Sunday School Questions Answered By Our Pastor

Sunday School Questions:

1. How does revelation differ from word of knowledge?

2. Were the utterances by Jehaziel in 2chron 20:14-20 a word of knowledge, prophecy or a revelation?

3. How does revelation differ from prophecy?

4. Is prophecy only meant for prophets in that office?


Answers
1st Cor. 12:4-11 answers these questions.

With the Holy Spirit come diversity of gifts.
1. There's no gift of revelation. It's the same as the gift of the word of knowledge.

2. The Holy Spirit came upon Jehaziel, and he prophesied. One doesn't necessarily need to hold the office of the prophet to prophesy. It's the Holy Spirit in one that allows operations of the gifts.
That's why Saul prophesied, when he was young, and people saw him & wondered "is Saul also among the prophets" - 1st Sam. 10:11-12.

3. Now Word of knowledge/revelation is different from prophecy.
Prophecy is a gift that tells of something that'd happen in future.
Word of knowledge is a gift that tells of something (secret) about a person, place or thing, that only the person or owner knows. For instance, I could see someone & tell her "you met a person on the train today, don't go into that business with him"

4. Response in #2 above answers this. Saul was not "a prophet", but he also prophesied with the prophets when the Holy Spirit came upon him.
So...No

Subdue The Earth

From Our Pastor's Desk

Genesis 1:28 - “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful,and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it…”

Subdue means to hold within limits and control e.g. "subdue one's appetites"; get on top of; deal with successfully, overcome, suppress.

The final thing God told Adam and Eve to do was to subdue the earth. If God told man to subdue the earth, that meant earth was not already subdued. The earth was wild, out of control, wants to rise up and take man over, it rose in battle.



The earth was insubordinate and rebellious. Another word for the earth is the world, flesh, life
The earth needed to be tamed, broken like a wild horse. A wild horse is not really of much practical use until it's broken.

Wild horses have an innate fight or flight response. The animal must eventually learn to respond positively to a tamer’s presence, listen to him and move according to his leading & “command”.

Remember that God did not create the earth to be wild, uncontrollable, for God is not an author of confusion – 1st Corinthians 14:33. So, what happened to make the earth wild and rebellious? SIN….yes, SIN.

The Lord grant us grace to subdue the earth & overcome all that’s in the world, in Jesus Name.

You will have good success this 2018.

Remain blessed.

Shalom.

Let Christ Have Preeminence

From our Pastor's Desk

We get busy and pre-occupied by many things, physically, mentally and spiritually, it’s a common way of life.
There are so many things that clamor for our attention and devotion: pursuit of happiness, pursuit of money, relationships, our jobs, our children, our spouses, our hobbies, etc—all the demands and distractions of life.

And we have to be careful not to let them become more important or more of a priority than our relationship with God. All these pursuits could be good, even noble but each only becomes a problem when God, or the things of God, gets pushed aside instead.

The desire of God is to be the preeminent occupant of our lives. Jesus tells us: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38).

When we give God the place of highest honor in our hearts, we will also put Him
first in our lives. We will offer Him the very best we have. And we will find joy in serving the Lord, instead of experiencing it as drudgery.

When you decide to serve God with your whole heart and make Him first in your
life, your soul will prosper and your joy and peace will increase.

We will allow Him to occupy our lives; our spaces. We won’t let anything or anyone
take the place of God in our lives, and as we maintain God as our focus, He will turn us to be a focus among men, in Jesus Name.

You will have good success this 2018.
Remain blessed. Shalom.

Occupy Till He Comes

From Our Pastor's Desk

When God created Adam, before this point, the man was empty! He was like a newly
manufactured computer without any base program/software.
He stood before God fresh and empty, ready to receive his marching advance orders.

God looked at this creation of His, and the first commands He uttered to Adam were:
 Be fruitful.
 Multiply.
 Replenish the earth.
 Subdue it
Genesis 1:28 - And God blessed them, and God said unto them,
Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it:
and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of
the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
These became the four cardinal commands on which the whole of human life would operate for divine occupancy.

Quite similar to the same command Jesus left us at His home-going: Luke 19:13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
God is telling us in both scriptures to fill & divinely occupy the earth with His Kingdom, full of joy, gladness, the Gospel, thanksgiving, encouragement, hope, voice of melody, harmony, unity, etc

We receive the fullness of His grace to occupy, be fruitful, multiply, spread, inhabit & leave a legacy that will benefit our generation, full of His glory, in Jesus Name.

You will have good success this 2018.
Remain blessed.
Shalom.

Dwelling in His Secret Place

From Our Pastor Mrs’ Desk

Dwelling means a place to live, a house, a territory, home, residence, an occupancy. Having s place of residence in the secret place of The Almighty.
It’s a place where we live, not a place where we just visit. It’s our abode, lodging, domicile, habitation. We are at home in the presence of God.

Our homes are His habitation, just as the Psalmist right said in Psalms 71:3 Be
thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given
commandment to save me; for thou art my Rock and my Fortress.
Also, our church, Mt. Zion is His habitation. Psalms 132:13 For the LORD hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it for His habitation. 

But we must make up our minds to move into our dwelling place in God and to take there with us all our possessions, and above all, those we love. We must hide our- selves in Him away from ourselves, away from all others, and we must lose sight of everything that is outside of Him except as we see it through His eyes. God's eyes are the windows of God's house, and the only windows there are; and seen through His eyes, all things will put on a new aspect. We shall see our trials as blessings and our enemies as disguised friends.

We shall be calm and at rest in the face of all the frets and worries of life, un- touched by any of them, in Jesus Name. For he that dwelleth in God dwelleth in a peaceable habitation and in a quiet resting place. Isaiah 32:18
You will have good success this 2018. 
Remain blessed. 
Shalom.