DeanSweetman.com » Making Room for God http://deansweetman.com Sermons, Podcasts and Teachings to Live Your Best Life Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:55:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Dean Sweetman is Sr Pastor of the C3 Church with a campus in Lawrenceville, Georgia. He also serves as Executive Regional Overseer for C3 Americas. The Sweetmans moved to the USA in 1996 for the sole purpose of planting the Lawrenceville church. C3 Church currently serves the Atlanta community in a unique way through itís technology and charity work. Last year, Dean and Jill planted the C3 Church in Studio City, California. As Sr Pastors of both churches, they split their time between Atlanta and Studio City and have homes in both cities. Dean is a sought-after speaker in both church and business settings and an emerging author. His passionate and uncompromising preaching will inspire the most on-fire believer as challenge those who lack the fervor required to serve God. C3 Church in Lawrenceville, GA USA clean C3 Church in Lawrenceville, GA USA webmaster@christiancitychurch.com webmaster@christiancitychurch.com (C3 Church in Lawrenceville, GA USA) C3 Atlanta Online with Dean Sweetman DeanSweetman.com » Making Room for God http://audio.thec3church.com/podcasticon.jpg http://deansweetman.com/category/making-room-for-god/ The First Family http://deansweetman.com/2011/12/11/the-first-family-2/ http://deansweetman.com/2011/12/11/the-first-family-2/#comments Sun, 11 Dec 2011 21:31:40 +0000 Dean http://deansweetman.com/?p=620 When we think of Bible heroes, names like Moses, David, Samson, and Daniel come to mind. Joseph of Nazareth – husband to Mary and earthly father of Jesus – is generally not on the list. But on closer inspection, this quiet man is due more notice and respect than he is given. His heart is very much like God’s and provides a powerful role model for all of us today.

Joseph and Mary were betrothed in the Hebrew tradition. This is rather difficult for us to understand for it was not just a joining of two people in marriage but a merging of families, fortunes, and futures. A betrothal period could last up to seven years. During that time the expectations of both families looked and worked toward the union in a way foreign to us today. In addition, the entire community knew of and anticipated the union.

The Spirit and will of God interrupt this proceeding with the purpose of changing mankind’s destiny. From a heavenly perspective, it made perfect sense. From an earthly perspective, it made no sense. Fortunately, Joseph was not a man given to emotional reaction. Here we find his first quality of merit. Matthew 1: 19 tells us that Joseph “considered these things.” He didn’t react in a reality TV/Jerry Springer kind of way. He thought carefully and took the issue before God. He opened the door of his heart to hear what God had to say about the matter before he made any decision. Though his personal reputation was on the line, his first consideration was finding out what was the right thing to do.

A second quality to notice is that Joseph chose not to seek retribution, but to cover Mary and “break the engagement quietly.” (vs 18) If Mary’s pregnancy were to be discovered she would, at the least, be exiled or, at worst, stoned to death. Imagine Jesus’ life being ended before He had a chance to be born. But Joseph chose grace. He chose to cover her rather than expose her. In this day of “investigative reporting” when no secret is safe, and when many delight in the downfall of others, we could learn a great deal from this type of grace. Joseph took Mary as his wife but did not sleep with her as his wife until Jesus was born. Pretty amazing, right? Imagine walking in that kind of obedience.

Most importantly, Joseph’s willingness to set his own feelings and opinions aside and be open to God brought the will of God to pass. God sent an angel to Joseph in a dream to confirm the truth of the story Mary had told him. Joseph protected them and provided for them as Jesus grew. Once the story of Jesus’ birth, the flight to Egypt, and the return to Nazareth is done, we don’t hear any more about Joseph. He fades into the background. But without his obedience, the story would never have taken place. Imagine the multitude of lives that have been changed because Joseph chose to consider God in his actions. How many of us are living our best life because of his choice and how many others might find their best life if we choose to live by his example?

Verses Used:
*Matthew 1:18-24

]]> http://deansweetman.com/2011/12/11/the-first-family-2/feed/ 0 When we think of Bible heroes, names like Moses, David, Samson, and Daniel come to mind. Joseph of Nazareth – husband to Mary and earthly father of Jesus - is generally not on the list. But on closer inspection, When we think of Bible heroes, names like Moses, David, Samson, and Daniel come to mind. Joseph of Nazareth – husband to Mary and earthly father of Jesus - is generally not on the list. But on closer inspection, this quiet man is due more notice and respect than he is given. His heart is very much like God’s and provides a powerful role model for all of us today. Joseph and Mary were betrothed in the Hebrew tradition. This is rather difficult for us to understand for it was not just a joining of two people in marriage but a merging of families, fortunes, and futures. A betrothal period could last up to seven years. During that time the expectations of both families looked and worked toward the union in a way foreign to us today. In addition, the entire community knew of and anticipated the union. The Spirit and will of God interrupt this proceeding with the purpose of changing mankind’s destiny. From a heavenly perspective, it made perfect sense. From an earthly perspective, it made no sense. Fortunately, Joseph was not a man given to emotional reaction. Here we find his first quality of merit. Matthew 1: 19 tells us that Joseph “considered these things.” He didn’t react in a reality TV/Jerry Springer kind of way. He thought carefully and took the issue before God. He opened the door of his heart to hear what God had to say about the matter before he made any decision. Though his personal reputation was on the line, his first consideration was finding out what was the right thing to do. A second quality to notice is that Joseph chose not to seek retribution, but to cover Mary and “break the engagement quietly.” (vs 18) If Mary’s pregnancy were to be discovered she would, at the least, be exiled or, at worst, stoned to death. Imagine Jesus’ life being ended before He had a chance to be born. But Joseph chose grace. He chose to cover her rather than expose her. In this day of “investigative reporting” when no secret is safe, and when many delight in the downfall of others, we could learn a great deal from this type of grace. Joseph took Mary as his wife but did not sleep with her as his wife until Jesus was born. Pretty amazing, right? Imagine walking in that kind of obedience. Most importantly, Joseph’s willingness to set his own feelings and opinions aside and be open to God brought the will of God to pass. God sent an angel to Joseph in a dream to confirm the truth of the story Mary had told him. Joseph protected them and provided for them as Jesus grew. Once the story of Jesus’ birth, the flight to Egypt, and the return to Nazareth is done, we don’t hear any more about Joseph. He fades into the background. But without his obedience, the story would never have taken place. Imagine the multitude of lives that have been changed because Joseph chose to consider God in his actions. How many of us are living our best life because of his choice and how many others might find their best life if we choose to live by his example? Verses Used: *Matthew 1:18-24 C3 Church in Lawrenceville, GA USA clean 26:33 The Vine – Part 1 http://deansweetman.com/2011/11/06/the-vine-part-1/ http://deansweetman.com/2011/11/06/the-vine-part-1/#comments Sun, 06 Nov 2011 19:47:47 +0000 Dean http://deansweetman.com/?p=595 Jesus is speaking to His disciples after they have shared there last Passover together and are walking toward the Mt. of Olives, where unbeknownst to them, Jesus will be taken away to be crucified. It is close to midnight, and as they pass a vineyard, He explains to them the vital importance of staying close to Him and in God’s Word as people that will bear great fruit for His coming Kingdom. This is not a parable or a passage for the unsaved, but for His disciples, 11 chosen ones who must now endure great testing and hardship in the days ahead. He begins by saying “I am the true vine, and My Father is the grafter of branches.” This would indicate to the Jewish disciples that Israel as a nation is no longer the vine (they had a golden vine on the Temple doors and understood their relationship to God was unlike any other) because their leaders chose to reject the Messiah whom God had sent. The vine was not spoken into existence in the Garden of Eden, God planted it, and waters it, and now Christ has taken on that role. Jesus is the Vine, so as nutrients come from the ground thru the main vine and the branches are fed only thru the vine; we are fed thru the Word of Christ and living with Him day by day. (see vs. 4)

