Cdc 27th April Implication of Our Upward Calling

[background music] [Speaker 1] Church and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home for himself. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 2] Lord, we have come again to your presence. We ask, O Lord, that you open our eyes to see Jesus. We ask, O Lord, that you grant to us understanding. We ask, O Lord, that the word of life, the ancient word, will impact us in the name of Jesus. And at the end, O Lord, our life will be better than when we came. Thank you, Father, for hearing us. In Jesus' name we pray. Praise the Lord. We thank God for another opportunity to learn at his feet this evening. And today, we want to build on what God has been telling us in the past few weeks. The topic before us this evening is the implication of our upward calling. Last week Monday, we were also made to see, having known that we worth more than many sparrows and that the position Christ placed us in our new life that we got in him is a position of a great height where we have the same spirit with God himself. And that is a great implication for living. We also see that if the death of Christ—while we were his enemy, he saved us by his death—how much more now that we are saved, that we will be saved by his life? So having considered this great privilege, you will agree with me that it is indeed an upward calling from our base life to a high calling of God. Apostle Paul said that's the reason why he pressed towards the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. So our calling is indeed a high calling. Thank God for all the good things, the assurance we have in him. But this has implication for living. The position we are placed in Christ Jesus has great implication for you and I to live here on earth. And if you look at Galatians 2:20, Galatians 2:20 talk about, "I have been crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." That is the life we have now. The life we live now is no longer ours; it's the life of Christ. And it implies that we can't just live anyhow. It's the life of Christ. Our life must keep connecting to the life of God. We also saw last week that by the life of Jesus, we will be much more saved. When we were still unbelievers, when we were still dead in sin, Jesus' death brought us to life. And the life now that we have is no longer ours; it's the life of the Son of God who died for us. And that means for us to keep enjoying the much more benefit, we must get connected to that life, the life of Jesus. We get connected to Jesus who has given us the life that we live now. Another implication that we could see here is that in Ephesians 2:10—a lot of implication, but I want to narrow down today to this to make us see reason why our upward calling is very important and what we have to do here to ensure that we fulfill the very purpose for which Christ called you. Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." There are good things God has planned long ago. When you were born in sin, when you were conceived in sin, God has planned good things, but our nature of sins, when we were still in darkness, dead in sin, we couldn't perform that work. But having been saved, now he has made us his masterpiece to do the good things he planned for us long ago. He went further in another scripture says God's purpose in all this was to use you, the church in general, to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. God saved you to showcase you to principalities and powers that you can live the life of God, that you have control, you have overcome sin, and that you can even rule your world living the life Jesus wants every man to live. And that can only be achieved in him. And now you have him. So these are implication for us as believers. If you cannot conquer your own world, how will you be able to conquer the world? But with us having this understanding that the Lord has saved us to showcase us, we are God's wisdom showing to powers of darkness that even here on earth, the godly can still rule. We will see children that will live the life of God, that the seed of God in them is in them and they live the correct life. All this purpose in which Christ saved you to show forth his glory, to bring glory to him, to showcase to principalities and powers the manifold wisdom of God, for you to live victoriously and also to bring deliverance to others, I know I've not perfected in that. I don't know of you. But will you ask yourself if indeed you have achieved or you are walking truly in all this purpose? Are you really carrying out the upward calling? Are we really fulfilling the purpose in which we have been saved? Are we disappointing God? And that is the reason why the Lord is calling us to show us this evening how we can live our life to accomplish these purposes. How then will I be able to do this upward calling? How then will I be able to do it better? If you have been doing it, thank God for that. How can I be able to do it better to fulfill the purpose of God, to show forth his praise, to conquer my world and the whole world, to bring man to the light of Christ, to be a living example so that they will see little Jesuses all around, they will see God in me? I want us to read Colossians 3:1-2. Colossians 3:1-2: "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." That is Colossians 3:1-2. And Apostle Paul was talking to the Colossians Christians here, and he's also talking to us