John 6:63
John 6:44
Zechariah 4:6
1 Thessalonians 5:23
Ephesians 1:13-14
2 Corinthians 3:18
1 Samuel 16:7
John 2:1-11
Romans 11:36
Romans 8:6-7
Jeremiah 29:11
Galatians 5:22-23
1 Corinthians 2:16
Romans 13:14
Hebrews 11:3
Matthew 10:7-8
2 Corinthians 5:21
Romans 8:16-17
1 John 1:5
Deuteronomy 31:6
Numbers 23:19
Psalm 89:34
Hebrews 13:8
Matthew 12:34
The scent of heaven.
The realization of God’s presence and perspective
Introduction:
Today I want to explore a topic that has captivated the hearts and minds of believers throughout history: finding the presence of God. In our pursuit of a deeper relationship with our Creator, we often seek the assurance of His presence in our lives. We long to experience His love, guidance, and transformative power. So, how can we find the presence of God?
- The separation and the Reunification
Holiness is spiritual life. When Adam ate the fruit, he became unholy, stepped out of faith, and spiritually died. This has been passed down to us and this death created the dividing veal between the holy God and unholy sin. This was indicated in the temple of the Old Covenant with the outer and inner chambers (a separation between the physical and the spiritual). The sacrifice of Jesus tore that veal from top to bottom, signifying the beginning of the New Covenant and the availability of a close relationship with God, through the blood of Jesus and the coming of God’s presence, The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit brings us to Jesus and his word. His word is spirit, and it is life.
John 6:63 New King James Version
63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
- Jesus gives us holiness in the eyes of God by his grace and by the Holy Spirit. We receive holiness by Faith realized, and it brings us to life and salvation. Faith is given by the Holy Spirit through the word of God. No one comes to salvation but by the Holy Spirit.
John 6:44 New King James Version
44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
- Holiness by dependence
How do we obtain and maintain holiness? We have and do by no means of our own!
Zechariah 4:6 New King James Version
6 So he answered and said to me:
“This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel:
‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’
Says the Lord of hosts.
Our spirits have been sealed and made perfect.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 King James Version
23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:13-14 New King James Version
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who[a] is the [b]guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
2 Corinthians 3:18 King James Version
18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
- God’s perspective, the view from Heaven
God looks upon the heart of a person.
Samuel 16:7 New King James Version
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have [a]refused him. For[b] the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” The heart reflects the spirit.
The story of wine vessels at the wedding
John 2:1-11 New King James Version
Water Turned to Wine
2 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 3 And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”
4 Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”
5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”
6 Now there were set there six water pots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. 9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. 10 And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”
11 This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and [a]manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.”
- We are like the empty vessels.
-we have been designed, made, and prepared to receive and hold a specific thing, which is the presence of God by his Spirit.
– Only by the hand of Jesus, is the substance within us made new, transformed into richness and blessing.
– the vessels were the same on the outside but what was in them was a miracle and proclaimed the glory of God, blessing everyone around them.
- Jesus was constrained by Mary to perform the miracle. Even though he wanted to wait, he recognized the love Mary had for her friends and her faith in him to transform a bad circumstance into a miraculous blessing. His love for her and all the others shows how God honors our Love and Faith to him. The result was the Glorification of God! These are the things that God treasures most: Love for him and others, Active and expectant Faith in and through him, and most of all his glory magnified!
Romans 11:36 New Living Translation
- For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.
To see our lives from the Kingdom perspective, (the spiritual perspective), we begin to realize the presence of God with us and in us. This is when we begin to learn the true nature of God and his love for us. To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Romans 8:6-7 King James Version
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
- God said, “I only want good things for you”.
Jeremiah 29:11 King James Version
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
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Imitating the veal
Satan uses the physical world to distract us from the spiritual world and God’s presence:
-Hate
-sadness
-strife, envy
– impatience, selfishness, pride
-evil, iniquity
-unbelief, faithlessness
-harshness of thought and deed
– being headstrong. inconsistent. unruly.
-sickness
-poverty
-deceit
-death, loss
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V. The fountain of Grace
But seen from the Kingdom, they are put in their proper perspective.
Galatians 5:22-23 New King James Version
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 [a]gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Paul wrote that compared to the glory of God in heaven, the sufferings of this world do not compare.
Romans 8:18 New King James Version
From Suffering to Glory
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
- Living in Victory
It is a choice, but we can reach a place with our relationship with God where we have become so close in his embrace and presence, where we no longer must make an effort to choose this perspective. Instead, it becomes a habit, a way of living, a reflex. Because we have allowed the word to bridle our hearts and have put on the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:16 New King James Version
16 For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Romans 13:14 New King James Version
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
When we choose to do this, every action, every breath we take is affected in this physical world and the glory of God is manifested through us.
All of this happens from our submission and obedience to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
We will keep his glorification as our first priority. We will keep Jesus lifted up in everything that we do.
We will be sensitive to the spiritual movements that are influencing everything around us. The spiritual is more real and powerful than the physical.
Hebrews 11:3 New King James Version
3 By faith we understand that the [a]worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
- Walking the path with confidence
Then we notice the scent of heaven and his presence with us always. This begins our walk in confidence and in his authority here on earth.
Matthew 10:7-8 King James Version
7 And as ye go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
- We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:21 King James Version
21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
We must accept our holiness through Christ and will walk in it. We are joint heirs with Christ.
Romans 8:16-17 King James Version
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
God’s presence is only in holiness. He will not occupy an unholy place or vessel.
1 John 1:5 New King James Version
Fellowship with Him and One Another
5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
God is always with us. He never leaves us or forsakes us.
Deuteronomy 31:6 King James Version
6 Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
This being true, and God being unable to lie, if he is with us then he recognizes holiness in us through Christ Jesus.
Numbers 23:19 New King James Version
19 “God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent.
Has He said, and will He not do?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
He made this covenant with us; I will never alter the words that have come out of my mouth.
Psalm 89:34 King James Version
34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Hebrews 13:8 New King James Version
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
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Conclusion
Satan uses the physical world to lie to us. Only if we allow it! We focus our hearts on what we value the most!
Matthew 12:34 New King James Version
34 Brood[a] of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Who do your actions show that you believe? Satan or God? What fruit do you produce in your life? Where is God’s glory evident outwardly in your life?
Let him speak to you about the Holy Spirit to your heart, and with your conscience.
He loves you and beckons you this way.
Choose to repent, (turn away), and turn towards him. Run into his embrace and never let go!
If you are covered in the blood of Jesus Christ, you are holy in the eyes of God, and he is with you! Now you are to glorify God in all things, by doing all things by his faith and in his faith.
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