Sharing good news of great joy to all people.
Elation Church. This is week number two in our
series entitled The Door. Everybody say the door.
The door. And we're going to go over what we
talked about last week very quickly so that we'll
all be on the same page. How many of you were
not here last week? Raise your hand. That's about,
I don't know. 20 or 30%. So we're going to go
over what we talked about to build the foundation.
So look at the person beside you and tell them
to listen fast. Listen fast. Even if you don't
understand, act like you understand. So I won't
say it the same way four times, all right? A
different way four times. Same thing, a different
way. Starting out in Ephesians 119. part of what
we call the Ephesians 1 prayer, where Paul is
praying for the believers in Ephesus and he's
saying, I pray God that you will give them revelation.
Let them see. Let them really get it. That's
the difference. Because you can hear it and not
get it. So Paul is praying that they would receive
revelation from God, from the Holy Spirit. His
word would come alive in them. And one of the
things that he wants them to receive revelation
is about is found in verse 19, where he says,
I pray that you will understand the incredible
greatness of God's power. I don't know if we
can fully wrap our minds around the incredible
greatness of God's power, but I believe everyone
in this room could... Understand a little bit
more than you already do. I believe we can grow
in revelation and grow in understanding. I pray
that you will understand the incredible greatness
of God's power. And what's his power? It's for
us. Look at the person beside you and say, God's
power is for me. It's for me. It's God's power,
but it's for us. That we would understand that
God's power is for us who believe in him. It's
for you. So God's power has direction and purpose.
God's power is directed towards those who believe.
Do we have any believers? So God's power is directed
towards you. And we invest our belief in God's
word when we do that. When we invest our belief
in His Word, our understanding of God's power
will grow. It will build. The purpose of God's
power for the believer is to accomplish His will
in the earth. How many of you know God doesn't
send seven -foot angels to accomplish His will
in the earth? I mean, He can. If He wants to,
He can, right? But that's not the way it normally
works. That's not the normal flow. The normal
flow is that God wants to accomplish His will
in the earth through believers, through you,
through me. He wants His power to flow through
us in the earth to accomplish His will. Then
we talked about Jacob's ladder, Genesis 28, 11,
12. It says, Jacob found a stone to rest his
head against. I like my soft pillow. Jacob. Jacob
found a stone to rest his head against and lay
down to sleep. As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway.
Has anybody heard of Jacob's ladder before? He
dreamed of a ladder. He dreamed of a stairway
that reached from earth up to heaven. And he
saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.
They were going up and down the stairway to take...
The things of heaven and to bring them to earth.
This is a picture, right? And at the top of the
stairway stood the Lord. Then Jacob awoke from
his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this
place. After he saw this vision from God, he
said this, what an awesome place this is. It
is none other than the house of God. The very
gateway to heaven. So in this text, we see that
there is a gateway. There is a door. Everybody
say a door. There's a gateway. There's a door
between the spiritual realm and the natural realm.
House of God. This is the Hebrew word. And here's
what it means. It can be translated house, household,
temple, or dwelling. What? He was seeing what
Jacob was seeing. He's describing it as the house,
household, temple, or dwelling of God. And then
he described the door. Sha 'ar is the Hebrew
word. It's an opening. It's a gate. It's a door.
It can be translated any of those ways. And it
was a door between heaven and earth, between
spiritual and natural realms. Jacob saw angels
moving. From the temple, the dwelling place of
God, the house of the Lord, angels moving from
there through the door to accomplish His work
in the earth. As we learned last week, this is
a shadow of a New Testament reality. Where is
the temple and the dwelling place of God? Where
is that at? Revelation 4, 1 and 2 says, Then
as I looked, I saw a door standing open in the
heaven. This is John. I looked, I saw a door
standing open in heaven. So here we see a door
in heaven again. A doorway. I saw a door standing
open in heaven and instantly, I was in the Spirit
and I saw a throne in heaven and someone sitting
on it. And we know when we continue to read that
this is God sitting on the throne in the throne
room of eternity and John saw this. But he saw
it through, This open door. So God is in heaven.
