Another orrrsome day
Today was a great day to be in Sydney at Hillsong 2007.
Joseph Prince was profound, and full of great ideas for messages, he emphasised grace, and it was SOLID teaching…..felt like he had placed some great truths in me….

Had another great coffee on the way in. They are letting us take our coffee into the auditorium this year, which is really good.
Have bought the new cd, and the songs seem deeper this year, I think I might have already said that. Couple written by Brooke Fraser, which are very Stuart Townend like, both in style and language….Most of the songs seem to be written by the younger crew, perhaps a signal of a change in generations perhaps?

Tired, but full, its great to be here.

Wednesday 1st Session Joseph Prince
John 1:17
17 For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ.
Law condemns
1st miracle turned water to blood
2nd miracle turned water to wine

5 It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God.
6 He has enabled us to be ministers of His new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life.
7 The old way, with laws etched in stone, led to death, though it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses’ face. For his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away.
8 Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life?
9 If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God!

People are sinning without license
It does not take the Holy Spirit to understand law
Grace is not natural
How come people don’t accuse us of having too much grace?
If you remove the law from the church does the church become lawless?
God is not after behavior modification but heart transplant
Law is holy, righteous, but it cannot make you holy
We should not be fighting to put 10 commandments in schools, but John 3:16
Grace will always beat the law, Jesus overcomes sin, He is not overcome by it.
Law of sin & death is more powerful than self will
Self control is a fruit of the Spirit and manifested by grace
Luke 18 “what must I do?” Obey all the laws!
Luke 19 “I am coming to your house ” Jesus gave grace and Zaccheus gave everything away, freely
When the Israelites mumured, they died.
3000 died, at Mnt Sinai Law
3000 came to life at Pentecost Grace
Centurian & woman both had great faith, why? They were both Gentiles & not under the Law!

Wednesday 2nd Session Louie Giglio
Is our legacy that we are consumers ? Or is our worship that we take the gospel to the world

Hebrews 13:15 Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to His name.
Come through “The Door” before you come through the door, you will be ready to worship
I don’t need a band or a style to start praising God
The worship movement is a juggernaut, but we walk away unchanged
God is looking for a church full of consumee’s, not consumers
AND……
16 And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.

Caring for the poor, this is what makes God happy.

God, what do You want?
All will see, how great is our God!
Worship is God focused , comprehensive (brings people to God)
Pastor led worship – The Pastor will lead, & the church will only go as far as the church – but there will be no preaching in heaven
Gifted to proclaim but created to worship
Short term communicator, Long term worshipper

Wednesday 3rd Session Ed Young
Ask Questions
Cancel things in your church all the time
What am I going to copy?
Take someone’s stuff to a whole new level
Speak to the thirds….
High chair – “I” chair
1st Chair – Hell bound
2nd – Saints
3rd – Fresh

4th Ride Theta identified – relaxed state

5th plan with a team, you will limit your creativity
Fresh, confidence, critique, training ground for new leaders/teachers
Always answer the
Why?
Tension create & tension
How do I pull this off, unpredictably
How is it different ?
Make it your style ?
Is it your stuff, is it your passion ?
Don’t take stuff without changing it!
Creativepastors.com
Grow by strategic subtraction
Hire Yes people
Don’t read the negative crap, it will break you down
Don’t lie about the numbers
Who are we reaching ?
Where are you putting your money?
Value your staff and pay them well

Wednesday 4th Session Donna Crouch
Donna explained what welfare, crisis, counseling, prison chaplain, refuge work, relief work Hillsong Church is involved in….

Hillsong Emerge
People don’t need us to take advantage of their needs
They give out beds to Sudanese Refugees in Blackburn “its not a sermon, its just a bed”

Street Teams
Go in every Thursday & Saturday, clean up areas

Hillsong Life
Hillsong uses a lot of Careforce material and offers these courses free of charge, its easier to just meet the need, than prevent it, but there is less visible reward for this
They believe everyone is poor in some area, spirit , financial, relationships etc, and they want the church to help in all these areas. They want Hillsong to be famous for its welfare and social areas, not so much its music.

Wednesday Night Session Jentzen Franklin
Romans 13:11 This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
12 The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living.
We are in a transfer zone
If the transfer is not made successfully then the runner is disqualified
If we don’t transfer the Gospel …..
The older you get, the more open you have to be, but in fact, it is natural to be closed to changes
We must be vision driven, not memory driven
We are in a Kairos time, a time of opportunity
3 stages of life
1st stage Growth
2nd Earn
3rd Return

Don’t let the drifting get to you
There is always a space between the now and the next. How the next treats the now, will determines how the next is treated when it is the now
Colossians 1:15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
Christ is the ICON of the Church
Illustration Jeans can be passed down
Holy, dirty, blue Jeans

Started the day with a really good coffee on the way into the auditorium. Unfortunatly the coffee was so good, I had two more during the day.

These notes are probably more useful to me than what they will be to you….but you might get something out of them.

Chris Tomlin played, and it was awesome, sung a couple of old standards as well as his normal stuff…

Exceptional multi media this year, and the new Hillsong songs seem to have more theological content that previous years…

Tuesday First Session

John Bevere

Isaiah 6:1-13

1 It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of His robe filled the Temple.

2 Attending Him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.

3 They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with His glory!”

4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.

