VISION: WEEK 1 | SUNDAY 2ND FEBRUARY | PS AARON MORE

awesome thank you Jesus you may be

seated in the presence of

God hey this morning is going to be a

little bit different and uh uh this is

not uh something I usually say but I

encourage you if you if uh Tonga ilim is

your church family and you weren't able

to make it uh last Sunday I really

encourage you to go back and listen to

the message of that and I think that's

probably the only time I've said that

since I've been here but uh today's

message makes sense or what we're

talking about today makes sense in the

context of what we talked about last

week so this is uh even though it's very

very different to what we talked last uh

last week they're two sides of the same

coin and if we don't catch what we went

into last week then uh this week won't

have the context that it needs to have

so this week we're actually uh going to

be sharing some very pra practical

things for us as a church that we see uh

the vision of the church being in this

next season and so we'll spend the next

three weeks after this uh yeah speaking

into the vision of the church and then

this week is a lot more practical though

some of the things that you're going to

see Happening Here in the life of our

church and we're so excited about the

things that God is doing in our midst is

anyone else excited about what Jesus is

doing there's about 11 of us that's

amazing M hopefully a few more by the

end of this morning we can have a

Salvation altar call as well so you know

never know we might get a few more

people excited but one of the really

exciting things that's going to happen

in

2025 is we have some inters uh starting

at our church so we actually have four

interns and uh that's going to be

amazing we have Amy cam ARA and Adam are

all starting in uh as interns in church

this year and so yeah how

good so Cam and ARA will primarily be

helping Brody with youth uh we have uh

119 young people registered for Camp can

we thank Jesus for that how how amazing

is that and uh Amy will be working in

the Sparks area and maybe some Media

stuff and Adam is really exciting he's

going to actually Pioneer some new

Outreach stuff some new Mission stuff

into the city so that uh you know we're

really leaning into wanting to see lost

people found and so we're so excited to

have interns coming on board you may

have seen in the media a few years ago

that um interns uh kind of hit the news

because some Churches had interns that

were maybe like washing the pastor's car

sometimes doing their gardening so I

thought great let's get me some of that

um and so if you're wondering what they

do on Mondays no just kidding uh so

that's not our heart um as a church at

all and these guys actually do an nzqa

program they're actually doing proper

studies the Practical component serving

at church as part of their exam and so

we take it really seriously we're really

honored that they would give their time

and so um we don't actually get Inns

just so we can be like oh all you need

to do is clean the church and put cheers

out no these are guys that have a

Ministry call on their life and we want

to sew into that and so we took it

really seriously uh we had an interview

panel uh we brought Sue on The Smiling

assassin as I like to call her so all of

the interns had to get past Sue um and

so uh they done well uh doing that and

so you know we we had interviews with

the guys making sure as well that it was

actually a good fit for them hey how's

this going to work financially for you

what's it going to be like have you

thought about this have you thought

about that because we didn't want any

new one just saying yes in a moment and

then realizing wow what about the

practicalities so we're really excited

we really believe the interns are going

to uh just add value to us and we really

believe our church is going to add value

to them and so uh what I'd love to do is

invite the elders to come up and uh

Pastor Paul and Karen Brody um Trevor

and Deb if you guys want to come up as

well um and Sue is actually going to

pray over the interns so the interns

need to come as well so let's give them

another uh

welcome and we're going just I've just

asked uh do you have a mic no can we

grab a mic for Sue that would be amazing

she's just going to um pray over our

wonderful interns

so let's have them come sort of down

into the front and the guys can gather

around them so yeah how

good how awesome and let's come on

Church um Sue is going to pray but let's

reach out in faith and really uh bless

these guys thank you Father just before

I pray I just want to say this to you to

look at me

I told

you look at me cuz God wants to say

something to you what you've done you

have no idea of the measure of the

impact of your decision and your

acceptance to respond to the call of God

will change you and Del be for forever

moving forward it will shape and form in

you things that are new it'll take old

things and revive them or put them to

bed put them away it will bring you to

Higher Ground and by that I don't mean

in terms of position but in him in the

spirit you will learn about yourself you

will see yourself if you are wise you

will see yourself and you will know

yourself and you will grow you will

choose growth you will choose growth

over comfort you will choose to move

rather than sit on your hands and the

creativity that Elohim God will release

over you will be something of a new EXP

experience in a new dimension and a new

level for you God has got you he has led

