What Happens When We Walk in Righteousness?

Happy New Year! Well WOWgroup Global Fellowship NY had a wonderful time taking a closer look at the meaning of Righteousness. The question that was posed by Minister William Merced Jr. was " What happens when we are righteous?

Psalm 112:1-10 (Contemporary English Version)
God Blesses His Worshipers
Shout praises to the LORD! The LORD blesses everyone who worships him and gladly obeys his teachings. Their descendants will have great power in the land, because the LORD blesses all who do right. They will get rich and prosper and will always be remembered for their fairness. They will be so kind and merciful and good, that they will be a light in the darkfor others who do the right thing. Life will go well for those who freely lend and are honest in business. They won't ever be troubled, and the kind things they do will never be forgotten. Bad news won't bother them; they have decided to trust the LORD. They are dependable and not afraid, and they will live to see their enemies defeated. They will always be remembered and greatly praised, because they were kind and freely gave to the poor. When evil people see this, they angrily bite their tongues and disappear. They will never get what they really want.

How many times do we picture a God who we must be fearful or afraid of? How often have we been " Forced to obey, because if not you will reap what you sow?" Why would anyone want a relationship with a God who has no compassion? No love? No Justice? Today we were reminded that when we worship God gladly and obey his teachings we are blessed. We are blessed, because God has made us " Righteous". In other words God has given us the gift of righteousness, which is Jesus. When we have a relationship with the Father we have authority to rule in the land the Lord gives us.

He loves us so much that this blessing is passed down to our children and their children. Why? The son will do what he sees the Father do. John 5:19 Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. We are rich! Yes, the Lord may bless some of us with monetary wealth. But this blessing goes way beyond this. Our house (our temple, mind, body and soul) is blessed.

We can be a light in this dark world and draw others to the Lord. We can be the hands and feet the mouthpiece of the Father and lend to the poor. Surely we were called to be a blessing! Thank you Jesus for making me righteous!

WOWgroup Global Fellowship NY would like to wish you and your family a Happy New Year filled with blessings!

Designed to Praise & Worship

WOWgroup Global Fellowships NY had an awesome time digging into the Word of God and finding out that yes Worship is a time for celebration, but it is a spiritual discipline.

To frame our study today we turned to the Old Testament book of Exodus.  We learned that the word worship is used 20 times.  We learned that the underlying theme is often thought to be the exodus, but if we take a closer look we will see that it is about worship.

WOWgroup Global Fellowship NY looked at three passages to see if this was true.

Exodus 3:9-12

New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

⁹ And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰ So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

 ¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

 ¹² And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you^[a] will worship God on this mountain.” 

After our discussion of the following scriptures we understood that God sees when we are hurting and in need and the way he reacts to us is by saving us.  This is the Father's nature, because He loves us and we are His children.  We are therefore called to be in a relationship with Him.

Point number one ~ Worship is: AN EXPRESSION OF RELATIONSHIP

Minister Tanya Merced assigned the following scriptures to the group: Exodus 7:16,8:1,8:20,9:1,10:3,10:7 

WOWgroup Global Fellowship noticed that the whole point of the Exodus was to have His people worship God.  After discussing these scriptures and noticing the common theme in all of them we understood that the reason God saved us was for us to Worship Him.

Point number two ~ Worship is: AN EXPRESSION OF APPRECIATION

WOWgroup Global Fellowship NY then turned to Exodus 40:34-35 the second half of the book of Exodus, the setting of the tabernacle.  We each took a turn and discussed how it would be if we would witness the cloud and experienced what Moses did.  Just like Moses we agreed that we would be overwhelmed and in awe of our Lord and savior.

Point number three ~ Worship is: AN EXPRESSION OF AWE

One thing WOWgroup Global Fellowship NY agreed upon is that there is no "RIGHT" way to worship.  There are lots of ways to express relationship, appreciation, and awe. 

