Sermon

The Supernatural Nature of the Christian Gathering

Near East Christian Fellowship Sermons

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  1. Welcome to NECF Sermons. Each message here is

  2. designed to uplift and strengthen you in your

  3. walk with God. Don't miss out. Stay with us until

  4. the end for a rewarding experience. Let's dive

  5. right in. So what happens in a Christian gathering?

  6. What are the kind of things that happen? So the

  7. things you do shows your knowledge of it. Praise

  8. the Lord. Like for example, when the worship

  9. was going on, you decided to become part of the

  10. media team. Praise the Lord. You decided, you

  11. know what, I'm going to video what is going on.

  12. Oh, I love the singing. I love the prayers. I

  13. love the man who is preaching. Let me just record

  14. so that I can upload later on. Praise the Lord.

  15. It shows you don't know what is going on. You're

  16. in the wrong place. Praise the Lord. You're in

  17. the right place, but you're not conscious of

  18. what is going on around you. Praise the Lord.

  19. That's the reason why we have the media team.

  20. Praise the Lord. To be able to capture this moment

  21. so that you can find it later online or request

  22. from them the things that you want. Praise the

  23. Lord. Or the fact that you come to church and

  24. the service is going on and somebody calls you.

  25. Or people keep calling you and you keep going

  26. outside, picking your call, come back, keep picking

  27. and coming back. And then when somebody asks

  28. you, what are you doing? You say, my dad just

  29. called me or my mom just called me or somebody

  30. called me. It shows that you are ignorant of

  31. what is going on. Praise the Lord. Sorry to say.

  32. Okay. It shows that you are ignorant of what

  33. is going on in the meeting because this is a

  34. different kind of meeting. Praise the Lord. is

  35. a different kind of meeting. You're not that

  36. busy. Praise the Lord. There are many people

  37. here that are lecturers. There are many people

  38. here that are business people and they are doing

  39. excellently well. But when it comes to the house

  40. of God, they'll put their phones away. Praise

  41. the Lord. Every call will come after 1 .30. Praise

  42. the Lord. Most of their colleagues or most of

  43. their business partners will understand that,

  44. oh, you cannot reach this person by this time

  45. because they are in the house of God. Praise

  46. the Lord, because they have recognized the importance

  47. of what or where they have come into. Praise

  48. the Lord. Or you want to give your friends online

  49. the updates of what is going on. You know, let's

  50. tweet, you know, like Mr. Matthew. You say everywhere

  51. is fire or fire everywhere. You just put it and

  52. put those emojis that, you know, the service

  53. is powerful and you're updating on your Snapchat

  54. and different social media handles. It shows

  55. that you don't know what is going on. It is not

  56. just about a song that is being sung in the church.

  57. It's not just about the prayers. What is happening

  58. here is spiritual. Praise the Lord. It is spiritual.

  59. It is the things of the spirit. And what you're

  60. doing at that time is not necessary. It's not

  61. important to the things of the spirit. And again,

  62. we have to learn how to control the use of our

  63. devices. When you come into this place, you want

  64. to ensure that you turn off your devices or you

  65. put it somewhere knowing that you have come to

  66. an important place. If you switch it off, nothing

  67. will happen to you. You will not die. Praise

  68. the Lord. Matter of fact, if you switch off your

  69. phone for a while, even at home, it shows whether

  70. you are anxious. It shows the level of anxiety.

  71. I don't know how to call it, but it shows whether

  72. or not you are anxious whenever you're not with

  73. your phone. So you can test yourself. What happens

  74. when I switch off my phone for one day? Or when

  75. I switch off my phone for two hours? What happens?

  76. Am I anxious? Am I calm? Praise the Lord. Because

  77. you don't want anything to control you. Praise

  78. the Lord. You want to be led by the Spirit of

  79. God. So we learn how to control our devices.

  80. So everything that is going on around the world

  81. when you come to the house of God will be fine.

  82. Your parents will be fine. Your siblings will

  83. be fine. Your business will continue to progress.

  84. Matter of fact, there are people that are doing

  85. big businesses. Why do you think people close

  86. on Saturday and Sunday? Praise the Lord. Do you

  87. think there's no money to be made? They also

  88. understand that everything is not about working.

  89. Praise the Lord. There are so many other things

  90. that is pertaining to life than that. So putting

  91. away your devices, for example, gives you the

  92. opportunity to pray. Praise the Lord. Sometimes

  93. you notice that when you wake up in the morning

  94. and your challenge is not that you're not doing

  95. your morning devotion. We're going to come to

  96. the Scriptures, okay? Your challenge is that

  97. you're not doing your morning devotion or that

  98. you're not able to. But it is that when you wake

  99. up, the light of your phone goes off or you just

  100. pick it up and once you start to scroll, you

  101. can no longer go back to do the things you're

  102. supposed to do. Praise the Lord. So it gives

  103. you the opportunity to pray. It gives you the

  104. opportunity to think. Praise the Lord. As you

  105. have received, as information has come to you,

  106. you need to think about it. But if you keep scrolling,

  107. you don't know what to think about. Praise the

  108. Lord. It gives you the opportunity as well to

  109. spend time with people. So when you come to a

  110. gathering or even when you are hanging out with

  111. your friends, it gives you that opportunity to...

  112. To discuss and to share and to learn. Praise

  113. the Lord. So we have to ensure that our devices

  114. are not a distraction to us or that technology

  115. does not become an idol to you. So sometimes

  116. again, you are in church, rather than participating,

  117. for example, when they were praying, when they

  118. were singing, you just... They are singing, people

  119. are clapping, or people are singing, Helios,

  120. look it. People are praying, you're just sitting

  121. down. It shows your lack of understanding of

  122. what is going on. And my aim this morning is

  123. to ensure that you have understanding. Praise

  124. the Lord. It's to ensure that you are blessed,

  125. to ensure that you go home and you have understanding

  126. of what makes this place a different kind of

  127. meeting. Praise the Lord. That whenever they

  128. are praying, you don't just sit down or you don't

  129. just look at what they are doing, but you participate.

