GOD CHANGES “NOT ENOUGH” TO “MORE THAN ENOUGH”

27 September 2009 (am)

Past. Melody vd Merwe

John 10:10 “…the thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy, I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

^WW ABUNDANTLY – superabundance, excessive, overflowing, surplus, over and above, more than enough, profuse, extraordinary, above the ordinary, more than sufficient.

AMP. The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows.) [more than enough]

ZOE LIFE = life eternal (1 John 5:20) very life of God Himself.

Aim: To remind us not to be satisfied with any less than God has promised us and Jesus has paid for.

How do we line ourselves up for this?

NB! What God does on the earth He does thru man!! God is moved by a seed (faith) and not by a need.

(Salvation) Rom 10:14+15

1 Cor 3:9 “… for we are God’s fellow workers”

Amp. “For we are fellow workmen (joint promoters, labourers together) with and for God.

2 Cor 6:1 “…we then, as workers together with Him..”

Heb 13:6 “…the Lord is my helper”

We do the possible, (plant, water) God does the impossible (gives increase).

What must we do?

Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt Ex 4:2 …what is in your hand? He said “A rod”

God uses the ordinary and makes it extraordinary.

Rod turned to serpent

• Divided the sea
• Water out of the rock – Ex 17:6, Num 20:8 “…take the rod:…. Speak to the Rock”

Always do the Word as God gives it to you – Don’t make a doctrine.

God uses what we have – when we give it to Him!! (faith)

• Elijah and the widow at Zarephath. 1 Kings 17:8-16 – she did according to the Word (v15)

• Feeding the five thousand Matt 14:15-21 (bring what you have to Me)

• Fishermen and net to catch fish Luke 5:1-10

Faith as a mustard seed Matt 17:20 – use your faith!! “…if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible.”

2 Cor 9:10 – God give seed to the sower.

Rom 12:3 “…as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith”

Salvation – Rom 10:13 “… whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”

Restoration – Luke 15 – Prodigal Son

v19 …make me like one of your hired servants.. v 22-24

Give Him what you have – He’ll give you more than enough.

FIX YOUR EYES ON HIM! – 20 September 2009 (pm)

Past. Melody vd Merwe

Heb 12:1+2

AIM: Seek Him, Praise Him and take hold of your victory!

Don’t look at circumstances, storms or contestants – Look at Jesus.

Psalm 34:1-4, 6-10, 15, 17, 19

Call on His Name

Romans 10:13

We all have circumstances

2 Timothy 3:11+12

Let Him have your cares and worries

1 Peter 5:7 Why? Verses 8-10

God wants you victorious

2 Chronicles 16:8+9

Don’t put your trust in people and things – KEEP YOUR TRUST IN GOD.

Psalm 20:7 “…some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the Name of the Lord our God”

Psalm 33:18 “…behold the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy.”

PRAISE HIM! – 20 September 2009 (am)

Past. Melody vd Merwe

Acts 16:16-32

AIM: That we’ll see the importance of praise in our everyday life – and see the powerful results of praise in our circumstances.

• Paul & Silas doing good, persecuted – Give up? – NO! – Prayed and Praised!

Prayer and Praise – Partners – faith.

• Praise brings the presence of God. Ps 22:3+4

Amplified bible: “But you are Holy, O You who dwell in the praises of Israel”

Old King James Bible: “…inhabit the praises of Israel”

• Praise brings the presence of God!

David played the harp and sang for Saul – spirit departed from him.

• When we praise Him, He enters – His will is done.

• We invite God’s presence into our circumstances when we praise Him.

• 1 Thes 5:18 “…in everything give thanks…”

Thank God in everything.

Amplified: “…no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks”

• Then set up a place for God’s throne to enter by filling your setting with praise.

-   Gideon – Judges 7:15-22 – He worshiped before he saw the results.

-   Jehoshaphat – 2 Chron 20:3-8,12,15-25

– Praise – Prayer –Praise – Victories.

In your circumstances PRAISE – Ps 100:4

Pray & Praise Him for the victory!!

