, it was pretty hard work to set everything up and run the week itself, but so very rewarding. We saw God work so powerfully in the lives of many young people and adults. God loves it when His church works together – in my opinion the church is at its strongest when we can be seen for what unites us, not what divides us. We are united in Jesus Christ (we are described in the Bible as His bride).

This year, I really felt a sense of the impact that the work done at HBW has on our town. Kids and parents won’t know anything else quite like it – and in once sense we carry a great deal of responsibility to act honourably during the week. But I really feel that HBW is a showcase of the amazing results that can be achieved through unity and it is a credit to the church of Christ.

I then spent 10 days at the Royal Bath and West Showground, Somerset for Soul Survivor Week C and Momentum. I served on team for Week C and attended Momentum as a delegate. Those weeks were saturated with the Spirit of God – I was able to follow God’s lead in my life and refocus my attention on Him.

Thinking back to January, I probably wasn’t thinking of spending my summer as I did. But thinking back over the summer, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

Phil Wickham – Response

I’m just listening to Phil Wickham’s latest album, Response. It’s stunning.

Phil Wickham is excellent – no doubt about it. From the beauty of his lyrics to the beauty of his unique voice, his music is a blessing.

From ‘At Your Name (Yahweh, Yahweh)’, which he co-wrote with Tim Hughes, to ‘Sun And Moon’ this album is full of truth about living life God’s way. As the title might suggest, compared to his others, this album is more focused on how we respond to God’s revelation, love and mercy.

If I come up with any other witty comment I might add it on but to be honest, I just wanted to recommend as highly as I possibly could! It’s going to stay on repeat for a good few days…

God and Religion

Religion makes God sick. Jesus had a lot to say about the religious people of His day – the Pharisees – and much of what He said showed their religiousness as ungodly and pointless. Being religious is living a life where, through doing stuff, people attempt to be with God. It’s this mindset: “If I do enough good deeds/works today, I’ll be good enough for God and I’ll ‘get in’ to heaven.”

Christianity turns that mindset upside down. A Christian acknowledges that we can never be ‘good enough’ for God. He is perfect and we aren’t. But through His great mercy and grace, God humbled Himself and came among us so that we could be with Him. So instead of our actions leading to God, God came to us first. For a Christian, this relationship with God produces a life of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Religion sees our efforts lead to God. Relationship sees God coming to us – then our efforts follow afterwards. So many people get this kind of thing confused. Often Christianity is wrongly labelled as a religion. Becoming a Christian isn’t coming to a religion, it’s coming to a relationship with a living, loving God.

We were made for a relationship with Him. And any relationship is founded on love. But love is only love when it is chosen. People love each other because they choose to – sometimes they may be compelled but there is always a choice involved. This is what makes love so unique. Had God made us to automatically follow His way, we would never be able to love Him. Above all, that is what He wants for us.

Paul often talks about our natural inclination to be selfish (or sinful nature).

“Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.” – Romans 8:5-8, NLT.

Christians understand that the root cause of this sinful nature lies with the story of Adam & Eve in the garden of Eden, who chose to disobey God and go against what He wanted for their lives. They chose to live their own way. However you interpret the story is up to you, whether you take it literally or not. But the heart of it is that as people we will always feel a natural inclination to make decisions which benefit us rather than others. Naturally, we are selfish.

When Paul talks about the Holy Spirit, he is describing the only alternative we have to our own nature. If we give our lives to Jesus and seek to follow Him, we are inviting His Spirit to live within us and empower us to live according to God’s will rather than ours. God says:

“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.” - Ezekiel 36:25-27, NLT.

Notice in this beautiful promise (written between 500 and 600 years before the birth of Jesus) that God is the one who does all the ‘work’. He says, “I will sprinkle clean water on you,” “I will give you a new heart,” and “I will put my Spirit in you.” It is He, not us, who does these things. It is because the Spirit of God lives in us that we have the power and ability to live His way.

This has turned out rather more confusing than I would have hoped but it is on my heart and I wanted to share it.

I think what I’m really getting at is to try and show God’s great love for us all. He knows that we can’t do it. He is longing for us to respond to His love and love Him in return, like parents would with their children. He is never expecting us to try and make ourselves good enough for Him. He is expecting us to acknowledge that we can’t make it by ourselves, and that we need Him in our lives.

This is grace. Undeserved love, showered over us. It’s not because of who we are and it’s nothing to do with what we have or haven’t done. It’s because of who God is and it’s because of what He’s done. It’s not about us, it’s all about Him.

God Is Able

I’ve been listening to the new Hillsong Live album, God Is Able – it’s excellent. I can’t say there are any stand-out tracks, in the same league as Mighty To Save or Hosanna, but the whole set are good, solid songs with good thematic lyrics.

One thing which I’m not so impressed with is the incorporation of the ‘Ole Ole‘ football anthem into their recording of Go, which is a pretty cool song (Hillsong United feature it on Aftermath). Usually I quite like all the ‘whoa-oh’ stuff but this was a step too far!

The title track is fantastic – I’ve had it stuck in my head all day. The preemptive melody line and its syncopation make it particularly memorable – and it’s an excellent song to remember.

Verse 1
God is able
He will never fail
He is almighty God
Greater than all we seek
Greater than all we ask
He has done great things

Chorus
Lifted up
He defeated the grave
Raised to life
Our God is able
In His name
We overcome
For the Lord
Our God is able

Verse 2
God is with us
God is on our side
He will make a way
Far above all we know
Far above all we hope
He has done great things

Bridge
God is with us
He will go before
He will never leave us
He will never leave us
God is for us
He has open arms
He will never fail us
He will never fail us

So many short, punchy truths in one place can never be a bad thing. I think it’s easy for us to forget sometimes that God never, ever fails. We understand reliability in human terms – we know of people who are reliable and of people who are unreliable. But when you stop to think of the power behind the statement that God never fails, it’s mind-blowing. There is never a time when God lets us down. Ever. We need to begin to live like we truly believe it, because it is true, and it’s amazing. He is the unchanging, unfailing, always loving, always pure, always merciful God who is worthy of all our praise.

Avalanche

I’d love to take an opportunity to share with you a song from the album Aftermath by Hillsong United – Like An Avalanche. It’s an amazing song…

I must admit that the metaphors for God’s grace have been going a little mental ever since the ocean in How He Loves by John Mark Macmillan – David Crowder picked up some very similar ideas in Sometimes (on this year’s Passion album). This song could easily fall into the category of pointless metaphors ‘just because someone else did it’ but, ‘caught up in grace like an avalanche‘ is such a beautiful phrase, that it wouldn’t be fair. Well done Joel Houston & Dylan Thomas for writing it and to Jill McCloghry (I think) for singing it so beautifully.

I’ll stop wittering and let you take a listen: