The Catalyst Community

God's goal for the world is that every single person hears about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and accepts Him as Lord over everything.

Miracles are not for amazement and entertainment. They are a way of enforcing the reign of Christ, the kingdom of God on the earth, taking back territory one place at a time.

The expelling of devils miracle is emphasized in this teaching. It is a ministry for all who believe in Jesus. We are introduced to the reality and nature of demons, highlighting our authority over them as people who are seated in Christ.

In prayer and fasting, we wield the power of the Holy Spirit which is already in us , stirring up more boldness to cast out demons.

The ways that we prepare ourselves to face any kind of demon is to build our convictions about the power of God and speak boldly.

Many see the Kingdom of God as a location, a destination, or something that will happen in the future. But the Kingdom of God is happening now; it is the reign of God.

The original design was for God and humanity to share the same space. Man was created to be God’s representative, but sin caused a divergence in allegiance to God. Man chose disloyalty.

God did not abandon the earth, but the meeting point became scarce, hotspots of God’s presence and man lost the ability to discern them.

When Jesus Christ came, He brought a restoration of loyalty to God.

And this applies to every believer because the matter of where you are and where you need to be is a matter of loyalty. Anything you are more loyal to than God is an idol.

Jesus Christ’s death was a legal action necessary for the payment of our sin. But beyond that, He became a man to be an example to us, to show us that complete loyalty to God is possible, even in the face of every instinct of self-preservation.

The problem of sin is that man lost his relationship with God. There therefore needed to be a restoration of man to God. Christ came to become like us so that we can become like Him, taking on our nature so that we could take on his, entering death so that we could enter life. 

The kingdom of God as taught in the previous session is the region of God. It is not a specific place. The kingdom of God is already here and now. 

The resurrection of Christ was an enthronement, a coronation of the reign of God on the Earth. 

If truly the gospel of Christ is the power to save, there must be a display of the power of God in the preaching of the gospel.

These are 3 foundations that power stands on:

1. The cross is the door to His power.

2. The authority of Jesus is the legal justification for our usage of power.

3. The Holy Spirit is the reservoir of power.

There is theology which supports the fact that God is with you in your pain. He cared enough to leave divinity and become human so that He could feel what you feel and be a worthy High Priest.

The solution to injustice, as we see in the Psalms, is not just legal systems, but God arising and judging the earth. The solution to injustice is the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is not a location or a future event, but a reality that means the reign of God. Knowing this means that the Kingdom of God can be experienced now.

In conclusion to the first session, baptism is in some form, a symbol of an exodus.

Jesus thought it wise enough to be baptised, giving us a picture of our exodus from death to life. Baptism then becomes a picture of the question: "Who would you follow?'. Would you follow God or return to Egypt?

We learn that baptism is a deep spiritual activity signifying your death to sin and ungodliness, and your resurrection into the life of Christ. It is a public response of a good conscience- the born again Spirit we have already received.

There’s an approach in the writing of Scripture that makes it not just a writing for history but for you. 

A few points about the way Hebrew authors wrote:

1. Hebrew authors wrote in patterns.

2. ⁠Hebrew authors used cycles.

The Book of Exodus is a pattern that repeats all through the Bible. Exodus was not the first time God separated waters from land to appear. God had to liberate the land from the water in creation so that life can exist.

When Jesus arrives on the scene for His first public manifestation, He went into water (His baptism). He said it was to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus needed to complete a storyline which started at the beginning.

In Special Meetings I, the question of why we gather as a church was answered. However, during a Sunday service, we do not have enough time to cover everything we need for our spiritual growth. That is why God, in His wisdom, instituted other meetings.

These include: Prayer Meetings, Teaching Meetings, Worship Meetings, Believers' Meetings, Holy Ghost Meetings, Fellowship/Communion Meetings, and Camp Meetings- a combination of all the other meetings, with each receiving its proper emphasis.

“Do not forsake the gathering of believers”, does not only mean that you missed out on something in the service when you do not show up. It also means that other believers miss out on something when you do not show up, or belong to a church.

We miss the point of church when we gather for routine only, and not for purpose. The church was never meant to be a building you visit. It is supposed to be an identity you carry, a lifestyle.

The gathering of believers as a church is to encounter the glory of God, receive His words and know who He is.

This sermon answers the question of why we gather as a church, what the church is not, and what the church really is.

The 'Fire Place' series introduces and emphasizes the importance of exercising the gifts of the Spirit, for ourselves and for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Every believer is supposed to be a conduit of the presence of God. A break in transmission in your life, meaning how you conduct that power, can limit the flow of God.

Every believer has the Spirit of God and can experience the infilling of God, a stirring of the Spirit- where you come to a point of yieldedness, that allows Him to take over.

When you got saved, you were not only saved from sin; you drank a river. The same way fire is a symbol of the presence of God, water is a symbol of the Spirit and salvation.

Two pictures that can help us understand what the flow of the Spirit really is are:

1. A river- there is no obstruction.

2. Electricity.

Every believer has a reservoir. What breaks your flow is that you do not stir it up enough.

Throughout this series, our devotion has been at the centre of every teaching. The plan of God for your devotion is an overflow; that you wake up every day deciding that your altar will remain on fire for the rest of your life.

This teaching gives us ‎practical ways to achieve the overflow in our walk with God:

‎1. Build an obsession for the things of God.

2. Don't forsake the gathering of believers.

‎3. Take responsibility for your altar.

‎4. Importunity in prayer.

‎5. Remember that your fire is from God.

‎6. Guard your heart for the things of God.

‎7. Live from the overflow.