sfgc“YOU HAVE SIGNIFICANCE OF GOD” Dear readers agin we were awed by the goodness of our God and King Jesus who graced us with His awesome presence. Its been such a humbling these last few weeks to think that the creator of everything that there is and that has been created or spoken into existence would care to manifest His presence in our humble little building. I had the great privilege of sharing what I think is lacking in our day and in our churches by and large. People are told and there are many teaching on how to get this or that from God and how to be and don’t get me wrong I think we should. But my challenge is that there just foes not seem to be enough teaching on the significance of the believer as described by the Bible and by the Lord God Himself. When a person who lives or comes to Christ like I came from a third world background its easy to come to church in North America and start to chase down all these wonderful possibilities we hear preached. But the best thing that ever happened to me was coming to just discover what the Bible says about who I am and Whose I am and What I have in Christ. That has changed my course in this life and caused me to walk in a more confident and positive as well as productive way in this life. As I read through the book of Ephesians and tried to understand what the Apostle Paul was trying to get them to begin see and begin to walk out in their lives. I saw it in my own life as I searched the scriptures from Ephesians 1:1-3 I found such freedom in knowing I am significant in the eyes of the one person who knows me the Bible says while I was in my mothers womb. Paul the Apostle to the church in the book of Ephesians 1:1-3 It opens with a call to the “SAINTS” which is the word ” HAGIOS” = Holy. So often when we think of the word SAINT we think of someone who died and not someone who is still alive.
WEEKLY WALK IN THE WORD
Hey everyone its that time of the week again when thoughts become words and words become sign posts or directional signs pointing us to places that have been there just that we have not traveled there personally. So here goes as we have taken the time over the last several weeks to cover the storms of life that sometimes come to beat down on us as we walk this planet. Its not a matter of if the storms come but rather its a matter of when they come how we respond will determine how we come out on top or in the deep. Acts 27 has been our scripture for reference and has served us a place to to start every week for the last four weeks and we begin again this week. We covered how that when the Apostle Paul was been transported from one port to another one of the most violent storms had crept up on their boat and started to beat down upon it. We looked at how the Apostle Paul was able to stay calm in what must have been a time of great chaos as witnessed over the last few weeks that the sailors had started to throw things out of the boat. The reason for throwing things out of the boat was that they realized they had lost control of the boat and that they needed to do something real soon if they were going to save the boat and the lives on board. What they did not bank on was that on board was a man with a very personal relationship with a Holy God and who could hear from God no matter how loud the storm was screaming. We see that the last thing they threw overboard was the four anchors in the hope of the anchors dragging the bottom of the sea and coming to a stop. I have likened these four natural iron anchors to four spiritual anchors that every child of God has available to them when things get out of control. The first week we covered the first one as the Anchor of Gods Presence as the rest of the crew and passengers on board were fearing for their lives the Apostle Paul had a visitation. He had a personal visit from the angel of the Lord God whom he belonged to and whom he served. The second anchor we covered was the anchor Knowing God and the comfort that the Apostle enjoyed in the midst of the storm because he knew the Lord. The third anchor we covered was the WORD of the Lord in the storm that the Apostle Paul was able to hold on to during that trying time. When as a child of God we are faced with challenges and trials that come to take us out the HOPE for all our HOPELESS situations is to know the Word God has given us. There is nothing like having a prevailing Word from God when the enemy of our souls comes to do what he like to do best and that is to rob, steal and kill, knowing we have an answer is so refreshing. Lastly the fourth anchor that every child of God has when storms of life come is that of the WILL of God always comes to pass. The owners of the boat were chartered to take the Apostle Paul to stand trial but even though that was what the authorities had as their plan God had His own plan. And that plan included the ship they were travelling in would run aground on an island that God needed to come to the knowledge of who the true God is. When they landed on the island the natives wanted to care for them and started to collect wood to make a fire to warm them who had been in the water for awhile. Apostle Paul was one who also went about collecting the wood and a serpent locked its mouth around his hand and the natives thought surely he was going to die. But we read that the Apostle Paul just shook the serpent off and that caused the natives to really see that there was a greater power at work in the Apostle Paul life. As a result they took him to the chief of the tribe and he prayed for the chief and the Lord healed him and the whole island came under the power and rule of the Lord Jesus. So we can see that no matter what we going through there is always the plan of God that will have its cause and we should take courage that nothing can happen to us that the Lord will not know about. Every step of the righteous is ordered by the Lord and the Lord knows our end from the beginning its why His called the ALPHA and OMEGA. I hope you have been encouraged in some small way through these last few weeks of the WEEKLY WALK IN THE WORD. Its why I take the time to share some of my thoughts its my HOPE that some may find Hope in theses words or that some would find the HEALING they need through reading these words. Its when we look outward sometimes at other peoples storms that we get a fresh look at where we are and are better able to deal with our own personal storms. SHALOM
