When it comes to the things of God, most people have no understanding of what they are dealing with. God is trying to save people from permanent extinction (death), but most are blindly adhering to lifestyles that are more appealing to their human nature. God is not offering a life of permanent denial and abstinence of all pleasures. He is trying to save people from certain death. Our perspective is short term and certainly devoid of any spiritual awareness. Spiritually speaking, the human race is brain dead, they are devoid of any potential and they are powerlessly living out their time; spiritually crippled... awaiting permanent death. On the other hand, God is offering us the power to be saved.

Our church formed around sixty years ago during one of the early outpourings of the Holy Spirit in Australia. As time went by two distinct types of spirit filled groups formed. Some groups determined that believing or accepting Christ was New Testament salvation and that the anointing of the Holy Spirit was an optional extra. The others believed that the anointing of the Holy Spirit and water baptism was salvation and was evidenced by the prophesied sign of speaking in tongues (both groups adopted a large variety of beliefs, practices and prophetic understandings). Our church adopted the same belief that Peter spoke of on the day of Pentecost.

This prophecy is for the New Testament church... Paul quotes from it in his letter to the Corinthian church. "ISA 28:9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts." There has to be a level of maturity and intelligent, yet willing acceptance, before the knowledge of God can become clear and effective. No effective growth can come unless the basics are clear!

Many people don’t know what it to be filled with the Spirit and of those who are filled with the spirit, even fewer understand what it means to walk in the spirit.

Many people who are committed to long term goals, face moments of doubt and despair… this is even true of devoted Christians. Today, we are going to discuss some moments of truth we face from time to time and the effective results that are possible.

What does it mean to walk with Jesus Christ? To walk with Jesus is the most exciting thing that anyone can possibly do… where will the Lord take you?

The details within these parables of Jesus, reveal much more than we could ever imagine. The clarity and direction oftered to us is truly refreshing and yet simple at the same time. The indwelling power of the Spirit is able to open up much of this wisdom and wonderfully reveal, vital and marvellous truths. Many Christians waste their lives trying to find righteousness by avoiding sin... they are doomed to fail, because they miss the mark... ALL SIN CANNOT BE AVOIDED... nor do they have the correct motivation. The worst mistake you can make as a Christian in not based on sins you have committed, but upon your failure to do the will of God.

The parable of the talents is one of a trilogy in Matthew 25, expounding on responsibility and judgment. This parable reveals that the amount of talents you have is not the issue, but it’s how you use what you have! It is important to learn the lesson of this parable because the person who did not use his ability was lost forever.

When we talk about the love of God, many feel safe and secure in the mercy, forgiveness and grace that is far above human capacity. God is bigger than us and his positive attributes leave us lacking... we spend most of our lives learning how to love and think like Christ. The trouble with this is that we often can miss why he has shown his love towards us... we focus on his love, but often miss why he has revealed it to us. We have been filled with the Holy Spirit to demonstrate God’s love, not just feed on it. God’s love goes far beyond his care for us... he also cares for the rest of the world and wants us to do our bit in sharing the gospel with the unsaved as well. When we miss the second part of God’s love we also miss the overcoming nature of our existence... we also miss a lot of blessing and can feel unfulfilled.

We see that the greater works that Christ prophesied about, related to the receiving and use of the Holy Spirit. It is interesting for two reasons... the first is the statement that we will have the potential to do the works of Christ (miracles)... and the second, which is the most amazing, reveals that we have the potential to do even greater works than Christ. We understand also that there are two layers of responsibility at work at the same time.