"What He has done for me is greater than what anyone has ever done to me."
Christine Caine, Grace Church of Humble, TX
Sunday February 8, 2015
Foundation verses from the book of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 6
Why did God give us these laws?
He brought us out to bring us in.
Many Christians don't understand why God brought us out.
He brought us out to bring us in to a Promised Land.
God brought us out of slavery/sin, to bring us in.
Not so we could do laps around Mount Sinai for 40 years.
There is a Promised Land.
The Word of God is full of promises.
There's a because to our salvation.
If we're not free we can't free anybody else.
We need a generation of Christians who know the difference between deliverance and freedom so we won't die in the wilderness, but come out and go in and take a generation into the Promised Land with us.
Deuteronomy 1:
It takes 11 days to go from Horeb to Mount Sinai.
Verse. 3 says in the 40th year.
There's a disparity between 11 days and 40 years.
Many of us take 40 years for what should take us 11 days.
When you come out from something you always come into a wilderness.
Although you've come out of something, something has still got to come out of you.
I'm giving you 11 days to get Egypt out of you.
But 40 years later there was still the same mess, obstacles, and hurdles.
Christine went through a lot of abuse and rejection that Jesus saved her from; but she was still full of shame and bitterness, etc.
So God said I'll walk you through a wilderness to get that slavery out of you.
But I don't expect you 40 years later to still be doing the same thing.
I set you free so you could walk into the Promised Land.
So many Christians stop in the wilderness.
Spend their whole time on earth doing laps.
—the same poverty and greed...
Round and round.
Christians can't afford to keep doing laps in America.
We must be who God called us to be.
You were once slaves and now you're free.
I want you to walk in the fullness Jesus Christ came to give you.
Why is it someone like Christine was able to walk in the fullness of God's promises?
Did God favor her more than the Christian still locked in the cycle of abuse?
Delivered from the physical state but still in the wilderness metaphorically speaking.
The blood of Jesus is no more potent for Christine than others.
But you must believe Jesus is who He says and will do what He said.
It's about Jesus, and His power.
His grace, His mercy.
Get our eyes off our limitations.
But we make what was done to us bigger than what was done for us.
How do you do it?
Joshua 5
After 430 years of slavery, and 40 years of wilderness, and a generation dying there...
A whole generation of doubt and fear and unbelief died in the wilderness.
There is a generation arising that is full of faith.
—who will move in and possess the promises.
God has not given us a spirit of fear.
How can we be Christians in the 21st century?
The generation that went into the Promised Land had to do certain things.
We all have to apply these principles daily.
If you had a revelation of who you are in Christ the powers against you would tremble in fear.
All those who came out of Egypt had been circumcised, but those born in the wilderness had not.
We have a generation so based on entitlement.
This generation hasn't had their own cutting away.
Joshua you have to circumcise them again.
Every one of us who advances must have a cutting away.
There is a price to pay.
There's never a generation that has skipped paying the price.
Somebody pays a price for everything we enjoy in church now.
It doesn't just happen.
We have to pay our own price.
Hebrews 12 - surrounded by cloud of witnesses.
Death is inevitable.
This is your only chance at life on earth.
Will you fulfill your purpose?
Let us lay aside the weights and the sins...
Cut away.
Life is an ongoing process of cutting away.
Maybe what's holding you back is some weights.
Thinking/friends/things weighing you down.
Culture is obsessed with reality TV.
Get your own life.
Lay aside comfort and complacency.
There's nothing comfortable and convenient about the gospel.
Diagnosed with thyroid cancer in June of last year.
For 3 weeks they didn't know how serious it was.
The devil attacked her voice.
It’s God’s kindness that leads us to repentance.
Christine wasn't alone when God called her.
There were more talented ministers who didn’t go far because they held onto unforgiveness.
Christine learned to yield to God’s authority.
If she hadn’t dealt with her abuse she would’ve taken it out on her husband.
That’s why we must lay aside our sins and the weight that so easily entangles.
Faith is calling those things that are NOT as though they were.
It’s not denying reality.
Some of us won’t lay aside the weight and the sin and wonder why we aren’t in our Promised Land.
It’s God’s grace, but it’s also because Christine made a decision.
She got ready to be a wife years before she was a wife.
Many of us never get ready to go in.
I need you to circumcise the sons of Israel again.
At every level of ministry there has been a major circumcision of her heart.
If you want to continue to move forward you must submit to the process.
Christine diagnosed with thyroid cancer in June.
The fight is in your mind.
It’s over fear – not over cancer, because Jesus already defeated that.
Christine’s last conscious thoughts before she went under anesthesia her last thought was "Lord I really hope I did everything You put me on the earth to do".
