Midweek Fellowship

June 7, 2017

 

Bishop Ariel Cornelio P. Santos

 

 

 

We celebrated Pentecost Sunday and Pentecost means: God pouring His spirit upon all flesh.  Recognize that the spirit of God is in each one of us.  The life of Christ is in each of us, which means that God is working in us.   

 

Many times, we see the bad and the negative; what we forget is that God is concerned about a person that we think of these things, and God is working in his life. The Spirit of God is poured out upon all flesh – to heal us; to deliver us; to fill us; and to change us.

 

Pentecost is the completion of Easter. It is officially the last day of the Easter Season.  This coming Sunday is Trinity Sunday – God in all His fullness in the Godhead has given everything of Himself.   St. Paul said, “All spiritual blessings in the heavenly places have been given.”  It is good that God is not like man who gives but set asides something for himself.  Not our God – He gives His one hundred percent! 

 

I would always say that every time we give our offering, it is always placed besides the offering of Jesus’ body and blood, which is His all.  What are we giving?  Are we withholding for ourselves? All spiritual blessings have been given to us from the heavenly places – from the kingdom of God; from His very Throneroom.  This is what He did from the beginning.  There was the good creation, but creation was disfigured because of sin.  Then, God started His business of restoring back all things to good.  Jesus became man because He is making all things new that was destroyed by sin. To do this, He had to offer Himself and give His life for the life of the world. 

 

The first Easter was the beginning of the new creation.  Jesus is called the first-born of all creation; of the new creation.  What happened to Jesus when He was resurrected will happen to each one of us – all flesh -  and all creation.  When sin entered, death ensued too.  What Jesus did was to confront death, and upon confrontation, death died.  Although Jesus died, He was the Source of life and death, upon confrontation with life, died.   When Jesus rose from the dead, He was the first-born of all creation and the first-born of the new creation.

 

We are called Christians – little Christs; followers of Christ.  What happened to Jesus will happen to us – fully and eventually.  St. Paul said that if anyone is in Christ, He is  a new creation.  Each of us baptized Christians are installments of the new creation.  We are all going back to the restoration of all things and the renewal of all creation.  God so loved the world which was vandalized and damaged by sin, but not beyond saving.  He is renewing all things.  When we repent from our selfishness and self-centeredness,  we are an installment toward the full restoration of creation.  As we are installments, let us not backslide. We, who have been saved by God, are the first, as written in the Nicene Creed to be the light of the world to come.   Prophecies point to this. Isaiah 2 says that everyone will experience peace; they will no longer use their swords and their spheres, and they will hammer them to plow shares and farming implements.  There will be no war where the infants will play with the cobra.  There will be peace and we will go back to how Eden was. This is what our prayer, “Thy kingdom come,” means.  

 

The kingdom of God today is not yet fully manifested.  Wherever self is god and  wherever self is the  lord, it doesn’t manifest fullness of the kingdom of God.   The kingdom of God is what Jesus is, how Jesus was on earth, and how Jesus is still is.      For us to manifest the nature of God, and for us to be empowered to do His will on earth, God pours His Spirit upon all flesh.

 

In Numbers 11,  the Israelites were complaining to Moses about what there is in Egypt, and that for forty years, it was all manna that they ate.  Moses prayed to God, “I cannot shepherd all of the Israelites.”   God told him, “Gather seventy men and I will meet you on top of the mountain, and I will put the Spirit that is in you. I will take of that Spirit and pour it upon the seventy also.” Eldad and Medad did not go to the mountain and were in the camp and they prophesied, but they were not too far for the spirit of God to not reach them.  The spirit of God also fell upon them, and so they prophesied.   The sixty-eight men at the mountain, and the two left in the camp were all prophesying.

 

Joshua told Moses, “Stop them from prophesying because they did not obey you to go to the mountain.”  Moses said, “Are you jealous for my sake?  Would that the Spirit of God fall upon all the Lord’s people that they would prophesy?”  Several thousand years later, his prayer was granted on the day of Pentecost.  God is pouring His spirit upon all flesh for the purpose that we can prophesy. 

