Psalm 36:9 (NLT)

Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.
⁶ Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the ocean depths.
You care for people and animals alike, O Lord.
⁷ How precious is your unfailing love, O God!
All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings.
⁸ You feed them from the abundance of your own house,
letting them drink from your river of delights.
⁹ For you are the fountain of life,
the light by which we see.

Being in presence is not a nice to have, an addition to our lives. It is the light by which we see. It is the very frame in which our lives hang. The very canvas upon which our lives are painted on.

His presence is the very paradigm that shapes every corner of our life. The lenses through which we should see everything. The filter of our life

John 13-17: sermon in the upper room: Abide in me

1. If you will abide in Him, you will discover yourself (John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches”)

He defines you. See how he sees you: I like you I love

2. If you will abide in Him, you will discover what you are call to, what is that you were uniquely designed for. (John 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.)

We are called to cooperate with Him. This progresses from generic to specific but it can only be fueled by his presence. The dangers of pursuing the call outside of his presence are many. Burn out to mention one.

3. If you will abide in Him, you will discover the beauty and depth of obedience especially the wonder of voluntary obedience. (John 14:23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them (NIV) & ohn 15:9)

4. If you will abide in Him, you will discover the wealth of your fruitfulness. (John 15:5 He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing & 15:8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.)

NOTE: this is not a step by step progression and where we are corporately might differ from where we are personally.

We cannot see without the lenses/paradigm of his Presence:

Abide in me! All things depart from this. Abide in me…

be conscious of,be  mindful of, be informed about, be acquainted with, be familiar with, be alive to, be alert to; be aware of, be knowledgeable of, be enlightened by, be well-informed about be clued in, be tuned in, be plugged in.

THE QUESTION IS WHAT PREVENT US FROM PUTTING ON THESE LENSES, USING THIS PARADIGM. The bible speaks of the eyes of the heart — Ephesians 1:18 The eyes of your heart be enlightened. There are a number of heart conditions that I believe prevent us from putting on the lenses of His presence. These heart conditions produce a closed spirit in front of the Lord – come boldly: Heb 4

1. The fearful heart

Saul (1 sam):

• hiding among the equipment
• fearful of people opinion
• fearful of loosing power

Compare to Gideon (Judges 6): also hiding but later worshipping

2. The wonder-less heart

Age of information very little is left for wonder and mystery

Wonder is the mother of discovery

Paul: wondered after God, wrote about the Mystery

The extent of our progress in the Lord is dictate by the degree of our encounter with him: PAUL IS A GREAT EXAMPLE OF THIS

3. The condemn heart

Perfectionism of human nature: we want to get it/do it right. The over celebration of achievements

Our heart condemns us because we are mindful of the fact that we fail, we do not match the “requirements”, we are immature in our spirituality

Running away from him instead of running towards him

We feel: unholy, ashamed, dirty, because of our immature/sinful status/our failures

To this condition the Father says:

• He says he loved and loves us even when we were/are not aware of our week flesh or immaturity,
• Our discovery of our sinfulness does not surprise him
• He see the “yes” in our spirit even if our brokenness we stumble.
• He looks at our willingness, that makes us lovely to him (angles)
• Confidence in our redemption – we are the fragrance of Christ
• Why do we despise the richness of His goodness (Rom 2:4)

Peter: 3 denials, 3 restorations.

HE WANTS TO RESTORE, HEAL YOUR HEART. THESE CONDITIONS CRIPPLE YOU, BUT HIS LOVE CAN HEAL YOU. THERE IS HOPE

Possible discussion for the LG:

-       Do we wear the lenses of His presence?

-       Are we conscious and exited about the prospect of the progress possible if we abide in Him?

-       Do some of us have a closed spirit/heart?  (The 3 conditions above mentioned and/or others may apply to some people in your LG)

Devoting myself to the presence of God by Basson Nel

Two weeks ago, we actually went back to basics regarding coming into the presence of God – saying that coming into the presence is actually more about quieting ourselves and becoming aware of the Spirit of God within us, rather than follow steps up a mountain to find the presence of God!

In everything the awareness is half the battle won; but living by the power of the Holy Spirit is all about acting according to that awareness of the Spirit within!

I do believe that the gift of praying in tongues is given primarily to build us up as individuals, by feeding that awareness of the Spirit within – 1Cor 14:4a says: “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself”.

For this reason, I also believe that speaking in tongues is for every believer – Mark wrote that: “these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues…” (Mk 16:17)

This does not mean that if you are not speaking in tongues, you are not a believer – it does mean that if you are a believer, then speaking in tongues is available to you – and if it is of God and available to me, then I want it!

Again – like with water baptism – Mark simply says that “those who believe” will speak in tongues – he doesn’t say “those who believe for 5 years and longer, or those who believe and serve as deacons or elders”, or whatever.

Speaking in tongues is the single most powerful “tool” to make yourself aware of the fact that God has sent His Spirit to live within you!

*This is sooo important for every believer – this is also why satan is sooo set on keeping believers from regularly, privately speaking in tongues – the very last thing he wants to have to deal with, is a church who is constantly aware of God’s power within them, aware of their own victory through Christ, aware of their salvation, aware of their new creation, aware that they are free in Christ, aware that they have been declared righteous before God, aware that nothing can ever separate them from the love and acceptance of their heavenly Father!

We know that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit back in Acts 2 was not for the purpose of releasing “what seemed to be tongues of fire”, nor was it merely to enable the believers to speak in tongues, or in foreign languages, as important as that is – there was in fact even more to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit:

The purpose was firstly to fulfil the promise of Jesus to them: “I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” (Jn.16:7)

And secondly, to equip the believers by guiding them into Christlikeness (inwardly) and kingdom living (outwardly): “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.”(13-15)

*The Holy Spirit draws unbelievers to God, through Christ, and then equips these new believers to daily outlive their faith in a practical way, which in turn, will attract the attention of unbelievers – this is the real Circle of Life!

Differently put: the Holy Spirit reveals the nature of God to us, then reveals and forms the nature of God in us, and then reaches those around us, by displaying the nature and power of God through us – to us, in us and through us.

