April 2011

There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let

us labour therefore to enter into that rest … Heb 4.9 - 11 KJV

Visit our website at www.jesushouseaberdeen.org

March Testimony I bless our Heavenly Father, Our Lord and Saviour for an

incredible month of March. We completed the PDL Campaign - Purpose Driven Life – to incredible testimonies of changed lives, homes, direction and purpose. I thank Him for the precious people of God across Aberdeen and beyond that together took the PDL journey. We also bless God for Pastor Rick Warren who was careful to faithfully deliver the PDL to generations. March was the 70th birthday of our father in the Lord Pastor E.A. Adeboye – A pastor indeed! A son of God indeed! A man of God indeed! Father of millions, great and small indeed! We pray the Lord to grant him length of days and multiplication of every good thing in his life. End March, VINESONG visited Aberdeen in an incredible concert with the Aberdeen Gospel Mass Choir. March also saw RCCG City of Joy’s commencement outdoor concert in Fort Williams to incredible testimonies. April is our Easter Concert and outreach to Westhill, Elrick and western outlying reaches of Aberdeen – make it a date on Easter Sunday April 8th from 1pm. April is also the commencement of our new level – Wealth Creators Club – with conference from 5 - 7th April – it is time to enter the wealthy place that the Lord has reserved for us all: Deut 8.18. It is now time to enter into His rest! IN APRIL, YOU ARE ENTERING THE SECRETS PLACES OF GOD’S SABBATH RESTHear this:

The promise to enter the place of rest is still good, and we must take care that none of you miss out. … Only people who have faith will enter the place of rest. The promise of "arrival" and "rest" is still there for God's people. God himself is at rest.So God’s rest is there for people to enter… So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest.

Heb 4.1-11 Paraphrase from GNT/CEV/NLT

· My prayer and prophecy for you is that you will in April begin to enter into the multi-incredible dimensions of God’s rest.

· You will find God’s rest on every side! You will rest from your hard labours.

· Jacob’s journey is inspirational. He worked and labored hard serving his uncle and employer for 14 years. By his own account, those years were hard labour – full of deceit, his wages was changed ten times, etc. Check out Genesis 30 and 31. But the day came when Jacob determined to move from hard labour to sweet labour, from mere servant and labourer to partner with Laban. This happened in the year that he had his long awaited first baby from his beloved wife Rachael.

· So in that year, Jacob and Rachel entered divine rest when Joseph was delivered. He understood that the other dimensions of Rest had opened to him and he began to enter them. As example, in the awareness that the season of divine rest was his, Jacob went forward to move from labourer, from employee to wealth creator.

· For someone reading this, this is your season to enter Divine REST!

WHY DID GOD REST ON THE SEVENTH DAY? WAS HE TIRED?

Entering the Lord’s rest means to follow His example of rest. This is how the Lord will have us enter His Sabbath rest. Thank God for the account in Genesis 1. There we find from the Lord that after He had

made all things; He himself went away and rested on the 7th day, therefore establishing an eternal principle for us to follow. God did not rest because he was tired. After all, He never slumbers nor sleep, so tiredness is not in His character. He did not rest because He was exhausted. He is all-powerful after all. He did not rest because he was burnt out. He is all-sufficient after all.

WHY THEN DID HE REST ON THE SEVENTH DAY? · He rested because he had accomplished what He wanted to

do. He had achieved that which He set out to do over six days and therefore He rested on the seventh day. In doing that, He was also showing us something, which we also find in the Scriptures by which He commanded us and sanctified that day (Sabbath day) and made it holy.

· He rested because He wanted to establish the principle and example for us that we will only do well by having seasons of rest. Later when He gave the Ten Commandments, He legislated that we must keep the Sabbath day of rest. Check out Ex 20. 8-11.

· So we find out that concerning our God, Sabbath rest is very important for Him so it is a very important and binding principle. It is for us just as Jesus Christ declared “man was not made for Sabbath but Sabbath for man”. In other words, the Lord has ordained rest.

· So let us take that as a principle for us, we should enter into his Sabbath rest. Unfortunately, as we see in Hebrews 4, the Israelites who left Egypt did not enter into the Promised Land this was because they would not enter into his rest. After, they left Egypt, they were always complaining and grumbling about everything. They never entered into His rest. Thank God that as we can see, the Lord desires for us to enter into His rest.

· There are some insights about rest and the Sabbath, which will help us greatly. The Lord in celebrating the Sabbath, in making it holy, was setting an example which we ought to follow. He said clearly in Gen 2:2-3 “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made”.

