Let’s be honest, it’s easy to live according to what’s going on around us. Just look around you… social media, the news, the paper (for those of you who still do that). We’re so “tuned in” that we’re “tuned out” to what God is doing. The stats are in… The facts are in… Our past is in… Not only is the struggle real, it – “THE THING” is real! That being said, I have a question for you: What’s THE THING that’s keeping you from the things God wants to give you?
In the next 4 weeks, I am leading my church, DREAM: Church through a REVELATORY series that I wanted to share with you called: Face Value.
I want to share it with you because I believe it is going to open you open to the heaven’s realities! I believe it is going to give you the capacity to see with your spiritual eyes, eyes to see what God is really doing despite what is happening around you, and the opportunity to be so spiritual minded that you do earthly good, in very practical ways.
This will be a profound new way to see.
Jesus says A LOT about this, which we will look at today… but one of my favorite quotes from Henry David Thoreau says, “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”
Hence why this who message is called:
Face Value
In the book of Acts, we see the disciples recognizing and inviting us into this powerful and profound way to see life. Scripture says, “At each place they went, they strengthened the lives of the believers and encouraged them to go deeper in their faith. And they taught them, “It is necessary for us to enter into the realm of God’s kingdom, because that’s the only way we will endure many trials and persecutions” Acts 14:22 TPT.
This scripture reveals a couple of things:
- This scripture is not suggesting a future tense kingdom but one that is accessible now.
- It also reveals HOW we are to avoid the oppression of the age. Not that there won’t be oppression, but how we, as believers avoid it – by entering deeper into God’s kingdom realm.
BUT let’s be honest, it’s easy to live according to what’s going on around us. Just look around you… social media, the news, the paper (for those of you who still do that).
We’re so “tuned in” that we’re “tuned out”
The stats are in…
The facts are in…
Our past is in…
Not only is the struggle real, it – “THE THING” is real!
That being said, I have a question for you:
What’s your THING?
Maybe your “THING” is a lack of resources. Maybe it’s your marriage on the verge of a divorce or the literal loss of a loved one. Maybe your “THING” is something that’s been with you for a decade or heck, a lifetime…
Or is it?! Is THE THING we’re looking at really THE THING or is what we’re looking at only face value. Now, what does that mean, “face value?”
FACE VALUE: This is something you accept and believe to be true, without thinking much about it.
But throughout Jesus’ ministry, he was constantly getting people to see differently, and he invited them to do this by rearranging the way that they thought. Then, he had this way of giving them the keys to heaven by giving them EYES TO SEE, also known as: Spiritual Eyes.
Spiritual eyes is having the capacity to perceive spiritual realities. It’s seeing things as God sees them – from heaven’s vantage point… from heaven’s realities… from the reality of Jesus – this is also called faith!
Capacity – the ability to hold or contain
Wisdom – knowledge WITH the capacity to make use of it – the space, the awareness, the spiritual eyes for it.
When we have spiritual eyes, we no longer see things at FACE VALUE… it’s not about THE THING…
It’s also called:
THE THING ABOVE THE THING!!!
This is feasting on heaven’s realities.
This is “seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness”
This is “entering into the realm of God’s kingdom, today!”
What the? Who? When? How?
This is something that has been given to us through the manifestation and realities of Jesus.
And it’s something that we have been given, we must practice, and we must learn to pay attention to.
Why? Because whatever you focus on becomes the reality in which you live from. If I’m focused on what’s going on around me, guess what reality I live from… this one!
If I focus on the past, guess what reality I live from? That one! But if I focus on heaven’s realities… literally what God is doing, guess what reality I live from? His!
“Well, that is just spiritual irresponsibility,” you say.
I’m sorry but if heaven is irresponsible and wrong, then I don’t want to be right! Personally, I don’t think we need one more person being “responsible” by way of the past or even the current world we’re living in. Last I checked, this is NOT the world I want Jesus to come back to. We’ve got 3-4 BILLION people who don’t know his name… 7,000 people groups, and too many more living way below the survival line that Jesus NEVER intended.
You’ve got YOUR THING…. But we know, and we believe, and we trust in, and scripture says, JESUS HAS HIS THING!!
What does that mean?
We’ve got a bridge to build.
A bridge? Yes.
A bridge. A bridge between your thing and HIS THING!!!
What’s the bridge and how do we do that?
Bridge the Gap
“From now on you all will see an open heaven and gaze upon the Son of Man like a stairway reaching into the sky with the messengers of God climbing up and down upon him!” John 1:51 TPT
This is an obvious reference to “Jacob’s ladder” as the fulfillment of his dream found in Gen 28:10-22: “Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
The AMP says, Then He said to him, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man [the bridge between heaven and earth].”
How do we do that?
WE BRIDGE THE GAP
We partner with his word!!!
THIS. This is the power of a God given dream. The power of a prophetic word. The power of recognizing that the day we get a dream and the day that dream manifests are two different days. This is giving YOUR THING for HIS THING! And we HAVE to be ok that sometimes our dreams are for US, sometimes they are for others, for this lifetime, they’re generational, and sometimes are dreams are eternal. What we CANNOT do is put our own timeline on it. Our will, our way, and our time is always “YESTERDAY God” but God’s will, way, and time can be confirmed as perfect, yet… not ours.
We don’t just take things at FACE VALUE…
We don’t look at our past or our behavior… we don’t look at circumstances or the GIANT in front of us…
We FIX our eyes on the heavenly realms!
Do you know what that’s called:
THE THING ABOVE THE THING!
We must Fix our eyes on HIS THING, Exchange our THING for HIS THING, and then we must join him in bridging the gap.
