734 - What Shall We Be

June 1, 2008

Sermon #734

What We Shall Be

1 John 3:1 - 3 (NKJV) ¹Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. ²Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. ³And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Introduction: I fully believe that the greatest need in the Christian Church is that we need revelation. I do not believe that it is revelation of the Word of God – we already have that! I do not believe that it is revelation of Who God is – we already have that in Jesus! I believe that the Church needs revelation as to who we are and therefore who we can become.

1. Jesus has already taken care of the past in order to protect the future

2 Corinthians 5:16 - 19 (NKJV) ¹⁶Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. ¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. ¹⁸Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

A. You cannot change who you are but you have to know who you are!

ILL: Working out at the gym will not make me a male – I have been one every since I was born. I cannot become a Christian I was born one when I was born again!

1 John 5:1 - 5 (KJV) ¹Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. ²By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. ³For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. ⁴For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. ⁵Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

B. Spiritual regeneration is not a progressive experience. The new birth is not offered on the installment program, it is an instantaneous miracle.

• You were born the first time by the will of man the second time by the will of God

• The first birth formed you into the image of God but the second birth into His likeness

• The first birth created you by the blood of man; the second birth created you by the blood of Jesus Christ.

• The fist birth made me of “flesh” the second birth did not give me the Holy Spirit it made me “spirit!”

John 3:1 - 6 (KJV) ¹There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: ²The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. ³Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. ⁴Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? ⁵Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. ⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

2. Why the mind is so important

Proverbs 23:6 - 7 (NKJV) ⁶ Do not eat the bread of a miser, Nor desire his delicacies; ⁷ For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart is not with you.

ILL: I had a great aunt who sewed dresses for a living. She would make a dress on an old petal sewing machine for $5.00. She lived and died in near poverty. After she died they discovered that she had “lent” a druggist money and he had given her “papers” which she had in the bottom of a trunk filled with pieces of cloth. The “papers” were original stock in Pepsi cola Co. She had been very rich all her life but she didn’t know it! Most Christians live beneath the sonship of who they are in Christ.

ILL: Israel in the Wilderness. God brought them out of slavery but they were still slaves in their minds!

Exodus 16:1 - 3 (NKJV) ¹And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt. ²Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. ³And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

1. Who or what defines who you are?

2 Corinthians 10:12 (NKJV) ¹²For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

• The expectations of others for us – will leave you insecure about your ability to measure up.

ILL: “Our self-concept is determined not only by how we view ourselves but by how we think others perceive us. Basing our self worth on what we believe others think of us cause us to become addicted to their approval.”

Robert McGee, The Search for Significance

• Unforgiveness - if you cannot forgive others you do not forgive your own past mistakes and sins.

Matthew 6:14 - 15 (NKJV) ¹⁴“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

• Perfectionism

Romans 8:1 - 8 (NKJV) ¹There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. ²For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. ³For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. ⁶For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. ⁷Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. ⁸So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

2. We cannot condemn ourselves and find victory!

ILL: Placing condemnation on ourselves gives a permanent foothold on a debilitating force.

1 John 3:20 - 23 (NKJV) ²⁰For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. ²¹Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. ²²And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. ²³And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.

ILL: Without confidence we cannot possibly please God because confidence is the very core of faith!

ILL: When I first started in radio the manger of the station stood behind me, “now don’t make a mistake, if you say the wrong thing or pronounce the word the wrong way 100,000 people will hear it.” He had to fire me from that job because every time I opened my mouth I made a mistake! If I stood here and worried about the way I looked, or what I said, or the way I said it – I would never be able to minister in faith! A poor self image guarantees defeat!

