Abundant Word Ministries

Sunday Morning After Rebirth

Genesis 1:26-28The human spirit was endowed by its creator with the need to be free to pursue its purpose and to experience the fulfillment that comes with maximizing its potential. Freedom is the pursuit of the human spirit. God is not only concerned about saving every individual, but also about every nation.What is the difference between Vision and sight?The person who cannot see the ultimate becomes a slave to the immediate. Having No Vision Habakkuk 2:1 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.]2 Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets     so that a herald[b] may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time;     it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it lingers, wait for it;     it [ will certainly come and will not delay.Hosea 4:6, my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.“Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.Destroyed- To perish, Anarchy- to throw off restraints, to be out of control,  with no discipline.Focus- Matthew 6:33 Seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness,  and all these things will be added to you. Freedom is one of the most misunderstood ideals in human experience, and therefore it is rarely attained. Freedom is like beauty and love-  it is difficult to define, but you know it when you experience it.Freedom is more difficult than slavery because it demands more of us than oppression demands.Freedom comes at a price, ad it cannot be manifested without the assumption  of responsibility and accountability.Much of what we call freedom is only a corruption of our desire to have a license  to live without laws and accountability.It is a tragic reality that we do not understand the qualifications of true freedom.  True freedom demands great responsibility, accountability, a spirit of stewardship, maturity, wisdom, and character. World History vs. African-American HistoryWhat is the difference between bondage and slavery?What is the difference between deliverance and freedom?What is the difference between Vision and sight? What do you know about the infamous Willie Lynch Letter?Do you believe in regional spirits and territorial mindsets?Slavery resulted in broken families, work, but no relationships, no financial responsibilities.Control is to create fear through ignoranceHe who controls your concept of God controls your life.Adam (is plural, not one person), Human – Humis-mankind (spirit inside of dark earth) from Mesopotamia, North Africa.Black is the total composite of every color of all people on earth.  “From out of one comes many”.Do you realize that Jesus Christ was never a Christian? The Big Idea (The Truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God). The Kingdom of Darkness vs. The Kingdom of Light- Control of your life through ignorance –  Freedom in life through the knowledge of the Truth.Truth is the original information, the only reliable resource. Jesus said, “I Am the Way to the Truth that gives you Life Truth, evidence, facts, testimony, witness, credibility, confession,  opinion, information, mercy, grace, pardon, guilty, convictionRepent- to return to a Kingdom mindset, to have a changed mind that influences your behavior.Satan is the god of this world’s system, (system of governance, kosmos)Nation-building begins with governing your family and affecting your communityCommunity – having the same ideas and same mindset, speaking the same language.The church was intended to be a legal counsel for community leaders.God does not want a segregated community; He wants a collected community of believers that reaches all nations.

The Burden of FreedomWhat is True Freedom? The word FREEDOM is often mistaken and misunderstood, and therefore, true freedom is rarely attained. Much of what we call freedom is only a corruption of our desire to have a license to live without laws and accountability. Freedom cannot be manifested without the assumption of responsibility and personal accountability. Freedom is a natural concept that is foreign to most human spirits. Freedom comes at a price! True freedom demands great responsibility, accountability, a spirit of stewardship, maturity, wisdom, and character.The journey from slavery to freedom is a difficult, though a necessary one. But as we take the journey, we must not leave behind the principles that help us to live a truly free life. Despite thousands of years of human effort  to achieve an enduring and stable state of freedom, most of humanity finds itself still enslaved to the bondages that hold it back and suffocate personal and national dreams.The human spirit was endowed by its Creator with the need to be free  to pursue its purpose and to experience the fulfillment that comes with maximizing its potential. Freedom is the pursuit of the human spirit. Every human heart cries and yearns for the same thing: a chance to fulfill his or her dreams and desires. Even the poorest man has a dream. True /prosperity/poverty is not a financial issue, it is a presence/lack of a dream. All humans possess the same desire - to be free to pursue the vision and dream in their hearts.Freedom was generated from the experience of slavery. This includes all forms of slavery and oppression. Freedom became a principal value in human experience as a powerful, shared vision of life - a response to, and result of slavery manifested itself in other forms such as serfdom and the roles of masters, slaves, and non-slaves. In fact, slavery did not produce freedom, but rather awaken this sleeping characteristic of human nature. Freedom is more difficult than slavery because it demands more of us than oppression demands. Free from – free to, (I Have To… – I Get To…).  