Watch KT TV - Colin Dye - Constrained by the Spirit

[Music] of the goodness [Applause] [Music] every foreign [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] you are close like no other oh [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] i'm delighted to tell you about the new edition of my living free devotional journal it takes you through 120 days with jesus covering many of the basics of the christian faith something that you can reflect deeply on and grow no matter where you are in your christian life the devotional includes topics such as assurance and blessing guidance and security power and authority obedience and surrender and each day there is a scripture passage to read a brief explanation of the passage a place for you to record your own thoughts and reflections a key verse to meditate on some place where you can write down questions to follow up and an important discipleship step to take it's a place for you to record your action points so that you can move forward in your spiritual life and then there is a key prayer to pay it's well laid out with plenty of space for you to write your own thoughts and this will become a key part of your devotional life as you learn to journal your spiritual journey [Music] ah [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] i love you lord for your mercy never fails me and all my days i've been held by your hands from the moment till [Music] of the goodness of god [Applause] [Music] is every breath that i am [Music] [Music] [Applause] you are close like no know [Music] [Applause] me [Applause] [Music] i'm delighted to tell you about the new edition of my living free devotional journal it takes you through 120 days with jesus covering many of the basics of the christian faith something that you can reflect deeply on and grow no matter where you are in your christian life the devotional includes topics such as assurance and blessing guidance and security power and authority obedience and surrender and each day there is a scripture passage to read a brief explanation of the passage a place for you to record your own thoughts and reflections a key verse to meditate on some place where you can write down questions to follow up and an important discipleship step to take it's a place for you to record your action points so that you can move forward in your spiritual life and then there is a key prayer to pay it's well laid out with plenty of space for you to write your own thoughts and this will become a key part of your devotional life as you learn to journal your spiritual journey [Music] ah [Music] [Applause] [Music] ah [Music] i love you lord for your she never fails me and all my days i've been held by your hands from the moment [Music] of the goodness [Applause] [Music] sure [Applause] oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] you [Music] oh [Applause] [Applause] [Music] i'm delighted to tell you about the new edition of my living free devotional journal it takes you through 120 days with jesus covering many of the basics of the christian faith something that you can reflect deeply on and grow no matter where you are in your christian life the devotional includes topics such as assurance and blessing guidance and security power and authority obedience and surrender and each day there is a scripture passage to read a brief explanation of the passage a place for you to record your own thoughts and reflections a key verse to meditate on some place where you can write down questions to follow up and an important discipleship step to take it's a place for you to record your act forward in your spiritual life and then there is a key prayer to pay it's well laid out with plenty of space for you to write your own thoughts and this will become a key part of your devotional life as you learn to journal your spiritual journey [Music] good morning kensington temple welcome to today's 9 a.m service you are all welcome into the house of the lord for like to stand hallelujah as we enter into a time of praise and worship david said i was glad when they said unto me let us come into the house of the lord why don't you welcome somebody standing next to you just welcome into this presence and welcome to everyone online who is watching as well we're going to give god a sound of praise because he is worthy he is worthy hallelujah isn't god worthy of our praise hallelujah let's go hallelujah [Music] let's put our hands together [Music] here in your life we find what makes us come alive and sacrifice to pray [Music] your glory on display awesome in this place jesus you are awesome in this place [Music] jesus you are worthy to be praised you will be prayed and that's it giving praise this morning you will be praying you will be [Music] [Music] all things are possible with you all things all things are simple awesome in this place jesus you are awesome in this place worthy to be praised jesus you are worthy too you're awesome in this place [Music] jesus do awesome he's worthy to be praised jesus you are worthy to be praised come on let everything praise the lord this [Music] on and morning forever [Music] of jesus [Music] is [Music] jesus [Music] worthy to be praised [Music] you will be [Music] your praise goes on and on forevermore [Music] goes on and on forever [Music] hallelujah [Music] thank you lord we lift up your name now let's continue to praise and worship him in this place give him your worship giving your exaltation he is god and god alone and there's nobody like him [Music] i have found a piece [Music] yes [Music] [Music] you are all i need everything my heart can hope for we are longing for the glory of the lord cause we know there's so much more [Music] you're the only one that [Music] and i have found the [Music] a grace [Music] and i [Music] i had and you are all i need everything my heart can hope for we are longing for the glory of the lord [Music] [Music] the glory of the lord [Music] [Applause] you're the only one [Music] cause we are longing for the glory of the lord [Music] everything my [Music] heart we are longing for the glory of the lord [Music] [Applause] me [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] you're the only one [Music] jesus hallelujah glory be to the one who fills our souls who satisfies [Music] jesus [Music] it's always been you jesus [Music] everybody sings jesus [Music] it will always be [Music] nothing else matters [Music] nothing in this world will do [Music] jesus [Music] my [Music] from beginning to the end [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] [Applause] around you jesus [Music] former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office but he holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to god through him since he always lives to make intercession for them let us bow in the presence of the lord [Music] and let us lift up our eyes above all earthly circumstances to the one place in the universe which is untroubled