WEEKLY WALK IN THE WORD
Wow its hard to believe we just started this year and already Easter weekend has come and gone that can mean only one thing and that is we fast approaching the end of the first quarter of the year 2012. Seems like just yesterday people all around the world were standing on the edge of a brand new year with some trepidation not knowing what this year would bring. Many made new years resolutions and have hoped to stay true to those they made and as they must look at this first quarter closing down I wonder what must be going through their minds right now. For those of you who have been on this weekly journey together with me for the last several weeks we have taken time to look down the corridors of time at the Apostle Paul on his way to stand trial in Rome as found in Acts 27: Its here discovered no matter how trained and experienced one might be there come a time in everyones life that things can go wrong and you just do not have the answer for it. These were experienced seamen that were part of the company of soldiers paid to deliver Apostle Paul safely to Rome to stand trial before the Roman courts. Over the last couple of weeks I have stated that as the seamen were looking for ways to bring some control to their out of control situation they started to throw things overboard the ship. One such time they threw four anchors in the hope that if only one would catch the bottom of the seabed its would slow them down and perhaps keep them from being destroyed on the rocks. I shared how I felt that we too react in similar ways when things get out of our control and we start to panic we tend to look get rid of things anything that can help feel a reconnection to some semblance of control. But as I said earlier even experienced and trained people sometimes meet with that one time or could i call it the “PERFECT STORM” that seems to set on ultimately destroying your very existence. But the last two weeks we covered how as believer we have anchors that we can grab a hold to during these challenging times and be reassured that we live in Christ and nothing surprises Him. The (1) Anchor we said was the Paul had a very present Angel stand beside him in the storm and tell him not to fear but be of cheer. As believers we not only have angels on assignment to protect the believer but also we have the ever present Holy Spirit dwelling on the inside of every child of God. For every HOPELESS situation He provides HOPE. (2) The second anchor we said we have as children of the sovereign Lord God and King of our lives is that Apostle Paul had the knowledge of the Lord. And he also had the knowledge of the fact that not only was the Lord His hiding place or His helper in times of Help but that he Apostle Paul belonged to the Lord. We read in the chapter ” of whose I am and whom I serve” there was no mistaking during the storm who Paul belonged to and whose possession he was. The author of that storm would have to go through the almighty God to take His prize possession the Apostle Paul and the same has to said of those who put their trust in the Lord. This week I want to leave you to ponder the third of such like anchors given to every believer in Christ Jesus as Saviour and Lord. Third we have as privileged children of the sovereign Lord is the anchor of knowing the “WORD” of the Lord, there is nothing more satisfying than that. As the Apostle Paul stood in the midst of the perfect storm with destruction on it mind he could take courage in knowing that before they set sail he had a word from the Lord. There is nothing more empowering and more thrilling than to know when life places before you what seems to be the end of you as people would know you to be, then for you to just somehow come through it again. I have had many near death experiences and even give an expiry date for living but knowing that I have the PRESENCE of a Loving God, having the KNOWLEDGE that I am not my own anymore and that I have been bought with a price is overwhelming, and to know thatGod has set a PREVAILING WORD above me and nothing that comes my way can stop His word from prevailing. As a believer we live sometimes far blow what Jesus died for, we make His death seem so small when its loaded with so much for all believers. And the cry of my heart to our church weekly is not for those of us who have discovered this awesome life to gloat and do nothing but that all mankind should be participators of this glorious life. When God sets a word over your life its as though He has sealed it and has the only key to open that seal. Even though the ship was now off course from the original plan scheduled for Paul to stand trial before the Roman courts it now seamed after taking a beating by the storm they were now going in a different direction. Often times when storms come they have this tendency to make you feel like you are way out and off the beaten path and on the forgotten path. But we are never afar from His Love or from His help or for those who feel Hopeless we are never without Hope. As we find out in the story we have been reading for the last several weeks we are always on His mind in the bible tells us in Jeremiah 29: 11 that His thoughts towards us are to prosper and give us a HOPE and a future not to destroy us. So if you feel like you are in a storm grab hold of these anchors and assert your God given rights as a son or a daughter and rejoice.
