Awakening

Passion is one of those words that brings with it heaps of connotations. When I say passion several ideas come to mind, fanatic fans, a young couple in love, a person fiddling with his hobby, the athlete practising for hours in the rain and the preacher sweating and spitting behind the pulpit.
What is passion though? Can you measure it by volume, time or anything else? Often we think of passion as the person in front of church that during the sermon says “amen” the loudest, during praise and worship jumps the highest or attends the most amounts of services.
Passion though in its purest form of definition comes from the Latin word that is translated “suffering” or “pain”, which is why the last hours of Jesus are described as “the passion of Christ”. Why is passion, as we know it, linked with suffering though?
“What will you go through?”
I believe passion is, “what you are willing to go through, to get to that which you are passionate about.” Passion is not about how loud you get or how high you jump. Those can be side effect of your passion but at the end of the day, passion is a deep resolve in one’s heart. It’s a person sold out for a cause and who is willing to go through anything. Or if we are to use the definition of the word, it’s a determination that no amount of temporary pain or suffering will stop me from pursuing and getting to the object of my passion.
Look at the example of Jesus in Hebrews 12:2-3 (NIV)
“2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
Jesus was willing to endure such pain and suffering for the joy set before Him; for the passion before Him. This is why the cross shows our true value and is the perfect description of God’s love for humanity. So my first question when it comes to passion is “what will you go through?” If there is a limit to what you are willing to go through, there is a limit to your passion. Note: please don’t fall in the trap here and think suffering is only being taken hostage in some jungle where you are threatened with death if you don’t deny Jesus. Often it is harder to go through a mundane week at uni or work than the extreme situations, where everything is a high-pressure situation. I speak out of experience here.
“Then what?”
The second question I have for you is, what will happen once you catch, what you are passionate about? Then what?

So many people chase fame, fortune, relationships, a paycheck, a car, a ministry opportunity or something else but have you ever thought about life after the chase? Then what? So you get job, then what? So she finally gives in and starts to go out with you or even marry you, then what? The question, you must ask yourself, is what you’re pursuing above anything else, able to sustain you??? If the object of your passion can’t sustain you, you are wasting your time. All you have become is a man dancing around a golden calf.
Return the Passion.
Can I urge you, make Jesus your number one passion! How do you  get passionate about Him? You return the passion. He is so in love with you and He is so passionate about you! We love Him because He first loved us. If your passion has grown cold, then start your pursuit at the passion to have a passion for Him. He is found in the pursuit of Him. The beautiful thing is that when you seek Him, He is able to sustain you. You seek Him first and all the smaller passions in life will come as they take their rightful place in the greater plan God has for your life.

Bless you,
Thomas Hansen
Young Adults Pastor for Powerhouse Central, Hillsong

The joys and frustrations of Witnessing:
‘Square pegs can’t fit in round holes’

