Stars and Sand: Roger Aubrey

Elijah People update

My latest book The Elijah People has been out for just over a month and I am thrilled with the responses to it. Thanks to all of you who have already read it and have taken the time to contact me personally or left messages on Twitter and Facebook. Thanks also to those like Dave Gregg, who have written recommendations like this at online bookstores:

If you want to be stirred, challenged & equipped in your Christian life then this is a book for you! Roger unpacks what he sees it takes to be 'The Elijah people'.. as you read, you will encounter faith being stirred and have a fresh understanding of the amazing Christian life you have when you have Christ the hope of glory living in you. This book could change your life forever! Thanks Dave!

In addition to the paperback version, which is available at all major online booksellers - Amazon, The Book Depository, Barnes & Noble, Blackwells, and Waterstones - it's also now available in ebook format for Kindle, iBooks, Nook and Kobo.

You can also buy The Elijah People at the All Nations Centre bookstore; or you can buy direct from me in person if you ever come across my path!

 

Reformation + Revival = Revolution

Reformation is restoration to pure doctrine; revival is restoration in the Christian's life. Reformation speaks of the return to the teachings of Scripture; revival speaks of a life brought into its proper relationship with the Holy Spirit. The great moments in church history have come when these two restorations have simultaneously come into action, so that the church has returned to pure doctrine and the lives of the Christians in the church have known the power of the Holy Spirit. There cannot be true revival unless there has been reformation; and reformation is not complete without revival. Such a combination of reformation and revival would be revolutionary in our day. We need to be those who know the reality of both reformation and revival, so that this poor dark world may have an exhibition of...a church returned to both pure doctrine and Spirit-filled life. (Francis Schaeffer: Death in the City)

You can't 'get revelation'

Biblical revelation is not the same thing as human discovery. We don't 'get revelation' - we receive it only as God gives it. It's true that we are urged to seek God and thus find him; but we can only do that as he reveals himself to us. Revelation is a precious jewel and not something to be squandered or discarded. Once we receive revelation we then become responsible for the revelation we have received.

In order to receive more revelation from God we have to be obedient to the revelation we have already received and continue to walk in the light of what God has revealed to us. Revelation is progressive: it builds on itself. If we forsake something that we have declared to be a revelation from God - covenant, restoration, the kingdom of God, the nature of God and the church, for example - then we put ourselves in great danger and our people have the right - and the responsibility - to question us intensely. We might have forfeited the right to lead them. How can they, and why should they entrust their lives to us, if we strip away from them things we have taught them as being truth received from God? To discard the light we have received brings darkness and darkness is the dwelling place of confusion, uncertainty and unbelief.

This does not mean that our doctrines remain static and our theology never moves. Since revelation is progressive our doctrines and theologies by their very nature are constantly filled in and filled out. But they are never tossed out like a broken piece of crockery that once was valued as a precious gift from a loved one. Never treat truth that way.

No contest

We don't wrestle against flesh and blood...so put on the complete armour of God. (Ephesians 6:12-13)

In this passage Paul combines two images that his readers would be very familiar with: wrestling, which was a major sport of the time, and a Roman soldier, fully armed and equipped. His readers would realise straight away how ludicrously one-sided such a contest would be: an unarmed man dressed in very little against a tough Roman soldier in all his battle gear. The wrestler wouldn't stand a chance! He would be mincemeat in just a few seconds as the soldier cut him down while being fully protected in his armour.

The Christian life is not a lifelong struggle against an unseen enemy who tries to get us in headlocks or pins us to the ground to get us to submit. It's not a constant grapple with an equally powerful foe. We wrestle as fully armed soldiers against an enemy who is not only at a distinct disadvantage: he has already lost the contest! The wrestle is not engaging in close quarter holds; it is destroying his lies with the Word of God while being fully protected by faith, truth and righteousness. Jesus' victory over Satan becomes ours when we are born again into the kingdom of God. It really is an unfair fight; and one we should enjoy winning! That's why every time I read Romans 8:37 - 'in all these things we gloriously overcome as conquerors - I have a little chuckle as I'm reminded that my enemy really doesn't stand a chance!

No beggars here

Start walking

'To the man who says he will follow him, Jesus answers that he will have to do a lot of walking. He will have to abandon human comforts and securities, because, as a matter of pure fact, the Son of Man has no place to call home.' (Jacques Ellul)

The purpose of ministry

Testimony time!

