The main
topic of this message is on the concept of bringing “Heaven on Earth”. To understand this concept the first thing that
we should do is, understanding our identity in Jesus Christ. As Paul explained
it in Romans 12:2 we should change our way of thinking about ourselves.
Renewing Our Mind
“Don't copy
the behaviour 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.” – Romans 12:2
We Are New Creations
”Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away;
behold, all things have become new.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17
We Have Been Adopted As
God’s Children
“Having predestined
us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good
pleasure of His will.” – Ephesians 1:5
We Are Citizens Of Heaven
“For our
citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ.” – Philippians 3:20
We Are Royal Priesthood
“But you are
a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession,
that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his
wonderful light.” – 1 Peter 2:9
We Are Christ’s Ambassadors
“We are
therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through
us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.” -2 Corinthians
5:20
What makes us
not to think in the way that the Bible talk about us?
1. Sin:
a. God will help you overcome wrong motives and intentions if you will simply ask and receive help rather than trying to do it on your own. – Joyce (James 4:7 and 17)
b. But that doesn’t mean that you do not have to fight the enemy. You fight by obeying.
c. The secret of our success is determined by our daily agenda. –John Maxwell
2. Fear:
a. Are you defining yourself by who you once were, or who God says you really are? –T. D. Jakes
b. No matter what kind of past you have had, it doesn’t have an affect on your future. – Joyce,
c. Never let the sense of past failure defeat your next step. - Ostwald Chamber
3. Our ability (mind or power):
a. One of the things that makes God so wonderful is that He possesses insight about you that you don’t know about yourself. – T. D. Jakes
4. Our perspective of the enemy:
a. God creates devil, we cannot consider him as an opposite of God.
b. The powers of evil around you are no match for the power of Jesus within you. 1 John 4:4
5. Our perspective of God
a. We have to know that we cannot know God with the limited capacity our mind.
b. God is bigger than what we can be able to understand.
6. Lack of proper knowledge: (two kinds of knowledge)
a. Those who feel safe because of their intellectual grasp of scriptures enjoy a false sense of security. None of us has a full grasp of scripture, but we all have the Holy Spirit. He is our common denominator who is always lead us into truth. But to follow Him, we must be willing to follow off the map – to go beyond what we know. To do so successfully we must recognise His presence above all. – Bill Johnson
7. Trying to do it by ourselves:
a. We need Holy Spirit. (Matthew 7:9-11)
8. Lack of faith:
a. Heaven is moved by faith. Faith is the currency of heaven. People of great faith are hard to live with. Their reasoning is otherworldly. - Bill Johnson,
b. When we do something out of a sense of duty, it is easy to explain the reasoning for our actions to others. But when we do something out of obedience to the Lord, there can be no other explanation – just obedience. That is why a saint can be so easily ridiculed and misunderstood. – Ostwald Chamber
9. Not giving God a room to move in our life:
a. When we submit the things of God to the mind of man, unbelief and religion are results. When we submit the mind of man to the things of God, we end up with faith and renewed mind. The mind makes a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. – Bill Johnson
10. Not knowing what we want:
a. Do know what you really want. Mark 10:35-45 and 46-52, Matthew 20:29-34
11. Lack of obedience:
a. Never try to live your life with God in any way than His way. And His way means absolute devotion to Him, Showing no concern for uncertainties that lie ahead is the secret of walking with Jesus. - Oswald Chamber
12. Abusing of love, grace and faith
a. Do not use these words to run away from your weaknesses, (2 Peter 1:10-11)
13. Looking problems as disasters rather than taking them as a great opportunity to see God moving in our life:
a. God never gave His own explanation of the problem of suffering, nor did He inform Job the contest recorded in Job chapter 1 and 2. The real issue at stake was Job’s faith: whether he would continue to trust God even when everything went wrong. By instinct we tend to focus on the “Why?” question; God seems more interested in “To what end?”. Once suffering has happened, bad as it is, can it somehow be used for good? – Philip Yancey (The bible Jesus Read) John 9: 1-3
b. If you really want to know whether you are a Christian or not, the simple, most direct way, always, is to discover what you are like when things go against you. A time of affluence and prosperity, when the sun is shining and everything is going well, never tests our profession. But, the moment things go wrong and you are in a state of perplexity, then you will know exactly the value of what you claim to believe. - Martin Lloyd –Johns (Thou Art My God)
14. The way we think:
a. You are not destroyed by the problem around you; you are only contaminated by that which is in you. – T. D. Jakes,
b. Think about what you have been thinking about and you may find the source of some of your discontent. - Joyce
1. Sin:
a. God will help you overcome wrong motives and intentions if you will simply ask and receive help rather than trying to do it on your own. – Joyce (James 4:7 and 17)
b. But that doesn’t mean that you do not have to fight the enemy. You fight by obeying.
