Are you a secret Christian?  In some parts of the world, being a secret Christian is the only way to stay alive.  However, for the rest of us, our faith should make us conspicuous.  People should know that we are followers of Jesus, not by some distinctive clothing as other religions require, but with the clothing of truth and love, "adorning the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect" (Tit 2:10).   Peter and John were examined by the authorities and were recognized as "having been with Jesus" (Acts 4:13).

Unfortunately, when people see Jesus in us, it often makes them uncomfortable.  To follow Jesus means to leave off living for self, including letting go of false ideas about life and spirituality.  A genuine love for God and others takes over thoughts and actions, and people don't always know how to respond to this. However, when we commit ourselves to God's programme for living pretty soon people know that we have been with Jesus too!

• Pray that someone will see how Jesus makes a difference in your life today.
• Pray for our witness and testimony to our community and to those whom God has placed us with at this point in our lives.
• Pray that we would be a true "encouraging community" - stimulating one another to love and good deeds (Heb 10:24)

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you" (1 Peter 1:3-4)

This week you may have read about Fred Goodwin losing his royal honours title ("Sir") because rather than performing services to banking he was one of the people responsible for the economic troubles engulfing the country.  Whether that was the right decision or not, the fact is Goodwin messed up badly in his calling....however I know that I'm pretty distinguished at messing up mine too!  What about you?  I'm so thankful and full of praise to God because He is a God full of mercy that takes pity on me in the sinful mess I make of life and has given me a living gospel hope in the living Jesus Christ.  No matter how much we may fail, and no matter what storms of life we have to face (be they economic loss, bereavement, persecution, etc.) nothing and no-one can strip us of the incredible inheritance we have in Christ.  In God's Honours System we can't be stripped of our rich inheritance for messing up, because we didn't receive it based on our own merits - rather it's completely the gracious gift of a merciful God to messed up sinners like you and me.  That inheritance indelibly writes over us "[Insert your name] is a child of God".  It's saved and stored in a safe place above and beyond anything that might harm it.

Pray Today:

• In praise that the one whose name is above every other name calls you His child and loves you!
• For those who met last night in the CE course to explore more of who Jesus is and hear of the great gift He offers to all who will believe.
• For those preaching God's Word this weekend and for yourself to be a good listener to what God has to say through His Word

Praise God Today: "You Made Us Your Own"

Reading: Matthew 20: 29-34

1. What kind of mercy are the two men asking for?
2. Why do you think they appeal to Jesus as the “Son of David”? (See Luke 1:69)
3. What emotional response does Jesus have? Why is this an important part of mercy?

Ponder: Mercy seems to have both practical and emotional dimensions. What examples can you think of where you have seen someone show compassion?

Prayer Ideas: Thank Jesus for his merciful character, demonstrated in his care for the sick and the marginalized. Ask for opportunities of your own to show mercy.

Content based on the ‘Bible Brief’ taken from the Briefing (March 2010 – Issue 378, produced by Matthias Media in Partnership with the Good Book Company, UK).

Sent on behalf of David Anderson

Carrubbers Christian Centre at the heart of the Royal Mile Community for more than 150 years

Full-time Community Engagement Pastor/Manager

Are you interested in joining the staff team of a city centre church in the heart of Edinburgh, to oversee the development of a growing mission minded and gospel centred community engagement ministry?  As a Community Engagement Pastor/Manager you will join an active ministry team that is seeking to bring about the expansion of Carrubbers Christian Centre ministry as an open door to the community. Our desire is to build relationships with those living and working in the vicinity, and our goal is to proclaim the Gospel of God as we take a genuine interest in the welfare of others (1 Thessalonians 2v8; Philippians 2v20).

Job description

Principal duties include the oversight of active community engagement development, with an emphasis on growing strategic relationships (for example with businesses, schools, residents and tourists); overseeing the spiritual growth of volunteer staff in the centre; the oversight of a Highly Dependent and Vulnerable (HDV) team of individuals who facilitate building maintenance throughout the Centre; working with the Carrubbers cafe manager in all aspects of community engagement strategy and development; and the management and financial oversight of all room bookings and events.

