Victory Life KY

Exactly What do I Believe

2/16/22

• “Imitate God like little children” really got me thinking, just exactly how much of who God is and what He does are we supposed to imitate? A key point to this truth is, like little children

• Mark 10:15,NKJV- Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.

• The question is, just exactly what do we believe?

• Did He really mean that we’re to actually imitate the things He did?

• Not only does the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul tells us to imitate God, Paul says it this way in Corinthians, imitate me as I imitates Christ. Jesus told us, “If you’ve seen me you’ve seen the Father.” “I came from Heaven to do the will of the Father who sent me.”

• Matthew 28:18-20,MSG- Jesus told His disciples: God authorized and commanded me to commission you:
• Go out and train everyone you meet, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
• Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.

• After accepting the truth about Jesus, possibly the next biggest thing we've got to get settled is, do we believe the Bible to be the word of God to us today?

• This is why we can’t over emphasize the power of believing. That means, even if we don’t understand truth yet, believing the Bible is God’s word is an absolute. At the end of the day, believing comes down to a decision. And it starts with understand that the Bible is a spiritual book.

• By design, when God’s created makes room for His word, it’s God’s word that produces faith when we yield to it. And simply put, faith is what we believe. So, to what extent are we allowing the Bible to shape our beliefs?

• God’s word is incorruptible seed. And everything about God’s Kingdom is like sowing seed. Luke even says that God’s word is the seed sown. Psalm 119 says , Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven. Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

• Isaiah 55:11,AMP- So will My word be which goes out of My mouth; It will not return to Me void, useless, without result, without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

• 2 Timothy 3:16-17,NKJV- All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

• 2 Corinthians 1:20,NKJV- For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.

• If God is expecting us to imitate Him, to follow Jesus’ example, to do the things He did, then where are all the healings today?

• Seriously, if Jesus told us to follow Him, to do what He did and said, if His word is forever settled, if His word enlightens our path, if we’re honestly suppose to imitate Him. Then what happened to the healings?

• Could our believing have anything to do with it? What about unbelief?

• In Jesus’ own home town He could do no mighty works because of their unbelief. Mark 6:6, And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.

• Teaching the word is the remedy for unbelief. Remember, faith come from the word. Not only is our minds renewed when subjected to God’s word, His word is also the spiritual force that develops faith in a believer. And faith without a corresponding action is useless.

• Colossians 2:6,NKJV- As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
• The AMP goes on to say, walk in union with Him, reflecting His character in the things you do and say. Therefore we walk by faith, not by sight.

• Here’s the deal, there’s only one way to receive Christ, and that’s by grace through faith. So by grace, through faith we are expected to live our new lives in Him.

• So back to the reason for our titled, exactly what do I believe?
• Can a persons faith have anything to do with God’s healing power?
• Can a persons faith have anything to do with God’s saving power?

• For some reason we’ve concluded that these two spiritual realities are different. For example, we pray for healing, but symptoms still exist, so we assume it to be different than salvation. But let’s not kid ourselves, if we went by that philosophy, there’s no way you could be sure you’re saved. There’s days we don’t feel saved, and no doubt days we don’t look or act saved.

• Does what we believe line up with God’s word?

• By design our believing has everything to do with the realities of our new world? That also means unbelief has major influence into our new lives in Christ. Remember, Jesus in His home town couldn’t do any mighty works because of unbelief.

• In Matthew 9, Jesus asked the blind men, “do you believe I’m able to do this?” Then He told them, “according to your faith let it be done to you.”

• Here’s the thing, these guys weren’t even born again. And because of that they had to get to Jesus. But now, because He has come to us, given us His Spirit, given us new lives, He actually lives in us, allowed His body to be beaten beyond recognition. Just maybe He’s asking us the same thing He asked the blind guys, “Do you believe I’m able to do this?” Remember, Jesus doesn’t change.

• We’re told to imitate Him, called to follow Him, and every where He went, He healed, how are we suppose to interpret that? Let’s take it a step further, according to Romans, if we have to believe and confess to be saved, just maybe believing and confessing has something to do with healing?

• I cannot over emphasize the importance of SPEAKING GOD’S WORD into our situation.

• Even though God designed us to live a certain way, until we make a conscious evert to stop resorting to our human reasoning to determine the realities of His word, our faith will remain undeveloped. This is why Isaiah was asking if anyone was going to believe any of this stuff.

• When we study the life of Jesus, why do you think He healed everywhere He went?

• John 6:38,NKJV- For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

• Keep in mind, Jesus told us, “I am the way and the truth.” And if you’ve seen Me you’ve seen the Father.

• A thorough study of His life in the New Testament will reveal that He healed 100% of the people that came to Him for healing.

• Matthew 4:23,NKJV- And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.

• Keep in mind, we’re called to follow Him, imitate Him, do the things He told us to do. So, just exactly what do we believe?

• Matthew 10, Jesus gave His first disciples authority to heal all sickness. Then He sent them out, and in verse 8, He tells them, “heal the sick.” Luke 10, Jesus appoints 70 more disciples and sends them out and tells them, “heal the sick.”

• Think about this, Mark's version of the great commission tells us that part of our commission is to lay hands on sick people and they will recover.

• Jesus told us in Luke, "A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher."

• So why would He train His first disciples to live and minister a certain way, then command them to train everyone they discipled to live the same way, then move back to Heaven and expect us to live a different way and not even say anything about it to His closest followers, or at least leave us something in His word instructing us to live differently?

• What if, we don’t see something like healing operating in our church simply because we fail to talk about it enough to allow the Holy Spirit to establish faith in us concerning healing?

• Here’s the other side of this truth, if everything in God’s Kingdom operates in seedtime and harvest, and His word is incorruptible seed, and it’s been sown in our soul, just maybe we’ve got to believe that it’s growing right now.

• Mark 4:14,26-28,NKJV- The sower sows the word.
• And He said, The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground,
• and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.
• For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.

• Seed doesn’t do anything until its put in the ground. So back to our original question, exactly what do we believe? Just maybe Jesus is asking us the same thing He asked the blind guys, “Do you believe I’m able to do this?”

Two Worlds

Part 4 2/13/22

• Everything about this series hinges on the reality that the moment we give our lives to Jesus we’re born into a new world, into the Kingdom of Heaven, all while still confined to this natural world.

• But here’s the deal, most of us, most of the time are more aware of and committed to this natural world than our new world because its just easier, it’s more real to us. It’s what we’re use to.

• And until we get to the place where spiritual things are a reality, they will stay this, mysterious will of God kind of thing.

• This is what I love about Ephesians, it provides clarity for our new world. And the number one reality Ephesians drives home is that the church is His body, us in Him, Him in us, expressing the fullness of His reality.

• Ephesians 1:22-23,NKJV-  He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

• We have to understand, being successful in our new world isn’t any different than being successful in this world.

• Remember what God says in Jeremiah, When you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.”

• This is one of Paul’s key points in this letter in Ephesians. He isn’t praying for God to do a something new, he’s praying the we can see, that we can comprehend what God has already done.

• In chapter 3, he makes it very clear that the moment we’re born again we become fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ.