 

We would say, “Bishop, I don’t know how to prophesy.  Isn’t it that I have to start it with, “Thou saith the Lord?”  No, each one of us, as we minister, we prophesy.   To prophesy is to proclaim the greatness of God and we did it this evening, in greeting your neighbour and saying, “I am glad you are here.”   We don’t know what our neighbour is undergoing, but saying that God loves him may have opened his heart.  This is prophecy.  When one leads in worship, that is prophesying or proclaiming the greatness of God.  When one gives a simple counsel to somebody, that is proclaiming the greatness of God.  Even if you don’t use words or you just anoint oil on the sick, you are proclaiming the greatness and the goodness of the Lord. If a Deacon brings communion to the sick,  you are prophesying.  If you play the instruments so that the people of God can worship, you are proclaiming the greatness of God.  We are all prophets because the spirit of God is in us!  Pentecost is simply this:  the spirit of God is upon all flesh.

Jesus said, “It is for your sake that I go away.  These things you shall do and greater because I go to the Father, and the Spirit will be poured out upon all flesh.”   The youth will do greater things! The next generation will do greater things!  I salute my generation, great men of God, pillars of the Church used by the Holy Spirit.   When some of them would pass away, we think, “This is a big loss to the Church.”  This is true, but because it is not by might nor by power but by His spirit,  God can raise up others.  In fact, His promise is that He will raise people who will do greater things. 

 

Maybe, someone sitting beside you or maybe one of the clergy may be used by God in another area. The one beside you may be the next Congressman or a scientist that will discover the cure for Aids.  We don’t know, but with the spirit of God, there are endless possibilities.  The key to these endless possibilities is for us to simply yield ourselves to Him.   It is not by might nor power. 

 

We might say, “How will the Lord used me?  I don’t have any ability.”  This is not about ability, not by might,  nor power, but by the spirit of God.  All He asks is for us to open our hearts to Him so that He could use us.  Greater things shall happen.   Parents might say, “My child couldn’t even clear his plate or do certain things, so how can he be a Senator one day?”  Yes, the spirit of God is in us to heal us, to fill us, and to change us.  We are still in process.  Who knows how much teenagers can accomplish in ten years time if only they would give themselves to the Holy Spirit working in them?  I expect great things!

 

We have decided to broadcast and to proclaim the good news of God happening in the lives of the people. If you have praise reports, testimonies of God’s goodness in your lives, and good news that God used you in your life that are worthy to be shared, let the leadership know.   We will incorporate in the Wednesday Evening service a portion for testimonies.  

 

The Season of Ordinary Time after Pentecost is supposed to be the Book of Acts chapter 29 verse 2017.  We encourage you to give your testimonies.  You may think that you are the least in your tribe, the least in the all Israel, but God can use you.  I can’t express this enough: it is not by might, nor by power, but by the Holy Spirit.  All of us, all flesh – including our young men and women who were told that this is their time and they need to rise up and give themselves to the leading and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.   This is because this is the way it is in the kingdom of our God.  

 

Many times, we see the bad and the negative; what we forget is that God is concerned about a person that we think of these things, and God is working in his life. The Spirit of God is poured out upon all flesh – to heal us; to deliver us; to fill us; and to change us.

 

Pentecost is the completion of Easter. It is officially the last day of the Easter Season.  This coming Sunday is Trinity Sunday – God in all His fullness in the Godhead has given everything of Himself.   St. Paul said, “All spiritual blessings in the heavenly places have been given.”  It is good that God is not like man who gives but set asides something for himself.  Not our God – He gives His one hundred percent! 

 

I would always say that every time we give our offering, it is always placed besides the offering of Jesus’ body and blood, which is His all.  What are we giving?  Are we withholding for ourselves? All spiritual blessings have been given to us from the heavenly places – from the kingdom of God; from His very Throneroom.  This is what He did from the beginning.  There was the good creation, but creation was disfigured because of sin.  Then, God started His business of restoring back all things to good.  Jesus became man because He is making all things new that was destroyed by sin. To do this, He had to offer Himself and give His life for the life of the world. 

