NO!

2 Cor. 12:7 (NIV)
To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

The great thing about this verse is that no one knows what Paul's "thorn" was. Some say epilepsy, some say a speech impediment, some say an eye disease, I say his thorn was baldness that way I can relate with him. I think the bible doesn't tell us what it was because God knew that we would build a theology around it.

2 Cor. 12:8 (NIV)
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.

This doesn’t mean Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
This is 3 seasons in his life he has spent extended time pleading with God, fasting, in extra prayer, crying out to God to get free from whatever was tormenting him.
There was a period of time when Paul seemingly wasn’t getting answers. Now this should encourage some of you because you are in a season where not a lot is happening in your life.
And you have been wondering if God even knows your name, and God’s silence has been mistaken for His absence.
After 3 times pleading with God with all that faith and confidence with God there is no answer.

2 Cor. 12:9 (NIV)
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

You mean you aren't taking it away? And God gives the response that none of us like. NO!
Grace in this context is the strength and ability to endure.

Your greatest weakness is God’s greatest opportunity to show Himself strong in you.

I sat in hospital yesterday with a good friend who has some serious health challenges. We have prayed, anointed him with oil, read scripture and all else us good Pentecostals know to do. He is still in hospital. This is one of those moments that Paul is talking about.

God doesn't always deliver us from our circumstances however He will always deliver us through our circumstances.

A lot of people when God says no simply walk away or they shake their fist at God with anger and disappointment and they miss out on the grace of God to endure. They never see God's strength stepping into lifes struggles.

So how will you respond when God say's NO?

Faith

We start a new series tomorrow about faith. I am using the first two weeks to disassemble the wrong thinking about faith. A lot of people live in presumption rather than faith. What we lean our faith against really determines how our believing will go when things arent turning out the way we wanted.

Hebrews 11:13 (NIV)
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.

I love this cause its about people who never got what they were expecting but they never stopped expecting because it was a promise!
The bridge between our hope and our faith is the promise that we have from God.

Wow 4 weeks have come and gone since my last entry, time is screaming by. In the last 4 weeks we have preached in Noosa, attended the prayer and fasting summit in Port Stephens, bought a new home and moved in, done lots of renovations, yard clearing, we discovered a pond in the front yard and rockwalls in the back yard and best of all the views from Surfers through to Q1.

This house was so overgrown!

Proverbs 24:30-34 (NLT)
I walked by the field of a lazy person, the vineyard of one lacking sense. [31] I saw that it was overgrown with thorns. It was covered with weeds, and its walls were broken down.


Proverbs 24 tells us that the consequences of a “little sleep a little slumber” are not emptiness but the wrong kind of fullness.
Our abdication does not prevent growth it just allows the wrong kind of growth to develop.
The seeds that we sow whether good or bad will produce some form of growth in our lives.

You and I have fruit growing right now, good or bad we will produce something!

Not so smart

Last week I shared on another of the names of God in our aka:God series. Jehovah Roeh which means “The Lord is our Shepherd”. It also means to be companions, to associate with, to be a special friend, to shepherd, ruler, teacher.
In the bible a shepherd was responsible for the welfare of his sheep. His role was one of bring guidance, safety and security to get his sheep from one place to another. But if God is our shepherd what does that make us?
Wouldn't it be nicer to be likened to a lion, or maybe anything else that even resembles strength? But the truth is we are like sheep, fearful, prone to disease, easily lead astray, follow the crowd and sometimes not real smart...have a look at the video.

Do we see what He see's

I am presently sitting at Gold Coast airport waiting to catch a plane to Sydney so I can drive to Nowra for one of my friends opening of his new church facility. Its pelting down rain and all the arriving planes have been diverted. I hate waiting and even more tormenting not knowing, I really hate not knowing. Are we flying from here, will I make it in time, will I even get out?
Genesis 22 is one of the great bible stories of Abraham and Isaac. Abraham is about to sacrifice his son when at the 11.59 and 55 seconds God interrupts (I like those interruptions) and tells him to stop. As they lift there eyes there is a ram caught in a thicket which Abraham swaps out for his son. And Abraham's response! "You are Jehovah Jireh" which means the Lord see's and provides". What a great reminder when we are stuck at 11.59 with seemingly no way out, The Lord see's and provides. Thank God that His eyesight is better than ours.

Who moved the stone 2?

We pick up this story in Matthew 15 and Jesus is again confronting some Pharisees about their perspective about the disciples not washing their hands. Bottom line is they were angry because the disciples seemed to be ignoring these customs.
These few verses I think capture our leadership success or failure better than any other verse.

Matthew 15:15-20 (NLT)
Then Peter asked Jesus, "Explain what you meant when you said people aren't defiled by what they eat."
[16] "Don't you understand?" Jesus asked him. [17] "Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes out of the body.

Even the Pharisees didn’t argue with that one!

[18] But evil words come from an evil heart and defile the person who says them. [19] For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all other sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. [20] These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands could never defile you and make you unacceptable to God!"

If we have heart problems we will have leadership problems. Just as a healthy lung can’t cover for a bad heart good leadership, great with people doesn’t make up for a corrupt heart.

A. What’s inside ultimately gets reflected on the outside.
1. Our words reflect the condition of our hearts (v. 18).
When we say, “I didn’t mean that,” the truth is that we didn’t mean to say that, but . . . we meant it. It was in our hearts and slipped out. In those unguarded moments, our hearts are revealed.
2. Our actions reflect the condition of our hearts (v. 19).
In youth ministry, parents would say about their kids, “He’s got a good heart, he just got into a little trouble.”—WRONG. Your child’s heart is fouled up. It’s a heart problem, not just a behavioral problem.

More next time!

Moving Fast

Here is a great video that reminds us just how important it is to stay relevant with what is taking place around us. Although often viewed as "unspiritual" technology is still the best way to reach as many people as we can.