Pastor Nigel

WRITE IT DOWN!

Thanks to all of you who have sent messages of encouragement about the Lessons from the Road book. If you were one of the fortunate people who I gave a complimentary copy to then I hope you enjoy it but also that you recommend it to other fans of Third Day. I believe it will positively impact their walk with the Lord AND their understanding of the band. I'd further encourage you to establish the practice of writing things down -even as simple as a basic mission statement or vision for ministry that you might have had from the Lord. It will solidify things in your mind and spirit, and may well be a blessing to others.

Jer. 30:2 “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you.

As the band head out for a series of 4 concerts this weekend, I won't be with them because I'm remaining in Cardiff, Wales to speak each morning in a conference called IgniteHope. You can read all about it on my personal blog site Spin Like The Wind.

GMA UPDATE.

I'm sharing a room in The Nashville Hilton with David Carr, and after an incredibly buys few days we are both catching up on some online computer time. The stuff I've been doing to help promote the new book seems to have gone well and the band have been very supportive, and I'm pleased to finally say that I've been a GMA speaker! My seminar on IDENTITY, to program heads of Christian radio, was well received-especially as David graciously came with me. My premise was exactly the same as when we studied the subject in our devotions on the recent tour. Our identity must be in Christ, as children of God, not in any title or position that we have.

“God’s Spirit touches our spirit and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children.” Romans 8.15 Message

If you got to the Third Day show in the Wildhorse saloon last night then I might have given you a free copy of the book. If not, then you'll just have to buy a copy! The launch of the MUSIC BUILDS tour was awesome- and the event is going to so strong with Jars of Clay, Switchfoot and Third Day. What a line up!

GMA is mostly an opportunity for me to connect with old friends and meet some new ones. I've spent some of my time with Becca and Elissa Leander, and their parents Don and Thea. Becca and Elissa are a band called The Sonflowerz- I've worked with them in the UK and the USA over the last few years, and they are in the early stages of their career in Christian music. I've also met a guy called Nick Greenwood, who I'd been exchanging emails with over the last few months. Nick heads up RYFO NETWORK and he has a desire to place pastors into tours with Christian rock bands. We managed to sit down with David and Scotty to talk through Nick's vision with him. A pleasant surprise was seeing Chris Eaton back in circulation in the Christian music scene. Chris is a legendary British singer-songwriter, who has written some massive hits in the CCM. he has a new album on the go, and is involved in an project of Charles Wesley hymns which we hope Mac will sing on. Gary Smith, my colleague from Ignite used to book a lot of UK concerts for Chris, and Chris seems ready to start playing live again in churches on both sides of the Atlantic. I also bumped into Louie Giglio who was telling me about his Passion event for students in London soon.

GMA.

Tomorrow I head for Nashville, to meet up with the band for the annual Gospel Music Association conference.
I've been loads of times before, but not for the last couple of years, although this time is my first opportunity to be a speaker. I'm talking to heads of Christian radio about 'Identity'-something we studied as a band in our devotions recently. Thanks to the marketing team at Authentic, We are using GMA as the launch pad for the new book 'Lessons from the Road'. Here's an excerpt from the book, about the Christian music industry:
The Contemporary Christian Music scene often receives criticism for being a business, or for merely mimicking the mainstream music scene, or for attempting to create a parallel and ‘safe’ Christian culture away from the real world, and to a certain extent all of these observations carry some truth. Yet my experience also tells me that Christian music does transform lives, does communicate with people, does help seekers find faith and does build up the body of believers. It’s for those reasons that I do what I do with Third Day.

THANKS TO DAVE.

This is a message for Dave Warino from New Orleans. YES! I did open the pictures you kindly gave me- they showed the desperate state of New Orleans after Katrina. Dave, thanks for the tour you generously gave Mark, Mac and I. If you email me, I'd love to keep in touch. Do you want your memory stick back?

ISSUES THAT MEN FACE-No.4

Today some of us visited the Baseball Hall of Fame. Mac was determined to see it and rented a van so that Tai, Mark, Tyler from Revive, and myself could join him. I managed to find a cricket bat amongst the exhibits and here's a pic of Mark and Mac near an Atlanta Braves display.
Tomorrow we'll have a devotional time with the other bands and crew, so tonight has probably been our final band devotion of this tour. We spent more time praying than talking, which is always a good sign, but we did focus on what is a crucial issue for men- it can be defined in a number of ways: isolation, the fear of opening up to each other, being shallow in our relationships. Using the words from 1 Peter 3.8 'love each other as brothers' I reminded the guys just what a privileged position we are in. The last time we played Parachute Festival in New Zealand, the British singer Daniel Bedingfield, himself a believer, told us how envious he was of Third Day because they were all married, they were in a band and not solo artists, they traveled on the road with other Christians, and worked in a Christian environment. He had none of these things. So tonight we gave thanks to God for the brothers in Christ that we are to each other, for the immense joy of friendship and fellowship together, and restated our commitment to be of one mind and to keep loving each other as brothers with a real depth to our conversations and a real sense of value and support in our relationships.

ISSUES THAT MEN FACE-No.3

Tonight in our devotions we looked at the passage in Mark 10.35-45, where James and John ask Jesus if they can be seated at his left and right hand when He is in His glory. In other words, they wanted the best and most important position for themselves. If we are honest with ourselves, then who wouldn't want to seek out the best position- in fact, later on in the passage the indignance of the other disciples at James and John is probably due to the fact that they got their request in first!
James and John still didn't understand just how Jesus was going to become King, and Jesus proceeds to give them a lesson in the position of Kingdom people.

