AUDIOS OF SUNDAY WORSHIP MESSAGES
SERMONS AND TEACHINGS FOR YOUR EDIFICATION, EXHORTATION AND SPIRITUAL COMFORT
Our Sunday audio messages can be accessed from here. These are messages and teachings recorded in the course of our weekly meetings. Each audio is preceded by a synopsis of the message.
We pray that the Holy Spirit will speak to you as you listen.
Get Out of Religious Formalism and Learn from Jesus
The Lord Jesus is again calling us to come away from religious formalism and enter into a vibrant spiritual relationship with Him. We need to get to the place where we understand that we cannot go to church and not meet with the Lord, and yet return home satisfied or fulfilled with our spiritual wellbeing. And after we have come to the Lord, we must be joined to Him in fellowship, communion, etc., and we must learn from Him about the new life that He has brought us into by His blood (His death on the cross at Calvary).
Have You Been to Jesus?
So many people say that they are born again, yet we have to ask, "Have You Been to Jesus?" This question has become essential and necessary in the face of the obvious contradictions between their lives and the life which Christ gave to us to live.
On Whom is Your Affection?
You cannot serve God and Mammon. You can only love and serve one or the other. Where your heart is, is where your affection will be--either with God or with Mammon. What God is saying essentially is that you must make a choice as to whom your loyalty lies--God Himself, or Mammon!
Where Have You Set Your Heart?
The bible says that if riches increase, we should not set our hearts on it. This is God's word to us; asking us to set our hearts on Him, and not on wealth, riches, etc. God wants to deliver us from the hold/power of mammon. Tithing and giving are avenues by which God removes the grip of mammon on our hearts. Our refusal to tithe and even give of our possessions to Him when He requires it, is therefore a clear sign that one is not yet free from the power of mammon. It is God's desire that our hearts be firmly set on Him. Setting our hearts on anything else means that we have abandoned our first love which is God!
The Proof of Your Love for God (1)
It is one thing to say, "I love God; not Mammon.", but a completely different proposition when it comes to proving this. Thus, the question, "Do you love Me more than these?", where "these" is anything or anyone apart from God! To aid us in our quest, we provide some indicators, as well as a checklist of our practices which prove whether or not we really do love God or Mammon.
The Proof of Your Love for God (2)
"Does Job serve/love God for nothing?" is a question all believer's in Christ must be confronted with--do you love God for nothing? Are you serving God because you want God's protection and provision? If God were to allow certain unpleasant things (be they physical, material, financial) to happen to you, will you still love/serve God? Is your love for God or service of God contingent upon the blessing of God or is it upon God Himself? God's desire for us is to be free from the hold of Mammon. The events that happen to us are divinely orchestrated so that we can be trained to hold on to God, having been freed from the stranglehold of Mammon; and, so that when we are tested, like Job was, we will not fail! God's desire for us is that we would possess God, and as a result, our focus would be only on what God has for us, rather than on what Mammon wants for us.
The Proof of Your Love for God (3)
When God wants us to prove our love for Him, He will ask us to give to Him, something that we love, which God had given to us. If Abraham had kept back Isaac, then Isaac would have been "Mammon" to Abraham; and his loyalty to God would have been found to be false! Usually, it is what you are most attached to that God will ask you to give up, so that that which is loved by you does not become "Mammon". Basically, if we say that we love God, then any other thing must in comparison seem like we hate them. Such is what the Lord refers to in Luke 14:26. Furthermore, in proving our love and loyalty to God, we must not be so attached to anything that we would be unable to give up for God! Such things that we may be attached to include, property, a vocation, a career, money, and even your very life! We also see the principle of giving to God: it is what you have left after you have given that determines the extent of your giving to God. The more you have left, the less you have given, no matter how much you had given in terms of quantity. Similarly, the less you have left after you have given to God, the more you have given to God, even though in quantity, you may have given little! Such is the lesson from the giving of the widow who gave her two mites in Mark 12:41-44.
The Proof of Your Love for God (4)
Speaking of obedience to God as our act of love for God, promptly carrying out God's instruction is true obedience, and proof of our love for Him over mammon. Abraham passed the proving of his love for God over mammon by: 1. RECOGNIZING that God is the Giver and therefore the Owner; and could request for what He had given him. 2. REALIZING that he was a caretaker of the gift of God, and therefore would not be so attached to it that he could not give it up for or back to God. 3. RECONCILING in his heart that God was able to restore to Him Isaac, even if he killed him. 4. RELYING only in God; not in things or people, or Mammon, for that matter. If we are to successfully prove our love for God, we also must have this attitude toward Mammon!
