Vision from Adam for 2007!

(this is long but well worth the read..)

SPEED IT’S COMING

MATTHEW 13:24-30, 36-43

The Parable of the Weeds
Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

"The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?'

" 'An enemy did this,' he replied.
"The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'

" 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.' "

The Parable of the Weeds Explained
Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."

He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

"As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.””


I’m sure that you have noticed that scripture like this is not read on a regular basis at our weekend services at Riverview. There is a good reason for this, as for a time churches were in a habit of using fear tactics to bring people to a point of decision concerning salvation and leading people to Christ. At Riverview we do believe in leading people to Christ, respecting peoples journey and allowing the grace of God to draw people to himself, seeing the love of God, seeing him as a loving father. In Romans 2:4 “Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?” Its His kindness that leads people to himself, His love, His patience. Christ came to serve not to be serve or judge or condemn people. So on weekends our soul purpose is to lead people to Christ, within the construct of Grace.

So when do we need to hear about the end times? Now is a good time.

As we sit in this room, as believers, we need to remind ourselves about the reality of the end of the age.

Why do we serve?
Primarily we serve because we serve a master in heaven, because that master in heaven God first loved us, so with love in action we live a life of obedience, and serve with the gifts that he has given us, is the context of the local church, the bride of Christ. But there is another reason. I believe why we serve comes out of 2 Peter 3:

Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

its interesting when Peter is writing this, he is not talking to baby believers, he is talking to people who have been on the journey for some time, so he safe to talk on these matters. He is not talking to the unsaved.

We serve a God who has given us an eternal promise, an eternal destiny, we don’t serve in the video crew because it’s a nice little club to be in with my special shirt, and I feel at home, (even though that is true) – we have an external perspective. I know one thing is for sure, I want to be on right side of the fence when the day comes!

Really the mission statement of the video crew is to “SPEED ITS COMING”, what am I saying, being involved in the video crew should not be taken lightly, but rather a realization that I am taking part in the bringing about the return of Christ.

Now I’m not wanting to create a militant army of extreme vigilante video crew who come across as an absolute bunch of waco’s. But I am wanting us to see the big picture and take seriously the part you play.

It may not look like it, but we are in a war, and I’m not sure if you have noticed, but God is using Riverview to take ground off the enemy. Satan does not want us going around broadcasting the love of God, in a way that people can digest, he wants to stop it, and he will do anything to stop it. Look at the last five years?

- on TV 55+ countries
- Locally on GWN
- TV adverts on locally
- Running church together
- Recent expansion into Canada
- Two campuses – north and south
- USA campus this year
- Pod casting from website
- cd’s going around the planet and now dvd’s
- church has gone from 2000 to over 4000 over this time
- media team now has gone from 2 staff members 6
- media is given so much freedom at riverview to run with anything to inspire
- the OC campus means the development of message download at any one location, but multiple location simultaneously at one time, which means what we currently record on a Saturday night could reach thousands.


This is all taking ground. The problem is, what we do does not look like a war? Where are my green fatigues, where are the weapons, where are casualties, where is the sound of fighting in the distance? To the average observer there is none of it. It looks more like a country club, than a war, especially when you live in Perth!! So there is a need for us to decide to stir ourselves up. We are growing in influence, impact, the momentum is increasing, the pace is not going to slow down, its time to take up arms. This year I want to see us as a crew step up a level, I’m not talking about camera skills, or the way we output this stuff, I am talking about who we are on the inside, are we vigilant, are we strong, are we ready for anything, are we spiritually aware of what is really going on around us. The culture of the teams needs to build this in more and more. Well Done Good Faithful Servant – Faithful : are we full of faith, when we come to a shoot, are we going through the motions, can be bothered to show up, thinking about what else I could be doing, or are we stirred up on the inside, that here is another opportunity to fire a few bullets against the enemy. The bible says Ephesians 6:10-20 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”

This year we will be doing a few practical things to help this in our teams:
prayer during the alter call, we used to do it, but need to continue, it is the directors responsibility to do it;
on the last wed of every month, we will be putting out a call for prayer and fasting for the coming month ahead (there will be a list of stuff each month that will be sent out – sometimes specific sometimes general – eg that the word would have free course in peoples hearts, that all the broadcasts would be powerful and effective)
April – expansion into the mid week teachings
RVTV prayer team …. (Cheryl and Graham)


After giving it to you about end times, essentially the Christian life is about balance, being in the world but not of it, having your eyes set on eternity, but not forgetting to love people, even the unlovable. It’s about doing great things for God, which comes out of our relationship with God.