• Don’t forget, His intention from the very beginning was a to display His fullness through us, His church.
• And this is Paul’s second prayer that takes things to another level.
•  
• Ephesians 3:14-21,NKJV- For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
• 15, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
• 16, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,
• 17, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
• 18, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—
• 19, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
• 20, Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
• 21, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

• Remember, to Him be the glory!
• And make no mistake, God will never share His glory. That way no one can say, we caused God to move because of our great faith.

• Everything about His creation, His Kingdom and His grace all points to Him.

• His grace has been poured out, it’s the same towards everyone, but be sure of this, the more we expose ourselves to His grace, the more our souls are transformed through faith, we wont stay the same toward Him.

• Think about this, God told Paul, “My grace is sufficient”

• Here’s the deal, there’s still revelation we need to take away from chapter 3, and going into to chapter 4 has very specific instructions concerning our day to days, so we’ll circle back next week to some of Paul’s most divinely inspired realities.

• But as we continue our journey through Ephesians, because we’re going into to Valentine’s Day, how fitting that chapter 5 deals very clearly with the subject of marriage.

• The import thing to remember is that Ephesians wasn’t written in chapter and verse. This is a letter written from their shepherd on embracing their born again lives in Christ, right in the face of humanity.

• And after giving very specific instructions in chapter 4 about embracing our new, born again nature, Paul starts chapter 5 with this very profound statement; “Imitate God as dear children”

• Ephesians 5:2,AMP- Walk continually in love, that is, value one another—practice empathy and compassion, unselfishly seeking the best for others, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God.

• Listen to me very carefully, if you ever plan on walking in the spirit, it starts with walking in love. Because God is love and God is spirit.

• Something else to stay aware of is the fact that there’s nothing we can do to make God love us any more or less. But I promise you this, the closer we walk with Him, we will absolutely love Him more.

• Ephesians 5:17-21,NKJV- Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
• 18, And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,
• 19, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,
• 20, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
• 21, submitting to one another in the fear of God.

• Ephesians 5:22-32,NKJV- Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
• 23, For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.
• 24, Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
• 25, Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,
• 26, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,
• 27, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
• 28, So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.
• 29, For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.
• 30, For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.
• 31, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
• 32, This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

• Genesis 2:24,NKJV- Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

• God ordained the institution of marriage as an eternal memorial of His covenant between Him and His creation.

• He calls it a covenant.

• It’s sharing life, discovering life, united as one, even though still acknowledging our individuality. Striving for that unity in the faith.

• Ecclesiastes 4, “Two are better than one.”

• Seriously, every young couple I counsel, I tell them marriage is a full time job. There are no great marriages on accident.

• But here’s what’s really sad, way too many wonderfully born again, heaven bound Christians don’t think they need any help being a better husband or wife.

• And the enemy will do everything in his power to make sure you stay there. He knows that if he can destroy the family, he can keep the church weak.

• Remember what Paul told us in v.32, This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

• As a matter of fact, go back to v.17, Do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And that includes His will for marriage.

• Anything we’re good at, we invest in. In other words, if you’re going to be great at it, you’re going to have be on purpose about it.

• 99% of marriage problems can be answered in Ephesians 5:22-32.

• Stop allowing the world, stop allowing television and social media to tell you how to treat your spouse.

• In Matthew 7, Jesus said, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them.

• So the next time you’re mad at your spouse, go back to this scripture and ask Jesus what He thinks.

• Stop playing your selfish, childish mind games because you didn’t get you’re way.

• What’s sad is, the more selfish we become, the more judgmental we get.

• And do kid yourself, it’s impossible to be a judger and a doer a the same time.

• So a a person of faith, use it! Stop allowing selfishness to destroy what God designed to be great.

• Just like Christ and the church, marriage is an on purpose adventure.

• Remember, God said it in Genesis, and Jesus said it in Matthew, “The two shall become one.”

• At the end of the day, marriage is a covenant founded on love, the nature of God Himself. Remember, chapter 5 starts with love.

• Ephesians 5:1,AMP- Therefore become imitators of God, copy Him and follow His example, as well-beloved children imitate their father.

• MSG, Watch what God does then you do it!

• Everything about this series hinges on the reality that the moment we give our lives to Jesus we’re born into a new world, into the Kingdom of Heaven, all while still confined to this natural world.

Occupy

Meaning: To take or fill up, to take or hold possession 

Possession: the state of having, owning or controlling something. An item of property: something belonging to one. 

When I see Occupy, it’s a verb, it’s an action. It’s not a spectator sport, you can’t be an armchair quarterback. 

It’s being intentional, engaged, and doing. 

It is taking ownership of what belongs to you. 

The Bible is full of promises, but we often don’t Occupy them. 

Promises of full health - “By His stripes we are healed” Isaiah 53:5 NLT

Promises of prosperity - “A Greedy man stirs up strife, but the one who trusts in the Lord will be enriched.” Proverbs 28:25 ESV

Promises to be with us always - “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” Matthew 28:20 NLT

Even after everything we still struggle with grasping that we must Occupy and take possession of all His promises. 

We are good with the promise of salvation, and we Occupy that, by declaring Jesus Lord of our life. 

But we seem to not hold tightly to the many others, why? 

To jump in let’s look at Genesis 17:8 NLT. God gives a promise to Abraham. Doesn’t have any kids in his old age, but the Lord changes his name to Father of Nations. 

Genesis 17:8 NLT “And I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God.”

God speaks promises into our lives, but we still need to walk them out. We need to Occupy and take possession of those promises. 

Although Abraham lived in the land promised, he never truly Occupied, he was a foreigner in the land promised to him. It wasn’t his possession; he was just staying there cohabitating with others.  

If you came to live with me as a guest… you are living there, staying there, or renting space… but you do not Occupy because it is my house. 

We think Occupying is simply being in a space, but as we saw for the definitions, it’s not, it’s taking ownership. 

God wants us to Occupy, not be renters or bystanders in the promises He gives us

But Gods word is never void, He kept His promise to Abraham, but it was years and generations later. 

The people that could claim the promises ended up wandering and waiting until a man named Joshua walked in and truly Occupied as God intended. 

Moses is ready to Occupy the promises of God and sends 12 spies into the land that God promised to Abraham. 

After 40 days the spies came back and gave a report. 

It was favorable report, a land flowing with Milk and Honey…

There were 2 of the 12, with a positive report

Joshua and Caleb that knew when God says it is yours, it is yours, they were ready to go that moment.

Numbers 13:30 ESV “But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”

It’s yours, you just have to go and occupy, go and Posses it… You have to walk in the fullness that God has spoken in your life. 

But we as people trust what our eyes see and not the word of God. 

Then in the next breath there was a BUT…. 

How often do we let that BUT stop the power of God. 

We get this vision for something , a great idea, a new job 

BUT How can I afford it

BUT I am not smart enough

BUT it will take too much time 

The other 10 in the group added their but, and put a stop to Caleb and Joshua’s faith and tells the community a bad report and paints a picture of impossibility. 

They started to filter the situation with their head and not the promise that God had given them

The land was being given to them. 

They then start to talk about how strong the people in the land were, how fortified the cities were. They will be destroyed if they enter.

Doubt sets in, fear takes over, and they operate in what their eyes see and not what God is saying. 