as believers. It's not that Apostle Paul was doubting the new life of believers by saying, "if ye then be risen," but he's trying to call our attention to the new way of life expected of you and I, the new way of life that now if you have been risen, now that you are no longer dead in sin, you are a new creation. Then there's a responsibility. For you to be able to carry out the very purpose of your calling, to walk in the upward calling in which Christ called you, to be able to show forth the wisdom of God, to live the life of Jesus, then we must seek those things which are above and not beneath. After resurrection comes ascension. If ye then be risen, that is resurrection. But we are not to limit it there. Our ascension is very important. Thank God for our Lord Jesus; when he died, he resurrected, he ascended to heaven. He ascended to heaven because the remaining of his work was to be done from there, making intercession for the saints, for you and I, before he comes to judge the world. But he did not go alone. Bible talks about us being seated with Christ Jesus in the heavenly places over principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, spiritual wickedness in high places and all powers. So having resurrected, having a new life with Christ, it's not sufficient. We are not to just remain there. Our daily ascension—we have been seated, we have been made seated. You know what that implies? You have a citizenship passport in heaven. Remember when Jacob was leaving his father, going to Haran when he was running away from Esau. He got to a point that there was—he slept and in a dream he saw a ladder and he said he saw angels going up and down and God, the Lord was at the top. It was the Lord at the end in heaven, top there, that gave him instruction and gave him promises. That he could remember that Jacob was not able to go. He only saw angels going up and down. He did not have the power of ascension. But thanks be to God, Jesus gave us that. He wasn't a citizen of heaven; we are because we were made seated. When you give your life to Christ, Jesus takes you up and you have a seat, seated with him in the heavenly places. That is our spiritual state. And you know the spiritual controls the physical. Bible says everything we need for life, it has been given, given unto us all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. So everything about our living here is stored for us. And he took us there, he gave us a place and gave us access. We are not like Jacob that cannot just go; he only saw angels going up and down. We, we can ascend. We should be going daily. We should be going every moment because we are citizen of heaven, because we have a seat, we have been made seated with him in heavenly places. So after resurrection, having given your life to Christ, if you just sit down there and don't daily ascend the throne of God, coming into his presence, tuning your frequency to that of heaven, connecting heaven. So the ascension Jesus has given us the way. He's the way to the Father. He did not stop there. When he left, he left us with the Spirit of God. And that is God himself dwelling on the inside of us so that we will always have the connectivity, the link to heaven. But how many of us are using that? And that is the reason why he said now that you have been risen, don't just sit here on earth thinking you are earthly. The reason why we have not been taken away immediately we gave our life to Christ is because the purpose of our salvation is first here to showcase us, to prove that people can live a victorious Christian life over sin, over the devil, over his works. And through us many could be saved. And that is the reason why we are here. But we are here does not mean our mode of operation comes from here. And that's the reason why you must seek. If you don't constantly seek things that are above, you won't be able to display what is up here on earth. You won't be able to show forth the glory of God. You won't be able to showcase the power of God. You won't be able to live the life of Christian. We are not earthly. Though we live on earth, we are not of the earth. By our new life in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are citizen of heaven. All we need to fulfill our purpose has been freely given to us in the heavenly realm. But your ascension, your connection to heaven is very, very important for you to be able to bring them to bear over your life and your calling here on earth. The Lord will help us in Jesus' name. Amen. The principles and constitution of our living, they are not earthly. That is another implication for us to be able to live the upward calling, the heavenly call to be able to do the purpose of God. The principle and constitution for our living is not earthly. Just like I earlier said, our modus operandi is not earthly. What we need to do is that it is our duty to seek them out. God says he has given to us all spiritual blessings. There's another passage in the Bible that talks about when Jesus was speaking to the disciples, to the people while he was on earth. He was speaking to the people in parable. And the disciple asked him, "Why did you speak to them in parable?" And he said, "Unto you, unto them," he said they who do have eyes they will not see, they won't get understanding. "But to you," he was addressing the disciples, those who have given their life to Christ, and that includes you and I that have surrendered our