Welcome! two. January Word to the Wise RICK WARREN. Cuffley & Potters Bar. Monthly Newsletter

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1 Monthly Newsletter two One church meeting in two venues January 2016 Welcome! Cuffley & Potters Bar Word to the Wise RICK WARREN The theme of this months Newsletter is Prayer, something that we believe that Life Church is being called to be more committed to this year. We would encourage as many of our church members and regular attenders as possible to attend The Prayer Course. See inside for more details. December Event Thursday 31 st December Watchnight Worship Life Church, Cuffley Campus Organised by our Potters Bar Campus. Time: pm. All Welcome! Nehemiah 1:5-11 (NLT): Then [Nehemiah] said, O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands, listen to my prayer! I confess that we have sinned against you Please remember what you told your servant Moses: If you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the nations. But if you return Our Vision Statement: To Grow through Living Out the Great Commandment and the Great Commission

2 to me and obey my commands and live by them, then even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honoured Please grant me success today by making the king favorable to me. Put it into his heart to be kind to me. Four secrets to answered prayer from the life of Nehemiah: 1. Base your request on God s character. Pray like you know God will answer you: I m expecting you to answer this prayer because of who you are. You are a faithful God. You are a great God. You are a loving God. You can handle this problem, God! 2. Confess the sins you re aware of. After Nehemiah based his prayer on who God is, he confessed his sins. He says, We have sinned. It wasn t Nehemiah s fault that Israel went into captivity. He wasn t even born when it happened, and he was most likely born in captivity. Yet he s including himself in the national sins. He says, I ve been a part of the problem. 3. Claim the promises of God. Nehemiah prays to the Lord, saying, I want you to remember what you told your servant Moses. Can you imagine telling God to remember? Nehemiah reminds God of a promise he made to the nation of Israel. In effect, he prays, God, you warned through Moses that if we were unfaithful, we would lose the land of Israel. But you also promised that if we repent, you d give it back to us. Does God have to be reminded? Does he forget what he s promised? No. So why do this? Because it helps us remember what God has promised. 4. Be specific in what you ask for. If you want specific answers to prayer, then make specific requests. If your prayers consist of general requests, how will you know if they re answered? Nehemiah was not hesitant to pray for success. He s very bold in his praying. Have you ever prayed, Lord, make me successful? If you haven t, why haven t you? What is the alternative? A failure? Is it OK to ask God to make you successful? It all depends on your definition of success! I believe a good definition of success is fulfilling God s purpose for my life in faith, love, and the power of the Holy Spirit and expecting the results from God. That is a worthy life objective that you should be able to pray for with confidence. If you can t ask God to make you a success at what you re doing, you should be doing something else! Talk It Over Why does God want you to expect him to answer your prayers and pray in anticipation? What are the promises in God s Word that you can claim? How can you makr your prayers more specific?

3 This course, consisting of six interactive sessions, is based on The Lord s Prayer. Using short video clips, it explores 6 themes of prayer found in the Bible. LEADERS WANTED We are looking for people to lead this course in their Life Groups during January & February. Let Phillip know if you re interested. SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED I m Not Sure I m ready to lead a group. Before you decide, take a look at the Leaders Guide and Cheat Sheets that are available from Phillip. There s a huge amount of information for each session to guide you through as you lead. There s also a short video from Pete Greig explaining how to run the course. How big does my group need to be? As big as you like. At least two people is preferable so you can discuss what you ve heard. What if I can t get the discussion going? The Leaders Guide and Cheat Sheets are filled with helpful hints and discussion starters. Life Church Web Site: If you re still worried, why not ask a friend to come along and be a group helper? They can then get the conversation going if it s a little quiet. When is the best time to do the bible study element? You can either do it as homework each week or extend your course to twelve weeks and do it on alternate weeks, but this may not be practical for some. You should only consider doing the Bible study after the discussion if you have two hours or longer available. The key is to not cut the discussion short because you want to get onto the Bible study. Are there any notes for group leaders? Yes. Look up the Cheat Sheets availible from Phillip. Can anyone do this course? Yes. This course is for anyone wanting to grow deeper in their prayer life and understand it all a little better. It s perfect for post-alpha guests too. What do I do if someone in my group disagrees with something? Everyone is entitled to an opinion. You don t need to agree with your guest s views but it s good to allow them to share their thoughts. Do we have to do the whole course? You don t have to but you d be missing out if you didn t!

