Spread The Word

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MZ You’ve been described asbeing a serial entrepreneur. What arethe many hats you wear? Well Iwouldn’t say I am wearing many hatsnow as we are concentrating ondeveloping Pure Genius Entertainment.It is our ambition to make this a majorplayer in Gospel entertainment not onlyby putting on memorable shows likeOraclez but, supporting and nurturingnew talents through giving them theexposure on our shows and also in thelong-term, nurturing and developingtheir talents and skills throughproduction/ management.

MZ How long exactly have youbeen in the music business? I’ve beenin the business for as long as I canremember; my father was in thebusiness long before I was born so itwas probably no surprise I wouldbecome involved. I’ve worked fornotable recording companies like IslandRecords & Tuff Gong. I have produced anumber of notable artists like, reggaelegends Dennis Brown & John Holt aswell as R&B artists Dru Hill & MorrisBrown.

MZ Can you tell us more aboutAuthentic Real Music (A.R.M.)?AUTHENTIC REAL MUSIC was formedin 1993 under the original name A.R.MThe founding members were myself,Anthony Brightly and Robert Smith. We proceeded to organise prestigioustop class events. After three years ofworking together Anthony decided thatit was time for him to concentrate on hisother business venture andredeveloped his night club “ChimesMusic Complex.” The following yearRobert returned to Jamaica to fulfil hisdream of completing his holiday resort.I was left with the choice of whether tofold the company or continue. I decidedto continue. I also had to decidewhether to work with the name A.R.M.or change the name, I decided tocontinue with the name but give it anew meaning, and that’s whereAuthentic Real Music came in. Over theyears A.R.M. Events has worked with a

variety of organisations such as BBC1Xtra, The BBC, The Voice Newspaper,The New Nation, Oceans, Jet starPhonographic, Palm Pictures, VPRecords, the Mean Fiddler and DragonStout. The fusion of expertise at A.R.M.Events ensures that creative solutionscan be developed each and every timeby capitalising on our in-depthunderstanding of many diversemarkets.

MZ You are the owner of PureGenius Entertainment which broughtus Oraclez’ World Gospel Festival &Award Ceremony. How was P.G.Econceived? As mentioned previously,my profession was as a music promotervia Authentic Real Music. However, asARM concentrated on promotingsecular music specifically in the reggaearena, this left me at a cross-road as tohow this would fit into my change ofdirection. Once again, it was my Pastorwhich came up with the solution. Musicis my life, it’s my love and it’s what Iknow. It is very much a vehicle throughwhich we can bring people together, soshe reassured me that that was wheremy talents lay and how I can use myskills to do God’s work. The seed ofOraclez was hence formed. It took ayear for that seed to become a realityfollowing the establishment of thecompany which is made up of threeDirectors including myself, operatedwith a team of professionals all ofwhom are able to contribute their ownspecialist skill to make it a success asseen in our first venture – Oraclez worldgospel Festival & Awards.

MZ Will there be more of Oraclez?The simple answer to this is aresounding yes. We are already puttingour heads together to make Oraclez2010 even better than 2009.

MZ Having many years ofexperience in secular events, howdid you find organising such a largegospel event? Well, I took this on in thesame way I would organise any othermusic event – albeit on a much larger

On the 4th May 2009 thousands of gospel fans, both from the UK and abroad, flocked to London’sWembley Arena for the biggest gospel festival ever totake place in the UK, to celebrate with key artistes inthe gospel arena like Kirk Franklin, Mary Mary, CeCeWinans, Ann Nesby, Chevelle Franklyn, MarthaMunizzi, Coko and Smokie Norful. Plus support from: Jahaziel, Witness, Singing D, Rachel Hylton and Rebecca. Oraclez World Gospel Festival & AwardsGospel Concert was a phenomenal success and thismonth Music Zone wanted to find out more aboutMichael Koos, the man behind the event.

MZ Michael first let me congratulate you on thewonderful success of Oraclez, the UK’s biggestgospel festival ever. How do you feel about itssuccess? I feel really pleased and thankful for theevent & the whole team that has made it possible.

MZ How long have you been a Christian and howwere you converted? I became a born-again Christiantwo and a half years ago. It’s difficult to say ‘how I wasconverted’ but, I must give credit to my Pastor, PastorJennifer Brown. I think she probably came into my lifeat a time when I most needed direction and a sense ofpurpose.

