Inspirational

Christians stop growing into Christ-likeness when they resist the working of the Spirit.

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Revolutionary generosity in the Church will be opposed by the Church.

But nothing less than genuinely offering something for nothing for the sake of a broken world can restore the reputation of Christ’s people in Australia.

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 “The fear of the Lord” is a “Treasure”
To be truly conformed to Christ is to have the Spirit place the Lord’s heart inside us so we are united with Jesus in the movement of his Passion.

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The concept of the believer’s inheritance highlights the dignity of the family relationship of the believer in Christ, The greatest part of our final inheritance will be God himself the God that is revealed as the Father of Jesus.

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“The End of Heaven” refers principally to heaven as the goal or destiny of all the works of God. This must be centred on Jesus, for “by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him” Col 1:16 ESV .

Heaven wasn’t first of all created for humans like us but for the Son of God as the Word made flesh. John 1:14

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In an age marked by the commoditisation of Christianity only godly partnerships based on pure love will survive the testing of God. Any movement whose foundation is less than this will be undermined by selfish ambition (James 3:13-18 ESV).

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Anyone without this inner compulsion of grateful love to share Jesus is either unconverted or a Christian who doesn’t understand the greatness of what it means to be right with God.

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INTRODUCTION We naturally think of our “heavenly Father”, and Jesus is obviously no longer on earth. But we struggle to locate the Holy Spirit in any way. This thinking has some biblical support, e.g. vs.7 “Where shall I go from… Continue Reading →

Let us therefore exhort one another to assemble with Jesus (Heb 10:24-25 ESV) pressing in to enter the sanctuary in heaven as priests offering “acceptable worship, with reverence and awe” (Heb 12:28 ESV)

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All of God’s promises are so that we might “become partners in the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4 ESV).

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Without a vision the “things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Col 3 vs.1 ESV) the world will (continue to) dominate your life.

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May God’s Spirit unveil to us that the time is near (Rev 1:1, 3) so that longing for more of Jesus we might come into a much richer share in the righteous victory of the blood of the cross.

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Let us ask God for an unveiling of the greatness of the heavenly realm in Christ, which is our destiny in him, in order that our hearts might be moved to a deeper and deeper obedience.

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In these amazing days we should all be those who ‘pray without ceasing.’ And rejoice for the day of the Lord, is at hand.

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The great prophet of the Spirit could only answer the Lord’s question, ““Son of man, can these bones live?””, with his own question, ““O Lord God, you know.”” (Ezek 37:3 ESV). 

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The passion of the Holy Spirit is to pour into us the mighty revelation of the righteousness of God Continue Reading →

When in God’s time the Spirit moves a harvest of souls will come in without any frantic human exertion (Rom 9:16 ESV cf. Zech 4:6 ESV). And he will get all the glory.

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The New Testament takes the laying on of hands in powerful and exciting new directions.

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If you are not Jesus centred; then you are centred on something else; you’re self-centred, family-centred, money-centred, pleasure centred or even (how dreadful) church-centred. Today let us run to Christ and implore him to share his life with us so that we might our lives with him, whatever the cost…

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INTRODUCTION The shift from lots of religious talk (2 Tim 3:5) to the manifest power of God’s kingdom in signs, wonders and gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor 4:20; Heb 2:3) is a change most congregations in Australia are unable… Continue Reading →

I used to teach that God calls us to perform a particular task and gives us the gifts to perform that task. This is true, but such a task-centred approach is hopelessly inadequate to express the depths of what it… Continue Reading →

SOMETIMES WE HAVE TO MAKE CHOICES Continue Reading →

• THERE are times when we need to understand the times and know what to do, like the Men of Issachar (1 Chronicles 12:32).

• THERE are those that need to be informed, those that need to inform (yes, our preachers included) and those that need to participate in the confrontation even at the risk of being, in turn, condemned by others for the proclamation of truth.