Sound familiar… Back in the garden the serpent asked Eve, did God really say? 

All he needs to do is get us to doubt God and he has us. 

Another generation of people lost out on the promise God had given to Abraham, it could have been a 40 day journey, but the promise was held from them for 40 years, because they would not Occupy what God had spoken. 

When God says it, you can take it to the bank… It’s settled…. 

Key words in the Bible. I am, I will, You are, I have given you…. All key indicators we have it, we got to Occupy it! 

But it’s not going to fall into your lap, you got to step into it. 

Even if it doesn’t look possible, you have to trust that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

The only roadblock that stops God and His promises in our lives is us, our unbelief, our inaction, our complacency 

God has given us gifts and blessings to walk this out. Do we trust Him? Do we have faith in Him? 

Even Jesus spoke of Occupying in His parables.

We have all these wonderful things given to us, we simply don’t occupy and walk in the fulness He has given us! 

Parable of the Ten Servants: 

A noble man leaves to be crowned king. Before he left, he divided 10 pounds of silver Among them and told them to invest it while he was gone. 

Matthew 25:13 KJV - “And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.”

Matthew 25:13 NLT - “Before he left, he called together ten of his servants and divided among them ten pounds of silver, saying, ‘Invest this for me while I am gone.’”

When he returned, he brought them in to see what they did with the money. 

The 1st one invested and made 10 times the amount

The king was pleased with this response and put him in charge of 10 cities

The 2nd one invested and made back 5 times the amount

The king was pleased with this response and put him in charge of 5 cities

The 3rd one hid the money and returned it in full but made no profit. 

The king was not pleased with this, he ordered the money be taken from the third and give it to the one that made 10x the amount. 

Let’s read Matthew 25:26 “Yes,’ the king replied, ‘and to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.”

I kind of see it as 2 paths we walk down based on the decisions we make

Occupy and we take ownership and more will be given to us

Or be a foreigner and have a renter’s mentality, and things will be held from us

You know the old saying if God can get it through you, He will get it to you! 

The king was not upset that 3rd servant for not making a profit. He was upset that he was given the money and did nothing with it. He buried it in the ground and ignored it. 

Sounds familiar? God gives us gifts, opportunities, time, finances and often times we bury them in the ground and don’t use them for Him. Or we use them for our own benefit. 

We are not meant to be here and coexist with the world.  We are meant to bring change to it. We are meant to share Jesus and His love with those we come in contact with. We are meant to Occupy. 

Romans 12:2 NLT “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

There are two areas we can be different. 

Ways we can Occupy. God as Lord, God as provider. These are great places to build faith! 

Let’s start with Occupying God as Lord? 

When He is Lord, He has all of us not the leftovers

We give Him the first and best of our time and resources 

We often don’t do this though we say, I am so busy, I don’t have the time 

I get it we got to sleep, we got to work, we got the kids, we got this thing called life to do. 

But could we afford another 15 minutes or another 1 hour a day to dedicate to our Lord? 

Let’s take a look at how our time is spent in a week. PUT UP PIE GRAPH

In a week we have 168 hours to invest. It’s not all usable as we got to sleep and do other things... But let’s use 79 hours as what we have left to spend. 

The list on the right are some items that we can fill the 79 hours up in a week. 

In 2021 the average person spends 2.5 hours on social media a day… There goes 17.5 hours. 

For TV this is 3.5 hours a day or 24.5 hours in a week 

Just these 2 items cost us 42 hours of our time a week. But we don’t have to, we choose this… 

So instead of saying I don’t have the time, we should start saying, I would, but it’s not that important to me. 

I am not saying that to see God as Lord we need to cut all of the extras out. 

Simply could we be honest with ourselves and how we choose to invest our time and give God a little more? 

In the little more He refines us, and a little more becomes a little more, and that becomes a little more until you find yourself finding rest in Him and not all these others that really are not adding value to our lives.  

You know it takes 72 hours to read the Bible from front to back? At 1 hour a day we could read the Bible 5 times in a year. TAKE DOWN PIE GRAPH

There is so many ways we can honor God, but do we give Him the time and energy? 

What about Occupying God as Provider? 

This area snags so many Christians up 

Like the word money and giving are a 4-letter word 

But often we miss the point of giving… 

We think it’s to keep the church doors open, to support local ministries, to pay the preacher man. 

All of those are byproducts of giving… Great byproducts… but what if God means it to be more? 

I believe when you give or if you don’t give, we are expressing our faith of who our provider is. 

Is God your provider, or are you? 

God wants us to be cheerful givers and to see Him as provider and source of all. 

See giving today has lost a little bit of its luster since it is $ now… PUT UP SPENDING GRAPH

But think about it from the days of the Bible… They had to give the first and best. Not only are they giving to God their first harvest, but anything that could have come from it also. 

They truly trusted God that the other 90% would be far greater than the 100%

We often think if God blesses me, I will give then… If He would increase, I would start... 

Notice something wrong with those statements, we are expecting God to move first, but He has, it’s our turn 

Finances should be a resource, not and umbilical cord. 

It should be a tool we pick up and use not something we put our full reliance in.

The Bible is full of promises, but we miss it by not Occupying and marching forward. TAKE DOWN PIE GRAPH

I love what Craig Groeschel said last week- If you want to be more generous when you have more, learn to be generous when you have less. – Craig Groeschel

Giving is not the action of writing a check, it’s the posture of our heart, and the faith that He is our provider and source. 

None of what I have shared can be done without Faith

Without faith we are lost and succumb to our sinful ways. 

We establish our will our ways, our plans, instead of the perfect and pleasing plan that God has. 

Hebrews is a great place to camp out to build faith! 

Hebrews 11:1 NKJV “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Hebrews 11:6 NKJV “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him”

Faith doesn’t just happen, it takes walking as close to God as possible, through His word, through pray… Simply spending time in His presence. 

I look at faith like a muscle, we have to work it out to get stronger. 

We have to get uncomfortable and stretch ourselves a bit. 

In this growth happens, and when we grab on to these truths, no matter what is thrown at you, we stay locked in on Jesus and no storm will cause us to sink… 

I have spoken a lot of personal promises, but there is also Corporate promises

As a corporate body we have promises that God has given to us. 

1st our Purpose here is to Help people discover and develop their life in Christ. If we believe this and have faith that God will give us everything, we need to meet this purpose. 

Guess what happens… God shows up, God delivers, but we cannot have our hands in our pockets, we got to putting in the work! 

2nd our new building. Notice how I said our new building, not we may get a new building. 

When God says it, it is a done deal. 

It is ours; we just have to Occupy it. 

We just have to take possession of it. 

We need to walk into the lands God has promised us. 

Maybe some of you are the finance for this new building…. But you need to Occupy it. 

Maybe some of you are going to give time and expertise to it…. But you need to Occupy it. 

Let’s not be like the 12 Spies with some that have huge faith and dragging everyone else, “come on you all…. IT IS AMAZING… LETS GO…..”

Or are you the renters, the neigh sayers, or negative Nancies to think of every obstacle to come in the way of the promise… 

THERE WILL BE OBSTACLES. 