unthreatened where there is peace perfection [Music] where there is joy where there is victory where there is abundant provision and supply for every need for none of these things come to us through earthly origin but our divine sources in is in heaven the one who is seated at the right hand of god the father jesus christ the righteous one the holy one the all-powerful one therefore heavenly father we put our eyes upon jesus the author and perfecter of our faith the one who has triumphed over sin over death over the grave and over all the circumstances of life and as we profess jesus christ as our great high priest the apostle of our faith we thank you that you strengthen us today cause all earthly worries to be pushed to one side as we recognize the one who has the key to everything and as we stand before you we thank you for the washing and cleansing of the precious blood of jesus that makes us fit for the presence of god [Music] fill us afresh today we pray with your holy spirit fill our hearts and minds with the fresh vision of who jesus is and grant that father having fellowshipped and communed with you and with one another we shall leave this house today stronger refreshed prepared for all that we have to do for you in the days that lie ahead strengthen us and minister to our needs we pray in jesus name amen and amen yeah give jesus praise peace be seated everybody a very warm welcome to you today if you're watching us online in the live stream pray that god will bless you and give you a sense of the presence of jesus even if you're watching this on your own or you are traveling somewhere if you're driving please stop and pull to the side of the road but uh yeah we're so grateful for the technology that allows us to link with you personally we're live streaming from my own youtube channel today on this the final sunday next sunday as well so that you can be used to where you can continue to find me and connect with me and amanda as we move on into the wonderful future that we've anticipated for so long we're in the hands of the lord jesus christ and he's in control he's in control of everything so god bless you and do be in touch with us let us know don't forget to subscribe to my channel but also be in touch with us in the chat also those of you who are presenting yourselves physically in the house of god today great to see you um we've got a great sunday in store for you we'd like to welcome visitors and newcomers we do that online by inviting you to our welcome room and that is a zoom room facility which is open throughout the service you can join right there now go to kt.org and you press a direct link that will take you into the welcome room or you can use the meeting id that's on the screen right now but most important of all let us know if you're visiting uh yeah and just say hi to us and also after the service join in for a brief chat to say hello to people and if you need prayer or want to share something we do have private chat rooms available if that is if that is what you want but please be very very welcome and those who are visiting in the building we have our welcome team available right now handing out to you a bag full of goodies um cakes and ice cream and fizzy drinks no no no no no no no one day one day we'll find that but no really it's just uh to give you some literature and to make you feel welcome and there's a reception for you straight after the service through the door on my right now our september revival times is like the long life milk you buy it is going way beyond september into the cut first couple weeks of october it's a bumper issue it is retrospective in as much as we do highlight some of the things that we've remembered over the last 30 years as well as anticipating all that god has for us so it is a kind of celebration issue so we printed a few more copies make sure you get some and take some with you and pass them around and the new revival times for october will be out very very soon now this sunday today at 2 30 service in place of our normal 2 30 service we have scaled down the documentary just a little bit so it will fit in in two parts in the service we will be showing live the colander story light to the nations and uh we prepared this just over a year ago because i was supposed to be out of here by then but um something happened some little infection they called covid and it was necessary for mount and i to stay on and to take care of you over the last 12 months well that is done and dusted now so really it's it's back to the future we're going to show this adamant and i i will be here and you you you'll be blessed by it it goes into all kinds of personal things like where i was born what i was dressed in at my christening and uh a few scenes from the royal ballet talking about my conversion and calling and you will find the consistency of how god has led us throughout the years and then on into the future also on wednesday in place of our regular prayer meeting we're going to have a praise and thanksgiving worship celebration i have made sure that we've got several strong worship leaders some some of the women of the house who have who are absolute champions uh and they're going to be with us on wednesday evening and we're going to have a full worship set we're gonna really just love on jesus uh if i think of standing in this very spot year by year of the last 30 years calling upon the father to intervene through intercession the remarkable outstanding answers to prayer we we we just got to stop and say thank you to the lord for all that he's done so far and all that he's doing in the future what he's going to be doing in the future so um i'll also be here today uh signing books i have the uh journey the um journal living free journal and um yeah oh scott come on now he's you won't be able to do this much longer hold it up you can hold it up there smile you beg your pardon he's telling it's august revival time yes okay uh yeah but i was actually talking i held up august but i was talking about september nobody but you would have noticed that but i'm glad you did so thank you so much hold it up big smile point to it there we go that's him all right thanks so much scott so that's uh christ 999 which is 10 pounds by any other name but there we go and also um we've discounted a number of books which will not be discounted for much longer but they are available for you and please make take that opportunity straight after the service well right now we are going to prepare to come before the lord with our regular communion now in the building we have our little communion cups and i encourage you just to be ready for that so uh also at home do whatever you need to do um just to get ready for this communion and what i want to do to lead you into it today is to go back thank you scott to go back to hebrews chapter 8 which has been on my heart as i've been thinking about today i read from abigail in hebrews chapter 7 i read