Spreading the Word – MCF 2018 Review

Whether hardship or joy we are confident that God is continually in control if we humbly submit to His Will in all circumstances

Source: Flickr

2018 has passed by so quickly and it is only on reflection that we can see the wonderful way that God is using His Church in such a diverse and dynamic way. The Fellowship at MCF Life Church has not really grown in numbers in 2018 however and significantly there is clear spiritual growth within the MCF family. The variety of ministries that God has given us the privilege to do in the Fellowship is quite remarkable for such a small Fellowship, however, only made possible by the obedience of those commissioned and with the Power of the Holy Spirit.

For some in the Fellowship 2018 has a particularly tough year where a number of our congregation have suffered significant health issues and others have had to deal with those difficult challenges that life seems to continually throw at us. There have also been many moments of joy where God continues to answer prayer and pour out His Spirit in abundance. We have also been blessed with a new life into the Fellowship with the arrival of baby Elijah in early 2018. Whether hardship or joy we are confident that God is continually in control if we humbly submit to His Will in all circumstances; Proverbs 3:5-6 ‘Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight’.

As 2018 draws to a close we thought it would be a real blessing to share some popular blog articles that members of our congregation have posted throughout the year.  We have been publishing a new article each Sunday for just under three and a half years and God has blessed the blog to receive over 330,000 views (nearly 100,000 in 2018) from all over the World. Mark 16:15 ‘He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation’.

The blog articles below are not listed in any order of popularity. If you click on the article title you will be directed to the relevant article. Why not also take the time to listen to some of the fantastic worship songs which you will find at the end of each article. You will also find other Words of God, Teachings and Testimonies in our blog archive at the right-hand side of the main blog page and if you would prefer to listen to our 2018 Online Sermons and Bible Studies then take a look at our MCF Website (link) and go to the message online. Be blessed.

What would Jesus think?
It’s time to stand up for Christ
The Author and Finisher of our lives
God will never let you down
Only God knows who I really am!
Praying from the heart is the key to answering prayer
Why, why, why?
A Transformed Heart Can Change the World
You’re a Good Good Father
The Wrong Question?
Be Still and Know that I am God
Life
What is the price for revival?
Fight the good fight

As a fellowship, we pray that God's Word speaks into the hearts and minds of those who read and receive it and that lives are changed forever as a result. We give all Glory to God and pray that people Make Christ First in their lives. Amen.

Wishing everyone a happy and blessed New Year from everyone at MCF Life Church. Matthew 6:33 ‘But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well’.

Author: MCF Blog Editor

May God bless and enrich your life

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Run the Race

Our focus is on the prize of Heaven. When we focus on that prize, we will be able by the Power of the Holy Spirit to not only to finish the race but finish it strongly.

Source: Alex Becker

I recently read a passage in a Max Lucado daily devotion book and it really spoke to me and blessed me, so I would like to share the blessing with you all. The passage is entitled ‘Run the race’. Hebrews 12:1 ‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us’.

Agon (Classical Greek) is an ancient Greek term for a struggle or contest. This could be a contest in athletics, in chariot or horse racing, or in music or literature at a public festival in ancient Greece. Agon is the word-forming element in 'agony', explaining the concept of agon(y). ‘The Christian race is not a jog but rather a demanding and gruelling, sometime agonising race and it takes a massive effort to finish strongly. You may have noticed that many don’t finish strongly and surely you would also have noticed there are many who are on the side of the race track. These represent people who used to be in the race, running and keeping pace however something happened which resulted in weariness setting in. They did not think the race would be as tough, they experienced the agony of the race. By contrast Jesus’s best work was His final work and His strongest step was His last step. Jesus is our Master who is the classic example of one who endured…… He could have quit the race, but he didn’t’ (Taken from Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado).

The above passage reminded me of my PE lessons many years ago. In the lesson, we would take part in long distant running in freezing cold weather conditions and it was painful. For some strange reason, I never managed to learn the art of ‘pacing myself’. I would always start the race by sprinting and by the end of the first lap I was out of breath, but there would still be seven laps to go!!! By the final lap, I was exhausted. The final lap was always so painful, my legs would be hurting, I would have a stitch in my side and my lungs would be burning with the inhalation of the freezing cold air. However, giving up was never an option. The brutal PE teachers standing on the side-lines would demand I finish and so I did.

Source: By Shine Design

Like the passage says, the Christian Journey can be like those agonising long distant runs and the PE teachers (God’s angels) are stationed on the side-lines by God’s instruction to encourage us to keep going. The absolute crucial thing is to keep in the race no matter what the cost. Finishing the race is a matter of life ‘in all eternity’ (John 3:16) or death ‘in the furnace of fire’ (Matthew 13:42). Our focus is on the prize of Heaven. When we focus on that prize, we will be able by the Power of the Holy Spirit to not only to finish the race but finish it strongly. Then how wonderful it will be when we lay our victor’s crown before the thrown saying; Revelation 4:10 ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power’.

