"Prepared for His Presence" pt 2 - August 12, 2010

"Prepared for His Presence" pt 2 - August 12, 2010

Sermon notes from Pastor Paula White

“PREPARED FOR HIS PRESENCE “  #2

TEXT:  [Matthew 3: 1-3]

“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea.   And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”

-[FOCUS} = “Prepare ye the way of the Lord”

-We are a people who have been called to steer the course of history with our prayers,…. acts of faith… and consecration …in order to bring restoration and reformation…

-Our challenge is to break off the desires of our own hearts… which skew the voice of the Lord that is coming through us… and to DECLARE the WORD of the LORD..

-There is a new expression of order that God is ushering in the earth

-[NEW] = means = “different from one of the same which existed before, …something stale that has been made fresh,… or something of one quality that has advanced into a better quality”

-[Matt 9:16] – You cannot put new wine in old wineskins…

-In other words, there MUST be a better quality skin developed to receive what is going to be poured out..

-The Lord was saying..  “If the NEW goes in the OLD, you will lose the old and the new”…

-We must preserve what has gotten us to this point..

…BUT DISCERN & DEVELOP the NEW QUALITY STRUCTURE in order to hold the REVELATION that will unveil the glory of the future.

-God has initiated CHANGE..

-With that CHANGE, there come a time when you leave a transition and SHIFT into the NEW…

-[SHIFT] = is a “change of place, position or direction”…  It also means  = “an exchange or replacement of one thing for another”

-Shaking occurs during a SHIFT..  (think of a fault line)

-A rift is a place of dividing…  God has a time where a division is necessary for His covenant to come forth in a new way…

-[To RIFT] = means = “To burst open or split”.   A rift is an opening made by splitting

-There is a bursting open of our future…

-The Virtuous Woman of [Prov 31] pictures the GLORIOUS Church…

-        We are “arising while it is yet night” [Prov 31:15]

-Somebody HAS to get up while it’s still dark out there…

-In [2 Kings7:3-5]… 4 LEPERS decided to arise while it is yet dark & walk toward the unknown.. they rose in the TWILIGHT…

-That place between “dark and Light”…

-They declared..   “If we say, …We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, & we shall die there: & if we sit still here, we die also”

-Like the 4 LEPERS…  There is a spiritual famine in the land today “of hearing the Words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11)

-People are tired of eating “asses head” [i.e.] =  Human wisdom without God..

-..and “Doves Dung” [i.e.] = All that is left after the Dove has flown away…

… the futile longings of yesterday’s  leftovers  - that of religion & tradition  from a revival of the past..

-We are crying for more than “REVIVAL”.. we want “REFORMATION”..[i.e] =   a true TRANSFORMATION

-I don’t want a “TOUCH from God” but a “CHANGE from God”..

-The inner ache that so many feel from deep within is an invitation to experience life & fellowship in a “higher place”

-There is a an UPWARD DRAWING by the Holy Spirit to LIVE out the GREATER LIFE in God…

-[Job 28:7] states:  “There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen”

-A vulture lives on flesh,… But there is a life above flesh that causes us to see as God sees, looking through His eyes…

-…“It’s the ASCENDED LIFE”

-The ASCENDED LIFE is a LIFESTYLE (or way of life) in Christ.. ….  Far above all principality and power and might, and dominion (Eph 1:21)…

-Lepers are getting up..

-Unbelief is about to be trampled in the gates of every religious city as the Sons of God come forth to manifest  Jesus, ..the image of God..

-The alarm has sounded…  The FAMINE will be BROKEN..

-“PREPARE FOR THE WAY OF THE LORD”

-[WAY] = “A road; a progress (the route, act or distance); figuratively, a mode or means; metaphorically, a course of conduct, a way (that is, manner) of thinking, feeling, deciding.”

-Like the PIONEERS who opened the passes when MONARCHS went on a royal expedition ..

-..We MUST LEVEL the ways & REMOVE ALL IMPEDIMENTS… so there is a CLEAR PATH for Sovereignty

-As in the days of Joshua, …We must set ourselves apart unto the Lord & posture ourselves to receive our inheritance [Josh. 3:5]

-Within every Christian – there is a “secret place”.. a sanctuary we must prepare for the Lord

-This holy place is not unlike the holy of holies in the OT temple – it is God’s dwelling place..  His habitation

-[PS 132:9-14]  “ For the Lord has chosen Zion.  He has desired it for His habitation.  This is my rest forever.  Here I will dwell, for I have desired it”

-The “people of Zion” are a sanctified people… [i.e] = “to consecrate, to prepare, to be hallowed, to be holy, to be separate, to be set apart”

-God takes pleasure & deeply desires a “temple” or a “spirit” to rest or to habitate….  In order TO BRING HIS WILL to pass in the earth…

-[1 COR 6:19]  “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you”

-God is searching the nations [2 Chron 16:9] for a sold out people with a new attitude of heart..

