Faith Archives - Colin Dye

That none should perish

Colin Dye — Fri, 24 Mar 2017 16:42:12 +0000

?The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.? 2 Peter 3:9
In my early days as a Christian, I was taught to believe that Jesus was ?coming soon?. That was 45 years ago! George Jeffreys, the founder of our Elim Movement, stood firmly on the truth of the Second Coming of Christ as part of his Foursquare Gospel message: Jesus Christ, Saviour, Healer, Baptiser in the Holy Spirit, and Soon Coming King. So the Pentecostal emphasis on the near return of the Lord goes back to our very beginning.
For more than 100 years, Elim has been waiting for Jesus to come back, and we are still waiting. In fact, for over 2,000 years gospel churches have been waiting. But Jesus hasn?t come back yet. Why?
2 Peter 3:9 gives us, at least, one major reason. God doesn?t want anyone to perish. Every day that goes by, is another opportunity for people to respond to his love and to turn back to him. It?s not that God is slow in fulfilling his promise. It?s just that, for now, he?s extending the opportunity for people to come know him.
God?s love for a world that doesn?t know him is unfathomable. Think what it cost the Father to send his only Son into the world, so that whoever believes should not perish and be separated from him forever, but have eternal life.
That same love is operating with respect to the Second Coming. It will happen. Jesus is coming back and any apparent delay is in some significant measure due to his love. For love to be love there must be an opportunity for a free response. God is seeking the lost, drawing them by his love. But it cannot be forced upon anybody. We must be willing to choose his love.
As God?s children, we share in his passion for lost humanity. That?s why we try not to pass on any opportunity to share him, and to demonstrate his love to others. God doesn?t want anyone to perish and neither do we. God extends his appeal through us and we are part of his great plan that will culminate in the glorious Return of the Lord Jesus.

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What is truth?

Colin Dye — Fri, 16 Dec 2016 13:43:16 +0000

?What is truth?? is a question that has been asked by thinkers of all generations. Pontius Pilate was not the first person to pose it and he certainly was not the last. Today, the question is even more basic, ?Does truth exist??
The apostle John is confident in the answer he gives. Truth is the Eternal Word who at a particular point in world history was made flesh, and dwelt among us. Truth is simple to define: truth is what corresponds to reality. Nothing can be more real than God himself who is Ultimate Reality and this is exactly what John claims about the Eternal Word, the second Person of the Trinity.
The Word was with God from the beginning. He is the means by which everything was made. He caused everything to come into being that has come into being. This means he always was, he is always is and always will be. Therefore, he is fully divine. At Christmas we celebrate the coming of God manifested in the flesh.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth John 1:14 (ESV) Jesus is the embodiment of Grace and Truth. He came to grace our hearts and to illuminate our minds. He came to reveal the Father?s glory and to establish the new way of knowing God.
The glory of the Old Covenant was fading away, and the day of the New Covenant of unfading glory was arriving. This means that not only have we heard the truth from a distance, we have seen it fleshed out in the physical world. Truth is not an ideology or a philosophy. Truth is a person and his name is Jesus!
What an act of grace on God?s part. He did not leave us in ignorance or doubt. He did not abandon us to fear or despair. He came personally, in the flesh, to make himself known, that we might have hope. That is what the Christmas story is all about. Jesus Christ is the living, breathing, perfect manifestation of God. He is the ultimate revelation and standard of all things. That is why we gladly welcome him into our hearts, our homes, our work, our studies, indeed, in every part of our lives.

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The lost art of spiritual reflection (Part 2)

Colin Dye — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 15:11:29 +0000

God?s love leads us to take a deeper look inside to see the true state of our hearts. The medical world provides a good example to follow. If we suspect something is wrong with us physically, we allow a medically qualified caring person to examine us. We submit to various tests until a diagnosis is forthcoming. Then we receive treatment.
What about our souls? Old time pastors spoke of ?the cure of souls?. This has now been largely replaced in our modern society by psychology. When we feel dysfunctional in some way, we think of going to a counsellor. They are trained to spot problems. But are they really equipped to deal with the deeper issues of the soul?
We are grateful for the fine work psychologists often do, but, as believers, we are concerned to bring God?s solutions to bear on our problems. Clearly this is beyond the scope of the secularists who often dominate the caring professions. Even for us, however, the danger is always superficiality. Christians are often guilty of sticking plasters on deep wounds thinking that a scripture verse here, or a platitude there is sufficient. It usually amounts to: ?Shape up your life, and your problems will go away.? The advice is often: ?Just praise God, get prayed for or cast out that demon?, or simply, ?Change your behaviour!? This form of superficial response is in fact far removed from the true teaching of the Bible and can do more harm than good.
As we saw last month in the first part of this article, the foundation of all true spiritual health is love. The love of God fully experienced and lived is the goal of the Christian faith. So how do we grow in this love? How do we avoid superficiality in the spiritual life? The answer is to allow God to probe your heart and expose what is not helpful or consistent with the life of love. Beginning with the deeply felt love of God, we can learn to trust God to show us where we need to change and to grow spiritually. There are three ways he probes our lives to expose what needs to change and we must give equal emphasis to each of them. These are God?s Spirit, God?s Word and God?s people.