There is a real enemy that doesn’t want us to Occupy, he wants us to be foreigners in the promises God has given us. 

I am so glad we serve a God that is bigger than all that stuff. 

All we need to do is be attentive, be obedient, and keep moving forward…. 

In this season we are going into… we need some faith giants to stand in the gap. 

This season will be a journey, but let’s not neglect the now for the tomorrow. 

Why are you putting in new carpet, because until the Lord tells us to move we will Occupy

Why are you updating the decor, because until the Lord tells us to move we will Occupy

Church will you Occupy the promises He has for us... 

Will you stand boldly with the faith that God is at the helm and we are rowing in the same direction. 

Let’s walk in the fullness he has for us and stop living as foreigners in what He has given to us. 

Let’s occupy all he has for us and draw closer to Him. 

Ephesians 1:3-7,NLT- All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.

4, Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

5, God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

6, So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on use who belong to his dear Son.

7, He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.

And I know we’ve discussed this topic many times but God continues bringing me back to it. It’s not we couldn’t receive more clarity, further revelation into the realities of our new world. Our new identity.

And the first thing we’ve got to be clear on is our right standing with Him through Jesus. The moment we give our lives to Jesus, we’re not only new creations, but now heirs of His world.

You see, I love v.6, He made us the accepted in the beloved. Heirs of His world.

And that’s the driving thought behind our new talk “Two Worlds.”

We are born into a completely new world, which is 100% spiritual. Right now we belong to two worlds. Natural and Spiritual.

And even though confined to this natural, according to Jesus, we’re no longer of it. This is why Paul made crazy statements like, “walk in the spirit, not in the flesh.”

Think about it, how often would you say you’re applying spiritual principles in your daily lives? Remember James, “be doers not just hearers.”

God wants us living spirit led lives. Making spirit led decisions about every aspect of our lives. And that starts with being more spiritually minded.

But let’s be honest, most of us, most of the time are more aware of and committed to this natural world than our new world because its just easier, it’s more real to us. It’s what we’re use to.
 

And this is what I love about Ephesians, it provides clarity. For example, the church is His body, us in Him, Him in us, expressing the fullness of His reality.

Ephesians 1:22-23,NKJV-  He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

So, if we’re in Him, and Him in us, if we’re His church, His body, the fullness of Him, how much of a reality of this truth are we actually in pursuit of?
 

Everybody knows Jeremiah 29:11, I know the plans I have for you, plans of a future you hope for, an expected end.
 

But I want to highlight v.13,

Jeremiah 29:13 NKJV- You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
 

MSG- When you come looking for Me, you’ll find Me. Yes, when you get serious about finding Me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.

And even though Paul is telling us, because of our new identity, we can actually bring the realities of His world into this natural world;

just like the things of this natural world don’t just happen, neither do the thing of the spirit.
 

Being successful in our new world isn’t any different than being successful in this world
 

Listen to what God says in Jeremiah, When you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.”

This is one of Paul’s key points in this letter in Ephesians. He isn’t praying for God to do a something new, he’s praying the we can see, that we can comprehend what God has already done.
 

Listen to his prayer in chapter one;

May the eyes of your understanding being enlightened;

That we know what is the hope of His calling,

That we know what the riches of the glory of His inheritance is.

And that we know what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe.

Then the apostle John give further clarity, 1 John our born again nature in this world is just like Christ. Made in His image and likeness.

But we’ve got to recognize, God gave us free will by design. The choice is ours.

1 Thessalonians 5:23,NKJV- Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

SPIRIT

SOUL

BODY

And here’s the deal, when our soul is renewed with God’s word, we believe Him. At that point our soul and spirit are in agreement, causing the body to come in line. Or in the words of James, we become doers of the word.

But when our soul stays in agreement with our body, our human nature, human nature rules, resulting in unbelief. And we find ourselves saying things like, if the power of God was working in my life, I’d see it, feel it, experience it, etc…

We have to understand that according to v.19-20, we have the same power living in our spirits that raised Christ from the dead.

This is why Jesu told us, “rivers of living water will flow out of you”

We need to believe God to show us how to draw from that river, to draw out of the life He’s already given us.

You ready to be stretched a little more?

Ephesians 1:22-23 NKJV- And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

A head doesn’t go anywhere with its body. Example, you see someone’s car and there goes so and so. You don’t say there goes their car.

Don’t forget, last week we cover this faith stretching revelation;

Ephesians 2:4-6,NKJV- God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together,

and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Our spirit, our born again nature is in Christ right now. Raised with Him, seated with Him in heavenly places. Not gonna be!!

We have been made alive, delivered. The Holy Spirit quickens our mortal bodies right now.
 

But understand this, it’s not that we reach some sinless perfection, but the revelation and acknowledgment of our resurrected lives.

Philemon 6,NKJV- That the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.

But when we fail to do this, we find ourselves still dominated by our human nature
Ephesians 4, Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

The more we yield to our new man the less we yield to our human nature.

Romans 8:18,NKJV- For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Here’s the thing, revealed in us, not to us.

Ephesians 3:8-10,NKJV- To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;

to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.

Here’s the deal, everything about this new life in Christ hinges on our faith.

And it’s crucial we understand real faith is our correct, positive response to what God has already done.

Faith doesn’t move God. Faith is the created response, receiving, reaching into the unseen world and appropriating that world.

• Ephesians 1:3-7,NLT- All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.
• 4, Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
• 5, God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
• 6, So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.
• 7, He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.

• Jesus alone, through His sacrifice, by His grace makes us accepted in God’s family.

• This is why Paul could boldly say, “Its only by the grace of God that I am what I am.”

• So today, as we gather around the Lord’s table, get this reality settled in your thinking; we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. We are chosen by Him to be holy before Him. To the praise of His grace.

• At the end of the day, when it comes to God’s grace and goodness, the question we’ve all got to answer is; just exactly how much of what God tells us do we honestly believe?

• Seriously, if God, our Father tells us we’re forgiven, blessed, prosperous, favored, healed, why wouldn’t we accept what He says as truth? Why shouldn’t we believe, do and say what my Father tells us?

• Whether you’ve walked with Jesus most of your life, or you’re just starting your journey,
• Because of human nature, because we have an enemy, there will be times when we question the things of God’s unseen kingdom.

• Remember, we belong to two worlds. The choice of which one we live out of is ours. I’ve set before you life and death, blessing and cursing, you choose.

• Romans 8:5-6,NKJV- For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
• For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

• And it’s in these times that we can come to the Lord’s table, free of all sin, made completely righteous by His sacrifice, that sometimes is the reminder we need.

• I probably say this every time we take communion, but let’s be real, we all need reminded, encouraged about what Jesus did for us. To set our mind on spiritual things.

• This is Paul’s point in Ephesians, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.

• Communion is one of the most spiritual things we get to do

• It’s a divinely inspired place of revelation from the Father. Allowing us to see that Jesus alone made us worthy to stand in His presence. He made us heirs to the Kingdom through His sacrifice.

• May the eyes of our understanding be enlightened, that we can embrace the hope of His calling, so that we can walk in the riches of His glory, that we function in the exceeding greatness of His power.

• You see, some of the most spiritual clarity and revelation is around the Lords table. Starting with, Jesus said, this bread is his body broken for us. The cup is his blood shed for us.

