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Posts Tagged ‘the call of God’

FEEL THE FIRE LIKE JEREMIAH

Posted in Church, Equip the Saints, Leaders Training, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 30, 2015| Leave a Comment »

NATION CHANGING FAITH #5PM Small Nation Changing

Jeremiah 1:4-10 NLT

4 The Lord gave me this message:

5 “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.” 6 “O Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!”  7 The Lord replied, “Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. 8 And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and will protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken!” 9 Then the Lord reached out and touched my mouth and said, “Look, I have put my words in your mouth! 10 Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. Some you must uproot and tear down, destroy and overthrow. Others you must build up and plant.”

Jeremiah was about 17 when he was called by God. Imagine if you were Jeremiah.

You believe in God, so who is He to you? Only by revelation does a person come to faith and have a true and clear knowledge of the God who steps out of the pages of the bible and comes to life in your own experience. My experience of God began when I was 20 and invited to witness a church service where supernatural things were spoken of and seen. I experienced the drawing power of God’s spirit leading me to yield my life to Him. Perhaps at that very moment others around me may have decided that God was not real and the call to follow merely a human device of religion. But for me it was irresistible and a revelation of who God is and what He wants for me. If you have only experience, you are an existentialist and you have only a weak and shifting foundation on which to build your life. But if your experience matches the explanation given in the Christian scriptures then your subjective experience is supported and corroborated by the divinely inspired and infallible word of God.

Who is God to you?

  • Is He the God of your parents and you’re here because it’s been part of your practice since you were a child?
  • Is He the stained glass window subject that gives you a certain joy as you look at the beauty of a religious experience?
  • Is He the convenor of the meeting place of people you care to hang out with so that you can find friendship and entertainment?
  • Is He the idea that challenges you to prove He doesn’t exist as you pick holes in the preacher’s rhetoric?
  • Is He the semi-essential back stop prayer answering God who you turn to when things go bad?
  • Is He the wisdom and advice so needed to help you make your own way through life without making too many critical errors?
  • Is He the unfathomable God who calls you out of your own life plan and into His great purpose and your scared spitless about what He is possibly going to ask of you?

If it’s the last one – then you may be called of God. That is, you know you are called by God, while others are yet to receive such a revelation. I believe every Christian is called by God. There is the primary calling to be with Jesus. But there is also the specific calling to serve Him in a unique and purposeful way that’s only for you. Jeremiah was called to obey God and change nations. His only tools were words.

NATIONS CHANGE WHEN PEOPLE OBEY HIS CALL

ASK YOUR NEIGHBOUR – WHO IS GOD TO YOU?

Life sucked for Jeremiah, because some people didn’t like his prophecies, they tied to kill him; he was beaten and placed in stocks; later he was thrown down a well and left to starve until a foreigner rescued him, only to be thrown in prison. Couldn’t he just walk away? Did he have to obey God and suffer so much for it? He tried to walk away.

Jer 1:6 “O Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!”

But God says:  The Lord replied, “Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you.

Jeremiah 20:7-9 7 O Lord, you misled me, and I allowed myself to be misled.

You are stronger than I am, and you overpowered me. Now I am mocked every day; everyone laughs at me. 8 When I speak, the words burst out. “Violence and destruction!” I shout. So these messages from the Lord have made me a household joke. But if I say I’ll never mention the Lord or speak in his name,

his word burns in my heart like a fire. It’s like a fire in my bones! I am worn out trying to hold it in! I can’t do it!

But then Jeremiah admits: Jer 20:11 But the Lord stands beside me like a great warrior. Before him my persecutors will stumble. They cannot defeat me. They will fail and be thoroughly humiliated. Their dishonour will never be forgotten.

It’s hard to resist God. He will have His way eventually, look at Jonah! But remember the Lord is good and gracious and kind and His rewards are great. He will never overlook the faithful person who serves Him and suffers for it.

What does God want for your life? Are you content to be a spectator, or do you feel the fire like Jeremiah?

WHAT DO CALLED PEOPLE DO? – THEY OBEY GOD!

Here’s what I see for this church. I see a large number of people who can’t get enough of God’s presence. They spend time in His presence listening to and singing along with great worship music. They devour the word of God, reading it, listening to it and memorising it. Everywhere they go they speak about Jesus because they are so thrilled about what He has done for them.

I see teens going into school and being radical for Jesus. They are respectful and honouring towards teachers and principals, but towards students they are like leaders who are afraid of no one. They pray for students and see healings and miracles. People follow them and ask for help. They pull together big numbers of students into lunch time meetings where people sing worship and praise, and gust speakers come and share the gospel. The students are better preachers though, and they carry God’s power on them. The principal and teachers are uncomfortable about all this but it’s impossible to slow down.

