Very few people reach the sobering point in their walk with God where they actually stop and question their motives for going through their religious motions. Some people attend Sunday meetings for years and years without even wondering why. Because we tend to relate to God on the basis of how good we perform (read Bible, pray, attend church, etc.), we never try and stay away for a few weeks or months at a time because the feeling of guilt just gets too much to deal with. So we put on our Sunday best and go back for more…

The sad thing is that most church goers seem to have based quite a large degree of their spiritual identity and security in their association with the church movement or institution that they attend. It’s remarkable though that they never stop and wonder what will happen to their spiritual walk if that carpet is pulled from underneath their feet. How long will they be able to stand if their local church closed its doors? How secure is their relationship with God AWAY from that institution?

“Christianity started in the Middle East as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise” – Sam Pascoe.

Throughout the centuries all kinds of clever manmade doctrines have been introduced to keep people spellbound to the spectacular Sunday performances, for example that we have to be “Accountable” or under the “Covering” of an institution or church movement somewhere. Yet we never see this example modeled by Jesus.

“The doctrine of covering is an old lie with a new name. It is fundamental to the maintenance of a false hierarchical religious system controlling many Christians in this day. Without the power of this erroneous mindset, it is even doubtful that some sections of the “church” could survive” – Cheryl McGrath.

Our Bodies: God’s Temple

In the Old Testament God used to live in temples built with human hands. During the dedication of the Tabernacle (Ex 4:34) and also of Solomon’s temple (2 Chr 5:11-14) God’s presence filled the building like a cloud and that was where He chose to dwell among His people. The building was not made for people; only the high priest could enter once per year to make sacrifices. The building was for God alone.

In the New Covenant God does not live in buildings anymore – He dwells in people: [1 Cor 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?].

Now we are His holy priests, given free access into the Holy of Holies: [1 Pet 2:5 Come as living stones, and let yourselves be used in building the spiritual temple, where you will serve as holy priests to offer spiritual and acceptable sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ] (GNB). The only reason we should have for wanting to meet in a physical building is to prevent the rain from falling on our heads or being scorched by the sun. The building only serves to accommodate the people. So to say that we are “going to church” or that “we attend church” is actually erroneous, since we ARE the church.

Getting together in buildings on Sundays has also had the regrettable effect of making people more “meeting focused” than “Christ focused”, to the extent that believers have nearly become incapable of functioning effectively outside their structured meetings on Sundays. We shouldn’t need a special sermon, “anointed” worship or anything of the sort to be intimate with our Father. He’s right there with us every step of the way, simply enjoying us because we are His own.

Are Sunday Morning Meetings Unbiblical?

The simple reason why Sunday meetings work so well for most, is because that’s when everyone’s free. If people for example had Mondays off, then church meetings would probably have been held on Mondays. No day is more special than another day (Gal 4:9-10).

As for the fact that Sunday morning meetings are labeled as unbiblical by some, that’s utter garbage. Everybody should have a place of fellowship to connect with the rest of the body (on whichever day of the week they want to); we weren’t meant to run this race on our own: [Heb 10:25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching].

We are all part of the same body and none of us are supposed to try and function in isolation. It’s a sad reality though that many parts of the body are being forced to connect with each other outside of the formal church setting, since the biggest part of the body is rampantly infected with the diseases of traditions, formalism, religion and rules.

When we found ourselves stuck in the same spiritual rut year after year, we should really be asking ourselves whether our church attendance is doing us any good. Perhaps we need to come out from the manipulative bondage that some church leaders impose on their people, and taste and see for ourselves that God is good.

Personal Testimony

I’ve come to experience that there is no difference between the way I feel when I’m at a “church” meeting or when I’m alone at home, or at work, or with friends or in the street, where I’m actually supposed to BE the church. Over the past 7 or 8 months, having not been formally involved with any “church”, it’s become natural to lay our hands on sick people at BBQ’s, to talk about the Kingdom with friends at restaurants or in the living room and to enjoy God’s residing presence with us every day.

We meet with some friends every 2^nd Friday evening simply to chat, eat and fellowship. If we are led to talk about a certain subject, we do so. If someone feels they want to pray, they do it. When we sense the Spirit wanting to infuse the room with prophesy, words of knowledge, songs of worship or tongues, we let Him. And we let everybody contribute, not just one lonesome warrior who comes with his revelation of God every Sunday, requiring the rest to remain passive while the message is delivered. Yes there is a time to sit quietly and listen, but not the way it is done Sunday after Sunday, week after week.

There aren’t any people or movements that I know of who have managed to set into place a structure for this type of freedom. I would imagine it gets a bit tricky when you have lots of people. If anybody is part of something like this, I’d like to find out what you are doing, because I’m trusting God to show us how to plant a church this side, without it just being another institution. This I believe is the key to seeing the worldwide move of God manifest: The revelation of BEING the church – Christ in us, the hope of glory.

