It’s September 22 now. No use procrastinating any further. Time to hit the backlog. Time to yank it all out and piece it all together in the open. Time to spill the beans, and sort all of it straight.
Time for clarification.
As of late I’ve been tempted to give in to the urges of relaxing and letting my guard down. This is usually the case following high tension events, or following critical decisions made… and, well, both of these happened in a short period of time after last weekend.
And, if I’m being honest, the temptations to revert back to the old, fleshly, certainly harmful but absolutely un-beneficial approaches to relaxing have weighed heavier than the ideal rest to be had, simply by being a new creation with new preferences.
Then I remember, well, it’s not like the mandate has ever slowed down – No matter what wealth of revelation, knowledge and data was revealed in these intense past few days, we still ought to continue, as new creations in Christ, to discipline ourselves towards the following:
Submit to God. Resist the devil, and he shall flee from you.
Thank You, Father, for the recollection/meditation on Your Word.
Before anything else, I suppose I ought to apologize to Pastor Danny; I mean, he is very aware of how he comes across, but as he continued with his notes, his presentation, his discussion, and his word, I just couldn’t avoid noticing how he is, as Dr. Andrew Farley brought to my attention, what’s called a Type-A Personality.
Gemini tells me this is characterized by ambition, drive, goal orientation, and a desire for control; It also goes on to describe ‘pitfalls’ of such personalities: Self-reliance over trust, forgetting Grace, and being impatient with finitude. A lot of that going on.
I… had to go away and do a little bit of deep-diving with AI before I went any further. Let me just say that the conclusion I have right now is – There are a lot of past mindsets which need to be un-learned, a lot of present misgivings that have to be addressed, all for the sake of our future.
With all this in mind, let’s just go on with it.
Rooted in Christ
Pastor Danny’s Church Anniversary Message
Manang Ruby’s word after worship: Stand together. Join at the elbows.
Not only rooted… deeply rooted. You don’t see how deep the roots go, but we see the fruits. In other words, the fruits communicate how deep the roots are.
When you are broken hearted, you could barely sing, if at all. When the Word is in you, you couldn’t help but bear fruit – and praise.
A review of all that’s been established for the entire church, in the past months, culminating to what we’ve ratified in the past days:
Our vision is to see Transforming nations with the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Our mission is to testify, preach and teach the Gospel of God’s Grace to all the world, and to entrust them to faithful disciples who are able to teach others.
We should be good with the aforementioned Mission as individuals, but we fulfill the Mission by teaching it to others. (Besides, Jim Kwik states: When you teach anything, you learn it twice.)
So, the Word says, that we ought to be deeply rooted: As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.Colossians 2:6-7
Proposed items of note:
Rooted in Christ – Be passionate in our pursuit for Christ through spiritual disciplines.
Strengthened in Faith – Stability – Learn, obey, teach and train others.
Overflowing with Thankfulness – True Worshippers
(092226) Lines prefixed with ‘/*’ from here on out were my side comments from the day itself, as I was transcribing. And you’ll see that it’ll mostly BE comments because Manong Danny was going down another route – I unfortunately found myself commenting more than transcribing.
/* Type-A personality items
- Rooted In Christ
Testified of encounters with demon possessed people; Testified of deliverance. In his earlier days he was taught about leadership and servanthood.
This is a season of learning. Of hearing from the Holy Spirit. Of being passionate in our pursuit for Christ, through spiritual disciplines… with an aim to bear fruit.
“If we want to go higher and wider, we need to go deeper. If we want to see GNWMI expand nationally and globally in the next 45 years, we need to mobilize the whole church to passionately pursue Christ.“
Shared the parable of the Sower:
18 “Therefore hear the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. 20 But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22 Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 23 But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”Matthew 13:18-23
To grow: Passion is the key.
13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13
/* The Lord seeks us and finds us. The Lord searches for us with all His heart. And this causes us to seek Him back. He is our reward.
It is from the reward that we mobilize. We establish houses of prayer and worship, by way of our being made temples of the Holy Spirit ourselves.
Understand that you have been prioritized by the Lord… and consequently, you will naturally prioritize Him.
In John 15, the word ‘Abide’ is mentioned 10 times: ‘Abide in Me’, ‘Abide in the Vine’, ‘Abide in My Love’, ‘Abide in my Word’. Abiding leads to fruitfulness.
Spiritual disciples strengthen relationships, and it is key for growth and fruit bearing.
Those rooted in Christ will bear fruit. Fruits have seeds to become potential trees.
The true fruit of an avocado tree is not an avocado, but more avocado trees. Within the fruit is found the seed of the next generation of avocado trees. We all carry within us the seed of future generations of the church. We are to take that seed and plant in the soil of every people group under the authority of the King. (Cole)
/* This is the year of bearing much fruit… and in much fruit, there is much seed. We bear love, peace, patience, joy, faithfulness, kindness, goodness and self control – and each of these fruit have their seed – Christ.
