Ps Darin Browne brings life changing messages from Ignite Christian Church Woombye, Australia, packed with scripture and powerful teaching that will change your life forever!
Episodes
Tuesday Nov 17, 2015
Tuesday Nov 17, 2015
Last week we looked at a problem we all face at some time... A broken heart. This tends to be an acute problem, but what happens after you have had your heart broken, maybe again and again, and what happens if you don't deal with it, and never get over it?
It turns into heartache!
So if you take a broken heart, think about it, sleep on it, analyse it, give yourself guilt trips on what you should have or shouldn't have said, sleep on it a bit more, toss and turn, etc... That's heartache!
As we saw last week, pain is a part of life, and anyone who is alive at some point feels the pain of a broken heart.
The Eagles sang, "There's gonna be a heartache tonight," The Bee Gees asked," Why did you have to be a heartbreaker," and Rod Stewart simply said, " I don't wanna talk about it, how you broke my heart." This is a typical reaction to a broken heart. We don't talk, we hide it away, gloss it over and think everything is going to go back to normal.
Bonnie Tyler sang, "It's a heartache, nothing but a heart ache, hits you when it's too late, hits you when you're down!"
And that's what heartache does. It hits you when you're down, and unless you deal with a heartache, you'll be down and out forever! You think you're ok, you feel like you're dealing with it, but then it hits you, because it you suppressed it and never really dealt with it at all!
If your heart is broken, the surface might heal over, but underneath the pain is still there... And that, my friends, is a heartache!
Lamentations 1:20
“Look, O Lord, for I am in distress; my stomach churns; my heart is wrung within me,
Romans 9:2
that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
WHO SUFFERS HEARTACHES?
Only those breathing!
We all suffer heartaches. If you leave a heart break long enough, you get a heartache. Here's a few examples of heartaches that might be close to home...
The parents of a wayward son or daughter. Millions of parents have been deeply wounded by a child who has rejected their counsel and they grieve when they see the deception and bad behaviour of a child who was once tender and good.
The victims of broken homes are hurting. The abandoned wife rejected by her husband for another woman. The husband who lost the love of a wife. The children who lost their security, who hear the constant fighting, who feel like pawns in their parent's conflict. The couple who broke up for whatever reason, whose hearts ache every time they see each other, and who's words hurt and destroy each other as their only means of defence.
What about those suffering illness. Facing the same pain and agony all alone night after night. No one knows, no one really understands, no one seems to care!
Lovers break up. A boyfriend or girlfriend walks away, trampling on what was once a beautiful relationship. All that is left is a broken, wounded heartache. A beautiful marriage is cruelly ended by death, and the heartache seems to never diminish.
You may have loved, but is was never returned in kind. I gave you my heart, and you just trampled on it and walked away! As Stevie Nicks once sang, "Stop dragging my heart around!" The initial pain of rejection is the heartbreak. The ongoing pain that can last years is the heartache!
And what about the unemployed? The despondent ones whose dreams have collapsed? The shut–ins? The prisoner? The homosexual? The alcoholic?
Heartache is unresolved, un-dealt-with heartbreak. It sits, it churns, it festers, and it's everywhere.
Last week we discussed the effects of a broken heart, and over time some of these also apply to a heartache, only bigger, only deeper!
We talked of bruises. They heal, at least on the surface, but the heartache goes on deep, deep within.
Bitterness happens when your heart is broken, but it is made worse, and the root of bitterness driven deeper once the heartache sets in. Keep chopping the top off the plant, as long as that root goes deep your bitter heartache will grow back again and again!
A broken heart makes you feel barren, lifeless, like nothing good will grow again in that patch of ground. A heartache left to fester long enough turns that barren patch of your life into the Sahara desert! Dry, lifeless, never-ending!
We also mentioned Bondage. Because a heartche runs so deep, you think you're suppressing it only to find it resurfacing again and again... it becomes a bondage to your life! A heartache can become your life... Not the outward life others see, the inner life you're left with late at night when you're all alone! It hits you when you're down!
CAN YOU HEAL HEARTACHE?
When you are suffering heartache, that deep agonising heartache, no one on earth can heal it fully. Only God can truly heal your heartache, and He can use various means to do it.
Yet people being people, we inevitably we want to try our way, man's way first...
TIME
Folks will tell you that "time heals all pain," but that is simply not true. In the case of heartache, time often magnifies the pain, and you can push it away for a time, but the slightest memory triggers the pain all over again.
Psalms 38:17
For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever before me.
