New Wine for New Wineskins April 2018


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happynewyear008Crossing Over (Part 4)

5778 / 2018 – The Year Of Rebuilding.

Matthew 28: 18 – 20

18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

We have been talking about making the transition from  5777 (2017) – The Year When Eagles Soar to 5778 (2018) – The Year Of Rebuilding.

This is the decade of 5770 (2010) to 5780( 2020) – the “Ayin” years – the years of seeing, and of renewed perspective.

We have emphasised the need to move from a childish and self-centred “It’s all about me” perspective that is primarily focused on, and remains stuck in pursuing personal blessings, and the need to move to a mature child of God’s perspective – one that is focused on the Father’s will and purpose – knowing that we are not only blessed personally but that we are here to be a blessing to others, and so we go out into the world around us preaching the same gospel that Jesus preached – the gospel of the kingdom.

Matthew 4: 17, 23; 9: 35; 10: 7 – 8; 24: 14; Luke 4: 42 – 43; 8: 1; 9: 2;  Acts 8: 12; 20: 25; 28: 30 – 31

Matthew 4: 17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”….23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.

9: 35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

10: 7 And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

24: 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Luke 4: 42 Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; 43 but He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.”

8: 1 Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him…

9: 2 He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

Acts 8: 12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the
kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptised.

20: 25 “And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more.”

28: 30 – 31 30 Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, 31 preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.

When we take up our cultural commission and our dominion mandate we go out preaching the good news of the kingdom of God and we pray kingdom prayers – your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven – wherever we go, in every situation, every circumstance, every environment, and on every platform.

We are the salt of the earth and the light of the world but the salt can lose its flavour and the light can be obscured and become like darkness.

Matthew 5: 13

13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavour, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

Luke 11: 35

35 Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness.

Jesus was clear that he only said and did what he heard and saw his Father do. According to Hebrews 11: 6 it is impossible to please God without faith – simply hearing what God says and doing it, believing that HE IS and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Remember we are praying that our Father’s name will be hallowed – honoured, revered, and respected – as his kingdom comes and his will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 5: 16

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Amplified

16 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognise and honour and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven.

Mark 16: 15, 19 – 20

15 And He said to them, Go into all the world and preach and publish openly the good news (the Gospel) to every creature [of the whole human race]….19 So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and He sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord kept working with them and confirming the message by the attesting signs and miracles that closely accompanied [it]. Amen (so be it).

Everything we do in the kingdom will always require faith, and it will always give us an opportunity to experience our Father’s name being hallowed and for us to stand in awe of him.

I was reading in Deuteronomy 6 recently and I saw something that encouraged and reinforced my faith.

Deuteronomy 6: 20 – 23

20 “When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?’  21 then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand;  22 and the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household.  23 Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers. 

The LORD didn’t bring us out to perish (and miss our purpose) in a spiritual wilderness. He brought us out of all of our lostness and brokenness and slavery to sin so that he might bring us in to the fullness of his provision for every part of our lives – spirit, soul, and body. If we don’t believe that we will neglect to speak to every seemingly closed door or impossible and impassable situation and miss the opportunities to see his name hallowed as he brings us through. As I was meditating on this I was reminded that we must never allow our past or even our present experience to limit our faith for both now and the future.

That was the problem with the generation of God’s people who were delivered out of Egypt – they wanted out but they based their ability to enter in on their own past inability to deal with those who oppressed them, and so when they had the opportunity to enter in they rejected it on the basis of their past rather than believing that the One who brought them out with his mighty hand would also bring them in with the same mighty hand. Their biggest problem was that they saw themselves – it was all about them – instead of seeing the One who was well able to bring them in, and believing and hallowing his name.

Hebrews 3: 19

19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

We have tended to think that their problem was how they saw themselves – seeing themselves as grasshoppers. We have thought wrongly and spoken wrongly and acted wrongly in trying to convince those who see themselves as grasshoppers that they are in fact giant-killers. The answer to our problems is not to see ourselves as being strong and having all of the talents and abilities and resources that we need to get the job done. The answer is in not seeing ourselves at all – getting self out of the way with all of its self-obsession and toxic insecurity – and seeing the One who is able to do all things and for whom nothing is impossible.

Acts 10: 38

38 And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

In order to fulfil our cultural commission and our dominion mandate we must align ourselves fully with heaven’s perspective in all things if we are to see our Father’s name hallowed and his kingdom come and his will done on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus said that he could do nothing of himself.  We need to hear this as the good news that it is.  There is a lot of “rest” in that statement.

John 5: 30

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.

John 8: 28 – 29

28 Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.  29 And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” 

Before the anointing of the Holy Spirit came upon the sinless, altogether righteous Jesus he didn’t perform one miracle or bring healing or deliverance to one person who was oppressed by the devil.

Philippians 2: 5 – 8 (The Message)

5-8 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.

That attitude of humility under the mighty hand of God will produce a church of believers who are worshipers in spirit and truth.

The only people who the devil can never get back into a fake religious box of confinement are those who don’t ever go back to looking at themselves.  They don’t look at how good they are or at how bad they are, or how strong they are or how weak they are but simply continue looking only to the One who sits on the throne.

Hebrews 12: 2

2 looking [away from all distractions] unto Jesus [keeping our eyes on Jesus], the author and finisher of [the champion who initiates and perfects] 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.

Everything Jesus did he did as part of an ‘us’ – an ‘us’ that we have now been included in.

John 14: 19 – 24

19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.  20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.  21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.  24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.

Our cultural commission and our dominion mandate can only be fulfilled in the context of heaven’s extended ‘us’.

Ephesians 3: 20 – 21

20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name; your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Bring it on LORD.

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