Revelation 1:9 “I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the Island of Patmos because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus.”

John is no stranger to suffering for the sake of the Kingdom. He finds himself on the Island of Patmos, which is, in essence, a penal colony for criminals. John has been sent to prison by the religious leaders and governing authorities for his continual out spoken witness of faith in Christ. During this time he has a powerful encounter with God.

The truth is today many of us feel like John sitting on the Island of Patmos, but it’s not because of the Word of God or testimony of Jesus. It is often simply the result of our own sinful choices and behaviour. We have allowed ourselves to slip out of ‘patient kingdom endurance’ and have tired of the sufferings of Christ. We choose the comfort of compromise and blending into the world. We have slowly ambled outside the safety of truth and God wants us to re-engage.

I believe that 2008 is the season when God wants to come to us just like he came to John on Patmos.
So just how did God get John’s attention?

In a number of ways…

#1- In verse 10 of this passage John was in the spirit on the Lord’s Day – regardless of his position John valued the Lord’s Day and being in God’s presence. Friends, we need to rekindle our love for being in the presence of God. Coming together weekly as the church needs to be a priority in our lives, not just one of many priorities in a week. Being in the presence of God on the Lord’s day puts us in the unique position to listen and hear God’s voice.

#2- In verse 12 we see that once we hear God’s voice, then we need to pay attention and turn towards God leaning into Him with a willing open heart.

#3- Verse 17 highlights that once we receive His revelation we need to fall in reverent submission of Him, allowing Him to lift us up. At the appropriate time giving us a message that will inspire others to commit their all to Christ.

Friends, my prayer is that as leaders we will recapture our love, passion and commitment to God and patiently endure suffering for the kingdom of God and the testimony of Jesus. If we do this and teach our congregations to do the same we will have discharged our responsibility as shepherds in a God honouring way. Let’s make 2008 a year of aggressively going after God!!

Have a fantastic new year.
Bless you heaps,
Pastor Kev

Keep searching out the truth
For the Truth brings freedom and life, to yourself and to others.

John 8:31 “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”

With this chapter we learn a powerful truth. Experiencing freedom in life is conditional on us fulfilling a simple yet profound process.
A process that goes like this:

We are set Free by the knowledge of the truth,
Our knowledge of the truth comes when we are committed to follow and obey Him who is the truth ( Jesus Christ ) - that makes us His disciples,
Holding to Jesus teaching is the signature of being a disciple,
We can only hold to His teaching if we take the time to read and meditate on his instruction to us.

Can you see a modern day problem starting to emerge? If we claim to be Jesus’ disciples and yet do not hold to Jesus’ pattern of teaching for lifestyle- Guess What!, we do not have the truth Which means, even though we might like to think we are, we are not free at all.

Sadly today many Christians are genuine authentic and sincere in the things they believe about life, but unfortunately what they believe is wrong and in error to what Jesus taught in the bible. This leaves them in the unfortunate position of being sincerely wrong. Friend, it’s one thing to be rebellious towards God, arrogant and wrong, but it’s another thing to be righteous towards God but lazy, uniformed and wrong.

God expects us to steward our lives well, living as ambassadors for Him! The reason a lot of people are suspicious of the church is for this exact reason. The greatest hindrance to the advancement of the Kingdom is not the devil, it’s the followers of Christ whose lives are lived in error of the Holy Scriptures. This is what is giving the church a bad name! Friends, if we don’t get this right everybody loses - we lose our liberty and freedom, God loses credibility through our misrepresentation of Him, and those outside of faith are hardened towards God by what they consider hypocrisy in Christ followers’ lives.

I think the two most important words in this scripture are IF and THEN

IF you will hold to Jesus teaching about lifestyle that makes you a genuine disciple
THEN - you will know the truth - the truth that will SET YOU FREE

I guess the only question for us to ask as a new year approaches is this: Will we continue to live our lives based on our own personal version of the truth and so comprise freedom and life again for another year. Or will we make the decision to daily read and study Jesus’ teachings and allow them to be the basis of truth and freedom in our lives?

Friends, if every Christ follower took this challenge seriously we would see a serious advancement of the Kingdom of Heaven in 2008. Lost souls wandering in the dark would again see the light of Christ in His followers and the name of Jesus would be lifted up from the earth to draw all people unto Him.

My Prayer: Father help us to take seriously the reading of our bibles and make the necessary adjustments to follow and hold onto Jesus’ teachings. Help us to become truly free people living such spectacular lives that others are drawn to the life of Christ is us

John 9:26 -34 “Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.”

This is an interesting story of a man who was blind from birth. He was a beggar whose existence depended on the generosity of others. In the religious leaders eyes’ he was the result of sin. However, Jesus came onto the scene declaring that this man’s condition has in fact got nothing to do with sin and that it was for the glory of God. I wonder could it be that this man sat in this condition all this time in order to fulfil this very moment in time? Could it be this young man was going to be the instrument that God would use to declare to the religious leaders the futility of their condition?

