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Posts Tagged ‘passion for the lost’

PRAYER IS WARFARE

Posted in Equip the Saints, Leaders Training, Preaching messages, Soul Winning, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 31, 2013| 1 Comment »

PRAYER THAT MOVES HEAVEN     MENTORING 26/03/13

Do you want to move heaven?

More to the point, do you want to move the heavenlies? (That is the spirit realm)

 

The power of God is available to all believers; but we must understand the necessity of both authority and power

Here’s your verse for Authority…

Joh 1:12  But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name–[Isa. 56:5.]

Here the word “power” is the Greek word Exousia meaning authority, jurisdiction, right or liberty. Just as a policeman has authority to arrest people by virtue of his position or badge – we have the authority – divinely given by God to be called the sons of God.

Here’s the verse for power…

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.

This word “power” in the Greek is Dunamis meaning might, strength, violence.

Now using these two concepts together we have this verse.

Luk 10:19  Behold! I have given you authority and power (Exousia) to trample upon serpents and scorpions, and [physical and mental strength and ability] over all the power (Dunamis) that the enemy [possesses]; and nothing shall in any way harm you.

When we wan to see Go’s power displayed we must take authority over the works of the enemy and release the dunamis of God

If we want to see lives changed it is a necessity that prayer goes before preaching.

Merely preaching the gospel is actually seed falling on hard ground. There’s nothing wrong with the seed but if the ground is not prepared, little of it can take root.

We are called to make a difference. To Mat 10:8  Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Freely (without pay) you have received, freely (without charge) give. That takes spiritual authority. You cant just do that by preaching alone; you must win the battle in the heavenlies.

  • All authority is given us

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,

  • Nothing happens unless we first bind the strongman.

Mat 12:29  Or how can a person go into a strong man’s house and carry off his goods (the entire equipment of his house) without first binding the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.

  • We fight in the spirit with words – with prayer

Eph 6:12  For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.

  • Jesus took authority over spirits

Mar 1:27  And they were all so amazed and almost terrified that they kept questioning and demanding one of another, saying, What is this? What new (fresh) teaching! With authority He gives orders even to the unclean spirits and they obey Him!

  • He did it first in prayer

Joh 5:19  So Jesus answered them by saying, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, the Son is able to do nothing of Himself (of His own accord); but He is able to do only what He sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does is what the Son does in the same way [in His turn].

  • Now we are called to do the same

Mat 10:1  AND JESUS summoned to Him His twelve disciples and gave them power and authority over unclean spirits, to drive them out, and to cure all kinds of disease and all kinds of weakness and infirmity.

IF WE WAN TO SE SOULS SAVED BIGTIME THIS WEEKEND WE NEED TO WIN IT IN PRAYER FIRST.

The gospel is powerful but the battle of prayer is necessary to break the hold of darkness off the minds of unbelievers so that they can hear.

HERE’S SOME EXAMPLES OF PREACHERS WHO BELIEVED IN INTERCESSION

Charles G. Finney & His Intercessors – David SmithersCG Finney

http://hopefaithprayer.com/prayernew/charles-g-finney-his-intercessors/

Like the prophet Jeremiah, Charles G. Finney was anointed of God to “root out” and to “plant” in the Lord’s vineyard, (Jer. 1:10). He was a man of intense prayer, purity and passion. “Emptied of self, he was filled with the Holy Spirit. His sermons were chain lightning, flashing conviction into the hearts of the stoutest skeptics. Simple as a child in his utterances, he sometimes startled his hearers by his unique prayers.” He could thunder the judgments of God upon sin with great liberty and power and then offer the mercy of the gospel with tenderness and tears. Without question he was a prophetic voice to 19th century America.

His ministry consistently produced revivals, even in areas considered hardened and unreceptive to the gospel. Finney’s autobiography is filled with accounts of powerful manifestations of the Spirit. On one occasion when Finney was preaching in a school house, “suddenly an awful solemnity fell upon the assembly and the congregation fell from their seats, crying for mercy.” Finney said, “If I had had a sword in each hand I could not have cut them off as fast as they fell. I think the whole congregation was on their knees or prostrated in two minutes.” The crying and weeping of the people was so loud that Finney’s exhortation of Christ’s mercy could not even be heard.

