The Birth of the Church

Many of us have mixed feelings when it comes to birthdays. Some go out of their way to celebrate while others go out of their way to avoid and forget. This month we celebrate the birth of the church which began on the day of Pentecost. Here is one birthday that is truly worth celebrating. 

In the gospel of Luke ch24 we read that before Jesus ascended to the Father He commissioned His disciples to proclaim the gospel to all nations but first gave them this command: ’stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (v49). Once the day of Pentecost had arrived the Spirit of God fell in power upon this unique group of Jews and Gentiles, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, filling them with the power of God to accomplish this great calling. 

There’s much we can learn from this account. Firstly, the church was born in power. Jesus didn't say to His disciples. Wait in the city until you get you get it all together, until you’ve completed both the beginning and advanced diplomas of church growth strategy 101 or at least until you’ve learned the top 10 of modern pop worship choruses. Rather He said wait until you have received power. So often the greatest hindrance to the advance of the glory of God is the church trying to do the work of God without the power of God. We desperately need His power. Only the power of God can save, only the power of God can transform lives, only the power of God can convict us of our sin. May we never arrive at a place where we forget that as the Church we are in desperate need of His power to accomplish His work.

Secondly the Church was birthed in His personal presence. 

This wasn't just an encounter with an abstract manifestation of His Glory but an encounter with the personal presence of Holy Spirit. We worship a God who himself marks his people with the empowering reality of who He is. He is a personal God. 

Finally the Church was birthed in wonder. I always wonder what the disciples were expecting as they waited. Certainly they seemed as amazed as everybody else when all of a sudden there was a mighty rushing wind, tongues of fire and people acting like they were overcome with wine. This wasn't a calm, quiet, polite, prayer meeting. It was so wild and loud that people came rushing from all around to see what all the commotion was about! In fact whenever the Holy Spirit moves in scripture there is a sense of wonder. Anything can happen. Buildings are shaken, chains fall off, people get saved, great awe comes upon everyone, signs, wonders and miracles take place and pretty soon even shadows become dangerous. The church was born with this sense of wild wonder. Do we live with that same sense today of excitement and expectancy to see what God might do in our midst today?

There’s a prayer that is one of our foundational calls as a church and it is one that I have been reminded of many times recently, its found inthe book of Acts: 

‘And now Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.’ (Acts 4:29-30)

I believe this is a season of praying ‘bold prayers’ and I want to encourage us to join this month to declare this prayer together. May these be days of His power, His presence and wild wonder!!

Blessings

Andrew 

True Worship

“The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”. (John 4:23–24)

Of all aspects of our modern church life one that is perhaps most mis-understood and even neglected is worship. For some worship is unnecessary and uncomfortable, for some worship is a warm up to more important aspects of a service, for others worship is a performance that is more focused on the ones who are worshipping rather than the One who is worthy of all worship.

A.W. Tozer writes in his well known book ‘Whatever happened to worship’: "The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God, and the church is famished for want of his presence’. Worship is the missing jewel of the church. We have become a generation of people who worship our work, work at our play and play at our worship’. In the midst of so many different expressions and perspectives of worship what is the ‘true worship’ that Jesus speaks of and encourages us to pursue?

Throughout the scriptures we see a continual invitation to ‘come worship the Lord’. What we sometimes fail to realise is that this invitation is not the Lord inviting us to what He needs, as much as it is the Lord inviting us to what we need. In fact there are few invitations more incredible, more powerful, and more of a priority than worship. We are invited to that which we were created for and that which we need; an encounter with the living God and a life-changing glimpse of the greatness, the awesomeness, the wonder, the power, the mercy, the goodness, and the loving kindness of God. Worship is that place where we see Him for who He is, the one who is worthy of all worship. Then as we behold His majesty, His might and His worth, we let nothing get in the way of our pursuit of Him in worship, not because we have to, but because we get to.  

True worship is when we come as a people with a genuine desire to worship God for who He is. Not to be blessed but instead to bless Him and to give our lives in that pursuit. We look not so much for the moments but the mission and the lifestyle of becoming true worshippers, revealing and bringing us into an encounter of the fullness of who God is. It is this true worship that will lead to the kind of spiritual visitation that ignites churches; heals brokenness, strips away religious facades and restores the glory to God to His Church in a way that will cause the world will sit up, take notice and declare that ‘surely God is among you’ (1 Cor 14:25).

