Day 52

Sorry blogging world for not posting something in a long time. For the last 52 Days I, and a motley crew of 50 have been renovating our new church home @ Hay Street. Now after our 52 day deadline it is finished and looking amazing! God has supplied all our needs and he has blessed us with an incredible new facility and Continues to pour out his blessings even though the 52 days are over. Isn't amazing that when God blesses us he doesn't stop at the first blessing but continues to show us what an amazing God we serve. In our case, we have had 52 days going glory to glory, strength to strength. How is it that 5o individuals, none of them professional at any trade can build a God's church in less than 2 months??! A God of no limits for sure! I am truly broken after this event. God Has showed me his heart of servant hood, putting His will first instead of mine. I will never be the same after this experience and neither will the faithful 50 that have sacrificed so much to see God's plans come into action. However, it does not stop at day 52. It has only just begun for Every Nation Melbourne. God has and is preparing us for what is to Come. Let us all rejoice for God's vision for this city is about to open up!

Love, Stephen

Where does your compassion lie.

I have recently discovered that I am a quote buff. When ever I want some food for thought or some encouragment I find myself going to my new favorite website.www. thinkexist.com. I was combing through some quotes on compassion and found this one. "Man may dismiss compassion from his heart, but God never will." I found myself thinking where does my compassion lie? Do we really use compassion? I remember a time where I really felt bad for this kid at school who I knew came from a poor family.One day he did not have a lunch..so i gave him mine. I remember the look on that kids face. A shocked,teary eyed but most of all thankful look. I remember walking away thinking to myself man, im a nice person. But you know what? my compassion ran out the next day when he triped and fell in the hallway and I called him a loser. This senario for some reason has stuck with me for 7 years. I thought I had compassion for this kid. However, when It came down to it I dismissed it from my own heart. I said cyah later for a second of making myself feel good, making this kid feel like he was all alone in this world. I have come to realize that having compassion for people, a nation, will not last unless I truely keep compassion in my heart. I am so happy that what ever poor judgments we make we have a God who's compassion for us never fails. We have all been in a place like the poor student. But God will not laugh at us when we fall. His compassion never fails. So let me ask you this question. Where does your compassion lie? does it lie in self satisfaction? Are we really keeping campassion in our heart? These are things we all need to think about.

Love, Stephen

Words...

Words...
Everyday we have decisions to make. We are faced with potential challenges. How we use our tongue will determine the outcome when confronted with troubles. What direction our life will take with the outcome of what we say. We can either talk our selves into trouble or choose to speak God’s blessings. There are times we can have bad attitudes and express words or doubt,bitterness or even hate. That is when we miss out on God’s blessings. BUT we can choose to express through words of faith, having good attitudes and believe to be blessed. When we speak negative things we put ourselves in dangerous positions. Proverbs 16:28 “A perverse man stirs up dissension and a gossip separates close friends.”You can loose friends just like that, people might not like you. You might not be the life of the party. In return they might just spread rumors about you. You might not have that gf or bf anymore. or all your mates laughing at your jokes. instead they are laughing at you and not with you. Believe it or not the tongue is the most powerful thing we have. Who likes someone that they cannot trust? In James Chapter 3 it illustrates how powerful the tongue actually is.

James 3:1-12
Three illustrations on how powerful the tongue actually is
1. The tongue may be compared to "bits" placed in the mouths of horses (v. 3)—Obviously, this small instrument is used by the rider to control the actions of the large animal. In the same way, the tongue—though it is a very small organ in the human body—often manifests full mastery over its owner. The tongue, then, exerts control over the "entire body as well."

2. James compared the tongue to the "rudder" of a great ship (v.4). Here, the point is even more powerfully made as one considers the relative size of the rudder in comparison to a sea-going vessel. The rudder takes the ship "wherever the inclination of the pilot desires."

3. Finally, the tongue is compared to a "small flame" or spark that has the power to incinerate an entire "forest" (v. 5). In verse 6, James made this illustration even more pronounced by observing that the tongue is not only "a fire," but also "the world of iniquity." It is both the entry point of evil as well as the bodily member that gives expression to all types of unrighteousness and ungodliness. The tongue not only contains all the "representations of evil in the world," it is able to initiate every conceivable evil action . In this way, according to James, the tongue "defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life." Note that James also stressed that the fire wielded by the tongue is fueled by yet another fire—the fire of "hell" itself!

When it is all said and done..How will we use our tongue? are we going to speak life? or are we going to tear down our friendships...The choice is yours...We must learn how to manage our tongue.