Look at the person beside you and say, God's
in heaven. Everybody knows that. Everybody, right?
God's in heaven. How many people agree God's
in heaven? All right. But God is somewhere else.
God is omnipresent. That means He's everywhere
all the time. That means you can't go anywhere
and escape His presence. You can't go anywhere
and hide from God. be unseen by God. But then
the Bible talks about something a little bit
different. God's in heaven. God is omnipresent.
He's everywhere all the time. But the Bible talks
about Him, sometimes He's more here than other
times. Have you ever thought about that? Like
the verse I shared when we were singing, that
when we gather together, right? When two or more
gather together to lift up the name of Jesus,
what does it say? What does the Bible say? Does
anybody know? He's here. He's here. So wasn't
he already here? Yeah. But there are times when
he's more here than other times. There are times
when His manifested presence is here. So God's
in heaven. And then in 1 Corinthians 3 .16 it
says this, Do you not know that you are the temple?
You are the temple of God? That the Spirit of
God dwells in you? Right? When we're in Christ.
The Holy Spirit takes up residence inside of
us. We become the temple of God. And don't forget,
we were talking about the house of God, the temple
of God, the dwelling place of God, and there
was a door there that opened or closed to let
His power go through. Well, guess what? You are
the temple. You are a dwelling place of God.
The Spirit of God dwells in you. So, there must
be a part of us that's the door. What is the
door between the spiritual and natural realms?
What is that door? I'm going to look at this
story each week. Matthew 16, 13 -19. When Jesus
came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He
asked His disciples, saying, Who do men say that
I, the Son of Man, am? So Jesus is with his disciples
and says, What's the word on the street? What
are people saying about me? Who are they saying
that I am? The disciples begin to answer. They
said, Some say John the Baptist. Some say Elijah.
Others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. And
then Jesus looked at his disciples and he says,
But who do you say that I am? Who do you say
that I am? And Simon Peter, boy, this is a guy
that liked to put his foot in his mouth a lot.
Anybody in here put your foot in your mouth every
once in a while? He's recorded of putting his
foot in his mouth a whole lot, right? But this
time he got it right. Simon Peter answered and
said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living
God. That's the right answer. Jesus answered
and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar -Jonah,
for flesh and blood has not revealed this to
you, but my Father who is in heaven. Everybody
say revelation. This isn't something that he
just worked up in his own mind. It's not like
all of a sudden he's like, I think he might be
the Messiah. No. Jesus recognized this as a revelation
from God. It didn't come from his noggin. And
I also say that you are Peter. This is when his
name changed from Simon to Peter. And on this
rock, Peter means rock, on this rock I will build
my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail
against it. I've preached a series on this before,
but we've got to realize that where they were
standing, there was a big cave. And everybody
thought that that was a gateway. Everybody say
a gateway. They thought it was a gateway between
the natural world and the spiritual world. And
they called it the Gate of Hades. Because they
thought it went to the underworld. So as Jesus
said, as he looked at Peter, he said, on this
rock I will build my church and the gates of
Hades shall not prevail against it. He was just
standing right there. The gates of Hades shall
not prevail against it. All the false religions
of the world. demonically influence ideas of
the world, they're not going to stand against
the kingdom of God. That's what Jesus said. They're
not going to stand against the revelation that
comes from God to His people. Peter's flesh is
not what the church is built on. Some people
think, well, you've got to build the church on
the bones of Peter's grave. The rock is the revelation
of who Jesus is. Jesus is God. Jesus is the Messiah.
And it's the method of delivery. That's how the
church is built, right? On the revelation of
who Jesus is and on divine revelation from God.