Romans 12:1-2 NIV

Living Sacrifices

 ¹ Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual^[a] act of worship. ² Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

 

All Things Are Possible

Matthew 19:26 NIV - " Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."  Today we began our WOWgroup Global Fellowship NY meeting praising and worshiping God.  Minister Tanya Merced ministered in a praise dance " He Wants it All".  If you would like to see the praise dance click here or visit our Media page. 
Andrew began his message by showing us a clip from (Cinderella Play) Shoe Fits.  After the clip Andrew told us that the message today is about focusing on what God can make happen in your life if you don't give up.  The prince in the fairytale Cinderella thought he would never find his love and grew desperate.  We see this by the prince's actions.  The prince charming went all over the kingdom looking for Cinderella and he didn't give up until he found her.
Then Andrew reminded us that in the same way God wants us to seek Him and find Him.  When we put God first all things are possible, even those situations where we feel hopeless and uncertain we need to trust Him.  When man tries to fix things we make a mess out of things.  When we decide to do it ourselves we are rejecting God and we are telling Him we don't trust you.
In October 2007, Andrew was in a school play called High School Musical and he told us that he had a very difficult time with many of the scenes.  He was so frustrated with the basketball scene and the teacher kicked him out, because he couldn't toss the ball to the other players.  " My weakness was basketball not acting, but I was not given a chance," Andrew said.   God, however, knew how much I loved plays and knew that I would play prince charming this year. 
"I have to say that I did get the role and learned that God made it possible!" Andrew said joyfully.
Thank you Andrew for reminded each one of us that even though we may have disabilities or circumstances that may appear impossible ~ God tells us to trust Him and seek Him and He will give us the desires of our hearts.

The Giver

WOWgroup Global Fellowship NY had the opportunity of examining their spiritual gifts.  WOWgroup first began their meeting by watching a clip from the movie XMEN, if you would like to see the clip click here.  After watching this clip Minister Tanya Merced shared on how difficult it is to use the gift of prophecy ~ speaking forth the word of God for the building up of others.  Just like the mutants in the movie XMEN we can feel out of place and uncomfortable if we are not sure where our spiritual gifts belong.  Therefore it is important that we study the scriptures carefully and apply the Word in our churches so that our "gifts" can be used to edify and build the church.

WOWgroup Global Fellowship NY had the opportunity of taking a Spiritual Gift Analysis Survey online and discovered that many of our strengths were actually our spiritual gifts.

Other Gifts	The 5 Fold Ministry	The 9 Spiritual Gifts
Romans 12:6-8	Ephesians 4:11	1 Corinthians 12:1-14
Prophecy Ministry Teaching Exhortation Giving Leading Showing mercy (compassion)	Apostolic Prophetic Evangelical Pastoral Teaching	Wisdom Knowledge Discerning various spirits Speaking in tongues Interpretation of tongues Prophecy Faith Working of miracles Healing

It is important to note that some of us may not be gifted in evangelism as others, but in Matthew 28:18-20 it states that we are called to evangelize whether or not we have the gift.  The Lord commands us to witness, love and to disciple the nations.  Our God will supply and equip us according to our need.

Being Process is Not Easy!

WOWgroup Global Fellowship NJ had an amazing time worshiping, praising and studying the word of God.  The message was brought forth by a wonderful teacher Yolie Rodriguez.

The Theme and slogan for the day 
"Being Process in the Midst of the Process There is a Process"

4 Key Elements that were studied:

1. Trust
2. Delight
3. Commit
4. Wait

During the lesson we were assigned different scriptures to read and we discovered that many of these scriptures not only dealt with Trust, Pleasure, Commitment and Patience, but Character.

One of the things that we discovered was that "Processing is God building a Character," which by definition means that it is a choice we must make. Trust is a choice element. In order for God to take pleasure (delight)himself within us we must make the decision to walk in total obedience.

"Our Actions define who we really are (Character + Integrity)"

WOWgroup Global Fellowships NJ realized that these 4 key elements need to be studied more closely and so we give thanks to God that Yolie Rodgriguez was able to bring forth such an awesome timely word. We know that there is more to come.

Scripture References:
Isaiah 26:4
Psalm 40:1
Psalm 112:6-7
Psalm 119:15-16
Psalm 62:5-8
Psalm 37:9

Which Road Should I Take?

WOWgroup Global Fellowship NY had a wonderful time praising, worshiping and studying the word of God.  Minister William Merced Jr. delivered an awesome and inspiring word.

