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It is so much easier to kick a loose brick around than a solid wall! Recently I shared about enemy’s plans to stop you from growing up and maturing as a Christian (see below the sermon ‘Whose vision are you following’? One thing was clear to us that Satan does not want you reading your bible because according to John 8:31-32 if we continue in his word, we are true disciples, and we shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set us fire. Satan wants to starve you as a Christian baby, so that you will shrivel and wither in your souls and spirits. As well as attacking your bible reading, Satan attacks other vital areas in your Christian life. The area in question, this morning is your attendance at the meetings, sadly many Christians have also been deceived in this area; so what is Satan’s strategy? What is so dangerous to him/his kingdom of darkness about your regular attendance at the church meetings? I would like to ask you a question; What ministry or things do you receive at your church meetings? You probably get led in praise and worship, ministry of word, built up by gifts of Holy Spirit, and may receive a personal word from Lord. You should receive, building up, encouragement, exhortation, rebuking, correcting, communion, and hear prayer. What ministry do you give to your local body? Thanksgiving, praise, and worship, giving financially to the Lord and the Lord’s work, operating in gifts of spirit, particularly in the verbal gifts of spirit. Hopefully, you are being helped to develop your own ministry. Already we can see that each time we miss out on a meeting, a whole lot of opportunities to give and receive ministry that brings glory to God are lost. Make no mistake each time the evil one persuades you or me to miss the meeting or to only be an occasional attender, he knows exactly just how dangerous your regular committed attendance at the meetings is to him and to his influence in our lives. Let us look at why the devil specifically does not want you to attend fellowship meetings in a regular committed way. Please note that this is not a condemnation sermon since almost all of us for different reasons cannot be at every meeting. Different reasons such as babysitting, work commitments, special family commitments etc. can prevent our attendance at a given meeting. This message is not against any legitimate reason that you allow but is against the suggestion of enemy that you do not need or want to be committed to attend on a regular basis. So here are just a few reasons not to come regularly to the meetings: 1. All the reasons above we gave when we looked at ministry given and received. 2. Satan does not want you to hear God’s word (John 8:32-33). 3. Satan does not want you participating in corporate prayer. 4. Ephesians 2:19-22: as a part of God’s own family we are being built and fitted together, as a dwelling place for God in the Spirit. How can we attend together if absent (1 Peter 2:4-5)? You and I are living stones chosen, set apart by God himself. He is building us together into a spiritual house. But we are living stones with rough edges, those areas of our lives and attitudes where there can give friction when the lively stones rub together. Let me give you an example; a brother at another fellowship used to charge around before meetings and shout ‘out my way’ when asked he said “sorry, I get worked up to have sound system working”. God tells him, relax, trust in him, be polite but tells you to appreciate such ministries because they are there to bless you. We might say Lord deal with this sister’s slowness. The Lord says OK, but I will deal with your impatience too! Amen Fellowship life is God’s way of polishing and smoothing the living stones. God gathers his living stones into his building site i.e. our church meetings and smooths us down gradually and cements us together by His Love. Amen. The devil wants you to be a loose brick, rough unpolished with your life and attitudes not dealt with. It is so much easier to kick a loose brick around than a solid wall! Where does this idea come from Just because you are a Christian does mean that have to go to church? You guessed right-the enemy. The man who led me to Lord I asked him; Do I need to go to church? He looked straight in the eye and said, Yes, there is no other way! Do not be deceived any longer, God does not place solo artists in his church. Jesus Christ is building a family. Jesus Christ is building an army. Your basic training will mainly be at meetings of fellowship. Hebrews 10:23-25 Verse 23; Be steady, for Jesus is faithful. Verse 24; Provoke each other to good deeds! Set an example to our church family in every area of life. Verse 25; do not forsake the meetings (some are already deceived) but encourage each other as day approaches by saying I hope to see you at the meeting. Be a true friend, by encouraging each other to attend, always be watching out for each other’s welfare. Amen. Do not be deceived by enemy’s lies. 1. You are too tired; Meetings will refresh you. Put on the garment, praise for Spirit of Heaviness. Is the job that God blessed you with making you too tired to come and thank him for it? This does not sound right. 2. You are too busy to make time for God. You and I were created for his pleasure. What ‘idols’ have taken first place in your life above him in sense of materialism? Priorities out of order, doing unnecessary things to keep up with Joneses? So busy all week, no time for God? 3. You do not need to be a regular attender at church. Do not be a loose brick, you need to be built into a solid wall. Conclusion The Lord wants you by freewill choice to be a regular committed attender at local church meetings. His purpose is for you to grow in maturity, that you can be built into the body, developing your ministry and eventually to fulfil all your God-given destiny. The enemy wants to deceive you into not attending the church meetings, into not growing or getting your life dealt with, resulting in you having no ministry and thus unfulfilled destiny. Prayer Challenge # Repent if necessary # Renew your commitment to attend regularly and admit, we need to build attend into our lives. # In a spirit of humility agree to share this word with those absent. Encourage them not to forsake the assembling but to come and grow in grace and knowledge of Lord Jesus Christ, until we all attain to that full maturity found in Jesus Christ. Amen. Prayer

