Pleasing God When No One is Looking!

By Richard

Jesus says, in John 8: 29, that He is always seeking to do what pleases God. What a great theme for life. But, if we are honest, it’s often easier to “seek God” in public and look “spiritual” when others are looking on. I find my home a good measure of my spirituality. My home is a safe place where the real me comes to the surface. A hard question I must ask myself is this. “Am I seeking to please God behind closed doors and in front of my family?”

Maybe that’s why Jesus calls us in other parts of the Gospels to make sure that we have a private spirituality that is authentic and real. I have heard “integrity” described this way, “Who we are when no one is looking”.

Let’s seek to please God when we are away from the eyes of the church or our small group. Let’s seek to please God when only the eyes of our family are looking on. Let’s seek to please God during those times when no-one is looking, knowing that the one we seek to please is always watching! Let’s work towards the lofty goal of always seeking to please God, at all times and in all places!

True Maturity

By Richard

In John 8 we have the well-known story about the woman caught in adultery. The religious leaders drag her before Jesus and trying to trap Jesus start talking about how the Law of Moses requires that she be stoned to death. We read that Jesus started to write on the ground and when they questioned Him further, He stood up and told them that if anyone is without sin then they could be the guy to throw the first stone. Jesus then stopped down and carried on writing some more. Some think that Jesus was writing a list of sins on the ground. We don’t know but we read with, “the older ones first” (John 8: 9), one by one they left until just the woman and was left before Jesus.

We sometimes have the impression that age can harden us and make us more stubborn but just maybe age is meant to mature us and make us more aware, not less aware, of our need for God's grace. I pray that we will age well and over the years become more sympathetic to the failings of others, and more aware of our ongoing need for God forgiveness.

Jesus, Our Model Teacher

by Richard

Jesus is our model teacher for the church!

He tells us that His teaching is not His own…He teaches God’s truth (John 7:16). Those of us who teach need to ask ourselves a tough question…are we really teaching God’s truth?

Jesus tells us that He does not teach for His own honour but for God’s. (John 7: 18) We need to be ruthlessly honest about whether the real goal of the teaching we are doing is to honour ourselves or to honour God. Am I trying to make myself look good or to make God look GREAT?

Jesus has a message for the student too. As a student we need to be a seeker of God’s truth. (John 7: 17) We need to actively choose to do God’s will. Our hearts need to be open receptacles to God’s truth.

When we teach God’s truth, with honourable intent, to people who are hungry for God we will find God.

May this be true of Mountainview!

Jesus Going Public

By Richard

We often think of Jesus as a public figure, yet at the beginning of John 7 we find His brothers complaining because He’s doing His ministry in secret (4). It’s time to go public they tell Him! Jesus reveals His caution. Generally the world hates Him because He challenges the true goodness of humanity. If He goes public too soon it will mean the premature end to His ministry, and He’s working to a plan.

The author Anne Rice, who researched everything she could on Jesus, for several years, made this interesting observation. Many sceptical scholars who devoted their entire lives to the study of the New Testament, “disliked Jesus Christ”! She goes on to write. “Some pitied him as a hopeless failure. Others sneered at him, and some felt an outright contempt. This came between the lines of the books. This emerged in the personality of the texts.”

She found it puzzling because in her many years of historical research, for her numerous other novels, she had never come across the same reaction to any other historical figure! “In general” she writes, “Scholars don’t spend their lives in the company of historical figures whom they openly despise.”

Have you ever wondered why the one who spoke so tenderly about God being a loving Father, the one who spoke so passionately about loving others, to the extent that we would even love our enemies and to do good to those who hate us - why someone like this would be so greatly despised? That is unless John is correct when he wrote that, “Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19)

Doing What God Wants

By Richard

I don’t know about you but from time to time I find myself asking the question, “What does God really want me to do, here in the 21st Century?” In John 6 we find that the Jews who were listening to Jesus asked Him the same question. “What must we do to do the works that God requires?” (John 6: 28). Jesus’ answer is interesting! He says that the principal action that God is looking for is that we believe that Jesus is the One that God has sent to save the earth.

