I need to state that we cannot prove anything in the past, that is something that hasn’t been observed, albeit creation, evolution any other philosophy. We can only observe the present and and try to make an idea fit of what happened in the past. The observation part involves science, making it fit perfectly into something involves much imagination.   Fortunately for the believers, we have the Word which is infallible, and the Word says quite a bit about the flood in the book of Genesis.

There was no rain prior to the flood (Gen 2:5)

The atmosphere of the world before the flood was very different from what it is today. From scripture we read that there was a layer of water above the atmosphere (Gen 1:6-7), of which could’ve been ice or water. This would create a very different living environment, which supported a wider variety of mammals, vertebrates and humans, so much so that they were gigantic (Gen 6:4). A layer of water above our atmosphere would also filter out UV radiation, maintain consistent environmental temperature and uniform light. Very different from the scorching, sunburning and possibly blinding sun we experience today.

Fountains of the deep broke open at the start of the flood (Gen 7:11, Gen 8:2)

The fountains of the deep are still visible on the planet today. The fault lines that encircle the globe are the remnants of where the fountains of the deep broke through the surface of the earth with immeasurable force. This flood theory is called the hydroplate theory and perfectly explains how the force of the fountains not only destroyed the water layer above the atmosphere but also cause enough rain for 40 days and bring forth enough water to flood the earth. Moreover it also explains the alignment of continent shores and mountain ranges to the fault lines and the ice age post-flood. For more information on the hydroplate theory, search for In the Beginning – Dr. Walt Brown, his book is free and online.

The whole earth was covered with water during the flood (Gen 7:19, Psa 106:11)

Covering the whole earth with water is still quite simple today. If all the mountains were laid flat and the ocean basins lifted, the earth would be covered with water more than 1 kilometre deep. At the end of the flood, mountains and ocean basins were formed, whereby the mountains lifted up and ocean basins sank down. Simply put, the places where the crust was thicker lifted, and where it’s thinner, sank down. The water ran off into the low areas over 10 months to form our current oceans (Gen 8:3-7). 

Only Noah, his family and 2 of each kind of animal survived (Gen 7:13, 23)

It’s very easy to achieve 7 billion people in 4400 years. 200 years ago there was only 1 billion people on earth and with the amount of famines, diseases and wars, we still see a steady steady growth in population. If we were to apply an evolutionist or uniformatarian timeline, which states that humans emerged 100,000 years ago and maintained a population of 10 million people up until 10,000 years ago, they would still have to bury 4 billion people in the upper layer of soil. However, archeologists have only managed to find approximately 4000 human fragments, none of which have been proven to be so called transitional species.

When we look at the fossil record for evidence of a flood we see that 95% of fossils are marine invertebrates like shellfish, 4.75% are plants and algae, 0.2375% are insects and 0.0125% are land vertebrates such as dinosaurs. 95% of all land mammal fossils were formed during the ice age at the time of the flood. The fossil record is not layers of different ages but can be perfectly explained through a worldwide cataclysmic flood.

There is much more evidence of God in nature, all of which are a lot more scientific in their observation and their calculation, but the real indestructible truth lies in the Word. I believe that knowledge of the flood and creation is beneficial, but it’s Jesus that brings salvation.  The flood is an example of the wrath of God that is currently being denied by secular science and Paul reveals that in Romans – For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18).

While the unrighteous may try to suppress the truth in nature, we as the upright children of God have a higher call to speak the truth in love and share the gospel of Jesus Christ to all who are lost and there’s no better time than the present.

A catastrophic error that most people make with their nutrition plan is that they cook with foods that encourage fat accumulation, rather than support healthy fat burning. The less you cook with the following ingredients, the more positive your results will be along your journey to great health.

Vegetable Oil - Vegetable oil (such as sunflower oil) contains large amounts of trans-fatty acids – the “unhealthy” fats. Aren’t all fats “unhealthy” I hear you ask? The answer is, no. Most people think that to lose fat, you must eat little or no fat. This idea, unfortunately, is incorrect. You actually need to eat fat, to lose body fat, the key however is which fats should you eat (and in what quantities) and which should you avoid? Your body needs healthy fats, such as those found in almonds, avocadoes, salmon etc. for it to function. However, your body does not need the unhealthy alternatives such as those found in pastries, crisps and fast foods – all of these examples are made with vegetable oil, a big hindrance to one’s health. Avoid vegetable oils at all costs and even in your own cooking, substitute it with olive oil instead (even then, use sparingly).

