"Prepared for His Presence" pt 1 - August 8, 2010

"Prepared for His Presence" pt 1 - August 8, 2010

Sermon notes from Pastor Paula White

“PREPARED FOR HIS PRESENCE “ #1

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.”

-When Eastern monarchs went on a royal expedition they sent PIONEERS to open the passes…

…To level the ways & remove all impediments… so there was a clear path for Sovereignty..

-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 {GR word} = {ASCEND} = means = “To go up , to rise, to mount, to spring up”

-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)…

-In the Book of Acts, Christians were known as people of “THE WAY” [Acts 18:25/26; 24:14]

-[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.”

-This “Way of Life” is the highway of the upright (Prov 16:7)

-You are the PRIESTS of the Presence..

-[1 Peter 2:9]… “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, [God’s] own purchased, special people…

-The MORE you Comprehend WHO you really are IN CHRIST, the easier it becomes to manifest the TRUTH about yourself…

-That’s why…If the ENEMY can mess up your spiritual identity, he can rob you of your destiny..

-You are already the ministers of HIS GLORY …You MINISTER HIS PRESENCE because He lives in you…

-(Col 1:27 Message) “God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich & glorious secret inside & out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, therefore you can look forward to sharing in God’s glory. It’s that simple. That is the substance of our message.”

-He has possessed us to live HIS life through us…

-He wants to show Himself to us WITH far more passionate determination than we can imagine..

-He wants to “set up shop” in mere humanity..

-[EX 25:8/9] “Then have them make a sanctuary (heb= holy place, consecrated thing) for me & I will DWELL (heb = lodging, to reside or stay permanently) among them

-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”

-God takes pleasure & deeply desires a “temple” or a “spirit” to rest or habitate..

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

-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” or (5 senses)..

-INTO a jurisdiction that “FLESH & BLOOD” cannot enter & has NO AUTHORITY IN.. APART from this Christ IN GOD…

-The LAW is Simple:

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

-[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

1. Guilt that makes me hopeless

1. Shame that causes me to turn away from the One I love

1. 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” …