Holy = 3 times for emphasis

Responding to God’s holiness

Isaiah has glimpse of God & realises his own sinfulness

God speaks & only 1 person in Israel hears, the cleansed person

2

V1 Uzziah died before Isaiah heard from God

16 But when he had become powerful, he also became proud, which led to his downfall. He sinned against the LORD his God by entering the sanctuary of the LORD’s Temple and personally burning incense on the incense altar.

A spirit of pride & a spirit of religion run hand in hand & they strengthen each other

Pride keeps you from admitting you have a problem & religion covers it up

Pride must die for you to have a fresh vision of me

Phil 3

4 though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!

5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law.

6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.

12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.

13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,

high call=that I might know Him

1 Cor 15:9 For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church

You look at all the preachers in the world, & I am the bottom of the barrell!

10 But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out His special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by His grace.

But in fact he had more fruit than anyone because of God’s grace

humility When we are completely & totally dependent on Him

Ephesians 3

7 By God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving Him by spreading this Good News.

8 Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, He graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ

1 Tim 1:15,

Ps 25:9

9 He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them His way.

Israel relationship is based only on how God answered their prayers

E.g. Moses, David

The degree to which we press into humility is the degree we will know God

Is 57:15

Tuesday 2nd Session

Brian Houston

Ps 45.16

16 Your sons will become kings like their father. You will make them rulers over many lands.

Instead of the Father shall be the sons

Will of God to move from known to unknown, from predictable to unpredictable

Predictable in loyalty, reliability, belief, credibility & example, commitment, vision

Unpredictably in spontenaity, surprise, innovation, creativity – when you can see things before they are there, influence – method must come from change, empower the generations, experience is overated! I’ve only been married once…!

Experience & wisdom are not the same thing, experience is to be our servant, not our master , books don’t build churches

“I can’t read so I have to think”

Structure & program are to be our servant not the master

Keep structure under the surface

Culture is our servant not master

“that’s not our culture”

Heritage is our servant not master

Do you want to make history or serve it?

Do we learn from history or repeat it?

God wants to do something new.

I will honour/esteem elders, but I wont obey them

Tuesday 3rd Session

Steve Penny

Nehemiah

Your people are talking, the enemy is talking, everyone else is watching….

therefore….

Nehemiah understood that he had to get the people talking about Nehemiah and what God was doing in the rebuilding of the walls.

Tuesday 4th Session

Phil Baker

2 Cor 5

What is the priority of your church?

Mission, Ministry, Music, Man or….

Evangelism

Def: Introducing God to people

So therefore what is your view of God?

There was nothing appealing about Him (Jesus)

Get close to people tyranny of distance

So much easier to criticise from afar

If we want to lead people to Christ you have to narrow the gap

Liked people tyranny of disdain

Criticised for meeting people of disdain

Took time tyranny of hurry

Are we busier than Jesus?

“Everything is covered by the dust of hurry?”

Stayed put Tyranny of Movement

Primary Principle is one of a journey
Movement is more important than position
Back up evangelistic vehicles are required, cannot only rely on personal evangelism
Build structures which move them along

Tuesday 5th Session

John Bevere

We need to have an eternal perspective, lifted straight from his book……

Too many scriptures to mention including 2 John 8, 1 cor 3.11-15,

we need to not only be human beings but human doers

We will be not be judged for what we have done, but what we are called to do….

3 Ways to find what Gods will for you is, in the light of eternity

1. Seek God ernestly

2. Be planted in a local church, so you can grow

3. Be free from entanglements…

Full on day…..tired, but excited….its great to be here….

Unless you have been living in a cave, or dont care about football (which amounts to the same thing), you would have heard about Allan Didak and the fact he was in the murderers car hours before the fatal shooting in the Melbourne CBD.

After Freo has shown the way with strict and swift discipline, and after the AFL has borne its teeth to West Toast about Cousins, threatening them with loss of premiership points for bringing the game into disrepute, lets see what Colliwobbles and Eddy Everywhere does about this situation…….

Another big crew in this morning, about 45 parents, with toddlers in tow.
Had a visit from another pastor wanting to see what we do and maybe try it at his church…..
Amazing really, at 9.29 there is one toddler his mum in the place, at 9.45, its breathing room only.

What an awesome opportunity, “God help us, empower us, use this time and opportunity for your purposes”.

What does it mean to prepare a talk every week for a group of people? Are we just, as Mark Twain suggests, ‘preaching to moral people about why they should be moral?’ (loose)
Or is there something more?
This week I am speaking on Holy Discontent, within the broader context of hearing from God. Its a beautiful experience when God speaks to you….and something we may miss out on if we don’t place ourselves in positions to hear from Him.

This is a ‘one off’ message. I like to preach in series to build momentum, interest and focus.
More on what I am preaching on over the next month soon, stay tuned, get the coke cold, and prepare to be encouraged.

My blog is rated G, according to Mingle2
You can go there and find the rating of your own blog.

I have had over 1000 visitors this month, with about 50 unique hits a day, which is pretty amazing considering some of the dribble I come out with, I mean talking about apricot jam for goodness sake.

I get most visits on Mondays and Tuesdays, and the least hits on Saturdays…..so you must all be visiting during working hous. Maybe my dribble is at times a nice distraction.

I also have had over 400 new people visit the blog this month, goodness knows where from, and a steady readership of about 350….

It is quite extraordinary the people that visit from a google or other search, with the most amazing search parameters. Hopefully they find something worth reading.

It is also amazing to see some regulars from the most obscure locations, at least to me. From Japan, to Canada, to France and even Africa….Thanks for visiting.
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