Margarine - A MASSIVE no-no! The word “margarine” came from the Greek word for “pearl”, because the original version was hard, white and glossy. Margarine was created in the late 1860’s as a cheaper alternative to butter. As the years went on, chemists found ways to make it tastier and have a greater resemblance to butter by making it more yellow in appearance. Even though they’ve achieved this, most brands today contain excessive amounts of trans-fatty acids (the real bad- boys of the diet) which have been shown to increase cancer risks, promote inflammation as well as accelerate aging and degenerative changes in the tissues. If that’s not enough, margarine has also been shown to:

• Increase LDL (the ‘bad’ cholesterol) and decrease HDL (the ‘good’ cholesterol)
• Lower the quality of breast milk Decrease immune response

If that’s not enough to put you off of margarine, how about this one – margarine is but ONE molecule away from being plastic! Try this: purchase a block of margarine and leave it in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days, you will notice a couple of things:

- no flies, not even the annoying fruit flies will go anywhere near it- it will not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value – nothing will grow on it, not even tiny microorganisms. Why? Because margarine is nearly plastic!

Processed Protein - Any type of processed protein such as deli meat will be filled with preservatives that only add toxic waste to your body and will prevent the natural process of fat loss from occurring. Instead, choose natural sources of protein such as lean chicken breasts, fish, red meat (with the fat cut off), eggs (with the yolk), milk (preferably fat-free) and various nuts such as almonds and pecans.

Cream - Cream is another cooking ingredient not worth giving your attention to, well not as often as we tend to at least. Not only is cream high in calories and fat, but it’s of the nasty saturated fat variety. While low-fat dairy products can be healthy on a diet plan, cream is not one of them.

White Flour - If there’s one whole category of foods that you should eliminate from your diet entirely, thereby making sure that you aren’t cooking or baking with it, it’s white flour! White flour is robbed of its natural nutrients and is only going to spike insulin levels, promoting high rates of fat gain. Shun this ingredient immediately!

Brown Sugar- It must be stated from the outset – brown sugar is NOT more healthy than white sugar! The brown sugar sold in shops is actually white granulated sugar with added molasses. Yes, brown sugar does contain more minerals than white sugar, however it is such a minute amount that one would need to eat a gigantic portion of brown sugar every day for that mineral content difference to be of any significance. The idea that there are greater health benefits in brown sugar as opposed to white sugar, is another common nutrition myth. Sugar is a big enemy on your hit-list of ingredients to eliminate. Sugar causes high’s and low’s, promotes strong food cravings, and will quickly cause the accumulation of body fat. Need I say more to convince you to cut back?

I hope these few tips have helped you. As the Word says in 3 John 1:2, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”

Best regards

Glyn Bradfield

The anointing is God’s ability on our ability. The anointing is the power of God. The anointing is the burden removing yoke, destroying power, and it is this power that even though it is for free there is a huge cost factor. Now that sounds like a contradiction, but Jesus paid every bit of the price so that we could experience God’s anointing.

When we look at Genesis 11 we see that it starts with the people who are in ONE accord having ONE language. When we look at Acts 2 we see how the people in ONE accord are given ONE language again, but this time from heaven. Isn’t it amazing that the first part or MEMBER of the body, the Holy Spirit seeks to control or have influence over is our tongue. With our tongues, James 3 tells us that we have an ability to be a perfect man, OR sadly even defile our whole body.  The word for defile is the Greek word “spiloo” which means to spoil or stain. Notice also that the tongue is set on fire by hell, or in other words the devil is able to spoil, stain or defile our lives by influencing our tongues and getting us to speak wrong. Now this is not only talking about our own natural bodies, but also the church body that we are part of.

When I look at it in the context of our church body I understand that God is telling us that we have to take what we say very, very seriously, especially with regards to Life Church. That’s why God has given us His Holy Spirit who is known as the Helper, so that we can speak accurately. There is no better way to pray, speak or talk but, with His help.

As we build life church together we all need to have ONE language, and there is no better way for us to do this than pray in tongues or our Spiritual/ heavenly language. God has given this to us so that we may not stumble in word and so as He builds Life Church we will not build in vain , we will not build contrary to His build, we won’t stain or spoil the building process.

