Welcome to the Victory Blog

This past weekend, we had the pleasure of welcoming another good friend of ours to speak in our services – Ari Sorko-Ram. Our church has supported him and his wife Shira in their ministry (MAOZ Israel) in Tel Aviv, Israel for a number of years now. We are so glad to be a part of what God is doing among his people there. Ari brought a message about God’s heart for Israel and for the nations, which may not be new to God, but it may have been new to many who heard him. If you missed it, I encourage you to download, watch or listen to his message online. If you were there, I encourage you do listen to it again. He raised some very interesting points. Here are a few that stuck out to me:

• God only has Plan A; there is no Plan B.
• God has established a way and an order to do things. When that order is followed, whether in a family or among nations, God’s blessing flows. God’s order is to the Jew first, then to the nations. We shouldn’t understand this t mean that one nation is better than another. No, we’re just talking about God’s order. He says to the Jew first, NOT to the Jew better.
• The firstfruit , which we are to give to God, is 100% of something  – not to be confused with the tithe, which is 10% of everything – returning that which is God’s to him. The first fruit may not be the best fruit, but God wants us to put our efforts into it. He says that if we’ll put our best effort  into the first fruits, God will give us an abundant harvest.
• Our role, as non-Jewish believers in Jesus is to provoking Israel to jealousy, so that they will turn to Jesus as their Messiah. This is when world revival will take place, and then the Messiah will return.

My goal in this series is to get you to understand that life with God is about moving with His Spirit and not just camping out in one place or another. Too many people don’t know how to move with the Spirit. They tend to camp on some particular revelation and think that’s the end of it. But the truth is that God reveals new things to us all the time, and he moves in different ways and different directions all the time. We need to embrace the new thing that God wants to do in us.

It’s much easier for the younger generations to embrace the new than the older generations. In fact, the older generations tend to be rather suspicious of new things. Unfortunately, this tension between the generations can keep the Holy Spirit at bay, holding him off from doing new things. We don’t want that to happen. We need to pray daily that God would have his way with us individually and as a church. We want to be more like the church in Acts than a typical modern church:

We need to remember that God is a supernatural being – he operates and functions supernaturally. Our minds can’t necessarily wrap around what God does, or how or why. But, he created us to cooperate with him supernaturally. All too often, when we come in contact with the supernatural, we don’t know how to cooperate with it or understand it, so we just try to explain it away.

But, I’ll say it again; God wants to do a new thing. I don’t know exactly what he wants to do, but do I know he wants to do more in our church. For some time now, I’ve been praying, telling God there has to be more. And sure enough, there is! Supernatural stuff has already started to happen in 212°, Fusion, in our staff prayer meeting and elsewhere. God is pouring out his Spirit in a new way on those who are thirsty. Although I can’t necessarily explain it, I will say this: It is amazing! Don’t miss it! Embrace it, move with it and live in it!

Download, listen to or watch this message online here.

Whenever we hear the word “NEW” it kind of elicits a sense of excitement in us. Commercial advertisers have known this for years. Next time you go to the grocery story, pay attention to how many products try to catch your attention with the word “NEW.” It’s everywhere. Yet, whatever it is that makes these things “new” will rarely make much difference in our lives, and they certainly won’t impact eternity!

God wants to do something new that is quite different. He’s taking us on a journey into something new, and it will make a huge difference in our lives, both in the present and for eternity. Now, a lot of people are going to get shaken up, because even though we say we like the new, we really prefer the old – those things which are familiar and comfortable.

When the new comes, we often look back longingly at the old and fail to embrace the new. But I want to tell you today that God is starting to do something new and we need to embrace it, move with it and live in it! Let’s not be like Israel of old. God told them through the prophets that he was getting ready to do a new thing. But when Jesus came, most of the traditionalists couldn’t embrace him. They were stuck in their old ways of thinking – their old revelation of God.

Now, as he did to Israel, God is saying to us, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV) God is telling us to get ready for a new thing that he wants to do in the church and in the world.

Here’s a critical truth: Church is supposed to be a movement not a monument – a lifestyle we live out, not a place we go to. If we think of church as a place, we’ve missed the point of what church is all about. This is an old way of thinking. If we’re going to embrace the new, fresh thing God is releasing in the earth, we’re going to have to let go of “old wineskin” ways of thinking, even though we like the old better. I want to challenge you to be a new wineskin. (cf. Luke 5:36-39)

Quite often, when we’re struggling to hear God’s voice and know his will, it’s because there’s at least a part of us that won’t let go of the old. This may be in the form of a tradition, a part of our routine that we don’t want to change, something we fear or just plain old stubbornness on our part. If you’re stuck in any of these things, it’s time to surrender them to God. Don’t let them keep you from what he’s doing.

New is God’s goal for our lives. Every day, he wants to give us a new revelation of who his is for our lives. We need to position ourselves for the new by staying pliable, hungry and yielded to God – like children. It’s no wonder that God often starts new moves in the children, youth and young adults – they tend to have far less that stands in the way of it than do the older generations.

So, let me ask you, do you want all that God has promised to do in and through you? Are you ready to let go of the old and welcome the new? Don’t reject it. Embrace it! Move with it! Live in it!

(Download, watch or listen to this message in its entirety here.)

Are you struggling with something? Not living life to the fullest? Feeling  overwhelmed at times?  Well the first ChickChat of 2010 was meant for you, for me and every woman that answered, ‘yes.’ Pastor Colleen came forth with a message that’s bound to enhance our lives, as we set out to become The Centered Woman:

How can we do life better? By refusing to allow FEAR to determine what we can do. Becoming a Centered Woman means…

Focus

How many of us are bowing down to the wrong things, when we’re not focused we have difficulty making decisions.  When our focus is on the wrong things, it doesn’t get us anywhere. Lack of focus will lead to discouragement.