Ask an alcoholic, ask a drug addict, ask an adult who's been abused, ask a widow. Does time heal all pain? What a joke! Time, especially if you have lots of it on your hands, amplifies the pain like this microphone amplifies my voice!
FRIENDS
The pain of heartche is harder to endure than physical pain. Your friends want to help, try to help, and their smiles, jokes, hugs and distractions can relieve the pain for a time. A broken arm they can understand, but a messed up head? A constantly depressed friend, that becomes a lot harder, doesn't it?
Friends try and help, but do they really understand? After a while they get impatient, they offer easy solutions you know won't work, they start to suspect that you are over indulging in your own pity party.
They point out that others have survived heartache, and so should you.
They want to pray a once-off, cure-all prayer, and tell you to claim it by faith. Do they really understand the pain of true heartache? Maybe you should swap your friends with Job's... They thought they knew it all too!
Job 21:34
How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?
There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”
Friends can help, but not cure a heartache.
ESCAPISM
Proverbs 31:6-7
Give strong drink to the one who is perishing,
and wine to those in bitter distress;
let them drink and forget their poverty
and remember their misery no more.
Booze, drugs, sex... They can take your mind off things for a short time. Some movie or TV show, yes you can escape this world into someone else's world for a time.
I won't hide it, things like drugs, alcohol or sex offer temporary relief, but it is only temporary at best.
Whoever you are, whatever the heartache, you know ineffectiveness of these temporary measures.
Because at some point your friends go home, you sober up, night falls and you are left all alone with the pain, the loneliness and the voices in your head. That's a heartache, hits you when you're down.
KEEPING BUSY
We manage to function and do alright in the day, don't we? We work, we watch TV, we meet people and we get distracted. At is often ok for heartache...
It's night, those long, still hours of the night when we cannot sleep, that's when the heartache really bites. There's gonna be a heartache tonight, and tomorrow night, and the next, and the next!
PROFESSIONAL HELP OR COUNSELLING
Doctors offer medication to help you cope. Professional counselling can also help, but many only help you find ways to cope with situations so the heartache is not so debilitating.
God can use counsellors, even secular ones at times, and sometimes the heartache can stop. Most often, you just find coping strategies!
But the right professional help can be a big part of your recovery. I firmly believe that Christian counselling is a powerful tool to deal with heartache, because it can marry the right strategies with the power of God.
HOW TO HEAL A HEARTACHE
Today the Lord is here with His arms wide open saying "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, don't carry that heartache around my yourself any more, come and I will give you rest and start to heal the heartache. Here's 5 steps to healing that deep pain for good...
1. DON'T BE SURPRISED
What happened that caused this heartache? Whatever is was, you're not the only one to face it. Your situation is not unique at all.
1 Peter 4:12-13
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
Heartache is going to happen, so don't be surprised when it does. And it's not a question of if, it is a matter of when. The real question is how do you respond to the heartache?
2. DON'T OBSESS ON WHO'S RIGHT OR WRONG
Here's something you need to grasp... Whether you were right or wrong means absolutely nothing this far down the track. All that matters now is your willingness to move on in God and trust Him.
Stop trying to justify yourself and let go!
Maybe you followed God's leading, and things blew up in your face. Maybe you're mad at God for letting this happen. You analyse what you did, what you said, what they other party did and said. You go round and round and obsess until the heartache controls your life.
Stop criticising yourself and thinking of all the brilliant, witty, cutting things you could have said or done! Self criticism can kill you, or at very least prolong your heartache ad infinitum!
If you've done wrong, repent. If you don't feel you have, repent anyway that you've obsessed on the heartache and not given it over to God, because He is big enough to handle it...
1 John 3:20
for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
1 John 3:20 (Message)
It's also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.
Today is the day to lay off all guilt trips. Stop condemning yourself. Stop trying to figure out what you did wrong. This far down the track, it doesn't matter one bit. It's what you are thinking right now that really counts with God.
3. DON'T BLAME GOD
David Wilkerson describes blaming God or thinking God is behind all your hurt and pain as the worst kind of blasphemy!
You might think, as many believers do, "Maybe God is disciplining me?"
Hebrews 12:11
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
God disciplines, yes, but not like you're thinking! Heartache is a long term pain. Heartaches are not your Heavenly Father disciplining you. He's not thinking that, with just a few more heartaches, you'll start to finally listen and learn. He loves you and longs to comfort you.