hebrews chapter 7 from verse 23 to 25 as we opened the service today i want to pick up now from verse 26 there's just one key thought that i want you to lay hold of as we come to sharing communion this morning for it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest holy innocent unstained separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens he has no need like those high priests the other ones just offer sacrifices daily first for his own sins then from the sins of the people since he did this once for all when he offered up himself for the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests but the word of the oath which came later than the law appoints a son who has been made perfect forever here is the one thought we we're living in extraordinary times um nothing is normal anymore and the ongoing effects of covid now we've got delivery problems on fuel and we've got all kinds of political party conferences going on in this season and there's a lot of noise uh and we are being affected our workplaces are not back to normal our job life isn't back to normal coveted infections are are still happening and there's reduced staffing levels everywhere nhs is under pressure everybody's under pressure we've had horrible stories of murders um knifings incursions all over the world and when you look at that you gotta understand you've got to say the world's in a mess but when we lift our eyes higher and i don't know how anybody survives today without knowing who jesus is i i don't know but for us as believers what we see around us and what affects us we don't put our head in the sand we we go through it like everybody else we are part of the same struggles and issues that every person on the planet in one way or another passes through but we know somewhere where it's different in the presence of god as he manifests his glory in heaven there is peace there there there's there's no anxiety in heaven our heavenly father is seated upon the throne of the universe and his right hand is our glorified high priest and this would sound so remote so far from our daily experience really something that we we couldn't even think about conceiving unless for one thing and is that the one who is seated at the right hand of the father is our only mediator between god and man the man christ jesus who came to sit where we sit to see what we see and yet so completely different was he that he was the only human who has ever existed who came into this world with total goodness and kept that goodness did not sin and everything that is good and pure and holy and wonderful everything that encourages us to trust him everything for which we would hope for in him he embodies all of these things and when he died on the cross he he did it in such a way as to take upon himself all the sin and all the suffering and all the brokenness and the impurity and the imperfection and the weaknesses of all humanity and now being raised again from the dead he is seated in the presence of god our father as our heavenly high priest whoever lives to make intercession for us and therefore he is our anchor he is our hope and this gives us exactly the right kind of perspective of course we our eyes are open to what's going on in the world this isn't escapism but there is this deep sense of confidence and knowledge with everything that is going wrong everywhere around us there is one thing that is not going wrong and his name is jesus we think of the evil he is so pure we think of the brokenness and the pain he took it all upon himself we think of the suffering we think of the of the confusion this one who is the word of god speaks with clarity demonstrates clarity and gives us understanding so we are not at a loss and so we take all our anxiety all our confusion all our doubt all our fear and we lay it upon him and he can take it all and in place of all of that he gives us his peace he gives us his joy confidence certain knowledge that it's gonna be all right it's going to be all right so much has to happen world history has to play out upon the world stage but we're not running headlong like lemmings over the cliff no we are being drawn into the purposes of god and jesus is coming again to take us to be with himself and in the meantime we are here to make a difference and to bring change that will glorify him yeah give jesus a big praise the apostle paul said i received from the lord the night in which he was betrayed jesus took the bread and many given thanks he broke it and said this is my body broken for you we receive this bread in an attitude of faith and we feed on him in our hearts with thanksgiving amen in the same way after the supper jesus cook took the cup and he blessed it forever ever sanctifying this cup as the cup of blessing and as we take this wine today holy father we do so in faith believing that it will become to us more than physical drink but in this act of faith we receive afresh all that jesus has for us that comes to us by his precious blood amen [Music] [Music] to take upon [Music] to see [Music] savior of the world [Music] to you we lift up the is [Music] the reason and glorious [Music] [Music] is [Music] high above your kingdom [Music] is [Music] is [Music] praise [Music] holy worthy [Music] holy [Music] worthy the way [Music] seated high above your [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] to you [Music] [Music] is our cake be lifted [Music] [Music] my love it is the most beautiful among thousands and thousands my love it is the most beautiful among thousands and thousands my big love it is the most beautiful among thousands and thousands might be in love it is the most beautiful among thousands and thousands [Music] yes you [Music] are [Music] yes you are [Music] [Music] it is the most beautiful among thousands and thousands it is the most beautiful among thousands [Music] and thousands might be love it is the most beautiful among thousands and thousands might be in love it is the most beautiful among thousands [Applause] [Music] yes [Music] [Music] and yours is the kingdom yours [Music] yours [Music] yours is [Music] ah [Applause] [Music] [Applause] ah [Music] they'll talk before [Music] amen can we give god some praise in the house he truly is yeshua and it's great to see our worship team really ministering to us and generating new songs that express the heart of god amen so we're going to continue our worship this morning in the giving of our regular tithes and offerings if you're here in the building there would have been a white envelope on your seat and that will enable you to prepare your giving and if you are watching online the regular methods will appear on the screen in a moment and starting from friday gone anyone that wants to give by telephone that will now be processed during regular office hours monday through friday 9 30 through 5 30 you can still call the regular number that is there on the screen proverbs 3 verses 9 and 10 give us a reminder