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Forgiveness (Richard Warren – 11/13/20 – NCS New Canaan)

November 13, 2020 by NCS New Canaan Leave a Comment

Richard Warren (the “other Rick Warren”) shares with incredible transparency and vulnerability the journey that led him from being a successful businessman who largely ignored God and was unfaithful to his wife to becoming a devout follower of Jesus and re-marrying his wife after they had been divorced for four years.

Not only is Rick’s story one of amazing forgiveness by his wife, but it is also a story of extraordinary obedience on his part. In response to God’s nudges, he very reluctantly returned to his ex-wife to ask her forgiveness (and to ask her to re-marry him) and very reluctantly sought out an old business acquaintance to offer forgiveness. His acts of obedience and those offers of forgiveness opened the doors to miracles.

Through obedience and forgiveness (with a good dose of humility), Rick’s story of brokenness became a story of miraculous hope and healing.

The “other” Rick Warren has written a number of devotionals on the topic of forgiveness. Here are a few links for those interested in exploring this topic further.

Five Things Forgiveness Is Not

Requirements of Restored Relationship

You Don’t Have To Forget

At the 2017 NCS National Retreat, Bruce Wilkinson gave a powerful talk on the topic of forgiveness. Here it is.

Filed Under: Audio & Video, Video Tagged With: Audio & Video, Chapter Friday, Christianity-Theology, Divorce, Faith, Forgiveness, Healing, Marriage, Nature of God, NCS New Canaan, Prayer, Relationships, Right Wrong, Salvation, Sexual Habits and Addictions, Transparency and Authenticity

Becoming Free To Heal the World (J. Kevin Butcher – 10/16/20 – NCS New England Chapters)

October 16, 2020 by NCS New Canaan Leave a Comment

[The weekend of Oct 16-18, 2020 was meant to be the 2020 NCS New England Retreat, and J. Kevin Butcher was scheduled to be our Spiritual Guide. Our theme was to be Embrace an “F-Word”: Freedom. The COVID pandemic changed all that, but Kevin graciously and generously agreed to speak to a joint meeting of the NCS New England Chapters on what would have been the first day of the 2020 Retreat (the Retreat is rescheduled for November 5-7, 2021 with Kevin).]

Kevin Butcher is like us because he is an NCS brother (a member of NCS Grosse Pointe). He is like us because he is a man. He is like us because he has struggled with the difference between “knowing Jesus” and “knowing ABOUT Jesus” (and we all know that the lyrics of the NCS theme song “Knowing You” by Graham Kendrick says it is about “knowing Jesus”). He is like us because he spent years filling the emptiness in his heart with all the wrong stuff (none of which works). Kevin shares with tremendous NCS vulnerability his “performance” life and where it led him.

But Kevin Butcher is unlike many of us because he finally “got it”. As he says, our lives begin when we realize God loves us. Butcher explains that we can’t live out the commandment in John 13:34 to love others as Jesus loves us if we have not realized Jesus’s love–not “knowing” in our head He loves us but “experiencing” His love. Kevin emphasizes through stories from his own experience how much the world is broken and hurting, how much people are looking for the healing love of Jesus, even if they don’t know it, and how healing the love of Jesus can be when poured out by us.

Butcher runs through a thought-provoking and heart-wrenching list of the types of things men use to fill the emptiness. He shares that these are “signs” and not things to “fix”–they are “signs” that we are still living in bondage, which means we may be “functional” but we are not “free”.

As we begin to get lost in the pain of seeing ourselves on (or all over) that list, Kevin then provides a path to freedom–the freedom necessary to heal a broken and hurting world by truly loving others as Jesus loves us. That path is focused on three key relationships:

  • Our relationship with ourself (hint: we have to stop lying to ourselves about ourselves)
  • Our relationship with God (hint: we have to see God is an Abba father who loves us)
  • Our relationship with others (hint: we need to move toward one another in the body of Christ to bring and receive healing through love).

Kevin Butcher is coming out with a new book to be released April 6, 2021 called “Free”. Click HERE to visit Kevin’s page at Tyndale House Publishers.

There is another song by Graham Kendrick (who wrote the NCS theme “Knowing You”) that perfectly captures John 13:34–it is called “Love Each Other”. Together, these two songs are a wonderful accompaniment to Kevin’s message. Here are the official lyric videos.

Filed Under: Audio & Video, Video Tagged With: Anger, As One, Audio & Video, Chapter Friday, Christianity-Theology, Dealing with Emotions, Evangelism, Faith, Father-Son, Fear and Worry, Forgiveness, Friendship, Great Commandments - Love God - Love Neighbor, Healing, Nature of God, NCS New Canaan, Raising Children, Relationships, Serving Others, Shame-Guilt, Speak Truth, Spiritual Warfare, Transparency and Authenticity

Whose Side Are You On?: A “Third Way” To Reconciliation (Roland Warren – 6/26/20 – NCS New Canaan & NCS Bergen County)

June 26, 2020 by NCS New Canaan Leave a Comment

With tremendous honesty, passion and wisdom, Roland Warren presents a “third way” approach to racial reconciliation and healing. Warren shares vulnerably about his first experience of racism and the impact it has had on his life. He also explains how God began to reveal insights about the current cultural climate by pointing him back to lessons learned in his early days at Goldman Sachs.

Starting with Joshua 5:13-14 (see text below) and then looking at the model of Jesus, Warren urges us to put aside the “tribal” sides that divide us over issues and concepts like “systemic racism”, “white privilege” and “black lives matter vs. all lives matter” and consider what it would look like to be “on God’s side” in addressing issues of racism and racial division. Warren reminds us that we are in a spiritual battle, and that the “two sides” are really the divisive side of Satan and the reconciling side of God–that is the real choice we have to make.