  130. Praise the Lord. You participate. You join what

  131. is going on. So we don't want to be ignorant

  132. of what is going on here. So Matthew... where

  133. we read, tells us that, he said, Jesus spoke

  134. to them saying, all authority is given to me

  135. in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make

  136. disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the

  137. name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,

  138. teaching them to observe all the things I've

  139. commanded you and lo, I'm with you always, even

  140. to the end of the age. Praise the Lord. In verse

  141. 19, he tells us to go and make disciples. Praise

  142. the Lord. In King James, it tells you to go and

  143. teach. Praise the Lord. So it means that word,

  144. go and make disciples or go and teach, right,

  145. in the KJV, is a word to make disciples, to make

  146. a student of the word. Praise the Lord. It is

  147. to make a student of the word, to make a disciple.

  148. So God gives us this responsibility of making

  149. disciples. He gives us this responsibility. He

  150. says, go and make disciples of all nations. This

  151. responsibility is ours. Praise the Lord. So when

  152. this responsibility is ours, what do we do? What

  153. are our response? How do we respond? So if there's

  154. somebody around you that don't know the scriptures

  155. or a Christian that does not have a lot of understanding

  156. or knowledge concerning the things of God or

  157. somebody who is an unbeliever. Praise the Lord.

  158. It is your responsibility to teach them, to make

  159. them a disciple. And what that means is that

  160. you teach them. Praise the Lord. It is your responsibility

  161. to make them a disciple. Somebody's not coming

  162. to church. It's your responsibility to make them

  163. to come to church. Praise the Lord. It is your

  164. responsibility to pray with them. It's your responsibility

  165. to pray with them, to go out with them, to train

  166. them, to go out and say, come, let's go and see

  167. or come, let's go and practice evangelizing.

  168. Praise the Lord. Come, let's go together and

  169. do this thing. Come, let's pray together. You

  170. find out that your friend is struggling and he's

  171. not praying as the way he should or he's not

  172. praying at all. It's your responsibility to say,

  173. come, let's pray together. Praise the Lord. Come,

  174. let's pray together. Don't tell them, this is

  175. your life. I don't know where you are going to.

  176. Praise the Lord. It's your responsibility to

  177. train them. You see it as an opportunity. Oh

  178. wow, what a great opportunity to make somebody

  179. a disciple or a student of the Word. It's your

  180. responsibility to teach them to pray. To help

  181. revive or... to help flame their prayer life.

  182. That is what we do. We go with them to preach.

  183. That is what believers do. It is our responsibility

  184. to preach the gospel, to make disciples, to make

  185. a student of the word. So to make disciples means

  186. to train people to do God's work. Praise the

  187. Lord. To make disciples means to train people

  188. to do God's work. It's a word, matatio, which

  189. is that word to teach or to make disciples. So

  190. in verse 20 now, he says, teaching them to observe

  191. all the things I've commanded you and know I'm

  192. with you always, even to the end of the age.

  193. So one of the things that we'll see in the midst

  194. of this teaching is that God has also commanded

  195. the gathering of believers. Praise the Lord.

  196. So he says you teach them what? Teaching them

  197. to observe all the things I've commanded you.

  198. So we also see that part of God's command or

  199. part of Christ's command to the believers is

  200. that they gather together. Praise the Lord. This

  201. is one of the things that God wants us to do,

  202. to gather together. It is a practice that we

  203. should have, right? The coming together of us

  204. all. We have to follow that command. We ought

  205. to keep that command. It's a practice that we

  206. have to continue to do. So when they say you

  207. have to go to cell meeting or you have to come

  208. for midweek service, what they are trying to

  209. say to you is that this is Jesus' desire for

  210. your life that we gather together. Praise the

  211. Lord. It's not extra labor. It's not extra assignment.

  212. It's not something different. It is not something

  213. new. Praise the Lord. It might be new to you,

  214. but it's not something new. It is the command

  215. of God that we gather together. This is one of

  216. his commands. It should be the priorities of

  217. our life that we gather together. David said

  218. that, I was glad when they said to me, let's

  219. come to the house of God. Praise the Lord. So

  220. it should be your gladness, your hard desire

  221. to come together, to want to come to church.

  222. You cannot wait for Sunday. Praise the Lord.

  223. And sometimes we are faced with this challenge

  224. that maybe the church is, the way it's structured,

  225. is structured within the week at the end of your

  226. day. Praise the Lord. And you have done all the

  227. work. You have done your work and you're tired.

  228. So sometimes if you're not very careful, you

  229. begin to say, oh. This church this evening. What

  230. should I do? Should I just sit down or should

  231. I go? Praise the Lord. It's part of what your

  232. day should look like. Praise the Lord. So when

  233. you are coming, although you are tired physically,

  234. you know that you'll be refreshed. Praise the

  235. Lord. You're tired physically, but you know that

  236. your spirit will be refreshed. You know that

  237. your strength will be renewed. Praise the Lord.

  238. So you're not looking at it as, oh. Another thing

  239. to do. Another task to do. No. You look at it

  240. as a place of refreshing. Praise the Lord. You

  241. see it as a place where I come to receive strength.

  242. Where I come to be with the people of God. It

  243. should be priority of our lives. So don't say

  244. to yourself, you know, I like a... Okay. Okay.

  245. So it should be priority of our lives. Mark chapter

    Mark 16 chapter mention

  246. 16. Mark chapter 16, verse 15 to 18. Mark chapter

    Mark 16:15–18 Mark 16:15–18

  247. 16, verse 15 to 18. And he said to them, Go into

  248. all the world and preach the gospel to every

  249. creature. He who believes and is baptized will

  250. be saved. But he who does not believe will be

  251. condemned. And these signs will follow them who

  252. believe. In my name they will cast out demons.

