Redemption to the Nations Church

Our trajectory of thinking must be higher than the expectation of defeat because joy is a promise for the believer. To transform our thinking from defeat into joy, we must not be conformed to the patterns of this world, which celebrates the I. Like a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly we must go through the struggle of the metamorphosis to be transformed into what God desires us to be. When we go through a spiritual metamorphosis nothing can cause us to go back to the person we used to be. To become who God calls us to be we must transform by a renewal of our minds. We must be renovated by the works of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. The Holy Spirit will begin the renewal process but we must continually cooperate and allow God to transform us by illuminating and influencing our minds.

How we think determines how we live. Our greatest potential threat is our mind when we think destructively. Likewise our greatest potential blessing is a healthy and proactive thought life. To develop a healthy thought life, we must have the ability to identify and decipher toxic from healthy thoughts. We must identify self exalting thoughts, for pride is a silent destroyer. We must also know self-destructive thoughts. When the mind is boggled with fear and inadequacy it is important to agree with the adversary. Yes, we might not be enough, but our God is. Lastly, we must identify critical thoughts; thoughts that always find problems but never bring solutions to the table. A healthy mind is summed up in Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."

Spiritual blessing ran in Timothy’s bloodline, resting on his grandmother, then his mother then him. Blessing, according to Exodus, always trumps a curse. God will punish to a third and fourth generation, but his blessing will be inherited even to a thousandth generation. As with earthly laws of inheritance, there are also spiritual laws and legalities of spiritual inheritance. We inherit spiritual blessing by being engaged with the Holy Spirit. We inherit it by being the children of God and belonging to him, as our parent. We also inherit spiritual blessing as laughing heirs, inheriting riches we didn’t even know we could claim.

Ancestry.God

The flood scrubbed the earth of life, but it could not scrub it’s sin away. The first Adam sinned and after him, every descendant was born a sinner. But the son of God became the son of man so that the sons of man can become the sons of God. When Jesus Christ, the last Adam, hung on the cross, he proclaimed “it is finished.” With his proclamation the molecular DNA changes in every human who dies to the first Adam’s family to be born again into the last Adam’s family.

Recovering from a Rift

Jesus’s last words were “make them one as you and I are one.” There is power in agreement. Yet offenses seep continuously into the heart of the church. Jesus cautioned for the sun to not set in our anger. When not dealt with quickly, a small weed of offense grows into a tree of trespassing unable to be dealt with easily any longer. Trespasses are violations against the Word of God. Jesus instructs to deal with offense privately instead of publicly. Traps are organizational offenses designed to set someone to fall. A trap is a snare waiting to enslave anyone to wanders inside. Yet the psalmist proclaims, “he delivered me from the snare of the Fowler,” and today is still the day of deliverance.

The people were of one accord when the Church was born on the Day of Pentecost, is written throughout the Book of Acts. The Book of Acts is not merely a biography. It is a blueprint. It is a paradigm of what our encounters are to be like today. Yet, we increasingly reserve to building the church with our specs and our own drawings. We abandon the blueprint. We package and market God, polluting his power and reducing his glory to make him more accessible. We need to make God known. For that, we must move in one accord. Casting away our offense and bitterness, with forgiveness and love, we must come together as a crescendo in a symphony made of many different instruments strung together to create one glorious sound.

God doesn’t always keep us from fire. Instead, he comes into our fires and stands beside us. Three Hebrew children were cast into the fire bound, but when King Nebuchadnezzar looked, he found four loosened and unharmed. As to those who were casting Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendego into the fire, the fire in our lives will bring punishment to our enemy. The fires in our lives remind us where our protection comes from and shows unusual manifestations of the presence of God. And as with Shadrach, Meshach, Abendego and their God, whom the King commanded the people of the land to honor, the fires of our lives bring promotion in the aftermath.

Bible Stories

The accuser approaches the throne of God with glee. Justice stands with multitudes of evidence supporting her claim. But today, on this Easter Sunday, mercy takes the witness stand. “Is anyone willing to pay for the sins of humanity?” she asks. The Lamb who died and rose stands up. And suddenly, the piles of evidence are no longer relevant for the blood of the Lamb covered every sin ever committed. “Because he died no one can accuse,” declares mercy. Because he rose again he holds the power, for the power of God is resurrection power. “Not only are you forgiven, but you will have abundant life,” proclaims mercy. The same Spirit that resurrected Jesus is now resurrecting us over and over again so that joy can flow out of us like streams and rivers throughout the globe.

Special Guest

If Christ is the King of the Kingdom, and we are its chosen citizens, then the Bible is the constitution. This constitution shows the heart of the King. This constitution gives us authority. This constitution hinges on “seek yee first the kingdom of God.” It often seems as though we are merely wanderers trekking through battlefields of the war waged against us, often grazed by its greatest weapon, fear. But we are not wanderers. We are citizens, and as citizens, we have the right to the Kingdom’s protection. The constitution declares the heaven has an army of angels who “shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.” The constitution says that all day and all night angels are watching over us. The constitution promises that the King himself watches over us as we are sleeping.

