Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Welcome to our visitors today. Now I saw two first time visitors.
Thank you, worship team. If we had more join us since earlier, welcome to you two. We're in a series, and we've been in a series called Kingdom Lifestyle, but before we get to that, I just wanted to talk just for a couple minutes. Last night, I had the honor and privilege of Kristin and I, along with Phil and Autumn and Seth and Evie.
We got to go to a 30th anniversary celebration for Covenant counseling. It's a counseling ministry that has done a lot of good things for a lot of people in our area. They've been a very good help to our people in our church. Kristin and I personally probably wouldn't be married today if it wasn't for the ministry of Covenant counseling.
So it was a very, very good thing. It's Phil Kuiper. I mean, where's, Phil needs to be here like right now. Where is Phil?
Somebody find Phil. Until I find Phil, I can't get going. I'll play this thing that, I'll play this thing Matt was playing, but like this shaker, maybe I'll just play this shaker. Oh, here he comes.
Phil. So I'll just tell everybody to Phil ahead. So this event last night was around three hours long and it was great practice for Phil. Who's up here?
This was great practice for Phil who has a hard time paying attention that long, but, and I was like, hey, this is good for you, buddy. Well, one of the things that they had was a charity option. So before the event got started, you could go around and make silent bids on things. And so Phil, what was it that you were bidding on?
Pirates tickets and a hat that I was bidding on. Pirates tickets. So Phil really wanted these pirates tickets. Did you get the pirates tickets?
No. No. What did you bid on? What did you get?
I ended up getting a piece of Chinese decor. Wall art that I did not bid on. I wouldn't take you for a guy that would want Chinese wall art. But it is a research that's an insignia for peace.
So I'm all accepted. All right. So his buddy, Seth, went out and bid on behalf of him for something that he would never want. And guess what?
He got to pay for it, too. Jokes on him, though. It's valued more than what was paid for. So look what I got here.
Silent auction bid sheet, Pittsburgh Pirates, four tickets. I went up, got this, after it was all over. I said, I want this sheet. Because not only was Phil was the lead bidder.
He opened bidding at $20. And then he went back to the well again after about four bids at $35. And then he keeps getting up from the dining room table. He's like, I got to go pick one more bid.
And I thought I had the last one. And Phil, what was the last bid? I believe my last one was $45. $45.
Now there's five minutes left to go. And they said, you better go check your table to make sure you got the highest bid. Did you go check? No.
No. Not at that time. And then when bidding was over, the night was over, you went up and you tried to see who won. And what did he tell you?
Can't tell you. Can't tell you. What was the winning bid? I don't know.
No idea. How would you feel if you found out you were out bid by one penny? Look at this. We're playing the prices right here.
Look who the bidder was. 118. Here. I actually didn't want to have to look at this head all day.
Three. Here we go. I greatly appreciate that. Thank you.
Thank you so much. It was worth the penny just to beat you. That seems to be repeated pattern. It could have been even push-ups could have been.
You know what I mean? Eventually, we will find something. If you remember the push-up competition, it's just one more than he did. It only takes one more.
It was one penny. It was one penny. He's always got a one up me. Here, you can have this for memory too.
I'll plaque it and hang it. I'll plaque it and hang it with my Chinese decor. Thank you. I appreciate it Fred.
Bill's already listed that on eBay if anybody wants to buy it. $13. Actually $12.01 is what he's going to sell it for. Well, good morning.
Glad that we could gather his family. It's always fun to kind of, you know, let's have fun a little bit, right? I'll be so stuffy in search. Matter of fact, speaking of stuffy, I'll get rid of this coat.
Why is it so hot in here today? Thank you. The Holy Spirit. All right.
So I want to go today. The message today is walking according to the Spirit, or some Bibles might say walking after the Spirit. And we're going to look at Romans 8 verses 1 through 17. And I'm going to read those before we, I normally don't read that much, but I want to read them today.
And as I was preparing my PowerPoint, I did it from the New American Standard Bible. Come to find out. I don't even own a new American Standard Bible. So I've had to print it out.
