OVERCOMING THE SPIRIT OF ELITISM AS LEADERS AND ELDERS IN THE CHURCH

As I have observed the New Testament church in different places and in different groups, denominations and networks, I discern that there is a spirit of elitism that is operating in many churches and in the lives of many leaders or elders. Many of these leaders are sincere followers of Christ but are blind to their condition. This spirit of elitism is deeply rooted into the life of many churches. This needs to be addressed and rooted out of the churches and the leaders lives.

 

Watch this message on this topic in Part 1　and Part 2, together about 17 minutes of sharing on this topic. Let me know your thoughts and if you are in agreement with me on this or if you see things a bit differently. Let us have a dialog on this topic.

Grace and peace to you all in Christ

John Marcus

Overcoming the spirit of elitism  (Part 1)

Overcoming the spirit of elitism (Part 2)

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PROPHETIC WORD FOR 2009

At the beginning of 2009 God placed two words in my heart, the word FOUNDATION and the word SHAKING. From these two words God began to speak to me about the year ahead in 2009. Watch this video below to get an outline of what I sense God saying for 2009.

With kind regards

John Marcus

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Enjoying the supernatural as part of our Christian inheritance and overcoming the qualifying spirit

Many Christians seem to have the mindset that they are not good enough to enjoy all the supernatural things that are part of the Christian faith. Things like, praying for sick people and seeing them recover, seeing the miracle working power of God flow through your life, or having interaction with angels or casting out demons or even being caught up into heaven and also things like hearing God’s voice and having spiritual dreams and visions.

Yet the truth is that all of things things are part of our Christian inheritance in Christ Jesus through the covenant we have with God, through the work of Jesus on the cross and through His resurrection. We don’t have to be perfect or even very mature to experience these things. They are part of our inheritance and come to us through grace found in Jesus.

Many struggle with thoughts such as, “I am not good enough to experience these things and have God use me in these ways”. Some say, “I am not pure and holy enough to experience the supernatural things of God”.

 

Please watch this series to help you overcome the obstacles that are holding you back from experiencing the supernatural things of God.

 

Overcoming the qualifying spirit (Part 1)

Overcoming the qualifying spirit (Part 2)

 

Overcoming the qualifying spirit (Part 3)

The spirit of sonship

 

 

We see in the bible the wonderful relationship that Jesus had with his Father in heaven during his 33 years of walking this earth in his human body. Yet we also see relationships that people had with other people right throughout the bible. One could call these relationships a father to a son kind of relationship, or a son to a father kind of relationship. We see this in natural families, but also also in spiritual relationships, such as a spiritual son would have a relationship with a spiritual father. These kind of relationships are to help us grow and develop. Spiritual fathers are there for us to be examples for us and help us grow and become all that God wants us to be. These relationships are very useful for our development as we mature a lot as we have relationships with others.

 

This series takes a look at the spiritual father and spiritual son relationship. But by saying father and son this refers to women and girls, ladies as well.

 

The spirit of sonship (Part 1)

The spirit of sonship (Part 2)

 

The spirit of sonship (Part 3)

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The Joseph Process

There is so much that we can learn from the life of Joseph in the Old Testament of the bible from the book of Genesis. When you study Joseph’s life from a boy growing up until his death, there are some treasures there that we really need to grasp hold of and learn to apply into our own lives. There was clearly a process that Joseph went through in his life.

 

Possibly the most important time of his life was his “wilderness experience”. Without his “wilderness experience” he would never have been able to arise the the prominence which he did eventually achieve at the right hand of Pharaoh in Egypt. It is the wilderness times in our life that truly mold our character and deal with the heart issues in our lives that we need to overcome so that we can arise and become all that God has intended us to become.

These videos take a look at Joseph’s life and especially his wilderness time, where he was prepared and trained to be all that God wanted him to be. We should not run away from the dessert or wilderness experience that God has prepared for us to go through, because this is the time that he molds us and deals with deep rooted things in our lives, so that we can have strong foundations in our lives so that he can take us further into his plans and destiny. It is vital that we go through the dessert experience, as this is the testing, the trials and even suffering all meant for our good.

