WHAT DO YOU

What do you want? What do you want to do? What do you hope to achieve? What do you long to buy? What do you wish for your community? What do you need to change? What do you aspire to learn? What do you dream of leaving as a legacy for the next generation? What do you desire? Your life, your achievements, your reputation, your acquisitions, will inevitably be shaped by what you desire. I do not at all mean by what you claim you desire, but what you actually desire. Desires that are virtuous will shape you into a truly successful person. Desires that are wicked (‘concupiscence’) will deny you your path to you divinely intended destiny. When it comes to choosing your desires, choose wisely. 

¶ May He grant you your heart’s desire
and fulfil all your plans!
Psalm 20:4

How would you feel if a true prophet of the LORD gave you a Word from God that resembled Psalm 20:4? But even if you received that Word from the LORD it would still start with your true and godly desires. In fact, of my five decade study of people who have managed to achieve the extraordinary, I came to realise that they each had one thing in common: an undaunted and clear desire. Perhaps one of the greatest and most inspirational examples of this is the story of José Hernández. It is the true story of man who came from an unimaginably difficult upbringing and deprivation to reach his ridiculously big dream. After he realised his life-goal, he wrote his story ‘A Million Miles Away‘ (2023) to inspire others who have been told, “That’s ridiculous! … You’re crazy! … You could never do that —you’re uneducated! … That’s impossible! … Don’t be so idealistic!” The José Hernández story highlights what someone might be able to achieve when they have ‘proven’ desire. (‘Proven desire’ is the kind of desire that stands the test of time, leads to great sacrifices, produces dedication, and does whatever it takes.)   

WHAT DO YOU…

You have given him his heart’s desire
and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
Psalm 21:2

What do you want / to do / achieve / buy / to do to improve your community / to change about yourself / to learn / to leave as a legacy for the next generation? Whatever it is, that aspiration (longing) is determined by what you desire. You may not know what you really desire. But others can see it clearly. These people, often your colleagues, friends, or family, can tell what your desires are (despite your own denials about knowing what you really desire). They can see what you actually desire by what you do everyday seen in how you spend your time, talents, and treasure. They listen closely to your constant excuses about why you couldn’t get something done, or why you didn’t have enough time, or why none of the diets you’ve tried have worked, or why you couldn’t make it to church lately even though you claim to love Jesus. But most of all they can tell by what you really desire by what you’re prepared to sacrifice to fulfil it.

But maybe you already know that these people who care about you are right? Perhaps you are even disappointed with how the way you spend your time or use your talents or even how you manage your money – does not reflect what you really really would like to desire? Then, my challenging question to you is: Do you desire to change this?  

Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4

RESET YOUR DESIRES

Christianity is grounded in a vigorously denied truth: God can change people. This is called conversion. It begins with the acceptance of the truth. No matter what mistakes you have made in the past, GOD can forgive you and transform you into a new creature.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Second Corinthians 5:17

Without experiencing GOD’s transforming gift of grace we would all be left prisoners to the bondage of sin that corrupts desires into concupiscence (“evil desires”). But GOD’s gift of new life opens our eyes to how wretched we were without GOD’s help and why we need to turn to Him for the grace to live with godly desires that will be the doorway for each of us to fulfil our GOD given purpose in life (Prov. 10:24; 11:23).

He fulfills the desire of those who fear Him;
He also hears their cry and saves them.
Psalm 145:19

Resetting desires even begins with a feint desire for GOD to have His way (Matt. 6:33). Sometimes all it takes is a change from “won’t” to: “can’t”. GOD can help your “can’t” – but not your “won’t”. Reset desires shift your perspective from selfish to selfless. It shifts your vision of people as a means to get things done to a vision of getting things done as a means to get closer to people. (This is why being in church each Sunday is actually not about you. It’s about you together with other people getting closer to God and each other.)  

