Function with Unction.

unc·tion

[uhngk-shuhn] Show IPA

noun

1.

an act of anointing, especially as a medical treatment or religious rite.

2.

an unguent or ointment; salve.

3.

something soothing or comforting.

4.

an excessive, affected, sometimes cloying earnestness or fervor in manner, especially in speaking.

5.

Religion .

a.

the oil used in religious rites, as in anointing the sick or dying.

b.

the shedding of a divine or spiritual influence upon a person.

c.

the influence shed.

d.

extreme unction. ( thanks dictionary.com)

I want my life to function with unction. Extremely.

Led by the Holy Spirit, anointed and sealed by Him, useful for His purpose.

I don't think you want to be a Christian minister any other way.

What does it mean, to be in "unction" ?

When you pray, something supernatural happens around you and within you and those you pray for.

There is authority in your message .

There is a sense of freshness and vibrancy that rises when you lead.

God can use you, because you have positioned yourself for His use.

You know, you are no better than anyone else, just clay in the masters hands, being made for His purposes and plan, ....

The difference is...you have already willingly laid down your life and all you are for His use. And now you function in a different manner than you did previously. With Unction.

I have observed many styles and behaviors of Church leaders, pastors, officers.

Some are arrogant, think they have it altogether and know all things.

Some are weak and insipid and behave in such a manner as to demonstrate no leadership authority.

Some are strong and have authority the moment they enter a room.

Some are defeated.

Some are living life in fear of the next complaint or critic.

Some are ignorant of the power of the Holy Spirit.

And there are heaps of others also...

And of course there are the " unctioned ". ( no such word but I am going to use it)

Those officers, pastors, leaders who know who they are, know why they are here, know who they serve, have surrendered their will to His, have willingly allowed their spirit to be filled and shaped by His Spirit, and everyday lay it down in surrender and commitment to His Kingdom purpose on the earth and especially in the church.

I guess this blog entry is for leaders, officers and pastors.

But also for every Christ follower, that is, for every Christian who desires their lives to be fully used by God for His purpose at least.

I challenge you, get your life, and ministry into a place where you function with unction.

Allow the wonderful Holy Spirit to empower you, shape you, mold you, fill you, and see what God can do through you then.

Blessings !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Jesus Loves you

It's Sunday afternoon, and it is time to unwind, and reflect on this mornings worship service.

I felt it was pretty good, considering that close on 100 people were away today, either in Perth or taking the advantage of the long weekend here in Melbourne.

Nevertheless, church must go on, and it did, and it was special being with others who gathered to worship Jesus.

I love church, I don't love the politics and squabbles that often come in churches, but for the most part, the church inspires me. I love it that I am called to the local church.

I don't think for one moment that I am brilliant as a pastor or officer, but I do give it a crack and my best.
Here is a link to today's sermon...podcast...

http://salvos.org.au/ringwood/podcasts/


Currently I am reading a GHC book called Crossing over, by Paul Scanlon...

It is a very good book and it is helping me grapple with what I need to get, to be able to take
Ringwood where God may wish us to go.

I fully recommend it to you, you can get a Kindle version in Amazon and read it on iPad.
Here are 3 quotes from that book...

"Everything that wants to grow and have a relevant future has to change, and change is God’s gift to humanity. “Crossing over” is my language for and description of the change which thousands of churches must embrace, or they will face extinction."

" All over the world God has and is raising men and women to lead His people into an awesome future.These new leaders are smart, sharp, streetwise, and acutely aware of what is and isn’t relevant to the twenty-first century church. "

"To every pastor reading this I want to say, you are a life saver! The choices you make, particularly during a generational transition for your church, will be life-and-death choices for you, the church, and the community. May the Joshua within you wake up!

God doesn't want us to stay the same, He wants us to grow and become healthy as Christ followers and as churches.

We don't want to be a church looking backwards to the "old days", we need to be a church looking to God
To lead us into His purpose and plan and the new days that lay before us.

There is much to grapple and work through, but these times are desperate, and TSA, needs Salvos who will understand the times and trust God and His love, and then just go for it.

The best is yet to come.

I pray that today you will be blessed by listening to the podcast, hearing the sincere heart of our church as they  sang in worship unto Jesus.

And hear something from God for your life also.

Why not make it personal at the conclusion and place your hand on your heart or illness area and allow His Spirit To touch your being as well.

May He bless you deeply today.

The challenge for the modern Salvo

I get to thinking, from time to time, that these days are challenging for the modern Salvo.

