VISION: WEEK 3 | SUNDAY 23RD FEBRUARY | PS AARON MORE

awesome uh thanks Paul and you know we

don't uh some Churches every year take

up a vision offering that's not been uh

what we do at toong elim this isn't

something we do every year but we just

felt it was really significant and

thanks for the way you talked into that

Paul that uh just to uh sew into that

and

um yeah it won't be necessarily

something we do every year but it's just

a a a moment to uh to sew and uh as Paul

said that's by uh it's an invitation not

an obligation and uh we uh you know

don't treat anyone differently based on

how they give and if you're like flip I

don't know if that's uh what God's

asking me to do hey that's totally okay

we just uh want to make that opportunity

and so we will have that time during our

service next week and can I also say you

know uh we've got the 72 hours of prayer

and we're really encouraging you to come

uh into that if you can if you're unable

to come but you want to sign up still

sign up online and just put home in

Brackets after your name so that we know

just when we're arranging access but can

I be honest my Hope was I was like hey

we uh set 72 hours cuz I was like let's

um set a pretty low Benchmark this time

that we can easily fill and so I look

and I see still a lot of spots free and

man My Hope honestly for us as a church

is that we would more than full 72 hours

L the 72 hours would be overflowing so

can I encourage you uh if you have not

signed up uh for all our things you'll

see there is QR codes on the connect

cards you uh scan that link and uh it's

very very easy to sign up if you like

refuse to use QR codes for either

technological or theological reasons

then you can uh go to the uh info disk

they will help you sign up but uh My

Hope honestly

um is that uh when I go on to the thing

tomorrow that it's just every slot's

more than full because man we need to be

contending like never before God is

moving and uh let's uh lean into

everything that he is

doing we are uh this morning the service

will be a little bit longer so if you're

done before I am feel free you know you

can uh I guess um uh you know we might

finish preaching to an empty Auditorium

but that's okay uh we're doing our

summer Vision series and uh we're just

sneaking in um summer is fast finishing

but it's still our summer Vision series

and as we think about our vision as a

church I know we've shared the upper

room project and some of those things

but our vision is not primarily centered

around what we do but it's actually who

we are becoming like we real realize

that God wants us to become a certain

type of people now I don't mean that in

a strange cultish way that we're all

exactly the same and we all repeat the

same phrases but what I do believe is it

is a mantle that God places upon us that

this this thing of prayer presence and

Mission and it doesn't have the same

expression in everyone's life but as you

bring your part and I bring my part and

everyone brings their part god is

actually creating a people of prayer a

people of presence and a people of

mission that will be a blessing to our

city and so this morning we are talking

about becoming a people of presence and

what it means to be a people of

presence and uh I'm so grateful for the

songs we sing and you know we sing a lot

of songs about the presence of God and I

believe that's important scripture says

that we are filled when we sing um you

know you sing to one another in

spiritual Psalms and that actually there

is a filling of the spirit that happens

in that

moment but I want to make sure in the

midst of these songs that we sing that

we don't simply sing songs about the

Holy Spirit but we learn to live lives

that are orientated to his reality that

yes the songs are important but we

wouldn't just sing songs about the Holy

Spirit we would actually orientate

ourselves to that reality you may have

heard the Old Chestnut Christians don't

tell lies they just sing them you know

you know I give you all of myself

Lord and so uh it can be true can it and

so our heart is that we wouldn't just

have songs about the Holy Spirit but

that we would actually

encounter him and so this morning I've

uh asked if Sunshine can come and share

uh so that's going to be amazing she's

going to come and share just an

encounter that she had with God at uh

Youth Camp so uh can we give Sunan a

huge welcome

yes oh well uh morning everyone my name

is sunshine and I'm one of Pastor br

these kids

um what a powerful experience cam chili

was uh I had been excited to go to Camp

ever since last year but as Camp came

closer and closer there wasn't enough

money for me to go to camp and so one of

the ladies at church called me to like

check in on me and I had explained the

situation that they wasn't enough money

and then she was like no no no listen

Pastor bir is going to call you you're

going to make a way what not what not

and I was like oh

okay pastor birie moments later just

called me and I explained to him and

then he was like listen just tell us how

much you can cover and we'll sort the

rest out you are coming to this Camp see

one thing about the God we serve he will

always make a way so on the first night

of Camp literally the first night of

Camp Pastor Sheldon was preaching and he

was getting into prayers and he said

there is someone who has been

experiencing nightm and he would like to

pray for them I don't remember his exact

words on like what he said but I

remember

like knowing it was me but I was like

nah I'm not going up there and then I

didn't want to go up there because I

lacked Faith because it was something i'