  253. They will speak with new tongues. They will take

  254. up sapiens, and if they drink anything deadly,

  255. it will by no means hurt them. They will lay

  256. their hands on the sick, and they will recover.

  257. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. I want us to

  258. look at these scriptures together and begin to

  259. highlight some of the things that it says there

  260. about the person who believes. The sign of a

  261. believer. The sign of the person who believes.

  262. Praise the Lord. And the first sign he says is

  263. that, he said they will cast out demons. Praise

  264. the Lord. To them that believe God, they will

  265. cast out demons. To them that are saved, they

  266. will cast out demons. They will speak with new

  267. tongues. The second sign that will follow them.

  268. And the third sign is that they will take up

  269. serpents. Praise the Lord. Referring to the works

  270. of the devil. Right? I'm going to bring some

  271. scriptures to help us. And also, he said, if

  272. they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt

  273. them. And the fifth sign there is that they will

  274. lay their hands on the sick, and the sick will

  275. recover. Praise the Lord. These are signs that

  276. follow them that believe. These are signs that

  277. follow... the believer. Praise the Lord. So he

  278. said they will take up serpent, referring to

  279. the work of the devil. That is, they will confront

  280. the works of the devil, which include a persecution.

  281. Luke chapter 10, verse 19. Luke chapter 10, verse

    Luke 10:19 Luke 10:19

  282. 19. Luke chapter 10, verse 19. He said, Behold,

    Luke 10:19

  283. I have given you authority to trample upon serpents

  284. and scorpions and over the powers of the enemy,

  285. and nothing shall by no means hurt you. Praise

  286. the Lord. So he's talking about what? The power

  287. of the enemy. So when he says that he takes up

  288. serpents, he's talking about, referring to the

  289. work of the devil, that you are going to trample

  290. upon the works of the enemy. Praise the Lord.

  291. Talking about the power of the enemy. Praise

  292. the Lord. If you drink anything deadly, it will

  293. by no means hurt you. So let's go back to Mark

    Mark 16:15–18

  294. chapter 16, verses 15 to 18. So this sign shall

  295. follow them. We said that the signs that will

  296. follow the believer is that one, they will cast

  297. out demons, right? They will speak with new tongues.

  298. They will take up serpents and it will not hurt

  299. them. They will drink deadly things and it will

  300. not hurt them. They will lay their hands on the

  301. sick and they will recover. Praise the Lord.

  302. So this is what a believer is like. And I want

  303. you to say this after me. Say, I cast out demons.

  304. I speak with new tongues. I take up serpents.

  305. I say, if I drink any deadly thing, it will not

  306. hurt me. I lay my hands on the sick and they

  307. recover. Praise the Lord. These are signs of

  308. the believer. This is the way of a believer.

  309. Praise the Lord. If you're looking for what the

  310. believer looks like, these are the signs you

  311. should be looking at. Praise the Lord. These

  312. are signs. These are the supernatural signs of

  313. the believer. So this is one of the signs of

  314. a believer. And these signs are supernatural.

  315. Praise the Lord. So as Christians, we are children

  316. of God. As believers, we are moderate people.

  317. We are conservative people. But that is not all

  318. about us. Praise the Lord. That is not just all

  319. that we are. We are not just moderate people.

  320. Praise the Lord. We are not just people that

  321. show love. Praise the Lord. There are supernatural

  322. signs that accompany the believer. The believers

  323. have signs, and these signs are supernatural.

  324. Praise the Lord. These signs are supernatural.

  325. Thank God that some of us, God has helped us

  326. to dress properly. Praise the Lord. But that's

  327. not dressing properly. If dressing properly is

  328. all the signs, that you have as a believer is

  329. not enough. Praise the Lord. They are supernatural

  330. signs. Praise the Lord. They are supernatural

  331. signs. It is not good enough. They are supernatural

  332. signs. As Corsi was teaching us about the word

  333. of knowledge. Praise the Lord. These are signs

  334. of a believer. That you go into a place and you

  335. are able to give a word of knowledge. Or you

  336. pray over somebody and you are able to get a

  337. word of knowledge. Praise the Lord. That you

  338. prophesy. Praise the Lord. That you manifest

  339. the things of the Spirit. These are supernatural

  340. signs. And these signs are not like the signs

  341. or the stickers that you put in your doorpost

  342. or your car. Praise the Lord. They are supernatural

  343. signs. Those ones are not supernatural. I'll

  344. give you a free game. Those ones are not supernatural.

  345. Right? Those stickers you used to put, there's

  346. nothing there. Okay? It's just a sticker. Right?

  347. Supernatural signs are the signs that is in you.

  348. Praise the Lord. So if Jesus says that this sign

  349. will follow them that believe, it means that

  350. he has commanded it. Praise the Lord. It means

  351. it's a command. You see, this sign, shall follow

  352. you, is a command to us. So that's why we will

  353. teach you time and time again as a church, so

  354. that these things begin to manifest, or you begin

  355. to walk in the light of these things. You begin

  356. to walk in the light of God's commandments. Praise

  357. the Lord. You begin to walk in the light of God's

  358. commandments, that you're not ignorant. That

  359. you're not ignorant of the spiritual. Praise

  360. the Lord. That you're not ignorant of the gift

  361. of God that is upon your life. That you're not

  362. ignorant of the things of the Spirit. That you're

  363. not ignorant of the meetings of believers. So

  364. to preach the word, to heal the sick, to minister

  365. to one another through the power of the Holy

  366. Ghost is called to what we do. Praise the Lord.

  367. It's called to what the believer do. It's what

  368. we have been teaching. It's what should be. The

  369. things that should be seen of a believer. Praise

  370. the Lord. It's the things that should be seen

  371. of a believer. So when you have somebody around

  372. you or an opportunity, just like the opportunity

  373. of somebody not being a disciple or not saved

  374. or struggling with their prayer life. When you

  375. see somebody who is sick, what you do is that

  376. you pray over them. Praise the Lord. What you

  377. do is that you pray over them. Praise the Lord.