There is only a 1/2 inch difference between cutting off a useless branch that is producing nothing, and pruning back a healthy, fruit-laden branch that just needs to bear more fruit next season. When things are removed from our life it hurts but there is greater good to come! God will prune us to teach us to grow even larger in our capacity, giftings, and fruitfulness. This makes us turn to the nurtrients of Jesus to grow, multiply, become stronger & healthier! When we make poor choices continually, sometimes we get cut off – however, unlike the churches who want to frighten us by saying “that’s it, once you are cut off you are gonna burn!”, the Father who grafts seemingly useless branches will carefully cut into Christ, the Vine, and attach us to the main, life-giving artery. This is when God gets us to where we must trust in Jesus, when we are grafted in and bound to the vine – literally, the vinedresser tapes the branches so they stay put. We don’t have to give up, God will graciously make a way to reconnect us to Him! Choose to contribute to your church, to get involved when you don’t feel like it, that is called “trying again”. God’s NOT trying to kill us!!

God wants fruitfulness and He will do whatever it takes to get fruit from the ones He owns – “You are Mine, I bought you with a price and I require something of you!” There is a calling on our lives to produce something good for God! He will always pick us up and graft us back in – choose to stay in Jesus and in the Word “for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (vs 5) It may seem unjust to the fruitful but God is always going to prune us to cause an area of our life to grow. It’s the only way to get to the next level! The branch (us) grows again and bears even more fruit – and it’s not hard because He has prepared us for the next season. When the harvest comes and the grapes are put into the winepress – which is the Church – that new wine is the Holy Spirit, pouring out the wine of revival into all the people. The move of the Spirit in the last days will come from the fruit of the saints who are willing to be cut back in order to grow the church. This new wine means miracles, power, outpouring, and a flowing of the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ.! “I have poured out My Spirit upon you”, Jesus said. We have to allow ourselves to be pruned and grafted or else the church will die. Look to Europe as an example, all the beautiful cathedrals and churches built hundreds of years ago are boarded up or have only elderly people attending – no fruit. In England, some Arab nations are buying up old churches and turning them into mosques, which then can only be used for that purpose according to Islamic laws and can never revert back to what they were intended to be – places where GOD shows up! This has happened because the church there decided to lay on the ground, wither and die. In Cambodia, they killed all pastors and Christians in the Khmer Rouge regime of the 70’s and now that nation is in desperate poverty. Even here in America, where we believe nothing bad can happen to us, we need to see that we are content to be a rich nation and have to open our eyes to the truth – we have to stay in Christ to survive!

Don’t run when you feel God’s hand pruning, we must ABIDE in Christ no matter what, that is the key. If we allow bitterness to fester in our minds during the times when we don’t understand what the Gardener is doing, it will wither us and we will die – but it will have been our choice. Instead, rejoice when you feel God is pruning you, cutting off something that you probably don’t need anyway, wanting to take you to the next level of joy and revelation He has for you! He is always getting the wine out of His fruitful ones, then asking us to grow more good grapes. Everything from Jesus feeds us and fuels us to start again. When things are really going terribly, you are probably getting cut – so get off the ground. Your attitude determines whether God regrafts you or not. Do not give in to the temptation to lay there, moan and groan about how sorry your life is and how mean God is – He always wants to give you a second, third, tenth, hundredth chance! He is patient with us and will always take us back again as we choose to put aside our pride and allow Him to heal us, to bind us to Christ and intertwine again with the other branches. Let the healthy ones around you help you grow.

Disciples, it’s time to GROW! Be fruitful, God wants your fruit to press out new wine for the church to stay alive and strong. Our focus now is on the 2020 mission to go into ALL the world and make disciples. A strong church keeps the Spirit moving and life flowing.

Verses Used:
*John 15: 1-6

]]> http://deansweetman.com/2011/11/06/the-vine-part-1/feed/ 0 Jesus is speaking to His disciples after they have shared there last Passover together and are walking toward the Mt. of Olives, where unbeknownst to them, Jesus will be taken away to be crucified. It is close to midnight, and as they pass a vineyard, Jesus is speaking to His disciples after they have shared there last Passover together and are walking toward the Mt. of Olives, where unbeknownst to them, Jesus will be taken away to be crucified. It is close to midnight, and as they pass a vineyard,... C3 Church in Lawrenceville, GA USA clean 32:30 The Four Rivers – The River of Anointing http://deansweetman.com/2011/09/25/the-four-rivers-the-river-of-anointing/ http://deansweetman.com/2011/09/25/the-four-rivers-the-river-of-anointing/#comments Sun, 25 Sep 2011 17:34:25 +0000 Dean http://deansweetman.com/?p=564 The second river is the River Gihon–the river of anointing. The River Gihon branches off the River Pshon – favor and blessing stay within God’s anointing and presence. King David’s son, Solomon, was anointed king at the river Gihon with oil, to symbolize the presence of God in his reign. Since Solomon did not ask for riches, but wisdom, God chose to bless Solomon – gifts come from blessing and His presence. Each of us has an anointing to be something or have something that God can use- the ministry gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher or the gifts of faith, prophecy, miracles, etc. God anoints us to do His work as we stay in His presence, which can be found as we seek God in our private times, and more importantly, in the House of God as we come together in corporate worship, connecting ourselves to God. The anointing carries us onward and we need the presence of God to do what He is calling us to do, to handle the pressure of that call at times, and to anoint the ideas He gives us so they come to pass. The C3 church is not just a cool place to come worship & learn about God, the presence and anointing of the Lord have to be here or it would all come tumbling down like a house of cards. We need the anointing to fulfill the visions we receive while in His presence!