Just a very brief example of what I mean by this:

In Acts 2 the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was such an incredible event: with a violent wind out of nowhere, tongues of fire, and then a group of simple, uneducated, untraveled people began to declare the wonders of God in every single known language of the time and area – that, by itself, drew a crowd.

We know that Peter used this opportunity to explain to the startled crowd what had just happened and that they responded by wanting in – basically asking how to get saved – 3000 being saved, baptized and added to the church on that day.

This pattern is repeated in Acts 3, which opens with the account of Peter and John going to the temple to pray, a few days later.

Here they are involved in the healing of the crippled beggar, by the power of the Holy Spirit working through them – which again attracts a crowd.

The power displayed through them, becomes the display of the nature of God to the bystanders; providing a great basis for them to preach the gospel, resulting in many being saved and added to the church, yet again (Acts 4:4).

Throughout the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit enables believers – some apostles (like Peter and John here), some deacons (like Philip in Acts 8), but some just ordinary men and women, like us (in Acts 11:20 “some of them”) to minister powerfully to unbelievers, seeing the lost saved on each occasion!

Every time the nature of God was displayed to them – saving them – worked powerfully in them – changing them – and was then released through them.

Unfortunately, but understandably so, Luke mostly tells the story of the main characters – men like Peter and later Paul, in the book of Acts.

It would have been wonderful to know exactly how one of the 3000 new believers of Acts 2:41 was affected – a documentary program – “a day in the life of a new believer in Old Jerusalem in 33AD” for example, would be helpful!

How did the Holy Spirit use new believer no 2419 – the guy who just set up his new business selling pre-approved lambs for sacrifice – “you can bring your own lamb all the way from Bethsaida or Joppa and run the risk of being turned back by the priest, or buy a pre-approved lamb right here, right now at Vinny’s; today’s special: a fee shofar with every 3 lambs bought”?

Well, we do know the following: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:42-47)

These are some of the very broadly stated changes that took place in Vinny’s life, as well as in the lives of the other new believers.

Firstly there was the work of the Spirit to draw them, and now the Spirit was working in them – changing them from the inside out.

Their desire to spend time in the presence of God increased, and this automatically led to a desire to spend time with their fellow believers, both in their homes and as a community, worshipping together.

They devoted themselves firstly to the teaching of the apostles.

They did not have the benefit of the written New Testament, but they did have the benefit of actually listening to the preaching of the apostles and those who would later become the authors of the New Testament!

They had the opportunity to daily listen to the preaching of men like Peter, John and others like Barnabas!

(Although this sounds really cool – the other side of the coin is that: they were now listening to the apostles, because they were the ones who killed Jesus! But obviously we know that that was part of the plan.)

Secondly, they devoted themselves to fellowship – with one another – hanging out together, not because they had to, but because they wanted to.

They discovered a new love for people whom they never even knew before, and suddenly those people mattered and so did their heartaches or triumphs!

They devoted themselves to breaking of bread – remembering and celebrating this fundamental of our faith – the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It mentions that this was not just something that was done corporately, or “officially”, because it actually says that when they met together socially in their homes, they also broke bread together – this was not a religious display, but an opportunity to welcome God into every meal, every coffee date and every conversation!

This is why some coffee shops give you that complimentary little cookie with your coffee – they expect us as believers to break bread right there!

And they devoted themselves to prayer!

Prayer was not limited to a few moments at the start of their day, or to an afternoon slot at the temple – they were devoted to prayer.

Devotion means to give or apply attention, time, or oneself, completely to some activity or purpose; to set apart, dedicate or consecrate.

*I love the fact they the Word says that they devoted themselves to these things – they were not forced, coerced or manipulated; it came from within them, it was the outworking of the inward working of the Holy Spirit.

It came naturally to them, not because they were “good people” to start off with, but because they received a new nature when the Holy Spirit came upon them!

The Holy Spirit brings about change: to our thinking, our mind-sets, our desires and this leads to, or is outworked in, a change in our activities, our very lives:

When Tanya and I got saved and were filled with the Spirit, everything changed – I could not wait to attend church services – I used to look for any excuse not to go, now I couldn’t wait to get there; our friends changed, our leisure activities changed, our outlook on life changed, our budget changed, my vocabulary changed, our marriage, our parenting, everything changed – for the better!

These changes happened almost by themselves as we devoted ourselves to the new life by the Spirit of God and being surrounded by likeminded believers!

There was a great sense of togetherness and unity among them, to the extent that they would bless one another, materially and financially….

They actually met together daily – making and finding time to connect, because at last they have found life – the death of religious rules had finally made place for life, and they wanted more and more thereof!

They went from there and connected in one another’s homes – again breaking bread and having meals together – living this exciting new life of freedom in Christ – moment by moment, completely naturally, not religiously, nor fake.

There was an atmosphere of great joy and delight among them and they found favour with everyone – this sounds so festive, like a carnival had come to town!

It was indeed much more than a carnival – it was life and it was abundant life – and it just kept going – Pentecost (the Jewish festival for which most had gone up to Jerusalem in the first place) came and went, but this life just kept rolling on – today, it is more than 2000 years later and we are still living in this!

No wonder “the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved”!

They were just getting on with Life – with this new life that they have found, and yet this normal daily living was so attractive that people kept joining them.

There is a great lesson is this passage for each of us: although we are all called to different outworkings of the inward working of the Holy Spirit – there are opportunities to become aware of and to live by the Spirit, every day.

Just like a day in the life of new believer number 2419 and his wife, did not strike us as completely out of the ordinary – this might not be Peter whose shadow would fall on people as he walked by and heal them (Acts 5:15); our days might not seem supernatural to us – but every time we become aware of the whispers of the Holy Spirit within us and we act thereon, it is supernatural!

*Your ordinary day can become a supernatural day, as you devote yourself to becoming aware of the Holy Spirit within you and being obedient – acting.

Your coffee date, your grocery shopping trip, your appointment with the dentist; can all become opportunities to live by the Spirit – and to see God daily adding to His Kingdom and to this local church through you.

