Julie today gave us a communion message based around Heb 12:2-3. We need to consider all that Jesus went through and keep our focus on Him, running the race and not looking at our feet.

Ian Richardson then continued this message. He spoke from Phil 3:12. We need to make a choice to move forward. We choose how to respond to everything that happens to us. Living in victory is not about what happens but how we choose to react. The decisions that we make will determine how we view and live our lives.

If we fail to make the right choices, they can become a stumbling block. We can get stuck in the past and make decisions based on the past - ie the filters of the past and how we reacted to those things.
We need to press on toward the goal - not looking at our feet.
How do we do that?
1. Forgive - Phil 3:13 “forget what is behind means “not allow the past to hinder you from moving forward”. The heaviest load we can carry is unforgiveness (Eph 4:27). Carrying unforgiveness gives the enemy a foothold.
FOrgiveness doesn’t mean that don’t feel the hurts. You don’t “get over stuff”, you move on. Just because you forgive doesn’t mean that you trust that person again. Trust is earned, not forgiven (John 2:24).
Forgiveness and trust are not synonomous. Thinking of unforgiveness helps us understand forgiveness. Unforgiveness means wanting payback. Let go of the debt you think they owe you. Forgiveness is the choice to let go of the need for restitution.
It doesn’t mean that you have no hurt or that you trust that person. Until we choose to forgive though, we won’t overcome the hurt. Don’t allow the past to hinder you.

2. Don’t look down. Don’t look at your feet. Look at where you are going. Focus on what is before and glance at what is behind. As a church, we need to focus on what is ahead. We need to let go of the past and embrace what is ahead. We need to embrace the future with hope and anticipation.

Have a great week! Keep your eyes on Jesus and what it is He is going to do in your life.

We had a great time of worship and communion today and God’s presence was there in an amazing way.
After that, Tony talked about the new creation message.
In Heb 10:14 it talks about our legal position. Legally, we are perfect. But our actual condition is that we are being made holy.
Rom 1:17 tells us that God reveals His righteousness to us. We get righteousness from God. We can’t keep God’s laws, they don’t make us more holy.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul has to tell the Corinthian church to behave. How does he do it?

He starts off by telling them that they are holy, called to be together and sanctified. He praised the positive. Paul taught them strongly on their position in Christ.
“Know what you are before you try to be that”. Humanity needed to die. On the cross, our humanity died, it was crucified.
Revelation comes from meditation. Meditate on the word of God. Know who you are in Christ. Know it and believe it.
Romans 10:9 tells us that salvation is confessing and believing. Justification is having our heart right. Salvation is everything Jesus won for us on the cross, when he died and when He rose again.
When Jesus died, He gave us a new self image. We need to decide that the Bible is true, then believe it. If you feel bad about yourself, go and see what God says about you. Confess what God says about you because it is so, not that you want it to be so.

We have Christ in us, love is in Christ, so we have love in us. We have patience in us because we have Christ in us. It’s all in there, but we need it to come out. Begin to confess that you are patient, that you have love etc and let that come out. Let the stuff that covers the patience be removed and let that shine through.

Read Col 2:6-10. Keep that in mind. Make a decision to believe it. Don’t ask for more of God, we already have all of Him.

Just believe that!

Rob today gave us a good message on encouraging one another.
He encouraged us to encourage one another and encourage ourselves and to exercise our authority.
We are to become sons. Sons talk about having authority.
Once you turn 30 in the bible, you are declared to be a son and able to exercise delegatable authority. We are sons and Jesus gave us all authority - then He told us to go.
Jesus has given us authority to heal - we need to exercise that authority. We need to say “In the name of Jesus be healed”, not “please be healed”. Babies, or children in the Lord say the latter.

We need to be careful of what we say and start to speak positive words. We need to resist the devil. We don’t have to fight him, just resist him.
We are more than conquerors - you’re only a conqueror when you’ve already won. (1 John 5:4 - We have overcome the world.)

In 1 Samuel, we read about Jonathon. Jonathon was a man under God’s authority. Johnatohn went up to the enemy and he attacked them. God has called us to exercise authority over th enemy. We need to resist the enemy who blinds the eyes of those we want to see come to Christ. We need to give the enemy a hard time all the time. God isn’t going to do it for us - it’s our job and we have to exercise authority. It’s our job to enforce the victory that Jesus won for us. We need to resist the devil, especially in the mind. (2 Cor 10:4-5)

We need to take hold of everything that God has given us. We have got everything we need from God, we just need to go out and use it. We need to encourage one another, take our thoughts captive and see the victory.

Phil today gave us a short overview of the Lord’s prayer from Mat 6:1-15 and Luke 11:1-4.
God wants us to know that we can talk to Him. The disciples saw something in the way Jesus prayed and they wanted to know how to pray like Him.
The most important thing you can do is pray. As you pray, differences between others will begin to fade away.
* Don’t pray like the hypocrites - pray on the inside, from the heart (Mat 6:5).
* There are 3 enemies to prayer: Noise, hurry and crowds.
* We are to pray daily - Jesus says give us this day our “daily” bread (Mat 6:11). God speaks in the still small voice. He’s always economic with His words.
* Elijah prayed once - the baal prophets prayed all day. They thought they could wear their god down. Don’t pray like them, don’t pray to be heard.
* Address God. He is our father. He is hallowed (Mat 6:9). He is Holy. He is our provider. We hallow His name by getting involved in the things that His name represents. Claim the operation of His name in our lives.

Have a great week and practice the prayer tips!

We had a great time of worship this morning. There was a nice relaxed atmosphere and there was a freedom there to worship God.
Mike then brought a great message on building a good foundation. As we build the church, it needs to be on a good foundation. One of those foundations is love. The body works together. It can’t exist without the rest.
Fishing nets knot together to form a net. We’re like a net, we need to be knotted together. We need to be work together in unity. It is easy to turn on each other and not work with each other.
John 13:34-35
You need to love one another.
The law is fulfilled in love. Agape. Seeking the highest good of another at all times. Love is the expression of appreciation of others. We are born of love, we should practice love.
It’s more trouble to be something that we’re not than something that we are.
1. Love one another. It is the building block of our lives, our motivation. It needs to be a constant habit, not just an occasional passing phase.
2. Christian maturity in leadership - you need love to be your primary motivation. It takes time to grow. Transformation takes time.
Seek the highest good for everybody else. Love needs to be the motivation for our perceptions, speaking and actions.
By love, we are known as His disciples. It says that “all men will know”. Love the body - we are one body.
When Jesus started moving in love, people came to Him. People were drawn to Him, people were sent by God.
God sends people to love, not where there’s no love. We are the people who send out God’s love.

Look at our own heart and actions. If we don’t judge ourselves, God’s judgment will come upon us. There are consequences to our actions. We should be the same way with others as Jesus is with us.
Gal 5:13-15. Through love, serve one another.
Loving a person you don’t get along with is the biggest challenge.
The greatest credibility we can have is loving one another. Eph 4:16

Have a great week. Respond to the challenge of reaching out and loving somebody that you don’t get along with.