Winds,Earthquakes and Fires

1 Kings 19 paints a great picture for us about listening to the voice of God. Elijah, a prophet to the Israelites is being hunted down by his own kind because Israel has rejected the covenant that God has given them. They have broken down God's altars and have put all God's prophets to death. Elijah is the last prophet left and he is hiding in a cave trying to escape persecution and even death. God calls out for Elijah in verse 9 saying "what are you doing here, Elijah??"Elijah goes on to explain that he is fleeing persecution and that the Israelites have broken the covenant God has given them. After this dialogue between Elijah and God,God tells Elijah to go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord. A great and powerful wind came, but the Lord was not in the wind..a mighty earthquake came after the winds...the Lord was not in the earthquake..and them a fire came that consumed the mountain...the Lord was not in the fire...BUT after the fire came a gentle whisper came and it was the Lord. God came in the quiet! I want to pose some questions..do you hear from God? Why is talking easier than listening? In our lives are we allowing God to speak to us amongst the choas and noise in our lives? God really wants to speak to us. But, are we really listening? I know in my life hearing the voice of God has been tough. However, I really havent been listening for it. It has not been till recent I have really set aside my agenda and said God speak to me. What are the winds,earthquakes and fires in your life that are keeping you from really hearing the voice of God. God has something amazing to tell us all. We just have to listen for it. Wheather that be closing your door,turning down the blinds,crying, kneeling, or just being quiet..God wants to speak to us.

Love, Stephen

just a few word..

well about to Go to the Bombers game...hoping for a win. just thought i would leave a note for anyone who needs encouragement. Remember God is on your side! he has a plan and a purpose for everything...even though sometimes we dont see that...such as an event that seems hard to cope with, a death in the family, heartbreak, you name it..God is still sovereign over all things...lean on him.He is our father and he cares about us sooo much. Let us rejoice always and be steadfast in our faith!

Love Stephen

Dreams.

I am going to start this blog off with a statement. "Having a dream keeps you alive." do you agree? After being in Auckland Nz for our South Pacific Leadership Conference I would tend to agree with the statement. Ps. Steve Murrel brought a great message about having dreams. The focus actually was about Joseph and how his dreams really kept him going. We all have our own dreams. If you dont then I encourage you to have one. Dreams are what keep us going. We all have aspirations and things we want to accomplish in our life. We all have that one special, nagging dream that is forever burned in our brain that we want to accomplish. Mine was Australia. But now that im here what is next? It is not enough that I am here...it is what I do here that will echo in eternity. Ps. Steve went on in his message to say that if your dream is not working out or it is the wrong time then give it to God and help someone elses dream. When he said that it really hit a deep spot in my soul. Just like Joesph who went through every trail a person could think of he gave his dreams to God. It was not toward the end that he was reminded of them once again when his brothers came to Egypt to get food because of the famin. At once he was reminded of them when his brothers nealed before him. That dream was mocked and ultimatly lead him into being sold into slavery. But joseph put his dreams to the side and served his master,served Egypt. In the end he was given second in command of all Egypt. All because he set his dreams to the side to help another. We can all learn from Joesph. A young man full of dreams and just like that they were taken from him. But! he did not loose hope. He put his dreams in God's hands and he was rewarded in the end. What are your dreams? what are you going to do about them? are you helping anyone else with their dreams? Think about it. Its not all about us you know.

Great start

Man, it has been a while since I have done this blogging thing! but what the heck, here comes another thing I will spend to much of my day on and probably become addicted to it. Just wanted to start this blogging thing off for all my partners and friends out there who would like to know all the latest updates in my life, my ministry and so on. I am coming up on 3 months of living out my dream in Melbourne. God is opening doors right and left and I cant help but be amazed at all the wonderful things he has done in my life and is doing in our church as well in our youth. We just Launched our first EPIC group (high school campus ministry) on Ashwood Secondary. It has been known to be one of the worst school in all of Melbourne. The school is plauged with Teen pregnancy, broken homes, drug and alcohol abuse just to name a few. We started off with just 5 coming to our first Epic group in the beginning of April. Within 2 weeks it jumped from 5 to 21! and just this past Thursday it jumped from 21 to 31! its funny because most if not all are not christians and they just feel that the Epic group is a secure place for them to be. They are very open students and are not afriad to ask anything....ha but nevertheless, God is bringing these student to us and we are showing them that God really loves them and has a plan for their lives. It is funny how if you trust God with the little, then he will give the lot. We, meaning I have to remember to look at the bigger picture...and expect God to move in this city and in the hearts of the youth. Well i will leave that with you all and expect that their will be another blog coming soon....cheers for now!