life to the Lord Jesus. He said, "Unto you is given the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven." So these mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places, all that God has given to us in Christ Jesus, they are there stored for us. But it's our duty to seek them out. It's our duty to know all. And we cannot know where we don't seek. I also have here, when I looked at some things that we can say things that are above, there are a lot of things above. Bible says where Christ is seated, we have the Godhead, we have all our spiritual blessings. Bible says they are in heavenly realm. These are things that are above. Not only that, Bible also talk of all spiritual blessings. That is the reason why we must seek those things that are above. What are the other things that are above? These spiritual blessings include your pardon, such as our pardon, peace, our righteous life, our glory, which are in heavenly places in him. Can you see? If you don't seek them, how will you know? How will you be able to know all that God has really given to you? Then another thing about things that are above, he also talks about his doctrine and ordinances, the doctrine and ordinances of God which comes from heaven and are the means of supporting our spiritual and heavenly life. How many of us pay attention to search out and seek the ordinances? Nowadays, people don't even pay attention to that again. Ordinances and doctrines of the kingdom we belong. These are things that are heaven. Some of the things again are also bread of life. The bread of life which came down from heaven, which is Christ. And we also have the living word, which is the word of life that we have, the word of God. We also have part of the things that are heaven is also glory, honor, immortality, eternal life, the crown of righteousness that are laid up above, the kingdom of God and the righteousness of it. All these things and many more are things that are above. You also have things that are above to be the work of righteousness, the gift and the grace of God through Christ Jesus. These are just some of the things that are above. The power of God, the knowledge of his will, these are the things we must seek. And until we seek them, we will not be able to perform to expectation what God expect us to do here on earth. The reason being that we are not earthly. We are seated, our real being have been taken along, Jesus took us and made us seated there. So what we need to do the work of God here on earth is not on earth. We need to always get connected to heaven, daily ascension to be able to get what we need. Remember Jesus as example for us. While he was on earth, Bible made us to see that even when he was talking to the Pharisees, he knows their mind. When he's doing this said, "I have come to do the work of him that has sent me." Said, "What I see my Father doing, that I do." How was he able to do that? For the thirty-three years on earth, there was no time he traveled to heaven physically. But he was always connected in the place of prayer, in the place of meditation. And that is just simply how you and I suppose to keep seeking the things that are above, doing all this by exercising our faith, exercising your faith. When you daily depend on the word of God and act on the word of God, you are ascending. You are ascending the hill of God. When you are in obedience, how do you take the word of God? How do you take instruction from God? When you submit, you obey simple instruction, as simple as the instruction could be. As you're obeying, you are seeking the things of above. As you're obeying, you are ascending the hills of God. And not only that, by reading, studying and meditation on his word. We saw that in the life of Christ. He will withdraw for prayer and study. The Lord is challenging us how to seek him today so that we will be able to live the life of Christ. That is the implication for our upward calling. It is not just a mere word. I could remember in the time of—in the Kings, when the time of Elisha and the king of Syria. It got a time they were asking—the king discovered that every of their plan, the king of Israel will know all their plan. So he now asked his people, "Who among you is betraying us?" And the people—his subjects told him, "Ah, it is not we, oh. It is Elisha. Everything you are planning in your bedroom is always laid bare before him. He knows every of your movement, even from Israel. He knows everything you are doing." And that is the connection we are talking about here. That is the connection we are talking about here. That is just a man of like passion. He's just also an earthly treasure. Even in our own dispensation, we have a greater, greater opportunity. The Lord is calling us to seek the things that are above by daily giving attention, reading, meditating on his word. The Lord will help us in Jesus' name. Amen. Another way by which we seek him to be able to fulfill our purpose here so that we will not just be preaching the word of God with mere words but demonstration of God's power is also in prayer. Prayer. The Bible tell us to pray without ceasing. We also saw that in the life of Jesus. He will rise up very early while before date to pray. That is the place in which we receive strength. The place of prayer is the place of inspiration, is the place of direction, is the place of refueling. So by seeking the things of above, you can only do that by prayer, not by