So instead of reading from the Bible, I'm going to read from a print out. I apologize for that, but maybe I need to get one of those. But we've been talking about kingdom lifestyle and what our walk looks like. We've covered a lot of different topics.
Walk of faith, walk of walking in love, all kinds of things over the last couple of weeks. And I've had some really good messages. And I know I've grown. Hopefully you guys have grown too.
And again today, this message is as much for me as it is for anyone here. I fell back into my old way of thinking again this week. And I think hearing God's word on a continual basis and renewing your mind to God's word is the only way that we're really going to experience that transformation in our lives. So some of what I'm going to say today, I probably preached before.
There's obviously nothing new, but hopefully maybe you'll see it in a new light. I just feel like this is something that God has. For us here at the city reach today. And hopefully it'll help you to see things maybe from a little different perspective.
So the word we've been covering is the word walk, which unlike my counterpart here that on purpose now butchers the word, it's peripatao, not pair of potatoes. But it's a word that we see throughout scripture through the New Testament that really talks about the way that you live your life. It's everything, not just the way you go to work or the way you are at home, but everything about your life. It's the entirety of your life.
It's the entirety of your life. So we're looking at how do we have a kingdom lifestyle, not just when we're here on Sunday morning, but how do we live the kingdom and how do we walk it out every day of the week in 24 hours a day? So we've been really focusing on that. So today we're going to look at Romans and chapter eight and the verse, our key verse is this.
And we're going to come back to it. Romans eight four and I have three points today. I'm not sure that I'll preach all three, but I'll give them to you now. And the reason I want to read the whole passage is because I want to pick a few things out of this chapter.
Romans eight, if you've never read Romans eight, probably one of the best chapters in the Bible. I mean, they're all good, but this is like really one of the best chapters in the Bible. And there's so much in this chapter, we could probably make an entire year out of this. So I do have to jump around a little just because there's so much in there.
But the verse from Romans eight four says this says, so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. The requirement of the law has been fulfilled for us who fulfilled it for us. Jesus did. So when Jesus was on the earth, it said that he said I didn't come to destroy the law, but I came to fulfill it.
And it said that he kept the entire law and he did it perfectly without sin. And so when we put our faith in Jesus, his righteousness is transferred to us at the cross when he bore all our sin, our sin was transferred to him. And so the righteous requirement of the law was fulfilled for us by Jesus. But what Paul's saying here, he said that the righteous, there's some translations say the righteous requirements of the law walking out the things that God still wants you to do the way he wants you to live the way he doesn't want you to live those things.
So those things can be fulfilled in us and through us by the way that we walk. So our walk actually allows the things of God to be fulfilled in our life. Those righteous things can actually be fulfilled. Talk about righteous actions in this game.
And so those things don't make you righteous. You've been making righteous by faith. You are righteous. You put your faith in Jesus.
You're righteous. But then your walk should demonstrate that. And so he said those righteous things in the law can be fulfilled in you depending on two things. You're either going to walk according to the flesh or you're going to walk according to the spirit.
The word according to means in proportion to the same as in the same way equivalent to. So that my walk is either according to or in relationship to equal to the flesh or it's equal to the spirit. When you read in the Bible and you read the word flesh, a lot of times we have a lot of different things that we think that the flesh might mean. So let me just take a minute and just maybe give you a few things that it can mean and tell you what Paul's talking about here.
So if you read the flesh, so the flesh can mean first of all can mean physical body, right? That Jesus came in the flesh. Paul said he was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. So he wasn't sinful, but he was made like sinful flesh.
So that Jesus came in the flesh. So that can mean a physical body. It can mean the frailty of man apart from God. It's like your inability to do something apart from God.
In verse three of Romans eight it says for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. I'm not talking about your physical body, but it's talking about that the frailty of man apart from God's intervention in their life. And the third thing it can mean, it can mean everything that's sinful in man. And we need to divide that in two areas because this is where a lot of confusion comes in.
So before you're saved, you have an old nature, right? A lot of times you'll call that the old sin nature. And the old nature is in you, but when you receive Jesus the old man dies, right? That old man is dead, he's gone, it's no longer part of you, and you become a new creation.