God?s Spirit

If we are moving in the true love of God we are not fearful of his presence but openly invite him to examine our hearts. The Psalmist got it right when he said, ?Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.? (Psalm 139:23-24).
This is an open invitation for the Holy Spirit to probe our hearts. We need his help, because we so easily deceive ourselves, defensively denying what is wrong with us. We can even sincerely think that everything is as it should be, but we can also be sincerely wrong. That is why we need the Holy Spirit to search our hearts. This Psalm addresses the deepest issue of our hearts ? idolatry which is offensive to God. The ?wicked way? is also the ?worthless way?. It points to the empty idols we pursue in the mistaken belief that these substitutes for God will provide for us what only God can provide.
Our behaviour is nearly always motivated by our beliefs. We pursue with passion those things that we believe will most deeply satisfy us. But as the Holy Spirit deals with us, he gently reveals those idols of the heart and encourages us to abandon them and to trust God alone for the satisfaction we crave. He teaches us that his way is best. He leads us to place God?s will above our own and exchange our values for his. This takes faith. Faith that God has our best interests at heart, and that he gives us his best in his own way and in his own time. Trusting God when we feel like going in the opposite direction is a vital sign that we are growing spiritually. Can you point to specific areas of your life where you deliberately chose not to do what you really felt like doing because you followed God?s will rather than your own? If so, you can be sure that your spiritual life is going in the right direction.

God?s Word

God?s Word, the Bible, is more than a collection of ancient sacred writings. It is the living Word of God and it is powerfully active in all who receive it: ?For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.? (Hebrews 4:12-13).
Part of the process of spiritual growth is to submit yourself to the razor edge of the Word, allowing it to cut open and expose the secret thoughts and intentions of the heart. And, out of that experience, you learn to follow God?s direction from the heart, with pure motives. You begin to yearn for the things that bring God glory. You know these will lead to your ultimate good, even if you feel desperately unfulfilled in the meantime. Thinking and acting in this way is a sure sign that you are moving towards spiritual maturity. Please notice that this is not just about superficially quoting scripture to yourself or others. It is about nourishing your soul on the Word of God, deeply and it does not always give you slick answers.
You need to give God time to probe deep into your heart as you open yourself increasingly to the truth of God?s Word.
All this depends on your prior commitment to the authority of the Bible. It does not help if you think the Bible is only one option among many when seeking God?s will for your life. I have found, both in my own life and with others whom I have tried to help, that we can easily talk ourselves out of the clear instructions of scripture. ?It?s too hard?, we object. ?I tried that and it doesn?t work?, we protest. ?Surely God considers my special circumstances and he understands that this doesn?t apply to me?, we argue. But if we really want to walk with God, we must be committed to obeying his Word and accepting it as the sole rule of life. It is after all his love that leads him to reveal his good will and best intentions to us. Follow the Word and you will not go wrong.

God?s People

Another way of probing beneath the surface is genuine Christian fellowship. The writer to the Hebrews expresses it like this: ?Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ?Today,? lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.? (Hebrews 3:12-13).
It is difficult for us today to grasp just how powerfully the Holy Spirit works through one another. We are used to the superficial relationships so prevalent in our individualistic society. Even in the church, fellowship is often no deeper than, ?Hello, How are you?? And then comes the response, ?Fine thanks. See you next Sunday!? In Kensington Temple, London City Church, we encourage everyone to be part of a small group where deep and meaningful relationships can develop. This is what the writer to the Hebrews has in mind. He describes the kind of connection believers have with each other that is both spiritual and practical. It is spiritual because our fellowship is of the Holy Spirit and it is practical because true fellowship encourages movement toward God. It shows us what is lacking and inconsistent in us and also reminds us of who we really are lovers of God.
When we are committed to the spiritual wellbeing of one another we are not content with merely social relationships and small talk. Our conversation is directed toward exploring one another at a level of depth. The conversation is geared towards edifying one another. This involves genuinely getting to know one another, without pretence. It avoids judgmental or super spiritual talk and exposes our passion for Christ. The things that need confronting or changing are revealed as by-products of this process. When our passion for Christ is exposed, then the wisdom to follow him is also released. The wisdom of the Spirit rests in each one of us and the joy of Christian fellowship is the way the Holy Spirit uses us to encourage, exhort and enlighten one another. This is the ministry of the Spirit through the Body of Christ.
If we really want to check out our spiritual progress we will be open to these three ways of probing beneath the surface to get to the gold and remove the dross which clogs up our lives. True spirituality is never stressful. It is never a matter of sheer grit or self-effort. It is always by the Spirit who is always moving in our hearts and in our Christian community.
As we move forward into the years that lie ahead, there can be no doubt that God wants to deepen the spirituality of his people. The only way we will stand in a society that is shifting further and further from God is for us to move ever closer to him. This means we must take stock of our spiritual life and co-operate with the Holy Spirit who is calling us to higher and higher levels of spiritual growth and maturity.

