As I write this, we are in the middle of a house renovation. About half of our house is being remodelled to make the house more livable and more contemporary.
The first thing that happened was that, after we moved all our possessions out of that part of the house, the workers got in, cut off the power and then proceeded to knock down walls that were no longer needed, pull down the ceilings, and lift up the worn out floor coverings.
They then installed new beams into the roof cavity to make sure that the removal of structural walls would not cause the roof to fall in. New internal walls had to be constructed, the electrical system rewired and an air conditioner put into the roof. The walls and ceilings have been re-sheeted, and door trims replaced. In coming weeks the power supply will be upgraded, a new kitchen will be installed, and everything will be painted.
The workers have made a big mess, but in a few weeks we will effectively have a new house. The cost will be enormous, but we have enough money put aside to cover it all.
When you ask Jesus to take control of your life, He starts by transforming your heart. The old stuff has to be taken out, because it is harmful to you. Attitudes, addictions and wrong behaviour patterns have to change, hurts need to be healed and consequences for our actions recognised.
In the Bible, God promises to give us a new heart. “And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.”
Christianity is not a collection of rules in which our behaviour is modified from the outside. No, our relationship with God leads to Him cleaning out our old heart and giving us a new heart.
It is messy at times and it seems to take forever while you are going through it. You don’t have to worry about the price because it has already been paid for.
Why don’t you ask Jesus to come and give you a heart renovation?
Last week I travelled to Batemans Bay to visit my parents. The occasion was my mother’s 90th birthday, which is quite a milestone.
Just a couple of generations ago, 65 years was an achievement to celebrate. Most people were not expected to last too many years after retirement. Now, 25 or 30 years of post retirement living is common.
Although I sailed past 65 a little while ago, I find that I am still full of energy, and my brain is still firing on all cylinders. No chance and no desire to put my feet up any time soon.
Regardless of all of this, the day will come for all of us when our bodies stop functioning. While we all look forward to a long life, some people die prematurely in accidents and other causes.
While death and taxes are the two unavoidable facts of life, most people these days give little thought to death, even if they manage to avoid taxes.
The Bible teaches us that after our bodies die, our souls continue to live. We will all stand before God to give an account of our lives. Jesus used the analogies of sheep being sorted from goats and weeds being separated from wheat. Those who have lived perfect lives go to a place of unimaginable joy called Heaven. Those who have not lived perfect lives go to a place of suffering called Hell.
But none of us is perfect. We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s standard.
So how can anyone be saved from the awful destiny?
Jesus died to pay for the sins of everyone. He can take away your failures, crimes and mistakes.
Financial advisers are constantly urging us to prepare for retirement.
Spiritual advisers want you to prepare for what comes after that. You don’t need a huge super fund, or any fund at all.
Say a prayer and sincerely ask Jesus to forgive you. Resolve to live for him as many days or years that you have left. Go to a church where you will find help and support in following through on that decision.
El Salvador went from the murder capital of the world to one of the safest nations
Even though El Salvador was the murder capital of the world a decade ago, with a murder rate of 103 per 100,000 inhabitants, it is now much safer there than it is in the U.S. The U.S. murder rate in 2023 was 13 per 100,000, while the murder rate in El Salvador was 2.4 per 100,000.
So how was this done? They accomplished this in 3 years and took 70,000 gang members off the streets.
Nayib Bukele is the 43rd President of El Salvador. He was re-elected in February 2024 with 85% of the vote. He shares the story in an interview with Tucker Carlson.
He relates that his entire cabinet was in prayer and took authority over the satanic MS-13 gang, winning the battle in the spiritual realm first, and then it was possible to win it in the natural realm. He states that it was easier to win the war over the gang BECAUSE they are (literally) satanic. (Human sacrifices to satan are part of the gang culture.) That was an incredible encouragement to me as I see the spiritual forces behind the evil attempting to take over our nation. Because it is a SPIRITUAL battle, we KNOW we are on the winning side! We just need to obey the instructions of our Commander and not give up!
Here are a couple of powerful free video clips of the Tucker Carlson interview:
You want to listen to this interview. It will inspire faith in your heart as well as knowledge. For example, I was completely unaware that this transformation has happened in the last few years in El Salvador. This is likely one of the greatest victories over satan and murderers in world history, and it happened right next door in just the last few years. I had not even heard about it until today!
If I ever wondered if the news media was reporting the important stuff, this should drive the nail in the coffin for good.