Praise builds our faith, without faith it’s impossible to please God.

• Praise brings His presence.

Complaining and murmuring invites the devil into your circumstances.

Psalm 150

WHAT DO YOU MEAN MEDITATE? – 13 September 2009 (am)

Past. Melody vd Merwe

Phil 4:8+9

AIM: That we’ll understand biblical meditation and apply it to our lives so we’ll make our way prosperous and have good success.

NOTES: Character and conduct begin in the mind. The things we dwell on in our thoughts affect our actions. Paul cautions us to concentrate (meditate) on things that will result in:

1. Right living and
2. In God’s peace

World – empties mind

Word – Fill with the word

Meditates (WordWealth) – Ps 1:2 To meditate or contemplate something as one repeats the words. Hebrew – to meditate upon the scriptures is to quietly repeat them in soft, droning sound, while utterly abandoning outside distractions.

Joshua 1:8 (Note) – Meditate: the Hebrew word denotes an active recitation, a re-speaking of God’s words…

-         Battle is in the mind

Prov 23:7 “… as a man thinks in his heart so is he…”

Matt 6:21 “…where your treasure is, there your heart will be also…”

Worry = meditating on the negative – fear

v     HOW DO YOU DO IT?

Put your imagination to work! Visualize the end result.

• Don’t have money: see the sheriff or the court coming to reposes your belongings / car, furniture etc.
• Meditate in the Word Josh 1:8

Put your imagination to work as to all that God promised.

Mutter the Word to yourself / the promise repeat it to yourself all day

Visualize the manifestation of the blessing, the success over and over again

• You start speaking and acting in the right way and you will have good results.

v     WHY MEDITATE ON THE WORD?

1. Because God says to do it! Josh 1:8
2. To get the Word from our head into our hearts. James 1:21-25 – food – digested not chewed.

-         Revelation knowledge

• Get knowledge of the Word (know what it says)
• Meditate on the Word to get revealed knowledge – become a reality in your life – that it influences and changes your life – your way of thinking and doing.

-         Rhema word – spoken word – alive to you. Prov 29:18, Gal 1:12

-         Revelation refers to clear perception and applicable understanding

v     HOW WILL I MEDITATE ON THE WORD?

1. 1. Concordance – find scripture verses in relation to your study – problem
2. 2. Read them, write them down, memorize, repeat to yourself – imagine, think on the Word.

v     RESULTS OF MEDITATING ON THE WORD?

1. Will be blessed in all he does. James 1:21-25
2. Experience the peace of God. Phil 4:9
3. Your way will be prosperous, and then you will have good success. Josh 1:8
4. You will prosper in whatever you do. Ps 1:1-3 (be successful).

MEDITATE OF THESE THINGS – Phil 4:8

Ps. 119:11 “…Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”

Message Translation: “I have banked the promises of Your Word in the vault of my heart, so I will not sin myself bankrupt before You.”

POSSESSING THE BLESSING – 06 September 2009 (am)

Past. Melody VD Merwe

Gen 11:1-9

AIM: That we’ll no longer be tossed around by every trial and adverse circumstance that comes our way, but that we’ll take hold of, without slacking to the blessing that belongs to us IN Christ and thru Christ.

Looking at history we see that the man-made empires (economies) fall. We call them recessions and depressions. Look at the 20^th centaury – World War I, World War II, in the 90ties.

The reason they fall is because the world’s economy is based on the system of commerce that originated at the tower of Babel.

It’s a system in which mankind tries to meet its own needs without God – and it’s divinely destined to fail.

The people, who first came up with the idea, were people who understood God’s way of doing things. They only knew one way of creating things. – God’s way: Imagine it, Believe it, Speak it.

What God did at Babel went far beyond messing up the tower builder’s speech patterns. God spoke confusion into their godless way of operating.

God put a cap on their ability to imagine and convey to others the images in their minds.

Their communication with one another fell apart to the point they couldn’t figure out what to do anymore, and they wandered away, leaving the half-built tower behind.

