20 things I learnt while in California

Over the past 8 days I have had the privilege of traveling to Chicago and California on a missions trip with Sola Osinoiki. Over the 8 days we visited 6 churches. We ministered to the pretty much anyone we met by praying, prophesying and encouraging them we sat down with leaders helping them with some strategic planning but also spent time out on the streets chatting to strangers and trying our best to show them the love of Jesus. I decided to write down a few things I learnt while on this 8 day adventure so that you can get a flavour of how this trip has impacted me.

1) When Sola says he is going to prophesy, you want to shut up and listen.

2) Reflectiveness has just as much importance as work.

3) American pancakes are better then English ones.

4) Having a loving Family is so important, so complicated and so amazing all at the same time.

5) Relationships are key.

6) God has bigger plans for my life then I do.

7) American chocolate sucks.

8) I have a lot to learn about being humble

9) Sola is a remarkable person and has a world wide impact for Jesus.

10) I can stand up on a surf board.

11) That spiritual dancing can actually add to a worship set.

12) This generation needs to be way more submissive and respectful to the generation above, especially in England.

13) I really do love our youth group.

14) That having a good team is vital to anything you do.

15) All Americans have great teeth.

16) I am a lot more materialistic then I thought.

17) Effectiveness is more important then fame.

18) Where the Beach Boys used to hang out.

19) Kiera Reitzin is the coolest/cutest girl in California and possibly the world.

20) That God and I have a great relationship.

LIFE on the streets.

On Friday, during the hours of 11-3, LIFE will be taking its passion and love for Jesus onto the streets and into peoples homes! Buzzin. We are doing this to fulfil a commandment that Jesus gave to his followers.

Matthew 7:12
"So whatever you wish others to do to you, do also to them."

The truth is we are all familiar with this verse but if we are honest it is a constant battle to make sure we are living it out. We often forget this simple truth or we become selfish, looking only to our own interests and sometimes we want to live out this commandment but we just don't know when or how!

Well Friday is providing an opportunity for us to get one up in the battle to live out this truth. Teams are going to be organised to go into different peoples houses and show them the love of Christ in whatever way we can! whether that means hoovering the floor, clearing out the garden or praying for people. Other teams will be sent down to town with one mission. Spread the love of Jesus.

This is gonna be an incredible day and a great opportunity to impact the lives of so many. if you want to be involved please let Amy Mehta know, you can turn up on the day but it would be great for Amy to know how many people will be there.

Galatians 6:9
"Let us not become weary of doing good, for at the proper time will reap a harvest if we do not give up"

Psalm 37:4

Psalm 37:4

Fix your eyes on the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

This statement is a promise from God, a promise that God will give you the desires of your heart.

I am so thankful to God that he keeps his promises. I have always had a desire to preach and have talked to God about this desire many times. I realised this morning that God has been so faithful with this desire he has provided me with so many opportunities to preach to so many different people. I would like to list some opportunities God has given me to fulfil this desire so that you can see how faithful he is.

The entire of Garth school over 1000 students - told them how a God has supernaturally provided for me and can do the same for them.

Life group - 6 passionate young people - talked about light always conquers darkness

Kerith Academy - 9 people who have given up a year to serve the church.

LIFE - An army of young people who want to change the world for God's glory.

Oakwood - 50 young people who are seriously searching

Next Steps - Unpacking the word of God with 40 young people

Kerith Community Church - got to speak at the baptism service, this is exciting because there were people there who have never heard or thought about Jesus before

Kerith Melle (In France) - a new but passionate church.

California - Get to travel with an outstanding man of God and have the chance to speak to some american young people

I tell you all these thing not to show how much I get to preach but to show that God is faithful in his promises! He is! There is no question, no dispute. It's a promise. It happens.

However at this point we need to realise the first part of the verse, fix your eyes on the lord. This is so key if we want to God to provide the desires of our hearts, we can't expect God to just give us what we desire if we aren't going to listen to him or follow him or ultimately love him. We need to keep ourselves fixed on the lord! Most of time we want to do this but we just don't know what fixing our eyes on him means, do we just look into the sky all day?! Something I found that helps me is by looking at the rest of Psalm 37 because there are key words in the psalm which give us a clue about what fixing your eyes on the Lord could entail. Take a look.

trusting, delighting, committing, being still, waiting patiently, not being jealous, doing good, hoping in God, enjoying peace, being humble, being content, taking risks, being generous, doing good again, speaking and living justice, not being afraid, refraining from anger, seeking God's wisdom and following his law.

If you don't know whether you are fixing your eyes on the lord then look at these words and phrases and then look at your life and see if you feel you are living these out.

