CCK Life blog

Main Session 2: Joel Virgo – Peter: Mind Blown by Jesus

Luke 5:1-11

Joel began the first of his four part series titled The Life of Peter: Best Friends with Jesus.

When Peter realized who the man who had just given him advice was, he fell at Jesus’ knees. Peter had just encountered God in flesh. He did not seek to buy Jesus’ services for his fishing trade. Peter saw beyond the practical and saw the state of his soul. Holiness shocks the human heart. When Isaiah saw God, he was undone.

Though we are made in the image of God, we don’t have the right to make God in our image. We shrink God. But God is meant to be feared. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Heb 10:31) This doesn’t fit nicely with out strawberry flavoured Christianity. Every man fears. The question is ‘ what are you frightened of?’

Only God can tell you not to fear Him. The more you fear God, the less frightened you become. That is because God’s turning that fear into sweet trust in Him. Perfect love casts out all fear. (1 John4:18)

Newday is all about a people who are dominated by Jesus!

Main Session 3: Stef Liston – Giving Forgiveness

Matt 6:9-15; 18:21-35

Stef began by pointing out the emphasis Jesus placed on forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer. It is on the cross that broken relationships are dealt with.  He then used the parable of the unmerciful servant to point out the high importance of forgiving.

1. The incomparable difference in the nature of God’s forgiveness and our’s

The current financial equivalent of the debt that the unmerciful servant owed the king and what his servant owed him was £8,000 to 1 p! We, even though we are sinful, struggle to forgive. We can never understand what sin does to God. God is appalled by sin. God is always the chiefly offended party by sin. The extent that God went to sin was separation from His Beloved Son as He hung on the cross.

2. For a believer to hold on to unforgiveness is an outrage

If you don’t forgive, it indicates that you haven’t understood what you have received – God’s mercy. Forgiveness is not about saying ‘it’s ok’, but, it’s saying you ave wronged me but I release you from it.

Unforgiveness leads to resentment, bitterness, revenge, rage, cynicism..

3. Forgive from the heart

Biblicaly, the heart is the seat of your emotions. We are called to completely forgive. When we forgive, God comes in and heals and restores (Psalm 147:2-3).

On the cross, Jesus forgave.

Take off the lid and let the Holy Spirit in to deal with it.

Gig Review- Portland

By Jotham Oakley

Portland arrived on stage yesterday to perform a set that wouldn’t have been amiss on a sunny afternoon at Glastonbury. The crowd watched on from the floor as groups sat down to listen to the mellow music. With a mix of acoustic brilliance, backing vocals and soft rhythm they delivered a performance that was pleasing to the ear and interesting to watch. Here was a band who really showed how to produce the feel-good factor.

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And we’re finally here! And what a start to the event! Thunderous applause preceded our very own Joel Virgo as he took the stage to open Newday 2009. Jesus was about to be glorified by about 7,000 young people at The Norfolk Show Ground! CCK’s Simon Brading then lead a very charged worship time which regularily featured rapturous applause as truth after truth was sung about our Lord.

Main Session 1: Stef Liston – Receiving Forgiveness

Charismatic preacher, Stef Liston kicked off  with the first of his two part preach series on Forgiveness. He began by appealing to those who were on the verge of leaving the meeting to stay on and soak in the presence of God and the transforming truths of His Bible.

Forgiveness, he exhorted us, is the key to the difference between surviving and overcoming in this life.

1. Our greatest need – to be in a relationship with God (Gen 1:26-27)

We have been created in the image of God and God burns to see His image reflected in you. We are made for close intimacy and relatinship with our God. It i by His Holy Spirit, that what’s in the Bible is ‘blasted’ into our hearts and you just know that God loves you.

2. Our greatest problem – sin (Gen 3:1-6)

Sin is anything that is contrary to the nature and perfections of God. All sin is ultimately against God. God cannot just sweep sin under the carpet because He is holy. And for that we need forgiveness for our sins and our sinfulness. So He sent His Son to crush the devil’s head on the cross. (Col 2:15)

Stef concluded his preach by pointing us to 1 John 1:8-9 and the forgiveness we receive when we confess our sins.

Gigs: Four Kornerz

By Jotham Oakley

Four Kornez arrived at Newday to perform an energetic set that had hundreds of fans jumping and dancing. With their unique blend of dance/hip-hop/reggae and trilby hats, they provided songs of both Biblical truth and musical genius. As far as the sound was concerned, they proved their skill on their instruments, played tightly as a group and, to add to the experience, the crowd participation kept the fans involved rght until the end. A fun night was had by all.