Jeremiah 46:28
I will discipline you but only in due measure;
1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation (means adversity) has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
At times God disciplines us as a good father should, but never to breaking point, and never beyond hope. Heartaches feel like you are beyond hope, and His desire is to release that burden from your shoulders today, not pile more on to teach you a lesson!
One of my favourite verses is this...
Psalms 56:8
You have kept count of my tossings
put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?
Listen to it in the Message Bible
Psalms 56:8
You've kept track of my every toss and turn
through the sleepless nights,
Each tear entered in your ledger,
each ache written in your book.
God loves you, watches over you and wants to carry your burden, your heartache for you. My friend Erick Buma wrote a song which sums it up... "Don't blame God, He's hurting too."
4. DRAW NEAR TO GOD
Where did we ever get the idea that God doesn't care and we have to face life's heartaches alone?
When you hurt the most, that's when you need to get closest to God. He's the answer to your heartache!
It's ok to endure heartache. Jesus wept. Peter wept bitterly and repented, and he was restored and turned the world upside down for Jesus!
God doesn't look away from your heartache. He doesn't think you're a wimp, He doesn't despise your heartache, in fact His Word says,
Psalms 51:17
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
In the Message Bible it perceptively says,
Heart-shattered lives ready for love don't for a moment escape God's notice.
God captures every tear you shed in His bottle. He knows. He cares. He longs to wrap His arms around you! He never once says, "Toughen up, princess! Get a grip! Stand up and take your medicine! Grit your teeth and dry your tears, you sissy." No! Jesus bottles every tear in His eternal container.
God promises you,
James 4:8
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
If you have heartache, today is the day to draw near to God!
5. BELIEVE THAT YOU WILL SURVIVE!
My brother-in-law was a Christian, but was so overwhelmed with heartache that he put a rope around his neck and jumped, hanging himself in his garage. Suicide is never, never an option. A permanent solution to a temporary problem.
Today is the day for you to "cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."... 1 Peter 5:7
It's the day to believe the Jesus who said, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me." John 14:1
Hebrews 10:22-23
let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
Today, You may feel deep heartache. You may feel abandoned. Your faith may be struggling. You may think you are down for the count. Sorrow, tears, pain and emptiness may swallow you up at times — but God is still on His throne. He is still God!
You can't help yourself! You can't stop the pain and hurt. You can't cure the heartache. But our God can. He can lift you up if you draw near to Him.
Remember, "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you." It is your choice today... You can sit there and think God is not speaking to you, or you can respond and draw near to Him today.
He loves you. Bring your Hearaches to Him, and let Him wrap His arms around you.
"No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper" (Isaiah 54:17).
Monday Nov 09, 2015
Monday Nov 09, 2015
Today I want to start a series on heart problems. Bear in mind that by profession I am an Optometrist not a cardiologist, but hopefully we can examine the world of heart problems, because there in not one person alive who does not suffer from problems of the heart at some time.
In coming messages we will look at all sorts of heart problems, like heart ache, a cold or warm heart, whole and half heartedness, a heart of gold, being downhearted, having a heavy heart or not putting your heart into it.
So let's start by looking at the human heart. Is it good, or is it bad?
THE HEART... IS IT BLACK OR WHITE?
The Bible says,
Jeremiah 17:9-10
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
“I the Lord search the heart
and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.”
So we know from the start that the heart is deceitful, desperately sick or wicked, and that God will test it, judge it and reward us for what we have done, the fruit of our deeds.
The Hebrew word for deceitful is "aqob", which refers to a hilly swell of land, and to being crooked, deceitful and slippery. So in a sense, our heart is a slippery slope and can easily deceive us and cause us to fall if we rely on it, and if we are controlled by it.
It is also describes the human heart with the Hebrew word "Anas", which means desperately and incurably wicked, sick or feeble.
Someone once told me that they believe mankind is ultimately good at the core... that people are deep down kind and caring.
This according to the Bible, and indeed history, is utter rubbish. Have a look at history. As soon as you remove rules, people are not kind and pure, they are selfish and turn on each other. Look at the Balkans when communism was removed, look at Rwanda when the Belgians pulled out.
Look at a baby. What's the first word they say? Daddy? Mummy? No, it's almost always the word "NO!"
You have to teach a child to be kind and to behave well. You don't have to teach them to be selfish, self-centred, angry or rude. They seem to have an innate ability to master those things, right?
And that's because our hearts, your heart and my heart, are desperately wicked. But God can change that totally.
So as we study this, open that old heart of yours to let God start sorting through things, because He knows you better than you know yourself...
