Continuing from last week, in how do we respond to a holy God. When we became born again we enlisted into something bigger than ourselves. We gave up our preferences, our rights and handed them over to something greater. In doing this we see that God is leading us somewhere.... into the promises he has for us.

If he is leading us into the promises he has for us, maybe we should stop shouting at every demon and start taking responsibility for changing the way we think.

Tithing needs to be done in the Biblical way. If Tithing is not practised then the seed is void of its fruit. If we belong to God, how much of us actually belongs to him. Is it the convenient bits, or is it everything. If God owns our time, do we give him our time, if God owns our money, do we give him our money? What does God really own, can this shape our relationship with him and the world we live in?

If we are meant to be like Christ, and if we are meant to be in Christ, then the first ingredient is for us to see ourselves as dead. So we can see ourselves as resurrected to newness of life. Are you dead yet? Or preserving an old image of an old man in a new box.

We are not practicing manifestation manipulation but we are declaring the goodness of God by faith. We are confident not delusional in what God is doing in our lives and the harvest we will see based his promises.

While there are other beliefs in the world that have a very clear expectation and expression of Devotion, we can be left asking the question why? Why are they so devoted to something that is not Biblically true? There can be many answers. But ultimately it is a belief system they have, that produces their devotion. What is it they believe that causes so much devotion?

Then if we are observing their belief system, in something that is false, but produces such devotion. We need to ask ourselves, what do we believe about our God and the Bible? And is what we believe in, producing fruit and devotion.

The strength of fellowship -

I asked the question, if fellowship means the sharing of life, then what are we sharing our life with? Who are we sharing our life with?

Do we have the grace to disagree and still walk together, do we still have the ability to love first?

God wants us to be carriers of his glory and his presence we need to be able to steward this out into the world. We do this together through relationship, the way we fellowship will be the evidence of God in the world today.

The Church in the book of Acts is our church, the Apostles teaching is our teaching. But what does that look like in the world of Social Media, algorithms and a highly sensitive society that lives in a constant state of being triggered by something. How do we live under the apostles teaching today and what should the fruit be?

Ps Andy speaks about the next series of messages titled "A Growing Church" and how this fits within our theme of Magnify and Multiply....

Church is not an organisation, but a living organism, which is not exempt from change. A church that remains strong through change is dependent on 3 core ingredients: 1) God doesn't change, 2) Jesus is the Head of the Church and 3) the Holy Spirit's reality and ability is all we need to establish God's unshakable kingdom on earth.