· Thus He established for us a standard and a principle, which weekly, monthly, yearly, we must take out time to rest. He himself didn’t need to rest, it is not as if he was tired, but he was setting for us a principle and a commandment that at least one day in a week, we must rest. He ordained it from the very beginning and that is what He has told us to do. He sanctified it and made it holy.

· The Sabbath rest is that the place of rest, place of spiritual rest, place of dependence, of quiet assurance in the Lord.

Enter REST

Whenever we look around us and we see things that agitate and trouble us, we ought to seek rest in the Lord, knowing that He will make everything work out for good if we can rest, trusting in Him. The Bible declares that His thoughts towards us are thoughts of good and not of evil to bring us to an expected end for us. No matter what we may be going through, we ought to walk in the confidence that the end the Lord has set for us will surely come to pass regardless. We ought to rest in the confidence always that what the Lord has said concerning us will surely come to pass as long as we continue in him. So we ought to enter into the place of spiritual rest, of assurance of faith and of quietness. The Bible says be still and see what the Lord will do. Let us have rest and assurance in him. Consider Isaiah 30:15, and Mathew 11:28. There, we hear about

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casting our burdens upon Him. Whatever burdens that we may have, whatever sorrows, REST means leaving them all at His feet and going away rested knowing that He is going to carry those burdens. Not that we carry the burdens to His feet and when we are going, we put them back on again. The Lord expects us to rest those burdens there. The place of rest is also a place of physical rest. The Bible says in Genesis 2 that He, himself rested from all his work. God expects of us that least one day in a week, we should rest from all our work. He has given us six days to work. If we look at Deut 5:13, it tells us that He has given us six days to work and the seventh day is for rest. God is our manufacturer, He made us and He made us in such a way that we are designed by Him to work for six days and to rest for one day in a week. Now, if we are not doing what God has designed us to do, then we are not walking in the fullness of His will. That is why he repeatedly made that pronouncement throughout the scriptures that there remains His rest awaiting us His people. He wants you and us all to enter that rest this season! Have you heard the announcement to enter into His rest?

What is Rest?Rest is mental or spiritual calm; rest is relief, release or freedom from those things that wearies, troubles, disturbs, distracts, disrupts, intrudes or annoys. Considering the common understanding of rest, will you consider yourself to be in Rest? 1. The Foundation of RESTFrom the Good Book, we see that the Good Lord after six days of creation rested on the 7th day, resting from His work of creation (Gen 2:2). When we look at Deuteronomy 5:13-15, we see the same principle clearly established for us.

Work six days, doing everything you have to do, but the seventh day is a Sabbath, a Rest Day—no work: not you, your son, your daughter, your servant, your maid, your ox, your donkey (or any of your animals), and not even the foreigner visiting your town. That way your servants and maids will get the same rest as you. Don't ever forget that you were slaves in Egypt and God, your God, got you out of there in a powerful show of strength. That's why God, your God, commands you to observe the day of Sabbath rest.

Just as the Lord Himself did, we are therefore not created to work seven-days-a-week, 24-hours-a-day, and 30-days-a-month! We were fashioned as a principle to plan for and take out at least one day of every week to rest physically. 2. Physical all-round REST is heavenly Think about this - even the physical creation of men, the common place things we use everyday have been designed to rest periodically. Look at your mobile phone; your phone requires periodic recharging. With the Lord, the principle of Sabbath rest is both foundational and fundamental. Rest is the Heavenly principle. 3. One RESTThe secret is the rest that the Lord invites you and I to enter and rest in, is ONE REST complete all round rest - rest physically and rest spiritually – one rest with many incredible dimensions. 4. Rest is REFRESHING RECHARGING AND RECREATIONRest is the place of de-stressing. In Mark 6:31, we find something interesting. Jesus Christ himself called his disciples and said - you folks have been too busy, come away and rest. If Jesus with only three and half years to save humanity was able to take out rest days and seasons, you cannot afford to be too busy to rest. You cannot afford to forget to take out time to rest. WHEN WAS YOUR LAST REST SEASON? You need