4 Sunday Services - January potters bar campus cuffley campus am (Coffee from 9.45 am) Oakmere Community Centre Fetherstone Close, Potters Bar, EN6 5NS 3 rd Intergenerational Worship (Roger Taylor) 10 th PRAYER 1. Our Father in Heaven 17 th Communion & Shared Lunch. 2. Hallowed be Your Name 24 th Prayer (Susan Tyme) 31 st PRAYER 3. Your Kingdom Come am (Coffee from am) King James Avenue, Cuffley, EN6 4LN 3 rd Vision for th PRAYER 1. Our Father in Heaven 17 th ENCOUNTER Service (with Redeeming Feature) 24 th PRAYER. 2. Hallowed be Your Name 31 st PRAYER 3. Your Kingdom Come Next Month Our Current Sermon Series Life Church: God Centred Purpose Driven People Empowering Multi- campus

5 Life Groups LIFE GROUP MATERIAL The Life Group Material for the Sunday message can be found on the. church web site: Church Members Dates Thursday 3 rd March Vision meeting - Thursday 9 th June Vision meeting pm 7.30pm Sunday 25 th September AGM after morning Cuffley The Vision Meetings are held at 7.30 pm at our Cuffley Campus. These meetings are for those who are members or regular attenders of Life Church. Seven Minute Seminary shares talks by today s theological leaders on a range of relevant topics. Some of these talks include questions that can be used in your Life Groups. The material appears on our church web site at the rate of one per month. January s edition is: Paul s Prayers in Ephesians by Dr. Fred Long, Professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary. Coming After Easter Six Life Group sessions looking at stories from the book of Acts. We will study how the emerging first century Church worked out what it meant to show and tell the good news of Jesus, we shall apply what they did to our own community. This material fits in with Phillips ACTS Sermon Series when he covers Acts chapters Two Life Groups that run on a Thursday evening at 8.00pm have already expressed an interest in running this course. Let Ian & Zaida Lowry or Paul & Sandy Harvey know if you would like to attend. The dates will be st Jan Purpose in Prayer: Adoration 28 th Jan Power in Prayer: Petition 4 th Feb Prevailing in Prayer: Intercession 11 th Feb Perseverance in Prayer: Dealing with Disappointments 15 th Feb Perception in Prayer: Learning to Listen 25 th Feb Partnership in Prayer: Spiritual Warfare Hopefully, other Life Groups will be also running this course.

6 Singing for Fun Monday s during term time 1.30 til 3 pm - Church Sanctuary 8 til 9.30 pm - Rainbow Room Contact: Audrey Croll Regular Events team 8.15 pm (Rainbow Room) If you would like to receive personal prayer then please come along and speak to us, you will be welcome. Contact Fran Warboys Coffee Morning Mother & Toddler Group Tuesdays (Term Time) Cuffley Campus 2 per family Contact: Sandy Harvey Fridays (Term Time) am - 12 noon Cuffley Campus Contact: Audrey Croll Tuesday 7.00 pm - Ark Room Thursday 9.30 am - Ark Room Contact: Amanda Beeton (Tuesday) & Isabelle Clark (Thursday) BREAD Bible Readings Explained And Discussed Thursday 7 th January pm (Rainbow Room) For youth at secondary school. Friday Life Church, Cuffley Term Time Only Contact: Helen Houghton PUB LUNCH Friday 15 th January Goffs Lane, Goffs Oak EN7 5EP Wheelwrights Just turn up. We d love to see you! Contact: Audrey Croll, Pat Roser.

