GCC Pastors’ Blog

Wives Submit, Husbands......

Sun, 7 Mar 2010 20:12:29 +0000

Husbands what? We may never know! It seems the recording on today’s sermon went out for some mysterious reason about halfway through the sermon. In fact, it went right as I made the transition from wives to husbands in the Ephesians 5 text. In case you’re interested in rehashing what was said (it really was more provocative than exhaustive - I hope you’ll spend some more time on it), Here’s my sermon manuscript. Don’t you love technology? (sigh)

Taming the Tiger

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:33:05 +0000

There is a very important event upcoming in Galway. On the evening of Monday night, 8 February, a fellow with a very remarkable story is coming to NUI Galway to share about what God has done in his life. Tony Anthony was into a lot of things and, by human terms, was very far from God. We have the tendency to be amazed at testimonies of amazing conversions; forgetting of course that every act of God in converting sinners is amazing. But we all come from different pasts. We had no control over where we were born, our environment, etc. Tony is coming to share about how God moved in his life in taking him and rescuing him from where he was.

You’ll want to invite your friends along to hear Tony’s story. He will share from his heart about how God stands ready to intervene in anyone’s life through faith.

Along with the evangelistic event on Monday night, Tony and his associates will also be holding an evangelistic training seminar on the Saturday and Sunday before. This will be an opportunity for believers to gather and be encouraged and equipped to share their faith. The event will be held from 2-6pm on each day at the Galway Christian Fellowship in Ballybrit. There is a €20 fee to help cover costs.

Love’s Working Clothes

Mon, 4 May 2009 17:03:40 +0100

Regrettably, we were unable to record the sermon on Sunday. Sorry. In our continuing discussion of our 7 core values, we looked at our value of merciful concern for others. If you were there, you’ll remember that we began our talk with a video clip from a fellow named Sean Mullan. Sean is one of the leaders of a network to which our church belongs called the Evangelical Alliance, Ireland (EAI). The EAI has announced a year-long campaign to show kindness to our neighbours. You can visit them at www.loveyourneighbour.ie, as well as see the video clip again at the same site.

In my preparations for this past Sunday, I came across this article. In it, the author discusses the role that Christianity has played throughout history in helping the poorest of the poor all over the world. It certainly seems to me to be undeniable that Christians throughout history have raised the bar for what constitutes charitable kindness to people who need the most.

As Sean Mullan mentioned indirectly in his video interview, the Roman emperor Julian the Apostate felt that the best way to combat Christianity in the early-mid 4th century wasn’t through persecution. Rather, his desire was to attack what the Christians seemed to be doing best - being charitable and helping the poor of Rome. He felt that he could make the Church irrelevant by putting into place welfare systems to help take care of the State’s poor. It seems his hope was to leave no one for the Christians to help!

Isn’t that amazing? The Church wasn’t necessarily trying to be revolutionary. They were just out to be obedient to the example of their Founder, Jesus. And yet, their compassion and care for the poor effectively raised the bar for others around them...even a pagan emperor.

One of our dreams as a church here in Galway is that we would be such an example of giving back to the people around us that if we were forced to shut our doors, the community of Galway would do what was necessary to keep us around.

We concluded our talk with a look at a list of ways that we can show kindness to our neighbours. Hopefully you took that list home with you and have been thinking about it. If you missed it, you can download it here. It was taken from the EAI’s ‘love your neighbour’ site mentioned above. Let’s be thinking of ways that we can raise the bar here in Galway!

Being compassionate is costly, and it won’t get your job back or rescue your stock losses.

But it just might change the world...

with you in the journey...

jason

Merciful Care for Others

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:10:53 +0100

The world is a big place. Is it reasonable for us to think that we can care for those in need in such a big place? Well, of course it’s unreasonable to think we can care for everyone! But it is extremely short-sighted to think that we cannot care for anyone. Just like the little boy mentioned in the famous parable, we want to bring Jesus our seemingly insignificant 5 loaves and 2 fish and watch Him use them to do something significant! That’s our hope!

We care for people. God has been incredibly merciful and gracious to us, and we believe that He has called us to demonstrate that same kindness to others in need. One of the groups that we have helped support as a church the past couple of years is a ministry working with street boys in Senegal. God is doing a work in helping these boys with education, basic hygiene, medication, and giving them an opportunity to hear the Gospel. As you see their faces, why not pray and ask God to work in their lives.

