Category Archives: Discipleship

Make a Decision!

Posted on
Reply

The key ingredient of a leader is the tenacity to act. 

I sometimes find myself caught in the trap of procrastination because I feel tension around making a decision. This tension can be because I’m waiting for more information but it can also be because I’m wanting to avoid making a mistake or avoid receiving criticism.

The reality is, while more information may or may not come, I more than likely have all the information I need right now and I just need to act upon it. In making a decision, you need to get as much information as possible and then move forward on the decision. Your information can come from the bible, people, books, google or God (in some cases all of them are needed) but decisiveness is ultimately needed.

What are you procrastinating on and why? Get on with it. Make a decision, stop wasting more time by avoiding the necessary. There is too much at stake for you to delay what you know you need to do.

Grace!

Why Australia needs a Great Awakening!

Posted on
3

Australia has never had a nation wide awakening of the Gospel and it desperately needs it. Why? Because the general population is dead in sin.

Throughout history other nations like Wales, Scotland, England, Nigeria, Argentina, South Korea and the USA have been awakened by God’s Spirit working through the proclamation of the gospel and the prayers of the saints.

Australia is one of the most popular and prosperous nations across the world and yet we are one of the most spiritually impoverished nations on the planet. We are steeped in materialistic comfort and spiritual apathy. We are consumed with our houses and holidays and care little for eternal matters. While we seemingly have everything, we seem to be more bored and miserable than ever before.

I had the privilege of visiting Calcutta, India in 2012 with Compassion Australia and had one of the Indian professional development program students comment, “I want India to become like Australia because Australia is heaven.” I understood where he was coming from but I thought to myself, “Ahh, you probably wouldn’t think this if you knew the spiritual climate in my nation.” I remember hearing Ps Wayne Cordeiro respond to a Chinese Christian on a ministry trip to China when it was said to him, “I’m praying that China will become like America”, Wayne said, “Well, I’m praying that America will become like China.”

There is the misguided perception that western nations like the USA and Australia have it all going on for them. While this may be true from a material perspective, it is very far from the truth when it comes to the decline in mission, church attendance and biblical fervency.

I have a strong conviction that Australia needs pastors, preachers and believers to remain on these shores and pray and proclaim the gospel and plant churches like never before. We are more pagan than ever before but never has there been such an opportunity in our history when the church can rise up and march forward into mission engagement than right now.

We are facing the same dynamics of the early church in the book of Acts. It’s in these pagan lands that the faithful, powerful proclamation of the Gospel abounds in much fruit and kingdom advancement. I refuse to believe that just because the spiritual plains seem harder here than other lands, that the Holy Spirit can’t move as he has in other countries throughout history. We have got to stop making excuses and continuing contending for the gospel, whilst we contextualize it in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart,  Darwin and beyond.

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chron 7:14)

Grace!

What’s Your T-Shirt Statement?

Posted on
3

If you could summarize the BIG Idea of your life into a single idea, what would it be?

This exercise is perhaps one of the most important and demanding activities that you could ever engage in. Your T-Shirt statement is the BIG Idea narrowed down into one, pithy, overarching sentence that brings definition and meaning to your world. You must be able to fit it onto a T-Shirt. Your T-Shirt statement is all about bringing focus to your life and purpose to your activities.

Every month I interview a leader from across the Body of Christ and my last question is always, “What is your T-Shirt statement?” I get a range of answers, including scripture verses, motivational statements and ‘one word’ answers. Regardless of the form they come in, they all mean something significant to the people sharing them.

Your T-Shirt statement will be different to mine and it should be. You are a different and unique person to me and every other person on the planet. Whatever it is, are you living it, embodying it and sharing it with the world around you? Would the people you work with and live with be able to identify you by your T-Shirt statement?

Your T-Shirt statement is likely to change in different seasons of your life. As you mature and grow, you will develop more and more clarity around your BIg Idea, so don’t feel like you have to get the perfect statement. Just work with what’s burning in your heart and mind currently.

Let me share with you my T-Shirt Statement?

“I’m a nobody, telling everybody about somebody.”

