Archive for the ‘Thoughts on Life...’ Category

What better way to start the year than turning our focus and faces towards God.

Join us for the 21 day Daniel Fast starting January 4th. This fast will discipline our natural desires and put them in full submission to Christ to start the year.

Let’s have a fresh clean start to 2010 as we seek the face of our awesome God. During the fast we will send out scriptures to pray through and encouragement for you- maybe even some recipes you can try.

If you’re asking yourself ‘what on earth is a Daniel Fast??’…check out this great website http://www.daniel-fast.com/
You can sign up for their newsletter and receive the Daniel Fast guidelines.

Join with me and other members of CCCLiVE.TV on the adventure!
Ps Kev

ps: During the fast read and journal daily- Bible Reading Plans are available on our website http://www.ccclive.tv

pps: Submit your prayers and pray for others at хотелско обзавежданеhttp://www.ccclive.tv/lifereachprayer

Interview from Swerve Blog…
Kevin pastors Christian Community Church in Queensland, AU. They’re a faithful Lifechurch.tv Network Church. He writes…

1. What is the biggest leadership lesson you’ve learned over the past year?

Learning to wait for God’s perfect timing in transitioning a whole church into a new culture. It’s got to be the right ‘God thing’ at the right ‘God time’ otherwise the wheels fall off everywhere.

2. What is God showing you personally?

If I am to be a great leader in the 21st Century then I must always lead from a still axis. I must learn to lead from a still quiet place in God, rather than be driven by the urgent chaos of life. To do this I need to spend time in the Word of God daily. Reading and journaling what the Father is saying to me is essential. It is my time to be with Jesus and allow him to lead me up the mountain so he can show me His glory!

3. What is the top ministry challenge you’re currently facing?

Transitioning a leadership and culture from what has been for 17 years into what God desires for the next season. Creating a new wine skin and infrastructure for a new outpouring of wine!

4. What do you do for fun?

To be honest I have failed miserably at this for last 15 months! What I love to do and need to make more time for is… dining out with my wife, Anne, having coffee in inspiring locations with friends, walks on the beach, exercise (or at least thinking about it) , song writing and performing, photography and motorcycle riding (when I can afford to buy another bike).

5. What books are you reading?

Sticky Church by Larry Osborne
The Divine Mentor by Wayne Cordeiro
The Leadership Baton by Rowland Forman, Jeff Jones, Bruce Miller
IT by Craig Groeschel

Discover how you best connect with God by discovering your Spiritual Pathway.

God has designed us uniquely and we will never fully experience true intimacy with Him until we understand how we best connect with Him. Understanding this allows us to walk daily in His presence and appreciate those around us who are wired up differently.

Discover your pathway by listening to the MP3 of the Pathways message and fill out your assessment and send your results to wendy@cccgoldcoast.com in the excel spreadsheet provided.

Well 2009 is here and I guess we are all asking the same questions;
How do we be better than we were in 2008?
What is the key for us to move on in our leadership?
How do we lead a society that is fast becoming all grey?

The Global Leadership Summit 2008 session by Ps Craig Groeschel has been rattling around in my spirit ever since he made this comment; “In order to reach the people that no-one else is reaching you must do the things that no-one else is doing, and in order to do the things that no-one else is doing you must stop doing what everybody else is doing”

At first it seems like just a nice catchy phrase, but when you begin to think about from a personal and church leadership Kingdom perspective the implications are huge!

Acts 7:55 says “But Stephen full of the Holy Spirit looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.”

Our world has become very ‘finite’ focused. We travel land and sea to try and work out what God wants us to do in the towns and cites in which we lead and serve. We have a barrage of information at our disposal, we watch DVDs, read books, attend conferences and seminars and we surf the internet. None of this is wrong, but there is a danger of us relying too much human information and not enough on divine inspiration and revelation.

Can I suggest that we watch the DVDs, read the books, attend the conferences and seminars, surf the internet and then, after we have done all our research and homework- lay it all at the Master’s feet. Place it all on the altar surrendering it to His plan and purpose.

Then maybe consider this course of action.

