Author Archive
Look, Your Saviour Comes!
Yesterday I was blessed to be a part of the first Minister’s Association of Melton 2010 meeting. Having only started full-time ministry a few months ago I was never able to attend their monthly meeting due to work commitments. It was great to finally meet all of the Ministers/Pastors of our local town and hear their heart. I walked away very encouraged by the unity and common heart for our town and the ideas of future combined events to present a unified body to our community. (more…)
The Conflict of Suffering
As I draw nearer to God I start viewing the Bible from a renewed and different set of eyes. As a matter of fact, even my approach to life has shifted. My perspective on various issues and topics have also changed as God deepens my understanding. Things that I once purposefully avoided I am now beginning to see from a different angle. This is especially true of suffering.
The topic of suffering has been a cause for much debate and questioning throughout the ages. Your typical argument will go something like this, “If God is love, then why does He allow His people to suffer and endure horrific pain and some even killed for their faith in Jesus?” Sadly, this is often asked by those within the Church! Our “name-it-and-claim-it” mentality is in great conflict with this. (more…)
What’s Next?
So, what’s happening next? I was asked this recently in relation to what is going on at Church and to my horror I could not give a clear and definite answer. If you know me you will know that that is not like me. You see, I am an organizer, a planner and a strategic thinker. I love to pre-plan months in advance. I love to sit and organize what to do, how to do it and when to do it. I see things as a series of strategic choices to be made to get us to a specific goal. That’s how I’ve always done it, especially when it relates to my main ministry of preaching and leading CityWest Church. (more…)
I AM OVERWHELMED
Sunday is drawing to a close and I am sitting in my home office looking into dead space and thinking about how gracious God has been to us. You see, CityWest Church is going through an awakening, a refreshing of God’s Spirit unlike anything we have ever seen in our short 8 year history. To come to Church is to literally walk into God’s overwhelming presence and many of us continually stand amazed. It wasn’t always like this, but I am breathless at how God has decided that our time is now. I am worshipping Jesus for this because what we are experiencing is an answer to years of prayer. I have been begging God to show up in His manifest presence for a long time now. Could it be that this is the start of Him stepping down to dwell with us in revival fire? (more…)
SIN is the Problem!
I hate this flesh! I hate how it continually fights against the life Jesus has redeemed to give me. I hate how my flesh screams against the hard disciplines of the Christian life and refuses to take no for an answer. I hate it how it comes up to reveal in me my sinful state and how much more work God still has to do in me. I am sure you can sympathize with me – sin keeps us back, shuts us down, trips us up and locks us in. It is ruthless in how it creeps up when we least expect it AND faithfully appears when we do expect it!
Remarkably, the greatest of God’s people understood how their depraved and corrupt flesh so easily fights against God’s will and can quickly disqualify them. One such person is of course the Apostle Paul. Read this classic battle that Paul wrote about in Romans 7:15-25 (ESV): (more…)