you this far by his grace and he will

continue with you because what he has

started he is faithful to complete

father this can we stand can we stand

father this morning

we we father we we just lift our hands

toward these these people Lord God this

group of interns and father we thank you

for them first of all we thank you for

their heart and their desire to follow

you and to be led by you and as they

learn of you Lord God may they may their

minds be full of you may their minds be

ready and stretched to capacity to

receive new knowledge new learning new

things scripture understanding depth of

knowledge Lord May that come to them but

father would you stir them in their soul

would you stir them in their Spirit to

reach for you and as they grow in you

may they impart that father give them

the grace to impart and pour out and

Lord as they come to you as living

sacrifices to declare your goodness to

declare your work to to make you known

in this place father would you increase

that in in in what's that word in

measure in great measure Lord God would

you would you come right now and and we

just pray lay As We Lay hands on them

Lord God your anointing over each one of

them today in jesus' name because what

man who goes to plow a field does not

first count the cost and Lord they will

count the cost even as they are working

in this field they will continue to

count the cost give them the strength to

work the field father in Jesus name take

them on Lord and enable them to lead us

also in the places that they will go we

pray this in Jesus precious name amen

amen amen awesome awesome thank

you so we're really excited um about

having the interns um come on board and

we know that's going to be really

significant for us as a church another

significant thing that we're starting

this year that we will uh do every year

as a church going forward is we're

actually going to participate in Lent

and uh so lent actually starts on the

5th of March and goes to the uh

Wednesday the 5th Ash Wednesday and goes

to uh Thursday the 17th um The Day

Before Good Friday and so um for us

really the reason I'm going to show a

video in a little moment that explains

what lint is but a little bit of the

reason why we want to do lint is I think

a lot of Pentecostal churches uh within

Pentecostal Church Church culture there

was actually a slight correction that

was needed where um there was almost a

for a while an atmosphere of you can

just have it all and just add Jesus on

top of it like you know Jesus is there

to fulfill your wildest dreams and uh

you know you can have everything and

then just add Jesus on top of it and

that's actually not the gospel right and

so we believe in celebrating the

goodness of God we believe He blesses us

man I so grateful for Everything Jesus

has done I consider myself so so blessed

but I also know that I need a reminding

season in my life that not everything is

about me feeling um and meeting my needs

like I actually need to remember that

it's also about me laying myself down

because we can live in this Western

World of consumerism and just consume

and consume and you know it's really eat

drink and be merry as our culture and so

we actually need Seasons we shouldn't be

like that all the time but we need

Seasons where we actually remember wow

life is more than just me consuming and

so Mark sers says this we cannot escape

the lie in our society that you can have

everything you want you also cannot

escape the truth that you cannot have

everything and so lent is a

reorientating season and the leading to

EAS

and so um what I'm going to do is

there's just a few minute video that um

that the team are just going to pop on

that just kind of explains a little bit

how lint runs so let's check that

out hey Russian spies and fish fries

this coming week Christians all over the

world will observe Ash Wednesday kicking

off a season that we call

lent no lent if you've spent any time

around Church in your life you may have

heard of this season yeah isn't that the

time before Easter where we give

something up well kind of but lent is

actually much deeper than that lent is a

season on the church calendar that

stretches 40 days from Ash Wednesday to

Easter Sunday traditionally lent is

treated as a time to reflect repent and

prepare our hearts for the celebration

of Easter and Christ's Resurrection from

the dead but where is Lent in the Bible

well the season and observation of Lent

does not actually appear in scripture

well that's it I'm

done however just because the season of

Lent does not appear in scripture

doesn't mean that it's not founded on

biblical principles for example in Greek

the season of Lent was originally

referred to as tessaras which means the

40 and this period of 40 days is not

just some arbitrary number but 40 is a

number of deep significance in the Bible

this is the same duration of time that

Moses spent on Mount Si and Jesus spent

in the wilderness and in both of these

circumstances both Moses and Jesus were

fasting during these periods and because

of this fasting and prayer are two of

the main focuses for many Believers

during Lent this is why you often see

churches doing prayer journals or

challenges during Lent this is also

where the idea of giving something up

for Lent comes from because fasting

doesn't always have to just do with food

you can fast from a certain type of food

you can fast from television or social

media in this season of Lent I'm fasting

from watching the NBA it's a difficult

