Today we had a really great day at church. There was a laid back, relaxed atmosphere and an awesome presence of God.

After our time of worship and communion, Alan continued his series on The Kingdom, talking about the church and the Kingdom.
The Church and the Kingdom are different things. The Kingdom speaks of citizenship. We are citizens of the Kingdom. Phil 3:17-20 tells us that the Kingdom is a supernatural Kingdom. We live in the supernatural realm now and we are meant to live out of the spirit realm now. We bring the influence of the power of God in our world. We release the power of the Spirit through us. As we allow the Holy Spirit to touch us, it allows us to influence others around us. We touch heaven and change earth.
To do this though, we need to live supernaturally, living by the Kingdom principles, under the protection and provision of the King. We need to have an eternal perspective.
The church is the agent of the Kingdom. The Kingdom is to be established through the church. Jesus loves His church and He bought it with His own blood (Acts 20:28). God has a high purpose for the church (Eph 3:10-11). We must have a purpose and vision which is greater than ourselves. We must apply this greater vision to the church and ourselves.
The church is a spiritual body and has a mandate/responsibility and authority to establish the rule and reign of Christ.
The main objective of the church is to re-establish the Kingdom. Implied in this is that the church must grow. Growing though, is not the ultimate goal. It is influencing our community so that we advance the Kingdom, see transformation in our community and through the outworking of that see the church grow.

Unfortunately the rain meant that we had to postpone our day in the park today. So after our morning meeting we had a great sausage sizzle and time of fellowship where the relaxed atmosphere continued.

Have a great week this week. Be a blessing to somebody. Pray for your REAP targets, keep up with your SOAP readings. Have fun and let the joy of the Holy Spirit influence the world around you!

This week some of our members had been attending the Open Heaven conference that was on in Bendigo. There were some awesome, holy moments spent in the presence of God at the conference and it was great to see that presence of God in our meeting today. If you weren’t there, you missed out.

After our time of worship, we heard from Colin Mitchell, who was visiting us from Swan Hill. Colin spoke on 1 Tim 1-11. As we go about our lives, it is easy to loose touch of reality. It is easy for us to take our eyes off what is really happening and get caught up in everything that is going on around us. In 1 Tim 1:1, Paul reminds us of who God is. God is our saviour. He wants us to be part of His family. Jesus is our hope. God gives us grace, mercy and peace. God gives us more grace, peace and mercy than we deserve. He withholds His judgment and what we really deserve because of His presence. Then He gives us peace in His presence. We need to allow what He’s given us to effect the way we live today.
To live the way God wants us to, we need to love from a pure heart, from a good conscience and from sincere faith (1 Tim 1:5).
Purity of heart is a heart not weighed down by sin and guilt. It’s impossible to love God and people in the way we should when we are weighed down by sin and guilt. We also need to let God have our whole heart. We can’t have a heart for sin and a heart for God. We need to love God with a pure, undivided heart.
Love from a good conscience doesn’t mean that you don’t do anything wrong. It just means that you know how to put it right. Come to God and tell Him what you’ve done wrong and put it right. Keep a short account with God.
Love from a sincere faith. Faith in not the absence of doubt, but rather the ability to trust in spite of the doubts. Doubts are like a skeleton in the cupboard. Bring the skeleton (or doubts) out into the open and allow God to put some flesh on it. Sincere faith is a faith that doesn’t wear a mask.

As we bring love from a pure heart, love from a good conscience and a sincere faith, we will be able to do God’s work.

Have a great week this week. Walk in the presence of God and be a blessing to those around you. Keep up your SOAP readings and keep praying for your REAP targets!

Today Alan talked about the Economics of the Kingdom.

In Matthew 6:19-21 we read that the Kingdom of God is where our heart is. Our actions flow out of our heart. Money is essential in the Kingdom, but it is there to serve us, not the other way around. (Mat 6:24).
If we seek the Kingdom of God first (Mat 6:25-33), then we can expect that everything else that we need will be added to us - food, clothing, shelter etc, because we are subjects of the Kingdom. Our King provides everything we need, so long as we stay within the Kingdom principles.
In Jeremiah 29:11 we read that God wants us to prosper in life, but we must live by the principles of the Kingdom. We must remember though, that prosperity isn’t material things and can’t be used to measure our spirituality.
Kingdom prosperity is having the resources to do the work of the Kingdom.

Principles of Kingdom Economics

1. The Tithe

The tithe existed before the law, was written into the law and was confirmed by Jesus to apply after the law.

• Leviticus 27:30-32, Genesis 14:18-20. Abram was the first to tithe and tithed before the law existed.
• Genesis 28:20-22 Is the tithe under the law
• Malachi 3:6-12. They robbed God by not giving their whole tithe. If we tithe, God will rebuke the devourer. We need to bring the tithe into the local storehouse and then we will get food from the house. That means bringing your tithe into the local church, where you fellowship and giving it there. Then you can expect to be fed spiritually.
• Mat 23:23 Tithing in the new testament, under Jesus is still required. He says that you still have to do the other things, like mercy and justice, but He reminds you not to forget the tithe.

