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This What is our MAIN THING?

God gave Pharaoh a simple summary of His purpose and his main objective in Exodus 9:16 “for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth“

I look at the purpose of the church and us as individuals in light of this verse. What is it ultimately that we have been called to? What is the thing above all else that we have to fix our eyes on. We should then be measuring all our individual and corporate activities, plans, hopes and dreams against that vision. Knowing our purpose and vision helps us determine where we should be putting out time and resources, how we should be redistributing resources in order that we might better serve the purpose of God.

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What is RADICAL DISCIPLESHIP?

What is to be a RADICAL DISCIPLE OF JESUS?

In this sermon I look at, and compare, the life an experience of Jesus disciples whilst they were with Jesus to after he had ascended and the Holy Spirit had come. What a difference the Holy Spirit makes! An unfocused rabble become organized, purposeful miracle workers and world missionaries. I poses the question who are we? Are we like the pre-Pentecost disciples or Radical, empowered, Holy Spirit filled people demonstrating the kingdom or just “Normal” !

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This download looks at, and compares, the life an experience of Jesus disciples whilst with Jesus to after he had ascended and the Holy Spirit had come. What a difference the Holy Spirit makes! Unfocused observing rabble to organized, purposeful miracle workers and world missionaries. I poses the question who are we? Are we like the pre-Pentecost disciples who love Jesus, the follow Jesus, who love the Gospels, who have received forgiveness, salvation and everlasting life BUT are not operating like the disciples in the book of acts with boldness and with demonstrations of the kingdom!

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Unlocking the POWER of GOD

So what happened from Jesus receiving the Holy Spirit, from him having a visible manifestation if the Holy Spirit (For him it was a dove landing on him, could have been gold dust, feathers, shaking, falling over, but for Him is was a Dove) and moving on from that EXPERIANCE of the HOLY SPIRIT to moving and operating IN THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

What can we learn? What happened between the experience and the PURPOSE & POWER?

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Anointing for Purpose

First of all let me say that the Holy Spirit came on him for purpose.

Affirmation

It was for affirmation “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased[1]”, although this was not the primary reason because we know that Jesus already knew who he was at the tender age of 12 when he said to his parents when he went missing and was found in the temple “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house[2]”.

Guidance

The account says that Jesus was “Led by the Spirit[3]” suggesting that as the Holy Spirit came on him that God spoke to him, gave him council, moved him into something new, or into the next season of his life and ministry.

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Readiness for Temptation and Hardship

This I would suggest is the penultimate key here. As we pray for the presence of God to come, to presence himself with us by the Holy Spirit, as we ask him to come in power we better be ready for what comes next.

For Jesus it was 40 days in the wilderness being tempted by the Devil himself.

When the Manifest Presence of God comes by the Holy Spirit demons will flee just as they did after when Jesus pitched up. When we call for the power of God to come we need to be prepared for a testing to come, for temptation to come. When it does we need to be ready! We need to be as Jesus was well fed, not physically, but spiritually. We need to be immersed in the word of God so as temptation comes we can stand firm of the truth of Scripture as Jesus did as he stood firm against the Devil. We need to be continually repentant, quickly confessing sin and humbly receiving correction from those in authority over us.

Let us receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit, not for experience in that moment sake, but in readiness for the times to come.

Anointed Me Too …..

Jesus himself explained why he received the baptism of the Spirit. He clearly explained that when the manifest presence of God came on him, when he visibly experienced the anointing of the Holy Spirit that is was for a clear reason.

Let us read the reason together from Scripture.

(Luke 4:18-19 ESV)

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

The Spirit of the Lord is upon be because he has anointed me to …

There it is right here he is going to tell us why the was anointed, what what the purpose of experiencing the manifest presence of God.

It was to:

• Proclaim the Good News
• Set Captives Free
• Heal the Sick
• Cast out Demons
• Preach Gods Promises

That was the reason for the baptism of the spirit, that was the purpose of the manifestation of the Spirit upon him … and the same is true for us

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

(John 20:21 ESV)

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Moving from Experiences to Power

Folks we need to get hold of this. Sure there is an element of receiving the Holy Spirit manifestations for personal affirmation, but that is a by product of the Holy Spirit coming upon us. His purpose is to anoint us to fulfil Gods mission for his church. That through us his manifold wisdom may be made known[4]. That through us the sick will be healed, that people set free, demons cast out and declaring that now it the day of salvation!

Gold dust, feathers, gems, falling about and all this great stuff that happens when the Holy Spirit is present is an empowering for us to do the things that Jesus did, greater things, in the places he did them. Jesus was anointed to preach to the poor, not in churches, but on the streets[5]. Jesus was preaching the good news, not in synagogues but in the work place[6]. He was healing the sick not at meetings but in people homes[7] and places were the sick gathered[8].

Let us not fall into seeking these signs and wonders for simply self affirmation. I have heard conversations like “Have you had gold dust yet?” whilst I understand the excitement, especially when it happens to you, we must be very careful that we don’t end up seeking signs for the sake of the signs but for the empowerment.

Jesus asked “Why does this generation seek a sign?[9]” and warned us that “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given[10]” We must ensure that we are pursuing God and his glory not our own affirmation.

So for some of you/us there are not signs, no gold dust, no shaking, no obvious manifestations and that is just fine … it is Christ in you that is the hope of glory[11] … not manifestations of the Spirit! It is the fruit that is important, not how the tree is planted!

The Holy Spirit has anointed me to …    FOR PURPOSE !