Are they any more challenging than other days or what our historical forefathers of TSA           experienced ?  probably not ... but certainly the times that we live in and minister in are more complicated than then, in many ways.

take the drama of homosexuality, and Gay Marriage and the can of worms it is to even start speaking about whether it is right or wrong, especially in the church.

what about political correctness ?

and  trying to get people into church and the debate that arises about even that....

whether we are meant to be a church or an Army ? can we be both ?

and let's not get started about worship style, or generational worship, what songs we sing, or dont, whether it be traditional or contemporary...  in the church / Army... !!!

******************************************************************************

Sometimes its just all too hard, and sometimes I feel we get caught up in semantics and rules and regulations and  what things look like, rather than what they really actually "are" .  even that statement will cause someone, somewhere to disagree...   lol

I believe that we all need to determine what is right for us, and what is biblical and what isnt, and what was the intent of Christ for His church ( TSA is a part of that - it had better be, the church, the Bride, is the only thing going through into heaven at the end of it all )

When you feel confused by the politics and culture and gradual wasting away of society  and Christian values, you are going to have to know, deep down in your heart, what it is you believe. And you will  need to  hold onto  it and live for it somehow.

Everything will be up for grabs one day and everything, every Christlike virtue, challenged and debated and deserted.    ( the book of Revelation kind of tells us what will one day be coming  to this earths journey)

There are however some absolutes, well...in my mind there are. 
 ( I have heaps of these, cant mention them all )

• God loves us. Nothing can stop that.

• Jesus will return one day.

• He is still sovereign, and He desires to "power up" - TSA.

• It was He who raised the Salvation Army, we still belong to Him, we are still about His business, and its not just giving a cup of cold water or a bowl of soup, its very much still about getting people saved and added to  the Kingdom of heaven.

• It's not about how we worship, its about who we worship. 

•  God isnt finished with TSA yet. He isnt finsihed with me yet. ( or you for that matter)

•  Our best days are still ahead of  us at the Army.

The modern day Salvo needs to know, deeply know, that we are not living in the shadow of our glory days, but rather we are living in the days of our Vision Reality, and living out our mission, and the fact that our very best days still lay ahead of us, not behind us.

If our best days are behind us, we are in serious trouble.

Our best days are days that have been planned for us by God Himself.

Thousands will be saved and added to our number, lives will be healed, set free, right before our very eyes.  Many will be released from bondage and deception and chains will fall off peoples lives, shackels off their eyes and ear plugs from their ears, will be removed as God moves through His people in TSA.

These wont be easy days, but they will be our best. 

We will be at our truest, and best...........  but not if we make our meetings about something that they are not.

Our meetings, our worship, and everything that happens on Sundays and every other day as well, are about Jesus, and His love and His people..... and nothing else.

It's when we make it about something other than Jesus,  that's when we get it all muddled up and confused, and we start arguing over the insignificant things, which by the way... will not go through to heaven. 

So, I want to challenge, remind, encourage you and bless you into our divine calling and inheritance and heritage. God is with us. He will do in us, what we cant do alone.

He will use us.
He will bless us.
He will grow us.
He will heal us.
He will restore and revive us.
He will renew us and release us.
He will be revealed in us and through us.
He will do it !!!!

all we have to do is keep focussed on Jesus.

Bless His Holy Name.


(and if you think that TSA has lost its relevance, or meaning or hope or purpose or potential ?

think again, 

JESUS IS HERE !!!!  

HE IS OUR  LEADER !!!!  

we haven't even started to do what He has mapped out for us to do and be )

Just go ahead with what you've been given...

 Colossians 2.... The Message bible...

My counsel for you is simple and straightforward:

Just go ahead with what you've been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him.

You're deeply rooted in him.

You're well constructed upon him.

You know your way around the faith.    Now do what you've been taught.

School's out; quit studying the subject and start living it!

And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.

Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk.

They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything.

They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty

superstitions of spirit beings.

But that's not the way of Christ.

Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly.

You don't need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him.

When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too.

His power extends over everything

................................................................................................................................................................

Just recently I have become aware that things are cranking up in regards to the power of God working in and around my life. 

His power extends over everything, my life, my ministry, my situation, my circumstances...

and your situation and your cirmcumstances as well.

Now there's a thought !!!

So how do we tap into that power ?

Prayer, and making the effort to get up close and personal with Jesus.  Every single day of your life.

 

The presence of the Holy Spirit amidst us, within us, - allows the Power to do in us what cant be done any other possible way.

Jesus is present amongst us in church, through the indwelling Holy Spirit. His power moving into our lives and churches can cause our situation, and our churches, to change.  Our illness to dissapear, our lostness, our abandonment and loneliness and hurt.... our church lethargy and boredom...... all to be replaced with a peace that just cant be explained easily.

So why do Christians and churches remain  "seemingly powerless" and " weak " ?

Is it possible that the same God who does it ( moves mightily in power) in some Christians and churches,  is different in other churches and Christians ?  or is it that simply stated that those churches and Christians have settled for something less than Gods very best. !?!