  378. What you do is that you pray over them. Say,

  379. I lay my hands on the sick and they recover.

  380. I cast out devils. Praise the Lord. We're not

  381. oppressed by the devil, but we do the oppression.

  382. Praise the Lord. We're not oppressed by the devil.

  383. Yesterday I was looking at somebody who was preaching

  384. and he was saying, every power that is working

  385. inside my life go out. And I was like, thank

  386. God for my life. Praise the Lord. Praise the

  387. Lord. There are things that can be working somewhere

  388. but not here. Praise the Lord. They can be working

  389. around me but not in me. Praise the Lord. They

  390. can be somewhere, right, but not in me. The devil

  391. might send somebody to provoke me, but they cannot

  392. from inside of me. Praise the Lord. Somebody

  393. can be doing something to ensure that you are

  394. angry or that you do something that you shouldn't

  395. do, but not from the inside of you. Praise the

  396. Lord. You have the Spirit of God. Luke chapter

    Luke 24 chapter mention

  397. 24. Luke chapter 24, verse 25. He says, Then

    Luke 24:25

  398. he said to them, O foolish ones, slow of heart

  399. to believe all that the prophet has spoken. Ought

  400. not the Christ to have suffered these things

  401. and enter his glory? And beginning at Moses and

  402. all the prophets, he expounded to them in all

  403. the scriptures the things concerning himself.

  404. Verse 44 -45 Then he said to them, These are

  405. the words which I have spoken to you while I

  406. was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled

  407. which were written in the law of Moses and in

  408. the prophets and in the psalms concerning me.

  409. And he opened their understanding that they might

  410. comprehend the scriptures. Praise the Lord. So

  411. we see here that he started to say to them that

  412. beginning from Moses, he said the law of Moses.

  413. Praise the Lord. Talking about from Genesis.

  414. Praise the Lord. Talking about from Genesis.

  415. We're going to look into that briefly. But for

  416. now, he said he expounded to them in verse 27.

  417. He said, beginning from Moses and all the prophets,

  418. he expounded to them the things. He expounded

  419. to them. In all the scriptures, the things consigning

  420. himself. In verse 45, he says that he opened

  421. the understanding that they may comprehend the

  422. scriptures. Praise the Lord. Meaning that one

  423. of the signs or one of the traits of a growing

  424. believer is that they are able to interpret the

  425. scriptures. One of the... sign that you are growing

  426. as a believer is that you are able to interpret

  427. the scriptures, that you are able to explain

  428. the scriptures, that you are able to expound

  429. the scriptures. Praise the Lord. That you don't

  430. just leave it to your pastors or to your leaders.

  431. Praise the Lord. That you are able to do these

  432. things yourself. So, I know that in this school,

  433. Near East University, lots of students don't

  434. like statistics. Praise the Lord, because they

  435. don't like maths. Some of them, not everybody,

  436. right? Some of the nursing students don't like

  437. the maths in the things they have to do. Praise

  438. the Lord. So they don't like the statistics.

  439. Whenever they just come, they'll start shouting.

  440. Praise the Lord. But if you give an engineering

  441. student that maths, you just look at it and say,

  442. what is this? Praise the Lord. Because these

  443. are very simple mathematics to him or her. Praise

  444. the Lord. But because it's in their curriculum,

  445. they have no choice. Praise the Lord. You don't

  446. have a choice. You must write statistics. You

  447. must pass it before you receive another course.

  448. So it's not elective. Praise the Lord. They cannot

  449. say, okay, let's choose something else. They

  450. have to do statistics. So explaining the scriptures

  451. is not elective to the Christian. Praise the

  452. Lord. You might, just like some of the nursing

  453. students, you might struggle. You might dislike

  454. it. You might have your feelings about it. But

  455. it's not elective. You cannot change. Let's change

  456. course. Let's change subject. Or let's change

  457. that. Give me another course. Praise the Lord.

  458. Maybe give me... There is no such course anyways

  459. that I know of. Give me... Give me charity and

  460. nothing. Something like that. As an elective

  461. course. There's nothing like that. Right? But

  462. you have to do that course. So the same thing

  463. for a Christian. That you have no... You have

  464. no... You don't have the luxury to choose something

  465. else. It's a compulsory course. It's a compulsory

  466. thing for your growth. It's a compulsory thing

  467. for your life. Praise the Lord. So imagine somebody...

  468. Maybe one of your friends, and then you'd come

  469. to him and say, please, can you explain these

  470. scriptures for me? Praise the Lord. Or maybe

  471. you go and meet Matthew and say, Matthew, please

  472. explain these scriptures for me. He'd say, ah,

  473. me, explain scriptures. Praise the Lord. Just

  474. imagine what that would look like. Matthew, you

  475. have been in this church for a very long time.

  476. You have learned from the pastors. You have been

  477. around. What's going on? Praise the Lord. So

  478. it's going to be something shameful, something

  479. that is not okay because the person has been

  480. in training for a long time. So not being able

  481. to explain the scriptures or the Bible, right,

  482. is not good for a believer. Don't say you're

  483. not a pastor. Praise the Lord. When they say,

  484. explain this thing, don't say, you can tell,

  485. if you don't understand it now, you can tell

  486. them, meet me tomorrow, I'll explain it. Praise

  487. the Lord. But you cannot say, no, I'm not a pastor.

  488. Me, my own thing is just to sing. Or I just like

  489. to praise God. Or I like to worship God. Anything

  490. Bible interpretation, I'm not in that category.

  491. Praise the Lord. Or you say that this is not

  492. part of your ministry. Your ministry is not interpreting

  493. the scriptures or preaching the gospel. Your

  494. ministry is just, I can sing, I can do ushering.

