God's Plan | Philip Anthony Mitchell

hi and welcome to the victory Church podcast if this ministry has been a blessing for you please consider supporting the spread of the gospel by visiting us online and choosing the giving option that works best for you and you have a testimony we'd love to hear it send us an email to share at victory Church 80 on that board again thank you for tuning in and we hope you enjoyed this message [Music] [Applause] supposed to be preaching a sermon in the last week of our series Conclave and I just want to speak some words out of burning in my spirit as I feel like those of us who are Christians who are followers of Jesus I feel like there's some things that need to break in us and we need to close out this series on our knees I believe it was Helen Keller Addams [Music] at the age of 19 19 months of wood my history serve me correctly she suffered an acute sickness in her stomach in her brain and cause it to be death and [Music] my history serves us correctly she was the first person ever graduate with a four-year degree being both death and boy she is remembered for being a great author [Music] activist but probably when I think about Helen Keller she came to me at the moment [Music] think about the line that she's remembered for the most that the only thing worse than being born blind [Music] is heaven sight with no vision [Music] context vision is not what I see with the eyes in my sake vision then is what I see with the eyes of the Spirit it is what I see in my heart is my ability to perceive something that I cannot really see what my natural eyeballs and she said that the only thing worse than being born blind is a habit sight and no vision right and proverbs says where there is no vision people cast off or straight that is where there is no vision where a person cannot see their exercise no self-control [Music] and in this series you know I feel something just burning in my heart to say in this moment you know [Music] it was my study of the book of Revelation four months into my salvation with Jesus in November 2004 it was must study my intense study for almost a year of the book of Revelation that gave me vision and opened my eyes to see that in the world around me there are two narratives unfolding in the world around me and every time I turn on the news and every time I travel and every time I go in social media all around me I see with my natural eyes when everybody else see but with my spiritual eyes I see a vision unfolding that people are not paying attention to that in the natural [Music] the news is happening and in the natural nations are doing what they feel like they need to do but in the spirit what I see is a second narrative God who is sovereign who is intent to execute His perfect will independent of the perfect will independent of the free will of human beings is working through everything happening in the earth to bring all of humanity to the culmination the very end of the fulfillment of the scriptures and so I see things like the rise of plastic and the disappearing of cash money and people say that all our society is becoming cashless and that's what people see with the natural eye but with my spiritual eye I see through the spirit the preparing for the end in which the scripture says there will be one world currency which cannot happen with different paper and must happen with plastic and the natural people seek government's aligning and coming together but with my spiritual eye I see what revelation prophesize of one world government [Music] and the natural we see nations coming together for Orson and in the spirit I see no fallin in the scriptures and so I watch the news with two sets of us eyes to see what's happening in the natural eyes to see what's happening [Music] it was the Apostle Paul who said it is see that great dragon serpent [Music] blinds the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that is for all of us outside of the kingdom of God scripture says that we have natural sight we don't have spiritual vision [Music] I said to you in the beginning of a series that those of us who are inside the kingdom the scripture uses words like salt light qu Royall chosen to describe you and if these are the adjectives the scripture used to describe the believer that nothing about you is ordinary and at one of the greatest challenges we have is our lack of identity when there is no identity there's no sense of self there's no sense of guidance there's no sense of understanding one's purpose one's position in the earth was the Apostle Paul who also wrote to the church at Corinth this scripture I think y'all have it from last week's 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17 he said therefore we have that from last week therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation the old is gone and the newest can't pause for the years I've read this passage I've read this passage for some 13 years I have only understood it from one context that I've always preached this passage even here in this church I've used this passage to say that if someone is in Christ the old is gone and the new has come and I've only saw that to say if I'm saved then my old life is gone and now my new life has come and now I am a believer I get to live out my purpose in Christ and I've only seen it from that context but if I read the verse in its entirety and it's in full context if anyone is in Christ if anyone is in Christ if Klaus if anyone is in Christ if anyone is sitting in this room was sitting behind me if you belong to Jesus if you are in Christ and the old is gone what is gone your priorities are gone [Music] your will is God your fleshly desires our God the things that you wanted apart from Christ are gone your old will apart from God is gone that is everything that I wanted that is outside of his will he said those things are gone and if I'm new and tries to the new that has come is not just the principles of Jesus but the priorities of Jesus it's not enough to preach his principles if we don't adopt his priorities and so if I am in Christ my will my desires my former priorities they are gone now what I thought was best for me is gone and if I wanted to be a lawyer and that's not his will that's gone if I want to be a mother is not his will for me to have children that's gone and if I wanted to be an athlete and that's not his will for me that's gone and if I wanted to be a businessman and that's not his will for me that's gone and I finally want to be whatever I wanted to do and if that's not his will for me all of that is gone that when I was saved when I was rescued when he ransom me from darkness and sin that he bought the right to now exchange my former priorities for his and so now my identity is not my former priorities and it's not the house that I want or the socio-economic status that I'm craving what a job that I'm pursuing I want to be married so bad I want to be the top at the exelon of the socioeconomic status if I get those things is life good and if I don't still praise God because now those things are no longer my priority but if I understand this text and context my priority my new identity is ambassador that is my only priority and watch to put anything else before that is the error that leaves the modern believer confused and begging God for things in their prayer time that he will not give you because he's not gonna supply you with anything outside of his will if I only understood this how would this change your prayer time if I understood my identity how would it change how I bounce back from every time I get knocked down if I truly understood my identity how would it change how I handle difficulty if almond is pastor then I have the protection of heaven wherever I go no matter what I'm saying I have the protection of heaven and if I truly understand my identity how would it change the way I faced trial and tribulation what am i afraid about if I represent the Embassy of the greatest Kingdom the world has ever known what am i losing sleep about if I represent the greatest Kingdom the world has ever known if I am an ambassador of the United States government I have all of the backing of the United States on whatever foreign soil I put my feet on some of us our prayer times will change if we truly understood I am an ambassador how would it change the way you interact with your children how would it change the way you interact with the unbeliever how would it change the way you feel and every social setting how would it change the way you post on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook if you understood that in Christ my first identity is ambassador that my identity is found in Jesus and not in anything else outside of him how would it feel how would I changed the way I feel about my insecurities some of us are so crippled by our insecurities our mental issues I emotional issues as if he didn't know that when he brought you [Music] and there's some parts of you that are broken that may not be completely mended in this season the one beautiful thing about brokenness is that when everything is cracked it allows light to shine it and there's some of you crying out God to remove this thorn from your flesh but he will not if I understood that my primary identity was in Christ and that in every setting I plant my feet I represent his interest in that setting how would it change the way you feel when you sit down at a table in a restaurant or when you're sitting in the back of the uber and in front of you someone if they die they will be separated from God for all eternity and you don't even think to pray for the uber driver you don't even think to tap them on the shoulder and ask them how they're doing you don't even care you jump in the Oprah and out the Oprah and you didn't even represent the kingdom of God while you were sitting in the car a 35 minute ride and it never crossed your heart to pray for the person in front of you you're on your way to heaven lay on the way to hell and you didn't even think to pray because you don't understand your identity [Music] you're in the cubicle at work the person next to you doesn't know Christ it won't even cross your mind to pray for that person because you don't understand your true identity you don't understand that you are a part of the one body of individuals Jesus left in the earth primary purpose to occupy to a close and if we keep trying to find a new identity and everything else your Christian walk would never make sense to you and so if I am an ambassador if I'm always representing the interests of Jesus to other people then Who am I interacting with as an ambassador who are you interacting with as an ambassador who are you interacting with as an ambassador if you are an ambassador of Christ's Kingdom then your representation is not to other Christians your representation is to whom who are you acting with who are you interacting with as an ambassador [Music] the person the scripture calls the sinner as an ambassador your representation is always to of the person who scripture calls the center the loss the walk not yet in the kingdom we belong to I thought about Mike I look at all of Jesus's interactions with sinners he talked to Nicodemus at night I told a man a rich man come down from a tree all these different interactions and there was this one passage that was just like it must spirit in me and make no sense like how does this fit into the context of this series I try to