Impact Church London

Series: “Preparing To Posses The Promises” Sermon #1 “Declutter”

Are there things we can do NOW

Two things to consider:

2. Knowing what is NEXT doesn’t mean you’re READY.

“The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital.” Joe Paterno

Jeremiah 29:11

Regret:– sorrow over an unfulfilled ambition.

Joshua = Jesus

New Possess Mindset!

Joshua 1:1-2

Release

Romans 8:31-32

What do you need to UNPACK right now?

Reflect

James 1:22-25

You don’t just look in the mirror!

Early picture — First Thing In The Morning

When I’m Done — Looking Good

You will experience the best of The next season when you do what God has called you to do in this season.

Resolve

Philippians 3:13-14 TPT

The Placebo Effect:— What you believe and expect is a determining factor.

Let’s get fixed in a possession mindset.

I am READY for what’s NEXT!

Thanksgiving 2021

Romans 1:21 (NLT) “Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.”

Being unthankful is the cornerstone, the launching point, for every corrupting influence.

1 Corinthians 10:10-11 “And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death. These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.”

1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.”

Cicero who lived in Rome between 106 – 43 BC said that, “gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues but the parent of all others”.

What you appreciate, appreciates! What you don’t appreciate … depreciates!
Appreciate:— to be grateful or thankful for. OR to raise or increase in value.

Psalm 100:4-5 “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.”

Psalm 69:30 “I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.”

Ephesians 5:19 “Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything.”

Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

Thanks (eucharistia):–gratitude; expressions of grateful language to God as an act of worship, thankfulness, giving of thanks, thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving (towdah):– to express visible thanks or adoration to God by extending the hands to God in reverence, coupled with offering a sacrifice of praise to God through audible confessions of thanks.

Sonja Lyubomirsky Professor of Psychology at the University of California Author of “The How of Happiness,” a book of strategies backed by scientific research that can be used to increase happiness.

“One characteristic of the happiest people is that they are comfortable expressing gratitude for all they have.” Sonja Lyubomirsky

Dr. Robert Emmons “A practice of gratitude raises your ‘happiness set-point’ so you can remain at a higher level of happiness regardless of outside circumstances.”

Dan Baker — (What Happy People Know) “During active appreciation, the threatening messages from your amygdala [fear center of the brain] and the anxious instincts of your brainstem are cut off, suddenly and surely, from access to your brain’s neocortex, where they can fester, replicate themselves, and turn your stream of thoughts into a cold river of dread. It is a fact of neurology that the brain cannot be in a state of appreciation and a state of fear at the same time. The two states may alternate, but are mutually exclusive.”

Daniel 6

4 Thanksgiving Observations
1. Thanksgiving Is Expressive
Giving – Thanks Daniel made a public expression No expression is a heart problem.
Luke 6:45 “For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

2. Thanksgiving Engages His Presence

3. Thanksgiving Fosters Resilience

4. Thanksgiving Wins The Day

“Salvation” (yeh’-shah):— deliverance, salvation, rescue, safety, welfare, prosperity, victory

Psalm 136:1 “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!”

You Serve What You Worship

Exodus 31:2-3

“See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,…”

Bezelel:— three Hebrew syllables: be = “in”; tzal = “shadow”; el = “God”

In the shadow of God.

Bezalel is the first person in Scripture to be described as “filled with the Spirit of God.”

The Spirit builds God’s House!

Exodus 35:34-35

“…in him and Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. He has filled them with skill to do all manner of work…”

Aholiab:— “Compound word “Father’s tent”

These two craftsmen may have fashioned individual items and trained others to do the work with them but it was Moses who assembled the parts to make the Tabernacle.

Moses established and placed every article.

Exodus 40:32-34

“…as the Lord had commanded Moses. … So Moses finished the work. Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.”

Matthew 16:18 “I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”

1 Peter 2:5 “…you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:19-22 

“…having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,  in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”

1 Corinthians 12:1   

“Now concerning spiritual (gifts), brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant:”  

(Pneumatikos:— spirituals)

Don’t be ignorant about your role in the Body of Christ and how it functions.

Ephesians 4:15-16

“…grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”

1 Corinthians 12:18

“But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.”

Galatians 5:13 

“For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”

Matthew 4:10

“You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve.” 

You serve what you worship!

The Pareto principle (also known as the 80–20 rule, the law of the vital few, and the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

We want to remove that principle from our IMPACT church world … 100% moving together causing His glory to reach maximum effect.

We label things according to the value we have for it.

Garage sales … something that has no value or has lost value sold for very little.

Some people find treasures in what others consider junk.

Garage Sale:

Couple had wedding gift … aqua green trim … selling for 1 dollar … 

“WOW! …new still has protective film on it.” 

Peeled back film and exposed a costly gold plated finish around the mirror.

