Following the previous week's messages on Miracles, Ps Andy takes a 'Selah Sunday' to summarise the key points from all the previous messages and further emphasise the common themes across the whole of scripture where miracles are described.

Multiplication of provision, be it loaves and fish, oil in a jar, grain and oil to make a loaf of bread are all a result of people experiencing God increase things in their lives. Ps Andy then goes on to speak about the common denominators in these miracles (and many more miracles all across the whole of scripture).

Miracles, always followed unusual, unreasonable, often unfathomable quite crazy requests coming directly from God or a prophet. When a person dared to do what they were being told to do in obedience, suddenly what God had promised them or intended for them came into being! But for them to come into the promised experience, they had to step out by faith, usually defying their own reasoning to do what God had told them to do.

Stepping out by faith and walking by faith causes us to enter into the promised things that God has for us. God has promised things for us all in situations we face daily, sometimes that look hopeless. Have we got the faith and the courage, sometimes along with with wise council, to step into that which God is asking us to do?

We should, because we have already experienced the greatest miracle ever likely to happen in our lives when we gave our life to Christ!

Ps Andy carries on the series about Miracles within our overall theme of Magnify and Multiply. After a recap of theprevious weeks' messages he focuses this week on the miracle of the flour & oil that did not run out. Miracles follow obedience to God with faith. God always multiplies what we surrender, whether its a little boy's picnic, a fishing boat of fishermen or a jar of oil.

The story of Elijah and the Widow at Zarephath is found in 1 Kings 17:7-16 (NIV) " Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of he Lord came to him: “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.” “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.” Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’” She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.

It's interesting that God picks a widow to supply food to the prophet Elijah. Scarcity meets obedience in the lives of the two characters here. God in heaven sees us in the time of famine, He sees us in the time of need and He has a plan for us in that time of need. But sometimes the way to get what He's got for us is to do something He's asking us to do that's unusual or we'd prefer not to.

So God sees us and cares for us in famine Seasons!

Ps Andy continues the series on Miracles withinour overall theme of Magnify and Multiply. God's heart is one of multiplication for us, through miracles. Luke 5:1-11 and John 21:1-14 are the key bible verses for Ps Andy's message today where Jesus instructs Simon Peter to put down his nets the other side of the boat after an unproductive evening of fishing. The second passage refers to a similar instruction, this time after Jesus' resurrection.

Ps Andy continues his explanation here that the miracle occured again after the fishermen were asked by Jesus to undertake a seemingly embarressing and unusual request. Experienced fishermen had been up all night and caught nothing, yet here was a carpenter telling them what to do. This was a challenge of obedience for them.

In this moment there was a revelation of who Jesus was for Peter because Jesus had been preaching earlier and Peter had been on the shore listening, but the penny had'nt dropped. This was not just a man, this was the son of God and suddenly Peter sees his miracle knowing it was a miracle because he was a fisherman and he said, "this doesn't happen, I've been doing this since I was a kid, this doesn't happen.....". But it did!!

After this, Jesus tells Peter to leave his boat, leave everything, join Him and He would make him a fisher of men. This was a miracle that positioned him In what God had designed for him to be - not just provision but intention. Sometimes we eat the fish, move on and forget to stop and say, "God, what are you doing in this moment that concerns me and my future. Miracles reveal the hand of God, but often they also reveal his intentions.

Are we positioned to listen to God in the moment and be obedient to seemingly extraordinary requests from God?

Ps Andy continues the series about miracles that Ps Sean began last week. A common thought in this series is how unusual requests made by God can result in supernatural multiplication in our lives? This is something consistently seen throughout teaching in both New & Old Testaments. Crazy things can happen but are normally always followed God asking someone to do something that seemed unusual, even unreasonable. Are we able to hear God ask us to do something unusual? This is a real challenge...placing a demand of faith on us.

PS Andy today speaks about the miracle found in 2 Kings 4, 1-7. The wife of a man cries out to Elisha because her husband is dead and creditors are coming to take her boys as slaves. After a conversation, Elisha tells the woman to collect containers and pour the small amount of oil she has into them. Miraculously, oil flows until the last container is filled. Now she can sell oil to pay her debts.

The amount she received wasn't a provision issue, it was a capacity issue. She could only receive according to what she made room for. God's provision met current needs and her future security.

Do we need a miracle?, are we listening for God's unusual request? Is God trying to highlight something in our lives? If the widow's actions (ie her faith) had not been commensurate with the instructions received from Elisha, her needs would not have been met, the miracle of supernatural provision would not have occured!

Today Ps Sean starts a new series about Miracles, still within the overall framework of our theme of Multiplication.

He begins by speaking about 'lack' and the varying forms of lack we can experience in our lives. Sometimes this is through comparing ourselves to others around us, sometimes through genuine lack of resources, food, shelter, clothing etc. The story of Elijah and the widow in 1 Kings 17 is well known.....he asks her to make him a small peice of food from the remains of her flour which she was going to use just before she and her son died of hunger. But, this never happened, the jar of oil and the flour never ran out, just as the Lord had spoken thtough Elijah.

In Matthew 14, Jesus feeds over 5000 people with fives loaves and two fish. But, he had given thanks to God before the miracle began. From a position seeming to be of lack, a supernatural God turned a natural situation into a miracle of supernatural provision and abundance.

Ps Sean makes the point that this can be the case in each of our lives, but we need to surrender our lives, posture oursleves into submission before God, and act with obedience and thanksgiving. Leaning on our own understanding will never work (Proverbs 3:5-6).

We are to acknowledge Him, then He'll make straight our paths. This means our relationships need to acknowledge Him, living God's way. Our finances have to live God's way. My eyes must honour Him, my ears must honour Him. My language must honour Him, every part of who I am acknowledges you to be, God, of all creator of the Heaven and the Earth. Therefore my body honours you, my desires honour you, my thoughts and intent honour you.... every aspect of every part of my life honours you. When we do this, we start to get more than enough breaking out of the depletion, the lack, around us.

This is when we start to get Mana falling down from heaven into our lives, where we start to see supernatural provision in dry places.

Surender, Submit, Give Thanks to God....then Miracles come......

Today is Global Sunday in Family Church, a day when we celebrate all the nations and nationalities represented in our fellowship. It is also Pentecost Sunday - Pentecost being the day the Holy Spirit flowed into the collected peoples in the first church as described in Acts 2:1-4 (NIV) "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them".

Today, Ps Sean speaks about this and how in Joel 2:28-29 scripture states "that I will pour out my spirit on all Flesh". This is a very inclusive statement and relates today to our multi-lingual, multi-racial congregation!

Ps Sean further speaks about how Jesus told His disciples that His Father would give them another helper if they kept His commandments (John 14:15-17). Jesus said that they would receive power when His Spirit came to rest upon them that they might witness to His name in all Judea, Sumeria...

The challenge of this message is to ensure we all realise we are heirs to God and that His spirit will come down upon all of us in order for us to live power filled Kingdom lives.

Today is My Church Sunday, a service specially designed for those who are not fully familiar with the Christian Faith or Kingdom Living. Pastors Sean and Paula Finch interview three congregational members who have totally differing life stories - Vanessa, Hector & Sarah. Each of them show similarities in their search for somthing meaningful in their lives (resulting in their giving their lives to Christ), but from completely differing backgrounds.

Their stories challenge each of us to check our relationship with Jesus, dismissing religion and ritual.

We are called to represent God in a fallen world, we carry his salt and light, and it’s our duty to put on the new self daily.