Last 2 Sessions before Micah spoke I talked about DECLUTTER as we Prepare to Possess the Promise. Sometimes you have to let something go from a previous season when you are going through a new one.
If I am totally transparent as your pastor, I told you how I struggled the way some people left Impact. In our study this week in the Gospel in 10 words, the statement on page 74-75 slapped me in the head.
“Jesus knew ahead of time that Peter was going to deny him and yet Jesus did not reject Peter. Instead he loved him and prayed for him. Jesus knew ahead of time that Judas would betray him and yet Jesus did not reject Judas. In the very act of betrayal Jesus called him “friend” signaling that even in the dark moment the door of acceptance remained wide open.”
I had to choose to declutter my feelings!
Pastor Zach Sloan: If we don’t spend some time to be intentional about forgetting what is behind and pressing into what’s ahead, we could inadvertently bring an attitude, a mindset, a behaviour or habit into our new situation that is incompatible with our new status. This will become destructive and unsustainable.
DERIVE: to take or obtain from a particular source, to find origin in a particular source.
We must be grounded in Jesus’ resurrection as the source of own life, future and inheritance.
Everything we do as believers comes out of the life of Jesus. He is not some celestial force that dispenses good things to good people. Jesus is the Son of God and he is going to reflect all of his good through those connected and possessed with his glory. He is not a Jeanie in a bottle kind of God. We are connected to God that wants to create reality through the things we say.
Proverbs 18:21 “Life and death are in the power of the tongue”
Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
You have something in your life today that can derive its source from yesterday. We must be settled in the reality of Jesus’ resurrection as the source and spring of our own life, future, and inheritance before we keep going.
The pleasure we derive from doing favors is partly in the feeling it gives us that we are not altogether worthless. Maybe you heard people say, this word derives its meaning from…
Today we will work from the RESERRECTION
Jesus was all about intentionality. He was not someone with just good intentions.
Moses is Dead! Whatever is not moving can’t push you.
One act of courage can open the door to significant transformation.
We need to be immersed in third day realities. Raise the Dead.
Joshua 1:11 11 “Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your provisions ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own.’”
Speak those words of faith! What a beautiful portrayal. A declarative affirmation of action.
This is a prophetic picture of the future resurrection of Jesus.
References to events or happenings on the “third day” in the Old Testament are meant to help us understand a certain aspect or meaning of what the resurrection of Jesus means to us and for us. The more I study scriptures and research I realize that the references of the third day become more of a reality to me. God is trying to show us an example of the power in the resurrection from these references and it was not just relegated to Easter
They are illustrations. Here is a link. Over 100 3rd day REF
https://www.openbible.info/topics/on_the_third_day
1 Corinthians 15:4 The Apostle Paul says,
“that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…”
He is prophetically talking about third day Scriptures. Jesus does the same thing, just more explicitly using the story of Jonah:
Jonah 1:17 (ESV)
“And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”
Luke 11:30 (ESV)
“For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.”
Matthew 12:39-40 (NIV)
“…the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Acts 10:40
“Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly,”
Luke 13:32
“And He said to them, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.’”
Luke 24:46
“He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day…”
1 Corinthians 10:11
“Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”
I think God wanted them to wait so they could know that the promised land is not just something you wake up one day and decide that in the strength of your own power you take over on your own.
Why three days to prepare? It took Jesus three days to prepare a place for us.
Why wait? Waiting goes against the human race. God said basically be patience while I go prepare a place for you. I will prepare the land you prepare to go.
No is not never-it is not now. God is not a vending machine where you can pull a trigger or push a button and out pops your answer.
How many of you will agree that answered prayer is a process that requires patience? Quite often he works on you before he works on the solution.
What do you do when you have to wait on God?
Remember, delay is not denial!
What to remember while waiting on God.
There is a natural delay between planting and harvesting.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-5 “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under Heaven. A time to plant and a time to harvest…a time to scatter and a time to gather.”
Romans 8:24-26 “We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.” MSG Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along.
Pause time is Prep time
No one likes to wait. But we wait in traffic, in carpool lines, in holding patterns, in grocery stores, for the foursome ahead of us in golf, for the doctor, for a spouse, for a baby, for retirement, for sermons to get over, for Jesus to return. For this sermon to be over!
Waiting is not just something we have to do while we get what we want. Waiting is the process of becoming what God wants us to be. What God does in us while we wait is as important as what it is, we are waiting for.
Waiting on the Lord requires patient trust
We live by the adage: Don’t just stand there, do something. While God often says to us: Don’t just do something, stand there.
We are not patient people: A woman’s car was stalled in traffic. She looked in vain under the hood to identify the cause, while the driver behind her leaned relentlessly on his horn.
Finally, she had enough. She walked back to his car and offered sweetly, “I don’t know what the matter with my car is, but if you want to go look under the hood, I’ll be glad to stay here and honk for you.”
I DON’T THINK JESUS HAD MUCH PATIENCE FOR SUNDAY ON FRIDAY!!
Day 1 Jesus Dies, Day 2 He confronts the Dead, Day 3 He Rises Again
John 14:2-4 (NKJV)
“…I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
How does this relate to us in our transition as we prepare to possess the promise?
Eph. 1:17-20 is the New Testament equivalent of “wait three days.” Instead of “get provisions” we are to get revelation and be saturated in the reality of his call and his inheritance expressed in us as we participate in his divine nature through resurrection.
This is the parallel passage to Joshua. Where Joshua prepared the people, Jesus is also preparing people. Get rooted in the revelation of third day truth of the resurrection.