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Together On A Mission is an annual gathering of over 5,000 men and women from over 35 different countries to worship Jesus Christ and hear the Bible preached. The conference is hosted by newfrontiers, an international family of Churches, in Brighton from the 7th to the 10th of July. Over the duration of the conference, Yohaan Philip, chief editor of the ccklife blog, will review the various main sessions as well as some of the seminars. Complete audio and video files will be made available on the website as soon as they are ready.

Main Seminar 1: Mbonisi Malaba – God’s Global Heart

Mbonisi (or Bones as he’s affectionately called) leads the newfrontiers church in Bulaway, Zimbabwe. What a dynamic preacher this guy is! Bones preached from the book of Jonah. Jonah was a prophet in Israel who God used to speak to the people of the surrounding nations. Bones paralleled this to God’s command to the first man, Adam, of filling the earth, and God’s promise to Abraham that the nations would be blessed through him. God has a concern for people and He wants to share His global concern with us.

• Go to where people are
• Have a global strategy
• Target cities

In conclusion, Bones looked at Acts 19 and drew out 3 key learning’s from Paul’s time in Corinth

• Tent Making – have a practical skill to find employment. This will help you advance with integrity (demonstrates that you are not peddling the gospel for profit)
• Paul stayed a bit longer. Press through for break through. Know when to go and when to stay.
• Paul won a victory for Christianity in Rome

Main Seminar 2: Stef Liston – Go back to Gallilee Mr. Big and a bruised reed He won’t break

Stef leads the newfrontiers church in North Central London. Stef regularly preaches at the annual conference for teenagers, Newday. Stef began by sharing the aim of his preach, to captivate our hearts with awe and wonder towards who God is and in doing that pull down the proud and lift up the humble. The text for the preach was Ezekiel 34 in which God reveals His anger towards the leaders of His people because they had misused their God-given authority. From Matthew 18:1-6 (being child-like to enter the Kingdom of God), Stef brought out the following points to help leaders wisely steward the responsibility given to them of looking after God’s people.

• God is child – like
• a child likes to please his father
• a child likes to follow his father
• children aren’t after the complex, but are satisfied and delight in the simple
• There’s something medicinal about children. Be a pleasure to be around.
• Kids copy. Imitate!
• Kids ask for lots Pray pray pray!
• Kids sing. Worship God
• Kids trust

Main Seminar 3: Terry Virgo – Newfrontiers Part 1 – Past

Terry Virgo is the founder of newfrontiers and is based at Church of Christ the King, Brighton. Terry began his highly anticipated 3 part series on the past, present and future of newfrontiers today. I have had the privilege of praying with Terry over many a lunch break in the build up to the conference and have witnessed his deep desire to see the Trinitarian God glorified through this series. And boy did that happen!

Terry used Eph 2:1-10 as the text for his sermon.

1. Word and Spirit movement
Our start: we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Dead people don’t bring anything to the table. But God loved us, rescued us and made us alive with Christ. We are a new creation in Christ: His workmanship. He works on you because you’re His work of art. He has ambition for you.

Ephesians 2:10 talks about the works God has prepared in advance for us to do.  Terry reminded us of 2 key prophesies that had been spoken over newfrontiers:

1. A herd of elephants crashing through a jungle making new paths. What are some of those new paths?

• Spirit filled churches
• International family of over 600 churches across 50 countries
• Newday – 6,000 young people gather annually to worship and be taught about Jesus
• Finance has been raised to plant churches as well as to aid countries in need (Kenya famine, Zimbabwe)

2. We would change the expression of Christianity across the world. How have we done that?

• legalism to grace filled freedom churches
• independent to interdependent churches
• secessionist  to charismatic  churches

2. Life in the Spirit

Eph 1:13 says that we were marked in Jesus with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit. At newfrontiers, we aim to be theologically biblical and to experience the explosive power of the Spirit. The seal of the Spirit is to authenticate and as evidence of our new relationship with God. It is experential. Not experiencing the Spirit robs the Church of it’s joy of knowing the presence of God. When we cry “Abba, Father” by the Spirit (Rom 8:15), it is an intense and experienced cry.

In conclusion, Terry briefly spoke about praying in tongues from 1 Cor 14. Praying in tongues is a vehicle of worship you don’t understand. We use our physical apparatus to move in a different realm, like when Peter walked on water (Matthew 14).

Fittingly, we ended the meeting praying for those who had never been filled with the Spirit to experience this indescribable joy. And God made His presence felt.

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