Sunday Re Cap (25th April 2010)

The Ministry of the Spirit Is Far More Glorious

Anything that is from God is Holy and Good. Rom 7:12

The Ten Commandments were given to show God's high moral standard for living. However, men were and are incapable of keeping the high moral standards of God. Are the Ten Commandments important? YES! Should we memorize them? BY ALL MEANS! WHY? Because they reveal God's HIGH MORAL STANDARS WHICH IN TURN REVEAL HIS NATURE. Heb 8:11. Are we able to keep them? We can't! Rom 3:23 

If they are God's moral standards, then how are we going to keep them? The Father points us to the ONE who has fulfilled every single one of them. He says, "Walk with my Son". How? The Holy Spirit will teach you. The whole basis of the 4 clauses of the New Covenant is, "as we walk with Jesus, the Holy Spirit will put the laws in our minds and write them on our hearts". We will experience the miraculous in God's perfect timing and in God's wonderful way and no one needs to teach us continually to obey the moral code of God! The Holy Spirit takes over that role of teaching us the High moral standards of God which reveals His nature.

We may ask ourselves; surely we can have a "balance" of the LAW and GRACE?

Romans 6:¹⁴ For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Luke 5:36-39. V39 (SPLB note)-Jesus sadly describes people who are satisfied with the old system of the LAW and the tradition of the elders and are reluctant to accept the gospel.

There is no place for a mixture of the LAW and grace. Why? Because Grace has fulfilled every LAW through Christ! The NC covenant does not set aside God's moral LAWS but allows the Holy Spirit to write them on our hearts as we walk with Jesus.

Why settle for rules when we can have relationship! Rules are for "servants" and "slaves". Jesus said we were no longer servants but friends in John 15:15. Friends and Family are in relationship.

How can we enter into a place of ever increasing glory? How do we give room to the ministry of the spirit? 2 Cor 3:3-18

1. By walking in the spirit. Take time to pray in the spirit every day. This gives time for the Holy Spirit to write on the tablets of our hearts.
   
2. Decide not to live in condemnation. Live believing that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
   
3. Most importantly, cultivate a daily loving relationship with Jesus every day. Remember His finished work.
   

Samuel Hari

Sunday Re Cap (18th April 2010)

Anointed to Preach the Good News Part 2

Each one of us is anointed to preach the good news. Lk 4:18-20

We are an epistle of Christ written by the Spirit of God. 2 Cor 3:3

2Co 3:5-6

Many of us feel inadequate/insufficient or are unaware of the anointing upon our lives. Why? Maybe because we feel that circumstances (financial, health, etc) are holding us back or failures in the past.

3 key words:

Sufficient-Hakanos-competent

Sufficiency-Hikanotes-enabling

Sufficient-Hikanoo-qualified

1. Sufficiency of ourselves- of ourselves we are incompetent. Ex 19:8, Ex 24:3,7
   
2. Sufficiency is from God-God enables us. He alone gives us the ability.
   

Matt 28:18-20

When we see God's sufficiency, we are seeing the vast resources made available to us through the finished work of Christ on the cross. We don't see our failures, our weakness, our past anymore. What we see is our destiny in Christ! His favour, His love, His supply, His healing, His faithfulness.

Luke 5:1-7; Num 13, 1 Sam 17, Mk 6:30- & Mk 8

1. Made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant,
   

Everyone is qualified through Christ to be a minister of the NEW COVENANT. God makes us. It is not based on our qualifications, abilities or our own righteous acts. He brings us to a place where we are at right standing with Him.

A Minister of the NC covenant focuses on God's ability and the Minister of the OC focuses on our abilities (which eventually fails).

This is the basis of Positive Thinking and all self help teaching. Relying on our own efforts to improve and function. Focussing on our weakness and need to perform. Somehow this has crept into the church and the Bible is used as a self help book when we try to follow the principles of the Bible as much as we can. ALL THAT YOU ASK US TO DO, WE WILL DO! WE WILL FAIL!