If you are not tithing, you are not living in Kingdom Principles and will not be experiencing the blessing of God. If you honour God with your tithe, He will meet your needs.
Tithing releases God’s promise to bless us materially and protect our prosperity.

2. Generosity in giving

The Kingdom principle of giving:

• 2 Cor 8:1-4 - Out of their poverty came rich generosity. It’s the heart attitude behind the giving. It is a privilege to give and we should enjoy it.
• Requires us to give sacrificially. We may have to give something up.
• Places God’s riches in our hand, not so we can accumulate, but to give out
• Starts with an attitude of heart
• Ensures we have all we need for the work God has called us to do
• Ensures we have not only bread to eat, but seed to scatter. God wants us to have seed to sow, not always to eat and consume. We need to come to church so that we can sow seed and feed others, not just for what we can get out of it. (2 Cor 9:6-11)
• Is an acceptable offering to God. (Philippians 4:17-19)

Kingdom Economics is based on giving and receiving, not buying and selling. It’s a different economic mindset to the worldly mindset. (Luke 6:38)

Are you tithing? Are you giving generously? If you walk in the economic principles of the Kingdom of God, you put yourself in the area of Kingdom blessing and God will honour that. Have a great week and give generously!

This week Alan continued our Kingdom Living series.
In Matthew 3:1-3, we read about John, who came to prepare the way of the Lord and announce the arrival of the Kingdom of God.
Ever since the arrival of John the Baptist, the Kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing (Matthew 11:12). We must aggressively and intentionally pursue the Kingdom of God and seek to see its influence impact our world.
In order to do this, we need the power of the Holy Spirit so we can do what He’s called us to do (John 14:16-17). We must aggressively and intentionally pursue the fullness of the Holy Spirit to empower us to fulfil our Kingdom assignment.

The Kingdom of God is within us (Luke 17:20-21). So what is the Kingdom of God like? We turn to Matthew 13 to find our answers to this question.

The Kingdom of God is like:

• Sower sowing seed (Mat 13:1-23). Some will reject it. Some will fall away under persecution, some will allow the cares of life to choke it, some will accept and continue in it. We must remember that we are not responsible for people’s hearts, but that we just have to present the message of the Kingdom.
• Wheat among weeds (Mat 13:24-30,36-43). The Kingdom will grow concurrently with evil and God will judge the wheat and the weeds. Our job is to grow amongst the weeds. We need to be out there, presenting the gospel, growing amongst the weeds.
• Mustard seed (Mat 13:31-32). It starts from a small beginning and will grow slowly and consistently. It will be the greatest Kingdom because greatness is already in the seed. Our job is to start with whatever we have, no matter how small it seems and allow it to grow to its full potential.
• Yeast in dough (Mat 13:33). The Kingdom will permeate whatever it comes into contact with and will spread quietly throughout the world. Our job is simply to be who we are, where we are and allow the Kingdom to permeate our world through us.
• Treasure in a field (Mat 13:44).
• Pearl of great value (Mat 13:45). The Kingdom is worth everything we have. Our job is to be willing to pay whatever price God asks of us to fulfil our unique role in the Kingdom. All our ambitions, hopes and plans we need to surrender to God.
• Net full of fish (Mat 13:47-50). We are menat to be a good fish, swimming with the bad fish, influencing the other fish around us.

Are you being an ambassador for the Kingdom of God?

Today Alan continued our Kingdom Living series. We began in Matthew 16:19. Jesus will build the church, but He has given us the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Keys are for unlocking and there are two keys to unlocking the Kingdom. We need to understand that it is a Kingdom based in the spiritual realm. We also need to realise that we have the authority to create in the spiritual realm and that this will affect the natural.
However, whenever authority is given, it goes hand in hand with responsibility. You can’t have one without the other. Determine your sphere of responsibility before you step out in authority.
In Heb 1:8, the scepter speaks of authority. Therefore, the authority of the Kingdom is established in righteousness.
Rom 14:17, 2 Cor 5:21, Rom 1:17 and Rom 3:21-22 all talk about righteousness. Your authority is based on what Jesus did on the cross and not whether or not you kept all the laws and were “self righteous”. Righteousness is not legalism.
Phil 1:11 tells us that God wants us to show forth the fruit of righteousness. It’s Christ in you, shining forth, allowing God’s presence to be there. It’s about living responsibly in the world around you and impacting the community.
Our Kingdom responsibility will be expressed in bringing righteousness, honesty and justice to our community. As we do this, we will influence our community and impact our world.

Have a great week. Walk in righteousness, continue with your SOAP readings, pray for your REAP targets and be a blessing!