 

RESET DESIRES

For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work [NET “desire”] for his good pleasure.
¶ Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent,
children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation,
among whom you shine as lights in the world.
Philippians 2:13-15

Australia has a rather desperate need for more younger pastors. When I was 18-years of age I went to my pastor, Joseph Bowes, around at his house one weekday morning. I announced the purpose of my visit, “I think God is calling me into ministry.” But I then said to him, “But I guess you have a lot of young men tell you that.” He answered, “No I don’t.” (Two years earlier I had received the baptism in the Holy Spirit.) What followed this morning meeting with Pastor Joe, was an encouragement to finish school, get a job and even pursue a career. The desires that God had reset in me led me to connect with Richard Winter who had studied theology in the USA and who encouraged me to begin studying theology by distance with ICI Theological College (now Global University based in Springfield Missouri). Richard Winter connected me into Overseas Christian Fellowship where I helped where I could. Then one Friday night, unbeknown to me, the desire of my life walked in. She had bleached blonde hair and four earrings in each ear.

Just prior to meeting this 19-year-old young lady, I had had a vivid dream about her. When I met her that Friday night and looked at her for the first time at the end of the night I instantly recognised her as the woman of my dreams! Kim awakened in me a desire that I did not know I had. After a life of being a confirmed-bachelor I declared to my sister, Narelle, that “Last night I met the woman I was going to marry!” It’s important for me to tell you that my reset desires had involved a rock-solid commitment to Matthew 6:33 – seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. I had not made seeking first a wife my greatest desire. My commitment to God first led to Him awakening in me a desire to be married to Kim. After 36-years of marriage I can confidently say both Kim and I have the same desire, to – seek first the Kingdom of God.

I only share this story because I want you to understand that when your desires are reset by God with you applying Matthew 6:33, then God often awakens within you subsequent “secondary” desires that may have lain dormant within your soul for a long time. Some of you have dormant desires within you that will be awakened by your surrender to God that will lead you to be a business person. Some of you have dormant secondary desires that will lead to be an elite athlete. For some of you this will lead to being in politics, or education, or as a chef, or as a pastor (1Tim. 3:1), or as an actor, or even as an author. I hope the example of José Hernández inspires you to understand the price that has to be paid to fulfil your true desires. As my time comes to end, and in whatever time I have left, I hope to hear that many of you will pay the price for pursuing your desire to fulfil your divinely appointed destiny. (And remember Second Timothy 3:12 and First Peter 3:10 as you do.)

¶ Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.
Romans 10:1

Your Pastor,

Andrew

Let me know what you think below in the comment section and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.

THE HALLMARKS OF A SPIRIT-FILLED, ON-FIRE-FOR-GOD CHURCH

¶ When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.
Acts 2:1-3

It is too easy to think of a Spirit-filled, on-fire church as large a congregation with great music, great facilities, great programs, and great preaching. And, to be fair, it could be. But those things would be incidental not causal or resultant. Conversely, it would too easy to think of a small church in a small town with no worship band, no building of their own, no paid pastor, and no programs as “dead”. And, to be fair, it could be. But those indicators may just be incidental to its death, not the cause of it. A Spirit-filled, on-fire church can be either large or small, found in a large city or a small country town. It could have great music or no music at all. It could have a gifted dynamic preacher as its pastor, or it may have no pastor at all. But without exception, all Spirit-filled and on-fire for God church have three essential qualities.

It has not gone unnoticed that nearly on the same day that the head of the Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rev. Justin Welby, announced the decision to approve the blessing of same-sex unions by Anglican priests (something that many other Archbishops in the Anglican Communion around the world have condemned as unbiblical and ungodly), that in Wilmore Kentucky, at Asbury University, an extraordinary move of God began where hundreds of people have experienced a deep conviction of sin resulting in confession, tears, and repentance. The “Asbury Revival” has now had thousands visit and experience similar. On one side of the Atlantic an Archbishop has blessed sin, while on the other side of the Atlantic God was convicting of sin!