Requirements

The ideal candidate for this post will have a long standing, deep personal love for and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; a mission minded and gospel centred community heart leading to pastoral and evangelistic work in the community; a steadfast desire to actively engage with and care for people in all walks of life.

Experience in pastoral ministry beyond the official training stage is beneficial. Some experience in church or para-church based community engagement work is also essential. Management experience either within or out with church life would be helpful.

Other

• Salary commensurate with experience and qualifications. 
• Apply in writing or by email to our Associate Pastor, David Anderson (pastor2@carrubbers.org), by Tuesday 28 February 2012.
• References required: Church leader and current/recent employer.

God says to a hurting, attacked, marginalised and alienated people: "Behold! your God" (Isaiah 40:9).  These are words of encouragement that seek to revive and relieve the people by enduing them with strength to press on through hard times, looking towards the coming of God to rescue them.  We live in challenging days in our land for the gospel as Christians and things will likely get harder.  However, there is no need to worry because when we behold our God in all His majesty, strength and power then we see that He cannot fail and will prevail.

This weekend our students are heading out to Auchengillan Outdoor Centre near Glasgow for a time of fellowship, worship and teaching from the book of Daniel under the title "Living for God".  Rev. Robin Sydserff is teaching Fri-Sat and David Nixon on Sun, both seeking to share a motivating vision for work and mission with our young people based on the glorious God whom we serve in a land in which we are increasingly feeling like exiles on the margins.  A key text in Daniel simply states: "...the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action" (Daniel 11:32b).  We hope that our young people will grow in their knowledge of God this weekend and that in the crucial days to come they will stand firm and take action for Christ in the vocations and places that God has called them.  Yet that's also true for you today, one way to ensure you make a difference with your life for God's coming kingdom is to be driven and fueled with a clear vision from scripture of God's greatness.  Take some time today to Behold Your God!

Pray This Weekend:

• For help in your mind and heart to marvel and wonder at the greatness of God and for that to make a tangible difference to how you face each day of life and in the risks you take for God's mission in this world.
• For our students and young workers on their Weekend Away.  Pray that God will speak clearly through His Word to peoples' hearts and work in their hearts by His Spirit.  Pray this would be a significant weekend in the lives of many for now and the future!
• For the speakers, musicians, and core team as they minister throughout the weekend.
• For the building and deepening of relationships in our community of young people, so that they might sharpen one another and encourage one another in their pursuit of Godliness.

Praise God Today: "God Immortal"

Jesus isn’t far away.  Paul reminds us in Acts 17:27-28 that " {we} should seek God, if perhaps {we} might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;  for in Him we live and move and exist."  Jesus' own words were: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” (Rev 3:20).  It doesn’t matter what you are going through right now, just open the door and let His light shine into whatever darkness you might be facing.

You may not want to open up to Jesus because there is some secret sin hidden in your life.  Jesus still knocks.  Maybe your faith has grown weak and you are ashamed of it.  Jesus still knocks.  Maybe you are tired and disappointed and about to give up.  Jesus is still knocking, and He wants you to open up and have fellowship with you.  It is never too late to answer when Jesus knocks on the door of your heart.  Just say, “Come in.” 

• Pray for a real openness to the word and the person of Christ in your life today.
• Pray for Christianity Explored as explorers go through part 2 tonight.  Pray for open hearts.
• Pray for Eric Scott, Sr. as he moves toward the end of his teaching this week in Romania.
• Give thanks for the safe return and profitable trip for Chris West and Brendan Fowler to visit James Macdonell in Nigeria.

"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your lie from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good....as a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.  For He knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust" (Psalm 103:1-5a,13-14)

Sometimes talking to yourself is not a bad thing - David reminds us of that this morning.  If you're anything like me, your perspective gets warped by sin, self and circumstances - when that happens you need to tell yourself to get a renewed perspective of who God is and of who you are.  This Psalm is David showing us just how to do that.  David tells himself to remember all the incredible goodness and greatness of God, which he is privileged in God's grace to be a beneficiary of.  It is such a privilege because why should Almighty God care about some animated dust?!