Sometimes what happens is that when we go through things in life we go back to what we know.  We have to make a decision to let it go.  When we think things through we might get turned off and choose to do the right thing.

If its harmful to us we must stay away in order to move forward.

I would like to publicly thank William Merced Jr. for opening his heart and being so transparent with WOWgroup Global Fellowship NY.  Through Minister William Merced Jr.'s honesty about his personal struggles we were able to relate to the message of God.  The message that was brought forth was one of righteousness and holiness.


Scripture References:

Philippians 3:14
"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (NIV) 

2 Corinthians 5:17

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here." (NIV) 

James 4:17

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin. 

Minister William Merced Jr. reminded us that submitting ourselves to the Lord is a lifestyle.  When we submit ourselves to the Lord daily the enemy Satan has to flee, because Christ lives within each one of us.  The revelation that we received was that God is internal and when we have the Lord within us then everything that is external our actions ought to be a reflection of Jesus Christ (lifestyle).  When you accept Christ you are accepting His life-style.    Jesus was about the Father's business, which was people.  When you are in Christ and Christ is in you there is no more I.

We were reminded that Christ did not badger people to accept the truth, but He shared His wisdom and demonstrated His love.  

Question:  Which road do you want to choose?

The Heart of Worship = His Will

Happy Anniversary
WOWgroup Global Fellowship NY

WOWgroup Global Fellowship NY celebrated its 2nd year Anniversary with WOWgroup Global Fellowship NJ.

Our focus today was on our outward expression "Praise" to the Lord. Minister Tanya Merced focused on three points:
Why do we sing at church?
Why should we create a record?
Why should we give thanks?

Do you know that the bible mentions to "Sing to the Lord 104 times?" Singing in the bible is a form of giving God praise for what He has done. The focus is on the heart of the singer. God wants us to sing to Him. Okay, if you are like me and don't have a performer's voice you might be self-conscious, but God doesn't care. The Lord takes pleasure in your praise when it comes from your heart. Remember the heart of Worship = His Will.

Another reason why we should sing praises to the Lord. When we sing to the Lord something happens in the spirit realm.

2 Chronicles 20:21 "And when he had consulted with the people he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and to say, Praise the Lord for his mercy endureth forever."

Jehoshaphat sent the choir out in front of the army. Now you know they must have been saying this is crazy. (But singing praises changes the atmosphere ~ spiritual/natural. Praise brings total confusion to the things that are not of God.

Jehoshaphat's army won. The enemy became confused and started killing each other.

Why Should we record our services, takes notes, prophetic words?

We need to capture and understand what God is saying.
We need to make it a habit to take notes and not rely on our memories to retrieve information, so that we can go back and reread it, pray over it, pass it down to others. When we record the Lord's word we are honoring God.

Benefits of Note-taking

1. Clarify and structure your thoughts and actions.
2. Keep track of what has happened.
3. Plan what needs to happen next.
4. Keep good and correct records of ideas, facts, and information.
5. Reinforces your understanding of the information.

Thanksgiving

In the Old Testament some of the jobs of the priest were to stand and thank God for all the things He had done and what he was doing. We too must have this ministry in place in our church, our homes and in our private times with the Lord.
We need to begin thanking God for everything instead of complaining. We need to develop an attitude of gratitude and be thankful for all the things that we have.

Psalm 150:6 "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord".

When we focus on all the things that God has done for us it prepares our heart to enter in and worship.

To worship You I Live

WOWgroup Global Fellowship NY had a great time examining the meaning of " WORSHIP". Before we began today's message we each gave our own definition of what worship meant to us.

Some of the things that were mentioned at the meeting was that worship meant being thankful to God and showing it without pride. Another word that was used was death to self, and to surrender our very best. Everything that we are " our soul, mind, and spirit".

We then watched a clip from the movie " There Be Dragons". If you would like to see the clip Click Here. After we watched the movie we shared what we felt the movie was saying about worship.

After the discussion Minister Tanya Merced shared on what worship and praise is all about. Praise in the bible refers to some sort of outward expression: lifting the hands, shouting, dancing, kneeling, singing, playing an instrument, etc. Praise is something you can see or hear. Worship on the other hand, is a form of sacrifice or humility.