Last Sunday at All Nations we took time to hear people from the church share some of the things that the Lord has been doing through them and to them. We heard a report of the work in Sri Lanka from Jesuthasan Servasai and his wife Berny; Renji from India told how he prayed over his father who had died; Joshua Jones recounted how Jesus removed the tumour that had been in his leg for seven years!

Hear these amazing reports and testimonies.

You can also see them at testiminute.com

 

Bryn Jones on covenant life

'The bonding of the early Christian communities was the result of something stronger than a set of common beliefs; they were joined together by covenant...Covenant extends beyond Scripture and Christianity. It permeates the whole of life...the truth is that covenant is pervasive to the whole of life, and its understanding and practice affect all people, whether they are aware of it or not. That is why its violation and the consequences that follow its violation are far more wide-reaching than commonly realised...Individualism had no place in the thinking of the covenant society of Israel. Indeed, to the Hebrew the greatest curse of all to befall man is to find himself alone...The people of God are not a collection of individuals, but are a community of people joined and integrated in Christ as one new man. The new covenant does for the people of God, the Church, what the old covenant did for Israel, only more. The covenant caused them to enjoy peaceful relations together. Shalom was their word not simply of greeting, but expressed their whole life as a people.' (Bryn Jones: The Radical Church)

God's plan for the Church

Made for His Glory - Part Two

Here is part two of a message I spoke at All Nations on Sunday, continuing the topic - Made for His Glory. God created us for himself, to manifest and demonstrate his Son Jesus in all his fullness through us. That means we have to be sanctified through and through (1Thess. 5:23-24). Practically we must grow from being children of God to mature sons of God. In this message I explain what that means and how we practically grow to maturity in Christ.

(If you want to learn more about this vital aspect of being a Christian read the chapter Restored Sons in my latest book The Elijah People).

Made for His Glory - Part Two

Friday tune: Hillsong - None but Jesus

 

God's heavenly ground

'God has nothing to say to men, nothing to do with them, on any other ground than that of the Heavenly Man. His attitude is that, if you want Him to speak to you, to have anything to do with you, then you must come on to His ground, which is that of the Heavenly Man. You have to leave your own ground of nature, whatever be your thought of it, and you have to come on to His ground. You must leave the ground of the earthly man, the fallen Adam, leave natural ground, and come on to the ground of the last Adam, on to heavenly ground, which is spiritual ground...The Father has set forth the Son as His ground of dealing with men, and He will deal with no man on any other ground.' (T. Austin-Sparks)

Made for His Glory - Part One

Have you ever considered why God would choose to live in you? Recently at All Nations we have been looking at 1Thessalonians 5:23-24, which talks about God sanctifying us thoroughly in our spirits, souls and bodies. But why would God wish to do that? What is his purpose in coming to live in us? In this message I begin to answer that question.

Made for His Glory - Part One

Worship: Who, Why, How?

Last night at All Nations Church we had our monthly Bible study evening, The Bakery. Our theme was 'Worship: Who, Why, How?'. We started by asking what we think of when we hear the word 'worship'? You can see the responses above.

via jamesaubrey.typepad.com

Friday tune: Counting Crows - Mrs Potter's Lullaby

 

Guard your heart so you can grow up

Here is a terrific message from James Aubrey on the importance of guarding your heart so you can grow up. There is an overriding need in these days for the Church to come to maturity in Christ; this message addresses in a powerful and radical manner how we can achieve that.

Guard your heart so you can grow up

Reconciled!

I've just returned from Sri Lanka where together with my friend and co-worker Mick Walford, I was speaking at a week-long conference we held for 200 church leaders. It was a powerful time as we taught on the kingdom of God. One of the most poignant moments was on the last day when delegates gave testimony of what the Lord had done for them during the week. For many it was a healing time: for many years Sri Lanka was torn apart by war between Sinhalese and Tamils. In the conference men and women from these people groups sat together as one, and broke bread with each other in peace. The man pictured  - a Tamil - lost his wife and four of his children in a bomb blast. He spoke of how, despite his awful loss, God has restored him and now because of being in the presence of God last week he was strengthened to move on in peace.

Another man - a Sinhalese - told me that for twelve years he'd been a soldier and had killed Tamils. Now he found himself in a room with his former enemies, able to call them brothers and sisters and worshipping God together. The kingdom of God destroys enmity and hatred. We should always remember that the kingdom is peace in the Holy Spirit. I saw it first hand just a few days ago in Sri Lanka.