WEEKLY WALK IN THE WORD
Greetings again my friends its a great joy as always to come to you week after week. Last week we discussed the idea of life sometimes puts us through storms. And we used the Apostle Paul’s life as described in Acts 27: and the storm he had to face in the boat that was taking him to Rome to stand trial. Last week shared how they as the stormed began to beat down on the boat they were in they began to fear for their lives and started a course of action by throwing things overboard. Its not hard to see that when a storm begins to beat down on our lives we too like the sailors who were on board with Apostle Paul, we look for anything that we think may be responsible for the situation we find ourselves in. But often times it becomes a operation of fear rather than one of knowing who you are in Christ. And this week I want to share with you as a follow up from last week that the second anchor that Paul had was the knowledge of Christ and who he was in Christ. There is nothing more calming in the middle of some of the worst storms of life that come and blow on you, as knowing you are a child of God. The first anchor we discussed last week Paul told them they should have listened to him and not leave for the destination they had set out on. Now the second anchor that the believer or the child of God can take courage is in the KNOWLEDGE of God and the character of God. We have probably heard many times over this saying “GOD IS GOOD” but we have heard it said so much that it has lost the full impact. Because we do not serve a God who has become a favourite but rather a true and living and loving God who offers to the Helpless His Helper the Holy Spirit. For the HOPELESS He offers to us the only HOPE for this dying world filled at this present time with so much turmoil. Leaders from around the nations have never had to meet so often around world issues as they have in the last several years trying to provide for a HOPE that has been so elusive to them. They sit and go for days sometimes weeks and hoping to come up with new peace initiatives and still they have not found for the turmoil a solution. Most accord of peace are never either honoured or are honoured only to be broken in a short period of time which brings them back to the table to discuss a new way to peace. I don’t what you our readers may think I would not like to sound pessimistic because this Bible we read and live by and have allowed the words to govern our every heart beat is full of situations that looked so bleak and yet at the end when all is surrendered to the Lord it all works together for our good. Our reading from Acts 27: shows yet another instance where things may getting out of our control and may cause much anxiety but its never out of His control. A life lived in Him and out of Him is never out of His control nothing that happens around us to us or even in us would surprise the Holy God we serve. Paul had a life in Christ and that guaranteed Paul peace in the most hostile situation even at the risk of loss of life and belongings. Paul had a knowledge of the God he had come to know on the road to Damacus and that knowledge prepared him for the unfortunate situation was before him. And instead of panicking and stressing out and losing his sanity PAul reminds them about his earlier warning not to leave but they listened to those who should know the seas better. Sometime even the best of us an in the areas of authority and influence that we preside can make mistakes or be lead by our training as was the case of the sailors but there is something about having the leading of the Holy Spirit. As stated last week Paul stands delivers his short exhortation and then says be of “good cheer” there will not be any loss of life.Why won’t there be any loss of life” because there stood before me this day an angel of the Lord of whose I am” knowledge whose you are is powerful. I believe its the most liberating feeling when you know that you have a father who is rich in MERCY and full of GRACE and that He will not let your foot slip. He will make all things work together for your good even those things like the financial storms perhaps a physical, or a health storm and maybe even a domestic or marriage storm, at this time that may seem painful or distasteful.( Romans 8:28)
WEEKLY WALK IN THE WORD
Its always a great joy to come to you readers week after week and to be able put out there on our website the thoughts and readings we have had in our Sunday service. I thank the Lord my God always for you as you read this every week those of you who are our regular readers and those of you who are new to our site welcome from our family of believers. This week I wanted to leave with you four sobering thoughts for those who are already believers in Jesus Christ as well as those of you who have not had the privilege of getting to know Him on a personal basis. The thought of having someone read this WEEKLY WALK and have them open up their eyes to the possibility of a life that they perhaps only dreamed of. You know there are countless people out there who have never really had the chance to even get to know this wonderful life we enjoy freely every day. When I think of the lives that are lived in misery and in total lack with no peace of mind and none in sight yet christians enjoy this privilege on a daily basis. It is why I love coming to our readers weekly and sharing this window of opportunity in the hopes of getting anyone out there to realize that they are only a call away from a brand new life. ( Jeremiah 33:3 )Its what so many people live with if only they had a second chance and we know that its possible to start over again. In this weeks scripture reference I wanted to share how the great Apostle Paul of the New Testament in the book of Acts 27:23-29 reveals to us the possibilities that exist for anyone who would get to know Jesus as Saviour and Lord. The bible says that they were about to set sail for the Apostle Paul to go and stand trial in Rome and its then that he gets a sense from His Lord and Saviour that the trip would be to their harm. But nevertheless the captain of the ship listened to the majority instead of the voice of the Lord through the man of God who was about to embark on the trip with them. As you read through this account found in the book of Acts 27: you come to find that they set out and ran into a terrible storm that threatened the lives of all on board the ship. So in an attempt to get control