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GOING FOR GOLD 2

August 19, 2012 by Craig Anderson

If you’re going to go for Gold, then you better be prepared for some fails along the way. 

Here’s some of the painful moments in the London Games…

Bloopers – http://youtu.be/eHQSPjdfpmw

And now for a story of inspiration.

Matthias Steiner (born 1982 in Vienna) is an Austrian–German weightlifter, and Olympic gold medalist. Earl in life since an untreated infection[2] Steiner suffers from diabetes, diagnosed at his 18th birthday.[3] Before the diagnosis, the first symptom was an intense thirst, then he lost appetite, and 5 kilograms (11 lb) body weight within three months.[3] He went to the doctor when his sight deteriorated.[3]  Despite the diagnosis he followed his dream to become a weightlifter.

On July 16, 2007 his wife Susann died in a car accident.[8][9] Despite the tragic loss, and after losing 7 kilograms (15 lb)[6] body weight, he was able to continue his training.

He received German citizenship in early 2008, won overall silver at the 2008 European Championships, and the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Here is the story of his gold medal performance

VIDEO LINK http://youtu.be/xLN4OHxfbGQ

What a story of passion to triumph!

He won gold and broke his personal best.

German Olympic weightlifter Matthias Steiner promised his wife that one day he would win a gold medal in the Olympics. Just a year before the competition of 2008 Olympics, his wife tragically died in a car accident. In order to break the record, he needed to beat his personal record by 10 kg. This is the video of his attempt at the gold medal.

When he had lifted his final lift to win the gold he broke down and wept profusely… he was winning it for his wife. He told her on her death bed “I will win gold for you”

How huge was his motivation?

The medal ceremony was VERY moving! He wept so much holding a photo of his wife all the time.

What motivates you?

Winning a gold medal is a great motivation, but this man had an even bigger motivation – LOVE

He was motivated by doing it for another.

Often what separates gold medal winners from the rest of the pack is not the talent or ability; but the shear courage and will to win. Passion is a strong force that propels you towards your dream.

A famous Australian competitor Gillian Rolton is Australia’s first female equestrian gold-medallist. A schoolteacher from Adelaide, Gillian Rolton was a Show and Dressage rider from the age of ten until her early twenties. In 1992 she was a late inclusion the Australian equestrian team competing at the Barcelona Olympic Games after she beat all male members of the team in the final selection trial at Savernake, England. Competing alongside Matt Ryan and Andrew Hoy, Rolton rode an excellent round on Peppermint Grove on the final day of competition, and became the first Australian female equestrian to win a gold medal.

Rolton achieved even greater notoriety after the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996. Thrown twice from Peppermint Grove in the cross-country section, Rolton remounted and finished the course despite a broken collar-bone and two broken ribs. The Australian team, comprised of Andrew Hoy, Wendy Schaeffer, Phillip Dutton and Rolton, won gold.

You would have to ask the question – how much do you want it?

What is the passion that rules your life?

Some people live passionless lives because they have not been shown a cause that has lifted them to strive for more.

Some people have begun in passion but have run out of gas along the way due to pain or disappointment.

What is the cause that you are passionate about?

My brother in law Tony Kirwan is passionate about rescuing young girls from sexual exploitation. His organisation Destiny Rescue rescues young girls from brothels. Its dangerous and difficult work, but he has a huge passion to rescue girls because as he says, “What would you do if your daughter was imprisoned against her will in one of these brothels.”

Passion for others is a powerful motivation and strength giver when you are on your quest for gold or for any great achievement

Jesus was motivated to do it for you.

For the joy that was set before Him He endured the cross

Heb 12:2  Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. [Ps. 110:1.]

Is there not a cause?

King David, while stil, ayoung man saw goliath threatening Israel and wanted to see him defeated. But his older brother was cynical and negative about this young passion carrier…

1Sa 17:28  And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why did you come down here? and with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride, and the naughtiness of your heart; for you have come down that you might see the battle.

1Sa 17:29  And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause? (NKJV)

Isn’t there something that motivates us to live a bigger life?

To overcome every difficulty, to press on when we would rather give up, to try again when it all seems too hopeless?

Yes its for others. It’s for people who don’t know Jesus yet.

The Cause…… Australia For Christ

Jesus was motivated by love for others. He died on the cross for you.

His passion was enormous and carried Him through the most unbelievable agony of suffering just so you and I could find forgiveness and pardon for our sins.

Give your life to Christ and Go for Gold, find a cause worth giving your life for.

Mine is Australia For Christ.

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Why do some Christians commit adultery?

August 18, 2012 by Craig Anderson

We live in a fallen world.

We live in a world where values of integrity and fidelity have moved significantly over the last 100 years.

Adultery has always been a factor in every era, but now in this day in which we live it is sold as exciting and adventurous; being openly displayed on almost every TV program, movie and magazine. It has become far more acceptable now then ever before.

MOVIE CLIP – AN AD FOR THE “GOOD WIFE”

http://youtu.be/M5wbUmhf3ro

The hurt caused by betrayal is seldom given the prominence that a salacious affair is given.

The Effect of the media.

The media glamorises adultery.

Catholic news service  http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=28831

LOS ANGELES (LifeSiteNews) – The Parents Television Council released a new study, Happily Never After: How Hollywood Favors Adultery and Promiscuity Over Marital Intimacy on Prime Time Broadcast Television, which revealed that broadcast networks depict sex in the context of marriage as either non-existent or burdensome, while showing positive depictions of extra-marital or adulterous sexual relationships with alarming frequency.
Across the broadcast networks, the new PTC report found that verbal references to non-marital sex outnumbered references to sex in the context of marriage by nearly 3 to 1, and scenes depicting or implying sex between non-married partners outnumbered similar scenes between married couples by a ratio of nearly 4 to 1.

Durex’s Global Sex Survey has found that worldwide 22% of people surveyed have had extramarital sex. Some countries the prevalence was as high as 58%

United States

Alfred Kinsey found in his studies that 50% of males and 26% of females had extramarital sex at least once during their lifetime.[20] Depending on studies, it was estimated that 26–50% of men and 21–38% women,[21]

In Australia http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Cheating-hearts/2004/12/22/1103391840011.html?oneclick=true

Depending on which study you believe, between 30 per cent and 50 per cent of people in long-term relationships have been unfaithful, and, according to the Australian Institute of Family Studies, infidelity is cited as the main provocation in 20 per cent of divorce cases.

In the 2005 Global sex survey taken by the condom company Durex; Australia rated second highest nation on earth for the number of sexual partners respondents had. An average of 13.3.

http://wayback.archive.org/web/jsp/Interstitial.jsp?seconds=5&date=1203149228000&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.durex.com%2Fcm%2Fgss2005result.pdf&target=http%3A%2F%2Fweb.archive.org%2Fweb%2F20080216080708%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.durex.com%2Fcm%2Fgss2005result.pdf

There is now a website that facilitates adultery; It is a website for people who want a fling. AshleyMadison.com their slogan is Life is short – Have an affair.

