Sun 2 June 2019 – Kobus Swart
Series: Love; Renewal of the Mind; Spirit, Soul and Body
(Heb. 4:12); 2 Cor. 5:17-19; NASB & MSG; John 3:16; Revelation 2:1-4 TPT; Matt. 22:36-39 TPT; Col. 3:1-4 MIRROR; (Eccl. 3:11); (John 7:38); (John 20:21); Rom. 8:19-23 MIRROR; Eph. 1:4 MIRROR; (Rev. 13:8 KJV); 2 Cor. 3:18
There are gateways from our spirit to our soul and from our soul to our body. We need to understand the importance of opening these gateways. Right in the centre of our being is the glory of God and then you have your spirit. Then you have your soul and then out to the third circle, your body. From there we are called to impact the surrounding community – not dripping unforgiveness or bitterness, but being salt and light driven by the love of God in the inner man. Ian Clayton names these gateways through which we can impact our soul from our Spirit: Prayer, the fear of the Lord, intuition, revelation, worship, hope, faith and reverence. These are the qualities that must be settled in our inner being – the spirit man. You cannot manipulate that. We need to absorb and digest a Living Word to deal with our inner man (Heb 4:12). If we do not do this to impact our soul, our soul will dominate our spirit, because in our soul are the activities that are absorbed from the spirit of the age. What goes on around us – our finances, our relationships, our emotions – will affect our mind and our mind will impact our spirits negatively.
Consider the following Scripture: Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world (the Greek word is ‘cosmos’) to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:17-19). God reconciled humanity to Himself (2 Cor. 5:19a MSG). Do we believe that God, in and through Christ, reconciled humanity to Himself? Your natural mind says that you are not so sure, wondering about all the people that hate God. Now either we believe this Scripture or we will have problems. God has reconciled humanity to Himself through Christ, and He has given us the ministry of reconciliation, not condemnation. You can only do that when the inner core of your being is full of divine love. For God so loved the world (‘kosmos’), that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). The Darling of heaven crucified, so that we can be reconciled again with our heavenly Father. Without being reconciled with our heavenly Father – the Father of all creation – there will not be fulfilment, there will not be peace in our lives.
Listen to these words like a testimonial to the church of Ephesus. I know all that you’ve done for me—you have worked hard and persevered. I know that you don’t tolerate evil. You have tested those who claimed to be apostles and proved they are not, for they were imposters. I also know how you have bravely endured trials and persecutions because of my name, yet you have not become discouraged. But I have this against you: you have abandoned the passionate love you had for me at the beginning (Revelation 2:1-4 TPT). I do believe this is a word from the Lord for us. This is a timely, ‘now’ word, because without us coming onto that frequency of divine love, we will not see the supernatural; and we are desperate to see the supernatural in many realms!
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Jesus answered him, “‘Love the Lord your God with every passion of your heart, with all the energy of your being, and with every thought that is within you.’ The church of Ephesus, after all the good they had done, had lost their first love. Do you know how easy it is to become arrogant when everything is going well? This is the great and supreme commandment. And the second is like it in importance: ‘You must love your friend in the same way you love yourself.’” (Matt. 22:36-39 TPT). Other translations say, Love your neighbour as yourself. How far are we in terms of being salt and light in today’s world? Be honest, ask yourself: do I love the Lord with all my heart, my soul, my mind and my strength? Do I love my neighbour like I love myself? This is a deep question!