  495. I can welcome people. I'm very lovely. If you

  496. look at me, you know that my smile alone is very

  497. charming. People can come in and sit down. They'll

  498. be blessed by God. Praise the Lord. No, part

  499. of your responsibility is that you are able to

  500. explain the scriptures. You cannot say that you

  501. like other parts of Christian activities or Christian

  502. dealings, but you don't like the word. Anytime

  503. they say word, you say, I know. Don't. Don't

  504. go there. Or they say, come, let's go and pray.

  505. It's like, hi, you know what? I've done my prayers.

  506. Praise the Lord. So it's not elective. It's not

  507. something that you can choose. You can choose

  508. something else. It is important for the believer.

  509. Praise the Lord. Somebody say, I understand the

  510. Bible. I treasure the Bible. I'm able to explain

  511. it in the name of Jesus. You should be able to

  512. explain the Word of God. Praise the Lord. It

  513. is basic. It is a basic thing. If you don't understand

  514. it, you can tell them, there's nothing wrong

  515. with saying, come and meet me tomorrow. After

  516. all, if you go to some of your teachers, and

  517. maybe you are one of the smart kids in class,

  518. and then you ask them a question. If they are

  519. not able to explain it then, what would they

  520. tell you? Come next week. Praise the Lord. Will

  521. you say the teacher is not your teacher? you

  522. will come next week and he will explain it or

  523. she will explain it to you. Praise the Lord.

  524. Because they know, okay, let me do some research,

  525. let me do something, and I'll explain it. So

  526. there's nothing to be ashamed of when somebody

  527. comes to you and they say, I don't understand

  528. this. And you as well don't understand it. Just

  529. tell them, I can. Just contact me tomorrow. I

  530. will be able to explain it. Praise the Lord.

  531. So do we understand that? So in verse 27 of that

  532. Luke, tells us that beginning at Moses, right,

  533. going back to that, and all the prophets, he

  534. expounded to them in all the scriptures the things

  535. concerning himself. So when he says beginning

  536. at Moses, he's talking about Genesis, right?

  537. Talking about Genesis. So we said that the supernatural

  538. nature of the Christian gathering. Now, there

  539. are different types of gatherings. Right? There

  540. are different types of gatherings. We have office

  541. gatherings, office meetings. We have class meetings.

  542. We have family meetings. Right? If your family

  543. is quite peaceful, it's a very peaceful meeting.

  544. If you guys are not quite peaceful, it's a lot

  545. of fights and a lot of quarrels and a lot of

  546. insults. Praise the Lord. But we have different

  547. types of meetings. Right? But it's not the same.

  548. It's not the same as the Christian meeting. Praise

  549. the Lord. It does not have the same impact as

  550. a Christian meeting or importance as a Christian

  551. meeting. We don't get the same thing from such

  552. meetings. So in every meeting, there's something

  553. that is common that brings you together. Maybe

  554. as a result of the office, you're in a particular

  555. department, or your family because you are families

  556. and you are brothers and sisters and you have

  557. to meet because you have to discuss this or that.

  558. Praise the Lord. But when it comes to a Christian

  559. meeting, what is the common thing? What is common

  560. about our gathering? What is the common thing

  561. about our relation? What is the basis of our

  562. relating? So in Genesis chapter 1, from verse

    Genesis 1 chapter mention

  563. 1 to 2. So we want to know what is the common

  564. between the beginning and the earth. And the

  565. earth was without form and void, and darkness

  566. was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of

  567. God was hovering over the face of the waters.

  568. Praise the Lord. So from the very first beginning,

  569. we see in chapter 1, he says, God. We have God

  570. in chapter 1 of it. And in the second verse,

  571. he talks about the Spirit of God. Praise the

  572. Lord. So from the very opening of the Scriptures,

  573. we begin to see supernatural happenings. Praise

  574. the Lord. Or we begin to see things that are

  575. supernatural. Praise the Lord. We begin to see

  576. things or we begin to talk about supernatural

  577. things. So the very opening of the pages of the

  578. Bible is about the supernatural. Praise the Lord.

  579. He says God, and he says that the Spirit of God

  580. was hovering over the face of the deep. Praise

  581. the Lord. So the moment you are born again, right,

  582. that is, you believe in God, right? So you believe

  583. in God that you physically with your eyes, you

  584. cannot see, right? You believe in Jesus Christ

  585. because he had died for your sin as a substitute.

  586. And as your Savior. You also believe that this

  587. life, you believe in the life that Christ gives.

  588. Praise the Lord. You are born again. You believe

  589. in God. You believe in what Christ has done.

  590. You believe in the life that he has given you.

  591. Praise the Lord. All these things, right, are

  592. supernatural things. All of these things are

  593. supernatural things. The belief in God, the belief

  594. in Christ, the belief in the life that God has

  595. given are all supernatural things. So the very

  596. basis of our Christian faith is supernatural.

  597. Praise the Lord. The very basis of our Christian

  598. faith is supernatural. So you talk about angels.

  599. ministry of angels or ministering of angels right

  600. you talk about demons not because you believe

  601. in demons but because you believe they are demons

  602. praise the lord there are two different things

  603. you believe in demon is different you believe

  604. there are demons is a different thing praise

  605. the lord so you don't believe in demons you believe

  606. they are demons praise the lord you believe they

  607. are angels right These things or these beliefs

  608. are supernatural themselves. You believe that

  609. we are supernatural beings. You will say life

  610. is spiritual. Praise the Lord. All of these are

  611. indicators of the supernatural. You even believe

  612. that humans are supernatural. Praise the Lord.

  613. Because you believe that when a person dies,

  614. you will say something like, He or she has gone

  615. to be with the Lord. But you can see their body.

