A major way God, the Lawgiver, governs this world and expresses His authority is through the DIVINE INSTITUTIONS, which are spheres of delegated human authority in the earth. He governs through human beings, who carry His authority, in 7 distinct realms: (1) FREE-WILL – our God-given authority over our own life, (2) WORK, (3) MARRIAGE (between a man and a woman), (4) FAMILY (this includes their children), (5) Human GOVERNMENT, (6) the NATION STATE, and (7) the CHURCH. These define the distinct realms of delegated authority that God entrusts to man. The first 4 Divine Institutions were introduced by God at the beginning before the Fall of man. The opposite spirit to God’s Spirit is the spirit of lawlessness, which rejects God’s Law in this world, especially through the Divine Institutions. The Bible predicts that in the end-times the spirit of lawlessness will increase in the world and even infect many in the Church. Lawlessness is not just breaking God's Law of God, but it is to reject the Law of God itself. It is rebellion against God's authority and right to govern the world. The spirit of lawlessness attacks and seeks to undermine true authority, especially as embodied in and expressed through the Divine Institutions, as defined by God’s Word. A big part of our submission to God is submitting to the human authorities in our life, for they carry the authority of God. All authority comes from God. Only God has absolute authority, but He delegates His authority to man, so man is meant to exercise authority under God, in His Name. God entrusts man with authority and holds him accountable for how he uses it. We are called to honour and submit to God’s delegated authorities, even though they are imperfect. The spirit of lawlessness seeks to overthrow God's delegated authorities, often using their failures or imagined failures as a basis and excuse. You cannot submit to God without also submitting to His delegated authorities. A major key to success in life is to understand and honour God-ordained authority (Ephesians 6:1-3). The Divine Institutions are real structures, built into man’s social existence, designed, initiated and ordained by God, revealed through His Word, and they apply to all mankind. God designed the Divine Institutions for our good, to provide stability, peace, blessing and prosperity. Satan works through the spirit of lawlessness to attack and undermine all the Divine Institutions. It is vital to understand the Divine Institutions and respect, defend and uphold them, not violate them. In this Series, we will study all 7 of the Divine Institutions, and in this teaching (Part 1), we study the first and fundamental Divine Institution: FREE-WILL.

Oxford Bible Church - Living in the Last Days

The Divine Institutions and the spirit of lawlessness (1)

Freedom through Forgiveness (2) - Hilary Walker

Jesus Christ gave His Divine Blood to pay the price in full for all of mankind's sin, offering us His full forgiveness as a free gift. In the light of His amazing grace and mercy toward us, it is a serious sin for believers to harbour unforgiveness and bitterness toward others. It cuts us off from the grace and blessing of God and opens the door to sickness, mental torment, oppression and bondage, and we can only be set free through forgiving those who have sinned against us. Hilary shares from the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18:21-35), the great importance of forgiveness and the serious dangers of unforgiveness. Our sin took Jesus to the Cross. Our forgiveness didn't come cheap, it cost God everything. In taking our place, Jesus bore the punishment we deserved and paid the price for our sins. If we meditate on the Cross, seeing what He suffered for our forgiveness, it makes it easier for us to forgive others. Since we’ve received such mercy, we must show mercy, and forgive others fully and freely. Christ is saying to us: "Look how much I'm willing to forgive you, therefore what right do you have to be bitter and unforgiving with your fellow servants, when I have so fully and freely forgiven you?"

Freedom through Forgiveness (1) - Hilary Walker

Many Messianic Prophecies in the Old Testament speak of the Coming Messiah as being both GOD and MAN (the unique God-man). The New Testament proclaims that all these Prophecies were fulfilled in the Person of Jesus Christ, and claims that He is both fully Man and fully God, and because He is God, He is able to save us, if we call upon His Name, and He is worthy of our full and absolute love, loyalty, submission, wholehearted worship and devoted service. In this video we continue our study of these God-man Prophecies from Job, Isaiah, Psalms, Zechariah and Malachi.