I see uni students preaching in the open air in auditoriums and at the refectory. They are bold and outspoken and even as they face opposition their words are filled with wisdom and touch people’s hearts. There are lots of urban connects on campus and in the residential colleges. In every UC group there are healings and miracles. Prayer is answered and people sense the call of God to serve their generation. Church is everywhere these Christians gather, but they come together on Sundays to bring others and worship with anointed worship leaders and hear life changing messages. They know their calling and many will go back to nations where they came from and start churches and experience a move of God.

Called people will serve God as business people who generate finance for Kingdom projects; teachers who train children to fear the Lord and Honour God; media people who will create video and graphics that accurately depict God’s love and His purpose for people, creating TV shows and movies for the public to find truth. I see called people who are lawyers who will become judges who will uphold godly values and defend the innocent and the poor. I see scientists who will discover cures for disease and discover amazing inventions to help people through God giving them revelation about the scientific world. I see called people being nation changing police members, nurses, doctors, politicians, artists, counsellors, finance workers, it people, engineers, and so many other professions.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. What does it feel like to be called by God?
  2. Do you think being called by God is just for some special Christians?
  3. Can  a person say “No” to God?
  4. If God has called you to do something for Him what should you do next?
  5. What should you do if you don’t feel called by God?

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CALLED OR NOT?

Posted in Church, Equip the Saints, FAITH, Preaching messages, Soul Winning, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 9, 2015| Leave a Comment »

NATION CHANGING FAITH #2PMSmall Nation Changing

John 3:36 NLT

36 And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.

What does this verse mean to you? The up side is that if I believe in Jesus I have eternal life. That’s truly great! The down side is that anyone who does not obey the Son of God, that’s Jesus, will never experience eternal life – ever! That’s confronting! I can think of a lot of people who don’t obey the Lord Jesus Christ. All around us are people who don’t know Jesus. Couple this with knowledge that each verse is divinely inspired and infallible (See here for evidence). All around us people are perishing! If you are truly saved that is disturbing for you and creates a compassion for those who don’t know Jesus and drives us to want to reach them effectively with the message of Jesus love.

With this in mind Jesus gathered His disciples together as He was about to leave planet earth and He gave them instructions, what to do next.

Luke 24:47-49 NLT

47 It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ 48 You are witnesses of all these things.

49 “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”

Jesus asked them to go to the nations. They went….

Every disciple of the 12 went to preach the gospel and 10 of the 12 were martyred for their faith.

My story starts as a uni student in QLD when I was studying Electrical Engineering in my second year. People from the INC church in Brisbane came down to the uni and sang in a band and someone preached. I just happened to be in the same room as that which took place from the church.

My life was full of waisted energy, getting drunk a lot and leading the Engineering Student Association which was mostly about booze ups and blue movies. Since school I had failed a few subjects and was repeating them all without even a clue whether I wanted to be an engineer. But then Jesus touched my life. He became to very real to me and I changed my whole outlook on life when I was born again.

There was a life changing experience at salvation.

Right away I got involved in the church and youth work and serving in Kids Church. I gave up drinking, swearing and sleeping around because Jesus was so real to me and I was very grateful that He had died for me and rescued me from hell. We studied the bible and we could see the reality of heaven and hell.

Hell was real and so many people were going there. I read scriptures like this:

Rev 14:10-11 NLT   10 must drink the wine of God’s anger. It has been poured full strength into God’s cup of wrath. And they will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb. 11 The smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever, and they will have no relief day or night, for they have worshiped the beast and his statue and have accepted the mark of his name.”

That sounds horrific and if that’s real then I need to do all I can to stop people going there.

There’s a motivation to serve Him.

Even though I was studying at Uni, I still managed to get to  the church twice every Sunday and Wednesday night for bible study, the early morning prayer meeting at 5am every Friday morning, then go out on the streets every Friday night to share the gospel with people until 12-am – 2am when we would drive home exhausted. There was youth meetings every Saturday, Uni Study and of course time with my girlfriend. No wonder my poor old mum got upset with me for not mowing the lawn sometimes.

There was an ethic to work hard.

For the disciples, the call of Jesus was to be with Him. The lawyers and Pharisees of the day took note that the disciples had been “with Him”. Maybe you didn’t hear an audible voice, maybe nothing really that dramatic has happened to you. But I want to ask you this question?