Acts 15:8
And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us,
So, let's look today at the first of our heart problems, one that we all face at some time...
A BROKEN HEART
When I say the phrase "broken hearted" many of you here know exactly what I mean.
How many songs have been written f Om a broken heart? Thousands, right?
It must have been love, but it's over now
"Once upon a time I was falling in love. / Now I'm only falling apart. / There's nothing I can do / total eclipse of the heart."
These foolish games are tearing me apart. / And your thoughtless words are breaking my heart. / You're breaking my heart."
Up break my heart, say you love me again
During this past year, you may have experienced terrible suffering emotionally, physically, spiritually. Your heart may be breaking with grief over the death of a loved one. Perhaps you have lost your job or experienced a crushing failure in your personal life. You may have a child with a long-term illness or one who has left home in open rebellion.
What do we do when we feel ripped in half? How do we continue, how do we persevere, with knives in our hearts? How do we have real joy in life when our heart is so broken?
A few years back, a newspaper in Nashville was doing a series of articles on people who were suffering from a broken heart. They wrote to pastors asking them to consider submitting the names of people they knew who had suffered a broken heart, so they might see about doing some interviews. One perceptive pastor boxed up and mailed them the Nashville telephone directory! He was on target! Everyone, sooner or later, will experience a broken heart.
Today I am going to show you that Gid can heal you...
Psalms 147:3
He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
THE CAUSES OF A BROKEN HEART
A broken heart has many causes. Some of them occur because of your own decisions, and some happen to you, no matter what you do. Here's a few causes of a broken heart...
GUILT
Sin in your life causes guilt, and failing to deal with your guilt causes more guilt. Carrying your guilt around is heartbreaking, and trust me the devil will delight in bringing it all back to you, reminding you of your sin and guilt.
John 9:41
Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.
Once you know you are in sin, if you ignore it, you heap guilt upon yourself. If you are ignorant of your sin you have no guilt (although you still have sin), but if you are aware of it, you MUST repent. Believe me, guilt is a heart breaker!
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Repent, and you are cleansed, no matter what you have done. Murder, drugs, adultery, stealing, no sin is too big that God will not forgive you, if you repent. Repent in the New Testament implies change, so it's not just saying or feeling sorry, it is changing you life and not doing it again.
Acts 19:18-19
Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices.
And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all.
You can feel sorry but not repent, like an addict repeating the addiction, and when you do the guilt is heartbreaking.
GRIEF
Grief is the loss of someone or something you love.
Losing someone you love breaks your heart. If you have been happily married and your spouse dies, this breaks your heart. Having a life long friend move away, losing custody of your children, going through a divorce or separation, all of these things cause grief and a broken heart.
2 Corinthians 7:10
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
But you don't have to face this loss alone. As we will see later, bringing your grief to God can allow Him to turn it around. Failing to give it to God is, and let's be clear about this, a sin, and that verse tells us it produces death in your life.
You may never get over the loss of someone you love, and that's normal if you were close to them. I lost my Dad last year, and I still miss him. In Christ, you can still miss them, but you can do so without carrying a broken heart. God can heal the broken heart, even if you never stop missing them.
DISAPPOINTMENT
Proverbs says,
Proverbs 13:12
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
If you are hoping for something, longing for someone to do something, and it doesn't happen, then it literally can make you sick. It breaks your heart, and it can break your spirit too!
Maybe that job you want doesn't happen. Maybe that person you love doesn't respond in kind. How can you deal with disappointment and overcome a broken heart?
Here's the thing, if you change just one letter, the word DISAPPOINTMENT becomes HIS APPOINTMENT!
REJECTION
One of the most common causes of a broken heart is rejection. You love someone, and they don't love you back. You make your love known, and they openly reject you.
Psalms 88:14
Why, Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me?
The Hebrew word for reject means to cast away, or to create a stench. So this implies that when you are rejected, you feel like you are no better than garbage, thrown away, smelly, disgusting and revolting!
At school this happened to me several times. I was not always bold about stating my feelings, so often my heart was broken in secret. I'd like a girl, she wouldn't like me, sometimes wouldn't even know I existed, and then she'd hook up with some other guy, and it would break my heart. You know the drill, right?
Rejection can drive you to despair...
Psalm 69:20
Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair.
If you don't deal with this, it can sit in you and fester, especially if you see that person again. This is a common thing for divorcees, because often your ex doesn't treat you with a lot of respect. The funny thing is that, even if you don't want them back, when they reject you it still hurts, and it still can break your heart!