By acting on the whispers of the Holy Spirit within you, your ordinary devotion, will change your life and the lives of many around you, for ever!

We have detoured from our journey into the presence of God during April, due to our Birthday bash, the Easter weekend and the Men’s camp.

These were all important and relevant events, and on each of these occasions, God spoke to us corporately, as a body of believers, as well as personally.

Yet, now I want to bring us back to our theme of the Presence of God:

In the past, most of us have all been “guilty” of coming into the presence of God for a moment, or for a while, or even for a season, only to eventually, get on with our lives, our schedules, routines and our responsibilities in our own strength again.

We have looked at this some weeks ago when we discussed the difference between the “tent of meeting” and the “cloud of God’s presence”.

On the one hand, I know that we don’t want to merely enjoy the presence of God, while forsaking that which we are called to, by just basking in the glow of His presence – like some spiritual guru with time to kill.

On the other hand, the reality is that life is full of responsibilities – even pre-schoolers are busy nowadays; so how do we effectively pursue the presence of God in our daily lives?

*The predicament seems to be that, while we cannot be effective in fulfilling our calling in our own strength; we can be equally ineffective by becoming merely presence seekers/followers/chasers, but neglecting our responsibilities!

The presence of God, the outpouring, the infilling and refilling by the Holy Spirit, always has a further purpose than simply the original manifestation.

*Therefore, in the presence of God, we find Him, and we find out who we are in Him; and what we are called to by Him; and how to go about it changed by His grace; to enjoy sustained fruitfulness in our daily life and responsibilities, while advancing His Kingdom, as enabled by Him – living lives of destiny!

Let us turn to Acts 1 and pick up the Presence theme from there:

“In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1:1-5)

With these words Jesus was handing over the presence baton – in a few moments He would ascend into heaven and would no longer be present in physical form with His disciples and followers:

Vs 9-11 “After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

In fact the angels were just confirming what Jesus had said to them before in Jn.14:1-3: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (Jesus said that He would ascend, but that He would also return again.)

Today, we are still living in this “in between phase” – after the ascension, but still awaiting the second coming – when we will return with Him into the heavens and spend eternity with and in the presence of God.

So – Jesus was present, He will return in the future, but what about right now?!

But in between these two portions which I have read to you now, (Jesus being physically present on the earth and us being physically reunited with God in the heavens) we find verses 6-8: “So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Basically Jesus is saying – during this interim age, the church age, do not be too concerned about the exact timing of the second coming (just ensure that you are ready for it when it happens) and do not be too concerned about the political reality in which you find yourselves, because you are actually Kingdom citizens, with a Kingdom agenda – let your concern be with Kingdom matters!

And you will only be aware of and effective in these Kingdom matters if you are filled with My Holy Spirit, living in His power!

*Jesus gave the great commission “to go into all the world” as His witnesses, but He also gave this commission to wait for the outpouring of the Spirit before they go out – because this is not possible in our own strength!

The Holy Spirit is the key to the presence of God during this age – He is not only our link with God, or God’s messenger, but God Himself, as the 3^rd person of the trinity and He is with and in us as believers – He is present; therefore God is present!

Jesus explained to those around Him that He had to die, in order for the same Spirit who was in Him, giving Him constant access to the Father, to be sent to live in them – and in us!

The Holy Spirit gives us constant access to God – for He is God and lives within us as believers – the Holy Spirit replaces and multiplies the presence of Jesus with man/believers! (See Jn. 15:26 – 16:15; Lk. 24:46-49)

Which means that every born again believer has constant access to the manifest presence of God by His Holy Spirit within you, just as if you had Jesus with you.

This is indeed the work of the Holy Spirit – to constantly point us to God’s will in all circumstances and decisions.

This is the key to living within the cloud of the presence of God continuously, while still being able to do what I am supposed to do – the Spirit of God lives within us, thus we can be constantly in His presence and tuned into His will!

*Coming into the presence of God therefore has a lot to do with simply becoming aware of the Spirit of God within us and aligning/submitting us with His guidance!

A vital question would therefore be: “How do I get the Holy Spirit to live in me in the first place?”

The first outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the subsequent events as recorded in Acts 2 are therefore vital to coming into and living within the presence of God:

We read that all the believers were together and that the Holy Spirit came on them in what seemed to be tongues of fire resting on them, and enabled them to speak in different tongues or languages. (Acts 2:1-12)

This caused a crowd to come together questioning the phenomenon and giving Peter an opportunity to explain to them what took place, to the point where they wanted in! (vs 14-37)

Peter then gave them the requirements: believe that God had made Jesus both Lord and Saviour; repent; be baptized and you will receive this same gift of the Holy Spirit – and from this point onward the Spirit of God will live within you!

(Acts 2:36-39)

The obvious first step is to acknowledge and receive God – to believe by faith that Jesus is both Lord and Saviour – Lord, the one who has lordship, the one who rules and reigns and is in charge; Saviour – saving me from the wrath of God by paying the price for my sins and rescuing me from eventual and eternal spiritual death.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Apart from placing our faith in Jesus and His death on the Cross, we need to repent – to confess both our sins and our need for forgiveness, while forgiving those who have wronged us in life – continually!

Peter continues to say that we should be baptized in water as soon as possible:  ”Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38.)

Water Baptism by full immersion is our first assignment as new believers, it is part of the package – Jesus did it (Mt.3); Jesus commanded those whom He sent out to baptize new believers (Mt 28) and Peter is also very clear on the matter here.

In fact, those who heard and accepted this message of his, were all baptized that same day – vs 41 “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”

This was the practice throughout the book of Acts e.g. 8:12-13 (Samaria); 35-38 (Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch); 9:17-18 (Saul/Paul).

If we are not obedient in this step, we have missed the essence of step one – acknowledging the Lordship of Christ – if we stumble on this first instruction, or want to rationalize or debate, or postpone it for whatever reason (often until I am a more mature, a better Christian, having sorted out my life, my marriage, my smoking, my whatever) I miss the point of salvation, which is surrendering to the Lordship of Christ.

In Jn 14 Jesus mentions some fundamentals of our faith, such as:

Vs 2-3 “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” Jesus is coming back for us!

