WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:04.219 Sharing good news of great joy to all people. 00:00:04.759 --> 00:00:10.060 Elation Church. This is week number two in our 00:00:10.060 --> 00:00:13.380 series entitled The Door. Everybody say the door. 00:00:14.279 --> 00:00:19.899 The door. And we're going to go over what we 00:00:19.899 --> 00:00:23.339 talked about last week very quickly so that we'll 00:00:23.339 --> 00:00:25.660 all be on the same page. How many of you were 00:00:25.660 --> 00:00:28.820 not here last week? Raise your hand. That's about, 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:32.590 I don't know. 20 or 30%. So we're going to go 00:00:32.590 --> 00:00:37.170 over what we talked about to build the foundation. 00:00:38.170 --> 00:00:40.130 So look at the person beside you and tell them 00:00:40.130 --> 00:00:47.770 to listen fast. Listen fast. Even if you don't 00:00:47.770 --> 00:00:49.850 understand, act like you understand. So I won't 00:00:49.850 --> 00:00:53.170 say it the same way four times, all right? A 00:00:53.170 --> 00:00:55.049 different way four times. Same thing, a different 00:00:55.049 --> 00:01:01.979 way. Starting out in Ephesians 119. part of what 00:01:01.979 --> 00:01:05.599 we call the Ephesians 1 prayer, where Paul is 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:07.760 praying for the believers in Ephesus and he's 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:11.120 saying, I pray God that you will give them revelation. 00:01:12.939 --> 00:01:18.420 Let them see. Let them really get it. That's 00:01:18.420 --> 00:01:21.140 the difference. Because you can hear it and not 00:01:21.140 --> 00:01:25.459 get it. So Paul is praying that they would receive 00:01:25.459 --> 00:01:29.019 revelation from God, from the Holy Spirit. His 00:01:29.019 --> 00:01:32.480 word would come alive in them. And one of the 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:34.719 things that he wants them to receive revelation 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:38.219 is about is found in verse 19, where he says, 00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:42.859 I pray that you will understand the incredible 00:01:42.859 --> 00:01:49.000 greatness of God's power. I don't know if we 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:51.120 can fully wrap our minds around the incredible 00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:54.420 greatness of God's power, but I believe everyone 00:01:54.420 --> 00:01:58.329 in this room could... Understand a little bit 00:01:58.329 --> 00:02:02.469 more than you already do. I believe we can grow 00:02:02.469 --> 00:02:07.590 in revelation and grow in understanding. I pray 00:02:07.590 --> 00:02:09.629 that you will understand the incredible greatness 00:02:09.629 --> 00:02:14.389 of God's power. And what's his power? It's for 00:02:14.389 --> 00:02:20.550 us. Look at the person beside you and say, God's 00:02:20.550 --> 00:02:25.830 power is for me. It's for me. It's God's power, 00:02:25.930 --> 00:02:29.169 but it's for us. That we would understand that 00:02:29.169 --> 00:02:34.009 God's power is for us who believe in him. It's 00:02:34.009 --> 00:02:38.610 for you. So God's power has direction and purpose. 00:02:39.250 --> 00:02:42.789 God's power is directed towards those who believe. 00:02:43.389 --> 00:02:46.949 Do we have any believers? So God's power is directed 00:02:46.949 --> 00:02:51.469 towards you. And we invest our belief in God's 00:02:51.469 --> 00:02:54.689 word when we do that. When we invest our belief 00:02:54.689 --> 00:02:57.349 in His Word, our understanding of God's power 00:02:57.349 --> 00:03:02.569 will grow. It will build. The purpose of God's 00:03:02.569 --> 00:03:06.310 power for the believer is to accomplish His will 00:03:06.310 --> 00:03:10.210 in the earth. How many of you know God doesn't 00:03:10.210 --> 00:03:12.330 send seven -foot angels to accomplish His will 00:03:12.330 --> 00:03:15.770 in the earth? I mean, He can. If He wants to, 00:03:15.870 --> 00:03:19.000 He can, right? But that's not the way it normally 00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:21.060 works. That's not the normal flow. The normal 00:03:21.060 --> 00:03:23.580 flow is that God wants to accomplish His will 00:03:23.580 --> 00:03:26.360 in the earth through believers, through you, 00:03:26.439 --> 00:03:29.620 through me. He wants His power to flow through 00:03:29.620 --> 00:03:35.340 us in the earth to accomplish His will. Then 00:03:35.340 --> 00:03:37.539 we talked about Jacob's ladder, Genesis 28, 11, 00:03:37.699 --> 00:03:40.379 12. It says, Jacob found a stone to rest his 00:03:40.379 --> 00:03:45.460 head against. I like my soft pillow. Jacob. Jacob 00:03:45.460 --> 00:03:47.340 found a stone to rest his head against and lay 00:03:47.340 --> 00:03:52.979 down to sleep. As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway. 00:03:53.740 --> 00:03:57.379 Has anybody heard of Jacob's ladder before? He 00:03:57.379 --> 00:03:59.960 dreamed of a ladder. He dreamed of a stairway 00:03:59.960 --> 00:04:04.099 that reached from earth up to heaven. And he 00:04:04.099 --> 00:04:09.000 saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway. 00:04:10.060 --> 00:04:12.840 They were going up and down the stairway to take... 00:04:13.210 --> 00:04:16.269 The things of heaven and to bring them to earth. 00:04:16.310 --> 00:04:20.750 This is a picture, right? And at the top of the 00:04:20.750 --> 00:04:25.629 stairway stood the Lord. Then Jacob awoke from 00:04:25.629 --> 00:04:30.490 his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this 00:04:30.490 --> 00:04:35.790 place. After he saw this vision from God, he 00:04:35.790 --> 00:04:39.949 said this, what an awesome place this is. It 00:04:39.949 --> 00:04:43.519 is none other than the house of God. The very 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:48.959 gateway to heaven. So in this text, we see that 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:51.660 there is a gateway. There is a door. Everybody 00:04:51.660 --> 00:04:54.439 say a door. There's a gateway. There's a door 00:04:54.439 --> 00:04:58.439 between the spiritual realm and the natural realm. 