MZ You’ve been described asbeing a serial entrepreneur. What arethe many hats you wear? Well Iwouldn’t say I am wearing many hatsnow as we are concentrating ondeveloping Pure Genius Entertainment.It is our ambition to make this a majorplayer in Gospel entertainment not onlyby putting on memorable shows likeOraclez but, supporting and nurturingnew talents through giving them theexposure on our shows and also in thelong-term, nurturing and developingtheir talents and skills throughproduction/ management.

MZ How long exactly have youbeen in the music business? I’ve beenin the business for as long as I canremember; my father was in thebusiness long before I was born so itwas probably no surprise I wouldbecome involved. I’ve worked fornotable recording companies like IslandRecords & Tuff Gong. I have produced anumber of notable artists like, reggaelegends Dennis Brown & John Holt aswell as R&B artists Dru Hill & MorrisBrown.

MZ Can you tell us more aboutAuthentic Real Music (A.R.M.)?AUTHENTIC REAL MUSIC was formedin 1993 under the original name A.R.MThe founding members were myself,Anthony Brightly and Robert Smith. We proceeded to organise prestigioustop class events. After three years ofworking together Anthony decided thatit was time for him to concentrate on hisother business venture andredeveloped his night club “ChimesMusic Complex.” The following yearRobert returned to Jamaica to fulfil hisdream of completing his holiday resort.I was left with the choice of whether tofold the company or continue. I decidedto continue. I also had to decidewhether to work with the name A.R.M.or change the name, I decided tocontinue with the name but give it anew meaning, and that’s whereAuthentic Real Music came in. Over theyears A.R.M. Events has worked with a

variety of organisations such as BBC1Xtra, The BBC, The Voice Newspaper,The New Nation, Oceans, Jet starPhonographic, Palm Pictures, VPRecords, the Mean Fiddler and DragonStout. The fusion of expertise at A.R.M.Events ensures that creative solutionscan be developed each and every timeby capitalising on our in-depthunderstanding of many diversemarkets.

MZ You are the owner of PureGenius Entertainment which broughtus Oraclez’ World Gospel Festival &Award Ceremony. How was P.G.Econceived? As mentioned previously,my profession was as a music promotervia Authentic Real Music. However, asARM concentrated on promotingsecular music specifically in the reggaearena, this left me at a cross-road as tohow this would fit into my change ofdirection. Once again, it was my Pastorwhich came up with the solution. Musicis my life, it’s my love and it’s what Iknow. It is very much a vehicle throughwhich we can bring people together, soshe reassured me that that was wheremy talents lay and how I can use myskills to do God’s work. The seed ofOraclez was hence formed. It took ayear for that seed to become a realityfollowing the establishment of thecompany which is made up of threeDirectors including myself, operatedwith a team of professionals all ofwhom are able to contribute their ownspecialist skill to make it a success asseen in our first venture – Oraclez worldgospel Festival & Awards.

MZ Will there be more of Oraclez?The simple answer to this is aresounding yes. We are already puttingour heads together to make Oraclez2010 even better than 2009.

MZ Having many years ofexperience in secular events, howdid you find organising such a largegospel event? Well, I took this on in thesame way I would organise any othermusic event – albeit on a much larger

On the 4th May 2009 thousands of gospel fans, both from the UK and abroad, flocked to London’sWembley Arena for the biggest gospel festival ever totake place in the UK, to celebrate with key artistes inthe gospel arena like Kirk Franklin, Mary Mary, CeCeWinans, Ann Nesby, Chevelle Franklyn, MarthaMunizzi, Coko and Smokie Norful. Plus support from: Jahaziel, Witness, Singing D, Rachel Hylton and Rebecca. Oraclez World Gospel Festival & AwardsGospel Concert was a phenomenal success and thismonth Music Zone wanted to find out more aboutMichael Koos, the man behind the event.

MZ Michael first let me congratulate you on thewonderful success of Oraclez, the UK’s biggestgospel festival ever. How do you feel about itssuccess? I feel really pleased and thankful for theevent & the whole team that has made it possible.

