LAST MEETING...

Thursday, 31 May

God has moved with power in our Sunday meetings recently, it's a real answer to prayer. Please continue in prayer to see God moving in all our meetings. Thursday nights have not been an exception. Here's a quick recap on last meeting:

We had a brief devotional on our calling as priests. In Revelation 5, it tells us how the redeemed will declare praise unto God at the end of time:

“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slain, and You have redeemed us to God by Your own blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to serve our God and they will reign on the earth.”

The point being; in Christ, we are no longer our own people, we are one people unified in Him. AND that means we are of “royal blood” – the precious blood of Jesus over us, we are in family with Him. What about us being priests? The dimension is twofold.

•  On the one hand, a priest takes the representation of the people unto God. All the sin, all the weakness, the things that God despises, the priest takes that before God and pleads for forgiveness. Through Jesus Christ, we can represent ourselves before God. No longer any need to go through anyone but we can meet God ourselves.

•  Second, and perhaps more awesome – God gives his law down to Moses and at the end of Exodus 29 He says that “Aaron and his sons will minister unto ME.” Our job is not just to lead others to God, but before anything, bless His heart. And as worship leaders – that is all of us, not just a few. WE ARE ALL WORSHIP LEADERS – our first ministry is not to others but God Himself. Not to be noticed, not to show off our gift, not to lead others but to bless the heart of God.

After a few moments in worship this only got more exciting as God spoke, a word was given which paralleled Jeremiah 29 , and it seemed the Lord would say to us “my plans for you are for good. You have a hope, you have a future.” Then a vision was seen, where God seemed to turn His face toward us. So many times in the Psalms Israel petitions God to turn His face. His face is a sign of favour, blessing and grace. It is worth me reminding everyone that God has ministered powerfully in the past with this music team, and people continue to say and prophesy how God is using this ministry at PCC. So be encouraged, keep prayerful and keep watch for the enemy, because all the attacks from the enemy have come to cut down the Lord's work in our church, our Sunday School, our music team and all the rest of it.

Some practical things, I'm just going to brush up on four.

First of all, the dress code is smartening up, but there is still room for improvement. I think it may need more spelling out. Generally we wear smart casual, no need to be too formal but be smart, you are representing Christ. Second, be modest. Don't attract attention to yourself in any way but allow all of our actions and demeanour to point to God. In terms of clothing, no jeans, no slogans or offensive prints, no plunging necklines and girls, if you do wear a skirt, please remember you are elevated so anything above the shins could be distracting to males. Again you are there to represent God and point all attention to Him.

Secondly, Pastor Bert has asked that everyone in any form of leadership – that means everyone on the music team – should commit to attendance . Unless there is an event (ie, your friend is getting baptised, baby dedications etc) or you are called to minister, you are expected to make reasonable effort to attend and participate in services at PCC – WHETHER ON THE PLATFORM OR IN THE PEW. Be committed to attendance, both for the sake of yourself getting fed, and for the sake of encouraging those around us. Again, things will happen, we are busy people – that's just a fact of life. But where it is possible and reasonable, please join in the life of our church and be a part of what God's doing irrespective of what part of the building you find yourself on a given Sunday.

Third, on rosters . We are experiencing an increasing number of absentees and no shows. Again while there are things that are sudden and unexpected there are also things that we are aware of and yet notice isn't given until the last minute. I would politely ask that any absences you are aware of (eg, uni/tafe exams – sorry that's fresh in my mind because it's that time of year, and we usually have at least six weeks or more notice), please use the diary which is always on the piano – OR send me an email. And if you have some idea beforehand, I would greatly appreciate your earliest possible notice.

Finally, punctuality . Our Achilles heel! Please remember that practice on a Sunday begins at 8:45 for AM and 4:45 for PM (I appreciate there was some confusion so I'm clearing that one up for everyone). And by that I mean not stroll in right on time, casually take your gear out or begin warming up… I mean be ready for practice to begin – physically AND spiritually. Take a few minutes prior to tune up, warm up, plug in and so on. What that allows us to do is, we should take 30-45 mins for practice and once we are done, we join the prayer meeting out the back so that the ministry teams can unite in prayer with Pastor Bert and the elders and whoever else finds themselves in the early prayer meeting. That synergy, even just for 10 minutes is worth far more than an hour's practice. So by starting on time we can end on time and by 9:30 (or 5:30 for night) roll into the prayer meeting.