In the Old Testament Genesis Chapter 22, God told Abraham to sacrifice his son and Abraham considered it to be worship unto God. Psalm 95, "come let us worship and bow down." Romans 12:1 tells us to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, and that is considered our spiritual act of worship.

John 4:24 " God is Spirit, and those that worship Him will worship in Spirit and in truth." Jesus told us that we must come to the Father in Spirit, because He is Spirit. In other words, when Jesus said, " I am the way, the truth, and the life. God is spirit, and Jesus is truth. John 16 also tells us that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. Now that we have access to the Father we must come and worship as He is.

As Christians we must understand that Jesus was telling us and showing us that the Father is looking for those who truly worship. Is worship about singing, praying, studying the word, etc? The answer is that is just part of it. The kind of worship the Father who is Spirit is looking for is a living sacrificial one. We need to come to God in complete humility and lay aside our will so that God can have His perfect will.

The Heart of God = His Will

Humility has everything to do with the breaking down of our will. The will is the hardest thing to break, but David said "...the sacrifices You desire are broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart." (Psalm 51:17).

WOWgroup Global Fellowship NY at the close of the meeting understood that in order to please and honor God we must get out of the way and say just like Jesus " not my will, but Yours be done".

You Can Do Anything with God by your side!

WOWgroup Global Fellowship NY had an awesome time learning and studying God's Word.

Minister William Merced Jr. brought a timely message about how we can become more effective in our walk with God. Not only are we to read His word, but we are to truly be doers of God's word. Minister William Merced Jr. gave personal accounts on how we can be instruments of God. At times sharing the gospel is enough, but clothing, feeding, and helping those in need is the heart of God. Moreover, we must be compassionate like Jesus. God is all about love and we too must be love.

John 3:16-17 (New King James Version)

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

WOWgroup Global Fellowship NY also had the privilege of having Andrew W. Merced teach Sunday School. Andrew W. Merced first began his lesson with a Sunday School Song called Clap Your Hands. After the song he told the children the story about a giant and a shepherd boy named David. Andrew handed out coloring pages and asked the children to point to the boy and the giant.

Andrew then read the following Memory Verse: " And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands." 1 Samuel 17:47

Andrew asked the children what they learned and they said they learned that a little boy named David defeated a giant. Andrew told them yes, but the most important thing for us to remember is that it doesn't matter how old we are or how we look. God looks in our hearts. God fights our battles and therefore we are not alone. We can do anything with God by our side. Andrew then showed the children a special God Rock film with David and Goliath. What a fantastic lesson.

WOWgroup Global Fellowship NY is so proud of Andrew W. Merced. Andrew does not allow autism to stop him from achieving the very best. God wants our best.

What Does Resurrection Sunday Mean to You?

WOWgroup Global Fellowship NY celebrated Resurrection Sunday with praise and worship. Thanking God for His faithfulness to us all.

Casting Crowns Set Me Free was played as we watched a clip from the Passion of Christ. What an awesome loving personal God.

We shared Holy Communion and were reminded that Jesus broke bread with His disciples and called each one of them friend. How awesome is He to call us a friend.

Today we focused on the following question:
What Does Resurrection Sunday Mean to each one of us?

We had the opportunity to see two films and then give our personal insight. If you would like to see both clips click on the following:

The Tomb is Empty
Tell Everybody

After seeing both films, I can honestly say that both have reminded me of what Resurrection Sunday really is all about, but the one that really spoke to my spirit was the second clip.

We see in the second clip Mary Magdalene crying passionately about Jesus' body being removed from the tomb. We see Jesus behind her and he wants to console her, but he can't. Mary recognizes Jesus and tries to hold on to him. Jesus tells her to not hold on to him.

John 20:17
Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"

Jesus when he rose from the dead told Mary not to touch him. Jesus was telling Mary there is a new way ~ things are not the way it used to be. Jesus death on the cross and his resurrection created a new relationship between us and the Father (A New Covenant).

What Does Resurrection Sunday Mean to me?

Resurrection Sunday means that I have total access to the Father, because of Jesus obedience. I can know the Father as a loving, caring, personal, God and not like a distant force.