Three years ago, God told me to be a fool for Him. He wanted me to make Him known among my non-Christian friends at University. I obeyed, and every time an opportunity arose, I shared the gospel with them. Of course, there were lots of sarcastic remarks whenever I offered to pray for those who were sick and struggling with their studies but I persevered. I remember there was a point that I was so hurt that I thought I could not do it anymore. That was of course the lie of the enemy! God is so good! During one of the life in the Spirit meetings, Mark Anderton (who is now in New Life Church, Salford) spoke the Word of God to me and encouraged me to keep going.

Soon, believing that I am more than a conqueror through Christ in me, I decided to conquer my fear and started sharing on the bus, at the bus stop and in the hospital. The Lord so graciously teaches me to listen to the voice of the Spirit, to discern and to have wisdom whilst sharing. Tony Campbell brought a word to me during the Amplify weekend away last year that God will give me words that will burn into people’s being. Since then, God has given me so many opportunities to share and speak the word of life to many people from lots of different backgrounds. It’s been great to be involved with outreach on the streets with the elders and other members of the church through the various outreaches around Manchester in 2008.

The best thing is that we are not alone for the Lord. He is always with us; His Spirit guiding and empowering us. Once when I was wondering what to say to the person sitting next to me in a train to London, the Lord said this to me: Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent, for I am with you and no one is going to attack or harm you because I have many people in this city (Acts18:9) I have no choice but to speak and found out that the lady was having pain in her knee and she let me prayed for her! Praise God! How loving is our Father in heaven!

Let’s not hold back from sharing the testimonies of what God has done in our lives. Remember that you are the ‘light of the world’. We are a ‘city on a hill’ that cannot be hidden. (Matthew 5:14-15) Let’s allow the identity of who we are in Christ be known wherever we go for we are not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ because it is the power of God for the salvation of those who believe

We are a people of vision. We see into heaven and we bring heaven to earth through our prayers, our fellowship and our lifestyle. As well as a people of vision we are also therefore a people of visibility.

We are a people of cosmic and global influence through our visibility and also through our tangibility. The world needs more than words to be saved. It needs to ‘taste’ and to ‘see’ that the Lord is good. The Word was made flesh and He still is: incarnate in you and I – His glorious Church by His Spirit. We can be seen and we can be touched.

Our community life together as the Church is tangible to the world as we meet and eat and share life in each others homes. We are the salt of the world and we taste, smell and feel good to those who recognise their need of salvation.

Our community life together as the Church is visible to the world and to the heavenly powers as we gather together to celebrate our great salvation and lift up the name of Jesus. The world sees the love we have for one-another, our transformed lives, marriages, families and friendships and we look good to those who are being saved.

As we grow into a church of thousands our influence will increase all the more in this city and beyond as our tangibility and visibility also increases. Through us the world will taste and see that the Lord is very good.

Amen

“My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, LORD, I will seek” – Psalms 27:8 (NIV)

God has been speaking to us so clearly at the start of 2009. Dave Emmett brought an excellent word to us last Sunday about having a vision of heaven in all that we see in our own lives and all that we see for us as a church community.

As Dave said: “We have to see what we can become, before we can become what we see”

God also spoke to us about seeking Him with all our heart in line with seeing His Kingdom purposes being increasingly established in our daily lives. Prayer and Worship are the fuel that drives the engine of God’s purposes in His Church. In 2009, we are called to be those that seek the Lord with a passion and devotion like we have never known before. As we seek the Lord, we will have a clearer revelation and vision of heaven and a bigger understanding of all that this means for our lives here on earth.

“Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” – Matthew 6:10 (NIV)

From Revelation 21:1-5, we see that in heaven, there is no sickness. Therefore, we can pray and believe for miraculous healing every time we pray for the sick here on earth. We will see numerous miracles in this respect in 2009 as a church.

In heaven, we see no lack or poverty, so we can believe for the provision and prosperity of God in our lives & families in 2009 in every respect. (3 John 2)

In heaven, we see a glorious and radiant church, a beautiful bride without any spot, wrinkle or blemish. That’s the church that we are part of, that’s our destiny and our inheritance as the people of God. We are citizens of heaven bringing the rule and reign of God’s Kingdom here on earth. Let’s continue to seek God and see His heavenly vision outworked in all we do in our lives this week.