Hebrews 12:21-22, And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. That’s what we have available for us today; to participate in a percent of the New Jerusalem and to have angels that minister to us and for us. Verse 23, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. Jesus came to perfect the spirits of man. What I’m going to talk about is nothing new, but things that we know oftentimes are in perdition. That is, they have become religion to us rather than life. I want to talk about living in the word. Jesus came to make the spirits of just men perfect, that is, to put us in the living word, which is a deposit of New Jerusalem. Verse 24, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. Abel still speaks to us about the Creator. The lamb that Abel offered unto God was from God’s works, not Abel’s. God watered the grass and caused it to grow, and the sheep were put in the pasture. They ate the grass and raised up little lambs which brought increase to Abel. Abel offered a lamb to God, praising Him for the gift of life and provision, and that blessed God. Cain’s offering of grain came from his own sweat and toil. But God wanted the things that were untouched because of the sin that was already in the human being. In the Old Testament, if someone had a physical defect they weren’t allowed to minister to God, because God saw that defect as interference from the fallen state of man. The more wicked the United States becomes, the more our children are going to malfunction and not be right. The new covenant, or the New Testament, is a new testimony of who God is that speaks better than the testimony of Abel. Abel praised the Lord for giving him physical provision. But the new covenant is a thankfulness of giving us life eternal. Isn’t that greater? Doesn’t that have more to speak to us? What he says at the last of this chapter makes sense when you understand the difference between the blessing that Abel gave and the blessing that you can give in an offering unto the Lord. It says then in verse 25, See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven. Why should we not turn our backs on what He speaks? Because His words have life in them. The life in His words will usher us in to New Jerusalem. Even though we can’t see it, we have the promise of being there because of the new covenant. So how do we refuse Him? In the gospels it talks about the four soils. The seeds are scattered upon the soils. Some falls on rocks and the birds come along and eat it up before it even has a chance to sprout. The interpretation of that is the devil comes along and steals the word of God that was placed in your heart before it ever has a chance to do anything, because your heart is hard. We miss life given to us by that word because our hearts are hard and can’t receive it. The seed needs soft earth to go into and die to be able to produce. Next there is the soil that is shallow, that may have some dirt on top of rocks, but when it gets hot, it dries out; you receive the word gladly but when tough times come you abandon it and you are not able to keep that word alive in you. When you have a word given to you, almost always the devil will come and attack you. Why does God allow that? The devil wants to come and steal that life giving word from you before it ever really takes good root and is able to produce anything. But God lets it happen so that you seek to understand that word that was given to you so that you can quicken it by believing and getting in it. If you don’t seek to understand it in such a way that you can open your heart and enter in to the word, it is just knowledge. It’s intellectual. Intellectualism doesn’t have life because the word that you have has not sprouted. The revelation of it is there, but it’s not implemented in your life so that you can enjoy it, so that you can prosper in it. So even though you receive the seed, if your soil is shallow and rocky the sprout will dry up before it can produce. The third soil is deeper, but you are in perdition with weeds and the cares of this world that choke out the continual working in your soul and heart to bring forth that life giving seed that is there. That seed represents the word of God. The word of God is sown in your heart, but if you don’t labor and allow the Holy Spirit to teach you what that word is and what it means, how will you be able to function in it? If you buy new equipment, there is always an instruction manual on how to use it and maintain it so that it lasts. But when it comes to the word of God, we handle it carelessly. We cannot prosper unless we have understanding of the seeds. When I receive a seed, I often don’t know what it is that God put in me, but I wait and in a short time I will know. I receive it and let it sprout and in a few weeks I will recognize what it is that God has given me. Sometimes it takes a little longer but we must learn to recognize and to receive the word of God in us so that it can grow. Jesus taught us to pray, lead me not into temptation, but deliver me. He was praying, God, don’t let me go, but when the temptation comes, as I know it will, deliver me from it. In other words, give me understanding to get out of it. When the enemy comes to try to destroy me, I’m thankful, because he comes to make me dig in and understand it so that I get what God wanted me to have and to not let the devil come and steal it like he wants to. When I receive a promise, I begin to speak in my heart and in my soul, “God said it, and therefore, because I have conditioned