Does this mean that we don't change? We must change but we change by focussing on Him. Our sufficiency is from Him; not of ourselves!

Samuel Hari @ GROW BM

Sunday Re Cap (11th April 2010)

The Anointing to Preach the Good News

Scripture:

Isa 61:1-3 THE SPIRIT of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to….

(2) To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord [the year of His favor] and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,…

Jesus, the Living Word quotes this in

Luk 4: (19) To proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord [the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound]. [Isa. 61:1, 2.] …. Today this Scripture has been fulfilled while you are present and hearing.

Note: The day of the vengeance is missing, why? Because that day has come and gone! When God judged Jesus on the cross! What has been fulfilled? Jesus came to fulfil God's plan of redemption. Release of captives, etc…What is THAT DAY replaced by? The day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound! Hallelujah!

There's a tremendous anointing in speaking good. Jesus said so. How much more speaking God's word into and upon our family members? Even into our work situation. When we speak the good from God's heart, we are "anointed" and when we are "anointed" we will speak good. This is not something we can easily do. It comes from feeding on the word, believe and receive it.

(Luk 6:45) What is this good treasure? The treasure is the gospel, the good news! 2 Cor 4:5 Preach Christ, not ourselves!

It's very easy to see bad things in people, situations but it takes the anointing to see the good.

Notice how difficult it is to worship God when we hear "bad" news or have just gotten out of an argument with someone or gossiped and slandered someone. Try to worship as soon as you just got angry with your children or spouse?

On the other hand, notice how differently you feel when you have just had to apologize to someone or did something for someone (forgiving them, buying them a gift) who "especially" did not deserve it. Man! We feel so anointed and can go straight into worship! We were created for good. To say good things.

So what do we say when someone is sick. Let that anointing arise. Speak good. Pro 12:15-19; 16:13, 24, 32

What if we are persecuted? Now we know why we need the anointing! If we find that all that comes out of our mouth is grumbling, complain, murmuring and slander, then we need to go back and seek God for the anointing. One of the strongest sign of God's anointing over our lives is when we find bad news, gossip, slander repulsive!

Read The Message Bible Mat 5:44-48

Samuel Hari © GROW BM

Sunday Re Cap (4th April 2010)

We Are An Epistle Of Christ

Act 4:33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

As we celebrate Resurrection Sunday today, we look into the lives of the early believers who had such powerful convictions about the physical resurrection of Jesus. This powerful conviction led them to witness with great power and as a result received great grace. How can we witness with such conviction? Only by BEING an EPISTLE of CHRIST.

2 Corinthians 3

³ clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

1. The Spirit of God writes in our hearts AS we are aware that we are forgiven.
   

We are an epistle of Christ everywhere we go! How? When we allow the Holy Spirit to write on our hearts. The Holy Spirit writes our destiny and puts new desires in our hearts. When does that happen? When we receive God's complete forgiveness for our sins through Christ! Heb 8:10-12

4And we have such trust through Christ toward God.

1. Faith arises as we TRUST in a growing relationship with The Father.
   

How can we trust someone? Relationship. Who makes this relationship possible? Through Christ! Joh 14:6

We come to the Father through resting in the FINISHED work of the CROSS. Christ alone brought us to God. Jesus not only took away our sins, He opened the way to The Father.

⁵ Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency
is from God,

⁶ who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

1. When our SUFFICIENCY is of GOD.
   

Note 3 times the word sufficient, sufficiency. Sufficiency in ourselves or God. One is the LAW and the other is of the Spirit.

If there is a minister of the NEW COVENANT, then there is also a MINISTER OF THE OLD COVENANT. A minister of the OLD COVENANT ministers about our sufficiency being in ourselves.

We have been called MINISTERS of the NEW COVENANT when our sufficiency is of God!

When the LAW was given, 3000 people lost their lives (Ex 32:28); When the Holy Spirit was given 3000 lives were saved (Acts 2:41)!

Samuel Hari © GROW BM