Direction Magazine Dec 2015

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[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][td_text_with_title custom_title=”What’s inside the December 2015 issue of Direction Magazine…”] [/td_text_with_title][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]

EDITORIAL
The future does not belong to fate but to intelligent design, says John Glass

NEWS from Elim and the wider church

OUT AND ABOUT WITH THE GS
John Glass opens his diary

THE NATIVITY IN A DIGITAL AGE
How one Elim church is using modern media to get the message across

KEEPING A DIVINE APPOINTMENT
Elim Full Gospel Chinese Church marks an important anniversary with John Glass

THE BEST IS YET TO COME!
Aspire’s core team give their thoughts on Elim’s centenary and the year ahead

I CAN’T WAIT TO DEDICATE MY SON
Dele Oderinde says it’s a miracle that his son will be celebrating Christmas this year

Jeremiah and Dele Oderinde
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HOPE IS SPREAD IN NEW ZEALAND
Chris Bethwaite outlines how Elim Down Under is spreading hope at Christmas

WHY IT’S OK TO LOVE CHRISTMAS
God accepts Christmas and honours people who do, argues RT Kendall

FROM ONE FAMILY TO A CHURCH
Southwater Elim Family Church’s Dave Taylor tells how the church is growing

WE’RE GROWING SPIRITUALLY
Big numbers aren’t the only target for Elim’s River Church in Canning Town

LIFE’S NOT ALL ABOUT WINNING
Retired All Blacks star Michael Jones says Jesus is more important than victories

CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT GOD’S GIFT
Stuart Blount believes we should celebrate Christmas for the gift that God has given

Stuart Blount [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]

WE ALL HAVE INCALCULABLE VALUE
CARE’s Lyndon Bowring celebrates the success of a campaign against assisted dying

BEST THINGS IN SMALL PACKAGES
Don’t underestimate why God became a baby to rescue us, urges Dave Newton

MUSIC REVIEWS with Ian Yates

FELLOWSHIP FINDER

EVANGELISING AT CHRISTMAS TIME

The season reminds us that God is still in the salvation business, says Gary Gibbs

BOOKCASE with Richard Dodge 

ANSWERS with Jim Dick

AND FINALLY with John Lancaster

PRAYING DURING THE LAST DAYS
Pray with adoration, confession and petition in tough times, writes Alistair Cole

Alistair Cole [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][td_text_with_title custom_title=”Unto us – Intelligent Design”]John Glass editorial

It’s all too easy to take for granted the sense of a ‘giving God’ as revealed in Scripture. The priests of pagan deities demanded that their gods be served in order to obviate their wrath and, in cultures such as the Aztec, they offered up human sacrifices to that end.

The contrast is never more clearly seen in the two primary celebrations of Christmas and Easter, where God in Christ comes to us in the incarnation and then dies for us upon the cross.
As Isaiah 9:6 in the Message version says, “For a child has been born – for us! The gift of a son – for us! He’ll take over the running of the world. His names will be amazing counsellor, strong God, eternal Father, prince of wholeness. His ruling authority will grow, and there’ll be no limits to the wholeness he brings.”

This announcement was made 700 years before the birth of Jesus, highlighting the predestined design of prophetic purpose. Mary’s was a planned pregnancy – not by her, but by God himself.
Six months ago the morning service on the BBC was from our church in Cardiff. As I would not be present on the day, the BBC asked me to record my seven-minute message some days before the live broadcast was to take place so they could slot in my contribution in the appropriate place.

But there was a drama behind the scenes of which few people would have been aware. I was required to submit my script for scrutiny several weeks in advance and, in the period that followed, was asked to amend my message on more than one occasion in order that the broadcast could go ahead.

However, on the day of my recording at the Cardiff studios, and as I was entering the building with the producer, I sensed in my spirit that just as the recording light was to go on I would be challenged to remove two words from the agreed script at the last moment. I was so sure of this that I mentioned it to the producer and she confessed that this was precisely what was about to take place.

The essence of my message was that the same God who brought order out of chaos in Genesis was able to take the brokenness of our lives and bring about a new creation through the cross.

The BBC hierarchy in London was unhappy with two words that I had used. The offending phrase was ‘intelligent design’ or even ‘design’ when speaking of the purposes of God. This was apparently because using such words may offend atheists or those who believe in evolution.

Given that this was a Christian service, and the fact that the BBC had never objected to broadcasting the contentious views of people like Richard Dawkins lest they should offend Christians, I debated the point for the best part of an hour.

Finally I agreed, in order that the Sunday broadcast could go ahead, to record two scripts – mine and the one that the BBC had censored. Listeners will be aware that it was the censored version that eventually went out.

As 2015 comes to a close and a new year begins, please remain aware that the future does not belong to fate, happenstance or karma – but to a God who is silently planning for you in love.

 

John Glass
General Superintendent
Elim Pentecostal Churches

Direction Magazine

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