Barnie and Rose are serving the Lord in the highlands of Papua New Guinea and have done for 21 years now. The work has been hard but their dedication to the Lord is strong. Over those years our church has supported their work of which they did express much gratitude.
Barnie shared his three "G's" of Prayer. "Get Up" - As we discipline the flesh the things of the Spirit become sweeter. Mark 1:35 "Get Out" - Don't be too busy to listen to God; retreat to His presence. And leaders don't let your pride go to your head; do as Jesus and leave the crowd to be in God's presence. Matthew 6:5-6 "Get In" - Get into prayer. Today’s message comes from the story of Elijah. Unlike all other prophets, there has been no reference to Elijah’s genealogy, we just know he is a Tishbite. 1 King 17: 8-16. He arrived in Zarephath and at the home of a widow living in poverty with nobody to provide for her and her son amidst a land in drought. They were about to eat the last meal made from all that remained of the flour and oil.
God cut the covenant with Israel in the old testament and so the new covenant had to be cut with Israel. The gift He gave with the new covenant was the gift of salvation which is free to all. All that is required to receive this gift is to ask for the forgiveness of sins and then ask Jesus to into our life, Jesus then intercedes with His father every day on our behalf. The world is mixed-up, in the last 50 years we have seen the decline of social values and as a result it’s full of selfishness and greed, Isaiah 1:4-10. People are hurting and in some places people have started riots. We are living in the end times. ‘”They have no fear of God to restrain them.”‘ Romans 3:18. Remember this: ‘For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes…’Romans 1:16.
Pastor Chris read all of 2 Timothy chapter 3. The Devil prowls around like a hungry lion, he takes the appearance of an “angel of light” who “loves the Lord” and for this reason there are many Christians who are being led astray. Satan is the master of deception and people are being led astray within churches. We must remind each other that all revelation MUST agree with scripture. We need to be careful what voice we listen to, if it doesn’t agree with God’s word then it’s a lying spirit.
Are you happy to be you? Would you prefer to be somebody else? How can a man who detests himself love his neighbour? To have peace with yourself and others you need to let yourself be directed of the Holy Spirit. We should discover Christ for ourselves and follow His example…. Younger Christians need to look to older Christians for greater understanding and older Christians need to nurture and sew into the lives of the newer Christians…. Each one of us has a walk that is determined by God…. You can’t rule your life based on one principal, you need to apply all of God’s principals. John 10:10. Jesus said; “I’ve come to give you an abundant life,” God said; “Be renewed by the Spirit daily”…. We have all the spiritual gifts in the Heaven available to us. Acts 14:19-23
Ilene Page Talked on relationships (Proverbs 4:23) she talked on guarding our hearts by filtering what we watch on TV and the music we listen to, choosing our friends carefully and being careful to choose clothes that are modest. She reminded us that we should be careful not to act on our emotions when mixing with the opposite sex, that dating is something we do when we just want to be wanted by someone and there is more to love than the act of sex. We need to pray for a long life partner and opt for courtship as an alternative to dating because it should be a time of learning about the other person without involving emotional and physical contact. This way we can keep ourselves pure for the right one we'll marry one day. We will know when we find the right one because we are listening to the Pastor, our parents opinions and God's guidance. The devil comes to pull us down (John 10:10) God wants to bring us up. Jesus came to give us life in abundance (John 3:16) our God is a relationship God and He is also a jealous God, if we follow His perfect plan for relationships and keep Christ in the centre then our lives will experience the blessings that God has planned for us.
If you live by the flesh you are attracted to the things of this world. if you live by the Holy Spirit then you will seek higher things. When you ask Jesus into your life, then there is change in a second of time. Jesus wants to set you free today from anything that has a hold on you. God says there is a better way. There is no peace in the heart of a sinner. Jesus said "I died for you and I want you to live for me." Then there is Baptism, it's a form of burial signifying our old life is put to rest and we are raised into new life. We recognise we are dead to sin, now we start to live for Jesus, walking in newness of life. Jesus paid the price, death has no dominion over Christ and neither does it have dominion over us. If you are truly born again sin shall no longer dominate your life.
Don Michael spoke on gratitude. 'No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.' 1Thessalonians 5:18. Thankfulness produces fruit in our lives. Giving thanks is an act of humility. “In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.” ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer. We need to have gratitude in our hearts for what Jesus has done for us, we must not ever take it for granted.
Pastor Chris said God can raise a man to the throne to be king or He could take the throne away from a king. Daniel 2:36-45 and Daniel 7:2-7 & 24-27.God uses godly and ungodly men to make things happen for an outcome that He wants. God is able to overturn the decrees of men. Daniel 3:11-26. It is God who determines the prophetic calendar/allotted time for everything. Everything is under God's control and it's God who determines what shall be. Acts 1:7, 1 Timothy 6:15. Don't take on for yourselves the traditions of man. Search the scriptures for the truth. All that which is biblical truth the Devil has tried to convince believers it's heresy.
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