Vs 6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus is the only way!

Vs 12 “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” We have a huge role to play right here and now!

And vs 15-17 “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”

This is the context in which Jesus promised the Holy Spirit – the context of obedience – and Peter again places the gift of the Spirit in the context of obedience to the word of God with regard to baptism.

(I am not saying that it is impossible to be either saved (Lk.23:40-43) or to receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:44-47) without being water baptized – I am saying that water baptism is my first opportunity to be obedient to the will of God, showing my love for Him – not in order to be saved, but because I am saved, and have therefore surrendered my will to Him!)

This step of obedience is often followed by the infilling of the Holy Spirit – Acts 8:14-17, on another occasion Paul himself also revealed how closely baptism and the infilling with the Holy Spirit is connected – Acts 19:1-7! (read)

Mike Hanchet has previously told us that he is not even prepared to give advice or council to any believer who has not been baptized, because “if they have no regard for the very first instruction/command of Jesus and the apostles after salvation, water baptism, then why will they follow my instructions/directions?”

Speaking in tongues is the most common manifestation of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, though it is not the only “proof” that someone has been filled with the Spirit (eg 1 Cor.12:30).

Speaking in tongues is a great way to become aware of the Spirit within us!

Whatever gift of the Spirit we receive, we all have the opportunity, privilege and responsibility to live by the Spirit: “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.” (1 Cor.12:4-11)

*The point of this morning’s message is to illustrate that “coming into the presence of God” is actually a case of becoming aware of the presence of God within us – once we have been filled with the Holy Spirit.

If you have not accepted Jesus as both Lord and Saviour, then you need to do so; if you have not repented of your own sin and asked for forgiveness while extending forgiveness, then you need to do so.

If you have done this, but have not been baptized, it means you are walking in rebellion to your first assignment as a believer and you need to repent and be baptized!

If you have been baptized but have not received the gift of the Holy Spirit, then we want to pray with you and trust that God will give you the gift He has promised!

Only then can we continue of this journey of ours, only then can we walk in and by the Spirit – living in the presence of God.

Only then will these verses come alive and make sense to you: “I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness – the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col.1:25-27)

Only then will it be possible to live within the cloud of the presence of God, without being torn between my daily responsibilities and my relationship with my God – because the presence of God is within me!

When this penny drops, we will rejoice in the fact that yet again it is by grace, by revelation, by an awareness and a new mindset, and not my might, or power, or a set of rules that we can live in the constant presence of God!

Life Groups:

Read John chapters 14-16 where Jesus spends a lot of time introducing the Person and the role of the Holy Spirit.

Read 1 Cor. 12 –14 Paul’s discussion on Spiritual gifts, Love and the use of the gifts to strengthen individual believers and the body when meeting together.

Question 1: How do we effectively pursue the presence of God in our daily lives? While we cannot be effective in fulfilling our (spiritual) calling in our own strength; we can be equally ineffective by becoming merely presence seekers/followers/chasers, while neglecting our (earthly) responsibilities.

Question 2: “How do I get the Holy Spirit to live in me in the first place?”

I would recommend a time of actually seeking to enter the presence of God. Encourage an awareness of the Holy Spirit through things like: thanksgiving, praise, worship, tongues, releasing prophetic words and pictures, speaking out words of adoration, etc.

Pray for those who do not speak in tongues to receive this gift – as its purpose is more private, I do believe that this gift is for every believer.

We all know that we are camping around the theme of the presence of God, and for those of you visiting; we’ve even have put it up on our wall!

This being Easter weekend gives us yet another opportunity and reason to celebrate this – the entire Easter message, the message of the Cross of Jesus Christ, is all about how God made a way for us to come into and to delight in His presence!

God is not playing hide-and-seek with us – He wants to reveal Himself to us through the Cross – He wants to be found, known, loved, served, obeyed and worshipped by all- in the most wonderfully intimate relationship imaginable!

Jesus did not go to the Cross for a select few – He endured the Cross so that all may be saved – “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” (Jn.3:16-17)

The fact that not all will be saved, due to the hardness of heart of mankind, does not change the fact that it is God’s gracious desire that none should perish.

Grace is the very foundation of the gospel and reveals much about the nature of  God, the nature of the Cross and the nature of the gospel of Good News.

Grace is the essence of Easter – let’s look at some definitions of what grace is:

• Acronym: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.
• Grace is simply the unmerited or undeserved favour, or blessing of God, towards humanity – that’s us!
• Grace is what enables us as humans to enter into and to live in the spiritual (supernatural) realm, or dimension – the presence of God!
• Grace is God’s desire to bless us, not on the basis of our performance, but on the substitutionary performance of Jesus on our behalf.
• Grace brings the sunshine of heaven into our hearts, because it brings the Sonship of heaven into our hearts – as we are sons and daughters of God in Christ Jesus!
• Grace sets us free to become what God has created and called us to be in Christ.

I believe that grace is the bridge which the Father has built between heaven and ourselves; crossing the divide of sin!

He took the wood of the Cross of Jesus and with it built a bridge over which flows every heavenly blessing towards us; and over which our praise, worship, adoration, prayers and petitions flow towards heaven.

Grace is mostly misunderstood in the sense that it is seen only as the substance of our initial encounter with God – thinking that we are only saved by grace.

This is not true, we are drawn by grace, saved by grace, continue in grace, live by grace, are kept by grace and have our very being and existence saturated by grace ongoingly!

I am not denying sanctification – I am saying that sanctification is only possible by grace – if not, it is merely religion and legalism!

*The gospel does not primarily make a way out of our circumstances – our unemployment, our struggling marriage, or difficult teenagers, or uninvolved parents or our low self-esteem – but, it makes a way to God – it takes us into His presence!

That is the good news of the gospel – that it does not gives us an escape route, nor does it merely give us heaven, but it gives us God!

Grace is not for new Christian only, while you find your feet, a type of kindergarten Christianity, until we mature to “making it on our own”.

No, grace is something that we need to be reminded of frequently – constantly!

