JESUS 2012

Looking back it has been a great year Gospel series (we will do again!) Doctrine Series, Re:Membership in Church, Our four pillars Word, Spirit, Community, Mission. We have seen the nations touched in the fresh apostolic work of the church as Mannie & Dawn have gone out into the Great Lakes and various local churches in South Africa. People have been baptized, committed to membership, Healing and restoration has progressed in many lives. We have made the announcement of the name change, and boy are we excited about The Crossing! And the changes that we have physically made are very noticeable! So many people have served, helped, contributed! Awesome! That was a great start! Next year we get to build on it in rapid fashion. What does 2012 hold of us? Will Graeme Smith hold the captaincy for SA Cricket? Will we do well in the London Olympics? As fireworks go off in Melbourne, Dubai, soon here and Times Square in New York to Rio are some missing loved ones who have passed away in things like Earthquakes and tsunamis will there be more and more as Jesus predicted in the new year! Will the end of the world come? The rapture? Is there really a Planet X hiding behind the Sun that will change history for everyone on December 21? One things is for sure since the age of the apostles we have been warned to be ready and note that Jesus is coming soon! If Jesus does come in 2012, will He find faith on the earth in 2012? (Luke 18:8 ending the parable of the persistent Widow) And if anything at all, thats all we as a church need to be concerned about. We leave with our faith and thats it! SO: Year of discipleship! Our faith is solely dependant on learning from and following Jesus! Year of growth! Its only gonna come through planting and watering (occasional fertilizer wont do any harm) 1

1. Know Jesus - Gospels

1. We want to see Jesus! In the Word! Pull away the curtains, this happens when the Holy Spirit works with and through the preaching of the Word a. (Mark as a Chronological step by step basis for learning from and following Jesus in all of the Gospels) this is the Gospel, the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ! 2. Revelation: How else will we come to know Him if we do not receive the revelation that has come to us by God the Father in His Word, the revelation that comes to us through the words of Jesus and the revelation that comes to us through the work of the Holy Spirit to sanctify our hearts and minds to see Him more clearly! Matthew 16:13 - 17 13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do people say that the Son of Man is? 14 And they said, Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. 15 He said to them, But who do you say that I am? 16 Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered him, Blessed are you, Simon BarJonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 3. This is eternal Life: That you know me! It starts here! There are an unfortunate number of people who think that they will only get to know Jesus when they see Him in Heaven! I Never Knew You 21 Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? 23 And then will I

declare to them, I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Surely all those good works are the work of the Father in Heaven, surely that shows that you know God and that you know Jesus. Gods will at the end of the day is that you base your life and your actions on one thing and one thing only: Faith, understanding, knowledge and Dependence upon Jesus Christ! All the doing, all the gifting, all of teaching and expounding of Scripture, all of church building and community life, unity and peace and maturity is summed up in: Ephesians 4:11 13 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. In Jesus prayer of John 17: 3 He declares:
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And this is eternal, life that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

2. Love Jesus Life by the Spirit

If you truly come to know Him you will love Him! The famous Psalm 91 that we quote and pray in fear or in trouble for protection from God, some people have it as a bumper sticker it is no formula or special blessed incantation, the key to this protection and salvation is in the promise God makes in verse 14:
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Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.

When we know His name we hold fast to Him in love! Another great example of this knowing leading to loving is in:

John 17:22 23 (Again Jesus praying) 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Knowing Jesus, knowing that He has come from the Fathers love stirs our affections for Him! You are loved!!

LOVE GIVES LIFE!!!

He is love, and He acts in love! He gives life and to give life is the most loving thing anyone can do! Why does a mother feel such love for the child she bears giving life is the most loving thing you can do. The Father gives us birth through loving us and leading us into eternal life! John 3:16 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Jesus gave us life, Jesus gives us life, Jesus lays down His life so that we can have eternal life! John 15:13 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 1 John 3:16 16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. To hate is to kill, to love is to bring life! Loving Jesus is a response to knowing the intimate and deep love that He gives to us. Loving Jesus is then a matter of responding to His love by giving Him our lives.

The greatest commandment is a commandment about love, but more than that, it is a commandment about all of our lives! Mark 12:30, 31 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. 31 The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. The measure of love is the measure of your life that you return to Him! Your head, heart, blood, sweat, tears and guts! When you stop giving your life to someone, thats when youve stopped loving them! *** Knowing Him comes by the SPIRIT Loving Him happens by the SPIRIT! A Spirit Led life is one that grows and knows and loves Jesus!