That's what the church is built on. Because we
can hear a lot of things and not hear it, but
we need revelation. That's what's going to build
the church. That's what's going to bring transformation
in people's lives is when they get a revelation
of who God is and who they are in Christ, what
they have in Christ. That's when transformation
starts happening. It happens through revelation,
not just through carving out an hour, hour and
a half on Sunday morning. I'm preaching too hard.
I'll back up a little bit. At this point, Peter's
door is open to God's revelation. It's open to
God's power. So divine truth flows out of Peter
to accomplish God's purpose. Because the door
was open. Let's continue reading. And Jesus says,
And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of
heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound
in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be
loosed in heaven. Everybody say the door. Right?
If a door is locked with keys, things can't come
in and out. But if a door is open, things can
come in and out. Keys open doors. Keys represent
authority. Right? The janitor of this school
probably has the most authority because he can
open and close any door. Everyone who works here
doesn't have a key for every door. The principal
has authority. She has keys for every door. God
said he would give us the keys of the kingdom
of heaven. He gives us the method, the ability,
the authority to open or close the door of spiritual
influence in the earth. Verse 21. From that time,
Jesus began to show his disciples that he must
go to Jerusalem and suffer many things. from
the elders and chief priests and scribes, and
be killed and be raised on the third day. And
Peter took him aside. He said, wait a minute,
Jesus, we've got to talk. I don't want to say
this in front of everybody else, but you shouldn't
be saying that. The Bible says he began to rebuke
Jesus, right? Peter took him aside, began to
rebuke him, saying, far be it from you, Lord.
This shall not happen to you. This is not going
to happen on my watch, Jesus. And then, well,
Peter didn't want to think that Jesus, who he
loved, would suffer and die based on his human
reasoning and understanding. And listen, it's
never innocent to say that God is wrong. It's
never innocent to say that His Word will not
happen. And Jesus looked at him. Listen, Jesus
looked back at him. He turned and said to Peter,
he said, get behind me, Satan. You are an offense
to me. Peter didn't become Satan. I mean, just
a few minutes before that, he said, upon this
rock, I'm going to build my church. I'm going
to call you Peter. A few minutes later, get behind
me, Satan. What was the difference? Being open
to the right thing and then being open to the
wrong thing just a few minutes later. Peter didn't
become Satan. Here's what he did. He opened the
door of his mind to the work of Satan in the
earth. And listen, here's the work of Satan in
the earth. It's questioning and challenging the
words of God. He's a liar and the father of lies.
He twists the truth. He questions and challenges
the Word of God. And He wants to make you question
and challenge the Word of God. Who God is. Why
did this happen? Jesus goes on to tell us why
it happened. He said, Peter, you're not being
mindful of the things of God, but on the things
of men. All of a sudden you went from being open
to revelation from God to you don't set your
mind on the wrong thing. You've got the wrong
mindset. Each one of us, we are empowered by
what we set our mind on. Your mind is the door
to spiritual powers. And you're going to be the
one who decides which power is going to influence
your life, the lives of those around you, the
lives of those who are close to you, and on earth.
It's going to be what comes through your door.
So how do we open the door to the power of God?
We must continually direct our thoughts and desires
to the things of God. What's it going to come
down to? You've got to be in charge of your thoughts
and direct your thoughts and your desires towards
the things of God and away from the things of
the earth. Like Peter, our focus, everybody say
focus, because today we're going to focus on
focus. And I need to stay focused to focus on
focus. Like Peter, our focus or what we are mindful
of will determine What the door of our mind is
open to. Romans 12, 2. Do not be conformed to
this world, but be transformed. How? By the renewing
of your mind. That's how you're transformed.
By renewing your mind. To renew our minds, we
must daily take control of our focus. We must
daily direct our imaginations. That's what we're
talking about next week, imagination. We must
daily align our words. That's what's going to
be two weeks from now. To the reality of God's
Word. Jeffrey introduced that thought of the
rest of the series last Sunday. So focus. Focus
is one of the key contributors to renewing your
mind. How many of you want to have a renewed
mind? Well, focus is going to be a key contributor
to that. You have to constantly be attentive
to what's going on between your ears. Sometimes
we're not very attentive of the thoughts that
go through our mind. 2 Corinthians 10 verse 4
says this, For the weapons of our warfare, because
we're engaged in a spiritual warfare every day
of our lives. The weapons of our warfare are
not carnal. They're not fleshly, but they're
mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. Strongholds.