Look out across your people to see and feel the need, discover the burden the Lord has for his people. Then turn your eyes towards heaven seeking the Father’s glorious solution.
Wait untill you see or sense what Jesus stands up for! Only when you know what it is, with great conviction full of the Holy Spirit declare it to all people.

God needs leaders who are full of the Holy Spirit to declare His plan and purpose. He needs leaders who will cut through the sea of sinful grey to proclaim the absolute truth of the Gospel. He needs leaders who will stand up and declare the truth whatever the cost!

It’s time to stand up “FULL OF IT” and lead God’s people into a greater place of Kingdom power and authority.

The time for standing and waiting is over. Moses in Exodus 14:13 was busy telling the people to stand firm, be still, the Lord will fight for you. However, God said to Moses- why are you crying out to me? Tell my people to MOVE ON! Raise you staff and stretch out your hand. He’s saying, Moses lead my people whatever the circumstances. Friends, we need to lead our people against the sinful tide of grey relativism back into the blessing of absolute truth.

Let’s be leaders “FULL OF IT” in 2009 for the sake of our God and His People.

Bless ya heaps
Ps Kev

Note: if you have not seen Ps Craig session at the WCA Global Leadership Summit 2008, I suggest you get all the teaching DVDs from 2008, and Ps Craig’s Book “IT” – is a must read for any leader who wants to recapture what the enemy, time and seasons of life have stolen away!

Once again Christmas has arrived with a less than subtle bang. The shops are flooded with the sound of Christmas carols and the advertising marketing machine is well at work to encourage us to spend up big. Somehow they entice us to believe that the more gifts we give and receive the happier we will be. However, deep down we know that really isn’t in the case! Once the wrapping is off and the glitter is taken away we come up as empty as ever. Can I encourage you this Christmas give something different, something that can really make a difference.

In Galatians 5 we discover the Fruit of the Spirit and one manifestation of the fruit is Kindness or Mercy. What if we were to take the kindness and mercy that God has given to us and lavish onto other human beings. What if, like Jesus, we extended kindness and mercy to those who don’t really deserve it? What if we could give a gift of forgiveness to those who have hurt us? What if we could release those who have betrayed us? What if we truly extended the gift of kindness and mercy to all? Who knows, maybe then people would see a church that doesn’t just talk about the love of God, but one that actually displays it to the world around.

Years ago there was a film released called ‘Pay It Forward’ – it was about a young boy who came up with a utopian idea of changing the world through people helping each other with acts of kindness. The kindness would compound as it was paid forward rapidly creating a perfect world. I wonder what would happen if the Church took seriously the mandate that freely we have received from God so freely we should give. What would be the impact of this gift on the world?

I wonder, if that is how the next great move of God will breakout across the face of the earth. When we as Christians, on behalf of God, extend kindness to all people. People will experience the wonder of a God who loves them enough to send someone to care for their need. Friends, what a difference that would make! A wise man once said “There is nothing like local church when it is working well”.

Don’t give a cheap gift this year that will be easily discarded, give a gift from God that will impact people for a lifetime.

Freely you have received so Freely give this Christmas.

Bless ya heaps,
Ps Kev
Keep searching out the truth
For the Truth brings freedom and life, to yourself and to others.

A lot of people get confused in their thinking because they can’t understand how a loving God could send anyone to hell, or how a loving God can stand by and watch his own son die an excruciating death on the cross. From a human view point both of these questions can easily lead you to the wrong conclusion if you don’t fully explore them. Let’s see if I can share a few thoughts that might bring a little clarity.

First and foremost:

God doesn’t send anyone to hell! In fact he is trying to save all humanity from this destination. In the beginning when God created Adam & Eve it was the start of what should have been a long term rail journey together. However, while waiting at the station to begin the journey, humanity was tricked by Satan into thinking that we could take the journey by ourselves without God’s interference. So our great grandparents rebelled against God, sin entered the world & death and judgement followed. Instead of boarding the train with God and going on a wonderful journey together, which would finally end in heaven, we crossed to the other side of the platform and boarded a train with God’s arch enemy Satan. From that point on all human beings were born onto that train, under his influence and heading toward Satan’s final destination- hell!