Warren shows that God’s way, as modeled by Jesus, is to pursue reconciliation by changing individual hearts–that systemic racial problems will only heal when people’s hearts have been changed to embrace both justice and mercy–whites and blacks committed to fighting injustice and forgiving. Warren boldly asserts that reconciliation will never happen between a guilty person and an angry person, which is why many current narratives and efforts just bring greater division.

During his 22 minute talk and an extended 45 minutes of Q&A, Roland addresses topics such as:

  • Why messages of reconciliation are not being heard because the media needs “volatility” for news.
  • How systemic injustice toward blacks today can be compared to systemic injustice toward Jews at the time of Jesus, and how Jesus addressed the systemic by changing individual hearts.
  • The lessons we can learn from how Jesus perceived and treated victims and victimizers.
  • Drawing on his experience as President of the National Fatherhood Initiative, the need to help build strong black families.
  • Drawing on his experience as current CEO of Care-Net, the tragic reasoning that he believes leads to a disproportionate number of black abortions.
  • That truly “caring” about black lives means caring comprehensively, from “womb to tomb”.
  • How whites and blacks can (and must) move toward reconciliation by getting past positions of anger and guilt.
  • The importance of personal responsibility and forgiveness in pursuing reconciliation.
  • Practical ways whites can come alongside blacks in the pursuit of reconciliation without supporting organizations they believe have a different agenda.
  • How “God’s side” of reconciliation can be expressed in secular terms as the universal desire for “peace”.

Warren’s message and perspective is one most people have probably not heard, but it is one that needs to be heard.

Here is a link to the 2016 article Warren mentions in his talk. https://newcanaansociety.org/new-canaan/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2020/06/washingtontimes.com-Black-Lives-Matters-real-agenda.pdf

Joshua 5:13-14 13 When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” 14 And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped[a] and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”

Filed Under: Audio & Video, Video Tagged With: Anger, Audio & Video, Christianity-Theology, Cultural Change and Engagement, Faith, Faithful Presence, Father-Son, Forgiveness, Friendship, Great Commandments - Love God - Love Neighbor, Healing, NCS New Canaan, Prayer, Raising Children, Relationships, Right Wrong, Serving Others, Shame-Guilt, Speak Truth, Spiritual Warfare, Transparency and Authenticity

Setting a New Default (Nigel Mumford – 5/15/20 – NCS New Canaan/Manchester/Virginia Beach)

May 15, 2020 by NCS New Canaan Leave a Comment

In the midst of the “Covid crisis”, Rev. Nigel Mumford explores where we go when we are stressed–how we respond when our “buttons” are pushed or our “triggers” are triggered–and how we can be healed from those buttons and triggers. By looking to Matthew 6:33 (“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”), Nigel helps us understand how to set a “new default” through God’s healing of our past. He vulnerably shares from his own life traumas, including those suffered as a British Royal Marine Commando, as well as his near-death experience with Swine Flu when he was in a coma for three weeks and in the ICU for three months.

Through examples from his own life as well as experiences from his global healing ministry, Nigel unpacks two sayings “Hurt people hurt people, but healed hurt people heal people” and “Don’t let your past ruin your present or your future.”

In an extensive Q&A session at the end, Nigel addresses questions about topics such as: healing from the trauma of Covid-19; sharing your deepest fears and hurts; strengthening marriages; going through a near-death experience; fearing death; the difference between forgiving, reconciling and healing; and quarantining alone.

Donations to Nigel’s ministry may be made at www.byhiswoundsministry.org

Nigel has just published a new book on healing titled “This Is Where Your Healing Begins”. Click this link to purchase a copy: https://amzn.to/2LvP5ML

Filed Under: Audio & Video, Video Tagged With: Anger, Audio & Video, Career and Financial Disappointments and Transitions, Chapter Friday, Crisis and Adversity, Dealing with Emotions, Faith, Fear and Worry, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Healing, Health Challenges and Losses, Isolation-Loneliness-Depression, Marriage, Nature of God, NCS New Canaan, Relationships, Shame-Guilt, Spiritual Warfare, Substance Abuse and Addictions, Transparency and Authenticity

Live to Forgive Through Empathy (Jason Romano – 11/22/19 – NCS New Canaan)

November 22, 2019 by NCS New Canaan Leave a Comment

With tremendous transparency and authenticity, Jason Romano shares the painful story of estrangement from his father. He takes us on a journey from childhood to the depths of hurt, resentment, unforgiveness and bondage, and then explains how that journey finally took a God-orchestrated turn toward forgiveness, freedom and healing. Romano also reflects on the rampant unforgiveness in our society and the damage it is doing.

In recounting the journey, Romano admits how difficult it is to truly forgive as Jesus forgives us. He vulnerably shares how for many years he responded to hurt by hurting back from a place of bitterness and anger. He finally came to understand that forgiveness is not about the other person–it is about you. But most importantly, he came to understand that the key to forgiveness is empathy–what Romano now calls “the antidote to life”. Romano shares that being able to finally have empathy for, and forgive, his father, started him on a life of forgiveness.

Filed Under: Audio & Video, Video Tagged With: Addiction, Anger, Audio & Video, Christianity-Theology, Crisis and Adversity, Dealing with Emotions, Father-Son, Forgiveness, Isolation-Loneliness-Depression, Nature of God, NCS New Canaan, Relationships, Substance Abuse and Addictions

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