We can't expect Biblical promises if we don't live out Biblical principals!

Time

Will you spend your time:

Facing your fears or simply being afraid

Face your insecurities or letting them ruin your life

Raising money for project 125 or just spending all of yours

Arguing with teachers or actually listen to them

Respecting life leaders or just ignoring them

Texting on your phone during a preach or using your phone to take notes.

Saying thank you or moaning

Chasing romantic relationships or chasing a relationship with God

With God or without him

Changing the bad things in your life or just moaning about the bad things in your life

Serving this church or demanding that this church serves you

On facebook or actually having proper conversations

Listening to your parents or arguing with them

Thinking only about the benefits for you or thinking about the benefit for others

Being influenced by the world or influencing the world to be better and greater.

Focusing on school work or focusing on avoiding work

Taking opportunities that are given to you or just shy away and hope no one notices you

Demonstrating love to all people or demanding that people just demonstrate their love to you

Bullying people over form spring, facebook or actually encourage people

Trying to live the lifestyle God asks of you or trying to convince God that you lifestyle is best

Doing life your way or doing life Gods way

Listening to how much God loves you or striving for the love of people around you

Trying exciting new things that challenge you or just staying safe an comfortable where you are

By actually stopping smoking or just pretend that you will do it the future

Becoming bitter about your past or becoming better by learning from your past

Wearing a mask and just pretending that everything is great or are you gonna find people you trust and get real

Expecting everyone around you to organise you or getting yourself organised

Praying for the impossible to be made possible or just not trying because your afraid of the outcome

Trying to eat a balanced diet or just eating McDonald everyday and then acting surprised when you get fat.

Believing that you can do everything on your own or realising that you need as much help as you can get

Thinking that your God and you know best or trusting in the one true God and humbly asking for his wisdom

Checking your actions and motives or just saying live a little!

Working hard to achieve your dreams or just expecting usher to see you on YouTube

Learning from mistakes or just repeating them and hoping for a different outcome ( definition of insanity)

Getting angry at everything or learning how to control your anger

Getting drunk or learning to enjoy life without the need of anything (we knew this as children but we lose it as we grow)

Stressed out or chilled out

Hating or loving

Because of the Cross.

I can never to truly express my respect, love and thankfulness towards Jesus on Good Friday using just words, it needs action. In Romans 12:1; Paul tells us to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God and this is our true act of worship, our true act which helps me express my real feelings towards Jesus on this day....... but that doesn't help me write a blog, which needs words!...... or does it!

What I have decided to do for this blog is to write out as many amazing, crazy and mind-blowing things I have seen Jesus do in past five years. All the things I write are 100% true, they are not invented or exaggerated and I have seen it with my very own eyes. They have all happened because of the power Jesus and because we have been faithful in prayer. Enjoy.

Just before we start I want to make sure that Jesus gets all the glory! Thank you Jesus.

Because of the cross over the past five years I have seen:
A boys eye pop back into place (my favourite), A gangsters broken finger healed, a random stranger crying on the streets of Wimbledon because God gave us a word about the loss of a family member, people who shouldn't be giving birth falling pregnant, a women stepping out of her wheel chair, money randomly being posted through my door, prophesied the name of a women's son, symptoms of a allergic reaction fade away after prayer, money appear in my bank account without a traceable source, young girl testify to Jesus healing her grandma of cancer, a girl cart-wheel on her arm which was broken before we prayed, Holy-Spirit Sat-Nav direct me when I am lost, more doughnuts appearing when we ran out at Jesus and Doughnuts, 15 year-old boy healed of the injuries afflicted on him by his father, the number 2 gangster of Southampton weeping during worship at his first visit to church.

Lets just stop there and give glory to Jesus. Thank you for the cross Jesus because of your sacrifice all of these amazing stories have been made possible.

An old man who was gonna commit suicide decide to give his life to Jesus instead, 6 brave men pray for a dead friend and believe 100% that he can be raised (we will see this happen in our lives), many, many knee problems healed immediately, person with bad back who can barely stand run around the room after prayer, a young person who tried to commit suicide get baptised, a family serving in church because of the testimony of the daughter, headaches gone immediately, Satanist's deciding to worship Jesus, had people tell me exactly what I am thinking and feeling, I have told people exactly what they are thinking and feeling, many aches and pains all over the body healed, demons driven out of people, peoples legs grow, swelling on a ladies nose disappear, asthma suffers completely healed, depressed people finding everlasting Joy in an instance and finally God has given me many prophecies to say to people but they are to detailed to write out on here.