And you get a new man, you have the new you now living on the inside of you, the old one's gone. But what happens is so that the flesh when it refers to everything sinful in man, it can mean the old sin nature for an unsaved person. Or it can mean the residual effects of sin in the life of a believer. So if you're saved, you don't have an old sin nature.
You don't have this old nature in you. That's gone, it's dead. You have a new nature, it's the nature of Jesus. It's in you.
But the old nature left some residual effects in your body and in your mind. Think of it like this. If let's just say that Kristen was married before I married her. Now she wasn't, and this guy would have, he was ugly.
But let's just say she was married to a guy and he was a real dirt bag. Right, and he went around and he belittled her and he beat her and he ran around and committed adultery on her and cheated and just did all kinds of bad things. And then one day he died and then she married me. Now, although I'm not like that guy, would there be some thought patterns in her mind that would have been residual effects of the old man?
Yes. And so when she picks up my phone and sees a text to somebody, she's instantly going to think that I'm texting the wrong person. Or if I'm a little late from work, she's going to think that I'm late because I'm sneaking around. Or if I go to put my hands out to hug her, she might back off in fear thinking she's going to be slapped.
So the same thing's true in the spiritual realm is that you had an old man that was driving you to do certain things. But then when you received Jesus, the old man dies, the new man comes in, you're a new you. But there's some residual thought pattern, some residual actions that still exist in a part of you that needs renewed. And so those things we kind of want to attack today.
I want to help you not just think right, but I want you to help you to think from the right perspective because there's a difference. We'll cover that. So let's go ahead and read this passage. Get out my little cheat sheet here.
Here you tell you what, I don't hold my Bible so it looks like I'm reading it from my Bible. It's lying. No, it's just being a good salesman. You're telling you the truth.
Romans 8. Alright, let's read this. Romans 8 verses 1 through 17. There is therefore now no condemnation.
Everybody say at all. There's therefore now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do weak as it was through the flesh. God did.
Sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. It says verse 2 says the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from what? The law of sin and death. If you go back to chapter 7 Paul talks about, he says I see a law that's in my inner man.
It's called the law of God or what he calls here the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus says see another law in my members the law of sin and he said the law of sin wars against my head that it makes me do this and wants me to do that. But I had this other law on the inside of me the law that's according to the spirit that's really leading me in a different direction. He says the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and death. The law of sin and death didn't go away the day you got saved.
It's still in operation and that there are consequences to sin. Death when we read this passage death remember he's writing to believers. He's not talking about spiritual death. He's not talking that you're going to die spiritually.
But if you live a certain way you're going to experience the consequences and results of sin which are called death. He says the law of the life of the spirit of the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and death. The law of sin and death is like this. It's like the law of gravity.
You're sitting down because of the law of gravity. If we had no gravity where would you be? You'd probably be floating around but because of the law of gravity it's always in operation. You can't do anything and escape the law of gravity because it's always a truth.
But there's a law that's higher and frees you from the law of gravity. What is that? The law of the lift or make all the law of aerodynamics. Now don't fact check me Phil in this.
I told you I got this from NASA's Guide to Aeronautics for Beginners. I'll give you the website so don't get lost in the fact check. It said that two things lift a curse, I know I have a pilot back here so he's going to correct me probably but I'm going to try to stumble through this. Lift a curse when there's an interaction between a solid and a gas.
So NASA says this. It says if there's no gas and that gas can be in, I'm sorry liquid. It can be in a gas or a fluid. It can be a gas or a liquid form.
It says there's no fluid. There's no lift. And if there's no motion there's no lift. And so when there's motion and a solid interacts with a gas and for us it's air.
Air is forced down and the reaction goes the lift goes up in the opposite direction. That might be a very ABC kindergarten version of aeronautics. So that as long as I'm submitted to the law of lift. Guess what I'm free from?
The law of gravity. Did the law of gravity go away? No. And as soon as I quit submitting to the law of lift what happens?
If you just jump out of the plane. It's not called sky rising. It's called. Sky diving.
Right. You'll eventually hit the ground because the law of gravity is still at play. And so what Paul's saying is the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. When I learned to operate in that law, it's a superior law that frees me from the effects of the law of sin and death.
But the moment I fail to operate in the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The law of sin and death rears the ugly head. If I want to help you today learn how to live from the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. That makes sense.
Okay. So that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in them who do not. Let walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. For those of us who are in accord with the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.
We're going to come back to these. But those are in accord with the spirit, the things of the spirit. Where the mind set on the flesh is death. But the mindset on the spirit is life and peace.
Because the mindset on the flesh is hostile toward God for it is not subject itself to law of God. Where it is not even able to do so. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.
If indeed the spirit of God dwells in you say this I am in the spirit. He says if the spirit of God lives in you. You are in the spirit. So you can be in the spirit and walk after the flesh.
That's what most believers do a lot of believers do. So what we want to do is be in the spirit. He says if the spirit of Christ dwells in you, you're in the spirit. I want to be in the spirit Christ dwelling in me and walking after the spirit.
So I can experience the law of lift in my spiritual life. He says at verse 9, however, you're not in the flesh, but in the spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin.
Yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. So then brothers and sisters, we are under obligation not to the flesh. You live according to the flesh.
Or if you live in accord with the flesh, you're going to die. But if by the spirit, you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the spirit of God, these are sons and daughters of God. Or you have not received a spirit of slavery again, leading to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by which we cry out.
Have a father. The spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer with him, so that we also might be glorified.
Father, I pray today that as we discuss your word, your Holy Spirit would teach us, lead us, guide us, transform us. Jesus. Alright, so three things today. I want to give them to you now.
Maybe I don't. I still don't know how to preach this message yet. I want to tell you this. I'm still discovering what I'm going to tell you today.
So I'm working through this myself and have been for many years, but it's been one thing that's really helped me. I walk with the Lord. Alright, Lord, which way do I go? I feel like this is like one of those choosier and ending books.
I'm waiting for the Holy Spirit to give me some direction. I haven't really gotten it yet. But what I normally do is I normally prepare and I say Holy Spirit, tell me which way to go. Today I feel like I'm at that choosier and ending.
So Lord, I will do that. Alright, so I'll give you the three things. Let's do that. I just don't know if I'll get to them.
Number one, I want you to say these. I am seated with Christ. I am seated with Christ. Number two, I have the same spirit living in me that raised Jesus from the dead.
I'll just go with those two. And if we get to three, it'll be a surprise. Alright, let's go back. So eight-four and five says this.
So that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirits. So remember, walking according to means walking in agreement with or in proportion to or the same as. So it says that who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit, for those who are in accord with the flesh, do what? Set their minds on the things of the flesh.
But those in accord with the spirit, the things of what? The things of the spirit. So I can tell you this, if I look at your life, so what this is saying, it said those that walk live their life, make their entire life, those that live their life after the flesh. They're doing that because they set their mind according to the flesh.
And those that are walking after the spirit, they're doing that because they set their mind after the spirit. I can look at your life and it will tell me where your mind set is. I can look at the direction that your life is going. I can look at the things you're going through.
Now, the things you're going through aren't actually what tells me that because we all go through bad things. We all go through difficult times. But the way that you walk through that thing and the way that you deal with it, whether you allow it to influence your thinking or not, whether you entertain those thoughts or not, tells me where your mind is set to. It's either set to the flesh or it's set to the spirit.
And he goes on to say this in verse six. It says for the mind set on the flesh is what? Death. So when you set your mind a certain way, if I set my mind on the flesh, my walk is going to be according to what?
I start over by set my mind according to the flesh. My walk is going to be according to the flesh. And if my walk is according to the flesh, what am I going to experience in my life? Death.
But the mind set on the spirit. So if my mind is set on the spirit, my walks according to the spirit, what am I going to experience life and peace. See, peace doesn't always mean that things are going to be peachy and great. Peace just means you have a confidence in the midst of turmoil, that you know who you are, you know that it's going to be okay, that you have hope.
It says in Isaiah, it says, I will give him perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on me. I think it's Isaiah 26, 3. It says, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile. See, I'm going to uncover some things today and we're probably all going to be a little guilty.
But here's the thing, this is not a shame message. As always, this is a message to invite you to step to a higher plane. I'm not asking you to feel bad about it and jump out of the plane and hit the ground. I'm asking you to step into the airplane and stay on the airplane.
Because it says a mindset after the spirit is life and peace. The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God and does not subject itself to the law of God. That word subject, it's really an interesting word. It means to submit.
It means to yield to. It actually means to get in order in military, it's actually a military word. It means to get in order in a military fashion behind a leader. See, I'm going to step on religion a little bit here.
We even sang a song this morning. It says, I surrender. But who do you surrender to, your friend or your enemy? I've been thinking about this lately.
Why do we say, after we're believers, that we surrender to God when he's not our enemy? We submit to the one we love. I know it's going to, your religious bones are going to be like, ehhh, but I want to surrender. But we surrender the day we said yes.
From that day on, I'm submitting myself and opening myself up and yielding myself to the Holy Spirit. And it says that the mind set on the flesh does not yield itself. It doesn't submit itself to the law of God. It says it can't.
Not able to do it. So what does this word mean? Is that your mind? So it's important that we know what this means because I taught a few weeks ago when I did Bible study about repentance.
A lot of people, I think a lot of different things about repentance. Repentance really means one thing. It means it was here in the class. Change your mind.
Metanoia. Change of mind. Now there's other things that happen as a result of repentance. You change your mind.
If your mind truly changes on a thing, your behaviors will follow. But repent means to change your mind. It's different than what we're going to talk about today because setting your mind is different than changing your mind. See, when I change my mind, it's that one day I think that, well, God wants this sickness in me to teach me a lesson.
God sent me sickness to teach me a lesson. And somebody told me that and I believed it. And then I get God's word and it says that Jesus is willing to heal. Jesus wants everybody to be healed.
Jesus, God sent his son Jesus to take care of all sickness. And all of a sudden I learned something new and realized that this sickness didn't come from God. It came from the enemy and God sent his son Jesus to heal it. And by his stripes, I was healed 2,000 years ago.
Positionally. I had a, I repented. I changed my mind. I changed my mind.
So repentance is something that should be occurring in your life every day. The more you expose yourself to God's word, the more we line our thoughts up with his. And listen, oh, I'm out of joint. I need to get my thoughts lined up with his thoughts.
And so what this word set your mind on, it means to be minded in a certain way, to direct one's mind to a thing to strive for, to entertain, to have a sentiment or opinion on, to be mentally disposed in a particular direction. So this is directional thinking. It's actually more than thinking right thoughts. See, I can think God like thoughts, but think them from the wrong perspective.
And so what happens is a lot of times we, we repent and we hear God's word and we change the way we think on a subject, but we still view the situation from an earthly perspective, even though we're thinking thoughts that God thinks. Paul says this in Colossians chapter three, verses one and two. He says, since you have been raised with Christ, set your heart on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above.
I don't think the verse that your mind on things above, not on things of earth. Now in the prior verse verse one he told us where above is where is above that your heart's on things above go back. That your heart on things above where Christ is where is he seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above where is above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
So here's the difference. I have a sickness in my body. Let's just take that. Or I have a lack in my checkbook or I have a broken relationship, whatever it is.
And the situation is here. And I realize that God didn't send the sickness. I realized that God is for me, not against me. I realized that by the stripes of Jesus I was healed and I began to look at that thing with right thoughts, but from an earthly perspective.
A lot of Christians do this. They get their thinking right, but they're still looking at the situation from an earthly perspective. And what Paul is saying is I not only want you to get your thoughts right, but I want you to think from heaven's perspective. I want to see that thing from the perspective of heaven, not the perspective of earth.
See what happens down here is when we're looking at something from earth's perspective. We're going to see a whole lot of other mass in the middle of that. We're going to see a lot of other things are going to be able to come in and start stealing the right thoughts that we already have. And I need to think about that from the place where Jesus is Jesus says that he is seated.
Why is he seated. He was really tired after he got done on the cross. I think I'll just sit down for a billion years at war me out. He sat down.
He's the only high priest that ever sat down. He says men are priests, but their work is never done because in the Old Testament, they had to sacrifice animals, sacrifice animals, people sin, sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice. But it said this man after he had made offering for sin one time that day because he was done. His work was finished.
So I need to see the situation that I'm going through from the perspective of the finished work of Jesus. That he's already paid for that healing. He's already paid for that sin. He's already paid for that shame.
He's already paid for that lack. It's all done. And he sat down because he finished his work. But see it's not just that Jesus is there because my Bible says when he died, I died.
When he rose, I rose. When he ascended, I ascended. And when he was seated, I was seated with him. Paul says this in Ephesians 1.
He says, what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his mighty power, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in heavenly places? Jesus was dead. The Holy Spirit, God sent the Holy Spirit, brings him back from the dead. You can imagine every demon in hell was against that, but they were no match for the Spirit of God.
Does the Spirit of God not only raised him and also seated him? In heavenly places far above, principality and power and might and dominion in every name that is named not only in this age, but in the one to come. So here's what you can think. That when Jesus was seated, it says that he was seated above every principality, every power, all might, all dominion.
There's no attack. There's no device. There's no stronghold of the enemy that Jesus is not over top of. He seated over them all.
It says, and above every name, that is name. A lot of times we think, I've heard people say this before, cancer has a name. Diabetes has a name. Urniated discs have a name.
Jesus is seated above every name, that is name. As I was praying about this this morning and reading over this, I think there's some people here that felt strongly from the Lord that you've been called a certain name, your whole life. Maybe it was a parent. Maybe it was a spouse.
Maybe it was your kid. But you've been called something and you've been labeled something. And that label has a name. Maybe people called you an addict your whole life.
Jesus is above every name that is named. Maybe people called you good for nothing your whole life or stupid or worthless. Jesus is above every one of those names. I think for some people today, you need to see from heaven's perspective that whatever name that was, no matter how painful that was, Jesus is seated above it.
It has no power over you. Doesn't he put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things of the church, which is his body, the hymn of foes all in all. In verse 6 of chapter 2 says what? And he raised us up with him and seated us with him in heavenly places.
Christ Jesus. Now here people say this, this is one of these cute sayings. Here's an example of having God thoughts but an earthly perspective. If it's over your head, it's under his feet.
That's cute. But it's only partially true. Actually, it's not true because it's not over your head. See, that's taking a God thought and seeing it from an earthly perspective.
My Bible says that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. It says that I am seated with him that he is the head of the body. All things are under his feet. The church is his body.
I'm part of his body. And if it's under his feet, it's under my feet too. There's none of this. Well, if it's over your head, it's under his feet.
Bull. If it's under his feet, it's under my feet. That's the perspective that you have to see things from. It's not just thinking right.
It's thinking from the right direction. It's thinking from the direction that the impossible are now possible. That you're thinking from the perspective of eternity. I'm thinking from the perspective that with God, all things are possible.
That there is nothing that will stand against me. That any tongue that rises against me, I will condemn. That the weapons formed against me will not prosper. Not because I can quote scripture.
Because you can quote scripture all day long and fall out of the plane. You need to know scripture and you need to see it from the perspective of heaven. That we're not living from Earth trying to get to heaven. I'm living from heaven releasing it into the Earth.
See God's job. See, we spend too much time worrying about getting to heaven. Heaven is in you. The kingdom is in you.
See, God will get you to heaven. Your job is to bring heaven to Earth. Your job is to release the kingdom into your job, into your workplace, into your family. Everywhere you go, you should be releasing the fragrance of heaven.
Guys remember Peter? How many can identify with Peter? He always puts his foot in his mouth. Don't do that anymore.
Don't identify with a man before he was born again. Because the Peter that was born again in the Phil with the Holy Spirit, priests and 3,000 people got saved. See what happens a lot of times as we read the Bible and I get it, I put my foot in my mouth a lot too, especially up here. It happens.
But I want to identify with the Peter that had a change and was empowered by the Holy Spirit. But before that happened, remember Jesus says who do men say that I am? He said, well, some say Elijah, some Jeremiah, John the Baptist, or one of the prophets. He said, who do you say that I am?
Peter says, you're the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus says, bless our youth. Simon, Bar, Jennifer, flesh and blood did not reveal that to you. But my father, who is in heaven, he's going to say upon this rock, I'll build my church.
You know the story. Just after that, just after that, it says Jesus starts talking to the disciples about all the things he's going to suffer of the chief priests and elders that he's going to be killed and have he'll rise again the third day. And it says Peter called him alongside and rebuked him. He really put his foot in his mouth there.
He rebukes Jesus. He said, Jesus, for be it from you, this will not happen. He's trying to like be a little prophetic. Hey, I got one right.
I got the big one right now. Let me release another one. And Jesus says, no, no, Peter says this thing will happen. And Jesus says, get behind me Satan for you are an offense or offense.
I put the syllable in the wrongs. I put the infastus in the wrongs, the label. You're an offense to me. You're an offense to me.
You're an offense to me. You're an offense to me. You're a mindful of earthly things and not the things of God. You're mindful of the things of man.
Jesus didn't, this is Peter. This is his disciple. This is the one that just released revelation about who Jesus was. And only moments later, days later, whatever it was, hours later, he's actually being demonically influenced.
Jesus didn't say that you're demonic or you're of the occult. He said you're minding things of man and not the things of God. Same word, setting his mind. He was thinking from the wrong perspective.
And I found it interesting as I reviewed this this week, Jesus says, you are an offense to me. I put in brackets there, the word offense, what else does it mean? So other places we read about, well, you don't want to be a stumbling block brother. Have I ever told that to you?
And you shouldn't. You shouldn't be at something blocked to other believers. So so often people will point out certain things and say, hey, you're being a stumbling block by doing this or don't be a stumbling block by doing that. All true.
But I think a bigger issue here, Jesus calls this a stumbling block to him. And I think more Christians are guilty of this than are guilty of actually being a physical stumbling block to somebody. Jesus says, when you set your mind on things of earth and have the perspective of this, you're actually an offense to the things that Jesus wants to do. Well, God's just trying to.
So, so when I encounter a situation in somebody's life and I coddle them and say, well, God's just trying to teach you a lesson or and I speak things that are from that perspective. Instead of this perspective, I'm actually being a stumbling block for what Jesus wants to do in the life of that person. And so I need to not only see my life, but I need to look at things in your life with the same perspective. I need to see them from the perspective of eternity.
We're going to talk about one point today. That's it. I'm still in this one. Phil used this verse last week.
I look into chapter three. It says, for many are walking in such a way that they are enemies of the cross of Christ. He goes on and says a few things there. I've told you with weeping in tears and their God is their belly and their glory is their shame.
And he goes on to say, but if you boil it down, the book ends of this razor that there are enemies of the cross of Christ who mind earthly things. Think about that. It's the same word mindset. When I set my mind from the perspective of earth, Paul says that you're an enemy of the cross.
That doesn't mean that you're anti-Christ, but you're opposed to what the cross did. And so when I encounter believers, I never tell them this, but when I encounter a believer that believes in salvation and forgiveness of sins, but not the healing of bodies, not the deliverance of torment, they're partially an enemy of the cross. Because they're seeing things from an earthly mindset instead of one that that thing is settled in heaven. That Jesus didn't suffer, so that I could be partially forgiven.
He didn't suffer, so I could be partially healed. And he didn't suffer, so I could be partially forgiven and delivered. When he sets you free, you're free indeed. See, when I, the law of the spirit of life and Christ has done what?
That made free from the law of sin and death. But the law that I'm going to operate on depends on what law I'm going to submit to. What I'm going to set my mind to. It's not just thinking right thoughts, but it's thinking right thoughts from God's perspective, from heaven's perspective.
Does that make sense? So as you go out to this week, I want you to think, how would God, how does God think about this situation, and how does God see the situation? What does this look like from an eternal perspective? What does this look like from the standpoint that Jesus paid at all?
What does this look like from the fact that he's seated at the right hand of the Father, the place of all authority, the place of all blessing, the place of all honor? And he has made me so righteous that he thinks me worthy enough to sit with him. Not that I deserve it, not that I've ever earned it, but he made me that way. That I'm in Christ, and he's in me.