MZ How long have you been a Christian and howwere you converted? I became a born-again Christiantwo and a half years ago. It’s difficult to say ‘how I wasconverted’ but, I must give credit to my Pastor, PastorJennifer Brown. I think she probably came into my lifeat a time when I most needed direction and a sense ofpurpose.

scale. The most difficult thing, if you can call it difficult,was getting the confidence of the gospel communitywho, it would be fair to say, was a little sceptical. PGE isa new player in this field so it was incumbent on us toprove ourselves as being truly committed to Christianityand in wanting to do something positive for the glory ofGod. I think we have done this now and Oraclez 2010should be even bigger and better.

MZ What is the driving force behind Michael Koos?I suppose I would say my driving force is my family andthe pursuit of excellence. I get immense pleasure fromproducing high quality events which are appreciated bypatrons. It used to be putting on creative shows which pushedthe boundary of secular music hence ARM being the firstreggae promoters to put the prestigious RoyalPhilharmonic Orchestra together with a reggae artist likeJohn Holt. Now, PGE wants to bring that sameinnovative approach to gospel. I believe this is my bestway of using my God given talent to serve the Father.

MZ The general response to Oraclez has beenastounding, how has the response of the artistessuch as Chevelle Franklin, Cece Winans, KirkFranklin and Martha Munizzi to mention a few been?The feedback we have received so far from all the artistshave been a positive and encouraging one. They are allkeen to come back and their support and commentshave been heartening to all of us who are involved in theventure.

MZ What other ventures is PGE undertaking? At the moment we are concentrating on establishingOraclez as the number one gospel event but we do haveplans for a number of exciting ventures. We are puttingtogether ideas for an annual gospel talent competitionwhich we are calling ‘Gospel Quest’, launching a gospelcruise, and of course as stated, Pure GeniusEntertainment will work with new UK talents.

MZ Final words for STW readers…? Our final wordsare one of thanks to all your readers who have madeOraclez 2009 such a successful venture. Without yourreaders and supporters in general, we would not now belooking forward to next year with such optimism. All wewould urge is that if you missed this year, Spread theWord and make sure you do not miss out on theblessings and enjoyment which were in abundance atOraclez 2009. Keep checking our websitewww.oraclez.com for up to date information and to takepart in the active forums which give everyone theopportunity to send us their feedback.

MZ Thank you for your time.

MUSIC ZONE MICHAEL KOOS

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How can I lose my belly fat? This is a very common questionand a much-shared desire among people of different ages,shapes, and sizes. I could answer that question in an instant bysuggesting some really great fat-burning exercise, and a list offoods to stay away from. I will deal with that question inanother installment of Health Wealth. For now, I’m going toshare with you some of my own personal experiences, andsome very key facts I learned when I lost 5 stones in only 2months. What I’m going to share with you helped medevelop an empowering and realistic mindset, which isnecessary to achieve your goals. Let me start by sayingthat the basic fat-loss rule always applies and that is“Calories in verses calories out.”

In 2006 I weighed 20 stones. For most of my life Iwas overweight. A lot of people didn’t think so. Infact, the majority of people who saw me justthought I was hench! The truth is, after many yearsof carrying around excess weight, one learns a fewtricks on how to hide it. That’s another subject soI won’t go there now. Throughout my life I triedto lose fat many times. The 6 million fat-lossattempts syndrome is not exclusive to OprahWinfrey (forgive the exaggeration). There werefew occasions when I lost fat unintentionally.On one such occasion I was a Kwik-Fit fitter. Ihad a really busy couple of weeks runningaround fitting exhausts, breaks, tires etc. Imissed quite a few breaks and sometimes endedup taking a working lunch.

One Sunday morning I was getting ready forChurch. I took out my favorite shirt that Ihadn’t worn in a very long time because myneck grew too big. It was silk and had a gold anddiamond chain, which covered the top button.

In order to wear the chain, the top button had tobeen fastened. I liked that shirt so much that I

resigned myself to wearing it with the top button open,

however, on that Sunday; I really wanted to look my best so I decided to fasten the topbutton even if it choked me! To my surprise the button fastened with ease! I was bothconfused and overjoyed because I was going to look sharp! I tucked the shirt into mytrousers and did the usual twirl to make sure my swagger was tight. Yet another surprise!My butt had shrunk! I jumped on the scale and realized that I lost over a stonein 2 weeks. The celebration was short lived because I didn’t know how tomaintain the results.