You will need to sign up with Tucker Carlson to watch the full interview, but I highly recommend doing so. True news of true miracles taking place is worth the small price you will pay, and right now, if we don’t access this type of news, we could easily succumb to despondency and depression rather than hearing and seeing that God IS moving today and we need to be excited about this and pray for a revival of righteousness to sweep all nations of the world.
The final session of the Apostolic Summit is Sunday morning, when the Summiteers combine with the standard Peace Apostolic Church congregation. During the service there was a celebration of 50 years of ministry by John & Hazel.
David Alley, John’s eldest son, brought the message, which was a sort of summing up of the weekend.
John 21 Third time Jesus appeared to the disciples after the resurrection.
Vs. 1-7 “It is the Lord!” The Lord directs everything
When Luther nailed the theses to the door, Zinzendorf took in the refugees, William Carey went to India, John Wesley heard the gospel, William Booth started preaching, it was the Lord!
In the early 1990s when John Alley sat down with Chuck Clayton for lunch in Sizzlers that was the Lord.
When the disciples first saw Jesus they didn’t recognise him. Sometimes things happen that don’t like the Lord, they are.
He is at work doing things among us.
If the Lord is not with us, nothing happens.
Vs. 8-14 Everything is about Jesus.
What’s the point of building the biggest church or visiting pastors in Africa, if it’s not about the Lord?
Vs. 15-24 Jesus is the focus Jesus tells Peter three things
Feed the sheep
How he will die
Don’t worry about what He does with others
Look to Jesus, not what other people are doing. He is the Lord! Don’t compare self to others. Don’t be grumpy because you aren’t getting what you want.
The session started with an invitation for people to share a testimony about what God has been doing in them during the Summit.
Many years ago David Smethurst prophesied that God was doing something here at Peace but it would be a slow, gradual process. It would be strong, but pure.
God is relational. One God but three persons – a community so bound together that it is one God.
If God was anything other than 3 person He could not be love, nor holy nor perfect.
If God was only one person prior to creation, there would be no love. Likewise if there were only 2, it would be just a mutual admiration society.
Here is the perfection of Holy love. Our responsibility is to become a community like the Trinity.
This mature community is supposed to be attainable in God’s grace.
John 17. Prayer in 3 parts
Jesus’s relationship with Father
The 11 apostles
Those who would come later – us
V.11 He asks that the people following Him then, be one as Jesus and Father are one.
This is meant to be on the earth, not for heaven only. This is why apostles are being released, so the community can be established.
V. 21 Jesus prayed that the ones to come will all be one… so that the world may know (v. 23).
Ephesians 4. A prophetic statement that Christ continues to give apostles etc until we all cone to the unity of the faith, measuring up to the fullness of Christ. What is this measure? That we are one with Him and with each other.
John 17:20-24. Christ has given us His glory,so that the world will see that God loves them.
A lot of people are happy with an ordinary salvation – happy life, no problems, no suffering. This is not salvation. We are to be raised above the angels with a kind of fellowship with God that is more profound than we can imagine.
He wants to transform us to lift us into this unity with God.
In Session 5, Apostle John Alley picked up some of the themes from the previous session, before moving on to talk about the Rapture and the General Resurrection.
God uses our bodies to get our attention. Most things in our bodies are spiritual. We are connected to the spiritual realm.
The body is used to communicate spiritual messages to us.
Example. Pain in the body during worship could be a sign of witchcraft, accusation from other churches. Nausea can be a call to intercession.
Pay attention to the body as a communication channel.
Security in the house of God comes from a pastor who is a son to a father.
George Stormwald, personal friend of Smith Wigglesworth, had such a presence of Christ that people would weep when he preached. His secret was that he would meditate on Revelation 1 before he preached.
Every truth about apostles is about Christ. It is never about ambition of man. People can build things and claim to be apostolic but be slightly off because it is about their efforts.
Resurrection
We assume that Jesus did not go to heaven and be glorified until Ascension Thursday. There were bodily appearances in that period. He was taken up to heaven on Easter Sunday.
He could appear but He was already taken up to heaven.
Daniel 7:13-14. Cf. Revelation 5. When did this happen?
John 20:17. Easter morning, he says “Don’t cling to me. I have not yet ascended.”
Luke 24:39. That evening, “Touch me.” He had already gone to heaven, received the authority of the “scroll”
Rapture
We have been hoodwinked by the Rapture boosters.
Overall teaching of Scripture is there is a single General Resurrection. That is, sinners and the redeemed are raised at the same time. Majority of church teaches this.
This is in all the early confessions, including Apostles and Nicene Creeds.
