Prayer.

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Today, church was just wonderful. Apart from the sermon on prayer the worship band today turned a chart song into a Christian song. It was great! 🙂 So today, we talked about prayer.

Luke 11:
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
He said to them, “When you pray, say:
“Our Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”

That’s the first time they asked him to teach them anything. So he taught them the Lords prayer.
We concentrated a bit on “Our Father…”, the first two words of the prayer. We share inheritance with our Father.

Prayer is, A personal Connection.
In the midst of prayer, is a throne. This is a place of having a Kingdom connection where God is in the throne.

‘Holy holy is the Lord God almighty.’
We stand in the presence of the King of Kings.

Prayer is, worship.
God has so many names, important names.
Tisdenu – Our righteousness
Shalom – Peace
Rophe – God who heals.
Jireh – provider.

Whether I spelled those right, I don’t know. But you get the idea.

They Kingdom come means thy Kingdom has come, is here and will come.
Acts 2:
“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled the spirit enabled them.”

Every 25 minuets 3,000 people go to the Kingdom of God. The kingdom has come. Gods will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

No one is written off in prayer. No one. We need to learn to forgive. Fully and freely. We are asking for illumination and light so we can stand clearly. We need the fathers help.

The Kingdom of God is the children’s…

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Today at church one of my friends was leading worship. As you know by now, I love the worship there and she was just super duper! 

Today we were talking about the children in the church. How church is a safe place for them but also a place where others must be a good example to them. To teach them what is right. 

Mark 10: 13-16

‘One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”  Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.’ 

There are two ways of understanding this. Firstly, we should become child-like to enter the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of God is the children’s. 

Mark 9:37

‘Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me.’ 

But why? Why should we be welcoming to the children? 
Here, there are many reasons… Children see their parents. They copy their parents because that is who they trust most. Also, Children being with other families like their own, tactile relationships at an early age, provision of a place to be open to spiritual influences. 

How do we do this? 
Enable the children to come. Again, referring to Mark 9:37. If we can’t welcome children we are going to have a hard time welcoming God. 
Observe the children. Luke 10:21 ‘At that same time Jesus was filled with the jot of the Holy Spirit, and he said, “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes Father, it pleased you to do it this way.’ We learn from the children. 
Lead by example. Demonstrate to them how to worship. Teach them what it is like to let the living water flow. That is what the father is seeking. God is not out there. He’s right here. 

We must also learn from them 🙂 

 

New Hope – Who is this Jesus?

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Last night at New Hope we talked about Who Is This Jesus? So, lets see if I can make sense here…

Rituals or religion won’t make you know God.
1. Measure Jesus by God’s WORD, not mans.
Knowing Gods word is about knowing who God is.

“Now these (Bereans) were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the Word with much eagerness examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11)

To do this we should have daily devotions and journaling.

It is the process of knowing Jesus and becoming like him. You will become more like him when you sit and reflect on what you read. That is when it changes you. If you reflect , there is no going back. Reflection can change us. Feed yourself with the Word, becoming faithful and teachable to God.

2. Ask Jesus to reveal himself to you.
“If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching whether (or not) it is of God” (John 7:17)
Be sure to keep an open heart. Jesus will reveal himself but you have to ask.
“He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me, and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and disclose Myself to him” (John 14:21)
Revelation comes only to those who obey.

If you have a closed heart you won’t have that revelation. He will show you who he is. His very being and heart. You will know who Jesus is.
If we keep His commandments, he will reveal Himself. How? reading His word and being obedient.

3. Respond to Jesus.

He calls us to respond but not everybody does. He wants to reveal Himself. Most of us don’t want to because we know we have to commit.
Do we know everything about Jesus? No. But God does. He knows all the unanswered questions. Some we might only know in heaven. The bible tells us everything we NEED to know to be able to live like Jesus. It is all in His word.
God is a Just judge. He has created us in His image and He has created Heaven for us. He didn’t create Hell for humans. Hell is for fallen angels. It is not Gods will for us to go to Hell.

God needs to be accurate and Just. He holds the universe together with his Word. When God tells us how to live its not because He is a party pooper, its because He is precise and He knows what is best for us.

