Living According to Heaven Part 13
41 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, 44 and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” Luke 19:41-44
There was an appointed time, a kairos moment by God for Israel in the first coming of Jesus Christ. They missed it and it was hidden from their eyes. They missed their hour of visitation. Jesus allowed the people to know that something special in the mind of God was to happen in the earth. He said to the people that they missed their hour. When Jesus was crucified, death’s sting could not hold Him. He won the victory which we now have. Christ has opened up a door for us to be joint with the Father and to be able to enter into the holy of holies. Christ has made a way for us. He didn’t go through what He went through to close the door but to open it so that people can have an opportunity to come to Him.
Pastor Steve Hill had an open vision of the church which he discusses in the video above. We are now seeing the invasion of the things that he saw. These things will lead us on a path that God never intended for us. Jesus was mostly concerned about the salvation of the church and has opened up a way for us but we have to walk it out. He is calling the church back to a place of holiness where we accurately represent Him. How do we come into that place of avoiding the things that are about to come? There must be a church that will not compromise but that will stand. We have to live lives that are centered and focussed on Him. Jesus is still the captain of the boat called the church. He is building His church and His church will prevail (Matthew 16:13-19). Jesus didn’t die on the cross and rose again to beg for followers. We have distanced ourselves from the words in red and we need to return to them. Jesus wasn’t about the crowd but He was concerned about those who wanted to invest themselves in Him. We can’t just walk casually in the Lord. This is the time for us to get serious.
God wants to open our eyes but we have to have an opened heart. We must ask God to help us not to have a harden heart so that we will be able to see and hear the things of God and not be blinded by the things of this world. We have to ask God for a spirit of revelation and wisdom and for our eyes to be opened. If we are going to have a name written in the Book of Life, there needs to be a revelation of Jesus Christ in our lives. There are many disciples who do what they are supposed to do but they are disconnected from the heart of God. It takes the revelation of Jesus Christ but it also takes consistency.
17 Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” 18 And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10:17-20
Having our names written in heaven is it. That is all it is about. It is not about having spirits subject to us. It is not about our works but about how we submit to the will of the Father (Matthew 7:21-23). The only thing that matters is our names being written in the book of life. Some of the Jews wanted to duplicate what Paul did by trying to cast out evil spirits by the name of Jesus (Acts 19:11-20). You can’t use the name of Jesus if you aren’t in a relationship with Him. Are we in Christ? We can be in Christ but not truly connected to Him. We have to know God and have intimate relationship with Him.
Jesus tells us to strive to enter into the narrow gate (Luke 13:22-30). We are able to strive through the grace that has been given (2 Corinthians 6:1). This grace enables us to finish and to finish well. We have to ask God to help us to not take this grace in vain. We must not only strive to enter into the narrow gate but we must strive to stay in it. We have to strive to keep our names in the Book of Life (Philippians 4:3, Revelations 3:5, 13:8, 17:8, 20:11-15, 21:27, 22:19). Our names can be taken out of the Book of Life (Exodus 32:33, Psalms 69:28). We must take the responsibility to live under the blood of Jesus. His blood is needed for a lifetime.
In the earth, we are called to walk a certain way as Christians.
1) We cannot walk as casual, barren and naked believers and think that we will make it (Luke 3:7-17). We must exert effort and strive by the grace of God to press against the current of the world. Jesus wants to be made manifest through us. We have to embrace the baptism of God and the baptism of fire. There is an expectation of us to bear fruit in Christ (Luke 13:6-9). If we do not bear fruit, we are putting ourselves in a place of being cut down in the vineyard.
2) We can’t afford to be unfruitful in our walk with Christ (Luke 6:43-49).
3) We must be obedient to God’s word (Luke 11:27-28, 18:21). It’s all about our actions. It is about us doing the word of God.
4) We must forsake our own agendas (Luke 9:23-26, 57-62). There are too many quitters in the church. We are in a process and we can’t give up. Jesus is not interested in quitters. We can’t just quit and leave the church. When we do that, we are no longer a part of the body and we are not connected to the head, Jesus Christ.
5) Our emphasis on wealth should be versed in Christ and not in the world (Luke 12:13-30). If we want to be rich in Christ, we have to give everything away. God is more than able to provide for us. Our job is not the only way that God can provide. Jesus is more concerned about our spiritual lives in Him than in worldly riches. We have to be wealthy in Christ.
6) We must be bold in our witness for Jesus Christ (Luke 12:8-9) 7) We must forsake idolatry and ungodly entanglement (Luke 14:25-35, 21:34-36).