As a church we do not want to grieve the Holy Spirit (WE WANT THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST) and when we look at Ephesians 4:30 that is exactly what is commanded. However the preceding verse speaks about us not speaking wrong. i.e.  Let no corrupt communication come out of your mouths……. Between verse 29 and 30 there is the conjunctive word ‘and’ linking the two verses and so we see that the way we can grieve the Holy Spirit is by talking wrong. Therefore the more we speak in line with the Holy Spirit the greater and the quicker  we build.

In conclusion, let’s be a church that speaks with ONE language, prays with ONE language and operates in the unity of the Spirit so that we can build great things for our great God.

God knows us inside and out. ‘He knows what we “could” do if we “would” and what we “would” do if we“could” ’. We need to keep in mind His expectations regarding what He knows we can become and do. This is something that deserves our most serious consideration. Are we aiming too low or are we seeking to become and do what God desires for our life?

We live in a world where personal accountability is often taken lightly. It is far to easy for people not to follow through either with what they have said they will do or what they are able to offer up

One day, we will stand in God’s presence and be required to give an account of what we did with His Name and how we represented Him on this earth. Did we trust Him and rely on Him for the decisions we made. This is quite a daunting thought, especially if we lack diligence to follow. Thankfully God gave us a solution and a support structure to help us grow into maturity in Him.

Hebrews 10:25 says, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the day approaching.”

Christian accountability is accounting for what we are up to. It is the realization that we are liable, responsible, and answerable for our actions in life to God. Therefore, we need to hold to our beliefs and keep in line with what we believe so it does not distract us from God’s path for us or discourage others from their path.

Accountability enables us to share our lives with one another in a deep, introspective way. This will help us to get to know ourselves and others in a deeper way. In this, we can have a place to open up, share, and be challenged beyond sports, weather, fashion and the mundane things in life.

ACCESS, Life Church’s Youth ministry, is now adding a whole new ministry to help us as youth to stand stronger for God in our own lives. TAG (Teen Accountability Group), is an opportunity for you as a teen to be more supported and encouraged to be more Christ-like. The goal of TAG is Christian maturity, growth and character, as God works in us and as we work out our faith with one another. Each TAG Team will be led by a TAG Leader who passionately follows after God themselves, and each TAG team would meet at different venues of their choice, whether it be at MacD’s, a coffee shop, the beach or someone’s home, where-ever they want to meet, really. TAG Time would be every Friday from 6 -7pm. TAG will officially be launching on Friday, 22 July 2011 at Life Church at 6pm.

Having other people around whom you can trust and get to know more deeply will enable you to know yourself – your strengths, weaknesses and opportunities – more deeply. You will be able to see in the mirror of your inner being and desires and see if they line up to what God has for you. You will become more aware of issues, relationships, and life as life’s purpose and God’s call are unfolded in front of you. Because you see life and God’s Word more deeply, your behaviours and response to others will also change for the better.

Join us, as we take on God’s call to be more like Jesus.

by Rico Verhoef

The New Testament has a lot to say about the things we value and the place they hold in our hearts. Some of its counsel comes in the form of a refrain. GOD’s word leads us to a place where we have to make a choice. The choice to not get ourselves involved in certain things or to refrain from partaking in something. Other times the counsel of God comes in the form of a provocation. The word of GOD acts as stimulus that motivates us to make the right choices. Matthew 13:44 is just one of those scriptures urging us along, pleading with us to see life in its proper place, seeing all from an eternal perspective, valuing the truly valuable.

So what could be so valuable to you that you would sell all, everything you owned to get your hands on that priceless treasure? Well from GOD’s perspective and what should rightly be ours, is our salvation. It is the most expensive, most outrageously extravagant gift you or I or anybody for that matter has ever received. It’s the only ‘thing’ worth selling all for… in fact something that valuable should be guarded sparing no expense. So men make sure you are guarding your salvation! Make sure what you are looking at, what you are thinking about or even who you hang with is helping keep safe that perfect gift. One way of doing a good job of this is making yourself accountable to a good godly friend. Steve Farrar says being accountable is a willingness to explain your actions. Boys look out for TAG, Total Accountability Groups and make the right choice, guard well your salvation even if it means explaining yourself…

by Wesley Pulvenis

If you missed the series, please go through it on our website: www.lifechurchlive.com.

