Sunday January 24, 2016

Here's some notes from Sunday's service (Thanks, Heather)

Good evening all!!

Please keep Pastor Caroline in your prayers. She was under the weather Sunday and wasn't in church... Maybe God just wanted her all to Himself :)

Here is what our Sunday service looked like...

Something to Think About

• Old Testament is the New Testament concealed; New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.
• Revelation 19
• Hard to think of God as a bridegroom taking a wife (His church)
• Different than our concept of marriage. To understand you need to go back to Genesis 2. "It is not good for 'God' to be alone, therefore I will make him a helper."
• Ephesians 5. 'Wives submit to your husband'... The church (wife) submit to God.
• The church and Christ should be one... We as the church should submit to Christ... Without spots or blemish.
• Hmmm... it doesn't say for women to love their husbands... Says to respect them. Hence, we need to respect Christ.
• Someday we will be one with him, living with Him.

The Message - Roxann

How to be victorious

1. We must be in the Word for ourselves
2. The Word of God is our authority.
3. The Word of God is our weapon. 
4. Stand in your authority- confess your trust.

1. Genesis  2:15-18. Why did the serpent go after Eve? 

• God gave the commandment to Adam. THEN made Eve, the helper.
• Adam got his words from God. Who did Eve get her words from? Adam.
• Eve may have seemed 'weaker', however, maybe she's thought of like that because she got her words second hand.
• Satan can always attack the weaker Christian.
• If you want to be victorious in your life, take hold of God's word.. FIRST-HAND, read His word.
• With media, we can literally listen to sermons every minute of every day. But it's can NOT be our substance. We need to know it for myself.

    2. There's no real authority in second hand words. "They say"... "Everyone knows"...

• If you read it, you can trust what He's said to be true.
• James 4:7. Submit to God... Resist the devil... And He WILL...
• There's some effort for the devil to flee.
• Luke 4:1-13. Even Jesus himself addressed the devil with the Word of God. 
• This happened before his Ministry began but before his death and victory over the devil... And he STILL had authority over him!!
• We have that kind of authority! We are victorious when we understand how to do this kind of battle.
• If we submit to Christ, and refuse to listen to what the devil is saying to us, and speak what Christ is saying into our situation/circumstances... He's got no place to attack you now; you're ignoring him.
• Eve entertained what he had to say.
• If you know the tactic of Satan.
• Submit to God in full obedience to His word and in complete dependence and trust.
• Doing so brings us into agreement with His word and will, rejecting the lies of the Adversary and accepting God's promises and evaluation of our situation.
• 1 John 4:1-5. 

    3. WORD = Jesus Christ; Word = The Scriptures; word = spoken word

• Weapons are only helpful to those who knows how to use it!
• It's a weapon, but it's not always an offensive weapon.
• Hebrews 4:12. 
• Logos... The expression of a complete idea. Rhema... A word spoken.
• Logos is the whole Bible... Rhema would be a single promise or promises the Holy Spirit may bring to mind.
• The Holy Spirit can take the Bible (logos) and bring you a promise (rhema), making the Bible real to us and our situation.
• The Bible is 'living'... Cause it 'applies' :)
• When facing a situation of need, trial or difficulty, the promises of God may become rhema to you.
• Faith's confession receives God's 'words'.
• Faith's confession= we trust in what God has said - in the Bible (logos) and through the promise (rhema). This is what we say (speak) concerning our need, trial or difficulty.
  4.We need to speak it out loud.  Submit to God... (I trust you God. You are a good Father. You will provide)... Resist the devil... And speak God's words over it.
• James 1:5-8 (AMP)
• When you have first-hand words, there is no space for the devil to corner you.

Read God's work and speak His promises into your mind and heart! You WILL be the victor!

Cheers

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For those of you who haven't seen it yet, Pastor Todd MacDonald has a website for his new church up and running. You can view it at:

http://mainavefellowship.blogspot.ca/

Sunday January 17, 2016

Some notes from Sunday's service. (Thanks, Jean)

(Don't forget that you can watch Something To Think About and Stacey Dlamini's sermon on the Master's Hand YouTube channel by clicking here:
 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrUaNS-N8LPEpsbWiJDYloQ

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Dr. Barclay

Something To Think About

Most people do not read the bible, and if people do read it, they do not read it enough.

Genesis chapter 11:1-9 tells the story of the tower of Babel.

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.

4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

The people tried to build a passage way to reach God on their own. God did not ask them to build a high tower to reach heaven, they did this all own their own. As we read this story we learn how God had confused the people that they could not communicate as they were all speaking different languages. Many times in history man has gone off and done their own thing making a religion and inventing rituals to suit their own needs and wants. Diverting in a direction very far from God. The theme of the bible is about a relationship between God and man. God came down to man on a number of occasions, such as as visiting with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and giving the 10 Commandments to Moses on Mt. Sinai. As well as Jesus coming the first time and someday he will come again for the second time. Religion separates man from God. The pattern of the Bible shows God has always met with man, on God's terms. Never on man's terms, man can never invent his own religion and tell God what to do.

