Proverbs says as a man thinketh in his heart so is he. I believe this means three things. First of all, you will never be any better than you think you are. If you think you are not any good at something, you will not be good at it. Defeat usually occurs before the competition starts. When you think your opponent is superior to you, then you have lost already. The Children of Israel said we are like grasshoppers in our own sight so we were in their sight. Raise your opinion of what you can do and watch how your ability follows. Second, what you think affects how you are. When you think you are a particular way, you are programmed to be that way. This is why curses are so powerful. When people speak certain things over you and you believe those things, you become what they said about you. This is the unfortunate effect of parents who sometimes say things to their children not realizing they are cursing them. Reject any and all words that have been spoken over you that are not up to God’s standards for you. Last, what you choose to dwell on in your thoughts defines the kind of person that you become. Dwell on the truth of God’s word and watch how God can change you into His image. Thinking on the wrong things can have a very detrimental effect on you. Thinking on the right things can have a very beneficial impact on you. Remember as a man thinketh in his heart so is he.
Monthly Archives: November 2013
The Internet is an illustration of the internet
The Spirit of God became available to us as a result of the death and resurrection of Jesus. You could say Jesus made it possible for the Spirit of God to live inside us and for us to live in this realm we call the spirit. One of the best ways to illustrate is to compare the spirit to the Internet. The Internet is a global network that ties computers from all over the world together. People can access information, communicate with one another, get necessary services right there from their computer. I don’t know about you but I am almost completely dependent on the Internet. It has only been around for a relatively short time but it really has become a major force in our society. And yet the Internet is not really a particular place. It is not owned or controlled by anyone. It is completely invisible in terms of being something we can see or identify as real. There are not visible lines coming from it like in the case of electricity coming from a generator. And yet it is so real that we really would have a hard time living without it. It has completely changed the way we live in terms of how we access information. For example, few people have encyclopedias in their homes and a lot of times we are too lazy to go to the library and look up books on a particular subject.
Libraries are eventually going to be obsolete because people just don’t go to the library anymore. Books for that matter will eventually become obsolete. No one will have books on the shelves instead they will just access the Internet. Most people communicate with e-mails. It is hard to find anyone who writes a hand-written letter anymore. This Christmas a lot of people will not bother to go out there and fool with the crowds and getting a parking space, they will go on the internet and have it shipped to their house. I never would have thought I would not subscribe to a newspaper but I have not had a paper delivered to my house in ten years. At some point there will be no Television sets because everyone will get their entertainment from their laptops or mobile devices. The Internet is a power force for social change. It has allowed for information to move at speeds that were never imagined in the past. When something happens, the whole world can know it instantaneously.
No one would doubt the reality of the Internet because we use it all the time. And in the same way no one should doubt the reality of the Spirit because it too is like an invisible network. The Spirit is a realm much like the Internet where we gain access to God and interact with information and other people. Thousands of years ago, the Apostle John is announcing the existence of a means by which believers can overcome the world through the realm of the spirit. God is no longer behind the veil dwelling between the cherubim’s on top of the Ark of Covenant that the High Priest had access to once a year on behalf of the people. The finished work of Jesus Christ has made God anywhere and everywhere because God exist through His Spirit. Just like we don’t go to a library to find books to access information, we don’t have to go to a temple to access God. Jesus told the woman at the well, God is Spirit and those that worship Him or access Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
The Spirit of God has properties that allow the spirit to do things that are impossible any other way. As believers it is our access to the Spirit of God that gives us a distinct advantage and enables us to overcome anything in this world. The blood, the word and the spirit are the way to overcome in this world.
Delivered from Self Life
Being fully Delivered
Being saved at the deepest level is being saved from the Self life
Salvation must go deeper then mere outward adherence to religious rituals. It must go deeper than mere mental assent to the proper doctrinal creed. True salvation must go deeper than following a defined set of do’s and don’ts. (Matthew 15:8; Amos 5:21; Romans 12:1-2) The problem Jesus had with the religious Pharisees was that they were very devout and religious but at the same time carnal, selfish and arrogant. (Matthew 5:20; Luke 18:9-14; Matthew 23:1-39; Luke 11:37-44; Matthew 6:1-6; 16-18) True salvation involves the denial of self. It involves submitting your self to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in a way where you no longer live for yourself but rather Jesus Christ lives through you. This is the crux of what it means to be saved, you have died to your self and you now live unto God.