Did Jesus really touch your life? Have you got a compassion for the lost people all around you? Then all the motivation you need is to see the reality of heaven and hell and commit to hard work for the most important task on earth. That’s the call of God to be with Him and serve Jesus with all you’ve got.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. Are you a patriot? Do you love Australia… Its people I mean?
  2. What would you do to win them to Christ?
  3. What if you were lost and you were counting on someone from Plenty Valley Church to tell you about Jesus?
  4. How many Aussies will end up in heaven?
  5. What;’s your philosophy of life concerning enjoying life and making a difference in eternity?

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YOUR ASSIGNMENT SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT…

Posted in Church, Equip the Saints, Soul Winning, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »

LOVE REACHES OUT #4PMreaches out

YOUR ASSIGNMENT SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT…

MY GOD STORY

I was not found in church growing up. I had no knowledge of the gospel. When I was twenty and studying at uni, we had a team of people from the church I am now part of come to the uni and perform some musical items and someone preached. A friend, who was studying in my course, was a Christian and he was connected to this church. When they invited me to come along I considered the invitation and decided to go to the church that coming Sunday night. As I arrived with my friend from uni I was amazed at the size of the church (about 700 people) and the friendliness of the people. I saw other amazing things. People were healed and fell over under the power of the Holy Spirit. Others told their story of how God had set them free from alcoholism, drug addiction and broken marriages. There was something going on here!

At the conclusion of the service an appeal was made for people to respond and give their lives to Christ. Although moved and compelled, I resisted as it seemed too hard for my mind to accept it all so quickly. Later a wise person said to me, “Just pray and ask Jesus to show Himself to you. If He’s real then you will know, if He’s not real nothing will happen and you can get on with the rest of your life.”

Sounded reasonable to me; so I set about asking Jesus to show Himself to me over that next week. Well some things happened. Prayers got answered and as I considered if God was real, I thought that if He was real, then I believed He would be healing people and restoring marriages as I had seen.

The next Sunday I went back to the same church with my girlfriend with me; and I received Jesus as my Lord and saviour! A new life had begun!  I was born again. Over the next little while I joined the youth street work team and began to share my faith with others. The training opened my eyes to understand the reality of heaven and hell. It was frightening to consider the horror of hell. I became more passionate about reaching lost people. My girlfriend (who is now my wife) and I served in children’s ministry then teens group, then after about three years I began working on staff as youth leader. For me there was a very deep sense of being saved from a Christless eternity, and a gratitude for being saved. I wanted to give my whole life to Christ and serve Him forever because of what He had done for me.

Has this love of God gripped your life? Are you apprehended by God for something greater? Are you called? Do you say like Paul, “My life is not my own.”

Matt 20:16  So those who [now] are last will be first [then], and those who [now] are first will be last [then]. [a]For many are called, but few chosen.(AMP)

John 15:16 You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed you [I have planted you], that you might go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit may be lasting [that it may remain, abide], so that whatever you ask the Father in My Name [as [b]presenting all that I Am], He may give it to you.(AMP)

There is a call from God, and there is a response from you. How will you respond? In the parable of the marriage feast the servant goes out to ask who will attend the supper but many refuse to attend, finally the host says to the servant, go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be full. (Luke 14:16-24.)

Has the saviour called you? How have you responded? When God has touched your heart with His great love you are marked forever. This world cannot offer the peace and the joy that serving Him can give. All this world has is temporal and will one day pass away, but what is eternal will endure forever.

With His love on board you see the world differently. Ezek 9:4 And the Lord said to him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in the midst of it.(AMP)  How do you see your city?

When you’re called, you have a one track mind – God’s purpose, His kingdom comes first at all times. Nothing puts you off the glorious task of serving Jesus and winning lost people to Christ. I love the single mindedness of Paul in this story in Acts 21:10-14. 10 While we were remaining there for some time, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

11 And coming to [see] us, he took Paul’s belt and with it bound his own feet and hands and said, Thus says the Holy Spirit: The Jews at Jerusalem shall bind like this the man who owns this belt, and they shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles (heathen).

12 When we heard this, both we and the residents of that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem.

13 Then Paul replied, What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart like this? For I hold myself in readiness not only to be arrested and bound and imprisoned at Jerusalem, but also [even] to die for the name of the Lord Jesus.

14 And when he would not yield to [our] persuading, we stopped [urging and imploring him], saying, The Lord’s will be done! (AMP)

Paul knows what he’s called to. The prophet was right, and Paul would indeed be bound in Rome for the gospel, but did not interpret the prophecy to mean don’t go. He had a higher purpose. He intended to take the gospel to the heart of the empire! What are you called to?