This is especially true if they use the kids, or friends. That's why God says in Malachi 2:16 that He hates divorce. Does He hate divorcees? No, He loves them! But when relationships break up, God hates it because everybody hurts, everybody gets their heart broken. The husband and wife, the kids, the grandparents. Even friends are polarised, his friends and and her friends. No one wins except the lawyers!
It's a fact... Whatever the circumstances, and however tough you might think you are, being rejected by someone we love always break your heart!
AFFLICTION
Another heart breaker is affliction. When things go wrong, when you suffer pain or loss, your heart just breaks!
Part of the reason for this is because you feel overwhelmed, and without hope. Prisoners often experience this. People who struggle for a long time with sickness or poverty also experience this heart break.
Addicts experience this too, as do victims of sexual and other forms of abuse. I have witnessed many people close to me spend years recovering from sexual abuse, and the trust that is destroyed by this horrible sin, but I can assure you, if you have been through this experience, there is hope. Your broken heart can be put back together when you bring the pieces to the Lord!
Psalms 69:29
But I am afflicted and in pain;
let your salvation, O God, set me on high!
But there is hope...
Job 36:15
He delivers the afflicted by their affliction
and opens their ear by adversity.
This means that the bad things you have suffered can make a ou a better person, if you deal with them God's way instead of letting them break your heart and destroy you!
THE CONSEQUENCES OF A BROKEN HEART
Ok, so your heart has been broken... What are the consequences?
BRUISES
You get hurt, you get bruised, that's normal. Bruises are actually haemorrhages under the skin. They make the pain last a lot longer, they make the bruised area tender to the touch. And that's what a bruised heart can do.
So you may have had your heart broken, perhaps recently, perhaps years ago. If you are still bruised, then you are tender to the touch. The old saying, "Hurt people hurt people!"
In church we have many porcupine Christians... They've got a lot of good points, but you can't get close to them. Why? Because they are bruised, and if you try and get near them at some point they will be tender, and probably over react to the smallest thing.
BITTERNESS
Hebrews 12:15
See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;
Bitterness is a horrible, destructive result of a broken heart. And the worst thing is, it doesn't just affect you, it affects those around you. Many times bitter people don't even realise they are bitter, they just destroy the joy of others.
Max Lucado said, "Bitterness is its own prison."
Here's an acid test: if the person who broke your heart walked through this door right now, what would be your feelings towards them? If it's not love, then chances are you're still dealing with the bitterness of a broken heart.
The root of bitterness that can result from having your heart broken can and will destroy your life. It might be painful to try and remove it, but the longer you leave it there and the stronger it grows, the consequences are catastrophic!
If you have had your heart broken and you've held onto it, then today you need to let it go, however painful that may be. If you have a cancer in your body, the operation is not pleasant, it is extremely painful, but without it you will die. It's the same with the root of bitterness!
BARRENNESS
Another consequence of a broken heart is barrenness. God wants you to bear fruit in your life, and a broken heart can stop this, often for years, causing you to suck the life out of everyone around you who tries to care for you and show you love!
Job 15:34
For the company of the godless is barren
Barren people are miserable, and they tend to gather together with others to share their misery. If you want your life and life to the fullest (John 10:10), then let your broken heart be healed this morning and overcome barrenness with fruitfulness in Christ Jesus!
You've been hurt, and if you allow your life to become barren you will sabotage relationships. You will avoid getting close to others in an effort to not get your heart broken again!
BONDAGE
A broken heart affects us so deeply that it can totally enslave our lives. It can affect every aspect of life, and plunge our life, relationships and our whole future into bondage.
Bondage gives place to the devil in our lives, and this in turn leads to strongholds being established that will ruin both you and those around you if you let them.
But listen to this...
John 8:34-36
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
This morning is a time of Liberty, a time of being set free from the bondage, the bitterness and the barrenness of a broken heart! This morning is a day for breaking strongholds, setting the captives free and releasing your life to Jesus...
THE CURE FOR A BROKEN HEART
Psalms 34:18
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
If your heart is broken, know that Jesus not only understands, cares and empathises, but that He's been there too.
Isaiah 53:3-4
He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
Hebrews 4:15
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
If you have never come to this Jesus, today is the day you need to ask Him into your broken heart
If you have come to this Jesus already, many of you are still carrying the burden of a broken heart.
Psalms 51:17b
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Jesus does not despise you for your broken heart! He loves you, and He died and rose again to mend broken hearts just like yours. It may take some time, and it may cause some pain, but anything is better than letting your broken heart ruin your life, your future, your relationships and most of all, your walk with God!