Luke 9:23-“Whosever will come after me let him deny himself…”
Galatians 2:20 “…Christ liveth in me:…”
Philippians 1:1-14
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Matthew 11:28
Hebrews 12:1
Every trial is about self surrender
Every time you encounter a trial you have the choice of taking matters into your own hands or submitting to God’s will.
Every time you encounter a trial it become immediately apparent how much you are depending on your self and how much you are depending on God.
Every time you encounter a trial you discover how powerless you are and how dependent you are on God to move on your behalf.
Every time you encounter a trial you have the opportunity to surrender something to God or even give up some desire of the flesh to receive God’s grace.
Every time you encounter a trial God brings you to the end of your self so that you can experience His super natural power. You cannot receive the boost of his power in you without first coming to a place of absolute powerlessness within your self.
The greatest gift I can give you as your Bible teacher is to make you sensitive to the tendencies of the self and make you able to resist its attempt to assert it’s self in your life. Lamentations 3:40/Matthew 7:1-5/Proverbs 14:12/Psalms 24:3-5/James 1:19-25
The Effect of Trials
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations , knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. James 1:4
Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. New International Version
Patience- cheerful (or hopeful) endurance, constancy, patient continuance (waiting)
Work- toil, (as an effort or occupation, an act, deed or labor
Perfect- complete, complete of full age
Entire- complete in every part, sound, whole
Wanting- to leave, fail or be absent, be destitute of, wanting or lack
Purpose of Trials
James suggests that the purpose of trials is so that there can be some kind of change in us. He does not say the trying of your faith is so that you can succeed. He does not say the trying of your faith is so that you can prevail over your circumstances. He says the trying of your faith is so that as a result of being tried is that you might obtain patience. In other words the outcome is not the real purpose for the trial. Whatever the outcome of a particular situation, that outcome is not as important as the cultivation of character and change that takes place in you. It is not how well things turn out as much as it is how well you turn out. Its not how much you are able to accomplish as much as how much is accomplished in you. The focus is not on obtaining some particular outcome in the natural the real purpose is so that you might have something develop in you.
As a matter of fact, sometimes the outcome is not always an indication of all that God was after when He allowed you to go through certain things.
Abraham was required to offer up Isaac but he did not actually do it. The point of the trial was not that he actually offered up Isaac as much as it was the effect of being required to do it had on him. The spirituality that this act provoked was the point of being required to do such a thing.
Peter denied the Lord three times but the point of having gone through this testing was that he was converted. The outcome was bad but the effect was good.
Jacob wrestled with the angel and really did not win the match. He had said I am not going to let go until you bless me. But in the end after the angel touched his hip bone, the only thing he could do was hold on. But in the process, God changed his nature from Jacob the surplanter to Israel prince among men.
The Effect of trials
It is the effect of trials that is most important. It is not enough to survive a lot of trials, it is important that you come out with the change God sought to bring about in you . If you get the outcome you wanted and you did not change then it is only a matter of time before you will be right back in that same situation again.
As we close out the year of breaking free in 2003, lets not measure what God did in terms of physical progress and material success. Breaking free as more to do with how as a result of the things you have been through you are in a better position to receive the things God wants to do in you now. In some cases you might be in a worst state than you were before but as a result of the changes that have taken place in you, you are in position to be blessed in way much better than you have ever been blessed before.
The importance of Patience
Patience is an end within itself. It is something to be sought after. It is something we must strive to attain. Patience is the key to getting a handle on all God is doing in the trial. There is no progress apart from the degree to which you have grown in patience. If you are pressing and if there is this paniciky mentality about what it is you are dealing with then obviously you are not ready. You can expend a lot of energy and do a whole lot of effort and get no where. The first thing you need to realize is my lack of patience is the what is holding me back. As sincere as I might be and as hard as I might be trying if I lack patience, then I am not in a position to receive. Mastery in the situation has more to do with how much patience you have as opposed to how well things are going in the natural.
