The Insights

Theme: Be the first to broker peace ANCHOR TEXT: “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift” Matthew 5:23-24. Tsar Nicholas II, the last emperor of Russia and his entire family were wrongly shot and killed by the Red Guards in 1918, nearly a year after Lenin and the Bol Sheriks seized power in the Russian revolution. Eighty years later, however, Boris Yelsin, the Russian president in 1998, led his nation in an official apology for the murder of the Tsar at a moving ceremony in the cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress where his Romanor ancestors were buried. Watched by millions of Russians, Yelsin stood in somber silence before the grave and said he had no option but to be present to tell the truth and apologize! When you unjustly cheat, murder, oppress anyone by the reason of your...

  Theme: Why add fasting to Prayer? Matthew 17:14-21 The story we read in today’s Bible passage highlighted a crucial point in verse 17. That point is that there are some issues that cannot be solved by prayer alone. After rebuking His disciples for their unbelief, Jesus made this vital statement, “However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” This drives home the point that there are issues you cannot tackle successfully unless you add fasting to prayer. The greatest hindrance to your connecting in the spirit is the flesh and those things described in Galatians 5:19-21 as the works of the flesh. Hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions and dissensions were all included as works of the flesh. During fasting, the flesh is denied its appetites and cravings thereby weakening its assertiveness. Fasting subjugates the flesh to the spirit by mortifying it. Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:27, “But I keep under my body, and ...

Theme: Assurance of sonship Memorise: The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. Romans 8:16 Read: 1 John 3:7-10 7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. Message It is very important to know our identity in Christ Jesus; it makes all the difference in our lives. If you don’t know your status, you will be denied many things. Your identity will help you know what you are qualified for and what you can do. When people ...