the Holy Spirit
September 14, 2009
I was reflecting on the Trinity and I had a rhema-word from God… Have you ever noticed that out of the 3 members of the Trinity, only one is called HOLY. Not the Father and not even the Son. Only the Spirit is called Holy. We revere the Father and the Son, but do we really treat the Holy Spirit as Holy as His name sake indicates. Too often we prostitute the anointing and treat the things of the Spirit with such contempt, that we are offensive to Him.
Let us start looking and treating Him as HOLY.
seasons
September 9, 2009
I have always been fascinated by seasons… Some like hot seasons some like the cold winter months.. others like the cool of spring or the colours of autumn. The beauty is that God made them all. I realise that the same is true in life. There are many various and varied seasons. Some great yet others very challenging. We call the latter the winter of the soul. Recently folk around me have lost a dear one. Death is never easy. These are winter seasons…. Yet around the corner there is always another season, a better one, one filled with rainbows and promises. God is the same in all seasons. I love this fact. I love that He is faithful and just. There with us. Immanuel. What a God. What a king.
practicing the presence
August 30, 2009
Loved last nights 40 days of learning to cultivate the presence of God with Bil Ghali. Presence within, around, on top and above…. Now that is how I love to live…on the edge… We do live a very safe and comfortable life… Maybe we need to take some faith steps, go to a place where the Holy Spirit leads into a greater intimacy with Jesus. How sad it is for me that so many Christians do not know thus live out of their identity in Christ Jesus in the fullness of his power and resurrection… We live almost as orphans. This is not God’s heart and desire for us.
Keep pressing within, around and above in His amazing presence. There is fullness of joy in his Presence.
a true friend
August 17, 2009
I was musing with the King and had a revelation : The power of a great friend…. a real friend whilst may sharpen your life at times is a treasure to keep and never lose. The wound of a friend can be trusted. Life lived in isolation is no life at all…. ask God to bring great friends in your life..honost, pure, kingdom friends. Friends to grow old with, to laugh and cry with…. To straighten us when we go off course…. A friend remains when all have left the room and cannot take the heat with you… Now that is a friend.
weekend with Tyrone Daniel
August 10, 2009
What an exciting time to be alive and what an amazing time for the Australian churches. Yet I am convinced that it is an even greater time for the Kingdom. This weekend our Church and I had the privilege to have Tyrone Daniel minister with us. Ty and his wife Nicole lead our NCMI apostolic team and he just oozes with God’s grace and favour.
Friday we got together with all our NSW pastors for a time of encouragement and blessing. I loved that Ty reminded us to keep the main thing the main thing: KING Jesus and HIS Kingdom. I love hanging out with our pastors and just enjoying each others company.
Saturday we all met at our Church. What a special morning to seek God’s face. Again Tyrone reminded us that we need to move away from building mirrors in our Church settings and instead have windows that look out. Simple but oh so powerful. I needed to be reminded that what we, as a local Church, are called to be is a Kingdom base Church whose purpose is to love and worship the KING and love people.
I love the Gospel- itis such brilliant news for all humanity, all nations and backgrounds…. GOOD NEWS…
devoting ourselves
July 26, 2009
The Believers Form a Community:
“All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.” Acts 2:42 ( The Message)
I’ve often wondered what makes for a great, growing Church. The answer was under my nose. I had read Acts 2 many times but had failed to see V42 in the right light. All believers, that is you and I DEVOTED THEMSELVES.
No need for some hyper talk: motivating the troops at the local Church from the top down. No, the zeal for God’s house come from the grass roots, up. It comes from everyday believers… They had a solid, God centered devotion. They gave, served, loved, listened to sermons, enjoyed all types of worship, cared for all people, brought friends to Jesus Christ, simply out of personal devotion.
The Church across the centuries, has ensured a sickening version of spiritual codependency, whereby the saints and the leadership are utterly dependent upon themselves for self-worth, self-esteem and approval.
As long as “ I get my follow-up” I am happy. The problem with this is that no where in the bible will you see directly or indirectly implied that we must follow up people. Rather Jesus said, follow me…
If we point people to become more and more DEVOTED to God and centered around Him for all our needs, we will see :
1. Stronger and mature worshippers
2. less dependency of leaders for meeting our needs
3. greater desire to serve the local Church
4. greater love for others
5. greater joy, satisfaction and happiness as a result of being “other-focused”
Let us learn from the first Church the art of DEVOTING OURSELVES once again as they did.
welcome
July 15, 2009
Whilst new to the world of blogging, it is a real privilege to welcome you to our new web page. Whilst travelling through it, I pray that you may find more than great information, rather you may discover something about what makes The Lighthouse Church tick, our heart beat- JESUS and His house, the local Church.
I and our Church are passionate to see people connect with Jesus in a real and meaningful way. Our church is a place to belong, believe and behold.
It is so great to have you on board and look forward to blog with you over the many weeks and years to come.
If you are in the area we would be honoured to have you visit us at our Sunday celebration.
Ciao for now
Paul