Unfortunately now all human beings are casualties of war – simply because we allied ourselves with God’s enemy. It was humanity’s own poor choice that lead all human beings to become objects of his wrath and righteous anger and judgement. We rebelled and rejected God bringing this on ourselves. Into this helpless plight comes hope and redemption through JESUS CHRIST. Jesus comes to pay the price for yours and my sin, he comes to provide and escape route out from under the devil’s influence and power. All we have to do is receive him as our personal Lord & Saviour and God literally translates or transports us from the devil’s hell bound train and onto Jesus’ heaven bound train.

The scriptures are clear, it is only through Jesus Christ that any human being can escape their eternal destiny of hell. Do you get it? God doesn’t send anyone to hell, in fact he has done all he can to provide us a way out! The choice is yours, the choice is mine! We will decide our eternal destiny. The truth is if you refuse to accept God’s offer of salvation you will remain under his wrath and judgment becoming eternal causalities of war –simply because you are choosing to stay on the wrong train, you are choosing to mix with the wrong team!

This leads us to the next question:

How could a loving God stand back and let his own son suffer and die a cruel death like that. From a theological point of view it can help to understand the trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Three and yet one, so even though the Son is paying the price physically to provide salvation for you and I, a part of the Father was dying at the very same time.

Have you ever had the situation where you are watching someone go through something really traumatic and later you discover the the pain you felt for them was equally, if not more severe than the the pain they felt themselves? In fact they tend to repair and get over it very quick but you still carry the pain. That is how it is for the Father, Son and Holy Spirit when it comes to providing salvation for us.

No matter how you approach this question the real problem is that humanity is asking the wrong question completely! The question how could a loving God stand back and let his Son suffer and die on a cross like that is the wrong question for us to ask. The right question to ask is this…

What on earth awaits human beings on the other side of death that warrants such a drastic course of action by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? What awaits us on the other side? If there were nothing to be concerned about then I am sure the Father would not have allowed Jesus to go through what he did. What it does tells us is that something so horrific awaits all human beings on the other side of death that God himself was prepared to give part of himself to provide a way for any human being who wants to avoid it! God is so concerned for our eternal souls that He gave everything he could to provide a way for us to avoid hell the eternal dwelling place for the devil and his angels. And friends, it all comes down to what we do with Jesus Christ, He is the key to what eternity will looks like for all of us.

The devil is so subtle and sly, he is trying to keep us asking the wrong questions long enough hoping that death will suddenly come calling and we will not be prepared. Friends, we need to ask the right questions if we are to get the right answers!

My Prayer: My prayer is that we would all help people to start asking the right questions so that they get the right answers. Answers that will lead them back into relationship with a loving God who gave His all for them. He provided the cross to secure the eternal resting place of their souls in Jesus Christ. It’s time to get off the train!

On Wednesday The Courier Mail front page headline read “CHILD THUGS” and the picture accompanying it shows a student with a knife in his hand behind his back. The article delivers the alarming statistics that 10-14 year olds have offenses numbering 16,414 with the following breakdown;

Assault 1106
Weapons Offences 164
Sexual Offences 297
Robbery 149
Property Offences 11,630
Drugs 556

Is anybody concerned about the condition of our young generation? Does anyone care about the fact that this generation of young children is growing up not knowing how to live together with their fellow human beings? Our young people are growing up without a clear understanding of the basics of life, such as what is morally right and wrong, the acceptable standards for living life well with others in this world and just basic manners of knowing how to be polite and courteous. Friends, if kids continue on their present path all that awaits them and their families is a lifetime of frustration, anger, pain and suffering interspersed with prolonged periods of incarceration in jail.  Is this what we want for our kids?

Why do we find ourselves in this situation? Well, I have a theory! 

