Steve Swenson from Open Doors shared with us on Sunday about the work that Open Doors is doing with the persecuted church around the world. In addition he spoke about the need for the empowering presence of the Spirit of God in our lives to make us effective for life and ministry.

How do we grow as disciples of Jesus? Different communities will have different metrics for that. For some it’s how much you serve in church. For others it's about how much bible knowledge you have. Some might even look at things like the functioning of supernatural gifts in your life. While all of these things might be good what is THE defining metric of the growth of a disciple of Jesus? It’s our ability to love. In this sermon we unpack what it means to love and what it looks like to grow in love.

In Ps. 85 we find again that our LORD has a strong desire to transform. He has revived His people and He is reviving His people and He will revive them as well. There an invitation to seek Him and there is even some language to help us to pray for reviving and renewing times.

When endeavouring to be a disciple of Jesus it’s important to understand that it probably won’t be an easy journey. This is because there are forces who seek to oppose your transformation into Christlikeness. In this sermon we discuss these enemies and how Jesus brings victory over them and transformation to the soul.

As the ark of God was entering the city of God with the people of God, all of Israel gathered together to celebrate. Despite all the expectations heaped on him as king of Israel, David embraced the spirit of sonship and danced with his Father. The prophetic word from David to the contemporary church is that God is trumpeting us to return to the simplicity of dancing with him.

When Jesus called his first disciples they lived from a very different paradigm than what we live from today. They understood the life on life commitment of following a rabbi that many in the church today miss. In order for us to truly be called disciples of Jesus Christ we must learn to be with our rabbi, become like our rabbi, and do as our rabbi did.

Judah discovered in the face of a terrible crisis that in fact, Yahweh was truly able to do beyond anything they had seen. And their joy was reflected in this Psalm dedicated to the memory of the event. In like manner, we need a vision of our Heavenly Father as active and able and engaged in our world. This assumption will change the way we do life!

With our senses alerted to the battle raging away, and with the armour fitted for battle, we continue our discussion on Spiritual Warfare. This time, we tackle the question about how to respond to the enemy’s onslaughts. Check it out!

When Jesus came and lived among us he wasn't just going around doing nice things for people because he was kind. Instead he was going about making war on the kingdom of darkness that had held sway over the earth since Adam. His kingdom is still at war today as Jesus is gathering "all things under his feet". Whether we like it or not we are participants in that war and we need to be aware and prepared to fight.

We have all experienced the effects of fear and isolation. These may come and go throughout our lives but a lot of Australians experience it over many months and years. And so did David. In his long term experience of it he discovered what God was like and Ps. 34 represents a record of his experience of God’s goodness in that time, and some advice about how we should posture ourselves.