Cast down arguments. Strongholds and arguments,
listen, and every high thing that exalts itself
against the knowledge of God. Doesn't that sound
like what I just read a few minutes ago? Doesn't
that sound like it? Bringing every thought into
captivity to the obedience of Christ. So here's
what's happening in your mind. You're getting
arguments against the knowledge of God. Sometimes
we have strongholds built up in our minds that
are contrary to God's Word. Sometimes we have
a thought that says, Like in Genesis, did God
really mean that? Did God really... Is it really
going to make a difference? I mean, I know there's
a verse that says this, but is it really going
to work? All of those things, all of those kind
of thoughts, they're exalting, they're trying
to exalt themselves against the knowledge of
God. And you've got to bring each thought, every
thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
You've got to say, no, this doesn't line up with
what God said. This is what God said, and this
is what I'm going to believe, and this is what
I'm going to focus on. That's what we've got
to do. We've got to take control of our focus.
Like Jeffrey said last week, you can't control
how many birds are flying over your head, but
you don't have to let them build a nest in your
hair. You can't control every thought that goes
through your mind. But you can control which
ones you focus on, which ones you meditate on.
You can control that because it's your mind.
Look, we've got to refuse to focus on any thought
or temporal condition that doesn't agree with
who God is. That doesn't agree with who... You
are in Christ. It doesn't agree with what you
have in Christ. Ain't nothing like a sound system
buzz to make people not even hear. So I'm going
to say it again. Because this is one of the most
powerful statements in the whole message. We
have to refuse to focus on any thought or any
temporal condition that does not agree. Listen.
That does not agree with who God is. That does
not agree with who you are in Christ. That does
not agree with what you have in Christ. We've
got to refuse to focus on those things and on
those temporal conditions. Renewing your mind
is not just refusing to focus on the bad things
like I just talked about. It's also focusing
on the good things. We need to focus on the things
of God. We need to focus on the spiritual things.
We've got to focus. So some thoughts you smack
down, like that bird that's trying to build a
nest in your hair. Herb don't have that problem.
Some thoughts you smack down, and some thoughts
you place on purpose. Listen to Colossians 3,
1 and 2. If then you were raised with Christ,
has anyone been raised with Christ? If you were
raised with Christ, seek those things which are
above. Where Christ is. Sitting at the right
hand of God. Set your mind on things above. Everybody
say focus. So we're focusing on those things
that are above. where Christ is, and we're setting
our mind on things above, not on the things of
the earth. That's just the Bible. And you can
either say, yes, or eh. But it's still true.
Whether you receive it or not, it's true. But
if you're like me, and you want your life to
improve, I would receive it. Instead of rejecting
it. Setting your mind on something is setting
your focus on something. Listen, John 16, 15.
Here's why we need to set our mind on spiritual
things. It says this, All things that the Father
has are mine. This is Jesus talking. Everything
the Father has is mine. Therefore I said, He
will take of mine and declare it to you. In this
verse, we see the Godhead, the Trinity. We see
the Father, we see the Son, we see the Holy Spirit.
And Jesus is saying, everything God has is mine.
And the Holy Spirit is going to take what's mine
and make it known to you. He's going to declare
it to you. He's going to reveal it to you. That's
how we get the revelation. That's how Peter got
that revelation where Jesus said, I'm going to
build my church on this. It didn't come from
him. It came from God. The Holy Spirit takes
the things of God. He reveals them. He makes
them known to us. Let's look at some examples.