This month as a church we have have been preparing to do some worship recording not because we think its a good idea but rather because we have felt from the Lord that this is the season for us to be doing this. The songs that we will be recording have been written in response to what we feel the Lord has put on our hearts for this season in our church, and indeed the church.  They give voice to His heart and prophetically declare His purposes for us at this time. We believe they are songs in season. We invite you to join us over the coming month as we pursue the Lord in this way and together seek to become what the Lord Himself calls the ‘true worshippers’. 

Blessings

Andrew

Lord would you open our eyes again!

“…as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal”. (2 Corinthians 4:18)

There’s a great story recorded in 2 Kings Ch 6. At this time the king of Syria was at war with Israel but his plans were being constantly thwarted by Elisha’s prophetic insight. The king gets so frustrated that he sends horses, chariots and a ‘great army’ to capture the Prophet. This great Syrian army comes by night and surrounds the entire city where Elisha lived. The next morning Elisha’s servant rises early to find a great army camping on their doorstep. In a state of panic he rushes back to Elisha crying out ‘what shall we do’? I imagine Elisha at this point sitting quietly, perhaps enjoying his morning coffee in his favourite chair, a picture of perfect peace. With a mischievous grin he turns to his servant saying, ‘Why are you afraid?’. Why am I afraid, thinks the servant, why do you think I am afraid?, there’s an entire army sitting on our doorstep! Elisha continues, ‘those who are with us are more than those who are with them, Lord would you open his eyes’. The Lord opens the eyes of the servant who instantly sees the mountains all around them full of horses and chariots of fire. 

There is a greater reality beyond our reality. In 2 Corinthians Paul encourages us to look not to the things that are seen, which are transient, temporary and passing away, and look to the things that are unseen, which are eternal. There's no doubt that there is always the ‘seen’ things of life in front of us. Jobs to do, tasks to accomplish, mouths to feed, mountains to climb, battles to fight. Yet in the midst of the ‘seen’ things how much of our time is spent looking to the ‘unseen’ reality beyond this reality. There may be an army camped at your doorstep but there is a greater reality than what's in front of you, if we will just have eyes to see it. 

I believe we are in a time when the Lord is desiring to open our eyes to His reality. There’s much in front of us that can easily consume our attention. His invitation is to look past the ‘seen’ to the things that are ‘unseen’. He is wanting to align our hearts with His heart, that we might then partner with His purposes on the earth at this critical time. My prayer is that we would be a people who have eyes to see the greater reality of the King and His Kingdom. Lord would you open our eyes again! 

Blessings

Andrew

Pray and Go

Luke 10:2

 And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. Go…………

Late last year both the Board and the pastoral team felt stirred to set aside a month each year to focus our attention on Missions. It has been a foundational commitment, backed with action, as a church to financially support Missionaries in the field and to send people out, both short and long term. And yet, as with many long held commitments that keep ticking along, we can get complacent. It’s in place, we are ticking that box, and so we become less aware on a day to day basis of the needs of our Missionaries and indeed of the mandate on us as believers to both pray and go.

And so March is Missions month in 2017.

We have a number of “our Missionaries” coming to share with us in March, orchestrated by God to coincide with our set missions month rather than our exceptional planning, I might add. Take time this month to become familiar with who we support as a church, the people groups they are called to serve, their needs and situations. We have a notice board dedicated to missions giving updates in our foyer. Seek God as to how you might support them from your means, be that financial, in prayer, or in practise.

But can I encourage you not to stop there. We cannot tick the box of going into the world proclaiming the gospel and making disciples with a church program or even by making a missions donations. (Not that these things are bad) We, as His people are the sent ones, each one of us.

In John 20:21 He says, “as the Father sent me, I send you.” We are sent ones because our Father is the sender and the heart of mission involves living out who we are as God’s people. It is not the role of the church as an organisation to be missional, it is the call of God’s people to be missional.

You may or may not be appointed and sent to Thailand, or Mozambique or India or South Africa or Papua New Guinea but as sent ones you do carry the Kingdom into workplaces, places of education, your children’s school, your family, and the places in your community that God leads you.

One of my favourite songs at the moment, “For the one” a new release by Jenn Johnson says

Let all my life, tell of who You are

And the wonder of, Your never-ending love

Let all my life, tell of who You are

You're wonderful, and such a good Father

Pray and Go

Kathryn

Let There Be Light

‘God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.  If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.’  1 John 1:5-7

We had a really great time away at our recent youth camp, and the theme and focus for the camp was ‘let there be light’.  The Lord did a deep work in many hearts, inviting us to come into His light, to allow Him to shine His light into any areas of darkness in our lives so that we can then walk in His light and shine brightly for His glory.

