New Wine for New Wineskins January 2017


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CoLeisAThaThuLogoCuimhnich cò leis a tha thu! (Part 3)

Who do you belong to?  There is an old Gaelic proverb, “Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!”  “Remember who you belong to!”  Remember from whom you come!Who do you belong to?  There is an old Gaelic proverb, “Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!”  “Remember who you belong to!”  Remember from whom you come!

As we transition from 2016 to 2017 and cross the threshold of a new year it is always a good time to reflect on where we have come from and where we are going.

The prophetic declaration we have been given for this year 5777 / 2017 is “The Year When Eagles Soar”.  I believe this is primarily about coming up to a place of maturity where we see people from the perspective of a father.  There is no rivalry in a father’s heart towards his children, there is only a strong desire to see each one of them succeed and to prosper in all areas of their lives.

Jesus the eternal Son of God came to reveal the Father.  Every mature son of God should be a representation of the Father’s heart in their words and in their actions.

A couple of months ago I heard a news item on TV which stated that the most recent government health statistics for Scotland had revealed that 1 in 4 young Scottish women under 25 admitted to self-harming and 1 in 10 had attempted suicide. The statistics for young men were very similar.  When I heard this my spirit groaned and I heard the Holy Spirit say that these young people, with all of the pressures that they have to contend with, were in desperate need of experiencing unconditional love – the God-kind of love, the Father’s love.

Last time we recognised how important it is to remember in whom we are resting.  We must remain in the rest of faith – hearing and believing and speaking and declaring and proclaiming and testifying what our Father has said.  Every time we speak something contrary to what our Father has promised we grieve the Holy Spirit who has come to help us live out this new relationship with the revelation that our Daddy doesn’t make empty promises of protection and provision that he is unwilling or unable to keep.  For example, either the promises contained in Psalm 91 and Luke 10: 19 are true or they are not.

This month we are going to look at the need to remember who we are representing.  Jesus came as a living demonstration of unconditional love.  Before he ascended to the right hand of the Father he passed his mantle to us.

That is why it is so important to remember who we belong to, who we are to grow up into.

Romans 8: 14 – 17

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 now sons of God.

“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!”  Remember who you belong to! Remember from whom you come!

1 John 4: 16

16 And we have known (revelation knowledge) and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he
who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

You will always struggle to believe until you know who you belong to.

“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!”  Remember who you belong to!  Remember from whom you come!

Jude 20 – 21

20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God…

1.    REMEMBER IN WHOM YOU ARE RESTING

2.    REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE REPRESENTING

Acts 2: 1 – 4

1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

When you speak in tongues (by the influence of the Holy Spirit) you are speaking with your Father in the most intimate of ways.  It is unhindered communication and you are no doubt using the D-word a lot since that is the first word that the Holy Spirit teaches us.

The church must re-engage with the power of Pentecost or we can never accurately represent our heavenly Father.

“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!”  Remember who you belong to! Remember from whom you come!

Acts 1: 8

8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

You shall be witnesses to me!  He does not say you shall do witnessing for me!  Be – just be! Only believe! Leave and be!  Remember who you belong to!  Do you have a longing to be everything that your Father has planned and provided for you to be – everything that he has declared you to be?

“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!”  Remember who you belong to! Remember from whom you come!

Jesus said that these signs would follow those who believe – those who leave the old orphanage mindset and embrace everything that is now theirs to experience as a child of God.  What do we have to believe?  That these signs will follow us because healing and deliverance and supernatural protection (Psalm 91 and Luke 10: 19) are an essential and integral part of the gospel that we preach.

The local church is not an orphanage – it is our spiritual home and our Father is right here with us. When we go out from there we are representing our Father.  Whatever we say or do will always reflect either well or badly on him.  It will either be a good or a bad representation of him.

“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!”  Remember who you belong to! Remember from whom you come!

Jesus said that anyone who had seen him had seen the Father because he was a perfect
representation of the Father. He never forgot who he belonged to and who he was representing.

John 5: 17 – 19, 30; 8: 26 – 27

17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”
18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. 19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner….
30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me….
26 I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him.” 27 They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.