00:05:00.379 --> 00:05:05.620 House of God. This is the Hebrew word. And here's 00:05:05.620 --> 00:05:07.860 what it means. It can be translated house, household, 00:05:08.120 --> 00:05:13.269 temple, or dwelling. What? He was seeing what 00:05:13.269 --> 00:05:16.750 Jacob was seeing. He's describing it as the house, 00:05:16.769 --> 00:05:22.269 household, temple, or dwelling of God. And then 00:05:22.269 --> 00:05:26.189 he described the door. Sha 'ar is the Hebrew 00:05:26.189 --> 00:05:29.689 word. It's an opening. It's a gate. It's a door. 00:05:29.790 --> 00:05:32.449 It can be translated any of those ways. And it 00:05:32.449 --> 00:05:36.009 was a door between heaven and earth, between 00:05:36.009 --> 00:05:40.910 spiritual and natural realms. Jacob saw angels 00:05:40.910 --> 00:05:44.180 moving. From the temple, the dwelling place of 00:05:44.180 --> 00:05:47.620 God, the house of the Lord, angels moving from 00:05:47.620 --> 00:05:51.319 there through the door to accomplish His work 00:05:51.319 --> 00:05:54.860 in the earth. As we learned last week, this is 00:05:54.860 --> 00:05:59.040 a shadow of a New Testament reality. Where is 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:02.160 the temple and the dwelling place of God? Where 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:05.160 is that at? Revelation 4, 1 and 2 says, Then 00:06:05.160 --> 00:06:07.860 as I looked, I saw a door standing open in the 00:06:07.860 --> 00:06:14.199 heaven. This is John. I looked, I saw a door 00:06:14.199 --> 00:06:16.660 standing open in heaven. So here we see a door 00:06:16.660 --> 00:06:21.720 in heaven again. A doorway. I saw a door standing 00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:24.879 open in heaven and instantly, I was in the Spirit 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:29.420 and I saw a throne in heaven and someone sitting 00:06:29.420 --> 00:06:32.579 on it. And we know when we continue to read that 00:06:32.579 --> 00:06:36.360 this is God sitting on the throne in the throne 00:06:36.360 --> 00:06:41.540 room of eternity and John saw this. But he saw 00:06:41.540 --> 00:06:45.620 it through, This open door. So God is in heaven. 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:47.040 Look at the person beside you and say, God's 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:49.480 in heaven. Everybody knows that. Everybody, right? 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:52.819 God's in heaven. How many people agree God's 00:06:52.819 --> 00:06:57.240 in heaven? All right. But God is somewhere else. 00:06:58.720 --> 00:07:02.819 God is omnipresent. That means He's everywhere 00:07:02.819 --> 00:07:05.839 all the time. That means you can't go anywhere 00:07:05.839 --> 00:07:08.839 and escape His presence. You can't go anywhere 00:07:08.839 --> 00:07:13.629 and hide from God. be unseen by God. But then 00:07:13.629 --> 00:07:19.529 the Bible talks about something a little bit 00:07:19.529 --> 00:07:26.110 different. God's in heaven. God is omnipresent. 00:07:26.129 --> 00:07:29.589 He's everywhere all the time. But the Bible talks 00:07:29.589 --> 00:07:33.889 about Him, sometimes He's more here than other 00:07:33.889 --> 00:07:39.779 times. Have you ever thought about that? Like 00:07:39.779 --> 00:07:41.439 the verse I shared when we were singing, that 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:46.480 when we gather together, right? When two or more 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:49.860 gather together to lift up the name of Jesus, 00:07:50.199 --> 00:07:53.060 what does it say? What does the Bible say? Does 00:07:53.060 --> 00:07:59.120 anybody know? He's here. He's here. So wasn't 00:07:59.120 --> 00:08:05.139 he already here? Yeah. But there are times when 00:08:05.139 --> 00:08:09.649 he's more here than other times. There are times 00:08:09.649 --> 00:08:18.430 when His manifested presence is here. So God's 00:08:18.430 --> 00:08:22.269 in heaven. And then in 1 Corinthians 3 .16 it 00:08:22.269 --> 00:08:24.910 says this, Do you not know that you are the temple? 00:08:26.350 --> 00:08:29.529 You are the temple of God? That the Spirit of 00:08:29.529 --> 00:08:36.330 God dwells in you? Right? When we're in Christ. 00:08:38.120 --> 00:08:41.259 The Holy Spirit takes up residence inside of 00:08:41.259 --> 00:08:46.220 us. We become the temple of God. And don't forget, 00:08:46.360 --> 00:08:48.620 we were talking about the house of God, the temple 00:08:48.620 --> 00:08:51.220 of God, the dwelling place of God, and there 00:08:51.220 --> 00:08:59.440 was a door there that opened or closed to let 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:02.539 His power go through. Well, guess what? You are 00:09:02.539 --> 00:09:04.899 the temple. You are a dwelling place of God. 00:09:06.059 --> 00:09:15.000 The Spirit of God dwells in you. So, there must 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:17.840 be a part of us that's the door. What is the 00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:20.059 door between the spiritual and natural realms? 00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:23.779 What is that door? I'm going to look at this 00:09:23.779 --> 00:09:28.720 story each week. Matthew 16, 13 -19. When Jesus 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:31.419 came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He 00:09:31.419 --> 00:09:34.990 asked His disciples, saying, Who do men say that 00:09:34.990 --> 00:09:39.509 I, the Son of Man, am? So Jesus is with his disciples 00:09:39.509 --> 00:09:41.909 and says, What's the word on the street? What 00:09:41.909 --> 00:09:45.970 are people saying about me? Who are they saying 00:09:45.970 --> 00:09:49.269 that I am? The disciples begin to answer. They 00:09:49.269 --> 00:09:53.389 said, Some say John the Baptist. Some say Elijah. 00:09:53.490 --> 00:09:58.610 Others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. And 00:09:58.610 --> 00:10:01.450 then Jesus looked at his disciples and he says, 00:10:03.060 --> 00:10:07.059 But who do you say that I am? Who do you say 00:10:07.059 --> 00:10:11.740 that I am? And Simon Peter, boy, this is a guy 00:10:11.740 --> 00:10:13.600 that liked to put his foot in his mouth a lot. 00:10:14.580 --> 00:10:16.440 Anybody in here put your foot in your mouth every 00:10:16.440 --> 00:10:20.100 once in a while? He's recorded of putting his 00:10:20.100 --> 00:10:23.399 foot in his mouth a whole lot, right? But this 00:10:23.399 --> 00:10:25.679 time he got it right. Simon Peter answered and 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:29.919 said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living 00:10:29.919 --> 00:10:36.259 God. That's the right answer. Jesus answered 00:10:36.259 --> 00:10:41.200 and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar -Jonah, 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:44.960 for flesh and blood has not revealed this to 00:10:44.960 --> 00:10:50.379 you, but my Father who is in heaven. Everybody 00:10:50.379 --> 00:10:54.299 say revelation. This isn't something that he 00:10:54.299 --> 00:10:56.580 just worked up in his own mind. It's not like 00:10:56.580 --> 00:10:59.460 all of a sudden he's like, I think he might be 00:10:59.460 --> 00:11:03.179 the Messiah. No. Jesus recognized this as a revelation 00:11:03.179 --> 00:11:11.320 from God. It didn't come from his noggin. And 00:11:11.320 --> 00:11:15.259 I also say that you are Peter. This is when his 00:11:15.259 --> 00:11:17.659 name changed from Simon to Peter. And on this 00:11:17.659 --> 00:11:21.600 rock, Peter means rock, on this rock I will build 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:25.740 my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail 00:11:25.740 --> 