MCC BLOG

read john 6.1-15;26
What is the motiviation for my interest in Jesus?
What is the reason for my worship of God?
Are my motivation and reason for being a Christian flawed?
Am I in it just to get my fill?
‘What can I get out of it?’ seems to be a very common way to assess whether something is worth believing it, something worth doing or getting involved in.
Could it be that Jesus deserves respect just because of who He is, no matter whether I get my fill?
Could it be that God deserves our worship just because He is God, regardless of what I get out of it?
If God is God and Jesus is who He says he is, then I might have more duty to worship than the right or need to.

read John 5.1-9
Poor chap. 38 years next to the pool with the potential of getting healed, and yet he never made it in time. Well, not unfamiliar to me. Not that I’m 38. Sometimes opportunities pass you by real quick.
Jesus asks him if he wants to get well. Pretty obvious. But in his answer the chap can only see his failure to succeed in the last 38 years or so. He can only see what there is to see.
He can only see the status quo, the ‘realistic’ opportunity, the ‘it’s always been that way and therefor it always will be’.
“Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!” He gets up, picks up his mat and walks!
Jesus, let me see the opportunities only you can open up for me. Don’t let me be stuck in the past failures, but hear your call and get up and walk into the future.

read John 2.1-11
Jesus changes water into wine. Sounds good. But why? The Son of God visits planet earth and one of the first things he does as he goes puplic is change water into choice wine. Why?
A new era has started! Forget the boring water. Jesus turns up and suddenly the celebration gets a boost.
Once Jesus arrives at the scene of your life - your life gets a boost. Jesus brings life of a different quality - eternal life.
Forget the ‘dry’ ceremonial washes, forget the meaningless religious rituals.
Once Jesus arrives at the scene of your life - your spiritual experience gets a boost. Jesus brings things like prayer, bible reading and worship to a different level of experience.
Suddenly Jesus is here and serves up the best life has to offer.

I love New Year as I always feel like it’s a brand new start. It doesn’t matter what mistakes you made last year because its all in the past. We can start again with a clean sheet. With God we always have new starts we can always do it better next time and we can always give it another try. I just had a great thing sent to me by Rick Warren who wrote the very popular book ‘Purpose Driven Life’ he has written the 10 ‘CAN’mandments which really will help when we get negative in the coming year.
We say ‘It will never fly’ 1. ‘It’s worth giving a try!’ We say ‘It won’t work!’ 2. ‘We’ll make it work!’ We say ‘It’s never been done before!’ 3. ‘We have the opportunity to be the first!’ We say ‘ What if we fail?’ 4. ‘What if we fail to try?’ We say ‘We don’t have the money.’ 5. ‘Money flows to great ideas!’ We say ‘We don’t have the time.’ 6. ‘We can re-evaluate our priorities!’ We say ‘We don’t have the expertise.’ 7. ‘All leaders are learners!’ We say ‘It’s been tried before.’ 8. ‘There’s always room to improve. We’re wiser now!’ We say ‘There are so many problems with it.’ 9. ‘Think of the possibilities!!’ We say It’s not working out.’ 10. ‘Let’s try it one more time - from a different angle!!’
‘I CAN do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me!’ The Bible Let’s be more positive in 2006!!