Kingdom Perspective (part 2)
A farmer who grew the most delicious apples in the county, was plagued by kids who would get in his orchard and steal his prize apples. He decided to get the sourest apple trees he could find and plant them all around his orchard. When the kids snuck into the orchard, they couldn’t stand the sour apples, so they stopped invading his orchard. The point here is, that many only stand around the fringes of all that God has made available for those who go in deeper. The fringe folks are always eating sour apples and never press in further. We can bite into disappointments, failure, fear and regret, guilt and shame, and stop pressing in to all that God said we could have, but we must refuse to let all the sour fringe stuff stop us.
Last week we opened with a scripture in Mark which I want to start with today.
Mark 16:17 “Miraculous signs will accompany those who have believed, in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues.... v18 they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” This is Jesus’ kingdom contract with believers.... “Miraculous signs shall follow those who believe”
Last week, I went around the room with a bible and had everyone lay hands on the kingdom contract that God makes with each believer. Because this is the language of the kingdom and it is the only way we get the Kingdom perspective which the King, desires for us to live out in the earth. So we are going to do that again. As you lay your hand on the kingdom contract, there are many witnesses that are attesting to this agreement we have made with Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and the holy angels. All these will honor the contract, when we accept it...and honor it.... John 16:13 “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me by taking what is Mine and manifesting it to you”.…
We said last week that Our greatest privilege in life is to host His presence.To learn to be available as a person that God’s presence will rest upon is about His image and likeness. To be the location where the kingdom of God touches the earth. He is in all of us by covenant, but He is not upon all of us because of our wrong priorities. Hosting the presence of the Lord is our greatest calling and priority in life.
It is normal to hunger for God, we were created for this. It’s abnormal to not seek Him, and when a person is not hungry for God, you know Satan is very present and working. We are commissioned to break the spirit of paralysis and lethargy and the grip of spiritual death from off of them. But as we become faithful to host the presence of the Lord, we find a tension between two realities. He has been given to us in full measure but the tension is in the area of our willingness to surrender to Him. So we begin to set the limits with our fear, shame, guilt and self will, on that unlimited measure we have received. There is no limit on God’s end of the equation, the limits are all put in place and operate on our end of the equation.
Whatever you will jealously guard, is the measure you will have on a consistent. basis. Keep the whole armor of God in place and accounted for. When all is said and done, we can experience the measure of presence we are willing to jealously pursue after and set as a priority.. The Kingdom is based on this principle: the faithful use of what you have been given is what qualifies you for more.
If our mission is impossible without the miraculous, then it is abnormal for a Christian not to have an appetite for the impossible. It has been written into our spiritual DNA, to hunger for and expect the impossibilities around us to bow at the name of Jesus. The lack of miracles isn’t because it is not God’s will for us. The problem exists with our undisciplined thinking and our stubborn will! You can shove a spoonful in a babies mouth, but you can’t make it swallow. (is that right?)
As a result, a transformation, and a renewing of the mind, is needed, which is only possible through a work of the Holy Spirit that typically comes upon people who have become desperate enough to yield to that working and brooding presence. Come Holy Spirit, come upon us in your own glorious way.
John 6:53 “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you”. The word “eat” here is to digest.... when you digest food, it becomes part of you, it merges into your body. Bone, and muscle, organs and oh yes, fat! Jesus even told us that babies need milk, but there must be a time when they need meat. They need more protein to develop and grow. A baby is all about “me, me, me”... no matter what the age. Feed me, change me, dress me, entertain me, love me, take care of me. Meat is about coming into maturity, where we begin to give and serve, and sacrifice for the kingdom. When Jesus said in Luke 10:27 – “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself”. It was not a suggestion, it was a command from the King. How long do we do it? As long as we are in the kingdom!