Christians commit adultery too. In spite of the bible saying

1Co_6:9  Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived (misled): neither the impure and immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who participate in homosexuality,

1Co 6:10  Nor cheats (swindlers and thieves), nor greedy graspers, nor drunkards, nor foulmouthed revilers and slanderers, nor extortioners and robbers will inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God. (AMP)

Yet many Christians fall into this trap.

Most likely your marriage is fine. This message may seem irrelevant to you, but consider who else you can help who may be struggling in this area. More to the point; be on your guard, for we are all subject to temptation and we need Godly advice to protect us from errors.

Why do some Christians fall into this trap?

1. The culture of the age

The culture of the age is drowning in moral relativism. That is: if it feels good – Do it! The trend is to question all kinds of restraint. Who says pre-marital sex is wrong? The result: the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases sky rockets. Who says adultery is wrong? Result: the divorce rate is the highest ever, throwing massive costs on to the economy through a multitude of ramifications.

As people move away form God, righteousness and fidelity, they look more and more like the nation of Israel who suffered the consequences of disobedience to God. If you don’t believe in God or don’t care about righteousness then none of this makes sense to you and Christians are just prudes and kill joys, hypocrites who try to tell others how to live.

But the bible calls us Christians to be salt and light. Not only are we called to live in righteousness but our example is to show the way for others. It’s our joy to walk with Jesus and to be ever so grateful for our release from the prison of sin and the horror of eternity in hell, that we draw on all His power to live a new life of freedom, righteousness and purity.

As born again Christians we have a new nature. We are born from above we don’t want to sin any longer; this salvation we have, is power over sin, and we have a new heart that wants to please God.

2. Everyone is tempted

Jas_1:14  But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed and baited by his own evil desire (lust, passions). (AMP)

We learned last week about the power of walking in the spirit, we have a carnal nature – that old man that still has influence in our lives if we let it. But we choose to walk in the spirit and thereby we do not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.

You may be tempted, but here’s why you don’t yield to it.

  1. God is so generous and gracious to call you out of darkness. We say no to sin because of so great a salvation. We know what we are saved from.
  2. We count the cost. Is one night of passion worth losing our marriage, losing the respect of my kids, breaking up the family home, paying lawyers thousands of dollars in divorce settlements etc etc? (It cost Greg Norman $9mill to divorce his first wife… might have been less pain to stay together)
  3. There’s a massive amount of evidence that such relationships rarely work out. 41% of marriages end in divorce and 83% of second marriages.

MY STORY IN KIEV.

3. The absence of the fear of God

The church must stay true to the word of God. If the church strays away from truth it loses its power and effectiveness. The church cannot wink at pre-marital sex, adultery, or any immorality because the society is changing. We must preach bible values. To preach the gospel is to present the true picture of salvation. The reality of what Jesus has done on the cross is so awesome and amazing that we are deeply moved by our understanding of the consequences of sin and the great gift of salvation we have received. It is a gift that we do not deserve in any way. Our ability to see it and repent is totally a gift from God and for us to take it for granted is the height of foolishness.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Depth of His love equals the height of His anger against sin. If we truly know Him we are people who walk in a Godly fear and walk in a manner worthy of so great a salvation.

Heb 10:26  If we give up and turn our backs on all we’ve learned, all we’ve been given, all the truth we now know, we repudiate Christ’s sacrifice

Heb 10:27  and are left on our own to face the Judgment–and a mighty fierce judgment it will be!

Heb 10:28  If the penalty for breaking the law of Moses is physical death,

Heb 10:29  what do you think will happen if you turn on God’s Son, spit on the sacrifice that made you whole, and insult this most gracious Spirit?

Heb 10:30  This is no light matter. God has warned us that he’ll hold us to account and make us pay. He was quite explicit: “Vengeance is mine, and I won’t overlook a thing,” and, “God will judge his people.”

Heb 10:31  Nobody’s getting by with anything, believe me. (MESS)

God is so gracious and forgiving, and yes, of course, adultery is not the unforgivable sin, but can we trade on that grace and enter a forbidden relationship in the belief that God will forgive and pardon us in the end?

I have counselled many people who have made that decision. Some ended up far from God, others serve in the ministry today. My only plea to all people I serve with the word of God, is walk carefully, this is very dangerous ground.

4. Spiritual and emotional adultery

Physical adultery breaks a covenant made in the sight of God between two people. Often this step comes at the end of what began as emotional and spiritual adultery.

Some people may even enter emotional and spiritual adultery and not actually come together physically.

Jesus speaks so clearly about this practice when he says…

Mat 5:27  You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. [Exod. 20:14; Deut. 5:18.]

Mat 5:28  But I say to you that everyone who so much as looks at a woman with evil desire for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (AMP)

When a man and a woman marry they covenant to live together and give each other their hearts and their souls and their bodies. Scientists have discovered that when a couple makes love, the hormone oxytocin is released in both the man and the woman. This hormone creates a bonding experience in the mind and emotions of each one. The act of sex is so much more than physical.

When a married person shares their heart with a person other than their spouse they begin to forge a link that supplies the rest and refreshment of the soul that should be provided only by your spouse. Often counsellors get into trouble because they show empathy and express care and listening skills which create a bond emotionally that leads to emotions of infidelity. That is why in this church we do not counsel the opposite sex.

These emotions can seem so real that the person believes they have fallen in love with someone else and now they feel their own partner does not love them.

Often the man feels his wife does not understand him and he finds solace in the caring of another woman. His own wife will sense he has distanced himself from her and alarm bells go off. Soon her fear of another being present in the relationship, pushes her to criticism and anger, pushing him away.

At this point the offending pair will say, “It all seems so right. Perhaps we married the wrong person.”

They have been duped by deception. This deception stops them from seeing the truth – that their new relationship is of their own making and it is fuelled by pride. “This is what I want – it’s for me”

Pro 6:32  But whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks heart and understanding (moral principle and prudence); he who does it is destroying his own life.

Pro 6:33  Wounds and disgrace will he get, and his reproach will not be wiped away. (AMP)

 The way out

  1. Cut it off now. Don’t wait another hour. Don’t expect your feelings to approve. Run from the snare that has caught you.   Pro 7:21  With much justifying and enticing argument she persuades him, with the allurements of her lips she leads him [to overcome his conscience and his fears] and forces him along.