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The lost art of spiritual reflection

Colin Dye — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 16:28:57 +0000

How am I doing spiritually? When was the last time you asked yourself that question? When did you last take a long look at yourself in order to reflect on your spiritual life? Am I growing? Am I drawing closer to God? Am I truly nurturing the love of God the Holy Spirit has most assuredly placed in my heart as a child of God?
LOOKING INSIDE For many of us, life is just too busy. The pressures of daily life, the demands of work, study and home, all press in on us. We barely make it from one Christian meeting to the next with body and soul intact let alone find time to pause and look inside to see what is going on there. It seems that the last thing we are inclined to do is to look inside our own hearts.
Part of the problem is that we avoid anything that could lead to depressing self-examination, fearing the downward spiral of guilt and despondency that so easily follow bouts of morbid introspection. We avoid stillness. We run from one duty to another thinking that responsible activity is all that God wants from us. We make just enough surface noise to drown out that inner call of the Spirit to deepen our relationship with God. The garden of the soul becomes overgrown with the thorns of the cares of this life, the pursuit of our career, the ambitions of self or simply the daily chores of modern living.
I believe we need to recover the lost art of spiritual self-reflection. Evaluating our spiritual health is an important discipline. How else can we take stock of the things that really matter? But there are many of pitfalls to avoid.
Perhaps the most common pitfall is the tendency to descend into self-condemnation. We all know we are not what we should be. That?s why we fear all forms of critical self-analysis. What if we find out that our lives are a hopeless mess? That?s what we fear we will discover ? the home truths which are a little too close to home for comfort. But the point of self-reflection is not to dwell on the negative; it is to discover the pure gold God has put within us.
Granted, when we examine our hearts we discover, just beneath the surface, a whirling mess of conflicting and confusing motivations, ideas, longings, thoughts and feelings. We work hard not to admit these to God, to others and even to ourselves. So our goal is to hide and not to expose ourselves. But these negative things do not tell the whole story. They are not the final word about us. They do not define who we are. What defines us is the work that God has done in is.
Every person who has yielded their life to Christ has received the gospel miracle of new life in Christ. And, if we are in Christ, then Christ is also in us. He lives within us by his Holy Spirit. The new creation nature describes who we really are (2 Corinthians 5:17). This new nature, the new heart within us, lies at the foundation of our inner spiritual life. True self-examination goes deeper than dwelling on the mess just beneath the surface of our lives but keeps probing until it touches the new nature alive deep within us.
This is the encouraging good news of the gospel. God has changed our hearts and the goal of all spiritual reflection is to discover the Life within, expose it, nurture it and allow it to manifest first, internally in joy and worship, then, externally as it propels us toward the practice of love for God and our neighbour.
It is no secret that love, the love of God for us and the love of God at work in us, is the heart of true spirituality. So the first call of spiritual reflection is to the love of God. This enables us to bypass that negative, self-deprecating form of so-called spirituality which has much more to do with the unsanctified spirit of fear and condemnation than it has to do with walking in the love of our heavenly Father.
Reflecting on the love God has for you, and others, leads to a healthy inner life which, in turn, helps you sustain a healthy eternal life. It is not LOVE in abstract, or LOVE as a force or principle, but it is the personal LOVE of God. Love does not exist in abstract isolation. It implies person hood, relationship ? a reaching out to another and receiving back from that person. Unfortunately, many of us flounder at this point. I can theoretically believe that God is LOVE, but have I learned to revel in the overwhelming unconditional love of God to me, personally to me?
Reflecting on God?s love is the starting point for spiritual self-reflection. It causes us to open up personally and receive his love. It affirms, it heals, it inspires and motivates. The realisation dawns in your soul that not only God loves you but that he also has given you a deep love for him. It reveals your inner spiritual passion as you respond to him and yearn for him in love. Only spiritual reflection in the quietness of your soul and in the presence of God?s Spirit can lead you into the depths of his love.