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Only a Body whose unity, security and protection are exclusively in Christ can enjoy true rest and unconditional peace. Continue Reading →

The healing that our hardened hearts need can only come from heaven, we must ask our Father to send us his Spirit to stir us up to plead for the honouring of the name of Jesus
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Looking across our culture and inside the Church I see vast amounts of selfish ambition which have placed us under a severe divine penalty.
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If guilt and shame are alive in you – stop looking at yourself, stop trawling over your past, stop comparing yourself to others….come confidently to Christ to find grace, mercy and full forgiveness in time of need (Heb 4:16 ESV) Continue Reading →

Whoever groans in the Spirit of Christ will certainly receive an answer to their prayers. Continue Reading →

Since we are raised up with Christ no power can legitimately accuse us of sin before God Continue Reading →

peoples all over the world believe in a great Creator, but knowledge of such a distant deity never has power to save Continue Reading →

Then the resurrection power of the Father will heal many minds, inside and outside of the community of God. Continue Reading →

Whoever has a revelation of the name of Jesus as the crucified Lord of Hosts will fight on…to the very End Continue Reading →

God’s wonderful plan for all Aussies, ancient tribes and new (Eph 1:10; Rev 5:9) Continue Reading →

We all have plenty of things worth fighting for: marriages, children, grand-children, friends, neighbours, workmates, health, finances…… Continue Reading →

Cult movement pseudo christian Eastern Lightning (Chinese: 东方闪电; pinyin: Dōngfāng Shǎndiàn)  THIS MOVEMENT ARE ACTIVELY PROMOTING VIA FACEBOOK. APOLOGETIC REVIEW Articles on this organisation Cult publishes under multiple site. Continue Reading →

Listen to the music and you will see that this spirit is running riot in our churches. Continue Reading →

I thereby revoke my right to conduct weddings as a recognised agent of the Act, and sever any other official connection to it.

I will only recognise male-female unions. Continue Reading →

INTRODUCTION I have long taught that the key to finding understanding, strength and growth in a Christian marriage comes from a revelation of the marital relationship between Christ and the Church, this is clearest in Paul’s words in Ephesians 5:31-32;… Continue Reading →

Bible Readings: Is 61.10-62.3; Ps 148; Gal 4.4-7; Luke 2.22-40  INTRODUCTION The Royal Commission into sex abuse provided countless examples of how so-called “Christians” had misused their privileged positions. In mid year the media was saturated with claims of heightened… Continue Reading →

INTRODUCTION On the 20th of December after a scintillating session of carols at Perth Prayer  the floor was opened for anyone to take the microphone.  Few seemed hesitant, and the prayers of several zealous young men reminded me of my… Continue Reading →

Baptisms 17.12.17 Isa 7:10-16; Ps 72:1-8; Rom 1:1-7; Matt 1:18-25 INTRODUCTION I will never forget the experience of being in Cairo during the call to prayer when countless loudspeakers saturated the atmosphere with the Islamic declaration of faith; or recently… Continue Reading →

Bible Readings: Heb 1:1-4 with Rom 8:28-30, then 2 Cor 5:14-17 INTRODUCTION  While teaching in Hong Kong last weekend I came into much greater clarity on what it means to be able to “see Jesus” in the everyday circumstances of… Continue Reading →

One might say I’m big on Christmas celebrations, well there maybe some truth in it! It is such a significant date or time in our annual calendar. Continue Reading →

INTRODUCTION This teaching was provoked by recently reading “To Change the World” by sociologist James Davison Hunter.  His persuasive thesis is that in engaging the powers of the political realm American Christians have been ensnared in the world’s ways of… Continue Reading →

Any attempt to play ‘God’ as a Fool is an act of insanity! Which brings a pay day that has eternal consequences Continue Reading →

Make sure you are not living in the land of the second Sodom and Gomorrah! Continue Reading →

Prime Directive: exist  solely for the purpose of reflecting in the world who Jesus is! Continue Reading →

Christians feel the world around them is becoming progressively more evil: Intolerable evil may be everywhere but the Lord always deal with it first among his people. Continue Reading →

“Christ is the only way of salvation of all who were, are now, or shall be.” “our salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ Acts 4:12 Continue Reading →

The parable of the unforgiving servant! Continue Reading →

The next threat is internal and is from the aggressive atheistic lobby with the leftists onside in wanting to erase anything Christian, re-writing our Christian heritage, stopping children from talking about Jesus in recess, replacing Happy Christmas with happy holiday, and with the militant evolutionists wanting to deny any uncomfortable evidences or logic in Intelligent Design and barring scientists who do accept ID – or, even worse, flood geology or Creation Science – promotions in their university or other fields. Continue Reading →