In Grace
Andre van der Merwe

This is how satan managed to stand in heaven before God in the book of Job: [Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. 7 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it”]. Adam was a son of God, but through his act of disobedience surrendered that position of authority to satan, who legally became the ruler of this world as even conceded by Jesus: [John 14:30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me].

The devil tried the same tactics with Jesus as what he did with Adam. Remember how satan made Adam and Eve question whether they were really like God, when in fact they were already created in God’s image? [Gen 3:5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil]. In exactly the same way satan asked Jesus if He was the Son of God during Jesus’ 40 days in the desert. But unlike Adam, Jesus knew who He was and what was at stake. He knew He had to come and strip satan of his authority as ruler of the earth. Because satan was the ruler of earth’s kingdoms, he could legally entice Jesus to worship him and promise Jesus the kingdoms of the world in return: [Luk 4:5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours”]. Through Adam’s disobedience satan had become the prince of this world and the kingdoms of the world were legally his to give away.

But after defeating the devil at the cross and stripping him of his authority, God reappointed man to the highest position as ruler of the earth (the position that Adam had lost), along with giving believers the authority to trample on satan and his demons: [Luk 10:19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you]. God even went as far as parading the devil and his fallen angels in a humiliating manner before their enemies: [Col 2:15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross]. Through Jesus’ sacrifice, obedience and consequent death He did what Adam neglected to do: He conquered evil and ruled over the earth, guarding over it and subduing it in the manner God had commanded Adam to do. Jesus Christ destroyed the works of the devil as far as He went, healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out devils and providing for people’s physical needs (such as multiplication of food, obtaining tax money from a fish’s mouth, etc). As a normal man He portrayed to the entire mankind what it can look like to live a life fully surrendered to the Holy Spirit. Apart from being born from a virgin, Jesus had no other advantages over any other believer. Everything He did, all the miracles and wonders, He did as a normal man through the power of the Holy Spirit, just like the rest of us: [Phil 2:5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross]. Jesus became the last Adam, the One who restored mankind’s lost authority and restored God’s children to unhindered, unbroken fellowship with the Father. Death came through Adam’s disobedience, but life came through Christ’s obedience. [1 Cor 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive] and also [Rom 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous].

Now this naturally poses the following question: If the enemy has already been defeated, why is he still causing so much havoc in the world? Why are there so many wars and diseases; why all the violence and poverty? Why are people suffering and dying by the millions daily? Because just like Adam, we are not doing our job in guarding the earth properly. The devil was stripped of his authority over 2000 years ago and the only authority that he now has is an illegitimate authority. He poses as an intimidating and powerful adversary when in fact he has no right to steal, kill and destroy anymore! That is why it is so simple to evict demons and infirmities from people’s bodies and lives, because the faith accompanied mention of the Name that destroyed them is enough to make them shiver and leave at once.

Another important factor is that God does not impose His will on mankind. Just like any love relationship between two people can only be truly beautiful when it exists as a result of the free will of both parties, in the same manner God wishes for our affection from within our own free will. He did not create dummies or robots to control. If God really wanted to stop Adam from eating that fruit in the Garden of Eden, the Spirit of God inside Adam could have easily hit the fruit out of Adam’s hand. But that would have violated God’s permissible will which allows mankind to make its own free choices.

It is therefore simple to see that God relies on His children to enforce His kingdom in the earth – we are His hands and feet! Let us therefore take up the authority which we have been given and rule the earth like we are supposed to. Let’s stop this defeated adversary in his tracks and do away with the suffering and harm he causes. Christ in us is the hope of glory!

Yours in Grace
Andre van der Merwe

A predominant doctrine doing the rounds in the church today is the fact that we have to keep asking God to give us more anointing, more power, more boldness, etc. to serve better and be more effective for God. And yet when we look at what Scripture says, we are told again and again that we have already been given EVERYTHING we will ever need, pertaining to life (which talks about our physical needs) and godliness (talking about our spirituality). [2 Pet 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness].

You will find that most mainstream church leaders are rejecting & opposing this theology because it takes the blame off God (for all the things He DOESN’T do for us) and it puts the responsibility squarely back on the believer to go out and do what God commanded us to do in the first place: [Matt 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give]. Note that Jesus didn’t say we should pray for the sick, He commanded us to HEAL them! This clearly puts the responsibility on the believer, whereas simply “praying for the sick” puts the responsibility on God. Under the Old Covenant God fought for us – under the New Covenant He fights through us.

[John 14:12 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will]. Now consider this: Do you think that Jesus would have made this statement if He didn’t mean it? Would He have said this if He knew we would never be able to do the works He did, thereby making Him a liar? Of course not. Jesus would never make a promise like this and then leave the church short changed & unequipped to do what He commanded them.