In order for us to change the power of the soul so that the soul does not rule over our spirit but my spirit impacts my soul, we have to know the following: You are in fact raised together with Christ! Now ponder with persuasion the consequence of your co-inclusion in Him. Relocate yourselves mentally! Engage your thoughts with throne room realities where you are co-seated with Christ in the executive authority of God’s right hand (Col. 3:1 MIRROR). This is truth. We are seated with Christ in heavenly places. Not one day in heaven, one day in eternity – eternity does not have a beginning or an end! God has put eternity in the heart of every man (Eccl. 3:11). We are co-seated with Him, but we need to relocate ourselves mentally. Becoming affectionately acquainted with throne room thoughts will keep you from being distracted again by the earthly (soul-ruled) realm. Your union with his death broke the association with that world; see yourselves located in a fortress where your life is hidden with Christ in God! These are eternal truths, not predictions of one day – these are present truths. The exact life on exhibit in Christ is now repeated in us. We are being co-revealed in the same bliss; we are joined in oneness with him, just as his life reveals you, your life reveals him! (Col. 3:2-4 MIRROR). Until we have made this mind shift, we will not impact the world like we can and like we should. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us to digest this critical truth for the Church – the Body of Christ. From our innermost being will flow rivers of living water (John 7:38) when we have dealt with the power of the soul!
Live consistent with who you really are, inspired by the loving-kindness of God. My brothers, the most practical expression of worship is to make your bodies available to him as a living sacrifice; this pleases him more than any religious routine. He desires to find visible, individual expression in your person. This is the ultimate incarnation. Do not allow current religious tradition to mould you into its pattern of reasoning. Like an inspired artist, give attention to the detail of God’s desire to find expression in you. Become acquainted with perfection. To accommodate yourself to the delight and good pleasure of him, will transform your thoughts afresh from within (Rom. 12:1-2 MIRROR). God has a desire for you and me to put Him on display in this world – like He did with Jesus. God became visible in Jesus 2000 years ago and Jesus said, “As the Father has sent Me, so also I am sending you” (John 20:21). We need our minds renewed!
Our lives now represent the one event every creature anticipates with held breath, standing on tip-toe as it were to witness the unveiling of the sons of God. Can you hear the drum-roll? Every creature suffered abuse through Adam’s fall; they were discarded like a squeezed-out orange. Creation did not volunteer to fall prey to the effect of the fall. Yet within this stark setting, hope prevails (Rom. 8:19-20 MIRROR). Hope! Without hope faith falls apart! We sense the universal agony and pain recorded in history until this very moment. We ourselves feel the grief echo of their groaning within us while we are ready to embrace the original blueprint also of our physical stature to the full consequence of sonship. What we already now participate in as first fruits of the spirit will bloom into a full gathering of the harvest (Rom. 8:22-23 MIRROR). Do you know what that is talking about? Overcoming death into resurrection life! Glorified physical bodies; starts in the spirit, through the soul, into the body. The whole of the universe is waiting for the demonstration, the manifestation, the unveiling of the sons of God. We have to go back and come back to our original blueprint, and God has that on His mind. When was that? Long before the fall!
He associated us in Christ before the fall of the world! Jesus is God’s mind made up about mankind! He always knew in his love that he would present us again face-to-face before Him in blameless innocence (Eph. 1:4 MIRROR). A wonderful explanation by Francois du Toit: God found us in Christ before He lost us in Adam! Do you know that Christ, the Lamb, has been slaughtered before the foundation of the world? (Rev. 13:8- KJV). That means we have to break out of the time-barrier thinking pattern. We still think yesterday, today and tomorrow. In God everything is now – He is the I AM.
The entire fall was a falling away in our minds from our true identity and likeness-bearers of Elohim. So why do we need our minds renewed? We have to find our original blueprint identity. We came from God. That is all God looks at. Through the finished works of Christ He looks at us and He sees the finished product, the original blueprint. We look into the Word as into a mirror and we see not the old self, but we see ourselves in Christ – He is the finished worker (2 Cor. 3:18).