Ordinary Christians are shocked by the vilification they receive on Facebook if they post, “It’s Ok to say No.”, but the Spirit is helping us to see that we are in a day of moral and spiritual insanity. Continue Reading →

Jesus did the will of God from the heart even when it was very painful to do so, and so must we. Continue Reading →

There is nothing crueller than a teaching that throws human beings back on relying on themselves for faith. Continue Reading →

Evil cannot ultimately resist the revelation of a love that bears violence against itself. Continue Reading →

Money rules in most of our lives in ways that properly belong to the Lordship of Christ who should be our highest treasure Continue Reading →

The provision of a blood sacrifice to cover a sinner speaks powerfully to a guilty conscience that there is yet hope for undeserved mercy from the Judge. Continue Reading →

The destructive sin of many young women today is to seek a life-partner with greater urgency than which they seek the one who alone will watch over them forever, Jesus. Continue Reading →

The order in which Paul teaches in Ephesians follows the truth that only those who believe in the complete sufficiency of God’s grace revealed in the Jesus’ death and resurrection can ever face up to the true wretchedness of our fallen human nature. Continue Reading →

Turn away from ourselves to Christ and pray for a revelation of what God has already done for us, that we who were dead in trespasses and sin have been made alive with Jesus now and forever (Rom 1:16-17 ESV).

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INTRODUCTION:  Paul has been praying that the Ephesians “may know…” God’s great blessings, tonight’s portion of Ephesians 1 makes it plain that all these blessings are concentrated in the Christ’s exaltation for us who believe.  It is in this passage… Continue Reading →

 Jer 2:26-32; Ps 68:1-10; 1 John 1:1-4; John 2:13-22 INTRODUCTION Around six o’clock last night I was confronted by an angry drunk outside a friend’s house, when I went home and watched the news there were images of angry mobs… Continue Reading →

Paul is moved to pray because of how the reality of God’s great blessing to the Church had shaped people’s lives. Continue Reading →

TEXT INTRODUCTION If you’ve ever been a part of an extended family get together where from young to old everyone is talking happily and playing well together you will have experienced a little of the  pleasure of God the Father… Continue Reading →

TitleNote:1)“Father” is used throughout this paper in a spiritual and so non-gendered way. The presenting problem is siloing i.e. pastors, business people, artists, scientists, lawyers, media folk etc. are isolated from one another. The seeds of the kingdom are shut… Continue Reading →

There is no darkness in God, he is perfectly revealed in Christ and through his blood we can be forgiven of all sin and can offer up to him all the traumas of our broken lives. Continue Reading →

Why is it that despite the clear admonitions of scripture so many believers “set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches” and not “on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy” (1 Tim 6:17). This issue is a… Continue Reading →

Sermon No:3: Rebuilding the Church Series. This is the third and final sermon in our “Rebuilding the Church” series and this one is titled “The Church at Rest”.  This teaching whilst very difficult to live out is urgently appropriate to… Continue Reading →

Whilst there is an unusual amount of prayer going on for revival at the moment in Australia this is not something I can join in on without raising some foundational concerns  (2 Chron 7:14; 1 Tim 2:1-7). I believe that… Continue Reading →

The resurrection created a pure holy fear of the Lord of a sort that had never existed before. Continue Reading →

Reflections on the real issue of Church unity. Continue Reading →

“A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” Continue Reading →

Readings: Isa 5:1-7; Ps 118:19-29; 1 Cor 15:12-28; Today’s Text: Mark 12:1-12 Having arrived in Jerusalem, Jesus is bringing to a climax the great controversy between God and a system that perverted the temple from a place of access into… Continue Reading →

Text: Ex 34:29-35; Ps 2; 2 Pet 1:16-21; Mark 9:2-13 The Transfiguration is one of the most remarkable events in the life of Jesus, but to properly understand it, we need to share its perspective. Mark has already laid down the… Continue Reading →

Christians easily forget their true identity in Christ; “have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?”; “whoever (godly) lacks these qualities…is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.” (Heb 12:5; 2 Pet 1:9). James… Continue Reading →

Naturally speaking no one wants to experience fear, and I personally understand why.
But this does NOT mean that our lives should be completely fear-less.
Christians are greatly confused about what the fear of the Lord means. Continue Reading →