Pro 7:22  Suddenly he [yields and] follows her reluctantly like an ox moving to the slaughter, like one in fetters going to the correction [to be given] to a fool or like a dog enticed by food to the muzzle

  1. Seek God and cry out for His mercy that perhaps He will lift the deception off your soul.
  2. See a counsellor. Be open to someone who is Godly and confess your sins and receive instruction. Chris and I are willing to see anyone. You may wish to see a professional counsellor outside the church. Here is a resource for Christian counsellors. http://www.ccaa.net.au/find-a-christian-counsellor/all-christian-counsellors.php?intstate=2  and another  http://www.totalwellbeing.com.au/counselling-service

We live in a crazy world where the moral standards are plummeting – lets be a church that shines the light so bright. Let’s be a church that empowers great marriages and heals broken ones. Let’s be a church that helps adulterers find a way back home and let’s be a church that helps to heal the broken hearted ones who have been betrayed.

Love one another, go easy on one another, pray for each other.

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URBAN CONNECT GROUP LEADERS TRAINING LESSON No. 3

August 15, 2012 by Craig Anderson

WEEK 3

The role of the Visionary Leader, Demographic Leader and Core Leader.

Your role as a core leader = Urban Connect Group Leader.

Lets look at the different kinds of leaders that function in the local church.

There are:

  1. Visionary Leaders
  2. Demographic Leaders
  3. Core Leaders

In Ex 18: 17-21

Exo 18:17  Moses’ father-in-law said to him, The thing that you are doing is not good.

Exo 18:18  You will surely wear out both yourself and this people with you, for the thing is too heavy for you; you are not able to perform it all by yourself.

Exo 18:19  Listen now to [me]; I will counsel you, and God will be with you. You shall represent the people before God, bringing their cases and causes to Him,

Exo 18:20  Teaching them the decrees and laws, showing them the way they must walk and the work they must do.

Exo 18:21  Moreover, you shall choose able men from all the people–God-fearing men of truth who hate unjust gain–and place them over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, to be their rulers.

Exo 18:22  And let them judge the people at all times; every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they shall judge. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.

Exo 18:23  If you will do this, and God so commands you, you will be able to endure [the strain], and all these people also will go to their [tents] in peace.

BRAINSTORM

From verse 19,20,21 – what was Moses role?

Moses Heard form God and set the vision. His role was to lead the people out of the land of Egypt and into the Promised Land. This is the big picture.

He needed other leaders to help him.

Leaders of 1000’s;  100’s;  50’s and 10’s

In our church who is the visionary leader?

In our church we have leaders of 50’s and leaders of 10’s. The leaders of 50’s are called demographic leaders. For example, Tim and Ariel over youth.

Leaders of 10’s are called Core Leaders, these are the Urban Connect group leaders.

They lead about 10 people in their Urban Connect group.

In the new testament we see a similar organisation.

Acts 6:1-4

Act 6:1  NOW ABOUT this time, when the number of the disciples was greatly increasing, complaint was made by the Hellenists (the Greek-speaking Jews) against the [native] Hebrews because their widows were being overlooked and neglected in the daily ministration (distribution of relief).

Act 6:2  So the Twelve [apostles] convened the multitude of the disciples and said, It is not seemly or desirable or right that we should have to give up or neglect [preaching] the Word of God in order to attend to serving at tables and superintending the distribution of food.

Act 6:3  Therefore select out from among yourselves, brethren, seven men of good and attested character and repute, full of the [Holy] Spirit and wisdom, whom we may assign to look after this business and duty.

Act 6:4  But we will continue to devote ourselves steadfastly to prayer and the ministry of the Word.

BRAINSTORM

Who are the visionary leader/s?

What was the role of the Visionary leaders?

They chose leaders under them like Stephen and Philip, who became demographic leaders. They impacted regions or cities for God.

THE ROLE OF THE VISIONARY LEADER

  • Creators, owners and inspirers of vision.
  • Chief “passionary” (value holder).
  • Chief believer in the potential and destiny of others.
  • Provides excellent self leadership.
  • Provides hands on development and partnership and vision for demographic leaders.
  • Facilitates the development and partnership of core leaders.
  • Calls others up by lifting,

THE ROLE OF THE DEMOGRAPHIC LEADERS

  • These are leaders who take responsibility for whole demographic target areas e.g. Schools/Youth/young adults/young families/business etc
  • They can see and follow the vision of their visionary leader
  • They make room by violent prayerfor a move of God
  • They are able to see how to turn the tide of war and win souls
  • They are culture setters; positive influencers
  • They cast vision to Core Leaders (the vision carriers) and inspire them to serve the vision. If Core Leaders are not multiplying disciples, Demographic Leaders do not complain. They work out how to walk with them so that they do
  • Will leave the one for the ninety nine

THE ROLE OF THE CORE LEADERS

  •  They multiply disciples, taking them from infancy to maturity
    • They are people who understand, articulate and facilitate the vision of the Demographic leader
    • They identify their place in the Church under a Demographic leader
    • They create community
  1. Around the Word of God
  2. By building relationships/friendships and making disciples
  3. By winning the lost and maintaining an outward focus
  • They carry the core values of the Church
  • They maintain the unity of the Spirit in the Church by embracing the vision and values set by Church leaders/visionary leader
  • They will leave the ninety nine to go for the one

Have a look at the Core Leaders Checklist. (at the bottom)

BIG THINKING

I will grow a group and multiply it in the next year.

I will make sure I get refuelled by the visionary leader every week, so I don’t grow stale or cold.

Core Leaders Checklist

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PRISON BREAK 2

August 12, 2012 by Craig Anderson

 

PRISON BREAK 2

Message for 12-08-12

 

OVERCOMING SIN

 

Main thought – the power of the blood and the cross is to not only forgive sin but also give the believer power over sin.

 

The power of “Don’t” – It doesn’t work.

When we tell a young child. “don’t touch” we empower them with a big desire to touch.

 

Video – the marshmallow test.

This is what Paul said in Romans when we read last week…

 

Rom 7:8  But sin, finding opportunity in the commandment [to express itself], got a hold on me and aroused and stimulated all kinds of forbidden desires (lust, covetousness). For without the Law sin is dead [the sense of it is inactive and a lifeless thing].

 

To illustrate the effect of the Law on the mind, the apostle in this verse depicts its influence in exciting to evil desires and purposes.

 

What we learned last week was that you and I have at work within us a sin principle. A desire to disobey which is unconquerable. Even the most disciplined and desperate soul in an effort to do good fails at this point in becoming proud of his perceived achievement and sins by pride or religious self righteousness.

 

Mat 19:17  And He said to him, Why do you ask Me about the perfectly and essentially good? There is only One Who is good [perfectly and essentially]–God. If you would enter into the Life, you must continually keep the commandments.

 

 

THE ANSWER

 

The answer is not “don’t”

Saying don’t do it, is a strategy without power.

Sins incessant demands and our complete impotence to achieve goodness means that we can never be perfect. We can never live without sin no matter how hard we try. To say just don’t is the height of foolishness.

 

What about a change of heart? – No that won’t do it either the only way is death!!