Both the Lord and the enemy have a vision for your church fellowship. The Lord has a vision for every church fellowship. The vision for this church is on the wall (Ephesians 4:11-13) which is about releasing ministries to build up the body thus bringing each one of us into a maturity. However, our enemy Satan also has a vision for each church fellowship, which is to prevent each fellowship from coming into maturity. The enemy plans to divide us, to break us up, and keep every believer defeated and downcast. The enemy as you probably know are organized in a hierarchy of fallen beings and are described in Ephesians 6, and include principalities [1], powers, world forces of darkness, wickedness in heavenly places. These evil beings have orders to attack your fellowship and try to overcome all of us Christians, in our individual lives and as a fellowship. What is important in the Life of a Church Fellowship? What do you think they (the enemies) will attack in the life of the believer? The major areas I want to focus on are the word of God and prayer. Have you ever noticed that these two things do not come easily? You can think of many other things you would rather do, there seems to be an opposition or difficulty. Another thing that seems to be opposed is to visit the sick and you can probably identify others? So why does enemy want to prevent you from reading the bible (1 John 8:31-32)? Of course the words of Jesus are found in the bible. If we read and abide, stay, live in, or walk according to his word, then we shall know the truth which shall make and set you free. What truth, Jesus has defeated devil! He has the keys of death and hell has openly triumphed over every power, principality, etc. and through the blood of his cross has purchased a great salvation for all who place their trust in him. That same Jesus Christ gives authority to his body, to tread on serpents (evil), over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall injure you. You shall know the truth if you read God’s word and his word abides in you. The enemy had you bound and blinded not knowing the truth that he is already defeated. Know you know for sure! 1 Peter 2:2 The enemy does not want you to know God word is food for your spirit or soul, which causes you to grow in the knowledge of your wonderful salvation. You can begin to understand the dimensions of God’s love for you. If you starve your baby of milk and she will die! Satan wants you to wither and die concerning knowledge of the truth found in God’s word. Those who are growing up past baby stage, he does not want you moving on to the later stages of maturity. Ephesians 5:25-27 Christ sanctifies the believers by washing us with his word. His word is alive and powerful and renews our thinking, changes our lifestyle as we conform our lives to God’s word. Christ loves you as part of his body and wants to make holy so that he can present you with spot or blemish to his Father. He cleanses us with the scriptures. How can he do this if we will not read and study them? Satan does not want you cleansed, holy and getting ready as the bride of Christ. Hebrews 4:12 The Word of God (bible) when it is used as a sword separates man from sin. The Word of God corrects our motives and is alive and powerful. The Holy Spirit defeats the enemy as he energizes our spoken word (rhema word). The enemy does not want you to be free but be kept in bondage and sin. Satan does not want you to know that he is defeated by the word of God in your mouth. Just as the enemy was defeated by our Lord Jesus Christ in the wilderness by quoting the scripture [2] (It is written …) So brothers and sisters, how long will you let yourself be deceived by the mind blinder? How long will you accept the lies that say these things? You cannot understand the word You do not have time for the word You cannot find a place for the word You have a block and barrier to receive the word You can start tomorrow to read the word Joshua 1:8 Psalms 1:2 If these are your excuses, then you are deceived. You need to repent and receive forgiveness and ask God to give you a hunger for his word daily to cherish and treasure the word of God in your heart. Let the word of God abide in you and you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. Free from your past, from your problems, your failures and you will be sanctified and prepared as a bride waiting for her heavenly groom. Do not let yourself be starved any longer. Your heavenly Father is longing to feed you today come let us thwart the enemy today and every day by studying the bible. Amen Prayer Footnotes [1] Greek archon. The 5-star generals. The evil hierarchy in Ephesians 6:12 is in descending order of rank. [2] Matthew 4 4 But he answered and said, it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 6 And saith unto him, if thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said unto him, it is written again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. 9 And saith unto him, all these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10 Then saith Jesus unto him, get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

What is the purpose of the local church fellowship? We want to consider specific questions such as: Does our enemy Satan want you to come to church? If not, why not? Why do we come to church? What is the main priority of church life? Is it bible teaching or preaching or perhaps evangelism? Or is it something else? Before we tackle the question of priorities, we need to consider the fact that every church fellowship should have aims and a vision. The aims are simply the goals ahead, i.e. the direction of the fellowship. When you play darts you have to aim at something. Most times when we aim at nothing, then that is exactly what we achieve nothing. The vision is obtained by mixing faith to the aims that we believe God has given us. If a fellowship has the aim to preach the Gospel in a new local area, then by adding faith to the aim then they might have a vision to a start a home group of some form of outreach there, believing God that he will bless them in it. Having a vision keeps you going when times are difficult. Jesus has a vision for his church which kept him going through the agonies of the cross. You must stick to the aims and visions that God has given to your fellowship through thick and thin! Priorities of Church Life Are there any models in scripture that can help us assign priorities to the various functions in the church fellowship such as evangelism, praise and worship, bible study etc.? Fortunately, there are! John 15:1-8 (see sermon at bottom of this page- The Vine and the Branches) John 15:17-19 The pattern here is that we abide in the vine i.e. we share in intimate fellowship with the life of Christ, then flowing from this communion, we begin to show that same agape true love to each other. Then we can interact with the world in terms of evangelism etc. This is the general pattern in Colossians and Ephesians. The Purpose of Fellowship Life Fellowship life is all about expressing and developing our commitments. First, we must show commitment to God, next to each other and then to those in the world. Here are the main reasons we come to church. 1. To express our love to God. 2. To produce maturity, stability, and holiness in our lives. 3. To encourage believers to love each other with good works flowing from love. 4. To promote the care of the poor (widows and orphans) 5. To preach the Gospel. 