God makes it very clear in the Bible, the living Word of God, that to follow Jesus will require a sacrifice of self. We must die to the carnal self so that Christ can live in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us repeatedly that we will be hated and persecuted for Jesus’ namesake; (Mark 13:13, Matthew 10:22, Luke 21:17, Hebrews 11:25, 1 Peter 2:20, Matthew 5:11).

Let's finish this blog where we started with the words from the above passage; ‘The Christian race is not a jog but rather a demanding and gruelling, sometime agonising race. It takes massive effort to finish strongly’. God help us in the name of Jesus and by the Power of the Holy Spirit to understand the brutal race we are running in. Holy Spirit please help us to prepare daily so we can stay in the race and finish it strongly; 1 Corinthians 9:25-27 ‘Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize’.

All for God’s Glory. Amen.

Author: Anonymous

May God bless and enrich your life   

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The Free Gift of Eternal Life

MCF Life Church - Christmas Message 2018

Jesus invites anyone and everyone to come and receive the gift of eternal life that He is offering, and the forgiveness of sins that He purchased for each one of us through His shed blood on the cross

Source: PInterest

Every year brings with it new challenges, some good, some not so good and for MCF Life Church 2018 has been no exception. We started the year having begun our new ‘Shekinah’ meeting in conjunction with fellow believers in Coleshill, held at Coleshill Town Hall, which is for Christians of any denomination who wish to experience God in the freedom of the Holy Spirit. Shekinah means ‘God’s dwelling’ which is something we aim to achieve at each meeting, to let God dwell with us and see where it takes us. We’re still learning.

I am the Pastor of MCF Life Church and in the summer my wife and I met with about 15,000 other Christians in the 02 Arena, London at the Hillsong UK Conference and we were mightily blessed.  We brought back a Word which we believed God was challenging us with, that within the next five years we were to plant another church and that MCF Life Church would not look the same as it does now.

Another first for MCF Life Church in 2018 was to support a member of the fellowship on the mission field. The Bass player of the worship team, Jo O’Neill, went over to India for three months with her friend on a missionary trip to work with disadvantaged children in an orphanage, which I think initially was a bit of a shock to her system as the living conditions weren’t quite what she was used to. Never-the-less she tells us that it was an amazing experience. During her trip Jo she sent back many photos of the people and work they were involved with over there, which you can view on our MCF Church Website by clicking on (this link).

Source: Bisconti Ministries

On September 29th in Coventry’s old Cathedral and later in the day in Meriden Park people from all over our nation and beyond came together in response to a Word God had given to Peter Hill, an Englishman living in Canada to ‘Call the Nation to Prayer’, which he knew was referring to the UK. He and another man from Chelmsford, David Gilby got together having met at a prayer meeting in Birmingham and heard from the Lord that they should call the nation to prayer in the Centre of England to pray for the nation. They gathered a team of people around them and spent several months planning and bringing the event together, believing that this would be the start of the fulfilment of the prophesy given particularly by Smith Wigglesworth in 1947; ‘when those of ‘the Word and those of ‘the Spirit’ would come together there will be the biggest move of the Holy Spirit the nations, and indeed, the world have ever seen. It will mark the beginning of a revival that will eclipse anything that has been witnessed within these shores…’. These were amazing meetings and the presence of the Holy Spirit was felt at both gatherings. There is now great anticipation as people take back to their part of the nation what God has imparted. ‘Call the Nation to Prayer’ is what was spoken by the prophet Joel and referred to in Acts 2:17-21 ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’.

In the latter part of the year MCF Life Church had to ‘step up’ as a Fellowship and run the church without me as Pastor and my wife Lyn. Lyn had to have a major operation which took us both out of the picture for several weeks, but God is good and the whole fellowship pulled together and kept going, for which the we were sincerely grateful. We were always confident this would happen as Jesus is in the centre of it all and is ultimately the Senior Pastor.

God is so amazing and to serve Him is the most incredible privilege anyone could ever possibly experience. I for one know that full well. But it’s not just for the privileged few, it’s for anyone who wishes to have it. Jesus invites anyone and everyone to come and receive the gift of eternal life that He is offering, and the forgiveness of sins that He purchased for each one of us through His shed blood on the cross. The bible tells us in John 3:16 ’For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life’. Notice the scripture says ‘Whoever’ which includes YOU. We are in the last of the last days according to God’s Word, so time is running out. None of us know when our last day is, so today is the day to ask God for His forgiveness. If you want to know more or have someone help you make that decision, then find a church where the gospel is preached and go along and ask someone to help you. Start the New Year as a New Creation with a new freedom and a new life; 2 Corinthians 5:15-20 ‘And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: the old has gone, the new has come!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:  that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God’.

May God bless you and be with you this Christmas and New Year, from all at MCF Life Church.