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[2] Luke 2 49

[3] Luke 4:1

[4] Eph 3:10

[5] Mat 22:9

[6] Mat 4:18-19

[7] Mat 9:23

[8] John 5:2-9

[9] Mark 8:12

[10] Mat 12:38-39, Mat 16:4

[11] Col 1:27

Is Masturbation a Sin

FREE MP3: To listen to a talk on this issue then press here, or download here.

Clearly masturbation is not directly referenced in the bible. There is no “Thou Shalt Not …” for this. Equally the scripture “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might[1]” is not a scripture to support it either.

When this action takes place it is rarely, and I would use the word never, that lustful thoughts and imagination (commonly porn too) are not present too. That being the case, Jesus words in the Sermon on the Mount clearly and directly apply – If you look lustfully, either with you natural eyes or your minds eye, then you are committing adultery with her in your heart. If you tell me that you don’t have lustful thoughts etc and simply think about cars or something then one might argue that you have bigger problems.

Let us remember that sex was created by God and it was good. He created it for us to enjoy, to allow us to reproduce and to produce ONENESS. In Genesis it says .

Genesis 2:24 ESV  Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Let me be clear ONENESS is not ONE (being on ones own), but TWO becoming ONE. All sexual experiences that produce ONENESS within the context of marriage between one man and one woman are legitimate. Thus any sexual experience outside that context is not legitimate because it is outside of the context within which God designed and planned it to occur.

So is masturbation a sin? It is if you consider sin to be doing things that God has said not to (LUST), or doing them outside the context or environment that God intended and communicated to us (Self Gratification, not producing oneness between a husband and a wife) then yes, it should be considered a sin.

FREE MP3: To listen to a talk on this issue then press here, or download here. 

Confrontation, unity, conflict and resolution are ever present in any environment be it a marriage, a family, an office and even a church. The way we manage conflict, determine answers and how we implement resolutions can all have a massive impact on unity.

There is a great example of how a conflict and confrontation in the church at Antioch is resolved and implemented for both the good of the Gospel and the sake of unity within the churches. Acts 15 – the council of Jerusalem gives us great insight into reaching a Godly decision on something by looking at both an “Experiential Arguments” and a “Biblical/Doctrinal Arguments” as well as, for the sake of love not commanding but appealing to the churches to implement their findings in a way that maximised cross cultural and cross church unity.

I have just preached on this and you can listen for FREE online here, or download it as a free MP3 here.

Financial Crisis or Financial Plan?

Does God Cause Disasters

Today I was speaking in church on Acts 11:19-21 and tackled the question is God surprised by things that happen? I particularly look at the story of the scattering church after the murder and subsequent persecution.

The bible tells us in Amos 3:6 that Disaster (Hebrew word is Evil) comes to a city because God caused it! Job 2:10 says “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil” and Isaiah 31:2 says “He is wise and brings disaster” This is a very strange concept for us to grapple with. Is God behind this evil (Not moral evil) that comes upon a city or indeed upon individuals?

If you are interested I have done a detailed exegesis of Amos 3:1-6 which you can download here.

You can Download my Powerpoint Slides from my talk here.

 

Spectacular Sins

I reference this book by John Piper which is a very interesting read and will assist you in some of the thoughts and questions this talk will raise.

I was baptised as a baby is a common objection when being presented with Believers Baptism. What does the bible say? That is the only question we need to consider. If infant baptism is a bible principle then we should practice it. If it is not then we should consider what the bible does say and follow it.  

There is some argument that baptism of infants is akin to the babies in Israel being circumcised at 8 days old (More). Now there are some parallels here, I agree. Circumcision was a public declaration of belonging to the covenant community of God. Back then you belonged to the covenant community of God by virtue of your birth (your parents) and thus a public declaration was appropriate. However, today we belong to the covenant community of God not by virtue of our parents will, but by virtue of our confession of faith in Jesus, in his death and resurrection, by virtue of acceptance of the grace of God! Thus, baptism must be as a believer.

Now a discussion for another day is about sprinkling vs. immersion. If someone was to come to me and say as a believer I was “sprinkled” rather than immersed, I could accept that as a believer’s baptism although I would want to do a bible study with them based on the New Testament to see if the believer then felt that they would like to respond in the same way as the early church set as the standard example.

However, if someone was to say they were sprinkled as a baby then clearly this is not a believer’s baptism but an act of the will of their parents and not by virtue of them putting their faith in God. I would have to say they have not been baptised and should, as the New Testament shoes us, make a public declaration in that way. There may be, as for the original believers we have read about, some humiliation or even difficulty with family members but we are commanded to repent and be baptised, in that order and I believe that we need to be faithful and live a life worthy of Jesus name, suffering a little humiliation or family unrest for our saviour.

Sometimes the argument is that there is no premise for “re-Baptism” in the bible, and I would agree. There is no biblical president for a rebaptism of a believer. If you were baptised as a youngster and then came to me saying “I did not really fully understand, can I go again” I would say “no”. You were a Christian, you were saved, then you were baptised then that is sufficient “repent and be baptised”. If however you were baptised as an unbeliever because of pressure from parents etc then I would say you were not baptised as a believer and so you should now be. In the same way if you were baptised as a baby, you were not baptised as a believer and so you should now be. It is not “re-baptism” as you were not previously baptised as a believer which is the only New Testament basis for baptism.

If want to listen or download a talk where I discuss this more fully just click here to listen now, or hear to download it as an MP3

I will shortly be writing a paper which will discuss this, and other issues relating to baptism more fully, so check back oon.