Series : Relationships; Love
Sunday am 9 September 2018 – Riaan Sinden
2 Tim. 3:1-5 (Amp); (Matt. 8:20); Rom. 8:28; (John 16:15); 1 Cor. 12:4-12, 27-31; (1 Cor. 13); John 3:16; Matt. 22:34-40; (1 John 4:20-21); Rom. 13:8-10; Matt. 5:17, 43-48 (Msg & Amp); (Jas. 1:19); Mark 3:24; Ps. 133 (Passion); John 10:10; Matt. 5:23-24
This word is all about the
But understand this, that in the last days dangerous times [of great stress and trouble] will come [difficult days that will be hard to bear]. For people will be lovers of self [narcissistic, self-focused], lovers of money [impelled by greed], boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane, [and they will be] unloving [devoid of natural human affection, calloused and inhumane], irreconcilable, malicious gossips, devoid of self-control [intemperate, immoral], brutal, haters of good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of [sensual] pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of [outward] godliness (religion), although they have denied its power [for their conduct nullifies their claim of faith] (2 Tim. 3:1-5). We are not waiting for the last days; we are not waiting for something to happen. We are living in a society completely without morals. There is a great responsibility on us as sons to get this thing right.
In this new season, as much as we love one another and love the word of God; as much as we get revelation week after week, there is an end product we need to see. When God delivers a word into this earth it is for one reason only – to bring the Body of Christ into alignment with what has already been done. The enemy has his own plan and that is to bring division. If we allow it we are putting the whole plan of God onto the back-burner. One tactic the enemy uses is he imitates what God is doing (like the wheat and the tares) but a much easier tactic the enemy uses is to sow division.
By speaking the Word to one another we extract the identity of Christ out of one another until everyone comes to that oneness and unity in Christ. It is only in a unified Body that the Head can find a place to rest (Matt. 8:20). It is in that oneness that heaven and earth meet. The enemy wants to prevent that. The enemy does not agree that we as humans are
The good news is that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). Satan cannot destroy the plans of God but he can postpone them and the way to postpone them is to bring division. God is bringing bone-to-bone connections and ultimately He is bringing us to the standard of His Son. God is building His Church and we are participators, we are not just looking on.
We all have different roles to play but we are the same Body (1 Cor. 12:4-12, 27-30). We sometimes find fault with the way somebody else does their part and we want to push the person to the side (like amputating a limb). We sometimes feel more important than another person. If we do not come to oneness, we are pushing everything to the side. The oneness we can have with Christ, and the meeting of heaven and earth are postponed. But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And I show you a still more excellent way(1 Cor. 12:31). There is something else we need to take hold of here. There is a more excellent way of doing things. In our relationships as a body, there is something we need to get right; there is something we cannot do without. In the next chapter
Even though we do not see eye to eye; even though we do not understand what another person is trying to do, if we have a relationship of love, then it will bear all (1 Cor. 13:7). It should be the most natural thing to do to love like that. God so loved this world that He gave His own Son (John 3:16).
When Jesus was asked which the great commandment of the Law was, Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’” (Matt. 22:37-39). The second commandment goes hand in hand with the first commandment. You cannot have the one without the other. Jesus was asked only one question, but Jesus explained, On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets (Matt. 22:40). So every law that was given to Moses and every prophecy ever made have to do with love – love for God and love for your neighbour. How can you say you love God and hate your brother? If you say that, then there is no truth in you (1 John 4:20-21). We are not under the law anymore, but what is the law? It is about relationships. Not committing adultery has to do with relationships. “You shall not murder” has to do with relationships. Not stealing, not coveting is all to do with relationships. Love is the fulfilment of the law (Rom. 13:8-10). If our relationships are based on this principle of love, we will make room for one another. It does not matter in how many areas we differ and how many disagreements we have, we will find that one thing that we agree on, just because of love. There is only one way to fulfil the law, and that is by love. Jesus did not come to destroy the law and the prophets but to
Maturity is walking in love with those who persecute you. It is not easy! People put up walls because they have been hurt. But love is the driving force making us go the extra mile. The only way to win somebody over is through love. It may take a day, it may take several years, but eventually
The enemy will try to bring separation and division and then we do not walk in agreement. The tongue has hurt the most people because it does not destroy the body, but it destroys the soul, the spirit. Sometimes we do not watch what we say; we are so quick to speak, but do not be quick to speak; be quick to listen, be slow to speak (James 1:19).