Resolution

Unresolved issues will open the door to deception. We often get defensive when we have unknowing and unresolved issues. That’s why we must live in and walk out Gods continual liberty. From condemnation to confidence, we have to search our hearts and have confidence in His mercy and grace. We must be teachable – believe God can give us the perspective and clarity of what’s really going on.

Setting Guards

Most importantly, we need to set some guards and allow those guards to call the shots. God has given us a blue print as “diamonds in his kingdom”.

Speaking of diamonds…a watch from the Diamond Warehouse was given away as a doorprize to the lucky lady whose chair had a green piece of paper under it!!!

Pastor Colleen’s lesson was very touching and is bound to change some things in the lives of those who attended. But don’t take my word for it.  Here are some opinions from other ChickChat attendee’s:

Patrica – I really enjoyed myself. This was my first ChickChat and first time meeting Pastor Colleen. I can tell she really knows the word with scriptures to back it up.

Trish – I felt very touched, I could feel the anointing of Pastor Colleen’s words.

Angela – Awesome! God is a God of order. My coming out tonight was confirmation of the things I suppose to be doing.

Dawnia – This was my first ChickChat, it was really helpful and I really enjoyed myself. I will be asking God, “What He has for me to do” daily. I want to be proactive rather than reactive. I wasn’t sure if I would make it out tonight, I’m really glad I did.

Kim – I really enjoyed the lesson and had a good time hanging out with the girls. I’ve been to every ChickChat except for one.  I can’t wait for the next one.

~ Renee J.

As we conclude our 20th anniversary celebration, we thought it fitting to welcome our good friend, Dr. Samuel R. Chand, President Emeritus of Beulah Heights Bible College and member of our Executive Board, to come and speak to us out of his passion to help others succeed. His message was, as always, exuberant, hilarious, poignant and exactly what we needed to hear as we move forward into the new things God is doing in and through Victory. I’ll go ahead and write a brief synopsis here, but it’s going to be a teaser only. I really want you to listen to or watch this message…again and again, if necessary, until it sinks into your spirit. So here’s the teaser…

God is calling us to some amazing things. 2010 is OUR year.  In fact, despite what the media prognosticators are saying, 2010 is going to be our best year! This is true for Victory as a church and for us as individuals. But in order for this to happen, we need to Grow It! We are going to experience these things only to the extent that we have the capacity for it. The fulfillment of whatever God has called us to comes down to the issue of capacity.

We need to make up our minds to grow our…

1. Pain capacity, – There is no growth without pain.
2. Relational capacity – There are two kinds of people in this world – people who make deposits and people who make withdrawals. We have to be able to relate to both.
3. Exposure capacity – The more we’re exposed, the more we’re willing to do things.
4. Identity capacity – Our identities are shifting all the time – we’re not the same people we were ten years ago…at least we shouldn’t be.
5. Crisis capacity – Don’t waste your crisis, learn from it.
6. Character capacity – Character is what you do and who you are when no one is watching.
7. Risk capacity – When you’re 100% sure, you’re too late. “Jump out and play in the traffic.”

Now, go listen to the whole message. It will change your life!

Update 3/7/2010

Here’s a brief video update about our ongoing relief efforts in Haiti:

We’ve been looking back at the Foundational Stones, or principles, that Victory has been founded on, those things that make the church what it is, and how we can learn from those principles as individual believers.

Years ago, I heard a minister talking about three words that are essential to living like Christ: Simplicity, Sincerity and Sacrifice. These principles really impacted me, and I told Colleen that I wanted our lives and our church to be based on those principles. Since then, we have intentionally made them a part of everything we do as this church has grown.

In Acts 2:41-47, we see a description of the early church that is the prototype of what the church is supposed to look like even still today. There are five basic aspects – doctrine, fellowship, experiencing God, social justice and soul winning. Unfortunately, most churches in America today only focus on one or two of these aspects. Naturally, I wondered what would happen if all five were in place in one church. And, as I thought about this, the Lord showed me three principles that must be in place in order for all five aspects to work together:

1. Simplicity – To reduce to basic essentials. The state of being simple. Uncompounded. Jesus and the disciples lived a different kind of life than everyone else in the world. Our lives are often so cluttered. If we’re not careful, we can get so overwhelmed that it draws our heart away from God. Our lives can get so complicated that we can no longer hear the voice of the Lord. We need to simplify our lives. Jesus was a simple man. He didn’t live a complicated life. He lived a regular life, regular clothes, regular family, regular job…but he kept himself uncluttered. We need to be like him, both in our lifestyle (relationships, possessions and spirituality), and in our theology (major on majors, minor on minors). Neither of these should be complicated.
2. Sincerity – The state of being free from hypocrisy. Sincere people are:
   • Credible – You can trust them.
   • Responsible – You can count on them.
   • Vulnerable – You can know them.
   • Humble – You can teach them.
   • Correctable – You can change them.
   • Incorruptible – You can test them.
3. Sacrifice – To surrender loss of, or give up for and ideal or belief. We cannot live the Christian life without sacrifice. We will not make a difference without it. Just as those in the early church “sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need,” so must we be willing to sacrifice our own comfort to help meet the needs of others. Consider Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:24-25, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (NKJ)

If we want to look and live like Christ and have a tremendous impact on our world, then these counter-cultural principles must be foundational stones upon which we build our lives.

To download, watch or listen to this message in its entirety, click here.