Whenever I went on a diet I always gauged my progress by what my bellylooked like and how much I weighed. This is a common mistake andcounter productive because when you don’t see the results you want to see,when you want to see them, discouragement quickly sets in followed bycomfort eating and you know the rest. However, when I eventually learnedhow to get my results and maintain them, I discovered that there are somevery clear tell tale signs that I was moving in the right direction and achievingmy fat-loss goals. These signs are not exclusive to me so you too can expect toexperience similar results. The fact is belly fat is very stubborn and usually thelast to show visible results. My advice? Look for these signs first:

• Face getting narrow/thinner.• Arms getting smaller and more defined especially around the shoulders.• Collar bone more pronounced.• Lose fitting shoes, shirts and Jeans, trousers, and underwear.• Lose fitting watch and jewelry.• Pants sagging around the butt area.

If you are eating well and drinking plenty of water, you will also noticeimprovements to your skin, mood, stool (improved odor for what it’sworth), general strength, vitality, and other areas.

For a more accurate method of gauging your progress and feeding yourmotivation, buy a tape measure and measure you neck, chest, waist, aroundyour shoulders, biceps and triceps, butt, thighs and calves. Also, get a fatcaliper. It takes measurements from a few areas of your body and gives youa reading of you body fat percentage.

For help in achieving your personal transformation, email Norman Joel Sealy at [email protected].

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How can I lose my belly fat? This is a very common questionand a much-shared desire among people of different ages,shapes, and sizes. I could answer that question in an instant bysuggesting some really great fat-burning exercise, and a list offoods to stay away from. I will deal with that question inanother installment of Health Wealth. For now, I’m going toshare with you some of my own personal experiences, andsome very key facts I learned when I lost 5 stones in only 2months. What I’m going to share with you helped medevelop an empowering and realistic mindset, which isnecessary to achieve your goals. Let me start by sayingthat the basic fat-loss rule always applies and that is“Calories in verses calories out.”

In 2006 I weighed 20 stones. For most of my life Iwas overweight. A lot of people didn’t think so. Infact, the majority of people who saw me justthought I was hench! The truth is, after many yearsof carrying around excess weight, one learns a fewtricks on how to hide it. That’s another subject soI won’t go there now. Throughout my life I triedto lose fat many times. The 6 million fat-lossattempts syndrome is not exclusive to OprahWinfrey (forgive the exaggeration). There werefew occasions when I lost fat unintentionally.On one such occasion I was a Kwik-Fit fitter. Ihad a really busy couple of weeks runningaround fitting exhausts, breaks, tires etc. Imissed quite a few breaks and sometimes endedup taking a working lunch.

One Sunday morning I was getting ready forChurch. I took out my favorite shirt that Ihadn’t worn in a very long time because myneck grew too big. It was silk and had a gold anddiamond chain, which covered the top button.

In order to wear the chain, the top button had tobeen fastened. I liked that shirt so much that I

resigned myself to wearing it with the top button open,

however, on that Sunday; I really wanted to look my best so I decided to fasten the topbutton even if it choked me! To my surprise the button fastened with ease! I was bothconfused and overjoyed because I was going to look sharp! I tucked the shirt into mytrousers and did the usual twirl to make sure my swagger was tight. Yet another surprise!My butt had shrunk! I jumped on the scale and realized that I lost over a stonein 2 weeks. The celebration was short lived because I didn’t know how tomaintain the results.

Whenever I went on a diet I always gauged my progress by what my bellylooked like and how much I weighed. This is a common mistake andcounter productive because when you don’t see the results you want to see,when you want to see them, discouragement quickly sets in followed bycomfort eating and you know the rest. However, when I eventually learnedhow to get my results and maintain them, I discovered that there are somevery clear tell tale signs that I was moving in the right direction and achievingmy fat-loss goals. These signs are not exclusive to me so you too can expect toexperience similar results. The fact is belly fat is very stubborn and usually thelast to show visible results. My advice? Look for these signs first:

• Face getting narrow/thinner.• Arms getting smaller and more defined especially around the shoulders.• Collar bone more pronounced.• Lose fitting shoes, shirts and Jeans, trousers, and underwear.• Lose fitting watch and jewelry.• Pants sagging around the butt area.

