THE GLORIOUS CHURCH 2017 - Now YOU | Steve O

The is the first in a 9 part series that was preached at the 

Glorious Church, RegionsBeyond Conference 2017 held in Mumbai.

To listen to the audio ( which is in English and Hindi) Please click here

We came to India not just for the Glorious Church Conference but also for a Leadership Forum – to seek God in those 4 days. It was remarkable time. Every movement of Churches are given responsibility by God. God comes to each church.

Paul used a framing language. God is like a farmer who has great land. He breaks it up into portions and give it to different people. It is each ones responsibility for a harvest. As Regions Beyond God has given us an area of responsibility. So, we want to understand from God what we are supposed to do.

1.    There was an atmosphere of unity and caring for each other.

2.     We began to have a look at what makes us what we are – what makes us different. It’s about being faithful with what God gave us to do. When I met Heather, it was her ways, which are the things that made a passion, stir up in me. The characteristics of her life, stirred passion and created faithfulness.

3.    This is the same with the church. So, we have been looking at our characteristics.

We listed 10 values that we hold dear.

Enthusiastically Servant hearted – Jesus came to seek and save the lost.

Humble leadership – Being humble means having a good understanding of who you are. It enables us to serve and love.

Church at the heart of  God’s plans

We stand on scripture. It shapes our lives

Thrilled and motivated by grace. It is powerful. It sets us free and He reaches to us.

Empowered by the Holy Spirit. God in his grace gave us his spirit. We impact the world.

Committed to deep relationships

Embracing the poor

Devoted to missions

Intentional about our diversity. We have our diversity. God has given us something special to care for.

God has increased our area of influence and it’s all for God to be glorified.

How do we manage to be faithful with God has given us? This nation has many struggles. Every nation has its own. We are working in countries where it’s illegal to meet in Jesus name.

Rom 8 The world is groaning as it waits. Fewer people hold all the wealth in the world. Poor grow and grow. The suffering through war continues. There is a move away from God. The world is pushing against the purposes of God. Each one of us will have a different story of our own world. This is hard at times.

There is a lot of encouragement in the bible. I’ll tell you what God‘s answer is for the nations.

1Kings 16:29

Sometimes we wonder how it was for the people of God in those days- where the nation’s focus was away from the purposes of God.

David fought for the kingdom and left.

Even as Solomon ruled, he started to make foolish decisions. He allowed the nation to slide from God’s purposes. Each one after him allowed things to get worse and worse. Then Ahab was a despicable man who was not set on the purposes of God.

He married Jezebel – a Baal worshipper, built a temple to her God. He has an Ashreah pole erected. An idol for veneration. He was evil and as bad as he could get.

The world is in a mess today. And you think we where is God in all this? Is he distant and distracted or has he given up?

Actually he is very active and holding all things together. Just at the right time he acts.