* v. 38.The way to privileged position in the messianic kingdom isn't by grasping for power but by relinquishing it through suffering and death.
* v.39-40 James and John failed to understand what was involved in Jesus’ sufferings, though they would indeed participate in them ( James would be the first Christian martyr and John would be exiled to the island of Patmos.) To grant them privileged positions in his kingdom was not within Jesus' authority. He refused to usurp the authority of his Father.
* v.41 The spirit of jealousy and ambition in the disciples was still alive and kicking, even though Jesus had rebuked them about it before.
*v.42-44 Jesus unpacks how to be truly great-the leader becomes the servant, and the person who wants to be first becomes a slave to all. Humility and servanthood are the positions of the kingdom that we should all aspire to.
And remember who ended up to the left and right of Jesus-the thieves either side of the cross.

FINISHING STRONG.

Met up with the guys in New York this afternoon, after I'd been back in the UK for 10 days. It's the final weekend of the current Third Day LIVE tour, and in our pre-show prayer time I stressed the need for endurance, enthusiasm, and a fresh touch of the Holy Spirit to enable us to finish strong. As always, we want these concerts to be full of the joy of the Lord, we want the audience to have a real encounter with Jesus, and we want to end the tour with thanksgiving in our hearts.

THIEF.

In our Good Friday tour Communion service I shared the story from Luke 23.32-43 of the two thieves either side of Jesus on the cross- sung about by the band in the song THIEF. I'd recently preached this passage at home in Cardiff under the title Saved by Grace, using the song Thief in the service.
Here's my summary:
* This passage shows the identification of Jesus with sinners!
*James and John had wanted to be at the right and left of Jesus- I wonder if they were watching this scene from a distance?
*We are all thieves and murderers- stealing worship from God and being partly responsible for the death of Jesus.
*But where there is sin, there is even more grace!
*When we don’t get what we deserve it’s a real good thing-MERCY
*When we get what we don’t deserve it’s a real good thing-GRACE
*God's grace is immediate- the thief would be in paradise 'today'.
*He showed more faith than the followers of Jesus who had deserted their master.
*The consequences of God's grace are that we are forgiven, restored, reconciled with God, given new life.
*We were sinners but now we are new creations!

After the death and darkness of Good Friday there is always the new life and light of Easter Sunday.
You may feel like it's Friday in your life but Sunday is coming!

ISSUES THAT MEN FACE no.2 -part 2.

Continuing our exploration of Identity we read Luke 4.1-13- Jesus tempted by the devil in the wilderness.
*This epic battle is centred on the identity of Jesus.
*No sooner has God said “This is my son” to Jesus, then the devil attempts to undermine his identity.
*Satan wants to attack our identity and destroy our calling.
*Every time we do something significant for God someone will say “Who do you think you are?”
*Most of the battles in the bible centre on identity- for example, Peter denying Jesus by denying his own identity.
*God’s plan was that Jesus should face up to identity in Him and be strong in it.
*His plan for us is exactly the same.
We discussed a number of questions together about identity in Christ, and one of the questions we spent considerable time on was 'How would we measure success in our relationship with God?'-
Some of the answers the guys gave:
Knowing peace inside
Being able to be at rest
Exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit
The quality of our service to Him
Other people's response towards me.
Then Mark Lee led us to this verse:
Is. 30:15 The Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says, “Only in returning to me and waiting for me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength.

ISSUES THAT MEN FACE. No.2

So today we began to dig into the second of the issues that men face- IDENTITY.
Men can go through the whole of their lives uncertain of who they really are, and having no security in their identity. Is our identity in our job title? Our ability? Our place in society? Our life-role? How others see us?
We opened up the Bible in Luke's gospel and looked at 2 important passages early in the life and ministry of Jesus:
The boy Jesus in the Temple-Luke 2.41-52
The baptism of Jesus-Luke 3.21-23
In the Temple we discovered:
*Jesus speaks about God being His Heavenly Father
*The only words we hear the boy Jesus speak are about His identity and His purpose.
*In verse 52 we saw that Jesus grew in a balanced way-physically, mentally, socially and spiritually. Many people grow unbalanced because of struggles with their identity.
*From this moment on Jesus was able to grow securely into God's purposes for Him because He knew whom His Heavenly Father was. Security only comes in the arms of the Loving Father.
At the baptism of Jesus we discovered:
*God the Father speaking words of love and affirmation over Jesus the Son. He wants us to hear those words too.
*At this time Jesus hasn't even accomplished anything in His ministry- yet God speaks those words of love and affirmation. God's love for us doesn't depend on our accomplishments or abilities, or even our ministry.
*Jesus needed that blessing, and anointing of the Holy Spirit, at the commencement of His public ministry, not as a reward at the end. We go about God's purposes not to earn His approval but because we are loved and affirmed. We minister out of a secure place of identity.

The Bible assures us that God wants to relate to us like a Father- with all the trustworthy, faithful and reliable characteristics we would want to see from our earthly fathers. Before Jesus stepped out into his public ministry, he needed the affirmation of His Heavenly Father. God wants to give us that blessing and affirmation too. We must find our identity as children of God before we can ever be or do anything else.