Pastor Brian Heath - January 12th - 2014 Pg 1 Key Scriptures: Romans 8 Hebrews 4:12 Galatians 2:20 Genesis 2:7-9 Genesis 3:14 Genesis 4 Genesis 16 Genesis 17:10 Genesis 25 Galatians 5:16-22 Decoding Romans 8 If we are going to succeed, be fruitful in our mission, we need to learn to understand what it means to Walk in the Spirit. We need to walk there, in that realm - Learning, advancing, pushing, resting and truly listening. One of the things that we have been declaring over the year is that 2014 will be the Year of the Extraordinary. The title of the message today is Decoding Romans 8 and believe me, we can only just make a start on it today. When I was in ministry school in the 80 s, God spoke to me about memorising this chapter. It has been and still is important for me. Whether you know it or not, it is important to you. Romans 8 We need to know and understand that Man is a tri-part being We have three parts. We are a spirit, we live in a body (the flesh), and we have a soul (Mind, Will and Emotions). Roman s 8 is all about learning to live and walk governed by the Spirit. The two powerful themes of The Flesh and The Spirit run through the Scriptures to the beginning and the end. As it says in Hebrews 4:14 The Word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, piercing even to the division of soul and Spirit. One of the keys is to be able to understand how we are made up and to be able to discern our own spirit. If you determine to set your mind on the things of the flesh, you will below God s potential and purpose for you. But if you determine that you will set your mind on the things of the spirit, you will live a transformed life. We don t like being called religious, because that can just be a counterfeit. It s like knowing how to behave but there is no real deep change. But we are looking for something authentic that we find when we learn to walk in the spirit. He wants us to leave something behind this year. If you are going to the top of the mountain top, you don t take a heavy backpack. The things that are holding you back and weighing you down need to be dumped so that you can move higher. You must know and I want you to be certain that the only way to please God is to Walk in the Spirit. Romans 8:8 PROBLEM: Humanity has an inherent problem. We live in the flesh and we, Christians included have a pre-disposition to be governed by the flesh. Nobody knows what those pre-dispositions lead us into because when we walk into church, we know how to behave. But we can overcome it if we know how. Every day when we get out of bed, we have a choice. Will we walk according to the flesh or the spirit? But the Apostle Paul said this: Galatians 2:20 This is the driving energy and one of the great keys (Christ in us) that causes people to walk in the spirit. When a baby is born, the flesh rules. When we are born again, we have to come to the place of growing up, learning to let God rule and coming to a higher place. We need to be an ascending person - ascending into our proper place.
Here is the key: We need to be able to accurately discern the flesh, the soul and the spirit. I live in the flesh. I have a soul. The spirit is who I really am. When I listen to people, I ask Where is this coming from? Flesh, soul or spirit? We need to be able to accurately Discern - Soul / Flesh/ Spirit. HEBREWS 4: 12 In just about every Major Biblical Event, and almost every page of Scripture we can see real examples and from them, learn to Discern. EXAMPLES OF THE FLESH VS THE SPIRIT 1. Genesis 2:7. Dr. Robert Lanzo is regarded as one of the worlds foremost scientists in his field. His discovery has to do with the energy that is on the inside of the body. Through quantum theory and biophysics, they are saying the energy on the inside of the body leaves the body as a unit (at the point of death) and most likely can live eternally. Science is proving what the Bible says. 2. Genesis 2:9 There were two trees in the Garden. One of them represents Jesus. One of them represents the humanistic system of the earth. One of them represents the spirit and also the flesh. What we have to do is begin to connect with the tree of life. 3. Genesis 3:14 The human body Is made of mainly Dust (the Flesh part of us).the devil, our adversary, has permission from Almighty God to eat dust, to devour the flesh. The enemy is ultimately God s servant because he has been given permission to eat dust. 4. Genesis 4 Cain and Abel - They both made an offering to the Lord. Both went up. Abel s was received and Cain s was not. The first act of violence, Abel s murder, ensued. One offering was from the spirit. One was from the flesh. Learn to give God what He wants, not what we want to give Him. Abel offered a lamb. The blood was shed. It was a prophetic picture of Christ and that was why it was received. Cain s came out of the knowledge of Good and Evil. He figured out what he would give God. 5. Genesis 16 Isaac and Ishmael - Abraham and Sarah responded to a prophetic word out of the flesh. You can hear a prophetic word and try to bring it to pass out of your own strength. They used Hagar and even today, there is a conflict in the earth. 6. Genesis 17:10 God s Covenant with Abraham - We can be saved but not walking in the fullness, saved but not ruling, because we have not allowed God to circumcize our hearts. 7. Genesis 25 Jacob and Esau There were two nations in the womb. Esau had the birthright. Esau came back from a hard days work and said I m hungry. I m going to die. What is that talking? It is the needs of the flesh. Jacob saw an opportunity and said If you give me your birthright, I will cook you some food. So for some comfort (Food) for a few hours, he handed over his birthright. Endless examples exist.you can also look at Moses/Aaron, Saul/David, Peter before and after the death and resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.All through the scriptures, there are examples. King Saul led according to the flesh. David was a man after Gods own heart. Peter, before the resurrection, was a leader governed by the flesh. But after the resurrec tion and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Peter became an Apostle and a leader by the spirit.