Paul is not praying that people get more power. He is praying people get a revelation. (an act of revealing or communicating divine truth)
A Biblical Perspective on Calling: Baylor University
https://www.baylor.edu/ifl/index.php?id=953049
“Who we are to be and how we are to live as Christians requires an awareness and ever deepening understanding of the God who calls us.
Faith in and relationship to the God who called Israel, was the animating factor empowering their efforts to live as a kingdom of priests who would bless the nations (Gen. 12:1–3; Exod. 19:5–6). Likewise, faith in and relationship to Jesus Christ is the animating factor that empowers the church’s efforts to live as God’s people (Matt. 28:19–20; Rom. 12:1–2; Eph. 2:19–22; 1 Pet. 2:9–10). Without a Caller, we cannot be called. The starting point of vocational discernment is therefore cultivating spiritual practices that help us to know, hear, and follow the voice of God.”
Aristotle thought that, virtue grows through habit—through perseverant practice.
For years I preached about people getting more power. However, revelation is what reveals kingdom realities.
Baptism of the Holy spirit is a must, but it is on the other side of the resurrection. The Resurrection is about renewal and refreshing then comes the reward of power.
Seems like over the years we have been infatuated with frenzies of the sensational. We have been blasted, hammered, drunk and wasted. I’m not sure we need any more power. Rather, a revelation of what we have at our disposal that we seldom use. Do I realize what I already have?
The formula for faith is not give me more so I become. Otherwise, you might be walking for 40 years with the Israelites as well.
We need to be flooded with the light of the Holy Spirit so we can see what and who is in us and that we have been raised from the dead! ARE YOU?
Ephesians 1:17-20
“that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places…”
To have confidence moving forward we have to see that we too were raised with Jesus.
Hosea 6:2
“…After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight.”
Ephesians 2:4-6 (NKJV)
But God…made us alive together with Christ…and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…”
By virtue of our resurrection life in Christ, we are co-heirs with him, born and raised up into an inheritance
Romans 8:11 New International Version
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
When the spirit of life gives life to our mortal bodies, it is a spiritual power that arouses and invigorates our life, restoring life closer to how it was originally designed to be. That means it’s not simply limping along in life with a sickly body but being fully restored.
The power of the afterlife is working in our present life now. His resurrection is my resurrection and I come alive when I connect to that reality.
I voluntarily participate in my promise, my inheritance, my identity, I speak what has been spoken over me.
I was raised into my inheritance and I don’t need to fight or get a lawyer.
1 Peter 1:3-4
“…has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you…”
By virtue of union is what qualifies you for every spiritual blessing.
So, what does the resurrection mean for my life? That’s where we turn to the Old Testament to look at some of those third day illustrations:
- A Time of Production, Reproduction and Multiplication
Genesis 1:12-13
“And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So, the evening and the morning were the third day.”
1 Corinthians 15:20
“But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
The Resurrection life of Christ in me creates fruit. Harvest is the rightful inheritance of those made alive in Christ.
- A Time of Provision
Genesis 22:4-5, 12
“Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you. … And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”
The provision Abraham spoke of was the Lord will provide a lamb.
Genesis 22:8 — “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.”
On the 3rd day. He was being sacrificed on the same mountain Jesus was taken to.
Romans 4:25
“…who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification.”
Resurrection life demonstrates, proves, and establishes an eternal existence free from the impurity of sin and death, guilt and shame. God provided a lamb that removes sin and shame from my inheritance and life. No condemnation!
- A Time of Fellowship
Exodus 19:10-12, 16-17 “…Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God,”
On the third day they went out to meet with the Lord…
Hebrews 12:18-24
18 For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, 19 and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words…But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God…to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
This new life we have is characterized by fellowship and union. It makes us a child of God and the bride of Christ by virtue of the life inside us, giving us instant access to the very heart of God — through union.
- A Time of Authority and Leadership
Joshua 3:2-3, 7
“So it was, after three days, that the officers went through the camp…And the LORD said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.”
Resurrection life is one of excellence, distinction, authority and leadership. If you can consciously connect to the royalty of the life within you, you will live with an inner propulsion toward greatness that finds its source in your participation in the divine nature.
Ephesians 2:6
“…and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,”
- A Time of Completion and Realization
Ezra 6:15-16
“Now the temple was finished on the third day … Then the children of Israel, the priests and the Levites and the rest of the descendants of the captivity, celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.”
Colossians 2:10
“…and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”
Find wholeness in Christ and the virtue of the new life you have in him. Let his love and acceptance bring you wholeness and a sense of completeness that empowers wholehearted living and inspires faith that brings all things into complete expression.
- A Time of The Best Wine, Healing, Miracles and Glory
John 2:1-10
“On the third day there was a wedding…You have kept the good wine until now!” This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.”
6 water pots representing the number of humanity, being created on the 6th day.
The power, the glory, the amazing stuff we want to see God do in and through our lives, it happens in the third day. It happens because he has upgraded us, made us alive with him and given us authority and power by nature in our new life joined to the resurrected life of his son.
This power and glory are connected to a revelation of our sonship, who we are by virtue of our share in Christ’s life, not who we are because we are gifted, but who we are by nature, by life.
He saved the best till NOW! Third day is not a reference to a future dispensation, but a church awakened to the reality of what it already participates in ‘Divine Nature!” A revelation that up till now, possibly only few churches have really walked in!
Summary
Let’s get fixed, let’s gather our supplies, let’s embrace revelation now that will propel us forward. Let the eyes of our heart be flooded with light to see the riches of his inheritance in us and the suppressing greatness of his power at work in us…
Let’s prepare together and pull our resources together. If you have never grasped the principle of tithing, I encourage you to pray about it. A tenth of your first fruits.
Eph. 1:17-20
“…the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know…”
