2. PRESENCE

 

“ The less Holy Spirit we have, the more cake and coffee we need to keep the church going” – Reinhard Bonnke

I was 16 years old when I was filled with the Holy Spirit and I encountered the presence of God in a life changing way. 

I had no prior experience of this kind but at a youth camp I received prayer and God touched my life. 

My family were not Christians, my friends were not Christians but my world had been turned upside down after experiencing the Holy Spirit of the living God. 

It was revolutionary. 

It was like a different way of living that was free, clear and alive. 

I got involved in a spirit filled Anglican church where I began to study the Bible. I learnt how to pray and how to worship and how to share my faith. 

I literally went to a youth group in an old church basement. 

It was raw, unpolished and uncool. 

It was before social media so I couldn’t show people how Christian I was or how dedicated I was. I just had to have a personal relationship with God. 

Many times in those early days I prayed the sinners prayer alone in my bedroom from an Alpha booklet out of earnestness and zeal for God. 

"Sorry for my sin, thank you for the cross, please come in to my heart."
"Sorry for my sin, thank you for the cross, please come in to my heart."
"Sorry for my sin, thank you for the cross, please come in to my heart."

Passion burned within me.

I got mocked and ridiculed by my friends for my faith in Jesus. I remember being locked in a changing room by my ‘friends’ and them dousing me with water as they told me they would unlock the door if I agreed to not be a ‘Bible basher’. My parents, although supportive, were skeptical and suspicious and I remember having a heated debate with my Dad after coming home late from a youth camp as I explained that we had spent longer worshipping than expected. It didn’t go down well at all!  

There were many awkward and confronting moments as I tried to balance my new found love and experience of God with a grace for others who hadn’t experienced what I had. 

(That’s a tension isn’t it? Love and grace for others and what they are going through.)

But when I think about the early days of my walk with God to where I am today, I so desire to return to the simplicity of it all. 

“Oh take me back to the start”
“Take me back to my first love” 
“Restore to me the joy of your salvation”

Take me back to the time when I wasn’t over-stimulated by all of the work and activity, by the concerns and cares of this world – the stresses, the societal pressure to perform, to achieve and to be a success. 

To come back to the heart of it all.

+++ 

When it all boils down no amount of opinion, no amount of activity, no amount of input from the outside, no amount of reasoning, no amount of criticism can replace the presence and the moving of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life. 

You can post about your knowledge of God and His church, you can espouse your opinions to others on social media, you can tell people about God but NOTHING can compare to a PERSONAL, LIVING encounter and experience with God.  

Nothing can compare. 

When we think of beginning this new church, Passion AKL it is my desire that we place our full trust in God and the empowering of His Holy Spirit. 

I want it to be as real now as it was for me then. Both personally and for the people who will call Passion home. 

We want to be led by the Holy Spirit and trust in His power. 

“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:5-10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

IT IS CLEAR THAT WE HAVE TWO OPERATING SYSTEMS 

We can live a life defined by our flesh and natural limits and confines or we can live a supernatural life defined and inspired by the Spirit. 

We can have a great church from our flesh or we can have a supernatural church defined and led by the Spirit of God. 

The mind governed by the flesh is death. 
But the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.

The church governed by the flesh is death.
The church governed by the Spirit is life and peace.

I wrote this in 2018:



+++ 

The real heroes in my life, the ones that I genuinely look up to are older believers. I mean 60 or 70 plus. 

These are the real MVPS of the Church. 

The ones who have seen it all. They have seen churches grow, and churches split. They have seen ministries grow and fall. They have been let down, disappointed, missed, misunderstood and yet they are still here. 

And yet they are STILL encouraging, still believing, still smiling, still praying, still hoping, still soft hearted. Not bitter or resentful or filled with pride or opinion. They forgive, they move on, they love. 

They listen better than they talk. Even though they have seen more than you. 
But they are soft hearted and humble and gracious. 

To me, that is so inspiring. That is who I want to be! 

We should be taking notes from this older generation!

The trait that I have identified in this group of more mature followers is this – they are filled and continually being filled with the Holy Spirit. 

Because of this they produce great fruit:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23

We can not escape the need for and reliance on the Spirit of God!

This is the fruit of whether we have it or not. 

+++

So, about Passion? 

We want to be led by and filled with the Holy Spirit. 