had been prayed over like before but

nothing

changed so with these nightmares they

intensified whenever I got closer to God

and so I remember that in these

nightmares i' feel like there's a force

like holding me down like I can't seem

to wake up and I'd always I thought that

it was sleep paralysis but M was I

wrong so I thought uh so after one

conference I got the gift of tongues but

then after I got the gift of tongues

they came back even stronger like it was

more intense and so I was scared to like

connect with God get deeper every time

and so fast forward um in January there

was a prayer and fasting week I got

attacked again and I remember this

attack so well because I was so scared

that I stopped praying in tongues I was

like uh this is scary and I would try

pray in tongues but I was too scared and

what I realized was that spiritual

warfare was there and I underestimated

the enemy's attack on my life anyways

later that night I finally gathered the

courage to go up and speak to Pastor

Sheldon and his wife Pastor Amy I shared

what I'd been going through and

immediately without like thinking about

it they just started praying and the

more they prayed the more chains broke

and strongholds were broken on even

though I felt like I tapped out in that

moment I could feel that something was

being released inside of me as they all

prayed whatever was in me bowed to the

spirit of God as it says in the Bible

that every knee shall bow so I

experienced Deliverance I still don't

fully understand what happened but I

remember that that night I slept

peacefully even if it was like four to 5

hours but I slept something I hadn't

done in so long and I slept in the dark

as well cuz I I struggled to sleep in

the dark so I like have a night okay

never

mind but since that Friday since that

Deliverance I've been sleeping like a

baby I've been getting back into the

habit of praying in tongues and I've

received what God's word promises us

freedom all honor and glory to God thank

you how

good so good uh and you know that's what

happens in the presence of God isn't it

people are set free we're set free he

does amazing things and so this morning

as we talk about becoming a people of

presence you know Sam storm said this

simply the holy spirit is to be

experienced IR McManus said somehow

Christianity has become a non-mystical

Rel religion it's about reasonable faith

if we believe the right things then we

are Orthodox frankly whether we actually

connect to God or experience's

undeniable presence has become

incidental if not irrelevant we have

become Believers rather than experiences

to know God in the scriptures always

went beyond information to intimacy we

may find ourselves uncomfortable with

with this reality but the faith of the

scripture es is a mystical faith if you

have problems with that word don't worry

it's just it's okay it leads us to

beyond the material world and an

invisible reality we become connected to

the god of Eternity who you are at the

core of spirit God is spirit and to walk

with God is the journey in the spiritual

realm so we're talking about becoming a

people of presence and

the thing I've noticed in my life is

that so often the work of the spirit is

actually determined by desire you see I

I grew up in a culture I don't know if

it was ever said or not but the

underlying message was this you live a

good life make sure you have your quiet

time avoid alcohol and drugs and if

there's a need for the Holy Spirit he

will be there so it's kind of like you

just do what you do and then if you need

the Holy Spirit he'll turn up in reward

for you being so

good but what I've learned as I've

journeyed in life is that the holy

spirit's operating in my life is

strongly tied to my desire for

him and Jesus actually taught when he

taught on Prayer in Luke 11 he's

teaching the Lord's Prayer but he

doesn't stop stop teaching at the end of

The Lord's Prayer he actually goes on

and he says I tell you ask and it will

be given to you seek and you will find

knock and it will be open to you and it

says for he who asks receives and the

one who seeks finds and to the one who

knocks it will be opened now a little

bit of uh the Greek meaning of this you

may have heard it actually means to

knock and keep on knocking to ask and

keep on asking and so it's not talking

talking about one thing it's like seek

and keep seeking and then it says this

when a father what father among you if

the son asks for a fish will instead

give him a serpent or if he asks for an

egg will give him a scorpion man my

children never ask me for an egg like

our kids have it too good these days

don't they I mean obviously in biblical

times the the sign of a good father is

that he give them their kids an egg man

if I say to my kids I've got to treat

for you have an egg they would not be

too happy anyway that's by the side if

you then you evil know how to give good

gifts to your children how much more

will the father give the Holy Spirit to

those who ask him in this context what

is the asking it is to knock and keep on

knocking seek keep on seeking ask keep

on asking there's this thing of desire

and the Lord describes who is the person

that the Lord pours the holy spirit out

it's one who has a desire for the spirit

we see a similar theme where and when

Timothy where he says I remind you fan

into Flame the gift that is on you so

there's this thing of desire and if I'm

really honest what I've realized in my

spiritual walk if I am not super

intentional about my desire for the Holy

Spirit it will get lost amongst so many

other things how about you like I

realize this is something I have to

constantly remind myself we live in such

a secular materialistic world that is

constantly trying to just have our

desires in other places that if we are

not intentional and pursuing what that

desire is we find ourselves in a place

where we are Desiring many things but

the one

thing the spirit's work is cultivated

in our life by desire so then how do we

cultivate

desire in Romans 8:56 it says for those

