On Sunday, Pastor Becky shared about her time walking the Camino de Santiago, also known as the “way” of St. James related to his missionary journeys.

The word Camino means journey and Pastor shared how we are all journeying through life. She shared her encounters with other pilgrims along the way. Each walking their own pace, style and distances. Each person vulnerable and at times dependent on one another. Pastor shared how human dignity and respect for each person was so evident and how it reminded her of what the Lord said through the prophet Micah.

“No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8).

Micah prophesied the coming of Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ and the Spirit that now resides in every believer, we have the ability to walk in humble obedience to the Lord, caring for one another and preserving human dignity. Walking the “way” of Christ removes the yoke of worldly expectations and frees us of pride, competition, and comparison. We see this demonstrated in the early church in the book of Acts.

We are all on a journey, how we walk may vary but the destination is eternity with Christ. Let us do what is right, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.

Often, we see anger as a negative emotion, a feeling we should avoid. So when we read about God’s anger in the Bible, it doesn’t feel right. How can a loving God be angry? We have a human understanding of anger and not a Godly one. God’s anger is the result of His love for us. God’s anger is justice for our suffering and mistreatment caused by sinful human beings. God’s anger is settled, determined, and in full opposition to sin. One day it all gets judged…that’s justice. In Luke 11, Jesus demonstrates His anger and how it is fueled by His love for His people, all people. This love led Jesus to be judged in our place. Justice done, now free, once for all who believe.

When life becomes exhausting the temptation is to withdraw from anything that feels like more work, even our faith walk. Sometimes we just want to lie in bed and “doom scroll” on our phones until our batteries are completely flat. Like a smartphone that needs to be recharged, we too need a recharge. Rather than disconnecting from God, Jesus invites us to connect with Him as our power source. We experience the vitality of life that He brings when we stay connected through prayer, and reading the Word. In John 15:1-17 Jesus explains how He is the vine, and we are the branches; He is giving us His vitality so that we may bear good fruit in our lives.

Around this time of year, there’s talk everywhere about God’s Glory, but what does that actually mean and how does it affect us?

“And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.””

This glory filling the earth, is the expression of everything God is, all experienced when we connect with Christ. The glory that Christ carries is God’s glory. When we experience Jesus and allow Christ to live in our hearts through the Spirit, our life is lit up, we are captivated by His care and transformed day by day into the image of Christ-this is the invitation, Jesus is the gift. We become the light of the World carrying the message and compassion of Christ to those in need. In a world captivated by FOMO this is an adventure of a lifetime that you do not want to miss! There will be many parties this holidays season, this invitation is one that will last long after we leave this earth.

Jesus Christ is the safest refuge for our lives. In the chaos of this world, Colossians 2:20 reminds us that “He is the head over every power and authority.”. Jesus has authority over all things for all time. He cares for us as his very own body. When we go through dark times, He is our peace and our refuge-He is our protection and strength. He is God and he is human a descendant of David who foretold of His goodness, presence, authority, and power when he wrote…

“1 The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. 2 He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. 3 He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honour to his name. 4 Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. 5 You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honour me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings. 6 Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23:1-6

Touch is a sign of acceptance, love, and affirmation. Holding hands, first kisses, and holding a newborn; are meaningful parts of our lives. The touch of Jesus offers these things and so much more. With just a touch, Jesus can heal, remove shame, forgive sins, and bring our life out of the shadows. Before Jesus was crucified, he shared a last meal with his closest friends, the disciples. During the meal, He showed them how the bread and wine they were sharing would represent His presence in their lives and serve as a reminder of all He has done for us. We now take the bread and wine- we call it The Lord’s Supper, and we remember and celebrate the cleansing work of Jesus as He touches our lives even today through the spirit.

How do we experience Jesus? In this series, Pastor Becky guides us as we learn to look and think deeper about the part Jesus plays in our daily lives. This week we look at experiencing Jesus’ presence in our lives. We look at examples of how Jesus shows up in the Bible. We learn from the past, to know what to expect in our future, as God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. We end with a call to action, to sit with Jesus each day to look for what Jesus has given us and be thankful for his presence and work in our lives.

“ So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” – Hebrews 4:16

In life, it’s tempting to feel alone when things go wrong, like no one else has ever experienced exactly what we are feeling. However, when Jesus came to earth, He experienced everything it meant to be human – the joys, sorrows, temptation, loss and hardship. Jesus knows exactly how we feel and what we are going through everyday, and He is asking us to go to him with all our worries and emotions and to take His grace and compassion, for he knows us intimately and wants to be with us.

Our message this week was from Rev Sandy Turnbull from The Glory Centre www.gloryctr.org

Paul wrote “What can separate us from the love of God?”, but sometimes we feel separated from God when we go through hardship in our lives. In Romans, Paul gives examples of trials that he has gone through in his life, and what he has learned is that when we go through trials we can allow ourselves to feel let go by God, or we can choose to remind ourselves that God is always with us.