3. What it is like to have the “mind of Christ”

1 Corinthians 2:13 - 16 (NKJV) ¹³These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. ¹⁴But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. ¹⁶For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

1. I have been created in the image of God

Genesis 1:26 - 28 (NKJV) ²⁶Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

2. I have confidence that God loves me and accepts me

Ephesians 1:3 - 6 (NKJV) ³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, ⁵having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, ⁶to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

2. As God’s child I am always welcome in His presence

Hebrews 10:19 - 23 (NKJV) ¹⁹Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, ²¹and having a High Priest over the house of God, ²²let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

4. The identity of the Christian is settled but our maturity is to be determined.

1 John 3:1 - 3 (NKJV) ¹Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. ²Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. ³And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Conclusion: Talk to the future!

Romans 4:16 - 18 (NKJV) ¹⁶Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all ¹⁷(as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; ¹⁸who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.”

Genesis 15:2 - 6 (KJV) ²And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? ³And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. ⁴And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. ⁵And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. ⁶And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

ILL: Tell the stars “This is what I will be like and this will be my inheritance”

Changing Our Minds

Introduction: Now that Mother’s Day have passed, I want to continue thinking on the major problem in the lives of most of us – if not all of us – as it occurs right between the ears in our minds. Paul wrote:

2 Corinthians 3:12 - 18 (NKJV) ¹²Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech— ¹³unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. ¹⁴But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. ¹⁵But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. ¹⁶Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. ¹⁸But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

I. Learning and Past experiences can blind you to new truth

A. The Jewish leaders (Pharisees) were blinded by their beliefs against the light of Jesus Christ.

1. The Old Testament proclaimed who Jesus was and when He would come but they were blinded by their traditions.

Deuteronomy 18:15 - 18 (NKJV) ¹⁵“The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, ¹⁶according to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’ ¹⁷“And the Lord said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. ¹⁸I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.

Isaiah 7:13 - 17 (NKJV) ¹³Then he said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? ¹⁴Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.^{ 15}Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. ¹⁶For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings. ¹⁷The Lord will bring the king of Assyria upon you and your people and your father’s house—days that have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah.”

Micah 5:2 (NKJV) ² “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”

Isaiah 53:4 - 11 (NKJV) ⁴ Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. ⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. ⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. ⁷ He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. ⁸ He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. ⁹ And ^they made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth. ¹⁰ Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. ^{11 }He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities.

ILL: Why can they not see that this applies to Jesus – His birth, life, and death – because they have a problem in their mind – it’s a closed (veiled) to the truth!

2. Not only modern Jews have the problem but much of mankind – their traditions blind them to the Gospel!

II. Christians have mental strongholds

2 Corinthians 10:1 - 7 (NKJV) ¹Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. ²But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. ³For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. ⁴For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, ⁵casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, ⁶and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. ⁷Do you look at things according to the outward appearance? If anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ’s, let him again consider this in himself, that just as he is Christ’s, even ^so we are Christ’s.

A. “…who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.” They were judging Paul by his outward appearance.

2 Corinthians 4:5 - 7 (KJV) ⁵For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ⁷But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

ILL: Jesus and John the Baptist

Matthew 11:7 - 19 (KJV) ⁷And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? ⁸But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. ⁹But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. ¹⁰For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. ¹¹Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. ¹²And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. ¹³For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. ¹⁴And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. ¹⁵He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. ¹⁶But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, ¹⁷And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. ¹⁸For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. ¹⁹The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.

ILL: I was recently ministering in a church where they invited me to come but they soon cried out, “away with you – you heretic!” Why? Because I came attired in a tailored suit, wearing a diamond graduation ring and a Rolex watch given to me by another ministry! They judged the message which would have set them free by judging God’s blessing on the messenger! Amazing! I had one send me an e-mail who said they would never watch “A Word from Glory” again till I took off my ring – how ludicrous?

B. You cannot put new wine in old wine skins – so change the wine skins! – Theological wineskins

Matthew 9:14 - 17 (KJV) ¹⁴Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not? ¹⁵And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast. ¹⁶No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. ¹⁷Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.

• The gifts have passed away!