who live according to their flesh set

their minds on the things of the flesh

but those who live according to the

spirit set their minds on the things of

the spirit for to set the mind on the

flesh is death but to set the mind on

the spirit is life

and

peace and so here there's this reality

that that which our mind is set on will

determine what we experience in life and

and Paul's writing and he's encouraging

that we should have our Mind Set On the

spirit you see we overcome distraction

by setting our mind on the spirit I had

an interesting experience one time when

I was speaking in Alexandria and um

because Alexandria is a small town it's

very unlikely that the person who I'm

going to reference is watching this and

uh hopefully they're not just cut this

bit online no that's okay so we were you

know you're in a small town church and

you know New Zealand uh like we don't

necessarily as kiwis have a massive like

RAR response culture and so you get into

Central ital New Zealand and if you're

preaching it's pretty quiet right like

it's not uh that they love the Holy

Spirit there's the fire of God but

generally uh if you get a you know

you're preaching with fire right like

that's like I mean that's the equivalent

in America of Hallelujah brother amen

preach it Pastor like you're just like

wow I got four this morning and so

anyway I'm I'm there in Alexandra I'm

preaching and there's someone who's a

guest uh they're actually traveled in

from out of town they're sitting in the

row and as I am preaching she is just

going fire awesome Amen one person so

it's like you can imagine everything you

know you're saying it's like amen preach

a pastor that's right that's right

that's good that's right preach it

preach it preach it fire fire that's

fire right there amen amen it's kind of

quite noticeable and

so it's like man does anyone that has

tourettes in the house we could you know

sorry uh and so um

I'm thought wow that's quite interesting

cool that's uh you know I realized some

people that say Church culture now Sarah

actually walked out the back during the

service and came back in and um

afterwards we were debriefing the

service and I said wow that that person

was really um quite local weren't they

she said do you know what the real

interesting thing was while you were

preaching she was playing a game on her

phone so just playing a game on her

phone at the same time fire amen that's

right that's good yes Pastor I

agree I don't say that in Judgment of

her what I realized in that moment was I

almost felt like the Holy Spirit spoke

to me and said that is so often your

life that you live your life full

distracted and then you come into a

moment on a Sunday and a like right

presence of God fire of God here he is

come come come come a and you live your

life with your mind distracted and in so

many other places and then it's almost

like you're now got to turn it on and

it's like wow God would you come come

come Spirit come come I'm ready for you

now now I'm ready for you now and it's

actually like you're just going through

these things because we're living

thinking one way 20 37 and then 1 hour

it's like wow now I'm coming into your

presence and I want it and I'm glad we

have a Theology of encounter but

sometimes we are trying to fix with an

event what is actually a process problem

see sometimes we're actually like man I

just want the event of your presence and

the Lord's actually inviting us I

actually want a relationship with my

presence I don't want you to be like

scrolling and then all of a sudden

screaming out now Lord touch me now Lord

touch me I actually want your mind set

on

me I remember uh talking to a parent who

was having uh trouble with their teenage

daughter and um they're like yeah we're

really disconnected and I said well what

did you do and she said well I arranged

a trip to denan for me and my daughter

and we went um we went down on Friday

night and we came back on Sunday

afternoon and I saidwell how did that

go' she said it was terrible she's like

we she's SP it the whole time on her

phone didn't want to do anything with me

and as we unpacked it in conversation

what we realized was here you had a

parent and a daughter disconnected and

they tried to fix it by an event let's

just have an event to restore this

relationship we're disconnected I know

what we'll do let's spend 50 hours

together straight that'll fix it funly

enough it didn't go so well and so she's

frustrated BL blaming the daughter until

she realized that actually she was like

oh I get it I was trying to fix with an

event what is a relationship problem and

sometimes we come in living lives so

distracted and come in on Sunday and

then go right holy spirit now's your

time come now Lord come now Lord and in

those

instances church will never meet that

need because it's actually a need for us

to live with our mind focused on the

spirit I remember one of the most

convicting things the Lord spoke to me

and I'm still so convicted by this he

said would people know you were a

Pentecostal if you could not include

anything attached to church

life like if someone was following you

and they couldn't watch the way you do

things on Sunday morning they couldn't

see Tuesday night prayer they couldn't

see life group like would they know that

you were a Pentecostal and I'll be

honest that was so deeply convicting to

me and I was like wow it is because we

are to be

steadfast our mind steadfast on the

spirit I love uh I just watched a uh

interview with Simon Barnett that was

just so moving talking about grieving

his wife and so uh I then read an an

interview that he had and someone asked

him you know you're a you're in the

media in secular media media how on

Earth do you survive as a Christian in

secular media and he said I constantly

remind myself of his presence whether I

sense it or not isn't that a great

encouragement I set my mind on the

spirit I constantly remind myself of his

presence whether I sense it or not we're

covering a few things this morning often

we would do these as a series and that'