There have been people praying for revival in Wilmore for months, maybe years. Groups of students and seminarians gathering to pray. Historically, when you look at revivals, prayer precedes revival. It was a normal Wednesday chapel service, in Hughes Auditorium. But a dozen students stayed afterword for prayer, and students kept coming back to the chapel. Then the group of students grew, and never left, staying for prayer, repentance, worship, reading of scripture, and exhortation. I was told that a revival had started. I came into the chapel, and had a sense of God’s presence in the place. It felt like God was pouring himself out upon his people and the place. It was like heaven come to earth. Like God tabernacling with his people.

Perhaps what has happened out of Canterbury England compared with what is happening at Asbury Chapel serves as a metaphor for the difference between what most might regard as impressive religion and what is actually genuine spiritual life. This contrast being a church that looked alive but was actually dead was made by Christ to the church at Sardis – 

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write:
‘The words of Him who has the Seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
¶ “ ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.”
Revelation 3:1

The church at Sardis looked like it was alive—it even had a reputation for being alive. But, according to Jesus, it was dead. But why did everyone else think that it was alive? Perhaps it attracted a lot of people? Living, Spirit-filled, on-fire-for-God, churches usually do attract people. Perhaps everyone thought the Sardis church was a Spirit-filled, on-fire, church because they exhibited the gifts of the Spirit and saw miracles of healing? Perhaps they looked alive because they had passionate worship or preaching? Whatever it was that earned them the reputation for being alive, it was still actually dead. Eventually, true Spirit-filled, on-fire, believers no longer want to be a part of a church that is dead. Sadly, this is what has happened to several denominations around the world (including Australia) that have abandoned God and His Word and bowed to cultural pressure to compromise on what the Word of God calls sin and the Father commands repentance for. But Christ offered the church at Sardis the hope of finding life, spiritual renewal, and to get on-fire for God again –

Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die,
for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.
Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent.
If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief,
and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.
Revelation 3:2-3

I hope the pastor and elders of the church at Sardis did heed Christ’s invitation and warning. I hope they repented. I hope that they recommenced and completed the works that God had called them to do. I hope that the congregation returned to a profound respect for the preaching of God’s Word and received it when it was preached so that they didn’t just hear it, they kept it. This was the pathway out of the clutches of church-death that could reinstitute their passion for God, His Word, His Spirit, and for His mission, and become a Spirit-filled, on-fire church.

Two weeks ago I completed my final subject for a degree I had been undertaking. Having finished physics, chemistry, mathematics, and a range of other necessary subjects, my final subject was biology. My Professor, Dr. Daniel Grazier, would periodically make a spiritual parallel from our study of the ten-and-a-half systems of the human body. In our study of the pulmonary-respiratory system, he drew a profound analogy to what makes a healthy church body by citing the author, Thom Rainer-

In his remarkable book Autopsy of a Deceased Church, Thom Rainer notes that in the early days of the church, the disciples devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship and the breaking of bread, and to prayer (Acts 2:42). While they broke bread together, prayer was not an add-on to give them permission to start eating. Prayer was serious business for the early church members. Based on his research and study, Rainer concludes that a church begins to die when it ceases to pray (2014, 67). (Studies in Human Biology 2020, 265)

We want to be a Spirit-filled, on-fire-for-God church. Today there are many pastors and churches trying to look alive rather than truly coming alive. Many have blamed the recent COVID pandemic for their woes. Shane Morris, from Colson Centre and the host the Upstream Podcast, last week (Feb 17 2023) wrote – 

Apparently, large numbers of people who once identified as Christians have decided they no longer need to attend church. While COVID may have been the impetus behind this exodus, the root causes are preexisting and go much deeper. Too many Christians think of church as they would an event, concert, or TED Talk, optional experiences that can just as easily be consumed remotely. When combined with pastors and leaders who view the core purpose of church as evangelism rather than discipleship or worship and are therefore willing to do whatever seems to “work,” success is just as easily measured by logins and views after the pandemic as it was by attendance numbers and growth size before the pandemic. Much is behind these shifting numbers. First and foremost, God continues to prune and winnow His Church, seeking the health of His Beloved. The broader cultural shift away from truth claims and anything that smacks of traditional morality has only intensified in recent years. And, we should at least consider the possibility that the decline in both numbers and influence is, at least in part, a self-inflicted wound.

