Once again we are going to celebrate the New Year with each other at Upcott between 29th Dec – 2nd Jan. The cost is £90 (full board) and there will be plenty of time to chill out as well as times of worship, prayer and teaching. Come prepared to give and receive in a relaxed atmosphere.

You need to book by 16th December so to download the booking form click here.

My brother-in-law Adrian Hayward is a musician, and this is his first promo video, which was made by Stef and Danny Roberts.

All the teaching from the Kindle 2011 weekend away is now available here!

All the teaching from the summer is now available to listen to online or download for free. Here are the links to each week:

Tops
Ignite
Raise

Hello All

This is a list of books and resources that I said I would put on here for those who’ve just attended Raise at Upcott. I’ve only mentioned one book that I’ve read by each author so please search for other titles by each author.

Books about living the life God has called us to:
Making Life Work: Bill Hybels
The Life You’ve Always Wanted: John Ortberg
The Normal Christian Life: Watchman Nee
Effortless Change: Andrew Wommack
John Bevere: Extraordinary
Grace Choices: Jeff Lucas
Jesus, Safe, Tender, Extreme: Adrian Plass
The Seven Laws of Spiritual Success: Selwyn Hughes
Love as a Way of Life: Gary Chapman
The Love Revolution: Joyce Meyer
The Hidden Power of Prayer and Fasting: Mahesh Chavda
Practising the Presence of God: Brother Lawrence
The Screwtape Letters: CS Lewis

Not such easy reading:
The Divine Conspiracy: Dallas Willard
Beyond Opinion: Compendium of authors including Ravi Zacharias, John Lonnox, Alister McGrath and Michael Ramsden
The Empty Cross of Jesus: Michael Green

Stories
Faith Like Potatoes: Angus Buchan
Adventures in God: John G Lake
Soul Obsession: Nicky Cruz
Is That Really You God? Loren Cunningham
No Well-worn Paths: Terry Virgo
The Grace Outpouring: Roy Godwin
Smith Wigglesworth: W Hacking
An African Apostle: Penny Relph

Websites we talked about included Andrew Wommack: http://www.awme.net/index.html and Ravi Zacharias: http://www.rzim.org/ .

I’ll try and blog reviews of some of the books over the summer.

Happy reading!

Andrew

I don’t know if you’ve ever had a conversation with someone whose death is imminent; I have and it was a precious time full of emotion – grief and joy. I was sitting beside my Dad’s bed on Easter Day; he was towards the end of a long battle with prostrate cancer. He suddenly said “that’s it, I want to go now”. I looked at him with an instant awareness that my Dad was saying he wanted to leave this life. If that was it, it would have been a grief-ridden hopeless moment, but amazingly it was one of the moments I’ve been most aware of the concrete reality of heaven. He continued to talk about how earth was fading away and heaven was growing stronger every day. As the conversation continued, he talked of his desire to be free of the pain and indignity of terminal illness, but even that was overshadowed by the conviction that his future was safe in the hands of Jesus. He quoted 1 Corinthians 15:19-20: “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead…”. Strange as it may seem I left that bedside encouraged and strengthened.  As I drove home there was the knowledge that I wouldn’t see my Dad on this earth too many more times but it was tempered by an overwhelming desire to worship Jesus the Saviour, the one who soon would welcoming my Dad into heaven.

I am venturing into the world of blogging. For me that means I’ll post thoughts, book reviews and links to other stuff that I think might be helpful on a sort of regular-ish basis. Please feel free to add your comments and ideas, as our walk with Jesus through this life is both personal and corporate.

Here’s a little thought to get things started. I’ve been thinking about the absolute difference between what God offers us through what Jesus did for us, and what the Devil tries to force on us. John 10:10 says: The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. What a contrast; theft, death and annihilation or the fullness of life in and with God.

How is it we are so easily fooled into choosing death over life?

Take a few moments and think about all the various inputs into your life. Put them up against that verse, are they stealing from you, bringing death into your life, or even destroying you? If they are consider what you can do to release the life of God instead. Sometimes our relationship with God needs less rather than more. Less theft, death and destruction would clear the path to live in the overflowing fullness that Jesus promised.

Finally, think about that fullness of life. If you are a Christian the Holy Spirit lives in you, you have the very life of God in you. What an incredible thought! The more I think about that, the more I worship Jesus and the less I want theft, death and destruction in my life.

Andrew