(Sunday September 15, 2013)
Col. 3:1-3 Set your hearts on things above, where Christi’s seated. . .
We have been made alive in Christ so that we may live a life of death. Only when self- will is killed can we live in Christ. Our old nature needs to die. Dead people seek the things of heaven. Our old nature cannot please God. It resists the things of God and there is a call from the Spirit of God to kill the old nature. Jesus lived the kingdom life. He demonstrated it and lived a life of victory. He manifested a lot of power and authority because He was dead to self.
If you really want to live kingdom, then die. We tend to want to do our own thing, to make our own decisions, but those who live kingdom, listen to God for advice. Dead people do not do their own thing. God wants your mind so that you might have the mind of Christ rather than your own mind. The concept of dying to self is found throughout the entire New Testament. It is part of the profession of our salvation. We have to make the decision that our old self will have no say in our lives. To truly follow Jesus you have to die and whatever God tells you to do, you do it.
We have too much of a say in our lives. Dead men are really echoes of what God says. Paul said: “Christ lives in me.” Gal 5:24 Those who belong to Christ have crucified the [sinful nature] with its sinful passions and desires.
Because you are saved does not mean that you have automatically conquered the old nature.
John 4:34 “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me. . .” i.e. My desire is to do the things of You.
John 5:19 Jesus does nothing except His Father wills it. Jesus had a will of His own but chose not to do His own thing. John 5:30 “By myself I can do nothing. . .” This shows how He had truly died to self. When we are alive, we say that we do what we want and no man can tell us what to do.
John 12:49-50 “For I do not speak on my own. . .” This is the language of a dead man. Death to self is the emptying of yourself; the full submission of your will to God.
Luke 22:42 “Father if you are willing, take this cup from Me; yet not my will, but Yours, be done.” In other words, Jesus had a choice, but He allowed God’s will to take pre-eminence. Jesus really died at Gethsemane, for it was there that He surrendered His all to the Father.
Phil 3:10 “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.” Dead men do powerful things. (They are dead to self that’s why!) We cannot know Jesus and not be in the process of death. To access heaven requires death.
Dying is a daily exercise. You have to say no to your will and deny yourself daily. Paul knew that seeking the things of heaven had to be an everyday thing. Jesus, who never sinned, had to die daily in order to carry the power and anointing that He had. That is why He was always in the Father’s face.
Rom 6:14 “For sin shall no longer be your master. . .” Dead men conquer sin. However, with us, today we die and when something upsets us tomorrow, or strong temptations come, we fall. Dead men have no minds; they listen to what God is saying and do not retaliate or speak what God does not want them to say. Dead men do not worry about what people think about them, but dead men only care about God’s opinion of them.
Dead people do not become concerned about how they look because they are clothed in the righteousness of God. Hungry people become dead so that they can be fed. You have been created in Christ to have victory and dominion over sin. God’s primary purpose is that we have dominion over sin.
We must die to sin daily and to our old nature as well. 2 Cor 4:17 “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”
You have the ability to decide how much of God you want. You will not see anything different if you are content with where you are. We are not dying and therefore we do not see the miracles and anointing that we long for.
You were created to be extraordinary, powerful and supernatural and to live in heaven. You can live in heaven while on earth, but only dead men go to heaven. Your frustration is that you have been trying to live when you should die. You are trying to be something that you are not designed to be. We are trying to be ordinary when we have not been created to be. We were created in Christ to make things happen and to whip the devil.
True authority, perseverance, power and so on, come through death, so be hungry for more of God. We are about to see the hand of God extended to us. Maybe a lot of the things that we long for are being held back because we refuse to die.