  616. Praise the Lord. Right? You believe that they

  617. had gone to be with the Lord. So all of these

  618. things show that you believe in the supernatural.

  619. You believe the supernatural. Praise the Lord.

  620. You believe that God answers prayers. That you

  621. pray and you have seen the evidence of God's

  622. prayer. Of God answering your prayers. They themselves

  623. are supernatural. So all of these things are

  624. meant to give us the consciousness of the supernatural.

  625. Praise the Lord. So your salvation, your faith,

  626. all of them are indicators of the supernatural.

  627. You believe that the devil, sorry, you believe

  628. there is the devil, right? All of these things

  629. are evident in themselves that we believe in

  630. the supernatural. So we believe in the supernatural

  631. because we are saved. We believe in the life

  632. that God has given us, right? We believe in that

  633. man is supernatural. Praise the Lord. We believe

  634. the life that Christ has given. We believe there

  635. are angels. We believe that there are demons.

  636. We believe there are works of the devil. Praise

  637. the Lord. All of these things, we believe them

  638. because we are children of God. But what happens

  639. to us sometimes is that we don't have or we lack

  640. the culture of consistent consciousness of the

  641. supernatural. So that's why we started to teach

  642. concerning spirituals. We started to... teach

  643. concerning the gift of the Spirit, the life that

  644. you have in Christ. Praise the Lord. Now, if

  645. you don't believe these things, or you don't

  646. believe this, I don't know what to say to you

  647. right now. But, I think, within this week, I

  648. was thinking about some things, and several people

  649. that I've met, and they're not following Christ.

  650. They're not... Christians, right? They do so

  651. many crazy things to get money. But the way they

  652. speak about God, right? You'll be like, you that

  653. God has been faithful to, you're not speaking

  654. about him like they are speaking about God. Matter

  655. of fact, they go to the extent of naming some

  656. things after the faithfulness of God. But they

  657. do not get those things in a godly way or by

  658. the means of God. Praise the Lord. So you are,

  659. let's say you are joking if your mind is telling

  660. you that some of these things are not real. Praise

  661. the Lord. So the people that, they speak about

  662. God, but they have no knowledge of God. They

  663. don't know what salvation means. They don't know

  664. what the life of God is. They don't know that.

  665. But their own is that God has provided for them.

  666. Praise the Lord. And you have evidence. Praise

  667. the Lord. You have evidence. You have the life

  668. of God. But you're not speaking about the things

  669. of God. Praise the Lord. You're not speaking

  670. about the things of God. You see the sick. You

  671. say, okay, yes, we need to go to the hospital.

  672. As we know, it's very important, right? But we

  673. also need to pray. Praise the Lord. you see some

  674. things happening, rather than pray, you would

  675. begin to look somehow. Praise the Lord. So we

  676. have evidence, right? Because we have the life

  677. of God in the inside of us. So these things should

  678. be more manifest from us, not from they who do

  679. not know God. Praise the Lord. So I said that

  680. our Christian life already is sufficient evidence

  681. to us that there is or... or that in itself is

  682. supernatural. Praise the Lord. So remember again,

  683. we are looking at the supernatural nature of

  684. the Christian gathering. So what happens to us

  685. sometimes is that we lack the culture of consistent

  686. consciousness of the supernatural. We lack the

  687. consciousness sometimes of what makes this place

  688. or the supernatural nature of this gathering

  689. or the supernatural nature of the relationship

  690. that you have with one another. Praise the Lord.

  691. of supernatural nature of prayers, of what is

  692. going on when we pray. Praise the Lord. So sometimes

  693. we lack this consistent consciousness of the

  694. things of God. Praise the Lord. So nobody is

  695. an expert on the things of God. Praise the Lord.

  696. And I'll explain that. Nobody is an expert in

  697. the things of God. Right? What we often see experts

  698. is because these people are disciplined and consistent,

  699. or what we term as experts. So, for example,

  700. you look at your pastors or you look at somebody

  701. in the prayer team and say, okay, this person

  702. is very prayerful. It seems like they understand

  703. the idea of prayers, or it seems like they understand

  704. what is going on in terms of the teaching of

  705. the word, right? They understand the word of

  706. God, right? What makes them look like that is

  707. because They are always studying the Word. Praise

  708. the Lord. They are always praying. Praise the

  709. Lord. That's what makes them look like, oh, this

  710. person looks like an expert. He knows what he's

  711. doing. Right? He knows his field. It's because

  712. they don't have days off. The example is, okay,

  713. today we're not studying the Scriptures. Tomorrow

  714. until next month. Praise the Lord. They don't

  715. have such lifestyle. They have a consistent discipline

  716. and a lifestyle of studying the Word, of praying.

  717. Praise the Lord. They're very consistent in it.

  718. So nobody is an expert in the move of the Holy

  719. Ghost. It's like, okay, maybe if I move this

  720. direction now, the Holy Ghost will move, right?

  721. Or if I do like this, no. It's because they have

  722. a consistent lifestyle of praying, of walking

  723. in the things of the Holy Ghost. Praise the Lord.

  724. So it will look like, oh, you're so accurate.

  725. When you say something now, when you give a prophecy,

  726. or when you give a word of knowledge, it's so

  727. accurate. It's because they are consistently

  728. doing that. Praise the Lord. They are consistently

  729. doing that. When they see a person, they want

  730. to know what is God saying about this person.

  731. For example, if you're walking, they will not

  732. look at you and say, ah, brother Takunda, how

  733. are you doing today? They're trying to find out

  734. what is God saying about Takunda. Is there a

  735. word of knowledge I can give him? Is there any

  736. word of encouragement I can give at Takunda this

  737. morning? So they are thinking like that and they

  738. are praying like that. So that whenever they

  739. meet you, they will give you a word. It's like,

  740. ah, this person is always in the Spirit. Or they

  741. are an expert. Praise the Lord. It's because

  742. they are consistently doing that. They are consistently

  743. working in that. So nobody is an expert in prayers.