Now I am not speaking as one who claims to be moving at the level of signs & wonders that Jesus did, but I have definitely made the shift in my mind that if the person I have prayed for didn’t get healed, I know the blockage and the problem is with me and not with God! The same principle goes for this verse: [Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me]. If I am not seeing this manifest in my life yet, then maybe it’s time I stopped blaming God for what’s going on in the world, stopped asking God “why me?” and stopped asking Him to give me more boldness, more power, more anointing etc and started to realize and use what I have ALREADY BEEN GIVEN. It is important to realize that at this very moment the Holy Spirit dwells in us in fullness, which means all His power, His nature & His character resides within us. [Col 2:9 For in Him (Christ) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 And you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power].

The greatest obstacle is NOT knowing what we already have! [Philemon 1:6 That the communication of your faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus]. We will become more effective in communicating our faith (this includes healing, deliverance, provision, etc) when we begin to acknowledge that which is already inside us. If God has commanded us to rule the earth, and given us EVERYTHING that pertains to life & godliness (see 2 Pet 1:3 again), then by saying we want “more” power, “more” faith, “more” anointing, etc. we are basically telling God He HASN’T given us everything. No, we discover what God has already given us by getting to know Him better. [2 Pet 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness].

Many of the songs we sing in church tell God how thirsty and how hungry we are and that He should come and fill us and let His water flow over us. In the following 2 verses Jesus is talking SPECIFICALLY about salvation, and He says that whosoever comes to Him (which means to receive salvation for the first time), such shall never hunger or thirst again. [John 4:14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life]. [John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst]. Whilst there is nothing wrong with being passionate for God and seeking after Him more and more, there is definitely something wrong with telling Him that the reason we are not moving in signs & wonders is because He hasn’t equipped us! The truth is that acknowledging any form of “lack” in what God has given us, is actually an insult against the cross. If we tell God that we are thirsty for Him, well then maybe we should get saved and receive the Holy Spirit so that we will never hunger or thirst again. [Matt 5:6 Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they shall be filled]. Once you receive the righteousness of God as a gift (when you are saved), you ARE filled!

Almost all the times the apostle Paul prayed for “more”, he was talking about knowing God better & having more revelation of what we HAVE BEEN given (Col 1:9, Eph 3:19, etc).

Now you may be thinking: “But we are sincere when we sing these words to God (that we are hungry & thirsty), and He would still honor our sincerity.” But have you considered that many people in this world who believe they are sincere, are sincerely wrong? Being sincere doesn’t make it right, and God wants us to worship Him in Spirit and in TRUTH. Muslims & Satanists are also sincere in what they believe.

If you’ve managed to keep reading this article up to here, it means you are probably looking for truth on this matter. The key is simply to make the shift in our minds and to decide to live FROM our position of victory, living from the inside out. We need to let what’s inside us flow out to change the world around us. [Col 1:27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory]. When the world begins to see Jesus living through us, they will not be able to deny the authenticity of the love and power flowing from the lives of God’s children. And it all begins with acknowledging what we have ALREADY been given: Fullness in Christ!! Amen!!!

Yours in Grace
Andre van der Merwe

God made promises to Abraham in Gen 12 that Abraham would be blessed, that God would make his name great and that in him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. God later in Gen 17 confirmed these promises to Abraham with a covenant. And for the simple reason that ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, God counted Abraham’s faith to him as righteousness. [Gen 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness] and also blessed Abraham with earthly possessions [Gen 13:2 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.]

430 Years later, God made another covenant with a group of “stiff-necked” people. [Deut 6:9 Therefore understand that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.] After having just brought them out of Egypt with 10 mighty plagues, providing for their every need in the desert, Israel still refused to believe that God wanted to bless them SIMPLY because He is a good God – therefore God gave them the Law. Under the law they would have to live morally, perform rituals, make sacrifices and fully hold up their side of the deal in order for God to bless them. But during a major part of the Old Testament in the Bible, we see the sad unfolding of Israel’s failure to comply with the requirements of the Law. They were defeated, taken captive, their cities destroyed, and scattered across the earth.

And here is the shocker: At any moment in their history, Israel could have chosen to come out from under the law, and live under the covenant that God had made with Abraham, once again believing that God would bless them & see them as righteous NOT BECAUSE they tried to live up to the Law, but simply because they believed in God. The covenant of the Law did not cancel the promises that God made to Abraham!! [Gal 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. 17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. 18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.] During that period there would have been two covenants operational in the earth, since the Old Covenant only became obsolete after the cross.