Of course, ‘let there be light’ were the first recorded words God spoke in the Bible (Genesis 1:3).  When God speaks, things happen, and so, ‘there was light’!  If we can truly grasp the significance of these words, they are powerful and life changing.

I believe there are times in our lives when God highlights things and declares ‘let there be light’ to us.  When He highlights areas of darkness in our lives – unbelief, fear, lies we’ve believed, sin, destructive habits, attitudes or patterns of behaviour – He doesn’t do it to leave us exposed or to heap shame on us but rather, to bring His light in and lead us into a place of greater freedom and wholeness.  It is far better (and far easier) to walk in the light than it is to stumble around in the darkness.

Some years ago now I had an experience that the Lord has recently reminded me of and has been speaking to me about.  I was bitten by a spider on my calf muscle one day while I was doing some work in the garden.  I didn’t even notice that I’d been bitten at the time, except for what looked like two little ‘pimples’ that came up later that day.  They were slightly sore to touch, but I didn’t think anything of it so left it.  The next day, the ‘pimples’ on my leg were much more painful to touch and what appeared to be some bruising had also appeared – but again I chose not to do anything about it and left it, hoping it would get better of its own accord.  The following day it wasn’t just the site of the bite that was sore, but my whole calf muscle was starting to swell up and cause me some grief.  I was due to play sport on the weekend, so I felt I needed to test out whether I would be able to play or not.  I went along to training, which needless to say was a foolish thing to do.  As I got dressed afterwards I noticed that not only was my calf muscle now seriously swollen, rock hard and feeling like it was on fire, but I could literally see that the infection had spread up my leg and had made its way into my lymph glands.  It was only then, when I could hardly walk, that I made the decision to go to the hospital and the antibiotic treatment I was given cleared it up reasonably quickly and thankfully no amputation was required!

You are probably thinking how silly I was to not get my leg treated earlier and deal with the issue before it became more serious.  And I would definitely agree with you.  But how often can we be like this in our own journey through life?  How often do we perhaps leave things in our own hearts and lives to fester when the Lord is ready and willing to deal with them and shine His light on them to bring us to a place of freedom and healing?

When the Lord puts His finger on things in our lives, it is an opportunity to respond to Him and allow Him to bring His light, truth and freedom to bear in our lives.  I love what Andrew said recently, about how we can pray and desire that the Lord would move and work powerfully in our city, nation and beyond (which is a wonderful thing to seek after!), yet often He is wanting to start by first working in our own lives. 

As we start 2017, I pray that this would be a year of letting His light in and walking in His light.  Where there are things that the Lord may be highlighting or bringing to the surface, let’s not ignore them or put off getting some ‘treatment’.  Rather, let’s allow Him to bring healing, freedom and wholeness.  When He is able to do the work He needs to do in us, He is able to then do the work He desires to do through us.  Are we willing to respond to His invitation when He says – ‘let there be light’?

Adam

Wrapped For Us

Luke 2:8-12

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

Have you ever wondered why a bunch of Shepherds were the audience of the very first declaration of the Good news of the redemptive Gospel of Jesus Christ?

The fields outside of Bethlehem, the scene of the shepherd’s angelic encounter, have been linked to a unique biblical location called Migdal Eder, meaning tower of the flock. According to ancient Jewish writing this area was deemed holy and consecrated with the lambs raised there only being used for sacrifices at the Temple in Jerusalem. Everyone in Israel recognised Bethlehem as being synonymous with sacrificial lambs.

The shepherds who worked in these fields were not ordinary shepherds but Rabbinical shepherds who were trained and served in raising the sacrificial lambs. The requirement for lambs without spot of blemish brought with it specific treatment of the lambs as they were born.  During the lambing season the sheep were brought from the fields to the tower of the flock. The lower level served as a birthing room for the lambs. As soon as they were born the lambs were laid in a hewn depression in limestone rock known as a manger and wrapped to prevent them thrashing about and harming themselves while they were inspected for signs of defect.

“And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

Scholars believe that the shepherds may have known where to find Jesus because to them all these signs could only point to the tower of the flock and the very process they were so familiar with.

There are many aspects of the Christmas narrative that we can skim over as a result of familiarity and even embrace popular tradition rather than the biblical account.