6. To do good in the world. Let us now look at these 6 main reasons. # To express our love to God The shorter Westminster catechism puts it like this “the chief aim of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” God created us for his own pleasure. He must become our greatest pleasure. The main thrust of attending church must be the Lord himself, with all the good works following on from this. We can express our love to Him in many ways. Thanksgiving, praise, and worship. Thanksgiving is acknowledging what he has done. Praise is acknowledging who He is, and worship is a heart-to-heart connection with the Lord. We also show our love to him, by fellowshipping with him in prayer and bible study. The bible is the word of God and is our daily bread. In the bible we find out who He is and what He has done. Prayer is like breathing as we give and receive communication to and from God. Giving is part of our worship acknowledges who is our source of all good things. If you love him, you will keep his commandments. # To produce maturity, stability, and holiness in our lives God has placed the fivefold ministry gifts in the body specifically to bring maturity so that each person will be able to perform their unique God-given ministry and therefore the church will be built up. Even when we know the word of God, we often neglect to learn how to apply it at church. God has specifically placed leaders in his church not only to preach and teach but to show an example of how to live godly lives. Stability comes from having sound doctrine. Holiness will grow as we mature; it is our love for the Lord in a sense that determines our rate of maturing! God desires stability in the flock, people who do not know the bible will never be stable. # To encourage believer to love with good works flowing from Love It is at church we are often reminded of the command to love God and each other, not in word only but indeed, practically, and sincerely. Faith without works is dead. We need to ask the Lord to bring us into the good works he has prepared for us from before the foundation of the world. A good deed is any deed performed for God’s glory. A good deed is motivated by love (of God and our neighbour). A good deed is performed by faith working through love. No genuinely good deed shall go unrewarded, not even a cup of cold water. # To promote care of the poor (windows and orphans, and those in want) God wants us to look after our own. Our own includes our natural family and our super-natural family i.e. His family, the church of Jesus Christ. No one in our midst should go without any of the basics of life when someone in the church can supply it. Lord, make us sensitive to the needs within our part of the body. What do we have that God did not give us anyway and what better way of acknowledging this than to share what we have? # To preach the Gospel The gospel is preached in the local church fellowship. The wonderful message of the gospel is taught and is then exported by the congregation to their relatives, friend, workmates, and neighbours. It is the body’s duty to take the gospel out not just the evangelists and leaders! # To do good in the world Jesus Christ is the Light of the World, and since we are in Christ and he is us, that same light shines through us, illuminating the acts of love and kindness which God inspires us to do. Preaching the gospel, healing the sick, casting out demons, being a peacemaker. These and every other good deed bear witness to the unbelievers that Jesus Christ is alive and still performing miracles through his body the local church. Amen Prayer

At some time in your life as a Christian someone will ask the question, ‘What is God like’? The average non-believer has little or no idea who God is or what he is like. The sort of ideas people have about God include for example, an old man up there in the clouds who throws the odd lightning bolt when you upset him, or someone up there who is looking after me, or a God who lives in a boring place with only harps and angels and has no fun. Yes, the Lord gets a bad press from the world and yet God does reveal himself in different ways to mankind. This morning we are going to consider how God reveals himself to mankind. This is important for two reasons. First, an understanding of the doctrine of revelation is important to each believer so that we know where to look. Second, and just as important, we the followers of Jesus can point the unbelievers to the various ways that God is revealing himself, by his nature, his will, his plan, and purposes for man, to every person who is willing to seek him. Definition Revelation is an an unveiling, a disclosure, to make something hidden or secret to be known. In the biblical sense revelation is the act of God revealing himself to mankind usually through information which man could not discover many other ways i.e., unless God reveals a truth to you there is no other way you can receive it. Caution Revelation knowledge: this expression has sometimes been misused an occultic way meaning knowledge gained without aid of the human mind and does not conform to scripture. Why do we need revelation? The fall of man in the garden of Eden brought a curse that affected Adam (and Eve’s) whole being i.e. spirit, soul, and body. The fall caused human minds and hence intelligence to become darkened (see Romans 1), so that we cannot naturally receive the things of God. Main text 1 Corinthians 2:10-14 v12 The Spirit of God is given to us so we can appreciate the things that God has provided for us. John 14:26 The Holy Spirit is our counsellor teaches us all things and reminds us of Jesus’ words. How does God reveal himself to us? The beauty of Creation We see intelligent design because he is the Intelligent Designer. Design, beauty, order, and numerical structure in all his creation. He is a wise creator. We can gaze into the starry sky with wonder and awe. See Psalm 19:1-4. Romans 1:19-20 God’s invisible attributes are clearly demonstrated in the Creation which leaves the unbelieving without an excuse, for there clearly is a God. The Conscience Adam and Eve were guilty, so they hid from God. The conscience of each man or woman points to an absolute moral law or standard given by God. Our conscience therefore demonstrates that there is a God. The Person of Jesus Christ Jesus Christ is the sum in total of all that God has revealed of himself to man. To look at the life of Jesus Christ the Son of God is to look at Father God himself. This is a very personal revelation of God to man. John 1:18 Colossians 1:15 Hebrews 1:13 So, what is God like? Well, look to the person of Jesus Christ, what he was and is, that is exactly what God is like. So, what is Jesus Christ like then? Where/ How do we find him? Jesus Christ is revealed in at least three ways. By the word of God, as we read the bible. The Holy Spirit gives us revelation of God’s character and truth. Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word (rhema) of God: The word of God here is known as the rhema word or you could say the living word. The written word in the bible is the logos. The rhema or living word is spoken by the Holy Spirit to you and brings revelation or power into the specific situation. The rhema word is alive and powerful is what causes us to receive the revelation of what the scripture means. Amen Jesus Christ can be known personally, when be become born again and we develop our relationship with God communicating in prayer. Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what the riches of the glory of this mystery is among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Christ is in each believer. God reveals himself and his glory through the lives of his church. What a tremendous privilege and responsibility! Conclusion God is revealed in creation, in our conscience and in an intimate personal way through the life and person of Jesus Christ. God is revealed as the life of Christ shows in you. May the Lord teach us to guide others to know him. Prayer Lord reveal yourself here to us each day, through your word. Speak a rhema living word to us today from your logos. Reveal yourself in Jesus Christ more intimately through creation and conscience. Lord God, reveal yourself to the lost, the blind, the unbelieving through each one of us today and every day. Be revealing Jesus in each one of us, more and more each day, reveal his abundant life and love, his obedience, his heart for the lost, and his compassion. Reveal Christ in me to the world today. Amen.