 

The first Easter was the beginning of the new creation.  Jesus is called the first-born of all creation; of the new creation.  What happened to Jesus when He was resurrected will happen to each one of us – all flesh -  and all creation.  When sin entered, death ensued too.  What Jesus did was to confront death, and upon confrontation, death died.  Although Jesus died, He was the Source of life and death, upon confrontation with life, died.   When Jesus rose from the dead, He was the first-born of all creation and the first-born of the new creation.

 

We are called Christians – little Christs; followers of Christ.  What happened to Jesus will happen to us – fully and eventually.  St. Paul said that if anyone is in Christ, He is  a new creation.  Each of us baptized Christians are installments of the new creation.  We are all going back to the restoration of all things and the renewal of all creation.  God so loved the world which was vandalized and damaged by sin, but not beyond saving.  He is renewing all things.  When we repent from our selfishness and self-centeredness,  we are an installment toward the full restoration of creation.  As we are installments, let us not backslide. We, who have been saved by God, are the first, as written in the Nicene Creed to be the light of the world to come.   Prophecies point to this. Isaiah 2 says that everyone will experience peace; they will no longer use their swords and their spheres, and they will hammer them to plow shares and farming implements.  There will be no war where the infants will play with the cobra.  There will be peace and we will go back to how Eden was. This is what our prayer, “Thy kingdom come,” means.  

 

The kingdom of God today is not yet fully manifested.  Wherever self is god and  wherever self is the  lord, it doesn’t manifest fullness of the kingdom of God.   The kingdom of God is what Jesus is, how Jesus was on earth, and how Jesus is still is.      For us to manifest the nature of God, and for us to be empowered to do His will on earth, God pours His Spirit upon all flesh.

 

In Numbers 11,  the Israelites were complaining to Moses about what there is in Egypt, and that for forty years, it was all manna that they ate.  Moses prayed to God, “I cannot shepherd all of the Israelites.”   God told him, “Gather seventy men and I will meet you on top of the mountain, and I will put the Spirit that is in you. I will take of that Spirit and pour it upon the seventy also.” Eldad and Medad did not go to the mountain and were in the camp and they prophesied, but they were not too far for the spirit of God to not reach them.  The spirit of God also fell upon them, and so they prophesied.   The sixty-eight men at the mountain, and the two left in the camp were all prophesying.

 

Joshua told Moses, “Stop them from prophesying because they did not obey you to go to the mountain.”  Moses said, “Are you jealous for my sake?  Would that the Spirit of God fall upon all the Lord’s people that they would prophesy?”  Several thousand years later, his prayer was granted on the day of Pentecost.  God is pouring His spirit upon all flesh for the purpose that we can prophesy. 

 

We would say, “Bishop, I don’t know how to prophesy.  Isn’t it that I have to start it with, “Thou saith the Lord?”  No, each one of us, as we minister, we prophesy.   To prophesy is to proclaim the greatness of God and we did it this evening, in greeting your neighbour and saying, “I am glad you are here.”   We don’t know what our neighbour is undergoing, but saying that God loves him may have opened his heart.  This is prophecy.  When one leads in worship, that is prophesying or proclaiming the greatness of God.  When one gives a simple counsel to somebody, that is proclaiming the greatness of God.  Even if you don’t use words or you just anoint oil on the sick, you are proclaiming the greatness and the goodness of the Lord. If a Deacon brings communion to the sick,  you are prophesying.  If you play the instruments so that the people of God can worship, you are proclaiming the greatness of God.  We are all prophets because the spirit of God is in us!  Pentecost is simply this:  the spirit of God is upon all flesh.

Jesus said, “It is for your sake that I go away.  These things you shall do and greater because I go to the Father, and the Spirit will be poured out upon all flesh.”   The youth will do greater things! The next generation will do greater things!  I salute my generation, great men of God, pillars of the Church used by the Holy Spirit.   When some of them would pass away, we think, “This is a big loss to the Church.”  This is true, but because it is not by might nor by power but by His spirit,  God can raise up others.  In fact, His promise is that He will raise people who will do greater things. 

