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Posts Tagged ‘Pharisees’

YOU NEED A GOD ENCOUNTER!

Posted in Church, Equip the Saints, Preaching messages, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on September 8, 2013| Leave a Comment »

SPRING BREAKTHROUGH #2PM Spring Breakthrough

You can have religion….   OR     You can have a God Encounter.

Jesus reacted strongly against religious people.

–         you know, the people who put on a good show.  (God show)

The message bible puts it so well …

Mat 3:7  When John realized that a lot of Pharisees and Sadducees were showing up for a baptismal experience because it was becoming the popular thing to do, he exploded: “Brood of snakes! What do you think you’re doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to make any difference?

Mat 3:8  It’s your life that must change, not your skin!

Mat 3:9  And don’t think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as father. Being a descendant of Abraham is neither here nor there. Descendants of Abraham are a dime a dozen.

Mat 3:10  What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it’s deadwood, it goes on the fire.

Or what about this one….

Mat 6:5  “And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?

It gets better, look at this….

Mat 15:7  Frauds! Isaiah’s prophecy of you hit the bull’s-eye:

Mat 15:8  These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their heart isn’t in it.

Mat 15:9  They act like they’re worshiping me, but they don’t mean it. They just use me as a cover for teaching whatever suits their fancy.” (MESS)

Jacob the grandson of Abraham in the book of Genesis had a God Encounter.

Gen 32:24  And Jacob was left alone, and a Man wrestled with him until daybreak.

Gen 32:25  And when [the Man] saw that He did not prevail against [Jacob], He touched the hollow of his thigh; and Jacob’s thigh was put out of joint as he wrestled with Him.

Gen 32:26  Then He said, Let Me go, for day is breaking. But [Jacob] said, I will not let You go unless You declare a blessing upon me.

Gen 32:27  [The Man] asked him, What is your name? And [in shock of realization, whispering] he said, Jacob [supplanter, schemer, trickster, swindler]!

Gen 32:28  And He said, Your name shall be called no more Jacob [supplanter], but Israel [contender with God]; for you have contended and have power with God and with men and have prevailed. [Hos. 12:3-4.]

Gen 32:29  Then Jacob asked Him, Tell me, I pray You, what [in contrast] is Your name? But He said, Why is it that you ask My name? And [the Angel of God declared] a blessing on [Jacob] there.

Gen 32:30  And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel [the face of God], saying, For I have seen God face to face, and my life is spared and not snatched away.

Gen 32:31  And as he passed Penuel [Peniel], the sun rose upon him, and he was limping because of his thigh. (AMP)

HERE IS THE  STORY

Jacob had cheated his brother out of his father’s inheritance. After being away in another country for a long time Jacob was forced to come back to his home town; and that meant facing his brother. Jacob knew his brother would be very angry to see him. Faced by that fear he took off to be alone.

The true test of a man’s soul is when he is alone with God.

He wrestled with God, this is about prayer. It’s the anguish of calling on God in time of great stress and asking for His help, because no one on earth can help you.

Jacob had purpose – he wanted to find assurance of safety for all that he had; wives, children and possessions.

He had determination – I will not let you go till you bless me.

He had an Encounter – a realisation of who he really was, and God changed him (his name).

He walked differently from then on – everyone could see on the outside what had happened on the inside due to that limp.

Every person needs a God Encounter. – That’s what SPRING BREAKTHROUGH is all about.

In a God Encounter – God changes you.

In being religious, you’re putting on a show for others, but on the inside you’re no different.

Mat 23:27  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you are like tombs that have been whitewashed, which look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything impure.

Mat 23:28  Just so, you also outwardly seem to people to be just and upright but inside you are full of pretence and lawlessness and iniquity. [Ps. 5:9.] (AMP)

Some Politicians think they can put on a good show. They show 10/10 for rhetoric, but 0/10 for character. In the end character shows through – that’s authentic.

What I read about Gen Y and younger is that they are seeking real, authentic leaders and churches.

SO WHAT’S THE DEAL ABOUT WANTING TO SEE AND HAVE THE AUTHENTIC AND BEING A FAKE YOURSELF?

You need a God Encounter to change you. You see – God knows who you really are on the inside. Jesus died to bring you forgiveness and to break the power of sin that messes you up on the inside.