“Finney seemed so anointed with the Holy Spirit that people were often brought under conviction of sin just by looking at him. When holding meetings at Utica, New York, he visited a large factory. At the sight of him one of the workers, and then another, and then another broke down and wept under a sense of their sins, and finally so many were sobbing and weeping that the machinery had to be stopped while Finney pointed them to Christ.”

Finney seems to have had the power of impressing the conscience of men with the necessity of holy living in such a manner as produced lasting results. “Over eighty-five in every hundred persons professing conversion to Christ in Finney’s meetings remained true to God. Whereas seventy percent of those professing Christ in meetings of even so great an evangelist as Moody afterward became backsliders.”

Such results were the fruit of hours and hours of prayer. It was not Finney’s prayers alone that secured such heaven sent revivals. Finney’s was supported by the prayers of two of God’s hidden treasures. It was the hidden, yet powerful intercessions of “Father Nash” and Abel Clary that laid the ground work for these mighty moves of God. “Abel Clary was converted about the same time as Finney, and was licensed to preach also, but he had such a burden of prayer that he could not preach much. His whole time and strength was given to prayer. He would writhe and groan in agony, unable to stand under the weight.” “After Clary’s death Finney discovered Clary’s prayer journal. Finney found in the exact order of the burden laid upon Clary’s heart was the order of blessing poured upon his ministry.”

Father Nash lived a life of almost continual intercession. “He joined himself with Finney, kept a prayer list and was no doubt the secret of much of Finney’s marvelous success. He did not preach and often did not go to the meetings, but remained in his room, or in the woods, wrestling with God in mighty prayer. Often before daybreak people could hear Father Nash for half a mile or more in the woods, or in a church praying, and the sense of God’s presence was overwhelming.”

The Church must do more than esteem the history of men like Charles Finney, Father Nash and Able Clary. If we are going to experience revival we must repent and practice the truths they declared; truths of a holy and pure life; truths of hidden intercession and an uncompromising love for Jesus!

REINHARD BONNKE

EVANGELISM BY FIRE – BOOK – http://www.kingdomvision.co.uk/archives/tag/reinhard-bonnke

Reinhard’s passion for the gospel and reaching the lost comes across very clearly. Reinhard not only demonstrates why every Christian is compelled to share the love of Christ with others in the scriptures, he imparts such fire and yearning that every reader of this book will want to go out and do likewise! He reveals the pitfalls that many stumble over, including fear and wrong motives, and teaches how to overcome them.

Reinhard stresses the importance of prayer in reaching the lost and includes the wonderful illustration: “Evangelism without intercession is an explosive without a detonator. Intercession without evangelism is a detonator without an explosive.” Reinhard includes a number of chapters regarding the power of prayer and the promises made in the Bible regarding prayer and obtaining answers to prayer. Reinhard ascribes his own amazing ministry to those who have supported him in prayer and wonderfully illustrates its importance in this book. “Those who had been so inconspicuous will, all of a sudden, be heroes in the Kingdom of God. Their reward will be great. The Lord will not say, “much done” but “well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt 25:21)

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CRAZYLOVE # 4

Posted in Church, Preaching messages, Soul Winning, tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 23, 2013| Leave a Comment »

CRAZYLOVE #4 24/03/13 AMCrazyLove Series Logo

THE BRIDGE IS OUT

So Great is His love.

Eph 2:3 We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us.

Eph 2:4 Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love,

Eph 2:5 he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us!

MESS BIBLE

When we get a revelation of how great His love is towards us; it shakes you up!

We realise we have been saved from a Christless eternity. We have been spared an eternal hell that contains only torment and agony; and we didn’t do anything to deserve this reprieve! God loved us – the unlovable! He reached out to us and sent His mighty Holy Spirit to show us the truth; that we are lost and without hope. We were blind and awaiting the swift judgement of a God who is just.

But God intervened and stepped in to take the punishment for sin that we all deserved. Jesus bore our sins and the full wrath of God the Father against that sin. Now we can go free, released just like a pardoned prisoner to be given a new chance at life.

Now what shall we do with this new chance?