-God wants to show Himself to us, that He may live His LIFE through us…

-You are being transformed by a dimension of SPIRIT that dwells beyond the reach of the “natural” -INTO a jurisdiction that “FLESH & BLOOD” cannot enter & has NO AUTHORITY IN..  APART from JESUS Christ IN GOD…

-The LAW is Simple:

-You ENTER, DWELL, FELLOWSHIP & GROW by the SUBSTANCE of SPIRIT…  Entrance by any other MEANS is IMPOSSIBLE”

-How do I do this?  How do I “PREPARE FOR THE PRESENCE OF GOD”?

-Just like John’s message  “Repent”, the kingdom of heaven is at hand…

-..The Prophet Joel called for the leaders to humble themselves & take the initiative that out of Desolation.. CONSECRATION would produce RESTORATION..

-[Joel 1:13]  “Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering & the drink offering is withholden (to hold back, keep back, deny, restrain, hinder) from the house of your God”

-Like Ruth at the THRESHING FLOOR, let us “lie all night” before His Presence…

-Let us exchange our robes of bright linen for  “sackcloth” (Joel 1:8)

-Sackcloth was worn in mourning or humiliation

-[Ps. 35:13]  “But as for me… my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting…

-IT IS A CALL TO REPENTANCE

-[Joel 2:1]..   “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion”

-[Isa 58:1]  “Cry loud, spare not , lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression…

-Like Isaiah, we “SPARE NOT” (hold nothing back)…

-Once that kind of COMMITMENT is made…  & the CHURCH returns to her “FIRST LOVE” (Rev 2:4), we will see the RESTORATION of all that GOD has promised..

-The word for “Trumpet” in (Joel 2:1) is “shofar”

-It means =  “a cornet (as giving a clear sound) or ram’s horn”..

-It was the Jubilee Trumpet of Leviticus 25…

-(Noteworthy… that the Jubilee trumpet was blown on the 10^th day of the 7^th month (50^th year)…  Same day as FEAST DAY of ATONEMENT)…

-[LEV.25: 10]…  “And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.”

RETURN -  (SHUWB OR SHOOB) HEB. VERB – (to turn back, adverbial, again; return; come back; to restore; to refresh; to repair; to bring back; to make requital; to pay – recompense; to reverse’ to revoke)

1.) MOVEMENT BACK TO THE POINT OF DEPARTURE

2.) REVERSE A DIRECTION

3.) RETURNING ALONG A PATH ALREADY TRAVERSED

REV. 2:5, “REMEMBER THEREFORE FROM WHERE YOU HAVE FALLEN, AND REPENT AND DO THE DEEDS YOU DID AT FIRST”

·       JESUS IS SPEAKING TO THE CHURCH AT EPHESUS…, WHO ONCE WAS INTENSE AND IN LOVE WITH JESUS. THEY HAD LOST THEIR FIRST LOVE.

Ø    THREE STEPS TO RETURNING:

1.) REMEMBER - MOVEMENT BACK TO THE POINT OF DEPARTURE - “REMEMBER FROM WHERE YOU HAVE FALLEN”

2.) REPENT - REVERSE A DIRECTION, REPENT MEANS TO TURN AROUND, to Change one’s mind & purpose, as the result of or after knowledge..

TO CHANGE ANY ATTITUDES OR ACTIONS CURRENTLY BEING DISPLAYED THAT ARE DIFFERENT FROM THOSE AT THE BEGINNING>

A.)           ACKNOWLEDGE THE TRUTH

B.)           ADMIT WHEN YOU ARE WRONG

C.)           ADJUST YOUR DIRECTION

3.) RETURN ALONG A PATH ALREADY TRAVERSED. “DO THE DEEDS YOU DID AT FIRST”

-Then and Now, God’s people are to turn to HIM with “all” (whole, totally, everything) their heart (inner man)…

-IF we WILL RETURN to HIM, HE will RETURN to us

-[2Chron 7:14 Moffatt]  “If my people, who belong to Me, humble themselves and pray and seek My presence, turning from their evil ways, I will listen up in heaven & forgive their sins & heal my land”

-CONSECRATION turns the whole situation from trouble to triumph.. and brings RESTORATION!!!

[Teshuvah = Repentance in the Hebraic = ]

-The lower level of Teshuvah is rectification = an erasure of the past

-On a higher level, it is “coming home” ..a reunion.

