Christmas and Easter are two great, great times to be a preacher! I love speaking at these times and this Christmas will be no exception. Today, after playing golf with Gary Smith and Carl Brettle (I used my new clubs! Verdict?- the new clubs are going to be good, but I'll need to practice a bit more with them) and then watching the Ashes cricket highlights showing Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen smashing the Aussie bowlers all over Adelaide, I put the finishing touches to a talk I'll use more than once in the next few weeks. My theme for this Christmas- starting on the Ignite website today and then tomorrow evening at Kingham Hill School, is MISSING OUT ON CHRISTMAS. Simply put, it examines how some contemporaries of the Nativity story missed out on the real message of Jesus, and how we are in danger of missing out for the same reasons:
The Innkeeper - too busy with other stuff
King Herod- afraid and jealous of a new King
The priests and scribes- couldn't be bothered to go to Bethlehem
The people of Nazareth-thought they knew it all, and overlooked Jesus
The Romans- worshipping idols
The people of Jerusalem- too religious and caught up in their religious practice
God's words
- 1Chr. 16:31Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!”
CITY CHURCH CARDIFF, ELIM PENTECOSTAL CHURCH>
- CITY TEMPLE CHURCH CARDIFF
I'm on the pastoral team of this thriving multi-cultural Elim Pentecostal Church in the heart of Cardiff- the capital city of Wales.
THIRD DAY
- THIRD DAY
From 2001-2016 I spent part of my year on the road as pastor to the Christian rock band Third Day.
WALESWIDE
- WALESWIDE
I am part of the church planting and strengthening ministry Waleswide, alongside leaders from across the evangelical spectrum and geographical spread of the nation.
ELIM WALES
- ELIM INTERNATIONAL MISSIONS
Both personally and in my local church role I am pleased to stand with our Elim Missions Dept. - ELIM WALES
I spend part of my time as the regional co-ordinator for Elim in Wales-working with churches and leaders.
GATEWAY MINISTRIES/IGNITE INDIA
- GATEWAY MINISTRIES/IGNITE INDIA
Lots going on in and around Rajahmundry, India- been involved in this work since 2005.
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12/02/2006
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MY PUBLICATIONS
- Lessons From The Road by Nigel James and Third Day.
- Ignite: God's Purpose for This Generation (Paperback) by Nigel James.
- Seven Ways to Ignite Your Life: Life Lessons from 1 Samuel (Paperback) by Nigel James
- Seven Myths of Youth Ministry: How to Re-Ignite Your Passion (Paperback) by Nigel James, Gary Smith
- Seven Ways to Ignite Outrageous Prayer (Paperback) by Carl Brettle, Nigel James
Some of my Sermons
- A Friend Called Grace
- Word and Spirit
- Can We Fix it? Yes We Can?
- I am the Light of the World
- I am the True Vine
- God and the Generations.
- Growing in Grace-Less judgment, more forgiveness, more thankfulness.
- Equipping the Saints-5 fold ministry.
- Led by the Spirit-Paul and Barnabas on Cyprus.
- Unnamed people are vital-the story of Cornelius.
- The Persecuted Church-Stephen the martyr.
- What's the point of Communion?
- Building a healthy future-by putting the right foundations down now.
- Incarnation-short Christmas message.
- Confidence in Uncertain Times.
- Anointed by the Holy Spirit.
- The Holy Spirit-Our director of missions.
- Burden bearers or burden makers?
- Why should I be baptized?
- From the Encounter to the Call.
- Come Over Here And Help Us- The Macedonian Call.
- Rock of Ages.
- People of the Cross- the distinctives of discipleship.
- Samuel-Listen to the Voice of God.
- Kingdom Priorities-Money, Time, and Talents.
- Abraham-Kids, Covenants and Countries.
- Gifted to Lead and Train others.
- Living Tough when things get Rough.
Sounds flippin good...wish i was gonna be there. Have a good Christmas season!!! as for me...hearing jingle bells in 30º heat doesn't quite fit in my understanding of what Christmas should be like....weird!
Posted by: lois Richards | 12/07/2006 at 12:06 PM