Does God minister to the imaginations of our hearts? Yes! In this podcast, Christopher takes us through some of the many biblical accounts of God ministering to our hearts and the visions we hold there.

God’s prophetic ministry to our imagination is a ministry to our hearts. It’s a combination of firstly exposing what’s in the heart, limiting our vision, and encouraging us to let go of those imaginations. Secondly, energising us towards receiving God’s ways and God’s vision in the imaginations of our hearts. For us to engage in this ministry our hearts need to soften before God. This is done through persevering in our faith, abiding in God’s loving presence and beholding God’s Word. Allowing His Word to paint pictures in our hearts of what it looks like to live in full agreement with what His Word promises. 

God is wanting to build up our awareness of imagination and how it connects to our hope, faith and the realisation of God’s promises. It’s time for the church to not shrink back but instead boldly and creatively live from God’s vision in the imaginations of our hearts.

Our Perspective matters as it affects everything in our lives. 

In part one we talked about the battle that rages over our perspective. In this second instalment Rosie unpacks the power of having the perspective of the Father and what our perspective as adopted children of God is called to look like.  

The Father is calling for us to live from the Truth of who we are as his children, to throw off and turn from all other perspectives.

In Part 2 of this message, we touch again on the uniqueness of Godly relationships. The key feature of Christ centred friendships is the cross. We must have the cross in our relationships if we are to live in the Spirit with one another. The cross is described as a sword in Matthew 10:33 dividing the soul and the spirit deep within our hearts. 

Our tendency is to be “soulish” to get our needs met by being one with everyone and not having to stand up in our convictions or values. The way of the Spirit is to teach us to stand up in our connections by being powerful to our own values. Sin will ultimately destroy us or our friendships if we don’t keep the door shut and live in the Spirit together – learning the way of deepening love.

One of the most outstanding ways God has provided for us to go deeper in our friendships is to pray together. There is a unique “glue” that bonds us when we pray. Meals and lots of sharing is also obviously a way to deepen our connections, but the greatest way to deepen Christian connections is to pray and worship with others. 

Ultimately though, if we want a deeper friendships, we must learn to communicate our feelings and needs. Choosing to be powerful in our crucial conversations and conflicts.

Lastly we look at 5 areas for Christian friendships:

*Pursuit people all the time and go after them. 

*Pray for people all the time. Both with them and then on your own.

*Peace will guide you if you allow God to show you the way in each season and even new friends. 

*Be powerful in your own journey

*Godly relationships bear great fruit – they are prolific! Watch for the fruit of the Spirit in your connections.

Be blessed as you listen to this message today and may you receive wisdom for the journey!

Pentecost was a massive corporate God encounter. It was an unforgettable, life-changing experience for those who were there. Encounter is the best remedy to the snare of dead religion. We lapse into religion when we are not encountering God. One of the great lessons of the Day of Pentecost is that God desires to pour His Spirit out upon us again and again and to keep our experience of Him fresh and vital. Paul warned us against “Having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.” (2 Timothy 3:5 NIV) Another translation is: “They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!” (NLT) The Day of Pentecost teaches us that God desires to bring people into corporate encounters. We ought to expect a fresh Pentecost every time we come together as the New Testament people of God. We hope you enjoy Phil’s message delivered on Pentecost Sunday.

Our perspective affects everything in our lives. There has been a battle raging over perspective from as far back as the garden. The serpent came to Eve, challenged her point of view on who God is and told her, that if she ate the forbidden fruit, she would get to see in a new way. Our perspective is framed up by our proximity to what we are looking at and the angle from which we are positioned. As we draw close to God and his presence, we are able to gain his perspective and see and feel his heart and intention towards us and the world around us. Gaining God’s perspective is a foundational part of our faith journey and builds hope and resilience into our hearts. 

Today we dive into a conversation about how rich the Word of God is in growing in a grounded life. Further to that if we want to be deeply grounded in faith, we must dwell in the Word of God deeply. Currently, there is a growing culture of deconstructionism in our Christian world. This culture is deconstructing the church, the Word of God and ultimately your connection to Him in a personal Way. Many have lost their faith because they deconstructed so much -there is nothing left to believe in! This is tragic. Our faith rests on His character as revealed in His Word. It’s vital for your own spiritual survival as a believer that you are filled with a deep reverence for the Word of God.