If you are eating well and drinking plenty of water, you will also noticeimprovements to your skin, mood, stool (improved odor for what it’sworth), general strength, vitality, and other areas.

For a more accurate method of gauging your progress and feeding yourmotivation, buy a tape measure and measure you neck, chest, waist, aroundyour shoulders, biceps and triceps, butt, thighs and calves. Also, get a fatcaliper. It takes measurements from a few areas of your body and gives youa reading of you body fat percentage.

For help in achieving your personal transformation, email Norman Joel Sealy at [email protected].

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hatever business you are in,whatever your product or service,there is one thing that you will

need if you are to survive. And that iscustomers. You need enough customersbuying from you, consistently, in order tomake it in business. Without customers youdie.

If customers are so important, then why dowe often see companies failing to treat themproperly? Why do we see such poor levels ofcustomer care? Why are most people notloyal to a particular business but will buytheir products or services from anywhere?The answer is that the majority of companiesthat you see on the high street, are in thebusiness to make money and not to servepeople.

Their focus is on trading, making sales,taking money, giving change and moving onto the next customer. It’s all about themand not about the customer. Today I amgoing to get you to think about yourbusiness in a new way. I am going to getyou to think about running your businessfrom the point of view of the customer andnot from your point of view.

You see, if you run your business from yourpoint of view, you will do things that areconvenient to you but if you run yourbusiness from the point of view of thecustomer, you will be interested in theirneeds, and you will serve them. And whenpeople feel that you care about them and arelooking after their needs, they will appreciateit and come back repeatedly to buy fromyou.

So the next time a customer walks into yourshop, don’t think “here comes a customer,let me try and make a sale” but instead, sayto yourself “here comes a customer, how canI help him to get what he wants.” Thissimple mental shift in how you operate, willresult in a remarkable transformation in yourbusiness. I have seen it happen over andover. The trick is to help people to buy andnot to sell to them.

It is easier to lose a customer than to winone. According to the Institute ofCustomer Care, three quarters ofprospective business is lost on the customersfirst contact with the organisation. Some ofthe main reasons for this are: lack ofcourtesy, inferior service, mistakes and

by Ewan Denny

W

Ridiculous situations

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“Become the woman God pre-destined you to be and live each day with passion and purpose!”

“Break the cycle of negative relationships by understanding what has defeated you in the past.”

“Reconcile with who YOU are in Jesus Christ and abolish self-limiting beliefs and fears of being alone.”

“Commit to a faith-determined life of abundance and real love.”

This book will help thousands of women eradicate

their self-limiting beliefs and fi nally attract and sustain long-term, healthy relationships, love,

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hatever business you are in,whatever your product or service,there is one thing that you will

need if you are to survive. And that iscustomers. You need enough customersbuying from you, consistently, in order tomake it in business. Without customers youdie.

If customers are so important, then why dowe often see companies failing to treat themproperly? Why do we see such poor levels ofcustomer care? Why are most people notloyal to a particular business but will buytheir products or services from anywhere?The answer is that the majority of companiesthat you see on the high street, are in thebusiness to make money and not to servepeople.

Their focus is on trading, making sales,taking money, giving change and moving onto the next customer. It’s all about themand not about the customer. Today I amgoing to get you to think about yourbusiness in a new way. I am going to getyou to think about running your businessfrom the point of view of the customer andnot from your point of view.

You see, if you run your business from yourpoint of view, you will do things that areconvenient to you but if you run yourbusiness from the point of view of thecustomer, you will be interested in theirneeds, and you will serve them. And whenpeople feel that you care about them and arelooking after their needs, they will appreciateit and come back repeatedly to buy fromyou.

So the next time a customer walks into yourshop, don’t think “here comes a customer,let me try and make a sale” but instead, sayto yourself “here comes a customer, how canI help him to get what he wants.” Thissimple mental shift in how you operate, willresult in a remarkable transformation in yourbusiness. I have seen it happen over andover. The trick is to help people to buy andnot to sell to them.

It is easier to lose a customer than to winone. According to the Institute ofCustomer Care, three quarters ofprospective business is lost on the customersfirst contact with the organisation. Some ofthe main reasons for this are: lack ofcourtesy, inferior service, mistakes and

by Ewan Denny

W

errors, negative attitudes, untidy appearance,poor teamwork and a lack of confidence inmanagement.

