Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu! (Part 4)
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
We are not adopted sons – adoption was just the process by which we were made sons! We are sons!
Jesus said that we must be born again – born from above – if we are to be part of the family of God. We are born of the Holy Spirit and so now we are sons of our heavenly Father.
“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!” Remember who you belong to! Remember from whom you come!
John 14: 17 – 18
17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
We have looked previously in this series at how important it is to remember who it is that we are resting in, and that when we fail to do that we grieve the Holy Spirit. We also spoke about the importance of remembering who it is that we are representing, and we recognised that when we forget that the only way to accurately represent him is by the power he has provided, we will quench the Holy Spirit!
3. REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE RESISTING
Acts 7: 51
51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.”
Are we going to live according to the flesh as sons of our earthly fathers and resist the Holy Spirit, or are we going to be the sons of our heavenly Father who will submit to him and resist the devil?
“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!” Remember who you belong to! Remember from whom you come!
James 4: 7
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
1 Peter 5: 6 – 9
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith…
Ephesians 6: 10 – 13
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Last time we saw that there are only two types of men – the man of dust and the heavenly man.
The man of dust builds his house on the dirt without a foundation, but the heavenly man – the man born from above – digs down deep and builds his house on the only sure foundation, which is the solid rock of the revelation of the Lordship of Jesus Christ over every part of our lives – spirit, soul, and body! The man of dust resists the Holy Spirit as he seeks to lead him into all truth, whereas the heavenly man submits to the leading of the Holy Spirit and becomes a manifestation of a son of God!
“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!” Remember who you belong to! Remember from whom you come!
Psalm 11: 3
3 If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?
Jesus said that the thief only ever comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. He also said that devil comes to try and steal the word out of people’s hearts as soon as it is preached. The word is our life source and so if the devil can steal the word he can kill the life and ultimately destroy the only foundation that can be laid in each individual life, which is the fullness of everything that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished when he laid down his life for us all.
Sadly, many of those who are already declared to be righteous are often denied the fullness of experiencing everything that means and includes because some of the word has been stolen from their foundation. There are those who are content to build without a proper foundation and so what goes up must inevitably come down. The tragedy is that there is always collateral damage and many are left floundering when their lives could and should have been established in and on the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
On the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached the first sermon of the newly-birthed church. In that sermon he gave us the basic foundations for the church that Jesus is building – repentance, faith, believer’s baptism, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews also reminds us of the foundational teachings upon which our lives as believers are to be established.
Hebrews 6: 1 – 2
1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection (maturity), not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Any church or movement that tries to get by on any less than these most basic and fundamental teachings is not building on a solid foundation.
Jesus said that these last days would be like the days of Noah and Lot.
Noah chose to separate himself and devote his life to the task that was committed to him in building the ark according to the blueprint given him by the LORD. He did this even though he was surrounded by a generation of people that had become consumed with evil thinking and wicked practices.
By contrast, righteous Lot made a compromised decision to live and do business in a place that he knew deep down was wrong for him and his family. The community in which he lived winked at sin and so they practised all kinds of perverted and depraved behaviour. By the time Lot was fully convinced that he needed to leave he lost almost his entire family including his wife. Even the two daughters that escaped with him were so polluted by the time spent in Sodom that they engaged in an incestuous relationship with their father.
Noah is a type of the righteous man who knows who he is and what his purpose is and so he lives like the heavenly man, whereas Lot is a type of the righteous man who lives like a man of dust because he is confused concerning his identity and purpose.
“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!” Remember who you belong to! Remember from whom you come!
These days in which we live are marked by similar attitudes among God’s people. The problem is that judging by what was taking place around Noah and Lot everything seemed to be carrying on as normal and even prospering in some respects. It is the same today. We need to remember that our experience is not the test of where things are at – we must always measure our experience against truth, against the plumb-line of God’s word.
“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!” Remember who you belong to! Remember from whom you come!
John 21: 3 – 7
3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We are going with you also.” They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. 4 But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?” They answered Him, “No.” 6 And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. 7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”
As I meditated on this account a few years ago I began to hear the Lord say that we must re-launch the church on the right side of Pentecost! Without the power of the Holy Spirit we are dependent on the best efforts of the man of dust but with the power of the Holy Spirit we can be a manifestation of the heavenly man – the manifestation of the sons of God that the world has been crying out for. Without the fullness of Pentecostal power so much of the word doesn’t make sense any more because there is no power to make it real, and so what is built is built on the dust!
Paul said that without the Holy Spirit the word can be reduced to letters on a page, but the Holy Spirit brings the word alive. You can end up with a fat mind but a barren spirit.
We have a new covenant and the Holy Spirit is the one who has been given to establish that covenant!
Too often the church’s ministry is still a mixture of old and new covenant and so we must re-launch a new covenant ministry in the fullness of Pentecostal power!
John 9: 4 – 5
4 “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
The night was the time between the crucifixion and Pentecost – the coming of the Holy Spirit!
These guys went back to the works of dust and worked all night and caught nothing! But Jesus
promised that when the Holy Spirit had come his disciples would do the same works he did! What a change when the day comes and Jesus shows up again and gives them supernatural direction!
Acts 2: 1, 4, 38 – 42
1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come….. 4 …they were all filled with the Holy Spirit….38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” 40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptised; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Peter said that what happened at Pentecost was the fulfilment of what had been prophesied by Joel, part of which states that old men will dream dreams and young men will see visions. Dreams are night visions. The old men are the fathers, and their dreams are what give birth to the young men’s visions. God always connects the generations – he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!” Remember who you belong to! Remember from whom you come!
