Living According To Heaven Apostolic Convention Session 1
People want change but they don’t want to be change. Change starts with us.
Maturity is not what you say, it is only when you pass the test. Maturity does not come with age. It is a process. It is where change comes along the assembly line. Immaturity is contagious and it affects other people. What we do affects others. How we speak, shapes our atmosphere and the conditions in which we live.
God was taking the people of Israel to heaven. He was taking them to a place with milk and honey, Canaan. God’s promise was that they would live in a state where they would live to please and appreciate Him. However, Israel was looking back at Egypt. One has to look where they are going or they will go where they are looking. Living according to heaven means that we have to detach our minds from what the people of the world do. Living according to heaven in the earth is not easy. If we are to live according to heaven, we can’t live as an earthling.
Whatever is within us, will be tested. If we say that we will live according to heaven, we will be tested. If we live according to heaven, we don’t love or forgive people, then we are living according to the world. In order for change to come, we have to reconfigure our mind and our thoughts. We have to change our minds. People are waiting on us to change. They are waiting for us to arise as role models and examples. We have the ability to impact our families and workplaces. Wherever we go, the gospel should be preached through us. We cannot want change before we are changed. Change begins with us.
We first believe that we think only in our minds but we also do it in our heart (Proverbs 23:7). There is a brain within your heart that is more powerful than the brain in your head. We can’t fulfill purpose, if our hearts are not in it.
Heaven is built on worship. It is not built on preaching or evangelism but worship. If worship is not apart of us then living according to heaven would not be a reality in our lives. There are people in the church that worship does not get into them. Worship is all around but it never is a part of them. Where we are going, we have to speak the language of the place. If we are going to France, we have to speak French. If we are to live according to heaven, we have to find out the language of heaven. The language of heaven is found in the Bible.
In Canaan, the people of Israel were still living as children. God expected them to mature when they stepped into the land flowing with milk and honey. However, the slave mentality continued. Mental slavery was not abolished but it continued through the years. We live in the church but we live according to religion, the thing that enslaved us. We can’t live in sin and in unforgiveness.
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