00:11:33.570 against it. I've preached a series on this before, 00:11:33.629 --> 00:11:36.149 but we've got to realize that where they were 00:11:36.149 --> 00:11:42.389 standing, there was a big cave. And everybody 00:11:42.389 --> 00:11:45.590 thought that that was a gateway. Everybody say 00:11:45.590 --> 00:11:49.090 a gateway. They thought it was a gateway between 00:11:49.090 --> 00:11:55.509 the natural world and the spiritual world. And 00:11:55.509 --> 00:11:59.789 they called it the Gate of Hades. Because they 00:11:59.789 --> 00:12:03.389 thought it went to the underworld. So as Jesus 00:12:03.389 --> 00:12:07.909 said, as he looked at Peter, he said, on this 00:12:07.909 --> 00:12:10.129 rock I will build my church and the gates of 00:12:10.129 --> 00:12:13.950 Hades shall not prevail against it. He was just 00:12:13.950 --> 00:12:17.509 standing right there. The gates of Hades shall 00:12:17.509 --> 00:12:25.429 not prevail against it. All the false religions 00:12:25.429 --> 00:12:30.080 of the world. demonically influence ideas of 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:32.559 the world, they're not going to stand against 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:36.840 the kingdom of God. That's what Jesus said. They're 00:12:36.840 --> 00:12:38.740 not going to stand against the revelation that 00:12:38.740 --> 00:12:45.279 comes from God to His people. Peter's flesh is 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:47.460 not what the church is built on. Some people 00:12:47.460 --> 00:12:49.480 think, well, you've got to build the church on 00:12:49.480 --> 00:12:55.940 the bones of Peter's grave. The rock is the revelation 00:12:55.940 --> 00:13:01.039 of who Jesus is. Jesus is God. Jesus is the Messiah. 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:05.679 And it's the method of delivery. That's how the 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:08.399 church is built, right? On the revelation of 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:12.820 who Jesus is and on divine revelation from God. 00:13:12.879 --> 00:13:16.120 That's what the church is built on. Because we 00:13:16.120 --> 00:13:17.960 can hear a lot of things and not hear it, but 00:13:17.960 --> 00:13:19.799 we need revelation. That's what's going to build 00:13:19.799 --> 00:13:21.879 the church. That's what's going to bring transformation 00:13:21.879 --> 00:13:24.299 in people's lives is when they get a revelation 00:13:24.299 --> 00:13:29.100 of who God is and who they are in Christ, what 00:13:29.100 --> 00:13:32.139 they have in Christ. That's when transformation 00:13:32.139 --> 00:13:34.159 starts happening. It happens through revelation, 00:13:34.419 --> 00:13:38.580 not just through carving out an hour, hour and 00:13:38.580 --> 00:13:43.500 a half on Sunday morning. I'm preaching too hard. 00:13:43.539 --> 00:13:47.820 I'll back up a little bit. At this point, Peter's 00:13:47.820 --> 00:13:52.500 door is open to God's revelation. It's open to 00:13:52.500 --> 00:13:58.440 God's power. So divine truth flows out of Peter 00:13:58.440 --> 00:14:03.500 to accomplish God's purpose. Because the door 00:14:03.500 --> 00:14:08.679 was open. Let's continue reading. And Jesus says, 00:14:08.759 --> 00:14:10.399 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of 00:14:10.399 --> 00:14:12.700 heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound 00:14:12.700 --> 00:14:14.860 in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be 00:14:14.860 --> 00:14:20.690 loosed in heaven. Everybody say the door. Right? 00:14:20.789 --> 00:14:24.470 If a door is locked with keys, things can't come 00:14:24.470 --> 00:14:27.529 in and out. But if a door is open, things can 00:14:27.529 --> 00:14:30.549 come in and out. Keys open doors. Keys represent 00:14:30.549 --> 00:14:36.309 authority. Right? The janitor of this school 00:14:36.309 --> 00:14:38.490 probably has the most authority because he can 00:14:38.490 --> 00:14:43.389 open and close any door. Everyone who works here 00:14:43.389 --> 00:14:46.429 doesn't have a key for every door. The principal 00:14:46.429 --> 00:14:50.570 has authority. She has keys for every door. God 00:14:50.570 --> 00:14:53.210 said he would give us the keys of the kingdom 00:14:53.210 --> 00:14:57.289 of heaven. He gives us the method, the ability, 00:14:57.470 --> 00:15:01.870 the authority to open or close the door of spiritual 00:15:01.870 --> 00:15:08.389 influence in the earth. Verse 21. From that time, 00:15:08.409 --> 00:15:11.409 Jesus began to show his disciples that he must 00:15:11.409 --> 00:15:14.200 go to Jerusalem and suffer many things. from 00:15:14.200 --> 00:15:16.580 the elders and chief priests and scribes, and 00:15:16.580 --> 00:15:22.100 be killed and be raised on the third day. And 00:15:22.100 --> 00:15:24.200 Peter took him aside. He said, wait a minute, 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:27.600 Jesus, we've got to talk. I don't want to say 00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:30.580 this in front of everybody else, but you shouldn't 00:15:30.580 --> 00:15:34.440 be saying that. The Bible says he began to rebuke 00:15:34.440 --> 00:15:37.919 Jesus, right? Peter took him aside, began to 00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:41.000 rebuke him, saying, far be it from you, Lord. 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:45.840 This shall not happen to you. This is not going 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:53.519 to happen on my watch, Jesus. And then, well, 00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:58.580 Peter didn't want to think that Jesus, who he 00:15:58.580 --> 00:16:01.179 loved, would suffer and die based on his human 00:16:01.179 --> 00:16:04.799 reasoning and understanding. And listen, it's 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:08.279 never innocent to say that God is wrong. It's 00:16:08.279 --> 00:16:10.279 never innocent to say that His Word will not 00:16:10.279 --> 00:16:14.139 happen. And Jesus looked at him. Listen, Jesus 00:16:14.139 --> 00:16:16.419 looked back at him. He turned and said to Peter, 00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:22.019 he said, get behind me, Satan. You are an offense 00:16:22.019 --> 00:16:29.559 to me. Peter didn't become Satan. I mean, just 00:16:29.559 --> 00:16:33.299 a few minutes before that, he said, upon this 00:16:33.299 --> 00:16:34.860 rock, I'm going to build my church. I'm going 00:16:34.860 --> 00:16:37.899 to call you Peter. A few minutes later, get behind 00:16:37.899 --> 00:16:47.830 me, Satan. What was the difference? Being open 00:16:47.830 --> 00:16:51.070 to the right thing and then being open to the 00:16:51.070 --> 00:16:56.190 wrong thing just a few minutes later. Peter didn't 00:16:56.190 --> 00:16:58.269 become Satan. Here's what he did. He opened the 00:16:58.269 --> 00:17:01.570 door of his mind to the work of Satan in the 00:17:01.570 --> 00:17:03.730 earth. And listen, here's the work