• John 6:51,NKJV- “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever...”

• John 10:10,(paraphrase), I came from Heaven to give you a rich and satisfying life. A better life than you've ever dreamed of. A life to enjoy in abundance, to the full, till it overflows.

• Today as we worship Him at His table, according to Hebrews, when we come to the Lord, we have to come to Him in faith.

• In the faith that it’s only because of Jesus, only by His grace that any of us are able to stand in His presence.

• To have the privilege of being able to commune with our Creator.

• Communion isn’t just acknowledging Jesus’ sacrifice, it’s embracing and reverencing the fact that Jesus actually restored us to our rightful place with God.

• Today as we honor and reverence our King’s sacrifice, let His Spirit minister to you, embrace what Jesus did, what He said, embrace who you are because of Him.

• Ephesians 2:4-6,NKJV- God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
• even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together,
• and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

• This is why having moments like this, around the Lord’s table allow us the privilege of drawing closer to Him. Of seeing clearer, who we are in Him.

• Remember, Jesus has already made us alive together with Him and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Him.

• And even though we belong to two worlds, because of Jesus, while still in this world, we’re no longer of it.

• Understand, we’re not just citizens of Heaven, we’re heirs to the Kingdom, appointed ambassadors of our King, assigned here to establish the very same dominion our Father started everything with in Adam. And is now in Jesus.

• Truth is, our biggest battle isn’t really the devil, or other people, it’s our refusal to embrace a life beyond our humanity.

• This is why I love to make communion a special time, I truly believe communion allows us the privilege of coming boldly into His presence. Acknowledging and embracing exactly what Jesus did for us.

• Ephesians 2:10,AMP- For we are His workmanship, His own master work,
• a work of art created in Christ Jesus,
• reborn from above,
• spiritually transformed, renewed,
• ready to be used for good works, which God prepared for us beforehand, taking paths which He set, so that we would walk in them, living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us.

• And there is no better place to be reminded, no better place for fresh perspective, no better place to draw closer to Jesus than around the Lord’s table.

• Let today's communion remind you that you are righteous in God’s sight by Jesus' sacrifice. You are a brand new creation in Christ.

• Here’s the thing, until the born-again actually embrace the realities of our new nature, God’s grace and everything about His world will stay a mystery.

• 2 Peter 1:2-4,NKJV- Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
• as His divine power HAS GIVEN TO US ALL THINGS that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
• by which HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO US exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature.

• One of the most incredible realities about God’s grace, about His divine power is that it’s 100% based on His word and His character, not our conduct.

• And the blessed assurance every believer has today is that regardless of what we might face, Ephesians makes it very clear, we are in Christ and He is in us.

• And I love how the apostle Paul provides simplicity and clarity to our new lives in Christ; anyone united with Christ gets a fresh start, a new creation. The old life is gone; a new life is underway. All because God settled the relationship between us and Him.

• Communion reminds us not only of what Jesus saved us from, but what He saved is to.

• Think about it, we're going to Heaven, the place of no more pain, suffering, crying, and death. Communion stands as a memorial of an empty cross and an abandoned grave.

• Communion takes each of us back to when His incredible gift of grace changed our lives forever.

• Today as we gather around the Lord's table, embracing His amazing grace, we give Him a glory and honor, proclaiming His resurrection until He returns.

• Communion stands as our eternal memorial of God's amazing grace.

• Maybe this is why God told the apostle Paul, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness."

• You see, this is one of the most awesome things grace does, it transforms us into the new person He's already created us to be.

• And through faith, we believe it, we accept it and experience it.

• Yielding to this kind of undeserving love and power is what enables every believer to rise above their old nature.

• Peter says it like this out of the Message, What a God we have... Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now!

• Remember, communion is 100% spiritual. It’s a divinely inspired place of revelation from the Father.
• Boldly proclaiming Jesus alone made us worthy to stand in His presence. He made us heirs to the Kingdom through His sacrifice.

• May the eyes of our understanding be enlightened, that we can embrace the hope of His calling, so that we can walk in the riches of His glory, that we function in the exceeding greatness of His power.

• 1 Corinthians 11:26,NKJV- For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

• James 1:22-25,NLT- But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says.
• Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.
• You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.
• But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

• This is why Jesus made statements like, The words I speak are spirit and truth. Proverbs tells us His words are life to those who find them.

• I wanted to start with this passage because God brought a statement I’ve made several times to my attention.

• As long as a humanity can live without God, they will. Make no mistake, human nature will do everything within its power to keep us from discovering the realities of God’s new world He has for anyone willing to believe.

• Here’s something very important to remember, God didn't give us His word to condemn us. He gave us His word to reveal our true nature.

• And if you’re like me, you’re pretty good a listening to His word, it’s the whole doing that gets us.

• You see, the thing about Christianity, living this new life, actually being doers like James instructs us, we’ve got to come to terms with the reality that statements like that are only available to the born again.

• I think sometimes, for many of us we get comfortable in our Christianity and just maybe, not as aware of our new nature as we are our human nature.

• And that’s the driving thought behind our new talk “Two Worlds.”

• This is Paul’s point in Corinthians when he tells us that when we accept Jesus, we become new people. We have a new life.

• Ephesians 1:11,MSG- It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for.

• And with the reality that we are born into a completely new world, which is 100% spiritual, we belong to two worlds. Natural and Spiritual.

• As a matter of fact the book of Hebrews make it very clear that only God’s word can reveal the difference between the natural and spiritual.

• Something else Corinthians reveals to us is that God’s word is designed to be discerned spiritually.

• And even though confined to this natural, according to Jesus, we’re no longer of it. Paul actually takes things a step further in Philippians, informing us that we are now citizens of a heaven.

• And I know we’ve discussed this topic many times but God continues bringing me back to this subject. I can’t help but wonder if we simply need clarity, further revelation into the realities of our new world. Our new identity.

• Remember, He didn't give us His word to condemn us, but to reveal our true nature.

• So when I ask this question, let it challenge you not condemn you.
• According to the apostle James, how’s your doer awareness?

• Seriously, how often would you say you’re applying basic spiritual principles in your daily lives?

• Can we be real? Most of us, most of the time are more committed to this natural world than our new world because its just easier, it’s more real to us. It’s what we’re use to.

• That being said, the bulk of our talk will be centered around the one book in the NT that I believe gives absolute clarity on this subject, the apostle Paul’s letter the the Ephesians.

• At its core, it reveals the mystery of God’s church in the earth.

• Just a little history, after spending over two years there, starting a successful fellowship, Paul continues his missionary journey.

• Some five years later, from prison in Rome Paul writes one of his encyclical letters. Counting on his anointed leaders to circulate them.

• The ultimate revelation in Ephesians is the church as His body, us in Him, Him in us, expressing the fullness of His reality.

• Ultimately, it’s the Lord’s appeal for all of us to participate in Jesus’ commission in 5:27 of building a glorious church without spot or blemish.

• Ephesians 1:3-6,NKJV- Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who HAS BLESSED us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
• Spiritual blessing, divine privileges and resources available to those in Christ in this natural world.
• CEV, For the spiritual blessings Christ has brought us from heaven.