“Our heavenly father dwelling in the heavenly realms. May the glory of your name be the center on which our lives turn.” THAT REALM.
It goes onto say “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” But that is AFTER we FIX our eyes on his realm sooooooooo that this realm doesn’t eat us alive in the process.
Do you know that the word FIX means: fasten (something) securely in a particular place or position; decide or settle on (a specific price, date, course of action, etc.).
It also means: an awkward situation from which it is hard to extricate oneself; a predicament; a dose that one is addicted to.
I don’t know about you but of all the addictions to choose from, there is NONE I would rather choose then the heavenly realm! Jesus himself.
In the book of Acts, they said to Paul, “So much Scripture has made you senseless.” Acts 26:24 TPT
Do you know what he said, “No, Your Excellency, I am not crazy. I speak the words of truth and reason.” Words of sober truth!
The world’s got facts, but we’ve got TRUTH! And when we know TRUTH (which has a name, it’s Jesus), then we are free!!
This is what it means to be people so heavenly minded so we can do earthly good! We enter in to the realm of God’s kingdom… We SEE the THING ABOVE THE THING!
“From now on you will see…” This is spiritual sight.
This is not literal sight. This is not intellect. This is not social media. This is sight to see beyond what we can see.
THE BRIDGE BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH.
Why is this important?
For so many reasons:
- It confirms the power of dreaming with God
- It confirms that God always fulfills his word – in his will, his way, and his timing
- It confirms that God is giving us access into his spiritual realm, his kingdom
- It confirms that we cannot SEE with our physical eyes but must learn to see with our spiritual eyes… WHICH MEANS: We cannot take things as FACE VALUE. We must exchange our THING for HIS THING (the thing above the thing)
- It confirms we are to govern!
GOVERNING
NOTE: We aren’t given spiritual eyes for survival purposes or just to barely get by.
This is for his glory. This is for GOVERNANCE.
When scripture says, ““It is necessary for us to enter into the realm of God’s kingdom, because that’s the only way we will endure many trials and persecutions.”
It means it!!
And your desire to overcome and endure must transcend circumstances – THE THING because you’re ability to overcome is necessary for the body of Christ to GOVERN!!!! AKA walk in freedom!
Govern, conduct the policy of, actions, and affairs of; administer; carry out.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1
Listen carefully: I have given you authority [that you now possess] to tread on serpents and scorpions, and [the ability to exercise authority] over all the power of the enemy (Satan); and nothing will [in any way] harm you.
That means the trials you are experiencing are expanding your soul to govern in new levels, to walk in greater authority, based upon HEAVEN’s VALUE… the THING ABOVE THE THING.
I know you’ve been through alot, I know your past hurts, I know circumstances look bleak, I know you don’t intellectually know the answer…
BUT GOD.
He who lives ABOVE THE THING is alive and working in and through you but he needs your participation, your belief in bridging this gap.
He doesn’t want you to just “get an answer” from him. He wants you to walk in authority and GOVERN!
You are to GOVERN, conduct the policy of, administer, carry out heaven’s realities! Did you catch that?!?!
Binding and Loosing
This is the binding and loosing principle.
He wants you to LOOSE heaven’s realities everywhere you go!!!
The word says, “He raised us up with Christ the exalted One, and we ascended with him into the glorious perfection and authority of the heavenly realm for we are now co-seated as one with Christ! Throughout the coming ages we will be the visible display of the infinite, limitless riches of his grace and kindness, which was showered upon us in Christ Jesus” Ephesians 2:6-7 TPT
This is what the GLORY OF GOD means.
Glory is his holiness. It’s defining in a non-definitive, can’t ultimately be measured, intrinsic, inestimable value of God. It’s his infinite worth, his perfect value.
NOTE: It says that we will be the visible display of his GLORY!!!!!!
“For it was only through this wonderful grace that we believed in him. Nothing we did could ever earn this salvation, for it was the gracious gift from God that brought us to Christ! So no one will ever be able to boast, for salvation is never a reward for good works or human striving. We have become his poetry, a re-created people that will fulfill the destiny he has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfill it!” Ephesians 2:8-10
This is how we bridge the gap between heaven and earth… we step into the inheritance, believing it fully, based upon what we SEE in Jesus.
“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:19
You’ve got the keys – it’s access to THE THING ABOVE THE THING.
The whole world is waiting…
In Romans, Paul says, “I am convinced that any suffering we endure is less than nothing compared to the magnitude of glory that is about to be unveiled within us. The entire universe is standing on tiptoe, yearning to see the unveiling of God’s glorious sons and daughters! For against its will the universe itself has had to endure the empty futility resulting from the consequences of human sin. But now, with eager expectation, all creation longs for freedom from its slavery to decay and to experience with us the wonderful freedom coming to God’s children” Romans 8:18-21 TPT
We do it all for his glory!!!
This is the value of heaven.
This is what we see.
This is the thing above all things.
This is what enables us to bridge the gap between heaven and earth.
The glory of God.
MAKE IT PRACTICAL
Anger is happening in your household… what’s THE THING ABOVE THE THING?!
Depression is happening within you… what’s THE THING ABOVE THE THING?!
The industry you’re in is crumbling… what’s THE THING ABOVE THE THING?!
You are not clear on what to do next… what’s THE THING ABOVE THE THING?!
Sure, be aware of what “the thing” is, but then take it to God’s word and begin to ask him, WHAT DO YOU SAY GOD? What is YOUR THING ABOVE THE THING?!
Begin to train yourself to say, “God, what are you doing here and what do you want me to do about it?!”
Look at THE THING.
Then, learn to see THE THING ABOVE THE THING.
And together, let’s bridge the gap! Be sure to catch the entire sermon HERE.
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