of Satan in 00:17:03.730 --> 00:17:07.190 the earth. It's questioning and challenging the 00:17:07.190 --> 00:17:10.890 words of God. He's a liar and the father of lies. 00:17:11.579 --> 00:17:15.960 He twists the truth. He questions and challenges 00:17:15.960 --> 00:17:21.200 the Word of God. And He wants to make you question 00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:27.799 and challenge the Word of God. Who God is. Why 00:17:27.799 --> 00:17:31.519 did this happen? Jesus goes on to tell us why 00:17:31.519 --> 00:17:35.779 it happened. He said, Peter, you're not being 00:17:35.779 --> 00:17:40.480 mindful of the things of God, but on the things 00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:46.910 of men. All of a sudden you went from being open 00:17:46.910 --> 00:17:50.549 to revelation from God to you don't set your 00:17:50.549 --> 00:17:53.390 mind on the wrong thing. You've got the wrong 00:17:53.390 --> 00:18:00.349 mindset. Each one of us, we are empowered by 00:18:00.349 --> 00:18:06.670 what we set our mind on. Your mind is the door 00:18:06.670 --> 00:18:10.730 to spiritual powers. And you're going to be the 00:18:10.730 --> 00:18:13.029 one who decides which power is going to influence 00:18:13.029 --> 00:18:15.710 your life, the lives of those around you, the 00:18:15.710 --> 00:18:18.390 lives of those who are close to you, and on earth. 00:18:19.349 --> 00:18:21.589 It's going to be what comes through your door. 00:18:23.549 --> 00:18:25.609 So how do we open the door to the power of God? 00:18:25.710 --> 00:18:28.369 We must continually direct our thoughts and desires 00:18:28.369 --> 00:18:34.930 to the things of God. What's it going to come 00:18:34.930 --> 00:18:39.700 down to? You've got to be in charge of your thoughts 00:18:39.700 --> 00:18:42.819 and direct your thoughts and your desires towards 00:18:42.819 --> 00:18:47.440 the things of God and away from the things of 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:52.519 the earth. Like Peter, our focus, everybody say 00:18:52.519 --> 00:18:55.119 focus, because today we're going to focus on 00:18:55.119 --> 00:19:00.839 focus. And I need to stay focused to focus on 00:19:00.839 --> 00:19:04.980 focus. Like Peter, our focus or what we are mindful 00:19:04.980 --> 00:19:09.559 of will determine What the door of our mind is 00:19:09.559 --> 00:19:15.440 open to. Romans 12, 2. Do not be conformed to 00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:22.359 this world, but be transformed. How? By the renewing 00:19:22.359 --> 00:19:26.920 of your mind. That's how you're transformed. 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:30.779 By renewing your mind. To renew our minds, we 00:19:30.779 --> 00:19:34.750 must daily take control of our focus. We must 00:19:34.750 --> 00:19:37.250 daily direct our imaginations. That's what we're 00:19:37.250 --> 00:19:39.509 talking about next week, imagination. We must 00:19:39.509 --> 00:19:42.730 daily align our words. That's what's going to 00:19:42.730 --> 00:19:46.630 be two weeks from now. To the reality of God's 00:19:46.630 --> 00:19:50.029 Word. Jeffrey introduced that thought of the 00:19:50.029 --> 00:19:54.990 rest of the series last Sunday. So focus. Focus 00:19:54.990 --> 00:19:57.990 is one of the key contributors to renewing your 00:19:57.990 --> 00:20:01.329 mind. How many of you want to have a renewed 00:20:01.329 --> 00:20:06.099 mind? Well, focus is going to be a key contributor 00:20:06.099 --> 00:20:09.599 to that. You have to constantly be attentive 00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:16.339 to what's going on between your ears. Sometimes 00:20:16.339 --> 00:20:20.720 we're not very attentive of the thoughts that 00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:24.619 go through our mind. 2 Corinthians 10 verse 4 00:20:24.619 --> 00:20:27.000 says this, For the weapons of our warfare, because 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:30.099 we're engaged in a spiritual warfare every day 00:20:30.099 --> 00:20:32.180 of our lives. The weapons of our warfare are 00:20:32.180 --> 00:20:36.519 not carnal. They're not fleshly, but they're 00:20:36.519 --> 00:20:43.500 mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. Strongholds. 00:20:43.500 --> 00:20:47.480 Cast down arguments. Strongholds and arguments, 00:20:47.619 --> 00:20:50.119 listen, and every high thing that exalts itself 00:20:50.119 --> 00:20:55.480 against the knowledge of God. Doesn't that sound 00:20:55.480 --> 00:21:00.359 like what I just read a few minutes ago? Doesn't 00:21:00.359 --> 00:21:04.319 that sound like it? Bringing every thought into 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:10.980 captivity to the obedience of Christ. So here's 00:21:10.980 --> 00:21:15.740 what's happening in your mind. You're getting 00:21:15.740 --> 00:21:21.759 arguments against the knowledge of God. Sometimes 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:25.039 we have strongholds built up in our minds that 00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:29.980 are contrary to God's Word. Sometimes we have 00:21:29.980 --> 00:21:34.160 a thought that says, Like in Genesis, did God 00:21:34.160 --> 00:21:42.099 really mean that? Did God really... Is it really 00:21:42.099 --> 00:21:45.579 going to make a difference? I mean, I know there's 00:21:45.579 --> 00:21:49.339 a verse that says this, but is it really going 00:21:49.339 --> 00:21:54.200 to work? All of those things, all of those kind 00:21:54.200 --> 00:21:57.339 of thoughts, they're exalting, they're trying 00:21:57.339 --> 00:22:00.819 to exalt themselves against the knowledge of 00:22:00.819 --> 00:22:06.019 God. And you've got to bring each thought, every 00:22:06.019 --> 00:22:08.740 thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. 00:22:08.980 --> 00:22:11.140 You've got to say, no, this doesn't line up with 00:22:11.140 --> 00:22:14.160 what God said. This is what God said, and this 00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:16.380 is what I'm going to believe, and this is what 00:22:16.380 --> 00:22:19.660 I'm going to focus on. That's what we've got 00:22:19.660 --> 00:22:22.640 to do. We've got to take control of our focus. 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:25.519 Like Jeffrey said last week, you can't control 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:28.819 how many birds are flying over your head, but 00:22:28.819 --> 00:22:30.900 you don't have to let them build a nest in your 00:22:30.900 --> 00:22:39.059 hair. You can't control every thought that goes 00:22:39.059 --> 00:22:42.319 through your mind. But you can control which 00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:46.500 ones you focus on, which ones you meditate on. 00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:50.039 You can control that because it's your mind. 00:22:54.299 --> 00:22:57.839 Look, we've got to refuse to focus on any thought 00:22:57.839 --> 00:23:01.859 or temporal condition that doesn't agree with 00:23:01.859 --> 00:23:05.599 who God is. That doesn't agree with who... You 00:23:05.599 --> 00:23:08.200 are in Christ. It doesn't agree with what you 00:23:08.200 --> 00:23:13.140 have in Christ. Ain't nothing like a sound system 00:23:13.140 --> 00:23:16.660 buzz to make people not even hear. So I'm going 00:23:16.660 --> 00:23:19.880 to say it again. Because this is one of the most 00:23:19.880 --> 00:23:24.259 powerful statements in the whole message. We 00:23:24.259 --> 00:23:29.900 have to refuse to focus on any thought or any 00:23:29.900 --> 00:23:34.240 temporal condition that does not agree. Listen. 