Under the Old Covenant, the Laws were given to obey. Under the New Covenant, promises are given to believe in. Jesus came to the earth more than 2000 years ago to fulfill the requirements of the law, thereby canceling it and effectively nullifying the Old Covenant. (Heb 8:7-13). Those who were still trying to live according to the Old Covenant tried to oppose Jesus, claiming that they were children of Abraham because of their natural descent. This was Jesus’ reply to them: [John 8:39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. 40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him... 8:45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not]. Here we see that these people did not believe in Jesus.

Therefore we see that those who believe in Jesus are sons of Abraham, and are blessed along with Abraham simply because they believe. [Gal 3:7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. 9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham]. [Rom 4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all].

When we understand this, it changes the way we receive (because we don’t have to think about whether we’ve been good or bad in order to receive from God); it changes the way we pray (because we’re praying from a place of victory, and not for victory); it changes the way we see God (not a harsh being who judges us for being bad or blesses us for being good, but a loving Father that blesses simply because we believe in Jesus His Son).

Yours in Grace
Andre van der Merwe

Now of course our next question would be: “If I have God’s faith, why doesn’t it produce for me at the level that God promises in His Word?” Well firstly because faith has to be acted on & released, which is what it says in James 2:17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You can actually have the faith of the Son of God inside you, but if you don’t act on it, it’s as good as dead.

Another reason why we don’t see our faith work for us is because of our unbelief. The soul (mind), just like the body, lives by what it feeds on. If we saturate our minds with the doom & gloom on TV, the newspapers and what we see happening in the world around us, we won’t have our minds renewed according to the truth of God’s Word. Then when you pray, even if you do pray with faith, the unbelief in your mind will counter that faith. So the Christian life is a pursuit of intimacy with God, experientially learning to know Him as He reveals Himself through His Word, which has the wonderful side effect of transforming your mind and purging it of unbelief.

In Luke 9 Jesus had sent out His disciples Luke 9:1 Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. 2 And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. They then went out and did it, and they were actually seeing great results! Luke 9:6 And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where. But then came a father whose son was possessed by a unclean spirit, whom they could not heal. Luke 9:38 Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, “Teacher, I implore You, look on my son, for he is my only child. 39 And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth; and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him. 40 So I implored Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.”

The disciples asked Jesus afterwards why they could not drive out the demon, and Jesus answered them (the same passage from Mark 9): Mark 9:29 And He said to them, This kind can come out by nothing except by prayer and fasting. Now Jesus didn’t mean that they had to specially go praying and fasting so that they could drive out this demon. He also didn’t mean that this was a “type” of demon that the only way to cast it out was to pray and fast about it, because if that’s what you believe then just about every second demon or disease you encounter will say to you “I am the kind that only goes out by prayer and fasting.” If you look at what Jesus said to the disciples first off when He heard they could not cast the demon out: Mark 9:18 … So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.” 19 He (Jesus) answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” Jesus called his disciples (who had just come back from their trip, having seen great results) “faithless generation”.

And then also we see the father of the demon possessed boy confessing that he had a problem with unbelief: Mark 9:23 Jesus said to him, If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes. 24 And immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.

You see the biggest problem is not that people don’t have faith. We all have faith, it’s just that we have a tremendous amount of unbelief that is countering our faith. Jesus said if we have faith the size of a mustard seed we can say to a mountain to cast itself into the sea. Let’s read this same passage from the book of Matthew:

Matt 17:14 And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” 17 Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 20 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

So why did Jesus tell them that they could only do it with prayer and fasting? Well, what do you think happens when you pray and fast (and worship, and go to church, and read the Bible, etc)? You get rid of your unbelief!! Your faith doesn’t increase, because remember that we already have the faith of God and that faith the size of a mustard seed will move a mountain. But we fill our minds and thoughts with so much garbage everyday, focusing on our depressing circumstances and NOT on God, that it’s no wonder we don’t have any power.

Just one last point that we should clarify in the body of Christ: It is very cruel to tell a sick person they can not get healed because they have too much unbelief. In the Bible we see that Jesus as our perfect example, healed ALL who came to him, regardless if they had unbelief or not. Acts 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing ALL that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. Yes He did not heal many people in His home town Nazareth, but it was not because their unbelief countered or neutralized His faith. No it was because many of them were offended at Him, seeing Him only as “Joseph’s boy”, and not many came to Him for healing. But those that came still got healed!! Thus we can see that He still did mighty works, but only for those that came to Him. Matt 13:54 When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Now with what we just discussed above, read the following 2 verses:  Mark 6:5 Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And He marvelled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching. Did you see he STILL healed those who CAME TO HIM?