Isaiah 66 says the oil of joy replaces mourning,that praise relieves heaviness. Peace comes out of His presence, it changes our hearts and minds as the Holy Spirit goes to work, making us different. Joshua gave us the greatest example of how going into the Temple, into the presence of God, set him apart from the rest of Israel, who stood outside their tent doors and watched the one man brave enough and wise enough to get literally into the presence of God. Because of Christ’s anointing to die on the Cross, we can now freely go into the House – the Presence – of the Lord, worship, serve and fulfill His call that is unique to each one of us. We don’t naturally know how to get into God’s presence, we have to choose like Joshua to get ourselves to church and connect in worship and the Word.

In Revelation 22:1-5 the apostle John writes about what he saw there in Heaven. He speaks of an angel showing him a pure, clear river running thru the main street, which had trees growing on either side. These trees were for the healing of the nations, and bore a different fruit once a month every twelve months. There is so much here – the river begins at the Throne of God, runs where everyone has access to it, and the fruit of it’s trees is not for us, it is for others, since God wants everyone to come into His Kingdom! He is a river without limit or end, He does not want us to segment off our lives into “Sunday I go to church, Monday through Saturday I live my life”, He truly wants to give us unlimited blessings – a different one every month if we are ready for it! Jesus follows up that thought when he said, “He who believes in Me, out of your belly will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38) Meaning that LIFE comes from knowing and believing in all the blessing, favor, anointing and presence that God is freely offering us. Why would we not want to follow Him to the ends of the earth – He has everything we need to LIVE! His blessings are unlimited, His presence pulls us in and brings change to our lives. We can come out of that dry, dusty riverbed we have been living in and experience the full-on wetness of journeying with the Lord in the Four Rivers. Changes are instant and imminent – are you ready to move forward?
Verses Used:
*Genesis 2:13
*Exodus 33
*Isaiah 66
*John 7:38

]]> http://deansweetman.com/2011/09/25/the-four-rivers-the-river-of-anointing/feed/ 0 The second river is the River Gihon--the river of anointing. The River Gihon branches off the River Pshon - favor and blessing stay within God's anointing and presence. King David's son, Solomon, was anointed king at the river Gihon with oil, The second river is the River Gihon--the river of anointing. The River Gihon branches off the River Pshon - favor and blessing stay within God's anointing and presence. King David's son, Solomon, was anointed king at the river Gihon with oil, to symbolize the presence of God in his reign. Since Solomon did not ask for riches, but wisdom, God chose to bless Solomon - gifts come from blessing and His presence. Each of us has an anointing to be something or have something that God can use- the ministry gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher or the gifts of faith, prophecy, miracles, etc. God anoints us to do His work as we stay in His presence, which can be found as we seek God in our private times, and more importantly, in the House of God as we come together in corporate worship, connecting ourselves to God. The anointing carries us onward and we need the presence of God to do what He is calling us to do, to handle the pressure of that call at times, and to anoint the ideas He gives us so they come to pass. The C3 church is not just a cool place to come worship & learn about God, the presence and anointing of the Lord have to be here or it would all come tumbling down like a house of cards. We need the anointing to fulfill the visions we receive while in His presence! Isaiah 66 says the oil of joy replaces mourning,that praise relieves heaviness. Peace comes out of His presence, it changes our hearts and minds as the Holy Spirit goes to work, making us different. Joshua gave us the greatest example of how going into the Temple, into the presence of God, set him apart from the rest of Israel, who stood outside their tent doors and watched the one man brave enough and wise enough to get literally into the presence of God. Because of Christ's anointing to die on the Cross, we can now freely go into the House - the Presence - of the Lord, worship, serve and fulfill His call that is unique to each one of us. We don't naturally know how to get into God's presence, we have to choose like Joshua to get ourselves to church and connect in worship and the Word. In Revelation 22:1-5 the apostle John writes about what he saw there in Heaven. He speaks of an angel showing him a pure, clear river running thru the main street, which had trees growing on either side. These trees were for the healing of the nations, and bore a different fruit once a month every twelve months. There is so much here - the river begins at the Throne of God, runs where everyone has access to it, and the fruit of it's trees is not for us, it is for others, since God wants everyone to come into His Kingdom! He is a river without limit or end, He does not want us to segment off our lives into "Sunday I go to church, Monday through Saturday I live my life", He truly wants to give us unlimited blessings - a different one every month if we are ready for it! Jesus follows up that thought when he said, "He who believes in Me, out of your belly will flow rivers of living water." (John 7:38) Meaning that LIFE comes from knowing and believing in all the blessing, favor, anointing and presence that God is freely offering us. Why would we not want to follow Him to the ends of the earth - He has everything we need to LIVE! His blessings are unlimited, His presence pulls us in and brings change to our lives. We can come out of that dry, dusty riverbed we have been living in and experience the full-on wetness of journeying with the Lord in the Four Rivers. Changes are instant and imminent - are you ready to move forward? Verses Used: *Genesis 2:13 *Exodus 33 *Isaiah 66 *John 7:38 C3 Church in Lawrenceville, GA USA clean 34:49 The Four Rivers – River of Increase http://deansweetman.com/2011/09/18/the-four-rivers-river-of-increase/ http://deansweetman.com/2011/09/18/the-four-rivers-river-of-increase/#comments Sun, 18 Sep 2011 18:49:04 +0000 Dean http://deansweetman.com/?p=560 In Genesis 2, we get our first view of the garden God planted as the dwelling place for man. He called it “Eden,” meaning “paradise” or “place of delight.” Verse 10 tells us that the garden was watered by a river that flowed through and out of the garden, then dividing into four branches. Those four rivers were named Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates.

