February 15, 2007

• Taking Dominion part 2 by Pastor Ted

  This is a continuation of yesterday’s notes.

  How can Jesus tell us not to worry when we are surrounded by the natural world and things seem impossible?

  1 Corinthians 2:4-5 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

  Prophets take what they hear in the spiritual and present it to those on earth, and for many of the people on earth, the prophet’s words seem foolish. Paul had so many revelations from God, that God permitted satan to give him a thorn in the flesh to buffet him, so that Paul would remain humble, knowing that he needed God’s grace, which was sufficient.

  The devil will tempt us through our thoughts and with powers. The thoughts and powers will appear to be supernatural, not of this world, and satan wants us to use them according to the world’s values. But we need to make sure that what we do is OF God and FOR God, and in accord with the divine nature of God.

  Peter was in the boat, and he heard Jesus command him to walk on the water. Truth touched reality and Peter was able to walk on the water until he took his eyes off of Jesus and then he sank. So often we go through the natural to get to the spiritual, but often the spiritual is not the first thing that we are touched by.

  1 Corinthians 2:10-11 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

  Our spirit man knows more than we perceive through our senses, and our spirit man is what is in touch with the Spirit of God.

  1 Corinthians 2:12-13 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. Those things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

  We cannot understand the deep things of the spirit by comparing them to our knowledge of the natural world. We have to compare spiritual with spiritual. We cannot understand the spiritual realm with our natural senses. Carnal minded people can imitate things of the spirit, but they are not from God. A good example of this is Moses (Heather’s note, yes, I will get back to Exodus one day, but may take a side trip through Daniel. Hey we can leave the Israelites in the wilderness a bit longer, they were there for 40 years, what is a month or two?). The magicians were able to imitate what God did through Moses at the beginning, but could not replicate the later miracles such as lice. Remember when Moses first created the serpent, and the magicians copied that. God’s serpent devoured the magician’s serpent. Truth will always devour the false.

  1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

  It can sometimes be tough for people when you want to talk about spiritual things, they can follow your train of thought for awhile, but then they get lost. Some have left Jesus for a reality of their own making. They want to make their own rules and follow what they want, leaving out the rest. This will not work with God. We are to come out of the world, to sanctify ourselves. To be IN the world, but not OF the world. We want out of everything that Babylon (the world) has confused us with. (This is just what Beth Moore in her Daniel study is teaching.) Achan and Saul in the Old Testament and Ananias and Sapphira in the New Testament,  really needed to die to the self. Instead, they faced serious consequences for bowing to the world system, instead of obeying God.

  We have to make a choice to cross over to the things of the spirit. We cannot straddle the two worlds and be effective Christians. When we say we want to be a servant of the LORD the devil tries to pull us back to Babylon.

  1 Corinthians 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.

  When we speak with carnally minded people, we cannot speak all that the Spirit shows us for they would not understand.

  1 Corinthians 3:2-3 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

  Paul determined that the Corinthians were still carnally minded. We can assess our spiritual level by checking out where we have strife, envy and divisions. Are we behaving like the world around us? When we are caught up in carnality we block the spiritual things of God.

  1 Corinthians 3:4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?

  Division among the brethren is satan’s plan for the church. We have so many denominations today tearing each other apart, that we are not acting as one Body of Christ.  Satan’s plan is to divide and conquer all who are called by God. We are not using the gifts in the whole body of Christ.

  When you say you are from anyone, you are making yourself and that person an idol.

  We are called to have Unity of the Body of Christ.

  1 Corinthians 3:10-13 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear, for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.

  The Day is the Day of The Lord referred to in Revelation – and it is a final judgment – those things that are wood, hay, and straw will be burnt up in the fire of judgment – only those things of God, of lasting value will remain. Notice that the fire will test EACH person’s work. We will not stand in judgment for another’s actions or work, just our own, and He reads our hearts too. A work can be good in circumstances, but done from the wrong motive of the heart. Every word we speak or teach will be tested by fire.

  No person is now at the same level of faith or revelation. We are at different points in different areas of our lives. We cannot despise small beginnings, each step towards God is a step towards God.

  1 Corinthians 3:14-15 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

  We need to be thoroughly committed to Christ, not concerned about the result in the world, but rather the eternal result. Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? They chose to obey God, not concerned about what would happen with their lives, but only that they wanted to obey God. And even when we do not do lasting works, our salvation is still secure.

  1 Corinthians 15:29-31 Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead? And why do we stand in jeopardy every hour? I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

  We need to die daily to self. The devil wants to use creation to rob us of our peace. When we die daily to the physical self, then he cannot touch our peace.

  1 Corinthians 15:32 If in the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” If there is nothing after our lives on earth, then our sacrifice would not have the same value. But we know that there is more to life than just our existence on earth.

  1 Corinthians 15:33-36 Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits. Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?” Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies.

  If we sow to the spirit, we die to self. To know Christ is to die to the natural man and be born again in the Spirit. Jesus cares about our eternal spirit, and will cause those things in our life that do not line up with his spirit to die.

  Some Christians live in survival mode (day to day) instead of overcoming mode.

  Do not be drawn into Babylon, do not accept false teachings of peace, peace when there is no peace. The whole of creation is waiting, and we want to rule and reign with Christ. Things of this world do not mean so much when compared to eternity.

  Hope this blessed you. It sure opens my eyes, especially with the truths that I have been learning in the Daniel study by Beth Moore. I will share some of that soon.

  Have a blessed day,

  Heather

  • 2:47 pm
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