my heart to receive good seed, and to give forth life, that word will come on me.” I stand in the middle of the word. “Lord, you said I could have it, so I’m going to take it.” And with that heart, He labors with me to accomplish it. When I fully immerse myself in the promise, He will do what He said. He’s giving me the kingdoms of this world to take care of, but they are Jesus’ because He’s in charge. He was fully man, and because He became a man, He has the commission that the Father gave us. He’s fulfilling it and I am laboring with Him to fulfill it and it will be given by the Father to the saints. We will have real-estate, and that real-estate will be governed by authority. So going back to verse 25, when the Lord gives you a word, don’t refuse it. Put it in your heart and say, “God if you are here to give me something, I know that I can do it. Give it to me and I’ll take it.” Don’t refuse it. Don’t say I can’t. Don’t say I’m too busy. It is something that is more powerful of a testimony than what Abel had. Verse 26-27, Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. So all of those that want to fly away, will fly away. They just won’t go where they think they are going, because they don’t want to have authority upon the earth. They want to be a bum in heaven and not prepare for anything and just let God do everything. And God doesn’t want people that are on welfare. He wants them to labor. He has a work for them to do. Verse 28-29, Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire. What I am finding in taking back the four kingdoms is that there is an absolute coming on me like I have never experienced. I feel the absolute. I feel like I’m becoming a rock. I asked the Lord once if I was too hard on people. He spoke to me and said, “What am I to you?” I said, “You’re a rock.” He said, “Then be a rock.” Be absolute. You can only be absolute when you are in God. Anything that is in the world can and will be shaken. But if you want to be a rock and be absolute, you have to be in the word of God. I’m not where I’m going to be two weeks or two months or a year from now, because things are fast changing. The absolute will bring me to a place that no matter what happens I won’t be shaken. That’s what the word says. I’m in it and I believe it. It’s happening to me, and it can happen to every one of you, if you are in the word, if you receive it and labor to understand it, letting the Holy Spirit direct you and show you what it means and how to use it and how to function in it, so that you can be like Jesus who is that Rock. He was the first of many sons. As the rock begins to come on you, there is a fear that you would take ownership of anything. You don’t want ownership of anything. You want to walk in authority to take care of it for the Master, but not in ownership. It belongs to God. We want Him, just like Jesus said, when it’s all done we will hand everything back to the Father so He can be Lord of all. Then if He wants to give us, which He will because He promised, He will give us the kingdom that was intended for us from the beginning, forever. What an awesome thing that is. Now let’s look at the scriptures and see some of the promises. Matthew 4:4, But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. The word of God is like the bread in the physical; the word is your bread in the spiritual. Every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God is that bread. Jesus was the Word, so He is the bread of life. That’s where it comes from. When you take communion and take the bread, it represents Jesus’ body that is the living new covenant that is of the Spirit. In the Old Testament that was only a physical thing that kept them alive to serve God, but we now have fellowship because that word is now our bread in the spiritual. Every word is life to us. Every time you go into a word you increase in the stature of God. Jesus spoke to the Pharisees, “You don’t recognize Me because the word of My Father is not in you. But if you had the God of Moses in you, you would recognize Me because it comes from the same source, just an addition to the old covenant.” Some of the things that you know, are you living in them, or is it intellectual? Have you given yourself over to the promise, to believe it and understand it and want it? If you have it will come to life in you that you might be increased and become a greater rock. Because God is a rock and His words are absolute, you become absolute which is a rock. Matthew 8:8-10, The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. What was this soldier doing? He was saying, “Give me Your word, which is authority, and I will live in it with my servant, and he will get healed. He’ll get healed because we believe, and in believing, our faith will push us into that word and we will receive that life and we will have it. You don’t even need to come.” Verse 11-12, And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Why is that? Because they didn’t live in the word. Perdition is knowing the word and trying to intellectually understand, fulfill, and carry it out. But it is not living in it. It’s not giving yourself over by faith and literally taking on the character of the word and walking in the provisions of it. If the word says it, you can go in it and it will happen. Somethings may happen within a day or two. Some things may happen right then. Some things may happen ten or fifteen years from now, and some things may happen in eternity. But it doesn’t matter. If you’re in it, you’re going to receive