Tell me what YOU know

Today I want to encourage you to visit my friend David Lavery's site and read his excellent article entitled Tell me what you know. In it David tackles the question of those church leaders who appear to have little conviction of their own and are blown all over the place by the latest trends and fads of Christian opinion. Here's an extract:

In recent months I have been both surprised and disappointed speaking to church leaders who say they are on a journey, but in their thinking sound totally lost. They know where they don’t want to be, but don’t seem to know where they are going. They know what they don’t believe, but seem to have little idea of what they do believe and therefore choose to justify their own position by quoting from other men of differing intellectual opinion. They don’t like to be around those who are certain of things that they are uncertain of, citing them as supercilious and preferring instead to sit on the fence.

Here's the full piece - Tell me what you know

The MEGA works

Anyone who has faith in me will do the works I have been doing. He will do even greater works than these because I am going to the Father. (John 14:12)

Jesus said that anyone with faith will do the greater - mega - works. The Spirit raised Jesus from the dead so that Jesus can live in us and so continue to do his works on a greater scale. In this Easter message from All Nations I explain what that practically means for us who have faith in Jesus. We are the mega people!

The MEGA works

Guard Your Heart to Gain Your Inheritance

(This is from James Aubrey's website - great teaching).

Last Sunday I had the privilege of sharing the Word of God with All Nations Church, Cardiff. We looked together at the life of Caleb in Joshua 14:6-14, learning lessons for how we can guard our hearts to gain our inheritance.

via jamesaubrey.typepad.com

The inbetween time

Jesus appeared to his disciples over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. (Acts 1:3)

The time between his resurrection and ascension was vitally important for Jesus. He could not sit back, basking in the victory of the moment. He couldn't take time out, visiting the family back in Nazareth. He didn't arrange a 'Resurrection' tour ('c0me and see the miracle man!') He focused himself on the next step of the great purpose for which he had come. Jesus had only forty days to spend on earth after being raised before he went to heaven. This was a pre-determined time, not a moment longer or shorter (the Old Testament makes that clear; study the various feasts and you'll discover he would ascend forty days after he rose again).

What did Jesus do during this inbetween time? He spoke to the disciples about the kingdom of God; that was his priority. Even when they tried to distract and divert him to their way of thinking by asking about restoring the natural kingdom of Israel (which shows they still hadn't understood), Jesus refused to enter into dialogue about secondary or peripheral matters. Nothing would distract him. He concentrated on the important, the vital, the essential. He didn't allocate to the disciples their ministries or titles. He didn't tell them to arrange or attend conferences or instruct them regarding their preaching schedules. His resurrection had launched the next phase of God's eternal purpose, and his ascension would be the prelude to the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Jesus had far bigger fish to fry than indulging the whims and personal agendas of the disciples. It was time for them to get in on his plan - so he spoke to them about the kingdom of God.

Now that Easter is over and everybody is filled with chocolate and hot cross buns and sung their resurrection songs, for many the Church tends to slip back into its own sub resurrection existence in which people live as if Jesus were still in the grave or had never reached the Cross. The world carries on as if nothing of significance has happened. That is because we reduce the resurrection to an event we remember on the calendar instead of living in the power of the Jesus who is alive today and present in us through the Holy Spirit - as he is so are we in this world (1John 4:17). The Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is living in us! (Romans 8:11). Let's not put Easter on the shelf as if it really makes no difference to the way we live. Jesus spent those forty days in intense focused activity in which he knew that he had that small window of time in which he would impart to these apostles their future destiny. He didn't waste it on the trivial things we so often see as the essential - his priority was the kingdom of God. That is why Jesus said: 'Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness - make the kingdom of God your priority' (Matthew 6:33).

Any priority that is not the kingdom of God is a complete waste of time and bears no relationship to the purpose of the resurrection of Jesus. I pray that we all focus on Jesus' priority - the kingdom of God.

Step forward

Jesus fully realised all that was going to happen to him. Stepping forward to meet them, he asked, 'Whom are you looking for?' (John 18:4)

     Jesus knew exactly what awaited him that fateful evening in Gethsemane and the following day; nothing about it would take him by surprise. He had known about this moment from all eternity; he had planned the Cross in the council of the Godhead together with the Father and the Spirit. It was the reason why he had come into this world thirty-three years earlier. Those who had come for Jesus that night would not have to drag him kicking and screaming to his fate. He would not even resist passively as an advocate of non-violence. This was his moment, the time when the plan of the Father to sow his Son and reap a family of sons (Isaiah 53:10) was about to come to its climax. For the joy that was set before him he was willing to endure the appalling physical agony and degradation that was heading his way. He was prepared for death itself and separation from his beloved Father. And he knew that on the other side, three days later, he would stand victoriously and gloriously alive!