playing, but by prayer. Then another way is by obedience to the word of God, by also living by the Holy Spirit. I want to enjoy you, maybe you are here or you are listening to me and you are not filled with the Holy Spirit. What I mean by this—when you give your life to Christ, you have the Spirit of God in you. You have a measure of his Spirit. But honestly, Bible talks about being filled with the Holy Spirit, what happened to the apostles on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon them and they began to speak in tongues. That is our strength for the journey. That is a important strength in the place of prayer. So we need the Holy Spirit for direction. How much of him do you seek? Seek him, obey him in the place of prayer. Obedience to him any time he give you that nudge. Are you listening? Do you despise the Holy Spirit? If you do so, you are not seeking the things that are above. Then another thing for our affection, how can I set my affection? You know the Bible talks about where your treasure is, there will your heart be. And that has implication for what you seek after. If your treasure is not on things above, it will be very difficult for you to seek as the Lord expect you to seek him. If your treasure is on earthly things, it is on earthly things, the depraved appetite that reign in earthly men—if that is your treasure, riches and what we do, all that is the glamour of this earth—if that is your treasure, if that is your affection, you will look down. You will be searching, running after them, rat race, seeking them because that is where your affection is. And that is the reason why our affection has great implication to what we seek after. So the Lord is also encouraging us. When he has told us that now that you have resurrected, you have to ascend. And where to ascend to is to heaven, seeking the things that are heaven. He also made us to see that he knows that if affection is in different place, that is where you will seek because where your treasure is, there will your heart be. So verse two told us think about things that are above, set your affection on things that are above and not on things on the earth. It means you should mind the things above, favor the things that are above. You know we have mentioned some things few of the things that are above: the way of righteousness, the crown of righteousness, the ordinances, your righteousness, your pardon, all that Christ has done for you, the blessings of God, spiritual blessings in the heavenly realm, your future home, your glorious home where there is no thief, no robber, no moth can rust them. A lot about the things above. And to set our affection to be on them, we must mind them. You know what you mind? You must be conscious, carefully seek them out. You must favor them. You know what it means to favor something? When you are between two choices: the choice to do something and the choice to meditate on the word of God. If you seek the things above, your affection on things above, you will favor meditation to just playing around. You will favor obedience to satisfy your lustful desire or the things of the world. So you favor the things above. That is what it means to set affection. To affectionately desire the things above, you are also to be concerned about the things above, concerned about the things of God, concerned about the name of the Lord, the glory of God, concerned about his ways, concerned about his work. These are ways by which we set our affection on him. You also seek after him, the high price and value them. The Lord will help us as we do so in the name of Jesus. Where your treasure is, I've earlier said, there will your heart be. And what does it mean? When he said set your heart on things above and not on things beneath. What does it mean not to set our heart on things—we have just mentioned the things beneath. They are depraved appetite which reign in earthly men. You are not an earthly man. You are not an earthly woman. You only live here on earth. You are a citizen of heaven. So your appetite, the depraved appetite of the earth should not reign in your heart, such as anything you can think about—riches, honor, glamour—fine, the Lord can bless us with them. But God expects us to hold them loosely. He said you use them as if you didn't use them. That is what we see in 1 Corinthians 7:29-31. He was talking about them using them as if they never—I want us to open to the place. 1 Corinthians 7:29-31. 1 Corinthians 7:29-31. But this I say, brethren, the time is short: so that from now on, even those who have wives should be as though they had not; those who weep as though they did not weep; those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice; those who buy as though they did not possess; and those who use this world as not misusing it. For the form of this world is passing away. This was said long ago when Apostle Paul was telling the Corinthians how to live their life. You can imagine now that exhortation is much more relevant to us now because we are at the end. So the Lord—when we even here on earth the things of the earth, use them as though you did not use them. Don't be bound by it. Let your affection be on things above. Then another way by which you will not be able to—you'll be able to set your affection on things above is to flee from earthly pleasure that are sinful. Do not gratify and indulge worldly lust or carnal desires. You have to work at it. It's a