  744. Praise the Lord. When somebody tells you they

  745. pray for 10 hours, it's not because they're an

  746. expert. It's because they are doing it. They're

  747. just doing it, doing it, doing it, doing it.

  748. Praise the Lord. That's what makes them look

  749. like an expert. So nobody is an expert in Christian

  750. living, in studying of the word, like I said,

  751. in healing, right? In walking in love. Praise

  752. the Lord. They consistently walk in love. They

  753. consistently are looking for opportunities to

  754. pray. over somebody. Praise the Lord. So all

  755. that we have, all that we see is people who are

  756. consistent in feeding in the same thing and practicing

  757. the same things. They are consistently practicing

  758. to understand the scriptures. They are consistently

  759. practicing or feeding in prayers. They are consistently

  760. doing the things of God. That's what makes them

  761. look like, oh, you know these things or you're

  762. an expert in this thing. Praise the Lord. And

  763. then I will read the scriptures for you to understand

  764. what I mean by that. Or some of the scriptures.

  765. John chapter 8, from verse 31 to 32. Right? Talking

    John 8 chapter mention

  766. about to continue in the world. Praise the Lord.

  767. To remain consistent in the world. John chapter

    John 8 chapter mention

  768. 8, from verse 31 to 32. And Jesus said to those

  769. Jews who believed in him, If you abide in my

  770. word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall

  771. know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

  772. What does it mean by abide? It means to stay,

  773. to continue. Praise the Lord. 2 Timothy 3, verse

    2 Timothy 3:14

  774. 14. 2 Timothy 3, verse 14. He said, But you must

    2 Timothy 3:14

  775. continue in the things which you have learned

  776. and have been assured of, knowing from whom you

  777. have learned them from. Praise the Lord. Praise

  778. the Lord. What are the things that they must

  779. continue? Praise the Lord. They have to continue

  780. in the world. Praise the Lord. Colossians chapter

    Colossians 4:2

  781. 4 verse 2, talking about prayers. Colossians

    Colossians 4:2

  782. chapter 4 verse 2. Continue earnestly in prayer,

  783. being vigilant in it with thanksgiving. Romans

    Romans 12:12

  784. chapter 12 verse 12. Rejoice in hope, patience

  785. in tribulation, continue steadfastly in prayers.

  786. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 17. He said, pray without

    1 Thessalonians 5:17

  787. ceasing. Praise the Lord. Let's look at continuing

  788. in doing good or showing on doing good. Galatians

  789. 5, Galatians 6, from verse 9 to 10. Galatians

  790. 6, 9 to 10. And let us not grow weary while doing

  791. good, for in due season we will reap if we do

  792. not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity,

  793. let us do good to all, especially to those who

  794. are of the household of faith. Praise the Lord.

  795. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 32. And be kind to

    Ephesians 4:32

  796. one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.

  797. Even as God in Christ forgave you. Let's also

  798. lastly look at continuing in prayers. 2 Timothy

  799. 4 .2 It's a preach the word. Be ready in season

  800. and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exalt with

  801. all longsuffering and teaching. Acts 4 .14 -7

  802. He said, and they were preaching the gospel there.

  803. Praise the Lord. So I said, nobody is an expert

  804. in the things of God. What they are doing is

  805. that they just have a habit of consistency. They

  806. are very consistent. Praise the Lord. They have

  807. a discipline to continue. Just like the scriptures

  808. have encouraged that you continue in prayers.

  809. Praise the Lord. That you preach in season and

  810. out of season. What does that mean? If I like

  811. it, I will preach the word. If I don't like it,

  812. I will preach the word. If I like to pray, I

  813. will pray. If I don't like to pray, I will not,

  814. sorry, I will pray. Praise the Lord. So in any

  815. situation you find yourself, you do the things

  816. of God. That's what makes somebody looks like

  817. an expert or somebody makes like, oh, they know

  818. this or they're very accurate in prophecy or

  819. they're very accurate in the word of knowledge.

  820. Praise the Lord. So example, if somebody, if

  821. you have been fasting, let's say in 2025, some

  822. of you have engaged in long fastings, maybe one

  823. month, two months, right? And you have been praying

  824. for long. And then maybe you finish that fasting

  825. in July. If you start this December, right? Do

  826. you think you would be moving at ease? If you

  827. say, let's start fasting now. Do you think you

  828. will come by ease? Let's flow. Praise the Lord.

  829. You're going to have, it's going to be a little

  830. struggle. Praise the Lord. So you will not just

  831. flow. That's what I mean by that. You will not

  832. just, okay, let's jump into it and start going.

  833. You will have some challenges, but you're going

  834. to pull through. Praise the Lord. So it's not

  835. going to be easy, right? But it will take a while.

  836. And then you are back into the flow of the fasting,

  837. right? If you fasted the 14th day, from the 16th

  838. day, it will not be as difficult. Praise the

  839. Lord. Or for the 10th day, it will not be as

  840. difficult as the day you started. The day you

  841. started, once, maybe once you reach 6 o 'clock,

  842. once it is 11 o 'clock, you are looking at the

  843. watch. You're looking at the fridge. You're looking

  844. at many things. Maybe you cancel all your activities

  845. because I'm fasting today. I don't want to go

  846. and fall down outside. Praise the Lord. So what

  847. happens is that we have a culture. The culture

  848. of consistency makes people look like they're

  849. experts in the things of God. Praise the Lord.

  850. So consistency means when you feel like it or

  851. when you don't feel like it. Praise the Lord.

