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Somalia Famine: The Restoration

Meet Minhaj Gedi Farah, at 7 months (top left) he weighed 3.2 kg and was incapacitated. Now at a little over a year old he is beaming, inquisitive and bright. He was the recipient of the International Rescue Committee, who poured resources, especially food into one of the many refugee camps in Somalia. He has now received back the gift of life, because people and Governments around the world have decided that enough is enough!

Please come down to Justin Park on Saturday 12 - 4 to share in a free BBQ, offered a few dollars to the cause which the government will match, and invite all of your Friends! The day will not only be festive, and fun but will help other children and babies, just like Minhaj, discover healthy and chubbiness in a land that is gripped by famine!

Check out the facebook event here.

Developing a heart for the lost

This week I had the privilege of speaking to Newlife Robina's two morning congregations. I felt the need to speak about developing a heart for the lost. You can listen to the message here.

Limitless 3: Money

Limitless is our Youthstreet series about watching God blow past our limits and do the impossible. The idea is that each week we are going to issue a weeklong challenge that ties in with the Limitless theme, as we watch what God will do with our obedience and courage!

This week we had a serious look at what it means to use our money in a limitless way for God, so that our lives as well as the money we spend points toward Jesus!

You can listen to the third message of the series, here! 

"There's a trail of our time, our affections, our allegiance, our devotion, our money. That trail leads to a throne, and whatever's on that throne is what we worship. We're all doing a great job of it because God has created us to be worshipers. The problem is that a lot of us have really bad gods." - Louie Giglio,

What are your gods?

Where does your time lead?

Who or what does your affection lead you to?

If we were to see everything you spend your money on, what would rise to the top as being most important to you?

When we talk about money in Church, we’re not actually talking about money, we’re actually talking about what is most important to you.

And if that is the case, you can easily work it out what is most important to you:

• What do you spend the most money on?
• What do you spend money on, on a regular basis?
• Where is your time going?
• Who do you spend lots of time with, compared to God?
• When it comes to actions and doing stuff, do you serve others lots, or just thing about yourself?

What we spend our money on is what we honour, value and desire!

Leviticus 27:30
“‘A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.”

The currency of earth is money. If you need something, you have to buy it! The currency of heaven is love. The problem is, we’re on earth, not in heaven.

Do we allow God to do what we want to see him do? What we do with our money influences this! You can influence how effective God’s mission is! We want to use the world’s currency to share God’s currency!

Jesus tells us what to do….

Mat 19:16-22

Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”

“Which ones?” the man inquired. Jesus replied, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

When we read this we think we have to sell everything! But that’s not what Jesus was saying. Jesus wasn't telling everyone to sell all their possessions. He was telling this guy to do that! The question he was actually answering was “how do we follow Jesus?”

And the answer he gave: We follow Jesus by giving up our lives and living it for God! Which for this guy meant he had to sell all of his possessions. For us it means being willing to give up everything, even our money. ‘Being willing,’ not actually selling everything, but if you heard Jesus say it to you really clearly, could you?

Jesus wants to know that everything we have points toward him!

Does the way you spend money point toward him?

Does the stuff you watch on TV point toward him?

Does the language you speak point toward him?

Does the way you treat other people point toward him?

I want you to give to God, because he first gave to you! Jesus is all about giving, if we want to become more like Jesus then we need to be all about giving. If we want to make more space in our lives for Jesus heart to grow in us we need to start doing consistently the things Jesus does.

The Somalia situation continues as we launch our $4$ response...

On Saturday 19th November, from 12 - 4 in Justin Park, Burleigh, we're going to set up tables, chairs, a BBQ, and a great time! Our the intent is to raise awareness for the Somalia situation and to enable the Government to match dollar for dollar (their latest scheme) everything that is contributed that day! At the heart of this event is empowering the Government to do good, and empowering the public to make it happen, as we cannot sit idly by while people live in such dire need. Below is an exert from a previous blog post I have wirtten. We would love it if you could spread the word and come along to this exciting event.

"Somalia and surrounding countries including Ethiopia and Kenya are currently suffering the worst drought in 60 years. This drought has pushed five (to date) regions of Somalia into famine. Famine is defined by the UN as 1 death per 5000 people per day from starvation. The current situation is the single greatest humanitarian crisis that the world has experienced in approximately 20 years and Africa's worst food security crisis since Somalia's 1991-92 famine. There are currently 12 million people at risk of starvation according to UN figures. That's almost half the population of Australia!

"Right now across Somalia and parts of Kenya and Ethiopia there are 3.2 million people on the brink of starvation, with 12.4 million in the region malnourished and at risk of starvation. The famine has been described as 'The Children’s famine' due to the number of children that are starving to death every day. More than 29,000 children under the age of 5 have starved to death in the last 90 days in southern Somalia alone. The roads leading south out of Somalia into Kenya have been described as 'roads of death' as parents are forced to abandon their dead or dying children along the road side as they flee their homes in search of food. The world however has refused to be deaf to the needs of these Africans and to date 1.3 $billion has been donated from across the globe. For this situation to be reversed a further 1.2 $billion is needed. That sounds like a lot of money right, but let’s put it into perspective for a second. Last year, Australia spent just under 1 $billion on weight loss. In 2010 the U.S. spent 61 $billion on weight loss! These figures are staggering and don't take into account the amount of extra money that was poured into the overeating that makes weight loss necessary.