Whenever I walk into a store to browsearound, I get a little annoyed by the overenthusiastic sales person who approaches meimmediately and tries to sell to me. I don’twant to hear their well rehearsed sales patterat this point, I just want to browse around tosee what’s on offer. I tell them that I don’tneed them at this point but if I do I will callthem. What I really mean is leave me alone,I will come to you if I need you. Some takethe hint and walk away and others standuncomfortably close just waiting for me toask them a question.

What is going on here is that the sales personis just looking for a sale. He is focused onhis needs. He doesn’t care about me. Hejust wants to sell me something. I on theother hand, have my own needs and none ofthem are being addressed here. So what doI often do, walk out and try the shop nextdoor.

Does this sound familiar? Has it happenedto you? The truth is that this happens everyday in shops all over the country. And itsnot just shops of course, poor customerservice happens in all types of businesses inall types of industries all over the country.

A salesman’s primary objective is to helpcustomers which in the long term will be farmore profitable than making sales which isshort term. So you should focus on things

that makes the customer satisfied and not onmaking a sale.

Selling creates a sale, helping people to buycreates customers. The difference is all inthe attitude. In selling the attitude is tryingto make the customer buy what we havewhereas helping people to buy meanslooking at it from the opposite point of viewie what the customer wants or needs andseeing if we can match it with what we have.If we don’t have it, we can order it, make it,or refer the customer to another shop.

When we leave the customer satisfied, theywill return. It’s no use making a sale whichwill leave the customer dis-satisfied. Helpthe customer to buy what they want andhelp them to feel good about it. A salesmanshould say to himself “I want to help asmany people as possible” and not “I want tomake as much sales as possible.”

Ewan Denny’s book ‘The Marketing of JesusChrist’ can be purchased from Amazon,

Barnes & Noble and other leading stores.

For business advice or speaking engagements

contact Ewan Denny on 07962 630 724

Adopt the right sales attitude and win more business!

and consequences (blessings and curses). This is whatit is to live under the law.

As the child grows and has more understanding thenyou give more explanation to why something is rightor wrong. When they are adults their adherence towhat you have taught is dependent upon them ‘inter-nalising’ your values and beliefs. Where the lawaddressed man’s actions, the new covenant addresseshis belief through faith. Unlike the law, living by faithis not a chain link system, therefore failure in one areaof your life does not bring about total condemnation inGod’s eyes. There are many new testament believerswho still have the old testament mentality. The expec-tation that we as Christians should be able to obeyALL of God’s law. This expectation gives licence tocriticise and judge believers who break one law as ifthey have broken all laws and are therefore lookedupon as going to hell! This behaviour has been passedon in the church from generation to generation pre-venting many from experiencing the true power andfreedom of living by faith (Matthew 23:13).

The law did not take into account strengths and weak-ness - it was one size fits all. However your faith is tailormade. That is why Jesus said many times when hehealed people “be it unto you according to your faith.”Faith grows as you grow. Like a child growing to matu-rity, faith is where we internalise the principles and les-sons that we have been taught. This is where laws arewritten on our hearts. What is written on your heartbecomes your conviction. You are more likely toadhere to your convictions rather than external laws.As a matter of you cannot act from faith unless you aretrue to your own convictions (Romans 14:23 amp.)

Man cannot live by external laws unless they are heav-ily imposed on him. God desires ‘free will’ submissionwhich can only be achieved when His laws becomeyour convictions. That is why He now writes them onthe hearts of men instead of tablets of stone. He doesan internal work to get external results. However thisis not something done instantly. It is a process doneover time. Although there are laws and doctrine thatwe all adhere to collectively, not all believers believe in

the same thing, or indeed have to! God deals with us on apersonal basis according to our personal assignment(Galatians 2:8). Hence we have personal laws. Onebeliever may have the permission to do something thatothers are forbidden to do. Although he may face crit-icism, it is before his own master (the Lord) that heshall stand or fall (Romans 14:4). Personal laws comewith the personal grace needed to fulfil them. God isnot a respecter of persons, all of us are treated on thisbasis. Therefore we all must discover our uniqueassignment and the personal laws that comes with it.