Therefore we can conclude that if we don’t see the promises of God fulfilled in our lives, or if we don’t see the sick healed when we pray for them, it’s because of OUR unbelief & unrenewed minds. God’s power is always switched on; He’s already provided healing, prosperity & deliverance in the atonement. This message however is not a call for Christians to go back into works to try and rid themselves of their unbelief, because it does not happen through striving or self-effort. Remember we are all still learning & growing. Unbelief eradication & mind renewal is something that happens as we simply enjoy God and turn our affections toward Him, resting in Him, living from our secure position of victory. Don’t forget to enjoy the journey…

Yours in Grace
Andre van der Merwe
www.NewCovenantGrace.com

Firstly there’s the kind of faith that says “I will believe it when I see it”, like with Thomas in John 20:25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the LORD. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. We call this physical or natural faith, faith that is based upon what we can see, taste, hear, smell & feel with our 5 senses. Then there is the kind of faith that is anchored firm in the Word of God, that does not falter because we don’t see the answer to our prayer, faith that keeps on believing “I AM healed” because the Word says so, even though I don’t “feel” healed yet. John 20:29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Do you know we have the same faith as the apostle Peter that did mighty signs & wonders? 2 Pet 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. In fact do you know we have the same faith as Jesus? Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. All believers have been given THE measure of faith: Rom 12:3 … according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith (KJV).

This faith was given to us by God the day we were born again, it was a gift: Eph 2:7 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it (the faith) is the gift of God (emphasis my own). Now since we have received this faith as a gift in the first place, we can rest assured that God will maintain perfect & perfect it for us as well. Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith… Some translations say “author & perfector”. When Jesus said someone had “great faith” or “little faith”, He wasn’t referring to the quantity of their faith, He was referring to the level of faith that they were operating in.

Now some would try to counter this by quoting 1 Cor 12, saying that the Spirit gives only SOME gifts to each of us individually. 1 Cor 12:11 But the one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing separately to each one as He desires. Well did you ever consider that you have inside you the Holy Spirit that has ALL the gifts? This verse doesn’t say He only gives “some gifts”, no the Spirit will give to a person ANY of the gifts that is needed in that specific situation. Also see just a few verses before this one: 1 Cor 12:6 And there are differences of workings, but it is the same God working all things in all.

When we are new in the faith, we need the Holy Spirit to come and empower us with these gifts from time to time as we may require in our specific situation. In Paul’s epistle to the church at Corinthians (who was a “baby” church) he wrote this: 1 Cor 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. And it was this same “baby” church that Paul was speaking to when He wrote about the gifts of the Spirit in 1 Cor 12.

But when we come into maturity in Christ, we will realize that we have all the gifts at our disposal since we have received FULLNESS in Christ. Col 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. 10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. And also Jon 1:16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.

You see the biggest problem is not that people don’t have faith. Born again believers all have the faith of God. The faith of God is simply this: Faith that enables you to believe in things that you cannot perceive with your 5 senses. You needed this faith to be saved in the first place – how else would you KNOW that your sins have been forgiven? You had to believe it!  Sins that have been forgiven and blotted out is not something you can see, but through the faith God has given us, we can believe it and KNOW we have been forgiven. I encourage you to download this sermon from one of my heroes of the faith: Andrew Wommack. Click on this link: http://www.awmi.net/extra/audio/a01

Well if we have God’s faith, why doesn’t it produce for us in the area of finances, health, etc. at the level which God promises in the Bible? Next week we will be answering this question, so stick around!!

Yours in Grace
Andre van der Merwe

However contrary to popular belief, God is NOT angry with unbelievers for not accepting Him. At the cross 2000 years ago the sins of the whole world were forgiven [Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men…], BUT we have to put our faith in this grace to receive it. God has already reconciled the entire world to Himself through Jesus, He has made provision for every single person on the planet to be saved: [2 Cor 5:19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation]. God has already punished the sins of everybody on Jesus, but people have to believe in Jesus to receive this forgiveness. Unbelief in Jesus is the only sin that Jesus could NOT die for, and therefore all who commit this sin cannot be forgiven.

Now God is not in the punishing business anymore, because He has already punished our sins in the body of Jesus. In these days, God is extending His goodness towards everybody on the planet (believers & unbelievers alike) because He wants them to see that He is good and that He loves them. It is the GOODNESS of God that leads people to repentance, not a fear of punishment. [Rom 2:4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?] That is why atheists and sinners are not our enemies, but our friends, because if God loves them then how can we not? Our job is to show them the love of God, not judge them.

However by their continued unbelief they willingly reject this offer of peace from God, and in the process trample the blood of Jesus underneath their feet, and their hearts all the while becoming more and more hardened. [Rom 2:5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God].

On that 1 single day of judgment (not years and years as some say, see Rom 2:5 above again) these unbelievers will be judged for NOT believing in Jesus. And they will have to face the dreadful consequence of spending an eternity separated from God, not receiving forgiveness for their sins and being tormented in hell, which is NOT God’s will for ANYBODY on the earth, because God loves ALL people! [1Tim 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 5 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth].