The God-man Prophecies (2)

The Gospel proclaims that God became a man in the Person of Jesus Christ in order to save us. Jesus Christ is not just a man, but he is fully God, He is God the Son, the second Person of the Trinity, and because He is God, He is worthy of our full devotion, our absolute love and loyalty, the total submission of our heart and life, our wholehearted worship and service. The Deity of Christ is expressed by the main Christian Confession: “Jesus is LORD” (Romans 10:9). This confession expresses our personal submission to Jesus as our Lord and God (John 20:28). It is essential for our salvation to know and believe that Jesus is both fully GOD and fully MAN, because believing in the TRUE JESUS is the KEY to receiving ETERNAL LIFE. The Deity of Christ is the foundational truth that Jesus emphasised in Matthew 16, when He announced the formation of His Church, saying that this is the key revelation that was required for any man to be blessed with eternal life and to become part of His Church. It was necessary for the Messiah to be God, for His mission was to be the SAVIOUR of mankind, saving us from the dominion of sin, death and hell, and the Bible is clear that ONLY GOD can be our SAVIOUR (Isaiah 43:11): “SALVATION is of the LORD” (Jonah 2:9). The Messianic Prophecies in the Old Testament consistently speak of the Coming Messiah as being both GOD and MAN (the unique God-man). Therefore, when Jesus claimed to be both God and man, He was claiming to be the fulfilment of these Prophecies. Therefore, the New Testament is perfectly consistent with the Old Testament revelation, and it proclaims that all these Prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. After introducing this subject, we study a number of these God-man Prophecies, and in the next video in this Series, we will go on to study even more of these most important Prophecies.

The God-man Prophecies (1)

Paul's teaching on head-coverings in Church (1Corinthians 11:1-16) is one of the most complex passages in the New Testament. Derek explains how his argument is on 3 levels: *(1) The THEOLOGICAL basis: HEADSHIP in Marriage. *(2) The PRINCIPLE of HEAD-COVERING – a woman should cover her head as a symbol and expression of her SUBMISSION to the HEADSHIP of her man. *(3) The PRACTICE – what constitutes a COVERING? This passage also speaks to the issue of whether a man should have long hair.

Headship, Headcoverings and Hair

Hilary shares from Isaiah 53:1-5 how Divine Healing was purchased for us on the Cross, confirmed by Matthew 8:5-17, for: “He took our sicknesses and bore our diseases." The risen Christ has poured out the Holy Spirit for us all to receive. The Spirit dwells within the spirit of every believer and wants to flow out through our hearts as rivers of life-giving water (John 7:37-39), bringing us health and healing (Rev 22:1-3, Ezekiel 47:9,12, Romans 8:11). When we pray in tongues (Acts 2:4), we are allowing this River of Life to flow more abundantly through us. This is confirmed by medical studies that show the positive effects on our bodies of extended praying in tongues. Hilary shares the results of these studies to encourage you to be more faithful in using your God-given prayer language.

The Benefits of Praying in Tongues (2) - Hilary Walker

When we pray in tongues, a river of life flows out of our spirit (where the Holy Spirit dwells) through our mouth: “out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). This divine river carries life, healing, supernatural power and gifts. Hilary shares the results of medical studies showing that extended praying in tongues activates areas of our brain which release hormones, resulting in increased immunity from sickness, and health for our minds and bodies.

The Benefits of Praying in Tongues (1) - Hilary Walker

The Judgement Seat of Christ

Starting with the promise of Jesus in John 14:1-3 that He will return from Heaven, specifically for believers (His Bride), to take us to be with Him in Heaven, Derek shares the classic passages on the Rapture, especially 1Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1Corinthians 15:51-58, sharing how there will be 2 blasts of the Trumpet of God. The first Trumpet will sound causing the dead in Christ to be raised and then rise to meet the Lord in the sky (the dead in Christ will rise first). Then the last Trumpet will sound, causing those in Christ, who are still alive, to be instantly changed in our bodies, so that we will receive immortal bodies. Then we will be caught up (raptured) to meet Christ in the sky, joining those who previously rose at the first Trumpet. In this way, the whole Church will be gathered together to Christ, and from then on, we will always be with the Lord. Finally, we see the thrice repeated promise of Jesus in the last chapter of the Bible, Revelation 22:7,12,20: "I am coming quickly (suddenly, without warning)" - a clear statement of the imminence of His Coming in the Rapture.

The Rapture of the Church

God's faithfulness is the foundation for our faith and hope for the future. God is faithful to keep all His promises to us, despite our weaknesses and failures. Peter's message exalting our faithful God will encourage you and build your faith in the Lord. If you are facing trials and challenges, it is especially important for you to meditate on God's faithfulness, so that you can look to Him, hope in Him and trust in Him, and so be strengthened by His grace, and be filled with His peace, knowing He will bring His promise to pass.