That’s one of the reasons we have been encouraging each other to read the Gospels…so that we may know and love Jesus better. In the context of John 6 “believing” is a lot more than mental assent. Later in the same section Jesus says that those who follow Him must eat His flesh and drink His blood. I’m sure that Jesus is speaking metaphorically, but never the less He is implying a relationship with Him of great intimacy and service unto death. As baptism teaches us we must become one with Jesus in His death, as we go down into the water, and in His life, as we are raised to life through the waters of death!

So let’s make our primary focus in life to be one of getting to know Jesus better and through our relationship with Him to make Him known to others. There is no other work that is greater than this!

Plenty of Grass

By Richard

No, this is not a posting to suggest that the teachings of Jesus were inspired by smoking marihuana! The Gospel of John was written by John, one of Jesus’ disciples, and he adds many extra details that fit in with an eyewitness account. When Jesus feeds the 5000 in John 6:10, John adds that there was “plenty of grass in that place” for the people to sit on. When Jesus dies on the cross and the soldiers pierce His side John adds, with some surprise, that there was a “sudden flow of water from his side” (John 20:34). When the risen Jesus appears to the disciples in Galilee he calls out the despondent disciples, who had fished all night and caught nothing, to throw their nets on the “right” side of the boat. John tells us that they caught a large number of fish and adds that there were “153” large fish (John 21:11), to be exact. I’m sure that there are more in John.

Let’s trust that what we are reading is authentic. It’s worth everything to take Jesus and His words seriously!

Establishing His Identity

In John 5: 18 we read that when Jesus called God His “Father”, the Jews understood this to mean that He was making himself equal with God! He was claiming to be God!

For those who are sceptical that Jesus claimed to be God, Jesus goes on, in the rest of the chapter (John 5), to give quite a lot of indirect evidence to this claim. These are a list of some of His indirect claims.

He claims to be the source of life (21, 26)

He claims to be the final judge of mankind (22, 26-30)

He seeks the same honour (worship) that God seeks (23)

He has the ability to offer people eternal life (24, 25)

His work (and His words and wonders) testify to His deity (36)

The bible (Old and New Testament) testifies to His deity (39)

John testified to His deity (33-35)

Moses testified to His deity (45-47)

He was even able to testify about Himself but did not take up that right (31)

Why does Jesus go to all this trouble to establish His identity? He says it's so that we may believe Him and be saved (34). He really is the God who has the power, to save us from our sins, and from death, and to give us eternal life.

Believe Him!

Living Examples

By Richard

In verse John 5:19 Jesus said, “[I] can do only what [I]see [my] Father doing, because whatever the Father does [I] also [do]”

That’s really my prayer at Mountainview, that we would see Jesus Christ and the Father and the Holy Spirit and would start to do what we see them doing.

Every morning I try to have a shave before Riekje has a shower, mainly so that the mirror is not fogged up and through lack of an a clear picture risk a nasty accident, as my razor blade blindly takes a nick out of my jugular vein.

I hope that we will cultivate lives of prayer, scripture reading and holy action that help us to work our way through any fog and see God at work more clearly. I hope as we do that we will be that bit more able to reflect Christ and His word and His actions.

Madrid desperately needs some living examples of Jesus. Lord, please help us to see you more clearly and become those living examples!

More Valuable Than Health

by Richard

At the beginning of John 5 we read about Jesus healing a man who had been crippled for 38 years. Later Jesus meets him at the temple and in verse 14 we read that He tells him to, “Stop sinning or something worse may happen!” It's true, Jesus’ words do seem a bit harsh! But, this is what I think Jesus is saying. Spiritual health, an ongoing relationship with Christ, is much, much, much, much….more valuable than health itself. Jesus goes onto explain in John 5: 16-47 how He is the one who gives us eternal life and the one who will judge us justly regarding our response towards Him, or against Him.

So let’s look beyond our, material, physical and relational needs and do all we can to take hold of Jesus…the eternal source of life.

True Worship

by Richard

In Luke 4 Jesus has a discussion with the woman at the well about the best place to worship God. She’s confused, the Jews say it is Jerusalem and the Samaritans say it’s on a local Mountain. “What do you think?” She asks Jesus.