close my Bible and the Holy Spirit telling me no don't close it look at it and it made no sense to me that God put this one passage in my heart like how am I gonna close out the series with this one passage I'm gonna said you know he wouldn't give me anything else like if you don't if you don't preach that that you don't preach anything so I want to close out this series with a passage that doesn't even make like any sense that it will fit into this series on the surface because all of our interaction in terms of our representation of Jesus is with the person the Bible calls the center how then should we interact with them how then should we represent the king we say we serve to the person who can't see him [Music] and John chapter 8 first one [Music] scripture says [Music] this is this one periscope these one set of vs. is not found in our original manuscripts of the Bible there was decades some generations before it finally showed up in manuscripts of the Bible it was floating around at first showed up in Luke's Gospel and then and another gospel and the Synoptics and then ended up in John's Gospel and really it was a text an account that Jesus had and the people who would put together scriptures date they didn't know where to put it and they stuck it here John's Gospel and if you read through John's Gospel to almost seemed out of order out of place but it was placed here by the Holy Spirit for a very significant reason and it says but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives now early in the morning he came again into the temple and all the people came to him and he sat down and he taught them and Jesus sitting represents authority and the scribes and Pharisees the men who were the preachers of the day people who are the most astute in the old testament scriptures knowledgeable can quote the Old Testament Scriptures by heart recorded it [Music] he said they bought him a woman caught in adultery when they had set her in the midst as that teacher this woman was caught in adultery in the very act [Music] I find it interesting that you know you can't be adulterer I read this I often wonder where was the brother [Music] sin has a way of isolating us look who brought her to Jesus Pharisees the scribes religion brought her to Jesus religion brought her to the Lord what look what they said they said now Moses in the law commanded us that such a one should be stoned but what do you say and I stated as I thought how religion wanted to hurt her those who were super saved wanted to hurt her and those who were like overly zealous and spiritual wanted to condemn her because she's a sinner but I can't see mine we have the scriptures but she's a sinner we got we got the Word of God but she's a sinner right so religion attempted to hurt her and religion attempted to bring her before Jesus and says now look what she did nevermind what we did look what she did let's deal with her because I forgot where I came from no I was never like her I was always better than her and Moses said man this this woman right here man she should be stowed we should put up to death we should kill her right now in front of everybody forget the brother that she was with man let's take her life right now less damn her this they said testing him that they might have something to accuse him but Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger as though he did not hear them theologians wonder you know what was Jesus riding into crowd you know this speculate about all the things he was riding some says he might have been riding the Ten Commandment some say he might have been riding a passage from Jeremiah that says from dirt we all would return because of our sin and and those who didn't know how to practice God's Lord would come back to turn apart from God and he might have been riding you know John 3:16 I don't know but they say he stooped down he was riding on the floor he totally ignored them and they thought that they had the Lord Jesus because if he said you know let's let's go ahead let's not stone her you know that he would be blaspheming the law of Moses and they would said he was a false prophet so he can't he can't blaspheme Moses his law and at the same time he can't condone her sin so the scripture says they continue to harass him and then Jesus got up [Music] he raised himself up and he said he who is without sin among you let him throw the first stone at her again he stooped down and he just wrote on the ground said go ahead all of you who have never made a mistake yo hit her first ah city and I'll wait for you he didn't even say stop and he wrote on the ground and then the scripture says that those who heard it being convicted by their conscience being convicted by their conscience being convicted by their conscience CEO when science the word con means worth the word science means knowledge God has given everybody with knowledge of what is right and wrong they went out one by one from the oldest even to the last and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing in the midst and when Jesus had raised up himself he saw no one but the woman he looked on her eyes and he said to her where are those accusers of yours has no one condemned you she said no one Lord and Jesus said to her self-righteous Christians do not a properly interact with sinners was always tearing people down on social media always slandering people for this sin or was judging everybody who makes a mistake always misrepresenting the person we say that we serve he says neither do i condemn you go send along that Jesus spoke to the ones who are watching he who follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of Life [Music] Jesus looked at our eyes and me he saw shame in her eyes brokenness