• As we unpack this, here’s the reality we’ve got to keep out in front of us, we belong to two worlds. Natural and spiritual.

• 4, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
• 5, having predestined (guaranteed destiny) us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
• 6, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

• One of the dominant, recurring themes throughout Ephesians is the reality of who we are in Christ.

• Maybe our first question should be, can we bring the realities of His world into this natural world? And if so, then how?

• The very first thing we have to acknowledge and accept is that according to Paul, according to Jesus is that these realities are only available to those who believe.

• This might help, just like with salvation, Jesus went to the cross for everyone. Atonement is a finished work that is waiting for the individual to exercise their faith and reach into that world and receive His finished work.

• God had already made the provision. Remember, Jesus is the Lamb slain before the foundations of the world.

• This is why back in v.6, He made us the accepted in the beloved.
• And since we’ve been accepted in the beloved, this revelation Paul gives us from the Holy Spirit is probably the key component in this letter.

• Ephesians 1:15-19,NKJV- Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,
• 16, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:
• 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,
• 18, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
• 19, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.

• You gotta get this, Paul isn’t praying for God to do a something new, he’s praying the we can see what God has already done.

• 18, “That the eyes (spiritual) of your understanding be enlightened”

• Think about this, according to God’s word, we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
• We are new creations in Christ.
• We have been transferred into His Kingdom.

• This is why Paul prayed, may the eyes of your understanding being enlightened;
• That we know what is the hope of His calling,
• That we know what the riches of the glory of His inheritance is.
• And that we know what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe.

• It’s as we begin seeing spiritually, comprehending the realities of our new world that we can put into practice what the apostle James is telling us, don’t  just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says.

• Which word do we do?
• Seriously, just take one statement from Jesus in John 14, ‘The things I do, you can do also”

• Lets not kid ourselves, the only word of God we become doers of is the word we can accept by faith.

• What we need is a NT, “such as I have” perspective. Or according to Paul’s prayer, we need revelation of who we already are in Christ.

• Seriously, according to 1 John our born again nature in this world is just like Christ. Made in His image and likeness.

• 1 Thessalonians 5:23,NKJV- Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• SPIRIT
• SOUL
• BODY

• And here’s the deal, when a soul is renewed with God’s word, we believe Him. At that point our soul and spirit are in agreement, causing the body to come in line. Or in the words of James, we become doers of the word.

• But when our soul stays in agreement with our body, our human nature, human nature rules resulting in unbelief. And we find ourselves saying things like, if the power of God was working in my life, I’d see it, feel it, experience it, etc…

• And I realize this concept contradicts popular religious traditions, and this is why Jesus told us, “truth will make you free.”

• I made this statement Wednesday night and it really stuck with me.
• Truth is the highest realm of reality. Once we abandon truth, we’re left with facts. Example: “There’s giants in the land” fact. God said, I have given you the land, truth.

• Hosea 4:6,NKJV- My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
• Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God.

• This is why Jesus made statements like, The words I speak are spirit and truth. Proverbs tells us His words are life to those who find them.

• I’ll leave you with Paul’s revelation to us, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who HAS BLESSED us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ

• 1 Corinthians 12:27,MSG- You are Christ’s body—that’s who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your “part” mean anything.

• In Ephesians 4 Paul says it a little different way, Jesus fits His whole body together perfectly. And as each part does it’s own special work, it cause the whole body to grow.

• I personally don’t think God’s plan for His church has ever changed.
• Obviously we change culturally as a society. And yes, without question, we have to change to maintain relevance, but never who we are as heirs to our Father’s Kingdom.

• That being said, as His body, His church, then we should still look like Him, sound like Him, respond like Him, represent Him.

• Now when it comes to the local church, a popular question is, do I have to be part of a local congregation?

• Truth is, we don’t have to, we get to. It truly is Gods design that we be called out and together.

• Your local church family is a place where we worship together, grow together, we laugh together, hurt together, discover who we are together. Your local congregation is a save place you can get plugged in.

• Get Plugged In is a simple invitation that allows anyone listening to become part of something Jesus is doing through His local church. And studies have proven that one of the fastest ways for someone to experience God is by getting involved.

• God is constantly looking for those willing to come along side other believers to be part of what He’s doing on the local level, serving along side each other, creating our God anointed identity.

• Never out of some competitive agenda, but from a heart of a servant.

• Christianity isn’t just believing, it’s belonging. And one of the coolest things about belonging is that’s where we usually discover our next steps. The journey is the preparation.

• Here’s the thing, being a part of Victory means being part of our  identity and personality that God has graced us with as one of His local bodies.

• Romans 12:4-5,NLT- Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

• When you get plugged in, you’re simply advancing our purpose as part of His body in the earth.

• I love how God describes His church in Ephesians, “I’m building a home, using all of you, irrespective of how you got here.”

• This is why we’re always encouraging you to get plugged in, regardless of how small it may seem, serving in your church is the on ramp to discover some of the gifts God has already graced you with.
• Because at the end of the day, it’s all,about people.

• This is why we're continually trying to get as many as possible involved in serving in our church. According to Romans, serving is one of our greatest acts of worship.

• Romans 12, So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. It’s one of our greatest acts of worship.

• So never underestimate the significance of God orchestrating personalities, giftings and talents in making a local church unique.

• You ever wonder why Jesus set up His church the way He did?

• Think about it, we are these frail, fickle, flawed people. But because God created us to be like Him, His grace allows us the privilege of discovering who we can be when we come together.

• Psalm 133, How good and how pleasant it is when believers come together in unity! It is like precious anointing oil that was poured on Aaron, covering his entire body. 
• Being unified is like the dew that covers mountains of Zion; For there the LORD commanded the blessing.

• Remember Ephesians 4, We are all one body, with one Spirit, called to the same glorious future.

• God never stops calling believers together to love one another, pray for each other, and serve along side each other for Christ.

• Remember what the Holy Spirit said in Ephesians, “I’m building a home, using all of you, irrespective of how you got here.”

• Ephesians 2, Truth is, we are His workmanship, recreated in Christ to do those good works He predestined for us. 
• It’s God’s gift from start to finish! Our part is trusting Him enough to let Him do it. His plan from the beginning was for us to join Him in His predestined work through Jesus.

• I can’t help but wonder how many of us honestly look at what we do for His body, the church as part of that predestined work?

• You’ve heard the old saying, “God’s not interested in your ability until He has your availability.”  Availability=Humility 

• And here’s the kicker, more times than any of us want to admit, availability, willingness introduces itself as change.

• There’s a great picture of this with Jonathan and his amorbearer. I love the heart of his amorbearer in 1 Samuel 14, “Do all that is in your heart. I am with you, according to your heart.” Talk about plugged in!

• This one faithful act, unbeknownst to them at the time was about to become a key part in God positioning King David’s reign over Israel.

• This armorbearer’s simple act of faithfulness brought him into his next part of God’s predestined plan. Think about it, we’re talking about him today.

• One of the greatest things the OT does is repeatedly show us, that simple acts of faithful people discovering their predestined life when they make themselves available for what God is doing.

• When it comes to any of us discovering our predestined plan from God, there will be times, just like Jonathan’s amorbearer that we’ve got to be open to change.