Therefore since God loves unbelievers and wants all people to be saved, it is our mandate to extend this same love to our unbelieving neighbors, since we are God’s hands & feet in the earth. Most unbelievers have hearts that have grown very hard, not necessarily against God, but mostly against Christians who have misrepresented God as being a harsh God who allows sickness, violence, injustice & punishment to reign on the earth. And then on top of this, if an unbeliever wants to join the church, they now have to start obeying all types of laws as well and they had better make sure they change their lifestyle, else they will be kicked out by the church or God will punish them. Come on!!!! What kind of logical thinking person would want to sign up for that?

Let’s show them the kind of love that God showed us when we first came into Christ. [Rom 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us]. None of us deserved it in the first place, why then should we try to make others feel that they have to measure up to some perfect standard?

Yours in Grace
Andre van der Merwe

In the original Greek language the New Testament was translated from, the word “sarx” was used to describe over a dozen different concepts, such as the sinful nature, human flesh, sexual intercourse, carnality, etc. The W.E. Vines expository dictionary of Bible words lists 14 different meanings for the word “sarx”. The only way to determine the meaning of “sarx” in that particular part of scripture was to look at the context. Some Bible translations attempted to translate “sarx” into what they thought it meant in that particular context, but many got it wrong. Only the literal translations (e.g KJV or NKJV and a few others) did not change “sarx” into what they thought it might mean, but left it in the verses simply as “flesh”, allowing the reader to interpret the context. That’s why Rom 7 and some other passages appear to be so confusing in some translations, because “sarx” which means “flesh” was replaced with “sinful nature” the whole time! Here’s an example:

Col 2:1 I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally (sarx). (NIV)
Col 2:1 For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh (sarx), (NKJV)

Now, when the Bible talks about the “inward man”, the “new man” or the “new nature” it speaks about the born-again spirit of a believer. The “sinful nature” or “old man” refers the evil nature every person is born with, being at enmity with God and alive to sin. But “flesh” means something else. “Flesh” in this context refers to the un-renewed mind of the believer, a topic we’ll dig into deeper next week. “Flesh” in this context does not refer to something spiritual; it refers to the realm of the mind (soul, will & intellect). Soul = mind. You can read our previous message on this topic by clicking this link: http://www.newcovenantgrace.com/spirit-soul-body/

At salvation, a Christian’s sinful nature is crucified & buried with Christ. Rom 6:6 knowing this, that our old man (sinful nature) was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. After we are born again, we are NOT “sinners” anymore, even though we sometimes make mistakes. There is not 1 verse in the entire New Covenant that calls a born-again believer a “sinner”. The term “sinner” refers to a person that has not been born-again yet, and yet you’ll find most Christians today think: “I am just an old sinner.” No you are not!!

Under the Old Covenant people had to be circumcised on the 8th day in obedience to the laws of Moses. Under the New Covenant God circumcises the heart of the believer, removing (cutting out) the old evil nature, and giving us a new resurrected spirit that is created in 100% perfect righteousness like Christ. Col 2:11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh (old sinful nature), by the circumcision of Christ. God also writes His laws on our hearts which simply means He gives us the desire to please Him (but of course we know He is actually already pleased with us because of what Jesus did on our behalf). Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. This means that our new reborn spirit desires to please God and delights in Him.

The following comparisons between a literal and conceptual Bible translation clearly illustrate this misconception (please note we’re not bashing or criticizing certain Bible translations, rather we’re addressing the misconception in the church about a born again believer’s inner nature, and the translation of the word “sarx”):

Rom 7:18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature (sarx) (NIV)
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me, that is in my flesh (sarx) nothing good dwells; (NKJV)

Rom 8:4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature (sarx) but according to the Spirit. 5 Those who live according to the sinful nature (sarx) have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. (NIV)
Rom 8:4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh (sarx) but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh (sarx) set their minds on the things of the flesh (sarx), but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (NKJV)

Gal 5:13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature (sarx); rather, serve one another in love. (NIV)
Gal 5:13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh (sarx), but through love serve one another. (NKJV)

Gal 5:16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature (sarx). (NIV)
Gal 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (sarx). (NKJV)

There are many more examples to illustrate this point, but I think we get the idea. Now consider this: The above verses, coupled with the fact that most people today believe whatever they read (without thinking about it) in whatever translation of Bible they have, plus the fact that the modern church has taught for centuries that Christians DO have a sinful nature (and that we have to deny this nature, fight it and put it to death!) it is easy to see that we can be conned by texts read out of context. Conned by text, get it..?

Now you may ask: “Why then do Christians still sin? If we don’t have a sinful nature, why do we still keep on making mistakes, feeling like we are disappointing God, and falling short of what we think God expects from us?” And this is what we will be talking about next week. In the meantime we encourage you to think about whether you may have been deceived by this doctrine, to repent (which simply means to change your thinking) and be open to receive more truth next. Has God left us with a remnant of our old, evil nature (which would mean He did an incomplete job), or did He do a complete work and remove the whole thing?