Matthew 25:31-33. All the nations gathered before the Son of Man, He will separate the sheep from the goats.
Matthew 13:30. Harvest then separation of weeds. Matthew 13:37-43. Interpretation is that the harvest is the end of the age.
John 5:21-29. Believe Jesus pass from death to life. First resurrection. In v. 28, He shifts to the future. All who are in the tombs will be raised to the resurrection of life or to the resurrection of judgement.
We believe in a general resurrection, not in a rapture of the believers before the resurrection of the sinners.
John 6:37-40, 44.
Revelation 20:5-6. Those who share in the first resurrection, that is are born again, will not taste the second death. They will reign with Him for 1000 years – an unlimited period of time. Not a literal 1000 years time.
Ephesians 1:17-23. We are already resurrected beings. We need to pray for revelation and wisdom. 3 things that Paul thinks we need Revelation.
Know the hope he has called us
The riches of the inheritance of the saint’s
The immeasurable greatness of His power that is at work in us.
Christ is the head over all things in heaven and earth and he is giving this authority to His body the church.
Ephesians 3:8-11. Paul preaches to us to bring to us the plan of the mystery hidden in God. The church teaches the angels and demons about God’s wisdom. We have the task of taking authority over the powers in order to change the world. Over time the church breaks bondage.
Session 6
Most of this session was an interview with Lloyd Gill, John’s apostle to Africa, Lloyd talked about his many ministry trips to Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and about what God is doing there.
Te session concluded with John sharing some prayer points to pray for people in ministry before he prayed for Lloyd and those in ministry in the conference.
Prayers for ministry
A greater word and greater understanding of the Word of God. Luke 24:44-45. He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
For advancing authority. We want more grace on the words we speak. 2 Corinthians 10:8
Pray to be fruitful in raising sons Hebrews 2:10-13
Pray that messages have power, full conviction, the power of the Holy Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 1:5
In this session, John shares the history of how he came into the apostolic ministry.
From 2002, anywhere John went to preach the Apostolic message, it would rain, even in places that are normally very dry.
In 1994, John started a relationship with Chuck Clayton. Although the Lord was raising John as an apostle, he himself needed an apostle for spiritual covering.
He was teaching father/son relationships, but it was just theory. Formalised the relationship, declared they had apostolic covering, but it was still theory.
In 2002, at Family Camp, they had a strong move of the Holy Spirit. God revealed what it means to relate to God as Father.
Later that year, Chuck came to preach. John was behind in his tithes to Chuck. John gave him cash on his arrival. First meeting was at Oakey. John declared him the apostle. It started to rain, and the rain kept up until the end of the Summit, the following Sunday.
During the Summit, John received an outpouring of love for Chuck. It was a work of the Holy Spirit. John had become a son to a father. Tony Ponicke received the same breakthrough in his relationship with John.
Important steps
John sorted his tithe
He honoured Chuck
Result was breakthrough in relationships and finances
John was changed. He received grace and confidence to preach with power all over the world.
The Lord gave John a download about the relationship between Elijah and Elisha. The thing that made it possible for Elisha to receive the double portion from Elijah was that he longed to be with him.
Maturity of relationships
Depth of longing for connection
See something in father to appreciate what is in them.
Chuck had much more to offer John, but it wasn’t until John’s heart was changed so that he could see what Chuck had that he could receive it.
Father /son relationships (wholehearted, love for leaders) are the key for ministry. You have to love your pastor. Senior ministers must have proper apostolic covering.
As John Alley says, “We are Australian and we are civilised people. We do not skimp on morning tea.”
Morning tea is a good time to hang out with your mates, no matter how young they are.
After the break, Apostle John continued the teaching.
The soul is the command centre of the whole being. It is the soul that is either soaking in or rejecting.
The heart grows at the root of the soul. That is where the values are. The words of the mouth come from what is in the heart.
“The worth and excellency of a soul are to be measured by the object of its love .” Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man
What we love shows the value or worthiness of our soul.
Hebrews 4:12. The word of God is living and active. We have to seek the word of the Lord We read the word because we have a yearning to know the Lord. While we are doing that, God intervenes in our hearts to remove the sins and thoughts that beset us
We need to seek ever increasing maturity in the Lord.
1 Peter 1:3-23 The prophets searched and inquired carefully but they received revelations in the searching. We must not be conformed to the passions of our former ignorance. We must purify our souls by obedience to the truth. Love one another earnestly.
2 Peter 1:3-11 If we are diligent in pursuing the Lord, there will be richly provided for us an entrance into the eternal kingdom. If we do these things we will not fail.
