HUNGRY!!!

Illness: The feeling when you are SO hungry that you think your stomach is in fact eating it's on stomach vile!!

Cure: A big juicy Lamb Chop dinner full of Mash potato, Peas and a heck load of Gravy!!! Topped with nice frozen yoghurt ice cream to end it all..

...oh man i love Dinner

Shalom
Shaun

My Weekend

My weekend was flipping amazing!!!!

Friday after school i went to Jakes house and we bussed into the City where we walked around marveling at the place. then we when to the Sky City Cinemas to try and get into the new batman movie. it had only just come out on thursday. It was COMPLETELY booked out. so frustrating. so then we had dinner at Burger king in the sky city cinemas and then got picked up by Jakes Dad. then at Jakes we went on the internet trying to find ANY cinema's that had tickets for batman that night. We found out that Hoyts in Wairau just down the road from my house. so then we got dropped off there by the help of Jakes Mom. However, the movie was at 10:30and we got dropped off at 9!! so had 1 and a half hours to spare!! we went in a bought the tickets.. WE GOT THE LAST TWO TICKETS!!!! i know so fluke chance but we got em.

So then we just hang around, went to the tenpin bowling and had a go at pool and the arcade games they had there! good fun. then we went into the movies and i saw my old friend from School that had moved to a different school and we had a mean catch up! then we saw Batman! oh man it's amazing!! it will blow your mind. take an awesome superhero movie and add sociological mind bending scenarios more or less along the lines of how many people will you kill to stay alive. or in batman's case, who does he choose to survive. its so intense! like honestly such a good movie! i recommend it!! so then me and Jake walked home from the cinemas and he crashed at my house. we fell asleep watching family guy. SOO FUNNY!!!

Then we woke at 11, got picked up by Jakes Dad then went back to Jakes house and stayed there doing nothing and just hanging around, playing guitar, watching movies and generally being cool people, until 6:30 when Ruth came over and we made our way back to the city to go to the Addison show. was soo fun! good times. then we went back to Jakes home after some friendly catch ups with people at the show over some cafe' tables in the city. at Jakes we watched tv and a movie then went to bed. we woke at 10 and i had to go to Church to pick up Joel Francis' guitar set up [e.g. guitar effects pedals amp and speakers] and take them to harbour because i was playing guitar for worship. so picked them up and then went to Burger Fuel for lunch with Dan Joel Jake and I.. soo yum.. then we went to evening Church and all that Jazz, literally...

..After harbour there was a special soup dinner for the congregation. Me Jake and Sammy just were on the stage playing background Jazz for the people. me and Dan taught Sam some bass riffs to play and we just played quietly in the background to many peoples enjoyment. was fun. i love Jazz... then i came home...

That was my weekend.. so fun. Good send off to many weeks now of hard work :( oh well life is life. :D

How was yours?

Have a great one...
Shalom
Shaun

The Dark Knight

OH MAN!!! the Dark knight flippin ruled!!!! oh man.. i wanna see it again! and again! and AGAIN!!!

This is the main thing I'm feeling after seeing it..

Utter amazement at the brilliance of Heath Ledger's acting. [R.I.P]
and disgust at the Joker and his wacked mind.

The Dark knight is beyond any other superhero movie and this is why:

It includes the sociology side of being a superhero and what one has to do to beat the most evil of villains: the Joker. It takes the plot line of the "Saw" movies, removes all the gore, proving once again that it is not needed, and puts it into a superhero movie.

That is, introducing the concept: "How many people will you let die to stay secret", which is very similar to Saw's "how many people will you kill to stay alive". These two similar tag lines fit extremely well with the Joker, whose twisted mind desires no money or jewels just anarchy and pain. The amazing planning and preciseness of the Joker makes every sit at THE VERY EDGE of their seats.

It truly is a great movie, Heath Ledger did everyone proud.

Just a thought...

Shalom
Shaun

Sam's Photography

You can thank Sam for the great shot that is my header...

The leaves are quite fantastic in my opinion.
Go to her blog page to see more of her photos and all of her thoughts of life in general!!

Thanks Sam! :D
Have a great one...

Shalom
Shaun

Arrival Of The Holy Spirit

Before Jesus ascended to heaven he promised the Kingdom to be restored to the world, and that the Holy Spirit would come upon all the believers. Joel, a prophet of the Old Testament, prophesized the arrival of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2: 16-17, and this highly anticipated event came in full force in the form of a great gust of wind, to empower the people and give them the gifts to go out into the world and bring the message to all the nations. There are mainly two points that can be recognized in this event: How the Holy Spirit came upon the people, and secondly, what happened as a result.

The arrival of the Holy Spirit in Acts was simply an expansion of scale, compared to the Old Testament empowering, the function did not change. According to Peter, the empowering work that happened to the Old Testament is to happen to all believers, as promised by Jesus in Acts, “You will be baptized with the Holy spirit not many days from now” [1]. And that the promised Holy Spirit would come upon them. However, to do this the disciples would need to be receptive and true to their faith. In Acts 2: 14-36 Peter delivers a sermon to the people of Jerusalem after the Holy Spirit has come upon the 12 disciples, after hearing this sermon the people ask “brothers what must we do?”[2]. Peter’s first response is “repent”. This order is the main command that God calls us to do to become a faithful follower. “Repent… And be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus the Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”[3]. Here Peter directly tells the people that to receive the Holy Spirit they had to repent. This is needed because by repenting we draw ourselves closer to God and his Grace and Mercy, allowing us to receive more of his gifts. God needs us to repent to receive the Holy Spirit.