Yours in Grace
Andre van der Merwe

Firstly note we are NOT propagating a sinful lifestyle. We are NOT encouraging people to just go out and commit hideous deeds of licentiousness. We believe in obeying God and living a holy lifestyle, but these are only the fruit. The root is being established in grace & righteousness, knowing who you are in Christ. So let’s get into this week’s message.

[1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness].

This verse has to be read in the context of the rest of the book of John – written to a group of believers whose ranks had been infiltrated by teachers of Gnosticism. John seems to be gentle whenever he addresses the Christians, calling them “my little children”. But in other parts of his letter, when he is countering the teachings of the Gnostics, he becomes quite protective of his brothers and sisters in Christ, and his words quite harsh. At the time John wrote this letter, the Gnostics had already left the ranks of the Christians [1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us], but remnants of the Gnostisism teaching were still confusing the Christians that remained.

Gnostics are people who believe that creation is flawed and was created by a flawed creator, a movement out of which the “Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints” or “Mormons” has arisen. They also believe that there is no such thing as sin in the world, and as an UNBELIEVER that you do not have to confess your sins to God to be born again.

Even though the book of 1 – 3 John was written to the church, 1 John 1:9 was NOT a command for people to grovel in sack cloth & ash, instead it is simply a statement to contradict the false teachings of the Gnostics. There were people in John’s church (who had not been born again yet) who were self righteously claiming that they did not need to confess their sins to receive eternal life. They were still confused by the teaching of the Gnostics, even though the Gnostics had already left. John countered this lie and said the following: [1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us].

And then in the next verse he reveals how to be saved: [1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness]. God will cleanse them from ALL unrighteousness if they will only confess that they need to be forgiven of their sins. If 1 John 1:9 were addressed to the believing Christians (the ones who were already saved), it would then contradict the following verse: [1 John 2:12 Little children, I write to you because you have been forgiven your sins through His name]. Why would John command people to confess their sins if He says a few verses later that they HAVE been forgiven? If confessing our sins was such an important practice in the life of a believer, why did the writer of the biggest part of the New Testament, Paul the apostle, not command us to do it once??

Under the New Covenant, ALL our sins (past, present & future) have been forgiven. When Jesus taught his disciples (who were still under the Old Covenant) the Lord’s prayer, He told them: [Mat 6:12 and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors]. But under the New Covenant our motivation to forgive others is different. We don’t forgive anymore in order for God to forgive us, but now we forgive others because WE HAVE BEEN forgiven. Col 3:13 … even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

Countless doctrines have been formulated by the modern day church about confessing our sins to God, all based on this one verse (1 John 1:9). It’s quite amazing if we realize there are no other verses in the entire New Covenant that tells us we should confess our sins to God! It’s even more amazing if we realise that this verse was not even intended for Christians who trust in the forgiveness of God, but for self righteous people! There are millions of people who have turned their back on Jesus & left the church, not because they are evil or sinful people, but because they are sincere people that for years & years have been taught a mixture of Old Covenant law and New Covenant Grace. These people have came to a place where they felt that other Christians and themselves were such hypocrites, that their failures and mistakes were so great, that their discouragement drove them away from Jesus into the wilderness. They gave up on Jesus and His word, although they still love Him in their hearts.

But you may ask, “Why would God not want us to confess our sins to Him? After all, we do make mistakes!” The answer is simple: Because walking around the whole day remembering all the bad things we have done will not bring us closer to God! Jesus already paid the full price so that we could have unbroken fellowship with the Father. This means that when we make a mistake, it does not break our fellowship or right standing with God. Jesus was forsaken by his Father on the cross so that we would never have to experience that! Does this mean that we just go out and live a life of full blown wickedness & depravity? No!! But it definitely means that God wants us to have confidence before Him, and to be more aware of our righteousness and His grace than of our shortcomings & mistakes. [Heb 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21 And having an high priest over the house of God; 22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water].

How can we have boldness before God if we have to grovel on our knees and plead for the forgiveness of our sins every time we pray? If we can’t have confidence before God, how then can we even dream to stand in front of a blind person and say confidently: “Blind eyes open in the name of Jesus!”  We’d always feel that God does not want to use us because we have too much sin in our lives. No amount of crying, confessing, remembering your sins, emotional torment or anything we can do can add to the finished work of the cross, where our sins were forgiven, once and for all.

