Who Do You Say That I Am?

I recently listened to a man speak on Jesus. He really stirred me to fascination again, not for the religion that bears His name or for our own efforts at Sanctuary or any church expression. But, it is for Him! This man said the most interesting thing concerning Him: "don't even bother saying that Jesus was just a good teacher. You cannot take that mushy middle ground with Him. He is either the Son of God and truly divine, or he is a nut case". I love it!
As I thought more about, I realized he's right. There is too much about Jesus and all that He said that demands we decide who He really is. The same Jesus who taught us to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute us, which is brilliant teaching, was also the one said he would be killed and rise from death in triumph 3 days following. He said that anyone who would come after Him should take up their cross, eat His flesh and drink His blood and plan to lose their life for His sake and let their dead bury their own dead. And, He said that He would return to the earth with a host of angels in full view, the sky ripped open and His rule coming fully to the earth.
This is outrageous and, dare we say it...insane stuff....unless He is right.

And, I know He is. He is amazing. There is no one like Him in all of creation and He knows me. It's all true and will come to pass. He will return to the earth and stand once again in Jerusalem to rule from it as the King that He has always been. Those who have lost their lives for His sake will find them again. Taking up our crosses is the pathway to life. Nothing should distract us.

All His brilliant teaching should come into focus in light of this one thing: God has been on this earth! He was here, in human form and walked among us. Let the skeptic reduce Him to a "mushy-middle ground" teacher of truth and wisdom, if they must. But, remember this...He is so much more and wisdom will be justified.

Brian Creary
Ministry Director

What Is On Your Mind?

I think one of the most important questions you can ask of God is "What is on your mind?" Sounds simple, almost silly, but is incredibly relevant when you consider that He really is all that we read He is. It is hard for us most of the time to really understand that He is as wise, as powerful and as full of knowledge and mercy and love and kindness as He really is! We reduce Him to a level we can grasp and then relate to Him from there. But, it never helps us to do this. While we feel we can better relate, we take from Him the power and capability in every setting that He is in full ownership of. He is all that He says that He is, depite our inability to grasp it.

Most of the time we believe that we understand the measure of his power, love and grace. And to some degree it is true. We have His spirit living within us now and He brings us to understand things hidden from those who are without their spirits made alive in this way. But, this is the starting point on a journey to understand the great mystery of the universe: the knowledge of who He is. Our journey both on earth and on into eternity, is to discover endlessly more of what He is like and to be amazed by it.

Consider the Throne Room description in Revelation 4 and the response of those four living creatures. They declared unceasingly "Holy, holy holy" not because they were required to do so or be kicked out of the Throne Room but because they were captivated by what they saw as the drew near. These ones are a picture of what we will all do to some degree as we draw near and see more. Who can help but exclaim endlessly "you are beautiful in your transcendence"...that is what "holy" in this context means, really.

Or, consider David in Psalm 27:4 saying that he has one request: to dwell in God's presence and gaze upon His beauty. David knew that there was more. Somehow he understood a little piece of what the living creatures were experiencing. God was deeper and more expansive in His attributes than could be grapsed at first glance. He is not there to be analyzed or to be negotiated with. He is GOD! He is beautiful and who can help but gaze upon Him as you see more.

Last night we added another hour of devotion to our schedule, going from 8:30-9:30pm. It was a sweet hour! It was all about sitting in His presence, singing out our love song to Him and singing what we know of Him as we agree with His heart and mind. More and more I found myself saying "what is on your mind?" and not because I was afraid to miss something, but because He was so fascinating. He had all of my life in His hands, I had nothing to worry about and I wanted to know more.

And that was the whole point...

We at Sanctuary was pressing forward to "gaze on His beauty" as often as we can. There is much to do in His kingdom and we will find it in Him.

Brian Creary
Ministry Director

Fast Final

We ended our first corporate fast on Sunday and the stories of God's nearness were everywere. As we gathered yesterday, there was a tenderness in our hearts to His goodness towards us and His desire to become even more real to us in the weeks and months ahead. And, this promise is for all in this city who will say "YES" to Him and His ways.

We have a "Devotion" set running from 3:30-4:30 on Sundays now. Joel has been leading this one and it has been excellent. I have so enjoyed sitting in the prayer room as he just worships for himself with no strings attached. We have been focusing on "changing the spiritual atmosphere" through joyful agreement with God. Well, this Devotion set is exactly that. It is a fragrant offering of worship that aligns my heart every time. Power comes through people who will agree with Him. It is one of my favourite hours of our week together. At 4:30 we switch the focus slightly into something we are calling "Devotion Intercession". This is a time to ask the Lord for deeping in these areas, for us and for all in the city. It is not agressive intercession for kingdom advancement, but rather a time to ask for intimacy, strengthening, deepening and refreshing for the church. It is a sweet time. I have been using portions of scripture that capture these themes as launching points for prayer and it has been great to have the singers launch out over these verses. Prophetic singing takes prayer to a whole other place. I am loving it.

We have more Devotion from 5:30-6:30 and this is a time for some of our new leaders to take their turn. They have done so well. Everything has been genuine and filled with integrity. I love the heart I am seeing.

