“Come up where the eagles soar, higher than any other creature. Come up higher so you can see further. Come up higher, so I can take you further. Let me take you deeper into my presence. My presence will sustain you. You will experience me, the depth of my love and mercy like you’ve never felt before, as you come higher.”
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Every now and again we need to understand in a refreshed and renewed way what is going on in the spirit realm. It is so hard not to get caught up in the natural and stay focused on the supernatural. You have continually renew your thinking and retrain your mind to not allow the things of the world to challenge your faith when the things of the natural don’t line up with the things of the Kingdom. A lot of things in the natural do not line up with the Kingdom.
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Matthew 5, 6 & 7 - The Kingdom of God is not a place we go – it is a way we live.
Money:
Matthew 6:19-24 – “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasure sin heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness and if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is! No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
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Our God is alive and He is moving. He is not sitting in heaven saying “what will be, will be”. When we come to church, we need to expect to get something from God.
Luke 5:4-11 - story of Peter letting his net down on the other side of the boat. The great thing about Peter was that he was the “first” disciple. He was prominent throughout the gospels. Peter was zealous and excited about whatever Jesus asked him to do. Peter was the one who always ran in first. He was always the first one to jump, and often the first to fall. He had all the humanity that we have. As we try to achieve what God has for us, we can relate to Peter because we don’t always get it right.
When Jesus asked His disciples who the people said He was, Peter spoke up first and said that He was the Son of the living God. Jesus’ response was (paraphrased), “Way to go, Peter - you got a God-revelation”. Just a few minutes later, Jesus tells His disciples that He will be crucified, and again Peter speaks up first and says, “No way, I would never let that happen to you!” Jesus’ response is, “Get behind me, Satan!” So, in the span of a few minutes, Peter gets a “way to go!” and a harsh rebuke. As Christians living in the south, we sometimes have trouble receiving the “way to go” from Jesus and we live in the rebuke. We feel like we need to be perfect, which is not required from us.
Jesus asked Peter to come to the mountain and pray and he fell asleep!! Not what you want to be doing when Jesus asks you to pray with Him! God shows up and as Peter wakes up, he quickly says, “Should I build an alter??” They ignore him, which is pretty much the worst thing that could happen. All of us know that when we are the lowest person on the totem pole, we don’t speak. Peter didn’t take that into consideration, but his heart was for the kingdom, and he wanted to do the right thing. We are all Peter…we have heart.
When Jesus is walking on the water, Peter is the first one out of the boat. Even though he sank, he had the right heart. In the garden of Gethsemene, Peter cuts off the soldier’s ear in an attempt to save Jesus. He ends up creating more work for his boss because Jesus healed his ear! That was not the desired response for Peter.
Peter set himself apart with his zeal, passion, and faith. Even when he screwed up, he kept going. Even when we have no people showing up to our connect groups, we keep persevering. Peter kept going even into Acts. He waited in the upper room and was there for the Day of Pentecost. He was the one the stepped forward and addressed the crowd and 5000 people got saved. He now had the Holy Spirit resting on him, and things started to happen. He healed the paralytic man at the temple. Now, it’s not just Peter…it’s Peter plus the Holy Spirit.
Acts 3:12 - Peter SAW his opportunity. Now, instead of Peter just being a guy that was doing his best and not always hitting the mark, Peter had a revelation of who God was. He knew it wasn’t about him anymore. It was about God moving through him. Even if Peter stopped speaking, he said that the rocks would cry out and praise God.
Peter was an average Joe with a heart and a spirit after God. Peter died, and now we are all Peter. We can’t wait any longer for someone else to step up. We know who we are…and now we need to know who God is in us. God will build His church ON us because WE are Peter.
Jesus came to set priorities. He came to set things in order. He gave us the perfect example of how to prioritize our lives. He said, where your treasure is, there your heart is also. If you don’t understand the heart of God, you won’t understand the kingdom mindset. Jesus gave us the opportunity to join our hearts with God with his blood sacrifice. God said that he knows our hearts are joined with him by where our treasure is. Where your treasure is, there your heart is also. You can have as much stuff as you want as long as God has your heart. People for living for getting money and having things have their lives torn apart. We can’t live for that. We weren’t created to live for things. We were created to live for and in a personal relationship with God.
Every time we bring an offering to God, his heart catches fire because our hearts are aligning with his. God sent Jesus to us to bear his heart and teach us how to align our hearts with his. God sent Jesus to bear his soul so that his heart and our hearts can come together - so that we can have an intimate relationship and connection with him. That is why it is so important for us to bring our tithes and offerings to God. We are demonstrating where our hearts and priorities lie. God isn’t looking for our money, he is looking at our hearts. We have to shift our thinking about giving and make sure that we approach our finances from a kingdom mindset.
Ps Dean Sweetman
I always think about churches all over the world having Easter. God’s people are gathering on every continent and that is an exciting thing to contemplate. We have huge fellowship and connection with one another. One of the sad things is when people don’t realize who God is on a day like today. So many people have misjudged God. It’s very easy to understand who God is because He decided to reveal Himself and show us who He was…so, He left heaven and came to earth in the form of Jesus. Jesus was all God and all man at the same time. Want to know God? Look at Jesus. Sometimes people’s eyes are on the followers of Jesus instead of Jesus himself.
When Jesus was on earth, He interjected in people’s worlds and helped them right where they were…that is what God is like. Jesus didn’t come and tell you what you were doing wrong and what you could do different…He would have a meal with you when He came to your house…He wanted to get to know you and find out what you were like. People have a hard time conceiving God would want to be that close to you. He is all powerful and knowledgeable and people have a hard time grasping that. People can’t imagine that God would want to be their friend.
John 20 - Mary Magdalene was the first person to see Jesus resurrected. She did things she was ashamed of but through various circumstances, she met Jesus and she became friends with Him. Mary represents each one of us. Mary went and found there was an opening in the tomb. (John 20:2-16) As soon as He called her name, she answered “Rabbi.” As soon as God calls our name, your eyes will be open. As soon as you realize He sees you, you understand how much He wants to get to know you. Her first response was to cling to Him.
We ask ourselves, “God, how could you love us so much and leave heaven? Jesus, how could you do that?” We are not just followers of God anymore - we are friends. God with us, God with me, God for me, God helping me, God challenging me, God loving me – THAT is Easter.
This picture of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is about a woman who has been free…from sickness, torment and inferiority…she clings to Jesus.
Easter Sunday and every day is about freedom and a new covenant. It’s about becoming friends with Him and having God’s love hold us.
God is not a long way off. He sent His son to buy us back. And He never thought of NOT doing it…THAT is Easter Sunday.
Hi All, Jill and I are looking forward to posting summaries and notes from the messages we preach and teach at around the world. Each week we will update with bible based teaching that will enhance your life and bring you closer to God and His purposes for your life.
Please feel free to comment and give your own perspective. Keep it pithy, on subject and fun.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Dean and Jill