as we prepare our giving this morning to honor the lord with our wealth with the first fruits of all our crops then our barns will be overflowing and our vats will brim over with new wine and so as you prepare your giving this morning remind yourself that giving should always be an expression of thanks and praise from your heart for all that god has made available to you and in keep giving god our first fruits we are keeping him first place at the forefront of our heart and our mind and therefore we are giving the best of what we have been given by god it is a reflection of our heart and our desire to trust in him in those moments when we choose to give with all our heart because every time we give we are revealing and reflecting where our trust resides and in whom our confidence is in amen and our confidence is in god our confidence is in his ability to meet each and every one of our needs and this promise captures for us his heart for us that he will give us more he will give us an overflow an abundance that we will not be able to measure or quantify in our own hearts and in our own minds and we know that god will always remain faithful as we go about his priorities he will go about our priorities as we keep him first place he will keep us first place and as we keep his kingdom at the forefront of our hearts and lives he will continue to meet each and every one of our needs according to his glorious riches that are in christ jesus amen so let's stand together and let's give as the worship team take us forward in some songs of celebration this morning let's clap our hands together as we give this morning here [Music] he is holy and raised with splendor he's all god [Music] he's full of water [Music] be praised [Music] [Music] is [Music] the case of dogs in his presence [Music] for yours is the kingdom yours is the power of god [Music] [Music] me praise [Music] [Music] away [Music] [Music] be great [Music] thank you team please be seated everybody that's um a remarkable song uh we don't know how that name was originally pronounced but we discovered it in the book of exodus it is the covenant name of god yahweh i am that i am i will be what i will be god manifesting his goodness to our lives and i love it i love it when we use the very best of of what we how we know or think that name was was pronounced and sharing together now throughout this month i am under strict instructions from our church board and you i always do what the church board tells me to do and uh they launched an uh fundraising appeal throughout the month of september on into october to bless colin and amanda well i intervened and said please bless us but realize that we're not going to keep a penny for ourselves and invest it all into the exciting ministry that god is opening up nothing's changed really just means that i will be free from the responsibilities of senior leadership in ktlcc and to give myself alongside amanda to that wider prophetic and apostolic ministry that god has for us now in these last sundays i am obviously focusing on matters which i consider to be of significance to leave with you by way of reminder um all the messages over the years are stocked up in our archive bank of videos they will all be continue to be available to you and i will be ministering through live streams but but also through videos on youtube and one of the things i want to get down to right away is to continue in the series on the sermon on the mount but it'll be different it'll be done from a studio shorter messages but so you can carry on hearing some of the great themes of jesus in the greatest sermon ever told the sermon on the mount and there are other ways that you can connect with us and we encourage you to do it now one of the things that is very much on my heart for these last few sundays is pointing in the direction of the five-fold ministry i might reserve my final message for next sunday evening on apostleship we still live in a traditional mindset of you know pastor teacher when really jesus gave us five manifestations of himself and we need them all kensington temple is not just a regular pulpit for the re as a regular pastorate it has always been led apostolically unprophetically which is one of the reasons why katie and other churches like us have a world impact and influence all over the world and so i'm throwing this book in the fivefold ministry into the very special book pack which is greatly reduced it brings tears to my eyes as i tell you greatly reduced to five pounds and you get other stuff thrown in free but that is just to encourage you to keep on feeding i'd like you to turn in your bibles to the book of acts chapter 20. and um maybe one or two more messages on this theme the age of the spirit the age of the spirit we are living in what some bible scholars call the church age in other words it's the era of the absent lord jesus is not with us on this planet physically he's with us spiritually by his holy spirit and as jesus said it's to our advantage that he went away ascended back to his father in heaven and he he's busy there he's not doing nothing he's governing the universe and he poured out his holy spirit so that now his presence can be with us 24 7 wherever we are whatever geographical location and as a result of this the church now is able to function and to do even greater things than jesus did when he was here not greater in terms of quality but greater in terms of quantity and therefore in this age of the spirit being focused on the father through christ by the holy spirit knowing what it is to walk in the fullness of the holy spirit and today especially i'm focusing on knowing how to be led by the holy spirit and so my title is constrained by the holy spirit i'm going to read some verses acts chapter 20 verse 22 to 24 if you're not familiar with the book of acts and the story here i'll fill you in but let's just read these words for now acts 20 verse 22 to 24. paul is speaking and he says and now behold i am going to jerusalem constrained by the spirit not knowing what will happen to me there except that the holy spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me but i do not account my life of any value nor is precious to myself if only i may finish my course and the ministry that i received from the lord jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of god what an amazing insider look at the motivation the mindset of the apostle paul and we see straight away many recurring themes of the gospel and the spirit which we also live by today but i wonder if you know what it means truly know what it means to be led by the spirit the gift of the spirit to all those who follow jesus means amongst other things it means that the holy spirit personally directs you day by day and empowers you day by day in every area of your life and living also of course for your ministry and mission we are all missioners jesus says as the father sent me so i send you speaking of