So Jesus told her that worshipping God was not about location but about worshipping God in “spirit and in truth” (24). God is seeking people who realise that they can turn to worship Him at any time and in any place. God is seeking people, who upon realising that He is there at every moment, turn life itself into an offering of worship (rather than putting on a show for a few minutes at the church and ignoring God in the rest of life).

Let’s turn our hearts to worship God when we look up and are captured by the beauty of the snow capped Mountains that tower above Madrid. Let’s turn our hearts to worship God when were stuck and down in those endless miles of traffic on a Monday morning. Realising that God is there at every moment of life let’s offer Him our sleep, our family times, our work times, our leisure times, our times with friends, our every time, as an offering of worship (Romans 12:1).

Finding Satisfaction in Life

By Richard

We find in Luke 4 two passages that speak about getting satisfaction in life. Jesus tells the Samaritan woman at the well that He offers people living water, and whoever drinks the water He gives will never be thirsty again (13,14). Later the disciples offer Jesus food and He tells them, cryptically that His food is to do the will of the Father who has sent him to earth and to complete the task set before Him (34).

As I read this passage a couple of conversations from the week sprang to mind. A mentor had spoken to me about the epidemic of sexual problems among those in the ministry and I’d followed this up with another conversation with a friend. We’d come to the conclusion that maybe much of the world’s problem with sex (interestingly the Gospels do not mention the topic that much) are due to boredom with materialistic and self-centred ways.

Maybe more than therapy we needed to seek Jesus and allow His living water to satisfy us. We needed to take in more of Jesus and allow His presence to displace the unhealthy. We needed to find the satisfaction of joining together with Christ on the adventure of a lifetime, to extend His kingdom on earth. (I ask you have you ever heard of people having major sexual problems when they climb Mount Everest?) We needed to invest serious energies in completing the task set before us.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of people out there with serious problems that need help, big time, and if you are one those people please get the help you need. But there are a lot of fairly normal people, I believe, who are simply seeking some satisfaction by misplaced means. G. K. Chesterton once said that anyone who visits a prostitute is looking for God. Maybe we are simply trying to find spiritual satisfaction through sexual stimulation or material satiation. Just maybe the best place to start recovering is simply to find more of Jesus, live His life to the full, and meet the challenges of getting ready for an eternity with Him that gets closer by the hour.

The Grin Reaper

by Richard

We’ll probably camp out in John 4 for the weekend because it’s one of those chapters with a lot to say. So watch during the weekend for some more postings on this chapter.

Picture the scene! Jesus has just demonstrated to a Samaritan woman that He’s the saviour of the world. She runs off to get the Samaritan village to come and meet the Messiah. Meanwhile, the disciples come back from a shopping trip and it’s time for a nice, quiet, picnic lunch with Jesus beside Jacob’s well! All of a sudden they look up and the Samaritan village is approaching. “Oh no” they say, “We are going to be disturbed by a bunch of gawking gypsies!”

So Jesus tells them “Look the fields are ready to be harvested (John 4: 36). They are coming towards you! I want you to finish your sandwich and get busy helping me save some people!”

And Jesus goes on to explain about sowing and reaping. Some people sow the word of God into people’s lives and others come along and reap a spiritual harvest. Both the “sower” and “reaper” work together for God, and have a heavenly joy as they compliment each others gifts.

Well, this is where the “Grin Reaper” bit comes in. I believe that I am a sowing evangelist, if you want to call it that. I’m good at getting the word of God into peoples lives and making them think about faith. But I’m not so gifted (yet at least) in helping people come to faith in Christ. Whereas Troy Cady, for example, who used to work on the Mountainview team, has an amazing ability to show up at the right time and to say just the right things to help people to believe! I think one of the holes that we have at Mountainview is for someone who has a strong gift in “reaping evangelism”. If we are going to see large numbers of people come to Christ in Madrid I believe that we will need someone like this in our church.

So here’s what I’m doing. I’m praying that God would send us a joyous, reaping evangelist…The Grin Reaper. I’m praying that he (and his family) will somehow, through Christian Associates or otherwise, find Mountainview. I’m praying that this might already be his nickname! I’m praying that when we see the power of God at work, plugging an important staffing hole in Mountainview we will have the faith do follow Christ at a deeper level and have stories that will make the doubters think! I pray that we will have incredible joy as we see sowing and reaping gifts working hand in hand at Mountainview.

