by David Orton

 
Part 2 of 3
 
“But he removed Saul and made David their king…”

Act 13:22
 
In this three part series we are showing that David typifies the new order of the kingdom, involving revolutionary transitions in six areas: paradigm, heart, purpose, structure, leadership, and principle.
 
In the final part I will discuss the strategy and timing of the Saul-David transition.
 
Purpose-shift
 
This shift is from gift to agape.
 
Samuel’s response to Saul’s disobedience, “To obey is better than sacrifice”, is instructive (see 1 Sam 15:22). Saul, like the contemporary church, had mistakenly focussed on gift and ministry. He saw ministry success as the main-game – as his purpose. It reminds me of some workers of miracles on the day of judgement,

by David Orton

Part 1 of 3

“But he removed Saul and made David their king…”

Acts 13:22

The transition from Saul to David typically foreshadows a revolution occurring in the church right now.

Many across the western church, including market researchers such as George Barna, are now recognising on empirical grounds (through measuring trends) that a revolution is occurring. Barna forecasts that over the next two decades the 70% of Christians who currently attend traditional church will reduce to 30% – and the 30% currently outside of it will increase to 70%!

by Brett Jacobsen

Defining spirituality

Many people think that in order to be spiritual you need to be somewhat fruity, having a strange eerie manner about you. Others believe in a more relaxed down to earth lifestyle which sometimes leans towards carnal worldly living.

Jesus was the most highly spiritual being the planet has ever seen. He regularly defied natural laws by the supernatural power He had flowing from His life. Although He was a very spiritual individual, often spending whole nights in prayer and working many miracles, in a lot of respects He was a fairly normal guy. He wasn’t born into royalty or a revered religious family, He didn’t have political persuasion, and to those close to His life He didn’t seem to look too different.

by David Orton

 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field…”

 Mat 13:44

The laws of the Kingdom of God are contrary to the ways of men.

Hidden from the casual seeker, the Kingdom is not superficial to be stumbled upon. It does not lie on the surface and is not obvious – it is “like a treasure hidden in the field”. It is in fact, concealed, obscured from our natural perceptions.

Christ the King – the Rock of Offence

-Posessed by the Spirit of Man

by Brett Jacobsen

Although Satan and his fallen angels pose a definite threat to the church and world alike, they are by no means the greater enemy of God and man. They do have a heavy arsenal of weapons of mass deception and according to New Testament scripture, the ability to possess certain human beings which have opened a way for them to enter in. However, no fallen angel (devil, demon etc) whether it be, Lucy himself or any one of his sheepish friends, has been made in the image and likeness of God, therefore their power is very limited on its own. 

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:18 The eyes of our understanding being enlightened; that we may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power Eph 1:17-19

by Jeff Gilbertson

When Paul went to Corinth in 50 A.D., he said: “I am determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Please notice: into a Greek culture, which worshipped “knowledge”, Paul sought only to know Jesus! By divine direction, he preached a message void of “persuasive words of wisdom” but instead clearly demonstrated the Holy Spirit and the power of God. (I Cor. 2)
Paul prevailed in Corinth by coming in the opposite spirit: instead of preaching wisdom with clever words, he preached the “foolishness of the cross”- convinced that the foolishness of God is wiser than men!

From Jerusalem to Athens

By Brett Jacobsen

The following are a few key Biblical points on how to see the life of God continue to flow in our midst after He as revived us.

Intro
I would like to start by saying that I, and probably God for that matter, don’t want a flash in the pan revival. In fact I’d rather have no revival at all than to have God so wonderfully move and then we gravitate back to our current state. I tend to agree with Smith Wigglesworth when he said "To live two days in succession on the same spiritual plane is a tragedy". How much worse is it then to go backwards in the things of God? I am not saying that everything has to be going good all the time. That would be a result based Christian perspective, which I think is one of our greatest enemies in the modern day church. I am however, talking about continually flowing in the eternal purpose and the life of God on a daily basis for the rest of our lives. Remember, it’s more about flowing in harmony with the Spirit of God, therefore being eternally fruitful, than it is about having a nice life.

PRINCIPLES OF TRANSFORMATION

Invite God – Pray 

Isaiah 62:6-7
Deeply feel inside that God wants to, and will come.

Holiness & Humility

Are we ready to die and be changed.
Is 66:2 contrite heart.
Humility is the door to unity.
God uses broken people.
Simple, sincere people.

Individual Obedience 

Not what we do, but why we do it.
Man is impressed by activity, God is impressed by obedience. 
Will encounter resistance.
Has to start with a core group of obedient people.
Always starts with a few who won’t give up. Usually two or three.

Biblical Unity