Glory to God!
These past weeks God has been speaking to us about the Church's identity, purpose and power.
Heavenly Citizenship - In her message, Frances showed us how the believer belongs to God's Kingdom and has a new citizenship that is distinct from citizenship in the world. Frances explained how true citizenship is not just the possession of a country's passport but the revelation of the country's culture to which the person belongs that is demonstrated by one's appearance, speech, behaviour, perspective etc. Likewise, as citizens of God's Kingdom, the Church is called to reveal which kingdom she belongs to and to be distinct from the culture of the world.
Making God Famous - David spoke to us about how the world's culture is influencing the Church and how we need to identify and resist worldliness. Looking at 3 areas in particular: things, people and truth, David showed us how consumerism (always wanting the newest thing instead of valuing what one has); people (following the most popular "celebrities") and truth (adopting the world's relative truth and tolerance that goes against God's absolute truth) are the ways of the world that the Church must resist if she is to be distinct from the world! David challenged us to be a people who reject worldliness and live to reveal God and His Kingdom wherever we are.
Supernatural Peace - In his message, Richard spoke to us about the nature of God's peace and how God wants His children to live in His peace as they fix their eyes on Him and trust in Him (Isaiah 26:3). Richard showed us that God's supernatural peace is not the absence of trouble (Jn 16:33), nor the absence of need (Phil 4:11-13), nor the absence of enemies (Ps 23:5). God's peace rules and reigns in the Church as the Prince of peace dwells in her. As we take hold of God's supernatural peace, we will overcome the world, the flesh and the devil until the God of peace crushes Satan under our feet (Rom 16:20)! The unstoppable zeal of the Lord will accomplish this (Isa 9:6,7)!
The Victor's Spirit - On Sunday Richard spoke to us about the four qualities of Christ's victorious spirit that dwells within each believer. In his message we saw how the victor's spirit is focused (Lk 9:31), steadfast (2 Thess 3:5), destructive (1 Jn 3:8), and completes the task entrusted to him or her (Jn 5:36). We were encouraged to realise that we have received the Spirit of Jesus - His victor's Spirit, and that the Father's zeal will help us to complete His purposes for us in our generation! Hallelujah!
We praise God that He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness, made us citizens of His Kingdom of peace and given us Christ's victor's Spirit so that we can live lives that are distinct from this world as we seek to make God known wherever we are in the power of Christ's victor's Spirit! Hallelujah!
Weekly meetings are taking a Summer break and will resume in September.
