Honoring

We are a movement about honoring the Father, Holy Spirit, the Son, and all others. We desire to be disciples who honor our God in everything we do, even in our mistakes, in our forgiveness, and in our apologies. We recognize humanity is diverse, with each person’s experience being the narrative for their actions, beliefs, and opinions. This value is important on a personal level, and for our movement as a whole.

Therefore as an act of honor to the global Church, we practice “In essentials – unity; in nonessentials – liberty; in all things – charity” and we operate with the same heart as the inscription on the cornerstone of the first Foursquare church, Angelus Temple, “Dedicated unto the cause of inter-denominational and worldwide evangelism”. Additionally, as an act of honor towards each person, we honor each person’s free will, dignity, and equal value among humanity. By honoring people and God in this way, true freedom, true love, and true opportunity is given for new disciples to be made; this is a true act of honor towards Jesus’ life and ministry.

Our basis for honoring the Father, Holy Spirit, the Son, and all others is within the words of John 5, we encourage you to read the whole chapter and dwell on the following passage:

19 So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished. 21 For just as the Father gives life to those he raises from the dead, so the Son gives life to anyone he wants. 22 In addition, the Father judges no one. Instead, he has given the Son absolute authority to judge, 23 so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son is certainly not honoring the Father who sent him.

24 “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life. John 5:19-24 NLT

The emphasis here is that when we highly esteem and honor Jesus, there is no limit to what He can do in people’s lives. Our prayer is that we not be people who only honor God with our lips and words, nor we not be people who worship out of human-made rules (Isaiah 29:13). Above all may we always allow the space and time for people to encounter God freely, on their own free will. The inspiration for ingraining honor into our movement in Poland comes from a teaching by John Bevere in 2013 – read and watch it here.

How will we Honor the Father, Holy Spirit, the Son, and all others?

By being servant-leaders, people who lead by serving, recognizing the upside down model that Jesus made with his disciples (washing the disciples feet, calling them friends) it is a “bottom up” model not a “top down”. By being quick to apologize, humble in our actions and words, and communicating to the best of our abilities that we are human and we will fail people, and also that Jesus will not fail, and that Jesus deserves all glory. We will ensure that what we say and do is honoring to God’s creation and work, and to all people’s stories and experiences while at the same time recognizing God’s ultimate plan to restore all things. We will yield to the Holy Spirit and we will honor relationship over status, do our best to have opportunity for one on one mentoring and discipleship, and know the right time to release people into their next season of their life with God, with honor, equipped, and loved through the process.

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