3. Choose Jesus His Body / Maturity / Unity

When it comes to making the choice for Jesus, this is a matter of having Him chosen as the highest and most treasured place in your heart. You have to make that choice that Jesus is everything to you. You have to make that choice that He is Lord! That He is the priority, that He governs your life, words and thoughts! What would Jesus do? What was Jesus like? What has Jesus done. What is Jesus like? Does Jesus approve, disapprove? Your first glance in anything and everything is to Jesus on the thrones of your heart! To Choose Christ, is to choose life / blessing! Knowing Him, and loving Him, means that our choices are no longer governed my our own knowledge of good and evil (what feels good to me, or whats right to me), our own love for self or idols, now that we know Him and long to know Him more, now that we love Him and long to love Him more, the choices we make will be radically affected by this knowledge and by this love!

Because I know Him, I will choose whats fits my knowledge of Him! Because I love him I will choose what fits my love for Him! Eg: Forgiveness. Choose the Way! He has ways! Choose to have no resentment, Choose to love like He has / does. Denying self. Christianity is not about self-fulfillment, its about choosing Jesus every time! The woman with the alabaster Jar! Forgiven much, chose to lavish much on Him! Mark 14:3 9 Jesus Anointed at Bethany 3 And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. 4 There were some who said to themselves indignantly, Why was the ointment wasted like that? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor. And they scolded her. 6 But Jesus said, Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. 9 And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.

4. Let Jesus Choose You His Mission

Now there is the corollary, choosing Jesus is only possible because Jesus has actually already chosen you! Jesus initiates, but you need to let Him continue. Many are called but few are chosen (Matthew 22:14) Jesus invitation rings out to anyone, but what makes a chosen person is a person who lets Jesus choose. While you are still in the choosing, while you are still deciding between whether you will let Jesus have His way or not, really means you have not been

chosen. But if you let Him choose you, thats when you are truly chosen! A chosen race means nothing if we dont let Jesus use us! Will you let me choose you? Will you let me use you! [This elderly man, 72, came to install a new gate at our home, he smokes and swears like a trooper, until he found out I was a pastor he had me for an accountant I said in leading a church im everything, accountant, event manager, plumber, gardener, counselor... and when the topic of my employment comes up, so does, automatically you can image, the topic of God, or religion, or church history while I was standing talking to this mad, before he knew, I was already having a conversation with the Lord in my heart do you want me to share the Gospel with this man, could I be the last person he speaks to this year? When I let Jesus choose me, when I had settled in my heart that I would not hide or be ashamed of the gospel, it was then that the topic came up and I was able to share the gospel with him. He reluctantly let me pray for Him, but that is what I had to do, the rest is up to God, the seed and that mans heart from now on.] A Majority of, if not all of our being chosen by God, and choosing God happens in prayer, reading and devotion. When you have a quiet time, a time of prayer, you are making the best choice you can possibly make with your time. And it is so often in these times of choosing correctly to pray and read the Word that you will sense a commissioning of God on your life, you will sense Him choosing to use you or to do something in you that would not be there if you do not lavish your expensive life at His feet!

5. Obey Jesus His Leadership & Teaching

Here is a great portion of Scripture I have already mentioned yet sums everything up so nicely! John 15:12 17 12 This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call

you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another. This is where it boils down to the nitty gritty. Why do you call me Lord and do not do what I say. Living in grace means we are obedient to Him. He can be known! He can be loved! He can be chosen and let to choose, but this knowledge, love, choice is nothing without obedience! It all boils down to obedience not a blind obedience obedience based on knowledge of Him. Not an overbearing, slave like obedience, but obedience based on love. Not a robotic dictatorial obedience, but an obedience based of free will and at the same time an obedience based on the Choice of a Sovereign all-knowing, all-powerful God! He knows who to choose! An area I want to work on in my life in 2012. Obedience to Him! John 14:23 24 23 Jesus replied, Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. Based on knowledge, based on love, based on His choice and mine. In 2012: Follow Him as Leader! Learn from Him as Teacher! Get away from all sin (Sin is disobedience) all driven-ness, all jealousy, insecurity, laziness, sexual immorality, addiction (drugs, alcohol, computer-games), selfishness, haste, waste. Be Taught so you can Teach! 8

Multiplication expected!
I think, I know, that if we concentrate on these things in 2012, we will see a surge of discipleship, growth and fruitfulness like we have never seen, in our own lives individually, our families and together as a church. Lets make it our Goal, our resolution: to Know Jesus, to love Jesus, to choose Jesus and let Him choose us, and obey Jesus! 1 John 5:1 5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

Prayer 2012
Disciples! Us and the Lost! Centered on Jesus! Centered on the Gospel! Word Planted in our hearts! Spirit lead us! Family priority (Parenting & Children Growth)! Marriages! (Growth in intimacy & fruitfulness as couples for the King) Finances Debt free, budget conscious, Gods Money used Gods way! Watch how we spend. Grow in financial stewardship and astuteness. Generosity! Gifting, service, prophetic. Strong Men! Robust men! Good Woman, For Gods design! Joy! In your presence, in each other, in affliction, strength! Right people in the right place at the right time! Protection from the Evil one! 9