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Formed in the Church, sent to the world

Colin Dye — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 11:41:13 +0000

Many Christians consider their day-to-day employment and their Christian discipleship to be independent of each other, but in the kingdom of God, there is no separation between the ?sacred? and ?secular? in our lives. That is why, when asked to name ?great? Christians we often come up with preachers such as Billy Graham. And certainly, these Christian leaders have had an exemplary ministry. But at the same time, many followers of Christ have been called to and are transforming the world through their faithful service in the marketplace.
Many people who know the Queen say that she is a devout Christian, and her faith has been clearly expressed in her actions. Similarly, it is well-known that the Hollywood actor Denzel Washington is a Christian, but did you know that when he was a young man, it was prophesied by a woman in a barbershop that he would preach to millions around the world? And he has done exactly that, not from a church pulpit, but from a sound-stage in Hollywood.

Every calling a holy calling

In 1647, George Fox established the Society of Friends, or the Quakers, and they have been used mightily in the marketplace ? their members founded Amnesty International, Barclays Bank, Bryant and May matchmakers, Cadbury and the Rowntree?s confectionary companies, Huntley & Palmer biscuit makers, Sony and many other companies, charities and organisations.
The Quakers started so many confectionary companies because they were combating the overconsumption of alcohol with hot chocolate. These early Quakers knew they had been called to transform the world, and in the process of following their call they have revolutionised many industries. They Quakers were dissatisfied with the hierarchy of the Church of England, and they rightly saw every believer as a priest and every calling as a holy calling.

Past social reformers

When Christians see every calling as a holy calling, it often leads to societal transformation. Most Christians in Britain know the story of William Wilberforce, whom God used to help abolish slavery, but there are many other Christian social reformers that we have nearly forgotten.
At the south-eastern side of Piccadilly Circus stands the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain, erected in the nineteenth century to commemorate the philanthropic works of Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury (1801-1855), a Victorian politician, philanthropist, social reformer and an evangelical Anglican.
The subject of the fountain is the Greek god Anteros, and it was given the name the Angel of Christian Charity, although it is generally mistaken for his brother Eros. So often our society forgets the Christian roots of its blessings!
The Earl of Shaftesbury was involved in the Factory Act of 1847 that reduced working day for children and women to ten hours. This might sound excessive today, but it was a major improvement of working conditions at the time. And Christians have worked in so many ways to reform our society that it begs the question if the ministry of apostles is just for the church, or also for wider society.

Window of opportunity after Brexit

One of the effects of leaving the European Union is that Britain is now re-visioning and remaking itself as a nation. This has opened a window of opportunity for Christians to shape the character and future of Britain for generations to come. Yet, fearing criticism, some Christians are frightened of putting their head above the parapet. They think that other Christians will ask: How can you be a Christian politician and belong to that party? Or how can you be a Christian politician and not belong to this party?
Queen Esther was raised to a high position in the ancient Persia at a time when the Jews faced a crisis of potential extinction. Her uncle, Mordecai, had to remind her that she had been raised for such a time as that, and that she had a responsibility for the nation.
You are called to the kingdom for such a time as this! What we do in church is important, but don?t forget that the meeting place is the learning place for the marketplace. It is not enough to represent Christ only to one another in church. We must also represent Jesus to the whole world. That is why I always encourage you to get involved in your profession in the fullest possible way.

Formed in the church

Whatever the gift God has given to you, the first place you exercise it is the church. That is where we learn to be followers of Jesus. The problem of the church in the world is that when we are not well-formed as disciples our testimony is weak. We can forget the godly principles of discipleship the moment we exit the KT building!
You can?t serve God effectively in the world, unless you learn to serve him with excellence in the church first. This is because all God?s gifts operate through relationship. If you can?t live for Christ in the church where Jesus is openly confessed, how will you stand for him where people don?t know him or openly disregard any godly principles?
Becoming a disciple happens in our church mainly through the cell groups where you can have a genuine and accountable relationship with other Christians – growing in using your gifting and serving your brothers and sisters will build your character. Christianity is for the whole of life, not just for church services. You are a follower of Jesus 24/7, representing him outside the church building. That is why it is good to start cell groups in our workplaces, so that our colleagues at work can encounter an authentic Christian community, where they can learn that Jesus is relevant for the whole of our lives.

Build something everlasting

What you do on earth matters. How you conduct your relationships matters. How you live your life at work matters. Your career matters. What you build with your life matters. They are all God?s way of bringing his kingdom on earth and building something everlasting.
If you live selfishly ? thinking only of yourself ? even if you become prominent and famous in doing that, you won?t ever find satisfaction, not until you begin to look for and find out who you are in Christ.
Is knowing God better each day the main purpose of your life? Do you desire to make him known in the world? If you follow his plan, you will find soon find yourself caught up into his story. You will find yourself building something that is eternal, simply because his is the kingdom that cannot be destroyed.
The apostle Peter wrote, ?As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.? (1 Peter 4:10-11)
Today, make a decision that whatever your gift is, you will give it to God first, so that in all things God may be glorified!