deliberate action. It's a big work that you have to do. You do it consciously. Just as you labor on even things that are legitimate earthly things—you study hard to get success in your academic, you work hard in every of your endeavor—in the same way, you also flee from all this earthly thing that we—you don't indulge worldly lust or carnal desire. Then another way by which you set affection on things above is you make provision, you make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. You know the flesh has its lust and we all know the lust of the flesh in our different life. What is that thing that the flesh is asking you to lust after? As long as it's contrary to the word of God, as long as it is not the will of God, they are lust of the flesh. Do not make provision for them to fulfill their lust. Truly in your mind, live as a sojourner on earth. Don't be bound by this earth. We are sojourners. We have assignment. Jesus had assignment. Our Master came; he lived here, living here as sojourner. He sojourned here and lived correctly because he always get connected to heaven. His roadmap was heaven. Everything he got, the constitution, the principle for living was given from above. In the same vein, that is how we are to live. Don't let the world dictate what you do. That is the problem we have in the church today. And that is the reason why the church is losing its power. It's losing its power because it's the earth, the world system, that give us the roadmap, the principles, and what we do even in the church. When we have been made seated, when we have all in the spiritual realm, we don't ascend daily, we don't get connected in meditation in our daily life to get all that we need for life and godliness that has been given to us. They are there. But we are not connected. And if you are not connected to them, we can't use them. They cannot be available to us because they are treasures. You don't find treasures on the surface. And God don't cast his pearls before people that will not value it. It's given unto you to seek, to long after it, to search after—said blessed are they who long, who thirst after righteousness they shall be filled. Blessed are they who long after the things of heaven, who long to bring, who long to want to bring to bear on everything they do here what God has said in heaven. Said, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Blessed are you if you seek and to get them out. It takes a deliberate work, consciously seeking it, getting into God, daily living in his presence for us to be able to achieve that, to manifest as sons of God. All that we need to manifest as sons have been freely given to us. They are stored for us. They are there for us in the heavenly realms. They are there for us in Christ Jesus. They are there for us in the Holy Spirit. They are there for us in the word of God. They are there for us in the place of prayer. They are there for us in the doctrine and the ordinances of God. They are there for us in meditation, in study, in reading of the word of God. They are there for us in obedience. They are there for us in exercising our faith. And until we get into them, we will not be able to manifest as sons of God. It is high time. The Lord is challenging us. Our world is expecting us. They are expecting you to manifest. They are expecting you to deliver the world, deliver those ones that Christ has died for. Pass on this faith through your life. Pass on this faith to others. And it is in doing this that we are indeed living according to the upward calling in which Christ has called us. May the Lord help us. May the Lord cause us to arise. May the Lord cause us to awake. May the Lord wake us up from the sleep of death and cause us to live the true life that we have. May the Lord cause us to always remember that we are seated in heaven. So not like Jacob that could not ascend the ladder he saw, we are bona fide member of the heavenly kingdom. May the Lord cause us to always ascend the hills of God, always coming into his presence, staying always, connected to heaven to bring the will of God down to be done on earth in Jesus' name we pray. We thank God for today. We bless his holy name, everywhere you are linking and connecting with us. We look forward to having you again next week same time by 5:00 PM. Family Tent Ministry Apostleship class is on Monday 5:00 PM every Monday, just as we are having it this evening. Our Singles Club is every first Saturday. So this coming Saturday we have our Singles Club for 10:00 AM. We believe that if you are single or you have those who are single around you, please tell them to link up. 10:00 AM we'll be on air again for you to have our Singles Club. And don't forget that every second Saturday we'll be having our Marriage Forum. That is for couples, mature singles, those in relationship and those of marriageable age. We expect you to link up with us every second Saturday of the month. Every second Saturday. So this coming Saturday, which is our first Saturday, we're having our Singles Club. We expect you to link up with us by 10:00. The two programs, first Saturday and second Saturday, they come up by 10:00 AM. We trust the Lord that as you link up with us, wherever you are across the globe, it will be a blessed time. Till we see you again, till we link up again together, the Lord preserve us all in Jesus' name. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all now and forevermore. Amen.