God's People

Glory to God!

Yesterday's meeting was very special! The Lord is binding us together as a church family and speaking to us about how He sees the church. This is what the Lord is showing us:

1. The church is a group of people

• a small group. Philemon 1:2; Rom. 16:5
• a large group. 1 Cor. 1:2; Acts 9:31;13:1; 1 Thess. 1:1; Rev. 2:12
• all believers. Matt. 16:18; Eph. 1:22; 5:32; Col. 1:18

2. The church is a group of people who belong to God

• The word church is used of the people of God. 2 Cor. 6:16-18; Eph. 1:13,14

3. The church is a group of people who belong to God and are set apart for Him

• The word church is translated from the Greek word ekklesia and means the called out ones.
• God's people are called out of darkness to be God's holy (seperate) people. 1 Peter 2:9-12; John 17:14-18

4. The church is a group of people who belong to God, who belong to one another and are set apart for Him

• What distinguishes the church from other gatherings of people must be the relationships that are linked by the love of God shared between His people. John 13:34,35; John 15:1-17; Eph. 5:1,2
• God's love is veiled when believers don't love one another. Matt. 6:14,15
• Believers who don't love one another do not remain in Christ's love. 1 John 4:19; John 15:1-17
• Christ bought the unity of the Church with His blood - believers are one in Christ Jesus. Eph. 2:15,16
  
• Believers are to make every effort to maintain spiritual unity and not allow the devil or self to bring division. Eph. 2:14-22; 4:3

The Church is a group of people
who belong to God,
who belong to one another
and are set apart for Him.

We praise God for the work He is doing our lives in rebuilding, restoring and renewing us in every aspect of our lives. God is bringing us back to the essentials of our faith and reviving the truth to bring about reformation in the Church that is leading to an awakening in the world. Hallelujah!

Quote of the week:

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34,35

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The Overcoming Spirit

Praise the Lord!

God is rebuilding, restoring and renewing His people as we encounter Him in our meetings and in our fellowship with one another. It's awesome!

Yesterday the Lord spoke to us about walking in victory and living by the overcoming Spirit in us. This is what He showed us:

• Jesus overcame the world, the flesh and the devil. John 16:33; Mt. 26:36-45; 1 John 3:8
• Jesus never gave in to the will and the ways of the world, the self-life or the devil but always did the will of the Father and lived according to the Father's ways.
• Just as Jesus overcame so He expects His followers to do the same. Rev. 2:7,11,17,26,27; 3:5,6,12,21; 21:6-8
• The believer is called to run to win the race. 1 Cor. 9:24-26
• To overcome, the believer must appropriate the victory he has in Christ and continue in the overcoming spirit by remaining in Him.
• By remaining in Christ and His Word, the believer will overcome the world, the flesh and the devil. 1 John 5:4; Gal. 5:16,17; 1 John 2:14
• God empowers the believer to overcome. Psalm 44:3; Rom. 8:34-39; Eph. 6:10; 1 Cor. 15:57; 1 John 4:4; 2 Cor. 2:15; 2 Tim. 1:7
• Through faith in the Overcomer who lives in the believer and in whom the believer lives, s/he will overcome!

How does the believer activate an overcoming spirit?

1. Trust that you have received the Spirit of the Victorious One. 2 Tim. 1:7; 1 John 4:4
   
2. Build yourself up in your faith by realising who you are one with. Jude 20; 1 John 4:15
   
3. Allow the Word of God to remain in you. John 15:7; 1 John 5:4
4. Position yourself for victory! Joshua 6
   
5. Think before you act!
   
6. Become increasingly God-conscious. Psalm 44:3
7. Overcome one challenge at a time.
8. Practice exchanging evil with good. Rom. 12:21
9. Overcome in secret to overcome in public.
10. Find out what pleases God and do it.
11. Shake off failures but learn from them. Don't allow past failures to affect your spirit or the future.
12. Celebrate small victories.
13. Record and remember your victories (testimonies).
14. Choose to walk daily in an overcoming spirit and don't be overcome by the will and the ways of the world, the flesh and the devil!