I would love to get feedback from you on what your T-Shirt statement is. Send in your T-Shirt statements via comments and wear your T-Shirt proudly.

Grace!

How to get the MOST out of your Devotions!

Posted on
Reply

Tuesday I did a video interview with Dr Allan Meyer (CEO Careforce Life Keys) and towards the end of the interview I asked him about his devotional life. I have often asked this question of several leaders, as an individuals devotional life is of a real interest to me.

Whilst I know that my own performance doesn’t earn me any brownie points with God, I do have a deep desire and conviction that spending time with Jesus on a daily basis is fundamental to everything called LIFE.

Allan gave an interesting insight into his own journey with devotions and identified the need for an upgrade in his current devotional life. He commented on the seasons of intensified prayer that lasted 7 years post a visit to Yonggi Cho’s praying church in Seoul, Korea. He reflected on the impact of his son’s poor life choices on his devotional life and how it was brought to a standstill by his anger and confusion with his sons behaviour. He reflected on the SOAP method of devotions (Journalling through Scripture, Observation, Application and Prayer). Allan’s response to my question was very revealing and very helpful.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

It’s unique – How you connect with God will be different to how others connect with God. While, I think, there are some fundamental keys to knowing God better, we are all wired up in different ways and will express our worship and love for God accordingly.

It’s seasonal – How you engage with God in one season might be different to how you connect with him in another season. Rather than building a tradition that is inflexible, build a lifestyle of intimacy that reflects what God is doing in you in each season of your life.

It requires a daily appointment – You can connect with God anywhere at anytime but I have observed and found for myself that If I schedule it in my diary, it is far more likely to happen than if I simply hope or wish for it to happen. For me I get up early each morning, because I am more of an morning person and I spend a couple of hours meeting with God.

It could look something like the following – Reading through a daily bible reading plan or a book of the bible, praying what’s on your heart, prayer walking, worshipping God while listening to music, watching or listening to a sermon podcast, reading a book that compliments your bible reading, viewing blogs and articles that point you toward Jesus, meditating on one verse of the bible for an extended period of time and then sitting in silence and allowing God to speak to you out of it… The possibilities are endless, however, I would suggest that the foundation of whatever you do is built on a daily dose of Scripture and prayer.

It will occasionally need an upgrade – Anything we do can become stale if we don’t continually pay attention to it. What served you well last year, might not serve you well this year. Don’t be content to go through the motions but refresh your devotional life and ask God to give you an upgrade in your intimacy with him.

It must focus on Jesus – The hero of the story is Jesus. Anything that brings you closer to Jesus and connects your heart to his and refocuses your mind on him is worthy of pursuing. The Holy Spirit guides us into the way, the truth and the life of Jesus.

Grace!

God’s Goal isn’t your Happiness!

Posted on
3

I recently did a video interview with Dr Allan Meyer (CEO Careforce Life Keys) and I asked him a question about some of the critical issues facing the western church at the present time. In his excellent response, he reflected on the current focus of many Christians and much preaching being the goal of an individuals personal happiness, rather than following Jesus Christ.

As I have reflected on this many times in my own preaching ministry, I think about Jesus’ words in John 10:10 “The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy but I have come that you may have life and have it in all of its’ fulness.” Unfortunately, some of us have wrongly mis-interpreted this verse through our western context and concluded that God’s goal for us is our happiness, which surely must mean, health, wealth and prosperity… Ah, NOT!

As I read the Scriptures, I don’t find the emphasis of my personal comfort being consistent with the biblical account of Jesus’ life or the Apostle Paul’s life or any of the other apostle’s life, for that matter, as is recorded in the New Testament. Money, success and well-being are all gifts from God and should be stewarded accordingly but God’s goal for me isn’t the obtaining of these things, alone. Me becoming more and more like him is his goal and this can be accomplished through a variety of circumstances and dare I say it, is often accomplished rather well through suffering.

The joy of the Lord is my strength but God’s joy is available whatever I am facing or going through, not just when things are going my way. As preachers, our goal should be to be faithful to the text and expose what the text is simply declaring in the most compelling way possible, not to proselytize people to a mirage of false hope.  As pastors, our goal should be to lead people into Christ-likeness and a biblically based worldview that equips them to grow in spiritual maturity and gospel grace, not to encourage growth in spiritual immaturity.