  852. So, you already have believed in the supernatural.

  853. Matthew chapter 18, verse 20. Matthew chapter

    Matthew 18:20 Matthew 18:20

  854. 18, verse 20. We say, for where two or three

  855. are gathered together in my name, I am there

  856. in the midst of them. Praise the Lord. Talking

  857. about prayers and decisions. Right? Where two

  858. or three are gathered together in my name, I'm

  859. there in their midst. Praise the Lord. So that

  860. there, sorry, that I am there, right, is not

  861. something that can be seen. Can you see I'm there

  862. in the screen? Like, for example, when you say

  863. I'm there, even you can see it, they can project

  864. him being there. It's not something that can

  865. be seen. It's not something that can be touched.

  866. Praise the Lord. So when he said I'm there in

  867. their midst, they are not. Physically seeing

  868. him or physically touching him. Praise the Lord.

  869. No, it's not what he's saying. He said, I'm there

  870. in their midst, in the midst of them. You believe

  871. that he's there because why? You believe the

  872. scriptures. Praise the Lord. You believe that

  873. God is there because why? You believe the scriptures.

  874. It's not by the physical seeing. Praise the Lord.

  875. So which means that a church gathering is a supernatural

  876. gathering. Praise the Lord. A church gathering

  877. is a supernatural gathering. So any kind of church

  878. gathering is a supernatural gathering. Right?

  879. Your cell meeting is a supernatural gathering.

  880. Your... Your midweek is a supernatural gathering.

  881. Your prayer meeting is a supernatural gathering.

  882. Praise the Lord. Because why? Because Jesus is

  883. there. Praise the Lord. Because Jesus is there.

  884. So, and this gathering is that they are gathering

  885. in the name of Him. or they are gathering in

  886. his name, meaning they are gathering in his authority.

  887. Praise the Lord. They are gathering in his authority.

  888. Now, the believer can have a football club. Praise

  889. the Lord. The believers, as believers, we can

  890. have a football club, right? You can gather as

  891. believers. Everybody is a believer, but they

  892. gathered in the name of football, right? As believers,

  893. you can gather because of accounting, right?

  894. Or because you are accountants. All of you are

  895. believers, but you are accountants, right? Or

  896. because, you know, you gather in your careers

  897. as doctors, as lawyers. Praise the Lord. You

  898. can have those type of gathering, right? Or you

  899. can gather as, you know, one or two, everybody

  900. in your family are Christians, right? Believe

  901. in God. You gather as a family. Praise the Lord.

  902. So, but when we gather in his name, praise the

  903. Lord, like today, we have gathered in his name.

  904. Praise the Lord. I'm not gathered with my family

  905. because I gathered in the name of the family.

  906. No, we came all of us here to gather in his name.

  907. Praise the Lord. We have gathered in his name,

  908. right? So that means that we have to have that

  909. consciousness that this gathering is a supernatural

  910. gathering. Praise the Lord. It is not an ordinary

  911. gathering. We do not gather in the name of our

  912. father, that is, biological father. We do not

  913. gather in the name of a football club. Praise

  914. the Lord. You can, I'm sure there's a game today

  915. in the Premier League. Some of you can gather

  916. and say, come, let's go and watch. You do not

  917. gather in the name of the Lord. Praise the Lord.

  918. All of you can gather there and say, let's watch

  919. this Arsenal game. He's not in the name of the

  920. Lord. Praise the Lord. So when he says in verse

  921. 20 that for where two or three are gathered together

  922. in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

  923. right sorry in in matthew chapter 28 he also

    Matthew 28 chapter mention

  924. says in 28 he says something in verse 20 matthew

    Matthew 28:20

  925. 28 verse 20 yes he said teaching them to observe

  926. all the things i've commanded you and lo i'm

  927. with you always even to the end of the age so

  928. when he says lo i'm with you always right Which

  929. means that God is in the midst of us. Praise

  930. the Lord. What he's saying, lo, I'm with you

  931. always, is that God is in the midst of us. Praise

  932. the Lord. What does that mean? Right? We do not

  933. come to meet him here. Okay? So when he says

  934. God is in the midst of us, we did not come to

  935. meet him here. Do you understand? We didn't come

  936. to, all of us that we came, we didn't come to

  937. meet God here. Right? Rather, We came as those

  938. who have been indwelled by God. Praise the Lord.

  939. Do you understand what I mean? We come as those

  940. who are indwelled by God. Praise the Lord. If

  941. you came to meet him here, that is an oracle.

  942. Praise the Lord. We came here as those who carry

  943. God. who carry God in the inside of us, so we

  944. come to gather together. Praise the Lord. I think

  945. my time is up. We'll continue on Wednesday, right?

  946. But let's read John chapter 14. John chapter

    John 14 chapter mention John 14 chapter mention

  947. 14. To further explain that, what we just read.

  948. John chapter 14 from verse 16 to 17. He said,

    John 14 chapter mention

  949. I will pray the Father and he will give you another

  950. helper that he may abide with you forever. The

  951. Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive

  952. because it neither see him nor know him. But

  953. you know him for he dwells with you and will

  954. be in you. Verse 20 now. Verse 20. At that day,

  955. you will know that I am the Father and you are

  956. in me and I in you. Praise the Lord. So we gather

  957. together, right? Or the gathering of believers

  958. is a supernatural gathering. Praise the Lord.

  959. We gather together and this gathering is a supernatural

  960. gathering. And we gather because we're not coming

  961. to meet God here, but that God dwells in the

  962. inside of us. And we come. together. Praise the

  963. Lord. So on Wednesday we're going to look at

  964. more the things we should do and the things we

  965. should not do and the consciousness that we should

  966. have. Let's just begin to bless the name of the

  967. Lord for the word we have heard. We appreciate

  968. you being here today. We hope you carry this

  969. word with you throughout your week. Don't forget

  970. to check the show notes for additional insights.

  971. Stay connected with us through our website or

  972. follow us on social media. If you are encouraged,

  973. share this message with someone you care about.

  974. Until next time, stay blessed.