Further, Higher, Stronger, Hotter

Recently I had a friend tell me he had Christian friends say to him that he need to 'calm down' a bit in his walk; that he was getting a bit carried away with it all.
This attitude is actually Anti-christ. Christianity - real Jesus following Christianity - is an extreme sport - and played properly it WILL kill you!
Everything, EVERYTHING about following Jesus is extreme and over the top. God himself is extreme. Not sure? Just look at where you live! God did not use any half measures putting this planet and this universe together. Even in the broken down state it is in, we still marvel at it.

(NLT)Romans 1:20
For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

And look at the passionate statements made by Jesus and the apostles:

(NLT)Matthew 16:24-26
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. [25] If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. [26] And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?

This is HUGE. Can you imagine the impact that statement would have had on you as a follower of Jesus in those days?

(NLT)Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

In Paul's day, athletes ran their races completely naked. Paul is likening our run with Jesus (we have got to stop calling it a walk!) to these athletes that would literally throw off EVERYTHING to run. How extreme is that?

Jesus hates mediocrity. Yes HATES. It makes him want to vomit.

(NLT)Revelation 3:15-16
"I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! [16] But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of my mouth!

First of all, this is not a statement about the general human condition, Jesus is not saying here that He would prefer people to be completely switched off to him than lukewarm. This message was to Christians, members of the Body of Christ. Laodicea had two nearby towns. On one side was Hierapolis, which had hot mineral springs that were said to have medicinal properties. On the the other side was Colossae, with pure cold springs. Poor old Laodicea was fed by an aqueduct that would bring water to the town that was tepid and polluted. Jesus is saying he hates "middle ground". This again is a call by Christ to be extreme in how we live and follow him.

Let me say it categorically - the LAST thing you or I or any other believer needs to do is calm down. On the contrary, we should be allowing ourselves to be so swept away and so passionately entangled with Jesus that we become totally consumed with Him and by Him. C.S. Lewis put it beautifully in "Mere Christianity":

"The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ says, 'Give me All. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don't want to drill the tooth or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the one you think wicked - the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours."

The real challenge for us as comfortable Aussie Christians, is to genuinely find that passion for Jesus. The passion that you find among believers all through the third world and in places of extreme persecution. Our comfort has lulled us to sleep. We are like a man in a Mercedes driving down the road and falling asleep at the wheel. All the modern comforts and conveniences and assists have caused him to forget he is hurtling along the road at 110 kph in a tin can with a petrol bomb strapped to it!  In the same, we are hurtling through life at an incredible pace - though from where we are sitting at the moment it may seem slow. We are drifting off to sleep, but careening towards a head-on with eternity.

We need to wake up! We need others beside us that are not going to sing us a lullaby but instead are going to goad us and challenge us and stir us up. Don't come to me if you want comfort. All you are going to hear from me is "further", "higher", "faster", "deeper", "longer", "hotter", "harder", "stronger", "more"! If you have friends that are telling you any less than this - it is time to change friends. Instead, lets "build each other up" as we are encouraged in the scriptures to do. Create a spiritual thermal that will draw others up to higher levels in Jesus.

Honestly, we haven't even begun to see extreme yet. I want to find it. I am aching to find it. I want to experience the full force of his love in and power through my life - without restraint. What about you?

Reminder: Without Walls is this weekend

Don't forget to set aside Saturday evening for Without Walls. Also take the time to contact those friends who have expressed an interest in coming along and invite them again. Without Walls is an open environment and anyone is welcome. More people also means more opportunity for the Holy Spirit to work as well! Look forward to seeing you there.

A Healing Line & 7 Water Baptisms in the Bush

Last weekend was the first Without Walls Family Fun Day held at Melville Caves on Saturday and a Water Baptism of seven believers at Cairn Curran on Sunday.
 
Saturday was fantastic day of fellowship, food, bushwalking and bushtalking as well as a time of prayer for healing! We started the afternoon at Melville caves with a barbeque lunch. Food was in ample supply and everyone enjoyed great fellowship. Conversation turned at one point to the physical ailments some of us had, so rather than just talking about it, we began to pray for them. A camp chair became the "hot-seat" and several people took the seat and received prayer for healing. After the prayer time, all those that were feeling energetic took a walk up to the caves. It was fantastic to be in the great outdoors with a bunch of people that love Jesus and to hear the conversations all revolving around Him!
 
On Sunday, we went to Cairn Curran to baptise six believers that spontaneously became seven. After everyone had arrived and we setup under a willow tree near the water, Todd spoke about the supernatural power of water baptism and what it means to be baptised. Then in front of all those present, including some open-mouthed onlookers, we took the six into the fresh water of Cairn Curran and baptised them. After viewing the baptism, a seventh, a young teenage girl also chose to be baptised. What a fantastic day.

Report on March 5 Gathering

What an exciting and powerful time in the presence of the Holy Spirit we had on Saturday night. Despite the fact we had received a number of apologies from people wanting but unable to join us and few others that disappointedly missed the night due to getting their dates mixed up, those of us that were there were truly blessed by the ministry we received.

