A Prevailing People
Rom 8:19 NIV, 22 NCV
The creation waits in eager longing for the sons of God to be revealed.
22 We know that everything God made has been waiting until now in pain (groaning),
like a woman ready to give birth.
Last week: Lepers
· God uses ordinary, disadvantaged, often scarred, people to change the future
o Characteristics: Make the decision, get up & move, even if it’s risky
· Jesus called 12 ordinary guys, outside the system, to build a “Prevailing Church”
Supernatural Keys – authority
Are we a “Prevailing Church”?
Historically, for Black People, the Church has served a multitude of purposes
· Social gathering
· Safe haven
· Social services provider
· Political voice for equality & justice
· Preachers of Liberation & Hope
The Black Church led in the struggle for Civil Rights
Now…
· Blacks are Integrated into the system
· Our children feel equal to the White man
We feel like we have arrived
· We don’t have to pray for healing, because we have insurance
· We don’t have to work God’s financial plan, because we have credit cards
Church has failed – we let the ascension stop with so-called ‘Equality’
Now, side-tracked by the pursuit of earthly things
Elevate to the God nature – 2 Peter 1:4
Through [His great promises] you may become partakers of the divine nature.
The whole of creation is desperately waiting for us to show up!
Instead, we fake perfection – make rules, become judgmental & legalistic
Developed Religious Systems
These Systems protect the Status Quo – hinder Change & Forward Movement
Jesus challenged the system
The System killed Jesus
Man-made Systems killing the Body of Christ, today
The “Ekklesia” was not working according to the original vision:
Church people are selfish
Everything that happens at Church has to be for them…
Even though Jesus said to do church one way (Matt 28:19)
We fight to do it another
Systems and ‘the Past’ hold the future hostage
The world is groaning, waiting for the sons of God to be revealed
“If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.” – Dr. MLK, Jr.
Heb 10:5-10
Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. 7 Then I said, 'Behold, I have come –
in the volume of the book it is written of Me – To do Your will, O God.'"
8 Previously saying, "Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them" (which are offered according to the law),
9 then He said, "Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God."
He takes away the first that He may establish the second.
“The first” is an old System that was no longer effective – no life in it
He wants to establish a Prophetic People
Prophetic People “take you in” to the Future
Moses had the power to bring them out – (Num 13:17-20)
But it took Joshua and vision to take them in
Joshua prophetic: He could see what others couldn’t see & say what they couldn’t
“They have no more protection” – Num 14:9
When God begins to do a New Thing
He has to give New Food, New Experiences and New Revelation
New Creature
2 Cor 5:17-18
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Christian = Christ-like
1. John 17:4. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
John 8:23. He said to them, "You are from beneath; I am from above.
2. John 18:36. My kingdom is not of this world.
3. He got his directions from the heavenly realm – John 12:49; 5:19
4. His food was from another world – John 4:32, 34
5. He taught the principles of the other world
6. He demonstrated the power of the other world
7. He is seated in the heavenlies – Eph 1:20
Jesus went back to heaven –
“God needs a New Body” (Heb 10:5)
Just like the pain of childbearing doesn’t stop until the baby is born
The groaning of the world won’t stop until we show up
It’s not about coming to Church
It’s about developing your Christ-nature – being Relevant in our world
1. John 15:19. Yet because you are not of the world, I chose you out of the world
2. John 3:3. Born again (from above)
3. 2 Cor 5:17. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: KJV
4. He gives us a new heart and puts a new spirit in us – Ezek 36:26
5. We are to renew our minds – think from another world – Rom 12:2
Have the same mind as Christ – Phil 2:5
6. His Body is our food & Blood is our Drink – John 6:55
7. We are seated “IN” Him in the heavenlies – Eph 2:6
We are to act from our heavenly position
ex. Coach in booth example
The Prevailing Church is made up of people who function in 2 dimensions
social & sanctification – justice & justification – successful & Spiritual
It’s not either or – it’s both
We do it by developing our Christ-nature
The world is waiting on us to show up