of the ship they started to throw stuff over board to lighten the ship. And that reminds me so much of the life we are called to live here on earth we are sometimes faced with storms that threaten to destroy everything we own and worked so hard for. These storms are masked as crisis and trying times when there is more month left than money and you find your self in a financial storm. Wondering whether the sun will ever shine on your finances ever again, or it sometimes comes in the form of a health issue. A health storm comes and you get a report from the medical doctors telling you there is no hope left and so you have to be sent home to end your days. These storms come as business storms, economic storms, relationship storms that threaten break up and destroy your marriage. But even as Apostle Paul had to sit in that boat and watch the boat being thrashed about as storms sometimes can do, they destroy they do not come help but come to bring harm. When you are in a storm and the waves lifts the boat from one side to other you will feel like you are up one minute and the next minute you are being thrown down. We too experience these emotional ups and downs as we are forced to go through the storms of our lives we feel sometime we are up and the next time we feel like we are getting dashed to the rocks and ultimately destroyed. As they continued to get a grip on things and the desperate attempt to correct things and throw things overboard they threw out four anchors. These anchors reminded me that we too have four anchors as believers that we need to hold on to when the storms of life come our way and so today I will share only the first Anchor, HIS Presence. But I found that in the case of Apostle Paul’s encounter there are lessons for us to learn, he says in Act 27:23 that and angel of the Lord stood by him in the storm. Its a privilege that Christians all around the world enjoy this privilege whether they realize it or not and some don’t realize it. They are not conscious of the presence of the Lord in every circumstance or crisis that comes their way or we should say any type of storm that comes. And that is the first lesson I see through the occasion of the life of Apostle Paul is that in his storm that was prevailing upon him he still had joy or as the King James calls it “CHEER”. SO I think that the first thing a christian should acknowledge and recognize is that they are not alone in the storm they have the presence of the Lord in the storm on the inside of them . The devil who is enemy of every human being born on this planet, you need to know that his plan is to make you and every other person feel that you are destitute and that you are on your own. And his plan is to bring you to that place that you feel so alone and separated from everyone else and that you are never going to make it through your storm. I know the feeling and can identify with those of you who are reading this and think that you are in a storm and can never survive this storm and never get up from it. As a survivor myself from many a storm financial and marriage and even of my life given not much hope of surviving cerebral malaria and yet I am here still. You know one of the funny things about writing this WEEKLY WALK is that you are unaware of where your readers are spiritually and also you never know what your readers are thinking. So I am going to go out on the limb and say that there is an idea that because we are Pastors or ministers of some local church we have never had to weather any storms much to the contrary we have had to make it through many a storm. And its why I believe we can speak with a platform of authority on certain issues because we have tasted and seen that the Lord is real. We have been the personal recipients of His faithfulness and love supplied over and over without measure. So when I go through any kind of storm or crisis I quiet myself and listen which is something in our North American context we have not been made to learn in all the teachings that have come to the church in North America this is one that needs to be learned. We are so busy here in North American church life and that somehow has become a symbol of you being spiritual or successful in ministry. The problem with that idea is that it is so far from the truth because most who are busy never get proper time to stop and recharge the proverbial christian battery. Oh the peace we enjoy who have learnt to practice the presence of the God who came and died and gave Himself for us for the very reason that we might be partakers of this peace. I feel so awed by the fact I have done nothing to deserve the calm assurance I enjoy in the middle of a storm or a crisis, I have heard someone say that we should not curse our crisis. I think it is because we have been so well trained in to thinking that this life has to a life of comfort on a bed of roses or some soft cloud and any idea that we will face some hard times is scoffed at or you are questioned whether you have sin in your life. All I know readers is that there is a peace that is available to all who will come to Jesus in faith and with coming to Jesus He will take care of the rest. In fact His word the Bible or as I like to sometimes refer to it as the HOPE manual because when I find that things look HOPELESS I quickly look into the bible and there I am reassured of the HOPE Jesus set before us because HE came to die for a HOPE that was set before Him. I should say this that HOPE we have as an anchor for the soul you find out more about that HOPE in the book of Hebrews6:17-19 let me use the Living Bible edition (17 God also bound Himself with an oath, so that those He has promised to help would be perfectly sure and never need to wonder whether He might change His plans. 18 He has given us both His promise and His oat, two things we can completely count on, for it is impossible for God to tell a lie. Now all those who flee to Him to ave them can take new courage when they hear such assurances from God; now they can know without a doubt that He will give them the salvation He has promised them. 19 This certain hope of being saved is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls, connecting us with God Himself behind the sacred curtains of heaven” )
WEEKLY WALK IN THE WORD
