Tag: Influence

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This Sunday @ healingsprings fellowship 

Community Regeneration Workshop with Mike Chesterton, Tearfund

As our nation is bitterly divided over the referendum, where is the place of the church?
Well, there are many things we could argue about with regards to Christianity or Christian Theology, however, most will agree to our call to social action at grassroots level through the instrument of the local church.
Luke depicts this beautifully through his writing. In his Gospel he gives us insight into the life of Christ, then in the book of Acts he shows us case studies of the impact of the life of Christ.
To this end the renown philosopher and social theorist Jürgen Habermas presciently noted that, 

” . . . ideals of freedom and a collective life in solidarity, the autonomous conduct of life and emancipation, the individual morality of conscience, human rights and democracy, is the direct legacy of the Judaic ethic of justice and the Christian ethic of love.”

So, join us! 

3pm – 4:30pm

Bexleyheath Academy, Woolwich Road, Bexley DA6 7DA

Ps: Do share with friends, especially those within your network.

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This Sunday at Healingsprings fellowship, Manufactured Consent: Did God Say?

Right from creation, the freedom to make our choices and follow through has been fundamental to our human existence. For instance, in the garden of Eden God gave Adam a choice between the tree of life, or the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So Adam had at his disposal the information, and the right to make his decision.

However, when Satan came on the scene the story takes a different twist. He said to Eve, “Did God say?”. Once those three words were introduced, her belief system was under enormous stress, and in the end she succumbs to the dream of being like God. At this juncture I hasten to qualify that this doesn’t put the blame on females for humanity’s fall, Adam was equally responsible for the outcome. If anything, it was joint enterprise.

Fast forward to 1988, and we are introduced to a ground breaking work by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky entitled, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media.

In their research they analysed the news media, arguing that the mass media of the United States “are effective and powerful ideological institutions that carry out a system-supportive propaganda function by reliance on market forces, internalised assumptions, and self-censorship, and without overt coercion”.

In simple terms, their work can be encapsulated with these words by Noam Chomsky, “Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state”.

With this in mind, this Sunday I will be exploring the spiritual dimension of information in a lecture entitled, Manufactured Consent: Did God say?

Friends, I’ve come to realise that the information we are exposed to is vital to the fulfilment of our purpose, and ultimately our destiny. In a letter to friends in Rome, Paul made a profound statement which strengthens this argument: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”.

So why not drop-by for a life-changing experience? This 90 mins might end up being a catalyst for some awesome things.

(6:00 – 7:30)pm

The Drama Room, Bexleyheath Academy, Woolwich Road, Bexleyheath, Kent DA6 7D

There are free parking spaces directly in front of the school and on adjacent streets

Our Big Sunday Celebration can be best described as a community Christian festival. So in the spirit of thanksgiving, together we: sing, pray, give, celebrate life, discuss current affairs, present thoughts from Biblical themes, and encourage one another; like one big family!

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Spiritual Intelligence: Do You See What I See?

Do you see what I see my dear friends? Something has badly gone wrong… Our priorities have been hijacked and misguided. Like Naomi, we need to return home, return to our first love, return to power and strength!

As a backdrop, lets consider this passage;

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem village, Judah territory— this was during Herod’s kingship—a band of scholars arrived in Jerusalem from the East. They asked around, “Where can we find and pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews? We observed a star in the eastern sky that signaled his birth. We’re on pilgrimage to worship him.”

I always find this account captured in Matthew’s Gospel fascinating. Even though these men had wealth, honour, power, influence and intelligence, they still recognised the place of God in their lives. So it saddens me to see spirit filled believers, chasing what these fellas had at the expense of what they have.

It was Jesus’ burning desire that we recognise, protect and nurture what we have, so we don’t lose it or have it stolen by our adversary, hence he said:

So don’t worry at all about having enough food and clothing. Why be like the heathen? For they take pride in all these things and are deeply concerned about them. But your heavenly Father already knows perfectly well that you need them, and he will give them to you if you give him first place in your life and live as he wants you to.

We fast forward after Jesus’ death and we stumble across Peter’s stern rebuke to Simon when he tried to offer them money in exchange for the gift of the Holy Spirit.

When Simon saw that the apostles by merely laying on hands conferred the Spirit, he pulled out his money, excited, and said,

Sell me your secret! Show me how you did that! How much do you want? Name your price!”

Peter said, “To hell with your money! And you along with it. Why, that’s unthinkable—trying to buy God’s gift! You’ll never be part of what God is doing by striking bargains and offering bribes. Change your ways—and now! Ask the Master to forgive you for trying to use God to make money. I can see this is an old habit with you; you reek with money-lust.

Little wonder why this subject came up again in John’s revelation on the Isle of Patmos, as a note of caution to us:

Here’s what I want you to do: Buy your gold from me, gold that’s been through the refiner’s fire. Then you’ll be rich. Buy your clothes from me, clothes designed in Heaven. You’ve gone around half-naked long enough. And buy medicine for your eyes from me so you can see, really see.

Lets us pray. Lord help us to recognise, protect and nurture your gift to us. Help us to make the right choices, help us to prioritise our lives, help us to lead praiseworthy lives – amen.

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~ Sabali