 

The only person who doesn’t sin is a dead person.

When the police are searching for a criminal on the run. They are preparing evidence to charge him. They are ready to take him to court and put him on trial. If they find out he is dead, everything stops. There’s no searching, no more investigation, no trial, it’s all over.

 

Here’s how the bible puts it…

Rom 7:1  DO YOU not know, brethren–for I am speaking to men who are acquainted with the Law–that legal claims have power over a person only for as long as he is alive?

Rom 7:2  For [instance] a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is loosed and discharged from the law concerning her husband.

Rom 7:3  Accordingly, she will be held an adulteress if she unites herself to another man while her husband lives. But if her husband dies, the marriage law no longer is binding on her [she is free from that law]; and if she unites herself to another man, she is not an adulteress.

Rom 7:4  Likewise, my brethren, you have undergone death as to the Law through the [crucified] body of Christ, so that now you may belong to Another, to Him Who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. (AMP)

 

The only way you can be free from sin is to die. God’s so smart He figured out a way to do this without putting an end to your earthly existence!! Interested?

 

Here’s how it works…

Rom 7:4  Likewise, my brethren, you have undergone death as to the Law through the [crucified] body of Christ

Or as Paul puts it in Romans 6…

Romans 6:6  We know that our old (unrenewed) self was nailed to the cross with Him in order that [our] body [which is the instrument] of sin might be made ineffective and inactive for evil, that we might no longer be the slaves of sin.

Rom 6:7  For when a man dies, he is freed (loosed, delivered) from [the power of] sin [among men].

So get this picture…

Jesus died – and you died

Jesus was buried and you were buried in the waters of Baptism

Jesus rose from the dead – and you rose from the dead into newness of life out of the waters of Baptism

Jesus lived a new supernatural life – and you now live a new life filled with God’s spirit.

 

The truth about salvation, about you repenting and surrendering your life to Christ is that your old life died. You were in Christ when He died on the cross.

 

At that exact moment you became a totally new person. A different person. BORN AGAIN, BORN ANEW,  a new birth for a new person.

 

The old Craig Anderson died and a new person began, a person now created in the likeness of Jesus and with a new life on the inside, no longer subject to sin.

 

Let’s see how the bible explains that…

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! (AMP)

1Pe 1:23  Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides for ever. NKJV

 

Let’s make this really clear…. When you get born again, you are a new person, with a totally new heart/spirit. You have been changed, regenerated, a new beginning.

Yes you are acquitted, pardoned, forgiven of all your sins, but more than that you begin anew, with a new heart that does not want to sin. Now you desire to please Him who has saved you.

 

Rom 6:17  But thank God, though you were once slaves of sin, you have become obedient with all your heart to the standard of teaching in which you were instructed and to which you were committed.

Rom 6:18  And having been set free from sin, you have become the servants of righteousness (of conformity to the divine will in thought, purpose, and action).

To accomplish this great change we must do two things.

Repent and believe – Turn to Christ in full surrender. Capitulate. Lay down and ie to the old life – it wasn’t taking you anywhere nice anyway. This means reckon yourself as dead to sin

Rom 6:11  Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.

And secondly choose to walk in the spirit.

 

In Romans just before we read…

Rom 7:6  But now we are discharged from the Law and have terminated all intercourse with it, having died to what once restrained and held us captive. So nowwe serve not under [obedience to] the old code of written regulations, but [under obedience to the promptings] of the Spirit in newness [of life].

This new life we have we don’t live alone, but we have the Holy Spirit leading and prompting us to do good, to live right, to please God.

 

Later in Galatians Paul explains this a little more….

Gal 5:16  But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God). (AMP)

 

To stop sinning – give up, surrender, die to the old way of life in complete surrender to Christ. Reckon yourself dead to sin. Walk in the spirit, be filled and empowered by the spirit. You can never stop sinning by your own human effort and will, it’simpossible. You can only do it with the grace of God. Stop fighting and surrender. Dump pride and give up trying to be a better person.

 

HOW?
1. Read and mediate on Romans chap 6 and 8

2. Humble yourself to God and ask Him to show you that you are dead to sin.

3. Sometimes that humbling is greatly assisted by fasting if you are trapped in a stronghold of sin.

4. Humble yourself and ask a brother or sister to pray with you and be accountable to.

 

 

 

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IDENTITY

August 11, 2012 by Craig Anderson

Prayer and Mentoring 08-08-12

Jesus was secure in his identity.

He was the only one.

 

Identity is everything.

If Jesus is not God then he died in vain and we are lost. Almost all false religions and cults deny the deity of Christ. It is essential to our faith.

Jesus was and is and always will be the great I AM.

He is very God of Very God, very man of very man.

He knew who he was.

The Pharasees tried to tell Him who he was…

(John 8:52-59 ESV)

The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’

But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

 

What Jesus believed about himself was His identity. It wasn’t vague to him, it was sure. He knew who he was. All through his ministry life he had people telling him who he was and who he wasn’t.

  1. The devil – “If you be the son of God”
  2. Pharisees – “You have a devil.”
  3. Disciples – “God forbid that you would suffer and die”

 

What have people been saying about you?

As a young person, how many teachers, coaches, parents, leadership figures in your life made a negative assessment of you?

 

Think about it?

“You’ll never amount to anything.” is a very popular saying.

Maybe you deserved it sometimes, but will you let that statement define you???  Haven’t you changed now? If you’re my age you have changed!!

 

Your believing is everything. What you believe about yourself will determine what you achieve in life.

 

My Teacher – “You’ll never amount to anything Anderson.”

A significant pastoral leader in my life – assessed me as disloyal.

These kind of words can make a wrong picture in your inner world.

These kinds of words can limit you if you are stuck in the picture of how others have defined you.

 

Jesus asked His disciples, “What do men say of Me?” You must never do this. Don’t be defined with what men say of you. You are defined by what God says of you.

 

 

(Matthew 16:13-18 ESV)

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

 

We must never ask who do men say that I am.

We must always ask – who does God say that I am.

 

All of us are messed up to some degree.

 

Like Gideon

But what are we capable of?

And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” And Gideon said to him, “Please, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”

 

Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” (Judges 6:12-16, 21, 22 ESV)

 

Establish your identity. Who you are in Christ.

You must declare it! You must speak it out and determine that you will believe it.

 

How inspiring is Nick Vujicic?

What must he believe about himself? – “Life without limits”

What are your limits? Your believing!

 

Shake off the negative assessments others have made about you and declare what God says about you!

 

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

He has made me the head and not the tail, I am above and not beneath.

I am more than a conqueror through him who loved me.

 

Use the verses in the who I am in Christ notes.

 

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URBAN CONNECT GROUP LEADERS TRAINING No. 2

August 8, 2012 by Craig Anderson

URBAN CONNECT GROUP LEADERS TRAINING

JULY-AUGUST 2012            WEEK 2

The main thing is the main thing – soul winning.