 

Maybe, someone sitting beside you or maybe one of the clergy may be used by God in another area. The one beside you may be the next Congressman or a scientist that will discover the cure for Aids.  We don’t know, but with the spirit of God, there are endless possibilities.  The key to these endless possibilities is for us to simply yield ourselves to Him.   It is not by might nor power. 

 

We might say, “How will the Lord used me?  I don’t have any ability.”  This is not about ability, not by might,  nor power, but by the spirit of God.  All He asks is for us to open our hearts to Him so that He could use us.  Greater things shall happen.   Parents might say, “My child couldn’t even clear his plate or do certain things, so how can he be a Senator one day?”  Yes, the spirit of God is in us to heal us, to fill us, and to change us.  We are still in process.  Who knows how much teenagers can accomplish in ten years time if only they would give themselves to the Holy Spirit working in them?  I expect great things!

 

We have decided to broadcast and to proclaim the good news of God happening in the lives of the people. If you have praise reports, testimonies of God’s goodness in your lives, and good news that God used you in your life that are worthy to be shared, let the leadership know.   We will incorporate in the Wednesday Evening service a portion for testimonies.  

 

The Season of Ordinary Time after Pentecost is supposed to be the Book of Acts chapter 29 verse 2017.  We encourage you to give your testimonies.  You may think that you are the least in your tribe, the least in the all Israel, but God can use you.  I can’t express this enough: it is not by might, nor by power, but by the Holy Spirit.  All of us, all flesh – including our young men and women who were told that this is their time and they need to rise up and give themselves to the leading and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.   This is because this is the way it is in the kingdom of our God.  

r us; to fill us; and to change us.

 

Pentecost is the completion of Easter. It is officially the last day of the Easter Season.  This coming Sunday is Trinity Sunday – God in all His fullness in the Godhead has given everything of Himself.   St. Paul said, “All spiritual blessings in the heavenly places have been given.”  It is good that God is not like man who gives but set asides something for himself.  Not our God – He gives His one hundred percent! 

 

I would always say that every time we give our offering, it is always placed besides the offering of Jesus’ body and blood, which is His all.  What are we giving?  Are we withholding for ourselves? All spiritual blessings have been given to us from the heavenly places – from the kingdom of God; from His very Throneroom.  This is what He did from the beginning.  There was the good creation, but creation was disfigured because of sin.  Then, God started His business of restoring back all things to good.  Jesus became man because He is making all things new that was destroyed by sin. To do this, He had to offer Himself and give His life for the life of the world. 

 

The first Easter was the beginning of the new creation.  Jesus is called the first-born of all creation; of the new creation.  What happened to Jesus when He was resurrected will happen to each one of us – all flesh -  and all creation.  When sin entered, death ensued too.  What Jesus did was to confront death, and upon confrontation, death died.  Although Jesus died, He was the Source of life and death, upon confrontation with life, died.   When Jesus rose from the dead, He was the first-born of all creation and the first-born of the new creation.

 

We are called Christians – little Christs; followers of Christ.  What happened to Jesus will happen to us – fully and eventually.  St. Paul said that if anyone is in Christ, He is  a new creation.  Each of us baptized Christians are installments of the new creation.  We are all going back to the restoration of all things and the renewal of all creation.  God so loved the world which was vandalized and damaged by sin, but not beyond saving.  He is renewing all things.  When we repent from our selfishness and self-centeredness,  we are an installment toward the full restoration of creation.  As we are installments, let us not backslide. We, who have been saved by God, are the first, as written in the Nicene Creed to be the light of the world to come.   Prophecies point to this. Isaiah 2 says that everyone will experience peace; they will no longer use their swords and their spheres, and they will hammer them to plow shares and farming implements.  There will be no war where the infants will play with the cobra.  There will be peace and we will go back to how Eden was. This is what our prayer, “Thy kingdom come,” means.  

 

The kingdom of God today is not yet fully manifested.  Wherever self is god and  wherever self is the  lord, it doesn’t manifest fullness of the kingdom of God.   The kingdom of God is what Jesus is, how Jesus was on earth, and how Jesus is still is.      For us to manifest the nature of God, and for us to be empowered to do His will on earth, God pours His Spirit upon all flesh.