Whatever is going on in your life today, it's good to know that God is a God of compassion.  That means that He feels pity towards those who are miserable, helpless and suffering; and that moves Him to action to help the person.  The word 'compassion' is a close cousin of the Hebrew word for 'womb', which shows that God's compassion towards us today is like the instinct of a good parent who sees their child in some kind of distress and immediately goes to help and care for them.  God knows you are only dust today and He knows that life in this world is tough and scary; but we just need to have a right perspective that remembers our Heavenly Father's great goodness towards us and His intimate, loving care over us as His children.

Pray Today:

• For the ministry going on in the cafe today to volunteers and to customers.  Pray for Elaine as she has great plans for developing the conversation ministry in the cafe and training up the volunteers to be better equipped for this vital work.
• For the work going on in Wallyford.  Pray for Andrew as he deals with the growing responsibilities of a growing church.  Pray for the new large Christianity Explored group starting soon and for the renewed work with the young people in the coming weeks.

Praise God Today: "Spirit Wind"

By now you're all probably back at work and the kids will be going back to school and for you students university is starting back next week.  So it's a good time to think again about a theology for work!

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:8-10)

(1) Good works don't save you => God's grace saves you!  It's undeserved and it's incredible.  When you have encountered and received God's grace, it makes you full of His generous grace towards others in how you go about everything else in the rest of your life, including in your work.  How can you be gracious today?

(2) Jesus has done a good work in you => In saving you, Jesus has not just forgiven your sins and given you a free pass into heaven.  It's far better than just that, He has also made you His 'workmanship' which can be translated as masterpiece (coming from the word for describing a tapestry).  You are now defined by who you are in Christ; not by what you do for a job and how well you do it or how much you earn.  Whatever your job description, in Christ the cleaner is as gloriously valued, dignified and worthy as the millionaire businessman in Christ!   Having this sure sense of your identity in Christ because of His good work in you is a helpful dose of preventative medicine to help you stop turning your into an idol - the thing you get your identity from or depend upon for life and sustainence (which comes from God's gracious hand alone!)

(3) Jesus has good works for you to do => You are not saved by good works, but saved for good works!  He has prepared in advance for you to do things for His glory and to demonstrate His goodness.  However, we should beware of just reducing this to solely mean moral good things or spiritual works!  Rather it is all encompassing of the whole new life in Christ you now possess, that expresses itself in whole life discipleship at home, at work and in church!

Pray Today:

• For God to help you to walk in the good works that He has prepared for you.  Pray for your brothers and sisters in Carrubbers many of whom have difficult jobs and face difficult situations which make it hard to work out what those good works are - pray for God's wisdom and discernment for them
• For God to give you opportunities today to deepen your relationships with those you work with in your community, so they have an opportunity to see the demonstration of God's grace in your life and hopefully have the opportunity (now or later) to hear the proclamation of God's grace that is freely available in Christ to them too.

Praise God Today: "Be My Everything"

God given us all different valuable gifts to use for the building up of the church and His mission in the world (see Ephesians 4; 1 Corinthians 12).  A healthy church is built up by each person in it using their gifts for God's glory and for the good of others in the church community - Carrubbers would actually be less of a place without you being an active part of its life and work!

There are many things each of us cannot do and would not want to do in a million years; yet others in our fellowship have been gifted with the ability and the desire to do it instead.  That's great news because I'm not a great musician or song-writer - but it'd be sad not to have great hymns of the faith to praise God in our church services!  God in His great sovereign plan has all these things planned out, so that we would be able to accomplish the work He has given us in our community on the Royal Mile and our individual community relationships at home/neighbourhood, work, school and family.  He has planned how to give gifts and who to give them to and where to place them so that they can be fruitful and useful in His work, all working together as the body of Christ. 