Jesus send us the GRIN REAPER!

Better than Me!

by Richard

What do you do when someone comes along who is “better” than you in an ability or some look in which you take pride? I don’t know about you but I can be tempted to undermine the person, to enviously seek ways to point out to others why I really am the best!

In Luke 3:22-36 we read that the disciples of John the Baptist point out to their leader that Jesus has set up a successful baptism operation down river. “The crowds are flocking to him and you are loosing ground to the competition, brother John!”

I love John’s response; it’s got to be one of the most special verses in the Gospels.

He must become greater; and I must become less. (30)

John’s totally cool about the increasing popularity of Jesus and he’s bursting with joy about the arrival of Jesus and his diminishing popularity. He’s finished the work God had set before him, to prepare the way for the king. He’s gotten the wedding ready and now it was time to fade behind the focus on the groom. He’d been among God’s greatest spokespersons on earth but now it was time to tell the people to listen to the one who has spoken stars into space, the one who holds the universe in His hands, the one has the power to give us eternal life.

Lawrence was reminding me yesterday that it was because of envy that the religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus (Mark 15:10). You see Jesus is so great that we must decide to joyfully fade inside His beautiful glory, or we must enviously seek to extinguish His light so people will hopefully notice our pitiful embers.

Let’s be like John who had joy at the idea of Jesus becoming greater. Let’s counter our human tendency to enjoy being “top-dog” and become people who genuinely celebrate when people come along who can do things better than we can. I pray Mountainview becomes a church where Jesus becomes much, much greater than all our pride, and that we can joyfully, “Consider others better than [ourselves].” (Philippians 2:3)

How Faith Works

By Richard

In John 2 we find faith working in two different directions. Jesus turns 150 gallons of water into 150 gallons of top-notch wine and we read that the disciples seeing Jesus’ power “put their faith in Him”(11). In the next section we read about Jesus being consumed with zeal for God’s house and how He cleared the temple of its merchants and ended up in a showdown with the religious leaders. He tells them that He is able to tear down the temple and rebuild it in 3 days! John adds the note that they later came to understand that Jesus was talking about His death and resurrection.

Basically faith works in two ways. We need to see in order to believe, but we also need to believe in order to see. The disciples saw Jesus at work and believed, but they also believed and came to understand later, Jesus at work. I guess it’s like burning a candle at both ends. Jesus reveals himself and helps us believe, but conversely when we believe things start to make sense too.

So let’s encourage each other to light the candle of faith at both ends. Let’s look for Jesus at work, so our faith may be built up. But, let’s also trust Him entirely and be surprised as piece by piece things come together and the puzzle of faith makes more and more sense.

More Miracles

By Richard

Yes, miracles are amazing but they maybe even dangerous, in the way that they can build our faith, or show us really how cold and slow our hearts are to believe. Perhaps the dangerous, uncertain nature of miracles is why the church has largely neglected them in evangelism and focused on apologetics as the primary means of convincing others about the Good News.

In John 1: 43-45 Jesus is calling disciples to follow Him. He tells Nathanael that he saw him under a fig tree just before Philip came up called him to come and meet Jesus. Obviously there is something supernatural going on here as Nathanael cries out to Jesus, “You are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel” (49). The power of Jesus inspires belief!

Anyway it got me thinking. Maybe I don’t ask God for enough miracles. Maybe unbelievers are tired of hearing about faith and they want to see faith at work. Maybe, like for many people in Jesus’ day, a miracle here or there will only create further disbelief. But, maybe for some they will see the power of God, believe and follow Jesus. So just maybe Jesus wants us to ask Him to act in some supernatural ways. Scary! Exciting! Dangerous! But it might be worth it for those who see and believe.

I hope we can post some comments on the ways that Jesus has acted in a miraculous way in our lives.

Jesus is God

by Richard

The undeniable truth that John seeks to convey at the beginning of his Gospel is that Jesus is God. Jesus has always existed! He created the universe! He reveals to us in human form God’s amazing glory, grace and truth! He has the power to save us and adopt us into His family!

Right at the end of the section is a verse that I’d never noticed before. If you read it carefully there’s no question that John is ascribing to Jesus the supreme title “The One and Only God”. The verse is below. I recommend that you read it a couple of times and follow the syntax.

