Gethsemane is a place of pressing. The only way to extract the oil out of the olive is by applying pressure. God uses pressure not to kill us but to change us into another form. Gethsemane is place of aloneness where we come unto pressure. Jesus was with his disciples in the Garden yet He was left alone to pray, but He came through tremendous pressure. Jacob was left alone in a place of pressure and wrestled with the angel until he was changed. God used pressure to pull the prince out of him and God will use pressure to pull out of you what He has been growing within you.
Oskar Sigurdsson - His Presence Part 3
God told Joshua I will be with you and prosper you whither soever thou goest. When His Presence go with us, whatever we do will prosper, not what we say or think. To prosper means to get over something or grow stronger. God wants us to prosper and get over things in our lives, to leave behind the past and move into His promises. The story " Acres of Diamonds " is told in the message. Often we fail to see the treasures hidden in our house and keep looking elsewhere for prosperity and potential. What we sow today will be our tomorrow´s harvest.
Oskar Sigurdsson - His Presence Part 4
When we go through a transition or enter into a new season in our lives, the question is what do we keep and what do we let go of? Only one thing is certain that we keep His Presence "I will not fail you nor forsake you" But we must be willing to let go off the things we have in mind. Psalm 78:41 The children of Israel limited God in the wilderness to what they had been exposed to, to their own understanding. We have the propensity to limit God to our previous experience of Him, therefore we fall back to the same old systems and places where we last felt Him or saw Him, but God has moved on.
Oskar Sigurdsson - His Presence 2
If love is always discreet, always cautious, always wise, always sensible, always calculating and never carried beyond itself, it is not love at all. The Garden of Eden was a meeting place. There divinity and humanity communed with each other. When sin came man lost his place of intimacy and hid himself from God. We become masters in hiding and never break open our hearts in true worship. The next meeting place was the Tabernacle of Moses, it was a tent of meetings. God always makes a place to meet with us, because He wants to be in the midst of our lives and intimate with us. The ultimate place of meetings is in Jesus Christ, in Him we meet with God and become intimate again. Love always finds a place to meet, for love must express itself. Mary of Bethany expressed her love for Jesus by breaking her box of alabaster, as an act of worship. In spite of the hostile environment she did what she could for Jesus. We oft come to church for what we want, instead of what He wants. Can you bring to God things that are of value to Him?
Oskar Sigurdsson - His Presence Part 1
In Joshua 1:5-9 The children of Israel had mourned the death of their leader Moses. Everything is changing for them, everything is in transition. When we go through transition everything in our lives becomes unstable and the only thing that remains stable is God´s Word. Really God´s promise to us is His presence, " As I was so will I be I will never fail thee nor forsake thee " When we seek His presence first we get everything with it. What good is the property without His presence?
Oskar Sigurdsson - The Interloper
In spite Jesus knowing Judas would betray Him, nonetheless, He washed his feet. By washing the disciples' feet Jesus gave us an example and said so should we do unto one another. Our feet are a significant part of the body. It's the part touching the ground and keeping balance. Such a small part of the body yet carrying a big person to different places. It is said that emotions are stored up in our feet. Feet are a sensitive part of the body. To touch someone's feet, is an entrance into one's feelings, a level of intimacy and trust. Jesus prepared the disciples' feet and they shod them with peace because if a man rejects you, wipe the dust of your feet. We must make sure that we do not carry the dust of rejection on our feet from place to place, from relationship to relationship. The serpent feeds on the dust, therefore we need to wash our feet. The priests in the Tabernacle had to wash their feet daily before going into the holy place to minister.
Oskar Sigurdsson - Hide and Seek
Jer 3:14-16 The treasure that was hidden in the Ark of the Covenant, Jeremiah prophesied would be hidden in the man. " God will give you pastors according to His own heart," God said they will feed My people with knowledge and understanding, resulting in increase and multiplication. When pastors feed the flock of God, it should result in restoration, increase, prosperity and cause the new life to spring forth in the lives of the people. Jesus said the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in the field. A field is soil, mud, and dirt. There is a treasure hidden in every one of us. Honour is the key to access the treasure if we can´t see past the field we miss the treasure. The Jews missed their Messiah because they did not honor the man Jesus therefore, the treasure Christ was hidden to them.