While we believe that Eden was a real place, it is also representative of the human heart. Each of us has the responsibility to tend the garden of our heart – the garden of who we are. The four rivers represent principles that God has given to help us cultivate good fruit in the garden of our lives. The first river, Pishon, represents increase and expansion, a principal that Jesus taught repeatedly. To experience increase in our own lives we must believe that God is our source of all things, learn how to get into God’s flow, and avoid the things that cause us to get out of the flow.

Today we live in a society filled with self-help gurus. As a result, we often think we can will ourselves to success if we just find the right book to read. But the river comes from God and we can’t will or self-help ourselves into the life He brings. If we try to make it in our own strength, there will come a point when our human strength will fail us. When difficulties come, when we can’t take one more step, we must look to the God of the River of Increase to be the source of whatever it is we need. Whether it’s strength, peace, joy, forgiveness, grace, patience, wisdom….whatever it is you think you’re out of, God has it and wants to give it to you. We only need to plant our lives by His river and let Him be our source.

We all know that water is an incredibly powerful thing. Rowing against a strong current will quickly tire you out and make it virtually impossible to reach your destination. But, as humans, we often seem bent on rowing against God’s flow – trying to get to our destiny under our own power. The Holy Spirit is God’s river. He flows into our hearts and wants to branch out into every area of our lives and spill over onto others. But we have to get into the flow.

You don’t need to look hard to find examples of people who have fought their way to the top but have not found happiness. Rowing against the river of God will never get you to a place of contentment. We each must decide to turn our boat and stop fighting God’s flow. The river may take us to places we don’t understand, but we will find ourselves in a place of unending increase that will spill over and grow the Kingdom of God. So come on and jump in, the water’s fine.

]]> http://deansweetman.com/2011/09/18/the-four-rivers-river-of-increase/feed/ 1 In Genesis 2, we get our first view of the garden God planted as the dwelling place for man. He called it “Eden,” meaning “paradise” or “place of delight.” Verse 10 tells us that the garden was watered by a river that flowed through and o... In Genesis 2, we get our first view of the garden God planted as the dwelling place for man. He called it “Eden,” meaning “paradise” or “place of delight.” Verse 10 tells us that the garden was watered by a river that flowed through and out of the garden, then dividing into four branches. Those four rivers were named Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates. While we believe that Eden was a real place, it is also representative of the human heart. Each of us has the responsibility to tend the garden of our heart – the garden of who we are. The four rivers represent principles that God has given to help us cultivate good fruit in the garden of our lives. The first river, Pishon, represents increase and expansion, a principal that Jesus taught repeatedly. To experience increase in our own lives we must believe that God is our source of all things, learn how to get into God’s flow, and avoid the things that cause us to get out of the flow. Today we live in a society filled with self-help gurus. As a result, we often think we can will ourselves to success if we just find the right book to read. But the river comes from God and we can’t will or self-help ourselves into the life He brings. If we try to make it in our own strength, there will come a point when our human strength will fail us. When difficulties come, when we can’t take one more step, we must look to the God of the River of Increase to be the source of whatever it is we need. Whether it’s strength, peace, joy, forgiveness, grace, patience, wisdom….whatever it is you think you’re out of, God has it and wants to give it to you. We only need to plant our lives by His river and let Him be our source. We all know that water is an incredibly powerful thing. Rowing against a strong current will quickly tire you out and make it virtually impossible to reach your destination. But, as humans, we often seem bent on rowing against God’s flow – trying to get to our destiny under our own power. The Holy Spirit is God’s river. He flows into our hearts and wants to branch out into every area of our lives and spill over onto others. But we have to get into the flow. You don’t need to look hard to find examples of people who have fought their way to the top but have not found happiness. Rowing against the river of God will never get you to a place of contentment. We each must decide to turn our boat and stop fighting God’s flow. The river may take us to places we don’t understand, but we will find ourselves in a place of unending increase that will spill over and grow the Kingdom of God. So come on and jump in, the water’s fine. C3 Church in Lawrenceville, GA USA clean 35:48 The Four Rivers – The Garden http://deansweetman.com/2011/09/11/the-four-rivers-the-first-river/ http://deansweetman.com/2011/09/11/the-four-rivers-the-first-river/#comments Sun, 11 Sep 2011 18:35:50 +0000 Dean http://deansweetman.com/?p=555 Every single piece of wisdom and truth in the Bible starts with a seed. Think about that for a second. A seed–everything important about the Kingdom begins with the seed. Jesus said in Matthew 13 that if you don’t understand this parable, you will not understand the rest. The principle of the seed is the gateway to all the others!

Over the next few weeks, we will be discussing the four rivers that flowed from the heart of the Garden of Eden. But before we can, we must understand the importance of the Garden. We need to go back to the beginning. Genesis tells the story– “In the Beginning…” In the beginning, God planted a garden. He didn’t make the garden magically appear; He planted! He put seed in the soil! Soil is a second part of this already mind altering concept! God created soil to be worked. Let that sink in. God purposefully designed soil to be worked so that it could produce. Growth requires work. Soil must be prepared; seed must be planted; work must be put into it; and then there is growth! God set everything up from the beginning. He planted the seeds to grow the Garden in rich, worked soil, producing Paradise. Eden is the image of what the earth was supposed to be and can be again.

Referencing back to Matthew 13, the human heart is the soil where all seeds are planted. The human heart is designed to have things planted within. It craves seed. It does not care which seed is planted as long as something is planted and something grows. The heart is the battlefield; you are responsible for the outcome. You are responsible for the condition of the soil; you are responsible for what goes in; you are responsible for what grows. You and you alone are responsible for the garden of your heart.

And whatever you let into your heart flows out of your life. Jeremiah 17 talks about what happens when a person allows the knowledge of the world to be planted in their hearts. They become a shrub. That is what it says: shrub. The very word is unpleasant. Have you ever met a person who is a shrub? I have. You can see it all over their lives. They are dry and barren and salty. They are a shrub barely scraping by in the desert of their life. However, in contrast, Jeremiah calls those who place their hope and trust in God and who willingly submit to His covering tree planted by the river.