“No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” (John 1:18, NIV)

May it sink in, just a little bit that as I read about Jesus and His teaching I am watching and listening to THE GOD of the universe! May it increase our desire to follow Him just that little bit more, and inspire our ability to exercise faith as we seek to practice His teaching!

Meeting Jesus in the Journey of Life

By Richard

In Luke 24 we have the story about the two disciples who meet with Jesus on the road to Emmaus. They talk with Jesus for 7 miles and invite Him for dinner. Jesus says grace, breaks the bread, the penny drops, and they suddenly recognise Him. “It’s Jesus!” Jesus disappears and we read that they run the 7 miles back to Jerusalem and tell the disciples “It’s true. The Lord has risen!”

I was thinking, as I read the story, how this event matches the experience of many who become followers of Christ. They journey through life! Jesus joins their journey, even though they may be unaware of His reality at the time. At some point they come to see the reality of Jesus - that He’s really alive and He’s God. Then they run off to tell others the good news, “It makes sense! It’s true! He’s alive!”

I don’t know how many people in Madrid have been joined by Jesus on their journey's through life, but I suspect that it’s quite a few. I’m praying for days ahead when people hear His voice and see the hands lifting the bread and exclaim, “It’s Jesus!”, I'm praying that I may join in the joy as they run off to tell others “He’s alive!”

Bringing Christ's Love to the World

Richard Writes

This morning I read in Luke 23 about the death of Jesus. He suffered the extreme physical agony of the crucifixion, as well as the emotional agony of false accusation and rejection by His friends. As I bathed in the love of Christ, amidst his pain and the raging crowds, I thought about the current international upset over Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. I thought of the scenes of extreme rage and people tearing down Danish embassies around the world.

Without wanting to give my opinion on what this means for freedom of speech in the European community, let’s put Jesus in the same position. What would Jesus do if people drew cartoons of him? He may well laugh (I think Jesus has a huge sense of humour) but I know He would certainly love. He would tell his followers, "Don’t fight back, you must forgive and love!” When people insult and hurt us He calls us to love. He calls us to love at all times and without fail.

As I was driving to Carrefour today I was listening to the song “The Humble King”. It reminds us that Jesus is a humble king and is the God of humble people. I hope that as we read about the crucifixion of Jesus we will taste enough of His incredible love that we will be have the resources that we need to make some baby steps in bringing God’s humble, sacrificial love to a world that is starving for love!

Jesus At Work in the Practical Details of Life

In Luke 22: 7-13 Jesus sends his disciples ahead to prepare for the Passover. He tells them to go into Jerusalem and look for a man carrying a jar of water, to follow him to a house and then ask the owner of whatever house he enters, “Where’s the guest room where Jesus can eat the Passover with His disciples?” And then they would be shown a large upper room.

We read that the disciples left and found everything just as Jesus had said.

Reading this story reminded me that Jesus is in charge of the practical details of life.

Just this week we unexpectedly ended up with an hour to spare at the hospital where Riekje was supposed to have a baby! We thought we would use the time to check out the admission fee to the hospital. Turns out the price had gone up tremendously – more than we could afford. Our appointments later that day went badly. So bad was our treatment that we ended up looking for another hospital and found one that was cheaper, has a vastly higher quality of patient care and a gynaecologist that Riekje likes. You may think otherwise, but we saw the hand of Jesus at work, helping us with the practical details of life.

Then what about at Mountainview! We’ve been praying for some administrative help. Well, along comes Heather. Her husband has a job in Spain and she has time that she wants to offer to the church. She’s highly gifted in many, many areas and very relational. God has blessed us with way more than we could asked for. There’s Jesus again, at work, helping us with the practical details of life.

These are some of the practical (hopefully not selfish) prayers that I asked Jesus to help me and the church with this morning

I prayed for an important cheque that has been delayed in the post to arrive. (It arrived two hours later!)

