Crossing Over Into The Supernatural Series

July 26, 2009

Morning Worship

Text: Philippians 3:12-20

Subject: Part Six in the Seven Steps to Receive God’s Miracle

Title: Crossing Over into the Supernatural

Hasn’t God been good in our services? It is so wonderful to see the church moving forward in the things of God and what He wants to do in the church instead of what we think is right. One of the evidences of change that I see in the church is the large number of you who have shown up on Wednesday evenings for our evangelism class. You know that God has called you to be a witness and now you are loading up your arsenal with words and techniques and hunger and compassion to take the word of God out into a lost and dying world.

Another evidence is seen during the worship service or the song service with the way people are responding to God. I believe we are entering into a new level of worship and an excitement for the operation of the gifts of the Spirit and the things of the Spirit of God.

Finally, we see the evidence of what God is doing in the church by your willingness to step out in faith to receive the things that God has already promised you. You have accepted all the works that God has done for you and now you are receiving blessings, healing, provision, spiritual gifts like never before. The response to the altar calls has taken on a new dynamic because of the great expectancy in the church.

Today I want you to see that God has never intended for this kind of revival fire to be short term. He has asked us to occupy till He returns. So from now until the rapture of the church we are to maintain and even exceed where we are now in the Lord. We have gone from accepting the things that God has promised and stepping out in faith to receive them, to crossing over into the spirit realm in order to stay connected to what the Holy Spirit wants for your life.

And that is where I want to take you today. To step out in faith and receive the things of God in your life is one thing, but to cross over into the spirit realm and continue to walk in the Spirit is something more.

In ancient Greece the Olympic games had one race that was different than all the others. In this race it wasn’t the one who finished first who won. It was the one who finished with his torch still lit.

That is God’s desire for the church today – to finish the race with the torch of faith still blazing, so that we may continue to walk in the Spirit and in all the promises that our God has given us.

I. CROSSING OVER TO WHAT IS YOURS. You’ve taken that all important first step into the supernatural. You are in agreement with the scriptures about what God wants to do in your life. As a matter of fact you understand that in God’s time it is already done. He is not going to do anything more to save, heal, provide for, or bless you than what He has already done. It was all accomplished at the cross. Yet Paul says, 12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect… Maybe there is something that you have been asking God for in your life for some time and yet you have not received it. It does not mean that it has not happened yet. In truth, it already has happened in the spirit realm and now God is waiting to pour it out into your natural man or your physical body. Mark 11:22-24, 22“Have£ faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23“I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. You may not see the physical results of it yet but it is there and it is yours nonetheless. How can you do that? I mean, how can you have faith in something even though you have not seen the physical manifestation of it yet? First of all, isn’t that what faith is? Hebrews 11:1, Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Do you see heaven right now? Does that make it any less real? How do you know it’s real? By faith! Second, faith begins in the heart or spirit of a man. The mind is the origin of doubt and not faith. If you have to wait until it makes sense you probably will never receive God’s promise in your life. Third, even though we don’t see all the evidence right now Paul tells us these things about heaven. 1) In Ephesians 1:3, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ… It doesn’t take a degree in theology to understand what it is that God has blessed us with in the heavenly realms. #1 is eternal life. But it goes beyond that. When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray He said, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” So the things that are experienced in heaven are intended to translate over into the natural for believers. Salvation is for eternal life but so many of God’s other promises are intended for you on earth. 2) 1 Timothy 4:8, …godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. So Paul can now say in Philippians 3:12, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. How do you do that? By accepting God’s word by faith! Did you ever stop to think why we don’t receive as much from God as He would have us receive? Is it because we have convinced ourselves that it is just for eternity that Jesus died, rose again and ascended into heaven? 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. You see, Paul understood that the promises were already his, and now he was willing to set aside a life that was under the control of the god of this world and to move into a new life of power and expectancy – a life in the Spirit that he could walk in continually. Paul had crossed over into the spirit realm.