The Best Seats In The House | Dr. Clayton Ford
During worship, LaMar Key spoke about three people who shared burdens with him; one heard a difficult diagnosis from the doctor. Another told him about his father, mother and two sisters who were in their minivan, and they stopped behind a cement truck. A cement truck was following their van, and the driver fell asleep. All were killed. A third co-worker told LaMar that he was getting medicine for his wife who was sitting in the car. He returned to the car and found her unconscious. She had a heart attack and could not be revived. These were such heavy news, and yet LaMar could sing,
”Hallelujah thank you, Jesus,
Lord, You’re worthy
Of all the glory, and all the honor
And all the praise.
Oh, makes me want to shout
Hallelujah, thank you, Jesus
Lord, you’re worthy of all of the glory,
And all the honor and all the praise.”
We know in the wonderful and hard times who is on the throne and is worthy of praise.
Pastor Clay Ford asked,”Who doesn’t want the best seats in the house? We’re not talking about seats in a building.” He went on further to point out that we are
“citizens of two realms or kingdoms
1. The earthly realm-the one we are most familiar with
2. The heavenly realm, or the spiritual dimension”
He shared several verses from Ephesians that mentioned the “heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3 “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus….” Ephesians 2:6 What a privilege as Christ followers to be seated with our LORD in the heavenly realms and yet what a responsibility.
Dr. Clay reminded us that our main problem was that we are “too earthly aware” but that it is so important “that we as Christians learn how to navigate effectively in both realms.” Because the natural world demands our immediate attention, we often direct our focus on the world instead of on our heavenly Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Word. However, that is a big mistake.
In Ephesians 2:6, we are told,”By the grace of God, we who believe have been seated with Christ at the right hand of God” which no doubt are the best seats anywhere. The right hand of the Father is like being at the right hand of a king. For example, Joesph after many years of trials and imprisonment was the “right hand man” to pharaoh. When his brothers came to Egypt to buy food, they came to their younger brother Joseph whom they did not recognize.
Joseph was very powerful, and pharaoh entrusted him with much responsibility. Also from the book of Esther, Mordecai became the right hand man of “a Persian emperor, Ahasuerus (loosely based on Xerxes.” (https://www.biblegateway.com...) It was a place of favor, authority, and victory. Finally, Christ is at the right hand of the Father. He told the disciples to “Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (NIV) He had/has the authority to send the disciples then and us now to share the Good News.
Being seated with Christ at the right hand of the Father is incredible in that “The price has been paid-and we are authorized to be there.” Romans 8:32 states that “he did not spare even his own Son, but gave him up for us all….” That is how much our heavenly Father loves us. He persistently pursues us and sacrificed the ultimate gift Jesus Christ for us unworthy people.
But God…In Romans 8:38 Paul stated,
”And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate
us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels
nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries
about tomorrow-not even the powers of hell can separate
us from God’s love.” (NLT)
Because we are on the earth, circumstances are real, but we are with Him in a place of victory. Wherever we go, we bring Jesus with us. At his work LaMar has been sharing Jesus, and people see Jesus in him. They ask him to pray for them; they share their victories and burdens with him because LaMar has Jesus as his Savior, and Jesus lives in LaMar. If you have surrendered your life to Jesus, you also have Jesus living in you, and you bring Jesus wherever you are.
The battle of faith is “believing and acting on our faith.” In Hebrews 11:1,6
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and
assurance about what we do not see…
And without faith it is impossible to please God,
because anyone who comes to him must believe
that he exists and that he rewards those who
earnestly seek him.”
We may be fearful of what someone will say or do when we share what Jesus has done in our lives, but how can we deny His power, glory, love, and sacrifice? In these very difficult and changing times, we need to stand on the Rock and build our lives on the Cornerstone.
Pastor Clay said “The amazing implications of this truth for our lives is that ‘We are no longer ‘under the circumstances’ but can walk in victory! Not victims but victors!! World changers!!’”
My father often quoted Philippians 4:13. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” That means to me that the battle belongs to the LORD. I do not need to be afraid because when we seek His will for our lives, when we seek His direction and we follow it, we will have the omniscient and powerful LORD guiding us. We need to have faith in the Faith-giver. Then we get to step where He leads us. Faith in the LORD coupled with action are the life-giving combination. The closing verses Dr. Clay cited were Colossians 3:1-3
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your
hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right
hand of God. Set your minds on things about, not on earthly
things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ
in God.”
Because we are hidden in Christ I can sing
”Hallelujah thank you, Jesus,
Lord, You’re worthy
Of all the glory, and all the honor
And all the praise.”
Calendar:
7/12-Next Chapter on Wednesday at 6:30 in the Activity Center-Please join us.
7/16 at 2:00pm at Crown Point Baptism at the Bay such an opportunity to obey the LORD
7/21 at 6:00pm LB potluck, worship, pictures of LBs when we were under thirty for a fun evening and….
—Wonderful prayer time on July 9th. Please join us in August for our prayer time corporately.
By
Larry and Annette Linthicum