Look at the outworking: Jesus heals the blind man in a very unusual and spectacular way making sure everyone knows what has taken place. He makes the guy walk to the well on the other side to town as part of his healing process.

This revealed a willing heart to follow Jesus’ instructions in faith. Jesus heals him on the Sabbath, which instantly gets the attention of the religious people. The religious leaders are trying to figure out how to control and explain the situation. The Blind beggar stands up giving a spectacular closing argument. The religious leaders have no response to give so they resort to insults and throw him out.

How awesome is this! This is a guy who yesterday was begging on the streets, totally dependant on other people’s generosity. Then overnight he was known as the guy who delivered such a dissertation it silenced and stopped the religious leaders in their tracks. I bet he was one of the most sought after public speakers on the circuit after that. God can break in a change everything in a moment if we have faith to take the walk.

My Prayer: Lord help me to always respond when you put mud in my eyes and tell me to take a walk. It’s a walk from darkness to light and it just could be the walk from beggar to barrister overnight!

1 Peter 3: 10-12 “The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives, as you look forward to the day of God and spread its coming.”

Do you know what alarms me today? A number of years ago I could pick the follower of Christ out of a crowd within minutes. They stood out, they were marked as different by the Holy Spirit, they were carrying a supernatural something on and around them that identified them as a special kind of person belonging to God. However, of recent years as I look around I can’t differentiate between followers of Christ and followers of this world. They look, smell, dress, speak, behave and present themselves just like the world does. Truth be told, the devil has probably done a better job of evangelising the world to the church, then we have done of evangelising the church to the world!

These thoughts often challenges me in my own walk with God.

I often wonder why this decline has taken place?
• Could it be that we have forgotten why God has kept us here on planet earth?
• Could it be that we have forgotten that this world will one day sharply come to an end, and those who do not have a personal relationship with Christ will be lost forever in hell?
• Could it be we have embraced the short term pleasures of sin as we tire of waiting for God to fulfill his plans and purpose?
• Could it be we have fallen into the trap of not daily reading and allowing the Word of God to transform and change us into the image of Christ?

God is looking for a special kind of people again in 2008. He is asking:
• Where are those who will be Holy as their heavenly Father is Holy?
• Where are those who are prepared to pay any price to see the supernatural power of God working in their lives?
• Where are those whom God can entrust with the riches and fullness of His power?
• Where are those that stand out from the crowd because the evidence of God is in, on and about them everywhere?

Friends, its choice time, how will we live in 2008? Will we continue to blend in with this world, and live by what it declares to be acceptable standards and morals for living, thus leaving us spiritually impotent and powerless? Or will we become the person God declares us to be by living by His morals and standards for living? Who knows, maybe we could once again stand out from the crowd by being a Chosen People, a Royal Priesthood, a Holy Nation belonging to God!

My Prayer is that in 2008 our new year’s resolution will go like this: I will no longer follow the pattern of this world. I will not longer let culture dictate to me how I should live, but I will love, embrace and apply the scriptures to my life until Christ be formed in me and I once again I stand out from the crowd.

Ephesians 4: 19 “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.”

Once a person’s heart becomes hard they slip out of the light and back into the darkness. Slowly but surely they begin to once again practice those things from which they were once saved. Something goes wrong in their thinking as righteousness and holiness fades away, they revert to previous practices like lying, anger, stealing, unwholesome talk, bitterness, rage, brawling, malice and slander.

Once we hit this place all sensitivity to God is gone. We never feel the Holy Spirit’s nudge or whisper anymore instructing us in righteousness and holiness. We never feel the conviction of His love and assurance and contentment coming from the Father’s heart. Instead we get trapped in a continual lust for more, more, more. We become consumed with finding a better life, but sadly it was the better life that we foolishly let slip away.

We need to renew our minds daily by the Word of God if we are to keep from reverting to old, destructive patterns of thinking. We must be people led of the spirit not of the flesh. Our concern and strive should be towards heavenly things and not earthly desires. It’s a vicious cycle:

- Your heart gets hard,

- You become insensitive to the Holy Spirit and his direction and lead in your life,

- These ungodly attitudes and behaviours grieve the Holy Spirit so He pulls away a little more,

- As the Holy Spirit pulls away your heart becomes just that little bit harder, thus beginning the cycle again.

It’s the all consuming journey down into the pit of hell.

My Prayer: Father help me to recognize when my heart is starting to get hard, let me quickly discern the warning signs and then repent so that times of refreshing and restoration may come!

Psalm 119: 30 - 32 “I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws. I hold fast to your statutes, O Lord; do not let me be put to shame. I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.”

