Outline for Message Podcast - Spiritual Renewal Gathering (SRG) 2023 - Being the People of GOD

Being the People of GOD

“… you have come to Mt Zion, the city of the Living GOD …”

Hebrews 12:22

Spiritual Renewal Gathering  2023

Capri by Fraser, JB

28 to 30 July 2023

Day 1

Opening Session

“… you have come to Mt Zion, the city of the Living GOD …” Hebrews 12:22

Highlights

The OT Covenant and Israel as the People of God
Moses the Mediator of the Old Covenant

The NT Covenant and the Church as the People of God
Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant

The Shaking of the Heavens and the Earth
Only what is Eternal will Remain

Introduction to the Theme

In each session, I will turn to one or two main Scripture on our subject matter, BEING The PEOPLE of GOD.  The Scriptures set for each Session are of Different Length.  So, if we finish what is set for a Session with time left, we will Continue On to the points of the NEXT Session.

Each session, each passage, will open our eyes to see one or more Dimensions or Features of what it means for us to be the PEOPLE of GOD.  Among what we will cover, is How Each Person of the Holy Trinity is an Essential Aspect of who we are.

We want to study not just to understand, but APPLY these truths to our lives so that we LIVE as Being The PEOPLE of GOD on this earth Today.

Hebrews 12:18–29 (ESV)

¹⁸For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest ¹⁹and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.  ²⁰For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.”

²¹Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”

²²But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, ²³and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

²⁵See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.

²⁶At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”   ²⁷This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.  ²⁸Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, ²⁹for our God is a consuming fire.

 

Session 1 – Be Children of the Free Woman

Highlights

Mt Sinai and the Covenant of Law

Mt Zion and the Covenant of Grace

Relationship between Law and Grace

On which do we Stand?

Galatians 4:21–31 (ESV)

²¹Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?

²²For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman.  ²³But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 

²⁴Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar.  ²⁵Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.

²⁶But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.  ²⁷For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.”  ²⁸Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.

²⁹But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.

³⁰But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.”  ³¹So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

 

Session 2 – Seek the Things that are Above, where Christ is

Highlights

Seek the things Above where CHRIST Is

Put to Death the Earthly

Put on the Heavenly

The Transformation of Relationships

Family - Husband and Wife; Parents and Children

Work Place - Servants and Masters

Colossians 3:1–4:6 (ESV)

¹If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  ²Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  ³For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  ⁴When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

⁵Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.  ⁶On account of these the wrath of God is coming.

⁷In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.  ⁸But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.  ⁹Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices ¹⁰and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

¹¹Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

¹²Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, ¹³bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 

¹⁴And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.  ¹⁵And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

¹⁶Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

¹⁷And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

¹⁸Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.  ¹⁹Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.  ²⁰Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.  ²¹Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

²²Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.  ²³Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, ²⁴knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.  ²⁵For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.

¹Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

²Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.  ³At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— ⁴that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

⁵Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.  ⁶Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

 

Day 2

Session 1 – We are the PEOPLE of GOD

Highlights

The Church is Israel in Exile

• The Sanctification of the Spirit
• The Lordship of Christ

New Birth

• Be Living Stones
• CHRIST the Cornerstone
• The Rejected Stone that becomes the Head of the Corner

The Chosen Race, the Royal Priesthood, Holy Nation, a People of His Own Possession

• To Proclaim the Excellencies of Him who Called us out of Darkness Into His Marvellous Light
• Once Not a People, Now His People
• Sojourners on this Earth

The Abrahamic Covenant

The OT National Covenant

1 Peter 1:1–2 (ESV)

¹Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ²according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

1 Peter 2:1–12 (ESV)

¹So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.  ²Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— ³if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

⁴As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, ⁵you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

⁶For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”  ⁷So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”  ⁸and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

⁹But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.  ¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.  ¹¹Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.  ¹²Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Genesis 12:1–3 (ESV)

¹Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  ²And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  ³I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Exodus 19:1–9 (ESV)

¹On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.  ²They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. 

There Israel encamped before the mountain, ³while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel:  ⁴‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.  ⁵Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;  ⁶and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” 

⁷So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lordhad commanded him.  ⁸All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord. 

⁹And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.” When Moses told the words of the people to the Lord, ¹⁰the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments ¹¹and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.  ¹²And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.  ¹³No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.”  ¹⁴So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments.  ¹⁵And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman.”

¹⁶On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled.  ¹⁷Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain.

¹⁸Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly.  ¹⁹And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.  ²⁰The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. 

²¹And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord to look and many of them perish.  ²²Also let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out against them.”  ²³And Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us, saying, ‘Set limits around the mountain and consecrate it.’ ”  ²⁴And the Lord said to him, “Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest he break out against them.”  ²⁵So Moses went down to the people and told them.