be message each but we're just covering

a few things so the first thing that uh

removes our desire for the spirit is

when we live a distracted life when

other things come in and our mind gets

set on other things and so it's an

invitation to have our minds reset on

the

spirit what else affects our desire for

the spirit 1 Thessalonians 59 sayso not

quench the spirit do not despise

prophecies but test everything hold fast

to what is good abstain from every form

of

evil here the scripture is talking about

uh not despising prophecy but I think

it's actually alluding to a bigger

principle that is when we despise or

holding contempt what the spirit is

doing it quenches the work of the spirit

in our lives

so when we have a contempt or we decide

we do not like what the spirit is doing

it is actually forms a quench that puts

the fire of the spirit out in our lives

now here's the challenge I would

definitely say sometimes in Pentecostal

circles people have done things in the

name of the spirit that weren't the

spirit

right so we do need to be able to

discern

but here's the thing we don't actually

get a choice to discern over whether

something made us feel comfortable or

not our comfort level is not the same as

discernment deciding I am comfortable

with something is not the same as

discernment because sometimes the holy

spirit will actually do things and he

won't actually ask your permission

whether it's going to make you

comfortable or not he might manest in

someone else in a way that makes you

radically

uncomfortable and so in those moments we

have a choice where we either make

ourselves the standard and we say I

don't think that's God I'm withdrawing

I'm going to judge that and in that

moment we actually come to a place of

contempt and we actually quench the

operation of the spirit in our

lives sometimes we are are afraid of

what will happen Scott mcnight said a

lot of people are very

uncomfortable with these sort of things

talking about the moving of the spirit

they'd rather go to church and sing a

couple of songs hear a good sermon based

on the Bible sing another song clap

their hands and go home but the idea

that God the Holy Spirit might break in

and our schedule be interrupted or

extended can be fearful to many

people and so sometimes when we've been

in environments where people have said

things with the Holy Spirit and even if

it wasn't what that can do is breed a

cynicism and a fear but it can actually

lead us to treating manifestations of

the spirit with contempt and when we do

that we actually quench the work of the

spirit in our lives I love the quote

from uh the nania series where they are

talking about as and the

lion and and she looks at ASN and she

says he's a is he

safe and the response comes no he's not

safe he's a

lion but he is good can I say to you

this morning is the holy spirit

safe I don't know I can tell you he's a

lion and he's good and so sometimes we

actually need to be willing to push past

sometimes we are afraid what would

happen well I wonder what I would look

like what would the Holy Spirit do to me

would I be embarrassed and we need to be

reminded of that scripture that we

started with in Luke 11 where he says

you cannot ask the father for the Holy

Spirit and get a bad gift God doesn't

say man if you ask me for something

surprise you're going to get something

bad uh it always shocked me I remember

uh the church I grew up and was

reasonably conservative but had a

Pentecostal youth group that's a recipe

for a church split right there and so

Sunday night services were a little bit

more upbeat the organ got parked away

and we I remember one night we had

someone come in as a guest Minister and

people started laughing in the

spirit and it was always so amazing to

me because people were laughing and at

the end of it they were happy and

praising Jesus and some people thought

it was of the devil

generally the devil doesn't have an

agenda to make you laugh it's not

usually his operation and so people were

filled with joy and were leaving with

the presence of God but because of fear

some people put it into hey that doesn't

sound like God to me that sounds a

little bit crazy and it's like they were

perfectly happy to have a Theology of