Grace is the foundation and the very fibre of our marriage, our ministry, our very lives.

For each of us, our first personal experience of grace, from our perspective, is when we come to a realization that we are trapped in a hopeless situation:

Because of our sinful nature and God’s infinitely holy nature, there is total separation between us.

R.C. Sproul wrote that: “The most perplexing theological question is not why God allows suffering, or why bad things happen to ‘good people’, but rather why a holy God tolerates us in our sinfulness?”

This situation is completely hopeless and unchangeable from our human perspective – we have a better chance of flapping our arms and flying to the moon, than to save, rescue or redeem ourselves!

In this state, Eph 2:12 calls us: “foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world”.

But Paul wrote to Timothy that “there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men” (1 Tim.2:5-6)

Therefore Eph 2:13 says: “now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away, have been brought near through the blood of Christ” – that is Grace!

And so R.C. Sproul could also write that: “The one from whom we needed to be saved is the one who has saved us!”

And John Stott wrote: “Divine love triumphed over divine wrath by divine self-sacrifice.” That’s grace!

This is the Easter message – the message of the Cross – the message of Grace!

We have been saved by grace, by the grace of God alone.

Eph.2:4-9

Yes, there was faith on our part, but we were even granted the grace to make that choice of faith by God – Rom.2:4 asks “do you not realize that God’s kindness (His goodness; His grace) leads you towards repentance?”

We could never have done it on our own, or somehow have worked for it or earned it – there is nothing deserving about us.

*And now that we have been saved by grace through faith, there is absolutely no way for us to make up for it, or to repay it – we can never, ever refund God!

*Understanding the holy nature of God, we realise that God can never ignore sin, nor can He tolerate, or turn a blind eye to it, God cannot even forgive sin.

God can only punish sin – God can forgive sinners – only because He has already punished their sins – in Jesus, on the Cross – that is the beauty of the Cross, the beauty of grace!

When we think that grace is what God gives us when we first got saved, and that from that moment forward the ball is in our court, we need to take it from here and “make God proud” – it’s exactly at this point, at 3,72 seconds after salvation that we go wrong!

At this point we start deviating from grace ever so slightly and we start drifting.

And more often than not, we drift towards the huge, terrible, lethal waterfall, with razor sharp rocks at the bottom, called works, self-endeavour, striving!

*We are so grateful for our salvation that we immediately want to start repaying God for the “huge debt that we owe Him” – we turn grace into a bond, and work ourselves into bondage!

This grace has been credited to us – it has been given to us – yet we often think that it has been debited to us – lent to us, that is why we feel the urge to repay it! (Gal.3:6)

This is satan’s strategy – to get us to fall from grace back to works and performance!

But if we understand God’s grace, then we will no longer be driven by works.

Heb 4:16 “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

It is not about coming to the throne-room of self-achievement – “I have done well this week, all the spiritual disciplines were in place: the word, prayer, fasting, meditation, even prayed in tongues now and then – so I can boldly come before God – if I’m this chuffed with my week, imagine how God feels about me!”

No! “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble”. (James 4: 6)

*If ever we get to a place where we pray or worship with passion and zeal, because we have had “a good week” then we are on very dangerous ground – we have in fact moved away from the solid foundation of grace – confidence in Jesus and in His finished work on the cross alone, to the quick-sand of confidence in our own performance and achievement!

*As soon as we have boldness based on our own performance, then likewise we will surely plummet into depression, condemnation and guilt and shy away from God, because of a “bad day” or a “bad week” – because our performance always falls short!

(“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Rom.3:23)

If you discover that you are starting to feel coldish, when you start to lose the joy of your salvation, when you start to backslide – then you have probably moved your security away from the grace of God and onto your own spiritual performance, or lack thereof!

Get back to grace – it is the only way.

Rom 11: 6 “And if by grace, then no longer by works, for if it were, then grace would no longer be grace.” (repeat)

Alternatively some, who start to drift from grace, drift towards the slimy, terrible, horrific, lethal, bubbling green sest pools of licentiousness.

Jude vs 4 “For certain men have secretly slipped in among you who change the grace of God into a licence for immorality.”

They reason as follows: “God is gracious – and besides, it is not about my performance, God will understand – God will forgive me – why, my pastor even said that there is nothing that I can do to make God love me less.”

God’s grace is never a licence to sin – in fact, living in grace, gives us the capacity to obey God and to overcome sin – never confuse obedience with works – we are called to obedience! (Jn.14:15; 21; 23-24; 31)

It is impossible for us to have an understanding of the grace of God; and to respond to that grace by sinning – grace removes the law and gives us the capacity to obey God.

“What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law but under grace.” (Rom 6: 1-2 and 14; see also Titus 2:11-12)

The majority of Christians who backslide do so because they do not grasp this bottom-line grace principle and are therefore constantly living under a feeling of “I am not doing enough to be accepted.”

Jesus modelled a life of grace – He never questioned the sick to check whether they were deserving enough to be healed – He simply healed; He accepted the “humiliation” of being anointed by a prostitute; He challenged the “sinless” to throw the first stone at the woman who was caught in adultery; He told the parables of a banquet for the “undeserving” – the poor, the blind, the cripple and the lame; He had the father run out towards his returning prodigal son; and He said to a convicted sinner on a cross “Today you will be with Me in paradise”!

Ask people what you must do to go to heaven and they answer: “Be good!”

Yet, Jesus’ stories contradict this answer; they would rather say “Cry out for help!”

Jesus said: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mk.2:17)

The Passover was introduced way back in Egypt in Ex.12: “The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt…Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect… Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn – both men and animals – and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD – a lasting ordinance.”

We will break bread in a moment, and when we do we need to remember this – the blood of the lamb was placed on the outside of the house!

The angel did not come inside to inspect the people – he saw the blood and moved over them!

When the Father looks at a believer, someone who has placed his or her faith in the blood of Jesus – the blood shed for us all on the Cross – all He sees is the blood of His Son – the blood of the Lamb – and we are accepted on the basis of that blood – not on anything that we have done – that is Grace!

Grace carries with it the revelation that you and I are accepted by God – regardless of our performance and irrespective of our success or failure.