00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:38.119 That does not agree with who God is. That does 00:23:38.119 --> 00:23:40.759 not agree with who you are in Christ. That does 00:23:40.759 --> 00:23:44.059 not agree with what you have in Christ. We've 00:23:44.059 --> 00:23:47.980 got to refuse to focus on those things and on 00:23:47.980 --> 00:23:51.660 those temporal conditions. Renewing your mind 00:23:51.660 --> 00:23:54.359 is not just refusing to focus on the bad things 00:23:54.359 --> 00:23:56.980 like I just talked about. It's also focusing 00:23:56.980 --> 00:24:00.660 on the good things. We need to focus on the things 00:24:00.660 --> 00:24:03.039 of God. We need to focus on the spiritual things. 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:09.160 We've got to focus. So some thoughts you smack 00:24:09.160 --> 00:24:12.440 down, like that bird that's trying to build a 00:24:12.440 --> 00:24:16.240 nest in your hair. Herb don't have that problem. 00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:26.859 Some thoughts you smack down, and some thoughts 00:24:26.859 --> 00:24:31.619 you place on purpose. Listen to Colossians 3, 00:24:31.680 --> 00:24:35.440 1 and 2. If then you were raised with Christ, 00:24:35.599 --> 00:24:41.220 has anyone been raised with Christ? If you were 00:24:41.220 --> 00:24:45.740 raised with Christ, seek those things which are 00:24:45.740 --> 00:24:50.019 above. Where Christ is. Sitting at the right 00:24:50.019 --> 00:24:56.180 hand of God. Set your mind on things above. Everybody 00:24:56.180 --> 00:25:00.539 say focus. So we're focusing on those things 00:25:00.539 --> 00:25:04.579 that are above. where Christ is, and we're setting 00:25:04.579 --> 00:25:07.700 our mind on things above, not on the things of 00:25:07.700 --> 00:25:14.400 the earth. That's just the Bible. And you can 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:19.579 either say, yes, or eh. But it's still true. 00:25:20.519 --> 00:25:25.259 Whether you receive it or not, it's true. But 00:25:25.259 --> 00:25:28.359 if you're like me, and you want your life to 00:25:28.359 --> 00:25:33.059 improve, I would receive it. Instead of rejecting 00:25:33.059 --> 00:25:37.160 it. Setting your mind on something is setting 00:25:37.160 --> 00:25:41.720 your focus on something. Listen, John 16, 15. 00:25:43.480 --> 00:25:45.859 Here's why we need to set our mind on spiritual 00:25:45.859 --> 00:25:49.480 things. It says this, All things that the Father 00:25:49.480 --> 00:25:52.880 has are mine. This is Jesus talking. Everything 00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:57.779 the Father has is mine. Therefore I said, He 00:25:57.779 --> 00:26:03.259 will take of mine and declare it to you. In this 00:26:03.259 --> 00:26:07.400 verse, we see the Godhead, the Trinity. We see 00:26:07.400 --> 00:26:09.799 the Father, we see the Son, we see the Holy Spirit. 00:26:10.900 --> 00:26:15.799 And Jesus is saying, everything God has is mine. 00:26:17.640 --> 00:26:21.519 And the Holy Spirit is going to take what's mine 00:26:21.519 --> 00:26:24.880 and make it known to you. He's going to declare 00:26:24.880 --> 00:26:28.579 it to you. He's going to reveal it to you. That's 00:26:28.579 --> 00:26:31.400 how we get the revelation. That's how Peter got 00:26:31.400 --> 00:26:34.819 that revelation where Jesus said, I'm going to 00:26:34.819 --> 00:26:38.880 build my church on this. It didn't come from 00:26:38.880 --> 00:26:41.420 him. It came from God. The Holy Spirit takes 00:26:41.420 --> 00:26:44.220 the things of God. He reveals them. He makes 00:26:44.220 --> 00:26:49.500 them known to us. Let's look at some examples. 00:26:49.720 --> 00:26:55.279 Everybody say examples. Here's an example straight 00:26:55.279 --> 00:26:59.619 out of Jesus' mouth. That's why I tell you. Not 00:26:59.619 --> 00:27:03.259 to worry about everyday life. Whether you have 00:27:03.259 --> 00:27:06.980 enough food and drink or enough clothes to wear, 00:27:07.119 --> 00:27:12.880 isn't life more than food and your body more 00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:19.160 than clothing? Look at the birds. Everybody say 00:27:19.160 --> 00:27:21.900 focus. If you hadn't figured it out, every time 00:27:21.900 --> 00:27:23.680 I got that brighter blue up there, you could 00:27:23.680 --> 00:27:27.640 replace it with the word focus. If you hadn't 00:27:27.640 --> 00:27:33.680 figured that out yet. Consider the birds. Look 00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:39.039 at the birds. Focus on the birds. They don't 00:27:39.039 --> 00:27:43.240 plant or harvest or store food in barns. But 00:27:43.240 --> 00:27:47.359 your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you 00:27:47.359 --> 00:27:52.960 far more valuable to Him than they are? Can all 00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:57.799 your worries add a single moment to your life? 00:27:59.490 --> 00:28:06.210 Not one. Not one. And why worry about your clothing? 00:28:09.549 --> 00:28:14.049 Consider the lilies. Look at the lilies. Focus 00:28:14.049 --> 00:28:17.369 on the lilies. Everybody say focus. Look at the 00:28:17.369 --> 00:28:20.849 lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't 00:28:20.849 --> 00:28:24.769 work or make their clothing. Yet Solomon in all 00:28:24.769 --> 00:28:28.970 his glory was not dressed as beautifully. as 00:28:28.970 --> 00:28:35.829 they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for 00:28:35.829 --> 00:28:39.430 the wildflowers, because we just have to look 00:28:39.430 --> 00:28:41.329 at them, right? Just focus on that a minute. 00:28:41.750 --> 00:28:44.430 Focus on the birds. Focus on the flowers. If 00:28:44.430 --> 00:28:49.069 God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that 00:28:49.069 --> 00:28:51.630 are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, 00:28:52.269 --> 00:28:58.799 He will certainly care for you. Why do you have 00:28:58.799 --> 00:29:05.039 so little faith? Because you're focused on the 00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:09.640 wrong thing. I'll just go ahead and answer that. 00:29:11.079 --> 00:29:15.859 It's focus. Listen, Jesus said, so don't worry 00:29:15.859 --> 00:29:18.180 about these things saying, what will we eat? 00:29:18.220 --> 00:29:20.980 What will we drink? What will we wear? These 00:29:20.980 --> 00:29:25.420 things, listen, these things dominate the thoughts. 