Mark 16:14 - 18 (KJV) ¹⁴Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. ¹⁵And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. ¹⁶He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. ¹⁷And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; ¹⁸They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

ILL: The sign at Seminary read “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel…” it took me 10 years to find out the gospel was good news to every race and that the signs would follow! When I found that out the entire local church was upset by the rumors that I had found “New Wine”

• We cannot worship with contemporary music! The hymns were contemporary music in their day!

• Every time I’ve added a new dimension to the Cathedral we have gotten people upset –they look at anything they have not seen before like Mary’s cats looking at anything I have moved in the house!

3. What do you think you see in the mirror?

II Cor 3: ¹⁸But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

ILL: Everything in a mirror is reversed – lift is right and right is left “Open face” means seeing you in the “Truth”

1 Corinthians 13:12 (KJV) ¹²For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

ILL: You do not see everything about Christ or everything about yourself clearly!

ILL: I served as a Chaplain in a mental institute. One of the great problems of the patients was that they saw themselves through distortions. We had patients who thought they were Christ, the Virgin Mary, the President of the U.S. and even one patient who walked with his back to the wall because he thought someone had given him the backside of a naked woman! These patients were sick because the mirror of their minds was twisted. You cannot be changed from Glory to Glory until you see through God’s mirror! If God’s mirror shows that you are lost – change! If in God’s mirror you can see your salvation take your mind back to when and where it happened!

1. All Christians need to be able to go back to Bethel!

Genesis 32:24 - 30 (KJV) ²⁴And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. ²⁵And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. ²⁶And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. ²⁷And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. ²⁸And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. ²⁹And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. ³⁰And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

ILL: He was no longer “Jacob” the trickster but he was now “Israel” the prince!

Genesis 28:10 - 22 (KJV) ¹⁰And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. ¹¹And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. ¹²And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. ¹³And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; ¹⁴And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. ¹⁵And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. ¹⁶And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. ¹⁷And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. ¹⁸And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. ¹⁹And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. ²⁰And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, ²¹So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: ²²And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

ILL: Where did Jacob receive the vision? - Bethel!

ILL: Paul’s Bethel – Damascus

Acts 22:1 - 21 (KJV) ¹Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you. ²(And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,) ³I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. ⁴And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. ⁵As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished. ⁶And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. ⁷And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? ⁸And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. ⁹And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. ¹⁰And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do. ¹¹And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus. ¹²And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, ¹³Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. ¹⁴And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. ¹⁵For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. ¹⁶And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

Acts 26:12 - 20 (KJV) ¹²Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, ¹³At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. ¹⁴And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. ¹⁵And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. ¹⁶But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; ¹⁷Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, ¹⁸To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. ¹⁹Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: ²⁰But showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.

ILL: Do you have a Bethel? A time when you experienced God’s Grace? Instead of looking at the mess – the problems – the difficulty – look and see what the Lord has done!

ILL: When I look into the mirror of God what do I see?

• A saved man – forgiven of my sins

• A man who heard the voice of Jesus, “As the Father sent Me so send I you!”

• A successful man – I have not been disobedient to that heavenly vision!

• A Spirit Baptized man – empowered with the Holy Spirit’s gifts!

• I return to “Bethel” to what I was and had accomplished. Count my blessings as to who I am now!

Philippians 4:12 - 13 (KJV) ¹²I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. ¹³I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

2. You cannot move on from Glory to Glory unless you see the present Glory and are willing to move on!

ILL: God once told me “I cannot give you the new until you are willing to let go of the old!” What is your vision – place your mind on that!

Conclusion: Change your thinking, you have to believe in Christ and in yourself before belief can move to faith and with faith you can move to a higher glory!

Philippians 4:3 - 9 (KJV) ³And I entreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life. ⁴Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. ⁵Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. ⁶Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. ⁷And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. ⁸Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. ⁹Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

• Rejoice in His goodness to you

• Put away negative care

• Pray with thanksgiving – not complaining

• Let the peace of God keep your mind

• Think on good things

And everything will change!