When we were young adults pastors in Wellington many years ago we ran an early morning prayer meeting every fortnight on a Friday morning. It was called Huge Prayer. It was in an old hall, we had a band set up to do worship and we prayed together for an hour and most of the time, a lot longer. 
It was awesome! And formative to my faith and leadership. 

We would have anywhere between 100-130 young adults turn up to pray and stay for breakfast afterwards and many of my friends and former colleagues were part of those meetings. 

Each of us would say that had a lasting impact on our relationship with God and our experience of the Holy Spirit. 

The young adults ministry grew and we saw people connected and saved but perhaps most significantly it released and empowered people to live spirit filled lives. 

We cannot minimize prayer down to something we do FOR something. It is not something we do FOR something, it is something we do because we ARE something. 

We are children of God – we need to commune with Our Father. 

I am convinced that the level of our impact for God’s glory will be directly related to our willingness to pray and to humble ourselves before God. 

Prayer is the acknowledgement that we are unable to do anything without God’s input and blessing. 

In prayer we worship, repent, ask and wait upon the Lord. 

+ I want every person who is part of Passion to understand and be able to pray in their true identity in Christ. 

+ I want people to understand their access to God through prayer. 

+ I want people to submit to God in prayer. To hear His voice.

+ I want people to find their voice in prayer. To receive boldness to prophesy. 

+ I want to normalise and establish this function of prayer for a new generation of followers of Christ. 

Everyone can pray!

To not leave it up to a few older, more experienced Christians but to release a wave of prayer from all ages and stages of life. 

We don’t need to all pray in the same way but we do all need to pray. 

WE ARE GOING TO BIRTH THIS CHURCH IN PRAYER!


Some of our faith filled prayer warriors: 




+++

So we have been running prayer meetings on Tuesday nights and they have been growing. 

I have read this out to the team on a couple of occasions before we start. It is from Tim Keller’s book Center Church: 

To kindle every revival, the Holy Spirit initially uses what Jonathan Edwards called “extraordinary prayer” – united, persistent, and kingdom centered. Sometimes it begins with a single person or a small group of people praying for God’s glory in the community. What is important is not the number of people praying but the nature of the praying. 

C. John Miller makes a helpful and perceptive distinction between “maintenance” and “frontline” prayer meetings. Maintenance prayer meetings are short, mechanical, and focused on the physical needs inside the church. In contrast, the three basic traits of frontline prayer are: 

1. A request for the grace to confess sins and to humble ourselves 
2. A compassion and zeal for the flourishing of the church and the reaching of the lost
3. A yearning to know God, to see His face, to glimpse His glory


BEAUTIFUL! 

LETS GET OUT OF MAINTENANCE AND BACK TO THE FRONTLINE! 

+++

Im not sure we need more ‘relevance’ in the Church – snazzy ways of being awesome and appealing. Theres no more rabbits in the hat for the contemporary church. 

People are over it. 

They don’t need entertainment they need an experience of God. One that is real, deep and lasting.

We don’t need relevance we need reformation. 

Getting back to the fundamentals that have worked from the very beginning. And still work today!


They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Acts 2:42-47 NIV 

What a picture of the church:

So simple, so pure, and CENTRED ON JESUS. 

THIS IS WHAT THE CHURCH IS!

+++

The first year will be establishing a solid foundations for these things: 

- Word and worship 
- Prayer and fasting 
- Groups and community 
- Serve and Discipleship 

How do they work practically? 

What is the best way to establish these things so that they are not just anchored to a Sunday but they take root in every Christians life? 

How do we get our congregation to understand the importance of these things? 

All good questions that need answering! 

Good content…

+++

I think ultimately, the Holy Spirit is not an add on to what we do. He is the our guide and counsellor and without Him it is going to be impossible to do this. 

I finish with this verse: 

Exodus‬ ‭33:14-18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
Come Holy Spirit – we need you more than anything! 

+++ 

NEW LIFE


On Sunday just been we baptized Sam, Virginia, Allanah, Cohen and Austin at Browns Bay in Auckland. 

There was a tornado, a torrential downpour and a rainbow. It was biblically epic! 

It was so beautiful! 


We are seeking a venue right now in the centre of Auckland and we have made some good progress there. More details to come on that one soon! 

Keep praying for us! 

Pray that the Spirit of God would lead us. 

That we would see many people find Christ and that Gods church would be established.

There is nothing like the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit!





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1. PASSION