“And answering Jesus they said, ‘We don’t know.’ He also said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things'” (Matt. 21:27)
In other words, “If I cannot be accountable to the truths I already know, why should He reveal to me truths that I don’t yet know?”

God will not respond to you if you choose not to respond to Him. We need to choose to commit to Him. Instead of getting to know Jesus we compare ourselves to people. We need to compare ourselves to Jesus!
In mans eyes, we think our actions are better than others. Then, you will create your own little world. It’s not true.

“But when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding” (2 Cor. 10:12)
To get to know Jesus is our goal.
Jesus takes us how we are, and changes us.
It will help us to understand who God is. We will value people like he does, not look down on them.

“Behold, now is the acceptable time, behold now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2)
If you think your worthless, its a lie. Also, we’re not better than others.
We have to develop our relationship with Jesus and our life should be reflecting Him.
Ask yourself, do you know Him well? or are you comparing yourself to others? Lets avoid that and feed on His word.

What Does DNA Mean?

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Every family has its own DNA.
Hebrews 2:10-18:

“In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.  For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason he had to be made like them,  fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.  Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

There’s nothing that you have gone through that Jesus has not felt and crucified on the cross.
He did it for people like us. He has no favorites . He value’s each and every one of us.
He did it to help us. So now when faced with temptations we can make Godly decisions.
He did it to help us become family. His family. Citizens of Gods Kingdom. You and I are His family.

At New Hope our purpose is to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ in such a way that turns non Christians into converts, converts into disciples, and disciples into mature, fruitful leaders who will in turn go into the world and reach the others for Christ.

9 core values:
1. we believe that every person, Christian and non Christian alike, is valuable to God and to his Kingdom.

Because people are eternally valuable to god, they are to us as well. Responsible evangelism will always be our cause and ongoing discipleship will always be the core of the ministry.

2.We believe that “doing church as a team” is Gods design for effective ministry.
3. we believe that a simple presentation of Jesus christ in creative ways will impact and transform lives.
4. In keeping with the great commandment ,we believe every member should commit to a life style of consist ant spiritual growth with honest accountability.
5. We believe that every member is a minister who has been given gifts to be discovered, developed and deployed.
6. We believe that God is worthy of our very best.
7. We believe that genuine love and caring relationships are key to the life of every endeavor.
8. we believe that the most effective evangelism happens through people inviting people.
9. We believe in identifying and training emerging leaders who are fully committed to christ and who will reach their generation with the Gospel.

Mathew 18:14:

“Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.”

Mathew 25: 40-45:

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.”

we should be doing for one another what Jesus would do for us

2 Peter 3:9
“ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

God is waiting for you to do what he has asked you to do . that’s why he hasn’t come back yet because we still have purpose in this world. We are here, representing Him. He doesn’t want anyone lost. But the will not be found unless all of us are committed so we can reach our generation. its an amazing privilege that we get to share life with them and share the gospel with everyone. Love everyone with the love of christ. Don’t write them off. He is giving us space and time to change.

We are his family. We have his DNA and are carrying his presence with us. We should value everyone. God is holding things back so we can learn. we need to be fully committed so we can reach this generation and value everyone like He values us.

Choose Life.

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First of all, I apologise for not blogging the last couple of days. I don’t actually know why… but I’m back!:-)

Last night at New Hope we had a guest speaker who was originally for Africa I think. We continued the series on Trust and how we need to trust God with our lives and choose life.

Love the Lord your God. Obey Him and remain faithful to him. Fear the Lord your God and worship Him. You may wonder what you want. Why are you here?
Because God brought you here. The simple and complicated things have all brought you here. You are here not by default but because He has a destiny for your life. He brought you here for Him.

In our generation people think about what something gives them. They want to do things only for themselves. There is a lot of selfishness. They are in there own little bubble. We need to come out of our shell and realise it is all for God not for us. We are brought here for a purpose by the Creator.

This is what God has done for us. This is where we are. Choose today who you shall serve. God wants you to choose life. It is God who chose you. It is God who called us.

Genesis 12 vs 1 “The Lord said to Abraham, ‘Leave your native country, your relatives, and your fathers family, and go to the land that I will show you.'” his is a calling that God put upon his heart. He didn’t know where he was going to end up but he still went. Sometimes you know who you are in God but you want to do things with your own strength. Your missing out. God has a purpose.