and guilt and ignorant and all these things she looked into his eyes and she saw mercy and grace and compassion love and truth who is this woman in this text she is she's Kevin Hart we slam on social media we join in with everybody else to condemn him for his mistakes she is the unbeliever who's in sin and doesn't know better she is the person who beacon don't we we damned to hell it's like so many believers like we want people to go to hell of me we damned the loss to hell and in our self-righteousness we could damn it we tear down we misrepresent the one who the Bible says God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world what did she find in Jesus mercy grace compassion forgiveness truth he said go and sin no more her life was transformed because of her encounter with Jesus our lives being transformed because of their encounters with us how are we dealing with the unbelief are we dealing with them with self-righteous eyes of jaundice and condemnation are we dealing with the unbelievers around us with compassion mercy and grace and truth that leads to transformation are we properly representing our Savior or misrepresenting him how would the world see Jesus if they don't see him through us how would they feel his love if they don't feel that through us how would they feel compassion if they don't feel that to us I don't want our church to be a church that is slamming people on social media and being self-righteous and being judgmental and condemning people like I thought that that sister goes to victory she's always posted about Jesus in one post and blaspheming everybody and another post though I want us to be a church of light I want us to be a church of compassion I want us to be a church of mercy I want us to be a church of grace I want to be a church that knows how to have a relationship with the sinner that gradually leads them to the feet of Jesus without condemning them for where they're all remembering that we were where they were I want us to be a people that stares into the eyes of those who are broken and when we see them our heart explodes with mercy our heart explodes with grace our explodes with compassion our heart explodes in judgment why are we tearing down the prostitute or tearing down the stripper because she came to church my hot dog hanging out and we trash her just as she shouldn't come to church like that she doesn't know any better when they stumble into the arms of his representatives are they finding people who are self-righteous or people who know how to walk with them in their sin until we could give them the truth that they can understand to lead them to the foot of the cross and ours is not to judge or condemn as we represent the Lord Jesus Christ I was as the dispatched truth with love grace and mercy and compassion understanding that people are broken and blinded and they need to feel the love of Jesus not the some righteousness of those who say they represent him who was this woman in his tax all y'all Christians [Music] you're the woman in the text you were caught in your own sin and condemned by the law helpless before God in need of what mercy in need of grace in need of forgiveness in need of love and in need of truth that you can understand we want this woman caught and we should not be so saved that we feel like we have the right now to condemn man for this sin there are too many of us who say we represent Christ and we are everybody judge and executioner why is your name popping up on people's IG feeds condemning every Tom Dick and Harry be like Jesus said after Jesus says go and sin no more What did he say about his own self I am the light of the world What did he say about you you are [Music] I thought God told me we need to spend some time and repentance before we leave the series because you know what's gonna happen you know what's gonna happen in and I gotta get you out of here I'm out of time but I'm out of message I'm not gonna go pass my time to give it to you you know what's gonna happen you're gonna walk out of here in a couple of minutes and this series is gonna be over quote-unquote and as a preacher man the thing that one of the things I heard was I worked so hard in prayer and in sermon prep and it's trying to lead this church right and giving out the truth of God's Word and we'd be inspired in a moment [Music] and four weeks from now we forget the teaching that God placed in us we let the devil come and snatch this word from us I've preached a lot in five years to help strengthen you and I believe there's some things I've preached in five years that are absolutely essential and if we forget that man our whole Christianity makes no sense like finding meaning that was for you right and some of these series like the blueprint all these things was to help you but things like hell's best-kept secret messages like The Enclave these are messages we should keep coming back to because if we lose sight of these sermons we lose sight of who we really are on the earth [Music] your and mine Christianity makes no sense at all apart from the fact that in every place I go before I am anything else I am a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ to stand for his truth and dispatch his love and his teachings in every environment I set my foot and if I ever forget that I am a waste of time to my save [Music] [Music] change Mikey freak [Music] right now this you could stay in your chair you can nail down you could do what everyone but I'm gonna tell you what's in this room right now there is rebellion in this room and the scripture says rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft they help people in this room you don't like Authority so no one can't tell you anything you don't want to be told