Tribe Church. Byron Bay

Many Christians like to convince themselves that there is no battle in the realm of the Spirit because of the finished work of Christ, and probably because it might seem a more convenient theology! Nothing could be further from the truth, and the scriptures support this idea completely as does life! There are many battles we must fight and win!  In Ephesians 6, we read that after applying the spiritual armour of God, that we “can take our stand against the devil’s schemes.” In the Passion Translation, it says of Ephesians 6: “Stand victorious with the force of his explosive power flowing in and through you”!  Further to that, the battle that we are in, is not one that can even be waged with the world’s weapons, but through the powerful weapon of prayer! Through 1 Corinthians 10 and other key New Testament verses, we are given many keys to fighting the battle against internal and external strongholds of our hearts and in the realm of the Spirit.  Through this message we look at how taking our thoughts captive to Christ’s obedience is a key to winning the battle. There is also the powerful tool of binding and loosing through deliverance prayer and intercession. Beloved we are not left to our own devices; we are given such power through the privilege of prayer!  Our engagement to this reality is of the utmost importance in wining people to the freedom that is theirs and ours in Christ, and besides that, it is actually the most fun! Winning is your address! Beloved let us engage the battle and enjoy the journey with Christ as your light and armour!

To pray is to participate with God in the divine. This wonderful opportunity is so easy to take for granted. We can get lost in our own problems and needs and get distracted from this royal work of the Kingdom. Praying for another is an invitation to release the royalty of heaven over someone else. This opportunity can be our greatest act of service, unto the Lord, as we serve another in their need through prayer. The powerful act of praying for another shifts the focus off ourselves, places our eyes on the Lord and releases blessings toward another. 

Never before has anxiety been so talked about! Is it really increasing or are we just finding language now for the human condition without the Father’s security to our precious hearts? I believe it’s a mixture of both. We are living in times where research is proving an increase of anxiety in society, and at the same time we now have a lot more reason to be worried with an increase of calamity in the air.In the Kingdom, there is a supernatural provision for both the internal issues of anxiety and the external atmospheres of anxiety in our society. In Philippians 4 we read “be anxious for anything.” We are guided to replace this feeling of terror or fear with God’s peace through the practice of prayer! This is the kind of prayer that leads us to hand over our burdens to the Lord. Is it that simple? It’s both complex and simple! In some respects, because anxiety is symptomatic of deeper issues – it signals where our trauma is stored and needs healing. This is so real and must be validated and processed in each person’s journey. This part is complex.From a Biblical point of view, there is also a simple answer that will increase peace. In the Message translation of this verse, it says: “It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the centre of your life.” It’s time to learn many new skill sets. As believers, we must learn what to do with the anxiety that is being highlighted right now, but also how to minister to the anxious places in others. Don’t believe the lie that anxiety is just mental health issue, and that you’re stuck with it. We are not stuck with anything! God moves and changes things as we co-operate with His ways. Be transformed by gaining a renewed mind towards this very important issue of anxiety in our world today. Beloved, learn to be a funnel of the supernatural peace that passes all understanding!

The call to prayer is a call into partnership with heaven but also into a partnership with each other as the body of Christ. Jesus tells us as his disciples that whenever two or three of us come together and agree on anything in his name he will be there with us. The “prayer of agreement” and the corporate prayer meeting releases epic breakthrough in the earth and is one of the most powerful things that we get to do in the kingdom this side of heaven. Praying with other believers teaches us to pray and helps us persist in prayer as we stand and fight together for different breakthroughs that we are still contending to see. It is also a place of celebration and prophetic encouragement and the place where we receive fresh impartation and fire to fuel our walk with the Lord. Jesus is releasing a fresh commissioning to his bride in this hour, for us to form powerful partnership in prayer that will release epic breakthroughs and the fire of his love on the earth.

The church in western culture has very little understanding of a theology of suffering. This is quite surprising considering our Lord and Saviour was crucified on a cross and calls His disciples to take up their cross and follow Him. The Apostle Paul knew all too well what it meant to suffer and makes comments like “I take pleasure in infirmities, reproaches, needs, persecutions and in distresses, for Christ’s sake” (2 Cor 12:10). This message looks at the reality that many suffer through the circumstances of life without ever seeing the healing they desperately need. This stirs in the believer the hardest of questions. Where is God in suffering? As the church we need a theology that helps answer these deeper questions. I invite you on this journey to discover something more profound than simple answers. Come and experience the fullness of Christ in the mystery of suffering.

Loving our neighbour is not always easy. Loving our enemies is the next level, and biblically we don’t get an “out” on this! Today, we continue our series on prayer, by looking at a portion of the Beatitudes where Jesus confronts our often-selective process in who we spend time praying for. We don’t have to agree with people to bless them. We are called to love even our enemies- those we disagree with or even those who have deeply betrayed us and used us! Let’s dive into a conversation about judgment, hate, race, gender and even ageism by studying the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10. The power of blessing others is uniquely Christ centred value, that releases divine reaping! We gain His heart, and they gain a witness of love! Nothing is more powerful. It’s time to deal with some old things to become the new thing in the earth – one body, dedicated to kindness. In the famous words of Anna Voskamp:“If Jesus can dip from the same bowl as Judas, we can share the same table - the same space- with anyone - with grace!”

Jesus calls us to follow Him, but what does that actually look like? It looks like following the lamb who was slain to the cross. Jesus won the greatest victory over His enemies by defeating them on the cross. That was us. He defeated us on the cross. It was our sin He defeated. We were once enemies of God but are now beloved sons and daughters called to follow Him. Now it’s our turn to love our enemies and in doing so we love like He loved. He is worthy

Throughout the Bible God is described as an abundant God! His character is to be abundant. In this message Serena Gallagher unpacks God’s nature of abundance in His willingness to answer prayer, and uses the confronting stories of Luke 8:26-56 to illustrate there is no place where God can not be the answer to even the most trying of our needs.

We live in the busiest time in the history of the world. We have more access to information than any other generation and are constantly bombarded with it. Mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression and burnout are all on the rise. How do we as followers of Jesus show the world a better way? Silence. To spend our silence on the Lord is to sever every other distraction. To be with Him just resting in the fact that He is near refreshes our soul. There are so many voices demanding our attention yet there’s only voice we need to hear. Come and spend some silence with the Lord; His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

Our lives are of series of miracles. Honestly, if it wasn’t for God’s grace, we would all be dead! Most of us can count at least 5 miracles of His hand, but lots of us can count 100s if not 1000s! The more we live in our bodies, fight battles, drive cars, dodge hectic situations, the more we realise we are protected by an unusual grace. If we then go on to think of the miracle power of God that manifests in and through the healing of the sick, the provision of finance (always a miracle), then we start to acknowledge an aspect of God’s nature, that is SO worthy of praise! Fasten your spiritual seat belt and let’s dive into the life of miracles that is opened up when we pray! We are all learning how to access His grace in this area, and it’s time to keep learning as disciples of faith, hope and love. We were made for the miraculous and the extraordinary! Lets press in together!