Mathew 2:1-12 Continuing on from our last several weeks theme of WORSHIP of God as being an integral part of the Christian life and experience. Its been such a great joy and privilege to share with the beloved in Christ for the last several weeks on this subject and see the results come alive in front of you. We hear so much around the beginning of the year talked and preached and spoken about the first fruits and their significance and sad to say that much of it is consumed by money as the emphasis. I am not saying that money is not a part of the first fruit teaching or should not be a part, much to the contrary all I’m saying is that in our teaching and preaching we need to have true balance. As pastors and teachers there is much that will be required of us in how we present and what we present and where we place all of our emphasis. I am so tired of seeing the church and especially here in North America being used as a slot machine people are being taught that if they only do this and do that they will get their hearts desire. This short exhortation I’m placing here is my small contribution to the worldwide church that is now becoming affected by this ideology. When I look at the portion of scripture before us I see a group of people who are following an inner knowing discovered by the outward sign in the skies that they should come and WORSHIP. I believe that Worship of the true and living God is a vital part of the growing of a Christian believer and today there are not enough voices pointing and showing people the way to a healthy and whole life in Christ. As I look at this group who came from the East to Jerusalem for no other reason but to Worship ( verse 2) I have to say that they were firstly intentional. I believe they had opportunity to turn back and return to their homes the journey was one that came from far and not from around the corner. And I am persuaded by careful study and reading up of the scholars of that their journey would have been a journey with possible dangers yet they came and were not distracted. True and real honest Worship will make you leave the comfort of your home to go somewhere to meet the object of your Worship as was the case of our group we find in this portion of scripture. Who knows what inner turmoil and personal struggle they had to endure before setting out on this journey with perhaps all the reasonable people making the case for them to think things through again. Perhaps there were those who suggested they stay for the sake of their safety and the sake of their families well being if anything bad should befall them. And as you read this I am sure there are those of us who can say yes man thats exactly what I have had to go through every time I make a conscious choice to get up and go and Worship the true and living God. This God who is offering His love upon a creation of His who at times have rejected His love and this God who promised all who come to Him in repentance He would provide a Hope and way out of the Hopeless situations and circumstance that stand before us. True Worship made them bring their wealth with them and not leave it at home, about right now you wondering about my earlier comments I made about the pre-occupation some minister have with money in teaching about first fruits. There is no confusion or contradiction but rather this portion shows us they came to Worship without anyone pressuring them and they gave their wealth not asking for or expecting anything in return as is the case in so many churches today. We are told to give and we are told its all a part of our worship and that the Lord will give it back to us, I am all for encouraging believers to faithful in their giving but not in favour of taking advantage of believers. Its here that so many Idols are being set up by our church leaders unsuspectingly when we ask people to give and they can expect a return and harvest people become consumed by that thought and literally worship there. After all what is the definition of worship is it not the revering of something and the pre-occupation with and the time given to something other than God who gives us liberally. There should be no doubt in the minds of any believer that God our mighty God is the biggest giver and He does not need to coaxed to give a return of what we have given. For His nature and character have reflected that attribute for millennia and to suggest or to promote the idea of giving money is going to get God to give back to us is absurd God does what He does for us because He loves us and there is nothing you and I can do about it. People begin to grow with a deformed spiritual slant when they do not have their return come as quickly as they had hoped for, spending an endless about energy on this expectation that what they heard has to happen and rest of their christian life is put on hold. Some even develop an unhealthy idea of the loving God who wants to bless them for a very different reason not the reason they have been made to receive from well wishers. There is a lie that has been perpetrated and continues to go on unabated and that is,God is in competition with all the other gods for our attention and if He our God almighty were to just give us what we want when we want it He will have a faithful people. That my friends is the wave of Consumer christianity that is pervasive in our North American church culture adopted from our secular consumer mentality, and the sad thing it seems to be getting exported from North America to unsuspecting churches all around the globe either by ignorance or through volition. Now back to my point at hand the Worship of the supreme and mighty God we serve is something we too could learn a lesson from these who came from the East to Jerusalem our Worship should be INTENTIONAl because He first Loved us. Worship should be something we set our hearts on and when we ponder all that the Lord God has done for us there should be a response to it. Not something that is going to happen through some kind of mysterious event or through osmosis it just gradually happened to me look and learn its why we have the scriptures for them to teach us. Second thing about this group of people that came from the East as stated earlier nobody was forcing them to travel across what some say was hundreds of miles to come and Worship. Their Worship was if I can call it Volitional Worship it was done as an act of their wills they engaged their wills to come to Jerusalem to Worship their Christ child. I do not see in this portion of scripture anywhere that they were made to bring their Treasure as it says in ( verse 2) I would think that is what our worship of the Lord God almighty