course primarily to his early apostles but by extension through them to all who follow christ of every era and every generation including these troubled times of the 21st century i put it to you that one of the greatest spiritual disciplines one of the most significant spiritual lessons that you can learn right down to the practical level is how to recognize and how to respond to the personal leading of the holy spirit here we have the apostle paul describing this experience as being constrained by the spirit now the term being led by the spirit i'll take you to a scripture which uses it in a moment that term is strong it's adequate but more than just knowing what it might be after the event to look back and say well the spirit was leading me knowing more than that to know how the holy spirit will work from within you to constrain you i certainly have led in my senior leadership out of the holy spirit's constraints though that inner pressure you might call it a burden a very strong leading and that is so significant for every believer especially leaders and especially those who want to link with the present day prophetic and apostolic outpouring of the holy spirit romans 8 verse 9 paul says you however are not in the flesh but in the spirit now sometimes we say well i'm i i feel this i really i'm really in the spirit this morning well the truth is you better be nowhere else because our birthright is to be taken out of a life a mindset and indeed the desires and constraints that come from the flesh and to live in the higher domain of being influenced by the holy spirit so paul says your birthright remember you are not in the flesh but in the spirit if in fact the spirit of god dwells in you anyone who does not have the spirit of christ does not belong to him in other words this belongs to all of us as followers of christ and then romans 8 verse 14 he says for all who are led by the spirit of god are sons of god and i want you to get that the holy spirit is the spirit of adoption the spirit of sonship and he is your birthright as a son of god as a daughter of god and and as you move in the realm of the holy spirit and as you learn how to listen to and discern the voice of the holy spirit and as you learn to respond to the holy spirit you are walking in nothing less than sonship sons and daughters of the living god one of the questions that we are most frequently asked pastorally is how can i be guided by god how how do i discern god's voice how do i know what it means to be guided by the lord day by day guidance now the answer for this is very very clear scripture is your authority scripture is your supreme authority the bible actually is prophecy i don't understand people who say i want to have a word from the lord so the first thing they do is close the bible and call out the nearest prophet to tell me what god is saying actually the scripture is a living word which speaks directly to you and it is authoritative it is a sure word of prophecy but then also we do have this inner witness the prophetic witness of the holy spirit work in our hearts and that's very important to be aware of god speaking to you to your heart of course you test everything out from scripture and if you want to hear from god and learn to be discerning as to what the spirit is saying you better know your bible now there is also one other aspect of this and that is prophetic direction prophetic direction i want to focus on that today it's the prophetic words that god will give other believers and speak into your life as a result of that revelation that word from the lord now i take guidance the system of guidance a bit like the traffic light system you know we have red amber and green and uh that's been applied to countries where you are are not allowed to travel red countries no no no amber countries you you take your you know you you pay the price if you do that green countries and it's okay now it's been simplified and i'm glad to hear rumors that we're going to have a lot of red countries go green in the next few days and i'm praying brazil would be one of them so we shall see so red amber and green now when you are seeking guidance from the lord think about a traffic light system first of all the first test is the red light the red light and that is the teaching of god's word and and and if it's not permitted in god's word if it doesn't come directly out of scripture then it it's a no-go so you want that red light the test of scripture the sure word of prophecy to go green then there is the ambolite red light god's word ambolite god's will now uh this is something that it's very simple concept but if you grasp it uh it's it's very helpful for you in your in your spiritual life god's word is one thing but how that word applies to you is god's will there used to be a bible college called all nations and some of the other bible colleges got together and said it's not fair that you call your bible school all nations say why because the bible says go to all nations and they said amen well that's not actually what the bible means when it says go to all nations but the god's word can become more specific than a general word to everybody all the time and so god's will is his specific will god's word applied to you in your specific situation i'll give you some examples in a moment but we come on to the green light which is god's way red god's word amber god's will green god's way you want all of these lights to be green but the final green light is so important and it's where we can always go wrong now i don't know what your tendency is most of us are either too hasty or too tardy sometimes we wait when we should be going sometimes we go and we should be waiting many many many many years ago i sat in the back of the church and god spoke to me said my time is upon you and he showed me all the stuff that was going to happen i was so excited because in a matter of moments i think i can honestly say looking back you know how later on it becomes clear and clear as as as it all begins to be worked out but i think it was pretty clear that i saw a in one way or another the whole life and ministry and work that god was giving me and i was up and ready and i said god says now and now means now but how many people know that god's now isn't our now and i had to climb down from some hasty decisions and i said well what do you want me to do then your ministry begins now and so i opened my eyes it's very good to pray with your eyes open you know that because you can miss some things i've prayed for people with my eyes closed and missed miracles that i could have seen about my eyes open growths disappearing and all kinds of stuff i opened my eyes and i saw a pile of red hymn books i don't know if you remember in the olden times we never had tv monitors we never had caption generated equipment and so we had to open a book and sing from a hymn book and afterwards god's people were so holy that they would just scatter