sacrifice but if you ever ask the

question why do we fast why do we give

something up during Lent well I'll tell

you one thing it's not because God wants

us to be sad and grumpy all the time and

it's not so that we can brag about how

we crushed lent this year I don't even

know who would be impressed by that but

the idea of fasting or giving something

up for Lent is so that we have more room

to pursue God in our lives in essence

the fasting portion of Lent means

removing something to make room for the

one thing it means removing a

distraction or creating more room in our

lives so that we can truly pursue God

and His goodness and just like Moses's

tesser costy or 40 days prepared him to

lead God's people across the desert and

just like Jesus's tesser costy prepared

him for his public Ministry our season

of Lent is meant to prepare us to

experience the full joy and celebration

of Easter so you see lent is not just

about saying no to something it's

actually about saying no to something

for a while to prepare ourselves to

experience the full measure of God's yes

and so with the season of length

starting in a few days I want to

challenge you to enter into this season

resolving to pursue god with greater

intensity maybe you'll do it through

fasting either fasting from food or

something else in your life maybe you'll

do it through consistent daily prayer

study or reflection maybe you'll go

above and beyond in your giving and

generosity whatever it is for you I want

to challenge each and every one of us

over the next 40 days to pursue God like

never before

so that we can celebrate him like never

before and I've personally been doing

lint for I think this will be my fifth

year and what I can tell you is it it

it's awesome to build in a rhythm to

your life like you actually begin to

build a history with God around a rhythm

of your life and um yeah you know it

actually even though you're giving

something up it now you know is a season

that I look forward to um doesn't mean

it's always been uh easy you know it

does still sometimes I'm giving

something up but as a church we really

want to lean into that and we'll have

some more information about how we're

going to do that coming out over the

next few weeks but um that's going to be

really exciting for us we're also

looking in term two of 2025 to launch an

alpha um course so we really believe we

need to see more people saved we also

believe that there are people that can

um and actually they have questions so

so while we encourage on our Sunday

Services people to give their lives to

Jesus for some people they're actually

like I want to explore this before I do

it and that's not a bad thing right like

where they can actually say hey I want

to count the cost I want to answer these

questions and so we're planning on doing

lent uh Pastor sorry Alpha Pastor Paul's

going to um uh kind of help coordinate

that and so grateful for him like how

good like the uh mine a few weeks ago

was just a dream that we would do

something up there and because of his

gifting he's done that but you know not

only can he build he can also build

people and so he's going to build a team

to um to have Alpha and you know we're

really looking forward to seeing many

Seekers become followers of Jesus you

know again Alpha is just a tool but we

felt like we just need to orientate

ourselves in the direction of let's have

some tools where we are expecting to see

more people saved

um and so

um yeah that's a couple of practical

things that are going to be happening

the other thing that's going to be

happening later in the year is actually

what we're calling the Upper Room

project and it's going to be a

renovation within the church and who's

grateful for our church building right

like man this um building is amazing and

we know that ultimately that's God's

faithfulness and his provision but we

also honor Pastor Trevor and Debbie for

their step of faith and you know

everything they stepped through to walk

into this building can we just show our

honor to them like how

amazing we um really honor you guys and

um certainly I know for S and I being

able to come into um this facility was

amazing and um there was a little bit of

false preent or so cuz you know when I

came in I used to come in and preach on

Sunday and didn't really see the areas

that needed renovation so I thought when

we said yes I was like we had a building

project in Alex yes we won't be having

any projects here that will be wonderful

um but uh needless to say there are a

few areas that we want to um invest into

as a church and so we're calling it The

Upper Room project and the first thing

that we want to do is have our prayer

room as a designated prayer room room

with

24hour 7day a week access and I have a

dream that without striving that maybe

one day we would even have prayer 24/7

where someone would always be there

praying for our city contending for a

move of God so at the moment our prayer

room is a multi- um space room so we use

it for different things it is it is our

prayer room primarily but we sometimes

have to have meetings there and other

things there and what we want to do is

uh to turn that into a dedicated prayer

room where um you know you don't go to

meet you don't go to connect with people

it's simply a room where we go to to

pray and so we'll arrange probably like

um access you know I think these days

you do it through a phone app and you

know you can scan in um once you've got

permission and we'll have 24/7 access

and we'll change the room the Aesthetics

