Sermon Note08s – August 15 2021
Sermon Title: “The Power to Become” (Click Here to watch Full Sermon)
Pastor Dennis Martin
Scripture Reading: John 1:12-13
The Bible says that “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:1).
Knowledge is offered to us. When God is about to give a thing, this tells us that we have to prepare our mind and our heart to receive it. There are some people saved for decades that are still in this process of change. The Rapture is the only mention of instantaneous change in the Bible.
Change takes time and God knows that we are a people that require change and God has given us power to change. He has given us power in different facets of our lives. When God gives us power, we ought to understand the systematic approach. God has a systematic way of allowing us to be exposed to the kingdom power He has for us.
John 1:12-13 is talking about the person of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Matthew was put first because it had the geneology, the Gospel of Mark speaks of Jesus as a servant, that’s why it is the smallest gospel compacting the most amount of miracles. Luke wrote the largest gospel, and in it talked about the humanity of Jesus. Nobody is perfect. When we look at the Gospel of John, it doesn’t say that Jesus came from Abraham, it says that in the beginning was the Word (John 1:1) – the identity of Jesus Christ here is shown as the majesty. The Gospel of John doesn’t depict Jesus’s identity birthed from other’s intentions but rather, a heavenly identity. The first power God gives you is the power to become, and then after in the gospel is the power against (i.e. power against serpents) and then there is a power that is from on high. The moment you receive Jesus Christ, the first phase of power given is the power to become. We could be destroyed based on the things that we reject. Whenever there is change in the Bible, it has to come from a spiritual place.
You can’t be Abram all your life or Saul all your life, somewhere down the life, God is calling you to be Abraham and Paul respectively. The greatest miracle you can give anyone is a changed mindset. In the text, the power was to become a child of God. But if Pastor Dennis was to ask us personally, “Who is it we think we need to be?” There was a young ruler that came to Jesus who asked, “Master, what can I do to obtain eternal life?” What makes the church think that we always have to do something? Some things happen in life not because of what we did but because of what we didn’t do. Touch yourself today and say, “Power to become”. Pastor Dennis couldn’t be the same Dennis before he got married, or before he had kids. If he didn’t change who he was, he might get frustrated and misunderstand their children. God has given us a capacity to become, the issue is, we don’t know who we ought to become. There has to be a time as a people that we begin to know who God wants us to be. Our identity is not born of our blood. Biologically, there is something our children are missing in terms of what we can’t provide. But what Pastor Dennis can provide to his kids is a direction to God. We need to ask God who we need to become in this season. Sometimes, we focus on the power to walk on water, and against but before God gives us power against things, He first gives us power to become. When we realize who we are, we realize who we don’t have to be.
There are generations after us waiting for us to discover who we are. The Bible said in the book of Romans, all of creation groans and travails for the manifestation of the sons of God (Romans 8:19). In the KJV version, this verse is not addressed to children. God is saying He wants us to grow up. There is a level of maturity God wants us to display. Even though we are a child of God, we won’t possess an inheritance, until they possess a certain level of maturity. There are many believers crying out today asking for things that they aren’t ready for. But because of our consumer mindset, we are thinking, “I, I, I”. The last time that Pastor Dennis saw “I,I,I” in the Bible, this came from the devil. How do we create change? It doesn’t start off with God building a thing. It begins with a demolition job. God becomes an interior decorator of who we are. If this message is not for now it is for later. We might question God and wonder why this is happening and wonder why certain things are going on. God situates the environment first and ensures it is conducive with you. Eyes have not seen, ears have not yet heard neither has it entered into the heart of man, all that God is preparing for those that love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9). You may not know what God is doing, when you pray to God and perceive He is doing a new thing – it is okay to not know. What we must know is to trust God, and yield and to let go of what we formally knew. We need to surrender to be a possessor of this power to become. Every positive thing hinges not only on what you do but who you are.
You want power to go against things? He will give this. But it comes from a place of yieldedness.
We need to ask ourselves where we are in the stage of becoming. You need to understand what identity you have and what God wants you to be. Legacy is two-folded, there is a material aspect to legacy and there is a great name. A great name is a legacy that money can’t buy. The identity God wants us to have is not a product of how our parents raised us or what was done according to blood. You can’t will yourself to become who God has called you. It has to come through the will of God. This is where prayer comes in. Unless you have a prayerful relationship with God, you won’t hear what He is saying to you. There must be an increased level of prayer.
Then the Holy Spirit begins to move, and change your perspective and thinking and mindset and behaviour.
Jesus said the Holy Spirit is an internal light. If the Holy Spirit is showing you more about other people, question yourself if you have Him. God will not force His will on you. God is telling us to surrender ourselves to Him. As we surrender to Him, we will change for the better. The husband and wife God is calling us to be for example, we will be but, this first has to come from a place of prayer. If we are not praying and communicating with God, transformation will not take place in our lives. The Bible speaks of a woman who had an issue with blood for 12 long years (Mark 5:25). And it wasn’t just the issue that was a hard thing but rather, the problems multiplied with time. She approached Jesus as a “certain woman” (Mark 5:25). She acted on the Word of God – for as the Bible says, “When the Messiah comes, He would have healing in His wings (Malachi 4:2)”. When she approached Jesus saying, “If I could just touch the hem of His garment”, she was quoting the book of Malachi. The real change that occurred in her life was that she recognized that God gave her the power to become something – to be made whole. She came and touched the Word of God and she touched the hem of His garment. Jesus said after she touched Him by the Word of God, “Somebody touched me” (Luke 8:46). This certain woman became a somebody. The disciples looked at the crowd and believed that it could have been anyone in the crowd that touched her. After she has a conversation with Jesus, Jesus pronounces her as “Daughter,” and says that, “Her faith has healed her” (Luke 8:48). Her progression from somebody to daughter is amazing.
Do you know where the most believers are? Hell. Pastor Dennis promises that where they are now, they are believing now. God has given all of us the power. We must ask ourselves, “Are we the right person?” We must find out who this person we need to be is. After we’ve mastered that, no individual nor devil will be able to take down this person.
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