Communion this morning was a very simple message from one of our recent SOAP readings. The purpose of the blood is to allow us to be clean from sin. We need to confess our sin before God so that we can come into His presence because he desires for us to be close to Him, intimate with Him. Just as the Israelites could not celebrate the passover and come into God’s presence if they were unclean (Num 9), neither can we. We have to deal with our sin, confess our sin, then we are free to come in to God’s presence and celebrate the blood of Jesus.

Alan then brought us a back to basics message, speaking from Ephesians 1 and Ephesians 2. In Ephesians 1:15-17, we see Paul praying God’s will for our lives. God wants us to have wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him and to know Him intimately not know about Him.
In Ephesians 1:18-19 we see how God enlightens our heart and gives us revelation. We have hope, which means certainty that what is in the Bible will happen. We anchor our lives on this hope. We are God’s inheritance - Jesus purchased us. We have an immeasurable greatness of His power toward us. The power that raised Jesus from the dead is now in us - Rom 8:11.
Jesus now sits at the right hand of God, in the position of authority. We need to get revelation that:
- Jesus is the name above all names. (Eph 1:21)
Eph 2:4-6
- We are seated with Christ. This is a legal position because I am “in Christ”.
- We are seated at the right hand of God, in a position of authority
- To have dominion here on earth.
We have an eternal hope, an eternal inheritance, but also the power to do good works while we are here. We are created to do these good works that flow out from our walk with God. (Eph 2:7-10)

In the evening, Alan again brought us an excellent message with some good words of wisdom for us all.
Mat 3:1-12 describes the beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist. Even at this early stage, John walked in some great revelations. He had a revelation of repentance, which is a turning around and results in change in you. John also says that the gospel is for everybody, not just the Jews when he tells the pharisees and saducees not to rely on being descendants of Abraham, but to show fruits worthy of repentance. He also had a revelation of the baptism of fire and the end of the age.

John then went into the desert, in God’s timing and began to preach. The people were drawn to him because of the annointing of the Holy spirit.
As we read on through John’s life and ministry (John 3:22-30), we read how his joy is now complete because he has done what God has called him to do (John 3:29).
However after this, we read in Luke 7:18-23 how John has lost his revelation that he had at the beginning of his ministry. He sends two of his disciples to ask Jesus whether He was the coming messiah. John shouldn’t have had any disciples. Maybe he hung onto his ministry longer than he should’ve. We need to learn from John and not hang onto our ministries too long either and sometimes we need to leave what we know and walk into something new. We also need to know that just because we have a revelation in the beginning, doesn’t mean that we will walk in it all the time.

Perhaps John had the revelation, but saw it through the parameters of his expectations. The people at the time were expecting the messiah to be a mighty military or political person, but rather Jesus came as a humble peasant boy. The way God did it was outside the parameters of the way John expected it to happen. When we see the next move of God, it will happen outside the parameters of our thinking and God will do it His way. We need to be ready, waiting, looking outside the parameters of our own expectations.

We need to be prepared to lay aside what we understand about our ministry, but hang on to the revelation we have been given about ourselves or our ministries.
We need to allow God to go beyond our limitations, expectations and understanding.

God is about to do something awesome in our church and community. Hang on to whatever He’s given you and watch God move sovereignly in unexpected ways as we all rise up and take up our God given authority in our different areas! Keep praying for your REAP targets and doing your SOAP readings!

Carol today brought us an excellent communion message, as she always does. She told the story of a boy who bought a cage full of birds that had been trapped by an old man. The old man was only keeping the birds to be cruel to them. The boy gave his brand new coat and all the money he had to buy the birds. Then he set the birds free. Of course the old man represents satan and the boy represents Jesus. Jesus gave all He had and set us free. Before Jesus, we are like the birds, trapped in a cage, held there for no specific reason except that satan is cruel and loves to torment us. It was a great reminder of what the cross is all about.

Tony then took us on a journey in the book of life and talked about finding our life purpose. Chapter one is our salvation, water baptism and being filled with the holy spirit. Chapter five is when we are in heaven. Chapters two, three and four are up to us to write. Christ has called us according to His purpose and grace (1 Tim 6-9). We need to focus on the things of God as we move through the chapters and stir up the gifts as we do that.
1 John 2:12-14 describes the stages:
1. Children. Here we are receiving, we don’t persist in the gospel, we church hop and have short attention spans.
2. Young men. Young me do what they have learnt.
3. Fathers. Fathers give. They sacrifice, spend time, they invest and persist in reproducing.

The church is responsible for reproducing churches. Everyone is responsible for producing somebody who can take over from them. Don’t take the anointing to the grave.