A waisted life – the story of Robbie Simpson.

I met young Robbie Simpson on the street in Brisbane. He was a homeless glue sniffing kid whose life was heading for destruction. The youth street team witnessed to him and he gave his life to Christ. After some time we managed to get him away to a rehab farm the church ran far away from town. He was cared for and prayed for and shown the unconditional love that comes from God through Christians; but kept on running away and getting into trouble.

I went to court with him one day. It was Supreme Court and the charge was aggravated assault. This was serious and this little fellow was scared to death. The court was imposing in its appearance. He was terrified as well he should be when sure judgement comes. I gave a reference for him, saying how we as a church will do our best to work with him and help him. He was shown mercy and given a non custodial sentence – a good behaviour bond. Sadly he went back to the glue sniffing and after a short time he was found dead in the streets of a drug overdose.

Sometimes the story has a sad end. This story could be about anyone. You don’t have to be a glue sniffer or homeless to be in a mess. People all around us are in a mess because of brokenness and sin. We are al given at least one chance to make a break, to find life; and sitting here are many great stories of people who found Christ and made a break. Those who took the mercy offered and let God clean up their lives so that now they can do something great with it.

Nicky Cruz – a redeemed life

The story of Nicky Cruz (http://youtu.be/zelqF0mamCw ) is about a life redeemed. This former gang member and killer was made famous in the movie the Cross and the Switchblade. It follows the story of a preacher called David Wilkerson who goes to New York city and witnesses to gangs of violent youths. One gang leader called Nicky Cruz who had murdered many others comes to Christ. He undergoes change and become a preacher himself and now in his later years is still preaching the gospel all over America and round the world. (http://nickycruz.org/ )

Is your life a waisted life or a redeemed life?

What will you do with your life now that you have discovered this great love that was given to you? Does the love of God compel you to go and tell others about this amazing salvation you have. Not everybody has to be a full time preacher; but we are all called to go and reach the lost.

The bridge is out.

One rainy night a pastor and his wife were driving home. It was late and the rain had been very heavy all night. As they turned to go over the bridge and on towards home they saw a figure standing in the road ahead. This man was wearing only trousers and he had no shirt on. He was waving a shirt up over his head swinging it around and around like some crazy person. The pastor had to stop his car because this man was running towards them in the middle of the road. The pastor’s wife was frightened and said to her husband, “Lock the doors”. The pastor decided to get out in the pouring rain and see what the man was about. His wife was not happy. “Be careful,” she said as he left the car trying to shield his face from the driving rain with a coat.

The man was shouting and obviously distressed; and the pastor braced himself for the worst. The man was screaming at him, “The bridge is out. Don’t go there. People are dying.”

Pretty soon the pastor was out in the middle of the road too, waving his arms like a crazy man swinging his coat over his head, around and around to try and get the attention of the cars that were driving onto the bridge and on to certain death.

What would you have done in that situation?

You’re in that very situation every day of your life. The bridge is out. People don’t know, and they are headed for certain death and after that the judgement.

Rom 10:14 How can people have faith in the Lord and ask him to save them, if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear, unless someone tells them? (CEV)

This Easter we have a marvellous opportunity to tell people the bridge is out.

This month our theme is CRAZYLOVE. It’s all about this amazing love the father has given to us. When we see it, when we realise what we have… it’s life changing. Not only do we experience this amazing love for ourselves and receive His life and love and provision, but also we want to share it with others.

What I am asking you to do this week is invite someone to church over Easter.

Use these invitations to invite all your friends, acquaintances, work mates, school friends, relatives etc to come on Good Friday, or Sunday to hear the gospel proclaimed in a clear and powerful way.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. Have you got a story about how you gave out an invitation to someone?
  2. Can you remember back before you were a Christian, someone invited you to church or some event? How did you react?
  3. What do you do to get courage to invite or share your faith?
  4. Where would you be today if no one had reached out to you and invited you to church or some kind of opportunity to find Jesus?
  5. What’s your plan to be a great inviter?