This is a wonderful Psalm because it really highlights to us just what kind of blessing is available to those who truly love God’s Word “The Bible” and apply it to their lives. When we truly love God’s Word, and then prayerfully read and apply its direction and correction to our life, things really start to change for the better. Something we must understand about God is that God is not obliged to bless what you and I consider to be of a value and importance. He is only obliged to bless what He considers to be of value and importance!

God has been very clear about what kind of attitudes, behaviour and lifestyle He will, and will not endorse and bless. However, He knows how easily we humans forget things so He was kind enough to have it written down for us to read and memorise. The bible is a powerful supernatural book inspired by God. Its purpose is to lead us to experience God and then make a choice as to whether we will or will not align ourselves with Him. Every human being will face this dilemma at some point during their life. Will I trust God to lead my life or will I continue to try and manage it myself? The blessing now and for eternity is granted to those who choose well- to follow the truth!

We must choose Truth, we must choose to set our heart towards God and commit to life by His values and standards for living.

We must understand that our choice of truth will in fact alienate us from others sometimes because people don’t like to face the truth about themselves or life. They would rather stick their heads in the sand and pretend that God is not there! This is folly - look all around, the evidence of God is everywhere! God is very clear about this, sooner or later every person will bow their knee before Him. Some will bow in honour, love and respect of the God who saved their souls, and other will bow in defeat and fear knowing that their poor choices have set them on a path of destruction for eternity. Like it or not we will all bow one day the choice is yours, the choice is mine.

We must also understand that choosing the way of truth brings us freedom and the ability to run! People today are weighed down by many cares but those who have chosen truth have someone to carry the burden for them! Jesus actually said it this way, ‘you will know the truth and the truth will set you free’. Once you have received the truth about God and His rightful place in your life then a supernatural freedom comes that cannot be experienced any other way.

Resolve to choose the way of Truth, learn to love God and his instruction and direction for living with all your heart, and I guarantee you, you will be living the kind of life that most people only dream about!

Prayer: Father help me to always have a receptive soft teachable heart so that your spirit can lead me into the ways of truth and freedom.

Scripture base: Romans 5

So often we struggle with feelings of insignificance and helplessness. So often we do not try because we really don’t feel like we can make a difference, and in reality outside of Christ those feelings are accurate. We are trapped in sin, held prisoner, bound by the law and as everyone knows it is hard to make a difference when you are locked up in jail. However, when we are born again and set free by Christ we are no longer bound to the law and sin. The spirit of death that once held us captive is now taken away by the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The problem is, it just hasn’t computed in our brains that we are free so we are still trapped and bound in an old patterns of thinking.

For example, an elephant can be stoped from going forward in life by a small piece of rope around his leg. How does that happen? Thinking patterns - it starts with a chain around his leg bound to a strong metal stake in the ground. To start with he pulls and pulls until finally in exhaustion he gives up. Once that place is reached the chain and stake can be taken away and replaced with a small rope that he could easily break free of, but he does not. He stays there simply because a pattern has formed in his thinking! You cannot go beyond your thinking!

Some of us, even though we have experienced the freedom in Christ given by God, are still living under thinking patterns of the old nature. Why? simply because we lived under them for so long in the past. This is why we must live from the new nature and not the old nature.

If we could break free from the old nature and its imposed thought patterns who knows what one single person could achieve. After all it was…

- through one man that sin entered the world
- one man’s trespass caused many to die
- death reigned through one man
- through one man’s disobedience many became sinners
- God’s grace and righteousness came through one man
- the ability to reign in life comes through one man
- through one man’s obedience many are made righteous
- the gift of eternal life came through one man

Never underestimate what God can do through one person who is fully committed to Him. All that stops us is thought patterns that still stem out of years and years of living in bondage to sin and death. It’s time to really start living out of our new creation nature!

Prayer: Father help me to break out of old thought patterns of death from my time living under sin and the law. I want to be controlled by the spirit of God and used to make a positive difference in this world.

2 Tim3:14 -17 “But as for you , continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man or woman of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

It is no easy feat today to raise children as there are so many competing messages vying for their attention and loyalty. So how do you bring them up so that they grow into spectacular contributors of society? How do we stop this current trend of our children growing up in self destructive patterns of behaviour? How do we arrest this process? How do we change things? Let me say this parents, I believe you alone have the power to make this change happen. Forget about all the courses and training seminars that are available and get back to the basics.

Here are the basics to change the fabric of our society for the better, by growing up great children into spectacular adults. Here is all you need:

1. A bible - God’s handbook for human life and development. The bible is no ordinary book, it is a supernatural book that when read and listened to on a regular basis fashions, forms and shapes the mind, will and character of the individual that gazes into it.