Like Jacob who wrestled with the angel, we just refuse to be denied what He promised, so we keep on knocking. The secrets of the kingdom will not be kept back from hearts that will not be denied. Jesus taught in Matthew 5:6 that “Those who continually hunger and thirst for righteousness, will be filled (choratzo) ”.The word “filled” in the original Greek, is chortazó which means to be fully satisfied.
As we look and see how Christ delivered Peter from his guilt, It will help us in dealing with our own struggles with guilt, and self-limiting thinking. In John's account of this conversation which Jesus had, Peter is insisting that if everyone else left, he would still indeed, follow Jesus…… Peter is trying to accomplish the impossible in his own strength....He knows there’s an answer, but He’s knocking on the wrong door. We saw last week in John’s gospel, that Peter couldn’t do the impossible mission he was called to do, until he got a kingdom perspective. Failure is no reason to stoppursuing what God said you could have. Jesus is bigger than our failure. John 13:36 “Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, where are You going? Jesus answered him, where I go, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow me afterwards”.
Jesus saw the guilt, fear, failure, and shame that was coming to sift Peter, but He also, prophesied that he would overcome all these things, in the power of the Spirit, as He stated, “You will follow me afterwards”…. The grace of God has prophesied over our lives, that there is a victorious outcome, which the power of guilt and condemnation cannot destroy! (Tell someone, “Jesus says, we will make it and we will overcome”)
2 Corinthians 2:14 “Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the sweet fragrance of His grace and knowledge by us in every place”.
Last week I closed with the fact that Jesus’ provided a surplus of grace and it was laid up for our present and future needs, more than we would ever have need of. This righteousness is transferred to our account as we repent and receive it, by faith in God. It is not the will of God for any born-again Christian to practice sin, but, in the event that a Christian does stumble andsin, through omission or commission, there is a surplus of grace which is more than enough.
Please get it, that the supply will never run out, as we repent and obey! He’s got you covered! The blood of Jesus Christ has been offered at the mercy seat, in the holiest of holies in Heaven. This means that the things that take place here, cannot effect it, diminish it, weaken it, or cancel it outthere! Our grace supply is out of this world! Matthew 6:19 says, “it is where moth and rust cannot corrupt, and where thieves cannot break through and steal it”…. You see, when we try to keep it in the earth realm, (and that’s what guilt and condemnation want to do)….they want to get you to keep it here and out of the heavenlies. Satan knows he can’t touch it in the heavenlies, where it is secure…. but he wants to bring it into the earth realm, into your fear, insecurity, guilt, shame, rejection, judgment, and punishment mind set, then he can steal you blind! It’s kind of like someone who plants a garden, and keeps digging up the seed to see if it’s growing, and it never does…because of their actions which flow out of a lack of trust.
Have faith in His grace. Faith must trust Grace enough to let it do it’swork, when obedience has done it’s part. (I hope you get that, let me repeat it)
Romans 8:31-34 "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies, Whois he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even now at the right hand of God, who also is presently making intercession for us."
If you got locked out of your house, and there was no one to let you in, you might attempt to sleep in the car, you might even try sleeping on the back porch, but the mosquitos would insist on draining you of all your blood. Now, suppose you looked at that locked house, and out of your misery and the lens of your bad situation, you began to doubt that you really did own the home, because if it was yours, you would be in it. Of course, you say, this would not happen. Your common sense would remind you that tucked away safely in a certain place inside the house or in your vault at the bank, was a signed document attesting to the fact that you’re the owner of the house. But isn’t it the same thing, when we run into a place where we feel as though we’re locked out of God’s blessing, because of guilt and condemnation! We may feel like we’re sleeping on the porch, but the grace of God is always there, reminding us that the house, and all its benefits are still ours! Stop sleeping on the porch, God has given you the whole house! So if you own the house, what’s keeping you on the porch? Well we need to get you into the house and off the porch.....
So, OK, it’s time for a little quiz, to let you check to see what’s keeping you out of enjoying what God has fully given you…. Here’s some statements that might reveal what might be going on in your mind to sift you andcause you to miss out…. *.......1. “I don't see how God could do anything with someone like me”.