Joy but not an experience of Joy like

the church would sing the joy of the

Lord is my strength that you know that

one and it would then it would actually

have a oh so weird it would have a line

that you wouldn't actually the time when

you were allowed to sing it would then

actually have a line that

was like that's really weird right

they're happy to

sing but if someone actually properly

laughed when they were prayed for so

that's the devil like my goodness

there's like something going on here

you're willing to sing about the joy of

the Lord being a strength you're even

willing to put up

haaa on the words on the OHP in those

days but then when someone laughs

worried that it might be of the

devil but you see all of us can have

triggers that are like wow I don't know

and I'm not saying we throw out

discernment out but I am saying we need

to be very careful that we do not treat

the moving of the spirit with

contempt I know I've been in places and

times I've heard someone share something

and I've thought I don't know if that's

God and you know what it's turned out it

was it's like wow later on you see the

fruit and you go wow Lord I I'm so sorry

I never want to treat what you are doing

with contempt because I realize that

will qu quench what you are doing God

would you help me to have an honor and a

celebration and that fuels the desire of

God when we keep that at our foremost

Forefront so we can be distracted out of

desire in the spirit we can begin to

treat the spirit's uh manifestations

with contempt which means we quench him

and stop Desiring him the last one I'm

going to speak about this morning comes

from Ephesians 4:29 to 31 let no

Ephesians 4:29–31

corrupting talk come out of your mouths

but only such as good for building up so

it fits the occasion that it might give

Grace to those who hear and do not

grieve the holy spirit of God by whom

you were sealed for the day of

redemption let all bitterness wrath and

anger and clamor and slander be put away

from you along with all

malice can I say we

cannot uh earn the holy spirit's

anointing because of our good

behavior but can I say our sin can

grieve the Holy Spirit and when we

choose to operate in certain patterns of

behavior we can grieve the spirit and we

can minimize his work in our

lives you know just this week I

uh just had a moment where I was like uh

I so should have listened to my wife

like you should always listen to your

wife we were talking with um someone

else and I said I probably shouldn't say

this but and Sarah nudged me and goes if

you're having to say I probably

shouldn't say this there's a chance that

you could just shut your mouth she

didn't say it then she said it slightly

nicer than that cuz we're in a

restaurant but she kind of was like well

shut up Bozo and um thought don't tell

me what to do and so I promptly said

what I was going to

say I got home and just felt convicted

like not in a way that wow now my

salvation is in Jeopardy I need to spend

eight but just wow I even had the

conviction of the spirit that what I was

about to do wasn't

right and it doesn't mean while all of a

sudden the mantle or the anointing of my

life is gone and the Holy Spirit is

distant

but there is a grieving that can happen

when we actually have conviction and we

think no I'm just choosing to pursue

this way because I'm going to do what

I'm going to do and you know it's not

overly popular to talk about Sin these

days because we want to talk like

everything is uh you know humanity is

just perfect and human flourishing and

the reality is this that all of us were

created in the image of God so all of us

do have a Divine spark in us through

being created in the image of God and

and the reality is that all of us battle

with sin and a sin nature and that those

two things dwell together and when we

only focus on one of them we end up in a

very dark place you know if you only

tell people no you're created in the

image of God everything's amazing you

know then they find the reality of their

Brokenness and there's no hope for them

you know and on the flip side if we only

ever tell people wow you're a sinner you

need to repent and that's the good news

for them yes that is the good news but

we were also created in the image of God

and

