These were the words Mary used when she spoke to the servants at a wedding when there was a shortage of wine – you can read it in John 2, 1-11. They are a key for us in learning to live a live led by the Spirit of God. God wants us to be involved in a relationship with him, for him to speak and us to obey. This is not a cold formal obedience, but one of leaning to trust and move in friendship with God. There is an adventure for us to go on individually and together as a church. Often the Spirit does not give us everything we think we need, but He wants us to obey, in anticipation for hearing more – so we keep in step with the Spirit. The extent to which we hear and respond to the Spirit of God is the extent that we are in a living relationship with Him.

When I was at School of the Word, I received a word of knowledge to share with the other members of the class. The word I got was 43 pence. I talked with God asking “what does this mean?” over a few days I got no clear answer but felt the need to share the word anyway. As I brought the word, I felt there was more that God was saying, that the person that the word was for had checked their pockets that morning and that all they had for the weekend was 43 pence. As I shared someone responded. Praise God – the word opened up members of the class to minister to the financial need.

God has so much to say, and is interested in every area of our lives. As people of the New Covenant we live not by rules or regulations but by hearing and being led by the voice of the Spirit.

Link to audio: Hearing the Voice of God

Andrew

Paul Culatto (A medical student and member of King’s Church shares his concerns about the HFE bill.

So what will happen if the HFE Bill is passed?

The HFE bill presents 3 main threats to the sanctity of life and God’s created order. It will legalise the creation of:

• Animal Human Hybrids – mixing of animal and human DNA within cells, a threat to human dignity and transgression of God’s design. This type of research using embryos is unethical and unnecessary. A better way using (ethical) adult stem research has produced over 70 therapies whilst embryonic stem cell research none.
• Fatherless families – removing the need for a father for IVF treatment. Research shows children with fathers in stable families are healthier, happier and do better in education and employment. It is also the way God intended families to be.
• Saviour siblings – where a child is chosen to be born basis of its genetics e.g. he/she has the same type of tissue needed to cure an older sick sibling who requires a bone marrow transplant. This would commodify children and make them a means to an end. This bill also opens up the 1967 Abortion act for amendment. The UK currently has among the highest prevalence of abortion in Europe, one in four pregnancies currently ends in abortion. Several MPs have laid amendments for the upper limit of abortion (currently 24 weeks) to be reduced and for women to receive thorough counseling beforehand.

How close is this bill to becoming legal?

Very! It has already passed through the House of Lords and two stages at the House of Commons. What is essentially the final vote on ethical issues contained within this bill is Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th May. There will be a final third reading, but all Labour MPs will then be whipped (forced to vote in a particular way) for the bill to be passed, which guarantees the bill will become legal.

What can I do?

Please pray! We need to ask the Lord to show mercy on our nation as we have departed from living under the Lordship of Christ and rebelled against the way God intended for us to live. Please also pray:

• For the voting on Monday and Tuesday (each of the ethically controversial parts are voted on individually) – that the bill would not go through in its current format.
• The abortion law would be tightened, thus reducing the number abortions.
• Labour MPs to bold and vote according to their conscience and not party policy.

If you can e-mail your MP please ask them to vote against this bill next week and also at the third reading. More information on how and what to write can be found here.

This last week I’ve been away with some of my fellow leaders in the church in Harrogate at the New Wine Leaders Conference. Bill Johnson was the main speaker at the event. It was a good time away and we were all blessed by the ministry that we received whilst there. Here are a few things that God personally really blessed me with.

Bill Johnson spoke on different aspects of the Kingdom of God in his four sessions but his main emphasis was on healing & miracles, and signs & wonders. He spoke about how miracles release the glory and manifestation of Christ into a city. Miracles change the whole atmosphere of a city as God moves in this way. Bill spoke from the life of Jesus about how He always brought heaven to earth because that was the world He was most aware of in His life and ministry.

He challenged the 2,000 leaders at the conference to remember that the Holy Spirit in us is not a pond or a lake but a river. He wants to move through us not just fill us. God the Holy Spirit wants to flow from within us with streams of living water that touch the lives of those around us with the presence and life of Jesus Christ.

Bill spoke on many more exciting truths from the life of Jesus. He also led some significant times of ministry with his team where 100’s of people were healed by Jesus Christ.

Bill Johnson has written some excellent books in recent years. So far I’ve read ‘When Heaven Invades Earth’ and ‘The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind’. These are excellent books to read to build your faith and increase your expectation for how God wants to heal the sick, release the oppresed and save the lost through you and through me. These books are available from the church bookstall on Sundays at King’s House.

I am passionate about pursuing this Kingdom Vision in all that I do.

Yambalu Mposhi responds to a request to report on a recent journey. His report has been translated from French:

A journey that lasted over two weeks and was over 300 miles across very bad roads resulted in God being glorified. On this trip in one village we prayed for a young child who was dying from malaria. The parents were wailing and the local nurse had said there was no hope. We prayed and the child made a rapid recovery and is still well today. Many other healings happened on this journey.

In another village, we cast a demon out of a woman who was well known for her connections to demonic forces. She was delivered and set free.

News has also spread of things happening in Kabinda (where Yambalu is based). We have prayed for women who have been barren for over 15 years and they have become pregnant! We also have seen people without jobs be prayed for and get jobs.

At the moment there is something new happening among us. We are discovering what it is to worship the Lord by singing in tongues. Also we have know times when we have seen many baptised in the Holy Spirit and half the church crying in the presence of God , while the other half experiences laughter. These are new things for us, but we praise God as people are asking questions and we are seeing growth. On that one journey, we were able to plant 9 new churches.

Our God is good! See you soon!

Yambalu

As a church, we believe we are in exciting times. The preaching of the Word has come and prophecy has been brought to us during the times of prayer and fasting. There is an evident response from us to move out of living in the power zone of the flesh and to move into living in the power zone of the Spirit. In that realm, we increasingly love God. We enjoy his presence more and we happily repent of carnal worldly living that have been all about our own selfish desires; they fall off as we fellowship in the white heat of perfect righteousness. We become obsessed with thinking the thoughts of God. As we renew our minds and by the Spirit take on the thoughts of God, our perception of the world changes. We are no longer content to say, “The old is good enough”. Rather we align ourselves with the will of Heaven and move into the new things that the Lord has for us.

We find when we live in the power zone of the Spirit that what once seemed impossible becomes completely logical. By the Spirit, we heal the sick, we pray and change the spiritual atmosphere of the city of Manchester, we pray into the power structures of this city and see them change, and we pray for a sick child and see them healed. We realise that with the dynamite power of the person of the Holy Spirit all things are possible. As we become aware of these things, we realise this has always been the Father’s purpose: to have a people for himself who make his glorious goodness, love and compassion known to the world around.

As elders, we have changed the topic for the teaching on Saturday May 10th. We were going to be looking at parenting. We believe that biblical teaching on the person and power of the Holy Spirit is needed at this time to equip us to be all that God intends us to be. We long for a church that moves in the person and power of the Spirit. Come and be equipped through the Word to live life in the Spirit.

Second Saturday May 10th 10am-12:20pm at King’s House.

- Dave Emmett writes about our three days of prayer and fasting

At the moment in the church there is a real longing and crying out to God that is being expressed through prayer and fasting. Although three days have been given over to corporate fasting and praying together, some are fasting over more extensive periods of time. The issue isn’t how long you fast, but obedience to what the Lord is telling you to do at this time. For some it might mean missing a meal a day over three days, some are fasting for one to three days day over that time, others are only drinking water over a 40 day period. The extra prayer times (each morning at 6.45am and each evening at 7-45pm and Saturday morning at 10am) will be significant as we gather together and pray. The elders of the church would encourage all members to take part in some way.

On the church bookstall 2 books are available that will help and encourage you in praying and fasting:

Arthur Wallis: Gods Chosen Fast

Mahesh Chavda: The Hidden Power of Prayer and Fasting