Like C.S. Lewis’ famous image of making mudpies in the slum when offered a trip to the seashore, we’ve baptized (and watered down) the habits of the world in place of the riches provided in the testimony of Scripture and the God-ordained practices of the Church. Why would our neighbors be drawn to warmed-over versions of the world’s leftovers? To use a pair of homespun metaphors, the kind of bait used determines the kind of fish caught. Or, more prosaically, what you win people with is what you win them to. After decades of appealing first and foremost to whatever people want and editing to whatever they think, we’ve essentially discipled a generation that will only follow a Church that leads where they want to go. In every age, a true and real Christianity finds much to critique as well as to affirm. If we aren’t willing to challenge the sacred cows of our day, if we aren’t up to preaching what Tom Holland called the “weird stuff” of our faith, we will find (and perhaps even now we are finding) that no one is interested in what we have to say because we aren’t saying much worth hearing.

 

WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A SPIRIT-FILLED, ON-FIRE CHURCH

It takes being God-seeking, God-hearted, and God-pleasing together.

This involves being informed by the Word of God so that they way we pray together, and the ‘what’ we pray together, is directed toward seeking greater intimacy with God together. There can be no greater example of this than how Christ prayed to His Father. At the time of His greatest anguish as prayed earnestly in the Garden of Gethsemane with His disciples and He made the will of God His chief prayer (Matt. 26:39). Some believer spend time in what they call “praying” without ever actually talking to God or seeking His will. Perhaps this is how the congregation of the church at Sardis were praying? The kind of praying that is Spirit-filled and full of the fire of God’s zeal is the kind of prayer longs to know God, be shaped by God, have His will done in the pray-er’s life. These prayers are not  always eloquent – in fact, they are rarely if ever eloquent. Paul describes them in Romans 8 as resembling groans and the sounds of longings. This is the kind of praying that transforms the praying believer’s heart to be even more sensitive what pleases God’s heart. It results in the believers within a Spirit-filled, on-fire-for-God, church seeking to earnestly please God — even if it costs them dearly. But this is joy of holiness that is the delight of every true believer and every church that is truly alive.

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken,
and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Acts 4:31 

It takes being God-seeking, God-hearted, and God-pleasing together.

God’s heart is for all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1Tim. 2:4). A Spirit-filled, on-fire for God church beats with the heartbeat of God for the lost. But it is not the lost who are our focus when our seeking the heart of God. It is God. A Spirit-filled church, on-fire-for-God church has a passion for God’s and His presence. Thus, there is a passion, a zeal, an enthusiasm, and a willing commitment to gather with the church family. At the moment due to my present illness I am unable. But I am more than watching live when I am joining in on our church’s Livestream. I commented with encouragement for those sharing in our service on our YouTube live-feed. When we are being led in prayer. I am closing my eyes, bowing my aching head and praying too. When the Word is being preached, I praying for the preacher and for those listening to have ears to hear and a heart to receive. When the appeal and invitation is given at the end of the service, I am pleading with God to be merciful to sinners and to bring them repentance and to give them the gift of salvation. This Sunday, please pray and invite people to both of our special services as Kate shares in the morning, and Dan Warlow shares in the afternoon (if you could just come along and pray pray pray for Kate and Dan and for all those God might touch through their ministries).

¶ And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.
Acts 2:42-43

It takes being God-seeking, God-hearted, and God-pleasing together.

We are that kind of church and may it ever be so! Amen!

Your convalescing Pastor,

Andrew

Let me know what you think below in the comment section and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.

A COMMANDING LOVE

WHEN COMMANDING IS AN ADJECTIVE NOT JUST A VERB

Jesus was asked, "Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the Law?" (Matthew 22.36)  There's many things He could have said, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, defend the rights of the oppressed, and while all of these are commandments in the Law of Christ, none of them are the greatest! 