David destroyed Goliath not because he was stronger than all other men in an army, and Gideon was named a mighty warrior not because he was the bravest. God looks for those who are willing to risk it all. Gideon defeated an innumerable army when he followed God into the enemy camp with only 300 men who held jars instead of shields and trumpets instead of swords. To risk it all is to be war ready. A war ready warrior may not show skill and talent, but proves a reliable and faithful spirit. To risk it all is to know where we are called to stand, even places we would never venture to on our own. There is a type of courage that comes down only when we walk behind enemy lines. To risk it all is to know that God is our weapon.

In Matthew chapter 16, Jesus begins a conversation about identity by asking his disciples who they think he is. In establishing our identities, God does not first ask us who we are, but who God is. It is first in knowing who the King of the Kingdom is, that we began to know who we, the citizens of the Kingdom are. Peter responds with “you are Messiah, Son of a living God.” This, Jesus declares to Peter, is not a revelation of flesh and blood, but the Spirit. Jesus finishes the conversation by revealing Peter’s identity as one that the “gates of hell cannot overcome.” In knowing who our King is, we know who we, the citizens are. We are the “ecclesia,” people appointed to go throughout the city importing the Kingdom into its streets.

During the Roman occupation the emperor played god to the oppressed Jewish nation. Religious traditions replaced spirituality and spiritual leaders became appointed by political connections. It was in this atmosphere that John the Baptist stormed through the scene, preaching “repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!” God was not intimidated. He established his Kingdom right beside the gates of hell as Jesus died to rise as the King no king can stand against. The kingdom of God is built on vast territory, for “all the earth is the Lord’s” proclaims the psalmist. In this Kingdom the citizens are not identified by inferior identifications. They have no inferior ethnicity, race, or status, for they are all called children.

Walking in marriage without the one who created it is walking in chaos. Unlike what religion has dictated since its infancy about marriage--that a woman must live in the shadow of a man--marriage is actually a partnership. It is a dance in which both learn to lead and both learn to follow. The heartbeat of marriage is rhythm. Marital rhythm is found when emotional, spiritual, and financial rhythm find their places inside a marriage. Marriage is compromise and a union between two parts. Marriage was created at the same time as humankind, for the essence of marriage is love.

Marriage is not a construct of society, but of God. Marriage brings us companionship, is a spiritual revelation of Christ, and grants us co-dominion in the heavenly kingdom. There comes a time when it becomes impossible to complete our destinies alone. When it does, we are not called to change our spouse, but to accept him or her as a gift given to us by God. Attacks on marriage are bound to come for the enemy hates when couples operate in unity and love. Strife is the foothold that keeps the door open for the enemy to freely enter marriage. We must evict it. Boundaries are intended to bring freedom, not limitations to marriage. We must set them. There must be no hint of sexual immorality in marriage, and we must always practice accountability, for although respect is free, trust is earned.

In the Hebrew Bible, sacrifice always involved transformation. Sacrifices burned. The Levitical instructions for burnt offerings forbade separating the offering into parts, but required the whole animal to burn on the altar. In our complacent, lukewarm society, there are some things that are not optional. We cannot serve God without fire, and fire requires constant tending. The fire of God will never come down on our lives until every dream and every ambition is put on the altar to burn. One either dies to oneself or in oneself. To walk with God is to die to oneself; to be transformed by fire and brought into a new life. To keep the fire burning we must tend what God sends. This will cost us everything. But in the end it is worth everything.

God is no respecter of persons, but a respecter of pursuit. Many times we miss out on revelation of God’s mysteries because we are unwilling to bend down and lean in. We are unwilling to tap into God’s heart. Like Israelites we know God by his acts. But it takes the pursuit of Moses to know God’s heart. Revelation comes through speaking in tongues of the Holy Ghost. Speaking in tongues edifies us by building our faith. It glorifies God in languages not always known to us. Clarifying tongues help us see ahead and declassifying tongues reveal the secrets of God by giving directions to questions the flesh cannot answer. The Holy Ghost is not a tormentor but a helper, a revealer. It reveals God’s mysteries to those who tap into the Father’s heart.

“Remember me,” prayed the thief on the cross. Prayer is legality. It is access to the threefold God. In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus instructs the crowds with “when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites,” and “when you pray, go into your room and shut the door,” and also “when you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases.” Prayer is not for the applause of an audience. Prayer is wrestling with a bear and a lion with only a flock of sheep for an audience. Likewise, it is prayer that kills giants. Prayer is a pathway to blessing, for heaven, remembering a prayer, moves.