What we believe in this church:

  • The power of an invitation
  • Go into all the world – reaching demographic groups
  • Discipling lost people to become disciple makers.

The Main thing is the Main thing.

This is now a famous quote from Ps David McDonald our National Chairman.

It reflects the main mission of the COC movement in Australia and around the world.

Soul winning – leading people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ is the most important thing we do.

For us and for most denominations the fire of soul winning is the first fire to go out when a church or movement stops putting the Great Commission first.

What did Jesus really mean when he said…

Mat 28:18  Jesus approached and, breaking the silence, said to them, All authority (all power of rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.

Mat 28:19  Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Mat 28:20  Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age. Amen (so let it be).

BRAINSTORM

What does this scripture/commandment mean to you?

Does this commandment apply equally to all Christians?

Are there some who are called to do this work of making disciples more than others?

Passion for souls

Are people really going to Hell?

What is Hell really like?

Joh 3:3  Jesus answered him, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that unless a person is born again (anew, from above), he cannot ever see (know, be acquainted with, and experience) the kingdom of God.

 

Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no respite (no pause, no intermission, no rest, no peace) day or night–these who pay homage to the beast and to his image and whoever receives the stamp of his name upon him. [Isa. 34:10.]

BRAIN STORM

Who is going to hell?

Is there any way to get to heaven except by becoming a Christian?

Are you sure there is no other way?

What is hell really like?

Who do you know that’s going there?

Making Disciples or Getting decisions.

One of the strongest messages that is being spoken around the world right now is about the importance of making disciples. This is contrasted to the practice of getting decisions.

What’s the difference?

BRAINSTORM

What happens when we make disciples?

What happens when we get decisions?

Disciple making

Discipleship is relationship.

It begins when relationship begins.

Disciple means learner.

Discipleship is meeting with someone or a group and doing life with them. Jesus did it 24/7 for three years. Mostly we can’t do that because we have to go to work, school, uni etc. so it may take a little longer!

Discipleship is leading people to Jesus through the embracing the word of God and also through the experience of life.

The discipler hasn’t got all the answers because no one does. The discipler leads the disciple to Jesus. Keep pointing the disciple to Jesus for the answers, but also share how that looked for you. Share your story, your struggles and your victories.

It can begin long before the potential disciple is saved. If they are willing to do the journey then go there with them. You can disciple them 1 to 1 or in a group. You can have an unsaved person in your discipleship group; no problems.

When a disciple goes through an experience – make it a learning experience. Ask questions…. What does the bible say about that? What would Jesus do if He were in your shoes? Do you need support and prayer in this situation.

As a discipler you provide love confidence and support. Maybe you don’t have all the answers but you can pray for God to do miracles in this circumstance. When you have the answer, don’t be too quick to TELL all the time. Be like a coach and ask great questions. People learn faster when they are searching their own hart and the word for the answer, by doing that you are making them Jesus dependent and not you dependent.

Making decisions

When people make a decision to follow Jesus, either in a one to one situation, or in a church service or Youth Meeting etc. that’s great; but if they are not connected to an Urban Connect group straight away then that young Christian may not keep going.

A decision is only a beginning. It’s like having a baby and then not caring for it. No milk, no food, no love, no protection, no clothes etc.

Can we as a church ensure that every person who visits our church has an opportunity to enter a discipling relationship?

BRAINSTORM

What could we do to make that happen? For us a church team to ensure that every person who visits our church has an opportunity to enter into to a discipling relationship?

Our Church methodology – How we do all this in PVC?

What we believe in this church:

  • The power of an invitation
  • Go into all the world – reaching demographic groups
  • Discipling lost people to become disciple makers.

The power of an Invitation

We believe in constantly asking people to come. Andrew asked Simon Peter to come. He also asked Phillip to come. The woman at the well inn John 6 asked the whole town to come. Ask lots of people, ask hundreds, somewhere someone is hungry and they will come. When people come to church, OR you OR Feast (Young Adults) OR Urban Connect OR Young Mums etc etc etc…… Then begin to disciple them if they are willing.

Go into all the world

We believe in GO! Go into all the world. We are not only sitting here in church and expecting people to come to us. That’s a come message…. Jesus gave us a GO message. So we go to the fishing pools where people are.

  1. Craig – to the Police station
  2. Chris & Tim – to the Primary School
  3. Youth – To the high school
  4. Feast – to the Uni – Red Frogs
  5. Alex and his team – The needy people who come to community kitchen

We will develop other fishing pools over time as we get larger. This is where we contact people outside the arena of church and serve them and love them and share the gospel with them.

Discipling lost people to become disciple makers.

This is the most powerful engine of growth and community impact, but it is very slow, it can take years of planting and sowing and working on changing culture so that the UC leaders and their groups focus on the work of discipling lost people.

For most churches in Australia the work of small groups does not include soul winning – and making disciples. Why? Because they have no passion for souls.

If we have no soul winning in our church or urban connect groups then we msut Pary and intercede and call on God for his mercy to touch peoples lives. Do we consider their plight? Can we go the extra mile and keep on reaching out to lost people? Will you as an Urban Connect Leader spur your group onto winning lost people?

  1. Have each member write down a harvest list
  2. Pray for the lost friends and relatives EVERY Meeting
  3. Share how you have been witnessing to others, be an example
  4. Encourage others to share who they are reaching out to
  5. Champion those who reach out.
  6. Create events to bring unsaved along to.
  7. When a new person comes to you r group make them feel welcome. Pray for them, meet their needs.

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Going For Gold 1

August 6, 2012 by Craig Anderson

GOING FOR GOLD

It’s Olympic time again and we are seeing incredible feats of human achievements and also endurance.

What does it take to produce a gold winning outcome?

Do you have what it takes?

Run the video :  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9nCPbbngmI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Every great achievement has behind it all the hard years of preparation, practice and pain.

Do you have what it takes?

Do you really have what it takes?

It’s not about talent, though you won’t get there without it.

It’s not about genes but that helps.

It’s not about luck but you need all you can get.

It’s not about physical strength, but you better develop what you’ve got.

It’s about whether you will get up everyday, keep going every day, keep trying every day, keep pushing every day, stay committed every day, and never, never, never let yourself say I can’t.

Jesus pushed through.

Heb 12:2  Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. [Ps. 110:1.] (AMP)

Listen to that again in the Message Bible:

Heb 12:2  Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed–that exhilarating finish in and with God–he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honour, right alongside God.

What Jesus endured was incredible! So much pain, so much shame, so much injustice. But for the joy set before Him He endured the cross.

That Joy is you.. and every person who accepts the free gift of eternal life that cost Him so much.

For every great finish there is a background of preparation, practice and pain that creates the win.

