Oxford Bible Church - Living in the Last Days

Genesis 1:1-3 reveals how God works in our lives. Two things are necessary for a MIRACLE: (1) God's WORD and SPIRIT which communicate His Presence (Light) into us. (2) A receptive VOID within us, which God’s Presence can fill. Derek illustrates this vital truth with a number of scriptural examples.

Seeking God results from valuing His Presence, for "where our treasure is, there our heart is too" (Matt 6:21). To increase your valuation of His Presence meditate on (1) what it would be like if He withdrew it from you, (2) the price Christ paid to give you His Spirit, (3) how much you need His grace for your life.

Through the Temple God revealed His plan for union with man. He dwells in the Secret Place (the Holy of Holies). By (1) praise, (2) thanksgiving and (3) worship we set our love on the Lord, giving Him our (1) mind, (2) emotion and (3) will, opening our heart to His love, and enabling us to enter into His Presence.

Like Moses we must have a much greater passion for His PRESENCE, than His PRESENTS (Exodus 33). God wants us to love Him (the Blessing) more than His blessings, to seek the Giver more than His gifts. If we SEEK first His PRESENCE, then His PRESENTS will be added to us (Matthew 6:33).

Chronicles tells us the story of the kings from God’s viewpoint, assessing them based on their HEART. We study God’s report card on a number of kings (David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Hezekiah, Josiah) seeing how He assesses their reigns according to how they SOUGHT God.

"SEEK the LORD and His STRENGTH; SEEK His FACE forevermore!” (Psalm 105:4). When we SEEK His FACE, His Hand of STRENGTH comes upon our hearts, filling them with His life, righteousness, love, joy, peace and wisdom. Seek first His PRESENCE, before His PRESENTS! (Matthew 6:33).

Hilary motivates us to pray in the Spirit by sharing from Scripture and from her and others' experiences the power released through praying in tongues, whereby we build ourselves up spiritually (1Cor 14:4), and allow the Holy Spirit to take hold of us and make intercession through us (Romans 8:26-27).

The Holy Spirit lives within us and wants to help us pray and intercede. As we submit to Him, He will fill us and empower our prayers, giving us the utterance (Acts 2:4). As we yield our tongues to Him and speak His words, we pray God's perfect will into the situation (Romans 8:26-27, 1Cor 14:2-5, 14-18).

The Gift of Faith is an impartation of a portion of Divine Faith to a man, enabling him to believe God for something that is beyond his own normal faith. He releases this 'Faith of God', as God did at Creation (Gen 1:3), by speaking forth the desired end-result, believing that it will come to pass (Mark 11:22-23).

Both the Gift of Faith and Working of Miracles are Power Gifts, releasing God’s Power to accomplish a

miraculous change in the natural order, which could not happen otherwise. With the gift of faith a man RECEIVES a miracle, but with the working of miracles a man WORKS a miracle. We give examples.