2. “I really messed up, now I'm going to get it”. 3. “I feel like everyone can see all my faults hanging out”. 4. “I often feel the need to justify my position, and defend my actions”. 5. “I feel like there is a sword hanging over my head about to fall at any minute”. 6. “I feel like withdrawing from everyone, and hiding because of what I've done”. 7. “I often feel like God is pointing his finger at me and saying you are unacceptable”. 8. “I often feel like God is looking down on me with anger and bitterness”. 9. “I feel when I pray, that God won't listen to me because I have not obeyed Him”. 10. “I resent myself and beat myself up because I have let God down”. 11.. “I deserve to be punished because of what I have done”. 12. “I often really hurt inside, because I am feeling so inadequate”. 13. “I have let God down and now He will leave me here to suffer my fate”. 14. “I feel like I’m stuck in a place where I’ll never make any progress”. 15. “How can God ever love a goof-up like me”? 16. “I have not lived up to expectations and I feel as though I will be rejected and abandoned”. 17. “I feel like a step-child in God's family and an outsider at times”. 18. “Things have really been going great, that means something terrible is about to happen”.
If you identified with more than four of those statements, then guilt and condemnation, have been given a place of authority in your life that is destroying your spiritual liberty, vitality and health!
You’ve opened yourself to an Orphan spirit and once this spirit shows up, it becomes a stronghold in a person’s mind and remains there until a new foundational truth of the Word of God takes it’s place. The orphan spiritoperates and has power, in three areas of our lives…
#1. A Sense of WORTHLESSNESS….I'm a failure, I'm not competent, worthy, or capable.
#2. A Fear of PUNISHMENT….Now I'm going to get it, I deserve to be punished...Why would God ever want to bless me…
# 3. A Feeling of REJECTION… God won't love me because of that... I won’t be accepted because of what I have done or what or who I am…There’s a Fear of the Loss of reputation, losing face before others, and frequent feelings of shame…are also symptoms. We can even get to the place where we feel guilty about being blessed! It is important that we locate the address of our guilt, and look it straight in the face and announce to it that it has been nailed to the cross of Christ and taken out of the way. It’s power is gone, destroyed, and dismantled. Having done that, we can feel more fully alive, more fully redeemed as we always were anyway, and go forward, renewed and rejuvenated and ready for whatever comes our way.
We must be able to discern that there is a great difference between condemning guilt and convicting grace from the Lord Jesus…. Because, condemnation judges and accuses you, while conviction seeks to set you free… Condemnation is from the accuser, while conviction is from your heavenly attorney who ever lives to represents you before God! If the Holy Spirit dealt with you about how much you do for God each week compared with all the other things you do, that would be to convict you, not to condemn you...Amen?
That’s the difference in sons and orphans. While It is true….that no matter what you do God will love you, still the mantle of His glory comes when we understand that we have been adopted as sons and daughters to break the orphan spirit off of our lives. Paul describes this level of fellowship as sonswhich brings great power into our lives. Galations 4:3 “We were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. 4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those in slavery to the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. 6 Because you are become His sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child, and since you are His child, God has also made you His heir”. The orphan inherits nothing, but the son inherits everything!!!
(1) To the sense of WORTHLESSNESS…He says.. Genesis 1:26-27; James 3:9….We are made in the very image and likeness of God. Matthew 6:30; Mark 12:12…We are highly valued by God. (2) To the Fear of PUNISHMENT and JUDGMENT… He says…Isaiah 53:5….All punishment for our sins was placed on Christ. Romans 3:25….He was our sacrifice which satisfied the wrath of God against sin. 1 John 4:15-18….There remains no more judgment for those who are in Jesus Christ . (3). For the Feeling of REJECTION and ABANDONMENT….. He says… Romans 8:31-39….No one and nothing can separate us from the love of God, that is in Christ Jesus. Hebrews 13:5….We have God’s promise that He will never leave us or forsake or reject us.