another now! 5. Rest is the place of goodly REFLECTIONAnother great thing about the place of rest is that it is a place of REFLECTION. Rest is a time when we sit down with God to look over our lives, number our days and see how we are doing. Our God is supremely the Lord of reflection. Through Rest, we understand where and how we are doing and what we ought to be focused on to advance even more.The Israelites delivered from Egypt could not enter in the God’s Rest because they would never “rest” to reflect on all the incredible things that the Lord has done for them. Hence they never made it with God to the Promised Land. The place of rest and reflection is the entry to new dimensions, higher grounds and new vistas of promise. Are you stuck mentally? Are you stuck and still mindful of your season of failure? Are you stuck in another’s troubling of you? Are you still stuck in the hurts and disappointments of yesterday? Are you still seeing your spouse only through the prism of the past? From Gen 1, we see our God of reflects and we ought to do the same, we must sit back at every point in time and look at where we are in the things of God. 6. Rest is the place of CREATIVITY AND INVENTION It was while Isaac Newton was resting under an apple tree that he caught the revelation of gravity that is, the means by which God’s creation on earth stayed on the earth. By the time we begin to truly rest, we will begin to see wonderful inventions and discoveries. We will begin to write wonderful things about God. We will begin to write poems and books. Now David was a man who knew the place of reflection that is why he was able to write the Psalms WHEN WAS YOUR LAST REFLECTION AND REST SEASON? You need another now! 7. Rest is the place of BREAKTHROUGHNow, the place of rest is also a place of breakthrough. The way to breakthrough is prayer, praise, gratitude, faith, giving and more. There are some things you can only settle in the place of rest. We see this from the life of David in 2 Samuel 7:1 :10“And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies. That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, see now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains”In the place of Rest, David came up with a unique desire which made God of His own accord sign up an eternal covenant with David’s lineage hence the name “Jesus, son of David”. There are some insights, divine inspiration, and some divine ideas that can only come in the place of rest. As we rest in the presence of the Most High God, divine insights, divine decisions are awaiting us! WHEN WAS YOUR LAST REFLECTION AND REST SEASON? You need another now! 8. The place of rest is the PLACE OF RELEASE, FREEDOM AND LIBERTYThe place of rest is a place of release and freedom. In Deuteronomy 5:15, the Lord told the Israelites that

One of the reasons for taking you out of Egypt was so that you can have a Sabbath rest. When you were slaves in Egypt you were working all the time, no time of rest, but now that I have delivered you, you ought to have at least one day of rest. (paraphrasing)

So when a man or woman is working seven days a week, four weeks a month through the year with no break or rare not really

living in freedom, you are living in bondage. 9. Rest is the place of RESTORATION RENEWALRest is a place of RESTORATION. It is interesting that many of the attributes of the place of rest all start with “R” (restoration, reflection, renewal, recreation, reinvention, etc). The place of rest is also a place for recuperation, renewal and restoration. In Matthew 14:13, when Jesus was told that John the Baptist was beheaded, he just took himself apart from the crowd. He went to a quiet place. He went to the place of rest. So when times are difficult, we ought to also take out time to rest. It is paradoxical that when times are hard, the natural instinct is to keep getting busier and working harder. Likely in that place of rest, God will show you something else you need to do differently that will give you overcoming victory. WHEN WAS YOUR LAST REFLECTION AND REST SEASON? You need another now! 10. Rest is the place of RE-RELATIONSHIPThe place of rest is also a place of fellowship and renewing relationship with the Lord, families, friends and colleagues. In Genesis 3, when God was looking for Adam and Eve after they had sinned, the Bible says He came in the cool of the evening. This gives understanding that God loves seasons when He can sit down with us, talk, and examine life and gist. Television is actually one of the greatest hindrances to rest because it does not allow the attributes of rest such as reflection and re-relationship. When we are resting, let us take time out to enjoy ourselves and fellowship with our families, friends and the Lord. It is not the Lord’s way for us to keep on working without rest. WHEN WAS YOUR LAST REST SEASON? You need another now! 11. Rest is the place of RANSOM or SACRIFICENow, the place of rest is also a place of SACRIFICE. We have to sacrifice time and stop worrying about those things that we feel may suffer if we take out time to rest. Rest requires sacrifice in terms of money and resources. If you have to go somewhere with your family for rest and recreation, you have to pay for it. You have to be ready to spend quality time and resources on yourself, family and friends to rest. The Lord will have us spend time, spend money to take proper rest, to rejoice and relax with Him and loved ones. WHEN WAS YOUR LAST REFLECTION AND REST SEASON? You need another now! 12. Rest is the place of REJOICING The place of rest is also a place of REJOICING. As we live rejoicing every day, resting in right seasons, looking always to reflect on what the Lord has done for us, we reflect and know where he is taking us to, we renew ourselves and we get new confidence, we truly have rest in the most high God and then we begin to rejoice and fellowship with Him even more. We begin to appreciate him the more. That is one reason why David went so far with the Lord. David was one person who did all these things. He would reflect, he would rejoice and his heart will begin to praise God. The only way we can become what God has ordained us to be, to function the way He made us, is to follow hard on His example and principle and set apart times weekly, monthly and yearly to rest and truly rest. WHEN WAS YOUR LAST REFLECTION AND REST SEASON? You need another now!