It is important to understand that the concept of freedom was not invented by man, but for man. Freedom is not a Western or Eastern ideal. It is a biblical concept introduced by God Himself, as the very essence and purpose of man’s existence. Therefore, freedom is basic to man’s fulfillment and is critical to his sense of value. Oppression, suppression, and any other form of slavery or any attempt  to restrict the development and expression of the human spirit will always awaken the sleeping giant called freedom. This is why any form of slavery, whether by forced labor, ideology, a political regime, economic oppression, domestic abuse, or spiritual or religious oppression is the ultimate sin against the human spirit.The promotion and protection of personal liberty were the highest virtue of man. In essence, slavery does not destroy freedom, rather, it magnifies its presence and value. There are four types of freedom:Personal freedom- which gives a person the sense that he/she is not being coerced or restrained by another person in doing something desired, and the conviction that another can do the same.Sovereign freedom- the power to act as one pleases, regardless of the wishes of others, as distinct from personal freedom, which is the capacity to do as one pleases, in so far as one can. (Can God really do anything that He wants to do?)Civic freedom- the capacity of adult members of a community to participate in its life and governance. (Your personal freedom and civil rights should not hinder or infringe upon another’s).Natural freedom- this exists in the very nature of man, as a God-given right and responsibility established, from the beginning of the creation of man. It is the human right delegated by God to man in the first book of Moses, Genesis 1:26 Freedom or Free-Dominion is, therefore “the liberty to dominate the earth through one’s unique gifts and talents in fulfillment of God’s purpose.”  www.RegisOnlineLearning.thinkific.com In essence, each individual was created by God to dominate the environment through his or her personal gifts and talents, in pursuit of fulfilling God’s personal purpose for his or her life and to serve others with that purpose. (The essence of leadership is to lead in your own purpose). Freedom is the liberty to fulfill God’s will in serving others with the gift of that purpose, without restricting or controlling another while that person fulfills his or her purpose and serves you through their gift as well. (I am serving you right now with my gift of teaching. You are allowing me to be free). True freedom is the self-discovery of one’s personal purpose and the liberty to pursue the fulfillment of that purpose according to the laws and principles established by God, without restricting others from doing the same. Any domination of another human spirit is a violation of God’s natural law. (Submission to authority, obedience, conformity, traditions, religion, etc.). Freedom is not the creation of a new social status given as a privilege to the disadvantaged, but rather a natural restoration to the normal state of what it means to be man (mankind), who is created to rule, and not to be ruled. The impact of slavery is the same in every circumstance, whether spiritual, mental, or physical, whether individual, cultural, community, or national slavery. Any attempt to limit, control, hinder, restrict, inhibit, prevent or stop the fulfillment of God’s purpose and will in another’s life is rebellion against God. Your rights come with (legal) responsibility. Freedom without submission to some form of authority does not work. It is still bondage, (a slave to sin). This is called wickedness. Rebellion is identified as the sin of witchcraft, which is defined as any attempt to control the will and spirit of another or seeking to be led or controlled by the spirit of another, other than God and His Holy Spirit. In every case of oppression, the cry for freedom is imminent. The impact of slavery is not limited to the physical damage it can work on the slave, but to the more diabolical mental damage, it causes. This is the most tragic element of slavery - both physical and spiritual. The main goal of any oppression is mental slavery - control. This is called “breaking the spirit” This is the surrender of hope in the human spirit, and is the most dangerous aspect of oppression. Forced control (is slavery) – submission (gives access). When oppression becomes a mental condition, then physical freedom is not enough. The mind is the key to life. Therefore, your mental state is more important than your physical state. You are not free until your mind is liberated. Freedom is first a mental condition before it is a physical statement.  (John 8:31-36, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free). The source of freedom, according to Jesus, is not legislation or a key to a lock and chain, but rather, knowledge - the discovery of information powerful enough to set you free in your mind. If a man is what he thinks in his heart, (his subconscious mind), then a man is not free until he thinks he is free. It is possible to be delivered, and yet not be free. Deliverance is the removal of the oppressed from the environment of the oppressor. Deliverance is the separation of the slave from the physical condition of slavery. Deliverance is not freedom. Deliverance prepares you for freedom. Only freedom is freedom. We must learn that freedom is not the absence of rules, laws, work, or labor, but the liberty of embracing responsibility. We must be awakened to the reality that true freedom imposes more laws than slavery, demands more work than slavery, and demands more self-control and discipline than slavery. (God gives us rules, but as boundaries to show His true love for us). The foundation of true freedom is self-management. (Self-Disciplined,  Self-Governed). This is the first and ultimate purpose of God for mankind. In slavery, you do not manage self- you are managed. Therefore, freedom  is a return to the responsibility of individual stewardship. God’s first command to man was to manage a plot of real estate called earth. Man was given the divine contract to manage the earth, and his freedom is inherent in this dominion mandate. You are not truly free until you are able to discover and dominate an area of the earth with your personal gift, as a service to others. Key Lesson MilestonesBeing made in God’s image means that we were created to lead.God commanded both male and female to have dominion.We are to rule over the earth, but not necessarily over each other.All of us are to serve one another in the areas of our gifting and specific purpose.Each person’s leadership is best exercised in his or her area of giftedness. When we discover our gifts, we will naturally lead in those areas where we are the most productive, intuitive, comfortable, influential, and satisfied. Galatians 5:1- Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

New Birth: is accepting Jesus as our Savior and Lord- the Owner of life- repenting, changing our minds and turning from our rebellion (sin) against the Lord God, and placing our trust in Him for forgiveness. This new birth gets us into the Kingdom of Heaven. Throughout the gospel, Jesus only mentioned being born once. This new birth is the naturalization process by which we become Kingdom citizens.The new birth makes us naturalized citizens of the Kingdom. It also naturalizes us in the sense that it returns us to our original state of authority and dominion over the earth as God intended from the start. When we become citizens of the Lord God’s Kingdom, it means that we voluntarily align ourselves with a spiritual government and a country, embracing its language, laws, ideals, and especially its standards. It is not new but renewed to us.The Lord Jesus Christ came to earth, died on the cross, and rose from the dead to put a ring of sonship on everyone’s finger if we accept this new birth. This brings us back into fellowship with our Father so that we might assume our rightful places as children and as citizens in His Kingdom. For many of us, taking that step will require first a transformation from the slavery mentality mindset. (Read Romans 12:1-2)Even the ambassador Paul was addressing believers- people who had their faith and trust in King Jesus as Savior and Lord- who still needed to undergo a change in their mindset. Although they were Kingdom citizens, they were still caught up in a slave mentality. They were thinking like slaves. We need to consider this truth very carefully. It is possible for an individual to be reborn of the spirit, yet not be converted. (Free in circumstance, but not delivered in conscious). This is a Kingdom concept. In order to conduct themselves and behave like royalty. (Read John 3) Salvation takes place instantly. It is a spiritual transition in which disobedience is cleansed by the blood of Jesus as we trust Him in faith. Conversion (to change in form, character, or function), on the other hand, can take a lifetime, as we learn to think, live, and act as children of the Lord God. It is a deliberate and ongoing process. Our soul- mind, will, and emotions- must be converted. We desperately need to get our bodies under the control of the Holy Spirit, in order to enjoy the benefits that come with Kingdom.  I find it very important that we learn to manage our body (in terms of our behavior and self-control) and get it in order because it is our legal house and the temple of God. If we lose it, we can’t do anything else here on earth. We can’t serve the Lord God effectively if we are addicted to sex, tobacco, drugs, or alcohol. We can’t fulfill our potential if, by the age of thirty, we are too sick and have cancer-ridden lungs. The Lord can’t bless us the way He intended if we are weak and sick from abusing some kind of mind-altering substance. We cannot be prisoners of addiction and fulfill God’s purpose for our lives. We become ineffective in speaking the King’s message.The Ambassador Paul made it very clear that we need to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds”. What does he mean by this? His point is this: Even though as believers, we have been born again through the spirit, we still have a mental defect. We have the Holy Spirit, but not the mind of the Holy Spirit. We have to be taught how to think. That only comes through reading and studying the Word of God’s Constitution of Heaven, which is the Holy Bible.The Greek word meta morpho (from which comes the English word metamorphosis) literally means, to make a complete and total turn or change. The transformation that the ambassador Paul speaks about here involves a complete revolution of our mentality or mindset.