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CRAZY LOVE # 1

Posted in Church, Equip the Saints, Preaching messages, Soul Winning, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 3, 2013| 2 Comments »

Crazy love # 1 Sunday 3rd March 2013 AMCrazyLove Series Logo

In one of the greatest debates of our time men argue about whether we are created or evolved from chance. Some, who find it hard to swallow that a personal God created all this, are forced to concede to Intelligent Design because of the wonder and complexity of living things. Still others are fully persuaded that God is there and they can know Him.

As atheists account for around 22% of the Australian population and approximately 14-16% world wide, it still leaves many either wondering or confident about God’s existence. What I would like to show them all is how much God loves each and every one of them.

Do you know God loves you?

So often we measure this by how happy we are, or by how well things have gone for us or some other subjective manner.

Just as your child might say to you that you don’t love them because you didn’t give them what they wanted, we, as adult Christians, can be equally as obtuse when it comes assessing whether God loves us or not. Wisdom doesn’t come cheap – it can take a lifetime of living through the highs and lows of our experiences to come to the point of recognising God’s hand on our life.

How do you know God loves you?

If this were an apologetics seminar I would describe the logic behind the argument. But this is teaching from the word. We are fully persuaded about the authenticity and reliability of God’s word. (See the resources on this at http://pvc.podomatic.com/player/web/2010-04-09T06_14_02-07_00  and following 7 messages)

In the beginning God created man. Why?

1. Because He wanted Kids. It is the nature of God that He is a father.

Gen 1:26  God said, Let Us [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the [tame] beasts, and over all of the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth. [Ps. 104:30; Heb. 1:2; 11:3.]

Gen 1:27  So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them. [Col. 3:9, 10; James 3:8, 9.]

Gen 1:28  And God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it [using all its vast resources in the service of God and man]; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth.

In the New Testament Jesus reminds us of the father nature of God as His and our Father.

Mat 7:11  If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good and advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father Who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give good and advantageous things to those who keep on asking Him!

2. Because He desires to have fellowship with us.

Joh 3:16  For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.

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. (AMP)

Joh 14:2  In My Father’s house there are many dwelling places (homes). If it were not so, I would have told you; for I am going away to prepare a place for you.

Joh 14:3  And when (if) I go and make ready a place for you, I will come back again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.

3. We are made for His Glory.

Isa 43:7  Even everyone who is called by My name, whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, whom I have made.

We bring Glory to Him through our relationship to Him.

Eph 3:10  [The purpose is] that through the church the complicated, many-sided wisdom of God in all its infinite variety and innumerable aspects might now be made known to the angelic rulers and authorities (principalities and powers) in the heavenly sphere.

4. This love is the culmination of His vast plan.

Eph 2:4  But God–so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us,

Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation).

Just how much does God love you?

Isa 49:13  Sing for joy, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth, and break forth into singing, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted His people and will have compassion upon His afflicted.

Isa 49:14  But Zion [Jerusalem, her people as seen in captivity] said, The Lord has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me.

Isa 49:15  [And the Lord answered] Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, they may forget, yet I will not forget you.

Isa 49:16  Behold, I have indelibly imprinted (tattooed a picture of) you on the palm of each of My hands; [O Zion] your walls are continually before Me.

God is painting a picture for you in this passage.

Is there any mother here today that can remember breast feeding her baby?

At that time, did you ever forget that you had a baby? – NO of course not, but God says in contrast to His love and devotion to you; yes, a breast feeding mother can indeed forget her baby.

Can you see a woman forgetting her baby that is still in the breast feeding stage of life? Is that even possible? God makes a contrast to bring out a point to you. He says compared to His attention level…. Yes, a mother of an unweaned child CAN forget her baby  –  yet I will not forget you.

Tattoos are pretty popular these days, but I notice that very few people receive tattoos on the palms of their hands. It hurts, yes for sure, but the palms face you, they are not for others to see. If you want to hold onto something tight, then you hold it inside your clenched fist inside your palms.  When I want to remind myself of something important I write it on my palm – that’s where I am most likely to see it.

God is painting a picture for you here today. His love and affection and devotion for you is greater than a mother toward her new born. He has a photo of you imprinted on His palm. How can He forget you? Your walls are ever before Him. These walls are the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down by the enemy, by lack of fully functioning Kingdom and lack of the care of God’s people. The broken walls speak of those places of brokenness, loss, dysfunction and failure that surround our lives. God cares and God has answers.