 

Session 2 – We are the BODY of CHRIST

Highlights

We are the Body of Christ

• We are Many Members of ONE Body
• We are all baptised by the One Spirit to be One Body

A BODY by nature has Many Parts

• A Body Cannot all be just One Part
• Being just one part would totally displace all the other parts that are needed to be a Body
• We Belong Together as One
• We Cannot disown each other
• Every part contributes to being One Body

On the contrary, every part of the Body serves the others

• Each part has its own distinctiveness
• Each part is to be treated appropriately
• All parts suffer together
• All parts are honoured together

This is HOW we are Together the Parts of the ONE Body of Christ

We were saved from sin, the flesh, and the prince of the power of the air

GOD save us by giving us life from death

We are raised up with Christ

• To seat with Him in His heavenly place
• So that He will show the richness of His grace in the coming ages

By grace we have been saved through faith

• It is Not our achievement or work
• We are His workmanship In Christ
• We are created for good works

We are the Commonwealth of Israel

• There is no more separation between circumcision and uncircumcision
• We are ONE in Christ

1 Corinthians 12:12–27 (ESV)

¹²For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.  ¹³For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

¹⁴For the body does not consist of one member but of many.  ¹⁵If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.  ¹⁶And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.

¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?  ¹⁸But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.  ¹⁹If all were a single member, where would the body be?

²⁰As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.  ²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

²²On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, ²⁴which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, ²⁵that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.  ²⁶If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

²⁷Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

Ephesians 2:1–13 (ESV)

¹And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ²in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  ¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

¹¹Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— ¹²remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

 

Session 3 – We are the TEMPLE of the HOLY SPIRIT

Highlights

We are United In Christ to have access by the Spirit to the Father

• All who believe are built on Christ and the apostles and prophets
• We are the Temple of God in which His Spirit dwells

We are ONE BODY and ONE SPIRIT

We are GOD’s Temple

• Whoever attacks GOD’s Temple faces GOD’s wrath
• We are Holy unto GOD
• We are Not our own
• We are Bought with a price
• We Belong to GOD
• We are to glorify Him

Ephesians 2:11–22 (ESV)

¹¹Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— ¹²remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

¹⁴For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility ¹⁵by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, ¹⁶and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.  ¹⁷And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.

¹⁸For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.  ¹⁹So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, ²¹in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.  ²²In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Ephesians 4:4 (ESV)

⁴There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call

1 Corinthians 3:16–17 (ESV)

¹⁶Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?  ¹⁷If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (ESV)

¹⁹Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

 

 

Session 4 – We are ONE

Highlights

We are to Maintain the Unity of the Spirit in peace

We are One Body, One Spirit

• we share One Hope in our common Calling,
• One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism
• One God and Father

The Ascension Gifts of Christ

• The Fivefold Ministry – apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers
• To equip the saints for ministry
• To build up the Body of Christ until we reach maturity and the fullness of Christ

In Maturity

• we are No longer children
• No longer tossed by every wind of human doctrines and cunning, craftiness & deceit
• we learn to Speak the Truth In Love
• we grow up together under our Head, Christ our Lord
• we build each other up in Love

Ephesians 4:1–16 (ESV)

¹I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ²with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 

⁴There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 

⁷But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.  ⁸Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”  ⁹(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?  ¹⁰He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)  ¹¹And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, ¹²to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³until 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,

¹⁴so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.  ¹⁵Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

 

Day 3

Closing Message – John 17 - Worship Service

Highlights

This is CHRIST’s HIGH PRIESTLY PRAYER

Christ asks for the Return of His Glory as He had from Eternity

Christ prays for the joy of those who believe in Him

Christ entrusts all who believe in Him to the Father as He leaves this earth

• Only the son of destruction is lost as given in Scriptures

We have the Word of the Father through Christian

• We are to Remain in this world
• But Christ prays for our being kept safe from Satan
• We are Not of this world
• We are sanctified by God’s Word, which is God’s Truth

Christ sends us out to this world as the Father had sent Him

• He consecrates Himself for our consecration

Christ prayed not only for the disciples with Him but for all who come to Him through His disciples

• He prays for the Unity of All Believers
• Like the Unity He has with the Father as One
• So that the world may know that the Father has sent the Son
• So that the world may know that the Father loves us as He loves the Son

Christ prays that we share His Glory and be with Him where He is with the Father

• The world does not know GOD
• But Christ knows the Father
• He has enabled us to Know Him and the Father
• That we share in the Father’s Love

John 17:1–26 (ESV)

¹When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, ²since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.  ³And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.  ⁴I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.  ⁵And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

⁶“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.  ⁷Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.  ⁸For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.  ⁹I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.

¹⁰All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.  ¹¹And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.  ¹²While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

¹³But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

¹⁴I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  ¹⁵I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.  ¹⁶They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  ¹⁷Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 

¹⁸As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.  ¹⁹And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

²⁰“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  ²²The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, ²³I 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.

²⁴Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.  ²⁵O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.  ²⁶I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”