Ptr. Danny says, and we emphasize: Don’t kill yourself – don’t kill your seed.
(1) Rooted In Christ – Houses of Prayer
- Strengthened In Faith
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”Matthew 7:24-27
(2) Strengthened in Faith – Training Centers
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.Matthew 28:18-20
(092226) ‘Submit to God’ was mentioned before ‘resist the devil’. The way I see this, we prioritize our submitting to God before resisting the devil. I also dare say, when we submit to God, we already, in a way, are resisting the devil. With that in mind, note:
‘All authority has been given to Me’ was mentioned before ‘Go therefore’… But, more importantly, ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’ was mentioned before ‘teaching them to observe all things…’
Here, we may want to consider discipling folks – establishing genuine relationships – before teaching, and we disciple from the priority of understanding and realizing that, indeed, all authority has been given to Christ, first and foremost.
20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.John 14:20-21, 23-24
(092226) I recall that at around this point the emphasis was on obedience – and the observed tension (well, at least from me, anyway) was, from my point of view, an age-old proposition that to PROVE your love for God and for Christ, you ‘keep’ His commandments; ‘Keep’ being emphasized to mean ‘OBEY’.
Translations of John 14:15 are torn down the middle between those which have ‘you will’ and don’t; some (including the KJV) say ‘If ye love me, keep my commandments’, and others (ex. the Amplified) state, ‘“If you [really] love Me, you will keep and obey My commandments.’; which, to me, implies that when you love the Lord, you would naturally keep His commandments.
And, take note, I say ‘Keep’, only because the word used in John 14:15 is τηρέω / tēreō / tay-reh’-o – to guard (as in to prevent injury, versus guarding to prevent escape), to maintain, and to hold fast.
Are we, therefore, to ‘Obey to prove’, or to ‘Keep in love’?
The safe answer, is both. But I must insist that the focus of obedience is not on our power, but on Christ and His love.
1 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.2 Timothy 2:1-2
- Overflowing With Thankfulness
Overflowing With Thankfulness – Houses of Praise
/* Is the emphasis to be on our worship, or the subject of worship?
14 Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written:
16 ‘After this I will return And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down;
I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up;
17 So that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD,
Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name,
Says the LORD who does all these things.’Acts 15:14-17
/* ‘blessings will flow, when we focus on worship’ – no, ‘worship flows, when we focus on Christ’
/* ‘imagine a house of worship producing true worshippers’ – no, ‘imagine a house truly worshipping Christ’
Rooted in Christ – Be passionate in our pursuit for Christ through spiritual disciplines. Pursue God for fruitfulness
Strengthened in Faith – Stability – Learn, obey, teach and train others. Strengthen your faith for stability
Overflowing with Thankfulness – True Worshippers. Worship God for global harvest
Outputs:
House of Prayer
Leadership Training Centers
House of Praise
(092226) Right about here I was prepping my mind for my personal response to his message. I wanted to tell folks that all he said was fine and dandy, but I wanted to emphasize Christ’s finished work empowering our role.
And to get everyone’s consideration, I was ready to tell folks – You aren’t always going to be passionate. Your faith isn’t always going to be strong. You aren’t always going to be ‘excellent’ in your worship (‘excellent’ here meaning all sorts of things);
No, we’re only passionate in the degree of how we understand Christ was passionate for us.
It’s Christ who is the Author and Finisher of what faith we possess; It’s Christ who strengthens us, and strengthens our faith. Also, it’s not merely OUR faith but a joint faith He encourages us to have (We have the faith OF Christ, Galatians 2:16/Philippians 3:9)
Finally, we worship FROM Christ’s excellent, finished work. True worship has its focus on Christ. Christ makes worship excellent. Christ is the excellence in worship.
Wanted to end with this:
36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
Romans 11:36
Alas, I did not have the time and opportunity to address the congregation. Perhaps there’s something else I need to learn. But I just… well, trust in the Lord.
Christ truly was born as one of us, and, as a demonstration of His being the true manifestation of the everlasting love of the one true God, He lay His life down as a sacrifice – He became sin and died in order for those who believe in Him to become righteous and live forever.
As a proof and guarantee of His full mercy, His divine glory and His absolute grace, He rose from the dead.
Just accounting my personal perspective of HIS finished work brings me to the end of myself, and any work I boast of.
Reflecting on Christ’s birth, death, resurrection and ascension also brings me to the beginning of wisdom, the beginning of movement with the Holy Spirit – who is our Spirit of power, love, and sound judgment.
Meditating on Christ, we realize that the old flesh has passed away, that sin’s power over us is broken, that we no longer have any obligation to the flesh, and we shall not die, but live to declare the wonderful works of God.
Meditating on Christ, we realize that all things have become new, that it is in Christ and by the Holy Spirit that we live, move, and have our being, here and now.
How, in the name of my Savior, can we even think about making this about us??
AGAIN:
36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
Romans 11:36
The Lord bless us.
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