Monday, September 13, 2010

Come












Jesus was focused on doing the will of the Father while He was on earth. We too are focused on doing what Father desires by way of Holy Spirit. In Matthew 4:17, God’s written Word says that: From that time on, Yeshua began proclaiming, "Turn from your sins to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near!" No matter what the topic is, no matter what specific message the Lord would put upon our hearts … this message of turning wholeheartedly away from your sins to God is the thing we proclaim loudly in each and every message.

Most translations use the word “repent” in this passage. Repent means to return to the highest place. That is what repentance is all about. It is turning from our way and returning to the highest place in the Lord. Can you relate to that? Do you understand what the highest place in God is? Have you been in a higher place with Him than you are at right now?

To the extent you yield, to the extent you surrender to this underlying proclamation, determines the extent to which you are able to receive what the Lord desires to give you. We are bringing a powerful gift to each person that will receive it. It is my hope and desire that you will take time to turn wholeheartedly toward the Lord; to return to the highest place in Him. Not just for today, but as a lifestyle. That is where real life is found in Him. That, by the way, is what revival is.

I believe the Lord has given a message of great hope to you. A message that can bring real change to all the areas of your life: your own heart and life, your career, your family, your goals, your identity and yes even your living situation. Recently I spent some time alone with God and during that time He led me to the scripture found in 1 Peter 5:10...You will have to suffer only a little while; after that, God, who is full of grace, the one who called you to his eternal glory in union with the Messiah, will himself restore, establish and strengthen you and make you firm.

What kind of message is that? I bet you have heard a lot of messages saying that if you turn to the Lord everything will be all roses, right? No more problems, no more issues, no more pain and suffering. But this doesn’t say that does it? It starts out saying there will be some suffering.

I am here to tell you there is a lot of suffering in life; whether you are following Jesus or not. Some of you are trying to follow Jesus but you have suffered some things. Some of you are trying to manipulate God and your situation but you have suffered some things. Some of you don’t give a rip about God but you have suffered some things. Everybody in life suffers some things. If you don’t agree with that then you need to snap awake! Get over it! There is suffering in this life.

Now, for those who are trying to manipulate God and your situation or for that matter, for those who don’t give a rip about God … you don’t have any hope if you keep going down that path you’re on. See, God is dealing with you right now. You may think you have everybody fooled. You may even think you have God fooled, but He is past fooling. You cannot shake off the situation you find yourself in. You cannot shake off the feeling that you have missed it somehow. That is God speaking to you my friend. That is God trying to get through that hard shell that is surrounding your heart. That is God saying that He wants to usher in a change for you, but you must take the first step. You have to turn from this path that you are on, from your own way, from your own selfish way, and turn wholeheartedly to Him and His Way.

You may not even know how to do that, but I am telling you, you do not have to have all the answers, you simply need to trust Him with everything. EVERYTHING. Do you understand? EVERYTHING.

He has a whole new identity for you. The only way to enter into it is to wholeheartedly turn from your sins, turn from your way, and turn to Him. I’m telling you; repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. It is right here, knocking on your heart’s door. No matter whether you have had no relationship with God or not His plan is still the same. If you answer this call to return to the Highest Place, God will meet you and you will begin a new journey with Him.

You see, He is the God of all grace. He is full of grace; grace to do whatever needs to be done in your life - which includes giving you a whole new identity in Him. There is a bright pathway you can choose; one full of light and life. Oh, you may suffer some things, but you will get right back up and continue the journey with the One who loves your soul. Because He has this grace needed to restore everything the enemy has done in your life.

Iniquity is like a big stain covering the entire substance of your life. Jesus came to provide the grace needed to remove that stain and give you eyesight to see what your life really should look like.

See the message of the Kingdom is really simple: Seek Him. Find Him. Follow Him. That’s it in a nutshell. See you can seek out the Lord, you can really find Him and once you find Him then it becomes possible to follow Him. When that happens the Kingdom invades your life. What is the Kingdom about? The thing we need to remember is that in the Kingdom of Heaven there is a King and His Name is Jesus. When the King speaks, we obey. When the King directs, we act. When the King moves, we follow. All by way of Holy Spirit.

You may say … how is that possible … well I want to point back to the scripture we are looking at in 1 Peter 5:10 … You will have to suffer only a little while; after that, God, who is full of grace, the one who called you to his eternal glory in union with the Messiah, will himself restore, establish and strengthen you and make you firm.

Here it gives us a clue to this new identity we have. See we are called to His eternal glory in union with Christ, the Messiah. That is our identity. That is the place we receive all grace. We are called to His eternal glory. Do you know what that is? Do you know there is a place prepared for you that you can actually step into His glory now? This is not speaking of heaven alone. For there is an on earth as it is in heaven expression of the Kingdom right now. Each and every follower of Jesus is called to that place. Each and every follow of Jesus can experience the union we have with Christ, now, to His glory and fame. We can experience that in this life.

Again, you may wonder how we can be in union with Christ … but remember He is the God of all grace, grace that is sufficient not only to blot out our sins, but to cause us to walk in Christ day to day; right here and right now.

Now here is what I want you to get hold of. Nobody dreams of being homeless. I can tell you something,  I know what it is like to be homeless. I have been there. God has sent me with a message of hope to those who would turn wholeheartedly to Him. Return to the Highest place. For as you return to the Highest place, He will in turn restore, establish and strengthen you and make you firm. You will get through this and once you get through this you will be stronger than you ever were before. Hallelujah! Not only that but you will have a whole new identity in Him. You will prosper in that new identity and you will be the head and not the tail and you will have enough not only to help yourselves and your own families but enough to help others too, for He has prepared your heart for greater things. You have seen the bitter and suffering things in order that your heart is prepared to minister the greater things.

Now I could go along and beat this message to death but I have to believe that if God has touched your heart with this message, you are now ready to respond. I am here to not only proclaim the message of God, but to minister the life of Christ to you. I am here to demonstrate the Kingdom of Heaven. Anyone desiring to turn wholeheartedly away from the way they have been going and turn toward God’s perfect way … come. I want to pray with you, minister Christ to you and to encourage you in your journey with Jesus.

Come.

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