• You know the old saying, growing people are changing people.

• Our God ordained transformation is by design, and the more open and teachable, the more available we are, the more the Holy Spirit can use us.

• Embracing Christ like change results in us becoming people that Jesus doesn't just live in, He lives through.

• Here's the thing, making ourselves available to this life Paul is praying for us to have in Ephesians will always be a struggle without mixing faith with it.

• But when we do step out in faith, and we make ourselves available to Him, the stronger His influence through us becomes. 

• Becoming part of something bigger than any one individual requires change on an individual level. Unfortunately, we don’t like change, it disrupts our routine, asking us to let go of the comfortable and step into the unknown, many times asking us to unlearn old, comfortable habits.

• For example, at 211 degrees, all you get is hot water. But at 212 degrees, you’ve got boiling water. Many times it’s that one degree of change that makes us effective. That takes us to that next level.

• Max Dupree says, “We can’t become what we need to be by remaining what we are.” In other words, it’s time for change.

• And for our next big change, we will be merging campuses starting July 11. 
• Our lease will be up in Lexington, which cost us a little over $7000 a month
• And instead of renewing another 3 year lease, we believe that saving that money helps move toward our next step.
• And our next step is moving toward a new facility that seats 1500 people.

• Our goal is somewhere right off the interstate. We currently have people attending Victory from 15 different cities. 

• Berea, Carlisle, Corinth, Cynthiana, Frankfort, Georgetown, Lexington, Leesburg, Mt. Sterling, Nicholasville, Paris, Richmond, Sadieville, Versailles, Winchester

• And I believe God is going to continue adding people from up and down the interstate. So if you call this fellowship yours, I’m asking you to join us in taking responsibility for creating an atmosphere where people from all over our region can discover and develop a life in Christ.

• A place where they can get plugged in.

• Ephesians 2, Truth is, we are His workmanship, recreated in Christ to do those good works He predestined for us. 
• It’s God’s gift from start to finish! Our part is trusting Him enough to let Him do it. His plan from the beginning was for us to join Him in His predestined work through Jesus.

• When we begin to discover the "good works" He's prepared for us, it's important to understand that at the same time He's revealing, He's preparing us for them.

• This life-long process of staying open to guidance from Jesus positions us for God ordained transformation, and the more open, teachable and willing we are, the more the Holy Spirit can express Himself through us, individually and corporately. 

• The question is, will we let Him?

• Psalm 133:1-3,NKJV- “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, Running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; For there the LORD commanded the blessing— Life forevermore.”

• Acts 4:32,MSG- “The whole congregation of believers was UNITED as one—one heart, one mind!”

• Here’s the thing, seeing what God is saying is the only way we embrace our new lives, our spiritual lives.

• Revelation (spiritual seeing) is what empowers us to rise above the fears, failures, disappointments, circumstances, excuses, and become the person God created us to be. To experience some of His supernatural.
• Or like the apostle Paul says, “we walk in the spirit instead of the flesh.”

• But unfortunately, to often we miss the supernatural because we’re looking for the spectacular.

• And I realize the religious world, the unbelieving world, not to mention, we have a real enemy that constantly try pulling us from God’s world.

• So we constantly have talks like this because at the end of the day, everything about God and His Kingdom come down to this one truth; we have to believe what the book says.

• It’s the only way into His world.

• Remember Paul’s instructions from 2 Corinthians, We do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.
• For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

• Being able to see the unseen reshapes our thinking, which ultimately shapes our living. We’ve got to see things from His perspective.

• John 1:12-13,NLT- To all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

• I can tell you from my own battles, embracing the reality that I’m a son of God, created like Him, called to follow His lead is something my humanity is constantly unwilling to accept.

• None the less, if any of His word is truth, all of it has to be truth. You talk about seeing what He’s saying, leave here today with this reality settled in your thinking, I’M CREATED LIKE HIM

• 1 Corinthians 15:48-49,NKJV- As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly.
• And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

• When Jesus told us to repent for the Kingdom of heaven has come, He’s telling us to change; change our thinking, believing, our doing.

• That means taking enough time with Jesus and His word that it begins shaping our expectation for God to do certain things in our lives.

• And a major key in this reality is seeing ourselves like Him, as eternal people. It’s important we keep this reality out in front of us.

• Think about this, Peter tells us a day with the Lord is like one thousand years. From that perspective, a year is only a couple minutes.
• And that’s how Paul can tells us not to be moved by the things we see.

• He understood, the more we focus on the unseen the more spiritual transformation we’re going to experience.

• But here’s the deal, you ever read something God said, but file it away as one of those un-understandable’s? Because you don’t see what He’s saying.

• Revelation (spiritual seeing) according to Isaiah 28, comes to every believer, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little.

• And I know we get consumed with this life, the cares of this world, the desire for other things, not to mention the enemy doing everything possible to keep us distracted.

• So when we find ourselves distracted, maybe rebellious, failing more times than we care to admit. We have to know that El-Roi The God who sees, sees our end from our beginning is still here, never leaving us or forsaking us.

• Remember Paul’s revelation, “It’s only by the grace of God that I am what I am.”

• Romans 7:18-25,NLT- And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t.
• 19, I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.
• 20, But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
• 21, I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.
• 22, I love God’s law with all my heart.
• 23, But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.
• 24, Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?
• 25, Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

• And this is why sometimes a simple talk like this is all we need to redirect our thinking. Our focus. To be open to a fresh approach to a little Holy Spirit inspired living.

• To understand, just like Paul that it’s only by the grace of God that any of us, on any given day can stand in His presence.

• Sometimes right in the middle of us giving into the same trap that gets us every time. You know the one… you start seeing what He’s saying!!

• Philippians 1:6,AMP- I am convinced of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ, right up to the time of His return, developing that good work and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.

• Since Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God, one of the first thing He addressed society about was that we would have to change our thinking and our actions.

• Colossians 1:15-16,NLT- Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
• He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.
• He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the UNSEEN WORLD. Everything was created through Him and for Him.

• Make no mistake, God absolutely expects us to embrace the fact that in our new lives in Christ, we've been made like Him, to function like Him.
• But here’s the kicker, because of free will, when it comes to the unseen, His divine secrets, His Kingdom, God has reserved it's truths for those who seek Him.

• Hebrews says, God rewards those who sincerely seek him.

• Jesus himself said, "if you seek me you will find me."

• We have to remember, one of the first things Jesus told His followers was that they had to change the way they think and what they do.

• And not out of some religious obligation, but out of a revelation of their new life in Him.

• Staying open to reality that the Kingdom of God is in every born-again believer will change our approach completely concerning His church.

• Lets make sure we keep this out in front if us, the church is people, discovering, believing, embracing the reality that we belong to a different world, called to this one, for our windows of opportunity.

• And one of the greatest revelations every believer needs to be aware of is the fact that whenever, wherever we show up, Gods kingdom shows up.

• The company you work for is exposed to the kingdom of Heaven every day you show up.

• And every believer willing to embrace the grace God has given you will be the ones He uses to demonstrate His kingdom through.

• Those willing seek and follow Him are the ones He's leading right where He needs them.