So choose now:]Will you allow your heart to get dry and shrub-like? Or will you work to till the soil of your heart, allowing God to work along side you in breaking up the hard ground of attitude and bitterness and pain to create a soft field that yields to the seed and produces good fruit? What will it be?

Verses Used:
Genesis 2:4-14
Jeremiah 17:5-10
Matthew 13: 11-17

]]> http://deansweetman.com/2011/09/11/the-four-rivers-the-first-river/feed/ 0 Every single piece of wisdom and truth in the Bible starts with a seed. Think about that for a second. A seed--everything important about the Kingdom begins with the seed. Jesus said in Matthew 13 that if you don't understand this parable, Every single piece of wisdom and truth in the Bible starts with a seed. Think about that for a second. A seed--everything important about the Kingdom begins with the seed. Jesus said in Matthew 13 that if you don't understand this parable, you will not understand the rest. The principle of the seed is the gateway to all the others! Over the next few weeks, we will be discussing the four rivers that flowed from the heart of the Garden of Eden. But before we can, we must understand the importance of the Garden. We need to go back to the beginning. Genesis tells the story-- "In the Beginning..." In the beginning, God planted a garden. He didn't make the garden magically appear; He planted! He put seed in the soil! Soil is a second part of this already mind altering concept! God created soil to be worked. Let that sink in. God purposefully designed soil to be worked so that it could produce. Growth requires work. Soil must be prepared; seed must be planted; work must be put into it; and then there is growth! God set everything up from the beginning. He planted the seeds to grow the Garden in rich, worked soil, producing Paradise. Eden is the image of what the earth was supposed to be and can be again. Referencing back to Matthew 13, the human heart is the soil where all seeds are planted. The human heart is designed to have things planted within. It craves seed. It does not care which seed is planted as long as something is planted and something grows. The heart is the battlefield; you are responsible for the outcome. You are responsible for the condition of the soil; you are responsible for what goes in; you are responsible for what grows. You and you alone are responsible for the garden of your heart. And whatever you let into your heart flows out of your life. Jeremiah 17 talks about what happens when a person allows the knowledge of the world to be planted in their hearts. They become a shrub. That is what it says: shrub. The very word is unpleasant. Have you ever met a person who is a shrub? I have. You can see it all over their lives. They are dry and barren and salty. They are a shrub barely scraping by in the desert of their life. However, in contrast, Jeremiah calls those who place their hope and trust in God and who willingly submit to His covering tree planted by the river. So choose now:]Will you allow your heart to get dry and shrub-like? Or will you work to till the soil of your heart, allowing God to work along side you in breaking up the hard ground of attitude and bitterness and pain to create a soft field that yields to the seed and produces good fruit? What will it be? Verses Used: Genesis 2:4-14 Jeremiah 17:5-10 Matthew 13: 11-17 C3 Church in Lawrenceville, GA USA clean 37:04 My Cup – The Cup of Covenant 1st http://deansweetman.com/2011/09/04/the-cup-the-cup-of-covenant-1st/ http://deansweetman.com/2011/09/04/the-cup-the-cup-of-covenant-1st/#comments Sun, 04 Sep 2011 20:11:42 +0000 Dean http://deansweetman.com/?p=548 In Luke 22, Jesus & His disciples are eating the Passover meal together, and Jesus passes around the first cup of the night- the cup of fellowship. “Take this wine and share it among yourselves,” He said as He gave thanks to God. Connectedness was what God was working out in that moment, the unique quality of the Church. God is trying to fit us together so we can help one another. Connection is greater than individuality – as Americans, we tend to be proud of our independence, which is the opposite trait to what God wants in His churches. He wants us joined, fit and connected together in a local body as part of the worldwide Body of Christ. This is a very New Testament concept! Drinking together from the same cup meant that those people doing so feel like family & didn’t have any barriers. That’s how the church needs to be, willing to come together in times of joy or suffering, pain or victory and act like family. Jesus then took bread, broke it, gave thanks and shared it with His friends. Fellowship and blessing were the prime focus at the meal.

After dinner, however, the mood shifts. Jesus took another cup, symbolic of the new covenant they were about to enter into between God and man. “This cup is the new covenant written in my blood, blood poured out for you…I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom comes to earth.” Last week we learned the depth of what those words meant, now we know that 50 days later at Pentecost, the Kingdom of God came to earth in the form of the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist had told his followers, “There is one coming after me…who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” In the upper room of Acts 2, 120 faithful followers were filled with the Spirit of Jesus and begin to proclaim in other tongues the glory of God’s kingdom. Thus, the Kingdom is within us when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, and we are building His kingdom here on earth! It is now within our grasp, as we pray His will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven.

In Luke 5, we read these words of Christ: “You don’t put wine in old wineskins; you get new wineskins for your fresh vintage wine. And no one who has ever tasted fine aged wine prefers unaged wine.” A wineskin was the scraped-out hide of a sheep or goat. The reason new wine needed to go into new skins was that the fermentation process was so strong, the skins had to be able to expand to hold it all in. New skins were pliable, soft, like our hearts need to be. We can always stretch out some more when we are being filled anew every day with the Holy Spirit! The symbolism of the Cup of the Covenant is a fresh touch from Jesus on our lives and hearts, the fermenting of our dreams & visions swirling around and being made reality. “I have to go so my Spirit can come live in you”, He said to those who begged Him to stay. We are the vessels that the wine is being poured into. It’s so easy to get stuck in the “once upon a time” experience. Old wineskins could be made pliable again by being immersed in oil – God doesn’t want the vessel (us) to burst or break from His new; wine of dreams & visions for our lives! Make it a priority to empty ourselves of what the Lord has given us so we can be filled with the next new thing He has for us. Be ready to live new experiences; God is going to challenge our mindsets and wants to change us to become bigger in all areas of our lives. Being filled with the Spirit means getting fresh vision, dreams that bring us joy, and not allowing our hearts to harden for any reason. When we keep our vessel full of the new wine of what the Spirit is calling us onward to do, we will find our dreams fulfilled, as Christ’s were after he drank from the Cup of the Covenant and did what His Father had called Him to do for the coming of the Kingdom. Come unafraid to the altar for a fresh touch, fresh oil and new wine!

