Unmasked 1 Prayer bores me

February 6, 2007 Mark Edwards Leave a comment

Reality is…… praying sometimes bores me.
Ever felt like that?

Here is a message I gave on Sunday Morning about that, and about spiritual warfare, discovering who you are, being authentic in your prayers according to how God has made you.

Unmasked 1 prayer …

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Communication and preaching

February 4, 2007 Mark Edwards Leave a comment

I am doing a lot of work at the moment on improving my communication skills.

A lot of what Seth Godwin goes on about has been really helpful.

I am convinced of a few things as a Pastor/preacher/communicator.

People want to listen and learn, but get bored pretty easily.

If I get about 40 chances a year to speak to people, I had better make the most of it.

A lot of people are visual learners. This is only going to increase.

I have better make sure I use visual aids.

People want to connect emotionally with what is being taught.

Stories are vital, as is passion, I had better believe and live what I speak about.

Bible stories as illustrations are only effective if they speak to me, today, about my circumstances. How often did Jesus use Biblical illustrations? Not often. He quoted scripture, and sometimes referred to OT stories, but most of His material was gathered as He walked down the street.

God needs to do whats really important, but that does not excuse me from being slack. In fact, I need to use all God has given me.

The biggest sin I can commit as a speaker, apart from speaking heresy, is make the most important message in the world, BORING.

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Pioneers at Bedford

February 3, 2007 Mark Edwards 6 Comments

We had a great Sunday today.
Church was packed, and it was exciting,
The worship team played at just the right level, and the Worship Leader led with sensitivity.
In my view worship time at Church is best when the church get into it, sing loudly, laugh, enjoy, pray together. Today there was a real sense of oneness and unity, it was quite profound.
I started my new series on Unmasked, talking about prayer, and how, if we are frank, it bores us sometimes.
I ended with an awe inspiring quote from Watchmen Nee, The righteous man. Woh, God’s Spirit moved.

Then………

We had our special members meeting.
Almost unanimous vote on the next stage of our relocation. Incredible sense that God is with us, as much as we are stepping out as the original founders of Bedford Baptist Church did, as pioneers. wow. wow. wow.