Spiritual Gifts.

James 1:17

1 Corinthians 4:7, Spiritual Gifts.

2 Timothy 1:6, Spirit of power, love and self-discipline

1 Timothy 4:14, don’t neglect the gift that was given to you.

Worship the giver, not the given. The Lord our God is the giver, the father loved the world so much that He gave Jesus Christ. John 3:16.

Jesus came into the world to save the sinners, he took the heart of stone and replaced it with the heart of flesh, now by the grace of God, and we are able to obey the Lord, give Him glory. God loved and God gave.

We live in a world full of so many religions, the question is.. Which one is the perfect one? If you ever look for a perfect religion and you find one, then join it, it will become imperfect, because you yourself, you are perfect.

Ephesians 4:11. It’s God that gives the spiritual gifts to prepare the people of God for works of service so that the church would grow.

1 Corinthians 12: 4, Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

We serve a God who gives gifts, what a wonderful God we serve.

Hew gives the gift of the Holy Spirit, its also associated with the promise of the father. 

Acts 2:38, repent and you will receive the gift of the holy spirit, He empowers you to carry out the work of the Lord. 

Acts 1:4, Wait for the gift my father promised.. John Baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy spirit. He gives you the power to be a witness, power to live a Holy life, power to do the work of the Lord. 

Don't despise the gifts of the Holy Spirit, 1 Thessalonians 5:20, Grow your gift, so that it will be used to build the entire body of Christ. As God to reveal to you what He has deposited in you by the way of gifting, by the way of talents and He will let you know.  

Use your skill, your talent, your ability for the Glory of the Lord. The gift you have is form the Lord.

God has put in you something, discover it, find it and use it for the Glory of the Lord. You need to practice your gifting so that you can discover it, grow it. 

You never know you can do something until you try it, you need to find it out, peruse it,, 

How do you know you are gifted?

• Believe that you have a gift, act it out, stir it up, grow it

How do you sustain your gift?

1. Prayer: Pray without seizing for its the will of God in Christ Jesus Concerning you. 
2. Word of God: You need to read the word of God, read it, hear it, believe it, practice it and your ministry will continue to grow, the Lord will sustain you. Everything you need to know about God, is revealed in His word, everything you need to know about life, the devil and so much more is revealed in the word of God. 

Acts 2:4. they were all filled with the Holy spirit, they spoke in other tongues and the Holy Spirit gave then utterance. The lord will always do His part, just do your part. Pray without seizing. 

Sunday Post~Power of Prophesy

The power of Prophesy is in the word that comes after all that you know. 

1 Corinthians 1:2

The Wisdom of men will not be enough.  There are three kinds if wisdom ;

Wisdom of men
Wisdom of demons
Wisdom of God

I came to show you that Christ is real "To make Jesus real and known"

As believers,  we don't have to be surprised when miracles happen, because they will follow you.

As a believer,  you are supposed to walk in the supernatural above the ways of the world.

You just have to be a believer in Jesus Christ to live the supernatural.

When your faith connects to the power of God,  then miracles start to happen. 

There are conditions that politics/politicians, good speeches or governments can't help,  but only the power of God can change. 

The power of God is in the church of Jesus Christ. 

You can rise up to do exploits in the name of Jesus, rise up and begin to work in the power of God. 

As long as you are a believer,  you can demonstrate the power of God. 

Show that the God you believe is a miracle worker.

Tell people about God and demonstrate Him.  The only way to make Jesus real is to demonstrate His power. 

People want solutions,  and u can't blame them,  they will go to where the answer is. 

May there be an awakening in this place.. In this church. 

God wants to stir up your spirit,  He wants to bless you to walk in the power of the Lord. 

Don't fear to walk in the power of God. 

Acts 8:4-8
Preach Christ,  if you want to see the power of God.

Your message about Christ will be believed if they hear and see. Phillip preached and demonstrated. When they hear the message and they see the power of God. 

Don't only stop at speaking,  let the power of God flow to touch people.

What is impossible with man,  is possible with God. 

The purpose of Miracles

Miracles affirm the word of God
Miracles glorify God
They prove that God is real. 
Miracles build faith
Miracles bring people to Jesus
Miracles are symptoms of faith
Prove the intense presence of the Holy Spirit. 
They disqualify the devil

Sunday Post~Following up on new believers

Discipleship and followup process

What consists of making disciples

Mathew 4:19 ~ Follow me and I will make you fishers of men...