Questions and Answers
We deal with some salient issues as well as questions on issues that may require further substantiation. Some of the issues dealt with include scripture verses that have been wrongly interpreted and thus, have led many to lust after mammon. For instance, what the statement, "He became poor that we might be rich." mean? Also, we look at the issue of tithing and giving, as well as the purpose of wealth for the Christian.
Marriage from God's Perspective: Introduction
We commence by looking at the beginnings of marriage--the second work of creation. We note that marriage is all God's idea; not of man, the village elders, world leaders, senates, legislatures, judiciaries, and, not even from church leaders. We arrived at a working definition of marriage as the joining, union, or, coming together of a woman chosen by God and a man, so that the kingdom purpose of God for the man and woman, can be actualized.
Marriage From God's Perspective: Implicaitions_1
We have arrived at a working definition of marriage from God's perspective, and it is that, Marriage is the union, joining, cleaving, or, coming together, of a woman ordained by God, to a man, until the death of either individual. Another of the implications of this definition is that the union, joining, cleaving, or, coming together, which God's speaks of, is more of a spiritual phenomenon. Thus, a marriage union from God's perspective speaks of unity of purpose, as the result of the union between a man and his wife; hence, fornication, adultery, uncleanness, and, lewdness, seek our personal pleasure, and not the Will of God! Therefore, the unity of purpose in marriage, has to do with agreeing with God or being united with God to accomplish the Will or purpose of God. This spiritual union therefore does not recognize, neither does it approve of divorce. And where a married couple still go ahead with a divorce, such a divorce does not nullify, negate, or untangle the marriage union! Therefore, marriage is not to be rushed or jumped into, but it is to be contemplated and entered into by DIVINE INSTRUCTION, DIVINE DIRECTION, DIVING REVELATION, and, CONVICTION OF THE DIVINE! The essence of marriage is the fulfillment of the redemptive purpose of God, and this is the unity that the man and his wife together with Christ must accomplish!
Marriage From God's Perspective: Implicaitions_2_The Making of a Prudent Wife
Another of the implications of marriage from God's perspective is that there is but one ordained woman for a man as his wife. This is more than just monogamy, but is about God's decision to 'make' or fashion or prepare one particular woman who will be useful in the accomplishment of God's assignment for the man whom He has redeemed. Furthermore, the woman whom God fashions to be a wife to God's redeemed man is, herself redeemed--a Christian, a companion, a complement, a completion, comparable to the man, but not competing with him, and, custom-made (just the right fit)! She is expected to be a prudent wife, rather than just another married woman! A prudent wife is that woman who has yielded herself to God who fashions her to be suited to the Christian man God has chosen to accomplish a kingdom-purpose. She is essentially the Proverbs 31:10-31 woman!
Marriage From God's Perspective: Implicaitions_3_The Necessity to Crucify the Old Man
In order to identify the woman God has prepared for a man, he needs to get to the place where he can distinguish between a person who is 'helpful' from one's helpmeet. To do this, we ought to get to the place of purity that Adam had in the beginning, but with the testing of God! Therefore, the Old Man, that is, the nature of man which loves to sin and to act contrary to God, must be crucified, and Christ formed in the man in order that the man be able to identify his wife--the woman God has prepared for him!
Revision & Summary of Parts 1-4
We here attempt a revision and summary on the first four parts of "God's Word on Marriage". This comes in the form of Question and Answer, and a discussion forum on marriage and marital issues.
Naked and Unashamed (Of the Same Structure)
When a man is joined to his wife, they are both of the same structure (bone of my bones; flesh of my flesh). So, if something goes wrong in the life of one, it will affect the other's life. Hence, God's purpose in marriage is for the wife to compliment and complete the man, rather than compete with him. The structure must be developed such that when children arrive they have the structure in place to guide them through life; and when they leave as a result of maturity, the structure will still be in place. When we talk of "Naked and Unashamed", we are talking the man and his wife, being open to each other without inhibition. We should be able to tell our spouse every and any thing, in so far as God permits (which is virtually everything)! We must be able to tell our spouse things that you had as secret (with others) so that it may not be used against you in future by way of blackmail, because others may think that your spouse is unaware of the secret. Furthermore, there should be no secret between a man and his wife! For this cause, we must make restitution by telling our spouse things that may not be convenient for others to hear, but that must be told to your spouse so that he/she will not be in the dark as to your life.