What is your name? And [in shock of realization, whispering] he said, Jacob [supplanter, schemer, trickster, swindler]!

Jacob sought God. Fear drove him to find an answer because of the future that lay before him. The fear of confronting his failure took him to desperation and desperation is the door to a God Encounter. See you there!

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. How much do you personally feel you need a God Encounter in your life?
  2. Can a person have more than one God Encounter in their life?
  3. Where would you go and how would you seek God in this God Encounter?
  4. Ask yourself privately, “What is it that you need God to change in you?”
  5. When will you make the quality decision to seek God for an Encounter?

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Fresh Air – a time of seeking God # 1

Posted in Church, Equip the Saints, News Flash, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Fresh AirFresh Air is the proclaimed time for seeking God with prayer and fasting right across the Christian Outreach Centre Movement in Australia and Oceania. It’s a time when we set ourselves apart to meet with God. To seek Him out and to humble ourselves. Part of this experience is repentance.

That comes through clearly from

2Ch 7:14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Turning from our wicked ways is repentance.

It’s not an old fashioned word, it’s not a “revival only” word, it’s not a word for the fanatics, it’s a word from the bible that simply means change your mind. Here are the two main Greek words that are translated as repentance in the new testament:

1. metanoeō (met-an-o-eh’-o)

From G3326 and G3539; to think differently or afterwards, that is, reconsider (morally to feel compunction): – repent.

2. metanoia. met-an’-oy-ah

From G3340; (subjectively) compunction (for guilt, including reformation); by implication reversal (of [another’s] decision): – repentance.
When we spend time seeking God, we are opening up our lives, our hearts, our minds to God. We are asking , “What do I need to change God?”  When His people in the Old Testament went astray, as they did so often, He would call them back through His prophets. Return to me says the Lord. As normal human beings living in this fallen world it is so easy to find ourselves gradually changing to be like the world. Inching so surely and so gradually more and more to worldly behaviours and thinking.  For many Christians in our nation, there is little prayer in their lives, little reading of God’s word, their giving is what’s convenient, some even feel it unnecessary to attend church regularly; and fasting…. what’s that? All around us are millions of people who are on a highway to hell. Do we care? Are we heartbroken for the lost – even our own family members who are not saved yet? Do we really believe in a literal hell that every person who has not been born again will go to?

Take a look around – Australia is a very secular nation. so few are born again and many of those who are, are casual about winning the lost. The church has not just become irrelevant but is seen as part of the problem by the main stream media. OK so what do we do about it?  –  2Ch 7:14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. I care about Australia – I want to see God rescue as any as possible from sin and unbelief. So this month I’m fasting and praying AND repenting.

The biggest obstacle to repentance is the attitude  – I’m OK its everyone else that needs to change. This is called self righteousness. The Pharisees were really good at this one.

In Luk 3:8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. – Here Jesus rebukes the Pharisees who believed that they were “OK” because they had Abraham as their father. Jesus discounted that by declaring, that is nothing… God can raise up sons of Abraham from these stones!  A little bit later in Luke we see

Luk 18:9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:
Luk 18:10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
Luk 18:11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
Luk 18:12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’
Luk 18:13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
Luk 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (ESV)

Self righteousness is an obstacle for repentance. The Pharisee did not see any need to change. The tax collector saw a big need to change. The Pharisee is telling God how good he is, the Tax Collector is saying how bad he is. The Pharisee compared himself to others, but the Tax Collector compared himself with God.

When ever we say to ourselves, I’m OK; I’m not as bad as those people. Or we say I’m trying hard, I do this and that for God, we are blinded by self righteousness, we can’t repent and we don’t even realise we are poor, miserable, blind and naked.  (Rev 3:17)  If we say to ourselves I’ve been saved for so many years and I have been to so many prayer meetings and I have fasted for so many times and fail to simply ask the Holy Spirit, “What needs to change in my heart today, Holy Spirit?” Then we are missing the incredible opportunity to open up our lives and our churches and our community for greatness and God’s plan.  Will you join us in seeking God, humbling ourselves, and repenting, turning away from attitudes, ideas, behaviours that the Holy Spirit shows us need to change?

2Ch 7:14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

7-27 JANUARY 2013 – FRESH AIR

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