so the thing that with the Holy Spirit

is that

repentance when it's led by the spirit

of God is actually a

beautiful thing that sets us

free you know someone I I one time heard

a teacher say this they said you know

confession is no longer needed because

that's just making people sin conscious

can I tell you

confession actually makes us Grace

conscious True Confession takes my eyes

off me and my eyes onto Jesus now I

understand what they're saying like is

your salvation dependent on you

confessing every sin it better not be or

that prayer room better be open sooner

rather than later cuz some of us might

need to be in there 24/7 for a while

like if if your salvation was dependent

on confessing every sin that you've ever

committed we're in a heck of a lot of

trouble his grace covers it but

confession is actually my chance to

exchange my Brokenness for his Holiness

and so we grieve the spirit when we live

in patter of sin that we don't put right

it stifles the desire for the spirit of

God but when we come with humility and

say man I realize I so shouldn't have

said

that oh I'm so thankful for your grace

now I'm confessing something over my

life and this desire for the spirit of

the of God reorientates within

me and so as we close this

morning you know normally we would often

finish a message about um

the Holy Spirit by saying let's get

everyone to the front and hopefully some

people fall over in jesus' name and I

love that people encountering the

tangible Encounter of God but as I said

if we were to think that the Lord

doesn't just want an event he actually

wants a relationship I wonder which one

of these may be true for you in your

life you know do you suffer from

distraction and just need to be reminded

what it is to set your mind on the

spirit do you sometimes quench the

spirit judging anytime someone says well

the Holy Spirit did this and you think

well I don't know if that was really him

like that might have been you know is

there this thing that jumps when people

say it's the spirit of God that you have

to work it all out and you're actually

quenching rather than celebrating the

varied movements of the spirit you know

maybe there's you just realize yeah I I

guess I kind of know that I sin but I

kind of just ignore it now and don't

really ever bother bringing confession

to God I mean my Approach is this if he

brings it up man I confess like when I

realize oh this has come to my attention

I confess I'll be honest I don't sit

down for hours each day going I wonder

how I've transgressed today that's not a

great place to be like you you go in

Turnal in that way Lord how many ways

have I transgressed this day that's not

a great place but I'm like would you

show me any ways in me that do not bless

your

heart and as we confess those we confess

the worthiness of Christ the spirit is

not grieved and our desire begins to

flow up and so for just a minute or two

Isaiah is just going to play for us and

uh just a moment between you and God

where you might just want to consider

those three areas and you might want to

ask Lord which one is me Lord where you

know maybe it's all three and probably

all of us can identify with all three in

some aspect but really asking the Lord

Lord I want to desire more of your

spirit what does that look like for me

might be a commitment to set your mind

on the

spirit might be a thing to not start

with cynicism when someone talks about

what the spirit's been doing in their

lives and to be open and celebrate the

varied movements of the spirit might be

a confession to build a time of

confession into

your world but whatever it is that this

morning just in those moments you just

have a a moment with God where you could

say would you help me in that so Lord I

bless each person as they spend this

next moment meditating Holy Spirit would

you be so alive to us in this moment

Lord we open our hearts and our minds to

you in the name of Jesus we ask that you

would be faithful to presence your self

amongst us Lord where we need to repent

we would repent Lord where we need to uh

choose to celebrate your spirit we would

choose to

celebrate God where we need to be

reminded of those distractions so that

we can focus on you Lord that that would

happen in this moment