Don’t choose Role or title, choose to serve – choose to go for souls. Choose to place yourself under a teacher or mentor or coach who will help you grow.  We Australians have a very independent mindset. It’s unhelpful and anti-biblical. It stems from our nations roots in growing out of a penal colony where there was a disrespect for all in authority. You will need to push that aside if you intend to be a disciple.

Consider the call of God for your life. To what are you called? Can you see the plight of the unsaved in your world and ask what can I do about it? Would you lay down your life for God and His great passion – to reach people with the gospel?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. How do you know if you are called

2. Can you be called and not be called to a ministry such as pastor teacher etc?

3. Is your life and the result of your years to be more than just family job and pleasure?

4. What do you believe you are called to do for God?

5. What is your next step in your mission?

 

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HAVE YOU GOT AN ITCH?

Posted in State Conference, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 7, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Main Corflute Sign - 1800x1000mm.inddCraig’s Message at the Victorian State Conference Friday 7th February 2014.  

I had treatment once for hair growth – UV light – the side effect intense itchiness all over my body.

One thing about itchiness it’s got your attention all the time!

Well I love this inc movement and our new name and our updated operating system. To take that empowerment of pastors and leaders to a new level!

We are the hope of Australia

What’s our vision? – Health – for the Pastor and wife, for the leaders and for the church which leads to growth which leads to multiplication.

We are born for more. – Not just as a slogan but as a revelation.

Jeremiah 1:4-10

4 Then the word of the Lord came to me [Jeremiah], saying,

5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew [and] approved of you [as My chosen instrument], and before you were born I separated and set you apart, consecrating you; [and] I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.  BORN FOR MORE!

10 See, I have this day appointed you to the oversight of the nations and of the kingdoms to root out and pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.

 There’s some alarming trends in Australia.

Church attendance slipped from 17% in 1999 to 10% in 2011

The % of Australians identifying as Christian reduced to 60% form a high of 90% in 1900.

Another trend we are seeing here in Melbourne is the church is receiving a big influx of Christians from other nations. 10% of all immigrants are born again Christians and when these come into our churches there’s a new culture. It’s not always a bad culture either. Although some are a bit religious many have deep respect and honour for the God appointed leader unlike some Aussies.

Atheism has grown from 10% to 27% in the last census.

Increasingly the church is portrayed in the media as strange, irrelevant and sometimes criminal.

Exciting isn’t it?

The fact is the church is the answer – we all know and shout Jesus is the answer but He isn’t about to do anything without the church leading the charge because He said I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

God’s got a plan

He happy to save by many or by few.

STORY  – 1 Samuel 14:1-15

Jonathan and his armour bearer

One day Jonathan son of Saul said to his armor-bearer, Come, let us go over to the Philistine garrison on the other side. But he did not tell his father.

2 Saul was remaining in the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree in Migron; and with him were about 600 men,

3 And Ahijah son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord’s priest in Shiloh, was wearing the ephod. And the people did not know that Jonathan was gone.

4 Between the passes by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistine garrison there was a rocky crag on the one side and a rocky crag on the other side; one was named Bozez, and the other Seneh.

5 The one crag rose on the north in front of Michmash, and the other on the south in front of Geba.

6 And Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, Come, and let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will work for us. For there is nothing to prevent the Lord from saving by many or by few.

7 And his armor-bearer said to him, Do all that is in your mind; I am with you in whatever you think [best].

8 Jonathan said, We will pass over to these men and we will let them see us.

9 If they say to us, Wait until we come to you, then we will stand still in our place and will not go up to them.

10 But if they say, Come up to us, we will go up, for the Lord has delivered them into our hand, and this will be our sign.

11 So both of them let the Philistine garrison see them. And the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden themselves.

12 The garrison men said to Jonathan and his armor-bearer, Come up to us and we will show you a thing. Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, Come up after me, for the Lord has given them into Israel’s hand.

13 Then Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet, his armor-bearer after him; and the enemy fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer killed them after him.

14 And that first slaughter which Jonathan and his armor-bearer made was about twenty men within about a half acre of land [which a yoke of oxen might plow].

15 And there was trembling and panic in the [Philistine] camp, in the field, and among all the men; the garrison, and even the raiders trembled; the earth quaked, and it became a terror from God.

Saul sat down, but Jonathan had an itch.