Ephesians 1:3 is the only place in the scripture to use a single word in three different grammatical functions: blessing as a verb over us, blessing as a noun for us and blessing as an adjective to describe us. Like a crown on a king’s head, may January through December of the new 2019th year be encircled with the goodness of God. Do not despair if the old year passed with storm winds still blowing. Perhaps there is blessing in the rain that destroys our houses built on sand. When we bless God by praising him not because of what he will do for us, but because he is good, God cannot pass without ‘crowning the year with the favor of the Lord’.

Let us sing a new song at the end of the old year because God has helped many of us face and conquer new trials this year. Let us sing a new song because God’s promises cannot come back void. May we remember what God has done for us this last year and praise him for what he will do in the upcoming one. Let us sing a new song at the end just as we do in the beginning.

For four hundred years heavens remained silent. Complacency, religion and spiritual silence descended over pre-nativity Judea. Like Zechariah and Elizabeth of Luke 1, we often find ourselves in a dichotomy. Being faithful, we often feel like flounders, while holy we live with hopeless hearts and although committed we are convinced we are conquered. Like Elizabeth, we call ourselves barren, mistaking God’s silence for a negative verdict, not realizing that sometimes silence simply means not yet. Our prayers don’t evaporate when our faith for them does. Like a bowl of incense they withstand years before the throne of God, waiting for the day when faithfulness transforms into favor.

There was great joy was in Samaria, a city once paralyzed with demonic spirits, when the scattered children of God began preaching deliverance under the anointing of the Holy Ghost. Pastor Kevin Wallace finishes the Revival Apologetics series by describing a scene of deliverance in Acts 8:3-8 where demons came out of people with loud shrieks. When God moves, chains began breaking and their clash sometimes creates temporary chaos. Evicted, the devil often manifests in screaming. There is no need to fear, however. When Jesus Christ delivers he brings freedom. And suddenly great joy breaks throughout the city.

Saved to call heaven our home, often like Lazarus summoned from the grave, we are not free from the grave clothes to feel it. Continuing with the Revival Apologetics series pastor Kevin Wallace explains freedom and deliverance in Jesus Christ. Like the people “vexed” in Luke 6:18, God’s precious sons and daughters are attacked, tormented, and stolen from. All the while they are taught by religion to “take it in the chin” for we all suffer. But Christ the Deliverer is here! We don’t have to wait until heaven to feel joy.

What does it mean to fall out in the spirit or what is actually happening when we speak in tongues? To some this is a foreign concept, but we must put aside the basic fundamentals of the gospel and begin to experience and learn the many baptisms of God.

There's a war going on over your house. There are also wars going on over houses of worship. What kind of house are you going to live in? Are you going to be like the house of Saul or the house of David?

God came down and divided the Earth in an act of confusion to keep them from building an illegal kingdom. God will keep people who want to advance their own agendas and create confusion.

God is love. His goodness is often shown to those that don't have it all in order. Favor is coming on your life. We don't deserve any goodness or favor, but it's because God sent his son, Jesus, to rescue and save us that those who claim Him as savior will be shown his love and favor.

Special Guest

After we are saved and are born again we become ambassadors through Christ. How hard are we working to make it difficult for people to go to hell? For the rest of our lives, we need to make it hard for that to happen.

11:45AM

9AM

Pastor Kevin shares what God has been speaking to him about getting not only his personal house (body) in order, but preparing ourselves for the outpouring if His spirit. In order for us to receive all that God has prepared we need to cleanse ourselves of sin so when the rain of his blessing begins to flow.

God has called us all to serve. We must be servants before we can be promoted. Pastor Kevin shares that Philip was a servant and had a deep passion for others and when the time came he became an evangelist, but it wouldn't have happened had he not served others first. Even while in leadership we must always keep the needs of others before us.

Culture of the House

Pastor Kevin continues the discussion of the culture of the house. The church is usually the last place to adapt to change because we know that God never changes, but if we are going to be who we say we want to be, then our methods will have to change.

Pastor Kevin discusses what the culture of the church is. You can say what you want to be, but are you living it out? There must be a voice that declares what culture the house will be, there must be buy in, and then the demonstration of that vision.

We all need relationships. God created us to be relational. First, to have relationship with God and second, with one another. If our relationship with Jesus is messed up, every other relationship suffers. The will of God for our lives is to be connected with people.

Jacob's life was one of a rollercoaster. He walks with God one day and turns his back the next, but we see that God is always faithful and there is no greater Father than Him. God reminds us through the story that he is both Father of Jacob and his new and better side, Israel.

Special Guest Speaker, Pastor Tony Suarez

Who are we in Christ? 6 members of the pastoral team take 8 minutes each to declare what and who we are in Jesus.

You have an assignment and responsibilities. Discovering what those are is sometimes realized in figuring out what we are not supposed to be doing.