the hymn books everywhere and there was a deacon in those days whose age rivaled methuselah or so it appeared to me and there he was rickety old man picking all these hymn books up by himself and i thought oh somebody's got to help him so i did and that was my ministry that's how i began and some of the other stuff took many years many many years so god's word god's will and god's way now let me give you some examples suppose you are waiting on the lord as to the choice of your profession i i don't just mean you're looking for a job and you're at that stage in your life and you're saying i i i somebody says what do you want to do when you grow up and you don't know or maybe you're in that place where you're deciding well you know what what shall i work towards by way of a profession whether it's a school teacher or an i.t specialist so the first thing you do is go to the word you wouldn't want to be involved in a profession that was unbiblical i don't know like i suppose the head of a gambling casino maybe if you want if you want to look at a no-no god's word will be pretty clear from scripture so is that professional choice of yours in line with scripture is it an honest profession so that first red light checks out now then you've got to go further because all right i i'm going to be an i.t specialist so how do i go about it you need god to guide you well there may be online i.t courses there may be places where you could go to night school or then you may be able to get into a particular training college and go on a training course i know something about this i've helped people find those kind of courses but but that has to be guided by the lord and it's not just what appears good to you or the the only opportunities that present themselves you need to pray it through and god's will that next light the amber light has to check out as well and then then but from that it's it's to say okay now i'm qualified which job shall i take which location where should i be the days are they working out and that is god's way his way for you to fulfill his plan for your life another example is mission we've spoken of mission so i know i'm called to the nations always have been called to the nations kensington temple is called to the nations i i don't understand the narrowness of some people even church some church leaders we have so narrow all they think about is the sunday service the 11 o'clock service and that's it but god has a plan for kensington temple to be a light to the nations and we all to go and by the way the nations also come to us which saves on airfares but we are all called to mission what does the word tell you the word tells you to go into all the world that's pretty general so then you need not just a revelation of god's word but a revelation of god's will where where specifically how specifically what are your gifts and skills and we have a strategy here the cell vision and you reach the nations of the world through the cell vision the cell vision is not narrow the cell vision can reach the world just by us following the biblical principles of how jesus went about doing the work of the kingdom we've adopted that and and put it into the form of a of a strategy and we join with that and we work with that together all of us together we don't go off here doing our own thing doing our own thing over here and over there we work together under that coordinated plan but it is not one size fits all because you bring everything that god has for you into that ministry and you serve with the individual gifts and anointing and blessing that you have and you alone can bring and so that is looking more deeply at god's will how is it going to be worked out but then god's way god's way so you say i'm called to the nations well okay sooner or later you've got to find out where the holy spirit is leading you and what is what are those where he's constraining you just as the apostle paul said i'm constrained right now to head up to jerusalem and that was now coming right down to god's way of working out god's call upon uh paul's life and one of the things that you can pray for me and amanda in the days and weeks that lie ahead is that we would have clarity and sensitivity to the voice of the holy spirit so that we know where god is leading us whatever the cost whatever it takes it's not about lord just send me somewhere where i'll come home safely where we can ask god for that but paul said you know what that's not my primary concern my primary concern is the glory of god and fulfilling my ministry whatever it costs me can have an amen in the house of god so now let's go a little broader to see how jesus operates in his church today the five-fold ministry we list them apostles prophets evangelists pastors and teachers you need to know that we are in a spiritual environment that does not recognize all of these ministries denomination after denomination including our own denomination focuses on two gifts past the teacher in fact they do it and roll it into one past the teacher so we have basically a one-fold ministry and that truncates the operation of the holy spirit there is very good reason and very good reasons why we should establish all of these and each of these ministries has a particular role to play and apostles and prophets are foundational ministries which set the shape and direction of them all next sunday i might speak about apostleship which is a breakthrough ministry and when you are ministering as an apostle apostolically breakthrough happens in other people's lives it's not just about you and your ministry when that you are sitting under an apostolic ministry you will find breakthrough in your family in your marriage in your ministry in your workplace and we need this breakthrough ministry because the enemy wants to put a spirit of confinement and if all we have is pastor teacher pastor teacher we will never break out into what god has for us and the church will be weakened and less effective than she should be so pray for continued apostolic ministry and input over the years in our denomination i've spoken up for this uh many listen and hear but the the traditional mindset of modern evangelicalism including pentecostalism still needs a renewing of our minds that we would know and recognize true prophetic leaders and ministers true apostolic leaders and not confine them but let them lose and i'm so glad you're letting us loose anyway so now let's have a look at some of the things that we can learn for our own lives from paul first of all in being led by the holy spirit he was aware of the end game he knew his calling and it goes back to the damascus road you read about it in the book of acts acts chapter nine you know the story saul of tarsus was antagonistic to the early followers of jesus he did everything he could to stop them even to the point of prison arrest and death and yet on the way with a mandate from the high priest in jerusalem to damascus to bring