Well, having been a part of both kinds of churches, I think its simply a state of ignorance... or stubborness.   And at the very worst, rebellion.

God wants to do in us and through us, amazing, awesome things, which will blow our mind. 

My personal opinion and belief is, that simply, we have not in our lives, because we have asked not in our lives. (and churches)

People who are pretenders in the  local church are missing out on so much from the Hand of God.

I would rather be a contender for God than a pretender of Him. (thanks Jentezen Franklin)

It has been said many times,  who you are when you are alone, is who you really are... That is so true.

Except, we are never alone..Our God is always with us and aware of us and what we are doing.

Face the fire, dont run from it......  get close to the source,  trust and obey, surrender to His Awesome presence in your life...

Just go ahead with what you've been given... You have been given Jesus Christ.    Salvation.    Power inside your spirit to do what is nothing short of supernatural. 

You were not menat to stay the same.  To keep on doing the same old sinful behaviours.  We were meant for greatness in Jesus Christ.

His power extends over every aspect of your life and mine.  We can rise above this earthly mess.

Dont be fooled by the clever arguments and deceptions of the devil at work in this world. 

Dont  be tricked into sin by the temptations that are so prevalent around us.

Allow Jesus, who is inside your heart, to shine through your every action and word.

Just go ahead with what you've been given.

I am praying that many in our modern Salvo churches will experience a fresh wave of the Holy Spirit in our worship services, that we will experience new power, new spiritual gifts being given, old mindsets shattered  and new revelation and vision. New dreams, new hopes, new faith, new hope.

I cant stand to see Christains who are worn out and tired and have lost vision and the hope of the Kingdom. I cant stand to see people just lost in words and theory's, void of an "alive vibrant power" flooding their every step.

Oh Lord God, I pray for a revival and renewal in the Salvation Army, and may it start in my life first.

AMEN. !!!!  ( May it indeed be so)

P.S.    if you want it...it's yours.. Just stop right now, and genuinly go to God and whisper the prayer. Lord do it  in me...pour out your power into my life and my situation and my circumstance. and then with a mustard seed sized faith, wait and expect it to happen in you.

 

Supernatrual Rain.... dont put your umbrella up if it rains.

It wasn't  one of the easiest sermons to deliver.

There is opposition.

It's probably not one of my best.

Not everyone present experienced the same as what some did.

Nevertheless, God was here, and He did some amazing things in some of our people.

No doubt some also will have thought, are you serious ?

I didn't see anything.... I knew God was there... And I nearly stuffed it up at the end when one of our ladies spontaneously wanted to testify, off the cuff, as to what God had done in her, ......and me, thinking she was about to prophesy, and I wasn't feeling comfortable about that, tried to stop her...even said "no" publicly....

Sigh....

Anyway we got through, I do feel a new sense of boldness and openness....

God can do whatever He wants in me, through me, with me.

I am having trouble listening to it on my ipad, and expect it should work ok on the desktop computers, but if you want to hear the message from Ringwood yesterday, and hear what God is doing amongst us, even in spite of us, then go to the following website, click on the podcast link and have a listen.

God is here, there is no question.

http://salvos.org.au/ringwood/



I don't for one minute think, that I am the greatest preacher on the planet.... 

But I am available and I truly desire
God to do what cant be done amongst us, any other way.


Bless you today.

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Offended ?!?

Is there really enough time in our lives to live offended ?

 

We seem to be offended so easily.

 

I wonder why ?

 

When something happens that offends, we all get a bit uptight... Yes I do too.

We cry out our complaint, and anger and hurt and in these times we ought be very careful how we react and respond.

 

Injustice and lack of courtesy are often the main causes of our personal offence.

 

At times though, I must confess, I don't really have anything to be offended by, especially when you view things from a different perspective.

 

Try looking at your next offended session through the eyes of Christ.

 

He had a few more reasons to be offended than any or all of us ever will.

Yet, humbly, willingly, he went to the cross.

 

If you and I viewed things with a wider view of the world and the Kingdom, maybe we just wouldn't get so offended so easily.

 

For some, this offence takes root in the persons soul, and bitterness and resentment and hard heartedness is the result. Nothing in this brings any honour to Jesus at any time.

 

The other night I sat in a conference, and I felt my heart was so hard and cold...and I quickly realized that if it stayed that way, it would be very hard for God to pour His power into my heart. It was shut up, tightly locked, and I don't even really know why . I don't want my life to be like that. I want my heart open, and ready and receptive to God the Holy Spirit to be able to ooze out of my heart .. And the only way that can happen is If I am protecting my heart from becoming hard and hardened by any kind of offence or bitterness.

 

 

It bothers me hugely, that churches seem to lose sight of Kingdom opportunity and process and get stuck in religious tradition or rights, or church process and politics.