The old men – the fathers – dream dreams that are the blueprints, and the young men see visions that are the component parts that will result in the fulfilment of the dream.
There are some of you reading this and you know that the Holy Spirit is giving you a vision for prayer ministry, for outreach ministry, for healing ministry, for youth ministry, for kids ministry, for men’s ministry, for women’s ministry, for media ministry, and so you must not resist him!
These ministries he is calling you to are kingdom ministries for which he is giving you revelation on how to make them the best that heaven can provide. The role and function of fathers in the church is the ministry of the word and prayer – the foundational ministry that supports and undergirds everything that is built upon it! Their role is to equip you to stand and resist every attempt of the enemy to divert you from your God-given ministry and to encourage you to continue standing strong in all that you have been equipped with.
1 Corinthians 3: 10 – 17
10 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. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 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. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. 16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
Over the years people have come to me with concerns about things that weren’t being done, not understanding that since they were obviously being made aware of these things then the burden of responsibility was upon them to get them done. This is what happened at the outset of the first church in regard to the Gentile widows. But they didn’t just find people who could serve tables – they made sure that the supernatural work of the ministry would continue through those who were serving the tables. They found those who were faithful and prayed and laid hands on them.
“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!” Remember who you belong to! Remember from whom you come!
We are to resist the devil – not the Holy Spirit! The wrestling is in the resting and the representing.
In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus endured the one time that it was impossible for his Father to do anything for him (in that it would contravene his will) and the soul pain that was attached to that, so that we would never have to. He chose his Father’s will and embraced the Cross so that all things would be possible for those who believe that they belong, and so that we would never have to suffer the pain of orphanhood.
“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!” Remember who you belong to! Remember from whom you come!
Jesus asks, “Do you love me?” This is the key to everything! He has already demonstrated his love for us, so will we now demonstrate our love for him?
We have been equipped to resist everything that is not the Father’s will for us as revealed in his word. We can resist sin and sickness and oppression and every manifestation of the curse because the word of God, which is the expression of the Father’s will, reveals to us that Jesus took all of these things on our behalf, so that we could be spared them.
Our prayer to the Father is, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven….” As it is in heaven, where there is no sin, no sickness, no oppression, and no curse.
“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!” Remember who you belong to! Remember from whom you come!
There are some people who have a natural resilience and who seem to be able to endure and to bounce back from virtually anything, but such people are few and far between. But we don’t resist through any human effort or strength of mind, but by simply looking to, and keeping our eyes on Jesus.
According to Hebrews 12: 2 Jesus is the author and the finisher, the originator and perfecter of our faith, or as the New Living Translation puts it, “Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.”
Hebrews 12: 1 – 2
1Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The Greek word translated as “looking” (aphorao) is a word that signifies undivided attention, looking away from all distractions and fixing one’s gaze on one object.
We resist sin by looking away from all distractions and giving undivided attention to Jesus who became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. We resist sickness by looking away from all distractions and giving undivided attention to Jesus who took our sicknesses and our pains and by whose stripes we were and are healed. We resist oppression and every other manifestation of the curse by looking away from all distractions and giving undivided attention to Jesus who became a curse for us so that we could walk in the fullness of the Father’s blessing; Jesus, who though he was rich became poor, so that we through his poverty might become rich.
Jesus cried out from the Cross, “It is finished!” The work of redemption and reconciliation is perfectly perfect and completely complete. God was in Christ , reconciling the world to himself. And now, the Lord Jesus Christ has taken his place at the right hand of the Father in heaven where he remains forever as our Saviour, our Healer, and our Deliverer.
“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!” Remember who you belong to! Remember from whom you come!
1 John 4: 17 says that as he (Jesus) is so are we in this world. I am righteous because Jesus overcame sin and sat down at the right hand of God where he lives forever as my Saviour. And so I resist sin by looking away from all other distractions and any voices that may try and present evidence to the contrary, and by looking to Jesus who is my righteousness. I am healed because Jesus defeated sickness and sat down at the right hand of God where he lives forever as my Healer. And so I resist sickness by looking away from all other distractions and conflicting messages, and by looking to Jesus who is my Healer. It is the same with any and every manifestation of the curse because we are now blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus and he has given us authority over all the power of the enemy so that nothing can by any means harm us.
Remember who you are resisting.
Don’t resist the Holy Spirit who comes to remind you that Jesus is your Saviour, your Healer, and your Deliverer. Submit to him as he leads you into the fullness of your inheritance as a son of God.
Psalm 16: 5 – 7
5 O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. 6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance. 7 I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.
I have noticed over the years that many believers (including some who would identify themselves as Pentecostals) have very little expectation for God to move supernaturally on their behalf in every area of their lives, whereas those who have that expectation within the church are often given a hard time and unfairly criticised. It is as though those who no longer have the expectation for supernatural change have forgotten the character or lost their intimacy with the One that they belong to.
“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!” Remember who you belong to! Remember from whom you come!
Submit to the Holy Spirit who only ever comes to lead you (by pointing you to Jesus) into the good plans that the Father has purposed and provided for your life, and in so doing you will actively resist the devil who only ever comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. You will experience the effectiveness of the authority you have been given to resist sin, and sickness, and oppression, and every manifestation of the curse, and you will have a continual testimony to the faithfulness of your heavenly Father.
“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!” Remember who you belong to! Remember from whom you come!