Personal JourneyWhen He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into alltruth (John 16:13).

As previously mentioned, there is a process to writinglaws on our hearts. This is done by the Holy Spirit,who dwells in us and guides into all truth. Truth ismore than just laws and commands, it is a journey ofself discovery with the Holy Spirit as your guide! Thatis why the bible is full of people who have been on thatjourney, revealing their strengths and their weakness,their success and their failures. The lessons theylearned through their experience have become thetruth we hold so dear. When faced with challengesDavid declared “some trust in chariots and some inhorses, but we will remember the name of the Lord ourGod” (Psalm 20”7). In the midst of affliction Job said“though he slay me, yet will I trust in Him” (Job 13:15).Even Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, having beenhumbled said “now I praise and exalt and glorify theKing of heaven, because everything he does is rightand all his ways are just. And those who walk in pridehe is able to humble” (Dan 4:37). You cannot say thesewords with any conviction without going through apersonal experience with God.

If this article has been a blessing to you in anywayplease email [email protected] THANK YOU.

In those days people will no longer say, ‘The fathers have eatensour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ Instead, every-one will die for his own sin; whoever eats sour grapes - his own teethwill be set on edge. “The time is coming,” declares the Lord, “whenI will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with thehouse of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with theirforefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt,because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,”declares the Lord. “This is the covenant I will make with the houseof Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law intheir minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and theywill be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or aman his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will allknow me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 31:29-34.

Personal relationship is a phrase thrown around alot bychristians but do we really understand the full implica-tions of what that really means? Our opening text(which is also stated in Hebrews 8:10 and Hebrews10:16) describes the new way (covenant) that God hasushered in through Christ Jesus, where, in contrast tothe law, He deals with us on a personal basis.

Personal Responsibility no longer say, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the chil-

dren’s teeth are set on edge.’

First of all we can no longer blameour sins (failings) on our parents,Grandparents or ancestors. Weare all personally responsible forour own failings. In the newcovenant generational curses arenow null and void! Therefore wecan blame no-one but ourselves.The flip-side to this is that if weare responsible for our own failurethen we are also responsible forour own success! In other wordsthe ability to succeed or fail is nowin your hands. Personal responsi-bility is not about faultfinding, it’sabout getting in the driving seatand taking charge of your life. It isimportant for you to realise thatyou are NOT the product of your

environment. You are the product of the DECISIONSyou make in your environment. God has given you thepower of choice.

Personal Laws (convictions) I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts

To truly understand the importance of personal convic-tions we must look at what it was like to live under thelaw. In his letters, Paul spent a considerable amount oftime addressing the transition from living under thelaw to living in the new covenant. Man (in his fallenstate) cannot obtain salvation through adherence tothe law. This is because the law was designed like achain link system where if you break one commandyou break them all. No man is able to keep the wholelaw. The purpose of the law is to make sin known. Youwould not know not to covet if the law did not say‘thou shalt not covet’. The law acted as a guardian andtutor to protect and train up the spiritually immature(Galatians 3:23-25). When you are bringing up a childyou first teach right and wrongs in very black andwhite terms. You do not give much explanation to whysomething is good and bad; you just outline rewards

and consequences (blessings and curses). This is whatit is to live under the law.

As the child grows and has more understanding thenyou give more explanation to why something is rightor wrong. When they are adults their adherence towhat you have taught is dependent upon them ‘inter-nalising’ your values and beliefs. Where the lawaddressed man’s actions, the new covenant addresseshis belief through faith. Unlike the law, living by faithis not a chain link system, therefore failure in one areaof your life does not bring about total condemnation inGod’s eyes. There are many new testament believerswho still have the old testament mentality. The expec-tation that we as Christians should be able to obeyALL of God’s law. This expectation gives licence tocriticise and judge believers who break one law as ifthey have broken all laws and are therefore lookedupon as going to hell! This behaviour has been passedon in the church from generation to generation pre-venting many from experiencing the true power andfreedom of living by faith (Matthew 23:13).