Significance then and now The high places in the Hebrew Scriptures were local sanctuaries for the purpose of worship especially idolatrous worship see an example in Leviticus 26:30. See also Numbers 21:28, 33:52 Isaiah 15:2, 16:12 2 Kings 14:4, 12:3, 15:35, 23:9 All these scriptures show that the high places that became polluted by unholy sacrifices and licentious rites. The Lord God condemned all the kings that gave tolerance to these places. 2 Chronicles 33:17; Some high places were devoted to the worship of Jehovah. By the time of Jeroboam, the high places of Dan and Bethel were in constant use. However, Jeroboam persuaded the people not to go to Jerusalem for worship (in frank disobedience to God). I Kings 12:31 Jeroboam made idolatrous shrines in the high places and appointed priests from among all the people (not the specified Levites). The Hebrew word bāmâth meaning “high places” get a general meaning of a “shrine” in a city or valley. Bāmâth not only specifies a high place where the Israelites go for worship but with a strong connotation of idolatrous worship. See also these scriptures 2 Kings 17:9 Jeremiah 7:31 Ezekiel 16:31, 28 Ezekiel 20:29 God asks idolatrous Israel “what is the high place to which you go?” Divine scorn is poured out on the Israelites. They ought to have known by its purpose that it was off limits to the people of God. God’s punishments for this are found in verse 33-38. I Kings 15:14 The high places were not removed although Asa had a good heart towards God 2 Chronicles 14:3 King Asa destroyed the pagan altars and high places, smashed their sacred pillars, and cut down their Asherah poles. 2 Chronicles 15:17 King Asa after deposing his pagan grandmother because she had made an obscene image, destroyed the image , yet surprisingly never removed the high places. 2 Kings 18:22; The Rabshakeh missed the point when he told King Hezekiah that he had taken away God`s high places, not realizing God wanted them removed. Bāmâth can be further defined as an elevation, a height, as well as a high place in the following scriptures. Deuteronomy 32:13, 29 Isaiah 9:12-19, Isaiah 10:5, 13 2 Samuel 1:19, 25 All sorts of important things happened on high places showing spiritual significances for example: 1. Noah’s ark resting on Mt. Ararat 2. Abraham was tested on Mt. Moriah 3. Moses receives the Law on Mt. Sinai 4. Elijah and the prophets of Baal fought on Mt. Carmel All this was in the Old Testament but in the New Testament high places are also significant. 1. Jesus went up into the mountain for praying [Matthew 4:23] 2. Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount[Matthew 5:1] 3. Jesus ascended to heaven from the Mt. of Olives and will return one day to Mt. of Olives 4. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ was on the hill of Calvary. Mountains and hills are a place of solitude/ a meeting place with God Almighty. What does the Law say? Exodus 20:3-6 Our God is a Jealous God Deuteronomy 12:1-5 God wanted the high-places of pagan worship to be destroyed. Worship should be at a place appointed by the Lord Himself and included the Tabernacle, the Temples and now in spirit and truth. Ezekiel 20:28-29; The Lord pours scorn on the Israelites offensive idolatrous offerings on the high-places. Why did the Lord tell the Israelites to destroy the Canaanite tribes? These tribes practised all kinds of forms of idolatry including the ritual sacrifice of their children. So important was this commandment to destroy these high places of pagan worship that was commented upon in the records of each King of Israel/Judah in the Books of Kings and Chronicles. Commandment to destroy High places was sufficiently implemented so that the Kings of Jews/Israel had their policy recorded/ report card in Kings/Chronicles. Examples; 1 Kings 12:31; Jeroboam built up high places and appointed non-Levities as priests. 1 Kings 13:33-34; Jeroboam’s fate 1 Kings 14:22-24; Judah`s high places (Rehoboam/Judah) 2 Kings 15:11-14; Asa (Judah) was a good king but neglected high places 2 Kings 14:3-4; Amaziah was also a good king but neglected high places Message for us today: Jesus is our Lord of lords and King of kings If we desire to be good kings, then we must surely destroy the ‘high places’ of idolatrous worship in our nation. What and where are they, you must answer for your own country. In Old Testament days good kings ought to have destroyed the high places with their altars and pillars. The best king’s physical destroyed the high places that were not dedicated to the Lord God Almighty. So how can we do this if there are no physical structures? Ephesians 2:2 Tells us that Satan is the prince of the power of the air Ephesians 6:12 Spiritual wickedness in high places 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 We can pull down enemy strongholds Could it be that when we go up to a ‘high place’ that in some way we are closer to the enemy and perhaps to the place that these demons receive worship from witchcraft, occultism etc? The hill known as Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, Scotland is often a site of pagan and occult worship. (Tell story of my experience with my son Kenneth) By prayer and other forms of spiritual warfare and by using the word of God we can bring down those enemy strongholds over our towns and cities. Exodus 17:8-11; Moses, Aaron on the hilltop, they did a successful spiritual warfare. 2 Kings 6:13-17; Open our eyes Lord to the spirit realm, there are more with us than against us! Prayer Father, in Jesus name, grant us the prayer of Elisha that your servants may have their spiritual eyes opened. Amen

LORD FILL ME WITH YOUR HOLY BOLDNESS In terms of sharing the Gospel, you and I have attained royalty (like Queen Esther) and God’s favour for such a time as this Yes, many believe we are on the brink of a miracle, we are ready to reap and are co-workers with God in his harvest. We are poised for battle, ready to plunder hell and populate heaven. We are ready to lead many from darkness into the light. We are ready to snatch precious lives from the enemy’s hand and put them into the hand that no one can snatch them from. Today, we are looking to our commander, the commander of the Lord’s host, Jesus Christ who is, the Mighty God, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. Lord Jesus we seek your face today knowing that it is you alone who can supply that which we need for the victory. We know our mission is to bring in the harvest We have our weapons and armour including the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God We know that God’s love conquers all What more do we need? Lord Jesus, we need you to fill us afresh with your Holy Spirit causing us to move in power and holy boldness. A boldness to step out in faith without fear and boldly proclaim the good news without compromise. We need a Holy boldness to tell it like it is We need a Holy boldness to reach out in love We need a Holy boldness to replace our fear We