Oxford Bible Church - Living in the Last Days (audio)

Unbelief is a veil over our spiritual eyes, so we only see the natural realm. It keeps us from possessing our Promised Land (Hebrews 3). 3 kinds of unbelief: 1. Ignorance (overcome by hearing the Word), 2. Rebellion (overcome by repentance), 3. Natural (overcome by refocusing by prayer & fasting - Matt 17:21).

As well as having faith we must guard our heart from unbelief, for it prevents our faith from producing much fruit. Faith comes from hearing the Word, unbelief from hearing the world. We see 3 examples of how Abraham kept out natural unbelief, and how Peter failed to do this when he walked on water.

To be full of faith we must (1) fill our heart with the Word (Rom 10:17), and (2) guard our heart against unbelief (Prov 4:20-23). Faith and unbelief can co-exist in the heart. Unbelief hinders the operation of faith. We study 3 main enemies of faith: (1) Natural Unbelief, (2) Unforgiveness and (3) False Doctrine.

Every blessing is ours in Christ, purchased by His blood, including forgiveness and healing (Eph 1:3), so they are available upon request. Mark 11:24 says we are to believe we receive them when we pray. This requires us having confidence that God immediately releases them to us in the Spirit.

We look at the many biblical examples of women in leadership including Mary, Phoebe, Priscilla and Junia, as well as leadership qualifications in 1Timothy 3. Finally, we study the passage on headship and headcoverings in 1 Corinthians 11, showing God has given women long hair as her covering (v15).

In understanding passages on authority we must know what Divine Institution is in view. We apply this to 1Timothy 2:8-15 which forbids a wife from usurping authority over her husband, but not from having positions of authority in the Church or Society. This is confirmed by examples of women leaders.

We begin this study on the role of women in Church in Genesis, with the 6 Divine Institutions of Delegated Authority: 1. Free-Will, 2. Marriage, 3. Family, 4. Government, 5. Work-Place, 6. Church. God designed Marriage to have a loving male-headship, but this was corrupted through the Fall.

The exclusion of women from ministry and leadership is a manifestation of the Fall (Genesis 3:16). We see how the New Testament restores the honour of women, and ask whether Paul was silencing women in church in 1Corinthians 14:34-35, or whether he was silencing the women-silencers!

After the Prayer of Faith, when we come to God believing we receive the promise, we must maintain an active faith that God's Power is working to bring His Word to pass in the 'pregnancy' time between receiving the promise (conception = the seed sown) and the manifestation (birth = the harvest reaped).

AFTER the Prayer of Faith, we must RELEASE our faith by THANKSGIVING. There are 2 kinds of Thanksgiving: (1) based on the manifestation and (2) based on the promise, before you see anything. We show from Bible examples how this keeps God's Power active in bringing the promise to pass.