See, grace is God’s desire to bless us – not on the basis of our performance, but on the basis of Jesus’ performance on our behalf, in our place.

Grace delivers us from works, striving, competitiveness and self-effort – because it is not about what we do for God, but what God did for us.
Grace releases us from the heaviness of people’s opinions; it nullifies satan’s accusations and it removes guilt and regret.

Grace gives us the ability to love, serve, obey and worship God – joyfully, as an enthusiastic, passionate, spontaneous, uninhibited and secure people in Christ.

Grace is the finely dressed doorkeeper to the presence of God, who, with a huge  smile, swings the doors wide open as we approach, saying: “Go right inside – He’s been expecting you!”

Liberty Birthday Bash! by Basson Nel

We are here to celebrate this morning!

15 Years – of LIFE!

We are not celebrating an individual, or a couple, or a building, but Life! Life that is only found in Jesus Christ who said: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”  Thus as we celebrate 15 years of togetherness as a local church, we celebrate 15 years of life in abundance in Christ – we come to celebrate Him – we come to celebrate us – and most of all we come to celebrate Him in us, our only and our eternal hope of glory!

At an opportunity like this we take the time to stop and to look back over the 15 years behind us – much like Matt Redman says: “Standing on this mountain top, looking just how far we’ve come…”

It has indeed been an incredible season, an incredible journey to this point.

None of us knew exactly what we were in for when we joined this church – even when our family came 10 years ago, we had no idea as to how exactly it will unfold – nor did we know who we would meet and get to journey with.

Watching this photo/video clip, brought back so many wonderful memories – each face, a story – most to celebrate, some to mourn, all to remember!

Some have walked this road for longer than Tanya and myself, some have spent a season with us and have then moved on, some are just joining us today for the very first time!

But my greatest delight is that when I watch this – I see so much life!

I see something that excites me, something that brings a smile to my face and tears to my eyes at the same time – something that is worth being part of, worth sacrificing for and worth celebrating!

Thank you for being here, for making these memories possible and then for coming to celebrate them with us as a couple, as an eldership and as a church.

Obviously each face represented here this morning, either in person, or on a photo, has played a role in the extended cast of that which became Liberty over these past 15 years!

Hami and Caroline Hemingway planting this church 15 years ago, before handing over to us to go and plant yet again in New Zealand, they wrote:

Dear Basson, Tanya and all the crew at Liberty.

Wow. we can’t believe it is 15 years you are celebrating!! We often
think back to our time in George with great fondness and we are so
grateful to have been a part of Liberty’s history. We are very
encouraged and excited at what God is doing through you all and we
look forward to hearing of great exploits in the future.
We as a family thank you for the time we spent with you – for the love
and honour you have always shown us - thanks for releasing us to
follow our dreams. We now find ourselves living in Melbourne Australia
and on a kingdom journey that looks a little different to what we have
known so well in the past. This is both an exciting and fresh journey
for us and we look forward to seeing what God unfolds in our lives. We
love you guys heaps and hope that one day we will be able to walk
through Liberty’s doors again and reconnect with some of you and
celebrate all that God has done in your lives.
Basson and Tanya, we are so glad that God knit our hearts in a moment
and that your family came to George – we love you guys and honour you
for all the years you have sown, loved and cared for everyone. Have
fun today guys as you celebrate.

With lots of love to all
Hamilton, Caroline and family.

The old bullets – Peter Robinson, Fleur, Merle, Pauline, Ian and Sharon, Thys and Glenda, Gareth and Lyn, Naylor and Retha, Hester – these guys were all here before us and have stuck it out with us – thanks guys!

The elders – Jean and Tracey, Tim and Manda, Clint and Fran – men and couples who have joined with us in leading this church and in following the calling of God on their individual lives – eldership is a calling; and on behalf of the people of Liberty, Tanya and I want to thank you for your devotion to God and to His call on your lives!

The unsung heroes:  The Life group leaders; the children’s church leaders; the worship team; the sound and technical support team; the mercy ministry team; the youth leaders and the counselling staff – thank you guys for your sacrificial contribution to this church, week after week!

The office staff – first Meg, then Lyn for many years, and now Heleen – nobody will ever know the work that is done behind the scenes by these ladies!

To our apostolic partners – people who have gone with and those who have made going possible through sowing finances and by keeping this ship steady in our absence to PE or East London, or into Africa or even across to Europe – those churches and nations were impacted, edified, blessed and encouraged by your sacrifice; thank you!

From Scotland , Eddie and Trina wrote:

Hi Basson, Tanya and all at Liberty Church

Congratulations on your 15th Birthday.  What a joy it is to have met you all and we look forward to being able to visit again.   You are very special friends and partners in the gospel.  Trusting that your next years will be full of God’s blessings.   We want to share a scripture with you that has been special to us 1 Corinthians 2 v 9 NIV  However, as it is written  “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him”.
Believe that God has got so much exciting things in store for Liberty Church.
With our love Eddie and Trina

From Portugal, Mark and Nati wrote:

Dear Basson, Tanya, and all our friends at Liberty church,

What a joy to be congratulating you on your 15th birthday, and ten years with Basson and Tanya at the helm.
We are  both blessed and inspired by you, as you have sown so richly into our growth and progress over the last 6 or 7 years.
We are privileged to partner with you in the work of the gospel and the advancement of the kingdom… but, hey, doesn’t that sound so formal! Put more simply, it’s just great to be your friends and to know we have the same heart and vision, and we love you guys.

The whole church, all your friends who make up the church of a Ponte in Porto, send you their love. May you be abundantly and extravagantly blessed, and may the grace and favour of the Lord fill you and overflow through you to George and the nations, to the glory of our God.
We are cheering for you! Go Liberty!

Love Mark, Nati and a Ponte.

Not only the nations, but also our neighbours and our community have been blessed through Liberty’s mercy ministry: Options, Thembalethu, Bethesda and a number of others have all been fed, clothed, blessed by this team, releasing the kindness and goodness of Jesus into their circumstances and into their lives!

