church

13Feb

By Steve WarrenNo Comments

Uncategorized

Message in a Bottle

Read blog below or listen to the podcast. In 1999 Kevin Costner starred in a movie called 'Message in a Bottle'. Garret Blake (Kevin Costner) writes a love letter and puts it in a bottle. It was his way of sharing his heart that had been broken by a previous relationship. Some time later the bottle washes up on a beach and a curious passer by, Theresa Osborne, a journalist finds it and finds the romance of the situation news-worthy. In the hunt for Garret in order to write a news article, she instead finds herself in love! Highly romantic, and for Valentines, probably highly appropriate. In a much deeper and life changing significant story, this time for real, God has sent His message in a bottle, for anyone curious enough to pick it up and be transformed by it. The Gospel is the me

2Feb

By Steve WarrenNo Comments

Personal Life

An Instinct for Blessing

Listen here or enjoy the read below: I was reading recently a story of a cat that went on holiday with it's Florida owners (obviously well loved), 300 kms from home. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your view of cats), the cat got lost. 3 months later the cat arrives back home, 300 kms later, warn out paws and bleeding feet. That is a high level of homing instinct! I want to use the story of Ruth, in the Bible, to illustrate how we can develop an instinct also. An instinct for blessing. We are born with a nature that can lean us the other way. In fact even after finding Christ we can still find ourselves with a fear of success, an instinct for making the wrong decisions. But there is another way. Ruth 1:1-6 1 In the days when the judges ruled in Israel, a severe famin

15Sep

By Steve WarrenNo Comments

Personal Life

Thrive : Connect. Grow. Serve. Disciple

It would be the desire of every one of us to thrive in life. It would be the desire if any pastor to see the members if their church thriving. To thrive is to do life well. Not that life is well all of the time, but that our navigation of life is done well. So therefore, it is possible to thrive in adversity as much as in times of ease. As a community of believers there are 4 active things we can do to help us thrive in church life. 1. CONNECT. To connect is to engage. To engage is to plug into that which has life, health and future in it. Connecting with God and His Word through connecting with Church and His people is Godly vitality to us. To connect to a weekend service every week, to engage in a connect group and church community of youth, young adults, a community of me

15Jul

By Steve WarrenNo Comments

Commentary

Inclusive Perspective

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 There is a danger in life that we make certain jobs, gifts or services look exclusive, like they are better than others, or certain people must not do them, or we get defensive of others coming on 'our patch'. Paul would have been addressing similar tensions here in Corinth. He is saying we all have been given spiritual gifts, lets not be 'precious' about that, they have little to do with us, they are a gift of the Holy Spirit. So whether I prophesy, have a word of wisdom, or speak in tongues it is a product of the workin

19Jun

By Steve WarrenNo Comments

Family Life

5 Things Kids (and others) Need – part2

When thinking about what I could give a 20 year old looking for a spiritual father figure 5 things very quickly came to mind. They aptly relate to family life (no surprise) and are what I would consider the highest needs of your natural kids but also those you are discipling (who might be 10 or more years younger than you). Yesterday we looked at the first 2. Lets look at 3 more: 3. FAMILY LIFE Psalm 68:6 NKJV God sets the solitary in families… We are made to flourish in the context of family. So if you live alone, join yourself to others, a family circle, join yourself to a Church circle that replicates family. So if you are a family have people in your home, don’t make your home private. You can be family for others. The eating together, the talking, debating, laughter, co