 

Seriously is this really why Christ died for us ?

 

Don't think for one minute that I am preaching at you, but rather reminding myself, of this exact truth, in every regard.

 

Surely , you must do so too.

 

Church isn't meant to be about politics, but rather the power of God the Holy Spirit leading us.

 

I pray with all my heart that God will lead us through our stuff in the Australian church, that we will open our hearts, and our minds, and our ears, and our eyes and allow our heart to soften so that God can shape us.

 

Do you Love Him ?

Do you desire to serve Him ?

Do you desire to see His Kingdom come on the earth ?

 

Don't let offence take root in your spirit, let God take root and see what difference that will make to us all.

 

And I am going to try as well.

 

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Having a reputation: a message for Ringwood Salvos (and others)

I got thinking today that most people, and churches have a reputation.

It is either a good reputation or a not so good one.

Of course a lot of this has to do with other peoples opinions. (rightly or wrongly).

rep·u·ta·tion

[rep-yuh-tey-shuhn] 

1. the estimation in which a person or thing is held, especially by the community or the public generally; repute: a man of good reputation.

2. favorable repute; good name: to ruin one's reputation by misconduct.

3. a favorable and publicly recognized name or standing for merit, achievement, reliability, etc.: to build up a reputation.

4.the estimation or name of being, having, having done, etc., something specified: He has the reputation of being a shrewd businessman.

 

(thanks dictionary.com) 

a church can have a reputation of being boring, or alive.... a friendly church or not so friendly. It can have a reputation of being traditional or comtemporary...

but pretty much every church has some kind of reputation.

The question is, what does Ringwood have ?   What should it be ?    What could it be ?

 

Sometimes, reputations are formed inaccurately, ...nothing worse than having a reputation of something great, when deep down it simply isnt that great.

the good news it can changed.  for the better.

so here's 7 traits, that I would like to see for Ringwood Salvos (for me also).

1. firstly, that our reputation is true and real and matches our life as a church.

2. that we are known as an alive, thriving, growing church....and even better, healthy.

3. that we are known as a church that gets people saved.

4. that people, who come to our church are changed forever.

5. that there is power, true Holy Spirit power, in our worship and church life.

6. that God is first, and His Will and Word, paramount to reality of life (actions & words matching)

7. a Kingdom minded church.  

is this who we are already ?  is this our reputation ?

well you can work that out for yourself, 

 

but I am hoping and praying that this time next year.... that is May 2104, that these things will be being said of us. ( if they are not already)

 

........................................................................................................

 

I am pretty sure there is nothing worse than having a repuation of being alive, but actually being dead and dying.  ( I dont think that is how it is at Ringwood, but let's make sure it never is true of us,

( I dont want Ringwood to be known for being boring, powerless, inactive, dying, or weak....we are not these things.)

 

I want my leadership to count for something for the Kingdom at Ringwood Salvos.

I am just the current leader in a great huge long list of Salvo church officers who have led this church well, for many years.

 

But I want to build on what we have, take it too a new level of Kingdom growth and health, to see God do amazing, mind blowing things amongst us and within us and around us and through us.

 

So, that it is common place that God does the miraculous amongst us. 

 

When people speak about Ringwood Salvos, as they do.... that a smile will come to their face...not out of ridicule or cynicism, but rather from a position of warmth that God is here, and He is working strongly here.   

 

Imagine what it would mean in our nation if our suburb was identified and known becuase of the Salvation Army Ringwood here.  So that when people think Ringwood the suburb, they immediately think Salvation Army.  

.......................................................................................................................

Together we can build our reputation,  one that honours Jesus... and is true.

We can do this by spreading the great news that Jesus is here with us.

by telling the truth, building one another up ( edifying each other) witnessing, praying, worshipping with all our heart and mind and soul, reading our bibles, and allowing God to be seen in us.

the rest is His work.

The Reputation of Ringwood.....    The 12 -  "R's" of Ringwood Salvos....( just a thought)

Real, Reliable, Radical, Responsible, Radiant, Repentant

Redeemed, Ready, Refreshing, Renewed, Restored, Righteous

 

wanna help us do this ?

 

..................................................................................................................................

 

maybe, if you dont come to Ringwood, you might like to consider the reputation your church has, and do something about building your own reputation, so that God is honored and well known where you are too.   

We Need to Make OUR GOD famous in our churches.

Coz' ultimately thats the best reputation any church can have.

That God is there.  

make sure people know that He is, through the way you live your life.

and finally:

The Salvation Army has a fine reputation of showing compassion, mercy, love, forgiveness and assitance to those who are hurting...and alone.

wonderful isnt it ?  

let's ensure that our reputation, is also about God and His power at work amongst us.