Jesus doesn’t see tax collectors, prostitutes, drug addicts, drunks, losers,…

He sees treasures. 

He sees people that are to die for. He sees through the AQUA FILM.

YOU ARE GIFTED TO SERVE!

Sermon : “Better Together”

Recap & Intro: “Better Together”

The what, where, when and how of groups, but also the why. 

I wholeheartedly believe that the power of what is about to happen is going to be released through relational networks and connections, not just from the pulpit or the stage.

It could be that single most important thing you can do to position yourself for a fruitful future is to learn, grow and develop in the area of connecting with other human beings, being relationally sound, and becoming someone who is able to both connect and be connected with.

There’s going to come a shift in the mindset of the church from seeing the world out there as those whom we do ministry on, preach to, and convert, to seeing them as already worthy of connection, belonging, and blessings because off what Jesus has already done for them.

Groups are starting next week

Tues. Rhema – 55+

N.B. **

Groups in the Bible : 2 Sides to the Church Coin!

Acts 20:20

Acts 2:46-47

Corporate gatherings and house to house, two sides of the one coin called church. Both experiences provide unique and necessary components of church life that can’t be replaced by the other. 

They Were Added to the church! 

Acts 2:41, 47

People were added to the church when they became believers, not taught how to  be successful, disconnected,  lone-ranger believers whose lives revolved around their own personal success. The church didn’t exist to serve them. Together they were the church, with  vision, goals, and a life that transcended the sum if its parts. 

The Three Basics of Impact Groups: 

1. Fellowship: 

Belonging and connection are basic needs for all of humanity.

Gen. 2:18

This was after he made humans and established them in relationship with himself. 

Brene Brown in “Daring to Lead” (quoting neuroscience researcher John Cacioppo)

In the Image of a Relational God!

2 Corinthians 13:14

2. Function: 

We can’t function properly on our own or outside of connection with others. We cannot fulfil the one another commands if we do not connect. 

John 13:34

Ephesians 4:15-16

Real, lasting,  eternal ministry and contributions towards what God is doing in the days ahead are going to depend on the quality of your connection with others. Notice its what the joints supply that causes all parts to be positioned and equipped to do their share. 

It’s getting past independence, and it’s getting past the idea that I connect with you, and you connect with me and we bless one another.  It’s having a vision for  connecting on a level where we partner together to let the fruit of our connection with one another be a blessings and add value to people beyond us. 

We have to see ourselves as better together, yes. But the world around us is better when we are together. We have to have a vision for us, who we are, what are we becoming together that transcends us. Do you see what we can be, what we are together? 

Brene Brown – Connection

It’s our ability to connect, to give and receive without judgement, to allow ourselves and others to be seen, heard, and valued, and to engage mutually edifying relationships that is going to allow us to be fruitful. 

3. Formation: 

Impact Groups are a great place to exercise our spiritual gifts, bless and encourage one another, a place where we can engage in practical biblical application, and a place to share our testimony with others. 

Pr. 27:17

Pr. 27:6

1 Cor. 14:1

Where We Are Headed… 

We live in a post-christian world. What once worked will not work any more. When you cross over you are going somewhere you have never been before. 

Joshua 3:4

If our vision is stadiums, full houses, and an expression of the supernatural disconnected from relationship and connection, its becomes magical thinking that at best will only reproduce the status quo.  

Gen Z. Reviving Evangelism in the Next Generation

Gone are the days when people are concerned with hearing and communicating truth. People want to know that they have been heard, and they want to connect. 

Gone are the days when people are concerned about right and wrong. People want to see an ethic of congruency between what is taught and what is lived out. People are not asking the question “is Christianity true and right?” They are asking is Christianity good and is it helpful? Does it add value or cause problems? 

The church of the future, the one that is going to rise to the full measure of Christ’s stature in its expression and impact, in short, is going to be the one that accepts, embraces and truly believes the finished work of Christ is actually finished, and is able to apply that truth in relational connection with the world around them. 

It’s going to be a church that lets go of a paradigm of discipleship, personal and societal transformation that revolves around sin management, behaviour, performance, and the doing of christian things. Its going to focus on the art of being. Christian discipleship is going to look like communities helping people answer these two core questions;  who am I, and  how do I be who I already am? 

John 13:35

So where do groups come into this? Groups are front and centre in this paradigm shift. It is one thing to be a welcoming church that lets others sit in its pews, but the real relational stuff, that doesn’t come by sitting together, but by connecting with each other. It goes beyond sharing a Sunday experience together  and moves into the realm of sharing ourselves with each other. 

Groups provide us with this space. They don’t replace Sundays, nor do they replace quality connections with a few friends and family, but what they do do is give us the opportunity to start to make this transition to a culture of radical hospitality and acceptance, and they provide the opportunity to experience the incarnate grace and goodness of God, in his body. 