For every podium finish there’s thousands of hours of pounding the pavement, doing the laps, tired and aching muscles, disappointing results and confronting change.

We all want the podium finish, we all want the gold medal, the blue ribbon, BUT are we able to pay the cost of the journey?

DON’T EVER THINK THAT YOU ARE ENTITLED TO ANYTHING.

Who paid for all your stuff?

Does everything you have come from your own effort? Or did someone else pay the cost of what you now enjoy?

I think about the ANZACS – the young naive soldiers who marched into Gallipoli and into the Fromme in WWI with hardly any idea of the horror of war.

They paid the ultimate price. Jesus spoke of them when He said “Greater love has no man than this: that he would lay down his life for his friends”

Our own ANZACS have paid a huge price so that Australia would be a free and democratic nation with the most envied lifestyle and liberties of any nation.

Do you take it for granted? Or will you work hard and like the ANZACS pay a cost so that others may live.

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Prison Break 1

August 4, 2012 by Craig Anderson

SIN

ImageRom 7:14  I can anticipate the response that is coming: “I know that all God’s commands are spiritual, but I’m not. Isn’t this also your experience?” Yes. I’m full of myself–after all, I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. (MESS)

The prison of Sin

Why do we commit sins? Why do we do things that we later regret?

In a moment of weakness have you ever done something that you later hated yourself for?

What about infidelity?

Some researchers say there’s a 50–50 chance today that one partner will have an affair during a marriage including non-physical relationships.[1] It is estimated that roughly 30 to 60% of all married individuals (in the United States) will engage in infidelity at some point during their marriage.[3] Some authorities (for example, Frank Pittman in ‘Grow Up’ (Golden Guides)) observe infidelity is involved in 90% of first time divorces.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infidelity

Temptation touches every life; but sexual sin is only one way that we fall into temptation. As human beings we are constantly choosing right and wrong thoughts actions and behaviours. A jealous thought can lead to a rude comment or it can lead to murder as in the case of a man in the news this week who killed his wife’s lover.

A person might tell a lie to avoid being responsible for a problem, but that lie could turn into big troubles as in the case of a supreme court judge who lied about who was driving his car when caught by a speed camera and saw his reputation shredded in full public view.

But so often sin is not just a mistake that we regret, but it is a prison that we are held inside with no hope of escape.

Like the teenager who ties drugs once as dare and after 5 years of bad decisions has a heroine addiction that has taken their health, their friends their money and their self worth away. They are a prisoner.

What about the person who was curious about internet pornography at first but now has a raging appetite for more and more degrading porn and can’t stop viewing it. They may be one step away from downloading illegal material that could land them in jail. They may well believe that they are trapped and can’t get out of that addiction.

People are trapped by many different strongholds of sin.

Pride – manifested in constantly behaving in an arrogant manner

Lying – manifested in creating a false world around their lives to impress the people who no longer care.

Revenge – that manifests itself in unending imaginations of how to get even.

Greed – that manifests itself in hurting others to get more no matter what the cost.

Lust – that manifests it self in a constant search for gratification that once satisfied returns again so soon.

So many people are trapped in a prison of sin. They would describe their lives as a struggle. It’s not freedom. It’s bondage. They are not free to live a full, happy and prosperous life. They can’t say, “Look at my life; there are no secrets, my life is an open book and every day I am proud of who I am and what I do”

The Apostle Paul in the bible described this struggle with sin. He says it in a way that I’m sure you will identify with…

Paul’s dilemma – Rom 7:14-24

Paul goes on to describe how we can be delivered from sin in Romans Chapter eight

In this series I will be preaching and teaching about how to be set free from sin.

If you are a serious Christian you will want to hear this message. You will want more than anything to walk pleasing to God and truly represent Him as a Godly person.

You will want to be free from every kind of bondage, and more than that, you will want to conquer sin through the work of Jesus on the cross so that you can fully take the freedom and deliverance offered to all Christians.

In this series I will show you from the scriptures that Jesus work on the cross not only gives you forgiveness of sin BUT also gives you power over sin. He gives you deliverance from the power of sin to hold you in bondage.

Sin is a spiritual problem

What is sin?

1Jn 3:4  Everyone who commits (practices) sin is guilty of lawlessness; for [that is what] sin is, lawlessness (the breaking, violating of God’s law by transgression or neglect–being unrestrained and unregulated by His commands and His will).

If we say we have no sin.

1Jn 1:8  If we say we have no sin [refusing to admit that we are sinners], we delude and lead ourselves astray, and the Truth [which the Gospel presents] is not in us [does not dwell in our hearts].

 

Where did sin originate?

The bible is very clear that sin originated in Adam.

 

Rom 5:12 So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned –

(Adam and Eve were one couple.

Scientific evidence – In modern Science we have thousands of scientists who agree with the biblical account of creation; a list of just some of them can be found at

http://creation.com/creation-scientists

The so called Mitochondrial DNA – studies by Geneticists in 1986; Cann & Stoneking revealed that all humans alive descended from one single human mother, who lived about 150,000 years ago. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y-chromosomal_Adam)

Adam’s sin was of course to disobey God. His wife Eve disobeyed first then Adam joined her in doing exactly what God told them not to do. Partake of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Lets see what Romans says about that…

Rom 5:12  Therefore, as sin came into the world through one man, and death as the result of sin, so death spread to all men, [no one being able to stop it or to escape its power] because all men sinned.

This verse shows us that the one man, Adam, sinned by disobeying God and the result is death. Sin brings death. Death means physical death and spiritual death which is separation from God. This death had total effect on all men. That is, all of Adams descendents. Death had power over all men, because all men have sinned. All Men sin because they are born of Adam. That is they are of his kind, born of Adam means born of fallen man.

Adam was born in untested innocence. He was perfect but morally untested. He was tested by temptation and he disobeyed God and fell from perfection. This gave his tempter authority over him.

Rom 6:16  Do you not know that if you continually surrender yourselves to anyone to do his will, you are the slaves of him whom you obey, whether that be to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience which leads to righteousness (right doing and right standing with God)?

 

The fact is that the human race is sinful in nature. This by no means refers to human nature as God made it-or makes it-but to the fact that before man commits any sin he is already a sinner because he is born of a sinner (Adam). This situation may be described in terms both of sin being passed on to all people from the first man and our identification with primal man in his sin. However depicted, the important feature is that man does not come into the world as an innocent or neutral creature but is affected by sin in all aspects of his being (As David says in Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in [a state of] iniquity; my mother was sinful who conceived me [and I too am sinful].  Indeed, by virtue of this fact, man is corrupted in every area of his nature-body, soul, spirit-so that he is utterly incapable himself of restoration and salvation. His only hope is in Jesus Christ.

 

Rom 5:18  Well then, as one man’s trespass [one man’s false step and falling away led] to condemnation for all men, so one Man’s act of righteousness [leads] to acquittal and right standing with God and life for all men.