"Currently in Somalia there are mothers who aren’t getting enough food for their bodies, the result of which means they are unable to produce breast milk, and so their own babies are starving to death in their arms. Families are having to up leave their homes to try to find something to eat meaning parents are left to watch their children starve to death as they head out in an attempt to find food. This is happening right now, at the same time that we’re battling obesity and overconsumption.

"Something is seriously wrong. The distribution of wealth in this world is so severely skewed in our western favour. We live the lives that we do here in Australia simply because this is where we entered the world. We were born into wealth and affluence. Had we have been born in Somalia, we would most likely find ourselves desperately searching for something to eat right now and trying to figure out how we might be able to keep our families alive.

"To respond to this tragedy doesn't require money. It requires love! It requires people to listen to these stories, research the facts, examine the photos and let them break your heart. We have to let this situation, or other situations of poverty, and death, and hopelessness break our hearts, because when it does then we will see change begin to occur.

"Throughout the New Testament Jesus repeatedly calls for us to give to the poor. But only according to a constant theme and consistency that always our response needs to be motivated by love, not fear or guilt or regret or obligation or even affluence. The key has always been love. Our attitude towards giving has to be an attitude of love or it’s meaningless. 1 Corinthians 13:3 says that if I give ALL I possess to the poor... but do not have love, I gain nothing, and neither does this world. But if we allow this situation to move us, to touch our heart's, then a movement is born and transformation can begin!

If you would like to contribute to the appeal you can do so through World Vision, among others here.

Farewell Grade 12s

Last Friday night I had the amazing privelege to speak to our Grade 12's and encourage them to embrace the life that awaited them, a life with God! If you want to have a listen you can check it out here.

How to run a small group for young people

Recently I attempted to run a training session for my Youth Leaders on how to run a small group for young people. We run small groups each week as part of our gathering. I say attempted because we ran out of time and I didn't get to it. So what follows are some thoughts I had to help anyone think about running a small group, in particular one for young people:

• Let them have some breathing time.
• Get their attention and officially start.
• Welcome new people.
• If you feel like it do 'highs' and 'lows' of people's weeks.
• Ask for immediate feedback from sermon: how was that for you?
• The questions (that work best) are usually structured to engage and then go deeper.
• Don't be afraid to follow a tangent if it's beneficial.
• Don't be afraid to head a tangent off if it's not beneficial.
• Don't do all the talking, leave space for people to fill the silence.
• Help everyone have a say, but never humiliate or embarrass people by putting them on the spot. There could be a thousand reasons for their disengagement.
• Be sure to follow up anything that arises in the group afterwards.
• If the study is not working, go where the group wants to go.
• If the group is not working, cut it back to purely relationship building and story telling.
• Remember you are the leader. Whilst you may not have full control you set the temperature and direction (doesn't mean it's a foregone conclusion though).
• Hold in balance the group experience as well as the individual experience.

I hope this helps you in any leadership you might do of any group. 

A prophetic psalm by and for 12two

Last week at 12two Sunday we spoke about prophecy which concluded with an exercise of asking God to speak prophetically in and to our community. Everyone was given a piece of paper and pencil and asked to listen for God and write anything down: A word, Scripture, thought, prayer, idea, etc. that they felt God was saying to them for 12two. What followed was an amazing outpouring of God's wisdom and direction which throughout last week I sat with and discovered that if put in the right order created a Psalm of sorts, that God was saying to us. I then wrote it out, spoken about it and then read the prophetic word over 12two. To hear it you can download it here.

But below is what was the result. I trust that whoever you are, and from wherever you come from these words will bless and benefit you and the people you are doing life with.

Love needs to flow like a rippling all encompassing wave in and through our community.

Where is your time for and with me?

Yearn after me

Spend time with me and I shall talk

Walk with me

die to self

Be not like the hypocrites

Deny your self, carry your own cross and follow me daily

I am with you wherever you go

I am your fortress, and so nothing can beat you. If you work solely for my will nothing will beat you.

What's next?

As My word speaks you are my voice

It is time for human trafficking to come to an end

You are my rescuers

Find the beauty amidst the darkness

You will look different to all others

From the darkness my light will shine

From the chaos beauty will rise

I am doing something big in your presence 

I am bringing revival to and through 12two to the Gold Coast and to wider horizons

I am doing a new thing, for I am ready

The harvest is ripe

There is rich soil here, but placed here by Me

What has been sowed will reap a beautiful harvest

Mustard seeds that grow into trees

Share your story as it will touch many

There is always hope

Trust in me and do not be afraid, be courageous as my spirit will lead you.

Believe in me beyond your comprehension and belief for those who have run out of belief or who are yet to know it

Believe what I have said to you.