The Faithful God - Peter Hockley

Hilary shares her Testimony of how she became seriously sick in body and hardened in heart through her involvement in the occult, but despite that, Jesus wonderfully saved her, and delivered her from the power of satan, and completely healed her body. You too can be saved, healed and delivered by the Lord Jesus Christ, for: "ALL who call upon the Name of the Lord (Jesus) shall be saved (delivered, healed)" (Romans 10:13).

My Testimony of Salvation, Healing and Deliverance

My book: 'The Imminent Invasion of Israel' (available on Amazon) discusses in detail the unfulfilled prophecy in Ezekiel 38 of an invasion of the Mountains of Israel in the latter days, by a coalition of nations led by Russia, Iran and Turkey. God Himself will intervene and judge the invaders, resulting in his Name being glorified in the nations (a world-wide revival). See also my 5-part youtube series: 'The Imminent Invasion of Israel'. Everything is in place for this invasion to take place. All that is needed is a catalyst to cause Russia to step into the leadership of this coalition. In my book, I discuss 2 possible catalysts: (1) Israel bombing Iran's facilities used to develop a nuclear bomb, and (2) Israel increasing its settlement activities or even annexing the West Bank. The recent conflict with Hamas in Gaza and the associated internal unrest within Israel between the Jews and Arabs made me aware that a future conflict of this nature could also be a possible catalyst for the Ezekiel 38 invasion. If such civil unrest took place again and Israel felt forced to impose itself more strongly on the Palestinian Arabs, especially in the West Bank, then Russia could see this as an opportunity to create an international coalition of mostly Islamic nations to invade and take over the West Bank in the name of protecting the Palestinians and establishing a Palestinian State there, thus enforcing the 2-state solution, in accordance with UN resolutions. However, the prophecy points out that the real motive of the invading nations is the financial reward from increasing their military footprint and power in the Middle-East, as well as this being the first step towards the ultimate destruction of Israel (which would certainly be the main motive and objective of Iran and Turkey). It is this unlawful attempt to seize God's covenant Land, which He has given to Israel, and this existential threat against God's covenant People, which stirs the Lord to take action against the invading armies to destroy them, and thereby glorify Himself in the eyes of the nations (see Ezekiel 38:14,16 and 39:7, where God speaks of: 'My people Israel', and 'My Land', and describes Himself as: 'the Holy One in Israel'). When this prophecy is fulfilled in detail, just as the Bible predicts, many will realise that the God of Israel, the God of the Bible, is alive and well, and that therefore the rest of the Bible must be true.

The Conflict in Israel and Ezekiel 38

The Christian life is the expression of our personal love relationship with the Lord. The spiritual disciplines are for the purpose of drawing closer to God, and deepening our relationship with Him, and thereby growing spiritually. Derek shares how to introduce a new believer to the life of a disciple of Jesus, based on God's love and grace to them. It's all about loving God based on His amazing love for us, and this includes spending time with Him in the Bible and Prayer. Our love for God will also cause us to want to please and glorify Him in the way we life our life. Derek points out the 2 opposite ditches of indiscipline and legalism. When we love God we give Him our heart, and this will be naturally expressed in a disciplined life of seeking God, and obeying His revealed will.

The Discipline of Love (2)

The essence of the Christian life is our love relationship with God rather than following a list of rules. A disciple is a follower of the Person of Jesus, who wants to be as close as possible to Him. This does involve discipline. There are important disciplines that are part of being a disciple, like Bible reading and having a devotional time with God every day, with praise, prayer and confession, being faithful in Church, and finding ways to serve God and people. But we do not do them for their own sake but as expressions of our love for the Lord, in order to be close to Jesus and glorify Him. We are precious to the Lord. Above all, He wants our heart. He wants us to give Him our heart, which starts by opening (the ears of) our heart to Him, to receive His words of love and His grace to us, for our ears are the receivers of our heart (Isaiah 55:1-3). Then as He fills us with Himself (His life and love), He takes possession of our hearts by his Spirit (Presence), and our hearts become fully His, so that we then love Him with all our heart.

The Discipline of Love (1)

In-depth Bible Teaching from Derek & Hilary Walker, Pastors of Oxford Bible Church, Oxford, England.

hubhopper

Oxford Bible Church - Living in the Last Days

hubhopper