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Stacy Dlamini

Mark 12:28-34

28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?

29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:

33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

To know Jesus is to know God. He came to fix that, to which the establishment powers did not know was broken.

John 10:24-40

24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.

25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.

26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

30 I and my Father are one.

31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.

32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?

33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?

35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;

36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?

37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.

38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

39 Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand,

40 And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode.

To the established powers of the day Jesus was a crazy man, a fraud who needed to be proven wrong. Jesus came to disrupt the ritualistic following of the law. Following the law should not be burdensome, but done out of love for God. When we love God we will love people. As humans we will never truly understand the magnitude of God.

Isaiah 55:8-9

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Many times we say we love God, yet we sin and do not follow his commandments. Often we sin with the excuse everyone else is doing it. No one wants to stand out and be all alone, so we willfully sin even though we know it is wrong, simply to go along with the crowd. Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfil it. The law is not done away with, Christ holds us to a very high standard. Our lifestyles need to reflect our love and devotion to Christ. We have to love and be kind to all people, even those who are not like us. When we truly love Christ we will be filled with love for others too.

Sunday January 10, 2016

Sunday Night Service Notes (Thanks, Jean)

Something to Think About

Dr. Barclay:

Theme: When Christ is not important in our lives, there is a great price to paid and sad consequences to follow.

Epiphany- means an awareness, a vision.

Many people in the world today have not had the awareness of Christ. Troubling events all over the world such as the stock markets bouncing up and down, causing financial uncertainty. Wars around the world and turmoil in the middle east all show the world is very far from Christ. When we read the old testament we learn how the Hebrews mingled in with pagan practices, idolatry and false religions around them and this brought them nothing but heartache, their kingdom was divided and their enemies carried them into captivity.

Jeremiah 19:3-5

3 And say, Hear ye the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.

4 Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;

5 They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:

Jehovah was always calling the children of Israel back to him. He waited patiently for them yet he still allowed them to make their own choices.

Jeremiah 31:31

31 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

Like the children of Israel the church today is doing the same thing that got the ancient Hebrews in to trouble. Compromising on the message of the gospel and mixing in with false religions. Chasing after pleasure and our own desires. With no time for God and studying scripture, too busy following our own agendas.

Jeremiah 17:9

9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

We all need to go back to the first commandment.

Exodus 20:1-3

20 And God spake all these words, saying,

2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Christ is to be number one in our lives with none other beside.

Pastor Dave Mac Lean:

Theme: Jesus paid the ultimate price so we can live victoriously through the power of the Holy Spirit.

If we follow the words of the old Hymn “Trust and obey” our lives will be so much better.

John 3:16

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

God loves the world and he loves it, in it's worst state.

John 1:12

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

God loves us and gave us the power to live righteously for him. Christ is in us, and gives us the power to live victorious for him.

Matthew 10:34

34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

Peace between man and God through his son Jesus. God never promised there would be peace all over the world, but peace between God and man.

Hebrews 4:16

16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Jesus fulfilled the law. We can come boldly to Christ and petition our request with confidence.

1 John 5:7

7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

Romans 8:26-27

26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

How wonderful it is to know the Holy Spirit intercedes for us even when we do not know how we should pray.

We were all guilty of sin, Jesus paid our sin debt by dying on the cross. God judged the sin of the world on the cross.

Isaiah 53:4-6

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Sunday January 3, 2016

Some notes from Sunday Night (Thanks, Jean)

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

Dr. Barclay:

Theme: Sharing and promoting the greatest gift we can ever receive.

As Christians we celebrate the greatest gift we could ever get this time of year- which is Jesus. Yet some people are still caught up in all the trappings and decorations and anxiety of Christmas, they forget the religious and solemn celebration of Jesus coming to earth. Often when small children receive presents such as toys, clothes and games or computers, etc., they are happy to show off their gifts to others, demonstrate how they work and what they are all about. We Christians are to be like small children at Christmas time, show everyone our gift, be proud of it and talk about it to everyone. Jesus is greater than any material item we could ever possess. By reading and studying God's word we will learn about the greatest gift we can ever receive.

Pastor Caroline Barclay:

Theme: Having a willing attitude like Mary

This new year of 2016 is a gift to us forward. We cannot move forward if we are stuck in the past. We need to bring ourselves forward into a new day. Mary carried the gift of Jesus to the world.

Luke 1:26-38 26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. 29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. 30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. 34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. 36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing shall be impossible. 38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

Mary graciously accepted Father God's challenge and did not falter in any way.

Please note the importance of these verses:

37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.

38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

“be it unto me according to thy word.” -is the attitude and the mindset we should all have.

In our trials we have be like Mary. We need to be faithful and not give up. The Holy Spirit will lead us in the right direction. If we do not lean on our own understanding and go our own way.

Matthew 11:28 28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

We need to follow God's instructions and go his way. We need to stay close to God so we can receive his wisdom and not our own. We need to be continually thankful to God for everything.

James 1:17 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning

We need to live right obey Christ and avoid sin. With our Christian character we will efficiently be able to reach out to others and hear what their hearts are saying and care.