should be. Singing in church does not necessarily constitute a worship time although it may enhance a time and lead to a great time of Worship. Anyone can sing christian or gospel songs and not having any connection the real issue of Worship. This world is full of great singers saved and unsaved who for the dollars that can be made from the sales of their albums become rich overnight. Over the last several years the Gospel music industry has become an area of much attention because it provides a large audience to sell products to so no doubt it has unbelievers singing Gospel in hope of cashing in. Its like we do not pray for the sake of praying but rather we pray because we have a relationship with the one we are praying to. Otherwise prayer just becomes an excersise in legalism and a one way street, that does not necessary constitute prayer. The object of prayer should always be as with Worship the Lord God almighty and strong and the joy of knowing and the pleasure of speaking with and listening to Him speak back to us. We should not do things for the sake of doing because thats what is done in churches every sunday and every time they gather, rather we should sing, and pray every prayer, and listen to every sermon, and every good deed everyday and every breath we breathe should be an act of true WORSHIP. Intentional and meditated and designed to glorify our HEAVENLY FATHER. ( John 4:23-24
WEEKLY WALK IN THE WORD
Hey guys the one day of the week when I really look forward to be on the internet is the day I can load up the new Weekly Walk in the Word. The internet is such a great help and source of great information and then there are times when there is nothing but rubbish from some places and you wonder why did I even go there. Hopefully my regular weekly updates provide you with at least one place on the internet where you can go and find something worth reading. We have for the last several weeks we have been walking our church through some basic christian stuff and what makes for a healthy life in the kingdom. Yes we have continued on from where we left off last week with the topic of worship for this is one of the foundational areas that needs to spoken of and visited regularly. We were in the book of Deuteronomy 26:1-11 so much there for us to learn and be improved by the example those gone before have left for us to follow. Worship as I said before is not a sunday morning thing as we would like to believe but rather its a lifestyle for every believer to enjoy and live and walk. As we covered in one of our earlier lessons worship is an action as observed by Abraham in the book of Genesis 22 taking Isaac to be offered up. One thing that has become very clear to me is that worship always involves sacrifice and the church in North America today seems to have lost the meaning of the word SACRIFICE. Worship also has to do with our approach to God for where He has brought us from. There seems to be a bit of confusion about what praise is and what worship is, but allow me to offer a simple definition of PRAISE is the obsession of the souls with its blessings and PRAYER is the obsession of the soul with its needs. And worship is the obsession of the soul with God Himself worship is not focused on itself and needs or on its blessings.
Worshippers Appreciation: 5-8 We come to Him in appreciation for His Redemption.
WEEKLY WALK IN THE WORD
Thank you again to all our regular readers my prayer and desire is that you and your families are experiencing such a touch from the Lord Jesus at this time. Our church and services every sunday has become once again the place where God finds pleasure in showing up and making Himself known to those who want to get to know Him. I want take this time to share with you some brief thoughts we have had the opportunity to share together and then watch the hand of our God. This week I felt led to share with our church from the gospel of John 4:20-30 a favourite portion of scripture for me. I have shared this same portion of scripture sometime ago and had a totally different viewpoint about the lady in the scripture text. To me one of the fundamental components of a healthy christian life is WORSHIP a christian without a personal Worship life says to something is wrong. For most of us who are in Spirit filled and Spirit led churches its been easy for us to assume that to have a time of singing and dancing as well as preaching is to have been in WORSHIP. While these excercises may contribute and motivate us to Worship they are not in and of themselves Worship. There very few places in scripture where we actually find the scripture saying that the Lord is seeking in fact in the New Testament there are two places. Here in this portion we covered as our text for the day and it can be found in the story of Zacheus( Luke 19:10 ) where the scripture says that Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. So if you are reading our WEEKLY WALK today and you do not know our Lord and Saviour Jesus I have news for you He still seeks those that are lost without Him. Especially to those who are feeling completely hopeless about their situation there is only one true and lasting hope and that can be found nowhere else but Jesus the Christ. In trying to understand the whole concept of Worship you have to look at the definition as it is found in the New Testament its the Greek word “proskuneo” and literally means “to kiss toward”. It was also used in the sense of “bowing down, or prostrating oneself” as one would bow down before someone in authority. The english word comes from the word, “weorthscipe” it refers to giving someone worth, and when we think about God we are ascribing worth to the Lord of Glory. recognizing that He is vastly superior and we His people humble ourselves before Him and give Him glory due Him. Someone described Worship as; the submission of all of our nature to God, ad to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God.
1. Worship is the overflow of a heart that is filled with gratitude to a the Lord Jesus for all He has done for and continues to do for us.
2. Worship is the outpouring of a soul at rest in the presence of God, the believer has come to realize in Jesus, God sees him as sanctified.
3.Woorship is the occupation the heart and not with its needs, or even with its blessings, but with God Himself.
4. Worship is the up spring of a heart that has known the father as a giver, the Son as Saviour and the Holy Spirit as indwelling guest.
