craigmanderson

Sunday 17^th February 2013 PM

This month we are helping people to find where they fit in the plan God has for their lives. You are a very important part of God’s plan for Melbourne. God has gifted you and called you for a very important task so that His plan can be fulfilled completely.

Maybe you are gifted by God to really impact your own school or your Uni?

Maybe it’s at your workplace that you will make a real difference.

Eph 1:8  He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need,

Eph 1:9  letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ,

Eph 1:10  a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

Eph 1:11  It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living,

Eph 1:12  part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

(MESS)

Do you know what God wants you to do for Him?

The best way to find out is to ask Him!

The Holy Spirit is God at work in you to show you His plan and equip you to do it.

STORY

When I received Jesus as my saviour I began to attend church Sunday nights. Soon we were invited to a new Christian’s dinner. We the staff heard that Chris was a trainee Teacher they were very excited and asked her to come on Sunday mornings and teach kids in Sunday School. They said, “You can come along too Craig.”  Chris and I taught new comers. We would share with them about Jesus from a wordless book.

I remember the first time I led about 5 boys to Christ in the class, I just about exploded with joy! Why was that so exciting? I used to get drunk for kicks and organise student parties for the uni students. Something changed in me – the Holy Spirit working in me to touch others lives was exhilarating!

In the youth group we were in we used to meet on Friday nights and then go out into the city to witness to people. Sometimes the praise and worship would last an hour or more. There were some occasions when we sang in worship to God for an hour and it seemed like a bout 5 minutes had gone past. The Holy Spirit just captivated our hearts and minds in worship and Jesus seemed so real, so close and so powerful.

When I got water baptised. The pastors prayed for me and asked the Holy Spirit to fill me. I didn’t know what to expect, but I really wanted the gift of tongues. Nothing happened, and I went home a bit disappointed. So for three weeks I was praying to God for the gift of tongues. One Wednesday night at church we had teaching and during a time of loud praise and worship I was just so thirsty for God I cried out to Him and said, “Please fill me with the Holy Spirit God, and give me the gift of tongues or I am going to die!” A great rush of life and power hit me and out of my mouth flooded a torrent of language. It was real and powerful and obvious.

After we had been serving for about two years I was asked to lead a teens group which we called Youth Alive. The people who were taking on the youth and the people who were leaving the teens program as leaders all got prayed for and hands were laid on them. For what ever reason, I was overlooked. I decided it wasn’t anyone’s fault but God was still available, so after the church service (it was at a youth Camp) I went back to the church meeting room after lights out and just waited on God for a couple of hours. God visited me by His Holy Spirit. I felt an amazing peace flood over me and a real sense of God’s power overshadowing me. I believe God equipped me and empowered me for the new role of leading the teens church.

The Holy Spirit wants to fill you and empower you for His work He does through you.

I know that when people lay hands on you Gods’ power flows through you.

Many many times I have been prayed for and the power of God is so strong and tangible that I can’t stand up. I end up on the floor and experience peace, joy and a marvellous sense of victory.

um 11:16  And the Lord said to Moses, Gather for Me seventy men of the elders of Israel whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; and bring them to the Tent of Meeting and let them stand there with you.

Num 11:17  And I will come down and talk with you there; and I will take of the Spirit which is upon you and will put It upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not have to bear it yourself alone.

1Ti_4:14  Do not neglect the gift which is in you, [that special inward endowment] which was directly imparted to you [by the Holy Spirit] by prophetic utterance when the elders laid their hands upon you [at your ordination].

I have had the great honour of receiving prayer form some truly great men of God. One of these was Lester Sumrall who was prayed for and anointed by Smith Wigglesworth in his early ministry.

When we started this church, it was a special time of God’s moving and people were getting drunk in the Holy Spirit, seeing visions and experiencing what is called Holy laughter. Teenagers in this church saw visions of angels, of heaven and even of hell right in the meetings. Some people received prayer and were laid out on the carpet for two hours or more.

The Holy Spirit does things that may seem strange to us when we see it. Like in the book of Acts, when the disciples heard a rushing mighty wind and saw tongues of fire upon their heads.

He is not limited to worldly reason. He works in peoples lives to convict them of sin, to heal and set them free and to equip and empower them for ministry.

The Holy Spirit wants to work in your life and fill you with power and equip you to serve Jesus in ministry. You’re never too young in age or in years of experience.

Act 1:8  But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth.

Come and receive all that God has for you.