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Repairing the altar of the Lord

Colin Dye — Fri, 15 Jul 2016 10:18:10 +0000

Elijah the prophet lived at a time and in a land when there was no fear of the Lord, a place not so very different from our nation today. It seemed to him that he was alone in declaring never to bow his knee to the foreign gods, but he was mistaken. With church attendance in apparent decline, the UK needs a prophet like that now. But rather than raising up a single man or woman as a figurehead God wants to pour out his Spirit upon all of his people today.
The apostle James encourages us that this is possible when he wrote, ?The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours?? (James 5:16-17), anything is possible when we give our lives to God.
1 Kings 18 tells how Elijah went on the offensive, challenging Ahab and the prophets of Baal to a spiritual contest. When the gospel is under attack we defend it, showing clearly that God is alive and active today and that Jesus was not just a man, he was the son of God raised from the dead; because when you look at the facts it can be plainly seen that Jesus was and is everything he claimed to be. But Elijah was not planning to make a defence as if he were answering the critics, he was turning the tables on the devil.
Today, when we see Jesus under attack we must remember that God always has a remnant, a people who are ready to follow him – and let us be included among them. If that is to be the case, we are going to have to see the altar of the Lord repaired in our generation. Although Israel had two shrines with golden calves where the people worshipped, on Mount Carmel there was an altar that was used to worship God in purity. This was one place where prophets and people could go and commune with him. However, at some point somewhere that altar fell into disuse.
Let me challenge you, is the altar of the Lord in good repair and functioning well in your life? Are you preserving your relationship with God so that it is the most important thing to you to the extent that you know that whatever happens, you will remain surrendered to him? This is what the apostle Paul was talking about when he said, ?I therefore as a prisoner of the Lord beseech you by the mercies of God that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice wholly acceptable to God? (Romans 12:1).
The altar of the Lord is that place of consecration revealed not in church services on Sunday but on Monday morning when you go out into the rough and tumble of the real world, where no Christian eyes are on you. As we repair the altar of the Lord in our hearts the fire of God is going to hit our lives in a visible way. Recently, I have been speaking to a lot of non-Christians and hearing what they have to say, and I am struck by how totally consistent they are with what they believe. Most of them that believe if there is a God he?s not really interested in how they live. And they really believe that they have the right to live their life on their own terms. All of us must choose, if we believe that Jesus is Lord then we should serve him wholeheartedly, but if anyone has other values that are more important and stronger and require their devotion over and above Jesus then they should say so ? keeping a foot in both camps is not acceptable!
Elijah presented his challenge: both he and the prophets of Baal were to prepare a sacrifice. There were to be no matches to set it alight, and the God who answered by fire would be very clearly demonstrated to be the one true and living God. The prophets of Baal prepared their sacrifice and continued their rituals all through the day until evening but there was no response. Why? Because there was no one there. The gods of the nations are non-existent gods, they cannot speak or act. And Elijah began to mock them.
Then it was Elijah?s turn. Wouldn?t it be amazing if God gave us an ?it?s our turn now? moment it? It seems that for generations it?s been other people?s turn – the pagans, the false religionists, and the people who pollute the minds of our young people. When God says that enough is enough it is time for the church to rise up, we need to be ready to step up to the plate and declare that the Living God answers by fire.
The first thing Elijah did was to call the people to gather around, then he took twelve stones and repaired the altar of the Lord. If we want God to answer by fire we?ve got to repair the altar of the Lord: rebuilding the place of consecration, the place of devotion, the place of pure worship and the place where we say there is no God but Jesus.
How can we repair the altar of the Lord in our life? By restoring pure devotion, that non-religious longing for God. This is not just about doing what you feel like doing, there?s got to be a kind of discipline so there is some structure in your life. But it?s not about screwing up all your own energy to try and attempt something in your own strength that only God can enable you to do. We have to flow with the grace of God and let our lives be taken over by the Holy Spirit, because it is only the Holy Spirit that can move us in the direction of God.
When Elijah prepared the sacrifice he wanted everybody to know that what was about to happen was from God so he asked them to drench the altar with water several times until it was absolutely dripping wet. Then Elijah stepped back and cried out to the Lord, asking him to reveal himself in answering by fire. So fire fell licked up all the water, burnt up the sacrifice and everyone fell on their faces and shouted, ?the Lord he is God?. As the fire fell and everyone present declared that the Lord is the one and the true and the living God. And then the rains came, meaning that God was now ready to bless the land as the hearts of his people had been restored and returned to him.

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Our servant Queen is 90!