Oskar Sigurdsson - Give Me A Drink
Thanksgiving and Praise is the code for access into God´s presence. What water is to the body worship is to the spirit. Worship is the sense of touch in our spirit, it is through worship we touch the LORD and once we have touched Him we are never the same again. A true worship experience is a game changer. It is in dry places were we are tried if we are true worshippers or not, by releasing the water supply from our spirit. The children of Israel journeyed through the wilderness and the Rock Christ which followed them supplied them with water. Just before they entered into the promise land, Miriam died and the water dried in the rock. God told Moses to speak to the rock in order to release the water but Moses failed to sanctify the LORD in the midst of the congregation and smote the rock the second time and fell short of the price. Christ was crucified once and for all who believe are called into God´s promises. With thanksgiving and praise we speak to the Rock and release the waters of worship in our midst.
Oskar Sigurdsson - Neighbour I Need a Drink
Humans have five basic senses: touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste which all send information to the brain to enable us to perceive the world around us. Since we are three dimensional i. e. body, soul, and spirit we have five senses in our body, our soul and our spirit. The sense of touch is considered to be the first sense that humans develop. The sense of touch in our spirit is worship. We may have touched things connected to God but touched God Himself. We connect to church but we may not have connected to God of the Church. Our senses are bombarded with negative information every day and we spend much time exercising our sensual muscles while leaving our spiritual muscles underdeveloped.
Heb. 5:14 tells us how we by using our senses exercise them to discern both good and evil. What we don´t use won´t grow. The woman at the well had tried to quench the spiritual thirst with many relationships. What water is to the body, worship is to the spirit. Three points were mentioned
1. Worship what you don´t know.
2. Worship what you know.
3. True worshippers worship beyond knowledge.
Oskar Sigurdsson - Sifted
Luke 22:31-32. Right before Peter is being baptised in the Holy Ghost, preaches his first message as the leader of the new born Church, Jesus tells Peter how Satan desired to have him, to sift him as wheat. It sounds like a bad thing, but the truth of the matter is that wheat can never become what it was made for without going through sifting. Sifting is a messy process, but there is a message is the mess. The children of the Kingdom are likened to wheat and Jesus identifies Himself with corn of wheat. God will take us through the sifting process to rid us of the chaff in our lives. The chaff is not a part of your destiny and where God wants to take you. Jesus prayed that Peter´s faith would not fail. He did not pray he wouldn't´t cry, be hurt or mess up but that his faith would not fail. If you have faith in the middle of the mess God can still use you. Faith is a " Game Changer " Once through the sifting Jesus wants us to strengthen others, for those who have been through the sifting have empathy. God wants to give it to us if it can flow through us. " Empathy is the capacity to place oneself in another's position " By giving away we enlarge our capacity for God to pour more into us, therefore we must never break the flow.
Oskar Sigurdsson - The Extra Mile
In Luke 5:17-24 Going the “ extra mile “ is a term used to describe when someone does more than required of him. Jesus referred to the law of restitution in Exodus and the law that permitted a Roman soldier to compel a Jewish man to carry his load a mile. When people go the extra mile for us it indicates they value their relationship with us. If anyone truly has gone the extra mile for us it is Jesus, Who made Himself of no reputations and took upon Him a form of a servant and gave His life to bring us back to the Father, that´s how much He valued the relationship with us. In the text, we find four men who went the extra mile with their paralysed friend to get him to Jesus. In spite of the opposition they faced, their faith was tenacious and the Bible says when Jesus saw their faith He healed the paralytic.
Oskar Sigurdsson - Guard your Garden
Relationship between God and man started in a garden. The garden was there before the man. God planted the garden and put Adam in the garden. Then a breach was made in the relationship between God and Adam and the Sabbath rest broken. God no longer could meet with Adam on this personal level of the relationship. The restoration process of the relationship started in the garden. We find Jesus who is the second Adam in the Garden of Gethsemane, there He sweat drops of blood and broke the curse. The enemy tried to kill Jesus in the garden to prevent His death on the cross, thereby the relationship between God and man would not be restored. We find Jesus again in the garden tomb, where He was crucified, but also raised from the dead. The temple veil was torn and the way was opened to the Tree of Life again. Jesus appeared as the gardener on resurrection morning, but then He was revealed as the High Priest who went into the Holy of holies to atone for our sins, therefore restore the relationship and bring back the Sabbath rest. We must come to the garden of relationship alone.
Anne Hanssen - We Need Each Other
The paralytic man was totally depended on the mercy and faith of his fellow man. When Jesus saw their faith it got His attention. Our faith is seen in our works. In spite of the opposition the four-faced they did not give up but found a way to Jesus. You may have to climb over walls and break through barriers to bring people to Christ, go the extra mile. Your faith and love for others can make a difference in somebody's life. Whatever life has handed us there is nothing can separate us from the Love of God.