Churches that promise happiness and bliss to their congregation alone, if they follow Jesus and perform for him are setting people up for massive disillusionment. Following Jesus in the real world does fill me with joy but sometimes I do face circumstances that are quite the opposite of happy. When a close family member of mine attempted suicide in 2001, I wasn’t happy. When I didn’t get the outcome I was hoping for as a budding athlete, I didn’t feel warm, happy fuzzies. When I get criticized and ostracized by others for my faith in Jesus and commitment to my calling, I don’t necessarily feel happy but my joy in Christ remains intact.

What’s your goal in life? If happiness is your goal, then you will live a misdirected and self-pre-occupied life but if God’s goal of Christ-likeness and knowing him is your goal then you will live life on purpose. Refuse to settle for anything less.

Grace! (Video Interview will be uploaded very soon)

#1 Command in the Bible!

Posted on
2

Recently, my family needed to relocate to a new house and to say that the whole process has been filled with anxiety is an understatement. Anxiety is a big part of our culture because we live in a fallen world.

Time Magazine took a whole edition in 2002 to help people “Understand Anxiety” and the stats suggest that 50% of Australians have anxiety related problems and anxiety is among the top ten leading causes of disease burden in Australia.

Anxiety is anticipating the future in the worst possible way and freaking out about it. Many of us wear ourselves out worrying about impending doom that rarely happens. Anxiety is closely connected to fear which has been described as False Expectation Appearing Real. In reality, 90% of what we worry about never happens. The root meaning for the word ‘worry’ means to strangle. Worry strangles the life out of you emotionally, spiritually and physically. The biblical word ‘anxious’ in Philippians 4:6-7 means to be torn apart. It’s what happens when our thoughts and feelings pull us in different directions.

Rather than only embracing the secular view of treatment in the natural, read your bible for God’s view on responding to fear, worry and anxiety. Whilst the Great Commandment sums up the law and the prophets, “Love the Lord, your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, and love your neighbor as you love yourself” (Matt 22:37-40), there is another commandment that is repeated from Genesis to Revelation.

God repeatedly says to us, “Fear Not, for I am with you.” Fear in the mind leads to anxiety in the body. Jesus says, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” From Adam to us we are invited and commanded to fear not. Not because we have the capacity in ourselves but because God is with us.

Who is it that you fear? Who is it that you are seeking approval from? What is it that you are worrying about right now? What intimidates you? Jesus last words before ascending to the Father are, “I will be with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matt 28:18-20)

Pastors, you can feel like you are doing ministry on your own and that God has forgotten about you. Parent, you can be all anxious and worried about what is happening with your kids. Whoever you are and whatever you are facing, fear not because God is with you!

Grace!

Rethinking Christian Progress!

Posted on
Reply

The one thing the bible promises us regarding life in this world is that it will be hard and filled with trials, temptations and tribulations. Nowhere does the bible promise that we’ll have our best life now (as popularized by Joel Osteen). in 2 Timothy 3:12 Paul tells Timothy, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

This morning I tweeted an important phrase from pastor Tullian Tchividjian’s book Jesus + Nothing = Everything and it is the idea of an “over-realized eschatology”. I want to use this term to say, too many Christians live with an “over-realized eschatology” expecting  now on earth what God has promised only later for eternity. This causes us to live with unrealistic expectations for what we will and won’t face in this world.

In light of this how do we approach growth and progress in our faith?

The Gospel didn’t just ignite my faith but it’s the fuel that keeps it going and growing me everyday. The Gospel has “delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col 1:13-14). Progress begins with understanding that in Christ, we’ve already been qualified, delivered, transferred, redeemed and forgiven. Working out your salvation with fear and trembling is focusing on working out what Christ has already given to us and worked into us by his will and for his pleasure.