back believers and to imprisoned believers jesus revealed himself to him and in acts chapter 9 verse 15 read a message that the lord gave a certain disciple by the name of ananias to go to this man who had a great call upon his life and prophesy over him acts chapter 9 verse 15 but the lord said to him ananias go for he paul is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the gentiles and kings and the children of israel and in our passage we see that paul says all i want to do is finish my course and the ministry that i receive from the lord to testify to the gospel of the grace of god and i wonder if you could just write on a in a single sentence or less than a sentence what god's call upon your life is you need to know your calling how can you possibly aspire to it if you don't even know it paul knew his calling and he stuck with his calling do you have an equivalent sense of purpose i'm not saying did jesus appear to you on the bradford road or did jesus appear to you in the middle of the shepherd's bush or it was a shepherd's bush a burning bush well i don't know but you need to know and that's how the holy spirit will speak to you so you have this constraint this inner constraint you know who you are you know what you're called to do you know how he has gifted you so paul knew his calling also he knew the scriptures this is not oh here we go again boring boring no the bible is a sure word of prophecy the bible gives you light understanding revelation and it's a living word by the holy spirit that word becomes active in you as you know the scriptures now after paul was converted on the damascus road he immediately started testifying that jesus was the christ he was inexperienced and it got into a lot of trouble in fact they came to get him and his friends let him out of the window on whatever fifth floor it was and he escaped in a basket and then he went into seclusion for a number of years and we know that when he emerged from that time around about the time and barnabas came to see him in tarsus and brought him to antioch to help with the teaching of this new gentile church we know that when paul emerged from that time he was skilled in the scriptures not just knowing the scriptures from the point of view of rabbinical judaism but he knew the scriptures by the holy spirit and he could see how that everything that was prophesied about messiah was fulfilled and being fulfilled in jesus christ the messiah and he could understand the scriptures from this perspective but this took time he had to learn and unlearn and relearn he had to listen he had to rethink everything hearing from god in the scriptures and you know i i i find that that is an ongoing process i am discovering daily i would say from the scriptures fresh light and understanding of matters which of prophetic and apostolic relevance to the generation in which we live so he knew his calling he immersed himself in the scriptures but he also relied on the leading of the holy spirit every step of the way he was constrained by the spirit in acts chapter 13 and verse 2 paul and barnabas had been teaching in the antioch church and then there came a moment while they were ministering and worshipping the lord and ministering unto the lord the holy spirit spoke probably a prophetic word separate saul and barnabas for the work to which i've called them now they didn't say oh gosh this is new no paul knew he knew from the beginning that his time at antioch would come to an end and he was waiting for the timing of the holy spirit he was constrained by the spirit and when he went from there he followed a holy spirit strategy when you look at paul's missionary strategy it makes sense in terms of a regular marketing strategy i guess he went to the major cities and raised up churches in major cities that could go from there and evangelize the surrounding areas and that's common sense but it was also the holy spirit directing him and he followed that direction he did exactly that on the first missionary journey second one he he went uh to set out to be again following this kind of overall strategy and he headed up from syrian antioch to the north and he was about to go into the mountain pass to head straight for ephesus and the holy spirit stopped him said no you don't go to asia so he mentioned the other direction thought okay we're going to go further north to bithynia and the holy spirit directed him again and the only place he could end up was in troas and there in the night he had a dream and saw a vision from a man of a man from macedonia and concluded that the holy spirit was directing them into macedonia modern europe and so every step of the way he was directed now coming to the end of his third missions journey he is constrained by the holy spirit he he he is going to go to jerusalem and from jerusalem he knows somehow he's going to end up in rome that was his goal and he wanted to go on from rome to reach regions beyond rome and so he is making his journey towards jerusalem constrained by the holy spirit god was leading him to jerusalem and then he says i don't know what's awaiting me in jerusalem but i know one thing everywhere i go the holy spirit testifies that hardship and suffering are awaiting me and how did the holy spirit testify this is not now just what paul was receiving himself there were prophetic words coming wherever he went prophetic words saying when you go to jerusalem and you're going to have this trouble you're going to have that trouble and even a prophet by the name of agabus took paul's belt and tied his hands with it and said tied his own hands through it and said in the same way the jews in jerusalem will bind this the owner of this belt and and the jews will hand him over to the romans and and and then they concluded don't go don't go they said don't go to jerusalem we we don't we don't want that to happen to you and paul said i'm going to follow what the holy spirit tells me to follow and the prophets prophesied he was prepared he had his eyes open he knew what was going to happen but he did not move away from what the spirit of god told him in the same way my friend you need to know your calling you need to know the word of god you need to know the spirit and accept responsibility for the spirits leading in your life in old testament times not every follower of god had the holy spirit like we have the holy spirit living inside of us and in those days if you wanted to know what god was saying you'd have to go to a prophet and knock on the door of the prophet say what is the word of the lord thank god we don't have to do that today let me say it again thank god you do not need a prophet to tell you god's will you are in touch with the will of god by the holy spirit and through the scriptures so why prophets some people say we don't need prophets of course we do because that's one of the ways in which god will speak to you now what i'm saying to you is this listen to the