Verses Used:
*Luke 22:17-20
*Matthew 3:11
*Acts 2:1-41
*Luke 5:33-39
*John 14:16-17

]]> http://deansweetman.com/2011/09/04/the-cup-the-cup-of-covenant-1st/feed/ 0 In Luke 22, Jesus & His disciples are eating the Passover meal together, and Jesus passes around the first cup of the night- the cup of fellowship. "Take this wine and share it among yourselves," He said as He gave thanks to God. In Luke 22, Jesus & His disciples are eating the Passover meal together, and Jesus passes around the first cup of the night- the cup of fellowship. "Take this wine and share it among yourselves," He said as He gave thanks to God. Connectedness was what God was working out in that moment, the unique quality of the Church. God is trying to fit us together so we can help one another. Connection is greater than individuality - as Americans, we tend to be proud of our independence, which is the opposite trait to what God wants in His churches. He wants us joined, fit and connected together in a local body as part of the worldwide Body of Christ. This is a very New Testament concept! Drinking together from the same cup meant that those people doing so feel like family & didn't have any barriers. That's how the church needs to be, willing to come together in times of joy or suffering, pain or victory and act like family. Jesus then took bread, broke it, gave thanks and shared it with His friends. Fellowship and blessing were the prime focus at the meal. After dinner, however, the mood shifts. Jesus took another cup, symbolic of the new covenant they were about to enter into between God and man. "This cup is the new covenant written in my blood, blood poured out for you...I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom comes to earth." Last week we learned the depth of what those words meant, now we know that 50 days later at Pentecost, the Kingdom of God came to earth in the form of the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist had told his followers, "There is one coming after me...who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." In the upper room of Acts 2, 120 faithful followers were filled with the Spirit of Jesus and begin to proclaim in other tongues the glory of God's kingdom. Thus, the Kingdom is within us when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, and we are building His kingdom here on earth! It is now within our grasp, as we pray His will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven. In Luke 5, we read these words of Christ: "You don't put wine in old wineskins; you get new wineskins for your fresh vintage wine. And no one who has ever tasted fine aged wine prefers unaged wine." A wineskin was the scraped-out hide of a sheep or goat. The reason new wine needed to go into new skins was that the fermentation process was so strong, the skins had to be able to expand to hold it all in. New skins were pliable, soft, like our hearts need to be. We can always stretch out some more when we are being filled anew every day with the Holy Spirit! The symbolism of the Cup of the Covenant is a fresh touch from Jesus on our lives and hearts, the fermenting of our dreams & visions swirling around and being made reality. "I have to go so my Spirit can come live in you", He said to those who begged Him to stay. We are the vessels that the wine is being poured into. It's so easy to get stuck in the "once upon a time" experience. Old wineskins could be made pliable again by being immersed in oil - God doesn't want the vessel (us) to burst or break from His new; wine of dreams & visions for our lives! Make it a priority to empty ourselves of what the Lord has given us so we can be filled with the next new thing He has for us. Be ready to live new experiences; God is going to challenge our mindsets and wants to change us to become bigger in all areas of our lives. Being filled with the Spirit means getting fresh vision, dreams that bring us joy, and not allowing our hearts to harden for any reason. When we keep our vessel full of the new wine of what the Spirit is calling us onward to do, we will find our dreams fulfilled, as Christ's were after he drank from the Cup of the Covenant and did what His Father had called Him to do for the coming of the Kingdom. Come unafraid to the altar for a fresh touch, fresh oil and new wine! Verses Used: *Luke 22:17-20 *Matthew 3:11 *Acts 2:1-41 *Luke 5:33-39 *John 14:16-17 C3 Church in Lawrenceville, GA USA clean 26:15 My Cup – The Cup of Covenant 2nd http://deansweetman.com/2011/09/04/the-cup-the-cup-of-covenant-2nd/ http://deansweetman.com/2011/09/04/the-cup-the-cup-of-covenant-2nd/#comments Sun, 04 Sep 2011 20:10:52 +0000 Dean http://deansweetman.com/?p=546 In Luke 22, Jesus & His disciples are eating the Passover meal together, and Jesus passes around the first cup of the night- the cup of fellowship. “Take this wine and share it among yourselves,” He said as He gave thanks to God. Connectedness was what God was working out in that moment, the unique quality of the Church. God is trying to fit us together so we can help one another. Connection is greater than individuality – as Americans, we tend to be proud of our independence, which is the opposite trait to what God wants in His churches. He wants us joined, fit and connected together in a local body as part of the worldwide Body of Christ. This is a very New Testament concept! Drinking together from the same cup meant that those people doing so feel like family & didn’t have any barriers. That’s how the church needs to be, willing to come together in times of joy or suffering, pain or victory and act like family. Jesus then took bread, broke it, gave thanks and shared it with His friends. Fellowship and blessing were the prime focus at the meal.

After dinner, however, the mood shifts. Jesus took another cup, symbolic of the new covenant they were about to enter into between God and man. “This cup is the new covenant written in my blood, blood poured out for you…I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom comes to earth.” Last week we learned the depth of what those words meant, now we know that 50 days later at Pentecost, the Kingdom of God came to earth in the form of the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist had told his followers, “There is one coming after me…who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” In the upper room of Acts 2, 120 faithful followers were filled with the Spirit of Jesus and begin to proclaim in other tongues the glory of God’s kingdom. Thus, the Kingdom is within us when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, and we are building His kingdom here on earth! It is now within our grasp, as we pray His will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven.

In Luke 5, we read these words of Christ: “You don’t put wine in old wineskins; you get new wineskins for your fresh vintage wine. And no one who has ever tasted fine aged wine prefers unaged wine.” A wineskin was the scraped-out hide of a sheep or goat. The reason new wine needed to go into new skins was that the fermentation process was so strong, the skins had to be able to expand to hold it all in. New skins were pliable, soft, like our hearts need to be. We can always stretch out some more when we are being filled anew every day with the Holy Spirit! The symbolism of the Cup of the Covenant is a fresh touch from Jesus on our lives and hearts, the fermenting of our dreams & visions swirling around and being made reality. “I have to go so my Spirit can come live in you”, He said to those who begged Him to stay. We are the vessels that the wine is being poured into. It’s so easy to get stuck in the “once upon a time” experience. Old wineskins could be made pliable again by being immersed in oil – God doesn’t want the vessel (us) to burst or break from His new; wine of dreams & visions for our lives! Make it a priority to empty ourselves of what the Lord has given us so we can be filled with the next new thing He has for us. Be ready to live new experiences; God is going to challenge our mindsets and wants to change us to become bigger in all areas of our lives. Being filled with the Spirit means getting fresh vision, dreams that bring us joy, and not allowing our hearts to harden for any reason. When we keep our vessel full of the new wine of what the Spirit is calling us onward to do, we will find our dreams fulfilled, as Christ’s were after he drank from the Cup of the Covenant and did what His Father had called Him to do for the coming of the Kingdom. Come unafraid to the altar for a fresh touch, fresh oil and new wine!

