Mapperley Minister's Monday Morning Mail, 14th January 2013

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Loving God | Loving Each Other | Loving our Community

Good Morning!


"Though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red as crimson,

they shall be like wool." Isaiah 1:18


I like the snow. I know it causes all sorts of travel inconvenience, especially for the elderly among us, but I love the way it makes the landscape clean and white. God uses snow as a picture of the forgiveness that he gives to us – that even when we've messed up horribly, he can and will wash us as clean as fresh snow when we turn back to him.


Yesterday morning we were thinking about John the Baptist and Jesus' baptism. There's loads that can be said about it, but the key is that Jesus in his baptism becomes one with us so that we can become one with him and hear God the Father's voice to us saying that we are his beloved children. Glen Scriviner explains it really well in this video – well worth a watch if you've got 5 minutes.

321 from Jeremy Poyner on Vimeo.


There's plenty of other stuff going on.

  • In Lent, we're doing homegroups differently. Instead of normal groups, we're going to run a series of courses, and you can pick which one you'd like to do. I've attached a form with more details. They're also available in church, please fill one in and get it back to me or the office. Electronically is fine.

  • On February 10th, after the 11am service we're having a bring & share lunch. Please put it in your diaries.

  • On Saturday March 9th, some of our young people are being confirmed in Southwell Minster, which is really exciting. The service starts at 7:30pm (I think!)


Several people have asked me to share a blog post I wrote a while ago on Tim Keller's 10 tips for personal evangelism. Here they are.

  1. Let people around you know you are a Christian (in a natural, unforced way)

  2. Ask friends about their faith – and just listen!

  3. Listen to your friends' problems – maybe offer to pray for them

  4. Share your problems with others – testify to how your faith helps you

  5. Give them a book to read

  6. Share your story

  7. Answer objections and questions

  8. Invite them to a church event

  9. Offer to read the Bible with them

  10. Take them to an explore course

Keller goes on to say that we too often start with 8-10 because we think these are what count as true evangelism, but we need to start with 1-4 with most people. Indeed we may need to loop through them several times before we can move on to 5-10. Personally, I find I tend to struggle most with #4 - I like to give the impression that everything is ok, but if I always do that, I never really show how God helps me through the tough bits!


Hope you have a great week, and that you manage to enjoy the snow!

God bless,


John

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