This is just one example of how we feel God is calling us to minister to the practical needs of others. We have others outside of Ireland that we support, as well as groups inside Ireland and in Galway. Our hope is that our money, time, and other resources will support our value for help in all parts of the world.

Onward and upward...

jason

The Power Source

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:10:45 +0100

We explored, yesterday, the place that prayer has in our church. It was a great time! Why is prayer a vale for us? Why do we pray? Is it out of desperation? To make ourselves feel better? As we explored, we pray, first, because we can. We have access to the very throne room of God through our Mediator, Jesus. We can enter in, not in fear and trepidation, but with confidence...as a child approaching a kind father.

Second, we pray because we need it. We are weak! We need the help of our Father to help us navigate this life. There are things that we encounter that drive us to quit...that push us to the ends of ourselves. So we pray and seek a God who helps.

And that led us to a third and final reason we pray. We pray because it works! When we approach God we receive the mercy, grace, and timely help that we need. Somehow, someway, our prayers move the Maker of Heaven and Earth. What an incredible thought that we can join in with God’s activity through our activity of prayer. That’s why prayer is a value for us.

I suppose the ongoing challenge is, then, to pray! If we believe prayer to be a value, then it makes sense that we would be involved in prayer - both corporately and privately. Of course, the reality that very quickly smacks us in the face is that we must make time (time which we never feel we have) to spend with God in prayer. May I offer just a brief thought that I gleaned from Henri Nouwen via Philip Yancey.

Nouwen talked of “creating space in which God can act.” If we don’t create that space, it gets filled up with other things. All of us understand what this means because we are experts at filling up the empty spaces. We watch TV, listen to the radio, “explore” the web, write blogs! We know how to fill up the space. The question Nouwen raised is “was the space filled with eternal things?” Or, maybe another way to think of it is “are there spaces in my day that I have saved for God?” Perhaps we can turn off the radio as we drive, or not spend so much time online, in order to create space for God to move. Anyone else in?

Onward and upward...

jason

New Day

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 15:52:12 +0100

So I came across this article in the New York Times about how the Iraqi people are taking advantage of their newfound freedom. I know that Iraq is a touchy subject, but I’m not interested in looking at this from a political vantage point. The thing that struck me in reading this article is the seeming connection between freedom and sin. The Iraqi people were “liberated” from a cruel dictator. As the article points out, Sadaam and the Baathists were secular and tolerated the kind of evils that are once again taking place in the large cities. When Sadaam and the Baathists were overthrown, however, the Muslim religious leaders filled the void - at least on the streets. There arose a kind of religious vigilantism where sin was not tolerated. As the streets have become more peaceful in recent days and weeks, however, people are becoming more brave in their pursuit of pleasure. Prostitution is rampant, alcohol abuse is growing in popularity. Things that once were done in secret are now being done in the open.

Here’s where I see the connection. We were once a people enslaved to sin. We sinned because that’s who we were and where we lived. But, as believers in God through faith in Jesus, we have been liberated. We have been granted freedom in Christ! We are freed from the control of sin. And yet, isn’t it interesting that in spite of our freedom, we still gravitate back to lifestyles that characterized our former way of life?

Oh that we would realize that we have been rescued from our former ways of life and that God desires to transform us so that we might pursue that which is really life!

Onward and upward...

jason

our values - God’s glory

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:40:15 +0100

We’re excited about the next seven weeks at GCC. One of our prayers is that everything we do...every program or ministry we create or take part in...will be traceable to one of our seven core values. Did you know that we had core values? If not, you can read through them here. Each of these values in some way helps to shape the direction and ethos of our church. It is our deep desire that you know only know what those values are, understand why we think they are so valuable, but also that you would begin to value them in the same way we do. So, over the next seven weeks we are going to take our value statements and unpack them.

While we won’t be considering them in any particular order most weeks, we will be beginning with one that seems to stand out above the rest: God’s glory. Why do we value God’s glory? Well, in short I suppose it’s because He does - more than anything else His desire is to be known and so glorified. So we look forward to considering the glory of God and why it matters to us on Sunday. Hope to see you.