People are being saved, healed and delivered as they place their faith in the great Overcomer - our victorious Jesus Christ! Hallelujah!

Quote of the week:

"Don't you realise that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step." 1 Cor. 9:24-26 (NLT)

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A People of Hope

Glory to God!

The Lord is speaking to us about being a people of faith, hope and love. The essence of our lives in Christ is based on faith, hope and love and yesterday the Lord spoke to us about the importance of hope. This is what He showed us:

• Hope is joyful expectation.
• Hope comes from spiritual revelation.
• Without spiritual revelation the believer "deteriorates" and is hopeless. Prov. 29:18
• Spiritual revelation is seeing the truth of heaven and God's Kingdom. Eph. 1:17-19
• Faith and love spring from hope. Col. 1:5
• Faith is strengthened by hope. Rom. 4:18-21
• Persevering faith because of hope leads to manifestation of the truth. Matt. 6:10
• Faith comes from fixing our eyes on spiritual truth and the promises of God. Heb. 11:1, 13; 12:2
• Hope never disappoints. Rom. 5:5

We praise God for giving us revelation of the truth so that we can grow in faith, hope and love!

Quote of the week:

"We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints - the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you." Col. 1:3-6

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Walking in Fullness of Life!

Glory to God!

These are exciting times! God is reviving the Church to bring an awakening in our city, this country and the nations. The Lord is moving His people out to bring change and to establish His Kingdom rule and reign in every area of their lives. We are seeing God rebuild, restore and renew His people so that they are transformed to be ambassadors for the Kingdom in this world. Yesterday the Lord showed us how the believer must enter the New Life Cycle in order to be transformed and to walk in newness of life. These are the seven stages of the New Life Cycle that God revealed to us from Acts 2:

NEW LIFE CYCLE

1. Position.

• The God-fearing Jews from all nations positioned themselves by meeting in Jerusalem to encounter God. Acts 2:5-14
• Likewise the believer must position himself to meet with God. James 4:8

2. Revelation.

• Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, brought revelation to the people of the fact that the One they crucified is "both Lord and Christ." Acts 2:22-36
• Likewise the believer must position himself to meet with God and expect to receive revelation from God of Himself and of the truth.

3. Conviction.

• The people who received the revelation as truth were "cut to the heart" and convicted.
• The Spirit and the Word enlighten our hearts and our minds with the truth to expose what is not in line with the truth. John 16:13; Heb. 4:12
• When the believer receives revelation as truth, it will expose sin and deception in his life.

4. Confession.

• Those who received revelation as truth and were "cut to the heart" agreed with the Holy Spirit and consequently asked Peter, "what shall we do?" Acts 2:37
• Confession is agreement with the Holy Spirit that what we have believed, or thought or done is not in line with God's will or the truth.

5. Repentance.

• Peter told the people to repent. Acts 2:38
• To repent is to change one's mind according to the truth and consequently change one's actions.
• When the believer agrees with the Holy Spirit (confession) he must surrender his old attitude, thoughts and ways to make room for God to replace the old with the new.
• The old and cannot accompany the new. Mt 9:17
• Repentance is surrendering the old to embrace the new.

6. Baptism/ Exchange.

• Peter told the people to repent and to be baptised. Acts 2:38
• Baptism symbolises the believer's crucifying the old to be raised into the new. Rom. 6
• When the believer surrenders the old (repentance), God replaces it with the new. Is. 61:1-3; 2 Cor. 5:17

7. New Life.

• The promise of God is that once the believer exchanges the old for the new, he will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
• When the believer repents (surrender) and is baptised (exchange), he can walk in newness of life and in the truth that has replaced the sin and deception of the old.
• The believer is transformed by the renewing of his mind so that he can walk in the truth and in fullness of life. Rom. 12:2

In order for the believer to walk in the "new way of the Spirit" (Rom. 7:6) and the new life (2 Cor. 5:17), he must follow through every one of the seven steps or he will not grow in Christ. Those who follow through the seven steps of the New Life Cycle learn to walk in fullness of life. Hallelujah!

We praise God for His amazing revelation to us to help us to walk the abundant life.

Quote of the week:

"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10

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