Jesus Streets

Last Sunday was a big day as we welcomed the wonderful Ava who is the first baby of KXC, aaah. Tom led us in a great time of worship including the epic anthem ‘Shine Jesus Shine’. We also had KXC’s first Banjo appearance courtesy of Ben – yee ha!

Paul led us in a time of open prayer as people gave thanks for the way God is always with us, for the sense of family in KXC, for God’s faithfulness to our dreams. Half of the congregation then sang ‘Our God Reigns‘ while the other half prayed for God’s Kingdom to come both globally and locally (especially in the upcoming elections, see 1 Timothy 2:1-2 below).

‘I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone, for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.’

We then spent some time listening to God (as prayer is a 2-way process) and people came up with words they felt God was saying to us:

• God has a heart of tenderness and compassion towards us
• God says ‘Have I not gone before you’
• A picture of an escalator – as we pray for people, they draw closer to God’s love
• A picture a maypole with people joyfully dancing round it
• God says ‘you’re not alone’, some people might feel great at church but then feel isolated during the week, but God is with us always
• God has new life for all of us (like Ava)

Simon then came up to speak to us about taking prophecy to the streets. He began by showing us a preview for his exciting documentary called ‘Jesus Streets‘ which is being shown at the upcoming Release conference, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7DlWGQX8-E

He talked about the way the Holy Spirit is a SENDER OUTER as shown in Acts 1:8

‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth’

The word witness means ‘to give evidence for‘, and the Holy Spirit empowers us to be evidence givers of what God has done and can do. Prophecy is part of that evidence giving process. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we grew in the prophetic gifts to such a point that things like 1 Corinthians 14:25 happen, yes Lord!:

‘But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”‘

Simon had been praying a while back for the gift of prophecy, and had recently seen this happen outside of church. This helped feed back in building his faith to pray prophectically in church aswell. For the past year he’s been involved in Treasure Hunting which takes prophecy out onto the streets. Simon went on to explain what this was: basically a group of people would meet up and pray that God would give us pictures and words. Then we’d spend a few minutes writing down whatever comes into our head (there are 5 categories that help: Location, Name, Appearance, Prayer requests, Other). Then people would break into groups of about 3 and for an hour we’d go out and look for the clues. The beauty of this is that it’s completely light hearted and when we find people we say we’re on a treasure hunt and we think you’re our treasure (it sounds cheesy but isn’t it much better then coming across overly relegious and intense).

Simon went on to tell us loads of inspiring treasure hunting stories. One of the stories occured last friday when Simon and his wife Amber went on a treasure hunt with a small group to Kings Cross. Amber had the location clue ‘McDonalds’, and someone had ‘burberry scarf’ and ‘red hat’. When they got to McDonalds they saw a couple in the window with a burberry scarf and red hat so a couple of the guys went in while Simon waited outside. Simon said that he saw them talk to the couple, who seemed a bit confused at first. But then after a few moments they were holding hands and praying! It turned out that the guy was a pastor and that he and his wife had seperated a while back, and this was the first time they were meeting up to reconcile the marriage. The treasure hunters then prayed that God would help restore their marriage – wow!

Simon spoke about the way treasure hunting de-mystifies hearing from God. It’s simplicity makes it ‘naturally supernatural’ as opposed to being super spiritual. Simon said he used to find it hard to write any clues down, but then was encouraged by something that Kevin Dedmon said, (the guy who helped start up treasure hunting), that when you feel stuck then just make it up! You’ve asked God to give you some clues, so therefore he can use whatever’s in your mind to speak to us.

Simon said that the amazing encounters he has had, helped build his faith in the way God can speak to us through our imagination. He used to get stuck on trying to figure out what was God and what was him and was suspicious and sceptical about the clues he got. 1 corinthians 13:9 says ‘For we know in part and we prophesy in part‘. This takes the pressure off having to find every clue we get and striving to get it right everytime. Maybe only one clue comes up, but that doesn’t matter because God can still use us. There is no harm done if something is given in love and humility. The reason why we only spend 5 minutes writing down the clues is so that we don’t try and second guess ourselves. It’s all about trust.

A great example of treasure hunting in the bible is when Jesus meets the woman at the well in John 4. The great thing about this encounter is that it starts off as a normal conversation between Jesus (who is tired and thirsty) and a random person at a well. The Holy Spirit then gives Jesus a word of knowledge which unlocks the woman’s heart. What started off as a simple everyday chat, turned into a naturally supernatural encounter which resulted in ‘many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did” (v39). WOW! That same encounter can happen to us anywhere we are, because we have the same Holy Spirit in us.

We can ask God to give us a word for someone to show them that God knows and loves them. This also includes words for destinies, to open and unlock people’s dreams. We need to be willing to fail and get it wrong. We only prophecy in part, but it does no harm and it doesn’t hurt anyone if the word is given in love. We don’t need to have crystal clear words, we just need to be willing to act on it. God loves us simply stepping out. He can also speak to us through many different ways: nudges, words, pictures, even physical reactions – your heart could beat faster when you see someone you think God wants to bless. We cannot predict or box in how God can work. Treasure hunting is not just another fad or a formula. It is simply a tool or a springboard that helps us step out in faith. It’s an easy way in. You sometimes get tough treasure hunts and then some are easier, and we don’t always get it right. This may be a way of keeping us humble and dependent on God. We simply make ourselves available.

The most important thing is that we do it all in LOVE:

‘If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing‘ (1 Corinthians 13:1-2)

Also 1 Corinthians 14:3 says

‘But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort.’

We are simply demonstrating God’s love for people, and His ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future‘ (Jeremiah 20:11) and God’s desire to bless people.

To ‘bless‘ literally means to ‘speak well‘ of someone. Treasure Hunting is a way of showing people how God speaks wellness into their lives.

Simon then ended by reciting a great prayer from a famous pirate sailor:

Sir Francis Drake’s Prayer (1577):

‘Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little.
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
with the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push back the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.’

Pete then encouraged people to come up for prayer saying that the gift of prophecy was for the many not the few. At KXC we hunger for more of the Holy Spirit and the spiritual gifts especially prophecy. For some people they find prophecy scary, but Pete encouraged us to keep asking questions and not to run from danger, but to run to God in the midst of danger. We want KXC to be a place which is dangerous enough for us to grow, safe enough for us to heal. God’s power is bigger than our weaknesses and His perfect love casts out all our fear, so we can then step out in faith…how exciting!

Bring on treasure hunting this sunday, see:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=12356643&op=1&o=all&view=all&subj=170396782608&aid=-1&oid=170396782608&id=734560480&fbid=10150182963630481#!/event.php?eid=116851625012806&ref=mf