Onward and upward...

jason

The Road to the Cross

Tue, 7 Apr 2009 08:36:21 +0100

It's Tuesday as Jesus moves to the cross.

Some of the most important things Jesus ever taught will come forward today: such things as:
(1) matters concerning faith- Mark 11:20-26 and (2) matters concerning the greatest commandment- Mark 12:28-34

Public Teaching with the Opposition
1. Concerning his authority. Mark 11:27-33.
2. Concerning the Jewish nation. Mark 12:1-12
3. Concerning taxes. Mark 12:13-17.
4. Concerning the Resurrection. Mark 12:18-27.

Public Teaching with the Crowds
1. Concerning his Deity. Mark 12:35-37
2. Concerning his pride. Mark 12:28-40
3. Concerning his giving. Mark 12:4-44
4. Concerning his future. Mark 13: 1-37

What might we draw from Jesus' Tuesday words could be: (1) be at rest/peace- we can depend his Word without any doubt; (2) revel in his love- our relationship with him is more important than our religion; and (3) be vigilant- our future security doesn't rest in our possessions but in Jesus.

What makes this final teaching by Jesus so significant? What aspect is most significant to you on a personal level? and why?
As we move toward Easter, what practical step could you take to strengthen your faith?

May our God and King bless you wonderfully today! Thinking of you and praying for you, too!
To him be the glory!!

Pastor Kirk

Faith in the Dark

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:52:27 +0000

This coming Sunday we’ll be looking at a story in the last few verses of John 4. It’s about a desperate man who comes looking for Jesus to heal his son. The question that this man is presented with by Jesus is whether or not he will believe when he can’t see what is going on.
As I read this story (and it is sometimes painful to do so), I am struck with the same question. What would I have done? Would I have been able to trust Jesus so fully to leave Him (the only hope for my dying child) and walk away in faith? When i go through difficulty in my life is it easier for me to trust Jesus because He has made certain promises or do I doubt because I can’t work out in my head how He’s going to bring certain things about? I wonder how this man felt as he walked back to his boy with nothing but the promise of Jesus. But, then, am I not called to walk by faith even when I can’t see? So in some small way, I think I do know how this man felt. Conflicted, hopeful, scared, brave, thankful, maybe angry and bewildered...all at the same time.
In this world we aren’t always promised sight. But we are promised that the One who has perfect sight is on our side!
See you Sunday! We’re back downstairs. Don’t forget our 3 days of prayer and fasting and then that our Saturday 24-hours of prayer begins at 8am. Hopefully you remember your time slots.
Praying for you!
Jason

Atheist Busses

Sun, 8 Mar 2009 16:36:23 +0000

Good news everyone! We can all finally stop worrying and enjoy our lives!
Have you seen the news reports out of London about this bus campaign? Richard Dawkins, the scientist at Oxford now famous (or infamous) for writing The God Delusion is somehow related to this campaign to raise awareness and, in his words, help atheists to come out.
The thing I find surprising about all this, especially as I read the threads and comments from his website, is that anybody really cares. I know I don’t. I get the feeling that some of these guys feel like they’re stirring the waters or exacting some fatal blow to Christianity by putting words on a bus. But really, who cares. Nobody does very effective evangelism on busses. Evangelism is done in the trenches; life on life. I have yet to meet an atheist whose life was compelling enough for me to want to become one as well. That’s not to say that atheists can’t be moral or good people, of course they can. And that’s not to say that an atheist can’t say the same thing about Christianity and Christians. It is simply to say that evangelism is done in relationship...not on busses or billboards or newspaper headlines.
What these ads do accomplish, though, as one minister quoted suggested, is to put God back into the conversation. That’s a good thing. In the midst of our fast-paced, winner-takes-all society, talking about God and being reminded to at least entertain the question of His existence, is a good thing.
So to all the atheists who donated portions of the £140,000 raised for the ads, give me a reason to convert...show me how being an atheist can make my life better beyond merely removing some misplaced sense of guilt or “enjoying” my next stag party more. Convince me by letting me in and watch as you deal with the deep struggles of this difficult life. Show me as you are forced into making ethical and moral decisions when it costs. Again, the point is not that no atheists do this, some do. The point is simply that that is how you do evangelism.
Oh, and Christians...we need to do the same. Think about it.
Onwards and Upwards...
Pastor Jason