Sign up today! 

Sermon Notes – Better Together

Two Trees — A Revelation Of Divine Life   BY:   D. Karl Thomas

The Bible was not given to man so that he could fix his story.

The Bible is His story and how you can find your place in it.

You don’t find 10 steps to a better life in the Bible. You read about a God who through His Son took 10,000 steps to get to you.

The Bible isn’t mainly about you and what you should be doing. 

It’s about God and what he has done.   It is a book about Jesus. 

Get a revelation of how much He loves you and realize who you are in Him.

Luke 24:27  “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”

Genesis 1:28  NKJV “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

TLV “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the land, and conquer it.” 

Genesis 2:15 “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.”

“Keep It”  Shamar:— to keep, guard, keep watch and ward, protect, save life and protect … 

What are they guarding against? God’s Enemies.

Mankind is a part of the eternal purpose of God to once and for all put the KIBOSH on all evil and guard against it’s intrusion!!!

The devil wasn’t going to just sit back and let this happen … He attacked God’s plan right away.

Galatians 5:25 (AMP) “If we live by the [Holy] Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. [If by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit.]”

Two Trees — Tree Of Life — In Christ Grace    /    Tree Of Knowledge — In Adam Moralism

Genesis 2:16-17  “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;  but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Genesis 3:4 “Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’”

“Original sin” was eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. 

The sin of pursuing LIFE (our identity, worth, significance and security) for ourselves, apart from God.

An attempt to know what only God can rightly know.

Satan’s challenge to Adam and Eve was, don’t you want to be Godly, knowing right and wrong?

The fruit of self was introduced to mankind. INDEPENDENCE 

We have the ability to now determine what is right and wrong. We will self govern!   MORALISM

Genesis 3:7-8 “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day,…”

“…and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”

God is going to kill us!???

They instead became accusers of God, themselves and each other. Wages of sin death.

Authentic Christianity is about union and communion with God.

Knowledge of Good and Evil was prohibited:

They didn’t have it! They didn’t need it! They were corrupted by it!

Religion is a moralistic way of living and viewing life.

God did not in any way change because they ate of the Tree of Knowledge.

Man Changed!!!  

His view Of Himself Changed  His View Of Others Changed  His View Of God Changed

Genesis 3:10  “Where are you?” So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” 

F ear  — I don’t trust you.

I  gnorance — I don’t know you.

G uilt — I’m no good.  

The Gospel

Genesis 3:15 “He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”

Genesis 3:21 “Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.”

Blood was shed!

Hebrews 9:7 “…not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the 

people’s sins.”

The choice remains for every person:  Who do I trust? Who is in CONTROL?

He wants union and communion with you. He is your source!

1 Corinthians 6:17 “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”

Moralism:— the belief that the Gospel can be reduced to improvements in behaviour.

Galatians 2:21 “I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”

Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr.  President of SBT Seminary

“Why Moralism Is Not the Gospel—And Why So Many Christians Think It Is.”  (Article 03/09/09)

“The theological temptation of moralism is one many Christians and churches find it difficult to resist. The danger is that the church will communicate by both direct and indirect means that what God expects of fallen humanity is moral improvement. In so doing, the church subverts the Gospel and communicates a false gospel to a fallen world. The deadly danger of moralism has been a constant temptation to the church and an ever-convenient substitute for the Gospel. Clearly, millions of our neighbors believe that moralism is our message. Nothing less than the boldest preaching of the Gospel will suffice to correct this impression and to lead sinners to salvation in Christ.”

Hell will be highly populated with those who were “raised right.” The citizens of heaven will be those who, by the sheer grace and mercy of God, are there solely because of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. Moralism is not the gospel.”

Genesis 3:22,24 “‘… man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’ … So He drove out the man; …and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.”

Morgan Guyton

“So we should not be pursuing the knowledge of good and evil when we read the Bible; that’s eating the same fruit that Adam and Eve ate. Instead we should be reading the Bible to discover the love of God that makes us more loving.

Sadly, too many Christians want knowledge rather than love because knowledge gives us a feeling of power. It makes us think we can be like God, exactly what the serpent tricked Eve into believing.

But knowledge itself, even perfect knowledge of good and evil, has no power to make us like God at all. It is love that makes us like God, and only God can be the origin of love; we can only be its recipients and conduits.”

Genesis 5:3   “And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image,…”

John 17:20-23 “…that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one,…”

John 10:10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”     NOT “Bios”  BUT  “Zoe”

John 4:10,13-14 “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’  ,,,   Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.’”

Revelation 22:2  “In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

Jesus restores access to the Tree Of Life … He is the way the truth the life. We are in union with God because God made a covenant with himself that includes us. Better than Eden … Abundant life!!!