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7:20am, Thursday 23rd February

Church Life

Find out how and where you can get involved; what's going on in your area; how to get the most out of all that Cornerstone has to offer you, your friends, and your family.

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Verse of the Day

“Do not those who plot evil go astray? But those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness.”

Proverbs 14:22 (NIV)

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Ministry - John's blog

We encourage everyone in the church to read the Bible every day, and ideally to read at least four chapters a day, so that they can read the Bible in a year.

I've found it really useful to do this online with bible gateway, and make notes on whatever stands out on a blog. Sometimes I don't write much. Sometimes what stands out to me is fairly simple and straightforward, but it feeds my Spirit. You can read my blog here; I hope it encourages you to start your own.

Facetime

Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in his God.
1 Samuel 30:6 New King James Version (NKJV)

In crisis, people react in different ways. Some want to make decisions immediately, especially to allocate blame, while others can be paralysed with fear.

It is difficult to make accurate judgements when you are clouded by emotion and weakened by criticism, so David sought strength in God.

David did not ask for God's counsel straight away. He didn't ask for strategy or direction, that came later. First of all David came just to seek God's presence and receive God's strength.

Our primary aim in our times with God, shouldn't be prophecy or knowledge, but simply to allow Him to minister the strength of His Holy Spirit to our souls again. We are then in a much better place to receive the word of the Lord.

Posted Friday, 17th February 2012

Ready Salted Mingles

In the Old Testament they had a special kind of oil for anointing holy stuff with. It was made up of loads of different spices. The anointing oil wasn't ready to be poured out until all the ingredients were mixed together.

In the same way, its as we mix together in church life that God pours out His anointing (Psalm 133). In the church we need each other to activate the gifts that are within us. Jesus put it like this: "have salt among yourselves". Salt brings out the flavour in food. If you're a Christian, being around you should bring out the flavour of Jesus Christ in me.

To be a bit more practical, when I'm around Eze, I find it really easy to move in the prophetic: the salt in him draws out that flavour in me. When I'm around Yinka, I find it easy to teach and expound scripture. And it's not just giftings that we catch, it's character too. I can't hang around Hugh for long without becoming more diligent and focused.

Jesus warned that we can lose that "saltiness" when we fail to recognise Jesus in one another and cause hurt to one another (Mark 9:41,42).

I don't want Cornerstone folks to miss out, so..

Here's a command: FORGIVE
Here's another: LOVE
And another: MINGLE

Posted Saturday, 29th October 2011

Let there be light (but let it not buzz)

And Jesus answered them, "Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt...if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen." Matthew 21.21 ESV

I was trying to pray on Thursday but the light was buzzing loudly for a long time. I felt like God was challenging me to speak to it, so I did:

"Light be silent!"
"Buzzzzzzz!" came the bold response.

I asked the Lord how come I'd heard from Him about speaking to the light, and it hadn't worked. He asked what I'd expected to happen. I had to admit that despite the faith from hearing God I also doubted the light would shut up because it had been like that for ages. Graciously he showed me from Matthew 21.21 that as well as having faith, we must deal with our doubts: "if you have faith and do not doubt."

So God told me to give Him my doubts, consciously and deliberately. I offered Him the thought it wouldn't work, and the thought that I didn't hear God, and the thought that I'm not good enough or spiritual enough (who is?). And then I spoke:

"Light be silent!" And, not instantly, but just a moment later, it suddenly was.

Posted Sunday, 10th July 2011