c. The secret of our success is determined by our daily agenda. –John Maxwell
2. Fear:
a. Are you defining yourself by who you once were, or who God says you really are? –T. D. Jakes
b. No matter what kind of past you have had, it doesn’t have an affect on your future. – Joyce,
c. Never let the sense of past failure defeat your next step. - Ostwald Chamber
3. Our ability (mind or power):
a. One of the things that makes God so wonderful is that He possesses insight about you that you don’t know about yourself. – T. D. Jakes
4. Our perspective of the enemy:
a. God creates devil, we cannot consider him as an opposite of God.
b. The powers of evil around you are no match for the power of Jesus within you. 1 John 4:4
5. Our perspective of God
a. We have to know that we cannot know God with the limited capacity our mind.
b. God is bigger than what we can be able to understand.
6. Lack of proper knowledge: (two kinds of knowledge)
a. Those who feel safe because of their intellectual grasp of scriptures enjoy a false sense of security. None of us has a full grasp of scripture, but we all have the Holy Spirit. He is our common denominator who is always lead us into truth. But to follow Him, we must be willing to follow off the map – to go beyond what we know. To do so successfully we must recognise His presence above all. – Bill Johnson
7. Trying to do it by ourselves:
a. We need Holy Spirit. (Matthew 7:9-11)
8. Lack of faith:
a. Heaven is moved by faith. Faith is the currency of heaven. People of great faith are hard to live with. Their reasoning is otherworldly. - Bill Johnson,
b. When we do something out of a sense of duty, it is easy to explain the reasoning for our actions to others. But when we do something out of obedience to the Lord, there can be no other explanation – just obedience. That is why a saint can be so easily ridiculed and misunderstood. – Ostwald Chamber
9. Not giving God a room to move in our life:
a. When we submit the things of God to the mind of man, unbelief and religion are results. When we submit the mind of man to the things of God, we end up with faith and renewed mind. The mind makes a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. – Bill Johnson
10. Not knowing what we want:
a. Do know what you really want. Mark 10:35-45 and 46-52, Matthew 20:29-34
11. Lack of obedience:
a. Never try to live your life with God in any way than His way. And His way means absolute devotion to Him, Showing no concern for uncertainties that lie ahead is the secret of walking with Jesus. - Oswald Chamber
12. Abusing of love, grace and faith
a. Do not use these words to run away from your weaknesses, (2 Peter 1:10-11)
13. Looking problems as disasters rather than taking them as a great opportunity to see God moving in our life:
a. God never gave His own explanation of the problem of suffering, nor did He inform Job the contest recorded in Job chapter 1 and 2. The real issue at stake was Job’s faith: whether he would continue to trust God even when everything went wrong. By instinct we tend to focus on the “Why?” question; God seems more interested in “To what end?”. Once suffering has happened, bad as it is, can it somehow be used for good? – Philip Yancey (The bible Jesus Read) John 9: 1-3
b. If you really want to know whether you are a Christian or not, the simple, most direct way, always, is to discover what you are like when things go against you. A time of affluence and prosperity, when the sun is shining and everything is going well, never tests our profession. But, the moment things go wrong and you are in a state of perplexity, then you will know exactly the value of what you claim to believe. - Martin Lloyd –Johns (Thou Art My God)
14. The way we think:
a. You are not destroyed by the problem around you; you are only contaminated by that which is in you. – T. D. Jakes,
b. Think about what you have been thinking about and you may find the source of some of your discontent. - Joyce
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