Colin Dye — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 08:44:34 +0000

This month we will be celebrating the Queen?s official 90th birthday and her remarkable reign. Queen Elizabeth II is the world?s oldest reigning monarch and in 2015, she became the longest reigning British monarch in history.
During her reign, she has seen relentless change and worked with twelve British Prime Ministers. She has seen major constitutional changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation and the decolonisation of Africa. Through this time she has worked relentlessly, no matter what the cost to her personally. She has worked for more than 50 hours a week for most of her working life, and at 90, she still does a full working week. The Queen has some surprising skills. For example, she is able to rebuild the 6-cylinder, 3462 cc engine of an Austin K2 Ambulance!
She has always been an example on how to behave in public life and as a leader of our nation. The political journalist Andrew Marr said about her: ?There are no reliable recorded incidents of the Queen losing her temper, using bad language, or refusing to carry out a duty expected of her.?

Revival Times cover – June 2016

The Queen is patron of over 600 organisations and charities. Every year, she has more than 50,000 people to lunches, banquets, dinners and garden parties. When an intruder found his way into her Buckingham Palace bedroom, she handled the situation calmly. She said afterwards, ?You seem to forget that I spend most of my time conversing with complete strangers.? Every evening when Parliament is sitting, at around 7.30pm, she gets a report of the day?s parliamentary proceedings, written by a Government Whip. She always reads it that evening.
How does she find the energy to do all that? The Queen attends the church weekly and prays daily. Her faith in Christ has never been a secret. In her first Christmas Broadcast in 1952, before her coronation, she asked the people to pray for her. At 90, she says, ?I have been ? and remain ? very grateful for your prayers and to God for His steadfast love. I have indeed seen His faithfulness.? It is noteworthy that the Queen links her faithful servanthood to God?s faithfulness. Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:13, ?If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.? It is God?s faithfulness to us that makes our faithfulness to him possible. This month, let the Queen?s example of faithful servanthood ? because of her trust in God?s faithfulness ? inspire you also to serve God faithfully!

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Have faith in the faithfulness of God

Colin Dye — Fri, 03 Jun 2016 09:43:24 +0000

Habakkuk 2:4 tells us that, ?The just shall live by faith.? This is a pivotal verse for the Old Testament, and the New Testament builds on it.
It tells that we come to God through faith and not through works. Without it, we don?t have the gospel Our nation is under the wrath and judgment of God, and there is only one way out?the righteousness that God provides by faith in Christ alone.
In Habakkuk 1, the prophet complains to God about the unrighteousness of his nation. He asks why God is not doing anything. God responds by revealing that he will judge Judah through the Babylonians. Habakkuk then complains: ?How can that be? How can you use people more wicked than us to judge us??
In our society today it seems that God is doing the same thing. False ideologies and false religions are flourishing, and God?s people are being swamped by unrighteousness. That is why the Book of Habakkuk is so relevant for us today.

Preaching the right message

So Habakkuk climbs up his watchtower and prays again. God?s answer is recorded in Habakkuk 2:2, ?Then the Lord said to me: ?Write My answer plainly on tablets so that a runner can carry the correct message to others.??
God?s response it to charge Habakkuk to proclaim the right message. Even today, there is a false and the correct message. Are we saying to people: ?Come to Jesus and you will be happy forever! Come to Jesus and you will have no problems! Come to Jesus and you get healthy and wealthy!? Or are we preaching the real gospel of Jesus Christ? Are we preaching that the blood of Jesus saves you from the Christless eternity that the Bible calls hell, and gives you a future and a hope? This vision is for a future time. It describes the end. And it will be fulfilled. Our salvation is for eternity. And if it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it shall surely take place! Habakkuk 2:4 says, ?The glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.?
This shall happen fully in the new heavens and the new earth where righteousness is at home. But we believe that some of it will also be manifested in the Church. God will get glory to His name by Christ Jesus in the Church. Habakkuk 2:20 tells us that God will manifest his presence in his holy temple. And we are the temple of God. God will manifest his power and presence in the Church. It might seem that we are losing ground. But God hasn?t finished with us yet!

So began the Reformation

Think back to Rome around 500 years ago! Come to the St John?s Basilica! And zoom in on a rather undistinguishable man. He is a Catholic monk, seeking to be faithful to all the dictates of his Augustinian order. A man who had a brilliant career ahead of him in law but was hurting inside, desperately afraid of the wrath of God.
?How can I be right with God?? was his question. He had obeyed every rule, including the promise of having a few years less in Purgatory by crawling on his knees, praying the right prayers on the Lateran steps, there in St John?s Basilica. And as this monk, Martin Luther, in all sincerity crawled up the stairs, repeating his prayers, the words of the prophet Habakkuk 2:4 came to his mind: ?The just shall live by faith.? Immediately, he ceased his prayers, returned to Germany and took this versa as the foundation stone of the Reformation.
Luther said, ?When I saw these words, ?the just shall live by faith?, I felt born-again. Like a new man, I entered through the open doors into the very paradise of God.? By faith alone our sins are forgiven! And they are all forgiven! But in the phrase ?The just shall live by faith? the word ?faith? is best translated as ?faithfulness?. Or it means both faith and God?s faithfulness.
One modern preacher who needs to go back to the Bible says, ?This means our faithfulness. We shall live by our faithfulness.? But I ask what you would rather depend on – your faithfulness or Jesus? faithfulness?
This verse teaches us to rest not on our righteousness but Jesus? righteousness, not our faith but his faith, not on our faithfulness but his faithfulness!
Have faith in the faithfulness of God. Whatever circumstance you are in, God is with you. He can turn it around. He?s working all things together for good. His purpose is being fulfilled. If we stay faithful to God by trusting in His faithfulness, God will still yet use us, and maybe a revolution will take place in our day!