7 Friends Walks GROUP Wednesday 17 th January Depart Life Church Car am Contact: Audrey Croll A SINGLE PRAYER IS WORTH MORE THAN A MILLION POUNDS HELEN FADIPE Sunday 24 th January Cuffley Campus Contact: Paul Harvey Blaze 4:16 & Potters Bar Foodbank Every Saturday 12noon - 2pm Wayside Jubilee Centre Wayside, Potters Bar EN6 5NE See Esther Tam for more details. POTTERS BAR Prayer Meeting Every Wednesday 9-10 pm (After the Bible Study) Various venues: See William & Betty Wong for more details. Psalm 55:22 (NIV): Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken. Why worry when you can pray is a phrase I grew up with. I recall many sleepless nights worrying about everything. I mean everything! From conversations I have had that day, to things I have to do the next day, weeks and months ahead. Worry was second nature! As I grow older, not only in age but also in the Lord, I am learning how to depend on God. He is the one that sustains me. I draw daily comfort by praying and committing my worries to him. He is a prayer answering God! Jeremiah 33:3 (KJV): Call unto me and I will answer you. Nahum 1:7 (NIV): The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him, Proverbs 18:10 (NIV): The name of the

8 LORD is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. I often run to him, when my heart is troubled and I don t know where to turn! One such occasion was when we wanted our house back. We rented it out three years ago when we moved to Nigeria. The 1 st tenant did not pay rent for a year and we had to evict him in September The house needed maintenance due to damages, which we carried out, and we rented it out in November In December, David and I discussed coming back to the UK and started planning how to get our property back, little did we know that fate was going to take us down another path. In March 2015, David came to the UK, whilst here he was diagnosed with relapsed Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. He sent me an in April asking me to tell the Estate Agent to serve the tenant notice. I felt it was a difficult situation. David kept asking me if I have communicated his wishes to the Estate Agent. We needed the house back urgently. I just could not do it but I could not delay any further. At this point I felt I have no choice but to go to God in prayer. I purposed to pray and fast concerning the matter. Some might say why pray? It s a simple matter, stop procrastinating and just do it! Deal with the consequences when it happens!!... Just do it? I just could not do it, for me it was not a simple matter. Firstly, I was conscious they moved into the property in November Secondly, they had lived in their previous rented property for 5 years, how can I ask them to move just after six months? Thirdly they changed the upstairs carpets in our house at their own cost. Finally I was worried that if we serve them notice, they could be like the previous tenant and not pay rent. This could mean paying the mortgage and not living in our property too. I definitely felt in need of divine intervention! I told David I felt led to pray and fast for a day and take action thereafter. I had my day of prayer and fasting and left it as that, I did not prescribe to God what he should do, all I wanted to know was what I should do because of the unease I felt about serving the notice. A week went by I took no action, my long suffering husband was feeling exasperated and anxious because he was unwell and staying with another family, he kept asking me if I had called the agent. I had no excuse not to call, I tried avoiding the question as much as I could. Another week went by, no action from me, however I had peace in my spirit, since I have handed my worries over to God. By the 3 rd week, an came from the Estate Agent, the tenant have handed in their notice!

9 Wow! Unbelievable. It was the last thing I was expecting! Their timing to move out was perfect, it coincided with when I got back to the UK with our daughter. To cap it all, they left the house spotless with brand new carpets we did not pay for. When I opened the door after collecting the key from the Agent, it was as though we redecorated the house in October 2014, locked it up and came back after 7 months! Praise God! I know for a fact that prayers can move mountain, I prayed in Nigeria, God moved the heart of our tenant in the UK! There is no boundary in the spiritual realm!! If I did it my way without praying, the tenant may not have moved willingly when we wanted him to, and we could have gotten our property back in a terrible state and be financially worse off. Prayer does work! I am sure many of us have countless testimonies to recount of God s faithfulness. My story here is to encourage someone today to dare to believe God for the impossible. I have come to learn that one simple prayer is better than a million pounds. If you are given a million pounds today and told never to pray to God again will you take it? Think about it, a million pounds with possibilities and problems. One prayer, countless possibilities and blessings. The bible says: Mark 8:36 (ESV): For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Prayer is our pathway to God. Prayer brings us closer to God, it enables us draw from God s strength, his favour, love and grace. When we pray we are constantly reminded of his presence. When we pray we have fellowship with God and get to know him better. Prayer motivates us, it energises us, it invigorates. It gives us peace (sanity) and keeps our hope alive. Instead of worrying and sighing over a problem or situation, I try and do three things 1. Praise God (if possible at all times CD s and You Tube channel a great help.) 2. Pray without ceasing. (Any time the worrying thought comes to mind, I cast it down by handing it over to God in prayers..) - Philippians 4:6-8 is my mantra. 3. Prophesy God s words into the situation. I apply God s word to the situation. The bible tells us that If you say unto this mountain be thou removed, it shall be removed has been a trying year for my family, however I have seen God move time and time again in our situation. He has been for us a deliverer, healer, provider & protector. He is our Alpha and Omega. To God be all honour, praise now and for evermore. Amen.