need a Holy boldness to fulfill God’s command of “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel” How do we get this holy boldness? What effects does it produce? Can we receive it today? Let us turn to God’s word to find out. Definition Boldness: Daring, courage, bravery, valour. Ready to meet danger head on. Holy Boldness: Courage and confidence to obey God’s commands with power to dare to step out for God. Will you dare today to step out for God? God’s power gives us courage to step out into the unknown, or even dangerous circumstances but with God’s power and courage to witness. Holy Boldness begins with baptism in the Holy Spirit Acts 1:8; Jesus promises us power to witness Acts 2:2-4; Baptism Acts 2:14; Peter ignoring any danger stands up and preaches his message, full of the Holy Spirit and boldness. Acts 2:22-24; The Holy Spirit gives power (and boldness) to tell it like it is without fear or favour. Acts 2:36-38; Repent and be baptized, be bold and direct and to the point. Acts 3:6-8; The lame man is healed, here is holy boldness in action producing miracles. Peter did it by the power of the God. We need to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit while you are witnessing. Amen? Every one of us needs to be baptized with Holy Spirit for he is, and he gives the power to witness. Boldness in Persecution Acts 4:8-13 Holy boldness: Peter tells it like it is without fear or compromise. Verse 13; You do not necessarily need an education or training, but you do need to spend time with Jesus in prayer. Spend time in the word and in fellowship in that sweet communion of the Holy Spirit. Verse 18-20; The disciples were forbidden to boldly speak in Jesus name by the authorities. We must however obey God rather than man! What would you do in these circumstances? Verse 21-31; v29 the disciples asked the Lord for courage not protection. Wonderful! Ephesians 5:18; But be filled with the Holy Spirit. We need to keep on being filled with the Spirit! You were once filled with the Spirit, but you leak? How can we get this Holy Boldness? Luke 11:11-13; We must ask in faith, believing and expecting to receive, the promise of the Father. Let us do it! Amen Prayer

As Christians we are not under the law, yet most believers love to give a first fruit i.e. something off the top of their income to the Lord as an expression of love and worship to him. There is another principle found in scripture called the Gleanings which is not concerned with first of your income or produce but rather with what is left over the end. Gleaning is the process of gathering grain or produce left or missed in the field by reapers on first pass. Gleanings can also be on a vine or on a tree and in this case refers to the fruit missed by the pickers. Mosaic Law requires leaving this portion so that the poor and aliens might have a means of earning a living. Leviticus 19:9 And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 And you shall not glean your vineyard, neither shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 24:19 When you cut down your harvest in your field, and has forgot a sheaf in the field, you shall not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the Lord your God may bless thee in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. 21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. The biblical example of Ruth gathering the gleanings is found in Ruth chapter 2. So the idea behind the gleanings was to leave a little of the crop/harvest to provide for the poor which includes the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner. But since we are not farmers and do not have fields and crops, how might we apply this principle to ourselves. Well in the same way as the farmer did not harvest his crop to exhaustion so might we not use our full income to exhaustion? One family that I know of collects all their coppers and small denomination coins in a jar and at an appropriate time gives that money to the poor. A tin, a bag or a box works just as well! And who are the poor? Well there are two types of poor, the physically poor and the spiritually poor (usually they go together). Think of the foreigners who are strangers in your land, and the homeless etc. Or what about the street children of Brazil and other countries where the poor need both physical and spiritual help? Anyway, if this is something you want to do, we can ask the Lord what to do with our gleanings. Prayer Lord give us hearts that honour you with our first fruits Lord give us hearts that leave a gleaning for the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the alien. Lord we thank you that you have supplied us with all that we need. Lord keep our hearts open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit In Jesus Name we pray Amen

We have previously seen that although we know God’s will, we still need to pray for it. We must continuously stand firm in faith. Some of us have fair-weather faith that works well when things go well. The Lord wants us to have a faith that endures and trusts in God through even most difficult circumstances. When God gives a vision to someone or a group it is not always plain sailing e.g. did the Israelites just walk in and conquer Canaan? No they had to fight each step of the way. The God-given vision for your fellowship will require you to fight to bring it to pass. Just because your church vision is from God it will not happen without input from you! Let us look at the life of Nehemiah to see what it takes to fulfil his God-given vision. God has sent Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and restore the city. But Satan raised up severe opposition to prevent the rebuilding of the city. The book of Nehemiah offers an excellent insight into Satan’s tactics against God’s people. The book of Nehemiah: a summary in brief Chapter 1; Nehemiah is in captivity in Babylon. He prayed and repented quoting Deuteronomy 30 for the restoration of the Jews to Israel. Chapter 2; Obtains favour with the King and sets out to form a rescue plan. Chapter 3; He organized people in families to rebuild Jerusalem in sections. Chapter 4; We can learn how to watch out for the devil’s tactics and how Nehemiah responds each time. Chapter 5; Nehemiah sorts out the internal problems amongst Jews. Chapter 6: 1-8; Their enemies using a range of tactics continue to try and stop the Jews. Verses 9-19: Verse 9; Nehemiah offers specific prayers Verse 10-13; Shemaiah was hired as a false prophet to frighten Nehemiah Verse 14; Nehemiah prays again Verse 15; The wall of Jerusalem is now half finished Verse 17-19; Tobiah pulls strings to try to frighten Nehemiah by sending threatening letters. Satan still uses the very same tactics to frighten God’s people as they fulfil their vision from God. So watch of for these dirty tricks and use the weapons that Nehemiah used successfully (NB prayer). We have been called to build up God’s people. Let us pray and act and be totally dependent on God as the enemy tries to thwart your vision or your church’s vision from God. Amen Prayer