Maybe you don’t understand the power of God in your life or what he has done for you. We must trust God. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. We must have faith. God is able to deliver us. God cares for you and is able to reach out to you.

Why would God be so interested in us? Why bother with us? Because He loves us! For God so loved the world. He came to save the world. In the small things in life, He is interested. That is the God we serve. Nothing is too big for Him. He looks upon us and says “I love you.”

How do you choose life?

1. Choose to love the Lord your God.
2. Walk in His ways.
3. Keep His commands.

We have His Word to guide us.

Empty Words.

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Yesterday I was reading and again I wanted to share something with you. Towards the end of the chapter Lisa Bevere was talking about empty words. Words that have no real power to bring the change in you, but they do have to power to deceive you. No matter how nice empty words may sound, ultimately they will not lead you to life. Some of these examples of empty words you may have heard: 

“It’s okay… we’re all in the growth process.”
“God knows your heart.”
“No ones perfect.”
“Everyone else is doing it.”
“Your doing better than most.”

They are words of compromise, and even though they may be true, they are not living words of truth. Truth inspires us to change, to leave behind our ways and strive to rise higher to God perspective. His way of thinking is totally different than the way we process things. Empty words only encourage us to stay the same by offering excuses for our behavior in relation to our present cultural standards. But we are no longer in relationship with our culture; we are in relationship with God.

Christians are called to encourage one another. This means we bring courage to each other by speaking the promises of God. To answer these empty words, we have Gods counsel:

Its okay… we’re all in the growth process. Are we in the process? yes! But our destination is not the process; it is transformation, and we are promised that He who began a good work will carry it out until completion (Phil. 1:6).

God knows your heart. Out of the overflow of your heart, your mouth will speak. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil stored up in him (Matt.12:34-35). What you say reveals your heart.

No ones perfect. Be perfect, therefore as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matt 5:48) Ouch! Even though the righteous man falls seven times, he still gets up (Prov. 24:16).

Everyone else is doing it. I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking (Eph. 4:17;18).

Your doing better than most. We should not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves , they are not wise (2 Cor. 10:12-13). Who wants to be stupid when we can be wise? Stop looking at others, and look at the perfect law of liberty!

I just wanted to share that with you. God and his Word are truth:)

 

Jehovah Mekoddishkem.

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Exodus 31
Is about two men and the way that God called them and what he asked them to do.
The second half is about the Sabbath day and keeping them holy.

key verse; “I am the lord who makes you holy!”
What do you think about when you read that phrase?   he makes us pure?
Everything about Him is awesomely pure.
We call him the Holy Spirit because he is pure through and through.

A meaning of holy is to be set apart. Take communion plates, they have been set apart for a particular purpose.
If you take God as our saviour He has set you apart for a particular purpose.
we belong to Jesus and he has set us apart for a purpose.

1. Jehovah Mekoddishkem He who makes us ‘fit for purpose’
It is important to be a family member. It is vital that you are a child of God.

Verse 2: “see I have chosen bezalel on of uri, the son of hur of the tribe of Judah.”
Verse 6: “Moreover I have appointed Oholiab eon of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan”

None of us are worthy to go into the door of the family home except through Him.
Because of what Jesus has done for us invites us in. If you are going to serve him think, are you a family member? If your going going to be holy and set apart you need to be part of the family .

2. Filled with the spirit.
verse 3: “And I have filled him with the spirit of God.”
why? because if we are going to serve God we need Gods equipment to do the job.

Do you need the anointing? why was God so effective? because he was the son of God? wrong.
Its because He knew the anointing of the holy spirit. We are going to be effective with the holy spirit.

3. Faithful to the Word.

Verse 14: “Observe the Sabbath”
verse 18: “When the lord finished speaking to moses on mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.”

He was saying, he is faithful to the whole word of God. there is a faithfulness to the word of God.
The bits that we like, don’t like, understand and don’t understand, We are called to be faithful to the words that he has given to us. 
Even when you see the wall of glass we still have to be faithful to the calling that God has given us. When we are faithful in the little things, he takes us on to the bigger things.

God does everything in one way. god always works by the word of the spirit. creation, redemption, everything is by the word of the spirit.