1 - Discipleship involves following by the calling of Jesus.

When Jesus saves you, things in your life are put right.

Jesus call us to be members in the kingdom of God

2 - Discipleship involves a leaning processes, keep learning from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Mathew 11:25 -29 Come unto me all ye that are burdened.. you shall find rest for your soul.
When you learn from Jesus, you learn his character. He wants to change your character, identify

We also learn the work of Jesus, which is saving people. We have to get involved in the work of saving people.

There is room to put things right, Jesus preached to all categories of people.

We must learn from Jesus regarding the secret of his power. John 3:33&34.

God poured His Spirit on Jesus in full capacity, whatever Jesus did, He did under the anointing of the holy Spirit.

Its by the power of the Holy Spirit that you will be able to succeed as a Christian. 

3 - Discipleship also involves following up the people who get saved. 

John 5:14, Jesus was doing a followup, of the man who was healed.

John 9:35

We need to follow up people to understand the challenges that people go thorough, so that they can be helped.

As you testify of the Grace of God, there are people who will not be happy with you, but keep on, stand up for Jesus and testify.

Why do we follow up?

1. To comfort new converts
2. To encourage new converts
3. To give hope to the converts. Etc

4 ~ Discipleship also involves a growing processes.

God wants us to grow.

The joy of every pastor is to see that the church he leads is growing, from faith to faith, from glory to glory, from strength to strength.

We need to grow despite persecution.

Growth can take place when there are things pressing you, finances, health, anxiety, stresses, but those are the good soils for the growth if your faith. Keep up hope, don't let go.

Remember that in all challenges, you are more than a conqueror.

Pray that your Faith may not fail.

With Jesus interceding for us, we shall make it, we shall grow in the grace of God.

Sunday Post-Empowered to Witness

When we partake of the Divine nature of Christ, we become empowered to become witnesses for Christ. Similarly, when we receive baptism in the Holy Ghost, we are only plugged in to be more efficient and effective witnesses of the Lord Jesus.
When we go out to witness, we ought to do so in all confidence because He who we are witnesses of, has all authority in not only heaven, but on earth too. In addition to all this, He promised to be with us until the end of time.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. This should be move motivation to witness and proclaim the word of God to His people' because, they will gain knowledge about this Faith, and consequently accept God's love through faith in Christ Jesus.

1 Tim. 2:3-4 - God wants all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. That is His plan.

Rom.10:10-14- When we proclaim the gospel, people will hear, they will then believe, accept and confess Christ as their saviour and Lord.

Matt. 28:18-20 - This is our calling, to make others be what we have become: It is God's Spirit that empowers us to do all this.
We were not only sent and empowered but also have been given an assurance of Gods presence. This should give us zeal to reach-out and proclaim the gospel.

Col.4:5- Be wise. Use every opportunity to be a witness in not only in what you say, but what you are as well. (your lifestyle). One day what you witness will materialise in the lives of those whom you have witnessed to, for the word of God does not return to Him void.

Sunday Post-Being A Witness

Let your testimony be right because we are a part of the body of Christ and we have witnessed Him in our lives. Acts 1:6-8.

Begin from where you are to prove that you are God's witness. The Holy Spirit moves us; 1 Peter 2:11-12.

Though you have been accused of doing wrong, may those around you see the good in you because you are His image and your body is His temple, lets portray what the Lord has done in us.

We shall receive power from God through the Holy Spirit and the same power shall transform those around us we shall proclaim the Lord's greatness.

As we preach the word of God during this crusade week, let our evangelism impact the society by the power that He has bestowed in us. The same power that He promised us, to those who have received Him.

Pray that the Lord will take all those that will touch and hear your word because the voltage power in you is overwhelming, its beyond any humankind power.

All that the Lord did in Jerusalem we have witnessed, for us to fulfill our purpose on earth is to portray what we have witnessed in the Lord.

Lets pray in deep faith to witness more of the Lord's greatness and thus portray His will. It is the power of God that reveals to you the wrongs you have committed.

As we repent our sins, its the power of the Holy Spirit that convicts us. Lets use the power of the Lord to confess our sins and deliver those around us from the hedge of sin.

We are "live wires" to the society so lets pray to the Lord to empower us to prove His witness in us.