Our natural instinct as believers is to almost exclusively measure Christian growth around behavioural improvement but the greater issue is what is behind the good or bad fruit of our behaviour? Bad behaviour happens when we fail to believe that everything we need, in Christ, we already have. On the other hand, good behaviour happens when we daily rest in and receive the finished work of Jesus in deeper and deeper ways, destroying any need to secure for ourselves anything beyond what Christ has already secured for us.

The hard work of growth we are called to is to believe again and again the gospel of God’s free justifying grace everyday and resting in what Christ has finished on our behalf. I think real spiritual progress happens when our natural understanding of progress is rooted out and it’s not about first behaving better but believing more fully what Jesus has already accomplished.

Gerhard Forde, in his work, Justification by Faith, once said, “It’s not our movement toward the goal but the movement of the goal on us” that helps us progress in the Christian life. Pastor Tullian (Pg173) says, “Sanctification involves God’s daily attack on our unbelief – our self-centered refusal to believe that God’s approval of us in Christ is full and final.”

When we stop narcissistically focusing on our need to get better, that is what it means to get better. The more we focus on our need to get better, the more neurotic and self-absorbed and worse we actually get. I have to admit that I’ve been too pre-occupied with myself for most of my life and my pre-occupation with my performance over Christ’s performance makes me increasingly self-centered and distant from God and others.

Christian progress is forgetting about yourself! So, aim for progress but remember what it isn’t, your personal improvement and moral progress. Progress is washing your hands of you and resting in Christ’s finished work for you, which will inevitably produce personal improvement and spiritual growth.

Grace! 

I’m not who I used to be…

Posted on
Reply

2 Corinthians 5:17 “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has passed away, behold the new has come.”

I have been a Christian for nearly 30 years. At 4 years of age I can remember confessing my sin and believing in Jesus Christ, as I was led to God through the influence of my parents and other older believers. I’m so grateful to God for his sovereign grace at work in my life and it has been an amazing adventure of discovery and growth, albeit painful at times.

Truth is, I cannot believe how far God has brought me in my own spiritual journey. Even as a Christian and pastor, just a few years ago, there were things I wrestled with in my heart, which manifested in my marriage and relationships with others. Now by God’s grace those same struggles are no longer on the dashboard of my life. Granted, there are other challenges that I must run to the Gospel with but God’s empowering grace has rescued me already. I think this is how it should be, if we are working out what God has already worked into our hearts. It does seem, though, that the closer you get to God, the more aware of our sinfulness we become. 

Sanctification is a key theological term which describes the process of a believer becoming more and more like Jesus. Regeneration is the initial act that gives birth to our spirit and begins the sanctification process, whereby the indwelling Holy Spirit transforms us to reflect the character of Christ. This is both a joyful privilege and painful process.

When Jesus saves us, he transforms what we find joy in. Our flesh finds joy in self but our regenerated spirit finds joy in Christ and others. Our flesh finds joy in lust but our regenerated spirit finds joy in purity. Our flesh finds joy in revenge but our regenerated spirit finds joy in forgiveness.

The cross where Jesus died to atone for our sin, is the place of the great exchange – our sin for God’s righteousness. The process of sanctification is the process of dying to self and coming alive to Christ. It’s the process of finding joy in a cross -centered life, rather than finding joy in a self-serving life.

As a Christ-follower, you should be changing. You cannot taste of the eternal gift and not be changed by it. Jesus does something in you by the work of the Holy Spirit and you too will wake up one day and say, “I’m not who I used to be…”

Grace!

What Makes Ministry Effective?

Posted on
4

My observation of the current climate of ministry, particularly, in the western world is that it is saturated by trends and techniques rather than by the power of the Gospel. In light of this, what makes ministry effective?

Does the right program make ministry effective? If you run the right seeker sensitive service, evangelistic program, recovery program and community social program, will you get the results you are looking for? I’m not against programs at all. I think they can be very helpful and in many cases are needed to compliment the mission of the local church but I don’t think they help ministry be most effective.

Does eye-catching and compelling marketing make ministry effective? Well, I think good marketing helps but plenty of churches and ministries have great marketing that no-one is really paying attention to. At Activate we have a marketing director and take this area of our church seriously with the resources God has entrusted us with but when I started the church with 13 people and no budget in our lounge room, we needed something more than slick marketing.