This verse reminds us that Adam’s trespass may have caused death to hold sway over all men, but Jesus act of righteousness results in life being made available for all men.

Whilst Adam first sinned, thereby giving us a nature that is subject to disobedience, we can not blame Adam for our own failures. We are responsible for our own sins as they are for their own actions.

It is true that we all are sinners by choice, even though we understand that through Adam was the entrance of sin into the human race and understand that it affected Adam’s descendents. Even so man perpetrates and perpetuates sin, therefore he cannot be relieved of the responsibility for it.

The seat of sin is in man himself. Our Lord said, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:19). The heart of man is the birthplace of all sinful thoughts, words and actions. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). In each of us there is sin for which each is accountable. The hidden capacities for evil are present in even the best of men.

There are no good men (or women) there are only open hearted men and hard hearted men. An open hearted man hears the gospel and responds in humility. He sees the truth of his own sin and receives correction and repentance. A hard hearted man rejects his own guilt and blames God for the state of his failures and the world’s problems.

The answer of course is death….. Dead people don’t sin. But more about that next week.

Lets not think that sin only refers to the seven deadly sins of lust, greed, anger, jealousy, pride, stealing and sloth. What about unbelief? God says that is a sin that kept the whole of Israel out of the promised land for 40 years. And what about fear, what about doubt, what about lack of love. In the new Testament Paul goes so far as to say what ever is not of faith is sin.

I hope you’re not in bondage. But if you’re like me there are still some aspects of the flesh that hold me bound and I want to be free. Totally free to live in liberty and walk in the Spirit. This message is the problem outlined. The answer is next week – please don’t miss the cure now you know you have the disease.

This is the journey we will take in the series called prison break.

Week 1 – Sin – What is it and why are we so trapped by it?

Week 2 – Overcoming sin through the Blood and the Cross

Week 3 – The modern day temptation of adultery

Week 4 – The modern day temptation of Pornography

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The Most Amazing Church on Earth # 3

July 28, 2012 by Craig Anderson

The End Times or the Last Days Church

Days of Increase

There are two views of the last day’s church that the church has held.

  1. A picture of a strong and church triumphant in the midst of persecution.
  2. A weakened church grimly hanging on until the end when the Jesus comes to save her

The first picture is the one I believe is the scriptural one.

The second picture is drawn from verses like these:

Mat 24:10  And then many will be offended and repelled and will begin to distrust and desert [Him Whom they ought to trust and obey] and will stumble and fall away and betray one another and pursue one another with hatred. AMP

Luk 21:25  “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves,

Luk 21:26  people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ESV

In the last days all things increase – The power of God and also unrighteousness and difficult times.

God’s plan is to fill the earth with His glory

Num_14:21  But truly as I live and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, [Isa. 6:3; 11:9.]

In the last days the righteous and the unrighteous will rise together…

Jesus painted a picture of the kingdom as the last days approach.

Mat 13:24  Another parable He set forth before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.

Mat 13:25  But while he was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed also darnel (weeds resembling wheat) among the wheat, and went on his way.

Mat 13:26  So when the plants sprouted and formed grain, the darnel (weeds) appeared also.

Mat 13:27  And the servants of the owner came to him and said, Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Then how does it have darnel shoots in it?

Mat 13:28  He replied to them, An enemy has done this. The servants said to him, Then do you want us to go and weed them out?

Mat 13:29  But he said, No, lest in gathering the wild wheat (weeds resembling wheat), you root up the [true] wheat along with it.

Mat 13:30  Let them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will say to the reapers, Gather the darnel first and bind it in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my granary.

The disciples asked – What is this parable all about?

Mat 13:36  Then He left the throngs and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him saying, Explain to us the parable of the darnel in the field.

Mat 13:37  He answered, He Who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.

Mat 13:38  The field is the world, and the good seed means the children of the kingdom; the darnel is the children of the evil one,

Mat 13:39  And the enemy who sowed it is the devil. The harvest is the close and consummation of the age, and the reapers are angels.

Mat 13:40  Just as the darnel (weeds resembling wheat) is gathered and burned with fire, so it will be at the close of the age.

Mat 13:41  The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all causes of offense [persons by whom others are drawn into error or sin] and all who do iniquity and act wickedly,

Mat 13:42  And will cast them into the furnace of fire; there will be weeping and wailing and grinding of teeth.

Mat 13:43  Then will the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God) shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let him who has ears [to hear] be listening, and let him consider and perceive and understand by hearing. [Dan. 12:3.]

In these last days the unrighteous will grow up with the righteous side by side as Jesus said He will allow this…

This teaching from Jesus allows us to see that within the church there are the true believers and then there are the pretenders.

Normally people do not see themselves as pretenders but when persecution comes they will not be able to stand.

Here is the sequence historically of the church, which at first was Israel and then the Gentiles were grafted in to the same olive tree.

God at the first preached the gospel to Abraham saying: In you shall the nations of the earth be blessed. Every Nation shall see the Glory of God and the Salvation of the Lord.

Jesus confirmed this when He commanded His disciples to go into all the world.

And then said, when the gospel has been published in EVERY nation then shall the end come. (Matt 24:14)

The Gospels give predictions about the church of the last days and what things will happen. See the whole of Matt 24, and the whole of Luke 21.

Summary of last times:

  1. Be on your guard – there will be false Christs arise.
  2. There will be wars, earthquakes, famines and pestilences.
  3. You will be persecuted, betrayed, hated
  4. Earthly Sign of second coming is armies surrounding Jerusalem
  5. Heavenly signs of His coming is in the sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth

Old testament prophecies of the last days

In Acts, Peter says we are in the last days and the signs are:

Act_2:17  And it shall come to pass in the last days, God declares, that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all mankind, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy [telling forth the divine counsels] and your young men shall see visions (divinely granted appearances), and your old men shall dream [divinely suggested] dreams. AMP

Peter is quoting the prophet Joel

Joe 2:28  And afterward I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.

Joe 2:29  Even upon the menservants and upon the maidservants in those days will I pour out My Spirit.

Joe 2:30  And I will show signs and wonders in the heavens, and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.

Joe 2:31  The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. [Isa. 13:6, 9-11; 24:21-23; Ezek. 32:7-10; Matt. 24:29, 30; Rev. 6:12-17.]

Joe 2:32  And whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered and saved, for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the remnant [of survivors] shall be those whom the Lord calls. [Acts 2:17-21; Rom. 10:13.] AMP

This pouring out of Gods Spirit was to be in the last days, which Peter declares to be at the time he preached at Pentecost. That was the beginning of the last days. The time we are in is the end of the last days.