I prayed that our baby would arrive at the right time and that the delivery would be smooth

I prayed that Jesus would send more committed believers to Mountainview. I am praying that somehow, miraculously, we grow to 75 people by the end of this summer

I prayed that Jesus would send Mountainview some more committed musicians and vocalists (base players, drummers, keyboard players, players that we have not even thought of)

I prayed that we would be sent someone to run sound at Mountainview

I prayed for another Christian Associates family and 2 interns to come and work full time with Mountainview and that the family would have a strong gift in Evangelism

I prayed for favour with the school that Mountainview meets at as we approach them with the idea of having back-to-back services with a Spanish church

I prayed for people to join Mountainview who can help us with working with the teens.

I prayed for more people to join our already capable team who work on our kids programme.

I prayed for God’s power to fall on our community. For people to grow deeper with God and others to find God!

I prayed for wisdom to lead Mountainview and to pray fro practical help in areas that I am overlooking even as I write right now

Lots of prayers! Lots more that I could ask. But, above all, asking Jesus to show His power in the practical details of life and as we do build our faith at Mountainview and to turn the hearts of those without faith towards Christ.

How to Live

by Richard

In Luke 34-36 Jesus tells us to be careful about how we live. He does not want us to miss out on God by allowing the cares of life to sidetrack us. In verse 34 He lists 3 common responses to the cares of life that lead us away from God.

1. We can distract ourselves from our cares with selfish ambitions (career, fame)

2. We can deaden our cares with soothing addictions (alcohol, drugs, sex)

3. We can dread our cares with some serious anxiety.

Jesus shows us a better way. He wants us to seek Him and find security for this life and certainty for eternity.

How are we living? I know my issue is that I tend to dread the cares of this life with some serious anxiety and so these days I have been trying to seek Jesus in the midst of lifes cares. How am I doing? I have been finding laughter in the midst of turmoil, a greater sense of adventure in life, a growing excitement about each day ahead and even developing some anticipation about heaven.

Salty Salt and Lighty Light

By Richard

In Luke 21 Jesus is talking about the future; both the fall of Jerusalem and His eventual return one day to earth. It is amazing in what a detailed way His prophecy about the fall of Jerusalem was fulfilled (compare the “Jesus Wept over Jerusalem” blog with Luke 21). We see God’s continued grace in the prophecy because Jesus tells those who are listening that when the see foreign armies approaching Jerusalem they should run. He’s offering people an escape from the coming judgement.

But amongst all this local and global turmoil we find in verses 12-17 His call to continue being witnesses. Living for Jesus is something that Jesus wants His followers to do at all times, whatever is going on around us, whatever is going on within us. Reading the Gospels I have become convinced that what is needed in Spain are a few people that will really live for Jesus. People who will go the “whole hog” with loving Jesus’ and obeying His teaching. People who will be determined to become salty salt and lighty light in our city. People whose lives and words will turn more than a few heads towards God.

Will you join me?

Jesus Wept over Jerusalem

By Richard

In Luke 19: 41-44) we read that as Jesus approached Jerusalem He was overcome by emotion and wept openly because Jerusalem would be judged severely for not recognising Him to be the Messiah. Jesus describes how the city would one day be besieged and totally destroyed.

In 70 A.D., forty years after Jesus had wept over Jerusalem, following a 143 day siege, which began at Passover, a Roman military force consisting of about 30,000 troops under the command of Titus battered the walls and entered the city. They destroyed everything, including Herod's Temple. The population and the great number of Passover visitors who had been trapped there were brutally slaughtered, with an estimated 600,000 people killed. The rest of Judea was flattened, and over 90.000 people were taken captive, including the historian Flavius Josephus who recorded the events in his, Wars of The Jews.

The reason I mention this is not to show Christ’s great ability to foretell the future but to point out that God’s judgment is never gratuitous, it always comes with great sorrow. God longs, desperately, that people will accept his salvation, repent, produce fruit and be rewarded by God.

It reminded me to have sorrow, not anger, about the millions in Spain (indeed the whole world) who fail to recognise that Jesus as the Messiah.

How God's Kingdom Comes

by Richard

We read in Luke 19: 11 that the crowds were wondering if the Kingdom of God was suddenly going to appear. They were thinking of an external, political kingdom. Jesus tells them a parable that reminds them that His kingdom comes internally and spiritually, as we produce Godly fruit in our lives. Indeed God is looking for spiritual fruit and will reward us thousands of times over for any fruit we produce (the servant who turned a standard 30-month salary package into a 60-month salary package became the mayor of 10 cities – that’s quite a return!). But Jesus warns us against producing “no” fruit – the little we have will be taken away and we will enter eternity with negative equity.

