Searching for Answers

Edited version of Sunday 13 September live steamed service. Hosted by Brandon, Worship with Prisca and ministry with Craig. Psalms 139 & Romans 8 featuring Good good Father

Breath of God

The third person of the triune God, the Holy Spirit, coequal, coeternal with the Father and the Son.

Gen 1: 1-2 (Raghaf)

Deuteronomy 32:11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, so the Lord spread out his wings and took him, he lifted him up on his pinions.

The creation apologetic is then the first evidence of the Spirit of God being associated with the creation activity.

John 1:3 Through him all things were made,

1 Tim 2:5 From the beginning He was the mediator

Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God

Psalms 104 When you take away their life’s breath, Spirit

they die and return to dust.

 

Spirit, wind, breath and mind

Exodus 14:21 strong east wind

Num 11: 31 a wind went out from the Lord

Gen 3:8 – The wind of the day

 

Gen 2:7 breath of life or lives

Job 19 “My breath is offensive

combines the two to moving air

it is always God’s gift

The sense here is that The Spirit is a life giving energy that God alone possesses permanently by His own nature.

 

Welcome by the Davids Family

Worship with Grace Live featuring: Dwelling Places, Spirit of God, Uthando

Ministry with Craig

John 5:26 – “For just as the Father has life in Himself, so to the Son

prototype of Jesus.

Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn (Prototakos) over all creation.

Ephesians 3:16 –

to be strengthened with power through His Spirit

Thus the emphasis is not on the kind of life but on the Source of Life.

So also it is written, “The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL.” The last Adam is a life-giving spirit.

In His Image

Introduced by Lynette Kube

Worship by Lucia, Joshua and Vaughan

Garment of Praise, Come Hole Spirit, King of my Heart

Message by Craig: In his Image

Genesis 1: 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness

As one who is perfect, God is the only being in the universe who can be completely delighted with   himself without being arrogant or sinful in any way. The best way for God to delight in his own perfection is to behold his own image.

This oneness will become reflected in creation through the covenant of Marriage.

Humankind was created male and female. Only as humans relate as a community made up of male and female is the image of God reflected. Male and Female He Created Them’:

immediate consequences of the Fall

  1. Enmity with the spirit of the Serpent!
  2. Pain during childbirth and being ruled by the husband.
  3. In toil you will eat of it, All the days of your life.

They ended up multiplying the distorted view of humanity.

But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac,

Eph 5 : 21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands

25 Husbands, love your wives

30 for we are members of his body, 32 This is a profound mystery

This has to do with leadership in the home.

The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; 26But you are not to be like that!(Jesus)

Phil3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven.

you are all children of God through faith

The old has gone, the new is here!

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

 

Dwelling Places

Intro by Gary Kleinveld

Worship with Lucia, Vaughn and Joshua

Dwelling Places and So will I

Dwelling places: a picture of the Kingdom

We’ll take a peak at the beginning, the Davidic Monarchy and Solomon’s court

(Isa 11.9)

Lost in translation: an example from Hebrew Alphabet

Aleph beit–בראשית and Tav:

There is always a desire to build a house for His presence Yet there is no place created by us that can house Hims.

John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

  1. Under the reign of Solomon, we witness a type of precedent to Christ’s kingdom expression on the earth, reaching its fullest extent to date.

Deuteronomy 17 , 2 Samuel 7

the prophet Nathan & David

  • The play on the word house and “Name.”

the promise of God and David’s response

the covenant formula; “Israel has become your people and you have become their God” (verse 24), which finds its final expression in the eternal city of God (Rev.21.3).

God’s Presence

There were two kinds of reign for a king – reigning in battle and reigning in peace.

Solomon’s very name is derived from the Hebrew word for peace, shalom, more than the absence of war.

  • Kingdom celebration and multiplication:
  • Kingdom peace:
  • Kingdom life:
  • Kingdom mission:

The Davidic monarchy ushered in a period of great worship. Solomon built a magnificent temple.

God is king of all the earth(Ps.47.7),

How Do We Experience God’s Reign?

The Lord is King, His kingdom is here and is coming in Glory. What we experience now in part, will be completely established in His return. So we pray, Let your Kingdom Come Oh Lord.

From Death To Life

  1. The power of the Letter

2 Cor 3:3 revealing that you are a letter of Christ,

not based on the letter but on the Spirit,

Jer 31:34;

“I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds. I will be their God and they will be my people.

for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

7 But if the ministry that produced death—carved in letters on stone tablets—

8 how much more glorious will the ministry of the Spirit be?