anything the Scriptures have no bearing on your life and on your soul you read but you don't follow you go to the you hear sermons but you don't follow and the more them says if he can't reach people through us he has no one else to send the angels are not gonna do the work he sent us to do you are more than ordinary if the people on your team don't see the Lord it would be because you kept them blind before them in the board room in the conference room on the campus in your job if they don't see Jesus is because you and me there's pride in this room arrogance fill people in this room you are so busy begging God for the one that you wonder if you don't give it to you you're mad because you won't bow your knee to the king of kings and the Lord of lords it's confusion in this room people right now you're spending all your energy to build something that God is not blessing because you want to satisfy your own ego and stroke your own insecurities the people in this room you don't want to accept that the Lord says suffer in the season for my glory there are people in this room you don't want to accept the Lord says no I won't give you that it's love fix this area of your character because people in this room begging to get out of a place that the law says no I won't take you out of that place until you represent me they're right where you are [Music] the Lord wants to minister to those of you who hum right now in this moment you can sit down in your chair you could get on your knees but there needs to be repentance in this room I feel like we need to leave this series in repentance repentance for what for finding your identity in things outside of Jesus that's not who you are I will not just preach sermons I will do everything I can until I die to keep leading you to the truth of Jesus so you would understand who you are what your calling is he said he's coming back for church without spot and without wrinkle and we are full of wrinkles and spots our hearts are darkened with sin there is so much sin in this room iniquity you think the Lord can't see it you are more than ordinary he is trying to make his appeal to the world through you we are the hope of the world do you understand that you part of the enclave of the Lord Jesus Christ do you understand that when you downtown Atlanta you are the hope of the world and when you're raising your children passing on the face they become the hope of the world for your college campus you are the hope of the world and your job you are the hope of the world in your industry you hope the world in your business which are employees who are not saved you are the hope of the world sir wherever you go you are the light of Jesus you are the hope of the world your identity is an ambassador you're not just a churchgoer [Music] you are the light of the world the salt of the earth this is your identity in Christ whatever God places you some of you in this room you feel like your life is Monday and I hear you crying in his spirit you feel like my life is boring and my life is mundane cuz I'm just a I'm just a stay-at-home mom oh I'm just some child for a long time and you're just looking for all this you're looking for all this excitement you want to live on mountaintops and you're addicted to hype no matter where you are right now you are valuable and useful for the kingdom don't let the devil keep lying to you don't let the devil keep telling you that you're worthless with the struggles in your mind and with the struggles in your heart with all that you're battling with your shortcomings and your insecurities you are valuable to the kingdom I pray Jesus awakened some people in this room this morning that you will come alive with a new sense of identity and purpose with your brokenness with your baggage with your insecurities with your mental trouble with your emotional troubles wake up some of you are drowning so deep and your own self-pity I know because this was me I'm always praying about my problems I'm always drowning in my own self-pity I'm always focused on my own brokenness so much I can't see the people around me dying and going to hell yes I'm broken but I'm on the ship yes I have insecurities but I'm on the ship yes I have issues in my heart but I'm on the ship yes I have a bad pass but I'm on the ship yes I have baggage and scars from my past I'm on a ship yes there are things that God is not fixed in me yet but if I die today I will be in his presence but what about the people around you can you forget about yourself for any length of time to care about those outside of the kingdom you were more than ordinary you've been choosing to be given to the world do you understand that God is trying to reconcile the world to himself through the love of his children who displayed the goodness of Christ he's on a mission to reconcile the world to himself when our doorstep series revival happening in South America across the continent of Africa there was revival happening across Africa and China there was revival happen in China and all around the world God is grinning into his barn the last end time harvest and he has called you and I to be a part of that great enterprise of reconciling the world back to himself how does Drake know God's plan and we don't [Music] I titled his message God's plan global reconciliation and the representation of Jesus in the earth until he comes this message was a blessing for you and you have a testimony please email us at share a victory Church 8si at that arm again thank you for tuning in we look forward to seeing you next week [Music]

Channel: Victory Church

Views: 1,104

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Id: IhFYtaS98l0

Length: 42min 51sec (2571 seconds)

Published: Tue May 08 2018