The Junior Saints Crèche has now opened; it runs from

9:30am -11:30am, Mondays to Fridays. Interested parents should visit the crèche on any of these days or ask for an application form at the Church office.

If you have not given your life to Jesus Christ there is no rest for you, because the Bible says, there is no rest for the wicked! Press into God’s rest today by handing your life and circumstances to the Lord. Let Him carry you through life. Give Him charge over your life while you rest in Him. I look forward to hear your testimonies of new and exciting heights in the place of divine rest!

Pastor Mark Osa Igiehon

Junior SaintCreche

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S TART DATE: 1s t we e k in Ma r ch

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Over the last couple of years we have had outreaches in different parts of Aberdeen. In 2010, we were in Tillydrone; 2011, Bridge of Don and this year we are going to Westhill. It is our pleasure to invite you to this year’s event holding at Denman Park AB32 6TX. Please note that there will be one service at the City of God at 10.00am.

Parchment bookshop Open Heavens Devotional now £7,

Sunday School Manual now £5 only. All items available now @ the bookshop.

To register, please go to

www.cogcampus.org/wealthcreatorsclub.Saturday breakfast cost £10 and the deadline for payment is Thursday, 5th of April.

HOUSE FELLOWSHIPS CENTRES

Communion Service holds at 6pm, prepare to dine at the Lord’s Table.

All workers are reminded of the Monthly

workforce conference by 4pm

IS “LOVE” REALLY ENOUGH?

Different behaviours by people often suggest that ‘love’ has more to do with submission and control, in which this may not be completely false. It can be said that this is what ‘love’ meant all along in the context of God’s relationship with Man.

We all want to be loved, appreciated and enjoy fulfilments in our lives. God gave us all the capacity to love and be loved as well as have special friendships with one another. This was not just so that we would keep the human race going, but also because God wanted us to enjoy oneness with a life partner. This unity is actually a very powerful symbol of the way God wants it to be between us and Jesus Christ, as the Bible describes us as ‘the bride’.

Sheri and Bob Stritof stated that, the number one emotional experience reported by Christian folks is feeling the presence of God in their lives. Also with the ‘emotional high’ of being in love, which could be argued to last around 2 years, is the second highest emotional experience that people reportedly have. That is why it can be so difficult to try and talk some sense into someone who is in the midst of “falling in love”. Dr. Gary Chapman’s opinion on obsessive love implied it can render people mentally incompetent by stating that, “there's not much difference between being ‘in love’ and being ‘insane’."

Can love really be enough? This question needs to be asked because it is arguable that after the second or third year of marriage, when the initial "tingle" seems to start growing fainter, many couples find that their ‘love reservoir’ is becoming empty. They may have been expressing ‘love’ for their spouse, but in reality they may have been speaking a different language due to the abuse of the understanding of what is expected in a marriage.

Falling ‘in love’ and being ‘in love’ is a very nice feeling, but is it the basis or foundation of a marriage? Whilst thinking about that, do not forget the basis and foundation of a marriage is also a spiritual union and covenant between a man and a woman before God. As indicated in Ephesians 5:31; for this reason (the reason of marriage) a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

God’s love enhances forgiveness amongst people, of each other’s failings by creating the atmosphere to bear and endure all things - Rom.5:5, 1Cor.13:4-8, 2Cor.5:14. As we have the love of God within us and marriage is a covenant commitment and spiritual union, what is your response to the question “IS LOVE ENOUGH FOR MARRIAGE?”

See you on Saturday, April 7th by 2pm

@ COG to hear your views!- EVA O.

Festival of Life ScotlandFestival of Life comes to Scotland for the Second time. Awesome! Wonderful! Glorious! Everyone, anyone, prepare for a magnificent encounter as The Lord gives us “A New Song”

Date: 20th July, 2012.

Venue: AECC Aberdeen

There are also opportunities to advertise your business, programs, etc in the Festival of Life Scotland Magazine. The Publication department is now collating articles and adverts and will close collection by 1st of June 2012.

We are calling on all to sow into this great event. All partners and intending partners are encouraged to start sowing financially. Workers and Ministers are reminded of their monthly contributions.

Please Make All Donations To:

Account Name: Festival Of Life ScotlandBank: Royal Bank Of ScotlandSort Code: 83 15 31Account Number: 10039763