Waiting for His face, and everything's in its right place

Pastor Luke Martin shared with us on Sunday 15 May 2011, starting with Psalm 27.

In Psalm 27, David was having a painful experience. In fact, it is headed as a psalm of fearless trust in God (NIV version). It means knowing God will come through for us.

So what order of thinking did David follow in this Psalm?

• DECLARE WHO GOD IS. We see that in the first verse, where David begins by recognising God's presence. We can say that of our lives, rather than focusing on our smallness or inabilities. Start with God's abilities rather than our lacks. And recognise how much more powerful God is than anything else. Like in a wrestling match, ‘tag’ God in! Think also how a document may be truthful, but it has no power until you ‘declare’ it with a signature.

• MAKE YOUR PRIORITY HIS PRESENCE: See verse 4 and 5, in which David is ‘set high upon the Rock’. God's presence will never disappoint you. In Psalm 16:11, we see how God takes away hopelessness. His presence replaces hopelessness with joy.

• SEEK HIS FACE: See verse 8 in which David seeks more than presence when he looks for God's face. Getting close to someone's face enables you to hear more intimately. Right now, seek after Him and go beyond the feeling. And when He speaks, He speaks with love and acceptance.

He is everything that we need, so why not get close to Him and say God, what is it that you want to say?

And while you wait, know that He will show you His goodness. He wants to speak with you... Now wait...



- Posted using an Apple iPad on behalf of Empower Christian Church, Australia

Location:Molan St, Ringwood, Australia

Relationship that leads to your best hope

Pastor Nicholas Tsakis shared with us at Empower Christian Church today, Sunday 8 May 2011.

God had a plan in mind for you before you were even conceived or born. It's only by the grace of God you have reached where you are.

Most importantly, He created you for a personal relationship. You can see that in the story of the first people created - Adam and Eve. Their dominion was sinless, and God had a relationship with them from the beginning. He wanted them to remain in that relationship, just as He wants with us as well. Their relationship with God was an intimate one, typified by God walking with them in the cool of the day. There was one particular day in which God came and they realized they were naked. Their Creator came looking for them, asking where they were. He seeks us, to bring us into a right relationship with Him.

In seeking His people, Jesus asked His disciples to follow Him. He wanted to be with them, as He wants to be with us now.

From Psalms 139:13, we read how we are fearfully and wonderfully made - with a plan in mind before we breathed any air! Jeremiah 1:4 assures us the same loving plan is in place for us.

The Church is the Body of Christ and although we are not perfect, we are complete in Him.

That relationship that we need to have is not the end of the story. We go beyond the start of a relationship to a place of calling.

He has a calling and purpose for your life.

And he will give you the confidence to move into the calling. He believes in you. You can make it through life, in Him.

In fact, your greatest hope is in Jesus Christ.





- Posted using an Apple iPad on behalf of Empower Christian Church, Australia

Renewing your mind

Pastor Rick Brouwer shared with us on Sunday 1 May 2011 about renewing our minds.

The first thing you need to think and believe in, prayerfully, is that you can be WELL.

Let's first acknowledge that your mind is magnificent. You have an amazing number of joins being formed that actually outnumber the stars in the universe. In fact, it is no happy accident but a wonderful miracle.

To be able to think like God, we should look at what Romans 12:2 tells us - 'be transformed by the renewing of your mind'. We are already patterned by the world.

In not conforming to the pattern we have, reecognise that everybody wants a piece of your mind, such as advertising and media. From our Christian faith, we see that two major players are Christ and Satan (see Matt 12:24-30). Satan wants to park thoughts in your brain illegally. Jesus has every right to control your thinking (as Creator and Redeemer; having 'paid the ticket').

Those illegal parking thoughts that Satan wants to place are actually strongholds. They are negative, false and destructive. They have a regularity to them, cropping up over and over again. They often go unnoticed because they a so familiar to us, seeming like normal thinking.

So how do we expose strongholds? Well, to identify them, they will have problem behavior associated with them, such as emotions and symptoms around them.

And how do strongholds affect other people? Well, they always seek to involve other people (see Matthew 16; Peter had Godly revelation one moment and then faces a 'get behind me Satan' comment).

To overcome strongholds as life sentences, do two things:

1) Identify the stumbling block or life sentence

2) Step over it and put it behind you as quick as possible

Common stumbling blocks are thoughts like 'I am not good enough' or 'God is condemning me'.

To disarm strongholds, read 2 Corinthians 10:3-6. The key is to take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.

A good script is to say my mind is telling me... (eg. I am not good enough). Or say Satan is tempting to think... (eg. I am not good enough). Say then, but Jesus... (eg. Is for me, or does not condemn me).

So in summary, REPLACE the thought with TRUTH.

Most importantly, this all works only if you put it into practice.

(Pastor Rick Brouwer will be talking more about this at Empower Christian Church in coming weeks for night module lessons.)






- Posted using an Apple iPad on behalf of Empower Christian Church, Australia