Have a look at the following scriptures:

Acts 2:1-3  ¹And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.  ²And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.  ³And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

Acts 2:46-47 ⁴⁶And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,  ⁴⁷Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Acts 4:24-33  ²⁴And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:  ²⁵Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?... ³¹And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.  ³²And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.  ³³And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

Acts 4:12 ¹²And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.

I have used the King James version for these scriptures as many of the other versions simply say something like “in one place”. But this does not do these scriptures justice. Do you see the pattern in these scriptures? The believers were gathered in “one accord” and the result was the Power of the Holy Spirit was released. The word in the original Greek for “one accord” is “homothymadon”. It is two words joined together, one meaning “rush along” the other “in unison”. This rather unique word was perhaps coined by Luke when writing Acts and appears 10 of the 12 times it appears in scripture in this book. The idea of the word is that of “going together” not meeting together, it is ideological not locational. This concept of being of one mind and one passion is where we see time and again the power of the Spirit released.

So when it comes to Without Walls we are not so much looking to gather MORE people, but the RIGHT people. Does that mean that we become exclusive? Certainly not! On the contrary, we will welcome with open arms anyone who dares to walk the narrow way with us. But I keenly understand that there will be those who will visit us and decide “it is not for me”. Their reasons will be varied, but it’s ok. What God is doing amongst us will not be for everyone and we don’t want to coerce those are not in “one accord” with us to stay, as we will then be blocking the very power we are looking for!

So with this thought in mind, we should then start asking the question, “What is God’s intention for Without Walls?” While we all may have our own ideas – including me, we can see that the Holy Spirit has already begun to shape and mould this gathering through the prophetic words and themes we have seen in our first two gatherings. Some of those themes have been:

1.      On the first evening through the several prophecies brought by the young men was a theme of pressing into God for yourself and hearing from him for yourself. It was a call to maturity, not to rely on others to feed us but to allow the Holy Spirit to feed us directly. This requires us getting before him on our own in prayer and in the word.

2.      Matched with this on the first night was a strong emphasis on “fatherhood” ministry. The father’s role, generally speaking is one of extending the experiences and expanding the horizons of the young to teach them to stand on their own feet. A concept I would like to elaborate on at another time.

3.      This weekend carried a more solemn theme of the fear of the Lord. Psalm 111:10 says “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. The word fear here in the original Hebrew is “yir’ah”, and it means literally terror – be afraid, be very afraid. I find it interesting that we are told to come to the Lord as a little child. A small child has no problem with simultaneously loving and fearing their father. A little child loves their father with all their heart, but when daddy gets mad – he can be really scary. But it does not change the child’s love for the father. There is a call here to make sure our walk with God is one of holiness and righteousness.

I am very excited about the path the Lord has us on, and for those of you that have found your path next to ours, I believe we have times ahead that will give us stories we will be telling on into eternity!

 

 

 

 

 

Without Walls is on tomorrow night!

I feel like I have barely had time "come down" off our initial gathering two weeks ago, but here we are again. The impact of that night seems to continue to reverberate through almost every facet of my life. I know that sounds like a big call, but I have had others make similar comments to me. There is no doubt the Holy Spirit is up to something and I'm grateful that I get to be part of it. His presence was so powerful that night and I am sure tomorrow night will be similar.
Tonight we are heading down the street for outreach to preach the gospel and also to invite those who are genuinely seeking to join us tomorrow night. If you are feeling bold enough, you are welcome to join us this evening at the rotunda in Rosalind park at 7:00pm.

What did you think of Without Walls?

If you attended last night, we would love to hear from you with your comments or testimonies. Let us know what you thought.

What a great night we had last night!

Thank you to all who attended last night. We had a fantastic time of worship and prayer for the city and for one another. We saw the miraculous healing of one person with back pain, who came to the service unable to bend his back without pain, went home able to bend experiencing no pain. Praise the Lord! There was also a powerful prophetic annointing present. The young men in the meeting were encouraged to prophesy. Every one of them that stepped out, brought powerful prophetic words - some of them for the very first time. Some of the young women also boldly stepped out and prophesied as well.
Significantly, there was a powerful presence of spiritual fathers in the service. Of note, was the presence of Terence Hunter who happened to be in town by what can only be described as a Holy Spirit interaction. Terence contributed to the gathering prophetically - the first time he has ministered in Bendigo for fifteen years.
John and Elizabeth Steele who have ministered in Bendigo now for many years were also present. Both John and Elizabeth ministered during the service, bringing words to and praying for people.
Graeme and Lois Barker were also present by invitation to minister as elders in the body. Both Graeme and Lois ministered prophetically and in intercession for the lives of the city of Bendigo.
I am also very excited to report that we had at least one member of the congregation baptised in the Holy Spirit - in this case as evidenced through speaking in tongues.
Everyone who attended expressed how much the were blessed in the coming together of like minded believers and were looking forward to next time.
We look forward to seeing you again on March 5!