Any kingdom divided against itself cannot stand (Mark 3:24). If we as a kingdom community do not live in unity and oneness, we are like a pile of rubble, it is not standing. From the realm of sweet harmony, the unity of brothers dwelling together, in that God will release the eternal blessing, life forevermore (Ps. 133 – Passion). It is in the oneness and unity of our relationships, in mutual respect that God will release His eternal blessing. It is a promise of life forever. Jesus gave everything so that we could have everlasting life (John 3:16; John 10:10). Everlasting life is only available in the unity that is in Christ and through the love of Christ. We cannot have
Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First, go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift (Matt. 5:23-24). If there is a break in a relationship and something that needs to be restored, you need to go and be reconciled. You need to come to that place where the Body can work together in oneness. This word is about bringing the Body of Christ into alignment. This is serious. Do not wait for a small understanding to become so big that you cannot even remember how it started. Even if you are not at fault, go and make things right in order for you to walk in the abundance of life God has in store for you. If we, as children of God, do not live a life of love, then people will become lovers of self and become
Series: Love
Sun am 10 June 2018 – Johan Esterhuizen
1 John 4:7-12 (NKJ); John 13:34 (NKJ); Rom. 5:5; Gal. 5:6, 22-23; 1 Cor. 13:4-8; Rom. 12:3-5; (Matt. 20:28); (Gen. 2:24)
I want to talk about the theology of love. Love will make a way; indifference will make an excuse. Many people think the opposite of love is hate, but it is indifference.
Beloved, let us love one another, (this is not a suggestion but a commandment) for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us (1 John 4:7-12). A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. How must we love one another? As I have loved you (John 13:34). How did Christ love us? He gave unconditionally. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:34 – NKJ). The sign of discipleship for the world is when they see the love we have for one another.
How can we love like this? The love of God has been poured into our hearts (Rom. 5:5). When He talks about the love of God, he literally means “agape”, unconditional love. Faith works by love (Gal. 5:6). The bottom line of everything is our love walk. That is the acid test. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such, there is no law (Gal. 5:22-23).
The definition of love is given in 4 verses. This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience—it looks for a way of being constructive. It is not possessive: it is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance. Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. It is not touchy. It does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails. Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen (1 Cor. 13:4-8-Philips). Love never fails. Take the word ‘love’ and substitute your name.
The Son of Man came to serve, not to be served (Matt. 20:28). To be great in God’s kingdom you have to be a servant. You will be successful when you realize that your calling in life is to add value to others.
We think we know all about love. This is the romantic age. There are movies, books and songs about love, but the statistics are very sad. Five out of every seven marriages in Sandton end in divorce. Unfaithfulness is rampant. There are 27 sexually transmitted diseases, with subgroups. It has been discovered that when a husband and wife are faithful to each other they become sexually immune-compatible. We know this because For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh (Gen. 2:24). The Word of God is written for our protection.
The Hebrew language has 9 words for ‘love’ and the Greek has 7. To merely say, “I love you” is so inadequate.
What love is not: Love is not jealous. Jealousy can cause one to be jealous of what others have. Such jealousy left unchecked can cause destruction. Love does not brag and is not puffed up. Love restrains us from flaunting our talents and bragging about our accomplishments. Boasting can tear others down, causing them to feel inferior in comparison. Love prevents us from having an elevated view of ourselves (Rom. 12:3). Love does not behave indecently. Love does not provoke or keep an account of injury. Love is not easily provoked or offended by what others say or do. The greatest thing God has given us is love. When some get offended they have a pity party, then those terrible relatives come, bitterness, anger, revenge and unforgiveness. Love does not rejoice in iniquity.
Love covers a multitude of sins. Love never fails. There may be someone you need to release and forgive. Perhaps the relationship to your spouse or your kids is not so good. The key is to love. Take the first step, reach out, love conquers all. Make a quality decision to make a difference.