Anyway, so how does this work in practice?

Thankfully we have the example of Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10; a short, unpopular, high-ranking, tax official. Jesus stops by his place for dinner and he changes from being the local cheat into a generous giver. Jesus says, (I actually imagine him laughing out loudly with great joy) “Salvation has come to Zacchaeus today!” (9).

The arrival of Christ in Zacchaeus life had produced spiritual fruit. As the crowd listened to the parable of the servants that were given money by their master to look after and produce a return they probably thought of Zacchaeus, whose new found faith had brought about an incredible change in the way that he behaved

May we produce much fruit for Christ.

By Juan

He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time? “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled to him on the way, or he may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.” —Luke 12:54-59, NIV

I would love to hear some opinions on this scripture.

Is there a relation between these two stories, the one of interpreting one's environment in comparison to the one of going to court with your adversary, or do they stand alone?

Is there a deeper level that Jesus wanted us to interpret?

Or, is it simply saying, literally, settle a dispute before it ends up in an expensive legal battle, with possible disastrous consequences?

Or, maybe both?

Ask Him For What You Need

by Sarah

The other night I read in Matthew (ch20 vs 29-34) how two blind men received sight. These men asked for help and we are told that Jesus had compassion on them and healed them.

It seems so simple, they asked the Lord for what they wanted, and He, who wanted the best for them, gave them the thing that they desired.

But what stands out at me is that even when the crowds rebuked these men and told them to be quiet, they called out all the louder to Jesus.

I rarely pray for what I need, and even less for what I want. The crowds rebuking the men reminds me of how often my feelings get in the way of prayer. I feel that I should NOT pray for a certain thing, or that it is arrogant to assume that my trivial issues should be taken before God. He has more important business.

Through this passage God was telling me that He wants us to hand over our trivial issues to Him because He wants the best for us, and He will take care of us, that we can and should ask Him for what we need, regardless of "the crowds" because He wants to give us good things.

Never Give Up

By Richard

Winston Churchill is famous for the following words, “Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty--never give in!”

In Luke 18, Jesus tells the parable of the persistent widow to show us, His followers, that we should always pray and not give up. If you like, it is Jesus’ “never give in” speech to the disciples.

I don’t know about you, but I’m often “giving up” in prayer. If I don’t see a prayer answered within a reasonable time frame then it tends to fade away. Praying for my friends to find faith is one of those prayers that can come and go like the tides. I read recently that praying for people to become believers is one of those "never give up prayers" that Jesus calls His followers to be making.

Later, in Luke 18:18-30, Jesus tells us that it is hard for rich people to become His followers. God needs to do a miracle as great as squeezing a camel through the eye of a needle. But we need to trust Him because He can do the impossible. We live in one of the richest periods of the world’s history! I guess people haven’t given up on the faith, they have found it in materialism. We need some impossible miracles!

So I have started to pray for some impossible miracles, the kind that can squeeze a camel through the eye of a needle. I’ve been doing a lot of swimming and each length of the pool I try to pray for one or two people to become believers. Swimming, I imagine the waters of God baptising them. Since I swim 40-50 lengths, several times a week, I get to pray for quite a few people.

I’m praying for miracles! But I’m also trying to obey Jesus’ call to keep on praying, even if the miracles are a long time coming. So I plan to keep on swimming and keep on praying!

Never give up, keep on praying!

Using Faith

By Richard

In Luke 17: 5 the disciples asked Jesus to, “Increase [their] faith.” Jesus replied to them that if they had faith as small as a mustard seed they could tell a tree “to go take a jump in the lake” (well something like that) and it would obey them!

The point that Jesus is making is that we don’t need more faith we need to start using the faith we have. Philip Yancey describes faith as “practicing the existence of God”. Practically living in a way that demonstrates you believe God and His word to be more real than the physical world around you.

God answered my prayers for help with the admin work at Mountainview in an amazing way. He sent us Heather (and husband Ed). Heather has only been living in Madrid a week and she’s already offered to help with the admin. She’s not just a willing volunteer but a highly gifted and very willing volunteer. Our God is an awesome God.