  1. The Glory of Progressive Revelation
  2. What was veiled
  3. The ministry of the Spirit

Mar 15:38 And Luk 23:45 because the sun’s light failed. The temple curtain was torn in two.

Mat 27:51 The earth shook and the rocks were split apart.

  1. And what more shall I say?

These wonderful acts of the Spirit, demonstrated the glory of the Lord and his willingness to use men and women to unveil his Power to mankind.

  1. But it is our greatest enemy He came to conquer once and for all.
  2. It is the Lord who commends his servants.

39 And these all were commended for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised.

 run with endurance the race set out for us, 2 keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up.

In conclusion:

2 Cor 2:15 For we are a sweet aroma of Christ

Legacy of Love

 

 

 

If recent world events have taught us on the Historical scales of justice. They are hinge moments,
Mankind has always thought that we can control outcomes and shape our desired or preferred future.
Our Father is not threatened by those who oppose us, for He loves them too. His is willing to scatter us for the sake of the Kingdom for we are His seed after all and His cry gets louder with every generation,
Whom shall I send? What do you see?
Is greatness a mere measurement of the sum total of our success?
So let’s take a look at these three things:
1. Leaving a mark: This is shaped by our actions rather than our words.
2. Shaping a Legacy: This is how history will judge your life’s effort.
3. An Inheritance: What you leave behind for future generations

Firstly, Leaving a mark: This is shaped by our actions rather than our words.
Matthew 21:28-32 that story concludes with these words:
For John (the babtiser) came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe. Although you saw this, you did not later change your minds and believe him.
Gen 2: 8-11
.
Gen 4:3 At the designated time Cain brought some of the fruit of the ground for an offering to the Lord. 4 But Abel brought some of the firstborn of his flock—even the fattest of them.
The Hebrew term מִנְחָה (minkhah, “offering”)
Verse : 6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why is your expression downcast? 7 Is it not true that if you do what is right, you will be fine? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it.”
Romans 3:20
The Mark he leaves on us is the Mark we make in the World.
Secondly Shaping a Legacy: This is how history will judge your life’s effort
Proverbs teaches us: That we should teach a child in the way they should go, but to remember that even if they part from it, it will not part from them, my paraphrase.
Legacy is not how you start, it’s how you finish and how you’ll be remembered.
Finally: Our Inheritance: What you leave behind for future generations by being willing to pay the price today!
The very famous line from a Tennyson poem titled “In Memoriam A.H.H
penned by a Jewish Spaniard in the 11th century of the common era :
Tis a Fearful Thing by Yehuda Halevi
Death then, is a point of convergence of what is human with what is holy.
This reveals the true nature of love. When we love, we risk our hearts greatest fear, to lose what we’ve loved. Love merges what is human with what is Holy.
My heart knows love, thus my heart knows pain!
Like an image of the horizon, constantly before us appearing to be within our grasp we find that we cannot reach it for it is always just beyond.
It is a fearful thing to love and a holy thing to be loved by Him.

Last call before

Pentecost Sunday 2020

This is a remembrance of the way we used to gather.

The last call is our last sermon before Lockdown.

Gal 1: 1-5 The centrality of teh finished work of the Christ

Gal 2:15-21 We all have a past and an ethnicity

We are called because we called on the name, let’s finish what we’ve started.

Pauls plea to the Galatian churches to stay the course.

The worship is a reflection of our people, using photos they had submitted wnd some video clips from our welcome to Grace video to the songs:

We come alive in the river, Uthando – Come Holy Spirit-Where you belong –

 

Darkness into light

Welcome by Brandon and Lynne: Jesus walks on the water

Revelation Song: by Vaughan

Dealing with blindspots in the Faith in the context of second Temple worship and systems.

Paul’s journey from Destroyer and persecutor to Proclaimer of the Faith.

The impact of Stephen’s execution on Paul’s message.

The Jerusalem churches focus compared to the church in Antioch.

How our cultural and spiritual history affects our view of others and,

Ultimately how the Lord always took relationship over temple worship.

 

Dream Beyond Confinement

Genesis 37

The Story of Joseph

Dreaming, believing and Sharing.

How did Joseph’s Dream become the revelation which governed his heart.

How confrontation led to conflict, conflict of conviction when not convincing his family led to his life of confinement.

Stripped of freedom, sold into slavery, falsely accused, imprisoned and forgotten, positioned him in a moment of convergence into his destiny.

How his faith in God did not waiver, despite his circumstances and put him in a position to redirect the history of his people.

Success in diffrent when viewed from the vantage of Eternity.