Stepping Up I: Check point

Message 3 January 2016  Stepping up I # Check point

As you face the New Year with new challenges and new opportunities remember God's promise.

For the Lord your God is going with you! He will fight for you against your enemies,  and will give you VICTORY! Deuteronomy 20:4

Where are we going?

This year’s theme is stepping up to the next level. Prophetically the move to a new church venue is not just a change of physical address but a shift of levels.

We are an Antioch type of church [Explain from Acts 11 and recast  Vision, mission, values].  The unique goal of God is making disciples. Everything else is either a strategy or an impediment. We are stepping up in effectively implementing the discipleship strategy that makes disciples that make disciples that make disciples.  Church growth comes from its ability to attract and retain members. Retention comes from what done for the members. A growing church is marked by love for God and is seen by what it does for non-members and outside its church walls/facility. The mark of a great church is not in its seating capacity but its sending capacity.

Why are we so confident?

  

God is willing, able and faithful. He watches over his word to perform it. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for  I believe  God , that  it  shall be  even  as  it was told  me (Acts 27:25).

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

You crown the year with your goodness and your paths drip with fatness. Ps 65:11. 

For the Lord your God is going with you! He will fight for you against your enemies,  and will give you VICTORY! Deut. 20:4

Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: … For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed…  Isaiah 54:1-4

We know whom we have believed and have a Rhema word.  Logos brings awareness of God  and convicts (Hebrew 4:12) and Rhema converts or brings the experience (Mathew 4:4; Romans 10:17). Logos contains power and Rhema releases power. Logos speaks of the unseen and Rhema speaks the unseen into being. Logos is the word with God and Rhema is a word from God - that which is or has been uttered by the living voice, the word spoken by God.

In  the beginning  was  the Logos, and  the Logos was with  God , and  the Logos was God (John 1:1).For the Logos is quick, and  powerful , and sharper  than  any  two edged sword, piercing  even to  the dividing asunder  of soul  and spirit, and  of  the joints and  marrow , and  is a discerner  of the thoughts and  intents  of the heart (Hebrews 4:12)

Jesus answered, It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every Rhema that comes from the mouth of God (Mathew 4:4). So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Rhema of God (Romans 10:17). And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Rhema of God (Ephesians 6:17). Through faith  we understand  that the worlds were framed  by the Rhema  of God , so  that things which  are seen  were  not  made  of things which do appear.

God speaks before he acts because it is by speaking that he executes. His presence and power follow his speaking. What God spoke is the reason, explanation or basis for his action. His word therefore precedes his action. When God opens his mouth you better get ready. That is why Rhema brings peace. He speaks to give you peace about the future and to uplift you to match its demands. You need the hand of his Rhema to step up. His promises believed will lift you up to the next level.  When step up in faith you lock into/ ride on Gods step for you to bless, elevate and direct you.  When you trust and obey God’s step becomes yours. He amplifies your small step and seed action.

What about the Check Point?

For a successful journey one has to be careful about what to embrace and refuse for the journey. A check point is a point on a journey where you cannot go through with certain things. In a race it is the point where you are required to let go of the weights and encumbrances before you can proceed (Hebrews 12:1-2). Before you proceed into the new year God is saying stop, go through your luggage  and answer the questions - ‘Do you have travel papers and what is in your bag?’. Or take your bags through my x-ray machine of the Word. The following contraband can’t escape his machine and you cannot proceed with it if you want to step up to the next level.

>>Wavering between two minds

The word of God identifies wavering as an enemy of faith and fruit (James 1:6, 7). Donnie Mcclurkin sang ‘I have got my mind made up. I have my heart set. I've got my mind made up and I won't turn back because I want to see my Jesus someday.

>>Fear

Have faith in God. The river is flowing you need the turbines of faith. Trust the promise and courageously step into the future - For the Lord your God is going with you! He will fight for you against your enemies,  and will give you VICTORY! Deuteronomy. 20:4. You have his presence, defense and victory. Forget the things in the past and look forward to the new thing God wants to do. Faith is for navigating the unseen realm for it is the substance of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). Things that are seen are temporal (2 Corinthians 4:18). If not satisfied with what  you have seen so far your hope is in things that are unseen.

>>Being Negative

Guard against negative thinking, negative attitudes, negative confessions and murmuring. Instead of speaking the word of God and affirming his promises in all situations of life. . It is a misplaced focus that majors on the minuses.  Always saying ‘yes but the problem is..’, It’s too hard’, ‘It’s all I have’, Do we have the money’, ‘we have done it before’,

>>An evil eye

An evil eye and its company that defile a person listed in Mark 7:21, 22 need to be laid aside. An evil eye is one that sees with the intend to do evil. An eye that is full of self and pride. An eye bend on seeing the wrong, the giants, the past failures,  the impossibility, the weaknesses, the bad and other things that God is not focusing on. To the contrary a righteous eye is an eye of faith that seeks God and sees opportunities, possibilities a way where there is no way. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13 If God is on my side who can be against me. Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.

>>Unforgiveness

You cannot affords not to forgive. Unforgiveness cuts off the supply line with God.

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Mathew 6:14-15)

>>Avoiding  Responsibility. 

The symptom of this problem is blaming others. One who takes responsibility is busy providing answers,  filling the gaps and offering their strengths to cover apparent weaknesses. Irresponsibility says ‘ Why are they failing to make it work’. Responsibility asks ‘How can I help make this work.’ Responsibility is finding one's place and playing one's part faithfully. 

Let’s therefore lay aside the contraband and step up in God’s wonderful plan. 

Message by Dr. Kurai Chitima.

Faith Ministries – Johannesburg Faith Life Center.

First Floor Dhando House,

66 Eloff Street Extension,

Village Deep,

 Johannesburg,

South Africa