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25 years milestones: Part 4

Colin Dye — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 14:28:25 +0000

Celebrating 25 years in the senior ministry of KT, Colin Dye describes the new vision for the new century.
In these articles I have been sharing many of the major milestones we have passed as a church over the last 25 years. We have seen how God has been with Kensington Temple from its origins under the ministry of Elim’s founder, George Jeffreys, until the present day. God has truly been faithful. We have never shrunk back from the challenge to break the mould denominationally, culturally, racially and spiritually. We have been at the forefront of church life and growth in London for many decades and are still moving forward, innovating, helping set the pace and highlight future direction for the body of Christ in London.
What is the vision behind Kensington Temple/ London City Church (KT/LCC)? What inspires us and drives us as a church? Over the years we have been exposed to many influences which are now part of our DNA. Pioneer evangelism, signs and wonders, world mission, church planting, and prophetic and apostolic ministry to the nations have all been a consistent part of our history and are an established part of our destiny as a church. However, as we look to the future, several major thrusts of our life and ministry come into focus.

A Cell Church

The first of these is cell church. KT/LCC is not structured along traditional lines. It is a cell-based church. Sunday services are great opportunities for the church to come together for corporate worship, celebration and Bible teaching. But the basic, day-today ministry of the church happens through the cells. Evangelism, consolidation of new believers, pastoral care, mission and social action are all centred in the cell groups.
The beauty of the cell model is that every person in the church has the opportunity to belong to an active cell group near where they live or work. This gives people the chance to develop strong relationships, find encouragement and prayer support and grow as Christians.
The traditional model of mere Sunday attendance leaves Christians alone and isolated during the week. But when cells groups are active during the week outside the church building, suddenly church becomes a whole life calling and our faith becomes relevant to the realities of daily life.
The cell model puts into action Jesus’ call to go, show and tell people about the kingdom of God. Every Christian becomes an active part of the body of Christ. The church leadership are not the only ministers, but we are all ministers of Christ called, trained and released to work for him.

A Discipleship Church

Closely linked to the cell church structure is the goal of making, maturing and mobilising disciples. Many large churches work with an attractional model. They put on big programmes hoping to draw many believers into their church. They grow their churches through music, entertainment, popular preaching topics and social events. As good as some of these things are, they are no substitute for true discipleship.
KT/LCC responded to the prophetic word given in the early Nineties by an Anglican minister from Singapore. Canon James Wong called us to become, “the most effective disciple-making centre in London.” We have tried to obey that call. The cell church model makes it possible for every Christian both to be a disciple and a disciplemaker. This is the call to fruitfulness that is at the heart of discipleship in the New Testament. We believe in having fun, being full of joy, enjoying God and each other, but at the heart of church life, is cross-carrying, other-focussed, Christ-centred, Spirit-filled discipleship.
We feel it important to set an example for other churches to follow. God is calling the body of Christ back to the radical Christian lifestyle of the New Testament. It is not enough to fill church buildings with superficial adherents to the Christian faith.
We must prepare and release radical disciples of Christ into every area of society to call our nation back to God.

