Erling Thu

Category: Biblical teaching

  • Ready to covenant?

    We covenant to live every part of our lives in obedience to God.

    We covenant to serve God and his purpose in whatever way he calls us.

    We covenant to encourage, help, challenge, correct and serve each other so that we each can live for and serve God better.

    We covenant to follow the vision and teaching of the apostolic leadership of the work.

    We covenant to honesty, integrity, loyalty and love in our relationships with each other.

    We covenant to deal with disagreements and conflicts that arise between us in a godly and honest way.

    We covenant to support the work of God in the giving of our time, our effort, our gifts and our finance.

    We covenant to being open to be discipled by others and willing to disciple others.

    We covenant to see the common vision fulfilled whatever the cost and however long it takes.

  • Do you see?

     

    We see a covenant church

    that is a strong and healthy Kingdom community

    of those who are being changed

    as they follow Jesus in every area of their lives,

    and who covenant together

    and work with a common sense of vision and purpose.

     

    We see a covenant church

    where God is worshipped passionately and freely,

    and where the presence and power of God are experienced

    in big as well as in small gatherings.

     

    We see a covenant church that is a community

    governed in its beliefs and practices

    by the Word and the Spirit of God,

    and not by human customs, traditions or personalities.

     

    We see a covenant community

    where its members are fully committed to one another

    and to God's purpose for his world.

     

    We see a covenant community

    that is full of life and faith,

    where the people are free, happy, vibrant

    and enjoying the goodness of God in their everyday life

     

    We see a covenant community

    in which there are real and close friendships, 

    warm relationships, and openness

    to all people from whatever background.

     

    We see a covenant church

    that is not built around meetings or a building,

    but is centred on Christ

    and on relationships of the Spirit,

    and a shared community life

    as we meet from home to home and in big gatherings.

     

    We see a covenant church that is influencing

    and impacting its surrounding community and

    that doesn't retreat into a safe Christian ghetto.

     

    We see a covenant community that is committed

    to what God is doing right across the nations of the world

    and is in real relationship with apostolic and other ministries to advance

    God's kingdom throughout the world.

     

    We see a covenant community

    that has a credible voice to speak

    into all the issues which face our society,

    and that is actively demonstrating

    a positive and godly example to that society.

     

    We see a covenant community

    that is growing and reproducing itself

    across the whole region, nation and the world.

     

    We see a covenant community

    where everyone is learning

    to play their part and to do so

    gladly with faith,

    commitment and integrity.

  • Christ is our message

    There is a divine mystery, a secret surprise that has been hidden from the world for generations. In these last days the mystery of Christ is being being revealed, unfolded and manifested for every believer to experience. 

    Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the divine portrait, the true likeness of the invisible God. He is the visible image of the invisible God. He has unfolded to us the full explanation of who God truly is. The Son is the dazzling radiance of God's splendour. He is the exact expression of God's true nature – his mirror image! He holds the universe together and expands it by the mighty power of his spoken word. He accomplished for us the complete cleansing of sins, and then took his seat on the highest throne at the right hand of the majestic one.

    This Christ is our message! He lives within us and floods us with the expectation of glory. This mystery of Christ, embedded within us, becomes a heavenly treasure chest of hope filled with the riches of glory for his people, and God wants everyone to know it!

    We preach to awaken hearts and bring every person into the full understanding of truth. It has become our inspiration and burning passion in ministry to labour with a tireless intensity, with his power flowing through us, to present to every believer the revelation of being his perfect one in Christ. 

  • The fruit of the Spirit

    By faith in Jesus we have been born again by the Holy Spirit. Ever since that day the power of the Holy Spirit has been at work in our lives. As we yield freely and fully to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit, we will abandon the cravings of our self-life, and the Spirit will produce fruit in our lives.

    The Holy Spirit hinders our old self-life from dominating us. The self-life of our flesh and the new life of the Spirit are two incompatible and conflicting forces with in us. When we are brought into the full freedom of the Spirit of grace, we will no longer be living under the legalistic domination of the law. The cravings of the self-life are obvious and those who use their freedom for these impurities will not inherit the kingdom of God.

    But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within us is divine love in all its varied expressions:

    joy that overflows

    peace that subdues

    patience that endures

    kindness in action

    faith that prevails

    gentleness of heart

    strength of spirit

    Everything connected with our self-life was put to death on the cross and crucified with Christ. Now we can live in the Holy Spirit and follow after him.

  • Excel

    When the apostle Paul is writing to the church in Corinth (2 Cor 8:7), he is commending them: "You do well and excel in every respect." He is naming five areas in which they excel before he tells them to make suer that they excel in a sixth area. Even when he says that they excel in every respect, he is kind of saying that they can excel in more areas. There is always room for improvement. There is always the possibility of growing and maturing. If you excel, you have laid the foundation on which you may excel even more!

    Excel in unstoppable faith, nourished by the Word of God.

    Excel in powerful preaching, anointed by the Spirit of grace.

    Excel in revelation knowledge, filled with the Spirit of wisdom and truth.

    Excel in your passionate devotion, being zealous and single-hearted for the Lord.

    Excel in sharing love, overflowing with the pure love of Christ.

    Excel in being generous, by loving commitment to God and his people.

     

  • My bodyguard

    Bad things happen  to good and godly people. That is part of life in this fallen world. All of us have a inbuilt desire to feel good, be free from pain and have a comfortable life. Sooner og later we realise that life can be very difficult, and often not comfortable at all. We face pain and hardships. Sometimes we have to go through sufferings and tough struggles. Often life is not easy, but very challenging.

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  • I trust in the all-sufficient cross of Christ alone

    I have started to read Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians again. This is a letter filled with divine revelation and insight. Paul is starting by telling that he has been divinely appointed according to the plan of God. The letter is addressed to the community of God throughout the city of Corinth, and to the people of God everywhere. He is writing that we have been made pure and set apart in the Anointed One. We have been invited to be God’s devoted and holy people.

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  • Covenant duties

    The issue of covenant was forced on me a short time ago. There are so many misunderstandings about being a covenant person. Even many Christians have very little understanding of what covenant is all about. They question the idea of covenant duties or covenant obligations. Therefore I have chosen to share something I wrote some years back on being a covenant keeper, on being a person who understands the implication of covenant living. Covenant is love put into practice!

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  • What is faith?

    I was reading Romans 10 this morning in the Passion Translation. Vers 17 contains a very interesting definition of faith. When we try to explain what faith is, we normally quote from the eleventh chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews. But the definition of faith found in Romans 10, caught my heart this morning. Therefore I like to share it with you. Faith is actually a gift given to us by God, for it was only because of his wonderful grace that we believed in Jesus Christ in the first place (Eph 2:8). 

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  • A loving and loyal servant

    In his letter to the Romans the apostle Paul is introducing himself as a loving and loyal servant of the Anointed One, Jesus (Rom 1,1 TPL). When I read what Paul was writing about himself, his words struck me. What a sound self-image. What a wonderful self-esteem. What a bold statement about himself: I am a loving and loyal servant!

    First of all he wants to tell that he is a servant of the Anointed One, Jesus the Messiah. He had been called and chosen by Jesus Christ to be a servant. He was set apart with a mission. As a servant he was a sent one, an apostle. His mission was to reveal the wonderful news of the Kingdom of God. He was to bring people out of darkness and ignorance into the light and understanding of the Good News of what God had done through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That was his mission to bring insight to people, to help them grasp the eternal plan and purpose of Christ. He was never disobedient to this heavenly vision. He was a servant of Jesus Christ his entire life. The heavenly vision made him a servant. 

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