10 Phillip Coffin B. H. Carroll estimates that there were 100,000 members in the Jerusalem church after 25 years. Jerusalem was around 200,000 people, so half the city had come to Christ. No wonder they said, you ve filled Jerusalem. In the book of Acts you find at least 8 characteristics of the early church that positioned them for this kind of blessing from God. How does this apply to Life Church? We must Minister in the Holy Spirit s power. Acts 1:4b-5: 4b... wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit. The power of God is given for witnessing, for ministry, for mission. One of the characteristics of people who try to minister in a church without God s Spirit is simple tiredness and fatigue. 2. Maintain a warm fellowship. Acts 2:42-44: 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. The church that has warmth, fellowship and harmony. God blesses with new believers because He wants them to be in an environment where they can grow. Notice the results of fellowship: 47 And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. 3. Multiply small groups. There are four advantages to meeting in small groups: a. It is infinitely expandable. b. It is unlimited geographically. c. It is good stewardship. d. It promotes relationships. 4. Magnify our vision of God. In Acts 4:24b: you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. We are children of the king. We re on the winning side. Jesus says, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. 5. Maximize the power of prayer. 48 times in Acts it says, they prayed : Acts 4:31: After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. When was the last time you were in a prayer meeting like that? 6. Model Christ like generosity. Acts 4:32-37: 32 All the believers

11 were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there was no needy person among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. 36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means son of encouragement ), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles feet. Notice there were three results of their generosity: v unity in the church. v a powerful testimony to the community. v no needy people. 7. Mobilize every member for ministry. Acts 6:1-3, 7: 1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them... 7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly... When every member is a minister, discovers their God-given SHAPE, and serves someone else, the church moves from just a leader adding more people to the church multiplying. 8. Move out with God s mission. Acts 8 records God s reminder to the apostles of the Great Commission, Go into all the world and make disciples! They initially started sharing the faith and the church at Jerusalem started getting bigger. But God said, I want you to go not to just Jerusalem but Samaria Judea and to the uttermost parts of the world. But they didn t do it. So God applied pressure by allowing persecution to get them to spread: On that day a great persecution broke out against the church of Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered through Judea and Samaria. Why? Because that s where He wanted them to go. They scattered everywhere and shared the good news. Jesus never said, I came that you might have meetings. He said, I ve come that you might have life.where is life lived? In the marketplace and in the family!

12 Contacts Church Office Minister Elders Deacons Youth & Children Worship Team (Cuffley) Worship (Potters Bar) Prayer Ministry Team Encounter (Cuffley) Food Bank & Blaze 4:16 Life Church King James Avenue, Cuffley, EN6 4LN Phillip Coffin Gavin Chisholm Mary Gregory John Hyde (Potters Bar Campus) William Wong (Potters Bar Campus) Simon Beeton Diane Gilbert Derek Gregory Julia Ellis-Hall (Cuffley Campus) Helen Houghton (Children s Worker - Cuffley Campus) helen@lifechurch.uk.com Carol Coffin (Potters Bar Campus) carol@lifechurch.uk.com Paul Harvey (Part Time Pastor & Worship Team leader) worshipteam@lifechurch.uk.com Jennie Campbell worshipteam@lifechurch.uk.com Esther Tam esther.chelliah@sky.com Fran Worboys b.worboys@ntlworld.com Gavin & Debbie Chisholm gavchisholm@hotmail.com Esther Tam info@potterbar.foodbank.org.uk Kathy Hillier k.hillier@ntlworld.com