The law did not take into account strengths and weak-ness - it was one size fits all. However your faith is tailormade. That is why Jesus said many times when hehealed people “be it unto you according to your faith.”Faith grows as you grow. Like a child growing to matu-rity, faith is where we internalise the principles and les-sons that we have been taught. This is where laws arewritten on our hearts. What is written on your heartbecomes your conviction. You are more likely toadhere to your convictions rather than external laws.As a matter of you cannot act from faith unless you aretrue to your own convictions (Romans 14:23 amp.)

Man cannot live by external laws unless they are heav-ily imposed on him. God desires ‘free will’ submissionwhich can only be achieved when His laws becomeyour convictions. That is why He now writes them onthe hearts of men instead of tablets of stone. He doesan internal work to get external results. However thisis not something done instantly. It is a process doneover time. Although there are laws and doctrine thatwe all adhere to collectively, not all believers believe in

the same thing, or indeed have to! God deals with us on apersonal basis according to our personal assignment(Galatians 2:8). Hence we have personal laws. Onebeliever may have the permission to do something thatothers are forbidden to do. Although he may face crit-icism, it is before his own master (the Lord) that heshall stand or fall (Romans 14:4). Personal laws comewith the personal grace needed to fulfil them. God isnot a respecter of persons, all of us are treated on thisbasis. Therefore we all must discover our uniqueassignment and the personal laws that comes with it.

Personal JourneyWhen He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into alltruth (John 16:13).

As previously mentioned, there is a process to writinglaws on our hearts. This is done by the Holy Spirit,who dwells in us and guides into all truth. Truth ismore than just laws and commands, it is a journey ofself discovery with the Holy Spirit as your guide! Thatis why the bible is full of people who have been on thatjourney, revealing their strengths and their weakness,their success and their failures. The lessons theylearned through their experience have become thetruth we hold so dear. When faced with challengesDavid declared “some trust in chariots and some inhorses, but we will remember the name of the Lord ourGod” (Psalm 20”7). In the midst of affliction Job said“though he slay me, yet will I trust in Him” (Job 13:15).Even Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, having beenhumbled said “now I praise and exalt and glorify theKing of heaven, because everything he does is rightand all his ways are just. And those who walk in pridehe is able to humble” (Dan 4:37). You cannot say thesewords with any conviction without going through apersonal experience with God.

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In those days people will no longer say, ‘The fathers have eatensour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ Instead, every-one will die for his own sin; whoever eats sour grapes - his own teethwill be set on edge. “The time is coming,” declares the Lord, “whenI will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with thehouse of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with theirforefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt,because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,”declares the Lord. “This is the covenant I will make with the houseof Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law intheir minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and theywill be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or aman his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will allknow me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 31:29-34.

Personal relationship is a phrase thrown around alot bychristians but do we really understand the full implica-tions of what that really means? Our opening text(which is also stated in Hebrews 8:10 and Hebrews10:16) describes the new way (covenant) that God hasushered in through Christ Jesus, where, in contrast tothe law, He deals with us on a personal basis.

Personal Responsibility no longer say, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the chil-

dren’s teeth are set on edge.’

First of all we can no longer blameour sins (failings) on our parents,Grandparents or ancestors. Weare all personally responsible forour own failings. In the newcovenant generational curses arenow null and void! Therefore wecan blame no-one but ourselves.The flip-side to this is that if weare responsible for our own failurethen we are also responsible forour own success! In other wordsthe ability to succeed or fail is nowin your hands. Personal responsi-bility is not about faultfinding, it’sabout getting in the driving seatand taking charge of your life. It isimportant for you to realise thatyou are NOT the product of your

environment. You are the product of the DECISIONSyou make in your environment. God has given you thepower of choice.

Personal Laws (convictions) I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts

To truly understand the importance of personal convic-tions we must look at what it was like to live under thelaw. In his letters, Paul spent a considerable amount oftime addressing the transition from living under thelaw to living in the new covenant. Man (in his fallenstate) cannot obtain salvation through adherence tothe law. This is because the law was designed like achain link system where if you break one commandyou break them all. No man is able to keep the wholelaw. The purpose of the law is to make sin known. Youwould not know not to covet if the law did not say‘thou shalt not covet’. The law acted as a guardian andtutor to protect and train up the spiritually immature(Galatians 3:23-25). When you are bringing up a childyou first teach right and wrongs in very black andwhite terms. You do not give much explanation to whysomething is good and bad; you just outline rewards

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