He is talking about a state of mind or spiritual posture. A place of cheerful and hopeful confidence in the Lord and in his ability to address the situation. Reaching a point where you were you are no longer stressed out about it, irritated and upset. To not be affected by it in the sense that it has you all concerned and distraught. But for you to be in the trial but not overwhelmed by it. That is the goal more than getting a change in the situation.
James wants us to understand about trials is the development of patience triggers the ability to receive anything. You are not ready to receive until you have developed patience. There is a direct correlation between how much patience you have and how much you are capable of receiving from God. When you are anxious, nervous and impatient, then you disqualify yourself from being able to receive that which God wants to do in your life. Trials are intended to force you to develop patience. Instead of seeking to get over a particular situation, you have to use the situation as an opportunity to learn how to grow in patience.
Only as we exercise patience can we be in position to experience the gradual strengthening and empowering. There is something happening to us that we might not be aware of but as long as we stay under God’s dealing and don’t bail out but hang in there and persevere, God addresses the things in us and about us that need correction and completing. Even though we might be just content to remain the way we are, God uses trials to make us aware of how we need adjustment and change.
James makes the point that you are not in position to receive anything from God if you have not developed patience. The first thing that must happen in our lives is we must become patient. There is a direct link between how much patience you display and how much faith you have. Whenever you have faith you will be patient. Whenever you have patience you will at the same time have faith.
James suggests that trials expose the areas where we are lacking. They make us aware of the areas where we are incomplete or deficient. It is as we persevere that we allow the Holy Spirit to address those areas and bring about completeness and wholeness.
To preserve means to stay in place, remain under. It means to not bail out or run away. To continue to remain true to your convictions and resist the temptation to give in or to let go. Anyone can have faith in the best of circumstances but the test is can you have faith and persevere in the worst of circumstances.
The focus in trials
God especially designs trials in a way where he can get at the things in us that we still need work in. He intentionally takes us through the kinds of things that will force us to come to grips with the things we would much not normally do anything about.
Never think any trial is about anything other than you getting straight. That is what it is all about you getting it together. God is addressing your issues God is getting you in a place of restoration, maturity or change. Nothing happens apart from God aiming to bring improvement in you, expanding your faith, enriching your experience.
Why the birth of Jesus was so important?
Why the Birth of Jesus is so significant?
- He had to be born in order to have blood that could redeem us from our sins. The blood had to be untainted in order to be offered for our sins. Romans 5:12
- He had to be born in order to fulfill the scriptures which had foretold the circumstances of his coming.
Prophecies on Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ fulfills Old Testament Prophecy- Luke 24:27/ Matthew 5:17/ Luke 24:44/ 2 Corinthians 1:20
Prophecies concerning his birth- Matt 1:23/Isaiah 7:14/Matt 1:21/ Luke 1:32-33/ Isaiah 9:6/ Matthew 2:6-7/ Micah 5:2/ Matthew 2:15/ Hosea 11:1
- He had to be born in order to fully identify with the human experience and to be a faithful and effective High Priest.
Hebrews 2:9,17 /10:4-5,10,12/1 John 3:5/Mark 10:45
- He had to be born in human flesh in order to die for human flesh. This was the only way to fully pay for our sins.
- He had to be born in order to get at the root cause of our problem. Instead of dealing with the surface or outward problem, He had to be born in order to address the deep inner cause of our condition. 2 Corinthians 5:19/ Heb 2:17/ 1 Tim 2:5-6/Genesis 3:15
Ways to Minister to people
God uses our faculties
- When you compliment people you can literally infuse them with life.
- When you go out of your way to do something for someone, they feel valued and special and it lifts their spirit.
- When you spend time with someone you value them and it has a profound effect on them.
- When you pray for someone, they receive a boost and experience spiritual life from your prayers.