Pray the Lord empowers you with the Holy Spirit to declare His greatness in you even during the crusade week.

Sharing the gospel of the Lord with others

Why you need to share the gospel

1. God Commanded us to 
2. All are lost - Romans 3:10, All are lost, man fell short of the glory of God. When preaching, don't point fingers accusing people of there sins, tell them about the solution of God for their sin. 
3. Sharing is God's chosen method to preach the gospel. Only the redeemed person can tell, Romans 10:14-17, How will they hear without someone listening, how will they know if they are not told. 
4. God desires to save all people. Acts 4:12, there is no name given to men, other than Jesus for which we can attain salvation. 2 Peter 3:9, The Lord is not slow to achieve what He says he will. 1 Timothy 2:4, God wants us to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. 
5. Someone once came and shared the gospel with you, freely you receive and freely you give. We benefit if they know if there is forgiveness of sin. Isaiah 43:23. The forgiveness of sin is available and God forgets about all our transgressions. Romans 8:1 

Benefits of getting saved.
There is healing of the soul when someone gets saved. Luke 1:77

Tools to use for evangelism

1. Love, show them love, then u will gate to them about Jesus Christ
2. Your Bible. We always have to reference the word if the Lord 
3. Talking, we need to learn how to talk in order to sell our product, Jesus Christ. 

Luke 24:47, This repentance and forgiveness must be preached allover the world, should be preached to all nations.
At the end if everything, our goal is to bring people to the knowledge if Christ.
Isaiah 1:17, Come let us discus, though your sins are at red as scarlet, I will make them as white as snow.

Use your tolls effectively as we go out to preach the gospel, when have to understand our intentions.

PRAYER AND FASTING GUIDE~#LetMyPeopleGo

PRAYER AND FASTING GUIDE

23rd August	·         Ask God to open their spiritual eyes (2 Cor. 4:4). The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ·         Ask God to give them ears to hear (Matt. 13:15), For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.' ·         Ask God to give them faith to believe (Acts 20:21 have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.
25th August 2016	·         Pray for the lost to be saved according to the will of God (I Timothy 2:1-4; I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. I ·         Pray for a witness of love to be among the brethren and for the lost John 5:13-15 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. ·         Be merciful to those who doubt; Jude 1:22
26th August 2016	·         Pray for God to use us in the harvest (Isaiah 6:8 Mathew 22:9; Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.
27th August 2016	·         Ask God to give them the will to respond (Rom. 10:9). Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ·         Ask God to send people into their lives to witness to them (Matt. 9:37-38). then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
28th August 2016	·         Pray for the door to be opened for the preaching of the gospel (I Corinthians 16:9; because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me. ·         II Corinthians 2:12 12 Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord, ·         Pray for there to be power for witnessing (Acts 1:8; But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” ·         I Corinthians 2:4). My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, ·         Pray for boldness to share the gospel (Acts 4:29-31; Ephesians 6:19). Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel ·         Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. ·         Pray for unity among believers (Psalm 133:1-3 How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe.  It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them Matthew 18:20). Pray for wisdom among believers (Proverbs 11:30; The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and the one who is wise saves lives                                                                                           ·         Daniel 12:3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.
29th August 2016	·         Ask God for boldness to witness the Word and nothing else Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction (Acts 4:29). ·         Ask God for an opportunity to invite them (Luke 14:23). ·         Ask God to set them free from spiritual captivity (2 Tim. 2:25-26). Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
30th August 2016	·         SPIRITUAL WARFARE AGAINST SPIRITS AS LED OF GOD – EPHESIANS 6: 10-18
31st August 2016	·         Pray for the backsliders to have the ability to receive the grace of God. ·         Pray for the backslider may have lived very immorally, and it is sometimes hard for him to imagine the Father ever wanting him back. Pray that he would be able to receive the Father’s love and forgiveness. ·         Pray for the Lord to pour out His riches when the backslider returns. ·         Pray that the Lord would lavish His love on the backslider and pour out blessings of every kind—spiritually, emotionally, physically, and financially.

Deep Launch into Evangelism

Evangelism is the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ by words, deeds, signs.

Evangelism can be done through the 3Ds:

1. Develop/friendships, get out of your comfort zone and start making connections with people
2. Discover stories, tell your own story, testimonies, etc. 
3. Discern, 

Acts 8:4-8, Acts 8:26-40

What should I do?
Proclaim Acts 8:4-8
Rom 10:14-17 How will they hear?

Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words

Acts 4:12, there is no other name
1 Timothy 2:5 One  mediator
Acts 28:18-20, Mark 16:5, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

Its a command and responsibility to preach the word of the Lord.

1. It might disrupt your normal routine
2. God is preparing the hearts of the people he is prompting you to share with Acts 8:27-28. You might never know what God is doing in somebody's heart. 
3. It takes efforts, Philip ran up to the chariot. Do you understand where you are heading? God brings several opportunities every day, we should use them. 
4. Begin where you find them. 
5. Its not a one time, one week event, but Evangelism is a lifetime work. Acts 8:36-40, Keep on. 

SundayPost~Stay Focused

Stay focused, don't take short cuts, otherwise what you loose might be more that you can take.

Genesis 16

Sometimes out hearts convince us that what we are doing is innocent, but the message you are selling out does not indicate that you are innocent.

As God saved us, there are things He expects from us, He expects us to keep in the right walk of life.

When did you encroach on parameters not designed for you?
Genesis 16:3, Hagar was not supposed to go in with Abraham, even though she was given to Abraham.
Hagar was available, vulnerable, easy to access. Be aware of vulnerable looking women.

Genesis 3, When Eve saw the fruit, she saw it was;

1. Beautiful
2. The fruit looked good to eat

Beware of looks, not everything that looks good to eat is sweet. 

Make a decision

You are not exempt from attack, temptation, run for your life, don't stay there and negotiate. 

Things that are not you're are not yours, leave them alone. You don't know the consequences of getting off the direction of life the Lord has placed you on.

Be wise, anything that attracts you when the Lord compels you not to go, but you insist on going ahead, then He let's you go on your own.

Proverbs 7:10
Keep on the straight path of good conscience.

Before taking up an action, ask yourself what your motive is.

Jesus was tempted in all ways, but didn't fall short. 

Life and death is in the power if the tongue.
Counter temptation with the word of the Lord. Its you to pull out the sword of the spirit and fight for yourself.

Growing in Discipleship

Our aim as the Church should be to make disciples and not converts,  that we shall equip new believers with tools to help them grow.

1st Thessalonians 1:1-10

Paul wrote the epistles as letters. Read them carefully as a whole.

Sometimes the only crime we commit is to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ,  to live for Christ.
Just like Paul,  Silas and Timothy, we need to be united in vision and purpose.
The gospel was designed to advance in teams.

The apostolic team
The insiders -  the people of that city whose responsibility was to spread it on inside.

The first thing Christ did was to make a team - not because He was weak and helpless but that they could be with Him,  see and learn and pass it on after He left.

Are you part of the team that's spreading the Word ?

Do not walk alone or do ministry alone,  the Devil will give you a knockout!

Salvation is not a journey to walk alone. It's an individual decision,  but you need a team after the decision is made,  to teach you and strengthen you.

Ecclesiastics 4:9-10

Unity is key in advancing the gospel. We have created labels as Anglicans,  Pentecostal etc but the most authentic label we walk around in is we are children of God John 1:12

Faith produces work.  Work produces action.  The work is reaching out to the lost souls.

How am I going to use this platform of being an engineer,  doctor,  business man etc. to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom?

Romans 1:5

We must be aligned with the will of God, His agenda and purposes.

Genesis 12:1

It required faith for Abraham to go to a place he didn't know. Hebrews 11:8

If God has given us all these things,  let us not live in fear and panic like the people of this world.
Non believers enjoy seeing us live upright lives.

We have been blinded by the things of this world.

Do you love your neighbours enough not to let them go to hell?

As we share the Gospel,  we must base on convictions that are rooted in the scriptures not wishful thinking.  Go read the scriptures yourself. Acts 17:11

The winds and waves will come strong!?  Do you have your feet deep in the Scriptures to stand?

We must have people to imitate,  to teach others how to walk with Jesus.  Make your life open.

When we evangelise,  we get a convert,  we shouldn't stop there.  Jesus told us to make disciples who are well established . Converts cannot be leaders!

We have been called to know Jesus and make Him known,  to be fruitful.  Most of us do not live our lives to the fullest.

This is how we can grow in our understanding of the Word of God

Hear the Word
Read the Word
Study the Word
Memorise the Word
Meditate on the Word. 

Sunday service should not be the only time you hear the Word!