Another great morning at BCF last Sunday as we entered into an great time of worship and sensed the awesome presence of God as we released ourselves in praise and worship.
Pauline then challenged us to be a “dead” church, but not in the way most people think of a “dead” church. We must consider ourselves dead to the world and alive in Christ. Galatians 2:20 and Romans 6:6 tell us this.
Sin is an “I” problem, where we make ourselves lord of our lives instead of God.
Pauline outlined four levels of Christian growth:
1. A lot of me and a little of God
2. Some of me and some of God
3. A little of me and a lot of God
4. None of me and all of God
She then went on to show us that we must be “in” the world, but not “of” the world. We must maintain a strong relationship with God and not be afraid of being “contaminated” by the world, but be influencers of those around us. Jesus gave us this example, as did the Apostle Paul in his ministry.
Ephesians 4:22 says we are to put off the old man.
Using an analogy of a game of paintball (a war simulation game), Pauline explained how we are “legally” dead, but we have to enforce the law, We are legally dead to sin.
Romans 5:8 tells us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. An illustration Pauline used was that of a judge who had to condemn a friend, because of justice, but then took off his robes and paid the friend’s debt because of mercy. He then put his robes back on and released his friend because the debt had been paid.
Ephesians 5:25 says that Christ loves the church and died for it. Will we enter that death and live for Christ?

We had a wonderful time in our corporate worship today as the gentle presence of God came down and refreshed and renewed those who were there.

After that, Tony continued his healing series with the second of his messages.
From Mark 16:9-18, we learn that the signs and wonders follow those who believe. That is, ALL who believe, not just the 11 of Jesus’s disciples.
Healing is not instant. It is a process.
There are two ways that you can be healed. By the Word, or by the Spirit.
In Matthew 8:8, The soldier says “just give me a word and it will be done”. You then need to act in faith and have the corresponding actions (Matt 8:10,13). You need to make sure that you continue to confess that you are healed (Rom 10:9-10) and continue to stand on the Word even when you are still sick. Then receive the healing (John 8:31-32, Isaiah 53 and 1 Pet 2:24).

The second is by the Spirit (Mark 5:30). The lady touched Jesus and had an expectancy that she would be healed. She received a miracle immediately, but often healing comes by degrees and each time you touch Jesus, you get healed by a percentage more.

How to touch and receive healing:

• The Laying on of Hands - Mark 16. This is mostly for healing evangelism.
• The Anointing of Oil - James 5. This is for sick Christians at home
• The Communion Service - 1 Cor 11:23-32. This is for sick Christians at Chuch
• A Corporate Anointing - Luke 5:17. Tap into the anointing when it is there in worship.

As you begin to pray for healing, have an expectancy that God will heal you. If you receive prayer for healing by the laying on of hands, make sure you do that with an expectancy and not just because it’s “something you do”.
When Jesus prayed for people, He had an unlimited flow of the anointing (John 3:34). We have a limited flow as sin has come into our lives. However, when we pray for people, there is always an impartation. Receive God’s power and praise and thank Him for the healing that He is doing.

Have a great week this week. Be a blessing, pray for your REAP targets and continue with your SOAP readings.

Julie shared around communion today from Jeremiah 52:31-33. The basis of the message was the story of Jehoiachin, who was the king of Judah and was put into prison for nearly 38 years. He was there until the King of Babylon, Merodach came and lifted up his head, brought him out of prison, spoke kindly to him, removed his prison clothes and gave him a more prominent seat than other kings. Jesus does that for us. He lifts our head up, brings us out of prison, speaks kindly to us, gives us a robe of righteousness and then gives us access to the King of Kings.

Tony then brought us some solid teaching on Healing. Healing is secured for us in the atonement. By the atonement, we mean that Jesus died, was buried and rose again on the third day, thereby defeating the author of sin and sickness - the devil (see 1 John 3:8, Acts 10:38, 3 John:2).
Sickness is an oppression of the enemy. In Isaiah 53:4-5 we see that Jesus has borne our griefs and infirmities, or our sickness and also our sorrows, or pains.
The word of God says that you can be healed, so we need to believe that it is truth. Sickness doesn’t have a legal right to be in our bodies, so we need to fight to get rid of it.
In Isaiah 53:4 it tells us that Jesus “bore”, or took up, the sin of many. It also says that He “carried” them, which means “bear the inequities of many”. Therefore, Jesus didn’t suffer as our companion, but as our substitute.
Isaiah 53:5 tells us that By His stripes we are healed. Therefore we can say that the devil has no claim on me, nothing in common with me, nothing that belongs to him and no power over me. Our redemption is seen in the blood (Ex 12), which is deliverance from death and the body (Ex 12), which is physical strength. We have been redeemed in body, soul and spirit (1 Cor 6:19-20, 1 Thes 5:23).