Our God is incredible in His detail, even this glorious interaction with seemingly simple shepherds is a powerful prophetic picture to all mankind of the birth and mission of the Messiah. The picture of a Lamb without spot or blemish indicating the perfection and sinless nature of Jesus, the purpose of these lambs birthed for sacrificial offering and atonement, His very mission. From the moment of His birth the ultimate reason for Jesus’ coming is alluded to. He would be wrapped and laid in a place cut in stone once more as the lamb without spot or blemish who died for our sins. (See Luke 23:53)

As we anticipate the celebration of His coming during the season of Advent, let us embrace the good news of great joy and remember Our God was wrapped in human flesh for us.

Kathrynxx

The Word of God

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will endure forever. (Isaiah 40:8).

The Bible, the word of God, is unlike any other book! It is the most incredible literary masterpiece of all time. Its scope is unrivalled detailing the greatest good, the greatest evil, the greatest courage and sacrifice, and indeed the ultimate sacrifice - the Saviour of all mankind! Its depth is un-equalled exploring the greatest mysteries of life, the deepest depravities and longings of the heart of mankind, the nature of God and the universe and revealing to us truth. There is only one Book on earth, only one Book in the history of mankind that can ever answer all the fundamental questions of life. There is only one Book that holds the key to our eternal destiny: the ultimate love story, written in blood on a wooden cross. 

If that wasn't already enough, only the Bible has the audacity to lay claim to being alive, God breathed (2 Timothy 3:16), perfect, (Psalm 19:7) and having the power to transform lives. The power of God’s word will:

-build you up (Acts 20:32)

-teach, reproof, correct, train in righteousness, and equip for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

-is living and powerful able to pierce to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12)

-renew your mind (Romans 12:2)

-bring joy and delight to the heart (Jeremiah 15:16)

-be a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Psalm 119:105).

-revive the soul, making wise the simple, rejoicing the heart and enlightening the eyes (Psalm 19:7-8); just to mention a few….

We live in a society that has strived hard to remove and erode God’s word from any public context in the name of tolerance, equality and discrimination whilst at the same time watching in horror at the rise in lawlessness that abounds. Its a bit like removing traffic signals that govern our transportation then complaining about the chaos that ensues. Even in many churches the Word of God has ceased to hold the place of honour and prominence that it once had. Seeker friendly emotional based preaching has replaced the proclamation of the eternal life changing truths of scripture. Increasingly everybody seems to have an opinion and know what they feel about everything but fewer seem to know what God’s word actually says. At times we can get caught reading all about God’s word but never actually reading, studying and meditating upon God’s word itself.

Each year over 1 million new books will be published and read, each day over 2 million blogs posts will be perused, and each hour over 200 million emails will be opened. In the midst of this age of information overload how much time do we spend reading the only book that truly has the power transform our lives, God’s word the Bible? There’s no time like the present to remind ourselves of the radical and bold claims of God’s word, remembering this incredible gift that we have in our possession, and renew our passion for the un-rivalled, and un-equalled, living word of God! 

Andrew

Faith

 “The assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”. Hebrews 11:1

Faith seems to often be a mis-used and mis understood word in our modern vernacular. Sometimes faith is used akin to wishful thinking or vain imagination with little substance or reality. Other times faith can be mis-represented as some magic formula to achieve any thing we might desire. Biblical faith is far from both of these. 

Hebrews 11:1 describes Faith as: “The assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”. The writer then goes onto describe the outworking of faith as follows; by faith the Israelites crossed the Red Sea on dry Land, by faith Jericho was defeated, by faith kingdoms were conquered, by faith justice was enforced, promises were obtained, the mouths of lions stopped, the power of fire quenched, weakness made strong, foreign armies put to flight, persecution endured and the dead received back to life (paraphrase v32-35)…..and the list goes on!  We would have to acknowledge that there are few things mentioned in scripture that have greater power, greater potency and greater promise than faith!

So what does this kind of faith look like? And how is it that we can live with this kind of faith? 

Back in Hebrews 11:1 we are told firstly that faith is an ‘assurance of hope’. Assurance means to be fully sure, fully steadfast or fully secure in our hope (which is Christ). The Amplified version puts it this way, faith is: ‘leaning on Him with absolute confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness’. We could say then that faith is to be ‘fully leaning upon the present promises of Christ’. Secondly we are told faith is ‘conviction of things not seen’. This word for conviction can be literally translated ‘the means by which a thing is proved or tested’. This implies both the process and the resulting proof. So faith by nature is not static but has an element of needing to be lived out, a proving process or a putting into action. We could say faith involves both a life lived fully leaning upon the present promises of Christ, and fully living out the proving process. 