Vs. 2 Meanwhile, Saul was taking it easy under the pomegranate tree at the threshing floor on the edge of town at Geba (Gibeah). (MESS)

Saul sat down, his posture revealed his attitude, he was unmotivated and did not see the objective.

The objective was clear wipe  – out the Philistines!

But Jonathan had an itch – he had a keen desire to move things along, he was itchin’ for a fight. He had a desire to see the enemies of God defeated and the nation of Israel overcoming. His itch was going away anytime soon, he evaded a whole lot of good reasons not to pursue the enemy to satisfy his itch.

I’ve got an itch to plant churches, I’ve got an itch to multiply leaders, I’ve got an itch to see souls saved, and it’s not about to go away anytime soon.

THE STORY

Before this story begins Saul has faced failure. He is left with only 600 men who are still with him. They all have no weapons, and not one tradesman in Israel could sharpen any implement. The Israelites used to go down to the enemy, the philistines and ask them to sharpen their ploughshares, mattocks, axes and sickles. How pathetic!. The only people who owned swords were Saul and Jonathan.

One sword is enough!

Saul is under the pomegranate tree (the symbol of healing and resurrection) but he has given up. He has no itch, it left long ago, can he be healed?

But Jonathan had an itch. He was sitting down too, but he couldn’t stay there. He had to get up.

No lack of resources on his side made the itch go away.

No fear of the enemy made that itch go away.

No lack of swords or ideas or plans made that itch go away.

Jonathan said let’s go. – What do you say?

Jonathan was young, the armour-bearer was young, Jonathan’s main thought was – “it may be that he Lord will work for us”

It says in the middle of the story that the High Priest was some guy related to Eli the nephew of Ichabod – the glory departed. Why did God put that in? Just to let you know, there’s no leadership from the king and there’s no leadership from the priesthood. In practical terms there’s no reason for an expectation of victory today!

The armour bearer says – Whatever you reckon – I’m in! – Willingness.

Here’s the plan:

  1. Let the enemy see us
  2. Let the enemy dictate the terms
  3. We do what they say and God will give us the victory!

Up they go and Jonathan kills 20 – not a big massacre, but look what God does… 15 And there was trembling and panic in the [Philistine] camp, in the field, and among all the men; the garrison, and even the raiders trembled; the earth quaked, and it became a terror from God.

God intervened. And God will intervene here in Australia if He finds somebody with an itch! Do you have an itch?

God can save by many or by few- but he likes to save by few.

In fact God likes when there are ridiculous odds.

–      Gideon 300 Vs 30,000 Midianites

–      Jehoshaphat – 3 armies; ten’s thousands

–      David’s mighty man Adina – one Vs 800

Do you disqualify yourself? Do you tell yourself, there’s no resources? There’s no leaders, there’s no one here who wants to know Jesus. Do you tell yourself that you are not able? That you’re…

Too old  – listen to Abraham.

Can’t talk  – listen to Moses.

Haven’t seen any miracles – listen to Gideon.

I have no resources  – listen to Nehemiah.

If you’re worried about resources remember Isaac sowed in famine – 100 fold increase

Have you got an itch? An itch to plant? An itch to raise leaders? An itch to see souls saved? God will flow onto what you offer Him in that plan, Let’s go!

We plant churches in a time of drought. To Isaac it seemed like there’s drought but Isaac had a covenant promise.

The enemy contended for wells, the source if life and refreshing.

But there is always one more well.

We release the call of God over our churches.

Testimony of my call. What good is an arrow that never flies?

Power of seeds. There’s a call going out to men and women to serve God, for some it’s to plant churches.

Like Joseph it’s out of nothing that great things come. Expect great things.

If you are not overwhelmed by your assignment you’re not seeing it clearly enough.

Glory of the young men is their strength, the glory of the old men is their wisdom. When you’re an old man you have perspective. You see change over time. But it’s not enough to declare how things have changed and how much need there is. It’s not enough to say we must do something about this, there must be leadership, the voice must be heard … This is the way; walk in it. This is God’s message for the hour, this is the plan.

And the plan is the gospel, it is the power of God unto salvation We will raise leaders, we will be filled with the Holy Spirit and preach life, there is a seed of life in us for salvations to flow, for people to get saved, through our message, our church and our people.

Give yourself to these goals

Identify people with a call

Preach the call and raise up and call up the people who are called.

Connect with your state exec and partner with them to plant.

You can plant

–      We planted three in 2012

–      Traralgon one in 2013 with more in the pipeline.

Partner to plant churches.

Connect key leaders to development opportunities

Pray and lead your church to pray for planters (Labourers for the harvest)

Raise funds for planting.

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