Oskar Sigurdsson - Born For This
John the Baptist had a tremendous ministry and mandate bestowed on him from God. He came to prepare the way of the LORD and point out the Lamb of God to Israel. However we never read about John himself following Jesus, yet some of his disciples did. John kept on with his ministry, then being sent to prison he doubted his past preaching and prophecies and eventually lost his life. If we put ministry before the relationship with the Lamb of God we will find ourselves in dark places of confusion, obscurity, self-doubt. Ministry can never replace the relationship. We must always follow the Lamb. Jesus came to restore our relationship with God. We need to be alone with God, we need to date Him. Anything spiritually significant happens in the alone time with God. When we spend time alone with God we will have God discovery and once we have a God discovery we will have a self-discovery.
Oskar Sigurdsson - Don't Try To Fool Me
From the beginning, God is teaching us the power of relationship. The fruit is a result of a relationship. Fruit does not grow overnight, but over time as the relationship between the branch and the tree continues. Some relationships are only to teach, test us and others to help us reach our God-given destiny. Jesus started His mission by building a relationship with a few guys He chose. Jesus knew why Judas was there, to bring Him to the cross and fulfill the Father´s will so we might be saved. Disappointments come when we have placed our expectations on someone who failed to meet them. When we receive the Holy Spirit we also receive various spiritual gifts. Gifts tell us how much God loves us. But the Holy Spirit also has fruit and the fruit is the evidence that we love God. Three different categories of people we have a relationship with. Constituents are for what you are for, they have a common goal. Comrades are against what you are against. But Confidant is someone you share secrets with. We must know into whom we pour ourselves into. We are commanded to love all people, but not to trust people.
Oskar Sigurdsson - Cancel the Funeral
Mother's Day message. In Luke 7:11-15 we read about a mother who has lost her son but also is a widow. She had a double portion of sorrow. She is associated with much people who all are heading to the graveyard to bury her only son. Her only hope to carry the family name. As a mother, she had hopes and expectations for her son, but now she is burying her future, hopes, and dreams. On the contrary, Jesus is approaching the city with a multitude of people. Death and life are meeting at the gate of a city called Nain which means beauty. Do we need to do a reality check which group we are associated with? Those who mourn over lost dreams and opportunities or those who walk in the newness of life. Some relationship is unhealthy as they help us bury our future, hopes, and opportunities. But Jesus stopped the procession and raised her son from death. Sometimes we escape into busy to avoid dealing with our pain. But when we stop and allow Jesus to deal with our disappointments, discouragement, and despair He'll give life back to our hopes, visions, and dreams. A prophetic word to mothers to not bury the vision and dream they have for their children, though they may not look like what you saw or hoped for. Jesus will cancel the funeral.
Full Circle | Mike Hayes
Only 25 verses yet so jam packed of truths relevant to our present time. The Epistle of Jude urges the reader to defend the true doctrine of Christ and remember the words of the apostles. Jude rebukes the shepherds who neglected the things God had placed in the midst of them and did not come full circle. He urges the hearer to wholeness.
It's Not Over Yet | Oskar Sigurdsson
It´s not over yet! We all have a "why" in our life when we go through seasons of no fruit. In spite of no fruit Zacharias and Elisabeth remained faithful and true to God. God answered Zacharias personal prayer while he was praying for others. God remembers our tears, prayers and labor. God may take us to the end of ourselves for us to see only God could have done it. Your blessing is not just for you. Your fruit has a purpose to restore and turn people to God. Don´t let others put their label on your fruit. It is what it is.
Dealing With My Daily Bread | Oskar Sigurdsson
Gal 6:1-10. Jesus freed us not to go back into slavery but to live the life Jesus died to give us. This new life must be fed. Anything living we take on in life whether it be creature or relationship must be fed. The law of sowing and reaping is an irrevocable law in God´s books. Jesus cursed the fig tree because it was only taking and not giving back to what was giving to it.
Give Me Vision
We ought to have a God given vision for our lives. Without a vision we lack restraint. God creates situations a situation for a revelation, designed for restraint in our lives. God has a vision for our lives, a vision is birthed by hearing His Voice. We must learn to hear His Voice for ourselves. We can be called, anointed, have a ministry but yet not know His Voice. Keeping our lamps burning in the midnight hour will give light to others and the Truth will set them free.