Jesus said that we would proclaim the same message and do the same works that he did.  How?  Out of relationship with our Father by the power of the Holy Spirit.  When we remember who we are representing.

“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!”  Remember who you belong to! Remember from whom you come!

Our heavenly Father doesn’t make things complicated for us.  He generally only presents us with two of everything in regard to the choices we are free to make – two choices (life or death, blessing or curse), there were two trees in the garden that represented life or death, Jesus spoke of two roads, two houses, and two men.

I got a “WOW” revelation on this as I was meditating on it early one morning.  Why do we focus so much on the two houses?  Is Jesus’ account not more about the two types of men?  Why is it that we look at what people build instead of what those who are building are doing with the word of God?  Both men called Jesus “Lord” but they were dealing differently with the word of God and building according to different blueprints.  One thought he could cut corners with the foundation because he  was obviously more focused on what could be seen above the ground.

The other man spent more time and resources on the foundation – the unseen part of the building – and so it may not have looked so big or so fancy above ground, but it stood the test of time and the house he built was still standing after the storm had passed.

1 Corinthians 15: 45 – 49

45 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving
spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

The old covenant was about trying to deal with the nature of the man of dust.  The new covenant is about living with the nature of the heavenly man.

“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!”  Remember who you belong to! Remember from whom you come!

There is a way that seems right to the man of dust but it leads to death.

Ecclesiastes 12: 6 – 7

6 Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed,  Or the golden bowl is broken,  Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain,  Or the wheel broken at the well.  7 Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it.

We carry treasure in our earthen vessels.  Christ in us is the hope of glory.  You may have heard of the Chinese evangelist Brother Yun, who achieved much for the kingdom but also suffered intense persecution and endured much suffering at the hands of the authorities. In China they called him the heavenly man, but when he came to the west he said he was hurt more by people in the church than he ever was by his persecutors in China, because those who claimed to be believers couldn’t accept the accounts he gave of his supernatural experiences and God’s supernatural and miraculous dealings in his life.

The word of God says that all who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Sadly, that persecution can come from people in the church as well as those in the world system.

We can either live as the man of dust or as the heavenly man.  The choice is ours.  So many of God’s people have never fully made the transition from the old to the new covenant, and so they go back into the old covenant to try and justify their wilderness existence.  Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness so that we could be led out of the wilderness by the Holy Spirit.

You will be witnesses when the Holy Spirit comes upon you!  He has to get on you – not just in you!

Last time we saw that when you don’t call upon the Father in every situation and trust him completely for salvation, healing, and deliverance the Holy Spirit is grieved!

1 Thessalonians 5: 19

19 Do not quench the Spirit.

Do not put out the Spirit’s fire!

“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!”  Remember who you belong to! Remember from whom you come!

We are representing our heavenly Father, the God who is love. The Almighty God who loves people so much that he not only wants to save, heal and deliver them all – he also has the ability  to do so!

“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!”  Remember who you belong to! Remember from whom you come!

1 Peter 1: 13 – 16

13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

Don’t try and do holy – be holy!  The Holy Spirit makes you holy!  You are holy because he is
holy!

Matthew 5: 43 – 48

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you,
love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!”  Remember who you belong to! Remember from whom you come!

Remember – you will always struggle to believe until you know to whom you belong.  You will never leave the old way of doing and embrace the new way of being until you have such an intense longing to be all that you were recreated to be that it separates you from every thought, word, and action that is not a true representation of your Father and his kingdom.

John 17: 14 – 26

14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!”  Remember who you belong to! Remember from whom you come!

Do not quench the Holy Spirit!  It is time to reactivate and to re-engage with the power of Pentecost, because it is impossible for us to represent our Father without the power of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 5: 1 – 2, 17 – 18

1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma….17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit

“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!”  Remember who you belong to!  Remember from whom you come!

As we move forward into all that 2017 holds for us we can rise up on the Holy Spirit thermals that will cause us to soar like eagles and begin to see as our Father sees so that in our dealings with people we will be fully equipped to represent him and to demonstrate his unconditional love for them.

“Cuimhnich cò leis a tha thu!”  Remember who you belong to!  Remember from whom you come!


 

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