Have a great week this week. Be a blessing to somebody. Walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and remember to pray for your REAP targets and continue with your SOAP readings!

Today Alan brought us a great communion message from Col 2:13-15, where we were reminded that the death of Jesus on the cross brought us freedom from death, freedom from sin, freedom from the law and totally disarmed the powers of darkness. What a great victory that Jesus achieved!
After this, Alan continued our Kingdom Living series, with the final installment of the series entitled “Don’t miss the Kingdom now!”.
We were reminded of the principles we have learnt so far in this series:

1. Influence our community and impact our world
2. Keys to the Kingdom
3. The Kingdom is like…
4. Kingdom Economics
5. The Church and the Kingdom
6. Embracing the supernatural
7. Walking in the power of the Holy Spirit

The Kingdom of God is a NOW thing!
There are three things that we can do to make sure that we don’t miss the Kingdom now.

1. Lay the right foundation

Jesus did miraculous things. But His disciples didn’t ask how to heal the sick, raise the dead or stuff like that. The disciples requested “Lord teach us how to pray” (Luke 11:1). Jesus had access to the same power that we have. He spent time praying, He was always going to pray. That was where His power came from. In Matt 6:9-10, we are to pray heaven down to earth. Pray the power into our lives, pray for the power of the Holy Ghost to be released through us.
In order to lay the right foundation, we need to have:

• Intimacy with God. Have an intimate relationship with God.
• Praise and worship. More important than your shopping list.
• Praying heaven down to earth
2. Maintain a sharp edge

New Christians are on fire. They have a sharp edge. Maintain that, don’t get blunt. Matthew 13:14-15, John 9:39. When you loose your edge, you get a fuzzy vision of Christ. If you slip into a routine, you may miss the Kingdom of God. He doesn’t change, but He is always doing new things. To maintain a sharp edge:

• Desperation for God. Find out what God is doing. Get desperate for God. We need to recognise our need for God. We can do the usual stuff without God, but we need to passionately pursue God.
• Feed our love for God (Rev 2:4). Honour God, pray, develop an intimacy that feeds our love for God.
• Keep our vision fresh. Ask God what our role is in the Kingdom. Continually ask Him and ask Him for passion.
• Feed off one another. Spend time with other people and dream big. Allow God to refresh the vision, refresh the passion.
3. Don’t eat yesterday’s manna

In Ex 16:15-16,19 the Israelites are told to eat all of the bread today. Mat 6:4 tells us to live by the word of God. Listen to what God is saying today. Receive the current revelation today.

Avoiding Yesterday’s manna

• Listen for the current prophetic word. Listen for the current thing that God is saying to the church now. In Amos 3:7, we see that God does nothing without revealing it to His prophets first.
• Go with what God is doing today
• Honour the heroes off the past, but don’t cling to past methods. Just because the methods that “heroes” of the past used worked, doesn’t mean that they’re good today. We need to make sure that we don’t put the heroes of our movement, or people who have done great things for God on a pedestal. We honour them yes, but don’t put them on a pedestal and don’t assume that they way they achieved their great work for God will be the way God does it again.
• Remember the experiences of the past, but don’t restrict God to them. Don’t restrict God to what He has done in the past. Be ready to go with what He is saying today.
• Avoid the “religious spirit”. Don’t put God in a box. A religious spirit will never take on the fullness of God, or walk in the fullness of God’s spirit. Often God moves and then we make a “religion” of it. We need to make sure we don’t put God in a box, and continue to move and be open to God.

The future Kingdom and the Kingdom now are the same Kingdom. The only difference is when we choose to experience it.

We can go on living a life defeated, a life in weakness, without the power of God. Or we can choose to experience the fullness of God’s Kingdom now. We can choose to walk in the authority now. We can choose to experience the power of God now.

Choose the Kingdom of God now. It is a NOW Kingdom! Have a good week and be a blessing to others!