Pauline followed this up in the evening with 7 words that will change your life. Duet 30:19 tells us we can choose life or death, blessings or curses. The 7 words from Mat 6:19, “Not my will but yours be done” are words we should live by. We make a choice to do God’s will or our own. Staying in God’s will will bring about change in your life. As we move through the chapters of the book of life, we have to choose to move onto the next level. We can choose to be children and be continually receiving, or we can choose to become young men and apply what we’ve learnt, then become fathers and begin to sacrifice and reproduce ourselves. Life is a choice and God wants to use us to touch people’s lives. To do this though, we need to stay in the center of God’s will and listen to the Holy Spirit.
Ask God daily what He wants you to do. Pray that you make the right choice!

As you move forward through the chapters of your life, make the right choices. Stay in the centre of God’s will and you will move from a child, to a young man and a father. Obey the Holy Spirit, go out on a limb, because that’s where the fruit is!
Doing your SOAP and praying for your REAP targets will help this process! Keep up the good work!

We had another great day today at church! In the morning, Alan expanded on some of our SOAP readings from the past week. Exodus 19 shows us God’s heart’s desires for us.
God’s desire for us:

1. Exodus 19:4 - He wants to bring us to Himself.
2. Exodus 19:5 - He desires us to be His treasured possessions. He values us and sent His son so that we could be His treasured possessions.
3. Exodus 19:5 - He wants us to be part of His kingdom.
4. For us to have access to the King. He has given each of us access to the King, through the blood of Jesus.
5. To be holy to the Lord.

Before God gave the Law to Moses, God revealed the desires of His heart for the people. Discovering the heart of God and walking in covenant relationship with Him will help you to be Holy. It is not a matter of adhering to the Law or any other man made laws. We rest in the completed work of the cross and walk in holiness through Him (1 Pet 2:4-5, 1 Pet 2:9-10)

As we walk in Holiness, we can see that God’s promises for us are:
Exodus 23:24-27

1. He will give us the basic necessities of life
2. He will give us a healthy life
3. He will give us a fruitful life
4. He will give us a full life
5. He will give me a victorious life

In the evening, Alan continued where he left off this morning. He expanded on Holiness, using Exodus 30:22-32 as the starting point. Here we read that the oil was sacred and holy and used to annoint the priests and the holy implements. Holiness and annointing are inseparable. The pathway to annointing is Holiness. In Exodus 40:9-15, we see how the implements in the temple were annointed, then consecrating them made them Holy - they were set apart for God’s purposes only. Jesus was sent to earth and was set apart. That is why He was annointed (Luke 4:18-19). The degree of annointing you walk in will be in direct proportion to how much you set your life apart for Him.
Exodus 40:30-35 is where the tabernacle is set up, set apart, then (v 34), the glory of the Lord fills the temple. As we prepare and become ready, the glory of the Lord will fill the temple. Set your life aside for God, use the gifts and talents He has given you and His glory will fill you. We already have the annointing (2 Cor 1:21-22), we just need to walk in it and see a greater release of what He has already given us.

Whatever task God has given you, He has already annointed you for. Seek the release of the glory of God as you fulfill what He has called you to do!

Keep up with your SOAP readings and keep the names for REAP coming in!

WOW! What a day. There was an air of excitement around our people today as we launched REAP! REAP is a strategy for evangelism and growth in the Kingdom of God. REAP was birthed at our Thursday prayer days and is going to be the catalyst for church growth in 2007.
REAP - REVIVAL: Evangelism And Prayer. The idea is simple. We write down the names of people who we are willing to pray for. We pray daily for the salvation/recommitment and discipleship of these people. We pray for opportunities to share our faith - and be willing to share as these opportunities arise. Each person listed as a REAP target will be prayed for by name at our church prayer meetings. These don’t have to be people who will necessarily end up at BCF. If you missed the services today, make sure you watch the REAP video, get your REAP fridge magnet and most importantly, your REAP form to fill in!

Along with REAP, we also looked back on where we’d been as a church in the last couple of years and where we’re headed. We were reminded that our vision, based on Eph 4:11-16, calls us to preach Christ, make disciples and release ministry. We aim to release ministry to the church, to the community and to the world. We also commissioned some leaders into the Children’s and youth ministry. Wearne and Kylie will be heading up Kids church and Julie will be heading up the youth ministry.

In the evening, Carol continued on the REAP theme. She reminded us that we need to work together as a team, we need to listen to the leader and be members of the “church” team. As team members we need to be open to new ideas, tuned into the vision of the team and have lives that reflect the fruits of the spirit. We need to keep an outward focus and be willing to take risks for God as the Holy Spirit leads. Don’t waste time doing what doesn’t fit into the vision.
The church team needs to go out, take Jesus to the world and REAP!

How are your SOAP readings going? The communion message today was based around our SOAP readings from yesterday. Alan shared how we need to have faith that the blood has been applied to our lives, just as the Israelites had to have faith that God would pass them over if they applied the blood to the door posts and lentils in Egypt.

Keep pushing on with your SOAP readings. God will do amazing things in your life if you diligently seek after Him and read His word.

SOAP and REAP! What a year God has in store for us!