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.

The Whole cousel of God| Abdullah J

This message was preached  by Abdullah Jamal at Word of Grace Church on January 15th, 2017. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here

For continuing to do what God has called you to do, you need faith and strategy. God spoke to Joshua and promised to give him the place where he put his feet. But he did not sit idle. He sent spies out to check out what Jericho looks like.

Prayer is also very important in being strategic in what God has called us to do. Can I encourage you to make the prayer-time before the meeting very important? You will be amazed at how God speaks! People will get healed. Prayer is the engine room of the church.

It’s a new year, 2017- we have all made some plans to do this or that. Some of us have big plans. Where do these plans feature in Gods big plan and picture? Paul was concerned with God’s big picture and proclaiming it. In Acts 20:27 he makes it clear saying “For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God”. He believed that is people understood this people will understand Gods plan for the world.

In chapter 20, when Paul was entering Ephesus, he asks if they received the Holy Spirit. They received the Holy Spirit, prophesied, spoke in tongues, etc. He spoke about God being in the midst of his people. Paul was with them for three years. That big picture changed the course of the life of Timothy, Titus etc. Paul was travelling to Jerusalem. He calls the elders of the church of Ephesus. He is reviewing what he had done with them. He said he did not hesitate to preach the while counsel of the Word of God.

Life is not about our little world. It's about the big picture. We often think of God only on relation to our needs, our forgiveness etc. It's not like that. There is a vast plan and God chooses you. It’s not about becoming more religious or self improvement. We are not called to live a life of defeatism. It's about Gods eternal glory. In the trials God is working out a plan.

1.      All God’s promises are fulfilled in Jesus: When Jesus comes back he will judge sin and evil and he will bring righteousness and peace. What does it mean to understand the whole counsel of God? The promise on Adam the seed will defeat Satan. In Abram the nations will be blessed. In David he will always have someone on throne. All these promises are fulfilled in Jesus. These promises don't stop there. We are new creations and we inherit these promises.

2.      The Promise of the Temple: We need to understand that there is a promise of a temple. It's a place where God dwells with his people and to receive their worship. PJ Smyth explains this. From space where he hovered over the whole earth, to the garden....  and finally to us- God met with man in Jesus. Now he lives in us. What a privilege! We did not ask for this. God chose to do it for us. This is reason enough to worship. He lives in is individually and in us as a Church.

3.      The promise of the kingdom: Jesus said that the kingdom of God is near. In the garden of Eden, the man and woman were given authority to rule over the earth. After the fall, Satan was called the king of the air. When Jesus healed and drove out demons it meant that the kingdom of God was there. That is not the end of the narrative but just tasters that are revealed to us.

4.      The Promise of Salvation: the story of how God will save and redeem his people. there is a need of sacrifice to atone for sin. All the nations were going to be blessed due to Abraham’s sacrifice. In Isaiah 53:10- “Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.” Victory was anticipated through this. He will see his offspring. That’s the victory we see in Jesus. 

The very next chapter in Isaiah invites the nation to come into the good of the everlasting covenant. Jesus served his proud and ambitious disciples right before becoming the lamb of God. he finished for what he has come, he conquered death and rose again. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. We can now approach him in the confidence in the blood of Christ, the name of Jesus.

We cannot do this on our own. We need the spirit of God to understand the big picture and figure out our part in it. We are called to be the vehicles for his kingdom. We are called to be heralds of Jesus Christ. And to do that we need the Holy Spirit. 

 Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.