Sunday Reflections!

What an amazing day at LifeChurch today.

I was blown away with the presence of God in the worship services. Seriously there are times when you just don’t want it to end. This morning I felt the worship time was just too short!

Two most important times for any pastor on Sunday morning. One is seeing people passionately worshipping God and seeing people responding to God’s Word. I saw both on this morning.

Fetu Evile – what an awesome testimony – it received a standing ovation!  A story of Gods faithfulness and fulfilling of his promise “I will never leave you nor forsake you”. I saw from the front a few men crying while she was telling her story. Personally I was trying very hard to hold back the tears. I believe God is going to use this story to bring lots of people to know Him! Thanks Fetu for your courage and strength and for sharing your story with us!

We had representatives from the Randwick Park Residents Group attended church to thank LifeChurch for the work they do in the community. I thought that was nice and also very special. It’s great when people recognized what the church is doing because the need to be visible I am not just talking about building. We are privileged to be able to have a partnership with the community. Thanks for the morning tea!!!

The sermons over the last few weeks have been a little strange……I am not sure whether it’s a wise thing to blog about since our own church folks will be reading this………………………..let me think about it!!

Our band did an awesome job today. We are so blessed as a church to have such dedicated & passionate young team of worshippers who happens to know how to play an instrument and can hold a tune.

That cake stall: ummm…. Not so sure ……..It didn’t help my waistline!! My weakness…………cakes and sweet stuff!!  I was tempted beyond my strength!!  And I must confess I fell from Grace today!! It was a sweet fall!!!! Thanks SWITCH!

One of our Senior members Salatielu Sagala passed away and in the first service we had some time to reflect and have open sharing / tributes. It was nice. One word the best describes him ‘a servant’.

I spoke on the ‘Name of God’. What an honour to be able to speak on Gods behalf and speak of His name….- The Name that is above all names!! I don’t take it lightly!! I sensed a special unction this morning…….

Foundation Class

Tuesday night we kicked off a new 6 month course at LifeChurch Called Foundations. This class looks at eleven core truths or biblical doctrines to build ones life on. Foundation of any building determines both its size and strength and the same is true with our lives. A life built on a false or faulty foundation will never reach the height that God intends for it to reach.

LifeChurch is on a journey & a mission to ‘raise, train, empower and release a generation of leaders’. Its not a one or two year program. Its a lifetime investment. We want to build strong, oak tree type leaders not pretty mushroom leaders.

Colossians 2:7 says “Plant your roots in Christ and let Him be the foundation for your life”(CEV)

Topics:

• The Bible
• God
• Jesus
• Holy Spirit
• Creation
• Salvation
• Sanctification
• Good & Evil
• The Afterlife
• The Church
• The Second Coming

Sunday Reflections

• Kick off ‘One Prayer Series’.
• Title of my message in the first service “God is Faithful”.
• Second Service Pastor Kirk Pankratz from Church of the Harvest preached a powerful Word – ‘God is Hope”. Kirk is great communicator.
• Several people commented after the service
  • ‘Pastor that Word was for me’.
  • The Word was so powerful and so moving, I was in tears the whole service.
  • ‘I needed to hear that’. (first time guest)
  • ‘We needed that boost aye hon”! (a visiting couple)

• Saw lot of tears and repentance in both services.
• Tai shared her story yesterday. Tai is a young teenager who lost her only baby in a house fire Jan this year along with her baby sister and 2 step sisters. Amazing, powerful story of what God is doing in Tais life.
• Third Service of the day ‘Communion’ in the evening. I love communion services. We make it as less formal as possible,  family atmosphere. People are given the chance to share what God is doing in their lives. I saw something different in our young people yesterday. I think God is raising up a lot of young leaders and preachers.
• Preached about ‘Coming Together’ 1 Cor 11
• Spent a bit of time praying in pairs
• Praying and Ministering to our Senior Citizens and the sick.

My Sermon this morning in Wordle

SWITCH Leadership Boot Camp

LifeChurch is committed to Raising, Training, Empowering and Releashing the Next Generation of Leaders. 4:00am monday morning and SWITCH (LifeChurch’s youth ministry)  is on the road, from South to West Auckland.

Global Day of Prayer this SUNDAY

Switch – The STAND

more about "Switch – The STAND", posted with vodpod

Volunteers Appreciation Night

 VOLUNTEERS: They are the greatest asset of any church. They are my heroes. These are the people who throw in their heart and soul to the mission and vision of the church. They sacrificially give their time, energy, money, and talents for the benefit of others. They serve with joy, faithfulness, and commitment. They have a team spirit with a ‘we can do it attitude’. Though having different gifts, our volunteers are of equal value, united around a common purpose. They have an “all for one, one for all” heart.

My wife and I have been so blessed to be part of a great team at LifeChurch. (I know I have said this before in many other posts. The truth is I am biased) We have achieved a lot this year because of their unwavering support and trust.

This coming weekend we are celebrating together. It is still a mystery to them what we are doing or where we are going (I think) but I am so looking forward to it.

If you’ve volunteered at LifeChurch in the past year, then you’re invited! (Seriously, you should receive an invitation in the mail / email by now. If you don’t, and you should, please give Jeanie a call at the Office (09 262 2754), because it probably means we have an old or incorrect address for you.)
We don’t want you miss out. I promise that you will enjoy the night. It is a 7 hour event so make sure the babysitter is organized.

How long o Lord!!

No doubt you have heard of all the violent crimes in Manurewa and South Auckland recently. 3 Murders in 10 Days. Early this morning there was a helicopter hovering over our house. While I am writing this (12:30pm), about 8 police cars are patrolling our neighborhood right now looking for someone. Last night an Asian lady was killed in Manukau in the car park. Last week another Asian elderly lady died after a violent burglary and of course the murder of the Liquor salesman who got most of the media’s attention last week. There were also several other armed & knifepoint robberies, brutal beatings and holdups that didn’t make it to the media.

This is a very sad time in our community. My heart is troubled, yet determined to see a community transformed by the power of God. I have been praying Habakkuk style prayers in the last few days, begging God to do something.

Habakkuk 1:2-4
2 How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. 4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.

I still believe in the power of prayer and the God of the Impossible. He will redeem Manurewa and South Auckland. He will answer our cry.