Dear Black Countryites,

Happy New Year!

Hope I got that in early enough, though I suspect we all got 100+ texts just after midnight on Saturday morning which paid for the summer holidays for most Telecoms Executives in 2010!

Here’s just a few short ramblings to get us off to a warm start in this new year, and a new decade.

I would like to ask you a few questions as we commence yet another period of time being marked out for us, some things to ponder over maybe? Please take some time today just to think about how some of this might affect you and those you love.

2010 will mark many more key events in our world, and many new movements will begin that will affect the rest of this planet’s history. The 2010-2020 decade will see yet more cumulative developments in science, medicine, communications and the like. We are in a huge cycle of change and reformation on so many levels, so how might this be relevant to us as Christians today and tomorrow?

When The Bible records that a certain group of people at a particular time seemed to be able to grasp the nature of the times in which they lived, and were thus enabled to act in accordance with this, it makes me wonder what would be required for “us” to step into the shoes of “the men of Issachar”? Maybe if we could step back for a time and reflect, and really think through some of these issues, maybe we could find way a way to face the future in a different mindset and be ready to step into new paradigms that God would have us as His Body lead into as “the head and not the tail”??

History-makers are far more than chorus-singing believers who have a great zeal and passion to change the world. Paul warned us in The NT that zeal without knowledge is like hot air, and passion/vision alone does not generally change much. The guys in Isacchar were probably recorded as they possessed the wisdom to know what was happening in their times beyond the synagogue walls, had the spiritual discernment to grasp the context of this IN LINE WITH GOD’S WORD for their nation and beyond, and positioned themselves in order to bring influence into their culture and communities together.

So, if we want to change the world, make history and see the transformation of our 21^st century Britain/West Midlands/Black Country/wherever you are/etc, etc,.....FANTASTIC......the only reason we have been left on this planet (after our coming to faith in Christ) is to be part of  a Body with that express purpose. But we must sow for change.

BUT maybe we need a re-think on how this is actually going to take place in our generation, otherwise, we may end up being yet another generation who simply has to pass this baton on to another, and keep going around in yet more cycles, circles or whatever else we may want to describe periods of time when The Church just does not respond to The Head responsibly.

Also, maybe we should genuinely start to ask some of the bigger questions that enable us to extend our vision beyond our own comfort zones, whether the end of our nose or the ends of the earth.....let 2010 be a year of expansion for each of us Lord we pray!

If you are focused on your own life, look beyond you! If on your church, ask Him to widen your horizons. If your town, go to the next level again, and if your nation, what about the nations?? The Ancient of Days is also the God of The Universe, and whilst He adores you, loves your church, your town, area and nation, He has plans that somehow beautifully connect all of these spheres (just like He sees galaxies!) and has grand designs to see them all linked in some wonderfully miraculous way.....He has......He is.

As we head into a few questions in these rapidly expanding ramblings (I only intended to write Genesis but am already on The Psalms!!), maybe another starting point on many issues is required. For example, rather than thinking about what this year might bring or produce, how about you start planning what you should sow into 2010, and beyond?

Jesus said, “It is better to give than to receive”, and I suspect this universal principle operates on just about every level there is?

Therefore my friends, maybe it is not a year or decade to reap, but to SOW; maybe it is both, only The Lord of The Harvest knows that, but He has told us to pray for more workers to be sent out in the harvest field, and He calls us to sow ourselves into the communities and culture that we claim we want to see transformed.

 Let 2010 be a year to sow.

Let 2010-2020 be recorded as a period of time when The Church in The Black Country, THAT’S YOU AND ME, changed their thinking (that’s REPENTANCE) and sowed for changes in themselves that would bring external fruit too.

Transformed people transform communities.

So........here’s a few things to muse over;

What is God doing in our area right now?

How is He moving in our nation in 2010?

Is it possible that I might be completely out of touch with this?

Is it conceivable that 99% of Christians in The West Midlands might be unaware of His plans right now?

Is The Black Country Church ready to receive Him in whatever ways He decides to reveal Himself this year?

Is your church/congregation/group positioned correctly to hear His Voice in this decade?

What might He be saying that can only be heard by you and your church/group?

AND, what might He be saying that can only be heard by us “corporately” across a town/borough/region?

Jesus told us to be careful what we hear, and how we hear.

And, If a day with The Lord is as a thousand years, how long is a decade, or a year anyway?

Jesus does not just live on a different timeline to us, He lives outside of time. His Spirit has a consciousness of time, but He is never in a rush, never late or terribly early! The Father doesn’t have a grand clock in His living room in case he loses track, and He doesn’t need a reminder each morning to be at your side off His Blackberry.

His name is Jehovah. He doesn’t consult The Sun. He made it.

He doesn’t have a star sign. There are no batteries required to make anything work that He has created. One of His names in The Old Testament that I love is “Ancient of Days”.

This description of His nature is more than a Hollywood Blockbuster, and far more than a trendy charismatic chorus; it is a statement of His essence, His permanence, stability and stature.

As Jesus said to the religious leaders of His day, “ Before Abraham was, I am”.

I love that! He is. He is.

My confidence for the future no longer comes from leaders in any area, age or religion, no matter how close to home or spiritually acceptable they may be. I thank God for great Christian leaders, past present and future, but none of them can safely claim, “I am”, and if they do, they ain’t, and they need counselling!

Your prospects for 2010 lie with Jesus, and in Him. Your hopes and dreams are safe in only one set of hands. Because of His incredible divine nature, Jesus has already been to the place we now call the future, and He has prepared rooms there for you and me to occupy and explore.

Let’s begin that adventure again anew in 2010, and let’s take a longer term view over the next decade with some of these thoughts in mind, but especially that this might well be a season to sow new seed as individuals and churches across our region.

Our consumer culture can often manifest in us in our desire to get quick fixes, and to get them NOW! But The Kingdom of God is not of this world, which might be an obvious thing to say, yet we can sometimes be guilty of reflecting it in many ways, and who wants to have to go out and sow for weeks, months and even years if there is no obvious harvest coming in the following day??

Let him who has earlobes listen what The Spirit might be saying (after testing!) to the churches.

Black Countryites, let us listen afresh to what Spirit is saying to each of us, and let us grasp afresh the context of the times that we are living in, and let us ask the pertinent questions for our generation and serve the generations and communities that God has strategically sown US into.

One last thought – a friend of mine reminded of this of this again last week – God is looking to sow His best seed into the ground as He wants a good harvest. The best Seed He ever had was Jesus, and He sowed Him unto death, so as the only sons He now has left in this area, please take care when praying this kind of prayer;

  “Lord, may we be the seed that you use to sow into the towns and villages around our area that you might see a harvest for Your Kingdom”

Amen, amen and amen!

God bless you, and may He give you the grace to read these ramblings and even more grace to grasp them and put them into practise.

Here’s to a productive and fruitful 2010, and a historic decade for The Black Country Church FOR The Kingdom.

Love,

Tim

 For YOUR NETwork of Black Country Christians