it. It’s just a matter of time. Matthew 13:18-21, Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. The word comes in you and satan brings tribulation to you. He comes to attack you and because he attacks you, you abandon the word and you lose it. He takes it away. Verse 22-23, He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, come sixty, some thirty. You have to understand the word. Until you understand something, you won’t be able to activate it in your life. There are many levels of understanding. Because it is the word of God, you can stack one understanding on top of another and it will always be right and line up, but just deeper. There are times that you feel like God hates you or God has forgotten you, but the testimonies will get you through. I know that God loves me because He is using me to do this and I can see the fruit in my life. So when the enemy comes to try to take away some life that God wants to give to me, I’ll say, well, it doesn’t feel very good right now, but I know who I am in God, and that’s good enough. And what I don’t know today, when I need to know it, He will give it to me. That’s all we need. If it is life, it is pure and holy, no matter whether you get a little, more, or a lot, it’s still all right. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit. As long as you are yielded unto the Lord, and not rebellious, yes there are things that you will see in your life that still need to be changed, but you have to wait, because you don’t know how to untangle it yourself. God will untangle it and He’ll remove it when it’s needed to keep you from slipping and as long as you know who you are in God, He’ll carry you through. He is a good Father and He wants everyone to succeed. He will even come and prune you so that even though you may not have what you had before, you’re clean, because you’ve been pruned. Now you will grow from that. Every year He comes to prune you, to cut off the things that do not produce, so that you are clean. Then you’ll grow, and some of the things you are doing may be of yourself, but He will come back and see that the tree is bigger, and He’ll prune again the things that don’t exist in God’s kingdom. He’s not angry at you, He’s just helping you to be fulfilled in His kingdom and receive His words of life. If you’re in the vine He’ll prune you. You don’t have to worry about that. He’s good at pruning the things that don’t make it in the kingdom, the things that can be shaken. Mark 7:13, Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. Passing on tradition is not life coming from God, but tradition from your generations, which have perdition, or manmade rules and philosophy. As far as I can remember, I disliked Christmas. I didn’t know why, other than that I could see that there was so much self-centeredness in it. Christmas is a tradition of man. It makes the word of God non effective. Even good traditions will make it non effective if you have knowledge of it but don’t release it in your heart. You’ll never have to worry about removing sneakiness or trying to worry about what other people think if you live the word. Those things are gone. Shame will be gone. Condemnation will be gone. Let’s not let traditions make the words of God non effective. You can very easily say, I don’t believe that tradition that we have is godly. It doesn’t help me in my relationship to God. In fact when someone asks me if I’m ready for Christmas, my answer immediately is that I have Christmas every day. I give gifts and help people every day. I don’t need a tradition to do that. John 5:24, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. If you hear the word and believe that Jesus was sent from God, you have everlasting life, because you begin to build upon a Rock. Verse 25, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. How will they live? Because they know and recognize the life of eternity, because that is where they live, that’s where their heart is. Verse 26-27, For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Under Jesus, He has given us life, and He’s given us authority to execute judgment, that is, to take back the kingdoms of this world. Verse 28-30, Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. The words that God speaks are righteous. They are good for everyone involved. That’s the attitude that we have to have in the seven eyes of God. Verse 34-36, But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved. He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. The things that you do should bear witness to the person that receives them that you were sent of God. That testimony is that even though you challenge me to change, I have the power to change because there is life in the words that you have spoken. But if the air all goes out of you like a flat tire, it may not have been the Lord. I believe that the worst of sinners, if there is life in what you say, will stand up and they will think about it. Verse 37-39, And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. Jesus says, you think you have salvation because you study the Bible. But that is only intellectual until you let it come in your heart and do a work and receive the life that comes from God. If you have the life that comes from God, you will recognize Jesus. But it says here in verse 40-43, And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. I receive not honor from men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. Why is that? Because if he has intellectual thinking and you have intellectual thinking, you have something in common, so you accept him. If someone speaks of spiritual things that you don’t know of, and there is life coming from it, it will still witness with you because it’s source is the word of life. You may not understand what is being said, but you will recognize the life. Verse 44-47, How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and see not the honor that cometh from God only? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? People who are in perdition will not receive what you have to say by the Spirit. You confront that every day in a religious community. John 8:31, Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. What is a disciple? A disciple is one that is taught. The word teaches you and you follow because you need the teachings that come from life. You are a disciple of Jesus if you continue to live in His word and learn from it. That word will continue to grow. The word may teach you just a little thing, but in kindergarten you don’t learn things that are expected from a senior. You learn according to the grade that you are in. A third grader doesn’t know very much, but he is learning. When you know where you are at, you are not condemned as you are learning. As I grow and learn, I’m expected to live according to what I know. John 12:44, Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. If you believe what I am saying, you’re not believing what I’m saying, you’re believing what God says. Verse 45, And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me. What a testimony. I wish I could say, “If you see me, you know Jesus.” Verse 46-48, I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. We should be the word. Jesus lived in the words of His Father, and became the Word. The word of God. John 14:23, Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. Why will the Father love you if you keep the words of His Son? Because the words came from the Father. So He will love you like He loves His Son if you abide in His words. The thing to have Jesus in your heart is to have the Word of God. If the word of God is in your heart, He’s in there, because it’s His word. That’s how you get Him in. Because Jesus kept the word of His Father, He became the Word. If we keep the sayings of Jesus which came from the Father, we will then abide in Jesus and the Father also. He will come and live in us, because His word is going to live in us. John 15:3, Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Jesus taught the word from the Father and the pure words of God will wash you. The problem is, getting to the place that we can trust and allow God to come in us by receiving His word. The only way you can do that is to fully die because the word takes over our lives. But when we die to ourselves, the word brings life and we begin to multiply and increase just like a kernel of corn that dies and becomes a stalk and an ear and tassel and produces. He doesn’t come to destroy us or to belittle us. He comes to make us kings by having that ear of corn which is multiplied many times. Verse 4, Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. The vine is the word. We live and abide in the word. How are we going to take back the four kingdoms that the devil took from us that God wants to give us authority in? You do it by living in His word. The Lord said, He’s going to give the kingdom to His saints, those that have prepared. So every person can have this kingdom that was allotted for mankind to walk in, but you have to live in it. You have to abide in Him to be able to receive it, and then you will have it. And you will be washed of the rest of the world. The kingdom of God is coming on me. That is because I received His word of promise and that which He promised is coming on me, and it’s washing me. It’s pushing out the desires of the world that I might be filled with the promise. That’s what it does. That is for every one of us. To overcome this world, you have to have authority over the kingdoms of this world. It’s not just for one person, it’s for every one of us. You can’t say, “I can’t do it.” I just read, you can’t do it. But if you abide in the promises, or the words, you will. You can. You’ll be washed. You’re clean through the word. Verse 5-6, I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. Those are the people that are in perdition, or the traditions of your generations. Verse 7, If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. If you have been washed of self-centeredness, and you have been given the word of God and you’re in it do to His will, whatever you ask is a tool to accomplish what God gave you to do, and not to fill your pockets, it will be given to you. In John 17, Jesus prayer for His disciples is, “Father, my disciples have kept the word, and now that the word is in them, keep them safe, and bring oneness to them as We are one. Let that happen to them, and then let that happen to all of those who come later that hear this and abide. I’m praying for them as well.” And when I read that I say, “Lord, that’s me. Bring me in and let me abide in you, in Your love.” Jesus said, “I can see you’re not of me because you don’t have the love of God in you. You have the love of yourself.” We need the love of God. I hope this opens up a whole new realm of understanding how to get where you need to be, and keep going until you understand it. It will be your lifeline into owning the kingdoms of this world for the Lord, not for yourself.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |