Redemption To The Nations Church

Pastor Kevin and Deven share about the goodness of God this year and what's to come in the future.

7 on 7

Overcoming Labels, Lids and Limitations

Ancestry.God

Our trajectory of thinking must be higher than the expectation of defeat because joy is a promise for the believer. To transform our thinking from defeat into joy, we must not be conformed to the patterns of this world, which celebrates the I. Like a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly we must go through the struggle of the metamorphosis to be transformed into what God desires us to be. When we go through a spiritual metamorphosis nothing can cause us to go back to the person we used to be. To become who God calls us to be we must transform by a renewal of our minds. We must be renovated by the works of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. The Holy Spirit will begin the renewal process but we must continually cooperate and allow God to transform us by illuminating and influencing our minds.

How we think determines how we live. Our greatest potential threat is our mind when we think destructively. Likewise our greatest potential blessing is a healthy and proactive thought life. To develop a healthy thought life, we must have the ability to identify and decipher toxic from healthy thoughts. We must identify self exalting thoughts, for pride is a silent destroyer. We must also know self-destructive thoughts. When the mind is boggled with fear and inadequacy it is important to agree with the adversary. Yes, we might not be enough, but our God is. Lastly, we must identify critical thoughts; thoughts that always find problems but never bring solutions to the table. A healthy mind is summed up in Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."

Spiritual blessing ran in Timothy’s bloodline, resting on his grandmother, then his mother then him. Blessing, according to Exodus, always trumps a curse. God will punish to a third and fourth generation, but his blessing will be inherited even to a thousandth generation. As with earthly laws of inheritance, there are also spiritual laws and legalities of spiritual inheritance. We inherit spiritual blessing by being engaged with the Holy Spirit. We inherit it by being the children of God and belonging to him, as our parent. We also inherit spiritual blessing as laughing heirs, inheriting riches we didn’t even know we could claim.

Ancestry.God

The flood scrubbed the earth of life, but it could not scrub it’s sin away. The first Adam sinned and after him, every descendant was born a sinner. But the son of God became the son of man so that the sons of man can become the sons of God. When Jesus Christ, the last Adam, hung on the cross, he proclaimed “it is finished.” With his proclamation the molecular DNA changes in every human who dies to the first Adam’s family to be born again into the last Adam’s family.

Recovering from a Rift

Jesus’s last words were “make them one as you and I are one.” There is power in agreement. Yet offenses seep continuously into the heart of the church. Jesus cautioned for the sun to not set in our anger. When not dealt with quickly, a small weed of offense grows into a tree of trespassing unable to be dealt with easily any longer. Trespasses are violations against the Word of God. Jesus instructs to deal with offense privately instead of publicly. Traps are organizational offenses designed to set someone to fall. A trap is a snare waiting to enslave anyone to wanders inside. Yet the psalmist proclaims, “he delivered me from the snare of the Fowler,” and today is still the day of deliverance.

The people were of one accord when the Church was born on the Day of Pentecost, is written throughout the Book of Acts. The Book of Acts is not merely a biography. It is a blueprint. It is a paradigm of what our encounters are to be like today. Yet, we increasingly reserve to building the church with our specs and our own drawings. We abandon the blueprint. We package and market God, polluting his power and reducing his glory to make him more accessible. We need to make God known. For that, we must move in one accord. Casting away our offense and bitterness, with forgiveness and love, we must come together as a crescendo in a symphony made of many different instruments strung together to create one glorious sound.

God doesn’t always keep us from fire. Instead, he comes into our fires and stands beside us. Three Hebrew children were cast into the fire bound, but when King Nebuchadnezzar looked, he found four loosened and unharmed. As to those who were casting Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendego into the fire, the fire in our lives will bring punishment to our enemy. The fires in our lives remind us where our protection comes from and shows unusual manifestations of the presence of God. And as with Shadrach, Meshach, Abendego and their God, whom the King commanded the people of the land to honor, the fires of our lives bring promotion in the aftermath.

Bible Stories

The accuser approaches the throne of God with glee. Justice stands with multitudes of evidence supporting her claim. But today, on this Easter Sunday, mercy takes the witness stand. “Is anyone willing to pay for the sins of humanity?” she asks. The Lamb who died and rose stands up. And suddenly, the piles of evidence are no longer relevant for the blood of the Lamb covered every sin ever committed. “Because he died no one can accuse,” declares mercy. Because he rose again he holds the power, for the power of God is resurrection power. “Not only are you forgiven, but you will have abundant life,” proclaims mercy. The same Spirit that resurrected Jesus is now resurrecting us over and over again so that joy can flow out of us like streams and rivers throughout the globe.

Special Guest

If Christ is the King of the Kingdom, and we are its chosen citizens, then the Bible is the constitution. This constitution shows the heart of the King. This constitution gives us authority. This constitution hinges on “seek yee first the kingdom of God.” It often seems as though we are merely wanderers trekking through battlefields of the war waged against us, often grazed by its greatest weapon, fear. But we are not wanderers. We are citizens, and as citizens, we have the right to the Kingdom’s protection. The constitution declares the heaven has an army of angels who “shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.” The constitution says that all day and all night angels are watching over us. The constitution promises that the King himself watches over us as we are sleeping.

David destroyed Goliath not because he was stronger than all other men in an army, and Gideon was named a mighty warrior not because he was the bravest. God looks for those who are willing to risk it all. Gideon defeated an innumerable army when he followed God into the enemy camp with only 300 men who held jars instead of shields and trumpets instead of swords. To risk it all is to be war ready. A war ready warrior may not show skill and talent, but proves a reliable and faithful spirit. To risk it all is to know where we are called to stand, even places we would never venture to on our own. There is a type of courage that comes down only when we walk behind enemy lines. To risk it all is to know that God is our weapon.