Victory in our daily lives Part 3. In this text we have a tremendous secret that will bring victory in our daily lives Key text Philippians 4:6-9 Consider the Apostle Paul, the scripture author, banged up in jail not for evil but for doing good. Paul is under constant threat of death, as well as under a tremendous burden of prayer for the newborn church. He had worked out how to have victory in his daily life. He is telling us here, how to do it and we must take this on board, it is potentially life changing! What is your heart? Your heart is your inner most being. Your heart is the part of your being closest to God. Your heart is the part of you that God greatly desires and is jealous for. In human relationships we might say something like, she is seeing John, but her heart belongs to Jimmy. Our heart belongs to the Lord. We recognize that it is our inner most being (our hearts) that gives the direction in our lives. Matthew 6:19-21 We follow our hearts for where our hearts are because there is our treasure. What are you treasuring today? Who does your heart belong to? Who or what directs your life? Proverbs 4:23 We need to make sure we do not put any poison in the well, as the very direction of our lives can also be poisoned and put off course. God will never settle for second place in your heart! Your heart is a place reserved only for God. Anything else we let into that place is an idol. In our key text we have seen that worry and cares can poison our hearts and minds but unfortunately there are also other things. Remember the 3 wise monkeys Hear no evil See no evil Speak no evil Good advice Ask any computer person about GIGO (garbage in garbage out). This works in our hearts and minds too, if we show no care for what we watch, read, listen to, where we go, what we do, who we keep company with then beware producing garbage! If a Christian goes to on X(R) rated movie, he/she may well get some poison into his/her mind which can then drop down into their heart. Poison waters can then flow out! We need to input LILO not GIGO Paul tells us in our key text Verse 8-9, here is what we allow into our ear and eye gates to our mind then settles in the heart. Whatever things will bring peace. Whatever is… True – Jesus Christ is the way, truth and life and his word is true. Fill your heart and mind with his truth Noble – The King, the Prince of peace, the Royal family i.e. the church Just – His righteous and holy standards for Christian living Pure – His purity and His desire for his bride to be pure Lovely – The character of God Good report – Testimonies in our lives and others Praiseworthy – Look for the good in people and their deeds so we thank God for it. God’s word-meditate, ruminate, chew the cud, and swallow, bring it back up and start over. These will strengthen and held guard your heart and mind, bringing peace irrespective of circumstances. Peace is part of the whole armour of God, wearing it involves a lifestyle. We need to bring every thought captive. Lastly consider the example of Church leaders like Paul, not just what he taught but what he lived out, he did not just talk the talk, but he would walk the walk. Conclusion Your heart and mind are very precious to God. Our hearts and minds can be poisoned if we are not careful what we allow into our hearts and minds. God wants your heart and mind to be free of poison so that we can love him fully. Guard your heart and mind! Amen

Victory in our daily lives Part 2 Philippians 4:6 Last time we considered the insidious sin of worry. We saw that worry is a Pandora’s Box of woes and trouble that we should never even consider opening. Worry pulls us in different directions and strangles or chokes the word of God in our lives and so prevents the fruit from growing in our lives. The Lord never intended for his children to shoulder that burden. We saw from our key text that God has given us his perfect antidote or solution to all our legitimate concerns in life. In every situation we take it to the Lord in prayer. Prayer, at one level, is simply talking to God but with the connotation of worship, devotion, and adoration etc. As each concern arises, we need to go before the Father God, in Jesus name. We should prepare ourselves to come before God. Preparation If you had a meeting with a Monarch, President or Teasoich, you would probably dress correctly, you would probably address him/her in a way befitting his/her high rank, and you would be earnest and concise in making your points. You would also hope that he/she would give you some sort of response. Likewise, with our Abba Father, we should set time aside and enter his presence by faith, purposing in our hearts to connect with the Lord and complete the transaction. We must take time to consider the greatness and holiness of God, which begins to put us in the right frame of heart and mind, so we should not rush in and out. Petition/supplication means an earnest sharing of our concerns with our Abba Father, sometimes this may involve strong emotion or even tears. Nor do we just come empty handed or empty hearted in the Lord’s presence like spoiled children, we ought to come filled with thanksgiving. By the time we have given due thanks to the Lord for all that he done, all that he is doing and all that he is going to do, faith will rise up in your heart as you begin to realize that he has never failed you! Lord God you gave me a new life, a new family, a new outlook, a new love, now will you give me a new job? Lord, you have fed and clothed me every day of my life, you have always come through for me even at the last minute, and will you come through for me in this matter? It is you and I who need reminding about God’s track record, not God he remembers! Why does Satan want us to be thoroughly ungrateful? Because it keeps our eyes on ourselves and our problems and off God. He knows that as we begin to thank the Lord, our faith will rise; we will hand the situation over to God and begin to receive the peace of God. Satan’s plan for worry, doubt and fear is thwarted once again! We need to wake up and smell the coffee! There is something lovely about genuine appreciation or gratitude in any situation. Adults love a grateful child who says thank you because we see that it produces good in the child’s life. If thankfulness is so fitting in our children, how much more so should we his children acknowledge him in all our ways and thank him continuously. Not everyone is grateful to God even when he heals them. A straw poll in Judea once showed only one in ten of healed lepers returned to thank God! How about you? Thanksgiving as a lifestyle (or discipline) Although thanksgiving is a vital part of this type prayer and supplication, it is by no means limited to it. Each day and each part of the day affords us countless opportunities to express thanks to God. We need to cultivate an attitude of gratitude in our hearts which will produce a daily lifestyle overflowing with thanksgiving to God. Daily program His mercies are new every morning and we can start our day by committing it to the Lord. Mealtimes (×3) Jesus always gave thanks to Father God at every meal and we should follow his example albeit publicly or privately. 