True Worship

Praise be to God!

We are so excited about the life-changing revelation God is giving us not only on a Sunday but also throughout the week at our various meetings. Hallelujah! The men have their own men's prayer breakfast blog to keep the guys updated on what the Lord is doing with the men every Friday at MPB. Check it out here...

Yesterday was a very special meeting. We had to meet at a different location and are blessed to be able to meet at the Baptist church in Eschersheim when we occasionally have to find an alternative place to meet. Before we entered into a time of worship, the Lord spoke to us about what worship is really all about. You can listen to the teaching here...

This is what He showed us:

1. True worship is a heart that responds to God. This is the essence of all worship.
2. God is more concerned about the believer's heart than the way he responds.
3. The manner or form of worship is less important than the fact that the believer is responding with a sincere heart. Heb. 10:22
4. God looks at the heart! 1 Sam. 16:7
5. Worship songs are a form that are an expression of a worshiper's heart.
6. Worship songs should help the worshiper to encounter God in the same way that caused the song-writer to write the song. If the believer just sings the songs without sincerely seeking and responding to the revelation of God, s/he is maintaining form without truly worshiping - form without essence.
7. Any written response to the revelation of God, whether it be the Word of God or worship songs must always lead us into an encounter with God! John 5:39,40
8. True corporate worship is when everyone is responding to the same revelation of God together in one spirit rather than individuals each responding to their own revelation of God at the same time in the same place.

Following this revelation we then entered into worship. We began without written songs and simply worshiped God from our hearts (essence) in whatever way (form) we chose. The presence of God was awesome and as we then worshiped with written songs we jointly encountered God as one body in one spirit - it was amazing!

After meeting with God in worship, the Lord then spoke to us about another Kingdom conviction He wants us to have. You can listen to the sermon here...

This is what He spoke to us about:

1. There are many convictions God wants us to have but He is highlighting particular Kingdom convictions that He wants us to have.
2. The first conviction is: I am God's home - God has prepared my life in Christ Jesus to be His habitation (see previous blog posting).
3. The second conviction is: There is more!
4. God's Kingdom is one of increase and abundance. Matt. 13:11,12,23
5. Jesus endured all suffering even to the point of death on the cross because He was convinced that there is more - the joy that was set before Him! Heb. 12:2
6. The apostle Paul, even though he saw the most amazing things and had incredible encounters with God, still pressed on because he knew there is more - he lived to gain Christ. 2 Cor. 12:1-4; Phil. 3:1-15
7. All the great men and women of God in history and today have the conviction that there is more. Heb. 11:24-27
8. Revival (God's people being saturated with God and overflowing with Him) comes about when believers carry the conviction that there is more and do not give up until the "more" comes!
9. Believers who have the conviction that there is more are moved from the ordinary to the extraordinary; from the natural to the supernatural; from the familiar to the secrets of God.
10. The conviction that there is more will change prayerlessness to prayerfullness and will move the believer to search the Scriptures daily to receive fresh revelation of God to know Him and experience Him more!

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen" Eph. 3:20,21

We praise God for His hand upon us and for helping us to build Kingdom culture that reflects heaven on earth!

This Saturday, Voice in the city will be having another exciting and dynamic afternoon and evening at their Arise Shine meetings. Check out the following link for more info...

Quote of the week:

"'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him' - but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit." 1 Cor. 2:9,10

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Righteousness

Praise be to God!

We've had another brilliant week with God! The Lord has been speaking to us about Kingdom Culture and yesterday He revealed a Kingdom conviction to us that He wants us to have that will radically change our way of life if it truly becomes a Kingdom conviction - an unshakable, compelling and conquering belief based on God's truth.

The Kingdom conviction God spoke to us about is the fact that the believer is a Kingdom residence! This is what the Lord showed us:

1. The believer is the temple of the Holy Spirit. 1 Cor. 3:16,17; 6:12-20; 2 Cor. 6:14-17
2. The believer's body belongs to God. 1 Cor. 6:19,20
3. God has made the believer's body a suitable dwelling place for His presence. In Christ, the believer is righteous, holy and perfect so that God can dwell in His house. 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 10:1-14
4. The believer's body is God's house that He has prepared in order to make the believer His home! John 14:23
5. The believer has been sealed with God's presence because he is righteous in Christ. Eph.1:13,14; 4:30
6. When a believer sins, his relationship with God is not destroyed but fellowship with God is hindered. God still owns the house and has placed His name, as well as his "eyes and his heart" there. 1 Kings 9:3
7. Since the believer is righteous, holy and perfect in Christ, he must live a holy life to maintain fellowship with God and to grow in intimacy with Him. Eph. 5:8; 2 Cor. 7:1
8. The believer's relationship with God is based on God's grace and mercy in Christ Jesus. Rom. 5:1,2
9. The believer's fellowship with God is based on the believer's obedience and desire for intimacy with God. James 4:7,8; John 15:10
10. The believer is the temple of God, the habitation of the Lord, the home of God, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit because of the relationship the believer has with God in Christ Jesus.
11. It is the believer's repsonsibility to live a holy life in order not to grieve God's presence in His house. Eph. 4:30
12. The believer is not a guest house that belongs to the believer, that God visits occasionally, and that needs to be prepared for God to visit.

The believer is God's home that God has prepared for Himself to live in.

We praise God for His awesome, liberating revelation to us!

Quote of the week:

"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Cor. 5:21

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Changing the culture

Glory to the King of kings!

It has been another awesome week with God! The Lord is imparting more and more spiritual revelation to us in our meetings and we are excited about our King and His Kingdom and the life-changing truth He is making known to us by His Spirit!

On Tuesdays we meet for Bible study and prayer and at present are studying the letter to the Romans and receiving powerful insight into God's Word. At our weekly prayer meeting, the Lord is showing us how to use His Word to worship Him and how to pray over our own lives and intercede for one another as well as the Church, the city and whatever else the Holy Spirit leads us to pray over!

The women and the men meet on Thursdays and Fridays respectively and have wonderful times of fellowship with God and one another. The youth (IMPACT!) meet on Saturdays at Subzone in central Frankfurt and are influencing the city with their presence and joy!

Yesterday the Lord continued to speak to us about Kingdom Culture and this is what He showed us:

• Culture is a way of life that is determined by what influences you and the convictions you have.
• Influence is what we allow to flow into our lives that affects us.
• Convictions are the unshakable, compelling and conquering beliefs we have that affect our way of life.
• There are 3 approaches to living in a foreign culture:

1. Cultural Chameleons: someone who is able to adapt and conform to whatever culture they find themselves in. This person simply allows the culture they're in to influence them so that they become one with the culture.
2. Cultural Cliques: someone who joins others of the same culture and isolates him/herself with them to form a seperate culture within the culture they are living in.
3. Cultural Conquerors: someone who influences and changes the culture in which s/he lives because of the unshakable, compelling and conquering convictions s/he has.

Looking at 1 Thess. 1:3-10 we saw that the Thessalonians were cultural conquerors because of the unshakable (1:6), compelling (1:3) and conquering (1:8,9) convictions (1:5) they received by the Holy Spirit.

Kingdom culture is a way of life that is determined by Kingdom influence and Kingdom convictions!

We praise God that He has given us everything we need to live Kingdom culture and to conquer the kingdom of darkness with Kingdom convictions. Hallelujah!

Yesterday evening we had another wonderful opportunity to put our convictions into action as we ministered to the poor and needy with God's love. Many came and entered into Kingdom Culture as we served them and fed them and simply enjoyed God's presence and love together with them.

Quote of the week:

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Romans 12:2 (emphasis mine)

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