Notes

Pay attention to positioning.

Good morning, you all look so beautiful. Gentlemen you look dapper. It is so good for us to be gathered here today and believe it or not we have a full house. *Show Cards* Yes I made that joke up and I have been really excited to share it and as I can see I can only hope it went over as well in your homes as it did here this morning. I also want to welcome our special guest. Rick. Unfortunately his body is no longer with us but his head lives on. Now if you are watching this I am needing you to comment "Yeehaw" or "I'm with you sista" or "I believe I can fly" whatever sits right, but let me know you are watching. What I wish is that I had a camera into your homes right now and I could see you back. And I would probably be encouraging a few of you to put some pants on. Now I am going to teach for a moment in an effort to lead up to what I believe is a positioning of thought. Now everyone who is a part of sisterhood would have heard the lead up before and I recently taught this to our young adults ministry. So if you have heard part of this before, how lucky are you because we are going to have a little review.

Alright God creates Adam. He speaks the world into being, and He speaks creation into the world. And he bends down and forms out of dust that had previously been His words, man. And He gives Him purpose. 14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” 17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
The curse. The infamous curse.
And within the curse is the promise of the end of it.
"he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." The enemy is under Christ's feet and though He was crucified this right here prophecies of the enemy's destruction and Christ's victory.
Oh I could preach on that right there, that before your worst days took place, Christ was in place to bring your victory.

And then we have Luke 4:16
14 Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power. Reports about him spread quickly through the whole region. 15 He taught regularly in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.
16 When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. 17 The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:
18
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
19
and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.[f]”
20 He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. 21 Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

Right here I would firstly like to make mention it stands out to me that this happened immediately after Jesus was drawn into the wilderness to be tested and then he reads Isaiah 61. If you have heard me speak for more than forty five minutes I have probably mentioned this scripture. Right here- we see that Jesus brought the prophecy in Isaiah 61 onto the earth.
Isaiah 61:
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me,
for the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted
and to proclaim that captives will be released
and prisoners will be freed.[a]
2
He has sent me to tell those who mourn
that the time of the Lord’s favor has come,[b]
and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.
3
To all who mourn in Israel,[c]
he will give a crown of beauty for ashes,
a joyous blessing instead of mourning,
festive praise instead of despair.
In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks
that the Lord has planted for his own glory.
4
They will rebuild the ancient ruins,
repairing cities destroyed long ago.
They will revive them,
though they have been deserted for many generations.

There is the fulfillment, there is the promise. We have been given access to bring this promise to the Earth.

Matthew 6:9-13 9 Pray like this:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be kept holy.
10
May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.
11
Give us today the food we need,[a]
12
and forgive us our sins,
as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
13
And don’t let us yield to temptation,[b]
but rescue us from the evil one.[c]

So hold on a minute. "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done On earth as it is in Heaven." Jesus was there, He was the fulfillment of all the prophecies. He came to reconcile humanity to God and bring salvation. The kingdom was in the midst of them. And then it goes on "On Earth as it is in Heaven." Jesus is Heaven on Earth. Heaven embodied. God's agenda for mankind wrapped in flesh.

John 16:33 "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

If Jesus had overcome the world why do we have sorrows?

I'm glad you asked.

Because the kingdom has come AND it is coming. The promise was fulfilled and it is being unraveled. John 16:33 "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”


Think about it. If Jesus reversed the curse then why do women have pain in childbirth still? Why do we die at the end of our lives when death was introduced with the curse?

Who in here is married? Have you ever heard the phrase "Well he won that battle but I'm gonna win the war." The thing about Christianity is we won the war and now we battle. The territory has been won. Spiritually speaking the promise has been fulfilled. The curse has been reversed. And we live as Christians who are bringing the kingdom of God to the Earth. We are establishing on Earth as it is in Heaven. This is the tension between two kingdoms. We aren't in Heaven yet. But we aren't in Hell either. We are establishing Heaven on the Earth.

This is really encouraging to me because growing up I struggled in my faith. I knew God had promises available but I saw good and Godly people pass away. I have friends who miscarried babies. I saw evidence of the curse. And those unanswered prayers or the trials that came tested my faith because I was so black and white, this or that in my understanding of the establishment of the kingdom. SO why do bad things happen to good people?

This has been the most widely used question when I have talked about my faith with non Christian friends. "If God is real then why are there starving children in the world?" War, poverty, cancer. "If God is real then why did my grandmother get dementia?" "Why did my loved one die of cancer?" "If God is real then why are we in the middle of a pandemic?"

When this question is asked don't judge, LOVE. It is asked out of concern and quite often hurt and because of hurt accusation against God. Haven't we all prayed at some time or another "God if you heal this person I will never sin again" or "If you are real heal me"

The enemy works in unmet expectations. And when we are disappointed if we aren't on guard our minds can be the enemy's playground.

Because Adam and Eve brought a curse onto the world through disobedience and because of that Christians now battle to establish the kingdom of God onto the Earth.

The power of Choice:

Now what if I leave church and I decide to drink a bottle of crown and proceed to poke my own eye out. And let's say with one eye I head to my optometrist and I share with him the gospel and he gets saved. "Everything happens for a reason.". did that need to happen? No I poked my own eye out. And if my optometrist gets saved because of it I would say that's God bringing good out of the bad.
John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Scripture also tells us that He makes the crooked path straight. No matter how many mistakes you have made. No matter how many chances you have needed. Surrender wherever you find yourself and commit your ways to Him and He will lead you to good.