00:29:25.799 --> 00:29:29.200 These things dominate the focus of unbelievers. 00:29:31.400 --> 00:29:35.759 But your Heavenly Father already knows all your 00:29:35.759 --> 00:29:42.799 needs. Isn't that amazing? So we don't want those 00:29:42.799 --> 00:29:45.740 things dominating our thoughts. We don't want 00:29:45.740 --> 00:29:48.759 to be focused on those things because it only 00:29:48.759 --> 00:29:54.220 leads to worry. Only leads to worry. What are 00:29:54.220 --> 00:29:58.859 we supposed to focus on? Guess what? Focus on 00:29:58.859 --> 00:30:02.440 the kingdom of God above all else. Seek the kingdom 00:30:02.440 --> 00:30:06.400 of God above all else. And His righteousness. 00:30:07.619 --> 00:30:13.799 And He will give you everything you need. So 00:30:13.799 --> 00:30:18.299 when we get our focus in the right place, we're 00:30:18.299 --> 00:30:20.059 going to find that we're going to have provision. 00:30:21.130 --> 00:30:26.490 But if our focus is in the wrong place, we've 00:30:26.490 --> 00:30:30.210 opened the door to lack, is what we've opened 00:30:30.210 --> 00:30:38.390 the door to. Worry is a byproduct of your mind 00:30:38.390 --> 00:30:42.890 being focused on natural things that question, 00:30:43.210 --> 00:30:46.269 that call into question. Listen, your mind's 00:30:46.269 --> 00:30:48.509 focused on natural things that call into question 00:30:48.509 --> 00:30:57.250 the character of God. and the Word of God. So 00:30:57.250 --> 00:30:59.210 anytime we catch ourselves worrying, we need 00:30:59.210 --> 00:31:06.089 to shake ourselves and say, No! I'm not going 00:31:06.089 --> 00:31:09.970 to focus on that. I'm going to focus on the character 00:31:09.970 --> 00:31:12.809 of God and the Word of God, and I'm not going 00:31:12.809 --> 00:31:15.309 to focus on these things that bring worry to 00:31:15.309 --> 00:31:19.980 me. That's what Jesus said. Look at the birds. 00:31:20.880 --> 00:31:25.680 Look at the flowers. Focus on who I am and what 00:31:25.680 --> 00:31:31.980 I do. Hello? It's good preaching right here. 00:31:33.400 --> 00:31:37.940 Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Amen. I need it 00:31:37.940 --> 00:31:43.579 just like you do. I get happy. Focus on the character 00:31:43.579 --> 00:31:46.980 of God. He is Yahweh Jireh. He's going to see 00:31:46.980 --> 00:31:51.119 to it. Focus on who God is. Focus on the character 00:31:51.119 --> 00:31:54.259 of God. He is El Shaddai. He is more than enough. 00:31:54.859 --> 00:31:57.500 Not just barely enough, but more than enough. 00:31:58.160 --> 00:32:03.339 That's who God is. Is that who He is? Is that 00:32:03.339 --> 00:32:06.380 who He told us He was? I'm not making these names 00:32:06.380 --> 00:32:09.400 up. This is who God told us He was. Focus on 00:32:09.400 --> 00:32:12.420 the character of God. He is Yahweh Ra. He is 00:32:12.420 --> 00:32:16.829 your good shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd, 00:32:16.930 --> 00:32:23.109 I shall not want. What does that mean? A good 00:32:23.109 --> 00:32:25.390 shepherd is going to take care of me. And if 00:32:25.390 --> 00:32:27.390 he doesn't take care of me, he's not a good shepherd. 00:32:27.769 --> 00:32:30.849 But I've got to trust in him as my good shepherd 00:32:30.849 --> 00:32:33.589 in order to receive him as my good shepherd. 00:32:34.049 --> 00:32:36.049 Because he's not just going to be a good shepherd 00:32:36.049 --> 00:32:39.609 if you're not having faith in him. Because faith 00:32:39.609 --> 00:32:42.250 is what connects us to the grace and goodness 00:32:42.250 --> 00:32:44.670 in who God is. It's our faith that connects us. 00:32:46.509 --> 00:32:54.650 We're saved by grace what God did by faith. Everybody's 00:32:54.650 --> 00:32:56.589 not going to be saved. Everybody's not going 00:32:56.589 --> 00:32:59.730 to come to a relationship with Christ. Only those 00:32:59.730 --> 00:33:08.029 who connect to His grace with their faith. Listen, 00:33:08.170 --> 00:33:11.509 your mind is the door that releases the power 00:33:11.509 --> 00:33:15.269 of God so the eternal can transform your temporal. 00:33:19.000 --> 00:33:25.839 It's the door. Your mind is the door that either 00:33:25.839 --> 00:33:35.339 releases or closes. Here's two more examples. 00:33:35.480 --> 00:33:37.319 I'm not even reading the whole story, but if 00:33:37.319 --> 00:33:39.000 you've spent any time in church, you're familiar 00:33:39.000 --> 00:33:41.940 with these stories. Matthew 14, 22 through 23. 00:33:42.380 --> 00:33:45.579 Listen. There was a bad storm. Jesus came walking 00:33:45.579 --> 00:33:52.170 on the water. Peter goes, if that's you, call 00:33:52.170 --> 00:33:56.430 me out to you. Jesus said, come on. So Peter 00:33:56.430 --> 00:33:58.269 stepped out of the boat. How many of you know 00:33:58.269 --> 00:34:02.450 you can't walk on water? There's laws of buoyancy, 00:34:02.589 --> 00:34:05.549 as I think is how they put it. You can't just 00:34:05.549 --> 00:34:08.750 walk on water. So he had to be stepping on something. 00:34:14.369 --> 00:34:18.679 He was stepping on the law of faith. Because 00:34:18.679 --> 00:34:22.619 Jesus said, come on. So he stepped on the Word 00:34:22.619 --> 00:34:26.260 of God and it held him up as he walked towards 00:34:26.260 --> 00:34:29.619 Jesus. And as long as his focus, everybody say 00:34:29.619 --> 00:34:33.420 focus, as long as his focus was on Jesus and 00:34:33.420 --> 00:34:36.519 on what Jesus said, he was walking on water. 00:34:37.400 --> 00:34:39.920 But then all of a sudden his focus changed, didn't 00:34:39.920 --> 00:34:46.440 it? His focus changed. Quit looking at Jesus. 00:34:47.139 --> 00:34:49.880 Started looking at the wind and the waves and 00:34:49.880 --> 00:34:54.219 the storm. What happened when his focus changed? 00:34:55.119 --> 00:35:01.519 He opened the door and began to sink. I don't 00:35:01.519 --> 00:35:03.199 know how you begin to sink. I always just sink 00:35:03.199 --> 00:35:11.019 real quick. But he began to sink and Jesus grabbed 00:35:11.019 --> 00:35:21.000 him. Jesus said, Where's your faith? Why is your 00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:27.460 faith so little? Why was his faith little? Because 00:35:27.460 --> 00:35:33.179 his focus changed. Focus. You know, another example. 00:35:34.619 --> 00:35:38.079 Having three examples today. Paul and Silas. 00:35:40.400 --> 00:35:43.460 They were in Philippi. They were talking about 00:35:43.460 --> 00:35:46.099 the goodness of God. This little lady kept screaming 00:35:46.099 --> 00:35:48.300 at them and making a scene. She was possessed. 00:35:48.829 --> 00:35:50.369 These guys are serving to the most high God. 00:35:50.510 --> 00:35:52.530 I mean, they're in Walmart shopping and she's 00:35:52.530 --> 00:35:55.849 screaming up. It wasn't a Walmart, but you know 00:35:55.849 --> 00:35:57.989 what I'm talking about. They're in the marketplace. 