We want to thank Tyrone and Nicole Daniel and the NCMI team – those apostolic and prophetic voices from near and far who have encouraged us on our route. People like Chanelle here with us again this morning, and Richard and Zelda who will join us for tonight, and others.

But mostly to every single individual who has been a part of us and has played a role in adding momentum to this church, blowing wind into our sails and straining against the oars with us, in your unique way – thank you so much!

Together with you guys, we have experienced so many seasons, aspects and milestones of life: Births (some miraculous), weddings, funerals, baptisms, birthdays, anniversaries, engagements, graduations, etc.

Together, we have laughed and cried, prayed and given counsel, brought wisdom and correction, celebrated, done warfare, dreamed with, prophesied over, released, restored, and hopefully impacted each life in some way or another.                                                                                                      Together with you, we can truly say: “Never once did we ever walk alone – You are faithful, God you are faithful!”

I do feel that we also need to look ahead this morning, but before handing over to Tim and Chanelle for this purpose, I want to briefly say:

We are currently camping around the theme of the Presence of God – it is in the presence of God, that we find Him, and we find out who we are in Him, what we are called to by Him, and how to go about it changed, empowered and led by His grace into a sustained Kingdom life of significance and destiny!

In Ex.33:13-16 Moses and God has the following conversation: “If You are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know You and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.” The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to Him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and Your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

Moses is very concerned about 2 things: firstly he is not prepared to move without the guarantee that the presence of God would be with them; and secondly he wanted the presence of the living God, the creator of heaven and earth to distinguish them as a people from those around them and their “gods”.

This is equally important to us today – we want to be firmly established in the cloud of God’s presence and we want to move and flow with Him, ensuring that it is His presence and power that draws people into our midst.

How interesting then that years later, when this same nation of Israel pressurises Samuel (their prophet-leader at the time) to give them a king, they would say: “You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” (1 Sam.8:5)

Now they are not interested in being different from, or distinguished from all the other nations, rather they want to become just like them!

We do not want to become just like everybody else – we never want to imitate the world, but we want to ensure that the presence and power of God and not religious form and rhetoric, is what distinguishes us from the world!

But more than that, we want the world to become like us, to have what we have, to worship Whom we worship – to find their salvation and their delight in Jesus Christ, as King of kings and as Lord of lords!

This is what our mission is all about – to be Kingdom people – people living moment by moment in the Presence of God, but on a Mission to reach the world.

In the last verses of Mt 28, Jesus said: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Mt.28:18-20)

Jesus confirms that His presence will not leave them – when they find themselves on His mission!

This same message is true for us – the sustained presence and power of God will be ours, when we find ourselves committed to His mission!

It is this mission of the Kingdom of heaven that we have set our compass and our GPS to – ever determined to reach our neighbours and the nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ, while providing a local church as a demonstration model of Kingdom life and culture – His love, His grace and His power.

May it be said over us, as it was written over the churches of Galatia:

“And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia – your faith in God has become known everywhere!” (1 Thes. 1:7-8)

As all of us know, this local church, is on a journey – currently becoming aware of, focusing on and further pursuing, the presence of God!

As someone brilliantly stated it recently: “We are on a journey to discover/rediscover/uncover/recover or whatever each of our personal situations requires, more of a greater revelation of the presence of God, because only in His presence is fullness of joy and purpose for life.” (Clint Perring)

This journey is to ensure that we are indeed following the Biblical precedent for church life, which we find much of in the book of Acts.

This pursuit of the continued presence of God, is made possible only by God – He made it clear that it is His desire to be pursued.

Jesus explained to those around Him that He had to die, in order for the same Spirit who was in Him, giving Him constant access to the Father, to be sent to live in them – and in us!

Which means that every born again believer has constant access to the manifest presence of God by His Holy Spirit within you.

*God wants to be pursued and therefore He has created each of us with an internal GPS which constantly seeks Him out and whispers directions towards Him, into our spirits! (repeat)

This is indeed the work of the Holy Spirit – to constantly point us to God’s will in all circumstances and decisions.

If you were to look closely to the fine lines under your feet, you will be able to decipher that it reveals some fine print from the manufacturer, basically saying GPS enabled – which means that we still need to individually activate this feature!

It is not an automatic feature, it is not built into our DNA, it has to be selected, activated and then acted on!

The promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit took place 10 days after Jesus ascended into Heaven, on the day of Pentecost, as described in Acts 2.

It is such a well know portion of scripture for the believers, that I am not going to look at it this morning.

We are more interested in what followed the actual outpouring:

This outpouring was accompanied by tongues of fire which rested on all of the believers and they all received the gift of speaking in tongues.

Every outpouring or manifestation of the Holy Spirit is for a purpose and that purpose is to bear Kingdom fruit of some nature – so we need to check the fruit of this outpouring.

The last couple of verses of Acts 2 read as follows:

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

This really speaks for itself – a new way of living, an alternative lifestyle based on common values and devotion to God – a Kingdom Culture developing!

This was a new lifestyle for many of them, it did not simply happen by itself, they had to make changes to their routines, to the manner in which they would normally go about their days.

They did not suddenly experience 28 hour days, enabling them to add this new lifestyle to the old, they actually had to make some changes and to let go of certain things.

It was no doubt rather easy to let go of some sinful habits, because once we get saved, our new nature wants to follow Christ, it wants to become obedient to the voice of the Spirit within us – it wants to let go of the old ways.

But what about the things which they had become used to as part of life, things that were not sinful, or bad, yet did not facilitate the new life they were experiencing.

Suddenly they had to make decisions, Kingdom decisions, using Kingdom criteria, and it was not equally easy for all of them.

When we read the book of Acts and we hear how these individuals have outworked the inward stirrings of the Holy Spirit, we see that some were able to follow the directions of that GPS, while for others there must have been a constant refrain of: “recalculating, make a U-turn as soon as it safe to do so”!

This is the sound of the internal GPS calling us to walk in the light – to get real and to stay real, taking masks off and keeping them off!

We have a great example of this in the difference between Joseph (or Barnabas) and Ananias and his wife Sapphira, in the latter verses of Acts 4 and the first part of Acts 5.