The same has happened to all groups of ungodly, disobedient peoples who have tried to use their own human power to create and sustain their earthly kingdoms. We see economies and world systems grow to a certain point (history) before confusion sets in and things start to crumble.

It will keep happening because Babel (The world’s way of doing things) is set up to fail. (v4)

We are not of the world of the world’s system. We know that without faith, it’s impossible to please God.

God has set us up to be blessed, to succeed at all we don, when we do things His way – The saved, born-again.

We are not of the Babylonian system –world’s system but thru Jesus we are of the Eden system restored to the place of the blessing.

We have been restored to what God wanted in Eden from the beginning.

• Relationship with man
• God want us to reign and rule in the earth thru the blessing – as in Eden.

Gen 1:28 …then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on earth.”

God has crowned us with His own creative glory Ps 8:5-8

God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing that heaven has to offer Eph 1:3

God has released untold numbers of angels to minister on our behalf Heb 1:14

God has redeemed us from the curse so that The Blessing of Abraham might come on us thru Jesus Christ. Gal 3:13-14

God has set us up to be blessed.

We live in a Word-controlled world.

The way we can mess up what God has worked for us thru Christ Jesus is thru our mouths.

Our Words make or break us!

People of Babel had been taught thru Adam and Eve how God created and they did the same. Gen 11:4

EVERYTHING IS CONTROLLED BY WORDS:

Prov 18:21 …Death and life are in the power of the tongue.

Mark 11:23 … whoever says to this mountain, ‘be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says….

Matt 12:37 … for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned…

We must stop talking the world’s (Babel’s) way and start and continue talking the Word’s (Eden’s) way.

Can’t -  Nobody loves me – I’m no good…. Etc.

This contradicts what the word says and its corrupt or idle Matt 12:36

We are to follow Jesus’ example and speak only that which is in agreement with what the Word says.

John 8:28, 31+32

Jesus lived in the blessing.

James 1:22-26

When we do the Word, bridling the tongue we will be blessed in everything we do.

Nothing can stop you when you’re blessed in all you do.

CAN WORDS BE SO IMPORTANT?

YES!! Because the Word says so.

James 3:6 – Tongue sets the wheel rolling.

Don’t allow any corrupt/idle word to proceed from your mouth.

That’s why the devil is so hard at work trying to cause disunity in our lives.

James 3:16 …for where envying and strife is, there is confusion (Babel / The worlds way) and every evil work.

Liv. Bib. … Where envy and strife is, there all evil abounds.

James 3:17 …allow love to rule…

TAME YOUR TONGUE

Matt 12:34 …out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks…

Get the Word in your heart James 1:21

Then you can apply 2 Cor 10:5 to your life – casting down every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

Answer Your Fears With The Word!

Fear / worry knocked on the door, faith answered and found no one there.

Speak Words  from Heaven.

Acts 2:4+8 … Jesus told the disciples to be endued with power from on high.

Why Are Tongues So Important?

Can’t mess up – Devil would rather we didn’t know about it.  Rom 8:26-28

This is the language of Eden – The Blessing.

Start imagining all God has for you.

Believe what God has for you.

Speak all that God has for you.

IS FEAR CAUSING YOU TO RUN FROM  SOMETHING THAT ISN’T AFTER YOU?

Never trouble trouble until trouble troubles you.  Arthur Roche said, “Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind.  If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.”

Sister Mary Tricky said, “Fear is faith that it won’t work out.”  Instead, do what the book of 1 Peter says, “Let Him have all your worries and cares, for He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.”  Dr. Rob Gilbert advised, “It’s all right to have butterflies in your stomach.  Just get them to fly in formation.”  The great evangelist Billy Sunday once said, “Fear knocked at my door.  Faith answered… and there was no one there.”  Now that’s the proper response to fear.

Fear can keep you from going where you could have won.  Don’t let your fear steal from you and prevent you from pursuing your dream.  Most people believe their doubts and doubt their beliefs.  So, do like the old saying and “Feed your faith and watch your doubts starve to death.”  Worry is a route that leads from somewhere to nowhere; never let it direct your life.

WHY ASK WHY—JOHN MASON