These are some of the prayers that I am faithfully continuing to pray, in faith, for Mountainview.

…That I would/we would experience a personal and congregational revolution; imitating Christ and obeying His teaching and, by so doing, becoming an undeniable light for Christ in Madrid!

…That God will send us some good musicians. I’m praying for another worship leader, a base player, drummer, another keyboard player, female vocalists (any other requests Lawrence?)

…That God would send us a sound engineer.

…That Mountainview will grow to 75 adults by the end of this summer (2006) and that we will be able to start weekly services in September.

…That a Christian Associates family would join the staff full time by the end of this summer (2006)! That they would have a primary gifting in evangelism and be a close match with Riekje and myself, the current leadership, and the church community.

…That God would bring us to the point where Mountainview could give 50% of its income to missions and caring for people in need.

…That we would start a couple of caring ministries that bring God’s love and mercy to the poor and needy in the region.

…That in 2010 we would see 500 people give their lives to Christ and be baptised (I originally thought of 50 but then when I thought of God’s heart for people and the millions in Europe that don’t know Christ, so I thought yes, we’d better add a naught and figure out how we are going to do this).

…That Mountainview would establish 3 new churches by 2010, with at least one of them Spanish speaking (Arganda Juan?).

…That Mountainview will eventually open a large multifunctional campus with restful grounds and useful facilities. Somewhere that becomes a natural meeting place for internationals, and offers local Spanish churches meeting spaces too.

…That Mountainview would start a couple of small business that offer employment, benefit the community, and are a natural way for us to be in contact with many people.

I’m praying that these things will come to pass, or be refined by God to even greater things, so that many will see the power of God at work before their eyes and they themselves come to love and trust Jesus with all of their hearts.

Use your faith and pray with me.

Wealth is Dangerous

By Richard

Luke 16 is another one of the Gospel passages where Jesus talks a lot about money. We need to take note because He does so way more often than many of us in the material saturated west like to hear. I think that these are some of the things that Jesus says about material wealth in the chapter (not in order).

Wealth is dangerous because it can take away our focus from God (13)

Wealth is dangerous because it can make us think too much of, and about, ourselves (14, 15)

Wealth is dangerous because it can isolate us from others (inverse of 9)

Everything we have belongs to God. We are managers of God’s wealth, not owners of our wealth (1-9)

How we use wealth during our lifetime will determine what God entrusts us with in eternity (10-12)

We need to repent of misusing wealth (30)

We need to use our wealth to look after the poor and needy (19-26)

We need to use our wealth to build relationships with others (9)

Idea for Mountainview: How about using some of your income to specifically build bridges with those who do not yet have faith. Treat them to a coffee, buy them lunch, have them over and cook them a nice meal.

Jesus Atttracted Sinners!

By Richard

Luke 15 is one of those amazing chapters in the Gospels.

Jesus the pure, spotless, Lamb of God attracted “sinners” to hear Him and yet the so called “religious types” seem dreadfully repelled. What was it about Jesus that so attracted them to Him? My attempts at being pure and “Godly” have so often repelled others. Perhaps some of the answer lies in the 3 parables that Jesus used to show us God’s heart of love for lost people. (This is the only time that Jesus tells 3 parables back to back about the same theme – repetition equals importance!)

We find God on a search and rescue mission for the missing. He’s on a sweep and find mission for the lost. He’s continually looking down the dusty roads of life for any that might get the smallest inkling to return to Him and runs many miles to meet those who start the journey home. When sinners repent He welcomes them back as children, treats them royally, and all of heaven roars in celebration.

That’s God!

But then there are the some of us, people so full of pride, about how we’ve “kept the rules” and “slaved so hard for God” that we fail to hear the sounds of the great party echoing from above. We fail to enter in the celebrations because we have not tasted of God’s heart of love.

I think that what attracted sinners was His heart of love. May we taste deeply of His love so that we too can truly love! May our heart beat become one with that of God! May God’s passionate love to seek and save the lost be also ticking away inside of us, consciously and unconsciously! May we get to hear and join the celebrations, for “sinners” who have come home, many, many times!