So with that in mind, what is your commitment to the Church and Gods plan for it? Are you all about yourself or are you all about Gods plan. Note, I never said Gods plan for your Life – but rather “Gods Plan”. So often we talk abut Gods plan for our Life, focussing on OUR LIFE. But really we are called to get involved in Gods plan for His Kingdom. Then you will be fulfilled and everything you need will happen. So often people feel that they need to be something outstanding, exceptional and dazzling to be of significance, but that really means nothing when we stand before God with out hearts opened before Him. It’s about having a pure heart that is committed to do whatever it is He calls us to do, we will not all be preachers, teachers or musicians, or do something dazzling, but what we do do, is VITAL in the Kingdom of God. We all HAVE TO DO OUR PART to make His Kingdom splendid, majestic and magnificent (Eph 4 :16).

We once went to Disney World, it was amazing! But what was on everyone’s lips was not “Jean” who was acting as Cinderella or “Brett” who was one of the 7 dwarfs. It was all about how Disney World was and how amazing Walt Disney was. That’s how Gods Kingdom is, no-one is going to be talking about Pastor so and so or the Worship Leader or the Usher… We are going to be talking about the Kingdom of God and the Greatest of All – our King, Lord, Saviour, His Majesty – Jesus Christ.

Imagine if Cinderella was doing her own thing during the parade while everyone’s doing their part. She’s walking in a different direction, chatting with people, she’s enjoying herself and having fun, but whether intentionally or not, she’s a distraction and possibly an agitation. We have never heard of anyone doing such a thing at Disney World because they know they would be fired. But, unfortunately, we sometimes see this happening in the Kingdom of God. People are just doing their own thing. They are not part of the big picture, but rather want to get personal attention by being “different” “exclusive” “cutting edge” or maybe just “rebellious”. God has made you different, exclusive and unique for His purpose and His kingdom, not yours. So bring your exclusive, unique gift and use it in the Church for His Kingdom. Today, find yourself putting your dreams and desires aside and seeking and going after His Dreams and Desires.

Mat 16:24 – Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Mat 6:33 – But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

by Debbie Praschma

There has always been a call for the body of Christ to mature or grow up, and the mark of that maturity is what we say with our mouths. James 3:2 says that we all stumble in many things, but if anyone doesnot stumble in word or his speech then he is a mature man or he has grown up. In other words, what we say with our tongue reveals our level of maturity in Christ.

In this edition of Life Line I would like to speak about the Law of Unity. This Law affects us all in a huge way. In PS 133 it says that it is good for the brethren to dwell together in unity as that is where God commands His blessing. Did you get that? God’s commanded blessing is upon us when we dwell together in unity. So how do we do that? Does it mean living in the same house all nicely together, or is it that we all like pasta together or all like the same colours etc .etc. Or is it something much deeper and yet possibly quite simple?

In the book of Genesis we read how a group of people were living together in unity. This group of people wanted to do something outrageous and that was to build a tower up to heaven. They wanted to make a name for themselves and everything they wanted to do was out of rebellion towards God, with selfish and prideful motives at the core. All this is completely against God’s standards and YET God actually “praises them”, not for the endeavour, but for the unity that they display. God speaks about a oneness in verse 6 of Genesis 11. That word ‘one’ in the Hebrew means to be properly united. These are unsaved people who want to do something ungodly, and yet God says that because of their unity, nothing can stop them from doing what they have imagined to do. WOW!

Can you imagine what we can do if we were to get into that unity/oneness as a church with the Spirit of God in us, the Spirit of God with us, for us, on us etc. etc. all for the glory God? Just imagine what can be achieved in our marriages, families, businesses, schools, towns, nation etc. if we could be a people that function as ONE.

In Ephesians 4:13- it speaks of us all coming to the UNITY of the faith, to a perfect/mature man, to the measure of the stature of the FULLNESS OF CHRIST. Did you see how it speaks about a fullness ? That’s what I want for this church. That’s what I want for our marriages, families, businesses, schools, towns and nation? A fullness of God. WOW! Isn’t that what we all want? How is it going to happen? When we operate as one! That’s even Jesus’ prayer in John 17, and that’s what is happening in Life Church at this “kairos” moment . So don’t miss conference and don’t miss the rest of this message.

To be continued…

by Ps. Mike Praschma