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By Pastor Carey Clow
This message continues the look at some of our values. Obedience - focus - is a key to unlocking liberty in both our lives and in others around us.
Prophecy - dreams - fail... (1 Cor 13) But Love never fails!
Where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ... But these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. - 1 Corinthians 13:8 & 13
Prophecy will fail/cease. Skill and intelligence will fail us and cease. BUT
- Love regenerates hope.
- Hope regenerates faith.
- Faith regenerates prophecy, wisdom, knowledge and beyond.
Listen to this message via MP3. 45min, 5.3MB
A Powerful People - Unlocking kingdom by removing resistance
Overcoming - Adding, influencing, improving, outlasting - Not intimidated!
Types of resistance
We do face resistance in life. Most we are commanded in scripture to overcome!
- Circumstantial - Natural or random barriers not specifically influenced against us.
Progress through gift of wisdom, with strength and perseverance
- Consequential - Self inflicted
Progress through repentance and paying the price to fix things
- Adversarial - Involving antagonism from others
Progress through prophetic insight with patience and humility
- Spiritual - Involving antagonism by the demonic
Progress through gift of knowledge with proclamation and determination
- Providential - God's grace and will keeping us from or in something
Progress through faith trust and prayer with renewed thinking
Intimidation
in·tim·i·date - Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
-verb (used with object), -dat·ed, -dat·ing.
- to make timid; fill with fear.
- to overawe or cow, as through the force of personality or by superior display of wealth, talent, etc.
- to force into or deter from some action by inducing fear: to intimidate a voter into staying away from the polls.
[Origin: 1640-50; < ML intimidātus, ptp. of intimidāre to make afraid, equiv. to L in- in-2 + timid(us) timid, afraid + -ātus -ate1]
-Synonyms 1. frighten, subdue, daunt, terrify. See discourage.
-Antonyms 1. calm. 3. encourage.
For our struggle[wrestle] is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers[principalities/beginnings], against the authorities[seats of influence/powers], against the powers of this dark world[Satan who has taken mastery of this Kosmos] and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. - Ephesians 6:12 NIV
The wrestle
Like it or not we are in a struggle, a battle, wrestling against something. Sometimes it's borders are far off but often we're on the front line or closer to it than we might think.
Flesh & Blood
Though the faces may be human, these are what we seek to liberate, and not to tear down.
Principalities/Powers/Rulers/Authorities
These are both impersonal and personal forces at work against us. Some things oppose us by mere principle. Others by substantial hatred. But all seek to bring our world down to a place of compliance with powerless lower than Godly living.
His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers[principalities/beginnings] and authorities in the heavenly realms, - Ephesians 3:10 NIV
For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers[principalities/beginnings] or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning[principality/ruler] and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. - Colossians 1:16-18 NIV
and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power[beginning/principality/ruler] and authority. - Colossians 2:10 NIV
And having disarmed the powers[beginning/principality/ruler] and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. - Colossians 2:15 NIV
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning[principality/ruler] and the End. - Revelation 22:13 NIV
Our authority
I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. - Luke 10:19 NIV
But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home." And the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men. - Matthew 9:6-8 NIV
He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. - Matthew 10:1 NIV
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. - John 1:12-13 NIV
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." - Acts 1:8 NIV
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. - 2 Corinthians 2:14 NIV
The kingdom unlocked
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. - 1 John 3:8b NIV
The "message of the kingdom" is what we preach.
- That the Kingdom of God is near (Says John the Baptist)
- That the Kingdom of God is found in Jesus
- That the Kingdom of God is available to everyone who seeks it (through the cross). Mt 6:33
- That the Kingdom of God becomes tangible through us and what we do for God. Mt 10:12
- That the Kingdom of God has power over a spiritual enemy. Mt 12:28
- That the Kingdom of God is worth all cost to pursue. Mt 13
- That the Kingdom of God is costliest and most difficult for the rich to enter. Mt 19:24
- That the Kingdom of God is unlocked through our keys!
"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven..." - Matthew 16:19 NIV
- That the Kingdom of God is not found in knowledge but in knowing as with a child. Mt 18
- That the Kingdom of God's reign is supreme and we all owe an insurmountable debt to the King. Mt 18:23ff
- That the Kingdom of God is available to all but only given to the prepared. Mt 22 & Mt 25
The secret of the Kingdom of God is the man Jesus Christ.
The mission of Jesus Christ is to redeem the world and usher in the practical rule of God kingdom.
The power of a people
The power of a people is in what they believe. In what they see. I believe in a people that can mature through personal and corporate adversities, growing the kingdom of God along the way. A people whose community look to it for help and whose leaders look to it for wisdom. I believe in a people God believes in. A people with His name, His nature, and His enduring, insightful and overcoming Spirit.
Prophecy/Dreams/Hopes
We are a people who force forward the propagation of God's dreams, His hopes, His prophetic word.
The hope of the Gospel and of the kingdom is everyone's perfect world.
- Pain free full of health
- Debt free full of wealth
- Oppression free full of liberty
- Boredom free full of vibrancy
- Sickness free full of long life (eternal in Christ)
I can do everything through him who gives me strength. - Philippians 4:13 NIV
I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. - John 14:12-14 NIV
Feeling powerless?
Without Jesus Christ, and repentance before the cross of Jesus, the Bible says we are at the whim of spiritual principalities and powers and more so under the bondage of sin ultimately leading to physical and spiritual death.
Finally
What is your dream? What can you see for this city, this church, this nation, your family.
What is your dream? What fullness of life is missing and as yet unfulfilled.
Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of old. Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced that monster through? - Isaiah 51:9 NIV
Awake, awake, O Zion, clothe yourself with strength. Put on your garments of splendor, O Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again. - Isaiah 52:1 NIV
"Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." - Joshua 1:6-9 NIV
What have you been subdued into thinking that you need to take back!
Do you see a city that cannot respond to the gospel. Or a city that is desperate for redemption?
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