In closing I read this description that I think is worth mentioning here and it will help us all to understand Worship better than we have in the past. In the book of Ecclesiastes 1:7 says that, “All rivers run into the sea yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence it came they return again”. Solomon explains in this verse the Hydrological cycle, that water comes down from the sky in the form of rain,snow and ice. This water fills the rivers and they flow down to the seas, then the water is evaporated by the sun and goes back into the clouds. Then it dropped back down on the earth once more and the cycle continues.
Our Worship operates the same way the Holy Spirit on the inside who was sent from heaven to our hearts, bubbles up and fills us with the wonder and glory of our God. When He does this the praise in our hearts flows out and is offered up to God in the form of Worship and goes back to the source. Thus all true Worship begins with God and flows through us and ascends back to God. It what we can call the Divine Cycle. So in my final word keep the Divine Cycle in operation and make sure you live a life that speaks of your Worship to God.
WEEKLY WALK IN THE WORD
Once again its my joy to be able to report or should I say pronounce and announce the good news that our Lord and Saviour Jesus lives. This sunday gone was an awesome time in the presence of the Lord we had God time in His presence and the results continue to come in from sunday service. We had first been led into this incredible time of worship by our worship team who had been praying during the week for a special visitation from the Lord and it happened just as they had prayed. The worship all I can say to our readers is that it was nothing short of heavenly as people poured out their all to the Lord. Then right in middle of the service and during that time of worship the Lord had spoken to my heart to turn my attention to the book of Genesis 22:1-19 It was here I found a passage I had read and preached many times before but had never seen this portion of the Bible in the light that was now shining on it. The Bible says that God tested Abraham but later as you will see Abraham called his journey a time of worship he and his son was going to have. First thing about this portion of the Bible it says that the Lord specifically said take thy son your only son that you LOVE and go to a place I will show you. It seems that the Lord had said something similar to Abraham earlier in his life that he was to go where he had not been and to go to a place he did not know. ( Genesis 12:1) Its amazing how God seems to always come after the things we LOVE dearly, as if He wants to first see how serious we are about following Him and how committed we are to Him. Its to the region of Moriah that the Lord leads Abraham this same mountain region is the same region we are told by scholars that Jesus was crucified and the same hill called Mount Zion if I am correct. Obviously this area had been developed and evolved but the point is its the same REGION. God then asks of Abraham a very hard thing that he is to sacrifice his only son that he LOVES, seems harsh does it not, but that is sometimes the lengths God will bring us to bring to our attention the seriousness of serving him. He was not just to present his son there to the Lord but he was to sacrifice him as a burnt offering which will be the ultimate sacrifice to have him die and have Abraham kill his only son whom he LOVED. The thing I find in verse 3 that Abraham arose early as if he was eager to get to the business of performing this cruel task that was before him it says he prepared enough wood for the fire to burn the offering. Over in verses 4-5 Abraham identifies the place a long way off he had a chance to rethink and get out of this task but he continues on and tells his servants to stay down there at a certain place. Sometimes you just have to have a worship time that is by yourself without the crowd if you want to get the maximum out of worship. Its important you bring people into worship who are ready to worship in total abandonment and not spectators, also I find it was very interesting that it was on the third day that they went up. Also (22:6) says that Abraham took wood and placed it on his son who was the actual sacrifice and he carried the fire and the knife. Then Isaac spoke up the Bible says in (22:7) we need to be aware that our sacrifice will speak to us, especially if it is a very important sacrifice, like worship. Its not hard to come into a service where people are already in worship and you are trying to enter in and you are bombarded with thoughts of why you should not offer up praise and worship to God. The Bible said in(22:8) that Abraham says that the God will Himself provide the lamb for the burnt offering. Another thing that got my attention in this portion of scripture is how in both verses 7&8 it says that they “went on” these two words have the same Hebrew word that is found in Habakuk 1:6 its the word HALAK and in Habakuk it is used figuratively to denote a lifestyle. So can I drop my personal thought in here it seems to me that both father and son were in a walk to the place and that their walk became their lifestyle there was no fear of either one backing out now. In ( 22:9 ) Abraham came to the place where he had to bind his sacrifice, but before that he had to arrange the wood on the altar he just built all the time his son was watching his dad then came the time for hime to bind his son and him on the altar. There is a place I believe where you and I can come to in Worship that we must as it were bind ourselves in worship so we do not become distracted and the moment is lost. Binding speaks of confining or restricting or even limiting, and thats what I believe, is that we must come to the PLACE where we do not allow our faculties to become pre-occupied with anything else other than just WORSHIP. There is what I call a tipping point in WORSHIP where the worshipper must come to realize they are totally lost in the adoration of one who is magnificent and become awed by the majesty of the KING of GLORY and nothing else exists around and the person is outside of the natural realm. Thats what I see when I see Abraham lifting his knife hand to slay his son I see the tipping point where