the lighting and just make it um feel uh

you know more like a prayer room and um

we're really really excited about that

and believe that that's going to um

provide a foundation for everything we

do because we know nothing happens

without prayer and you know prayer

doesn't prepare us for the greater work

prayer is the greater work it's not just

that we do something to get something

prayer is the greater work and so we are

looking forward to that um being

done the other thing uh when I um came

for my first visit Nathan took me aside

and said we've actually been saving some

money and um we we have the ability to

redo the offices and um I thought

wouldn't it be amazing if the first

Sunday as a new pastor I stood up and

said I've got a vision for a new office

church can you imagine like wouldn't

that be amazing everyone would be like

wow we want to get behind that Vision

like and you know I told you all the

things that were going to be in my nice

new office you'd all be like stok to be

a part of the church but the reality is

we do need a new office area um right

now the current one actually leaks so if

if it rains um you actually get water

through and so we're looking for an open

plan office space with room for our

growing staff interns and counselors we

actually have uh Michelle and Kim uh uh

training at bti I and they're going to

uh do some voluntary counseling with our

young people um this year which is so

exciting can we celebrate that how

awesome and so we do need new areas here

the other thing is currently um that

space is not the most inviting So you

you're not so likely to invite someone

to meet there and as a result what

happens is a lot of our pastoral staff

end up doing meetings in cafes and

that's fine but you can imagine when I'm

meeting with Nathan in a cafe and it

comes to the end and I need to cast

something out of him that gets a little

bit awkward right like I mean no one

really wants um loose loose in the

middle of a cafe so

um there's one of the things that we

want to do is actually have that area

where it's a place that's inviting where

people can come because we actually

realize the conversation is different

there than it is in a cafe like you know

I mean you're not going to open up uh

you know about a difficulty in your life

in these modern cafes with someone else

that you don't know sitting right there

or someone you do know and you're

thinking okay I was going to share that

but I won't and so we really need spaces

that are going to help us facilitate the

vision of the church and um so that's

going to be uh really exciting we'll of

course have multi-purpose meeting spaces

so growth track start strong

discipleship programs all of those kind

of things that currently we sometimes

have to lean into the prer room what

we'll have is uh dedicated meeting

spaces for those up on this side which

is going to enable our uh prayer room to

be a dedicated prayer space and so um

we're so excited about what that's going

to enable us to do the last thing we'll

do uh we'll have as we're actually we

build a mezanine with a dedicated

production area for live streaming and

filming so we still have people that

tune in from around the world and watch

our online services and uh that's a

really important part of um what we do

and actually this week I met with a

pastor one of the things we'll be doing

before lent is I'm recording three

podcasts where I interview someone just

about various aspects of Lent just to

help us as a church lean into that and

so um I phoned Nathan and said hey I

want to record a podcast what's the

easiest way to do it and he said I

suggest you phone Josiah so I phon

Josiah and Josiah said you probably need

to talk to Brody so I talked to Brody

and Brody said I've had chat with Ethan

and so what I said was really I'm just

wanting to record something um just

simple um so that we can record it and

so Ethan and Amy spent about 2 hours

setting up the prayer room with cameras

lighting rigs um microphones like it was

crazy but so very very grateful for Amy

and then Ethan also then said to me at

the end of it after it was filmed he

said so who's going to edit this and I

said well I guess I could and I saw the

look on his face like his hard work

filming it recording it uh funnily

enough he offered to edit it and so he

uh edited the podcast and U it was

amazing but the thing was it actually

took hours of setup and so we actually

want a dedicated facility that's going

to help us um it's not that we're

interested in anything other than being

able to lean into what God's calling us

to do and um you know we think series

like Le being able to provide a podcast

and the lean lead in so we can all be

leaning in together is really really

helpful and so these kind of things are

going to help us to do that more easily

and so

um much of this was actually the vision

of for the building when we bought it so

when we uh when the church bought the

building uh most of the initial plans

that's actually what the church wanted

to do with the building but we realized

that um we couldn't do it all on day one

and so it was like Hey you know we'll

get the auditorium done the kids rooms

done and uh we'll leave some stuff that

we can do in future for the future and

so that day has now come and so I know

um I I think probably most people would

see the importance of that I know some

people might be sitting there thinking

well why do churches invest in buildings

or why do they invest in areas and can I