Praise god for Jehovah mekkadishken.

p.s hope that made at least some sense:D

10 Ways to Love.

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1. Listen without interrupting (Proverbs 18)
2. Speak without accusing (James 1:19)
3. Give without sparing (Proverbs 21:26)
4. Pray without ceasing (Colossians 1:19)
5. Answer without arguing (Proverbs 17:1)
6. Share without pretending (Ephesians 4:15)
7. Enjoy without complaint (Philippians 2:14)
8. Trust without wavering (Corinthians 13:7)
9. Forgive without punishing (Colossians 3:17)
10. Promise without forgetting (Proverbs 13:12)

Are You Satisfied With Where Your At?

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Or do you want more? we’re not satisfied with the drip. we want the river to flow.

how do we move on from the drip drip drip to the river of God flowing? church’s are flowing but then it returns to dripping. why aren’t our churches like the ones in the Old Testament? if your tap isn’t flowing properly its because there is a blockage. This means there is a blockage in our life. Things like:
1. disobeidience
2. unforgivness
3. unbelief

We compromise the word of God. we’re either following it or not. There isn’t a middle ground. But now we are letting the government make decisions. we are caging up the word of God but it needs to be released. The word is powerful. We contain it in our heads but we don’t work it out in our lives.

Its not always easy to obey the word of God. We struggle to obey. but if we really want God to move in power like in the old testament, if we really want it then we have to follow him and spend time with him every day. When we gave our lives to God we were saying that we are choosing to obey him no matter what it costs. Obeying the word is more important than what we think and want. If you want to be in a place where we obey God we need to surrender.

If you don’t forgive others trespasses then God won’t forgive yours but if you forgive theirs, God will forgive yours. sometimes its very hard to forgive. We have the power to let go of bitterness and anger. If you don’t then technically your saying God is less important with what he’s saying then what you think. if we want to move from being a trickle into the flowing river we need to forgive.

Its not that we don’t believe in God. It’s that we don’t believe God can work through us. We don’t allow God to demonstrate his power through us. How do we get from a can’t do attitude to a can do attitude?

Mathew chapter 25 verse 23;

“H

is lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord”

If you be faithful with the little things God will move you on to the bigger things. Anna from the bible was faithful with the little things. God had given Anna a new calling at 84 years old to be an evangelist .

Are you prepared to get rid of the blockages to move on to what God has for us? Let’s be people who stand out, who obey God no matter what, let’s see the river of God flow through our lives and the nation. Amen.

Are You Satisfied With Where Your At?

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Or do you want more? we’re not satisfied with the drip. we want the river to flow.

how do we move on from the drip drip drip to the river of God flowing? church’s are flowing but then it returns to dripping. why aren’t our churches like the ones in the Old Testament? if your tap isn’t flowing properly its because there is a blockage. This means there is a blockage in our life. Things like:
1. disobeidience
2. unforgivness
3. unbelief

We compromise the word of God. we’re either following it or not. There isn’t a middle ground. But now we are letting the government make decisions. we are caging up the word of God but it needs to be released. The word is powerful. We contain it in our heads but we don’t work it out in our lives.

Its not always easy to obey the word of God. We struggle to obey. but if we really want God to move in power like in the old testament, if we really want it then we have to follow him and spend time with him every day. When we gave our lives to God we were saying that we are choosing to obey him no matter what it costs. Obeying the word is more important than what we think and want. If you want to be in a place where we obey God we need to surrender.

If you don’t forgive others trespasses then God won’t forgive yours but if you forgive theirs, God will forgive yours. sometimes its very hard to forgive. We have the power to let go of bitterness and anger. If you don’t then technically your saying God is less important with what he’s saying then what you think. if we want to move from being a trickle into the flowing river we need to forgive.

Its not that we don’t believe in God. It’s that we don’t believe God can work through us. We don’t allow God to demonstrate his power through us. How do we get from a can’t do attitude to a can do attitude?

Mathew chapter 25 verse 23;

“H

is lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord”

If you be faithful with the little things God will move you on to the bigger things. Anna from the bible was faithful with the little things. God had given Anna a new calling at 84 years old to be an evangelist .

Are you prepared to get rid of the blockages to move on to what God has for us? Let’s be people who stand out, who obey God no matter what, let’s see the river of God flow through our lives and the nation. Amen.