Victoria Point Baptist Church

In this Scripture we see some of the marks of community revival. God’s Spirit fills the lives of believers and they are empowered. Ordinary people become miracle workers. Regular Christians hear God and speak boldly on his behalf. Revival is not something for the spiritual elite. It is not for the particularly holy. It is for us all. Everyone. And many are saved as they call on God. The power and...

The coming of God’s Spirit was a unique and special event. Here we see that many are drawn to Jesus. Many hear the convicting voice of God’s Spirit. Many prodigals come home. It is not that Peter had no contribution to the work of God’s Spirit in revival. He warned and pleaded with the crowd to believe in Jesus. He was bold and convincing. But this was the Spirit’s work not Peter’s work. God’s Spi...

Repentance is vital in times of revival and renewal. But God does not stop there. The dominant emotion of revival is not grief but joy. The joy of coming close to God. The joy of living God's way. The joy of following God together. The joy of delighting in God. The joy of seeing God work in power. The joy of the Lord becomes our strength. In revival there will be more joy than you could ever dream...

How could our community come alive spiritually? Well the Jews that had been exiled wondered the same thing. They were defeated, downtrodden and banished. How on earth could God restore Israel? Both ancient Israel and modern Christians are faced with the same dilemma - spiritually dry bones everywhere. But Ezekiel the prophet told Israel what God would do. And his message is the same for us. These...

A renewed heart now yearns for a fresh season in which God shows himself in greater glory. It may be the return of Jesus which we expect at any time. That would be the ultimate answer to our prayers. But it may also be a season of revival. During revival people sense the presence of God powerfully. Conviction, contrition, repentance and prayer grow. People thirst for God and his word. Lukewarm Chr...

When we are close to God, our heart is in sync with His. God's heart is that all people would be introduced to Jesus. As this desire stirs up in us, we have this deep desire to pray. A deep commitment to pray for those in our community who needs God's touch. As God restores life to our hearts, he will create as passion within us for the lost. This flows over into our desire to earnestly pray that...

God's promise is not just for Abram and his family, but it was God's intention that the whole world would be blessed through Abram. "All peoples on earth" God says. This is the way God works. He blesses his people because he loves us, but the blessing is not just for us but for everyone - our friends, our family, our neighbours, our community. We are blessed so that we will be a blessing to our wo...

God's promise is not just for Abram and his family, but it was God's intention that the whole world would be blessed through Abram. "All peoples on earth" God says. This is the way God works. He blesses his people because he loves us, but the blessing is not just for us but for everyone - our friends, our family, our neighbours, our community. We are blessed so that we will be a blessing to our wo...

This church's problem is probably true of much of the Western church. We have so much materially and so little spiritually. We are lukewarm. But God has not given up on us and he hasn't given up on you. Jesus stands at the door of your heart and is knocking. He is appealing for you to listen for his voice and let him take over. He wants to bring personal revival to you.

Christians have a strong foundation in God's love The gospel is saturated with God's love for us and his grace in sending Jesus to live, die and rise for us. We do not become Christians by doing good stuff, but by receiving God's love in Jesus. Saving love is our foundation. But it is only the start. There is so much more to grasp about God's love.

Praying for Gods power

Peter's denial of the Lord Jesus was a great tragedy. After he boasted that he would never fall away, he denies Jesus publically. But Peter's tears were not merely tears of remorse-they indicated a true sorrow and turning from sin. It was not until he saw Christ's face and remembered His words that Peter grasped the seriousness of his sin and repented.

You cannot separate repentance and revival. Because personal revival brings a new holiness and closeness with God, it is always preceded by repentance and maintained by repentance. As James said, "friendship with the world is enmity with God" (Jam. 4:4). So we can't be close friends with God and allow the world into our lives. The only way to stop sin getting a grip and destroying our friendship w...

The more we stay connected with Jesus, the more fruit we will see. What does it mean to remain in Jesus? It is staying closely connected with Jesus so that we hear and obey his voice (15:7). It is having Jesus as an intimate friend. It is staying right with God and loving to follow him. These are the foundational elements of personal revival. We need to remain in Jesus. God empowers us as we remai...

I wonder what Moses looked like after spending time with God. His appearance changed so much that people were afraid to come too close to him. But Moses' radiant face was merely a symbol of the beauty and power and holiness of God that rubbed off on him as he talked with God his friend. He was transformed by the presence of God and his followers could plainly see it.

Adam and Eve enjoyed a special relationship with God. They would walk in the Garden and they would share and chat with him. These were special times. This was always God's plan. To have a deep, open, unashamed, loving relationship with his children. In many ways this is a glimpse of what happens in revival. God restores the intimacy and tenderness of the Garden. We want to be close to God. We want...

Things I've Learnt - Dry Bones Coming to Life

Leaning in on the Love of God

He has risen

By his wounds we are healed.

Things I've Learnt - Dry Bones Coming to Life

How to be an encourager.

Things I've Learnt - Dry Bones Coming to Life

If we only believe that God can do anything, we will try to press him into our agenda. What we think is best. If we only believe that God does what is best, we will not bother to believe for his miraculous power and we'll miss out on moving mountains. But if we believe with all our heart that Jesus will do more than we could ever imagine and also that Jesus will always do what is best for us and h...

By this point in Jesus' ministry, there were a lot of critics in the mob. Some were religious leaders who were jealous of Jesus. Others were ordinary people who were not satisfied with Jesus' trajectory. To Jesus, the crowd was typical of this generation of Jews. They completely lacked faith in him. But according to Jesus, the size of your faith doesn't matter. What matters is whether it's placed...