Category: Sermon Notes

Simple September – Stuff (Alias Talk like a pirate day)

  [sc_embed_player fileurl=”https://api2.goodtv.co/podcast/586116″]   Try this: pirate whispers with 3 verses Heb 13:5, Prov 21:6,Matthew 6:19. Try it in your small group. (Get someone to look up the verse, get them to whisper it to another person and so on, until it reaches the end, then get the last person to say it aloud). 15 “You shall not steal. Exodus 20:15 (NIV) Discuss: Did you ever steal as a kid ? Would you shoplift a DVD ? Have you ever ? Ripped Cd’s onto MP3 Used photo’s used without permission Run file sharing software Watched pirated DVD’s, downloaded, or streamed a movie that you didn’t pay for ? Downloaded your favourite TV program Taped your favourite LP onto a cassette…

Simple September : Still (notes)

When I worked with Drug addicts, many of their first encounters with Jesus were when they were in pain and cryed out asking for relief. For Many of us our faith began with petitionary prayer. Asking for stuff. This is a legitimate form of prayer. Many psalms do this. Discuss : Can you remember your first prayers ? What were they about ? God is not only defined by what we want and ask for. Just as a baby begins with crying as a request for something, we grow to have relationships that are not solely about asking and getting. Discuss: Have you ever had a relationship that seemed to solely be about you giving to someone else ? What…

Simple September : Stop

When the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt, we know that their bosses were oppressive (read Exodus 1:1,14,). The situation seemed to keep getting worse (Exodus 5:7-8) and this concerned God (Exodus 3:7). Every labour weekend we celebrate the 40 hour week, and weekends off.  Discuss : Are people still working 40 hour weeks and taking the weekend off.  In the Jetson’s cartoon series, George Jetson works 2 days a week for 1 hour. Has technology had this effect on us ?   When God was forming the nation of Israel and giving them guidelines for not living like a slave. He said.  8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all…

The QWERTY prayer – (at work)

The QWERTY Prayer  is based on the familiar qwerty keyboard layout. Q = Quiet. Take a moment to qui- eten yourself. Sit in a comfortable position and take three deep breaths focusing on the movement of air in and out of your body. In this quite moment invite God to be with you and guide you. W = Work. Begin by praying about your work overall. Thank God for your work and ask him to bless and guide what you do. Express your concerns about your work and ask for any help you need. E = Employees. Think about the people involved: colleagues and clients. What can you pray about regarding them? Who are you concerned about and what are their needs? R =…

Six Step Process for Healing Confession

John Ortberg in his book the Life You’ve Always Wanted breaks up the process of confession into a six step process. First step – preparation. We begin by placing ourselves in the care of the Spirit and asking for help.  Key point – to see sin as God sees it (agree with God ) involves the Holy Spirit – it involves taking time to be still and let the Holy Spirit show us the parts of us that God wants to work on at the moment.  We tend to be too hard or too soft on our sin so we need the Holy Spirit to show us the sin from Gods perspective.  We need the Holy Spirit to have a…

I Never promised you a Rose Garden

For those who are interested , last Sunday we played a rap song by Shad called Rose Garden.  It came from musing on why Mark sandwiches the story of the death of John the Baptist into the middle of the sending out of the disciple’s story in Mark 6. There was a sense that Mark wants us to eat a ‘reality sandwich, toR know that things don’t always go easy or the way we want.   He wasn’t promising us a Rose Garden. Listen to the song, and let the lyrics wash over you, and you’ll see what sticks. And for those who want to know what he said here are the lyrics : I didn’t promise you a rose…