Word and Spirit

Another feature of our vision is the dual emphasis on the Word and the Spirit. This needs some explanation because most would assume that every church upholds both the Word of God and the activity of the Spirit. However, on a closer examination, few churches seem to get the balance right. Sadly, most pursue the Spirit while neglecting the Word, or major on the Word and are weak in the things of the Spirit.
We approach this subject from a prophetic perspective. KT/LCC was birthed in Pentecostal revival and is a part of the Elim Pentecostal Churches of Great Britain. We also embraced the Charismatic Renewal and we owe much of our current freshness in the things of the Spirit to it. We believe that this movement is from God and has brought tremendous blessing to the world. It numbers around 600 million believers and comprises one of the fastest growing sustained religious movements in history.
However, we see some inherent weaknesses in the Charismatic movement and in much global Pentecostalism today. This weakness has to do with its superficial treatment of Scripture. Spiritual experience is often the basis of charismatic faith and belief and sometimes the sensational is pursued to the exclusion of the mundane, personal blessing to the exclusion of self-sacrifice.
An example of this is the so-called “health and wealth gospel”. Here an attractive message of happiness over holiness, demandingness over surrender is presented as the “Full Gospel”. This has led at times to the absence of a theology of suffering and a view of faith as a means of getting things from God, rather than honouring God in all circumstances.
We have seen examples of Charismatic leaders pursuing the novel and the sensational despite the lack of scriptural support for their teaching. This has led in places to a neglect of life-changing gospel truths and the basic doctrines in the faith. The result is weak churches perhaps with many thousands in attendance, but ignorant of the historic, biblical, evangelical faith which is the only hope of witness to a world in darkness.
That is why we try to emphasise both the Word and the Spirit. We believe in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as a promise to every believer. We believe, pursue and seek to practice the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We endeavour to be continually filled with the Sprit, experiencing God in real ways. But we also take Scripture seriously, developing in-depth biblical understanding. We teach our preachers to base their messages on sound biblical exegesis and to master the whole counsel of God as revealed in Scripture. We believe that the church of the End Times will be a church which is mighty in word and deed. A church that is soaked both in Scripture and the experience of the Spirit. A church that is equally powerful in signs and wonders as well as doctrinal truth.

A Reforming Church

Perhaps the best way of summing up KT/LCC as a church is to see it as a church moving towards reformation. The Reformation of the 16th Century produced such great leaders as Martin Luther, John Calvin and John Knox. These men of God called the church of their generation back to the Bible. The gospel truth of Justification by Faith alone had been eclipsed by the teachings of a near apostate church which placed an emphasis on sacramental observance. Salvation was not seen purely as a free gift, but based on religious performance and good works.
We uphold the grace teaching of the Reformation and of the Bible. We warn against any movement or emphasis that denies the truths of the Reformation as if Martin Luther got it wrong. We cannot allow the gospel to be eclipsed again.
But reformation is an on-going process. It is about continually refining our understanding of ways of doing and being church. We are sensitive to the current moves of the Spirit leading God’s people away from sectarianism and denominationalism which place allegiance to human organisations above the Kingdom of God. We thank God for the different streams and traditions which make up the wider church in the nation and across the world. But the Church that Jesus is building is one – made up of believers everywhere who hold to the only Head. Despite all the many legitimate diverse expressions of the body of Christ in the world, there is ultimately only one, true Church, and that is the Church of which Jesus Christ is the Head. Our allegiance is to him and to him alone.
True reformation does not end with the church, but spills out into society. This means engaging our contemporary culture with a view to changing our society. Jesus is coming back for a glorious church made ready for him. We will have successfully fulfilled our mandate in the world, not only to preach the gospel to all nations, but also to have discipled the nations according to the command of Jesus recorded in Matthew’s Gospel chapter 28. We are called to reform every area of society, bringing it all as closely as possible into conformity with the will of God.
The church is called to express the whole counsel of God and he is raising up just such a church in our generation. KT/LCC is being carried by the contemporary winds of the Spirit and current flows of God’s grace towards that destination.

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Identifying marks: apostolic church

Colin Dye — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 14:27:40 +0000

2000 years ago Jesus founded the Church. He prophesied, ?I will build my church and the gates of death will not prevail against it.? This prophecy is being fulfilled right up until the present day. From the 1st Century to the 21st Century followers of Jesus have been built together in Christian community spreading from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.
Ephesians 2:20 says that the church is built upon the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. This means that every community of believers in Christ found their lives on the solid rock, who is Christ himself. It begins with the historic revelation of who Jesus is, as Peter the disciple of Jesus declared, ?You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.? This confession divinely revealed by God the Father is the apostolic rock upon which the church is built.
The apostolic nature of the church begins with accepting true apostolic testimony. The early apostles proclaimed and recorded as prophetic eye witnesses the events and the facts of the Gospels so that generations to come might hear and believe the good news. But they also left another legacy ? the apostolic ministry itself.
Modern day apostles do not bring foundational doctrine. The Scriptures are the full and final revelation of God?s word to humanity. All further words of revelation, teachings and church traditions are to be judged by this infallible Word, the gold standard of truth. However, every church today needs true, living apostolic foundation and connection.
Apostles bring shape, clarity and vision to churches. They are foundational in the sense of breakthrough, game changing and innovation. Under the influence of apostolic ministry, churches face the challenge of presenting changeless truths in a changing world. They find and foster new ways of doing church, expressing Christian community and planting churches in our contemporary world.
Kensington Temple is an apostolic church. We were founded apostolically and, over the decades, have been led apostolically, being at the forefront of much apostolic and prophetic vision in London. We are breeding a generation of apostolic people who fear nothing and give everything to see Christ proclaimed and his church built in London and the nations of the world.

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