If we truly receive a revelation of how great His love is toward us – what then?

How shall we respond?

  1. Receive His love – be healed saved and restored. Accept His free gift of life and walk with Him in a bond of Love.
  2. Truly desire that others may live.  If His love is so great can we neglect to tell others of it? Shall we be partakers of complete salvation and deny the others in spite of the fact that others brought me to this place of discovery? As Paul cried – “I am a debtor” He had received so much that he considered he owed to others who had not heard.

This Easter will you reach out to others? So that others may live.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. What was your first experience of God’s love?
  2. Has God’s love ever seemed distant from you?
  3. What verse from today’s blog most speaks to you about God’s love to you?
  4. How can we overcome disappointments to see the love of God at work in our lives?
  5. How would you share the love of God with others?

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Fresh Air – a time of seeking God # 1

Posted in Church, Equip the Saints, News Flash, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Fresh AirFresh Air is the proclaimed time for seeking God with prayer and fasting right across the Christian Outreach Centre Movement in Australia and Oceania. It’s a time when we set ourselves apart to meet with God. To seek Him out and to humble ourselves. Part of this experience is repentance.

That comes through clearly from

2Ch 7:14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Turning from our wicked ways is repentance.

It’s not an old fashioned word, it’s not a “revival only” word, it’s not a word for the fanatics, it’s a word from the bible that simply means change your mind. Here are the two main Greek words that are translated as repentance in the new testament:

1. metanoeō (met-an-o-eh’-o)

From G3326 and G3539; to think differently or afterwards, that is, reconsider (morally to feel compunction): – repent.

2. metanoia. met-an’-oy-ah

From G3340; (subjectively) compunction (for guilt, including reformation); by implication reversal (of [another’s] decision): – repentance.
When we spend time seeking God, we are opening up our lives, our hearts, our minds to God. We are asking , “What do I need to change God?”  When His people in the Old Testament went astray, as they did so often, He would call them back through His prophets. Return to me says the Lord. As normal human beings living in this fallen world it is so easy to find ourselves gradually changing to be like the world. Inching so surely and so gradually more and more to worldly behaviours and thinking.  For many Christians in our nation, there is little prayer in their lives, little reading of God’s word, their giving is what’s convenient, some even feel it unnecessary to attend church regularly; and fasting…. what’s that? All around us are millions of people who are on a highway to hell. Do we care? Are we heartbroken for the lost – even our own family members who are not saved yet? Do we really believe in a literal hell that every person who has not been born again will go to?

Take a look around – Australia is a very secular nation. so few are born again and many of those who are, are casual about winning the lost. The church has not just become irrelevant but is seen as part of the problem by the main stream media. OK so what do we do about it?  –  2Ch 7:14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. I care about Australia – I want to see God rescue as any as possible from sin and unbelief. So this month I’m fasting and praying AND repenting.

The biggest obstacle to repentance is the attitude  – I’m OK its everyone else that needs to change. This is called self righteousness. The Pharisees were really good at this one.

In Luk 3:8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. – Here Jesus rebukes the Pharisees who believed that they were “OK” because they had Abraham as their father. Jesus discounted that by declaring, that is nothing… God can raise up sons of Abraham from these stones!  A little bit later in Luke we see

Luk 18:9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:
Luk 18:10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
Luk 18:11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
Luk 18:12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’
Luk 18:13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
Luk 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (ESV)

Self righteousness is an obstacle for repentance. The Pharisee did not see any need to change. The tax collector saw a big need to change. The Pharisee is telling God how good he is, the Tax Collector is saying how bad he is. The Pharisee compared himself to others, but the Tax Collector compared himself with God.

When ever we say to ourselves, I’m OK; I’m not as bad as those people. Or we say I’m trying hard, I do this and that for God, we are blinded by self righteousness, we can’t repent and we don’t even realise we are poor, miserable, blind and naked.  (Rev 3:17)  If we say to ourselves I’ve been saved for so many years and I have been to so many prayer meetings and I have fasted for so many times and fail to simply ask the Holy Spirit, “What needs to change in my heart today, Holy Spirit?” Then we are missing the incredible opportunity to open up our lives and our churches and our community for greatness and God’s plan.  Will you join us in seeking God, humbling ourselves, and repenting, turning away from attitudes, ideas, behaviours that the Holy Spirit shows us need to change?