All Glory to Jesus, none of this is possible without his sacrifice. Its because he suffered, bled and died to repair our relationship with the father, to take away our sin and give us the honour to stand in victory with him. Only a fool says there is no God.

Relationships: Dating

Dating: Where two people of opposite sex, who are attracted to each other, get together with the focus on getting to know one another to build a solid relationship without involvement of physical/romantic intimacy.

This is what we should all be aiming for. We all long for a dating relationship with someone and so we should, we were created that way! but on our quest for this mysterious, exciting and awkward thing we can get a little bit lost in our feelings and emotions. So lets clear things up a little to make sure we know what direction we are going.

Before starting the quest:
When starting out on this quest it is important to start by asking the right question. The question is not, how far can I go? or How much can I date? the question needs to be flipped it should be, How can I honour God the most when pursuing dating relationships? We must keep this question in our mind and remember that honouring God is more important then dating and when we keep this question at the fore front of our thinking it will automatically answer the other questions we have.

When I use the term honouring God I want to make it clear that this doesn't mean becoming all Super-Spiritual and praying and fasting for that perfect partner and hope that they ring your door bell because there car has just broken down outside your house and its raining so you have to invite them in and you share a hot drink in front of a roaring fire!....I believe (and feel free to disagree) that God doesn't have one perfect person for everyone and I don't see any evidence for God planning perfect partners in the Bible, in fact it is the opposite read 1 Samuel 25, David meets a girl who helps him out and looks hot so David decided to make her his wife, Lad. I believe we have a choice in the matter, I believe God gave us the skills to look for our partners and choose for ourselves all God wants from us is that when we have found this person we do the relationship his way! not our own way

Keep on the quest's track:
A verse that helps me make sure that I am doing it God's way not my own is 1 Corinthians 6:12 "Everything is permissible - but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible - but I will not be mastered by anything.
This verse is extremely helpful in keeping on the right track because it helps us ask the right questions. Instead of looking at relationships and saying that they are wrong this verse us ask is this relationship beneficial, for me?, for the person I am dating? and for the kingdom of God? if the answer is No to anyone one of these questions then surely whats the point in continuing in that dating relationship! And you can know whether it is beneficial by asking yourself yet more questions: Does it help me in my faith? Does it make me feel secure in who I am? Does it help advance the kingdom of God? (Might sound like a deep question but what is the point of doing something if it doesn't extend God's kingdom) Is this person the type of person I have dreamed of? Does it help me strengthen relationships with friends and family? Does it mold my character in a positive way?

It is important that during a dating relationship we regularly ask ourselves these questions and also that we are honest about the answers. I also strongly recommend listening to people who you respect in the faith, ask them the questions you have asked yourself and listen to their advice.

The destination of the quest:
Before we get into a dating relationship I believe it is important that we are willing and have the intention of completing the quest not just running around on path for some fun or taking certain parts of journey because they seem the most exciting, there needs to be some level of commitment that says I am ready to complete this quest. I am aware that sometimes the dating relationship just wont work out and that is absolutely fine or maybe you thought you were ready but it turns out you still have some stuff to deal with, I just think there is a danger in the idea that we can enter a dating relationship with no intention of moving forward. The danger comes because isn't it just a massive waste of time to date someone without destination or purpose? aren't we then just doing it to fulfill our own selfish desires? Aren't we just putting ourselves in temptations way? The world is to broken for us to waste time in pointless relationships, i think Paul says it best:

1 Corinthians 7:29-31
"What I mean brothers, is that the time is to short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who use the things of this world, as if they were not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away"

Relationships: Friendship

The Bible gives us several characteristics of friendship. It gives us some great advice and guidance to ensure that we build the best friendships we possibly can. Check out these dynamite verses:

Proverbs 17:17 - A friend loves at all times
Proverbs 18:24- There is a friend that sticks closer than a brother
Proverbs 27:6 - Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. Proverbs 27:10 - Do not forsake your friend.

These verses are powerful stuff and illustrate God's heart for friendships. God wants to bless all friendships and encourages us to build up strong friendships which are based on honesty, commitment and affection. The word friend literally means "someone who you like who likes you" if you have someone like this in your life then it is a good thing! treasure your friendships put work into it, make them feel appreciate and be honest with them even if it hurts sometimes like proverbs 27 says it is better to have a friend who is willing to actually be honest with you then a whole bunch of enemies that just boost your ego.

I pray that I would listen to my friends when they offer me honest advice, may I have the humility to accept their rebuke and I pray that I would also have the boldness to be a true friend to show them grace in all situations yet speak truth into their lives. Grant me this Lord.