Pg 3 This proves that each one of us can make a transition and move from one di mension to the next. You can t please God if you are in the flesh. This letter is written to Christians. Some of them were in the spirit. Some of them were in the flesh. I tell you, the education system is training people out of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It has penetrated the church big-time. PROBLEM: People are born into the flesh, live in the flesh and are programmed by the World to live for the flesh. There is a mountain to climb. The bottom represents the soul and the flesh. The mountain top represents the spirit. Where do you want to be? Where are most people? Where does God want you? God has called us upward. We are choosing to be an ascending church. In the days to come some churches are going to go down because they are given over to something. (Image 1) GALATIANS 5: 16-18, PHILLIPIANS 4: 13 GALATIANS 5:16-22 This is a key to overcoming the things of the flesh. God has really made us in an amazing way. If you pick up on any of these words, you have some transactions to make. This ultra-grace message is messing up peoples lives! It isn t biblical. Disown it. The only way you can not live under the law of sin and death is to put to death the things of the flesh. If you are still caught in sin, you are living in the flesh, living under the law. That is what the Bible says. Break the power of the lie. Repent. Do you know where the law is? It is that line (on the diagram on pg 2) between spirit and soul/flesh. Come up into the spirit and then you will no longer be living under the law. KEYS FOR THE YEAR KEY #1 Our life needs to be so tuned to hear and respond. In every circumstance, what is God really saying? Sometimes the flesh can speak to us. Sometimes people come to me and say God told me. (JOHN 6:63 - The words I say to you, they are spirit and they are life.) Good, well-meaning people can get ripped off in the flesh when it is only the spirit that gives life. The flesh profits nothing. Past offences are things of the flesh. Negative thinking is of the flesh. Depression - a lot of it is rooted in the flesh. When you start to look up, God starts to bring you out of that place and into a higher place. People who are tuned to the flesh never look for a person of the spirit to help them. They most often look for someone else who is in the flesh. They look for someone to comfort them and they get into negative agreement. Are you a man/woman of the flesh or of the spirit? You need to discern it. Go home and talk about this. Don t just go home and say that was hard. This is the key to your dreams and desires. KEY #2 The spirit of our mind must be changed. Every level on that mountain represents a mentality. EPHESIANS 4:23 Your mind has a spirit. It talks to you. It can be positive, negative, faith, unbelief. That is why the spirit of the mind needs to be renewed. Then you live according to your potential. KEY #3 The circumcision of our hearts. It is symbolic of us allowing God to deal with the flesh part of our lives in a spiritual sense. Circumscision is painful, both spiritual and actual. The way you move higher in the spirit often involves pain, conflict. It involves letting some things go and moving on. We shouldn t be hard on others, but we do need to confront our own heart. There needs to be ongoing repentance. We need to ditch some things - offences, opinions, philosophies. Bury it! Put off the old man. KEY #4 Proper connections. Connect with the right people - those that are moving forward. The flesh looks for a like spirit. But we need to move up into the spirit. Learn to correctly prioritise your relationships.
KEY #5 Pursue the presence of God. When you are in the presence of God, you change. I change. This is the journey we want to go on this year to where we are free to move up into the spirit and enter into the things of God. God has got so much for you. You must pursue this place. This is to be an extraordinary year. God is going to do something in you and me. Study & Reflection Questions 1. Why is it important to Walk in the Spirit 2. There are two powerful themes in the Scripture The Spirit and The Flesh Give your understanding of that. 3. Read and Discuss Hebrews 4: 12. What are your observations from this verse? 4. Read Romans 8: 8 There is a huge human pre-disposition to Walk in the Flesh. What does this mean? Why is it a problem? 5. Man is a Tri-Partate being. What does this mean? Describe each part.. 6. Read Genesis 2: 7 Discuss how man is Made 7. Discuss Genesis 2: 9-17 What do you see in these versus? How does it relate to life and the way Man is made? 8. Read Genesis 3: 13-14 What is the relationship between Dust and The Flesh? Where is the enemy s jurisdiction today? 9. Read Genesis 4: 1-8 Why was Abel s offering accepted and Cain s rejected? How was Abel s offering prophetic? Do you see a parallel between Soul and Spirit? 10. Read Genesis 16 How does Ismael represent the Flesh? How does this impact us today? How does this impact my decisions today? 11. One of the signs of God s covenant with Abraham was circumcision. What is the significant of this? 12. Discuss other examples of the flesh and the spirit from the scriptures Eg: Moses & Aaron, Esau & Jacob, Saul & David, Peter before and after the death, resurrection and outpouring of the Holy Spirit 13. Explain how the triangle relates to us now? 14. Discuss Galatians 5: 16-18 15. Describe the fruits of the Sprit and the fruits of the flesh 16. Discuss Colossians 2: 11 17. Discuss John 6: 63 18. Discuss Ephesians 4: 23 What does it mean? How is the Spirit of the Mind being changed? How does this help me to transition from The Flesh to The Spirit. How does it relate to the subject being discussed? 19. Why is important to connect with the right people? 20. How does persuing the Presence of God help me to learn to Walk and live in the Spirit I used the word repentance this morning. Don t fear it. It isn t hard. It is easy. Make a choice. But then don t go back. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. There is only one way we should want to live: The way of the spirit. The way of the flesh profits nothing. So many people have such strong opinions! But it profits nothing. Come up into the spirit this year. This is the year!
Bible Study Notes