Verses Used:
*Luke 22:17-20
*Matthew 3:11
*Acts 2:1-41
*Luke 5:33-39
*John 14:16-17

]]> http://deansweetman.com/2011/09/04/the-cup-the-cup-of-covenant-2nd/feed/ 0 In Luke 22, Jesus & His disciples are eating the Passover meal together, and Jesus passes around the first cup of the night- the cup of fellowship. "Take this wine and share it among yourselves," He said as He gave thanks to God. In Luke 22, Jesus & His disciples are eating the Passover meal together, and Jesus passes around the first cup of the night- the cup of fellowship. "Take this wine and share it among yourselves," He said as He gave thanks to God. Connectedness was what God was working out in that moment, the unique quality of the Church. God is trying to fit us together so we can help one another. Connection is greater than individuality - as Americans, we tend to be proud of our independence, which is the opposite trait to what God wants in His churches. He wants us joined, fit and connected together in a local body as part of the worldwide Body of Christ. This is a very New Testament concept! Drinking together from the same cup meant that those people doing so feel like family & didn't have any barriers. That's how the church needs to be, willing to come together in times of joy or suffering, pain or victory and act like family. Jesus then took bread, broke it, gave thanks and shared it with His friends. Fellowship and blessing were the prime focus at the meal. After dinner, however, the mood shifts. Jesus took another cup, symbolic of the new covenant they were about to enter into between God and man. "This cup is the new covenant written in my blood, blood poured out for you...I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom comes to earth." Last week we learned the depth of what those words meant, now we know that 50 days later at Pentecost, the Kingdom of God came to earth in the form of the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist had told his followers, "There is one coming after me...who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." In the upper room of Acts 2, 120 faithful followers were filled with the Spirit of Jesus and begin to proclaim in other tongues the glory of God's kingdom. Thus, the Kingdom is within us when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, and we are building His kingdom here on earth! It is now within our grasp, as we pray His will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven. In Luke 5, we read these words of Christ: "You don't put wine in old wineskins; you get new wineskins for your fresh vintage wine. And no one who has ever tasted fine aged wine prefers unaged wine." A wineskin was the scraped-out hide of a sheep or goat. The reason new wine needed to go into new skins was that the fermentation process was so strong, the skins had to be able to expand to hold it all in. New skins were pliable, soft, like our hearts need to be. We can always stretch out some more when we are being filled anew every day with the Holy Spirit! The symbolism of the Cup of the Covenant is a fresh touch from Jesus on our lives and hearts, the fermenting of our dreams & visions swirling around and being made reality. "I have to go so my Spirit can come live in you", He said to those who begged Him to stay. We are the vessels that the wine is being poured into. It's so easy to get stuck in the "once upon a time" experience. Old wineskins could be made pliable again by being immersed in oil - God doesn't want the vessel (us) to burst or break from His new; wine of dreams & visions for our lives! Make it a priority to empty ourselves of what the Lord has given us so we can be filled with the next new thing He has for us. Be ready to live new experiences; God is going to challenge our mindsets and wants to change us to become bigger in all areas of our lives. Being filled with the Spirit means getting fresh vision, dreams that bring us joy, and not allowing our hearts to harden for any reason. When we keep our vessel full of the new wine of what the Spirit is calling us onward to do, we will find our dreams fulfilled, as Christ's were after he drank from the Cup of the Covenant and did what His Father had called Him to do for the coming of the Kingdom. Come unafraid to the altar for a fresh touch, fresh oil and new wine! Verses Used: *Luke 22:17-20 *Matthew 3:11 *Acts 2:1-41 *Luke 5:33-39 *John 14:16-17 C3 Church in Lawrenceville, GA USA clean 32:40 Biblical Freedom http://deansweetman.com/2011/06/25/biblical-freedom/ http://deansweetman.com/2011/06/25/biblical-freedom/#comments Sat, 25 Jun 2011 21:51:04 +0000 Dean http://deansweetman.com/?p=480 There has been some confusion over what it means to live as the Christians did in the New Testament—when the Holy Spirit came to earth—and Old Testament—when laws and rules were overruled. The Galatian church began in freedom but, after false teaching was introduced, was going back into bondage to the law. The laws of Moses were revered and adhered to by the Jews because they were readable and understandable, but they just weren’t doable! It was a comfort to know what God wanted, but the Israelites continually deviated from the law, becoming influenced by the numerous pagan cultures of lands they conquered. King David established Jerusalem under Jewish laws in a godly state of mind, but Solomon, his son, married pagan women & turned the people to those gods. By the time Jesus came, only a few “religious sects” like the Pharisees and Sadducees were following God, and they had added to the burden and bondage that the law brings upon those who try to follow it without grace.

Jesus sets us free from SIN, which is the slave-master of humanity. Sin slowly degrades and eats away at the conscience of a human being. We cover up, trying to cope with living under the world’s system. Then along comes Christ to shield, block, and destroy the power of sin. As we believe, at that moment we are released from bondage. Where the Spirit is, the truth is also! Galatians 5:16-18 says, “My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?” These 2 natures that we grapple with—sin and Spirit— are bound by the world and bound by Christ.

Galations 5:19-21 continues the results of living in sin. We are led into bondage by not choosing the Holy Spirit to guide our lives to freedom. “It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.” BUT as we look on to the next verses, we are told what it looks like to live & be led by the Spirit, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness & self-control” – the last one is the most important!! Respond in worship and prayer to convictions. When we’re worn down after allowing sin to rule us, prayer and worship lead us to strength to repent and become stronger.