• Something religion will never see is the reality that Jesus is the only one that makes us worthy of our new, God created kingdom. And this is why He tells us to resist the devil.

• Here’s something every believer needs to stay aware of as we take steps of faith to follow Jesus, one of the enemy’s most crippling powers is condemnation.

• But according to Romans 8, there is none for those of us who re in Christ, who walk according to the Sprit.

• This is why we have to be able to see what He’s saying. His word has the power to bypass intelligence and speak directly to the heart of a human.

• This why Jesus told us in Matthew, "SEEK FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness."

• Here's the thing, His kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. It exists in the spirit. So if you're going to seek it first, that's where you're going to have to do your seeking.

• Think about this for a second, when Jesus told us that all our provisions would be taken care as long as we seek God's kingdom first;

• If I'm understanding Jesus correctly, all our provisions will come out of our new kingdom.

• I honestly don't thing we give our new lives in Christ, especially kingdom living the consideration it demands,

• Primarily because of religious, church traditions.

• And I'm convinced this is why Jesus told society that we must change how we think and what we do.

• And I get it, all this spiritual stuff is different, weird, doesn't make sense, but God's ways, His word, is not of this world. So it's going to be different.

• So until we leave this world, God still needs believers willing to demonstrate His kingdom to this world Jesus died for.

• This is why we can never underestimate the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom. It literally is the power of God unto salvation.

• That’s why He told His closest followers; "the ability to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven have been given to you."

• Then He simply said, the kingdom of Heaven is like a seed a man sowed.
• You see what I’m saying

Here’s s quick review as we get into part 2, Even when we find ourselves consumed with time, right now in our humanity, we are eternal people.

Which means we need to maintain an eternal perspective. And the only way that happens is by allowing the eternal book to inspire, challenge, motivate, to direct us toward the realities contained within it’s pages.

The psalmist tells us, God’s word is what enlightens our path, renews our soul to His world.

And because we are His born again, new creations, we made to be able to see, to comprehend what He’s saying.

Joshua 6, “See! I have given Jericho into your hand”

One very significant lesson Joshua teaches us is that we’ve gotta stay open to the fact that a life with God is made for the supernatural, the impossible.

Here’s the deal, as long as we allow our senses, emotions, intelligence to determine reality, we leave no room for faith

I bring this up because being in God's family, He gives all of us Holy Spirit inspired dreams, plans, ideas, assignments, purposes. Holy Spirit inspired lives.

Sometimes we simply need to be able to see what He’s saying. To be open to maybe a fresh approach toward those Holy Spirt inspired dreams, our God given purposes, those ideas that might seem a little out there.

And the wonderful thing about our NT is that it will take us from glory to glory. If we’ll let it. I mean listen to what John tells us, you are of God, and He who is in you is greater than anything in this world. You see what I’m saying?

Here’s the thing, seeing what He’s saying empowers us to rise above the fears, failures, disappointments, excuses, and become the person God already knows we are.

But here's the deal, becoming this person, discovering our dreams, taking ownership of our God life, will demand CHANGE!!!!!

Galatians 6:9,NLT- “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”

Remember what John told us, you are of God, and He who is in you is greater than anything in this world.

God wants nothing more than for you to discover this life. A life He's already seen you having. You see what I’m saying?

“See! I have given Jericho into your hand”

Now you remember what God told Joshua concerning time in His word? (Day and Night.) In Matthew and Luke, Jesus said, “The light of the body is the eye, and if the eye is single, the whole body will be full of light.”

Obviously, all of us could be more single minded when it comes to Jesus, His word and kingdom of Heaven realities.

This is why Paul reminds us in Ephesians 4, “Stop going along with this empty-headed, mindless crowd.”

We are new creations in Christ, this is why the Holy Spirit repeatedly tells us to set our minds on the things of the Spirit.

According to the book of Colossians, the only way we will ever get to the place where we actually expect God to be the God of the Bible is to set our mind on things of the Bible.

I know I remind y’all of this all the time but being a Christian isn’t just about receiving Jesus’ life, it's about living His life. And it all starts with a fixed, confident expectation, anticipating good.

Remember Deuteronomy, I’ve set before you life and death, choose life!!

This means there will be those times we’ve got to stop being moved by the things that we see, and focus on the things we can’t see because they are eternal. You see what I’m saying?

As one of Jesus’ disciples, we’ve got to take enough time with Jesus and His word that it begins shaping our expectation for God to do certain things in our lives.

We will never become who God says we are if we don't take the time to make ourselves available to Him.

He gave us His Word to enable us to see who He's called us to be.

Romans 15:4,NIV- For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

One of the main things Paul emphasizes is the fact that the moment we accept our new life in Christ, it comes with an assignment.

And just like Joshua and the children of Israel, we also have to possess our promise land.

Philippians 1:6,AMP- I am convinced of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ, right up to the time of His return, developing that good work and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.

I bring this up because it's easy for us to settle into our routine and forget that we're deliberately made, divinely gifted for purposes out beyond our current situation.

Let me drop this on ya while we’re here, let this truth settle in your heart, as a child of God, don't ever let what you do for income define who you are for God.

Here’s something else to consider, lets not confuse provision with destination.

As your SURRENDER becomes deeper, your ASSIGNMENT becomes clearer.

One of the main reasons we’re unwilling to step out of our self-imposed boundaries and discover something God has already seen us having or doing is simply because we can’t see what He’s saying.

Psalm 37:23-24,NLT- The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.

Something we’ve got to stay aware of, Godly inspiration requires faith participation.

I'm sure many of you know first hand how life will try desperately to get us to question our faith.

But what if the giant you're facing right now isn't there to defeat you but promote you. (David & Goliath)

Remember what Paul tells us about our OT examples, we repeatedly see God using what appeared to be an opposition to advance His people to a higher level of success.

Jeremiah 29, God says, I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you’re expecting.

The thing is, when we're in the middle of a challenging situation, doing something that makes no sense isn't what we want to hear from God. We just want Him to fix it.

I can't help but wonder how many of us miss things God has for us because we want to reason with Him instead of trust Him.

Sometimes our simplest act of faith is making room in our thinking for God to do what only He can do.

What if Jesus is asking you to do something that makes absolutely no sense?

Nick Vujicic, evangelist, speaker and author. He teaches all round the world, made this statement:

"The place between your comfort zone and your dream is where life takes place." "So, dream big and be willing to look a little foolish."

See! I have given Jericho into your hand”

Nick simply put into practice what the apostle Paul told us to do in Romans: with God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.

Now I realize that for many of us that are enjoying the blessings of God, the question for us is, will we be willing to let Jesus interrupt the routine of what we've gotten use to?

Remember, one of our big take always from Joshua is that we’ve gotta stay open to the fact that a life with God is made for the supernatural, the impossible.

Here’s the deal, as long as we allow our senses, emotions, circumstances, intelligence to determine reality, we leave no room for God’s supernatural.

I bring this up because being in God's family, He gives all of us Holy Spirit inspired dreams, plans, ideas, assignments, purposes. He gives everyone of us Holy Spirit inspired lives.

Sometimes we simply need to be able to see what He’s saying. To be open to maybe a fresh approach to a Holy Spirt inspired life.