This morning Jesus is saying to you
Matthew 11:28
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden (or bearing burdens you should not be carrying), and I will give you rest (refreshment, quietness, support)
Because...
Psalms 34:18
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
Don't carry the burden of a broken heart any longer. It's time for liberation! It's time to be set free to be all you can be! It's time for the broken hearted to be healed!
Monday Nov 02, 2015
Monday Nov 02, 2015
I was never too good at economics in school, but one thing I do know is that In God's economy, things don't always add up the way we think they should.
In Judges 7 Gideon faced a Midianite army of over 200,000 trained fighting men, and he started with 32,000, which God whittled down to just 300.
In God's economy, in Deuteronomy 32:30
Sunday Oct 25, 2015
Sunday Oct 25, 2015
God has a destiny for us, but to find it we need to seek Him with all of our heart. As you seek Him, your will starts to merge with His will...
Matthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
So obedience is the key thing to discovering and walking into your destiny, and He will test you and your resolve to be obedient. It will be small things where you are tested, because
Luke 16:10
“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.
So what happens if you fail in these small things? I'll tell you what happens, you can fail to reach your destiny in God. Just as an plane, if it is only half a degree off course can finish hundreds of miles from it's desired destination, so being disobedient in small things can result in you missing and even losing your destiny.
Last week we examined several people who fulfilled their destiny despite tremendous opposition and hardship in their circumstances. Today, I want to look at some men who lost their destiny, and why this happened, so we can avoid following their example as we move towards God's destiny for us.
And we want to discover what your true destiny is and how we can avoid the pain of losing it as these men did...
Sunday Oct 18, 2015
Sunday Oct 18, 2015
Pastor Darin's second message about discovering your destiny centres on the fact that your destiny does not depend on circumstances.
So whatever you are facing right now has no bearing on the destiny God has for your life, bu yhe choices you make as you face those circumstances does.
Darin looks at lives that show the truth that circumstances do not affect destiny, including Abraham Lincoln, Joseph in he Bible and he also shares the complete story of Horatio Spafford, the heart wrenching and incredible story behind the hymn "It Is Well With My Soul."
He also finishes with his recorded version of the hymn sung live on this podcast. This is an amazing and life changing message, story and song, and not to be missed!
Monday Oct 12, 2015
Monday Oct 12, 2015
Discovering your destiny is something that is within us all, because none of us wants to be destined for failure. In today's message, Pastor Darin shares 10 exciting points on how you can discover your destiny in Christ, and how you can move towards it with confidence and excitement rather than worry and fear about what destiny has planned for you.
If you want to become someone great in your lifetime, hen this is a must listen to message that will change your life!
Tuesday Oct 06, 2015
Tuesday Oct 06, 2015
Life is a journey, bu so too is church. So where are we going as a church, and why is it important to you?
Today Pastor Darin explores the way ahead for Coast Church, and maybe even for whatever church it is that you see yourself in. Are you content to just keep attending and that's it, or do you want o find a way to plug in and serve the Lord where you are gifted?
Whatever your needs, whatever your direction in life, this is a pivotal message towards discovering who you are and where you are going, and how church can open a world of blessing and service for you...
Sunday Sep 20, 2015
Sunday Sep 20, 2015
The journey of life is something we all are on, no matter who we are. Life is a journey, or as someone once said, "Life is a highway, I want to ride it all night long." In life you will have good times and bad, rough ways and smooth, cruise times and hard work, just like in any road trip.
So today we are going to look at the journey of life, to coincide with our church observation run, and draw parallels from the greatest journey of them all, the Exodus.
So listen as Pastor Darin shares about life's bumpy, exciting and wonderful journey... you'll be glad you heard this!
Monday Sep 14, 2015
Monday Sep 14, 2015
Now to complete the Armour of God, our means of standing against the evil one, let's look at the final 3 pieces... Today we will examine in detail the Shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the Sword of the Spirit...
Ephesians 6:14-17
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,
and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Sunday Sep 06, 2015
Sunday Sep 06, 2015
Father's Day is a day when we celebrate men and their leadership in our families, and today I can tell you that your daddy wants you home. Your Heavenly Father is reaching out to you. Problem is, on Father's Day many people have very little to celebrate.
So what does the perfect Father look like?
How can you be the best father to you children? How can you build a home?
Here's a clue... Don't throw away the instructions... The Bible, because God's Word can teach you how to become a great father!