When we give the Holy Spirit the opportunity to move freely, He will break the rules!! We struggle to stay free –even the apostle Peter got called out by Paul when he chose to stop fellowshipping with Gentiles once other important Jews came to the town they were both in at the time. Religion may make us FEEL spiritual, but it’s a counterfeit and does NOT set us free! Sin has no power over us when we’re led by the Spirit. The law exposes sin, but we can never get to God thru obeying the law—only thru Jesus and the Holy Spirit and not by the works we do. There is a constant fight within all humanity between the flesh and the Spirit to do the right thing or the thing we WANT to do. Only the life-giving, freedom-loving Holy Spirit, who can’t be contained, brings pure, real, total freedom! He obliterates what we think God should or should not be doing. We know we are being led by the Spirit when His fruits show up in our lives (while the fruit of religion is hypocrisy -the thing that set Jesus off the most!)

This week we are going to be led into a new level of freedom during the Encounter conference. There is a response to the conviction of the Spirit, to repentance and letting go—let it flow through you!

]]> http://deansweetman.com/2011/06/25/biblical-freedom/feed/ 2 What we Say, Our Name, & The Holy Spirt http://deansweetman.com/2011/05/31/what-we-say-our-name-the-holy-spirt/ http://deansweetman.com/2011/05/31/what-we-say-our-name-the-holy-spirt/#comments Tue, 31 May 2011 13:39:46 +0000 Dean http://deansweetman.com/?p=475 When we submit to Christ, we have the power and authority to transform our lives and those of others by what we say. What comes out of our mouth is a release of what comes from heaven into our world. “Whatever we bind on earth is bound in heaven, whatever we loose on earth is loosed in heaven.” – Matthew 18. Growing our faith gives us the ability to function in the spiritual dimension. In the world, we would get tossed around by all the negativity that swirls there constantly, but when we are heavenly-minded and living for Christ, we don’t have to be part of the negative forces around us. We can create change by what we say and proclaim! Speaking connects us with the supernatural – it’s good to be positive, but that is not enough. We were created to be like God so when we speak His words we align ourselves with Him, creating peace in our lives. How we were raised & what was spoken over us can cause us to struggle with this, as the mouth is a powerful force for good or evil. It is always possible to create the changes we seek in our worlds!

Next, it’s important to realize that our souls are birthed at conception, and the being which is created at that point never dies. Our conceived beings are eternal, as we are made in the image of God, and He is eternal! So when the horrible happens and a child, born or unborn, dies, we can take comfort in knowing that God receives them and that their names are written in the Book of Life, burning brightly as innocents. As we age, when we turn to the Lord, again our names are bright lights in that book as we become more like Christ and want to make His name higher than ours. Those who continue to turn away from the Holy Spirit’s promptings will find their names fade from that book, if they choose not to reach out to what God is offering them. Our name is a vital component of who we are, and, in Proverbs, we find out that “a good name is better than great wealth” – Prov. 22. Your name is your calling card, for good or bad, and for all eternity.

The Holy Spirit is God on the earth today, and it is HIS job, not ours, to convict all men of sin, to comfort, and to bring understanding as we continue to search out what God is saying to us individually. In the Old Testament, God the Father spoke to the men of that time, and the Holy Spirit instructed the prophets what to say to the people of Israel & Judah. Then, for 33 years, Jesus was God the Son on the earth, showing us what God looks, acts, and sounds like. He had to die, not only for the sins of man, but to release the Holy Spirit to empower men, women, and children to have the authority we are talking about. Our authority comes from living in Christ and being filled with the Spirit! Remember how important that is! Even our impossible situations can be fixed up and made BETTER by God’s miracle-working power when we know who we are and what we have. In 1906, people were for revival in the country of Wales, UK, and in the city of Los Angeles; now, as a result of their prayers, over 1 billion Pentecostals filled with the Spirit are in the world today! We must look up to heaven, position ourselves in alignment with God’s Word, and realize that in every situation, God is bigger, more powerful, more abundant, and “able to do exceedingly more than we ask or think” – Ephesians 3.

]]> http://deansweetman.com/2011/05/31/what-we-say-our-name-the-holy-spirt/feed/ 0 Authority in Christ http://deansweetman.com/2011/05/17/authority-in-christ/ http://deansweetman.com/2011/05/17/authority-in-christ/#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 17:08:08 +0000 Dean http://deansweetman.com/?p=470 Some people interpret the Bible literally. I believe in taking the Word of God and interpreting it in the context of our society. I am a contextualist rather than a literalist. This simply means taking the Bible and making it apply in the context of our lives. The important thing is to live the meaning of the scriptures, to apply the teaching. We need to think about what God says and live out our faith. Apply the principles of the Bible to our lives.

We have been exploring the topic of who we are in Christ. We have authority in Christ. We have authority to do greater works in Jesus than He himself did. We have authority to cast out demons and heal the sick. We have authority to speak God’s word into existence. We have authority to teach all the nations.

Authority is powerful. It is something given to you – given from a source over or above you. When you are at work, your boss gives authority; he gives you access. When you start operating in that authority, you become so integral to the work, that you end up having more power over that process than the boss who gave you that authority. Jesus said to his disciples, “I’m leaving, but I am leaving you the Holy Spirit.” God has given us access to His power. He has given it, or delegated it to us. We need to step into that position and move within that power. He had all authority and He gave it to us. He said we could do greater things then He did, IF we live and walk in that authority.

Matthew 18:18-20: “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” We have been given the authority to open and close things, to bind or loose them, and to unlock or shut them in the context of prayer. We use this authority for when a breakthrough is needed. We are loosing the will of God on earth. The Kingdom of God is bigger than us. God’s will is bigger and more powerful then the world’s will. Jesus was talking about prayer and faith, about standing on the Word of God in authority. It can change the course of human life. Words are powerful. In authority, words can change the course of human life; they become potent. It is like having a nuclear device in the world of the Spirit.

Mark 16: 17: And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues. These miraculous signs will follow those who believe: healing and casting out demons. You have the POWER of the Holy Spirit in you! Don’t live in first gear when you have a V8 engine inside! In authority, we can bridge the natural and supernatural! Jesus spent so much time in prayer, He knew the heart of the Father. All the perfection of heaven can heal the broken. In those times that you need to stir the faith and soul again, go back to a time in your life when the will of heaven and the will of earth collided, and in God – everything aligned. See that time, visualize it, and find the confidence and authority in Christ.

]]> http://deansweetman.com/2011/05/17/authority-in-christ/feed/ 2