 So Jesus stepped forward; and you became his inheritance.

 

Midweek laugh

The right side of the Cross

Easter is one of my favourite times of the year. It usually means winter has finally passed (although these days the seasons seem to have a mind of their own), and the long summer evenings are fast approaching. However, the main reason why I love Easter so much is because it was on Easter Sunday back in 1966 that I met Jesus and surrendered my life to him as my Lord. It remains the best thing I ever did.

In the ensuing years my understanding and appreciation of what happened to me that day has grown immeasurably. My initial reason for getting saved was that I didn’t want to go to hell and so asked Jesus to forgive my sins and save me, which he most graciously did. However, I have come to realise that Jesus didn’t die merely to take my sins away and give me a passage out of hell and into heaven, as wonderful as that is. He died – and more importantly – rose again from the dead so that he could come to live in me as Lord and live his resurrection life in me through the Holy Spirit – who raised him from the dead (Romans 8:11).

That’s why I have learned to live on the right side of the Cross. For many years I concentrated on the death of Jesus and limited my Christianity to the fact that he died for me. But Jesus’ death has no meaning whatsoever without the resurrection; he might as well be a dead martyr for all the good that would do. Jesus’ resurrection gave power and meaning to his death; it proved that he is the sinless Son of God who conquered death itself so that we may live – or better still – that he may live in us and fill the earth with people who are just like him!

I look forward to our Good Friday meeting at All Nations when we will break bread together to remember Jesus’ sacrifice of love. But for me it won’t be a sentimental time remembering a dead Saviour. It will be an occasion to thank my living Lord, who stormed out of that grave in victory over all his and our enemies. On Easter Sunday we will join together to worship Jesus who is very much alive and now ascended on high as King and Lord over all. And what is more: I live every day in that reality, on the right side of the Cross!

The Elijah People: Publication Day!

Today is the official publication day for The Elijah People in paperback. You can get it online at leading bookstores such as Amazon, The Book Depository, Barnes & Noble, and Abe Books.

You can also buy The Elijah People in Kindle, Nook and Kobo formats. It will be available at the iBookstore as soon as Apple process it, which can sometimes take a while. If you have another e-reader that uses the Adobe Digital Format you can buy the EPUB version at Lulu.com.

If you live in Cardiff you can also purchase The Elijah People from the All Nations Bookstore. Call into All Nations Centre during office hours to obtain your copy.

Keep Your Heart Right

Today, thanks to the internet, to iTunes and podcasts, to Christian television, and not forgetting more Christian books than any one could ever read, there is perhaps more opportunity to hear God's Word than ever before. The Bible is translated into every language; there are enough songs written and recorded to form the soundtrack of the rest of our lives. And yet, all this teaching and preaching, singing and dancing, can so often go in one ear and out the other. So, what can we do? Here's one thing: keep your heart right. A word sown into your life by God will always produce fruit if it finds its way to a good heart. If you allow that seed to grow - keeping out the weeds of worry and the pursuit of wealth - it will always result in a harvest. God's Word always works: keep your heart right to see it effective in your life.

via jamesaubrey.typepad.com

The Elijah People: Turning Hearts

In the final extract from my new book, The Elijah People, I discuss the purpose of Elijah's mission: to turn hearts, and what that practically means for us as the Elijah People of God. (You can order the book from Amazon now, and it will be in stock in a few days).

As He is...

...so are we in this world. That's what 1John 4:17 says - as Jesus is, so are we. We are not Jesus: he is unique nothing compares to him. Yet the Bible is very clear that we are not mere followers of Jesus, or those who try to live like him; we are as he is. In this message from All Nations Church I explain what the Bible means by this wonderful truth and give some practical applications of how we put that into practice.

As He is, so are we in this world.

Friday tune: The Civil Wars - I've got this friend

 

The Elijah People: Restored Sons

Not long to go now before The Elijah People is published; just about a week or so. Thanks for the encouragement from those who have already bought it in one of the e-reader formats, or have pre-ordered the book. Today's short extract comes from the chapter Restored Sons: