Tuesday 28 February 2012

Our Church Identity - Part 2

Part 2:    MBCC is a House of Glorious Identity
Isa 55:3  …….I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. 
Isa 55:4  See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples. 
Isa 55:5  Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor." 
When we spend time in ‘drinking’ in God (1-3) through worship, listening and prayer, we come to encounter with his loving and powerful presence.  See Part One 

An encounter with God’s loving and powerful presence changes us. When we begin to see God as He is, we begin to understand ourselves as we are -  His dearly loved people. We become what we spend time looking at!  (2 Cor. 3:18) So how do we begin to see ourselves? What is our new identity? At MBCC we want to know and walk in the glorious identity God has for us!
We are blessed (3)  Just as God made a covenant with David to be with him, make his name great, subdue his enemies, faithfully love him and his descendants, and establish their authority for ever (1 Chronicles 17:7-14), so David’s promised blessing becomes our blessing, since we who are ‘in Christ’ are legally David’s descendants. (Acts 13:32-34,   Eph. 1:3, 2:11-13)
Take some time to consider David’s blessings from the Chronicles passage – what would it look like for us to live life thinking that all these blessings are our legal inheritance? How would we view our families, our finances, our challenges if we truly believed that we are rightful heirs of David’s sure blessings? Why not speak to the circumstances in your life right now and command them to come into line with the blessings promised to David – in Jesus’name?
We are influential (4) David was raised up as a leader and powerful voice to the nations to testify to them of the goodness and power of His God. Every battle David won caused people to know the power and greatness of David’s God. (1 Chronicles 18:1-11) In every place that David took over and established his rule of justice and righteousness (14) people came to see and understand more of the justice and righteousness of God. God is raising the people of MBCC up to leaders and people of influence whose testimony goes out to all people concerning the greatness of our God. He is raising up people who are blessed to be a blessing.
We are glorious (5)  Its  easy to believe that God is glorious – we sing about it all the time. Bur do we believe that we are glorious? Not of ourselves, but because we are indwelt by a glorious God, and endowed with His splendor.  When God invites us to spend time in worship, enjoying His glorious presence, it is not because He has an ego problem and needs to be told how great he is. It is because worship  is His way of making us glorious, like Him.  God is raising MBCC to be a house of His glorious presence – where people encounter Him,  are transformed to become glorious like their God, and go out to influence their world with His love and power.
2Co 3:18  And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

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