2Ch 7:14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

7-27 JANUARY 2013 – FRESH AIR

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INSPIRING LIVES

Posted in Church, Culture Watch, Equip the Saints, Preaching messages, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on October 13, 2012| 1 Comment »

Message 14 October 2012 PM

People sometimes complain about various things in church.

Someone didn’t greet me, someone spoke against me, someone hurt my feelings.

Sometimes we may even face a little persecution as people scratch our car, or let the tyres down or scream abuse at us just for being a Christian. But compare this with real challenges faced by God’s warriors the early days of the Salvation Army.

GENERAL WILLIAM BOOTH

In 1865 Booth was in the East End of London, preaching to crowds of people in the streets.

Booth soon realised he had found his destiny, and later in 1865 he and his wife Catherine opened ‘The Christian Revival Society’ in the East End of London, where they held meetings every evening and on Sundays, to share the repentance that salvation can bring through accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior to the poorest and most needy, including alcoholics, criminals and prostitutes. The Christian Revival Society was later renamed The Christian Mission.

TOUGH CONVERTS

At one stage it was hard to find a new convert who hadn’t come out of jail, been a prostitute or a thief or a beggar before turning to Christ. Booth’s converts rarely ever backslid. In the first 16 years of the Salvation Army 250,000 came to Christ in England alone. Their war-cry was “Blood and Fire”

Slowly The Christian Mission began to grow but the work was difficult and Booth would “stumble home night after night haggard with fatigue, often his clothes were torn and bloody bandages swathed his head where a stone had struck”, wrote his wife. Evening meetings were held in an old warehouse where urchins threw stones and fireworks through the window. Outposts were eventually established and in time attracted converts, yet the results were discouraging. The Christian Mission was just one of about 500 charitable and religious groups trying to help the poor and needy in London’s East End.[6]

Booth and his fellow brethren in Christ practised what they preached and performed self-sacrificing Christian and social work, such as opening “Food for the Million” shops (soup kitchens), not caring if they were scoffed at or derided for their work.

MY PARISH

Booth preached inside the pubs in the poverty stricken East End of London.

He was thrown out time and time again. One time after being thrown out of the pub with force and landing in the gutter he was pelted with rotten fruit and eggs.

He took off his hat and held to his chest and looking up to heaven he exclaimed, “Lord I have found my parish”

THE OPPOSITION WAS FIERCE

As troops marched down the street singing and playing their instruments, it was common for people to throw fruit vegetables and even dead cats at the joyful troopers.

In one season of the fiercest opposition Booth commanded his troops in one part of England to stop marching down the street as the rocks thrown by protesters caused great injury to the troopers. They marched all the same and joyfully bore the marks of their persecution.

When his daughter Evangeline was just 17 years old she went to Paris to preach the gospel with a few other young women. She would go into the pubs to preach but was thrown out over and over again. One night she tried again and they said to her if she did a jig on the bar they would let her preach, so jig she did and followed it up with a fiery sermon in French – her second language.

When Booth was starting the Salvation Army God gave him a vision.

Here is a reinactment of the vision God gave him….. http://youtu.be/xOf4Slt7S20

Soon Booth was sending Soldiers out all over the world. George Railton went to America in 1880.

Here is a part of their history on film… http://youtu.be/7coHc9SUcvY   1.40 mins   to  5.39 mins

One day in later life General William Booth was walking home, he was tired and old and on passing the bridge near his home he noticed a beggar sleeping under the bridge. Upon reaching home he chastised his oldest son Bramwell Booth who was about 40 for not seeing the beggar earlier and bringing him home for a meal.

Booth had a cry, this is what he lived and this is what he spoke…

I’ll fight

http://youtu.be/j9e0AFcsMyI    1.00 min

When lives like this one inspire us to live for Christ. Don’t be a complainer with tiny little troubles. Don’t think that life is just to be lived for our pleasure, the lost are calling out for help. Don’t be afraid to stand up for Christ, Australians are longing to see real Christians. We serve the same God that William Booth served. He changed the world with passion and service, it’s time for us to do the same.

