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IMPARTATION Missionary, Evangelist Esther Thornton, Oregon |
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”THE THREE FACES OF A PERSON OF SPIRITUAL MATURITY": The number “3” is a perfect
and complete number. We have the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And, we have
triune man: spirit, soul, and body. But, I’m going to talk with you today
about three aspects of a godly person - the three faces of a person who is
spiritually mature. When
you know Jesus, you are are “Kings and Queens“, you are royalty! You have a
covenant with Him for eternal life. This is the highest covenant that there
is. Song
1:2 Let
him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine. A
kiss on the mouth symbolizes “betrothal” or “being promised to”. Jeremiah
3:14 Turn, O
backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: and I will
take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: Hosea
2:19 And I
will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in
righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. We’re
talking today about the three faces of a spiritually mature person. 1.
The First Face of a Spiritually Mature Person: Beauty - Inside and Out:
We have confidence of our beauty because we have a spiritual inheritance Eccles. 3:11 He (makes) everything
beautiful in his time… True
masculinity or femininity is recognizing the Biblical view of what a man or
woman should be and acting accordingly. God
is perfecting that which concerns us on the inside and that beauty begins to
come forth and radiate on the outside. 2.
The Second Face of a Spiritually Mature Person: Substance and Quality of
Character: Good quality of character is beauty on the inside Queen
Esther was beautiful outwardly, but her true beauty was her godly character
and wisdom. She was preferred to all the fair, young virgins brought into the
king’s court. She feared the Lord and sought to obey Him at any cost - even
to her own life! She was totally unselfish, desiring to save her people
first, the Jews. Jesus
Christ is our true and finest example of quality of character. Even as a
child, He learned obedience by the things that He suffered (Heb. 5:8). He finished
His course and did not stop short of the cross. How
can we build a good character? By daily allowing the Holy Spirit to search
our hearts and by walking in His Spirit continually. And, as we feast on the
Word of God and practice it, a good character will be formed within us. We
need to keep our hearts pure before God and forgive all who have wronged us Having
a good character does not mean that we are perfect. But, we read the Word of
God and are obedient to it, as much as possible. We have weaknesses but we
learn to accept God’s strength in the areas of our weakness. 3.
The Third Face of a Spiritually Mature Person: Thriving, Not Just
Surviving Receiving
God’s unprecedented favor (having no previous example; new approach). We belong
to Him; He has us written on the palm of His hand; we have a position in
Christ Jesus that no person or devil can take away from us Isaiah 49:15-16 Can
a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the
son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. [16]
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands… A
man had hundreds of acres of orange groves. He heard that the next day there
was going to be a freeze and it would ruin his crops if they froze. So he
walked and prayed around his groves that God would show him favor and not let
his crops freeze. The neighbors were making fun of him because of what he was
doing. But, the next day the freeze came and all the orchards around his were
beginning to freeze on all sides of his, but his didn’t freeze. So, then, his
neighbors asked him to pray for their crops the next time a freeze was to
come. We
have God’s unprecedented favor. So,
the third face of a spiritually mature person is to thrive and not just to survive
- to do whatever is necessary to reposition yourself for the blessing
of God. A
lame man in the Bible had to position himself in the pool to be healed. John 5:2-9 Now
there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the
Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. [3] In these lay a great
multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving
of the water. [4] For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and
troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water
stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. [5] And a certain man
was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. [6] When Jesus saw
him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith
unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? [7] The impotent man
answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into
the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. [8] Jesus
saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. [9] And
immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on
the same day was the sabbath. You
have to be willing to do whatever is necessary to reposition yourself for you
to receive what God has for you. And, when you have done this, there is no
one or nothing that can keep you from receiving God’s best for your life. God
will help you to have the strength to do what you need to do to reposition
yourself even as Jesus helped this lame man who couldn’t help himself. SUMMARY:
You are a “Victor” not a “Victim”. Develop a “victor’s mentality” not a
“victim mentality”. God is your complete source and even in the desert
places, He is still your complete source. God
will give back to you what the enemy has stolen from you and the devil must
pay back seven times! Deut. 28:7-9 The Lord
shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy
face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven
ways. [8] The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses,
and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the
land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. [9] The Lord shall
establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if
thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways. Joel 2:25-26 And I will restore to
you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the
caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. [26]
And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord
your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be
ashamed. Joseph
was mistreated by his own brothers and thrown in a pit. He was sold into
slavery. He was lied about and thrown into prison. But, he remembered that
his total source was His God and he hung onto that fact, no matter what. So,
God lifted him up out of the prison and made him a ruler in Egypt and those
who had abused him came bowing the knee before him. Yet, he loved and forgave
them. He could do this because he knew all along that he had God’s favor.
When you strive to do what’s right, you always have God’s favor. Romans 8:37-39 Nay, in
all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. [38]
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, [39] Nor
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We
have God’s favor and His grace. I am reminded of a sermon that I preached in
Africa in evangelistic meetings. It is about a young man by the name of
Mephibosheth, who was Jonathan’s son. King David and Jonathan had a covenant
that they would always care for one another, and their families, in life, no
matter what. Well, after Jonathan died, King David learned that he had a son
who had fallen as a child and was crippled from then on. His name was
Mephibosheth. So, David remembered the covenant that he had made with
Jonathan his father and sent for Mephibosheth to be brought to live at the
palace all the rest of his days. And, when Mephibosheth sat in the King’s
dining room table, the king’s tablecloth covered all his lameness, and anyone
who came in would never know that he was crippled. And, so it is with God.
His wonderful grace covers all of the lameness of our sin and we sit at His
table as one of his children, with his grace covering all our lameness. Psalm 1:1-3 Blessed
is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in
the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. [2] But his
delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and
night. [3] And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that
bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and
whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. God’s favor follows us
wherever we go - whether on the mountain tops or in the valleys or in the
desert places. It just gives us a chance to demonstrate the power of God and
His ability to bring forth in our lives, even in the hardest of places. We
are blessed of God and no man can refute it! We are too blessed to be
stressed! Esther Thornton, Global
Evangelism Fellowship, Inc. |
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