24/7 Ireland Event

The Altar

I remember at Bible College a missionary came to class one day to bring God's Word to the students. He brought the well known text from Romans 12:1-2, challenging us to bring our lives as living sacrifices to God. That morning, this teacher, brought the text to life by adding the illustration of the priest placing the sacrifice on the altar under the levitical law. The priest, he said, placed the offering up onto the altar, the fire blazing in all it's power and heat. The offering would begin to get consumed by the flames, but as it got hotter, all the fat, the rubbish, would come out and cause the sacrifice to begin to slip of the altar. The priest would then reach down and with his two big tongs or forks he would push the animal back into the centre of the fire keeping it in the midst of the heat.
This offering is like our lives as living sacrifices. We get on the altar but when it gets hot and painful and all the impurity comes out we begin to slip off. We need some big forks to keep us at the centre of the altar allowing ourselves to be offered fully to God. These two forks, explained this inspiring missionary, are Discipline and Obedience. When we feel ourselves slipping of the Altar, as living sacrifices, we must get our lives back into a place of being disciplines and obedient.

Recently I have talked to a lot of people about the Altar of Romans 12, this week I climbed on to it. It is not nice and I want to get off but I am trying to be disciplined and obedient.

It hurts

True

Been on a great wee journey this past month or so working alongside Alain and John, giving leadership to True, a missional community for the 20s & 30s in our church.
The true blog is now active
www.true-emmanuel.blogspot.com

Kingdom Builders

Just home from meeting with a bunch of business men in Belfast. It was a foreign culture for me. Put me in front of a thousand kids and I am fine but business men in suits well I was out of my comfort zone to say the least. These guys collectively release hundreds of thousands of quid into the Kingdom of God. It was amazing to see the other side of ministry. I am so used to being on the front end doing the delivery but today I spent time sitting on the other side of the Kingdom spectrum, meeting with the releasers, the supporters and fuel supply of the work of the Gospel. It was an amazing experience to learn what drives these guys, to see and hear their hearts and then to realise that they go back to their mission fields of running companies and investing in properties and all that stuff. A few years ago I probably woulld have been so synical of the wealthy and not understood the Christian wealth, but I am learning and I am understanding. Today I was humbled to be around great Kingdom people. Thanking Jesus for his creative ability placed in peoples hearts to generate money and resource for the advancement of the Gospel.