2. Find a good Christian church that will back you up in what God is teaching your child through bible reading.

Advice:

Just make sure you get a modern language bible translation like the New International Version, New Living Translation or the Message just to name a few. Then go to work at growing up a great future for us all!

Develop a daily family practice of reading the bible together. Begin this process for your child at the moment of conception. Just you and your wife take turns at reading and discussing the Scripture to work out what God is teaching you about life.

Read about Creation in Genesis, read about wisdom in Proverbs, Psalms for worship and awe of God, and finally read the New Testament Matthew, Mark, Luke and John etc to discover what Jesus said about life.

Then pray a simple prayer asking God to back up his Word that All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man or woman of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

In conclusion, here is the deal… the younger you start this practice the more wise your child will grow, which means they have a far better chance of not making serious mistakes. It is the holy Scriptures that are read to a child when they are young that sets them up for a spectacular future. Parents this is not just for our kids it’s for us as well, for as we read and listen to the scriptures God actually transforms our lives as well. Stress, worry and concern for the future fade away and our life is filled with faith hope and love. As I said, the bible is a supernatural book because it is God breathed!

A final word to my friends the skeptics: I have been exactly where you are at right now and I made a cold calculated simple decision that went like this…What have I got to lose! The existing system is not working, ever man and his dog has an opinion so why don’t I just give God’s opinion a shot first!! You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars. You just need to get a modern translation bible and start to make a practice of reading it together daily, who knows, God might just show up out of the pages revealing himself to you!

Let’s build a great future for us all by growing up great kids!

Bless ya heaps
Pastor Kev

Psalm 125: 1-2 ‘Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore.’

This Psalm teaches me the kind of stability I can expect if I put my trust in the Lord. It tells me that I can reach a place of absolute stability and security, a place where I can endure through all circumstances. It also gives me a great litmus test for life. If I start to feel shaken, insecure and concerned about life, then I know that I’d better do a check up from the neck up and see just where my trust is being placed. Is it still in my God or in my own human strength?

Listen to what else happens to those who trust in the Lord. They actually end up surrounded by the Lord. Unfortunately today after watching one too many Hollywood films we often think of being surrounded as a negative thing because that usually spells the end. We are defeated and having to walk out with our hands raised in defeat. However, being surrounded can also be a very powerful and positive thing because it puts us safely in the centre while all the fighting and battle is going on around us. God actually places a force field around us so that the enemy can’t get to us, surely he can yell and growl and make a lot of scary noises but he can’t touch us. We are kept at a distance from the hand to hand combat part of the fight. Remember Job - it was not until God allowed the force field to come down that satan could actually touch him! Trusting in God has great benefits indeed and we should always throw our hands in the air. Not in defeat from our enemy but in praise of the Awesome God who surrounds us continually!

Prayer: Lord help me to always keep my trust securely focused on you, let me quickly understand that when I start to feel shaken in life it is because I am now trusting myself to get the job done. Keep me surrounded by your love and great power. Amen

1 Thessalonians 4:1 ‘Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.’

It would do us well to remember who it is we should be pleasing! Often we spend a whole lot of our life either trying to please other people, or worse still simply just pleasing ourselves. Our culture is devoid of a God consciousness at this point of time of history. God is far removed from our thinking and decision making process today. How do I know that? Because if pleasing God were part of our living process we would not see people treating each other the way they do.

- People would think more carefully about how we speak to each other understanding just how powerful their words can be for either good or evil.

- People would treat each others so differently if pleasing God was high on the agenda. Grace, love and forgiveness would be granted on a regular basis instead of anger, bitterness and revenge. Let’s face it, this is the stuff that keeps fueling all current affair programs. I am telling you if every human being was committed to pleasing God then our world would be a very different place to live in indeed.

- Basic manners and common courtesy would again be the norm instead of a rarity.

- Children would respect their parents, elderly and those in authority.

- Morals and standards would again have a place knitting together the fabric of society into a safe place for all.

If pleasing God were the norm, God would help people to discern between truth and error and together they would work out what really is important about this life. They would know that this life is not what is most important, what is most important is developing a relationship with God so that when this life is over, he still wants to carry on hanging out with us in eternity in heaven.

Make our goal to please God and everybody wins!

- We secure our eternal destiny in heaven escaping the fear of death and judgment following in hell.

- Our families and friends would get a far better quality ‘us’ to live with as love would become the driving force behind everything.’Why’ because God is love!

- Society would be filled with high quality contributors who are committed to not just looking out for themselves but others also. Society would be driven by a deep love and concern for our fellow human beings.

Wow - wouldn’t that be nice! But sadly the reality is most people will not make pleasing God the top priority in their life, so for now everything will just continue on much like it has always been. People unhappily slowly going to hell, while making everyone else’s life hell on their journey there.

Prayer: Lord protect us from ourselves teach us how to please you more because in so doing that “EVERYBODY WINS”.