Inspire part 5 - Focus on the Basics

See previous posts - Previous instalments of Inspire- part 1; part 2; part 3; part 4


A lot of people complain about the amount of spurious, questionable and unsolicited email that fills their inbox. For some reason I've never had any problems with that kind of stuff. My inbox gets cluttered with "christian" junk mail. Intrigued by one of these emails one day I followed the link. Once at the destination I found the answer to godly, Biblical health I've been searching for all my life. (Please note the previous sentence is dripping with sarcasm). I decided for no logical reason to take the tour and find out what they believe the Bible says about healthy eating and dieting. As with most of these "faith based" diet programs it was based on a number of loosely strung together Scripture verses taken out of context and horribly applied (but that's a whole other rant for another day). I did, however, find the secret to losing weight: you fill up on "specially" designed supplements and pills and then when meal time comes you're not hungry.

My point isn't really about diets or such things, my point is we humans, and for the particular purpose of this article Christians, make things too complicated. Why do I need to know what kind of grass Adam ate, where I can get it and how much of it I'm supposed to eat? Most importantly why is some "christian" trying to sell me a year's worth of it for half a year's wages?!!
I tried to make a point last week that we need to focus on the basics of the Christian life. I think many Christians, including myself, live unnecessarily complicated lives. I'm not saying ignore the details in favour of the big picture. We do need to make sure that the details we're concerned with are valid. I'm going to give you three broad areas to consider. Like I said last week, make sure you do the basics well before you start building on them.

We need to be:

1. People of Devotion - We must be actively cultivating our love for God. Get in your Bible and investigate His character. Learn to stand in awe of Him, adore Him and desire to know Him. Be devoted to God above all else. This basic will never be exhausted. You will find that devotion to God will lead you to be devoted to people. You will learn what it means to truly love people. Your heart will expand.

2. People of Dedication - Your devotion to God will lead you to be dedicated to God's mission and God's people. You need to dedicate your life to sharing Jesus with those around you. You need to dedicate yourself to your church. Not your social clubs or even other Christian groups. You need to be dedicated to your church body and bringing others into your church by sharing the Gospel.

3. People of Discipline - Just obey God. Learn, grow, change. Instead of complicating and rationalising just do what the Bible says. Don't complain that I'm being too simplistic, that's rationalizing :^)

I'll leave you to chew on that for a while but don't forget to eat your barley green supplement and wash it down with a wheat grass shot. As for me I'm having a steak!


Pastor Brian

Monday Morning A-Musement

Monday morning's can be tough to face sometimes. Here's something to ease the trauma of Monday morning.

I Wonder, Is There A God?

In our services at Cambridge Baptist tomorrow we continue our series call "7 Wonders". This week we will be answering the question "I wonder is there a God and if so what is He doing"? You can start finding some of the answers by reading Acts 17:16-31 and Genesis 1-3.

You can listen to the first sermon (I wonder Why Do I Exist?) here.

Pastor Brian

Inspire part 4- Now We're Flying

Previous instalments of Inspire- part 1; part 2; part 3

At noon on December 17, 1903 the Wright brothers made history. Wilbur Wright flew 260m in 59 seconds. It was the first controlled flight. People had been flying in gliders before the Wright brothers but it was Orville and Wilbur that figured out how to control flight and make powered flight a reality.

Before the Wright brothers everything was done fundamentally wrong. After the Wright brothers nothing has been done fundamentally different.

Why is this? They recognised the basics and applied them and since then the fundamentals of flying haven't changed. Flying has become faster and more efficient but planes still flies the same. 2 men changed the world that day and look how rapidly it's changed!

What has that got to do with me I hear you ask? Growth in any form can't happen apart from the basics. When the fundamentals are lost everything begins to fall apart. Flight was never going to happen until we learned the fundamentals of flight. In Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus gives us the fundamentals of life. Is there more to living for God than this? Yes, there is. The Bible is full of the details of living for God but when the rest is separated from the basics we end up in a mess. Jesus said everything else hangs on these two things: 1) to love God supremely and 2) to love others as ourselves.

Within 2 years the Wrights had a practical flyer and soon began flight schools in Europe and the US and even built a military flyer. Look where we are in just over 100 years. For each of us when you've got the basics, growth in your Christian life and church becomes a real result. It still takes time and effort but the fundamentals speed up the process.