00:35:59.809 --> 00:36:01.929 Going somewhere to eat. Lady's just screaming 00:36:01.929 --> 00:36:04.769 up. She wasn't screaming bad things, but it was 00:36:04.769 --> 00:36:13.570 pretty annoying. So, Paul got a revelation. The 00:36:13.570 --> 00:36:15.230 reason why this was happening is because this 00:36:15.230 --> 00:36:20.280 lady was possessed. That's why she was acting 00:36:20.280 --> 00:36:27.400 like that, causing the disruption. So, he cast 00:36:27.400 --> 00:36:34.900 the devil out of her. Problem is, she was a fortune 00:36:34.900 --> 00:36:38.099 teller in town and she was a slave and people 00:36:38.099 --> 00:36:41.500 were making money off of her demonic influence. 00:36:42.500 --> 00:36:48.130 Her opening consistently her mind. To dark spiritual 00:36:48.130 --> 00:36:55.329 forces. So, you know the story. They beat up 00:36:55.329 --> 00:36:57.150 Paul and Silas pretty bad. Beat them up, threw 00:36:57.150 --> 00:37:08.030 them in jail. And what was their focus? What 00:37:08.030 --> 00:37:09.789 would your focus be? Just think about it. What 00:37:09.789 --> 00:37:14.230 would your focus be? If they beat you up, you 00:37:14.230 --> 00:37:16.230 had whelps all over your back, you're bleeding. 00:37:17.389 --> 00:37:23.710 All you do is try to help somebody. But the business 00:37:23.710 --> 00:37:25.269 owner said, we don't want people like that around 00:37:25.269 --> 00:37:27.429 here. And they got the people to arrest them 00:37:27.429 --> 00:37:29.269 and beat them and throw them in jail and put 00:37:29.269 --> 00:37:32.409 them in the innermost part of the prison. What 00:37:32.409 --> 00:37:36.869 would your focus be on? In those circumstances, 00:37:37.489 --> 00:37:40.670 those natural circumstances, what would your 00:37:40.670 --> 00:37:45.469 focus be on? Well, Paul and Silas focused on 00:37:45.469 --> 00:37:50.079 praising God. Instead of focusing what most likely 00:37:50.079 --> 00:37:53.119 we would focus on, we would focus on the circumstances 00:37:53.119 --> 00:37:56.460 that we were in. We'd be moaning and whining 00:37:56.460 --> 00:38:02.420 and complaining. But they didn't focus, listen, 00:38:02.519 --> 00:38:07.099 on their temporal circumstances. They focused 00:38:07.099 --> 00:38:10.960 on God, focused on praising God. And here's what 00:38:10.960 --> 00:38:17.489 happened. Because they were focused on God. They 00:38:17.489 --> 00:38:26.250 opened up the door. It opened the door. Does 00:38:26.250 --> 00:38:32.190 anybody need a door open? They focused on praising 00:38:32.190 --> 00:38:34.530 God instead of focusing on their temporal circumstances 00:38:34.530 --> 00:38:37.309 that were not very pleasant. And the door was 00:38:37.309 --> 00:38:48.449 open for miraculous deliverance. The door was 00:38:48.449 --> 00:38:51.150 even open for the jailer and his family to be 00:38:51.150 --> 00:38:57.809 born again. Based on their focus. None of that 00:38:57.809 --> 00:38:59.550 would have happened if they would have focused 00:38:59.550 --> 00:39:05.590 on their temporal circumstances. Hallelujah. 00:39:10.070 --> 00:39:15.710 2 Corinthians 4 .18 We do not look at... Everybody 00:39:15.710 --> 00:39:18.889 say focus. Because to look at something, you've 00:39:18.889 --> 00:39:22.429 got to focus, right? We do not look at the things 00:39:22.429 --> 00:39:26.429 which are seen, but at the things which are not 00:39:26.429 --> 00:39:29.730 seen. For the things which are seen are temporary. 00:39:29.849 --> 00:39:32.389 Everybody say temporary. But the things which 00:39:32.389 --> 00:39:35.349 are not seen are eternal. Everybody say eternal. 00:39:38.789 --> 00:39:42.949 Spiritually minded people begin to see something. 00:39:45.550 --> 00:39:50.309 they begin to see that the choices of their focus 00:39:50.309 --> 00:40:00.570 fall into two categories in their life. If your 00:40:00.570 --> 00:40:04.989 focus is set in the right place, it will lead 00:40:04.989 --> 00:40:10.789 to an open door to life and blessing. If your 00:40:10.789 --> 00:40:13.429 focus is on the wrong place, it will open the 00:40:13.429 --> 00:40:21.300 door. To death in cursing. I want you to see 00:40:21.300 --> 00:40:30.079 this. I want you to see it. Romans 8 .6. That's 00:40:30.079 --> 00:40:33.940 not Romans 8 .6. I copied and pasted that and 00:40:33.940 --> 00:40:41.019 didn't change the reference. This is in... I 00:40:41.019 --> 00:40:44.269 have to look it up. Deuteronomy. 30 verse 16, 00:40:44.449 --> 00:40:49.409 that's where it is. God says, this is Old Testament 00:40:49.409 --> 00:40:51.010 and New Testament, just flowing right through. 00:40:51.150 --> 00:40:53.710 He says, I have set before you life and death, 00:40:53.789 --> 00:40:56.250 blessing and cursing, therefore choose life. 00:40:57.309 --> 00:40:59.269 Deuteronomy 30, 16. If you're writing it down, 00:40:59.349 --> 00:41:01.429 write that down. Not Romans 8, 6. We're going 00:41:01.429 --> 00:41:11.309 to look at that in just a second. As we talked 00:41:11.309 --> 00:41:15.820 about this at Life Group, As they were walking, 00:41:15.980 --> 00:41:19.260 there were two mountains, and they were speaking 00:41:19.260 --> 00:41:24.840 the curses and death on one side, and they were 00:41:24.840 --> 00:41:26.739 speaking life and blessing on the other side, 00:41:26.800 --> 00:41:31.039 and they walked between it, just so that they 00:41:31.039 --> 00:41:35.340 would hear what life that was focused on God 00:41:35.340 --> 00:41:39.500 would result in. It's going to result in life 00:41:39.500 --> 00:41:45.130 and blessing. And then God says this, I want 00:41:45.130 --> 00:41:48.690 you to choose life. Because that's what God wants 00:41:48.690 --> 00:41:55.449 for you. That's what God wants for all of His 00:41:55.449 --> 00:41:58.789 kids. He wants everybody to be His kids, but 00:41:58.789 --> 00:42:01.650 He wants for all His kids that they would experience 00:42:01.650 --> 00:42:10.699 His life and blessings. John 10 .10. I've never 00:42:10.699 --> 00:42:13.579 thought about all these verses just in repetition, 00:42:13.639 --> 00:42:17.659 but listen, Jesus said this. He said, the thief 00:42:17.659 --> 00:42:22.360 does not come except to steal, kill, and destroy. 00:42:24.900 --> 00:42:28.500 Jesus says, I've come that they may have life 00:42:28.500 --> 00:42:31.840 and that they may have it more abundantly or 00:42:31.840 --> 00:42:36.940 they may have it blessed, right? So even in this 00:42:36.940 --> 00:42:41.780 statement, He's saying that we have a spiritual 00:42:41.780 --> 00:42:46.159 enemy and he's wanting to bring death and cursing, 00:42:46.159 --> 00:42:51.139 stealing, killing, destroying. But I came, Jesus 00:42:51.139 --> 00:42:53.099 said, that you could have life and have it more 00:42:53.099 --> 00:42:58.980 abundantly or have it blessed to the full. God 00:42:58.980 --> 00:43:04.900 wants life and blessing for you. But God's going 00:43:04.900 --> 00:43:12.480 to respect your choices. Your focus will play 00:43:12.480 --> 00:43:16.639 a part on what you receive. And God's going to 00:43:16.639 --> 00:43:22.699 respect your choices. Here's another one. Here's 00:43:22.699 --> 00:43:25.360 one, Romans 8, 6. I hope you wrote that down 00:43:25.360 --> 00:43:34.840 too. To be carnally minded is death. But to be 00:43:34.840 --> 00:43:42.750 spiritually minded is life and peace. That word 00:43:42.750 --> 00:43:45.750 carnally comes from the Greek word sarx. It means 00:43:45.750 --> 00:43:48.510 carnal, flesh. It's even been translated earth. 