Does ministry credentials make ministry effective? Do I really have to answer this question? Give me a break.

Does being connected to influential people make ministry effective? Well, as they say, it’s not what you know but who you know. How does this line of reasoning work for a pastor in a 3rd world country who is isolated and neither connected to people of influence or even basic technology? There are many stories of incredible ministry happening in isolated regions where God breaks out in a powerful way, without the latest and greatest rock star preacher traveling through.

Does theological knowledge make ministry effective? Now, personally, this is something very close to my heart because I do believe to my core that our theology (the way we think and talk about God) affects everything we do, however, I know plenty of people who have high IQ’s with more theological degrees than a thermometer and couldn’t share their faith with a stranger while stuck with them in a wet paper bag.

Does a ‘spirit of excellence’ make ministry effective? Presenting things well is a great and important goal to have but you can have the form (external presentation) without the power and nothing change. So what?

So, what makes ministry effective? Consider Jesus disciples. They spent approximately 3 years with Jesus, learning, observing and practicing ministry with the master in the closest possible way and yet Jesus still told them to wait in Jerusalem until they had received the power of the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:8 follows this up by saying, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” 

Unfortunately, we often mistakenly think that having power in our ministry means we ought to see results like Billy Graham or Smith Wiggles-worth but it is not so. The local church pastor who has a gift-mix of leadership, teaching and wisdom needs the demonstration of the power of the Gospel in their ministry just as much as the healing evangelist in the revival tent.

The Apostle Paul said, “The kingdom of God does not consist of talk but of power… Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power… I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you, except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (Holy Bible, ESV)

What makes ministry effective is the power of the Spirit working through the power of the Gospel in our lives. Martyn Lloyd Jones says it like this in his Tour De Force on ‘Preaching and Preachers’, “The addition of the power of the Holy Ghost, (to God’s Word) is what ultimately makes preaching effective. This is what produces converts and creates churches, and builds up churches – power, Holy Ghost, and much assurance.”

Grace!

How Jesus responded to Fame!

Posted on
1

Matthew 14:1 “At that time Herod the tetrarch about the fame of Jesus…” Matthew 12:15-16 “Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all and ordered them not to make him known.”

In my devotions this morning I came across these two passages of Scripture and was fascinated by the fact that while Jesus had obvious fame and notoriety in his generation (and still has today) because of his preaching and miracles, he went to great lengths to keep it all under wraps.

Throughout the gospels we read that Jesus was constantly asking his disciples or those to whom he was ministering to not to tell anyone about his ministry, and yet it seemed like Jesus ministry just kept getting bigger. He even had family members telling him to go to Jerusalem and do his works out in the open and not in obscure places, if he wanted to be known… How wrong they were about Jesus motives…

Even though Jesus had many people following his ministry and his name even being heard amongst the elite of the day (King Herod), I’m fascinated that he did all he could to keep a low profile, to enable him to go about the Father’s business in the times and seasons alloted to him.

Jesus lived his life on purpose and if twitter and Facebook had been around, I’m sure he would have avoided boasting of the last great miracle he performed (“Just opened another blind man’s eyes… I had to give him another round of prayer cause his eyesight was still blurry after the first one…” In 70 characters or less).

Jesus responded to the opportunities before him according to his mission from his Father. If being given a platform to more people would extend the mission of the Father, then Jesus would use it accordingly but I don’t read him seeking fame. In fact, he did the opposite, he avoided it.

How Jesus’ example challenges us today? I wish I could say, that all of my motives for social media and ministry have been pure but unfortunately, lurking deep within have been some very prideful and selfish agenda’s. I’ve since repented of them, however, Jesus’ example forces us to re-examine the goals we are aiming for in our lives and what we are seeking after as being worthy of our joy and contentment.

If God’s grace extends to you fame and notoriety, this much I know, it isn’t for you, cause you were never built to handle it. It could only be for the glory of Jesus and the extension of his mission on planet earth. If fame and notoriety doesn’t come your way, rejoice that your name is written down in the book of life and get on with the mission God’s put before you.

Grace!