Temptation

Here are some of the resources that I used for todays sermon in case you wanted more info.

1.The prayer at the end was adapted from a brilliant sermon by Charles Spurgeon.

“Lead us not into Temptation”

LORD, Lead us not into temptation
I don’t want to dishonour your name again
Lord, don’t lead me back there again.
I am not arrogant enough to think that I have the resolve to face my greatest fears about myself.
Lord, I have seen those who have lost life because of temptation….God I pity them, for it could be me…..help me Lord, and give those in temptation strength
http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols22-24/chs1402.pdf

2. wanna hear a great sermon....jim cantelon preaching on 'sex is the easy part'
www.wellchurch.ca

3. everyman's talmud-a great book explaning the sayings of rabbinic jews....

4. 2 other great classics worth reading
thomas a kempis the imitation of christ
jonathan edwards religious affections

Hell?

here is a nice little video from NT wright about hell.

Walking the Talk

Our first Vineyard Days has come and gone. I thought it was great that the Region pulled this off. It was easy for me because my only role was to run a workshop for 1 hour on Saturday.
It was to be on the whole thing of spiritual formation and leadership. I created this teaching around the idea that if you want to maintain your spiritual integrity in ministry, then you need to view ministry leadership through the lens of orienteering. Orienteering is a cross country sport where one navigates their way through unknown territory using only a map and a compass. I spoke about 4 different areas that one comes upon during the trek - the open field, the trail, lost in the bush, and the lookout. The open field represented Sabbath rest. As I was preparing this I kept feeling this prodding about practicing what I teach.

I try to do Sabbath rest, but I may as well be honest...'try' is not really accurate. I 'think about it' - that's as far as I usually get. Why? Lots to do!

Sabbath means quitting or stopping - on purpose! I know that the benefits are huge. But there is something inside me that sees all the work that has to be done...and it's a killer to NOT do it. So I'm feeling...really feeling that the Lord is putting a challenge in front of me: Take 24 hours straight, once per week and quit from doing things. I want to argue that this is not the season for this. We have begun to restructure, how can I possibly afford to take a full 24 hours off? But then I hear this other whispery voice saying - "you can't afford not to!"

My desire has always been to live like Jesus lived. You would think that by quitting [Oh yeh...quitting doesn't mean get busy around the house and do those chores - but to take time to do those things that bring me life - to rest - to read - to STOP.] Taking 24 hours totally off is radical for our culture - our culture measures our value by what we accomplish. And I've bought into that. So am I up to the challenge? I think so - I hope so, anyway.

So now the tough part - examining my schedule and life and fitting in this time...first. I invite you to follow me on my journey...
s

V Course Challenge

We just completed the V course with a group of 9 energetic people. We had 3 Sundays of exploring who Cambridge Vineyard is - everything from our history and values, to our core teaching of Jesus - the kingdom of God, and ending off with the challenge to engaging with other followers of Jesus - in other words, being part of community.
The last class was more experiential, so we had them participate in 2 team building activities. The object in the picture was the result of their second challenge...and this is what they came up with. I'm not going to tell you what it is because then we'd have to come up with a new activity! Can you guess what this is and why they needed to construct it? And you're not allowed to ask anyone from the group, either!

If you want to find out more, make sure you join us for the next session in the winter. Remember, it's not just for the newbies...but also for the oldies who may need a refresher!
s

Shauna's last supper

take a look at the photos of our last lunch with Shauna. we will miss her.

Vineyard Days Nov.6,7- Seminars

Remember their is child care at the conference.

Seminars available.
Theology
Missional Churches- are they a myth, or just trendy? Missional is the new in word in Christian circles, what does it mean, is what churches talk about today new, or is a reinvention of something old. Join Daniel Schuster, Brad Culver and Bob Buckley in a panel discussion about this.


Grace and Invitation: Participating in God's Work.
Join Frank Emanuel as he shares his passion for Theology. Christians believe that the expression of grace is God’s powerful answer to the problem of sin.... that whenever we observe, give or receive acts of grace we are seeing God actively confront and undo sins effects. What does this mean for us personally? What does this mean for society?

This workshop will explore how our eyes may be opened to see God’s work of grace in our jobs, our homes, our schools, and in our marketplaces; and how we, taking our lead from Jesus who always did what He saw His Father doing, might participate in this great labour of redemption.

Spiritual Health and Leadership
Orienteering Through Ministry. Engaging in ministry leadership is much like the sport of orienteering, navigating from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain. Scott Roe (pastor at Cambridge Vineyard) will discuss the essentials of maintaining spiritual integrity in ministry.

FAMILY AND CHILDREN
Family Devotions @ Work- passing on faith to our kids is a big deal. Come to a practical seminar with resources, and ideas to help you as parents pass on faith at home. leader:Jacqui Pylypiw

Children's Ministry Gathering- are you involved in a children's program at your church? Want to share the griefs and glories of it. Join Jacqui Pylypiw and the other leaders of the children's ministry from across Ont.

WORSHIP
A time of encouragement for worship artists (whether as worship leader or worship band member). Each of the folks from the worship development group will take a few minutes to speak value, purpose and direction to us world-weary worship leaders. These will be pointed, life-lived messages that will seek to build us up, point us forward and encourage us to dig deep as worship influencers.

Reclaiming imagination in our worship. This interactive workshop will focus on encouraging creative thinking/active listening during our times of worship. We want to learn together how to move past simply following along with our corporate liturgies into very personal meaning and intent. How can offering our imaginations to God create a far richer corporate gift for Him than simply gathering together and singing songs? This is ultimately about demonstrating how creative liturgies are best thought of as launching pads, not destinations. Look to move past theory into some experimental practice during this session.

Practical Ministry Leadership
Leaders who Launch Leaders- Every wondered how you multiply a ministry, or have you needed to find a leader to take over something? John Wright will be following up on his morning session with a discussion about the practical skills that help every leader move to being leaders who launch others into leadership. This will have practical outcomes for every leader in the church.

Ministry to New Immigrants- Ed and Marnie Kolar will tell of their experiences in helping care for new immigrants and Muslims. The Kolars have had opportunities to befriend and support refugees, as well as build friendships with Muslims and share Jesus with them. Learn some practical lessons for overcoming barriers of interacting and caring for people of other cultures. Get a taste of the ministries that are taking shape across the province in our various Vineyard Churches.

Great News

last week i had an unusual dilemna. I had a group of grade 8 boys disappointed that there was no youth program until they were in grade 9. This is unusual because boys in grade 8 aren't really thinking much about bible study.

This unnerved me a bit because I love jr high programs. They help build relationships and the spiritual foundation that kids need before they get in the competitive world of high school. In highschool kids compete for attention from friends, teachers, for marks, for spots on sports teams. Without a firm grip on their faith most kids fit in faith where ever there is room left over.

So when you have group of boys sad.....God's gotta do something. To answer my prayer i was approached sunday by someone who wants to help lead it. All we need is an occasional volunteer, the kids to buy in and we are off!!!!!

We hope in Nov. we will run Jr. High for grade 8's the same time as Ngage. (wed 7-9). We will run it 2x a month.

cool eh!