Today we had a great sermon from Pauline, who talked about encouragement. Romans 15:1-6 and 1 Thes 5:10-11 tell how we are to build each other up, encourage each other. An encouraging word spoken at the correct time may provide the spark needed to ignite the passion in another person. We were all challenged to go out and encourage one another and when we do, to watch what happens! However, there may be times when there’s nobody around to encourage us. Ps 42:2-6 tells us to encourage ourselves and put our focus back on God.
So beginning this week, let’s get out there and encourage each other! Let’s be the person that ignites the passion in somebody else by speaking an encouraging word!

In the evening service, Alan brought us a brilliant, stirring and challenging message after an inspired time of worship. He spoke on Acts and how we are to write the next chapter of Acts - chapter 29. It says in John 14:11-14 that we will see miracles - greater miracles than Jesus saw because He is now with the Father. When we ask for miracles, walk boldly into the throneroom of God and ask for what you need. He will do anything we ask (in relation to miracles) when we ask and believe.
In recent weeks, we have seen many miracles in people’s lives. Let’s step out and believe that we will see miracles. Let’s come boldly into the throneroom and ask for the miracles so that people will see that we believe in a God who is alive and who is working in people’s lives today!
Also refer to these scriptures: Acts 9:32-35 (Message translation), Hebrews 2:3-4, Acts 4:29-31 and Luke 11:9-10 (NIV and Message)

The momentum is building! Make sure you get to a service next weekend!

The communion message today was a timely reminder from Wendy about how we are to zoom in on the cross, on Jesus and to let other distractions fade away.

Alan’s message for today was from Acts 19:8-20. We heard how Paul, preaching in the synagogues to the religious people who became obstinate and opposed his message, took his message to the secular lecture hall, where all the Jews and Greeks had an opportunity to hear the gospel message. Applying that to today’s life, we are to present the gospel message in new ways, to people who haven’t heard it before. We aren’t to be bound up by traditions, but be open to do what God wants us to do.
When we do this, we will begin to see extraordinary miracles, including healing and deliverance from demonic powers.
As part of this, we need to understand our authority in Christ, which comes from our relationship with Christ, a personal knowledge of Him and His words, not second hand information. The 7 sons of Sceva in Acts 19:13-16 provide an example of how not to go about deliverance.

In the evening service, Carol spoke about obeying the Holy Spirit’s leading and challenging us “to cross the floor” and out of our comfort zone if we feel the Holy Spirit prompting us to talk to or spend time with people we wouldn’t normally spend time with.
In Luke 8:4-8 we are reminded of the seeds that are sown and how they can fall on good soil and produce a crop. If we obey the prompting of the spirt, eventually these seeds will begin to grow and produce a good crop. The best way to know if it is the Holy Spirit is to spend time in the throneroom and allow God to speak to you so you know His voice.

Make sure you get along to next Sunday’s morning and evening services - God has been doing some great things in people’s lives and the outpouring of His spirit is being taken to a new level!

This morning, after our “unplanned unplugged” worship, we heard about Jacob’s dream - the story from Genesis 28:10-22 about the stairway to heaven - “this is the house of God, this is the Gate of heaven”. Alan expanded on how the church is to be the gateway between heaven and earth and that the presence of God is to be released into the world through the church. At the gate of heaven, we can expect to see the awesome manifest presence of God - and there’s no reason why we can’t bring that presence down to earth now, so that we will have the awesome manifest presence of God in this place.

In the evening, we had a great time of worship where God was just calling, wooing and drawing us to His side. We didn’t come with any agenda, but just lifted God up and gave Him the high praise that He deserves. Alan briefly talked about Acts 19:1-7 and we had the opportunity to witness believers being baptised with the Holy Spirit.

On the weekend we heard from Alan, who spoke from Habakkuk 2:2-3. He talked about the pitfalls of not having a vision, as explained in Proverbs 29:18. He also shared the benefits of having a vision, having a passion and following your calling. If you keep your eyes on the vision that God has given you, when trials come, you will stand firm.
In the evening we had worship unplugged again, where we came with a heart to minister to God. The message for the evening centered around Psalm 86 and in particular Ps 86:11. There was a time of worship after the message where people were encouraged to follow God with an undivied heart and lay things down that have kept us away from Him.