Everybody say examples. Here's an example straight
out of Jesus' mouth. That's why I tell you. Not
to worry about everyday life. Whether you have
enough food and drink or enough clothes to wear,
isn't life more than food and your body more
than clothing? Look at the birds. Everybody say
focus. If you hadn't figured it out, every time
I got that brighter blue up there, you could
replace it with the word focus. If you hadn't
figured that out yet. Consider the birds. Look
at the birds. Focus on the birds. They don't
plant or harvest or store food in barns. But
your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you
far more valuable to Him than they are? Can all
your worries add a single moment to your life?
Not one. Not one. And why worry about your clothing?
Consider the lilies. Look at the lilies. Focus
on the lilies. Everybody say focus. Look at the
lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't
work or make their clothing. Yet Solomon in all
his glory was not dressed as beautifully. as
they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for
the wildflowers, because we just have to look
at them, right? Just focus on that a minute.
Focus on the birds. Focus on the flowers. If
God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that
are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow,
He will certainly care for you. Why do you have
so little faith? Because you're focused on the
wrong thing. I'll just go ahead and answer that.
It's focus. Listen, Jesus said, so don't worry
about these things saying, what will we eat?
What will we drink? What will we wear? These
things, listen, these things dominate the thoughts.
These things dominate the focus of unbelievers.
But your Heavenly Father already knows all your
needs. Isn't that amazing? So we don't want those
things dominating our thoughts. We don't want
to be focused on those things because it only
leads to worry. Only leads to worry. What are
we supposed to focus on? Guess what? Focus on
the kingdom of God above all else. Seek the kingdom
of God above all else. And His righteousness.
And He will give you everything you need. So
when we get our focus in the right place, we're
going to find that we're going to have provision.
But if our focus is in the wrong place, we've
opened the door to lack, is what we've opened
the door to. Worry is a byproduct of your mind
being focused on natural things that question,
that call into question. Listen, your mind's
focused on natural things that call into question
the character of God. and the Word of God. So
anytime we catch ourselves worrying, we need
to shake ourselves and say, No! I'm not going
to focus on that. I'm going to focus on the character
of God and the Word of God, and I'm not going
to focus on these things that bring worry to
me. That's what Jesus said. Look at the birds.
Look at the flowers. Focus on who I am and what
I do. Hello? It's good preaching right here.
Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Amen. I need it
just like you do. I get happy. Focus on the character
of God. He is Yahweh Jireh. He's going to see
to it. Focus on who God is. Focus on the character
of God. He is El Shaddai. He is more than enough.
Not just barely enough, but more than enough.
That's who God is. Is that who He is? Is that
who He told us He was? I'm not making these names
up. This is who God told us He was. Focus on
the character of God. He is Yahweh Ra. He is
your good shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. What does that mean? A good
shepherd is going to take care of me. And if
he doesn't take care of me, he's not a good shepherd.
But I've got to trust in him as my good shepherd
in order to receive him as my good shepherd.
Because he's not just going to be a good shepherd
if you're not having faith in him. Because faith
is what connects us to the grace and goodness
in who God is. It's our faith that connects us.
We're saved by grace what God did by faith. Everybody's
not going to be saved. Everybody's not going
to come to a relationship with Christ. Only those
who connect to His grace with their faith. Listen,
your mind is the door that releases the power
of God so the eternal can transform your temporal.
It's the door. Your mind is the door that either
releases or closes. Here's two more examples.
I'm not even reading the whole story, but if
you've spent any time in church, you're familiar
with these stories. Matthew 14, 22 through 23.
Listen. There was a bad storm. Jesus came walking
on the water. Peter goes, if that's you, call
me out to you. Jesus said, come on. So Peter
stepped out of the boat. How many of you know
you can't walk on water? There's laws of buoyancy,
as I think is how they put it. You can't just
walk on water. So he had to be stepping on something.
He was stepping on the law of faith. Because
Jesus said, come on. So he stepped on the Word
of God and it held him up as he walked towards
Jesus. And as long as his focus, everybody say
focus, as long as his focus was on Jesus and
on what Jesus said, he was walking on water.
