Faithful Stewards Conference pt 5

Stan and his lovely wife Margaret

Stan Tembo who is part of the eldership team at The Base Church shared an excellent word on using our minds. He started by asking the question ''Is it possible to worship God without your mind?" The Bible tells us to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds, soul and strength.

Stan then read from Hebrews 11 - the Faith chapter before moving to Romans 12:1 - 2. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. We need to be sure of what we hope for. Without faith it is impossible to please God. We need to love God with all of our mind. Our warfare is not against people but against ''principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12 Battles are either won or lost in the mind! People really don't like to think and yet the Bible tells us that "as a man thinks, so he is". Our fight is against the schemes of the evil one. We need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Our faith is connected to our thinking.

The most sort after people are thinkers. If you think, people will seek you out. Because we have no knowledge, we have no faith and we easily doubt. This results in us not being able to stand against the wiles of the enemy. Romans 9:30 "What shall we say then? That gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith;..."


There are two things we see:
1. we need to confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord
2. acknowledge that Jesus rose from the dead.

Faith and knowledge are so important. Why is the Church in the position it is in today? John 17
Eternal life is to know Him. Do we know God? Do we have faith in God or do we have zeal without faith and knowledge.

By Faith we understand - faith is the higher form of understanding. By faith we see.
Scripture is amazing. It can change life. Lets not believe in weird things or we'll get lost. Lets have the mind of Christ. Iron sharpens iron. We become like the people we 'hang' out with. We need to stretch our brain. Our friends impact our lives: "Show me your friends and I'll prophesy your future." We really need to exercise our brain. Fan it into use and train ourselves to think.

Why was Joseph promoted? He had answers. Why was Daniel promoted? He had answers. Wisdom doesn't necessarily come by age. How do we love God? Love Him with all your mind and love your neighbour as yourself. We are here because of our faith in Jesus Christ. Without it, people will perish.
Stan continued to challenge the rural leaders to think and to plan and not to just allow things to happen. The questions he asked were:
1. Where do you think?
2. What do you do when you think?

Thinking is one of the most under-rated things. We need to find people who can help us to think and to stretch our minds. Look at how we can do things better. This is vital. Mentality is important. Be transformed by the renewing of our minds and have the mind of Christ. Lets be ahead in our thinking.

God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. Salvation costs us nothing but discipleship costs us everything. Lets learn from people who have progressed. Its a 2 way learning curve - this is a sign of humility. Lets not be jealous of others - read and learn and don't remain stagnant. Remember that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. The enemy fights with our thinking - our thought patterns and it tampers with our faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God.

Summarised by Molly Manhanga