*What was the cause of death of Ananias and Sapphira – what do you think their official death certificates stated as cause of death?

Well, if it was correct, it would have read: “Death by pretense.”

Ignoring the warnings of the internal GPS and choosing not to walk in the light, but to lie to their fellow believers and to pretend - choosing to live a lie!

Fortunately the bad choices of one couple did not derail the believers and momentum rather seemed to build: “Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.” (Acts 5:14)

The fact is, that people will always be drawn to life, especially to the life of the Spirit of God – the life available only within the presence of God!

When some of the apostles were later arrested, an angel came to release them and sent them back saying: “”Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people the full message of this new life.” (Acts 5:20)

In the presence of God, there is no religion, there is no place for masks of pretense, but it does teem with life!

This is also true for us as a local church – it means that we are constantly moving forward, there is momentum, there is direction and there is purpose.

This means that growth and change are at the order of the day – adjustments to facilitate the growth and the season which we are experiencing corporately.

*This is exciting, because it creates space and opportunities as people are released into their call – it is of God!

*Releasing people, speaks of recognition and acknowledgement of their gifts and calling, it brings about an empowering; releasing responsibility and with that, authority, it empowers the individual, but also the leadership team and most importantly, the church.

The church in Jerusalem grew so rapidly, that soon the Twelve could no longer see to all the needs, especially regarding life outside of their corporate meetings.

Acts 6:1-7

This portion of scripture describes how the early church in Jerusalem went about to facilitate the numerical growth and the inevitable challenges that came with that, without becoming distracted or derailed from their primary call in the process.

Note that the reason for increasing the leadership team, was not primarily the practical need, for the apostles could most probably have seen to that themselves, but only to the detriment of their calling to spiritual ministry.

“It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” (Acts 6:2-4)

*Please note: these men were released not to “wait on tables”, but to ensure that the elders would not become distracted from their primary call – the ministry of the Word!

This defines the function of a deacon for me in very broad terms, yet in a nutshell – doing and facilitating whatever is necessary to release the eldership to give their attention to prayer and the ministry of the Word of God (which incidentally goes way beyond simply preaching on a Sunday).

However this aspect of the call of deacons is only one side of the coin, and if viewed in isolation, it would distort the deacon’s function, limiting it to merely a ministry of helps, which it most definitely is not!

Many of us sit with a distorted view regarding the role of deacons today, because of the way in which mainline churches have in the past focused only on the “waiting on tables” aspect, while ignoring the spiritual call on these men and women.

The reality, however, was that they had to choose men who were known to be filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom – definitely not the first characteristics which one would look for if you are merely appointing “waiters”!

These men were not only filled with the spirit and wisdom, they were front footed, big capacity men.

Nothing in their description seems to be limited, those who have not quite cut it yet – listen to what they get up to between serving the soup!:

Stephen is described as not only full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom, but also full of grace and power, doing great wonders and miracles among the people (Acts 6:8).

He is a solid theologian who gives a wonderful synopsis of the history of the faith from Abraham to Jesus in chapter 7, before he becomes the first Christian martyr.

But not before he, in his very brief time of ministry, leads such a life of passion for the gospel and for Jesus Christ, that it actually raises Jesus to his feet!

We know that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven (Eph.1:20) and that there is a spiritually significant reason for this, it is because, as our new high priest, Jesus has offered the sacrifice of His blood for us once and for all (Heb. 10:1-12) and having done that – His priestly function was completed and He, unlike any Old Covenental High Priest, could sit down!

But Acts 7:55-56 actually says: “But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing: “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

Stephen, a deacon, lived a life that brought Jesus to His feet!

In fact, in Acts 6-7 you can identify at least ten aspects where the life of Stephen models exactly after Jesus. (See if you can identify these yourself.)

After the stoning of Stephen, a persecution broke out against the church and the believers were scattered. (Acts

We then read that Philip, another one of the original deacons, went down to Samaria, preaching the gospel of Jesus and doing miraculous signs.

Here is an evangelist who could break open a new region with the gospel, preaching with displays of God’s supernatural power, seeing paralytics healed and people delivered from demons, to the point where the entire city rejoiced! (Acts 8:5-7)

These deacons were definitely not the type of characters that would be sitting at home thinking: “If only I was an elder, I feel so limited and unfulfilled as a deacon!”

When the right people are released into leadership, the end result is that: “the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.” (Acts 6:7)

Therefore, we are excited to be able to release deacons this morning, and we hope to release even more before year end.

I would like to briefly mention what deacons are not:

• They are not a team of men and women going from house to house to collect your tithe or offering! (It is not Biblical, the Bible teaches that we bring our tithes and offerings to the storehouse. Mal.3:10)
• They are not a management team or board which set the vision and direction for the eldership.
• Neither are they a maintenance team limited to a ministry of helps.
• They do not exercise government in the form of discipline, direction or doctrine – which are eldership functions.
• They are not a go-between the believers and the eldership, creating some form of hierarchy, although they are required to release the elders.

They do in fact:

• help to administer and facilitate the growth in the local church;
• ensure healthy relationships with no age, cultural, gender, economic or academic barriers within the church.
• They are front-footed, pro-active, spirit filled men and women who take ownership of the church and not just of their area of influence or group.
• They bear the burden for the church, but also for the lost and the community.
• They stand alongside the eldership, not behind, co-labouring with us to see this local church move into the fullness of our call as a base church in this city.

With this in mind, we as an eldership, have decided to release the following couples and individuals onto our leadership team as deacons: Paul + Heleen, Fleur, Pierre + Alta, Pauline, Mike + Molly-Ann, Sarah, Mike + Helena, Renier, Gavan + Ally.

Not all of them carry the same anointing or calling, and they will therefore operate in different capacities, for example, not every deacon in Liberty will lead a life group.

We want to lay hands on them and pray for them, trusting for a spiritual impartation; we also ask that you as the body would receive them and delight with them as they step out into a greater measure of their destiny in God, which will no doubt be to all of our benefit:

“So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in George increased rapidly, and a large number of believers became obedient to the faith!”