Not I wish I’d watched more reality TV.
And she thought "I hope I’m taking home with me everyone I was supposed to".
"I hope I’ve done my job."
What might be stopping you from fulfilling God’s purpose for you?
What weights are you hanging on to?
Was that comfort/convenience/relationship/sin worth your destiny?
What He did for us is greater than anything anybody did to us!
There's nothing greater than what Jesus Christ did for you!
What He has done for me is greater than what anyone has ever done to me.
Put that on your mirror.
Some of you need a spiritual circumcision.
You keep getting pulled back to the past.
You never step into the future because your life is one long past.
Stop bringing the past into your present.
Your children are paying for something they've never done.
You're carrying all your baggage from unresolved issues into the present.
40 years...
There's a wilderness to walk through.
We're not in denial.
The blood of Jesus does not give you amnesia.
But it does give you a life beyond your past.
But there comes a point when the wounds of your past no longer sting.
But you must put them under the blood.
The Passover is symbolic of the blood of Jesus.
God needs us to be about the Father’s business.
Joshua 5:10
At every step of possessing the land they stopped and filled themselves with Jesus.
We must stop daily and fill ourselves with Jesus.
Many of us like to live off the land but we don’t want too much of Jesus.
Christine's personally has to be immersed in the Word.
Ask why you're in that cycle of depression and futility again.
Jesus has visitation rights (on Sunday) just like jail.
I’ll lock You in your prison but don’t come and move in during the week.
We’ve got so many options for receiving the Word — but we’d rather watch football.
It’s amazing what we fill our lives with: slander, gossip…
It’s amazing what we have time for – but not God.
It’s amazing what frees up when I’m free of me.
Are you filling yourself with Jesus?
What are you filling yourself with?
What you fill yourself with determines what comes through you.
The manna ceased in verse Joshua 5:12.
Imagine having the same tasteless food all the time (manna).
What would it be like to eat food from the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey when all you've had is just enough to get by?
I sing about the presence of God but I’m not tasting, seeing, nor feeling it.
We just made it through.
Scraping by.
So many Christians - they’re just making it.
Why are you living in the wilderness? I AM the God of more than enough.
A wilderness Christian never understands a Promised Land Christian.
They get jealous because they're eating milk and honey.
When all they've got is manna.
But Jesus says I've got enough milk and honey for everyone.
The problem is you won't lay aside what you've been filling yourself with to fill yourself with more of Me and take a hold of what I have for you.
Her husband took her out for a beautiful gourmet meal.
God came for us to have life more abundantly.
In the wilderness you’re just surviving day by day.
Just getting through.
World says "you’re barely making it just like us."
Imagine if we had something different; because we’re living in the Promised Land.
It’s the principle of never running dry.
It’s so different in the Promised Land.
Hope looks different.
There’s a different resilience in the Promised Land.
The manna ceased.
God is no longer doing it like He used to do it.
Sing a new song.
Stop complaining about what was;
I AM not the God of what was – I AM the God of I AM.
The walls of Jericho were tightly shut up.
Sometimes you’re ready to move forward and just when you expect the joys of the Promised Land you face a huge wall.
A cancer diagnosis.
What do you do when you hit the wall?
That wall wasn’t in Christine’s theology.
It wasn’t in her plan.
God I’m here in the Promised Land; not in the wilderness in sin.
There was no way that wall could come down naturally.
God said march around that wall for 6 days, then shout on the 7th .
Seriously God?
Do some laps of faith around this wall.
Keep praising Me.
You can’t stop; you can’t give up.
God we already prayed, and you came here, and you were about to give up.
Christine said don’t stop on 6; you have to take another lap of faith.
That healing/restoration/reconciliation will come.
There is no mountain that God cannot move.
Take another lap.
Because He who promised is faithful.
Whatever you’re facing - He who promised is faithful.
But you’ve got to stop looking at the wall.
You’ve got to look at the promise.
I’ve given you this city.
Trust Me.
You can trust Him.
There’s no dark side to God.
Just hang in there.
Take another lap.
Fix your eyes on Jesus.
Lock in to Him.
That wall will come down.
All the promised of God are yes and amen.
If you’re going to possess the promises you must first be in an authentic relationship with God.
[Altar call]
DISCLAIMER: This is not a transcript; these are my personal notes which I share to bless others. These notes are not published or endorsed by Grace Church nor Christine Caine. This is a compilation of my notes from the 11:45 am service and the 10 am service which is posted online. The messages varied slightly.
Watch the full message online at http://new.livestream.com/accounts/4115195/events/2282049/videos/76511752
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