Tribe Church. Byron Bay

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!

The Gospel is the power of God for salvation, and the preaching of the cross is the way into our God given free gift of resurrected life. Our vision must be framed up by this extraordinary reality. We died with Him and are raised with Him anew. As we surrender our lives and pass through the cross, we move from death to life. Jesus had to prepare for many years to go to the cross for us to be made free. He was the sinless one, but he had to learn how to obey the Father. He had to see the joy set before Him and cast out any tendency to go to the “victim mindset” even when falsely accused and rejected. If we want to live in the fullness of the gospel reality, we have to cast out the tendency we all have to be victims instead of trusting God in the process. The Lord has great things for us, and He is pouring out His Spirit in these days to get us ready for even more. Let's keep our eyes on the cross, and although it is offensive to the mind, renew your mind to believe and know that the cross is the power of God for freedom and salvation and resurrected life. A life full of love, hope and real freedom! Thank you, Jesus, for your sacrifice and for resurrection life! Happy Easter everyone!

Life is full of storms! Relational storms, emotional storms, health storms, actual storms, floods, pandemics, earthquakes, wars, fires, tsunamis etc. And there seems to have been a lot of them lately! Our highest priority in the midst of the storms of life is to find God in the storm. David could endure the valley of the shadow of death because he found God in the storm and discovered that God was with him. We know we are finding God in the midst of life’s storms when we experience the comfort of heaven no matter how intense the storm gets. God is present to comfort us in every trial and tribulation but His comfort is found in the context of hearing His intimate voice. As the storms increase with the threat of far worse storms on the horizon, now is the time to build a deep connection with our Father and to access the unlimited comfort He desires to pour out upon us. Join Phil in this journey of finding God in the storm

Special guest Chad Mansbridge joins us today from Bayside Church in South Australia to bring a message of life and hope for those who have suffered death or division in their relationships. God knows what it is like to be the Father of a fractured family, and He has provided the solution to reconciliation through the Gospel—the power of Christ’s death and resurrection life! Beginning in Ephesians 2, Chad then walks us through the meta narrative of Scripture revealing the many causes of broken relationships, before circling back to the themes of resurrection and reconciliation in Ezekiel 37. Find out more about Chad, and his excellent new book ‘You Can Handle the Truth’ at www.chadmansbridge.com

Todays message is part 2 in a series on Grace. Grace is the empowering presence of Jesus. The Kingdom is a kingdom of grace, and we now live in the administration of grace. The old covenant is obsolete in that it wasn’t a Spirit empowered culture. Our new culture in Christ is fully Spirit empowered and Spirit led. God is brilliant at showing us how to live in His grace and stay in His grace. If we lose our way, we just have to come back to what grace is resting on us in a particular seasons. There are of course many spiritual practices that set us up for being empowered: real relationship with God, prayer, the truth in His word, being engaged in worship, communion, impartation as well as being still and resting. Further to that, there are natural joys that God has given to multiply grace such as family times and doing good for others. Another key way of posturing our hearts for more of His Spirit is by dealing with our stuff! Making room internally for more of God by emptying your heart of pain and wounds will mean you have the supernatural grace increase within you. Our key text today is from 2 Corinthians 12: My grace is sufficient for you! When we are under pressure there is a provision for us to grow, but its only when we choose to wait on God that we will step into the next level of grace on our lives! Step into His grace on your life today!

In this message, Phil continues the series on vision as he explores the topic of cultivating passion for Jesus. Passion is not something we can generate or muster in our own strength. It emerges as a by-product of encountering Jesus’ incredible passion and love for us. Only Jesus can set our hearts ablaze with a burning fire for Him. It’s apparent that Jesus’ words in Matthew describe the current world mood. “There will be such an increase of sin and lawlessness that those whose hearts once burned with passion for God and others will grow cold.” (Matthew 24:12 TPT) The only way we can survive and then thrive in this season of increased spiritual lawlessness is to receive an impartation of heaven’s passion for Jesus. Lord we position our hearts for more!

We continue with a fresh vision for the Kingdom in our new series. Today’s message focuses our attention on the need for the grace of God in doing all the impossible things that God has got for you in this life. If the Kingdom were do-able in your own strength, you wouldn’t need the Holy Spirit to fill you continually with fresh grace! We were made to live a life of fullness and that is supernatural. We must understand that we can never do the works of God in our own strength. Grace is not only unmerited favour, but it is His empowering presence to do the works and wonders of heaven on earth. From the miracle of the heart journey of love, all the way through to the miracles of physical healing, it’s all by grace. From living in supernatural provision to living out the dreams and adventures of His passions for you, it’s all by grace. Grace is the atmosphere of heaven that is available to you to fulfil this wild and crazy journey. Today there is a unique grace available to you for your life! Don’t try and live in some one else’s lane but just access His grace for you and walk in partnership with His plans. Truly “His grace is sufficient” is the best news ever!