- When you thank some one for something they have done, you make them feel gratified by what they did.
- When you say I love you, you send a boost to their sense of well being. (Love is one of the most powerful words in the human language)
- When you share your testimony with someone you receive a spiritual boost in your spirit.
- When you listen to someone and express concern for them, you valued them and make them feel comforted.
- When you serve people you communicate value to them and make them feel special.
- When you apologize to a person you have offended, you give them a boost that can enable them to forgive you.
- When you forgive a person that has offended you, you receive a boost that allows you to be freed from any resentment or bitterness you had toward them. In addition, you free up a lot of negative energy that flows between you and them keep you both in bondage.
- When you share the word of God to others you give them a boost and you receive a boost too!
- When you repent of something you have done wrong, you receive a release from bondage associated with guilt and automatically sense acceptance and reconciliation with God.
- When you deny your flesh, your spirit gets a boost and is empowered to assert its influence in your life.
- When you support someone by contributing to them or standing by them, you give them a boost of life.
Ministry Skills
Making people feel valued
Making people feel special
Making people feel important and significant
Making people feel loved
Making people feel wanted
Making people feel needed
Making people feel close to you
Gifts are to be used to minister to others and advance God’s Kingdom
Gifts are ways that God uses you to bless people. For example sometimes you have a particular way of making people feel better, be more assured or have a greater sense of well being. You are operating in your gifting when you know how to encourage someone or make someone feel more secure.
Gifts can be the way you relate to people in which you communicate the love and acceptance of God.
Gifts can be the way you can put people at ease and make them feel comfortable.
Gifts can be the way you can be hospitable and welcome wherever you are.
Gifts can be the way you talk to a person in which you communicate ]God’s love in what you say.
Gifts can be the way you
The Ministry to the Mind
The mind is an instrument, it is a tool. Consequently it must be developed and maintained. You have to take specific steps to ensure its good operation. You are responsible for the health of your mind. This involves taking the necessary precautions, safeguards and measures to ensure your mind is useful, effective and workable. Salvation involves the healing of your mind from the evil effects of sin. The mind was severely affected injured, damaged and impaired by sin. There is a need to renew your mind with the Word of God. (Romans 12:1-2) Meditation on the word of God has the effect of releasing spiritual power into your mind generating healing and restoration to your mind. Ministry to the mind is critical and must be practiced daily through morning devotions and continual mental concentration on the truth of God’s word. Jesus said ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Consciousness of the Word of God causes you to experience liberation from the binding effects of sin.
Ministry to the mind is critical for several reasons.
- Mind is the place where the word must go.
- Mind is the place where the word is stored for retrieval.
- Mind is the place where you process information for use.
- Mind is the place where direction and orders are given to the body and spirit.
- Mind is the place where your attitude is developed, your perspective is determined.
- Mind is the place where you experience healing and deliverance.
- Mind is the place where hope is birth. Hope is the basis for being able to have faith.
Why God makes promises?
Why God makes promises?
- To display his awesome power. He is the only being in the world that can predict what He will do and nothing can stop Him from doing it.
- To reveal His purpose. Whatever he does is to fulfill His purpose. When making a promise, God reveals his purpose.
- So that we can appreciate what He is doing. We can really enjoy what He has done because the promise prepares our hearts to receive it.
- So that we have no doubt where it came from. He makes the promise so that when it happens we will not think it is some coincidence or fluke. We know it was Him.
- He makes promises so that we can know where to put our faith. We know what to believe based on what He has promised.
- He makes promises so that whatever happens will not discourage us because we have God’s promise.
- He wants to reveal His will for us so that we understand why we should obey His word. The motivation to obey is that if we obey we will inherit the promise.
- He wants to stir anticipation and expectancy in our hearts. We are to live looking and expecting for God to fulfill His promise in our lives.
- So that your confidence is in Him and His word alone.
- To do more than bless you but to also strengthen His relationship with you. Whatever God has promised you believe it because God is faithful to His word. He will fulfill every promise He has made to you. As it says in Hebrews, “Cast not away your confidence which has great recompense of reward…
What is significant about the Blood of Jesus?