The Joseph Process (Part 1) 

The Joseph Process (Part 2) 

The Joseph Process (Part 3) 

The Joseph Process (Part 4) 

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Wild at Heart – for men

What we are finding in society today is that many men are struggling with their identity as a man and with their masculinity and what it is to be a real man. Society has been perverting real manhood and many influences in society today are a stumbling block and cause men to develop mindsets and paradigms that are contrary to becoming a healthy godly man. It seems that many men are struggling within their hearts to rise up and become the man that God wants them to be. Due to family upbringing, the lack of a fatherly figure in the home while growing up and difference experiences while growing up men have not been able to arise and become all that God wants them to be.

It is as if men’s heart have not been brought to life properly. Men struggle to rise up as warriors and be courageous. Due to many circumstances their hearts have not come to life and death has set into their hearts. So many men struggle to become the unique man that God has called them to be. These few videos deal with some of the issues men go through and how to overcome these weaknesses within.

Wild at Heart (1) Discovering your heart

 

Wild at Heart (2) Strength of Heart

Wild at Heart (3) Romance with your wife

Wild at Heart (4) Learning to fight as men

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The Charismatic Movement – getting rid of the dirty bath water

A lot of good has come out of the Charismatic Movement but at the same time there are some serious issues that need to be looked at and need to be addressed within Charismatic churches today. In this series I take a look at some of the dirty bath water issues that need to be addressed to help the church move forward to maturity.

Charismatic Movement (1)

Charismatic Movement (2)

Charismatic Movement (3)

Charismatic Movement (4)

Charismatic Movement (5)

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Understanding the function of the prophet in the church today

Many Christians today do not have a good understanding of how the New Testament prophet functions in the church. Some churches only recognize some of the ways that prophets function and either don’t allow the prophet to function in some other important ways, or don’t let the prophet function in these other ways due to lack of understanding of the complete function of the New Testament prophet.

In these videos we look at the different ways that prophets are meant to function in the church and also at some of the mindsets and paradigms that need to be overcoming to all the prophets to function in their God given rolls in the church.

Prophets help us to see Jesus clearly (1)

Prophets are builders (2)

Prophets are builders and don’t just come to bless churches but to build into churches and peoples lives (3)

Prophets are relational, they build quality relationships (4)

Prophets don’t only hear from God themselves but train others to hear from God also (5)

Using gifts alone does not make one a prophet (6)

The inner motive of the prophet (7)

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The Baptism of the Holy Spirit

In this three part series, I am taking a look at the doctrine of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The most important reason why Christians need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, is to receive power to be effective witnesses of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lets take a look at some of the signs of having received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I think one of the most debatable areas of this doctrine, is should a Christians always speak in tongues when they are baptized in the Holy Spirit, or could there be other manifestations to prove that they have received this baptism. In all the accounts in the book of Acts, there was always an outward manifestation that the person had receive the baptism, the one manifestation mention the most is speaking in tongues.

What do you think, should a person always speak in tongues when they are baptized in the Holy Spirit? Is it fine if they begin to prophesy or they are filled with great joy or any other outward manifestation? Or is it satisfactory if there are no outward manifestations with they receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit?

Let me know your thoughts on this topic and this doctrine?

Grace and peace to you all

John Marcus

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Women in the New Testament Church

In this series of videos I am dealing with some very controversial issues regarding women in the church. Dealing with some of the lies that the church often teaches in the church regarding women. I will address questions such as:

1) Are women to be silent in the church?

2) Can women teach and preach in the church?

3) Should women be allowed to teach and preach to men?

4) Can women hold leadership positions in the church?

5) Are men superior to women?

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This topic is one of the most controversial topic in Christianity. Christians have different views and come to different conclusions regarding these questions. I think properly bible study is needed to get at the heart of these questions.

Please watch the videos and let me know what you think. I really don’t mind if you disagree with me. Lets grow together in rightly dividing the word of God.

Your brother in Christ

John Marcus

Lies the church tells women (1) Introduction

Lies the church tells women (2) Are women inferior to men?

Lies the church tells women (3) Can women lead in the church?

Lies the church tells women (4) Can women teach men?

Lies the church tells women (5) Must women be silent in the church

Women in leadership and public ministry (1) Introduction

  

Women in leadership and public ministry (2) 

Women in leadership and public ministry (3) 

Women in leadership and public ministry (4) 

Women in leadership and public ministry (5)