just say our building is a servant to

our purpose none of us worship a

building and if you've been here for any

length of time uh can I let you know if

you're if it's your first Sunday here

this isn't what we do every week usually

it's a message we preach the word uh

that's what we are we're leaning into

prayer presence and Mission our vision

is to see a move of God in Tong Moana

our vision is not around a building but

we know that a building is a servant to

purpose and actually if we are to

achieve the purpose that God has for us

we have to make some changes to our

building and so uh we'll actually be

taking up an offering towards this

project on the 2nd of March and as a

church some Churches you go to every

year they take up a vision offering um

that's actually not something we do we

don't take up Vision offerings for our

church every year um and it's probably

not something that we will do every year

and I know some churches are like no

this is what what we do and that's not

wrong but we just feel like our church

is already so generous that um we don't

always need to take up Vision offerings

every year but we also know that there

are times where projects are actually

setting things up that are going to uh

bless generations to come and that to

actually make an opportunity to sew into

that and so can I say this morning if

you're hearing this and you're like well

I don't want I don't want to give to

that that's absolutely fine like we're

not interested in twisting anyone's arm

to say that hey you have to give but we

do want it to not be an obligation but

an invitation at the same time we would

like to in invite you that we would love

to take up an amazing offering that we

would be able to do that area not so

that we can have the fanciest building

but simply so that our mission of prayer

presence and Mission is not hindered by

our facilities that our facilities

actually serve the vision of our church

and we believe for a move of God within

our city like how exciting open Heaven

on Tuesday night 3,00 th people from

Tonga have registered in AV in advance

for a prayer meeting if you know

anything about Tonga people they are

last minute Like a Prayer meeting in our

city that holds 3,000 people sold out a

week in advance isn't that awesome so we

believe we know we're only one part to

play we don't think our church is

everything of what God's doing in TOA

but we know we need facilities that

enable us to be faithful to the part

that God has called us to play and that

we will join with others as they play

their part and I'm so excited for

Tuesday night for 3,000 people together

in our biggest Indoor Stadium with no

other agenda not in the name of a church

not in the name of anything else other

than we want an open Heaven over our

nation what an awesome agenda that we

are meeting together for so I encourage

you um we'll uh share some actual

details of what the building is going to

look like in the coming weeks I know for

some people they're like I'm not really

that interested I know for other people

they're like man that's I I need to look

over I want to see it I want to see what

you know um we we had someone in

Alexandria that loved to give me

corrections to the plans you know the

plans would come out and there was one

point where there was a they put a wall

instead of a door he that's meant to be

a door I said I think you're right he

said it's not right I said yeah you're

right right and can I tell you I was

very naughty I just left it as it was

just just I just left it as it was it's

still a wall I'm like it's okay we know

it's a door still a wall and so I know

there are some people that seeing the

plans and I'm only joking like I

actually get some people wired that way

that seeing the plans seeing what it

looks like really helps you see what

it's like so we will have that over the

coming weeks um so that you can see and

we'd love you to prayerfully consider

giving into our offering on this second

of March

um

but let's just pray for a moment eh

father we thank you for what you are

doing in the life of our church Lord we

thank you that life comes from Christ

and Lord I pray that as a church Lord

that you would be our soulle Focus that

our mission would be the cause of Christ

and this in the nation and in the

Nations Lord I bless each person that

calls toim home Lord I bless them to

Great fruitfulness not only in this

building Lord as part of our church that

they would be fruitful but Lord we would

also be a company of fruitful people in

the marketplace in our families in our

neighborhoods Lord that you would be

stirring something in US Lord for a move

of God in jesus'

name amen amen amen hey if you signed up

for the welcome to Elum lunch um that's

going to be happening at

11:45 in the preer room funnily enough

cuz it's a multi-purpose room at the

moment uh so that'll be happening up

there but apart from that we do have our

cake auction this morning so uh I

believe there's over 20 cakes ready to

be auctioned uh this is my first one I

believe it's a bit of an experience

Brody uh on the microphone playing

Auctioneer um who knows what could

happen so what we're going to do is

we're actually going to finish the

service up now we're going to uh invite

you to go out to the street that

basically we're more or less going to go

into the cake auction straight away if

you are new and would love to connect

with us we'd love to meet you in the

connect area but apart from that bid

well on some cakes God bless have a

wonderful week