prophets but listen to the holy spirit to your own heart because a prophetic word must be confirmed you just don't do what prophets tell you to do and by the way don't listen to those who will speak to you as if they carry an authority equal to and above scripture there's so many prophets prophesy whatever they wish and say i've done my job this is the word is not the word of the lord check out where that prophet prophet is coming from that so-called prophet people who get up and do their own thing it is such an attention seeking device listen to me i have the word of the lord for you and if you reject that then you will be rejected there have been so many dangerous words spoken falsely by people claiming to be prophets and god's people need to have their heads sorted out you have the holy spirit you have the scriptures the spirit lives in you and a prophetic word that comes from outside should be confirmation of what you already know because of the prophetic law of witness out of the mouth of two or three witnesses let everything be established and should there come a prophetic word that seems to go contrary to what you were expecting and from your own times with jesus be very wary of it it doesn't mean to say that you ignore it but you put it on the back burner there is a word over my life that somebody spoke and it has never been confirmed either by the internal witness of the spirit or by any other prophetic voice i've not dismissed it i've put it on the one side it's on the back burner the heat is very very low but i'm listening and i'm waiting and the day the holy spirit confirms that word to me and i know from my own spiritual witness that that is a word from god i will follow his word his will and his way and i'll be the first one on that plane to japan which is what the prophecy said so what i'm saying recognized prophecies today are not of the same order as scripture test all things follow through with mature christian with counsel wait for the holy spirit's witness and confirmation and always work towards the big picture not just your personal plan plans and preferences and in that way when we walk with the holy spirit the constraints of the spirit within you his leading and guiding will never disappoint you and you will fulfill god's plan for your life amen give jesus a big praise okay we're going to sing a final song and um and we're going to dismiss you today straight after the service that book fivefold ministry and others will be here uh and amanda here we will be signing them and uh also don't forget this afternoon 2 30. we have a great uh showing of the documentary and 5 30 claudette who's been a little absent over the last few weeks and months glad she's come back full of life and strong should be ministering in tonight's service let's all stand together and see [Music] missing together he's coming on the cloud he's coming on the clouds kings and kingdoms will bow down every day will break as broken hearts declare his [Music] our god is [Music] [Music] for the sins of the [Music] he will bow [Music] open up the gates make way before the king of [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] who can stop the lord almighty [Music] who can stop the lord [Music] almighty thank you thank you so much by the way next sunday the 10th is our last sunday in our current role so nine o'clock come and don't go home because the whole day we're having fun food fellowship testimony stories presentations so it's going to be a whole day of celebration next sunday so let's uh tell everybody about that and let's get some people back from covert to enjoy physical fellowship next week and now may the grace of our lord jesus christ the love of god and the fellowship of the holy spirit be with us all now and forever and surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives and we shall dwell in the house of the lord forever and ever amen and amen god bless you this is you coming to the door on my right and also link online if you're live streaming god bless you thank you for joining us [Music] hi yes [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] i love you lord for your [Music] i've been held by your hands from the moment [Music] of the goodness [Applause] oh [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] i'm delighted to tell you about the new edition of my living free devotional journal it takes you through 120 days with jesus covering many of the basics of the christian faith something that you can reflect deeply on and grow no matter where you are in your christian life the devotional includes topics such as assurance and blessing guidance and security power and authority obedience and surrender and each day there is a scripture passage to read a brief explanation of the passage a place for you to record your own thoughts and reflections a key verse to meditate on some place where you can write down questions to follow up and an important discipleship step to take it's a place for you to record your action points so that you can move forward in your spiritual life and then there is a key prayer to pay it's well laid out with plenty of space for you to write your own thoughts and this will become a key part of your devotional life as you learn to journal your spiritual journey [Music] [Applause] [Music] ah [Music] i love you lord [Music] and all my days i've been held by your hands from [Music] of the goodness of god [Applause] foreign [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Applause] darkest [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Applause] [Music] i'm delighted to tell you about the new edition of my living free devotional journal it takes you through 120 days with jesus covering many of the basics of the christian faith something that you can reflect deeply on and grow no matter where you are in your christian life the devotional includes topics such as assurance and blessing guidance and security power and authority obedience and surrender and each day there is a scripture passage to read a brief explanation of the passage a place for you to record your own thoughts and reflections a key verse to meditate on some place where you can write down questions to follow up and an important discipleship step to take it's a place for you to record your action points so that you can move forward in your spiritual life and then there is a key prayer to pay it's well laid out with plenty of space for you to write your own thoughts and this will become a key part of your devotional life as you learn to journal your spiritual journey [Music] [Applause] [Music] ah [Music] i love you lord for your mercy never fails me and all my days i've been held by your hands [Music] of the goodness [Applause] [Music] if is [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Kensington Temple

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Length: 119min 41sec (7181 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 03 2021