The arrival of the Holy Spirit in Acts was simply an expansion of scale, compared to the Old Testament empowering, the function did not change. It comes upon people in the same way it came upon the great leaders of Israel in the Old Testament. This can be seen through out the biblical history, going as far as back as Moses and the seventy elders who the Holy Spirit “rested on”[4]. This was a key part in the foundation of the nations around the Promised Land and played an important part for the rest of the biblical history. Then came the ‘Period of the Judges’, here God’s Spirit “came upon” the leaders of Israel, helping them defend the nation against her enemies. God’s Spirit was also at work in the rest of the Old Testament, founding the monarchy by giving Saul “power” and also “the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power”[5] when Samuel anointed him with oil, the Lord’s spirit also empowered the prophets, whose works could not of been achieved with out the power of the Lord’s Spirit. All these empowering moments within the Old Testaments have been to individuals or specific groups, where as the empowering of the spirit in the book of Acts was for all believers, anyone who heard and received the message of God, had the Holy Spirit enter him/her.

The coming of the Holy Spirit upon people is a repeatable event. The very first believers, the disciples were “filled with the Holy Spirit” a the Pentecost in Acts 2:4, but they were further ‘filled’ again later on “When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak God’s message with boldness”[6]. This shows us that the empowering of the Holy Spirit can be a repeatable event and that when the people in the books of Acts received the Holy Spirit they could then go forth and spread it around the world.

Now that we see how the Spirit came upon the people we can fully appreciate what happened as a result to the Holy Spirit coming to the people in Acts. One of the initial results of the Holy Spirit arriving was the overflow of some kind of prophetic response in the people. This includes praise and tongues, which are cousins of the broad term prophecy. This can be seen in Acts 2:4 where they spoke tongues and Peter preached converting three thousand, Acts 4:31 the Spirit came and the people began speaking the word boldly, Acts 10:46 the new believers began speaking in tongues and praising God, and Acts 19:6 People in Corinth were filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking tongues and prophesying. These are all things that made a difference; they were effective at spreading the Word of God and getting the Holy Spirit moving around the region. What you’ll also find with the Holy Spirit coming to the people is that something observable happens. This again helps get the Word across that it is God doing this, and it attracts crowds of thousands to hear the message. The most common observable result would be verbal as that is the easiest gifting to manifest itself immediacy, and also the broad term prophetic, including tongues and praise. Yet this gifting was in general. The Spirit came to all believers, there is no such thing as ‘empowered’ versus ‘unempowered’ , all the believers in the given group or area were impacted by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit came upon the people because the disciples listened to Jesus’ commands and stayed within Jerusalem to await the arrival of the Holy Spirit and once it arrive they were willing to receive the power and take it too the streets to draw the crowds. Once the crowds heard what had happened the result was an overflow in prophecy, praise, tongues, healings, and ministries. The Holy Spirit enables us to receive the gifts of the Kingdom and is a crucial part to linking up with the supernatural workings of Lord Jesus Christ. This is the only way we are going to spark the flame which will become the bush fire of revival within New Zealand.

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[1] Acts 1:5

[2] Acts 2:37

[3] Acts 2:38

[4] Numbers 11:17,25,29

[5] 1 Samuel 16:13

[6] Acts 4:31

Spiritual Gifts

Spiritual gifts are God’s tools that enable us to participate in the supernatural workings of God. By sending Jesus down upon the Earth, God allowed us the privilege of relating to the living Christ, the Messiah, someone we live by and someone to follow the footsteps of. Jesus will guide us and lead us along the path that God wants us to journey down. The miracles that Jesus performed were the works of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus appointed these gifts to us all, thus allowing us to start the revival within the cities.

Spiritual gifts are first and foremost gifts. A true gift cannot be earned; it is a show of the givers generosity. This is the same with God; his spiritual gifts are not earned through how many years you have spent in the Church or how old you are. Spiritual gifting is a result of Gods’ unearned favour and is his supernatural tools to release Gods’ supernatural power upon the world. That is where many people, I believe, go wrong. They believe that they can earn spiritual gifts, where that is untrue. God will gift people who he feels fit to gift and who he knows will be able to use these gifts in their personal situation. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians we see that Paul speaks of waiting on the Lord or spiritual gifts “so that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ”[1]. The people of Corinth didn’t lack any spiritual gift for the waited on Jesus; they did not try to earn it. But God saw their willingness and receptivity and gifted the people with the tools of the Kingdom. God’s spiritual gifts are first and foremost gifts of the Kingdom.