1 Timothy 4:4-5 In church On entering his presence Psalm 100 At communion Luke 22:17-19 The offering time in the church is also an excellent opportunity to thank God as provider and to acknowledge him as our source. He has provided all that we need and as we thank him it helps us to realize this. Anywhere/Anytime Ephesians 5:20 The bible encourages us to give thanks for all things through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is through Him that every blessing comes. We can give thanks for our life, health, strength, healing, deliverance, our families, spouses, friends, church, leaders, children’s and youth workers, praise team, stewards etc., food, clothing, and shelter. Freedom to worship, living in a democratic country. Nature, birds, flowers, animals, sight, sound and colour. Sun, moon and stars, cosmos. The Gospel, and God sending his only son. As we saw earlier in difficulty and times of trouble, we can thank God for His answer that will come and for the grace and peace to come through the situation. Thanksgiving is a good point to start your petition because as we do it, we realize how good he is, and this stimulates our faith in Him to receive our petition. At the end of the day, we can give thanks for that day’s blessings and that we can hand over any concerns over to him and receive that peace which passes understanding. Such a lifestyle of thanksgiving will produce good fruit in your life and help to maintain proper fellowship with your heavenly Father. Cultivate that attitude of gratitude! Prayer Lord, fill us with your Holy Spirit and let thanksgiving flow from our hearts to you. Lord, we repent of our thanklessness at times and ask for your grace to develop a lifestyle of continuous thanksgiving. We believe that this is your will for us and receive it now by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

Over the next three studies we are going to look at a few practical areas of daily Christian living. Our topics will be taken from Philippians 4:6-7. Today our first topic is worry. We can be defeated simply because we are not alert to the schemes and tactics of the devil. The mind is the arena of our faith, the battle for victory in our daily lives will be won or lost in our minds. Every decision we make is important. We need to monitor every thought coming into our minds, as if checking for a counterfeit banknote. This is part of guarding our hearts. We who have received an abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Christ Jesus Romans 5:17. He has made us more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. He has freely given us all things pertaining to life and godliness. He became poor so that we might become rich. He has provided the means in his word to give us victory over every attack of Satan. How to deal with the sin of worry Philippians 4:6; Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7; And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heats and your minds in Christ Jesus. Paul also told us not to worry in this passage. Worry is an ugly sin Very few Christians would lie on their bed turning over wicked thoughts and plans, murder, adultery or other sexual sin, occult practices or spells or trying to remember a horoscope. Yet, many of us, if we are honest are worrying about health, finance, bodily necessities, relationships etc. But we must treat the temptation to worry in the same way as we deal with every other temptation to sin. The sin of worry is right up there with idolatry, adultery, theft, murder etc. so do not be fooled any longer! If Satan can develop the habit of worry in our lives our faith will become paralyzed and totally ineffective and unfruitful. Matthew 13:22 Worry will choke (with so many problems going on in our lives) word of God in our lives and make us unfruitful. Do not be chasing a rainbow. Without faith it is impossible to please God and worry with its evil henchmen of fear and doubt work together to cause us to lose our joy and faith! Our very fruitfulness to God is at stake here. Matthew 6:25-33 Romans 5:17 Perhaps the subtlest aspect of anxiety and worry is the way it creeps up on us. I have found myself slipping into it without realizing. The devil always wants to be unaware of this temptation. To be sure, there is a genuine type of concern for the people and circumstances of our lives without which we would be irresponsible. It is no sin to be tempted in any area, but how we deal with every thought is critical as to whether we will fall into sin. An example might be that you are concerned about a big bill to pay or a serious health matter or problems in a family relationship. You turn it over in your mind, you forget what God’s word says about your situation, you cannot sleep, you toss and turn and begin to imagine the very worst possible outcome… you suddenly realize that you have fallen into the sin of worry! Jesus did not prohibit genuine concerns about food and shelter etc. but he did teach that we must maintain a proper godly perspective on all these things. However, what Satan wants us to do, is to dwell on or focus on our fears rather than on the love of God or his wonderful care and faithful provision for each one of us. The enemy wants us to forget all the wonderful and precious promises of God for our protection and supply of his people (see Psalm 91). So, the actual temptation here is to cast aside our faith and trust in God and throw ourselves into a maelstrom of fear and worry. This is a sin because Jesus told us not to do it. Amen Prevention First recognize how to differentiate between genuine concern and the sin of worry. Paul tells us how to deal with genuine concern which is to hand it over to God and not let it mutate into a malignancy i.e. the sin of worry. Worry is a heavy burden that God never intended for us to carry. Philippians 4:6 Every genuine concern is to become a prayer and a petition, a request to our heavenly father through our Lord Jesus Christ. As we present our requests to God, we must fully release the matter into his hands. He is a God we can trust. We can draw on the peace of God knowing and believing that he has heard our petition and he will bring his answer in due season. When we take our hands and minds off the concern then we receive the shalom peace of God. This seems like a much better deal than sleepless nights and ulcers. Worry can destroy even our health. Remember Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who said our God can save us from the fiery furnace but even if he does not, we still will not worship your idols! Make the decision never to worry again, this is part of knowing the truth that sets you free. Extra strength is available for us when we are tempted to worry Speak the word of God, the rhema word into your situation. Philippians 4:13 Romans 8:26-28 Psalm 23, 91 Sometimes you might need godly counsel, or even a prayer of agreement. We are here to help each other. Sleep, recreation, exercise, being realistic about unlikely fears etc. If you have mastered this temptation to worry, then teach others how to master it. Worry can and does choke the life out of a fellowship. Proverbs 12:25 1 John 1:9 Summary Worry is an ugly and serious sin It will choke the word of God out of our lives, by replacing faith with fear. Worry does not achieve anything good. Jesus told us not to do it. Paul told us not to do it. Let us make the decision that with God’s help never to do it again. Amen Prayer