But then all of a sudden his focus changed, didn't
it? His focus changed. Quit looking at Jesus.
Started looking at the wind and the waves and
the storm. What happened when his focus changed?
He opened the door and began to sink. I don't
know how you begin to sink. I always just sink
real quick. But he began to sink and Jesus grabbed
him. Jesus said, Where's your faith? Why is your
faith so little? Why was his faith little? Because
his focus changed. Focus. You know, another example.
Having three examples today. Paul and Silas.
They were in Philippi. They were talking about
the goodness of God. This little lady kept screaming
at them and making a scene. She was possessed.
These guys are serving to the most high God.
I mean, they're in Walmart shopping and she's
screaming up. It wasn't a Walmart, but you know
what I'm talking about. They're in the marketplace.
Going somewhere to eat. Lady's just screaming
up. She wasn't screaming bad things, but it was
pretty annoying. So, Paul got a revelation. The
reason why this was happening is because this
lady was possessed. That's why she was acting
like that, causing the disruption. So, he cast
the devil out of her. Problem is, she was a fortune
teller in town and she was a slave and people
were making money off of her demonic influence.
Her opening consistently her mind. To dark spiritual
forces. So, you know the story. They beat up
Paul and Silas pretty bad. Beat them up, threw
them in jail. And what was their focus? What
would your focus be? Just think about it. What
would your focus be? If they beat you up, you
had whelps all over your back, you're bleeding.
All you do is try to help somebody. But the business
owner said, we don't want people like that around
here. And they got the people to arrest them
and beat them and throw them in jail and put
them in the innermost part of the prison. What
would your focus be on? In those circumstances,
those natural circumstances, what would your
focus be on? Well, Paul and Silas focused on
praising God. Instead of focusing what most likely
we would focus on, we would focus on the circumstances
that we were in. We'd be moaning and whining
and complaining. But they didn't focus, listen,
on their temporal circumstances. They focused
on God, focused on praising God. And here's what
happened. Because they were focused on God. They
opened up the door. It opened the door. Does
anybody need a door open? They focused on praising
God instead of focusing on their temporal circumstances
that were not very pleasant. And the door was
open for miraculous deliverance. The door was
even open for the jailer and his family to be
born again. Based on their focus. None of that
would have happened if they would have focused
on their temporal circumstances. Hallelujah.
2 Corinthians 4 .18 We do not look at... Everybody
say focus. Because to look at something, you've
got to focus, right? 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.
Everybody say temporary. But the things which
are not seen are eternal. Everybody say eternal.
Spiritually minded people begin to see something.
they begin to see that the choices of their focus
fall into two categories in their life. If your
focus is set in the right place, it will lead
to an open door to life and blessing. If your
focus is on the wrong place, it will open the
door. To death in cursing. I want you to see
this. I want you to see it. Romans 8 .6. That's
not Romans 8 .6. I copied and pasted that and
didn't change the reference. This is in... I
have to look it up. Deuteronomy. 30 verse 16,
that's where it is. God says, this is Old Testament
and New Testament, just flowing right through.
He says, I have set before you life and death,
blessing and cursing, therefore choose life.
Deuteronomy 30, 16. If you're writing it down,
write that down. Not Romans 8, 6. We're going
to look at that in just a second. As we talked
about this at Life Group, As they were walking,
there were two mountains, and they were speaking
the curses and death on one side, and they were
speaking life and blessing on the other side,
and they walked between it, just so that they
would hear what life that was focused on God
would result in. It's going to result in life
and blessing. And then God says this, I want
you to choose life. Because that's what God wants
for you. That's what God wants for all of His
kids. He wants everybody to be His kids, but
He wants for all His kids that they would experience
His life and blessings. John 10 .10. I've never
thought about all these verses just in repetition,
but listen, Jesus said this. He said, the thief
does not come except to steal, kill, and destroy.