Gifts can be categorized into two different types: Ministry and Situational gifts. God uses both of these types of gifts to enable us to unlock the kingdom here on Earth. Ministry gifts are a gifting to a person so that someone can recognise and use his/her gift for the rest of his/her life. It dwells within them and can be brought forth with the help of the Holy Spirit. God uses these types of gifts for people that can handle them, for the most of the time, ministry gifts are a proportion of our faith, and the higher we climb in our faith the more powerful and effective our spiritual gifts will become. I personally have been gifted with the ability to prophecy over people and when I wait upon the Holy Spirit I am able to see words and pictures for people. An example of this would be one time at youth group we were all deep into a ministry time and I got a picture for John, a senior leader in the youth, this was through waiting upon the Lord praying and asking for him to give me a word for someone in the building this night. And I got a picture for John. This ministry gift is mine for life and is able to be used whenever I wait on the Lord, it will grow as I grow spiritually and become strong as I become strong spiritually.

However, situational gifts are manifestations of the Holy Spirit within someone for a particular situation. May it be a home group or a conference, the Holy Spirit will manifest for a situation to be a powerful experience for the person allowing them to get in touch with the Holy Spirit. Situational gifting is of God’s perfect timing, used when he knows it will be the most effective upon the person in subject[2]. Where the Ministry gifts are used to develop a person of God into a more effective and powerful leader, disciple, missionary… [The list goes on] of God. God uses Situational and Ministry gifts to empower his people.

Spiritual gifts are meant to be used to further the Kingdom here on Earth. Jesus did miracles through spiritual gifts and called his disciple to do it as well. Jesus does this when he commissioned the twelve disciples and “gave them power and authority over all the demons and power to heal diseases…so they went… proclaiming the good news and healing everywhere”[3]. With this direction we are all called to do what Jesus has done, and as disciples of Jesus Christ we do as our Pharisee does and travel in his dust and do as he does. So when God gives someone a gift it is not to lay dormant and unused, for the gift was given out of generosity, yes, but also of expectancy to be used effectively. Jesus died for us, so it is our job, with the tools of Kingdom to spread the message of the Lord around the world, and it is through the spiritual gifts that we can do that. God uses the gifts of missions to empower someone with the heart and knowledge of being a powerful and effective missionary, and it is through this that God is furthering his Kingdom here on Earth. We just have to be receptive. For Jesus said: “You will receive the power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”[4].

Spiritual gifts are effectively used within a team. Not one person can have all the powers of the Kingdom, and it is because of this that we can be very effective with our gifts when we use them as a team. Romans speak of this being “Many Gifts but One Body”: “Now as we have many parts of the body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts”[5]. This shows us that united our diversity makes us strong[6]. It is in this same way that we should use our gifts, for example: Prophecy should team up with intercessors and tongues should be paired up with interception of tongues. This can be seen within my own youth group, we have been growing in our faith and the leaders of our youth group have, along with their personal development into Jesus, have developed their own gifts, for example I am able to prophecy and guide God’s words onto other people, along with a girl, Alice, in our youth who is able to intercede with someone and the Holy Spirit, becoming the needed lightening rod that connects the Holy Spirit and the person, who is not able to do it themselves. As a team we are effective, we can handle any problem that someone has for as one body we are strong.

Jesus’ death bridged the world to the heavens, and it is through this bridge that we are able to receive the tools of the Kingdom to further bring God’s Kingdom to Earth. In all gifts that we receive it is important that we use these gifts with the Lord and never by ourselves. The revival is not going to happen with God, we cannot do it ourselves, and so I am going to pair up with the Holy Spirit and the Tools of the Kingdom and make more disciples.

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[1] 1 Corinthians 1:7

[2] 1 Corinthians 12:7

[3] Luke 9:1-6

[4] Acts 1:8

[5] Romans 12:4-6

[6] 1 Corinthians 12:12

Transposing Silence Into Music

My friend Jake told me this a couple of weeks ago, that has really hit me lately. He said it was a quote from this movie that I've totally gone blank on the title at the moment. Any who, this is the quote:

"To play intense you have to transpose silence into music"

I love this quote. What it means to me is that music is not seeing how fast you can break your strings by playing to hard, or how destroyed you can make you fret board by going completely ape-monkey on it, or making your music sound like BAD jazz by playing such a mixture of notes so fast that you cant hear anything.

it means that you should feel music, that you should WANT to listen to it, carefully and quietly. If you're not aware my number one favourite guitarists is J.J. Cale. He was born in 1938 and was one of the originators of the TULSA SOUND. This sound is a very loose genre drawing on blues, rockability, country and jazz. I love it. It is laid back but experienced is the best term. J.J. Cale hits every note well. but he doesn't destroy his fret board, instead he plays nice well-timed simple solos that blow me away.

I think as worship leaders in our church we have to be able to worship God through our instrument. At home and on Sunday on the stage. it IS OK for the lead to do a guitar solo. but make it sweet, make it appropriate and make it honour God, praise him with your music, for he has gifted you with the capabilities of playing for him. Worship is playing for God. Worship is playing to serve the congregation.

Transpose the silence of God into Music.


Music made by God, Music played for God.


Just a thought...


Have a great one
Shaun