Our message today covers four key points: 

1. How to build a relationship with the Word. 1 John 1:1 

2.Fellowship is connection. You have to fellowship in the Word with God and others to grow strong.

3.A life of love of the Word grows. We fall in love with His Word as we abide in it. Colossians 3:16

4.A lifestyle or disciplined life in the Word. How can singles, married and households stay strong in God’s word? Father, we pray the Body of Christ lives in, breathes in and digests your word - daily! We pray for a revival of love for Your Voice which is the aim of reading your Word. We are asking for a renewal in our relationship to you - through your Word. We pray for revival in Jesus Name.

Ever feel weary? Or do you feel like giving up? In this message our dear friend and visiting minister, Chris McRae, unpacks some great wisdom and practical encouragement from the book of Hebrews from chapter 12: 1- 3. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Chris looks at four unique portraits of Jesus Christ from this text that give us a clear picture of who He is in the midst of every opposition: 

Jesus as finisher

Jesus as race leader(pioneer) 

Jesus enduring the cross 

Jesus with the prize at the end of the age

Be encouraged to see Christ the overcomer in your life and circumstances today! He is worthy of our laid down lives  and will never disappoint us as we keep enduring in the race.

Today’s message is a simple encouragement to have a Godly vision for your friendships. We all need great friendships! Friends love and support us and are there for us in hard times. In Christ however, our friends are those who fight for us to fulfil our calling or destiny. They confront us and say, “come on!” or “grow up” or “you’re doing awesome, or you’ve got this!” We all need fun and we need support and all the lovely things that are a by-product of our close connections, but we need comrades who fight for us to be over-comers in the love tests and spiritual battles that are presenting. The downside of friendship can be that we lose our fire when others around us are in hard times. Beloved, we cannot be passive in how we approach this area as our friends are also our influencers. They help us discern, they affect us, and they leave a deposit in our lives. Having a vision for spiritual connection versus the soul realm, is the key for Kingdom people. Watch out for those who are only about their needs or their world. Counter that soulish realm by loving them but setting firm boundaries around their access to you. Further to that, in the Christian world there can be confusion about being alone or being lonely. Alone is normal and very necessary. We need to learn how to walk alone with Him. But loneliness is more a spiritual reality. We each have to endure the loneliness of a battle that is uniquely ours. We grow when we let others into that battle by being real and powerful about our unique needs, knowing only God can meet those needs ultimately. Remember that keeping your love on is the key to staying connected. It’s so worth it! REFLECTION TIME: are my friends helping me to become a better person? Are my friends getting in my face about staying on course in the Lord and in the Kingdom? Am I willing to build Godly relationships by being powerful and not passive? Am I keeping my love on with all those in my life?

God has a dream! His desire is to see apostolic communities emerging all across the globe, filled with on fire radical disciples who join Jesus in His passionate vision to expand His kingdom across the nations. This is central to the prayer of Jesus in John 17. That the world may know and that the world may believe that the Father has sent His Son! This is the “apostolic project” and it hinges upon the establishment of five fold communities arising through the restoration of the five fold ministry. The flourishing of local churches as cities set upon a hill, are central to the fulfillment of God’s dream and He doesn’t have a Plan B. Join Phil in this compelling podcast as he continues the theme of vision in 2022. 

Easter is a time when we as followers of Christ, are once more reminded that God’s ways are not our ways. On the first Easter Sunday Jesus disciples woke up full of grief, thinking and believing that everything they had hoped for in Jesus, their promised messiah, was now lying dead in a tomb. 

Fortunately for all of us this was not the end of the story. Jesus had risen and he revealed himself to many women and men that day including two disciples as they walked the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. As they walked Jesus came along side them and set their hearts ablaze as he spoke to them and revealed himself to them in the scriptures. He then he broke bread with them and opened their eyes to the reality that he was indeed alive and risen from the dead. 

Jesus comes to us in the same way today and walks along side us, in the midst of life and circumstances that we may not fully understand. Out of his great love for us and kindness towards us, he meets with us, reveals himself to us and fills us with his living hope. (1 Peter 1:3). This is very good news!