Posture (sermon notes)

Some Dictionary meanings for Posture include; the carriage of the body as a whole, and the mental or spiritual attitude.

Our physical posture will always reflect to some degree the posture of our spiritual state. This may manifest itself as an insecure person who constantly looks to the ground, or a confident person who struts into any room commanding respect. Our Posture or body language sends a message to those around us... if a picture paints a thousand words, then our posture is a novel.
Posture will even give someone away as lying, for instance they may say that they are fine, but the posture they assume displays a person hurting or disinterested.

In Chapter 1:27-8 of Ezekiel, we see the prophet standing before the "likeness of the glory of the LORD..." his first instinct, as with many other people who encountered God like this, is to fall to his knees before the Lord and plant his face on the ground showing his submission and worship of his King.

Like Ezekiel, our spiritual posture before God reveals two things about us;

Our INTENTIONS and our EXPECTATIONS.

It was clear that Ezekiel intended to worship the Lord by his posture, and that he expected the Lord to speak and reveal visions to him. 
Had he not had either of those intentions of expectations, the situation would have been dramatically different.

So ask you self, what does my posture reveal about my intentions and expectations?
As you live your life what do you Intend to give God and Expect to receive from Him?

INTENTIONS

Reading through the book of Daniel, we find him faced with a choice in 6:10-14 to adhere to local decrees which would have him only pray to the earthly king ruling at the time or ignore these decrees, risk his life and continue to pray to the True God.
Our intentions will often be challenged by our surrounding situations and we must ask ourselves, how much are we willing to sacrifice in order to worship God?
Daniel was intentional about praying to God, even at the risk of his life. 
Who is number one in your life?
Because the actions you take, and the posture you assume will be a dead give away to who your #1 is.


We need to act upon those intentions which are God honoring so that He may be made known. 


EXPECTATIONS


What are you expecting from God this year?
Your expectation of God will be seen in your posture.


Are you ready to receive blessings, insight, wisdom, knowledge, favour, and other privileges from God this year or have you lowered your expectation of what he can do?

Read Ephesians 3:20.
it says that God can do more... MORE.... than we could ever imaging. That means he can and will exceed our expectations.

So...

How BIG is your ask?
Have you stopped asking for those big things becasue you lowered your expectation?
Does your posture before God reveal someone expecting an abundance of blessing and favour or are you closed off and hindering God's move in your life?


Let me encourage you to reposition yourself to be humbly submitted before God, showing him with your Posture that you INTEND to worship him with your whole life, and that you EXPECT him to exceed your greatest dreams.


When was the last time you found yourself on your knees, face to the ground before God?
Maybe its time to get on your knees before the Lord with an intention to worship and increase your expectation of what he will do in your life starting today.


Lk

Sunday 19.12.10

Songs for this Sunday AM service:

Born that we may have Life- Chris Tomlin
You- Hillsong
Glory in the Highest- Chris Tomlin
Emmanuel- Hillsong

Item:
Go Tell it on the Mountain

Time to write

I'm sitting in the shade of a jacaranda tree and finally had time to stop, think and write.

In view is an amazing Anglican Church and it has me thinking about The Church.

She comes in all shapes and sizes. Some with pews others with chairs, her people are so diverse they cover every nation and demo-graph. She is skilled in trades, gifted in the arts, patient as a mother and innocent like a child. She is long-suffering, hopeful and sees greatness in every human being.

I'm so glad that I am apart of the Church.

Next year my Church plans to move venues and 'set up shop' in a local school. What a great opportunity this will be and what an impact it will have on that school, and the local community. It proves once again that The Church is not confined to it's walls, is not controlled by it's past and will not shrink back, rather she will endure and be the radiant bride God has called her to be.

Thats just my two cents...
Lk

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Gen Y & X are smart!

I really need to blog again, but with one final essay looming over my head it probably should wait...
ahh stuff it I'm procrastinating...

I'm currently researching for this evangelism essay and found myself on the ABS and NCLS websites. On these sites I happened to find information on education and what people are generally doing after school. I found that more than ever before Australia is becoming an educated nation!
And the Crazy part is that the church, on average, has a higher percentage of education than the nation.

This trend in lifestyle, in my opinion, is a rather BIG deal for the Church of tomorrow. It will bring both exciting new opportunities and have with it a host of new challenges.

Compared to previous generations, Gen Y and X will be the most educated. These two age groups consider 'enjoyment' as the most important thing to gain in this life and is obviously linked closely with money.
It has been documented that you tend to earn more if you have a degree or some kind of higher education under your belt.
So education then losely translates into money, and money is enjoyable.

BUT this comes with challenge for leaders of these groups:
1. Aiming high. The longing for information and knowledge is a great desire to have, but leaders of these groups will need to better equip themselves in order to continue to reach the 'intellectual' on their level. To treat this group like young, immature people will only do harm.
2. Filling the Gap. The greatest challenge on the other hand will be in continuing to include those who are not pursuing further studies. By targetting and catering to the 'intellectual' simultaneously Churches could be easily overlooking the needs of those considered 'unintellectual.' This could be in the use of words, social gatherings and service style; where a slick modern type of service may only highlight to the 'tradie' that he or she is less valued.

Hmmm, there is a lot to sit and think over.
But I'm excited because we live in an age where information is easily attainable, the internet has increased our ability to connect with people and the Church has access to an abundance of resources which can be used to better grasp local communities, social trends and the direction of the future.
I hope we equip ourselves with the right tools to be effective in all generations and to all demographics.

Lk