by Tom Muller

Witnessing to those who we know in our lives about the good news of Jesus Christ, brings them a message of hope, light and salvation. It is an integral part of living a missional life for and with Jesus, as we heed His call to enter into culture, preach the gospel and make disciples. The joy of knowing God, and living by his gift of imputed righteousness transcends anything else and it is this joy that encourages us to share to those around us the gospel, the power of God for salvation.  But "witnessing" can sometimes feel like an ambiguous task. What exactly is it and what is the best way? Well unfortunately for all of us there are no secret formulas or special techniques, no matter what you may have lately researched on youtube. But perhaps this is where the beauty lies. Each individual deserves the opportunity to have the gospel effectively presented to them in a way that is relevant and appropriate for their current context and life situation. Now this does not mean that the gospel is compromised or changed in a way to meet the felt needs of those around us in a last ditch effort to entice their conversion, a prevailing problem in contemporary consumer driven religion. It just means that those we are witnessing to deserve the dignity of having us make the effort to not only understand their own world-view and where they are at in life but to effectively convey the message of Jesus in a way that they will understand. This involves time, lots and lots of time. In my experience preaching the gospel in a  'shoot from the hip' type of fashion has rarely seen many results. Time is needed to build relationships of trust and love, which in and of themselves express the Trinitarian nature of God and the purpose of the gospel, to be reconciled to a relationship with the Father. It is through such relationships that the gospel can be effectively appropriated and spelled out gradually both in dialogue and through our lives as believers. Time is needed to understand the intricacies of alternative belief systems in order to have these effective dialogues. For example, I regularly spend time with philosophical atheists (meaning they reject the possibility of God on philosophical grounds). I have many interesting conversations with them about my faith in Christ. Yet in doing so I must be aware that attempting to validate the gospel by appealing to the penal substitutionary atonement of our sins by the Son of God for our salvation is ineffective. Why? Because my atheist friends hold vastly different presuppositions than the presuppositions needed to find a statement like that compelling. Firstly, they do not believe in a God who is existent, who determines what is right and wrong and then who is compelled to hold us accountable for our rights and wrongs. Therefore secondly they do not believe in sin as something needing to be cosmically vindicated for. Hence thirdly the statement “God died for our sins” is in complete disagreement with the first two propositions and therefore is irrelevant in relation to the framework of their world-view. For someone to hip shoot a statement to them such as "Jesus died for your sins" is like fitting a square peg into a round hole, it just isn't compatible to their world-view, it means nothing to them. Expounding on this analogy, time is needed for both parties to understand what makes the round hole round, and how that differs from what makes the square peg square. Once this is achieved it is possible to journey together in understanding why each world-view is contrastingly different allowing those who are hearing the gospel the adventure of coming to understand its truth by allowing the opportunity for their round hole to become a square one, instead of tossing it into the wind. For me this would mean spending time in explaining not only that Jesus has died for our sins but why I believe God to be true, sin to be real, the historicity of Jesus credible and the effect of the gospel on my life as more than a mere illusion. Spending time and effort towards understanding the positions of doubting unbelievers who may very well want to accept Christ but can’t, due to numerous intellectual/cultural/experiential reasons, in the attempt to aid in the working out of these issues may be the most loving way in which to lead someone to Christ. Because it is not easy, it is not quick and it usually challenges our own faith to the core. And unfortunately the Church has for too long winced unlovingly away from the rationally doubtful, fearful of the probing objections that pierce the pseudo-protective sheath of dogma.

Behind Prison Walls I was towards the end of serving a 4 ½ year prison sentence, and by the Grace of God was granted weekend release. After attending a C3 Church I grabbed an Awakening booklet but I wouldn’t read it until I was back in the confines of my prison cell. It was in that place where I was first Awakened to the awesome things God was doing amongst Young Adults. Unity, Justice, Faith, Hope and above all Love rung true in my ears as I read what had been written, “Our Heart, His Glory”…I wanted to attend so bad! But circumstances wouldn’t allow me to be there. That did not stop me being apart of it. God placed a dream in my heart soon after, that would ultimately shake down the walls of the prison inside the hearts of Men, and on February 1 2008 we held Day 1 of Awakening Conference at Oberon Correctional Centre...
Pastor Andrew Godden of Oberon CLC was our guest speaker, we had testimonies from men who had found God whilst serving time and messages that proclaimed “Its not about what Church you go to, or what denomination you are, it’s all about God, He wants to be apart of your life, all you have to do is accept His invitation to AWAKEN YOUR HEART…” Running time was 3 days with an attendance rate of 30+ men each day (1/4 of the jail population), lives impacted, hearts changed, Christ revealed and God Glorified. Thanks be to Him. 6 months after my release from prison I was able to attend Awakening 09 “Awaken This Love”. What an amazing event. I left changed, inspired and hungry for more of God’s Love. I believe that God is calling us and stirring our hearts now, not just to gear up for an amazing time in February 2010, but also to adopt Awakening as our lifestyle and our culture so that when we do come together God can impact our lives and city in ways in which we have never seen before. Live the Love…This is how we know. Ben Nicholson