Author: Pastor Kevin Hunt

May God bless and enrich your life   
 
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The Gospel through Sport

Remember that whether you win or lose, God can be glorified through your hard work

Source: Knowing Jesus

Sports are not the traditional way of sharing the Gospel, but we all have natural gifts and we are all called to use them. The roads to Rome carried the Gospel in the first century, but sports and other natural giftings could arguably be a means of carrying the Gospel today. Some might question why sports evangelism is even a consideration? However, sport is important for several reasons;

1. The World has become more resistant to traditional forms of ministry.
2. Sports attempts to go where traditional evangelism has not been effective in reaching the lost.
3. People are familiar with sports personalities, media events and competitions they are already following. (When these persons get saved, they tend to be very passionate!  and they already have a captive audience).
4. Sports connect with people and move towards active discipleship. Sports evangelism is necessary because it attracts the secularized and the ‘unchurched’; it primarily reaches two missing groups in the Church (men and youth) and it fulfills church growth principles.
5. People are mostly influenced while having fun and athletic facilities attract people.

The bible often speaks of analogies and stories as encouragement for persevering and achieving our goals. There are therefore many verses that can offer athletes motivation and inspiration for training and competition.  Remember that whether you win or lose, God can be glorified through your hard work:

Philippians 4:13 ‘I can do all this through him who gives me strength’

Hebrews 12:1 ‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us’

Isaiah 40:31 ‘but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint’

1 Corinthians 9:24 ‘Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize’

Source: Berean Baskets

Christians in Football (CIF) is an example of the power of sport in bringing the Gospel to places and people that may not have been initially open to receive it. CIF was founded in order to serve the UK network of teams, Churches, and Christian players involved in non-league football. CIF is both a Network and Mission Agency which seeks effective and creative ways to help empower Church-based football groups and also aims to reach people for Christ and then bring them to maturity in both their Faith and their sport.

My son was privileged to be part of a CIF team and in doing so he traveled with the team to France, Croatia, Repton in Derbyshire and other parts of Britain. They spend time in fellowship after the games where some of the players would give personal testimonies. The team would also get involved in outreach in the communities they visited, arranging football matches with schools and colleges and other teams, where they were able to bring a witness when the opportunity arose; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 ‘There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work’ and 1 Peter 4:10 ‘Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms’.

Heather Dorniden is a committed Christian, born 1987 and was a middle-distance runner and four times United States National Champion in the one-mile race. Heather was an ordinary person who did an extraordinary thing that went viral on social media. In an important track event in Minnesota in 2008 Heather gave an inspiring example of how we can do all thing through Christ who strengthens us, by taking a fall during the race, getting to her feet and incredibly winning. The short video at the end of this article shows you what happened. This is what she said in an interview about the race; ‘What’ s probably most powerful is the sheer quantity and variety of people with different backgrounds who all have felt compelled to reach out to tell how the race effected them’.  She continued; ‘this race is so easily relatable to everybody's lives.  I've heard of cancer survivors, people battling addiction, struggling artists, parents, athletes and runners of every age and ability, (taking part) the list could go on. I always tell people this race isn't just about never giving up, it's about discovering what you're capable of when you are given the opportunity to rise above adversity’. She also went on to say that she is constantly striving to represent God who has blessed her life abundantly; Colossians 3:23-24 ‘Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving’.

May the Lord truly bless you. 

Author: Anonymous

May God bless and enrich your life     

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Lean not on our own understanding

I am so grateful that I can keep coming back to God for help, for forgiveness and for His understanding.

Source: Vidcha.com

Earlier this year a member of our Fellowship brought a Word from Luke 1:26-45: 

‘In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you’.

‘Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end’. ‘How will this be’, Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin’? The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail’. 'I am the Lord’s servant’, Mary answered. ‘May your word to me be fulfilled’. Then the angel left her’.

‘At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: ‘Blessed are you among women and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!’

Source: europosters.pt

I remember being excited as the same passage had been on my heart for several weeks, although how God spoke to the person who brought the word was different to how God spoke to me. What struck me from the passage was Mary's courage. She knew how the news of her pregnancy could be received and how Joseph could reject her. Although her reputation could also be ruined, and she could have been stoned to death, she said ‘let it be to me as You have said’. Joseph sought God’s understanding and God spoke to him in a dream and he listened. Mary hurried from her community to spend time with Elizabeth who was filled with Holy Spirit and the understanding that God alone can give. The child in Elizabeth's womb leaped for Joy at the sound of Mary's greeting as she entered Elizabeth's home. How beautiful.

We too need to seek God’s understanding in all our ways and relationships; Proverbs 3:5-6 ‘Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight’. It's too easy to misunderstand one another. I found it interesting that Mary did not stay in her own community. I wonder why? But there were those who sought God and He gave Mary His understanding. They rejoiced with Heaven and encouraged Mary. 1 Corinthians 13 is very well known, and the last verse sums up this message very well; ‘And now these three remain faith, hope and love’. The great test of these is love. I know me, I know the battles and I have to understand and to love people. I am so grateful that I can keep coming back to God for help, for forgiveness and for His understanding. Relationships are far from easy and I suppose that's why so many are broken. 

We have access to our Heavenly Father 24/7 and He has promised to give us wisdom, insight and understanding if we ask Him. It's our choice to walk a certain way and to be obedient, just like Mary decided to be obedient despite knowing the possible consequences. Let us lean not on our own understanding but submit to the understanding of the one who holds us in the palm of His hand.

God bless.

Author: Anonymous

May God bless and enrich your life   

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