Redemption Church, San Jose, CA and Greenville, SC.

~ Open in Prayer ~

ICEBREAKER
• What’s something that made you smile today?
• What’s something on your “bucket list”?
• Do you prefer Fall or Winter?

MESSAGE REVIEW

The earth and the world are not the same thing. The earth’s is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof and ownership of earth has never been in question. In Matthew 21:33-46 Jesus gives a parable describing what the Kingdom is like (a man who brought a vineyard and leased it to vine dressers). When you are in a lease you do not own that property, but you control the activity that goes on there. With everything going on in the middle East people keep saying “God is in control” however that is not what the bible preaches…God is in ownership. If God was in control we would not have the chaos we have right now. The chaos we’re seeing is because man is very much in control. The earth has been leased…God owns it but we have come and set up world systems and we control the activities that take place on the earth during the time of the lease. The book of Revelation is when God terminates the lease and the owner comes and repossesses.

God intended earth to operate as heaven, but when Adam ate the fruit and rebelled against God he declared independence from heaven and now it is governed by man’s systems apart from God, which God and the bible call “the world”. You got earth the planet, then you got the world. The word world means man and his governing systems. For God so loved the world he sent his son (John 3:16), not because so God loved the planet. There is nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is pure and innocent. The things that are harming the planet is the world.

Man’s systems (political, judicial, banking, educational, financial, etc) aren’t governed with heaven’s laws so God so loved the systems “the world” that He sent his Son. His son is the answer for the messed up people that run the messed up system. You can’t correct the system until you fix the people who run it. So Jesus came to change the hearts of men/women…He came to save the world. Let’s dig in a little more…

Let’s Talk About It!

YOU HAVE DOMINION

Psalms 8:6 says He has put man in dominion and gave him dominion over all things. In Genesis 1:26-30 God said let man have dominion in the earth. So if you’re going to control the world’s systems you have to have flesh. That’s the reason the word became flesh. Jesus left heaven and came down to earth (“became flesh”) because He can’t save you from heaven because in order for Him to have dominion on the earth He has to become like us “flesh”.

Do you truly understand the power/dominion God has given you on earth? How does understanding this truth change the way you view the problems happening here on earth and change how you operate here on earth?

BINDING AND LOOSING

Jesus came as a King to show us how to restore heaven’s systems on earth and before we leave earth He would like for us to bring some of heaven down into earth. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. In other words, if you obey me I’ll turn it loose, if you rebel against me I’ll withhold it. God doesn’t do it for you, He tells you what to do and then the power is in you obeying.

Have you struggled to obey God? How has this principle (binding and loosing) played out in your life?

YOU SHINE

Jesus is the light of the world and He comes and changes you. But then He went back to heaven and now you are the salt of the earth, you are the light in the darkness, you are a city set on a hill. It’s easy to be light when you’re at church, but Jesus said I send you out as lambs among wolves. You’re going to leave church and go back into a system that doesn’t like me and therefore it will not like you either. So the question is not can you shine at church but can you go back into the world and shine there (in your office, in your home, in the streets, in the store). That’s how you change the world…YOU SHINE. That’s what assignment is…everything and every situation is an opportunity to shine…it’s a mission to bring light to a dark world. Nobody wants to hear you preach but they want to see you shine. A light doesn’t have lips. You shine through your actions.

Read John 4:4-30; 39-42 | Jesus said I have to go through Samaria…and there’s a woman at the well. He asked her to give Him some water but it wasn’t about that…it was all about assignment. The woman went on to tell everyone she knew about Jesus and many were saved. It’s not about the “mundane” of your job but about the circumstances and people you’ve been placed around to influence.

What are some ways you can shine in the spaces you’ve been placed?

YOU’RE BLESSED
Read Deuteronomy 28:1-6 | Moses was trying to tell God’s people who they are but was realizing it’s a lot easier to get them out of Egypt than to get Egypt out of them. The nation that obeys God He sets high. “Overtake” in Hebrew means to chase you down and tickle you like a child. That type of blessing will “overtake” you if you obey God. “It shall come, if you” …. the coming is on IT, the IF is on YOU. “Blessed shall ye be….”; geography doesn’t matter because the blessing is not on it, it’s on YOU and if you will obey, God will put this thing on you and everywhere you go you will carry it… “blessed shall ye be.”

Have you witnessed how being obedient to God has blessed you?

GET IN THE RIGHT PLACE

Your assignment is always geographical. Yes you’re blessed everywhere you go but the place where you find favor is geographical. There is always somebody watching you that has the ability to bless you. Be a man/woman of God all the time…not just at church. God made places before He made people (ex. Light before grass, grass before cattle, everything needed to sustain man before He created man…that’s why we were created last). So everything that you need to fulfill your potential is already in place. Gifts and potential require atmospheres. An orange tree in Wisconsin will never reach its potential like it can in California. Your assignment is geographical. Your assignment requires atmospheres and you have to make sure you’re in the right place. We must make decisions carefully because it’s tied to our assignment.

Has there been a time where you just weren’t in the right place?

YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE “THERE”
Read 1 Kings 17:1-7 | Elijah speaks confidently and says it’s not going to rain until “I say” it will. He lived in such a way where God backed him up. So God told him where to go…“I have commanded to have ravens give you food THERE.” When it was time for him to move God dried up the brook where he was getting water from. God will dry up your brook to get you to move. Sometimes lack is an indicator that geographical change is meant by God. You are blessed anywhere but you are on assignment THERE.

Are there places God has “dried up” in your life? How has this shifted you to your “there”?

PRAYER FOCUS AND REQUESTS

Ask your members if they have any prayer requests or praise reports. Pray that “there” becomes clear; that you will be in the place God has appointed for you to fulfill the assignment He has placed on your life.