Why the blood?
- 1. When God created man it was the impartation of blood that caused him to come alive. (Genesis 2:7) When Adam sinned in the Garden he was tainted with polluted blood. Since life is in the blood, (Leviticus 17:11) it was the blood which was the affected by his sin. Since we receive our blood line from our fathers, Adam passed on this tainted blood to all his seed. Therefore every child born was born with this tainted blood from Adam. (Romans 5:9-19)
- 2. Salvation involved establishing a new blood line which was untainted. Therefore Jesus was born of a virgin and Mary was told by the angel that Holy Thing that shall be conceived of thee shall be of the Holy Ghost. Therefore Jesus did not have the polluted blood of the first Adam and therefore He could die on our behalf because His blood was sinless and pure.
- 3. As Christians we are believers in the blood of Jesus Christ. We believe His blood reverses the curse caused by Adam’s transgression. We believe the Blood of Jesus gives us immunity from the punishment and judgment for our sins. (Romans 5:9; Colossians 1:14,20 1 John 1:7)) The Blood of Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness. The Blood of Jesus gives us the legal right to claim the promises of God by faith. (Ephesians 1:7) The Blood of Jesus releases God’s power whenever we need to resist or prevail over any demonic foe. The Blood of Jesus purges us from any evil impurity that might attach itself to us. (1 Peter 1:19) The Blood allows us to approach the throne of God and have intimate contact with God. Hebrews 10:19
Victory to overcome world
Whosoever is born of God overcomes the world.
Being born again equips us with the power to prevail over the world’s system. John assumes the world is our opponent. The world is our adversary and enemy combatant. The world is not our friend. The world is not to be emulated or accommodated for. We are not in the business of trying to find a compromise with the world. We are not supposed to be changing so we can be more attractive or compatible with the world. It is not our place to admire the world or even use the world’s measures of success as measures of success. Worldliness is evil and the opposite of all we want to be. We can out compete and defeat any type or kind of opposition we face in this world. Nothing in this world can defeat or prevail over a child of God. No matter what happens in this world, nothing can get the better of us. Being born again is not just something that guarantees eternal life when we die but it also makes it possible for us to enjoy mastery over any and everything in this life. Nothing in this world can keep us down, rob us of our joy, and give us a reason to despair. Everything and anything that we face is inferior and incapable of stopping us from doing what we are called to do.
This is an amazing statement considering how many kinds of things you can encounter in this world, how many kinds of attacks can be brought against you and the sheer immensity of all the enemy might bring against you. Your birth in Christ places you in a position where nothing can beat you.
Being born again makes you someone the world no longer can control. The world cannot oppress or enslave. The world is incapable of asserting its will over you. In Sports when you can force your will on your opponent it constitutes victory. In wrestling when you force your opponent to the ground and hold them there against their will you win the match. In the same way as a believer we can exert our will over the will of the world and pin the world to the ground.
By this statement John is saying anything we face in this world can be overcome by faith. Faith can combat any attack, neutralize any threat, and reverse any curse.
Being born of God gives us access to a power that is released by our faith which can cause us to win over anything in this world.
This is a victory meaning being born again in itself is an attainment of capability which allows us to overcome whatever we face in this world by faith.
Being born of God allows us to operate in a realm which is superior to the natural realm. Since everything in the world is from the natural realm, being born of God allows you to impact the natural realm through God’s Spirit.
We are supposed to use our faith to overcome the world. We are not supposed to tolerate the world or seek to co-exist with the world. The nature of being a Christian is that we are at odds with the world. We are called to bring the world in subjection to us. We must adopt a posture of challenging and overcoming the world. Our goal is to defeat the world’s system.
He says this is the victory because there is no victory apart from our faith. We cannot win without exercising faith. We cannot win any other way other than by faith. What you believe in has the greatest bearing on your ability to operate execute and function. To have faith in the wrong thing makes you vulnerable and unprepared. Belief in the right thing equips you with power and strength to defeat the world.
Pastor D's words from the Lord 