The Wright brothers didn't make the fundamentals they found them and then applied them. They started by building kites and moved on from there. The same is true for you and I. In one form or another Jesus would often say to people, "You know the truth, what are you doing about it?" Like the Wrights you've got to start with a "kite" before you can build a "jet".

You see growth isn't so much about finding new things as it is building on old ones. It is growing my love for God and a deeper love for people. Growth is learning how to fit my changing circumstances around my never changing fundamentals.

Not every plane built since the Wright's has flown. Some people, in their zeal to further aviation tried to change the fundamentals. They crashed and burned! The same is true for many Christians. There's a lot of people out there that want to tell you how to be a better Christian but not all of them have stuck to the basics.

If we're going to be people that inspire others to live for God we need to be growing. That means we need to do the basics well. When we do that, growth becomes a reality and an inspiring life will follow.

Until next time,

Pastor Brian

Buddy Rich Live at the Muppets Show

Here's a clip that combines some of my favourite things. Musical genius and The Muppets. Yes, I do like the Muppets so mock me all you want but I don't care.
WARNING: If you're offended by drums this probably isn't the clip for you ;^)

Here is Love

1John 4:9-10
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

from Marie

We start a new series at Cambridge Baptist tomorrow which I am really looking forward to.

Have you ever asked yourself or had someone ask you these questions?

• Why do I exist?
• Is there a God?
• Am I unique?
• Why is life so unfair?
• Why do I feel so alone?
• Why don't I do what I know I should?
• Is there life after death?

If you have ever wondered about any of these things you're not alone. This sermon series will help you discover the answer to those questions. You will discover that the answer is not what you know, but Who you need to know that makes all the difference.

Join us this Sunday and stop wondering!

This week we start by asking "Why do I exist?" Read through Ephesians 1:10-12 and Ephesians 2:8-10 to prepare.

Pastor Brian

Selfless Love

For He is our peace, who hath made one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; (Ephesians 2:14)

Jesus died sacrificially to do what we cannot do on our own - bring us to God and give us peace. What selfless love!

--Kirsten Manning

I See It All Around Me, Everywhere I Go

God's love is displayed all around us. Everyday we enveloped in the goodness and love of God. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord (Psalm 33:3). We experience His love everyday in a myriad of ways and this is true no matter who you are or where you live on this great planet. The sun rises and the rain falls for the benefit of all people (Matthew 5:45).

A Free Gift

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8,9)

God offers everyone the free gift of eternal life. We have to do nothing except receive it in faith. That's Love!

--Kirsten Manning

Witnesses to the World

God shows His love to the world by giving His children to be witnesses of His salvation in this world. God even empowers His children to boldly proclaim Him and His message throughout the whole world.

Acts 1:8

Longsuffering & Merciful God

God made a promise to provide a Saviour from sin the day sin entered the world (Gen. 3:15). God has never forgotten that promise and has provided the promised salvation as well as giving us all abundant time to partake of His salvation. (2 Peter 3:9)

Love That Will Not Let Go

Feeling the pain of rejection by his fiancee, George Matheson found solace in God and penned:

O love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine oceans depths it flow
May richer, fuller be.

Jeremiah 31:3

Sermon Preparation

Making Himself Known

God didn't secretly pay the price for sin and leave mankind to stumble across salvation by accident. Rather, He made Himself and His purpose known. He seeks us and calls us and draws us to Himself.

John 1:14 - And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John 12:32 - And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

50 Words or less

I've been inspired by another blog I often read so I'm stealing their idea. The contributors to that blog have all been posting a blog everyday for a week on ways God shows His love to the world but each post must be 50 words or less.

It just so happens that my sermon this week is about the love of God so I'm just going to continue with the same theme. Each day this week I'll post a short post (50 words or less (c: ) on ways God shows His love. I'm going to open this up for other contributions. So if you've ever wanted to be a world published author here's your chance.

If you want to add to our discussion here's what you need to know:

• Our topic is "Ways God shows His love to the world".


• It should be 50 words or less in length.


• It needs to be Biblically based. What the Bible tells us about God's display of love.


• Email your contribution to Pastor Brian.

You can post one or many it's up to you. Let's encourage one another this week in the thought the God loves the world.