-The ULTIMATE meaning = TO RETAIN that ORIGINAL IDENTITY, …TO REGAIN that ORIGINAL BOND…

-This is the time for recognizing where you really are…  INTROSPECTION

-Searing SOUL – SEARCHING

-Honest SELF EVALUATION

-And rendering your HEART to GOD…

-[John 4:24]  “God is a SPIRIT:  and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth”

-Incredible possibilities open up once I understand that this Christ of God lives in me as completely as I live in my home..

-He wants to inhabit me, prepare me, & use me just as completely as I do my own house…

-He has actually taken up residence in me with the purpose of changing the world through me…

-Therefore, I must say “YES” to Him daily…

-If I am to do what He wants, then I must hear Him…

-Therefore,  I must be in the “place of the spirit” where  distractions of the flesh, religion & the enemy cannot live..

-[GAL 5:16]  “This I say then, WALK IN THE SPIRIT, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh”

-[GAL 5:25]  “If we LIVE in the SPIRIT, let us also walk in the SPIRIT”

-Without, being in the “Spirit”..  We will hear & feel all the detractors of the Spirit..

1)       Fear that discourages me

2)       Guilt that makes me hopeless

3)       Shame that causes me to turn away from the One I love

4)       Condemnation -  the bitter liar that tells me I am rejected because I have failed

(These are the 4 fruits of religion ..  NOT RELATIONSHIP)

-[Rom 8]

v1)  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.

V2)  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin & death

V10)  And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the SPIRIT is LIFE because of righteousness

V11)  But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up  Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you

V12)  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh to live after the flesh

V13)  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye THROUGH the SPIRIT do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live

V14)  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God

-True possession is the LIVING & VIBRANT activity of Christ within a person’s body, soul & spirit…

-Moses’ Church in the wilderness followed the cloud of glory as the commandment of the Lord [NUM 9:15-23]

-Jesus’ Church is led by the Spirit of God [Rom 8:14]

-God is leading His Church into unprecedented things, unheard of things.. WHICH HE has revealed to them in their Spirit  [ 1 COR 2:9/10]

-To “PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD or for HIS PRESENCE”…. you MUST ask yourself..

-“WHICH SIDE OF THE CLOUD ARE YOU LIVING ON?”….

-Moses’ congregation was led through the wilderness by the pillar of cloud by day & the pillar of fire by night

-[EX 14:20 NIV]..

“(The cloud came) between the armies of Egypt & Israel.  Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side & light to the other side…

-The manifest Presence of Jehovah gave Israel “light by night”

-Egypt lay behind them

-Canaan’s milk & honey called them onward

-The BACKSIDE of that cloud was a place of DARKNESS:  It represented  = THEIR PAST  (pointing back to Egypt)

-The FRONTSIDE of the same cloud was flooded with LIGHT:

- It forecast THEIR FUTURE… reaching forth to the land of overflow & abundance

-The ? to ask yourself is:  WHICH SIDE OF THE CLOUD ARE YOU LIVING ON??

-The PAST?  [Or]  … The FUTURE?

-The greatest demands on us daily are decisions..

-What you decide today will become the reality of your tomorrow…

-[Gen 2:24]  “Therfore shall a man leave his father & his mother, & shall cleave unto his wife: & they shall be one flesh”

-Paul said “THIS ONE THING I DO” [PHIL 3:13]… & then he mentions 2 things..

-1)  “Forgetting those things which are behind”

-2) “And REACHING Forth unto those things which are before”…

-This “ONE THING” has 2 aspects:

-We cannot  “CLEAVE” (cling to, stick to, adhere) to our destiny until we “LEAVE” behind (forsake, depart from) our past.

-We cannot EMBRACE the NEW THING God has for us (Is 43:19) until we forsake the old…

-The Bible tells us in [ GEN 13:3 NIV]

“From the Negev he (Abram) went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel & Ai”…

-Abraham, the FATHER of our “Faith Walk”, found himself between Ai and Bethel…

-“Ai” = means = “A heap of ruins”

-“Bethel” means “the house of God”

-He was in the place of transition…  the “NOWHERE between 2 SOMEWHERES”

-Transition is the place where you have the removing of things which can be shaken (as in created things), in order that those things which cannot be shaken may remain..

-It is a translating , …which implies picking up the thing which had been laid down and setting it in an altogether different context.

-Transitional times are only endured as you understand that there is a REMOVING of CREATED THINGS,….

-….that at one time served a purpose, but now must undergo chaos in order to be RESTRUCTURED & ENLARGED to hold the dream of the future…

-…which is always larger than the accomplishments of the past…

-We cannot return to the former things…  We MUST PRESS on to the PLACE of HIS HOLY HABITATION…

-“PREPARE YE THE WAY OF THE LORD” …

-PREPARE = “Make Ready or Adjusted”

-You MUST decide to ADJUST some things in your life to “Make Ready for His Presence”