 

In Numbers 11,  the Israelites were complaining to Moses about what there is in Egypt, and that for forty years, it was all manna that they ate.  Moses prayed to God, “I cannot shepherd all of the Israelites.”   God told him, “Gather seventy men and I will meet you on top of the mountain, and I will put the Spirit that is in you. I will take of that Spirit and pour it upon the seventy also.” Eldad and Medad did not go to the mountain and were in the camp and they prophesied, but they were not too far for the spirit of God to not reach them.  The spirit of God also fell upon them, and so they prophesied.   The sixty-eight men at the mountain, and the two left in the camp were all prophesying.

 

Joshua told Moses, “Stop them from prophesying because they did not obey you to go to the mountain.”  Moses said, “Are you jealous for my sake?  Would that the Spirit of God fall upon all the Lord’s people that they would prophesy?”  Several thousand years later, his prayer was granted on the day of Pentecost.  God is pouring His spirit upon all flesh for the purpose that we can prophesy. 

 

We would say, “Bishop, I don’t know how to prophesy.  Isn’t it that I have to start it with, “Thou saith the Lord?”  No, each one of us, as we minister, we prophesy.   To prophesy is to proclaim the greatness of God and we did it this evening, in greeting your neighbour and saying, “I am glad you are here.”   We don’t know what our neighbour is undergoing, but saying that God loves him may have opened his heart.  This is prophecy.  When one leads in worship, that is prophesying or proclaiming the greatness of God.  When one gives a simple counsel to somebody, that is proclaiming the greatness of God.  Even if you don’t use words or you just anoint oil on the sick, you are proclaiming the greatness and the goodness of the Lord. If a Deacon brings communion to the sick,  you are prophesying.  If you play the instruments so that the people of God can worship, you are proclaiming the greatness of God.  We are all prophets because the spirit of God is in us!  Pentecost is simply this:  the spirit of God is upon all flesh.

Jesus said, “It is for your sake that I go away.  These things you shall do and greater because I go to the Father, and the Spirit will be poured out upon all flesh.”   The youth will do greater things! The next generation will do greater things!  I salute my generation, great men of God, pillars of the Church used by the Holy Spirit.   When some of them would pass away, we think, “This is a big loss to the Church.”  This is true, but because it is not by might nor by power but by His spirit,  God can raise up others.  In fact, His promise is that He will raise people who will do greater things. 

 

Maybe, someone sitting beside you or maybe one of the clergy may be used by God in another area. The one beside you may be the next Congressman or a scientist that will discover the cure for Aids.  We don’t know, but with the spirit of God, there are endless possibilities.  The key to these endless possibilities is for us to simply yield ourselves to Him.   It is not by might nor power. 

 

We might say, “How will the Lord used me?  I don’t have any ability.”  This is not about ability, not by might,  nor power, but by the spirit of God.  All He asks is for us to open our hearts to Him so that He could use us.  Greater things shall happen.   Parents might say, “My child couldn’t even clear his plate or do certain things, so how can he be a Senator one day?”  Yes, the spirit of God is in us to heal us, to fill us, and to change us.  We are still in process.  Who knows how much teenagers can accomplish in ten years time if only they would give themselves to the Holy Spirit working in them?  I expect great things!

 

We have decided to broadcast and to proclaim the good news of God happening in the lives of the people. If you have praise reports, testimonies of God’s goodness in your lives, and good news that God used you in your life that are worthy to be shared, let the leadership know.   We will incorporate in the Wednesday Evening service a portion for testimonies.  

 

The Season of Ordinary Time after Pentecost is supposed to be the Book of Acts chapter 29 verse 2017.  We encourage you to give your testimonies.  You may think that you are the least in your tribe, the least in the all Israel, but God can use you.  I can’t express this enough: it is not by might, nor by power, but by the Holy Spirit.  All of us, all flesh – including our young men and women who were told that this is their time and they need to rise up and give themselves to the leading and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.   This is because this is the way it is in the kingdom of our God.