Have you ever considered what are your strengths and weaknesses as a believer? What about you as part of a local church in terms of strengths and weaknesses? Perhaps (like us) you have identified the fact that you seem to be quite weak around local outreach i.e., you are not seeing many new converts in your local area. Further to this, if you surveyed 100 of your local people, how many would have heard of your church or even if they had, would they know where you meet for church? If you have identified a similar weakness, then (like us) you need to raise your profile in the local community. The Holy Spirit has given a wide range of strategies to different churches from time to time e.g., door to door calling, offering to pray for the sick, giving them a post card, a video, putting on shows, being a helping hand, etc. Corporately we need to seek the Lord for his exact word on how to go about this in each local situation. However, it is also clear that we individually need to be ready each day to bring the kingdom of God to our local people. One of the ways we can describe this state of being ready to impact people’s lives on a day-to-day basis is that we should be ‘Salt and Light’. Matthew 5:1-16 Verse 13; You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its flavour, how shall it be seasoned. It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. In history salt was used as a preservative. It is antiseptic and stops flesh from rotting. If you did not salt your meat, as there were no fridges then, you had to eat your meat freshly. In the same way as meat or flesh rots if left to time and temperature, so with the fallen nature of mankind, the sin nature is rotten and if there was no salt amongst mankind, God would need to destroy rotten and decaying flesh of mankind. However, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believer, the word of God in our hearts and mouths, and our testimony to the wonderful grace of God brings life preserving qualities (salt) to mankind! We are the salty antiseptic in modern society when we see the moral relativism of today is destroying people’s lives, it is helping them down the road to hell. We are the only people with the distinctive of having God’s word to be a light to people’s life paths. Remember Lot negotiating with God about the destruction of Sodom, God said he would not destroy if there were even 10 righteous men in it! God’s judgement is withheld from mankind because his Holy Spirit indwells his own people, we who are God’s living love letters to fallen man. You (as a follower of Jesus) today are the salt of the earth, so be salty, and do not conform to the corruption of all flesh, but rather be distinctive by standing out for what is right irrespective of political correctness or wokeness. Show people a different way of living. We can and should oppose moral decay by our lives and words. Salt is necessary for flavour, God only enjoys human beings when they have been salted by the Holy Spirit. Salt makes you thirsty, when the people we meet see your living faith, your salt will make them thirsty for God. Amen. Are you salty today? Worldliness takes away our saltiness. When there is no difference between the saint and the sinner, we are useless to God, this is strong language coming from Jesus himself! If we lose our saltiness, we are not only useless to God, but useless to each other, our church, and to the locality we live and work in. Verse 14; You are the light of the world. A city that is set or a hill cannot be hidden. Verse 15; Nor do they light or lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. Verse 16; Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. In the Greek it says ‘You alone are the light of the world, if we believers aren’t shining then no-one is’! It is not the philosophers, sages, politicians, great thinkers but simply Jesus followers, we alone are the light of the world. We have a tremendous responsibility which only the people of God can discharge. Jesus made his light to shine in each one of our hearts, revealing the glory of the knowledge of God. We bear that same light in us that reveals Jesus as God’s son, the Saviour of the world. We must dare to be radically different from those living without the light of God. They lie, cheat, fornicate, take personal revenge. If we do the same, our light has gone out. Jesus’ light in us shows the unbelievers how they ought to live. Our lives must display that we are God fearing, reverent and holy, honest, truthful, morally pure, and living a lifestyle of forgiveness. Shining is our business; we have no right to not be shining. Our lives should expose the difference of the unbeliever’s lives to ours. They must see something radically different from their own, so let your light so shine! How do we let our light shine? Live pure, holy, and loving lives. Refuse to be worldly, do not be pushed into its mould. Do not be like a foolish virgin, but rather keep filled up with the oil of the Holy Spirit. Let your light shine through your good works, those little kindness, being thoughtful and prayerful. Be attractive with the beauty of holiness. Show love in every way you can. Caring might be as simple a thing as offering cup of cold water on a hot day. Practice generosity, Practice Hospitality, Be available Offer forgiveness! Remember every human life is eternal whether to be spent in heaven or in hell. Jesus associated with prostitutes, tax collectors, sinful people etc. It is God’s desire for all to be saved. Lord, please make us ready for specific direction in our local communities. Get to know people, after the pursuit of God himself, people are our main purpose in life. Watch out, sometimes people might want to chop your head off like John the Baptist for telling the truth! We need to be restored in our Salt and Light. We need to repent. We need to stop being dead flesh and come out of the darkness into his glorious light. We need to mourn over our sins. Prayer Lord restore us, restore our cutting edge in our outreach. Make us radically different and make us effective in being Salt and Light to the world and especially to be impacting our local communities for you in our day-to-day life. Amen