Having recently returned from Myanmar (Burma) I have been asking (again) why God’s presence is often more powerful in places outside Australia. One of the culture shocks I encountered on my recent trip was the intensity of the devotion of… Continue Reading →

Well! What is CHRISTMAS? TODAY HIT LIFE’S PAUSE BUTTON. Replay the Christmas Story God’s Way! Continue Reading →

In the roster for our series on 1 Corinthians Dale called this week’s sermon “The Main Game”. My guess he was referring to the repeated emphasis in this passage about the “building up” of others (vv. 3-5, 12, 17). Everyone… Continue Reading →

How is it possible for most of us who know Jesus to walk past those considered nothing in the eyes of the world, the strangers, naked, homeless and imprisoned and not “see” the “Lord” (Matt 25:41-45 ESV)? Why do we… Continue Reading →

Personal Matters BREXIT, then the swing to independents at our elections, finally Donald Trump; everywhere angry voters are protesting against their powerlessness at the hands of an elite. Whether in political causes, or the inconvenience of everyday life, Christians can… Continue Reading →

Personal Matters How many Perth congregations will join in the International Day of Prayer for the persecuted Church this week? This is not an attempt to publicise an event, but a warning that our failure to empathetically embrace the sufferings… Continue Reading →

Personal Matters The contemporary Western Church fulfils the prophetic warning of Isaiah;  (Isaiah 50:11). Instead of being a lampstand for the light of Christ we are self-enlightened about same-sex marriage or politics or prosperity or church growth or…. The only… Continue Reading →

Personal Matters The discipleship crisis across the Australian churches cannot be healed by any amount of programming. There is no “hunger and thirst for righteousness” in our land and so no being “filled” with the presence of Christ’s kingdom (Matt… Continue Reading →

Personal Matters The savage decline in Bible knowledge is a common feature of Western Christianity. Even for older believers, including me, God isn’t experienced as near as he used to be in the reading of his Word. I feel we… Continue Reading →

Personal Matters Last week I was in Bandung Indonesia for an Asian Christian leadership conference. This Christ-centred event raised more sharply than ever the question of whether a spiritually mature Church can ever exist in a materially affluent culture. For… Continue Reading →

Personal Matters We were led into prayer by this scripture, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession” called to offer “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1… Continue Reading →

Background After reading this part of my report to our AGM; “To release the expression of the diversity of gifts that Jesus gives to his whole Body remains a challenge into the future (Rom 12; 1 Cor 12; Eph 4).… Continue Reading →

Prelude In a deep but often hidden way the Lord is dynamically at work in our nation “to present…to himself…a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish.” (Eph 5:27). An earthly beautification of the people of… Continue Reading →

“he…in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,… Continue Reading →

Personal Matters Jesus promised, “If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God…the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.”… Continue Reading →

Personal matters Last week one of the brothers brought this puzzling text to us; “To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap… Continue Reading →

PERSONAL MATTERS Why does God sometimes not reply to our requests? This issue was raised for us by Jesus’ rebuttal to a man who sought personal justice; ““who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” (Luke 12:14). But a… Continue Reading →

2016 Australian Federal Elections: Are aware there are massive implications in the coming election that will impact freedom of speech, freedom of faith, God’s design of marriage and the sexualisation of children. Continue Reading →

Our dullness about the reality of heaven is a direct consequence of our idolatries. Continue Reading →

Promise                  Gen 22:1-19; Ps 105:1-11; Gal 3:15-18; John 8:39-59 St Mark’s 22.5.16 What is going to happen on July 2nd and do you expect it will make any real difference to your life…? (Australian federal election and most Australians… Continue Reading →

PERSONAL MATTERS Last Friday morning someone stated off with this text on God’s wrath, “Samaria shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God; they shall fall by the sword; their little ones shall be dashed in pieces,… Continue Reading →

Personal Matters In prayer last Friday we were directed to this text; “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it… Continue Reading →

Gen 12:1-3; Gen 15:1-6; Ps 32; Gal 3:1-9 Luke 24:44-49 Introduction Galatians 3:1-9 is a passage where Paul gets fired up against those false teachers who are trying to persuade Gentile Christians that they need to keep the Jewish law… Continue Reading →

Personal Matters In our Friday prayer time last week the Lord started to speak with us from 2 Corinthians; “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck… Continue Reading →