The power of misused authority: If I walk up to my Mom and poke her eye out right now. Did God make me do it or did I literally just poke her eye out? Now what if with her eye she joins a support group and that entire support group finds Christ. Did God ordain that I poke out her eye? Sounds to me a lot more like He knew in advance what I was going to do and drew the hearts of the others in the support group towards himself.
Think about Christine Caine for a second. She was sexually abused for over a decade and she went on to establish A21 ministries which is actively working to abolish sexual slavery in the 21st century. Did God ordain that she be abused so that her heart would be turned towards bringing others freedom? NO. He saw in advance that His precious daughter would be harmed because someone used their authority to harm her and He brought her into wholeness and placed within her heart the dream of bringing others into wholeness.

Mystery: If there was a formula for answered prayer this would be easy. But there is no formula. There is faith, there is wisdom, there is the Holy Spirit and we are somewhere in between the fulfilment of the promise and the final coming of the kingdom.
There is a lot of power in saying "I don't know but one day I will know." There is the level of mystery that there are some things we will never understand and we will be able to sit with our compassionate God and have Him explain it to us face to face eventually.

I love the scripture that says in Hebrews that says "This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most."

Our mindset about His nature is vital. I want you to think about Daniel 3:13-16 13 Then Nebuchadnezzar flew into a rage and ordered that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought before him. When they were brought in, 14 Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you refuse to serve my gods or to worship the gold statue I have set up? 15 I will give you one more chance to bow down and worship the statue I have made when you hear the sound of the musical instruments.[f] But if you refuse, you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace. And then what god will be able to rescue you from my power?”
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. 18 But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”

Faith beyond the outcome. Faith that says even if not right now I know I will see the goodness of God.

SO we read:
John 14:12
12 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. 13 You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. 14 Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!

James 1:2-4 MSG: Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

1 Peter 1:6-7: So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
Romans 12:12 Let your hope keep you joyful, be patient in your troubles, and pray at all times.
James 1:12 God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

This is the tension between kingdoms. The now and the not yet.
And now I will preach.
God sees you right now. He sees where you've been planted and your obstacles have never taken Him by surprise. This God who never meant you harm but only good has planned in advance blessing for you. And no matter where you find yourself this Sunday morning, no matter how dire the circumstances, This God has planned in advance to make your crooked paths straight. He has planned in advance to use this problem in your life as positioning. This set back as a set up for your future. Nothing is wasted when it is surrendered.

Let's think for a moment about the Civil War. The Civil war was surrounded by Robert E. Lee on April 9th, 1865, but it took 16 months for the war to actually end in August 1866. Think about the issue of racism. The end of the civil war declared that slavery was abolished. And yet The civil rights movement that ended segregation started in 1955. Many people listening to this right now remember it. Nearly a hundred years later. The war was won, but racism is still a stain that we get to eradicate as we establish justice on Earth as it is in Heaven.

And I want to draw your attention for a moment to my personal hero. Harriet Tubman. Did God desire for her to be a slave? No. Someone used their dominion that was tied up in legal rights to use them against humankind and have slaves. But our God who saw in advance spoke to her and wove bravery and courage into her heart and she pioneered the underground railroad bringing freedom to other slaves. She is my hero and I want you to watch the movie Harriet.
There are people listening to this who are enslaved in sin, you are enslaved in depression, you are enslaved in generational curses and God is using you as a pioneer to rewrite your family's legacy.

So I want you to think about Esther. A young, jewish orphan who is put in the ultimate beauty contest against her will and who finds favor above every other contestant to become the queen. And at the same time an evil man in leadership has put in place a demonic plan that every single woman, child, member of the jewish nationality was to be annihilated and that whoever killed them could keep their property and possessions.

In Esther 4, This young girl is asked by her uncle to go and beg for her people's life and her response is: “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.” 12 When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, 13 he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

So for a Christian in 2020, in the middle of a pandemic. Light shines brightest in the darkness. This virus did not take God by surprise. He is positioning you. He has positioned you for such a time as this. Your purpose stands. The mission to reach the lost, to love everyone we can, to bring light in dark and to be a city on a hill, STILL STANDS. You have been positioned for this. This seems like a set back but how do you know this isn't a set up for God to bring it to good and when He restores what has been stolen it is SO much more than what we could have imagined.

Think for a minute about the climate when Jesus entered Earth. The roman empire was conquering everyone. And the jews were crying out for the Messiah to be sent so that the roman empire could be overthrown but Jesus came as a child, as a servant. And the entire time God was positioning the spread of the gospel through the Pax Romana just before Christ's birth which brought peace from war for nearly 200 years, the Romans paved roads all over and made people groups more easily accessible and the brought Hellenism and Greek became a Universal language for all of the countries that the Roman Empire conquered. On the outside it looked very much like God had abandoned them. But He was positioning the spread of the gospel. What the Jewish people's enemy brought- PAVED the gospel. That is positioning.

The church is currently in a climate of positioning, We have left the building and all of a sudden I see it like a Global positioning that the church is rising up. It's like all of a sudden we are remembering that we aren't just called to sit in a servive, we are called to establish the kingdom of God on the Earth. This will cause the church to go from luke warm to hot. Believers faith is stronger than ever, and I see this step back from our usual gathering funneling a fury to find ways to connect globally, and all of a sudden it seems as if the gospel is spreading like wildfire and we are passionate to spread it and to connect to it. This is positioning. I believe that when we look back at the Great Revival that is about to take place that we will be able to see that this pandemic worked in our favor the same way the road system worked in the favor of the early church.

"There was a prophecy shared recently from 1986 from David Wilkerson who said "I see a plague coming on the world, and the bars, churches and government will be shut down. The plague will hit New York City and shake it like it has never been shaken. The plague is going to force prayerless believers into radical prayer and into their Bibles, and repentance will be the cry from the man of God in the pulpit. And out of it will come a third Great Awakening that will sweep America and the world."