00:43:49.730 --> 00:43:53.250 So listen, to be carnally minded, to be fleshly 00:43:53.250 --> 00:43:58.429 minded, to be earthly minded will lead to death. 00:43:59.670 --> 00:44:03.230 But to be spiritually minded is going to lead 00:44:03.230 --> 00:44:08.150 to life. It's going to lead to peace. So our 00:44:08.150 --> 00:44:11.730 mind should not be set on things merely of human 00:44:11.730 --> 00:44:16.590 form. Origin or human empowerment. Because that's 00:44:16.590 --> 00:44:21.889 always going to lead to death. We have an adversary. 00:44:23.909 --> 00:44:27.869 Lucifer in heaven was cast down. Satan. 2 Corinthians 00:44:27.869 --> 00:44:31.909 4 .4 says that he's the God of this world. Ephesians 00:44:31.909 --> 00:44:34.369 2 .2 says he's the prince of the power of the 00:44:34.369 --> 00:44:39.170 air. We know that in Christ, we are victorious. 00:44:39.590 --> 00:44:42.920 We've overcome. We don't have to put up with 00:44:42.920 --> 00:44:47.000 his junk no more. Because we've already won in 00:44:47.000 --> 00:44:51.860 Christ. But this is still who he is in the earth. 00:44:52.280 --> 00:44:55.440 And here's what he does. He manipulates circumstances 00:44:55.440 --> 00:44:59.599 to generate contradictions to the word of God 00:44:59.599 --> 00:45:06.679 that you say you believe. We'll say that again. 00:45:10.079 --> 00:45:15.679 Satan and his demonic forces, his cohorts, here's 00:45:15.679 --> 00:45:17.400 what they are involved in. They're involved in 00:45:17.400 --> 00:45:20.699 manipulating circumstances in this earth, in 00:45:20.699 --> 00:45:23.880 your life, to generate contradictions to the 00:45:23.880 --> 00:45:30.059 Word of God that you say you believe. The enemy 00:45:30.059 --> 00:45:33.659 is putting pressure on you through the natural 00:45:33.659 --> 00:45:37.860 arena. To get you to choose, to get you to focus 00:45:37.860 --> 00:45:40.639 on, to get you to open the door of your mind 00:45:40.639 --> 00:45:46.679 to death and cursing. That's how He's going to 00:45:46.679 --> 00:45:49.639 steal from you and kill you and destroy you. 00:45:51.380 --> 00:45:54.239 Listen, when you believe more strongly in what 00:45:54.239 --> 00:45:58.199 the Word says than in what your temporal circumstances 00:45:58.199 --> 00:46:02.659 say, Faith becomes the bridge for the power of 00:46:02.659 --> 00:46:05.280 God to flow through the door of your mind and 00:46:05.280 --> 00:46:08.760 produce transformation in your temporal circumstances. 00:46:13.480 --> 00:46:20.960 Help us receive it, Lord. What you believe more 00:46:20.960 --> 00:46:23.900 strongly, when you believe more strongly in what 00:46:23.900 --> 00:46:28.000 God says than in what you see, we walk by faith 00:46:28.000 --> 00:46:30.599 and not by sight. when you believe more strongly 00:46:30.599 --> 00:46:33.699 in what God's Word says than what you see are 00:46:33.699 --> 00:46:35.599 the temporal circumstances that you're going 00:46:35.599 --> 00:46:43.260 through, you open the door for the power of God 00:46:43.260 --> 00:46:46.699 to flow through and to produce transformation. 00:46:48.980 --> 00:46:52.380 Your focus is one of the determining factors 00:46:52.380 --> 00:46:55.380 of what the door of your mind is open or closed 00:46:55.380 --> 00:47:01.610 to. Focus is one of them. Listen, each one of 00:47:01.610 --> 00:47:06.530 us can grow to the point where it becomes easier. 00:47:08.230 --> 00:47:12.130 When you function in taking your thoughts captive 00:47:12.130 --> 00:47:16.610 and recognizing the more you do it, the easier 00:47:16.610 --> 00:47:20.909 it will become to recognize a thought that, you 00:47:20.909 --> 00:47:23.150 know, I need to smack that bird down. It don't 00:47:23.150 --> 00:47:26.190 need to build a nest in my head. I need to smack 00:47:26.190 --> 00:47:32.210 that one down. The more you do it, the easier 00:47:32.210 --> 00:47:36.449 it's going to become. But none of us will ever 00:47:36.449 --> 00:47:38.429 get to the point where we've graduated and we're 00:47:38.429 --> 00:47:40.070 not going to have any thoughts come into our 00:47:40.070 --> 00:47:44.170 mind that we need to choose to throw out instead 00:47:44.170 --> 00:47:46.969 of focusing on. None of us are going to get to 00:47:46.969 --> 00:47:52.469 the point, right, where there's no work for us 00:47:52.469 --> 00:47:55.889 to do. There's no agreement for us to do. There's 00:47:55.889 --> 00:47:58.849 no faith for us to have. None of us will get 00:47:58.849 --> 00:48:02.110 to that point. But you can get to the point where 00:48:02.110 --> 00:48:07.429 it's easier. And I think this is my closing statement. 00:48:07.610 --> 00:48:16.010 Your mind is the door to spiritual powers. So, 00:48:16.110 --> 00:48:20.250 you're going to decide through your focus which 00:48:20.250 --> 00:48:24.650 power has more influence in your life. You decide 00:48:24.650 --> 00:48:27.050 what power influences your life. You decide. 00:48:27.610 --> 00:48:30.329 what power influences the lives of your family 00:48:30.329 --> 00:48:32.789 and your closest friends, your co -workers, people 00:48:32.789 --> 00:48:37.889 around you. You determine. You decide which power 00:48:37.889 --> 00:48:43.650 is going to influence the sphere of your influence. 00:48:45.829 --> 00:48:49.070 Because we're all connected in different ways. 00:48:52.530 --> 00:48:59.949 Right? Because... It's easy to see that you can 00:48:59.949 --> 00:49:03.010 control the door of your mind. You can control 00:49:03.010 --> 00:49:05.329 your focus, but somebody you're connected with 00:49:05.329 --> 00:49:08.429 is not controlling their focus. It can mess up 00:49:08.429 --> 00:49:14.210 your circumstances too, right? But what are you 00:49:14.210 --> 00:49:15.690 going to do when that happens? You're not going 00:49:15.690 --> 00:49:22.349 to change your focus. Because if you do, you 00:49:22.349 --> 00:49:34.239 know, you wind up joining them. Hallelujah. Is 00:49:34.239 --> 00:49:41.239 anybody glad you came today? Anybody join me 00:49:41.239 --> 00:49:47.860 in saying, I can see that I've come a ways, but 00:49:47.860 --> 00:49:50.619 I need to go farther. Anybody join me in saying 00:49:50.619 --> 00:49:57.300 that? I need to go farther than I am today. In 00:49:57.300 --> 00:50:01.320 taking control of my focus. Because I can see 00:50:01.320 --> 00:50:04.300 areas in my life that are messed up and I can 00:50:04.300 --> 00:50:08.159 see that they're messed up many times because 00:50:08.159 --> 00:50:15.860 of my focus. I want my focus to open up the door 00:50:15.860 --> 00:50:19.460 to the power of God to bring transformation.