he slips out of the natural into the supernatural. Because we live in a time where we have been so numbed by the constant images shown in violent action movies and on news and media broadcasts of murders and killings it seems to have become normal. Let me say right here and now taking a life is abnormal and demonic its the fruit of the devil and satanic influence. God and God alone who creates all life is the only one who holds the power of life and death and not man. But it was the obedience of Abraham to come to Worship that brought the unseen into the seen because as you read of the account of him coming to the place there is nothing to suggest that there was a ram already there or a lamb. The only two people on that mountain was Abraham and Isaac and his resolute attitude and confession of FAITH in Jehovah , Jireh, that he was going to worship is what brought what was hidden into what was seen and revealed. Let me conclude by saying when we have that kind of tenacity in worship and go to the place I call the tipping point where we step out from the natural and worship in careless and reckless abandonment there we will find things that have been hidden from us now revealed. So what can I say about our Sunday morning service other than that we had so much happen as a result of our people in worship they reached the tipping point and the hidden things were revealed and even Salvations and restorations was present in the service. Just as Abraham found a ram in the thicket that was not there and appeared as a response to his attitude of worship so did we find this Sunday morning . I will be posting a video of what we captured of the Shekinah Glory that appeared in our service. Be sure to keep checking in our Media section under the video drop down.
SHALOM
WEEKLY WALK IN THE WORD
Greetings from the Cold North as well as the Snowy White North it was such a jolt to my system returning from an urgent call to duty in sunny South Africa. I had been asked by a close friend of mine’s wife, to be in attendance and serve at the funeral of the passing of her husband and my friend for many years in East London, South Africa. Sorry about not having had the chance to get to an internet cafe, to be able to post my usual weekly walk as I have done regularly for the last several months. Now that I have retuned I will get to the thoughts and meditations I have had the chance to share with our church family this week and hope that you too get the benefit of all that we had. As we looked into the book of Haggai 2:1-9 several issues were staring at me and became obvious to me that their history is something that e too could learn from. And I want to take this time to share them with you our regular readers how that things that have passed on in the life of Gods people years ago are happening even now in the present day church. The background to the scripture portion in our text is that there remained some of the children of Israel alive that had seen the Temple built by King Solomon. And the prophet had asked this question of them is there any of you who remains that saw the first temple. They were asked if the present temple looked anything like the old one that Solomon had built. It was in 586 B.C. you see this temple had been destroyed by the Babylonians and the children of Israel taken captive but after period of time they were allowed to return. So several of them after 50 years had started to return to their homeland and were asked to help in the rebuilding of the temple. And they did just that they started to work on trying to restore the temple and after a short time they stopped with the rebuilding and the temple remained that way for about 16 years, then the Lord raised up the prophet Haggai. This is the same prophet that prophesied earlier about the coming destruction and the rebuilding in the year 520 B.C. and now it was 66 years later 586 B.C. It seems they responded positively to the man of God to join in the rebuilding but after only a month they stopped the work of rebuilding.They became discouraged and mainly DISAPPOINTED by what they saw before them especially for those who could remember the first temple. As I live out my life for Christ in the work of the Lord there are all around us men and woman have become discouraged and at the point of DISAPPOINTMENT. Let me ask a question of you who will take time to read this WEEKLY WALK IN THE WORD do you ever get discouraged or DISAPPOINTMENT. As I look at this portion of scripture its not hard to see how they had become overwhelmed by these two terrible twins. And if you are today under a cloud sent by these two terrible twins I hope you too as did these children of Israel receive encouragement for their discouragement and for their disappointment an appointment with God. To everything that happens to us as believers there are always root causes and these two terrible twins are no accept ion there should be a root cause for your situation as there was with them. I believe with all my heart their root cause for their attack by these two terrible twins called Discouragement and Disappointment was their memory. Did you know that memory can be a Blessing as well as a Curse depending on how you handle the memories especially of past things. I believe what has happened to us in the past whether good or bad needs to be handle with a God kind of response and not just carnal reaction as is the case so many times. Your past memories of pain and dysfunction can become the fuel you will need to power you into the next level that awaits you and the past mess can become your message. Its all about perspective the enemy of your soul and of future productivity would love for you to throw your hands up int he air and quit, but winners never quit and quitters will never win. So the first thing they had to was to let go of those memories of the past that they had clinging to them tightly. The danger of the memories of the bad and good things from your past is that they have the power to keep you living in the past and the very reason its called the past is because its something that past. So can I encourage you as the prophet Haggai challenged the people and the children of Israel to LET GO of the past so you can free yourself to take hold of your present.
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