There is a faith that moves mountains, conquerers nations, raises the dead, endures hardships, and without which we can-not please God. This faith grows as we become a people fully leaning upon the present promises, and fully living out the proving process. What would this people look like, a community of faith filled believers fully leaning upon and fully living out Christ in our lives, community and our city? Lets go deeper together and discover the incredible power and promise of faith. 

Blessings

Andrew

He is

“For I want you to know how great a burden I have for you… to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ.”

— Colossians 2:1-3

Despite living in an unprecedented age of communication, there are moments when the very tools that make this possible end up distorting the message. I experienced one of those moments recently when I received a text message from one of our other Pastors saying "I am overcome with FOMO". Having no idea if this was a person or a disease I responded "I'm sorry to hear that. Is it contagious?" The response came back “LOL, no I don't think so. FOMO means Fear of Missing Out… you need teenagers in your house".

Well for now I think I’m quite happy in my ignorance. 

Point being, often the message becomes distorted. The apostle Paul writes to the Colossians for exactly this reason. He is so encouraged to hear that many people have responded to the gospel and put their faith in Jesus. However he wants to encourage them and ensure that the truth of Jesus they received was not distorted or diminished in any way. 

Two words form the foundation of the incredible picture Paul paints of Christ in Chapter 1 of Colossians. He Is! He is the image of God, the Creator, He is Lord, He is the Sustainer, He is the Reconciler, our Sacrifice and our Redeemer, just to mention a few. In Chapter 2 Paul then switches gears to encourage the Colossians not to stop short of reaching the ‘full assurance of understanding and knowledge of God’s mystery which is Christ’ (Colossians 2:2).  Saying:  don't let vain philosophies cheat you (2:8), don't let religious activities rob you (2:16), don't let sin deceive you (3:5). See Christ in the fullness and wonder or all that He is. He is your life, He is your hope and He is your joy. (3:1-4)

There really is nothing that compares to this picture. There is nothing you could ever possibly add to who He is or what He has done. Don't even try, you’ll only make a mess. He is an infinitely glorious, all powerful God, who has redeemed us through the power of His blood and now offers us everlasting joy and satisfaction in himself.

Take a moment to reflect upon this picture of Christ. Has your perspective been tainted or diminished in anyway? Perhaps circumstances, busyness, striving, good works, selfishness or sin has clouded your vision. Take a moment today to bask in His glory and goodness, receive afresh His mercy, and enter into the fullness all that He is. May we too reach the ‘full assurance of understanding and knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ’!

Blessings

Andrew

Preferring Others to Oneself

““Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to the governor as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honour everyone … “

1 Peter 2:13-17 (ESV)”

In the last few years we have witnessed increasing acts of lawlessness accompanied by growing levels of fear across the world. When threatened, we humans are fairly predictable in our response. We either attempt to help others or ourselves; we welcome or we shut out; we flee or force others to flee; sometimes we simply freeze.

Cries of racism and prejudice attempt to arrest control of public debate by silencing any opinion contrary to the loudest and proudest. Someone is accused of racism when what they are really pointing to has more of a religious tone. 

Underlying many of the concerns being expressed or suppressed in today’s media (social and corporate) is the personal desire to remain safe wherever we live and work. This basic desire is a principle upon which most modern societies are founded; so too is the desire to be able to choose how we will live.  Safety and freedom to choose are enshrined in modern thought. 

The problem of lawlessness emerges when how I want to live conflicts with someone else’s version of how I should live. When unrestrained by concern for the well-being of others, individualism tends to undermine society. Exercising restraint for the betterment of society has always been a struggle for those committed to the ideal of individual choice, because the individual is at heart self-centred. Our preference is ‘I’ not ‘we’. It is made even more difficult when the basics of communal living, which had been acknowledged and observed for centuries, are pushed to one side as being out of date with modern thought. 

 What is it that is wrong about the Ten Commandments as a standard for communities to live with dignity and respect? Is it because the time-proven values limit personal choice? Are universal absolutes rejected because they limit personal behaviour? 

Modern opinion consistently ignores that we live before God and will one day give account of how we have done so? As Christians, we are instructed to live as servants of God. This instruction alone reminds us that we are not the centre of the Universe and that our opinion may not be the most important. It reminds us to see our behaviour in the context of the Creation in which we dwell - see vv 18-19. 

There will be a time in the history of the world when people live by The Lord’s values. Until then the Apostle Peter’s advice is timely and helpful; look to God, look beyond yourself, show dignity towards men and women entrusted with governing, seek to do good. Doing these things strengthens our conviction that we are free in Christ and able to sacrifice self-interest for the betterment of all.                                                                                                                                       

Peter T