This Sunday, Pastor Becky shared about her time at The Glory Centre’s All Nations Gathering Conference in California. During this conference Encounter Missions International (EMI) Pastors get together for a leadership retreat and to connect and learn from each other. The theme of this year’s conference was “Come Alive” based on the scripture ‘So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.’ Ezekiel 37:10

We’ve all heard “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” – Matthew 6:33, but what does this mean?

We all have goals that we want to achieve, but not all are valuable for our lives. God helps us to realise which of these goals add value and asks us to fix eyes, hearts and minds on Him, to help us overcome distractions that hinder us from achieving these goals, so that we may live in His blessing for us, and therefore be a blessing to others.

God has the power to breathe life into what seems lifeless and broken. From from Ezekiel’s vision of dry bones brought to life and God’s promise of a new heart and spirit for the Israelites, we witness His ability to restore hope and renew strength. God’s life giving Spirit is still moving and working in our lives too, and Pastor Becky explains that our unique circumstances do not place us outside of God’s plans for us.

When we invite God into our lives, we often turn the situation to be about what we want fixed and changed in our lives. But in reality, when we ask God into our lives we are presented with the chance to bring our nature, character and dreams into alignment with God’s. Every day we are given the opportunity to trust in God. In this message, Pastor Becky explains how when we pursue the life of love and purpose that Christ invites us into, the benefit of this is that those areas in life that we want help with start getting that aid we crave.

This week we heard from Ps Sandy Turnbull from The Glory Centre in California

When we feel like everything is vague and blurry, and there’s no clear path ahead, we can turn to God’s word, the Bible, to help light our way. Ps Sandy reads from Habakkuk, a minor prophet in the bible, to show how relying on God’s word is the best way to get clarity for our lives and gives actionable advice on how to do this.

“When we pray its not about getting stuff…the fact that we spend time with God, that’s what changes us.” – Chuck Smith Jnr, Guest Speaker
The idea of heaven on earth now is challenging to imagine, it’s as if two realities need to exist at once. When we really engage in prayer and take a step back from our thoughts and self we can embrace God’s presence and connect with Him, spirit to spirit.

This week we had the privilege to hear a sermon from Janet Robertson, Global Director of Encounter Missions International (EMI)

The need for community is in our DNA, from the time of creation, we were created to be in communion with one another. God has given us a community in the form of church and he has given us a mission to follow while we are there!

The power of our words can bring death or life, they can build up and love others or they can cut people down. Our words have the ability to tell the greatest story that has ever existed, God’s story. Pastor Becky demonstrates to us through scriptures the difference that sharing the Gospel vs sharing gossip has on our lives.

When we talk about miracles, we often wrestle with the tension created when our prayers appear to go unanswered. God who knows everything invites us to pray bold prayers but why pray if God already knows what will happen? In this message, Pastor Becky addresses this issue and explains that no matter the outcome, God’s plan or ours, the prayer we pray moves the heart of God.

This week is the 4th week of our Spiritual-Entrepreneur series. Pastor Becky explains how our habits of self-sabotage undermine our progress and our goals. We looked at the benefits of being a mentor as well as a mentee as we explored the opportunities that our networks provide. We asked the Holy Spirit to show us who to seek out as we live out God’s plan for our lives.

Sermon Notes:
Spirit-filled Entrepreneur Activations
Spiritual Gifts Discovery

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” – Proverbs 1:7 Fearing the Lord is about the deep awe we are plunged into when we become aware of God’s love, grace and forgiveness despite our human nature that causes us to miss the mark. This fear is what will guide our steps and hearts as we walk with God in this life and follow the plans that He has set aside for us.

God has wonderful plans for all our lives, plans we’ve been looking at in our “Spirit-filled Entrepreneur” series. Often, the fear of mankind gets in the way of us following these plans! Pastor Becky shows how the fear of mankind has been present and disrupting this plan all the way back in Genesis. We need Holy Spirit’s guidance to help us recognise this fear in our lives. God is able to part our “Red Sea” just like He parted it for Moses, but we have to go there. God won’t part if we’re hanging back in Egypt.

In part 3 of our Spirit-Filled Entrepreneur series we look at the gifts that each of us have been given and how they line up with our passions. Pastor Becky explains how crisis can be an opportunity as we look at examples of people in our own lives and public figures who have overcome challenges and used them as part of their success.

Sermon Notes:
Spirit-filled Entrepreneur Activations
Spiritual Gifts Discovery

Learning to listen to God’s voice can seem overwhelming but in this sermon, Pastor Becky gives practical steps to help us hear Holy Spirit’s guidance. This week we look at our passions, values and start to explore what gifts we each have as we wait to hear what God is saying or showing us.

Sermon Notes:
Spirit-filled Entrepreneur Activations
Spiritual Gifts Discovery

As the body of Christ, we represent God where ever we go. Our everyday lives are meant to be lived in the light of God’s love and provision and the natural flow on effect is that the world see Christ through us. Even though we are in a cold and dark winter, stressful economic climate; God wants us to dream and get excited by this life! In this series Ps Becky walks us through how to listen to the Holy Spirit to learn God’s wonderful plans for each of us.

Sermon Notes:
Spirit-filled Entrepreneur Activations
Spiritual Gifts Discovery