Jesus says, I've come that they may have life
and that they may have it more abundantly or
they may have it blessed, right? So even in this
statement, He's saying that we have a spiritual
enemy and he's wanting to bring death and cursing,
stealing, killing, destroying. But I came, Jesus
said, that you could have life and have it more
abundantly or have it blessed to the full. God
wants life and blessing for you. But God's going
to respect your choices. Your focus will play
a part on what you receive. And God's going to
respect your choices. Here's another one. Here's
one, Romans 8, 6. I hope you wrote that down
too. To be carnally minded is death. But to be
spiritually minded is life and peace. That word
carnally comes from the Greek word sarx. It means
carnal, flesh. It's even been translated earth.
So listen, to be carnally minded, to be fleshly
minded, to be earthly minded will lead to death.
But to be spiritually minded is going to lead
to life. It's going to lead to peace. So our
mind should not be set on things merely of human
form. Origin or human empowerment. Because that's
always going to lead to death. We have an adversary.
Lucifer in heaven was cast down. Satan. 2 Corinthians
4 .4 says that he's the God of this world. Ephesians
2 .2 says he's the prince of the power of the
air. We know that in Christ, we are victorious.
We've overcome. We don't have to put up with
his junk no more. Because we've already won in
Christ. But this is still who he is in the earth.
And here's what he does. He manipulates circumstances
to generate contradictions to the word of God
that you say you believe. We'll say that again.
Satan and his demonic forces, his cohorts, here's
what they are involved in. They're involved in
manipulating circumstances in this earth, in
your life, to generate contradictions to the
Word of God that you say you believe. The enemy
is putting pressure on you through the natural
arena. To get you to choose, to get you to focus
on, to get you to open the door of your mind
to death and cursing. That's how He's going to
steal from you and kill you and destroy you.
Listen, when you believe more strongly in what
the Word says than in what your temporal circumstances
say, Faith becomes the bridge for the power of
God to flow through the door of your mind and
produce transformation in your temporal circumstances.
Help us receive it, Lord. What you believe more
strongly, when you believe more strongly in what
God says than in what you see, we walk by faith
and not by sight. when you believe more strongly
in what God's Word says than what you see are
the temporal circumstances that you're going
through, you open the door for the power of God
to flow through and to produce transformation.
Your focus is one of the determining factors
of what the door of your mind is open or closed
to. Focus is one of them. Listen, each one of
us can grow to the point where it becomes easier.
When you function in taking your thoughts captive
and recognizing the more you do it, the easier
it will become to recognize a thought that, you
know, I need to smack that bird down. It don't
need to build a nest in my head. I need to smack
that one down. The more you do it, the easier
it's going to become. But none of us will ever
get to the point where we've graduated and we're
not going to have any thoughts come into our
mind that we need to choose to throw out instead
of focusing on. None of us are going to get to
the point, right, where there's no work for us
to do. There's no agreement for us to do. There's
no faith for us to have. None of us will get
to that point. But you can get to the point where
it's easier. And I think this is my closing statement.
Your mind is the door to spiritual powers. So,
you're going to decide through your focus which
power has more influence in your life. You decide
what power influences your life. You decide.
what power influences the lives of your family
and your closest friends, your co -workers, people
around you. You determine. You decide which power
is going to influence the sphere of your influence.
Because we're all connected in different ways.
Right? Because... It's easy to see that you can
control the door of your mind. You can control
your focus, but somebody you're connected with
is not controlling their focus. It can mess up
your circumstances too, right? But what are you
going to do when that happens? You're not going
to change your focus. Because if you do, you
know, you wind up joining them. Hallelujah. Is
anybody glad you came today? Anybody join me
in saying, I can see that I've come a ways, but
I need to go farther. Anybody join me in saying
that? I need to go farther than I am today. In
taking control of my focus. Because I can see
areas in my life that are messed up and I can
see that they're messed up many times because
of my focus. I want my focus to open up the door
to the power of God to bring transformation.