And, last night's Gathering at 6:30pm was so much fun! We gazed upon the beauty of the Lord and He drew near to us. There was lightning flashes seen through the upper windows throughout the day only serving to remind me that He is real and powerful and fully capable of coming to Winnipeg to establish His full kingdom rule. Our hearts are filled with love for Him and we are grateful for this place He is giving us.

Brian Creary
Ministry Director

Fast Day #3 & #4

It has been a good week. As I have been asking around the community I have heard lots of people say that they have felt the nearness of God. I would have to agree! Fasting is a funny exercise. I grew up with a concept of fasting as something that only the really serious and devoted Christians did and not something for everyone. My family always engaged in it and I grew to recognize it as part of what we did. But, as I got older and went to various churches during my university years, I began to see that most people were not really interested in going hungry as a way of praying. In fact, there was a decade or more when I barely heard the word "fasting". Once I taught a class on it at a church I worked in and was surprised to hear what people thought fasting was all about. More recently, I have been equally entertained at how often people have chosen to fast TV or internet. While it is a wise idea to restrict your usage of both of these, it is not biblical fasting. To fast in the bible, you have to stop eating. And, you have to pray.

The other twist on fasting that I hear a lot is "I am going to really fast a long time so that God will give me what I am asking for", as though the person has engaged in some kind of hunger strike, and demands will be met or else. Of course, God is never pushed around by us...ever. He is not even impressed by our efforts. There is nothing we are going to do in fasting that is going to force Him to respond. It is a weak and illogical exercise by any human standard.

But, fasting gets us in touch with our weakness and lets our spirit become sensitive to God. It is part of what is meant in Joel 2 when the direction is given to "turn with your whole heart". God does not respond to fasting...He responds to wholeheartedness. And fasting is a tool that takes us there like few others. This week I felt the weakness and realized my spirit was softer to the nearness of God. He was speaking and I was hearing. I know that He is not inpressed. Rather, He is thrilled!

The more you do it, the more you want it to never end. God is near and I can feel Him. I know that for many they don't feel anything during the fast but reap the rewards of their time of devotion weeks and months later. It has not been my experience but it, too, is a real one. May you be blessed to experience all this and more as you turn to Him.

Brian Creary
Ministry Director

Fast Day #2

Last night I attended our intercession meeting for the emerging generation in the city of Winnipeg. We have felt almost since we began to pray for our city that one of the areas we needed to focus on was the large group of people who are under the age of 30. Although there are many reasons why we could focus on them, moral decline and a weakened church in the West among them, we felt from God that it was because of their potential and what He had for them in the decades ahead. There is something stirring in this group. It is most evident in those 15-30 right now, but it goes to the little ones as well. Often when I share the vision of what Sanctuary is all about, those who are in this age bracket just seem to get it instinctively. It's as though they have already been stirred in their spirits and they KNOW there is something right about this.

With that in mind, our Tues pm intercession meeting has been gathering weekly for over a year now to intercede for these ones. At times the meeting has been smaller than they would have liked, but there is a determination inside those involved to stay steady and just ask of the Lord, knowing that no matter how it looks or feels...it all counts!

Last night was no different. There was a willingness on the part of the leaders to seek God for what He would have them pray about and then go with it for long periods of time. There was energy and life in their efforts because of this. An, more and more they are getting a sense of the destiny that lies ahead in the years to come in our city. They are becoming people that gaze on God and long to align themselves with whatever He is saying, doing and willing for our city. They are "agreeing with Him" and it is wonderful thing to see.

Our fast is producing sensitivity to His heart. That is certainly a large part of the goal for us. More than demanding things of Him, stuff that we think would be good for Winnipeg, we long to know what is on His heart and agree with it.

Thanks again to all who are joining in with us from afar. Thanks for the emails. May He reveal even more of Himself to you in the days and weeks to come.

Brian Creary
Ministry Director

Fast Day #1

It's Monday and we are just beginning our first extended corporate fast together as Sanctuary. I am so encouraged to hear from people outside of Winnipeg who have chosen to fast along with us. I love doing this together. We have good friends!

As this fast is going to be one of consecration, I thought that we could focus ourselves around going deeper in our understanding of Him and what is on His heart in this season. Don't ask for Him to change the city or do amazing things. We are going to do lots of that in the years ahead. Instead, consider Ephesians 1:17 and think about what you really need the most. It is what we all need more than anything. To know Him, revealed by the moving of the Spirit, allowing us to see and know (experience/encounter) Him in ways beyond what we can attain in our own efforts. It is really true that only God can reveal God to the human spirit. In our efforts we would never find Him if He did not open our eyes to see Him.

And, consider the most amazing thing. Realize that God put that verse in the bible, through the writing of Paul, because it was HIS IDEA! He wants us to ask because He wants to give. It is our role to seek Him for more than we have, and it is HIS good pleasure to give us more than we can imagine. Ask for God to release to you this week "the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you know Him better" and allow Him to take you deeper in all that He wants to show of Himself.

May there be great grace on all of you as you press into Him!

Brian Creary
Ministry Director