This picture contains two parts:

  1. The pouring out of God’s Spirit – a significant world changing impact
  2. The signs to be expected in the heavenlies

The fact that these two pictures are linked in the one prophecy gives us the timing of the events as being together

God wants us to see the church as He sees it…. Strong, Holy, Godly, Powerful and overcoming, because it represents Him. There is mixture in the church; the wheat and the tares are growing up together but the humble in heart will have discernment and will see the true believers, and will cling to God’s mercy.

 Latter rain

Principle – Ecc_7:8  Better is the end of a thing than the beginning of it, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. AMP

Eg. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, first adam, better covenant, wine at wedding

The former Versus the Latter

Joe_2:23  Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord, your God; for He gives you the former or early rain in just measure and in righteousness, and He causes to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain, as before.

Hag_2:9  The latter glory of this house [with its successor, to which Jesus came] shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts; and in this place will I give peace and prosperity, says the Lord of hosts.

Isa 2:2  It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be [firmly] established as the highest of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow to it.

These verses prophesy that these last of the last days will be more glorious than the former days such as the times of the early church.

The last days church in our times and continuing to the second coming of Jesus is a better and more powerful church than even the book of acts church.

Revelation gives us a picture of the church triumphant.

Rev 6:9  When the Lamb broke open the fifth seal, I saw at the foot of the altar the souls of those whose lives had been sacrificed for [adhering to] the Word of God and for the testimony they had borne.

Rev 6:10  They cried in a loud voice, O [Sovereign] Lord, holy and true, how long now before You will sit in judgment and avenge our blood upon those who dwell on the earth? [Gen. 4:10; Ps. 79:5; Zech. 1:12.]

Rev 6:11  Then they were each given a long and flowing and festive white robe and told to rest and wait patiently a little while longer, until the number should be complete of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

Rev 6:12  When He [the Lamb] broke open the sixth seal, I looked, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun grew black as sackcloth of hair, [the full disc of] the moon became like blood. [Joel 2:10, 31.]

Rev 7:9  After this I looked and a vast host appeared which no one could count, [gathered out] of every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages. These stood before the throne and before the Lamb; they were attired in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.

Rev 7:13  Then, addressing me, one of the elders [of the heavenly Sanhedrin] said, Who are these [people] clothed in the long white robes? And from where have they come?

Rev 7:14  I replied, Sir, you know. And he said to me, These are they who have come out of the great tribulation (persecution), and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. [Gen. 49:11; Dan. 12:1.] AMP

Here again we see the signs in the heavens linked with the multitude of God’s outpouring of salvation in the earth.

The church of the last days as described in the Epistles

A Church without spot or wrinkle

Eph 5:24  As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands.

Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her,

Eph 5:26  So that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word,

Eph 5:27  That He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such things [that she might be holy and faultless].

God is at work in the church to perfect her, and make her ready for His son the bridegroom.

At the same time the devil is at work to prevent the church from becoming that pure bride.

Eph 4:12  His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body (the church),

Eph 4:13  [That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him.

 Paul warns that perilous times shall come:

 2Ti 3:1  BUT UNDERSTAND this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear].

2Ti 3:2  For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffing), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane.

2Ti 3:3  [They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement); [they will be] slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good.

2Ti 3:4  [They will be] treacherous [betrayers], rash, [and] inflated with self-conceit. [They will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God.

2Ti 3:5  For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them].

2Ti 3:13  But wicked men and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and leading astray others and being deceived and led astray themselves. AMP

There are many warnings that ungodly people will get worse in the last days

1Ti 4:1  BUT THE [Holy] Spirit distinctly and expressly declares that in latter times some will turn away from the faith, giving attention to deluding and seducing spirits and doctrines that demons teach,

1Ti 4:2  Through the hypocrisy and pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared (cauterized),

2Pe_3:3  To begin with, you must know and understand this, that scoffers (mockers) will come in the last days with scoffing, [people who] walk after their own fleshly desires

1Jn 2:18  Boys (lads), it is the last time (hour, the end of this age). And as you have heard that the antichrist [he who will oppose Christ in the guise of Christ] is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen, which confirms our belief that it is the final (the end) time.

1Jn 2:19  They went out from our number, but they did not [really] belong to us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But [they withdrew] that it might be plain that they all are not of us.

Jud_1:18  They told you beforehand, In the last days (in the end time) there will be scoffers [who seek to gratify their own unholy desires], following after their own ungodly passions. AMP

Conclusions

The last day’s church will be powerful and glorious.

The result will be huge multitudes of people coming into the kingdom.

Joh 14:12  I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father.

At the same time there will be great persecution. This persecution God allows to sort out the true believers from the pretenders.

How should we then live?

What are the requirements of the people in this last day’s church.

  1. Don’t be deceived, because deception will rise – SO Be filled with the Holy Spirit of truth and love truth.
  2. Don’t be afraid because calamities must occur. – SO walk in faith.
  3. Persecution will rise – SO Trust in God’s protection and His voice.
  4. Worldliness will rise – SO Stay pure and walk in righteousness.
  5.  Be ready because the Jesus is coming back at an hour when you do not expect Him. – SO stay close to Jesus, keep short accounts with God

 

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What a Leader looks like.

July 25, 2012 by Craig Anderson

What a Leader looks like. – THE STANDARD

DEMOGRAPHIC & CORE LEADERS

Any person who leads a group of leaders in reaching a section of society such as youth or young mums is a demographic leader. Any person who is leading two or more individuals in a small group, whether an Urban Connect group or ministry group or administrative group will be part of the Core leaders group. These people have influence over other church members and are leading by example though their lives and conduct.

A Leader in Plenty Valley Church is identified by

Character

  • Has an obvious love for Jesus and His church.
  • Practices the fruit of the Spirit from Gal 5:22
  • Practices servanthood as a value
  • Is accountable for their life and witness
  • Is teachable

Competence

  • Actively seeking to win people to Christ.
  • Practicing the competencies described in DNA and Purple Book.
DNA Competencies

  • State the church vision.
  • Connect to an Urban Connect Group.
  • Find your Gift and a place to serve.
  • Be baptized in water.
  • Commit to belonging to the local church.
 Purple Book Competencies

  • Commit to regular bible reading and prayer.
  • Commit to tithing.
  • Be filled with the Holy Spirit

Displays ownership through

  • Attending Regularly
  • Warmly greeting newcomers and helping link them into relationships
  • Seeking opportunities to pray with others.
  • Discipling at least 1 other with a view to encourage them in their walk with God. (multiply yourself)
  • Seeking to build bridges with unchurched people.

Connections

  •  Is in a Urban Connect group for Discipleship Purposes
  •  Has a mentor/coach OR
  •  Is part of a prayer group (could be just two or three people)
  •  Is mentoring/coaching/discipling others.

Chemistry

  • Has a passion to develop and improve their people skills so that they contribute to healthy church relationships.
  • Practices conflict resolution wherever possible.

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