The songs by The SCOAN Choir were all in sync with the messages that followed. They called for God’s mercy on all. They asked God to free the captives and give them rest. They re-affirmed the need to believe God in order to receive from Him so that defeat and failure would be things of the past. And they handed over their problems to the Creator, who fills Christians with joy and victory. As always, the church auditorium became suffused with God’s Spirit as the praise and worship session went on.
Before going into his message titled ‘Believe and Confess Part 3, Prophet T.B. Joshua again said a few words about the importance of reporting what we see and hear. He reiterated that hard work alone cannot help any establishment to grow and that “when you report what you see and hear, it settles issues, answers questions, clarifies doubts and provides a way forward”. The highpoint of his exhortation was that Christians should seek divine grace to avoid harbouring the unclean spirits of unforgiveness, envy, bitterness, jealousy, anger, etc. which break communion with God and lead to poverty, affliction, hardship, rejection and nightmares. Noting a break with God is the reason some people lose their blessings, he advised Christians to examine their heart and ensure they are worshiping God in truth and in Spirit.
Prophet T.B. Joshua also explained that becoming what God wants us to be will require knowing God better which means discovering our spiritual gifts with the help of the Holy Spirit. A Christian who does not activate his or her spiritual gifts, he said, is inconsequential, that is, “zero”. In his words, “You cannot become God’s person on the history and theory about the Word of God.” As such, he noted, it profits little if a person commits the Bible to memory but does not allow the Word to become an integral part of his or her life. Finally, Prophet T.B. Joshua exhorted the congregation and viewers with the following words: “What I am expecting you to take home is the issue about your heart. It is a fundamental issue. If you have received all the blessings and deliverance here today, without a pure heart, you will lose them. It is a pure heart that maintains blessings, deliverance, breakthrough. With a pure heart, man knows that Jesus saves, heals, blesses, delivers.”
Teaching along the same lines, Racine spoke on, ‘The Uncompromising Demand’. He started by citing Jesus’ admonition that Christians should ask in faith so they can receive (Matthew 21: 21-22). He then took his reading from Hebrews 11: 1-3 – the passage on faith being the substance of things hoped for. Racine said that God has a promise for us, although most Christians fail to take hold of the promise, owing to failure to exercise faith – the uncompromising demand. Exercising faith involves letting God speak to us through the Holy Spirit as embodied in God’s Word. Racine also said, “claiming” is not truly exercising faith but rather “mental assent” which merely “recognises the truthfulness of God’s Word but never acts on it”.
For a biblical example of such mental assent, Racine referred to the experience of the seven sons of Sceva who, in Acts 19: 13-16, did not show they truly believed in Jesus Christ of Nazareth but were merely echoing His name as they heard Paul use it. Also citing John 11:41 and John 5:15, Racine further said that a true Christian believes his or her blessing, healing or deliverance has come even if the physical evidence seems to be contrary. Racine closed his message thus: “By faith, I stretch my hand. By faith, I believe. By faith, I confess. By faith, I act. Faith believes now. Faith acts now. Faith receives now. You are healed. You are blessed. You are delivered.”
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For a biblical example of such mental assent, Racine referred to the experience of the seven sons of Sceva who, in Acts 19: 13-16, did not show they truly believed in Jesus Christ of Nazareth but were merely echoing His name as they heard Paul use it. Also citing John 11:41 and John 5:15, Racine further said that a true Christian believes his or her blessing, healing or deliverance has come even if the physical evidence seems to be contrary. Racine closed his message thus: “By faith, I stretch my hand. By faith, I believe. By faith, I confess. By faith, I act. Faith believes now. Faith acts now. Faith receives now. You are healed. You are blessed. You are delivered.”
TESTIMONIES CLICK HERE
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