In Session 2 of the Summit, Apostle John Alley spoke about what the Bible says about human nature. WE are body, soul and spirit. The bible speaks about the heart and the conscience. How do these all fit together?
When you are eager to promote a gift or idea, you need to make sure that you are not inadvertently undermining other important things. Example of a man who promoted miraculous signs but in doing so downplayed the teaching of the word.
Jn 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life ; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I speak are life
We are body, soul and spirit. Cannot separate the three.
1 Thess 5:23-24. “may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless
Heb, 4:12 Word of God divides soul and spirit.
What about words like heart, conscience, etc? How do they fit?
Soul- contains mind, memory, will, emotions Body- 5 senses, pain, adrenalin, Gut, Chemicals, fitness, sickness Lot of interaction between body and soul Spirit- knowledge, memory, revelation, spiritual gifts, discernment, conscience, inner witness, emotion… your spirit can rejoice or have dread
We are designed with this complexity because we have to live in the spirit realm and the physical realm.
Lots of interaction between spirit and soul.
Unbelievers are dark in their spirit. They have a conscience for example. The spirit is alive but separated from God until they are born again.
God can speak to sinners. eg Cain.
Your spirit can be weak or strong, bound or free. We need to work on our relationship with God. Ephesians 3:14-16
Psalm 139. I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Romans 2:14-16. Gentiles do not have the law, but their consciences lead them towards righteousness
2 Corinthians 4:2.The conscience provides the inner witness.
2 Corinthians 5:11 Conscience provides confirmation of Paul’s message
1 Timothy 4:1-3 A seared conscience.
The Heart
New heart when born again:
The heart is the sum of all the parts- body, soul, and spirit. It’s what is at the bottom of it all.
Our heart gives us longing for good things as well as sinful things. The Lord will give us the desires of our heart. That is why he tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus.
Romans 12:2. Be transformed by the renewing of the mind.
The 2024 Apostolic Summit kicked off at Peace Apostolic Church in Rockhampton this evening (Thursday May 30th).
As always, we drove up,starting out at 7 am and arriving after 6 pm. It is on these trips that you realise how big the country is. From Narrabri to Rockhampton,m the road distance is well over 880 km, but when you look on the map it is barely a blip on the continent.
Usually Tim drives the whole way and enjoys the road trip. Today, he wasn’t feeling too well, so I drove the last one third of the journey from Taroom.
We stopped for lunch at a place called Condamine. The flood markers for the highest floods of the Condamine River are shown on the obelisk. What is scary is that the normal river flow is about 10 metres below this point. They really know how to do floods here.
It was great to catch up with the Cooper family who have been on holidays for a couple of weeks. They have been touring Queensland and planned their holiday to be in Rockhampton for the Summit.
Evelyn was unusually shy for the photo.
It was a great meeting with good praise and a great message from Apostle John Alley. John is planning to go over the basics of the apostolic message over the course of the Summit.
Here are my notes from Session 1.
In the mid 90s people were writing about apostles but it was premature. There was a mixture of revelations with a lot of human speculation.
John realised at that time it was bigger than restoration of apostles. The Lord was going to restructure the church to become an apostolic church.
Lots of people calling themselves apostles, claiming the name but using human techniques of church growth and leadership etc.
The new paradigm is relational rather than institutional.
The Apostolic Summit started in 1996 to teach the latest knowledge about the Apostolic Revelation.
Apostles are being released for the purpose of raising the church to a new level of spiritual maturity and authority.
The work of salvation history is far bigger than we can imagine.
The effect of the Reformation is still being worked through. It is all building to something greater.
Apostles are a different order of ministry. They are not just the old style leaders under a different name.
It is not about a network but about relational connection.
Spiritual Authority
We all need an encounter with the Lord that changes us. Jacob had to wrestle the Lord. Elisha had to request and chase the power that was on Elijah. They knew the Lord but needed to get that extra power.
International Coalition of Apostolic Leaders
John was invited to join in 2003. He had reservations but felt he should do so for the purpose of relationships. He felt very uncomfortable in the meetings.
He discerned there was a spirit of control at the heart of it. Spirit of conformity- that is control with the volume turned down.
He resigned membership but felt his apostolic mojo came back. More energy, clarity of mind, return of authority.
Seven Essential Concepts of the Apostolic Message
Church Reformation is still under way.
Restoration of Apostles
Restoration of the Apostolic Nature of the Body of Christ
Restoration of Apostolic Covering for churches and ministries
New Life Narrabri 