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WILL YOU CHANGE THE WORLD?

Posted in Church, Preaching messages, Soul Winning, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on September 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »

WILL I BE THE ONE TO CHANGE THE WORLD?

Sept 30, 2012 6pm Service

IF YOU SAVE ONE LIFE, YOU HAVE CHANGED THE WORLD ENTIRELY

Leo Tolstoy:

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but nobody thinks of changing themselves.”

Inside each person lies the desire to be significant.

To make any contribution that changes the world for the better, no matter how small that change maybe.

Little boys dream of becoming superheroes, little girls dream of their knight rescuing them and taking them away ….. to change the world of course!

IF YOU SAVE ONE LIFE, YOU HAVE CHANGED THE WORLD ENTIRELY

The older we get, the more life seems to transition from wondering how we can make a difference; to surviving and maintaining. The dreams for some people get covered by the humdrum and monotony of life.

Meeting Jesus changes everything.

Becoming a Christian means you have entered into the eternal plan of God. There are no exceptions, no limitations, nor mistakes. Your life is planned from before time and now you get to live it out under His direction.

Eph 1:4  Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach, before Him in love.

Eph 1:5  For He foreordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted (revealed) as His own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of His will [because it pleased Him and was His kind intent]—[AMP]

Furthermore we enter into His purpose for divine outcomes.

 Eph 3:10  [The purpose is] that through the church the complicated, many-sided wisdom of God in all its infinite variety and innumerable aspects might now be made known to the angelic rulers and authorities (principalities and powers) in the heavenly sphere.

Eph 3:11  This is in accordance with the terms of the eternal and timeless purpose which He has realized and carried into effect in [the person of] Christ Jesus our Lord, [AMP]

IF YOU SAVE ONE LIFE, YOU HAVE CHANGED THE WORLD ENTIRELY

You see, when you enter into relationship with Jesus Christ you enter that plan He has for you since the beginning of time.

You don’t have to worry about what it is I am supposed to do or become, just obey the voice of God. It’s automatic; you will change the world if you follow His commands.

Peter asked Jesus about what should happen to someone else, and Jesus replied What ever I choose for them is for me to decide – I’m asking you to follow me.

Joh 21:20  But Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, following–the one who also had leaned back on His breast at the supper and had said, Lord, who is it that is going to betray You?

Joh 21:21  When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, Lord, what about this man?

Joh 21:22  Jesus said to him, If I want him to stay (survive, live) until I come, what is that to you? [What concern is it of yours?] You follow Me! [AMP]

If you change yourself – you have changed the world.

IF YOU SAVE ONE LIFE, YOU HAVE CHANGED THE WORLD ENTIRELY

Changing just one life can make an enormous difference

In Science the Chaos theory has led to the butterfly effect proposition.

In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions, where a small change at one place in a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences to a later state. The name of the effect, coined by Edward Lorenz, is derived from the theoretical example of a hurricane’s formation being contingent on whether or not a distant butterfly had flapped its wings several weeks before.

Although the butterfly effect may appear to be an esoteric and unlikely behaviour, it is exhibited by very simple systems: for example, a ball placed at the crest of a hill may roll into any of several valleys depending on, among other things, slight differences in initial position. – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect

Similarly in God’s kingdom everything is planned and under his guidance. Nothing escapes His notice. The smallest most inconsequential change is all part of His divine plan.

 Mat 10:29  Are not two little sparrows sold for a penny? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s leave (consent) and notice.

Mat 10:30  But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. [AMP]

Your choice is to obey or not – God’s plan.

Choose to obey or not.

