11 November, 2007 8AM
Apostle Leigh Collins

Looking at our position in Christ as a body of believers. “Foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to rest His head.” What dies this mean? There was no body (church) for Him to rest His head on. There was no support structure for Him, but here is a body where Christ is the Head. It's not a place where man is the head, Christ is the Head. He builds His church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. It's not an organization, it's His church. “Having a spirit of excellence”. This phrase is being used in many circles in the Christian world today, but when you look for it in the Word, you don't find it. It is important that you always test phrases and teachings through the Word. The Christian artists are saying that we should have a spirit of excellence, but Daniel had an Excellent Spirit (Dan 6:3). This is a different thing. Where has the focus turned to?
It has now turned to the Spirit, and not to the excellence of the product. Looking at character; there are many people that have incredible talent, but their character does not line up with their talent.
When the Arts Faculty was started at MBC, we made sure to cover all aspects of the arts with the Word.
It is the Word of God that forms you, and it is also that Word that strips you of you are not. It strips you of all the influences you've had in your life. God has called us out of that. He made us individually. That is what the church is: The Called Out Ones. We are called out of the trends of this world, and out of its bonds. When you speak to people who have sat under the Word, you can hear that Word in their speech. If you speak to people who have not sat under the Word, all you hear from them are opinions.

Now looking at character: it calls for integrity, honor, dignity, and respect. Your character cannot be honored unless you understand your position in the spirit and the spiritual position of others. We are always looking at our own position in Christ, but how does it relate to the positions of others in the same body? This is not a one man church or move of God. Part of the Apostolic Reformation is about is to look away from yourself and what you need. Entering a corporate grace instead of a selfish bubble. Start looking outwardly. Jesus and Paul both included other people in their prayer: “our Father...”, “...Christ our Lord...”. Make seeking God the most preeminent thing in your life, and He will take care of those things you thought you need to take care of.
Unless you understand authority and your relation to that authority, you will not know how to react to it. Character does not only entail your private strength in the decisions you make, but also your manners and attitudes towards one another. Maturity in character becomes visible in our actions, in our tone, and mood towards one another. Having good spiritual manners is important and shows character. Many people have the gift, but not the character. It's important that we relate to one another by the spirit – to see someone for who Christ made them to be and not for their outward impressiveness.

When God created man, He created him perfect, in His own image: Spirit, soul, and body. To open a lock, you need a key that is made in the image of that lock. This will unlock things in your life if you understand it.
Gen 1
Gen 2:8 – the Lord God planted a garden and put man in it. This means that man was strategically positioned there.
A garden is a sheltered and protected place. This garden was Eden, and it was created as a haven where He and man might enjoy creation together. Eden represents the presence of God.
Don't just read Genesis as a physical story. Look at it in the spirit, and see your relationship with God at this moment. See that God positioned man in the garden and that it wasn't a haphazard action.

The garden had everything the man needed.
Food; work, in caring for the garden; creative leadership in the dominion over the animals; limitations for developing the moral nature of man, through the forbidden tree; the gift of the woman as helper and companion; and the location of this garden is believed to be in the Mesopotamia area, a very fruitful area.

Have you noticed where Islam thrives? Eden is believed to be in Mesopotamia, the modern day Iraq.
What is happening to the earth there? The earth is dry and dead. Yet, God has called us to multiply. The garden of Eden was a very fruitful and fertile land.
The Lord wants to call us out of a dry place. He wants to give us rivers in a dry land. He wants to get us to a place where we flourish in the Spirit, and not just carry on with a mundane lifestyle. God has called us for liberty in Christ.
Thinking of the garden, it reminds us of the body of Christ, the church, and that we have been placed here strategically to fulfill a certain function.

Have you been strategically placed in a church or are you living like a lone ranger?
Many people believe in the prophetic, but they feel that they want to change their church. They don't realize that they need to come out of that place into a place where they can be trained. If you want to be a cricket coach, you must go to the cricket association and be trained as a cricket coach. You can only do your own thing for so long before you run out of ideas. If you believe that you are called to do something, get to the place where you can be trained to do it.

The cool of the day is not an atmospheric condition, but rather an inspired, ecstatic state of prophecy, imparting war-like energy, an executive and administrative power as endowing men with various gifts.
Adam didn't walk with God in the garden and chit-chat. There was an intimate spiritual relationship. It was easy for Adam to enter into th presence of God, because He was tangibly present.
When sin entered, the two worlds of the flesh (the physical realm) and the Spirit (the intimacy, glory and presence of the Lord) became distant and it became more and more difficult to enter into that glorious relationship.
When God asked, “Adam, where are you?”, He wasn't looking for him the physical, He knew exactly where Adam was. It was their relationship that He was asking about.
Now God is asking you, “where are you?”.

The principle is: God made Adam and strategically gave him a position of authority, from where he could freely interact with God. When Adam sinned, he surrendered that strength and that position of authority, and instead empowered his flesh, and shifted his authority to a realm of bondage, insecurity, and insubordination to the Creator.

3 things took place at the fall:

1: He lost his position.
2: God became a great source of intimidation.
3: Supernaturally deactivated, operating only in the realm of the flesh.

You have 5 senses in the natural, but you also have 5 senses in the spirit. You are a spirit, you live in a body, and you have a soul. Your soul reflects as a mirror where you give the input. It is you intellect, emotions, and your will. When people are emotionally unstable, they feed their soul with fleshly desires. They think as the world thinks, and are so influenced, and their soul reflects that. They also make decisions according to what the world says.
Your soul reflects what you feed it. If you walk in the Spirit and give yourself to Spiritual things, your will, emotions, and intellect will line up to what the Word says.
What are you feeding your soul? Feed it with the Word of God. Get involved in a local body, and don't just come to church.
The devil only wants to steal your authority in Christ, that is where his attack is. He wants to break tha