Let's get started:

By giving the law God revealed the righteousness of His character and showed the standard by which all would be judged. This revelation would direct us to the true source of salvation - Jesus Christ. (Galatians 3:24 - 25)

Pastor Brian

Who Would Read Your Biography?

Have you ever thought what a biography of your life would look like? I haven't really until lately. This thought brings up a lot more questions like who would write it and how much would I have to pay them? Would there be enough material for a whole book (perhaps a pop-up book)? What would the title be? What would the cover look like and would it be a hard back or soft cover? You can't tell a book by its cover but for some of us there's not much more to the story! These are all very important questions you realise.

You might remember last week I wrote about living life with an infectious attitude for God. What does that kind of life look like? I recently went to see Amazing Grace the Movie about William Wilberforce, we also watch the video of Through Gates of Splendor about Jim Elliot and His friends at Bible study the other week and on top of all that one of the books I'm reading at the moment is The Life and Diary of David Brainerd a missionary to the American Indians. All of these men lived extraordinary and inspiring lives but a thought struck me the other day about them. None of them lived their life with the thought that their life would be made into a movie or bestselling book. I think inspiring living happens every day. A life of daily decisions that culminates into greatness. Everyday you make decisions which write your biography and it is the culmination of those daily events that shapes your legacy more than one defining moment.

Was it in his death that Jim Elliott became inspiring? I don't think so. God had prepared him his whole life for that day. The result of the day, the doors that opened etc, were all part of that. This is partly why I think the Christian life is called a walk. It is a series of steps that eventually gets you where you're going.

Perhaps this is a little off topic but I think the same principle is true when we witness. How often have you heard someone say they got saved the first time they heard the Gospel? Not very often. It does happen but its rare. The more common testimony is a person accepts Christ as Saviour after several events and influences. Your witness is part of God's plan to bring that person to Him. You may be at the end of the chain and be able to lead them to Christ or you may be at the beginning or somewhere in the middle. Paul planted, Appollos watered but God gave the increase (1 Cor. 3:6).

Today is a landmark day in your life. Live today for God then tomorrow do it all over again. Today, be a witness. It may not look like much today but neither does a single puzzle piece.

Oh, by the way, I'll read your biography.

Pastor Brian

Monday Morning A-Musement

Inspire part 3 - Infectious Attitude

See part 1-Inspire & part 2-Learn from God

Do you remember what the definition of inspire is? You can do it, think hard!

It means, to stimulate to activity or creativity. It's not like those movie reviews which say a movie is "the most inspiring movie of the year". All that means is it's probably one of those soppy chick flicks which is designed to make women cry. What it really means is if I'm truly inspired by someone or something it drives me to make the necessary changes. It motivates me to work hard. When I listen to Wynton Marsalis play the trumpet I want to get my trumpet out and start playing, he inspires me to practice. True passion will expose itself in action not empty emotion.

In 1 Corinthians 11:1 Paul says, Be ye followers of me. We are to be examples to be followed. Inspiring zeal is about letting people see what you're doing is worth the sacrifice.

Our passion for God displayed in action will inspire action in others .

People are watching you. All sorts of people in all sorts of circumstances have their eyes on you and whether you like it or not they are evaluating your life. Every part of it! Scary! People notice how you interact with them and how you treat others, they watch how you handle difficult situations and how you conduct yourself in business. They see what you laugh at and listen to what you talk about. You know it's true because you do it too!

One of the most important things you have is influence. That influence is at work constantly and you choose whether you use that influence for good or for evil. With all those people watching, it's important how you live your life. Every detail counts. Don't be the Christian that's known for seeing how bad the world is. Be the Christian that's known for seeing the wonder and glory of God in this fallen world. Be the one that inspires Godly passion in others. Let your attitude be the one that lifts people up and shows them that living for God is really worth it.

It's easy to write an article like this but living it is a different thing. I certainly can't say that I've mastered this. In fact, I'm far from it but I'm learning to be more diligent about controlling my attitude and more aware about what my actions say to those around me.

Some points to ponder:

• How does my attitude and work ethic speak of God to my colleagues?


• Do I tend to see the worst in events and people and just wish that Jesus would hurry up and come to get me out of this place?


• Do I notice a difference in my attitude depending on my relationship with God at that time?

Those are just a few questions to get you started. Take some time today to consider what influence your attitude is having on those around you.

Pastor Brian