There was a time when as a culture we had a more of a consciousness of God. Even if the sum total of it was just attending church a few times a year, or maybe saying a quick prayer of thanksgiving for the food we were about to receive, or even just a small prayer at night while tucking the kids into bed. The family unit had a God consciousness about it. Add to this the fact that at School we would have Religious Education every week. It was during this time we learned from the bible- the ‘God Manual for Human Life’. We learned about God and how much he loves and cares for us, and at the same time we learned how God expects us to treat, respect and love each other. It doesn’t sound like all that much when it comes to making a difference but I think the social spin off was huge.

We now live in a world where the consciousness of God is all but removed from our homes, families and schools and I believe this to be a major contributor to the instability in our young people. I think if we committed as families and educators to reintroduce a God consciousness back into the fabric of society it would not be long before we would start is see a change of behavior in our young people.

Now you might be thinking why would this make such a big difference? When a God consciousness is part of a human being’s infrastructure it has some remarkable effects:

1. It brings comfort knowing that life is not all up to me. I know that I am not stumbling through life alone feeling like an accident. It actually brings hope, comfort and purpose to the human soul to know that God has a plan for your life. God consciousness actually takes away a certain amount of the stress and anxiety about life. A lot of human reaction and behavior stems from feelings of being out of control with no purpose, plan and hope.

2. It brings a subconscious accountability with it. If I have a God consciousness then I am aware that I am not top dog, there is someone I am accountable to for this life. Friends this changes everything about how I think and how I speak and treat other people, because deep down I know God expects me to behave in a way that pleases him. 

Even though I am a Pastor, I am not talking about making everybody attend church on Sundays. Although that may be a positive next step as most churches can support parents in bringing up children. I am just talking about having a God consciousness within the fabric of our lives and maybe consider God’s advice on how we should live our lives. We need to get to the core problem that causes wrong behavior to develop. I believe it to be a lack of God consciousness starting with families and the education system.

As a kid growing up it was this consciousness of God that taught me right from wrong things like;
- Don’t swear and use foul language.
- Respect and honour Mum and Dad.
- Be faithful to your husband or wife.
- Don’t lie cheat, steal and embezzle from others, treat them the way you would like to be treated.
- Be kind and considerate to all people and especially the elderly- stand on the bus for a lady or elderly person to have your seat.
- Never hit a lady.

When I was young, due to my Mum and Dad’s family upbringing we practiced a lot of God consciousness at home even though we only went to church once a year. That, along with the Religious Education I received at school, is how I learned how much God loves me and how He expects me to love others.

I wonder what would happen if we got this spiritual underpinning of the fabric of society back in place? What difference would it make if a God consciousness was alive and well in the family home and school system? Parents why not give it a shot? Just maybe we can save our kids from the path of self destruction that they are currently on. 

Keep searching out the truth, for it’s the truth that brings freedom and life to yourself and to others.

Pastor Kev

I found it very confusing and contradictory this morning (29.10.07) when our Queensland Premier Ms Anna Bligh was interviewed on television advocating the high value of human life. She appealed to the public to be more responsible on the roads in relation to speeding and drink driving due to the fact that this year over 300 human lives have been tragically and unnecessarily lost because of people’s poor choices. 

I found her statement about valuing life a little ironic when just 24 hours earlier she commented that she would support a bill in parliament that decriminalises the termination of human lives in pandemic proportions. This is one of those Rove “What The!” moments. In one breath she is advocating the right to terminate human life through abortion, and with the next she presents life as precious and wonderful, something we should seek to preserve through responsible behaviour. Surely the gift of human life given by a loving God should be celebrated and protected at any age. If you take into consideration what the Bible says about the beginning of human life you find that He knows every human being intimately and is in the process of weaving them together in their mother’s womb.  

I find it ironic that we publicly ask God for his comfort when a family faces the pain of walking through the valley of losing a son in active service for our country. And at the same time we deliberately choose to ignore and reject His involvement in the process of human creation. Either all life is sacred and a gift from God- or none of it is. 

My prayer is that Ms Bligh would realise that God has put her in a position of leadership for such a time as this. She is there to serve the people of Queensland on behalf of God. That she, like the rest of us, can put aside her own journey to ensure that the decisions she makes are about doing what is right for all people before God and not just what is politically correct for a select noisy few.  

God instructs us to pray for our leaders, let’s get on with it.