My story of not witnessing to Peter’s dad

Choose to obey

My pick up of a new convert Maurice Ritchie

 

 

A clip from Schindler’s List – The background to the story is during the second world war, Jews were being exterminated by the millions. One man, a Check, by the name of Oskar Schindler set up businesses and employed Jews and endeavoured to keep them safe from the German extermination. By the end of the war he saved 1100 Jews.

http://www.wingclips.com/movie-clips/schindlers-list/one-more-person

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oskar_Schindler

It’s that little thing that counts…

IF YOU SAVE ONE LIFE, YOU HAVE CHANGED THE WORLD ENTIRELY

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URBAN CONNECT GROUP LEADERS TRAINING LESSON No. 4

Posted in Church, Equip the Saints, Leaders Training, tagged , , , , , , on August 22, 2012| Leave a Comment »

WEEK 4

Summary

What happens in an Urban Connect Group meeting?

How to run a meeting. Learning in the classroom and on the job.

The goal of every Urban Connection is – Discipleship – lives are being changed

BRAINSTORM

Q. Each Trainee leader will write down on your notepad what you believe discipleship means. What does it look like?

  • A disciple is a learner, a student, an apprentice.
  • Helping people to steadily learn from Jesus how to live the life of the Kingdom.
  • Reaching out to lost people and showing them what Jesus has done for them.
  • Teach people how to live as Christ lived and taught.
  • Show people how to be with Jesus in an attitude of observation, study, obedience and imitation.
  • Doing the journey with someone as they become like Jesus.
  • Learning how to love enemies, bless those that persecute, go the second mile etc, living out the gracious inward transformations of faith hope and love.

Q. Now what does that look like in the environment of an Urban Connect Group in this local church?

  • The Core leader gets to know the sheep in his group.
  • The Core leader asks the members great questions of his disciples about what they are learning.
  • The Core leader builds an environment of support for all.
  • The Core leader shares with the learners how he/she overcame certain difficulties.
  • The Core leader points the sheep to Jesus always.
  • The Core leader leads his sheep to the word of God and helps them express hwat they get out of it.
  • The Core leader leads the team in reaching lost people.

Mat 10:24  The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.

Mat 10:25  It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?

Q. What does the Core leader do between meetings?

  •  The Core leader prays for his sheep regularly.
  • The Core leader contacts everyone who was away from the UC meeting.
  • The Core leader thinks strategically about what each member needs to keep growing. Eg. Water baptism, Holy Spirit baptism, DNA, counselling, extra care etc
  • The Core leader refuels themself every week to be on fire for God and possessed by the vision.

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF THE URBAN CONNECT MEETING

How to run your group on the night

  1. Warmly welcome each person
  2. Offer tea, coffee and biscuits or similar
  3. Ask each person to share either
  • Answers to prayer
  • About when they shared their faith with someone
  • A prayer need
  1. Discipleship growth – Remind the group of which passage/chapter that the group was asked to read since the last meeting. Encourage each member to share what is God saying to them through this passage and what will they do about it.
  2. Affirm each person who shares and ensure that members don’t hog the time preventing others from sharing.
  • There are no wrong answers let people express their thoughts, peer discipling means you don’t have to correct every doctrinal point, people will learn from one another.
  • Keep the focus on hearing God’s voice.
  1. Pray for each persons needs and PRAY FOR YOUR LOST FRIENDS YOU ARE REACHING OUT TO. – Use a harvest list.

URBAN CONNECT GROUP LEADERS ROLE

  1. You are a shepherding leader. Your role is to care for 10 placed under your care.
  2. Keep your focus on building relationships. Member with God, member to member and member to unsaved friends.
  3. Your main aim is to assist each person to grow in their walk with God.
  • Are they saved?
  • Next step be baptised in water
  • Then filled with the Holy Spirit – speaking in tongues is encouraged as the only clear evidence that one has received.
  • Invite them to participate in the DNA class to join the church, discover their gifts, and find a serving role.
  1. Community – when people are hurting the group must gather around them and assist in any way possible – phone calls, prayer, visitation, meals, work,
  2. Be a builder – call up each member that missed your Discipleship group meeting and see how they are going. You need to do this every time you meet to grow your UC.
  3. Plan an event at least quarterly to invite the unsaved friends you are praying for.

UC Leaders JD

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GOING FOR GOLD 2

Posted in Church, Preaching messages, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 19, 2012| Leave a Comment »

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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URBAN CONNECT GROUP LEADERS TRAINING No. 2

Posted in Preaching messages, tagged , , , , , , , on August 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »

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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