'And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ Mark 12:30

What I find fascinating about the New Testament documents is that for all the difficulties that the apostles of Christ faced toward the end of the first century, doctrinal heresies, declining church attendance, sexual misconduct within the churches, increasing moral decadence outside the church, increased persecution from the State, and a rise in evangelistic apathy among believers, all of them appealed to this greatest commandment in their closing letters. 

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LOVE GOD?

Love comes in a variety of forms and even though in English we really only have the one word which can apply for all forms, there is quite a distinction between them. We love a good cup of tea. We love it when our team wins. We love our mothers. We love our brothers and sisters. We love our children. We love our sweetheart to whom we are married. We love God. I have deliberately attempted to progress up the scale of love with these examples of how in English we use the one word ("love") to describe these various delights. Corresponding to this upward scale is another upward scale going from "Virtually involuntary" to "I chose to, because I benefit" all the way up to "A voluntary choice even when I do not benefit and it actually costs me". 

This correspondence highlights that the deeper and higher the form of love, the greater and more costly the commitment required. It also shows that the greatest love is not based on whimsical involuntary things such as how I feel at the time, after all, who doesn't love a good cup of tea or coffee? My love for a nice cup of coffee requires very little effort or commitment from me. Unlike the greatest form of love, this kind of almost involuntary love requires very little from me whereas the highest form of love is not determined or maintained merely by how I feel. This is why: 

Decisions create Actions and Actions create Feelings.

If you want to feel love for someone, then you must first decide to, then secondly, do loving acts for that person. 

The who has been redeemed by God has received a complete change of heart and mind. Their will has been healed from the ravages of sin's evil lurings. They now chose to love the One who has redeemed them.

"Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Luke 7:47

When it comes to the highest love, loving God, it requires the most important decision, the highest commitment, and the most devoted action. It was the Apostle John who outlived all the other apostles. He witnessed the persecution of Christians across the empire. He saw many believers forsake Christ for the love of the world. He wrote one of his last letters on behalf of Christ to the church at Ephesus with supreme pastoral tenderness and reminded them of the essence of what it means to call oneself a "Christian" -

"But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first."
 Revelation 2:4

John had previously written to the Ephesian believers and told them plainly how to love God. What he said sounded uncannily like the second part of Christ's answer to His questioner. 

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
 Mark 12:30-31

John put legs on this command of Christ by explaining how believers were to show their love for God - 

By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
¶ For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
 First John 3:10-11

John used the word brother to speak of the believers brothers and sisters in Christ. While the believer is called to love all people, we are called to especially love our fellow brothers and sisters.

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
 Galatians 6:10

 And this is why followers of Christ are told how to love God by the anonymous author to the Hebrews, especially as the pressure from the world increased - 

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.  Hebrews 10:24-25

Understanding that the deepest, highest form of love is a totally voluntary, completely devoted to, and selfless serving act, it is then possible to see how God can command it. For the believer, God's commands are not a burden (1John 5:3), rather, they are a means of grace. That is, there is power within the Word of God for the believer to obey the Word of God. The love of God which Christ calls His followers to is a commanding love. Thus, Christ is commanding love. In this sense, it is a verb (something He is doing). But it also describes the kind of love that God calls for. In this sense it is an adjective (a description, and a quality).

To help His followers to keep this great two-part command, Christ said, "I will build My Church!" (Matthew 16:18) This is why attending the House of God each weekend is not merely about being religious, or even traditional - no - and a thousand times "No!" It is about loving Jesus! When we all gather on the Lord's Day to worship God together, to share in Communion together, to receive instruction from God's Word together, and to pray for one another together - we are loving Jesus! When Saul the Pharisee was waging persecution against the Church he was struck from his horse on the Road to Damascus and questioned by Christ, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?" (Acts 9:4) To love Christ is to love His Church and especially the local church of fellow brothers and sisters where He has placed you in His body. This is why it is for the love of Christ that I go to church this Sunday, and I invite you to fall in love with Jesus afresh this weekend in His church, your church, as well.

Pastor Andrew.