Jesus knew on the night that he was being beaten and unjustly accused, that Peter’s will, was still being trained and brought under control of the Spirit… even as he warmed himself by the fire of those who hated and denied Jesus, till the rooster crowed 3 times. His heart was right, but his will was wrong. Peter stepped back into an orphan spirit. The knowledge of good and evil, is not enough by itself, in order to do the good and refuse the evil… An orphan spirit will compromise and weaken our will. The will must be trained and brought under the rule of the Spirit, in order to walk in the spirit as sons and daughters and not obey the flesh! Adam and Eve had direct knowledge and revelation from God, but no will power! We know that Peter went on to become one of the leading apostles of the church, and many were brought into the kingdom, through the lessons he had learned about overcoming guilt and condemnation.. and operating in Sonship. You may have failed, you may have fallen far short, you may have felt terrible about it…But the great news today, is that while you were going through all that, Jesus was praying for you, and prophesying victory and an awesome out-come in your life!
After Jesus had asked Peter about his love for Him…. Look at how he concluded the conversation…. John 21:19 “And when He had spoken this, He said unto him, FOLLOW ME”… Grace gave more than he deserved....it was surplus grace!
It was time to move forward, full speed ahead, laying aside all the weights, and distractions, and stuff from the accuser… There comes that moment when we meet with Jesus, and it’s time to put it all behind us… and follow Him, and never look back! To bring our wills into a place where it will not betray our hearts! I believe Jesus is asking all of us today… who will follow me to the next level? Who will show the world that I really am who I said I was? Who will go where you know in your heart you aught to be standing and operating, but you’ve been waiting and maybe you’ve allowed the orphan spirit of fear, or guilt and other distractions to keep you out….Jesus is saying, “Who will follow me and take the next step into sonship”? We sang the song last week that says “Heal my heart and make it clean, open up my eyes to see the things unseen. Show me how to love like you-- have loved me, for always. Break my heart for what breaks yours, everything I am is for your kingdoms cause, as I go from earth into Eternity. In Luke 10.19 we hear Jesus say, “Behold, I give you AUTHORITY to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you”. AUTHORITY means the legal right to act in behalf of the one who authorizes you.
A six foot, five inch, 300 lb defensive tackle, is a very intimidating force on the football field or off the football field. But a little man in a striped shirt half his size can blow a whistle and order him off the field. The umpire’s uniform declares his authority, and the football player must recognize it and obey it, or he isn’t allowed in the game.
Jesus has given us a mantle and sonship. We have Kingdom Authority over the power of our enemy and it’s time to take up the mantle and start moving out of the orphan spirit and into our son ship, cause we know who we are in Christ! We need to send Satan the signal, “Offsides”, “Personal Foul”... “Unnecessary roughness” ... “You’re out of here”...
let the sons and daughters of the most high God, stand together today.....The orphan doesn’t inherit anything, but the son inherits everything! Next week I plan on going deeper with the message and position of sonship....
But right now, let me ask.... If you’re facing something that you don’t know how it’s ever going to work out.... or there’s something that just looks impossible right now... or perhaps you’ve prayed and believed, but the breakthrough just hasn’t come yet... Perhaps you’re facing something that is really uncertain right now and you really need some direction from the Father.....
I want you to just stand as the singers come back to the front....
Last week some folks came up and told me some things God did for them as we just stood in His presence and worshipped ..... someone needs to open up and receive what the Father is sending your way today....He’s going to do it again.....
(Ministry)
Let’s close with the Song.... Do It Again....
If these messages have ministered to you and you would feel to support our ministry in any way, you may send any support or drop a note to "Eagle's Rest, P.O box 2820, Key West, Florida 33040.... But most important, keep us in your prayers that we may be a tool in the Master's hands, and Jesus may be exalted continually in our lives and ministry. Thank you in advance and God richly bless you.. We look forward to hearing from you.