The Biblical image of us being the Body of Christ is a very effective way of emphasisng the unity there should be between us as individuals who are gifted and work differently.  We compliment and we complete what is lacking in one another - but there is also the potential that we as sinful people can clash!   You probably don't need to be told what happens when such unity is lost in a church and people begin to clash - often it ends badly for the church and the reputation of Christ in the community.  Afterall, Jesus both commanded and exhorted: "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:35).  In fact the incredible differences between us in personality, background, occupation, interests and gifting that demonstrates the reality of the power of Jesus Christ and the gospel - nothing else but Him could bring us together and bond us together in unity!  I would go so far as to suggest that our love and unity for one another in Christ is part of our passive witness and apologetic to the world!

Casting Crowns brought out a song on their new album released this Winter called "The City on a Hill".  It's a sober reminder of the need to protect our unity in 2012 (and every time we meet together) to ensure that we do not threaten to put out our light of witness and faithful presence as a church by losing our unity in Christ.  Please listen to it below and read the words:

"You see, poets thought the dancers were shallow;
and the soldiers thought the poets were weak;
and the elders saw the young ones as foolish;
and the rich man never heard the poor man speak. 
And one by one they ran away, with their made up minds to leave it all behind;
and the light began to fade on the city on the hill...." 

I love how the song then helps us to see something of the wisdom of God in bringing all these different people together to help one another and build up the church and accomplish His mission in the world:

"...It was the rhythm of the dancers that gave the poets live
It was the spirit of the poets that gave the solderis strength to fight
It was the fire of the young ones; it was the wisdom of the old
It was the story of the poor man that needed to be told"
City on a Hill

So in 2012 let's pray for and pursue unity with one another together in Christ, so that we might show the world and those in our community the incredible power of the gospel to transform our lives and to create God's new eternal community.  Those people who you may clash with or grate against, pray for them and think what God in His sovereignty is seeking to do in bringing that person into your life to build you and His church up!

Did you ever stop to think upon the fact that the job of any pastor in any church on any given Sunday is actually to serve you and equip you for the rest of the week?  Check out Ephesians 4:11-12.  A big part of church on Sunday is for work of Monday!!!  Yet, sometimes we develop in our minds an unhealthy division between 'church' and the rest of our lives in the week, which is dominated by work, study and family commitments.  This results in a struggle to imagine that God is interested in what we spend most of our time and energy - which is simply a launch-pad for spiritual evangelism.  However, you'll be relieved to hear that's not the case.  God has an intense interest and a special calling for you in whatever sphere of public life you are in.  In the Bible, this arena of life is often called "The Gate" (the place people met to do work and business), and God's interest in what goes on in the Gate can be found throughout the Pentateuch's law and throughout the Prophets.

Your work life matters to God because:
(1) He created it - work is God's design for humanity in His creation (see Genesis 1-2)
(2) He audits it - God oversees and judges what happens in your work and calls you to live a life of uprightness, justice and integrity to honour Him as much as it is in your power.
(3) He rules it - God's sovereign government is not excluded by market forces or demand/supply considerations.  Humans are responsible for their decisions,risks and choices; but over all at the very same time God rules!

God has two callings on your life: your general calling to be a child of God and christlike person; and your specific calling (whatever particular details of your life He has prepared for you to walk in e.g. your relationship status, your family circumstances, your job, your living situation, etc.).  A Puritan once wrote: "we have a general calling (to serve the Lord Jesus Christ) and a personal calling (a particular employment by whcih your usefulness in your neighbourhood is distinguished)". 

Your specific/personal calling matters to Him, because He made it to glorify Himself through you in the world.  It's a divine calling to be a business man, a house-wife, a stay-at-home mother, a farmer, a student (for a time!), a joiner, a lawyer, an accountant - as well as its a divine calling for those called to be pastors, overseas missionaries and alike.  It all matters!  God has given you a specific calling for you to glorify Him in, but also be a faithful missional presence for Christ in word and deed (Colossians 3:17 "whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus").  Pastors and Plumbers alike are divinely called to be gospel-ministers (2 Corinthians 5) or missional people who live, love and speak in the name of Jesus to all we meet.

So whatever you do in the Gate in 2012, do to for the glory of God in an attitude of serving Christ (Ephesians 6:7) and as a faithful presence and witness for Christ (Matthew 5:16).