So when you find yourself conscious of your sins, simply say: “Thank You Jesus for the perfect work of the cross that has removed my sins completely. Thank you Holy Spirit for convicting me of righteousness, not my own, but the righteousness given to me as a gift (2 Cor 5:21) and I praise You that nothing that I do can ever change that or ever separate me from your love!!!” Grace does not mean the denial of occasional mistakes in our lives – that is a dangerous thing to do – rather grace removes the punishment and guilt of that sin (Tony Ide – Freedom Life Fellowship, Perth, Australia). Grace is what makes us worthy!

Rob Rufus (City Church International, Hong Kong) presented the following brilliant argument: Let’s pretend for a moment that Christians DO have to confess their sins to God. Then for the sake of integrity, these people should please be consistent. They should not only confess those sins which they think are the big sins, but also ALL the little sins. Rom 14 says that ANYTHING a Christian does not do out of faith, is sin. [Rom 14:23b …for whatever is not from faith is sin]. This means that we have to monitor every single little thing we do the entire day, and if we find ourselves doing anything without faith (eat, go to work, go to church, drive home, talk to our children, take off our shoes, worrying about anything, etc.) that is sin, and we should stop whatever we are doing at that moment, and confess that we have sinned, because God has now cut Himself off from us, our right standing with Him has been broken and we stand in danger of being thrown into hellfire for sinning.

So in closing, the Bible teaches all unbelievers to confess their sins to God to be born again and come into Christ, but the Bible does not teach New Covenant believing Christians to confess their sins to God. Also see part 1 on this topic at our website dealing with James 5:16.

If this truth about confessing our sins to God is still unclear to you, we encourage you to download the sermon called “Do Christians have to confess their sins to God?” by Rob Rufus from City Church International in Hong Kong. Simply follow the following link (the date of the sermon is 6 June 2008): http://www.citychurchinternational.net/2008.html

Yours in Grace
Andre van der Merwe

Everything in creation belongs to Jesus, He is head over all. He has authority & dominion over all things. Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

But He chose to put all this aside and live life on earth as a man, dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit and only capable of doing what He saw His Father doing. John 5:19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.

Often as children when we heard the story of Jesus and his disciples, we were asked to say which disciple we would like to be like when we grow up. Some would say they want to be like Peter because he had this or that quality, whilst others would say they want to be like John because of this or that reason, and so forth. But strictly speaking, this is almost an insult against the cross. Actually our position after we are born again is that our nature, our born again spirits, have exactly the same righteousness and virtue as Jesus. The following verse says that just as Jesus is, so are we in this world right now (and by method of deduction we can see that our bodies are not glorified yet and our minds have not been fully renewed yet, so it is talking about our born again spirit): 1 John 4:17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. The disciples did not receive the Holy Spirit until after Jesus was crucified. So we as Spirit filled believers have a great advantage over them (before they received the Holy Spirit) in that we have been given the authority and power of Jesus Christ (Luke 9:1).

Now if Jesus had come to earth as God, the miracles He did would still have been impressive. He did so many miracles in His 3 years of ministry that John wrote the following: John 21:25 And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen. And this was just the ministry of 1 person, fully yielded to the Spirit of God! Imagine the impact we could have if an entire generation of believers stood up in their rightful position of authority!!

Now since Jesus came to earth as a man (setting aside His divinity and all His authority as God) taking on human flesh, and modelling the normal Christian life, this should actually make me dissatisfied with my life, knowing that there is more, knowing that there are realms of God accessible to us as God’s children that will allow us to walk as Jesus did. Yes, Jesus actually lived the type of life that every normal Christian should live. His purpose was to model what it could be like to walk this earth as a person fully yielded to the control of the Holy Spirit, and doing only what we see our Father doing. The miracles and works Jesus did was not to show us how incompetent we are, but to show us what we are actually capable of doing when we fully rely on God!! As Adolph Hitler had said: “When you tell a lie long enough, people will start to believe it.” The counterfeit has been around in the church for so long, that people have come to believe that the counterfeit is the genuine, and that the normal Christian life as portrayed by Jesus, is a far fetched dream, a pie in the sky.

Now some would say “Well yes, Jesus came as a man, but He was still God”. Dear friend, let me tell you He put down ALL of His Godly divinity. He was FULLY man, but He simply lived completely surrendered to the Holy Spirit. Phil 2:5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Now if Jesus was still God, why did He cry “My God my God, why have you forsaken me?” on the cross?

You see, for too long has the church been accustomed to having weekly meetings void of the power of God. People are afraid to surrender control and make room for the Holy Spirit in their meetings, because it might disrupt their smart, well orchestrated programs. And when we see things happen in our meetings that we don’t understand, we become intimidated and form doctrines that try to explain them, instead of just telling our minds to take a holiday and accept that mystery is often just as glorious as revelation. God is sovereign and His ways are far above our ways.

When we realize just how much HE loves us, we would trust Him and know His thoughts towards us are always love, and we wouldn’t care to just… let go and let God.

Yours in Grace
Andre van der Merwe